Everyday it's still the same - just a little more insane...

So long and thanks for all the fish

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:38:03 GMT

This isn't necessarily goodbye for ever, but for now, most of my updates will be made at our new family blog, Go Team Friedman. Livejournal, it's been a great 8 (8?!?!) years...

Moving

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:47:04 GMT

Starting this weekend I'm going to be moving the blog over to blogspot. And when I say moving, what I really mean is ditching this blog for the most part and posting in a joint blog that Mike and I set up with google. We've been talking about it for a while - Mike's not so good at blogging, but he'd like to participate, so we figured with the impending (and by impending I mean May) arrival of the grape (who is no longer the size of a grape, but the name stuck) it was a good time to join forces in a neutral location. Not that I won't ever post here (gotta leave myself options), but I'll be doing most of my writing over there. I'll post the addy when it's up and running (don't look! It's not ready yet!!).

I do want to take a minute to wish a very happy birthday to my big brother Rick. Yes, Rick turned 30 today. What an old man!! I'll completely avoid the topic of taking that plunge myself in a little over a year and just make fun of him instead. But really - it's a big deal and I really wish we could be out there with Rick & Adam to celebrate...

Celebrating

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:59:20 GMT

It's been a pretty good week. We spent the weekend with Mom & Dad and despite my inability to focus on work, we got a lot accomplished. Dad, Mom, and Mike did some projects around the house, Mom & I went shopping, we all played games, watched movies, ate good food, and celebrated my birthday early and Mike's birthday late. In addition to the awesome cheesecake, we're the proud new owners of a new video camera. this one is (I kid you not) about 1/8 the size of my old one AND records to a 30 gb hard drive. I see it sitting on the table and am still in disbelief that it's not just a still camera!

I got to talk to Meg for her birthday on Monday and then briefly talked to Alaina on the phone (though she's lucky I still like her after she tried to hang up on me by making static noises and then saying I was breaking up. Little punkie!!)

Yesterday was Rick's big pitch at Criminal Minds - and this year they chose his episode! That means he'll be writing and shooting his episode this season as a member of the writer's staff!!! On top of that, he let it slide that he's an extra on tonight's show. So much good news (and he deserves every bit of it). Adam has been working as a PA on the show a lot lately - it sounds like they're enjoying working together and that he's having a good time there.

Happy Birthday to Meg and our niece Alaina (Monday) and Alysia yesterday!

Writer's block

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:41:54 GMT

Or more appropriately, scientific writer's block. I'm revising a manuscript for what seems like the hundredth time - but the closer I get it to being "finished" the harder the writing becomes. Case in point: I now have an outline for my revamped introduction and all I need to do is type it up and cite it. But I've been sitting on the same paragraph for an hour. WTF, brain??!

Mom & Dad are coming to visit on Wednesday and I'm surprisingly unprepared. Hopefully (magically?) the house will find its way out of disarray in the next two evenings. Bonus: we did make a menu and hit up the grocery store this weekend. At least one item on the checklist is crossed off!

Instead of house cleaning, we actually had a quite relaxing (and football-tastic) weekend. Friday evening was mostly consumed by the Apex High football game (they crushed Green Hope - when we left a couple of minutes into the 4th quarter it was something like 38-0). We had a fun time watching and luckily the weather held out so that our walk to/from the game was very pleasant. We had a very chill Saturday night hanging out with Angela, Hanna, and Lisa watching football and random other TV. On Sunday we watched more football - this time the Colts and the Cowboys.

Currently reading: The Ghost Brigades

My love-hate relationship with Fridays

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:02:31 GMT

I should preface by saying that I 90% love and 10% hate Fridays. Don't get me wrong. They're generally awesome. Aside from the obvious giddy-that-the-work-week-is-over, it's the one night a week where I don't feel compelled to work from home after dinner, bedtime is suspended, and we can generally look forward to walking outside and socializing with friends all night long without getting in the car or even putting on shoes.

