the end...almost

To all I adore,

The end has arrived yes the end. What end, the end of the term. I am free for a little bit. Within the next twenty four hours I will be flying clear across country back to Oregon. Kailey and I are looking forward to going home very much. The south is not Christmas weather. Today it was in the high sixties, in December!!! Kailey and I already celebrated our Christmas and unwrapped the presents we got for each other. Why did we do this you may be asknig yourself? Well we will not be together for Christmas since we will be at our parents houses, so we picked a day that we both had nothing to do and got up early (thanks to me) and unwrapped gifts.

First, I will start with all the awesome gifts I got. The big gift was a Sansa music/video/photo gallery/fm radio player picture below. It is pretty sweet. Way better than iPod.

I tell you I made out like a bandit. Next I got the movie Beerfest go see it now if you have not it is so funny it will make you pee your pants, it also makes you want to drink beer so A.A. members may want to take a pass on this movie. I got a few styling shirts from Old Navy, one which was very warm, I did not expect it to be that warm.

I got a Superman action figure, it was not one from the movie I have been doddling over (yes I just made up a word). But it was equally as cool if not cooler. It was from the notorious animated series JLA (for those who do not know that is Justice League of America). It is freaking sweet. I got some axe body spray which comes out very very fast just a warning if you ever get it. ALong the Superman lines she got me another awesome gift along the same lines. It was a graphic novel, which means a giant comic book, it is after the Death of Superman series.

I also got a kick ass DVD that was super cool. It is a live concert of one of my all time favorite bands AFI. I have already watched the entire concert, it is the only band I can say I have been an actual fan of. She also got me a few stocking stuffers like some card games that I have never heard of but they look really fun, we have not got a chance to play yet but we will soon. One is a pirate game! I also got a hand held solitaire game. I also, got another action figure of Spiderman, it is a standstill of him.

Now for what I got Kailey. First, the big one I got a iPod stereo, it is also a DVD player, radio player, CD player, and it plays any other MP3 players. I got her a few pieces of jewelery that I got a super awesome deal on the day after Thanksgiving. I got her a few movies, Pirates 2, Tailidega Nights, Best of Will Ferrell SNL, and Groundhog's Day, all of which were of course sweet deals. I got her an Edgar Allen Poe book that I got another sweet deal on. The movies of course were more of an "us" gift, along with the stereo since I benefit from it as well. I got her two band t-shirts, and some stocking stuffers from the dollar store but were still very thoughtful and radical.

Anywho, that is all from now.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"Please be eighteen."
~Ricky Bobby

Christmas list

To those who are going to buy me something,

So I feel that since I am far far away from you I should create a list of things I want for Christmas. To be honest this year it is really hard to think of something I want. Below are a few ideas of what I want in no particular order except the first two on the list which I want more than anything!

- Superman Returns, the movie, bought with case.

- Superman Returns, the game for PS2.

- Clue board game, preferably Simpsons version

- Other board games that are fun like risk or something I have not played like opposite sexes or something like that

- From Mom and Dad I would like copies of childhood pictures of our family. I just don't really have any photos from when we were kids and all that jazz.

- Cds: (if you can't find these a gift cirtificate is always good, preferably one that is online like an amazon.com thing or something)
*Lucero...any of theirs
*The Killers...Sams Town
*The Mars Volta...Amputechture
*Anti-flag...For Blood and Empire
*Dillinger 4...Situationis Comedy
*Muse...Black Holes and Revelations

- PS2 Games (not too into games this year but these ones seem attractive)
*God of War II
*Marvel's Utlimate Alliance
*Justice League Heroes
*FIFA 07

- If you get me clothes get me gift certificates. There are Old Navy's here which is what I prefer to shop at. JC Penny's. Dillards. Targets. Walmarts. Other than that I am not sure where else I would actually shop besides for a suit or something at Men's Wearhouse or Burlington Coat Factory.

