Well, so we're rapidly approaching comment #200, I'm not going to say how soon, but you know. you'll win uhh, i dono. a carpet steam cleaning discount coupon (hey, it was on my desk) the next time i see you if you get it.

happy birthday to sarah... well unbirthday. whatever.

so i went to the damn career thing. it was annoying. i didn't talk to eli lilly, who was the only remotely interesting company, i don't even remember seeing them. i traded jody (tiime's communication director) a phillips medical can cozy because she wanted one, she offered to find me a job in return, i think that's a fair deal. i told her if she found me a job, i'd get her lots of can cozys.

i wore my crappy dress shoes, which caused me to get a blister on my ankle. damnit. i need a job, so i can decide what kind of shoes i need, and then get ones that cost more then $10 and destroy my feet. (maybe they were $20, bear with me)

umm, yeah. played pool with mitch, val and mike leake (said lake, don't ask me. i know it looks like leaky) uneventful. mike's only interesting as he is exactly the same MB type as me (ISTJ for those of you who forgot) we also had the same boing sneakers over the summer, but then i switched to trendy new balances. I played/shot horribly. and the beer of the month at jillians was MGD, which wasn't especially exciting. i was much happier when it was killians. at least its a nice deal that they always have a beer for $2

umm. so yeah, i'll prewarn i may be late on the updates due to rochesterian difficulties. mostly i don't feel inclined to bring the ibook, so i'll have to update as time allows.

so yeah, i didn't drink 3 or 4 cans because i only had 2, and mickey's just isn't chuggable, somehow it lends itself to sipping, at least in my view, which is sorta odd. i think my tolerance for large quantities of beer has gone down, i really just sorta go eh, after like 2 pints, at which point i barely notice i've drank any. of course my wine tolerance has gone higher, i guess this is more useful. anyway, cheetos aren't pothead food as much as doritos. and yeah, tylenol does cause liver damage when combined with alcohol, however i used it in the generic sense of something analgesic. (look that word up if you don't know what it means)

not much else to report. i had mitch call lauren, who didn't go to wegs when she was in rochester, (i'm still offended by that) and ask what kind of pocki she wanted, oddly, she said strawberry or coconut. i would have guessed chocolate, but she said chocolate is good too. we'll see what is available. and ahem, if you don;t know what something is, ask. or look it up. i generally won't use a term you'll look really stupid for not knowing. no sense in spending 2 weeks wondering what a tizio is, or if you should know who leake is.

top restaurant in rochester named after someone:
1. Jay's
2. Wendy's
3. Dib's
4. Denny's
5. Nick's
6. Weg's (Tastings)

So i think i've grown accustomed to judging places by food. rochester's a 4 year blur, but i kept track of places to eat. how odd. (i'm sure i've forgotten some places named after people, but eh, its late). Anyone who hasn't been to all of them (I haven't myself, but I think only TOWM knows that) can feel free to guess based on whatever method. It'll be funny I'm sure.

On the subject of Wendy's, did you know that when Honda was going to build a plant in OH, the govenor of OH had to 'impress' them for dinner, so he took the executives to one of the original wendys in columbus. i guess it worked. (when you drive through columbus it says home of wendy's, i guess they're proud... like worcester and goddard, or fishkill and well, no one... fishkill tire? eh.)

well, since i've already gotten one comment on vegas, i guess that is successful. i can't see why going to fishkill would cause gloating. or pok. (not explained because its obvious once you've been there, thus its simple)

so i'm tired. and tomorrow is my sleep in day, until at least i get up to go to the career faire. which means i need to wear something besides jeans. such annoyance. (its not an annoyance if they pay me to do it, but i'm far from that stage)

we watched rules of attraction tonight (val + mitch joined in) val decided to bring popcorn, then wanted a bowl for it. i oblidged, but am still puzzled at the usefulness of something else to wash, when it comes in a perfectly happy paper sack thing from the microwave.

aparently mitch chose rules of attraction based on previews, which showed it as happy. its not. unless by happy you mean you like to see van der beek make out with people. oh, did i mention mostly guys? anyway, its worth seeing, but proves its kinda insane to judge a movie based on trailers, when people make a living giving useful commentary on them.

uhh, can't think of much else to say at the moment, so yeah, i will try and dream of cute girls instead, but its damn difficult to keep track of my dreams. i'll have to concentrate on it, which will probably keep me awake, and thus defeat the purpose. and yes, sheep can be cute, especially when cartooned. (remember sheep in the big city?)

so on the subject of sheep: best items to go with malt liquor: (technically mickey's, which is actually pretty good as i think i've mentioned)
1. leftover zinfandel which i needed to finish
2. cheetos (the crunchy ones... puffy ones are too odd)
3. popcorn (out of a bowl that val needed)
4. a second can of mickey's
5. miller lite in milwaukee, because aparently thats who owns the name
6. tylenol, because 3/4 of a 22oz can seems to have done nothing but given me a headache. (the rest of it got grossly warm, 22oz is just too large to drink correctly)

Not all sheep need to be eaten. i sit corrected. ascii sheep, and mattress sheep are very happy not being eaten. and ascii sheep need tails. its just wrong if they don't.

i can't check into dave attel, because i sadly missed the cleveland episode. all i saw of it was the west side market, and went crap, because it was what he did when the sun rose. very sad. i'm forever at an insomniac loss

my ears are dripping, as i just showered, if you couldn't figure that out by context.

so mitch said we should check out what conventions were in vegas, i looked, there's a nice spread, a scrapbooking convention, a teen ministries convention, some 3M thing, and then quiznos, which is more exciting as it expects 4,000 people. i guess with 1700 locations, its easy to scrounge 4000 people.

i saw 2 MINIs today. an electric S driven by a middle aged woman, (who waved back at me) and a red on red cooper, who i couldn't tell if she waved. i got sidetracked and turned left before yielding to oncoming traffic, so i cut someone off. i was so frustrated i did it i went and turned the trip that was supposed to be just for milk into a $36 shopping activity. i guess lots of BOGO deals encouraged me. i'm still baffeled at how i bothered to ignore a basic traffic rule. i guess cute + MINI is problematic.

