Meson23 - Archived Blog Posts

[meson23]

Well I predicted correctly, we moved up. In the newest polls we are currently #8 in the nation. Michigan did drop, they are now #3.

The interesting, and more important thing is that Michigan is in the same division as us. We currently lead that division, with Michigan being 3rd (behind us and Ohio State).

This weekend is going to be insane. I spend $80 on some new hockey clothes, and I am seriously thinking of painting my face.

I cant explain it, but I just cant get enough of this sport. It has moved right up to #1 on my list.


GO REDHAWKS!

 

[meson23]

Friday night, a great night!

Miami 4, Michigan 2.

#8 beats #3

GO REDHAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets make it a sweep tomorrow night!

 

[meson23]

Its finally here, the end of this semester! It also marks the end of the last class I have to take. I am just 2 short homework problems away from never having homework again

No final in this class, he just gave us the 2 homework problems to do.

The recent snowstorm closed one of the regional campuses that I teach at, so I didnt have to attend that last class either. Worked out well for the students, they didnt have to take their 3rd and final test. (Plus I dont have to grade them now )

Next semester will be interesting. I am going to be working on the air force base 2 days a week, teaching here 2 days a week, and the rest of the time I will be trying to write my thesis by May 15. That is when I leave for Europe for 3 weeks.

Once I get back, its back to the air force base for the summer, with my official graduation coming in August. I already have a job offer from the base, so that is some good news.

On another note, following the recent sweep of Michigan last weekend, our college hockey team moved from #8 to #2 in the nation!!!!!! We had a tie last night with the #14, and we play the #15 tonight (1.5 hours from now). I imagine if we win tonight, we will still drop a spot or 2 because of the tie.... the first 4 spots are highly contended.

I still have to do all of my christmas shopping, ugh. Perhaps I will do that this coming week since I dont have to take finals. I'll be heading over to my parents house like Dec. 23, so I wont be online till I get back on the 31st.

Dec. 26th my friend and I are heading off to DC for the week. Its going to be fun! We are staying in Arlington, real close to Arlington National Cemetery. I've never been out to DC before, so I am looking forward to it.

Thats it from me for now.

 

[meson23]

Today has been much like the rest of the week - boring.
I have already taken my afternoon nap, only to have it cut short by the maintenance man waking me up.

Thank god for the 5 hours of star trek that are on everyday or I would just go nuts!!

I just got a call from our department chair saying the university wasnt going to pay me for teaching a class at one of our regional campuses.... no problem, guess I wont be teaching that class then . I guess its being worked out, I just dont understand the problem - they paid me last semester to do it, nothing has changed. I really hate it when people sign things they have no clue what they are for, it just causes me problems in the end.

I start my research with the government on Tuesday at the air force base. Looking forward to that! Its some great experience, good for the resume, plus I like looking at the airmen in their uniforms

I cant believe I am saying this, but I am so ready for the winter break to be over... at least when school is going I have a little more to do, and my friends will be back in town.

I think tomorrow I will go into my office and lab and try to get things ready for the new semester. I hope my advisor is in so we can talk about my research as well. I am so ready to get this thesis written!

On a more positive note, I am starting to get my trip to Europe planned. Looks like we will be leaving May 14th and returning the 31st. I am not sure exactly where we are going, just that a lot of the time will be spent in germany, and that prague and switzerland are on the list. Perhaps we will go back to Nice, France for a bit... that place was just awesome!

 

[meson23]

Well as you can tell by the last blog entry, I lost a whole day this week. I know as of Tuesday morning, I knew it was Tuesday. Somepoint later in the day I got it in my head it was monday, and well the rest of the week was off by one day. Since I didnt have school, or anything to keep me on top of things. You can imagine my surprise Friday evening, me thinking its thursday, when I realized I had less than an hour to get ready and go to the hockey game.

At least I remembered my sister's birthday, so that was good.

Monday starts my last semester in graduate school! I cant wait to get it all done!

I started looking into immigrating to Canada today. I was shocked that I actually should qualify very easily! I havent decided if I want to go for sure, I know I will be here for a while longer, I want to work for a while to get some experience.
My decision will most likely be determined by how things in this country go over the next few years. Plus I need to actually spend some time visiting that country, to make sure I would like it.

 

[meson23]

Well its official. I am US Government property as of today, approximately 9am.

I started my job (really an internship) as an engineer today with the Air Force. Its only 2 days a week as of now, while i finish writng my master's thesis, but that doesnt mean anything. I still had to go through all the processing.

Its amazing sometimes how two people, sitting right across a room from each other with NO divide can not have a clue what the other person does

After swearing an oath to uphold the constitution (that didnt make sense, I am a civillian, but I digress...) I got to joyfully spend the next 7 hours going from office to office to get a person to sign a paper. In some instances they would give me information, but that wasnt too often. Not to mention that the base I work at is divided into 3 areas, 1 which is not accessible to the others without leaving base and going back on at another point - so I racked up the miles driving and walking in the rain carrying my entire life in an envelope. (passport, birth certificate, Social card, slective service card, drivers license, etc.)

I can withing 2 signatures to completing the entire process today, which amazed one of the military guys I work with Normally it takes people over a week to get around to doing this.

So needless to say, I am TIRED.

 

[meson23]

I guess I can add myself to the list of people having weird dreams the last few days. Mine last night was quite awkward. In my dream, I had a baby - literally. Then the rest of my dream seemed to center around trying to be a good parent, but failing. I dont get it really.

