Things between me and graduation:

- Design report
- Design presentation
- Design prototype
- Analysis homework (1 of 4 problems left)
- Solids report (95% done already)

I don't think I've absorbed the fact that I'm done with classes.

ROCKET SHIPS

02/01/07: San Francisco to Sydney, Australia (via Los Angeles)
02/16/07: Sydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand
02/23/07: Auckland, New Zealand to Bangkok, Thailand
03/01/07: Bangkok, Thailand to Frankfurt, Germany (via Bahrain)
03/29/07: Paris, France to San Francisco (via Frankfurt)

Total: $2512.00

Currently stressed over the job situation.

I can't believe I'll be done with my degree in one month.

I think I'm buying the ticket outlined above tomorrow morning. Does anyone have any experience/opinions about RangeRoamer cell service (http://www.rangeroamer.com/)?

Watching the O.C. makes me overly emotional. It's such a horrible show, but I can't seem to stop watching.

Halloween 2006!




I thought the costumes were only mildly inappropriate, but we ended up getting a lot of positive and negative responses. Matt isn't a perv. Like any good english teacher, he just wants to help us with oral skills ;)

Just over a month until I'm done at CMU. Life after college, at this point, is terrifying. I'm looking at job offers, trying to figure out what my best option is.

Time to resurrect the blog!

I'm 3 weeks into my last semester, and so far things are going alright. I thought I was going to slack off and take 36 units (For non-CMU'ers: our units correspond to the hours/week you should be spending on class), but my research advisor convinced me to add 18 units of research for this semester. Not positive I'm going to stick with it, but I guess I should. It'll be good for me, even if I don't enjoy it at times.

My plan for next semester changes hourly. Current possibilities include:

• Co-op (Engine analysis for GM Aero group? Google again?)
  
• Research at CMU
  
• Volunteer work (tutoring, etc.)
  
• TA at CMU Qatar (long shot, v. scary prospect)
  
• Ski bum
  
• Backpack travel hippie (mmm smelly Caroline)

I created a new picture album. I like the fact that picasaweb lets users create as many albums as you would like (flickr limits free accounts to 3 sets), but there is a 250 mb limit.

Google bathrooms have heated toilet seats. And electronic buttons for different bidet functions. For serious.

I start work tomorrow. I'm anxious, but also excited. Orientation is from 10AM to 3:30PM, so the day should not be too challenging- just getting settled in and meeting everyone and such.

Graduation '06 was yesterday. It's scary to think that our graduation is only a year away. Even more frightening, I'll be done with my degree in about 7 months.

California is even nicer than I remember, I appreciate it a lot more now that I have been away for a few years. I miss Matt and my friends, but we'll all be back in Pittsburgh soon.

FYI: US air will not check any bags unless you check in at least 45 minutes before your flight. If you check in 43 minutes before your flight, well, then you're just out of luck and bumped to a new flight.

If only the world wasn't so stupid. Then maybe that guy wouldn't have crashed his van into the building on Boulveard of the Allies, and there wouldn't have been that traffic jam. And maybe then the stupid check in women would let you check your bags 43 minutes before your flight. And then maybe there wouldn't BE a rule about checking bags 45 minutes before your flight.

Stuck in PIT until 8:30 (my flight was supposed to leave at 6:10), then layover in Las Vegas, and finally home at 1:30AM (instead of 8:30, when my non-stop would have landed).

I want to complain to someone about their hidden bag policy (5 other people in line at the ticket counter were in the same boat as me), and the fact that I paid for a non-stop flight but I'm being stuck with a layover. Unfortunately, I know they'll just blow me off so it's not really worth the effort.

I haven't been writing lately since things have been going well, overall. I start work next week, I'll be back in CA tonight, and my finals went well.

As a final note: it's wayyyy uglier than I thought it would be.

April is going to be a busy month: I'll be out of town for an ASME Student Conference this weekend, and I'm going to New York City on the 21st to see family. Add in all the classwork, exams, and research, and my schedule is booked up from now until the end of the semester.

Before you now it, I'll be back out West.

Spring Break, Puerto Rico:









Sun, sand, and sleeping in was just what I needed. Unforgettable. It was so hard to return to dreary Pittsburgh, especially when it was SNOWING for the walk from the busstop back to the apartment. Stupid Pittsburgh.

In other news, summer plans have changed. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to tell the ex.

P.S.- GRT rocks my socks : scroll to the bottom of the page :)

Fantastic weekend.
♥.

