Travel

Service

Well, my box arrived today for the MacBook to go in for repairs.  That crack in the palmrest that happened in March is finally going to get fixed.  Hopefully it doesn’t happen again.  If it does, hopefully its in time to ship in over Christmas break.  Still, preferably, it hopefully doesn’t happen again.

Weekend with Jenn’s sister and family went well.  Sat around Friday night, went to GR Saturday, and they left Sunday morning.  We had some Red Robin which is always good, and tried to get my computer fixed at the Apple Store, but they wont ship so would require a trip back which sounded un-fun.

I got my PPG paycheck a week and a half early, always nice.  Will be useful when we got to Bay City this weekend, and to Ren Fest in Holly.

School is down to about a week and a half now, and my birthday 2 and a half.

Still haven’t gotten another crawfish.  Aquarium looks kind of empty.  At least need some plants.

OK, think that is all.  Will update hopefully Monday, if my computer is back.  Can always use Jenn’s though too.

nick

The Big News

So you heard the story of last weekend, except I left out about half an hour…

While we were ay the mall, I disappeared on Jenn for about 20 minutes.  When she found me, she was rather pissed that I didn’t tell her where I went and all that.  Well, she really kicked herslef for that this weekend.

We will jump forward to this weekend.  We left for Bay City around 5, met her parents for dinner in Mt Pleasant, and then continued on.  Once in Bay City, I led her to Carrol Park, to go down the roller slide for ld times sake.  After we parked, as we were walking to the slide, she saw something in my pocket, and asked what it was.  I played it off.  I went down the slide, then her, then I again.  Unfortunately, it was quite busy, and I was getting more nervous and embarrassed.  We went over to a bench, and she sat down.  I stood behind her, and pulled out what was in my pocket, and gave her the ring.  She started giggling and laughing and was rather obviously ecstatic.

When we were first dating, we actually went to a different park that had a roller slide, on 3rd near her old apartment.  They ended up renovating the park and pulled out the slide, so we would go to Carrol Park sometimes, though far less.  So, I thought it was something special from our past.  I wanted to be at the bottom of the slide when she came down, but became far too self conscious with the 20+ people in the park that evening.

The rest of the weekend was seeing people and calling to tell everyone.  We stayed in Bay City until Saturday evening, and relaxed today.

Our first calls, just 20 minutes after I asked her, people started asking if we had a date.  NO, it’s been 20 minutes, give us a little bit!  We are kind of thinking next Fall, October of November of 2009.  That is rather tentative though, and we don’t know where yet.  Kind of thinking toward Alpena, since my family is split MI and PA and travel for them is less of a big deal.

So, that is that.

Off to bed, last week of work.

nick

EDIT:

Apparently, some people feel it may not be as obvious as I had thought, so… I asked Jenn to marry me, and though it took her 10 minutes to calm down enough to remember to respond, she said yes.

36 Days, Ouch

Well, to be honest, not much has happened up to this weekend.

Back on the morning of the 10th, I woke up and went to feed the fish, and noticed Bubba was missing (the crawfish).  I searched through the gravel, looked for bits in the tank, even looked around the apartment.  Finding nothing and running out of time I got ready and left for work.  When I got home, I looked some more, and still no sign.  We pretty much concluded he was eaten by Jill and gave up, though it seemed weird that there were no remains at all.  Saturday (the 12th) I was getting the pop cans to take in, and noticed something behind the can.  It was actually pretty far from the aquarium, and I can’t believe there was no smell.  At least we found him, and he wasn’t eaten so we can try and get another crawfish without worrying what Jill will do.  Still, kind of amazing he crawled out of the auarium, that has a hood.

More nothing up to this weekend.  Work, sleep , eat, work, work.  heck, I even picked up a Saturday (the 19th).

This weekend Jenn and I went to Battle Creek.  Went to the Silver Leaf Renaissance Faire Saturday.  It was pretty darned cool.  Was our first Ren Fest actually.  There were alot of people dressed u, vendors, good food, and even jousters.  The real kicker though, is I finally got my Utilikilt.  Yes, I now strut around in a black original model.  Following the fair we went to the mall for a bit and used her B&N gift card and we headed to the hotel.

