David

peckarsky @ 2005-07-04T22:25:00

2005-07-05T02:26:03Z

Weekend

2005-07-02T18:32:16Z

I'm going home for the weekend. Dinner with the family tonight, climbing of some sort tomorrow, back to PA sometime midday monday. Happy 4th of July, from the state where there's a fireworks stand on every roadside :)

(On an entirely unrelated note, I need new userpics)

peckarsky @ 2005-06-26T22:00:00

2005-06-27T02:01:59Z

So tomorrow's my first day of work. I'm supposed to be an engineer now. Kind of scary, but should be interesting.

News and such

2005-06-11T18:01:33Z

I haven't written in here for a long time, but I figure enough new things are happening, may as well write it up.

I graduated from UMCP a few weeks ago. Graduation weekend was fun, but the whole "I'm graduating" thing is kind of anti-climactic. Probably because I'm just being a bum these few weeks before I move to Pennsylvania. To make light switches. Sort of. Going to be working for Lutron Electronics, which makes "lighting control systems", from wallbox dimmers to central building controls. I figure I want to do grad school at some point in the next few years, but not really sure in what, so if I'm going to be dabbling in something just for the heck of it I might as well get paid for it.

I went up to PA the week after graduation to find an apartment. Also met some people from the Lutron climbing club at a climbing gym up there; not exactly Earth Treks, but the people are friendly and it's a lot cheaper. And now I have a lease lined up to start on June 21. Anyone know someone looking for a roommate in the Allentown area?

My new address will be:
126 Society Park Ct
Emmaus, PA 18049

And late-breaking news: As of this afternoon, my sister is getting married. Her now-fiance talked to my parents about it a few weeks ago, and they just told me this week (after we got back from a family friend's wedding). When Jill called me, she said I was good at keeping secrets. But what she doesn't know is that my parents and the future inlaws are already up in Chicago and going to meet them for dinner tonight. Such intrigue, I tell you.

Costa Rica Photos

2004-07-31T22:00:15Z

Hi everyone. Trying to upload photos, don't know if they'll finish before I have to leave the internet cafe. check www.glue.umd.edu/~dkpeckar.

David

edit:
Fixed it; use http://www.glue.umd.edu/~dkpeckar/CostaRica/

adios

2004-07-20T04:03:09Z

And I'm heading out for a bit tomorrow. Costa Rican mail is supposed to be pretty bad, but email is somewhat available. If I have addresses, I'll even write back, and it'll show up some time in September.

WST folk, break legs (not gears, please).

peckarsky @ 2004-05-07T21:04:00

2004-05-08T01:02:05Z

Art Attack canceled due to rain :(
Now time to run back and take down the stage. Hopefully it'll stop raining.

Update: My haiku summary away message:

rainy art attack
stormy lightning canceled it
now we strike in mud

Into the Woods and Down the Pike

2004-04-25T19:54:32Z

I feel like it's still yesterday. Slept till around noon Saturday, wandered around Maryland Day, talked to a few people about the submarine (which is never getting done at this rate).

Saturday night, Into the Woods. A bunch of great characters, plus cool pyrotechnics and birds on strings. And I wrote a greenroom letter, really I did. Good luck next weekend, everyone.

Got back to CP around midnight, then got up at 5:30 to come back to Rockville and run the Pike's Peek 10K with a bunch of Terp Runners. 52:07, not bad for my first one. I figured anything under an hour would be ok.

Anyone want to try the Oy Vay 10K in June? Benefits the Hebrew Home.

Now, I think it's time for a nap.

peckarsky @ 2004-04-05T04:05:00

2004-04-05T08:01:51Z

**Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:

"I stole out of the house and ran the six blocks home. I got there in time. . ."

**Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?

My calendar

**What is the last thing you watched on TV?

The Ten Commandments

**WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what the time is: 3:55am

**Now look at the clock, what is the actual time? 3:49am

**With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

Music. From my computer. Enya, "Now we are free"

**When did you last step outside? what were you doing?

Around 7, to go to the gym

**Before you came to this website, what did you look at?

<a href="http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_354.html"> The Straight Dope</a>

**What are you wearing?

mesh shorts, gray t-shirt

**Did you dream last night?

Not that I can remember

**When did you last laugh?

A few hours ago, was inexlicably hyper.

**What is on the walls of the room you are in?

Calendar, class schedule, map of the world, poster of quotes, spots of ink that spattered when I was changing my printer cartridge.

