Monday, May 31, 2004

So volleyball was canceled last night thanks to some roller skating party. Oh well. I played some Frisbee Golf with my family instead. I never played that before, but it was really quite fun. I'd recommend it to anybody! The larger the course, the more fun the game!

It looks like rain today, but I still have off work, and you don't need to swim on Memorial Day to have fun. Don't know what I'll do yet. And Amy, no tattoo . . at least not until I'm around to get one with you.

Saturday, May 29, 2004

It was a little cold outside, but it didn't ruin the pool swimming fun today. I even managed to get a little sun. OK, a decent amount of sun. Also, I got my light-up frisbee in the mail today. Of course I played for hours with it. I even got my dad throwing around with me at night. He's getting pretty good too. Soon we'll be passing the disc between other people's yards.

I also talked with Amy tonight. Apparently she bought a pair of flood pants a few days ago. I'm just taking my opportunity to make fun of her. What were you thinking? Is the water getting high around where you live?

Friday, May 28, 2004

Ahhhh the joys of wireless networking! I'm currently sitting outside watching the sunset while I type my blog. Tim, if only you were here with your camera. So in other news today, apparently it was Yard Sale day here in The Cove. Someone however forgot to give me the memo. Just about every house I passed on my way to work today had a whole mess of stuff to sell. Yard Sales....They're like eBay only not as much junk. Well the long weekend has finally arrived and I am completely prepared for it! It's time to go have some fun! And that pertains to all of you!

Thursday, May 27, 2004

What in the world! Apparently someone has been going on a cat killing spree with their car. I bet I've seen about a dozen cats in the last few days who lost their ninth life due to a big fat automobile tire. I think its a conspiracy. Cats of The Cove beware! Big Dog Goodyear is rollin' your way!

In my usual style, on a completely different note, my old neighbor stopped by to visit today. I say old not implying that she is old, but they moved away over 10 years ago. They were by far the best neighbors you could possibly have (no offense to my current neighbors whom I am good friends with, you are the second best neighbors). My sister and I were just little tikes when they lived next door, but they did tons of stuff with us. I remember the New Years Eve parties stopping around in the snow at midnight, banging pots and pains. I remember their one son giving me a hockey stick for my birthday and teaching me how to play. And the endless summer days of swimming in their pool and summer nights trying to catch the bat that kept swooping down across the pool. It's amazing the memories that simply seeing a person from years ago can bring back. I am truly grateful for all they have ever done and I hope they stop back again real soon!

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Google.com watch! This blog is up to #5 position if you search google.com for "James Barley!" Let's keep that position rising folks! I'll show that Canadian Woodturner what's up! Actually, I've communicated with him before. He seems like a good guy.

On a side note, does anyone else think it's odd that the spell checker for this Blog website does not recognize the word "blog?"
The Cicadas are taking over! Though you can't hear them quite yet, their shedded skins can be found covering trees from top to bottom. I watched one yesterday come out of its "shell" and eventually leave its place. I watched others crawl up the tree to park it somewhere to chill an re-emerge later. They are quite the species. I'm wondering where they all are right now. There are thousands and thousands of empty skins everywhere! You can't help but step on some every step you take. There must be a HUGE pit of living adult cicadas near by just waiting to make me deaf with their songs.

A scarier thing than the encroaching cicada take-over was this morning's 400AM storm. You might as well have turned the lights in the room on because with the lightning every 10th of a second, you wouldn't have known the difference. The rain was poring down at a rate of about an inch every 15 minutes! I could hear hail hitting and bouncing out of the gutters. With this racket going on I could hardly sleep. I decided to look out my window so I could watch the lighting striking the trees in my front yard. However, it was raining so dang frickin' hard all I could see was a sheet of water blocking my view of everything! Needless to say, It's been a long while since I've braved a storm like that and lived to tell the tale. I think I'll end it there while you ponder that last sentence.

