This may answer the question posed by Aaron on my last entry. :)
On Wednesday, the day after Christmas, I went into work as usual. I got to my desk, and my boss came in and asked if I had a minute. I went into the HR person's office and found out that I was being let go. That's right, I no longer have a job. I cleaned out my cubicle and left. I was there for maybe fifteen minutes. It was not due to anything incredibly wrong I had done, but it just seems that they simply didn't think I was the right fit for that position.
It is a little odd; I had just (as reported in a previous entry) had an interview at another company. After that, I realized how much I like my job at Priority and how I much I felt like this was the place I was supposed to be. Evidently, the big man upstairs (a.k.a. God) had other plans. I'm sure something else will come around. I've already contacted my previous employer (FLS), where I left on excellent terms, to see if maybe they could give me a job, even temporarily while I find something more permanent. I have one other job lead besides that as well. Something will come up.
Fortunately, my wife still has her job, and we've been doing rather well financially, so this shouldn't be that big of a setback, as long as I don't go too long without another job.
That being said, my increase in free time may allow me to spend more time writing The Lords of Sargoff story, and more time to play Everquest II and other such fun things.
Another little silly effect from me losing my job is regarding the Cooper Bowl page I had put up to track how my family members did when compared to each other in picking the winners of the college bowl games. I had hosted that on my work's server, which I no longer have access to. It also seems they are being quick, as that page has already been removed (as they must have just deleted my folder named joel on the server). Impressive.
So anyway, it's been an interesting couple days, and a joyous end to the Christmas season. :) In the end, though, I know that God has a plan for this, and I know good will come from it. Priority must not have been where I should be, at least not anymore. I look forward to seeing where life takes me.
Sadly, I had a bunch of websites that I could use for future Link of the Days and listed in a text file on my work computer. Which, of course, I no longer have access to. But no fear, I found one quickly today. Whew.
LotD: Card-Stacking Record Broken. Holy cow.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
And To All A Good Night
Ah, Fridays. Ah, Fridays before 4 day weekends. Ah, Fridays before Christmas weekends. Ahhhh.Merry Christmas to everyone. This will (I assume) be my last posting before Christmas day. I hope all of you have a wonderful and blessed holiday, and I hope the Christmas Jedi Master brings you lots of goodies. I will report back on the 26th on our Christmas weekend. I'm sure you're excited. :)
The good news, though, is that my wife no longer is working on Christmas day. She will still work a night shift on Christmas Eve, but we get to spend all of the 25th at home together, which is good and brings me joy.
LotD: Prison Escsape (Thank You Andy Dufresne). Some escapees took a page from The Shawshank Redemption when they escaped from prison.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
The Anti-Ticket
Our volleyball games last night went well; we won all 3 games. Now the league will be split in two parts, and our 11-1 record will be reset to 0-0, and I assume we will begin facing tougher competition, which should make for some exciting games, which are really good fun, win or lose.
I was trying to further define the country itself in The Lords of Sargoff, and I feel like I may need to redo the map I posted earlier, moving some things around, and making the overall size of the country smaller. And, as opposed to what I had suggested in an early comments discussion, there will probably not be other countries too close by.
Tonight, my wife and I are going out to eat, and will watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I bought for my wife on the day it came out on DVD. What a good husband I am. :)
LotD: Police Reward Good Drivers With Coffee. While this is better than a ticket, as a non-coffee-drinker, I'd rather it be usable at Best Buy.
I was trying to further define the country itself in The Lords of Sargoff, and I feel like I may need to redo the map I posted earlier, moving some things around, and making the overall size of the country smaller. And, as opposed to what I had suggested in an early comments discussion, there will probably not be other countries too close by.
Tonight, my wife and I are going out to eat, and will watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I bought for my wife on the day it came out on DVD. What a good husband I am. :)
LotD: Police Reward Good Drivers With Coffee. While this is better than a ticket, as a non-coffee-drinker, I'd rather it be usable at Best Buy.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
One Blog Entry to Rule Them All (Not the Maul!)
I now have a 20-chapter outline for The Lords of Sargoff. A good bit of the first five chapters is already written, though it needs to be edited and expanded. I am rather pleased with what I've been able to put together so far. Not that it means this will be any exceptional work of fiction, but it will be good fun to write. It's interesting, trying not to fall into the clichés and just use all of the usual fantasy-type things. Granted, there are wizards and magic, but I've tried to be creative and not make it too similar to other stories. For instance, in the story there is an orb that has exceptional power, but I try not to dwell too much on it. There is no "one orb to rule them all" or other such aspect. Hopefully the story ends up being as original as I hope. :)
If you are so inclined (and who wouldn't be?), you may visit The Cooper Bowl, the little page I put together for tracking how us Coopers (including nearly-3 year old Jenna) did on picking the winners of the bowl games. There are 8 of us total. The site is all database driven; all I need to do is mark the winner of each game to the database, and the page will do the rest. Very exciting. :)
Tonight is our fourth week of volleyball, and our last week before getting split into two leagues and having our records reset. Hopefully we win tonight, but we'll probably end up in the higher of two leagues no matter what. It's good fun no matter what, of course!
LotD: Can You Run It? Runs a diagnostic on your computer and compares it against the minimum specifications for a whole slew of games to see whether it could run it. A pretty nifty little tool.
If you are so inclined (and who wouldn't be?), you may visit The Cooper Bowl, the little page I put together for tracking how us Coopers (including nearly-3 year old Jenna) did on picking the winners of the bowl games. There are 8 of us total. The site is all database driven; all I need to do is mark the winner of each game to the database, and the page will do the rest. Very exciting. :)
Tonight is our fourth week of volleyball, and our last week before getting split into two leagues and having our records reset. Hopefully we win tonight, but we'll probably end up in the higher of two leagues no matter what. It's good fun no matter what, of course!
LotD: Can You Run It? Runs a diagnostic on your computer and compares it against the minimum specifications for a whole slew of games to see whether it could run it. A pretty nifty little tool.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
A Sargoffian Christmas
Today at work is the "Holiday Luncheon" at the Wildfire Restaurant in Eden Prairie. While company-related events in general are usually not all too exciting, I normally don't mind them. In this case, I get free food from a restaurant I've never been too, I get to spend part of the day away from the office, and I get to go home after the luncheon. So it's not all too bad. I also found out today that I get a holiday bonus here. I didn't even know we got them. My bonus isn't too much, especially because I've only worked there 3 months of the year, so obviously I won't get as much as those who have been here all year. But it's still a little extra cash, which is always nice.
I've decided to post the current version of chapter one for The Lords of Sargoff. This is almost more of a preface, as it would only be about 2 pages long. In the previous chapter one that I had posted, I had mentioned Lord Hamrin, but he's actually in this chapter. This is sets the stage for events to be explained later. Chapter two would actually start several years after this chapter. Let me know if it makes the rest of the story sound incredibly uninteresting. :) This is, of course, not anywhere close to final. A lot of work is left to be done. But I've made a lot of progress on the overall storyline so far.
LotD: Star Wars Toys that Never Made It. Good for a laugh! :)
Chapter One, The Lords of Sargoff
I've decided to post the current version of chapter one for The Lords of Sargoff. This is almost more of a preface, as it would only be about 2 pages long. In the previous chapter one that I had posted, I had mentioned Lord Hamrin, but he's actually in this chapter. This is sets the stage for events to be explained later. Chapter two would actually start several years after this chapter. Let me know if it makes the rest of the story sound incredibly uninteresting. :) This is, of course, not anywhere close to final. A lot of work is left to be done. But I've made a lot of progress on the overall storyline so far.
LotD: Star Wars Toys that Never Made It. Good for a laugh! :)
Chapter One, The Lords of Sargoff
The room was dimly lit with several candles mounted on the walls, and creature-like silhouettes of shadow danced on the sides. A deep basket on the floor emitted a faint green light from its contents. Stretched to the ceiling were shelves full of books, none of which were labeled on their spine. One shelf contained bright colored liquids in small glass tubes. Paintings and small statues, most of different types of creatures, covered a majority of wall and table space. A statue of a two-headed dragon looked as if it was about to strike a small human whose sword had been cast aside, with an expression of horror on his face. Any visible wall was of dark stone, slightly darker than the stone of the ceiling and floor.
In the middle of the room sat a man in a black chair of sleek marbled stone. He wore a dark blood-red colored robe and a twisted smile. The man’s smooth dark red hair shined in the candlelight, and yet it appeared to nearly glow of its own accord. His open palm held a small round black rock with a thin green line around it, and he seemed to glare at it with a certain amount of loathing.
Though the man appeared to be no older than his mid thirties and in good health, he moved at the speed of one much older. He did not seem to have much physical energy, but his eyes burned with desire to escape; there was no fear in them, but they were filled with a sense of purpose.
He stretched out his other hand and turned that palm face up as well; he curved his fingers inward, and a small white ball of light slowly appeared between them and spun wildly, and then vanished after several seconds.
The door to the room opened suddenly, but the man did not remove his gaze from the round black rock.
“We have collected them, my Lord Hamrin,” came the voice of the man who had entered. He too wore a red robe, but of a much duller color.
“All fifty?” Lord Hamrin replied, his voice dark and stormy. “I hope they are as I wanted them to be.” The man at the door shuttered in fear, then attempted to regain his composure.
“Yes, my lord. All seem to be possible candidates.”
“Good. Now send word to those who would care about this theft, and to all surrounding areas: show up on the castle grounds one week from today, or choose to never see your loved ones alive again.”
“Yes, my lord. What is your plan for them?”
“Don’t worry on the details. Throw the prisoners in the dungeons and make sure they are treated with the respect they deserve, and spread the message I have given you to the countryside.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The man left the room and closed the door behind him. Lord Hamrin continued to stare at the rock and created a white ball of essence with his other hand, but this time the essence did not disappear. He slowly moved the rock toward the floating essence, until he held the rock directly in the floating ball’s center. The green line around its outside began pulsating brightly with green light. Lord Hamrin grinned widely and placed the rock into the basket on the floor to his side. Forty-nine identical rocks with pulsating green lines had already rested inside the basket.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Grenk Shall Smite You
On Friday night, I went to see the movie I Am Legend, staring Will Smith, a dog, and maybe a couple other people. I did rather like the movie, and would recommend it. I bet the book would be a good read.Talking about books, I started reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. We'll see how ambitious I am when it comes to reading. I will either read it rarely or fly through it.
On other exciting news (to some of you), I have created a new Everquest II character that I plan on playing a fair amount. His name is Vython (named after a character in the Lords of Sargoff story I am working on), and he is an Arasai (which is a fancy term for evil fairy). He is pretty cool looking. He is a necromancer, which means he has a pet (currently a giant bat named Grenk) that follows him around and that I can send out to fight for me. I also have lots of spells that do damage. It's pretty sweet.
As I believe I mentioned previously in a blog entry, each year, certain family members and I pick the winners to the college football bowl games. This is a little dorky in itself, yet I have taken in a step farther this year, and have created a web page that can track how we are doing compared with each other as the bowl games are played. I'll post the address to the page in a future entry (the bowl games start in 3 days, so somewhere around then), and then my reading audience can follow along at home (or at least revel in my dorkiness).
LotD: FillerItem. Find an item on Amazon with the exact price you need to qualify for free shipping. How goofy.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
An Offer You Can't Refuse
We won the first two games of volleyball last night, including an impressive comeback in game 2. I believe we were down 19-13 (you play to 21 and you have to win by 2), and I think we ended up winning 24-22, or 25-23. It was pretty much wonderful. Sadly, though, we lost the last game (close though, at 21-18), ending the night with a record of 8-1, which is acceptable. That being said, the way I understand it, we'll have another week, then our league will be split in 2 parts, and our records will be reset. Funky.
Ever since I started working at Priority, life seems to have gotten busier, which may be part of the cause of my reduction in blog posts recently. Darn life!
Oddly enough, I had a job interview recently, even though I wasn't looking for a job. A former coworker and good friend of mine recommended me for a position at his company. Even though I enjoy my current job and like the company, I decided to keep my eyes open, in case a better opportunity should arise. That being said, I went into it knowing the chance of a job switch were rather low. I would have had to feel incredibly good about the switch in order to consider it. It would have had to be an excellent opportunity, both occupationally and financially. Basically, in the end, it would have been a good job with interesting work, but I would have taken a major pay cut. Which is not so wonderful. So that, combined with the fact that they thought my experience in some areas was a little light, means I'm staying put at Priority, which is really where I feel I should be at the moment. So it all worked out. :)
Yeah, that's right. I'm a Godfather now. I have been made Godfather of "bnt" - pronounced "bunt" - which stands for "baby number two." [Side note - this is one of those pieces of information that most of the people who read this blog already know, hehe.] This is, of course, the unborn baby currently in sister-in-law Gina's belly, and will probably come bursting out in the somewhat near future. It's pretty neato. As long as horse heads don't start appearing in my bed, and I don't get blamed for a mass murder and get shipped off to a prison guarded by scary floating creatures that can suck your soul out, life should be good.
DotD: Star Trek Urns and Caskets. Just in case your love of Star Trek goes just a bit beyond a hobby.
Ever since I started working at Priority, life seems to have gotten busier, which may be part of the cause of my reduction in blog posts recently. Darn life!
