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PBjurman
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Name: Sam
Country: United States
State: Pennsylvania
Metro: Allentown
Birthday: 7/31/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: Cars, traveling, biking, and playing the drums. More than anything, however, I have a passion for music: Coldplay, Matchbox 20, Live, Oasis, Simon & Garfunkel, 3EB, and many others
Occupation: Retired
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  PBjurman
Member Since:
6/17/2004
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| I'm going to have to make this short since I'm off to Cleveland for work tomorrow morning. However some interesting things have happened lately.
First, my roomate Mike for 4 of 5 years at Purdue got married on August 9th, and so Marie and I drove out to Indianapolis for that. I was a groomsman in the wedding, which was great. It was super nice to see a bunch of friends from Purdue and some from further back than that. The wedding went great, and it made me wish I could see everyone from Purdue more often than I do. If I didn't like things in Pennsylvania as much as I do, I would look for a job in the Chicago area in an instant. I only spent a semester (fall 2002) in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and it felt like home.
Last weekend, I took part in a bike race up in Vermont. It's really pretty up there, it was my first time ever to visit the state. The race was only 38 miles, but the course went across the state line into New York and back, over two covered bridges. It was great. However...on the drive up to Vermont at 5 AM on Saturday, I was getting sleepy in upstate New York south of Albany, and I stopped at a rest area to get some coffee. That was when I realized...that I had forgotten my wallet...and cash/credit cards, etc...back home in Pennsylvania. I had enough gas to get to the bike race, but not enough to get home.
So...I was obviously pondering what the heck I was going to do to get home. Turns out a nice guy from Florida lent me $20 to get some gas for the drive home, that was super nice of him. And the $20 bought me more than enough gas to get all the way back to Pennsylvania. That's what happens when you wake up at 2 AM to drive up to New England to do a bike race...
was it driving together
That drove us apart
Or did we change direction
Chasing arrows and hearts?
we've been wandering alone such a long time
Lose our way as we go town to town
-Fountains of wayne | | |
| Hey, so this is a little late, but I hope everyone had a nice 4th. This year we stuck around town here, and watched the fireworks at Dorney Park in Allentown. The weather was kinda bad for fireworks, it was really hazy and overcast so sometimes it was hard to see them. I always enjoy the 4th, whether it's watching fireworks or setting off some of my own. I got to thinking, hey for whatever reason I actually can specifically remember the last 10 July 4th holidays. It helps (for memory's sake) that I've been all over the place:
2008 (this year): Watched fireworks with Marie and some other friends in the Office Depot parking lot in Allentown, PA.
2007: Erie, PA. Blew up stuff with my cousins at my uncle's house while Marie stayed at a safe distance, concerned for our safety. One of the best July 4ths in recent history.
2006: Houston, TX. Umm...I can't really remember what we did. I must have forgotten in the craziness of getting ready to move to Pennsylvania.
2005: League City, TX. Watched the fireworks over Clear Lake from the marina outside my apartment complex. I was trying my hand at some amateur photography, attempting to get good fireworks shots. I didn't own a tripod yet, so it was tough.
2004: Newburgh, IN. I was working in Kentucky at the time, and drove up to hang out with James and my sister. Blew up stuff in my dad's driveway, including a Citronella candle and a bag of charcoal. I think a small hole was melted in the blacktop as well.
2003: Chicago, IL. Watched fireworks over Navy Pier with Sarah. Pretty cool.
2002: West Lafayette, IN. Watched fireworks, also w/Sarah, from the top of Northwestern parking garage at Purdue, after a party at Brian Ward's summer apartment. One of my favorites as well.
2001: Kingsport, TN. Watched fireworks with some people from work, while I was on co-op at Eastman. The city of Kingsport puts on a really good fireworks show for their July 4th. I remember being quite impressed.
2000: Lafayette, IN. Set off fireworks at my apartment at River Walk with Bulldog and some gal pal of his (?).
1999: Newburgh, IN. Set off fireworks and blew up stuff with Mike Condon at home, before we moved to Purdue for college. Ah, this was a good one, I think we destroyed a beehive, blanketed the neighborhood with "Commando Smoke", and had a mishap as well (bottle rocket blew up right next to our faces, it was really, really loud.) Ah, those were the days.