uhh, yeah, so i need to do this week's stat. damnit.

i'm kinda tired, so i figure i should go to sleep. i think i've been officially invited to rochester this weekend, so maybe that will shape up. need to do homework first.

eh, poughkeepsie's not as cool as fishkill, and all of us know it, except for pepband dave whose opinion doesn't matter.

so with the excitement of which conference to go to... (scrapbooking is open to the public! (the others i doubt it) a quiz of sorts:

most annoying dream problem:
1. that i never remember them
2. that other people do
3. that i do when people wake me up
4. that people wake me up
5. that i don't dream of cute sheep
6. that i do dream of cute sheep
7. that all dream interpreters are about as useful as a sack of wet laundry
8. that the best way to avoid dreams is to stay up all night

oh, dale said today he was busy schmoozing with the nottingham spirk guy next monday, so he'd see what happens, but obviously this could take a bit of time. i checked with who is going to be at the campus career faire on thursday, its guidant, medtronic, phillips medical systems and eli lilly. with the exception of eli lilly who really only makes drugs, all companies i've already applied to! such fun! ugh. time for bed.

so our lecture this morning gave us such excitement as pointing out that bowling used to be with 9 pins, in a diamond shape (think 9 pin pool), but that gambling was rampant, so 10 pin became the rage. i was going to get a link to that, but after that cool mangle link last night, i think i can take a day off.

i really do like the sheep, though personally, i think lamb's a bit better, mutton and goat just seem too scary to eat. its too close to eating a tin can. but mint is good. i was pondering getting some ground lamb for the meatballs from yesterday, but as i didn't get the cow expecting to make meatballs, there wasn't planning.

shareef complained today about their being 'too much food' in the sink, and that we should throw the food out before putting dishes in the sink. i wasn't going to bring up how its irrelevant, as when he washes dishes, they're still always gross because he doesn't wash handles or the backs of plates, it seemed like too much information.

chicago and tkts sounds like a good idea. yay chicago. in ny. how confusing. but 42nd street doesh't sound appealing to me, and i don't think its running anywhere.

the suggested quiz topic is of no use after i already posted a quiz! and yeah... so maybe TOWM's suggestion on calling in a month could work, but doesn't seem like the best plan. how problematic all the way.

mitch somehow did something, so there's no power in his room, or to the outlet the tv was plugged into. none of the circuit breakers are tripped. i'm glad my computer has UPS backup, and my alarm clock has a capacitor. in any event, the other highly amusing part was me jokingly discussing this problem with mitch while on the phone with dave. i said 'is it living? no, so i can't help you' 'you're the electrical engineer'. lauren agreed with me, and seemed genuinely confused at why mitch (and i to some extent) couldn't figure out why there wasn't power in his room. its that ongoing problem of people not really knowing what engineers do. either that or underestimating electricians? anyway... our guess is the circuit for his room is next door, but we'll see, he left a message with the caretaker people. as we all know house wiring (like computers) runs on smoke, and we didn't smell any smoke, i don't think he broke anything serious.

i was hungry, so i had a turkey sandwich just before writing this. i'm oddly full now. i'm not sure if that's the fault of the sandwich, or the 3/4 of a bottle of fiji i drank.

on the subject of more lauren, she was in rochester (stayed in GLC aparently) and didn't go to wegs. i'm trying to not scold her too much, but that's very sad. she did agree the M2 WRX (dave's car) didn't look riced out at all, and i think thus may have changed her view on modding cars. but eh, she could have been humouring me, as she thought her car had 250hp, and i had to point out 227 =/= 250.

so a quiz, (peppered with inspiration from my room, even if i like the sheep, room is more common, hence the sheep, as they're in the room)

and to continue on the introverted topic, since vegas is very extroverted.
things introverted alan should do in vegas on his birthday:
1. finally get someone to suggest a present i should ask for since i'm too damn uninformed to think of one myself
2. panhandle, need to start somewhere if you want to make a living past may
3. drive to hoover damn to see water. you know, in large quantities its much cooler then 1.5L pete bottles.
4. attempt to do whatever anyone who reads this would want to do, to get maximum jealousness
5. play yatzee (no, there isn't a yatzee board in my room, i'm not sure where that came from)
6. ask people on the street what to do
7. snuh, birthday, meh.

Since i finalized my vegas trip today, i figured an omage to cows was in order.

the concert went well, thanks for asking. though it wasn't wonderful. the first time in a long time (since high school? i can't remember) someone has come to one of my concerts to see me. pepband dave would come to wind ensemble concerts after he quit, but i don't think that was personal. anyway

so since people seem intrigued by my schmedule, and i bought plane tickets today:

flying to vegas stupidly early march 5th (wed) getting back on the redeye at 9am or something tuesday the 10th, then going to ny either that afternoon or wed. not sure yet. hanging out east until sunday the 16th. start reserving your visiting time now. i don't have any plans at the moment really.

we(jen?) made meatballs tonight. they came out quite good. note: do not have meatballs with odd sized extra large elbow macaroni you got expecting to make mac + cheese, but had to use because you didn't have enough fresh pasta and mitch didn't have enough spaghetti. oddly large macaroni things suck up too much sauce.

hrmph back on #5, but yes, you did post before midnight.

i need to find some polite way of responding to the medtronic letter besides, 'uhh thanks for telling me i suck, but it'd be cool if you found me a job still' the eloquence of suckage is appearing difficult.

hrm, not much else to report. its suposedly snowed like 84" in cleveland this year (as those of you outside NE ohio don't know it doesn't snow evenly, so i'm not sure if that's 3 miles away or 15 miles away from here). that's the 4th largest amount ever. so exciting! (good i bought snow tires)

umm, i need quiz. crud:

best method to generate false quiz answers:
1. copy people's away messages
2. look around room for inspiration
3. ask sheep. everyone except #8 is smart
4. ask stupid dryer that never dries my clothes. i swear if i put one sock in it and ran it twice it'd still be damp
5. use the not yet written google random search generator (crap, it exists) those damn canadians, i could have been using it all along
6. ask the 1/2 person still online and awake on my buddy list

mitch got back from pgh today, (he went skiing with his dad yesterday) he brought cookies his mom gave him, she said they weren't as good as his sister's. but he'd need to manage. i had a few as my 'i'm up too damn late and thus hungry but don't want to eating something big as i had a large dinner at an ok restaurant out in beachwood' snack. they went well with milk.

