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My Almost-daily Journal |
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| About I love trying out new things, especially when it comes to internet technology. I never really kept a journal, but it's something that I've always wanted to do. Now, everybody will get a chance to look inside my twisted, and somewhat-warped mind.
I've also subscribed to Audio Blog, so a few times a week, I'll leave actual voice blogs. Very cool!XML Newsfeed Previous Posts
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Thursday, May 29, 2003
The Week from Hell... Actually it hasn't been too bad... just that I had to be in four places at the same time all week long!! Arrrrg! In the automotive industry, Murphy's Law usually has a sick sense of humor. For instance, let's take a look at engineering an exterior ground effects package. Common sense tells you to spend the most time and effort making sure that the most complex component/system will work. When Murphy's Law kicks in, Murphy will make sure that all the complex components fit ALL the time, EVERY time, on EVERY vehicle. Murphy will also make sure that the $1.23 plug that took 36 seconds to engineer NEVER fits. Murphy will also make sure that the material supplier runs out of plastic, or the plugs get lost in the mail, or the plugs are the wrong color... all the while kits are being sold at dealerships, with backorders stacking up to 1100. Multiply Murphy's Law by four, and that's my life. The Move Now take the stress level attained by multiplying Murphy's Law by four, and add the element of an office move. I'm not talking about moving from one cubicle to another... I'm talking about moving out of an office in one building, and moving a mile away to another... all while trying to synchronize the move so the two people swapping offices are moving at the same time. That's my life this week. All week I have been in emergency meetings, emergency conference calls, emergency video conferences, and emergency butt-pumping. Fortunately, I found 46 minutes between emergency butt-pumping #4 and emergency video conference #7 to pack up most of my belongings and bring them over to my new building. I still have a few more boxes of files and junk sitting in my old building, along with other engineering artifacts gathered over the last six years. And, thanks to Decoma's IT Manager, he hauled my computer and peripherals into my new office. Even though Decoma's policy is that the IT Dept is responsible for moving computers, they usually let me do my own thing since I was a manager in that department a few years ago. Nonetheless, the movement of my computer actually allowed me to be in two meetings at the same time, instead of just one, since I was able to save an hour. Between simultaneous meetings #23 and #24, I was able to make it over to my new office and actually semi-unpack. I also HAD to check my email today so I had to hook up the computer and connect to our network (another slated IT-only task). Tomorrow, I get the pleasure of getting connected to Decoma's domain-controller (network-based login... no login to local machine... yuck), so I can take advantage of the network drives. Personally, I could care less of connecting to the network drives, since I have semi-administrative privileges that allows me to see ALL the network drives... not just mine. Anyway, the IT Dept. will probably feel better (it's a status thing) that I'm back at Decoma ESE now as a USER instead of an ADMIN. Things Couldn't Be Better Outside of Work! Danielle and I are still riding the bliss wave of being engaged! Life couldn't be better right now for us! I think we're going through our guest list (thanks, Peter, for sending me yours) to try and reduce our list from 500 to around 200. My parents probably have a list of 200 Greeks that they'd like to invite: Greek School teachers, Sunday School teachers, third and fourth cousins, church patrons, neighbors from 1974... and generally anybody that speaks Greek that lives in Southeastern Michigan. I'm going to be the red-headed step-child and hack that list to about 100... there's no reason that "Uncle Mitch", a 75-year old neighbor that used to live on Richard O in 1982, should even know about our wedding. Our rule: if we haven't seen or talked to someone in five years, they go on a different list. Greece... I Almost Forgot! Oh my goodness! In all of the engagement frenzy, our excitement on going to Greece this summer has fizzled away! About a week before the engagement, Danielle and I decided to bite the bullet and spend two weeks in Greece! It was a big decision, since taking two weeks off right now for me is almost like turning my back on my responsibilities at work. But hey... last year Danielle and I only took a total of one week off (as opposed to three), with miscellaneous days spread out over the year. I think we both carried