Dirk The Jerk

2009-10-28T18:54:00.002-05:00

A summary.

Ive been doing a lot of outdoor things. Hiking/Backpacking. It has been wonderful, been a couple years since Ive done this much stuff in a year. Ive been doing most of it with my 'lady friend'. Shes pretty much the coolest person around. North Georgia mountains on the AT, Stone Mountain. Shenandoah National Park. Acadia National Park and the Cutler Coast. Smoky National Park. It's been absolutely amazing. We've got some pretty big plans for some long trips...but thats in a the future.

Im just tryin to get all my student loans paid off. Work has been going well..keeping those paychecks comin along.

Between work and all of the traveling/fun times with the lady...there hasnt been a whole lot of time for much else. Not that Im complaining. Sadly, its making these posts few and far between. I guess I should be taken lots of pictures and putting them up on here or something.

Right now though, I have to think about getting to bed at a decent time. 5am mornings just come too soon. Maybe some more updates to come, hopefully.

Back From Hiatus

2009-08-01T19:28:00.004-05:00

Wow. So...yeah. It's been awhile.

So instead of trying to recap the...4-5 months in a post I'll just start up from here.

I guess I'm not that great of a blogger. I attribute this to the fact that I enjoy talking much more than I do typing (maybe I should get some speech-to-text app) Pretty much if you really want to know whats going on, then you should probably call me or see me in person.

A lot has happened. The worst has been the passing of my grama. She was the most wonderful woman I have ever known. Beyond kindness and compassion.

Everything else has been going great. Work has been the usual, ups and down, just trying to pay the bills right now then in a couple of years...I'm off into the great unkown (I'll explain that in another post). Im really happy right now I think and altho I like to think myself a generally happy and positive person, I feel like right now Im..more happy. Is that possible? I dont know. Is this proper grammer? Most likely not.

I think for now thats it, I cant concentrate. Hopefully, I will update more on this frequently.

Great Day To Be Alive

2009-02-27T08:53:00.005-05:00

Well good news first. I found Huck. It took about 3 days, but we got him. Im pretty sure that some punk kids down the street lured him out or flat out took him from our yard, and since he was able to squeeze through the fence it wasn't too hard. My take on it is this: the kids got him and took him home tellin mom and dad "we just found him out on the road, can we keep him!?" but then the mom or dad saw the sign up on the street (I plastered the neighborhood with em) and got wise to the situation and made em return the dog. Only thing I know..if I see some kids back there messin with any of those dogs again...bad news bears for them. So after we got Huck back (and Snickers has been jumping out of the fence now too) we had to repair the fence. It took a good while but me Kevin and Jason jumped on it and got it all straightened out. Now he cant get out anymore. Snickers is still getting out, but he's older and just stays around the house so thats not as critical. We plan on fixing that here soon too.

A couple weeks ago I went to athens and that was a lot of fun. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend, so i was outside for a good bit. We went to some funhouse place that had all these games and i did some putt-putt and lazertag. And now my time to brag....I totally owned at the putt putt owning to the principle that consistancy pays off, I only had 1 hole in one to someone elses 3 buut I also had birdies on pretty much the rest, to their 4's or 6's. So after being the champion of that (hey its the small victories in life) we decided to test our skills in the laser tag arena. It was a 3 v 3 no holds barred rumble in the BRONX! Okay so maybe not the bronx..and no jacki chan...or crappy dubbings. Anyways. I believe our team one and I ended up being The Terminator! It was fun.

Saturday me and cunado played some frisbee golf because it was so nice outside. Later on in the day was Ashley's birthday so we went out to eat and then came back to their place and had a 'rave, clubbin, glowstick' party thing. It was a lot of fun, and really crazy with all of the strobe lights and everything. Sunday was more hangin outside and then I headed home in the evening.

Most of the weeks have just been work. It's going pretty good. Ive been working on a radiation shielding calculation for one of the areas in the facility. Its good to have work to do, makes the day go by faster. Altho overall I think were a little slow right now-so its kind of like "what do i do now?" i feel bad just sitting there surfin the computer lol I dont want to get in trouble or anything. The job is good though..I think I'll want to go back to the DIA though in like a couple years or something. If i can get into a different directorate that would be pretty cool, and especially if i can get deployed. Working there just makes me feel like what Im doing really has an impact and it makes my job feel a little more..fulfilling..I guess. We'll see how it goes.

This weekend is just gonna be relaxing. Im so happy for this wonderful weather! They do say rain is comin in so thats gonna stink. Im gonna try an get out to the farm to do some hog hunting, maybe have some bbq on sunday! Tomorrow is trivia night with tara an her friends which is fun, not only for the hanging out but also for 'Helga's' the place we go to haha

ok off to shoot some discs with the bro.

2009-02-15T20:54:00.001-05:00

Huck ran away from home today...

2009-02-06T10:33:00.001-05:00

Goin to Athens...update later

My Middle Name is 'Todd', not 'Fart'

2009-01-24T20:32:00.008-05:00

Last Tuesday was my first day of work. Monday I couldn't go in because SRNS (Savannah River Nuclear Solutions), who control a lot of operations of SRS (Savannah River Site). It can seem a little confusing. SRS is govt owned land by the DOE, so DOE has sole responsibility over it. However, it is controlled and ran by SRNS-the primary contractor. There is also SRNL which is the DOE lab that does a lof of research and other things for the DOE. The rest are all subcontractors-like who I work for. I work for The Shaw Group Environmental & Infrastructure, but am on what is called The MOX Project, which is headed up by Shaw-Areva. Shaw-Areva is a LLC company that was formed to build a Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. Areva is a French nuclear company, and they have already built facilities like these before (La Hague and MELOX) so they have some experience; also considering that they have had no major accidents with reprocessing...ever. So they have teamed up with us, and we have taken most of their design added some of our US flair, so as to comply with our regulations and our performance factors, etc.

Now some folks may be asking:

-Whats this MOX thing?
Well heres some more nerd stuff (whether your interested in it or not) Mixed Oxide Fuel is just a mixture of Plutonium-239, 241 and Uranium-238, 235 to use as fuel in light water reactors (I'll save reactor types for another day..if your that interested).

-So where does this Plutonium you speak of come from?
Glad you asked. What we do is take nuclear warheads from our stockpile that we are trying to diminish and the nice people out at Pantex in Amarillo, TX take em mostly apart (which is totally cool btw I had the awesome pleasure of meeting them while in DC and learning all about it, but if i told ya then yes i truely would have to end your life) Then we get these Pu 'pits' delivered to our facility. We take out the Pu and reprocess it, through what is called aqueous processing. Its using a lot of nitric acid variants and organic solvents. Basically in the end we have nice clean mostly pure Pu-239. This is then ground up and mixed with the U238 that we have shipped to us too. We sinter it all together in pellets, pack it into rods, put the rods in assemblies and then voilà! (as the french would say) you have yourself fuel for reactor plants!