i got up all of 20 minutes before i needed to be at my rehearsal today. i guess sleeping in wasn't a great idea. fortunately the concert tomorrow is at 6, so that's much better timing.

uhh, not much else exciting, it was an exciting day, i hung out with jen, we got the aforementioned dinner. it included soup + salad with free refils. i wanted more salad, the waitress said she had to get me soup as well.. it was confusing. especially as the bill had extra soup and extra salad separate.

its not hopeless, i don't have an interview in scenic ellenville on monday. ahem. but otherwise, back to the drawing board. i should start counting down to graduation. all of 3 months. but thanks for the support in any case, we'll see what happens.

mitch seemed to suddenly get an OK on vegas, so we may be doing that after all. i'm not sure when, but looks like the 1st 1/3 of spring break, so march 6-10 or so, then ny/maybe elsewhere will be like 11-16. i need to check with mommie on that.

no other quiz topics. how sad.

best things to stay up this late for
1. wegs
2. breakfast
3. parties
4. generic 'hanging out'
5. waiting for comments which only seemed to happen past midnight
6. hoping to end up on the second cleveland insomniac
7. cookies + milk

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Memphis. Thank you for your interest in Medtronic Sofamor Danek. Although your qualifications are impressive, unfortunately, at this time we only have one available position to fill. With consideration of the candidates' qualifications, we selected another individual whose background more closely meets our requirements relative to design and development of our medical devices. As Medtronic Sofamor Danek is currently enjoying tremendous growth, it is likely that there will be other available positions. We will retain your resume in our files for the next six months for possible future employment opportunities.
Again, I appreciate your interest in Medtronic Sofamor Danek and for taking the time and effort to visit and interview with us here in Memphis. I wish you only success in your future career endeavors.
Sincerely,
Arnold Malone
Group Director, Human Resources

I have no idea what that means, you'd think with new positions being likely, they would have more then 1 position. oh well. (that came this afternoon)

on the subject of quizzes... i dono if chudge is good for tomorrow, so that may not be the correct answer, however the squirrel option is positive. i hadn't thought of permantly associating smoking with going to bars as i don't, and most people i know don't. with the exception of val's friend michelle, who will drink water at a bar, and smoke 3/4 of a pack over the course of the glass. its very odd, i guess she's just there for the social aspects.

i could make a list of beers i should drink, but generally any i know about i can buy, (since i rarely read about beers, i need to try mickey's malt liquor again, i tried it, but mitch drank my can. (its much better tasting then you'd think something $.96 a 14oz (i think) can would cost. trust me))

everyone else knows the nastiest beer is a tie between old crusty, and that damned smoked beer from the hyde park brewery. yech. (at least they should, this is important to know)

i realized i walked up and down nearly half the height of cleveland's tallest skyscraper. (at 50ish stories) i left the house 6 times today, so that's about 3 1/2 flights each time each direction. yech!. this could explain why my knees hurt.

on the subject of happy hours, depending on spring break i may make it up to NH sometime, we'll have to cross check schedules. i keep getting stuck on newcastle lately. the best deal's on 'real' beer i've found here at 2.25 pints, but they always end at like 9, which is just too early to go out in my view, and too late for like a dinner beer. books i should read are textbooks. i can't choose books besides that until i've at least read some required reading first in theory.

why fishkill sucks will occur when i'm in fishkill. that's more fitting.

most overused cliche type thing works:
1. black ice
2. goodmorning sunshine
3. axis of evil
4. when montery jack meets pepper jack (watch a recent taco bell commerical)
5. alpha-hydroxy

there's too many damn advertising ones to think of at the moment, and i'm tired. but hey, that's how it works. so time for sleep.

i can't think of anything else i'd like for my birthday, this is problematic. losing 2 more lbs would be nice, that'd make an even 10 to start with. anyone having good bday suggestions they don't want to get me should offer them here. then we can have a present idea swap meet. it'll work out well.

so after getting a phone call, which shareef got, he woke me up at 8:20 to say mandy + radina were showing up in 10 min. great way to start the morning. the meeting at biomec then basically said, eh, we've gotten a marketing study which says this isn't amazingly profitable, and besides the company has changed direction anyway, so i guess its just one big academic excercise now.

on other news, the networking event was moderately useful, dale told me he found out one of his former students works at nottingham spirk, so aparently that idea is still being dealt with. no phonecall from medtronic... how odd. i talked to the speaker at dinner who was a vp of them, she basically said eh, if you don't get a job, try again in 3 years.

i went out with val after dinner, it wasn't amazingly exciting, but it was something to do.

oh i forgot, after i got back from the meeting, i decided i'd nap at 11, i wokeup at 4, which then was just enough time to shower before band, where there were all of 2 tubas, so i got to deal with chuck who can play ok, and is friendly, but always sounds like you're choking a large cat. handy i left early so i didn't have to cringe everytime he played.

well fine. it was a list. i admit it. lameness seems to sell.

so why didn't #5 make sense? i can't imagine you don't know what pocki is (i swear you've had it, but you could have looked it up anyway) it was mostly related to a discussion on japanese snacks (at least ones that don't have eyes) which made me think of pocki.

i think you should make yay for fishkill a bumper sticker. you just wish your living options weren't east fishkill or flopingers. fishkill's far better.

i really think vegas would be sorta fun, but especially as i noticed ur's spring break is the same week, i may end up just running around new england as well, since i hear that's sociable, and aaron complained i never visited him anyway, etc. its not a lack of planning, if i'm not motivated to do something, i just let it slide. mitch didn't bother to plan and i wasn't hugely in favour of his idea anyway, so my plan defaulted and seems to be getting more planned as other stuff fits.

so uhh yeah, i need a topic...
effective ways to get people to suggest topics:
1. ask here
2. kidnap moose. hold for ransom
3. don't ask here, trying reverse somethingology
4. go visit people in person and ask
5. limit topics to relevant to fishkill

recall that $2 bud light drafts at a bar filled with smoking law students are not worth $2, much less spending more then 10 minutes there. i still don't get why so many law students + med students smoke. they can't have all started way before school like TOM and such can they?