However, there are some downsides. The first is one I'm experiencing right now: lunch. I pack my lunch (and always have) - early in the week I feast on yummy leftovers, mid-week I often make sandwiches, but by Friday I usually have a hodge-podge of not-quite-meal-sized leftovers. Some are things I've brought with other days' lunches and haven't yet eaten (half of an applesauce, some grapes, and a tube of yogurt); some are portions of previous meals that aren't self-sufficient but are too large to throw away; and others are downright lazy (granola bars, cheese sticks). Needless to say: it's nothing to get excited about. My growling stomach is not placated by today's offerings. Already, I can't wait until dinner!

The second downside is evidenced by my to-do list for today. As with my lunch, everything I didn't get around to finishing all week ends up on Friday's list - and usually attached to some sort of end-of-week deadline. I have about 5 hours left in the day and about 6 items on said list... we'll fight it out to the death and hopefully I'll come out victorious!

Odds & Ends

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:34:07 GMT

1. Here are some PAX photos: Mine and Erin's. Also, as Robert gets the official Penny Arcade Photos up, they will be here. Finally, there is a nice set of Omegathon pics here.

2. I missed a lot of birthdays while I was being a slacker. So happy late birthday to Moen, Emily, John, and Sarah. In fact, the first 3 I listed turned 30!!!

3. Otherwise, not a lot to report. We've been keeping busy at home and work, spending what free time we have trying to relax. This weekend was especially nice - on Friday we played Kubb and then talked all night long with Mike, Angela, Skylar, and Myrah. On Saturday we caught most of Myrah's softball game (we're going to one of Skylar's this week). Though I did a little work and we did some house things, we also watched some episodes of Alias and I found some time for Sims2 while Mike watched football.

4. The new blog should be up and running by the end of October. Sorry for being cryptic - you'll understand the delay once we start it up. For those of you in the know, it's being held up by the fact that I'm waiting a bit to communicate things locally (ie at work). And due to the rampant interdepartmental communication, pretty much everyone in the state is currently in the dark. A necessary evil, trust me...

Some parting images for you: Aragorn (my Saturn) recently turned 100,000 miles old on my drive home from Danny's PhD celebration (congrats Dr. Monroe!!) and Erin, Erin, Tommy, and Mike riding the skylink while killing time at DFW (a hand photo to rival the group foot photos we love so much)

Me zero, big bad world one

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:09:29 GMT

I know I still haven't written PAX stories. There is a good reason, I assure you. I'd post photos, but I took all of about 5 becuase people like Kiko were taking such good ones. One of these days he'll post them on Flickr and I'll link to them becuase, let's face it, they're better than mine.

We're working on a new blog. I know you can't wait. More info soon.

F- you Jonathan Coulton

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:03:30 GMT

I'd add some funny lyrics here but I'm terrified that it will just cause me to get one of those hilarious songs stuck in my head again. I'm not kidding. This is the first day since Friday that one of his songs hasn't been in my head on repeat. I don't know how to make it stop!! Currently it's replaced with RHCP. I'm trying to keep it that way.

Sorry about the lame lack of PAX updates. I'll try to do a proper write-up this weekend. In the meantime, here are two teaser photos. The first is of Mike holding some guy's homemade companion cube in the expo hall on Friday morning. The other is of the two of us watching Freezepop in style on Friday night: on top of a pile of SUMO omnis, along with the other Omeganauts, right next to the stage.

"my steak tastes better when I take my steak tastes better pill "

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:16:25 GMT

Got back from Seattle this afternoon after traveling all night. Will report on PAX later this week but we had an amazing time. More later.

I love teaching

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:39:56 GMT

I finally got around to picking up my TA Evaluations from the class I taught this spring. I've written about the class before so I don't need to say it again - these kids were awesome, we did a lot of great science, and had a lot of fun in the process. I'm not going to share the content of those evaluations but I did want to share one comment that made me particularly proud:

Damn straight!!

