Data Structures and Doggies

 Good evening readers,

Well, I took the exam. About 40% of the questions were the same ones on the practice exam. Those were a breeze. There were a few more questions that asked us to evaluate function efficiency and binary tree traversals. The questions regarding efficiency were somewhat challenging, but I think I got most of them. I know I got one wrong. Big-Oh and Big-Omega notation don't make a lot of sense to me. I always think I understand them, and then I find some incomplete explanation that just seems to scramble the bits rather than connect them. I haven't had the best lectures on them, but then again I guess I could've read the textbook a little more often. Oh well. Nevertheless, I think I did pretty well. 

Now. Onto the next part of the title. Up here at Tech I regularly volunteer at the humane society. The Copper Country Humane Society. I typically walk dogs, although I don't mind a little cat cuddling. 

Recently, I've been walking a dog named Blaze. I visit him at least once a week, typically on Fridays. He's a sweet, 6-year-old pittie. I typically don't like pitties, but Blaze is an exception. He's gentle, slower, and super friendly. 

When he gets adopted I'll certainly be upset. Yet at the same time, I'll be happy because I know he's going to his forever home. But as of now, no plans for adoption have been made. I ask the staff every time I visit!

So there you have it. A few pictures of my good boy, Blaze. 

I'll try to keep this blog updated with dogs as I go. Who knows, maybe I'll make a "dog" tag!

Anyway. 

As always,

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."

- Will Rogers

The Dredge

 Hi all,

Yesterday, a few friends and I visited "The Dredge" . This place is a renowned getaway spot for Michigan Tech students, and it almost seems impossible to graduate without visiting it. 

This was my first time at a place like this, but I certainly don't intend on making it my last! Noah insisted on bringing work gloves so that he didn't injure himself anywhere. I managed without! 

I was the only one who climbed to the top of this one part. Everyone else was too afraid of the sketchy ladder! I guess I'm a real truckie now!

Here are a few photos of the adventure:

I have a few more adventures that I've been up to that I will probably get around to sharing. 

As always,

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul."

- Jaime Lyn

Long Post Still Under Way

 Hi readers!

Today marks the first snowfall of my college journey. That's right folks, the snow came a little late this year. Rather than in the middle of October, the snow made its first appearance on November 1st, 2021. 

Also want to mention that the long post is underway! 

Lastly, I have another exciting project that I am working on! Oh, and remember that one I mentioned a long time ago? Yeah, I finished and it works! So keep an eye out for two posts about those!

As always,

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold."

- Aristotle

The Update: Part One

Well hello again ladies and gentlemen.

Today is the day that you have all been waiting for: the update on my college journey. 

Well let's start from the beginning. The trip up here. 

I remember leaving the house very well. Tory, Ezra, Bri, and Big Joe all came over to say good bye and help load the car (which was filled top to bottom by the way). Leaving wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to be honest; I guess I was just so excited! After we said our goodbyes to my brothers, friends, and cats, we were off. 

The trip started off smoothly, with part of our journey going by my grandparent's old house. It was nice to see it again, and it made me wonder what they would think of me now. These thoughts were eventually interrupted after my mom slammed on the brakes a little too hard and brought down a bunch of stuff in the back. She got really emotional after this, exclaiming that she felt bullied because we were all joking about her driving abilities. It was a silent, awkward car ride for the next hour. And then the rain came.

We were looking on the radar a few hours prior, but we were not expecting what we got. We're talking people driving 10 miles per hour on an interstate bad. Here's a video during the beginning of the storm; my mother was still driving at this time. 

Eventually, the storm got to be a little too much for my mother, so my dad decided to give it a shot. Spoiler alert, he pulled over too eventually!

