Kyle Farnung: The Blog

Well, summer is finally upon us in Seattle, the weather has been beautiful for over a week now and it's been great to be able to get outside. Not only has it been rain-free, but it's actually been pretty hot out here! This gave another intern and I the opportunity to go out hiking at Wallace Falls State Park. There are pictures from the hike posted at my Windows Live Space, if you happen to be curious about it. It's a pretty awesome sight.

In other news, work has been pretty great lately, but time is really flying by. Next week is the fourth of July (and hence a shorter week) and the following week is the "Midpoint Review" for my internship. This is a chance for both my mentor and myself to assess my performance during the first part of my internship. I really hope that I've been able to live up to their expectations so far, but I'm confident that I have. After that, there are merely six more weeks of work out here in Seattle before I'm flying back to Rochester (on August 24th). I'm very excited about the next few weeks, so I'm sure they will fly by.

Well, that's about it for this check-up, I'll be back in Rochester on July 11th, but only for the weekend. Either way, it will be exciting to see some familiar faces!

Hopefully more to come...

Last weekend was my second round interview for Microsoft out in Seattle. Given how little I travel in general, the trip was really exciting by itself, but the interview added another dimension to the situation. Although it was a rather stressful few hours of technical interviews, it was an enjoyable experience which allowed me to find out a lot more about the company. By the end of the day (a few hours after I had left), I had a job offer which I couldn't help but accept.

While I was out there, I explored downtown Seattle and hit the major points of interest, Seattle Center, Pike's Market, and the harbor. I happened to be there during the Seattle Maritime festival and spent a good deal of my day watching various demonstrations by tug boats and helicopters. There really is a lot to do out there, any I'm looking forward to going back in June.

For those interested, I posted my pictures on Spaces:
http://kfarnung.spaces.live.com/photos/

Well, life has been pretty crazy lately and this week has been no exception. I was getting annoyed initially due to the lack of work to do, but now I'm pretty swamped with work. Although life is pretty hectic these days, I don't really see my schedule (with two labs totaling 5 hours) as being that tough, but it's at least in a tie for the toughest schedule I've had yet. Even so, I'm not having too hard a time keeping up with my work and as of now I have nothing more due this week and a similar load due in the same time frame next week.

My weight loss program is also going very well, I make sure to go to the gym three times per week and keep up with my healthy eating. I have been going biking as much as I possibly can since it gets dark rather early when you have class until 6 everyday. It gets dark even quicker when the sky is overcast and that doesn't give much incentive to ride. This last week has been exceptionally nice though and I was able to go 13 miles Monday night and another 16 miles today before work. I'm hoping to go at least another time this weekend since the weather is shaping up really well. Overall, my progress is very good and I find that I feel much better about myself, both physically and emotionally.

Anyway though, I'm always looking forward to the weekend and I'm glad that I'm almost there. It looks like new shows are starting next week (god damn you Lost for starting in the spring), so that should help to keep my at least slightly distracted during the week. That said, I have found myself being a bit more social this year and I'm very happy about that turn of events.

I guess that's about it for now, hopefully I don't get anymore busy, but I'm dealing pretty well so far.

Well, the last true week of summer is finally here. At least for most colleges, classes will begin next week and everyone is in a frenzy of preparation. As for me, this is my last week of work at Railcomm and next week will consist of moving and working at the ITS Help Desk occasionally. After that, classes should be in full swing for everyone (yeah, RIT starts classes on Labor Day).

I know for myself this has been an interesting summer, but I'm not sure how I feel about it ending. I know that it will now become much harder to keep up with my biking since I won't be on a steady 8-to-5 schedule anymore and the weather is bound to get progressively worse. I know that I'm excited about getting back to school and seeing the people who were gone all summer (like you, Keith), but I'm always a little concerned about getting back into classes. I have almost no doubt in my mind that this will be the hardest quarter yet (some people called it the suicide schedule ), but I know that being busy will help the quarter fly by.

As for living, the apartment should be pretty empty for the fall quarter since Dan and Jasper won't be living there. My goal for this quarter is to eat at home as much as possible, hopefully saving money and keeping healthy. I'm not a very experienced chef, but I think with some practice it will become much easier. The biggest problem I have isn't making food, it's coming up with the ideas for what to make. Either way, this year should be an experience, hopefully a positive one.

That's about it for now; things are going pretty well otherwise, basically sticking to my current course. I hope that everyone's preparations, move-ins, and classes go well as we go into most peoples' final year of school (not me, damn five year programs).

Granted the last few days (essentially months) have been pretty terrible, I felt it necessary to follow up with a more upbeat post.

Starting about two months ago (coincidentally ) I decided to make radical changes in my life, both eating better and exercising more. I have had huge success in the short time I've been dieting and have lost over 35 pounds! I'm now at 235 and I'm working my way down to 200. I don't think I look that much better, but then again I see myself everyday. Other people (who I don't believe were aware of my life change) have commented on how much thinner I look and, I won't lie, it feels great. Not to mention that I feel physically better as well!

I'm really looking forward to the day when I can finally walk around and not feel self-conscious about the way I look and I'm confident that the day is not far off now. With continued work and proper exercise, I should be able to tone up very nicely.

Obviously this isn't very interesting to most people, but I'm personally very proud of my accomplishments thus far and I am committed to continued healthy living.