Looking Back

Looking back at all of my Facebook pictures was a really cool experience tonight. People and times that I had forgotten, brought to the fore. A lot of good times, and a lot of that homesick feeling.

Victory

I just made a rather significant breakthrough at work. I have been struggling with one particular aspect of this project for more than two weeks and simply been at a loss as to what or where the problem might be. It was actually a pair of problems which appeared unrelated, but one small fix proved, as it usually does, to be all that was required to take care of both issues. I can't really go into any detail, as you know, but I felt like I had to post . . . something.

This is why I am in this business. This feeling.

Fourth Weekend

This what I have on the agenda for today, Monday, July 7th, the first day back to work after the much-needed four day weekend. From 7:30 until about 8:00 this morning, I got caught up on office e-mail, cleaned the spam out of my Gmail inbox, and deleted a few unimportant emails without reading them. From about 8:00 until 9:00 this morning, I read an article on MSN about not being scammed by your auto mechanic. I then read an article about how the G8 summit was in the process of meeting on the state of things in Africa. After this, I moved over to Reuters and read through their Oddly Enough section. There was an article on how some guy in Germany, literally 12 minutes after the exhibit had opened to the general public, had torn the head off of the wax statue of Hitler in protest. Apparently the additon of the Hitler statue had caused quite the stir, and apparently the museum had no idea, since they apparently did not plan for its protection very extensively. It being around 9:30 or so as I write this, I've spent the last thirty minutes doing some rough documentation updates (read: actual work, though unimportant and tirelessly boring). I have roughly two hours to fill until lunch as my boss continues to delay my receipt of any meaningful work to do. I am running out of things to do, things which I have been making up off the top of my head just to stay busy and "productive" at work. Nearly every document that hasn't needed to be updated has been updated. Nearly every line of code has an attached comment stating what it does, even the most trivial and intuitive lines. So I will spend the next two hours writing this, attempting to stretch it out for as long as possible. I will also be fervently praying that someone signs onto Gchat, since Shelley is off in Nottingham having aural sex with Ben Folds.

That's ear fucking, everyone.

I'll also keep updating my Google Calendar with the most meaningless dates and appointments. For example, from 7 PM until about 11 PM, right after my dinner with Matt, I am scheduled to be punching Shelley right in the taint. Continuously. For four hours. If you want to see this event for yourself (and possibly join in the fun), feel free to request access to my calendar on Google.

If the above paragraphs do not clearly indicate to you what a sorry state I am in, I am uncertain on what I should say to convince you. Oh well. Maybe a recap of this past weekend will serve to alleviate the pressures of boredom that are crashing down upon me at this very moment.

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling pretty ragged. I managed to contract some sort of minor sinus ailment, I guess. By no means anywhere near what I have experienced in the past, but it was still very annoying. So I struggled through the first half of the day at work and decided to call it a day at 1 and just not come back. After taking the five hours of sick time, I still have something like 70 hours of sick time to use up over the rest of the year. That sounds like a pretty hefty sum, so I don't feel too bad about taking the half day. I spent the afternoon and evening leveling my new Gnome warrior.

Nowhere is my obsession with systems of character generation more evident than in World of Warcraft. I would have to say that over the years of my rather sporadic experiences with WoW, I've created literally HUNDREDS of characters. Most of those characters have made it no farther than level 8 or possibly level 10. Then I simply get bored with them, transfer all of their riches to a different character, and create again. The last time WoW thrust its hooks into me, I managed to get one character to 40. This was a huge milestone for me in my gaming life. For those nubs not familiar with WoW, level 40 is the level where you get the right to buy your first horse, or mechanical turkey, or tiger. Or whatever. You get your mount. Not only does this new toy look cool (you can ride a damn tiger), it allows you to move through the gameworld twice as fast. Everything gets so much better at level 40 because of this fact. Since this time, I've been doing a lot better with sticking with a character for longer than a handful of levels. When I was in Austin, I got John back into the game. We started characters at the same time, and I managed to get that one to level 21 before I got a little bored. I also wanted to give John a bit of time to catch up level-wise so we could continue questing together at some point.

But the draw of the Gnome warrior is strong with this one. It's a character concept that I've come back to time and time again over the years. I think it has something to do with the idea of a wee man, wrapped in armor that is far too big for him and carrying a sword that is three times his size, standing toe to toe with the forces of evil and darkness. There are shields which you can get in the game which are larger than your entire body. This is an idea I can get behind. So I set out on one final quest for Gnome-warrior-ship. Spurred forward by some unseen, malevolent force, I played him for six hours off and on over the course of Wednesday afternoon and evening. I spent four hours Thursday morning on this same task. The rest of the weekend followed suit. A significant portion of my time was dedicated to my Gnome warrior, with a few fortunate and unfortunate events tossed in that will be detailed in a moment. I'm happy to say that he is now level 29, and he is still enjoyable. Hopefully I can get him to 40 and get one of those mechanical turkeys to ride around on.

