Pipes Network Clog Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.

84.7 Degrees

It is now 84.7 degrees at my desk. This is the hottest temperature for this area of Michigan since last September, and it is indoors. That sucks.

Tour boats unsafe?

When we were in Hawaii last fall, I didn't think twice about getting on the tour boats for different things. Looks like maybe I should have:

HONOLULU (AP) — The mast broke on a whale-watching catamaran, killing a man and prompting the rescue of 50 people as the boat sank off the coast of Maui, authorities said.

A 48-year-old man died in the incident Sunday, authorities said. Two people were taken to a hospital; one was in stable condition Monday night, and the other was treated and released, said Maui County information officer Mahina Martin.

I don't think this was a boat we were on, but still a little scary. Read the full article here.

5 Months and Counting...

Only 5 more months. I'm 4-weeks shy of finishing up my 8th semester working on my Masters, and only one more semester to go. 5 Months today, is officially the first day after the end of the summer semester, otherwise known as my first day of freedom from school since Labor Day 2004.

It's actually hard to believe that its been that long. Its helps with the motivation for studying though when the end is so close. My last semester really shouldn't be too bad either. I still have to work out the details, but it looks like I'll be doing something with robotics for my Master's Project, which is my last class I will be taking this summer.

I'm counting the days until I'm done and can finally sit and relax without thinking about the school work I should be doing.

Sad day at Purdue

The student who made national news by coming up missing in January, has reportedly been found. The unfortunate part is that he was found in a utility closet in one of the residence halls.

WEST LAFAYETTE - Purdue University officials say a body was found around noon Monday in a utility room of Owen Hall, a residence hall on the Purdue campus.

The body has not been positively identified. But Owen Hall was the last place Wade Steffey was seen alive, knocking on a door trying to get a coat. It was also the location of his last known cell phone call.

Fully story here.

Stupid Weather

The weather in Michigan is apparently as dumb as most of the drivers. Yesterday morning at this time, it was exactly like it is now: Cool, but clear, around 30 degrees. An hour later it is snowing like crazy and doesn't stop for 3 hours. Then by 4:30 last night, its sunny, 45 degrees, and all the snow is already gone.

That was the 3rd time it's snowed in the last week. Yet for some reason, they make a big deal every time it could snow in January/February, but I barely heard anything about these. Oh well, at least now that Spring starts later today, that means no more snow (yea right).

What the heck?

I guess I probably do this every year, but it frickin' snowed today. It was 60 degrees out 24 hours ago, and there is almost 2 inches of wet, white snow on the ground now. So much for spring...

Happy Pi Day

For nerds everywhere, today is Pi Day (3-14). If you're really bad, at 1:59 today I guess you'll do some celebrating. Maybe even eat some pie.

(Just as a side-note, I had never heard of this until someone I work with brought it up several years ago.)

How do you become an expert?

I've always been the type who is good at lots of things, but not great at anything. I've always wanted to be great at something, but have yet to figure out what that is. It's hard to go through everyday life and want to be better, but not know how to get there. I can't settle for mediocrity, but am stuck in a battle to get better that I seem to be losing. I guess it's just hard for me to come to grips with the fact that in everything I do, there's always going to be somebody who is better than I am.

Maybe it comes from trying to be good at too many things. Specialization has never been my forte though, and what if you pick the wrong one? Should you really have to choose between being a good husband and being a good [insert job title here]?

In many things, hard work seems to pay off. Sometimes however, it's the delay between when the work occurs to when the payoff happens that is the hardest part. That's when you wonder if it's really worth it, and if you're even working hard on the correct thing.

Maybe its OK to just be mediocre at work and school if it means being better at home. That definitely sounds better than being mediocre at home and great at work and school, but its still hard to swallow. I don't have any answers for any of this (obviously, or it never would have gotten brought up), but it's something I've been thinking of more and more as I get close to finishing up my schooling for the second time (but probably not the last). Is persistence and hard work really the way to become "the best"? I guess only time will tell.

Would you use this?

I stumbled across this page this morning while I was reading the news. I think I would be more than a little nervous about using this, how about you?

Saturday Mornings

I don't know what it is, but there's just something about Saturday mornings that I love. Maybe its that I have a full weekend ahead of me where I don't have to think about work. Just waking up though and seeing the sun come in (instead of it being pitch dark) is a nice way to start the day. It's finally starting to feel like spring outside today, with yesterday being 45 or so, and the next few days are supposed to be even warmer. I hope its goodbye to winter for good now.

Relax

It's too easy sometimes to get caught up in what's important right now. School, work, stuff around the house, all things that need to be taken care of, but not the things (in my opinion) that should be most important. I mean sure, everyone wants to do well at work and make money. But when it comes down to it, family, friends, and enjoying life are much more important. After visiting my Grandpa this weekend in hospice, that became even more clear. Especially right now, I have a hard time even sitting to relax when I always have something to do for school, and work has been stressful as of late. I force myself to take time and do some things I want to do, but then I just feel like I'm putting of what I need to be doing instead of truly relaxing.

The bottom line is life is too short to worry about the small stuff. I had school work I should have done this weekend instead of driving 1000 miles to see my Grandpa. 10 years from now however, do you think I'll remember that I had to rush to finish an assignment, or that I got to see my Grandpa (for potentially) one last time?

Don't sweat the small stuff.

Windows Home Server

Since I'm on Spring Break (Spring Break 2007, woo hoo!) this week I was hoping to get my Beta copy of Windows Home Server all setup and running.
The initial install is easy, but I have yet to get it to work. The idea is slick. You have a dedicated computer which backups all of your other computers everyday. This computer also will stream media, and allow remote access. Somehow though, I cannot get a single computer in my network to connect to it. It's still Beta software as I said, but I can't even find anyone else with this problem. I get the "a server with this name already exists" error every sin

gle time when I try to install the software, and when I finally get it to go, nothing will connect. Not that anybody else that reads this stupid thing is trying this software, but if I figure it out, I'll post the solution.