well, so i guess lame quizes do work. at least if i judge by the number of responses. more on that later.

i slept through gym this afternoon, so i rolled out the yoga mat and did some pushups and crunches. it was kinda lame, but kinda productive. i dono if i'll have time to gym tomorrow with the networking thingy, so this may become a regular off-gym activity. odd idea anyway.

zambia was suggested as shreedevi is from there, who i haven't talked to since graduation, and is aparently at columbia these days which i knew but forgot about. i still am not sure if i want to go there or not. but there seems to be a ny push. maybe this relates to mitch not reading this.

on the subject of mitch, he keeps complaining lauren always wants him to sleep over, or that she'll whimper. i'm having difficulting being supportive since i agree with him, though it would be useful if we all had barcodes (or RFID tags like inflate-a-bears) so we could scan and test these things. things like ISTJ don't quite work as well. (not that I know what mitch's MB type is actually, i've never asked.. things to do tomorrow i guess)

mitch has yet to make any firm vegas arrangements, and if my calendar is right, we have 2 weeks, and i'm really not planning on driving to vegas, nor spending $700 on plane tickets.. i guess ny is looking positive. (ny fishkill, though i'm pondering a trip to rochester next weekend. wind symphony concert and such, and all the other various rochester food things...)

so i found a link on dead baby jokes which are horribly tasteless, but funny. use at your own risk NSFW probably. (you should read mefi if you don't know what NSFW means) (not sutable for work if you're really wondering) on the subject of NSFW here's some stripper (R rated pictures at best) that a fellow stripper of val found who looks oddly like val (except she has fake boobs + is about 6" taller)

enough links. i'm behind again on homework. stupid homework, there's a marketing assignment i have half done. i need to finish it. tomorrow!

i called the HR guy from medtronic at 4:50 or so central time, got his secretary person, who said he was in a meeting, so left a what's up message on his voice mail. we'll see. i have the networking thing tomorrow, which has a few oddball companies, like cleveland medical devices (they need a network administrator according to their site, which i'm nearly over qualified for... oh well)

not much else to report of interest, so umm, another quiz.
(though to respond to TOM, iceland is very nice, everyone should go, i can gamble in CT, since marcus seems to be doing that recently, NYC is relevant as chl is there (and shree aparently...) and jen hasn't been. and i could always ski in ny. at least in theory. its getting annoying to keep dragging my skis thousands of miles and not use them.

things i have thought about in the last 10 minutes as a potential topic (now you see why yoga just causes me to ponder things because i can never effectively clear my mind)
1. why daredevil was a very cheesy movie with loud annoying sound effects
2. what to do with the stack of empty fiji bottles on my desk
3. why the kitchen needs cleaning, but i'm the only one who does it
4. that its 3:30 and i'm up for no good reason
5. i suddenly have the urge for pocki, but i don't even really like it (its not an ingredient, so it can't go on the nasty food list)
6. how yet again i remembered ketchup doesn't need refridgeration, but it always seems to be refridgerated
7. that for some reason soy mochas taste really good, at least from the co-op and for all of $1.50 (i was hungry after my meeting and have no food left around here)

I hate how if i accidently hit back I lose all the god damn text. anyway, so lemme type this again. i didn't finish the hw for tomorrow, but its half done for my meeting in 7 hours, i went out with lauren + her roomies + chatham from across the street.

last night's quiz sucked
tonights will be worse

places i want to go for spring break:
1. ny
2. nyc
3. iceland
4. zambia
5. vegas
6. daytona beach
7. colorado

yes that sucked. anyway my brain stopped working, i was going to catchup on sleep today, but then i went to the gym, though after wearing myself soaking wet i lost a few more lbs, so that is positive. in other news, i should write these earlier so i'm a bit more creative, and coherent.

Well so I postponed my damn case writeups, which are worth 20% of my grade, so i did both of them tonight, and finished in something like 4 hours including a fair amount of screwing around. glad there's only 2 more left. didn't do the stat though.

so i went to this networking dinner, stupid thing turned out to also be an 'ettiqute' (damn spelling) dinner. i learned which way i should place the knife and a few other things. and had some mediocre tandori chicken, the large cous-cous i'm not especially fond of, and some chocolate moose that tasted like it was patented by jell-o(r) oh well, maybe it'll yield something, the 3 companies i talked to didn't seem to have anything bme at all. though i didn't talk to the royal people for very long... small problem there.

anyway, so uhh, mike you were totally wrong, (as jen knows) the only one i didn't win was farthest state, someone had been to MN, every other one I won, with the answers being generally far ahead (so since i remembered 9 questions, i guess that's how many cars were there).

I counted, and I've been to WI, IL, OH, IN, NY, CT, NJ, and PA with the car. (I vaguely think I took it to MA, but I can't remember...) can't forget ontario too.

I did tie on accidents, the other person had someone rear end them at a light.

I watched mommie, it was exciting

i need to figure out spring break.

reasons i'm cold:
1. the window's open
2. its winter
3. i'm wearing shorts
4. i forgot shorts
5. i should go to sleep
6. those cold genes everyone else has are contagious
7. i'm sick of doing homework, and everyone knows sickness makes you cold

so it turned out it was snowing a bunch in pittsburgh, i didn't know this until i got near there, and ended up driving around and half the people showed up. otherwise it was fun, i won jen a doorprize shirt, and the auto show was amusing. the saturn ion is horrible and not worth the $12.5K it starts at. the prius feels way too cheap for a $20K car, some manufacturer needs to make a hybrid that's not an economy car, even if its more expensive, i can't see wanting a car that still has this utter cheap feel.

i need to find another hobby, somehow schoolwork + the kitchen keep getting neglected, in favour of jen, sleep, gym. and the ocasional other total waste of time, like shopping with mitch that i get nothing, or playing gamecube.

so i was up at the world market (store in mentor) and got another one of those amazing looks when i said i went to cwru. suposedly its not that i should be amazed everyone thinks i'm so smart when i say i go there (assuming they know what it is) instead i should realize i am? if i'm so smart, why umm, can't i find a job, and the best response i get from random people i interviewed with is: uhh, i dono what's up, i forwarded a positive response to the HR guy (who ignored your email and has yet to respond on his own was probably intentionall omitted)

i have a steak leftover from the market on friday, i need to do something with it before it dissolves. somehow steak + eggs doesn't seem interesting and i'm not especially hungry now (though ikea was pushing their meatballs, nothing like perpetuating stereotypes, didn't get any due to the pork type content)

i didn't get to west virginia. i think i need to later.

