D-ology

My brother filled out one of those "1 bajillion questions you need to answer and forward to everyone" questionaires, and since I enjoyed it I thought I would fill it and pass it along. So here is my own D-ology.

Apparently, I got to a second level of review with one of my job posts, so I'm hopeful. I'm looking at another one I'll be applying for, but I got distracted with my e-mail and comics and blogs... so I think I'll get back to it now.

Although I want to say something first about some music I listen to. I've been listen to a lot of Basshunter - or at least the same song over and over again, but I was watching some of his music videos and I was kind of laughing at these "relationships" that the videos portray - all of the music videos feature the same people. In one video, a girlfriend breaks up with her boyfriend by text message! And then that night, she sees him at a dance club, and tells him that she misses her and they start dancing together. In another video, at another dance club, she sees him talking to another girl, and immediately storms out. And my favorite video is where she texts him again from work saying she's braking up for good this time - less than 30 seconds later, she finds another boyfriend.

I just think it sad and a bit hilarious that this is how relationships are viewed - insecure, mercurial, and shallow - and that somehow the passions in-between are "real". :-P

Back at My Appartment and Job Hunting

It is nice to be back at my room and.... a fast internet connection.... seeing Tabitha.... going to church... and... Eh. I really enjoy going home and seeing and visiting with Mom and Dad. There is something I find very relaxing and wonderful about being home. It's nice, here, but my heart is with my parents.

At least the fast internet connection allows me to browse a lot of webpages looking for jobs. I have around 40 jobs I might apply for, probably around 20 once I weed them down a bit more. I'll have to add Colorado onto my list of places to search since my cousin suggested it! And it seems like some big things with the Church are happening in Colorado. All of the new major movements I hear about these days come from Colorado or have their base in Colorado.

Right now, I have almost everything moved into my room. Now I just need to sort through all the boxes. I have a goal to get rid of 1/2 of the stuff in my room.

Two Weeks of YP Finished

Yesterday was a productive day for getting Dad's ironwork bent up and ready for Tom. While Dad cut, Mom and I would bend items. We spent a few hours out there and three people, working on independent projects can get quite a bit done.

Yesterday was also the first time this fall/winter that I ran one of the huskies. Apparently I put on the wrong harness, but next time I'm sure I'll get it right! It was rather an odd run, because half way through, I ran into a homeschooling mom that was teaching her son to drive. Good luck T!

I've started looking around for other jobs. I like my current job with Nothing Is Impossible Studio just fine, but after 2 and 1/2 weeks of being on a hiatus, I'm need to find a job - maybe part time so I can still program with NIIS - and start regaining programming skills and money. I've decided to restart an old programming project of mine - an advanced tic-tac-toe game. If I ever get it finished, I'll post a link here.

I am enjoying being home. I don't miss being away from the computer much. I do miss all the Taco Bell burritos that were available in Virginia, but compared to visiting home, I'd make that trade off any day. :-)

Housesitting

I'm sitting at my Uncle Dale's spare bedroom, checking out Facebook, looking at comics, reading blogs, and doing my morning wake up routine. Housesitting is going pretty well. I've been here almost a month at this point, and when my mom comes down to see Tabitha, I'll be moving into Jesse's house. It will be nice to have more than a suitcase and a computer around to keep me company in the evening.

For my work, I'm finally learning to use the Gamebryo Lightspeed engine (which is the program we're using to develop our game) It's has taken a while, but I think I'm starting to be able to complete requests given to me by my boss.

Quick Announcements + Reunion

There are three quick announcements I wanted to make: Hi Isa! One successful week without an alarm clock! I'm working at a craftshow near Indiana this coming week!

In other exciting, though not so quickly said, announcements - the west coast family reunion is a little more than three weeks away! I'm flying out a bit early so I can visit Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jerry, and also get my teeth checked and cleaned and possibly whitened in Mexico. I'm not really sure of the schedule after I travel down. I'll spend two or three days in Yuma and then the three of us will drive straight to the timeshares in California where we're having the reunion.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all the cousins!

My nephew is nearby for the weekend and I'm going to see if he wants to wash the car this afternoon. It's a do-it-yourself spraying and I think he'll enjoy that.

