Do The Right Thing

Vote for change
Vote for someone who cares
Vote for hope
Vote for Obama




(Don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the page)

I got this from NPR.org

Yes, We Can


My favorite verse:
"We have been asked to pause for a reality check. We have been warned about giving the people of this nation false hope, but in the unlikely story that is America...

There has never been anything false about hope."



And as always, VOTE OBAMA!!!!!

A Winter Wonderland

A winter wonderland, that's what my dad called the outside when he phoned me the other day. But, here it has only been snowing a little bit. Apparently the whole of northern New York is covered in a thick blanket of snow. So basically they are trudging through it while I sit down here in the southern tier with a light dusting that will no doubt melt before the day is out.

My relationship with snow is an interesting one. When it first snows, I love it. The snow is something foreign and therefore interesting. However, after about a month of snow I grow tired of it. All of the luster wears off and I begin to become sick of seeing white everywhere. Now, don't take me for a racist. I just like to see greens and all the other shades of nature. I also become tired of the early nights and late mornings.

Also, this will be my first time driving in the winter and I am not looking forward to it. I am going to have to get some salt and sand for the back of my car, as well as a snow shovel and a blanket. Am I missing anything? Well, you can tell me if I am. Maybe a thermos filled with hot soup, or hot chocolate.

My Mother Does Not Scream

I just thought I should let everyone know that when I said she screamed up the stairs, in my last blog, or that I won't miss all the screaming I meant that she yelled which in my mind means raising your voice to be heard a floor away. So I guess my point is, my mother does not scream. She merely raises her voice to be heard.

That is all..

The Loophole

So, it is a requirement of my fraternity to have at least 12 to 16 hours of community service per semester, and I hate doing it. It's not that I don't like helping out those in need. Its just that I don't want to have to go outside and ring a bell, or knock on doors, or clean, or any of that boring stuff. So, in response to my need for hours and begrudging attitude toward doing it, I have come up with a solution.

I will hold a benefit dinner at my dorm, next semester. All donations collected will be given to the red cross, via a check from my account. It will be by invitation only and I will cook. The best part of it is, I can include cooking for me and my friends and cleaning my apartment as a part of the benefit and therefore part of my community service! It will not be anything fancy. In fact, the point of this thing is to only raise a few bucks while having dinner with my friends and spending my service hours in my apartment, instead of doing real work. I am going to talk to our community service chairperson about this before I do it. But, I am confident that I can do it. After all, I will be raising money for a good cause and there is nothing in the by-laws against it. Even if I raise one dollar, I still will have spent hours cooking, cleaning, eating, and making a very impromptu speech.

I found a loop-hole in our constitution and I am going to use it...

Mornings are terrible

I am having a really hard time with something. And that something is getting up early. I, for the life of me, cannot pry myself out of bed before 7:00 a.m. unless I absolutely need to. I don't know what it is, but sometimes I will plan on going into work early and I set the alarm for 6:00a.m. but I just hit snooze or set it to 7:00 a.m. Even when I go to bed at like 9:00 p.m. I still cannot get myself out of bed. I guess I just have to develop a habit, getting up a little earlier each morning. It would have to be by a matter of minutes each day to make the transition smooth, but eventually I would be getting up nice and early.



I know that I can develop the habit, because on weekends where I go to bed before 1:00 a.m. I can get up at 8:00 or 7:00 a.m. no problem. In fact, there was an occasion where I got up at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday I visited my girlfriend because I couldn't get back to sleep. Needless to say she wanted to sleep in and was correspondingly upset that I was making a racket. But, I digress. My point is that I have a lot of trouble getting up early, and I am paranoid that my alarm clock won't work. I even have my parents call me at 7:00 a.m. as a back up wake up call. A bit much I know, but hearing their voices in the morning reminds me of when I was young and mom would scream up the steps or knock on the walls to get us up on weekends and mornings.

I certainly don't miss the screaming at 7:00 a.m...

Random Bablings

I am so excited to be going home. In the words of my girlfriend "you really have no idea." It is less than a month until I make my exodus, and I couldn't be more excited. It is kind of funny, I wonder how excited I will be when it is two weeks to go. Just thinking about that gets me all riled up. The thought that in two weeks there will only be two weeks left for me here, wow.

Have you ever had a favorite place in the whole world? Well, I have two. For me those places are my home in Massena and my school at Clarkson. And when I get get to my favorite place, I am going to have a whole month to relax after six months away. It is hard to believe that it has been six months. It seems like forever and it also seems like I just got here. It is a strange paradox.

I think that the only thing I will miss, when I am gone, is the steady good pay and the independence of living in my own place. However, the company of my family and a job at the university library will be more than enough to suffice for what I am giving up.

I am stuck in a strange dichotomy. Every time I think about how close I am to going home I become happy. However, after that I think about how much time is actually between me and my goal and I become disheartened. I guess I will focus on now until the now becomes then. But, it's not like I'm going emo or anything. Life is still pretty good even though I have to stick around this here.

Cherri-o ol' chaps...

I actually spent the weekend at my apartment

This is interesting because I have been in my apartment for two weekends of the last month and a half. I usually get this surge of euphoria on a friday, during the last hours of work when I think of what it would be like to visit Potsdam. Then I just take off and go. It is totally worth it, but it shows my lack of self-control.

Well, this weekend wasn't anything special. I spent most of the time sleeping and watching t.v. I did a bit of cleaning, but nothing spectacular. I mostly just called up friends and family on the phone to see how they were doing, when I wasn't lazing around. So there you have it. I have been a couch potato for this weekend, and it wasn't as boring as I thought it would be.

At least I found some interesting things to watch on the internet...

Style

I am very tired of people saying that men who have style are "metro" or in the closet. For those who don't know, "metro" is short for metro sexual. According to society a metro sexual is a young man with a high disposable income who has deconstructed his gender role and has begun caring about his appearance the way a woman traditionally does. A metro sexual gets regular manicures, pedicures, he goes to the spa, and he has an almost homosexual interest in fashion.



Now, back to the topic at hand. I think that a lot of guys are getting labeled incorrectly out there. Just because you like to make your hair look good for the ladies, or because you like to look good and make an impression does not mean you are any of the above. Why can't a guy just be himself these days? Women complain about being stuffed into roles by society, but from where I am standing guys are getting shuffled through labels so much that its hard to keep up. I think we all just need to take a step back and relax. Guys have been looking nice for ages and not been asked if they were gay or effeminate. Besides, the whole point of looking good is to show off your masculine traits and to impress. If it is giving the opposite effect then maybe men should stop showing style for a while. But if they did people would start complaining again.

we men just can't catch a break...

Fall

Fall is tied for my favorite time of year. It is such a nice time. I like it so much because of a couple of reasons. The first reason i like the fall so much is, the colors. All of the tree's leaves turn different bright shades. You could drive down the street and see one tree that is red, another than is orange, green, etc. Fall is also chilly, and chilly weather is also good for a number of reasons.



When it is chilly out after a long period of hot weather, you can relax a bit. If it gets to chilly you can put on a sweater and have an excuse to snuggle up next to you partner, or someone your interested in. Also, when it's chilly out you know that there won't be any bugs buzzing you.



Last but not least, you get all that good food. Yes, I am talking about Thanksgiving. The turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, the gravy, the stuffing, the mac-n-cheese, the pies, and the ice cream make you feel good all over. And while they may give you an extra five pounds, it is certainly worth it. I personally will be not eating on thanksgiving day until dinner time.

to save room...

Patience

I have decided something. I am going to try really really really hard, and not let my current situation affect me. I have realized that I am collapsing into complaining and social reclivity. So, like I said before, I am going to do what I normally do in situations such as these. When I say a situation such as this I mean a situation where there is a defined end and I can do nothing to change it. What I will do is relax and wait. I know it will be over soon and that if I have patience it will seem closer. So patience is the name of the game now my friend.

