Summers' over? NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo

Yup, schools already started, its Labor day this weekend. Summer is over. After 6 weeks of hellish math to start the summer the second half was rather short.

It started out well, with two weekends of successful parties by yours truly, but after that I quickly found myself bored! I had been working so hard in school I didn't know what to do with myself outside of work.

Of course a few weeks later I got used to relaxing again, just in time for school to start last week...
This semester I am taking a Cisco Pix class, a Database Design class, and Statistics, which is hopefully the last class I need to graduate with my AS and my certification to move on to a CSU. I turned in my graduation request form yesterday.

Last weekend, it turned out Minori-san was in San Francisco for an internship that is over on Sept 2nd. So I drove up Saturday afternoon after my math class and spent the night walking around fisherman's' Wharf and talking with her till 3am. I wanted to see Winston (link to blog at right) but shortly after getting to S.F. my crappy cell phone died (I hope to get a new one soon) and it was the only thing I had with his number.

Still, it was really nice seeing Minori-san again. I once again tried to get her to move to Southern California for some extended period of time but sadly I don't think it is in the cards. (That doesn't mean I cant try tho!) Next time I gotta get out to Japan to see her. It is definitely my turn.

I have re-discovered Audible.com and have been listening to some really good books.
A Short History of Nearly Everything and On Intelligence are very highly recommended. I posted the Amazon links because I know many like to read, I prefer the audio books, especially on long car rides. Almost makes me wish my commute to work was more than 10 minutes.... almost ^_~

This weekend is yet another party weekend. Last of the summer. Saturday is to be the big time, and Monday will be a BBQ at my house by the pool. If you know me you should come. ^^

Once again, I am going to try to get myself to blog more often. There's a lot more I would like to post but I can never seem to find the time. I am just never at my computer anymore, which is very, very strange for me...

Links of the day!

The IPod Terrorist Yet another one of those stories that underscores the fact that even though we are combating people who are stuck in the 14th century, we prove ourselves no more intelligent.
Firefox-dog for all you misguided firefox freaks. Go IE7!
The/WTF Mac Store another post for misguided computer users ^^

The Rubios Girl gave me crabs...

And we havent even had a date yet...

Links of the day!

Stupid Laws Another round!
KillerNIC a "gamers" network interface card. Proving yet again 'hardcore gamers' are idiots with too much money.
A hoax that everyone seems to believe

Christmass in June/Math is hard (the sequel)

Once again, its been a long time. Oh well, quality over quantity!

A few weeks ago, I was in Gainseville Florida for training on some of my companies products. I expected it to be the middle of nowhere but my hotel was actually right across the street from University of Florida. Still it was summer so all the colege girls were gone and it was humid as hell.

While there, I basically live for free, work picks up food and car and such, I just buy beer. I also got my bonus at work. So I decided to spend it all on sillicon! (And there was no one named Bambi involved.) I decided when I got back I was going to have Christmass in June, and here is the result.



Thats a new wireless router (Linksys WRV200V which has tons of features but I am currently RMAing because the second I launch torrents I loose any reliable connection to the internet. (and I am wired into it...)) A netgear gigabit router, 4 gigabit network cards, a new bluetooth adapter, the battery backup for my raid card, a 120 gb hd giving me 6 total to raid together, a couple japanese books that I will read who knows when, an asus micro-atx motherboard to replace my broken tv comp one (building sff case, ill take pics when I do it) and the sound blaster xfi platinum that started all this because it was on sale on amazon for almost $100 off. Not pictured is the Nintendo DS which I preordered and got the day after it came out in the mail. (It came out on a Sunday.)

The Linksys WRV200 has really great features, its basically a business class router and was cheap. Sadly I have to RMA it because it doesnt handle loads very well, I am truly hopeful its replacement wont exhibit the same problems.

The Xfi platinum... just rocks. I am amazed at how well it can turn an mp3 into surround sound. I previously had an Audigy 1, so it is a big upgrade. Very nice.

The Nintendo DS is just amazing. They fixed the one big problem the old one had- it looked like some 80s kids toy crap. I already beat The New Mario Brothers, Brain Age and Big Brain Academy are great, and so is Metroid Prime Hunters. I discovered this week I can use the ports on the front of my computer the Xfi gives to put the DS into surround sound, and that just rocks.

In other news, while I was in Gainesville I started my online math class. College algebra. Ya, sounds easy, and kinda is, ecept its been ages since I have done this kind of math and it is 17 WEEKS OF MATH IN 6 WEEKS. It is a crushing pace. I bascially go to work all day then come home, take a nap and do math till midnite. Final is this Thursday, and I have to do the chapter test for ch11 then all of chapter 12 and study before that. But if I can get a B on the ch11 test tomorrow, and find time to do the rest of the homework, I can get a 42% on the final and get a C.


My mom had surgery the middle of last month to replace her ailing knee. It was quite nerve racking but 6 weeks later she is doing quite well. Her knee still doesnt extend fully, a hold over from the compensating her body did with her old knee for years. Right now she has to wear this brace that stretches the knee 4 hrs a nite, and it is pretty painful for her. She is doing well though and we are all pulling for her.

