Colin's MEDIUM journal

Whups!

So they had a casino night for the interns in a high rise in Minneapolis. It was fun and I lost big, as expected. Luckily the chips were provided free, and the winnings were raffle tickets. I am not a gambler on the principle that I suck at gambling and that you lose the least when you don't play.

Here are some photos. There's some of my workspaceplace in there, too. There was a fountain in the glass area that came down from the cieling. I was impressed. I took photos of everything, because I'll probably never get to dick around in such a high place again.













And here are some photos of the autocross today. I also lost big here. But I wasn't last. My best time was 42.2 seconds. I had some good runs with lots of raunchy sliding, and I got to take a few fun runs after the event was dying down. I also got to weigh the 4 corners of my car for cheap to see how good it is. It turned out 150 lbs lighter and gooder than I expected.













Have a good end of June, girls.

I just put my order in on a MARIN MILL VALLEY HYBRID BIKE.

JESUS CHRIST.

IT'S GOING TO BE THE BEST BIKE EVER.

This is what it will look like.


And I'm going to put bullhorn handlebars on it, like this one has.


I went to the REI store to test ride a similar model. Theirs was $300 more, so I wasn't going to jump on that one. I ordered it online and am having it shipped to the same store. I'm really pleased. It wil get here next week in time for Beth so we can each have a bike to ride around town on.


In cockroach land, I put a piece of havarti cheese in the cage since it was growing flora in my refrigerator. Cockroaches fucking love havarti. They began feasting immediately.



And here is the Thomson West Intern Photo 2006. I'm in the green shirt at bottom center.

They have car races in Minnesota too. Here are some photos:

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I live in Minnesota now. I'm gradually adapting to the local fauna and customs. Soon I will blend in seamlessly. I even started wearing jeans to work to camouflage myself against the crowd of technology professionals. I still starch my collars though.

The cycling is good, but the hills are murderous. Soon my thighs will be murderous, and the Universe will return to equilibrium. Also, cars haven't been bitches to me yet. Perhaps I haven't encountered enough of them, but they seem to be more courteous. A++, will ride again.






I YEARN for East Lansing, though. My favorite girl is still there, and I'll have all the benefits of my own apartment, except no intern roomates.

I caught some things from the bathroom here in the dorm. Apparently they lived in the drains. All four were running around so I caught them all. I haven't seen one in the bathroom since. Either I caught them all, they were exterminated, or I just haven't seen them. Anyway, they are my pets now and here are pics.



This is Scorpion just after I caught him in my soap dish.



They have adapted to their new habitat.



I checked under their coconut house to see what they were doing. They hide in there all day and come out within 10 minutes if the lights are off.

Here is a video of Dick doing some sort of cockroach dance.

Their names are:
George W. Bush (biggest)
Dick (big)
Scorpion (big, missing front leg)
Apeshit (juvenile)

They are hardy as hell. I think it would be hard to kill them. Their food is trash and fish pellets.


Also, I keep using my UNLIMITED meal plan to get ALMOST UNLIMITED monster energy drinks from case hall. Fuck, I love monsters.



Have a good spring break.

You crashed and lost my post, which was I about to finish. I'm a slow writer. That took forever. Moving on, and retyping everything...
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Happy Two-Thousand-Six.

New years was fun. Beth and I drove to the Gunson house in EL for a formal-attire-only new years party. It was very fun. Too bad we both got excessively drunk and missed the ball drop. That makes two years in a row (no alcohol involved last year). There's always 2007. All was well when we drove to the East Lansing Denny's for a massive breakfast.




I'm missing beth a lot. I think she might feel similar. I seriously can't wait to see her. It will be hard to find some time to relax on Sunday, with me moving in, and class the next morning. I'll do my best to be on the ball, and it will work out. A few days later, I leave for my internship interview in MINNESOTA and immediately after I return, Beth will depart for her cruise. I should be pretty occupied with fresh classes, and she will have fun and get some much-needed sunshine. The nature here in Michigan is basically dead. The snow is gone and the sun hasn't broken the clouds in weeks. Luckily, it's not affecting me yet.

I have some apprehension about the interview. Hopefully, I can just be a completely awesome person for that one day.

Here's some random photos I've aquired over the past few months of not posting anything:



Jesus Christ.