It is just a matter of time...

Hump Day

So, It is Wednesday. Hump Day. Hump day is the last of the three crappiest days of the week. They say that once you get through hump day the rest of the week is all down hill and easy. The week might be that way for some people for some people, maybe even me, but I know that if you have a good job, a good woman, and a good group of friends there is no reason why everyday can't feel as good as Friday.

Hope your hump day is going well...

My 100th Blog

As the title suggests, this is the 100th blog I have every written. This blog has been up for months now, and has chronicled the changes that have occurred in my life. It has been a great means of blowing off steam, and of informing others of the nuances of my life. I have really really enjoyed this having and writing in this blog. It is a rewarding experience that I would suggest to anyone.

In my opinion, a blog should serve the purpose of expressing some deeper emotions or truths while staying light enough to be picked up by a casual reader. You have to balance the size of your blogs, as well as their content. If you blog is too long or dry, well then you will be sure to have bored readers. If your blog is short and very airy, you will not be able to keep any readers. It's a tricky paradigm. And, I don't even know if I can use that word correctly.

In any case, the world has changed in these past few months and so have I. I have no idea where life is going to take me. But, you will sure be able to read about it in this blog. I look forward to both my future and the future of this blog with cautious anticipation.

What would your choice be?

Let's say for a moment that we live in the X-men universe and everyone is about to take an evolutionary step forward. However, you get to choose what your new power will be. It can be anything within the comic-book universe plethora of powers and you get to be specific down to the very last detail. Oh, and lets include for the sake of argument that everyone is going to use their power for good and you can use your powers in your every day life.

Now that we have set up that you are going to receive a super-power/mutation, what would you want yours to be? I know what I would want mine to be. I would want the power of flight. I would want the exact same kind of flight that superman has. I of course would need goggles so I could see at high speeds, and a body that could resist the g-force of ultra high speed flight; but superman flight it is. He can levitate, flight very quickly, he has ultimate control over his in flight movement, along with so many other great things.



I can just imagine what it would be like. I just got done with work and step outside. I put on a trench-like coat to keep me warm and some goggles so I can see. Then with a burst of power unlike anyone else's ability I jump up into the air and soar north. I gather speed and height as the houses and highways begin to zoom by. I hold onto my pocket watch and compass as everything around me blurs together as I approach the speed of sound, but do not cross it. Minutes later I begin to slow down as home comes into view. After a safe speed is reached I begin to descend doing lazy circles around my house until my feet hit the ground and I walk through the door to see my super strong dad and my mother with her amazing healing powers, if that is what they choose.

One of those moments

I am totally having one of those moments where you just want to stop what ever it is you're doing and go do something else. In this case, it is very easy to figure out what I want to do and what I want to leave. Now, I am not trying to be a complainer. I am only telling you how I feel right now.

In another dimension there exists a version of me where I act out my desires, and this is what they are. I get up from my desk and give the office one last look. I leave my cubicle, go out into the parking lot and get in my car. Without telling anyone, I leave company property and head to my apartment. I throw all of my clothes and my computer into my trunk and I take off with my fish. I barrel down the highway at breakneck speed. Hours later I pull into my driveway at home and I go inside. I walk through the empty house, mom and dad are out around this time, and I lay down on my bed. I close my eyes and don't wake up for a whole day.

While some other version of me is doing this incredibly dumb and satisfying thing, I am sitting here working away. I am choosing the smart thing instead of the thing I really want to do. Well, this escape has allowed me to blow off some steam. Now I can be more productive.

Feeling a bit lonely today

I'm feeling a bit lonely today. I don't know why. One of those moods I guess. I actually am starting to feel a bit excited, about how in two days I will only have six weeks left before I can see my friends and family again, oh well. I guess I will take apart the printer I was given, and remove the copper wire from the monitor I found on the side of the road later today.

Hope your Monday is going better than mine.

One of the best things ever

I love massages, a lot. Now, I'm not talking about the massage you get from a friend or partner. I am talking about the full blown professional massage that you pay out the rear for. The kind of massage that you remember for the rest of the week. I swear, that when I get a real and good paying job I will get a full body massage at least once a month if not more.



Let me tell you why I'm so jazzed up about them. A couple of days ago I woke up with my neck in pain. I rolled over and awoke several hours later with the same pain. After several days of this worsening situation, I could barely move my head side to side or up and down without some pain. My range of motion was very limited. Out of real need, I called up the masseuse and scheduled a half-an-hour massage for thirty bucks. She laid me down on the table and began massaging the areas I said where painful with essential oils. And, before I knew it the half our was over and I could move my neck again. It wasn't perfect as I still had some minor pain, but it was a significant improvement.

Now I can move my head and am taking her advice to make sure it doesn't happen again. I sleep with a pillow under my knees for lower back support and I sleep on my back for neck support. Moral of the story: Massages are like, one of the best things ever invented by man and you should totally get one if you can. If you can't you should guilt one of your family members or friends into getting you one. Non-professional ones are still good(but they are a pale comparison).

New Knowledge

I've learned something new today. My new knowledge does not lie in the arena of engineering, or anything technical for that matter. It has to do with people, and how they behave. More specifically, how individuals handle themselves in a corporate setting.

After chatting with an older work-friend for a few moments, our conversation strayed into different areas and he began talking about some of the less than adequate members of this corporation's workforce. Up until this point, I have seen few who do not get their work done. Well, according to this older gentlemen there once was a guy who would come in about an hour late, take a forty-five minute break, go around and chat for a while, go early to lunch, come back late, and do a lap of the office once before disappearing. Well, needless to say, he was eventually caught after months of this. He took a leave of absence and upon returning did the same thing all over again. He was eventually fired. Then there was a guy who would clock in and do about three to four hours of work before leaving for lunch and basically sitting at the bar for hours. He would come back an hour or two before time to leave, drunk, and pretend to do work. From what I hear, his neighbors only knew because of the smell on his breath. He did this for several weeks before being let go.



I was surprised to hear that this happened, at this level. Why, after get a good job, would someone do these things is beyond my understanding. In the course of my day I may take a couple of minutes here and there to get a coffee, or chat, but it will never compare to the degrees of the above individuals. Also, how do these people get away with it for so long? They either must have been in the company for years or where friends with someone important.

Nothing new to report at this time

So here are funny pictures for you to enjoy.

The Cube World is a Small World

When you work in a cubicle, you can hear what is going on all around you. You can hear what two individuals are whispering about others, you can hear the phone calls they make, and sometimes you can even hear the other person on the phone if they are loud enough. But, in my case, I can hear the goings on of the guy right across from me. We will call him Bill.

Bill is a large man, nay, a very large man. He is so large that he waddles. In fact, he has to lift his flabby little arm up sideways in order to bring a cup to his blubbering lips. Bill is also a loud man, who loves to talk on his cell phone. To top it off he has a short temper and will offer little help to anyone unless there is some sort of reward involved. As a result of his proximity and volume, I have gained personal insights into the current state of his relationships and his proprietary life. Let me share a few of the things I have learned.



He is divorced and has a son. His son spends time at Bill's mother's house while he is at work. Bill rents out a house and is having trouble renovating it. Bill is in almost constant contact with his ex-wife, whom he always argues with. Bill hasn't seen his buddies in a while, most likely he moved to where he is now after college and had to leave them behind. Loud, short tempered, and unhelpful; no wonder he's divorced.

All of this information was gained with out my permission. It was forced into my eardrum and into my brain, I don't even want to know about him. I guess this is what happens when you work in a cube next to a loud, fat man. And if you're wondering, The Cube World is at the intersection of Wonderland and The Twilight Zone.

