Turn left

On the way home today I decided to turn left. Normally I would turn right, but today that just seemed wrong. Turning left was very nice. It turned into a 20 minute ride up SR 87. It was a very nice70 degrees out, the sun was just setting, and I figured out the cruise control device on my Harley. Life is good.
I also reconfirmed that I need to move my highway pegs. They are definitely set for a shorter rider. BTW.. I no longer worry about the bike. There are still a few more things I need to adjust and tighten up if I was going for a longer ride, but I feel pretty comfortable on the bike now.
I was supposed to go to the gym tonight.. only the third time since football season started (my normal gym days where Monday and Thursday). I feel like my little motorcycle ride was a better use of my time.

I was in DC last week for work for a few days.. I forgot what a sharp wind can do when it is in the 30s. My lips are chapped but my bones where happily chilled. I will be heading up to Seattle in January and spending some time along the coast doing some work. Holler at me if you want anything from Forks. I can't guarantee I will have time to stop there, but it is along my route.

normal ol' update

Its been almost a month since my last post. As I write this I can remember at least 2 instances in the last few weeks where I said "I should post about this" but I can't remember what I was going to post about. Lame.

I've been riding the bike much more frequently. It is pretty entertaining, although I think I would enjoy the rids more if I finally broke down and took my bike into a shop and had them do a full inspection/service. I just don't feel confident in my 2 wheeled mechanics skills to just relax on the bike instead of trying to pay attention to every little detail of its operation trying to find something I missed. "Was that a pop from the engine when I let of the gas? Is that late firing in the cylinder? Should my shift linkage sound like that? Does the suspension feel right or do I need to add some pressure to the back?" I won't take the bike in though.. I will continue to suffer through the onslaught of second guessing myself instead of forking over the $3-400 (or $600 if I take it to the HD dealership).

Kristina and I completed our first "group ride" a week or so ago... it was less than stellar. I am not a great group rider yet. I locked up my tires (think small chirps not a long screech) stopping at a fresh yellow light because I didn't want to split us up. It was the very first light we hit and all we where doing was going to the end of the street to gas up. Not a tactically sound decision on my part.
Later in the ride I jumped out in front of a city bus. There was plenty of room for me.. but not enough room for Kristina. I figured she would pull in behind the bus, go around it, and catch up to me. She missed the window behind the bus because some guy was barreling down on her coming off the freeway off ramp and she was busy watching him. Once again, not a great tactical decision on my part. After that I let Kristina lead but neither of us had a great idea of where we were going (i.e is the Olive Garden on this corner or the next). I love you honey.. but lets not stop in the turning lane for a quick conference. If we pass the place we can always turn around. I don't want to make her sound reckless. Were we stopped was pretty safe since it was right at the end of a divided median so no oncoming traffic could have accidentally hit us (unless they where hopping the curb and driving through some trees). It just didn't feel right to me.

Yesterday was much better. We had another group ride with a friend from work and her sister (both on 1 bike). Since she has a small bike (500cc w/ a passenger) we made her lead so she could set the pace (especially on the freeway). I brought up the rear and generally spent most of the ride keeping people from creeping up on us (why do drivers think that 3 feet is a great distance to follow motorocycles). I only had 1 person try to merge in to me.. he only made it about 2 feet into my lane before he saw me even with his passenger door. I don't blame him though.. I saw where he looking and my wife does look damned good on her bike.

Fried eggs and rice

I don't know if this is a bad thing or not, but we just finished off the last of a gallon of soy sauce. It took about 4 years, but this 2 person household has consumed an entire gallon of Kikoman Soy Sauce from Costco.
My wife feels that this rate is very low. I have the exact opposite opinion.
What do you think?

/rant off

I have been trying to come up with a way to make this post without ranting and I just don't think I can do it. Its about the commerce driving the rhythm games Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
This next bit is some history and you can all probably skip it and head to the end where I start my rant.

