Posted 01:21 by Tycho

Cead Mile Failte.

Yeah, so today, woke up early, got my new (unscratched) lenses put in. Then it was off to robotics.

Got there, and then promptly was put to work fixing up the playing field. Put some finished touches on the raised section of the field [and learning new curse words to utter and shout while using the drill press...the damned bit we had to use was so freaking dull...and I mean DULL]. Put some screws into the platform, but of course, par normality, we didn't check to see where the studs were, so we had to find them using the old fashioned method: "knocking".

Took a rather long lunch break [did some reading about D-Day and for Thermo...mmmm...chicken]. Aye, then I got drafted into working on a winch mechanism. Really good idea, whomever came up with it. Fisher Price motor [12.0V accepted] was attached to 18.0V battery [not smart...could've destroyed the motor, then we'd have been in some big shit]. It worked, albeit at the expense of almost killing anything within a 15 foot radius [yeah, the first few times, either the screw would pull through, or just shear off and fly in a random direction...then we figured it out so the main bolt holding the motor together would press through and fall out [thereby interrupting the process] well before the screw would shear from the stresses applied to it.

Tested it lifting 130lbs. Task: successful. Price: 2 hours of time, our sanity [not that we had any to begin with, but that's a whole different story], 5 screws, 6 bolts, 3 nuts, 3 batteries [long story], and lots of curses. Freakily enough, we didn't get blood all over it in one way or another. Very strange.

Those earplugs make you feel really weird when you take them out. You sort of lose balance, and the inside of your ear canals hurt a bit, and feel stretched for a while afterwards. It's worth the protection though.

Oh, and I almost took off a couple fingers today, as well. Somebody turned the torque on the Skill Saw down to zero while increasing the speed to like infinity. So we have a blade moving really fast, but any applied forward pressure would freeze the blade in place. Extremely dangrerous. Either that, or the electricity was fading in and out on us.

Spoke to Linda about the internship opportunity. Need to work on that as soon as March rolls around. Did alot of cleaning, as well.

Then it was off to Wollaston Station for some Chinese New Year festival at UMass. Chuck meets us at JFK/UMass and says "we're not going, it sucks big time. It's all in Chinese!" Real smooth, Chuck. What were you expecting, english? Hindi? He did have a point with the fact that all it was was singing and pay to play games, and no food, dancing, etc. So we went to Copley Place, made out like bandits at Dapy [Nick got 10 packages of C batteries, and an entire bucket of candy for $1.00, while I got the last 6 packages of C batteries for $0.50, I had them down to $0.05 per flourescent light, as well...maybe I should have tried buying the cash register...haggling kicks ass].

Then we ate at Chiles, and Bill kept forgetting our waitress's name [it's ALICIA, not Ashley/Ashleigh!]. Not to mention the a few of the table thought that there were "mysterious" stains on my scally cap.

Oh, right, and I read "Dating for Dummies", while waiting to be seated. Yes, I'm sad. But it was interesting reading. I should be ashamed of looking at it, and I should be embarrassed if someone found out. But I don't care. Why should I be humiliated if someone knew I was reading it? If they think less of me because of it, well they can go fuck themselves.

I am: polite, courteous, kind, cheerful, honorable, humorous [well, usually], honest [hell, I just admitted here that I read "Dating for Dummies", well, at least part of it], reverent [God is always there for anyone and everyone, it is up to us to find Him in our lives], and I'm also trustworthy...if I make an oath, I'm going to keep it.

Yes, and so I got the chicken tacos, Chris got the cheesesteak [smothered in that salsa stuff...what the hell, man?], Bill got the fish and chips, Nick got the [crap, I didn't pay attention to what he got], Brian got the cajun chicken pasta, Chuck got the baby back ribs, and Mike got the turkey deluxe or something similarly named. We got 4 rounds of 7 drinks [28 drinks...I had diet coke, no ice, Chris had blackberry iced tea, Bill had dr. pepper, no ice, Mike had coke, no ice, Chuck has coke, no ice, Brian had sprite, Nick had rootbeer].

Good food, and plenty of it. And a very kind waitress [oh, yeah, man, great timing with that comment, Bill...it couldn't have been better!]. She was also rather pretty, but too old for any of us, probably. Not that I'd have the guts to talk to her, but whatever.

Afterwards we went to BU to play pool, and I got really pissed during the last game of 9-Ball...starting missing sure-fire shots, and I took it too seriously, so I decided to stop playing [which I continued doing, once I had calmed down].

Shit is still nagging at me, and I don't know why.

"Oh...so it's sort of like a mercenary."

"Right...or like your mom, when the rent is due."