After we got through the storm, we pushed through Ohio, which turns out to be the most disliked state in Michigan too! Here's a picture that sums up pretty much every rest stop in Ohio: 

We didn't travel through Michigan for a long time, but we did have to go through it a bit on day one. I remember the Holiday Inn experience well. Apparently, something happened with our payment for the reservation, and we had to try and get in contact with the credit card company. We ended up sitting in the lobby for like fifteen minutes while my parents tried not to strangle the hotel staff. The next morning, we woke up and took advantage of the complimentary breakfast. When I say "took advantage", I mean we really, really took advantage. We grabbed as many muffins as we could stuff in a to go back without getting dirty looks. Needless to say, it got us through the morning. 

Once we got further into the peninsula, my dad decided to give Noah and I a shot at driving. I really enjoyed it! It's interesting to compare a minivan driving 40 miles per hour down a road compared to a minivan driving down an interstate at almost 80 miles per hour. When we got to beautiful Mackinaw City, we stopped for lunch at the iconic Wienerlicious.

Here, they offer wonderful hot dogs and bratwursts. Highly recommend you stop at this joint if you're ever passing through! Now, possibly my father's least favorite part, the Mackinac Bridge.

To easily commute across the Michigan peninsulas, you should take the Mackinac Bridge. Now, the bridge has been around since November of 1957, and has had no major problems with the bridge itself. But, the bridge is an open grate bridge, with very little siding. My father did not like this. So instead of him driving, my mother decided that it would be best if she drove. In the video, you'll see my father photographing a stuffed animal; apparently, it's tradition for Michigan Tech students when they cross the bridge, or something of that nature. 

Once you cross the bridge, it seems like a new world. Here are a few of my favorites taken along the northern coast of Lake Michigan. We unfortunately did not stop at any of these bridges because they were all on the left hand side of the road, and we didn't want to stop and try to cross. I believe all of these photos were taken on RT. 2. 

It's just like the ocean, but better! Less people, less salt, and a lot less sharks! After that, we drove up north towards a town named Munising. This town gave me small, lake town vibes. Really nice! From here, we moved west towards Ishpeming, which is actually where Uncle Rodger moved from! He told my brother and I that he never really picked a side in the Tech rivalry with Northern Michigan University, but he would now pledge to Tech since we were going there! After Ishpeming, the excitement really kicks in because you approach Marquette, the biggest city in the Upper Peninsula! This is also the home to Northern Michigan University. From here, it's about a two hour drive to Houghton, MI! Here's a collection of photos and videos from the journey through the U.P.: 

I also remember seeing a moose, but as we pulled over to go take pictures with the crowd (I know, stupid tourists, right?), it decided that it was done with the paparazzi and strolled back into the brush. Wish I got a picture, but oh well. I did get a picture of the field it had been in however:

Some time during our travels during the Upper Peninsula, my parents let me drive once more. I accidentally drove into the wrong lane, but I quickly and safely corrected myself! It was really just a straight, fast road for a few dozen miles. As we approached what I think was Munising, we pulled over so my dad could take the wheel in the town. 

Before I knew it, I had left Palmyra, PA behind, and had arrived in Houghton, MI.

I'll post at least two other parts. Probably not today though!

As always, 

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step"

- Lao Tzu

My Knoebels Visit and an Announcement

Hello readers!

Today, I want to focus on reviewing a recent trip to Knoebels, but I quickly want to announce a new, email address which can be used to reach out to me! That's right, I'm offering you a direct line to me, not my dozens of secretaries!

The email is: thequestionableprogrammer@gmail.com

Now, on to the review!

First, let me make it clear: in no way do I mean to bash Knoebels; I had a wonderful time, and would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a good time! I have also never visited Knoebels; therefore, I may be comparing it to Hersheypark, a park I am incredibly familiar with. 

Allow me to set the scene: my twin and I were picked up by two gentlemen who we will refer to as Tory and Gavin. We then proceeded to pick up a friend, who we will call Caleb. We had one other pal who planned on driving himself and meeting us there; let's call him Ezra. Now we have introduced the whole gang. 

Now, it's time for the first stupid idea of the day: this Caleb kid, although smart, has his, uh, moments. In the parking lot, he decided that it would be a good idea to show his concealed carry, 9 MM. Now, please remember: this is a family-friendly amusement park, and not a gun show. We quickly advised him to put it away after he assured us that it was not loading. So, in the locked glove compartment it went. Quite the start to our day, I must say. 

