spike

Moving is a Hassle

by

And that’s why I chose to renew my lease, despite the incompetent management and uneven floorboards. So I’ll be here in Plainsboro for a while. It certainly wasn’t my favorite choice but it makes sense for now.

After work tomorrow, I’m heading to a New York Philharmonic concert with Stacey at the PNC Bank Arts Center to listed to some good brass music and possibly volunteer depending on what’s needed.

The rest of the week should be pretty normal and boring. It will be my final week of “Strategy Formulation,” the penultimate required course for my master’s degree. Do I feel like I’m ready to manage all aspects of a business? I guess… though experience will fill in some holes. I gain much more knowledge from my classmates than I do from the instructors, which I suppose should be expected.

My final day of earning this degree is August 22. I have a wedding to go to on August 26. It should be a busy month.

Hey, It Was a Holiday Weekend

by

Most of my weekend was spent helping Amy set up her new apartment, shopping for furniture, and building things. We did take a break long enough to see Superman Returns. While Lex Luthor’s scheme was a little weak, I really enjoyed the movie. The big question I’d have to ask is “Who is Superman?” If Christopher Reeve’s Superman is the definitive character, then Brandon Rausch did a good job playing him. The way he delivered his lines was very reminiscent of Superman: The Movie.

I would have enjoyed the movie more without the allusions to Jesus, though, and possibly even more without (spoiler warning, highlight this area only if you’ve seen the movie) Superman’s son, the Plot Device Kid.

On the other hand, I thought John Ottman did a good job of taking John Williams’ overexposed themes and making some decent new music. I’ll probably pick up the soundtrack.

More Sad Tragedy With Guns and Children

by

In East Brunswick, a fifth-grader shot a sixth-grader, perhaps by accident. The article quotes neighbors in disbelief.

They talked about how safe and family-friendly the neighborhood was and showed pictures of Alex, a blond, blue-eyed child, from his school yearbook. “There’s a million kids in this neighborhood, of all different races and ages, and we all live in harmony,” said Linda Lieberman, whose son was in Alex’s class.

Well, despite the apparent chilhood overpopulation — East Brunswick’s infrastructure surely can’t handle one million children living in the town — the overwhelming reaction is that this couldn’t happen in their neghborhood. One even claimed that all people regardless of race live in harmony in their community.

I don’t know if this is a “race” issue, as the article doesn’t identify the shooter, but at least one interviewer mentioned race. The much bigger issue is access to weapons. How did a kid get his hands on a handgun? Even that question is only part of the issue. Why does this kid, who possibly has exposure to weapons at home, not understand the real danger of playing with guns?

Two Months Left

by

Oh, how happy I will be when I have no more papers to write. I’m sure strategy formulation can be interesting, just not at a quarter after one o’clock in the morning.

Amy’s New Apartment and Bruised Butts

by

I helped Amy start setting up her new apartment this weekend. Her place was larger than I thought it would be, and her landlady seems friendly.

Here’s a tip. If you’re moving furniture and kitchen supplies and the ground outside is wet, make sure you’re wearing sneakers with incredible traction and the steps leading down to the apartment aren’t slick.

Reduced friction between feet and the steps can result in a bruised butt. Yes, I write from experience.

If the photograph shows anything, it shows my phone takes horrible photographs, especially when there is no sunlight. Also, I’m not particularly a fan of flickr. Sorry, folks.

So Amy has her own place now, and I haven’t decided whether to move out or not. Moving for the sake of moving isn’t worth it — the process is such a pain. My noisy neighbors once living downstairs seem to have vacated, so maybe I’ll take my chances by staying. It would be better to have a washer and dryer inside my apartment, but maybe I can survive a little while longer.

The First Day of Summer

by

It’s officially summer. Therefore, it is hot. I know this because my computer has begun acting the way it does when it’s hot. Although my box is well ventilated, hot weather causes my desktop CPU to spontaneously reboot (or get the BSOD, depending on my settings). Coupled with the fact that my notebook computer is eleventy years old, that is to say I purchased it generations ago on or around October 16, 2001, it may be time to upgrade my equipment.

My former coworker tipped me off to the fact the prices on the next-to-latest generation AMD chips are going to drop by the end of the month. Yeah, he’s got inside connections… or a lot of techie friends.

But I have to sort out my apartment situation first. After skimming the craigslist listings, I wrote to a guy who’s advertising a place in Sayreville. It’s a good price, but there weren’t many details. We shall see.

I May Be Addicted to This

by

Those guys at Science Daily say that you can be addicted to learning. It’s in the brain.

The “click” of comprehension triggers a biochemical cascade that rewards the brain with a shot of natural opium-like substances… While you’re trying to understand a difficult theorem, it’s not fun… But once you get it, you just feel fabulous.

So You Want An Update, Huh?

by

Every once in a while, the layout of this blog changes back to the default WordPress layout. That’s annoying. One of these days I’ll look into fixing it.

So if you read Amy’s blog you might have noticed that the plan is no longer to live together. So there’s that. My question now is whether to continue to live here or move closer to the job.

Speaking of my job, it’s going quite well. It’s a nice change from my previous one, and the work is somewhat interesting. I don’t have to work ridiculous hours, which is taking getting used to. If I’m still in the office at 6:00 pm, people (who have shifted schedules so it’s normal for them to be there late) look confused.

Thankfully — very, very thankfully — I am set to finish my master’s degree in August. The whole online degree has been a mixed bag. I just want to be finished with it. I’ll probably wait a month before deciding on what courses I’d like to take after that. After finishing an MBA, I think I might want to switch gears and take an art course.