Traverse City Non-Mammal.


Local Marsupial Mammal.


I play a lot of CS these days.

Making Jug Wine.



Jug Wine rulez.

And I got this shirt from Microsoft. It came in a small, highly compact package. I think you're supposed to soak it in water, but it looks pretty radical as it is, and I think it fits better this way since it's supposed to be a medium.



Thanks, see ya.

NEW OUTFIT.

I'm back at college.

First up, this tree frog that my mom found on a wood pile in the backyard. These are thumbnails, so click them to see amazing detail.



Notice how he blends seamlessly into his natural concrete habitat.




After frog, I got Brandon, and we went to fly my rocket left over from when I was a smaller person. The thing was about 8 years old and wastefully sitting there on my dresser. The paint had peeled off the fins, and that's why I abandoned the project long ago. Not to waste a good rocket, I bought three motors for it that were twice as powerful as recommended. They are longer, so they stick out a bit. I also rigged up a 15 volt launch igniter from parts I bought from my beautiful hardware store for a grand total of $1.37. The othe parts I found around the house.

All set to go.




We set up the apparatus in a local baseball park. On first launch, it flew straight up with a long loud WHOOSH. It was completely gone out of sight, and the ground was smoking. We waited what seemed like almost a minute. When I was losing hope that I'd ever see my rocket again, Brandon spotted it hurtling back towards Earth. The parachute had not completely opened, and it his near us with a thud. Still good to go though.

The second launch was basically the same. Only this time, the ejection charge blew the rocket into two pieces. So as I dutifully watched what I thought was the whole rocket float down, Brandon yells to me as the main rocket carcass hits ground a little ways from me. A couple whiles later, I caught the nose section out of the sky.

The nose cone was separated from the main section, the parachute was fused together, the upper half of the rocket was torn up, and one fin broke off in the hard landing. After a short debate over the safety of our next actions, we decided to patch it up and fly it again. I had a knife and duct tape, so I cut off the torn section, tied the sections together, and duct taped the old fin on.

It flew beautifully. I guess they don't have to look nice to fly. The parachute half-opened, so it fell slower this time. It came down in one piece right near a small croud of spectators, who thoughtfully caught it for us.

I will curse the politician who takes away the right to dangerous toys. Every child should get to enjoy them.

Here's the after shots:





It has more character now.

Alistair is growing some weird damn tentacle. The extra growths were one thing, but now he's truly becoming some sort of plant monster. He was so cute months ago. Just look at him now.





I'm going to leave it. We'll see what happens.

Hey.


Summer is going swell and I work at Gilroys hardware.

That's about it.

I'd like to point out that this is the crappiest post in my journal. I'll try to salvage it by posting pictures.




This guy fucking rules. I love him from his picture.


Frogs are cool.


GJ, COW!


Thanks.

This morning I was riding my bike along the bike path next to the river, and a female duck almost hit my face. A pair of them came up from the river and flew right in my direction. We had about a 30mph speed difference, so the gap closed pretty quick. If I hadn't ducked, we would have collided. Ducks are not skilled flyers.

In retrospect, I could have done lots of cool things instead, like protecting myself with a head butt type move or catching it with a free hand.

I sure am wasting a lot of time lately.

Here's my roomate during the MSU ri0t.

I got a cactus.



Also, someone broke my friends page!

Edit: friends page fixed

My next CSE project is large. I have to write a spreadsheet program. That does forumulas and everything.

I think the robins thought Spring was here already because they are here in flocks, but it definitely just snowed a ton. Leader robin fucked up big.

More or less useless post, but I'd like to share some of my favorite songs ever. With the corresponding synaesthetic response. Because it's important. To me.

Modest Mouse - Never Ending Math Equation (black, grey, blue)
The Unicorns - Inoculate the Innocuous (purple + orange)
Modest Mouse - Edit the Sad Parts (white, light blue, red)
Chad Van Gaalen - Clinically Dead (green, grey)
Wilco - Ashes of American Flags (burgundy, white)
Jets to Brazil - Sea Anemone (ORANGE)
Modest Mouse - 3rd Planet (blue, yellow)
Interpol - Leif Erikson (deep blue)
Built to Spill - Car (ruddy brown)

If you're reading this when you should go to bed, then go to bed.