There's a trend sweeping boardrooms around the nation that is more exciting to the world at large than Sarbanes-Oxsley compliance: corporate blogs. Now a company can air its 'propoganda' on its own terms, virtually free of charge. And boy do people read; the track-back function and comment boards at one of the most notorious corporate blogs (Rob Lutz's fastlane.gmblogs.com) stretch the scroll bar to a sliver. I also like Randy Baseler's blog regarding his position at Boeing (Randy's Blog), and Boeing Commercial Aircraft just rolled out a blog to follow testing of the 777-200LR Worldliner. For those whose interest is piqued, check out this blog for a more authoritative, complete list.
Now it's lunchtime, or, if you happen to live at 110 N 3rd...time to go skiing. I think this whole Esky cam thing could get pretty depressing in the summer with all of the fun boating traffic taunting me.
posted at 11:57 AM - comments
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Even though I haven't really done anything since my last post, if I let these things slide I get accused of being a "lazy only blogging once a week bum." With that in mind, the latest:
ASSET, the Navy's Advanced Surface Ship Evaluation Tool, is the new bane of my existance. It is old and rickety and hard to use and unintuitive, so naturally that means that I am required to use it to complete my research.
My legs are tired from yesterday's jaunt, but I am still feeling good from the ride. I always thought my high school track coach was nuts talking about his "runner's high" but now I can kind of see what Mr. O (having grown up, that is pretty funny in and of itself) was talking about.
Now it's a close up shop, head up north, Memorial Day Wedding Great Lakes Weekend.
posted at 10:54 AM - comments
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Sometimes being in the small department is really way better; today I stumbled into the NAME lunchroom to find a small-scale greenhouse operation going on. Out of the dirt and mud and clippings strewn hither and yon I emerged with an aloe plant and a spider plant clipping. Not bad! Thanks Shanna, Kathy, Sue, and Kristine, that's what I say.
After a long morning I headed home to pack a bit and try to find an outdoor way to enjoy the beautiful weather. The outdoor activity I found was a 23-miler over to Dexter aboard the 2000. I always liked the 'going somewhere' aspect of cycling so it was really pleasant to pedal away for under an hour and then be someplace new. In Dexter I got a Gatorade and called Jenelle from the park, sitting under a tree. Then I rode home. How natural. posted at 8:23 PM - comments
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Robin is in town today, so after fleeing the raucous Huron Towers fire alarm test to a meeting up at NAME, we met up and headed into town.
Our first order of business was that great sandwich shop on Detroit at Kingsley...Zingerman's delicatessen. We split a #57 Nic's Opportunity, featuring pepperoni, wonderful fresh mozzarella, an oven-dried tomato paste, and the greatest bread ever, with a killer cajun chicken pasta salad on the side. From there we kinda made the Ann Arbor / U of M loop to Ross, the Hatcher Grad Library, Bivouac, House of Flavors, Acme Mercantile, etc, etc, etc. Along the way we stumbled across Kilwin's and had (I swear this is true) a chocolate-covered marshmallow kebob.
Back at home, we put our heads together and came up with a website that she can use to update everybody who's interested in her Thai travels. Consider this a teaser; the unveiling is still a couple of days out and the URL will splash here first.
posted at 6:42 PM - comments
Monday, May 23, 2005
Alright, here we go; plenty of stuff so let's hold our questions until the end. Thanks.
Things started off Friday afternoon with the arrival of West Wing Season 1 DVDs from my summer splurge NetFlix. I watched a couple of episodes over the course of the weekend and am feeling very political. Next up in my queue: Bend It Like Beckham and Motorcycle Diaries.
Friday night featured pasties and a pleasant bike ride along the Huron River through Gallup Park and back to Huron Towers, where a short swim in the pool essentially wrapped up outdoor activity for the day. Then, we stumbled upon "Fiddler on the Roof" on PBS and enjoyed that.
Saturday's feature event was a trip with Megan and Wyl to Leamington, Ontario, for a ride aboard the McCully's boat. It was a pretty great day to be out on Lake Erie, especially on a boat. Plus, catching up with friends on all things marriage and career and fun. In the evening we crossed back into the US and had dinner together in Plymouth.