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Why am I working with moisture probes again? I thought I was done with these things. Turns out now, I am the company expert on them, and since The Workplace just bought a brand new one, Your's Truly had to go help make it work today. The question we will soon see is how accurate are they? For 10 grand a pop, they better be darn accurate!

So I was taking my Tue/Thurs run today when I was about a quarter of a mile from the end and a huge lightning bolt from the sky shivered me timbers from less than a mile away. Shortly there after the rain started to fall. Now, let me tell you a little about lightning. You can determine the strikes distance from you by counting the time between what you see and what you hear. For every 5 seconds you count, the lighting is one mile away. Also, I'd like to point out that you can pretty much draw a 5 miles radius circle around the strike and say, that anywhere with that circle, another strike could occur with pretty good odds. So, here's my math question that results from the above information.

So, if I'm cruising along at a decent rate of about 7.5 mph and I count 4 seconds between flash and boom, what is the rate of chance in my running that would allow me to get home before I die? The answer: Fast. I hauled it the last quarter mile and with the ran and all, I got so absorbed (pun was intended of course) in running I forgot all about the approaching storm. It was quite nice.

Finally let me just say, that my legs hurt even worse today than they did yesterday. Isn't muscle pain supposed to get less severe as the days go on? Hey, what do I care? I say bring on the pain!

Monday, May 24, 2004

It's nice to know Andy can now share in my workplace technology, which he'll soon realize is a huge annoyance, especially being computer literate. Our Cisco phones at The Workplace are IP phones, and I'm assuming they are the exact same ones Andy will be using. The hookup and online directories are nice, but the reverb on the line is a bit annoying and the random phone call that got directed to is just plain bothersome and time consuming. "You wanted to sign up for what? And that is where? I'm going to have to transfer you Buddy." Second, the thin client workstations are nice in that all your files are always backed up on the corporate servers, but you loose the expressability of your PC. No cool wallpaper or customizable start menu. And if the network goes down, well you're just screwed. It's a good thing I get a PC because I'm a programmer. It all may seem cool now Andy, but just give it some time . . .

Sunday, May 23, 2004

It's just like Kramer says, "OH YEAH!!!" Pick-up Volleyball was tonight. We played non-stop from 730PM to 1000PM. It's been a very long since I've played at a level in which I played tonight. I'm not the worst person playing, but I'm definitely not even close to the best . . . yet. The people that play are really nice and most of them are about my age, or a little younger. There are a few older guys playing too. I think I played pretty well for a guy who hasn't played hard core volleyball in over a year. I can't wait until next Sunday! This is definitely going to make living in The Cove much better! Hurray for people who love to play volleyball and are good at it!

Now I'm looking forward to the muscle pain tomorrow morning. It's like a double bonus! Volleyball one night and muscle pain the next! Andy knows what I'm talking about.
Well it was a good run. If you haven't been following hockey lately, then you probably don't know that it is hockey playoff time and that the Philadelphia Flyers were fighting to compete in the finals. Unfortunately the Flyers lost in game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning after a spectacular overtime finish the game before. It's been a while since any PA sports team has made it too the playoffs. I'm holding out for the Stillers come September.

I finally saw the movie "Big Fish" last night. I've been wanting to see it since it came out in the theatres months ago. Julie and I rented it last night and it wasn't disappointing by any means. Though I think Julie was falling asleep in the chair next to me, I think it was more from just being tired. I'm sure if she would have went to bed at 930PM the previous night, she wouldn't have been tired either.

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Here's an analogy for you. Fill in the blank. A night without power in The Cove is like a night ______________________. Is the answer: A. In your most fantastic dreams, B. Filled with excitement and adventure, C. That is scary and fearful, or D. From the Stone Age? The correct answer would be D. Thanks to technology, having no power and living in The Cove means you are dead in the water. No water, because there's no power to pump the water out of the well. No going outside to play because it's nighttime and your neighbors think the answer to the above question if C, so they won't answer the door and you can't call anyone because you are the only person in North America that still has a normal analog telephone that doesn't need power. Sure cell phones work, but I don't know anyone's number. Oh well, come 1130PM the power was restored and we were able to flush the toilets once again. A good thing since there was nothing to do and I went to bed at 930PM on a Friday night. Let's hope tonight is a little more fun.

