| A different home |
currently playing: nothing


For all of you that know my two dogs (zora and buddy) - I have sad news. Zora is no longer with us. She didn't make it through some surgery and passed away Friday night. We have had her for a very long time - since I was 8 or 9? Back then, she was small enough that my older brother held her in the palm of his hand! As you can see, she grew a little. Rest in peace, Zora. Home won't be the same without you.

| Summer and Rotations |
currently playing: nothing


So my summer plans are as follows: Take at least aircraft performance, deforms, and AOE materials. I am also considering taking complex/vector analysis. I heard greenberg teaches that over the summer and he is just crazy (in a really funny way). I would also like to take a music class or some other kind of liberal arts thing - maybe another history or something. We'll see. I wish virginia tech would hurry up and get the summer courses up on the web so I at least know which sessions of the summer my classes are offered (there are two sessions).

As far as the co-op rotation is concerned... all I have to do is e-mail them when I want to do another rotation. I don't have to go through any kind of hiring process or anything again- just gotta tell them I want to come back (assuming no problems with me working this time around). Originally, I had planned on doing only one rotation (this one) and taking some classes (see above) over the summer to be back on track to graduate in 4 years still. If I do another rotation, it means I have to take 5 years and do a total of 3 rotations. Each rotation I come back, my benefits get better and better. My pay goes waaay up by the time I reach my third rotation and I qualify for all of their extremely good benefits. However, I really do miss being at school. I also think graduating on time with my class and my friends is an important thing to me. Also, if I do three rotations, I qualify for their "Edision Program," which automatically starts me off as an employee with them after graduation and pays for such beautiful things as my masters. When I say pays for it, I mean "pays for the education and pays the individual as an employee while getting his/her masters." That deal is hard to beat.

Either way, I have some time to think about all of this. The earliest I could do another rotation would be spring of my junior year. If I did that, I would also co-op the following fall (and possibly co-op the summer in between). After that fall rotation, I would finish up my junior year the following spring (when I normally would be graduating). The following year (2009), I would do my entire senior year curriculum.

Lots to think about. I need to talk it over with a lot of people - friends, family advisors.

| Think |
currently playing: Barenaked Ladies - Call and Answer


You know... sometimes I really wonder why I am so lucky. I've got the best friends anyone could imagine. It just amazes me. I just don't understand how I manage meeting the absolutely amazing people that I do. There are so many wonderful people in my life and I am so thankful to be this lucky.

When I was in middle school, I never imagined being where I am today. I don't mean in terms of school and work stuff - I mean socially. I was always (and still am) very determined to being successful academically. I was a loser, school-driven outcast in middle school. I really only had about 2 friends in my actual class (keep in mind that I went to a private Catholic school for 10 years... and had the same classmates that entire time). Most of the girls in my class were extremely inconsiderate of people's feelings. I was ridiculed a lot. I just kept my head down and focused on school. I think that's what really made me so driven academically... I had no other reason to be at school. I hated everything in between classes - all of the walking in lines, lunches, and socializing- because I was so self-conscious and worried of being hurt. My other out besides my school was church. I started singing in the choir there and I was accepted into a wonderful community. I think this is what kept my sanity- I knew people cared about me there and I always looked forward to going. (of course I was accepted and all at home - my home was also another very stable and wonderful place for me in my childhood).

I'm not really sure where I was going with all of this... hmm.. well, what I am saying I guess is that I am amazed that I have the friends that I do now. It's awesome. You are awesome.

random good memories:

• flying panda
• volleyball
• racquetball
• cookies
• swing
• contra
• lady bugs
• 4-man puzzling while listening to x-mas music
• collapsing (?) bunk bed
• rome
• trading amanda
• sea turtle
• taco bell
• x-mas cookies
• chang
• the great beard project
• d2 breakfurst
• the "paul has no friends and rub it in his face" game
• $10 3-piece suits
• b3
• late night jogs
• "biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig"
• bay window
• me: "who wants to go to Dx for some late night snack?"
• everyone else: ...........

| work |
currenlty playing: nothing

It's been a long week so far. I have been working on the same problem at work for almost a whole week now... still gotten nowhere. It's kind of frustrating and depressing. I just need my "buddy" to help me interpret some stuff before I can move on, but he's so incredibly busy that it's nearly impossible to ask him for help. I've tried asking some other people, but it's not working. In the meantime, I just sit at my desk attempting to solve the problem. The bad part of it is...if the problem is what I think it is, once I fix it, I will have to redo about 2-3 weeks worth of work- not a happy feeling. If it's not that, then I've wasted a week trying to figure this problem out. Either way, I'm not happy with work right now. Hopefully I will make some progress today.

By the way- the problem I am having is my program is violating the first law of thermodynamics. In a nutshell, I have extremely hot, combusted air (2400^o F) coming through the combustion chamber. Cold air (1800^o F) is added to this flow. The end result? A magical hotter temperature of 2500^o F.... yea. Either I have disproved thermodynamic theory, or my program is just converging to the wrong result. What sucks on top of that-- the part of the program that is not working is entirely not my fault. The program that was given to me is what is screwing up. That's why it sucks that I discovered this error 3 weeks into my analysis. It wasn't until I ran a 100% H₂ fuel that this "violation" happened.