-Great we got fuel, big twow. Whats the use? Why is this any better?
Well there are some definite advantages to MOX fuel. First, MOX fuel will help deplete our nuclear warhead stockpile. Which is awesome. Any nuclear engineer that is for nuclear warfare or warheads or whatnot shouldnt be a nuclear engineer-cause they know what it does and the atrocities associated with it. Thats almost reason enough for it. But wait, theres more! Using MOX Fuel also helps prevent proliferation of nuclear material so no terrorist can come around and steal some Pu and make a dirty bomb or really low yield device. This is also a really big stepping stone for the US towards fuel reprocessing and closing the nuclear cycle. Currently we are on a "Once-Thru" cycle which means we use fuel rods and when they are 'spent' we put them in a box and lock em away (think Yucca Mtn). This is by far the most stupid thing ever! Back in the day Former President Jimmy Carter (who is himself a nuclear engineer no less!) more or less 'banned' the reprocessing of fuel and stuck us into this once thru cycle. It makes no sense! Along with other nuclear legislature he single-handidly brought the advancement of the commercial nuclear power age to a skretching halt. Thankfully this is slowly changing. If we can reprocess fuel then waste would go down at an incredible rate (no more need for Yucca!) So by having this facility we are at the forefront of the change of the nuclear age in the USA. Its nothing terribly new though, other people in the world most notably the French have been doing this (and extremely successfully!)

-Okay, Im really losing my interest in this, like seriously dude. Your freakin me out with all this geek speak. So all I want to know is, what are you actually doing there?
Currently, the facility is still in the construction phase. We're about 30% done, I think. What I do in the project is work on the Radiation Protection Team (and I will probably bounce over to the Criticality Team too). Its me and 2 others and we are making sure that the facility is properly shielded to reduce radiation exposure. This is mainly for when the workers are there, but we also have to look towards when it is deactivated too. So anything that has radiation around it, or could in a disaster situation, we must look at and figure out what the exposure would be and what we can do to keep it low. We also design the monitoring systems and devices to make sure we're always within ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) which every good nukee should know. That is more or less what I will be doing. Then after the facility is constructed, and if Im still there, then I will be part of the same team just more of a engineering monitoring approach.

Alright so that has been really long, but thats about me job. Its pretty cool, because I can go out onto the construction site which is literally right outside and see it all come together. Its also very hectic because a lot of people are working on the designing of this. So you might get a task done with one set of plans only to find out that the plans have changed...3 more times since. Its a good paycheck tho so Im fine with that for now! I got good benefits..I even set up my retirement plan yesterday! I plan on that after I pay off my loans to put in 20% and then I could be retired by 45! We'll see if I can keep that up haha. I work Mon-Thurs 10 hours a day so I have Fridays off. My drive to work is about 40 min in the morning which is a little longer than I wanted, but its 40 min of just basically straight driving, not much traffic so its not stressful. So in a way its like 12 hour days, but oh well. SRS is way out in the middle of freakin nowhere and it is also over 320 square miles so its not like you can live 5 min from work.

Huck is getting bigger. He ate his first puppy food the other day (in his very own puppy bowl), and walked up the stairs for the first time! It took a ton of coaxing and him struggling as hard as he could, but he was determined and finally made it! He's got good energy, he likes to bite alot so im gonna have to straighten that one out. House breaking him is going to be hard I can already tell..but hopefully I can do it. I need to go back to the store and get him some chew bones, treats, a collar. His body looks very daschund but his head is more lab. He sort of looks funny actually, Im skeptical that he'll get pretty tall but he is still young. And either way, Im gonna have to keep him. The little guys grown on me, what can I say.

Augusta has been fine so far. Not been doing much. I come home from work and just want to sit and do nothing cause its been a long day. Today some guys came over and we hung out had some drinks and played wii. They're either married or have a gf, with the exception of me and kevin, so they dont care so much about like 'going out' or whatever to very social places, and I of course am not doing that by myself. Its alright for now though because I have more stuff to take care of like get carpet laid down, get my furniture here, unpack everything. So having a social life should be put on the back burner I guess, right?

So I had to sit through my training class on Tuesday and miss the inauguration! It was sooo dumb. The 10 hour class I could have completed in 30 minutes. I could have walked in, flipped throught the book and probably scored a 100 on the test. Instead I had to sit there and listen to this guy go on and drone about everything for 10 hours. Then I took the test, and made a 100. He acted surprised, I was like Seriously!? There were a lot of other....not well educated folks though, so thats probably why it took so long. It had some general employee training parts so all folks on the MOX Project do it including all the construction laborers. So there were some people there that, ya know, had a little trouble reading and stuff-you could tell some probably didnt make it to high school even. It made it a little frustrating having to sit there all day, but safety is definitely first and especially when it comes to this facility so I see the merit. Anyways, when I finally got home I hoped on the ole intranet and watched the whole thing online. It was pretty cool. Im excited to see what Obama can do. I really hope that he's got what it takes and can help turn around the economy, foreign relations, energy crisis, etc of our country. Its stupid how some people are still all mad about him winning and hate him or whatever-it aint gonna change anything! Get over it! Support him! Support America! I wish him the best because I wish America the best. Sidenote: my advice to every human being is to read I Am America (And So Can You!) by Steven Colbert. You will not cease laughing and in the end....be completely unchanged by it.

This may have been my longest post yet. Im surprised your still here with me! So i'll leave you know with a little word of wisdom:

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons because, to them, you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

2009-01-22T17:19:00.001-05:00

update about the new job, dog, etc coming shortly.

Im just very tired right now. Im essentially working 12 hour days (but only 4 of them!...for now)

"All Kings is Mostly Rapscallions"

2009-01-13T22:43:00.006-05:00

Alright so as promised, here is a picture of the pup that I'm gonna be taking:

His name is Huckleberry (or will be as soon as he learns it). He is only 5 weeks old now, so he's still staying outside with his mother. I'm not so sure how big he'll get seeing as he's mixed dachshund, labrador, and something else like setter. I think he'll be sorta small but still big enough to be able to go out with me and keep up. In a week or so he'll be good enough to be away from his momma and then the real work is going to begin. Thats what Im not looking forward to. Its gonna be expensive! I gotta get a crate and food and stuff and get him vaccinated and fixed. Thats just the logistical part. Then its the training. Tryin to house break him is going to be pretty hard. I'm still debating on what to do. Because I'll be at work all day, somedays kevin will be here (but I dont want to put takin care of the dog on him cause he already has 3 others) But Im also not so keen on leaving him outside all day long-that'll just ruin his training especially runnin around picking up the other dogs bad habits. I'll just have to hash it all out-talk with kevin about it see what he thinks. Either way though I'm excited. I know after about 6 months or so he should (hopefully!) be house broken and well trained and that I'll be better for it.

Huck is basically the cutest little pup ever. Ive been tryin to play with him some-its a little hard cause of his attention span and also the mother is still kinda crazy. He likes to run up to me though and bite on my shoes and roll around. Earlier he was sittin down behind Hershey (a pretty big dog) and got a little interested in his tail (its sorta like a german shephards). So Huck starts biting at it and then gets a good grip and starts doin a tug o war against Hershey's tail. Surprisingly, he took it fairly well for about a minute, but after that he was pretty fed up with it and gave him a nice shrug of.

