The sooner people realize that hitting with runners in scoring position is not a separate skill from hitting itself, the better our ears will be when listening to play-by-play announcers and analysts. What, do they really think batters get pumped up and try harder when they see a teammate on second base?

Test Post

I have a new idea. Test post.

Brew Blog

Might be interesting to kind of turn this blog into a brewing blog. It's hard to convey ideas, ingredients, inventions using only 140 characters on Twitter.

I can't believe I forgot this

My last post was about great events happening next week. How on God's green Earth did I forgot the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show!?

I really don't care what you think. Watching this show with my mom is one of my oldest(and fondest) memories. I'm pretty sure this is where my complete adoration for the German Shephard breed stemmed from. Not sure why I was transfixed on the Shephard given that there were tons of great breeds there, but I did. (It also may be because there were countless reruns of Rin Tin Tin: K9 Cop on tv during my childhood).

I learned alot about dogs just from watching the show (or asking mom). My family has always been animal-friendly, but we have always had a special place for dogs. My mom grew up with Brittany dogs(all named Dan), we had a St. Bernard when I was teeny-tiny, I spent most of my childhood alongside our Yellow Lab Odie, and ever since I've been in college we've had Greta (Grace passed away a few years ago), who is mix of Lab, Chesapeake Retriever, and Rottweiler. 

It's  a treat(at least to me) to see the absolute best of every breed in the country in one place. I can't see who wouldn't enjoy that. And more to the point...who can't like dogs, period?

the sweetest dog on the planet (Greta)

great week coming up

First to preface. We have a HUGE deadline coming up at work on Monday. I've been working late this whole week, and I shall be working be late all through the weekend. But rest assured that after Monday, things start looking much rosier...

• -Tuesday. Kentucky @ Vanderbilt basketball. Kentucky just got steamrolled by my Dawgs, so hopefully the Dores can take advantage. They need a home SEC win, and they need to string together some W's to get back in the crazy SEC East race. I love having a Vanderbilt ID.
• -Wenesday. LSU @ MSU basketball on tv. Time for a little payback. This game gets bigger with each passing day, and sure enough it will probably decide who sits atop the SEC West at the end of the season.
• -Thursday. Some of my favorite words: Pitchers and Catchers report. Yes, yes....and yes. Let the almost unlimited baseball coverage begin...and not end until November.
• At this point of the week I expect my income tax refund to be deposited into my bank account. At which point I will be purchasing our tickets to the 2009 MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis, getting them delivered straight to our hotel room :). Wait, where are we staying, you ask? HERE. I...can't...wait.
• -Friday. MSU hockey playing against Vanderbilt at Centennial Park(at a weird 10:45pm start time. wtf?). I played inline hockey with most of these guys, so it'll be great to see them(and even greater to see them win).
• -Friday part 2. Friday the 13th comes out in theaters. Yeh, I'm stoked to see this re-imagining of the horror flick. But you all know me...what do I like even more than the movies themselves? The trailers. And yes, the FULL Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer will be shown before this movie. Not that 30 second bullshit they displayed during the Super Bowl.
• -Saturday. V-day. Very excited. It's on a weekend this year, so I get to spend the whole day with the special lady. Capped off by dinner at the wonderfully romantic Restaurant Zola.

So yeh, I'm looking forward to next week (after Monday).

it's Mississippi State...NOT the University of Mississippi

Okay, I'm sorry. But it has become increasingly VERY frustating/annoying/aggravating to have people confuse Mississippi State and the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss" as some call it). It's really not that hard, people.

I bring this up because although I have been at my job now for 8 months or so now, I'm still meeting new people there all the time. Most of them ask me where I went to school; my natural reply is, "Mississippi State University." The replies I get over 50% of the time (not an exaggeration):

-"Oh, that's in Oxford, right?"

-"Ah, the Rebels. Well, alright."

Or some variation. Now, normally I wouldn't be offended if these people lived in Washington state their whole lives. But almost all of these people have LIVED in the SOUTH their WHOLE lives. They've been around SEC football since they were toddlers. How do you NOT know the difference between Mississippi State and the University of Mississippi yet?! 