/History
Harmonix produced Rockband 1 and 2 and kickstarted this whole craze which caught me by storm also. They realized that people wanted more out of the game and that there was a renewed passion for music in their audience so in the effort to give the people what they want they sold off the guitar hero rights to developer Neversoft and started a new project that would give a full band experience: Rockband (this also had the side effect of getting them out from under all the crazy licensing restrictions they had to accept before anyone believed this game concept would work). Neversoft churns out guitar hero 3 into what Harmonix realized was a market going stale only to see Harmonix's new project once again take over the gaming world and reach the holy grail of video games... casual gamers and hard core gamers alike.
Following suit and trying to maintain the marketshare they thought they had purchased Neversoft releases a full band game that also includes a microphone and drums to give the full band experience: Guitar Hero World Tour. This project is definitely rushed.
Here is where the problem starts. Due to a bunch of lawyers getting into the thick of things, a licensing battle ensues and Guitar Hero World Tour is released with their own set of guitars, drums, and microphone that aren't quite cross compatible with the game everyone already owns (Rockband). In an effort the separate themselves from their competitor they give the guitar a touchpad to use for special effects (that doesn't really enhance the gameplay at all) and add an extra "button" to the drums.
After an uproar from the customers, they get the liscensing thing worked out and when Rockband 2 gets released we find that it is able to use the Guitar Hero drums.

/Rant On
So the state of the gaming world works like this.. Guitar Hero World Tour comes out after Rock Band and everyone gets mad for being forced to by new instruments for the same game, so after a while the Xbox and PS3 got psudo patches to the game that would fix the problem and allow the guitars to work on all games. The Wii versions where delayed so long that it was released with this feature worked in. However, due to the greediness of Neversoft, the Guitar Hero series only works with the Guitar Hero drums since it was designed with an extra "button" giving it 6 drums to simulate instead of Rockband's 5 buttons. If your confused your not alone. Here is a handy chart to help sort out the compatibility mess. It is very sad that something like this is necessary.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/11/official-guitar/
http://www.joystiq.com/Instrument-Compatibility-Matrix/#Wii

This isn't too much of a problem, the simple solution is to buy the Guitar Hero drums. Unfortunately.. today... you practically can't.
The drums are available as a stand alone instrument for $90. NINETY FUCKING DOLLARS!
Guitar Hero World Tour was sold in a special edition Band Kit version that includes the game itself (normally $50), the drum kit, a guitar, and a microphone for $130.
"Great" you say, "Lets get that". You can't. It is pretty much discontinued now. If you didn't buy it last year, good luck (you could probably get it online, but for some reason that seems silly when I have 3 Best Buys and 5 gamestops within 5 miles of my house). You can't order it from the stores, according the best buy the item is listed as "deleted". Well fuck off. All I wanted to do was buy the damn drums so I could play drums with the new games that just came out Beatles Rock Band. Sure.. i could buy the Beatles rockband full band kit for $140, but the drums won't work with the 2 guitar hero games I already own. The only set of drums that works with all versions of these rythm games is the World Tour drums.. and the only way to get them is pay an outrageous sum of money.. if you can find it instock. (Of the 8 stores mentioned before, only 1 of them has the $90 peices of plastic in stock).

Angered by all of this mess I decided I would just buy Beatles Rock Band and a microphone. Screw the drums.. no one really likes to play them except for me.
So I go to Best Buy to get Beatles Rockband. It is $60. Ouch. I look for a microphone. There are no microphones (except for a $60 Xbox360 wireless one).
What the HELL?!?! One of the HUGE feature of Beatles Rockband is the ability to sing Harmonies! The catch is you need more microphones (you can use up to 3 with the game for the full on Beatles 3 part harmonies).
You would think that a store would put the one accessory people would be most interest to buy out with the game that could potentially generate 2 purchases of said accessory with each sale. If you thought that you are over qualified to act as a Best Buy store manager. No.. what you should do is ignore the fact that most of your customers will want a second or third microphone for the game and only stock the game itself.
As the consumer you do have the option of trying to find a generic Logitech USB microphone.. it doesn't have to be a special one to work with the game. Coincidentaly, Best Buy had some microphones in stock.. in the musician center on the other side of the store. The microphones where $60. (If you could find one sold specifically for the games, they go for $20).

Faced with the reality that the only way to get my wife to play the game with me was to spend $120 for the just the game and the microphone I opted to spend the full $140 to buy the Beatles Rock band Full band kit. This is essentially the Rock band 2 band kit including the drums that only work on rock band games.
Oh.. I forgot to mention the Beatles Rock band Limited Edition set! It is $230! What do you get extra? NOTHING! The guitar is shaped like the Violin Bass that Paul McCartney used and the drum set has a large round piece of plastic that looks like the Beatle's iconic Ludwig drum. Oh.. and its wireless instead of wired. I guess that 1 extra bluetooth modules for the drum set cost alot.

I realized today that come Christmas a new Guitar Hero full band game will be released and I will once again have the opportunity to guy the Guitar Hero drums for a reasonable price. Yah free trade.