Alright thats alot o writin for me so far. Maybe now since I have a dog it'll make my life a little more interesting and I'll be able to talk more on here about that.

In the words of Mac Daddy McDee, "Ooh, we shall see...."

I miss Dwight Derrick. Congratulations, universe. You win.

2009-01-12T12:07:00.006-05:00

I know thats what all y'all are saying. but dont worry..I wont let on that I know.

Im finally moved to augusta. Its has been a not quite hectic but still felt like it has been couple of weeks. I was able to get all my stuff packed up and sorted through and still be able to hangout with friends before I left. Since Christmas I'll try an recap stuff that has happened. I did see Valkyrie and it ended up being a really awesome movie. I would recommend seeing it. A week or so ago I went to see Slumdog Millionaire with Jessica. Its an Indian Indie Film (that just sounds pretty funny to me) While being somewhat predictable, I still found the movie enthralling and really good. I went to taco mac a whole bunch throughout my break-probably 4 or 5 times a week and waho even more. There just wasnt much else to do around town. I got to see and hangout with a lot of people though, like fletcher mary andy tara mohua sonny patrick. I went up to tech and hungout with steph and totally gorged myself on cheesecake factory. It was worth it, but the pizza I ate afterwards when I got home was not worth it. I went and watched the national champion game with jessica over at my friends apartment. I figured the Gators would win, but I wanted to see OSU take it. Oh well. Heisman winners just can't seem to take the national championship. The last one to do it in a long time (or maybe even ever..not sure) was Leinart with USC. Anyways, it was a good game and we had a good time. The other day I went down to Senoia (pronounced suh-noah not pronounce see-noi-ah) to this little underground pub called Maguires. It was aweosme. I got what they called a Dublin Burger which if they actually served in Dublin would be quite awesome. it was a burger with mashed potatoes gravy and onion ring on it. Could you want anything more in life? I submit you cannot! So it was that and about 4 or 5 guinnesses later and we left to go to taco mac to hit up their last call. It was good cause I ended up getting a free beer (benefits of knowing the bar-tender i guess? Or she just felt bad because i've been in there waayy too much haha)

Yesterday I moved out to augusta. the place is awesome. kevin is a great guy. i think im keepin the puppy thats out here if i want (im gonna name him huckleberry) I start work next tuesday. I think I might go back to Tech this weekend just to hangout a little bit more, and my rents are suppose to give me a bed frame. We'll see. I took some pictures of the puppy so I'll try an upload some here. He's basically the cutest dog ever.

Ah, it's just easier to say T.M.I. I used to say "Don't go there" but that's... lame.

2008-12-26T17:28:00.002-05:00

Okay so its been forever. Lo siento a todos!

I graduated from georgia tech! I made it out and actually did the best this semester on grades than I have my college career! It was great.

Then I went to Mexico. Jessica, Mike, and me went down to Puerto Vallarta with a tent on my back and some money in our pockets. We had no idea where we were going to stay or anything-and it was the best experience ever! We ended up in Yelapa for a few days; which is basically paradise. Its a secluded little bay that can only be reached by water taxi, and its just absolutely amazing! I'll have to upload some pictures on here so folks can see. I would love to go back there and spend more time, or just become a bum and live there on the beach! We met a cabbie Rafael who was really cool and helpful to us, then we met Ernesto who owned a restaurant and kept us happy on the beach, and then we met Emily, a student at southern oregon who was staying in Yelapa, and let us stay with her and her family. Theres so much to the story, I'll have to write it out later and post it up here.

For graduation I decided to buy myself a little something as a reward, so i bought myself a Savage 30-06. Its awesome. Im going out on monday to the farm in augusta with my brother to sight it in and im quite excited to do that. For christmas i ended up getting some camo gear for all the hunting i'll undoubtedly do out in augusta, so thats pretty awesome.

Lately its just been chilling around, visiting with some friends and all that stuff. I went with katie yesterday to see Curious Life of Benjamin Button. It was a long movie but pretty good. Brad Pitt's accent I thought wasnt all that great (just can't get that true southern thing down like us homegrowns) But I still enjoyed the movie and hangin out with katie. Tonight Im goin to see Valkyrie with the family-too bad I already know whats gonna happen (spoiler alert) but Tom Cruise usually makes quality movies; no matter how insane he is.

I'll try an update again soon and add more thoughts and stuff about whats been goin on the past couple weeks and with my trip and all.

It's just a temp.

2008-12-02T20:03:00.003-05:00

Updates coming soon! I promise

heres some quickies to get ya by (twss)

-i got a job (officially!) Shaw-Areva in SRS
-im moving to augusta, living across the street from my bro and sister in law
-im getting a dog
-apparently not only am i viejo but also a hick
-my moms surgery went very well
-GaTech put the beat down on U[sic]GA this year! I was in athens it was amazing. Georgia sucks! (weak sauce)
-Thanksgiving was good, I got to see some old friends and eat lots of food
-I graduate in 10 days!

TO HELL WITH GEORGIA

The suspense is terrible...I hope it'll last

2008-11-16T17:55:00.003-05:00

Saturday I met up with my friend Sara and we had lunch (taco mac style) it was nice cause I hadn't seen her in a long time. It was good catching up. Later on I went and saw Quantum of Solace with katie after she got off of work. I thought it was a good movie. It was pretty similar to Casino Royale, so if you liked that one, I think you would like this one. Daniel Craig is a great Bond. Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Daniel Craig. Best of the Bonds.

Friday I hung out over at Scott's place with some people. It was pretty fun, just chillin around, some people pongin, gaming, phase-10ing (ha!) that sort of thing. Later in the evening some of us went over to the Mae concert and met up with Jessica. Mae's a pretty decent band. They're talented, but to me the sound just sort of comes across as generic. I went to a concert of theirs some years ago at the Masquerade-which was alright but i felt like i was surrounded by high schoolers and lo and behold i gander around and i was, which sort of sums up their music to me (altho its just as likely that that's just the demographic of the Masquerade). Either way, it was fun hanging out an havin some live music and all. Afterwards I went over to Jessica's and we watched some Office and Arrested Development-basically the two best comedy shows out there.

Only 4 weeks until i graduate!! I am pretty excited. To walk across that stage an be done with this school..gonna feel good. Maybe its pompous, but it feels really good to have survived in a very difficult major from one of the best engineering schools in the world. I dont ask for much, but that saturday...its my day.

So i graduate on the 13th. The next day, not even 24 hours after graduation, I'm gonna be in Mexico! (if the flights work out) Were gonna go hit up some grad parties then me and jessica are just gonna stay up an go straight to the airport on sunday to fly down there and cunado should be meeting up with us a few days later after he's done with his exams. It's gonna be awesome! (or zoppity) Were gonna go to Puerto Vallarta, on the west coast of mexico. I've never seen the southern pacific before so thats gonna be awesome. We're just gonna stay in some hostels, or camp on the beach, for a week and have lots of adventures! I've been practicing up on my spanish some to get it back to how it used to be.

