Session 1A Arrival

The first campers are due in to camp in just a couple of hours. The entire two weeks thus far have been in preperation for this, and I think that we're going to do just fine. The staff is ready for them, and I think that the campers will be ready for a week. This week, we have about 60% new campers, which should prove to be interesting. We also overbooked by a couple campers, and are understaffed, which means that there will be a lot of work for us this week. We'll get through it though.

Weekly Update

Two weeks down, eight more to go. Camp's going very well at this point, and I've slipped well into my responsibilities. This week, I was in charge of eight counselors in a cabin, as we did a number of trainings and work with them, bringing them up to speed with everything. So far, no major problems with anyone yet.
We had a police dog and his handlers come in a couple days ago, and they demonstrated what he did. (NEVER run away from one of those, you'll regret it for a long time.) I think that it was because of the staff party that was thrown at the end of last year, which was busted by the police, and several underage staff members were given citations.
First day, the regular staff came in, and we situated them in their cabins for the week, then had them do swim tests. Over the next couple of days, we began a series of trainings and seminars for new and old staff members on policy, age groups, problem solving and programing. We've done two LBDs (Lost Bather Drills) and trainings so that people know what to do when someone goes missing in the water. I'm now a lifeguard there, so we have a different job to do, sweeping the bottom for a body. It's really hard work.
We also met with the other Y Camps/Groups in the area, getting to know the staff. My friend Laura is on the Greylocke staff, and she mentioned that she was seeing Serenity the next day. Lucky...
I can't recall a time that I was more excited for programming this year. Brian Roy and Evan Cahill are our program directors, and man, they are doing an incredible job so far. I think that the kids are really going to love this year.
My friends Sam and Blackwell are both on staff, and we've done a bit of hanging out, getting ready for D&D this year, which I can't wait for. I also got Diablo for my computer, which is proving to be an addicting game.
Saw two movies, Batman and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Batman was fun, although I was a little disapointed with some aspects of it, but it was an excellent movie. Mr. and Mrs. Smith was very funny, pretty well done. I'd recommend watching both. I also got Shaun of the Dead and Traffic, two excellent movies, and one of my dad's employees gave me a copy of Revenge of the Sith. w00t!
Next week, I have 21 girls in my village, ages 8-12, for an asthma camp that they will be holding for the first session. I think that it's going to drive me insane...

I'll try and post more often...

Admin Training Week

I'm a week into Admin training, which was all of this week. This year, I've been hired on as a Village Director, meaning that I'm in charge of an entire village of kids and staff members, probably around fifty total. This week was our preperation as leaders, and preparing for the regular staff and campers alike. It's been a fun week thus far. I have my own cabin, which is the only VD cabin with running water. I also have a closet and a main room, with my computer hooked up and a TV ready for an X-Box to be hooked up to. It's great.
A lot of good friends are on the admin staff this year. Tidd, Billy and Gaddy are fellow VDs, and Evan and Brian are the program staff. We have a new Arts and Crafts director, a girl named Erin, who's fitting in really well so far. I've spent the evenings this week in lifeguard training, a first for me, which went over really well. We cut some corners, and we had a great instructor, a former Navy rescue diver. Awesome guy. I'm missing the last day because both my Brother and Father are graduating from high school and a master's program. I'll make that up later.
One of my projects that I'm going to start working on this summer is a book, focusing on the counselors and history of Camp Abnaki. I've gotten a ton of material to look through, and I'll be typing up a rough manuscript this summer, if all goes well.
Plus I now have a new computer game on my computer, as well as about another five hours of Dave Matthew's live music on there as well.

iPod and Last Night at Home

So I finally went and got the iPod. It was a bit of work, with several things that I had to do this morning, coordinated with several different people, and with certain places to be at certain times. With plans laid this carefully, they never seem to go right for some reason. So, me and my brother drive out to Small Dog electronics, the local Apple dealer in the Valley, and go to buy one of these iPods. I get it, go to check out and my credit card is declined, after waiting for about ten minutes for the guy to enter the information into the computer. My brother had to get to work, and I had to drop off about a month's worth of trash and recyclables at the dump, so we left without buying it. I drop Dan off, go and get to the dump right as they're closing, and was able to convince the guy to let me in. That being said and done, I go back to Small Dog, transfer some money on my debit card and buy it. It's cool, and smaller than I thought that it would be. I'm also an hour later meeting a group of friends for lunch, and I called them on the way over, telling them to meet me at Ben & Jerry's, where my brother works. While I'm waiting, I get some ice cream, for free, a nice perk with having a sibbling working there. Eric, Sparky and Emma show up, and we go get lunch at Pizza Hut. I found on the way out there that holding your hand out of a window and having a large bug hitting it at 75 MPH is painful. Lunch was fun, we went and walked around the mall for a little while and then they dropped me off at home. I went to my computer and promptly loaded all of my music onto the iPod, which I had pretty much learned how to use on the trip. It's a cool device. Small Dog was having a sale that included a set of fold up speakers with it, which have an outstanding sound quality.

