Today was pretty cool. Almost wish that more of this panned out to tomorrow since I won't know what else to do then. I was able to meet a few new people and discuss various things. Then, the real exciting part came where we were pushing the limits of some of the systems in place.
Afterwards, I met up with JeW to grab a bite and run a few errands. This definitely made the evening feel a tad longer since more was accomplished.
Just another day at work. Had to jump through some hoops and follow some procedures to get things onto the 'official' level.
I got home and mostly goofed around and watched TV. I really want to get back into a decent workout regiment/routine, but sometimes I am just plain exhausted from the long work days and lack of sleep. I should consider shifting around my schedule. I think I watched some new material on discovery, probably one of my more favorite channels that cable provides. Might actually be over-watching it; I'm starting to notice how most of their schedule is laid out and when repeats come on.
Work today wasnt too bad. Each day I'm getting a chunk of this task completed. It feels like I've been doing the last few bits and pieces before calling it 'finished', but there's always something else to do with the work.
I got home and was able to get KQ6 working with voice. The only thing that doesnt work is the opening scene; it has something to do with a batch file that executes the game not finding a video decompressor. Back in the day, games came in rather compact sizes and rather compressed, but also tons of mini files that allowed compatibility between various hardware setups. Today, if you want to write a game for Windows users, you dont have to bother with what type of sound card or video card is in the system; developers used to have to program all of that by hand for each game.
Anyways, I also was able to get Kelc set up on the old-school fun. Now we can play together from a distance.
I couldn't seem to sleep much last night. My mind was still racing or in drive-mode or something.Work was kinda long. I had a review, where other employees all meet up to pick apart something I created. Well, that only turned out to be half successful.Speaking of success, I totally was able to get King's Quest 6, and King's Quest 5 (with voice) running on my Windows Vista x64 setup, courtesy of an emulation program called dosbox. Just because technology is advancing ever-so-fast does not mean you cannot enjoy the beauty and creativity of the yester-years.
The days where you have something to dread are always the worst. It always feels like nothing ever gets done because you are so mentally occupied dreading the future.
I remember going to Braum's for some ice cream, and watching some Winter X-Games. Oh, and a Q-doba lunch that was kinda confusing.
Well, eventually I left and made it home safely. Yay long work week coming up.
Today was a shopping day. We ran errands and went to different places for a change of pace.
Then, to celebrate the evening, we got a group of people to go to Narah, a lounge with hookahs. Very fun. After which we then went to Waffle House for dinner.
The night ended with some mythbusters and lotion.
Kelc had to wake up for class; I got to sleep in late.
We went out to Chik-fil-a for lunch, then came home to do some housecleaning and various tasks.
Everybody wanted to go out, so we settled on Chili's, which actually had a wait. That's where my night of inebriation began. We all played games and had some fun. Kelc managed to teach me ways to solve the rubik's cube. I might actually learn better in that state.
First off, crawfish etoufee day. What a fantastic day to be alive and well. Z met up with me for lunch.
I left right after work to drive all the way to Arlington. Can't say that my body really enjoyed paying attention to the road for 3.5hours after a 9hour work day, but I managed.
Kelc and I went out to Black-Eyed Pea, where Lindsey found us and joined us. I managed to inhale some pink lemonade during dinner and almost died.
Then we went back and watched Blue State. It was alright. Focused a bit more on the story, but still wasn't developed very well, and the lines didn't seem natural.
Work isn't seeming so bad anymore. The days are just long.
Kelc and I watched My Best Friend's Girl this evening. Can't say that I entirely enjoyed that movie. The humor wasn't all that great, and it seems like the movie industry wants us all to be having sex as much as possible with as many people as possible.
Why can't the movie industry make quality movies anymore? Who cares if you can see Johnny Depp in better than 1080p. Who cares if a lightsaber sound is coming out of 50 surround sound speakers. Without a story, it's just a bunch of special effects. It should be the story that sells. (Not to mention the rediculous ticket prices, no wonder they are always breaking records.)
*steps down from soapbox*
Goodnight.
Work today was odd. I got in at my normal early time, but instead of being drowsy and slow I jumped up and got a fairly large chunk of things completed.
Then before lunch (during some of the Inauguration), I was given an official informal tour of the labs that contain the equipment I will be supporting. It's pretty amazing to think about how many years of development went into this project, and then see the technology used to support and test it all. Also, there's a whole new sector to the project that I can't really talk too much about. Yay for signing away some freedom of speech.
Oh well. The secrets we keep here, keep people alive elsewhere.
Traffic was worse than yesterday since a lot of people had the day off for MLK. I'm starting to consider indirect routes home, or even toll roads. I was mostly starving when I got home. It was almost a tortellini day, but my madre just cooked up a ton of angel hair pasta to use for various things. One of these days, my siblings and I will not be at home, and there will be a ton of leftovers all the time. I've tried convincing madre to cut back on things, but I have yet to see a difference.
Kelc and I watched a movie cross-state like we normally do. This time it was the movie Speak. Not a bad story, but kinda bleh at the same time. Oh, and whoever did the production and encoding to put it out on DVD did a really crappy job. My eyes hurt and I now have a headache. I think they recorded normal movie frame rate, but used a weird algorithm for converting to TV frame rate. Horrendous. I think Showtime Productions released the movie, we should send anger letters so they redo that disc.
Other than beating Kelc at a shower race, that's most of what happened on my side of the world.
Well, first day wasn't as bad as I was dreading it. I think the schedule is going to be the hard part to get used to. Popeye's for lunch was also a very welcome change of pace.
