Updates! Baby, Life, Movies, Games, Etc.

Chiefly being that we found out yesterday the sex of our baby, plus some ultrasound pictures, and other stuff.
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1.  Stewart Little, as we've affectionately been calling the fetus, is now sexed, or at least is now sexed to us.  Keisha and I are proud to say that we're having a GIRL.  So it's gonna be me, Keisha, Stewart Little, Stella, and Sofie.  I say I'm vastly outnumbered here...

Aren't those images crazy?  Watching the little bugger squirm and kick and move and punch and everything yesterday was quite surreal, and it's amazing to know that I helped make her.  See the little feet!  The face still looks alien and skeletal, but I'm smitten.  It was funny how hyper and active she was, too, but everything looked great and healthy, and we thank God for that.

2.  We ordered our crib, changing table, and dresser last night from JC Penny.  I applied for a credit card to save an additional 10% off, was approved, and then found out my limit was $50 less than what the total cost was.  So I called Penny's and requested an immediate credit increase of $100 and got that taken care of.  Then I went to finish the purchase and was asked to enter my credit card info, which I didn't have as I had no card yet, so I made another phone call.  Everything was going well until my phone died about 20 minutes into the call, so I had to call back and repeat the entire process.   All said and done, I spent about 45 minutes on the phone working it all out, but in the end we got our stuff ordered and now we're waiting for the backorder to fill and ship.

3.  My paycheck is currently 19 days late, which is to say that I'm technically due two checks, as another is now 5 days late.  This is confusing, as my firm was awarded a 10+ million dollar contract recently (though obviously we've seen no money from this yet, as the project is in its early infancy).  I simply ask for your prayers in all this stuff, knowing God will provide and take care, but it's quite stressful, too.

4.  My brother returned from Afghanistan over the weekend, and I got to see him on Saturday.  We spent an hour or so sitting around and just talking, and it was great.  I'm very thankful God watched over him and kept him safe.  His unit encountered Taliban forces 41 times, and he was part of about 35 of those encounters, so God definitely saw to him.

5.  My reading life is hectic.  I'm listening to an audio book at work (Terry Brooks' Bearers of the Black Staff), and nearly finished.  I'm finally reading a STAR WARS book that I've been waitlisted on for a while.  I also checked out Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes (so many great reviews already) yesterday, which was purchased by my request to the library.  I really want to start this soon, as I won't be able to renew it, since its waitlist is already growing.  And then I'm reading an unpublished manuscript for someone, which has been quite enjoyable so far, and I'm about halfway through that.  And then there's the smattering of graphic novels and comics I need to read and return.  (Oh, and let's not even consider the time I'm spending playing Dead Space 2.)  All of this on my plate and knowing Pat Rothfuss' The Wise Man's Fear will be shipped to my house come early March.  So much to read...

6.  As for Dead Space 2, it's been phenomenal.  It's captured all of the terror and features of gameplay the first one had and upped the graphics and added better controls.  The plot has been crazy; the necromorphs plentiful; the fear tense.  I've only got a chapter or two left before I beat the game, and I've really enjoyed this play through.

7.  We watched two James Bond films over the weekend: Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.  Neither Keisha nor myself have seen much (or any) of Bond, but we both liked these movies.  Daniel Craig does great, and I'm looking forward to diving into more Bond, especially adding the older ones onto my Netflix queue.

8.  So much going on in life right now that there's no way I could cover it all.  At times I'm stressed.  Other times I'm amazed.  Sometimes I'm sickened and dismayed.  Through it all I look to Jesus and try to live like Him.  I fail, I know, but I try.

The Meeting is a Metaphor

Yesterday I had a meeting in Paducah, a city two hours west of where I live.  It was a final review meeting, pretty much like the one I went to back in the Fall of 2009.  Basically our project plans have been submitted for a while and have been reviewed and looked over by the State folks.  We then show up, sit down, and begin dissecting the work, page by page.  Each page is reviewed for inconsistencies, errors, changes.  Is the Right of Way going to have to be moved here?  Is that 18" pipe going to be able to handle the discharge here?  This kind of stuff.

While I definitely had more confidence in myself and my work this time around, I still feel very new to the business.  I've technically had my job since May 2009, and I've learned a lot during that time.  But, sitting in a room full of people much more experienced than myself is quasi-nerve racking.  For one, I'm still new to a lot of the jargon.  For two, I still think of myself as new.  I mean the project I've worked on since my hire date actually began in 1997, so I've stepped in at the tail end of things and have scrambled to make sense where I can.

Nevertheless, the meeting went well.  I learned some stuff.  I jotted down a pageful of notes of things I need to change and things I still need to do.  I'm behind, drowning in a pool of things to do, but I'd rather be that way than splashing in the kiddie side.  To me, having options that are somewhat pressed for time (~2 months) is easier on my mind than an uncertain timeline with uncertain responsibilities.

And then I woke up and realized that the meeting wasn't just a meeting.  No, it was something much larger, something so unavoidable that it was impossible to, uh, avoid.  Like Neo waking up in The Matrix I saw that life itself is one big meeting.  We're all in a room with the bigwigs, being judged and guided.  Sometimes the jury's kindhearted.  Sometimes they're cruel and selfish.  Either way, a jury exists to judge, and we're all judged by our peers.  We're all thrown to the wolves, but only after we've been drenched in blood and covered in wool.  We're all wolves, devouring one another, lapping up the sick after we've had our fill.  The earth groans beneath our selfishness as the heart groans within.  We hurt.  We grieve.  We try our best to prepare for the meeting and yet somehow we always come up short. 

