Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
We know how to have a good time at the USPTO
(I added two posts today so make sure to check out both!)
Today at work we had an ice cream social/pumpkin carving contest (which is sort of weird because Ted and Sara just posted pictures from a pumpkin carving party they had this weekend as well). I am on the "social committee" for my training class at the pto. We decided to have a pumpkin carving contest at work and then have everyone in the class (about 70 people) judge the pumpkins. Each lab (14 people) was given a pumpkin and had to plan what they were gonna do with it and then were given 30 minutes to do the carving.
They turned out pretty good for the most part, here's how they look:
I have no idea what the theme of this one was, it has a sun on this side, and the other side had the travelocity gnome (which i think was actually a witch but they were trying to be funny when they described it) and a unicorn...
Black Cat
Tiki pumpkin, this was my favorite one
Joker from Dark knight, this was my lab's pumpkin. It actually looked exactly like Heath Ledger in our pattern, but not so much on the pumpkin. We brought in a dremel tool to create our design (we didn't actually carve out holes) and people kept saying it was really obvious we were from Technology Center 3700, which is mechanical engineering...I guess they were right about that.
We don't find out the winner until tomorrow, but I think it will be hands down lab 4.
Maybe this is why we have a backlog of a million patents...
Today at work we had an ice cream social/pumpkin carving contest (which is sort of weird because Ted and Sara just posted pictures from a pumpkin carving party they had this weekend as well). I am on the "social committee" for my training class at the pto. We decided to have a pumpkin carving contest at work and then have everyone in the class (about 70 people) judge the pumpkins. Each lab (14 people) was given a pumpkin and had to plan what they were gonna do with it and then were given 30 minutes to do the carving.
They turned out pretty good for the most part, here's how they look:
This one is Bowser (which actually is a lot easier to tell in the picture than it was in person)
I have no idea what the theme of this one was, it has a sun on this side, and the other side had the travelocity gnome (which i think was actually a witch but they were trying to be funny when they described it) and a unicorn...
Black Cat
Tiki pumpkin, this was my favorite one
Joker from Dark knight, this was my lab's pumpkin. It actually looked exactly like Heath Ledger in our pattern, but not so much on the pumpkin. We brought in a dremel tool to create our design (we didn't actually carve out holes) and people kept saying it was really obvious we were from Technology Center 3700, which is mechanical engineering...I guess they were right about that.
Maybe this is why we have a backlog of a million patents...
There's no place like home...part deux
Well, at least I made it to one of the wins we had this season. I went back to Ann Arbor again this past weekend for the Michigan State game. It didn't go quite as well as last time as far as the game was concerned, however it was a much bigger turnout of college friends this time so that made up for it. I didn't even take pictures at the game, but I took a bunch before so here are some for people to enjoy:
So, there was this tent set up by an ann arbor leasing agency that was giving out free hot chocolate and hot dogs and stuff. Matt and Tommy left to get some hot chocolate and this is what they looked like when they came back. Apparently they had some football target throwing game and these were the prizes they won.
A little bit closer up view of Matt and his sweet sunglasses that ended up dying his skin orange
Me and Emily, my former peer advising buddy who doesn't go to Michigan or live in Michigan anymore but still has season tickets...I am jealous
Me with Katelyn, Steve, and Emily, all former peer advisors and pretty awesome people. For those of you who do not know, Steve is the person that introduced me to Matt, they were housemates the summer we were peer advisors (and for the rest of college for that matter). Thanks, Steve :)
This picture is for the lurkers that I recently found out about who read my blog, and by lurkers, I mean Tommy, I'm pretty sure no one else in this picture reads my blog, and yes, I realize Matt is in this picture :). For those not in the know, this is Matt's whole house and then some from Michigan. (They were all in the same hall their freshman year in East Quad and have lived together ever since, except for that random guy in the back between Andrew and Alex, I don't know who that is).
Michigan Football team arriving at the game
So, there was this tent set up by an ann arbor leasing agency that was giving out free hot chocolate and hot dogs and stuff. Matt and Tommy left to get some hot chocolate and this is what they looked like when they came back. Apparently they had some football target throwing game and these were the prizes they won.
A little bit closer up view of Matt and his sweet sunglasses that ended up dying his skin orange
Me and Emily, my former peer advising buddy who doesn't go to Michigan or live in Michigan anymore but still has season tickets...I am jealous
Me with Katelyn, Steve, and Emily, all former peer advisors and pretty awesome people. For those of you who do not know, Steve is the person that introduced me to Matt, they were housemates the summer we were peer advisors (and for the rest of college for that matter). Thanks, Steve :)
This picture is for the lurkers that I recently found out about who read my blog, and by lurkers, I mean Tommy, I'm pretty sure no one else in this picture reads my blog, and yes, I realize Matt is in this picture :). For those not in the know, this is Matt's whole house and then some from Michigan. (They were all in the same hall their freshman year in East Quad and have lived together ever since, except for that random guy in the back between Andrew and Alex, I don't know who that is).