They didn't have raffle tickets to give door prizes, so questions were asked: (I only one won, since you could only win one) however, which of the following didn't i win or tie if i could have won multiple prizes: (Jen can't guess for obvious reasons)
1. Oldest car
2. Farther distance travelled today
3. Most milage
4. Farthest state visited
5. Most number of states visited
6. Accidents
7. Dealer Visits

I think its a safe assumption I didn't win the last 2 categories: Least milage + didn't get a prize yet: (Someone drives .8 miles to work, and has gone 1050 since july. eek. i think she needs a bike, it'd be a ton cheaper)

anyway, i'm tired and need to wakeup for mommie (she's suposedly on from 8:30-9 or something) then i can sort out other crap, like laundry and that stupid stupid stat. and maybe call medtronic. i also have a 'networking event' which is some engineering week dinner thing on campus. i wonder if it'll be useful.

stupid problems that i can't do much about (or don't want to, like stat)

so not much happened today, i went downtown with val + mitch + reefi, to a comedy club, it was scenic, reminded me of a. how long its been since i've been there, and b. i really do like cities, i just like driving too. and they're kinda annoyingly exclusive.

on the subject of cities, its a MINI meet in pittsburgh tomorrow, so i need to get up in like 5 hours to go do that. it is only 140 miles (which i consider a sane amount to drive) so it should be quite fun. as the only person i know from pgh is currently in MA and i haven't talked to in a while, i figure this will be strictly a tourist visit.

nothing else exciting to report. the directions are printed, i didn't wash the car, i figure it'll get dirty, and maybe i can do it on the way if we have time, as well i didn't clean it, but that can get done tomorrow, i did dig up a MINI hat, i figure I should also bring the bulldog and the model that looks like it. I think the tin sign can stay. as i doubt anyone will read this before i leave, not like you have an opinion.

favourite MINI accessory:
1. keychain
2. bulldog
3. tin sign
4. hat
5. rubber floor mats (quasi-accessory i know, but they are cool if you've seen them)
6. models (i'll lump all 3 together)
7. radio controlled car
8. none, i'm insane
9. just go to sleep you're up too late anyway. and hope there's coffee on the way to the meet.

so jen made me a triple layer chocolate cake. i'm so excited. i was stuffed from dinner (gyros with soy-vanilla (they didn't have any plain) yogurt sauce, and salsa as an appetizer/veggie) so i only had one slice, but its quite exciting, now i have breakfast and lunch for tomorrow! the way i figure it, if it goes well with milk, its a breakfast food. and besides, its got this really great frosting. such a combination!

so off the cake topic. i rsvp'd to go to pittsburgh on sunday for a mini meet, it should be fun. i need to dig out my mini hat for the ocasion, need to be fashionable and such.

still trying to sort out the spring break thing. need to work on that more.

on the vague upside, i emailed one of the people i interviewed with, he said 'uhh i dono what's up, i forwarded my info the arnold (the guy i emailed last week) with a positive reccomendation, no clue' i guess this is reasonably good, still doesn't explain the lack of info...

i'm tired for not any particularly good reason, but its a friday, so i'm off to sleep. seems like a good thing to do i say. i cleaned my room too, though didn't get laundry done, i deserve sleep.

and yes, vegas does have prostitution, i'm not entirely sure how this is relevant, but it is a bit cheaper if it has free housing with mitch's cousin. and uhh, 59, that's kinda close. we'll have to wait and see. i have no idea how you'd make ping pong pasta. well maybe with a blender... that'd be an appliance i lack. so i think i like the idea of a simple ping pong partner.

actually, the warrior pose is one of the easier ones to do, anything standing on one leg is damn near impossible, i can't even start twisting, much less point in every direction and try to stretch. i usually spend it trying to work on balance on one leg, i figure i should allow for future development.

most exciting part of tagless undershirts:
1. the tags never bothered me
2. i feel like jackie chan, until nasty groin pulls
3. waiting for the screen-print to transfer to my back
4. getting the feeling i paid extra for the priveledge
5. about as braggable as new toilet paper
6. they make those?

so the top ten list tonight is suposedly by homer simpson. i have yet to see it. but i guess it encouraged me to watch, so that was successful.

yoga was annoying, i kept feeling like i did everything wrong. maybe it relates to the teacher being a much better person at relaxing and meditation instead of monday's quasi-yoga who walks around and says uhh, that's wrong, or if you can't get your nose to your knee, you can do something else. or maybe i was just in an anti-yoga mood. i filled out some survey of some student at oberlin on the sociosomething of yoga. amusing project i guess.

so homer is just about on. i'm already scheduling to watch the 300th episiode sunday... #1 was he and paul share the same barber.

the not-word of the day is subsume (mostly because i thought of it during csi while talking to mitch. so you can attempt to use it during your normal discussion here's a definition:

: to include or place within something larger or more comprehensive : encompass as a subordinate or component element

nothing else too interesting. though one could say the word of the last few days is asstastic. i hear its interesting, though that's not exactly a big deal in alanish.

i think we should all collect our thoughts, and point to to TOWN that planes were invented for a reason, and its insane to drive 850 miles in a truck that wishes it got 20mpg for a weekend. (each way).

not much else, so i guess we have a list. (as usual no comments, so no correct answer)

other uses for my tizio:
1. laundry rack
2. testing yoga positions
3. pasta drying
4. ping pong partner
5. kanji sculpture
6. with a blue gel to achieve that k-mart look.

well, so the weekend is sorta here. well or it will be once i get my stat done. this is sorta pathetic its been postponed so much.

