Last weekend was International Workday 2002 for Pi Kappa Alpha. As such, we (about 118 Brothers, girlfriends, parents, and alumni) worked on a dozen projects around the House. Various groups did everything from cleaning abandoned buildings to raising a pole barn. (No, not razing, though we’ll get to do some of that to the old garage once the barn is complete.) It was a perfect Saturday for outdoor projects: mid-forties and sunny. Such weather was in stark contrast to the previous night, when a bunch of Brothers (including myself) were setting the pole barn posts in the midst of a raging thunderstorm. Needless to say, it was a welcome change.

I spent the first part of the day priming the inside of our gym, in preparation for eventual repainting. After a brief lunch break, I switched to driving a scissors lift and putting up the roof trusses on the barn. It was great fun; I can’t wait to see it complete! Alex Lo took quite a few photos of the event; look closely and you might catch a glimpse of me.

Today I woke up early and planted trees around Terre Haute, in the annual Trees Inc. Adopt-a-Street Tree Canopy program. Our chapter has a tradition of participating in the program that goes back many years. I helped plant five hardwood tress with two Tri-Delt members and a husband and wife team. It was a much better use of a Saturday than sleeping till noon.

Spring has returned to Terre Haute, and that can mean only one thing: an insatiable longing to go outside and have fun. Preferably with friends. Ideally with some sort of mechanized device.

Certain things about me surprise those whom I’ve know for significant amounts of time. My Minnesota friends (and my parents) were truely shocked that I joined a fraternity. My Rose-Hulman friends are always surprised to find out that I’m an Electrical Engineering major, as opposed to CS (the usual first guess) or CPE. Everybody is surprised when I tell them that I know how to ride a motorcycle. I feel that one must diversify to truely enjoy life.

For the second day in a row, the mercury climbed into the 70’s in Terre Haute. Of course, that means two things: Shorts and a car wash. Happily, I indulged in both.

After seeing We were soldiers this evening, I realized just how desensitized to gore I am. The only really gruesome scene in the movie was when a soldier’s charred skin slid off of his legs as he screamed in agony. There were other blood, violent scenes, but no others that really got to me. That said, I would never want to be in a situation to see such events firsthand.

Today I found the perfect way to get rid of old textbooks: Sell them on eBay’s Half.com. Compared to the wolves by the bookstore, Half.com is a goldmine. I already sold one of my books at the price I bought it for. Now that’s a deal!

It got pleasantly warm today in the Haute: about 63 degrees Farenheit. Spring is right around the corner.

I had a phone interview with Lexmark today. I think that it went well, but we’ll see if anything comes of it.

I added a neat feature over at BonnevilleClub, wherein members can attach photos to their Bonneville Registry entry. I think the feature is neat because it is a direct upload into a MySQL database. It’s easy to view the images, too. For example, here’s my car.

Seems that today was summarized with a bunch of "quickies," Slashdot-style.

Yesterday, I was at my friend Eric’s house. He had just received several new mods for his Grand Prix GTP, including a 3.25" supercharger pulley, 1.9:1 rockers, and a high-flow downpipe and cat. It seemed like a good time to install the downpipe/cat, so we commenced doing so. Postings on ClubGP indicated that it would take less than two hours to complete.

Originally, I think the plan was for Eric to be under the car, with me fetching sockets, wrenches, and such. One thing led to another, and eventually I found myself in Eric’s place, ripping off the old DP and putting the new one on. Not that I minded: I had a fun time doing it. The installation proceeded without any major setbacks, minus a run to Red Rooster and the Pontiac dealer for new bolts and gaskets. Once done, we fired it up for a test run. Remarkably, there were no exhaust leaks! The car seemed to breathe easier, too. It’s remarkable how fast that GTP can get up to speed on the freeway, a feat that I was able to experience from the driver’s seat. I’d never driven a FWD car with that much power, which made the experience that much more exhilarating. Fun times!