Brian's World

Congestion

I didn’t write for all of January.  That is very disappointing to me.  I had plenty of things to talk about and  a good number of drafts at the ready.  It noticed that most of my drafts shared my negative views about different groups, social behaviors, people, etc. and I really wanted to be positive for a change.  Therefore all those drafts have been deleted.  I’m confident I can recall all the juicy stuff anyways should the need arise.

To start of my 2010 blogging year on a positive note: I will let you all know that I have applied to at least one job, and have partially applied to at least one graduate school.  I have received no positive responses on the job or graduate school front, but I will hope for the best and continue planning for the worst.  I have the hardest time with my Cover Letters to places I apply; its not very easy for me to express in words why I want to work somewhere… especially when I don’t have a strong idea what kind of development projects are going on or anything like that.   I had also hoped to say that I have completed the application to at least one graduate school, and if I had posted this blog yesterday I would have said that.  However today I learned that they can’t waive the GRE anymore, the admissions office won’t let them, so I’ve got to go and take that sometime soon.

That’s enough positive stuff for now.  I wouldn’t want to overwhelm you.

Over winter break I had the opportunity to go down to Florida with my family + Katie.  My parents are considering retiring down there for some duration of the year, probably the part of the year that involves shoveling, and this trip provided them ample time to explore lots of retirement communities.  Its strange to think of my parents hanging out in a retirement community participating in strange retirement community activities.   Maybe they’ll make friends with someone who knows how to work the TV remote…  (My parents have trouble associating the mute button with the unmute action to re-enable the sound.  It runs in my mom’s side of the family I think.)

While down in Florida, we went to Disney World and did lots of fun stuff.  Besides waiting in lines, we went on a few rides, ate roughly the same thing every day, and saw our fair share of confused international visitors.  We also went to the Cirque du Soleil for Katie’s birthday (my mom determined she liked the circus, and therefore Katie would enjoy it too).  Since you’re taking the time to read this, I’ll let you in on a little secret:  I don’t like the circus.  Don’t confuse that statement with “I’m afraid of the circus” or “the circus makes me nervous,” because neither of those are true.  I don’t like the concept behind the circus, for the same reason I don’t like the concept behind most professional sports.  As I see it, most of the acts at the circus involve people with a highly specialized physical skill set showing off things they can do that you cannot.  Even if you could probably do some of the acts, like fly around on a sheet, you’ll never be able to try because you are not in the circus… and only they have the flying sheet machine.  Soccer, on the other hand, is a sport that just about everyone can try, which makes it slightly more enjoyable in my mind.  If I see #{famous soccer player} doing a cool move, I can try to do that.  If I see a circus member doing something cool I’m left to think about how I will never have the chance to try something like that.  I’m not saying the circus is a bad experience or something I hate to go see, I just don’t find it as enjoyable as… say tossing a frisbee around or playing a video game (expect for when you play those obnoxious people who punch you in the face when you spawn).

Let me think, what else is worth mentioning.  Oh yes, it was frigid when we were down there.  Not like 40’s or 50’s, but like 20’s and 30’s. All the local residents were very confused what was going on, I almost wanted to declare “welcome to weather.”  It was moderately humorous to see  all the places that didn’t have heat and therefore were closed/not doing business.  I think even some of the schools cancelled because of the lack of heating capabilities.  Maybe they can borrow some heat from the Sage or Ricketts Building here at RPI.

This weekend is Valentines Day.  It should be no secret to you that I don’t like Valentines Day.  Don’t get me wrong, the theory behind the day is great, a special day each year that isn’t an anniversary whereby you celebrate your relationship with someone.  The implementation is terrible, primarily because everyone does it on the exact same day.  To me, the 14th of February is of little significance (I associate it with Lincoln and Washington’s Birthdays), I would much rather celebrate my relationship in March, maybe April… or June.. I’m usually pretty free in those months.  As a male partner in a relationship with a female (I have not run the analysis for homosexual couples) there are certain expectations for Valentines Day.  For example, I am expected to partake in a romantic meal with my partner.  In this case, romantic may be defined by money spent, exclusivity, uniqueness, thoughtfulness, or any combination of the aforementioned.  At some point during the day, I am also to present my partner with a series of offerings (aka gifts).  For those of you who don’t know Katie, she celebrates an anniversary in November, Christmas in December, and birthday in January.  By the time February rolls around I am running out of good gifting ideas.  My mom suggested popcorn; that is definitely a good idea mom.  I actually don’t mind giving gifts, but I have trouble when I have to do it month after month after month after month.  I’d rather be like hey, that looks cool on Woot/Slickdeals/Amazon/etc, I’m going to buy it for Katie.  Sure, she may not be expecting it and therefore be unprepared to reciprocate the offer, but I don’t expect anything in return.  What I also dislike about Valentines Day is that many people have such elevated expectations for it.  Even people who aren’t Katie or I are like “what special plans do you have for Valentines Day?”   The holiday might be more successful if I was just like Surprise! Its April nth, today we’re celebrating Valentines day!  Of course that wouldn’t work because the Hallmark Store wouldn’t have any good cards.  Unless I made my own…

I haven’t finished running the numbers here but I think that in most relationships, females have it much easier buying gifts for a male partner.  I know of a few males that are picky or extremely particular, but most I’ve reviewed would be highly satisfied with a random good of negligible monetary value.  I hypothesize you could give a male a box of cleaned trash from a junk yard and he would enjoy it.  Females on the other hand, commonly prefer items they can wear (like clothing or jewelry), eat (like chocolate covered strawberries), or… actually thats it for the “general” ideas… other gifts would be more specific to the person like a video camera, microwave, popcorn, etc.

I am now working on another blog.  It might be decent.

But for now,

Goodnight moon.