"The time has come," the Walrus said

Before I forget

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:13:42 GMT

I just got back from a week long vacation with my family in which we carved and lit over 200 pumpkins for Halloween. It was a blast and it was sooooo nice to go home. Now I am getting back and sorting through things and going back once again to all those things which life consists of. At some point I will try to post pictures here. However there are a lot of pictures and right now I am not going to bother.

However I did want to post about the stake conference that I attended. We only went to the Sunday session since Saturday was Halloween and we had a previous engagement. Cecil O. Samuelson was the seventy that spoke. I found it funny that even though he was the President of BYU while I was there I had to go to my (old) home ward to hear him speak.

An earlier speaker had mentioned a little child (I believe a fairly close relative) that had been at school and accused of not being a Christian when the other kids found out he/she was a mormon. When asked what constituted a Christian the other kids said a person who believes in Christ at which point after a thought the kid said, "well, then I guess that makes the devil a Christian too".

This clever story reminded Elder Samuelson of an event at which he was invited to speak about the mormons and have a question and answer session with other clergymen. After a discussion of the restoration, the early church in England (for that is where this took place), and the modern church he participated in a long question and answer session. As time was running out a rather petulant man asked how mormons could consider themselves Christians. While Elder S. had thought this questions had been answered he asked for the mans bible and if it would be acceptable to answer the questions by asking a few of his own first. They were all Clergy and there belief in the Bible had been established so he asked them 1) if they believed Christ to be the literal son of God and Mary and thus dual natured both eternal and mortal. Some bickering about details ensued but he testified he believed it as taught in their Bible. 2) He asked if they believed in the ministy of Christ and the miracles he performed. Again their was some discussion of allegorys and such and he cut them short for times sake and again testified that the Mormons beleive in the miracles and ministry as documented. 3) and most importantly in his mind he asked if they believed in the "passion" of Christ and his resurrection (evidently atonement is only used once and passion is how virtually all other Christians refer to Christ's sacrifice. Yet again people voiced their interpretations and discussed naunces going into flowers in the spring and so forth and yet again he cut them off in the interest of time to bear his testimony and state that mormons believed the account as written in their Bibles. At which point he posed his final question which was, Given all the answers to those 3 questions who did they think should be classified as true Cristians. At which point he said a little old lady elbowed the petulant man in the side and said, "I think he's got you". I liked the story and thought it would be good to share and remember.

Anyway, later I will have to record all the other bits of this last weekend.

Good to be back

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:00:44 GMT

I should post about my trips for job interviews, I should talk about all I did, what it was like, what I learned, and the question everybody wants answered "how did the interview go?" I don't feel particularly up to any of that at the moment because right now I have a great desire for nothing more than to curl up in my own bed and go to sleep.

As far as how did the interviews go, I don't think I put my foot in my mouth at any point or alienated the people I was talking to so they didn't go bad. As far as how good they went I guess I will know within two weeks.

Until then, good night.

Work

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:19:35 GMT

Currently the work I am doing is teaching me there are all sorts of long, convoluted ways to describe a refrigerator, and this may or may not have anything to do with what the patent is actually about. I don't know if these guys have any sort of technical background, are native English speakers, or are just lawyers purposefully obfuscating the details.

At least if it takes twice as long I get paid twice as much.

work and conderence

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:04:55 GMT

So the process for getting a job is still going slowly and is still annoying but I do now have some work to do. There is a company that needs somebody to sift through and summarize some relevant patents. It is just a small job that shouldn't take more than a week but it is work and money and that is always appreciated.

Also worth mentioning is conference. I hate going to the priesthood session. I kind of hate the way conference is organized. 2 hour sessions with two hour breaks sound like a good idea until you realize that it is really disruptive of your day. This is not what bugs me about conference. It bugs me only about 30 min before priesthood session starts when I realize my day is shot and that now I have to dress up for this last bit interrupting things further. I hate dressing up, the clothes are not comfortable and they are useless because you are working so hard to keep them nice and respectable you can't do anything in them. Perhaps that is why they are designed to restrict motion, some mothers genius plan to keep the kids cleaner by making it so their kids can't play in them.

Let me reiterate I HATE dressing up, thinking about it gets me all riled up and angry. This bears repeating so frequently because words can not adequately describe my aversion so repetition must.

So I sat through the preisthood session frantically taking notes to take my mind off the fact I was wearing a tie and listening to the same people that earlier I had listened to comfortably in shorts and a t-shirt on a sofa. Pen was flying and I was getting some good notes, still upset but coping nicely. Then President Monson, the last speaker, got up and gave his talk about how we shouldn't be angry. Now why did he have to go do that?

Turns out I am not a very quick learner bucause at the end of his talk I was still indignant about being dressed up, except now I was feeling guilty too.

I'm not a complete coward

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:39:34 GMT

Since Peyton has posted it on her facebook and so it is out there for all the random world to know I thought I ought to post it here as well. Peyton is pregnant and we are expecting a baby of the one variety or the other in March.

There I took some initiative and told someone. Peyton has been doing most of the telling. She even told my mom. This is all for a very simple reason; the prospect of being a father scares me to death. That and I am a little stinker like that, making her do the telling.

Other than that not much in the way of news. Some thoughts on various matters. I found a recipe for some way yummy yeast rolls, now I need to teach my friend Kristy how to make them since she is leavening challenged apparently. I am still applying for various jobs although I really hope I get one of the others I have interviewed for already, they just sound cool. I also had a small victory over the sewing machine yesterday. I need to mend some of my clothes and handsewing while effective takes a lot of time, especially when you are as hard on clothes as I am and as busy. The fact that I was able to change the bobbin with a different color of thread, string the thread through the machine, and change the settings, followed by a successful trial run on junk fabric was a huge success. I have tried using the sewing machine before with marginal success, it seems to go fine until the beast realizes it is me trying to use the machine. Unfortunately Peyton is busier (and now pregnant to boot) than I am so I have to do what I can.