**Seen anything weird lately?

My rather thoroughly Christian roommate had a box of matzah.

**Last movie you saw?

In part: The Ten Commandments
In whole: School of Rock
In a theater: The Butterfly Effect

**If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?

A helicopter, and flying lessons.

**Tell me something about you that I don't know:

You probably don't know that I had pizza for lunch.

**If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?

Ban ideological warfare

**Do you like to dance?

only if I'm fairly drunk

**George Bush:

I didn't vote for him. I'd rather he weren't president.

**Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

My daughter

**Would you ever consider living abroad?

sure

peckarsky @ 2004-03-10T01:13:00

2004-03-10T06:09:08Z

21...and drunk....with Aaron and Kevin. Good night.

peckarsky @ 2004-01-26T11:45:00

2004-01-26T16:42:12Z

Snow day....now if we get tuesday off too, I'll miss most of my classes for the week.

peckarsky @ 2004-01-21T22:57:00

2004-01-22T03:55:41Z

Having fun in Antigua. And I have about 2 minutes left on the web connection. So far, haven't gotten burned. Highlights include reading about half of Quicksilver and winning a bottle of rum in a limbo contest.

Today, I had a close encounter with a jellyfish, and I won $8 at the new casino. But they wouldn't let me in the nightclub because I was wearing shorts.

30 seconds left....have a nice day.

Stuff

2004-01-16T22:38:19Z

Got back from the Habitat trip to New Orleans last night. And by last night I mean Sunday. But I starting writing this and then got distracted.

Gwynn (“Pale ‘n scrawny”): Incoming UM-HFH President. Quite possibly the nicest person on earth. Likes pale and scrawny guys, doesn’t like driving 80 mph.

Sarah(“Hearbreaker”): I don’t know where the nickname came from. Likes horses and running.

Dan(“Hoffman, Hoffmazing”): The refined essence of Habitat. Also contruction manager. All-around great guy.

Liz (“BIG Momma”): Outgoing president, leader extraordinaire. Likes beer.

Aaron (“One foot behind bars”): Incoming treasurer. Though he was quiet last year. Proven thoroughly wrong this year.

Josh (“Excardon Me”): More than just a WST conductor. Works hard, teaches Casino, doesn’t shave.

John (“Skanky Lanky”): Really tall ME grad student. Tag-team humour with Aaron.

Laura (“Dry Spell”, “Commando”): DG like Liz, always smiles, occasionally neglects underwear or swims in near-freezing pond.

Amy M (“Hoff-woman”): Another WST convert. Sometimes quiet; sometimes amazing bowling skill. Likes alcohol in small quantities.

Mike (“Spike James”): Josh’s roommate, likes jazz and crosswords.

Matt (“Questionable”): Outgoing treasurer, trip coordinator, accused metrosexual, sense of direction comparable to my own.

Kelley (“Pampered chef”): Loquacious English/philosophy/government major. Likes to cook, talk, read Harry Potter, and sleep with a plush rabbit.

Colin (“Mr. C”): Architecture grad student. “Not thaaat old”

Bruce (“The Urinator”): Grad student (environmental science?). Did Peace Corps in Africa, lived all over the Caribbean. Has lots of jokes and stories, small bladder.

Amy W. (“Dubya”): Outgoing fundraiser and much more. DJ and singer, likes everybody, and alcohol in large quantities.

Lei (“Not thaaat nice”): Fellow QUEST-er and candy-bar improver. Acid sarcasm, says “ROFL”.

Thursday night, got a ride over to Matt's with Lei. Slept under the beer pong table. Fortunately they had just cleaned the place.

Turns out some car thieves came by on New Years Eve, stole the UMD minivan, and tried to steal Liz's car but left it with a busted lock and ignition. Motor pool was very nice and gave us another van.

By 6 am Friday, everyone except Kelley made it to Matt's, so we virtually left on time. We left in the dark, and possibly rain(?). I drove the big van, which is fine for interstates in the middle of nowhere with speed limits around 70, but not so much fun on the beltway. Kelley calls at 6:40 as we're around Georgia Avenue. We pull off and meet her at Grosvenor metro.

About 1100 miles of interstate, 1 sunrise and sunset, and 20 hours later, we arrived at Camp Abbey, north of Covington, LA. Around 1:30 am CST. Turns out they weren't expecting us until Sunday afternoon. And there's a bunch of people in the cabins preparing for the high school retreat on Saturday. We manage to get one cabin on the condition we clear out by 8 am.