- Books:
*High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
*The Illiad and Odyssey box set translated by Robert Fangles only this version it is a Penguin Classics
*The Stranger by Albert Camus, I have read it many times but do not own it, or any other books by Albert Camus.
*The Count of Monte Cristo...unabridged, it is hard to find but will be rather lengthy ~1200 to 1500 pages.
*C++ for Dummies
*Schaum's Outline of Programming with Fortan 77
*Stephen King: The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Call, The Dark Tower 6: Songs for Susannah, The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower....(only the normal paperback versions, there are hardbacks, then big paperbacks, then medium paperbacks, then normal sized I want normal sized)

- Magazine or comic book subsciption, like X-men or Superman

That is about all I can think of I am really bad at the entire what I want thing this year because I have everything I have ever wanted and I am very grateful for that right now. I have a loving girlfriend who I adore. I even love her family they are great! I have wonderful loving parents who I miss each and every day. Two of the best brothers money could buy, yes Jeff, yes Rob, time to know the truth you were genetically engineered. And awesomely great friends.

Love,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"I never think of the future, it comes soon enough."
~Albert Einstein

bam more pictures

To those I adore,

BAM!!! The Hulk would own the Thing but unfortunately on this day the Thing was quicker on the draw.

Here is another long awaited photo update. These pictures are of our new home here in Raleigh...well not so new since we have been here for a few months. To start with here is the outside of our complex there you can see Kailey walking to her car, all of these pictures were taken today.

Below is another view of our complex taken right outside my front door. It is a cozy neighborhood townhouse apartment thingy. Mostly families live here, there are a few students around here but not many. We have a pool right across the parking lot from where I reside about a stones throw away.

Here is yours truly outside of our front door. You can see our office window above me.

This is the back of our apartment, as you can see we do not have much of a patio. We rarely go outside, in fact today was the first time I went out back and I only did to take this photo. There are many large bugs back here that I fiercely had to do battle with just to take this photograph.
Here is a picture of our new couches they are super nice, microfiber or something like that. They are impossible to stain really everything comes up with water. I recently rearranged our living room because, well that is what I do when I am bored. I love it like this and I think Kailey does too. I really like the wall hanging Kailey's grandmother made. As you will see we have already started decorating for Christmas.

Below is another view of our living room, you can see Paige's (Kailey's sister) charcoal drawing in the corner with the red border, and of course our Christmas tree. Also the couches are covered with my mother's handmade afghans. They are super warm and rarely need since it is so freaking hot here, but they make it feel like home.

Here i sour tiny T.V. and our front door. The mirror I believe was my grandmother's and I really like it. I am not certain on that but I know it has been in my household since I can remember. Oh yeah and in case you didn't notice our rug in the center was purchased earlier this year for only twenty dollars pretty good deal eh? Also below you will notice we put up a little stocking for our kitty cat Sirius.

Here are a few Christmas decorations we have as you can see on the doorknob is some bells, then there are candles and some statues.

More Christmas decorations down below, we pretty much got everything at the dollar store so we spent about thirty dollars and now have a home feeling Christmas decorated apartment. Wow, that was long winded. Anyways there is a story behind this stand thing here. We have found a lot of good things just sitting out by the garbage. Take for example those things that go on the back of your toilet to hold linen, someone threw one out and I took it apart and we use it in the living room as a shoe wrack. This end stand thing I found out by John and Harmony's it is damn near brand new. Looks pretty nice but for some reason someone just ditched it. Among other things I have seen are furniture such as love seats and what not. I do not really understand it here. People do not bring their old stuff to Goodwill. Why just throw a perfectly good something away. Now some of you are probably giggling because I find this stuff around trash, well go ahead joke all you want but people here really are idiots and throw away nice stuff. Of course I am poor and I will take a hand out.

Here is our downstairs half bathroom located by the kitchen. It is very very tiny as you will soon see.

As you can see it is a very tiny bathroom, but it is ok for downstairs Kailey makes use of it to do her hair and makeup in the mornings.

