Skip to main content

Summer Plans so Far

At the risk of inviting the Internet to my house, is anyone interested in visiting on Memorial Day weekend? I'm told there will be at least two grilling instances, one involving a whole chicken. Local and not-so-local friends are welcome - just let me know.

Later in the summer (dates TBD) B and I are going to take a trip to Cedar Point. We love roller coasters, and this is supposed to be the best park for those. The plan is to drive out on a Sunday, visit the park on a Monday and Tuesday, and drive back on a Wednesday. Does that sound like fun to anyone else? We could coordinate a convergence on the park, and stay in the same hotel. After-park parties could also be planned. (aka stop at an adult-beverage store on the way back to the hotel)

Today I got the approval to go to PTC/USER world conference. It runs from 6/7/09 to 6/10/09 in Orlando, FL. I've signed up for a nearly full agenda of seminars, training, and workshops. All of the sessions I'm taking are about Pro/ENGINEER. We've only had the upgrade to Wildfire 4 for a few weeks, so I have tons of questions. I'll be in "information sponge" mode. When I get back I'll be squeezing all that information into presentations and hints-n-tricks documents for the rest of our users. Seriously, I'm going to have fun doing this. This is what I do for fun. Really.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Quick Poll: Vacation Days

We only get 12 vacation days per year. It increases to 15 days after 10 years of service, then 20 days after 15 years of service. Is this good, normal, or poor? It doesn't seem like enough, especially to both take a see-new-places trip and do a family visit in the same year. We do get 12 holidays as days off with pay, mostly clumped at the end of the year for Christmas shutdown. Also, sick days aren't levied against us, so that is fair. Comp-time is an option, but that doesn't really count in my mind as time off (we can get paid for any overtime instead). So, a quick poll: is your vacation policy better or worse than mine is? Do you feel like you get enough time off? Do you even get to use your vacation time?

Cat Story and an Alternative to Donuts

We've had our cat, Nigel, for about six years now. Like all cats, he has an aversion to water or getting wet. When Nigel does something he isn't supposed to be doing, and we see it, he will get squirted from a water bottle. Now, however, I think he is trying to train himself to not fear the water! When the tile in the shower was replaced at the end of last year the shower door was also removed. Instead of the metal track on the rim of the tub, we now have a shower curtain that goes outside of the tub and a shower curtain liner that goes inside the tub. This forms a tent over the rim of the tub. At first, Nigel just played in the tent. Then he would hop into the bathtub (when it was dry) and wrestle with the liner. Or just stand in the bathtub. Now he'll hop into the bathtub when it is still wet from a shower. Or he'll perch on the rim of the tub and try to catch the water still dripping from the faucet. This may be one of those "you had to be there"...

Sinusoidal Scarf

This is an easy pattern for a knitted scarf.  I made it up to practice knit and purl stitches, to build up speed and work on keeping an even gauge as I go.  It is supposed to be wavy when finished, resembling the shape of a sinusoid curve.  This is done simply by alternating garter stitch sections, which lay flat, with stockinette stitch sections, which tend to curl towards the knit side.  I alternate the side the stockinette faces to form the max and min points.  So, this is a very nerdy project. (Any yarn and needle size can be used, gauge is not important, adjust stitch count for the width of scarf you want.) Yarn: St. Denis Nordique, 100% wool, 50g per 150 yards, 2 to 3 balls, blue eggshell Gauge: 19 stitches for 4 inches Needle: US 8 or 5.00mm Cast on 30 stitches. Rows 1-4: knit all stitches. Row 5: purl all stitches. Row 6: knit all stitches. Row 7: purl all stitches. Rows 8-13: knit all stitches. Repeat rows 5 through 13 until scarf i...