I've spent most of the evening listening to it, while packing up for camp, which starts tomorrow. Admin training, and I'm part of it. I can't wait! Things that I'm bringing: Trunk with most of my clothing that I'll wear. Box with DVDs, box with random shit, like my BDUs, various electronics, books and magazines. I've also spent about an hour looking for my computer box, which seems to have vanished, which is a pain because I'm bringing my computer and monitor with me to camp. I guess I'll have to go without. It will be nice being away from home for the next couple months. Being a commuter, I really haven't had that entire experience yet, living away from home, except for the summer months, and I have a feeling that my parents are going to be in for a shock when my brother leaves for college this year, for two semesters. They haven't had me to 'practice' with. I can't wait to be away from the family for a couple months. Everyone can get a little overbearing at times, and this will be a nice change. I'll certainly miss them, but it's not the end of the world. It will be nice to get home at the end of the summer though.

Oh well, time to finish packing random things. I won't be updating much this summer, I think, so have a good summer, until next post.

End of Work, Start of Another

It was my last day at KAS today. It was sad leaving. I've grown really attached to the people who work there, and I believe that I've made some good friends with them. I've also learned a lot from the company, not only with work related things, but some personal things that I needed worked out. And geology/groundwater stuff of course. It was a fun four weeks, and I made a bit of money. I'm thinking of getting an iPod tomorrow, I guess we'll see. An Apple dealer near where I live is having a sort of sale, so it's got a slightly reduced price, but also a small speaker thing with it, which would be handy.
Going out tomorrow with some friends that I haven't seen in a while. It'll be good to be among proper villians again.

REPUBLIC COMMANDO SEQUEL!

Not the game, but Karen Traviss will be penning a sequel to the novel Republic Commando: Hard Contact. This one will be called Triple Zero. Here's what The Official Star Wars Site has to say about it:

Announcing Republic Commando: Triple Zero
June 08, 2005
Fans of hard-hitting specialty-clone military literary action have reason to cheer as author Karen Traviss is set to continue the Republic Commando adventures (inspired by LucasArts' Star Wars Republic Commando video game) in a new mass market paperback due for release in spring 2006.
Star Wars Republic Commando: Triple Zero - the sequel to Star Wars Republic Commando: Hard Contact - is set a year after the battle of Geonosis, and follows the continuing missions of Omega Squad. As the Clone Wars casualties mount, the commandos find themselves deployed on increasingly dangerous missions that take them beyond the battlefield and further into sabotage and intelligence operations in the heart of Separatist territory. Newly-promoted Jedi Generals Etain Tur-Mukan and Bardan Jusik are also catapulted into front line combat roles and find themselves identifying strongly with the clone soldiers under their command, who turn out to be anything but predictable cannon fodder.
Omega Squad survives a close brush with disaster to end up in the most potentially dangerous hot spot in the galaxy - pursuing a Separatist terror group in the skylanes and underworld of Coruscant itself, known as Triple Zero in the Grand Army's slang because its galactic chart co-ordinates are 000. And, as any soldier knows, urban operations on your own turf can be the most deadly of all. So it's just as well that Omega Squad find themselves working with Delta Squad, and teamed up again with Etain and Jusik - as well as their legendary training sergeant Kal Skirata, and his secret military intelligence unit of "Null" ARC troopers, the black ops team that even the Kaminoans thought were too dangerous to unleash. It's a critical mission unlike anything any of them have ever tackled - and it tests their friendship and courage to the limit.

Man, 2006 cannot come fast enough. Sqee!

Somehow, I'm not terribly surprised. Karen just made a note on her weblog that Republic Commando: Hard Contact is now in it's SIXTH printing. Man, she's a busy woman.

