Vacation Recap |
I'm back!!! I'm not sure how much I was missed, considering that the bulk of my audience is probably located in Albany. Perhaps as much as ½ of my audience missed me. I saw the other one while I was in Albany. I can't really blame you for not reading very often. I write about once a week, if I'm doing well. Besides, my life (in my eyes) is pretty normal.
Anyway, I had a good time in Albany. My only complaint about my trip was that I was trying to escape the heat by going to Albany in July. Well, I might have saved myself 4 degrees of heat, but I didn't avoid any of the humidity. It must have been an oven down here while I was gone.
I took Fritz with me on the trip and he did very well. At first he was jumping around trying to find a window to stick his head out of, but he eventually settled down and slept for most of the trip. I had a squirt bottle and a water bowl, for whenever he looked thirsty, and we stopped a couple of times so that he could go potty.
Sunday was spent with the parents, just hanging out and doing nothing in particular. We tend to play a lot of scrabble together, and I win a lot. It's my parents way of making me feel good. Next year, we're going to do a foot race. That ought to keep the confidence level up. Mom's always good about telling me I'm the best in the world. Now if just the rest of you would figure that out...
On Monday, I spent the afternoon with Mom driving around Albany to get errands done. She had a doctor's appointment and I got my hair cut and I got my oil changed. For the first time, I had a woman work on my car, I have to admit that it was kind of attractive. When she was finished and she pulled my car out of the garage, she said with a smile, "That's a nice car, take good care of it." I told her I'd try, and in the back of my mind I was wondering how feasible it would be to drive up to NY for my scheduled oil changes. After our errands were complete, I dropped Mom off at my Dad's office and headed over to Sutter's for a happy hour for one of my former co-workers. It seems as though my previous employer is continually cutting jobs and products from their line. As much as I enjoyed my time with my old co-workers, I was still eager for more time with them. I was also hoping to see more of them there. Because it was a Monday night, everyone left relatively early. As I was driving back to my parents house, I was exhilarated, and empty. They say you can't go home again, and I think I understand now. My expectations were met, but I know I can't return to those glory days. Instead I'm creating new ones now with my brother's family, and the folks in my church. It's dramatically different, but that's not a bad thing. What a journey we're on huh?
On Tuesday, I went to another of my friend's house. She has her kids with her now and so I spent a long time there. We had a nice barbeque and we generally had a good time. She is one that I think that I will always get along with. She and I are about the same age and so our movie references and musical references are similar, so it's always a joy to spend time with her. We spent the day tolerating the heat. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and I wish I had more of those days of just being yourself in the company of others. Because we've been friends for a while, it's very easy to just be me. I don't need to worry about entertaining her. Friends are good.
Wednesday turned out to be a day of rest. I was supposed to spend the evening with one of great friends, but she wasn't feeling well, which turned out OK, primarily because it was so hot and so I just did nothing all day and liked it.
Thursday was an unexpected treat. My friend Don (Buckstar) and his girlfriend Sue invited me out to a barbeque and fireworks. The barbeque was fun, it was an old co-workers house and we had a chance to play some 2 on 2 volleyball, which was really fun. After drinking several Sam Adams over the course of the day, we headed over to the Empire Plaza and plopped ourselves down close to the fireworks. So close, in fact, my neck hurt from looking up. It was definitely one of the more memorable 4th of July's in my life. It's right up there with my trip to the Brooklyn Bridge and the night I spent at the Washington Monument. We actually ran into another ex employee of my previous company. I vaguely remember meeting her before I left. She's trying to become a missionary. Which isn't something you see everyday.
On Friday, I played Golf with Dad. I shot like a 125 which was a gift score considering that we put a cap on holes where I scored more than double par. So even though I may have shot 10 on a par 4, they put me down for 8. I'm looking forward to the day when I actually earn that 125 on a par 72. I had a few good holes, but the bad ones were really bad. That's what I get for only playing once a year. My Mom made a good Turkey dinner that night, so all in all it wasn't a bad way to go home.
I made good time on my way home. It took me about 7 hours to travel 360 miles. That included a few stops for gas, beverages and potty breaks. I didn't have to stop for food. Mom made me Turkey Sandwiches.
I've heard about two more business trips that I'll be going on. I'll be heading to Norman, OK again in the Fall, and I'm heading to California for the first time in my life at the end of this month. This time I'll be leaving the attack dog to watch the place.
I gotta run, I'm starting to get tired, so I'll have to catch up more later.
