2011.08.29 Monday

Did not feel like waking up this morning.

Work flew by pretty fast, until around normal departure time. Lots of things popped up at the last minute and my ride home was delayed.

Later at home, made myself a tasty dinner and discussed home-related things with my mother for good chunk of time.

2011.08.28 Sunday

Today, Kelc wanted to go check out some Open Houses. She put together a few options, I did a minimal amount of research about them. Once she got off of work, we started driving around to check it out.

The first house was in a more upscale neighborhood. The $/sqft ratio was higher than the rest.

The second house had tons of space, but the layout was just weird and had absolutely no backyard.

The third house had recently updated everything, nice backyard, but tiny tiny rooms.

Went home, Kelc took a nap. I felt like taking a nap but played games instead.

Watched some Arrested Development, then went to Applebee's for dinner, then came home to watch more.

2011.08.27 Saturday

Habs and I spent some of the morning swapping some tires on my car to try and figure out where the vibrations are coming from. Results were inconclusive. After putting the spare on the right-front, the car still pulled to the right (could have been an under-inflated spare causing that) and the vibration still existed. So it's either an unbalanced left-front tire, or something crazy going on in the suspension or axle. Or something else that I could not even fathom.

Quick run over to Chik-fil-a for lunch, then over to Fry's to check out what goodies they have for HTPCs.

Picked up Kelc and drove out to Mandola's for a birthday meal with family and significant others. Went back to the parents' after to enjoy some cake and cake balls.

Then over to Kelc's to do some computer things.

Home, Modern Family + sleep. (I'm almost caught up)

2011.08.26 Friday

The work week is wrapping up. Meetings and distractions. This week turned out to be more draining than usual. I was able to leave work at a reasonable time.

Evening was spent not really doing anything out of the ordinary. I took a trip to my parents to chat and rebalance debts owed.

Stopped by Kelc's place for a bit. I missed a text message from earlier asking to go downtown, but by the time I received it, already too late.

Back home, some games, some Modern Family, some sleep.

2011.08.25 Thursday

Ha! Kelc took a weird way to work, and ended up getting a speeding ticket in a school zone. Bummer.

Played volleyball in the rain today. Wait a minute... it freaking rained. Oh boy. Maybe the heat of summer will let up a little.

Left work late because thing kept dragging out. At home I played some games and cooked up a filet. Not much time to really do anything.

2011.08.24 Wednesday

Trying an idea

Today's post is in haiku

All thanks to Michael

Morning was groggy

Not unusual for me

Fixed that with coffee

Declined a free lunch

Of bar-be-que and fixin's

To play volleyball

Worked later again

Making up the time once lost

Traffic avoidance

Later for dinner

Deep-fried wings and fried pickles

Plucker's Trivia

Went home for some sleep

Did not fall asleep that fast

Tomorrow will pay

2011.08.23 Tuesday

Pretty groggified this morning. Bleh.

Work was a tad longer than normal. I had to make up some time from getting in late yesterday. After work, I went for a run (finally). I've been taking a break to see if some muscle strain is from running too much. I think it is not a result of running, but from poor posture / being stuck in an office all day. I think I'm going to try and get back into running and working out. Hopefully the weather lightens up.

Had a simple corn dog dinner at home. Played some games and worked on computers, then called it a night.

2011.08.22 Monday

Left a little early to go pick up some doughnuts for people at work. I've been meaning to do this for a long while now. Unfortunately this also means I had to sit in more traffic than normal, and there was a bus broken down on my normal route causing more backups.

Went over to Kelc's Mom's place after work to deliver a new computer. Well, new-ish. She cooked Kelc and I a nice dinner. It felt like forever since I had something that was home-cooked like that. I'm hoping the transition to her new laptop won't be that difficult since all her normal programs should be there.

Drove home and hit the hay.

2011.08.21 Sunday

Slept in pretty late again.

Met up with Ray and Paul at Kerbey Lane for breakfast. (I'm using the term "breakfast" loosely here... it was around 1pm.)

Hung out after breakfast/lunch at Paul's; we watched some interesting movies.

Back at home, I hooked up all my computer stuff again and took care of my plants. I think they like the shade a lot. They are starting to perk up and grow new chunks. Kelc is stuck in Florida, so me thinks I'll watch a bunch of Modern Family then go to bed.

2011.08.20 Saturday

Woke up comfortably late. Worked on some computer stuff again. Cleaned my sheets and laundry. Took care of my plants (some aren't doing so well in this relentless heat). I noticed that the angle of the sun during the brightest part of the day provides some shade if I move them to the other side of the patio. We'll see if that helps.