I take comfort in knowing that Jesus suffered and was hated.  He told His disciples that they would be persecuted for following Him and for living like Him.  He told them that if He was hated, then so, too, would be His followers.  I take comfort in this.  It's not easy knowing that the world hates me, that the world wants to see me fall, that there's someone waiting as a wolf to tear me apart all for the sake of their own selfish desires.  The way I figure, I must be on the right track to suffer, to be persecuted, to be gobbled up and stomped upon by the world.  I count it all joy when I fall into trials.  I'll gladly stand up for what's right and take the gut punch.

And then I wake up and realize that the meeting is something more, something dark and twisted, something human, something else...  I step from the shadows bound in a straightjacket, hallucinating and fleeing for my life.  All around me are horrors too dark to describe; you'd think me mad if I tried.  I run, slipping on blood, through the bodies lining the walls towards the open door just down the hall.  There, freedom, just up ahead...  And the thing appears, leaping from the darkness and screaming in rage born in the pits of Hell.  We seem to stare at each other for only a second, but by then more have appeared, circling around me, jaws snapping, sharpened limbs gleaming in the soft glow of artificial lights.  They close in and I feel the first pains of punctured flesh.  Like a bag of sugar with holes in it, I open up and spill out.

And then I woke up and began to doubt, began to question, began to wonder how much was too much, how far was too far?  Who cared?  All was vanity!  All was senseless wanderings through the vast emptiness of space, through desires of longing for more and inhibitions begging for less, through misunderstandings and broken communication, through a world full of wicked sinners and dirty saints.  What can be done to atone?  What can fix the wrongs?  Who will teach me the error of my ways and show me what I can do?  Who will read these words and judge, misinterpret, and make assumptions?  Who will find the truth in them and discern the fiction?  The cynic wants to say the world will happily pick up their stones and toss them, burying me and my wife beneath a pile of broken rocks, our bones fitting in nicely with the white color of the stones.  I seek to understand the impossible, to change the inevitable, to fix the problems, to comprehend the mysteries, but I can do none of them.  It's beyond me, and in this I must try to take comfort.  The meeting has happened, is happening now, and will continue to go on until the end of time.

Life at the MLC: Paycuts & Layoffs

I vaguely remember mentioning in a post about losing a day per week at work.  Times have been somewhat stressed and strained here at the Mexico Lightbulb Corporation.*  For starters, my paychecks have all been rather late, and this gives way to a stressful existence from time to time.  As we're a private consulting firm, our work comes from winning contracts.  Our biggest employers are either the State or the City/County.  Unfortunately, as the economy is in a slump right now, so is the number of jobs generated/ funds allocated/ money in my pocket.

Yet, I am so very thankful to have a job.  I could be a statistic in the Unemployment Camp right now, and I'm not.  I don't know what I would do if I lost my job.  I mean, I know God will take care of us, but the way He would do that may not be to my liking.  So let it be known that I am very grateful to have a job, even one where I've taken a 16% decrease in my net income.

My boss called me to his office yesterday.  "Take a seat," he said.  A bit nervy, I obliged.  "First off, let me start off by saying your job is safe..."  Well, starting off this way was both comforting and equally terrifying, but he continued.  The MLC has made the decision to layoff six employees.  That's 20% of the workforce.  I instantly felt sad for these people, especially considering that Christmas is next week.  Again, I'm extremely grateful to have my job, and I'm pretty sure that I'll have it for as long as I want.  Nevertheless, it's still worrisome to know that the MLC is having these troubles. 

I'm sure I'm not alone.  I look around and see so many businesses closing up shop and people struggling to make ends meet.  The MLC has been established for 70 or 80 years, and we've been through things like this before (so I've been told), but it's a first time for me.

Really, the worst thing about the changes is knowing that Keisha and I are going to have a baby next June.  Before then we had planned on having some debt gone.  We don't have that much debt, comparably, but still, it's more than I want, and I want to have money for our kid.  Plus, my insurance sucks ($5000 deductable, which I was informed is going up next year), so I'll be paying a lot out of my pocket to have a baby.  Knowing that finances are going to be crazy for the next year or so, I've been looking around the house for things I can sell and things I no longer need.

I'm an optimist.  I believe that things'll pick back up soon.  I mean, I am getting to take off one day per week where I don't have to work, which clears up free time for plenty of things (Video games!  Keisha!  Writing!).  On the other hand, I think I'd rather make a little more money.

Oh well.  There's nothing I can do about it.  It's forcing us to really look at our purchases and spending and make smart decisions.  Hopefully these are lessons we'll keep for the rest of our life.


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*Mexico Lightbulb Corporation is not the real name of the company for which I work.  It was chosen on a whim to remain somewhat anonymous.  Plus, I just thought it was funny.

Those Awkward Times

You ever have one of those times when you get up from your desk and head to the bathroom but along the way intersect your boss who also is headed to the bathroom?

And the bathroom has only one stall and two side-by-side urinals.

And you’re not sure whether he’s going Number One or Number Two.

And you’re no longer sure whether you’re going Number One or Number Two.

And you strike up a meaningless conversation in the hall, cause bathroom conversations are just awkward.

So you finally choose one urinal and your boss chooses the stall and you both opt for Number One to prevent the dreaded side-by-side peeing.

Conversation is replaced by strange silence and the peaceful streamflow of urine.

And you both finish at the same time, which results in another logjam at the sinks, but conversation resumes.

And you make it back to your desk and struggle to understand what just happened, wondering if you both made a self-sacrifice or if you both really just had to pee.

Ever had one of those times?

Yeah, me too.

I Survived Staunton, IL, and All I Got Was This Lousy Blog Title

I spent all last week out of the beautiful and wonderful state of Kentucky.  Work required me to take a trip up and over to Illinois.  To be more specific, to a little town called Staunton.  Being away from home was a drag, but being away from the desk and outdoors was great.