Oddly enough, I had a job interview recently, even though I wasn't looking for a job. A former coworker and good friend of mine recommended me for a position at his company. Even though I enjoy my current job and like the company, I decided to keep my eyes open, in case a better opportunity should arise. That being said, I went into it knowing the chance of a job switch were rather low. I would have had to feel incredibly good about the switch in order to consider it. It would have had to be an excellent opportunity, both occupationally and financially. Basically, in the end, it would have been a good job with interesting work, but I would have taken a major pay cut. Which is not so wonderful. So that, combined with the fact that they thought my experience in some areas was a little light, means I'm staying put at Priority, which is really where I feel I should be at the moment. So it all worked out. :)
Yeah, that's right. I'm a Godfather now. I have been made Godfather of "bnt" - pronounced "bunt" - which stands for "baby number two." [Side note - this is one of those pieces of information that most of the people who read this blog already know, hehe.] This is, of course, the unborn baby currently in sister-in-law Gina's belly, and will probably come bursting out in the somewhat near future. It's pretty neato. As long as horse heads don't start appearing in my bed, and I don't get blamed for a mass murder and get shipped off to a prison guarded by scary floating creatures that can suck your soul out, life should be good.
DotD: Star Trek Urns and Caskets. Just in case your love of Star Trek goes just a bit beyond a hobby.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Life
Darnit, a serious blog entry. No fun. :) This is something I've thought about doing for a little while. These are basically a few truths that define who I am as a person and why I live my life in the manner that I do. Some may seem to contradict each other, but I think they make sense; others may seem to be somewhat similar. But alas, here it is.
1. Life is not that serious. I'm one of those people that can find humor in almost anything. We seem to get worked up about things that don't really matter. Worrying about and getting upset over the little things does nothing to help anything. Pick your fights; and make sure they're worth fighting for. Take a step back and realize what is important and what isn't. And have a good laugh.
2. Life is not a joke. It may be a fine line to tread, but while life is not that serious, it's not a joke either. Do not waste your life on Earthly things. Live your life to the best of your potential, and walk God's path, but do it with a smile on your face.
3. Life is fragile. I am not afraid of death. I try to live my life according to the plan of Christ, and I do not know all that plan holds. Whether my life ends tomorrow or when I'm a hundred years old, I know that my life is fully held within God's hands, and that His purpose will be done.
4. Life is eternal. After we leave this planet, Heaven is waiting, and there we shall live forever. I know that our Earthly deaths are not the end; there is a much greater and more glorious future ahead of us.
5. Life is not unscripted. God is in control of everything. The Bible says each of our days were planned far before we were even thought of by human minds. It is not our place to worry about everything in this life, for God has already figured it all out.
6. Life is imperfect. At least, we humans are imperfect. This leads to imperfect relationships and situations, and to pain and hardships. The fact is that each of us have suffering. While some have it worse than others, we all must fight against it, for through God, any hardships of this world can be overcome. There is nothing that this world can throw at you that, through Jesus, you can't handle.
7. Life is absolute. One of the world's most popular attitudes is "Find your own truth." While we all must find the path that God has made uniquely for us, there is still only One God, One Jesus, and One way to Heaven. You cannot get to Heaven through good works alone, or any other way besides belief in Jesus Christ. It can't be done, and that's the way it is.
8. Life's worth is not measured in years. I would rather die tomorrow but have walked God's path than live a hundred years separated from Christ. We all have the same amount of eternity ahead of us.
9. Life's worth is not measured in dollars. Money and other Earthly things will not get you into Heaven. As the saying goes, "He who dies with the most toys, still dies."
10. Life's worth is not measured by the opinions of others. Do not let others bring you down or tell you that you are less than what you are. The truth is, that you are an amazing creation of an amazing God; nothing less. You are uniquely created to be just the person that God intended.
11. Life's true worth is not measured on this planet. The race we run does not have its finish line on this side of Heaven. When we leave this world and enter the next, then the race will be over.
12. Life's guidebook is the Bible. The Bible is absolute truth; authored by God and simply inked by men.
1. Life is not that serious. I'm one of those people that can find humor in almost anything. We seem to get worked up about things that don't really matter. Worrying about and getting upset over the little things does nothing to help anything. Pick your fights; and make sure they're worth fighting for. Take a step back and realize what is important and what isn't. And have a good laugh.
2. Life is not a joke. It may be a fine line to tread, but while life is not that serious, it's not a joke either. Do not waste your life on Earthly things. Live your life to the best of your potential, and walk God's path, but do it with a smile on your face.
3. Life is fragile. I am not afraid of death. I try to live my life according to the plan of Christ, and I do not know all that plan holds. Whether my life ends tomorrow or when I'm a hundred years old, I know that my life is fully held within God's hands, and that His purpose will be done.
4. Life is eternal. After we leave this planet, Heaven is waiting, and there we shall live forever. I know that our Earthly deaths are not the end; there is a much greater and more glorious future ahead of us.
5. Life is not unscripted. God is in control of everything. The Bible says each of our days were planned far before we were even thought of by human minds. It is not our place to worry about everything in this life, for God has already figured it all out.
6. Life is imperfect. At least, we humans are imperfect. This leads to imperfect relationships and situations, and to pain and hardships. The fact is that each of us have suffering. While some have it worse than others, we all must fight against it, for through God, any hardships of this world can be overcome. There is nothing that this world can throw at you that, through Jesus, you can't handle.
7. Life is absolute. One of the world's most popular attitudes is "Find your own truth." While we all must find the path that God has made uniquely for us, there is still only One God, One Jesus, and One way to Heaven. You cannot get to Heaven through good works alone, or any other way besides belief in Jesus Christ. It can't be done, and that's the way it is.
8. Life's worth is not measured in years. I would rather die tomorrow but have walked God's path than live a hundred years separated from Christ. We all have the same amount of eternity ahead of us.
9. Life's worth is not measured in dollars. Money and other Earthly things will not get you into Heaven. As the saying goes, "He who dies with the most toys, still dies."
10. Life's worth is not measured by the opinions of others. Do not let others bring you down or tell you that you are less than what you are. The truth is, that you are an amazing creation of an amazing God; nothing less. You are uniquely created to be just the person that God intended.
11. Life's true worth is not measured on this planet. The race we run does not have its finish line on this side of Heaven. When we leave this world and enter the next, then the race will be over.
12. Life's guidebook is the Bible. The Bible is absolute truth; authored by God and simply inked by men.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
The Long Road Home
Well, winter has arrived in Minnesota, with two storms over the last few days. Yesterday's storm caused me the most problems, as it took me 2 1/2 hours to drive home (24.7 miles). I moved 3.5 miles during the first hour. Holy cow. I got home, checked my email, had supper, then proceeded to sleep on and off for the next 3 1/2 hours.
This morning should be better, right? Well, yes, but it still took me 1 1/2 hours to get to work. Darn you winter! Oh well I suppose, thus is life.
As I continue to try to improve upon my writing skills, I know I should be reading more as well. I am going to try (depending on how ambitious I am) to start reading Angels and Demons, Dan Brown's book set chronologically before The Da Vinci Code, which I might read as well. But who knows. I have a long list of books on my to-read list. I seem to go through spurts, where I read a lot, then long periods of time when I don't read at all. I read all the Harry Potter books earlier this year, but before that, well, it'd been a while. Oops.
LotD: Uranium Ore, available only on Amazon. Check out the reviews; I found them to be rather humorous. Those people at Amazon must be bored.
This morning should be better, right? Well, yes, but it still took me 1 1/2 hours to get to work. Darn you winter! Oh well I suppose, thus is life.
As I continue to try to improve upon my writing skills, I know I should be reading more as well. I am going to try (depending on how ambitious I am) to start reading Angels and Demons, Dan Brown's book set chronologically before The Da Vinci Code, which I might read as well. But who knows. I have a long list of books on my to-read list. I seem to go through spurts, where I read a lot, then long periods of time when I don't read at all. I read all the Harry Potter books earlier this year, but before that, well, it'd been a while. Oops.
LotD: Uranium Ore, available only on Amazon. Check out the reviews; I found them to be rather humorous. Those people at Amazon must be bored.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Hut, Hut, Hike
Well, weird. The Ohio State Buckeyes rose 4 spots in the rankings by not doing anything, thanks to losses by those ranked above them. They are now slated to play against LSU in the championship game, and this will be a difficult game for the Bucks to win, but they can do it. I really would have rather them played against Missouri, or the team from my parent's current town of residence, West Virginia. But they both slipped in games that could have clinched them a spot in the championship, and I believe they both now fell out of the BCS picture completely.
Now all the bowl games are scheduled, and me and certain family members will probably now pick the winners of each game, as a nifty little competition. Hopefully I can match my performance last year (correctly picking 23 of 32 games) on my road to victory. Either that, or I will do horribly. Ah, we shall see.
All I have to say is...
GO BUCKEYES!
LotD: 0.999 = 1. Didn't you know that?
Now all the bowl games are scheduled, and me and certain family members will probably now pick the winners of each game, as a nifty little competition. Hopefully I can match my performance last year (correctly picking 23 of 32 games) on my road to victory. Either that, or I will do horribly. Ah, we shall see.
All I have to say is...
GO BUCKEYES!
LotD: 0.999 = 1. Didn't you know that?
Friday, November 30, 2007
Nerdiness++
Well, Johan Santana may be leaving the Twins, same with Torii Hunter. Too bad, but I suppose that happens in baseball. That being said, I am excited about the prospect of the Red Sox acquiring Santana (my #2 team), and would much rather him go to Boston than to the Yankees. (On a side note, at work today, I am wearing the Red Sox World Series T-shirt that my mom bought for Christmas. Ah, the joy of casual Fridays.)
On Wednesday night, we started our volleyball season, winning all 3 games. That part in itself sounds impressive, but we were playing against a team that had only 4 players (against our 6). But we'll take the wins anyway. I made some wretchedly bad plays. I am, of course, rusty, but my goodness, some of those were absolutely horrible. :) But alas. I need to slow down and concentrate harder when playing. This is always been a problem of mine when playing sports. But anywho, it was good fun, and I look forward to the rest of the season.
I am excited to open Star Trek cards on Saturday. This set should add "new" things to the game and make it more interesting. I always like opening new cards. It's just good fun. On other Star Trek related news, I am nearing completion of watching all the Star Trek movies. I had previously only seen 2 of them, but now I have seen all but one (Insurrection). But I have been watching all of them chronologically, and have 3 left - First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis. Then it'll be back to the taped episodes. Ah, it's always good to add to one's nerdiness.
My wife's work schedule will be changing. Her schedule is funky (as it always has been), working some days, some evenings, and some weekends. But now she'll actually have 2 days off (Thursday and Friday), which will be her "weekend," since she'll be working both Saturday and Sunday.
LotD: The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation. Oh, if only Lincoln had had his laptop handy.
On Wednesday night, we started our volleyball season, winning all 3 games. That part in itself sounds impressive, but we were playing against a team that had only 4 players (against our 6). But we'll take the wins anyway. I made some wretchedly bad plays. I am, of course, rusty, but my goodness, some of those were absolutely horrible. :) But alas. I need to slow down and concentrate harder when playing. This is always been a problem of mine when playing sports. But anywho, it was good fun, and I look forward to the rest of the season.
I am excited to open Star Trek cards on Saturday. This set should add "new" things to the game and make it more interesting. I always like opening new cards. It's just good fun. On other Star Trek related news, I am nearing completion of watching all the Star Trek movies. I had previously only seen 2 of them, but now I have seen all but one (Insurrection). But I have been watching all of them chronologically, and have 3 left - First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis. Then it'll be back to the taped episodes. Ah, it's always good to add to one's nerdiness.
My wife's work schedule will be changing. Her schedule is funky (as it always has been), working some days, some evenings, and some weekends. But now she'll actually have 2 days off (Thursday and Friday), which will be her "weekend," since she'll be working both Saturday and Sunday.
LotD: The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation. Oh, if only Lincoln had had his laptop handy.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Thanksgiving with the Elves
Well, I am back from my Thanksgiving trip to Ohio. Oddly enough, the people I visited with in Columbus make up a good chunk of my reading audience. So if you were there, this may just be a recap. Fun for you, huh?
Anywho, the drive down on Tuesday was long and boring. The "highlight" was seeing three semi trucks driving down the interstate in Iowa, each with what appeared to be a large windmill propeller as its cargo. Very exciting! We had McDonald's for lunch and Wendy's for supper, and got to Columbus at approximately 8:30. We chatted with Erik about both girly and manly topics, and I played a game of Lord of the Rings (the card game) with Erik, and I emerged victorious. Gina then came home and the four of us played Ra, a board game we've played with them before and rather enjoy.
We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with, I believe, a total of 11 people. The food was yummy. Over the course of the rest of the trip, Erik and I played 4 games of Rings (which we split), and we watched a fair amount of football.
On that note, I am rather excited that Ohio State still has a shot at the national championship game. All I have to say is: Go Oklahoma!
We played several other games, including pool, and had an all-around good time. We also swapped Christmas gifts, as we won't be able to be there on Christmas. We then packed up and left Sunday morning at 5:00 a.m. We had McDonald's again for lunch, then stopped along at a Steak-N-Shake for a chocolate milkshake and a Frisco burger. Both we also wonderfully delicious.
