In Your Own Words

This is a little out of date, but I just remembered what I wanted to say about this title. You wait forever for the right setup, and when it comes, you have to bite your tongue. A few days ago, someone asked me to explain something in my own words. It was the perfect setup you only get once or twice. (In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the appropriate response to being asked to explain something in your own words is "ckjhdk slifhoie ifhe" - words you invent yourself.) It was a work situation, though, and it wasn't appropriate. I almost had another chance today, but the timing was a little off. I might have been able to force it, but it's not the same. I was handed an opportunity on a silver platter and had to let it pass. It's going to bother me for a while.

Today was more training, this time Customer Service. I needed this because I didn't work in customer service for 4 years. There was nothing new, but it was better than a day reading old briefings. The annoying guy was back, and there were more interns. 16 of us total, I think. Maybe 6 engineers, and the rest all over the place. They also had a brainstorming session about how to improve the program. I sat in on that, just to find out things. It's about what I figured. Nothing I want to talk about here and now, though.

Last item of the night: Happy Birthday, Melissa! More tomorrow.

See Previous Title

It's been a week, and I could make up some excuses, but we both know it's just that - an excuse. It's not like anyone else is posting, you slackers.

In the past week, I've been assigned a cubicle, received a computer, was able to log on, and started going over the organization overview course. I'm not actually doing the 4-day-long seminar - I'm using the PowerPoint slides from the seminar about 18 months ago. My boss, for lack of a better title, is going to "discuss" it with me when I finish. It took my about a day to finish the slides, but I filled in another half day the Office Space way. I'll need to review the slides again before the discussion, but at least I've been through everything once.

The main reason I'll need to review isn't a poor review the first time, it's that I was in training today and will be in training again tomorrow. Today was Myers-Briggs Type Indicator training. If you don't know about it, essentially these two women needed something to keep themselves busy while the men of the world were out fighting World War II, so they came up with 4 "either/or" categories to lump people into. These 16 categories become a way to pre-judge people.

There were 8 of us in training today, and the one guy who felt his opinion mattered to ANYONE. His excuse was "well, I'm an extrovert," which I'd give him a pass on at a Myers-Briggs seminar, except there were 3 other extroverts who didn't need to hear themselves talk. And this guy was just annoying. He brought himself in snacks to last the morning (fruit loops, among other things). We all took 90 minutes for lunch (and still ended the day before 4), except this guy, who took 2 hours and brought his lunch back with him. One of the activities involved the introverts (that's me) leaving the room while they extroverts did the first half of something. We discussed that we really, really wanted to hurt this guy. It was unanimous.

Back to lunch: everyone but the annoying guy went to the Green Hills Grille, which lists on its menu "The Best Burger in Huntsville." I ordered that, and it was good, but it had nothing on Huey's. A Huey's hamburger with a side of fries is a full meal. This TBBH was plenty of lunch, but I wasn't overly full by any means. And there wasn't anything spectacular about the burger, where Huey's just has something . . . better about it.

After some more "training," I got to go home early. That makes for a much more enjoyable day of training, in my opinion. Not quite as good as my suggestion, though. The first order of business for the day, at 8:30 or so, was for the facilitator to ask us "what we wanted to do" so I told her I wanted to call it a day. If it had gone to a vote, it would have passed. See, my comments are insightful and funny, where annoying guy's were annoying, ill-timed, and self-involved.

I could get used to this training stuff. More tomorrow.

How About a Nice Cup of Shut the Hell Up?!

So today, I had to be orientated for my job. Mostly, that involved sitting through several short security and information briefings. The department head, or a deputy, would come in, tell us about their role in making my life easier / harder, and leave again. PowerPoint was used. Donuts were not offered. As you might guess from my title, we had one or two people who thought they had opinions that anyone else in the room cared about. It's one thing to have an "aha!" moment where something in the briefing connects to something in your life. It's quite another to feel that everyone in the room needs to be aware of this moment. I'm probably (definitely) too impatient about such things, which is why I dislike meetings so much, but people need to realize the world doesn't revolve around them. It revolves around me. I just kept my mouth shut and let the briefers continue as quickly as they would. And that was 30 minutes longer than they were scheduled for. Also, the refresh rate on either the computer or the projectors was giving me a headache. I could see the ripple in the projected text. It was a long morning.

The afternoon was much shorter. I had a computer-based training so I could have computer access. It was 3 PowerPoints that I just had to go through, no test. The person in charge said it was supposed to take about 2 hours (maybe 120 slides). I took my time and was done in an hour. It was about 2:30 when I finished that. I had been told not to worry about showing up at the office afterwards, so I came back to my apartment. I took a short power nap and cooked a nice meal, and recharged a little. I get the feeling that this job is going to be interesting and fun, but be very draining. That's fine, but it's always nice to get a break.

Wednesday needs a better schedule for my TV shows. It's not a bad night for TV; it's just that the shows are at bad times. I should really go to sleep, but I'm staying up to watch some of Cash Cab. More tomorrow.

Meetings

Because none of us is as dumb as all of us.

That title and quote seem appropriate based on the events of the day, but I'm going to start with yesterday:

0830

Show up at the HR offices for in-processing. Essentially, about 90 minutes of going over paperwork, followed by standing around waiting to get my security badge. Nothing blog-worthy.

Approximately 1000 - 1030
I received my security badge and was supposed to meet Mr. Jim Coverstone at a different building. My driving instructions were: Turn left out of the parking lot, go down to the credit union (Redstone Federal) and turn left. The building is on the right. That's great and all, but I drove by the building 3 times without knowing it was where I needed to be. It's in a group of three buildings, and two are labelled with the company names. The federal building isn't visible from the road (it's behind the other two), it has no external signage (a security measure post-9/11), and I just missed it. I eventually found it by calling my HR contact and having her direct me. I walked in, and there's a security desk. I was told to call Mr. Coverstone from the lobby, and he would come get me and take me to where I needed to go. I wasn't given his number. The security guys were nice enough to look up his number for me. I called; he met me at the lobby.

Say 1030 - 1330
I met with Mr. Coverstone (he didn't tell me to call him "Jim" so I'll keep with the formalities), and he provided me a general schedule with my two year internship outlined. I start in Systems Engineering, then Ground-Based Interceptor, then Ground Systems (ground support, radar, etc.), and finishing up with project management. About a six-month tour in each one, tentatively. I have a schedule of some training that's required, and a few other programs. Nothing overwhelming. I was then introduced to the "senior" intern: one Leah Tracy. I say "senior" intern - she's the one Mr. Coverstone introduced me to, and she's been there a year, so she has seniority over me, even if she isn't the intern with the most seniority overall (though she may be that as well, I don't know). So I'm her problem now. The first thing was to meet John Crawford ("John"), who I believe is in charge of the Systems Engineering group. He's going to be one of my bosses for the next six months. What I've gleaned: he's going to assign me to a working engineer (probably a contractor) who will more directly supervise me, but he's in charge of making sure I learn what I need to learn during my tour in his area. We (well, he and Leah, with me in the room) talked for a while about what I'll be doing. He told me they're going to try to send me off to Alaska for a few days. We have some facilities based in Fort Greeley up there. I'm not kidding. I've been working for less than 4 hours, and they are already working out a plan to send me to the other side of the country. I'd say that meeting went well. I go back to Leah's cubicle (the building is 5 big rooms full of cubicles with some conference rooms and other support-type stuff in the center) and do very little until she has to leave for her dentist appointment at 1330. That's when I get to eat my lunch. Not a happy camper.

1330 - 1500
I'm hanging out in Leah's cubicle while she's gone to the dentist. I eat my lunch and read a bunch of stupid "have a good attitude" articles that she thinks are critical to my job. (She's apparently new to this "working" thing.) For the other hour and 15 minutes, I relax, pace, stretch, and pretty much enjoy getting paid for doing nothing.

1500 - 1630ish
Leah returns from her appointment and disappears into an inpromptu meeting or something. She doesn't say; I don't care. About 4:30, she returns and says there's no reason for me to stay, so I leave.

Today
0900 - someone please put a bullet in my brain
I'm supposed to sit in on a meeting at some other site all day. So I do. They are implementing something or other and need to get people on board. That's all you need to know. I picked up a little more than that, but it was mostly with meaningless (to me) acronyms. I don't think anything was classified in any way (it was off-site, the door was open, and several people were in and out), but I'm going to err on the side of not breaking any laws, so details are going to be withheld from most things from here on out. I took an hour for lunch and left about 4, so I put in 6 hours sitting around doing more nothing and getting paid for it. Cha-ching.

-----------

One cool thing yesterday that deserves special mention outside of the timeline: I was sworn in. That oath you hear to defend the Constitution. I was administered that oath. I'm now an ordained minister. Or something.

I have to be at another orientation tomorrow at 0800, so it's bed time for me. Hopefully, I'll have my own desk Thursday. I won't have computer access until at least then, probably next week, but it would be nice to have my own cubicle and meet some of the people I'll be working with the next few months. You know, in between trips to Alaska in the middle of winter. More tomorrow.

Company Man

I started work today. I'll try to start blogging again once I get my sleep schedule balanced. For now, I'm tired. More tomorrow.

Still Alive

Yes, I'm still breathing, but I'm not really doing anything interesting and / or it's late when I think to write these. I'll try to do better, but I can't make any promises. More tomorrow.

GET CARTER!

Somehow another day has passed, and I still haven't done anything. That's not entirely accurate. I turned on the dishwasher and ran a load of clothes through both the washer and the dryer. That apparently took me all day, looking back on it. Wow, I'm going to be worthless for a few weeks once I start back to the real world.

