Florida and The Everglades from 35,000 Feet

Lakes and Palm TreesI recently returned from a week-long business trip to Florida where I spent my days learning a real-time kernel for use in embedded systems. I’ve been to Florida once before and I thought it was a festering cesspit then. Not surprisingly, my opinion hasn’t changed. The geography, climate, population, aggressive drivers and prevailing attitude of the locals basically amounts to a resounding “epic fail.” Fortunately, the company that hosted me was top notch, staffed with polite and very intelligent people. By the end of the week I felt fully versed in this new software component. Because of this, and because I wasn’t consumed by a killer sinkhole, I can safely say the trip was successful.

Due to my training schedule and jet lag-induced fatigue, I didn’t get a chance to visit the Everglades. Fortunately, I had a window seat for the flight home so I was able to survey and shoot the massive swamp from the airplane. Once I was done taking photos, I was able to sit back, relax, and take advantage of in-flight WiFi to browse the NTSB’s aviation accident database, starting with ValuJet Flight 592.

Off to Californicateia

I’m flying back to CA with T tonight. We are going to visit my family and attend a friend’s wedding. Be back Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Crater Lake from 35,000 feet

Crater Lake

What a beautiful sight this was!

I also shot all of the volcanoes – had to adjust for the airplane window in photoshop though. Crater Lake was once a giant volcano named Mount Mazama and reached 11,000 feet! Then it blew up :) Wikipedia has some good information on the formation of the lake here. Apparently crater lakes are a geological feature with the subject of this post being one of the most well known in the US. There are other crater lakes in North America and around the world.

Stuck in Seattle

Not that I’m complaining or anything….. Well actually I am. As much as I want to move here ASAP, I don’t want to spend my time here stuck in an airport, drinking fountain soda and eating gourmet fast food while blogging.

So usually it rains here in Seattle, right!??! Well, right now its raining in SF! So bad, in fact, that our flight has been indefinitely delayed. We have to wait for hourly updates about our departure status – by the time this airplane finally takes off, I would have already been home for a few hours.

At least the weekend was incredibly good! I mean… :D (thats a big smile) and I’ll update you in a few days. For now I’m just going to sip my fountain-dispensed lemonade, and add my voice to the choir of discontent that defines the atmosphere at SeaTac Airport Gate D4.

Off to Seattle….. again

Quick update: Going back to Seattle but this time I’m flying and the University of Washington is paying for my plane ticket. w00t. Going to spend time talking to professors about their research and hopefully land an assistantship in the process. I’ll be gone for a week and I’m not taking my camera /cry. WoW client patch 1.10 came out today too and I’m leaving tomorrow. Damn.

So I heard back from Penn State and got accepted there too. That brings my acceptances to 4 (University at Buffalo: CSE & EE, University of Washington, Penn State), rejections to 1 (Oregon State) and still waiting to hear back from Michigan State and Northwestern. Still laughing about being rejected by OSU – seriously… that is funny.

See you all when I get back :) Take care.

Arizona the Beautiful

LOL:

Arizona Backyard

Typical Arizona Backyard

Arizona Street

Typical Arizona Street

 

Silicon Valley From 20,000 Feet

So I’m in Arizona right now but earlier today I boarded my 9th flight in the last 3 months. I flew out of Oakland airport which is much smaller and nicer then SFO. While we were gaining altitude we passed right over silicon valley so I took a few snapshots of the massive urban sprawl below me and now you get to see it too.

View of Silicon Valley from an airplane.

Bye Bye Californicate!

Yes, Arizona is even hot in the winter

Off to Arizona

Cactus and black scorpions here I come! See you in a week ;)

Why I Love Europe

Do I need to provide any more explanation than this?
Hottie from Pisa

Photos From Europe

Just a sample of the 2000+ photos I’ve taken so far. The rest need image processing in Photoshop and that takes more time then I have right now (or ever).