Now Playing: Hard Candy - Counting Crows |
Dude! I'm Getting A Dell!!! |
Dude, I'm getting a Dell! It's official. I made my decision yesterday. After looking at their special offers week after week and after ruling out building my own (too expensive with the software), and checking their main competitor Gateway, I saw the opportunity and made it happen. They had three main discounts that made the decision easier. They had a free upgrade to a 19" monitor, they had a free upgrade to a CD burner, and free shipping. So, for a little over $1200, I obtained the following:
Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz Processor.
256 MB of memory (I can buy more later).
40 GB Hard Drive
64 MB Nvidia GeForce 4 Video Card
19" Flat Screen Monitor (Not to be confused with Flat Panel, as that's muy expensive)
24x/10x/40x CD-RW drive
Soundblaster Pro Sound Card
Network Card
56K Modem
Speakers
Keyboard
Mouse
3.5" Floppy
Microsoft XP
Microsoft Office XP - Small Business (No Access, or Power Point, would have been an extra $200, fuhgetaboutit)
6 Months of MSN (A $131.70 value :-)
It's shipping on Friday, so I should receive it sometime next week. I'll probably have to head over to UPS to pick it up since I have to sign for it, and they do deliveries during the day. I'm also going to need my brother, I think. My car is too small for the incredibly large box that will be required to hold the 19" monitor.
So, it looks like I'll be dumping my current ISP in favor of MSN again. It will be my 5th e-mail account in the last 3 years. Thank God, I have this website. I'd lose track of a lot more of you if I didn't have a steady anchor e-mail. It's definitely one of the perks of this website.
Whooh, now that I've finished sharing my new computer news, I don't know what else to tell you. I had a stack of stuff, all boring I'm sure, but as I fish for topics to relate, I have to be creative.
Hmm, I did see MIB II this weekend. It was amusing if you don't think about it too much. It wasn't as cool as MIB, but it had it's moments. I'm looking forward to a couple of movies. First is Signs by M. Knight Shyamalan (I know I butchered his name). He's the guy who made Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. I tend to follow director's more closely than actors, because a good actor can always get a role that even he can't make interesting. Although some good actors also have the knack of picking great scripts each time out.
Well, I gotta get going. Fritz is whining softly at my feet. He wants me to play. I guess I've been on too long.
Now Playing: Where Are You Going - Dave Matthews Band |
Are you looking for answers to questions under the stars? Well, if along the way, you are grown weary, you can rest with me until a brighter day and you're okay. |
Thine enemy is Microsoft |
As it turned out, I received my new Dell on Friday! Yeah!!!! It wouldn't have been possible without my next door neighbor. She's a teacher and has the summer off, so she was available to sign for it. I was able to track the shipping status and knew that it had been delivered about a half hour after it was delivered.
At first, I was a bit frustrated with Microsoft XP. I'm still frustrated a bit on that issue, XP that is. I've been able to migrate most everything over to my new system. The only areas that are still lingering are that I can't access my faulguy account from Outlook, and I haven't been able to migrate my address book over from Outlook Express. The reason I can't get my faulguy e-mail is because of MSN. They are no longer allowing Pop3 access. So, it appears that I'm screwed unless I can dig up some workaround. I might have it auto-forward to my MSN account for the time being. (Side note: The only reason I'm on MSN is because it's free!, once my 6 months is up. I'm gone...)
Ok, I've now forwarded the mail to my new msn account, which sucks, because now every e-mail has my name on it as the author. I've got to find a better way. Speaking of which. I think I'll reverse the changes and come up with a better way. There has got to be a better way...
Oh well, this looks to be an on-going battle with Microsoft. Even though, some of the hand shaking that goes on in XP is pretty good. I still want the option to tell them to quit it.
I know this is boring to most of you, and it's a bit tedious for me. On to the rest of the weekend.
This weekend was action packed. I went to the dump on Saturday to help my brother off-load a 340 lb piano. Fortunately, neither of was hurt while getting it out of the van. After that he took me to Costco, where I picked up Dave Matthews newest offering and Jedi Knight II. (I had to see what this new puppy was capable of :-) Surprisingly enough, I've only played it for about a half hour. I've been too busy taking care of all the migration stuff. Plus, I still have to keep up with my house requirements. I've actually started hanging some stuff on the walls, even though I wanted to paint. The problem is that I don't really know what colors I want, so I might as well put my stuff up until I figure it out. Which will probably be decided the day after I get married. Or the day before I sell it. On Sunday, my brother and his kids came over and we went to the pool. I have a serious farmers tan. I could have flagged planes down with my chest and back. It was my first time going to the pool. I don't much go out in public alone unless I'm buying something, or if it's something so cool, that I have to go (like U2).