No you are not imagining it

I did change the template for my blog. If I like it, then I will keep it. I'll give it a couple of days though. Feel free to leave me some feedback

Capsule Game Review: Canyon Defense

There comes a point in the day where all you want to do is just sit down and relax. Like many others, I usually spend this time playing a fun computer game. Now, I am not a huge fan of paying exorbitant fees to do it. Nor, am I a fan of spending a half of an hour loading software. So what do I do to both satisfy my need for a fun computer game, and not spend a long time loading it? Well, I just mosey on over to Miniclip.com and play one of their more sophisticated flash games.

Among my favorites is a game called Canyon Defense. As the name suggests there is a canyon and you have to defend it, but it is much more fun then the name suggests. As enemies drive through the canyon weapons systems you have set up along the ridges fire upon them in an attempt to destroy them. If they make it through, you loose a point. After loosing ten points the game is over. What makes this game special, is that the weapons are all automated. This means that you hit start and watch them destroy the enemy. It is a great mix of strategy and passive entertainment.

As you destroy more enemies, you receive more reward, allowing you to build more weapons and more sophisticated systems. And, as the game progresses you become able to build manufacturing plants and nuclear silos that aid you in your quest to destroy the enemy that continually become more difficult to kill with the passage of each battle. While it may only take up to a half-an-hour to play through, the beauty of this game is that you can set the game to it's most difficult mode and go through it a couple of times; still enjoying the second and third time as much as the first. This is a great game overall, and I will be making it available on my blog soon. If you want to play it, you can go to Miniclip.com or scroll down to the bottom of the blog; where I will be putting it soon.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Several trips around the sun ago, my father was born. And, thank God he was or I wouldn't be here! But in all seriousness, I hope you have a great birthday, dad. You deserve it. I'm sorry I won't be there in person, but I am there in spirit.



Everybody wish him a happy birthday...

Wikipedia!!!!! WHY HAST THOUGH FORSAKEN ME!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you are sitting down; because I have some harrowing news. Our common source of information and random information is down. I would suggest that you keep tabs on children and the elderly, as vigilantes have no doubt entered the street and have begun pillaging. With Wikipedia down, the world as we know it is gone. We must band together if we hope to survive. Fortify your home as if preparing for a hurricane, and get plenty of bottled water.

Just to be clear I am referring to the fact that Wikipedia went down today at 10:30am, eastern time, as I tried to look up some information regarding theory relating to a project. I have come to rely heavily on Wiki for information lately, as have we all, and without it I will have to search the tired halls of the internet for information the old fashioned, time consuming way.



This is going to be a long one...

Sorry Sorry Sorry

I know that I have said this before but I promise you that I will have the list of sites I go to, to watch shows, up tonight.

On my honor as a man...

A Spontaneous Weekend

Friday, I was ending my shift at work and was contemplating what I should do to entertain myself this weekend. While mulling several options over in my head, one stood out among the pack. I could go and visit my girfriend for the third weekend in a row, or I could sit at home and watch TV all weekend only going out to Walmart to buy things I don't need. A dilemma arose.

After deciding that the latter was lame, I thought about wither or not I could afford to make the trip. "Well," I thought to myself "If I only spend money on gas I can do it." And so the adventure began. I called her up after work and we discussed it, and we both became excited about the visit.



The weekend itself was great fun. We even went out to one of her friend's apartment where he was cooking traditional Chinese dumplings. As the weekend showed itself, again, to be too short, I made my way back to Greene. The roads were treacherous and blinding tractor trailer trucks did nothing to help. Never the less, I made my way home and here I sit writing to you, on a break from work.

Public Restrooms are evil

I don't know about you, but I can barely step foot in a public bathroom these days. Everything about the experience is unpleasant. It's an assault on the senses, and that is not the worst part! The worst part is that there are always individuals in there to make it worse. For instance, even if there are thirty open urinals; someone has to take the one right beside me and then start talking. If I choose to sit in one of the stalls then someone's foot is always edging it's way under the stall wall. All right all right, I will stop the needless ranting and break it down for you sense by sense.

Touch
Everything is always wet. Every try grabbing a handle of a toilet and find that your hand got wet?

Sight
Have you noticed that every public bathroom in the world has the same fluorescent pure whit light that flickers so fast you risk a seizure?

Sound
One of the worst, I hate hearing people do their business. I also hate hearing the heavy breathing and sighs of relief that come with the "business."

Taste
Sometimes, when conditions are just right, you can taste everything you smell in a bathroom. Almost enough to make you get sick.

Smell
Possibly the most disgusting thing about the public restroom is the smell. I will not go into detail as you already know why.

And that is why I use the guest bathroom...

4 Minutes

Well I did it again, I over slept. I woke up at 8:10am when I was supposed to be up at 7:00am. And to make it all the more worse, I had a meeting scheduled for 8:00am. Now you can imagine the amount of panic that coursed through my body as I shot upright in bed as if electricity had hit me. After an initial wave of panic, I spent about a second thinking and decided that I had two options. I could call in and say that I would be late coming in and miss the meeting, or I could rush and try to make it in on time.

The race against time had begun.



I had neglected to set out my clothes the night before so I ran around my apartment looking for something that I had not already worn, that was clean, and that was easy to iron. I did everything I usually do in morning routine, but at break neck speed. In a moment of genius I thought "combine tasks," so I brushed my teeth while combing my hair. I went to the john while shaving, and the list goes on.

Just as the title suggests, I completed this all in a mere four minutes. The hilarious part of this situation is that after I ran to my car, sped to work, ran into the building and calmed myself as I neared the meeting room; I noticed that it was dark and empty. After further inspection of my email, I discovered that it had been canceled. What a relief. To top it all off, after I arrived; my boss hadn't even come in yet.


In any case, I have set a new record and defy you to challenge me.

9 weeks and counting

So today is the nine week left point. Meaning that in nine weeks I will be at home munching on yummies and thoroughly enjoying myself. This also means that by this time next week I will be able to say, "I will be home at the end of next month." These are exciting times we live in.

I have grown to appreciate my life in Greene more as time marches forward. The autonomy, freedom, life lessons, and experiences I have gained here will no doubt carry me into future jobs with higher chances of success and achieving my dreams.

And yes, I will be putting up the internet TV list today. I will start it at lunch and post it tonight around six or seven. My dad has been chomping at the bit to get these sites ever since he discovered that he can watch his favorite shows online, while mom dominates the TV.

Fun stuff...

Moral

Moral is an interesting concept. It is a part of our every day lives, and yet it is only considered when either on the battlefield, or when it becomes a problem. Moral can shift as quickly as the wind. A single word or action can cause moral to grow to large proportions or sink to nill.

In my own situation, I have noticed that moral can either come in waves or completely erratically. Now do not mistake me for someone who is bipolar, my moods are never extreme. However, I have noticed that certain things can have a big impact on me.

For instance, if my apartment is dirty and cluttered I can easily get depressed. If I have the windows closed on a sunny day then moral will suffer. If I have not been tired from physical activity in over a week, then moral will also suffer. Also, I have found that paying attention to the passage of time drops moral straight through the floor. I am reminded of a rainy Saturday afternoon, as a child, looking out the window and hoping for the day to go by quicker.

Conversely, I have found that there are a few things that give the opposite effect on moral. When stuck in a situation where you are removed from friends and family it is important to stay in the loop and to remain informed. If you feel even the least bit involved then you are closer to them, in a small way, then you were before. Physical exercise also allows you to increase moral. It has been shown that after a long work out, endorphins are released in your brain. These endorphins create the natural "runners high" that we hear so much about from those in our groups of friends who run.