Friday, May 21, 2004

I'll tell ya. Thanks to Chris stating 20 is old, you might as well call me Father Time at 23. Crap it's only 2 more years until the big quarter century. **Jimmy shudders.** Let's move on to a different topic.

It's the weekend! And thank goodness for that. My 700AM meeting this morning made for a long day. But, I made it thru and with minimum scaring. I need a drink. It's been a long week. A very long week. Where's Bartender Tim when you need him with my drink of the week? I was told it was coming back! Where are you drink of the week!!!

Thursday, May 20, 2004

Another day out of the office. I don't when I'm going to get all of these projects done. It could be a while. You know, time spent with Ashley is always enjoyable but usually have some pretty good conversations in The Van on long trips. Today was no exception. We blew some steam and shared some laughs. I think the more time we spend together, the better we work together. Each day I seem to enjoy by job more and more.

I finally got to run today. It's been a long while due to work and all. I was cruisin'! The weather was nice and foggy so I get to sweat a good amount without really getting hot. It's the perfect weather for running.

I have a meeting at 700AM tomorrow morning that I'm not looking forward to. When can I get some sleep around here? The bad thing about being salary is that even though I've worked 10 hour days for the past week, I can never make up for that by skipping a day or leaving early. I guess my 400PM hair cuts will have to make up for it.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

So, I'm sitting at work around 620am this morning when my phone tells me I have a message. I check and it turns out to be Somerset again! Another computer disabled due to some fancy lightning. This is the third one I replaced in less than 2 months. I checked and double-checked all power cables and the whole computer batching system runs thru about 4 different surge protectors. I think I pinned the problem down to the printer. It was the only thing taking power directly from the wall. I figure lighting goes in, kills the printer, then travels thru the parallel port cable right into the computer motherboard. Bye bye computer batching system. So I tied the new printer into the surge protection stream as well. Let's hope I made my last trip out there this year.

To add on to Andy's recent blog and an older blog of mine, turns out Ashley and I will be picking up #12. Another already writing program that requires supporting. So are we the only one's there capable of supporting VB.NET applications? Definitely not. So why are we getting them all? I don't know. To make things a little better, some of these projects are finished and we are only supporting them. But the fact remains, a programmer who would work only on research and development would be a HUGE asset and not a bad idea. Especially now in the busy season.

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Stop the insanity! Another Seinfeld-like day today. We ran around like chickens with our heads cut off today. Communications with each other failed and so did the state of New York. Ashley and I sat around from 1200pm to 500pm waiting for a state inspector to show up at a plant. A very non-productive day. The half-morning long meeting didn't help matters either. I'm pretty sure it's been over a week since I've been able to sit at my desk and be productive. Oh well. Here's to busy days and early mornings. Tomorrow I'll be getting up before the sun again so I can be at Roaring Spring for the New York state inspection at 700am. I need to sleep! SLEEEEEEEPPPP!!!!

Today's Classic Quote: "Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes you pull the bear's pants down." -- Randy

Note: This quote was derived from two previous quotes of Gary. "Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you." and, "Sometimes you gotta open your fly."

Special Note: Gary is not a "disgusting" guy by any means, he just has a way with words sometimes.

Monday, May 17, 2004

When my alarm went off at 430 this morning, I thought to myself, "Where am I? What is going on?" Then I remembered I told a plant I'd be there by 700. What was I thinking? Not too many people on the road at 530. The guys at this locaiton are pretty sharp, but their computer skills are lacking a little. I think once they get past that fact, they won't want me there to hold their hand anymore. Even a mother bird at one point doesn't come back to nest. So, you can imagine by the time I got home at 530 this evening, I was pretty beat. Here's to 12 hour days!