I havent mentioned this previously, but I have become very good friends with a woman from work named Beverly, it is strange how well we get along in just a few months time. She bought herself a motorcycle today mostly on impulse, (starting yesterday) and she had a lot of second thoughts about it especially because her mother gave her such a hard time begging her not to. Sometimes you just gotta do things for you tho, even if there are risks involved.

My other friend Chrissie's 25th birthday is tomorrow. She is having dinner then going out drinking. Sadly I can only go to dinner because of evil math. It is so worth it if I pass tho. I plan to take the math placement test the week after the final so I can hopefully test out of my last math class. Anyway I think she will love her gift, about a month ago she mentioned to me in passing how much she wanted a nice jewlry box.... ^_~

Till next time, whenever that might be.

Links of the day!

A good wifi security guide
Duke Nukem jokes are old but still funny
The Tron Guy Truly scary

My Ja4 project- Tsuru no Ongaeshi Blooper Special!

A bit overdue here, but this was my groups project for Japanese 4 That I turned in two Thursdays ago.



Direct youtube link here

Of course, if you dont know Japanese a lot of it will be lost on you. It also helps to know the original story, which is a famous Japanese childrens tale. The Grateful Crane There are many versions of the story, Ours stars an old man and his wife and the crane, not the young man in the link.

There are also many in-jokes from our class since we have all been together for several semesters now. So I made a translation / notes page together with my group mate Katherine and here it is:
The Grateful Crane Blooper Special Translation
You can watch the video there too.

In other news, on Monday I leave for Florida for two weeks for training in one of our products from work. Not Miami or anything, Gainsville, aka swamp land. It should be relaxing however, nice to get away no matter where it is.

Also, my server is coming along quite nice. I just got the 3ware 9550SX RAID controller for it, and am playing around with the 4 drives I have for it so I can fully understand how to configure and repair the RAID 5 before I buy the other 4 hard drives. My mistake so far was to Format a 745gb array without using quick format, it has been running all day and is only at 30%. ^^;;

Also, I finally got to talk to Minori san on MSN today! She was awake at 3am her time when I got out of bed after her big date that she kept switching the subject away from. ^^

PS: I know I dont update much, but I have been going for quality over quantity. I have been very busy these days, but work and school arent generally that exciting to talk about. Till next time!

Links of the day!

Other links above are the main stars, but Ill give one other
Church Sign Generator I stole this from Katherine too ^^

Ugh

Its 4am. Im wide awake. Tried getting up and doin stuff. Tried workin out. Tried havin a couple beers. But now its 4 am so am so I'm going to go lay down till I have to go go work...

--

Nobuko and Minori

Once again it's been AGES since I have written. Interesting things have happened, including a work trip to Iowa State University, beginning Japanese 4 with a new teacher, my main computer being a pain in the butt, and general hijinks.

But nothing has quite gotten me to blog until now.

A couple weeks ago, Nobuko, one of the girls I met in Kyoto 2 1/2 years ago (so long! T-T) emailed me saying her and Minori (another girl from the program) were coming to my area and wanted to see me.

I was immediately excited. These girls (and many, many others) had sacrificed basically ALL their free time for us, even neglecting their studies, for one month. I was glad at the opportunity to in some small way pay them back by showing them around MY hometown.

So I took the day off of work on Friday, and since Monday was Presidents Day (thanks George & Abe) that meant a 4 day weekend. Friday, I picked them up in Riverside and took them to Newport pier. Was a bit cold to do anything but walk and look, but it was fun. Then we met Thu (another American from the program, see blog at right) for lunch at Rainforest Cafe at South Coast Plaza. Afterwards we did a little window-shopping and I had to take them back to Riverside, which turned out to be a two-hour tour of Riverside because Google local's maps were not quite accurate. Still, they got a big laugh every time I made a U-turn.

We said our goodbyes and they said they would call me, but it was generally uncertain weather we would see each other again before they left Tuesday. (Today, they are probably in LAX right now)

Luckily, they called me Saturday night, saying they wanted to go to Disneyland the next day. I had promised all the Nihonjin (Japanese people) that if they ever came to America I would take them to Disneyland so of course I agreed.

We got to the park about 1pm Sunday and it was very crowded. Even though there is a Disneyland in Tokyo, they had never been before. Minori had never even been to an amusement park and said she was too scared to go on the MERRY-GO-ROUND! Nobuko loved 'jet-coasters' so she was good to go. ^^ Minori ended up being very brave and going on all the fast rides at Disneyland that day, although clutching Nobuko and screaming most of the time. Still I think they both had fun. ^^ We all really enjoyed the parade and hanabi (fireworks) at the end of the night, and left pretty much at closing.

Because I am a 'local' they sold us these '2fer' tickets for the regular admission price that let us go back to California Adventure for free any time in the next 60 days. Of course Nobuko and Minori did not have that long, and I joked we should go back there the next day for some 'real roller coasters' to kid with Minori.

The next morning they wanted to go! So off we went, and California Adventure is pretty cool. It was my first time so I wasn't much of a guide, but it was really fun. The rides are much more 'adult' the first one we went on was Tower of Terror, and after that Minori was very scared of any other ride.

