Category: Special

Sometimes, life isn’t general.

Yay Summer!

School, Jenn’s Job, Daily happenings, Counter, FaceBook, Moving, Camping, and more. Not a whole lot of it though.

So, here is the latest.

As of 9:30 AM Wednesday, I am on break. I never need to go to Delta again. Final grades are supposed to be up tomorrow.

Saturday Jenn and I went for a walk around State Park, and had a corn dog at Muscle Beach. I had heard they hand dip them, but it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Walk was still fun. And, I set up my hammock and enjoyed that in the back yard Saturday night and a while yesterday.

Jenn accepted a position in the GIGU at Spectrum this morning, physical and all that is next week. We are going tomorrow to look at apartments.

I stopped by the library Friday. Yeah, they miss us. They had a 250+ computer day, we used to get maybe 200 in the summer. With the other branches closed, book check outs may be down, but certainly not computer use.

Jenn broke the counter record with 6058th visit, beating old counter currently at 6057.

I signed up on facebook. I was kind of bored Tuesday evening and decided what the hell.

My room is looking more and more empty. I have a ways to go but am getting there.

Camping should be soon. Not sure exactly.

OK, I am sure I forgot some. I meant to update Wednesday night but put it off, then forgot, then lead to this. Updates will probably remain rather sporadic for a couple weeks.

Ok, later.

nick

The Final Week

BBQ, School, Count, Travel, and Jenn.

My last week at Delta, so sad.

So, the party went well. Fifteen people including myself, and loads of fun. Sadly, I do have quite a pile of leftovers though.

My physics professor made us the deal that if we get 100% on the last 3 assignments we don’t need to take the exam. Well, I just submitted the third and have 100% all around. Honestly, with a 91.9%, the exam is more likely to hut me. We have 3 lab grades coming back, but the chances of an A in the class are pretty much nil. A 4.0 semester would have been nice, but it doesn’t look like it will happen at Delta.

I had last CNC today, last Physics tomorrow (since I don’t need to show for exam I don’t need to take Thursday), and last Materials will be Wednesday. Quite exciting.

Scott earned the honor of 6000th visitor on Saturday morning. 6058th will break the old counters record later this week I hope.

Tulip festival starts May 5th, I think Jenn and I will go to that. Maybe get some camping in around there too.

Jenn has 4 interviews tomorrow at Spectrum and Saint Mary’s in GR.

OK, that’s all I have for now.

nick

Grand Rapids

My “Super Linky” telling of our “School’s Out” Vacation trip.

So, with school out and some last Christmas shopping to get done, Jenn and I decided we needed a little vacation, and that is what we took over the weekend.

Friday I went to the staff meeting, and then Rudy J’s with everyone (for the last time) after which Jenn and I left. We arrived in Kentwood around 2:30 for our 2 night stay at the AmeriSuites Grand Rapids – Airport. I was rather tired so I took a nap, but Jenn ordered a pizza to tide her over as she didn’t get Rudy J’s (her choice, I offered but she didn’t want to wake up early). When I got up, we decided to go find some food, so we drove down 28th street, the Bay Rd. of Kentwood. We drove and looked at the offerings and wound up several miles down at US-131, which is quite a ways down from where we started. So, we got on 131 and went up to downtown (yeah, that makes alot of sense) and looked at Spectrum for Jenn some, then got on I-96 and went back toward the hotel. We again headed down 28th and decided on BD’s Mongolian Barbecue, it was a very good choice. We also stopped at Meijer for a few things we had forgotten or just hadn’t thought of, and partly just to browse. They have a much greater selection than the Meijers around here. That was about it for Friday, we watched some TV and sat around, but nothing very exciting.

Saturday we got up around 9:30 to go try the free breakfast, it was better than most: sausage, scrambled eggs, bagels, waffles, english muffins. They weren’t keeping up with it real well though, there was no waffle batter left and the eggs were overcooked and getting cold. It was free though. After showering, we headed up to Howard City, to see the city we would probably have moved to, had we not seen it. Wow. To call the town a little hickish would be an exaggerated compliment to the trailer park, bar, and dollar store that somehow managed to get on the map. It’s not horrible, I suppose there is still a chance, but we are definitely exploring other options now. After that, we went to downtown Grand Rapids and went to the VanAndel Museum. Lots of cool stuff there, from the whale to the $1000 bills, a piece of meteorite, and wildlife exhibits of Michigan. We even got some astronaut ice cream.

Following that fun, we drove back toward Kentwood and stopped at Panera for lunch. We headed back to the hotel for a nap, then went out to the mall to finally get in some Christmas shopping. We went through the entire Woodland Mall finding nothing, so we headed over to the slightly crummier CenterPointe Mall. We still were finding nothing, and decided that the bar back in Woodland could be a good idea. Right after this decision, we found the first gift.

