Japanese Siphon Bar in San Francisco per New York Times Online

An amazing feat for the coffee-drinking world, but I have a feeling I would prefer my Mr. Coffee.

I am rejoicing that classes are finished for the semester. I took a Commercial Art independent study course, an upper-level programming class titled “File Structures”, and my senior project class (CIS 499). All were quite excellent. Art was the most fun and relaxing of the bunch, probably because it gave me opportunity to exercise the right side of the brain (my favorite side), while the other two pretty much beat the left side into a pulp. However, all is well now, and despite the difficulties, I count every semester in my college history as time well-spent – an easy thing to do, once they’re finished.

Unlike my sister, Amy, I will not be graduating in a few days with the rest of my class. Because of the mental energy sucked up by my full-time job (also a left-brainer), I had to cut my scholarly endeavors back to part-time last Fall, taking three classes per semester instead of five. Although working and schooling has still been tough, it has worked out well for me, as I have been able to enjoy most of my job, and most of my classes, and haven’t yet had any nervous breakdowns (though CIS 499 brought me too close for comfort). I’m planning to complete the remainder of my classes over the summer and next fall, with expected graduation of December.

I think it would be fun now to give a brief list-style run-down of some note-worthy events of recent, to make up for my neglect:

1. Brian and I (and Amy) had our birthday a week ago – we had all just finished our classes, so a good time was had all around.
2. I have learned that golf, like every other sport I have attempted, is not for me.
3. Dyke Dean, my father-in-law, has begun working with me at Capsugel.
4. I have developed an application that will read, edit, and create PDF documents. OK – it’s buggy.
5. I designed a makeover for this site, but will not actually be developing it until my independent study course in the Fall.
6. Brian’s grandfather passed away mid-April; we travelled to Enterprise, Alabama for the funeral and I met some of his family that I had not met before.
7. Another weekend was spent celebrating and cheering Cyberstorm’s excellent robot at the international FIRST Robotics competition in Atlanta.
8. I will be traveling to Las Vegas next week for a Business Intelligence software conference (anyone know of any good craft stores in Vegas…?).
9. Penny (our crazy cat) was “fixed” in March, and it has proved to be so successful in calming her wild hair that we have scheduled the procedure to be done every few months. *

All that being said, I’m really enjoying the time that I have right now to blog and create art and travel – all those things I don’t have time for during the semester.

* Only joking – No animals were harmed during the making of this blog.