Game Guru

I'm trying to figure out what a good job title would be. Gamemaster has too much history behind it. Software Developer is too plain. Game Guru is a bit on the recreational side. "L33t Gamecoder"? "Universe Manipulator"? "Instancer of Reality"?

I'm working with a start-up company "Nothing is Impossible Studio". I'm the main programmer for the game engine that we're working with. Just trying to figure out how to use the features available take about 95% of the work day. One other programmer is working, and he is developing some of the logic of the creation system. Two writers and John are the only other employees.

The company seems to be very dynamic and has a definite goal in mind. I have high hopes for a booming business!

In other news, perhaps the more important news, is the tapes I've been listening to and the encouragement I get from them. Andrew Wommack seems to have a definite blessing on him and I find encouragement and new insight on every sermon/teaching I listen to. What Andrew Wommack presents is not that earth shattering - it is all the basics of Christianity, but he covers topics that pastors don't preach on (at least in the churches I've gone to), and the conclusions he draws and how they should be affecting our walk in life are earthshaking.

One of the points that Andrew Wommack pushes a lot is that studying and searching out the Bible is not just a nice thing to do, but a necessity. It's encouraged me to read the Bible a lot more. A lot of my Bible reading is going over chapters and books that are mentioned in sermons, because I've read the same passages that are used to 'prove' a point, but I completely missed the conclusions that Andrew Wommack draws. I can't wait until I start seeing new insights on my own. It's exciting!

Living in Virginia

I have moved to Virginia, near where my brother bought his new townhouse. I am currently looking for a job - a few interviews so far. Family is visiting periodically. My mom is currently here for another week or so. My room is comfortable and larger than my Florida bedroom so I can put up shelves, an entertainment stand, computer, bed and still have room for my moms bags and projects when she comes down.

Well, that's enough with where I live. Mom is going to be helping me with taxes today. She encouraged me to apply at some local stores yesterday. Tomorrow will probably involve a few more applications, although I keep thinking that the best path available to me would be to start my own business. The only problem is that my business-starting-creativity is a little lacking so I'm a bit short on ideas. Oh well. That never stopped me before. :-)

On a completely different topic, I was reading some basic literature on mass, weight, and the speed of light and had a question for anyone who might read this post. As an object's speed reaches the speed of light relative to another observer, the object's mass (let us say the object is a space ship) increases. A big problem with acceleration at near-light speeds is that the acceleration provided by rocket fuels is not related to mass. Nuclear powered acceleration IS related to mass though. My question on e=mc^2, does the mass in that equation equal the intrinsic 'prime mass' of an object at rest relative to another object, or does the mass equal the updated mass at the near-light speeds?

If we were to chain a nuclear reactor to an stationary object accelerate a nuclear reactor to near light speeds as it circled... let us say the new mass is 1000 times what it would be at rest. If we manage to pipe the output energy from the nuclear reactor into our power grids, do we have a 1000 times more energy than the NR produces at rest? As a thought experiment - what do you think the result would be?

New Hairdo

To celebrate a new job/I was asked to cut it, I place the fate of my hair and head into the capable hands of my lovely sister Katie - who did a wonderful job. Since my lovely sister Margaret didn't get a chance to see my before and after pictures, I put a few of them up to show her what the new hairdo looks like.

Pleasant Weekend

I had a very pleasant Thursday at GCC. I had gone there in the afternoon for a speech at the president and a professor were giving on the future of American politics after this recent election. When I signed up, I hadn't recognized the location the meeting was being held, the "Founder's Room". The first thing that I did when I arrived was to go to the security office and have them point me in the right direction. Turns out that the meeting was being held in Pittsburgh and not at the college, so I hung around until Orchesis that evening and visited with some old students that still attended the college.

It was fun seeing old friends. If I had went to visit, I would have arrived earlier in the morning than I did. Later afternoon, midweek, was not a very good time to see old commuters; they usually leave directly after classes. Even with the poor timing I managed to see Brittney (!who is now engaged to Daniel!), Rebecca, Theresa (just passed by), Dr. Jones, Will (Whoo!), and Andrew (with a beard now).

Just as much fun was the speech tournament held in Franklin on Saturday. Just as college was a "blast from the past" (as said by Jacqueline), the tournament was a great time to re-connect. I saw a lot of faces that are still competing, one of the old competitors that is now married since May (congrats!), and several of my mom's friends that I keep in touch with through my mom. :-)

One more week and we'll be seeing the Romines in Ohio. Lots of fun again!

