Blog's moved

Hi guys,

I've moved my blog to WordPress:

http://qtheblog.wordpress.com

If you've got the RSS link, you can update your links too:

http://qtheblog.wordpress.com/feed/

All the previous posts are on the new blog as well as all of your comments. I've already posted some stuff to the new site. Check it out.

Enjoy!

Semper Fi

God bless the men and women who serve our country.

I got a glimpse into the lives of our Marines in training during a Leadership Venture to Officer Candidate School in September. Wharton sent a group of us down to Quantico, VA, to experience some of the leadership-building exercises the Marines put their officer candidates through.



We were given a presentation about the structure of the OCS program (they promised they were not trying to recruit us). The 10-week program is intense and almost brutal - yet somehow attractive. At the end of the presentation they invite the Gunnery Sergeants to join us. That's when the fun began.

We experienced a night of yelling, confusion, and a lot of unintelligible "english." I had a blast! We were told how to do everything from walking to standing to making our "racks" (beds) to how to sleep in them (though no one really paid attention to that one). I was even assigned and hour during night watch. When the morning time came (notice i didn't say when the sun came up), we were woken up with yelling and excitement. We then striped our beds and marched across the complex to eat breakfast. The sun still had about 1.5 more hours to sleep before it came up.

During the next day, we went through two of the Marines' training courses. The first was the Leadership Reaction Course. The LRC was a collection of puzzles which require both mental and physical exercise. For example, our first one was involved crossing a river (represented by a pool of water) to retrieve a barrel of supplies. The constraints on where we could step, what we could touch, and what resources we could use made this puzzles complex. Each person on our group was chosen as the leader for one of the puzzles. We successfully completed zero out of the five we tried. However, we had fun on all of them. Oh, and we learned something about ourselves too :)

After the LRC, we grabbed some MRE's for lunch. The Meals Ready to Eat were better than I expected (then again, I was only eating them for one meal so the novelty - and hunger - may have been just the right seasoning). I had some chicken and rice with crackers & jam followed by carrot cake.

Now for the real challenge. We completed the big obstacle course in the afternoon. I must say, I don't remember ever being so sore after any one two-hour event in my life. We climbed walls, walked across roped and logs with 20ft drops below, scaled muddy hills (thanks to the fresh rain two days before), waded through mud, slid under barbed wire, and swam in pretty chilly water (although after Ironwood, "cold water" has new meaning to me). We did all of this while caring our replica, to scale and weight, rifles.

My favorite part was the Quigley (pictured to the right). We got down on our bellies and slide through this pond/swamp-like portion of the course while holding our riffles above the water. At certain point we had to slide under logs and through submerged sewer pipes (no real sewage of course).

At the end of the day a hot shower never felt so go. We were covered form head to toe in mud and dirt. I am still not sure how that much dirt got into some place :) It was a good thing I brought cloths I didn't mind throwing away. We washed up, changed, and had a nice reception with hor d'overs and an open bar.

When I got back to Philly I wanted to do it all over again. I wanted to go out and accomplish great things. I wanted to apply want I learned. I wanted to prove my mental and physical toughness. But, what I truly want most of all was to go to sleep.


Cheers.

It's been a long time...

For the past several months i have been telling myself: "you really need to update your blog." 

I am finally listening. :)

Well there is a lot of catching up to do and it is not all going to be done in this post.

I just wanted to let both of my readers know that I am indeed still alive. School (and recruiting for jobs) hasn't gotten the best of me. The first quarter is drawing to a close, and I am still standing. 

Business school thing is fun, albeit challenging. Classes are interesting and applicable. My classmates come from all over the world and were doing various things from banking to professional hockey before school. I am just shy of 12.5% of the way through and I am having a blast. 

Check some of the next few posts for more on my experiences so far.

It's good to be back :)

Cheers. 

Congratulation Matt and Molly (again :)

Matt and Molly are almost official grownups! They've completed 3 of
the 4 steps: married, got a good job, and they have a house!!! (now
you just need some kids to complete the picture ;)

Their house is wonderful. I was out in NE visiting them a couple
weekends ago. One of the coolest things is the pool in the back. I
tend to see it as a pool with a house in the front yard :) The layout of the place is great - plenty of space. Matt even has his own room for a recording studio. It's definitely a 30-year keeper house.

I had the distinct honor of being their first house guest. While I was out there several other friends rolled through for a bbq and pool party. We also took a trip to see the state capitol building.

Another great trip to the Midwest.

Thanks again, Matt and Molly for a fabulous time, and congrats on your new place.

Cheers.

Small Town Decompression

This past July I visit my special friend in Ironwood, a small, mining
town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (aka Superior). Adrienne and
I had a fabulous time. Everyday we made it to at least one beach (on
Lake Superior) or body of water .