Like I said, if you haven't lived in this conference or part of the country for more than a year, I can understand missing the difference. Heck, I remember asking Mallory not too long ago if Christina went to Iowa State or the University of Iowa(yes, I know the correct answer now, Lex, no worries). But I have not lived in Big 10 country at any point in my life, so I'm exempt.

This all just really returns to the fact that people raised in this great state of Tennessee(yes, I love this place, not the school) are almost completely shut off from anything other than their beloved University of Tennesse in Knoxville. (Did you notice how I didn't say Tennessee State in Nashville? Using Tennessean logic, they are basically the same schools.) 

If something is colored orange, then they'll drool over it or buy the souvenir right then and there. They've never known anything else. Heck, I'm surprised they know any other schools exist outside of Florida.

Granted, not all the people that confuse my MSU with UM are Tennessee fans, but the ones I've met at work have all been. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Maybe not. Either way, it's annoying as hell. 

Cleaning the Apartment

so yes, I'm doing something other than blogging. But I'm getting close...check Christina's blog for what I'll write about next. Such a great idea.

back in action

Okay, so I know I have a whole other blog about sports, but at this point of my life, the Red Sox are pretty much what you think of when you think of me, right? Ok, maybe not. But they're a big part of my personal life, so why not post on the personal blog??

Nothing earth shattering to say(at least for now), but just an observation. How can you NOT like this Red Sox team(or the team of recent years?). We have some free agents, sure, just like every team. But just think about how much home-grown talent is on the team. Last night, for instance, the 3 pitchers in the game were the following : Lester, Masterson, Papelbon. ALL were products of drafts by the Red Sox. The infield that day consisted of Lowrie at short, Youkilis at first, and Pedroia at second. One of those has already won a Gold Glove; the other two will win a few of their own in the coming years. And one of them will probably be the MVP this year.

We have Delcarmen in the bullpen as well, a Boston native and Red Sox draft pick. Ellsbury, also known as the fastest human alive, another draft pick. Michael Bowden made his pitching major league debut earlier this year, and Daniel Bard is right behind him. Lars Anderson may take over 1B when Lowell leaves, moving Youk to 3rd. And Josh Reddick will be manning right field when Drew is out of here.

The point I am trying to get across is that these aren't the Yankees that every broadcaster likes to compare these Sox with these days. The Yanks drafted Jeter, Posada, Bernie, and Mariano........after that, who'd they have? Exactly. That's why they are getting old FAST and watching the playoffs at home this year.

That's all for now. I'm back in the blogging world.

And this is kind of random, but they show these commercials ALL during the MLB playoffs. How shitty would that be if your doctor told you, "I'm sorry. You just aren't healthy enough for sex." That would have to be at least in the top 3 of Worst Things to be Said to You That Aren't of a Life-Threatening Nature to You or Someone Close to You.

Nike+

I'm going to start posting my Nike+ runs on the sidebar. My times/distance could either be motivational for me, or just completely hilarious and pathetic to you. We shall see...

One Grateful Dog

Taken from The Kiss:

She is pregnant;

he had just saved her from a fire in her house, rescuing her by carrying her out of the house into her front yard, while he continued to fight the fire.

When he finally got done putting the fire out, he sat down to catch his breath and rest.

A photographer from the Charlotte , North Carolina newspaper, noticed her in the distance looking at the fireman.

He saw her walking straight toward the fireman and wondered what she was going to do.

As he raised his camera, she came up to the tired man who had saved her life and the lives of her babies and kissed him just as the photographer snapped this photograph.

Scroll down for photograph.

And people say animals are dumb.

I officially work for the government...again

On Tuesday I received a call from the head of human resources at ATA(group that runs Arnold Air Force Base), and she was informing me that they were making me an offer of employment. Considering that this was the job I had been greatly anticipating, I of course accepted. So now, after several stints of being a co-op and interning for the government, I once again am a worker for the U.S. of A.