Sunday, October 19, 2008
My Phone's Great Adventure
I get really happy when people do nice things/the right thing so I wanna tell this story:
Yesterday, I went in to DC to watch the Michigan game and then go out with a group of friends for the night. After a long day and night and watching Michigan lose (again) and hopping from bar to bar and in and out of a few cabs, I finally decide it is time to call it a night around 2am. So my friend and I hail a cab to head back to Alexandria (the metro stops running at 2am on weekends and we were too far from a stop to be able to make it). In the cab I was texting and calling people so I knew that I had my phone with me at that point. I get back to my apartment, pay the guy (thankfully with a good tip) and walk through my apartment door and realize I do not have my phone. CRAPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (other things were said/yelled but I like to keep the blog clean).
So, its too late to run back down because the cab has already left and I have no idea what cab company I took. Also, while I have a land line phone, I couldn't use it to call my cell phone because I don't have long distance service, and my number is still my Michigan phone number (I don't even think I could have just done it and paid a fee, I don't think it even works long distance). So the next morning I realize how hard life is without a phone. I had no way of contacting people other than IM and if they weren't at the computer, I was out of luck.
So a little while later, mom calls my land line phone because she had received all of my IMs about losing my phone and she gave me a calling card number to use so that I could make long distance calls. I called my phone a few times hoping anyone would answer it and I got nothing. Finally, a couple hours later, I decided to try again and the cab driver answered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never felt so relieved, it was great. I talk to him and he gave me his home address so I could drive there and pick it up, which I did about half an hour later.
It makes me so happy when stuff like this happens, he could have made no effort to get my phone back to me, I can't believe he gave me his home address but I am so relieved I got my phone back, I had no idea how attached I am to my phone until I was without it for about 12 hours.
I definately need to start being a lot more careful about grabbing my things when I get out of cabs!
Yesterday, I went in to DC to watch the Michigan game and then go out with a group of friends for the night. After a long day and night and watching Michigan lose (again) and hopping from bar to bar and in and out of a few cabs, I finally decide it is time to call it a night around 2am. So my friend and I hail a cab to head back to Alexandria (the metro stops running at 2am on weekends and we were too far from a stop to be able to make it). In the cab I was texting and calling people so I knew that I had my phone with me at that point. I get back to my apartment, pay the guy (thankfully with a good tip) and walk through my apartment door and realize I do not have my phone. CRAPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (other things were said/yelled but I like to keep the blog clean).
So, its too late to run back down because the cab has already left and I have no idea what cab company I took. Also, while I have a land line phone, I couldn't use it to call my cell phone because I don't have long distance service, and my number is still my Michigan phone number (I don't even think I could have just done it and paid a fee, I don't think it even works long distance). So the next morning I realize how hard life is without a phone. I had no way of contacting people other than IM and if they weren't at the computer, I was out of luck.
So a little while later, mom calls my land line phone because she had received all of my IMs about losing my phone and she gave me a calling card number to use so that I could make long distance calls. I called my phone a few times hoping anyone would answer it and I got nothing. Finally, a couple hours later, I decided to try again and the cab driver answered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never felt so relieved, it was great. I talk to him and he gave me his home address so I could drive there and pick it up, which I did about half an hour later.
It makes me so happy when stuff like this happens, he could have made no effort to get my phone back to me, I can't believe he gave me his home address but I am so relieved I got my phone back, I had no idea how attached I am to my phone until I was without it for about 12 hours.
I definately need to start being a lot more careful about grabbing my things when I get out of cabs!
Monday, October 13, 2008
More new stuff for my apartment
Wow, two posts in one day...that is nutters!
For graduation this year, mom and dad gave me some money to buy "fun stuff" for my apartment and I finally finished spending it today! I have been looking for a small hall/console table to put next to my front door for a really long time and I finally found one today at homegoods. It's a place where I can put my keys and mail when I come in the door to try and keep some of the clutter off of my desk.
I also found a great deal on a set of kitchen ware including some canisters for flour and sugar, a container for my wooden spoons and other large kitchen utensils, and a ceramic thing to put my hot pans on.
Before today I also bought a throw pillow (which can be seen in the picture of my couch a few posts down, it the one with embroidery) and two tall bookcases from Ikea that I now have in my living room and bedroom, so all in all, I think I got a lot of good stuff. The apartment is pretty much complete for now, I have all of the essential pieces of furniture to not feel like I'm in college anymore, yay!
For graduation this year, mom and dad gave me some money to buy "fun stuff" for my apartment and I finally finished spending it today! I have been looking for a small hall/console table to put next to my front door for a really long time and I finally found one today at homegoods. It's a place where I can put my keys and mail when I come in the door to try and keep some of the clutter off of my desk.
I also found a great deal on a set of kitchen ware including some canisters for flour and sugar, a container for my wooden spoons and other large kitchen utensils, and a ceramic thing to put my hot pans on.
Before today I also bought a throw pillow (which can be seen in the picture of my couch a few posts down, it the one with embroidery) and two tall bookcases from Ikea that I now have in my living room and bedroom, so all in all, I think I got a lot of good stuff. The apartment is pretty much complete for now, I have all of the essential pieces of furniture to not feel like I'm in college anymore, yay!
Go USA!!