Off I go to a ... (drum roll please) ... LAN party! Well, it was more party than LAN, but still fun. We attempted assembling a trampoline, played Halo and various games. We took a mid evening break over to Sonic/Whataburger for food. Watched some Reaper, then passed out.

2011.08.19 Friday

Took my car in for a tire rotation. They didn't take very long to get everything done, and I was left with a neat receipt. The misspelling of my name and address just happened to sound like an asian stereotype.

Stopped by HEB for a few goodies.

Watched a bunch of Modern Family while working on computers and stuff. Then took an awesome nap. It felt like two awesome dreams back to back. Normally my dreams aren't that vivid.

I finished installing the last wireless card into a laptop, so I decided to take a trip over to my parents to deliver some computers. We got caught up on things and chatted. I've been meaning to spend some time over there to help out with a few tasks, but time has not been on my side.

Later on, I received some texts from far away travelers telling me they are in town. Picked up some Whataburger for dinner and spent some time with some friends pretty late into the night.

2011.08.18 Thursday

Woke up with a scratchy throat this morning. After drinking some water the symptoms went away. I wonder if it's something in the air or a sickness coming on.

The work day went pretty smoothly. I was able to get a good chunk done, then I had to drop Habs off at the airport. Then... I went back to work. Sweet. Stayed there late, but I got everything done that I wanted. Score! Not having a cloud hanging over my head all weekend.

Went home for a bit, then was summoned to Mark's to install some wireless cards. After some googling and reinstalling, we were able to get wireless working on Ubuntu. I'll have to say that is the first time I've seen wireless work from the ground up.

Went home again, ate some corn dogs (Score!) and enjoyed a relaxing evening.

2011.08.17 Wednesday

My sleep was interrupted a few times through the night. The weirdest part was waking up and feeling ready to get the day started... at 3:30a.

Went to play volleyball over lunch. We will be losing a player for her to go back to school, and this coming up week another player will be out on vacation. It might be less common for us to be able to organize a game.

Post work, I didn't really do much at home. Quick hop-skip-jump over to Pluckers for trivia night. I was able to help answer a few questions this time. Hooray!

Over to Kelc's afterwards to hang out. Apparently she will be leaving on travel early tomorrow, so I'll be kelc-less yet again.

2011.08.16 Tuesday

At some point in the night, the air return for the air conditioner popped open, letting the filter fall to the floor. Usually that makes a crashing noise and wakes me up...but not this time.

Let's see... pretty plain day at work. Went home and started playing around with the computers again. Still waiting on some wireless cards to come my way so I can test and get rid of these laptops.

Later on in the evening, after some rather precise timing, Kelc arrived in atx. She had been working in Grand Prairie for the past few days, and had worked 10 days in a row. Hard^core.

Watched some Death Note and ate a later dinner, then sleepy time.

2011.08.15 Monday

Woke up before my alarm today. Not sure why. That is always a bummer when that happens.

Work was full of interruptions, so much that I didn't feel like I was able to get much done. Fooey.

At home, I finally compiled some data together. It's been a long time since I updated anybody about this, but here are the results:

Started 02/02/2010
Album Count: 1600
Tracks Listened: 18,477

Average Number of Tracks per Album: 11.548
Average Year Album was Released: 2000.727
Time Listened: 1271hrs 29mins 29secs
Days Listened: 52.979 days
Digital Size of Music: ~138GB

Crazy huh? Crazy that I kept track for 1.5 years, and crazy that I've accomplished that much. My pace for listening to music has definitely dropped since I first started, but that's because I ran out of stuff to listen to. Any suggestions would be appreciated :-P

2011.08.14 Sunday

Took care of a much needed oil change today. I've determined that performing this in a garage is many times easier and more comfortable, and taking my time allows me to use just 2 shop towels to get the job done. Less mess = happier environment.

Thawed out a filet mignon for lunch/dinner. I rubbed salt on the meat and let that sit for an hour or so (trying to get it to room temp). Then heated up some bacon drippings in a pan. I'm hoping I can get away with using that instead of wrapping in actual bacon. I ended up cooking it just about medium, maybe a tad close to the rare side. It was fantastic. Many many times cheaper than a restaurant. Mmmmm.

Spent the rest of my time around computers. I wonder if they will give me cancer.

2011.08.13 Saturday

Let's see... 3am plus 8 hours or so.. 11:30a. Sounds good.

Spent most of the day working on those systems. Trying to get everything just the way I want it. I'm not sure if windows likes my raid idea, and ubuntu refuses to use it. Cool.

