3400+!!!

Wow, it was just two and a half weeks ago that I crossed the 1000 hit point since I got Site Tracker in April. Now, thanks to the M4 review, that number has more than tripled! Uff-Da! It's been a lot of fain seeing hits come in from all over the world and the feedback I've been getting has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve also been able to email back and forth with a few cool people who had questions or comments on the review. Yesterday my mom suggested I set up a way to give readers of the review the opportunity of donating to my Purdue tuition (she was only half joking). Too bad she hadn’t thought of it earlier, I might have given it a shot just for kicks.

For the Tablet readers: I'm in the middle of testing the secondary battery now. The improvement in battery life is substantial, to say the least. It'll still be a few days before I have data to post, but I definitely feel comfortable saying that if you're getting the M4, you need this battery.

In other news, my trip to Indiana to visit Shane and Chip went really well a couple of weeks ago. I met Shane in Lafayette and we took his truck to his hometown of Rochester, IN to spend the night at Chip’s house. It was really cool to see Chip because he’s been away in California interning for the Aerospace Corporation this summer. If any of you happen to run into him on the street, say hello from Shawn at Purdue:

He lives on one of the few lakes in Indiana and his family owns a couple of Jet-Skis, so naturally we went out and played on the water for a little while. I’d never been on one before, but before long I was fishtailing it around at high speed and pushing it to a top speed of 42 mph on smooth water. Yeah, it was fun. That night we went to a concert featuring The Elms, Barlow Girl, and Seventh Day Slumber.

The next day we got up early, hit the water again for a while. Then Shane and I left to have lunch at his grandparent’s farm. We spent the rest of the day at the Winimac County Fair. I’d never been to anything quite like it (I’m a city guy, that’s rural Indiana), but it was kind of fun. Especially the reason we were there; Shane was helping with the Tractor Pull. I had never seen one before; so it was very entertaining. I ended up helping with security, which was cool because it gave me something to do and I got a better spot to watch it from than most. Here are some pictures:

We went back to Shane’s apartment in Lafayette that night. Corbit was also crashing there for a few days, so it was cool to hang around with him. Sunday we went to two churches; first my church at 9:30, then Shane’s church at 11:15 (where Corbit was leading worship). We met up with Henry and spent the afternoon playing Halo and watched one of the exceedingly silly Ewok Adventures Shane had on DVD (none of us had ever seen them before. Somehow they managed to turn Endor into an enchanted forest that had absolutely nothing to do with the Force or anything else Star Wars related). Monday (the 4th) we, in typical college guy fashion; slept in, played Halo (until the pizza guy showed up), and then popped a DVD (Hitch) while we ate. After the movie, I left for home and went straight to the Snow’s 4th of July Party.

Shane:

Corbit:

Things have been really crazy around here with my Flight Instructor training. We’re having class every day this week (except Sunday) for 2 hours, plus several hours of homework for every period. Even at this rate I still don’t know how I’m going to get done in time for move-back on the 13th.

Lastly, I found this truth in the Chicago Tribune the other day. I’m thinking we need to make something like this and put it on campus. What do you guys think? Where would be the best place for it? I’ve got two spots in mind based on traffic and types of students supposed to be around, but can’t decide which one. First is the engineering mall (by the fountain) because it’s a very central area with a lot of engineers and others walking by. The other idea is between Beering Hall and the Beering Fountain because of all the liberal arts majors and because just about everyone from the west side walks by there on the way to class. Thoughts?