And now I am not homeless anymore!

Now I finally have a place with my own room, i.e. I am moved into my summer housing now! So I am feeling a bit more confident about the summer now.

I haven't updated in a while because at the house that I have been staying at for the past 5 days didn't have an internet connection. But now I do, so I can.

That being said, I start work full time tomorrow. Woo hoo, working from 7:00 am until 3:30 pm. 8 hour day, so I'll be making about 90-100 dollars a day, which is much better than the 67 or so that I made last summer. So that'll be great for having a little extra spending money this summer. I am kind of excited, but kind of nervous about actually starting to work full time for a real company, not just my university. I want to succeed, and I will work towards that (especially because I have to re-make the money I spent on my D7000.) I hope that this job will be a good stepping stone up to a better engineering job after I graduate.

Speaking of graduating, now that this years seniors have graduated, I am now officially a Senior in College! IT seems odd to me, like seems usual when something has to do with time. As I have said I still feel like I should be in high school or elementary school. I don't know. Where I am right now feels real, and I have a lot of good memories from this time in my life, but it doesn't seem right yet. I am almost out there on my own, just one more year before I am thrown into the real world. But it doesn't seem right.

Anyways, I bought my 3rd copy of Sins of a Solar Empire yesterday. I works on max graphics even on my netbook! I bought it on steam because it was half off, and my other copies were installed with discs, but my netbook doesn't have a disc drive. It is still one of my favorite games, and the sequel is coming out soon! Yay!

Now I am kind of moving stuff around in my room, getting it set up for when I get a desk and a real bed thing. Im probably going to have my brother's TV in my room so I can play Xbox in there, but I could have it in the back room with the other 2 TVs in the house. And I can have it with my Gamecube. Best thing ever.

I got a few pictures lately, but I haven't really gotten my camera out, since I have been in limbo.

So I've only really a couple good pictures recently:

Little ugly baby bird. But it was kind of cute.

Well, that's all I've got. Until Next time,

Kevin


TV: Game of Thrones
Movie: Limitless
Music: Gotye, The National
Game: Sins of a Solar Empire
Food: Burger King... ugh...

And now I am homeless...

At least for a few days. I can't move into my summer housing until the 21st of May, so I am crashing on the floor of one of my friends houses for 5 days. That'll be... interesting. I foresee lots of time just kind of hanging out at the Student Union on campus (since I can get internet) and roaming around with my camera.

Sorry, no pictures this time, as my desktop is all packed up, and I don;t want to get out my backup harddrive to post a couple pictures.

The last few days has been consistent of way too much moving and packing and getting freshmen's stuff and packing my storage unit and unpacking it and repacking it so that more stuff will fit. I think that everything that needs to be is in my storage unit now, though.

As seems the norm, I still don't feel like it is summer. Still being on campus doesn't help, either. I am kind of... sad, even that the semester is over, if only because I will miss the people who are usually here, and I will miss the hubbub of campus life. I also am kind of nervous about actually living on my own this summer, and working full time at an actual job, not just doing research (like I did last summer). I'm also not looking forward to the next few days, as I am basically a displaced person, and I will literally have nothing to do. Thank goodness I get to work for 4 hours tomorrow, at least. I'll probably go try to find an interesting place in town to take pictures (though that'll be a stretch, Valpo is boring as hell).

Now I am sitting in the Union Cafe eating a sandwich and typing away on my netbook. Campus seems too... quiet. It kind of reminds me of last summer, when I was stuck here as well. I am kind of regretting staying here for the summer, but I guess that I've got to do what I've got to do, employment wise. I am going to be getting paid pretty well here, and it'll be a great boost to my resume. It just means that I am away from Colorado again.

I don't think that I would want to work here, at least not in Indiana or Illinois. They are too boring for my taste. I want Mountains and plains and grand landscape, none of which is featured here. For someone who lived his entire life before college in view of some mountains (Cascades or Rockies), it is still disconcerting to not have that comforting presence there, always telling you which way is west.

This post is turning out to be longer than I anticipated, lots of words, and no pictures. I think that is boring, so I guess I'll try to scrounge up a picture or two:

If you know me, you will have seen these before, but I don't think that I have posted them here before. Therefore, here you go. I am particularly proud of the bokeh on this picture.

And that's all, I think. I will be working a lot this summer, so don;t expect too much from me. 

Oh, one last thing: My roommate and I are looking to make a couple short films this summer with out DSLR's movie modes, and if any of you have some ideas, let me know.

Later,

Kevin

TV: Top Gear

Movie: Nada

Game: Minecraft

Music: Gotye

Food: sammich

And now I am done

Well, I finally finished all of my finals. As seems to be the theme, it doesn't seem like I'm done yet, like I still have some sort of big assignment looming over my head. Whatever.

Anyways, I still have to finish moving out of my apartment by tomorrow, then I am a displaced person living with a friend for a few days until I can move into my summer housing (at least until the end of July). But I'll start work full time nest Tuesday, so I'll start making some money to pay off my D7000 and save up for an 80-200mm f/2.8D lens. That'll take a while, but I will be making plenty of money (30% more than last summer, plus I am working for quite a while longer than last summer, too.)