Friday shenanigans

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:09:19 GMT

Spent the majority of my evening hanging out with Myrah, Skylar, Niko, and Milla (Rock Band, Wii Bowling, and random other games) and now Mike, Paul, Mike, and Adam are playing Wii tennis while Angela and I hang out and watch. I love it.

Do the D.A.N.C.E.

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:38:00 GMT

Today was one of those wasted Fridays. While I could have accomplished something at home, most of my work day was spent killing time until the day was over. Here's to no motivation! Hopefully it's a fleeting thing...

Anyway, I did manage to make up a fairly comprehensive PAX schedule. I'm so ready to be there. But first I have some plants that need my attention...

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a weekend of gaming practice (there are two more omegathon games for M to brush up on), hanging out with friends, and maybe a bit of manuscript writing if the mood strikes me :)

Mostly settled

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:58:18 GMT

I'd say we're 90% back into our pre-vacation routine. There are still some items to unpack but overall we're back into a semi-normal routine. Mike's back at work (though a new work and no students until next week) and this is my first full week at work, so I'm trying to start out on a good note.

I haven't gotten around to typing up stories yet, but I did upload most of our photos last night. I'm still waiting on a batch from Meg and some from Anne of our Karmoy leg, but it's ok. Check them out on Picasa anyway.

Some birthdays to celebrate: Laura's birthday is today and Jonah turned 6 on Friday. Happy birthday cousins!!

Back home again

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:31:55 GMT

Since the last post:
Spent a day in Norway traveling from Oslo to Bergen via 3 trains, a ferry, and a bus (the scenery was beautiful!)
Spent 2 days exploring Karmoy, a little island on the west coast, with Arne & Anne
Spent one more night in Oslo before heading back to Germany
Took the train up to Hamburg for two days with May
Headed back to Frankfurt for some more time with Will

Getting home was even more of a headache than getting to Frankfurt in the first place. A canceled flight to Raleigh left us stranded in NY for 30 hours. We got a hotel room, crashed, then spent a long day at the airport yesterday before arriving home at midnight (not such a great way to spend Mike's birthday, but we tried to make the best of it). Delta and I need to have some words - since when does traveling on an award ticket doom you to subpar service???

Photos and stories will come this weekend. The trip was amazing but it's great to be home (though I'm not ready to be working already - but I best get back to that).

Currently reading: Magician: Master

"Woah, these guys are dudes!"

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:44:05 GMT

After a late start on our Europe trip (our flights got canceled, giving us an extra day in Pittsburgh to hang out with Julia & Steve and one less day in Germany), we spent a day and a half with Will in Frankfurt and are now in Norway. We've done a ton of touring and hanging out with Meg & Lucas in Oslo. I will post plenty of pics and stories upon our return. This trip is already seeming too short... but we've made as much of each day as we can.

Currently reading: Magician: Apprentice

See you on the other side

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:04:10 GMT

copycat

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:01:23 GMT

I stole this from Meg because I needed a 30-minute distraction (ok that's a lie - I NEEDed to work - but I digress)...

The process:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

My answers:
1. Erin
2. Cheese fondue
3. Franklin Community HS (And it's actually of my school!)
4. Red
5. Billie Joe Armstrong
6. Water (Everything else is just fleeting)
7. Italy (The last few books I've read were set in Italy. Plus there's the ocean. And the art. And the history. I think I'm getting old.)
8. Cheesecake (Mom's!)
9. Space Shuttle Astronaut (it still lurks in the back of my mind)
10. Family (official and unofficial)
11. Passionate (and we're not talking just in a cheesey way. Obviously that applies too - but also about every other aspect of my life - from gaming to teaching to traveling to music to my family and friends...)
12. redfish (which is a lie, it's actually redfish27, but that returns NOTHING)

Celebrating

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:35:20 GMT

You probably can't believe it (I sure can't) but today marks our 6-year wedding anniversary. Thanks, Mike, for six amazing years! We've come a long way since those early days of commuting between Dallas and San Antonio :)

Additionally, today is Joshua's 11th birthday and yesterday was Jack's 1st birthday.

