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November 04, 2008

Voting for transformation?

I have been planning a post on the election and voting for a couple of days now, but couldn't find the time or the words I wanted to say. Thankfully, a friend of mine (Frank), posted over at his blog (The Soft Lounge), a great "Post of Cleansing" about the election. Everything that Frank says in that entry applies to me as well.

I have never like politics, but I have voted in every major election I've been eligible for. One vote probably doesn't make a difference, but I always feel like it is one right that I have that I should exercise. In both of the presidential elections I voted in previously, my candidate lost.

Continue reading "Voting for transformation?" »

October 03, 2008

Various Titles

It's been a little while since the last update, so I wanted to take a few minutes to write about a few things that have been going on around here:

Alumni Weekend '08
This past weekend was the annual University of Richmond Ice Hockey Alumni weekend. I have now been back for all three times this event has been held. It is amazing to me that I last played for UR in 2004 - time sure flies. Anyway, it was certainly a weekend of memories (good and bad), debaucery, and some hockey. I took some pictures and plan on a blog entry specifically about this sometime this weekend.

Shirlington Village Oktoberfest Nerfed
Every year Capital City Brewing Co. celebrates Oktoberfest by inviting a number of breweries to Shirlington for beer sampling. This has been a great event, and was probably my favorite event in Shirlington (mainly because I couldn't care less about the Theatre stuff). It used to be that for $25 you got unlimited tastings - and with 42 breweries with multiple beers, that was a necessity. But thanks to complaints of teetotalers and generally grumpy people, the Virginia ABC has stepped in and nerfed the event. Now you are only allowed 10 drink tickets in the small sampler glasses - about 1/4 of a pint glass. That means you get about 2.5 beers for $20 (the new price). So, it's kinda not worth it anymore. It's a shame, because this was a great event.

Norovirus Outbreak at Georgetown
So, almost 200 students became sick at Georgetown this week after eating at the dining hall (aka Leo's). They closed down the dining hall for a couple of days while they were searching for the cause, and totally disinfected the building. My initial thought was "Wow, I'm glad I don't work on Main Campus anymore!" They later discovered that it was norovirus, a virus that is transmitted through faecally contaminated food. Really I'm not all that suprised it happened, given that a load of crap (literally) sat on the floor of the 3rd floor of St. Mary's Hall right in front of the elevator for about 5-6 hours a couple weeks ago. I'm not saying the two incidents are related, but.... At least now we at GU will be in a cleaner state of mind!

Vice Presidential Debate
I'm not a political person - in fact politics just tend to make me angry - but I did watch a large portion of the VP debate. I hadn't been planning on it, but it was on the TV on the treadmill I was working out on in the gym, so I decided to watch it. I consider myself still an undecided voter. I don't particularily want another Republican, but I'm not in favor of the Democrats policy of big government. I'm also dubious that either McCain or Obama can actually bring about any positive change. That being said, I don't understand how people are saying that debate was a tie. I thought Palin looked lost for a large portion of the debate, constantly losing her place in her notecards. I think she looked flustered many times, almost like a deer in the headlights. (Not to mention she sounds like a Canadian - and do you really want someone like that in office?) Biden seemed much more intelligent, but kind of like a whiner. All in all, I thought it was mostly a he-said-she-said battle of who did what, and not a whole lot of actual talk about the issues and platforms.

That's about it for now. There have been some other interesting developments this week, and I hope to have another post about those sometime soon.

October 30, 2007

Spooky Jack-o-lanterns

Martha and I had some fun with the last three remaining pumpkins at our Harris Teeter. They are now sitting proudly out on our balcony where only we (and a few neighbors) can see them.

September 07, 2007

Random Thoughts & Updates

It's been a while since I've been in the 'ol blogosphere, so it's time for a few updates and thoughts:

1) I am once again a college student. This time I am taking classes at Georgetown University, pursuing the Masters of Science in Computer Science degree. I'm actually pretty excited about this. This is the first year GU has offered this program, so I'm in the inaugural class, which is neat in itself. I'm also pretty happy to be continuing the CS part of my education. The fact that it is free, thanks to Tuition Assistance from GU, it a huge bonus.

I'm taking two courses (as a half-time student), Databases and Software Engineering. I'm more nervous about SE than DB, but they should both be good experience. I have not decided what I want to focus in yet, though it will likely be SE.

2) I missed my 10-year High School Reunion. I'm not sure if I'm upset about this or not. I suppose it would have been nice to reconnect, but from a couple people who I talked to who went, nobody I hung out with back them was there. Meh.

3) I absolutely HATE phonebooks. With a passion. I feel like buring the next phone book I see. If you work with me, you know why.

4) Fall Hockey Starts Soon! I've got a pretty good team lined up - the Washington Wolves. With about 6 guys from Richmond, one from Hopkins, one from St. Joe's and a couple of guys who are good players, I think it will be fun. Plus we got the sweetest color jerseys. EVER. Hopefully I hear from the Hockey Director at Kettler Capitals Ice Plex soon about the start of season. I suspect it will be after the Capitals' training camp.

5) Visiting Tom. Went to Marietta College to visit my brother, who this summer started his Physician Assistant program. You can see an awesome picture of him here (scroll to the bottom), where he discusses the fact that he is very excited to begin his clinical rotations. Anyway, after visiting, I have to say that there is definitely something to be said for small-town living. The fact that we ate at a nice Mexican restaurant for under $8 a plate was great. That doesn't happen in DC. Maybe someday I'll end up in a small town.

That's about it as far as the updates go. I've got a couple other posts in my mind, and hopefully they make the screen in the next couple of days.

July 09, 2007

Day 5


Day5
Originally uploaded by jersar79.
Well, so far so good. I've made it five days in a row on the 365 days project. I figure it'll start getting more difficult as I run out of ideas on what to do.

We had an eventful weekend, having a picnic down at Lady Bird Johnson Park, and then going to the Folk Life Festival on the National Mall. Although it was 95 degrees, if certainly felt nice to get out of our tiny apartment...

Speaking of apartments, we went and looked at our new on in the Delancey building. It's still kinda small for our taste, but I think it will work out. The huge veranda is a nice thing to have. We're supposed to move in on August 1. We'll see if they have the county's approval at that time, or if it gets delayed (again).