Also if anybody is concerned with how Peyton is doing (all you other people out there that have gone through it for starters) she is doing great. She is tired a lot, gets car sick easily, and dislikes pretty much all raw vegetables. Other than that no food cravings (although the amount of fruit she eats has increased), she is healthy, happy, and fine. No major cases of sickness although their is and underlying constant nausea. Evidently this is the worst after she brushes her teeth but only if it is a Sunday (that particularly amuses me). And yes, I am treating her well and will continue to do so.

more job applications

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:20:03 GMT

Going to the career fair really created a lot of work for me in terms of applying for jobs. Unforturnately it is very slow going as most of want the same information, pages and pages of it, but there is no convenient way to get it to them other than filling out dozens and dozens of little boxes. While I have been distracted and trying to keep on top of other things I don't seem to get much more than 2 companies applied for a day. Big lots of nuisances with having to fill out pages and pages of information time and time again.

The company that scheduled me for an interview in Houston last week upon realizing I was from out of town switched it to a phone interview. So got something to look forward to this week I suppose. Now I just have to remember to be nice and prepared for it. I must say I did enjoy the dumping rain we had today. Lots of pouring rain and thunder and lightning. Quite nice. It even brought Peyton home to me early (by a little bit) since they were hearing about certain road closers (didn't affect us).

Back to job applications.

Career Fair

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:13:55 GMT

Well, I can't say that the career fair was fun but I think it went well. I seemed to talk to places that weren't having immediate interviews. I did have 2 already. For a naval shipyard in Norfolk and Harris communications in Melbourne Florida. Both interviews went well and both are going to be passing favorable reviews back to people who make decisions. Both are jobs that I would jump into the air and celebrate getting, as I talked with the people I got more and more excited about the job so here's hoping. If they both made me job offers I would have trouble deciding which to accept the Naval Shipyard seems like the job might be a better fit while the Florida one sounds like the place might be a better fit.

Of course that doesn't mean my work is done. I still have about 30 other companies that I need to apply to and continue filling out jobs for. A lot of companies said go to our website and apply. I need to do that as well but I don't have as much hope because I don't think my resume is particularly strong as I don't have much in the engineering job history. No co-ops or internships. I am awesome and think I interview pretty well, but getting to that point might be a bit tricky.

The other job that I have an interview scheduled with is for next Thursday in Houston. The only thing is I don't think they realize I have no way to get there. It is a feel good moment and a bit frustrating, I also have no idea when or how I applied to them. In hindsight I should have kept better records since I have done so much of it and can barely remember what I ate yesterday much less what I applied for over a week ago. It is also a oil industry support company I believe and I am not near as excited about it. I've heard the pay is great but it is because they expect to own your soul, good for a single guy, hard on a family guy. Also I would hate to feel like I should take that job when I have ones that are infinitely cooler that I have a shot at. The thing is those other ones are extremely competitive, bird in a hand versus two in the bush.

But that is thinking too far ahead. Right now I have to focus on companies that were at the career fair and need me to do some additional application. I also get to be excited for opportunities and blessings. Go Me!

And I do remember what I ate yesterday, well Tuesday evening. After spending 2 full days wearing out my feet at the career fair we went to Olive Garden since they have their never ending pasta bowl going on right now. I ate 4 bowls and got another serving boxed up to take home. That is why I take advantage of the promotion whenever it comes around, hard to beat that size of a meal for $9 at a place like Olive Garden. It more than made up for the fact that I had missed lunch for 2 days straight because I was constantly at the career fair.

Unneccesarily hard.

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:39:03 GMT

So there is a big career fair at GA Tech this coming Monday and Tuesday and I have been trying to look up all the companies that are coming. Recent alumni are welcome fortunately, the problem is GT is not particularly good at websites and hassle free design. I can search companies by Engineering and by Degree level (among other things), If I search for Graduate Mech Eng I get a list of about 80 companies, if I search for Undergraduate Mech Eng that are also looking for Masters level candidates I get a list of 98 companies (note there should not be any discrepancies here). Combining the lists of companies and subtracting out breweries I have a list of 110 companies that I can apply for. Not too shabby. (that is, bytheway, about 1/3 of companies attending)

The complaint is that this must mean companies are confused by the registration website as well. If they want people who graduated in Mechanical Engineering both at the bachelors and masters level they have to add it twice, Grad Mech Eng and undergrad Mech Eng. There are at least 30 companies who didn't realize this among them names such as Dow chemicals, HP, John Deere, Cooper, and others.

So I am an engineer and can figure this out, the fact that I am smarter than the university is dumb is overcomable right? Well, sometimes. Last year companies wanted you to submit a resume either 1) with the recruiter 2) through the company website or 3) through GT's website or any combination of the three including all of the above (Obnoxious). Well, GT knows what you are and if the company doesn't specify things exactly right it won't let you submit your resume through the website. I had companies that the recruiters said yes we want Masters level yet GT wouldn't let me submit my resume because "my degree level doesn't match requirements". I didn't worry as much about it because last year was a trial run to get the hang of things, I suspect this year will equal more frustration, because nobody, GT, me, and the companies inclusive, can properly manuver and manipulate the websites properly.

That took a while

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:46:45 GMT

A project that has been mulling about for some time now, going on 4 years I suppose, is the compilation of my grandpa's journal and poetry. He had a fair amount of writing with both. Earlier this year we finally got everything from our family so that we could start pulling it together and making it look nice. Time, and quite frankly ambition, being in short supply we hadn't really done much with the stuff and let the project sit in limbo. Well, now I am without a job and have been putting some effort into the thing, slowly since Peyton is the master of the programs.

Well, today I finally made the effort of pulling in all of the poetry. It is in, it is organized, and it is complete. It is also over 140 pages and took me most of the day. That's what I get for having to deal with 85+ poems in assorted files and no clear order.

Now I have the documentation to prove it.

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:57:03 GMT

Yesterday when I went to get the mail I tried to open the box and couldn't turn the key. I wondered what was going on, I had the right key, I had the right box, it seemed jammed. After a really good twist I finally got it opened and saw the problem, a hard cardboard tube had been jammed in there against the piece of metal that locks it. Inside the cardboard tube was my diploma. I now have documentation that GT acknowledges my mental acumen and prowess.