Finally, a belated welcome to Sarasi! Jing and I visited Ravisha (and big brother Vidur) on Friday. We had fun catching up with Ravisha and holding the baby.

Ten years

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:43:06 GMT

Another crazy weekend, this time spent in Indiana for my 10-year high school reunion. Am I really that old??

On Thursday the 10th I worked a half day and then Mom, Dad, Mike, and I drove to Franklin. We didn't get in until midnight and only stayed awake long enough to meet the adorable new kitties, Maui & Denali.

On Friday, Mike, Mom, and I met Fran for lunch in Columbus and followed it up with some shopping in Taylorsville and Greenwood. We were largely unsuccessful, though I did find a new pair of shoes to wear to the reunion that night (much better than the ones I'd packed!). During the afternoon we napped with the kitties and hung out. Meg & Lucas came over for showers and the four of us drove to the Rathskellar for the reunion. Things started out a little weird - semi-awkward conversation between people who didn't actually hang out in high school mixed with all of the social groups pairing off to hang out with each other. Neither was a surprise, though. At a 3-hour reunion, my priority was catching up with those I spent most of my time with (whether I saw them last year or not!). I did get to catch up with a couple of people I hadn't talked to in most of those 10 years and a few more from the elementary & middle school days. Post-reunion we hung out in the beer garden, where we met up with more people (some not from our class). Highlights: catching up with Meg & Kate (BFF!); meeting Kate's Jack Black look-alike boyfriend Randy; beer garden shenanigans with Jess, Kara, and Clint; and just hanging out with friends. Post-reunion we went to Adam's apartment to catch up and then went home to crash.

Saturday we had to be in Bloomington at noon, so I picked up M&L for showers and then we made the drive south. Nick & Jodi had a huge array of food for us (including cheese separated by sheets of paper - that's important later). Jason, Brad, and Chuva were also there (and later Hailey woke up to play with us). We feasted on burgers for lunch (and about 4 of us ate partial sheets of paper, not realizing they were stuck to the cheese), played Wii and euchre, and just caught up. It was a nice end to the weekend - spending time with a group of people who defined my high school years. We hurried home by 4 because Moen had driven in from Dayton. He got to the house right before we did and we spent the evening catching up, playing with kitties, and playing some Magic. Sam, Adam, and later M&L came over for a Friday-on-Saturday night dinner of guac, margaritas, and fondue. We wrapped up the night at the Willard with Adam & Moen.

Sunday morning Mom cooked breakfast and then we went on a walk around town to show Moen around. For lunch we feasted at the spaghetti factory (we met Adam and Sam & Fran up there), then Moen & Adam each drove home and Mom & Dad took us to the airport. Our 5:25 pm flight to BWI turned into an (estimated) 8:10 flight, and as we were going to the counter to investigate we ran into Meg, Lucas, Karen, and Rich. We spent an hour in the food court and then the 4 of us headed to our gate. Their flight was delayed as well, so we got to play some multiplayer cooking mama before walking to their gate. We ended up in Indy until 9pm, then our Baltimore flight was delayed until 12:30, putting us into RDU at 2am.