Most of the time I sit in the office and spend my time working on projects.  A lot of this involves repetitive actions and constant re-reading of design manuals.  Staring at dual-monitors all day long sometimes leaves a halo of unpleasantness in the brain, so needless to say, I enjoyed my time away.

We were working on a twelve mile stretch of road along I-55.  The purpose of the trip was to inspect culverts, inlet pipes, outlet pipes, underdrains, etc.  Many of these pipes showed up on the plan sheets, but some we had to find along the way.  Once the structure was found, we’d take a picture and write down the condition of the thing, as well as any other notes needed.  That’s pretty much it.  We wore the highly reflective yellow jackets, so we would be seen by drivers.  And there were plenty of drivers, as the work area was relatively close to St. Louis.

We would park the car off the shoulder, look for an opening in traffic, and run to the median.  Often we had to cross the cable barriers, carrying with us the equipment we needed.  Then we’d run across the other lane of traffic and find the structure and repeat.  Sometimes we were alarmingly close to vehicles (like this one inlet that was right off the shoulder).  And the noise was unbelievably loud.  At one point I almost stepped on a snake.  We saw plenty of mice, which apparently like to make their home in the medians.  Ants and ticks and poison ivy were plentiful.  Steep slopes were often challenging.  The sky was mostly clear and the sun was relentless, but the temperatures weren’t too bad.  Yes, even in all of this, I had a good time.

Why?  What sounds fun in this?  Maybe there wasn’t much fun involved in what we were doing, but it was a break from the norm, a change in scenery.  Plus, I had plenty of time to think and daydream.  I wrote a few pieces of flash fiction.  I thought about the complexities of LOST and wondered what would happen in the remaining episodes.  I sang songs (when I was alone).  I pondered and marveled.  And at night, alone in my frigid motel room, I read and wrote.  The only thing missing was Keisha and the dogs.

The city of Staunton is a small town, quite reminiscent of home home*.  Little winding roads.  Pretty downtown.  Presumably friendly people.  But the best thing it has going for it is the Staunton Family Restaurant.  It was good enough that we ate there every single night.  The food was all cheap and delicious.  The service was great, just like the soups and entrees. 

Friday was going to be a rainy day, so we drove an hour north to Springfield, IL, where the MLC** has an office.  That office does a lot of environmental work, and since my major was Civil & Environmental Engineering, I was excited to talk to the environmental manager.  We discussed my background and the experiences I’ve had, and I got to say how I’d love to be able to do some environmental work if the opportunities presented themselves.  (They liked that idea, as anytime there is any environmental work to be done in Kentucky they have to drive several hours to get to it.)  So hopefully my future will involve some of this kind of work, too.

In the end, I had a good time, but I’m still pretty tired from the trip.  We were up early and out late, and I’m still a bit draggy.  I’m glad to be back home, though.

*Bremen, KY
**Mexican Lightbulb Company, the fictitious name of the real company I work for

Bits & Pieces

• I’ll have some book reviews up this week, as well as the next installment of The Absurdly Epic Tragedy of Oscambria.
• I may have another Flash Fiction Friday this week, too.
• My anniversary is next Wednesday.  I’m pretty sure Keisha knows what she’s getting.  So that means I need to think of something else…
• Sophie is still undecided, that crazy dog.
• I’m in two weddings coming up, one in June, the other in November.

Up To Date

I finally tore open my copy of Final Fantasy XIII over the weekend.  I’ve been waiting for this game for a while now, eager in my anticipation, ready for an excellent story and classic RPG experience.  So far, the game has been more than beautiful, and the HD viewing makes it even more eye-pleasing.  I only had time to play for about and hour-and-a-half, so I didn’t really get very far into the Exposition, but the plot seems like it will be grandiose.  The only negative thing (besides the occasional eye-rolling cheesiness) has been the voice acting/ character development of Vanille.  She’s quickly getting on my nerves.  Other than that, so far so good.  Now, if I can only find time to play the game…

I also started two new books over the weekend.  Coming off the dark, grittiness of Best Served Cold, I wanted to read something different.  Why You Say It, provided to me by Thomas Nelson Publishing House, traces the history to over 600 common everyday words and phrases, and it’s definitely a different type of reading for me.  The other, The Good Thief, has been on my TBR pile for a while.  Neither are in the typical genre I read, but I’m ready for a break.

The Sunday School class had a board game night on Saturday.  Several of us got together and ate and played a few games.  Good fellowship.  Great food.  Excellent time.  Then, on Sunday morning, we started a new study (which I think I mentioned a week or so ago) called Forgotten God, a book by Francis Chan.  One chapter in and I’m already hit hard.  Should be a challenging book.

I started a new regime today.  I normally get up near 7:00am, which gives me the amount of time to get ready and commute to work.  Today, I set my alarm for 6:16am.  I rearranged our study over the weekend, pulling the desk closer to the window and moving some bookshelves around.  Now, in the mornings, I fully intend on reading and studying Scripture before I head off to work.  I’ve sadly been neglecting the Bible for a while, reading only a verse or two each day (RSS Feeds!) as opposed to reading and meditating on a passage.  I pray that I’ll glean from this and get closer to God.

My boss is on vacation all week, which worked out great for me taking off early on Wednesday to go see Pat Rothfuss.  I didn’t realize it until last night, but Wednesday is St. Patrick’s day.  Pat has mentioned on the Facebook event page that he might do something special for this reading.  Heck, maybe he celebrates it for a completely different reason, as he shares the name with the Irish (?) saint.  To me it’s just another day, but not this year.  No sirree.  But I need to think of some sort of memento to bring and give him.