Ahhh....

Today was an average day lately. I got up around 8:00, ate, read the newspaper, sat, put away cloths, made my bed... etc. Since the craft shows have been down, I haven't been doing much of anything. The most exciting things I did today was moving our flatscreen TV into the position of prominence and putting the old TV where it would be available for Dad to cart into the shop for use or parts.

I have my resume all polished and updated. I had lost my virtual and hardcopy versions of my last resume so I had to restart and put it together. (Actually, I salvaged an old copy of Jesse's I had saved, so I didn't quite start from zero)

That's enough for tonight. Margaret, Mom and I ran the dogs this evening and I'm looking forward to a good night's rest.

I'm Home

After a long and grueling drive, I arrived at my parents house at 7:30 AM. I had very little hope of surprising them since the dogs bark whenever a strange car drives up to the house. Our lovely dog Cody did bark, but not much, and apparently my mom assumed Cody was barking at something random in the yard. I came into the house very quietly and said hi to my OLD sis at the computer and we both went into Mom's room. She heard us coming and did a double take when she saw me. Mission accomplished!

This is just a short post put up in a hurry. I'm going to be busy for the next month or so, but I hope to find time to share some of the sites I saw along the day. Ooops. Mom and Jesse needs use of the computer. I'll see ya'll later!

David's Second Day of Traveling

We last left David starting into Nashville, TN last night. When he called this morning, he seemed to have a very strong impression of the center for country music - loud, live musicians. There was approx 6 square blocks of drinking bars that were full of people listening to live musicians. There couldn't have been much talking going on because the music was so loud even out on the sidewalks! He left there about 10:30 at night and drove on to a restful night at his wigwam. :^) Next morning he was ready for spelunking at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. For the long 6 hour tour he needed different shoes and clothing than he was wearing so he took a somewhat shorter but enjoyable tour. His impression of Mammoth Cave was - big! Abraham Lincoln was his nest stop - birthplace that is. He enjoyed this piece of history, especially the Lincoln Memorial. There was not a lot of documentation available here, something on which the Helen Keller museum had been strong. Driving through Elizabethtown was the next stop and this appeared to be a small version of a typical midwast town. Finding a night's stopping place in West Virginia is the next hurdle at which we left him. He ate Subway once yesterday and once today, but has otherwise subsisted on a box of miscellaneous snacks - a thoughtful gift from Florida friends.

David's 1st day and night of traveling

Hello! This is Margaret, my baby brother, David's, OLDer sister. I was asked to write a short story about his first day (Monday) being on the road. He had a great time driving around and sightseeing the places he stopped at along the way. At the end of the day, he decided to spend the night in the parking lot of a church and sleep in his car. What he didn't know was the church had recently been burglarized, so people driving by were watching the church for any suspicious activity. Now enter David. (SCREAMING SIRENS) Hours later, before he realized what was happening, he was rousted out by police with a few police lights around David's car. The police told David (through the police car's horn) to get out of the car immediately. They patted him down while he stood with palms on the car and fired some questions at him. Still heavy with sleep, he answered the question about his social security numbers WRONG TWICE!!! Gasp! He was about to be arrested. WAIT!!! On his third try, he gave the police the correct SSN. WHEW!!! It did not help that his car was full of stuff. The police did not know if these were things he had just removed from the church. Eventually they decided he was okay and told him to keep driving. All the fuss because of a person's wild imagination when he or she saw David and his car full of stuff in the parking lot and thought he was stealing stuff from the church. So the person called the police on my poooorrr baby brother. What is the sad part is that I was not there to bask in the excitment. Hopefully I get to have my turn someday. :) David was in Montgomery, Alabama this morning ready to see more sights. As of 9:00 PM Tues, he was just parking in Nashville, Tenn, ready to see some new sights. He has reservations for the night at a motel where the rooms are a big teepee or wigwam. We will find out tomorrow morning about Nashville and the wigwam.

My trip - edited as I travel.

Google Map of the path I take.


edit: 8:36AM August 25th: last blog before I leave. Should be off in 10. Wish me luck!

