Upcoming Trip

Well, since I've already let the cat out of the bag to the majority of you, I may as well make it fairly official - I'll be heading back to Minnesota on Thursday, July 3 and be returning to Jersey on the sixth. Sadly, it seems like many of my friends will be out of town, but no matter, it's the quality and not the quantity!

So far I've got nothing to do on Saturday night up until midnight, so I'll probably find some folks to hang out with the get a bite to eat. It'll be fun just to be on the campus/in Minnesota again, if even for only a few days.



In other news, I took a two hour walk this evening, which was quite refreshing. I walked to downtown Moorestown (I drive through it to/from work every day) and checked out what exactly was open at this time a night - not much. It's a lot like Rochester in that the entire town seems to shut down at about ten, with only a few restaurants staying open. This was roughly my route.

Diablo III announcement was today, which was pretty cool to see. I remember back fondly to the days when Sagar, Scott, Eric and I started characters and messed around with the game quite a bit before getting bored. If it's even half as good as Diablo II in the "addiction factor," I'm sure it'll be fun to click around in it for a little while. The best thing about it is I'll be able to head online and play with all my friends back home. Blasting things is always a good way to pass time and relieve stress.

Yesterday I also got my first paycheck and I can now pay next month's rent. Getting paid weekly is actually a pretty good perk it seems, since I would have had to borrow money or risk being late on my second rent check ever; not really something that builds confidence in your cash reserves to your landlord. It'll be nice to not have to pay for basically anything after the next check and save a bunch; I may need it for when Leigh comes to visit and I have to roll out the red carpet!

Thank Goodness...

So it's Friday again, by far the best day of the week. In addition to the day going fairly quickly (as quickly as I expect work can go), I get two days off and the anticipation of next week. It turns out that I'm going to be able to fly home to Minnesota for the holiday, and spend some time with folks there (one in particular, but certainly everyone else who I miss).

It's an exciting time, regardless. I'm really looking forward to losing myself in my work as I so often did in college; the days will rush past and the vacation will be all the sweeter. The next week has the added benefit of my current "mentor" returning (sadly, there was a death in the family), a four day week, and looking forward all the damn time to flying back home. I'm going to try and put in some extra time on M-W so that I can just work 6-7 hours on Thursday, or else I'll show up at like 6:30a so I'm able to leave at about 3.

Anyway, this weekend I'll be sitting around quite a bit scrounging for things to do undoubtedly. At the moment on the weekends I've just been dead tired with my only desire to sit around and talk on the phone, but I'm certain the laziness will wear off once I finally get used to the 5 on-2 off style of working again. It's amazing to me that when I get home from work at this job, I would have started the swing shift at my old Mayo job only two hours before. I suppose this schedule works better, despite the sadly premature bedtime.

The Gears Are Turning

Yesterday was the first really eventful day I had at work, thankfully. After doing some training exercises this morning (hooray!) I grabbed some lunch and headed back to my temporary office before being summoned by my new manager back to where I'll be working permanently.

I had a great talk with him before being introduced to folks around the office, including my coworker Barry who was amazingly helpful in basically every way. He helped me to apply for several access concerns and fill out forms. I was also introduced to our resident "carbon based reference guide" (as Sam calls him) for the toolkit we use in every day operations, and had a lively and extremely interesting conversation with him.

The best thing about today was how quickly it passed in comparison to other days. The daily grind won't be too bad once I get in the swing of things. In other news, a really good friend of mine is looking into moving out here to go to Penn State, only about four hours away. It'll be nice to have someone I know within one state of me.

Actually Doing Things!

So far today at work I've got the good news that I'm clear for access to my office after the application goes through. I've been shuttling around to all the different buildings for various applications and briefings, including some very entertaining ethics training.

The rest of my day, I expect, will consist of shuttling around and getting signatures from people like I was in the fourth grade wanting to go on a field trip, but hey, it's something to do. Starting tomorrow I can finally get settled into a non temporary desk surrounded by folks I'm going to be working with. I can finally see the light shining through from the end of the tunnel.

Tuesday's Gone

Today was more eventful than other days, but certainly was still pretty dull. An hour into work I was summoned to a meeting with my boss's boss, who introduced himself to me and five other new employees. Most of them had started earlier than me, so they were initiated a little better. Two of them were interns; one of the interns was bound for California in the coming week, and one of the full-timers was off to Japan in August. One of them was even headed up to a Wisconsin lake for a week or two (I must admit I was jealous). It was actually pretty intriguing to get an insight into the career path of one of the higher ups, so that kept my attention fairly well. The rest of the day was essentially a tour of Wikipedia, since I'd read all the learning info stuff several times over by now.



In other news, CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD begins tonight (apparently). You should probably know, if you're reading this, that I'm an absolute sucker for the original version, mainly because it's not based on actual knowledge but just anticipating how stupid the people surveyed are. Some of the allure of the new version is the fact that it's also chock full of NBC celebrities, though this can either make the show more appealing or godawfully annoying depending on the guests of the week. It'll at least be fun when they have the obligatory gladiators episode and Wolf stands at the podium howling for ten minutes.

EDIT: Oh god, I've watched twelve seconds of this and already know it's going to be horrible, and thus ironically destined for greatness. With Roker it reminds me of the terrible fireworks show idea from 30 Rock.

EDIT 2.0: I can't even watch it, it's so bad. Time to watch the ABC MXC clone, I guess.