We did the water ride next, which I got soaked, and then Soarin' California which was kind of like Star Tours. We took a break to shop (I bought a sweatshirt rather than go back to the car to get my jacket) and then Minori suggested we go on the Ferris Wheel. I couldn't believe it because it is one of the tallest rides and she is afraid of heights. Near the front of the line, she got major cold feet, but did not run away. When the ride started swinging, she screamed for her life. I told her it was optional weather we want it to swing, and I honestly thought that was the truth, but I was wrong. (^^; sorry Minori!). When we got to the bottom she was all ready to get off, but you get sent around twice. I honestly felt bad for her.

Especially since afterwards, our fast-pass was ready and so we went on California Screamin, the one real roller coaster in the park, complete with loop. Minori was terrified but I think Nobuko loved it. After that it was shopping, Denny's (too late for anywhere good) and home to bed.

I've mostly mentioned Minori, because her fear of the rides was a major topic of the weekend, but Nobuko was wonderful. She taught me lots of new Japanese slang and Kansai-ben to help me fail Japanese 4. (Test tonight I haven't studied for, I am thinking of skipping ^^;) It was really nice seeing them both and it makes me want to go back to Japan EVEN MORE than before, I didn’t think that was possible.

As for my Japanese, they laughed every time I said anything, which made me a bit self conscious, ( ^^;) until I realized they basically laughed every time I said ANYTHING. (^^;;;) Apparently I am 'tension ga takai'

This morning, I left for work about two hours before Frank, another person from the program, came to pick them up and take them to the airport.

They gave me a rubber Mickey bracelet (like the kind that are popular now) and both have matching ones, like friendship bracelets, a Disneyland pin with my name on it (I had been joking around looking if they had any pins with their names on it.) and the sweetest card I have ever gotten, with heartfelt messages from both of them and little drawings of us at Disneyland and at the beach all over it. I had bought them both hats at the park, Minori a leather bomber hat with Mickey ears and Nobuko a Stitch hat with his ears, horns, and fur on it.

I didn't want to leave them this morning. Seeing them again after two years only proves that my memory of them as two of the sweetest people on the planet was not just made falsely rosy by time. They really are wonderful people. All of the people that supported us in Japan were. And I hope to see them again very soon.

Which makes me ask- where are the rest of you? Get out here so we can go to Disneyland too! ^^

Today my feet are a little tired from standing and walking 12 hrs a day for two days straight, but I am not tired. Being around them is very energizing. Nobuko san to Minori san mo meccha iyashikei da yo. Arigatou gozaimasu. ^^

Links of the day!

my lotds are very old too, but that doesnt mean theyre not good.
DS Game!I cant really tell whats going on but I want this game!
Super Mario War Someday I'll have time to play this, I swear...
Seventh Sky To round out the game theme, heres a fun flash game.

Iowa?

First post of the new year, yay.

Just confirmed my travel plans today, work is sending me to the University of Iowa the week of the 16th, coming home Friday night. It also means I miss my entire 2nd week of Japanese 4, which I have been studying to be semi qualified for again for the past 2 weeks.

Yay?

It should be fun, get a hotel room and rental car and meals and such on the company's dime, but I own no warm clothes at all so I might die. I might have to see what nightlife in Iowa is like, maybe I'll take pictures and put em here. Maybe if theyre nieve enough I'll tell em I'm a casting director and they can warm me... ^^

Actually with my natural space heater ability, it might be fun to walk around in short sleeves the whole time and make everyone wonder why THEY'RE so cold when the CALIFORNIAN is just fine. Bet I could do it too. Low is 29 today and high 47 tomorrow. I can totally swing that.

Im gonna try to buy my Palm TX today when I get off work so I can hopefully get it before I go. I hope the hotel or the University has wifi.

After all, what the hell else am I gonna do in IOWA...

Links of the day!

Futurama! I got the 'Born to be a Beurocrat' song stuck in my head yesterday and googled it up, knock yourselves out.
Akihabara News If you like shinny, blinking, tiny electronics things, heres a news site for you.
Quantum Trickery A long but very interesting article on all the crazy stuff physisits are doing these days, like having the same particle in 2 different geographic locations at the same time...

Work is hard

Hard @ work, playin on irc

Somebody stop me!

The Mask references aside, seriously, I need help.

So I got my first steady paycheck in forever, and got final checks from my two major clients as well, which about equaled another paycheck. Was I smart and put it all away for my next rainy day?

Of course not, I've been on a toy buying spree.

Not entirely my fault, theres just soo many things over the past year or so that I have said to myself 'I can get it when I get a new job' and of course here we are.

So what have I bought? Well I started out smart. Putting $500 into savings and buying some work clothes and nice new belts, and I decided to get a Nvidia 6800 Ultra video card since my friend found a deal on the anandtech forums and its a good time to upgrade, afterall, a faster AGP video card will probably never be made.

Then it got interesting, deals came my way. Last Monday, I found the dell 2005fpw 21" flatscreen for the cheapest I have ever seen it $599 - 25% - 100 + free shipping = $360 shipped. Normally thats to much for me on comptuer parts, but I spent $450 on my 19" CRT 5 years ago and it has lasted me beautifully, but gained a scratch near the center a few months ago. Since I spent less than $100/year on the last monitor, this new one was deemed worth it. I also bought a 6 bottle inverted liquor dispenser on sale for $30 at Linnens and Things on Black Friday.