After the holidays it's hopefully gonna be a trip to Europe to see some there, or some long backpacking out west, depends.

My mom has to go have surgery on Dec 1st, so it'd be good to keep her in prayers.

Today has been just a big nothing day. I did a little work out, but nothing much and basically have just been sitting around bored all day. Oh well, some days ya got stuff to do an others ya dont i guess.

For you, a thousand times over

If you see a bomb technician running try to keep up..if you see me running, its too late.

2008-11-06T00:42:00.002-05:00

Only 5 more weeks and 2 days until I graduate!

Ok, so it has taken me a little longer than I may have planned on...but I like to tell myself that it's allowed me to have more fun in college and get a great education (and experience another football season!)

The job hunt is sort of alright. There's still the job in DC but I dont know if i want it. Yes, i want to go international and that will help me for sure but do i really want to end up in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran? And I'm not so sure if its even worth it 'paying my dues' the work is somewhat monotonous..altho at rare times it is really freaking amazing. I'm still working on the job out in Augusta..hopefully hear something about that real soon. It's more lax there and the work would, i think, be more day to day exciting; however, it may not give me the opportunity to go international as easily. O well.

Northrop Grumman wants me to fly up to DC next thursday for a dinner and interview/recruitment thing but I have a fairly large PRA test on thursday so I dont know.

Life is alright. Sorta confusing right now but I'm fairly indifferent to most of it all so I try not to think about it an just do whatever.

My gma isnt doin all that great. It's rough seeing her go in these terrible cycles knowing that she could go any day now.

Big talk on the town today has been this election. It's definitely been a big ground breaker putting in someone so young and a minority into office. Personally, I'm a libertarian-conservative so I wasn't in favor of Obama or McCain. I definitely am not a fan of big government (even though i may be working for them). I believe in personal freedoms while at the same time personal responsibility. Thats the rub right there. Responsibility. It is not the governments right to take care of the irresponsible and allow people to use and abuse it with no regard to themselves or country. All this socialism talk just further reminds me just how lazy and irresponsible americans have become-and i loathe it.

Conservatives are like your father: they tell you what you can an can't do. Liberals are like your mother: they hold you by the hand and coddle you. I'm not a big fan of both. On some issues I'm more socially conservative (so not a "true" libertarian) but in most areas I try to be as unbiased and logical in my reasoning as possible to allow for the greatest amounts of freedoms that uphold our Bill of Rights and all that they stand for. Thats why I say libertarian-conservative. Too many people out there split hairs and that gets annoying.

Anyways, in the end, we now have a new president. I'm happy that I live in a country that I can at least vote for a president. Hopefully one day we'll get rid of this terrible electoral college (somewhat of a 'peculiar institution' if you will) and go straight to popular vote. Also one day maybe we'll implement the Fair Tax and come out of the massive quagmire that has become our tax system.

But all that requires "Change". Let's just see how much "change" will happen. Honestly, if you went to the polls thinking that this is the first election that America is going to experience change...then I hope that you will never vote again.

I'm interested to see what's going to happen in the next few years. This election has seemed to be one of the biggest in recent history. Could maybe even since the 1980 election. Sort of remeniscient of it I would say. Have Jimmy Carter in office at the end, not very popular not doing too much, has a crisis in the middle east. Then along comes Reagan (one of the greatest presidents of all time) with a landslide-the oldest president to be elected. Now we have Obama, really young (not quite youngest) coming in on Bush who is low in approval rating, country economy is in disarray, troubles in the middle east.

Maybe he can pull things around like Reagan did altho Reagan was Republican so it may be done a little differently.

In the words of McDuffie: "OOooooohh we shall see!"

Halloween was awesome. I was a 70s guy dressed up in my wig, polyester pants an shirt an all. There were some pretty good parties goin on an went around to a lot of them. GT barely squeaked out against FSU (even though we played better in my opinion) but a W is a W. Also UGA got totally blown out by UF so that made my weekend just awesome. I dont care what anyone says, UF just had their way with UGA. And good thing too. That is just pay back for what happened last year with Richt calling the team onto the field for celebrating. Are you serious!?! That is probalby one of the most, if not greatest, act of unsportsman conduct i have scene in all sports. Richt a good guy?? Please! If he was a great coach he would not have to do that to get his team into it emotionally. I guarantee you Lombardi or JoPa would never ever in their existence allow their team to do that-let alone order them too! They'd be able to get their team emotionall riled up and involved in the game in the locker room before the game starts.

--We're gonna go inside, we're gonna go outside, inside and outside. We're gonna get 'em on the run boys and once we get 'em on the run we're gonna keep 'em on the run. And then we're gonna go go go go go go and we're not gonna stop til we get across that goal line! This is a team they say is...good; well I think we're better than them. They can't Hit us. So what do you say men?--Knute Rockne (Coach ND 1918-30)

--Don't cuss. Don't argue with the officials. And don't lose the game.--John Heisman (Coach GT 1904-19)

THAT is what defines a great coach. Not Mark Richt.

I'm done with my rant now. All of em.

Tornadoes eat trees.

It Was The Salmolm Mousse

2008-10-26T21:07:00.003-05:00

Ok. another crazy long update (with details most assuredly left out)

Fall Break!

Friday me and jessica drove out to athens and stayed with brian and cunado. our friend robert drove out from tech and also met up with us. Friday night we went downtown and just hit up that whole scene. It was fairly hectic-im more of the kind where id like to pick 2, maybe...maybe 3, bars to go to and call it that and have some good times, but we ended up walking all downtown to a ton of bars and whatnot. It was still really fun tho, dont get me wrong. My friend jennifer was back in town in athens and we met up with her and her friend somewhere along the night too. I played darts (which i think i lost both times, altho not fully lost cause i came in 2nd out of 3). Saturday we got up and went to tailgate since it was a U[sic]GA football game and had fun up there. Me and jessica ended up goin back to the apt and basically sleeping the afternoon away while cunado and brian went to the game. After everyone got back home we went out and bought some steaks and other good food and grilled out since the weather was absolutely amazing. Sunday morning me cunado and jessica woke up bright and early and headed to north ga to do some hiking. We went to brasstown bald so they could see the highest point in georgia (yikes!) and then did a little hiking north of helen. We went into helen tryin to see if we could catch some oktoberfest but it ended up being too late and they were closing. So we went into a magic shop and entertained ourselves there for awhile (magic magic magic magic). Some of jessica's friends were up at a cabin near Unicoi so we drove up there and spent a little time there chillin an soakin some in a hot tub before heading back to athens. It was a pretty long day really, I was pretty exhausted as i think everyone else was too. When we got back we popped in Anchorman and watched that-just because its that funny. Then afterwards we had to make the trek back to atl since jessica had to tutor the youngins in the mornin.

Since fall break I havent been doing too much school-wise. I dont have any tests and ver little homework so thats quite nice. Ive just been hangin out a lot. I got to see my Pop and that was good.

