2010.12.31 Friday

Started the day off pretty solid. Nobody knows what is going on for celebrating the New Year.

Kelc spent the day reading a book while I played Minecraft and watched Clerks.

Later, we ran an errand to Lowe's, then Walmart, then out to the lakehouse to shoot off fireworks and celebrate with friends. Some fireworks were duds, others almost caught some of us on fire. Good times.

Ate more unhealthy food and played games, then I passed out around 4am.

2010.12.30 Thursday

After getting in at 4am, I was able to sleep in quite well.

Cooked up a limited edition pizza for lunch/dinner, then watched the Back To The Future trilogy while playing Minecraft.

Also took a quick spin by the gym to see a monster inflatable slide set up, and got to jump around on trampolines.

Kelc came over to watch Inception. I drank some remaining wine and fell asleep easily.

2010.12.29 Wednesday

Today, lots of things going on.

A friend having a dress-up party, a concert downtown, and a birthday party. What to do...

Well, the plan was to go to the birthday party for a little bit, then to the concert downtown, then the remainder at the dress-up party if time permitted. Unfortunately, we only were able to get to step one of that plan.

We played games, ate fajitas, played more games, broke picture frames, and popped balloons. Also played Smash Bros into the "wii" hours of the morning. Har har, I kill me.

2010.12.28 Tuesday

Woke up and went to my house. Been a long time since I had been around here.

Took care of chores: cleaning kitchen, dishes, shower, laundry.

Steam had a sale on the Doom Pack, for $8. I snatched that up. Played Doom 3 for about 30 minutes then remembered how annoying the game gets. Everything is always jumping out at you, instead of the classic "shoot everything always" game style.

For dinner, Kelc's dad took a group of us out to County Line BBQ to enjoy an all-you-can-eat platter of meat. The pork ribs are fantastic.

Took a pit stop on the porcelain throne, then over to hang out with the happy couple and watch Inception. Pretty neat movie; feels rather epic. I feel like there were specific pieces missing, but for good reason.

2010.12.27 Monday

Spent the morning out at the lakehouse again. Slept much more comfortably on a regular bed. Watched tv most of the morning, got pretty bored since mid-day television sucks. Left to go home and do other things.

Kelc and I went over to her dad's house to put together furniture and organize things since she is still in the process of getting settled.

Made a quick trip over to my parent's house to pick up those leftovers. Kelc had a burger instead.

Spent the evening rearranging furniture and setting up a new living room. Then bedtime.

2010.12.26 Sunday

Spent today out at the lakehouse. More games, and watched the move Defiance.

Some of Kelc's family was stuck in Austin because flights were cancelled from a snow storm.

Went back home to take care of a few things, then back out to the lakehouse.

Sleep.

2010.12.25 Saturday X-mas

Merry Christmas world.

Woke up, cleaned myself up a bit and headed to the parent's house to spend the day with family. Patsy and Robert drove into town and enjoyed a feast with us. There was enough food for about 15 people, and there were only 7 there. Guess who is having leftovers for the next week.

Played games most of the day, including a Xbox Kinect. It's kinda fun, but I feel like this technology was possible years ago.

Later on, drove out to the lakehouse to hang out with Kelc's family and play games.

Didn't take long before I fell asleep.

2010.12.24 Friday

Woke up early to get ready for a road trip. My family was running late so I started playing Minecraft.

On the way to Houston, we stopped for food at McDonalds. Breakfast of champions. I started watching East Bound and Down.

At my grandma's, we were there semi-early. We prepared some food and set out the snacks, then the rest of the family arrived. The meal commenced, enough food for a small army.

Then sleep.

On the way home I watched some more East Bound and Down, and had some discussions with the family.

Home... more sleep.

2010.12.23 Thursday

The roads were a lot more clear this morning. I managed to wake up early today somehow. That extra time was quickly used up by a pre-work break on the porcelain throne. Yeah, I just said that. Online.

Around the office, things matched the roads rather well... emptier than normal. Lunch was also less option-filled, but I still ate it. Finished up everything and went home.

Good to be done...for the year.

2010.12.22 Wednesday

Groggy, of course. Hump day is here.

Work flew by kinda quickly, but not at the same time. I'm getting more and more restless about getting a break from work.

I left work ON TIME for the first time in what feels like weeks. At home, I took care of some things, and cooked myself a nice mashed taters and hot dog dinner, with a small side of tortellini.

Watched some Mythbusters and worked on things in my room. It still doesn't feel like winter outside.

2010.12.21 Tuesday

It's hard to believe that Christmas is so close. Work is winding down, the days are short. Oddly though, the high temperature for today is in the 80s. Welcome To Texas.. YEE HAW!

Worked a half-day today. In the afternoon I had an appointment set up to get new tires. I hope these tires last a long time because they are a bit pricey.

After that, I met up with some friends at the Cedar Park HS tennis courts to play vennis (combo of volleyball and tennis). Tyler was on the winning team every time... interesting. Stopped by Wendy's for a quick dinner. Kelc was kind enough to offer her house for evening activities. These activities involved a handful of sessions of Busy Streets, NeverHaveIEver, and Murder In The Dark Xmas Edition.

The group decided to continue the fun at Ihop and other places, but I decided to split off and get some sleep. Work is really important these days.

2010.12.20 Monday

Woke up on time for work today, but had a splitting headache. I took an advil and hopped in the shower thinking that would help the medicine get into my bloodstream faster. Nope. Got out of the shower, dried off and hopped back into bed. Need to start today over...

I ended up dreaming some really random stuff. I remember discovering a rather large terrarium, only this one had many walls and divisions in it. The purpose of the divisions was to separate the various creatures. There were bugs, critters, mice, snakes... just about anything that could be contained. Well somehow the divisions started falling down, and everything started eating each other. I started freaking out and yelling for help, but nobody came. Then I woke up. Time for work.

Work went by slow and fast at the same time. For lunch I had a grilled cheese with bacon. The lunch lady is starting to recognize my patterns of diet. Gotta throw in some curveballs.

Once at home, I made a dinner consisting of green beans and tortelini. Then left to run errands with Kelc. I can't go into too many details about where I shopped, until after Saturday.

Back home, looked up some more info about the potential lunar eclipse tonight. Not sure if I should try to wake up and see it.

In other news, Minecraft is now out of Alpha.. in Beta. As promised, I will continue to get updates until the game is complete. New players that purchase in Beta will get updates until final release.. but not the final. Early adopter FTW.

2010.12.19 Sunday

Good morning. Time to wake up. We need to pack up most of kelc's bulk items into her dad's vehicle so they can begin the drive back to Austin.

We packed up a lot of the big stuff, then said our goodbye's to family as they left to go home.

For lunch we went over to Sweet Tomatoes. Salad, soups, breads, pizza. After that, we went back to Kelc's, and said our goodbye's to Ray and Marisa. After that, Kelc and I went to Plucker's to watch the Steelers game. It really doesn't feel like Sunday already. Even though we just went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch, I ended up eating 2 baskets of chips, 3 fried pickles, 10 wings and a few celery sticks.

Back home, we were too full, but still had to pack and prepare for the drive home. Considering how small both of our cars are, we fit quite a bit. Only two things we left behind, a bed frame and a microwave.

The drive home was uneventful. I listened to various albums, sang to a good chunk of songs so my voice is probably going to be a little scratchy tomorrow.

In bed by...2 ish.

2010.12.18 Saturday

Woke up mid morning. Air mattresses are not the most comfortable things in the world.

Today we had an agenda, and we didn't really have many options to the day. So the day started off with mostly waiting. Extended and direct family was on their way from ATX to meet us for lunch.

For out late lunch, Candlelight Inn in Arlington. Really close to the new Cowboy's stadium. This place has been around for something like 50 years. Pretty impressive. The food was pretty good for the price. They also had a charcoal grill. Very cool.

After the meal, we went back to Kelc's to get changed and take some pictures before the ceremony. The ceremony was in the same building as the nutcracker play we went to just a handful of days ago. So I keep calling it a ceremony because this event was quite a bit more dressy than most graduations. One thing to note was the jazz band and singer that were playing prior to the ceremony when all the parents are waiting. The presenters insisted on reminding everybody to be considerate of others and the length of celebration, and that any noisemaker of any kind will be grounds for dismissal from the ceremony. The college of liberal arts split up their schools between ceremonies since there are so many people. Once Kelc's name was called, the entire family celebrated. I feel like she was more focused on walking than listening to us.