My Palm Lifedrive is also finally going to go thru. Meaning another big hit to my bank account, but I've been drooling over this forever. (I have wanted wifi in my palm for two years.)

Then came the real toy. Frys had a sale of a Nintendo DS with Mario Kart and 2 crap games (some poker crap and Madden 2005) for $159. So on Saturday I went and got that too.

But honestly, blowing my first paycheck on toys is fine. I have no bills and I deserve to celebrate a bit.

Am I done? Hell no, I have a new game machine to feed. Gonna go get Metroid and Castlevania at lunch today and maybe get up to frys for a Linksys WRT54G (on sale for $30 till tomorrow) between work and class.

Oh and work? I'm there now. I love the place but really wish I was more useful, I have nothing to do so far today. Almost makes me want to whip out my DS...

Links of the day!

theyre hard to do at work, but I have a few on my iPod/glorified usb thumbrive
Sweet Backgrounds of Tokyo and other areas of Japan. Ya it's in Japanese, but pictures are pretty universal.
Alive in Kyoto a photography site/blog/more backgrounds. Didn't have a huge ammount of time to check it out but it seems promising
Military cutbacks shouldnt have to cause this

Funny story of the day

[20:58] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> so funny story of the day
[20:58] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> actually yday
[20:58] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> i rebooted after 11 weeks
[20:58] <+thatguy> k
[20:58] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> and was thinking 'watch my comp not boot'
[20:58] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> and i get this 'windows cannot access the boot partition' error
[20:58] <+thatguy> ahaha
[20:58] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> oooohhhhkkkkaaayyyyy
[20:58] <+Tenchi[BOT]> http://data.4chan.org/b/src/1132980345507.jpg fear
[20:58] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> so i shut it off and continue my phone conversation
[20:58] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> an hour later when i was off the phone, it boots right up
[20:59] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> then i have a login prompt
[20:59] <+thatguy> nice
[20:59] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> and i cant remember my password....
[20:59] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> and i try all these different passwords, then finally just log on as Administrator
[20:59] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> as the admin acct is loading i remember
[20:59] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> duh
[20:59] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> there is no password.....
[20:59] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> so
[20:59] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> i log off
[21:00] <+Tenchi[BOT]> ....
[21:00] <@Natsuki-Chan> !list
[21:00] <+Tenchi[BOT]> um...
[21:00] <+thatguy> nice.
[21:00] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> but, last time i formatted i fucked up and installed xp home, and put a string of gobledy gook as my registered to name, which becomes login name
[21:00] <+Tenchi[BOT]> ed....for the first time i can actually say it
[21:00] <+Tenchi[BOT]> you idiot
[21:00] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> so
[21:00] lol
[21:00] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> i now know my pword, but not my username, and ive LONG since gotten rid of that retarded welcome screen
[21:00] * +RoTeNdO (~rotendo@Rizon-D58E16.mpls.qwest.net) Quit (Quit: So when I'm lost in a crowd~ I hope that you'll pick me out~ I long to be found~ )
[21:01] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> so i look all over my room for a peice of paper (turned out to be a napkin) that i wrote it down on 2 months ago and finally found it
[21:01] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> then i remember- duh, log on as administrator and i can see the username....
[21:01] <+BeDRoaCH-RiZzZonSuxZz> in short: my uptime was so good, i forgot how to reboot

*And yes, I am BeDRoaCH

Links of the day!

Weird sex laws hey, why not
Cybersex! anybody wanna go out for a burger?
Holliday Lights no its not a trojan, (points to those who get the reference) just some guy with waaaay too much time on his hands

Yesterday was my birthday

My family all showed up and so did Jeannine, Crissie and Lydia and we went out to Ling & Louies Asian Bar and Grill in the Irvine Spectrum (formerly Taifoon, with exact same menu, they actually think the new name is better)

Many drinks and much spicy food later, my family left and me and the girls went to The Yard House. (also in Irvine's Rectum) The plan was to have a couple (more) drinks then go see Hairy Potter since the bars close early.

But by the time closing time came around, we weren't going to waste time seeing a movie we wouldnt remember, and my friend Greg had called cuz he is down for the holliday from San Francisco, so we went out to another local bar, Patsy's. That bar closed soon after we got there, and it was about 12:30 which would have been a good time for me to go to bed so I could work the next day, but instead we went to Time Out Tavern.. er... somewhere... and I got home at ~2:30am.

All in all it was a BLAST, but today wasnt. Back up at 6am and at work at 8 to my job which I love but would love it a lot more if I knew what the hell I was doing. There wasnt too much for me to do, tho I did get to call a couple clients for simple things. Went home for lunch and lost track of time and got back almost an hour late....... nice work for the end of my 8th day huh.

Got my first paycheck today too, I started work at the perfect time, last Monday was the beginning of the new pay period and I got paid today (Wednesday) for two weeks because I have Thursday and Friday off. Now if the money would just show up in my checking acct....

Anyway I'm headed out tonite to see all the guys at Patsy's again should be fun.

