Thursday, May 25, 2006

In Papelbon We Trust

Damn that Mississippi(State) boy is good. Save #16 for the big guy. And that makes him 16 for 16 in save chances(leads majors) with a 0.39 ERA. B-A-D-A-S-S.

Jason Hopper appeared in the form of a savior today. Turns out he posted a listing on Mississippi State's Co-Op email server today looking for a place to stay this summer. Enter yours truly. I am definitely not wanting to pay TWO rents this summer, so Jason is going to help out in a HUGE way. He and Trevor know each other, and I KNOW Jason would make great use of our extensive video game library, so I'm thinking this is going to be a good fit. He hasn't given me an absolute YES yet, but I told him to just get back with me tomorrow. It sounds like he's gonna do it.

I'm quickly approaching the end of my stay at the Maier household. Saturday Walker and I move into our apartment, although we will not have any furniture yet, haha. For their generosity over the past fortnight, I am taking Eric and Jennifer out to eat at this nice restaurant tomorrow night. Before that I may join(around 4:45 or so) some co-workers of mine as we go see X-Men 3.

Go Sox...

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

I Wanna Go(Back) to Europe

Anne, one of my 32 mentors I have at work, has been talking nonstop about her trip to Europe. Everyday over the past week she has had a new "something" to tell me about where she's going and what she's gonna do. She and her husband left today around 1:30, and they're going to hit France, England, Italy, and Greece, all over a 2-week span. I'd SO go right now if I had the time and money......*looks to the sky*

Monday, May 22, 2006

Top 10 Tuesday(kind of)

Hopefully this is the beginning of a summer trend this year. I'm going to try to start doing Top 10 Tuesdays, where I'll present a different Top 10 List every week. This week is slightly different for a few reasons. One, today is Trevor's 21st birthday, and two, today is not a Tuesday.

So without ado, I present to you the Top 10 Henry & Trevor moments of all time. Enjoy!

#10)
Moving into Avalon apartments this past January. No one can deny that we have the most bitchin' of all apartment setups among our friends. We have the best chair(the Rally), the best sound system(ONKYO...although none but me and Trevor have witnessed it's true power), and the best video setup(two tv's placed perpendicular to each other, allowing maximum sports coverage). And it will only get better this fall. Trevor and I are eyeing a 42" HDTV Panasonic plasma flat-panel tv to be installed hopefully near the time we get a Wii. Can you say "Red Sox in High Definition"?

#9)
It was a gloomy day as Mrs. Howe's 7th grade Pre-Algebra class was set to begin. Everyone had just begun to quiet down in anticipation of the teacher's instruction. Without thinking about it much, I began to tap my foot in a catchy rhythm. Before I know it, Trevor has added his own foot-tapping rhythm to my own, and the music had begun to catch on. When it was all said and done, about 5 of us were each contributing his own beat to the overall "song." The ENTIRE class got a good laugh out of it. It was actually some decent music; we should have recorded it or soemthing. And so began our incredible ability to be spontaneous...AND funny at the same time.

#8)
Getting invited to go to Six Flags St. Louis with the Grenada Band...a year AFTER we had left Grenada.(we accepted the invitation, btw)

#7)
During the same summer as Cedar Point, Trevor and I visited my brother in Boston. The trip included our first games at Fenway, a Black Eyed Peas concert(of about 200 people), and Trevor's infamous "bringin the bitchin'"

#6)
The summer I moved to Paris was a rough one. No friends, no car, no idea what to do. Trevor comes up to Tennessee, and our days consisted of this simple formula: MDK2, frisbee, food, and more MDK2. Monotonous? Yes. Boring? Hell no.

#5)
Riding some of the world's best roller coasters at Cedar Point, Ohio, and making a classic video of all our shenanigans during that trip. I mean, how can you not like VH1 Storytellers, Robot Wars, a terrential flood, and a Bad Word Booboo? It's brilliant stuff, that summer of 2003.

#4)
Watching the greatest comeback in the history of baseball, nay, the history of SPORTS, with Trevor in the very cramped confines of his Glen Hollow apartment. As Bellhorn made the last out to send the Yankees packing, Trevor and I celebrated with, as you would expect, a bottle of Samuel Adams each.

#3)
What started as a simple trip down to Madison to hang with Trevor over Christmas break 2002 turned out to be the starting point of our crusade. After introducing Trevor to Eternal Darkness, quite possibly one of the most underrated games for the Gamecube, Trevor became addicted to it, even necessitating his purchase of a Gamecube shortly thereafter. From then on, he and I became the torchbearers of the Big N's cause. Oh yeh...we also decided to go Mississippi State and stay in Hull Hall.

#2)
Beating the Facility level in UNDER 2 min 6 sec during our 7th-8th grade years, thereby achieving the Holy Grail of the N64-Playstaion era of videogames: Invincibility in Goldeneye 64.

