Wednesday, June 20, 2012

2012.06.15 Friday

Mega tired this morning.  Didn't really start off this day enthusiastically.

Luckily that turned around pretty quickly.  Lots of fun meetings and things to do.  I cranked out some work so I could start working on another piece that was in my queue.

At home I started cleaning and helping out.  I started cooking myself a dinner when all of a sudden a wild Kelc appeared at the door.  She was expecting me to go to a party, I was not expecting to.  She left unhappily.  I got to eat my dinner.

Went over to spend the night with her.  Party sounded interesting.

2012.06.14 Thursday

Late to work.  Go me.  Played some vball over lunch.  Lifted after work.

Went directly to Kelc's after work.  From there we went to Mesa Rosa under the pretext that we were going to be picking what the other person ate (within reason).  I got to eat the chicken flameado (which was awesome) and Kelc had a combo enchilada with spinach and mushrooms (the spinach was funky).  Also found out that Kelc can tolerate black beans.

I installed 12.04 on my laptop, but that broke the wireless in ubuntu.  Why have I never had any luck with wireless.  How is it 2012 and I am STILL unable to just INSTALL and GO.  Ubuntu, come on.  Everybody says how awesome linux is for supporting old hardware, but this is junk.

Sleep grumpily.

2012.06.13 Wednesday

Felt a bit sick this morning.  My nose was congested and my stomach was gurgling.

Mostly normal day at work.

Post-work, decided to go get my phone checked out at the at&t store.  Turned out that they don't do warranty/support at the stores, so I had to drive across town to a support center.  Once there, I had to put myself on a list to wait, luckily the people in front of me went pretty fast.  Service was actually pretty friendly and generous.  My phone's vibration motor was dying, so I would miss calls and texts.  They just gave me a new phone and transferred the service.

Met up with people for some late evening volleyball.

Home, sleep.

2012.06.12 Tuesday

I felt rather dehydrated and groggy this morning.  Might have to do with my late night diet.

Enjoyed an awesome game of volleyball.  Worked out after work.


Simple day.

2012.06.11 Monday (Temper Trap)

Last night, I had a pretty interesting and terrible dream.  The goal I had in my dream was to get everybody into bed to get some sleep.  For some reason, someone was always getting up and making noise or other non-sleeping activities.  Finally I got everybody in bed, then I woke up.  I glanced at my clock and it was 1 minute before my alarm was set to go off.  How unsatisfying.  The moment I think I'm about to get sleep (while sleeping), and I wake up.

Kelc dragged me out to the Temper Trap concert.  I can't say that I'm terribly excited about it.  I understand their style, but it doesn't mesh well with me.  I like something that isn't afraid to get in your face and smack you with awesomeness.  The way they sing and play is like a tease the entire time.  Just belt it out already.

Walked around downtown to meet up with another of Kelc's coworkers: Stephen at a bar.  The bar is the type that I would generally not go to, but I will say it was an interesting experience.

2012.06.10 Sunday

Cupcake project is about 98% complete.  Some wiring needs to be finished, but that just means a cable needs to be ordered from the interwebs.  Also some cleaning needs to happen.  Sawdust goes everywhere, can't explain that.

Cleaned some more of the house, also played some Ace Combat 6.

Worked on some paperwork for the house stuff.  Getting a little burnt out on that.

Watched some Holmes Inspection, then bed time.  Overall a successful and productive 3-day weekend.

2012.06.09 Saturday

My parents decided to dedicate today's breakfast as a "Birthday Breakfast". Muffins, bacon and fried eggs.  I can't turn down that.

Worked more on the Cupcake Project.  I know I keep repeating this, and not really describing much, but just bear with me.  There will be pics.  The time committed will probably not match the epicness.

Started cleaning house.  This probably needs as much attention as the Cupcake Project.

Went with Kelc to the Hyde Park Theater to see a play called boom.  One of Kelc's coworkers is playing a part (1 or 3 acting parts).  A pretty crucial role, and she did an amazing job.  There was one time where she was gazing into the audience delivering a chunk of lines, and I thought me staring back at her was going to screw her up.  It was awkward.

Home, snooze.

2012.06.08 Friday

Off of work.  Relaxing day ahead?  Is today supposed to be different?  Hmmm...

Ran errands with Kelc early on.

Kelc and my dad took me out to Plucker's for lunch.  I ate a huge meal that took me twice as long to eat as everybody else.  Then to top that off we went to Marble Slab after for ice cream.  Boom.

Worked on Cupcake Project.  The day ended up being relaxing and fun.