Here is our dining area with our new table and our so called french doors. As you can see only one door has a doorknob and opens from the left and not middle. So of course it can't be french doors. Oh well they are still pretty.

Here is our kitchen, it is really tiny but it is pretty nice we have a dishwasher and garbage disposal and enough room for one person to cook comfortably.
Now for the upstairs, I wanted to take a picture going upstairs but I forgot so oh well. Here is a picture looking downstairs.

To start with here is our bathroom upstairs. It is very tiny as well and has a super small sink since you can't even see it in this picture.
Here is what I look like when I am getting clean. Here is our neat shower, I enjoy it as you can see.

Next is our office here is my Christmas nativity scene on my computer. Batman plays the part of baby Jesus and I will let you figure out the rest.

Down yonder is my part of the office. My desk my awesomely cool pictures and stuff.

Here is our bookcase type of thing and our recliner up here which of course has become Sirius' second home.

This is Kailey's brand new desk she really digs it, as you can tell it is not quite as awesomely cool as my table.

This next room is where the magic happens. Yes you know it folks, this is where Rick sleeps, hey get your mind out of the gutter punk! As you can tell it also doubles as my music studio. We often have jam sessions and rock out all night long.

This is our bed with those Chinese light thingies over our heads. The quilt that is on here is like a million little pieces, it is awesome. Kailey's grandmother hand made this magnificent quilt. Sirius is a picture whore, he has to be in every photo.

So that concludes your holiday tour of the city. Hope you had fun.

Love and kisses,

Rick

To leave you with a quote:

"Thyaintkeenatye"

~Some guy who works at the theatre here.

a pictorial representation of the past six months

To those I adore,

It has been a long time coming. The picture I have promised over and over again. Here below is a few of our journey so far.
Ah the happy parents of a super genius...only took 6 years of college education and bam I have a piece of paper saying I am smart.

I just thought this is a typical picture of Kailey and I, you see she looks very prepaired and beautiful, while I have the look of passing gas while trying to but on my best smile. I always seem to be caught off gaurd, if you do not believe me ask Kailey for any pictures of us, you will see.

This is a picture of Dr. Hamby and I at the N.E. departments graduation day brunch. He was my advisor for 3 years and an extremely funny guy. It just takes about two months to comprehend that he was making a joke.

The Harpole Family and I, minus Paige. I was super excited that they came. Also, just to remind you look how beautiful Kailey is, and another reminder, remember what I said about off gaurd, look where all of our eyes are pointin (not the camera).

Dr. Palmer, coolest guy, has awesome taste in music, minus the fact he enjoys Rush. Looks like I am not the only one releaved I graduated. This guy helped me get my internship at INL. He is an insane test giver, but awesome teacher.

I graduate most hardcore of all graduates that year, can't you see by that super hardcore face I am making. YEAH!!!

After graduation I had about a day to say my goodbyes and head back to INL where I spent a majority of my summer in this room working setting up my experiment I designed the summer before. It was hot, real hot, no AC.

After a brief eight weeks I headed home from INL this was a shot I took outside of my windshield heading home. I thought it was super beautiful, it is somewhere near the border I think.

This was very very very early in the morning of the day we left for North Carolina. I dare not show the picture of Kailey and I outside of the Uhaul for fear of death.

Passing back through Idaho, only about two days after I left it. I know short return home. I wish I could have had more time to say goodbye. I miss home a lot.

I think this is outside of Utah, or maybe Utah I am not sure. We really should have kept a photo journal along our way but instead I guess.

This is Wyoming just after leaving Utah. It was very pretty there now that I think about it. If you ever drive across the US, then appreciate the west because as soon as you get half way through Wyoming it is all the saem scenary.

Oh Nebbraska, I did not really drive though Nebraska, instead I saw a lot of corn, and I mean a lot of corn!

Iowa, just like Nebraska a whole lot of nothing for the entire state.