DMB's new album's first 3 tracks are pretty good. I particularly like Grey Street, even though it's kind of depressing. Well, the content is, but the vocals soar with that pleading quality that the best vocalists have.
Unfortunately, I didn't leave myself much time to write. So this one is going to have to end. I do look forward to discovering some new hobbies like CD burning, particularly if I can make some mixes on my computer. We'll see how fast it burns a full disc and whether I enjoy the results. I'd love to make mix tapes again. I used to make some killer ones. I'll let you know.
Now Playing: Grey Street - Dave Matthews Band |
There's loneliness inside her and she'd do anything to fill it in And though it's red blood bleeding from her now It feels like cold blue ice in her heart |
My cute puppy the cold blooded killer |
Hallelujah!!! I finally broke through and can now download my faulguy mail. It turned out that I just had some minor selection problems. I had gotten so frustrated that I was just trying different combinations to get my mail, and I skipped right over the solution. I'd explain it, except that it's extremely boring.
My dog the predator. It seems that a group of Orioles (maybe?) have set up house under my deck. Well, today I saw a bunch of them dive bombing my dog, trying to protect their home. Well, Fritz also excels at protecting his home, and today he caught one. It wasn't even one of the baby one's either. He got a full blown adult. I tried to shoo him away but he was determined to play / eat it. *Sigh* it's what Beagles do. I was just interrupted by the sound of Fritz whining at the back door. So, I went upstairs, turned on the outside light and opened the door. To my horror, I discovered the bird from earlier, a gentle rapping, rapping at my door. I quickly shut the door, trying to figure out what to do next. I thought, maybe I should leave it there. I had already decided to leave it alone until garbage night, but then I realized that Fritz had brought me his prize. That he wanted to show it to me. And he did. So, I got out the treats and praised him. Twice. Once, before I opened the door again. The second treat was given right before I scooped the dead fella and put him in a walmart bag for disposal. It saddens me, but I know it's his job, particularly as a hound. So, you've got to appreciate the order of things, even if you yourself don't want to be a barbarian. Before we became gentrified, we used to do this for sport. I have a feeling that my hound would do just fine on a fox hunt. So even though I didn't care for it, I'm still proud of my boy. Whatcha gonna do?
I'm really liking my new computer now. I'm working on scanning images, I'm checking stuff on the internet and I'm now lagging behind the processor. It used to be a one trick pony. While I'm scanning, I can go off and do other things. Now it's extremely quick for me to scan in images. You gotta love it!
I licked the one e-mail problem I had but now I can't retrieve another pop3 account. The same rules apply, but for some reason, it's not working. The other one works. Go figure.
I found out today that I'm going to be making many trips to Norman, Oklahoma this fall. My doggy is going to miss me. I hate continually asking my next door neighbors to watch him. Occasionally is fine, but I think they've watched him 5 times already. I'm about to double that in the next 6 months.
Well, I got some scanning to do and I'm actually holding myself up by writing in the diary. What's cool is that I still haven't played with all the new toys on this computer. I have a CD burner that I haven't exercised yet.
Oh yeah, I worked out a sweet deal with my brother. (Sweet for him) He's going to buy my X-Box DVD remote, and I'm going to hand over my DVD player to him. The X-Box will play DVD movies when you have the remote and plug in. This actually works out for me. The way I was wired before, I had to switch cables if I wanted to watch a movie. Now I have my X-Box running through my stereo and then into my VCR which feeds into my TV. The good thing about that arrangement is that I can now get stereo sound on my X-Box. Pretty cool. I also don't have to switch cables anymore.
Last thing. I just found out that my friend's job contract ran out, or something awful like that. With the stock market tanking, I'm sure that businesses are starting to be conservative on their hiring. It's a fact that feeling often wins over facts, so I hope that she can find work swiftly. Not that this isn't obvious, but it sucks to be unemployed. You start questioning the quality of you. As much as you may tell yourself that you're worthy, the doubt sets in. Very, very stressful.
Well that's all folks.
Now Playing: Standing Outside A Broken Telephone Booth With Change In My Hand - Primitive Radio Gods |
I've been downhearted baby. I've been down, I've been downhearted baby. Ever since the day we met. |