Along our long drive back, Megan and I talked a good bit about The Lords of Sargoff. She had read the chapters that I had posted and I had talked to her a little bit about other parts of the story, but she didn't know everything. Until now - she knows pretty much all the details of the story that I have developed so far. So now she can tell me whether or not the story is just plain silly. :) Hehe, she thought everything was good, and rather thought a few parts were quite good. I am going to be upping the amount of time I work on it, and will also starting reading more myself, as that is a good thing for people trying to improve upon their writing skills.
Anywho, I should (hopefully) now be back to my regularly scheduled blogging. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving everyone!
LotD: Top 30 Failed Technology Predictions. Yeah, that'll never happen.
Anywho, the drive down on Tuesday was long and boring. The "highlight" was seeing three semi trucks driving down the interstate in Iowa, each with what appeared to be a large windmill propeller as its cargo. Very exciting! We had McDonald's for lunch and Wendy's for supper, and got to Columbus at approximately 8:30. We chatted with Erik about both girly and manly topics, and I played a game of Lord of the Rings (the card game) with Erik, and I emerged victorious. Gina then came home and the four of us played Ra, a board game we've played with them before and rather enjoy.
We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with, I believe, a total of 11 people. The food was yummy. Over the course of the rest of the trip, Erik and I played 4 games of Rings (which we split), and we watched a fair amount of football.
On that note, I am rather excited that Ohio State still has a shot at the national championship game. All I have to say is: Go Oklahoma!
We played several other games, including pool, and had an all-around good time. We also swapped Christmas gifts, as we won't be able to be there on Christmas. We then packed up and left Sunday morning at 5:00 a.m. We had McDonald's again for lunch, then stopped along at a Steak-N-Shake for a chocolate milkshake and a Frisco burger. Both we also wonderfully delicious.
Along our long drive back, Megan and I talked a good bit about The Lords of Sargoff. She had read the chapters that I had posted and I had talked to her a little bit about other parts of the story, but she didn't know everything. Until now - she knows pretty much all the details of the story that I have developed so far. So now she can tell me whether or not the story is just plain silly. :) Hehe, she thought everything was good, and rather thought a few parts were quite good. I am going to be upping the amount of time I work on it, and will also starting reading more myself, as that is a good thing for people trying to improve upon their writing skills.
Anywho, I should (hopefully) now be back to my regularly scheduled blogging. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving everyone!
LotD: Top 30 Failed Technology Predictions. Yeah, that'll never happen.
Monday, November 19, 2007
One the Road Again
Today, I gave blood for the second time. It went fine of course, but I managed to fill a pint faster this time - 6:09 as opposed to about 10 minutes the first time. Then I had some snacks, including some wonderful cupcakes, and headed back to the office. It was very exciting.
Tomorrow, at approximately 5:00 in the morning, Megan and I will depart for Columbus, Ohio, with a stop down in Geneva to drop off Ruffles, our small white dog. Overall, it will probably be approximately a 13 hour day of driving. We will be there through Thanksgiving and will make the return journey on Sunday.
I suppose I should pack tonight, huh.
I have started compiling all information for The Lords of Sargoff in a database for easy storage and retrieval. It's pretty exciting. :)
Less than an hour until I get to be gone from work for a week. And I need a vacation. (Of course, who doesn't?)
LotD: Stripper Mistakenly Sent to School. Once again: Oops. Might be some dress code issues there.
Tomorrow, at approximately 5:00 in the morning, Megan and I will depart for Columbus, Ohio, with a stop down in Geneva to drop off Ruffles, our small white dog. Overall, it will probably be approximately a 13 hour day of driving. We will be there through Thanksgiving and will make the return journey on Sunday.
I suppose I should pack tonight, huh.
I have started compiling all information for The Lords of Sargoff in a database for easy storage and retrieval. It's pretty exciting. :)
Less than an hour until I get to be gone from work for a week. And I need a vacation. (Of course, who doesn't?)
LotD: Stripper Mistakenly Sent to School. Once again: Oops. Might be some dress code issues there.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
THE Ohio State University
My wife is old. Well, she's still 544 days younger than me, she's slightly more aged than she was just a few days ago. Her birthday went just fine. Sadly for her, she worked at night on her birthday (Thursday), but we had our little birthday dinner and gift giving on Wednesday night. She was rather happy to get the previously mentinoed nesting doll as her birthday present. I then took her out to Red Lobster (mmm... my second favorite restaurant), which was most excellent. I also brought her a piece of Godiva Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory (the favorite restaurant of both of us). It was all rather wonderful.
If you're wondering, I calculated that I was 544 days older than Megan on one of my many 11 hour drives between Ohio and Minnesota. I also wasted time alphabetizing my friend's senior pictures and ordering my spare change by date. That's a long time to be in a car alone. :)
Our Christmas tree is already up, and it's not even Thanksgiving. We usually don't put it up until the day after Thanksgiving, but we'll be gone until that next Sunday, and my wife didn't want to wait that long. So we retrieved our tree from the garage of a couple friends of ours, and put it up this last week. We're so goofy.
I am currently watching the Ohio State Buckeyes as they play Michigan. Even though Ohio State lost to Illinios last week, making it much less likely they'll be in the national championship game (though they're not completely out of it), if they beat Michigan, all will be redeemed. They're currently winning 14-3 in the third quarter. They better not blow it. :)
LotD: A Look Inside the World's Only Toilet House. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.
If you're wondering, I calculated that I was 544 days older than Megan on one of my many 11 hour drives between Ohio and Minnesota. I also wasted time alphabetizing my friend's senior pictures and ordering my spare change by date. That's a long time to be in a car alone. :)
Our Christmas tree is already up, and it's not even Thanksgiving. We usually don't put it up until the day after Thanksgiving, but we'll be gone until that next Sunday, and my wife didn't want to wait that long. So we retrieved our tree from the garage of a couple friends of ours, and put it up this last week. We're so goofy.
I am currently watching the Ohio State Buckeyes as they play Michigan. Even though Ohio State lost to Illinios last week, making it much less likely they'll be in the national championship game (though they're not completely out of it), if they beat Michigan, all will be redeemed. They're currently winning 14-3 in the third quarter. They better not blow it. :)
LotD: A Look Inside the World's Only Toilet House. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Big Two-Four
It's been a busy week. My company, Priority, has just recently gotten into web design, and we are finishing up the website for our very first web client. You can see the site we created here. My work on the project was purely programming, and I did nothing with the graphics or design of the site. But it's seemed to turn out okay, though it is not final yet.
My wife is down in Geneva, and will be until Wednesday. Then, Wednesday night, we will go out to eat to celebrate her birthday (which is Thursday) and she will get her present from me, which is one of those funky "nesting dolls" that I found at store in the Mall of America. (Don't worry, my wife is not at a place where she had Internet access to read that, and if she did, she doesn't read my blog anyway). :) I'm sure she will like it, as it is one of her collections. It was what I thought was the nicest in the price range, as some of those nesting dolls at that store can be a couple hundred dollars or more.
LotD: Daylight-Saving Causes Twin Arrival Pickle. Born later, and yet legally older. What a sweet deal that is, eh?
My wife is down in Geneva, and will be until Wednesday. Then, Wednesday night, we will go out to eat to celebrate her birthday (which is Thursday) and she will get her present from me, which is one of those funky "nesting dolls" that I found at store in the Mall of America. (Don't worry, my wife is not at a place where she had Internet access to read that, and if she did, she doesn't read my blog anyway). :) I'm sure she will like it, as it is one of her collections. It was what I thought was the nicest in the price range, as some of those nesting dolls at that store can be a couple hundred dollars or more.
LotD: Daylight-Saving Causes Twin Arrival Pickle. Born later, and yet legally older. What a sweet deal that is, eh?
Thursday, November 08, 2007
You Will Read a Boring Blog Entry Soon
I've started the process of excessive historic documentation for my story, The Lords of Sargoff. I am pretty excited to have more time to work on it. Like maybe tomorrow night. Fun stuff!
Work itself has been interesting; I've worked a lot on a website for an organization called MIPA (Midwest Independent Physicians Association). My new job has included one aspect I haven't really dealt with before, and that is designing a website collaboratively with other people. Not that I have much say over things, I pretty much just program the site to do what they want it to do. But I've worked with a designer who designed all the site graphics, another web guy who did some other coding for the site, and higher-ups who make most of the big decisions. It's funky.
I suddenly realized yesterday that Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away, and that means that we get to drive to Ohio and see my family rather soon, which is pretty exciting.
LotD: Weird Fortune Cookies. I found this site rather amusing. I even got one of the fortune cookies shown here once.
Work itself has been interesting; I've worked a lot on a website for an organization called MIPA (Midwest Independent Physicians Association). My new job has included one aspect I haven't really dealt with before, and that is designing a website collaboratively with other people. Not that I have much say over things, I pretty much just program the site to do what they want it to do. But I've worked with a designer who designed all the site graphics, another web guy who did some other coding for the site, and higher-ups who make most of the big decisions. It's funky.
I suddenly realized yesterday that Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away, and that means that we get to drive to Ohio and see my family rather soon, which is pretty exciting.
LotD: Weird Fortune Cookies. I found this site rather amusing. I even got one of the fortune cookies shown here once.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Dark Lord of the Laziness
Ah, the lazy blogger strikes again! I know all of your lives have been on hold while I have gone 5 days without posting, but fear not, everything can return to normal, as here I am, wasting a few extra minutes of your day. Lucky you, huh?
Well, as most of you know, I dressed up as Darth Maul for Halloween. (See image.) It was good fun - Megan did the makeup and did a wonderful job. I already had the lightsaber from back in day when I was working at McDonald's, as a secret Santa gift from one of the McManagers.
I went into the FLS office to work over the weekend, but neither Saturday or Sunday was as busy as they were expecting. I am back into the office tonight from 5-10, but that is my last day. (My second last FLS day in two months.) But this time, I won't be back. At least, possibly, not until next October or November - the next election cycle. And being a presidential election, it will be crazy. But that's a while into the future.
On a wonderful note, both the Ohio State Buckeyes and the New England Patriots continued their unbeaten ways this weekend. I'm pretty excited about the potential that both teams have. Here's hoping that neither of them loses a single game this season. :)
Ah, a truth has been shown to me. I neglected my Link of the Day responsibilities during my last post, so of course, today brings a double-offering of links. Aren't you pumped?
LotD: Doctors Notice Increase in Facebook Status Syndrome. If it's on BBSpot, it has to be true. :)
Bonus LotD: Sleeping Man Dressed as Zombie Mistaken for Corpse. Better rethink that Halloween costume and drinking combination next year, buddy.
Well, as most of you know, I dressed up as Darth Maul for Halloween. (See image.) It was good fun - Megan did the makeup and did a wonderful job. I already had the lightsaber from back in day when I was working at McDonald's, as a secret Santa gift from one of the McManagers.
I went into the FLS office to work over the weekend, but neither Saturday or Sunday was as busy as they were expecting. I am back into the office tonight from 5-10, but that is my last day. (My second last FLS day in two months.) But this time, I won't be back. At least, possibly, not until next October or November - the next election cycle. And being a presidential election, it will be crazy. But that's a while into the future.
On a wonderful note, both the Ohio State Buckeyes and the New England Patriots continued their unbeaten ways this weekend. I'm pretty excited about the potential that both teams have. Here's hoping that neither of them loses a single game this season. :)
Ah, a truth has been shown to me. I neglected my Link of the Day responsibilities during my last post, so of course, today brings a double-offering of links. Aren't you pumped?
LotD: Doctors Notice Increase in Facebook Status Syndrome. If it's on BBSpot, it has to be true. :)
Bonus LotD: Sleeping Man Dressed as Zombie Mistaken for Corpse. Better rethink that Halloween costume and drinking combination next year, buddy.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Return to Sargoff
As I've possibly added a few new readers since I last talked about this, I'm going to give a quick recap. I have been writing a fantasy novel that is currently titled The Lords of Sargoff. It involves magic and strange creatures and other such things. I posted the first chapter on this blog several months ago, but by now, that chapter is out of date. I had been working on this story a lot, but then life got busier, and I haven't been able to nearly as much recently. That being said, I plan on picking it up again and hopefully making large amounts of progress. But first, I'm going to take a step back.
I'm going to write out the basic history of everything, to try and get all the events and people to fit together as best as possible. The first thing I did was to create a map of the country of Sargoff. I had drawn a similar map on paper, but this time created it digitally. This is, of course, not meant to be incredibly aesthetically pleasing, but gives a good layout of where things are and where events take place. It's also not at all final, as not everything as names yet, so things are labeled as "city", "trade city", "forest", and so on. The image itself is actually quite large. :)
Anywho, I will not be posting the overall history of the story, but will start posting chapters once I start writing them again (which may be a little while). I'm pretty excited to get back to writing it.
I'm going to write out the basic history of everything, to try and get all the events and people to fit together as best as possible. The first thing I did was to create a map of the country of Sargoff. I had drawn a similar map on paper, but this time created it digitally. This is, of course, not meant to be incredibly aesthetically pleasing, but gives a good layout of where things are and where events take place. It's also not at all final, as not everything as names yet, so things are labeled as "city", "trade city", "forest", and so on. The image itself is actually quite large. :)
Anywho, I will not be posting the overall history of the story, but will start posting chapters once I start writing them again (which may be a little while). I'm pretty excited to get back to writing it.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Go Team Go!