We passed the Mississippi twice I believe this is a picture of it the first time, the second time we passed we didn't get that great of photos. It is hard when you have to dig the camera out of the bag start it and quickly take photos of places before you pass then because we were not stopping for anything.

For those of you who want to know what the non-east or non-west US looks like here you go. Nothing but this for hundreds of miles.

All driving and no play makes Rick a dull boy. I got bored and took a lot of photos when I was bored.

Ah, Kentucky, mmmmm, whiskey. Anyways if you ever drive to Louisville, do not stay in the center lane. We hit a bump so big I thought we caught air and lost Kailey's car that we had been towing. After hitting it I kept looking in the mirrors to see if traffic had stopped or if it was slowing down because her car came lose. But fortunately it made it with not a scratch.

There is a reason all horror movies are made in West Virginia and we found out why, it is creapy. This was the morning after we stayed the night, you could only see about 150 feet in front of you.

Finally we arrive, on the hottest most humid day Raleigh has seen in a long time according to our land lady. Which was most conveniant for unpacking and moving our stuff in. We slept on an air matress that night and next morning we got up and helped John's father unload his stuff from the Uhaul which went rather quickly. then we unloaded our stuff except our dressers. It only took about three hours for all of it we just moved everything to the living room except our bed which we took right upstairs. Then it took about two months to unpack everything expect the office, that we just got put together abotu two weeks ago.

Kailey's twenty first birthday. It was Pirates of the Caribbean themed. I tried to do my best but I know she missed home a lot that day. But I made her a yummy cake!!

Later that night we found this. A huge giant something. Kailey knows what it is I forget all I know is that it was nasty.

I thought people from California couldn't drive, this happened in a parking lot. I think from the position of the dent in her car any moron could deduce that someone backed into her. Instead the insurance bastards said that it was both of their faults. I still want to go find the lady who backed into her and take a baseball bat to her car. Her story changed from the police report to the insurance adjuster. It was completely unfair.

Well I believe that conclude the pictorial representation for now.

To leave you with a quote:

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."

~Albert Einstein

to be or not to be...

To those I adore,

I have made a decision over a matter that has been troubling me since arriving. For those of you I have not talked to or who can not read between the lines of my previous blogs. I do not like it here; I have not liked it here from day one. I have decided that I will either switch schools or get a job. As of about twenty minutes ago I sent an email to a professor back at OSU probing to see if there was still the funding there that he offered me several weeks before graduation. I doubt there is. I have also filled out an application to ISU and have contacted several people there. That is about all I have done for schools. The program here is not what I want. I refuse to be a code writer/modifier. I can't stand programming all day long and could not do it as a living. When visiting here I got the impression that code writing was not really part of their thermal-hydraulics program. However, since being here and taking classes it seems that programming is in every aspect of their classes. That part bugged me but did not push me to the limit.

What has pushed me over the limit is the fact that I have not time to learn. Speaking from an OSU perspective since it is the only other program I know. Busy work is for undergraduate students, while learning is for graduate. Since being here I have not learned anything because much like an undergraduate there is not time to. I have so many projects and homeworks that I can spare no time to sit down and review materials. I have had several months of graduate school and so far have not learned anything; the only thing that has occurred is me doing homeworks all the time. I spent about fifteen hours on one problem last week only to not finish it. When we arrived to class the day it was due the professor told us he didn't expect any of us to complete the problem let alone get near the answer. He showed us his nine page solution just to tease our weak and overworked minds.

