2018 Year in Review, December

Finally, the last month, thank you to anybody who has read even one of these posts, and away we go! We have finally reached the last month in 2018 and it was an eventful month at that.

Sounds of the Season, with a lot of Jazz

In early December, the US Army Field Band Jazz Ambassadors were in town and performed for the community some Christmas standards with a jazzy twist. Of course since the band is a military band there was also the customary salute to the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard toward the end of the concert. I know of a few people who could stand for more than one of the services 

All three patterns completed

After more than a few hours but less than many hours, I managed to cross-stitch every pattern from the Pusheen cross-stitch kit. My favorite pattern is the one where Pusheen clutches the donut and has her eyes closed.

Susheen had to watch me eat his favorite food

There's an Asian fusion restaurant near me that has a bunch of sushi choices and dishes from around Asia. Usually I choose various Thai curries, but I finally decided to try their sushi after finding they had choices that didn't contain avocado. The Spicy Shrimp and Spicy Scallop sushi were delicious, delicious enough to eat in front of Susheen, who was very angry with me after dinner for not sharing my sushi with him.

Self-explanatory

So far the sewing of patches on to my blanket has gone off to a slow start, but I'm aiming to focus on completing the blanket before my birthday in 2019. I think a monthly average of 20 patches should suffice as a good goal.

More tiny Lego fun, but with the Denver Broncos this time

For Christmas, one of my presents was a tiny Lego set (I'm using Lego as a generic term for plastic block toy) of the Denver Broncos, my football team. It was interesting to build and thanks to the small size of the blocks the accuracy of the logo is increased.

2018 Year in Review, November

Two months left and time is flying, I'm not ready for 2019, but it'll be coming around anyway, so onward to reviewing things that happened in November.

I Voted (and got the sticker)

This year may have been midterm elections, but voting in every election is important, whether you like or dislike the candidates. Also since I'm at home I don't have to submit an absentee ballot and I get the sticker for voting (which I've never gotten as an absentee voter).

Pusheen adores the donut

This picture actually shows the second pattern that I cross-stitched from the Pusheen cross-stitch kit. It is my personal favorite. I also messed up the least with this pattern compared to the other two.

First snow of this cold season

November 15, 2018 was the day with the first snow of the 2018-2019 cold season (rather than winter since people will argue that snow in January counts as the first snow of the year). I had a lot of slush to trudge through between Panera and the dumpsters every trash run that day.

Two patches are the same, but only one needed to be sewn on

Since I sewn on my merit badges in March, I figured there were other things I could sew. I managed to sew a hole in one of my pants shut and a patch from my Cub Scout days to my Cub Scout patch vest. The hardest part of sewing the patch on was the fact that I had the anchor pins on the wrong way so the patch would not stay on the vest. There are bigger plans with Mr. Sean and sewing though as shown below.

The start of an ambitious goal?

This photo is a rough draft of what I would like to accomplish with my patch blanket. Over sixty patches to sew on. My goal is to have things finished before my birthday in 2019. So far I've sewn on five patches. I just have to be careful not to poke myself with the needle.

2018 Year in Review, October

Ocotber's three key words are Food, Pusheen, and Panera, now on to the meaty part of this blog post.

Mr. Sean decided to try his hand at cross-stitch

My interest in cross-stitched was piqued by a nice lady who lived in the same dorm as me last year at Millersville, she was doing some cool stuff and I thought to myself, "I'd like to try that out for myself." Thanks to a sale on Amazon and my liking of Pusheen the cat, I bought a Pusheen cross-stitch kit for less than ten dollars. The kit contained a hoop to hold the aida cloth, three pieces of 14 count aida cloth, two needles, four skeins of thread with each skein a different color, and a how-to booklet. I'll elaborate more on the three patterns in the November and maybe December posts.

Susheen gets a new rival while Pusheen has a new friend

Since I don't have Amazon Prime, the way to free shipping was buying some more stuff and also on sale was a Pusheen plush eating pizza, so now Pusheen has a friend while Susheen has a rival in the pizza loving cat named Pizeko (a Japanese mashup of Pizza and Neko). At least Pizeko isn't angry when I eat pizza and not share my pizza with her unlike Susheen, who easily gets angry when I don't share sushi with him (even though Susheen looks like a Pusheen, I decided Susheen is a he).

Aloha!

A local church hosted food trucks on Tuesdays during the warm months and on the last food truck Tuesday of the year, my family attended and while my brother got some other cuisine's food, my parents and I had some Hawaiian food. The truck was so popular that they ran out of rice, so I got double macaroni salad, winning! Also, I wish there were more people serving Hawaiian food on the east coast.

Special Cake

My parents went out and did couples stuff one day, but they were kind enough to bring some cake home. The cake was good, though it definitely is special occasion cake as the cake was sprinkled with gold flakes.

