The View from My Place

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lori.hogan — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:58:28 +0000

This will be a post. Honest. But not right now, I’m going to walk the dogs.

Hell has frozen over because…

lori.hogan — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:23:25 +0000

… I’m posting a blog entry

… while running some Matlab code for my Masters’ research

… and I’m not hating it, avoiding it, or finding any old excuse not to do either.

I’m sucking it up. I’m doing what needs to be done to get this monkey (the thesis, not the blog) off my back. And I’m making (another) public declaration of my commitment through this medium in hopes of keeping myself Accountable.

Let me digress… almost two months ago, I turned 28. It’s not a milestone year, except for the fact that it’s closer to 25 than to 30. I’m not fearful of 30 or anything, but turning 30 is one of those Milestones. Some call 25 a milestone (my sister-in-law the doctor proclaimed that when she turned 25 she was ‘entering a whole new age bracket for different diseases’), but IMO you’re still figuring out who and what you are at 25. You’re still a “youf” (bonus points to anyone who catches the reference… ). You can still frig around, mess up and recover, and no one is going to judge you as being a failure. But 30… though I know some (many) who would argue with me, to be 30 is to be Grown Up (note the caps). Not necessarily meaning you have to stop being fun or silly (I don’t think I could do that if I tried), but it means to start taking Control and taking Responsibility (again, note the caps) of my life and my actions (or lack thereof).

So, I’ve been making the slow movement towards being a Grown Up, taking Control and Responsibility for my life. And the biggest thing I haven’t been taking Responsibility for is the commitment I made 4.5 years ago to get my M.Eng. degree (yes, it’s been THAT long). Rather than play the game of Avoidance, I’m giving in, sitting down, coding up, and seeing what happens.

I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, I’ve got to check on my results.

Home Improvements

lori.hogan — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:58:49 +0000

I’m off work this week, but not to go anywhere fun and interesting (though we may go camping tomorrow!). I am home, helping my DH with a list of home repairs and improvements. The windows are painted, and the basement bathroom is being worked on. I can’t do “before” pictures because this project is a long time in the making, but I’ll show some “after” pics when it’s done.

I haven’t posted anything in a really really really long time. I’ll start soon.

My thoughts on Harry Potter, as voiced by someone else

Lori — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 16:24:02 +0000

I was one of many who lined up at Chapters on Friday evening to get my pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows… I’ve been counting down the days, spent the past few months re-reading the previous books for clues as to the fate of the wizarding world. I devoured it Saturday, but not in the manner I’ve read the previous releases; I read it quickly in careful chunks, wanting to let what was happening sink in rather than letting events tangle and blur in my mind (because, not to give anything away to those waiting to read it, but it IS an action-packed book). Some make fun of me for only reading every second word, and while that’s not true, once my copy of the book returns back to me I will be re-reading at a more leisurely pace, to enjoy the company of characters I’ve watched grow and develop over a seven-year span.
This article from CBC perfectly fits my thoughts on the series and what it has meant in the bigger picture. We even jumped into the series at the same time, and while we’ll both miss Harry and the gang (my favorite has always been Hermoine, but not how she is portayed in the movies… the Hermoine I see when reading will always be the Hermoine I first pictured when reading), the series is over and that’s that. But for a brief while, millions of Muggles have been simultaneously enthralled by a tale of external and internal struggle.

Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime

lori.hogan — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 23:10:12 +0000

Ya wouldn’t always think it, to look at the weather we’ve had here lately. One nice day means we must have at least two cold and foggy/rainy days. Honest. It doesn’t feel like summer yet either. Could be because I haven’t done my doing yet. It’s hard….. I was away for two weeks for work, now Brian is spending the week in Oslo for work, so it’s not like we can camp (if the weather were to cooperate). But hey, one good recent development is that Geoff’s home for good!
I’m trying to be productive. One thing I did do last night was update my gallery. You can now find pics from my latest work trip to Samara, Russia, with a day stopover in London thrown in for good measure. It was a good trip in that work went pretty much as planned and wasn’t too tiring. Some very nice people from some lovely places.