Sunday, we went to Binder Park Zoo.  That, too, was really fun.  We got to feed a giraffe, watch a tortoise walk really slow, and see a 4 horned sheep’s lips vibrate really weird (should have got video of that).  Following that we headed toward home stopping in GR to see Dane.  We ate at a XO which was interesting, and fairly good.  I had green curry scallop, which was a little too weird.

This week, more work.

Also last week, Jenn started at Mecosta Medical Center.  Cuts her commute time by about 50 minutes.  Seems to be liking it so far.

Will update on Monday with info on our trip to Bay City Friday and Saturday.

nick

Oh, duh, pictures of Zoo on Picasa, sadly none of Ren Fair.  Maybe the Holly fair in August…

Oh, the Miles

So, first up is another weekend trip.  Jenn and I wanted to go somewhere Friday night and decided on north.  We packed up and headed out around 7:30, and by 10:30 were in St. Ignace.  Saturday morning we started at the casino and with our $40 in free tokens ($10 each for joining players club, 1 each for staying at a hotel in St Ignace, and 2 for Jenn for birthday in June) we won $31 in cash.  Next was breakfast that took a while to find, but ended up being at King’s Fish Market in Moran.  The food was very good, and the smoked fish was very tempting, but we knew we had a while till we headed home and thought it best to wait.  We continued further north to Paradise where we stopped at a roadside park to get a look at Lake Superior.  next we turned west to Taquaminon Falls.  We checked out the falls, took lots of pictures, and had a stop at the brewery on site.

Our next destination was Sault Ste Marie.  We looked at taking a ferry through the locks, but the price was a bit high.  We also considered the museum ship but it too was pricy.  So, we went downtown and headed into the locks viewing area.  As there were no ships at the time, we headed across the street for dinner at Goetz Lockview Restaurant, which included the best and probably freshest whitefish I have ever eaten.  Following dinner we went back across to the locks and watched as a ship began to enter.  Unfortunately, this is a very slow process, and as jenn is impatient, out time came up and we ventured on.

Next stop: Canada.  We crossed the International Bridge and once across the border headed to the visitor center.  Here, I did something really funny, but that I feel I should not mention.  We then went to a Canadian Tim Horton’s (the most canadian thing in the US, in Canada) then to the Duty Free Shop, and back to the US.  On our way to St Ignace, Jenn’s parents called to see if they could meet up with us, so we returned to the casino to see them for a while.

Following the casino again, we went to see if we could find some smoked fish and pasties, but everywhere was closed.  We stopped off to look at the Mackinac Bridge, then returned to the hotel for the evening and ordered a pizza.

Sunday, we headed out early and got some pasties.  We then crossed the bridge and in Mackinac City we ate our pasties, then bought more and some smoked fish.  We did a little more shopping and then headed toward Big Rapids.

On the way home, we passed some of these, which we had seen Friday on the way up.  We think they are pretty cool.  We then went to Cadillac and had dinner at Pizza Hut Bistro, then, finally, home.

So, The rest of the week, so far, has just been work.  Except today…

Back on Friday we sent out some glass samples to a PPG facility in Troy for testing.  This morning, we received an email that they had broken in shipping.  Due to the need to get new samples there quickly and to avoid more breakage, Dvid (Engineering Manager) asked me to drive them there.  Yes, from Evart to Troy, 3 hours each way.  Alright, why not.  Three hors down, here you go, 10 minutes, and 3 hours back.  I did stop and see my mom and brother quickly, since I went through Bay City, but that was like 5 minutes each, and those were my ONLY breaks.

So, today, between the trip for work, and actually driving to and from work, I drove 400 miles.  Plus, the miles we put on Friday – Sunday, plus the 50 miles I drive every day, comes to probably over 1000 miles this week.

OK, thats all.  I need to sit around and not move for a while longer.

nick

Oh, pictures of the weekend are up.

Fun Weekend

So, last week was working, and that’s about it.  But, the weekend, that was better.

Saturday, Jenn and I wanted some adventure, and we found it.  We began with breakfast at Ala Mode cafe, our newfound little pleasure.  They have great breakfasts including a quiche served with biscuits and gravy and hashbrowns.  Following that, we went to Meijer and got not much, then returned home.

