Something Moore

To all of you in blog reading land I'd like to apologize for my double post and all the confusion. I think I fixed it but something is awry with this website. But keep reading... and hopefully soon I'll have something interesting to post :)!

So I wrote this wonderful blog about my time in the Bahamas and it won't post! AAARRRGGG! So this is a test to see if the whole thing is broken or if Blogger has something against the Bahamas.

Clay and I just got back from the Bahamas where we had the most wonderful, relaxing week. We had this awesome suite that overlooked the courtyard of this resort and just down from the courtyard was the beach. The place was awesome with a private beach and endless activities. In fact I have found my dream job. There was a guy who would walk around the beach setting up the next activity whether it was beach golf or BINGO or a waterballoon fight. (And by the way, Rum is the prize for all activities!)

We had a wonderful time and even did some snorkling. We spent a lot of time on the beach and just hanging out listening to some really bad Karaoke! We also go lucky with the weather because the week before we went was pouring rain and the week after is supposed to be rainy, but we had nothing but blue skies!

Our only real adventures were getting to and from the Bahamas. On the way there we ended up having an extra 2 hour layover in Dallas due to plane mechanical problems. We still could have made our connecting flight except when we got to Fort Lauderdale we had to circle the airport for an hour due to rain storms. We made it but we were 4 hours late by the time we got to Freeport. Then on the way back Clay had forgoten to bring his Green Card, we had his passport but Homeland Security wasn't going to let him in the country without his Green Card. Anyhow, we finally got a waiver from the port authority but it was going to cost us $267. We didn't really care we just wanted to go home at this point. Anyhow, they only accepted cash or credit card and at the end of the trip we didn't have that much cash on us so we tried to pay with credit card. We spent 20 minutes trying every imaginable way to get the credit card to work, but as often happens on the island, the internet connection to the banks was shut down and they couldn't get any machine in the airport to work. At this point we were holding up the plane so finally they waived the fee and let Clay go home. It was quite the ordeal!

But we had a wonderful trip! We're glad to be home, but I think I wil always miss my little piece of paradise by the beach!

Today is my last day of government employment. Tomorrow I get on a plane and head to the Bahamas!!! It's strange to think it's my last day of work. I've anticipated this day for nearly a year and now that the day has come I thinks it's amazing how fast and slow time can move. At times I thougth today would NEVER come but in retrospect time went quickly. So to leave this job with a postitive thought here are some things that government employment has taught me.

1. Eventually you will find the person who either knows which form to use or how to fill out the form you have.
2. Everything will get done... but it will take twice as long and three times as much money.
3. Most people want to do a good job all you've got to do is clear the obstacles.
4. It's amazing how much the guy on the shop floor knows... so take time and listen to him.
5. Payday Friday... enough said!
6. Engineers are interchangable... electrical=mechanical=aerospace=industrial
7. The begining of the year really is in October.

Ok... 7 may be an odd number for a list but that seems pretty comprehensive to me.

Anyhow, if there are any government type folks who read this... thanks for the education!

Yesterday while driving home I was listening to one of the local radio shows and their topic for the moment was "Underated movies that are really good." So listeners were calling in giving the names of the movies that the box office and/or critics didn't love but that they thought were great. So this one lady calls in and talks about this movie that was so emotional and hard to watch but really good. One of the DJs had seen this movie and he's agreeing with her that the movie is crazy good so now I'm thinking... Yeah I've got to see this! It's got to be great if it's this emotional movie about family and blah blah blah...

The name of the movie is "The Hills Have Eyes" and when I get home I googled the movie, clicked on the link and NO this is not some sad emotional movie... it's a HORROR MOVIE!!!! Now for those of you who know me you realize there is no way I can watch this. I can't hardly watch "Lost" without having nightmares so there is NO way I can watch this movie.

Furthermore, the version the lady was talking about was the re-make. The original was done in the 1960s and brought to us by none other than Wes Craven... yeah the dude that brought us Freddy Kruger! (Thanks man!) Who in their right mind talks about these kind of movies as "great" and "emotional" and makes it sound like some sort of tear jerker????

A long story short... just looking at the web site freaked me out. I read the background and this "great" movie is a bout a family that gets stranded in Nevada (yeah I used to live there) and is hunted by a pack of canibals. Not a feel-good movie if you ask me. Now the interesting part is that Wes Craven's inspiration came from the a true report of canibals in Scotland suring the 15th century.

