Good Start

Today was a good day for a few key reasons:

1) I jumped a pay grade at work (a raise!)
2) I went to the dentist, and had no cavities
3) I got a free Starbucks coffee and coconut chocolate chip cookie at the dentist
4) I saw the Transformers movie

I was greeted by someone this morning having a panic attack about what happened to the stock market last night. That is probably THE dumbest thing to worry about, in my opinion. Worrying, while not a good way to fix anything, will certainly not fix Wall Street. So I don't let it bother me. I think I pissed someone off by saying "It's not affecting my day to day routine, so it doesn't concern me". That might sound immature and brash, but honestly...does it? If what happens on Wall Street doesn't stop you from getting a paycheck and buying groceries or paying for shelter...what's the difference? All I know is I live happier not concerning myself with it, so I'm good.

While at the dentist, I saw Sarah Palin on TV. I like her. She expressed her view on a key issue, and said she was "unapologetic" about it. That was a nice way of telling people too bad if they didn't like it. I also like her because people seem to be picking on her for the dumbest things...and that gives her more credit in my book.

PS...why don't I see any dirt on Barak Obama on the magazines in the stores? So far all I see is McCain and Palin bashed for *gasp* having a pregnant teenage daughter!

Picture Post

Picture post! Ready, let's go.

This first set is of a Saturn I bought this past week. For $50. It runs, it drives, it looks ugly, it has 245,000 miles, and it's a piece of junk. It will have parts taken off that are worth money, and then sent to a car crusher. Yes, that is tape on the driver's seat.








Here's a picture of my chimney. It's damaged, and I want to fix it before winter. It looks simple enough actually. I climbed on the roof today and took a look, then made a trip to Home Depot and bought my supplies (after speaking with a worker about concrete patching). This should be do-able


I wore this shirt today, and it reminded me of this picture. This is Paul and I from 2005 doing Thermodynamics homework.

Yuck

You know those times when you are just in a disgusted attitude, about something you can't really pinpoint? I'm in one of those right now, and it's not just one thing I can point to, but a lot of little things. I'm really tired too, this week took it out of me.

I'll have something better to post tomorrow, it's actually a suprise so stay tuned!

Babysitting

You know what's really fun to wake up to at 5 AM on a Monday morning? A crate full of dog poop. First of all, this has nothing to do with Walter. Walter sleeps beside my bed in his tiny little bed, like a well behaved dog deserves to do. These dogs that were in crates, in my basement, are spawns of Satan. One really is, the other one is probably a deamon spawn. That's all I really want to say about them. I never knew I could despise an animal so much. Ok, I'll stop now.

I want to talk about movies. I was thinking today that there is not just ONE movie I like. I think I have a top 6 or 7, so I'm going to list them here. They're in no particular order, just movies that I would consider my favorite.

1) Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
2) American Beauty
3) Elizabethtown
4) The Fountain
5) The Rules of Attraction
6) Maria Full of Grace
7) Requiem For A Dream

If you're reading this, even if you're some random person from Latvia, take a second to add a comment and list your top movies.

My small group/Bible study has been going really well. There's only about 5 us each week, even though there's technically 8 of us in the group, but we're all in the same age group give or take 2-3 years and have a lot in common.

I'm certain now I'll be back in South Carolina for the Clemson vs. Duke Homecoming game on November 5th. Myself and two other people from work will be driving down for a short weekend, but it should be a lot of fun.

I have to go before I rip this dog's vocal chords out.

I Love Naomi

This is Naomi, and no matter how mad you get, you can't top her. I love it.

Grass

I have grass growing now! This is a momentous time for me. Since I've owned my house I've dealt with looking at dirt and weeds and random grass sprouts. Raking the lawn cleaned up a lot of dead grass. The front yard is finally growing. There are teeny tiny little sprouts coming up. I'm excited.

I did the back yard tonight. I finished raking it, then seeded it and fertilized it. Hopefully the resutls in the back will go well. I think we only have a few more weeks left until leaves start to fall so I'd like to get some grass before then.

Tonight I'm going to do research on grad schools. It is something I am considering, an MBA. I feel like I want to further myself and keep moving. I do NOT want to become stagnant and common place. I know now, if I'm not challenged my mind will rot. I need something to stimulate it, pretty much at all times. I hate not being productive with my mind.

Speaking of being productive, I think laughter is a good thing. Especially when you're on the edge of using language you normally wouldn't because a program is being retarded. For example, this afternoon I had a headache, and I was dimensioning a drawing. At times, the dimensions did not want to cooperate and it was getting rather frustrating. This went on and on, and I would simply recite to myself (maybe my lips even moved, I'm not sure) "NOOO stupid, that's NOT what I meant". Stupid refers to the computer by the way. This went on and on for a while, then one of those friendly little warning boxes with a red "x" popped up, and said:

"At this time, it is impossible to dimension the selected element"

Right. At this time it's impossible. First of all, nothing is impossible. Second of all, how is it impossilbe at this time? Will it be possible 5 minutes from now? Maybe. Yes, it will be possible. I know it's possible because I did it. But not before I did a print screen and taped the warning sign to my computer so I can remember how a little warning box can sound so stupid, but make you laugh.

What I Did This Weekend

- Ate deep dish pizza at Buddy's, one of the country's 10 best pizza places, according to Food Network
- Finished the 5th Harry Potter movie, now I anticipate #6 this November
- Helped Dan clean/organize his basement
- Helped Dan list a huge amount of stuff on eBay from his basement reorganization
- Went to church
- Went out with Gina to a Thai restaurant

I like that list format. It's easier to see what I actually DID do. It rained about 5 inches here this weekend, nonstop Saturday and Sunday so this was a perfect weekend for that work that makes you stay inside.