X&Y and Stuff...

Have been having some fun with the paycheck. I got some new clothes over the weekend, which were really needed, and it's been time for a change of pace anyway. Picked up Everyday, so I now have all of the DMB studio albums. It's like 9 hours of straight up Dave Matthew's on my computer. Good stuff. Everyday was pretty good, although it's too mainstream sounding for them.
Coldplay's new album, X&Y, is much better, a really good listen, and a great followup to Rush of Blood to the Head. They're one of the few bands that I pretty much like everything that they've done, although there are some songs that I don't care too much for. Thus far, Square One, White Shadows, Talk, X&Y, Speed of Sound and Twisted Logic are my favorites from this one.
This week is my last one at KAS Inc. On Sunday, I'm going to be starting my next job at YMCA Camp Abnaki, and for the most part, I'll be on hiatus for most of the summer, with occasional updates, probably once or twice a week. I can't wait for the kids and staff to arrive.
I hung out with fellow Geek Squad (NOT affiliated with those craptacular hacks at Best Buy- they stole our name) members, Sam and Blackwell, up in Burlington last night, played some Halo 2, caught up on current events with Beep, who manages to vanish for weeks at a time before bothering to tell anyone. Great to see the two of them again, and can't wait until we're all back at camp. Because I'm going to be Admin Staff this year, I'm up a week before them.

And why the fuck are women in Vermont so few and always attached?

The Triangle

Some news on the latest from the SciFi channel, one of their new miniseries:

The Triangle Shoots In Africa
SCI FI Channel is starting production on its upcoming six-hour original miniseries The Triangle this week in Cape Town, South Africa. Dean Devlin (Independence Day) and Bryan Singer (X-Men) are executive-producing the three-night miniseries in their first-ever collaboration. Rockne O'Bannon (Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars) wrote the script, based on an original story by Devlin and Singer.
The Triangle centers on a team hand-picked by billionaire Rice Benirall (Jurassic Park's Sam Neill) to investigate the loss of cargo ships in the infamous Bermuda Triangle. The team includes journalist Howard Thomas (Eric
Stoltz), ocean resource engineer Emily Patterson (Catherine Bell),
scientist/adventurer Bruce Gellar (Michael Rodgers) and psychic Stan Latham (Bruce Davison). When a jetliner disappears over the Bermuda Triangle, bizarre,
unexplainable occurrences begin to affect each member of Benirall's team. The Triangle premieres on SCI FI in December.
~SciFiWire

Looks and sounds very good. This is the first bit of real news that I've found thus far, with the exception of the promo for it a while ago. Can't wait to see how this is, it's got some good minds behind it.

I was also thinking earlier about a story that would be really intersting to see at the end of the Clone Wars: The reactions that the Clones, such as Commander Bly, who carried out the infamous Order 66. I'd love to see a comic about Bly and his reactions to killing his commander, and friend, Aayla Secura.

Books

Pulled this from Karen Traviss's weblog earlier today:
1. Total number of books I own:
722, at last count. Years ago, I went and cataloged all of my books. I'm guessing that I haven't read about 25% of them, but I don't feel like counting them all up again.
2. The last book I bought:
Americana, by Hampton Sides and Crossing the Line by Karen Traviss. Americana: Outstanding set of essays on America, on a very wide range of topics. I've got a review stashed away here somewhere. Crossing the Line, also outstanding, already noted here.
3. The last book I read:
Crossing the Line, by Karen Traviss, Currently working on finishing Cagebird, by Karin Lowachee, which is proving to be very good. Also reading some random parts from Americana right now.
4. Five books that mean a lot to me:
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. 1: An amazing anthology of short stories that is just packed. The book is like a brick, and I can't tell you how many times that I've read it. It's got a huge number of great authors. To name a few of my favorite stories: Helen O'Loy (Lester del Rey), The Roads Must Roll (Robert Heinlein), The Microcosmic God (Theodore Sturgeon), Nightfall (Isaac Asimov), Areana (Fredric Brown), First Contact (Murrey Leinster), Surface Tension (James Blish), The Nine Billion Names of God (Sir Arthur C. Clark), Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes), again, to name a few.
Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck - Outstanding work of non-fiction on America by one of the greatest authors out there.
Ringworld, Larry Niven - Wonderful novel on exploration.
Dune- Frank Herbert- Do I really need to explain this?
Foundation- Isaac Asimov- Outstanding novel on space Empires.
A few others worth mentioning: Black Hawk Down (Mark Bowden), The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brian) The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien) His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman), Warchild (Karin Lowachee), Mice and Men (John Steinbeck), For Whom the Bell Tolls (Ernest Hemmingway), Band of Brothers (Steven Ambrose), Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond), Ghost Soldiers (Hampton Sides), Americana (Hampton Sides) and many more...
I need to read more...

