Dichotomy...

My last week of work at GD was hectic as hell. But you'd think with an entire week off last week, I would have found time to post something. To be honest, I didn't spend much time with Jenova last week. I read a lot, enjoyed the nice weather, caught up on some projects I've had on hold forever, and watched the entire first season of House. A couple times I was going to sit down an start writing my "swan song" post about leaving my first after-college job, but now that my new job has started, that feels kind of silly. Suffice it to say that I left on good terms with everyone, I'm grateful for the opportunities that I was given there, but it was time to move on. My new job is pretty awesome so far. I got "introduced" to everyone, which mostly involved saying hello to everyone I already knew and meeting like 4 new people. I counted our employee list today - there are 29 of us. My old boss, who is now my co-worker, gave me a crash course in my new projects today. I'm not sure how much I absorbed, but I took a of of notes, and kept all his pretty sketches, so hopefully I'll at least be able to recall what he was talking about later on. Reminded me a lot of college, only way more fun. I know it won't be that way forever, but compared to the pace I was just on, it's a welcome change. Hooray for my new job!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

All you need to know about Sarah Palin:

"I find her to be a very dynamic, capable, smart women who, you know, it really says that John McCain made an inspired pick, to me.  ...  She's had executive experience, and that's what it takes to be a capable person here in Washington, D.C. in the executive branch." - George W. Bush

What does GWB know about being a capable leader? And isn't his ringing endorsement reason enough to run for the hills? [Cues up Iron Maiden]

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments

I found another amazing guitar soloist who blows me away. My fingers simply don't move that fast even when typing on my keyboard, let alone a fretboard. Leave it to the country that produced Sepultura to also produce this guy. I think I love his double-handed octave solos the most. Seriously, you try moving the exact same fingers on both hands with that precision and timing when they're on opposite sides of the neck. Fernando Miyata - bring on the shred:

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

Last weekend, while Emily was taking an extended long weekend to visit her parents in Savannah and St. Simon's, I took an overnight trip with my family and a family friend up to the Shennandoah. Despite some iffy-looking weather, we never got rained on or overheated. I had a great time, and it was nice to get some fresh air, exercise, and a change of scene. We had a great cookout, took a hike up Stony Man where we saw the peregrine falcon nesting areas, and did a good section of the White Oak Canyon trail, which is still one of the nicest hikes anywhere. My camera came along for the ride time time, so here's a few pictures.

We had a few dinner-time visitors, including deer who were obviously (sadly) used to beign fed by humans. They walked right up to our porch and practically begged like dogs. It was cute, but sad, though I suspect we probably could have pet them had we been so inclined.



Jiminy Cricket!


This is the scene that greeted me when I walked out onto the porch at Skyland to enjoy my breakfast. Hard to beat that view to start your day.


Manly men, ready for a hike!


No, it's not dead, it's sunning itself, or at least it was until we showed up, accidentally blocked out its sun beam, and started snapping pictures. He fluttered away shortly thereafter to find a more private spot. There were a ton of butterflies around too, this one just proved to be the most cooperative.


And finally, a shot of the stream that the White Oak Canyon follows down to the falls, meandering through the forest.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

The OKC Thunder? Are you serious? Is this a new WNBA team? Or perhaps an MLS team? No no, it's the new name of what used to be Seattle's NBA team. I thought men's professional sports had a ban on singular team names. Besides the Miami and Orlando expansion teams, and the Jazz (which should have left that name in New Orleans where it belongs), every other NBA team has a plural team name. NFL? All plural. MLB? All plural (if you consider "sox" plural at least). NHL? Again, except recent expansion teams, all plural. So is the new rule that only legacy teams get to be plural and new teams have to be singular? Expansions, maybe, but not teams that just move - look at the Nats! Also, I'd like to point out that you've done little to distance yourselves from Seattle, since their WNBA team is the Storm. Front-office idiots.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

GD started blocking access to webmail today. *sigh* One more sign that I'm making the right decision by leaving. Big companies install filters like this because they can't trust their employees not to abuse them. And they can't trust their employees because they don't know their employees. In a company this big, it's easy to do nothing all day, fade into the background, and just be a waste of space. No one ever notices that you do nothing, and they'll never fire you anyway. In a smaller company, it's immediately obvious if you're not pulling your weight, so they can trust you with things like unfiltered web access because they'll know right away whether you're getting your job done or spending all day reading the latest drivel on salon.com. I can't wait to get out of here.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

Star Trek: The Experience closing down - CNN.com Great, now I have no incentive to ever go to Vegas.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments