Between a colossal case of Writer's Block, the new job and the time-compressed summer class schedule it's hard out here to write a post once in a while. The high points of the summer:
New job
I am know a shop tech/ CAD draftsman at LA Research and Engineering. That's LA as in Lower Alabama, not the massive smog/smug maelstrom on the west coast.
This is a small firm which generally picks up small one-off projects. The pay blows but it abounds with wonderful opportunities and learning experiences. A fair number of engineering students pick up summer co-ops with large companies and better pay, to end up as go-fers or copy bitches. All in all I'm happy to wrap my mind around projects ranging from re-configuring the x-rays at my school's new Health Sciences building to developing machinery for pet supply manufacturers. All sorts of weird shit comes down the pike but at the end of the day I get to cut my CAD teeth, and then go back to the machine shop and build the job from scratch. In the process I've become a decent welder and a semi-competent machinist; life is good.
New Classes
Taking two classes over the summer is a PITA; I'm glad the GI Bill considers 7 semester hours over the summer to be a full-time schedule. I've made up for the spring CAL II debacle, and wrapped up my last gen-ed requirement with a microeconomics class. This week will bring about finals and a much-needed respite from the morning and night classes that bracket my workday.
New Place
In the middle of all this, I somehow found a way to move all my shit into an apartment five minutes' walk from three decent bars and a corner grocery, to say nothing of a ten minute walk from campus. If I didn't have the 45-minute commute to work each day I wouldn't need to drive at all.
That's about it so far. I've relented on kicking around the Obamatard now that the kool-aid has worn off and more people have finally seen that ass-clown for what he is, as his idiotic economic measures fail and his polls plummet.
More to follow.
Showing posts with label minutiae. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minutiae. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sore as hell
But not huffing and puffing
The holidays are almost over (thank God) and all the gluttony is over. I've been a silent fella for the last week, but there's been a method to the madness.
It was an active Christmas, more family at the table than there has been in five years. Considering that five years ago on Christmas Eve my father died, and consequently Christmas is a shitty time for the family, it was quite an accomplishment. At least there weren't as many leftovers to gorge on as usual.
In light of all the gluttony, my inter-semester and inter-job idleness, and the restlessness that always gets to me this time of year, I've begun a ruthless exercise program. I've been running and bicycling ridiculous mileages to keep the weight down (since I quit smoking it's been a royal pain in the ass.) It's also good prep for the marathon kayak paddle I'm still conspiring to commit. I just hope those who are in it with me are as into the preparation as I am, or I am going to be towing a lot of those sonsabitches home.
After a couple of months of this I will be more than capable of doing so. In the last three days I've biked 15 miles one day, biked 10 miles the next, and run five on the third. Great, considering I haven't set a foot to a pedal since September and haven't run since August, which was the first time I had run in three months back then.
There's been a lot of pent-up energy unexpended in me lately, and I'm still not out of the mental woods since the breakup. That's been driving me pretty hard lately. God knows why.
Either way, the end of the year is upon us, and I'm marking tomorrow and its plummeting temperatures (here) with a paddle trip over in Fairhope to watch the fireworks at the pier, like I did on July 4th a couple of years ago.
The holidays are almost over (thank God) and all the gluttony is over. I've been a silent fella for the last week, but there's been a method to the madness.
It was an active Christmas, more family at the table than there has been in five years. Considering that five years ago on Christmas Eve my father died, and consequently Christmas is a shitty time for the family, it was quite an accomplishment. At least there weren't as many leftovers to gorge on as usual.
In light of all the gluttony, my inter-semester and inter-job idleness, and the restlessness that always gets to me this time of year, I've begun a ruthless exercise program. I've been running and bicycling ridiculous mileages to keep the weight down (since I quit smoking it's been a royal pain in the ass.) It's also good prep for the marathon kayak paddle I'm still conspiring to commit. I just hope those who are in it with me are as into the preparation as I am, or I am going to be towing a lot of those sonsabitches home.
After a couple of months of this I will be more than capable of doing so. In the last three days I've biked 15 miles one day, biked 10 miles the next, and run five on the third. Great, considering I haven't set a foot to a pedal since September and haven't run since August, which was the first time I had run in three months back then.
There's been a lot of pent-up energy unexpended in me lately, and I'm still not out of the mental woods since the breakup. That's been driving me pretty hard lately. God knows why.
Either way, the end of the year is upon us, and I'm marking tomorrow and its plummeting temperatures (here) with a paddle trip over in Fairhope to watch the fireworks at the pier, like I did on July 4th a couple of years ago.
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