Pipes Network Clog "Look up, Get up, but don't ever give up."

Beach Volleyball

Bad news for people who enjoy playing beach volleyball, especially the female players.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1445346.html

Google Earth

Google has recently announced a new product to go along with their Google Maps service, called Google Earth. There is a new client you can download and install that allows you to see 3-D pictures of most of the United States from my understanding, although I have yet to try it. It looks pretty cool though. You can check out where you want to go before you go, or just go on virtual vacations if you're a nerd like me.

Best Places in IT to work

According to Computer World's survey of the top 100 IT Companies, Ford is #32 best place in IT to work. I guess thats pretty good considering the number of companies around. It makes me wonder though, because both Google and Microsoft failed to make the list, and I have to believe that Google should be there. I mean geez, they give their employees free food, and have an on-site dentist and doctor at the "googleplex".

Don't know

Its hard sometimes to have uncertainty. Uncertainty about major things in life such as where you live, what you're doing, school, etc are even tougher. I guess the way I figure it sometimes you just have to tough out some things to get to where you want to be, knowing that in the end it will all be worth it (or at least you hope). Thats where I'm at now I guess, hoping that what I'm doing for the next 2 years or so will help me get to where I want to be and be worth it in the end, and I hate the uncertainty of that.

Crispy

Its hot out. Hot enough that yesterday I decided it was too nice to be inside, so I went by the pool for about 4 hours with my school books to do some reading. Apparently I should have put on a little more sunscreen, because it didn't show up until this morning, but I'm a little crisp now. At least my bald head didn't burn though, I made sure to put sunscreen there...

School

I scheduled my fall semester classes today. I've decided I should suck it up and take 2 classes a semester now. That way I can finish school quicker, which I know will make at least one person happy ;-)

It will be nice only having class once a week now, since I am taking one class online and one in classroom. The only bad thing is now that one night is 3 hours. I don't know if I can sit still that long.

If everything goes to plan with scheduling of classes (meaning there are 2 classes I can take per semester, 1 in summer) then I will graduate in the Spring of 2007. 2 years and counting.

No Cliffs

OK, so I really don't want to drive off a cliff. I was just rather bummed yesterday morning, and it just sounded tempting. It seems silly though. Here I am complaining about a few stupid things I'm dealing with, and somewhere somebody my age died today. Makes my problems seem pretty puny when you think about it that way. This past weekend has made me realize a few things like that. As the saying goes, "Everyone dies, but not everyone ever really lives". Guess I need to loosen up a little and relax. Life's too short to sweat the small stuff, and you never know when it may end.

Finished

Well it took me 55 weeks, but I finally finished a book I started June 1st, 2004. Last year sometime I was given a daily reading bible. Last June I finally started it, and it took me an extra 3 weeks from missing a few days, but I finished it finally tonight. 1700 pages of fine print, thats a long book.

Now I can finally start "The Da Vinci Code".

Life sucks

What a depressing weekend. Do you ever feel like you just want to drive off of a cliff? Lets just say it's a good thing there aren't any close by that would make it worth while.

Lincoln Zephyr

Ford officially announced the price of the Lincoln Zephyr today at $29,995. Right about where I thought/was hoping it would come in at. Even fully loaded its only $35,500, so it has a lot of options on the standard model, and features such as cooled seats, THX sound and DVD navigation on the loaded one.

Not too shabby.

Busy week

Its been a busy week here in Northville. Between working longer hours, class and a few personal issues, I haven't had time to even sit and watch TV this week. Hopefully this weekend will be somewhat relaxing, but its hard to say. At least I get to visit though. Looks to be nice weather wise, and things have cooled down a little, so should be bearable even without air conditioning.

I have officially decided to temporarily end the house hunt. My apartment lease is up in 2 months and I don't see being able to find and move into a house in that time, so I am staying in an apartment for a while longer. Its ok though, I crunched the numbers and with how cheap my lease is, and how exepensive housing is, I'll be throwing away less money in rent than I would be in interest on a house, even with the tax breaks and low interest rates. Plus, I can earn a guaranteed rate of return on my money thats now not going into a house, where in a house you never know if it will actually appreciate or not, let alone the rate. I don't plan on living in an apartment forever, but just until I find what I want or can equalize the high interest waste.