God, this post is really terrible.

Where was I?

Right, Thursday. As many of you know, July 3rd is when the city of Addison puts on Kaboom Town, the definitive fireworks exhibition in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It is also the event which creates the most prodigious traffic clusterfuck this side of the Mississippi, but that is really neither here nor there. Matt decided to accompany me. We went with my Dad and Pamela to Mr. McIntyre's office for some fried chicken, and then we went down to the Addison airport to see the fireworks. They did not disappoint.

Friday morning, Dad and I went to see Hancock. I would give it a 7. It was entertaining (mainly because of the comedic skills of Mr. Michael Bluth), but it was certainly nothing special.

The ride home saw me with a blow out on the Bush and a tire change inches away from death at the hands of unsympathetic Dallas traffic. It could have been worse. The true horror would follow the next day when I took the car in to get the tire replaced. Three hundred and fifty fucking dollars for one tire. I'll give you a moment to let that sink in.

Three hundred. Plus fifty. Dollars.

One tire.

Wowie. Dad and I were pretty upset as we were convinced there had to be SOMETHING wrong with the tire, as in some manufacturing defect that would be covered under warranty. The car only has 10,000 miles on it, we had checked the tread and pressure just a day prior because I had noticed some sluggish response over the preceding days (read: when I gunned it off the line, I wasn't getting the 0 - 60 acceleration that I was back when I first purchased the car, and I noticed the back end would want to come around on me when accelerating on anything but a straight line). I had plans to take the car in over the weekend to get this issue resolved when the damn thing blew up on me. I got the Tire Pressure warning light about one minute before the thing blew on me. The dealer said it had to have been a road hazard, a piece of debris that punctured the tire, which isn't covered under warranty. They even drew attention to a puncture hole on the tire, though this was after I raised quite a fuss at the dealership. I would not be surprised if they had taken a knife to the damn thing while I was in the waiting room, but that isn't likely. At the end, due to the racket that my father and I raised, they gave us the Discount Tire price on the tire and didn't make us pay for labor, which would have made the price closer to $400 instead of the $350 I had to pay. Dad is still pretty hopeful we can get some more money back by speaking with Infiniti customer service further. I still have the old tire in my trunk, which when heated in my trunk, causes a really pleasant burnt rubber odor to waft over the entire cabin. I just don't know where else to put it. Maybe I can put it on my balcony in hopes that it won't make my entire apartment smell of burnt death.

So that was my Saturday afternoon.

Saturday evening was church. Then Dad and Pamela came to Fort Worth. We walked downtown, searching for a nice restaurant to go to for a belated birthday dinner. We stumbled upon this place called Taverna, which apparently also exists in Austin (on 2nd Street) and in the Knox-Henderson area in Dallas. It was pretty damned incredible. They are known for their risotto, so I had to try some of that. The one I had came with wild boar sausage, mushrooms, and cranberries, among other things. It was pretty much sex. Dad had a roast duck, and Pamela went for the shrimp and saffron risotto. I had a white chocolate mouse for dessert. The restaurant itself was not very expensive, and I have hopes to go back there many, many times. After dinner we went to 8.0, which is a bar/live music place about two blocks from my apartment. I had been there once before with work friend, Connor, and some of his lady friends. It is basically just a big courtyard on the corner where you can drink and watch a cover band. The band was The Space Rockers, who are from Austin. They reminded me of the Spazmatics, in that they dressed up in outfits reminiscent of late-90s Power Rangers and played 80s music. They also played some more current stuff, unlike the Spazmatics. They were not as good, but they will certainly do in a pinch.

I pounded back three vodka sours before we went home around midnight. All in all, it was a really pleasant evening. It would have been even better if the fiasco with the car hadn't occurred, but whatever. I'm done complaining.

Sunday consisted of watching a shitload of tennis (though miraculously missing the conclusion of the match . . . a match being hailed as the greatest in tennis history), ultimate practice, and more WoW.

All things considered, it was a really good and relaxing break. Oh, I managed to pick up P.S. I Love You on Blu-ray for $12. That is a really good movie. You should see it.

Birthday

Hey, everybody. Yesterday was my birthday, which I guess is exciting. Everyone always talks of how boring and anticlimactic every birthday is after your 21st birthday. I have no evidence from this year or last year to refute that statement (aside from my trip to see Robosaurus for my 22nd, mentioned below), but I do think it interesting to note that this year's birthday was the first birthday I've had outside of my home, away from my parents, and away from school. You could say that it was my first "grown-up" birthday, which I guess is something. My first "solo" birthday. Really, I've just come to the conclusion that I've enjoyed "grown-up" birthdays pretty much since I was too old for Transformers cakes with matching plates and napkins.

