Recent's

Hmmm once again I have not been blogging much. I guess I don't really have a whole lot to say right now. Um... I saw Kung Fu Panda. It was absolutely hilarious, I was laughing the whole time. I highly suggest it. Digital animators have gotten so good at the details of facial expression.

Then, I also saw Prince Caspian. I enjoyed the first 3rd of it. I liked when the children initially returned to Narnia, that was very enjoyable. The filming location was absolutely gorgeous. New Zealand, I discovered 30 seconds ago after some google investigations. Fifty million movies and the testimonies of several friends can't be all that wrong, the place must be downright gorgeous. The movie started loosing elevation after that. There was a disturbing scene involving a sword through the back followed by a flashing of a statue of Aslan. I also found the monster trees irksome. But, if I were to just sit down and watch the movie without any C.S. Lewis background I would have found it enjoyable. Actually, I did find it enjoyable. Especially the first part. I already said that though.

But, I am no movie reviewer, so I'll move on.

Work is going slow. I guess that's all I have to say about that.

Outside, about half an hour ago, there was this incredible, torrential flash-floodish downpour followed by hail. The roof of the building I'm in was thundering loud with all the precipitation and... thunder. I was raining so hard it would have been worth standing out in it for the experience, however, the temperature plummeted to some ridiculously cold level (65 I think) so I decided to stay inside. Besides, that just can't beat the 3 inches of snow that everyone got back at home last week.

Sort of looking forward to going to Paris in a couple weeks (for technical presentation, not sight-seeing. Supposedly.) Word on the street is, if you don't know any French you get the could shoulder from pretty much everyone there. Guess I'd better expand my vocabulary from "Le poisson" to, uh, more than that.

Got a lot of friends taking off, this summer. Dan:

one of my best friends here, and a crucial member of my movie pack, just submitted his thesis. Good, because, well, that's a good thing, and he's graduating and going back to South Africa and going to have a great job and all. Bad because, well, he's a very enjoyable guy to be around, but he's not going to be around.

Also, my acoustics padawan (ok, that's an exaggeration, but he's following up on my old research branch) Paul of whom I have no pictures but also with whom I eat lunch with every other day, get my butt kicked in Halo, bum around, ridicule mercilessly (it goes back and forth), go to church with, and do many various things is also leaving. Going back to Atlanta to work for Bruel & Kjaer. Makers of probably the best (and probably the most expensive) measurement mic's in the world. Maybe he can spot me under the table, next time a bust one of those $2800 1/8th inch mic's. At any rate, he will be very [very] sorely missed.

Then, (Hae) Won;
is leaving. Hae Won is pronounced "Hi, Won" but for some reason this confuses me more often than her. Also, the Won is the base monetary unit of Korea. She's been with the Christian Grad's group since it's founding, like... 7 or 8 years ago, I think. She is deserting my movie pack to return to Korea so she can eat Kimchi and seaweed soup all day [grrrrrr]. She too will be sorely missed.

Then, news not related to the summerly mass-exodus, Ash:

is moving into a new house this week, that still happens to be located in State College! Ash and his wife heather are the leader/staff coordinators for the Christian Grad's ministry here. The new house they will be in is amazing, I think it is going to be a real benefit to the group. We are already envisioning the guitar hero tournaments to be held in his basement with the 6 foot wide HD projector.

Let's see... anything else... oh yeah, I thought I made an unfair cut against the Logos Latin curriculum in the language post I made a few weeks ago. Given the objective and the resources, I think the way they taught it in grade-school was reasonable. I think they've probably improved it since then, but at least for the level being taught to elementary students, I think it was a pretty good warm up for a more in depth study later.

Oh yeah, dad alerted me to this, there was a big quake near Sendai. No people I knew got hurt, but they say it was pretty big. In light of the catastrophe in China, I don't want to make light of these things. But, provided you are not in any immediate danger, being in a large earthquake can be kind of... interesting, actually. Or, weird. Almost fun, just because of how bizarre it is, but mixed with a lot of fear because something which you take most for granted as being firm and solid is suddenly rocking like a horse.

Well, looks like another night ride in the rain. Safety +10, though, because Tracy gave me a little flashing red light so I wouldn't get hit by a car [thanks].