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sequins04
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Name: Adam
Country: United States
State: Pennsylvania
Metro: Pittsburgh
Gender: Male
Interests: Running (whether XC, soccer, or frisbee it doesn't matter), golf, video games, reading, watching football/baseball
Occupation: Curriculum Development Intern
Message: message me
AIM:  Sequins04
Member Since:
12/31/2003
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It's been a fair while, so we're just going to break this one down. There's no particular order, just whatever come to me.
Developing the future; at Westinghouse
I am officially employed. Assuming I pass all of the pre-screening, I will be assuming the duties of an entry-level engineer at Westinghouse in Monroeville sometime in June. It's very cool. The fact that I got a signing bonus makes me want to wear a suit the first day and have them hand me a baseball cap and jersey. Still no concrete start date, but I'll manage somehow (NBA playoffs, gym time, and The Office have been involved principally).
Since I have a well-paying job, big life changes are certainly in store. I'll have my license and a car in the next week or so. After that, I'm shooting for July 1st to be in my own place but more likely it will be sometime in August. But, yes, I will be moving out. Crazy and fun to think about. I should be semi-prepared. Mom's temporary co-worker, Debbie, hooked me up with some rudimentary kitchenware (dishes, utensils, utility tub). I have a bed, dresser, lamp, TV, and DVD player. All I will really need is a chair and maybe a couch.
Road Trip
Mike and I took a trip to New York City this past weekend to catch a game at Yankee Stadium before they tear it down. We had a horrible day of travel on Friday, as it poured non-stop the entire way. We were undeterred though, since it meant that the Mets were going to start their just-acquired ace Johan Santana on Saturday and we would be there to see it. That's right, we had tickets for the first installment of this year's Subway Series (Mets v. Yankees). We were pumped. Our Aunt Tracy very kindly accomodated us in her home on Staten Island. She had us up all night on Friday night playing American Idol with her on her Playstation 2. Our twin cousins showed us their latest toys as well: one is an avid shoe collector and the other one showed off his newest Youtube creations.
So, we caught the free ferry over to Manhattan and had no trouble grabbing a subway uptown to the Stadium. According to my Uncle Dave, it's all crackheads and tenements in the 15 blocks around the stadium, so everyone takes the subway to avoid dying. Good to know. Our suits were way up in the rafters, but we were right on the third-base line and had a great view of the game. My bro got a program, so I took my first stab at scoring a baseball game. While you do sometimes miss parts of the game while you're filling out a scorecard, it does help you keep track of all of the stats that you're used to from a TV telecast. We also sat next to some cool NY girls who gave us someone to talk to and helped us make fun of the leather-lunged Mets fans in front of us. The highlight of the game was Derek Jeter hitting a fly ball right at us that kept carrying until it became a home run and the entire stadium just exploding in adulation for The Captain. I think there are some fans that would let Derek Jeter hook up with their girlfriend and high-five him afterwards. And I'm not sure if that's a compliment to Derek Jeter or a dig at Yankee fans. Probably a little of both.
They say the Subway Series are intense and it was true. The stadium was almost 50/50 Yankees:Mets fans. There were alot of Mets fans sporting shiny, new Santana jerseys. Given the equal breakdown, there were equal parts excitment and anger at every development in the game.
We met up with Allison (Mike's soon-to-be sister-in-law) and her boyfriend Cyrus at Ground Zero after the game. They were in NYC to celebrate being done with Robert Morris for the semester. They came back over on the ferry with us and back to Aunt Tracy's to enjoy what turned out be a party. Uncle Bill, Aunt Jadene, Uncle Fred, and our cousin had come over from upper NY and NJ respectively to come see us while we were in town and my Aunt Tracy made a big family dinner to properly mark the occasion. We had a blast. Allison and Cyrus got along famously with everyone. My cousin Shannon is sickeningly cute, so we enjoyed her doing all of the things that cute little three year olds do. Uncle Fred is apparently an NBA fan, so we talked some shop on the playoffs (the ascendance of Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant, the death of the Suns, and prospects of the underachieving Celtics. Uncle Bill and I also discussed starting our new jobs. He just graduated with a degree in Computer Systems and Network Security and will start doing DoD work soon enough.
Fun Times
On the Sunday following our trip, the Pen's thrashed the Flyers 6-0 to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals. In even better news, Jackie brought over a delicious birthday cake for Michael, whose birthday was on the following Monday. It had a pudding-based icing that was just sweet enough without being gross and a pillowy soft interior made of FunFetti base. Just awesome. It was entirely eated by the next day.
