NFL Combine

an interesting experience. i was in indianapolis for the NFL Combine, which is pretty much the biggest meat market around for upcoming NFL draft hopefuls. we had three players there, but also used the opportunity to meet with teams about potential free agents. i actually had a pretty good time. saw a lot of famous people (at least by NFL standards), and due to neil's suspension issues, i had to be the one who actually met with all of the team general managers about our players. it was fun. hopefully i didn't screw anything up.

indianapolis is a pretty neat town. very pedestrian friendly. on saturday night, i was done with everything around 4 or 5 pm, so i just walked around, knocked around this huge mall, and got some dinner. even by myself, it was enjoyable

well that's about it for me. the next two weeks will be extremely busy with free agency, so i may not post for a while. or i may take some time out to vent if things get annoying. hope all is well.

24601

Anne & I saw Les Mis tonight for the first time and it was fantastic. I now understand why so many BLDers have raved about it all these years. "Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men." Awesome.

And yes, I know Team Canada lost in the quarterfinals to Russia. It's very very disappointing, but I can't say I was surprised, not with the old, slow team they assembled.

nobody shouts or talks too loud

It's finally happened

I've hit the wall. I'm completely, totally, 100% sick of school.
And, that is all I have to say.

FAVOR

If you guys could do me a favor (and I think I already requested this a while back, but if you could do it again, that would be great).

click on the following website:

www.neilcornrich.com

Also, if any of you have any personal websites or blogs, and could post a blog on there with this website link, that would be fantastic. We are trying to get this website #1 on google and yahoo search pages. apparently (and doug you may know this better than i do), it will help not only to have the website get hits from other computers, but also to have the page linked by other websites.

thanks very much!

Jonathan

not at all

one of my criterion was finding a rec room with dimensions that would fit a pool table and a bar.

speaking of my house, almost ALL of the gosh-awful flower wall paper is now down. still some painting to be done, but the bare, scratched-up walls are a remarkable improvement. and the wood floors are going into my living/dining rooms as i type.

last weekend of swimming this coming weekend. thank the lord. it's been a great 8-year run, but i am ready to move on and leave the handling of crazy teenager swimmers to someone else.

hope all you couples out there have a good valentine's day. but just to keep things interesting, a little family business reminder:

"On Feb. 14, 1929, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down. "

House Hunting

I think Devon and I are going to head to Modesto this weekend to start house hunting. Is it a bad thing if one of my criteria is a garage large enough to park 1 car and play pong at the same time?

New Job

After months of lazily searching, a great opportunity kind of fell into my lap. So I gave UpToDate two weeks notice two weeks ago and I start at VistaPrint tomorrow. It is a huge increase in pay (mostly because I was extremely underpaid at UpToDate) and it is a chance to get back to doing more programming and less database administration. So I'm very psyched.

It's been snowing for a while here in Boston. "They" have been issuing dire predictions of 18 inches of snow since Friday, but so far it looks like another overhyped "blizzard."

In gaming news, Resident Evil 4 is awesome. If you can stomach the explicit scenes of violence and gore, and you like difficult but immensely fun games, you owe it to yourself to pick it up.

witless, humorless conversation

Hey Rob.

So you work or will work at a winery....

I work at a restaurant.

Can we see a connection here buddy?

=)

Purchases

Hi all...Hawaii finally joins the blogging world.

On the theme of purchasing things I highly recommed those stovetop cappuccino makers...way better than just decafe or regular choices..and you can get them in a ben & jerry's-esque moo-cow design! No radio or cd player included however.

I'm off to interview a prospective. Wish me luck.

Josh...I think there's only one solution to your writing woes...Port.

And Kristin...probably straight JD on the rocks. =)

in the news again

this is cool as long as it continues to be good news...

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/

a couple days ago i went shopping at bed bath & beyond because i needed a new mirror for my shower. no i do not admire my face while i am showering - it is for when i shave. well, i found this awesome anti-fog mirror built into an am/fm radio and cd player, so i bought it. it's awesome. i thought you would all be really interested in learning this critical information.

Feeling Josh's pain

I hear you, Josh. Perhaps my favorite experience is when my fellow classmates say that they can't wait until we get on the wards next year, because "they're burned out on this studying stuff". I want to poke my eyes out with pens. Six straight years I've been doing this stupid studying stuff. And, what do I have to show for it (close your eyes BLD Gen 2), a flat, wide ass. You've heard of freshman 15? Well, trying being a freshman 3 times.
Okay, okay, enough feeling sorry for ourselves.
Now, let's reflect on the positives. Every morning I get up and put on my uniform--sweats. Get my pot of coffee ready and sit with my dog for the day while I read.
Life could definitely DEFINITELY be worse.