So by now had entered the park, and were making our way towards the back of the park to pick up or admission wrist bands, which Noah and I received for free due to some amusement park agreement. The first ride we did was actually the ski lift ride. We did this because Ezra arrived a little late, and we wanted to do something simple while he waited for his ticket. The ride went up a somewhat steep hillside, which seemed to frighten Tory. Every time we'd stop, he'd flip out. I then had a sudden urge to look into accidents that had previously occurred on that ride; I did find one, but I don't think he died. 

After we finished there, we did it a second time with Ezra, who greatly enjoyed making Tory panic by shaking the cart. Here's a video of Caleb (left) shaking the cart, causing Tory (middle) to freak!

After the second go-around, we decided to try what I like to call "discount Fahrenheit", comparing it to the rollercoaster at Hersheypark named Fahrenheit. The real name of the ride was Impulse. Despite the name, the ride was quite fun and enjoyable. The smaller car, seating only eight, offered a ride to really just my group of friends, and it was nice to see all of their reactions and talk to them throughout the ride. My name originated from the fact that it had similar movements to Fahrenheit, despite the fact that it was about half the length. Although it still had the vertical start, the crazy turns, and the thrill of Fahrenheit, it lacked one other component. True shoulder restraints. These were lap restrains. Imagine Fahrenheit, the ride shown below,

and then imagine the ride shown below, lacking the same restraints as Fahrenheit:

Regardless, we were safe, and it was still a lot of fun. I highly recommend this ride, especially because this is the only metal rollercoaster there to my understanding!

Moving forward, we decided to make our way towards the bumper cars, which were supposedly some of the best out there. Now, I can agree to this, despite the fact that many of the riders did not know how to drive! The bumper cars ran at a decent speed and offered great turning. Hersheypark offers lap restraints in their bumper cars; Knoebels does not. Regardless, the bumping and bouncing was still a lot of fun! I wish the track was larger however. Not only was the track small, but this lead to frustrating and frozen traffic jams. Nevertheless, would still recommend them since they handled so well! Best in the world? I don't know about that! Look here. I find Denmark's take on bumper cars interesting and exciting; no set direction, no vertical pole to complete the connection, and a lack of tight seatbelts. Ironically, Tivoli, the Danish amusement park, had based their design off the American wild-west!

Maybe I'll review Tivoli at some point. This was years ago however, and it's hard to remember specifics. 

After the bumper cars, we decided to check out the haunted house. Now, recently, I visited Ocean City, Maryland for the first time, and I had a blast! The scenery and environment was fun, but the people were rather stupid it seemed. That's for another day though; the point was, I had a blast on their terrifying haunted house. Got a nice picture too:

Anyway, they had employees act as "spookers". There was a Mikey Myers, a Ghostface, a Ring girl, and I could have sworn there was a dude with a chainsaw! These guys were excellent at their job, and they really improved the horror experience! Kudos to you OC MD! Now, back to Knoebels. With this experience in mind, I began to set expectations for the Knoebels haunted house. I knew their wouldn't be live actors here, but I will say, the props themselves were still pretty good. They really got me with lights, sounds, and fast objects. There was this one semi-truck who blew his horn and turned his lights on right in front of us; that really got me. 

So, in hindsight, not as good as OC MD, but still pretty good for a family amusement park. With that being said, they do have a second haunted house; I did not get to try this one however, as it wasn't open, which was unfortunate, because it seemed more interesting/unique to me. It's called Black Diamond if you're interested. I'm assuming they didn't open it due to a lack of staffing. 

