Nips' Conniptions

Additionally, my brother came into town and Em and I dragged him to an fundraising event where Emily ended up winning a free flight to Korea!

Also, it was Emily's birthday, so we rocked some fairly exclusive venues in celebration. One of the more expansive sites was in Two Harbors, MN:

But, near and dear to my heart, this is one of the biggest newsbites from Nipsland: I passed my Preliminary PhD Oral Exam! This involved presenting my work and future goals to four professors (Three from EE and 1 from ME) and getting grilled with questions relating to the presentation and other coursework. Except that they left out the coursework part. Never been done before? Perhaps. I lead. It's what I do. Regardless, the net effect is that I am now a "PhD Candidate," and can now start taking "Thesis Credits," which effectively serve as a countdown to graduation. This pleases me immensely.

To celebrate, Emily invited friends and took me out to Manny's Steakhouse, apparently one of America's Top 10 Steakhouses... and I promise you it is with good reason. My, God, that was the best cow I have ever had in my life. It was so good... you just can't imagine.... oh, man.... sooo good... anyway... Then the crew went out to the Prohibition Lounge on the top of the Foshay (Now W Hotel) in downtown Minneapolis. Really awesome. Great time. I can't thank everybody enough for a great party.

Oh, we also took carbombs in the office after the exam's completion. You know. For completeness.

Anyway... in addition to causing the fire department come to my domicile, this sums up much of January 2009.

Oh, PS, water is leaking out of every pore of the EE building (Big flood started at 3am on Friday... my test was Thursday afternoon. I am thinking of writing a thank you letter to that pipe for holding on just long enough...). Probably be closed for at least a week. Good times.

Big Gulps, eh?