Before I forget, Andy, send me that list you've accumulated of Messiah Engineers. Maybe I can help fill in some blanks.

On a final note. Down with high gas prices!!!

Sunday, May 16, 2004

I think my friends are pretty lucky to have friends like me1. Not too many friends would miss out on a beautiful weekend by the pool to see you graduate. Not too many friends would wander aimlessly looking for you after the graduation ceremony just so we can say, "Congratulations!" and give you a hug. Not too many friends would be willing to help you pack up all the stuff left over in your room in the blistering heat when frankly, we could be back at home sitting by a pool. Not too many friends would drive hours to see you on your special day and then drive back home in the pouring rain the next day. And not too many friends would sacrifice their own bodies to the blistering Sun and risk the threat of skin cancer and bright red skin to shout out your name as loud as we can when you walk across that stage. And not too many friends would do it all over again if they had the chance. But you know what? Not too many friends have friends that would do the exact same thing for them. I wish the best of luck to all my friends who graduated in the Messiah College Class of 2004. I am grateful for all you've ever done for me, and I wish you the best of luck in your new endeavors!

1Notice I said "friends like me" and not "me as your friend." I am simply implying that there are others beside me that are just as guilty for this weekend's events as I am.

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Boy! There's nothing like a 9 hour day. Especially when you love what you're doing and the time flies by. I was down at Shippensburg all day today upgrading their plant from an old manual system, to a fully computer automated one. I'll be there for another couple days and heck, I could work 12 hours each day and not miss a beat. You know, there's definitely truth behind the saying, "Life is what you make of it." And though, once everyone graduated this weekend I will make some words of wisdom known, I'll provide a little pre-advice.

We all struggle to get thru life. Some of us work hard to achieve dreams, others work little with enough satisfaction. But the fact remains, that life is indeed a struggle. Whether we want what we cannot have or we don't quite know what we want, we can always just live in each moment. And with a little bit of Faith, we can achieve all that we've ever wanted, even when we don't know what that is. So live a little, and gain a lot!

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

What a day! With Ashley and myself taking on two new projects with the loss of a fellow worker, the work load has been quite the work load. I shall now list all the project that Ashley and I, just two people, are currently supporting and working on. The names have been changed to protect who knows what.
  1. Some Ticket Transfer -- VB app that gets tickets from one subsidiary and converts them into a format Corporate can use.

  2. Fuel Chief -- VB app that hits all the company's gas pumps from a central location, and gets all information from them

  3. Time Clocks -- An in-house time clock system board to keep track of employee times.

  4. Plant Control One-- VB app that controls and automates a particular type of The Workplace's plants

  5. Plant Control Two-- VB app that controls and automates another particualr type of The Workplace's plants

  6. Cure Control -- VB app that controls the steam flowing to beds to make giant reinforced structures

  7. Stone Loadout Control -- VB app to allow truck drivers to easily load stone by themselves into their truck.

  8. Schedule App-- VB app that allows trucks to be tracked and scheduled

  9. Standard Deviation -- VB app to graph the standard deviation and other equations for production plants

  10. Belt Scale Board -- An in-house system board that can be used to weigh material as it is carried along a conveyer belt

  11. Vision System -- Vision application used to monitor stone traveling along conveyer belts

Tell me your thoughts? Is this too much for two people to tackle? I may have left some things out too. There's just too much to keep track of.

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Chizzle my nizzle! Today I negotiated with my boss for an extra week off to work at Stony Brook Summer Programs in Stony Brook, New York this summer. All signs look good! I did have to give up this year's raise, but hey, this is something I really want to do and means a lot to me. And in all actually I wasn't going to get this year's raise because I just got a raise two months ago. So upon hearing that, I ran with it. The Boss was completely fine with it, he just has to make sure GW is ok with it. He will be. So look out summer camp!