Friday I went to cici's with steph liz sally and amalia which was great. I was soooo freaking hungry, probably cause i hadnt eatin anything all day and spent 3 hours waiting in a doctors office. But it worked out perfectly because what better place to be when your starving than an all you can eat pizza buffet! I ate to my hearts content (or dis-content depending). Saturday was our homecoming game, and i went with steph and my friend jason. We ended up losing which was a total let-down. Its sad to see the officiating determine the outcome of a game. There were so many holding penalties not called..i think some jackets were still tryin to pry off their d-line walking off the field. But oh well, you just gotta take em as they come. Today was a lazy scranton sunday. I just layed around all day and watched tv, did nothing. This afternoon me and steph went down to ptc an i got my halloween costume! (like im gonna actually have anything to wear it to) and some my winter clothes. we stopped by the ole firestation so i could say hi to me old man, and he gave her the grand tour (lights sirens and all!)

I had a job interview with Shaw-Areva a week or so ago and i think it went really well, altho i havent heard back (i should hear something tomorrow). It'd be cool i guess. I would love to just be able to work overseas, but in nukee everyone wants you to have some sort of experience before going int'l. So i guess i pay my dues, get my loans out of the way then do something thats really cool in a foreign land.

thats all i can think of for now. hopefully(!) i can update sooner than 2 weeks from now. "we shall see..."

2008-10-16T18:54:00.002-05:00

Okay...new post a be brewin updatin ye scallywags on me fall break adventures and mishaps out en the open sea..yarr

keep a watchman in yer towers

I like when good things happen to me, but I wait two weeks to tell anyone because I like to use the word ‘fortnight.’

2008-10-07T23:49:00.002-05:00

I can't remember where i left off of from my last update. and im sort of too lazy to go and check it out.

Ive been running alot. which has turned out to be really good. i've gotten past that point where i absolutely loathe it with an e. so now if i dont go running then i start feeling all antsy.

I went to piedmont and back (3.2 miles) and kept a 7:35 pace the other day. then i ran about 3 miles the next day and was able to hold a 7:30 pace! That was two PR's back to back so that felt really good. Well i call em PR's because the last time i was able to run that fast or faster I was probably 15 or 16 (so sad). So im on a new slate now. The next day i didnt go running, but yogging, with steph. its apparently all the craze these days. We yogged little over 2 miles which was really good. Jessica has been running a little on her own because she feels bad that the past couple times-she has sort of been off the pace. Last friday we decided to run to emory from gatech (little over 5 miles). Oh yeah, i also had to carry change of clothes for us in a backpack too, because when we got there we were goin out with our friend mohua to see her off (shes heading to colorado for americorps) Now that was a run. I felt really good doing it, and I think that was what got me over the hump-just pushing through a really long haul like that. It was fun goin out afterwards too. We met up with some people and ate at tesoro. then went next door to twains and had some fun there. It was cool. I got to meet some more emory people (and since its emory they're all girls-so no complaints there) We hung out there for a long time actually. I had me some guinness (mmmm) and we all just talked the scuttlebutt. Apparently we found out that superman likes to save baby pandas from evil crocodiles at the zoo, but also likes to not return the baby back to its mother. Or..thats the story we came up with. (There were a couple of us that sort of got..bored? or..distracted? idk) Thankfully afterwards we got a ride back home so we didnt have to run all the way back!

Saturday was the football game. My parents came up for the game since they havent been to a tech one yet my whole college career. It was a great one too..we shlacked Duke 27-0! Steph sat with us and afterwards we met up with all her folks and we went out to eat some food. It took a little while to find a restaurant not packed, but we finally found one. It was a little tai place. My rents had never eaten Tai before (which is crazy...) but they liked it a lot. It was the first time for them meetin the Provows and we had a good time. Afterwards I showed the rents my place...pretty typical nothin new there. They hung out for a little bit but then went on their way back to the ptc.

Sunday i just sort of hung out i think..didnt do much. Should have done school work but..yea..im bout outta this place so im totally done doin that. I have a job interview on tuesday at a place out in augusta so im really excited about that! im going down to pick up my new suit i got tomorrow actually (its very shnazzy) Its a grey (gray) 2 button suit. and i have this really awesome white striped shirt and some nice cuff links and these new shoes and this awesome tie. man. im gonna be "dy-no-mite"

lets see, im gettin bored with this so let me just throw some things out there.
had some tests. they were hard
didnt score so well on said tests.
10 weeks till im out.
can not wait to get a dog
ate at moes 3 days in a row
ate at waffle house 2 nights in a row (after midnight of course) it was more than delicious.
i love food
im hungry right now. very much so.
fall break is this weekend-im pumped
(going to california with an achin in my heart) led zeppelin rocks.
actually me and jessica might be going to athens to visit CUNADO. maybe helen and hiking.
hopefully oktoberfest.
have you heard the word?
my pop is coming into town on sunday-i couldnt be happier.
Were gonna hangout and talk about old people stuff and make fun of people and its gonna be aweosme. me and him are pretty much exactly alike-makes for great times

ugh. other stuff. i dont even know.

I Eat Fig Newtons By The Sleeve

2008-09-29T15:17:00.002-05:00

Friday was a friend of a friends birthday. So i ended up over at jessicas apartment meeting up with ben and mohua and we all went to ABC. Apparently I was the only one that appreciated beer...cause no one else wanted to do the tour! It was all good tho, we had fun, and I got a nice glass out of it. We then made our way over to the vortex in lil 5 to meet up with the birthday kid (bammer was his name?) and folks. It was a lot of fun. I ended up ordering their coronary bypass burger. Its basically a huge thing of meat with 4 pieces of bacon, 3 pieces of cheese and fried egg on it (and some tots of course) I ate the entire thing! Ah it was delicious. I want to go back an get the double bypass burger which is all of that but instead of buns its 2 grilled cheese sandwiches! It was really good. And i think it like...crank started my appetite. Cause for so long i have never eaten much, just pecked at stuff-i think my stomach shrunk. but after this night ive been like...hungry a lot more and eating a lot more. Altho i paid the price cause all night friday, laying in bed, my stomach was hurting so bad haha. But so worth it.

Saturday I went to my friends Michael and Sara's wedding. It was just beautiful. Outside with great weather, then the reception in the club house. The food was absolutely amazing too. For h'dourves had some bacon wrapped scallops (mmmm) and then these little mini quiche things and fruit an veggies and other stuff that i dont know what they were but tasted really good. Then the main meal was prime rib! and baked potatoes and green beans an salad. it was very tasty. It was a whole lot of fun, I went with my friend katie and we had a great time. It made us sad to see folks our age and younger getting married. Altho it was good mike an sara are young so there were some of our friends there and not just a bunch of old people. One of sara's relatives was really breakin it down on the dance floor..sorta shocking really. I tried to cut up the floor a little bit, but failed epically. I..just...cant dance. Id rather make the music than move to the music? yea im sticking with that.