On Monday, Mike's proper birthday, I took him out to Evergreen Palace for lunch (not as good as Golden Palace, but we were going to Monroeville anyways). We then went to Best Buy where he used a gift he had gotten to get a camera memory card and I picked up a CD of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (I saw them at the Byham last month and they were pretty cool). Before we checked out, we played three or four songs on the Rock Band setup that they had in the Video Game section. On the way home, I told Mike that I was probably going to get that sometime in the next few weeks. He reminded me, that with all of the guests coming next week for my grad party, it would probably be a good to have a nice party game like Rock Band. Needless to say, we turned the car around and got it. And it was awesome. Thankfully, GP was home. So after setting it up for 30 minutes...The Office Band was formed and we started our world tour. Mad fun. Between that and GTA4 (getting sometime this weekend), I could get back to playing the X360 again.
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These past two weeks, Mike and I have been plowing through Seasons 1 and 2 of The Office. It has a good blend of plot development and humor throughout. I think the actors that play Jim, Pam, Dwight, and Michael. It's such a rarity that a show can have four workhorses that can just bring it every week. The rest of the ensemble each excel in their own schtick and they mix it up enough so that noone feels tired or overplayed. Finally, the whole documantary conceit, complete with cut-away interview segments, is quite simply genius.
Memorial Day Weekend
-Mom and Dad are away at camp from Wednesday thru Monday. They haven't been to camp for a while, so they are planning to get out and enjoy the predicted nice weather.
-Mike, Lindsay, Allison, Cyrus, Matt, and perhaps others are going to a cabin in West Virginia for the weekend.
-I don't have too much planned. I'm going tomorrow to hopefully finally get my driver's license. Ben and Jackie are taking me in the morning and hopefully we can be in and out of there in an hour or so. I hope. Other than that, I hope to either join one of the local gyms: the YMCA on Frankstown or the Olympic on Saltsburgh. Both are within a mile. I'll probably only get a 1- or 2-month membership until I figure out quite what I'm doing with my life.
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Four years went by pretty fast. I am officially a Pitt graduate,
having received my bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering this past
Saturday. It was a moving ceremony. We arrived in Oakland at around 11
PM and got early pictures at the Pitt Panther statue outside of
Petersen Events Center (always a hot spot that gets crowded). I was
apparently way too early, as I spent the next 80 minutes in the
Multi-Purpose room in the basement of the Pete. It was all to the good
though, as all of the engineers got to spend some time together and get
a group picture together.
I had meant to sit next to Coral during the ceremony, but while waiting
in line to go into the gym I stopped to say hello to the Mechanical
Engineering contingent and got caught up with them as the line of
engineers descended onto the main floor. They ended up being fine
neighbors though: Ian made good commentary throughout the ceremony,
Sarah and Laura brought cookies and a radio to listen to the penguins
game, and Peter is always a good time. To my left, Melissa Angeles was
running a rousing game of Go Fish!, so I didn't lack for diversion
during the ceremony's more mundane portions. To top it all off, the
keynote speaker and inaugural member of our graduating class was none
other than Dan Marino! He gave a great speech and took the racuous
shouts of the crowd in good humor (several shouts of "Dr. Dan" and
"Laces Out" were more than audible to the general assembly).
Before much else could be said, it was all over. Mom and Dad were
driving me home to a quiet spaghetti dinner with some family (My
grandfather came over, my Uncle Duane and Cousin Matt were in from San
Diego, and my Uncle Jeff and Uncle Tom came over).
The next day was a dreary Monday. After seeing off Uncle Duane and
Matt to the airport, went down to Oakland to clean out my lockers.
Between books, shoes, and clothes, I ended up having enough to fill up
two duffel bags and good-sized box. Lugging them up Cardiac Hill to
where the car was parked at the Cost Center was a workout, but I didn't
have much else to do. Aside from hit up the Chinese buffet with some Bill Simmons columns.
In good news, got a call from Westinghouse today (Tuesday)
requesting a second interview at their facility in Monroeville. While I
don't want to jinx it, things are looking good for me getting a dream
job there. The rest of the week has passed by fairly amicably. I'm
sitting here on Sunday night with a slightly nicked-up left Achilles
tendon, I think I strained it trying to to do back-to-back 12-milers on
Wednesday and Thursday. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but I did a
swooping course down through Verona and Oakmont, some pretty fierce
hill work. So I'll probably take it easy this coming week with walking
and very light jogging.