Doctor Who
Network: SciFi
Status: Returning
Review: A BBC series doing well here across the pond. In three seasons, they haven't kept the same two principles together for more than a thirteen episodes. There's a built-in story about how they can keep the series alive with new actors, but it doesn't really affect things. Again, this is a show that's ending for the season, and there are a bunch of storylines coming together. I've enjoyed all three seasons (or "series" if you go by the show's original airing location terminology) as the wacky Doctor and his companion travel through space and time having all sorts of adventures.
Grade: A
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 97%

Flash Gordon
No, just, no.

Stargate Atlantis
Network: SciFi
Status: Returning
Review: The only true "star stuff" airing on Fridays. This season is going to be its big test, without SG-1 propping it up, so I expect big things. They're shaking up the cast, bringing in some storylines, and, hopefully, surviving a few more years, because I can't go without my star stuff, I just can't. My favorite new addition is Jewel Staite (Kaylee from Firefly) as the new chief of medicine.
Grade: A-
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 97%

More tomorrow.

Hit Dog with Car Door - I'm Hooked

Not me. I was watching CSI: Original Recipe. That was about the repeat of the pilot of Reaper, which I'll watch eventually. With that going for it, though, I don't see how it won't be great.

Today, I needed groceries. After all, I grew up eating. I decided to explore the nearby Publix grocery store. It was low on motorcycle enthusiasts today, so I felt pretty safe there. I walked through the store, taking a quick inventory of prices. They had a very nice sirloin for $4.99 / pound. Most everything else was more expensive than Wal-Mart, so I doubt I'll be back, but I got a good steak out of the trip, so no big loss.

After grilling for the first time at my new apartment and enjoying that steak, I sat down to watch some more of premiere week:

Smallville
Network: The CW
Status: Returning
Review: Superman as a teenager, who can't act his way out of a paperbag. This season begins with a Bizarro battle and the Martian Manhunter lending a hand. Also, there is an elusive Supergirl. She's on the opening credits, so she probably won't stay elusive much longer. Following the trend I'm tracking for this season, she's also very attractive. That's not unheard of in TV, I know, but this season it seems like no one is trying to hide that these women are attractive. I heartily approve.
Grade: A-
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 95%

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Network: CBS
Status: Returning
Review: The king of the procedurals, this season of CSI kicks off with the closing of the story from last season: the miniature killer kidnaps Sara, and the rest of the team races to find her. After an unbearably boring flashback, she escapes the trap and wanders in the desert in the heat for an entire day. They find her, no pulse, EMTs, helicopter, Grissom holds her hand, and she wakes up. Lee had called the waking up a few minutes before it actually happened.
Grade: B+
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 92%

I filled in the rest of the night with movies from my free 7 channels of HBO. Actually, just the end of X3, but I don't review movies, at least not this week. I really need to do some work around my apartment, maybe I'll accomplish that tomorrow. Ha. More tomorrow.

Billabong

And other fun Cash Cab answers. I have a ton of them tonight, mostly because Lee and I were really smart and the actual contestants were especially dumb, so we added some joke answers to the mix. We also snarked about Top Chef, which had part 1 of its finale tonight. Finale, part I, says to me that it's not the finale. More TV later.

Today, I found out that my start date for MDA is October 15, officially and finally. They needed some paperwork related to my PCS (permanent change of station), which had to be faxed. Since I'm no longer at the school, that left me scrambling. Fortunately, the apartment complex has a "business center" with a fax machine for the residents. Unfortunately, the computer will not open PDFs, and the printer was out of ink. Wonderful. Plan B: I emailed the forms to my dad, had him print them and fax them from his office in Somerville (TN). It was a little after the MDA work day, but hopefully, they'll get them in the morning.

Now, more TV:

Bionic Woman
Network: NBC
Status: New
Review: A remake of a 70's show, a la Battlestar Galactica, this show takes your average 24-year-old bartending, sister-guardian-ing, hot brunette who favors low-cut tops as super-charges her with nano-somethings. Along for the ride is her boyfriend / fiance who invented the technology, some shady organization which controls it, and another bionic woman, played by Katee Sackhoff (of BSG fame). This episode was a pilot in the sense that we don't get a sense of the full series - it sets things up, but doesn't really do much to let me know if the week-to-week will be any good. The chick fight in the rain was good entertainment, though.
Grade: A-
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 90%

Top Chef
Network: Bravo
Status: Returning
Review: I started watching about halfway through the season, and I now want to see how it ends. There is only one more episode this season, so I probably don't need to review this for the general public, but it's my blog, and I'll do what I want. It's down to the very gay guy, the very annoying Asian guy, and the girl. Everyone hates the Asian guy. It's because we're all racist and not because he's a complete jerk, I'm sure. I was pretty sure the other guy (who got kicked off tonight) was gay, but Lee said he was married, to a woman. Either way, I'm hoping for the girl to win.
Grade: B
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 95%, at least for one more episode

Cash Cab / Cash Cab After Dark
Network: Discovery
Status: Returning
Review: Standard game show question-and-answer format, but in a NYC taxi cab. The host plays it creepy sometimes, but I'm a fan of the show. I like the scoring system, red-light challenges, and Video Bonus. Not much to explain - it's a game show.
Grade: B+
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 95%

Not planning to watch, Wednesday nights: Kid Nation, and Count of Monte Cristo, I mean, Life. More tomorrow.

TV Reviews, Continued

Heroes
Network: NBC
Status: Returning
Review: After a great first season and a so-so season finale, I was going to love this episode whatever happened, short of Claire being killed for reals. It wasn't a shocking episode with lots of cool stuff going on, but you can't save the cheerleader or save the world every week. It did give us some nice stories to carry through for the season. Unfortunately, one of those stories was the death of Sulu, and another was the introduction of a boyfriend for Claire. A big plus, though, was the absence of the annoying kid who talks to computers.
Grade: A+
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 103%

Journeyman
Network: NBC
Status: New
Review: In a show that absolutely isn't Quantum Leap, a guy takes random trips back in time to affect changes, setting right what once went wrong, or something. The male lead (Kevin McKidd) was one of the principles on Rome, and I liked him on that show, but I couldn't make it through the entire pilot of not-QL. It was plodding, and I kept waiting for Al to show up and tell him what he needed to do. I don't like CSI: Miami, which is the only show opposite J-man, but I may have to channel surf rather than watching this show.
Grade: C-
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 20%

NCIS
Network: CBS
Status: Returning
Review: It's a procedural, but they have some interesting quirks with the format. It's also about the military and a spin-off of J*A*G. The premiere continues a story line I'm not particularly thrilled with, but I think they wrapped it up and will get back to the case-a-week format that works for them. The characters really sell the show, and Mark Harmon.
Grade: A-
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 85%

The Unit
Network: CBS
Status: Returning
Review: Another show with a storyline I didn't care for. This show makes up for it with U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers doing all sorts of completely AWESOME things. There are also storylines dealing with the wives and kids back home. And lots and lots of shooting and exploding.
Grade: A
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 93%

Cane
Network: CBS
Status: New
Review: Jimmy Smits as the head of a sugar cane producing, Cuban-American family in Florida. He was adopted by this family and was put in charge ahead of the natural-born children. Well, sort of. You see, he married his sister, his adopted sister, and they were given 40% control of the company while the two sons were given 30% each. Smits' family uses its sugar cane to make rum, but there is a movement to take sugar cane and make ethanol. And there's another sugar cane family that wants to corner the market on sugar-ethanol. Add in some murders, random hot women in bikinis, and I'd watch, except that it's against the Shatner.
Grade: B
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 70%

Boston Legal
Network: ABC
Status: Returning
Review: The season premiere was 90 minutes and overlapped The Unit and Cane, so I haven't seen it yet. The show is a comedy with some drama thrown in relating to the legal system in Boston (original title, huh?). When they stay away from the politics, it's a good show. When William Shatner shows up, it's a great show.
Grade: A-
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 85%

Eureka
Network: SciFi
Status: Returning
Review: Small town full of geniuses who occasionally get themselves into world-ending trouble brings in a normal-guy sheriff to fix these problems once a week. Helping him is a very hot deputy who has a thing for weapons. Most of the techno-babble is just babble, but occasionally they talk about some fun science. It's a summer series that's about to end, but it's on the air for another week, I think, and it's worth finding on reruns.
Grade: B
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 75%

That catches me up to today, and Wednesday seems to be a little light on shows I want to watch, and they're all at the same time. So, back to a real update tonight.

Return of the TV

It's premiere week, and I'm doing my part to find new series worthy of my time. Combine that with my internet troubles, and I didn't feel like writing an update last night. During the premiere season, I'm going to write some descriptions and predictions of the shows, but first, I'm going to techno-babble about my internet situation, which now seems to work the way I want it to.

Thursday afternoon, Knology (the local cable company) sent a guy out to install my TV and internet service. After the TV was working, he set up the cable modem, checked it with my computer, and left. He told me I'd need to setup the wireless router, which is fair - that's not their problem, after all. I checked for myself that the internet worked and tried wireless once. Normally, I don't need to do anything other than plug all the cords in the right place and turn things on. That didn't work, and I was headed to Memphis for the weekend, so I packed up and hoped for the best.

I got back to really working on my internet connection today. (Yesterday, I was distracted by NBC.) I tried a few more times to get the router / modem to play nice, with no more luck than last week. I decided to find the local Nerd Herd / Geek Squad. I also wanted to explore the area a little more. After striking out with the staff at Office Depot (I find them at least as knowledgeable as most Best Buy employees, and usually much more willing to help), I walked next door to Best Buy. If that hadn't worked, I could have walked two more doors down to the Circuit City. Skipping any further geography lessons, the Best Buy staff was actually helpful. It seems I needed to give the MAC address of the router to the Knology people. So I called them, and the first lady I talked to said everything was taken care of. The system needed 15-20 minutes to reset, so I waited. An hour later, it still didn't work. I called again. This time, the guy said that he couldn't access the information he needed from the router, and that there must be something wrong with the port on the router. So I had him set things up to work with my computer again (apparently, only one MAC address can be allowed at a time).