I would like everyone to know that I am not depressed. I just thought that it would be interesting to write about moral and how it is related to our actions.

a low after a high

Man, this weekend was great! I got to spend four full days with my friends, family, and girlfriend. I slept in, ate good food, went to a couple of get togethers, and enjoyed myself. I enjoyed myself so much, in fact, that when I got back to my apartment I became a little depressed.

You see, For the time being I am working in a little town called Greene doing a six month co-op. The place is nice and clean, but dreadfully small. I try to stay as active as possible. I participate in karate, visit home whenever fiscally possible, and work out; but there is only so much one person can do in a small town.

But I digress, I walked into the apartment that I was in to much of a hurry to clean the week before and my heart sank. Now, my life isn't all that bad. There are plenty of people who would love to have my life. I am healthy, have many good friends, a wonderful girlfriend, and I have very supportive family. I guess my point is that I do complain, but I am very appreciative of all that I have worked for and been given.

But, back to my story. I walked into my apartment at 8:00 p.m., and it was dark. I flick on the big light and drop my bags on the floor near the door. Immediately; every corner, nook, and crannie is bathed in blindingly bright white light. Half of my apartment is still pitch black, and it is very chilly. I look around and realize that the only living things there are the fish that haven't been fed in days.

To top it all off I have a terrible cold and cannot take any time off work to recuperate. More decaffeinated green tea for me please.

To get back to the main point, I have to say that my day today has been terribly depressing by comparison to the past few days. I guess I am going to have to become a more robust person and learn how to make my quality of life better in the face of solitude.

Got any suggestions?...

Comming Soon!

A whole blog about how to find your favorite shows on the internet!

I have continued searching the internet for sites to watch your favorite shows, and have found 11 new sites! I am currently going through the list to determine wither or not they are worth going to and rating them according to variety and volume of shows. After I have completed this task, I will put up a blog about them including links and ratings.



There are absolutely no reasons to worry about copyright infringements or viruses, on the recommended sites, and I will tell you why. I have gone to each of them, searching every function they have, and have received no malware or viruses. And, as far as copyright infringement worries go; you do not break copyright infringement laws by viewing a video online something. You break the copyright infringement laws when you reproduce, sell, or post without the owner's permission. And, none of that has taken place here.

Think about it this way, if you were going to get in trouble for viewing the videos; then YouTube would have been shut down ages ago. And, it is still going strong.

Take a look

Have you ever noticed that Sara Palin has a face that is not quite symmetrical. I hope I am not the only one who has noticed this, but it looks like she got socked in the right cheek. Take a look and see if you can notice it. If you need to, you can click on the image for a larger view



You see what I mean? Well, I guess there is now one more thing about Mrs. Palin I do not like,...


...her lopsided face (even though she is kind of attractive)

A Critical Time for Politians

With Obama steadily decreasing in popularity and McCain steadily increasing, in the wake of his running mate announcement; there has not been a more important time for citizens to pay attention to the candidates.
No matter who you support, you should make an informed decision. And, once you have made your decision, it is your responsibility to let you friends and family know your opinion and why. If everyone compares opinions, based on facts, a few might have a new perspective that they never would have had before. So, no matter who you support you should get out to vote and help bring others to the polls.





Oh yeah, and don't vote for McCain in '08. Think of what would happen if he died in office. We'd be left with a hot Alaskan governor as president.

A close call

So,

On the way home from Star buck's, this weekend, I threw some trash out of my window while driving. I had checked behind and ahead of me to make sure that no cops were in sight. After becoming reasonably sure that none were around I threw my cup and a bit of trash out the window.

No one else was around so I felt like I was safe, that was until I heard some strange noise behind me. "Crap! its the five-oh!," I thought to myself as I saw a large SUV come speeding up behind me. So I pulled to the side of the highway and started to slow down. Just as I thought I was done for, I saw an ambulance behind him in the distance. "Phew.. It was just a car accident," I thought in a moment of sadistic relief.



The SUV and Ambulance went around me and I didn't get caught. "Ha!," I exclaimed aloud after I was sure that I was in the clear.

Don't judge me, you would have done the exact same thing.

Capsule Game Review: Sushi Go Round

Sushi Go Round is a popular game hosted by Mini Clip. In the game you play the role of a temporary replacement sushi chef who is given one week to prove himself. Hungry customers come to your restaurant in search of delicious combinations of sushi ingredients. As you have no doubt guessed by now, it is your responsibility to make the sushi by selecting the right ingredients, rolling the sushi, and placing it on the conveyor belt for their hungry mouths to receive.



As the game progresses you receive more types of sushi to make in less time. If this wasn't already difficult enough, you have to balance your cooking with ordering replacement ingredients on the phone when you run out.
If you wait to long to serve a customer they become angry and leave. However, there is one way to keep an angry customer happy if you are swamped with orders, yes I am talking about that quint essential Asian beverage Saki.
The game has the ability to hold your attention for hours as you race to serve as many people as possible before closing. If I were to put this into a category I would have to say it is closest to the puzzle/time crunch genre.

I give it a eight out of ten possible thumbs up. A good game all around.

A great weekend

This weekend was great. I worked overtime all week so that I could leave early on Friday. At about noon I took off from Raymond and arrived in Potsdam at approximately four o'clock.

Friday was spent relaxing with my girl. We hung out and got some food and then later went to visit my brothers who were hanging out over in Riverside. Saturday was spent relaxing, chatting with friends, checking out the downtown stuff going on for the students, coffee at strawberry fields, and snugglin'. Sunday was spent pretty much the same way as Saturday, except we went to my parent's house for some great spaghetti. I haven't eaten that well in a long time. A bunch of my parents friends were leaving, because they had,had lunch with them and they made it very awkward as they said that me and Ashli make a great couple, and that the pastor (whom we had accidentally seen the day before) thought we looked good together. Man what a pain.



Anyways, Monday came and I left at about 4:30 p.m. Labor day allowed me to stay an extra half-day. As I made my trek back to Greene, I was sad to leave but happy to know that I would be back soon enough.

83 days to be exact.

Excitement

For a week I have been coming into work early and leaving late, and to date I have racked up three hours and seven minutes overtime. But, I am not going to use this overtime for regular pay. No, I am using it to get out of work early on Friday, today.

When I leave, at noon, I will immediately hit the toad and travel to Potsdam, getting there around four. However, it is eight in the morning now and I still have four hours to go.

The torment!

All I want to do is get in my car and drive. Every fiber of my being is yelling at me to stand up and run out of this office as fast as I can. But, alas, I cannot do such things. I would get in serious trouble, and that is the opposite of what I want. I guess I will have to do what the bumper sticker of the redneck truck that parked in front of me says and "Cowboy up." Whatever, I'll survive.



Oh and by the way, I am writing this at work to make the time go by faster.
(but you probably already knew that)

Car parts, Grandmas, and Weekends

I replaced my two front tires, using one of them as a spare, and it cost me about 300 dollars! On top of that, I plan on replacing the back two soon and maybe getting new front brakes. Oh man, after that I will probably have put over 1000 bucks into that car. But on the bright side, its in great shape for it's age. For a '96 Chrysler its only got about 50,000 miles. In fact, the guy that repaired it asked me how I came across such a well kept car, for it's age. Lucky I guess.



The reason that I wanted to get the tires replaced soon, is because by this time on Friday I will be headed to Potsdam to see my sweetie. I haven't seen her in about a month and I miss her. I will also be having dinner at my parent's house, as well as seeing some friends from school and its going to be great!

We won't have her overbearing grandmother staring over our shoulders every time we hold hands or give each other a peck. Man, I could talk all day about how that woman drives me up a wall. I used to think my grandmother was bad, but by comparison she looks like mother Theresa. I don't know if that analogy works, but I'm using it.