This job is going to be great. It was already neat-o last summer, but the past 6 months have made me even more excited. My two classes(incompressible and compressible aerodynamics) have taught me TONS about what actually goes on in a wind tunnel during testing, how they get the conditions they want, and how this data is translated to the actual vehicle. SO cool. Currently, I'm taking a rocket propulsion class, and we're learning(and will learn more) about the actual operation of rocket nozzles(we touched on nozzles in general last semester), as well as their testing-reality relationship. Again, f'in cool.

All of that is great because I'm going to be working in the Space & Missile division at Arnold. I can't really say more than that, but this info here is all public, so I'll let you dive into that if you wish. It's really exciting to be a part of the workforce at Arnold because I already know I'll be using so much of what I have learned this past year, as well as semesters before then, here at Mississippi State.

They're even going to pay for me to come up one weekend to apartment hunt, and they'll even pay for me to live somewhere temporarily should my apartment not be ready in time for work. AND, they'll pay for my relocation expenses when I finally do move. Seriously, how cool is that?

It really will be load off now that I have landed this job. The past 2 weeks, and especially last week, were kinda stressful. I didn't sleep that well on any one occasion, but after Tuesday I have had no problem getting some rest.

All that's left is for me to graduate, and I think I can handle that. If all goes as planned, I'll be walking out of MSU with 3.90 GPA and a "Summa Cum Laude" under my name on my diploma. Woo hoo! Yes yes, I know it's not as cool looking as 4.00, but I'm doing my best here!

Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in a few weeks(on Valentine's Day to be exact!), and I absolutely cannot wait for baseball to get geared up and going. Maybe with some extra cash this year I'll be able to buy Mal and me some tickets to go up to Boston for a weekend to see our Sox.

Working on a new post...

so just hold on!

Blog '08

A new year, a new blog? Eh, prolly not, but I do really want to start posting more. I usually have much to say, or at the very least, I want to say something. I thought about posting on here my New Year's resolution, but anyone that knows me knows what that is. Instead, I thought this would be a good time to just get reacquainted with this whole blogging deal.

Last few weeks have been awesome. Spent about a week with Mal in Nashville. We went to a Preds/Avs game, went to Alicia's wedding in Athens, and we got to see Mal's old friend Christina for a day. It was great. I then came home for a week and spent Christmas with mom and dad. It was the first Christmas ever where more than one Horne child didn't attend, but the Rents and I didn't let that be a downer. The week was full of movies, home cooking, and just plain relaxing. Just let it be known that I hold the all-time record in the Horne family for consecutive Christmases attended(22), haha.

Last week Trevor, Mary and I went back to Nashville to celebrate the New Year at Mal's place with many of our other friends. We also went to the Music City Bowl on Monday and saw the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Sunday. TSO was AMAZING, to say the least. I cannot wait to see them again next year. I'm going to try to convince my family to go see them if they get a chance...they have to experience what I did. Besides, who DOESN'T like Christmas music? (albeit with more lasers and lights than they're prolly used to).

So I'm home for another week until classes start. I'll get some things done(Jeep has some major issues), but I'll mostly be just relaxing and hopefully start running.

Sometime soon...

I'll actually post pertinent information. If I get a job offer(like I am hoping/kinda expecting) in the coming weeks, I'll have TONS to talk about.

it's kinda quiet around here

yeh, I know. I've been dormant on this thing for awhile. Mainly because Trevor and I have been devoting much of our time to our sports blog, Sports on the Rox. On the personal side of things, not THAT much has been going on, which explains my lack of posts. I'll get something on here at some point, because there has been some news worth mentioning, mainly my getting a job this summer at Arnold Air Force Base :). But that will be discussed later...

Science Fair Redux

I guess I'm way overdue to give Eric and Jennifer a big CONGRATULATIONS on bringing in the newest edition to the world, Scott Michael Maier. Their kid is adorable, and I know from being around them for almost a year that they will be fantastic parents. Just don't raise that kid to be a Rangers fan, Eric!!

Other than a usually busy week for me(spacecraft attitude homework, lab report, lab, aerospace structural analysis homework, fluids quizzes), I'm in for a treat this Wednesday. As part of my technical writing course, I am required to be a judge at a science fair held at the Hump. The fair covers all ages up to 12th grade, but I was assigned to the K-6 crowd. I'm not necessarily sure which grade I'll eventually end up grading, but I'm looking forward to it no matter where I end up. I remember all too well doing science projects EVERY year. I was quite elated to learn that after moving to Tennessee in 2000 that they weren't required up there. I'm anxious to see if these kids are creative or if their parents did all the work. Should be fun.