The ceremony ended, but finding Kelc was rather difficult. Everybody was being forced into a small area at the exit. Eventually we found her and left. Back at the apartment, Ray and Marisa had been waiting patiently (unfortunately we didn't have enough tickets to bring everybody, but it was probably better that they had some free time). They got Kelc a gift card and balloons to celebrate the occasion.

From there, we piled into a car and went over to hotel Nylo, a New York styled loft-room simulation with modern decorations. We had a few drinks at the bar, then left. Stopped by Wendy's on the way home for a late-night snack. We saw a homeless man run into the bushes from the drive-thru, weird.

Back home, listened to some music, watched some youtube videos, ate food, and then started Toy Story 3. I couldn't stay awake for very long.

2010.12.17 Friday

Brought in my special entree to work today. Very excited to see people's reactions.

Great Success! Lots of comments around the office. I guess it was such a weird creation that people had to give it a try. I, on the other hand, was enjoying the rum balls.

I left work mid-day to meet up with my parents. From there, we drove to San Marcos to attend my sister's graduation from Texas State. The ceremony went by rather quickly. There wasn't any motivational speaker, so they jumped right into the names. For the names, they read them off rather quickly. Very efficient.

For graduation dinner, we went to Madola's Italian Market in the Triangle. Good food.

Went home, socialized a bit, ate some pecans, then back to my place. Packed up my junk then began the trip to Arlington late in the night.

Arrived around 1am, which marked the dissolving of the party that was already in session. Set up some beds, Ray and Marisa arrived soon after, and we all crashed.

2010.12.16 Thursday

Thor's day. Work is really starting to wind down. People are discussing vacations and holiday plans. Work ethic is shot.

Over lunch, a group of the guys went out to play some flag football. We only had enough for 3v3, but it was still fun. The cool air was making my throat close up some.

After work, I got to work on my dish for tomorrow's potluck at work. This year it's all about chocolate covered bacon, so of course I had to share the stuff with work people. I cooked up just under 2 pounds of bacon, half was hickory smoked, half was regular. S.o.a.B. I have burns on my hands and neck from oil splash. Damn you hickory smoked bacon.

I ate random stuff I had in the pantry, and played some minecraft. The house is quiet this evening. *yawn* it's only 8:30 and I'm ready to sleep. Unfortunately, I still have to finish the chocolate part of the dish.

Watched some of the office and delicately hand-covered the pieces, then topped it off with some sprinkles.

2010.12.15 Wednesday

The sun seems to be rising later and later in the day. Winter solstice.. please hurry up. I also slept in later than normal, so I had a delayed start to my day. Cool.

Work was more documents and meetings.

Popped into Too Hotties for a haircut. I really was hoping to get it cut yesterday, so I would have extra time this evening, but they were pretty busy. Instead, I got a really good haircut by a new hairdresser. She was really nice, and we chit-chatted about H-town and ATX.

So I did one thing that really made me feel like an engineer: started to change my oil at 9:30p at night. Yeah, pretty crazy I know. Considering how the wind was gusty, I was able to stay relatively clean and not spill much. It seemed like my car was at the full marker with only 4 quarts (instead of the prescribed 4.25 quarts). I'll have to check on this later.

Cleaned myself up, and off to bed.

2010.12.14 Tuesday

Work was full of meetings and low activity/excitement levels.

At home, I started off with the mission of running some errands, but that fell apart quickly. Instead I ended up finishing my minecraft "mob grinder" based on plans others have posted online. I have to admit that I'm really happy with the results. I'm already collecting a lot of resources from it.

I ended up running some errands late into the evening anyways. I really need to perform an oil change, so I picked up all the gear for that, plus some food items.

Back home, cooked dinner at 11pm, then wrapped up the day.

2010.12.13 Monday

Ah, a Monday. Hmmph.

After work, I got to work on vacuuming my room, and cleaning my bathroom. I also picked up some around my room, but didn't spend too much time on that because I knew I was going to end up making a mess later anyways.

Cleaned up in the kitchen. I am still under the impression that colanders and pots take up too much space in the dishwasher, so I hand wash them. The pots are usually easy because they are non stick. So weird thing I've noticed, if there are dishes in the sink, people will add to the pile in the sink, even when the dishwasher is empty. But if the sink is empty, people will crack open the dishwasher to find space (typically speaking). I guess they are assuming the dishwasher is full.. and you know what they say about assuming. LOLZ

Cooked a grilled hot dog on the cast iron skillet. Also cooked up some potatoes. I was originally planning on the potatoes to be "mashed", but they came out more like potato soup. Milk floweth fast.

Post dinner, I went back to my room to watch the rest of MNF and work on the guitar circuit I've been talking about for so long. I was able to verify some of the wiring and build a little part of the circuit.. everything looked good... applied power (with my awesome DC power supply).

HIGH PITCH WHINE... SIZZLE... FLAMES.

Oh sh*t. WHAT IS GOING ON? Capacitor just blew up in my face. That's weird, it doesn't smell that ba... oh there is the smell. Gross.

So what did I do wrong? Well people might say this is a common mistake. I put in an electrolytic capacitor with the leads reversed, or wrong polarity. Alright, so yes that was a pretty silly mistake. In my defense, I was using a military-grade electrolytic that doesn't have the standard (-) sign marking down an entire side. What does it have? A tiny tiny plus sign that is slightly closer to one lead than the other. I actually had two caps in the circuit, but I lucked out and the other one was installed correctly.

Now the bread board has a burnt spot. Hooray. I also get to sleep in a room that smells like terrible burnt electronics. Hooray!

2010.12.12 Sunday

Woke up normal time. Korey and Josh were heading to a wedding today, Kelc, her mom and I were going to see the Nutcracker.

Kelc's mom decided to head over to Florida to spend time with her dad, whose health has been in steady decline. I hope everything is ok.

Packed up some of Kelc's stuff in Josh's truck to take back to Austin. Picked up the other Josh to go see the Nutcracker with us.

I've got to say, the Nutcracker, or any ballet, is still hard to interpret as an adult (until I read the synopsis) so I have no idea why a kid would enjoy watching. As a matter of fact, there were numerous kids that began crying throughout the performance. Even hundreds of years ago, I could see how the ballet would be a terrifying experience. Seems like a demented art form.

After the show, went back home and checked the flights. The flights to Austin didn't look so good, so Kelc rushed me off to the airport. I flew through security (no body scanning this time) and was at the gate early. Made it on, and First Class again (but remember, short flights show little to no benefit from this).

Landed in Austin, bussed over to my car, drove home, unpacked, watched SNF and cooked dinner. Then called up Rudy and talked for about an hour. We had a lot to catch up on. Didn't take long for me to pass out.

2010.12.11 Saturday

Woke up and took a shower. The morning didn't have anything pertinent happening, so everybody had a rather leisurely mood. Drank some coffee and had toast for breakfast.

Packed up our stuff and headed out to explore some of the campus in the daylight. Michigan has been spending most of the week setting up for a hockey game against their rivals, Michigan State. This event, even in the middle of winter, was drawing fans from all over. Even in morning, people were tailgating and selling their front yards as parking space.

Little did we know, this hockey game would set the new record attendance at the stadium.

Off we went to the airport. Dropped off the rental car, grabbed our bags and bussed over to the terminal. We checked out bags without an issue, but once we saw the security line, we started to wonder if we should have skipped that part. The security line was taking an abnormal amount of time... until you studied what was going on. They had to x-ray machines for bags and belongings, one metal detector, and one infamous body scanner machine, and about 12 TSA agents that hardly looked busy. You could easily feel the frustration in the room; people were needing to get to their flights and not deal with this invasion of privacy. Well, we were getting really close to our flight time by the time I got near the front of the line, so as you might have guessed by now... I went through a body scanner. Yep. I did it. It is done. My NAKED BODY is on a computer somewhere. I really hope they liked looking at my junk, although it probably wasn't as big as it normally is (I SWEAR IT WAS COLD IN DETROIT). Looking back at the experience, I'm kinda disappointed that my first digital nude was that. I could have done something a lot more epic for my first naked picture. Instead, it was an image of me (figuratively) bending over and taking it from TSA. So turns out that 3 out of the 4 of us went through the body scanners. Yeah that's a whopping 75% scan rate. It was my understanding that the body scanners are supposed to be used if the metal detectors aren't functioning, or picking up something that may be questionable.