Wait, scratch that. If anyone wants to hook this up, I will love you forever.

But seriously, once I transitioned away from theme parties thrown by my mother, I've been more in favor of lower key gatherings, smaller functions, more intimate settings. I remember a few birthdays, like the birthday after Freshman year that we had at my mom's house in Plano. I remember getting sippy cups from Madelyn, and some really kickass Nintendo wristbands from . . . someone. It might have been a combined effort? Knowing her penchant for incredible gifts, I am almost certain Shelley was involved. Or was it John? Or Lisa? I can't remember at all. Sorry! I still have all of those, and they were quite the envy of the entire ultimate team. I remember the night being similar to my New Year's gatherings, but far more muted. It was just a chance for everyone to get together and enjoy everyone's company.

I remember that even my 21st birthday was pretty low key, maybe a little too low key. I don't think Shelley was there, for whatever reason, nor was Brandan. Probably because they hated me. But Lauren was there, and a few rather random fringe-friends that we managed to round up at the last moment, mostly roomates from that summer that I had close to zero connection with. I'm not sure why, but the entire night just seemed odd to me. A little off somehow. I remember getting my free t-shirt at the Aquarium, and I remember apple martinis at Apple Bar. Oh, I remember why the birthday felt kind of off. Cory was insistent on dictating where we went and when, which kind of pissed me off at the time. Of course, this was par for the course with him, I would learn over the next year, but at the time I remember it really bothering me. Anyway, enough about that.

I remember distinctly one of the best birthdays I've ever had, the birthday after Sophomore year where we held the party in Austin at Lauren's place. Lauren and I were at our best then, and everyone came down to celebrate with me. I know John was there, and Ben and Matt possibly as well. I even think Mike was there, but I might totally be making that one up. Shelley was there, I'm sure, just as she's always been there for the past (almost) six years. And of course Lauren was there, the organizer of it all and the brilliant host that she was. I distinctly remember making some sort of birthday toast before we cut the cake, thanking everyone for driving such a long distance and bothering to travel to come hang out with me on my birthday. And of course, I distinctly remember how much it upset Lauren that I somehow managed to not mention her in my little speech. And even though I am certain I thanked her countless times and doted on her far more than she probably would have liked (read: suffocated), I can't blame her for being upset. I honestly am not sure why I didn't thank her specifically. Without her the day would have been far less special. That's been something that's really bothered me for the past few years now, and I'm not sure it will ever stop bothering me.

And who could forget Shelley and I's trip to the Transformers Experience? I've effectively deified that night and the poster I got from it, which is hanging proudly on the wall across from my couch. A true place of honor, I think. It's really pretty sad to think that that was a whole year ago. Time moves so quickly, some times, and so slowly at other times. This current time being one example, where I find myself in a near empty office with little work to do, once again waiting on some semblance of a response from my over-stretched boss.

I digress.

Last night, I took off about an hour early from work. I got a haircut, and went to Gingerman for a happy hour with some work friends. They have a pub quiz there every Thursday night. Unfortunately for us, the guy who runs it was sick (I call bullshit), so the trivia was cancelled. I was pretty upset, until I remembered that the real reason we went there was to drink. I had an amber bock from the Rahr brewery, which is in downtown Fort Worth, and I had the Arrogant Bastard ale from, I think, Stone Brewery. It had more hops than I ever would have expected or desired in a single pint of beer. After a few drinks, we went back to my place and played Rock Band for a little bit. After everyone left, I watched some of my soccer on DVR (I am glad Spain won, I really enjoy their team . . . Unfortunately, they'll be coming up against my German powerhouse in the finals.) and played some WoW. Overall, a great night, but probably one that I won't remember for long. At least I found out where the Gingerman Fort Worth is. It is almost exactly like the one in Austin, except it looks a lot older and more established. It looks like an actual pub. I think the one in Austin is nicer and a lot cooler, but the wall of taps is the same, and that, I think, is the real reason people go there.

This weekend John and I are celebrating together with a (what appears to be) small gathering at his place. I believe the plan is to have a few drinks, get some dinner, go see Wall-E, and have some more drinks. I can't argue with any of these plans, especially since I just read that Wall-E was given four and a half stars and dubbed the "best robot movie of all time". As I was saying to Shelley a moment ago, apparently they have not seen the Transformers animated movie, but I will let it slide this one time. I am really excited for this movie.

