Meet Toby.

Toby is Tony and Paulette’s new puppy. He’s half lab and half collie (we think) and he’s pretty adorable.

Here he is having a snack:

And here he is just after he fell asleep on Tony’s boots.

Paulette got him for Tony for their one year wedding anniversary. Toby is six weeks old and seems to be pretty mild mannered. Tony and Paulette are now going through all the tasks to get the dog his shots and enough toys to keep him busy during the day but not so much to spoil him. I’m certain that they will raise a good little pup.

Congrats to Tony and Paulette on their new family member!

This weekend was peppered with multimedia. Firstly, you’ll note a new Kung Fu Party Trick in the feature section. It was definitely a fun one, and amazingly, we hit it on our first try. There will also be some wakeboarding photos and videos that may pop up this week as well as some adorable pictures of Tony and Paulette’s new puppy.

This week I’ll very likely start going back to school at the University of New Haven for those last pesky credits. This frustrating class will limit fun - most specifically my rock climbing. I signed back up at the rock gym last week with the expectation that I’d be able to devote two nights a week to the walls. Sadly, it looks like I’ll be pushed back to only one night a week. Weak.

I’m reading House of Leaves. It’s amazing in its individuality. Go find a library and pick it up. I want to talk to people about the book.

As this afternoon’s events transpired, I went from confused to miserable. I actually felt nauseous for a little bit. Not to the point of vomiting, but the anxious butterflies were definitely there and they were definitely breeding at exponential rates.

On August first I announced gleefully on this very website the completion of my mechanical engineering requirements. Nothing has changed. I still have all those requirements completed. Let’s drill down to make sure.

Requirements for a Mechanical Engineering Degree at the University of New Haven.
6 mandatory courses - Status: COMPLETE
Theory of Elasticity
Advanced Fluids
Advanced Thermodynamics
Advanced Dynamics
Numerical Methods
Mechanical Eng. Analysis

2 mechanical engineering course of our choice - Status: COMPLETE
Combustion
Heat Transfer

and 3 of anything - Status: COMPLETE
Independent Project: FEA analysis of Rock Climbing Carabiners
RPI TRANSFER: Statistics
RPI TRANSFER: Accounting

This adds up to a total of 33 credits. 27 in house, and 6 that I was able to transfer from RPI.

So I sent in my petition to graduate and was promptly informed that I did not meet the “residency” requirement of 30 credits and I need to take another class.

Wait.

What?

I did not meet the “residency” requirement of 30 credits and I need to take another class.

.

.

.

This is me shocked.
This is me facing 42 more hours of class time, 14 weeks of homework, 14 days without carpool, countless lost lunches, hours of cramming, two tests, a project, and another 2 months without a degree on my wall.
This is me depressed.

This is a color IQ test. It takes a little while, but the results are pretty interesting. Sadly, I got a bit fed up with the whole process and rushed at the end. I’d say it takes about 5-10 minutes.

You can view my results here.

After you’ve taken the test, please feel free to share your results.

Last week’s Kung Fu wound is healing nicely.

It’s developed a dark purple core with an amber halo. Thankfully, it no longer hurts to walk - although my leg still feels a bit weak.

This past weekend was decent I got to hang out with Darcy a bit on Saturday night. We painted her bedroom shades of fig, made lemonade sodas, and shared some food from Whole Foods. Sunday I did some work to start cleaning the garage and then made pizza with Tony and Paulette. Sadly, I’m still not feeling back up and chipper from a sickness that I came down with late last week. Hopefully I’ll be back in an excited healthy state soon.

Keep your eyes out for a sweet science write-up in the feature section this week.

Did you guys have good weekends?

I’ve written about TrashTheDress before. It’s a cool option for brides to destroy their wedding dress in a fantastically photographic manner.

Well, Still Motion just upped the ante with this video.

I have NO idea how they did some of those shots. Ridiculous.

As our company picnic concludes and I start my walk back into the building to get my stuff and head home, I bump into two of our executives.

Vice President: “Mike D? You suck at the tire throw.”
President: “and at basketball free throws.”
Vice President: “and at horseshoes.”
President: “and at the egg toss.”
Vice President: “Wait, the egg toss too? Weren’t you on one of those final teams Mike?”
Mike D: “… no…”
Vice President: “oh. well? okay then.”

Stupid work. They never choose rock climbing or Kung Fu sparring as company picnic sports.

I stumbled upon this blog today: Geese Aplenty.

Here’s an excerpt:

The police asked for “help” identifying the robbers, which really annoyed me. What other civil servants ask for help? Does the post office ask for help with all the holiday packages around Christmas time? The public is asking the police for help so we can go out and have a ten dollar prawn burrito in peace without being asked to hit the floor, but they just turn it around and say “No, we need your help.” And people wonder why billionaires put on black body armor and fight crime.

I am excited to add this particular read to my rotation.