We went back to Woodland, and went into Bar Louie. Jenn had the Pom Peche Martini, and I the Riptide, and we shared some loaded tater-tots. While sitting there, I saw Dragon’s Milk on tap, and we tried that too, freaking awesome beer, and made in Holland, MI too. So following our refreshment break, we went on to find the remaining presents we needed, and head back to the hotel for some time in the hot tub, followed be a failed attempt at a good nights rest.

Sunday we woke up at 10 ish, packed, and headed out right at checkout (which is 11, we left around 10:59, really). We weren’t realy hungry so got on the freeway and started our way east, getting off in Lansing so Jenn could show me around. We ate at IHOP (my first time, as was it my first time at every restaurant we stopped at this trip) which was pretty good. We then headed to Perry, because we have a connection to the village, then headed home.

So, that was our weekend. We had fun.

That’s all for now, a smaller update before the weekend.

nick

The Day

Job, Genji, Christmas, and School.

Today, at 3:00 PM, there is a a system wide staff meeting where we will learn who stays and who goes. I won’t be able to make it, as I will be in my Intro to Business exam from 3 – 4:30, but as soon as I am done I will be making calls to see what I can find out.

The rumor is I will have Genji 3x by the end of the month. Once for our work Christmas party, once with my dad and grandma, and once with Scott. Enjoyable, exciting, but expensive.

Christmas is approaching which means I should probably start figuring out what I am getting everyone. I bought Jenn 3 gifts last night, and gave her one since she had given me one of mine. Just 1 minute later a second of the gifts slipped out, though I didn’t really try that hard to keep it secret. Then, when I got home, I decided I wanted to try her 3rd gift, and since it wasn’t a great idea for a gift, I decided to keep it myself. So, I am back at needing to find her a gift now, to replace the one I kept.

This week, next week, and school will be done until January. Very very exciting, though a bit stressful as the exams and papers and projects pile up.

OK, I think thats all for now. I will try not to do that week without update thing anymore.

nick

Well…?

The birth of Atomicow!

So, I have it 99% done. There are some tweeks to do here and there, but I think I have it. Here is a rundown of what was changed…

  • Totally new template (well, nearly totally, some old code was recycled)
  • The gallery is finally up (need to add photo descriptions still)
  • New name, hooji is gone
  • New address

But wait, how can it have a new address if you are here? Well, look at your address bar, where does it say you are? Yes, I paid for a domain registration, for 1 year for now. I put up an automatic redirect on the old site too, so you are taken here without knowing what happened. I am not sure if it works with the RSS feeds though.

As I said, I have a few bugs left to play with, and I still have the old comments to repost and the iBlog posts to re-categorize, but those will come with time.

If you have any problems, questions, suggestions, or complaints, let me know in a comment.

nick

Oh, What a Weekend

Bad stuff just has to pile up on you, doesn’t it.

So, the tooth hasn’t been all that bad. It didn’t bother me at all until Saturday night, probably because I started actually doing stuff. Every now and then I will get a pretty nasty pain across most of the right side of my head, but it really hasn’t been that bad.

About an hour and a half after my last post on Friday, I was called by my dad and informed my Grandpa had passed away. He had been sick for over a year now, and pretty close to the end for several months. Even this spring there were a few times that I was told not to expect him too much longer. He had been suffering for some time, and we all knew he was on his way out, which makes it somewhat easier of a situation than what happened with my grandma.

Saturday, Jenn and I went to Troy to get her a new computer. Around Flint we were going 35 – 40 on I-75 because the rain was so hard. We made it there, made our purchase, got some White Castle, and returned. Open up the box, boot up computer, and the LCD has 4 lines of lazy pixels. Sunday, Jenn called Apple and would up driving back to Troy again to get a new computer. For now on, we will be sure to test equipment before driving 90 minutes home.

So, with all that this weekend, I am not feeling real great. River of Time was nice Saturday though. It is like year 10 or something though and it is beginning to get kind of boring.

Grandfather is at Ambrose Funeral Home today, with funeral tomorrow. When I get out of work I am going to get a hair cut then stop by there followed by school. Tomorrow, I am taking off work for the funeral then will go to school.

Since that will be 2 days off this pay period (Friday with tooth, and Wednesday), I will be at work for an e-mail class Thursday morning.

I think that is about it for right now.

nick

Happy Birthday to Me!

Go Nick, It’s your birthday, we gonna party like it’s your birthday.

Yes, today I am 24. I go to work from 12 to 5, then it is off to Genji to celebrate. I am up to 8 yes and 1 maybe, and there are 8 seats at each grill, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Also, this is #403, so that first post back on the 5th, was #400. Just so you know.

OK, thats all.

nick

Our Little Trip

A very eventful Saturday.

So, a week later and I finally write about it.

Saturday, as you should already know, I had off work to go with my mom to the funeral home for paperwork. Having the rest of the day free and needing something to keep my mind off recent events, I had told Jenn to be ready to go away at 10:30, and bring a bathing suit and towel.