I've rambled for long enough. I will conclude by saying the new Coldplay is solid from start to finish, the new Lil' Wayne is great after a few listens through, We The Kings still bring the emotionally imature emo rock that I love. That is all. Good day.

Quote

"Though in times of peace we get, perhaps (and naturally and for the purpose rightly), too engrossed in thinking of everything as a preparation or training or a making one fit - for what? At any minute it is what we are and are doing, not what we plan to be and do that counts."

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, in a letter to his son, Michael, in October of 1940

The Return

I’ve been listening to a lot of pop and rap and radio rock recently (though I think finely mixed with some real substance). I think every once in a while I like to enjoy something in a more shallow fashion; to approach a song and tell myself that it doesn’t have to change my life, alter my perception of the world, tug on my heartstrings, or anything else. It just has to make my head bob. Not everybody can do this. Not everyone can admit they like these songs because sometime around 1998 it became uncool to admit that you listen to the radio or get your musical picks from the space between “The X Effect” and “The Real World”. And that’s fine. Musical taste is a virtue, something I actively look for in friends, girlfriends, random homosexual encounters. But some people, I think, miss out on a lot of fun music simply because it isn’t up to some standard they’ve set for themselves and their auditory canal. And maybe that was me at some point. I’m glad I’ve gotten over it, if so.

So what, exactly, have I been screaming along to in the car, unabashedly? The new Lil’ Wayne, remix or no, really has me going. The song is absolutely ridiculous, but I love Wayne. Best rapper alive. I’ve also been sucked in by this indie pop rock Cartel-sound-a-like We the Kings that make no illusions about being solely about radio-friendly emo ballads targeted at those poor tweens on the back of the middle school bus with the asymmetrical hair and four belts sitting uselessly around their waist (but suspiciously outside of the belt loops, go figure). And it’s great. It doesn’t sound unique. It’s not overly technical or substantial. But it’s got a good melody and a solid rock beat. I would recommend “Check Yes Juliet” if you’re able to leave your musical snobbery elsewhere and want to get in touch with your inner angst-ridden fourteen year old. Having done that, “Skyway Avenue”. Oh, and “It Hurts” from Angels and Airwaves. Because I do what I want.

I still can’t get over the new Weepies album, nor can I get over this song by some total bro named Joshua Radin (featuring the lovely and stellar Ingrid Michaelson) that I managed to hear on Grey’s Anatomy while waiting for LOST to come on, named “Sky”. You should also feel free to check out “Fear You Won’t Fall”. His EP might have something you like outside those two (there are two others to pick from), but those are the highlights for me.

London was great . . . for the first three days. Then I managed to come down with some terrible stomach virus which saw me on the toilet every thirty minutes for about 72 hours, including the ten hour flight home. I’d rather not talk about the depth of depravity that was reached during this time. Recalling the events in even such a fleeting way as to write this paragraph is crippling emotionally. It is safe to say that the plane ride home was one of the worst times of my life, and (though this may be attributed to its recent occurrence, comparatively) may rival my jaw surgery in terms of excruciating pain and “WHY GOD” moments.

I’ve been able to keep my insides relatively intact for the last 48 hours now (with considerable effort), and I’m actually back at work as I write this (for the second day in a row), having actually slept and eaten several-hundred-infinity times more than I did over the weekend. But I am not 100%, and I have plans to see the Doctor on Friday afternoon in hopes that he’ll get everything sorted out permanently. I need to get my energy back prior to my move next weekend so that I can actually pack and get everything ready. I set up my electricity today, which I guess was a step in the right direction. I still need to call the cable guy later this week too. Someone remind me to do that.

I’ve gone on for long enough. I’ll try and throw some pictures up when I get home, or at least, I’ll throw a link up to somewhere on the web where you can go look at them. I’ll save any recounts of my travels and travails until that time.

Edited to Add: I think Cheese Rolling might be my all-time favorite sport to watch. I like to think of it as the Ninja Warrior of England, in that I've only ever seen one man make it completely down the hill without fucking himself up severely.

Chuckle

Political humor. Obama rules. Or is it O'Doyle?

Romans 8:39

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God..."

London

In the end all you can hope for
Is the love you've felt
To equal the pain you've gone through.

I purchased my plane ticket today to London. Needless to say I am extremely excited.

Been there? Suggestions on where to go and what to see? Love to hear from you.

Personal

Here is the part where you save me.
Here is the scene where you save the day.
Why can’t the ending be happy?
Why must it always resolve this way?