After the haunted house, we walked over to their version of the Coal Cracker, the Skloosh, which to me was rather disappointing. My friends seemed to like it however. Perhaps they liked it because you could pay a quarter to splash a cart with a geyser! They asked a kid on the side to splash our car behind them, and we managed to convince the kid that they didn't mean our car. Thanked him on the way off! I didn't like it because it had a few turns, and one major hill at the end. Hersheypark's had more speed and it was longer. It felt like most of the ride was spent going up hills to be honest. The best part was when my brother said his signature line at the top of the hill: "Are my socks gonna get wet?"! Regardless, I'd still ride it. Would I attend Knoebels just for the ride? No. Probably not. 

When we finished at the Skloosh we headed over to get something to eat. We noticed a kid had a frosted cookie on a stick, and my friends desperately wanted to try it. We decided we'd find it after the rides, something of a treat before we leave. We found possibly the most crowded food court in the park, and ended up waiting fifteen to twenty minutes for reasonably priced food. We also found a horse racing/skeeball game, reminding Tory of the GTA V casino! He decided to try and play it until he won the Bob Ross plush. Although he was not successful, he was good. Caleb and him blew at least five dollars on the game ($1 per game). 

After this, we finally remembered that we had to ride the best wooden coaster in America: the Phoenix. Lasting two minutes, reaching a top speed of 45 mph, and a max height of 78 feet, I didn't expect amazing results. Boy was I wrong. This ride was certainly the most fun! It also explains why we waited in line for about a half an hour. The thing with this ride that makes it so special is the fact that it does not have any seatbelts! This meant, you would get some serious air on the ride! We all had a blast, and could not stop laughing! I was too scared to let both hands off the bar, but it was certainly more fun than worrying! It reminded me of the comment at Hersheypark, but better. It's hills were similar, although I think the Comet is slightly shorter, and more boring. The Phoenix was born in Texas in 1947, and reborn at Knoebels almost 40 years later! Both the Comet and the new Phoenix were manufactured by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters.

Finding it hard to leave such a fantastic ride behind, we considered hopping back in line, but chose not to after seeing the line. We then proceeded to head to the Cosmotron, which I thought was the same thing as a Gravitron. It was not. It was most definitely not. Nevertheless, it came out to be one of my most favorite rides there. They displayed a light show corresponding to the song Two Princes, by Spin Doctors. I love this song, so I had a blast. We think they played Thunderstruck during the ride before us. Compared to Hersheypark's Music Express, this rides was significantly better, despite being smaller and not as fast. This ride turned off the lights, sped up, slowed down, turned around, and just offered a great time in a dance-party-like environment. I would've done it again if we had the time! Highly recommend! I didn't even hurt my hip like I do in the Music Express! Ezra, however, did not like it. Ezra says, "Children on the ride produce soul-piercing screams; I have hearing loss". This is Ezra's way of saying he had a good time! 

Next was the Stratosfear. The ride Noah and I both despised for me not to be terrified, I demand a horizontal velocity component! Drop towers don't have that. Close to the Hershey Triple Tower at Hersheypark, the ride stood at a max of 189 feet. Now, let me make it clear: I did not like the Triple Towers. Any of them. And Hershey's was the tallest; so I was somewhat concerned about this. Now, believe it or not, the ride was somewhat disappointing. The ride went up incredibly slowly, gave little warning of the drop, and only did one drop. Tory was all for the ride until he was on it, which is when he began to regret his decision of riding the ride; the drop car just kept rising! I convinced my brother by acknowledging the fact that we may never ride it again. I probably wouldn't pay for that ride; too quick. However, it did go 2 MPH faster than the Hershey's at top speed! Although Caleb and Ezra liked it, I did not. If this is your thing, go ahead. Try it. I won't recommend it though!

After that, we decided to visit the Twister, another wooden rollercoaster. Although it wasn't as fun as the Phoenix, it was still awesome! This ride seemed to be the fastest wooden rollercoaster I've ever gone on! For reference, Lightning Racer at Hersheypark has a top speed of 50 MPH; the Twister has a top speed of 51.5 MPH. Boasting a ride length of two minutes and ten seconds, the ride offered the classic, "OMG, I'm gonna lose my arms if I put them up" for a considerable amount of time. I knew it was gonna be a good ride when I felt the deck rattle as the car flew by! Comparing it to Wildcat at Hersheypark, the ride had more large drops, and a lot less pain! There was still some pain, just less! But what do you expect? That's half the fun! All in all, not as good as the Phoenix, but definitely the second or third best wooden rollercoaster I've ridden (Lightning Racer rivals it!). Highly recommend!