I’ve been listening to a lot of harder music here lately.  Mainly Coheed & Cambria.  As some of you know, I usually listen to folk or bluegrass or acoustic music, stuff that’s mostly soft and simple.  C&C, on the other hand, is really pretty heavy.  They’re a prog-rock band telling a complex narrative through concept albums, with titles like The Second Stage Turbine Blade, In Keeping the Secrets of Silent Earth or Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Vol One: From Fear through the Eyes of Madness.  It’s hard for me to follow or understand the story, but it’s interesting and surprisingly entertaining.  You can check out one of their more famous songs here or here.  These videos are silly, and the lead singer, Claudio Sanchez, definitely doesn’t match his voice.  Good songs, though.

I’m not entirely sure how to manage my layers with MicroStation.  I have my USGS Quad map on one scale.  I have my different contour layer on another, which is matched and scaled differently, anchored to a certain point location.  Getting the two aligned is proving more difficult than it should be.

Sophie and Stella are getting along better, though there’s still a way to go. 

Looking for the Homeless

My friend, Alex, came up with this really cool and practical idea a few weeks ago.  After one of the Sunday School lessons he got it in his heart to try and locate the homeless of Owensboro and provide for them.  He bought some backpacks, warm blankets, thermal underwear (long Johns, we call them in Kentucky), bottled water, and a Bible.  I bought some foodstuff.  We filled the backpacks and tonight we are going out on our first quest.

We’ve been trying to go out for the past two weeks, but I was sick and didn’t feel up to it last week, and Tuesday it poured down cold.  Tonight it’s going to be frigid (somewhere around 20 degrees) and windy, but we’re aiming to go.  I think the plan is we’re going to bundle up and go park downtown.  Then we’re going to walk the streets, each with a backpack, and keep an eye open for homeless folk.  If we see someone that needs a jacket, they can have ours.

Hopefully we find people in need and hopefully we can meet that need.  I know we’ve both been praying for this.  I’m not sure how many homeless people there are in Owensboro, nor where they would be, but we’ll look.  The city is fairly large, but shelter’s seem to handle most of the homeless here.  Regardless, we’ll keep our eyes and hearts open.

On a different note, tickets for STAR WARS Celebration V went on sale today.  I really really really want to go, but I have no one to go with.  Keisha’s going to have just started a job (hopefully) and Alex can’t go.  I’m thinking I may put a shout out on Facebook and see if anyone would like to go.  Really the trip wouldn’t be bad at all.  All four days of the convention for $120, and air fare is really cheap right now.  Celebration’s not until August 2010, so I’ve got time.

This is a small snapshot of what I’ve been working on for, well, practically since I started my job back in May.  The orange lines are the current thing I’m doing.  Drawing drainage areas for erosion calculations.  It’s a bit tricky and will vary from person to person on how it’s done.  The entire project is quite large.  It’s a slow process, but someone has to do it. 

That’s really about it for today.  Keisha’s finally finished with commuting for the semester, so she’ll actually be home during the week now!  Christmastime’s coming up quickly, and we’ve still got a bit to do.

I’m toying with the idea of not posting every weekday beginning with the new year.  At least once or twice per week, but probably not every weekday.  And if Dave drops off the blogosphere and you read both of our blogs, then it’ll be like a double whammy.  (Big bucks, big bucks, no wammy!)  I’m not completely sure yet, but just maybe.

Wish us luck tonight with our journey.  And pray for us, too, if you’d like.  And just in case you’re interested, the Amazon deal of the day is the complete series of Seinfeld, all 32 DVDs, nine seasons, for $84.99.  That’s a heck of a deal.  Plus it comes with a nice 226 page coffee table book anthology, highlighting every episode.  I’m not linking it, but it’s there folks.

Shadows, Erosion Control, Birthdays, Nashville, and a Homeless Shelter

It’s been a rather busy week and the weekend promises to be stuffed absolutely full. So much to say so much to say so much to say so much to say. I like lists.

1. “Shadows” is a song written by David Crowder Band, from their newest cd. A friend of mine, Alex, came o’er the other night and we practiced music for a while, including this song. After he left I decided to record a cover just to put it out there. Alex plays bass, which you’ll notice is missing. Hopefully we’ll be able to add the bass-line in soon. Anyway, I recorded each instrument as one track then mixed them all together to get the end result. Enjoy. (And if you would like to hear a different song/sound all together I did, check out this one.)

So there are a few problems throughout the track, like the staggered timing of some of the instruments. But hey, I’ve only been learning the piano for a little while now. All in all, I liked the sound, but it by no means compares to the awesome original, which you can hear here if’n you’d like. (Actually, I recommend it. And if you’ve not got the band’s newest album, you should definitely consider it. Absolutely brilliant and amazing. Available as a cheap mp3 album here at Amazon.)

2. I spent all day yesterday in a training class. At the end of the day, there was an exam, which brought back memories of college… If I passed the exam (and I think I might have) then I will become a certified Kentucky Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control (KEPSC) inspector. This is a little scary, as I have little-to-no practical experience (and only a tad theoretical) in these fields. Regardless, it is something that I think I will enjoy if I get to do it, plus I’d be one of the very few certified erosion folken in my company. But for now, this takes the back burner.

3. Yesterday was my brother-in-law Clint’s birthday. He turned eight. Tonight we’re going to Chuck E. Cheese’s to celebrate. Should be a rocking crazy fun wild and imaginative time.

