NO WAY!

Can you believe this? I can't! Gizmodo was talking about a flashdrive with a size of 64GB!!! Here is a picture of it.

It doesn't look great considering that the price is $2800 - I expected it to transform into a supercomputer or make the owner look much better, but apparently it won't. But I think that this will lead to pretty cool technologies. I'm thinking of smaller laptops, mp3 digital camera cell phones with huge data capacities and more cars using usb flashdrives to play music (ok, this one may be redundant). I'm sure the price will fall fast once other competitors come out with the same drive. I'll give it 3 years till its down to today's price of a 512MB drive. Anyhow, great news!

One step closer

Its raining, raining, and raining.... And driving 1h back from work today seemed like an eternity - esp. with the traffic jams growing out of nowhere. Anyways, so thats sort of how I'm feeling right now. Instead of being efficient and cleaning the mess that has been spreading around like a forestfire, I sat down and am updating my blog while watching "the perfect murder" with Gwynith Paltrow (sp?), Michael Douglas and Aragorn (whats this actors name?). ...oh man, Aragorn and Gwynith are having sex right now. And now its over...finally.

And so I got sidetracked. Back to whats more important - I'm closer than ever to get my foot into 3M. I received the job offer and now its all about the drug-tests and background screening. If all this goes well, and there is no reason it shouldn't, I should be working at Dyneon 3M starting next month. I'm very excited about this and hope that nothing will get in its way. Its about 99% sure that I have the job, but the 1% is something to fear of. If this goes well, I'll have a great job that I can be at for years. And when I have enough experience, I could either go for a MBA or if I really get into the chemistry side of it, even a PhD. Anyways, so thats my carrier life.

The personal life is sadly more than lacking. I've got friends I see every week, but don't really feel like I have a person to talk to on a daily basis...some call them girlfriends. Oddly I'm not really looking around, even though there are times I would wish for nothing more than some warmth. Bah, lame shit. Though the girlfriend stuff ain't looking all too great, I may be getting some more company. Ari is coming back to MN and may be looking to live in the twin cities. Since living alone is getting a little boring, so I may move over to the St. Paul area and room with him. It would be pretty sweet...playing WarCraft 3, chilling out and driving around with our cars, leaving a cloud of dust behind...mind you, hes a bit more crazy when it comes to dirt roads.

So next week will be interesting. I'll find out if I'll be rooming with Ari, if I got the job and when I'll start, and maybe I'll meet some interesting girl/woman at Dyneon (haha, doubt it cause I'll be head deep in work). The future looks always nice when its painted colorful.

Ugh

Had a bad dream. Seems that some decisions from my past just keep on haunting me. I made this one choice because I saw zero hope in it, and I still believe that I was right. Still, I have these sad happy and peaceful dreams that just make me real unhappy. Time to get a job that consumes my soul I guess - no better way to avoid such relapses when you're too busy :)

The reason why weak cars are good

So I've been thinking, thinking about my car :). Why is it that I'm always happy when I get out of my car? My reason for it is that I love to accelerate. And having a weak car I can accelerate full blast while taking turns, off the traffic lights, and whenever else its possible. Now that alone would support the thought that a car with a lot of torque would be better. Yes, it would be. But the problem that would arrise with a fast car is that I'ld reach the speed limit way too fast - not enough time to actually enjoy it. Right now I can accelerate for a bit (really not all that long) till I reach the speed limit. If I had a powerful car it'ld be in a second if not less, and that wouldn't be all that fun. On top of it, I can play more with the clutch and gears before having to worry about going way above the speedlimit.
Don't get me wrong. There is no way I'ld say no to an Impreza WRX Sti, Lancer Evo, or Porsche for that matter, but my point is that now I can play around and learn a lot and once I'm a better driver I can graduately move on to more powerful cars...does that make sence? Or am I just trying to justify the fact that I have a not all too strong car? Anyways, I really don't think that I'm a bad driver...but whos not over confident about their own driving skills? Me? Absolutely the best driver on the road. Way better than you for sure :-D
Anyways, that was just rant I had to let out. Hope you all drive safe and passive.