It is rather nice, all embossed and stuff. The only things that aren't embossed is my name, the date, and the degree name, you know all those things that are variables.

Graduation and projects

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:43:15 GMT

Wow, I neglected to post for a whole month. You might think there would be a lot to catch up on. Disappointingly, there isn't too much, that of course is no guarantee this will be a short post.

First of all the first of August was the graduation ceremony for my masters. That actually should mean my diploma should come any day now. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I'm still glad I didn't mess with my bachelors ceremony but I am glad I went to my Master's ceremony. Now I have a cool robe and dorky hood to show for it. Favorite part when the balloons rained down and I got to stomp them on the way out. Funniest part when instead of popping a balloon it escaped underfoot and by spinning up the back of another mans robe created enough static charge to stick. most productive part reading a book while they read off all the other peoples names. 2nd funniest part when somebody went to swat the balloon of the mans robe it rebounded off the floor and stuck again. Cool part graduating with my lab mate. disappointing part when the photographer went to get that money shot of the president of GT and I shaking hands the lens fell off his camera (it was slightly comical as well). Biggest Realization when they say pomp and circumstance they ain't kidding.

In the realm of projects I have completed two of which I am quite proud. One is another journal for Peyton. She had already filled the one I made her in January. This one turned out even better, in both aesthetics and function. It doesn't have any sort of a closure or clasp but the other project a little pocket booklet for my friend Kristy does. It also turned out really well especially considering that it was a different type of attempt (refillable) and I didn't have much material left to work with.

So first graduation images.

Look at me all dressed up. Also notice the really dorky square sleeve coming off my left hand. Turns out you can fit an entire hardbound book in there.

Here's me with my hood up. This was a picture requested by my sister Laena. I was laughing too hard to pull of menacing, of coarse I don't thing it's possible to pull of even somber much less menacing in an orange bordered hood. No it looks more like a giant tropical frog is eating my head. That's why, Laena, they don't wear their hoods up.

Here is Peytons new Journal. It loos even better in person. I am quite pleased how it turned out. The dimensions on it are 8 1/2 by 5 1/2. A standard sheet of paper folded in two. It might be too difficult to see but this one has lines printted on it. A huge perk for Peyton.

A map of the US and Canada since she has pretty much lived in state shown. It is refillable and although it is a bit difficult to see I tied a button knot and attached it as the means of keeping it closed.

People should note that Kristy is a benefit of proximity, she got a customized way awesome gift just because she is so close (although the fact she is awesome doesn't hurt). Now is a great opportunity for any of you, since you too can be receiving awesome gifts by finding a job for me in an area near you! If that plea for help wasn't subtle enough I am more that willing to make a customized leather project of customers choice if they can find me a job. Sheesh, am I really stooping to this level?

That is all for today.

I need a job

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:03:09 GMT

The title of this post is more than just a statement of being unemployed. I don't do well with nothing to do, others can, Janci, Peyton, Jason, they can all make a list of things to do and by the end of the day have done them. Me, I get distracted far too easily. I wonder if I would have a job by now if I was better at staying on the task of looking for one. Then again since they not insignificant amount of emails and applications I have sent out have yet to achieve more than an auto reply email I guess maybe not. (But as a side note, we're not picky about location--if anyone knows of any mechanical engineering jobs wherever they are, please send word!)

Now we will see if I can recall what I have done in the last month that is worth mentioning. See I have even been to lazy to get around to updating my journal.

Disney world was fun and a great way to celebrate graduation. I got to ride Everest, Soarin', Peter Pan, and the River Rapids none of which I had been on before. One major highlight was I got my picture taken with stitch. He's the coolest. I got the high score in the Buzz lightyear ride, that was fun. Also we ate at Planet Hollywood which I like to collect hats from. Hard Rock cafe, you see, has cool merchandise but low quality food and is music themed. Well, for me Food is more important than merchandise and I like movies better anyway. So far I have 4 hats, New York, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Niagra Falls.

I finished another Journal for Peyton since she has filled up her old one. This one in some aspects is even cooler but I don't have any pictures of it yet. Next major Leather project is going to be a sheath for my machete, a bit trickier.

I often watch lots of movies at home, this is an attempt to multitask while I work on something else. Unfortunately I still very easily fall under the spell of the magic box and it doesn't take very long before I am sitting there thinking oooooh, moving picture.I do get stuff done but productivity does plumet more than it should. Commentaries don't seem to have as dramatic of an effect. Now I have an even better setup since my friends got a flat monitor I got my old clunky CRT back, I now have a dual monitor setup and it feels awesome!

Cooking is one of those things I wish I did more of and yet can't find the time to bother with. I got spoiled working in the Kitchen at BYU where I had all the ingredients conveniently located, on hand, and of a great variety, plenty of space and pans, and perhaps best of all, it was so easy to clean up where all you had to do was send the stuff to the dishroom. I hae had success at making Angel Food cake, quesillo (think flan, one of only 2 good venezuelan desserts) and assorted breads.

Other accomplishments include beatting Zelda:Twilight Princess and starting to work on my Grandpa's journal again. Zelda is not a short game and was on loan to me and my Grandpa's journal is not a small project that things have slowly been accrueing for. I think now we finally have pretty much all the stuff to put together and I spent 2 days just sifting through and getting it organized. Other news is of course my graduation which is this Saturday. I am looking forward to getting the diploma, which until I see I still feel like the University might find something, some hoop I didn't jump through properly to let me go. I am not however looking forward to walking although I have all the regalia and my spot in line. Only wish that family or something would be here to make it a bit more of a celecration altough I wouldn't wish the trip, traffic, or nuisance on anyone. Just have to do the same thing as at BYU and celebrate individually in a more spectacular fashion. Guess I already have a little with my trip to Disney World.