After some research, I discovered that the router's MAC address could be changed. At first, I tried to change it to match the wireless card, but that didn't work. It makes sense now, but at the time, I was baffled. The guy at Knology had reset the modem to recognize the wired adapter, not the wireless card. So I used that MAC address. And, it works. I'm a genius, I know.

On to the TV reviews:

The Simpsons
Network: Fox
Status: Returning
Review: After, what, 312 seasons, it's not new anymore. It's still funny, though. I caught the season premiere on its "secondary" schedule (read: found elsewhere after airing), and was entertained, but not impressed.
Grade: B
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 80%

King of the Hill
Network: Fox
Status: Returning
Review: I've never found this show to have as many jokes as its animated cousins at Fox, but it has insights the others skip for the sake of a punchline. This episode involved Bobby finally becoming interested in football. I missed a lot of the references, because football isn't just a Texas sport, no matter what they may think about the sport.
Grade: B+
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 75%

Family Guy
Network: Fox
Status: Returning
Review: It's a Fox series reminiscent of the old Fox network, back when they were pure evil and leading the way in the amoralization of TV. OK, maybe that's still an accurate description. If you don't know about Family Guy by now, any description I give will be inadequate. The season premiere was a Star Wars Episode IV spoof, hence last night's references.
Grade: A+ (for the episode), A- (for the series, which has really started recycling jokes)
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 99.999%

Shark
Network: CBS
Status: Returning
Review: World's best defense attorney grows a conscience and takes a job putting the famous criminals of L.A. in prison. Helping him are Jeri Ryan and Sarah Carter, a nice age range on hot blondes. Again, I mentioned this in the last update. Not the most original show ever (think Jack McCoy with a little more ego, and that's saying something), but I like legal dramas.
Grade: A-
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 95%

Chuck
Network: NBC
Status: New
Review: The manager of the Nerd Herd at a Buy More gets NSA and CIA secrets downloaded into his head by his old college roommate who is now a spy. Spy-friend has a partner, who is hot and likes wearing lingerie and who is now going to be "handling" our friend Chuck. Jayne, from Firefly, killed spy-friend and is now also hanging around all the time. And, Jayne killed spy-friend, who was sleeping with hot handler chick. Follow all that? Just watch the show, I want it to survive.
Grade: A
Odds I'll Keep Watching: 98%

It's now much later than I intended. I'll try to finish Monday and Tuesday nights tomorrow with an addendum. Oh, the Law and Order: SVU that was on USA tonight from 11 to midnight had Claire Bennett / Butler from Heroes playing a 15-year-old slut. I have trouble seeing innocent Claire as this promiscuous strumpet. They need to recast this episode, even though she filmed it before Heroes was even a glint in Tim Kring's eye. More tomorrow.

A Long Time Ago, but Somehow in the Future

I'll start my story with Part IV:

The Daily Jeffrey
Episode IV: A New Hope

Did I actually do anything today? I can't remember anything important. The new TV season started tonight with Shark, a lawyer show starring Jeri Ryan (7 of 9 from Star Trek: Voyager) and Sarah Carter (KentFan from Smallville). It also has the annoying presence of James Woods. I don't know why I started watching it - I never caught it live last season, but in the void that is Sunday night at 9pm in my TV schedule, I'll probably watch it more this season.

I head back to Huntsville tomorrow. I don't really need to leave early, except I need time to unpack and eat before Heroes and its NBC companion shows. This week is going to be the greatest week of TV in years. And I don't have anything better to be doing than watching. 18-24 year old male, watching primetime TV - advertisers, pay up.

This evening, on Facebook, within moments of each other, two of my friends, who don't know each other, both added statuses of "____ is Martha Stewart." Well, one was "Martha Freaking Stewart," but that's close enough. I don't know if this was Martha Stewart day, and I just missed it, but it's an odd coincidence.

I'm boring. You should already know this about me. More tomorrow.

Cousins' Wedding

Notice where the apostrophe is. It's a grammar joke, people. It's also just about the only one I could repeat from tonight's comedians at Comedy, TN. I thought they were funny, if a little vulgar. It's a good thing Melissa thought so as well, or that might have been awkwaaard. The headlining guy the first time I went to Comedy, TN was funnier and less vulgar, but these guys weren't awful. Both were from the south, which forgives a lot, in my book. Standard jokes these days are gays, race, and more about gays, so no one is original. Still, funny guys. Worth not paying admission to see. (They do require some food purchases, but I paid a total of $15 and that included an alcoholic beverage, not for me, of course.)

Earlier in the day, I had lunch with some of the guys at Buffalo Wilds Wings at Wolfchase. Probably the worst service I've had at a BWW. It wasn't a wing night, so I can understand they're slower, but this was ridiculous. Good food, though, and nice to catch up with the CBU group.

I should have more to say, having skipped an update, but I don't, and I have a new book to read, after I finish the one I'm on now. More tomorrow.

Memphis, Once More

I'm in Memphis for the weekend. I had a significant amount of stuff here that I didn't need at my old apartment that I do at my new one. Some of it is stuff I did want in Tullahoma, but I didn't feel was worth moving there, then moving right back down to Huntsville. Either way, it goes back to Huntsville with me on this trip.

Another reason I'm in Memphis is that I won tickets to Comedy TN for Saturday night. Actually, I won them a couple of weeks ago, but with the moving and all, I got them changed to this Saturday night. Because Saturday night was better for some people, but now it isn't. I'm still going Saturday night, and I have the option of half-price tickets for others. If there's a market for them, hot chicks get the first chance to go. Everyone else is first come, first served.

This weekend is currently freer than most and will probably stay that way with most of my Memphis friends either in class or not actually in Memphis. Maybe I can relax, because I haven't been laying on my couch for the past three days watching TV. More tomorrow.

Cable Tomorrow

Sometime between 12 and 2 tomorrow, my internet and full cable TV should be up and running. That means no more stupid wireless signals disappearing and a TV where I can find what I want to watch without waiting for the TV Guide channel to scroll around to it. After that, I'm driving back to Memphis for the weekend.

I called the MDA today. October 1 is out, but October 15 is now definite, unless it isn't. What I was actually told was that it was on the last step, which was going to take a week. Then, all paperwork has to be completed 10 days before I start, for some reason that elludes me. Maybe I won't starve between now and then. I'll just spend more time in Memphis and eat at my parents' house.

Lee got me to start watching Top Chef with the argument that it isn't the worst thing on TV in its time slot. That's about the only argument I have to watch the show. I probably won't watch any other seasons, but now, I want to see who wins this season. Not the worst thing on in its time slot - remember that. More tomorrow.

I Can Receive Mail Now

The apartment office only gives out the mail keys once the move-in checklist is completed. It's a little juvenile, not trusting people to finish up paperwork, but I can see where it's required. At least it was the attractive renting agent in the office today. And I got some coupons in the mail, so it was probably a productive exercise.

I need to dig out the phone number for the HR people and see what's going on there. It's been long enough that there should be some news. I'm a little tired of waiting, to be honest, and it shouldn't be my responsibility to keep calling.

My political discussions have found a different forum, and while I'm not working, there's not much to talk about. More tomorrow.

T-Minus 1 Week

Until new Heroes. It's going to be awesome. The season 1 finale was on tonight, and it was even better than I remembered it. I can't wait for the new season.

I finished unpacking today. It was somehow less satisfying than I'd hoped. At least that part is done, although I won't be officially finally moved in until my cable gets installed Thursday, but as long as I can access the internet occasionally, I'm OK until then. It's annoying when it randomly stops, but it hasn't cost me anything important so far.

I've been watching a lot of the NASA channel. I like it. The problem I'm running into is that I've seen a lot of the interviews and mission profiles they're airing. They only have so much programming to fill the day, but I want new shows. If my government is going to fund a channel dedicated to something I'm interested in, it should fund enough programming to keep me interested.

There are people walking by all the time. I'm not a fan of this living with lots of people all around. More tomorrow.

All Moved In

I'm in Madison now, and mostly settled. I've got a little more organizing to do, then I'll get some pictures up on Facebook. I should have done that today, but instead I watched TV. It was more rewarding.

I don't have any rants right now, and I'm too tired to recount the last couple of days of moving. My internet connection is a little shaky until Thursday, so if you need me quickly the best way to reach me is by phone. More tomorrow.

Madison, AL, Trip I

Ah, the joys of moving. Today, I had to meet with an insurance agent, a rental agent for my apartment, and start the whole moving process. I didn't mind doing any of it, but it'd be a lot easier if I could just teleport my things down there. It's the packing and unpacking of boxes that I dislike most.

I had several things I wanted to mention tonight, and a much better title, but somehow they've gotten lost in the jumble that is my brain tonight. I need to get more work done tonight anyway, so maybe I'll remember what I wanted to say for future updates. More tomorrow.

Sounded like Someone Was Torturing a Cat

Alternate titles:

Where Should We Go to Test These Poison Fuels? : The Middle of the Everglades

Absolutely Great Engineer, from Alabama of All Places

He Didn't All Burn.

-and-

Jigger in the Main Burner

All of these are snippets from the seminar at UTSI today. The title of the seminar was "Never Told Tales of Blackbirds, U2s and Roadrunners, the Golden Age of Aerospace." The guy giving it had been an engineer at Pratt and Whitney for 32 years before retiring 20 years ago. He was what I hope to be in 60 years, less the cancer. He didn't cover a wide range of topics, and really only talked about the titular elements in passing, but he talked a lot about the engineering process as it was when he was working in the Golden Age of Aerospace. That's always interesting, and this guy was a self described "Irish storyteller" so he told all the stories well. I think I liked them all, but some of my favorites:

They were testing a new engine with a poison fuel with poison exhaust, so where did they go to test it? The middle of the Florida Everglades. Natural wildlife refuge now. Poison fuel test area then. (The program was cancelled before any tests were run there.)