Oh ya- what did I get?
A 60gb Video Ipod engraved from my parents, some shopping money at Nordstroms from my sister and F.E.A.R DVD edition from my brother. And lots of free drinks from my friends ^^

Links of the day!

Ok, so I really am not much on the computer lately, so its getting touger and tougher to get good links.
The Kingdom of Loathing Try out this ghetto style MMORPG and let me know how it is (Ive been meaing to try it for months) supposed to be quite fun
Who needs a gym ya this ones super old, but maybe theyll have clinical trials for humans soon then... I voulenteer.
Darkness Doesnt exactally inspire you to fear that psycho does it?

werk

Well so much for blogging Monday, thats definately my busy day.
Left for work at 7:30am was home for half an hour, then off to Japanese class. Got home at 10pm. Sleep was more important.

But the jobs pretty cool, after 2 days of reading for my pre-med degree I didnt ask for, I got to do some stuff, most notably translate some Japanese software to English so they could replace a program that only works on windows 95.

Imagine that, I never woulda guessed I'd get hired at a JAPANESE company to translate J->E. You'd think there are far more qualified people.
And there are.. but they're the big-wigs with better things to do, and honestly their English skills may be in question...
Maybe they should just call the vice president of the company every time they want to reprogram an EKG machine...

But ya, anyway, pretty good. Yesterday I was ready for bed @ ~8pm... this whole getting up before dawn thing is new...

This weekend I want to party.. but its Friday night and here I am drinking by myself. Yay me.
Tomorrow I guess I'm invoted to go out to the Inland Empire to get really drunk listening to some band I've never heard of with a few good friednds. But theres a chance I could see Yoshi from my days in Japan- she's supposed to be out here as of Thursday for a few days... but I think she'll have better things to do than call me, esp since it wasn't her that told me...

whatever..

Links of the day!

Not like I'd ever reproduce, but if I did I'd get these
Bush Rocks! you know its true
Your sexual problems and those you're closely related to

Murphy loves me

Hi, and welcome to another long overdue post.
This time its not because I have nothing going on in my life, this time its because I have too much.

So rather than a HUGE post lets do the highlights.

Jeannine went to Italy for 11 days and me and her other friend Lydia house-sat her smelly, hyper dogs. The dogs came out of the groomers smelling like a bar of dial the day before they left, and 3 days later smelled like ass for the rest of the time. I am a pet lover mind you, as is evidinced by the fact I still pet them and paid them lots of attention dispite the fact they stunk and I am alergic.

Lydia... is pretty cool actually, I've never really liked her for one reason or another, but we got along quite well. I still dont 'get' her, but I definately like her better.

The big news however, is I GOT A JOB. (FINALLY DAMNIT) I shall be a 'Neurology Tech Support Specialist' at Nihon Koden of America. Basically a fancy title for phone tech support guy for their software/hardware that monitors brain waves, mostly in epileptics, so the doctor can find the offending peice of brain and cut it out.

Career wise its a bit of a step down, but its FAR more stable and pays better than what I do now, and its SOOO CLOOOOSE to home. I was hoping once I got a regular job I could use my commute to listen to my audiobooks, but I pretty much will only have time for 'This is Audible...' and I'll be there.

I told them I needed the rest of last week to finish up my clients, and I did. Leaving them is bittersweet, I will miss them and being a consultant.

I've been doing lots of other stuff too, studying for more computer certs, Japanese, and many other random running around. Also now that I will have a steady income stream, I am playing with my money. ^^

So now on to the title of this. I start work tomorrow morning at 8am, a time I am accoustomed to waking up at, not being at work at. Thats ok tho, I can handle it...

but last nite around 5pm I started feeling weird.. just.. weird. I couldnt quite describe it. I was joking quoting Fry from Futurama saying 'Does everything taste purple?' but ya, it was just weird.

Yup, sure enough, as the night goes on I get sicker and sicker. On the day before my first new job in like 5 yrs. Thanks Murphy.

Links of the day!

Once again, I have a ton.
A parody on the power rangers that is just wonderful
God is living in Japan who knew Japan was a Jewish country? Hey, millions of otakus cant be wrong.
PopStation A video review of what is going to be the PSP killer.
Japanese Vending Machines A tribute to them and the weird things they contain.

After work tomorrow I have Japanese class till 10, but I hope to find time to blog on my 1st day at work. See ya then.

yay!

Got my Security+, 876/900 for 97.3%.
About 80% or more of the questions were DIRECTLY off the practice test program I used. (Transdumper for fellow students.) So yay. This week I'm gonna relax a bit and update my resume while I make my clients happy, then next week probably go to some employment agencies since I seem quite unable to get a job on my own.

I also finally justified getting my Palm Lifedrive. I found a deal on it late last week for $350, and since my crappy Ipod died and my Tungsten T3 is dying, (SD card slot doesnt work and the screen accuracy is off) This should fufil both roles in one easy package, AND give me WiFi! I really cant wait to get it, but I will have to. Because of the great deal that was offered, theyre backordered and I have to wait a month to get it. T-T

Didnt do anything this weekend and really didnt want to, after studying all week I just want to lay around.... Oh wait, I always want to do that...

Probably gonna rebuild my network a bit too (with the newfound confidence of my new cert) Harden my domain server and get my Astaro router back up and running. (new version 6 yay)

Other than that, my life is as boring as always, but I kinda like it that way.

