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3.31.2002
Well, tomorrow school starts up again. About a month and a half left to go. Then - who knows. It seems weird to think that soon I'll be done with school, and not just for the semester or year.

Right now I'm feeling kind of weary. I think it's been too much time in the car. Obviously we had the trip, then today we went to Racine for an Easter dinner at my grandparents'. I'm not really sure how to assess my grandpa - I guess "drained" would be a fairly good description. He seemed in good spirits, but was a bit tired and slow to move around. I think a lot of it probably has to do with the amount of drugs he's on. Hopefully they'll help things out - I've heard the type of cancer he has is one of the more treatable types, so...

But, yeah, a lot of driving. Time to get to bed and start another week. Next weekend is Zach and Katie's wedding. Time to think about some type of speech.

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3.30.2002
We made it back to Wisconsin in one piece. We decided to take a scenic way home, through West Virginia and Kentucky, stopping in Louisville for the night. The first day's drive was long, but fairly enjoyable. Louisville to Madison, though - blargh. Very easy EXCEPT Chicago. We ran into some of the worst traffic I've seen there. Not fun at all.

Our stay in DC was fine, but not terribly exciting. The Ryans' new dog Rico was probably the highlight of the trip. We went into town once to see the National History Museum, but that was about it as far as sightseeing.

Not much else going on. This weekend will be one of relaxation I think. Not too much driving.

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3.23.2002
Well, we're out in DC now. A fair drive - luckily I'm used to car travel. Last night we stopped in Streetsboro, OH (right by Cleveland) to see my friend David. I got to talk music a bit and he bought us dinner. Thanks Dave!

So, yeah, we drove through Breezewood yet again. What a clusterfuck that is. Luckily the rest of the drive was quite nice - very little construction. Chicago was even a breeze. Anyway, I'm probably being a bit rude - more to blog later.

Oh, and I didn't mention it on this site - happy birthday (yesterday) Amy.

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3.20.2002
So, I got my Poly Sci paper back the other day. AB/B. For five pages of more or less BS, I'm quite happy. Other than that I've had two CS exams in the past week. Not exactly a whole lot of fun. On the plus side, I haven't had to deal with projects.

So, the Pat board has turned into a state of chaos. It's probably a good thing I just don't give a damn about most of that stuff any more. Too many people care too much about stroking Pat's ego. No thanks...

Don't think there's a whole lot else to report. We had planned to go to Phoenix over spring break to see Zach and Katie, but between the distance and uncertainty over my grandpa we decided not to. Instead we're heading out to DC with a stop near Cleveland to see my buddy David. It's still a drive, but if (God forbid) something were to happen, it wouldn't be as bad turning around and driving back. I think it will be nice to get away for awhile. We just have to get the truck cleaned out first.

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3.16.2002
From the "thirsty in the middle of the night department":

Tonic water tastes REALLY BAD.

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3.15.2002
So ends yet another week.

Nothing to report about my grandpa.

I think I want to redesign my site sometime. In particular, some of the subpages were just kind of thrown up. I'd like to get some type of site-wide navagation going. Only problem is, I don't know what I want to do. I've had this same basic design (black sidebar) since the fall of 1996 anyway. I've changed little things here and there and added things, but... Part of that is I'm just lazy. The other part is I don't know how to replace it with something better. I mean, once I have something I want to do, it won't be a problem to do it - it's just figuring out what I want.

Maybe after I graduate.

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3.14.2002
Well, things are going pretty fine, other than the fact that my grandpa just learned he has cancer. I talked to him on the phone yesterday, and some words he said to me were:

"I know I'm gonna have to go sometime, but I just figured I had a few more years left in me." (he's 86)

I guess we'll see what happens. As I told him, he's still here now, and that's what matters. Things just need to be taken as they come.

Time to get ready for another day. I've been up since 5:30 this morning. Blargh.

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3.10.2002
And so comes the end to yet another weekend. Another quite fullfilling weekend, I might add. Friday morning was spent finishing up a Poly Sci paper. Five pages of bull talking about how Plato was wrong. How exciting. Later on Amy's mom took us (and Erin) to dinner, then we kept Erin busy while she was waiting for her Ruppert to come home from Arizona (well, he was stuck at the Denver airport at the time).