4. I believe I’ve mentioned it a few times here on Rememorandom, but I love Joe Purdy. The man knows how to write lyrics and create beautiful songs, from tragedy to joy, from happiness to anger. I’ve got two concert tickets for tomorrow night’s show in Nashville, and I’m taking my wonderful wife with me to go and finally see him. It’ll be my first Joe Purdy show and I am double-plus super excited. Keisha and I are going to spend the day in Opry Mills. We’ll get to see the Christmas lights and whatever else is up this time of year. Then, when the concert finally rolls around, she’ll get to hear me sing for 2 hours or so. Man o man am I ready.

5. I mentioned that Alex and I were playing some music at my house. We’ve been getting together once a week to practice on some songs. Typically, when our Sunday School class has a worship service at the homeless shelter (twice a month), Alex plays bass, I play guitar, and my Sunday School teacher plays guitar and leads the songs. This weekend, it’s just going to be me and Alex leading worship, so that should be…fun?

6. I was contacted yesterday by someone who wants to do a guest post on my blog. Since my blog is called Rememorandom, I had no problems with this. I don’t do as many random posts as I once did, but my subject matter is still random and whatever comes to mind. With that in mind, I thought it’d be perfect for the blog. Not sure when the post will come, but it will come. Hopefully. Until then, the guest blogger will remain anonymous, unless they decide to leave a comment here and reveal themselves, which would ruin the suspense but give me reason to keep this sentence going on much longer than it should, thus making it a run-on sentence, a common mistake in writing, which is the act of creating written works was invented by Barnabas K Polka-party in 2012.

That mostly sums everything up. Oh, we did get Stella’s hair cut this week. Here are two pictures for your puppy enjoyment.


If you look on the counter in that top picture, you can see the Sunday Crossword of the LA Times for this past week. And if you close your right eye and move your head a bit, you can block out my face and just see Stella on the bottom one! If you want to see more pictures than you can shake a stick at of Stella, from puppyhood to now, you can view my Picassa album here.

What I’ve Learned So Far

I’ve been working at the MLC for almost six months now. My business card announces me as Logan K. Stewart, EIT, Highway Drainage Engineer, so I suppose that drainage is my forte. Unfortunately, six months in the real world of state regulations and design specifications is not long enough to have everything down and stored in the brain, and I find myself pulling these manuals up for consultation quite frequently.

Nevertheless, over the course of six months I should have learned some things, right? I should know enough to not be nervous about this very important meeting that I’m going to in Paducah on Thursday, with my boss and several other big-wigs from the State and such, right? Or should my eyes be twitching in fear? My stomach tied in knots?

See, what I’m expecting is something like this:

Interrogator #1: So, Logan, I see that you designed this culvert with a 42” opening instead of a 36” opening. Why did you do that?

Interrogator #2: Yeah, Logan, you little sissy boy, why’d you do that?

Me: Uhm, huh, he he, hmmm, well, see, uh, I, uh…[loud belly grumble]

Interrogator #1: Never mind that. How did you come up with this number for this ditch design flow value? It seems abnormally high, don’t you think?

Me: Well, I’m new, and, and I, uh, just—

Interrogator #2: Abnormally high?! It’s about 200% too high! The fool doesn’t know what he’s doing. Crucify him, I say. Crucify him!

Okay, I don’t honestly expect it to be that bad, but I’m still nervous. I am new and I don’t have the years and years of experience everyone else has, but I’m trying. I’ve taught myself most of the stuff I do by going through old completed designs and reaping knowledge, mimicking the methods I see on the pages. Practically, this works, but I can’t tell you the “why” on some of the things I’ve done. And to me, that’s a problem.

I don’t want to be the fool, unable to justify why I did something the way I did. I feel like all of my answers will be, “Well, I looked through the design manuals and this is how I did it. I’ll give it another look when I get back to the office.” After hearing that over and over and over again, I’m sure they’ll think the MLC has hired a robot. No, truly, I want to learn and be good at what I do, but it will take time and practice, and since I’m mostly teaching myself, lots of time and lots of practice and lots of errors.

Really, though, I think my nervousness stems from the fact that this is my first meeting of this magnitude. I don’t exactly know what to expect except to expect to be extremely bored for an exceptionally long time. (I am very proud of that last sentence. You should read it out loud. It’s fun. Go ahead. I’ll wait.) Then, quite suddenly, I’ll be thrown on the horns (yes, I borrowed that expression from Mr. Rothfuss) as my work is meticulously picked apart, page by page, formula by formula, iota by iota, while I squirm uncomfortably beneath the harsh glow of the heat lamps.

So, like the fabled and great Dr. Horrible once said, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. I guess I gotta buckle down and prepare myself for the potential onslaught that is to come. Of course, it all could just be hype, and I may just find that my fretting was pointless.

Alas, I don’t know. I do know that tomorrow will be the conclusion to The American Dreamer: Part One on my weekly edition of Writing Wednesday’s. I do know that my NaNoWriMo novel is at almost 6,000 words. I do know that I don’t like blue shells from Mario Kart. I know that Stella’s birthday was yesterday, and that she’s now one year old. I know that Keisha’s going to see a neurologist today, and I ask your prayers on that. I know that I’m playing music tonight in my garage with my pal Alex. Wish me luck and pray for me, too, if you’d like. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Home Again

Wow, this trip was frantic, boring, low keyed, high strung, and very fun. I've also been without internet access for the past 3 days, so that was interesting, too. I checked my Gmail and Google Reader and was floored. So, I'm going through everyone's blogs and other things I follow, and it's a tedious task. But, I don't want to miss out on anything.

This post will be brief. While we were on our trip, I took Keisha to watch Julie & Julia. The film is based on two true stories, one of the famous cook Julia Child and the other of a normal, everyday woman, Julie Powell. Julie was having a mid-life crisis and found that cooking made her happy, so she decided to write a blog about her experiences of cooking. She decided to work through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, finishing 524 recipes in 365 days and blogging her progress.

