Coding is fun! :)

So I've been coding up something fun and interesting for work these last few days. Well..."for" work...it's related to what I'm working on right now, but is sort of just my own special project that I felt like working on in my spare time. And you know what? I'm actually having *fun* coding! Yes yes, I'm sick, I know. But it's been great, and I look forward to coming home and coding at night :) So I guess that job doing UI design just isn't for me! Even though it is downtown!

Have a great weekend everyone!! If anyone is doing anything fun tomorrow night, let me know!!!

So it's been a long day...and week so far. I'm bored. We really haven't done anything at work since the last time I came back from CA. It's just been a really long and dull month. I'm the only coder left there, so it's hard to just start up a side project, since one person's side time is pretty small. We're looking for a new person, but you know the selection of people who want to code in schaumburg, il is pretty small!! Especially good people! So no hope of having anyone else to code with anytime soon. I'm thinking of applying for other jobs again. There's one as a UI designer for Metadata and Social Awareness apps downtown at moto. I'm not a big fan of the group, but it might be a fun job. I think I'd actually miss coding though. And then there's san francisco...mmmm....maybe. HP labs? Google/Orkut? I don't know if I really want to leave chicago though. I have so many good family and friends here.

Anyway, that's what's been going on in my head lately! That and a big conversation about love and relationships and being happy. Just trying to figure out what it'll take for me to be happy if things don't get better in that area of my life anytime soon. Certainly not my current job... And I'm still pretty hurt from this whole Ethel thing, so that doesn't help matters.

But I made the best of today and found some interesting papers and posted our new job post everywhere imaginable :) And then I left work and realized it was such a nice day out and went for an awesome run along the lake front!! Man, Chicago sure is beautiful when it's nice outside. Running just made me forget about everything and just totally relax. Well, as much as one can relax with super-strong winds blowing at you :) :) But yeah, it was awesome! And now I'm watching the cubbies :) Go Maddux!!!

The Cubs game was awesome!!! (aren't all trips to wrigley awesome??) Thank you SO much Susan for inviting me!! :) Kerry Wood was awesome and Sammy hit a home run and the cubbies won 3-0. So wonderful!! Although the windchills must have been below freezing. It was a bit chilly :)

Here's an interesting quote I'm lifting off of amrys' blog...

From the Boston Globe... Said Dornfest: ''The difference between a hacker and consumer is a consumer says, 'I wish it would work this way.' A hacker says, 'I've got a screwdriver and a few minutes.' "

I liked that quote :)

I have a gmail account!!!! bentley79! :)

It's been a long week...but I'm going to a cubbies game today so that should make everything better! :)

Hey everyone!! This was an awesome weekend down in Atlanta!! We had our FIRST nationals and although the robot wasn't the best one out there, it was a good time. Despite total drama among our students! Last night we went out for the traditional "WildStang" engineer party and Dean Kamen came along. How cool was that??? Although I'm really not a big fan of his. He has this idea that FIRST should be all about inspiration and not about education. I really feel it's a great opportunity to teach students about the world of engineering...to give them hands on experiences in different engineering diciplines and give them exposure to something they don't get in their classes. building a robot for the students just totally breaks that potentially awesome experience for them!

Anyway...FIRST was fun, but I miss having it at Disney World!! The Georgia Dome just can't compete!!

Have a great week everyone!!! :)

Stacie officially rocks! For getting a smile on my face and keeping it there all night...and quite possibly for a long time after tonight! You're the greatest friend a guy could ask for! :) And I promise not to say the E word :)

Thanks Elizabeth for that trip to Mullens. It totally made my week :) You rock for coming down to cheer me up :)

poll of the day... please vote in the comments section. I'm more interested in moral feelings about this, not like the hypothetical three people who all believe it's ok and thus act this way. Cause of course it's "ok" for them.

dating more than one person at a time is...

i) morally wrong
ii) ok if everyone knows
iii) ok in any circumstance

I think you all know how I feel about this right now.

Five years includes 2000. I wish I didn't know math!

So the rumors are true. Well, partially. It's 5 years rather than 3. But there are other interesting caveats. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'm sure I'll figure it out and get plenty of advice from you all :)

ok...so this is officially the saddest day ever. if you don't know what's going on, just ask me. but i'm not sure who all reads this and not all parties involved know all facts at this point. needless to say, sadness over here.

who wants to go out on friday night? i could use some drinks!

Mad Cow in the US for a long time??

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/04/05/madcow.racetrack.ap/index.html

The description for the Chicago Cubs community on Orkut:

description: For the world's greatest masochists.

I liked that :) Although most cubs fans today are just fans because the cubbies did so well last year! Boo to Wrigley selling out so fast! :(

If you're not on Orkut, let me know and I can invite you in! It's a friendster like thing that's cooler...and not annoyingly slow!!

Does anyone want to run a 1/4 marathon in Chicago with me in June?? Please! :) Laura was going to, but it turns out that she can't. Let me know!!!! I promise I don't run fast! :)

Hi! Not much new going on around here. It was a pretty quiet and relaxing week for once which was a welcomed change! I started playing with Orkut, so if any of you are on there, feel free to add me!! :) And I found out that it was started by this guy Orkut who wrote a bunch of papers on small screen interfaces for searching that I read back at MIT. Yeah, kinda random. Anyway...

FIRST nationals are next week (April 15-17) in the Georgia Dome!!! I'm so excited about that, but I know it just won't be the same as when they were at Disney World. FIRST just means Disney to me as that's where the national championships were every year I participated. And there's just something about EPCOT and Disney that a 70,000 seat area in the middle of downtown Atlanta will ever be able to match. But it will still be a ton of fun and I'm sure our robot will do well as always! :)

Not much else new around here...hope you all have a great week!! :)