Was scheduled to take my driver's test on Friday, but it didn't quite
work out. We found out on the way to the DMV that my brother's
insurance card was expired. Oops. So we cruised to the library to print
out a new one, but the only ones you can print out are post-dated by
two weeks...so I was SOL. No biggie though. My other brother is taking
me on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, so I should be in more than
fair shape to have my license this coming week. Yay!
This past Saturday saw Mike, GP, and I heading down to the Rivertowne
Inn. Gene and Mike were meeting an old friend from Chili's, Chisty, who
ended up being very nice. We also saw a bunch of friendly faces. TJ,
back from Texas, made an appearance with an friend he knew who was an
environmental engineer. I seized the opportunity and got some good tips
for my interview and we did some general engineering talk (classes,
degrees, EIT/PE/FE, etc.). Lots of fun. I also saw Eric and AJ, fresh
from the musical, as well as a delightfully intoxicated Alana (whom I
haven't seen in ages...she was always one of the nicest lifeguards at
Rosedale). Turns out Alana is a school teacher now...very fitting.
Finally, to cap the night off, got a chance to watch Chris Paul lead
his Hornets to a Game 1 victory against the Spurs in the Western
Conference Semifinals. CP3 was superb. His raw speed is jaw-dropping
and his passing is infectious, as all of his teammates pass up good
shots to get someone else a better shot. I would be perfectly happy to
watch a Celtics-Hornets finals. In fact, you could guarantee that I
would watch every minute of a Lakers-Hornets Western Finals....CP3 v.
Kobe, Gasol v. West, Jordan Farmar v. Genarro Pargo.
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Today was the last day of classes ever for me at the University of
Pittsburgh. It was uneventful as most days. Napped a little bit on the
bus during the morning ride on the 77U. Brushed my teeth in the
basement bathroom. Played some Worms with the lads during lab
presentation from 8-10 AM. Following that, did a phone interview with
an HR manager from Il-V (company which makes lenses for lasers) and
tried to sort out through some financial aid stuff. Had some fun
conversations with Detzel, Nick Sciutella, Jim Fisher, and the rest of
the Rat Pack of Chemical Engineering at Hemingway's Half-Price hour.
Topics included: the utility of the electoral college, Mcat
preparation, a large outdoor street festival on Semple Street, and
what's next for everyone. After that, finished some presentation slides
on the economics of our Senior Design project (we're building a plant
that produces polystyrene from the ground-up). To round out the day, I
snuck up to the ASME lounge and had a final soda with some of the
MechE's: Bethany, Laura, Justin, and Mr. Wick. On the way up to see my
Mom, Laura and I took a walk down DeSoto and settled the inevitable
amicably. I managed to barely avoid getting bodily thrown out of
Children's hospital after assaulting a garbage can. Came home with Mom
and went to the park to play tennis with my brother Michael. He beat me
in a tense tie-break, so I yielded the court to him and Jacquelyn and
did some laps around the track, then went home and wrote an obligatory
correspondence. Finally, had a touch of dinner, admired Lindsay's new
cinnamon-red Chevy Aveo hatchback and had cigars on the back porch. To
finish out the night: do some dishes, post this entry, and take a long
walk/run (depending on my energy).
Other notable events over the past few weeks:
- Had a grand time at the E-ball. Went to Penney's the night before
and got a fine black tux, vest, and shoes. Coral, being the consumate
lady, kept me waiting a proper 20 minutes before appearing in her
parlor resplendent in a turquoise evening gown. She was a good choice
for an escort: affable, relaxed, and danced all night. The evening
climaxed with the awards presentation as Brad and Laura were crowned
King and Queen of the E-Ball and Chemical Engineering was awarded their
2nd Championship trophy in 3 years; cementing the legacy of our senior
class. A little bit of rain dampened the end of the evening, but all
ended well.
- Laura, Doug Greaves, and I went this past Sunday with PittArts to
see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. PittArts provided us with a nice
dinner at Atria's of PNC Park, where we got to listen to a very
engaging gentleman who had been in the jazz business for decades.