Of course, the first thing Saturday (after clearing out of camp) is breakfast at IHOP. Followed by a trip in to the city.

On the north end of New Orleans is Lake Ponchartrain, 24 miles across and 22 feet deep. On the north end of the 24-mile causeway across the lake is Mandeville, where we worked. The Causeway runs into US 190, which goes through Mandeville, past many stores/shopping centers/Wal-Marts, through Covington, where we worked last year, and up to Million Dollar Road, which leads to the camp and looks like somewhat less than a million bucks.

Saturday night we need some place to stay, and something to call dinner. There’s a Cici’s Pizza on the city side of the lake, not too far to go if we had a decent sense of getting around the city. But apparently New Orleans doesn’t have well-marked or sanely designed interchanges, so it took many U-turns, map consultations, and head scratchings to find the place. But it was cheap and good food. Found a motel 8 to stay at.

Sunday we went out for a picnic at Sunset Point park on the lake. Nice place. Though about half the people (myself included) spent most of the time playing Battle of the Sexes; apparently men are supposed to know about fishing and cars, and women about cooking and fashion. Who woulda thunk?

Sunday night was the Sugar Bowl. Thousands of rabid LSU fans down to New Orleans from Baton Rouge. So of course we had to go into the city. It was crazy. Police everywhere, yet none seemed to care about bars selling drinks right onto the street with no ID involved whatsoever. Many beads flying around. No one died or got lost.

The rest of the week kind of all mashed together. Started building Tuesday, though there wasn’t too much work to do. Rained out Wednesday. Spent Thursday siding a shed, Friday and Saturday built sills and the floor frame for one house. At various points, went bowling, to preservation hall, jogged to the Abbey and back, jumping in and very quickly out of the frigid pond, had a giant bonfire, found that bars on the North Shore are much stricter than in the city.

This week I managed to thoroughly waste a great deal of time. Eventually unpacked, packed for Antigua, bought books, went to Sandtown Wednesday and mortared in a few more joists. Coughed up gray gunk.

Finally got all my grades in; kind of surprised to get an A in Tech writing. But I suppose I can’t really complain.

peckarsky @ 2003-12-10T12:04:00

2003-12-10T17:01:21Z

What Irrational Number Are You?

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<tr [...] ;>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<div align="center"><table style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; border-color: #006666; border-collapse: collapse;" width="400" cellpadding="4"><tr><td style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font: 110%; font-weight: bold; color: #FFFFFF; background: #066d98; text-align: center;" border="1">What Irrational Number Are You?</td></tr><tr style="color: black ; background: #DDDDDD; font: 10pt;";><td style="color: black ; background: #DDDDDD; font: 10pt;";><div style="text-align: center; font: bold 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times Roman', Times, serif;">You are √2</div><p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times Roman', Times, serif;\ color: black; font: 10pt;"><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times Roman', Times, serif; color: black; font: 10pt;">You are in good company, many other square roots are also irrational numbers. Just by being a square root you have been branded a radical. You are considered very attractive, especially by Europeans (at least on paper.)<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times Roman', Times, serif;\ color: black; font: 10pt;">You fear that a relationship with another √2 may somehow end up complex and ultimately imaginary. In reality, only another √2 will make you whole.<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'Times Roman', Times, serif;\ color: black; font: 10pt;">Your lucky number is approximately 1.41421356</div></td></tr><tr style="color: black ; background: #DDDDDD;"><td style="color: black ; background: #DDDDDD;"><table width="100%"><tr><td align="left"><a href="http://www.shinylemur.com">Shiny Lemur</a></td><td align="center"><form action="http://www.shinylemur.com/modules.php?name=Irrational_Numbers" method="post" style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><input type="submit" value="Take the Quiz!"></form></td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/straif/">Straif's Blog</a></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></div>

Inititiation....

2003-12-07T00:27:43Z

Last night was Tau Beta Pi Initiation. Very serious ceremony stuff. Hush Hush. If I told you, I'd have to kill you. Or perhaps myself. But then the initiation chairs spent half the party making fun of the ceremony. I can tell you I got the "best shined bent award". I'm sure there are several inapproriate jokes that can be made off that.

Engineers' party..wild stuff. Rancid wine and Skyy blue. I brought baked ziti and was rather popular for bringing real food, although the brownies and pie were nice. Followed by several games of Fluxx. Around 11, people were getting ready to go, and Will shows up, thinking he'd be on the early side, with a case of Busch or somesuch. Oh well.