And that's about it, 1998 and 1997 were similar, blowing up stuff either at Mike's house or at my house in Newburgh. And before that...*gasp* we might have gone to Evansville to watch the official fireworks displays, or the Lock & Dam.
That's it for now. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer...
-Sam
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| Wow, it's been a while since my last update. Some thoughts for you to peruse--
Quite a bit of skiing in recent months. As some of you are aware, I took up skiing last year when I went skiing for the first time ever here in Pennsylvania. Since then I've been skiing in New York and California (and technically Nevada) and I think I'm getting better. I've been trying larger skis (I use 170 cm now) and I enjoy it more when I don't fall and hurt myself. I bruised my heel really, really bad in New York a month ago (it got to the point I could barely put weight on it so I finally went to the doctor) and I've tried to be a little more careful lately. California was beautiful, it was a lot of fun skiing out there. New York was pretty good, the snow coming off the lakes is better than the stuff we get here in Pennsylvania.
While out in California for skiing, I got to visit San Francisco and hang out with a couple friends out there. It's an amazing city. I would like to see more of the city next time I visit. Everyone is so friendly in Northern California as well, I was impressed. Such a beautiful place. And the produce out there is great...I brought back several fresh oranges, cherries, papaya....yum. I also got to experience DEL TACO which is like a little bit better than Taco Bell. Nothing too amazing there, but I did scarf down a grande burrito when my flight got into Sacramento at 1:35 AM (4:35 AM Allentown time).
Did I mention I hate SUVs? I'm not really talking about your RAV-4 or CRV, I'm talking the now excessively huge 2008 GMC YUKON and all the HUMMERS. There is no reason to drive a vehicle such as that. It's embarrasingly wasteful. I'm proud to be an American as the next guy, but c'mon now folks. Also apparently a 2002 Honda Civic fits perfectly within the blind spot of these behemoths, which is irritating, to say the least. If you drive one of these ridiculous vehicles and are reading this, I'm sorry. Sorry for you that is, not for my comments. (end soapbox)
I heard the song "Desperado" by the Eagles yesterday. It's amazing how some songs can really work their way into your soul. If you don't know the song, take a listen. If you are familiar with the Eagles then another fantastic song is "Take It to the Limit". If you read the lyrics they're really not that different. Live life to the fullest...don't let love pass you by. Really hits home with me.
Well I've been playing the drums again lately. In Kentucky I was practicing every week, and I really felt like I was starting to get better. Then I took another two years off (after not playing for 5 years, since high school) and it's tough to get back with it again after so much time off. A couple of friends and I have some good songs practiced up, and it's so much fun to play music again. I might even try my hand at writing a song or two. I've never done that before. When I was a kid I hated taking drum lessons. My parents started me early as a little kid and I didn't like practicing. Now I'm so glad that my parents wouldn't let me quit. I would have regretted that a million times over. Music is the international language. If at no other time, I was convinced when I was in a pub in the Netherlands waving around a Heineken singing along to Rocketman (Elton John).
I was the fastest typer in my 4th-grade class, I could bust out a million words a minute it seemed on that old Apple IIc. Now 17 years later, my hands hurt when I type. Kids, go play baseball outside with your friends, don't type. I guess kids don't type now, they text. Probably even worse.
I had a dream the other day that I had a job in Chicago and I was super excited, then I woke up. I guess you can take the boy out of the Midwest but you can't take the Midwest out of the boy. So cliche, but maybe it's true. Not that there's anything wrong with Pennsylvania. I think the worst part is having to drive on U.S. Hwy 22 every day. It's stressful.
Well I better cut this off since it's getting late. Have a good week everyone.
Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can't get
The Eagles -- Desperado
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| Hey folks.
Wow it's been a little while since I posted an update. Here goes...