East Lansing's 42nd Art Fair was Sunday. We checked it out, despite occasional rain and chill, and really enjoyed. It was certainly a pleasure for me to be back in the Midwest, away from the beach-chic home furnishings and pink headwear that populated Sarasota art fairs. We're also continuously surprised at how similar our tastes are; from furniture to photography our eyes settled on the same pieces. Afterwards, at Woody's Oasis our eyes settled on some Middle Eastern food and mango ice cream for dessert that was, I don't think I'm exaggerating here, the most wonderfully delicious food product ever made.
posted at 3:14 PM - comments
Friday, May 20, 2005
If you are well connected, there's an entire realm of internet-based spoofage, mockery, and humor out there waiting to be discovered. Today's list:
and of course the ubiquitous JibJab.com "This Land."
I don't know who has the time or the inclination to assemble such things, but it is pretty funny.
On an unrelated note, weather is a wicked googley. Yesterday it was cold and damp and rainy; today is pretty much perfect. I suppose if we kept track of the weather we'd find that it really didn't always rain on days off, but it is sure feeling like that today. A corollary here is that I wish my trick wireless cyclocomputer had Excel and Word and the interwebs on it so that I could head out on a ride and still get stuff done. One day our brain waves will be transmitted to an all-knowing OmniscientPad so that we can actually multitask. It is going to be
Summer vacation rolls...ney toddles along. One meeting per week is more my style, but I've also gotten good work done on GSRA stuff. My accomplishment for today was learning RPN on my flashy new HP calculator which, for all the Webbies out there, signals the end of the supercomputer's domination of my life and issues in a brave new era of backwards, frontwards, and financial calculations. Apart from that, there was a trip to Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge for a pizza picnic lunch and some frisbee and a pleasant (if slightly cool) walk along the Ledges Trail that parallels the Grand River at the base of some rocky cliffs.
Back in the Fig building at Woodbridge Manor, we took in the Pistons' triumphant dismissal of the NBA's elder statesman and his Pacers, made banana bread, and potted a bevy of plants picked up at Horrock's in the late afternoon rain.
posted at 11:57 PM - comments
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Plenty of blodder this time around. Since last posting, it has been positively whirlwindish. Blogs are great for that, because they are very much like a slideshow of my life.
Here's a slide about the biggest event of the past few days, a bachelor party up north that took place on Lake Superior:
Whooops, that is upside down. Anyway, even though the fishing wasn't the best and the weather was a teency bit cold, it was cool to get everybody together and I think we all had a pretty good time. Plus, there figures to be a gratis encore in July. Sweet.
More was developed on the port authority front(s). Monday's Daily Press featured my long-brewing editorial, complete with an unneeded paragraph break that separated a key point. DOH! You get what you pay for, I suppose. Meanwhile, at a party at my parents' on Friday I happened into a couple of movers and shakers on the port resistance and got some interesting insight. My thinking is that this thing is pretty sad, thru and thru.
Back in A-town, Jenelle and I went to Cold Stone last night; I'd completely forgotten how good that stuff is. As they say, though, it is truly a premium ice cream experience. We also got hairs cut at Douglas J downtown, played some frisbee, and cooked szechuan noodles, not that those are really slideshow-worthy events.
posted at 9:16 PM - comments
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
For whatever reason this nutty Escanaba Harbour Port Feasibility Study is really the focus of my day so far. As much as I want to work on GSRA stuff and get cranking on this and that and the other, the fact that the city has spent all of this money to see if an existing cart can go before a dead horse is gettin under my skin. The documents are starting to be available to sort through the blunderous brief history of this project, and I'd say the details are murky at best. After the reading I've done and given the state of things at this point, it looks to me like the city got duped into buying a study that they didn't even generate the scope for. Any consumer will say that purchasing something sight-unseen will bite you later; later has arrived for Escanaba's taxpayers.
The public already seems to be in an uproar over noise and dust concerns at the Port of Escanaba. Two things come to mind: an empty port isn't very noisy and no port that generates dust is worth developing during this day and age. Interestingly, the Lakes Carriers' Assocation (LCAships.org) was contacted and they expressed tremendous interest in expanding the bulk trades in Escanaba. If Delta County wants to benefit from a port, they need to first benefit from something new that can be shipped, not an expansion of the tiny domestic dry bulk trades. Shipping for shipping's sake won't work, nor will shipbuilding. In my opinion the whole plan should be scuttled...cut losses and hang your head, city council.
posted at 12:50 PM - comments
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
This morning was all about the meetings, which spilled over into the afternoon. At that point I went to Lansing to do some work and then to Jenelle's for dinner and a trip to Hawk Island Park. We played frisbee for quite awhile and then headed for home, the season finale of Scrubs, and the last of a semester of Tuesdays.
posted at 9:53 PM - comments
Monday, May 09, 2005
If summer vacation had a tagline or motto, it would say:
Summer Vacation: Great for Fun, Bad for Blogs.
