“I just wanted to make sure that you had the chance to not hear that for the right reason.” — Jessi

“Every once in a while, when I’m going somewhere, I’ll realize where I am because I see a piece of debris in the road that I recognize.” — Jessi

Well asked to ask people questions. I took him up on his offer. Other people are certainly welcome to ask me more questions, and if you really want I could try to think of questions to ask you.

1. If you had the opportunity to have a company sponsor your Ph.D., and living expenses while you go it, but you had to quit your current job, would you do it?

I have Pictures from Costa Rica! I found a reasonable photo gallery program that let me be lazy, and decided to host them off my computer anyway. Maybe one day I’ll scan in some of our wedding pictures and post them as well.

Right now, there’s a folder there per roll of film, and the pictures are not labeled or organized in any way. Perhaps, one day, it might get fixed.

In one of the most impressive acts of Microsoft incompetence I’ve ever seen, there’s a bug in Microsoft’s handling of JPEGs that would allow even looking at an image to take over your computer. I suggest that those running Microsoft software read the bulletin and get patched.

So, I have pictures that Jessi and I took in Costa Rica, although many came out fuzzy or with fingers in front of the lens. I also have a copy of the pictures that were from the team camera. I would like to share these pictures with other people. The problem is, these pictures total over 150 megs, and I’m not sure where to host them. Yahoo’s got a photo service, but the UI stinks and you can’t get the full-size picture back from them. (They have thumbnails, and you can click the thumbnail to get a slightly larger picture, but I don’t think they store or let you get back the full-size picture again. At least, I couldn’t figure out how.)

So, yesterday, Jessi, my parents, and I chatted with a Builder person. We chatted over the possibilities, and we’re now planning on having a built-there house instead of a built-off-site-and-shipped-there house. We think that building it there reduces the risk of damage during shipment and increases our options and customizability.

This week, we should be getting approval from the Board of Health and Conservation Commission. After that, we just need to get a loan, clear the land, put down hay bales, dig a well, get utility poles put in, get a building permit, and build a house.

Friday after work, we had Julia and Ryan over for supper, and then we went to Gaming Weekend and played muchness of games.

Saturday morning, Jessi went with her family garage saleing. In the afternoon, Jessi, her sister, and I went to Gaming Weekend for my tournament. 16 people showed up, and it was a lot of fun. Oddly enough, the final championship-deciding match came down to Jessi vs. her sister. Jessi won. (See final results)

“Any feature that I cannot turn off is a bug” — Jessi

See many of you at Gaming Weekend!

Received good news this morning!

Dear Pete and Jessi,
The planning board signed the plans for creating your lot. One step closer!
Love,
Mom

So, it’s Fall, using the definition that Fall begins when School begins. Gaming weekend is coming up, which I’m quite excited about. Everyone should come to WPI this weekend.

After this weekend, I start my Last Class Ever for my Master’s degree. I didn’t particularly want any of the courses offered this semester, but then I saw CS 503. I think I already know most of the content in it from my undergraduate courses, but (a) I haven’t taken a graduate course on CS theory of languages, (b) I’m interested in the topic, and (c) I want an easy course since I’m taking it while doing work full-time. I have BS/MS credit for the course that it’s a prerequisite for, but not for this course, so it looks like I can take it, hopefully easily ace it, and be done with my degree. Assuming, of course, that the professor doesn’t kick me out on the first day of class because the course would be so easy for me that he refuses to give me credit for it.