Typical Pointy-Haired Boss

While growing up I read a lot of Dilbert comics-at one point I had read every strip created. I've always enjoyed the engineers poking fun at everyone else and their slightly sadistic sense of humor.

"Who Do You Think You Are?"

It's early evening, and he's returning from a nice run through the lower hills and is only a few blocks from his apartment. As he approaches an intersection, something catches his eye. He looks across the street to his left, and what he sees shocks him beyond belief. An older man draws out a gun, a 9mm pistol, and points it to someone standing near. He gasps as he recognizes his target-one of his closer friends. He sees through his friend's eyes into his soon-to-be-lifeless soul. His friend does not return his gaze, instead piercing his steely gaze into that of his assailant. In that moment time comes to a still.

Rainy With a Chance of Sunshine

Sometimes you write out something and realize you put too much of yourself into it. You let everyone in while you're trying to keep them out. Mistakes are sometimes unavoidable, but you have to learn from them.

Sorry.

Navigating an Intersection in Central Stockholm

(Click to Enlarge)

Sweden, like a good handful of European countries, is generally pretty bike-friendly, pedestrian-friendly, and has good public transport. To outsiders, the intersection might look like a jumbled mess of everyone going everywhere, but within the chaos there's dictated organization. It took me a few minutes of watching to completely figure out what's going on at this intersection. Some interesting things showed up, though. If you wanted to get from the left side of the picture to the bottom (by car), you had to go through the intersection and then take a left turn around the building in the top right to end up at the top of the intersection.

I did forget to draw a green arrow from the buses up top to the bottom (and I misspelled buses in the picture...). I'm too lazy to change it, but I'm sure you get the idea :)

Scandinavia: Snap Judgements

Internet has been really spotty out here and the connections are pretty sporadic, but here it goes.

So far I've been here almost five days, and it's been a good bit of time.

Stockholm:
-The people are really nice (and helpful as well, which is really awesome).
-Also, almost everyone knows Swedish and English. Most people seem to know a third language as well (about as well as we study a secondary language in the States).
-The city is really bike-friendly. There are bike lanes along most roads and intersections.
-Things seem a little expensive here, but I'm not a very good judge of what Swedes consider expensive
-I've had a ridiculous amount of smokes salmon and meats, though from I've heard that's not an everyday occasion
-The city itself is really beautiful and public transit works
Edit: The girls here are also very beautiful ;)

Helsinki:
-A ridiculous number of people smoke here, especially in places where there are "no smoking" signs.
-The city tends to smell really bad. Even after it rains, it doesn't have that characteristic clean smell. It still smells like crap all the time.
-The layout of the city is really organized and looks really nice.

I'd definitely have to say Stockholm is the better city :P Granted, I only spent one day in Helsinki and most of the rest of the time was spent in Stockholm.

Saying Goodbye

It's never easy to say goodbye; it tugs on the heartstrings like no other. It's the connections we value; that which makes the experiences special.

Life is full of many goodbyes, but it doesn't get easier with time. It almost seems harder to part ways these days. As we grow, we are better able to make connections.

It's time for another goodbye. Goodbye, Tech; at least for now.

I Don't Usually Do This...

...means you are exploitable and weak.

Saying that makes it seem like you're trying to cover your tracks; that you have something to hide. You're trying to make yourself look better because you "usually" don't do something, but the fact that you are making an exception means you are doing something, which makes you just as good as someone who does it anyways.