- The Sox game yesterday was a good time. Thankfully, they put up some runs in the later innings and didn't blow their lead entirely. It was nice to just hang out at the ballpark for a night, watch some baseball, talk sports, drink beer, eat brats, point out some hot chicks, and shout at each other about those silly Jumbotron games (which hat is the ball under, Pizza race, Plane race, frog race, etc.) with the boys of old school Pact. I really wish we could do this kind of stuff more often, but unfortunately a lot has changed since college, and it's not as easy anymore.
A highlight was watching (and participating in) a pretty strong Wave that went around the lower deck for about 10 minutes, when the Sox were up 8-2 in the 8th inning. Even though the Wave goes against pretty much everything a true fan stands for, it was so hilarious to me in its retardedness, especially in light of the game situation at the time.
Some pics from the game (mouse over for description):
- This week at work has been pretty hectic. At COB (Close Of Business, for those not hip with corporate lingo) last Friday, the USN (United States Navy) annouced that they were awarding the contract for RTC_SS (Reconfigurable Transportable Consolidated Automated Support System) to McDonnell-Douglas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing. For anyone who happens to be interested, a link to the DoD (Department of Defense) announcement follows (see Navy section):
http://www.defenselink.mil/contracts/2003/ct20030905.html
RTC_SS was the project I've been working on since around May. Between myself and a lot of people here at NGC-RM (Northrop Grumman Corporation-Rolling Meadows), we spent so much time and effort on preparing to build this thing. It's a weird feeling to know that after all the arguing about the design, the construction of the lab for this station, the stressing out to meet deadlines, all of that became more or less a moot point, summed up in a short paragraph of which all of our combined effort hardly even composed a few words of a press release, "four offers were received".
To me, the loss of this contract doesn't hit terribly hard, because I'm just a little guy. Actually, it probably means that I won't be super busy through the rest of the year, which would have happened if we got the contract. I'd still rather be able to work more extensively on a project, though, and gain some good experience doing so. But for some people here, the announcement was a pretty big blow. Especially to a lot of the contract workers, who were counting on being needed for the duration of the program, they now have a lot of uncertainty. I guess that is the way this industry works... I'm just kind of unaccustomed to the idea that it would be "all-or-nothing" like that.
- In brighter news, I've now been working here for almost a year, and today my boss called me into her office and officially informed me that I should be seeing a 4% raise starting with this week's paycheck. I guess when I think about it, 4% isn't a huge amount, especially after taxes and everything, but hey, I'll take it. I'm just an engineer anyways, not exactly the most glamourous way to get rich quick, right?
- The latest video to dominate my mornings is "Stacy's Mom". At first it was just an annoying little song, but then it was stuck in my head all day at work. I guess I underestimated its catchiness, and it made me pay by creeping into my head and multiplying. Stacy's mom has got it going on........ doo-doo doo do doo do doo doo doooo....
- Tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary (is that the right word for a tragedy?) of 9/11. I tend to wonder if the world has succeeded in banding together to become a safer, happier place during these past two years. Or if conditions have actually deteriorated from where they were before, and the terrorists are succeeding in sucking the lifeblood out of this planet.
- A while back I talked about my observation that the words "analysis" and "analog" both begin with the word "anal". If you enjoyed that fact, I have a couple more examples of my immaturity at work to share:
1) There's a maker of electronic connectors called Assmann Electronics. A link to the company site is here for those who don't believe me. Once, when I was looking at some of that company's connectors online with an older engineer, it took every ounce of self-control in my body to avoid busting out laughing at the name. He kept pronouncing it "OSS-MONN", but in my mind, I kept hearing "ass man" and snickering to myself, Beavis and Butthead style. huh-huh... Ass Man.... huh-huh huh-huh
2) One of the products I had to study at work today was called Built-In Test Exerciser and Sensor, better known by its acronym, BITES. That's an actual trademarked name, no joke. Again, for those who doubt me, I'll provide another link here. So anyways, I guess it shouldn't be that funny, but I wasted a good deal of the morning enjoying my own clever thoughts about the irony of the situation - how it was funny to me that spending hours reading up on a product called BITES, indeed bites. I wonder if there are any other products out there called SUCKS or BLOWS, that would be two more mornings I could waste with immature thoughts about such aptly named acronyms.
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