First post of the summer...

[jc : guest post]

So much to say... so let's take it back a bit...

The last few weeks of the semester were a true test of my endurance. I was averaging 1-2 hours of sleep a night, and my body was feeling it. Every morning I would sit on the edge of the bed, afraid to stand for fear that I would either fall over or barf... so there I sat, shaking and twitching until the courage came and I stood to begin the day. This lasted for two weeks... I could not have last longer.

During that two week stretch I wrangled few final presentations, a few of which were group projects (one of them presented to Motorola - with a seemingly positive response). I also tackled a fairly hefty paper and a number of final details for my independent study (which will directly feed into my summer research).

At the end of finals week, Katie and I invited all of the Design grads to our place for a gathering. Knowing that most folks there would be operating on less than four hours of sleep, and many had early morning flights the next morning, I expected it to be an early night. There was a good turn out, and folks seemed to enjoy it and relax... and a few even managed to hold on until nearly 4am.

That Saturday... I did nothing... and loved it.

Sunday, I slept late (and love it) and lounged with coffee. For lunch, Katie and I took a stroll through Frick Park on our way to D's, our new Sunday stop, for a chicago style veggie dog and a beer. The stroll home was a bit slower as we held our full bellies, enjoying a light afternoon beer buzz, loving Frick park in the summer.

That evening Jeff, one of my fellow group members, came over and we loosely poked at the yet to be finished 80+ pg documentation for our final Studio project. Both of us were more interested in chatting, and less interested in the actual work... and so it spilled into Monday.

By Tuesday, I was proof reading and Jeff was tackling the final details. That afternoon I built a quick flash version of our final presentation to prepare for the final-final presentation in Chicago (only one group member will go to the Moto-HQ, and as of this moment that will be Jeff).

Wednesday evening our Boston friend Marilyn came to visit. She was our first, non-blood related visitor. The next five days with Marilyn were filled with wandering, chatting, drinking and eating. Marilyn being of the self-directed type, was able to get herself around town when Katie and I had work to wrangle... and she managed to see a number museums and hoods on her own. One (of many) highlight from her visit, we (finally) made the trek to Falling Water. Thanks for driving Miss M., we enjoyed getting out into the wilds of Pennsyltucky. Early Tuesday morning Marilyn left to catch a painfully early flight back to Boston, and even had to work that day. Ugh.

Tuesday, I spent responding to emails and backing up files... it was a relaxed day, but for whatever reason I felt a bit grumpy all day. Whatever. The most enjoyable task was adding a few more videos to the Sleepless site.

Wednesday, after a night of unexplained restlessness, I stumbled off to the school to begin my first day of summer research. Thankfully the day didn't officially start until 11:30am... so I had a couple hours to caffeinate and ease into it. The afternoon was spent in a meeting divided between CMU PhDs and Pitt MDs... talking about technology and the potential uses to folks that suffered an injury and experience a severe cognitive decline.

I got home a bit after 6pm and called my folks to check on Raina and the baby status... no answer. Later, I got a call from Katie, she'd just talked to Raina... and she'd just had the baby! Shortly after, I was able to talk to them and my mother emailed a photo. To this day I still marvel at our modern technology (assuming email can still be considered modern technology).

Wednesday evening Katie and I met for a beer, the first in a long long time. We stayed for one, and then came home... ordered Indian food and watched Munich. The movie was okay, but actually having the time to watch it was most enjoyable.

Today, I was out of the house fairly early. I took care of a few details at the school, and then met with Jodi, my research advisr. We discussed the summer plan and outline the weeks ahead. I am a bit nervous... but then again I wouldn't be learning if I wasn't.

This evening, I built a quick slideshow site for Eliana. Katie came home soon after, and we had a video chat with everyone at the hospital. The image quality was a bit rough, but it was nice to see them all and hear the little baby squeaks and listen to Aiden stringing words together.

The rest of the evening has been spent working on random research details, and backing up my school laptop. In the living room, Katie has been working away... trying to sure up a few details before Friday.

It's now Midnight and Katie is looking ready to call it a night, and the 20 minutes I've allotted to this post is nearly spent. So I'll sign off, and start preparing for a bit of reading.

Hope all are well and groovy.

[/jc : guest post]