Here I am, sitting at work, attempting to waste a bit of time. I have a chocolate bunny stuffed into my mouth rather comically while I type this. Here’s hoping my director doesn’t walk by my cube in the next few minutes. Anyway, I’ve just put the finishing touches on a project that I’ve been working on, so I don’t really have anything to do until they assign me something new. I think my manager is pretty busy with other more important projects, so he tends not to respond to e-mails in a timely fashion. I’m still waiting on word about the trip I want to take at the end of May. More on that later.

I would love to tell you all about it. My project, I mean. The first problem being that you probably wouldn’t understand any of it. And I don’t say that to be some sort of pompous ass. I say that because I didn’t understand it myself until about 48 hours ago, and that was after pouring over a few scores of technical documents for about three or four ten-hour days. Imagine someone taking a four-hundred page novel comprised mainly of non-existent words, removing all spaces, punctuation, and formatting, and then handing it to you. This is similar to what my life has consisted of this past week. The second problem being that if I told you, I would have to kill you.

But it works now, so that’s good.

Aside from work, not a whole lot has been going on recently. I get up at 6 every day, head to work by 6:30, arrive at 7:30, lunch at 11:30, go home at 6:30, and get in bed by 10:30. It’s not a very glamorous life that I lead. I’ve started trying to teach myself guitar. I’ve reached a point on the drums that I’m pretty satisfied with. I can play about 90% of the songs that I enjoy listening to, and I think to truly get any better, I’d have to go take some lessons solely for the purpose of getting my hand speed up. I figured I could move to guitar and try my hand at that for a while. It’s coming alright, I guess. I’ve taught myself the C and D chords, though transitioning between them is a comical task. I’ve also managed to learn the main riff (I honestly have no idea if that’s even the right term here) from “My Name is Jonas”. I think that means that I’ll be performing for a living in about three weeks. Buy your tickets now.

I’m also planning a trip to England. Finally. My initial plan, despite not being approved yet as mentioned before, is to leave on the 21st which is a Wednesday and get back on the 26th which is a Monday, I believe. That will give me a good length of time to hang out with Shell and maybe Lauren if she is available, plus see all of the touristy stuff since I’ve never been to England aside from switching planes at Heathrow with John on the way back from our cruise. I am really and truly excited about this, despite the fact that it’s going to cost me more than a house just to get there.

What else?

The National
Stars
Tegan and Sara
XM Channel 82
Shelley’s mixes . . .

Shoes for Dogs

Enjoy.

This one, not so much.

Another For You

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclamining: 'Wow! What a ride!'"

For You

It's been a long two years.
It's time to smile.
We've made it this far, just like you said.
Just like you said we would.

There are no more tears.
We've used them all.
So now we'll rely on our laughter,
And the faith that pain brings joy.

I hope that you can see,
The strength that pulled us through
Is now passed on to me.
No need to worry like you always do.

This far from home. . . .
It doesn't feel as far when I know you're doing well.
The distance is what you make it.

I hope that you can see,
The strength that pulled us through
Is now passed on to me.
No need to worry like you always do.

Finally

So it really doesn't feel like it's been two months since my last entry.

These things have always been an intermittent thing for me, probably resulting from the fact that I have a difficult time talking about myself with any regularity. I simply don't find myself interesting or humorous enough to warrant these sorts of things. I press on for you, my faithful friends, and I do so gladly because this time, I actually have something to write about.

I got a job. Finally. And a good job, at that.

I'll be working for a Department of Defense contractor out in Fort Worth called EFW. We're a part of a larger company called Elbit Systems of America, which is part of a larger Israeli company called Elbit Systems Limited. We work hand in hand with Lockheed, Boeing, Bell, and Bradley to develop helmet-mounted targeting and sighting systems, real-time mapping and tracking software, ordinance guidance systems, and some data storage black box type stuff. I'll be doing software engineering, which is what I've been looking for with the most vigor over the past 9 months. I think I'll enjoy the work the most out of all of the options currently available to me. The position promises to give me some valuable experience in software design and development which I can take to other larger software companies in the future, if I want. But it will also give me hands-on experience in testing the code on the target hardware, doing some quality assurance, and maybe even some technical writing from time to time. Plus getting into defense is usually a safe bet, and when Lockheed has had 5% layoffs in the recent past, this company is hiring actively. I think my department alone is bringing on 6 or 7 new engineers plus interns over the next few months. If you are in software and are willing to get to the Dallas area, get me your resume.

I started today, actually. I get to wear jeans to work everyday, and I only work until noon on Friday. I have my own cube with my own whiteboard, and I will be taking my Copeland poster into work tomorrow to hang on the wall. My diploma from UT will be framed soon, and I will likely put that in my cube too. I get my own computer (a nice Dell with one of those nice flat screen monitors). I would take pictures for you, but then I would be dead, and it would be all your fault (they are kinda serious about protecting the national interests here). I have a badge to unlock all of the secret doors, and I get this sweet blue jacket which keeps me static-free while I'm in the labs.