New York

Just got back from New York, which proved to be a very enjoyable trip. We flew down on Saturday, which was much better than driving. An eight hour trip was now 45 or so minutes, which was outstanding. The flight was good, and we had no problems getting to our hotel room. I think that we were in the same room that we were in last time we went down, for the same occasion. After checking in, we wandered around for a couple hours, taking in some of the sights. We later met up with Dan, who had spent the week down there already. I went back with him to his hotel, catching up, and we took a cab to get dinner with everyone at a great Italian resturaunt. From there, we went to the performance, which was outstanding. Three bands played, with some pieces that I recognized, some that were new, and all were outstanding. This morning, my bother and sister went with me to Central Park, where we walked around for a little while before heading back to a fair/market that was going on 7th Ave. I bought a small Chinese plate set that's pretty cool looking. Tried to find a bootlegged copy of Revenge of the Sith or Hitchhiker's Guide, but no luck. Got back on the plane and headed home. Good trip.

I got to do a fair amount of reading on the flight, something that I haven't had much time to do recently. I finished Karen Traviss's Crossing the Line, the second book in her series. (Which was just upped to six books total) Outstanding novel. I think that Traviss is my favorite author. I can't wait for her next one to come out, The World Beyond, which is out later this year. Also just started Cagebird, the third in Karin Lowachee's trilogy, which is proving to be a good read as well. If you haven't read either of these two authors, I'd highly recommend them.

Just saw my Spring 2005 semester transcript- Nothing below a C. That's a huge relief for me, and a full two letter grades higher for two classes than I predicted. wOOt!

Report!

So, it's been a busy couple of days this week at KAS. I've been up in the area for a couple days now, having spent the night over at my friend Sam's house, mainly to get a couple extra hours of sleep, avoiding the 4-4:30 wake up that my dad had planned, for he was getting to work really early. I got up, drove to work, promptly dropped the car off at the wrong car dealership to get looked at for an inspection. The people at Berlin City were kind of confused about this...
Work for the past two days has seemed a bit long. I've had three reports that I've been working on at the same time, in two different states. That's pretty interesting, but it's hard to juggle them at different times while I wait for maps. I was just able to finish two projects, because Doug just handed me the maps.
The LOST finale is on tonight, as I've found and confirmed with two co-workers who are fairly big fans of the show. I probably won't see it, unless I happen to get a tape, which might happen, but dammit, I want to see what's in the hatch and what that monster looks like. I guess we'll see in a couple hours. I'll defininently check out the official site later tonight to see if they posted up a new summary. It's awesome having several people in the office who are really into SciFi shows and movies.
Just found this off of Karen Traviss's weblog: She's been contracted to write three more City of Pearl Novels, bringing the total up to six. I must say, I think that she's my favorite author at this point, and I've very excited for this.
And, Coldplay's got a new album coming in a couple weeks. Can't wait to listen to that.