The Holy Grail

So on the way home from work today I noticed that my tank was nearing empty, so I decided to roll into the gas station near my apartment and get filled up. Now, the peculiarity of New Jersey gas stations is that the state is one of only two that lacks any self-service stations by law. Essentially they have an attendant that has the mind-blowingly difficult job of plugging the pump into your tank and putting it on auto-fill. That's it.

Now, there are obvious pros and cons to this kind of system. It means that in the wintertime you don't have to mess with the notion of filling your tank at all, something that in Minnesota (without gloves) could be a pretty painful consequence of driving. It doesn't confer any extra cost, because you're not really required to tip the attendant (though I did today because I appreciated the speedy service) and with Jersey's gas tax being quite low the gas is cheaper anyway. Unfortunately, the biggest downside is that getting a tankful can take up to twice as long as one you do yourself just because odds are one guy is serving 2-4 other people at the same time.

Anyway, after getting filled up I drove half a block to the nearby 7-11 and decided to do something I'd not yet done in my life - actually try a Slurpee. With how big a deal The Simpsons made of "Squishees" back in the day I've always wanted to try one. There were several flavors (one based on the Hulk, a red cherry) and being the avid fan of raspberry flavors I went for the blue variety with the Mountain Dew logo. A mistake, to be sure. Essentially it tastes like Code Red if Code Red sucked even more and they halfheartedly threw in a squirt of blue raspberry flavor.

I haven't given up on Slurpees yet though. Next time I find myself in 7-11 I'll give a different flavor a chance and hopefully this time it won't end up only 20% consumed. Perhaps my enjoyment of Dunkin Donuts and Five Guys lately has raised my hopes for "regional" food out here to be a little too high...

Somebody's Got a Case of the Mondays...

The weekend's over and the drudgery begins anew. Here's hoping I actually get to do a thing or two today, though at least now I have plenty to listen to if it's a boring day.








UPDATE 12:57 EST: As I suspected, boring day ahoy. On the upside, though, it's going fairly quickly regardless, though the afternoons always seem longer. Only 4.5 days until the weekend again. :\



Who doesn't love a good Cockney accent?

Tally Hall

On the Subject of Starship Troopers

It just occurred to me, after my last viewing of Starship Troopers with Tony a week and a half ago, that some people seem to not view it as satire. As anyone who knows myself or my circle of friends, we're avid fans of the picture and many like it, and though back in the days when it was released I may not have been aware of the subtext, I am acutely aware of it now.











Arguably the best part of the movie is the fact that scattered throughout is Triumph of the Will caliber propaganda distributed by the militaristic government. From the children "doing their part" by stomping on bugs with mom looking approvingly on to the look at new "planetary defenses," the spots give the movie character that is unusual for a straight action movie. A lot of the propaganda doesn't add anything to the story per se, but fleshes out the universe it takes place in quite well.

The director, Paul Verhoeven, is known for several other films that walk the line between satire and straight-up action movies - Robocop and Total Recall. Though to me it's a little less obvious that these are being satirical, subplots criticizing the media in the former and the corporate world in both hint at something more beneath the "big budget action" feel of each film.

Now this isn't to say that the action in Starship Troopers can't be enjoyed. Even the gore is overblown, limbs being rended from bodies and blood spraying everywhere, and sometimes it's fine just to shut off your brain and enjoy the show without having to look for a deeper meaning. And a lot of the time enjoying something ironically is the most fun.

Now that I've babbled on about the movie, I finally have an excuse to post this picture:

Stupid Pictures Depot

I LIKE TO DANCE















RIP Dinasours.

High Hopes

My main goal at work for the next week: do actual work. Sadly, my security clearance had to be resubmitted to I spent the vast majority of last week sitting at my desk, reading various briefings, watching videos about planes and missiles, and getting through training modules (you know the ones where you read twenty pages and take a really easy quiz?). Eventually I began paging through Quantum Leap episode descriptions (still have to wipe away a tear every time I hear that my boy Sam never returned home) and playing Minesweeper (destroyed Expert level).

Friday was a bit more refreshing, since I got away from my temporary office for an hour and a half or so. My boss calls it the Sensory Deprivation Tank - I'm inclined to agree with him. But hell, I get paid for sitting around trying to keep myself busy, so I'm not complaining.

In other news, I'm amazed at the ice cream truck that I have seen in my parking lot no less than four times. An honest to god ice cream truck; basically I had only seen them before on television, and the only instance I can remember is on the Adventures of Pete and Pete. Every time I hear its siren's call I am tempted to drop everything and bolt outside for a delicious frozen treat. But what would people say or think? I'm at a point where I've only met a handful of my neighbors so far - would they think me some kind of confectionery-obsessed madman simply because I lust for frozen novelties? With about two minutes of soul searching on the matter, I have decided my desire for bomb pops vastly outweighs my desire to mask my disgusting eating habits from my neighbors. I vow that I will run for the truck the next time I hear it beckon. If I'm wearing pants at the time, that is.

First Post

Well, so begins what is sure to be an incredibly inane journey. To introduce myself (if you haven't met me before, why are you here?), I'm a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota and a lifetime Minnesotan, until now. I've been swept off to the east coast by a job opportunity, and wacky hijinks are sure to ensue.

Regardless, the main point of this blog is to keep my self entertained in addition to keeping whoever cares to listen an update or two on my progress.