Attack of the Female Ninjas!

Yes, you read that right! Today's news cop-out post features female ninjas. Enjoy!

Obligatory Update

I couldn't figure out what to name this post. It's not because there weren't any notable events this week, in fact you could say my life was overly exciting. So, to keep the words down and the blogging up, please direct your reading eyes to the following paragraphs...

The first major event that occurred this past week was my moving day. I rented a 14' U-Haul truck to help me move, and enlisted the help of Mike, Shawn, and Rich, three guys from work. Since I rented the truck on Saturday, and the rental company was closed on Sunday, they actually permitted me to keep the truck through Sunday if I so desired, for the price of just one day (which incidentally, is the same price of a one hour rental). The only downside, it would seem, of my rental experience was that, despite the fuel gauge reading just under the "full" mark, it took over fifteen dollars to fill the tank after I was done!!! I have a feeling the previous renter just filled it to the line, and didn't top it off like I did...

So, Saturday morning, Mike and I picked up the truck at 8 AM, and we started moving. At about 8:10, Rich showed up, and we were able to load up the truck in just over an hour and fifteen minutes, after which we drove over to the house and unloaded the truck in under thirty minutes! Incredible! Shawn finally came by the house right when we were unloading the last few things, but I didn't ride him too hard because, after all, he was instrumental in my ceiling fan installation adventure.

Having finished moving so quickly, we were able to go back to the apartment and catch one of the most dominating Florida football games I have ever seen. The third-ranked Gators took on the 24th ranked Tennessee Volunteers and crushed them 59-20, scoring every which way - by punt return, by fumble return, by air, and by ground. It definitely made the California victory a few weeks ago seem that much less impressive... Interestingly, Tyrone, a guy from work who graduated from USF, had told me that he wanted UF to beat Tennessee by at least 30 points, so that USF could jump Tennessee and get into the top 25. At the time, I told him all the facts I knew - that it was a hotly contested rivalry game and that it was a series that, for the past five years, has been decided by an average of less than one touchdown - basically I told him that I would never dream of beating such a rival by thirty points. We didn't, instead we decided to beat them by 39!

On a somewhat related note (it is about Football, only the professional version), the Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week poll for this week includes two Gators - former defensive tackle Marcus Thomas and former tailback DeShawn Wynn. Marcus Thomas logged a solo tackle and, get this, an interception, in Denver's game this past weekend, and DeShawn Wynn ran 10 times for 50 yards and two TDs, highlighted by a 38 yard touchdown run, and also added two receptions for 18 yards! Vote for them at the Rookie of the Week Poll!

My parents came into town late Saturday, and we went to Applebee's for a late dinner and then we all spent our first night at the new house. The next day, we headed over to downtown Melbourne to have lunch at the Island Pasta Company, a restaurant that I introduced to you dear readers of Grant's Pad when my father visited us in July. This time, my mother ordered tuna sashimi, which greatly jacked up the price of our lunch, but it was certainly worth it! I haven't had good sushi in a really, really long time.

After my parents left on Sunday, my week started to get busy yet again. Only this time, it wasn't busy because of housework - rather, it was busy because of homework. I started my homework for my Deterministic Methods in Operations Research class, and man, it kicked my ass. I could not, for the life of me, figure out what I was doing wrong with the first problem, and even spent three hours with my coworker and classmate, Tarang, discussing the problem with the TA over the live chat! In all, I probably spent upwards of twelve hours on that damn problem. It must have made me that much smarter at DMOR, because the other three problems combined for less than four hours of work.

The latest interesting episode of Grant's life was the visit from the RainSoft sales rep. RainSoft sells the most expensive water softening/purifying equipment in the world. We agreed to a water test and a "short presentation" in exchange for a $500 gift certificate to one of their online store partners. I honestly don't think it was worth it. The "short presentation" took over two hours, and the sales rep really would not take "No" for an answer! I thought that was just a myth, but this guy, every time I would try to say "No, I don't want it", would pull another trick out of his hat or simply reiterate the "fact" that I would save money by buying a $9000 water treatment system! I was scheduled for two more such water presentations this week, but I think I'm going to have to miss those appointments!

Well, that should be enough for now. Despite having finished my DMOR homework, I also have to finish writing my second case analysis for my Organizational Behavior class, and to do that, I have to stop blogging and start reading the case, so, until next time!

Burnout!!!

What a week. Hell, what a three weeks. So much time has gone since my last post that Blogger's actually added a first-party video embedder in the blog editor! Problem is, I don't have a digital video camera, so I can't really take good advantage of that.

After Shawn helped me put up ceiling fans in the last episode of Grant's Pad, I enlisted Alex's help to put up a number of horizontal blinds. Cherrie and I finished the blinds job by installing vertical blinds on the sliding glass doors, and that more or less completed all the work on the actual house!