So on a completely different subject, I finally saw the final episode of Friends. It was good and was properly ended. It made a great point. Though we have these lives that we are completely comfortable with and people who are practically family, there comes a time when we all just have to move on with our lives and live life to the fullest. Of course it doesn't mean that we need to not see those friends again. They can very much so be a part of your life still, but the life you live cannot be bound by those around you. It was bitter-sweet and so is life.

Today's GW Quote: . . . Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you.

Monday, May 10, 2004

And a real quick note! While exploring the new blogging interface, I came across some very cool new templates to use. So for those of you fellow blogger.com members reading this, check them out too!
So it appears that the edit blog format has changed. Right now, I don't care a whole lot for it. I cannot easily see past entries and the look is just completely different. Oh well, change is usually good, it just requires some getting used to.

First of all, let me point out the picture of myself on Andy's blog. Boy Mrs. Kennett, if you thought you've seen better picture of me before, you had better check this one out! And to add some comments to Andy; I too use Mozilla Firebird and it the best web browser I've ever used. So go use it!

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Just as expected, the Pirates lost last night. But it was a good game. Lots of great plays and excitement. The wings we had alone were worth the trip. Well maybe I wouldn't drive that far just for wings, but they were good. And to top it all off, it was Free Pirates Hats night. So we all got a free baseball cap! Unfortunately, we never made it on the big Jumbo-Tron, but we tried our best...well not as much as some people. The Kiss Cam had some people that were going slightly out of control, but I attribute that to beer.

Also being attributed to beer is the drunken man hanging out in downtown Pittsburgh. Since we missed a turn leaving the stadium, we had to circle to big city a little. While waiting in traffic we see a man off to the left in a Pirates jersey on the ground attempting to get up. Then once he up, he bobbled around like he can't get his balance. Then as he approaches the road, he looses his balance yet again and nearly falls back first into on-coming traffic. Luckily someone helped him onto the sidewalk and I told a nearby cop of what was going on. Hopefully that guy got home safely and is probably having a pretty bad day today.

Today has been nice. I washed my car for the very first time and it looks great! You wouldn't believe how silver my car is. I spent a good hour getting the bugs on the side off and making sure there was no left-over dirt. Let's hope it doesn't rain for a while.

Saturday, May 08, 2004

Ahhh the weekend. The end of the week is much of a relief. It was a very busy week, however it was very educational. Tonight I'm heading out to a Pirates game. I did see that the Pirates are in regular season form as last night they had their first 1 hit game at home since 1991. Never disappointing. Well, actually they are always disappointing, but that's what makes them never disappointing. Let's hope they can find home plate a few times tonight.

Thursday, May 06, 2004

Good news! Since I made it to the airport with tons of time to spare, they put me on a sooner flight. That was very nice of them. So now I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my 1710 flight time to arrive. The terminal I’m at has a hotdog stand behind me. Right now I’m not hungry, but if that smell continues to lurk behind me, I may have to eat one. Luckily, the van driver was not quite the maniac that I had on Monday evening, but there were still some scary moments.

So my next stop will be home. I feel like there was something else I wanted to say here, but I forget what. Oh well, I’ll thank of it then add it later.
Well, that's it for me! Later tonight I'll be on my back to the good old cove. A few notes though about my stay and things I've learned.

1. People, if you're at a conference and someone is giving a presentation, TURN OFF OR SILENCE THE CELL PHONE! I bet at least 6 went off today and today wasn't the first time this happened. Come on guys. How old are we? Let's learn some respect for others and remember that the world does not revolve around us.

2. Boston is very fashion "with-it." This may be because the population here seems to be young adults my age or slightly older. Frankly I don't like fashion, and I really dislike those stupid pointy shoes. What, are girls working for Santa Claus now?

3. Bostonians are absolutely obsessed with Boston sports teams. I thought it was just Vikki, but it's all of them! I predict, as soon as the Red Sox win the World Series, all the hype around here will die down forever.