So I have a job. And I have a new car because of that job, thank God.

The commute is around 45 minutes to an hour with light traffic, and I simply didn't want to make the drive in the Explorer. It might have finally given up the ghost on me, if not exploded altogether. It was a good little truck, and I'll be devoting a bit of time in the near future to trying to find it a suitable home with someone who wants to transfer toxic chemicals or something. I figure it's still a fine car for that. I mean, it only has 110,000 miles. For being ten years old, that's not all that bad.

I got the new Infiniti G37. For those of you that know me fairly well, you'd know that I've been wanting this car for a year or more. And I've been wanting a new car since I was 3. Let me tell you, while trying to refrain from sounding like too much of a pompous dickbag, that this car is hot. It turns the drive into more of a joyride than any sort of "commute". It's my baby, and I am far too protective of it for my own good. I'm afraid to park it in the parking lot at work. I consider it my one "irresponsible" splurge. I can afford it, mind you, but I pretty much signed the next five years of my life over to Infiniti on Saturday. Help me decide on a name for it.

What else?

The new Mae CD (or atleast the first six tracks) is super hot. Cloverfield was sick. The new Rambo was laughable. Oh, and Tom Brady got punked. Did I leave anything out?

EDIT:
Apparently, I did. Enjoy.

We must form a band ...

Here are some names to get your creative juices flowing.

Jukebox Hero

I'd like to dedicate this update to Lauren B. Dawson a.k.a. LD a.k.a L-bow a.k.a The Creek. Her blog has recently exploded with growth of every kind, and so, she has seen fit to pester me for a new update. I consider this an odd request, mainly because in order to view my blog, she must use up her precious GIGABYTES to view the site (something which she has complained about several times). So LBD, here's to you.

I would like to take a personal wellness moment and declare openly, for the very first time, that I have the number three (3) score in the world on the drums for Coheed and Cambria's "Welcome Home" on Rock Band. There are several people I would like to thank. First, my father for purchasing my first drum set when I was 13. Second, I would like to thank Claudio Sanchez for making good music, and thirdly, I would like to thank the drummer whose work I have admired for some time. I also have the number six (6) high score on "Reptilia" by the Strokes. As you can see, I am proud of these accomplishments. Do not mock me. As far as total score goes, I'm still number 260-something, but I haven't finished all of them on Hard or Expert yet. There is a song or two in the last group that is balls-hard on the drums on both difficulties, plus there are a few bonus tracks I haven't beaten yet. (I love the song "I'm So Sick" by Flyleaf, though I know that all of you will most likely hate it. I know John did when we played it at his place. Her voice is great.)

I am proud to say that I've also begun playing guitar on Expert. I am about halfway through on that difficulty after beating most of them on Hard. I have never really been able to play Hard, let along Expert. I chock this up to the fact that RB is supposed to be easier than GH (or so I hear). But I think I like this. I like actually being able to play the songs. And I am obsessed with "When You Were Young" by the Killers. Shelley, you know how each GH game has come with that one song that you must play every time you pick up the guitar? Like "More Than a Feeling" for GH. The Killers' song is that song for me with Rock Band.

I beat Assassin's Creed. I loved every minute of it, and now I have to wait two years for a god-damned sequel. It's like with television, only worse. Because with Lost or The Office, I only have to wait a summer or six months until the next season. With this game, I'll presumably have to wait at least two years before the next one comes out. Let's hope that since the engine is already complete and (largely) error-free, they'll be able to pound the next one out in a year or so.

I have an interview on Monday with Schlumberger with an evening presentation the preceding Sunday evening. This sounds like an interesting position, but it would seem like I might have to wear a hard hat and steel-toed boots while I walk around examining oil wells and drilling/exploration devices. Plus, there is a small chance I could end up in Malaysia or Nigeria for seven to twelve months. I think I am excited by these things, but I am not totally sure.

Some girl from EMC has been contacting me lately about a position in Bellevue, WA. It sounds pretty exciting. I think now she is forwarding my resumé onto her manager, who will review it and make the decision to fly me out to Washington for the interview. If I get the job, it's 8 months of paid training in Massachusetts before returning to Bellevue. I'll be basically going from business to business installing EMC's data management systems, which seems like fun. Interacting with people, software. No problem.

My dad has an unhealthy obsession with that Dr. Pepper commercial involving the large African-American football player who scores his first touchdown and proceeds to perform a very long, very scandalous touchdown dance. Without fail, when the young man flips onto his face, and picks it up from the turf to offer the audience a comical smile, my father will crack up laughing. Sometimes, this laughter will commence far in advance of said head-pick-up. I do not understand this.