Links of the day!

How bout some links for dog lovers.
Neuticles Do you love your dog this much?
Dog Condoms I REALLY hope you dont love your dog THIS much.
Ok, enough dogs, how about some
Fruit that sums up every relationship I've ever been in.
Once again tho,
Get Winston an Ipod He's worth it.

Things I learned today

1. Lord of War is a very good movie
2. Girls dont like very good movies
3. All very good movies must have some lame moral judgement usually typed on the screen at the end otherwise girls would be picketing outside
4. lots and lots of security stuff....

Taking Security+ tomorrow, cross your fingers for me.

Links of the day!

Get Winston an Ipod Winston totally rocks, he really deserves one, come on, be a sport.
While youre at it buy me this.
Another flash game this time a Street Fighter 2 ripoff, fun tho.

But seriously- get Winston an Ipod

A day in pictures

Yesterday was quite eventfull, somehow early in the day I decided to try photo blogging and heres the result.

First I had to go to school (yes on a saturday morning, 9am-noon T-T) and I saw evidence of the RIAA's new pricing ideas for online music downloads.

(Ya ok, it's not easy to take pics while driving- it says "10 songs for $10,000.")

Then I got to school and saw the image that I just HAD to take a picture of.

Sure, I'm probably going to hell, but what else is new, that's hillarious.

I was VERY out of gas so I went to fill up (for $50 UGH) and check out what I saw.


Then grabbed some lunch at what I think is going to be my new favorite place.

Mmm kung pao tofu and edamame.

Then it was time for a long afternoon of grueling napping, in preperation to go out for the nite. Dinner at Fridays then off to 'the Rocks' with Chrissie and Jessica which turned out to be a blast when Jeannine and her cousin Marie who I never get to see anymore showed up.

Theres a new bartender there, one of the rare bartenders I've met in 'the OC' that is actually FRIENDLY. Poor girl forgot I opened up a tab and ended up giving me free drinks most of the nite. Thanks! I tipped her quite well.

I gave her real trouble when I asked for a manhattan, poor thing had to get the book out. I quipped, "They HAVE to teach you how to make those in bartender school." She responded, "I didnt go to bartender school. You dont have to when you have these."

I'd have to agree.

So then me and Chrissie ended up sitting in her car outside my house talking and listening to M-flo till 4am. Somehow I managed to break her winshield with the ball of my pinky toe... yay me. I really wish I thought to take a picture of it.

Today, I aint doing jack. Currently scheming to figure out how I can get life-recovering food (warrior is about to die) without actually having to get dressed and leave the house. Other than that, its just...

FOOTBALL. I call this 'picture outside of picture' lets hear it for computers with TV tuners.
(Oh and yes, I cheated, that pictures from last week. But you get the idea.)

Links of the day!

Sidewalk art wow, you think its some photoshop trick till you get to the bottom...
Family Mart I miss it T-T
Frusion game How bout another flash game? this ones a takeoff on PunhOut- enjoy.

asexual rant

Ok so first of all, Winston rocks. (start after quote) Not only do we share a brain half the time, he has the courage to say stuff I dont.
So ya, I've been getting accused of being gay lately. Not because I like men, but because I'm just sick of women. And while I'm QUITE sure I wont be the first or last million to complain about the opposite gender on the internet, I'm doing it anyway.

I have had many women friends over the years, and always get complaints about guys using them for sex and not calling. (Most of the time the women are just projecting those intentions on a guy they've known for <1 hour.) What is the reason for this? If they bother to state it, its because men are evil creatures from a parallel dimension. Of course it could have NOTHING to do with the fact that women are royal pains in the ass.

There is an amazing inverse relationship between looks and personality. Its almost not their fault, women who are beautiful are rediculously spoiled all their lives. (men too, but to a lesser extent, since women detect the beauty of other women far more than men do men) Ugly people of both genders need to develop wonderful personalities lest they have no friends.

Modern women are also about the most selfish thing I concieveable. I have a good friend that calls herself a 'traditional girl' which means to her that a man should pay for and do everything, and work his ass off to be rewarded with her time. You know what? men arent stupid. The more women assume they are the more they complain about them because they keep getting outsmarted. Its thinking like hers that leads to the natural (tho SOOO politically incorrect) conclusion that you should put out at the end of the nite-- because HELLO, THERES TWO PEOPLE IN THE RELATIONSHIP, and most people arent into being slaves.

Another thing, men arent women. Seemingly obvious, its not. Guys are NOT detail oriented, you buy a new dress and we cant tell, even worse if you get jewlry, it'll take years. Ever see on tv where the guy says 'I like that new necklace of yours.' and she replies 'I've had this for years.'? It's new to him. You guys wearing womens dickies and frilly shirts to show your feminine side are truly to be pitied, not because youre 'gay' but because youve been taught to develop your feminine side because everything around you tells you the masculine is bad.

Women and men also approach human relationships differently. Women will wonder how men can be friends with that slob hes been friends with since high school. It's the same reason he's still with you. Guys take relationships as decisions. They weigh their options, make a decision, and unless something drastic changes (slow constant changes dont count, those are details) he will stay there.

