:: nothing in particular ::

:: Thursday, February 22, 2007 ::

Allwyn: Black is black

Sent at 8:10 PM on Thursday

Allwyn: AC/DC

I need to get more cool rock songs

and Ben Folds

me: thats "back in black" you crazy foreigner

Allwyn: sorry black in black

typo

me: no BACK in black

Allwyn: really?

oh

me: yes

Allwyn: Holy shit it is

:: Nick 8:27:00 PM [+] ::
...

What the crap, its 2007?

I don't have a lot of time to post. Life is hectic. Let's see, interesting things that have happened lately...some Canadian college students thought it would be a good idea to steal software and I switfly and mightily crushed them. Well, their school is going to punish them, and it seems like the kids have more to fear from their professors and administrators than me. After 172,000 miles, the factory original clutch on the Volvo has started going out. She's a champ. Still outhandles some of the more retarded SUVs in snow and ice though. I'm thinking about buying a house. The new idiots that run Colony Woods, I'm sorry, "Campus Court at Naismith" are going to start charging $800/month for a 2 bedroom apartment. That is a 45% increase over what I'm paying now. To top it off, I have to put up with them tearing up my apartment! Oh, they're renovations, I should enjoy them! Enjoy my foot! I'm paying for an apartment that I can't use, and has construction workers randomly coming in all the time! WTF do they think they are doing? There's a couple places out in the country (Lecompton) that I've looked at, but I still haven't seen "the one." Oh, and for some reason, now that I've "upgraded to the "New Blogger" all of my archives have disappeared. I guess that's what I get for using a five year old template. I'll get around to fixing it, don't complain.

Oh, that's right, there was a reason I was posting today.

FSCK VALENTINE'S DAY.

Now, this year is a little different from last. There is someone I care for very, very much, and she claims to care about me. But at what level? Why does she make everything so difficult? Why do I feel like even though I'd be the luckiest guy in the world to have her forever, that I'm also the most abused for taking the fallout from her uncertainties and misguided (or unguided) decisions. I haven't seen her in many months. I absolutely adore her, and there isn't anyone who could ever replace her. Any girl I ever meet will always fall second to her. But I haven't seen her in months. I'm paying a horrible price to survive her inability to make simple decisions and to take some chances. Part of that price is going to be sitting in my apartment tomorrow when I get home, and continuing to be alone.

:: Nick 11:02:00 PM [+] ::
...

Dear Friends and Readers,

It has been quite a while since you have seen me post anything here. It isn't that I don't want to, it is that I must not. These past few months have changed many things in my life, changes I didn't see coming. I have faced the destruction of friendships, the loss of those I care about, and the disgrace of being an "uneducated" man. I am also slowly finding myself put into more positions where I must protect and defend against things most people cannot understand. However, my professional skills and and abilities have been improving significantly. I am thankful for those who have believed in me and supported me to become who I am now. But, I've been asking myself more and more questions like, "What am I to become? Is this who I am supposed to be? Where will this take me? What am I gaining and losing? Who am I gaining and losing?" The answers to these questions have not been easy to come up with.

For the time being, my life cannot be documented in a method for public consumption. I exist behind the scenes, in the shadows, and in a world you might not be able to grasp. Therefore I cannot guarantee the frequency of new content here. It doesn't hurt to check in every now and then to see though. Have faith in me, continue to believe in me. I am still here for any of you, even if I might not be the man you remember. I have responsbilities to you, my friends, my loved ones, my employer, and my country, and I will continue to be committed to all.

:: Nick 5:43:00 PM [+] ::
...

Yes, I'm bad about posting.

Not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on. I have a flight test project I'm working on, and so far I've been handling most of the logistics. I'm probably going to be driving a pickup truck to Winnetka in a few days. That should be amusing. I'm sure the police department will send their Abrams tank after me once I cross into town. There were a few high school student camps that the KU school of engineering hosted. Two of them were Project Discovery, a SWE thing to get girls involved in engineering. I gave a couple talks, one on robotics and drove the TALON robot around, and another on airplane design and analysis. Kyle, you can place a FWA! on me for that, but according to Shah I did just fine. At the first one, there were a couple girls really interested in robotics and asked some great questions and enjoyed driving the robot around. At the airplane design presentation one girl asked, "Is there a certain method for designing airplanes or do you just kind of go with it?" Commence preaching from the Book of Roskam. The other two camps were guys, and the first one involved driving the TALON around. One of the kids actually asked me for my card because he wanted to get a student license of AAA. More power to him. The second one we cooked smores at the airport on Dr. Ron Barrett's jet engine. Nothing like 3600 degree cooked marshmallows.