Mean Girls, the drinking game:
Drink when:

• The plastics wear pink or talk on a cell phone
  
• Someone says "fetch"
  
• Africa is mentioned
  
• Cady is pronounced incorrectly
  
• A minority is shown
  
• Lindsay Lohan jiggles
  
• Tina Fey mentions her divorce
  

This game yielded 4 very drunk girls last Saturday night, but luckily our male hero was sober enough to call around and find us a ride to the ski club party. Things get fuzzy from there. I remember we continued drinking, the later ones drunk straight from a blender that L, S, and I were passing amongst ourselves. I think I spilled about as much alcohol as I consumed, and at some point became rather abusive toward Drew- He said something that I took personally, but I can't remember what it was. At around 3:30 or 4 some guy I don't know drove us home. He claimed he was sober enough to drive (I was sober enough to remember to ask), but whether he was telling the truth is questionable.

Came home and had a long AIM conversation with Andy M from SpaceX about my career plans and how drunk I was. Many misspellings and curse words were typed. How's that for professional integrity?

The summer will be spent building rockets and tanning on beaches. I feel good about this decision. Even if the company goes under in a couple of years, the work experience I'll get makes it worth it. Who needs job security when you're in your early 20's? I don't have loans to pay off or dependents to support. If there ever was a time to take a chance with my career, now is the time.

Nothing has made me felt more like a fish out of water than this whole Steelers thing. Yes, I understand it's exciting that they're going to the superbowl, but I don't feel the need to be reminded of that fact or to participate in dj-led cheers every 10 minutes on a Friday night in (what is supposed to be) an upscale club. The whole hysteria surrounding football over here is completely foreign to me. Too bad there isn't good snow, or else we'd go snowboarding on Sunday- the one day out of the year the slopes will be guaranteed to be empty.

In other news, while out clubbing we ran into my cute professor. L had all the tact in the world and asked how old he was. I had even more tact by asking if he would give me an A if I bought him a drink. I followed that comment with many exclamations of "I'm just kidding!!!!"

THE PLAN

This semester: 5 classes, research, lacrosse, and ASME
Spring Break: Puerto Rico!
Carnival: New York City!

Summer: Right now, it's still a 3 way fight: Spacex vs. Boeing vs. Google.

Fall semester: 3 or 4 classes, research (no lacrosse, no ASME)

Christmas: Bay Area, possibly a week or two in Europe

Jan 06: The Great Adventure: Australia, New Zeland, and anywhere else that suits my fancy

Feb/March 06: Start new job? Bum around more?

May 06: CMU graduation ceremony (yes, I will be back)

I've had a lot of time to think over the past month, and I've come to some conclusions:

• Being too busy makes me stressed out and grumpy
  
• Drinking too much is not good or fun (well, maybe it's fun in the moment, but definitely not the day after or when the pictures make it to facebook)
  
• I've become a lazy lump of inactivity
  

Since it's not good to complain without proposing a solution, here's what I'm going to do:

• Cut back on activities (goodbye, buggy!)
  
• No more drinking on weeknights. No more sugary mixed drinks that are easy to consume. No so much drinking less, but drinking better
  
• Re-join lacrosse, which entails an ambitious workout plan to get back into shape (the beach spring break trip is another motivating factor)
  

Since I last updated I've returned to Pittsburgh and started classes. I'd comment on courses and such, but I doubt anyone cares all that much about the specifics.

The biggest and most exciting news is the plan for spring break: 5 nights in Cabo San Lucas. Three girls, two guys, the beach and more bars and clubs than you can shake a stick at. What more could one ask for?

Tonight we (Kate, Ken K, and I) wandered around downtown PA before settling down at The Rose & Crown for some drinks. Free champagne at midnight, and the drunk guys attempting to shoot the streamers from party-poppers onto the statue of a woman's chest were amusing. It was great to catch up with Ken K and Kate, and the bar was a good atmosphere for ringing in the new year with old friends.

2005: A Recap

The Good:

• School
  
• The Bloodshaw crew
  
• Moving in with Mo
  
• Moving off campus
  
• SpaceX
  
• California summer
  
• Not looking the same at 23 as you did at 15
  
• "Uno tinto, por favor"

The Bad:

• Deaths
  
• Cross-country drive
  
• LA rent rates
  
• Lack of drunk-lock on my cell

The Ugly:

• Alcohol-induced hookups
  
• Hangovers at work

I think I came out ahead this year.