Out with the old and in with the new

I got my old job back at Panera in October, which meant I was out of the house more often. Anyways, I had my last chance at eating the old Chocolate Pastry while at the same time trying the new Chocolate Croissant. I like croissants, so I did enjoy the new Chocolate Croissant, but I do miss biting into the sticks of chocolate, which was possible with the old pastry.

2018 Year in Review, September

I have now entered the final third of the year with this post. September may not have been as interesting as August, especially with the euphoria of graduating from college wearing off, but I do have plenty of content to write.

The first origami model I did not enjoy assembling

Honestly I don't have much to say except I didn't enjoy assembling this modular origami model, especially with the many loose folds remaining after assembly. One of the few models I've disassembled and not regretted it.

Panera has a new sandwich that Mr. Sean likes?

Panera Bread used to have a delicious panini called the Cuban Chicken. The Cuban Chicken was one of my favorite Panera items until it went away. In September I had some Panera for the first time in a while and saw they had a new Cuban. The new Cuban is a more faithful take on the Cuban Sandwich with lots of pork and ham. I liked the new Cuban and hopefully Panera will keep that sandwich on their menu for years to come.

Even with not much to do, I still try to be organized

Sometimes I wonder if I'm too obsessed with being organized, but then I remember, it tends to make things easier to find.

Nearly five seconds better than my last fastest time trial

I was watching a speedrunner named AverageTrey playing Mario Kart Double Dash since he achieved the pinnacle of Super Mario Sunshine 100% with a sub 3 hour time (all 120 shines, all 240 blue coins, and defeating Bowser in an eighth of a day). I was inspired to try to improve some of my time trials times in MKDD and managed to do so on Yoshi's Circuit.

Evidence of my short speedrun craze

I tried to do some speedrunning of my own in September but quickly lost interest in it shortly thereafter. For the few weeks I was interested in doing speedruns, I picked Mario Kart DS to submit a Grand Prix time to the leaderboards at speedrun.com. It was okay, but I think I'll try speedrunning for myself again later.

Next up is the month antipodal to my birth month, the month that my dad says is the best: October.

2018 Year in Review, August

The month of August can be summed up in a few nouns: thunderstorms, food, college. Special mention goes out to Isaac's Grill in downtown Lancaster, the flagship location of the Isaac's chain in South Central Pennsylvania. I may have not taken a photo of their delicious food, but if anybody who reads this is ever in downtown Lancaster, you MUST give Isaac's a try! I recommend eating in as they let you eat some free pickles while you wait for your sandwich (their Isaac's Reuben was what I ate).

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!

August weather was rather volatile, compared to June and July, with the rain coming down from thunderstorms rather than non-stop stratus. Thanks to being at Millersville, I had some opportunity to take photos of thunderclouds without being too hampered by trees like I am at home.

Too big of a deal for a big (compared to its brothers) sandwich?

After I came home from School for the last time, my parents and I ate at McDonalds for a quick bite one day. I decided to finally try a Big Mac. It was worth the hype if you ask me, but then again, I am a fan of thousand island dressing and similar flavored sauces.

Spicy ramen that can hang with my mom's ramen

My mom can make some good ramen, but there are times when I'd like to have way too many ingredients and some inventive flavor. One day in August I was taken to some ramen joint in Rockville, MD and I tried their Akira Volcano ramen. It was spicy as advertised and was a joy for my tastebuds.

Rays at a Ravens game

I was lucky enough to be invited to a Ravens game. It was a preseason version of the Battle of the Beltways against the Washington Redskins. The weather out was okay but provided for some beautiful skies at sunset. Also, I recommend getting the crab dip from some of the concessions, it's really good! 

Mission Complete!

These two words have double meaning in the context of this post. The first meaning is that I successfully completed my summer math course with an A-, thus ensuring that I would earn my diploma in Math and Meteorology. The second meaning is that I finally snapped a photo of the Biemesderfer Executive Center (the Old Library) during summer, completing my four season collection. This photo is a good representation of a good ending to undergraduate study at Millersville University.

2018 Year in Review, July

July is a lot more exciting than June for me this year as I was able (and needed) to go back to Millersville University one last time as an undergraduate. I needed to take a math course to boost a section GPA and through hard work and five weeks in July and August, I did it, but I must not get ahead of myself.

Origami representation of three dimensional space.

At the beginning of the month, I decided to try to fold some more modular origami. Modular origami is a bit tedious as you have to fold multiple units that are shaped the same as each other, but the results are visually impressive. This model came courtesy of the late Francis Ow, who is well known in origami circles for his takes on origami hearts, you could say that despite the planar shapes, that this is my tribute to a great origami artist.

Susheen is feeling patriotic

I don't have much to say here except that how Susheen holds his chopsticks with his nubby paws allows him to carry stick flags also. As the picture was taken on Independence Day, of course the flag had to be American.

