Random Sunday

• Although conditions here are improving ever so slowly, I still find it somewhat difficult to consider this "Spring." If anything, our current cloudy, wet, 50 degree weather seems to be more like the interlude between Winter and Spring; there is even a threat of non-accumulating snow tonight and tomorrow, although I can't really complain since we have received no snow at all throughout the entire month of March. It goes without saying that 90% of the trees are still totally dead and bare, although I take great delight in noticing each one that blossoms here in Oakland. Of course, many people would be quick to remind me that astronomical Spring only started 9 days ago. Fair enough. I suppose I'm just getting a bit irritable and antsy as I watch 15-day Florida forecasts that include nothing but weather in the high 70's and 80's. Sigh.
• The iPhone is really one of those gadgets that you find it hard to imagine living without after becoming an owner. Being able to check Facebook and LinkedIn, surf the web, play everything from Bejeweled to Pacman, and check the 10-day forecast on your phone is just amazing. Oh, and if you have one, there's this 99 cent game called "Flight Control" that you should check out - if you have free time to kill.
  
• To date, Obama has not really disappointed me in any substantial way. The blunders in forming his Cabinet were somewhat embarrassing - particularly the appointment of Judd Gregg, something I could not even pretend to understand - but in the end, those are something that people won't even remember two years from now. And I think that some liberals need to chill the fuck out. Honestly, some of them have been even worse that the conservatives in terms of petty, childish, premature criticisms and reactions.
• With the exception of these random Sunday posts, I won't be continuing this blog between roughly the end of May and the end of August. And after I graduate in December, I will stop updating it. The whole point was the capture a bit of my life during the Florida - Pittsburgh - Florida transition, and I think that it has largely accomplished that goal.
• I exempted Professional Writing this week; this, after making an A+ (to date, my only A+) when I took Professional Speaking last semester. It has become clear to me that throughout my career, communication skills are going to be one of those things that I can use as a strongly differentiating asset - particularly since so many technologists lack good writing skills and possess, in general, the communications skills of a brick wall.
  
• I've taken a great liking to Lula, Brazil's President and a quite inspiring "rags to riches" story. Fortune magazine had a great article on him a while back (surprising, from a staunchly pro-capitalist magazine.) He very clearly exemplifies the type of social democratic policies that I advocate, and I'd like to learn more about his life.
• Hamburg Hall, home to the Heinz College, is...wait, never mind. I'll save that for later. I'll have quite a mouthful about that place in May, after the semester is over.
• I never really understood property law until recently, as I have gone through the processes involved in selling my mom's house. It is ridiculously confusing and, in my mind, unnecessarily complicated (like so many legal things.) On a related note, the protections that the State of Florida affords to homeowners are simply amazing. Easy to see why people such as OJ Simpson have taken up domicile in our fair state.
• It just finally clicked to me that, in the 2008 election, Orange County, Florida - home to Orlando - voted more heavily Democratic than Miami-Dade County. Leon County - home to Tallahassee - voted more heavily Democratic than Palm Beach County. Is South Florida becoming less liberal, or are Central Florida and liberal North Florida cities like Gainesville and Tallahassee simply making a marked transition to the left? Only time will tell; the 2010 Senatorial election will shed some light on a possible realignment in our politics.