I saw No Country for Old Men, and I saw American Gangster. If King of Kong had not come out this year, I would have to say that NCfOM is the movie of the year. As that crown has been claimed already, it will have to settle for second place. But it's still a fantastic film. The dialogue is great, as is the action and the suspense. Of course, the Golden Compass comes out in a week and a half, which may vie for MOVIE OF THE GALAXY status. I guess we'll have to see.

"I have a contract with the child."

The Greatest 30 Seconds

I have never been so moved by a commercial. I have never been so happy as when I watch this commercial. I will never buy another kind of dog food. Ever.

Edit: There are several more recent commercials that have David Duchovny doing the voiceovers. They are all excellent. But I warn you. Do not watch the one where the dogs are in cages. It made me cry.

Life, In Brief

A bulleted list of my life for your enjoyment (perhaps detail will follow):

• Dan in Real Life
• Applied Signal in Sunnyvale, CA
• The joy of giving out candy
• Jim and Pam
• The Princess Bride
  

Grand Cayman + MORE = Post

Here are some pictures with a few small captions. I have a huge headache and have for the past day and a half. Then I had jury duty today, so please bear with me. I know some of you (Shelley) are getting antsy for pictures and life updates, and I will do what I can here. I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for the (rather) terrible quality of the pictures. It is a (fairly) cheap camera, even by non-underwater standards. Better than nothing.

This is me swimming through an underwater coral trench on the way down to Robert's Wall, North Wall, Grand Cayman. It started at around 50 feet and dropped down gradually to about 110 feet, at which point the shallows end and the deep begins. The actual depth at this point is somewhere around 6000 feet. To put this in perspective, your head implodes at something like 300 feet. Your watch implodes just after that, around 350 feet for high end diving watches. Comedy? I think so.

Even when you're at 100 feet, it's markedly more difficult to draw air from your regulator. This is due to the fact that the atmospheric pressure doubles just below the surface of the water and goes up by one atmosphere's worth of pressure for every 10 meters or 33 feet. This causes the air in your tank to be compressed quite drastically at depth, making the air more difficult to draw out. SCIENCE! Because of this compression and difficulty breathing, you cannot stay at depth for very long on a (standard) 2000 psi tank. Only about 20 minutes at 100 feet, compared with upwards of 45 minutes with a max depth of 40 feet or so.

I think my gesture/pose in this picture was supposed to say, "Look at this sweet shit behind me." I think, instead, because I am an awkward creature by nature, that it came out closer to, "What do you want?", or possibly "Where am I supposed to go?". I assure you this was not the intention.

This is my turtle friend. I woke him up, which I feel bad about. But such is life. He was just chilling at about 100 feet up inside the coral wall at Lemon Drop, North Wall, Grand Cayman. He's on the left there, in case you can't pick him out. This was my highlight of the trip because, those of you who know me, you know that I love turtles. Especially sleepy turtles. Related sidenote: one of my mom's kids has a turtle's face. Thus, I have dubbed her Turtleface. Quite cute.


Here we are at Stingray City. You can see the Divemaster here hugging a rather large Green Moray eel. There are also two stingrays in the picture, which I am sure you will be able to pick out. The large one on the left is the female, and the smaller one on the right is the male. This is always how they are sized in relation. Females also have longer tails, while males have two short tail fins. The bottom of them feels like a plate of snot. The top feels like a strip of sandpaper covered in snot. The only bone structure they have is a spine made of cartilage that can actually cut you if you run your hand from rear to front. They have no teeth, instead sucking up their food into their mouth on the bottom of their bodies. Their mouth is outfitted with some grinding plates which act as teeth. I had one suck on my arm for a brief period of time, and while it wasn't overly painful, it certainly did not feel good. They leave a pretty mean hickie in as little as a second or so. Pretty powerful suction. The eel was simply frightening. It tried to swim up father's shorts. Comedy?

Here he is again. Look at those eyes. Creepy bastard. IT'S HEADED RIGHT FOR US!

I have yet to pull the pictures from my dad's digital onto my computer. It has some pictures of us on land. Rather boring stuff, but I wanted to show you guys my new sunglasses and get your opinion. I think they are my favorite pair so far. Simple, black Oakley's. But they are pretty big, and I love big sunglasses. Not too big, but I'm not really a flashy guy at my core. I think they work.

Oh, here's a picture from our hotel. Gorgeous.

Also, I went to the Fall Nationals drag races down in Ennis this past weekend. It was really an awesome experience. I had been to races before but on a much smaller scale. My dad used to drag back when he was my age, and he had a orange Plymouth 'Cuda. We would go out to the Lancaster drag strip in BFE New York whenever we were in town visiting relatives, and he would tell me stories while a 1993 stock Ford Taurus raced an Astro van. Of course there were bigger and better races, but that will always stay in my memory.

