Reading (For Dummies)

At the car wash

Baby yeah

In the interest of selling my car, I've been taking it to the car wash a lot lately. It's pretty and clean and all those things. Better be able to sell it....

I thought this story was kind of interesting. Meta-news, if you catch my drift. But I guess I'm just thinking of Rachel again...I need to get in touch with her before I leave. For those that don't know, she's a fairly genius philosophy student with a keen lack of common sense. That is, she doesn't know how to tie her shoes and if you point down and say "up," she'll believe it. Weird girl, that one.

Been bike riding the last two nights, which brings the grant total up to 5 days of continuous bike riding. Tonight, I went back to where Amanda fell, and rode around really a lot hard on the technical parts. I'm really good at that stuff now, again, finally. Just in time for me to leave the country and forget how to mountain bike over the next two years. *Sigh*.

Not much news tonight, so I probably shouldn't have even bothered updating, but my readers request it. You know who you are.

Riding Riding Riding..

So this weekend meant...guess what? Wow, you're right! Bike riding!

Saturday: Rochester with Annie. Distance: 20 miles. Terrain: Canal trails (mixed paved/hard packed dirt). Weather: Wetter than your mom with a midget. Hills: Mostly flat. Knee pain: moderate to severe.

The drive home was cool. The best part?

The scene on INTERSTATE 690

I almost plowed into traffic stopped on I-690 because there's a traffic light there. Only used during the New York State Fair.

Arrived in Syracuse in one piece.

Saturday night: A date of a very different sort.

CHAI

I was able to partake of the best chai on the planet, thanks to Happy Endings. While at the coffeehouse I ran into old friend Megan, and met Morgan, shown below.

May I take your coat?

We hung out at the coffeeshop for a while and gabbed about nothing in particular. Then I went home and slept.

Sunday: Highland Forest with Stephen. Distance: 12 miles. Terrain: Singletrack with typical offroad obstacles (rain washout, small ponds, large tree roots, bears). Weather: Dry, trails wetter than your mom with a midget due to rainfall Saturday. Mud. Hills: Yep. Knee pain: Mostly non-existant.

We got really muddy from riding in Highland Forest. Bikes were covered with crap. I heard a rustling off the trail we took. I heard reports of a bear running around later. Was it one & the same?

Monday: Rock Quarry with Amanda. Distance: 5 miles. Terrain: ROUGH. Weather: Dry. Hills: Yep. Knee pain: None.

Amanda ended up taking a really serious spill almost as soon as we started. I blame myself. I took us down some really technical portions of the quarry. The trail was windy in trees, on top of shattered/broken slate rock. Very hard riding.

Shipped off the big-ass computer I sold on ebay today. Glad to have it out of my hair. Sleep now. More talk later.

E=MC² ?

So yesterday meant bike riding. With all the kiddies arriving on campus. Bike riding is my Green World? I guess so. Flinging myself out of civilization and into the woods, then coming back again, different, and no one else is the wiser. Except these days it's not the same. I live in Nob Hill, far from campus. So to get my satisfaction, I have to ride to campus, then to the woods, then back to campus. Then I can go home.

So I rode about 40 miles yesterday, but my left knee was hurting pretty bad. And it started to rain. You can guess that meant.

I rode home in the rain, and it hurt. It was raining cold hard bits of metal. Sweat ran in my eyes, then down to my mouth. I could taste myself.

I made it back to the apartment buildings and locked my bike up in the garage, then I wandered around in the rain. People probably wondered what the fuck I was doing. I'm not really sure myself. I just walked in the rain, sat down in the wet grass, rolled around some, laughed. Froliced, I guess. Too much fun.

Soaked!

Was more excited last night because of this. That's the cheaper of the two computers Steve gave me. I was expecting it to sell for $500! And I even entertained the idea of selling both systems for $850!!! Glad I stuck with auctioning the thing. I ended up getting more money for the LH3000 than he paid for both the 3000 and the 6000. Could computers actually be increasing in value??

And of course, the goodness on campus continues today. All the pretty little freshman arrive, ready for the slaughter. Too many women walk around in clothes too tight, tiny bodies ready to burst the seams. And when I say too many I mean too many. It's kind of nice to have all the people back on campus though. And even better this year. Usually I get sick of so many people by about October. This year....

The Lambs Lie Down in Schine

Party time!

Sometime this week while walking around on campus.

Me, head of UU Cinemas

Past few days have been getting exciting again. There's that sort of pre-move-in adrenaline rush that seems to hit campus about this time, every summer. Today was in fact the first day of freshman move-in. Classes on Monday. The energy and confusion that surrounds those guys when they come here is just amazing.

I went out to see a lecture earlier in the week, on the IDEA algorithm.

The new chip design allows for fast IDEA calculation using fewer operations, as you can clearly see in this picture

Then, today, an impromptu party at Haizhi and Leland's house.

Leland, me, Haizhi (left to right)

This was most interesting, as I was sort of a personality there. Haizhi and Leland are from China, Kyoong-Sook is from Korea, and Christian and Norka are from Venezuela. Most of the conversations were asking about me. Why did I become a vegetarian? Why did I want to leave the country? How do I ride so far? :).

A girl. Because I think a lot of things in this country are wrong. I was angry about being fat.

They all seemed to reach a consensus that I would miss my current home when I move to my new one, especially because my new one is recovering from environmental disaster. I don't know if I'll miss this place. They all seemed surprised though, that an american felt the way I do about my own country. They agree that most of the world hates the US, but they were never told of any dissension in the ranks.

