Not The Best Day

Today was not the best day, but I did get a lateral load test on my new frame (on m pickup). I normally walk to and from work and eat lunch in my apartment. But today I drove to work so I could go to Quiznos for lunch. On my way, I stopped at a red light and before it changed some high school girl rear-ended me!

Luckily, my pickup sustained only a couple of scratches within the red circle:Also, there seemed to be no damage below or underneath the vehicle. The rack clamps held perfectly too.

Now her car on the other hand... part of her headlight lay on my bumper and her grill looked smashed up. Though she was able to drive away after the report was filed.

Myself? Obviously there is no need for me to file a claim, so I am just going to get a paint touch -up kit and after that spot I'll probably touch up a few other scratches (from normal wear and tear).

My New Toy

I got my new toy today! A utility rack from US Rack! It assembled very easily; requiring only an Allen wrench to assemble. Some pics:

The clamp that holds it up:

The middle vertical bar screws into the cross bar.

And yes, that is my "Support Piracy Magnet" ;)

squirrel fur slippers?! where was the janitor from scrubs?

from Katharine Kerr's Newsgroup

This reminds of an interesting bit I learned recently about Cinderella's glass slipper. Originally it was a squirrel fur slipper, and the name for squirrel fur is vair. The translator from the French saw "vair" and thought it was "verre," glass. I'd always wondered why anybody, even in a folk tale, would trust their footto a glass slipper.

Kit

A quick Google search confirms this!

Life In The Dark Ages

What would it be like to be a viking in the dark ages? Life would be good!


Do you want to create a character of your own? Check out History.com/darkages to join the fun and to find out more about this world premiere event on THE HISTORY CHANNEL

Life

If you want to be miserable, then get yourself around other people who are miserable. If you wish to be joyful, successful and fulfilled, put yourself around those who live with positive purpose. The more energy you put into complaining about how bad things are, the more things you'll have to complain about. The more intensely you visualize how good things can be, the better they will become.

You are naturally drawn to whatever you focus upon. You will see precisely the opportunities and possibilities that you prepare yourself to see.

Each day is filled with so many choices and directions that you cannot possibly connect to them all. The ones you do connect with are the ones that most closely resonate with your view of life.

Fortunately, you can choose to view life in whatever way you wish. Those who find the best in life are those who continually remind themselves that all the good and valuable things are most certainly there.

See your life as a grand opportunity for love and joy, achievement and fulfillment. And that's exactly what it will be.
--- Ralph Marston

More From Saint Patrick's Day 2007

Song For Ireland



Fiddler's Green



Beggarman



Back Home In Derry



Danny Boy




Tell Me Ma/Encore

Saint Patrick's Day 2007

Last night was a blast! I have no idea how I am awake and blogging and 7AM but I am wide awake after getting to sleep by 2AM. I had two friends join me for a night on the town down in Sioux Falls. One even a blogger!
Though I did have a "seldom" blogger bail on me too. And unsurprisingly, the least ambitious person I know failed to come join us even just for supper :(

But it didn't matter. A great time was still had by the three of us. We enjoyed ourselves at Skelly's Irish Pub and enjoyed the Irish Music Night at the Orpheum Theater. A few vid clips from the concert (maybe more later, but right now they are TOO LARGE for youtube):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjhGCnPf99w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXPxRl7yW2s

Today

Not much to add today. I just ordered an aeropress coffee maker. It is similar to a frenchpress but it is supposed to be less messy.Also, there was a good Dilbert strip this morning:

Brief Blog Entry

Nothing special to note this morning. I did spend part of yesterday uploading alot of the pictures I have taken in the past year+ to Picasa Web Albums. I also saw the movie 300 yesterday; I will try to get a review written tonight.

Again, everyone is welcome to join me at McNally's in Sioux Falls, SD this Saturday.

My Boring Life... Or is it?

Damn, my life's boring! Which explains my lack of blog entries lately ;)

Work has been checking designs and doing check prints (checking drafting) on box culverts lately. Nothing to interesting. Except one, the outlet end of a RCBC (reinforced concrete box culvert) was too close to a railroad embankment, so we designed the wing walls to run perpendicular to the box. Like a giant headwall.

Yesterday was beautiful and the weather is supposed to holdout, with the temp in the 60s next week! I ran outside yesterday for the first time since winter began and I have to say I am in the best shape I've been in since maybe my sophomore year of college (nearly 5 years ago already)!

No big plans for myself this weekend, but next Saturday I am planning on spending the afternoon and evening in Sioux Falls, here. More info here. Anyone is welcome to join me!

I don't think I mentioned this yet, but my parents traded their station wagon in for a crew cab S10 pickup. So I am probably going to order this to help protect my pickup when I use it to haul around the kayak. Kindof spendy, but it looks nicer than anything I could build and it is universal. I can use it on my pickup, then keep it and use it whenever I finally get a crew cab pickup :) Also, it clamps on, so I won't have to drill any holes into the bed of my pickup.

Well, it's nearly time for me to walk to work, hope everyone has a good day! (As I reread what I wrote, I am thinking that my life may not be as boring as initially reported! ;) )

Yes, I am still alive... for now ;)

I know, I know. I haven't been blogging much lately, but what have I been up to? Well, we just finished a rehab project at work and sent it on to bid letting on Friday. We had been frantically trying to finish the project up for the past two weeks. You see, I am in one of the new design squads, but we had been given a bridge rehabilitation project and I being the newbie wasn't the only engineer that was new to this type of project. There are alot of differences between a rehab project and a new design project. For instance, new designs are alot more straight forward; rehab projects take alot more intuitive thought. Second of all, the Bridge Office is short 6 (soon to be 7) engineers (and one secretary) so things are really hectic right now. But, like I said, we got the project done... so YIPPEE!

What have I been up to away from work? Well, this past week I have been battling a cold, but I seem to have prevailed. I haven't been playing Age of Pirates much lately though, so no updates on that. I have been pushing myself harder on my daily runs at the YMCA though. I ran 6.5 miles at 7 mph yesterday. I also had to use up some eggs in my fridge yesterday, so I baked a cake, made up a bunch of chocolate waffles for eating during he week, and fried some chicken up yesterday.

Last weekend, I competed a video for Gaelic Storm's Kiss Me I'm Irish Contest. And guess what! GS will be at the Minnesota Irish Fair again this year! So everyone mark your calendars and meet me there. since I will have leave this time, I am planning on taking off the Friday before and Monday after so that I can enjoy the whole fair! Remember August 10 - 12!