I am having the most amazing day!!

At work, I gave a half-hour presentation about what I’ve been doing at work the past two months to a different department full of software developers that requested me specifically to give them ideas about how to automate things in their department! Haha, too cool. I think they were way way impressed with my work. Then I came home, and found out that I WON A $5000 SCHOLARSHIP! Booyah! Thank you Convergys if you’re reading this! Also, I got my preorder of the new OS X Tiger in the mail; I’m ready to nerd out with that! On top of everything, tonight, I’m going to see Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with RACHEL (aka. the best girlfriend ever)! I’m going into happiness overload, seriously. So, here’s one more exclamation mark for good measure!

Tonight, 60 Minutes reported on NASA’s Return to Flight (n. - continuing the space shuttle program after a two year delay following the Columbia accident) in two very compelling and informative interviews with STS-114 Commander Eileen Collins and Flight Director Paul Hill. Dan Rather remained unbaised in his illustration of the risks and opportunities of the space exploration. Well done, very well done.

You know what’s awesome? I’VE BEEN AT ALL OF THOSE PLACES IN THE VIDEO! The “big pool,” the motion-base simulator (not shown: fixed-base simulator), and the mission control room. My job’s pretty cool.

1. gLogin. MSN tried it (.NET Passports are lame–they don’t even list the sites directory anymore). AOL tried it (partially successful–they made a partnership with Apple, so people can log into iTunes with their AOL account). Google will make it happen–a unified login for many major websites. It’s not something we’re likely to see soon, but I think they’re well on their way. Google accomplishes goals in stages. First Gmail, then “Google Accounts,” eventually gLogin. Besides, think of how much money Google would make from those partnerships!

2. Incorporation of region-biased search results in Ads. This is mostly a feature I’m expecting for Google Ads to incorporate with Google Local to target customers of a certain area. They already have an initial way of doing this.

3. More web-based “programs.” Their web-based email program is highly-intuitive. I see more of these soon. The RSS feed reader is going to be easy, and is already in the works of being incorporated into Gmail. I suspect some sort of calendar program, too. They already have a pretty calendar template setup for the new feature: My Search History (which is part of the movement by them to get you to login more naturally–it’s all part of the plan discussed in #1, I think).

4. Stronger map features. Alternate path directions, more taxi / “Ride Finder” (busses? metrorail?) services, traffic tracker? Just think of the possibilities.

5. Regular Expressions. Incorporation of user-defined regular expressions for search results. This is more of a nerdy what-if dream of mine, rather than an actual prediction, as I believe it would be too processor intensive for Google to handle (especially considering it would be on 8+ billion pages).

Disclaimer: These are all just my guesses. Please do not sue me Google. Rather, take a look at my resume, haha.

Dennis Miller appeared on the Daily Show tonight. Never have I ever seen someone so egomaniacal. He came on Jon Stewart’s show and starts doing a stand-up routine. He hardly let Jon even get in a word of question, including resorting to talking over Jon. Then, he started talking about how he supports Bush (which didn’t start until after 9/11), and thinks environmentalism is for chumps, yet claims to be libertarian on nearly every issue. Wrong show to do so, and besides enough is enough Dennis: you have lost any credibility you once had, no one is listening to your opinions anywhere. I love how Jon Stewart just ended with “I think Dennis took all the words with him” (when Dennis finally got off-stage).

Rachel and I have been together for over a month now, and our relationship gets closer everyday. Who knew I’d find such a sweet and caring girl in Texas? It’s official that she’s moving to Florida with me in August, and I’m so thrilled that she decided to go through with such a large change. For a multitude of reasons, I think she’ll be much happier there than in Houston (including, but not exclusively, being with me). I can’t wait to show her all the state has to offer her (ex. weekly roadtrips to the various colleges… I still am thinking that she’ll like New College the most), and support her in what ever new decisions she makes. And finally, I’m so glad that in August, instead of having to say our goodbyes, we’ll be greet this new adventure…together.

I went skydiving (more pictures to come) this past Sunday. It was amazing! Soaring above 14,000 ft at 120mph. It was the perfect stress-reliever for several recent personal issues. My tandum master quit his previous job, as a fiber optics engineer, to become a skydive instructor–too interesting. I want to skydive again when I get back to Florida, and maybe make a hobby of it when I get a full-time job after college.

Go Vegan because Hamdogs are gross!

Here’s a list of Accidentally Vegan products. You may find some of these to be surprising, but that just goes to show that going vegan is a lot easier than you think… (more…)

What do you get when you combine cheap software production with cheap hardware production? American tech job losses, of course. Thank you, corporate America for having your Grand Ole’ Party.

Yes, I worry about money and my future, maybe more than I should.

Many sceptics have been questioning the Return to Flight, especially the outlandish plan for one space shuttle (Atlantis) to rescue the other (Discovery) in the event of an emergency in orbit. Here is my favorite quote from this informative but pessimistic article:

The crew would get only half-rations of food: 1,000 calories a day, about the amount in a Big Mac and small milkshake.

That’s right, they measured the minimum daily nutritional requirements in terms of MCDONALDS. [screams]

Google Maps! now has satellite imagery. This is thanks to Google’s acquisition of Keyhole a little while back. Google took the images at 10AM on April 1st of 2005.

White House
U.C.F.
Kennedy Space Center
Johnson Space Center
Where I Work (United Space Alliance)

PS. I know exactly which white dot my car is in the last picture. Soooo cool.