Just sittin' around

And I thought, 'gee it's been awhile since I posted.' I've managed to crawl myself out of my depression hole that was dug for me last Saturday. Sunday's Easter picnic helped a lot. Myself and a group of friends went down to Wakiva Springs to have grilled meal out in nature. I had been meaning to get out there for some time and now I know I'll have to get back. I mostly sat around in the steamy 88 degree air but others played some ultimate and but later we went on an evening hike.

Tuesday I had an exam and it only went kind of okay. Strange thing about this place. I can never tell how well I did and I'm always surprised by the final score.

The most exciting part is that my old optics friend Shane will be in town on business the whole week for the SPIE conference and we'll being hanging out tonight. I think we're heading to the beach, which means some Dixie Crossroads!I haven't been to the beach in awhile, well actually I guess I did go to Miami beach just a couple weeks ago but I haven't been to Dixie Crossroads in a long time. I really crave some rock shrimp but I doubt I'll eat as much some previous visits. Playalinda will be closed by the time we get there so I'm not sure which beach we'll try, either New Smyrna or Cocoa. I'll leave that choice up to Shane

U of A baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring on Illinois and on to the Final Four. Salim Stoudamire is the best shooter in college basketball and he's also absolutely clutch. That was one amazing game and be sure to catch the next one on Saturday. Well it's late so I'll try to say more tomorrow.

The Miami synopsis, and the close to spring break

So the quick jaunt to Miami was fun. Major props goes to Troy and his friends who did the brunt of the driving, especially Troy who drove in stop and go traffic for about 2 hours on the way back. The hotel was nice and we got a pretty good rate, but we were rarely in the room so it didn't matter much. We went out wandering trying to found a random bar in Miami Beach and stumbled upon a decent one with a convenient parking slot right out front. Unfortunately it had an extremely high cover for no live entertainment. Perhaps it was for the DJ who was pretty good mixing with a decent song selection but I was expecting high cover so no real surprise. The next day we slept in a bit and left right at the scheduled check out time and then headed to the beach. We hung out there for about two hours and I caught a lot of rays. Later in the day I had the joy of discovering the areas of my body I missed with sunscreen, complete with finger marks. My spring break also became complete because I saw a lot of hot chicks and some topless babes. Thank goodness for foreign confidence, whatever. And then there was the drive home, which was extremely long. I can't remember how long but i think it was about four and a half hours with a meal sandwiched in between.

That was pretty much all I did for spring break along with the South Bend trip and I had lab work in the middle. Nothing exciting this weekend except trying to catch up on homework I put off too long. Oh and NCAA basketball. My bracket is mildly good. Not bad for as little effort as I put forth. UCF gave UConn a good fight and Arizona is kicking butt (only three seed remaining). Thursdays matchup against OSU should be excellent as should Washington vs Louisville. Honorable performances to Vermont and Bucknell and major props to West Virginia, NC State, and of course University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

All in all the break went well and felt great. Little stress except the makeup time this weekend. But it's interesting how the little things that happen can be the shining moments. I won't go into much detail but I had one of the most delightful conversations with someone the other day. Drinking over AIM can be quite the party.

Now I'm off to Miami

Now comes part 2 of my spring break, the part that can be seen as more conventional. Part 1 was heading north to frigid South Bend and now I'm going south to steamy Miami. It should be crazy because it is a spring break hot spot. I'm not sure what part were headed to and not even sure we have a plan. Someone in our crew supposedly knows the area but I have a feeling we'll do a lot of wandering. That's the problem. It is pouring and will likely continue to pour throughout the day and in Miami. Driving in it will not be fun, and if we have to bar/club hop, or just wait to get in one, standing/walking in the rain will not be fun. So hopefully the experience will be good, but I'm afraid it won't turn out too well.

Getting ready to freeze my butt off

I'm off to South Bend later today. It's going to be a very long flight. I leave at 4 and get in at midnight. That's the price I pay to get a cheap ticket. I'm just worried about weather and I hope the recent snow in the area will not delay my flights. I am excited about my lay-over in Cincinnati though. I'll look forward to some chili and I hear there's a good sandwich place.

It will be a lot of fun to see Brian and Megan. Of course I hung out with them a lot over break including the awesome snow board trip but it's always fun to see my really good friends. The people who know me. I promised that I would visit them at Notre Dame and I kept my promise, including visiting them when no one else would, the bitter cold of winter. I've received a couple of messages reminding me of snow and the cold. I hope I can adjust quickly. In truth I hope to relax some and just see the campus. Brian's only there a year and then he's off to Chicago. I'll definitely visit them while they're there. Until then, stay warm for me.

Now I can relax

In fact I already dead a little bit by going to a baseball game but I'll get to that later. So today I had both my assignments due and got them in no problem. Spring break next week is at just the right time. I won't have homework due for awhile and I'll be able to calm down and relax. I'm still going to be working through the week of course but I'll be able to just focus on the lab work. Maybe I'll finally get some results I can be happy about. I'm also going on a few small trips. I'm escaping this weekend to South Bend to visit Brian and Notre Dame and then next week I'll be in Miami for a night and day. Probably both very and not so smart over spring break.

So, I witnessed the saddest display of a baseball game ever. St. Josephs absolutely sucks, as UCF just dominated. I could let the recap and box score just speak for themselves but here are a few highlights. The Knights had a 13 run 4th on the way to 22 runs, there was a time when I thought the Hawks would have more errors than hits, and the shortstop tripped over 2nd base on a pop fly. Super funny. I laughed pretty hard.

Frustration

I was in the lab until late last night and I still didn't accomplish anything. Nothing I did seemed to improve the results, setup or alignment. The equipment I'm using just doesn't cut it when it comes to precision. I also have tons of homework to do that I still haven't completely finished. That's why I'm typing now, no time last night. In fact this should be cut short.

Stuck in a rut

Lots of things have fallen apart around here and I've sunk into a sort of depression. I've hit a snag in the lab. I've gone in on the weekends two straight weeks now and haven't made much progress. The data that we're getting just doesn't seem right or even real. Results change dramatically when no changes are made and then sometimes we make perhaps even drastic changes and then the results to really change. Why don't things change when I want them to change?

I've also had all my midterms that I took these past weeks returned to me now. Not too happy. I got pretty tricked on all of them and my scores put me right at average. I might be able to argue one of them up but I doubt it since I didn't have much luck in the other two. I'm just going to have to study a lot harder. I guess I'm also going to have to visit the professors more to get a better grasp at exactly what their saying because some of it doesn't match up with the texts I've been reading. These test scores from yesterday really made me feel sick.

On the other hand I have actually managed to keep my spirits up in general. I made a pact with Troy that we must go to the gym at least three times a week. If we miss a normal day and that means we must go earlier on a class day to make it up?, so be it. I've been watching less television believe it or not. I only watch what I want to watch and if I didn't set away time to watch it, then it better be something damn special for me to see it. This doesn't exactly mean I've put more time into studies. I mean I have but I've also used the time to read more. Overall the experience is a lot more enjoyable, although Suki doesn't it like too much because the book gets in the way when he wants to curl up on me. Most of the stuff I've read recently are short stories, novelettes, and novellas. They're all the nominees for the 2004 Nebula Awards. At this time I've read all the short stories, at least the free ones, so I've already picked a favorite one I want to win. The page of nominees gives links to most of the stories where you can download them for free so check 'em out and let me know which are favorites. For short stories I think Aloha is best followed by Travels with my Cats.