While I'm not reviewing the film (it was okay, but definitely not horrible, but by no means absolutely amazing, either), it did inspire me to be a better blogger/writer. I tend to write a few different stories, some of which I'm proud of and think are halfway decent, but then I tend to stop writing them. I've got several different projects all saved on my computer, none of them complete, or even remotely close. Some of them are connected, and some are just a few paragraphs. However, I enjoy writing, and wish I spent more time doing it, developing my stories and getting something out there.

It's not that I long to be a famous, published author; it's that I truly enjoy reading and writing and want to share what I've got. That's one thing I like about Rememorandom. While I don't know any of you personally (at least here on the actual blog. On the Facebook mirror posting, well, I know most of you) I still respect your opinions and ideas.

That's it for now. I'm exhausted from the trip, and very glad to be back home. There truly is nothing like sleeping in your own bed. Farewell for now.

Song Lyric: "Oh me oh my oh. Look at Miss Ohio. She's a-running around with her rag-top down, she says 'I wanna do right but not right now.'"--Gillian Welch, Look At Miss Ohio

An Authentic English Pub

While here in Frankfort, we decided to drive down the road to Lexington. The trip is beautiful and scenic, plus it only takes around a half an hour to get there. Along the way there are many horse farms, homes to world famous steeds. There's also a castle. No joke, it's a real European style castle built in Woodford County. Here's a link with all kinds of information about it. Anyway, the trip is pleasant and pretty, especially when riding with beautiful company...

The purpose of our trip to Lexington was really just to get out of Frankfort for a bit and to eat Indian food. Keisha and I both love Indian food, and even my stomach sickness after the last trip to an Indian restaurant didn't stop my desire for chicken tikka masala and naan. The food was mediocre and definitely not the best Indian food I've had, but it was still worth the trip.

Next we decided to go to a place called the Pub. It's an authentic English pub located in Lexington, except that it's not in England. We went there and shared some chocolate cheesecake and a bottle of zinfandel, worked on a crossword puzzle, and enjoyed the atmosphere. Aye, there was even football on. (Of course I'm talking about soccer, but I have been trying to switch the term in my vernacular. See, the sport we American's call "football" is really pretty regionalized, while the sport the rest of the world calls "football" is soccer. So, in keeping up with the rest of the world's vocabulary, I started switching the words a few months ago.) After a while, we decided it was time to head back to Frankfort.

To top off the great night, I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I'm not sure if I'll be able to write a review about it until next week, when things return a bit more back to normal, and I'm really not sure whether or not I'll be able to update my posts until next week, but suffice it to say that JS&MN was amazing. I hope my review can give it justice.

It's getting late, and I've been really tired from these classes, so I think I'm going to grab my Bible and hit the hay. It looks like I'll be starting Before They Are Hanged soon, by the way. Goodnight friends.

Random Song Lyric: "Y'know the nearer your destination the more you're slip-sliding away."--Paul Simon, Slip Sliding Away

Return to Frankfort

I'm back in Frankfort again, this time until the end of the week, and actually up until Sunday. Thankfully, Keisha is with me, so it won't be as boring as it was last time.

I'm really quite tired, so I think I shall retire. As an ending note, I'm about 100 pages from the end of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and it has grown more and more amazing with each paragraph.

On Post-Apocalypse*

(I'm back to work in my office again, after a three day class affair in Frankfort. The trip was beneficial, despite the fact that there wasn't much going on in the city. I learned a bit more about the US Army Corps' HEC-RAS program, which is used to analyze river and stream flow. I have used the program a few times while I was a student, but this workshop was much more informative.)

Sixty-four years ago America dropped the nuke on Hiroshima. I have mixed feelings about this. While I believe it was vital to end the Great War, did instantaneously killing 140,000 people merit the use of the bomb? This is a classic example of the "What if..." or "If only..." scenario. Who knows what would have happened had we not bombed Japan. I don't want to think about it.

What I want to think about is the bomb itself. In high school I did a research paper on J.R. Oppenheimer, the "Father of the Atomic Bomb." He lived a depressed life after his work, plagued by guilt and horror of what he helped develop. Why was mankind driven to create such weapons? We were better off shooting everybody with rifles and pistols, but then the bomb comes along and threatens our way of life and understanding. Heck, it causes the whole world to gold Cold and wonder "What have we done?"

I like reading post-apocalyptic books. Cormac McCarthy's The Road was probably one of the best books I've read in a really long time, which I read about two years or so ago. The novel focuses on two un-named characters, a father and a son, and they are traversing the road seeking only to stay alive. It takes place in a post-apoc setting. There are scenes from the book that stick out in my mind that I can still remember, and if you have not read it, I would highly recommend you do so.

Still, the idea of a post-apocalyptic setting is intriguing. Earth is drastically different, ravaged and primitive. There is always some matter of Old Technology that hangs around, confounding the survivors. In Fallout3, Washington, DC is transformed to a wasteland, full of bandits, mutated insects, and other crazies. In the Mad Max, Australia is driven to a society that depends solely on gasoline. I Am Legend New York was crippled, killing most people, but turning the others into some sort of mutated-bloodthirsty-humanoids. The world is always barren, dark, and lonely. Society is a dual society: the scavengers and the survivors.

I'm not sure what it is I like in this seemingly depressing genre, but I do. Maybe it's the glimmer of hope man always seems to have. Maybe it's the macabre. Maybe it's the horror. Maybe it's the fun in exploring what the new world has to offer. Whatever the case is, post-apocalyptic stories are typically compelling and memorable.