Whatever.

Arrived at the gate, everybody already boarded the plane. We squeezed on before the shut the doors. First class back to Dallas, on a 2.5 hour flight. Yessss. Chicken sandwich, caesar vinaigrette salad, pita chips and cheese dip. Also, warm nuts and a cranberry cookie. Room to recline your chair and stretch your legs. Yessss.

In Dallas, bussed out to Kelc's car, then to her apartment. Spent some time around there, then went to the mall to kill some time. Ate a quick bite, then off to Lindsey's dance show.

The UTA Dance Ensemble puts on a show at the end of every semester. This year's show was titled Nuts 'n' Bolts, Rock 'n' Roll. Some of the dances made no sense, others were high entertainment, others more mature and skillful.

After that, we went out to Pappasito's Cantina. I ate a ton of queso, ruined my dinner, but hey leftovers are good too. I saw what appeared to be a group of females at a table, looked like they were a dance team or gymnastics team, but no adults. Weird that they all looked a little young to be there without a way to drive.

Went back to the apartment. Quickly fell asleep again.

2010.12.10 Friday

Woke up before I really needed to today. Took a shower and was getting my things ready for some fun travels. Well once I got out of the shower, I received a text message saying that Kelc's mom was outside already ready to go. Yikes! Let's roll.

I drove us to the airport, then we bussed in to the terminal. There we had to check bags, go through security, then head to our gate. We had some time to spare, so Kelc's mom went to see how other flights were looking to make sure we were going to make it to Michigan. The flight to DFW wasn't that crowded, so we were able to sit in First Class. Yeah that sounds great and all, but on such a short flight, you don't really see any benefits of First. Flying standby, you get to wait while everybody boards the plane. If you are ever flying and see people that look like they are running late to their flight, and just barely making it... good chance they weren't running late, but are actually flying standby. Anyways.. my main point to make is that as standby you get on at the last second, and the flight to DFW is 15 minutes of ascent, 10 minutes of cruising, and 15 minutes of descent. Not a lot of time to get pampered.

At DFW, we met up with Kelc. The flight to Detroit didn't look so good like it did yesterday. Now it looks like we might need to start figuring out some backup plans, or wait for later flights. Well, we ended up lucking out and they assigned the very last seat on the plane to me. *phew* That was a close one.

Two and a half hours later we arrived at Detroit's airport. Balloons everywhere! Well, just in the part of the terminal we entered. Guess they were celebrating something.

Picked up our bags at baggage claim, then bussed over to the rental car place. A compact will do just fine. Kelc's dad met up with us at the rental place, and off we went to Ann Arbor.

On the way, we hit a rather large clump of traffic. Turns out Detroit doesn't know how to deal with accidents. A fender-bender between two cars, which was already on the left shoulder, closed down the left shoulder, left lane, middle lane, and part of the right lane. A fire truck spanned almost all three lanes. THANKS GUYS. Keeping us safe by having more people slam on their brakes.

We went straight to the gym. Some of us changed clothes in the car. Really nice how rentals don't have any window tint. Even with the snowy/icy ground, it didn't really feel that cold.

At the gym meet, Kevin performed on floor and vault. He did well on both. Somewhat surprising was the audience. A flock of females hovered closely, and were yelling out the names of the gymnasts as they performed their routines.

Later, we went to the world-famous Zingerman's Deli. I really feel like Austin needs a place like this. They have a huge assortment of meats, breads and cheeses. Everything looked fantastic, except the prices. Upon receiving my sandwich, the price was justified. A small is easily filling, and a large is really two sandwiches with meat piled high.

After dinner, we went to check in at the hotel. Spent a few minutes there, and changed clothing, then out to Starbuck's to meet up with Kevin his friend Alex. About halfway through this, I was ready for bed.

Went back to the hotel room and promptly closed my eyes.

2010.12.09 Thursday

End of the work week already? Sweet. Feels like a long time since I had a 3-day weekend, unless you count Thanksgiving weekend as an extended weekend.

I spent the evening today finishing up the power supply. I have multiple voltage terminals available, pretty exciting.

Black: Gnd

Yellow: +12v

Red: +5v

Blue/White: +3.3v

Blue: -5v

White: -12v

Also stuck in an extra ground terminal for added flexibility. I should be able to make some progress with my guitar effects project now.

Mark came over and we ended up discussing some of the finer points of the Disney Channel.

Packed up my junk and went to bed.

2010.12.08 Wednesday

Today is a special day to me. Why is today special? Well for one, it is my half-birthday. Yeah I know that most people don't care at all about half-birthdays. There have been a handful of pivotal moments in my past that occurred around the time of my half-birthday, so I consider this time special. It's not really about "feeling older" but just a state-of-mind shift.

An extended work day went by sorta quickly. I started getting pretty restless by the end.

At home, I didn't really bother to do much. I had some leftovers for dinner, watched Mythbusters, and played Minecraft. So about Mythbusters, President Obama appeared as a guest to personally ask for a myth to be revisited. I feel like they made a huge deal about the 10 seconds he appeared, and then opponents of Obama will say how unprofessional it is for him to appear on a TV show. I personally feel like the US in general needs to be more excited about math and sciences. There is a lot of misinformation/sly-marketing out there that people abuse on misinformed consumers. Anything for a quick buck, right?

I spent the majority of the evening playing Minecraft while multitasking in other things. I actually kicked up the amount I'm playing lately to try and finish a project. I'm about 70% done building a rather large "machine" that will help me acquire materials that aren't as common. I hope it works when I'm done *crosses fingers*. After that, I only have a few mindless tasks going on around the world, so I may stop spending so much time with it.

2010.12.07 Tuesday

Another day of work. Another day of school.

But not just any day of school. Today is the final exam. Very exciting if you ask me. I can't wait to be done with this semester. I dislike having that responsibility hanging over my head. It really isn't that fun mixing school and work in the same schedule.

At home, I cooked up some dinner. Nothing fancy, mac'n'cheese and a hot dog. Just like mom used to make! Lol.

In my free time, I looked online about the differences between the various op-amps I have collected over the years. The thing I'm more concerned about is the maximum limit on supply voltage, and I started confusing myself more and more.

I have a handful of TLC2274AC rail-to-rail operational amplifiers, and tons of resistors and capacitors, so I should be able to build some 2nd-order filters and some distortion effects. Just need to wire it all up now.

2010.12.06 Monday

Well, I found out that I have a TPMS on my car. Good to know that something is monitoring my tires. But that also means I found out that my tires are low on air, so I had to sit out in the cold watching them inflate.

By the time I was on the road heading to work, there was some sort of major backup on the normal highways, so I had to find an alternate route, and got to work much later than expected.

Work was highly uneventful. Around the end of the year, things are either in a scramble to finish, or there is nothing to do. So far I've flip-flopped between those two extremes twice.

At home, cooked up a bunch of potatoes for dinner and watched some Monday Night Football. The Patriots were dominating too much, so the game became pretty boring to watch. I guess I shall study for my final exam instead...

Plus a little minecraft to relieve the stress.

2010.12.05 Sunday

Woke up and hurried up to get out the door. Picked up Josh and went to go see Black Swan.

For lunch we went to Abuelo's. A nice Mexican restaurant that seems somewhat intimidating on the outside. Happy B-day Josh!

Back home, we took a nap during football. Mexican food always makes me sleepy.

Ended up staying later than expected, but still made the drive home. I have a hard time finding the right temperature that has my body comfortable and eyes not drying out. Stupid dry heat.

2010.12.04 Saturday

Slept in some. Watched TV, ran some errands with Kelc.

Dino's Subs for lunch. Yummy yum. Then went grocery shopping.

Took an afternoon nap, then watched Memento. It's been a long time since I had seen that movie. I forgot most of it, but I think this time it made more sense.

