The Engagement Party

Jackie and I had a successful engagement party near Jackie’s town of Mena, AR.  Everything went off without a hitch and we at least assume everyone had a good time. 

Just me and the boyz…

You’re intimidated aren’t you?

Executive Treatment

    Last weekend I went on a little vacation and it was a wonderful break from my school life. I have finally hit the big time! I was able to fly first-class (coach), I stayed in a 5 star hotel (Carter residence) and traveled on a luxurious yacht (Bay Cruise). I then had a behind the scenes tour of the 11th largest company in the US. No, but really, I had a free trip home complements of an HP interview in Cuptertino. Seeing my family was great, especially since I will not see them during turkey time because of an “engagement” I have in Arkansas. Thanks again HP!

This whole job finding thing is pretty crazy. I find it interesting how much these big companies will do to tell me that I can’t work there. They fly me out, put me in a hotel, tantalize me with fine food and tell me that I am not qualified enough for their organization. Ok, so I haven’t heard back yet, but I have been though this before. I will gladly do it though…maybe there is someway I could eternally interview with companies around the country. I could travel, and not have to pay a single bill. I don’t know how Jackie would feel about this, but she would get to come sometimes too.

We will all cross our fingers (minus Jackie) that I get the job. Since I was about 11 and my dad drove me down to Sunnyvale to buy a computer I have always wanted to be part of the Silicon Valley. A job at HP would make that dream a reality. Sure, I know the housing is marked up more than airport food, but during the visit I found the area to be pretty nice. From a business perspective it is a very exciting place. There is always something new and innovative going on behind the doors of all the technology companies based there. I might get sick of it and decide to move to the country, but I should at least try it out.

In the next week we will know what happens…

What’s that on your Dashboard? Oh, it’s just a Confessional

On Monday night I was invited to go to a Dashboard Confessional concert. While they are not my favorite band, I like some of their songs and after all, I didn’t have to pay!

The band that opened for Dashboard was called Brand New. Let me just tell you that I absolutely loved NOT hearing this band. The reason I loved not hearing them was because by leaving the venue and heading for the bathroom I could avoid the inevitable bleeding of the ears thats comes from hearing really bad loud music. I was surprised that Dashboard picked this particular band to tour with them, considering that the fans of Dashboard tend to like a little more mellow music.

Once the opener was finished torturing 8,000 people and giving hearing aid companies new costumers, Dashboard came on stage. They were shrouded by a huge white sheet as they started playing. A little ways into the song the sheet was ripped to the floor and the fans started screaming. When I say screaming, you have to understand who was sitting behind me. There had to be 15 teenage girls, decked out in Dashboard gear, basically sitting on my shoulder with their voices directed straight into my ear canal. Yeah, it was that loud. It was a good thing that I prepared my ears with a little tissue from the bathroom.

I didn’t know a lot of the songs they were playing, so that made things a little less fun. Near the middle of the show I started to key on the leader of the band, Chris Carrabba. He started the band, and is the heart and soul of the show. If you don’t know anything about Dashboard Confessional, they fall under the category of emo music, or emotional music. (Wikipedia has a very enlightening article on emo if you are interested)

Not knowing much about Chris I watched him closely. He is 5′5″ and has tattoos that fill each of his arms down to the wrist. He dresses casually in a t-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap. It’s hard to explain, but Chris is very emotional. His songs are about love and loss and dig pretty deep. While he spoke between songs you can tell he has a lot of passion, almost fake passion. As he talked about writing songs and his inspiration I kind of wanted to say, “Are you for real? No one is really that dramatic.” I kept wondering if his band mates in the background thought that he was completely out of his mind because the way he talks is so self-absorbed. It’s like no one feels things as strongly as he does. At the same time I felt like his passion was kind of endearing. There was some kind of wholesome appeal to the man. I quickly dismissed this notion however, because he was a tattooed rocker and probably not that great of a person. More on this later.

The show ended and the band ran off. I knew they would be back, and so did the crowd. Once again all 15 girls shouted in my ear “Encore! Encore!” I was ready to go, and didn’t really want to feed Chris’s ego by cheering for them to come back. Besides, that was the super fans’ job. They came back and started playing “Vindicated,” which was on the Spider Man 2 sound track and one of the songs I really like. It was electric. The people there, including me, ate it up! Suddenly I could see that things were more fun when you just start belting out all the lyrics you know.

Tonight I decide to do a little research on Chris Carrabba on Wikipedia. Despite my judgments, I learned some things that were interesting. The first is that he suffers from stage fright (I can relate). He seems so composed on stage that I pegged him as an overly confident celebrity. The other is that he openly admits that he is Christian and was brought to God through a family tragedy. While I don’t really know what that says about his true character, maybe my initial feeling about his wholesome side was correct after all. It was just another lesson on the ills of judging people.

What a marvel of technology…

Well, I have finally done it. I am sure plenty people have said this after starting their first blog, but it’s fitting don’t you think? You would think someone that’s a computer engineer would be more into technology right? Well, we shall see how this new form of introspection/ranting goes.

The reason I called it Ryan’s Renaissance (which I can’t spell without a checker) is because I have quite a variety of interests and needed a place to post my opinions on each one. I revere renaissance men of the past like Ben Franklin who were scientist, statesmen, inventors, and writers. This is my tribute to them. Enjoy!