Fun fact, Lightning Racer of Hersheypark was ranked the 6th best wooden roller coaster in the nation according to some chart the Phoenix displayed; the Phoenix was #1, hence why they showed the chart!

We then set off to find the goods we've been waiting for. Food. The others were quick to find the cookie sticks. Caleb found funnel cake. Gavin almost threw up eating the entire cookie! I wanted something else: cotton candy. I never had it, and I wanted to feel like a kid again. I got a $5 bucket of cotton candy, and scarfed it down. It tasted like fur, but dissolved really quick. Unfortunately, when it dissolved it left a slight after taste, but that was it. What I did eat I liked however. I liked petting it because it was so soft and fluffy! All in all, worth the money, and I am now satisfied. 

As we were walking to the food, we noticed a train, and decided to ride it once we had eaten. It was a nice break for Gavin, and a nice trip for me. Certainly not as good as the Hersheypark train, but still pretty good. It was a mile and a half long if I remember correctly. The seating was tight, and certainly aimed more towards children, but I was at least hoping it'd be more accommodating towards adults! Here's a picture of the seating: 

After that, we decided to ride the ski lift one more time, just to enjoy the view, as well as recap on our day. All in all, it was a good day. I wish we could have ridden more of the rides, but the staffing seemed too limited to open all of them on a Monday. One of the rides I wanted to get to was the Flying Turns ride. Look it up! The prices were very reasonable, and was just really pleased with the experience we had there!

Thanks Knoebels!

Well that's it folks. 

As always, 

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"Are my socks gonna get wet?"

- Noah

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Review, College, and Adventure!

 Good afternoon everyone! 

I hope everyone here had a happy holiday, I know I did! 

I would have liked to post much earlier, but a lot had happened recently, so I couldn't find the time. Let's start with Christmas. 

This year was much like any other; we get up, open presents, then go to my grandparents the next day. 

This year, my parents got me new winter boots, which will really come in handy later (I'll explain later in this post)! I also got a new laptop, which is what I am writing this on as of now. It's a really nice Dell Laptop, so Dad, when you read this, thanks again. There is only one issue with it: the OS is Windows 10. While I still despise Windows 10, I really don't like Edge! I need to set Chrome up on this laptop, but I just haven't got around to it. One of the gifts I did not expect was a multimeter! It's a really nice Fluke 117! I try to use it whenever I can, since its nice to practice and experiment with. All in all, the multimeter is most certainly my favorite present. 

So like I said, we went to my grandparents the next day, and it was nice to see everyone. Well, mostly everyone. My one cousin has COVID-19, and therefore could not attend the get-together. That makes him the second one in my family to have become infected by the virus. He seems to just have a cold, and will most likely be just fine thankfully. Anyway, another one of my many cousins, a Lance Corporal in the Marines, was there with his girlfriend, and it was nice to see him too, but that's not why I brought him up. I think it was one of my aunts who offered him the task of opening the wine bottle. Well, I'm not sure if he's never done this before, but it didn't go well. He took the bottle in one hand, and the corkscrew in the other, and really, really pulled on the screw. In fact, he pulled so hard on both components that he dropped the wine bottle. As you would expect, my entire family started screaming at him. His father, grandmother, and brother were the most furious. He kind of just stood there chuckling in shock and surprise. Naturally his brother and I then turned to his girlfriend to rightfully welcome her to the family! 

His brother doesn't serve in the military and instead works for a mortgage company. He's really kind and enjoys writing stories. I don't mean your typical novels; I'm talking really odd, but interesting, science fiction stories and the liking. He does this on the side, and even gets some published! He and I talked for almost the entire time at the family gathering. He typically likes to go on and on about this table top roll playing game called Vampire: The Masquerade. It's like D&D but with vampires. And it's not like I don't enjoy listening to his explanations and stories; in fact, as a fan of D&D, I find this alternative really interesting! 

