Happy Thanksgiving! November 27, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 4 commentsHappy Thanksgiving to everyone! The last few months of my life have had their ups and downs, and the last few weeks in particular. But I’ve definitely come out ahead over all, and with my job going well (more on that in a future post), I have a lot to be thankful this year. I’m thankful that I’ve avoided any major financial crises during my leaner times this past year. That includes being thankful for my health, my home, and my car. I’m thankful for my family and their on going well being, and for a supportive network of friends who have been there for me when I needed them. I’m thankful for my personal relationships, which have brought me more joy and more pain this year than I’ve ever felt before, and I’m thankful that I had the chance to experience both. This year taught me how important the little things in life can be, and I’m thankful I had the chance to learn that lesson.
And finally, I’m thankful that I had the chance to celebrate the holiday with a group of wonderful friends. Wonderful friends and a deep fat fryer, which produced the most tender, juicy, delicious turkey I have ever tasted. Not to mention the Oreos, Twinkies, Snickers, bananas, ice cream, cranberry sauce, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pickles that we fried up later.
Your thoughts?I’m going to see dinosaurs November 20, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 4 commentsScientists announced today that they’ve succeeded in retrieving most of the woolly mammoth DNA sequence from frozen hair samples. I’m predicting now, on November 20, 2008 (actually I predicted it yesterday, but just got around to posting this), that I will see live dinosaurs before I die. We have most of the genetic information, the technology will come, and the monetary incentives for bringing a dinosaur back to live are just too high to be passed up. It’s a shame Michael Crichton isn’t around to see this. Jurassic Park, here we come.
Your thoughts?Back in the bay area! October 31, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a commentIt’s been almost a year since I’ve been in the bay area. But I had a chance to sit in on three classes on high speed digital design taught by a very highly esteemed Rice alum. The classes have been great (Howard Johnson is an amazing teacher), and it’s been a fun opportunity to catch up with old friends. I do have more friends here than I’m going to have time to see in a day and a half, but considering that I lived here for four years, I feel a little weird that I don’t have more. I feel like I’ve been a a stronger social circle during my one year in Seattle than my entire four years in Berkeley.
No time to worry about that today, though! It’s Halloween and my royale with cheese costume is calling…
Your thoughts?Best day ever October 25, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 2 commentsYesterday started off well with a free lunch at Lunch 2.0. After dinner I received an email from a college friend pointing me to a job that looks like a great for me. We planned to discuss it further over beer but realized that he was leaving town on Saturday and I was leaving town on Sunday. Fortunately, we turned out to be five minutes from each other at the time of email exchange and were talking over beer ten minutes later. I haven’t been this excited about a job in a long time, particularly one that matches my skill set so well.
I left in an incredibly good mood. While stopped in traffic I texted a friend to tell them the meeting went well, only see flashing lights in my rear view mirror. “Seriously? I’m getting pulled over for texting?” I thought. Actually, it turned out that I had run a stop sign - apparently I was in such a good mood and so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t even see it.
“Did you know that you just rolled right through a stop sign?” the police officer asked me. I wasn’t sure what to say. I remembered the advice from the videos in Why You Should Never Talk to the Cops but didn’t feel completely comfortable telling the officer that I was going to plead the fifth. In the end, I just stared confusedly for about fifteen seconds until he said, “ok,” and walked back to his cruiser.
Waiting in my car for the next ten minutes, I ran through all my options for fighting the ticket. Did I have any kind of plausible defense? But even with a ticket, I was still in a great mood, and when the officer came back to tell me he was letting me off with a warning, my day got even better.
A free lunch, an exciting job opportunity, an escaped traffic ticket, and a few other long time personal goals achieved all in one day. Very very satisfying.
Your thoughts?I have a new freelance writing gig October 23, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 2 commentsIt’s been a few years since my last position as a professional writer, but I’m at it again. I’m freelancing for Guidespot.com, writing snarky guides to help get their website up and going. My first: Seven Worst Places to Break Up in Seattle.
Your thoughts?