Have a good weekend.

Patch Tuesday

If you are running Windows on your computer (and I imagine everyone reading this, both of you that is), then you should run Windows update today as they just released 8 patches today, several rated critical. Just an FYI...

There's Hope for me yet...

"A nerd is an excellent provider and a guy who puts you first," says E. Jean Carroll, Elle magazine's love and sex advice columnist. "He'll turn out to be a great father and a great husband."

According to this article in the New York Daily News, there is still hope for nerds like me.

Too Short

Is it just me, or do weekends seem like they are always too short? I didn't do much, I have a midterm tomorrow so I've pretty much just been studying for that. It seems like the 2 days go so fast though, and the 5 days during the week don't. I guess time in general seems to move faster as I get older, but I wish at least the weekends would slow down sometimes. It seems hard to enjoy life all the time when its whizzing by so fast.

2 Years

It was exactly 2 years ago today I started working up here. Hard to believe its been that long sometimes. Its funny to think how much a person changes from 2 years in a corporate environment, compared to a fresh college graduate. Scary actually, I think I was probably better off 2 years ago, even though I didn't know as much. At least I thought I knew everything then, now I realize I don't know crap. Its pretty depressing to think that I have 40 years until retirement though, I don't think I can do ANYTHING for that long.

Finally figured it out

About two weeks ago on my way to Fort Wayne I saw two of the ugliest Jeeps I've ever seen. I wasn't sure what it was, but new it was something new as they both had manufacturer plates on them (thats one advantage living up here, seeing all the new vehicles early). I sped up to catch up with them on the highway, and could not figure out what it was, other than being some kind of jeep. Well today I stumbled across new vehicles for the 2006 model year and saw this. It is definitely what I saw, and man was it ugly and stupid looking. What a waste.

Jeep is apparently coming out with a 415 hp version of its Cherokee as well. They're putting that big ass hemi in everything.

Pontiac has a sweet new convertible called the Solstice coming out, and Saturn even has a cool looking car based on that same platform.

Chevy has a PT Cruiser rip-off coming out in the new HHR.

Unwired

Indianapolis, Fort Wayne & Detroit all made the top 100 Most Unwired Cities list, according to Intel. I was pretty surprised by that, considering I don't know of many places other than some coffee shops that have wireless Internet freely available. I guess that means its time to pull out the PDA and Laptop and do some driving around if I ever have a chance.

Napolean Dynamite

Its a liger. Its pretty much my favorite animal. Its a combination Lion and Tiger...

Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.

Well, you have a sweet bike. And you're really good at hooking up with chicks. Plus you're like the only guy at school who has a mustache.

Ever take it off any sweet jumps?

Talk about a strange movie. It was definitely funny, but VERY stupid funny. I would recommend seeing it though. I forgot about the "Trapper-Keepers" we all used to have in elementary school (and some of you probably still have). Those things were awesome. K, bye.

Awesome

What an awesome weekend. Things just can't get much better, unless someone does my school work for me.

Michigan Sucks

Only in Michigan. Yesterday evening on my way home from class, I noticed my exit from M-39 to I-96W was closed now. Not a huge deal, although definitely an inconvenience as it adds about 15 minutes to my trip home, not to mention it would have been nice to see a sign for it or hear it on the radio. So today I checked for the recommended detour online out of curiousity. Thats what reminded me how stupid people up here really are. The detour they posted leads to an exit that they have also closed, and through a HUGE bottleneck where traffic gets WAY backed up. Then the detour for the detour points back to a detour that makes sense, after taking you almost 15 miles out of your way.

As a result I took a nice scenic drive through the ghetto on my way home yesterday. Lovely.

So right now (and until mid-July), every exit from Dearborn to I-96 West is closed due to construction projects. That sounds like a good idea. Morons.

2 Years

I just realized something. It was exactly 2 years ago today that I officially moved up to Michigan and out of my parents house. Seems like its been forever ago, but its gone quick.

Hmmm...

For as much press as the Chrysler 300 has gotten this year, its being beaten. The 2005 Mustang has sold 12,000 more units this year so far, and its only been out for 6 months compared to a full year for the 300. I like the 300, don't get me wrong, but I'm just sick of hearing about it. In a year or two everyone will be sick of it already anyway.