Ulmus Jefferii

Let’s sum up my week to bypass those tedious details. Two near sleepless nights, loads of ramen, back to work after a month, phone interview, Wikipedia editing, Trolley almost running me off the road, later that day nearly face planting cause the curb jumped up and got me, and tonight Critical Mass on Leap day.

Oh yeah, Happy Leap day! A Holiday we can all get behind.

So word I was thinking of was mass. I must confess it was a lot of fun riding around Atlanta with probably 100 other cyclists. Too bad I don’t really know any of them (two of them work in the same building). I need me some cycle buddies.

I would love to be in school and TA hassle-free for a few years. That would be my ideal. Basically I want to be challenged and have time to pursue (with cohorts of course) my own ideas, thoughts, and desires. And quite frankly I do not have the concentration to more than three things. And that is why I think graduate school has not quite been all that I had hoped. Don’t get me wrong I don’t regret any of it, but I had high hopes.

At least I’m trying to get out again. It’s been a while since I stretched my legs. I am going to cycle somewhere that requires a overnight stop (hopefully spring break). But for this weekend its off to my hometown for some home cooking and some fresh air.

To quote Mike Huckabee, “it ain’t over” and I must agree.

Today Ralph Nader has declared his candidacy for the President of the USA. This begs the question of when (not if) the remaining potential candidates will announce. I am of course speaking of Mayor Bloomberg.

But back to Nader…I think his major strength is his connection to FDR. That’s right folks, FDR been in office less than a year when Nader was born. I am not going to fuel the popular beliefs that FDR had himself cloned, but if you believed such things the timing would roughly add up.

I must confess, Nader or Bloomberg could steal my vote from Lobsterman (and many other voters) if they followed the tradition of ancient Rome.

“Candidate” is a derivative of the Latin “candida” (white). In Ancient Rome, people running for political office would usually wear togas chalked and bleached to be bright white at speeches, debates, conventions, and other public functions.

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Last weekend was the final push for FRC. So I had very little sleep by Tuesday when we shipped the robot, I was about to get sick. So this week has consisted of trying to sleep, and knowing that this weekend I would have to buck up and catch up. In addition I bet the folks at my place of employment are thinking I have vanished of the face of the Earth.

In all a large combination of factors could be contributing to this malaise: It is winter, I am recovering from a cold, I have a lot of work to catch up on, I am not meeting any of my personal goals, and did I mention I am one year older? My regrets for this week are that I did not spend my sick time reading. My goals for the next week are to return some balance to my life and complete my taxes (I need that money back).

Maybe I’ll actually find some time to work on the many projects that seem to pile up the hidden niches of my mind. This week I did order some sample parts and dissect a CD drive to poach the brushless DC motor (apparently RC people rewind these things for more power).

I fear they will again have to wait until the summer which I am ready to welcome. Which reminds me to mention I am ready to cut my hair off. I will probably say goodbye to my long hair in the next week or so. I am just ready for new starts all around. Shall I go Shaolin again? Probably not.

March looks to be interesting. I will visit Maryland Pok Guy only to return to the FRC regional which leads into Spring Break (ATHF style). I promise to be more interesting next week, when I am rested.