Transformers

*Transformers.  Elliott, Andrew, Tara, Kyle, and I went to see Transformers and we all walked away quite happy we had gone to see it.  The critics hadn't really liked the movie, but everyone we talked to loved it so we figured it would be pretty good.  The movie turned out "pretty awesome" as Andrew put it.  It is now added to the extensive list of movies we've seen this summer, all of which have been great.  This summer is definitely the best I've ever seen for movies.  There are still at least 2 more I'm looking forward to: Bourne Ultimatum, and Rush Hour 3

 

*Relaxing at work.  I really didn't get much done, but I had a good time chatting with officemates most of the day.

 

*Cheesecake for breakfast.  Need I say more?

Fireworks, Fortune, Food, and Freeing

Over the past week:

 

*Fireworks.  Tara, Andrew, Zeke, and I went to see the fireworks at the George Bush Library.  We hung around outside waiting for them to start and it started to rain 30 min before the fireworks were supposed to start.  We were a long way from the truck so we took shelter and they began the fireworks as soon as they could instead of waiting.   The display was nice and we got back fairly dry (except Zeke since his legs are so short).

 

*Mini White House.  The George Bush Library was open free all day so we went and saw the Miniature White House which changes every time anything in the White House changes.  The detail was incredible and it was pretty cool to see.

 

*Hearing back from AMA with what sounds like they are trying to arrange an interview for me, as long as my references are OK.  Sounds like Dave (Kevin E's old boss) wants to hire me. :)

 

*Lounging around on a Saturday and getting as little done as possible.  I did go grocery shopping to get some supplies for a few meal ideas, so I had cooking on the brain, which is always pleasant.

 

*Cheesecake.  I was flipping through my cookbook to find a good recipe for anything, and as always was driven towards the dessert/cake/pie sections and stumbled on a recipe for marble cheesecake that looked fantastic so I decided to give it a shot.  I was right, its great. :)

 

*Getting a lot done with the experiment so that I could get the necessary plots to Jeremy for his paper.  I will probably just modify the plots slightly and use them as my results for my final report.  If this is the case, then I am done taking data!  Now I have 2 weeks (less a few days for an interview hopefully) to write it up and make a presentation.

 

*Not being stressed.  I don't know why, but I have a ton to worry about, yet I'm not.  Its a nice change

Sea World

*Tara, Andrew, Kay, Jeremy, Meredith, James, and I all went to Sea World together in San Antonio. It was a long drive to get there but it was an amazing day. We left at 6:30am and got back after 1am sometime.

*Seeing the Shamu shows. I was close to getting splashed at the first show, and that was fun in itself. All in all we saw quite a few shows of different kinds and had a blast.

*Roller Coasters. After the first big drop I realized that I couldn't remember having been on a roller coaster in 5 years or so. It was pretty awesome. They are not the most amazing of roller coasters but they were still a ton of fun.

*Chatting. We did a lot of random chatting during the drive there and the drive back. Mostly because it was fun and partially to keep Tara awake.

Opportunity

----Friday---
*I called Kevin E's old boss at AMA in Hampton, VA to follow up on him receiving my resume from Kevin. I got his voicemail so I left a message mentioning who I was and why I was calling, but purposfully did not leave my number and said I would call him back so that I would not get stuck in a position of waiting. He called me back anyway about an hour later after looking up my number on my resume (good sign 1!). I talked to him for about 20 minutes! He was very interested in figuring out what I had done and what I want to do and seemed very enthusiastic about my potential employment. He said at the end that he would talk to the HR person and they'd probably call my references and get back to me soon about going up for a visit (he never called it an interview). This is an amazing opportunity that has come my way and I am grateful that it is going this way! I think this is as good as 3 positives and thus is my only one for Friday.

Die Hard

*Live Free or Die Hard.  Tara, Andrew, Elliott, Stuart (who we weren't sure existed anymore :-P) and I went to see Live Free or Die Hard.  I personally thought that it was pretty awesome, and I liked it better than the 2nd and 3rd movies.  It is probably one I will want to own once it comes out on dvd, since I was hoping it would be great and full of explosions and it was just what I had hoped, only doesn't take place on Christmas.

 

*Getting consistent results with my calibration project.  If I keep getting results like I got, I should be able to get the number Jeremy needs by late Sunday.

 

*Leaving work right after a big rainstorm, and not getting too wet getting to the car without an umbrella.  A huge storm came up right as I tried to leave the building so I hung around for about 20 min until it lightened up a bit and I walked in the light rain.  Its always fun to be headed home in the rain because if you get a little wet you could always just change when you get home, and the rain sounds so great.

Repairs

*A working car.  Having a car that works is something often taken for granted.  Since mine was towed and is now working again, I'm happy to have it back.  Having a car repair place I can walk to quickly is also quite a plus.

 

*Beginning my final project report.  I realized since I was stuck at home, I might as well start my report since I can write about 3/4 of it without actually having the results.

 

*AAA and the tow truck driver were quick, helpful, and hassle free.  Its always good when things go easier than expected when the day starts off poorly.

Mouse/Mail/Props

*Figured out the problem with the laser mouse, with lots of help from James of course.  It now works perfectly!  I just have to figure out how to mount it and then I can run tests on it!

 

*Made it to the post office to get some stamp upgrades, and actually got 8 things sent out in the mail!  Normally mailing things is one thing I'm really slow at.

 

*UCM's study of influential people went really well again today.  Mark did a lot of background and prep work and it showed.  Its always cool to see people really put effort into these things.