100th post

My 2 month old power supply succumbed to IDS last weekend. The RMA finally arrived on Thursday and I am not happy to report I have to pay to ship the old one back. On the bright side, I have my computer back.

Kristina and I took the Rider's Edge course last weekend and we both now have our motorcycle licenses. I have had a bike sitting in my back yard for exactly a year and it is sad that it took me a whole year to find 5 consecutive free days in which I could take the class, especially since I managed to squeeze in 2 vacations during that time.
I am still not riding the bike because all the paper work seems to have been "misplaced". We are looking for a bike for Kristina, and I honestly am more excited about that since I hope to "borrow" it a lot to improve my skill. My bike is a little intimidating to me as a newbie.. 725 lbs is a lot of iron to throw around and that 1450 cc (88.48 cu in) engine is no joke either.

I saw Zombieland yesterday with Don. We both had head-aches leaving the theater. Apparently not a lot of oxygen gets to the brain when you are laughing for 80 minutes straight. The movie was damned funny and the dialogue was written perfectly for a comedy horror flick. Terrible one liners and awful puns coupled with a copious amount of blood made for a very entertaining experience.

A post about nothing

A few weeks ago I was officially accepted to grad school at ASU. It was a very nice 3 line acceptance email. I complained about it for almost a week before I realized how much I sounded like an old man. "Whats wrong with people today using the emails. Whats wrong with a good old fashioned letter on real paper?" Sure, its one thing sending a note to a friend but we are talking acceptance into a higherer level of education. I am excited about grad school, I guess I assumed my school would be excited too.
I was going to continue this post with a description of those damned kids and how they aren't getting off my lawn but I don't have a lawn and I'm not quite that old yet.

Our culture has peaked...

...Culinarily speaking.
What has caused me to draw this bold conclusion you ask? A rare and elusive sandwich to end all sandwiches has been spotted at KFC. THE DOUBLE DOWN!!
The double down is two fried chicken fillets wrapped around bacon, cheese and Colonel's sauce. I don't know what Colonel's sauce is but I am told "deliciousness" is the main ingredient.
I have yet to find this elusive and mythical beast, but make no mistake. When I do it will be a become a feast of epic proportions! (or more like me just eating an all meat "sandwich").

Found this on youtube, thought I should share.

I found an interesting video on youtube entitled "lost generation". I am on the cusp of Gen X and Gen Y which according to wikipedia makes me a Cold Gen Y, since I remember the end to the cold war. I have no idea if that makes me part of the lost generation (I don't think it does).
Regardless, this is a pretty great video.

Probably not my brightest move.

I donated blood yesterday afternoon around 2pm. At 6pm I went to the gym with Tom. I had every intention of only providing moral support from a nice stroll of a pace on a treadmill. That lasted for 2 minutes, turned into a 10 minute run, and then a leg work out.
By the end I rationalized it as "zombie training". You never know when you will need to perform a mild workout after losing a pint of blood. I am happy to report that my legs are up to the task.
Surprisingly, I was smart enough to skip the beer with dinner when I got home.

Academic Masochism

I applied for grad school today.
That is all.

New Computer

I built a new computer last weekend (and brewed beer at nearly the same time!)
This is what I picked up:

Gigabyte EX58-UD3R motherboard
Intel Core i7 920
6 GB Corsair DDR3 1600
2 x 60GB OCZ SSD (stripped for 180 MB write speed, 310MB read)
Corsair 620 watt PSU
Antec 300 case
LG 22x Sata DVDRW
Windows 7 ultimate RC

I used my old Geforce 6600 GT to do all the installs and migrate my files and profiles over from my old machine. It currently has my geforce 8800GTS 640MB and I have a new dell 23" monitor on the way. The video card will probably need a bump by the end of the year.

If anyone wants to buy any of the parts (or the whole thing) of my old computer, let me know (this offer isn't open to the public, the readers who are eligible know who they are.
I am currently putting it through its paces and should have some performance reports by the end of the weekend (as a taste.. I haven't noticed any slow down in supreme commander on a 40x40 map with 1,000 units in play).

breakfast

there is a cafeteria on site at work.  I found out today they have biscuits and gravy.

My gut will not be thanking me.