4. People just walk way faster in big cities than in smaller ones.

5. It's annoying when people ask questions to demonstrate their intelligence. Usually you can tell these questions from honest questions by the amount of technical jargon the person uses in his question. Yes, let's phrase the question so only you and the speaker understand it. Actually, I'm not impressed. In my opinion, it makes you look stupider because you can't phrase a question that everyone understands.

6. It appears that NI (National Instruments) only employs young adults, while other companies only employ older folks. NI makes LabView, if you at are familiar with that product. They are big. I find it interesting that the majority of people representing that company were just slightly old than I am.

7. Big cities are nice, but there are far too many people around for my tastes. I'll take The Cove any day of the week!

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Well, only one more conference left and that one is tomorrow morning. Today's conferences were good. I enjoyed the ones on thermal imaging this morning. It might actually have a presents at The Company. In between conferences I did some wondering around Boston. I walked along Commonwealth Ave to Boston Common. Boston Common was very nice considering all of the flowers were in full bloom not only on the ground, but in the trees. I wish my backyard smelled as good. Then I walked up around Suffolk University. I passed some protest at the State House, but didn't feel like hanging out there. So I wondered around and found the place where Cheers was filmed. I thought it was only fitting that I have lunch there considering the character Fraser is rapping up his self-entitled TV show next week for good. However, it turned out the Kids at Cheers day as the place was overflowing with little elementary kids and their teachers. So instead I headed back to the Prudential Center where I cruised the mall there a little and stopped at B & N for a short while. There I picked up a book entitled, The Science of God. The author talks about how religion and science go hand-in-hand. So far I'm at the 2nd chapter and it appears to be very good. I ate lunch at some Italian place in the mall where I had some jumbo slices of pizza. I loaded the hot toppings on them and burnt the crap out of my mouth. But hey, that's the way to go!

After lunch I parked it on a bench in the Prudential Arcade (not a video game arcade) where I read my new book for an hour or so. After that I hit up the last conference for the day and then headed back to the hotel. All in all it was an eventful and stimulating day. I managed to do it all without looking like a tourist as well. Let's not forget, my Super Hero Persona is the Gecko, a master of blending in.

Well, that's about it for now. Looks like it's about time for dinner!

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

A welcome to the newest member of the Bloging Community, Amy Hall. Of course her link will forever be listed on the side over there with the rest of my friend's blogs.
Great news! I found a wireless network to hitch-hike across while I'm in Boston. Let's hope no one finds out I'm using it. Anyway, this means an updated blog for you! Hurray!

Well, the second vision conference was from 3 to 5 pm today. It was a little more boring than the morning session. One guy actually fell asleep at this one and was snoring quite loudly! Luckily, Ashley called during a presentation so I got a little break from it. The presentations weren't real bad. One of the presenters wouldn't give a lot of detail on his project because it was some multi-million dollar package that the client didn't want to go into detail about. His lack of detail resulted in a presentation about which I know nothing about. Poor idea buddy, considering I know very little about vision to begin with. Oh well.

One guy was exactly my type. He talked about vision with label inspection and pretty much mocked his clients for wanting to make sure the label was on straight for Fluffy's Can O' Cat Food. He also stated how important it is to make sure the label is on the correct can. Because, there's nothing worse than knowing you're allergic to corn, opening a can labeled "beans", but in reality has corn, putting the corn into a pot and cooking it, then eating it and being upset that you ate corn and not beans. Humor is always much appreciated!
Vision Conference number one is over with only four more to go. Actually, it wasn’t too bad. The presenters did a fairly decent job. Their PowerPoint’s could have used a little more work (come on people, let’s use dark background and light text not the eye killer white background and black text), but most of them kept my interest. I know Andy can relate but it seemed as though half of the people here are Indian or Asian. And I know I’m the youngest person here. My inexperience in Vision Automation is pretty apparent I’m sure. I walked around the booths after the first conference for an hour or so. It seems our application is something no one is even coming close to doing. Not because it is hard, but because of the nature of the project. The vast majority of vision applications deal with label inspection/location. Other’s deal with bottle shapes and color, but not one application here in Boston deals at all with stone. Data Translation is a vision software company that appears to have software that can easily tackle our problem of looking at different size stone on conveyers. It’s a graphically programmable application than, when completed, can be exported to a Visual Basic IDE and compiled to look like your own companies product. Let’s hope I hear from them in the future.