(If you'd like Meg's account of the weekend, you can check it out here)

Mike the Omeganaut

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:06:53 GMT

It's been a busy week! We just spent the evening with Phil (mostly out due to the power outage that followed the nasty storm that plowed through here - more lightning than I've ever seen at one time!!) - BBQ for dinner and dessert and drinks at Tyler's. It was too short but very nice to see him again. And a very happy late birthday to Phil (how did I miss it on here???) :)

Rewind to Tuesday: Jan, Jim, Joshua, and Jonah arrived and we had a blast the whole time. The kids were a lot of fun and we mostly spent our time with Nerf fights, hide-and-go-seek, a tour of UNC and the lab, various video games (Joshua split his time between Metroid Prime 3, Mario Sunshine, and various Wii titles while Jonah mastered Mario Kart DS and Wii Boxing), a LOT of Simpsons on dvd, some soccer, and other miscellaneous games. Adult time included lots of good food, great conversation over homebrew, and card playing. Mom and Dad showed up on Thursday and we celebrated the boys' birthdays that evening. We spent the 4th at the festival downtown, grilling out dinner, then not getting to shoot off fireworks due to the rainstorm. Jim did shoot them off at 10:30 am on Saturday before they all had to go to the airport.

The rest of the week with Mom & Dad has been very laid back. We did some shopping and saw Hancock, cooked some new meals, played a lot of cribbage & trivial pursuit, and watched some movies. Tomorrow we're driving to Indiana for my 10 year HS reunion.

Aside from the wonderful evening with Phil, Mike got some great news tonight. I answered a phone call which ended up being the Penny Arcade guys calling to ask Mike if he'd like to be an omeganaut at PAX this year. If I were enough of a quick thinker I would have answered "you sure you weren't calling for ERIN?" before passing the phone off, but of course thought of it after the fact. M is still kind of in shock and I'm in one of those weird places where I'm surprised even though I was actually expecting the call. I don't know why, because out of a prereg crowd that numbered in the tens of thousands, the odds were low. But last night I had a dream that Jerry and I talked on the phone for an hour - just BSing about work and games and everything. So when I answered the phone today, I knew immediately what was going on even though the only words I heard on the other end were "is this Michael?" Very strange.

Photos from the 4th below: Jonah boxing, Jonah & Joshua's early birthday celebration, Joshua playing DS on our stairs

Live at the Fillmore

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:15:15 GMT

We're back from Dallas and on to our next adventure. Jan, Jim, Josh, and Jonah arrived yesterday evening. We sat around catching up, the boys played video games, Mike grilled dinner, then we made some s'mores and went to bed. Jonah is already rocking the flower cup on mario kart double dash and Joshua is well into Metroid Prime 3. It's fun watching them play the games I grew up on :) I'm also excited to get Jan & Jim playing some Wii later.

Our Dallas trip was way too short but packed full of fun times. Highlights included canasta with S&D; several great meals (especially Ali Baba and Mattito's); hanging out with Tommy & Ted; an evening with Joe, Debbie, Grant, and Eden (pics to come soon); a gaming/pool party at Matt & Amanda's; dinner & Wall-E with Josh & Christina and a bunch of others; and drinks at the Fillmore with Ted, Tommy, and Carl (and randomly meeting up with Shelley & Nathan there too!)... we also finally got to meet the other Erin and the four of us can't wait until PAX :) I ended the trip on a high note when we found a Taco Cabana on the way to the airport. Nothing like scarfing down tortillas & queso before catching a flight.

Though I enjoyed my solo time at home, it's very nice to have Mike here again. We've got a lot planned while the family is here (and to add to the fun, Mom & Dad arrive Thursday).

Currently reading: Myth Alliances

Speaking of baseball

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:34:49 GMT

The game last night was a lot of fun. Let me amend: the social situation at the game last night was a lot of fun. After an hour rain delay, the Bulls lost to the Leigh High Valley something-or-others 7-0. We left in the bottom of the 6th when it was 6-0. Apparently we didn't miss much in those last 3 innings. But we did have excellent seats right behind home plate (too bad for Christina who actually brought a glove because we were also behind the net). Mostly I sat and talked with Sophia, a very jet-lagged Chia-Yi, Christina, Will, Jamie, Brandon (there were a couple others who I didn't get a chance to meet) and Corbin & Patti. Good times...

