Hard at Work, Hard at Play

Summer has flown by. It seemed only a few days ago, I was getting dressed up to go to my interview. Now, after 12 weeks of work, I sit and wonder... Did I have a good summer.

Most of average day was spent trying to design pneumatic systems, developing processes, and solving problems. During the occasional break from work, I also got to know many good people. The do-it-yourselfer, the tech guy, the high energy inspector, and the casually sarcastic guy (among many others.)

So what else did I do besides work?

Well, the summer started off hot with an all to quick tramp through the Appalachian Mountains. I ushered a group of boys across the rocky terrain. It was amazing to see many of the same sites nearly a decade later. Most had not changed, but it did seem to change the boys. There experience was a positive one.

The following day, it was back to work.

I shared many weekends with Cody, showing him what the world has to offer.

I also, (thanks in part to an understanding boss, and a wonderful camp director), was able to zip up to camp for a weekend. I had the opportunity to shoot my new bow, and whipped the archery bunker back into shape. (non-archery counselors should not be put in charge) Alas, two days is definitely not enough time and the irrational side of me wanted to stay there. (Who needs a job anyway, right?) Unfortunately, logic won over and I made my way back down to home.

One other major event, that I am covering out of chronological order, was "the big move." My parents had talked about moving for a while. To a smaller place, closer to the action. read: Jimmy's Pizza. Well, that move occurred mid July. Amidst the great upheaval of our our "possessions", We really worked at trimming down the non-essentials.

So, the question remains: Did I have a good summer.

I would have to say, no.... I had a great summer. I just need to make the best of the rest of it.

Oh, Where to Go?

The trip planning is going well so far. All the mailers were sent out, and I already have at least one confirmed traveler. The route is set (as you can see by the map below) and all I need to do know is wait. I am expecting about 4 boys to go and one other adult. I will have more updates, and a separate blog dedicated to this trip, set up soon! For now, Take a look at our long journey planned.

The Blackberry Storms No More

My recent acquisition of a Blackberry storm was exuberant. I finally bit the bullet and got into the "business phone" market. My first experience, however, was tainted with a sluggish and often non-responsive interface. Technology of this sort, especially at a 200$ price tag, should do all be wipe my... nose. I was drawn to it by quite a few nice features. It posses a gigantic (in relative terms) screen that also happens to be touch sensitive; a 3.2 mega pixel camera can be used to take pictures while "on the go"; and with aGPS (the "a" stands for assisted, google it if you don't believe me) and geotagging capabilities (also something i recommend googling).


I realized one thing. When the controls are that slow, and often times requires too many "screen click"s to make it worthwhile, then they just add to the price markup and not much else. Three other quick notes before I go, off to replace it with a more solid Blackberry format: the entire screen clicks for every button press(no i do not like this); it cannot sync my GMail contacts properly, and even deleted a few; and I recommend waiting to pick on of these up, if you feel so inclined, until AFTER the software update filters out many of the glitches.

WORD OF THE WEEK
Omnia-
Latin for containing all, everything

The Samsung Omnia was another possible choice but also failed my brief test. Apparently I have strick standards?!