After that I went to go pick up some Little Caesar's for later. Drove really far down the road I know it was on, but didn't see it. Turns out their sign was only lit up enough to say "Lit____" and it was tucked away in a corner of a shopping center. Cheap don't come easy.

Friends came over in the evening for food fun and games. Had a lot of fun playing games.

2010.12.03 Friday

Work again. Should be close to wrapping up the week.

Over lunch, a group of us work guys went out to play some football. I miss playing football every day like I used to in 7th grade. I lucked out and had a gym period right after the real middle school football team's time, and the coaches just wanted to go and talk about football. So every day... EVERY DAY we put on our white shirts and black or red shorts and went out to the fields. Most of the time we played tackle football. Yes, without pads. And yes, while it was practically snowing outside. Once in a blue moon we would have to run a couple laps before we could play, and one day it was raining too hard so we played dodgeball. Good times.

Back to work. Finish this week strong.

For dinner, another couple of steaks. Packed up my stuff, ran some errands, and began the drive to Arlington.

2010.12.02 Thursday

Pretty darn tired this morning.

Work was pretty epic again. Stayed late into the evening finishing up things. I'm going to need a vacation pretty soon.

Cooked up a couple steaks and potatoes for dinner, then rest. My days are pretty simple when the majority of my time is spent at work.

2010.12.01 Wednesday

Woah. Last month of 2010. Woah. Here we go.

I worked rather late today, then came home and cooked up some leftover turducken and potatoes. I'm starting to wonder how long that turducken will last in the refrigerator.

Took care of some paperwork, played some minecraft and mostly took it easy. I have a feeling the rest of this week is going to be long days.

2010.11.30 Tuesday

Shoop the whoop. It sure got cold fast. Thanks cold front.

Work+class = Andy tired.

But! Not tired enough to keep me from working on electronics! That's right. I popped open that power supply again, marked spots to put in some holes, and installed a switch and LED. One thing I like about this power supply is that it is old enough to not really care about not having a load. With no load, the fan barely spins, and only turns up as the currents increase. Exciting! Now I just need to get some terminals so I can tap into the voltages I want.

Dinner was provided by work, so not much else to talk about.

2010.11.29 Monday

*yawn* Another 5-day work week.

Work actually went by pretty quickly because I was doing a bunch of running around.

After work, I went out for a skate session in the beautiful weather. Oddly enough, my nollie abilities are doing well today, including nose manuals. I think I need to get some new bushings on my trucks since I busted through the current ones. My ollies felt weird today; it felt like the pop was the same, but once the board was off the ground the board felt like it was stuck to my feet and just going up and up...then on the landing I somehow landed on the trucks every time (instead of the tail). Kickflips and heelflips weren't happening. I used the new found ollie abilities to jump over a few things around the neighborhood. I also tried showing off a few 180-reverts to pedestrians that probably didn't care. Took care of some garbage duties as well.

Next up, taking care of what is left of my plants. I decided to go ahead and say farewell to the remainders of my tomato plants. I took out the roots and all. Also trimmed back on the pepper plants so they can hibernate over the winter. I don't really mind if they die also because I have seeds of everything and can start up again once the threats of freezes pass. One thing that surprised and scared me was a little guy living in my cayenne pepper plant. A baby praying mantis. I put him off to the side while I cleaned up everything. Whenever the wind blew, he would sway back and forth to try and mimic the wind and how plants move, but silly mantis...the pot is stationary. Instead, he just looked drunk. Here are a few snaps I took:

I also put an album up on facebook if you want to check out a few more. I took probably 20 shots total, but my camera can't focus worth crap anymore.

Next up, dinner. What's for dinner? Mostly leftovers, but today those leftovers are more exciting than normal leftovers. I have some mashed potatoes from forever ago that I need to finish, so I added a good chunk of butter and that came out pretty good. Last time I went to HEB I picked up some asparagus; I totally forgot about it so I needed to hurry up and get that cooked and eaten. This time, I used bacon fat to cook my asparagus instead of the usual oils. A+. Definitely would try that again. Last but not least, I reheated some turducken. One of the biggest dinners-for-one I've had in a long time.

After dinner, I cracked open a spare computer power supply. I'm going to be modding this into a DC power supply that I can use on various electronic projects. I have a switch, and LED+resistor. I need to get a load resistor, some terminals for the voltage connections and some heatshrink, then just slap it all together. I'll have to post more updates as I get further into the project.

2010.11.28 Sunday

Had to jump start Kelc's car. Out to Fowler's to watch the Steelers game. Went into overtime and won by a field goal barely.

After the game, had to jumpstart Kelc's car again. Awesome. She probably has a dead battery. Quick trip to the Dairy Queen drive through for some blizzards, then off to Auto Zone to get a free battery test. There they did a couple of tests and agreed that the battery was shot. *cue cash register sound* Yay car repair.

On the topic of jump-starting vehicles, I went online later to see what most people online say about jump-starting and cables and whatnot. Most people say to hook up both the positives, then hook up the negative to the good car, then the negative to the body of the bad car. Why hook up the last connection to the body of the car instead of the battery? Because there might be a spark, and that spark might ignite fumes or do some bad to the battery. I would have to say this is highly unlikely, but still a possibility. What's even worse, if you clamp on to the body of the car, there is chance you are not getting that great of a connection, wasting your time. It's a trade-off. The hooking up of both the positive terminals first makes perfect sense to me; the two cars could have much different potentials from true earth ground, so it's just forcing the potentials together. Yay for knowing something about electronics.

Back to my house to be dropped off, and Kelc went on her way back to Arlington. I went over to my parent's since my aunt happened to be in town. Watched some more football there, ate some food, took a mini nap.

And then back to my place to wind-down the weekend and prepare for the work week. Sucks that the extended holiday weekend is already over. Played minecraft and watched some TV. I finished this beauty earlier on in the week, but enjoy.

2010.11.27 Saturday

Today was dedicated as a Lakehouse day. Arrived about mid day. My task: building Ikea furniture.

To be precise, I built a skinny cabinet then a wider cabinet. Nothing was really all that challenging with the assembly, but my workspace and tool availability was limited. Pretty sure my arms are going to be sore from all the screwing. I think everything turned out alright though. These pieces will give a lot of extra storage space.

Drove back into town to meet up with the family. Tonight is dinner night, and for dinner: Chez Zee. Supposedly everybody else had been there before. I have not. It sorta has an Austin atmosphere. Only thing I didn't like, a couple walked in to the area we were seated to be seated themselves, and he told the hostess "miss, these are the worst seats in the house, you can do better than that". Jeez dude, no need to be rude. It is very easy to suggest your own seats instead of just telling the host they made a terrible decision. They aren't mind-readers.

Kirbs met up with us at the house. A game of Hand N Foot commenced. Feels like holiday times are closer than I expected.

2010.11.26 Friday

Woke up reasonably early. Good that I wasn't stuck in some groggy food coma.

I spent some of the morning setting up recording stuff. Have microphones on vocals, drums, guitar and bass. Tinkered around with that getting the balances just right. Eventually we are going to record a take and post it online.

Cooked up a turducken (roll) for this evening's potluck. Also, today is Habibi's bday. Go over and wish him a happy b-day. Other items that made it to our potluck: wine, cornbread muffins, rolls, green bean casserole, collard greens, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, and brownies.

I'd had to say the evening was a success. A feast of delicious proportions.

2010.11.25 Thursday

Turkey day!

A feast of fowl, not of beast

Ironed pants, properly creased

Lots of snacks, party mix

City dwellers, country hicks

Morning parades, football games

A lingering hunger, properly tamed

Not my best poem. Spent the day with family, and ate a ton of food. We also played some rock band. I had to take a nap (food coma). Then I ate more food, and slept more. Total awesome.

The chocolate bacon was a hit.

2010.11.24 Wednesday

Hump day... oh wait! This is the "Friday" of the work week already. Heck yeah.

Work was interesting. I'm pretty sure I was one of the last few people to leave the building. Lots of offices remained empty the whole day. The mood was just...different.

Went home, picked up food at my place, then went over and picked up the turducken. Delivered the food to my parent's house. Helped get things ready for tomorrow's feast.

