1. Pretty much finished doing any of the strike breaking stuff I was required to do for work. Not officially over, but everything should be ratified by then. I'm betting a plane ticket on it! :-)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/01/usa-labor-refinery-deal-idUSL2E8D10JE20120201
2. Provided at home tech support while watching a couple of movies.
"Clash of the Titans" (New version) - I would give it a 7/10. Never saw the original, so I wasn't horrified by the fact that they ruined a classic. Couldn't really connect with the protagonist enough. Special effects were awesome.
"Repo Men" 8/10. Interesting concept, and a surprising ending. Kinda makes you wonder, especially as we get closer and closer to artificial hearts. I heard an article in the new about creating a heart that runs more like a centrifugal pump, than a positive displacement pump that we're used to. No more pulses. The concept of the movie was interesting. Sounds like what would happen if you privatized the organ market, and it became a monopoly on it's own. Insert argument of regulation versus non-regulation. At the price of 4.5 million dollars for a heart, you think that there would be a huge incentive to sell knock-off type organs, (i.e. cheap chinese knockoff organs). Yeah, but with enough money, you could probably buy out your competition, or sue them into the ground, or send repo men of your own. Cough cough, Mons@nto, |nBev. Anyways, here's the article about a pulse-less heart. Sounds good to me, I hate positive displacement pumps, when they break, they wreck, and that's never a good thing, no matter who you are.
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/13/137029208/heart-with-no-beat-offers-hope-of-new-lease-on-life
Tech support: Easy enough. It's very difficult to decipher someone else's spreadsheet. Especially when it's kinda complicated. But for me, that's one of the fun parts of engineering is taking what someone has done, and making it more efficient, more robust etc... For a start though, it's good to have someone walk you through what they were trying to do, and I was more than happy to put the TV on pause to help someone.
3. Movers:
Yup, movers came today, and took all my stuff, put it all in boxes, and put it on a freight. Definitely some luck in this today. The second the movers were done, it started to rain pretty heavily. That would have made moving suck. Thanks to the higher ups that held off the rain. There was a slight mishap about what was supposed to be air freight, what was supposed to be sea freight, and now unfortunately, the only thing that i'll be getting in my air freight is my guitars. Well, it'll give me plenty of time to blog, read my kindle (thanks An!) and to learn to play this song (Gotta believe!)
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/s/stephen_lynch/in_defense_of_a_peepshow_girl_crd.htm
4. Ate at a Brazilian steakhouse. Ate way too much. Had to poop alot. That's what it was like (minute 5:15). The rest of it was pretty funny too though.
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=219355
5. Flight overseas has been scheduled for February the 8th.
Houston to Frankfurt 10 hours
4hour layover
Frankfurt to Dammam 6 hours
Dammam to Jubail. 1 hour
BUSINESS CLASS WOOHOO!
http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/travel/inflight/businessfirst/767.aspx
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Dear *****,
Hey, so sorry for not getting back to you sooner, it seems like it's been getting busier and busier. I find that I go at two very different speeds, either 100% full throttle ballz to the wall, or 0% trying to out lazy the sofa. (The sofa always wins, but not without a fight). I guess that's part of my personality. If I'm coasting at a comfortable pace, I always feel like I should be trying harder. Then I push it, until I overexert, and get burnt out. Then I get bored of being burnt out, and go back in again guns blazing. It can be a good thing, but it makes it pretty difficult to sync with other people, and when you're out of sync, then it can be really difficult on friends. I think I already told you this, but that's one of the things about being an ISTP. When I took this test, I was an ISTJ. The difference between the J and the P being order and closure versus freedom and spontaneity. I find it kinda funny that it's probably more to do with my operations job in which you have to learn to go with the flow, adapt to different situations, and be willing to not get anything done that day. When I'm happy and confident I stick to the "P" and I can accomplish anything. When I'm nervous, or anxious I go back to the "J" and set goals, and lists, and methodically tackle the issue. Man, I was born to be an engineer or what?
Your update to your blog prompted me to make mine. Nothing too exciting in it of course, but it'll have to do until I can skype you or something. Although, knowing how you go to bed like a Grandma at 8:00, and I'm 9 hours ahead, i'm pretty sure the only way of contact with you is via email, blog or a pre-recorded webcam show. (I'll waive the 19.99 per month fee for the first month, since you're my friend and all)
You put two things in your post that i'll comment on. I'll talk about the latter first:
Hamster on wheel: Yup, I agree with what you've said. I think that you're making a good decision regarding moving to a different job. I wish I could tell you which one to take instead, but I can't. You're way too much of a free spirit to be told what you should do. I think the slum lord is a great idea! (Kidding) Ultimately you need to make your own job, where you are your own boss, and make your own hours. And believe it, there will be lots of hours involved. But, you'll be happy, and the hours will fly by, and you'll be content at the end of the day. So when you're a successful entrepreneur at the age of 40 and still single, the offer of marriage still stands, haha.
In response the first part of your post, it's a very sobering thought to be honest. I've always believed that I've had a very spiritual side, and that a higher power is watching over us. Now whether you believe that the being affects your everyday life, or whether they were there just to create the spark (aka big bang, and then leave everything to itself) is more of a religious one, and I won't start that in the blog, since nothing except for yelling at each other with no slid facts is probably the only thing that will come out of it. I'll be honest, one of the things that my dad told me, and I think I told you at some point, was that I was very in touch with my spiritual side, and that prayer, would get me through anything. I hadn't done it for a while, until my dad mentioned it. Once he did, I started again, and to be honest, it definitely helps, on days when I don't feel very good, or when I feel hopeless, or when I am anxious. Now if this was all a hoax, I don't know what I would do. It would be very lost I think. As an engineer, faith is one of the most difficult things to swallow, since there is very little proof to mark its legitimacy. And there shouldn't be. If there was, it wouldn't be fate. And that's the key point for me, when we don't have the answers to something, and we are left to believe, the world, and the things around it are exactly as we perceive them to be. The world is a cold cruel world only if we believe it to be. I am a strong believer in free will. If you believe in the theory of alternate realities, every time we have a opportunity to make a decision, each of the options happens. It's up to us to decide which reality we want to see, and at the end, the one thing I know I made the right decision about is to stay your friend, because that's a reality that I want to be in. :-)
Friend always,
Huy
I LOVE YOUR BLOG!
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