Women on the other hand need constant reasurement. Everything is wonderful in the relationship until youre sitting on the couch one day and she says 'we need to talk.' It's almost more of a cliche than 'lets just be friends' but women do it anyway.
And when you talk, it turns out that shes upset because two weeks ago she told you there was a tv show she wanted to watch tonite and she sat down with you and you didnt turn it on, in a memory test you didnt know you were participating in.
Sounds rediculous I know, (and it is fictional) but the point is 90% of the complaints fall into two categories:
1. The above test of psychic powers. Women for all their lauded skill in conversation, will sit there icy quiet while we watch tv and expect us to pick up on their vibe. Guess what, we're watching tv. Two years later when she DOES say something, its far too late because she wants to punish him for her two years of heartache, which is a natural human reaction except for the fact she brought it on herself. Trust me, we guys will tell you when the football game is on.
2. 'You dont pay enough attention to me.' This is oh-so-fun. Often this isnt even actions, its words. Guys will work their ass off all their lives for a woman. And one day she will say this to him. Why? Because 90% of the stuff you DO doesnt matter. Its far more what you say. But guys you have to meter it! Because it also has to be new and different all the time. If you tell her you love her every morning as you leave for work, she will ask you someday how come you never tell her shes pretty. And if its actually about doing something, then amazingly going to work everyday to a job you hate, buying her whatever home furnishings or clothes she wants, taking her out to dinner, etc, magically doesnt count. Why? Who knows, I'm not a woman.

This is also a good portion of the reason the assholes get the women. See they generally have nothing, so they do little and when they do do something it stands out, and theyre mean to everyone (including her) so when they ARE nice it once again stands out. I guess its all about expectations.

Lastly, women of this area. I generally think of myself as quick witted, but can never really think of the things I want to say when it counts. The bet example is with women of this area. (Orange County, Ca, as seen on tv) Within 5 minutes of meeting, you will hear 'what do you do?', 'where do you live', 'what kind of car do you have', or similar. Most guys just drop these answers to preempt them if they have anything worthy to say. I can never really think of good answers to these, such as 'I'm a displaced aligator wrestler from New Orleans.' when I need them. But its usually because I'm instantly annoyed.

In summation, if you girls wonder where the 'nice guys' are, its as I've always said. Young girls like assholes, and older women like nice guys. So young nice guys become old jaded assholes. But it's ok, I like being an asshole.

Zain has been using me as Cerano DeBergerac (I have NO IDEA how to spell French names, sound it out.) to some girl he found on facebook. I bet after this I loose a customer ^^ I'm actually pretty good at this stuff, but only as a 3rd party.

Ok, I should probably pay attention to my boring Saturday morning Computer Hardware class, one hour down!

Links of the day!

As I said, I'm not at home where the links are, heres one Mina sent me last nite tho. (and I might edit this later for more.)
Oregon Trail go back in time to Jr High with this old school apple emulator, theres a ton more games there too.

I tried to pick up Jesus in a movie theatre

ya ya its been ages. Not much going on in my life. Basically just studying computers and Japanese and hangin out a bit. Got my A+ in the process, now on to the Security+.

But yesterday I had a religious experience. Saw a good wholesome movie about waiting till youre married for sex (40yr old Virgin) with Jeannine, then afterwards waited while she powdered her nose or whatever women do in the bathroom (since my friend Adam believes they dont poop) and I saw it...

In one of those tomogochi (capsule toys for the westerners) thingies, they had really crappy cheezy light-up jewlry. But on the outside box..... there it was

NEON JESUS!

I had to have it, and spent $6 (thats 6 toys, such a ripoff) trying to get it, even prommised never to take it off again, but as I learned long ago they never put the toys in the picture IN the damned capsules. (Isn't that false advertising?) So the best I could do is take a pic and make it my cell phone background. (Tried to blog this with my cell last nite but cingular email fails).

Tonite is just tv nite, adult swim gets a lot of crap but I love em. This holiday weekend sucks.

My friend in Japanese class also hunted down this,


Its a pic from the Genki 2 book (without the words) in a chapter that focuses on '___ did ___ to ____'. For those of us who wondered whatever happened to Bevis, hes now in Japan molesting innocent looking Japanese guys.

Commercials-

My friend John has a good friend Chef (nickname) that pointed out that in those Sketchers comercials, they eat the shoe and then it slides down their leg and onto their foot. So then the shoes are coming out their......

then I saw another comericial tonight and I could never figure out just what it was about it. Tonight I did.

<@eDRoaCH> apparently the army is desperately seeking people who know how to get to safe mode
<+Sky> safe mode?
<+Sky> WINDOWS?
<@eDRoaCH> youd have to see the comercial
<@eDRoaCH> cops driving around, seemingly asking for leads on a suspect
<@eDRoaCH> then they find him in a group of kids on the street and turn on their lights
<@eDRoaCH> he comes over and the 2nd cop says 'it crashed again'
<@eDRoaCH> he reaches over and says 'reboot in safe mode with f8'
<@eDRoaCH> next shot hes some army radar specialist
<@eDRoaCH> i think the radar only works in safe mode
<+Sky> hahahah sux
<@eDRoaCH> AEGIS- the worlds most advanced weapons syst.. er wait how do i get to safe mode again?