Back at my place, played a little bit on the bass guitar, cooked up some chocolate covered bacon, then slumber.

2010.11.23 Tuesday

Why is it that I am groggy? I went to bed at a reasonable time, even though I didn't feel sleepy at all. I did the right thing and was punished. Thanks universe.

Had class this evening. According to the professor, we only have 1 more class, then the final. That's pretty darn exciting if you ask me.

Then I went on an errand run for thanksgiving related food. Ran into a friend that I hadn't seen in years. I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen him since South Padre trip 2008. Crazy.

Back at home, took care of my tomato plant...by destroying it. I'm going to need to trim up the cayenne and jalapeño plants soon.

Heated up some leftovers, played some minecraft, listened to music and went for sleep.

2010.11.22 Monday

Nice and short work week. Oh wait, schools these days give off the entire week for thanksgiving. Son of a ... Why didn't they do that when I was in school? Oh yeah, because we actually learned something *burn*

Work is picking up and slowing down at the same time. Very confusing.

After work, went over to a storage unit to pick up some weights. I can tell that my strength has taken a dip. That's all fine and dandy, because I'm getting more of a full body workout with skateboarding. It's some cardio and jumping around, contorting and flexibility, precision and dexterity. Oddly enough, my abs are starting to show more.

Cooked up some mashed taters, a hot dog, and some Zapp's chips for dinner. I think I'll be making a big batch of mashed potatoes for the Friday feast.

Worked on some homework and listened to music. This entire evening, I really limited how much TV I watched. I forgot what this feels like. Back in college, I gave up TV. Maybe I'll get more stuff done if I avoid it whenever possible.

In bed earlier than normal. Score.

2010.11.21 Sunday

Sunday already? Dang. Gotta update my fantasy teams.

My parents invited me over to enjoy some chili and beans. Yum. Helped out with a few things, and went on a DQ run.

Went back home, didn't really accomplish much today. Even managed to get myself in bed earlier than normal. Goodbye weekend.

2010.11.20 Saturday

Went to Brushy Creek Skatepark this morning. After a few minutes riding around, I realized that my calve muscles were already worn out. Decided to make use of the time anyways. The big bowl is awesome, the small bowl has some pretty interesting ride techniques. The street area is a little too skinny; you are forced to make sure you aren't running into anybody... and that was without BMX'ers. Speaking of BMX, this one guy showed up with a BMX bike, and not but 3 minutes later a Cedar Park police officer shows up to write a citation and escort him from the premises. This definitely sent some mixed emotions to me. First, BMX and skateboards can mix, but usually don't mix well, so I was kinda glad this guy wasn't going to be riding around. But conversely, he didn't even get a chance to ride around. For all we know, he could have just arrived to watch people skate, or had a friend that he was meeting up with to go on trails or something. Police... i am disappoint.

Back at home, grabbed a quick bite, then started jamming with the guys. This time we tried mic'ing a lot of things, like the drums, kick drum, guitar and bass. I'm rather impressed with the sound. There is always room for improvement and compression, but it sounds clean and mostly balance.

Early dinner with Paul at Kerbey Lane. As expected, the waitress was laid back and not really around that much.. which is fine, but frustrating when you want to pay and leave. We waited around like 20 minutes for the computers to reboot and to print off a piece of paper. I would have paid cash, but they couldn't even print anything.

Went back to my place with Paul, Mark met us there. We enjoyed some Jolly Rancher vodka and observed the A&M vs Nebraska game. Silly that it ended up being 3 field goals beating 2 field goals.

After the game, jammed some more. Courtney showed up and demonstrated her vocal abilities quite nicely. Real life guitar hero/rock band.

2010.11.19 Friday

The end of the work week. Celebrate!

Over lunch time, a group of coworkers got together to play football. Two-hand touch football of course. The weather turned out to be perfect; just cool enough to not get super sweaty, but warm enough to not feel cold.

Wrapped up the work week. It felt really long.

Post work, I went for a skate session.

Spent the evening to myself. Finally, time to sit back and relax. Played around with microphones and drums, music, minecraft, sleep.

2010.11.18 Thursday

This week feels like it has been going by fast and slow at the same time.

Worked an extra long day at work. Also tossed in some group classwork into the mix.

Driving home from work when it is really dark outside sucks. I don't care about having sunlight in the morning. If anything, sunlight in the morning is WORSE because the sun is right at the horizon when I leave, blinding drivers. If I'm on the road between 6:45-7:30a and I have plenty of sunlight to blind me, but at 5:30-6:00p it's completely dark...SOMETHING IS WRONG. Your daylight saving just unbalanced the world. Noon is supposed to be the midpoint.

At home, at some leftover pasta, peanut butter, cheeze-its and grapefruit juice. Fantastic right?

Went out for a skate session. I'm starting to push myself to be more daring. Like jumping over a deck, then 180 over a deck. Landed both of those, pretty scary. Wish there were some sunlight out so I could see what I was doing... Anyways hopefully I can get kickflips and heelflips over a deck down, then I'll start trying to do some gaps or something.

Back inside, I thawed out. Worked on some homework. Yeah... I'm working on homework. *sigh*

Organized some music, and listened to The Window Theatre's new EP, Away (before it's released!). Good stuff. I wish I could put some magic into music like they do. I'm going to have to go skate with those guys soon.

2010.11.17 Wednesday

Another hump day.

Work was productive, yet uneventful.

After work, I cooked up some pasta for dinner. I'm going to need to get some new tires for my car, so I spent a good chunk of time researching that. Also looked up more information about an oil filter adapter that converts my cartridge style into a standard (less expensive) canister style.

So I'm going to go off on a little rant here. Some years ago, car companies got together and decided they wanted to reduce waste and environment impact from vehicles. Pretty sure all the major car companies got together about this. Normally when people change out their oil, they also change out the filter too. "Old-style" filters, or canister filters look like this:

They have a filter on the inside of a metal canister. The goal of the agreement between manufacturers was to reduce wastefulness of tossing out a metal casing with the filter guts. So they designed this:

Not only is this cheaper to replace (less material), but it results in a lot less material going into landfills. If you look close enough, you can tell that these are the same guts inside the canister filters. Unfortunately, car companies went back on their word, and the cartridge style is harder to find, driving up the cost. I know for a fact these things should cost less to make per unit, but they are just so uncommon that even places like jiffy lube will tack on a fee for having such a less-common filter.

My solution is to adapt to what is cheaper for me, at the cost of the environment. Not exactly a great trade-off, but it's pretty stupid that I'm getting shafted by poor business choices someone else made. What do you think I should do?

End of rant.

Went to bed on the early side tonight.

2010.11.16 Tuesday

Work went by mostly normal.

School, that's a different story. I was supposed to present some material to the class, but I either psyched myself out of it, or something I ate was not agreeing with me. So instead, I praised the porcelain gods. Not a high point in my life.

After work and school, I took a mini drive to check out Brushy Creek skatepark. It appears that they do not have lights for evening sessions. With the days being as short as they are, and daylight saving screwing over the light schedule, I may not be able to skate here unless it is the middle of the day.

Back at home, ate some leftovers and did some soldering.

2010.11.15 Monday

Oh hello work, where did you come from?

Mostly typical day at work. I worked a long day and caught up on a lot of work.

After work, mostly just relaxed. Took care of a few things and cooked dinner. Simple day.

2010.11.14 Sunday

Wow the weekends hardly feel football-oriented like they used to. Only team I'm kinda following now is The Steelers, and even then I occasionally miss those games.

Dropped Justin off at his car, then continued north and western towards my old neighborhood to drop Kelc off with her family. I continued onwards to drop myself off with my family. My grandma, or "Busha" was in town to spend time with the family and relax, and heal. We watched some NFL then had a feast.

We had brisket, sausage, cole slaw, and potato salad from Rudy's; then we had chicken and rice caserole, green beans, and crescent rolls. One might say that was a mouth-full (har har har).

As with any major amount of food consumption, I fell rather quickly into a food coma. Usually feels like the best sleep.

I picked up Kelc and headed back to my place. She needed to begin her drive home, so she didn't stick around very long.

Watched some of the Steelers, and got to hang out with Ray and Marisa once more before the weekend was over. These weekends never feel long enough.