So if you're a horror movie fan you may want to check this one out... as for me I think I'll still to a true classic. At least I don't have to worry about canibals showing up in Star Wars!

As I get closer to quitting my job and starting school I have had the strangest dreams. I'm sure my dreams are just manifestations of my fear and anxiety but none the less they are strange. Most of my dreams go something like this...


While I know this is due to stress I also think the dreams are adding to my anxiety. It's like the dreams are re-affirming my fear that I won't be "good enough" or "smart enough" in law school. So if anyone out in blog-reading land has a way to cure nightmares I'd love to hear from you.

I have recently discovered that I like cherries. For years I thought I disliked them. So the other day when Clay ploped down on the couch with a bowl full of cherries (unlike a bowl fully of jelly) I to prove to him how much I hated cherries by eating one. You may wonder why I chose to eat something I was fairly certain I hated... well that goes back to my childhood. Periodically througout my life my sister would double-dare me to try a food I knew I hated to prove that I still hated it (yes this is child logic). I'm not sure why we did this but I would take bites of sea food, bananas, or french fries thereby proving to myself (and others) that those foods do in fact still taste "yucky".

This same philosophy was applied to the cherry situation with Clay. Clay selected "the perfect cherry" and the next thing I know we can't buy enough cherries to keep up with my demand. Now knowing what a wonderful fruit the cherry is I realized the reason I thought cherries were gross was because I had affiliated ALL cherries with those Maraschino Cherries. Yes, I thought all cherries tasted like those sugar-coated nasty things they use to contaminate your milkshake.

My little discovery has left me wondering what other wonderful foods I'm missing out on because I believe they taste like a bad version of the same thing. So I'm renewing my vow to periodically taste the foods I'm certain I hate and do that with an open mind... except bananas! Yeah I'm sure they're still gross.

I recently read an article in BusinessWeek that caught my eye and I thought I'd share it.

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2006/sb20060710_949835.htm?campaign_id=search

The article addresses outsourcing of engineering positions. Recently the media has begun to report that all technical jobs (engineering being the most popular) are soon to be outsourced to China and India due to the large number of engineers these countries graduate. The article is based on a Duke University study (http://memp.pratt.duke.edu/outsourcing/) where they looked into the types of engineers that China and India graduate each year.

First of all you must know that China claims to have graduated 600,000 engineers last year and India claims to have graduated 350,000 engineers. That is staggering compared to the 70,000 engineers the US graduated. No wonder all of the technical jobs are going to be outsourced!!!

Long story short... China and India inflate their numbers by including everyone from a car mechanic to an engineer in their "engineering graduation" statistics. Secondly the Duke report said that China and India have decided to move from quality to quantity for their engineering programs and consequently many of their engineers cannot compete in the international market.

The end of the article pointed out some sad consequences that may come from these media reports. First of all there may be a shortage of highly qualified engineers in this country. Since we have scared people into believing all of the engineering jobs are going to be outsourced the article stated that people are choosing to move into the legal and medical fields. Also, a lack of recognition of this problem has led industry to undervalue an engineering education and not pay the same premiums as they would a doctor or a lawyer.

Ironically I read this article as I make the leap from engineering into law school. While the fear of outsourcing had nothing to do with my decision I do feel like adding a law degree gives me additional career options and earning potential. I guess we'll see how it goes. If the nay-sayers are right I'll end up back at work for the government as a GS-9 JAG. (Thanks for the vote of confidence!)

This weekend we got together with two of my college roomates and their husbands for our annual family vacation. Since we've done this two years in a row we're begining to think it's a tradition! This year we decided to head to Dallas and have a fun filled day at Six Flags. As usual, things don't always turn out the way they are planned.

We arrived Friday night and I'm begining to believe the tradition is arriving late, in the dark, and getting lost. However, we all found our way and enjoyed being re-united. Saturday we hit the park early and rode all the major rides within the first hour and a half. This is the point where the plan fell apart. First, when we rode the Titan (their largest roller coaster) I blacked out... twice. We decided I was dehydrated so we had a water stop. When we got back in line for the Superman, Sarah got sick and got out of line. After being very ill Jonathan took her back to the hotel. About an hour later Clay was so hot that he couldn't ride the rides. At this point we were dropping like flies and called it a day.

While Six Flags didn't turn out the way we had planned we did get to hit the pool, have a nice dinner, and watch "Pirates of the Carribean". Overall it was a wonderful weekend with great friends. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful people who we love keeping in touch with.