What happens when I find a Lego piece I've been missing for years

I cleaned my room yet again in July, but this time I managed to find a Lego piece that I thought I may have lost forever. It was a piece to connect a wheel to the vehicle above and unlike regular Lego sets, the pieces for this Lego set were a bit specialized so losing a piece meant more. It's exciting to find something that was previously thought to be lost.

I had to feature my mom's home cooking at least once this year.

Chinese takeout fried rice only wishes that it could be as good as my mom's fried rice. Though I can't say I'm unbiased, I am comparing food to mom's cooking, and that's usually a losing battle for the challenger.

The true sunset era at Millersville

I attended Millersville University to study meteorology, which is a very math intensive major. 18 year old me would have never imagined that his first and last class at the Ville would be in the math department. I started my undergraduate career with math and I ended my undergraduate career with math. The class I took was Math Proof, and I imagined that some of it would be a cakewalk having been immersed in the ways of the math proof for the past two or so years. In July it definitely was a cakewalk, even the first exam. Stay tuned for August!

2018 Year in Review, June

This month will be shorter than usual as I did not do much of anything exciting in June.

Son and Father, a run/walker and a runner

The only thing I did exciting (or had a photo for) in June was try to run a 5k. I need to build up my endurance again with running, but I did manage to finish despite the discomfort. Sorry that this post was really short, I promise that the remaining half year's worth of year in review posts will be more interesting.

2018 Year in Review, May

Even though May is only close to the middle of the year, it was also the month of endings this year. A lot of endings involving Millersville University.

Final River Views

Right outside of campus the Conestoga River meanders by and is a favorite hangout of people who want to get away from the busy-ness of campus life. Getting there always provided for a bit of a workout as there was a hill to conquer before getting to the river.

First (and perhaps last) time eating cookie dough and ice cream with friends

Lancaster has some good eats and right before Commencement, a few of my friends and I went downtown to celebrate the culmination of years of higher education. I got me some snickerdoodle cookie dough to go with my ice cream at Dough and Co. I like cookie dough but I'm more of a fan of freshly baked cookies.

We made it (well, she did, I almost did)

Commencement day, the final chapter in my undergraduate career, was bittersweet. It was nice to celebrate the fact that I made it (at least in Meteorology, I did have to come back to finish the math major), but it was hard to leave my friends. I really wish I could visit my friends some time in the near future. Also, Dr. Jackson, the Dean for the College of Science and Technology brought a lot of energy to commencement, especially for the students who earned honors, "SUMMA CUM LAUDE!!!"

MMMM, Thai food

Thai food is delicious, even Captain Obvious knows it is. Anyways, I decided to try something somewhat new. It was basically a seafood curry but it was not listed under the curry section of my local Thai restaurant's menu. It was spicy and tasty, very good!

The terminal is cool

I have previously had fun with using the Linux terminal to run Python programs, but then I found out how to do a similar thing with Java and using what I learned in CSCI 161, I was able to get the cool scaled rocket to appear on my terminal.

After May, things were not as exciting as I basically stayed at home most of the time, so June may not be as long of a post as the other months are, sorry.

2018 Year in Review, April

A lot of events with meteorology folk define this month's contribution to the year in review. There also seems to be some repetition with an event in April being similar to one in March.

More Mod, but this time for Meteorology

I don't have much more to say about Mod Pizza except that y'all should visit them, but in April, instead of eating with the family, I got to eat with the MU-AMS president and classmate Bob Capella. I heard that the fundraiser for MU-AMS was quite successful. 

Public Weather Awareness Day 10!

Public Weather Awareness Day is an annual event that promotes learning about the weather for free and seeing the diversity of who's involved with weather. This year featured Hurricane Hunters among perennial favorites such as Lancaster Emergency Management Association. For the kids' amusement there were many stations including face painting and collapsing can. The collapsing can involves heating up a can then placing it in ice water and the pressure and heat differences cause the can to collapse.

Bee gets a new friend, courtesy of a friend of mine

One day I had an hour between lunch and Mesoscale Meteorology to visit Superfest, which is basically Millersville's fun fair. I didn't have time to visit the fun stuff in the SMC building, but I did have time to visit my friend Amber Liggett and her balloon business and finally I got a balloon creation from her, I chose a bee so that my plush bee named Bee would have a friend. Thank you Amber!

MOO!

Thanks to the Honors College Student Association, I managed to visit the Turkey Hill experience right before I graduated (and would have been too late). The exhibits were cool, the free sample was nice, and it was interesting to try to make your own kind of ice cream. I tried to make a flavor called "Cinnanutty" but the cinnamon extract didn't mix well throughout the ice cream. I also got some cool stuff from the gift shop such as a bag made out of recycled bottles.

