nathan jara

The other day, as I came into the house, I grabbed the mail as usual. As I leafed passed the junk mail, I found a letter with my name on it. I then glanced to the top left of the envelope and found the AARP logo. Confusion was my first reaction. Then a glance back to the recipient address to double check it was for me and not my roommate :P Opening the letter found that, yes, indeed, they sent me my very own AARP membership application and card. Now, this wouldn’t have surprised me if this was the year 2040 or so. However, it is 2010, and I’m 24 years old! I can say I’m just a bit surprised that a little more research wasn’t performed to ensure I was eligible for the program in less than 26 years from now. Just think how much money these organizations would all save on postage! Now obviously there’s no harm done. I don’t plan on filling it out, but I think it warrants a little chuckle at least. I guess it’s nice to know I’m getting a heads up!

Over this weekend I showed my car some love by doing a nice wash and summer time wax. But in between the wash and wax, I tried something new by using a clay kit. Meguiar’s Smooth Surface clay kit comes with two clay bars, detailing spray, micro-fiber towel, and a sample bottle of cleaner wax. The clay kit is used by first making sure your car is squeaky clean, then spraying the included detailer over a section of your car. Next take the kneadable clay bar and rub the bar over the sprayed area, once smooth, wipe dry with the towel. Repeating this process section by section over the whole car picks up and rubs away all the contaminants (dirt, tar, debris, general yuckiness) that get stuck to the car body. The result is well, amazing. The stuff leaves your car as smooth as glass. I followed up the clay bar with a new coat of cleaner wax to seal in all that glassy goodness. Take a peek below and you’ll see why I think it was worth it. :)

So I have a complaint to make. I’m not sure what it’s like these days in the rest of the country, but I’ve come to the conclusion that a good portion of people in western Pennsylvania have lost some fundamental driving principles. It’s amazing. I can’t count the number of times in the past few weeks I’ve encountered others who A. don’t know how to use their turn signal and B. don’t seem to understand the concept of ‘right-of-way.’ I’m not sure if the cars these individuals are driving don’t have turn signals, but if they do, they certainly are too lazy to make an effort to flick the turn signal arm. And when it comes to pulling up to the intersection, these particular drivers don’t realize that whoever is first to the intersection, proceeds through first. Only when two cars arrive at the same time does the person on the right have the ‘right-of-way.’

And just one more thing. Headlights. I am continually amazed that people do not turn on their headlights when it’s raining. First of all, it’s illegal (pg. 66). Second of all, it’s just silly.

Okay. I’m done.

Talk about patience…

These guys at Adobe really have outdone themselves with this content-aware feature.

I took advantage of the beautiful weather this week and hit the links for the first time this year. This was the definitely the earliest I’ve ever been able to get onto the golf course. It was awesome. It felt so good to be on the course. And I think my trips to the indoor golf range definitely paid off over the past month or so; I’m hitting the ball great for it being the first time out. I definitely don’t have the rust I usually do when playing for the first time of the year. My summer league will be starting up as soon as the weather stays consistent. The boys at work are in trouble :)

I also had my first experience at a casino yesterday. I met up with some friends to check out the new Rivers Casino on the North Shore in Pittsburgh. It was certainly an interesting experience. It felt almost fake as we walked around the giant hall watching and listening to the repeating sounds and lights on the countless “money” machines. I’ve never been a gambler and don’t plan on starting either, but it was fascinating to watch the many people staring uninterruptedly as the slot machines spun endlessly in front of them. To think that all of these people just sit for hours and hours feeding their money into these machines waiting for the siren above to go off signaling their wildest dreams. It’s crazy.

I also found that the layout of the casino was very disorienting. Everything looks the same and you can easily feel like you’re not sure where you came from as you walk the floor. The layout made sense though from the casino’s perspective. The more people are forced to walk around, the better chance they’ll stop to spend more money.

We stood and listened to a live jazz band that was playing near one of the four main bar areas. They were pretty good. I enjoyed the live music. It also really reminded me of the movies. I felt like Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino would be walking through to check on the high rollers at any minute.

I don’t think I’ll be frequenting the casino very often, but I would like to go back to try the buffet. I definitely think that would be money well spent.

My friend came across this video that some local kids did in tribute to what I’m sure we’ll be calling the blizzard of 2010. It’s pretty cool and very well done.

It’s been a busy past week or so. Between being on-call at work last week, preparing for a presentation this past Monday, Olympic-sized distractions, and a new member of the household, I haven’t had a chance to get back to the blogging world. I’m glad to get back to it tonight.

This past Monday was awesome. Two of my past professors from my college invited me to give a presentation to some of their current students concerning my job as a web developer. What a privilege and honor it was! I spoke to a web development class and a web design class. I concentrated most specifically on the amount of teamwork and collaboration with other groups and departments and the types of interactions that are involved in web work. I felt that I was really able to connect with the students. I didn’t catch anyone sleeping, so I must have been at least a little bit interesting :) Throughout my presentation I was able to spark some conversation and dialogue, which made it a lot of fun. The students asked some great questions, and it was very interesting to be on the “answering” side of these questions. Just a few years ago, I was on the “asking” side of the questions. The presentation was such a great experience in this way because I learned a bit more about how much I have matured and grown since graduating college. Thinking of the whole experience now as I write makes me realize how much I have been blessed to have the opportunities I have had to get me to this point. I hope that I was able to encourage the students I spoke with and provide them with some of the knowledge necessary for them to succeed in their pursuits.

I can’t believe the Olympics will be over after this weekend! The two weeks have gone by so fast. I’ve really enjoyed watching all the events and will miss being able to flip to an event just about any time of the day. Of course, with the Olympics over, a lot of my distractions will go by the wayside, which will probably be a good thing. Still, these games have been great. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the result of the men’s hockey tournament, along with curling, and the final speed skating and skiing events. Sometime I wish we didn’t have to wait so long in between Olympics, but I know that’s what makes them that much more, well, Olympic.

The latest and most likely biggest distraction over the past few days is the newest member of the house, Jack. He’s a young mutt my roommate picked up from the pound. He seems to be a beagle, husky, lab mix. So far he’s an awesome dude! Jack is very well behaved and is a ton of fun. He’s starting to settle into his new home and is proving to be quite the companion. He is quite the nosy fellow though. Jack insists on putting his nose into just about everything you do, literally. :) He’s still learning in a few of the discipline areas, but I’m not complaining and I don’t think he is either.

As I said before, I enjoy every winter olympic event. Yesterday the curling competitions began. And I must say, the Norwegian team has got style :)

The pants are made by a European clothing company called Loudmouth Golf. They are most famously worn by PGA professional John Daly.

These tremendous trousers are a definitely on the pricey side at $90 a pair, but, I don’t know, after seeing the Norwegians curling in style, I just may have a pair in my future.