Another test in the area while they were down there "sounded like someone was torturing a cat."

A design he worked on an engine for went from clean sheet design to first flight in 3 years. The F-22, which he also did some of the early engine design work for, took 20 years.

He knew a guy who was an "absolutely great engineer, from Alabama of all places."

When transporting charts for presentations containing secret information, the charts were rolled up and put in a tube which was then handcuffed to the person's wrist. This caused some issues on airplanes when the stewardess asked him to put the tube in the baggage compartment. Here was on sample conversation:

Stewardess: That [secret charts for a presentation] has to go in luggage.
Engineer Brown: I'm sorry, miss, but that's impossible. I can't do that.
S: Why can't you do that?
E: It's my father's ashes.
S: [a little shocked, walks away, returns a few minutes later] Excuse me, Mr, Brown, if that's you're father's ashes, why is it so big?
E: He didn't all burn.

The SR-71 Blackbird experienced significant thermal expansion during its flight. The tanks had to be designed so that they were solid at the expanded conditions, meaning they were very leaky at takeoff conditions, so fuel leaked all over the runway. The Blackbird flies at afterburner at all times, which would tend to light the runway on fire. Oops. So they needed a fuel that wouldn't catch fire on the runway. Unfortunately, if it's hard to catch fire on the runway, it's also hard to start the engine. They fixed that by adding a hypergolic (self combusting when exposed to air) fuel for engineer start-up. How much did they need? "A jigger in the main burner. Three jiggers to light the afterburner." Not sure what the official measure of a jigger is. Not sure if it's really a word, either, but whatever it is, it worked and the BlackBird holds 17 world speed records. It flew from Los Angeles (LAX) to Dulles airport outside of D.C. in 55 minutes, at partial power. It's equipment was supposedly sensitive enough to identify people and read license plates at a distance of 60 miles from an altitude of 90,000 feet. And that was from a plane designed and built 50 years ago.

One other thing this guy mentioned about work back in the golden age - he worked side-by-side with Charlie Lindberg, Jimmy Doolittle, and Juan Tripp. I didn't link their Wikipedia articles because I knew who they were when he mentioned them. If you don't, that's what Wikipedia is there for. Go learn something about the history of modern aviation.

I mentioned that UTSI took my student ID card when I was outprocessing Monday. Today, I finished the process, and they did NOT take my key to the office. What's more important to them? That I can get discounts on food and bowling in Memphis or that I can get into the office where they store several, presumably, important things? Clearly, it's keeping me from getting discounts. And I'm now done outprocessing, so there's nothing else I need to do for them. I may show up on campus a couple more times, depending on whether I feel like coming back up here before I start work, but that'll just be to visit friends. I do need to return a couple things to Dr. Moeller, but that's not directly affecting my outprocessing, just tying up loose ends. Who cares, I'm done, and they can deal with it.

Hey, how'd it get to be midnight already? More tomorrow.

6 Years Gone

I neglected to mention that yesterday was the 6th anniversary of the attacks on America by the terrorists. It slipped my mind as I was writing the update, though I had remembered several times during the day. Just because it's been 6 years without another large-scale attack doesn't mean we're immune. We must remain vigilant and determined to maintain as much safety as possible. For the victims, for the survivors, for the heroes.

Check. Check. Check.

My list of things to get done before I move is quickly being pared down to nothing. About all that's left is finishing at the school (which I hope to do tomorrow), finalizing everything with the apartment manager here (which is also planned for tomorrow), and cancelling my current cable subscription here (and I think they turn it off the minute I call them, and I'd prefer to keep my TV working a couple more days). That's all I can think of that's left to do, other than the actual moving.

Speaking of actual moving - my bookshelf looks lonely. All my books are packed away in boxes in my spare bedroom. All that's left on the shelf is dust and two software boxes. My "desk" is much the same, though it has a few more things on it because of my computer. Also, it seems U-Haul hates Tullahoma. This makes sense because the only place in Tullahoma that rented U-Hauls was closed on the one day someone (Lee's parents) was going to rent one. But now I'm trying to rent one, and it's a headache. A guy in Estill Springs has some for rent and is willing to be very nice about the return time, saving us from paying for an extra day while not having to rush to get a trailer unloaded and returned. It would require returning the trailer to Estill Springs rather than dropping it off in Madison, AL where I'll be, and the cost of gas is close to the savings for the extra day, but the guy has been nice enough to offer some flexibility, and it's not real money - it's on a credit card.

From an article I read today:

[quote]

It costs $12,106 to cover the average American family, with workers picking up about 28 percent of the tab. That works out to $3,281 annually - about $1,500 more than they paid in 2001.

Similarly, it costs $4,479 to cover a single worker, who typically pays 16 percent of the bill, or $694.

[/quote]

Now, there are co-pays on top of that, but that strikes me as not awful. When I worked as a bagger at Kroger, I could afford that. Not much else, but I wasn't working full time, either. And since when does the problem of "not enough money" not have the solution "work more"? People want a "living wage" as the basis of minimum wage, but if you're working 80 hours a week, even at two minimum wage jobs, you're doing alright financially. Working while raising kids is tough, sure, but people have been doing it for as long as there have been people. I need to save it for the Straw Poll. More tomorrow.

I’m Quite British! What, What!

Tonight, I found the summary of The Protector's War that Lee had been looking for. It's here. If you get a chance, this guy has some decent blogs (same site, click on the title header). I didn't see many actual arguments as much as pointing out where liberals were being stupid. There's always room for more of that.

I made a lot of progress in being able to move this weekend and be gone from the school, but very little on packing. I'm wondering if it's more cost effective to move all my textbooks or burn them and buy new ones. On the one hand is the cost of the books. On the other hand is that they weigh 14 megatons (metric). The books and kitchen stuff are really the only loose items remaining. And clothing, which is going to be annoying.

I don't have to go, but there's a cool seminar at school Wednesday. Well, the speaker is actually going to be in Knoxville, and we're video conferencing in, or maybe just watching the video, since I don't think the room is set up for interactive. Still, the talk should be worth driving to the school for.

Should I go to school tomorrow to finish outprocessing or try to get it done Wednesday? They already took my student ID (expletive deleted), and I'm going to have to give them the key to the office before I leave, too. I got all the signatures where I didn't actually want to talk to the people today - and the secretaries signed so I didn't have to talk to anyone. Callie, Dr. Bomar, and Dr. Daniel, for those interested. I still have one more higher-up I need a signature from (Dr. Buckley), the librarian (out sick today), the physical plant (where they take my key), and Dr. Moeller (not there for some reason today). I don't remember anyone else I still need to talk to, but the form is in my laptop case and I'm too lazy to get it.

Apparently, I'm not as evil as I seem at first glance. This will have to be corrected. More tomorrow.

Going to be a Busy Week

The blog may go quiet for a while, especially once I'm in Huntsville. I don't know if I'll have internet access down there right away. I'm not really planning to spend a lot of time there if I don't (I'll be at my parents' house in Memphis most likely), but I'll have to be around some to make them think I'm living there. That, and I'm used to doing my own thing, and my own place is more condusive to my relaxation.

I spent some time packing and cleaning this weekend, much as I didn't want to. I also discovered that I stored a lot more boxes in my outside storage room than I thought I had. Things like my TV box, which may or may not be used for transporting my TV (those things travel very well seat belted into the front seat). I sprayed everything in there with bug spray, to make a preemptive strike with chemical weapons, so that the hand-to-hand battle is simpler later on. The Hague can deal with it.

I just realized I need to secure my grill for the night. More tomorrow.

Don't Wanna Pack

A week until I move. I need to pack and clean, but all I can motivate myself to do is read my book. I'm almost done with it, but I'll just find something else to keep me busy. The packing seems like a lot, and it is quite a bit, but it's not going to take a full week of solid effort. The hard part I can't do now anyway - loading up the washer and dryer and other big furniture. Times like these, telekinesis would be nice to have.

Updates are boring when all I do is read all day, and I don't want to spoil the story for Lee or anyone else, not that I know of anyone else who reads both the Stirling books and my blog. More tomorrow.

Lasagna

Come on . . .

Come on . . .

Well today I went up to the school for lunch, because they were serving lasagna, and Lee's argument (above) was so compelling. The serving lady gave him both a full serving of lasagna and a side of the pork dish they were also serving. The garlic bread was lacking something today, too. What was it? Oh, right, garlic. It wasn't a bad roll, but garlic bread it wasn't. After lunch, I came back here and spent a good chunk of my afternoon reading. I mean that in the sense that the part spent reading was good. I also tried to pack and straighten my apartment. That wasn't as enjoyable. Such is life.

The political debates were much calmer today, presumably because my primary opponent most of the day yesterday actually had to get work done. That's a guess. Maybe he just sees me as a lost cause. Either way, it was much quieter on the western front today. I enjoyed the debates yesterday, but you just can't do that everyday. Well, you can if you're unemployed and trying to avoid packing your things for a move that's only about a week away, but most people have real work to do. I had 18 notifications of responses to my arguments yesterday, and that's probably not even half of the arguments I actually addressed. I was on one argument, then another, then a third, then back to the first, in a constant cycle. If the debates were like that, I think more people would watch. And more candidates would have nervous breakdowns.

Josh Lyman: You know... can I say this? Why don't we just give the $60 billion to North Korea in exchange for not bombing us?
President Josiah Bartlet: It's almost hard to believe you're not on the National Security Council.
Josh Lyman: I know, I feel they're missing an important voice.

More tomorrow.

Anyone Speak Elvish?