Ah, it's good to be a Cooper sports fan right now. The Boston Red Sox just won th
e World Series for the second time in four years, and are set up well for the future. Once again, the ended the season with a run that included an impressive series comeback and a World Series sweep. The Rockies were playing very well, winning 21 of 22 games, but then hit the brick wall known as the Red Sox. Whooah!
The New England Patriots are undefeated and looking spectacular. Next week's game against the Indianapolis Colts should be an excellent game - the last two undefeated teams in the NFL playing each other. Don't get much better than that. (Especially if the Patriots win.)
The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is ranked #1 in the country and is coming off an impressive victory over Penn State. I don't know if they'll win out this year, and they still have Michigan left on their schedule, but I am very hopeful. Go Buckeyes!
That being said, while the Patriots are my #2 team in the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers are my personal favorite team (I'm the only Cooper with this opinion). They are 2-5 and have lost 5 games in a row. Not healthy at all. Guess the shower will have to wait another year. (That's not healthy either.) But alas, you can't have everything, can you?
So there is the potential for 3 of our teams to win championships within a 4 month period. How sweet would that be? But we shall see.
Ah, Mondays. Today the sales department is throwing some dinner for the rest of the team. So, free food for me. Yay!
LotD: Rare Bill Watterson Art. Early art from Bill Watterson, creator of one of my favorite comic strips of all time - Calvin & Hobbes.
e World Series for the second time in four years, and are set up well for the future. Once again, the ended the season with a run that included an impressive series comeback and a World Series sweep. The Rockies were playing very well, winning 21 of 22 games, but then hit the brick wall known as the Red Sox. Whooah!The New England Patriots are undefeated and looking spectacular. Next week's game against the Indianapolis Colts should be an excellent game - the last two undefeated teams in the NFL playing each other. Don't get much better than that. (Especially if the Patriots win.)
The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is ranked #1 in the country and is coming off an impressive victory over Penn State. I don't know if they'll win out this year, and they still have Michigan left on their schedule, but I am very hopeful. Go Buckeyes!
That being said, while the Patriots are my #2 team in the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers are my personal favorite team (I'm the only Cooper with this opinion). They are 2-5 and have lost 5 games in a row. Not healthy at all. Guess the shower will have to wait another year. (That's not healthy either.) But alas, you can't have everything, can you?
So there is the potential for 3 of our teams to win championships within a 4 month period. How sweet would that be? But we shall see.
Ah, Mondays. Today the sales department is throwing some dinner for the rest of the team. So, free food for me. Yay!
LotD: Rare Bill Watterson Art. Early art from Bill Watterson, creator of one of my favorite comic strips of all time - Calvin & Hobbes.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Just Like Old Times
I went into my old job, FLS, to sign the necessary paperwork to allow me to be paid for these 2 weeks of service. It was great to see those people again that I had worked with for 2 1/2 years. I do miss them, but am happy to be here at Priority. I only hope that, when I leave this company, that I have become as good of friends with my coworkers as I did at FLS. That being said, I feel closer to the friends I made at last week's TEC weekend than I ever did to anyone at FLS. I've always believed that friendships built around God are stronger and closer.
Anyways, I have technically worked 5-10 for FLS the last 3 nights, but it's been very much un-busy. I've worked at home, as I will continue to do until I start going it at night sometime next week, and during the day next weekend. I will be working from ho
me this weekend. Last night is our weekly Everquest night, which I originally thought I would have to skip, but due to my excessively low workload, I decided to play anyway. I had one thing come in while I was playing that was incredibly simple, and I managed to multitask and do while playing. It was very exciting. :)
I had posted this picture on Facebook too, but I decided to throw it here as well. This is the Star Wars lamp that my new place of employment had gotten for me. It emits red light and rotates. Neato huh? :) Yay for becoming a bigger dork!
LotD: The Office Collar. Weird. And uhh.. No.
Anyways, I have technically worked 5-10 for FLS the last 3 nights, but it's been very much un-busy. I've worked at home, as I will continue to do until I start going it at night sometime next week, and during the day next weekend. I will be working from ho
me this weekend. Last night is our weekly Everquest night, which I originally thought I would have to skip, but due to my excessively low workload, I decided to play anyway. I had one thing come in while I was playing that was incredibly simple, and I managed to multitask and do while playing. It was very exciting. :)I had posted this picture on Facebook too, but I decided to throw it here as well. This is the Star Wars lamp that my new place of employment had gotten for me. It emits red light and rotates. Neato huh? :) Yay for becoming a bigger dork!
LotD: The Office Collar. Weird. And uhh.. No.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
More Than You Care To Know
Alright, here we go. This will not be a short blog entry. :) I'm going to blog about a lot of things that happened this weekend, some big, and some small, in no particular order.
--I had told Tim and Troy, both ATLs and very good friends of mine, that I wasn't yet to a point where I felt comfortable being an ATL myself during a weekend. So they put overall rector Aaron to up to a challenge (which he accepted); Aaron came up to me the night before the candidates arrived and said something like "Joel, we're adding another table, and they need another ATL, and they really want a male, so they're hoping you would do it." I, of course, got a little flustered and muttered some response about how it wouldn't work, but then thought it was rather funny when I found out it was a joke. So that became a running joke throughout the weekend, and appeared on several pieces of my wheat. "So you wanna be an ATL?" :)
--Thanks to Tim, I now (finally) own the Star Wars Trilogy on widescreen DVD. I, sadly, had previously only owned in on full screen VHS. And that is not acceptable. Thanks Tim!
--Doing the Cheeseburger Song with Tim and Troy was good fun. I was rather nervous to sing it with them in front of 90 or so people, but it went well.
--I accidently kicked a Stations of the Cross candle and broke it. Bad Support Adult!
--I started to move our tall ladder (10 footer), only to then realize that, sitting on the top of the ladder, had been a wire cutter. Ouch. It fell and smacked me in the face and popped out one of the lenses for my glasses. Either then or at some other point during the weekend, those glasses acquired a nice long scratch. Oh well. Is it time for Lasik yet?
--My Support Rectora is a former Everquest II player. How sweet is that?
--As we were making hug balls in the Support Room, I walked by a bunch of them laying on the floor, and said "Holy Hug Balls!" Jill Bartels thought this was particularly amusing, and it became an rather repeated phrase. Then, as we were doing our written team affirmations, she showed me what she had written on my affirmation. It said "Holy Huge Balls." :) She had added the extra "e" on purpose, to see if I would notice it. Me, being the kind of person that likes to make people laugh at every occasion, decided to repeat this phrase verbally, and the entire Support Room started laughing. Poor Jill. It was rather funny. :)
--One of the signs we put up around the church was misspelled. "CANDIDATES" was, instead, "CANDITATES." This was, of course, noticed After the weekend, and After the sign had been up. Can TEC people not spell or something? :)
--One of my responsibilities throughout the weekend was to set up the fire for the burning of the sins. This proved more difficult than it should have been. The two lighters I had weren't working, and the wind would quickly blow out matches, even when I tried to block the wind with my hands or body, or when I tried to light the matches within the bucket. The fire even went out once after I got it going. Eventually it all worked out though, even though when the candidates got there, the flame couldn't be seen from outside the bucket. But after people started throwing their papers in there, the fire grew. The bucket caught a fire. :)
--After I got the fire going, I stood there for several minutes by myself, at the foot of the cross. I've never cried at a TEC event, but I came closest this weekend. I threw my personal inventory paper into the fire there, before anyone else came out, and I really felt God's calm.
--I printed out 300 sheets at work for my wheat. Who knows if anyone actually read the whole thing, :) but you never know.
--Sitting at Agape, across from Support Rector Brandon Lecy, I randomly created with word "Wow" with my fingers and mouth (this is something my friends and I have done before), and he thought it was the funniest thing ever. It became a TEC-wide phenomenon (or something like that). I'm so proud to have influenced so many people. ;)
--Friday night, Support Adult Jennie and Support Rectora Torey stayed up a little later doing a little planning for the next day. When I got back to the male sleeping area, the lights were out, people were asleep, and I had no idea where my stuff was (the room had been moved around due to Stations of the Cross). Instead of somehow finding my stuff and not waking people up, I just went and sleep on a couch in the Support Room. Lesson: Bring a Flashlight. :)
--Overall, the weekend was amazing. The team was awesome, the leadership was amazing, and the candidates were deeply moved (that is, after all, the whole point of the weekend). God was obviously at work this weekend.
--Two sad things, though, about the future. Due to my crazy work schedule over the next couple weeks, I will not be able to make it to the TEC Reunion. :( Which kind of sucks. (Support Party Anyone?) :) Also, I won't be able to apply to TEC 70 in January, but will be applying to TEC 71 in April. I'm already pretty excited. :) And... *drumroll* I will Not be putting Support as my number one choice. It will likely be ordered as Wheat, Kitchen, Support. And no, Bauer, I do not want to be an ATL. :)
There are lots of other things I could blog about, but this blog entry is already long enough, isn't it? :) The lesson of the day... God is good, and - like our weekend verse and theme stated - we all need to catch a fire and be on fire for God in our lives.
LotD: YouTubeX. Save YouTube videos as files on your computer. Pretty handy.
--I had told Tim and Troy, both ATLs and very good friends of mine, that I wasn't yet to a point where I felt comfortable being an ATL myself during a weekend. So they put overall rector Aaron to up to a challenge (which he accepted); Aaron came up to me the night before the candidates arrived and said something like "Joel, we're adding another table, and they need another ATL, and they really want a male, so they're hoping you would do it." I, of course, got a little flustered and muttered some response about how it wouldn't work, but then thought it was rather funny when I found out it was a joke. So that became a running joke throughout the weekend, and appeared on several pieces of my wheat. "So you wanna be an ATL?" :)
--Thanks to Tim, I now (finally) own the Star Wars Trilogy on widescreen DVD. I, sadly, had previously only owned in on full screen VHS. And that is not acceptable. Thanks Tim!
--Doing the Cheeseburger Song with Tim and Troy was good fun. I was rather nervous to sing it with them in front of 90 or so people, but it went well.
--I accidently kicked a Stations of the Cross candle and broke it. Bad Support Adult!
--I started to move our tall ladder (10 footer), only to then realize that, sitting on the top of the ladder, had been a wire cutter. Ouch. It fell and smacked me in the face and popped out one of the lenses for my glasses. Either then or at some other point during the weekend, those glasses acquired a nice long scratch. Oh well. Is it time for Lasik yet?
--My Support Rectora is a former Everquest II player. How sweet is that?
--As we were making hug balls in the Support Room, I walked by a bunch of them laying on the floor, and said "Holy Hug Balls!" Jill Bartels thought this was particularly amusing, and it became an rather repeated phrase. Then, as we were doing our written team affirmations, she showed me what she had written on my affirmation. It said "Holy Huge Balls." :) She had added the extra "e" on purpose, to see if I would notice it. Me, being the kind of person that likes to make people laugh at every occasion, decided to repeat this phrase verbally, and the entire Support Room started laughing. Poor Jill. It was rather funny. :)
--One of the signs we put up around the church was misspelled. "CANDIDATES" was, instead, "CANDITATES." This was, of course, noticed After the weekend, and After the sign had been up. Can TEC people not spell or something? :)
--One of my responsibilities throughout the weekend was to set up the fire for the burning of the sins. This proved more difficult than it should have been. The two lighters I had weren't working, and the wind would quickly blow out matches, even when I tried to block the wind with my hands or body, or when I tried to light the matches within the bucket. The fire even went out once after I got it going. Eventually it all worked out though, even though when the candidates got there, the flame couldn't be seen from outside the bucket. But after people started throwing their papers in there, the fire grew. The bucket caught a fire. :)
--After I got the fire going, I stood there for several minutes by myself, at the foot of the cross. I've never cried at a TEC event, but I came closest this weekend. I threw my personal inventory paper into the fire there, before anyone else came out, and I really felt God's calm.
--I printed out 300 sheets at work for my wheat. Who knows if anyone actually read the whole thing, :) but you never know.
--Sitting at Agape, across from Support Rector Brandon Lecy, I randomly created with word "Wow" with my fingers and mouth (this is something my friends and I have done before), and he thought it was the funniest thing ever. It became a TEC-wide phenomenon (or something like that). I'm so proud to have influenced so many people. ;)
--Friday night, Support Adult Jennie and Support Rectora Torey stayed up a little later doing a little planning for the next day. When I got back to the male sleeping area, the lights were out, people were asleep, and I had no idea where my stuff was (the room had been moved around due to Stations of the Cross). Instead of somehow finding my stuff and not waking people up, I just went and sleep on a couch in the Support Room. Lesson: Bring a Flashlight. :)
--Overall, the weekend was amazing. The team was awesome, the leadership was amazing, and the candidates were deeply moved (that is, after all, the whole point of the weekend). God was obviously at work this weekend.
