2011.12.30 Friday

Holy crap this week went by fast. It's almost the weekend and the new year is just around the bend.

Kelc and I woke up from the floor. Neato. More packing and moving.

Ran another errand to the storage unit to shift some things around.

2011.12.29 Thursday

Had an interesting sleepover with Kelc (read that as almost sleeping on the floor). The room is looking pretty barren.

Picked up some chick-fil-a for lunch (IT HAS BEEN A WHILE, NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT ADDICTION YALL). Not much later, Kelc had to go to work. My dad and I came up with a gameplan for shifting around stuff in storage. We made a trip over to the storage facility, dropping off a vehicle, then over to my place to pick up the big stuff, then back to storage to dig around, then home to unload. That sentence was pretty long, but the entire process took up most of the day and most of my energy.

Ate some leftovers at my parent's (soon to be my home as well), then back to my current place to finish up some packing and relax.

2011.12.28 Wednesday - UT Bowl Game

More packing and moving again. Wish there was something more exciting to talk about here, but I don't want to bore you.

Met up at Marisa's parent's house to watch the Holiday bowl game with UT vs Cal. UT lucked out with a lot of good defensive plays, and a handful of breakaway offensive plays. I thought it was a good game with both strong offense and defense.

Stayed later than most, Kelc came over and we played some games. Ray started regretting some of his beverage choices, and that ended our game of Apples2Apples.

2011.12.27 Tuesday

More packing and moving.

Picked up Hasbro and met up with Paul Ray and Marisa for a downtown outing. We went down to Zax Restaurant and Bar for some gift card utilization and late evening treats. The over to Anderson Mill Tavern to play some pool. To our surprise, they had an open mic karaoke night. The place wasn't too packed, so some where daring enough to take the stage.

Dropped of Habs and went back to Paul's to socialize a bit more. Soon everybody was falling asleep.

2011.12.26 Monday

Had a crazy dream last night. Had to do with being in marching band and trying to rally-up everybody because our directors had given up on us. Not really sure what the point of the dream was. If I had to guess, it would be the challenges of getting people energized to put forth effort collectively to achieve something greater than what just one person can do alone. That sounds too deep.

Drove back home to clean and pack some more.

Went over to the parent's place to do our gift exchange. We (again) had some tex-mex dishes and finger foods. The gift exchange went pretty well, except for my brother receiving the same set of Pyrex dishes twice... and he already owned the set. LOLZ. I received a heart rate monitor, a soldering station, a longhorn logo for my car, and a fancy red stapler.

2011.12.25 Sunday - Xmas day

Doesn't really feel like Christmas. My family decided to hold off on the gift exchange until Monday, so I'm not totally sure what I should be doing with today.

I spent the first half of the day dismantling my room and packing up stuff.

Went over to to my parent's for xmas lunch of various tex-mex dishes.

Back home to pick up some things, then ran a delivery to Habs, then off to the lakehouse to see Kelc's family. Played cards and socialized with her relatives late into the evening. I witnessed Kelc's grandma fell down from across the house; her feet were caught up in a chair and she slid head first into a cabinet. Luckily she only had a bump on her head, nothing major.

Went to sleep cozy in a shared twin bed.

Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays.

2011.12.24 Saturday - H-town

X-mas eve is already upon us. The plan for today: drive to Houston to meet up with family for the holiday.

First up was grandma's (my mom's mom for those that were wondering). My sister and her fiance drove separately, so the rest of us just took one vehicle. I played some N64 games along the way there, and once we arrived. We were some of the first to arrive because we actually left early, even though we lived the farthest away. Not much long after we arrived, everybody was feasting on all kinds of delicious foods.

Everybody else was getting prepared for an evening church journey, but we diverged and went to my aunt's (my dad's sister). There we had a mini feast of lots of finger foods, and were able to talk and get caught up with each other's lives.

Drove home and chatted with my dad about various things to stay awake, then home and quickly to sleep.

2011.12.23 Friday

Ahhh, a day off. What should I do... hmmm. Packing and errand-running seems like a good idea.

Spent time at my parent's to help out with preparations for tomorrow's trip to H-town.

Last minute, late-night shopping.

2011.12.22 Thursday

Slept in. It felt amazing. Got up and took a quick shower then hopped on down to work.

Spent the day are work cleaning up and wrapping up loose ends. Today was one of the rare days I am wearing jeans to work. I was told to mark this down on some calendar, but this will work. Also was able to play some awesome volleyball. Mark and I took a lengthy lunch at what-a-burger and sonic. That's right, 2 places for lunch.