over a week, which gave us a total of four weeks off this year! Last year was a busy year for both of us. We'll be in Greece from July 12 - 27! It's actually coming up pretty fast! I have no idea what our itinerary is going to be. However, thinking out loud, I plan on renting a car when we get to Athens, and touring a little bit of the countryside, trying to hit as many ruins as possible. Of course we'll spend a full day at Acropolis... perhaps two. I'd like to get a hotel, but we might decide to stay at my aunt's apartment, since she will not be there (she'll be at my mom's summer home in the village). Isn't that weird? My mom has a summer home in Greece! It's not like you can pack up the car for the weekend and head out to Greece. I think it's weird... and neat. After we do some sight-seeing in Athens, I'd like to drive through the countryside (I'll probably end up in Beruit) to my parent's village. Their village, Agios Vasilios (St. Basil... translated) is a few miles away from Patras, which is a pretty huge metropolis on that side of the country. Agios Vasilios used to just be a little tiny village where my parents grew up. Biggest export from that village was fish, grapes, olives, wine, and olive oil. In the last two decades, that little village has now turned into a pretty bustling resort town. Adjacent to Agios Vasilios is another town called Rio, where the bars never close, everybody drives a vanity Harley, and beautiful people (both men and women) run amok. I'd compare Rio to South Beach, Miami... lights, glitz, glamor, etc. We'll probably spend a few days in Agios Vasilios, visiting all the relatives (ALL of them... my dad's sister was the only one, other than him, that left Greece). It's going to be hard to have dinner at single relative (they all insist on dinner), especially with only a few days in the village. The most important thing for me is that Danielle gets a chance to meet my grandma (my mom's mom), who's in her late 80's. Second most important thing for me is that Danielle gets a chance to see where my parents grew up. She'll get a chance to see the house that my dad lived in (when he lived there, they didn't even have running water), as well as my mom's house. We'll also get a chance to meet some of my cool cousins, that will, no-doubt, try to wine-n-dine us until the minute we're back on the plane to come home. I'm actually looking forward to spending some time with my cousin Eugenia (jennygreece on the BB), and my cousins Zoe and Petroula. Also, I can't wait to hang out with my cousin George (all Greeks are named George for some reason), who is currently a beekeeper, moving hives from mountain to mountain for different flavors of honey. I remember him as the total drifter, who probably spent more time in Amsterdam than anybody I know. After a few days in Agios Vasilios, our plan is to hit as many of the islands as possible. It's going to be hard to decide which islands to see, since we're on a limited time schedule. I definitely want to visit the island of Santorini! The legendary city of Atlantis was somewhere close to this island. There's also archealogical evidence that suggests a volcano erupted here during the "Moses Exodus" that caused the "Seven Plagues of Egypt", as well as the Tsunami that allegedly caused Moses to part the Reed Sea (yes, Reed Sea... not Red Sea... read up on this if you don't believe me). Santorini is awesome... white-washed houses all sitting atop of a mountain! I can't wait to take a hundred pictures! I also want to visit Mykonos, Corfu, Crete, Rhoades, and maybe even Lesbos (hee hee... yup, that's where it actually started). I'm not sure if we're going to jump on a canned cruise to some of these islands, or take advantage of my Uncle's status as Greece's Port Authority. Last time I was there, all we had to do is mention that we were his nephews, and we could jump on any boat, get a room, an be wine-n-dined for free. He's more powerful now, so we may even get our own yahct for the week. I wish. We'll see. I'm a little reluctant and nervous to tour Greece with Danielle, since I basically have to be the eyes, ears and throat of our whole expedition. Yes, Greek was my first language. Yes, I went to six years of Greek School. Yes, I can basically speak, read and write in Greek. Yes, we spoke Greek in the house growing up (later evolved into Gringlish). Yes, I speak Gringlish to my parents now. However, my Greek is not college-level. It's probably not even third grade level right now. My Greek vocabulary is probably 25% of what it was ten to fifteen years ago, so I am a little nervous of being able to communicate intelligently with the locals. I'm really nervous. I'm envisioning trying to rent a car or check out from a hotel... my Greek is going to be sooooo bad. Oh well. Hopefully there will be some third graders around that I can talk to. posted by Dino at 9:05 PM (permanent link) |