These are completely different. 8000 horsepower means running a quarter mile in 4.6 seconds at a top speed of 350 mph. Basically, some years ago, they hit the speed limits of gasoline. So they started to inject these beasts with Nitro, which is probably a better version of what ricers call Nitrous, made famous by The Fast and the Furious. The two crew chiefs, when the cars are on the line and ready to race, turn to each other and give a nod. They then remove a small pin from the engine, similar to removing a pin from a grenade, which causes the Nitro to enter the engine and mix with the gasoline. There is a noticeable difference in the sound and deafening rumble of the engine as the Nitro is released. They do this because this mixture has a tendency to ruin metal engine components. After the pin is pulled, they fire up, creep into final position, and rocket down the quarter mile. It really is like a bomb exploding constantly for 4.5 seconds. I would liken the sensation to if someone were to grab your insides and shake them violently. I think it is something everyone should experience at least once in their life. Your jaw will drop. Guaranteed.

I took about 200 pictures in between plugging my ears, and I am fairly proud of myself. I got some pretty good pictures with my dad's SLR. What a magnificent piece of machinery that is. Anyway, when I get those pictures off the camera onto my laptop, I will post a few here.

In other news, I managed to (somehow) land an interview with Microsoft for next week. It is in Austin, so those of you in town, expect a call if I have time. I think it will have to be a short trip, sadly, as the OU game is that weekend. If Microsoft is reading this, please know this:
You might find somebody with a higher GPA and more experience in the industry, but you will certainly not find somebody who desires to work for this company more than I do. Working in Redmond, WA with your company is not just something I want for my career, it's something I want for my life. I swear, if I get the opportunity to get my foot in the door, it is on like Donkey Kong. And having seen King of Kong (movie of the year), I know that when Donkey Kong is on, it is not to be trifled with or taken lightly.

I hope everyone is well.

P.S. I just watched the series premiere of Bionic Woman. I'd give it a 5 out of 10. Better yet, after this, the series premiere of Life came on. It stars Lt. Winters of Band of Brothers fame. It's about a detective who is framed for murder, goes away for 12 years of his life sentence until they clear his name. Then he gets this huge settlement from the government or whatever, gets his job back, and fights crime. It's a far-fetched story, but not so far-fetched as to make it unbelievable. Also, I love his character. I'd try to explain it, but I would fail. It really intrigued me and caught my attention. I'll definitely be watching it next week. Check it out online at nbc.com or whatever.

Die All Bats

So Shelley and I went again to see the bats last night. We were convinced that their inadequacy as a performing "troupe" last time was a fluke. We told ourselves that they simply had an off night. Wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have disturbing news. The bats under the Austin Congress Bridge are a hoax perpetrated by Austinites who, as we all know, hate tourists and people that look like they don't really belong in this fine city. Look at Real World, as an extreme example. We broke a guy's face just because. So, they all decided to band together and play a trick on everybody, spreading false stories about the Amazing Bats. Hell, they even set up boats, which upon being paid vast sums of money, will take you to the bridge to see them. If you take one of these boats, you are being swindled.

The video in the post below this one chronicles one man's run through Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames" coming soon to Guitar Hero III. The video shows the first and last minute of the song. It's a little hard to see the scorebox, but he managed to five-star it and score over 400,000 points over the course of the seven and a half minute song. I have two points in rehashing the previous post:

1. Wow.
2. Dragonforce, as a band, is incredibly awesome.

I bought their album soon after seeing the video. If you enjoy metal, you will absolutely love this album. They are so technically proficient it scares me. Plus, they sing about brandishing steel, riding light, and fighting demons, all in the name of freeing man from some terrible curse. And then they bring the rock.

Case in point:

Flying over darkened skies the battle will call.
Distant angels crying into the eye of the storm,
And the world falls under the starlight
Shining from heavens below.

Long years of pain and sorrow, searching for more.
Cry for the touch of angels never before,
And the stars fall on the horizon
Onwards and up through the pain.

Ride the wind and fight the demon,
Steel is shining bright.
Standing together forever onwards,
Flames burning strong.
Hot wind in hell of pain and sorrow,
Now and ever onwards.
We stare into the dawn of a new world.

Cry out for the fallen heroes
Lost a time ago.
In your minds they still belong
When the sands of time are gone.

Rise over shadow mountains, blazing with power.
Crossing valleys, endless tears,
In unity we stand.
Far and wide across the land, the victory is ours.
On towards the gates of reason.
Fight for the truth and the freedom.

-- Dragonforce, "Revolution Deathsquad"