09.16.07
Posted in Personal at 9:37 pm by Joe Blubaugh
It’s lucky for me that I just finished my single-speed cruiser bike project, because my good bike was stolen today. I’d gotten used to keeping the bike outside, where I could just hop on and ride to wherever I was going. I do much more of my commuting and errand-running on a bike now than with my car, so the loss is keenly felt. I know I could have taken some more precautions, but there’s still a fundamental unfairness to someone lifting your means of transportation.
The other problem for me is that I have nothing to ride for distance now. My new project is purposely geared low, as it’s intended to be an about-campus bike. It’s also got a small frame and big, heavy components, so it’s terribly inefficient.
Events like this also bring my fiscal irresponsibility into sharp focus. I’m terrible with money - I don’t budget, and I’d much rather trade money for fun experiences than save it up. So, no new bike for Joe right now. I’m going to use that money for something bigger than a bike.
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08.29.07
Posted in Personal at 5:44 pm by Joe Blubaugh
So, I am crazy busy with school, arguments with the Co-op office, etc. - but this is a divine mixture of vegetables:
- 1/2 eggplant
- 1 zucchini
- 1/2 onion
- 1 tomato
- 12 baby carrots (or so)
- Ground Mustard
- Chopped garlic
- Salt & Pepper
- Olive Oil
Preheat oven to 450F. Slice the eggplant and zucchini in half, then cut into 1/4 inch slices. Line the bottom of the pan with them. Chop the tomato and onion, layering over zucchini and eggplant. Add the carrots. Season with everything, then pour olive oil over the vegetables to coat. Roast for 50 minutes.
Awesome.
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08.03.07
Posted in Personal at 8:09 am by Joe Blubaugh
I went for a bike ride after work yesterday. Here’s the map of my route. I intended to stop at ‘pause mark’ #5, turn around, and come back for a total estimated distance of 18 miles. Because I’m a doofus, I missed the point and just keep right on riding. I was in the zone, man. After a while, though, I looked at my cell phone clock and realized that I had gone way too far. I turned around at the red mark; it’s about 18 miles from my starting point, or the entire distance I intended to ride.
I wound up riding 37 miles yesterday on one quart of water and two granola bars. When I got home I crashed so hard that I wound up just laying on my bed, eyes open but unfocused for an hour. I don’t even remember if I had any thoughts at the time. Still, I’m sort of psyched that I can still jump on the bike and do 37 miles in an evening, even if it totally wipes me out.
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07.31.07
Posted in Personal, Pro at 5:44 pm by Joe Blubaugh
Or: Work Exists to Sap Your Will
Better and more interesting people than I have written about the ridiculous farce of a life that frequently accompanies the “full time” American work week. A typical day goes something like this:
- Get up and shower. (if you wake up on time)
- Drive to work.
- Work all day (or waste time online while trying to look busy)
- Leave work at 5 (if you’re lucky)
- Get home.
- Make dinner.
- Congratulations! It’s now 8 or 9 PM, generally considered to late to do much outdoors.
- Go to bed, or you’ll be too tired to repeat it all tomorrow.
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07.24.07
Posted in Personal at 7:05 pm by Joe Blubaugh
Tonight was the intern end-of-term banquet. As happy as I am about it being the end of my term, I backed out of the banquet at the last minute. I know I’ve been a terrible sport this whole summer, sailing instead of hanging out with interns, avoiding intern lunches, and skipping the ’roundtables’ with the bigwigs, but my overall attitude toward the company has infected my interactions with the interns.
My work this summer inspires less interest than my first summer job making hamburgers. It’s just dull, repetitive, administrative junk that doesn’t fulfill any of my career goals. I haven’t received any of the help learning about the technology and how to use it that I was promised. Consequently, I’m singularly uninterested in actually completing the work assigned me.
To top it off, the interns are interested in basically two things: drinking and work. Now, I like drinking as much as the next guy and more than some of them, but it’s too often an end in and of itself, especially with this crowd. Outside of work, I don’t want to talk about work; our strategy for blah blah couldn’t interest me less.
I feel bad, to a degree, for turning my back on the intern community, because I’m sure some of them are in the same boat as me and are actually fun people to be around. The S/N ratio just isn’t high enough to make it productive to find them.
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07.19.07
Posted in Personal at 6:56 pm by Joe Blubaugh
When I’m at work I frequently find myself indulging a rich fantasy life, because every day makes me wish I was there less and less. I start imagining opening a bar in the New Mexico desert, catering to hard-bitten bikers who couldn’t give a shit about me, so long as I supply beer. There’s another good one I’ve been thinking of recently: walk through the GE MR bays and push all the emergency evacuation buttons, for a total damage of around $2 million. Oh, it’s tempting.
I don’t know what kind of engineers GE wants in their organization, but I’m not it. I had already decided that I should look strongly into grad school, but this summer’s clinched the ‘no corporate job’ sentiment I was already cultivating.
I don’t know what I’m going to do in my end-of-term presentation, but I don’t think it’s going to be very kind to the company.
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07.13.07
Posted in Personal, Music at 8:00 am by Joe Blubaugh
Last week was one of the laziest of my life, due to the General’s fairly generous 4th of July policy. This week has been one of the busiest as a form of compensation, I think.
From the iPod:
- Royksopp - 40 Year BackCome
- Aimee Mann - It’s Not Safe
- Gustav Mahler - Symphony No 5, Movement V (SF Symphony)
- Hank Williams - Lost Highway
- Metric - Handshakes
- Radiohead - There There. (The Boney King of Nowhere.)
- Stephane Grapelli - The Folks Who Live on the Hill
- Lester Young w/ the Oscar Peterson Trio - Just You, Just Me
- Jens Lekman - A Man Walks Into a Bar
- The Cure - Plainsong
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06.27.07
Posted in Personal at 2:13 pm by Joe Blubaugh
There is a man at work whose name is “Hari Krishna *Lastname*.”
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06.22.07
Posted in Personal, Music at 1:49 pm by Joe Blubaugh
My landlord didn’t even call me today like he promised. Jeez.
- Aimee Mann - “Humpty Dumpty”
- We Are Scientists - “Can’t Lose”
- Hendrix - “Foxy Lady”
- Elliott Smith - “Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands”
- Billie Holiday - “You Let Me Down”
- Mirah - “Jerusalem”
- Devo - “Peekaboo”
- The Clash - “Complete Control”
- Randy Pease - “Ishmael”
- Detholz! - “Rock the Casbah”
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