2012.06.07 Thursday

I woke up sweaty this morning, and entire body not wanting to move much.  Gross.

Wrapped up the work week.  Left mid-day to attend a home inspection.  Man, talk about a roller coaster of emotions.  First I was excited, then nervous.  Then when I started seeing issues and talking with the inspector I'm thinking "oh sh*t, what have I gotten myself into".  Then when I'm starting to realize that the issues I'm seeing are minor in the grand scheme, I'm starting to feel a bit better, and excited that I'll get to do things my way.

Stopped by Whataburger on the way home to gather some energy.

Made some late night phone calls to talk about the day.  Winding down...

2012.06.06 Wednesday

I had a crazy dream this morning.   I was at work in a lab working on fixing a chip that a customer wanted made a certain way.  We had a big table with an overreaching arm above it.  There was a box at the end of the arm, centered above the table by about 4 feet or so.  We were using a laser-injection technique to change the physical characteristics of the chip, post-manufacturing.  (This is all hypothetical, I don't know if we even have the technology to do what I am describing, let alone working on semiconductors at this level of detail.)  It had something to do with the circuitry that drove the actual pins coming out of the chip not being able to handle what the customer needed.  I went in there, without safety glasses, which was freaking me out because at the very least I needed something to protect from the laser part.  Well the people working on the chips were using multiple laser blasts (it was a pretty purple laser) in quick succession, then the chip would start cracking and warping.  Obviously they were using too high energy laser, and too quickly because the heat wasn't dissipating. I tried to interrupt their work and fix the problems, but then BEEP BEEP BEEP 

I woke up.  No satisfaction of fixing that problem.  Wait... I don't have that problem.

Work was a toss-up again.  Took a break in the middle of it all to play vball.  Today we had 5 people; it was awesome, lots of great hits, just playing for the fun of the game.

Left work late again, but no weight training this time.  Thought about stopping by Plucker's on the way home to watch the Spurs game with the groomsmen, but decided against it.  Every time I start watching a team this far along in the season, they crumble while I am watching.  Better not push it.

Went home, changed clothes, then started working on the cupcake project.  Tons of painting.

Stopped working late, then fixed myself dinner, then went to bed.

2012.06.05 Tuesday

Today's work day is a bit lost.  I spent a good chunk of the morning filling out paperwork, scanning, phone calls, etc.  I feel like I'm sprinting already with the amount of stuff I'm trying to get done, and that's not even counting work.  Very thankful that I work for a manager/business that has adaptive work schedules.

Took a break for lunch and vball.  Yesterday vball didn't happen because outlook decided to send my email to the outbox, instead of all the way to the other people's inbox.  Terrible.

Went to the gym again after work to try and strengthen some muscles I had been ignoring for so long.

At home, worked on cupcake stuff and paperwork.  Kelc came over to watch a movie, but that didn't happen (again).

2012.06.04 Monday

Semi boring work day.  Played around with code that wasn't behaving.

Met up with the realtor on the way home.  Things might be starting to shape up.  I think I may have flubbed up the timing of events a bit.  The lender I used to demonstrate a pre-approval requires a minimum of 30 days to close, once the contract is received.  Let's see... yeah 30 days was yesterday.  Neato.

Went home and did a paperwork scramble to get tons of documents sent off in tons of directions. Took a break to eat some food.  I had family visiting that I totally forgot about.  Chatted for a bit, then went back to the computer.  Not much time left in the evening/night for any entertainment.

Friday, June 15, 2012

2012.06.03 Sunday

Today, my dad and I cranked through a lot of work on the cupcake project.  Things are really shaping up, and there's not all that much left to do.  The project has been a flip-flop of having a ton of stuff to do, then setting something to wait for it to dry or cure.  Run, wait, run, wait, .....

Watched more Holmes Inspection on HGTV.  I'm starting to recognize ones that I've seen before.  Still an awesome show.

2012.06.02 Saturday

Cranked down on some preparation work for ACL2012.  That's right, I'm trying to get a head start.  Lots of music to get myself acquainted with.

Also started getting some estimates and powered through some applications/paperwork for house-related stuff.

Went to Target with Kelc and Korey.  I let them pick out some clothes for me, since I never feel like getting any new clothes.  After letting them point out a few things, I instantly thought I've made a huge mistake.

Later Kelc and I cooked up some dinner.  She had organic chili, and I had red beans and rice.  Both were pretty delicious.

We started watching the movie "Drugstore Cowboy".  100% on RottenTomatoes... can't be that bad, right?  I was starting to get into it, and Kelc started falling asleep.  We will have to save the rest for another evening.