Our intramural men's soccer tournament starts this Thursday. Match play treated us well; we ended up 5-2, so we should get a decent seed. As for the co-ed team, I'm not entirely sure where we stand, as I've missed the last 2 games with hockey. I think we're doing halfway decent. The girls on our team are BALLERS. I really do no know why they don't play club.

Call me childish, but I'm loving the potential of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie more and more. The tv spots kick so much ass. Have you seen the Foot Soldiers?! SO badass. And Splinter...well, he's his normal awesome self. I really cannot wait to see that one.

Speaking of awesome movies, I am counting down the days until Frank Miller's 300. I hear the flick is the ultimate "guy movie," so being the guy that I am, I'm almost required to see it. We want to go see it at an IMAX, which would necessitate going to Memphis. It's still up in the air, but it just might happen.

The Dawgs are in the final stretch of their season. We're tied with Ole Miss for the 1st spot in the West. They go to play at Alabama on Wednesday and finish the season hosting Auburn. We pretty much need 'Bama to step up against them, and we need to win our final 2 games. If we do that, we clinch the West, an SEC 1st round bye, and a chance to get to the NCAAs. We win in the first round of the SEC tourney, and we're golden to go to the Dance. Com'on Dawgs!

Wits & Wagers has turned into a fan favorite here in Starkvegas. The whole crew absolutely loves this game. It's become an almost weekly ritual. We had 7 teams the other night, allowing us to fill the entire board. It was NUTS. Mary and Adam are quite the W&W players. Thanks, Will for bringing that home over Christmas!

I will send my "official" application papers to AEDC tomorrow. I'll hear something in a few weeks. No whammies, no whammies...

phone interview tomorrow!!

I submitted my cover-letter, resume, and transcript to the Arnold Engineering and Development Center on Tuesday, and I got an email response the next day. I have a phone interview with AEDC tomorrow at 4:30 pm Central Time.

I'm slightly more nervous about this phone interview than I was for my one before going down to JSC. I had a face-to-face interview before my phone interview back then, so I was already feeling good about my chances. The phone interview was sort of a "second chance." I don't have the luxury of that this time. I either nail the phone interview or it's no-go for AEDC.

I really want this job, so all day I've been reviewing everything I can find on the Center. I'll head to the Career Center(where' I'm doing the interview, as my phone is crapping out) around 4:15, then I'll sit in the conference room during the interview. Hopefully after 5:00 or so I should have a good idea whether I'll be simulating missile defense experiments this summer or not. After my morning class I'll try to round up some questions I have about AEDC, as well as try to figure out what kind of questions they'll ask me.

Wish me luck!

Henry's Eleven

So I was kicking back while watching some tv the other day. Ocean’s Eleven just happen to come on, and it made me think: Who would I need out of my pool of friends to make a successful casino heist? Well, I put some thought in it, and here is MY Eleven. Note that I didn't choose based on similar appearances. Rather, I chose based on abilities, similar characteristics, etc.

Danny Ocean – George Clooney ( the leader )
Played by: Me
I’m creating this list, so I get to be the lead guy. I would like to think I have some leadership skills in me which help keep the group focused and fresh. Besides, Danny gets the girl in the end.

Rusty Ryan – Brad Pitt (the right-hand man)
Played by: Trevor Acy
Trevor seems a nice fit for this role. Danny and Rusty work well together, and they rarely need to do much conversing to relay information. One is always one step ahead of the other, and this helps the planning go smoothly. Although not always the case, Trevor and I work very well together, an important ability for the leaders of the group.

Linus Caldwell – Matt Damon(the rookie)
Played by: Marty Brennan
Marty just started hanging around with our group this semester, so being the rookie is perfect. Besides, I think he could easily pull off the monotonous jobs in the movie as well as posing as a member of the NGC and pick-pocketing Andy Garcia. Of course, knowing Marty now, I bet he’d actually attempt to hit on Tess after watching her for several days rather than hold back. Shut up Marty…you know you would.