Today = me, 26 king-sized snickers bars, packing tape, a knife, scissors, glue, and a futile attempt to make a prototype of this "resealable candy bar wrapper". At least it smells nice.

AIM Profile Virus

2003-12-07T00:09:30Z

Watch out for a virus lurking in AIM profiles, something like "I can't belive I found [your SN]'s picture here! HAHAHAH" with a link to www.buddypicture.net
This site http://www.jayloden.com/VirusClean.htm has removal instructions, although I don't know if the removal program works.

peckarsky @ 2003-12-05T01:48:00

2003-12-05T06:47:01Z

I walked outside and it was snowing. And apparently had been for some time. Rather surprising, despite the fact that I knew it was supposed to snow. I dunno. Sleep time.

Why I love our government

2003-11-14T06:43:55Z

The Greatest Deliberative Body Shows What It Does Best: Talk Itself Silly

The U.S. Senate has now been debating continuously since 6pm Wednesday over 4 judicial nominations, or rather over whether they should have to vote on them. Some highlights:

". . .the much-touted dignity of the Senate reigned supreme until, oh, about 6:10, when Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) held up a sign that revealed his plans for the night:

'I'll Be Home Watching The Bachelor.'"

"7:05 [wednesday night] -- Downstairs, in the Mansfield Room, the Democrats are holding a pep rally for supporters, some of whom wear T-shirts that read: 'We Confirmed 98% of Bush's Judges And All We Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.'"

"12:45 -- Up in the press gallery, somebody has put a six-pack of beer on ice, creating a quandary for those reporters who are still awake: If they drink a beer, they could doze off and miss some of this scintillating debate. If they don't drink a beer, they have to watch the debate stone-cold sober."

"7:20 [Thursday Morning] -- Outside, the sun is fighting through heavy gray clouds, illuminating the magnificent dome of the Capitol.

Police in heavy coats are standing guard. One of them has been watching the debates on and off through the long night.

"I could see if it was something important like the budget or Iraq," the cop says, "but who cares about judicial appointments?"

"They should get a life," the cop says.

More candy

2003-11-13T02:29:41Z

Do you like candy? Of course you do. Take a survey?

peckarsky @ 2003-11-08T21:52:00

2003-11-09T02:51:45Z

Tell me what you really think

Put yourself on the map:

You Just Don't Mess With Texas

2003-10-15T02:21:38Z

<td bgcolor="#000000">Name:</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">You will conquer:</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">the United States of America (except for Texas).</td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">Your title will be:</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">King/Queen</td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">You will succeed by:</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">Getting a cameo on the Simpsons (doh!).</td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">Your Enforcers will be:</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">Nanobots (nobody can stop nanobots).</td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">Your first act as ruler:</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">Hire a body double (or twenty).</td></tr>

The World Is MINE! by Demonac

Created with quill18's MemeGen!

peckarsky @ 2003-10-14T10:58:00

2003-10-14T14:56:18Z

I slept through my fluids class, because I'm just lazy. I walk across the street to Susquehanna for English, and it's cancelled. And tai chi is optional review today...this is interesting.

peckarsky @ 2003-10-03T01:06:00

2003-10-03T05:10:01Z

I played soccer on my roommate's intramural co-ed team tonight. First time I remember playing since MSI, elementary-school-ish. Running all around I can do. Kicking I can sort of do. Kicking the ball is a bit more difficult. And there was the little matter that we almost missed the game because I couldn't remember where the hell I parked in that garage...it all looks the same. So now I put it in my phone.

Went to IHOP afterward. I realized I'd never been to the CP IHOP, and this is simply no good. They have good blueberry pancakes.

I was doing laundry before we left. Unfortunately, drier didn't finish clothes in time to change out and dry sheets. So now I have no sheets on my bed, only sheets in the drier. Will this keep me from sleeping anyway? Probably not.

survey

2003-10-02T17:45:05Z

We're doing surveys for my QUEST class. But we got a cool topic: candy bars. So if you like candy (or even if you don't), take our survey

peckarsky @ 2003-09-27T02:09:00

2003-09-27T06:05:42Z

<td bgcolor="#000000">Your Name</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">Astrological Sign</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">Angel Type</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">Angel of Mysteries</td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">Wing Color</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">Yellow with gold tips</td></tr><td bgcolor="#000000">Heavenly Weapon</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">Lightning rod</td></tr>

Afterlife as an Angel by childdoll

Created with quill18's MemeGen!