Matt’s Blog

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=5BFEE21A-06F9-419F-8C89-998F0D19D294

You’ll need to install the software, but it’s worth it.

• The Taste of Alcoholic Beverages
• Post-Accident Automobile Insurance Negotiation
• Filing Federal and State Taxes
• Thesis Topic Selection Procrastination Techniques
• Things Said by Dane Cook
• Methods to Circumvent the IT Department at Work
• The Perils of Student Health Insurance
• Differential Equations

No, actually 7 minutes...

So recently Atlanta Gas Light arrived at Tech to replace some of the pipelines on campus. No problem there, I like new pipes. I don’t even mind when they have to dig up the street to put the new pipes in place. Usually things are slow on campus during the summer with most of the people gone for vari- Oh wait, it’s not summer anymore is it?

Rewinding a bit… I knew something was going down when the Department of “Parking” and “Transportation” put a bunch of no parking signs out on Techwood (which is one of the main thoroughfares on campus for those who don’t know) about two weeks before school started. I noticed that the signs indicated that the work was to start around the same time as both freshman move-in and greek work week. Although I know the work had to be done sometime, and I can imagine that AGL could reason that they didn’t know when school starts (although it only took me three clicks to get from http://www.gatech.edu to http://www.registrar.gatech.edu/home/calendar/2008/fall/official.php), I can’t imagine a worse time to be closing one of the major streets on campus, and one critical to freshman move-in no less.

But what really gets me is how the Department of “Parking” and “Transportation” takes down the parking restricted signs last week, allowing the street to fill up with the cars that were quadruple-parked in my usual parking lot, even though the work hasn’t been completed yet. Then when, inevitably, the contractors show up to continue work with heavy equipment and welding torches (all inches away from student’s parked cars) the Department of “Parking” and “Transportation” shows up (several hours late no less) to replace the no parking signs. I’m surprised they didn’t immediately ticket and tow…

But what would any slight alteration in the campus roadway network be without a STINGER FEST!!!

Red Route Stinger #1 closely (as in immediately) followed by...

...Red Route Stingers #2 and #3

Finally nailed down the academic schedule for the my second to last semester at Tech:

Still have to nail down my Planning Studio, the CP department is being a pain on that one. I’m not too wild about the 3-hour PM classes, but I’ll probably drop one of them if I can get the studio. Overall I’m pleased with the way things turned out. Class early will make sure I’m out of bed and then I’ll have the rest of the day to work on stuff.

I’m writing this as I sit uncomfortably folded into a seat on a Delta jet on my way back from my quick end-of-summer vacation to CO. Normally I don’t like writing these reflection on life things, but I have nothing better to do.

I think that one of the things that make college (grad school included) so tumultuous is the near constant change. Friends move in and move out, jobs come and go, classes change, projects are completed, football coaches are paid entirely too much money to move on… you get the idea.

And now we’re in a season of change again. I know that summer isn’t quite over yet, but with school starting next Monday it might as well be. I stopped work at Kimley-Horn last Friday to give myself a week to do some traveling (Colorado and Nashville) and to catch up on rest while transitioning back to school. I stopped working at Kimley-Horn last Friday to give me a week off to transition back to school because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about change it’s that you shouldn’t try to cram it into a short period if at all avoidable. I had a great time at KHA this summer, although the biggest lesson I would take away is that you should never try to balance two high-energy jobs at the same time. Not that I really had a choice (stupid City Planning degree requirements), but working at KHA and at GT really took it out of me. I always found myself at one job thinking about the requirements of the other. Add to this the desire I had to maintain my “social life” and I found myself constantly conflicted about how to spend my time.

This next semester won’t be much easier as I will be replacing KHA with class. I’ve decided that I really *really* want to be done with the program by the end of spring, which means I need to focus a lot of energy on those class credits and my thesis this semester.

Anyways, I digress. I got to spend a lot of time with friends this summer, which I enjoyed. I wish that the ones who are moving away for school and such weren’t, but I don’t really have any control over that do I?

My visit home was great. I’m amazed at how many things have changed there. Loveland seems like an entirely different town these days. Even Mountain View has changed significantly. They finished the new classroom wing and the auditorium. It’s starting to look like a real High School now.

Yeah, so this has been a rather random post, but the bottom line is I’m excited to be getting back to GA and getting back to the whole routine. Football season is rapidly approaching, but that’s a topic for another time…

On my way to small group driving up 85 north tonight I saw this van:

In case you are wondering, it reads: “Rape Appliance Co.”

Now, I know, you’re thinking there’s no way anyone would name their company that. I thought the same, so I looked it up when I got back home:

http://www.kudzu.com/merchant/680417.html

Pretty good reviews too, he must provide top-notch um… service.

I’ve moved all the professional (ie. Civil Engineering, IT, and Planning) posts to a different blog:

http://pro-blog.mattroe.net

Maybe eventually I’ll aggregate them here.