2012.06.01 Friday (Two Door Cinema Club)

Nice breakfast with coworkers and the intern.  Sometimes we talk about work, sometimes we don't.  The rest of the work day was plain jane.

Concert with Kelc.  Two Door Cinema Club.  Opening acts were... interesting.  I feel like they didn't match very well with the headliner, but Kelc said that TDCC was more dance music.  Not sure if I agree with that.  Insects were annoying.  Saw some people from my college days, and one of my brother's college buddies.  That was a tad awkward, because I forgot his name and face completely.  Somehow Kelc remembered him.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

2012.05.31 Thursday

Woke up at normal time, but left for a golf course instead of work.  They had a few holes under construction, so things were a little weird.  On the first hole, you kind of had to drive along grass to find a makeshift teebox in the middle of everything.  I went up to tee off... and almost hit a groundskeeper on my first shot.  YEA!  First drive in multiple years... and it's almost injuring somebody.  I didn't think it would have that kind of distance on it either.

Played through to the back 9, and you could tell we were all getting a bit tired.  I had about 35% chance of hitting where I wanted, and about 15% chance that my ball was being played for best ball.  Eh, not bad.  Then on hole 17, we were on the green wrapping up the putting when it started to sprinkle a tad.  By the time we placed the flag in the hole, to when we were back at our carts, the rain came crashing down.  We were all completely soaked.  Completely.  Like I hung my shirt up after the drive home, and it was still dripping.  All in all, I'm still glad I was able to take some time out of the work week to get some quality fun time in with my dad, and not just talk about work all day.

Filled out paperwork for the realtor.  Grabbed a bite for lunch at Taco C.

Back home, worked.  Remote working is great and terrible at the same time.

Cooked up lettuce wraps for dinner.  I took some old ground beef, seasoned it with some cajun seasoning, then browned that.  Took a head of iceberg lettuce and made some leaves about taco-sized.. then consumed.  Twas awesome and delicious.  I think maybe even paleo.

Worked some more, then worked on cupcake project, then worked some more.

Bedtime.

2012.05.30 Wednesday

Decided against the carpool today, that way I can work a long day or run errands (whichever comes first).

Hosted a fun meeting.  My work was under scrutiny.  Obviously it is not perfect, and I'm not expecting it to be perfect.  The whole point of the meeting is to get somebody else's eyes and mind into the code I write and find any problems, or things I might have missed.  The challenge is that it's hard to not take things personally.  I think I am getting better at that though.  The ultimate goal for me is to come out of the meeting learning something, and improving.  The best way to go is up, right?  Short-term pain, long-term gain?

Also worked a day because I'm expecting to take tomorrow morning off.  Nothing really notable about the evening, just goofing around or cupcake project.

2012.05.29 Tuesday

Finally a day where I feel well rested before going to work.  And I didn't even sleep that much last night.  Must be all the extra hours that I was able to snag over the weekend.

Slightly longer day at work.  Went home and popped open my computer case to swap it back to my newer power supply.  Found out that the cables from two different modular power supplies fit into each other.  That is a recipe for disaster.  Looks like I was using the right stuff though.  Luck, or instinct?

2012.05.28 Monday (Memorial Day)

Worked on the cupcake project today.  We finished up a few more pieces for the stadium part, then started the first chunk of the tower.  Getting much closer to complete.

Went over to Habs later on in the evening for a grill-out and to watch So You Think You Can Dance.  I sipped on margarita and played on my phone while they watched the tv show.  Yeah, I'm one of those guys that refuses to enjoy that show.

Home, prepared for work.

2012.05.27 Sunday

Had people over to eat a meal.  Kind of an early Memorial Day thing.  Just hamburgers and hotdogs.

Went to a house viewing for my sister and fiance.  Pretty cool because it had a pool, but there was some awkwardness with how the house was expanded, and choices one what to upgrade.

Back home, enjoyed some brandy freezes.  Yumaholic.  I played some Ace Combat 6.  Fun game.

2012.05.26 Saturday (Kalen's bday)

Spent the day celebrating Sir Kalen's magical birthday extravaganza.

Went over to Tyler's and played some impromptu Loaded Questions.  Among the questions, the consensus is that the N64 is the most favorited gaming console.  We broke off into discussions about favorite games and why it was just an amazing console.