2010.10.13 Saturday

Slept in some. Then off to the Skatepark (again). This time Ray and Jacob went too. Since it was midday Saturday, there were a lot more kids. Most of them (including Jacob) could do more tricks than I could. This old man can learn new tricks, just takes longer. I did land a few tricks, like kickflips and 180s. I also had a pretty big fall in the deep bowl area. The bowl is the only part that is becoming a strength for me, and I think I have an upper hand because of my size and leg strength. As a smaller skater, it can be difficult to "pump" the transitions to generate extra speed.

Off to Cedar Park High School for a few games of vennis at the tennis courts. I don't know what it was, but I had a hard time matching the location of the ball and the location of my hand correctly. I'll blame it on the sunglasses. Because nothing is my fault. :-D

Quick run home to take care of the dogs, and feed myself as well. I'm already pretty exhausted for today.

Back out to Tyler's house to play games. Busy Streets. Candy. Soda. Crash.

2010.11.12 Friday

Woke up to head over to round rock's skatepark. Once Kelc and I got there, it started raining more and more, making my session abnormally short.

Made the executive decision to go to Discount Tire Co and get a tire rotation. Surprise! My treads are worn pretty low. How low? Low enough that I may not pass inspection by the time I have to do that (3/32nds I think is what I have left). Cool, guess I'll be shopping for tires now. At least I was able to go inspect my brakes while they had the wheels off. I'm still confused about the wear pattern of my front brake pads. They look rather curved, but the rotor looks fine. Universe, explain yourself.

Well, looks like the sun decided to bust through those storms... oh that was a cold front. Back to the skatepark with free nature-provided air conditioning. Wish I had brought some tools, because that water messed up my bushings and now my skating is squirrelly. This second session, I didn't have the whole park to myself. A van of a bunch of kids arrived. They were all really nice and polite, and never really got in the way of anything. They were actually entertaining to watch skate.

I wore myself out, time to go home. Put some homegrown jalapenos on a CPK pizza for lunch. Then... nap time.

Cooked up an awesome dinner. Steaks, boiled potatoes, green beans, deliciousness.

After dinner, cooked up some chocolate covered bacon. Put some cayenne pepper on some, cinnamon on others, and the rest plain. Chocolate is rather easy to melt in a microwave. I was worried I would have to use the double-pan method with water and carefully balance the temperature.

While that was cooling off, we met up with friends at Anderson Mill Tavern. Played some pool and enjoyed the renovated atmosphere. We arrived kinda late, so before we knew it, it was last-call and they were nudging us out. Went to What-A-Burger and Paul's place to hang out. Kittens are almost not kittens now. Claws... fully developed.

2010.11.11 Thursday

Slow getting out of bed today. On the way to work... the roads were rather empty. What Is Going On. Oh yeah, it's Veteran's Day. Wait a minute, why do so many people get this day off? I work with people who are veterans and we still have work scheduled... but other businesses don't. Poop on that.

Also, poop on the fact that election days aren't national holidays to encourage people to vote. Nation, make some better changes.

I spent a slightly lengthy day at work. Kelc arrived in town. We went on some errands. To the mall to pick up some new skate shoes and a free bra. Then Schlotzky's for dinner, then HEB for much needed food.

Once at home, slept crept.

2010.11.10 Wednesday

I figured out the problem. 3rd time charm. The time change shift that just happened over the weekend (some might call it Daylight Saving, others call it absurd) has thrown off a regular movement of mine. In particular, the bowel movement. On most days, I will eat a snack, then eat another snack at work, and sometimes enjoy a cup of coffee. This morning coffee initiated a bathroom trip, and sure enough my body adjusted to that. But now, the time for bathroom is scheduled at the time I will be leaving for work, making the drive to work a gamble.

Work continued on.

In the evening, took care of things around the house. Pretty plain.

2010.11.09 Tuesday

Woke up rather uncomfortable today. I don't know what it is, but something sucked all the energy out of me. I rolled off the edge of my bed and onto the floor, hoping that a cold draft would wake me up. That only marginally helped. The ground was surprisingly comfortable.

Good news everyone! I figured out what to do about the xb360. My brother wanted it back to play guitar hero and rock band stuff. That means I get to get rid of the drums, guitars, and the system from my room. Problem solved by the universe.

Class was somewhat weird today. Only 2 of the typical 4 Austin students showed up. On the plus side, we tried a new pizza today. Pizza Patron's Mexican style pizza. Actually turned out to be pretty good. I kinda hate their commercials on the radio though.

After class, it was super dark driving home. Thanks again Daylight Saving. Didn't really have much time to do anything major, so I took the 360 to my brother and we caught up on a few things.

For dinner #2 tonight, macaroni. Just macaroni.

Also popped open the computer and vacuumed out a lot of the dust. If I were my high-school self, I would have been disgusted by the amount I let build up.

2010.11.08 Monday

Started off the day incorrectly. As soon as I finished my shower, I had to give praise to the porcelain throne. The steam and steamer don't mix well.

Work definitely felt too long today.

At home, I had to push myself to start getting some things done. To start off, I went skating for a bit to blow off some steam and get my heart rate up. I will need to get some new shoes before I go to the skatepark again.

Next up, put in some laundry, then start converting some more albums to mp3-compatible state. This current round of file conversion will put me right at 1400 albums. I think that is a good point to take a break and listen to whatever instead of sticking to my systematic ways. Cleaned off the pile of mail that was collecting on my desk, then emptied my trash cans. I don't know what it is, but just the inside of my bedroom's trash can smells terrible. As long as I have a plastic bag lining it, it's fine. Otherwise... wtf happened to this trash can. Doesn't even look that great.

I played around with the kill-a-watt a little bit. I have a floor lamp in my room that has a half-brightness and full brightness switch. Really weird power consumption... half brightness is about 80 watts, full brightness is 120. I wonder if I can replace the lightbulb with something that doesn't create so much heat.

Next item to try, an Xbox 360. First off, I have a gripe about the 360. Don't ever design something that requires an external power brick to provide power. Sure a laptop can be lighter without the DC adapter build in, but if you need real portability you'll have to lug around the stupid plug and adapter. Anyways, to my surprise the standby power consumption of this power brick is a measly 2-3 watts. And also to my surprise, the full power consumption of this power brick ranges from 100 to 150 watts. (Theoretically, that number could be an underestimate because I wasn't stressing the xbox to spin up a disc, or access data from the hard drive, or really do anything)

Next item, my cell phone charger. Standby consumption: 0 watts (undetectable). Cell phone plugged in: 8 watts.

If I'm not mistaken, my ceiling fan has 3x 15-20watt CFL bulbs in it. Using that to light my room might be a better choice to keep heat levels down while full brightness is needed. And I guess unplugging my phone charger when my phone isn't plugged into it is useless. What can I do about this xb360 that I stopped playing...

2010.11.07 Sunday

Woke up and finished an episode of Smallville.

Lunch with Ray at Cheddar's. Happy late b-day buddy! After lunch we went out to Shaylah Dame Skatepark, in Round Rock. There are lots of kids that are pretty darn good. I will definitely need to practice later when they won't see me fall.

Kelc and I watched some football, then she left to get back to Arlington. It was very weird not centering the weekend around football.

I measured the power consumption of the mini fridge over the course of 3-days. That should be a fair amount of time for typical usage right? The verdict: 1.67 kWh (kilo-watt-hours). So 3 days is 1.67 kWh....that means 30 days (1 month) is 16.7 kWh. If a kWh costs 8 cents worst-case, then it looks like I'll be spending an extra 16 bucks over the course of a year. That doesn't sound unreasonable.

Spent the remainder of the evening playing some minecraft and watching Sunday night football.

2010.11.06 Saturday

Woke up late. We didn't really have any definitive plans for today, but lots of little maybe's here and there. I made us pick something and follow through with it, and if plans fell through, oh well.

Ended up going out to the lakehouse to help Kelc's mom get settled in. This involved some moving of boxes and supplies, organizing, and just helping out in general. The lakehouse has lots of closets tucked away, so in some ways it is hard to pick where things should go. Oh and I think the water softener might actually be working now.