 

Jealous

I am probably going to get in trouble for posting this first (maybe not since I think she just beat me) but Kristina just got the Palm Pre. We are sitting at Chili's not talking to each other and playing with our phones. She started it.
We look like we should be carded if we ordered an "adult beverage".
I am jealous of her new shiny toy, but I am holding out for the HTC touchpro2 which should drop in the next month or so.

because its early

I am posting this morning because I woke up at 5:15 am for no damn good reason. I was really hoping to get a good nights rests last night because I have a party to go to tonight and I don't want to crash early. Apparently my body has different plans. This is an important bit of information to know when reading the post because it helps explain why I am posting. I don't have anything really new to share or any great thoughts I need immortalized on the interwebs... I am just awake at 5:30 am on a Saturday and have nothing to do. Its too early for cartoons, I don't want to play video games for fear of waking up Kristina and its too early to start on any good chores (once again.. for fear of waking my wife).

I got my diploma in the mail yesterday. I guess I am now officially a graduate. There was a small snafu with my degree at the very end. Apparently one of 17 layers of administrative staff didn't pass my grade along so it was still listed as "NR" (I assume that means not received) and a hold was placed on my degree. A quick call to my instructor and it was cleared up by the next day, but I was pretty mad for about 3 days (1 day to find out, 2 days to get it fixed). The registrars office did send me a nice letter though. Nice thick stationary, dark and bold print, oh by the way you don't have a degree yet. Its nice to know that in these economic times the university still finds the money to spend on fancy stationary.
Just for the hell of it, here is a picture from graduation:


Work is good. I got moved from the BOI group to FRACAS. I am pretty sure it stands for Failure Reporting Analysis and Corrective Action System. We are basically level 3 tech support for rescue 21. This is actually a good thing for me since it allows me to work on RF issues (my new area of responsibility on the team). It is a much better utilization of my unique skill set and knowledge base and I think I will be more productive with this group.

On another completely unrelated topic, one of the benefits of GD is a free gym membership. Luckily it is to the same gym that Kristina has been going to for a while now. I have had 3 sessions with a personal trainer and that man is an evil son of a bitch. I bought 3 more sessions with him.
I have wanted to see a trainer for a while because I know I have some really bad workout habits that stem from some injuries I sustained a while ago and I need help correcting them. I can already feel a difference in my left knee. The last session involved a lot of squats and I have had no unusual stiffness or pain in the joint. Come to think of it, that may be because I just can't move afterward.
The gym really isn't my thing, and I don't enjoy going. I have never really enjoyed exercise just for the sake of exercise and I have grown to just about loath running. I have a number of friends who really enjoy it, and I have experienced the runner's high but I still don't consider running very fun. It is hard for me to find the motivation to just go do it. Unfortunately, I know it is a necessary evil, especially with my ever expanding gut so I will just do what I always do. Suck it up and keep going. That won't mean I won't stop bitching and moaning about it though, and I may stick to other forms of light cardio.

All growed up

I have completed my first week as a regular working stiff. It is slightly depressing, but the pay is nice.

For those far removed from my every day life, I am working at General Dynamics in Scottsdale. I am working as a systems engineer which is what I wanted to do (no settling here!). The difference between systems and say just plain electrical engineering is that instead of working on some sub component like a filter or an antenna, I get to work on the large level design and implementation. I don't design the radios, I design how they are used.
The project I was placed on is near its end, so there isn't any design work to be done but there is plenty of work to do since we are in the deployment stage of a national radio system. (new hire insite: that's why my division is called National Systems Division!)
I am currently working on Rescue 21, a Coast Guard project that "takes the search out of search and rescue." I am sure I have mentioned it before, but hey.. this is my blog so you get to hear about it again.
Rescue 21 replaces a wide range of aging, obsolete VHF-FM radio communications equipment currently in use ("aging" as in the original system design was something like 1970.. not a whole lot of digital there.) One of the biggest improvements (besides capacity, reliability, and quality) is the addition of real direction finding capabilities. The new system can locate the position of a call to withing 2 degrees. Using triangulation, this works out to a search radius of something like 11 miles instead of the old 3o0 miles. This is a pretty nice thing to have when all you get is a 1 second transmission of "HELP" and then the radio goes silent.
Here is a nice little overview.

