I can’t believe that a week and a half of my internship is already done. Time certainly is flying by! I imagine that a large part of this is due to me having a worthwhile project. Yay for interns that have meaningful assignments!

Tonight my division of Medtronic brought its engineering interns out for an evening of entertainment. We went to the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis, where we had a nice dinner followed by a multitude of laughs.

Anyhow, that has left me precious little time to do things before I head to sleep tonight, so until later, I bid thee adieu.

Today was a beautiful day. I couldn’t stomach the thought of spending the entire day cooped up inside, so for my lunch break, I went to the driving range and hit a few. Good stuff!

The first week of my internship at Medtronic has drawn to a close, and I must say that I continue to be extremely impressed: impressed by my knowledgeable coworkers, impressed by the professionalism everyone shows, impressed by my manager’s leadership skills… let’s just say that I’m delighted with the experience thus far. A major contributing factor to my satisfaction is that I have a worthwhile project. I am learning valuable strategies for managing and executing projects. Overall, I am gaining fantastic experience, which has direct, real application in whatever I end up doing later in life.

I noticed a disturbing trend as of late: The number of visitors to this site is inversely proportional to the amount I post. Are my posts driving you all away? Maybe if I do tricks more people will come. Here, I’ll stand on my head. See? Okay, so maybe that doesn’t trip your trigger. Perhaps this calls for a different strategy: I will give a new Hummer to the person who visits my web site the most. This should work; everybody likes contests. Of course, I have no Hummer to give away, so to fix that problem, the contest entry fee is one new Hummer.

But seriously, if I know you, drop me a line by any of the usual ways: email, AIM, or phone. Let me know how your summer is going. Alternately, start your own blog. If you’re a personal friend of mine, I’ll even host your web site, no charge. No kidding! Just get in touch with me and I’ll give you the details.

I was browsing eBay this evening, when it caught my eye: Glimmering, dignified, revered, bearing a name famous in the industry, it tempted me like the Sirens. I am referring to a bottle of Hennessy Paradis Extra. The smooth lines of the heavy crystal decanter, the warm amber color of the precious fluid within, the velvety reputation of the blend of fine eaux de vie… it all combined to say “Buy me! Buy me!”

It was really not unlike my experience with the LCD display, except without the lying salesman pushing a service plan. You see, the bottle and its contents were selling at a substantial discount from the normal retail price. Wanting to make the most of my potential purchase, I decided to attempt to snipe the exceptional cognac (placing a bid at the last second, for those who don’t know). Of course, that decision gave me several hours to mull about in my ivory tower. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to justify what was essentially an impulse buy. Sure, I find cognac appealing. In fact, the appeal is a large part of the reason why I ordered snifters as the souvenir glasses for Spring Banquet. It seems refined and elegant, carrying a certain air of grandeur. But is it really worth the price?

In the past, I bought certain spirituous beverages because the bottles looked neat. In particular, a bottle of Grey Goose ended on my shelf thanks to a highly appealing glass vessel. Fortunately, the spirit within ended up being exquisite as well. So, could the bottle justify the price this time? Well, what would I do with it? Flaunt it? Put it on the mantle? Use it as a paper weight?

After due consideration, I came to my senses and walked away from the computer, satisfied without spending a dime.

Today was a reasonably nice day in the Twin Cities, so I decided to enjoy it by starting to make good on my goal from a few days ago and start golfing. I’ve toyed with a golf club in years past, most recently in November when my dad visited me at Rose. I’ve never played an actual round, and I don’t think I’m ready to try yet. With that in mind, I spent some time on the Eagle Lake driving range. The experience was, well… let’s just say it went better than when I went to the driving range with my dad, which is to say that I still have a long ways to go. Despite my lack of prowess with a golf club, I had fun. I intend to continue practicing, trying different things, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, I will venture onto the links and play nine at a par-three.

A few days ago, I went with my family to the Redstone Grill near Ridgedale in the Twin Cities. Once again, it turned out that I went to a restaurant far underdressed: while most of the other patrons (and indeed, my family) were in business casual or better, I arrived in shorts and a t-shirt. I knew I made a faux pas with my wardrobe when I saw the type-996 Porsche 911 Turbo parked out front. However, my fears were unfounded, and we had a nice dinner. I had the pan-seared ahi tuna salad, which is basically sashimi-grade tuna served chilled and very rare beside a collection of baby greens. Very good.

Today I had my first day at Medtronic. The day was filled with orientation presentations and paperwork, but I enjoyed it. Medtronic makes a big deal about the quality of their atmosphere, and for good reason: everybody I met — new employees, established employees, everybody — was cheerful, knowledgable, and upbeat. I was extremely impressed.