Category Archives: Personal

Math Magic

I just started reading Scott Flansburg’s Math Magic book. It’s all about more efficient and intelligent ways of doing math. It’s an idea I’ve long wanted to try–to increase my speed and ability to crunch numbers in my head. The hard part is practice–how do you make yourself good at this without a lot of practice? And how fun is it to practice adding numbers in your head? It’s easy to think of some periodic situations: shopping and budget balancing, for example, but after that I’m not sure.

I think I’ll write a small PocketPC app that can give me random problems to solve in my head, as well as time me and note improvements. Cool…any excuse to write a program!

Esha

 

We miss our sweet Esha. She has really left a big empty spot in our house and in our hearts. This is how we will remember her; sitting in her favorite place; watching over the front garden.

2 Feb 1996 – 15 May 2006

 

 

Gum

I’ve never liked gum. I did eat the stale pink stuff sticks that came in Topps baseball cards years ago, but since then…yuck.

Today I had a piece of my wife’s gum. Ick.

Chewing gum is like brushing your teeth for thirty minutes.

London

Leticia and I want to express our sorrow and empathy for the brave people of London. While used to terror attacks in the past, this was a particularly egregious act of barbarism. May the families of those who lost loved ones be comforted and may those responsible be brought to certain and swift justice.

25 Years

Well, today marks my 25th year of personal reign upon this earth….

I’m still young ‘un. I’m still in grad school, but I’ve got a good job, a wonderful wife, and things are going pretty well with everything else.

One of my favorite presents is a lego set. When I was a kid I played with legos constantly. Whenever I’m done with school and have time I plan to get back into it with legos and model building.

This week also celebrated my dad’s retirement from the U.S. Navy. He has had a long, illustrious and incredibly interesting career spanning the last three decades. I’m intensely proud of him and all his accomplishments. He had to fly into DC to take care of some paperwork, so we got to spend some time with him. I took him to the “other” air and space museum.

Cars and the Idiots who Own Them – Part II

Well, I took it in this morning for a full checkup. I should preface this with by saying that for the last month, and especially the last week or so, I’ve been feeling strongly that I needed to take the car in for a serious look. Things just felt different–and not better.

I left it this morning at 8, and at 11 they had a diagnosis–made worse by the fact that my Honda Care extended warranty had run out a few months ago. Basically, new CV joints, new engine mounts, oil change (I just tacked that on), and something else that was fairly expensive.

The mechanic told me that otherwise the car is in great shape. The good news is that this kind of work won’t need to be done for a while.

I should be leaving to pick it up in about 45 minutes or so…

Cars and the Idiots who Own Them

Yes, I’m talking about me.

This morning, we had a big day planned: food shopping, checking out an international market, and having some guests this evening. We decided to go to the international market first1. We had heard they had really cheap produce and were not disappointed. We picked up quite a bit of greens and herbs and were on our way. We put them in the cooler to survive the trip to the next store, I put the keys in the ignition, and…

Nada.

The key turned all the way around the ignition, without turning on the car, and it wouldn’t come out! We tried for 15 minutes with the awful thing, every gimmick we’d ever heard of for stuck keys. Then we called our insurance company and they sent a tow truck–Estimated Time of Arrival: 2 hours.

Off and on for an hour I tried jiggling and juggling and haggling and huggling. Finally, after an hour, I took off the steering column’s plastic wrapper and looked at the ignition itself–it seemed a part was loose…just need to push it in…suddenly, it turned and locked and came out and went in and ignited! I canceled the tow truck, and drove straight to the dealership.

The thing is, I was going to take it in next Saturday for a full checkup no matter what anyway. Now I have an appointment for Monday morning to do that and fix the ignition. Skip work or rent a car? It’s hard to make up work when I have night classes. I might have to rent a car if mine needs serious work anyway.

Computers I can handle (usually!), but cars are another thing entirely. We ended up going to CostCo near where we live, instead of the much cheaper (and farther) Sam’s Club, but we made it home in one piece–and now we have yet another “theft deterrent.” 😉

1 – Grand Mart International Food, 6255 Little River Turnpike, Alexandria, VA.

Memorial Day in Arlington Cemetery

Leticia and I went down to Arlington Cemetery this morning to view the Memorial Day proceedings. We got there just in time to see the presidential motorcade, and we saw President and Mrs. Bush. My camera couldn’t catch it because they were driving fast and my camera’s cycle time is a little slow.

We listened to the President’s speech, and he was very well received.

I also got THIS close to meeting Secretary Rumsfeld–I was sticking out my hand when he turned around and went the other way. I got some decent pictures and pictures, though. Check them out here.

New Site Format

I’ve decided to go with a much simpler blogging application: WordPress. I’m still figuring out how it works, but so far I like it a LOT more. The articles and projects have yet to make it here, but I’ll try and get to it this weekend.

Hope you enjoy it!

Starting a job is fun to do

A little under a month ago I began a new job with a company called ORBIMAGE. It’s a satellite imaging company with contracts with the government and private corporations. Any google search will tell you more about the products and services it offers.

Specifically, I work on the SeaStar team as an Applications Analyst. I do a lot of different things, but I’m happy to be doing a lot of programming. It’s a great job for someone still trying to survive through a Master’s program.

I started work full-time, while I was finishing up a semester of school, also full-time. It’s been very demanding, especially as we’ve been in the weeks preceding a product release and I’ve had final exams in three classes. Thankfully, two were pretty easy, and the third is next Monday.

From now on, I’ll be working full-time and going to school at night once or twice a week.