After that, we went up north into Leander to hang out with friends and play games. The festivities started with a bang; a couple of pumpkins were no match for some fireworks. I was a bit worried about shooting off fireworks with the grass in the dry/dying state, but noticed that the neighbor decided to build a huge fire...for no reason...right next to their house.

We invented a game that was pretty simple at first, but then we realized that we needed to clarify some rules to deal with race conditions, and then it started getting much more complicated. Also, since we were playing outside, we started getting numb.

Back inside, we thawed out and re-fueled with food and drinks. Next up... Risk. The game of world domination. The very end of the game started getting drawn out too much, so we ended with an Kelc and my alliance winning.

Next up, an entirely new game. This game has just about everything, and stretches the limits of creativity. I'm not even sure I can describe it accurately, so I'll just say that it was fun and in the dark.

Drove home, passed out completely. Daylight saving time is ending.

2010.11.05 Friday

End of the work week. Weird having kelc in town while I'm at work. Speaking of work, I'm pretty sure I was one of the last few people to leave the office. I forced myself to stay and finish things.

At home, Kelc and I caught up on a bit of Smallville. The house was a tad on the quiet side because a couple of people were celebrating their 2-year anniversary. Then we watched Primer. I'm still a tiny bit confused about the timeline of events, but I am certain that I enjoyed the dialog and cinematography.

Later, we went over to Chuy's for dinner. By the time we received food, my hunger escaped me. Very unfortunate but I still ate a chunk of food.

Back at home, more Smallville, then sleep.

2010.11.04 Thursday

Crazy day at work. Today was a practice in the art of multitasking. It's a delicate juggle of effort.

Kelc arrived in town just about when I arrived home. It is very weird to have her over on a "work night"

We checked up on my plants, then went skateboarding and checked the mail. I haven't skated in such a long time. It's really hard to want to skate once I came down with that cold. After I dealt with that, the weather also prevented me a few times.

Later on we stopped by my parents house to pick up mail and a kill-a-watt. The kill-a-watt is going to measure the power consumption of the newly acquired mini-fridge. At first glance, when the compressor is running it consumes 0.8-0.95 amps, and 0 amps when it is off (standard 115-120 Vac).

2010.11.03 Wednesday

It's finally starting to feel like Fall/Winter time. The air smells delicious today. Exciting times ahead! I cannot wait.

After a night of letting the fridge run, I checked on it. SURE ENOUGH there is a glaze of ice on the part that is the "freezer". I bet it would feel reasonably cold if things were actually occupying the space in the fridge. There doesn't appear to be anything leaking, and no circuit breakers flipped out. Why would anybody throw this out? Oh yeah, moldiness. Mild bleach, 409, and dish soap should be good enough.

Worked at work, thus the name. Actually left "on-time". Been weeks since that happened. Also, felt weird not having to worry about a kickball game after work.

So instead of kick-balling, I cooked up some taco meat and tortellini. Turned out to be a surprisingly good combination. Meat with seasoning and cheese filled pasta. Yum.

Worked on getting more music on my mp3 player. I actually started considering putting this music listening project on pause for a while. I'm over 1300 albums into the adventure already. It's not from being tired, or boredom, but a lack of resources and organizational preparedness. Don't mean to blame the seasons, but most evenings I have been coming home just really exhausted. Work also gets in the way.

Oh life, getting in the way of...life.

2010.11.02 Tuesday

Work went by quickly, and seemed to speed up at the end.

Went to class. Some fool turns off the computer in the conference room, so it takes 15 minutes to start up everything. Not only that, but being disconnected from the network causes virus scans to happen, so the first 30-60mins of being running everything is super slow. Frustratin' and Hatin'. At least we had Donn's BBQ for dinner.

Home, worked on that mini-fridge again. This time I busted out my trusty multimeter. Started cracking off the back plate where the power cord goes in. Turns out that there isn't much to a mini fridge. Thermostat, compressor, coolant lines, and your box. Maybe 5 wires...total. After playing around with it, figured out that the fridge doesn't like being plugged in when the thermostat is in the ON position, so just turn it OFF, plug in, turn ON...voila! Free mini fridge.... free mold.

Minecraft, and had trouble sleeping.

2010.11.01 Monday

Well world, we are 5/6ths of the way through the year 2010. How does that make you feel?

Work came and went. Simple tasks sometimes take more time than the difficult ones. Frustrating to say the least.

At home, took care of random things. Took a look at the mini fridge that was acquired by unknown means. I couldn't turn it on, and the inside was covered in disgusting mold. I'll put this on hold.

Inflated my tires to their recommended pressure. When is the last time you checked your tires? A simple 30 second check could increase fuel economy, increase the ability to control your vehicle, and lower the chances of a blow out. If you ever see chunks of tires in the road, that is almost always because of a blow out from incorrect tire pressure. Happens the most on big 18-wheelers that are carrying quite a bit of weight.

Also prepped some more music for my mp3 player. I'm running low on options.

Minecraft some, then sleep.

2010.10.31 Sunday

Woke up around noon at the lakehouse. Stumbled over to the tv to turn on some NFL. To my surprise, every guest was already gone. I would have thought that people staying up later than me would need to be sleeping in.

Spent some of the morning cleaning up things here and there. Overall it wasn't a terribly messy party, just lots and lots of soda cans (mountain dew to be specific).

We spent more time cleaning than usual because this house will soon be occupied. Kelc's mom is moving out to the lakehouse. She actually showed up with a bunch of boxes for us to help move into the house.

After that, we took a quick ride out on the boat, and learned how to operate the new dock. I was dunked in the water when my footing slipped from the boat.

After that, we left to grab a late lunch / early dinner at Mesa Rosa. Not sure why, but that seemed like the perfect place to go. Left satisfied.

Went home, watched Sunday Night Football, Steelers vs the Saints. Saints came out on top. And I think I had a mini relapse with Vanilla Coke, because I was hyper and couldn't sleep having not had one.

2010.10.30 Saturday

Lunch at Jason's Deli.

A few last-minute errands, then out to the lakehouse for the party. We had a few things to set up, but the bulk of the setup happened when the idea people arrived.

A few weeks back, Kelc and friends and I went out to the lakehouse to shoot a video. It turned out pretty well, even if it was slightly embarrassing. We played out a few murder-mysteries, played murder-in-the-dark, and tried out a new game called muder-mafia. A bit heavy on the 'murder' aspect, eh?

There were a few things I enjoyed taking away from this experience. One is that it is possible to have fun and party without alcohol, even if everyone is over 21. And two, that there are other people who still enjoy more child-like games (like murder-in-the-dark (not to say that m-i-t-d is a child's game, because we add some interesting complexity to the game)).

For drinks, we had Sunkist, Sunkisk Fusion, Coke, Vanilla Coke, Sprite, A&W Root Bear, A&W Cream Soda, Grape Soda, Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew Code Red, Mountain Dew White Out, Mountain Dew Voltage, and Mountain Dew Throwback (real sugar). Caffeine much?

I ended up finally passing out around 5am, others stayed up through the night into the next day.

2010.10.29 Friday

Kelc went out to the lakehouse to deal with a few things, and I stayed at home taking care of stuff. Some of that stuff happened to be Minecrafting.

When Kelc came back, we went errand running for last-minute halloween costume stuff. Picked up some fabric paint and an air compressor for my car tires. I have quite a bit of fabric painting to do still... and the party is tomorrow!

We watched the remainder of The Game while I painted. For dinner we picked up some Freebirds.

2010.10.28 Thursday

Relaxing end of the work week. Well not completely relaxing, but it's good to know that things went well this week. I finished the week strong, enough that it might be a problem. Sometimes it's hard to figure out where I am actually needed next. Management is mostly about predicting the future... sounds easy right?

At home, I treated myself to some minecraft.

Kelc came over and we watched The Game. Well technically, I watched the whole movie, where as Kelc only watched half of it. The drive to ATX really can take a toll.

2010.10.27 Wednesday

Another busy day at work. I'd have to say that jumping head first into a project has been fun and exciting. Every day is something new, and different things to learn. My grandma and my aunt have always said "never stop learning". Although I might have been a little too young to understand that at the time, I try to follow their advice.