Anyway, I'll be sure to let you know how the trip went. I still have preparing to do! I'm planning it so that when I leave work early tomorrow, I can just jump in the car and hit the road.

Later spaders...

Sparing

So I spared for two hours yesterday, and it was fun. I worked on my technique a lot, and also tried to develop some combinations that were effective. My blocking is coming along, and so is my awareness of weak points. But after two hours of it, I was beat. I was so beat, in fact, that when I got a little adventurous and tried a round-house kick to the head; I fell straight onto my side.



The worst part of it was this morning. I intended to get up early and do some overtime at work, however, trouble came when I turned off my alarm and decided to sleep for just a few more minutes. Instead of sleeping five extra minutes, I slept for an extra hour and woke up five minutes after I was supposed to already be at work. Luckily I can stay late to make it up, but the sad part is that I am going to have to stay extra late on top of it just to work a little over time.

You see, I am trying to get enough over time so that I can leave work at noon on Friday( I want to get the road trip out of the way early so I can visit my girlfriend for labor day weekend). We will have to see how much earlier I will be able to leave.

After today I will have almost two hours, and I need four extra. Oh well, at least I will be able to leave early no matter what.

Another one of those mornings

Oh man,

Just when I thought I had kissed that terrible morning goodbye, I get another one. I woke up this morning and thought to myself "If I pretend like I've caught HIV then I won't have to go into work today, seeing as I need to get tested." Now I have not caught HIV, but I was so tired this morning that I was considering it, just to stay home and sleep.



Maybe that is the nature of a really bad morning. You go to bed after a long day and a rocky start, only to wake up and feel like sh#4. Well, I guess I better start drinking some coffee, and get a good breakfast. It will be 8.5 hours until I am free to take a nap.

One of those mornings

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you just didn't want to get out of bed? Have you ever had one of those mornings where your body was so tired, it didn't feel as if you had not received any rest at all? Well, I had one of those mornings today. Or maybe I should say, I am experiencing it right now.

It is 8:06 am (eastern) and I've been up for about an hour, and I am still as tired as I was when my eyes first opened at 7 am. While I know that many of you have to get up much earlier than me, the fact remains that wither or not I had gotten up at 5 am or 7 am doesn't matter, because I would be equally tired.



Thats the way those mornings work, you could get a full eight hours of "rest," and still feel like your head never touched the pillow. Why is this? I have no idea or speculations. All I know is that I will be running on caffeine, sugar, and sheer will power for the next eight hours.

Got a horrible morning story of your own? Leave it in the comments section, or email it to me and I will put it up for all the world to bask in your glory.

Sup dogs?

Blogging from work today.

I have been given this temperature test to perform on these circuit boards, and it takes all day. Every ten minutes I have to run out and take a reading and change the temperature in the chamber. It is tedious but it affords me many small breaks to do things like blog.

The temperature chamber itself is pretty cool. The chamber is about 2'x2'x2', but the machine is about 4'x3'x7'. It can control the temperature, inside itself to about a tenth of a degree. It does this by precisely controlling the pressure inside. As the pressure changes, so does the temperature. It's kind of like a pressure cooker, if you think about it.

Anyways, I have to do some shopping today, since I have like no food in the apartment. Other than that, work, and karate my day is pretty boring. I am however, extremely excited about visiting Potsdam the last weekend of August. It will definitely be a blast.

My Transformation

Hey Everybody,

Hope you're all doing well. I'm pretty good, these days. I think that living on my own in Greene has really given me a good handle on life, with respect to supporting myself. I never realized how much effort is put into maintaining health, home, and creature comforts.



For instance, if I want a really good chocolate chip cookie then I have to make it. There is no one else there to do that for me. Here's another for instance: If I want to watch TV, surf the web, and enjoy an air conditioned room; I have to stay on top of my financial responsibilities (i.e. bills). This is a big moment for me, and you get to witness the transformation from the me that let other people take care of the nuances, to the me that takes charge of them himself.

Arn't you lucky...

Baby Vs. Kitten for President

This weekend

This weekend was great. I got to spend some real quality time with my beautiful girlfriend. I'll update tonight telling you more of the details of the trip but I remember one moment, when I was driving home that was particularly interesting.

Crossing through the Adirondacks, a slight storm had just ended. The air was cool and damp. It felt very cleansing. As I passed through a small valley, I saw what I thought was smoke, but it wasn't smoke, it was a cloud. Big, puffy, and white it stood fifty feet above the tree tops and was as out of place as me in Greene. I pulled over and watched it drift through rays of golden light the sun only shines before it sets.

Another Vlog

This one is from about a week ago, so it's a little bit dated. In the future I will be putting them up as soon as possible.

You really have to watch this

Hey everyone

Very sorry about not posting in like forever. But, I do have some heavy news for you. I am considering moving my blog. Technically I will just be creating another blog that is exactly the same as this one, and eventually deleting it, but it is essentially moving.

Now I am still only considering it, and for good reasons. If I ever did move this blog, I would keep it up for months with a link to the new one so that any one who stumbles upon it can be redirected.

If you guys give me some feedback, it would be much appreciated and would help me in my decision making process.

Lots of stuff to ponder...

A Quantum of Challenge

So, Work is going pretty good. I'm working on some new stuff since I finished the test box. Right now I'm doing some testing for one of our engineers. I have resigned myself to the idea that I will never really get a project here at Raymond Corp. I more than likely will continue doing the things I have been doing for the last two months, for the rest of my time here. These duties consist of testing, a bit of research, and whatever tasks the engineers need completed to make their lives simpler. While the job is easy and the duties are quick to complete(usually a couple of hours up to a day) I am left feeling unsatisfied. I was really hoping for a project that I could do on my own, and take my own way. Maybe I'm being selfish, but I wanted a challenge; something to push me to the edge of my knowledge and perhaps over.

I have gained some good knowledge from working here though. I have severely sharpened both my soldering and schematic reading skills. I have learned to work on my own, more. I have gained insights into the every day goings on of both an office and it's functions. I've encountered everyone on the spectrum of hard work, from those who avoid it in any way to those who embrace it and take on as much as they can handle before breaking.

Most importantly I have learned that yes, this is a job I could see myself doing in 10, 20, maybe even 30 years from now.

And yes I did steal the title from the latest Bond flick... bite me

Vlog not Vblog

My First Video Blog

Technically known as a VBlog, this video, and those like it, will update you to the goings on my life without me having to spend twenty minutes writing and editing.



Oh and as promised I have included the link to Kenny Vs. Spenny. Just make sure to give it a second to load.

One of the wierdest sea creatures I have ever seen

If anyone can tell me what this thing is I will be forever in your debt.



Look at this thing! What the h#$k is it?!?

Mr. Toyoda Himself

So a few days ago Raymond Corp. recieved an inspection from it's parent, owner, corporation; Toyota Industries. And, Raymond had a special guest coming along for the inspection. As the preview and title suggest, Mr. Toyoda the president and CEO of all of Toyota Industries was in Greene Ny a few days ago. Now I know that his name has a D in it and not a T but apparently thats how it is supposed to be. In any case I did not know about him coming until the day of his arrival. In fact, I sort of disregarded the idea that he would be here until I walked out into one of the company corridors and saw a huge group of short Asian men, all huddled around an older guy in the center. He dd not make eye contact with me, but I did get a good look at his face, which gave me the impression that he was tired after traveling from Tokyo to Greene, understandably.



I followed their group around for like a minute just to make sure I had seen what I thought I had. Now this may not seem glamorous to some, but at least I had the opportunity to be within feet of one of the richest men in the whole world.

Pretty F'ing cool

Comming Soon!

Tonight I will tell you all about how the president of Toyota came to Raymond and how I was able to see him.

