Monday, June 25, 2007

I passed my thesis proposal today! It's the last major hurdle before my defense, and it means I will hopefully graduate in a year or so.

Is it bad that I was more looking forward to the release of Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s than I was to passing my proposal? Haha.

Went to the driving range today. It was my second time ever. I suck at hitting golf balls.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

I came back from Korea a couple of weeks ago. The trip was cool, although I didn't really have much time for sightseeing. Which was OK, because I did some of that last time I was in Korea, which was last fall.

The flight back was on a Boeing 777, which was the first time I'd ever been on one. Each seat had a personal touch-screen TV, so that was cool. I watched the movie The Namesake on the flight, which was pretty good. It's about an Indian couple who emigrates to the US and raises their kids here.

Today I saw a performance by this group called the 7 Fingers Circus. It was impressive. They're a Canadian group that is something like Cirque du Soleil (or so I imagine, I've never seen Cirque du Soleil). But they had various stunts involving hoops, basketballs, skateboards, poles, etc. that were fun to watch. If you go to this page and click on "Video Clips" on the right, you can see what I'm talking about... I'm not sure how much longer that web page is going to be up though, since it's promoting the show in Ann Arbor which ends tomorrow.

I've been continuing with my flight lessons. Lately I've done some interesting flights, including a couple of night flights and a couple of longer-distance solo flights. The night flights are cool because it's just a different experience up there at night. The air is calmer, and you see the lights of the various cities out there in the darkness, and it's easier to see other air traffic too. And the solo flights are cool because they're what being a pilot is all about -- planning a trip from one airport to another and flying it.

Here's a picture I took on one of my recent solo flights. I was flying from Ypsilanti to Marshall, which is a small town by Battle Creek, and passed by the south end of Ann Arbor. This picture is looking north at Ann Arbor from about 2500 feet up. It's from my cell phone camera which is really low quality, so you can't see much. The main east-west road in the photo is I-94 -- you can see the State Street ramp on the left. From the plane I could see Michigan Stadium in the distance quite clearly, but you can't see it in the photo since it's too zoomed out.