--Two sad things, though, about the future. Due to my crazy work schedule over the next couple weeks, I will not be able to make it to the TEC Reunion. :( Which kind of sucks. (Support Party Anyone?) :) Also, I won't be able to apply to TEC 70 in January, but will be applying to TEC 71 in April. I'm already pretty excited. :) And... *drumroll* I will Not be putting Support as my number one choice. It will likely be ordered as Wheat, Kitchen, Support. And no, Bauer, I do not want to be an ATL. :)
There are lots of other things I could blog about, but this blog entry is already long enough, isn't it? :) The lesson of the day... God is good, and - like our weekend verse and theme stated - we all need to catch a fire and be on fire for God in our lives.
LotD: YouTubeX. Save YouTube videos as files on your computer. Pretty handy.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Good Times
TEC 69 was an amazing weekend. I'm going to post more about it tomorrow (I wrote a whole bunch of things down to blog about, but I forgot it... d'oh). So for now, here are a few random quotes that make me smile.
"Death will save you." -Ben Hoogland
"My arms are pythons, and they will eat you alive!" -Brandon Lecy
"Jewishes don't believe in Jesus!" -Brandon Lecy
LotD: Daily Show Archives Appear Online. Ah, John Stewart is funny. And now eight years of clips from the show are downloadable for free. Sweet huh?
"Death will save you." -Ben Hoogland
"My arms are pythons, and they will eat you alive!" -Brandon Lecy
"Jewishes don't believe in Jesus!" -Brandon Lecy
LotD: Daily Show Archives Appear Online. Ah, John Stewart is funny. And now eight years of clips from the show are downloadable for free. Sweet huh?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Oooooh Scary!
As mentioned in the post of the Mac Man, we (Tim & Dana, Tom & Katie, Megan & myself) went to ValleyFair on Saturday, or ValleyScare, as it was during their annual Halloween Haunt activities. It was good fun. In addition to the usual greatness that is ValleyFair (Wild Thing, Steel Venom, XTreme Swing, Renegade.... sweet!), they had a assortment of haunted houses, and people dressed up throughout the park who jumped out of the darkness and scared people. It was pretty fun. While I rarely get anything more than slightly startled during haunted things, my wife and other members of our party were scared relatively often and caused permanent hearing damage to those in their vicinity. I still enjoyed the haunted houses, but usually get more amusement out of the reactions of my fellow group members than I do the actual event. A young girl randomly accompanied us through one of the houses, and apparently her scream switch was stuck to on. It was impressive.
We did have one experience that I had never had before. Going up the first hill of the Wild Thing roller coaster, the coaster stopped. We were a little confused for a few moments, but my wife correctly guessed that they stopped the ride because a couple people near the front of the train had a stuffed monkey that they were holding into the air. I suppose the park employees didn't want it flying away from them and hitting some other Wild Thing passenger, or a random ValleyFair customer far below. As a member of the last seat on the ride (the best place to be on that coaster), I appreciated not getting smacked in the face by something at the ride's top speed of 74 mph.
Oddly enough, we randomly ran into a group of people we knew. Nate & Laura, and Aaron & Mariah (fellow TEC-ies) were standing in line for a haunted house when we walked by. We later ran into them again while we were eating at the Die-In (the lights for the "r" and the "v" in "drive" were not lit up). So we chatted with them for a little while. It was pretty sweet. This anomalitcal (just made that word up) occurrence has also been documented in Aaron's and Tim's blogs, and possibly a future of Nate's. It was very exciting. :)
Anyway, the TEC weekend starts tomorrow, and I'm pretty excited. I just printed out my wheat for the wheat bags (it was a lot of pages) and am roaring to go. So bring it on!
LotD: Performance Artist Implants Ear on His Arm. If you don't like things that look a little... weird, then don't click this link.
We did have one experience that I had never had before. Going up the first hill of the Wild Thing roller coaster, the coaster stopped. We were a little confused for a few moments, but my wife correctly guessed that they stopped the ride because a couple people near the front of the train had a stuffed monkey that they were holding into the air. I suppose the park employees didn't want it flying away from them and hitting some other Wild Thing passenger, or a random ValleyFair customer far below. As a member of the last seat on the ride (the best place to be on that coaster), I appreciated not getting smacked in the face by something at the ride's top speed of 74 mph.
Oddly enough, we randomly ran into a group of people we knew. Nate & Laura, and Aaron & Mariah (fellow TEC-ies) were standing in line for a haunted house when we walked by. We later ran into them again while we were eating at the Die-In (the lights for the "r" and the "v" in "drive" were not lit up). So we chatted with them for a little while. It was pretty sweet. This anomalitcal (just made that word up) occurrence has also been documented in Aaron's and Tim's blogs, and possibly a future of Nate's. It was very exciting. :)
Anyway, the TEC weekend starts tomorrow, and I'm pretty excited. I just printed out my wheat for the wheat bags (it was a lot of pages) and am roaring to go. So bring it on!
LotD: Performance Artist Implants Ear on His Arm. If you don't like things that look a little... weird, then don't click this link.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Zoom Zoom
Life has seemed a bit rushed the last couple months, from the GOP Convention website I've worked on, to the new job (and its busier schedule of the last couple weeks), to getting this ready for the upcoming TEC weekend. This is party to blame for my recent reduction in blog posts. Darnit! :)
And the next few weeks will be busier, including working a good bit at FLS (my former job) during the election time, as it gets rather busy there. So I will be working basically 2 full time jobs for a couple weeks. It will be good to see all my FLS coworkers again, plus basically getting an extra paycheck is always nice too. :)
That, of course, means that I pretty much won't have a life during that time. I'm losing 3 weeks of our weekly Everquest playing, and probably won't get any cards or StarCraft action in during that time. :( Ah, the joys of business. At least I should get lots of free food at FLS. :)
For the first time, I have experienced the joy of dual monitors. I set up the old 17 inch CRT on the new computer, and it's pretty sweet. So now I can play Everquest and online Scrabble at the same time, without minimizing any windows or turning on another computer. Isn't laziness great? :) It is also possible that I'll be getting a second monitor to go with my work computer. That dual monitor setup would end up being much more useful. But I'm not yet sure if that'll happen. Who knows.
LotD: Flying Car About to Take Off. Now that's zoom zoom.
And the next few weeks will be busier, including working a good bit at FLS (my former job) during the election time, as it gets rather busy there. So I will be working basically 2 full time jobs for a couple weeks. It will be good to see all my FLS coworkers again, plus basically getting an extra paycheck is always nice too. :)
That, of course, means that I pretty much won't have a life during that time. I'm losing 3 weeks of our weekly Everquest playing, and probably won't get any cards or StarCraft action in during that time. :( Ah, the joys of business. At least I should get lots of free food at FLS. :)
For the first time, I have experienced the joy of dual monitors. I set up the old 17 inch CRT on the new computer, and it's pretty sweet. So now I can play Everquest and online Scrabble at the same time, without minimizing any windows or turning on another computer. Isn't laziness great? :) It is also possible that I'll be getting a second monitor to go with my work computer. That dual monitor setup would end up being much more useful. But I'm not yet sure if that'll happen. Who knows.
LotD: Flying Car About to Take Off. Now that's zoom zoom.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Taking the Long Way
As I previously said I would, I started transferring all the files we wanted to keep from the older computer to the new computer. I simply copied the files over the network, but at the very beginning of one of the transfers (I split it up into several groups), I saw somet
hing rather odd. Maybe you've seen this before, but I don't think I have. See the image....
That's right. 48, 366 days and 23 hours remaining in the transfer. Whooah! That's somewhere in the area of 132.4 years, I believe. So, umm, good. My rather future descendants might be able to enjoy whatever files I was copying. :)
Hehe, well, it quickly corrected itself and transferred rather quickly. But I was happy to get screen shot of it first. I haven't had any problems with Windows Vista yet, but this doesn't give me any confidence in its ability to calculating things.
Where's my abacus?
LotD: 10 of the Narrowest Houses in the World. Just don't turn around, and you'll be fine.
hing rather odd. Maybe you've seen this before, but I don't think I have. See the image....That's right. 48, 366 days and 23 hours remaining in the transfer. Whooah! That's somewhere in the area of 132.4 years, I believe. So, umm, good. My rather future descendants might be able to enjoy whatever files I was copying. :)
Hehe, well, it quickly corrected itself and transferred rather quickly. But I was happy to get screen shot of it first. I haven't had any problems with Windows Vista yet, but this doesn't give me any confidence in its ability to calculating things.
Where's my abacus?
LotD: 10 of the Narrowest Houses in the World. Just don't turn around, and you'll be fine.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Joy Hath Cometh
Well, I've had a little adventure with setting up the new computer. First, as previously posted, my heat sink did not fit correctly onto the motherboard. Small pipe-looking things in the heat sink rubbed against small plastic pieces on the mounting piece for the heat sink, not allowing the sink to be positioned straight on the processor.
I didn't want to send one of them back and get a different one, if I could help it. Soooo... I took a slightly unconventional (and non reccommended) approach and cut off the plastic pieces on the plastic mount, allowing the heat sink to sit perfectly in place. The perfect solution? Probably not. But alas, it worked. Whooah!
Then, of course, I get everything else plugged in, turn it on, but then discover another problem. The fans start to run, but as far as I can tell, nothing else does. The DVD drive has no lights and does not open. So I call my Computer Architect Tim, and after a while, we figure it out. (Evidently you can stick a 4-pin power connector into an 8-pin connector on the motherboard to give it enough power.)
Then everything worked wonderfully. I installed Windows Vista (which I've had no problems with thus far) and, of course, Everquest II, which is much more pretty with the new video card. It's wonderful.
I need to install whatever other programs I need and copy all the data from Computer #2 to the new computer, then I will quite possibly reformat that computer and install a fresh copy of Windows XP. Fun stuff, huh?
LotD: 2008 GOP Convention Report. This is the page that I designed for the wife of my former FLS coworker. I hope it ended up being what she wanted. It includes an admin tool so she can add, edit, and delete the stories (which are the focal point of the front page). I still have a couple little things to do, but it's pretty much done. And, most important, I already have the check. :)
I didn't want to send one of them back and get a different one, if I could help it. Soooo... I took a slightly unconventional (and non reccommended) approach and cut off the plastic pieces on the plastic mount, allowing the heat sink to sit perfectly in place. The perfect solution? Probably not. But alas, it worked. Whooah!
Then, of course, I get everything else plugged in, turn it on, but then discover another problem. The fans start to run, but as far as I can tell, nothing else does. The DVD drive has no lights and does not open. So I call my Computer Architect Tim, and after a while, we figure it out. (Evidently you can stick a 4-pin power connector into an 8-pin connector on the motherboard to give it enough power.)
Then everything worked wonderfully. I installed Windows Vista (which I've had no problems with thus far) and, of course, Everquest II, which is much more pretty with the new video card. It's wonderful.
I need to install whatever other programs I need and copy all the data from Computer #2 to the new computer, then I will quite possibly reformat that computer and install a fresh copy of Windows XP. Fun stuff, huh?
LotD: 2008 GOP Convention Report. This is the page that I designed for the wife of my former FLS coworker. I hope it ended up being what she wanted. It includes an admin tool so she can add, edit, and delete the stories (which are the focal point of the front page). I still have a couple little things to do, but it's pretty much done. And, most important, I already have the check. :)
Friday, October 05, 2007
Heat Stink
Work has been interesting. I've gone from a fairly light schedule to one that is very busy and deadline driven. Ah, the joys of the IT world, eh? At the same time, I've been working on the 2008 GOP Convention Report website for the wife of my former FLS coworker. I ran into some major snags in the editing of her blog entries, as she needed to be able to edit text richly (bold, and other such formatting, as well as inserting pictures and links). Finding a free rich text editor that would suit her needs proved tricky, as I downloaded one that didn't quite function properly. I was getting rather worried until I found one yesterday that worked perfectly. Just a couple days before the site deadline. :) Whooah!
And, of course, most of my computer parts are here. Whooah! That being said, I have run into a snag here as well. My heat sink is rather goofy (see picture). It has these little pipes on each end of it, and when I attempt to connect the heat sink to the motherboard, plastic pieces from the heat sink mount get in the way and prevent it from attaching as straight as it probably should. It wouldn't be good to have the heat sink in there crooked, so I may just have to get a new heat sink. Silly, huh? :)
Talking about silly, here I am. After posting yesterday about my blog looking funny and receiving Dan's comments about it, I redid the template. So, those who commented afterwards probably saw it just fine. I'm a mean one, aren't I? :) *evil laugh*
I also added quite a few new links to the right side. I should have waited and used them all for LotD's, but alas.
LotD: Microsoft Purchases Evil From Satan. A BBSpot classic.
And, of course, most of my computer parts are here. Whooah! That being said, I have run into a snag here as well. My heat sink is rather goofy (see picture). It has these little pipes on each end of it, and when I attempt to connect the heat sink to the motherboard, plastic pieces from the heat sink mount get in the way and prevent it from attaching as straight as it probably should. It wouldn't be good to have the heat sink in there crooked, so I may just have to get a new heat sink. Silly, huh? :)
Talking about silly, here I am. After posting yesterday about my blog looking funny and receiving Dan's comments about it, I redid the template. So, those who commented afterwards probably saw it just fine. I'm a mean one, aren't I? :) *evil laugh*
I also added quite a few new links to the right side. I should have waited and used them all for LotD's, but alas.
LotD: Microsoft Purchases Evil From Satan. A BBSpot classic.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Five Down, Two to Go
Ah, a week without blogging from me. How doth life continue during such hardships?