It was just in time as well, because last weekend, I had to attend classes in Orlando. I decided to carpool with two of my group members, Stephanie and Phil, back and forth between Melbourne and Orlando, so we had to head out towards Orlando at around 6:30 in the morning. It actually wasn't that bad, but man, at the end of the day, I was dead tired. Classes are pretty interesting, though I have definitely developed a preference to my Deterministic Methods in Operations Research (DMOR) class over my Organizational Behavior class. DMOR is a math intensive class that teaches how to make optimization models. It's taught by Cole, a fairly recent Ph. D out of Virginia Tech (who was gleefully crushed by LSU this past Saturday), so he's a pretty young, funny professor.

In stark contrast, Organizational Behavior is a very "touchy feely" class based around case studies of psychology in the workplace. It's taught by Dr. Tosi, whom Stephanie observed as the textbook definition of an old, Italian, Catholic man. Dr. Tosi is also a funny professor, but the humor is of a vastly different brand. Just ask Phil!

So, moving day looms. I've gone ahead and rented a truck for the weekend to let us move all of our furniture (i.e. the couch and the desk) to the new house, and recruited Shawn and Mike to help with the move. Between work, home improvement, and schoolwork, I haven't had any entertainment for weeks, except for weekend football. And even that may change, soon. Avid readers may recall that I only have basic cable because I'm too cheap to dish out an extra $60 a month to get digital cable. Well, in the interest of cutting additional costs, we've decided to not get cable at all when we move! I also haven't played video games in the said period of time. No DS for three weeks? Unheard of! I fully intend to make up for the lost time when the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass hits stateside!

Hopefully, after I'm all moved in, I'll be able to keep up with my writing schedule better!

Painting, Shooting, and, Yes, the Start of Football Season!

I guess it's not safe to simply assume that people will come to read Grant's Pad based simply on its reputation for fine expositions and great literary value.

I haven't only been away from Grant's Pad long and often - I've actually been away from work more than a small amount of time. Well, work, in the sense of right here in Melbourne that is. The TPR technician, Bob, actually greeted me as "Mr. Cedar Rapids" earlier this week after I returned early from yet another trip to that "City of Five Seasons" in Iowa. This particular trip was highlighted by the fact that I once again got to eat the Longbranch Restaurant's spectacular pork ribs once again (the best ribs ever, I re-emphasize), from the comfort of my own presidential suite, the best room the Longbranch has to offer.

I also got to rent a 2007 Ford Mustang. While I list this experience here as a perk, I have to admit that I didn't think much of the Mustang's performance. I think I must have gotten the plain ol' factory standard issue Mustang, but still, I expected a car that looks as cool as the throwback Mustang to have a little more kick than it did!

Still beaming from my last shooting experience with Ron, I went out again with Ron to the range, this time to shoot some clay trap with his 12-gauge shotgun. I quickly found out that I am a much, much better rifleman than a duck hunter, as I shot over 25 shells and only pierced a single clay trap with a single pellet. Ron, on the other hand, exploded three traps, shooting only five shots! Check out more photos of me shooting and running around in the 7-foot tall fields of Iowa corn in the Photo Album!

Another thing that's been keeping me away from the ol' blog is the work on the house that Cherrie and I have been doing. We spent about three twelve-hour days painting the house. When we're not painting, we're shopping for appliances and lighting fixtures and window treatments and god knows what else! We finally did finish the painting, but my complete lack of assembly ability has forced me to admit defeat and ask Shawn for help putting together my lighting fixtures. My lack of man-work ability was also evidenced in my first ever experience mowing the lawn. Living the sheltered life that I led, my family got lawn service since I was about 11 years old, and my lack of lawn mowing experience showed. Cherrie actually had to help me push my push mower through the six-inch tall grass to get the job done!

Well, it's been a long offseason, but College Football is finally back! Tim Tebow and the Gators opened their season with an impressive offensive outing, racking up over 500 yards but giving up about 200 yards to Western Kentucky University, who made its debut in Bowl Division Football (formerly Division I-A) this Saturday. The only thing that stopped the Gators was the weather - the game was called with over eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter due to lightning with the score 49-3 in favor of the good guys.

While the Gators won their game as expected, the same could not be said for several other programs in the country. The Notre Dame media machine was slaughtered by a Calvin Johnson-less Georgia Tech, Tennessee lost a hard-fought offensive shootout against California, but most shocking of all was Number 5 Ranked Michigan's 34-32 loss to Division I-AA Appalachian State in what is more likely than not the worst upset in possibly any sport, ever.

One guy I will definitely keep an eye on this season is Hawaii's Colt Brennan, who is on his way to shattering every QB record in history. Brennan completed 34 of 40 passes for over 400 yards and six touchdowns in Hawaii's victory early Sunday morning. Oh, and I should mention that he sat out the entire second half of the game!!! Frickin' incredible!