This is a surprise

The annual Russell DeSouza banquet is an opportunity for meteorology people and their friends to celebrate the academic year. There are some traditions such as the MU Emmy's for the video forecasters, the blooper reel, and the lava cake dessert. This year all the professors attended the banquet and I got a certificate. I finally tried the steak and it was good.

2018 Year in Review, March

After this post I'll be a quarter of the way through the year. Hopefully 2019 will not be a snooze-fest.

Who's that man wearing the mask?

March started off with the Honors College Student Association annual Semi-Formal dance. This year's theme was a masquerade ball. I tried to evoke the image of a Tengu. A Tengu in Japanese folklore has many variations in looks and motives but the popular view is that Tengu are guardian spirits and known for their red hue. The dancing was fun, but I do wish that the HCSA would have ordered pot-stickers as part of the refreshments, I liked the pot-stickers from the 2017 formal.

Pizza, with ALL THE TOPPINGS

Mod Pizza and its rivals such as Blaze seem to have been popping up around the country as of recently, and for good reason. They allow for great customization of pizza. The vast array of toppings ensures that a personal pizza truly is personal. I appreciate the fact that they have corn as a topping, as my half-Japanese being does enjoy some of the toppings Japanese people put on their pizza.

Mr. Sean finally tries some treacle tart, and loves it

The Upper Deck had a Harry Potter themed dinner, it also snowed that day but I must focus on the food. The dining hall had British favorites such as fish and chips, Harry's favorite treacle tart, and for some reason, a spaghetti Bolognese that resembled and tasted rather similar to how my mom makes spaghetti with meat sauce. The food was good, especially the treacle tart and I had to have another one after I ate the first one. Maybe I'll make one of my own with help from a Binging with Babish video one day.

Reason 1 as to eat locally in Lancaster

One Friday, after class and work, I had some free time and went to downtown Lancaster to eat. First up was lunch at Sa La Thai where they had a ten dollar special consisting of a soup, an appetizer, and an entree. Of course, with me being me, I had to have some curry so I chose the massaman curry as my entree and it was good. I was still hungry for desert, but wanted to have it elsewhere so I headed over to Rachel's Creperie and got me some Mexican Hot Chocolate and crepes Nutella. Definitely a sweet way to end the week and the service is great. If you're ever in the Lancaster, PA area, go visit Rachel's! They even have savory crepes.

Five years later, all of them are on.

Although I aged out of Boy Scouts in 2013, I did not bother to sew on the final seven merit badges that I had earned. In 2017, I got me a sewing kit to motivate myself to sew the badges on without help from other people. I did get a little help from wikiHow on how to start, but thanks to a snow day and/or some early closing, I managed to sew on those final merit badges and now my merit badge sash is complete! I am currently working on sewing patches to a blanket and will post a photo when I am finished.

Three months down and tomorrow we focus on the best month in the year: April! I think y'all know why I say it is the best.

2018 Year in Review, February

February may have been cold, but some of the stuff I was involved with kept me warm. Here's part two to the 2018 year in review.

Hodographs, enough said

In my Mesoscale Meteorology class, we finally got to learn about hodographs, how to read them, and how they represent thunderstorms. I prefer the Skew-T log-p diagrams (though the comparisons of the diagrams are apples to oranges).

2200 plus pieces, 12 hours, one complete tiny castle

Although I got the Himeji Castle Nanoblock set in January, I waited until I had some time in February to tackle it. With a few thousand pieces, it was very easy to drop and lose a piece but thankfully that didn't happen. The response to this picture on social media was quite positive.

Skyzone was very fun, also glow in the dark night

Thanks to the Honors College Student Association, I was able to go to Skyzone in Lancaster for the first and perhaps only time. It was glow in the dark night so I got a special t-shirt but I was hooked on the trampolines, though I didn't do any cool moves, I had much fun and hope to find another place like Skyzone sometime.

A taste of New Orleans? Perhaps, but needs remoulade instead of boom boom sauce.

The Upper Deck dining hall at Millersville hosts occasional theme meals and one of the theme meals this past academic year featured New Orleans food. Of course I had to get as much food as my plate could fit. Now I'm getting hungry for seafood, hush puppies, and biscuits, especially biscuits. Though I do have one time travel wish of going back to New Orleans just to tell myself who was at the AMS meeting not to eat at the riverside mall more than once.

100 laps, hopefully we'll find a cure soon.

My final participation in Relay for Life at Millersville was generally better than my participation in 2017 as I wasn't suffering from food poisoning this year. I had a goal of walking 100 laps around the SMC fitness center track and although my feet were yelling at me to sit down by the end of the event, I managed to complete my goal. Hopefully the cures for cancer will be found soon.

Tomorrow, we March on (also nobody can throw tomatoes at me through the Internet, so I can get away with the terrible play on words).