Back to needing a job I think it is time for Peyton to be a housewife. This stems mostly from this was always the plan once I got done with school and could support a family on my own. She has a profession where she can do freelance to pickup a few extra projects and a bit extra money kind of like what my Mom did with cake decorating and farming. As mention Peyton is well suited for this as she can treat the home like an office better than I can. Also I don't think she is as good at having an actual job. She can do long days, can interact with people, can get up and go to work but I don't think she does as well when she can stay home, work on her own schedule, and not have to deal with others. Infact, she gets more done at home than at work. Me it's kind of the opposite, I don't do as well at home, away from everything and on my own, and I like having a work space, interacting with my coworkers, and having a schedule.

Now for some pictures:

That is Peyton and Me infront of the "Forbidden Mountain" in Animal Kingdom

It is quite the view from the top of the ride. I however was too shy to bring my camera and instead had some pictures taken from the ground.

We were going quite fast, as you can see in the first few couple of pictures, I have no idea if the first two pictures have us in them or not. However by the second time we went down I had shown my father-in-law how to adjust the camera for quick scenes. If you are trying to play where's waldo I am the big guy in the blue shirt towards the bottom of the picture, Peyton is beside me. Various relatives of hers are in the rows below us.

Here we are with my pal stitch. I am wearing my mad scientist shirt. I thought it fitting since I had just graduated with my masters in engineering.

And remember my sqwibble Fluffernut, Kristy was kind enough to give him a wife, meet Flufferdoodle.

And that is it for this post.

Late Night

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:37:29 GMT

When I came in today (which was, admittedly, at about 1.00 this afternoon--I was ordered not to show up before noon, so I didn't hurry), my boss, Miz D, was still wearing the same outfit she had on when I left at 3.40 AM last night. While I recognize that the book we are currently working on has the potential to make the company millions (which is more than every other author we work with combined), I really feel it necessary to question the wisdom of some of the Powers That Be in imposing a two-week deadline from start to finish.

In the effort to get the book done on time, I think the earliest anyone went home was around 2.30 or 3. And then I came in today and discovered that we need to partially rewrite two of the five chapters. Joyous. Might be another long night, especially since two of the other editors wimped out (okay, one didn't go home until 7.00 this morning).

But the real question: How can a man born in the sixties, regardless of sexual orientation, be so oblivious to pop culture that he doesn't recognize the name of one of the most popular American bands ever?

Around 2.00 in the morning I'm in a back room cutting out pictures for a mockup of the book to send to the printer. I have my iPhone on shuffle, just playing out the speakers rather than on my earbuds. "Living on the Edge" comes on, I'm bouncing around pretending to dance, singing along, and a coworker, Chris, comes in, in need of something mind-numbing, to ask if he can help me out. I point out some work, and we're making small talk about the project when suddenly he turns to me and says, "This is an interesting song. Who's it by?"

Me, with a vaguely amused / slightly patronizing tone: "Aerosmith"

Chris: "Oh. Are they popular today?"

Me, now shocked beyond belief: "It's Aerosmith!"

Chris: "I'm not really into popular music."

Me, picking jaw up off the floor: "They've been popular since you were born! You don't know Aerosmith?"

I will allow not connecting the song to the band, but he didn't even recognize the band's name. That just seems shameful, somehow.

Should probably get back to work now. <Sigh>

They liked it

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:30:37 GMT

Before I go off to celebrate I thought I would post about getting the presentation taken care of and all the necessary signatures but I can see Peyton beat me to it. That's okay, after I presented I had a lab mate who also defended that I had to watch. Either way, !Success!. It feels very good to be done and people approve of the work I have accomplished, but mostly to be done.

And now it's off to Disney World. I love it when everything works out and falls into place.

Please excuse me while I squee

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:20:45 GMT

He's done! Happy dancing ensues!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Thesis is almost there

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:48:49 GMT

This week was a major one in terms of finishing up. I have know more or less officially finished writing up my thesis. I have sent it off to the professors who are going to read over it and review it. In 2 weeks I have my presentation and then after a little Q&A and hopefully some signatures I will be done. While another read and a bit more exposition probably wouldn't hurt I think everything is fully presented and understandable and would be surprised if anybody reads this ever again. Especially since the conference paper is just a more concise version.

That was the big news and effort of the week. The only other highlight was I finally went down to the leather store and spent some birthday money. I have a couple of machetes that I have just been keeping wrapped in towel for a while. My mom wanted to make me a sheath for them but as I have been getting into leather working and have access to the tools, materials, and means she has kindly provided the supplies, namely the leather and patterns. So I spent a great sum of money and now have something very fun to work on.

Also we bought the new Brandon Sanderson book Warbreaker. Peyton has of course already finished it (today in sacrament meeting a man mentioned his wife was among the most read people he knew finishing about 2 books every month. Peyton consistently reads 2 a week and left to her own devices without a full time job I think would average much more than that). It is a good book and as a very rare treat a free version can be found at his website. So brand new book just barely out in hardcover and you can read it for free. The cover art is also very neat. So anybody who wants a copy should go out and by one, everyone who likes fantasy and a good read should at the very least go check it out on his website.

Knowing, a Race to Witch mountian, with Jersey Boys

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:40:16 GMT

While our budget is tighter now with me not doing the TA thing we still are managing to have a lot of excitement and see a lot of things. A good deal of that is thanks to the Dollar theater. The week being nothing special I am going to ramble on about a bunch of movies and a play that we saw this week.

First of all we saw "Jersey Boys" on Thursday which is a play about the group "The four Seasons" which is where Frankie Valli started and is known for such songs as "Sherry"' and "Walk Like a Man". We bought the cheapest seats in the place which meant we needed binoculars and were only barely able to distinguish the actors visually but still enjoyed the production. I found it particularly informative since when I hear "the Four Seasons" music is not the first thing I think about, and if I think about ways in which it is related to music I think of some Vivaldi character, not a band from Jersey.

One of the reasons we saw it is because Peyton's parents saw it on their recent trip to Vegas and loved it, I think it helped that they grew up with the music. Still the play (a musical naturally) was very good, very enjoyable, and lots of fun. It was also very upbeat and had an inspiring sort of message, and fairly clean for the most part with the exception of some swearing (they are from Jersey after all).