But there was no tv! there was no way for all of us men to watch Bama give a very nice beating to them U[sic]GA dawgs! that was a major highlight of my night.

I ended up back at fletchs place and crashed there for the night. Sunday was just chilling out with some friends down there an whatnot before heading back up to atl. I just had to get outside cause the weather here is amazing. So me and jessica went on our run, and went out to piedmont park. Its really not as far as i had anticipated. But it was great cause we got to run there, then just chill out for a little bit and then run back. We then ended up going to moes, guess to just negate all the running..but i was starving! and i hadnt had moes in forever..nothin like a homewrecker to make my day!

This week should be filled with studying (i have a reactor eng test on thursday and oceanography on friday) but i dont feel like it. its so nice out..i just want to be outside doin stuff. I think im goin to the movies tonite with my friend...seeing "burn after reading" or somethin. I also want to do the ole double header this week and go to sweetwater and abc. we'll see tho..lots of people are all 'busy' so no one wants to do all of this stuff. Heres my philosophy. "School...pssshh" its almost over! these are the times to do this!

anyways. i think thats enough writing for now. i probably missed details...but those you'll just have to continue to wonder about

It's Grrrrrrape! Soda.

2008-09-21T21:29:00.003-05:00

Wow, so it's been a very long time since I last posted. I sit here with a Stella and find myself with copious amounts of time filled with boredom and bordering on the verge of self-loathing. Thus, here I am composing a new post.

A good book that I recommend to everyone is Godel, Escher and Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. It's pretty out there but makes some really interesting parallels between, you guessed it, mathematics art and music and how it pertains to ourselves.

Since my last post much has happened. I will try and recall the important things and what I have written down to help sum it all up quickly.

The last days of my job me an the interns all hung out at the Slip Inn and had some good times. I said my goodbyes to my new found friends: Alex, Mariam, Katie, Jonathon, Jason, Tom..

My last few days I hurriedly rushed out a product I was tasked with while half my team was out on training. It was friday, my very last day. I wasn't feeling all the greatest. Bobbie and Kat told me I should just go home, but I had to see my product out. Thankfully I got comments back before 12 and was able to put it past coordination and to publishers by 1430. My last week at work was one of the busiest, I probably did 3 weeks of work in 1, but such is the way of intel and gov't. I got it out, went to lunch with Reece and then after that it was time to punch out for the last time. I had to go through some debriefings and all those end of job out-processing procedures and then it was on my way home for the last time. My friend Mohua was in town at her friends place so I met up with her and we hung out some in Adam's Morgan. Saturday was a lazy day just sleeping in, packing, and relaxing. Sunday I picked up Mohua cause she was catching a ride back to the Anta with me. We made the long 10 hour drive home uneventfully.

Back home it was then lots of logistical things that needed to be done, like doc appt's, finding a place to live in atlanta, getting ready for school, applying for jobs, upholding domestic tranquility, etc. I was able to see a good amount of friends in my week of vacation too.

Then school started, and here I am now! I got my wisdom teeth removed a couple weeks ago (guess not as wise as i thought). I was able to sit around and eat ice cream and watch tv so that was fun. I healed pretty quickly too and was eating real food within a few days.

College football has started and Tech is doing quite well (3-1) The new system with Paul Johnson is awesome-I am totally bought into it. Out of 120 kids on our team, 77 are frosh or soph..so we're young, but still lookin good and will only look better in coming years.

The other day was Georgia Tech 6 Flags Night which was really cool. Me Steph and Dan went and we got to ride the Goliath, Batman, Scream Machine, Cyclone. It was a whole lot of fun! I hadnt been to seis banderos in years so it was a great time.

Of course, so much more has happened in all this lost time like hanging out with friends and doin 'work' and whatnot, but I am beginning to lose my attention span.

More to come (maybe)

"I made pancakes this morning." "Oh, do you think it might rain?" "Only if a dingo ate my baby." "Ran out of wallpaper paste again, eh?"

2008-08-08T19:42:00.005-05:00

my internship is over. ended today..i have lots an lots to say about it all, and my last week.

but for now i must continue watching the opening ceremonies...and i highly encourage everyone to watch em because this is an olympic games to be remembered! the games in china! its just...wow.

"It's a partial sellout" -Skip Caray

2008-08-04T14:49:00.002-05:00

It saddens me. The voice of the braves has passed away. I grew up on Skip Caray. He introduced me to the great sport of baseball--and the team that will forever be my team--the atlanta braves. I remember listening to him on the radio in the van with my best friend bobby in 92 as cabrera drives in the winning run and skip yells "braves win! braves win! braves win! braves win!" And then winning the world series in 95. All the pennant wins, and playoff heartbreaks. Just a couple years ago, when the braves started this run of difficult seasons skip remarks "the bases are loaded...and i wish i was too"

The Caray's have a nice lineage in baseball announcing. Skips father was the famous Haray Caray of the chicubs. Skips son, Chip, has been a braves announcer for a few years which I am very glad for-he and pete van wieren can keep it going. And Skips younger son, Josh, is actually an announcer for a braves minor league team in rome, ga.

I'm going to miss that voice.

If you talk to any baseball broadcaster, all of them will tell you the purest form of broadcasting a baseball game is through radio.

No one else could recreate a game like Skip.

Heres to you Skip.

I want it to be fast, quick cuts, you know, youthful, sort of a MTV on crack kind of thing.

2008-07-31T14:48:00.002-05:00

let me just say, that after having this summer internship, everything that you might imagine the gov't is capable of doing...they are. its by no means all hollywood-esk looking, but it can be done.

kick ass.

This week we had some tours to a few agencies, some were not the best of tours (cause some people really totally suck) but others were amazing, awesome, cool, frightening, enlightening, and just about everything else. I mean we have the CAVE..its like. wow.

only a week left up here. its mixed. i like what i do, sometimes i dont like the city, i just don't know.

not a whole lot more planned. bbq cookout this weekend with couple friends, next week my friend mohua said she's in town so gonna be visiting with her. then its packing up heading home and hoping for housing!

2008-07-27T17:27:00.002-05:00

Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Since my last post here's whats happened (to the best of my memory)

I saw The Dark Knight. I just could not stand it any longer. I'm usually quite comfortable doing things by myself-I explored all of DC and done plenty of that stuff by myself-but theres just something about going to see a movie by myself that...just makes it difficult for me to do. So when The Dark Knight came out I didnt go see it-none of the other interns were going or had other plans or whatnot. But I could not take it any longer. Batman is what I grew up on, I wasn't a big fan of spiderman or superman (i didnt even watch TMNT). But I watched the old Adam West Batman shows and everyday after school I never failed to miss BTAC. I read any of the comics I could come across-I even still have the original Batman movie on VHS! The one with Adam West and, if you want to start comparing Jokers, start talking about Cesar Romero!