Team UTC

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:38:07 GMT

Last night as I drove home from the baseball game, the warm, humid air caused my windshield to fog up. As I switched the flow of air in my car toward the windshield, a blast of air hit me in the face and immediately transported me to Huntsville, AL in the summer of 1992, where I was attending a week of Space Academy level I as a part of team UTC (we were all named for corporations participating in the space program). I don't know why the cold air brought me there (maybe it's because I'm finishing up Mike Mullane's book or that I've been watching When We Left Earth on Discovery) but I was suddenly a 12-year-old kid on the training room floor surrounded by my teammates, goofing off and waiting for my turn in the multi-axis trainer. Then I was sitting on the concrete in the shadow of the Pathfinder, helping to design a space station. Other scenes flashed before my eyes: taking BPs in the mid-deck as a payload specialist, gathering in the omnimax theater, aka Spacedome, every night before bed to watch a space-themed movie on the domed screen, and sitting in a large theater taking notes on shuttle systems. Finally my mind settled on the memory that probably triggered the whole event: nighttime in Hab 1, our room dark except for the strip of light from the illuminated atrium outside our door, lying in the back corner top bunk and freezing. They kept the hab cooled to the max (and, from what I've heard, apparently still do) but it was particularly bad at night. They provided us with bedding: sheets and a blanket the thickness of a bath towel. These days, kids come prepared with extra blankets and warm clothes, but I didn't have the benefit of countless internet forums to give me this information. Luckily, being the space nut that I was at the time (and at heart, still am) I'd purchased the clothing package in addition to my flight suit. It came with a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, a sweatshirt, and sweatpants, all stamped with the US Space Academy logos. I had to cinch the drawstring all the way up to keep them from falling down, but that didn't keep me from sleeping in them every night.

Aah, memories. I often thought that at this phase in my life, I'd be applying for the next astronaut class and moving to Houston. Columbia changed most of that - whittling the shuttle fleet down to 3 (with all scheduled to be retired in the next two years) and greatly reducing the launch frequency. Of course the economy and the war don't help. Anyway, I'm probably never going to see space, so who wants to fund my trip to one of the reunion camp weeks?? :)

Update: I got so nostalgic that I scanned a handful of photos from my Space Camp adventure. You can find them here.

Holding down the fort

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:40:14 GMT

I'm actually impressed by how busy I've managed to stay while Mike's been away. This weekend was not an exception. If anything, it was too short!

I got drinks with Will & his coworkers at Lucy's on Wed; hit the grocery store and then cooked a feast way too big for one person on Thurs (chicken parmesan, fettuccine alfredo, salad with fresh garden tomatoes, and a fresh baguette); ate leftovers (this would be repeated Sat & Sun as well) and then hung out with M, A, A, H, and the kids (highlights including blackberry picking, fireflies, story-telling, and bike-riding-observing) on Friday; cleaned, shopped, got the house ready for the family visit, caught up on shows I'd DVR'd, almost finished my book, and played some video games on Sat/Sun.

It's hard to be motivated at work when Mike is in Dallas relaxing and having fun.

We're off to watch the Durham Bulls game tonight with Corbin's lab. It's his birthday so we're celebrating with baseball. Can't complain with that!

Mike and the big D

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:41:35 GMT

Mike went to Dallas yesterday for some much-needed relaxing time home and to get some dental work done. Since I can't join him for another week (and then only for 3 days), I'm living vicariously through his picture mail. Here's what he sent me this morning:

We can buy Shiner bock here (for a premium). Maybe if we're lucky we can find a seasonal version as well. And I know of one bar in town that has it on tap. It didn't really start drinking beer until we moved away, so it makes me sad that I'm missing the Shiner love. My new accidental favorite (they were out of the bock when we were out for my birthday last year) is Shiner black. Of course it's nowhere to be found - Except in TX. I told Mike he has to have some ready and waiting when I arrive next week :)