The play unravels how Tommy DeVito, who had a band which included Nick Massi, took a young Frankie Valli under his wing since Frankie could sing good (italian accent included). Tommy wanted a quartet because those were in and with a little help from Joe Pesci (yes, that Joe Pesci) eventually found themselves paired with Bob Gaudio, a music writer, player, performer. The groups success took off, followed of course by all those problems associate with big showbiz, family problems from being on the road, money issues, and group dynamics. It covers the original members going their separate directions with no hard feelings, and coming together for their inductance into the Rock and Roll hall of fame. I also enjoyed the little bit at the end where each of the groups members talk about what it meant to them and for them.

A couple of the things I most enjoyed was Tommy Devito really took Frankie under his wing and took care of him like family. Later when Tommy is responsible for some huge debts that he has incurred from gambling and taxes and is kind of depressed by not being the leader of the group any more Frankie takes the debts as if they were the groups, kind of returns the favor of familial treatment. Also really cool is how Frankie and Bob struck a deal on them sharing rights to everything Frankie sang and everything Bob wrote, a deal that was made with a handshake and has lasted to this day, 40 plus years. The guys admit they aren't saints, had their share of problems, but are all good guys and it really left you with a good feeling towards the group and a greater appreciation for their work. I even like Frankie Valli's style better which I always thought was a bit creapy, the guy has a range that covers more than 3 octaves and some of those notes just don't sound like a guy should be singing them.

Friday since our power was out and Peyton wanted to do something but really didn't know what we went to the Dollar theater and saw the new Race to Witch Mountain and then Knowing, a new Nicolas Cage film. I have a hard time decideing which film was funnier, I know which one meant to be.

Race to Witch Mountain was a fun Disney film. Nothing spectacular but fun inspte of using some of the standard Sci-Fi cliches. Peyton was a little annoyed how it insinuates we are killing out planet, only use 10% of our brain (a myth they exploited to justify the kids psychic powers), and the order of generic government men who are evil because of their naive approach to aliens and desire to be in control. Actually it had two of those, both american and alien government conspiracies that threatened to destroy all that was good an holy. Fortunately they all but took care of each other.

Yet as I said I thought it was fun. definately a movie I would enjoy if I was still a kid, like I was when I watched the original Escape to Witch Mountain. It had some good action, a some cleverness, and some fun lines. It put a smile on my face and was a fun night out at the theater. Just what I had in mind and well worth the discounted price.

Knowing was a different matter entirely. Of all the movies Peyton and I have watched together this is the first one we genuinely disagree about. We have differing opinions on a lot of films sure, and like them to different degrees but usually I can understand where she is coming from and what she is saying, not so much with Knowing.

First let me spoil the movie. Cage is an MIT astrophysicist or something that when his kid is handed a letter that has been buried in a time capsule for 50 years he finds the numbers perfectly match the dates, death counts, and gps location of major disasters with 3 that have yet to occur, that much is advertising for the movie. Also his wife was killed in one of the predicted disasters about a year ago and he is having trouble adjusting and letting it go and has given up faith in God much to the sadness of his father who is a pastor. He tracks down the daughter and granddaughter of the woman who wrote this prophecy and they discover their kids (Cage's son and the woman's daughter) hear voices from the men who whisper directly into their minds and hand out rocks.

Now before I go further and reveal the ending let me further mention that this movies inspiration was the book of revelation. This explains that the numbers and dates are not warnings to try to prevent disaster but a heads up as to when the world is going to end (via a solar flare incidently). This is not so they can do anything about it but so that the parents will be cool with their kids going with the whisper people who are going to take their kids away to start over. Think Noah's ark except instead of rains it is a solar flare, instead of an ark it is and alien looking ship, instead of earth it so place with a really poorly rendered wheat field (think of a cross between a drumstick and a sea anemone) and a glowing tree.

I found this movie riduculous for a variety of reasons, and found myself laughing because of it. I was trying not to be rude and spoil the movie for the other people in the theater but I don't think I managed very well, or that it really mattered because from the comments surrounding me other people were of a similar mind set. One of my biggest problems is when the movie tries to be overly dramatic. A lot of that is lost on me. Also I never appreciate people who can't let things go, tragic things happen, get over it. Cage's wife died a couple days before his birthday and he still hasn't opened the present a year later, It is the only bright thing in the man's house. The woman is similarly traumatized although growing up with a mother who is crazy and keeps telling you the date when you die I am inclined to cut her a little slack. Still I hate it when people are completely irrational and let all sense fly out the window (see a previously post about hard romance).

Other things that bugged me about the movie, way too much hand cam. Shakey, shakey, shakey, this does not add, suspense, horror, adrenaline, interest or anything else that they could have possibly been going for. Big train wreck in the subway. First, I don't see how the train would have been going quite that fast, second I don't see how it could have happened, third I am skeptical of that much destruction and damage given the first two on account of the laws of momentum. Of course that is all a bit hard to tell because of the hand cam style.

Those two are just compaints. They are not reasons for me laughing, unlike the plane crash. Spectacular crash okay, plane must have been carring several individual shipments of explosives, typical hollywood, derisive chuckle. The cinematography however reminded me of a video game. As Cage is walking into the wrekage people keep appearing out of it on fire stumbling towards him. Seriously, stop, drop, and roll anyone? He keeps walking people keep coming, now he has one more bit of trauma he can't get over. Seeing a plane crash and helping victims is terrible, yet people manage to deal with this sort of thing all the time in professions such as a fireman, policeman, nurse, doctor, etc. Morticians even have to deal with the ones that don't recover. It is okay to continue on with life Hollywood, I promise you this. Still I had problems appreciating the tragicness of the situation when as I was watching all I could think of was attack of fire zombies: level 2.

