Anyway, when 6:00 rolled around, I started getting a little hungry but couldn't find the right snack to satisfy my needs...that is...until I saw the dozen eggs left in my fridge. Thinking on my feet, as I always do, I decided to crack three eggs into a microwavable bowl and stuck them in the microwave. Having never cooked eggs in a microwave before, I made a guess as to how long it would take for them to cook....50 seconds. As it heated up, I noticed as the egg whites near the edge of the bowl slowly went from a clear "color" to white. As the timer wound down to zero, though, I knew 50 seconds would not be enough. So as soon as time elapsed, I restarted the microwave for an additional minute. Interestingly enough, after about 20 more seconds, the bowl shook as an egg yolk popped up into the air and fell back into the bowl. Now, at this point, the old Sonny would have stopped the timer. However, with this being the new year (MY year), I figured I'd go ahead and let nature run its course. At the end of the minute, I let the bowl sit for a few seconds before pulling it out. As I had hoped, the egg white had all turned from the clear "color" to white. But what was more interesting was that only one of the egg yolks turned solid, as if I had boiled the egg. The other two yolks remained runny. Can this be explained with science? Probably, but not today. I threw the hard boiled yolk away, but mixed the rest in with the egg. It tasted good, almost as if I had made it sunny side up, but not quite. For a 2-minute experiment with almost no clean-up, though, I think this is going to be a routine/recipe/experiment that I can perfect over my spring break. Back to work though. Talk to you all soon.
06 April 2003 - 5:20 PM - I was over at my parents' place the other day and my mother was telling me about this book she was reading about neurobic exercises you can do to keep developing your brain. One thing she mentioned was doing things with my left hand...so last night, while I was bowling, I decided to bowl a game completely with my left hand. It started off pretty ugly, with 4 of my first 6 balls thrown going right into the gutter. I think I had a score of 8 after my first three frames. But I slowly got it down and picked up a spare in the 7th frame. Soon, I had my approach routine figured out and I was able to bowl with a relatively smooth motion. In the end, I finished with an 86, but here's the best part. In the tenth frame, I threw three straight strikes! I couldn't believe it, especially since I'd never been able to accomplish that feat with my right hand. I should have purchased a lottery ticket immendiately after, but I was too busy basking in my greatness and it slipped my mind. Maybe next time.
05 April 2003 - 8:45 AM - So there's this flag that I drive by every day on my way to work. It's hanging off of a fence on Rolling Road, and it was put up the day after the World Trade Center incident two years ago. I've seen that flag almost every day for about a year and a half now, and it's amazing how much emotion it still evokes. I've never been one of those flag-huggers who curse people for defiling a piece of cloth, for I fully support the first amendment. However, at the same time, I now understand how much the flag represents and I feel that anger when people show their disrespect for it. On Wednesday of this week, when I was driving back and forth from Mt.Vernon to West Springfield, I noticed that the flag was ripped and on my way home, the flag was gone. I didn't know what happened to it, but it just didn't seem right when I drove to work on Thursday and didn't have the flag there. I'm not sure what made that particular flag on Rolling Road more significant that all of the other flags in the world, but I am compelled to salute it every day, and I did so on Thursday even though it wasn't there. It saddened me to the nth degree not knowing what had happened to it, and I hoped deep down inside that someone did not take it down in protest of what was going on in Iraq. Amazingly enough though, when I drove to work on Friday morning, there was a brand new flag flying high on Rolling Road, flapping in the cool morning breeze. I saluted it with a huge smile on my face and all was good in the world.
24 March 2003 - 11:35 PM - I must say that this weekend was very unusual. It probably wasn't all that productive, but I did get a lot of things done and I tried a few new things as well. On Saturday, I did a little furniture shopping with the fam, played scrabble at a Starbuck's with my sister, and went to an art auction for the Optimist Club of Fairfax. Then I went home and fell asleep with MSNBC on with coverage of the war. On Sunday, I was woken up by a couple of marines shooting off a Javelin. I watched some more coverage in a half-dazed state and then finally woke up around 9:15 to head over to Mason to work on a project with my group. Afterwards, I went to Marlo to pick up a chair for grandma, and then split to Burke Lake Park to drive some golf balls with Ben. Later, I caught up with Thuy and his frat boyz and girlz to play a couple of hours worth of volleyball. And when the sun went down, I came home, started a couple of loads of laundry, made about 10 pounds of lasagna, and gave myself a haircut. Not bad, huh?
I just got back from class though, and I have a loooong day ahead of me tomorrow. So I think I'm going to split and I'll give you an update before week's end. Bye.
19 March 2003 - 9:55 PM - So have you all been watching the news? The President is supposed to address the nation in less than a half hour, and I've just been watching all of the news channels all afternoon. It's interesting seeing what everyone has to say, though I'm not sure exactly what to think about it all right now. I think back to the Gulf War a decade ago, and it's amazing how little I remember of it. I definitely have a different perspective on things these days, but I don't know. I don't know. I think I'll be up for a while though.
18 March 2003 - 9:55 PM - I can't remember the last time I was able to run three miles in 21:40, so I'm really proud of myself right now. I know these young kids can run much faster, but I'm an old man these days. I'm slowly working the exercise back into my routine, running two or three times each week. It helps having Roo around because I probably wouldn't have as much motivation if I were just by myself. Anyway, I ended up taking my PT test last weekend. My score was 263 (72 push-ups, 67 sit-ups, 14:31 two-mile), which isn't all that bad considering how much exercise and sleep I've been getting. But I've definitely done better. Oh well.