Not content with sitting, we packed a bag with general stuff and set out west.  Our fun stared quickly, just past Paris, when we passed a farm.  This particular farm has 4 horses and a donkey, so I always look for the donkey.  Today the donkey happened to be rolling over.  I have never seen a donkey roll over, and I have to say it is quite enjoyable.  It reminds me a it of watching Molly, as the legs are too long and body too large, so any chance of grace is right out.  Next we stopped for snacks in Reed City including a bag of T.G.I. Fridays quesadilla chips which were really good.

Up next stop was at the Amber Elk Ranch near Ludington, where we took the 1 hour tour.  If you are ever in that area, we highly recommend it.

Once in Ludington, we went to the dock to look at the ferry, then to the Jamesport Brewery for dinner.  Very good food and drinks.  It was my second time, after visiting during our SME trip.  the dinners are better than the sandwiches, though the rueben looked pretty good.

Following dinner, we went to the city beach to maybe do a little swimming.  Because of the heavy rains and flooding, there are rather strong rip currents and some sewage overflow, so the beach was unfortunately closed.  We decided that we will need to return later in the summer.  Still, we walked the sand and watched a thunderstorm coming in before heading on.  We drove around and found it is a hard thing to do around Ludington right now.  Twice we had to turn around because of a washed out road.  On our way back to US 10 we saw a lot of flooded yards and forest turned to marshland.

We got on 31 despite the signs advising us it was closed, and headed north as far as we could, finally being forced down a detour as it too was washed out.  Finally, we ended up in Manistee and spent some time in Little River Casino.  We $24, then Jenn joined the players club and got a free $15 credit, won $3 with it, and we left just $6 down, which isn’t bad.  We considered staying in Manistee for the night as it was about 10 PM, but decided to just head home.

Sunday, we cleaned up the house some.  Not clean yet, but cleaned up.

Monday I returned to work, and that will be about it for this week.  Jenn’s birthday is Thursday so maybe something else fun this weekend.  We will see.

Pictures of Saturday are now available on Picassa.

nick

The Neglect Continues

Hmm, 3 weeks, suck.

Something HUGE I forgot last time, was that Jenn bought a new car.  I came home from class that Monday I spent working on Amerikam and there was no Escape in the parking lot, but instead an 08 Jetta in is place.  She gets REALLY good milage and it is a very nice car.

Trip to Bay City was fun.  I was the drunkest I have ever been Saturday night.  There was a point I ate a french fry and though I could taste it, I couldn’t actually feel it.  I stopped drinking about at that point.  That Monday I went to go see Iron Man with Scott, which was really good.  Nice to see Scott too.

Big news recently is I got a job.  Had interview on the 14th with PPG in Evart, which was a good 3 hours, drug test right after, and following Monday they told me I had it and go get physical on Wednesday the 21st, start on the 27th.  Physical was actually my first, and I got abnormally excited at the hernia exam.  Not real sure what i will be doing, but will let you know when I find out.

This past Thursday Jenn and I tried fishing, though we didn’t have any luck.  We also did a bit of shopping downtown, and bought a crawfish for our aquarium.

Yesterday we went to the <a href=”http://www.almahighlandfestival.com/”>Alma Highland Festival</a>.  Was decently entertaining.  The games were pretty good, we missed the herding.  Not sure it was worth $15 each though.  From there we went to Mt Pleasant for food (the Green Spot I think) and then to Clare for Jay’s and home.

So, for anyone who doesn’t remember, Tuesday, May 27th, is he Blogversary.  Something I just found out a few minutes ago though, is not only is it the Blogs 5th Anniversary, but it is WordPress’s birthday as well.  Seems kind of fitting that I use it I suppose, even if the first 2.5 years I didn’t.

So, next post will absolutly be Tuesday, for the Blogversary, and to let you know more about the internship hopefully.

Unrelated, I am not 99% sure that my cousin Cindy has a Mac.  I kind of wondered if the stats program was just goofing up, but have had repeated confirmation from it now.  Strangely, it reports OS 10.4.11, and 10.5 has been out since October, but the Mac didn’t show up until January or February.  So, either I missed it for 2 months, which seems unlikely, or she bought used, which also seems possibly unlikely.  Maybe is something Sam or Rach used at school, and left home after Christmas?  I don’t know.

Uhm…

That may be it for now.

I played Halo Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.  Is done now.