Then there was the angels, or aliens I am not sure which. I still think it might have been aliens orchestrating an elaborate scheme to get 2 eathlings. Why they would plan such disaaters as hurricane Katrina, 9/11, oklahoma bombing, hotel fires and the like in order to get 2 kids dress them in white and put them in a digital paradise I don't know. I also don't have any idea why God would need to send down really creepy folks that turn into translucent, androgenous, glowing things and suck them up into a space ship that then flies off with the rest of it's fleet to start all over again in a new Garden of Eden (at least I think that is what they were trying to get across). The space ships look like an aloe vera plant that has been stuffed into a tube, a whole bunch of spiky bits sticking upwards. Only slightly less menacing than the evil ship in the new Star Trek film.

I did appreciate the image of the earth getting destroyed. That was cool. That was about it.

Peyton did appreciate for once the earth getting destroyed wasn't on account of us polluting the planet and not being green enough, which I must admit was nice. I thought it was a terrible movie, not because it was poorly made necessarily but because I would never ever want to waste my time watching it again. I was tempted to walk out of the theater because I was getting bored. Peyton is of the opinion it wasn't any worse than Race to Witch mountain, which I most definitely disagree to. Race to Witch mountain wasn't anything spectacular and had it's flaws but at least it was fun. Knowing had nothing that I appreciated or liked, other than watching earth get destroyed which is not something I routinely want to celebrate. Ironically it does fit well into the Sunday School lesson this week which is on the second coming.
In summary, Jersey Boys, a good play I would like to see again or at the very least have the sound track too and something I would recommend seeing. Race to Witch Mountain, not something I would highly recommend but something that I enjoyed and wouldn't mind watching again, Knowing, something I not entirely regret seeing once but something I would recommend not seeing and something I would never choose to watch again.

Happy Birthday to Me

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:17:50 GMT

This last week was a typical week for the most part except for...my adviser actually read the entirety of what I had written! Of course it was for a conference paper that his name was also going on, it was due Monday and he didn't get it back to me until Friday afternoon. Still the fact that he actually got through the whole thing was quite amazing. I was able to get the changes made formatting done and finish it all up. It is now submitted and I don't plan on doing a blasted thing with it until my thesis is completely and utterly done. Also good news is that my adviser is now out of town until my thesis presentation at the end of the month, this means I can work on campus in the lab and not have to worry about somebody looking over my shoulder, a source of distraction and stress.

But enough about that I had a birthday on Saturday. It was pretty low key, none of the big hoopla I typically associate with birthdays. We had a late morning, got up and went to see the new Disney/Pixar "UP". I also wanted a fast food breakfast, it had been ages since I had those sausage biscuits and cheesy egg bagels and I had an hankerin'. Besides, we wanted to see an early showing of "UP" since is was an opening weekend and highly anticipated and fast food breakfast is fast and handy when one takes his sweet time getting out of bed. After "UP" we went to Red Robin for lunch where they had these mini steak sliders. Three mini hamburgers with actual sirloin steaks as the patties, not ground up beef. They were really good along with the fries and various lemonades they had. Then on a whim we decided to use a couple of old movie passes to go back and watch "Star Trek". We then went home, I revised the conference paper a bit until we went over to the Kuglers for fun and games. They had presents for Peyton, her birthday was only a couple of weeks ago, and Me along with ice cream and cake (coffee cake but still good as a dessert especially paired with ice cream). We chatted and played some games, it was a good evening and I much appreciated a birthday celebration in the form of hanging out with friends.

First I will start with a review of "Star Trek". It was a good movie, well done, and enjoyable. I never watched much of the original series, or really much of Star Trek at all. I am not completely ignorant of it either and had at least a workable knowledge of the original series and Star Trek in general. That being said, I really enjoyed the characters and thought they did a good job in capturing the essence of the original crews interplay and relationships. My favorite was of course Scotty, genius engineer and comic relief to boot. The film did suffer from shakey cam syndrome (Is there something about action films that give cameras parkinson's disease? ) and a couple of other cinegraphic effects that were over used. But a good film, fun, and enjoyable. Not one I am scrambling to see again or own but one that I probably will.

"UP" was a gem. We saw it in 3D which while fun would have been just as enjoyable in 2D. I will say though that 3D has come a long way and I was very impressed with the effects. But while Pixar is known for great animation and effects that is not what makes the movie. They're movies are great because of the masterful story telling, and this movie is no different.

Before I go further let me back up and compare it to a couple of other movies. Last year we say the latest Batman "Dark Knight", and sometime before that we saw "The Prestige". Both were very good movies, when I left the theater I really felt like I had seen a great storytelling feat. Well put together, well told, a deep impacting movie. However I still don't own either of them. While the movies were great they were both depressing, "The Prestige" had a slightly less than completely tragic ending to a movie best summed up by: two extremely talented people ruining each others lives because they can't forgive each other. The "Dark Knight" was definitely "dark" in that it really immersed you in the terrible side of things. Like how Saving Private Ryan immersed you in WWII, you knew it was a great movie, marvelous piece of work, but because it was soooo good it left you feeling depressed and sad because that was the nature of the topic. Great movies, not ones that I want to watch over and over, but great movies.

That whole side bar was to say "UP" is equally great but one you want to watch time and time again. A masterful job of telling a story that leaves you feeling good. Using the nasty side of human nature to add conflict but doing it in a humorous way and so not letting it ever get dark and depressing. Using great storytelling to highlight the beautiful things in life, such as love, hope, happiness, and all the other simple yet wonderful things. Well this is getting far too sappy but I think the point is made. The movie has I think the most tear-jerking opening I have ever seen. In order for you to get the back story for the character and the plot they go through a short little montage showing childhood sweet hearts growing old together. The main character never says a word, yet by the end of the montage you feel a great attachment to the man.

As I said the movie was absolutely wonderful. Just like Wall-e was wonderful. You knew you were watching a great movie and having fun while you did it. It left you with a great feeling and a blissfully happy ending. It is like classic Disney, live action or animated take your pick. A fun story that highlights good people. I guess part of the reason I am going on and on praising this movie because it was a breath of fresh air. Besides Pixar these days where can you find a movie that has no swearing, cheating, lax moral and ethical standards, debauchary, drugs and all that other sensationalism. Or possibly the hardest thing to find: good solid loving families and family values. It is seriously getting to the point where it is hard to go to the movies or turn on the tv and find a solid family, or even a bunch of good people.