Following that, we were bussed to the Byham and shown to fantastic
seats: dead-center, 5 rows from the stage. The show itself was
handkerchief-waving, toe-tapping, head-bopping perfection. All of the
members of the band were masters of the craft and first-rate
entertainers. We rode home heady with the afterglow of a fine night and
headed back to Benedum to do some work for 3-4 hours. A little
midnight, Peter was kind enough to offer me his couch to rest on for
the night. As he was pulling an all-nighter, I found myself being
escorted by Laura to their quiet house in South Oakland where she fed
me with the exquisite leavings of the day's catered brunch (you know
you're doing well when you're eating seafood crepe and fluffy,
fruit-filled pancakes). The evening was almost derailed by a
late-night, caffeine-induced rapid heartrate on my end as well as
shenanigans in the bathroom, but we persevered and I was comfortably
snoozing on their couch by no later then 4 AM.
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Had a very wonderful weekend. Friday night was Bradley Pferdehirt's Prom-themed house party, with the under-theme being "Under the Sea". So Friday afternoon, I stopped by St. Vincent DePaul Goodwill and was able to pick up a very nice looking suit (pants, shirt, jacket) for $6! When I got home, my brother was amped to come as well so we went back to Goodwill and got him a slutty dress. I graciously limited myself to only 2 or 3 pregnant woman jokes. We cruised down to the part at around 9:30 and it was hopping. Bradley and all of his roommates were there, their respective girlfriends, Shane and Alaina, Ms. King and McShane, and some of the MechE's came later on. Add in some fun with Rock Band and a Yuengling keg and fun was had by all. Everyone warmly received my brother as well and made sure he had a good time. We left just a little before midnight and apparently just missed Coral Megahy, who helped the party stay hopping in our absence. We finished up the night with the restorative majesty of homemade pizza and stogies on the back porch.
Woke up fairly early on Saturday and took some vitamins and water to recover. My father went out and got a new motorcycle. It's a black and silver street bike that's alot more comfortable than his old one. He'll use it mostly to go back-and-forth from work, saving money on gas. In the afternoon, I headed back down to Oakland:
Did a little bit of schoolwork.
Hit up the Chinese Buffet at Golden Palace (so worth $7).
It was warm enough to rock out my good Hollister button-up shirt, so I wore that in lieu of my new orange Aeropostale shirt to head down the South Side.
Got down to the South Side at around 8:00 PM and got into the Towne Tavern. Happy Hour wasn't until 9, so I settle for a scotch. They didn't have any Dewar's, so I splurged on some very fine, sultry Johnny Walker Red. So worth it.
Bradley, Jim Sabol, Lauren, Amanda, and Matt made it down a little bit afterwards and we had a very fun happy hour. Nick and OD made token appearances and Bradley
scored me a hot date for the E-ball! One other than Corall David Meghan (a.k.a. Coral).
After we had downed our last free Yuenglings (mmm, just as good the second night), we headed over to the Steak House for fries and fountain soda. A little bit quiter and low-key.
Following that, we shivered in the cold for 20 minutes waiting for a bus back to Oakland. It did give us a chance to run into my brother Michael, who was escorting Lindsay's sister Allison through the South Side for her 21st birthday. Again he was quite well-received. Even in male clothing, everyone recognized his prodigous calves.
Back to Brad's house for a mammoth session of Rock Band and to help them finish off the back-up keg from the night before (Natty Ice).
Lauren was gracious enough to put me up for the night, on her deliciously comfortable sofa bed. Of course, I woke up in the morning in quite a start. I had a 5K to run at noon and she has no clocks in her house. All I knew is that it was light outside. So I rushed Coyote-Ugly style to get dressed and rush out of there...of course when I got to Benedum, I found out it was only 8:30 AM). Oh well. Gave me chance to get some fruit, vitamins, and water into my system.
Had a fantastic time running the 5K! It was a sunny day in Schenley Park and I was lined up with 30 other kids from various engineering departments. I started out in 15th place, but worked my way up to 8th by the 3/4 mark of the 1st mile. I ran my butt off the whole race and put up a very respectable time of 21:05. That's less than 7 minutes per mile. I was peakish. I had my Ipod in the whole time listening to my new techno/club passion, the Club Tiesto podcast.
Following that, I cruised up to Tree's Hall for a shower (passing by what had to be some kind of cheerleading competition, as there were hundreds of 7-10 year-old girls dressed up in gaudy makeup and odd outfits). After that, I put in a few hours in the lab helping Jen G. and Adrienne with our latest simulation, then headed home just to catch the tail-end of Sunday dinner with the family. Jacquelyn and Lindsay made it over and my parents made a fine turkey dinner.
