Sabatical

Tomorrow I begin a month's hiatus from the office. This will be the longest I've been away from work at one time since I got out of school. I'll be spending the next three weeks in Buenos Aires, Argentina taking an intensive Spanish class. Even though I've lived in Costa Rica for a year now my Spanish has advanced very slowly due to the extensive use of English in the office. Hopefully this trip will get me over the threshold into regular Spanish speaking.

It's strange preparing to leave the office for that long, almost as if I was leaving for good. For once 100% of my responsibilities have been transitioned. It's a freeing and alarming feeling.

The last of week of December I'll be flying from summer in the Southern Hemisphere to winter in the Northern. It won't feel like Christmas for me until the airplane touches down in Chicago and slides off of the icy tarmac. Speaking of flying the trip is going to be a doosey. I leave San Jose at 1:30 tomorrow, then wait around in the Houston airport until 9:00 at which time I fly through the night to Buenos Aires and arrive at 10:20 the next morning.

This is my first time publishing an entry in the latest of version of Blogger. I'm not sure what the new features are yet, but it did cause me to discover a backlog of unapproved comments. I think I have to forfit my already shaky geek credentials. That's what happens when you're just a nerd who learns a little bit of programming. If you've commented on this blog in the last six months and haven't seen it appear that would be why. It's all fixed now.

I leave you with a few interesting links.

See the last earthquake to hit Costa Rica at http://www.ovsicori.una.ac.cr/. I felt my first one a couple Saturdays ago. I was spaced out on the couch watching TV when I felt a tremor. They don't really consider it an earthquake until its around 6.0, but it's slightly alarming nonetheless. It actually felt similar to when they dynamite big rocks at the construction site next to our office. The floor shakes and the windows rattle over a muffled boom. Of course in this case the epicenter wasn't next door but miles and miles away.

Last, best article I've read:
Bill Hybels on Outreach

The reimagined Battlestar Galactica is the best written show on television. You should definitely get into it even if science fiction is the last thing you want to turn on. This ain't no Star Trek. Rent the pilot and you'll see that it's not your traditional scifi, what with Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell. The first season ends strong. The second season will consistently impress you with believable characters in tough circumstances. The third, current season is beyond all belief and levels of quality.
http://www.slate.com/id/2154625/

http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/
This is an enjoyable and creative flash game that you should waste a half-hour playing.

http://factory.lego.com/getstarted/default.aspx
Now you can download a LEGO building program! Can't afford those little overpriced bricks? Make things in the virtual world.

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/
This one will bring your computer to its knees, but it's fascinating. It reads up a set of pictures and constructs a three-dimensional model of the photographed structure. It feels like Hollywood's idea of an intelligence tool. James Bond would be so lucky.

Informative Reading:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/
http://www.businesspundit.com/

Fun Reading:
http://www.boltcity.com/copper/
http://www.scarygoround.com/
http://jjrowland.com/