Yeah, thats about it.

Tuesday…

Nick

Finally Current

So, this week…

Exams

Monday was our Metrology exam, Tuesday was Production Processes.  They were both pretest/posttest exams, and following the Metrology exam he graded them immediately, and I was actually WORSE by 1 question!  Still, I had the highest grade in the class though.

Tuesday Greg, Dane, and I payed our last game of disc golf.  That night, since exams were over, Jenn and I had a little dinner at Bennigan’s, where they had $2 long islands, which was nice considering the circumstances.  Next was a friends house for a party to round out the night.

Wednesday Jenn and I went to Holland for the Tulip Fest.  It turned out to be a bunch of old ladies on tour busses.  We did have some fun at the New Holland Brewery again though.

Thursday (finally up to yesterday) was a sit around day, though Jenn and I played a round of disc golf.

And finally, today, Jenn and I went for a bike ride.

So, what did I forget…

One morning we woke up, and rather than two rosey barbs, we only had one and a half.  Also, Monday, just before my exam, Jenn and I went to the driving range for 45 minutes or so.

Yesterday, I randomly called a few companies, and PPG in Evart asked me to email them my resume.  I woke up this morning with an interview on Wednesday.  Hopefully this will finally be it.

Last weekend, we got DVR from Charter, which is freaking cool.  Sadly, I haven’t figured out the real cool shit, like getting shows form the computer to DVR and back.

Saturday (tomorrow) at 9:00 I will be at Hooligans for some fun.  Anybody who sees this is welcome to join.

Anything else I will update on after my weekend in Bay City.

nick

April Oops Part 1

School has been using up alot of my time, particularly our Amerikam project, so the blog wound up suffering.  Sorry.

To catch up, rather than all in one post, I am splitting it into two parts, each covering about a week, then a semi-current post.

So, where did I leave off…

Thursday, the 17th, I went with Dane and Greg to try disc golf.  My brother tried to get me to go for 2 years but it was a semi-far drive to get there.  Here, its about 2 minutes away, so I gave it a try.  It turns out, I like it.

Friday, following class, Jenn and I went to Kalamazoo.  We started off in GR at Cascade Winery to get a bottle of mead, and Jenn picked an apple wine.  We then continued down to kazoo and to our hotel.  We had dinner at Logan’s and stopped by the local bike shop as her parents have been looking at getting new bicycles.  Back at the hotel we tried her apple wine that was pretty good, then my mead that was rather disappointing.  It starts off like honey and water, but finishes very dry.

Overall, Kalamazoo seemed cool, with bike lanes EVERYWHERE and the Kal-Haven trail.  On the other hand, the shopping was spread out sort of weird, and it looked a lot like Saginaw, just sort of run down in a lot of the neighborhoods we saw.

Saturday we headed north toward home, stopping again in GR.  We had lunch downtown at Flannigan’s, then walked to DeVos Center for the Patio and Spa show that was decent, but not worth the money.  Flannigan’s was really good though, and I may agree with their claim of best rueben in GR.  They also have all 3 Guinness products on tap, so I tried a Harp and was very happy with it.

Following that, we went to the Dunhams on Plainfield to buy disks for Jenn and I, as I had borrowed Greg’s earlier, then headed home.

The following week was a lot of working on our project.  I did surprise myself though, by playing disc gold every day that week, Monday through Friday.

Also that Friday was our banquet at the Holiday Inn.  Several scholarships and the senior mock-award were presented, and dinner obviously.  Food was unimpressive sadly, considering the $20 each price (though the school covered half, and we only had to par $10).

I think I will leave it there for now.  The 28th – 2nd in the next post.

Nick

Spring Break

So, Bay City went well. Stopped at Jay’s on the way but didn’t really need anything so continued on. Once there, we went up to Bay Med and saw my grandma. She seems to be doing well, and definitely in good spirits. Went and saw my mom, then went to Hooters for dinner and did a little shopping at the Bay City Mall. Come 8, I met up with the guys from the library and Todd at Hooligans for some fun. When they kicked us out at 12, we went for a bite at Texan, then to our hotel.

Wednesday we had lunch at the Wanigan then went to my mom’s for a bit, then to see my Dad. My Grandma had just been released so she was finally home. I fixed their computer and got my iBook set up for my Dad. After all that, we did a little more shopping at Macy’s where I bought a pair of jeans and two shirts.