My next conference is at 3:00pm today. So now, I’m going to eat some lunch and maybe read a bit. The weather is extremely windy here. I feel like I’m back in The Cove. Let’s hope I don’t get blown away!

Monday, May 03, 2004

So it appears that I am unable to connect to the Internet with my wireless laptop while I’m in Boston so you won’t read these next few blogs until I am back in good old PA. The trip here yesterday was quite interesting. I made it to my plane and everything well in advance and our plane was very much on time. So we were on the runway and the main engines had just kicked in to take flight when someone behind me yells, “This woman is having chest pains!” So the engines die down and all 500 physicians on board rush to the woman’s aid. So the plane turns around and heads back to the terminal where you would think the EMS unit would be ready and waiting, but we had to wait for them to get there. Apparently this woman, who was probably my age, has had some gall bladder problems and had an operation on her gall bladder recently. Her screams of agony were very apparent and painful. So they finally got her out of the plane on some type of plane-seat modified stretcher and about an hour after our initial bout to take off, we finally did take off.

The flight was pleasant. I always like looking down at the layer of clouds below you. It really makes me realize how insignificant all of us and our problems are. It’s truly awesome how God can care about all of us when we have to seem so small in His eyes.

So, I arrived in Boston and got my luggage and van ride without incident. The actual van ride however, is quite an interesting story. The driver, of course, barely speaks English and has apparently gotten directions to the hotels he drives to from some virus-infected MapQuest. I’m pretty sure I could get to the hotels much more efficiently without even ever having been here before! We turned left then right, and who knows where else 12 dozen times! And to me, it seems as though the city is in some sort of grid layout as most cities are. On the small stretches of road between red lights and stop signs that probably measured roughly 100 feet our driver was able to go at least 40 MPH. A few times my head hit the ceiling from the driver’s speed and the very poor road conditions. But, after numerous stop signs that must have read, “Go” instead of “Stop” and red lights that apparently appeared green, I made it to my hotel still alive. Let’s hope I don’t experience that sort of excitement until I leave on Thursday.

Sunday, May 02, 2004

It's been a while since I have gotten to blog, hopefully no one will take me off of their blog any time soon. Anyway, last week was quite busy with lawns getting cut and people to visit. Friday I took off of work and traveled down to my alma maitre to see this year's senior engineers show their stuff in the thirteenth annual Engineering Senior Project Presentations. Unfortunately, my fellow ex-classmate and I missed the morning presentations due to time ignorance. All opinions on this topic from here on should be addressed by private conversations only. From that statement alone you should know what I thought of them.

Anyway, later Friday a few friends and I hit up Red Robin for dinner (I know I'm going to hear it from you Andy, and I told them that). After that, my buddy Hillner showed up and we hung out and chilled for the weekend. Saturday was spent playing Ultimate Frisbee and obtaining blisters on the soles of my feet. I couldn't wear my shoes on Saturday since I got blisters on my heels from my shoes playing Frisbee Friday. And, just like last weekend, it was so worth it.

Last night, a bunch of us went out to TGI Fridays and had a few drinks. Some of us (not me) had more than others. Of course, the only way to make these other people drink more is to egg them on and pay for some of their drinks. I can't say the car ride was quiet, but the evening turned out to be quite fun.

Tomorrow I leave for a Vision conference in Boston, MA. No, not eye glass vision, but automation using vision techniques. I can't say I'm excited about this since I'll be going by myself, but it should give me some needed experience. Let's hope things go better than I anticipate. The next entry you read will be from Boston.