New Furniture

My new furniture from Kasey arrived today. I bought a cover for the sofa until I can buy a new one. I also found a pillow that matches the rug perfectly. I will probably buy one more now that I know it matches. I am also going to buy a colored throw for over the couch. The curtains will probably be a light shade - similar to the walls.

Concert in the Park

I met up with Megan and Stephen for a CSO concert in Cheesman Park. Megan packed another one of her awesome picnics.

The CSO performed the following:
Dvorák - Overture Carnival
J. Strauss - Music of the Spheres
Handel - Royal Fireworks Suite
Brahms - Symphony No. 2 in D major

Pirates of the Caribbean

I took my final exam on Tuesday. After the exam, I treated myself to a movie and saw Pirates of the Caribbean. I hadn't read much about it, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's amazing what they can do with special effects now. The only frustrating thing is that they basically wrote the 2nd movie as the first half of the third one. It leaves you wanting to see the third one right away.

Almost Finished

I'm almost finished with my Data Analysis class. I take the final exam and turn in my final project on Tuesday. We turned in an initial description of the final project last week. The trend on everything so far this summer has been 9.5/10 points. The professor never gives anyone 10 out of 10. Well this past week, our group was the only one to get 10/10. That's right! And since I pretty much wrote it, that made the semester for me. My advisor said the professor was retiring after this summer. I looked on-line, and he is always rated a C by students. His classes usually are rated a C also. That made me feel sorry for the guy. I couldn't imagine getting graded for what I do for a living and always being average. I don't think he can help it - he sort of just rambles on in class. I can't say I really enjoyed the class time, but the projects have been interesting.

It's funny to me what gives me a sense of accomplishment. Getting the 10/10 did it. At work the Senior Project Manager occasionally calls me or the things I do brilliant. I think most people would feel pretty good after hearing that, but it usually does nothing for me. I'd prefer that they hire more people they think are "brilliant", so then I would be challenged to be better and could be inspired by the people I work with. At a recent meeting it was generally implied that our team puts higher expectations on ourselves and no one else is complaining about the work we do, so we shouldn't expect so much out of ourselves. Can you imagine? I doubt that would be written up in any management books for inspiring a team to achieve.

I don't think I used to be this much of a perfectionist in the past. I can remember in high school I told Eileen I was finished studying for the biology test because I had memorized enough to get a good grade; Eileen stayed up an extra hour or two and memorized it all. I do believe that is why she is in med school and I'm not. It doesn't really apply for your doctor to have learned enough to almost save your life. So really, that makes Eileen the perfectionist and lets me off the hook! Thanks Nins.

Back to the ATL - July 4th Weekend

For the July 4th holiday, I flew back to Atlanta. Eileen was home for part of the weekend before heading off to Cincinnati. I was also very excited to see Winnie, Gracie and Aggie. Aggie kept running away from me when I tried to take her picture, so here are the twins.

On Saturday I saw Superman Returns. I wasn't sure what to expect, but thought it was a good movie. I then went to a Braves Game and out to Virginia Highlands.

On Sunday, I went to North Point. I visited the 3-yr old classroom I used to volunteer in. The same family is still volunteering there - I was amazed they could stick with it for so many years. I was very excited that Andy was speaking that week and my favorite NP singer was in the main auditorium. (While searching the net for a link for Andy's name I came across a blog of someone who had visited NP, and didn't think it was the place for him. Many people commited on the blog entry and one of them was supposedly Andy. Positive and negative comments regarding Andy and NP were posted, and I guess one blogger decided to form an Andy fan club. They even designed a button. It was just too funny, and I had to include it here. Brie/Nins - I hope you get a chuckle out of this.)

I went to White Water. I believe the last time I was there I was around 12. There's such a difference between going as a kid and an adult. You don't think about the fact that your feet hurt as a kid because you're too excited to be there. My favorite ride was one that didn't exist when I was a kid called Run-A-Way River. It's a tunnel most of the way and the longest ride in the park.

On Monday, I had lunch with my friend Sara at Atlantic Station. Atlanta Station was completed after I moved to Denver, so this weekend was my first time there. We ate at Boneheads. I would consider it a fast-casual restaurant (you stand in line to order, but they bring the food to you). I hadn't been to a restaurant yet that does the fast-casual thing with fish, but it was really good - a quick healthly meal. That night I had dinner with Brie and Brian at Twist at Phipps Plaza.

My mom made a cherry pie for July 4th - very festive.