Some of my family came over after lunch to hang out for a little.

Most of the day was uneventful. Games off and on, researching things online, watching Death Note, Modern Family, installing stuff. Typical nerd.

2011.08.12 Friday

Actually able to get up and get to work at a more normal time. Hooray for getting to bed at a decent time.

Work went by quickly. I received a phone call from Kelc saying she will be spending the weekend at a different site...in Grand Prairie, Texas. Neato. Guess that means I'll be able to play around with computers more. I thought there might be some volleyball happening today, but it never panned out. I started looking around, and nobody from my hallway was in today, and most of my work group was out. Guess now I can really get some work done. I snatched up some computers from a computer sale we are having... going to be fun.

By evening, I was jumping back at forth between various screens from a multitude of machines. Fun fun fun fun.... It's Friday.

Later on in the evening, Habs, Taylor, and I popped open a bottle of wine and watched 4 episodes of Arrested Development. Oh how I miss this show.

2011.08.11 Thursday

What's this? Cloudy skies. What is going on?! Oh wait, they are leaving and not depositing any liquids upon us.

Worked a long and productive day. Managed to get some volunteer work too.

Arrived at home late. Changed into more normal clothes, then headed outside to take care of my plants. I decided to put an end to the in-ground okra plant. It was growing more okra than I wished to consume, and was getting big. Also, it's not like I can pack it up and move it anywhere. Then I took some time and carefully cut away the dying parts of the tomato plant. Tedious. Then I mixed up the old cilantro pot and hopefully will get some new sprouts of cilantro to eat. Then I pulled some basil seed pods and started crushing those up to get the seeds. Free seeds! I also started investigating the cayenne pepper plant; getting some nice growth there.

Back inside, I cleaned up the kitchen some and cooked up some oatmeal.

Surfed the internet for a bit, then went to bed.

2011.08.10 Wednesday

Woke up late this morning. After getting ready and on my way out the door, I was stopped by a cockroach. What a B. I sprayed it down, and swept it outside.

Arrived to work later than normal. The day flew by pretty fast. Lots of things happening at the same time. I don't do multi-threading very well.

Left work late, quick stop at home to change, then off to Plucker's for trivia night. The ground was sticky, some bees were hovering around, and we didn't do so hot. Still had fun though. I made a solid contribution by knowing some X-games related trivia. Yay.

Back home. Goofed around, then went to bed.

2011.08.09 Tuesday

The London riots continue today. There have been reports of businesses completely burned to the ground. During my morning listen to radio news, it seems that reporters are saying the rioters are teenagers, using cell phones and new technology to organize their destructive activities. The problem I have with saying this is that I bet while the majority of rioters might be young adults or teenagers, that doesn't exclude other age groups. That kind of statement only creates divisions in society. It seems like the intelligent thing to do is address the reason they are rioting. Maybe that is easier said than done. The entire situation makes me sad.

Back to work. Took a slightly longer lunch break and went to Ichiban for a going-away lunch. On the way back, we listened to a Sappy Songs mix cd. That was interesting.

Stayed late at work. Went home... didn't do much... then napped. Napped until late. Woke up, rehydrated, ate some leftovers, then back to sleep.

2011.08.08 Monday

Took a mini detour to the hotel this morning to wish Kelc a happiest of birthdays.

At work, I like to occasionally stay on top of the news and current events. The US's credit rating dropped, which has a lot of speculation of what might happen as a result of that. One thing that did happen was a hefty drop in the stock market (or at least what the major indexes stated). Also, some rioting has broken out in London. I'm not sure what that is all about, maybe it is just coincidence, or maybe it is because of the credit rating drop, or maybe someone is creating news to distract us from this credit rating stuff. Who knows for real.

After work, I spent most of my evening trying to get a CS:S server up and running with some modification packages. This stuff is less straightforward than most websites make it seem. By the end, I was able to get the quake sounds ("headshot" and "m-m-m-monster kill") working along with granting some admin privileges associated with my account. I wasn't able to get any rcon commands working, but I think that might have something to do with me running the server as a local/lan server instead of a public one.

Kelc came over late and we took a little trip downtown to Sullivan's. There we had an awesome 3-course meal with filet mignons. Ended up being a good deal too, if you know what to ask for.

Back home... sleep.

2011.08.07 Sunday

Woke up and finished Episode V (Empire Strikes Back). According to Coleman, this was the worst reviewed of the original trilogy, but later became the favorite among hardcore fans. I felt like Episode IV was a bit more ridiculous plot-wise, but Episode V has some nice twists yet flows somewhat more logically.