Went home and packed up some more. Also did some x-mas gift wrapping. Paul texted me informing me that the happy couple is in town, so we met up at Kerbey for a late night feast.

2011.12.21 Wednesday

Woke up later than my standard time, but still earlier than some of the days I've had.

Had a fun day at work. Played some volleyball with 7 people. It was amazing.

Hit some road bumps with work, so it doesn't seem like we will be finishing our stuff this year. Darn.

Went home slightly early, and didn't really know what to do with myself. Sooo played some games.

2011.12.20 Tuesday

Slept in later today. Felt great.

Work's goal for today: get through as much testing as possible. And we kind of did get through a huge portion. Went home early because the people I needed were leaving.

Once home, a strange thing happened: I didn't really know what to do with my free time. I thought about maybe doing some type of exercise, but I wasn't feeling that energetic. Instead I cleaned up around my room and packed up more of my stuff. Things are starting to look rather bare.

I also spent a good chunk of time playing Mario 64. It is pretty amazing how my imagination and memories don't quite line up to what it looks like now. Everything is more pointy and angular, no smoothness.

Kelc came over with a surprise for me: boxes. Can't have enough boxes.

2011.12.19 Monday

Feels like it should be a Tuesday... this week is going to be fun.

Quick day at work. People insisted on distracting me so I wasn't able to accomplish much.

Rudy stopped by for lunch. Christine and Rudy were in town for a fun trip, and to start preparing for some moving.

Left work early to attend the Hyatt Place work party at Dave n Busters. For some reason, I kept thinking
this was very similar to that one episode of The Office.

Ran some errands after the party. Then went home and worked late into the evening trying to finish up some paperwork.

2011.12.17 Saturday

Picked up some chick-fil-a for myself and Kelc, and took it to her work. She had already eaten so it's good I didn't pick up too much food.

I was trying to head to work today to pick up some things, but I kept hitting pockets of traffic. I have no idea what is going on today, but I don't like it.

Back home, I didn't really have much time to get started on work. I cleaned up then went over to my brother's girlfriend's place for fajitas and gingerbread house creation. Dinner was great even though I wasn't that hungry. My dad and I helped hook up her speaker system that my brother couldn't figure out. Then we started working on gingerbread houses. Kelc and I did a bunch of random things, but all-in-all, every house looked great. I ended the celebration by getting a huge glob of icing on the floor. Go ME!

I post some pictures of the houses if I can remember.

2011.12.18 Sunday

Today I tried to wake up to my normal alarm. It didn't go so well, but I still managed to wake up early for a weekend. Why would I wake up early? So I could go in to work and pick up some files I need because our remote connection abilities have been severed the entire weekend. Thanks IT department.

For the rest of the day, I cranked away at work, occasionally taking breaks to play some N64. I listened to a bunch of music to help keep me going.

Later on in the evening I went over to Habs for a trial-run of turkey. Don't tell anyone, but the turkey was frozen a long time ago, and we are just now eating it. He used an oil-less infrared turkey fryer, and I think the results were amazing. It was rather juicy and tasty. We also had some side dishes and some crappy pinto beans. We watched Sunday Night Football. Feels weird that the season is winding down.

Back home, finished up some radiolab with Kelc, then bed time.

2011.12.16 Friday

Finally the end of the week.

I have a huge chunk of work to complete, but I keep getting interruptions so my speed is hindered. Somehow I still managed to leave work later than I am supposed to.

At home, I didn't really do much. I cleaned up some more, organized a few things, then played N64 and attempted to do work the rest of the night. Justin had some people over to play some poker and hang out, so I hung out for a bit. I'm still grumpy about poker in general, so I turn down the chances to play.

2011.12.15 Thursday

Today there will be no volleyball. Instead, our company is hosting a holiday lunch for everybody. We get a free meal of turkey and stuffing and such. Nice.

At work, I couldn't really get in the flow and get anything done. I had to take a detour to help out Habs and Taylor who were stranded at a gas station without and juice in the battery.

Not too much to say about today. At home I worked on cleaning up some, and played games. No kickball tonight because of the stormy weather.

2011.12.14 Wednesday - Final Exam

Final day is upon us. I tried to maximize sleep in hopes of being in a better mood and have better performance. Hopefully that works. That also means I arrived at work later because there was more traffic. It's lose-lose to leave late.

Another day where the weather was cooperating enough to play vball. Makes me so happy to be able to play. The guys I play with are all nice, nobody gets upset about the scoring or line calls. We are all there just to get out, breathe some fresh air, get some blood flowing, and just have fun. It was another day of crazy hits and amazing plays.

I went back to my desk to find out we had major network problems. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon looking over notes because productivity was shot.