#1)
And the #1 Trevor/Henry moment of all time!?! Well.....it hasn't actually happened yet. It will no doubt occur during our trip to D.C. in a few weeks as we celebrate both our birthdays in STYLE with none other than Mr. and Mrs. Style themselves: Richard and Carolyn Sewell.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

So Long the Con of Man

Today was dreary(in Houston terms), so that means it was overcast and slightly on the windy side. I slept in late only to wake up as Eric and Jennifer were headed out to the Galleria to do some shopping. I opted to stay home and finish The DaVinci Code. I finished the book around 3:00, and shortly thereafter I received a call from my host; his car had broken down, and after two tries and jump-starting it, they had no luck. I was called in to pick them up. I made the voyage downtown, and after a minor ordeal with the tow guy, we returned to the house in my jeep.

We went to see the film adaptation of The DaVinci Code tonight, but it wasn't your usual movie-going experience. Instead, we opted for the Star Cinema Grill, which was pretty awesome, to say the least. You basically go in, and every other row of the theater has been removed and replaced by built-in-the-ground movie "trays." Waiters and waitresses come in and ask for your beverages(like your normal restaurant), and while they are retrieving your beverage you fill out an order card. Every food type is named after a part of the movie; it's kinda goofy, but it's also well done. The order card has every kind of food you want, and you just select what you want and when you want it. They bring you your drink(coke, water, any of a plethora of mixed drinks, tons of beer, many kinds of wine) and you give them the card. That's it. Throughout the movie you are brought everything, and they waiters are very unobtrusive. If you need anything extra, there is a small beacon button you can press to get extra service. Then they bring you your tab at the end of the show. It was all VERY cool.

Speaking of the show...the movie was pretty decent. Granted, there was SO much information in the book, so I can see how it would be difficult to translate all of it to the screen. Howard deleted a few things as well as do some parts COMPLETELY different from the book, but I can understand why. Despite the removal of several parts, the movie was a solid 2.5 hours. VERY long. The movie did stay true to many parts of the movie, though, which is rare for the book-to-film conversions you see today. I've been told to read Angels and Demons next, so I guess I will have to continue this whole reading-for-fun thing :(

Yankees at Red Sox starts tomorrow, baby. Will is going to the game, as well as a co-worker of mine. How they get these tickets I will never know. Colin has tickets to the Rangers game at Fenway on my birthday; he has stated he is going to make a "happy birthday" sign for me to display on NESN. You hear that, Will? Set your TiVO for June 11 :)

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Dynamite

The first week of work went smoothly. I JUST got computer access and a login on Friday, and by Monday I should have email access. It wasn't that bad, though; it gave me plenty of time to do some reading for my training.

Last night was pretty fun. Tarik(my former mentor) and his roomate Seth threw their monthly party at their place. And speaking of their place...wow. When they bought it, it was just a warehouse pretty much. Since their purchase, they have added a whole second floor as well as added on to the building width-wise. I'm hoping to get pictures from the party soon. Their place is truly remarkable. It's like one third Italian villa, one third club, and one third studio. Un-freakin-believable. I want a place like that.

Today was my first experience at a Houston Dynamo soccer game. They lost 1-0, but they had many oppurtunities to score; they just didn't capitalize on those chances. The game was a blast, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing some more upper-tier teams coming in to Robertson Stadium(their temporary home) this summer.

I sat with the lower-class folk the first half, haha. We had friends in these seats.

My season ticket seat :)

More soccer goodness

Eric and Jennifer found these two beagles wandering around their yard the other day. They had collars, so we called the owners. They eventually came to pick them up, but I had a few moments to snap some pictures, although they were moving pretty fast.

Beagle #1

Beagle #2

Oh yeh. Turning 21 in 21 days. Three weeks, baby :)

Monday, May 15, 2006

Access...Granted

I safely landed in Space City yesterday afternoon despite having about 4 cumulative hours of constant rain/drizzle to deal with. It wasn't completely bad, though, as Mal made me a new mp3 cd to listen to on the way down. Mp3 cds are awesome; you can put 3.2 bajillion songs on each one. No need for cd changing :)

To my surprise, when I arrived at Hotel Maier, Eric and Jennifer greeted me with a couple of steaks being cooked on the grill. Dinner that night was great. I also became indoctrinated into the dramas that are The West Wing and The Sopranos. Granted, it was the West Wing's last episode, but I enjoyed it. I really like the Sopranos too. We also dabbled in Big Love; Eric was correct in his diagnosis: it's more interesting than it is entertaining.

Work today was great. The whole gang was here, and it was good to do the "welcome back" tour and see everyone again. It looks like I'll be pretty busy this summer; they have alot of work for me this tour(I'm in ADCO again, for those of you keeping score). I also learned that the government has finished my background check, and I have been cleared for access to all the cool places on site. It goes without saying today that once my badge was activated, I played around with the proximity-sensitive card readers to Mission Control for quite some time. Now when you come visit me this summer(and you KNOW you want to!), I can give you my personal tour of JSC.