On a side note, "Pirates" was a much darker movie than the first and not what I had expected. As Jonathan said, "Too much pirate and not enough funny." Well said!

Two things happened this week which I feel compeled to blog about. First of all the label maker in the office has exploded. In an attempt to be compliant with a ridiculous government inspection the worst desk buddy in the world has been tasked with properly labeling everything in the office. Every file cabinet, drawer, and file has a proper code. I feel I have returned to kindergarten with a bullitin board filled with pictures and words so that you can learn to read. Anyhow, it's quite annoying.

The second point of intrest is that I was hypnotized this week. I heard that hypnosis can help people improve memory and focus so I decided to give it a try. I'm hoping that this little experiment will help me in school. It was a fascinating experience and while I don't feel "changed" I can tell you I was hypnotized and that I was given suggestions that should build my ability for memorization and recollection. I'm really excited about this experience I'll let you know how it goes.

In final news don't forget to tune into the World Cup this weekend. Germany v Portugual for 3rd and 4th place and Italy v France for the championship. I'm routing for Italy and Germany to come out ahead :)!

I have decided that only those who work for the government can truly appreciate the meaning of government intelligence. Yes, I know those of you who have had the pleasure of dealing with government agencies have an idea of how much red tape there is, but those who work in the government can truly appreciate how long and wide and deep the span of paperwork can be. Take for instance the fact that I'm quitting. You would think this would be a relatively easy process. You simply say "I quit", give them a date and you're done. Not so in the government.

First of all there is a form (surprise surprise) and this form is used to make sure all the other forms are filled out. So I have to make about 25 stops to different people to have them fill out different forms so that they can fill out my form that says they've filled out their form. I think you're starting to get the picture. Of course the first stop on this form is to the lady who tells you which other forms need to be filled out. Her other job is the exit interview. I believe most exit interviews want to at least get some idea of why a person is quitting and if there are any real issues with the employment. This is not so on my government form. The lady told me to please keep my answer short, under a sentence, so it would fit on the other form she had to fill out. Once I put my reason (I'm attending law school.) that fit with a magic code that she could use to fill out her form.

Ok... I'm sure you get the idea but this ridiculousness is why New Jersey can't decide on a state budget and therefore shut down the state. So, enough of my ranting. I just thought I'd share about how difficult it is to actually quit my job :)! And in the end I may even miss the great opportunities I have to learn just how disfunctional government agencies can be.

PS... the worst desk buddy in the world is currently jamming out to the Backstreet Boys... No, I'm not kidding... I wish I was.

Wow what a weekend!!! Clay and I booked WAY too many activities. I guess we figured we could fit it all in. So here's the run down. First of all we missed several activities we meant to hit. Instead of the Canada Day party we hung out with our friends Travis & Shelley who happened to be in town for the weekend. We had a lot of fun and wish they lived closer. And instead of 4th of July party we recovered from our home improvement projects.

The main weekend event was a big home improvement blow out! (I think Home Depot's stock increased due to the profit they made off of us.) There were two projects that had to be finished prior to the end of summer and start of the school year. We had to paint our bedroom and pour a 7'x5' concrete pad for a small shed in our backyard. Since the painting of the bedroom included the ceiling ALL of the furniture had to be moved out. Then we teamed up with our neighbors to paint our bedroom and their master bedroom (the idea of 4 hands being better than 2). When that was finished (on Sunday) Clay and I went to work setting up for the big concrete pour. This is where the plans went awry.

As it would turn out the "easy" part of the concrete was digging the hole and setting the form. We had figured on moving one sprinkler head but when we got down to it we had to cap one and move the other. That was a LOT more digging than we had planned. Once we had dug the form we realized we had grossly underestimated the scope of this project. First the base, Clay had initially bought 2 bags of gravel (5o lbs each) and one bag of sand (70 lbs). After a second trip to HD we laid down a total of 5 bags of gravel (250 lbs) and 3 bags of sand (170 lbs). Next we began to mix the concrete. Initially Clay purchased 4 bags of concrete (80 lbs each) but realized we needed more and went and grabbed 6 more bags. When we got near the end we went and bought another 4 bags!!! (if you're counting that's 14 bags). In the end we mixed (by hand) and poured 1,120 lbs of concrete. Yes folks, you heard that right :)!

In the end... well we finished! The room is painted (and furniture moved back in) and the concrete pad turned looks GREAT! YEAH for weekend projects! I hope everyone else had an equally productive and fun holiday weekend.