For those who don't know, Lake Superior is absolutely gorgeous - and
as cold as it is beautiful. But that did to stop me from going in
(well once it did, but after the first time I jumped right in :) The
weekend before I came they experienced some really cold weather (for
July) so I packed some longer, heavier clothes. The weekend I show
up? Record heat! So jumping in the cold lake felt even better.

We also went camping the Porcupine Mountains. We did have a cabin so
it wasn't totally roughing it, but for me, it was a new experience. I
enjoyed it. We went canoeing in a small pond too. The hike was not
very strenuous, but the woods were lovely (less the biting flies).

We also visited some places in Wisconsin and Minnesota. We stayed in
Bayfield, WI, a quant beach town with nice B&B's and a very laid back
attitude. Then went onto Minneapolis (I flew in and of MSP).

It was my first time to all of these places. I thoroughly enjoyed
myself. They were not the speed I would like to live my life, but
they were a welcome and decompressing break from the normal. I looked
at my cellphone 3 times and checked email once every other day or
so. I don't even think I was carrying ID for half the trip (well,
for the parts when we went to beach and played in the woods). It was
great to feel like I could escape reality completely, albeit
temporarily.

I would love to go back and visit the North Woods again.

Check out pictures of my trip on my photo blog.

Cheers.

tinsimup - blup.

Move over Diddy

In my mom's spare time she has been taking classes to perfect her radio voice for voiceover acting and commercials. Check out my mom's spot advocating voter participation: Constance Marie.

I admire my mom for not settling for a boring life. She stays active - always with a fun activity planned: golf, acting/voice lessons, poetry.

Go Mom!

City of Brotherly Love

Last weekend I finally, actually moved to Philadelphia. No more suburbs for me (at least not for the next two years). I am excite to live in West Philly (shush to all you nay-sayers).

Big ups to my cousin Jay for helping me unload the U-Haul. With no elevator, I am sure he is happy I only live on the second floor.

I've spent the majority of this past week setting things up and getting comfortable. The space is definitely big - my ceilings are so high you can hear the echo over the phone. I also like that there is a separate kitchen.

If you around Philly look me up. I am just a few blocks from the UPenn campus.

In the mean time, check out the pictures of my transition from old room at my aunt's house to my new apartment: Moving In.

Enjoy.

Fairwell, Uncle Martin.

Last week was my final week of work. I had a good run for the last few years. I met some really great people (who are hopefully new readers of my blog :) so I had mixed emotions about leaving. I am sad to leave some of the cool people I've gotten to know. At the same time, I am excited about my new opportunity (and, in the immediate, my July off :)

A huge thank you for those who made my time at Lockheed enjoyable. I wish the best for you all.

Cheers.

New Photo Blog

I've revamped my other website and turned it into a photo blog. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures. There will be more to come as I embark on my July escapades.

Check out the link to the right: Q's Spot - Photo Blog

Cheers.

Elvis to N'Sync - A Complete Review of Pop Music

Check out this video. It's a guy taking us on a one man trip through the evolution of dance. [insert Darwin joke] He does a pretty good job of capturing the top moves of each era (with a heavy emphasis on the late 80's through 90's :)

Enjoy.

Exercise does a mind good too :)

So while it's obvious exercise is good for a body, i've noticed that it's effected my attitude as well.

One of my goals in getting into shape is to improve my endurance. When I fatigue while running I like to pick a point a little bit beyond where I would like to rest and push myself to that point. If I get there and still have something left in me, I repeat the processes until I can't really go any further. Then I may walk to jog slowly for a bit and do it again.

That same drive, or mental toughness, helps me to push to accomplish tasks that are mentally draining as well. I've noticed myself saying, "Well, you can get one or two more tasks done before you take a break."

The mental byproduct of exercise surprised me.

Big City of Dreams

I love spending time with my mommy :)

This past weekend we were in NYC - just hanging out. She had a conference in the city so we took advantage of the opportunity.

Thursday night we meetin up with a colleague of her's for dinner at Asia de Cuba (excellent). Friday I did some work from the hotel/library and she finished up her conference. Unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs all friday evening so we just chilled.

Saturday was a blast though. We headed up midtown for lunch and the matinee of Avenue Q. The show was fantastic! If you haven't seen it, head to TKTS, get some tickets and check it out. While coming out of Avenue Q we happened upon Julia Roberts exiting after her show Three Days of Rain. My mom was thrilled because she called Julia's name and Julia looked directly at her and smiled. They bonded :) Instead of heading back downtown, we hung around Times Square for a while then saw The Break Up. (The acting was good, but I didn't like the story. Over all, I thought it was just an okay movie.)