So needless to say, I needed to see the movie. I went there after work one day and watched all of its glory. Absolutely incredible. It is not over hyped in the slightest. The character development and struggle of batman is perfect. And the portrayal of the Joker is flawless. Now I have to see it in IMAX though. Of course I've been thinking already what the next movie will have and as far as some of the villains goes my predictions are as follows: possibly Catwoman (but after the 89 batman an the horrendous movie "Catwoman" this could be tricky) but I think she would need to be a minor villain. I think a good next female villain would be Ra's al-Ghoul's daughter Talia. Also Hush, he would make a good next villain. He was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne and is quite envious of him. He also has a lot of involvement with other villains (like clayface, riddler, joker, killer croc, two face, scarecrow, ra's al-ghoul, etc) so it would be easy to keep the backstory an pave the way for new ones.

Okay, in the end. See The Dark Knight.

Yesterday I went hiking in Shenandoah again. I connected a couple of trails (White Oak Canyon and Cedar Run) to make an 8 mile loop that took past a bunch of falls. It was a really good hike. I got there quite early so I could beat the people and the heat. I also ran across 3 black bear along the way! That was pretty cool. The first one was an adult but took off fairly quickly after i saw it. The second one was a little guy-and i was able to get a few pictures of it through the trees. The third one i came across on my way home through the country back-roads, I actually came close to hitting him with my car! It was cool seeing the bear-I remember seeing brown bear in the canadian rockies years ago. That was a lot more tense because it was a momma bear and her cubs. First, brown bears are much larger than black bears (and not much you can do to 'scare them away' if need be) and also a mother bear is quite protective of her cubs-so that was a little scary, but seeing black bear is just more cool than anything. Other wildlife i came across: squirrels (secret squirrels), wild dog (didnt look like a coyote to me), turtle, chipmunk, horned beetle, and lots of other little flying insects.

I got some decent pictures-but of course they never do it any justice. I'd like to go back there and do some good backpacking some day.

Finished watching the tour de france today. The real big stage was yesterday-Sastra ended up riding the time trial of his life so Evans wasnt able to overtake him for the yellow jersey. Today, altho still an official stage, was more of just ceremony. No one attacks on the last day (except to win the stage), so Carlos Sastra won the tour, and Freire ended up taking the green jersey (overall points) And once again, Spain is probably going crazy.

I mean honestly Europe. Get your act together. Spain has 2008 on lock: Nadal wins French Open, Wimbledon, Roger's Cup, Contador wins Giro d'italia (Tour of Italy), Tour de France Yellow won by Sastra and Green won by Freire, EuroCup08. At least Lewis Hamilton is leading F1 to give the Brits somethin to cheer about. And France: your on watch. Get your act together. The last time you won your own freaking bike tour was 1985...23 years ago! You could have pulled a USSR in that amount of time and stolen a child at the age of 8 an make him train non stop to win the tour. And dont think I'm letting you off the hook Italy. You win your own country too.

Alright, Im off my tirade now.

I only have 2 more weeks here left at work! I can't believe it! It's been incredible all the things ive learned (and some things i really wish i hadnt). And theres a slight possibility I might be givin a job offer before I even leave. That'll be nice (good leverage). Last week I had a couple meetings. I got to meet my boss's boss's boss's boss's boss's boss..or something like that. The DD of DI. He's a really cool guy. Him and about 10 of us interns had lunch together and just talked the scuttlebutt. He even asked us if we would FB friend him hahah (which, of course, i did). It was pretty cool. I also had some MASINT Training which was pretty awesome. Really appealed to my technical nerd side.

This week we're going on some tours to other agencies so that will be quite fun. ONI CIA NGA. I'm lookin forward to getting to meet some more of my counterparts. Then its the last week where half of my team including my boss (so all two of them) are going to be TDY. Its just gonna be me an Reece holding down the fort! Im pretty sure we can handle it though. Then its back down to ATL and then school starting the next week!

I havent found a place to live-I actually decided to try my luck for living on campus. I really don't want to deal with craigslist long distance again, nor do I want to have to hassle with any kind of long term lease since I just need one semester. So on campus seems the best bet-but i dont know if they have any room left! Ive been stuck on the waitlist, so hopefully something will happen in the next two weeks so I won't have to scramble to find a place.

It's weird starting to apply for jobs. Only one more semester left. It'll be weird being done with tech, what wonderful college years yet horrendous academic years. After living here in DC-Ive decided that DC is not the place for me. I am not this political. Every person with fancy diggs and blackberry on their hip just thinks they are all that and a bag o chips. Yeah. Ok. You work for some senator. call me when she rolls over. Everyone here thinks that they are the end all of be all of The Hill. They have to realize that...they arent. This is politics and government. No one cares about you and there is always someone else out there that has much larger credentials than you. Just because your a big fish in your small town means nothing here-and people will tell you that. And it's government so all your activism and splendid ideals wont change anything over night.

One thing that everyone in the IC community told me when i started was that I would soon learn the ways of this level of government and will become a quick cynic. I didnt quite believe em, but it's only been 3 months and Im already there. It's just a fact of life and we have to deal with it. My only thing is that I'd like to deal with it in a different part of the country (so as to alleviate it some) so im looking at working in other places some of which include even Cocoa Beach, Fl!

Alright, well i guess i could go on some more, but Im done with my soap box right now, and who wants to read all this anyways! I know i dont-Im not even going back to proof read!

So with that i raise my Guinness to you, Slainte!

Laundry list of things to do and no dry cleaner in sight.

2008-07-22T15:50:00.002-05:00

Ok so some stuff on my plate. (no, not stuffing..i wish tho. ah thanksgiving)

i still dont have housing for the fall semester. i think i might end up doing on-campus housing..i just dont want to get stuck with a dumb traditional dorm room. altho from the website it shows only 1 dorm room thats not FE and the rest are apt's so im thinkin i would get that.

I crunched some numbers, because im a nerd, and it really won't cost me much more per month to live on campus even including the parking permit (since i can get a partial refund at the end of the semester) idk. more deliberating on that later..

I've been applying here at work, to no avail. I need to find a job or at least get some offers. Theres some places i want to apply to also, but i think im gonna wait till i get back home-gather my wits about me make sure my resume is fully up to date an just put a day towards mass applying.

its terrible how much our lives are dictated by money. 'you have to have it to live and have a fulfilling life'

i went to old rag mtn yesterday and hiked it. i'll tell you what-that was an amazing hike. absolutely incredible. Now ive done a good bit of hiking/backpacking in my life (canadian rockies, wyoming/montana, AT) and this was a type of hike ive never encountered. you had to do some rock scrambling and bouldering and climbing through caves and large fissures in the rocks. it was so cool. fairly strenuous (also because im outta shape an have a bum back) but only 8 miles. the summit was amazing. you have a full 360 view and your on top of all these large rocks. an i was able to climb up ontop of the highest rock (it was a big ole boulder resting on others) and stand up there and just look out over the top of everything. it was really cool. the view wasnt as spectacular as out west, but it was still really cool and the climb up was unforgettable. the VA countryside is really pretty. very quiet and rolling hills. as i came back down the road to where my car was i even heard someone 'fiddling' on their porch. it wasnt the creepy kind of Deliverance fiddling "you have a puurdy smile" type. it was nice folk an just made you want to do a little hodown jig haha

i want to see Dark Knight soo badly. its just too hard to go to the movie by myself an theres no one else around that'll go. im totally excited about it tho. when i get back hopefully people will go. This is the way that batman and villans are suppose to be i think-with all the psychological disorders really showing through. I grew up on batman (even over superman an tmnt) and im like a little kid again when these movies came out haha. i just might have to tie my blanket around my neck an jump off the balcony!