Musings of a tired student

Thanks for the movie recommendation Kristin. Jill and I have been toying with renewing our Netflix membership, and if we do, I'll put it on the list.

Echoing Hursty, it would be nice if everyone would post things a little more regularly; I could use the entertainment. The problem is that I'm suffering from a bit of dissertation ennui. After turning in a 75 page section draft, I'm feeling a wierd combination of satisfaction and dismay when I consider that it's the second longest thing I've ever written (the only thing longer being my Dartmouth philosophy thesis) and yet I have to write two more sections of similar length in addition to an introductory section, conclusion and sundry other little bits.

If only I could have a nice 9-5 office job, especially one with Cabernet and Chardonnay (instead of regular and decaf) in the break room.

howdy

Hey all,
Congratulations, Rob, on the new job. Modesto sounds awesome.
Also, Josh, your movie sounds great. And, if you are looking for another show stopper, try Grizzly Man. The combination of idiocy, and well, idiocy is unparalleled...okay, okay, maybe Hands on a Hardbody gives it a good run for its money. But, otherwise, Grizzly Man is in a league of its own. I'm telling you, its "star" Tim Treadwell is one disturbed and misguided dude. And, the people they find to back him up and/or criticize him (go Alaskans) are truly special too. Anyway, I think it's on most nights this week on Discovery...give it a looksie, you won't be disappointed.
Well, I better get back to studying my pulmonary pathology for my exam this week. I have pulmonary and cardiology...
bottom line, don't smoke.
Seriously, don't do it.
But, do drink lots of wine, in particular, Gallo.
Over and out,
K

BLDer in NCAA championship game

Who would have guessed?

E&J Gallo Winery

I fooled them into giving me an offer. I fooled them again into offering me a bit more money. They fooled me into accepting offer #2. It's official - Devon and I will be moving to the scenic Modesto area this summer as I join the ranks of the employed. I will be working in the unholy art of financial analysis in the holy art of winemaking. It should be glorious. I ended up with four offers from Intel, Agilent, HP, and Gallo. It's nice to have options, but it made the decision process that much harder.

Oh, Devon and I celebrate 2yrs of marriage on Feb 7 (where did 2 years go all of a sudden?). We're still newlyweds which is cool.

We're planning a two week European vacation after graduation. It'll be a mix of college-style backpacking and mature hoteling. I'm trying to finalize the places to visit. It's an attempt to balance some new places I've never been and showing Devon the places where I've already been.

Devon's had a hard couple weeks after finding out her grandmother died on Jan 23. It was very unexpected. We went down to the LA area for all of the planning and events with the family which was good, but hard.

That's all from here... When's the next BLD wedding?

Nothing better to do

So Jill is in the middle of a speaker phone conference call, which is making it impossible for me to work on the old dissertation, so I figured I would respond to Hursty's call for posts. Unfortunately, there's not really much to report from the Land of Ahh's. (Yes, that is an official Kansas motto.)

The highlight of the last week or so had to be Jill and I stumbling across the end of a truly great movie the other night, Men with Brooms. Since we only saw the last twenty minutes or so, I can't give it a proper review, but I'll tell you there's nothing more exciting than two heart-stopping curling moments in the space of ten minutes. I have to believe Doug could describe it in more detail, since a Canadian movie lover couldn't really call himself either unless he had seen this flick.

Once we actually manage to meet enough people, Jill and I are planning a curling movie theme party. You are all invited in advance.

alright, blders

why so busy? i've been checking almost daily for updated commentary... but... nothing.

surely there are interesting things going on in your lives.

thank goodness the swim season is almost over. i've got about 3 weeks left. it's been a good season on the whole, but i am tired of dealing with all of the inevitable drama. it will be nice to finish up work and go home, and NOT have to get up at 5am for practice this next morning.

my house continues to come along, but still slowly. the kitchen is repainted and most of the wallpaper in the foyer and upstairs hallway is off. what a pain in the butt.

hillary and i are still doing well. she came to my swim meet last night, then we made our own pizza and watched television. a rocking evening, to be sure, but it was fun.

hope you are all well.

Jonathan