Been awhile since i've written... been busy! I moved more shite back home this weekend, and I've been studying like a bastard for my last OS test coming up this Tuesday. Not much time devoted to more leisurely persuits. I'll make do, though.

Friday was my last day at my internship. All in all, looking back, it was pretty decent. Just like any job, you have your on and off days, but it was a fun time. Just a pretty relaxed atmosphere, a chill place... and Bobby Brown on Fridays. What more can a college student ask for?

Well, the ability to write a poem whenever he wants to. I tried tonight and came up with this:

Spread your arms and cease the rain
Smile and break the clouds
Laugh and dance in the cool wind

Let the night wind blow away my doubt and despair
Let it carry you to me

Sail into my soul tonight

So.. yeah, it went really nowhere. I guess I just wasn't much feeling the love tonight, so to speak. It might just find itself ressurected at a later date, though.

Time to go hit some Social Implications research. Won't you come join me on this cold, windy night? We'll make ourselves some hot chocolate and talk of years ahead, years filled with bliss and grandeur. Sleep well, reader.

Sing with me, guys... "I LOVE CREDIT CARD DEBT, CHA CHA CHA!"

Tonight I paid bills. Lovely. I got paid today, $200.69, and a hefty $125 of that went to my cards. Alas. Soon (maybe next year) I'll have them paid off, and that should be a nice relief. Can't wait until I start bringing in some bigger checks this summer. And I'll have health and dental insurance again, after years without! Well... I've not had the dental since, ah, three years ago. Health has been more like six or seven years, if I'm not completely mistaken. 'Been a long time coming.

Today, as a whole, wasn't that eventful. Work went well - I was finally able to get cranking on a project that has laid dormant for the past few weeks - but I didn't go lift, since Steve wasn't feeling all that well. I just sat around and read some OS. The weather was quite crappy, too, so I didn't feel like going out anywhere. Cold, rainy, slushy, gray, windy - bah.

Perhaps it was mostly the weather that set me into a somber mood. For the better half of the day, and up till now, I've been a bit less cheerful, trending on the sad side.. One of those moments where I can't put a finger on why I'm not bouncing around like a euphoric idiot, but I know I'm not. Tomorrow is always another day, though. Maybe it will be a little brighter.

Nothing else to write about, I guess, so I'll go. Sleep well tonight.

Tonight is a bit of an odd night. I'm not quite sure why, but it's just different. Maybe it's the storm on the horizon. The black clouds just barely visible to the west, yet blue sky right above. The sun feels warm on my arms, on the back of my neck. I'm out riding bike, the breeze blowing through my hair, the real wind almost dead calm - so it's an easy, fun ride. I'm in tune with the trees and the chunky hum of my thick mountain bike tires on the paved river trail. But whenever I glance across, to the other side of that slow stream, there's those black clouds. I'll make it home in time - no fear, I won't get wet. My chain won't rust. But they're out past Mandan just the same.

I've an OS test coming up next Tuesday.

The fact that I have this last and final test coming up so soon really is unfortunate. Why? Just because I haven't started reading yet. Why am I sitting here fucking writing in the blog, then? Since reading OS, as you, reader, know, is something I really, really hate doing. I'd rather spill all the nasty details of my life, like who I dreamed about last night... but that's for another time.

I had fun today, though. Like riding my bike around when the wind is low and the sun is high. Colonel Kernel and I ate of the tasty chicken wings at Buffalo Wild Wings, I got some coding done, and I generally didn't do much else. A fine day.

But i must be going now. Enjoy the rest of this night, and dream of all that you can do tomorrow.

Hola, children. I really don't have time to write, but fuck it. Research for my Social Implications class seems rather petty right now.

This weekend was pretty wild - just a lot of stuff that went on. Colonel Kernel and I, along with another dude from the Computer Science department, went to a computing conference in Duluth, MN. We didn't present any papers or even go to any sessions, but we did participate in the programming contest. That was the official reason for going, I suppose. Unofficial reason: fun. After the contest (at which we placed somewhere between 8 and 12th place out of 30 teams, we think) we drove back to the hotel and then took a cab over to a dance club in Superior, Wisconsin called the Stargate. There, I just got blasted... had some ten beers and a few shots of the Jagermeister. Colonel wasn't too bad off, and the other dude was having a blast. I did try to dance, but that turned out to be a mistake. I'm a coding barnyard animal; i have no moves. I am the antithesis of "fly". So yeah, it was a humbling experience, seeing a bunch of honeys, but knowing I was absolutely cut.

Yes, I do realise that those girls there probably suck, and so aren't my type, but... it still sucked. It opened my eyes a bit to the reality that while some good-looking and just plain good girls are out there, they sure as fuck weren't at the Stargate in Superior, Wisconsin, getting drunk and shaking their shit on the dancefloor. It made me realise that danceclubs aren't my type of place, and that bars are pretty much out of the question for me - in regards to meeting girls. It also made me realise that I'm probably screwed when I move back home, since my social life will most likely shrivel up and die, only to be blown away during a bastard of a summer hailstorm... or something. And it made me realise, too, that most of the good ones are probably taken anyways. People my age, or close to it, are starting to get engaged left and right. It's quite bizarre for me, since I'm just sitting back on the outskirts of all this, wondering what the fuck is happening, why noone picked me to go out and play kick-ball with them. Why I was sort of glanced over, never to be remembered. Why I apparently blend in so well with the background scenery of last-months broken hopes and yesterday's glamour gods. And why noone else seems to be here to join me.