on the upside, i went to buffalo wild wings with val + mitch (lauren cancelled, she was busy or something, i don't keep track, and mitch didn't seem to mind) we actually got wings this time. very exciting. and i drank cheapish beer, they had 23 oz molson's for $2.75, i couldn't pass up drinkable cheap beer.

not much else super exciting...

my thumb hurts from nintendo. mitch bought smuggler's run for $15 at worstbuster, so now its back in the repetoire of things to kill time with permanantly.

tomorrow is boring. this is good. i'm pondering going to the gym in addition to yoga, or doing something after, i feel motivated i guess as i missed going to class today, so just went with mitch after the random useless mall trip (he needed to get his haircut, i went for moral support. it was thrilling.)

well, umm, so i'm rather tired as its late, but aparently there was jim beam bottles and some other stuff at Moen, mitch mentioned this, so i guess they may be working on some sort of alcifaucet... how exciting!

i really think #4 was annoying, especially since #3 is bad, but its not especially voluntary, and at least it gives a sense of accomplishment once i get up here, falling over in yoga is just annoying. monday is worse, but the teacher is a bit more forgiving since she seems to find it amusing that i fall over, but likes that i try.

so umm. err..

things i would rather do then the stat.

1. sleep
2. burn stat book
3. sleep on burning stat book
4. poke eyes out with burning stat book
5. get shot in stomach through burning stat book
6. listen to helen's dad sing
7. find a very long line to stand in
8. drive in traffic

and for bonus material: the ongoing list of weekly observations that are useless (you can vote for most useless, if you like)
1. i think i've eaten at mcdonalds 3 times this week. (small quantities, but this may not be the healthiest plan, though hash browns are good and can't be too unhealthy)
2. annika sorenstam is playing in may at a pga tournament, and this somehow relates mitch to teaching me golf (not just hitting gym teachers with divits) sometime in the spring. (assuming said spring comes, it was snowing sideways, hence i napped through gym this afternoon)
3. i need to figure out spring broken. dave wants to go skiing, all the ny contingent want me to go there, mitch wants to go to las vegas.
4. my desk is a mess, and we need to clean the kitchen. neither of which i'm especially looking forward to. but i bet it'll be more fun then stat.
5. i haven't heard a damn thing from medtronic. damnit! damnit! and damnit!

Did you ever wonder what that means? I think someone in marketing didn't bother, but at least it sounds cool.

So I've decided the best way to drive a bunch of cars, is to buy yourself one. Today's loaner was a newish ('02 I think..) camry. It was so uneventful, i think i fell asleep thinking about driving it. the most exciting part was the power seat, which didn't do much except move. on the upside, my car's all fixed. always a positive. we'll see how long this lasts though.

i went to a cleveland institute of music (cim around here) concert at severance, the seats still suck. the concert was more interesting, mostly because it wasn't mahler.

ugh, i'm tired. stupid getting up way before 8. (even without any of the options to wakeup)

so in car news: there's this damn yellow cooper that always parks in the same spot it seems at severance. boo yellow. i think i'm going to to pittsburgh (according to to PA signs Pgh) for a MINI meet on sunday, need to sort that out, but should be a good way to kill time, although it could impact the annoying homework stuff. stupid work.

Moen was interesting, we saw lots of faucets. i'm not sure anything else is relevant. they did discuss the shower thingy with the 'optimal' range between 90 and 100F, and how they had managed to get one that had a range of like 30 degrees (angle) i think our shower currently has about 2 degree range, and a total of 15 degrees from off to max hot. stupid old plumbing.

well i really do dislike #1, but you know, i guess that wouldn't wake me up, so #7...

wow, its really snowing and the wind is blowing heavily. i don't think this relates to much. however, did you know thundersnow is still cool. i didn't see the lightning. i'm sad. fortunately when the power blipped my UPS' worked fine. yay.

did you know the same company that owns moen owns jim beam? oh, and wolfschmidt.

so umm, another negative personal preference list:

Excercise I hate most:
1. attempting to touch my ankles to my ears while watching the females in class do the same thing
2. seeing how fast i can do (10 Situps then 10 Pushups)! (yes, math sucks, and that was a factorial)( but i couldn't think of an easy way to describe it)
3. walking up the stairs to the apartment
4. anything in yoga that involves balance, or as i refer to it, falling over gracefully
5. typing these lists
6. writing imaginary thankyou notes for collecting a 5 comment day

Its sunny in rochester in the summer. few people know this, i think its the conspiracy why people actually still live there, when the students all think its a hole. sunny being like maybe 30 days or something out of the summer, but eh, its ok.

so i'm continuing to futz with my homework. most noteably the house of quality issues, i have 2 of them to do for 2 different classes, both of which actually comprise many different houses. (they look like houses, they're even a pain to make in excel) trust me, deploying quality functions is not as stupid as it sounds, its actually worse. and a pain!

i need to drop the car off before class tomorrow, so hopefully the stupid body shop will coordinate and get the minor stuff they need fixed, but i'll see what loaner (note: i'm not trading it in!) i get this time. stupid early mornings!

as yesterday's quiz sucked, i don't feel obligated to point out a good answer

ways its really bad to wake me up:
1. Saying goodmorning sunshine
2. cold water
3. lukewarm water
4. hot water
5. silly string
6. throwing animals at me
7. fire alarms
8. pepper spray
9. lute practice
10. discussing top 10 lists at 130db

i guess negative personal preference lists are better... or at least easier to make big.