We decided since we were in Saginaw, we would try taking 46 across home. On our way, we got hungry, so we went to The Eat Place, which it turns out is actually called The Country Inn. It turns out they are REALLY good, like, some of the best food I’ve ever had. Finally though, we made it home.

So, that is about it. Scott, whenever you read this, you may commence the jealousy.

Five Second Rule

I was kind of waiting to post this entry until after I got WordPress 2.5 installed, which is supposed to be released today. Sadly, nothing has been heard yet, so may as well go ahead. I have done a little more work on the blog today while waiting though. I made some little theme changes, and removed the Wayback section from the sidebar (you know, the 1, 2, 3 years ago). I figure with the random button up top and the monthly archives in the sidebar, it’s good enough. Besides, it drops two plugins by removing the one thing. I also went back to tagging posts. I have tagged through the end of August 2003, so just 43 more months. I’m not saying its a little daunting, but this is the 529th post.

Anyway, the five second rule, what the hell? Does it really matter if food lays on the floor for 3, 5, 30 seconds? Even several minutes? If a gummy work falls on your kitchen floor, and lays there for 30 minutes, is it really any dirtier than it was the instant it contacted? As I see it, there are only 3 circumstances where time actually matters, and in at least 1, it still doesn’t.

  1. The food/surface is wet or moist.
    In this scenario, wet ground will cause a soggyness in the food, or a wet food will increase dirt adhesion to the food. In theory, a wet surface, with time, could cause the food to become inedible due to becoming too soggy. To be honest though, if you drop your food in a puddle, does in matter how long it was in the puddle? No, not really.
  2. The food becomes stale.
    If you drop a chip lets say, and don’t find it for at least an hour, and it has become stale, then the time did matter. To e honest though, who eats day old food off the floor?
  3. Insects
    If you are out camping, and ants invade your food that was nicely nested on some grass, then time mattered. You have to beat those bugs to your food, or just forget about it.

As I see it, those are it. Granted, anything over about a minute is still a little weird. Although, there was this one time at Meijer in Saginaw, I ate a skittle off a cash register. It a have only been there 5 minutes, or a month, I don’t know. Jenn giggled ad her parents looked at us wondering why, but obviously we didn’t say.

Anyway, the past week…

Last Saturday my grandma was taken to Bay Med because she started coughing up blood. Apparently she has a lung and liver tumor. They are both inoperable so she is coming home today or tomorrow. They are starting her on chemo and hoping that will do the trick. She is my last grandparent, so losing her would be a major suck. Don’t think it has hit me yet though.

Thursday I spent 13+ hours at school. Left home 9 am, got home at 12 am. Class, McDonald’s (walked), class, Project X. Thank god we finished it. I actually spent until about 2 am doing finishing touches.

I am beginning to wonder if I should accept a weekly update schedule, but don’t really want to. It’s not like I am that busy, just forget mostly I think. Would help if someone other than Jenn read. May have a kind of fix for that soon though, more later.

Jenn worked last week, knee seems to be 99%. She spent the weekend in Traverse City with her mom, sister, and niece and nephew. Did some shopping and such. I had almost as much fun being alone. Not that I don’t like spending tie with her, but after 2 weeks of her always home kind of needed it.

Tomorrow Jenn and I go to Bay City for the day/evening. See family and friends and such. Will probably spend day tomorrow with family, then Hooligans at 8.

Hmm, what else…

This is why I can’t accept once a week, because I know I am forgetting stuff that I wanted to post. Need to just post it when I think of it.

Next blog, I will begin a new feature: Must see movies. I started thinking about for Jenn, but mind as well post them. I want to post 100, though it may be spread over 5 or more posts. Will shoot for at least 20 on the first 2 installments, then a little less as I run low.

I think, maybe, thats it.

Yeah, thank so.

Ooh, Qdoba brownies are AWESOME!

Blog was down for a few hours yesterday due to issues with the severs apparently. Not a problem of my hosts, but the building owners they lease from apparently. They went down just as I went to updater the time offsets for DST too, luckily I remembered to try again this morning so I don’t need to edit the time of several posts and comments like I did 2 years ago.

Uhm…

Yeah, later.

nick