All in all a fun and eye-opening evening.

Whiteface Mountain

Last Friday, while at work, I did the inevitable.

Put about 5 of these up

The Beast (Saleem's engine), a 3.0L v6, 160hp

So yes, Saleem, the car that was my main mode of transportation since High School, is now finally at the end of his service to me. It is sad but I feel justified in some sort of weird buddhist way. Which is interesting because I'm beginning to actually understand it I think. Suddenly the other day the thought popped up in my head that ownership is stupid. I shall have to talk to David on that one.

Friday night I went out for some drinking with Doug. I stayed out too late, hanging with him and his all his Public Administration womens. I didn't get back until about 1 o'clock AM and didn't get to sleep until 2. Which sucked, because I had to wake up at 6:30 on Saturday morning.

Inoue-san, ready to ride!

Saturday, Keisuke, Yukiko and I went mountain biking at White Face Mountain. It was...intense. Took us 1 hour 35 minutes to ride up the mountain to midway station. We took a few minutes breather at the top, then started down. It took us 8 minutes to go down. This is because the way up is almost entirely 20 degree grade, uphill all the way. Needless to say downhill was *fast*. We survived unscathed but out of breath. Me especially, after having drank the night before, and not having slept a lot.

That night we went out to a um...establishment of water...

Fine, it's a bar

Where we ate lots of food because we were starving, and had some fine beer (but not a lot). Then we went back to our hotel and crashed at 10pm. I was out when my head hit the pillow, which is rare for me.

Came back to Syracuse today, and got back in time to catch my old boss coming back from his own camping trip with his mistress.

The assistant dean of the college of engineering is dating a student at Syracuse University. Doesn't that seem wrong?

Ohwell that's all the news for one week(end). Will post when more interesting things happen....

Rolling in the water

Okay so I'm a little bit concerned about my plans now. I only hope that the city I plan to move to a month from now can dig itself out from this.

Seems that a lot of things have gone not my way lately, and I hate for flooding in Dresden to sound self-centric, but it does kind of make me wonder about my plans. I do hope everything is dug out by the time I arrive. Actually, I kind of hope it isn't completely done...that might help me find a job doing something fun and outdoors-like.

Not too much going on the last few days. Been going to the gym regularly, and bike riding, and the usual crap. And studying my German, learning to conjugate verbs and what not. Maybe I'll actually be able to speak a few things when I get there. Might be helpful to be able to say, "Where is the train station?" at least. Other than that, boredom.

Mawwiage

This weekend was amusing in that Annie and I went to a wedding. I didn't know either of the people involved in the actual ceremony, but managed to have a fun time anyway.

Annie at the helm

Friday was the Dregs wedding unrehearsal dinner, which consisted of all the people who didn't matter enough to be involved in the actual rehearsal. It was fantastic. I ended up talking to an old dude about his experience serving aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. It made me realize that, once again, that old people are cool.

What was perhaps the most fun about the un-rehearsal dinner was screwing with people's minds. It was most fun because I'd have conversations like this:

Me: Hi, you're Jay, right?

Jay: Yes I am. And who might you be?

Me: I'm Reid, Chuck Wightman's son

Jay: Oh cool, how is he?

What's most amusing about the above conversation is that the recipient of the joke (Jay in this case) does not know my father. Even if he did, he would know my father's first name is not Chuck, but Jeff (Chuck was my biological grandfather, who I never met).

The next day, of course, was the wedding.

The bride and her father

This was only my third wedding, and the third one that I've been to with Annie. Rather disturbing for a guy who is 100% sure he'll never settle down at this point, ever. Better than the wedding was the reception, of course. An open bar meant that the booze had free reign over my mind and liver.

A crude self-portrait. I don't remember when I took this picture

Aaron, having fun with my cousin's breasts

After 9 cocktails things started getting crazy, and those pictures are just the tip of the iceberg. I'll be saving the rest for blackmail. Not much happened Sunday other than not sleeping. I drove home from Annie's late at night last night. It was beautiful, and the drive reminded me much of driving around in the autumn of my senior years in high school. Driving shall probably be missed while I am living abroad.

Ow, again

So I probably didn't make a big deal of it yesterday, but I went bike riding a little over 80 miles. That's pretty far, even for me. I went riding again tonight, and, well...

I hurt my elbowf

...and my right hand

...and my left hand

No broken bones this time at least. Anyway I'm feeling a lot less depressed today than I was yesterday. And I even got some things fixed up on my laptop, too. I've almost got a Zaurus cross-compiler working correctly. Lots of packages to mail out tomorrow. I got paid for my keyboard already, so I can get it out the door finally. The box for it is only 4'6" x 18" x 8". Not too bad eh?

Endorphines

The scoop.

I went to New Jersey on Thursday night. Arrived at midnight after almost hitting a bear on the way down. Went to NYC on Friday to the German Embassy. My dad and I drove into the city to apply for my visa. I think it'll be approved, of course on the condition that I get health insurance to cover me in Germany.

Other exciting things in my life...hm...sold my keyboard and got way less for it than I was hoping, but the keyboard is slightly broken so I guess that's okay. Money has been a real problem for me in general. Stephen decided not to buy my car, keyboard got sold for less than I was hoping, the laptop I sold got damaged on its way. Someone is out to get me. Anyway I think I'll survive somehow. Keeping fingers crossed....

I've been pretty depressed about all that lately, and I haven't gotten enough excercise. I rode my bike 80 miles today though, and am way happier this evening about things. Pictures to come soon I think.