I've been too tired recently to write a bunch, so i figured i'd try and start earlier, so i can be a bit more lengthy. i'm not sure what i'm going to actually say. but you need to start somewhere.

i did nothing today. well i went and saw the recruit, it was quite good. i reccomend it. i also ate popcorn. it was good as well. i didn't even get 'butter' on it, and it was good, i guess i've gotten healthier since i last got overpriced popcorn. (it was a matinee, so i figured splurging on popcorn isn't a bad thing)

i made chicken which ended up being lemon pepper (because i had lemons and i got that new juicer yesterday, which i took out of the car today when we went to the movies) and then some pasta, which was rather bland. i still need to work on making pasta sauces that aren't tomato or cheese based and don't taste like water. i think having corn starch could help. i can't even remember if i still have wondra, i just thought of that. oh well. good chicken in any case.

i didn't do any homework. i'll need to work on stat tomorrow during the break. though i also need to call about the car as the damn dealer hasn't call yet. damn damn dealer.

we got IMAP in theory on the new mail server that just came online. it seems ok, but only successfully checks mail 10% of the time. i'll chalk this up to weekend problems.

i'm not sure if anything else is exciting. wegs was great as i said, not much else on the worth noting part.

i'd have to agree #2 would be the best answer.

i guess i can't think of much creative, so umm
best alternative types of blue:
1. Color of potatoes left in fridge for 3 months
2. Color sky is never in rochester and only slightly often in cleveland
3. Color of Sky bottle because bathroom floor as pillow wasn't trademarkable
4. Color of pureed ran out of suggestions, i get the feeling this quiz was a bad choice but too lazy to change it now.

well its not actually that late, but i'm just tired for some reason. so i'll call it late. wegs was cool, ask me about it sometime. i still think dib's is better, but hey, when i can get other stuff, like that top measuring oxo measuring cup as well, its cool anyway. and some random old navy stuff.

Reasons I got a spinbrush pro:
1. supporting nottingham-spirk even if they refuse to even interview me
2. make helen jealous (and pastably walter)
3. its metallic greyish silver, so it blends into gum stuck on sidewalks
4. its the white collar version, i'm obligated
5. because if i keep drinking cider with all these donuts i need professionalness to get it out of my teeth.

so jen came over, and we got donuts. it was exciting. then we got annoyed at martha stewart's suggestions for flower shaped sandwiches for kids lunches. it was annoying, but i guess that was the point.

so i jump started mitch's car after his door didn't close and we had to push it out of the parking space. it was jumptastic. whoever designed the battery cover on my car is an idiot, since the clip broke again when i had to take it off. maybe i should get an S, so i can avoid all this front mounted batteryfoolery.

in other news, its cold out, so its dropped to 76 in my room! amazing!

ok, its tired, and i have no more good reasons to be up, and bad ones, like that i didn't get a haircut today because i ran out of time, are encouraging me as well.

i find i could in theory get real parmigan cheese at the market, but then somehow it got lost between the market and here. very confusing. i didn't seem to lose anything else. i think this is incentive to go to wegs. that and incentive to go to sleep, so i can get there in time for the sub shoppe to still be opene.

those simpsons poptarts were pretty scary, so i think i'm going to continue the #5 streak.

so since we have donuts: optimal drink for donuts:
1. donut beer (i dono what it would be, but i bet hyde park barrel #9 could mess it up somehow)
2. sheep milk. (baaa)
3. tap water (do i ever drink that these days?)
4. a fine chianti
5. old crusteacean (its too ruthless to not go with something)
6. maalox

so i was hungry, but i have no food, mostly due to not having milk, eggs, or bread really. it makes it difficult to eat anything snackish besides soup or frozen pretzels, neither of which i felt like. so i tried the simpsons pop tarts i had in emergency reserve. fortunately they're good until may in theory, but well, if i get tart poisioning tomorrow (or a penalty for poor spelling) tell me.

so we had a lecture on choosing a patent lawyer today. the most exciting part was the guy admitting he had billed 3300 hours last year. nothing averaging 64 hours or something a week of billable time. eek! oh, and i think his rate was like $300... so umm, nearly a million. great way to make money at least if you work an insane amount. he suggested we find a lawyer with between 1800-2000 hours billed. it seems a bit more logical.

so after some random guy who had been in the marines for 22 years bought us drinks at bw-3's, the bouncer tried to tell val to come over to him, she didn't go, and ended up him complaining to the manager, who told val to leave. essentially she got kicked out of a bar for being harrased, and not especially putting up with it. the bouncer never quite said what he wanted to tell her. it was amusing for the rest of us. though confusing. oh well, i'm sure it'll become an ongoing joke.

well so with all of one response, i think i'm obligated to agree.
uses for outdated not-especially-good simpsons poptarts.
1. coaster for irish carbombs (when a random guy is buying, why not?)
2. wedge to keep table straight
3. cannon fodder
4. pillow stuffing
5. subsidy for rarely used simpson yellow frosting colouring
6. shielding from xrays

Well, so after falling asleep at like 8, and waking up feeling like my head was going to burst at 9:30, i took some aleve and watched law + order. I actually feel ok now. wahoo. maybe a general headache shouldn't be combined with a 3 beer dinner. or maybe i have bad luck? either case, good i feel better, and thanks for the concern.

so lauren, (random girl who lives next door and is in the entrepreneurship class and hangs out with mitch) agreed wegs is awsome, after rochester came up in conversation. wahoo.

i have a damn law class at 9:30 tomorrow. 'how to choose a patent lawyer' i think, or maybe just how to choose a lawyer. i don't think mitch or reefi are going, i hope its productive if i bother to go.

since i think i may finally get laundry done tomorrow, #5 seems to be winning. but i still could use a haircut. too busy...

i'm sure how you can see this how this relates: Unforseen reasons my box of toothpicks is now splattered on the floor.
1. Newton gettting back at me for getting a B- in physics
2. exceptionally large air currents from 85 degree room
3. Toothpick Mob
4. Impersonating pickup sticks
5. New 20th centry art to make up for not finding an Eddy poster.

No response from medtronic yet, so I'm not sure if Arnold was just busy or out of town, or umm, well I'm going to get a you suck letter. such suspense!

No one responded with quiz answers, so i'm not going to give any correct ones. though bonus points to helen for responding at all.

umm, i'm tired, and didn't get to nap today, then went to the gym and burned something like 650 calories elipticalling. after i noted i've lost like 6lbs so far. so i think i'm allowed to go to sleep early.

uhh what else, not much really, umm like at all. oh well.