Yesterday we made a trip down to Racine to see the folks (show dad the new camera lens) and pick up some kringle (yummy), then we went up to Milwaukee and Waukesha to see some of Amy's college friends. Dinner at Pizza Hut, which was fine, other than for the fact that the waitress spilled hot sauce on someone in our party - needless to say she didn't enjoy it. We didn't see much of that waitress after that. Plus, I got to play with Katie, Narf and Pauline's 4 month old little girl. Amy was grrrring at me saying "don't get any ideas", but hey, I like small children. That doesn't seem very normal for guys my age...

We started off this morning with brunch with Erin and Ruppert (he finally did make it back Friday night; his luggage showed up Saturday). Bluephies has some good breakfast food... We bummed around a bit, then went over to my mom's cousin's house for dinner and some family history. My mom's aunt died a few months ago, and her son (who we visited) found a tape recorder there and a bunch of tapes (reel-to-reel). One of the tapes has stuff from Christmas 1956. My great-grandmother (whom I never met), my mom age 11, and lots of other family. My mom's cousin got to hear his father's voice - he's been dead for over 30 years now. Pretty cool stuff. The plan is to transfer the stuff to computer then burn some CDs. That's where I come in. Anyway, dinner was great (as it always is).

So, I think that's about it for now. Time to start another week. Nothing too terrible coming up, although I do have my share of things to do. Is the semester done yet?

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3.06.2002
Derek just said something profound:

"Amy, you could be a cottage industry for laundromats"

I must say I agree.

On another note, I'm quite happy today. As was noted below, my program for today was finished last night, and I just finished adding a few things and turned it in. Plus, today I got together with my partner for the other program to test things out, and to the best of our knowledge everything is working fine. We spent a few hours running tests then turned that in. Both programs in well before the deadlines. I'm feeling good right about now...

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3.05.2002
So, this week is kind of sucking, but right now I feel great. A project for one of my CS classes is due tomorrow, and due to both being busy and my partner being hit by a car (he's doing okay, so I hear), it didn't get started till yesterday. As my partner is temporarily out of commission, it was necessary for me to go ahead and start writing it. Well, yesterday I got through most of the program, excepting the hardest part of the program. Well, in class today I wrote down some code for part of that, then later I came up with an idea for the rest. About an hour ago I sat down and typed everything out. Mind you, by this point I had typed the entire program without even trying to compile it. I had a few small errors which were easily fixed, and it compiled (go me). Ran the test program - uh oh, tests failed. Then I noticed something wasn't being set correctly (it literally only took me a few seconds to notice it), I fixed it, and guess what - IT WORKS.

Can you tell I'm happy?

I'm sure much of the above means nothing to people who don't understand programming, but needless to say, it went well.

I think once I get through this week (which is looking a lot better right now), I'll be doing pretty good.

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3.03.2002
So, another weekend has come to an end. Time to gear up for a busy week with school. I hate busy weeks.

Not a whole lot to speak of this weekend. We got to drive through a LOT of snow yesterday. It's times like that when four wheel drive is very nice. I got a new lens for my cameras (used at a store in Madison), but ended up taking it back when I found out that it can actually be had for less money *new*. So, I've currently got one (a slightly newer/better model) on order. I can't wait...

I wish I had more time to scan in pictures. I'd really like to post more on our sites. Both new pictures as I take them and some older stuff as well.

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The Simpsons Archive

Vital stats:
DOB 2/16/79. I used to work at The Journal Times doing web design when not in school - I'm currently working in Madison at WPS. I like lots of old music, including The Who. I spend a lot of time working with computers. And my favorite TV show (when I actually decide to watch TV, that is), obviously, is The Simpsons.

Education:
In May 2002 I officially graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BS in computer science. In 1997 (man that seems like a long time ago) I graduated from Washington Park HS. Yes, I know, that site isn't very impressive, and no, I haven't touched it for several years.

WFS Logo

WFS:
One of the best experiences I have ever had was on a trip called Western Field Studies. This is a 33 day adventure throughout the western United States. Students travel on a school bus to national parks, monuments, forests, and places of historical interest and camp out (in tents or under the stars). I was a part of trip 25, which took place in the summer of 1996. A first for WFS was we took along a laptop computer and kept up a web site. That link will take you to the 1996 site, where there is a link to the current site.

Friends:
Something I started many years ago (for Jenny and Nikki) but which just kind of turned into a wasteland. Preserved here for your viewing enjoyment.