I'm quickly sensing that near-weekly posts will be the name of the game; hopefully that will be enough to keep everybody reasonably up-to-date and keep my future self mindful of what I've been up to.
The main event, of course, was Robin's graduation. I spent quite a bit of time gearing up for the post-ceremony party at Jaqueline's, which filled the latter days of last week to nearly overflowing. Then Friday evening came and it was time to step out, to head to Rum Runners in Lansing for a TE interns party, which was pretty fun. I was leery of dueling pianos in this setting as compared to Smiles in Savannah, but it turned out pretty well and they played some good stuff, including a Ben Folds number. Color me stoked.
Saturday started mega-early, which was seeming pretty normal, but got everybody to the arena on time. University commencements are pretty droll stuff, but we got our 15 seconds of fame when Robin walked, which rocked. From Breslin we made our way through the fog to an amazing spread at Jaqueline's...lunch and afternoon snacks and then an all-afternoon family gathering.
Later, Jenelle and I joined the youngest friends of Robin's at The Parlour for a celebratory ice cream dessert that none of us needed.
Sunday was a busy one, but not for me. My immediate family had a final lunch in East Lansing before the other three departed for points north; Jenelle and I headed to Ann Arbor and had a Klondike bar and a swim and a walk around campus and crashed early.
Today was all about a trip into town to take care of a few errands, a meeting at the department, another swim, and a nice summer picnic dinner held inside as the cool night air gathered round.
posted at 11:07 PM - comments
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Everybody has an album or two by an artist or two that they really really enjoy. For me the two at the top would have to be Weezer and Ben Folds. I have the latter's disc "Whatever and Ever...Amen" and quite a bit of his newer stuff on my computer, and I find that once Ben Folds goes into the CD player it takes some cosmic phenomenon to get it out again, so when his tour passed through Royal Oak Music Theatre and ticket prices stayed reasonable, Jenelle and I headed out.
Royal Oak is a cool, contemporary town about the size of Escanaba. It has modern furniture stores, a great gift (like, contemporary gifts not anything crocheted or affixable to a car) shop, a couple of cool restaurants - of which one was Pronto! where we had a great dinner - and a pleasant Main Street USA feel. We took advantage of the pleasant feel and stood on Fourth Street for about two hours to get a good spot for the show and it paid off big time; we got standing space about 10 feet from Mr. Folds and his giant Baldwin. From opening note to final encore, the show was awesome. He played old and new, a couple of numbers sans band, and truly rocked out my favorite, "Zak and Sara."
Since then, it's been a day of this and that as the world, or so it seems, prepares for MSU's term to wind down and commencement to arrive.
posted at 11:25 PM - comments
Monday, May 02, 2005
Kind of a long weekend full of various and random events. Things got underway Thursday afternoon with the end of winter semester in the form of an NA570 exam that went pretty well. Then it was into the Jimmy, westward, to a finale orchestra concert at Fairchild Auditorium at MSU. Following the music was a visit to the Parlour On Campus for dinner and ice cream with family in town for Robin's last concert.
Friday I did a little yard work before scooting to Jenelle's convocation, then dinner with her parents, then home to rest. Saturday morning found us in South Lyon attending a cousin's first communion, followed by a day-long party in South Lyon with her family from far and wide. I'm finding it is an interesting line to toe, spending time with adults and kids alike. The early twenties are a strange time in a person's life when your own age is closer to that of a child than of their parents, so I found it appropriate to shoot hoops and play soccer with the youngsters present and also talk cars and boats and careers with the 'older' crowd.
Sunday we also did a bit more on the yard and made enchiladas and watched a movie. My biggest thought there is that it is really weird what comes to mind while you are working; I realized yesterday that I hadn't blogged my order from last Saturday's visit to Zingerman's, a nosher-sized #42 Siegel's Special Number. Pretty tasty, but still a runner up to reigning champ Dave's Open Road. posted at 7:40 PM - comments
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