After work, went to our last kickball game of the season, and last of the year. I think they don't start up kickball until the spring... see you guys in 2011? We ended up winning our last game just barely. I was 3rd-base coaching and told James to run it home for the last run of the game.

Went to Docs to celebrate. In some ways, I think it's weird that I won't see these people until next kickball game. Maybe I can change that. I'm thinking a Thanksgiving feast....

2010.10.26 Tuesday

Today was a rather long day. At work, things were definitely picking up the pace. We even went so far as to start things ahead of schedule, which meant my mid-term was being pushed behind its schedule. Oops. I can't really think of any time that academics were pushed around for other activities.

Took the mid-term, just a tad late. Overall I think the test was pretty well planned out. Sure some of the questions were confusing or more difficult, but I think everybody finished right in the allotted time.

Went home, crafted those mines.

2010.10.25 Monday

This week should be interesting. I have a mid term coming up on Tuesday, and work is just about at the peak of activity.

Once I arrived home from work, I went into procrastination mode. I cleaned up the kitchen and my work area in my room, did laundry, cooked dinner, watched MNF. The football game was exactly what I needed for my fantasy football team. I beat one of the top dogs in the league.

Eventually, I played some minecraft... er I mean studied.

2010.10.24 Sunday

Got up and showered. Felt like I sweat a bunch during the night. Very gross feeling to wake up to.

Took the remainders of my guac and stew over to my parents house to enjoy some lunch together. I ate a rather large amount of food for lunch and promptly went into a food coma.

Later on we ate some Wendy's for dinner. I left to pick up a few things at Walmart, then home to sleep.

2010.10.23 Saturday

Recovering today. Woke up and watched the Matrix Revolutions.

Texas played rather shitty today, to put it lightly.

During the game, they aired a lot of avocado commercials. Not only was that just odd, but it made me go out and buy some. Made some guacamole and a mexican stew in the slow cooker.

Mark came over. The gang went bowling and we had an awesome jam session.

2010.10.22 Friday

Feeling about the same as yesterday. At least I've reached a level where it isn't getting worse. It's also nice that I got some sleep instead of staying up all night on medication that made my heart race.

Work's schedule is still pretty tight right now, but I pulled through.

Able to finally get of work closer to my normal departure time. Played a bunch of minecraft and watched the Matrix Reloaded. Taking it easy...

2010.10.21 Thursday

Still recovering from being sick. I probably shouldn't have gone in to work, but the schedule is so tight right now that I feel obliged to do my part.

After work, I played a little minecraft (it's been a while). Then I tried mic'ing up some drums and seeing how that sounded. I'm finding it difficult to get a good bass drum sound. Either I peak out the microphone, or I don't hear it. I'll play around with it later... time to rest and recover.

2010.10.20 Wednesday

Work. Getting sick. :-( My nose was flooding all over my desk.

Kickball game, lost in the last inning. Poop. One cool thing that happened, Hasbro said "hey Andy, kick her home!" meaning to bat one of the runners in... and I actually did just that, plus some. Heck yeah.

Got home and really was starting to feel the symptoms. I think I only pushed myself to the point where my body wants to exert more energy, or something, because I had a hard time falling asleep.

2010.10.19 Tuesday

Work. Class. Home.

Today's class is the last before our mid-term. I feel half-confident and half-confused. I feel like we have done well with our projects, yet I don't feel like I've learned a substantial amount of material to test over.

My throat is starting to feel a tad askew.

2010.10.18 Monday

The work week begins. Over lunch, worked with classmates on some homework.

Once home, did a few things, then left to go pick up food and watch the MLB game with Paul. Also found out that eating enough Rudy's bbq will put you into a food coma. But hey, Rangers won. History is being made.

Home, then sleep.

2010.10.17 Sunday

Woke up more grumpy than normal. Some people just don't know how to be considerate of others.

NFL day, went to Pluckers in Arlington to watch the Steelers games, amongst others.

Watched more NFL at home and took a nap / food coma. Fried food really knocks me out.

Went shopping for some halloween costumes, but nothing really... jumped out.. at us.

Headed home. The work week is soon approaching.

2010.10.16 Satuday

Kelc took GRE. I did homework. College football was off to a decent start. We went during half-time to Dino's Subs to pick up some late lunch. Excellent local place to try out if you are in the area. Back to the UT game, they actually played like a football team today.

After the game, we finished the movie The Man With Two Brains. I would describe the movie as "weird, but entertaining".

Later, shopped for groceries, then watched Minority Report. I cooked some tortellini and ate nutella. By the way, nutella sounds like it should be healthy (called a hazelnut spread) but it is just like a chocolate paste. Consider yourself warned.

2010.10.15 Friday

Went to the skatepark this morning. Mark decided to show up for a bit and try skating around too. Considering that he never gets to ride around and get comfortable on the board, he did very well. I didn't have near as much energy this time around, although the skatepark was nearly empty the whole time I was there.

Went home, packed up some things and prepared for a departure to... Arlington. The time went by faster than I thought it would because my Mp3 player randomly picked awesome albums. Love it when that happens; it's like the universe is on my side.

Upon arrival to Arlington I was greeted by Lindsey's new male acquaintance, John. Seems like a decent guy. I wonder how much longer until he wises up...

John and Lindsey, along with the help of John's brother Jason, cooked a fabulous meal: ribs, steaks, mashed potatoes, sautéed veggies, cheddar biscuits and a salad.

Went home, barely able to stay awake. Started watching The Man With Two Brains.

Zzzz.

2010.10.14 Thursday

Oh there you are, end of the work week. A 3-day weekend is upon me and the only plans I have is going to the skatepark. This should be good.

After work, I realized I do in fact have things I would like to do this weekend. Like washing my car, stopping by home to get mail, mowing the yard, go get groceries... only thing to do is try to tackle things one at a time.

I went out to the garage to start pulling out the mower. On the way past the car, I found this little buddy:

Yep. We ended up setting this thing on fire. I mean look at it; it has hundreds of babies feeding off it. And those disgusting black beady eyes *puke*

2010.10.13 Wednesday

Hump dizzle. Work went mostly smoothly. I still feel like I learn more about the business every day. And I also found out that a coworker pretty regularly trades and sells things in the stock market. Time to poke and prod to learn more about that so I can invest more effectively for the future.

After work, I spent some time cleaning the bearings of my skateboard. Here's a series of pictures oh what that is like for 1 set (there are 8 on a typical skateboard).

After that, went off to play kickball against Pitch Please. Both teams had a few mistakes, but ours just gave up more runs. Maybe next week will be different. Also, I felt like I had a ton of energy this evening/night. Ran around playing football and having fun. Feeling like a kid again.

2010.10.12 Tuesday

Awesome. I stayed up later than I should have and didn't really eat well, so today I am super groggy.

Work was fun. Lots of misdirection and running in circles.

After work I had class. Today I was assigned to give a presentation. The whole week before I wasn't worried about it at all, but when people start telling me everything at the last minute I start to panic. Also, waiting for other people to finish their presentation is nerve-wrecking for me. I'd rather just walk in and get it done.

In the middle of class, the professor decided to assign impromptu presentations also. Meaning I had to give 2 presentations today. The second one I had to pull lot's of junk out of my trunk.

Arrived and home and that's when I really got down to business. I hacked up one of my tomato plants that wasn't producing much, but kept the other one alive. The other one has around 4 bulbous growths that look like it could one day be a tomato. I also watered my pepper plants.

Next up, vacuuming. I did the downstairs, the stairs, and the upstairs area. I was a bit adventurous with the vacuum and went in crevices and nooks, some crannies. The windows had lots of dead bugs and dust, the corners behind the couches had webs with dead bugs, the stairs have collected random artifacts from days long past, and hair from animals and humans alike. I did a small amount of dusting with the vacuum, but that turned out to be less effective than a damp cloth so I switched. I cleaned up the common areas a tad, like the kitchen table, coffee table, and TV stand. I also cleaned up the vacant room a tad.

Then I mopped the downstairs. Hopefully this picks up the dust that I just started pushing around from vacuuming. The goal here is to try and clean up surfaces so that there is less particulate in the air. Maybe this will affect allergy symptoms in a good way, maybe in a bad way, maybe not at all.

Before I knew it, it was time for bed. Productive day.