Today was pretty cool, though. The Colonel and I went on a 18-19mile bike ride this afternoon, which was pretty fun. A good work-out, too, since it was really windy. Still was warm, thankfully. 87 degrees in the middle of April in North Dakota is pretty sweet. Then, this evening, I had Funkmaster Pink and and his girlfriend come over and join myself and Steve and The Princess for some lovely grilling. I did some burgers with some Cloverdale hot dogs, to much enjoyment of all in attendance.

I live for mountain biking, beer, and grilling out. Thank you, summertime!

That's really all for now. Perhaps I'll make my way into the shower and recommence my intrepid research. Fare well, reader, and dream tonight of the slow, beautiful lullabye of distant thunder.

I'm too damned tired to write anything tonight. Sorry.

Hola. Figured it's been awhile since I wrote in here, and I'm bored to boot. Sit back and enjoy the update.

What's notable of late? Well, I got a place to live in Bismarck! Thank god that happened soon; took a lot of weight off my shoulders. Turns out the place is in central Bismarck, just north of a park. It's a two-bedroom side-by-side duplex. At three levels, including the unfinished basement, it's pretty large - plenty of space for a single goat. Supposedly it's pretty decent place. Note the fact that i've not actually seen this rental unit yet - I had my dad take a look at it, whereupon I heeded his suggestion to go for it. Figured he knows what I like, and if he says it's shit, then it must be. Like a three-bedroom house in central bismarck that I could have probably gotten. Turned out to be pretty bad.. like shitty linioleum in the kitchen, no dishwasher, little counter space, and right on the corner of two fairly busy streets. Uh, no.

So I'm pleased that I have that shit taken care of. Now I just have to deal with moving all my crap back home. This includes the loveseat, papasan, bed, stereo, computer, and the cookware i've purchased whilst in fargo (the wusthof knives, some other miscellaneous accessories like pyrex bakeware and such) - and the phatty towels I got the other day at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. What a great place! But the move does seem rather daunting; mostly since it will take place in the latter part of this semester. I wish I could do it after I graduated, but it will be nice to have most of my shit in place west of here in "the Bis", so I can drop in and get unpacking like a rabid ass mofo. Word.

Ah, this weekend... what ever did i do? Jack and shit. I drank a good amount of beer though, so that made for festive times. I killed the rest of my Jagermeister too (that I purchased, ah, maybe November of 2001 mind you). Friday night, see, we had a little soiree here. The Princess' friend Rachel came into town, so those two along with Steve and I hung out, drank, and watched Jackass: The Movie and Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Pretty special but funny as shit. And the Lobster and her man-friend showed up later too, so that was pretty cool seeing them. Besides drinking this weekend, I helped code part of the resource management module for our distributed OS project, and finished my LAN homework too. And it was the Coyote's birthday today, so we went with her sister and brother-in-law to Mexican Village for dinner. Good stuff, and a fun time.

I get to grill out this summer in the back yard!!! score! :)

Oh, and goddamit it, I've been jonesing like a dumbass for a woman this weekend, too. Note the cyclic nature again - i'm in one of those "spells" now. Mayhap it has to do with the onset of Spring. Who knows... all i know is that I wouldn't mind some play. But the proverbial well runneth far too dry in Fargo as of late. Seeings as I have bigger fish to fry, however - like this whoring last semester of school - it might just be good that I don't have the extra burden of dealing with relationship matters (or similar crap) right now.

I get to mountain bike by the river this summer!!! yay! :)

I've been searching the 'net far and wide for platform beds like a junkie in need of Funyuns lately, too. See, I really don't want a footboard. Why? Well, i hate having my top sheets, comforters, etc tucked into the foot of the bed. Bugs the hell out of me. Can't much keep them free with a footboard at the end. Yet the kicker is that I've been lusting after sleigh beds - particularly the cool styling of their headboards. I'd just buy one and get it over with but that bastard footboard keeps fucking it up. There's one solution to this pickle. I've discovered something called a "platform bed" that appears to have the headboard of a sleigh bed but a nice low-height footboard at the end that would let me keep the sheets untucked. And i get the wooden side rails! Problem is, these platform beds are very elusive creatures. They're sneaky, eluding most every effort to find them. The ones I have come across are a bit spendy though (like $2600). Part of me wonders if I can just get a sleigh headboard and say fuck the side rails and wee footboard, since maybe the comforter and sheets will obscure the metal bed frame. Might just have to ask a friendly neighborhood sales associate about that.

Seeings as I'm pretty much out of things to say, I'll go kick it in the living room for awhile. Enjoy the first evening of daylight savings time.