I think I'm going to go to bed now though. I've been averaging between three and five hours of sleep for the last few weeks now, so I think I'll grab my six tonight before it's too late. I'll try to update again soon. Outta here.
12 March 2003 - 5:55 PM - So every time I think I'm going to start updating more, I have more work come up and I end up going MIA for a few weeks. And it's not that I don't have anything to write; I've just been very busy. School has been about the same. We had a run of snow days for a while there, but we're in catch-up mode now and I just submitted interim grades yesterday. I don't think I've seen so many Ds before, but oh well. Guard has been keeping me pretty busy too. With what's happening over in Iraq, I get one or two people asking me every day whether or not I'll be heading out soon. Right now, it doesn't look like it, but that doesn't mean they aren't keeping me busy right here at home. And did I mention that I just started grad school this semester? I'm just taking three credits right now, but with this being my first class in 3 years, it's been challenging to keep up. Plus, I am on my way to another A...picking up right where I left off at Tech. < smile >
Anyway, with meetings and class and everything else, I've been running low on sleep for a few weeks now, averaging 60-80 hour workweeks. But the good thing is I'm getting to the point where I'm just about caught up with everything. Now, if only I could get a little extra money for my mortgage payments, I'd be set. I've got one more room open now because Tommy ended up moving out with his brother. Lucky for me, I picked up another roomie about a week before he left. My friend Roo from OCS just got back from Fort Benning last month and was looking for a place to stay.
Besides that, I've been chocolate-free for about three weeks now, and I've even been doing a little running and exercising to boot. Impressed? I know, I am too...but as for my other resolutions, I think I'm gonna need to work on those.
16 February 2003 - 10:55 AM - With it being two weeks into the year of the sheep, I figured it was time to make my new years resolutions public. I just added one to the list after buying another two pounds of post-valentine's day chocolate. I'd already eaten about ten pounds of post-christmas chocolate, and it's just about time that I recognized that I have a problem. Anyway, here goes the list:
That's the list for now. I'm sure that I'll come up with some more coming in the near future.
10 January 2003 - 10:55 PM - Okay, for those of you who didn't realize how big of a nerd I really am, I just spent a good 30 minutes organizing my new keychain. Now, if only I can get it into my pocket, I'd be set. In other news, I should be sleeping right now because I have drill tomorrow, but I am not. Oh well.
Anyway, I've been playing with my camera for a little bit and took some pictures of the new house. I don't have pictures of my room yet because it's empty and kinda ugly...but I'll get those up eventually. Here's the tour though...beginning with the east end of the living room, the west end of the living room, and the kitchen. Then there's the basement and more of the basement. Wow, that was fun. I guess that's not really so much, but I'm tired. I'll update again when I actually have more time. Bye for now.
26 December 2002 - 4:40 AM - So someone please tell me why I'm still awake right now. Ever since the break started, I've been staying up later and later. Actually, it started a few days before the break - after getting back at 1:30 in the morning from my training meeting last Wednesday...not that it makes much difference. Anyway, I was looking through some old digital pics, and I figured I'd post this one since I've been so lazy these last few days. From left to right, that would be Lenny, Jane, me, and Yenny. Does anyone recognize the significance of that arrangement? A cookie to anyone who can guess that one correctly.
I really should post more here on this page, but I'm usually too tired to type/upload it all; and most of the time, there isn't anything all too exciting going on. Maybe I'll find a girlfriend or something? You hear that, Grandma? It's time for bed though. So good morning.
04 December 2002 - 11:00 PM - I just realized that I can't use this page to vent and complain about my classes any more because I have it posted on the same site as my physics class...which is very unfortunate because oh did I need a place to vent...oh do I need a place to vent. Instead of letting out all of that negative energy though, I'll use this page for good as opposed to evil...which leads me to my first physics carol of the year. It's entitled Willebrord Snell and is sung to the tune of Jingle Bells. It goes a little something like this:
Flying through the air, at the speed of light
300 million meters, each second of its flight
It's fastest in a vacuum, devoid of all distractions
It's so much fun when you have one as your index of refraction
CHORUS:
Willebrord Snell, Willebrord Snell, studied paths of rays
When light move from a medium, it bends along the way - Hey!
From water into air, the outcome is quite clear
The indices determine, the direction light will veer
N-one-sine-theta-one equals N-two-sine-theta-two
What fun it is to sing about Snell's law with me and you...oh
17 November 2002 - 11:00 PM - So you'll never guess where I spent the last six hours...give up? I was at a scrabble club meeting. It was fun. The guys there took it easy on me, so I ended up going 4-2 today. I even won three bucks. But yeah...they really took it easy on me except for one guy. He cleared his rack three times that game, beating me 470 to 300-something. That one was rough. But all in all, a lot of fun. I wonder how they'll be next time. Oh well. I could and would stay and talk about scrabble for another half hour or so, but it kinda is a school night. So I think I'll be off to bed. Talk to you all soon.
16 November 2002 - It's been a few months since I've done anything with my web page, but here I am. School's been pretty busy, as is National Guard stuff; but somehow, I still make time to go to my favorite karaoke place every once in a while. If you've ever been to the Patriot's Cafe on Lee Highway, you'll know it's a very seedy hole-in-the-wall kind of place, usually filled with middle-aged George Mason alumni, country boys, and on rare occasions, moderately attractive co-eds. I'll usually sing some Stroke 9, Avril, or Vanilla Ice...which is met with a pretty warm reception considering the crowd usually leans toward country or classic rock. Believe it or not though, I still feel pretty at-home in that place, even though I just drink water all the time and nibble on appetizers or pizza. But anyway, if you ever want to hang out there, give me a call.