It is this type of attitude towards academia that has helped encourage my bane for this university. Out of all the professors there is only one so far I have met who actually cares about the students. He has taken the time to learn our names and to stop and say hello in the halls. Every other professor is different, more concerned about their own research than anything else. It is not a good environment for learning, and I am burned out I am tired of doing busy work and not learning what I need and desire to learn. I really have just felt burned out here, I not longer have the drive to put up with this type of schedule and work load. My idea of graduate school was to get off school come home and read over materials and learn them. Instead I do not come home I am at school later and later, I am at school on weekends, am I reading and trying to learn? NO! I am trying to finish homeworks with no time to think about what it is I need to take from the assignment. Plus the program is very inbred, incase you do not know what I mean by this, it means that they take mostly their own undergraduates for their graduate program. So here you have a majority of your class who already knows the professor and how he tests/grades. They have previous students’ old work on hand at their disposal. So if you are a new guy you are already at a disadvantage to these lucky punks.

Enough of my ranting and complaining. So I have decided to apply to different schools and or jobs. I have talked about the schools to which I am applying. Now for the job aspect of this blog. So far I have researched GE, Westinghouse, and the NRC. I do not really care for GE since it is based out of the south and I want nothing more to do with the south, however they have a program up in Canada as well which would not be bad. Westinghouse would be nice; it is more in the northern states which I would not mind. They are based out of Pennsylvania, which is where my brother Rob lives so it would be nice to have family in the same state. What is more appealing is Ogden, Utah. They are hiring out of there and that is nearer to Oregon and Kailey and my families. Plus the west coast is just so so so much better than the east. As the NRC goes I am not sure about I will apply there because the pay is great, you start out low around $53k/year which still is not bad starting but by your fourth year there (at least on their trainee program) you are up around $90k/year. Plus it is a government job and there will always be regulations even if industry takes a hit. I know more about what the NRC does as well, and their benefits are nice. Anyways I have also searched for jobs on other sites and what not.

Well that is all for now.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funn...'"

and an extra from the same man:

"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do."
~Isacc Asimov

on customer service

To those whom I adore,

Ok so I have not finished writing my super update yet. But I am writing it. For those of you who did not know because I am pretty sure I dreamt of writing this but did not actually do so, I was planning on writing a super update. After reading some of my last few entrees since being here I came to the realization that they suck and are not informative on what is going on in my life. So if you are now expecting a super update do not worry it will come soon. Unfortunately this blog will not be one; instead it will be more of my increasingly southern rambling.

I have come to the conclusion the south is contagious. I use the word contagious instead of a phrase "grows on you" because the south is something I do not want. If you read between the lines in the bible you will see that in when the end of days comes it will start in the south. Yes the south is not enjoyable for me; however I am slowly starting to speak redneck slang not by choice either. This form of dialect is just not civilized. Kailey has caught be a few times. My subconscious is cheating me out of sounding educated. I am starting to not talk as much in public for fear of picking up more southern dialect. Constantly I am surrounded by words and strange accents like being in a leprosy colony. I do not want to touch anything for fear of picking up this disease that makes even the smartest of people appear stupid.

Aside from the how stupid people sound I have been exploring this concept of southern hospitality and yet to find it. People are far ruder here than anywhere I have been, well maybe not as rude as the gentlemen of London. I was expecting there to be a lot of old people sitting on their porches drinking sweet tea and playing banjos. Instead there are people driving 100 mph and deciding they do not need break lights or blinkers. It is amazing that people are allowed to drive in this state.

Now I would like to take you on an adventure of trying to buy something in the south. Before I start I just wanted to say the stories my parents told me about the south are all true. So to begin if you are trying to order food or get any types of customer service do not expect it to be on your time. No, no, no, people here may be getting paid by the hour, but what they do in an hour’s time here would be ten minutes of work back west.

So take for example Kailey and I go to McDonalds and want to get lunch. We are waiting, no not in drive through, no wrong again not in line, we are waiting at the counter. About ten feet away from us is four employees having a conversation. They keep talking and laughing all while our stomachs moan for that sweet greasy food. One of them looks at us up and down smirking, judging, and mocking with their beady little eyes.