In all of this, I still don't know what to make of the Bomb, only that I should try not to think about it too much. Kind of like the death penalty. I'm torn on that issue, too. How can I support killing someone, when it's wrong to do so? But how can I support providing money, food, and shelter to someone who commits those sorts of crimes? Life is too full of complex, convoluted issues. I'm glad I'm not the one that's in charge.

*The Apocalypse I am referring to is not to the Return of the King, but to the destruction of earth. It is entirely possible that these could be one in the same, but I believe it is also possible that mankind can destroy Earth before the Biblical Return.

Blogger's Block (Themed Trivia)

I'm running on fumes currently. It's not that I've nothing to write, it's that I've scattered my brains and don't know where to go with it from here. There're too many things I'm invested in; "The Curse of Daniel Stone" being one, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, work and things upcoming, understanding the Deeper Mysteries.

I recently heard an amazing lyric that I really liked, which got me thinking of contractions and how they can and should be used. It's from My Morning Jacket's Librarian.
"What is it inside our heads that makes us do the opposite
"Makes us do the opposite of what's right for us?
"Cause everything'd be great and everything'd be good
"If everybody gave like everybody could."

Isn't that an excellent contraction? Everything'd. I like it. Make's me glad I use the double contraction will'n't sometimes.

Today I officially become an uncle. My nephew is Jacob Ian Stewart, but I won't get to see him until the weekend, as I am away on a business trip learning the importance of HEC-RAS modeling and open channel flow concepts.

There's not much to report on other than that. I drove to the Capitol Building last night, but I did not have my camera on me, so I couldn't take a picture of it. Suffice it to say that it is quite impressive. (For those of you that don't know, Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the most noble and prestigious of states.)

I also drove by Kentucky State University, which got me thinking about colleges and universities. It is amazing how all the buildings on most campuses look state-of-the-art and cutting edge, though inside there are still chairs and tables from decades past. Heck, even carpet and tile from decades ago. But still, the buildings themselves look pretty cool, and they seem to have this air about them that lets everyone know that Higher Learning is going on inside of them. I particularly like college libraries and research facilities.

How about some random trivia for you? The picture to the left shows a controlled experiment in a sluice gate, which is a laboratory modeling method of a natural or artificial stream. This allows the engineer (or whoever is interested) to study and analyze the affects of a Water Surface Profile, or the line the top of the water makes. Notice the obstructing block in the gate. If you look to the left of the block you'll see very choppy water, but if you went even further left the water would eventually stabilize. If you look to the far right of the block, you'll see stabilized water, but at a higher elevation than that of the far left. These stabilized regions are flowing at subcritical flow and are very steady. The very choppy region is the supercritical flow. The point near the left-edge of the block is the critical region, where the water is flowing at critical flow and is unpredictable. All of these characteristics are indicative of the water discharge, roughness of the channel, cross-sectional area of the sluice gate, and the channel bottom's slope. If you change any of those four factors you will generate a different looking water surface profile. Experimenting with different shaped blocks, weirs, and orifices create many different profiles, many of which are rather cool to observe in the lab.

That, friends, is just a small snippet of what it is that I do and what my Formal Education was all about. I sometimes wish that I would have had the desire to continue on and get my PhD, but I did not, though I do fancy it now and then.

I guess I'll just have to settle for the title of Darth and be done with it.

From a Hotel in Frankfort

The Interweb's sketchy
and my laptop makes noises
like the scratchy-scratch scratch of a fountain head on parchment.

The Jayhawks play
and my stomach roars
as mighty and fierce as the kitty-kat kat of the Savannah.

Where have all my friends gone?
Where is my love?
Who knows the things I know?
Who can comprehend?

idk

Splish-splash I just took a bath
and now I'm out to supper
like a simile stretching to make sense,
like a dollar looking to make cents,
the scratchy-scratch scratch is only the desk I'm at!

On Cable Companies (Good News + Possible News)

First, the good news. Last Friday I mentioned that I was growing frustrated with my cable provider. After my service was installed (on 6/20) the cable wire was left laying out on the ground, a safety hazard and eye-sore. I called them back the next day, asking when it would be buried. I was told no later than 7/10. Once I got home from work on 7/10 the wire was not buried, so I called again. This time I was told that the people had up to ten days from 7/10 to get it buried and to give them until the 20th, which was a month. I obliged. On 7/21 I called back and was informed that a contractor company actually buries the lines, not the cable company, and to give them 24 hrs and they would call back. No one called me back, and on 7/23 I called back. They were rude and jerk faces about it, but I nicely pointed out that I've been waiting a month for the cable to be buried, that animals could chew on the cord and be injured, and that it was in my way for doing lawn-work. I was given the same runaround, only this time the man told me that he'd be honest with me (does that mean they weren't honest with me previously?) and that the cable company had permission to leave the cords laying there, that it was legal, and that they would try to get it buried before the end of the summer, while the ground was still soft. Outraged, I asked if that meant that it was okay if my pet chewed on the wire and got electrocuted, and they said "No, but we are allowed to leave it like that." That didn't fly with me, and I told them that I'd be ending my service if it wasn't taken care of very soon. Click. Then I emailed their Customer Service and Technical Help departments, complaining and telling them my story. In my emails I said that I would use my Facebook, blog, and YouTube to discourage everybody from going with the company, furthermore, that I would tell all my friends and family what kind of crappy service to expect and to recommend a different provider.

Finally (and here's the good news), when I pulled in the driveway yesterday after work I noticed that the cable was buried. I inspected, and they did a good job, not making a mess in my yard and cleaning up after themselves. Now I'm satisfied.

I'm a nice and tactful person. I think ahead before I speak. I keep my cool. But these cable folks were starting to wear thin the calm and clear-headed barrier. Thankfully I maintained my civility, but also got my point across.