Basher Tarr – Don Cheadle(the explosives guy)
Played by: Paul Howell
If only you all knew how well Paul made explosives during our freshman year of college. The marks are still there! This guy WAS Basher reincarnate. I’d also fully trust Paul to steal a “Pinch” from a laboratory, as Paul was…well…pretty good at stealing things. I’m restricted from saying any more on the matter.

Livingston Dell – Eddie Jemison(the surveillance guy)
Played by: Adam Wandler
Sure, I have about four hundred computer wiz friends, but Adam just appeared to fit the role better than the rest. Adam would also be the only guy that could double as a technician and make it through security without causing a blip. Adam might blow his cover with a M.S.I. showing under his outfit, but I’m willing to take that chance.

Frank Catton – Bernie Mac(the con man)
Played by: Anthony Vizzini
Com’on, I know I’m not the only one that looks at Anthony in his black leather jacket, slicked back hair, and ragged jeans and thinks, “con man.” Although of a much lighter complexion than Frank, Anthony would easily pull off the blackjack dealer look with his trademark goatee-stache. I wouldn’t put it past Anthony to steal stuff from a Casino for the sake of stealing over $100 million either. He’s also got a slick way of talking, a trait Frank no doubt had down pat.

Reuben Tishkoff – Elliot Gould(the former Vegas hotel big wig)
Played by: Bill Wilson
I’m sure many of you(well, those NOT from Paris, TN) do not know who Bill is. He is my former employer and a great friend of mine and my family. But if you really get to know the guy, you know he doesn’t necessarily have the longest temper. He also has quite the fowl mouth. But hey, we all love him for these characteristics. And because of these human flaws he would be the perfect Reuben. I can see Bill wanting to exact revenge on someone that put him out of business(in this case, the hotel business), and I can also see him being a smart ass to everyone, just like Reuben in the movie.

Saul Bloom – Carl Reiner(the old pro)
Played by: Josh Collums
Saul was old reliable. Sure, he was out of the game for awhile when Dusty approached him, but he wanted in, even if he didn’t outwardly show it. In the end, he was one of the most important pieces to the heist. Josh is Saul, hands down. He’s reliable as hell, and he’s almost always willing to join in and go all out. I’d love to watch Josh and Terry Benedict go head-to-head like the movie.

Turk Malloy – Scott Caan (the cars & transportation guy)
Played by: Mike Bradley
Ok, so we needed a muscle man, as well as someone that knows about cars. Mike, you know cars, right? Great. Turk liked to argue during the course of the film, and from what time I’ve determined from my brief stints around Mike, he seems like a guy that could argue very well. He has the confidence to do so, and he’d probably win most of the time, like Turk. I also see Mike donning the chauffeur’s outfit in a moment’s notice without protest. Or maybe the personal bodyguard costume. Most importantly, Mike would be the perfect compliment to his younger brother…

Virgil Malloy – Casey Affleck (the cars & transportation guy)
Played by: Chris Moore
Chris has a mustang….so he should have automobile knowledge….right?? We’ll assume yes. He knows how to drive a manual transmission, so that’s good enough. Most importantly, I think it’d be fun as hell to watch Chris and his older brother(Mike) argue. I’ve argued with Chris before, and he and Virgil have many parallels.

Yen – Shaobo Qin(the grease man)
Played by: Jaimee Floyd
Ok, so our grease man is really a “grease woman”. Hmm, that doesn’t sound too nice. How about “acrobatic artist”? In either case, we’d need someone that can fit into tight spaces, contort their body, and be very acrobatic. Jaimee’s on the pom squad, and from basketball halftime performances you can tell she’d fit the bill. As opposed to Yen, we’d actually be able to understand her speech too, which is a plus.

What the hell, a small bonus. Tess was the 13th in the sequel, and Benedict looks like he might be the 14th in the next flick. So why not include them?

Terry Benedict – Andy Garcia
Played by: Andy Garcia
Uhm, is it just me, or is Andy the only person that could play this role?! You can’t really replace him.