I saw "Talladega Nights" last night. Living in Kansas and having actually been to four NASCAR races at the Kansas Speedway, I think the movie was hilarious. I really liked the sponsorship "Me" with big cougar painted on the hood. Awesome. Alright, I'm going to watch "The Pink Panther" with Steve Martin. Should be funny. I promise it won't be another month before I post again.

:: Nick 9:37:00 PM [+] ::
...

I haven't posted in forever.

A couple weeks was out to dinner with some folks from work and a friend, and we were discussing coffee. Somehow we ended up talking about Greek coffee.
"Turkish coffee, you mean."
"No, GREEK coffee."
"Well it sounds a lot like Turkish coffee."
"Where do you think the Turks got it from?" *Angry glare*
"I'm sorry, Nick, please don't ruin my life."

That just made my day.

I spent the 4th of July in Wamego with my buddy Kyle. They have the largest hand-fired fireworks show in the midwest. In addition, we blew up about $120 in fireworks at Kyle's family's house, and burned a whole bunch of jet fuel that I brought with me. Fantastic time.

Have you ever had a friend that you would totally be all up ons if you had the opportunity? Better yet, have you ever had a friend that would be all up on you if she had the opportunity? Its a little strange when a friend acknowledges that in the course of regular conversation.

Thanks to my influence, Efthimios has a rockstar new car: a 2003 Volvo S80-T6. Pearl white with a tan leather interior. Its a sweet ride.

Allwyn and I fixed the screen on the Talon robot's operator control unit. Someone smashed the old one. We were told it would cost $5000 to replace, but Allwyn managed to find the exact part for $230 and we installed it ourselves. We then proceeded to have a victory drive all over the Lawrence Airport, during which we blew a tread off about a half mile away from where we were controlling it. Oh well. Allwyn put it back on and I drove it back.

So an old friend that [I suppose] decided I was too much temptation to continue talking to moved away without ever saying goodbye. Good riddance to bad rubbish I guess.

Alright, thats enough for this post. Until next time...

:: Nick 3:55:00 PM [+] ::
...

My phone beat up your Crackberry.

Yes, you heard me right. Unfortunately, over the past week, my PPC6600 cell phone/pda thing developed a crack in its digitizer (touch screen) that rendered it mostly useless. Thankfully I carry an equipment repair and replacement plan. I took it in to Sprint, and have been equipped with the new and improved UTStarcom PPC6700. The big upgrades on the 6700 include Windows Mobile 5, 1.3MP camera, EVDO (high-speed data), and WiFi. I know its hard understand, but yes, my phone has an 802.11b WiFi card.

So Crackberry users, bow to my alpha geek status and know that my gadgetry is better than yours.

:: Nick 6:38:00 AM [+] ::
...

I think that calling my dad today to wish him a happy father's day was a mistake. There was actual adult conversation for about 2 minutes before he simply degenerated into "when are you graduating, what are you going to be, answer my questions" and so on and so forth. Same thing, all the time. Doesn't matter what I say. I try to converse but conversation always becomes interrogation. I've never been treated like an adult by him. In fact, usually I'm told *to my face* that I don't know what I'm talking about. Today it was when I tried to explain battery chemistry while figuring out why my family has destroyed yet another cordless phone. Nope, according to him, I know nothing of the subject. And that's just how it goes. I'm always the ignorant child, berated and belittled at every opportunity, while the hypocrite goes and tells all his friends how smart I am. Yeah, that's nice.

So to all you fathers out there that are decent and good family men, I commend you. And to those who are not, karma sucks.

"WHEN ARE YOU GRADUATING?...WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE?...ANSWER MY QUESTIONS!...DO WHAT I TELL YOU!...YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!...NO, YOU'RE WRONG!"

"Happy father's day."

*click*

No, I was right.

:: Nick 5:22:00 PM [+] ::
...