Uh, or something like that.
On Sunday, we had our first full team meeting for the next TEC weekend. I got to meet Bob for the first time (the meeting highlight of course!) and get to know the rest of the Support team. I also forced myself to push the conversation during team time, which goes completely against my shyness. Good for me. :) I felt more comfortable talking on this team than I have in the past. It probably helped that I had previously worked Support with both the team rector and rectora. I am also excited to work on the same team as the Mac Man and our mutual friend Troy. And of course, the Pink Lady. It should be a good team and an excellent weekend.
Well, five of my seven computer shipments have arrived. This includes the case and power supply (from the store of Tim), the flash drive, monitor, headphones, keyboard and mouse, motherboard, processor, and half my RAM. I'm still missing a few crucial pieces, like the hard drive, Windows, video card, and DVD drive. The video card and DVD drive were shipped a coupel days later, but hopefully everything else arrives in a fairly timely manner. However, I can already starting putting things together. Whoooahh! I just hope, of course, that everything does in fact go together and I have no major problems getting it to work. There's always something that goes wrong. :)
Also, on this blog, if you use Internet Explorer, do my links to other blogs appear way down the page on the far right side? I use Firefox, and everything looks good to me. I may just create a new template. Cause that's just silly.
LotD: Transparent Frog. Funky. But don't scientists have anything better to do with their time? :)
Uh, or something like that.
On Sunday, we had our first full team meeting for the next TEC weekend. I got to meet Bob for the first time (the meeting highlight of course!) and get to know the rest of the Support team. I also forced myself to push the conversation during team time, which goes completely against my shyness. Good for me. :) I felt more comfortable talking on this team than I have in the past. It probably helped that I had previously worked Support with both the team rector and rectora. I am also excited to work on the same team as the Mac Man and our mutual friend Troy. And of course, the Pink Lady. It should be a good team and an excellent weekend.
Well, five of my seven computer shipments have arrived. This includes the case and power supply (from the store of Tim), the flash drive, monitor, headphones, keyboard and mouse, motherboard, processor, and half my RAM. I'm still missing a few crucial pieces, like the hard drive, Windows, video card, and DVD drive. The video card and DVD drive were shipped a coupel days later, but hopefully everything else arrives in a fairly timely manner. However, I can already starting putting things together. Whoooahh! I just hope, of course, that everything does in fact go together and I have no major problems getting it to work. There's always something that goes wrong. :)
Also, on this blog, if you use Internet Explorer, do my links to other blogs appear way down the page on the far right side? I use Firefox, and everything looks good to me. I may just create a new template. Cause that's just silly.
LotD: Transparent Frog. Funky. But don't scientists have anything better to do with their time? :)
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Upgrading Cometh
Here's my up-to-date computer plan, with much help from and many thanks to Tim. He receives today's Boba Award, which while it does not come with a cash reward like the Nobel Prize, it is nearly as prestigious.
Anywho, here it is. Everything should fit together just fine (in theory). I assume the power supply that Tim has will fit with everything okay? I also added a new video card that should be better than what I had before.
Store of Tim Case / Power Supply [ $7.00 ]
Widescreen 20" [ 246.98 ]
Vista Premium [ 75.99 ]
Wireless KB/M [ 25.99 ]
2GB Flash Drive [ 19.55 ]
Headphones [ 19.99 ]
500GB Drive [ 86.00 ]
4GB RAM [ 109.96 ]
DVD/CD RW [ 34.50 ]
Motherboard [ 68.00 ]
CPU [ 170.00 ]
Video [ 115.00 ]
Total: $978.96
Prices may vary, of course, when I order everything later this week. Here's another question for Tim - and it may be a silly question, but I just want to make sure - the motherboard specifies that it was 4 memory slots and "Maximum Memory Supported" of 4 GB. Is that 4 GB per slot, and not total? Right now, I have four 1GB sticks.
LotD: Lamborghini Reventón. Lamborghini's newest model, new for 2008. It's purdy.
Anywho, here it is. Everything should fit together just fine (in theory). I assume the power supply that Tim has will fit with everything okay? I also added a new video card that should be better than what I had before.
Store of Tim Case / Power Supply [ $7.00 ]
Widescreen 20" [ 246.98 ]
Vista Premium [ 75.99 ]
Wireless KB/M [ 25.99 ]
2GB Flash Drive [ 19.55 ]
Headphones [ 19.99 ]
500GB Drive [ 86.00 ]
4GB RAM [ 109.96 ]
DVD/CD RW [ 34.50 ]
Motherboard [ 68.00 ]
CPU [ 170.00 ]
Video [ 115.00 ]
Total: $978.96
Prices may vary, of course, when I order everything later this week. Here's another question for Tim - and it may be a silly question, but I just want to make sure - the motherboard specifies that it was 4 memory slots and "Maximum Memory Supported" of 4 GB. Is that 4 GB per slot, and not total? Right now, I have four 1GB sticks.
LotD: Lamborghini Reventón. Lamborghini's newest model, new for 2008. It's purdy.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Upgrading the Plan
Thanks to all of you for your thoughts on my computer purchasing, I very much appreciate it. I have updated the list. This includes a dual DVI output video card. I have listed on here a refurbished 15 inch LCD as a second monitor, but I'm not sure about that yet. I would like to have dual monitors, and I will have an extra monitor at home after I get the new widescreen, but the extra monitor will be a CRT, and I wouldn't mind conserving desk space and having both monitors as LCD. But who knows. I should have the capability for dual monitors after this, so I could always wait and get the second one later, or live with the CRT for the time being.
This motherboard should have 4 PCI slots (1x PCI-Express x16 slot; 1x PCI-Express x1 slot; 2x PCI slots - I'm not exactly sure what the differences are).
I also don't know why this excessively large empty space appears when I try to put an HTML table into a blog entry. So, um, here's a really big empty space, and then some computer-related information. :)
LotD: SpongeBob SquarePants Saves Sinking Boat. And you thought he wasn't a superhero.
This motherboard should have 4 PCI slots (1x PCI-Express x16 slot; 1x PCI-Express x1 slot; 2x PCI slots - I'm not exactly sure what the differences are).
I also don't know why this excessively large empty space appears when I try to put an HTML table into a blog entry. So, um, here's a really big empty space, and then some computer-related information. :)
| Total: $991.67 | ||||||||||||
| Item | Price | Notes | ||||||||||
| MB / CPU | 247.31 | Link | ||||||||||
| Case / Power | 7.00 | Store of Tim | ||||||||||
| Widescreen 20" | 206.99 | Link | ||||||||||
| Vista Premium | 75.99 | Link | ||||||||||
| Wireless KB/M | 25.99 | Link | ||||||||||
| 2GB Flash Drive | 19.55 | Link | ||||||||||
| Headphones | 19.99 | Link | ||||||||||
| 500GB Drive | 86.00 | Link | ||||||||||
| 4GB RAM | 109.96 | Link | ||||||||||
| DVD/CD RW | 34.50 | Link | ||||||||||
| Dual DVI Video | 55.97 | Link | ||||||||||
| 15 in LCD | 79.00 | Link | ||||||||||
LotD: SpongeBob SquarePants Saves Sinking Boat. And you thought he wasn't a superhero.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Computadora Para Yo
So, I have about a week until I can order my new computer, so I need to start making decisions. I am choosing between either simply buying a system from Dell, or building my own. As pointed out by Tim, building a system is also a little more fun (I built my second computer, in 2002). I had previously be leaning toward a Dell system, but now I'm not so sure. If I were to build it, this is what I've come up with:
Barebones System
$231.87
AMD Athlon X2 6000+ AM2 Dual Core. (Case / Motherboard / Processor / Fans.)
Memory
109.96
4 GB DDR2-667 RAM (x4 1GB)
Hard Drive
86.00
500 GB Western Digital SATA
CD/DVD
31.99
Samsung 20x DVD/RW
Monitor
206.99
LG ELECTRONIC 20 Inch Widescreen LCD
OS
100.99
Windows Vista Home Premium 32
Input
25.99
Wireless Keyboard / Mouse
Flash Drive
19.55
2 Apacer Pen Drive
Audio
19.99
Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 Headphones
TOTAL: $811.24
Though the Mac Man has cheap / free case and power supply for me, it was practically the same price to get a barebones set than simply buy the same motherboard and CPU. Looking at the specs, a comparable Dell system would be around $1300. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this (like I'm missing something really important or something). :) I could get a Dell system that is in the $900-$1000 range (which is actually in my price range; $1300 is too much), but some of the specs wouldn't be as good (less RAM, for example). The advantages, of course, of getting a system from Dell would be an improved warranty, and of course the fact that everything comes put together. :)
LotD: Hard Drive Clock. Rather geeky, which makes it pretty sweet.
Barebones System
$231.87
AMD Athlon X2 6000+ AM2 Dual Core. (Case / Motherboard / Processor / Fans.)
Memory
109.96
4 GB DDR2-667 RAM (x4 1GB)
Hard Drive
86.00
500 GB Western Digital SATA
CD/DVD
31.99
Samsung 20x DVD/RW
Monitor
206.99
LG ELECTRONIC 20 Inch Widescreen LCD
OS
100.99
Windows Vista Home Premium 32
Input
25.99
Wireless Keyboard / Mouse
Flash Drive
19.55
2 Apacer Pen Drive
Audio
19.99
Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 Headphones
TOTAL: $811.24
Though the Mac Man has cheap / free case and power supply for me, it was practically the same price to get a barebones set than simply buy the same motherboard and CPU. Looking at the specs, a comparable Dell system would be around $1300. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this (like I'm missing something really important or something). :) I could get a Dell system that is in the $900-$1000 range (which is actually in my price range; $1300 is too much), but some of the specs wouldn't be as good (less RAM, for example). The advantages, of course, of getting a system from Dell would be an improved warranty, and of course the fact that everything comes put together. :)
LotD: Hard Drive Clock. Rather geeky, which makes it pretty sweet.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The Vampires Cometh
Today, I am going to do something that I have never done before. I am going to go donate blood! It is both a good thing to do, and I will figure something else out that I don't yet know, which is my blood type. Very exciting stuff. I assume, because I am not a small person, that I will not faint from this experience. :) That is the hope anyway. I haven't fainted since the sixth grade, and that was because a girl beat me up. (Or something close to that anyway.) :)
My wife is a dork. Because of this, she is rather excited for Halloween. We looked through a bunch of Halloween-related decorations and costumes yesterday. Funky stuff. I never dressed up as anything exciting when I Was a kid. Ah well. She may dress herself up as a vampire or something funky like that. And I have offered myself up as a costuming canvas, so she can dress me up in whatever Halloween garb she feels like. I'm probably setting myself up for something very bad. :)
LotD: Gadwin Printscreen. Nifty little application that allows you to take custom rectangular screen shots and both copy them to the clipboard and save them to a file, so if you have something you want to save, you don't have to copy it and then paste into Paint and save it. It's pretty slick.
My wife is a dork. Because of this, she is rather excited for Halloween. We looked through a bunch of Halloween-related decorations and costumes yesterday. Funky stuff. I never dressed up as anything exciting when I Was a kid. Ah well. She may dress herself up as a vampire or something funky like that. And I have offered myself up as a costuming canvas, so she can dress me up in whatever Halloween garb she feels like. I'm probably setting myself up for something very bad. :)
LotD: Gadwin Printscreen. Nifty little application that allows you to take custom rectangular screen shots and both copy them to the clipboard and save them to a file, so if you have something you want to save, you don't have to copy it and then paste into Paint and save it. It's pretty slick.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Project Recaps
Ah, so many fun little projects I have created for myself. Here's a quick update.
GOP Convention Report - this is the website I am creating for the wife of a former coworker. I am starting the programming on it, and will be spending large amounts of time on it between Thursday and Sunday. I am supposed to have it done by October 6th, but am hoping to have it mostly done by this weekend.
The Lords of Sargoff - I have written through the sixth chapter in the story. I am going to try to write the whole story in rough draft, then go back and fix things up and add more details. This will be my main project after the website is completed. I will post the new first chapter at some point, after a little more tweaking.
Reclamation - I have not abandoned my card game, though it has taken a back seat to other things for the time being. I plan on picking this up again.
In other news, I can order my computer in approximately nine days. :) I am totally excited. I need to make final decisions on whether I will order a system or build it myself (I am leaning towards a system at the current time). But we will see.
LotD: Man Declared Dead Awakens During Autopsy. That pretty much sums it up. Weird. Guess it just wasn't his time.
GOP Convention Report - this is the website I am creating for the wife of a former coworker. I am starting the programming on it, and will be spending large amounts of time on it between Thursday and Sunday. I am supposed to have it done by October 6th, but am hoping to have it mostly done by this weekend.
The Lords of Sargoff - I have written through the sixth chapter in the story. I am going to try to write the whole story in rough draft, then go back and fix things up and add more details. This will be my main project after the website is completed. I will post the new first chapter at some point, after a little more tweaking.
Reclamation - I have not abandoned my card game, though it has taken a back seat to other things for the time being. I plan on picking this up again.
In other news, I can order my computer in approximately nine days. :) I am totally excited. I need to make final decisions on whether I will order a system or build it myself (I am leaning towards a system at the current time). But we will see.