Then the final: I started off feeling pretty good for the first half, just a few speed bumps to slow me down. Then the second half came around. I realized about 1/3rd of the way through the first chunk of the second half that I should have thought out how I wanted to present my answer. Too late now.. can't stop. My solution was to just keep writing more explanations in hopes that the wall of text will help explain my thought process.

I almost got in a terrible car accident on the way home. Two lanes come together for the 183 to Mopac flyover (going northbound on 183). I started picking up speed in the left lane to match what I thought the right lane's speed was, and a truck in front of me was switching from the left to right. That truck ended up blocking my view until I was rather close to smashing into the back of a long line trying to go northbound. My body just reacted and slowed down my car without losing control, and i swerved into the shoulder just fine. Had I not used the shoulder, or reacted just a tad later I would probably be in the hospital. Nice. It would have also been my fault, even though I was blind to the traffic from the angle of the hill and the truck. That would have sucked balls.

Interestingly, my heart wasn't racing at all until after I was safe and back in the lane with everybody else. My adrenaline didn't flow fast enough.

Did some things around the house, then over to Hab's for a fancy "first/last supper". He fired up the grill for the first time and hosted a feast of steaks and fixins. Notable moments of the night: Office Space is entirely quotable and awesome, Costco is an amazing store, the secret recipe of the steaks will remain secret, and citronella torch fuel is ok to spill everywhere without any concern.

Home...not sure what to do with myself without homework to worry about. Oh wait, I still have regular work-work to worry about.

2011.12.13 Tuesday

An unusual spectacle this morning: a dense foggy drive to work. Also still trying to get used to not having a carpool to worry about.

Finally able to vball over lunch. The weather was fantastic. Our last game was rally-point and very close; somehow we extended the game to almost 2 full games worth of points. Lots of amazing hits and digs.

After work, I watched some lectures and studied more class material. In the middle of all that, I played a round of L4D2 and did Ab Ripper X. I think my left hip joint needs some healing time, so I'll back off this coming up week. Back to studying...

2011.12.12 Monday

I woke up quickly to my alarm, but felt like I could go for another few hours. Oh well, let's start the week.

Mostly normal day of work. It's a little weird getting up in the morning by myself, driving by myself, then seeing Habs at work. Normally if I'm flying solo, it stays like that all day. Times-r-a-changin'. No vball. :-(

After work, I met up with the guys at Plucker's for some MNF. The game was less than exciting... Rams versus Seahawks... yawn. The food, on the other hand, was delicious. Our server was polite and attentive too.

Back home, I tried to do some studying. Read through some of our book, flipped through pages and pages of information that felt foreign to me. Neat...a final in 2 days.

2011.12.11 Sunday

Slept in a fair amount.

Today was an errand day for me. I have stuff to pick up, stuff to drop off, stuff to pack, and stuff to unpack.

In the middle of all that, I met up with Ray, Marisa, and Paul at Kerbey Lane for a wonderful breakfast/lunch outing.

After all my errands, I went back home to situate all my belongings. Mark came over and we left for a dinner at Kobe with the Habibi group.

Home, goofed around, slept.

2011.12.10 Saturday

I turned on the TV expecting to see some college football, then realized that the season is pretty much over. Bowls are already picked out. Instead, I finished up season 7 of Smallville.

First part of the day, I spent doing some consolidation and clean up of my computer. I use a handful of techniques and tools to figure out if I have duplicates, or a lack of duplicates.

Met up with Hab's and his dad at Rudino's Sports Bar to watch the soccer game, and grab some grub. I had been to Rudino's before, but the sports bar part was new to me. Pretty neat and cozy little place.

Went over to Hab's to see what was wrong with his computer. I don't really know how to explain this, but he flipped a breaker and shut down his computer, then after turning on the breaker it wouldn't turn back on, then he swapped PSUs, then took out the battery on the motherboard... then it worked. Not sure why the battery makes a difference. I'm so confused.

Took a little trip to Home Depot for some odds and ends.

Went home, did some Ab Ripper X and scarfed down some scrambled protein.

2011.12.09 Friday

Errands today.

First up Discount Tire. I wanted to get a tire patched, the tires rotated and load-force balanced. They ended up not rotating the tires because it hadn't been long enough, and then they gave me a huge discount and didn't charge me for the load-force balancing. NICE. Lots of great guys working there.

Quick stop by Auto Zone to deposit old oil into their receptacle. Then drove around town and did some gift shopping.

Spent the later part of the day cleaning up around the room. Not too much going on. Kelc is giving me the cold shoulder. I decided to go boldly where I haven't in many months: I picked up Smallville again. Started somewhere in the middle of season 7.