Anyways. Kelc cooked up some mac+cheese for lunch. Then we went to drop off the movie at blockbuster (I wonder when that won't even be possible anymore). Back to my place, played games and relaxed until Kelc had to leave for work.

I continued to play games, but also did some research on houses and servers and random stuff.

Later on, I went for a run. I did some intervals of intense running and walking. I went over a mile in just 9 mins. Too bad I can't keep that up for much longer.

2011.08.06 Saturday

Waking up today wasn't too bad. I consumed more water than alcoholic beverages, and that turned out well.

Kelc and I left to grab some breakfast/lunch at Jason's Deli. It was crazy busy with a kid's team of some sort. We swapped out A New Hope with Empire Strikes Back as well.

Went over to Kelc's to watch some of Episode V, but we were both having trouble staying awake. Kelc's mom ended up contacting us if we were free to help her with some things, so we assisted and went to share a meal with her.

Later on in the evening, went over to Kalen's place to play games and murder in the dark. I'd like to say that knowing the floor plan to a house is a huge advantage. After that, we did what all kids do... built a fort. It was awesome. Lamps were almost broken, couch cushions and pillows everywhere.

Back to Kelc's for sleep.

2011.08.05 Friday - Justin's Bday

Well, I slept in some today. That was nice. I was planning on performing an oil change, but according to my records, I can go a bit farther before needing it. Guess I'll play some games in the mean time.

Habs started playing around with some new systems he acquired. Turns out he doesn't have a proprietary cable that comes with certain video cards. Ha. We went to chik-fil-a then Fry's to see if they had some.

Fry's employees gave us the deer-in-the-headlights look whenever we asked them for assistance. Quite entertaining.

Back home, did some preparations for the event tonight. That mostly means I picked up my room and things around the house. Went to pick up some chips and ice as well.

Kelc came over and we watched ... *drum roll* ... the original Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope). Somehow she got this far in life without seeing the movie in its entirety. Once we finished that, people started arriving.

The party was fun. I was able to show Kelc's friend Matt a new side of my life. One that includes people consuming beer and yelling obscenities. Typical young adult things. We played darts a few times, and he played some beer pong.

At the end of the night, everything started winding down. We had 1 person that wasn't feeling too well and 1 guy that was really creepy acting. I stayed up to help the sick one, and a funny/odd thing happened; as soon as we got him laying down, he was much more coherent and cooperative. I guess the angle provided in the bathroom was hard on his body.

Eventually I got some sleep.

2011.08.04 Thursday

Knowing that I didn't have to wake up as early caused me to wake up late. Cool. And I'm super tired today.

Got to play some volleyball with the vball crew at work. A guy I haven't played with showed up today. It was fun and fast.

Wrapped up work, then headed downtown to a happy hour for a coworker that is leaving us. Iron Cactus was the place of choice. I hadn't been there before, but it was pretty good. We got there late enough that the heat wasn't too much of a problem.

Left late. Home, sleep.

2011.08.03 Wednesday

It is nice that showers do not take as long with shorter hair. I like that. But I do miss the longer hair.

Work was more engaging, but still pretty plain. I tried milk with my coffee instead of creamer, it was mediocre.

Went for an evening run when it was still 103F outside. I could feel myself trying to sweat, but it would evaporate quickly. Overall I ran about 3 miles in 30 minutes (close to a 10min/mile pace), but in actuality I took two breaks from running to catch my breath and let my heart rate come down a bit. So maybe, just maybe, my pace was faster than what I have been averaging for a while. I'll need to do some more statistics to confirm.

Cleaned up, ate some food, then off to Plucker's (again) for what was left of trivia night. I showed up with about 2 rounds left. Kelc's team did pretty awesome, and I didn't really help out. Good job yo.

Back home. Felt exhausted but had a hard time falling asleep.

2011.08.02 Tuesday

A lot groggier this morning than I expected. Off to work.

Post-work, got myself a new haircut. Then hopped over to Pluckers for a mini meal and socializing. I ate quickly, then we left to go to Harper Park for some outdoor fun. Nearby was a Dairy Queen, so obviously we had to have blizzards.

After the ice cream, we went over to Matt's house to play Clue. I'm terrible at this game.

Home. Sleep.

2011.08.01 Monday

The song I despise came on this morning. Great start to the week.

Work flew by, which is both good and bad. I had quite a bit of time wasted on people wanting to discuss various things. C'est la vie.

Home: did some laundry, went for a run in the heat of the day (103F outside), played some Just Cause 2. Pretty plain day.