LotD: Man Declared Dead Awakens During Autopsy. That pretty much sums it up. Weird. Guess it just wasn't his time.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
So, He Does Exist
First off, this is for Aaron:
[hug]
I finally met Mr. Bauer today at the TEC leadership meeting, and there it was determined that it would be best if him and myself communicate merely on a digital level. So I'll plan on completely ignoring him at meetings and during the weekend.
Well, maybe not. :) Anywho, the meeting went well, and I'm looking forward to the first full team meeting in two weeks. In the meantime, I need to call to set up garbage collection (a task I also did when I worked Support at TEC 66) and set up a place for the candidates to go swim (and for transportation). Whooah!
Fortunately, I know many more people on team this time than I did last time. It should, as always, be an excellent and powerful weekend. I am also happy that now, Mr. Mac Man has joined the team as an ATL. It's about time that the stars aligned so we could work together. :)
LotD: Etch-A-Sketch Art. Assuming they're real and not Photoshopped, this is some impressive art, especially considering it would have to be one continuous line. It's either impressive, or shows that this guy has too much time on his hands. :)
[hug]
I finally met Mr. Bauer today at the TEC leadership meeting, and there it was determined that it would be best if him and myself communicate merely on a digital level. So I'll plan on completely ignoring him at meetings and during the weekend.
Well, maybe not. :) Anywho, the meeting went well, and I'm looking forward to the first full team meeting in two weeks. In the meantime, I need to call to set up garbage collection (a task I also did when I worked Support at TEC 66) and set up a place for the candidates to go swim (and for transportation). Whooah!
Fortunately, I know many more people on team this time than I did last time. It should, as always, be an excellent and powerful weekend. I am also happy that now, Mr. Mac Man has joined the team as an ATL. It's about time that the stars aligned so we could work together. :)
LotD: Etch-A-Sketch Art. Assuming they're real and not Photoshopped, this is some impressive art, especially considering it would have to be one continuous line. It's either impressive, or shows that this guy has too much time on his hands. :)
Friday, September 14, 2007
Digital Destruction
Tonight, we're having ourselves a little gaming night. We'll be playing some StarCraft, which is an aging yet classic game that we may never stop playing. Well, that may change when StarCraft II comes out (if we all end up getting the game, that is). I'm pretty excited for that game to come out, though it will be at least 2008. (Those who want a sneak peak can go to the movies page and download the gameplay video.)
It has recently been decided that my wife and I will be going down to visit family in Ohio for Thanksgiving. While it is always good to see family, the main reason for the trip is of course to get more Graeter's ice cream - the best ice cream in the world.
(That's really not the main reason.) :)
The main reason is to see Scruffles.
LotD: Ironman trailer. While I had never even heard of Iron Man until playing a video game with Dan, the trailer still looks like it has the potential to at least be a good action movie. You know, lots of things blowing up. A guy in a bit metal suit with a flamethrower. What could possibly go wrong? Considering I was never a Transformers fan, and yet rather enjoyed the movie, I'll be more than willing to give this one a try next May.
It has recently been decided that my wife and I will be going down to visit family in Ohio for Thanksgiving. While it is always good to see family, the main reason for the trip is of course to get more Graeter's ice cream - the best ice cream in the world.
(That's really not the main reason.) :)
The main reason is to see Scruffles.
LotD: Ironman trailer. While I had never even heard of Iron Man until playing a video game with Dan, the trailer still looks like it has the potential to at least be a good action movie. You know, lots of things blowing up. A guy in a bit metal suit with a flamethrower. What could possibly go wrong? Considering I was never a Transformers fan, and yet rather enjoyed the movie, I'll be more than willing to give this one a try next May.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Link of the Day
I have nothing exciting to blog about today, except to announce that I will be adding a Link of the Day (LotD) to the end of my blogs. It will just be a link I find interesting or exciting or weird or whatever; could be an article, or a picture, or anything. Just whatever the heck I feel like. Aren't you pumped?
LotD: The R2-D2 Home Theater System. Life-size R2-D2 that contains a projector, among all sorts of other things. Also comes with Millennium Falcon remote control! How cool is that?
LotD: The R2-D2 Home Theater System. Life-size R2-D2 that contains a projector, among all sorts of other things. Also comes with Millennium Falcon remote control! How cool is that?
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Spot On
It's a sad, sad world when work gets in the way of my blogging. Well, maybe not really, but it certainly should be considered so.
Uh, anywho... I have been working on a website for a woman who is the wife of one of my former FLS Connect coworkers. I created a mock layout according to her instructions and sent it to her, and she replied and said the design was "spot on," so that must be good. :) I have some changes to the layout to make tonight and send to her for tomorrow. Then, depending on my schedule, but sometime during Thursday / Friday / Saturday / Sunday while my wife is at work, I will be putting lots of work toward it to get things running programmatically. Once the site is set up and online, I'll post a link to it here so you can all see my high quality work. :) Or, hopefully not too horribly dreadful work.
It is a little extra money, which is always helpful (though the check I get from it will go directly towards my student loans), it will be good experience and something to put in my portfolio.
On that thought, I think it would be really fun to do things like this as a full-time occupation. Free-lance web designer? Working from home? I think I'd thoroughly enjoy that. More experience + more skills = anything is possible. :)
As mentioned in a previous post, I will be doing monthly maintenance on all computers in the office (about 43). The last couple days, I have had the fun of trying to get all the office's employees on a monthly schedule. I will end up doing this maintenance on between 1 and 4 computers daily, in order to get through all the office's computers in a month. Fun stuff, eh? :)
All in all, work is going well, and I'm feeling more and more comfortable in the position. Yehaw! :)
Uh, anywho... I have been working on a website for a woman who is the wife of one of my former FLS Connect coworkers. I created a mock layout according to her instructions and sent it to her, and she replied and said the design was "spot on," so that must be good. :) I have some changes to the layout to make tonight and send to her for tomorrow. Then, depending on my schedule, but sometime during Thursday / Friday / Saturday / Sunday while my wife is at work, I will be putting lots of work toward it to get things running programmatically. Once the site is set up and online, I'll post a link to it here so you can all see my high quality work. :) Or, hopefully not too horribly dreadful work.
It is a little extra money, which is always helpful (though the check I get from it will go directly towards my student loans), it will be good experience and something to put in my portfolio.
On that thought, I think it would be really fun to do things like this as a full-time occupation. Free-lance web designer? Working from home? I think I'd thoroughly enjoy that. More experience + more skills = anything is possible. :)
As mentioned in a previous post, I will be doing monthly maintenance on all computers in the office (about 43). The last couple days, I have had the fun of trying to get all the office's employees on a monthly schedule. I will end up doing this maintenance on between 1 and 4 computers daily, in order to get through all the office's computers in a month. Fun stuff, eh? :)
All in all, work is going well, and I'm feeling more and more comfortable in the position. Yehaw! :)
Friday, September 07, 2007
The Joys of TEChnology
Well, it's been an interesting day. Throw in the last few hours of yesterday, and it's a rocking good time. :)
(geekspeak)
Basically, my work computer has been on the fritz. This computer was brand-new out-of-the-box when I started work on Tuesday. Thursday afternoon, I restarted the computer, and it booted up, showed the Windows loading logo, and then the screen went black, and I couldn't get any farther than that. With no luck getting it to do anything else, the network administrator here decided to do a system restore, which appeared to work successfully. I even restarted
the computer and everything worked fine. Then I shut down the computer overnight, came back this morning, started it up, and had the same problem again. Sweet, huh?
Well, after another system restore, a Windows repair installation, and finally a clean wipe of the hard drive and a fresh Windows installation, I appear to be up and running. I am currently installing a rather large set of programs (Macromedia Studio and Adobe Creative Suite), which allows me time to blog (that's my theory anyway). Hopefully everything works out all good.
I also now know some of my new job duties. They include (these are not necessarily things I am doing completely yet, but things that - once fully trained in - I will be doing).
-Checking that overnight maintenance (tape back ups, tests) completed correctly
-Doing monthly updates of all computers in the office
-Maintaining and updating laptops that are reserved by employees and taken on business trips
-Maintaining and updating the company website, and possibly, in time, redesigning it
-Creating simple newsletter emails and website for our clients
I also have one other business opportunity. The wife of a man that worked at FLS (my former job) is considering having me design a website for her. It would be neato - good experience, and a little extra money. I don't know for sure if it will happen, so we'll see.
(/geekspeak)
In other non-geek-related news, I got accepted to work the next TEC weekend. I am pretty excited, I actually know people who are working this one - people I met when I worked the TEC in January, and also a couple good friends of mine (Troy B. and Kelly A.) are working. I'm pretty excited.
SUPPORT!
(geekspeak)
Basically, my work computer has been on the fritz. This computer was brand-new out-of-the-box when I started work on Tuesday. Thursday afternoon, I restarted the computer, and it booted up, showed the Windows loading logo, and then the screen went black, and I couldn't get any farther than that. With no luck getting it to do anything else, the network administrator here decided to do a system restore, which appeared to work successfully. I even restarted
the computer and everything worked fine. Then I shut down the computer overnight, came back this morning, started it up, and had the same problem again. Sweet, huh?
Well, after another system restore, a Windows repair installation, and finally a clean wipe of the hard drive and a fresh Windows installation, I appear to be up and running. I am currently installing a rather large set of programs (Macromedia Studio and Adobe Creative Suite), which allows me time to blog (that's my theory anyway). Hopefully everything works out all good.
I also now know some of my new job duties. They include (these are not necessarily things I am doing completely yet, but things that - once fully trained in - I will be doing).
-Checking that overnight maintenance (tape back ups, tests) completed correctly
-Doing monthly updates of all computers in the office
-Maintaining and updating laptops that are reserved by employees and taken on business trips
-Maintaining and updating the company website, and possibly, in time, redesigning it
-Creating simple newsletter emails and website for our clients
I also have one other business opportunity. The wife of a man that worked at FLS (my former job) is considering having me design a website for her. It would be neato - good experience, and a little extra money. I don't know for sure if it will happen, so we'll see.
(/geekspeak)
In other non-geek-related news, I got accepted to work the next TEC weekend. I am pretty excited, I actually know people who are working this one - people I met when I worked the TEC in January, and also a couple good friends of mine (Troy B. and Kelly A.) are working. I'm pretty excited.
SUPPORT!
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
The Beginning of the Beginning
The first day of my new job went well. I was introduced to a lot of people, was told a lot of stuff (most of which I won't remember), and attended the weekly staff meeting.
At this meeting, they go around the room and everyone gives an update of what they're working on. This is something I'll have to get used to and put up with, because I hate talking in front of people.
There are definitely a few things that I prefer about my job at FLS. Nothing too big at all, but a few minor things. The dress code is a little leaner at FLS (here I wear khakis Monday - Thursday with jeans on Friday; at FLS, I wore jeans everyday). The scheduling is a little stricter here. When I get to the office in the morning, I have to sign in. At the end of the day (and whenever I leave the building for more than 15 minutes), I have to sign out. This is more so they can tell who is in the office and who isn't, but I still find it to be a little silly. :)
They seem to want to enforce the 40-hour work week a lot more. At FLS, things were more flexible. If I had an appointment somewhere, I could just tell my boss about it, and it would be okay to be gone during the middle of the day for a couple hours. Here, not so much. They also basically force you to take an hour lunch. Now I rarely took a lunch break at my old job, I'd just eat at my desk, and I'll probably do the same here. Even if I work through lunch, that "lunch break" is still part of my day. Thus, even though we only technically work 8 hour days, I end up being here 9 hours anyway. Kind of silly.
I know all these things are pretty normal for companies, so I'll get used to them. Every job has its advantages and disadvantages. :)
They track your Internet usage here, or at least kind of. Not that I would surf to any questionable websites anyway, but one of the IT guys showed me the screen that displays what website everone is currently connected to. They also don't want you doing any video or audio streaming, because it affects their bandwidth. So no more listening to RadioU or Pandora. Guess I may have to bring in some CDs or something, since I don't think I'll be able to splurge on an iPod. :)
Everything does seem nice here, and I'll sure they job will be good. It's always a lot to take in near the beginning. Hopefully my mind stops spinning after a couple weeks.
Amid all the new information that has flown into (and out of) my mind today, I forgot what my login password was. I rememebered it was 5 digits long and that it had 2 non-alphabetical characters in it; I remembered what and where those characters were, but I couldn't remember the rest. Silly me. But now I'm all good. :)
It was also the first day for a girl named Shannon, who is an intern, on the design team I believe. Today we went around and talked to the team leaders for a couple different teams and learned about what their teams do and how all the teams work together. Today we talked to design and sales. Later this week, we will be talking to the team leaders for marketing, editorial, and the account executives.
All in all, a perfectly fine day.
I can't believe you read this whole thing. :)
At this meeting, they go around the room and everyone gives an update of what they're working on. This is something I'll have to get used to and put up with, because I hate talking in front of people.