Everything else in my life is going ok so far. I've been fairly busy lately. In a way, I am working 3 jobs. 1 as a student, 1 as a teacher for labs, and 1 as a researcher for the air force. It keeps me busy, which can suck at times... but I get paid from 3 places, which can be good all the time!
In fact, it caused me to blow $350 yesterday. I kinda regret it now. I spent that on DVD's. I've been wanting the entire MASH seasons on dvd for a long time, so I bought them. 9 seasons at $20 each. Then I splurged to buy Vol 1-4 of Futurama on DVD, that ran me about another $100. Then I realized I didnt have the 3rd volume of Family Guy, so I bought it. ($30) Then I bought like 4 or 5 cheap comedy dvd's. Oh well, its done... I will soon forget the stupidity of it.

I've been trying to get my next trip to Europe planned. We had some major changes in the plans, which I kinda like but at the same time dont. We were going to Germany, but now we are going to spend the time in Ireland and Scotland. I really want to see those 2 places in detail, but I was looking forward to Germany and Prauge as well. My travel buddy is coming over for the weekend, and we shall strive to get it all planned out and the airline tickets bought.

I am also going up to Toronto and Montreal over spring break. Yeah, I know you are supposed to go somewhere warm for spring break. I'm looking forward to Toronto, not sure about Montreal.

I've been spending every free moment following the olympics and hockey. My university team is ranked #2 in the nation, we were #1 for a week. I love it!

Thats about all from the desk of Meson.

 

[meson23]

For those of you who may have noticed that I am not on much anymore I thought I would give you an update.

I've been busy with work and my thesis. Also following our Hockey team has become almost a job in itself, especially as we move into the playoffs.

Next week I am going to Toronto for part of my spring break, so I am definitely looking forward to that.

Thursday is Green Beer Day!!!! If you dont remember be going on about it last year this time, go here to find out what it is.

Also, I just felt I needed a break from things here. I was spending way too much time on the site. I'll still be on randomly, but probably not as often as I was.

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[meson23]

Well I've been off on a sabbatical so to speak for a while now, but things in my life finally settled down again, so I should be back on the site more often now.

Lots of things have happened since my last blog... In May I was able to go back to Europe again, for 2.5 weeks. I visited Ireland (Shannon, Limerick, Cork, Blarney, Kinsale, Adare), Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh), Belgium (Brussels, Brugge), Luxembourg city, and France (Rennes, Bayeux). It's hard to pick my favorite place, I really liked the time I spent in Cork. The people were really cool, much cooler than Dublin in my opinion... the pubs were awesome, and I loved Blarney Castle. Scotland was also a blast, I really liked walking all over Edinburgh.... the castle wasnt all it was hyped up to be, but the rest of the town was cool enough. I climbed to the top of Arthur's Seat (I think that was the name), it was an amazing view.. and a long hike.
I didnt care for Belgium too much, and Luxembourg was a beautiful city, but not a lot to do there. France was awesome, as usual. We went to Omaha Beach, Pointe Du Hoc, and the American and German cemeteries... it was definitely an experience I will remember forever... no matter how much you read, how many movies you watch about it, nothing really prepares you for the feeling you get standing there looking down on the beach, looking at all the blast craters, abandoned pill boxes, etc. I would love to go back and spend a lot more time exploring all the sites in northern France.

After returning, I started full blast on writing my master's thesis again... since I was planning on graduating in August. I managed to finish it in time, and successfully defended it in front of my committee (they had no changes for me in the written thesis) so that means I've got my Masters degree!!!

I'm working in Dayton now for the Air Force doing research and development work. It's fun, when they let us work... right now there is some bull shit unit compliance inspection, and everyone is afraid the IG is gonna rip our asses apart, so most of the work has been stopped to prepare for the inspection. As usual, since I made the mistake of showing some competence at what I do I'm getting dumped on to do everything.... but at least I have a job, and once this shit is done I will be able to get a few papers published! Thats great for the ole resume.

Also have a new man in my life. I got him back in July when he was just 3 months old, and named him Loki - after the god of mischief. Here's a couple of pictures of him...

He's definitely the boss in this house, so I've gotta get his permission before I get online... right now he's resting comfortably on his favorite bean bag chair, so I think I am safe.

Thats about it in my life.... look for more posts and blogs to come!

 

[meson23]

At 2:10am on Thanksgiving morning my mother passed away. She had been diagnosed with kidney cancer only a month before, had surgery to remove one of the kidneys and sent home to recover. Then this past monday she went back into the hospital due to pain, and on wednesday we were told there was nothing that could be done. 12 hours later she was gone.
Honestly I couldnt describe how I feel, even if I wanted to go into that. Lets say its more of a numbness, sick type of feeling and leave it at that. Now the so called healing process starts, we'll see how that goes.
Things like this tend to open your eyes to certain things. I realized that there are many important things in my life that I need to start attending to. I had a great relationship with my mother, and she will be forever in my heart and mind.
I dont know how often I will be back on here, those who know me well enough can keep in contact with email. I'll try to drop by now and then.

 

[meson23]

In case anyone does read this, just thought I'd mention that I am going to try to stop by more often now, maybe not as much as I used to but at least more often than every few months

Things are kinda hectic now in my life. I just accepted a new job offer which requires me to move back to my home state of Indiana. Not a lot to do there, but at least I will be close to family. Plus the new job is a great opportunity, great career move, and pays 10k more a year!

Other than that, not much else goin on here. I'll try to write a longer update in the next few weeks once I get settled at the new home, job, etc.

 

[meson23]

Its always a fun time of the year, getting all the family together and trying to keep out of the minor arguments that inevitably come up.

I enjoyed thanksgiving day, lots of good food. I put my christmas tree up Friday, the first time in 2 years. Now I just need to educate my cats on the importance of not destroying it... any suggestions?

I even managed to buy me an early christmas present online, and save $150. I got a Garmin nuvi 255W navigation device. I've wanted one for a while, but I finally decided to just buy it! Not sure if it was a good buy or not, since I dont have a need for it everyday... but maybe now I will have an excuse to travel more?