Matt and I went to the US soccer game vs. Cuba this weekend at RFK stadium in DC. I got the tickets for Matt's birthday about a month ago so I was excited the weekend was finally here. The game was a world cup qualifying match (for the 2010 world cup in South Africa) and Matt tells me that winning this game got us in to the next round of qualifying. The US won 6-1 so it was an exciting game because there was a lot of goal scoring, most soccer games are pretty low scoring. Matt also told me that this was the first goal the US has allowed in a qualifying match yet, and it was a bogus goal because the Cuban player was offside anyway but they never called it (no instant replay in soccer!). Also, a Cuban player received two yellow cards in the first half and therefore was ejected from the game.
In soccer, severe enough penalties result in a yellow card being given to the offending player, this serves as sort of a warning that you better be careful because if you commit a second yellow card offense, you will receive a red card, which means you are ejected from the game. Sometimes, if the penalty is bad enough, the red card will come out right away with no yellow card. The most significant result of getting a red card though, is not only are you ejected from the game, but your team has to play one man down for the rest of the game, they can not send in a substitute when a player is kicked out. So for the end of the first half and the second half, Cuba had to play with 9 players on the field, while the US got to have 10 (not counting goalies). Matt tells me that red cards are relatively rare, however I feel like whenever I watch a soccer game, I see someone get ejected from the game so I must pick the good ones to watch :)
Here are some pictures from the event:
View of the field from our seats, there weren't very many people in the upper deck but the lower sections on both sides seemed to be sold out, so I'm not sure they even tried to sell most of the upper deck seats
US team warming up
US soccer flag over what seemed to be the crazy fan section, everyone on the other side of the field seemed to be very organized with their cheering and they were all jumping up and down in unison, it literally looked like they were on a platform moving up and down because they were so in sync, Matt and I were trying to figure out how to get over there...
Final score
Self Portrait, I am sweet at these :)
So all in all it was a good time, I would go to another game but the only problem is they play all over the country, never consistently in one place so it might be tough to be in the same place as them again.
In soccer, severe enough penalties result in a yellow card being given to the offending player, this serves as sort of a warning that you better be careful because if you commit a second yellow card offense, you will receive a red card, which means you are ejected from the game. Sometimes, if the penalty is bad enough, the red card will come out right away with no yellow card. The most significant result of getting a red card though, is not only are you ejected from the game, but your team has to play one man down for the rest of the game, they can not send in a substitute when a player is kicked out. So for the end of the first half and the second half, Cuba had to play with 9 players on the field, while the US got to have 10 (not counting goalies). Matt tells me that red cards are relatively rare, however I feel like whenever I watch a soccer game, I see someone get ejected from the game so I must pick the good ones to watch :)
Here are some pictures from the event:
View of the field from our seats, there weren't very many people in the upper deck but the lower sections on both sides seemed to be sold out, so I'm not sure they even tried to sell most of the upper deck seats
US team warming up
US soccer flag over what seemed to be the crazy fan section, everyone on the other side of the field seemed to be very organized with their cheering and they were all jumping up and down in unison, it literally looked like they were on a platform moving up and down because they were so in sync, Matt and I were trying to figure out how to get over there...
Final score
Self Portrait, I am sweet at these :)
So all in all it was a good time, I would go to another game but the only problem is they play all over the country, never consistently in one place so it might be tough to be in the same place as them again.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
"Well it turns out, I have a rose garden"
Well, I blew it, I went more than a week without blogging and I didn't even realize it until today! I need to set some sort of alarm that goes off if I forget to post.
Well, moving on, I got to do something this week that was really spectacular. Mom, dad and I got to tour the west wing of the white house! My dad's friend's cousin is Brent McIntosh, whose official title is "Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Staff Secretary". I got the impression that his job is to take bills that congress passes to the president so that he can sign them, his U of M and Yale degrees don't really help him out with that but whatev, he works in the white house and therefore, we got to tour. Here's a brief rundown of what we saw:
The Oval Office - pretty much sweet, I had no idea we would get to see this on the tour so that was awesome.
The Roosevelt Room
The room where the cabinet meets (I dont know if this has a special name)
The rose garden
The press briefing room
Here are a bunch of pictures, there was also some sort of breast cancer awareness benefit going on and the white house was lit up with all pink lights and looked pretty cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, except for in the press room, so all the pics are outside:
Well, moving on, I got to do something this week that was really spectacular. Mom, dad and I got to tour the west wing of the white house! My dad's friend's cousin is Brent McIntosh, whose official title is "Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Staff Secretary". I got the impression that his job is to take bills that congress passes to the president so that he can sign them, his U of M and Yale degrees don't really help him out with that but whatev, he works in the white house and therefore, we got to tour. Here's a brief rundown of what we saw:
The Oval Office - pretty much sweet, I had no idea we would get to see this on the tour so that was awesome.
The Roosevelt Room
The room where the cabinet meets (I dont know if this has a special name)
The rose garden
The press briefing room
Here are a bunch of pictures, there was also some sort of breast cancer awareness benefit going on and the white house was lit up with all pink lights and looked pretty cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, except for in the press room, so all the pics are outside:
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