International Night!

I drove down to Olaf this afternoon to go visit some friends and check out international night. Initially I wasn't all that into it since my ex-roomy had his diving national finals at the U of M tonight. But since a friend I hadn't seen for a long time was back (from Japan( there was no way I was going to miss out on this. So I drove down to Northfield once again. I stopped by public safety and spent some time with Chad driving around in their new car (which is on Lease - i.e. they get new ones every other year, they don't waste that much money as you may think). Then, I picked up Aiko (the friend that was in Japan) and went to the show. Now let me tell you, it was not how I had expected it. Oh man, was I surprised by it! The show had two funny moderators and the acts consisted of a loooot of dances. And I'm not talking about corny boring dances...no, they were sexy and exotic. Some dances were soo sexy I felt a bit ashamed watching. But anyways, it was a great show. Heres a pic:

Then after all the excitement, there was an international dinner. Food was great, I got to be back in the caf after over 8 months, and the people I sat with were friends from olaf. I felt like I was warped back into being a student and it felt really nice. After the food, Aiko and I said goodbye to the others and drove down to Gareth's house to say hi to Ari and Gareth before Ari leaves back to Carthage. It was a great evening and I was really happy to see Aiko again, man she's a cool girl I wish I could hang out with her a lot more, but no, she's going back to LA and then to Japan once again. Anyways, good times it was...

But now, after getting home, I feel this emptiness once again. I don't know if its the lack of roommate or lack of girlfriend, but its been bothering me and its not getting any better. After leaving Northfield I chose to take the scenic route (told my gps to take the side roads cause they're more fun). I was feeling kinda lonely already, oh, but then the damn radio kept on playing sad songs and by the time I reached home (took me 30min longer this way adding up to over 1h of sad songs) I was pretty down. So as usual per se, I got on my computer and played some cs. Right now I'm feeling a bunch better and ready to go to bed. Tomorrow morning I'm gonna have to wake up fairly early to go workout with tom. Its going to be one hell of a workout (in the true sence of the word...its going to be hell). Anyways, whoever is reading this - thanks for taking your time and leave a message...I really like getting those (and no, I'm not really that lonely, I hardly have time to get things cleaned at home).

More clues as to what will happen

Ok, so here are some facts that I gathered in the last day or so.
1) People hired by 3M start working at the beginning of the month.
2) If I were working at 3M as a full-time, I would have to wait for a year...good thing I'm not full- time
3) If I were to get this job, my future will look pretty rosey (but not in terms of women - things tend to balance eachother out. Good job = bad love life.). Meh, you take what you get I guess. For right now I'ld rather go for the job...esp. since I got good friends ;)

My conclusion is that its not set 100% that I got the job till I am told so. My assumption as to when I'll hear from them would be either end of next week (bcs of the medical screening...so that I have a week to complete that task) or sometime next month or even later. Well, hope its soon! Even if its a no, at least then I could stop thinking of this....It about 90% of what I think of...

PS: I got a new mouse. I had to...ITS A LOGITECH G5 - pure pwn4g3 bi0tch3z!...yea... i know, i'm a total dork :-P

The good, bad and the ugly

Ok, no bad nor ugly. But it has to be quick cause I'm at work and don't want to get fired for using the internet too much. Anyways...This is just pure good news: As you maybe know I had a bunch of interviews for this one position at 3M. I've been pretty much concentrating on this job, ignoring others, and waiting for their reply. Well, so earlier this week I received a call from the hiring manager from the position I applied for at 3M. He said that my paper work was passed onto talent management. Anybody know what that means? - I really don't. I'm hoping this means that I've been chosen out of all the candidates...But if not at least I'll be one of the few. Checking online I found this on the 3M website:

What is the hiring process?
The typical process is as follows:(1) Candidates apply online through 3M.com;(2) Applications/resumes are routed to the hiring managers;(3) Hiring managers review all qualified applications/resumes and select candidates to interview;(4) Once candidates are selected for interview, the hiring manager arranges for a time/date of the interview;(5) The hiring manager makes his/her selection to fill the opening and the offer is accepted by a candidate.(6) When a position opening has a candidate selected, emails are sent to all interviewed candidates to notify them that the position has been filled. All applicants for the position can view their application status by clicking on "View Application Status" from the Applicant Home page.(7) Selected applicant is set up for a background check and medical screen;(8) Start date is established and the applicant is scheduled for New Employee Orientation.

So from this I would guess that I am the "selected" candidate...But until I hear more I'm going to assume that nothing is set in stone yet. Anyways, still some awesome news to make my week! Maybe soon I'll have a full-time position instead of these dreaded contract jobs (though I am happy that I have a job!). I'll post more on this whenever I get more information.

Update?

Well, here it is...The update you've been waiting for - or not? Well, whether you want or not, here it is anyways.

I've been working at 3M for about three weeks. When I started I was only aware that I'ld be working in the pharmaceutical department - as a contract worker. Well, it turns out that I'm working in the formulations department. Basically we receive an active ingredient and try it out with a bunch of other excipients to see what works best. But contrary to what I had hoped there isn't much HPLC, LCMS type stuff or whatever else your crazy fantasy can dream of. For right now, I'm pretty happy though. My colleagues are real nice and the work not all that bad...though time consuming and tiring. One of the supervisors is a olaf alum and my direct supervisor is a really nice lady - though she does expect quite a bit. The job is especially interesting because I get to be part of a team working on a real project in development (though I can't say more on what and everything else :D ) But I guess its not really what I'ld want to be doing for too long. Maybe 1 year at most. The worst is just the thought of being a contract worker after four years of olaf. Anyways, its good for right now and I'm happy with everything.


Otherwise I've also changed a bunch of my life. As you may already know - I've been going to lifetime fitness for good ol' workouts. That in itself isn't all that new, esp. since I've been training for triathlons for about 3 years now. But this time I'm actually getting up early. I go to bed at 9~9:30pm and get up at 4:45~5am. This way I can go workout before driving the 30mins to work...And this without getting into a traffic jam. Oh, and I get in early to work...Which looks good and helps me get out early (though I don't really mind working longer). So yeah, that's the big change...I'm trying to be more responsible. I have no clue how long I can keep up with this schedule, but I really do like it so far. The only problem is that when I get home, I'm way tired and hungry. And because I'm tired I just sit down in front of the TV and then go to bed. Food? - Yeah, I try...I frequently fall on the way to the kitchen 5ft away, and end up waking up the next day (yeah, I fall right back on the couch and end up sleeping in it till 3am...ooops). Anyways, it seems that living alone really can be hard. But I have good friends and though I may feel as something is missing, life as a single out of college ain't all that bad. But it sure sucks that all the girls I get to know have a committed relationship, taking the wind out of the sail even before the ship sets out to sea. One day though, I'm sure I'll find someone...LOL, right! I'ld be surprised if I find anybody suitable for me around here. I'm way too different...and as it appears the ones that are the best I kick out of my life. Whatever! I have fun as it is :-P

OMFG WTF is this... I WANT ONE!!!

OMG. My friend Greg found this awesome video - where I don't know. Anyways, I sure as hell can't wait for such devices to come out in the retail world.

Damn apple for getting a patent on this - can't they do one or two things like the linux community?? Ugh!

MONGOLIA

So the following two pics are of this Mongolian girl that I met at a party in Germany. Isaac, if you really do go to Mongolia, this may be the type of girls you'll find there. Though you will also see a really interesting culture - a lot of em still live as normads...Anyways, her aunt lives in Germany and she was there to study fashion - oh, and her aunt was hitting on my father like no other...man, that was a funny sight!