It is definitely weird coming home from work without having to worry about school stuff of all sorts.
I headed out to dinner with the happy couple, and finally gave them the gift I had forgotten so many times before. Part of that gift might make that happy couple not so happy anymore though, but it can always go in the closet.
Then we headed over to Ash's appt. Turns out I had been to the entrance before, but didnt even know she lived there. Funny story about that.
Tomorrow is a big day for the US.
So much for getting the sleep schedule readjusted. Woke up pretty late after going to bed past 4:30am.
Kelc and I sat around and soaked in some last pre-semester moments. Then she headed off to school.
The Steelers and Ravens went head to head, almost too literally, and had a handful on injuries on both sides. The Steelers pulled out ahead, but I could see some neutral football fans having an issue on how that game was played.
I got a late phone call from Pink/Kimberly Ranger and went to hang out with their family. Who knew that hookah smoke bubbles would be so entertaining?
I can't sleep; work is going to be fun.
The last full day of non-grown-life and not having to worry about waking up tomorrow.
Alas, I don't believe too much happened this day. I played games here and there, Kelc read books.
The real fun started after meeting up with Jus/Jen/Hab. We watched some nifty rugby, then played the Office board game, then a bit of taboo. Next thing you know, a murder in the dark. Who done it?
I always died.
Celebration day.Kelcey's sis was accepted to a few colleges, and my brother got a new position at work that he interviewed for.Now to celebrate, I had to choice of going to Benihana's for Kelc's sis, or seafood for my brother. The choice was pretty easy :-PBenihana's was delicious.
Trip to the mall to pick out my graduation gift. Although the ability to pick anything out of the mall would be an amazing gift, my parents decided to pay for a suit from men's warehouse. I was hoping to get a suit before the break, but I got lazy about it. It is still an awesome gift, and I get to pick what I think looks good.And I found out that suits aren't cheap :-/
Lindsey gave me a project to work on over the x-mas break. Well, we aren't really close to x-mas anymore, but we're all still on a break right?I did my best; hope that works.
I emailed work today to confirm my start day. I'm starting next week on Monday, and that is weird because of how the weeks are scheduled. I guess there isn't an issue with that.
Not much else going on.
I think this day was mostly uneventful.
Yesterday, we ended up watching movies. We watched parts of the Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder, then The Prestige.
Then today, we went to go see Gran Turino. Great movie, but we had kinda crappy seats. Apparently, everybody and their mom in Bryan went to go see the same movie as us.
Oh well, still had a ton of fun. Time to head for home.
Woke up mid afternoon. Grabbed some lunch at Schlo...some sandwich place.
Then went for a mini tour of A&M's campus. They have a nice amount of parking around campus, but then again, it's only A&M :-P
Woke up late today (this is becoming a bad habbit).
Left later on this evening to head to college station to meet up with a happy couple. This should lead to an exciting weekend.
So... OU vs Florida at Dolphin Stadium. Good job teams.
OU lost yet another college bowl game; just happens to be the national championship.
I had to leave watching the game around 3rd quarter to go meet up with Ryan. Lol. Hookah time.
Don't exactly recall much happening this day.
Tomorrow is a big day for OU.
Woke up late, of course. That'll happen when not working.
Kelc left midday to spend time with family around the country. I on the other hand, just kinda sat around all day and beat levels and tasks on Ace Combat 6.
Then I stayed up till 6:45am.
I'm writing these late by a few days usually. I have a hard time remembering what happened, which kinda makes these blog entries that much more important. Sorta.
Kelc and I ran errands all day and bought stuff here and there.
Oh, and Texas played Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. What an intense game. Kelc and I watched that with Justin and Jenny. Cool kids.
Jager-bombs.
Kelc and I got back kinda late, but that wasnt the end of our journey.We met up with Amanda and Josh, who are now engaged (congratulations), and went out to the Cheesecake Factory for a late-night last-minute catch-up. Josh is leaving on a plane in the morning to Wyoming.Today we slept in pretty late. Goofed around for a bit. Next thing we know, we are getting dressed up to go out to dinner. We ate at Carino's Italian Grill. After that we went to the final T.S.O. concert of this season, celebrated here in Austin at the Frank Erwin Center where it originally started some 9 years ago. There, we just happened to run into Ray and Marisa, along with Amanda's family. Crazy cool.Afterwards, we met up with Ray and Marisa at the new-ish Kirby Lane Cafe for a last-minute meal. They went back to College Station after that. Good times.
So Joshy had to move today, so everybody pitched in to help him out. He's moving closer to Kelc and Linds, so that should be fun and save gas over time.
Kelc and I packed up again and headed for the ATX in the evening. Yum driving. Actually, I can't complain too much about driving; I think each time I filled up my tank cost less than 20 dollars. Woo for low gas prices.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure the purple monster energy drink is disgusting. Maybe I had a bad batch, but bleh.
Kinda just bummed around most of the day. Got Shipley's in the morning. Went to a movie (Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and ate popcorn for dinner. That movie was ridiculously too long.
Woke up semi early today if you compare it to most of this winter break.
The gang went to go get some Freebirds in Houston, and just chill for the remainder of the day.
Kelc and I packed up and left mid-afternoon to Arlington. -sigh- quite a long drive from H-town.
Well, we kinda partied a bit too much last night and didn't feel like partying as much today.
We went out to a diner for breakfast/lunch, and got some purple drank (supposedly only found in the Houston area http://www.drankbeverage.com/).
The last day of 2008 is upon us.
Left for H-town today.
Not long after arriving, shotgun!