Enough rambling on about movies and state of society. This post wouldn't be complete without a picture of my present from Kristy. She made me a fluffy little alien. I think the guy is awesome I have determined this race of alien is called a Skqwibble and this particular little dude's name is Fluffernut. So I present "Fluffernut the Skqwibble"

Yes indeed it was a good birthday.

Wed, 27 May 2009 15:43:13 GMT

This Memorial weekend I couldn't help but reflect on how different it was from past Memorial weekends. I have little to no connection with the armed services so sadly this time of year is not actually a reflection of gratitude for our Nations soldiers and defenders of our freedom. Nor was it a holiday celebration and just a happy day of off work, like it was this year. Actually I have always associated it with work, lots of work, and flowers, lots and lots of flowers.

You see my grandparents own a flower farm and the bread and butter of the organization has been for many years Alium and Eremurus. These flowers come on in the spring time and they always need picking crews. Since everybody has Memorial day off that is when the big harvest is. Usually afterwards there is a party, a good old family get together with the celebration of a couple of birthdays. Earlier years when there was lots of alium we could be done early afternoon or even if we had a big enough crew before noon. Unfortunately they dwindled after a couple of bad years and you can pack more eremurus in a truck and then it got to be pretty late in the day before everything got wrapped up.

Either way, a lot of work with family and friends, many years me brandishing a machete or at the very least a large knife as I went hacking away at a veritable forest of flowers. Not all the work on the farm was but the harvesting was actually pretty enjoyable. With that many crazy cousins who wouldn't have fun. Plus there were some good water fights to be had and lets face it, it's hard not to have fun hacking and slashing your way through a field even if you do have to be selective.

Now though Memorial day and the associated weekend is just another stretch of time off. Since all I have left to do is write up what I have done( turns out even more boring than writing computer code is writing about writing computer code) I have nothing to look forward to other than more time in front of a computer. I am really missing physical labor, hard work, and the sun. I hear the sun is nice, especially when followed by a nice cool blast of water.

As far as this Memorial day and associated weekend it was really laid back. We went shopping in the morning and then early afternoon Peyton decided she needed to go for a long drive and wanted to see some scenic state parks and mountains. So we went on a 5 hour picnic. I spent most of the time in the car revising my conference paper. I made some good progress and by the time the weekend was over I got some good praise from my adviser on how it looked. Now we will see what he thinks of it when he reads it (as of Wednesday he is 4 pages in, due to a lot of revision and additional of a literature review that actually means something, in spite of it being no further than he has reached previously).

The weekend also involved spending quite a bit of time at the Kuglers, both playing games and grilling hotdogs and hamburgers on Sunday. The weather has consisted of really nice overcast days with sudden torrential downpours that last for about 15 minutes. Fortunately none of that rain was during the time we were grilling.

On Sundays I also teach the 15 year olds in sunday school, usually with another teacher. He wasn't there this week, and while we have a lot of fun in there I do feel it a bit challenging sometimes. I can't seem to get very far in the lesson because whenever I start to share a story there is one person in particular that asks a lot of questions that have little or no value, relevance, and manage to take a massive detour. I am content with what I am teaching, how I am teaching, now I just need to manage the flow and direction. Still at least I am getting involvement from the class which is much better than a dull class with no interaction.

Monday was a day that was spent catching up on sleep, dishes, laundry, watermelon eating, and Dollhouse, a new tv series. We finished watching the season finale and I think I can positively say that yes it is another Joss Wedon series. It is good show that I can appreciate and occasionally enjoy, not something I find terribly enthralling. His only series that I really thought was awesome was Firefly but sadly it didn't last long. I also can't say I enjoy the ethical standards of his shows but I find difficult to find a show that is much better. We also watched the original Terminator movie which I had not seen in its entirety.

I also finished reading a book called "Bloodline" that was written by a woman as a follow up to Bram Stokers Dacula. I got it from Peytons collection and it was what I classify as hard romance. The book wasn't too bad until the end when the sordid family drama comes to a peak and then it got so ridiculous I found myself laughing at the tragic parts. The conclusion wasn't bad but not enough people died for it to be good, and by people I mean vampires.

I am now going to define my classification of romance which consists of 4 categories (light, heavy, hard and soft). My definition of hard romance is based on characters admitting they are acting stupid but just can't help themselves because they are so in love, in short letting their emotions ruin them. Another indication of hard romance, if tragic loss equals laughter on my part - this means I am laughing at your for being so stupid. examples include Twighlight and the book I just read. Soft is love makes people silly and provides motivation but not to the point that the people become entire stupid, they still retain a brain and will power. Examples include such movies as Princess Bride, Pride and Prejudice, etc. Light romance is romance without any hankypanky while heavy romance is includes heavy breathing. Pride and Prejudice light, Twilight leans towards heavy, descibing characters lusts counts. Distinctly Heavy romance I am not comfortable in thinking about much less listing, that is just gross. Heavy and light are opposites as are Hard and soft but a movie can be both soft and light. And no it doesn't take much for me to categorize a movie as too heavy or too hard and I like it that way.

Anyway, now that my desire to branch out in my reading is quelled enough with the romance. Maybe back to epic fantasy.

We are back

Mon, 18 May 2009 12:06:59 GMT

We actually got back late last Wednesday. It wasn't late for Georgia, only about 8pm, but that meant it was about 2 am in Holland were we had come from and been rather adjusted to. I have been meaning to post some and at least give an update of some of the things we did but didn't want to do that until after I had made some progress on the stuff that needed doing.

So Thursday Peyton went to work for a little over half the day (manned the registration booth at the coin show, part of working for a coin collection publication). I got caught up on my emails and Identified were stuff was and what needed doing. The only problem was I didn't actually do much.

Friday I went through all of our pictures on the trip and labeled them. Peyton went to work. I can't say Friday was productive to what I needed to do in terms of my thesis but figured clean up from our trip should get done too and so I eliminated that distraction.