Links of the day!

wow, been ages, theyre all getting old
Famous People Who Were Bedwetters I think theyre cheating on FDR, he had pollio for god sakes.
Galvinize This game rocks litterally, Chemical Brothers game for their new single.
Spore ooooh, me like.

freaky friday

Ever have the feeling someone was watching you?

Ever have your eyes play tricks on you in the dark?

The answer is probably yes (for all 3 of my readers) but...

Ever have them both happen to you at once?

Friday nite I went to sleep pretty late. I awoke, sort of, and had the distinct feeling someone was watching me. Even what direction it was comming from. I said I 'sort of' awoke, because I was still sleep paralyzed. The feeling was strong enough to make it worth the effort to me to shake myself into movement so I did and looked in the direction I felt it from.

Straight off to the left of my bed is my desk, with a poster above the side and a light (was off) just below it, then the desk.

I saw a full body of a man in a white dress shirt standing there staring at me. It was 4am. I KNEW what WAS there, and I stared and stared, but could only see the man. Kinda freaked me out, but since I'm not really afraid of ghosts/whatnot (jurys out on wether I believe in them) I just went back to sleep. Later I looked over and saw it again, but that time I might have been dreaming. Ever since every time I wake up at night I look and cant see it at ALL.

Contrast that to Sunday morning, the very next sleep-night, where I woke up durring a dream of being in a circle with my family and a bunch of strangers at some weird outdoor zoo where we were watching some baby hippos on the grass playing. (was I guess the point of this area of the 'zoo') Someone in our group threw something of my brothers into the circle, and he had to go retrieve it, but was being scared off by a baby hippo (was about half the size of what I believe a hippo to be) who seemed playful about it but could easily crush him. I woke up to laughing in my dream as I tried to film the scene with my camera.

Im such a weirdo.

Nothing else going on, I'm poor and studying for computer certifications (A+ hardware test at noon tomorrow) while waiting for school to start.

Links of the day!

erm.. I dont know what to say about this one, cept I've been constantly returning to it for the past two days. Someone needs to make a game about throwing ugly people off tall buildings, it would be addictive.
I still hate Firefox but their videos are cool.
pure conjecture by someone with too much time on their hands. Still, well done

a good day

Yesterday was fun.

Woke up early and played white knight to one of my clients computer problems. (Oh forgetful windows, thats a network card you have there..)

On the way there and back (far client, bout half an hour each way) I listened to an interesting audiobook about human psycology. Titled 'How to Get Anyone to do Anything and Never Feel Powerless Again' its quite full of itself, but also full of interesting stuff in simple steps. If you have an mp3 player and find it enables you to get sick of music at a rate previously un-imagined, check out an audible account, its pretty cool. (Just check the book lists to make sure they have stuff you want first.)

Got home and decided to lay out in the sun for awhile while I listened to another audio book, 'The Art of Seduction' which is also quite interesting. (Hmm.. a theme in my books, new skill time I guess)

All sun charged and feeling good, I spent some time looking for a job, and called back an interesting offer to be a financial consultant for American Express.
It's probably not what I'm looking for, as I've heard its all comission based, but theres a certification you need that they give you 6 months to get, so if the hourly is good durring that time I may go for it as a tide-me-over. It's also stuff that I would like to learn for my own life. Interview-type-thingy (computer test on 'is it wrong to steal from companies?' and ~45 min description of job followed by possible interviews) tomorrow morning at 8:30am.

At night, went to Hennesys in Dana Point which I loved, big outdoor bar with a huge firepit. Kim and Jessica were there, Jessica just getting back from a week in Costa Rica. (JEALOUS!) Kim invited me to her 4th of July BBQ.

That ended early and we went to Freds cantina (not sure of exact name) on the corner of Main and PCH in Hunnington (Newport?) Beach. If you sample all 50 of their tequillas, you get a free trip to Cabo San Lucas. Couple catches tho, one being you can only do 5 shots a day, the other being the last 3 shots are $50, $85 and $150 each. They said that ya, youre buying your trip, but at least you're having fun doing it. I have to agree.
Marie and Danny, Jeannine's cousins were there, we played some pool and drank too much.

Today was also nice, did a little shopping and because of a 40% off sale, I now have Victorias Secret underwear. (they're boxers you pervs) I bet not too many guys can say that.

I also met a notible moron. Going to dinner with Jeannine, I parked next to a rather large truck with a pair of plastic nuts hanging off the trailer hitch, and of course a Texas liscence plate. We went in and Jeannine spotted him right away eating by himself. She asked what the heck that was, and he yelled out 'Nuts!' in a way that really needed a 'yuk yuk' after it.
Hmm, giant truck, WITH PLASTIC NUTS HANGING OFF IT? I usualy dont make these insinuations, but that just SCREAMS 'My big truck is a replacement for my tiny endowment'

Oh ya, and I didnt even have to use my AK.

Links of the day!

The Horror! I know some people who will be saddened by this, its good thats not my favorite part.
Amazon house party Pretty cool, if I'm around I'll def be there.
Breaking news! Adam sent me this while I was writing this, pretty damn cool but a bit expensive.