For those new to my wonderful world of blogging, welcome to my wonderful and wild blog. I'm hoping I get a few new readers while I'm on my trip home. Mostly because I'll tell people to check. :-P

I've finally opted to just do this post myself and I'm going to give the job of updating this list to my super-great-sister. Well, they both are, but my OLDer sister will be the one helping me out.

Alabama Shakespeare festival - unfortunately, the appearances that are put on ended the 22nd during my recheck Sunday night, so I think I'll be passing that by. It's not too far out of the way. so I may hit it yet.

First White House of the Confederacy - Montgomery Alabama - Jefferson Davis first residence as President of the Confederacy.

Unfortunately, I can't see any more of Alabama without adding a few hundred more miles to my trip home, so I'll hit other sites along my route that have more sites to see. Onto Tennessee!

First stop - Chatanooga. Why? Because it sounds cool. :-)

The next stop in Tennessee is Nashville, home of Country music. I'm going to see how I feel when I roll through this little burg. There is a lot to see in Kentucky, so I may just pick one or two quick sites to see and then roll on. I'll let ya'll know!

Unfortunately, we've had an all too short trip through Tennissee, but we'll make up for it in... tum tum tum.... Kentucky!

First stop Mammoth Cave. I'm planning a full day stop here. Apparently one of the trips into the cave can lasts a full working day - WOOT - 150 foot ceilings - 200 foot long caverns - I'll bring extra batteries and film.

Hodgenville is home of the Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln and civil war memorabilia reside in this lovely area along with other random historical memorabilia.

North another 2 or three miles and I'll hit Elizabethtown. What are the big attractions there? Not much. It bills itself as a traditional town with residents such as Abraham lincoln and his father, and tours with authentically garbed guides. Mostly, I just like the movie with the same name, so I'll stop by so I can satisfy my own personal quirk that has driven me to visit this town.

My travel book has a few other places I might hit such as Maysville with the National Underground Railroad Museum and the Cumberland gap, the Tuskeegee institute. Mostly, I'm just going to see what comes up along the way and plan the side trips according to my time schedule. I have educational CDs on Swing and Jazz, Japanese language CDs, Korean language CDs, and all the sermons and audio books on my computer, merely one download-to-a-personal-listening-device away. I have lots to occupy my brain, family to be inquisitive, friends to be updated. It will be a relaxing trip. Not quite as relaxing as canoeing in Canada for a week - nothing has EVER been that relaxing, but close.

Welcome Wyatt!

I would like to announce that my sister has birthed a lovely baby called.... drumroll please.... Wyatt! He is Seven pounds 7 ounces and very healthy. After Katie arrived at the hospital, it was only a two hour wait for the grand arrival. My mom said Kate is doing fine and that she (my mom) will keep me updated.

Key Largo Trip Pictures

No underwater pictures will be posted yet - not that I'm in that big of a hurry to get them up. The pictures don't do the fish and coral any justice.


First picture is one of my lovely sister's shoulder... and Christina! I snapped this while I was home during the end of July


We went through some rain but there were some beautiful clouds before the rain hit.


A friend of my scuba partner met us for dinner.


Uhg... horrors that was the motel room the first night. At least the water worked and flowed quite strongly.



The Marriott had a much better room.



Half the skyline of Miami. The towers are quite spread out, so you go about 10 miles before you skyscrapers aren't nearby. Most of the skyscrapers on the shore are motels.


A picture looking down from 19 stories up. Our motel room had a lovely view. In fact, the horizontal space by the shore is so expensive, that the swimming pool, jacuzi, bar, workout rooms, were all on top of the fifth story. The camera lens got something smudged on the lens so all my morning short have a haze in the middle.


The church roof the workers are on is around five stories up.... way down there. :-)

Priceless

It is the most beautifully accurate list of game laws in the world: http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html

For other fun reading, go to the Evil Overlords lists of do's and don'ts.

Thanks Bro

I don't think I ever said thank you for the external hard drive you got me. It has been a lifesaver. I keep all my valuable pictures and memorabilia from the very beginning of college to now. The files could do with a good cleanup, but saving them in the first place was most important. I have 5 gigs just in college pictures alone.

Mom and Dad just finished with Twin Lakes. They said it was a pretty good year. Ryan, Katie and Margaret arrived for Saturday and Sunday. Margaret brought one of her calmest Siberians and people LOVED the dog. She got an offer for $1000 to buy they young dog, but my sis didn't want to sell to a person who wanted to buy it today on a whim and perhaps give it to a pound tomorrow on a different whim.