There are definitely a few things that I prefer about my job at FLS. Nothing too big at all, but a few minor things. The dress code is a little leaner at FLS (here I wear khakis Monday - Thursday with jeans on Friday; at FLS, I wore jeans everyday). The scheduling is a little stricter here. When I get to the office in the morning, I have to sign in. At the end of the day (and whenever I leave the building for more than 15 minutes), I have to sign out. This is more so they can tell who is in the office and who isn't, but I still find it to be a little silly. :)
They seem to want to enforce the 40-hour work week a lot more. At FLS, things were more flexible. If I had an appointment somewhere, I could just tell my boss about it, and it would be okay to be gone during the middle of the day for a couple hours. Here, not so much. They also basically force you to take an hour lunch. Now I rarely took a lunch break at my old job, I'd just eat at my desk, and I'll probably do the same here. Even if I work through lunch, that "lunch break" is still part of my day. Thus, even though we only technically work 8 hour days, I end up being here 9 hours anyway. Kind of silly.
I know all these things are pretty normal for companies, so I'll get used to them. Every job has its advantages and disadvantages. :)
They track your Internet usage here, or at least kind of. Not that I would surf to any questionable websites anyway, but one of the IT guys showed me the screen that displays what website everone is currently connected to. They also don't want you doing any video or audio streaming, because it affects their bandwidth. So no more listening to RadioU or Pandora. Guess I may have to bring in some CDs or something, since I don't think I'll be able to splurge on an iPod. :)
Everything does seem nice here, and I'll sure they job will be good. It's always a lot to take in near the beginning. Hopefully my mind stops spinning after a couple weeks.
Amid all the new information that has flown into (and out of) my mind today, I forgot what my login password was. I rememebered it was 5 digits long and that it had 2 non-alphabetical characters in it; I remembered what and where those characters were, but I couldn't remember the rest. Silly me. But now I'm all good. :)
It was also the first day for a girl named Shannon, who is an intern, on the design team I believe. Today we went around and talked to the team leaders for a couple different teams and learned about what their teams do and how all the teams work together. Today we talked to design and sales. Later this week, we will be talking to the team leaders for marketing, editorial, and the account executives.
All in all, a perfectly fine day.
I can't believe you read this whole thing. :)
Friday, August 31, 2007
Temporary Unemployment
Ah, home. I have recently gotten home from my last day of employment at FLS. Technically, I'm working the last two hours from home, and will be officially off the clock and out the employee door in nineteen minutes.
I said good-bye to lots of people and got a few hugs, and was taken out to Chipotle for lunch. They also had birthday ice cream cake today. Ah, yummy.
It was hard to leave, because this place has been such a big part of my life for two and a half years, and I've made some very good friends there. I'm leaving on excellent terms with everyone. But alas, you must move on sometimes. Now I will enjoy my weekend of unemployment - the calm in the storm, or whatever you can call it. On Tuesday I start my next adventure. Hopefully it is all good. :)
I am continuing to work on my Lords of Sargoff story. One time, I sat down and starting typing up a few lines that I knew I wanted to have later in the story. Sooner or later, those three lines turned into five pages. Ah, it is good times when the creative juices are flowing. The chapter I've previously posted has been altered and moved to chapter two, to allow for less divulging of plot points, and also allow for a nifty shorter chapter one. I may post that new chapter sometime soon.
I said good-bye to lots of people and got a few hugs, and was taken out to Chipotle for lunch. They also had birthday ice cream cake today. Ah, yummy.
It was hard to leave, because this place has been such a big part of my life for two and a half years, and I've made some very good friends there. I'm leaving on excellent terms with everyone. But alas, you must move on sometimes. Now I will enjoy my weekend of unemployment - the calm in the storm, or whatever you can call it. On Tuesday I start my next adventure. Hopefully it is all good. :)
I am continuing to work on my Lords of Sargoff story. One time, I sat down and starting typing up a few lines that I knew I wanted to have later in the story. Sooner or later, those three lines turned into five pages. Ah, it is good times when the creative juices are flowing. The chapter I've previously posted has been altered and moved to chapter two, to allow for less divulging of plot points, and also allow for a nifty shorter chapter one. I may post that new chapter sometime soon.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
At Least The Formula Is Still In Tact
Well, last night I was driving along with my wife, when I saw an all-too-familiar sight behind me: red flashing lights. Yeah, that's right, I was pulled over last night. :) But, not for speeding, but because one of my headlights was out (as it has been for several months - I'm cheap). So, while I wasn't ticketed for it, I'm going to soon get it fixed. Ah, fun!
But, most importantly of course, my salary formula will not be affected, as last night's incident was not due to speeding. So everything is okay with the world. (Or something like that.)
Well, just like ten minutes ago, my boss sent out a company-wide email announcing my upcoming departure. Which, for some reason, instantly brought me a small amount of nervousness. It's of course a combination of sadness and excitement. Ah, the joys of change. I have no problem with change in life, and often enjoy it. Hopefully this a change for the better. :)
But, most importantly of course, my salary formula will not be affected, as last night's incident was not due to speeding. So everything is okay with the world. (Or something like that.)
Well, just like ten minutes ago, my boss sent out a company-wide email announcing my upcoming departure. Which, for some reason, instantly brought me a small amount of nervousness. It's of course a combination of sadness and excitement. Ah, the joys of change. I have no problem with change in life, and often enjoy it. Hopefully this a change for the better. :)
Monday, August 27, 2007
The Beginning of the End
Well, here I am.
This is my last week of employment at FLS. I will start at Priority Publications a week from tomorrow. This will be a big change, and is a change that I am both excited and a little nervous for. I'm sure everything will go well, but transitioning is always interesting.
I have been busy today, and will be finishing up a few projects this weeks, as well as training my semi-replacement (another IT guy who will be helping out in my absence while a more permanent replacement can be found). Fun stuff. Somewhere in there I'll get taken to lunch (and again on my first day at Priority). Ah, food is good, and is even better when its free.
This is my last week of employment at FLS. I will start at Priority Publications a week from tomorrow. This will be a big change, and is a change that I am both excited and a little nervous for. I'm sure everything will go well, but transitioning is always interesting.
I have been busy today, and will be finishing up a few projects this weeks, as well as training my semi-replacement (another IT guy who will be helping out in my absence while a more permanent replacement can be found). Fun stuff. Somewhere in there I'll get taken to lunch (and again on my first day at Priority). Ah, food is good, and is even better when its free.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Oh, the Horror
Yesterday, my wife and I went to the Como Zoo in St. Paul for a couple hours. I think zoos are nifty, but don't get as excited about them as my wife. Anywho, the weather was a little cooler, and some of the animals were a (little) more active, including the tiger. (Big cats are some of my very favorite animals on earth.) Anywho, they also had one of the polar bears splashing around in the pool where you can see in from the side. That was pretty nifty. One of the a
pes was also inside and sitting right up against the glass. Funky stuff.
But, then I saw it. One of the most horrible creatures ever, coming from the most violent and destructive species in the planet's history. I barely felt safe with such a thin sheet of glass between me and it. I have included a picture of it, but it is horrifying, so you have been warned. Goodness, I hope it never gets loose.
pes was also inside and sitting right up against the glass. Funky stuff.But, then I saw it. One of the most horrible creatures ever, coming from the most violent and destructive species in the planet's history. I barely felt safe with such a thin sheet of glass between me and it. I have included a picture of it, but it is horrifying, so you have been warned. Goodness, I hope it never gets loose.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
The Wheels on the Car Go Round and Round... For Now
My car went to the shop yesterday for new brakes (brake pads, rotors, calipers, all that crap I know nothing about) and cost a decent sum of money to replace. (I'm not smart enough to change these things myself.) Anyway, my car (2000 Chevy Cavalier) just recently hit 160,000 miles. It's getting up there, and is (probably) nearing the end of its life. Maybe. It still runs pretty good, but has started having a few more repairs here and there, and is getting to the point where we have to carefully evaluate any big repair and determine whether it's worth putting that amount of money into a car of that age and miles. I would love it if it lasted a few more years, but who knows. It will be a sad day when it goes bye-bye. I've had it for almost five years, and it's been a good car. My wife's car (1997 Pontiac Grand Am) is at just around 140,000 miles I believe, so both of them will need to be replaced within the next few years probably. Fortunately, we've saved up enough to pay cash for them (for "new to us" cars), so it would be no big deal if a car died tomorrow.
Anywho, I like cars, but they're a money hole.
Anywho, I like cars, but they're a money hole.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Math is Fun
Ah, Mondays.
While it is commonly discouraged for people to publicly announce their salary, I am going to make an exception. Well, sort of. In order to determine my new job's annual salary, all you must do is solve this simple equation for X (the salary). Didn't you all take algebra? Easy peasy. (Round when dividing!)
I, of course, don't expect anyone to actually do this, I was just bored for a little bit and threw this together, and for some unknown reason decided to post it here. That being said, anyone who gets the right number wins the "I Know Way Too Much About Cooper" award.
(((A * B * C * D) / E) * F * G - (H * I) + J - (K * L * M * N * O * P) + Q - R + (S * T)) * U
A = My ending hourly salary at McDonald's (after 3 1/2 years)
B = Number of pounds I lost during 2005
C = My height in inches
D = Number of speeding tickets
E = Number of times I have been pulled over for speeding
F = Number of siblings
G = Number of those siblings who are married
H = The total age of my immediate family (including myself)
I = Number of total people in my immediate family
J = My favorite number
K = Number of total countries I have been in
L = Number of states I have lived in
M = Number of online role-playing games I play
N = Number of total "girlfriends" I have had in my life
O = Number of time zones I have lived in
P = Number of paper-route jobs in Minnesota
Q = Pounds at birth (round down)
R = Number of legs that are not prosthetics
S = Number of cavities in life
T = Number of broken bones in life
U = Number of colleges I have attended
I promise there will be a more useful and interesting blog entries in the future. :)
While it is commonly discouraged for people to publicly announce their salary, I am going to make an exception. Well, sort of. In order to determine my new job's annual salary, all you must do is solve this simple equation for X (the salary). Didn't you all take algebra? Easy peasy. (Round when dividing!)
I, of course, don't expect anyone to actually do this, I was just bored for a little bit and threw this together, and for some unknown reason decided to post it here. That being said, anyone who gets the right number wins the "I Know Way Too Much About Cooper" award.
(((A * B * C * D) / E) * F * G - (H * I) + J - (K * L * M * N * O * P) + Q - R + (S * T)) * U
A = My ending hourly salary at McDonald's (after 3 1/2 years)
B = Number of pounds I lost during 2005
C = My height in inches
D = Number of speeding tickets
E = Number of times I have been pulled over for speeding
F = Number of siblings
G = Number of those siblings who are married
H = The total age of my immediate family (including myself)
I = Number of total people in my immediate family
J = My favorite number
K = Number of total countries I have been in
L = Number of states I have lived in
M = Number of online role-playing games I play
N = Number of total "girlfriends" I have had in my life
O = Number of time zones I have lived in
P = Number of paper-route jobs in Minnesota
Q = Pounds at birth (round down)
R = Number of legs that are not prosthetics
S = Number of cavities in life
T = Number of broken bones in life
U = Number of colleges I have attended
I promise there will be a more useful and interesting blog entries in the future. :)
Friday, August 17, 2007
Cole Norman
So, I (for the next couple weeks) work at a political telemarketing company. They make fundraising calls for the Republican party and its candidates, along with other types of calling. Anyway, the QA (quality assurance) department is located in the same room I am, and they constantly listen to calls that people make, to make sure the telemarketers are making their calls correctly - following the policies my company has put in place for them.
Anyway, they often play recordings of these calls on their speakers, and I can hear them. While this is rather annoying sometimes, especially when I am trying to concentrate on programming or something else, there are times when it is rather amusing. Sometimes the people they are calling respond rather angrily.
This particular call contained no anger, but was rather amusing. For those who don't know, Norm Coleman is a Republican Senator from Minnesota, and we were doing a fundraising call for him. It went something like this....
"Hi, I'm calling for Senator Cole Norman--"
"Who?"
"Senator Cole Norman."
"You mean Norm Coleman?"
"Right, Cole Norman."
"I think it's Norm Coleman."
"Well, whoever it is, would you be interested in supporting him financially?"
"Well, I'm a democrat."
"You are?"
"Yes."
"You like democrats?"
"Yes."
"Well, would you still be interested in supporting Senator Norman?"
"No."
"Okay, bye."
There were so many things wrong with this call. That being said, the QA people were suspicious that he may have been framed (someone may have given him the wrong name on purpose). Who knows.
Anyway, here comes the weekend!
Anyway, they often play recordings of these calls on their speakers, and I can hear them. While this is rather annoying sometimes, especially when I am trying to concentrate on programming or something else, there are times when it is rather amusing. Sometimes the people they are calling respond rather angrily.
This particular call contained no anger, but was rather amusing. For those who don't know, Norm Coleman is a Republican Senator from Minnesota, and we were doing a fundraising call for him. It went something like this....
"Hi, I'm calling for Senator Cole Norman--"
"Who?"
"Senator Cole Norman."
"You mean Norm Coleman?"
"Right, Cole Norman."
"I think it's Norm Coleman."
"Well, whoever it is, would you be interested in supporting him financially?"
"Well, I'm a democrat."
"You are?"
"Yes."
"You like democrats?"
"Yes."
"Well, would you still be interested in supporting Senator Norman?"
"No."
"Okay, bye."
There were so many things wrong with this call. That being said, the QA people were suspicious that he may have been framed (someone may have given him the wrong name on purpose). Who knows.
Anyway, here comes the weekend!
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