Yes... he is very short

Car Troubles, part 2

So, I spent independence weekend with the family in Massena. I arrived Thursday night and decided that I was going to leave Sunday at around four p.m.. "Going to," is the key phrase here; and I will explain why.

On Sunday at around three p.m. I was ready to go. I had gassed up my car, gotten a nice snack, purchased a couple of caffeinated beverages, and took off with listening to NPR with the air conditioner on full blast. As I passed from Potsdam to Canton I decided that I was going to top off my tank so that I wouldn't have to worry about running out of gas. As I glided through an intersection I began to slow down so that I could pull into the station, but something was wrong. No, I take it back; something was terribly wrong. The brake began to resist me, and the wheel would barely budge. I remember thinking "Am I imagining this?" So, I pumped the brake to make sure. I recieved my answer shortly after. No, this was no dream. I had no power steering and barely any brakes. I manually turned my two ton Concord into the station as I turned with force. I slid into one of the spots and stopped short of hitting the wall of the station.

After some time, that was filled with reading the owner's manual and calling for my father to come out, we discovered that on a 90 degree day I had been driving with almost no radiator fluid, low oil, and to top it off the air conditioner on full blast. The engine had overheated and cooked one of the thermostats that regulated the flow of coolant to the engine.

We got it home, but I followed in the Buick, with my mother, as my dad had to stop every other mile to let the car cool down. An agonizing hour later we made it home, and I called work to let them know I wouldn't be in today.

Well, lets fast forward to this morning.

I awoke at seven fifteen and saw my parents off to deliver my mother to her job. After that, my father called the dealership and set up an appointment for nine a.m.; which I just got back from. It took the mechanic an hour and one hundred and thirty dollars, but he is reasonably sure the problem is fixed. Just to be sure he drove the car around a bit and the temperature gauge never rose much above the .25 percent mark. I called work and everything is worked out with them, they were surprisingly understanding. Other than that I am going to do another test drive and leave at about four p.m. as was scheduled the day before. It goes without saying that I will be watching the temperature gauge like a hawk and driving in the slow lane with no air conditioning, a small price to pay I assure you.

If I make it home alright you will be sure to hear about it in a blog, and if there are any problems then you will definitely hear about it in this blog. I am mostly reassured though, because I have a cell phone with me and my tom tom GPS navigation device will direct me to many local mechanics based on my current location. Until then, I will leave you with my best regards and I hope you all had a wonderful independence weekend full of fun and excitement.

I certainly have had my fill of the ladder.

Independence Weekend Ups and Downs

I am spending this weekend in massena and am enjoying being home. Work gave me the day off, and still paid me. I have been having issues with my youtube and yahoo email account, though. I can't log into my youtube account because I forgot my password, so I sent a verification email to my yahoo email account. Not long after I discovered that I couldnt get into that one either. I guess I am going to have to spend some time trying to remember it. I do have another ace up my sleeve though. I'm not out of this one yet.

As far as anything else is going, the fourth is very relaxed and we plan on bbq'ing tonight. Other than that, not much is going on. I will however update you to the goings on of my life, like the pictures I posted below.

I heard from a couple of new people, who were reading my blog, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for reading and hopfully enjoying the site.

I'll post another blog soon.

The DewMocracy Flavor Taste Test

After having an online contest called DEWmocracy in which individuals come up with new tastes, Mountain Dew has come out with three new flavors. They are letting their customer's decide which flavor they like best and are, accordingly, keeping the flavor that is most popular. I discovered this while stopping off at Rite Aid after work today, and decided to buy all three. I tasted all three and will share my insights into the nuances of their flavor differences. The first new flavor is:

SuperNova

Now the bottle says that it is "DEW With a Blast of Strawberry Melon Flavor and Ginseng," but there is not even a hint of ginseng. As I take a sip and swirl it around my mouth I realize that there is more carbonation in this beverage then traditional Mountain Dew. Its sweet, but not too sweet. As far as the strawberry melon flavors go, this drink leaves something to be desired. Drinking this is like drinking a very carbonated, slightly watered down strawberry Crush soda. I would say that it is enjoyable, but not something I would ever pay for again. In other words, if it is at a party I would drink it, but I wouldn't be surprised if I never see it on shelves again. The next new flavor is called:



Revolution

Now I am not sure if this is aimed at a rebellious youth, but I definitely do not feel compelled to march on Washington after tasting it. The bottle says that it's contents have "Dew Infused With Wild Berry Fruit Flavor and Ginseng." After allowing a few drops of this pale blue fluid into my mouth, I can assure you there is nothing wild about this flavor. It has the feel of soda-water with the taste of one of those blue ice pops that you let sit in your freezer for to long. It just does not have what it takes to be called Wild. Nor does it have what it takes for me to ever drink this again, free or not. I would rate Revolution less tasty than SuperNova, and would not recommend it to anyone. The next flavor is by far the best and called:

Voltage

Much tastier than the previous two, Voltage has a label that says it's brighter blue insides are "Charged With Raspberry Citrus Flavor and Ginseng," and yes it did say "Raspberry." If that is a typo or not I do not know, but I would not put it past the Mountain Dew brand to do this in the name of being edgy and different. Now, back to the taste test. As I take a large sip of the soda it is very clear that there is significantly less carbonation, a good thing. The raspberry has a distinct citrus flavor, as the label suggests. I can taste the same citusy tangy flavor that makes it's lemon/lime brother so popular. I would have to call this one... regular Mountain Dew but with the lemons and limes swapped out for Raspberries. Now seeing as I greatly enjoy the lemon/lime Mountain Dew that you see everywhere, I will label this both the best flavor of the three and my third favorite Mountain Dew flavor, behind my second favorite: Code Red

Let me know what flavors you think are best, wither you agree or disagree

Evaluations and Progress Meetings

So, I got an email from Clarkson the other day that said they wanted an "initial evaluation form" filled out and sent to them from both me and my supervisor. I definitly thought that mine would be useful, but not my boss's since I never work with him. Anyway, it turned out fine. He emailed me the form to email to Clarkson, I have no idea why, and I took a look at it. Mostly said that I was doing "very good" and that it was too soon to tell if I had a few of the character traits the forms wanted to know about.
I, however, was not so nice in my evaluation form. Lets just say that since this coop is placed in the middle of nowhere and also since they haven't given me a real project yet, they didn't score very well. Now, this job is by far the best one I've ever had, but I was promised a project and I haven't been given one.

Which makes my meeting this evening at 3:30 pm very difficult. I, and all of the other coops, have to get up in front of the senior engineers and talk about what we have been doing so far. Now it is only a few slides, but if I haven't been given a project then I am just going to have to blabber on about the short little assignments I have been given.

Life is soo tough for a twenty year old white guy working as an engineering aid...

(just kidding)

I was a seething couldren of anger

No joke...

Why you may ask? Well I'll tell you why, but I'm going to take the scenic route so strap in. Alright, so about a day ago (thursday) I made a trip down to Walmart and bought myself a Tom-Tom GPS navigation device. I was thrilled to no end as I put it in my car and let it tell me the directions I already knew, back to my apartment.

All in all, it has some great features. It tells you your current speed. The names of all the roads around you. It tells you the current time aswell as the time of arrival given the distance and your current speed. It has maps of both the continental U.S. and Canada stored in it, and can grab signals from seven satilites on average.

Now why would I be upset at a wonderful device such as this? What could possible cause me, the techno nerd, to be upset at this delightful piece of machinery?

Let me take a deep breath...

After leaving work on friday I had my car all packed and ready to go. I had my back up maps in the car, just in case, and gave the device plenty of time to calculate my route to ashli in poughkeepsie, for the weekend. After doing all of this it told me a way to go that Google Maps did not. I shrugged my shoulders and went where it told me to go. I got about half way to ashli's (2 hours) when it apparently decided that it would be a good idea to take me back to my apartment.

