Traffic

Courtesy of Autoblog, I have a video to share with you all today. It's a video of soldiers somewhere in Iraq navigating traffic. Enjoy.



Shocked? Well, think of it this way. If they stop and sit in the traffic, the soldiers become a sitting duck target for an idiot with an IED. So... would you want to be polite and sit in traffic? Nope? Neither would I. I mean... it's not a polite thing to do and probably pisses off a lot of Iraqis but if it keeps you AND them alive I suppose its understandable. It's saves them because many more Iraqis get killed when IEDs go off in urban areas than soldiers do. I'll put it to you this way... would you want to be in your car stuck in traffic in front or behind a US Military HUMVEE? Once again, neither would I.

Besides, think of it this way. What would you do if you saw a speeding HUMVEE behind you with a 0.50 caliber machine mounted on it, and blaring it's horn? Personally, I'd pull over before he tried to bump me off the road.

My favorite part has got to be when the driver bumps the bus. Of course... isn't this what bumpers are for... you know... bumping?

Dumbass

Just another piece of evidence proving that you can be a dumbass and still make lots of money in the music business. Akon, or otherwise known as Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (yes, that's his actual name), is just a giant dumbass.

You'd think that a rapper putting an album out would double check what he was saying so he didn't sound like an idiot but no, not Akon. You see, in his latest song Smack That, Akon mispronounces the name of Lamborghini's newest car, the Gallardo. Here's the lyric.

I feel you creepin', I can see you from my shadow.
Wanna jump up in my Lamborghini Gallardo.
Maybe go to my place and just kick it, like Taebo.
And possibly bend you over.

Instead of pronouncing it correctly as Gui-yar-do, genius Akon says Ga-lar-do. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that he owns one, drives it daily and tells everybody about it. It's an orange one to boot. Doesn't he know that all Lamborghini's should be yellow? At the very least though, you'd think that the local Lamborghini dealer would have "smacked that" and made him say it right when he was buying it. Guess not.

Get a clue Akon.

Decisions

So now that I've graduated, its time to think of what to do about grad school. Should I start immediately? I think that's pretty obvious. I'm not married. I don't have any kids and well, I have too much time on my hands right now. So, it's definitely time to go back to school.

The problem I'm having is not where to go but what to study. I know I eventually want my MBA maybe with a Management, Finance, or Economics focus but that's down the line. Right now, I want to go back to school for something technical. The obvious choice is a M.Eng. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, but is it?

I just started my career and have no idea where its going to go. I spoke to my supervisor about this and when he asked me where I saw myself... I didn't have an answer. Hell, I don't even know if the aerospace industry is where I want to stay let alone if I want to stay in test engineering or move to reliability, design, manufacturing, or into engineering management.

So without knowing all of this, how can one choose a program to study? Areas that I'm considering are Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a custom Engineering Science program that focuses on Quality, Decision Making and Engineering Systems. The E. Sci degree is interesting and could be useful but wouldn't an MBA with a management focus cover all of this? So that keeps making me lean back to Mechanical Engineering. But, do I really want to do that?

The question that I keep asking myself is "will an M.Eng. be marketable for me." The reason I doubt its marketability is because I definitely see myself going into project management. I don't see myself being a lab rat my entire career but being a lab rat is something that I can see myself enjoying for the next ten years.

I think any of the choices I'm thinking about are good so it all comes down to making a decision and sticking with it.

Ugh... school sucks.

Help

Here are two great Dilbert cartoons that succinctly illustrate how I feel when people me to help them with their computer problems.

People who ask for help and don't want to learn annoy me the most. If I'm going to help, I expect you to pay attention and learn something because I don't want to help you again for the same reason. The "I don't care what happened or how to fix it... just do it" attitude and mentality pisses me off. If you knew how you broke it, you wouldn't have broken it in the first place. Get a clue.