I don't understand why it took so long or why I had to go through so much crap to get one wire buried. I'm sure the contractor's aren't that busy. If I had to guess, I'd say it's poor communication. Communication problems are the bane of life's existence. There are too many people to go through to get something done, too many middle men, too many in-betweeners. I like a good, direct chain of command. Unfortunately, life is no longer like that.

On a side note, I may be going on a business trip next week. If I can get in, I'll be taking a class to learn how to use a program that will help at work. I've used it before, but not very much and it's been a while. Wish me luck there.

(To be fair to the provider, I didn't mention their name, but you could probably get smart about it and figure it out, or just ask me, if you're really curious. Also, I don't actually have cable tv, just the broadband internet service, which still requires the same stuff.)

The Importance of Paper Weights

Ah-ha! I have finally understood the importance of paper weights. All my life, I've thought, "What's the point?" Are they for desk decor? Are they something that people use as thoughtless gifts? Are they murder weapons in a game of office Clue?

But, dear and faithful readers, I am here to tell you they are not. Nay, read on and you shall be enlightened.

I got up from my desk to ask my boss a question, give him a heads-up on what I was working on and so forth. It felt like Antarctica in his office, the window unit A/C fighting to keep our old building cool from the 100+ degree heat index. I was gone for a few minutes, and when I returned to my desk, some of my papers were on the floor. I stooped to pick them up, legs a little stiff from my hour-and-a-half bike ride last night. And then it all clicked.

My desk fan, which I take for granted and tend to ignore, actually stirs the air around my desk. I notice a calendar on the wall behind me gently swaying with each passing rotation of the fan. And, subconsciously, I realize I have my own functional paperweights: a heavy design manual, my coffee cup (this one a hand-crafted ceramic piece from Gatlinburg, TN), my TI-83 Plus Silver Edition calculator. All along I've been holding down my papers from the cooling breeze of the fan, never really acknowledging the importance of paper weights.

Never again will I disrespect you, oh small and barely noticed paper weights. I'll no longer scoff and mock your purpose in my life. You are the constant worker at my desk, never appreciated or even recognized. To you I give thanks.

(Part V is going through the LOGANKSTEWARTVIGOROUSEDITING process. Forthcoming.)

Break Time

It's break time here at work. That's right, that says what you thought it said. Break Time. This is a perk I failed to mention about my new job at the MLC. Every morning at 9:45 and every afternoon at 2:45 is the company break time. To my understanding, back in the day when there were around 150 folken working here, break time was mandated. Now, tradition carries on, and I get to take a break twice a day.

What do I do during this time of forced un-labor? It depends. This morning, I sat at the Table of Knowledge and worked on a crossword puzzle. (That crossword was finished at lunch, by the way, and would not have been possible without the assistance of two lunch pals. If you want to work an electronic version of the paper crossword that I solved, click here.) This afternoon, I decided to post a snippet on my blog. Last week I gobbled up the time by reading Mistborn.

So, where does that put me now? It's break time here at work. After finishing Mistborn I bought another Brandon Sanderson novel, Elantris, but I chose not to read it today during break. But I do think I'll go and fill me up a cup of coffee here pretty soon.

It's a tough job here, with everyone being so nice and me getting two mandatory break times during the day. It's almost like I'm not even at work during those break times. Almost.

Leadbelly keeps coming on the radio, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Some Catching Up (Part 2)

Well, when I started the "catching up" series, I intended to finish it the next day. Unfortunately, things got hectic and I didn't get to finish the catching up bit. And, after re-reading the last post, I realize that its brevity pretty much sums everything up.

Life's been very busy.

And still, it's busy. But there have been some pretty cool things to happen for me. For instance, our new home comes with all appliances except for the washer and dryer. As providence would have it, one of my friends called me up the other day and we were discussing things, and he happened to have an extra washer and dryer that I could have. Also, we need to buy a mower for the lawn, and my mother-in-law's boyfriend just happened to be a channel for getting a new mower absolutely free of charge. This frees up funds to put into something else, possibly paying on student loans or something.

And then there's work. My job is to design culverts, channels, and such systems, but this is all mostly new for me professionally speaking. So, I've been learning by doing and reading design manuals.

A few more points to make:

1. Wasn't the finale of LOST tremendous?
2. If you've not read the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, I highly recommend it. So much so that, once I finish the series (I'm on the concluding volume) I intend to put a plug in here.
3. Heath bars are good, eh?

It's time for church. Farewell now. And I promise, once things settle down, I'll be back regularly. Thanks!

Some Catching Up (Part 1)

You may be aware that things have been happening very quickly for me. That's okay. I'm young. Presently I am sitting on my mother-in-law's bed, fighting to stay awake and write this post, enjoying the newly installed monstrous air conditioner.

First off, I must comment on my new job. As in the previous post, I'm working as a Highway Drainage Engineer for the Mexico Lightbulb Corporation. This job is what you would expect from the title: I design structures to drain highway systems, namely culverts and pipes. Starting a new job is a stressful, but fun, experience. This week I've been learning some new computer programs (HY8, MicroStation, InRoads) and reading design manuals. The difference between academia and professional life is design manuals. Design specifications change every few years, so keeping up with the current (or what was current when a project was going on) specs will be fun. I think I am really going to enjoy my career. I'm not sure if I'll be with MLC for life, but so far, I've really enjoyed what I've learned and done. Plus, my colleagues are a fun group, too.

On an equally important note, as of today I have an official closing date for my new house. Friday, May 29, 2009. This is when I can move into my new place.

And now I am very, very tired and must retire. This was going to be just one post, but I fear I must split it. I wish you all a wonderful evening/noon/night.