Tess Ocean – Julia Roberts
Played by: Mallory Hacker
Tess had the looks, she had the strength, and she could definitely hold her own. She’s headstrong but knows how to have fun and let loose, just like in the sequel. I think Mallory would be the ideal Tess.

first impressions

I've successfully made it through 1.5 weeks of class this semester. This has given me just enough time to get thorough first impressions of my teachers. Yes, I could have had sufficient class time to get impressions last week, but not all my professors were present at that point. Now that I've had 2-3 classes, it's time to give out some "pre-season" rankings. We'll revisit this subject at the end of the semester to see how my feelings about the teacher and/or class have changed, if anything. I'll also detail some aspects of my class just so my faithful audience can get a sense of what I'm learning.

Aerospace Lab, MWF 8:00-8:50, W 2:00-4:50, Thomas Hannigan
Three parts lecture, one part lab, I was kind of unsure of what to expect about this class. After a few classes, though, I think it should be a great learning experience. Each week we'll study a different lab technique or piece of hardware, then use each in an application experiment. The class will require tons of programming, which I am very comfortable with. I cannot say the same for the rest of my class however. In fact, if we use a different programming language than the standard ones(BASIC, FORTRAN, MathCAD, Matlab, Mathematica, and Maple), we get bonus points. Guess that bulk of programming I did in Houston will finally pay off :). Mr. Hannigan is a decent teacher; I had him for my third Intro class during the first semester my sophomore year. He's kinda anal about some things, which tends to get annoying, but he's tolerable.

Aerospace Structural Analysis, MWF 1:00-1:50, Dr. Newman, Jr.
This class could very well be Mechanics of Materials II. Topics we'll cover in detail include shear and stress analysis, torsion, and strain relationships. Since Dr. Lacy's Structures class last semester I've become quite interested in the structures area of study. Dr. Newman is the father of my Vibrations teacher last semester, and I can honestly say I now know where Dr. Newman III gets his personality. I love his father's class; he's pretty much Martin Sheen with a goatee. He's got a great sense of humor too, which never hurts.

Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics, MWF 8:00-9:15, Dr. Ming Xin
Probably the class I have looked forward to the most since I declared my concentration as Astronautics. This course is basically ADCO 101, a compilation and a more detailed breakdown of everything I learned while at NASA. Whereas last semester I learned about the movement of a spacecraft treated as a point mass under influence of another mass, this semester we'll treat spacecraft as rigid bodies and study their movement about their own center of mass. VERY neat stuff. My professor is kind of quiet so far, but Chris, who had him last semester for Controls class, says he's pretty cool. I suspect Ming isn't that lively because this is the first time this class has been taught and this is his first year of teaching. Supposedly this kind of material is his specialty, so maybe he's just warming up.

Technical Writing, MWF 9:30-10:45, John Brocato
According to John(my brother), this will be one of the most applicable classes I'll take my whole time in college. Technical Writing aims to teach how to express technical ideas to others who are not always technically inclined, an ability many MANY people lack(I've witnessed firsthand at the big N). Mr. Brocato kicks so much ass; he has a very smart sense of humor, and he's very dry. Hilarious. Interesting note: first day of class he was running through the role, and he saw my name on the list. Without even saying anything he looked up, found me, and said, "You must be John Horne's brother." HAHA. He said he could tell by my face. Turns out John had Mr. Brocato a few years back. Small world.

Fluid Mechanics, MWF 11:00-12:15, Mary Wolverton
Another class I'm excited about. We're gonna learn all about hydrostatics and hydrodynamics; inviscid,turbulent flow; and compressible/imcompressible flow. VERY applicable stuff to what I'm wanting to possibly do. I had Mrs. Wolverton for Dynamics last spring, so I'm pretty familiar with her. She loved me for some reason in that class, which should make this class a breeze, other than the fact I love this material.

the awesomeness of St. Patrick

Just some highlights of my boy doin' his thing...

Not sure why this montage is rockin' to Enya, but it kinda fits. Hey Rich, you like that save at the 1:00 minute mark of the video? Mwa ha ha ;)