Monday, November 24, 2008

Work last week was pretty hectic. Today is even worse. I'm trying to get a bunch of things wrapped up before I leave for a week. Nothing critical, but just trying to tie up all the loose ends and make sure everyone who needs to know things knows where to find them and where I left off. Despite being busy, last week was really good. I put together a big presentation for the Navy that everyone's been giving me kudos on, even though it kinda shows we've got a major issue, but the ball's in the Navy's court now, so we'll wait and see what they decide to do about it. I also set up a test server last week that apparently impressed enough people that I'm the one they want to go actually perform the testing at NUWC is December. Then I got roped into helping out with TSMS again because they're way behind schedule and desperately need integration support, so I'm being subbed out to do that as well.
In sports news, GTDC Flag Football won our rescheduled game against U(sic)GA on Saturday morning in the bitter cold. So we finished the regular season 10-0, won our division, have the best record in our conference, and should be ranked in the top 3 in the final coaches poll. Hopefully that will translate into success in the playoffs. GT varsity football got some help on the way to Tampa after demolishing Miami on Thursday night and having both UNC and UVA lose on Saturday. Unfortunately, despite a lousy showing, VT managed to get by Duke, so we're still behind the 8-ball on that one. But if UVA can beat VT in Blacksburg, GT is the division champ. We've already locked up the best possible record in the conference, so that's certainly something to be proud of for a first year coach with a brand new system.
Okay, back to work for a couple hours before I have to go hope and repack my suitcase for London!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Happy Birthday Penny Arcade!


As a reader for almost all of those 10 years, I'm thrilled to see the site grow in popularity, remain successful, and never waver in their vision. Although Penny Arcade has grown from a simple comic strip into a global brand, with their own video game, countless art projects with other games, an enormous annual community get-together, their own childrens' charity, and who knows what else they've got up their sleeves, they've always delivered a consistent, quality product, even while juggling first wives and then children themselves. Congratulations guys and here's to 10 more!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Google's real estate search utility integrated into Google maps alongside the circle filter application is my new favorite toy.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

So this weekend didn't have quite the euphoric results that last weekend had, but I still had a good time. Traffic wasn't too bad once I got past Quantico (as usual) on Friday, and I made it home today in 4 hours flat. Chapel Hill was really pretty, and our seats were right down on the field, but unfortunately, that didn't help us win the game. Anyway, here's a few pictures.









Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Before I head down to Chapel Hill on Friday, I wanted to post a couple pictures from this past weekend in Atlanta.







It seems I've been running into people I know in the most unlikely places recently. Friday night at National airport, I ran into Dave Fortner from Tech. He was up in the DC area interviewing for a new job. Then on the Metro platform on Sunday, I ran into one of Emily's coworkers at RAND. Last night, we bumped into Todd and Leah at CalTort while enjoying our free "I voted" tacos (followed by free "I voted" ice cream at Ben & Jerry's). Giving out free food just for doing something I was going to do anyway is the best idea ever, by the way.
In other recent news, the weekend down in Atlanta was good, but too short as always. Our flight down was on time for a change, so we were able to meet Matt for dinner at Gordon Biersh, and then play some Rock Band at Kristin's with Michelle, Ben, Glenn, and Matt. Saturday we tailgated with the same group for a bit, plus Christine, in the EST courtyard, which is really nice. I didn't even know it existed. Campus has changed a lot since I graduated, so it's nice to get around to some different areas. Once there, we learned that Glenn doesn't know how to properly use a grill. Seems like something I should have already known from the various 8th st cookouts, but somehow it had slipped my mind. Then we met up with Brian and his traitorous F$U friends for some more tailgating before game time. After the game, we got lost in my old neighborhood (Smyrna) looking for the South City Kitchen. We eventually found it, and the food was superb as always, but the service was a little lacking. But we got to meet Kenneth's new girlfriend and hear about what he's been up to at Motorola, so it all turned out okay. Sunday morning we had brunch at Apres Diem with Laina and Josh before I headed back to the airport to come home. They make such a cute couple, I wish we could hang out with them more often.
The game on Saturday was fantastic, culminating in a 31-28 Tech victory (FINALLY) on a goal line fumble. After leading for most of the game, a getting a little lucky, Tech finally got the monkey off our back and beat the Criminoles. Everyone has us penciled in to the Orange Bowl all of a sudden, but I think that's a little premature. I'm not familiar with all the new ACC tiebreaker rules (and finding anything on the ACC's website is impossible), but we still need to beat UNC and Miami, and probably need both VT and UVA to lose another game, and then if all that happens, we'd still need to win the ACC Championship game. Certainly the win helps us stay in position, but there's a lot of football left before anyone should be crowning anyone else ACC champs.
The election's finally over! WHOOO! I checked the map before I went to bed last night and saw Obama had a comfortable lead. That's the extent of my interest. I'm sure the cold I'm fighting has something to do with it too. Mostly I just want to sleep a lot. Especially since I need to get better before heading down to Chapel Hill this weekend. Anyway, good for Barack I guess. We'll see what the next 4 years have in store. I'm just excited that the campaigning if over and done with at last. I think this might have been the longest pre-election of all time...

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

I was reviewing my twitter posts from the game on Saturday, and apparently, a stadium full of 55,000 people isn't the ideal place to be sending time-sequenced text messages from. Go figure. Anyway, a bunch are out of order, and some never showed up at all. Lesson learned. I'll try to keep the posts less frequent in Chapel Hill this weekend.

I think there's something seriously wrong with me. Despite how much I want the election to be over and done with, I can't stop compulsively checking in with Nate Silver's 538 site. Truthfully, all I'm really interested in is the numerical models and error margins and data shifts. How did I do so poorly at statistics and advanced math in college and yet still have such a love for number theory and applications? Hopefully it won't be long before the returns start bearing out the accuracy of the algorithms. Go math! And they say the US is lagging behind... Where's Japan's regression modeling of its national elections?

Why am I just now learning that Sarah Palin played girl's basketball in high school? Suddenly everything about her makes so much more sense!

Voting was pretty painless this morning. I was in and out in under 10 minutes. Thankfully my last name starts with A-E; the poor saps in the L-P line were out the door when I arrived. If you haven't voted yet, I encourage you to go do so. Exercise your right or be stuck with whatever the rest of us idiots decide. Only a few more hours until the commercials and signs all go away. Could not possibly come soon enough...

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  • I'm Rev. Adam
  • From Oakton, Virginia, United States
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