Review for Revenge of the Sith

Warning: Spoilers

Summary: As the Clone Wars come to a climax with the capture of Chancellor Palpatine, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi go to the rescue, killing Count Dooku. The Jedi are heroes. Chancellor Palpatine appoints Anakin to the Jedi Council, much to the distaste of the other members of the council, who see this as the Chancellor's attempt to take control of the Jedi Council. They fear that he's prepared to continue to hold onto power. While this is happening, the Chancellor starts to sow mistrust of the Jedi into Anakin. Obi-Wan goes off to hunt down General Grievous, finding and killing him. Anakin finds that Palpatine is the second Sith, and the Mace Windu and three other Jedi move in to kill him. When this fails, due to Anakin's intervention, Anakin pledges himself to Palpatine and becomes Darth Vader. His first assignment is to destroy all the Jedi at the Jedi Temple, which he does with a garrison of Clone Troopers. Palpatine issues an order to all of the Clone Troopers, who turn on their Jedi commanders, killing them. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are the only two to survive the purge. They are rescued by Senator Bail Organa, who returns them to Coruscant to find out what happened. While they're there, Obi-Wan finds that it was Anakin who was the one who led the attack on the Jedi Temple. He and Yoda split up to try and destroy the Sith, with Yoda going to fight Palpatine. Obi-Wan approached Padme, telling her that Anakin led the attack on the Jedi and she couldn't believe it. She took out her ship to find her husband, with Obi-Wan stowing away. Yoda confronted Palpatine, and the two dueled in the Senate chamber. Padme confronted Anakin, who told her that he didn't lead the attack on the Temple, and that he would overthrow the Emperor, with her at his side. She grew frightened, and when Anakin caught sight of Obi-Wan, he force choked her, and the former master and apprentice duel over the lava flows of Mustafar. Meanwhile, Yoda was beaten back by Palpatine. He runs, and escapes once again with Bail Organa, who leads him off planet. Anakin and Obi-Wan's duel grows fierce and at the end, Obi-Wan slices off Anakin's remaining arm and both legs, sending him sliding close to a lava flow. As he catches on fire, he screams "I HATE YOU" to Obi-Wan, who picks up his lightsaber and leaves. Anakin is rescued by Palpatine shortly thereafter, and is fixed to become Darth Vader. Padme gives birth, but dies during childbirth, leaving the two Jedi to split up the twins. Leia goes to Alderaan with Bail Organa and Luke goes to Tatooine with Obi-Wan.

What worked: This movie was fantastic. It completely met my expectations with most things and exceeded them with others. While it isn't perfect, it was by far the strongest of all the prequel movies. Several things stick out in my mind. First, the movie is well edited, and on a technical level, is probably one of the strongest movies that I've seen in terms of Special Effects. It's amazing how far technology will go in such a short period of time, and everything is a step up for Revenge of the Sith. The space battles, the lightsaber fights, the background scenery, all of it looks completely outstanding. While there are times when things are obviously CGI, overall, it's the most seamless that I've seen. I mentioned Editing a second ago, and this film really stands out from the other movies, with a much different feel for most of the movie, similar in some ways to Empire Strikes Back. Here, the editors cut a lot of scenes together, with much intercutting between important parts of the movie. Two of these scenes really stand out. The cuts between Padme and Vader taking their last and first breaths respectively was a very well done moment. The second, and almost as powerful, the montage of scenes shortly after Palpatine issues his famous Order 66. Following that, we see several well known Jedi cut down by the Clone Troopers under their command, with a wonderful editing and sound behind it that almost brought tears to my eyes.
Storywise, there is no question that this is the best of the Prequels, and the perfect lead-in to the Original Trilogy. Over the past years, I've written a number of essays detailing how I thought this might play out a bit, and I was pleased to see that some of my ideas were correct. We have the final chapter of the story, with the fall of a hero and the rise of the Empire. While we all had a vauge idea of how this would happen, the presentation on the big screen was fantastic, in every regard. The battles, lightsaber and space, the interference of Palpatine/Sideous and the destruction of the Jedi. In some ways, the story, combined with the editing, is almost able to be broken into two parts, the first and second halves. Between the two, there is a very different feel. The first half feels the most like the other five Star Wars movies, with the action, pacing and editing. The second half, however, feels very, very different from the other movies, in an almost artistic way. The colorings and film angles of the shots, but also the storyline, which just carries itself with the momentum from the prior half and other two movies. It's much more fluid and much more depressing than anything else that we've seen. This is not a happy movie, by any stretch.
Acting and Dialogwise, this movie is also the strongest of the prequels. Both Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman have improved greatly with their acting skills, and while neither performs a perfect job, it's much much better than the two that come before it. I was very happy to hear no more lines that were on the level of Agressive Niegotiations from Attack of the Clones, which I still cringe at every time that I watch.
I was thrilled with the movie, and at everything that happened in it. There are some moments there that I just had chills going down my spine, seeing things that were completely outstanding. Things like seeing Alderaan on the screen, the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan and Anakin's last moments together, Order 66 and the Jedi Purge, the opening Space Battle, Palpatine's transformation and so much more.

What didn't work: There are several things that I noted that I wasn't pleased with. First, the speed at which some things happend. Anakin's turn to Darth Vader after the fight with Mace Windu, I felt happened too quickly, and much more should have happened there. Anakin essentially goes from What have I done, to I pledge myself to you, in a matter of seconds. There should have been more there. Grievous, I was not very thrilled with at all. He was built up too much in the Expanded Universe and his character fails as a result of that. He felt that he was just there for show, and while some of the fights that he had were spectacular, they were also too short.