Left in the afternoon to the park to play volleyball.  We lucked out and found a group of 6 to counter our group of 6.  They were a pretty fun group to play with, until some people started getting really competitive and upset about losing.  At the end of one game, a dude semi-tackled one of the girls, then kicked sand all over her.  Dude... no.  It was just a friendly game.  We later swapped a few people around to dissolve any internal tensions among team members.  Tyler was the saboteur.

Rested with some lounging around the park.  Drank some refreshing gatorade.  I've noticed that gatorade has this new numbering system for their drinks, depending on when you are drinking relative to physical activity.  I feel like they are doing a terrible job implementing the 3-drink system.  I have only seen drink 02, which is the "perform" drink... aka the normal gatorade flavors/recipe.  Where are 01 and 03?

Played some some soccer.  Some puking.  Maybe we aren't in the best shape.

Over to CiCi's pizza for dinner, with the bonus of "Telephone Pictionary" to play while eating.  Good combination in my opinion.  I highly recommend bringing something along to do whenever going to a buffet now.  If you just focus on eating, you eat and then feel terrible.  Activities are a nice distraction to pace yourself against.

Back to Tyler's for "Busy Streets", then home before it was too late because Kelc had to work.

2012.05.25 Friday

With a day as long as my previous, it is very easy to forget that people still have to work today.  Funny enough, we found out later that Kelc's car lost its side-view mirror while parked downtown.  Gotta love west campus.

There were young ones strung about Kelc's house, all reaping the post-effects of a night well celebrated.  Do I miss those years?  Maybe partially.  I don't enjoy days completely wasted to feeling terrible.

Enjoyed some thundercloud for late lunch.

There were some talks of another downtown journey, but I think that fizzled out rather quickly.  Kelc's sister is leaving for a fun trip to Vegas to continue her celebrations.

Monday, June 4, 2012

2012.05.24 Thursday

I missed hanging out with Kelc this morning because I misinterpreted a text message in my morning delirium. Just too exhausted.  At least she is back home finally.

After work, I went over to Kelc's to hang out and... she wasn't there.  Out running errands.

Later Kelc came over.  We sat around for a bit, then went downtown to celebrate her sister's 21st birthday.

The worst part of the night was having to pee so badly, but waiting on people to come out of the bars (that were closing anyways).  Then we couldn't find a bathroom.  Absolutely terrible.  Kelc drove her car home.

Back at her house, people were showering and stumbling around in drunkenness.  Thank goodness they used a party van.  Apparently after we left to drive home, a few people got into a scuffle on 6th, some punches were thrown.  Glad I wasn't a part of that.  Oh and someone lost their phone.

Late night, and memorable.


2012.05.23 Wednesday

Feeling pretty drained lately.  Not sure what it is, but I've been getting really tired in the evenings, and mornings are really terrible.  I might be working myself too much, or I might be eating less quality foods.

Played some volleyball over lunch.  Fun.

Left work a tad later than usual.  Cooked up some mac&cheese, tilapia, and leftover couscous.

Watched some Total Black Out and started to get sleepy.

Worked on Cupcake project late into the evening.

2012.05.22 Tuesday

A certain someone decided to ditch the carpool today.

No vball today, and worked a long day.  I'm starting to sound like a grumperton.

Home, tired.  Worked some on cupcake project then went to bed.

2012.05.21 Monday

Picked up Habs for the carpool at a new location: a car repair shop for Taylor's vehicle.  Curious as to what is wrong.

Played vb over lunch.  The weather lately has been funky humid, and stagnant air so it feels hotter than the thermometer states.

Got a lot done, and felt good about the work I did.  Once home, ate a ton of couscous, then felt bloated and sleepy.  Maybe this heavy pasta consumption is causing me to get drowsy.  Just a hypothesis.

2012.05.20 Sunday

Continued working on designing the tower.  Lots of options and decisions for how this could look.  What is going to look the best, and function the best?  I'm trying to make something easy to cut, but looks accurate enough to be awesome.  Assembly needs to be easy too.

Second stage of priming is sanding.  Tons of sanding.  Tons and tons of dust kicked up.  I was covered in a glaze of white.  Starting to think priming was probably unnecessary.  Then we started painting.

Spent the evening with more tower designing.  Then sleep.

2012.05.19 Saturday

Today was spent on some priming.  It's important to seal the wood and provide a good surface for the paint to stick to, right?  Right?

Took a break from working to take a family outing to Oasis for late lunch, and my pop's bday.  I tried food that I wouldn't normally have.  Some "Red Fish" dish?  What is Red Fish?  No idea, but it looked like tilapia when I ate it.

Back home, more priming.

Spent the evening on redesigning the tower part of the cupcake project.