Before the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and before Narnia and Harry Potter, I cut my teeth on the stories of the Lensmen. Many may not be aware of this series, but the Lensman series of books were the shit. It defined the space opera genre, a genre I’ve always enjoyed (apparent in my love for such anime as Macross and Yamato/Starblazers). Granted, the series was primarily written back in the 30s and 40s, so the science is far from accurate. Still, the story is epic and the characters are interesting. I enjoyed it back when I was 10 and I still enjoy it today.
So why am I writing this post? No big reason really. I’d enjoy it if the few readers of my blog picked up the books, but I’d enjoy it more if you all picked up the books for me ;) They are currently published by Old Earth Books, right here in Baltimore. Maybe I should swing by and beg… yeah. Seriously, if you have not had the pleasure of reading this series, check it out.
-Tom
So yesterday, I found out that I will no longer have a job as of May 2nd. This is through no fault of my own mind you. As a vendor to services, my company maintain contracts with other companies and if said contracts do not get renewed, then all of the people who work on that contract are all affected. The particular contract I was working on (can’t be more specific since I’m still tied by an NDA) decided to go with one vendor instead of diversifying with many vendors, and we didn’t have the resources to provide them with the amount of coverage they required. Well, that’s the story we were told at least.
Anyway, that still means that 240 some odd people will be out of a job come May. Yesterday was a bit rough for many of my coworkers. I saw some crying and a lot of people left early (even though we still had a job to do). Truth be told, I was quite happy. I know things are gonna suck for a lot of those people, and I wish them luck, but this is like a swift kick in the ass that I needed. I have been looking for another job for a bit now, but now I have a deadline. Also, the company policy of not surfing job-search sites has been lifted. In addition, they are staggering the lay-off process, with the most senior individuals staying the longest (ie: I won’t be the first to go).
Change is generally a good thing. Hopefully it works out for the best for many of the people at AQ.
So I went snowboarding this weekend, which was awesome. I went only twice last year, and if my rate keeps up, I’ll only go once this year. I think I need to work on reversing this trend. Anyway, I was supposed to hang out with my brother and some other friends at Whitetail but the snow was so bad, the state closed all roads when I was supposed to have left. As a result, I got a much later start than anticipated. Good thing my friend Joe came, otherwise, I would have been at the slopes by myself… my brother bailed on me because he missed the closures and was already done by the time I made it to the resort.
Anyway, after a quick trip to the bunny-slope, and realizing quickly I had not forgotten anything with regard to snowboarding, I started tackling the intermediate-level slopes. I had a great time, but Joe and I decided we wanted to go up the bigger slopes. I dunno how it happened, but we ended up on a double black-diamond slope (ie: hard) and that kicked my ass. It was also the last time down, so my legs were already really tired. On one hand, this was fun, on another… I was in pain, and crashed a decent amount.
And how did I end my evening? hanging out with some coworkers in a “gay hipster” bar. Not my crowd, but I had fun with my friends and their friends. Not the evening I expected, but I enjoyed myself (well, except for the fact that I could not hit on any of the girls there ;)
-Tom
So, there are two driving-related things I wanted to discuss today. First off, my brother and I signed up for motorcycle classes Saturday. The classes were booked all the way through to August, so my class doesn’t start until August 10th. Still, I’m really excited about learning to ride a motorcycle. While I currently am in no position to buy a bike, I do have my eye on a Honda 599, I think standard bikes look sexy. Come August, if I had the cash, I’d probably invest in a used 2004 model that I can get my feet wet with. Should be fun!
Now, concerning my current driving situation… I got pulled over tonight. It is Super Bowl Sunday, so the cops were out in full force. I actually had a few drinks, but had stopped a couple hours before leaving to go home. The guy didn’t even pull me over for suspicion of drinking and driving. I had a tail-light out. Either way, he asked if I had anything to drink, so I was honest and told him I did. As a result, I took my first breathalyzer test. I was kinda apprehensive, since I was not sure if I’d given myself enough time to let the alcohol run through my system (I felt fine, but that doesn’t mean I’m below the legal limit). Either way, he just let me go with a warning to get the light fixed.
So I left unscathed… whoo… with that, I sleep…
-Tom