Now that I have discussed the gathering, I suppose I'll move forward in chronological order. Next up, would be my college decision. Oh, I should mention, I got accepted into Penn State University Park! I finally decided to commit to a college once I found out how competitive Penn State dorms were. I also figured, what's going to change between now and January when I planned on deciding. 

After consideration for many months, I decided on: Michigan Technological University. 

Why? Well, let me start by discussing my insecurities with high school. While progressing through high school, especially in 10th grade, I learned that I was not like everyone else. 

I did not take interest in athletics like most people, nor was I good at them. I got into bad training habits and that really disappointed me. While most of my classmates were focused on their looks, relationships, and athletics, I was focused on my grades and not much else. Throughout this, I kind of blindsided what everyone else thought of me. 

This is how its been for a very long time. Like a very long time. For crying out loud, my best friend was my teacher in 3rd grade. I absolutely hate looking back on this, but I still recall standing next to her for the entire duration of recess for many days. I don't know why I never caught on like most people, but like I said this tunnel vision of mine remained for many years. 

When I reached tenth grade, I realized all of this and rapidly became more and more self-conscious and insecure. I became much more quiet. I considered very few people friends. I looked more and more towards my robotics team for support. 

This is when I learned that a lot of people on the robotics team appreciated and liked me, the old me. The one who naturally fit in, and didn't go into this depressed hiding state. I feel like I can revisit that old me at MTU. 

Now, how does this relate to my college decision? Well, I feel as though Penn State is a larger school and it will therefore be more difficult to find out where I fit in. I also distinctly remember, both my faculty advisor and student contact saying that no one is trying to impress anyone at MTU. There are no cliques, and everyone gets together as one. That unity sounds amazing, and that sounds like the college experience, I not only want, but the one my mental state needs. 

MTU is also an adventure. I have been up there once, and I have never experienced that much snow! I want to travel and see the world, and I figured it would be nice to knock one out in college too! This interest in traveling probably came from my father, and it really grew after we road tripped out West!

The campus is also really beautiful. Here are two screenshots that I just took while writing this actually!

 

Side note, I applied for a private bathroom in the dorm on the right that looks like a right bracket from above (]). It's called Wadsworth Hall. 

Lastly, the education is just as good as Penn State. I get more hands-on experience, which is rare at a school as large as PSU. I also got a scholarship worth $80,000, and I think its nice that they recognized my hard work. 

The only concern I have is with my dad, and the younger me. As a child, I always grew up wanting to go to Penn State Main Campus, and now that I finally can, I don't want to let my younger self down. I don't think I will though. I was naïve and did not look at any other school. I also feel like Penn State has changed ever since they closed Ye Old College Diner! I kind of took this as a sign that this might not be the school for me. Although the campus is beautiful, the community just doesn't suit me. But like I said, I don't want my dad to be disappointed that I'm not going to his Alma Mater. He has said many times that he isn't and I do believe him now, but will it always be that way? I hope so!

So there you have it. That's my college plan. Oh, I majoring in electrical engineering if I haven't mentioned that. 

Now, time to move onto the 29th. On the 29th, we went skiing at Elk Mountain! I was ecstatic because we just bought some gear and everything the night before! I also can say that I went on an intermediate, or a blue (it was labelled as green; I think that was a mistake!). It didn't go very well to say the least! But I conquered the bunny hill with ease, as well as a kind of long and steep hill called the West Slope. I had a lot of fun flying down that hill with my dad. We also brought Noah, who had never really gone skiing before. He focused on the bunny hill while we were there, and resorted to falling as a way of stopping! By the end of the day however, he seemed to have got the basic concepts down pat. Skiing involves a lot of confidence in your speed and ability to stop yourself in my opinion. Here's a photo of me at the top of West!