Ways I find the cold I seem to have just gotten annoying.
1. Sniffling
2. Stuffy head
3. Bad nyquil references
4. irritating cold medicine packages to open
5. keeps postponing having time to do laundry
6. makes me forget what choice 6 was supposed to be.

i have no rational to stay awake. i'm going to sleep. this will give me all of like 8 hours sleep. crudo. i dislike this 3 days of quasi-business.

i emailed medtronic as most people know. i shall be biting my nails (if they weren't short already) in anticipation. not in anticipation of ketchup falling.

ok, i'm finished being creative. (I liked #5 best. though as pointed out, #3 was a close second (third?))

new uses for empty fiji bottles:
1.Beating cleveland into sumission so they offer recycling
2.pre-inflated/glued furniture
3.drool storage
4.backup drool storage
5.stewage storage
6.home brewed beer that i'm not sure could even work
7.storage for random cinnamon toast crunches that somehow inflated into little pillows

sorry this is short, but you know, if i'm deciding to take the homework and postpone it and do all the next 4 instead, i can't exactly in good conscious write a novella here. I found out reading /. that dave barry has a blog. its amusing, even if it lacks an RSS feed, not everyone can be so cool.

UPDATE: I'm in a blah mood waiting for medtronic to reply, (it hasn't been long enough yet that I think they're ignoring me and I'm going to get a you suck letter in the mail, but its annoying). Anyway, so to top off my Blahness, I found this article in the times, which says exactly what i was thinking, just written humanly, not like i would write it.

in other news, i remember i found a very amusing icon for RTFM. On the back of an explorer (this was a week ago or so) there were two triangles next to the trailer hitch, one with an exclamation point, the other with a little book. it was a quite elegant way of pointing out the idocy of soccer moms towing without a clue.

i think that's all the news, but as i haven't gotten any comments yet, i figured i could add extra stuff. I was thinking of making a cannocial list on a separate page of all the ingredients i dislike, anyone think that would be interesting? it'd at least be useful for a reference for people who think i'm picky, since in reality i don't think i am.

its interesting how i forget how simplistic things just stop counting until someone (ie Jen) mention them. I totally forgot I went to the art museum yesterday. it was quite fun. i especially liked this Don Eddy piece. I can't even find any cool posters of him, just some lithio's from ebay/sotheby's for $700 and $800 eek. anyway, handy Jen reminds me of these things.

uhh, so mommie's not interviewed because she's on CBS/the early show, some random rolodex at the newspaper has her under 'jewish' so she'll randomly get called if they have a question. not so say she isn't important as she's #3 link on google for besy solomon, but this isn't too exciting.

i went by presti's (or whatever they're called, i drove too fast) no donuts, i guess its better to get them with company, i didn't feel like stopping.

ok, i'm tired. (i personally liked serta sheep, though pat robertson i thought was incredibly amusing in a very scary way)

things that shouldn't be done after staying up until 2:30
1. homework for 8:30 class
2. random poster searches
4. creating quiz suggestions
5. having meaningful chats with pots mitch burned by turning on the wrong burner
6. learning how to juggle scissors
7. finding out if you dip a burning finger into a martini if the finger will go out (oblong reference)
8. referencing cartoons i doubt many people watch.

Stupid national disasters. that really are just psychological problems + some poor people dead. Enough said about that. Mommie suposedly got interview by the pok. urinal so I don't need to say much more.

So on a happier note, I saw death to scrumpy or whatever that movie exactly was called. it was quite entertaining, and jen and i had a great evening. we even managed to cook some semblance of dinner. though we didn't get donuts. (why does everything revolve around donuts?)

on other less exciting news, i have none, as i did nothing except what i already mentioned and went to the co-op which had a sale, so i got lots of stuff but not what i wanted anyway.

i think it was obvious viking horns didn't need visualization, but maybe i'm jumping to conclusions.

I guess I prefer choice 9. a job?

Tonigh't quizzy poo (In honor of Ryan's ever so fun bio quizzies): What truly should be added as a white meat?
1. Centipede
2. Millipede
3. Serta Sheep
4. Pat Robertson
5. Sewer Rat
6. Gazspacho

I am going to go to bed by 2 damnit, even if some people have taken 12 hour lunch breaks, then i can get up before noon if i'm feeling motivated.

So I forgot to mention, when I went to green giant last week, I found Straub Beer, which was a 6 pack, but in a plastic drawstring bag. I bought it just on a whim. (Its bottle of the stubby normal stuff you look) I'm not sure about beer in a Bag, but its just odd. The beer itself's pretty boring, tastes like average beer brewed with corn, even if they think its amazing clean wonderful, not exactly my cup of tea.

It got above 40 today. So i went to the market and had the sunroof open. it was seasonally nice. i think its supposed to snow tonight, though it doesn't seem to be doing it, and its very much tonight. liars.

I shouldn't nap with a longsleeve shirt on. i wokeup tired and hot and cranky. i'll blame that as to why i stayed up so late again for no good reason.

i need to think of presents for the family within the next week. though as certain brothers tend to read this, suggestions should be given elsewhere.

Nothing else too exciting today. I was suggested to get italian wedding cake at the bakery stand today. its pretty good. i don't think it makes me want to have a wedding anytime soon, i'm not sure that was the case. similar to my getting valentine's cookies because they were good butter cookies, but they're all the same price, and the stars were bigger so i avoided the hearts.

well, enough excitement for a friday for me. its off to sleepage.

tonights quiz: (and answers to yesterday:) i have to agree fuel cell exhaust would be cool, though personally bong water i think would be better then the genesee, at least kodak doesn't pollute your average bong. besides, i bet you could easily pay someone to drink bong water, as TOWM has said, it'd be hard to get someone to drink genesee water. and i guess you could call a guy bootylicious, i can't. or respectfully assert my 5th ammendment right not to. anyway: i should write these earlier. i'm less creative at 3am. especially when random telemarketers called me at 10am to offer a damn credit card.

ok, one more sidetrack: while nyc is cool, finding an apartment in midtown for 'less than $350K that's 900 feet and only has co-op charges of $1K/month is just insane for a living space.
Other things that should come in bags:
1. Milk (canadian style, ask me sometime)
2. Gasoline
3. Very Small Rocks
4. Birthday Presents for difficult to shop for relatives
5. A haircut (I got one before memphis and i'm shaggy already. damnit)
6. Excessive parenthetical comments (not to be confused with the irritating difference between press and depress meaning the same thing, but depression being basically totally unrelated! stupid language) repress however being much different from either of them.