Gapminder
Dude! Play around with the axes for hours of entertainment. Nerdy?
Author: Shawn
Blintze Casserole
Ingredients:
2 boxes TJ’s blintzes
butter (1/2 to 1 stick)
sour cream (whole container)
sugar (1/2 cup)
vanilla (1 teasp)
4 eggs
Instructions:
Put blintzes into casserole pyrex dish. Break eggs first in bowl, then add all other ingredients, stir, pour over blintzes, bake at 350-375 degrees (depending on how hot your oven gets) for about 1 hour or until top is turning golden brown.
Thanks Mom!
Holiday Rituals
Thanksgiving would be incomplete without the ritual assembling-of-Ikea-furniture-for-mother. Forty-eight screws, eighteen (plywood) pieces, and two caliced hands later we have a new queen-sized guest bed.
On a less ritualistic note, I read this today during my online traffic school. Lesson #2:
“We carry our emotional state into the car. If we’re having a bad day at home or at the office we will be inclined to vent our frustration on the road. Add to that several cups of strongly caffeinated coffee or cans of soda, and you have a prescription for aggressive driving.”
So much for drivethru Starbucks.
SoCal for T-giving
I’m in LA with mom for Thanksgiving. We’ll be going to Cousin Sonny’s, where I’ll see the step-family, including Michael and April this time (step-bro and sis)! I then plan to see dad in the O.C., and Wayne in San Diego. I’ll let you know how it goes, dearest reader. Happy T-giving.
While I’m here I have some down time to take some online traffic school. Yippee!
Vote Idiot?
Confused about how to vote on Tuesday? Try these. Want to learn about close contests around the country? The New York Times has a nifty election guide. Now stop reading and go vote, idiot!
Don’t Hate Me
With work and my other blog, shawnlavoie.com has been neglected. I’m unhappy with the gallery and plan to revitalize it soon. I’m sorry shawnlavoie.com, I don’t like you any less than all the other blogs.
eztradein.com scam!
A BIOS password is a useful thing. Not only should you keep track of it in the event you decide to upgrade your machine, but you may also need it in order to avoid getting screwed by fraudulent companies like eztradein.com. I mailed them my laptop in exchange for a Newegg gift card. Sounds too good to be true, huh? Well, it is. I received an email about a week later appraising the machine at $0 because it was “Not Working.” By “Not Working” they meant I didn’t give them my BIOS password and therefore they weren’t going to give me any money. To make a long story short, I did some of their work for them and found a workaround (turns out there are many workarounds), including the official Sony Vaio PhoenixBIOS workaround (Knowledge Article C94679). What more could they ask for? I’ve been waiting for several business days now to hear back from them. I’ll let you know what happens. In the meantime, avoid these guys!
Anyone else having a similar experience?
Update Monday, July 3rd 2006, 5:30 PM: After enough persuasion, the company decided to ship the computer back to me free of charge. I’ll be selling this laptop on my own, thanks. I’m upset with Newegg for dealing with these crooks. I’m sure they’re not all bad or else they wouldn’t be in business. P.S. My new digital camera finally came in the mail.
Chicago
1. Visit the Art Insitute of Chicago
2. Eat Pancreas / Pretend to be Abe Froeman, Sausage King of Chicago
3. Lean on the glass at the top of Sears Tower
4. Walk the loop, location of the Von Steuben Day Parade
5. Check out Wrigley Field
I haven’t done very well on my Ferris Bueller checklist today. However, there’s still this evening and all of tomorrow to work on it. I was disappointed to discover that Chagall’s America Windows, the ones Ferris and Sloan kissed near, are not currently on display due to construction. The Cubs games are all sold out this weekend or I would have gone to one. I think I’m over seeing Wrigley Field, honestly. I’ll update the list tomorrow when I get back to Davis.
Update: The idea of eating pancreas kinda grosses me out, and I’m not that big of a baseball fan anyway. I did go to the top of Sears Tower, an event which took $12 and 3 hours of my life. I suggest avoiding this tourist trap on the weekend if you ever have the choice. Pics up soon.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
I’m almost half way through week 2 at Core Analyst School. I’ve made some good friends from Spain, England, and Finland, to name a few. Last Thursday a bunch of Accenture people went to Cadillac Ranch, a local bar and dance club. I was surprised how so many consultants can party so hard. The best (and worst) part about the place was the free Cuervo shots.
My start group is also here. Eight of us paid a visit to Chicago (about an hour away) over the weekend for some “festivities.” We hit up the bar on the 96th floor of Hancock Tower and 3 other local bars. It was an all-around success: No one was sick, Riley got a girl’s number, and Mario chastized a woman in the next car who made her opinion known using racial slurs.
This coming weekend I’ll be spending some time in Chicago on my own. I plan to eat pancreas, visit Wrigley Field, Sears Tower and the Art Institute of Chicago, and maybe even sing “Danke Schoen” or “Twist and Shout” in the Von Steuben Day parade.
Whistle while I work.
I’m a working man! After my first week of training, I’ve met some awesome people and learned a ton. Orientation and pre-requisite courses were last week, and this week Solution Delivery Fundamentals. We’ll start coding tomorrow or the next day, which I’m looking forward to (being a nerd). In my position there’s no guarantee that I’ll be a developer; most likely a tester. I know by now that I’ll be stationed in the downtown Sacramento office here, just a few blocks from the state capitol building and my favorite sushi bar, Mikuni.
Until then I’m training in SF in Spear Tower at 1 Market Street. Accenture rents the top three floors of the building so we get a bird’s eye view of the San Francisco bay. Today that view was seasoned with thousands of ralliers for immigrant policy reform. Even from 42 floors above the commotion the crowd was clearly audible. I support them and commend the efforts of every person who has made his or her voice heard. Too bad there aren’t any American citizens speaking up about important issues, myself included.
My roadtrip with Smeags was a blast. We checked every destination and individual off our list, including a trip to the Willamette Valley for fine Oregon wine tasting the Ballard Locks in Seattle. Thanks go out to Matt in Eugene, cousin Kristen in Portland, and Lauren, Kenny and Justin in Seattle for their hospitality.
Tonight I’m in week two of my five-week training. I’m staying at the Club Quarters, a beautiful spot in downtown. I’ll be here for two weeks, then to St. Charles, Il for some more Accenture school.
shawnlavoie.com 
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