2011.12.08 Thursday

Happy half-birthday to me. I chose to sleep on the floor again. I think I get into a deeper sleep because I had more vivid dreams both nights, but waking up is harder. Win some lose some. So I was late to work. Totally fine because I put in so many hours earlier this week.

There was a chance of playing vball today, but we just couldn't muster up enough people. Maybe next week.

I was at work later than I planned because of meetings, but was excited to get home.

Once there, I didn't do much. I spent the late part of the evening performing an oil change. Let's see, put in 4.25 quarts... and 3.5 comes out. Does that sound right? Hmmm.

2011.12.07 Wednesday

I tried something new last night: sleeping on the floor. Why would I do that? Well, lately my upper back and lower neck area seem to be a little achy. If I had to guess, I would say the reason behind that is the long hours I put in behind a computer screen both at home and at work. Sometimes when I get out of bed in the morning, my back feels like it had been curved and hunched over all night, allowing the problem remain. After the first night on the floor I already felt like my vertebrae were more comfortable, although I was pretty drowsy from not getting that many hours of sleep. I'll have to experiment some more to really finalize my findings.

I had to pump up my tire before work. A tad chilly outside.

Work was regular. Class was normal, and less than stimulating.

Did some more work at home.

2011.12.06 Tuesday

Had to sleep in a little today. I've been working long hours lately, so much so that I barely have any time to relax and play games. While other businesses wind down a bit at the end of the year, our is picking up to finish everything, then we wind down.

After work, I spent some more time doing work. Go Go Go.

Crash.

2011.12.05 Monday

Couldn't sleep very well last night.

Worked a lengthy day. Arrived at home, did a few things, then worked some more from home.

Kelc came over later to hang out for a bit. Overall a rather uneventful day, but productive.

2011.12.04 Sunday

Woke up, showered, then zipped over to Burnet Pluckers to watch Steelers game. That's a change-up from the usual location.

Back home after the game, just goofed around. Not much later I went over to my parent's to pick up mail. Then a quick hop-skip-drive over to Walmart for oil, oil filter and some goods. Then HEB for gooderies.

Back home, Ab Ripper X, then eggs (FOR PROTEIN, YEAH).

2011.12.03 Saturday

Woke up to help Habs with some ethernet drops. It took me a while to really wake up. We were standing around in his house coming up with a strategy, and I was kind of staring off into space.

The Time Warner guy that came over was rather helpful and nice. He set up everything quickly, and verified everything was working before leaving. Cool guy.

We climbed around, contorted, cut, drilled, fished, coughed, yelled, punched, yanked, and tested. Not all in that order. The first run ended up working right away, the second one did not because I accidentally sliced a little too far when taking off the jacket of the cable. I think Ray may remember this from our network class in high school, but wiring up network cable can be tedious and frustrating, or it can just magically work. It's a crap chute.

Grabbed some Torchy's for a meal. Delicious.

The other plans for the day for Habs and Taylor was to paint the first coat. I helped out and did some of the edge work and masking. My arms were pretty tired at the end.

Home late. Crashed.

2011.12.02 Friday

Slept in a little today. I worked too many hours this week, so any work done today would be just "for fun". I started getting a flood of text messages around 8a and that woke me up. Within the hour, I was at my desk. Not bad.

I didn't really eat anything for breakfast since I showed up late. Then I skipped lunch. Then I left work at normal times.

After work, Mark found that Cedar Park and Lake Travis are playing at in the playoffs this evening at DKR Memorial Stadium. Quick drive to Mark's, then an easy bus ride to campus, then sitting practically front row at Joe Jamail field. Don't really get that kind of opportunity often. I finally got some food after the first quarter, a jumbo dog and nachos. My body was craving. Oh, and Cedar Park lost, 9-14. The refs appeared to be making some calls in favor of one team more than the other. Poop.

Interesting side story: A new homeowner that you may or may not know just happened to lock themselves out of their house this evening. Oops. I suppose it's good to learn these lessons sooner rather than later.

After the game, we rode the bus back, then took a walk over to Mozarts for drinks. They have a x-mas light show that plays every half-hour or so. Pretty neat.

2011.12.01 Thursday

Sluggish getting up. But what's new, right?

A rather plain day at work. A few of us went over the soccer fields to kick the ball around. We had a groundskeeper come up to ask to ask us questions, but mostly was ok with us playing. Apparently some lady broke her leg on the fields and is now suing. Come on people. The fields didn't break your leg, you chose to play out there. Ugh.

Home, did some more Ab ripper, then pigged out with protein (eggs) and leftovers (thanksgiving).

Then back to work. Later, bed.