Yesterday, the 30th, I also managed to finish writing a Reddit reply bot! The bot simply insults people upon command, and you can find the open source code here! I need a server to actually get it working, but right now, it uses another API to generate evil insults and will insult whenever its name is called upon someone in a reply or comment. But like I said, it will only work, when I'm running the program on my computer! Here is the link to the code on my GitHub. I surely think this is living up to my alias!

Today is New Years, and I have my younger cousins coming over soon. They want to celebrate New Years with us they said, and I was really surprised because I don't think they know we don't do anything special!

Anyway, thanks for reading whatever I'm going to call this. This is probably my longest post yet, and am surely exhausted now. I think I spent an hour and a half writing this. But nevertheless, it's nice to vent here sometimes.

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

Snowmobiling!

 Good morning to my readers,

First, I want to apologize for the lack of posts recently. I truly try to post often, however I do have a lot of work and school work nowadays. In fact, I have work later today! Anyway, let me get into today's topic: snowmobiling! 

I had never been snowmobiling until yesterday. One of my robotics mentors owns four snowmobiles, and has ever since I joined the team. Or at least four. I'm not exactly sure. Anyway, yesterday, he pulls up outside our house in one and asks my brother if we'd like a ride. After a quick, suspiciously quick, tutorial on how they work, we had our helmets on and our butts on the seat. 

We took off down a small path, across a road, and into a large basin. As soon as I got moving, I fell in love with it. It was the coolest experience I have had in a long time! The highest speed I could get the one to was 55 miles per hour or so. This is really fast for a snowmobile in my opinion! My brother and I did this for a large period of time that afternoon. 

We liked it so much however, that we decided to do it again that weekend! As long as our mentor allowed it of course (which he did). This time, we got our dad to try it! After he drove several laps, I think it's safe to say that he liked it! We also convinced a few of our friends to come over and go snowmobiling with us! Unfortunately, the day ended in tragedy and bloodshed . . . not really, but there was some tragedy. 

When our three friends arrived, we gave a quick demonstration and tutorial, and then threw them on it! One of them did not like to go fast at first, one found the acceleration of the vehicle the best part, and the last one only cared about drifting. I eventually named him the "Drift King"; this youngster was well-known for his high speed turns and drifts, earning him this name. He continued to prove himself worthy of this title, until we had an accident. The accident came while using a small sleigh that was meant to be pulled along by a snowmobile that does not like to perform insane turns paralleled with incredible speed. I was the first one to ride in this sleigh with him, since nobody else really trusted him after riding on a snowmobile with him. I figured, "Why not? More space and I'm not going to fall off, right?". Wrong. He does one lap at a decent pace, and then decides to pick it up and go nuts. A little past our halfway point, he does too sharp of a turn too fast, and the sleigh flips while moving thirty some miles per hour. Note that the snowmobile suffers no damage and does not flip. The driver is quick to slam on the breaks once he hears the rolling of the sleigh, but he was not quick enough. I skidded a little bit on the ice, but was able to crawl out and pull myself up. Thankfully, I escaped with only a few bruises and a lot of snow covered body parts. If you're wondering how I did not get a head injury, it's because I was wearing a helmet. In fact, my head is what hit the ground first! 

So, as I just stated, I crawled away with nothing too serious. The sleigh however suffered damage to its windshield; by this, I mean it broke! So, the driver and I are paying for the part replacement, which isn't too bad since its just about $32. Our mentor is a very handy guy, and will surely be able to fix it right up once we pay him!

You might be thinking this brought a screeching halt to the activities, but it did not. Rather, I climbed back on the speedy snowmobile and accelerated down my hill, doing some more drifting and driving. 

We wrapped up once it got dark out. We drove the sleds back to our mentor's house, gave him some gas money, and hiked back through the snow. When I went inside, my parents said someone called the HOA, and said we had gotten too close to kids. I panicked after hearing we had a $100 fine, and quickly went to tell my friends. I stated that I would pay 3/4 of it, since it was typically me who went over there. What can I say, I liked speed. But then, my mom walks out and said it was a joke. We weren't charged, nor did anyone have a problem with us. I took a sigh of relief, and then collapsed in the snow! We all then said our farewells, and that was the end of this adventure. Hopefully we'll be able to do this some other time!