Life at GD is an interesting affair. I worked for another business unit a year ago and got a good taste of the corporate culture there. Things are a little different here.. not better or worse, just different. The facility that I work at has something like 5,000 people. It is big. It is easy to get lost since the room numbers don't follow any real logical order other than 1000s is first floor and 2000s is second floor. There is an on-site cafeteria that has some pretty good food, but you pay for the quality. Think $7.00 for a sandwich and a drink (but the sandwich is better than subway).
As far as the computers are concerned you are your employee number. You employee number is attached to you name in everything... which I guess makes sense when you have 30 John Smiths (actually, I think there are only 2). We have an instant messenger client at work. Its probably reduces the email load on the servers but that's about it. As far as I can tell people mostly use it to find out what the plan is for lunch. One of the downsides to having so many people working there: NO FREE COFFEE!! To keep all the robots happy though they put a Starbucks in the building. You can get Seattle's Best from the caffeteria or get your caramel mochiato if you have a 9 figure salary and don't mind paying a 2000% mark-up on sugar and coffee. One of my tasks next week will be to find a coffee maker for my desk.

So far I like it at GD. The group seems pretty engaged and full of nice people, it took the usual 3 days for them to realize my competency and assign me additional tasks. My main job is working with the Bill of Information group to configure all the equipment for each deployed site (like the IP plan of all the equipment and frequency maps for all the radios). I am also getting spun up on deployment procedures and will be a backup for the deployment team who actually set up the equipment and fix any problems or implement system changes on site. There has also been talk of hooking me up with the RF group to do site studies for radio coverage issues.
I am definately not an intern anymore.

fruit

Earlier this week I got a tour of some experimental farms run by the univeristy of hawaii from an agriculture professor in Hilo. Along with some really cool flower hybrids they are working on for the resorts they have a number of exotic fruit trees. Lychee is great fresh off the tree and I really like jaboticaba berries. Jack fruits a huge and smelly but there I wasn't able to try any. I got to see cinamon and nutmeg trees, cashews and macadamia nuts, pinapple, banana, avocado, sugar cane, and Kona cofee!
Some people may not consider this fun but it was a hilight of the trip for me. Hilo is pretty cool, if a little wet.

Cat Butt!!

Sometimes it nice to know the retired director of a zoo. Its even nicer when he takes you through the zoo and the animals know him! A few gruphs and huffs and a "go up there" and the white tiger came right up to us instead of playing with the chickens at the bottom of the acre large enclosure.

The fun has begun

By fun I mean the 30 minute delay (so far) because there is an accident on the 10 and the pilot is stuck in traffic. The 6.5 hour flight is now seven and counting.
Also, I don't fit in the seat. Litterally, I have to spread my knees appart and sit with my butt all the way against the backrest and my knees are still pressing (not just touching) the seat in front of me.

I love travelling.

(update)
It turned out to be a 2.5 hour delay. Just after I posted they had us deboard the plane. We finally got to Hawaii and I got to drive the 3 hours to Volcano Village in the dark. Dont worry, the next post will be happy and not quite so full of travel angst.

Test post #1

Testing email posts from phone.

Test #2: posting from phone some more. This is getting twitter-esque.

Heading out of town

This morning I am leaving for Hawaii. We will be there for a week. Its O.K. to be jealous.
I start working the Monday after I get back. Don't worry, this won't interfere with my posting schedule since there isn't one.

President Obama at Commencement Ceremony

President Barack Obama was the speaker at my Commencement last night. It was pretty awesome and in case you missed it, here it is:




There where some pretty interesting pre-ceremony entertainment.
Apparently Alice Cooper's son, Dash Cooper, goes to ASU and his band Runaway Phoenix played some songs. They where pretty good, but the real treat was Alice Cooper came out and sang "Schools Out" for the finale! It was very fitting.
This graduation thing isn't so bad after all.

Things to do today

Some of my friends like to make lists. I thought I would try that today. Here is the current status of my list.

Things to do today:
Vaccum
Wash the car
Post on the blog
Mop kitchen floor
Fold laundry
Finish college


That last one was deceivingly time consuming, difficult, and expensive.

Did you know that it gets hot in Phoenix?

Its April 21st, and at 11:30 AM the thermometer on my porch past 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I was really hoping to at least make it to May before our first 100+ day.
Sure, I could loosen the purse strings and turn the AC down a notch.. with it set to 80 I average 90 in my office during the day (stupid computers), but I like being a cheap son of a bitch.

I guess I will move to the living room to finish my homework. I only have about 3 hour worth left anyway. Its a light week (but only because an assignment was pushed back by 5 days).

An era comes to an end. No one sheds a tear.

John Madden is retiring from football announcing. For many he has been a staple of an American past time. For me he has become a staple of football comedy. I can't say I will miss his commentary, but I will miss making fun of his commentary. I will miss placing bets on the clock time for his first screen drawing. I won't miss his overstating the obvious and less than insightful commentary. Sure, he often times has insights on the game and is great for the novice football fan but he has been getting worse with age and his insight has become less insightful.
Goodbye John Madden, happy retirement.