Anyways, the weekend is almost near. I can't wait.

| Weekend |
currently playing: Billy Evans - Come Rain or Come Shine


"yea, as far as I'm concerned, the chief goal in cooking is not to die. Everything after that is just luck." - Wes

So I spent a bit of yesterday cooking. I made some "banana banana bread" after lunch and some "italian chicken roll-ups" for dinner. The banana banana bread is excellent. The roll-ups were good, but could have used a bit more seasoning I think - surprising because of the amount of spices that the sauce called for. If you'd like either recipe, let me know. I think I might try to cook something completely new every saturday. Well, every saturday that I'm in Greenville ;-)

Venkat and I played squash yesterday. We got to the YMCA to find that the court was actually taken by someone else. This never happens. Usually we sign up to play and no one has signed up since the last time we've played. We went down to the court to investigate who our fellow squash-ers were. We found a middle-aged man and his wife down playing. We started talking and all of us were shocked to find other squash players. They invited us to play a few games with them. It was great. They were absolutely amazing squash players and I really learned a lot (and got a ton of exercise). We played I think four games before they kicked us out to continue playing by themselves. It was a lot of fun. I think I might have pulled my back muscles. I'm kind of feelin' it today. Oh well.

| Weather pending |
Currently playing: Boston - More than a Feeling


A bunch of us are going skiing this weekend here

Hopefully our plans will work out, but it looks like snow might be an issue. It is about a 2.5-3 hour drive I think and if they are expecting to get lots of snow, we may have to re-schedule. I haven't been skiing in a while, so I'm pretty excited. I think we have about 8-10 people possibly coming. I know like... three of those. It should be a good time.

By the way - the comments are finally up and working.

| comments |
currently playing: Reel Big Fish - Sell Out


I finally fixed the comments. I know you were waiting for sooo long. :-)

| service... finally |
currently playing: The songs in my head...


Yesterday I signed up for tutoring high school students through work. I am pretty excited to finally get back into the tutoring thing (too bad I don't have the old white board...). It's on Tuesdays and Thursdays from like 4-6. One of the topics they need a tutor for is calculus! You know I'm excited. So, I signed up for almost every Tues/Thurs until I leave. I get a call a few min later from the dude that coordinates it:

Clyde: "Paul, I see that you have signed up for every slot we have available. I know you are interested, but I think maybe you should consider letting others have a chance to help out too."

Me: "Well, I guess that's fine. Just sign me up for when you need me."

Clyde: "Ok, that works."

Me: "Oh, and since it starts at 4... and we don't get off of work until 5... does that mean we have to get in to work extra early, or do these hours count towards our 40 a week?"

Clyde: "Gotta come in early."

Me: "Ok, yea.. I'll re-send my availability."


One other problem is that they don't tell you if you're going to tutor that day until the day of. So I basically will just go in early every Tues/Thurs in case they need me to go. When I say "go into work early"... I mean like 6:45, people. yea. If it starts at 4, I have to leave work by 3:45 to get there in time. Good times. :-)

(I might see if I am allowed to eat my lunch at my desk or something to not have to come in that early- we'll see)

Hope things are well with everyone.

| Weekend |
currently playing: Superbowl..?


I went home this weekend. I had a really nice time. :-) Went to church with amanda on saturday and had dinner over there. We did some diff eq and dynamics together ealier in the day.

After just watching the superbowl's half time show (with the Rolling Stones!), I must say that I was somewhat disappointed. Yea. Disappointed in the Rolling Stones. The only reason I didn't particularly enjoy the half time show on tv was because of how awesome they were live. When I saw them in concert at UVA, it was just amazing. This was nothing compared to that. Just thought I'd let you guys know.

| Week |
currently playing: Squirrel Nut Zippers - Got My Own Thing Now


Work is going well. We are all in the swing of things now. Ha. In the swing of things- and I'm listening to swing. Alright... so we all have gotten to know each other pretty well and all I think. Oh, and apparently my "buddy" got married last night? Yea. I dunno, man. It was pretty funny at work though when I got an e-mail like "Hey guys! We got married last night!."

We took out Courtney to lunch today at work because it's her birthday. I didn't have a very good time. I wonder if Courtney did. It was a bunch of us and about 5 of the co-ops talked about doing drugs for about... 70% of the lunch. You all know how I feel about that. So after drugs? Religion. Oh man... two lovely lunch conversations don't you think? It's so nice to be automatically judged and stereotyped based on your religion. I love it. One thing I think I'll never understand: it seems completely contrary to what religion typically preaches to criticize and "knock" another person's religion. I think that is so hypocritical; it's not even funny. I'm not talking about questioning another religion and a normal criticism. I'm talking judging and automatically labeling someone based on his or her religion.

Example:

I am Catholic. You know this. Just because I am Catholic does not mean that I completely agree with all that the Church preaches. The Catholic doctrine is far from being perfect in my opinion. I'm not going to go into those details, but don't judge me because I'm Catholic. Please.

Oh, and when I say I'm Catholic, never... ever say "I'm sorry."