Finally, one of them, a manager no less sees us and our hungry faces and orders one of his minions to take our order, it was the beady eyed one. So slowly like a kid dragging their feet in protest “mozies” on over to us. Slams both her hands on the counter hangs her head down slumping almost as if she was about to pass out from exhaustion. I think she is reading something when all of the sudden I hear something, it was a whisper or so I thought. I tell her “I am sorry but I didn’t hear you” she replies, “Watchawansi”. I did not know this word and after a second of replaying what she said in my mind I realized that in some way she was communicating to us that she wanted us to order. We proceed to order with her interrupting every now and then to ask us to repeat that, “A number 2 with a coke”, “A what?”, “A, number, 2, with, a, coke” I repeat. The entire ordeal took about 10 minutes from the time we got to the counter until we finished ordering.

We have run into more and more situations such as the one I just described. This weekend we will see other parts of NC, we are heading to the coast tomorrow for the day. I am not sure where we are going yet maybe to where the Wright Brother’s first flew, or maybe Wilmington. I am not sure; I may go check out Cape Fear as well. I am looking forward to seeing the ocean again and I know Kailey has been looking forward to getting out. It will be fun I hope.

Sorry I did not post any pictures but this site can be wierd sometimes and likes to not upload the pictures onto the blog in a timely manner. I had a sweet picture of a redneck limo that I have seen around here lately. It is a pickup truck with a super extended cab, it is absolutely ridiculous.

Love,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
~Socrates

It may say North Carolina but make no mistake it's the south!

To everyone I adore, sorry it has been so long since I wrote last. I have not been terribly busy; I just have not been around the internet. I still have not got the net at my apartment so everything has to be done at school and well I do not like to be at school any longer than I have to be. School is ok, I ended up dropping one class because I spent about 30 hours on the first homework set and only got 1 of 5 questions done and it was incorrect. It made my brain pop so I just dropped the class and called it quits on that class and took up research credits instead. So far the research has been reading a paper that was a senior design project of last year’s seniors. I finished a long time ago and I have been waiting since to do something worth while.

Kailey and I are doing good. She got a job at Kroger's, they own Fred Meyer's on the west coast, but here they are just a grocery store. Her job really sucked so she kept applying to other places, which is a good thing because I didn't think that job was going to be good for her. Pretty much there she had to stand in one place all day long and not move. So the only people she had conversations with were customers, some of them angry. Anyways she got a job at a baby/little kid store called Gymboree (not sure of spelling) she likes it there and she gets to interact with her co-workers and friendlier customers for the most part. She then got another job at a place called Limited Too which is about a minute walk from Gymboree. That is good because she can work both jobs and get a full 40-50 hours a week. I am very grateful now she can quit Kroger's. So as of right now she technically has 3 jobs, soon to be 2 though. I am really proud of her.

Let's see what else is going on, hmmm my Dad just finished our deck. For those of you who know about the french doors going to nowhere, well now they have a home.

As you can see it looks awesome. I am very proud to say that I had nothing to do with this project what-so-ever! It is good being away sometimes but I do miss home a lot. Now I guess my parents can spend that extra cash on themselves that they had previously been forking over for the ehancement of my brain. They are currently in Mexico on a marlin fishing trip with my aunt and uncle. Below you can see the first "marlin" my dad has caught.

No need to worry, there were professonals around to help him reel that big guy in. Oh I make myself giggle. I just thought that was a funny picture so I put it up here. I think that their actual trip will be awesome. I would love to go marlin fishing. I am no fan of fish but I love fishing. Could you imagine reeling in a 150-300 lb fish. Wow, I know I can't

As far as any vacation plans go for me, I want to go to the beach the next day that Kailey and I have off together. I hear it is really beautiful here, but so far I have not seen it. I miss home a lot. I miss mountains. I miss Oregonians. I miss people who know how to drive. I miss customer service. Things really are different here, and sometimes it has been a hard adjustment. Anyways, if you are reading this then I probably miss you, since only family and friends have this blog address. Anyways everyone should keep in touch. I have to head off to seminar now, and then catch a bus home.

Hugs and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it."
~Abraham Lincoln