I've been here less than 48 hours, yet this week is already starting to get hectic. The Sox game was tonight(OWNED the Birds 11-1), tomorrow we're going to Minute Maid in an attempt to see history made by Bonds, Wednesday is the UEFA Championship Final between Barcelona and Arsenal(we're recording it and watching it at Colin's that night), Thursday we're prolly going to see the new GOAL! movie, Friday I'm sure something entertaining is going to happen(DaVinci Code anyone?), and Saturday will be my first experience of a Houston Dynamo game. Unfortunately I wont get to sit in our bitchin' season-ticket seats, but I will be there nonetheless. Eric knows a guy who knows a guy, so we were able to score about 10 free extra tickets. We're planning on tailgating all afternoon until kickoff. Hell yeh!

Next post I'll divulge all the details of everything that I'll be doing(and hope to do) this summer while in Houston as a 21-year old. I'll make it a top-10 list or something.

TWENTY SIX DAYS!!!

Friday, May 12, 2006

4 semesters down...4 to go

Damn. Sh*t. How they hell can you completely OWN the #2 seed in the conference one week and then turn around and get swept? I have no idea, but the Avalanche do. Grr. Today was so awesome with the Sox winning at the Stadium(Papelbon got save #13!), but that great feeling quickly evaporated into a painful gut sensation. Bleh. They just couldn't get the offense going. I think the Avs were 0-for-124 on the power play during the series. Or something close. Grr. Sure, I'll probably get over it in a week or so of watching baseball, but damn. Com'on guys. Four games in a row? I was really looking foward to wearing my "2006 Stanley Cup Champions" t-shirt as I walked off the airplane in DC next month. You're lucky Richard...verrry lucky. I normally don't cheer for the team that defeats mine, but I'm gonna do that this year. Go Ducks. I hate Jersey(they're almost gone anyways), don't care about Buffalo(I hate Hasek), and absolutely loathe San Jose(knocked Avs out a few seasons ago), so they're the only logical choice.

I've begun reading The DaVinci Code in preparation for the motion picture of the same name coming to theaters next week. I still can't believe I bought the book. If you know me, you know I enjoy reading fiction as much I like eat lima beans. I was also pretty skeptical that the book was as awesome as everyone and their child was saying it was, but I should not have been. I'm only 15 chapters into the novel, and I'm completely hooked. I'm all about some secret codes. Bring on the movie!

E3 was this week in Los Angeles, and just as Trevor and I predicted, Nintendo freakin' owned. Let's just say you ALL will be hearing alot more about the Nintendo Wii in the coming months. Just google it or something. Or go to IGN. Everyone is talking about it, and with good reason. This baby is sa-weet. Yes, Richard, I'll have one before Christmas this year. Now we can fill that void between eating and sleeping during the Christmas break, haha.

Exams are done. I leave my cozy corner of Starkville for home tomorrow, and I venture to Houston on Saturday or Sunday. Yours truly is still sportin the big FOUR POINT after 4 semesters :)

-H

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Welcome(Back)

First of all, for those of you that were redirected from my old site...Welcome!

The SIHL banquet went well. I got our Sewell Cup trophy for the Championship, but that was all I expected to get. Totally out of nowhere, Richard presented trophies for milestones reached this season for goalies. I was awarded with a plaque for reaching the 25-win mark in the SIHL. Only one other goalie has that many wins, and it took him 50 games to get 25 wins. It only took me 35 :). Attached to the plaque was the actual puck that used in the game in which I got my 25th win. It's quite possibly my most cherished trophy now. There were pictures taken that evening, but Richie has yet to send them to me. I'll try to post them when I get 'em.

This one goes out to Tarik. It seems you made this comment before the game yesterday:

"The red sox blow and they will get their asses handed it to them tomorrow evening."

So tell me Tarik...what happened last night? Damon went 0-4. Papi went deep. Mirabelli was as if he never left. Sox won. Aren't you so looking forward to having me as a mentee again this summer? hahaha.

I have finally registered for Fall classes. I had to wait for this one class to become available, but now it's good. Here we go. I opted to just use the MSU Course Catalog descriptions of the courses:

Mechanics of Deformable Structures
Introduction to structural materials and loads. Deflection analysis using energy methods, flexibility-based matrix method, and the finite element method. Influence of design on deflection and vice versa.

Aerothermodynamics
Energy; First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics; Entropy; Properties of Ideal Gases; Mixtures; Gas Power Cycles; One Dimensional Compressible Flow; Introduction to Heat Transfer.

Orbital Mechanics I
Two-body orbital mechanics;geometry of spatial orbits; fundamental orbits determinnation;orbital maneuvers; introduction to rendezvous and interplanetary trajectories.

Electrical Engineering Systems
Definitions and laws relating to electrical quantities; circuit element descriptions; development of techniques in network analysis; semiconductor devices; integration of devices into digital networks.

Vibrations
Fundamentals of free vibration, energy methods; forced and damped vibration, single degree of freedom; two degrees of freedom.

The only class I am not excited too much about is EE Systems. I absolutely hate electricity and magnetism, so I can expect to loathe them even more come this Fall.

Monday, May 01, 2006

The Season Begins Today

Yup. It really does. Yankees at Red Sox. 6:00 pm CST. This is it. In regards to one center fielder that will remain nameless, here's a shirt that's circulating Fenway:

"Looked Like Jesus.
Throws Like Mary.
Loyal Like Judas."

That's right. Screw 'em.