Saturday we did some much needed grocery shopping and spent a lot of money doing so. This was for two reasons, a) we had just been gone for a week and had nothing left in terms of perishables b) I won't be getting paid to TA this semester so we won't have as much money flowing in. We will be on a tighter budget and since I have been lax in finding a job we don't know how long that will last. Peyton does make enough for us to live on, I dare say even live comfortably on. Still we figured while we had two pay checks to by a lot of food so that future grocery bills would be smaller for a while.

Sunday we had church which I barely survived conscious. I was still adjusting and had stayed up late gaming with friends both Friday and Saturday. We ate lunch at the Kuglers, showed some pictures, and then Peyton had a piano recital.

Anyway, posting has been a lower priority and now I really do have to get some writing done on the thesis. I think today I actually have a good shot of doing that since now I feel caught up and capable of making progress.

Well, here goes nothing.

update from Holland

Sun, 10 May 2009 16:04:49 GMT

Peyton and I are both enjoying our vacation over here in Holland. Maybe a little too much, we spend all day going around and sightseeing and then get to bed late. We are tired but having lots of fun. We are not looking forward to getting back to the real world which is why we avoid thinking about it and keep having more fun.

I would love to give a long winded comprehensive post of all we have done so far but the I have neither the time nor the inclination at this point. I still haven't done much sorting of the photos we have so far. Let me just say we have seen windmills, palaces, Rembrandt, Escher, big buildings, small buildings, small big buildings, flowers, beaches, eaten cheese, eaten fish, eaten out, eaten out, eaten in, and not gotten near enough sleep in general.

Here is a token photo of us.

More will have to come later. I want to sort some things out before more company comes.

I should be more excited than I am

Mon, 04 May 2009 02:28:17 GMT

This week I graded my last presentation, graded my last report, and completed my last final. Everything went fine with all of that. I even finished reading papers for my literature review, I'm sure I could do more but I have enough and I think I have a lot of good things to say because of them. I am also going to Holland for a week. Things are going well, in fact by most standards things are going awesome.

There is but one catch to all of this, my thesis. Ideally It is done by the end of the month. That means a lot to do in a little amount of time. The vacation doesn't help that. The fact that I can't seem to get my adviser to read more than a page at a time makes it even more depressing. I really feel like I should and could be farther than I am but the best source of feedback, my adviser, seems to be the least forthcoming. My attempts to rectify this I can only describe as utter failures.

So the result is a looming deadline with little help. I have a lot of work to do, I will be very glad when this over. My current hope is for divine intervention. Not meaning I hope an angel writes a thesis for me or provides edits, although I would certainly be grateful of such a feat. Just the minor miracle of effort yielding good progress. If I can manage to make my time and effort spent count, keep focused, and be inspired as to what to do that should tip the scales in my favor.

I am also grateful of the opportunities I do have to play, work on side projects, and relax. They are not much, but they are enough. Time to go to bed and try to get one more big day before traveling.

Done with classes!

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:02:35 GMT

I am finally done with classes, forever. I took my last final yesterday. That feels good.

Unfortunately it has really sunken in yet since I still have a Thesis to write and time is starting to run short. I think I am doing good, not quite as far along as I would like but in a good position nonetheless. The biggest obstacle I think getting my adviser to go over my paper. Thus far he has heavily edited only the first intro to the work and cellular automata. He hasn't even touched my description of the method yet even though he has had my paper a week and a half.

The kicker though is I can't remember the last time I changed anything in the intro. I think after totally revising three paragraphs of work (and I mean totally) I think all he managed to do was revise his revisions. He has yet to even get to the equations, and I still don't know how much he has actually read other than the pictures. At this rate I am going to retire before he gets through a full actual read of my paper.

If he never reads it all the way through that's his problem, I will be done by the end of summer, with or without his revisions.

Week in Review

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:55:16 GMT

I really should post at least weekly to keep track of what has been going on. Lots of the same, working, writing, homework, etc. Although there is always something to say and something to break up the monotony.

The week before last was my sisters wedding which we were not able to go to. Both time and money were difficult to come by, not impossible but difficult. I suppose I should have made the attempt and gone but really I appreciated the weekend as a chance to try and get a bit more done. I did make a guest book for my sister. It didn't turn out quite like I wanted but wonderful all the same. I think everybody was impressed and if I bother getting the picture on my computer I will post those. It was nice and personalized, cover was leather-worked, each page to enter names was watermarked with their initials, opposite of the page to enter names was an engagement picture, and the end sheets were made by Peyton with "Once upon a time" at the beginning and "Happily ever after" at the end superimposed over a bed of tulips (it was a tulip themed reception). Lots of compliments got back to us, much appreciated.

This week was more of the usual work plus new furniture and a Ren Fair. The new furniture was because Peyton's work was trying to get rid of some old furniture and junk so for $50 we got a big 3' by 6' desk, 6' bookcase, and an executive office chair. That required a bit of creative rearranging of our apartment but worth it for a huge desk. I feel all important and awesome now. I also regret that much more the next time we move. Saturday we went to the Renaissance fair. We enjoyed it, they have a lot of cool junk there. We got to watch a joust, very well done. Met up with friends and wandered around, I got a whip and a coin medallion (they smash them right in front of you, doesn't get much cooler than that). Peyton got some copper flowers. Then we went to a friend house and saw what they had done with it. Evidently the people who owned it before had a bad marriage and the guys therapy was to build an elaborate and piecewise patio. It was almost awesome, certainly impressive, kind of ugly.

Here are some pictures,

The cover with a kissing Dutch couple admidst the tulips

The custom made endsheets (courtesy of Peyton

What the inside looks like

The new desk and chair. Like I said way big, 6 foot long.

A few shoots from the joust. presideing is King Henry the 8th. I'm not sure which wife he was on.

That's all for now.

However ...

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:06:47 GMT

I will not turn down Kudos where they be
deserved.

From the same author:
"Amanda told me that Peyton of the Whitman crew did copyediting on the Encyclopedia of Paper Money"; I congratulate her on some of the most sophisticated editing ever!"

Cue Peyton happy dance. ::boogies on down::