Why?, I will never now. But let me tell you, when after four hours I saw the sign that was supposed to read "Welcome to Poughkeepsie" say "You have entered historic Greene" I was seething, as the title suggests. I was cursing and pounding my driver's wheel with force that I was sure would break it. I was so upset that I had just spent four hours driving in a huge circle around New York that when I hit the breaks to make a turn onto my road, I hydroplaned and barely skidded to a stop in front of three very nervous drivers.

"This is quite enough," I said to no one in particular as I got out of my car in the driveway of my apartment building. I understood that I was far to upset and nerved-up to drive, so I took a cleansing walk. After about twenty minutes and a quick trip to the bank to get some money that I would need to refill my tank, I was calm.

I sat in the car, prayed for strength, and struck out again. Four very stressful hours later I made it to her house, unscathed. Even though I basically made a huge four hour circle around New York,

the anger has passed and I am now as placid as a hindu cow.

Chums and Bums

I've really settled into my job, and have met some cool guys that work there. I say this because today me, two other guys, and this really cool woman/lab technician just jammered on in the lab for over an hour, barely completing our work. It was probably the most fun I have had since there since I started this job.

Also, I got a bit of interesting information concerning a meeting I have to attend on Tuesday next week. Apparently I have to make a short presentation of my project work thus far for all of the senior engineers. While I am not alone, becuase all of the other coops have to do this, it does not detract from the fact that I have had no project given to me since I started. I have only been doing engineering aid work, as they like to call it. So, for this nice little meet and great I get to tell everyone that for the last five weeks I have been doing odd jobs that barely occupy my time.

Well, at least something good came out of this. My boss sent me an email that said quote "We've got to get this guy a project." So after a short conversation he said I would have it at latest by Tuesday. Which is... oh yeah the day of the presentation.

Fun stuff.

A Good Morning

Was not what I experienced at 8:00am this morning...

So this morning I awoke feeling rested and ready to go. I rolled over in my bed to see what time it was because my alarm did not go off. As my eyes came into focus I gazed in disbelief. My alarm clock said that it was 8:00am. As the fact that I have to be in at work by eight met the memory of the warning I got from my boss, not to be late, I jumped out of bed yelling obscenities.

I raced for the phone and called my boss's secretary, she didn't pick up. I left a message of apology and a statement that I would be in as fast as humanly possible. Half an hour later I was driving to work thanking the good lord in heaven that its a two minute drive, when I saw a bunch of kids walking to the high school that is near Raymond Co. "Isn't it a bit late for that many kids to be walking to school," I thought to myself. "Wait a second," I said to no one in particular as I looked down at my car clock.

I couldn't believe it. It was actually 7:30am and not 8:30am. Which meant that my clock had been accidentally set ahead an hour. Oh man I was upset. I had rushed through everything, barely ironed my shirt, and didn't eat just so I could be at work a half an hour early. All that stress brought me only 30 minutes of extra work time.

When I got there I gave the secretary a call and said that it was all a misunderstanding. Man, I felt irredeemables and upset. Well at least I cot to get out of work a half an hour early.

Sine Qua Non

So...

I finally got this episode from Hulu.com and have posted it here for your enjoyment. While this is an old episode, I'm sure that the newest one will be up on hulu soon. Enjoy!

Battlestar Galactica
Season: Four
Episode: Sine Qua Non

A Weekend Visit

to Ashli in Poughkeepsie was just the thing I needed.

Last weekend I shuffled off this coil and left for one further east. Poughkeepsie was my destination as I decided to visit her for the weekend. She had been telling me how much she missed me, on the phone, so I thought; why not? It was a pain and a half trying to schedule this visit because of her stupid controlling grandmother, who she lives with, but it was totally worth it.

We went out to the mall, the movies, we toured around all of her childhood hangout spots, and just enjoyed each other's company. I ended up staying at her Aunt's house just a few minutes away because they didn't have any room at her house.

Which brings me to the only part of the vacation I did not enjoy, her uncle. Technically her aunt's fiance, but they've been together for like 12 years. I digress. Before I got there on Friday evening, making great time mind you, she told me to be aware that her aunt's boyfriend "Joe" is a bit... of an acquired taste, to be polite. But let me paint for you the picture of what it was like to meet this man.

Walking into the small house I looked around and saw her shy aunt come up to me and ashli asking "hey, whos this?" After my introduction to Heidi I then saw a hefty man of about 5 and a half feet tall walk around the corner and come up to me. "whos dis?" he demanded in a thick Brooklyn's accent. After introductions, we all sat down in their living room and chatted about this and that for about ten minutes. He had long hair tied in the back which was matched by a goatee and mustache. His arms were covered from shoulder to wrist in tattoos of a myriad number of depictions and colors all stacked on top of one another. From our later chats and interactions I came to understand that he was a self proclaimed "true american" as he took me to the room I would be sleeping in to show me his gun collection.

"So what do you think of dis stuph?" he asked looking me dead in the eye as he whirled his hand in the direction of the collection. "I think every American should have at least one," I said playing the part. To be honest I can think of at least ten people off of the top of my head, right now, that I would not want owning guns. "Good, I can see that your... at least educated about dis stuph," he said with great strain.

I later discovered, as he came home one evening dirty and in leather, that he was a 15 year member of a motor cycle gang. And if there was any questions loyalty to it, they vanished when he took his jacket off and revealed a shoulder holster with a .45 caliber hand gun nestled in his side. "Nothing to be intimidated by," he said removing the clip and bullet in the breech. "Yup," I said trying to convince myself.

While the guy never threatened me, and was very hospitable and even nice at times. He is definitely the odd duck of those involved in the Burkhardt family. Let me just make clear that the rest of her family, besides her control freak grandmother, are all vanilla-American do-gooders. And other than him, the weekend went great.

Can't wait for the next visit...

Covert Blogging

This is going to have to be brief.

I am sitting in my cubicle right now at Raymond writing a blog as I routinely look over my shoulder and minimize this screen every time I hear or see someone walk by. I am really not supposed to be doing this, but they never said I could not do some quick internet surfing when I am waiting on tests, so I'm taking this time to update my blog.

I am doing an all day temperature test of these circuits that involve new operational amplifiers, and I only have about three mins before I have to take the next data point.

Before I leave, I want everyone to know that I am doing well and am having some fun at work. Even though I do not have a real project yet.

I'll update again tonight for sure.

Gotta run... here comes one of my bosses!

I should update this more often

Hey everyone.

Sorry that I haven't updated this in over a week. Life has been interesting since I started getting settled in my new job here.

In the two weeks that I have spent getting acclimated to small town America and the real world of engineering I have made a few discoveries. Firstly, I have picked up a couple of useful little morsels of information concerning wire soldering techniques, real world lab protocols (or the lack thereof), a new technique called "wire wrapping", and pizza.
Yes, I said pizza. You wouldn't know it from looking at it but Tony T's Pizza serves the best pizza I have ever tasted in my life. Tony T infuses flavors I never new could be put on a pizza. Now none of these are exotic or out there, per say, but they are delicious. My current favorite is a popular type known as Chicken Gold, it gets it's name from the color of the pizza. The recipe calls for a strange combination of spices, including mustard. And let me tell you, the slight tangy and robust flavors dance on your tongue like the can-cans of old.
But, pizza is not the only thing I have been doing to occupy my time. I have been running in an attempt to drop some weight. And, to my delight my lose for this week is a whooping two pounds!

Thank you thank you, please save the applauds for later...

I made a trip up to Massena this weekend to see the family. It was wonderful. I stopped at Clarkson on the way and walked around admiring how wonderful the campus looks in the summer with freshly planted flowers, blooming trees, and freshly cut green grass. I was smiling like and idiot the whole time.