So I just got back from a wedding in Dallas. As always I got to see a bunch of friends (from Purdue as well as friends I met when I lived in Houston) which was nice. Marie and I rented a Pontiac G6, which was a pretty nice car, but the guy at the counter offered us a Hummer for "only" $29.95 extra a day. I was like...hell no, I wouldn't be caught dead driving one of those. I did mention that I wouldn't be able to afford the gas for it, the guy just sorta chuckled.
The trip went really well, until....THE DREADED MOMENT when I had dropped off the rental car, sent Marie off to her terminal to catch her flight back to Indianapolis, and then hopped on the rental car shuttle so I could go to the terminal. About halfway through the 7-minute trip, I happened to reach into my pocket and noticed that...I had forgotten to return the keys for the rental car. @&*(&@*(%&
So...I stayed on the shuttle and rode it all the way back to the rental car center, which took FOREVER because of random slow people...threw the keys back on the rental car counter and explained my situation, and then ran (with my bag of course) back to catch another shuttle to the terminal.
After all these shenanigans, it was only 38 minutes before my flight...less than the minimum 45 minutes in order to check a bag. So I missed my flight, and had to wait for another flight on standby. There were only two remaining flights to Philadelphia that day, and the second one got back at 1:05 AM which was super late considering Allentown is another hour drive from the PHL airport. But...somehow I managed to get on the first standby flight..."LAST CALL FOR MISTER HARTMANN...PLEASE REPORT TO THE AGENT". Woo hoo, I was the LAST person on the flight and they closed the door right after me. Wow...I was thinking THANK GOD I didn't have to spend the night in the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. And...now I'm back. So all is good. I think I'm going to take the boarding pass that the agent gave me and laminate it or frame it or something. Seriously.
In other news, I started a new assignment at work on Monday and I have NO clue what I'm doing. It's good to have the confidence of three years on the job, but still, this'll be 100% a learning experience because I have 0% clue what's going on. I'm working in process controls now, after two years as a process engineer and a production engineer before that. So we'll see how it goes. I'm also working in air separation now instead of hydrogen plants. Totally new technology, very interesting.
Oh, and I found some Ramen noodles and Zatarain's Gumbo Mix in my cabinet today from 2004 (purchased in Paducah, KY). While, at the same time, I couldn't find the salt...and then remembered I used it to get my car un-stuck when we got 11 inches of snow overnight in February and still had to report to work. This is no Evansville, Indiana, folks.
"Your love has shown me things
I never thought I could see
I didn't know
It could be done so easily..."
-The Monkees "Sometime in the Morning"
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| I took part in the Burlington, NJ Rotary 100 yesterday, it's a suburban town right across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. I saw the ORIGINAL BURLINGTON COAT FACTORY on my way to the high school where the race started. The place looked very unimpressive, it was a white cinder-block warehouse with those words painted on the side. FYI for all of you planning a pilgrimage there, not worth it.
So anyways, I picked the 55-mile course, I was debating going further but I haven't been on my bike in almost a year (Tour de Brazoria County, TX, June 2006 was the last time). Surprisingly to me, south Jersey is actually really pretty. We were out in the country and there were horse farms everywhere, surrounded by trees and windy country roads, and then when we got back to the Burlington area there is a lot of agriculture and it's a little flatter. The first rest area at 25 mi. was this cute little farm with horse stables, woods, and the farmhouse was painted a light blue. Really nice place. I took a couple of pictures with my cell phone but they got messed up somehow (?). Maybe next time I'll bring a real camera.
With the "rolling hills" (a.k.a. what felt like mountains to me) I'd say 55 miles was just fine. About 30 miles into the ride, I hit the hilly part and my legs got sore pretty quick. The next twenty miles were a little rough, but there was a rest stop at mile 43 that was a life-saver. The guy made me a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and I downed a couple packets of GU. A girl was there too who was doing the 100-mile course, she said she does 100 miles every weekend. Wow.
And the weather couldn't have been more beautiful. It started out a little chilly (~45°) but the sun came out and it was a nice day, warmed up to about 60-65.
So I withdraw some of the bad comments that I've made in the past about New Jersey (note: some). I guess it's a bad first impression when the first two cities that you see in the state are Newark and Secaucus, probably the two worst-looking areas I've seen in my life (and I've been to Gary, East St. Louis...).
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