Sunday we planned on head out to Liberty Island, but there were no more tickets available. So instead we decided to chill in Battery Park for a bit. On the walk back to the hotel we came across the National Museum of the American Indian. If you are downtown, stop by. They've got an intereseting exhibit on ceramics and a beatiful jewelry display. We also stopped by Ground Zero then happened upon the River to River Festival. All throughout the weekend they were shooting the next spidey movie downtown. At one point we saw the live taping - although no stars, just a bunch of extras pretending to watch Spiderman on the side a building.

It was a fabulous weekend in the city with Moms :)

Cheers.

Memorial Day

This past Memorial Day was really chill - just what I needed. I got to spend some good time with my boy Okwui. While I really enjoy his girlfriend, Jenn, there was something nice about having a guy's weekend :) Although, I must say we are getting older: we didn't even go out except to see X-men (a must see, btw).

Anyway, the point is: it was a relaxing, much-needed weekend away from all things estrogen :)

Big ups to Okes.

Cheers.

Panoramic Virtual Reality

Check out this site:

http://www.panoramas.dk/

I am sure it's not news to some, but I think some of the scenes are great. There are a few pictures under the news category that have sound as well so you almost feel like you are there (as best as can be expected via a computer monitor, I guess).

Enjoy.

RE: Spring has sprung

Alas, summer is here, and spring is faded.

Spring has sprung

Awww, spring time is a fabulous time of year. :)

Cheers.

Marriage of Figaro

Hooray for opera! :)

Neither Adrienne nor I had been to an opera before. The Opera Company of Philadelphia is currently running Marriage of Figaro so we figure we would grab some of the cheap seats and give it a try.

I must say, I did not have high expectations for an opera, but this experience was fun by any standard. Marriage of Figaro is a witty, scandalous, and generally engaging opera. I think it was a great one to start with. For $8.50 we figured we couldn't go wrong. Our seats were up in the rafters (eye-level with the chandelier) were we could inconspicuously nod off if it was boring. It turned out the show was great and the seats weren't bad (if you forgive the blocked view of 1/4 of stage left).

The acts flew by! Before we knew it, we were at intermission. There were surtitles (it's sung in Italian) but I felt like I only read them half the time. I kind of got the jist of what was going on just by watching the actors/singers (what do you call them in an opera?). By the time we got around to the forth act we had been in the theater for about 2.5 hours. It felt like we just sat down. When the opera was over, we definitely wanted to see more. :)

If you haven't yet, I encourage you to go to the opera - or at least go see Marriage of Figaro (I am still skeptical of some of the slower ones ;)

Cheers.

BTW, I now know were R. Kelly go his inspiration for Trapped in the Closet. Check out Act II of Marriage of Figaro.

Lame Duck Session (Part 3)

...and then there were four.

Yay Michaela!!

Michaela, who teaches in the public schools of NYC, served notice this morning. While sharing Molly's, Adrienne's, and my sentiments, she was very professional - resignation letter and all.

I am sad to see NYC schools lose such a wonderful person from their teaching ranks. It is a symptom of the larger problem, which causes such talented people to be miserable and runs them out. But that's neither here nor there (for this post ;). In the mean time...

Congratulations Michaela!! I am so happy for you. Welcome to the flock!

So grows the NIQMJD celebration. :)

Cheers.

In other news:
I know of a few other people from my current job who will be leaving soon to pursue higher education. I can't say who just yet, but rest assured there are more lame ducks out there waiting to join the flock.

I also know of a hyphy duckling in the Bay who is trying to be lame as soon as possible. Big ups to Driver B in the struggle. Solidarity sister! ...ghostride the whip.

Now, bark like a chicken.

Do you remember that one in-class assignment in from elementary school where you are given a long list of instructions like write your name on this paper, stand on your chair, bark like a dog, flap your arms, etc? The first one was read all of the instructions before beginning, the second was write your name at the top of this paper, and the last was disregard all of the instructions except numbers 1 and 2.

There were those two kids in class who actually read the whole thing, wrote their names, and just sat quitely with a smile, watching everyone else flapping and barking. I was not one of those kids.

I just did like 1.5-2 hrs of work I didn't have to do. If only I would have read the directions in their entirety before starting. I updated 300+ items in an excel file when the directions called for an update to only the "new" items, all 12 of them. *sigh*

Haha. Yeah, I am laughing at myself for it, so you can laugh too. It's just one of those mornings.

:)

Lame Duck Session (Part 2)

Congratulations Molly!

Molly just got a new job, and she and Matt are moving back home to the heartland. The best part is that they both got jobs they are excited about in the same city, and they can engineer stuff to their hearts content. They are getting a house with a yard, a big kitchen, and room for kids. :)

I am sure Molly shares the same sentiment as Adrienne and I. Happy Belated National I Quit My Job Day, Mo!!

Cheers.