We ran a little late, but did leave around 11:30 to a destination Jenn had no idea about. We headed off first down US-10 to Clare, where we stopped into Jay’s for a look around. Lot’s of camping stuff to wish for and inflatable boats to think long and hard for, but I ended up with a pocket chain saw and a rawhide cows head for the dogs (this thing was like 18″ diameter hunk of rawhide, with ears and everything). We then wandered next door to General Jim’s as I had never been there. Lots of cool things in there, military surplus and military pride and all that. They even had a 15 person life raft in the plastic case, like they throw off ships and auto-inflate.

Next we got back on 10 and for a few minutes I was excited that they redid 10 into divided 4 lane but that was quickly dissolved when we reached the freeway end and went down to a 2 lane road. After a while we came across a rummage sale and decided to look around. Among old dishes and clothing, there was a box of X rated tapes that were clearly recorded. We wondered if they were recorded from TV, copied form rentals, or home movies, but regardless purchased nothing. Further along the road we reached Reed City and turned south. We passed the Yoplait yogurt plant and headed down to Big Rapids.

Holy crap is Ferris big was the first impression. We stopped to look around the Alltel store for Jenn’s mom and I found a Big Rapids phone book to bring home. Next up we drove around the downtown area to look for somewhere to eat, but settled on Qdoba. We really didn’t want to eat at a chain restaurant, but at least this was a chain we had never eaten at. We really had wanted to eat in Paris, but the only restaurant was Pizza in Paris, and that wasn’t what we felt like. Anyway, Qdoba turned out to be very good, and now full we decided to drive around Ferris’s campus to see what we could. We never even got out of the car, a real campus tour will be come fall, but at least we got to see stuff. Following that, we headed toward the freeway, and down to Grand Rapids. On the way we saw a really bad accident, a trail blazer about 100ft off the freeway upside down. Sadly the paramedics didn’t look to be in much of a hurry.

GR is a big city, and our first stop in the big city was the museum. Very much on accident actually, we just saw it and were like wow, lets go. It turned out to be 4:40 though, and they were going to close at 5, so didn’t go in. Next we looked for the hospital, as Jenn would be working there. We found what we thought might be it, but kind of thought no, so kept looking and driving around, then gave up and went to find the mall. This took like an hour since we had no idea where it was. We went through some rather ghetto areas, but nothing bad, and got to see quite a bit of the city. Finally, we decided oh well and started heading for home when we decided to try 1 more exit, and after a ways we found the mall. Jenn went into DEB for a shirt, and when she came out I went looking for the Apple Store, but found it no where. I did find a shoe store with some nice shoes I would be dragged away from. I called my mom, and asked her to look up where the GR Apple Store was, and it turned out we were in the Kentwood Mall, and needed to be in the Woodland Mall, ACROSS THE STREET! We had come so very close. So, we headed out and across the street to the MUCH bigger mall. We had thought Kentwood was rather empty and blah for the mall of GR. So, we went straight to the Apple Store, having already walked around 1 mall that day, and went to drool at the MacBooks. Jenn decided they are too small, but I do like them. The graphics chip does scare me a little though.

Finally we decided to head for home, this time on I-96 to Lansing, the I-69 to Flint, and I-75 home. Just onto 69 we stopped in Perry to get something to drink at the Burger King. When we returned to the car, it wouldn’t start. I called my brother and Jenn called GM and nothing really amounted from it. GM was of the opinion it seemed that the car was there only concern, and what we did from now till Monday when it could be fixed (this was Saturday night remember) was our problem. Jenn got upset, and eventually GM sent a wrecker form Birch Run (to us, near Lansing) with an estimate of 90 minutes. I finally decided to give what my brother had suggested a try, since Jenn was not very focused at this point, and low and behold it worked. I got the engine started and as I understood it, it would be fine so long as we didn’t shut it off. This meant no White Castle, sadly, but oh well. We headed home and dropped Jenn’s car off at Dunlop to await repair on Monday. We tried starting it again, and it started right up fine, but decided not to risk it. We ended the night with Texan breakfast buffet with my mom (we went to Euclid, center used to be much better one, was left very disappointed).

So that was Saturday. I did see the Pere Marquette in Clare, and the intersection of Pere Marquette and White Pine in Reed City. As was suggested to me by Jenn, Big Rapids is still really far but much more logical goal the Mackinac, at least for now. That’s not to say I am canceling Mackinac or anything, just considering alternative near-term options.

Yeah, that’s about it.

Ohhhhh!!!
My mom fixed the iMac, she got a PowerBook. 1.67GHz, 15″ PowerBook G4, 80GB HD, 512MB RAM, and a SuperDrive. It’s the last PowerBook model made, and was a refurbished model too, and is now a “previous generation” which all add up to a hefty discount.

OK, see you later, hopefully a little sooner though.

nick