Overall: You cannot possibly think to call yourself a Star Wars fan if you do not stop reading this review right now and go out to see it if you haven't yet. Actually, what are you waiting for?!?

Rating: 9.5/10

Revenge of the Sith

So I saw Revenge of the Sith early this morning, at 1215. I haven't written a review yet, although I'm hoping to review it by this weekend.

BUT, the bottom like is that I thought that it was outstanding, and it completely met my expectations. The action, visuals, story and even acting was even better than the other prequel movies. It's just good. Very good.

And I was on the front page of the major newspaper for Vermont, as well as two TV news reports. That was pretty cool, although I'm really not sure I'm used to that type of attention, and a ton of people have IMed me or e-mailed me about it.

Fun and my review will be up and around this weekend. Now, sleep, for I spend an entire day in the field and the same for tomorrow. I need more sleep.

The Night Before

So the final Star Wars movie is about to come out. Tomorrow night. I can't wait, and for the first time ever, I'm going to a showing opening night showing. I absolutely cannot wait. I was called by one of the larger Vermont newspapers, The Burlington Free Press, about the movie, and about fandom in general. I talked to a reporter for about ten, fifteen minutes, and they said that they'll be sending out a photographer out tomorrow to take some photographs of me in armor. Should be interesting.
Work's also going well. I went to New Hampshire today to do some work, measuring the water levels and analysing the water in two seperate sites. Very cool stuff. I'm really liking this job, except for the getting up at 5:30 part, but I guess that I'll get used to that.
And finally, Arrested Developement is one of the best shows on TV now.

Graduation

Just got back from Norwich's graduation, where I helped out with the lines and handing out of programs. They had Joseph Galloway as their speaker, which was pretty good, and my friend Jen was the valedictorian. She did a pretty good job with her speech, well thought out, I thought, although she could have talked a little louder at times. I had quite a few friends going off this year in the senior class. Most of them were Enviro-Sci or Geology majors, but a couple scattered throughout the other fields of study. I'm going to miss a good deal of them all, and next year, with several of my other friends leaving for other schools, I think that it's going to be a lonely semester, although some are staying. I can't wait until I graduate.

Summer Vacation- In two days.

I'm finally done with the semester! I took my Stratigraphy exam this morning, finished it in an hour (It was only 11 questions) went home, finished my basin project that I've been laboring over for the past week or so got everything done there, returned some overdue books and yeah, I'm done for the year.

It didn't really hit me until I was walking away from the library that the year was over. Completely over. I cannot believe how fast it went by, because it seems like I had just started first semester just days ago. And yet, it seems like I've been at this forever, and it's now done. Now to start two jobs. I'll be starting at KAS Inc, an environmental company that my Dad works at, for four weeks until Camp starts- and when I go off to Admin training for a week, then Staff training for another week. I'll be working there for ten weeks total. So, over the next fourteen or so weeks, I'm going to have a greatly decreased online presence, probably. I know for the last ten weeks or so.

And now, computer problems to deal with. Whenever I try to engage my virus checker, it shuts down, saying that I have made an illegal error or some shit like that. Same thing with my e-mail and a couple of websites. Gr... As I'm writing this, I'm defraging my harddrive, then for a restart and disk cleanup. Hopefully that will solve things, or things will get ugly.

First, time to catch up on all the sleep that I've missed the past couple days...

Accepted!

I had my job interview with Jon today, which went extremely well. I got the Village Director postition, with a bit of a pay raise ($600 up from last year.) We talked about quite a few things, mainly about camp, and how it can be improved. It was good to talk to him again, he's a very good camp director. I was saddened to learn that there were some people who I worked with (and became very good friends with) won't be returning for various reasons. But overall, looking at the staffing list for this summer, we have a very good group of people coming, so that's good. I'm excited. This has been one of the best jobs that I've ever had, and I look forwards to going back every year about this time. And now as a VD, it should be an interesting summer. I like the village that I'm in, and I like a lot of the people who are returning.

I'm excited.