Well, I have a week of work ahead and a couple of things to occupy my down time. Not a ton of things though. I will, however, force myself down to that mall in Johnson City that I have been meaning to go to. And, I also have to send one of my fraternity brothers a ring, who lives there also. Not in the mall, in the city.

Until next time, leave some love on the message board or email me at leemf@clarkson.edu. I will be sure to return your messages.

C'est la vie

4.09

That is the price of one gallon of gasoline in American dollars where I live.

This is absolutely absurd. Why does OPEC insist on raising the price of a barrel of oil so high. There is going to be a point where people just decide enough is enough and champion other sources of fuel. I know for sure that I will be personally looking into bio-gas in the near future.

It is a good thing that I get paid well and that I live so close to work, or else I would be paying out the nose for fuel. I may just start walking to work when it gets a little warmer out. I tell you what will really hurt, visiting family and my girlfriend this summer. Oh well, at least I get paid well.

Seriously though, this is crazy...

Online TV

When your really bored and there's nothing good on T.V. but you still want entertainment there is always the internet option.

I have a cash of sites I use to watch my favorite shows whenever I want for FREE. This is no joke and no money making scheme. I have spent a long time finding these sites. And, I have never gotten a virus or spyware from any of these sites, and I do frequent scans. In case your worried these sites are completely legal since most of them are run by the owners of the material posted and allow you to download none of the material shown. Below are the sites I use and a little information about them, along with a rating.

Hulu.com

Is an NBC run site that has a myriad of shows and movies; ranging from comedy, to scifi, to documentaries.

Rating: 4 of 5 possible thumbs up

Surf the Channel

I found this one a relatively short time ago, but it offers shows and movies in all genres.

Rating: 3 of 5 possible thumbs up

TV Links

This one has been around for a while but has just recently updated it's look. It is takes a few seconds to fully load but from what I have seen they have the largest list of both popular movies and shows from every genre. If you don't want to look through the huge list of shows and movies you can just type your show/movie into the search engine.

Rating: 5 of 5 possible thumbs up

South Park Studios

If your interested in watching a funny adult themed cartoon then south park studios is your ticket to entertainment. However, the site is a bit hard to use and the episodes take a while to load.

Rating: 3 of 5 possible thumbs up

Family Guy.com

Run by the people who make the show, Family Guy.com features several of the shows from the series as well as many funny clips and musical numbers. Family guy, for those who do not know, is another adult themed comedy cartoon series that has picked up huge ratings in the short period of time that they have been around.

Rating: 3 of 5 possible thumbs up

Wide Angle

For those who are more interested in a documentary Wide Angle has many of their shows on their website. Run by PBS, the documentaries are superbly well done and cover topics that face a wide variety of peoples from around the world.

Rating: 4 of 5 possible thumbs up

Now that you have my personal list of online entertainment you can no longer complain that "There is nothing good on," and be justified as this myriad number of possible shows lie at your fingertips.

Guess What's Comming To Dinner?

Finally!

Oh my lord this took forever for SciFi.com to put up. Well, at least they put it up and now it's here for you to enjoy, just like I promised. Also, I will be putting up a preview of the next episode Sine Qua Non here: Click Here for next episode preview. Enjoy

Battlestar Galactica
Season: 4
Episode: Guess Whats Comming To Dinner?

Google Rocks!

I just discovered something cool.

Go to Google and type in "Matthewzor". The first link will be called "Title goes where?," which is the old name of my blog. The new name is It's Blogin' Time. If you click on it, it will take you straight to my blog homepage. Soooo cool.

I discovered this while messing around on the internet one day and just absentmindedly typed in Matthewzor to see what would come up. But you should check it out, really...

Go do it!

Time Warner Digital Home Phone

Call anyone in the U.S., Canada, or Puerto Rico; as much as you want; for one low fee.

No, this is not an advertisement for the service. However, I am giving the service two thumbs up. Since I arrived in Greene a week ago I have fully realized how small this place is. There is less than 5000 people here and I can run from one side of the town to the other in about 20 minutes, if I travel by car it's less than 5 minutes. Even though I plan on visiting the surrounding Binghamton region I have spent most of this week's time in my apartment or at work. As a result of this isolation I have been on the phone quite a bit; talking to friends, family, and my girlfriend.

When I moved in I ordered the cable/internet/phone package, since my cell is a tracphone and you have to buy minutes as you use them. Even though it is an expensive service it has proved invaluable. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone this week, probably on the order of 10-20 hours, and would have a HUGE phone bill without the service. So thank you time warner digital phone people for allowing me to talk to my peeps even though I am miles away.

Maybe I should be on one of their commercials as a spokesman, hmmm...

Work

My job has finally begun!

And now I get to go through the relentless monotony of Orientation. They made me and three other new hires sit in this little room and watch videos and presentations on every kind of useless knowledge ranging from how to safely operate a fork lift to chemical safety (I'M IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING!) to sexual harassment.



After the two days of orientation were over I actually got to go out into the office and labs to do some work, even though I had to have someone open the doors for me because I don't have the clearance yet (its supposedly "in the works").

Anyways I got to work on part of a laser controller that will better allow forklifts to not injure people or property by making it extremely easy to line up the forks. I drew up the truth tables for all of the part we were looking at, and if the parts come in soon I will be building it, testing it, and reporting any errors. We were worried about a possible race condition involved in inputing two logical highs to a quad R-S latch.

Sorry for not updating earlier. After moving in and completing training I have mostly been watching television and running in my free time. However, I will be exploring the surrounding cities on Saturday. Once I get a feel for how to get back and forth I will be able to spend an afternoon in Binghamton, Johnson City, or Norwich. Very exciting I am sure.

I have planned on visiting Ashli not this weekend but the one after, once I get paid. I was also hoping to make a trip up to my home in Massena the weekend after to see family. Other than that I have no real plans other than saving money. Anyways...

I will definitely update tomorrow...

Moved

Here is a walking tour of my new apartment:



Well, I hope you liked that shaky video. Right now it is Sunday the 18th and I begin work on Monday. I am finally starting to get excited. However, they have yet to tell me what time I am supposed to come in for orientation. I even sent my boss two emails. Oh well, I'll just go in at seven to be safe.

If I am honest I was pretty lonely this weekend. I arrived here on Friday evening and unpacked. When I got here the reality that I am in an alien environment with no friends really got me down. I spent the first day fighting the blues and the two following days trying to relax. So far it is working.

All I have to say is: thank God for VOIP phone service. It is one of those time warner deals that lets you talk as long as you want to anyone in the U.S. for as long as you want. I have probably been on the phone for at least 5 hours this weekend talking to people so I don't get to bored.

Well at lest these past few days have been relaxing. Though it has been constantly raining my mood has only gotten progressively better/cheerier. One thing I find odd though is the fact that when ever I go some place in town the people look at me. I don't know if it is the fact that this is a small town or that the people just like to look at each other, but every time I go out and walk past someone they stare at me. Even when I look up they don't look away. It's kind of odd. In any case, I am sure it's harmless. Small town America for ya.

I'll be updating tomorrow about orientation and what Raymond Corp. is really like. Until then I leave you with the above video and...

my thanks for your continual views...

Battlestar Galactica

So I'm beefing with the show...

Now the show they aired recently Guess What's Coming to Dinner was a good one. However, they will not be airing another episode for two weeks and that is very upsetting. To top it all off they didn't put the latest episode up on Scifi.com, so I cannot post it here. As soon as they do I will embed it for your viewing pleasure.

Also, if you were lucky enough to watch it when it aired the preview for the next episode showed Lee with his hand raised in the air, palm out, in facing a person holding a book in front of a crowd.

Wonder what that could mean...