Periodicdesign

Well, I haven’t posted in nearly a month. I was starting to pick up my postings, but time always gets the better of me. I figured I would go ahead and just run a dump of the past few weeks with highlights of the weekend.

To begin, school has been super hectic so far. I just finished the halfway point with my final Bachelor’s class at NVCC. Yeah, it’s English 251 (World Literature), but it’s still a lot of reading and writing. I could currently give anyone a dissertation and/or rundown of the likenesses of civilization and the wilderness with considerations on the adverse affects of both on mankind and how such romanticism in the realm of the wilderness effects writings of the time. I could also feed you all cubes of Tofu until you vomit. Each would be equally engaging I’m sure. To date, my grade in the class is a 100%, which is great considering that during college I was a slacker when it came to my general study courses. I was always attentive and received high marks in my major courses (of course, who doesn’t), but my GPA in those pesky mundane courses such as English, Math, Social Sciences and the like, always seemed to be uninteresting to me. I was a huge fan of Sociology and History, but outside of those courses, the east side of Shepherd University’s campus was very unappealing. Other than that, I was granted an extension and only have five papers (250 word minimum) and two exams to complete, and then freedom! I look forward to partying hard upon the completion of my undergraduate degree. Then it is on to more appealing things such as a graduate program somewhere. I’m still deciding on all of that.

Speaking of graduate programs, I met some nice folks from the University of Baltimore, while attending User Experience Week at the end of August. Kevin and Larry are both U of B individuals, just on different levels. Kevin is the Webmaster for their web site and Larry is currently enrolled in their Master’s of Science in Interaction Design and Information Architecture program. I have been weighing my opportunities in the professional world and wondering what, if any, steps I should take next. I have had a move to California in my mind for the past six months or so and as feasible as it may sound, a move to California may have to take a back seat with the potential of scholastic improvement. There is much to ponder on this front as this fall unfolds. My current focus is to finish my Bachelor’s, party hard for a few weekends and then start focusing on my next moves some time in late November.

The new house is coming along nicely. We are unpacked for the most part and settled in. My only complaint to date is that although the house is always clean, we may have to setup a chore list. Things are getting done, but individuals are slacking from time to time. My roommate Helen is contemplating moving to Orlando, Florida. She has an offer with her current employer to have all expenses paid and move to the land of oranges to take on a new marketing position. There isn’t much worry on the end of the household in regards to our financial situation if she would move. Upon taking the position, rent would be covered by her employer for the remainder of the lease. Although this puts me a little at ease, I’m not sure how well Keegan will handle this situation if she leaves. He and I have been having many talks in the past few days and I’ve been trying to give him some constructive criticism and advice on the events that may unfold. I’m not a shrink by any means, but I don’t want my friends to think a situation is as bad as it seems. Sometimes what may seem bad is actually a blessing in disguise. As far as the situation is concerned, I’ll go more into detail as events unfold in the coming month(s).

Travel plans for the fall are as follows:

• 9/30 - 10/2 (Tentative): Flying to Charleston, West Virginia to see an old college friend, Tara.
• 10/20 - 10/23 (Tentative): Flying to Chicago, Illinois with my roommate Keegan to visit friends and family.
• 10/29: Driving to Shepherdstown, West Virginia with Keegan for Shepherd University‘s Homecoming.
• 11/9-11/13 (Tentative): Drive/ride with Katie across the country. I will be helping her move to California.

Travel plans have been placed in tentative mode for the time being. I just unloaded my UAW-GM 500 NASCAR tickets last night to some friends. Since my parents and I aren’t on speaking terms right now, it seemed like the best solution for the current situation. Since canceling those plans, I’ve been scurrying trying to plan other things to do.

Outside of all that, I’ve just been enjoying life and this past weekend was no exception. Saturday I road my bike to Frederick, Maryland for my friend Meredith’s house warming party, which was a blast by the way and then Sunday afternoon, Kyle and I road the bike’s up to see Meredith and Mike for a little lounge time/post house warming chat. While we were out shopping, Kyle and I ran into my old co-worker Brian and his friend Will. It was good seeing Brian again. We talked a little about music (I was shopping for some new Trance – by the way Brian, awesome box set!), work and the usual. Life was good on both ends, which was good to hear.

That’s all I really have for now. I’ll have some other dumps over the next few days to write about. Ta ta for now!

I’ve made a few moves in the past week or so, one being to my new place in Arlington, VA and the other being a switch from one web hosting provider to another. Keegan, over at The Big Noob, pointed out a nice little yearly savings on web hosting that he stumbled across. I figured for the low price of less than $10 USD, I couldn’t go wrong. Even if I didn’t like the service, it’s only $10 USD and I can always switch to somewhere else. When I say $10 USD, I mean for an entire year, not just for one month or for setup fees. That number was the entire cost! I’ve been happy with the switch so far and the flexibility that Dreamhost provides along with the stellar support and services has been an all around great switch. I’m still making some updates to the site and getting all the bugs out from the move.

As far as the move to Arlington, VA went…well…it went. We all were very tired in the end. The weather was extremely hot and after fighting with U-Haul for several hours the night before (and sending me all over the countryside for a truck) we all just wanted to vegetate. I would like to thank Betsy, Forrest, Shaun (Mule), Lynwood, Krista and Melissa (Liz) for all their help and we will be having you over in the near future for payment. I would also like to thank Helen’s parents for their generous furniture donations to the house. I don’t think we would be as well outfitted if it weren’t for you two. Thanks to all!!

I will post some photos of the house in the coming weeks (once the place is all in order). Keep your eyes peeled. This place is hotter than the oven door, and for what we pay in rent, it is a steal!

I’ve seen many strange things in this town, but what I saw this morning topped them all. My morning commute is filled with laughter and cheery goodness by listening to Elliott in the Morning, and by the time I reach the 270 spur I’m in tears with what antics Elliott is talking about or making someone do. Of course, I happen to glance over when passing the Democracy Boulevard exit, and I see this black C4 Chevy Corvette. The car wasn’t the odd thing, but the guy driving was what I thought was odd. He was brushing his teeth!

Now I’ve seen people reading the paper while driving, looking at maps while driving, even women putting on make-up, but brushing your teeth? Come on! My real concern is not the fact he was brushing his teeth, but where do you spit when you’re done? I know I wouldn’t be brushing my teeth in my $45,000 USD car if I had one.

I’m posting this letting everyone know that I will be leaving for two weeks and you might notice some quiet around here. Of course, the quiet part isn’t really news. I will be traveling to Sydney and Melbourne in Australia for a total of 12 days. I’ll bring back plenty of pictures and video for all to see. If I can either borrow my friends PowerBook again or actually throw enough money together from clients and purchase my Power Mac, I’ll toss together a little iMovie action and have a DVD that can be viewed instead of posting a slew of pictures.

See you all in two weeks!