My book that I've waited a year for has just enough Elvish to be annoying. Mostly, it's like the Chinese in Firefly - you don't really need to know most of the words to get the point, but it's annoying when the characters start talking, and I have to wait for him to translate it for me. Other than that, I really like the story he's putting together. It's not what I would have written, but he's the one getting paid big bucks to write stories, not me.

I spent most of my afternoon otherwise engaged, however. I was engaged in politcal discourse of the highest order. Maybe it was just a shouting match. It's hard to tell on the internet which it was. It was fun, if a little scary how some people look at the world. I think the particular quote bothered Lee more than it did me (I'd heard something similar before). Still, it made for some interesting debate.

Back to Cash Cab then more reading. I'm going to try to stay out of too many political debates for the rest of the night. More tomorrow.

They Say He Killed a Man in Borneo

Just to watch him die.

If you don't get the Johnny Cash reference, stop reading now. The quote is actually from Eureka, but it's too close to the song not to be intentional. That's a fun show. It doesn't deal with big political issues or saving the world in any type of realistic way - it's just a nice solid science fiction show with a hint of believeability. Except that Erica Cerra would give the time of day to any of them. That part isn't so believeable.

I started on The Sunrise Lands tonight. I'm probably an hour or so of reading behind Lee right now, and more as I write this, but it's not a race to the finish line - it's the enjoyment of a good story that won't have its next book published for about a year. I finished the other book I'd been reading and gave that back to Lee this morning. Just in time to start this one, that I spent $27 on and will be done with in less than 24 hours, most likely. Still, enjoyment, good story. Twin amazons fighting in the nude.

Well, I'm going to shut down the lower level and keep reading. It's nice that I don't need to go into school tomorrow. I can read all day. More tomorrow.

Last Drive to Tullahoma

From Memphis, at least. I may make the trip from Huntsville to visit friends if I don't start work right away. As I mentioned, it seems more and more likely that I won't start right away. There was mention of a Heroes premiere get-together, but only in passing. I don't have anything against this town in the middle of nowhere, but neither do I feel any special attachment.

I'm also very tired, and I still need to make my bed before sleeping in it. I don't know why I need to make it, it's not like I'm going to use the sheets, but I feel I should at least have them on there. More tomorrow.

Elementary School Reunion

This title was probably more apt a couple of days ago, but I only thought of it tonight. People I haven't thought of or seen in years are randomly finding me on Facebook. I'd never really lost contact with Melissa, at least not since high school. I went to high school with Russell, though I didn't know that, or him, until college. A couple of weeks ago, a girl I went to elementary school with added me as a friend. Friday, I think, a guy from elementary school added me. I knew him pretty well way back then and had bumped into him a couple of times during high school, but it's still a little odd to find all these people after so many years.

Yesterday: I didn't really do much during the day. I think I mostly watched TV and surfed the interweb - standard time wasting. Sheena was having a going away party at 9, so I headed out there sometime after 8. I was the first one to arrive at Bartlett Lanes, designated party spot for the evening. Garrett was next with Sheena after him, and only about 10 minutes after 9. David and Christina got there pretty soon thereafter, and the four of them started bowling. I had no strong desire to bowl, so I sat out the first two games. Lee and Jennifer got there about as the bowlers finished up the second game. The three of us decided to bowl a game while the other four bowled a third game. About the time we were finishing our last frame, Melissa showed up. She had family obligations and wasn't sure she was going to make it at all, but I know Sheena was glad to see her. Melissa was headed to dog sit in my neck of the ghetto, so she followed me around on the interstate back this way. Apparently, that was only the start of her evening, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Today: Again, a lazy day. I handled some errands with my dad that took us out around Collierville. He also wanted to look at the new GM pickups, so we stopped at the GMC dealership there on Poplar in Collierville. I looked at some of the new cars, many of which seem to have a strange new feature. On the side of the engine compartment, there are small chrome pieces, which, upon inspection, have a grating that seems to lead to the engine. I'd wondered if they were purely decoration or served a purpose. My guess now is that they allow air that comes in through the front grill to escape along the side of the vehicle as well as below and through the area between the hood and the windshield. That arrangement probably cuts down on some of the air resistance from air coming up from the hood and hitting the windshield. I can't imagine it saves all that much, but I guess it's worth it. I hadn't noticed the contraptions until a couple of days ago, now I see them on cars all over the place.

Tonight, I met Melissa at the McAlister's over by my house. She was finishing up her dog sitting, and it seems the only place we can meet is McAlister's or Chili's. Always seems to work out that way, at least. She had to write a paper for a class Tuesday, so we didn't spend a ton of time there this time around. She did tell me how the dogs seemed to really like playing mind games with her all night long. I think she said it was after 3 before she finally got to sleep, then the dogs woke her at 8:30 to go outside. Doesn't sound fun to me, either.

I've been working to finish up the book I'm on right now before my new book comes out. That's supposed to be Tuesday, but that doesn't mean the "book" "store" in Tullahoma will have it. The nearest real bookstore is in Murfreesboro, and it's a tough call as to whether it's worth the drive to have to book on the day it comes out. Tough call. I need to finish this one first, either way. It's already later than I intended it to be to get back to reading. This is a pretty good update, especially compared to recent ones, so I'll leave you with the promise of more tomorrow.

Bowling, Again, Yippee

I'll roll this update into tomorrow's update. I better not hear a peep out of any of you. More tomorrow.

I Am Not Happy with This Turn of Events

Someone somewhere screwed something up, so no one can be brought in at MDA until at least sometime after September 17. That means October 1 at the earliest. I told them I was available September 4, and it's going to be October at the earliest. There's nothing I can do about it, so there's no point in getting angry, but that's not stopping me. It's probably no one person's fault, and certainly not the office worker who I've been talking to, but I'm angry in general at the whole process. I've been talking to these people for 8 months now. One might think they could get SOMETHING together in that time.

In other news, nothing much going on in Memphis for me. I bought a new antivirus software. Office Depot had McAfee something or other free with mail-in rebates. I already have McAfee, but the updates are expired, and the new version has more features. And it was free. I remember the days I'd be proud of some new video game, now it's anti-virus software.

I did find out that Dr. Harris, principal of Germantown High School, isn't anymore. I've heard the terms "demoted" and "reassigned." In either case, he was removed from that job and replaced by Mr. McIntyre, who most of the student body wanted to be principal back when Dr. Harris was named to the job. I can't find an official reason for the change - all of the stories I've read cite incidents that occurred at least 2 years ago. I saw on one site that he was transferred because of a complaint, but that tells me nothing I couldn't have already guessed. I knew that the faculty didn't really like him. Students probably didn't care one way or the other. He never bothered me in the 5 or so years I've been going back on campus for mock trial stuff. I think Mr. Mac will do a good job, not that it really affects me anymore.

Stupid TV, not airing any of the shows I like because it's either Labor Day Weekend or the US Open is on. More tomorrow.

Time to Decorate

I haven't even moved yet, and my mother has already redecorated my new apartment 3 times. I certainly appreciate all the help I can get, especially since the place won't get decorated unless someone does it for me. It's just that I have no interest in being involved in the decorating. She'll ask me, "Do you like this fabric or this one better?" Since I really don't care, but I have to make a choice, I mentally flip a coin, which always lands on the one on the left. So far, it's worked. I'm going to have decorated, color-coordinated rooms without doing any work myself to achieve it. This is a win-win situation.

I'm still debating about a few things for my apartment. I have a nice stereo I got several years ago that I've kept in my room here in Memphis for all of my moves so far. In high school, I used its alarm feature to wake up to the soothing rhythms of The Devil Went Down to Georgia and The South's Gonna Do It Again by Charlie Daniels' Band. At some point, it's going to have to come to live with me again. I don't know if I want that point to be at this apartment or to wait until I'm somewhere more permanent. It's going to be at least another month before I'm home again, so I've got some time to decide.

I don't think I've watched more than 5 minutes of TV all day, and that was walking through the living room downstairs. I had mine on earlier, but that was to play video games. Right now, however, I need to read. My new book comes out Tuesday, I think. Only one place on the internet has more than "September 2007" for the release date. I need to finish what I'm reading now before I get the new one, though. More tomorrow.

Something With a Frog - Donkey Kong!

On Cash Cab tonight, one of the contestants was trying to guess the video game Frogger. He knew enough to state "something with a frog" then guessed Donkey Kong. This makes perfect sense to me - you see, this person was an idiot. Well, that's not fair, he was old. Then again, so is Frogger. Lee and I tried to compete with answers over AIM, but my wireless connection wasn't letting me communicate very well. I don't even know that I've missed a message most of the time, so if I ignore you while I'm at home, that's the reason.

I made my drive without major incident this time. It did rain on me several times, and quite hard twice. I made it out of the school about 2 and was home before 6:15, so that's pretty good time, too. I'm not going to miss that drive, though. It's not awful, but the drive to and from Huntsville is both shorter and more interesting. It also passes through Carinth, Missippi (also known as Cornith, Mississippi), which is one of my favorite redneck towns.

Why am I so much more tired at home than at my own place? More tomorrow.

Politics Aside

I may be limiting some of my political discussions here in the near future. I have several reasons to need to do this. For one, I will be a government employee and may be required to keep such opinions to myself. I personally think that's bogus, but I also want to keep my job, assuming I ever start it. Secondly, political discussions are much more fun as a debate rather than as a rant. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good rant, but the level of debate for this site has been, well, disappointing. I don't know that White Guys With Irrelevant Opinions will be retired so much as taken out back and shot. There may be some instances where it's appropriate to return to that format, but for now, politics in the blogger world will have to take a back seat.