Quick! To the Batcave!

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. --Robert Frost

2008-07-13T19:24:00.004-05:00

Alright folks. Time for an update.

The past week at work was quite slow. Altho i actually put out a product--it didn't take very long but its good to have my name out there now (maybe add to my chances of getting an offer).

These next couple weeks are gonna be a lot of fun tho. We're gonna be going to ONI, NSA, CIA. Thats gonna be some awesome trips for sure. I'm lookin forward to those!

Thursday my friend liz came into town for some school stuff so i got to hang out with her a little bit thursday and friday. That was fun, we went to Georgetown for a little bit. Saturday was my cousin Jack's sons (Jack David) birthday. He turned four. It was a lot of fun cause my aunt uncle and cousin were also there and i hadnt seen them in a while. Jack David is a cute little guy, it was fun, but im not gonna bore everyone with the stories. It was nice being with the family and visiting with them. Jack and Stacey are really cool. Its weird being one of the youngest cousins on that side because some of my cousins are in their mid to late 30s and have familys and everything.

Today has been a lazy scranton day. I havent done anything at all. And then it started storming..so that just compounded it. But having the day to just lounge around and do nothing is pretty nice.

I'll update more later, right now Fun With Dick And Jane is on...and i just cant stop watching haha.

and heres a little somethin i came across and liked:

Don't ask God to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to move your feet.

Faoi Mhaise Cuatro de Július Comrades!

2008-07-07T15:46:00.004-05:00

Monday..or Tuesday (can't remember which) i met alex, jonathan and mariam at Chinatown to meet up for some Tai food and general hanging out. We went to a pretty decent place, got some good food. But the best part was after that..i spotted an irish pub (Fado) so we went in to grab a pint or two. It's in Chinatown, which is sort of strange, but i'll tell you what-this pub was the best pub i have been to. They had the best boxty ever! The corned beef and cabbage...just..amazing! they have others too, of course, so im going back to get me some more. Very cool place inside..and the server knew exactly what i wanted when i said "i'll have a pint" (My grandma would be soo proud!) So we chilled out there for the rest of the night and i barely made it back on the metro in time to catch the bus (otherswise id have to wait another hour). I got home late and was pretty exhausted the next day-but so worth it

insert rest of week with just work and all that stuff. finally got someone to get off our backs about a product and keep in their own territory. some people are just stuck in their old ways and are frankly just...childish.

Thursday, the 3rd, we had 'administrative leave' which means we only worked a half day! And then we had Friday off too (and paid...if you showed up on Monday). So me, alex, jason, jonathan, mariam, and thomas went over to the slip inn to kick back and enjoy our half day (being off at 11 is just so awesome). We hung out there till around..idk..1900 and then moseyed on our ways.

On the fourth pat steph dan and his sister janet came up to visit! it was pretty cool, they got here in the afternoon and we went out to eat in crystal city at some over priced italian place that i probably won't be gracing them with my presence again. then we headed over to bolling to watch the fireworks from across the river. we were a little far away, but it was still a nice view and we didnt have to deal with the insane crowds. It gets so crazy down there it takes about 4 hours just to get home-and thats on metro, see ya next week if your driving. it rained slightly on us, but it was still nice. I showed em around base a little bit and then we just called it a night cause we all were tired. Saturday we met up in the morning and did the whole sightseeing of DC thing. Ive already done it about 4 times but it doesnt really get that old. We saw the changing of the guard, and all the way thru the mall to the capital. then it was off to chinatown to walk around (visit the pub!) and see the National Museum of Buildings (were techies..what can i say. well janet isnt shes from uga but she still thought it was cool) we had fun looking around there then it was back to pat's uncle's house to get ready for dinner....and oh what a dinner it was!

Pat's dad and uncle took us to this place called Peking Gourmet Inn. Now to most people that just sounds like a regular chinese restaurant, and it looks like it too-its a storefront place and just looks...like nothing spectacular. BUT, this place is rated as one of the top chinese restaurants in the nation. If you dont have a reservation..dont even try (a guy walked up and said "how long for a table of 5" and the lady literally said nothing and just stared at him) Presidents and foreign dignitaries, supreme court judges, hollywood stars, generals all eat here. This place was amazing! So when we got there we waited awhile and dan and janet went up to the hostess and used their mandarin skills to see what was goin on..well..apparently some other party 'stole' our reservations. this wasnt gonna fly. so they ended up giving us a table....the presidential table! thats right we sat down in this separate little alcove and on the walls were tons of pictures of Bush Sr, Bush Jr, Clinton, Gen schwarzkopf, Sean Connery, Arnold, Princesses of Thailand, Prime Ministers, Colin Powell..and thats just what I can remember! It was pretty cool to sit there an laugh and have everyone else wonder 'who's over there at that table?' haha and to look out the bulletproof glass window hahah. And pat's dad spared no expense. He got 3 (!) Peking Ducks and then ordered a ton of other food-with the help of Janet and Daniel since they're actually from Taiwan so knew what were the really good stuff that was rare. It was an amazing meal. We ate so much food and had some good drinks too. it was an awesome experience.

After that we just chilled out for a while and then called it a night. Sunday I woke up and watched probably the best Wimbledon finals match in all of history. I was so happy Nadal won, I really like him and wanted him to beat Federer. And now he's won the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year! which hasnt happened in quite some time. He also is the first spaniard in like 42 years to win Wimbledon (Can you say Grand Slam?!) I say he does it. Federer had him on grass, but not on other surfaces, and now that Nadal has the grass win...he's gonna be unstoppable!

Also in other sports, F1 is getting crazy. British Gran Prix was on yesterday too and i watched that, Hamilton taking the victory..putting Mclaren back in the races. I hope they win, i cant stand Ferrari (as a constructor).

Tour de France also started! First time since..loong time they didnt do a prologue, just jumped right in to it. It's a lot of fun to watch--and makes me so sad that i dont have my bike here with me cause it gives ya the riding itch (not the kind that you need a prescription for tho). Alejandro Valverde has taken the lead and looked really good in stage 1 and 2.

Which brings me to...spain is just having the year of years right now. They win EuroCup08, Nadal wins French Open then goes onto beat Federer and win Wimbledon. Alejandro Valverde is leading the Tour de France (too early to tell if he'll win, but he is def a veteran and a favorite). They just have things on lock over there. Now if only Alonso would win F1 Series..but sadly he's too far out, not feasible.

Ok, whew. Long post there. Guess a good amount of stuff happened and I got in the typing mood. Hopefully i'll remember to update a little sooner this time!

Sláinte!