Life is happening

My elongated silences are bothering me.
Life is happening, some interesting, some noteworthy.
I am just to "busy" to make any new posts.
By "busy" I mean lazy. I think my brain is slowing down. I just can't seem to find the motivation to organize my thoughts into something I am willing to let the world read.. although if anyone wants to hear about my attempts to make a broadband complex permeameter for thin film ferrite using a shorted transmission line I would be more than happy to bore the interest right out of you.



Sorry.

To fdisk or not to fdisk

I have been thinking of wiping my laptop and starting with a clean build (maybe even adding some ram and throwing on the windows 7 Beta).
The problem is I don't want to lose my good old XP backup. I also have a few programs for school loaded on there. Most of them have been migrated over to my main rig (matlab and labview) but the one I am using alot right now, mathcad 13, does not work on Vista. Sure I could get mathcad 14, which does work in Vista, but it costs $130 for the student license and I will only conceivably be using it for another few months.
My mind is telling me no, but my body.. my body... err, nevermind.

In other thoughts my research lab is shutting down at school. While this doesn't immediately put me out of a job, it does make things around the office a little tense. We are on contract to finish a few projects, so they are keeping me on until the end of the semester, but the gravy train is over. No more charging hours to develop things for the lab (like new fixtures for my antennas or reading research paper). Its all about finishing the material testing and no more double dipping my senior design projects with lab projects (and thus getting paid to do my homework).
Oh well, things could be worse.

That about sums it up

We all know my joy of a good debate. Some people just consider me argumentative. Some people are thoroughly confused as to my real stance on issues due to my tenancies to play the devil's advocate in an attempt to foster meaningful and productive conversations (and because it leads to debates!!).
That being said my stance on DRM is not usually ambiguous.
I have long wished to join the music loving masses and enjoy the iTunes store but usually talked myself out of any real steps in that direction with a double headed argument based on DRM and my cheapassedness.
One of my favorite webcomics, XKCD, has very succinctly summed up the current stance of things for me.

(due to my laziness I am linking to the comic here instead of embedding the image, which would require me to either alter the author's work by resizing, or re-coding some of the template I am using.)


By all rights I should now be purchasing music on iTunes, so why haven't I?

Monthly update

I have realized this blog is only good for 1 post per month (I may have had this realization before but I don't remember it). When I started it I was really hoping for 2-3 posts a month at a minimum. Its not like I have nothing to talk about. On a weekly basis something will happen that makes me think "I should blog about this" but by the time I get home I have too many other things to procrastinate on.

The vacation was completely and totally awesome. It was a real change of pace and helped put everything into perspective. It also makes me want to be rich so I can afford the kind of personal service found on the cruise on a permanent basis. At the very least, a maid and a butler/personal assistant.
My wife posted most of the pictures on her flickr account. If you have access you should take a look. The rappelling in Puerto Vallarta made for some impressive pictures. If I get too bogged down in my homework and am looking for a distraction I may post some here.

E, e, and C came down for the superbowl. You know I like them a lot since it meant letting a known steelers fan STAY in my house. As you all know by now the Cardinals lost but I am still happy. We made it to the superbowl and the game wasn't a blow out. It was a close game that came down to the last few plays and the Cardinals showed the world that they do know how to play football. I just hope they can hold on to this team for another season or to and make some more play off appearances so that people don't call this season/team a fluke.

Little e is a pretty cool baby. He has good genes and I expect he will grow up to be a well rounded adult full of ambition, intelligence, and a slight loathing for the military-industrial complex (even though it is probably paying for his college).


I have a pretty easy semester on paper. Only 8 credits. I just wish the classes didn't take up so much of my time. One of them is an Individual Instruction project that is taking way more time than I though it would. I spend a lot of time researching material (papers and publications) for the class. I really wasn't expecting my instructor to say "go find the stuff that will teach you what you are supposed to be learning." It has led me to the opinion that our academic publishing system is flawed. There is a lot of crap papers out there. I never really agreed with institutions basing performance on works published by the faculty and the last few weeks have really strengthened that opinion.

Vacation... its not just for working stiffs anymore

My wife and I are leaving tomorrow morning for a week long cruise to Mexico.
We are finally taking a honeymoon so I am leaving the laptop behind and turning off my cellphone.
We have some fun excursions planned and even more lazy free time planned.
I hope I will be too busy relaxing and enjoying my vacation to go into internet withdrawals.