This also made me look at Michigan Tech a little more closely. Michigan Tech is a school that gets a lot of snow, and I have been considering them my number one pick for a long time. They participate in and host the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, a challenge that focuses on redesigning a snowmobile to be cleaner, quieter, and more efficient. This is the place to be if you love snowmobiles! They used to make a 100% electric snowmobile, and I wish they would bring that back, but it's alright. Ideally, I'd be able to do some electrical work on the team if that is were I choose to go and that is the team I choose to join. 

But that discussion is one for a later date. 

I hope you enjoyed reading, although I know my stories and blogs aren't the most exciting. 

Now, I have to get back to class!

Thanks for reading, 

The Questionable Programmer

Brainf**k Adventures

 Hello readers!

Looking through my posts, I notice how few people look at these. I think it would be fun if people find this here years later. Anyway. 

This week was nice, as I only had to go into school twice! Robotics is going well, and I'm working out most of the issues in the code. Today I got to work on more scholarship stuff, so I'm pretty exhausted. 

However, I finally did something this week that I've wanted to do for a long time: learn Brainf**k. I think it is rather obvious what the title is, an its called that for good reason; the language is complex and hurts your brain! Here is the Wikipedia page. As you can see, the language has eight commands, and is Turing-complete. 

See why it's called that? Anyway, I'm working on gaining a deeper understanding of the language! I really enjoy it, and its a lot of fun writing in that language and succeeding. It shocks some people! I even made my own interpreter for the language. I wrote it in Python, and it appears to be fully functional. 

For those who are wondering, here is what the "Hello, World!" program looks like it. I doubt this is most efficient, but this is how I did it. Believe it or not, this version is rather simple. 

Easy, right? I'll leave that there I guess. 

Alrighty, I'm exhausted and have to go do some stuff.

Thanks for reading, stay safe!

The Questionable Programmer

Long and Fun Day With Schoolmates

 Good evening! 

Just wanted to pop in and give a quick update on this week. First, my stress levels have gone down. So that's good! 

But today I really exhausted myself. First, I get up at 7 AM to go climb Governor Dick Tower to fund my brother's trip to Camp Swatara, an outdoor education program my school does. I will say, it was a beautiful day however. It was a lot of fun, and I got to see one friend who I haven't seen in a good while. He's actually Chilean, and my brother's 'child'. I was also really impressed by my one, less masculine and courageous friend, who climbed the tower with ease, even though he complained a bit! Eventually, the Chilean kid called him, "more useless than Mongolia's navy"! I have no idea what it meant, but boy was that funny. We kinda got lost, but we made it back once we found the road. Of course we looked like lost hitchhikers but that's ok!

After that fun experience, I went to robotics and put Arch on another computer in a record time for me! I love doing these Linux OS installation speed runs! I also submitted an essay, requesting a beta tester position for the FRC 2021 software. We'll see what happens. We're getting a CNC machine, which is really exciting, because this is our first major piece of equipment that we actually own. 

Lastly, I went to work around 4:30 with one of the five attendees at the climb/hike today. It was a long, tough day. I stood at the door and counted people, limiting the occupancy of my store to 18. My one supervisor also said that I had to do be ready to do returns across our area, which isn't my job, as they were incredibly busy, and I was the only other one who was qualified to return items. She said to think of it as practice for being a coach! I really hope I get promoted, but at this point it is still pure speculation. Did not make many friends with people today though; apparently, people don't like waiting in forty degree weather. These inconsiderate guests unfortunately forget that I've been out there 20 times longer than them, and I was just trying to do my job :(. 

This isn't super common, and I try not to let it get to me, but it's definitely frustrating. 

Anyway, that's all for tonight I think. I'm awfully tired, but I'm gonna go play R6 Siege I think. 

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!