Valpo women's softball won their conference championship a few days ago, so here are a few shots that I got  during the second to last game. This is why I really need an 80-200mm lens, because it would be SO much better for sports than my kit lens (which is an 18-105mm).

I like taking pictures at softball games, because it is fairly easy to predict the motion and when the action is going to happen.

That's basically it. I will basically be in limbo for the next week or so.

Kevin

TV: Top Gear
Movie: Serenity
Game: Mass Effect 3
Music: The National
Food: None at all, I seem to be out of food...

Pictures, as Promised

Since I am done with being studious for the night (I believe that I am ready for both my exams tomorrow) here are a few of my recent pictures:

 Flower after a rainstorm, while it was still very cloudy and dark out. Diffuse light.

 These two Shots of the moon above were taken on different nights with different lenses. Tell me what you think about the difference. The top one was also heavily cropped in photoshop. (Top: 50mm f/1.8G lens. Bottom: 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6)

This shot was taken at a Valpo softball game with a 300mm telephoto lens! Super awesome lens, but I suppose it should be for $4000. (Note, it is not my lens, I spent quite enough on my D7000.)

And last, but not least

My first published photo! In the Valpo school newspaper, but I still am proud of it. I got this published because I am now a photographer for the school newspaper. I shot for the end of this semester (band gig and softball games), and will be shooting next year too. So Hopefully I can save up enough extra this summer to get an 80-200mm telephoto lens that'll be MUCH better than my kit lens for shooting sports.

So that's what I have been up to lately besides studying.

And now, Top Gear.

Kevin

Tv: Top Gear
Movie: Serenity on Blu-Ray
Game: Portal 2 Level builder
Music: The National
Food: Oreos

Final Exams

Lovely, it's that time of year again, the time when people flock to the library and take all of the study tables, then they gripe about having to study, even though they are paying the university tons of money to go here to teach them.

However, I am one of those people, though I will try to keep the complaining down to a minimum.

Final 1: ECE 261 Lab exam: Not too bad, I already had this one last week, on the last day of lab (since it is a purely lab-based class). Passed with flying colors.

Geography 102: Globilization and Development: Online Final which took me about 30 minutes and I only missed 2 points on it. That brings my total points missed in the entire class up to 4. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Engineering Economics: This final is tomorrow at 10:30 am, and it shouldn't be too bad. It was a half semester class, so we don;t have all that much material to go over.

Mechanisms: Tomorrow at 1:00. This one will be a bit harder, though my grade in the class is a bit lower only because of the programming portions, as I passed all of the exams handily, but when it came to the programming sections I was lacking in understanding a bit. I am very good with all of the practical stuff (not on the computer) so I am not too worried about this one either.

Heat Transfer: Friday at 8:00 am. This one will be the big one. The really hard one that I really need to get a good grade on. It is really hard to understand a lot of the abstract ideas in this class, and being sick for 5 weeks  (like seriously sick) doesn't help either.Oh well, I will just have to study really hard tomorrow after my two exams (if my mind still functions after that, anyways).

Then I have 4 days off with which I will use to move all of my stuff out of my apartment and into my storage unit. Then on Tuesday I have the next one.

Mechatronics: Tuesday at 8:00 am. Not worried about this one at all. It was a fun class that I understand most of the material very well, and I did very well on the homework assignments and first exam. So not worried.

And that is what my next few days look like. I might post a few more pictures here at some point (like when I get back to my desktop in my apartment, I am currently writing this on my netbook in the library).

Carry on,

Kevin

TV: Top Gear, Jeeves & Wooster
Movie: Serenity on Blu-Ray
Music: Halo 3:ODST soundtrack
Game: Portal 2 level developer!
Food: String Cheese and cereal out of a tupperware container.

Pictures!

Hello all.

Like seems to be normal, I haven't really had too much motivation to do a blog post lately. Mainly because I have had a ton of homework and exams and work and such, now that the end of the semester is getting near.

Work is going well, I actually did something useful today for the whole time I was there! I am finally getting to know some of the people there, and how my job works, and what to do. Plus the $13/hour isn't bad either.

I have been learning how to use my new D7000 lately, and I must say it is fantastic! So much better than the little D3100 (though the D3100 is a great beginners camera). Having two command dials and a top LCD screen completely change the operation of the camera. Instead of having to look into the viewfinder to change the aperture and shutter speed, you just look at the top of the camera. It's just great.

Here are a couple sample shots that I took with it:

 Ice cream van... An interesting thing to see on a college campus, and I thought it was hilarious that it said "caution children" on the front.

 There were some bands playing outside the union last week, so I got a couple good shots from that. I love taking pictures of bands.

 Just a couple more random shots, my bike gear system and the moon.

I also took some pictures at a Valpo softball game last Sunday. That was quite fun, shooting sports with good lighting (instead of in a dark pool building).

Finals are coming up, lots going on.

That's all for today.

Later,

Kevin

TV: Top Gear
Music: All. I. Can. Soundtrack
Movie: All. I. Can.
Game: Mass Effect 3
Food: Chicken