Month: March 2008

I’m Hot for Cheerleader

Pictures of an IU cheerleader in the buff are on the net.  The HT did a story about it, and she is quoted as saying that “she’s been harrassed via e-mail so much since they (the pictures) were published that she had to leave Bloomington for California.”

What???

Apparently, an ex-boyfriend is to blame.  He wanted revenge.

The moral of the story here is:

If you don’t want people to see what you’ve done in this digital age, don’t do it!  This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

If I were a young coed, I would love to have a body like that.  I’m sure my wife would as well.

Easter with My Little Halfshell

Taylor has spring break this week.  She stayed last weekend with us, and is staying the evenings with us thru tonight.

Over the weekend we celebrated Easter with my wifes’ family bright and early on Saturday, and on Sunday with my family.  It was honest to goodness pure family fun.

We’ve missed Taylor tremendously, and hopefully sooner than later she’ll be up here permanently.  This weekend her mom and step-dad moved the majority of their belongings up here to their new home.  It’s about 30 minutes away, but that’s better than 4 hours.

We have been very busy, but having loads of fun.  Taylor got 2 new video games for the PS2 from aunties Brenda & Michele.  She got Petz Cats 2 and Madagascar.  The Cats game is more like a “beginner RPG game.”  I don’t like it much, but she does.  I do enjoy the Madagascar game though, as it is like the movie.  The best part is you get to “be” all the main characters, unlike most video games.  Taylor plays until it gets too hard, and then daddy takes over.

Taylors nighties were getting a little tight, so we got out my vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles PJ’s.  I wore these in the late 80’s and they’re still rockin’ in 08!  It kind of reminds me of this picture.  Taylor’s only complaint?  “These feel like boys clothes!”  That’s cause they are!

I’m gonna miss her when she goes back to Tennessee, hopefully for the last time.

That Empty Feeling

Since I’ve started taking Chantix, and quit smoking.  I have this strange feeling, it’s like I’m empty inside now.

While non smokers may not understand what I’m talking about, its more mental than physical and in my case has deep implications.

When you smoke, that’s always your out, or “thing” to do.  Some smokers, like me, always try to “do” something like smoke.  It helps pass the time.

Now that I’m not enjoying my habit, my life feels empty.  It’s very strange, and I’m still getting used to it.

To help, I have been making trips to the nearest gas stations every night to get a pop or ice cream, etc.  It makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something.  Others think I’m just using it as an excuse to smoke, but I’m staying true this time.

Our Taxes at Work

This building is government subsidized housing for elderly people.  It’s located in Decatur, Alabama.

You honestly can’t really tell from the ground.  But pictures are worth a 1,000 words in this case.  Prompted by complaints from a jewish activist and a US Senator, more money is going to be placed in this building to try to disguise the shape.

According to a researcher, the swastika shape pays homage to the German scientists who came to nearby Huntsville after World War II and designed the rockets that put Americans on the moon.

14 Days!

Today we delivered everything back to the Kelley School of Business MBA program.  I must say, I am quite astonished that I was able to complete this mega-transfer in a mere 14 days.

Total time spent on each tape was about 50 minutes on average.  Multiply that by 79 tapes, and that’s almost 66 hours of work.  I actually put my computer to “bed” so it could cool down, as it was working non stop.

Let me go over some of the interesting things about this particular job.

Tapes:  DVCAM and BetaCam SP.  Professional quality videotape, that is just the same as their commercial counterparts (Mini-DV and Betamax) just larger.

Equipment:  Professional grade comes at a professional price.  I had to rent one player, but it was much more economically feasible to actually purchase the other.  While the one I purchased isn’t a ferrari, it gets the job done.  Thanks to my wife Rachel for finding this new one for the same price as very used ones.

Technical Difficulties:  Originally they wanted all of the tapes to be transferred to DVDs, after some testing I found out this was not going to be possible.  So then we tried to see if I could upload them to IU’s MDSS (Massive Data Storage Service).  That was highly unlikely as my upload speed is 384k max, the estimated time to upload 1 was over 36 hours.  So we decided on an external hard drive.  I found this awesome one on newegg.  At 1 TB (Terabyte) it had plenty of space, it also has 3 different connection types, USB, Firewire A and Firewire B.  External isn’t really my thing, but this thing rocks!

Kristi and Ashly were blown away by the speed of this, and I hope that they are equally impressed by my professionalism and price.  Now that I am in the Indiana University network for independent contractors, it will be much easier for me to do other work for the university.  I just hope that my hard work will pay off and other professional work such as this will come my way.

Giving Up The Monster

I have attempted to quit smoking many times.  I have used the patch, gum and lozenges.

This time I’m taking a more pharmaceutical try.  Last Tuesday, I had an appointment with my physician who I hadn’t seen in almost 10 years.  He prescribed Chantix, an interesting drug.

This drug works in a very interesting manner, and there are other drugs which work the same way, just on different drugs.

It works by blocking and eventually killing the receptors in the brain that crave and cause a person to desire nicotine.  I worked on a similar drug at Baxter that did the same thing regarding alcohol.  There is another one I know of that works with morphine.

I’m still smoking, my official quit date is Monday.  Chantix is taken for a week while you smoke, to build up the drugs level in your system.

I deeply hope I’m able to drop this habit.  My health isn’t as good as it should be, at $4 to $5 a pack, it’s not a cheap habit.  We guesstimate that it’s costing between $1000 and $1500 a year.

Wish me luck!