As for today, I went to campus to run some data for Dr. Moeller. I could have done it here, but I hadn't done it here for about a week, so campus it was. I also took a look at some code Lee was developing and (I think) improved it. Well, it should work now, where it didn't before, so that's an improvement. I didn't really look at the code, just improved a 'for' loop. It's something thesis-related, but I didn't really look at it closely enough to make any (additional) judgements about his idiocy. Doc Brown had a dry sense of humor, but it did exist.

I need to get back on my 9:30 blogging, 11:00 bedtime schedule. I'm going to have to start work at some point (presumably), and I doubt they'll be cool with my current school hours of 11AM to 2PM with an hour for lunch. It is the government, so maybe they will be. THAT would make this the coolest job ever. Missile Defense and awesome hours. More tomorrow.

Still No Start Date

I did, however, finally get through to the person with MDA in Huntsville who needed to talk with me last week. Today, however, she didn't need to talk to me. And she had lost my file. And her supervisor was out with an injured knee, so she didn't have any details about anything. Here's what I did learn: I will start no sooner than September 17, and they are supposed to communicate additional information in the coming days (which I interpret to mean when the decision-maker is back in the office). I had missed the deadline to start September 4, which was the original availability date I gave them, and the next possible start date was September 17. They only in-process at the start of each pay period, that is every other week, so the next possible start date is October 1. This is the government we're talking about here, so it may even be November before I get started. I could dress up as an out of work engineer for Halloween.

I went to school today to see if Dr. Moeller wanted me to explain the programs I've written and am giving them. It's the stuff I've done for my thesis - they just want the background info so they can continue to use it once I'm gone. Today wasn't good for him, so it's going to be Wednesday morning before I finish that up. I've got a little more data to run for him, so I'll do that tomorrow and give him everything Wednesday. I then plan to be gone Thursday and Friday, and possibly Tuesday, since I won't have a work conflict.

Speaking of travel schedule, as it stands now, I am hoping to leave Tullahoma Wednesday after lunch and be in Memphis by early evening. I'll stay through at least Monday afternoon, possibly Tuesday, depending on how stir crazy I'm going at my house. I'll be back in Tullahoma by 7-ish whichever day I drive back. I don't really need to be any more precise than that because it's not like I'll have any responsibilities to the school. I probably won't be back in Memphis again until after I start my job, which is now guaranteed to be after I move. I'll be about 90 minutes closer to my house in Memphis than I am now, though, so I'm going to try to be in Memphis a little more often. When I was down there before, I was home either 6 or 7 weekends out of 9. It's not a bad trip to make after work or Sunday afternoon. Somehow that extra hour and a half makes this drive seem much worse than maybe it should be. Oh well, I don't have to drive it that much more.

Forensic Something-Or-Other And Angel From Buffy Have Chemistry And Solve Crimes is a good show. I enjoy it. I somehow can't seem to fit it into my during-the-season schedule, but I'm watching it now, and it might make the fall lineup this year. Unless it airs opposite Heroes, or Smallville, or NCIS, or The Unit, or CSI (original recipe), or Shark, or any good SciFi Fridays, or Numb3rs. More tomorrow.

I Am Not Jason

Nor Jeremy. Nor Charlie.

I keep getting emails from people at UTSI that are intended for Jason King. Our email aliases are based on first initial and last name, so both would tend to jking. However, I was here first, so I got jking. He is jking1. The school email system has a built-in, searchable, address book that NO ONE seems to know how to use. I guess everyone assumes there couldn't possibly two people with similar names, except that THERE ARE. I think I've corrected the physics department, which was sending me information related to Jason's classes. Today, I got an email from Callie Taylor, the admissions / student life coordinator, intended for Jason. I suppose it's just good no one has sent me anything of critical importance for him, because it usually takes me a couple days to get around to responding to tell the sender they have the wrong person. That's what the address book is there for, I don't feel I have any responsibility in the matter. If it had been something like "if you don't reply to this within 24 hours, we're going to impound your car" I'd probably forward it on. I'm not an email forwarding service here.

I'm out of things to say tonight. For some reason, I'm more tired than usual for a weekend. I also need to get up and head to the school in the morning. More tomorrow.

Spartans! Prepare for glory!

I now wished I'd seen 300 in the theater. It was amazing. It's got Frank Miller's signature all over it, so if you didn't like the feel of Sin City, you won't like 300. I enjoyed both movies, but this one was better. The movie as a whole required some suspension of disbelief, but some parts required a little more than I was quite able to provide. Still, I'd recommend it for a fun two hours.

It's late, so I'll write some more about today in a later update. More tomorrow.

Dangling Participles

I can't intentionally write in dangling participles, but if I could, I would. It's a grammar joke from Psych. It's not really funny, but the episode took place at a nerd school, and grammar jokes were about all they had that the writers could understand. They did have Avogadro's number make a guest appearance, which was awesome. Dude even wrote it with units, though I didn't get a good enough look at them to determine if they were correct. The number itself was correct to all the decimal places I know. There was also a joke about calculus as "remedial math," which is the writers' attempt to show that these kids are geniuses. What the writers don't realize is that "calculus" isn't just a subject, it's a whole field of study. Even math majors don't cover all of calculus in college. Math doesn't end at calculus. Math begins at calculus. All that other stuff is background. I'm serious. I also fully acknowledge that my math skills, while more than sufficient for engineering, aren't nearly to a level to be a mathematician. Not by a long shot. I took the detour into the practical world of using math to do stuff as opposed to doing math for the sake of math. And I'm much happier for it. How did this paragraph detour into my career choice? My mind works in strange ways.

A huge storm blew through Tullahoma earlier this evening. Remnants are still around, but it got loud for a while. Power and cable blinked off, right at the critical "explain the entire scheme of the bad guy" moment of Psych, but nothing was lost for long. I explained the lightning as a strobe light in the sky - it was that frequent. Along with the two sonic booms earlier today (and those must have been some low-flying aeroplanes), one might think the sky was angry at something. Of course, one who thinks that would be an idiot, since we know it was sonic booms and thunder, but one might still think it. The rain has lowered the temperature all the way down to 68 degrees outside. That would be appreciated for the next several days, even if I have to be rained on. I'll take the cooler weather.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but someone from MDA in Huntsville called me Monday while I was at the school. Since reception is so lousy up there, I just let it go to voicemail. I returned the call when I got home, about 3:40 that afternoon, and left a voicemail. I didn't hear anything Tuesday or Wednesday, so I called again Thursday morning. No answer, the call went to voicemail again. Rather than leave a second message, I hung up. I called again that afternoon - no answer, I didn't leave a message. As of tonight, I still haven't heard back. I'm wondering at what point I start calling my other contacts at MDA. This sounded like it was clearing up the final hurdles to finally set a start date, and I'd like to do that as soon as possible. Right now, I think I'm going to be unavailable the week of Labor Day, too. I told them a month ago I could be available then, but they never got back to me. Now, I think I don't want to have to drive that week if I don't have to. Also, it will give me an extra couple of days in Memphis. Government pay period doesn't start until the next week anyway, so it should make life easier for everyone.

Well the eagle's been flying slow and the flag's been flying low
And a lot of people are saying that America's fixing to fall
But speaking just for me and some people from Tennessee
We got a thing or two to tell you all
This lady may have stumbled but she ain't never fell
And if the Russians don't believe that they can all go straight to hell
We're gonna put her feet back on the path of righteousness
And then God bless America again

And you never did think that it ever would happen again
In America, did you?
You never did think that we'd ever get together again
Well we damn sure fooled you
We're walking real proud and we're talking real loud again in America
You never did think that it ever would happen again

From the sound up in Long Island out to San Francisco Bay
And ev'ry thing that's in between them is our home
And we may have done a little bit of fighting amongst ourselves
But you outside people best leave us alone
'Cause we'll all stick together and you can take that to the bank
That's the cowboys and the hippies and the rebels and the yanks
You just go and lay your head on a Pittsburgh Steeler fan
And I think you're gonna finally understand

And you never did think that it ever would happen again
In America, did you?
You never did think that we'd ever get together again
Well we damn sure fooled you
We're walking real proud and we're talking real loud again in America
You never did think that it ever would happen again

In America by Charlie Daniels' Band. More tomorrow.

Dog Fights is Still Cool

I saw this on Google news and two thoughts immediately came to mind: 1) I did not need to know this and 2) wait, isn't that second reason a little obvious. Here's the headline:

Barring health issues or the lack of a partner, many Americans remain sexually active well into old age, a survey of 3,005 adults finds.

Once the initial ick factor is gone, think about the second exception they list: lack of a partner. Wouldn't that be stopping people of all ages? I didn't read the article. I preferred to keep the contents of my stomach in place, thank you, but I assume they mean spouse's death or similar situation. Just a weird way of saying that.

I now have another reason to hate Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth: Amy hates the movie. Again, this follows my policy of accepting things which fit into my preconceived notions, but she had a few reasons for her dislike of "Truth". First, there were charts / graphs which showed that global warming was evil and going to kill us all and sleep with everyone's wives. These charts had no axes. They were lines on a piece of cardboard, essentially. If you've ever taken a science class in your life, I hope the teacher impressed upon you that graphs are COMPLETELY WORTHLESS without well-labeled axes. Things like the time over which the data was recorded is critical. Also, the y-scale can make data look more or less impressive than it should be. A temperature change of 1 degree over 10 years (general global warming amount I hear quoted most often) shown on a scale of about 40 degrees (for example average high temperatures everyday for the ten year period) wouldn't be noticeable to anyone looking at the graph. Showing temperature change from December to August for a single year would show nearly a doubling of temperatures, impressive evidence of "warming" (because it's summer). Also in the movie, it seems, was a cartoon involving a person made of sun and the "greenhouse gang" who prevent the sun from leaving by beating him up. Amy could probably explain it better, but I still don't really get the point of it. I'm just glad that a person with an analytical background has seen the movie and called it what I figured it was: pure horse hockey. She said she had to quit watching it because it was so bad. That's why I liked the MTV review of Sicko back when that movie came out. Kurt Loder, the guy who's been at MTV news since the network premiered, went through all of Michael Moore's points and offered explanations about what he said and didn't say about the various foreign healthcare systems. Unless I'm being tortured, I don't expect I'll ever watch anything by Michael Moore or Al Gore. So people supporting my beliefs without me having to endure the torture are always appreciated.

