I made it safe and sound to Angers, France. Unfortunately I am without my computer as it died 2 hours before I left for the airport. In the mean time I'm using a French keypad on a computer in the factory, and you have no idea how much my QWERTY fingers are confused! You don't want to know how many times I've had to hit the delete key during this post... in fact, neither do I!

Similar to my friend, I tend to have a once-you-start-you-can't-stop thought process with purchases. Usually I'm able to hold them off for days or even weeks at a time, but this one's lasted for a few months! You know that if it's that much of an impulse, it no longer couts as an impulse buy... right?

Anywho, here's the official announcement: I just purchased my very own 15Gig iPod!

We looked at getting the mini version for Janine and have me steal her 10Gig, but she didn't like the feel of the mini iPod as much as she hoped. I think it was a combination of the gritty feel and sharp edges from the metal used for the housing.

This should help the 8 hour flights over the atlantic pass by a whole lot faster!

It turns out that I can wire a whole new circuit through the house without electrocuting myself or burning the house down! I even custom-Dremeled a new faceplate for the plug!

Maybe I'll work on installing that hot tub next...

So I'm off to France again next week. Monday, to be precise. We're getting ready to build the next prototype revision, which means I get to travel and make sure the factory doesn't screw up.

I hope to spend a little more time this trip walking around the city, getting to take in more of the sights and shopping than my last quick trip to Angers. There's this really cool castle in the city that gives tours, and that's definitely on my To-Do list, among other things.

I've also decided to take a day off and tool around Paris again. I found a really swanky hotel really close to the Opera house and the Louvre. The Louvre is the other thing on my To-Do list, since Janine and I missed out on it last time because of a bomb threat... and a little bit of apathy thrown in for good measure.

Here comes the American invasion... again!

Just got back from an hour and a half of hockey. I thought it was only gonna be an hour, but they instead rented for 90 minutes. Not that I'm complaining, though... I had a LOT of fun! Sure, I let in my fair share of goals (I think about 8, which for rat hockey is pretty good), but the guys were really supportive and I had quite a few impressive saves. The other goalie who showed up was an impressive brick wall, but seeing how I've only been playing for three months I'd have to say I'm doing pretty damn good.

These late-night hockey sessions remind me of IM hockey at Yost. 12:15am games followed by Bells Pizza in the basement of 505. I had a class in 5 hours, but I didn't care 'cause I could always just go back home and nap. I knew I'd grow up eventually, but it never occured to me that I wouldn't grow out of late-night hockey.

Janine's already snuggled up in bed, and I'll join her tout suite. I usually need a little time to unwind after I get home from hockey - it's hard to get all pumped with adrenaline for nearly two hours and then fall asleep at the drop of a hat.

I found my front page completely void of entries this morning, which means that either MovableType no longer likes me, or it's time to post something.

I'm quickly gearing up for yet another trip to France at the end of the month. This one will have a little more meaning, though, since we've redesigned our board to work out all of the kinks and problems with the prototype design. We're also going to build about 5 times what we built last time, which is a lot of boards! I'm hoping that I have more free time during the day, though. Angers was a cool city that I'd like to see while everything open. ;-)

I'm playing hockey tonight. I got an invite from a friend who I play with during my classes, saying his team would like to have an extra goalie at some of their practices. The bad news is that the rink is about 45 minutes from home and the practice runs until 10:30pm. Noone ever said hockey players get good skate time, though. Kinda reminds me of 12:30am games at Yost.

Other than that, I'm just trying to stay sane. Maybe a few pucks shot at my head will clear the air...

It hasn't happened for over six months, but I just got three comment advertisements on my blog today.

While it does make me feel somewhat special that there's anyone out there who thinks I can generate enough traffic to make this worthwhile, they are annoying as hell.

... And that's why I love the Delete button within MovableType. :-)

So I finlly took photos of the home improvement projects from last week. Here's the sink, curtains, and the chandalier. Enjoy!

Google has a post for a new job opening. My main question - Do they offer a relocation package?