After the interview, I went and got lunch and met up with my friend Andy Bulpre, who I used to work with at another summer camp, and who I haven't seen for about four years now. Andy's a crazy guy, and a great friend. It's been far too long in between talks for us, having finally gotten his contact info from another friend. Man, how time flies, and it's entertaining how small the state is, because we both know several of the same people from various places. We walked around Burlington's Church Street for a while, catching up on things and chatting, the three of us (he had a friend, Lucy with him, who was also a pleasure to talk to), like no time had passed. Apparently I've changed a bit, although I don't really see it. Great to see him though. From there, I went to my dad's office, where I dropped off my resume for another job, then visited my Grandmother for a bit, before going and picking up my sister, talked to Eric briefly at the store, then drove my sister back home.
On the way back, I let Keelia drive for her first time. She was a little shakey, but she got the hang of driving very quickly, although she needs a lot more practice, expecially where it comes to the side of the road and breaking to stop. She was excited to drive for the first time, and she'll have more practice before she gets her license. Man, I can't believe that she's almost ready to get it. Scary. My dad found it amusing that she drove with me for the first time, while my mother was on the verge of freaking out at me. Oh well, it would happen sometime.

And now, to study for my final final.

Three Down, One More To Go...

I just finished my Structural Geology exam, and I was extremely surprised how easy it was. I'm not sure if it was the professor going easy on us, or if I just knew the material, I think that I'm going to be fairly pleased with the results. Hopefully, it will help with my grade, which isn't going to be really great. One more exam to look for, Stratigraphy, plus the monster project, which I need to finish up. Finished History last night, and Political Science earlier that day, so I'm almost done. Finally.

I just went out to drop off my paycheck for last month, and found that the Dave Matthew's Band just released their next CD, which caught me by surprise. I picked it up, and it's got a really different sound from what they've used in prior years, which surprised me somewhat.
So Stand Up. I've listened to it a couple of times, and I've gotten a couple of thoughts on it so far. Overall, good CD. Not great, but pretty good. It's definently a much different sound from what they usually sound like, even from their last CD as a group, Busted Stuff. Stand Up seems a lot more laid back, calmer, whereas a lot of their other albums have a lot of energy bundled up inside. There are some really good tracks on this one that has more energy than others, such as Stand Up (For It), American Baby, Everybody Wake Up and Louisiana Bayou. They're all really good tracks, as are all the other ones here, but some parts are just so different than their other prior works. I imagine American Baby was selected for the radio because it's probably the one that's the most similar to their normal stuff, and it's gotten mixed reviews.Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy their sound for this album. It's innovative, interesting and have roots in several different types of music. It's just slighty unexpected. It's got some Southern Babtist, Folk, Rock and a little R&B thrown together and the results are impressive. Musically, it's amazing. I'm sure that this is going to grow on me a bit more.

Anyone else having problems loading it into iTunes?

Anyone use the FaceBook? My school just opened up to it and I got a profile for it: Facebook me! It just exploded here. Literally. I've also been able to find some people that I haven't talked to in ages.

More later, if I have time...

I am: Arthur C. Clarke Well known for nonfiction science writing and for early promotion of the effort toward space travel, his fiction was often grand and visionary.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Midnight Showings

So I now have a ticket to the 0115 showing of Revenge of the Sith on the 19th. The question is, should I wait in line in Armor?

Summer Work

Last day of classes! Finally, I'm almost a Junior and done with the semester. Still have exams to work on though, so let's hope that those will go okay. I can't wait for summer vacation. Already, I have two major jobs lined up, which is outstanding. The first, for most of May is working at KAS Environmental, the company where my dad works. Apparently, they're understaffed and over worked, so he said that they're hiring me to help with some of the reports and field work that they need done. It'll be good for the time that I'm not doing anything.
Today, I got a job offer from Jon, my boss over the summer, and he wants to interview me for the Village Director postition. I'm very thrilled with that. At camp, the kids are broken down into age groups, or villages, of which there are four. Each village has six or so cabins, which has a varying number of kids depending on the village, from six to twelve. The village director doesn't have any kids to manage, but they oversee the entire group, managing the staff of the village, as well as various activities and discipline issues that the counselors cannot deal with. They get their own cabin, as well as a radio. This will be my sixth year at camp, and I hope that I will be a) given the job, and b) if I do get it, I hope that I can deal with it. It's not an easy job, but it's one that I'd like to do. I can't wait for Camp, it's an excellent job and I really enjoy going back there every year.
And now, finals to study for.