Archive for March, 2007

VW: Ze German Engineering

Posted 28 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category Fun, Technology, Volkswagen


Well I did it. After 8 months of searching, pondering and saving I bought a car. I had long since decided to buy a Volkswagen for their reliability and attention to detail – as one sales guy told me “there is a high correlation between engineers and Volkswagens.”

About a month ago I visited my dealer to talk to Brooks, my third sales guy – I didn’t really get along with the previous two. I had long ago decided I wanted a black, two door, manual rabbit which was suprisingly hard to find. Brooks was pretty accomodating, he didn’t have what I wanted on the lot and instead of trying to get me to buy something else or change my preferences on color, etc he began searching other dealers to make a trade for my car. About a week later he called me and said he found one.

She was leaving the line in Wolfsburg, Germany and would be in the USA on the March 22 and ready for me to check out shortly after that. A couple weeks past. On Monday, Brooks called me and said she arrived and was being unwrapped – she would be ready for pick up at 4:00. So exciting! I met up with Brooks at the dealer around 4:00 after work and we looked over the car, went through the necessary paper work, haggled over add-on packages, APR, etc. and at 6:15 I drove my new rabbit off the lot with just 12 miles on it. 🙂

I’m taking suggestions for names, keep in mind she is a girl (of course).

More Free Caffeine

Posted 19 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category coffee, Fun, News

Free Iced Coffee from Dunkin Donuts Wednesday March 21, 2007. (Press Release)
Well last week’s free Starbucks helped get me through the week – with the official change of seasons this week and free iced coffee from DD, I’d say getting through this week won’t be so tough either.

Just for fun: calculate your daily caffeine intake. See if you beat me I’m between 580 and 725mg / day. “OK. THAT’S ENOUGH”

Playing in the Sand

Posted 14 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category Blogs, Creation, Fun, Jesus

I’m being really productive this morning 🙂

It all started when I was reading JK’s recent post and then jumped over to his flickr sets – this dude has shot some pretty cool pictures. Once there I noticed a picture of a time I had almost all together forgotten.
A group of us from i-life were headed to Mexico to build homes for families in need about 3 years ago. One morning on our journey down we stopped off at White Sands National Park – I think simply to be kids again. The picture is of Ben Chase, Matt Dobsch, and Me (from left to right). We are jumping off the edge of a sand dune. Funtimes.

mmmm… Coffee

Posted 14 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category coffee, Fun

Just a quick post for all my fellow caffeine junkies out there:


Many thanks to the NCSA branch of Coffee Club for bring this to my attention.

Being A Kid Again

Posted 09 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category Uncategorized

Today begins Engineering Open House 2007 at The University of Illinois – think of it like a Nerd Carnival. It never seemed to amaze me throughout my undergrad how the entire engineering campus simply shuts down for the day in order to entertain and dazzle the hordes of high school and college students that roam the campus during this event. Competitions, Project displays, Interactive models, Cooperate recruiters, Live music, Rube Goldberg Machines, Food, and Colorful sign-age – all typical staples of EOH. This is the premier event for engineers – we get to be kids again, ohhing and ahhing at the genius, wonder and creativity of humanity.

As I wandered north campus this afternoon and saw old friends showcasing their skillz and ingenuity I felt a strong pull to join the ranks of academia again.

“Why not just go back and get your masters, that professor would sponsor you…”
“The homework and late nights weren’t so bad, you miss em you know?”
“Working is so normal and boring, you do the same thing day in and day out…”

But alas, I navigated back to my desk and returned to work – I guess you need to grow up at some point.

"Close your eyes, Open your heart"

Posted 08 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category Fun, Movies

At some point I’m gonna need to sit down and write thoughts on a lot of the films I’ve watched recently, well the good ones at least:

This week I watched The Science of Sleep with a couple of friends. It takes a lot these days to really draw me into a story, to allow me to turn off my brain – this film did it. The story is painfully true to how awkward life can feel, at least my life. In an uncanny way it captures the feeling of being trapped by growing up. The movie has an almost music-video-ish feel to it, especially during the dream sequences. If you’ve not seen this film you should.