The Pokemon of the Week finally got updated! Suprise.

I Missed You

I heard someone talking about a blog today, and I realized I haven't posted on mine in such a long time, and that I missed it. So here I am.

Some interesting things have happened, like I thatched my lawn. Thatching is a technical term (I guess) for raking up dead grass clippings on the ground. The idea is that by raking up that dead grass, you expose the soil allowing new grass seed to be planted. So I planted grass seed as well, and fertilizer. I have such a tiny yard but it took up a good portion of the weekend.

Another interesting thing. I met a nice girl. A guy I work with who in a contractor for us pulled me aside last Monday and basically asked me if I would be interested in meeting his younger daughter. He said he doesn't play matchmaker, but he thought we'd be really good together. I went out with her this past Sunday and had a very good time. Her name is Gina, and she's very Italian. Very Italian. Almost like Marissa Tomei Italian, but not quite. My favorite thing about her was that she was very open and active and lively. There was no stupid dead silence or shyness. That is my biggest turn off - is shyness. I know the guy is supposed to "lead" but nothing annoys me more to than to hear "well whatever you feel like is fine" or "whatever you want to do is fine with me". You have an opinion, use it please.

Something else I did not realize, is that I am a good singer in Rock Band. I actually scored 98% and 99% on two songs. I originally did that as a joke, because let's face it, I DO like to annoy people and a good way to do that is speak, or sing. Singing works really well, especially to "Crush Crush Crush" by Paramore. That's a good one. When I say I'm a "good" singer though, I mean I can hit the key right, but the voice is awful. I don't think that's whats important for rock band though.

Yesterday was Grandma Hazel's birthday. Happy Birthday (late) Nana. I got to call her from work, but I didn't sing. As much as the Chinese people who sit behind me annoy me, I didn't want to sing out loud.

That's a good point, let's talk about those Chinese people that sit behind me. They annoy me. BADLY. In China, for some reason, they must teach people to eat in the most non-ettiquette way possible. This means slurping all your food as loud as you can, almost like sucking in a spaghetti noodle, but with rice and beef. Then (yes it's worse) they can't drink like a normal person. They have to slurp and sip very loudly. I bet you're thinking I'm prejudice or rude. Well I'm sorry, but you're wrong. Watch one of them eat and then come tell me you're not disgusted. So, what annoys me is having to sit behind them. Because they drink tea constantly, and sip loudly constantly, followed by "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" cough cough! I can't STAND it. Even with headphones in, I can still hear it. I called Jamie, our admin over to listen today. She heard it too and agreed it is horrible. She went as far as to say they need to be corrected, because while that behavior may be acceptable in China it's not here, and they need to stop. I think I agree. I think I will say something soon.

Back to Gina now. We're going to be going out again this weekend. I'm not sure which day yet, but I will call her tomorrow.

I'm going to California October 4 - October 7. I decided I wanted a vacation so I'm taking one. I'm going to Mountain View, south of San Fransisco to visit Jay. Hopefully I'll get to see Kiki while there too (I think so). I haven't been to California since 2001 so it will be nice to go back. The airfare was super cheap too so that's a plus. AND I get to change planes in Minneapolis. I've never been to Minnesota before, so that's another good thing. Now all I have left is Wisconsin, North Dakota, Alaska, and Hawaii to complete.

I heard the book "The Catcher In The Rye" is supposed to change your life. It's a classic, and most people read it in High School or college, but I didn't so I felt cheated. Did I mention I have been doing a LOT of reading? I have. I really enjoy it a lot too. Catcher just didn't do much for me. It was about a kid named Holden who is being kicked out of a private prep school, and what he does in the 4 days between being kicked out and going back home to face his parents. He doesn't really do anything Earth shattering though, and it happens in the 1940's so it didn't do much for me. The book "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" however did, and I recommend that book to anyone. It was amazing and I read it in 2 days because I couldn't put it down.

Walter is falling asleep and I'm ready to go to sleep now. Now that I'm all caught up I will be back more often, and not let the dirty habbit of not posting rear its ugly head again. Night!

1 Week and I'm Back

I haven't updated this in forever. I guess the last time I posted, I was about to go to South Carolina.

South Carolina was a lot of fun. This time it was a little more relaxed than last time, but it was still busy. I think I could always use one more day. Overall it was a lot of fun visiting family, seeing my dad turn 50, and going to Clemson with friends.

When I was leaving work Tuesday I was heading out and a guy I work with stopped me, and was asking me about one of my projects. Then, when I was about to leave he asked me if he could talk to me, about something personal. He said he wanted to go into a conference room. I got a little nervous, because I didn't think there was anything personal we would need to discuss. When he shut the door he was stuttering a little and said he didn't really know how to ask this, but he wanted to know if I had a girlfriend. I said no, and he asked me if I might be interested in meeting his daughter. He had talked to me about her before, but basically just told me about her. He gave me her phone number and told me to give her a call. I talked to her last night and she actually seemed really nice and friendly over the phone. We decided to go out on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it. I think it's good if someone's dad recommends you...it's like you get the hard part out of the way first. So we'll see how it goes.

Dan went back to South Carolina with me, and he took back 3 tires for his Saturn since his were in bad shape. When we took the rear tire off we found this:

In case you didn't know, that's a stabilizer link. That's what I design at work. It looks pretty simple, doesn't it? It's pretty complex actually. Do you notice anything wrong with it? I'll give you a hint, the ballstud isn't supposed to be pulled out of the housing. That's bad. It's not safety critical, but you could tell a difference when you turn. Your car would roll more. So, that needs to be replaced. And to think...I write 14 pages thinking of every possible failure for a part like this...