It seems I'm missing an awesome episode of Dog Fights on the History Channel. More tomorrow.

It'll Get You Drunk

Malt liquor is good fun. Or so I assume, after seeing a question about it on Cash Cab. It's too alcoholic to be considered beer in some states. Also, something about a drinking game called Edward Fortyhands, I think.

Of note, Lee has resumed blogging. It's not very interesting, but he tries. I take it as a compliment that he's trying to copy me, even if he's not very good at it.

Today, I went to the school, delivered some data to my advisor, and ate lunch. It was about that exciting. I mailed my approval sheet to Knoxville and got some stamps before that. That was equally as exciting. What can I say, today was one of those days where you do boring stuff all day. Not everyday involves alien babes on a mission of lust. Just the good ones. Where I've been dropping LSD. That's the term, right? "Dropping?" I'll go with dropping. Good enough. Now, where was I? Right, boring. I think I covered it.

I want a job where I get to randomly throw explosive things into the fire while hot women stand around in low-cut tops. This would be my dream job. More tomorrow.

Falling Sand Go Boom

I did nothing interesting today. I ran the data set Dr. Moeller wanted numbers from next. I played Sim City 3000 for a couple hours. I also played the new Bored.com time-waster Falling Sand. It was a busy day. Tonight, I went to Wal-Mart and forgot the one thing I actually needed from there. So I'll go again tomorrow morning, get me a big envelope or a box of big envelopes, and mail my approval form. And be officially finally done with my thesis, for reals.

I wrote a nice editorial in the next post down. I just decided to separate them so that if you want to ignore my political opinions, you can. Normally, I'm not so considerate, so you losers better appreciate it this time. I mean you. Yeah, you.

I'm going to do some more research (read: google) on a facebook group a friend of mine recently joined. My guess is that the group is only telling half of the story, but before I commit to an opinion on that, I'll have to do some more reading. I may forget about it entirely, and if I do, it's just as well, because it probably wasn't very interesting. Wouldn't be much of a change, but I try to avoid the topics which even I don't find worthy of space here. More tomorrow.

Fresh Pickings from the Political Grapevine

Also known as, "I Stole These From the Fox News Segment with the Same Lead-in":

No News or Good News?

The Chinese government has told its media to report only positive news and is barring reporters from covering some stories altogether. The Guardian newspaper reports the increased censorship comes ahead of an important Communist Party meeting.

The media have been banned from investigating the ongoing problems with Chinese exports. Most state media have been kept from reporting on the bridge collapse in southern China that killed 41 people. And coverage of new traffic control measures — including the ordering of 1 million cars off the roads — has been severely limited. Reporters are forbidden from talking with inconvenienced commuters or showing images of overcrowded buses.

Mind Games

The American Psychological Association is barring its members not only from participating but even witnessing interrogation techniques used against terror suspects at U.S. facilities.

The Washington Post reports the techniques include sleep deprivation, putting hoods over the head and the threat of such actions. The association says the methods are immoral, psychologically damaging and counterproductive in getting useful information.

Psychologists may witness such techniques while monitoring treatment of the detainee for research. Those who have their membership in the association revoked can lose their licenses to practice.

Dust Up

A Nation of Islam school that is using city land in San Francisco is demanding that a nearby housing development be halted because it is throwing naturally occurring asbestos dust into the air.

But now the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the 5-year-old school has never paid its agreed-upon rent of $2,000-a-month to use that property. The head of the city's housing authority, which controls the buildings the school uses, says he has never asked for the rent because the school district has never billed his agency.

Former Friends?

The American Civil Liberties Union is planning to run a critical ad in the hometown papers of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The ad depicts Pelosi and Reid as sheep and says they have "caved in to yet another Bush assault on our freedoms."

It says the revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act gives "new powers" to the attorney general and new eavesdropping powers to the government without meaningful court or congressional oversight. It concludes: "We don't need sheep protecting the Bill of Rights."
The FISA revision authorizes surveillance on suspected foreign terrorists believed to be outside the U.S.

An ACLU spokeswoman tells FOX News that the group wants to hold Democrats accountable now that they control Congress. The ads will run in the next few weeks.

------------------------------------------------------------

Done Deal?

Many media outlets — such as the recent Newsweek magazine cover story — portray man-made global warming as fact and those who deny it as conspirators. But skeptics are increasingly certain that the scare is vastly overblown.

A new study by Brookhaven National Lab scientist Stephen Schwartz contends that the Earth's climate is only about one-third as sensitive to carbon dioxide as the United Nations' recent climate study claims. Schwarz's work will be published in The Journal of Geophysical Research.
The study is just one of several peer-reviewed scientific studies challenging global warming alarmism:

The Belgian Weather Institute concludes that carbon dioxide does not have a decisive role in global warming.

A study by two Chinese scientists says CO2's role in warming is "vastly exaggerated."

And new research by University of Washington mathematicians shows a correlation between high solar activity and periods of warming.

Meanwhile, what is billed as the first comprehensive analysis of global biofuel impact has concluded that their use may release between two and nine times more carbon gases than fossil fuels.

The study published in the journal Science says the clearing of forest land to grow biofuel crops will produce immediate carbon gas releases and also destroy habitats, wildlife and jobs. It says that while biofuels look good from a Western perspective, they will be harmful on a global scale. The study contends it will take about 40 percent of American and European agricultural land to grow enough biofuel crops to replace only 10 percent of fossil fuel use.

Rewrite Ordered

The BBC's plans for a storyline about Islamic suicide bombers in one of its popular dramatic shows have been overruled by the corporation's leaders, over fears of offending Muslims. British media report the episodes of the long-running medical series "Casualty" will substitute animal rights activists as the villains.

The Guardian newspaper reports the BBC's Editorial and Ethical Standards Department said the original storyline would have perpetuated stereotypes of young Muslims in Britain.

Rooms Available

We hear about jail overcrowding in many places. But in Norway it's the other way around: Too many empty beds in prison. That's because 20 percent of convicted criminals simply fail to show up to serve their sentences.

The news service Aftenposten reports almost 1,800 convicts were no-shows last year. One of the problems: It is not illegal in Norway to skip your prison time. Norway's parliament has passed a new law making it a criminal offense to blow off a sentence, but so far it has not been implemented.

----------------------------------------------------

Me again.

I want to start with the last story there because it's just good fun. Showing up for your jail sentence in Norway is left on the honor system, and 80% of people still show up. Yes, if you sentence someone to a jail term, you want them there, so the 20% skipping out on it needs to be fixed. But there is no penalty for not actually going to prison, and 80% of Norwegians (sp?) still go. If anyone wonders why Europe doesn't have a superpower anymore, it's because only 20% of criminal skip out on jail sentences. That is, 80% of the criminals are either (a) too stupid to take advantage of this loop hole or (b) actually want to spend time in jail, also indicating their stupidity. Silly Europeans.

I also like the school that hasn't been paying any type of rent on a property complaining about the nearby construction. I'm not sure what the point of that story was - it doesn't really matter if they're paying rent or not. They had permission to be there and paid every bill they'd received. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near asbestos, natural or not. The "demanding" part of that is a little strong, but I'd assume that's just some artistic license for "have requested in the strongest terms possible." They aren't really making a demand: "stop the construction or we'll stop paying ren - oh, um, we'll . . . stop the construction or else."

China is just doing what China does. Media outlets here are complaining about being censored (not sure why, really, it just seems to be a standard claim, much like global warming, but I'm getting ahead of myself). I wonder what they'd say in China. Nothing, that's what. Or they wouldn't be saying it very long. And I'll bet the Chinese Psychological Association would let their members watch, video tape, and offer suggestions for improving the methods used on the reporters who dared challenge the government.

I've said it before - I love it when liberal groups try to out-liberal each other. Before, it was PETA and Al Gore's climate change concert. Now, it's the ACLU squaring off against the Democratic congressional leaders. Baaaaaaa.

Won't the animal rights activists be mad then? Or is it that we just aren't worried about them actually strapping bombs on themselves? There's political correctness, then there's not picking on someone who might actually hit back. Not all Muslims are suicide bombers, but most of the suicide bombers have been Muslim. Animal rights activists are usually happy with red paint.

And my favorite topic: global warming, er, climate change, er, the greenhouse effect, no, it's climate change these days. Climate change, then. The term "peer reviewed" is tossed around like it means something. It really means that the article was read by some people and had no grammatical errors and was the correct length and format. No one actually verifies content in a peer-reviewed article. That said, the Journal mentioned sounds legit enough to me, and since I agree with the findings, I'll continue to believe what I was going to believe anyway and cite this thing like it's gold. Just like the people on the other side do with the U.N. report. And biofuels are evil, too. I actually liked that as a possible way to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. I'm not interested in that so much from a "green" perspective as I am from a security perspective. If we need to get into a fight with Saudi Arabia or another oil giant, or when we finally grow a pair and do something about Venezuela, we're going to need all the domestic production of fuels we can get. That means ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refoogee). That means biofuels. That means hydrogen, if we can get that to work. Solar, wind, hydroelectric. I'm kind of surprised ANWR has disappeared from the news recently. The Russians are making claims up that way. We already have the land, why don't we suck out all the oil and ignore their claims? They won't be able to stop us. I know people pitch a fit about drilling up there, but have you ever been up there? Has anyone you know? The answer is no. It's cold, and there is nothing there except some caribou. Not even the eskimos go that far north. And eskimos live in igloos. They live in houses made of ice, and ANWR is too cold for them. Let that sink in for a minute . . . done considering that? Good. I've made my points.