From what I hear, Ryan did a lot of demonstrating while Katie and Mom sold. Margaret and the rest of the clan traded off on watching Kristina. I hope they all arrived home safely.

On a final note: If while walking through the woods you see all the animals running in the same direction - follow them.

Hancock

After seeing a lot of negative reviews on Hancock, I wasn't really sure I wanted to see the movie. After all, superhero movies are usually fun because they are action packed, somewhat lighthearted, and pit the forces of good against evil in a final pitched battle.

After seeing Hancock, I can confirm that the movie switches tone quite a bit from the beginning to the end. It starts out somewhat lighthearted and ends on a serious note, there is no major physical fight between good and evil, and there isn't as much action as one suspects from a superhero movie. Hancock is a study of a mostly nice but grumpy immortal that has no memory who is alone on the earth and despised because no one appreciates him for what he does (mostly because he tends to break stuff while half drunk because he's lonely.)

I won't give away any major plot points, although it wouldn't matter if I did because my family loves spoilers! Suffice it to say that it is an OK movie, and if they would just take out all the swearing I would give a 6 out of 10 and probably suggest people see it.

One reviewer whose revew I read must have been quite high while watching the movie. All the blatant errors and unconnected events he mentioned were explained in conversations and conclusions one could/should draw from statements made. I doubt he'll read my blog, but if he does: they call it plot developments and you have to pay attention to the conversation to follow along.

I Held Boards for Breaking

I've done my first Tae Kwon Do test yesterday. I'll find out Thursday if I am no longer a white belt! It's pretty similar to Shotokan karate, but not quite a serious as when I and my brother trained in PA. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get my white belt quite grungy. It wouldn't normally be a problem because I have no problem washing my belt, but because this school puts strips of tape as an indicator of skills you've passed, I can't wash without ruining their setup. But I must persevere just another four days and then I'll get a pretty new belt!


Over the last week, I've seen an abnormal number of ads for semi-interesting science fictions shows. Well, at this point, I've decided to share the wisdom found in viewing those shows.

1. If you walk alone and are not the hero, you will die... quickly... but not before screaming or firing a gun to alert others that there is a problem, but not giving enough information to be helpful.

2. If you walk in groups and hear a noise, there is a mysterious compulsion to break up into groups of two or three which then quickly break up into singles for mysterious reasons. The only exception are the heroes who !surprise! stay in a single group.

3. When a mythological, deadly creature, that can't open doors is wandering, no-one ever follows instructions to keep the door closed and locked; instead opening doors because... um... becau... hmm... apparently reason or emotion plays no role.

4. If you are a bad guy, and it's the end of the show, your reaction speed is slowed by somewhere between 520 to 565 percent.

5. Where do you hire security guards who are willing to kill at the request of the smallest evil peon? Do they ask on the hiring form? "Please check if you will kill without reason and sacrifice yourself to hide the boss's insecurity?"

6. If there is a line of walking, anonymous, walking bio hazard suits, the last person in the line wilw ALWAYS stop at the entrance of an alleyway and look the other direction while the hero/villain/dinosaur knocks him out without a sound.

7. Hands are not important. A small T-Rex can drop down out of a roof 2/3rds of it's body length and pull a person up into the roof within 2 seconds.... all while hanging by it's feet.

8. A minor hero can kill a monster in one shot to save the girl while two US black-ops members with full automatic weapons only make it retreat without any apparent wounds.

9. A king kong 300 feet tall can swat F-16's out of the air.

10. All scientists are really stupid. always. no exceptions. If the hero is a scientist, he is useful only because he is luck or he is bending the laws of physics.

Conclusions:
1. If my girlfriends starts growing hair as I watch, run.

2. Not remembering where I've been for over 12 hours ..repeatedly... is a matter for concern. I should mention it to a doctor instead of assuming it is an everyday occurrence.

3. If I'm on a wilderness trip, and all the guides have semi-automatic automatic guns, I can be pro-active and leave *before* getting stuck in whatever is going down. Optionally, it should be a law that I can be proactive by legally killing the guides. After all, the guides would have died anyway. :-D

4. A 15 foot cliff is NOT an absolute barrier, especially when I have rope and there are handholds all across the cliff face.