As you see, a quite eventful sequence of Saturday into Sunday.
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This current week was similarly jam-packed. Aside from making preparations for the E-ball and added schoolwork, I have/had two interview. Today, I was down on the North Shore behind PNC to interview for a position with Equitable Gas. The first part of the interview with the lady from HR went very well, while the interview with two engineers was just OK. Usually it's the reverse, but the two engineers interviewing asked some really weird questions and they didn't really seem at all interested in interviewing me. We'll see though. Tommorow (Wednesday), I interview with a position down on the Monongahelia with a plastics factory. Uncle Jeff is meeting me down in Oakland and will give me a ride down there.
Had a fantastic night at bowling. Dad, Uncle Tom, and I squared off against the seasoned squad of Bob Werley Sr., my PapPap, and Dom Maiello. We pulled out the first two games by the skin of our teeth, edging them out by 5 pins each time. In the last game though, all of found our rhythm though and we smoked 'em by over 200 pins. The solid 7-point week puts us 2 pt.s clear at the top of the table with less than 5 weeks to go. A solid win like that really helped buck up my spirits after a tough interview and Schalke losing 1-0 at home to Barcelona in the first leg of the Champion's League Quarterfinal. Theres still hope for them though. One goal will tie it and if they can score two goals at Barcelona, Barcelona will have to score two as well due to the away-goals rule.
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It’s the special time of year again: E-week! E-week 2008 will, by all expectations, be my final one here at Pitt. It’s been pretty fun so far. Got my official E-week shirt. Granted it’s the shirt from the Mechanical Engineering Department, but they had the coolest one and I couldn’t resist. It’s a sharp blue color that uses the American Gladiator shield and the shirt itself is a very decent fabric. It’s the Friday before the official week of E-week, but after around 2/7 of the event, ChE has a tenuous lead. Of course, mechanical engineering is close behind with the wild-card BioE’s bucking in third for their first Shamrock Cup win of the century.
I went out today with some of my classmates for the half-price menu at Hemingways, a very underrated experience. The food is solid, the service is quick and efficient, and you cannot beat the price. Brad, Swogs, Detz, Nick, Jim, and Marcus were among the attendees. We even managed to make it up to ethics in less than 5 minutes, which was a feat during peak traffic on the Benedum elevator system.
I have had some considerable gains on the Job front. I have interviews scheduled with no less than 3 large engineering companies. Most importantly, Equitable Gas is one of them. Along Westinghouse, PPG, and Medrad, Equitable is one of my top choices for engineering firms in the Pittsburgh area. I’m also interviewing with Spartech Plastics down in Donora and ArcelorMittal (steel).
E-week festivities aside, this weekend also has several events that should prove to be entertaining. This evening (Friday night), my friend Bradley and his roommates are having a Prom-themed party with the sub-theme of ‘Under the Sea’ (a classic cheesy prom theme). I need to stop on my way home to see if I can scare up a cheap suit jacket and maybe a throwaway pair of pants that I can trash. On Saturday night, the department is sponsoring a free happy hour down in the South Side. So that should be fun, most of my classmates are certainly entertaining and we’ll see where the night goes from there. I’ll probably spend the night in Oakland and then wake up and do the 5K event for the E-week Olympics in Schenley Park. I don’t have the best time, but they need another guy and I’m probably good enough to beat a few people. I think it will be an instructive experience, no matter the result.
My brother Benjamin is moving out next week. He and his girlfriend Jacquelyn have partnered together to share a townhouse in Holiday Park. We’re helping him move next weekend. It is the start of the Great Emancipation of the Pollack Nation, which my father decreed last year. It will be strange to see our bedroom, currently occupied by the four of us, slowly empty out. I will be spared some of the oddity though, as I suspect that I will be the next one to pursue different lodgings. I’m certainly not laying odds on it though, as I have nothing currently set in stone.
I got a very fine suit during Spring Break. It’s a nice, three-button black suit with subtle grey pin-stripes. The suit jacket, pants, along with a good shirt and tie were a steal. I got the whole set-up for 70% at JCPenneys. I was thrilled. While were there, we also saw tuxedoes for a very reasonable price. A tuxedo jacket and pants were a hundred bucks. For another $30, you could get a shirt, bow tie, cufflinks, and cummerbund. Might be good to get one for Mike’s wedding this fall. That’s maybe 130% of what you would pay to rent one, so it pays for itself if I use it one more time. I’m sure I can get more than two uses out of my own tux.
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