I Take a Couple Days Off

and no one notices. I have a good reason for Saturday's aborted post, but no reason whatsoever for last night except that I didn't feel like writing an update. It's my first full day off since I started back with these updates, so no one better say a word. But, on to updates:

Saturday

Lunch with family at Huey's. Good cheeseburger. After lunch, I pretty much wasted the afternoon in a ground-beef-and-heat induced stupor, sitting under my ceiling fan in front of my box fan, playing Sim City 3000. I ate with my parents and returned to the stupor until around 9 when I decided I'd go clean up and spend the rest of the evening clean and sitting in front of my fan. At 9:20, my well-planned evening of fans and stupor was ripped away when Melissa called and propositioned me. What she said was, "I have a proposition for you." That's propositioning, right? I'm pretty much in another stupor right now, so we're going to assume I'm right. Melissa propositioned me. To go bowling with some people from high school at Cordova Bowling Center. I think I'd seen one of these people (besides Sheena and Melissa) since high school, and it was 4 or 5 years ago when I saw him. I knew them all back then, but we weren't great friends or anything - some classes overlapped, Honor Society, that kind of thing. But I went. Because even though I knew I was being manipulated, it didn't matter. So bowling. Again. For the second time in less than a week. And I'm not that fond of bowling to begin with. It's fun about as often as I usually go - once or twice a year and when it's cheap, but I'd already run out of the fun times while bowling at Lee's party. I talked to the people I hadn't seen in 6 years. I was probably more social in that one night than all through high school. I didn't have a bad time, and I would have enjoyed it more had it been earlier, but I was tired before I got there, and staying up until 1AM just took all the fun out of me. The things we do.

Sunday

I got to sleep in a little. I slept amazingly well all weekend in my old bed. I haven't slept that well there since I moved to Tullahoma. I don't know if it was exhaustion or what, but it was noticeably the best sleep I've gotten at home in a long time. I woke up to breakfast, ate, wandered around the house for a while, ate lunch, watched parts of the Braves game, loaded up my travelling gear, and headed back to Tullahoma. The drive wasn't too bad. A little more traffic than usual, and a ton of U-hauls on the road. I assume both are due to the move-in dates for colleges across this great country of ours. Not much to talk about after I got unloaded.

Monday

Got up about 9, wasted most of an hour playing on the internet, took a shower, and got to school around 10:30. I talked to Dr. Schulz about my thesis approval, gave him the updated draft, and he signed the form and had everything back to my by lunchtime. At 11:56AM Central Daylight Time, the twentieth day of August in the year of our Lord 2007, I officially finished my Master's thesis. And there was much rejoicing. In the form of slurping Jello cups with straws because we're out of plastic spoons in the office. All that's left now is to send the form in to Knoxville, and I think I'm going to need to go to the post office to handle that. The thesis consultant said to send it by priority mail or FedEx, but I think that was just to meet the Friday deadline. Regardless, I'm out of stamps, so I'll have to go to the post office to get more stamps to mail it. I'm probably going to have to go somewhere and get a 9" x 12" envelope, too. They don't say not to fold the form, but I'll pay a little extra and not worry about it.

While at school, I received a call from Huntsville about some questions the local HR person had regarding my information. I called her back, but she was gone for the day (I assume), so I expect she'll call tomorrow morning, and I'll clear up whatever questions there are. Hopefully, I'll have a start date soon. Maybe even a convenient one. Finish my thesis one day, finalize arrangements on my job the next - that's a nice start to the week. At that rate, Friday would be a party with the top 7 hottest Jessicas of all time (well, maybe only the 5 who aren't really old and / or dead). THAT would be a good week.

Now then, that should be a good enough summary of the past few days. I might get motivated in the morning and write an opinion post. I watched the news tonight and heard some interesting things that might make a paragraph or two of editorializing. More tomorrow.

#$^%@&!

It's really hot. I don't know that I've made that point quite clear enough recently. It's really, really, really hot. And I don't like it. Not one bit.

I ate lunch at Huey's today with family. The burger was excellent, as usual.

[4 hour gap in writing]

I got a call from friends and went bowling again. I'll write more tomorrow.

Hey, Last Night was Post #200

I should have inserted bad science fiction references with uninteresting characters and awful dialogue. That would be a great way to give my fans something back after 200 episodes, er, posts.

As suggested yesterday, I was a lazy bum again today. I even went so far as to install SimCity 3000 on my laptop. I refuse to accept the new computer game time-wasters, but the classics are always OK by me. Even though I've had it for years, I never really played SC 3000 much. I did play 2000 a lot, and I think I bought 3000 right before the workload on my classes really started to pick up. That's been so long ago now, though, that it doesn't really matter.

I guess I'm going to call it a night. It's a little earlier than usual, but I'm on vacation. Before I do, though: Happy Birthday, Lee. You don't get a midnight wall post. More tomorrow.

Lazy Bum

That's me. I was worthless today. I slept in, awoke to a ready-made breakfast (it's great visiting home), wasted a few hours between TV and the interweb, ate another meal I didn't cook, and wasted a few more hours. Life is good.

I do need to post about yesterday and explain the title before I get injured for it. Yesterday morning, I met with Dr. Vakili about my last edits to my thesis for him. He made some suggestions, then signed off on my final approval form. I made his suggestions, then met with Dr. Moeller. He had a few more suggestions, which I made, and he signed off on my approval form. That leaves only Dr. Schulz who hasn't approved the final edits on my thesis. See earlier for the reasons why. So I have 2 of 3 required signatures, and the last person won't be in until Monday. It's now about 11 to 11:30 AM. I ask Dr. Moeller if they have any critical work I need to do for their project. There isn't. I decide I'm coming home.

I leave campus around 11:45 and drive back to my apartment. I put my lunch in the toaster oven to warm a little, pack a bag, take out the trash, clean some dishes, eat as I'm finishing all those tasks, and head out the door. Lee needed me to unlock his deadbolt so that the apartment manager could show the place, so I did that. Then, it turns out, I need to unlock the whole place so that the guy can see it. I was just about to hit the highway back to the interstate, but I turned around and went back to Lee's apartment. Guy took 5 minutes to walk around, make some notes, comment that Lee had made his bed, and leave. I locked back up and made for the highway once more. I was headed out of Tullahoma at about 1:30.

The drive was mostly uneventful, with a single exception. North of Murfreesboro on I-24, I was in the left lane, going left-lane speeds, when the truck two cars in front of my swerves into the paved area off the road to the left. Then the car in front of my starts to swerve over, and I see a large round object in the road. It was probably 2 feet in diameter, 8 feet long, mostly in the left lane of traffic, just slightly in the next traffic lane to the right. I swerved (going a little too fast for such a maneuver, but not so fast as to be dangerous) and missed the object. I still couldn't really tell what it was (I was trying to stay on the road, I wasn't looking at it). The car behind me swerved left and made it. The car either one or two behind him continued straight. The car won, but may have been somewhat worse for the battle. By this time, I was well down the interstate, but I saw in the mirrors that a car plowed through the object (which I believe was a roll of carpet or possibly carpet padding), and chunks of the object were airborne. I really couldn't see much else - I was still trying to drive, too. Scary moment, though, when I was approaching something solid-looking in the road while travelling at a high rate of distance.

I got home safely about 5:30, unloaded my stuff, stretched my legs after the drive, and about 6:30 drove over to the location of Lee's birthday celecration. The typo is Jennifer's on the facebook event, but we all embraced it. Facebook won't let you go in and change the names of events, so it stuck. Lee said the extra "c" was for "cash" as in "give Lee cash." Back to the actual event - I'd let Jennifer know I was coming and left the option to her whether or not to tell Lee. Remember, I had talked to him about unlocking his apartment after I decided to come home. So he wasn't expecting me to be there. Maybe not quite a surprise like having him a birthday present of Jessica Alba, but it was all I could manage on short notice. Not that any notice would have allowed me to arrange Jessica Alba, or that I would have done so for him even if I theoretically could.

Mexican food, then bowling. Most of the people I knew from CBU were there, mostly with appropriate spouses / girlfriends, which meant I also got to surprise Sheena (who was there with Garrett). Her response on seeing me was unrepeatable. I'd decided I was going to not tell either of them, since I knew both would be there, and just see the reactions. I emailed Sheena right before I left Tullahoma, and thought I had a chance that she wouldn't notice if I didn't email her back all afternoon. She didn't notice, didn't have a clue I'd driven back until she saw me. I am eeeevil (only 4 e's, none capitalized for this particular act).

Now, finally, the title from yesterday: on my drive home, I'd called Melissa inviting her along to the celecration (I got voicemail, as usual). With 20 people there, no one was going to care for an un-RSVP'ed +1. She called me back right before I left my house. She'd been cleaning her house, and was dirty, and was finishing her second glass of wine, so wasn't sure she should be driving. Therefore: filthy, drunk. I told her I'd drive if she wanted to go (I had to drive within a mile of her house anyway), but she bowed out. I think she just hates Lee. That's the ticket.

I bowled well the first game, rolling a 120-something and winning out of our five. I then became my normal self and bowled in the 60s for the other two games and came in dead last for both of those. Good time, though. And $7 for three games plus shoes ain't a bad deal.

I guess I'm going to be a lazy bum tomorrow, too. I'd play a round of disc golf, but it's going to be way too hot. It's probably going to be hot next week, too. I'll be in Tullahoma then, but I like the course we play in Murfreesboro. I'm on vacation, and I can't even enjoy a round of my preferred pseudo-sport because it's over a hundred degrees outside. Lousy Smarch weather. More tomorrow.