WOO!

I start my 2 week vacation in exactly 1 hour and 25 minutes. This event will mark the very first vacation day I have taken this year (actually since I got married, in fact, last November 27th), unless you count my bout with food poisoning back in January.

I can almost smell freedom...it smells sort of like banana nut bread...

In other news, the funniest blog I've ever read RIGHT HERE!

Counting the minutes...

After Much Ado

We finally moved into the house! Yesterday will be known as Powermove Day...out of the apartment and into the house in 1 day. The inside of the house still looks like a warehouse with all the boxes, but that will change over the course of the next few days (and many cups of coffee).

The next game we play shall be called Put This Queen Bed, Dresser, and Chest of Drawers Into This 11x10 Room With Space Left Over. It's kind of like a jigsaw puzzle with back pain.

Pictures coming soon...

I must not be THAT geeky.

I didn't stand in line 18 hours to get an XBox 360, nor do I ever plan on it. I've seen the kiosks everywhere, and I have to admit I'm not terribly impressed. PC gamers have been seeing graphics like this for quite some time now. In all fairness though, I haven't actually seen enough XBox360 games to make a sound judgement yet. I'm waiting to see the following games before I decide how I really feel about it: Elder Scrolls - Oblivion, Project Gotham Racing 3, and any random EA Sports game. All screen shots I've seen from these games are absolutely gorgeous.

Well, the house walkthrough is delayed...again. Now it's Monday, followed by the closing on Tuesday, followed by moving in on Wednesday...plenty of time for everything (*sarcasm*).

Monday + 3 Day Work Week = Hard to Work

I have the hardest time getting motivated during a short work week...one would think that with a short work week, work should be MORE productive. I guess I'm in a "decompression" phase after the hellish deadlines we were under for a couple of months.

I feel as if my "Cycle of Hobbies" is starting to shift. I generally have 3 main hobbies outside of work: video games, books, playing guitar. Generally, I have periods of time lasting from 2 weeks to 2 months that I will be interested in each. The Video Game Cycle lasted a little longer this time, and has since given way to the reading cycle, but I'm gradually feeling like the guitar is starting to call my name again, perhaps suggesting that I should sit down and play rather than complain about how I don't have enough quality time to devote to getting better. Therein lies the problem, however. There is a stark dichotomy between the music I listen to, and the music I am technically capable of sitting down and playing, with almost NO intersection of the two. Generally, I'm more apt to listen to heavy and progressive stuff, but I have been known to listen to jazz, blues, and classical from time to time, especially if the mood strikes me just right. Some stuff I've been listening to lately, just to give an idea:

Dream Theater - prog metal, probably one of the best heavy bands I've ever heard. No amount of words could ever describe their music.
Symphony X - prog/neo-classical metal, listen!
Stratovarius - swedish neo-classical metal/heavy metal. Awesome and more "musically accessible" than the first two.
Joe Satriani - melodic instrumental hard rock. Joe is the man, probably the kind of music I would play if I were capable.
Queensryche - hard rock/metal with progressive tendencies. Just all around awesome band.

Just a little peak into my "musical" mind, as crazy as it is...

Sleep = Good (but just for today)

Finally got some sleep that I've needed. After waking up this morning, I felt like I had slept like the proverbial log. This was confirmed after I told Christie I had slept really good, and she commented that she couldn't sleep because of the storm. My reply: "there was a storm??" This was confirmed by many people at work. I'm sure part of the tiredness was brought on by going to the gym at 8:00 last night and getting on an elliptical for 30 minutes (thanks a lot Biggest Loser).

Well, one week from closing on the house, aka signing ourselves into debt for the next 30 years. It's all good though, we are already planning parties for the house, the first of which being a Christmas party with all of the gang together for the first time in a long time...should be VERY entertaining. We shall be playing "dirty santa", which bears no resemblance to Billy Bob Thornton's character in Bad Santa (just plain wrong!)

Maybe we'll have a chance to check out the house today...hopefully!

Spooky

I mentioned something about checking out an old church here in town on Saturday night during our random stuff. Here's some pics...no ghosts though...

pretty good night shot with moon in background (actually my best night shot ever).



cool fountain...that we couldn't get to because the entry was gated



AH!! A ghoul!! No wait, that's just me... (I get that a lot...)


Good stuff...

Long time since...

So it's been a long time since I posted, mostly because I am practically wallowing in the fact that our schedule/deadlines are not choking us anymore. I actually leave here at regular time now, which feels strange, though it's still dark when I get home. It's been nice really, I can finally get back in the gym regularly, so I'm feeling pretty good.

Had a fun weekend, Friday afternoon at 4:00 is the perfect time to make plans for the next afternoon. We decided to get together and have no plan, which actually ended up for the best because we did more in that evening than I can remember. Here are the events of the day: explore the old part of town, wander around an old church and take pictures, eat at a pizza joint, meet some random people at a coffee shop and had a nice long conversation with them, discussed the possibility of visiting a cemetary to ghost hunt, listened to a play reading by Robert (that he had written the night before, 11 pages!), participated in a play reading, then played the forever fun Munchkin until about 3am.

Not all of the weekend was THAT enjoyable though, we packed more boxes for the move on the 25th, so the apartment looks a lot like a warehouse right now. For those that have never moved before, here's the rule: No matter how prepared you are, you will always need a box in a shape or size that you don't already have. Period. That's how it works.

We are almost exactly 1 week away from our walk-through, so things are getting pretty exciting...changes in the house occur almost daily. I'm absolutely amazed by the fact that they only have 1 week left to finish, but it looks like there's well more than a weeks' worth of work to do....I guess their last step is some sort of arcane magic or something...we shall see. Bottom line: we are really pleased with the home building experience and can't wait to get moved in.

Is That A REAL Ancient Mr. Bones?

I played the coolest card game EVER this past weekend, it's called Munchkin, and it's like D&D if I would have come up with the rules. I'll spare the gory details and just put a link here

http://www.sjgames.com/munchkin/game/

Bottom Line: If you are a D&D fan, play this game. You won't forget the experience.

and the pictures...

me in costume



me and Christie



full group shot

Trick or Treat (Trick mostly...)

Well, it's been a few days since I posted. Been mostly taking care of house-related stuff and fighting a cold. The cold is mostly gone now...I gained 750 experience points in the battle.

Halloween weekend was fun, Sloss Furnace was interesting, but it reemphasized the fact that I don't scare easily. Their Fright Furnace was good though, although the ghosts I was looking for weren't of the physical world. Another trip to Sloss in the daytime for a REAL tour would be good.

Finally got a Halloween costume Saturday afternoon at about 3, just in time for the party Saturday night, which was also a blast. We were quite a motley crew (NOT the band): death, a sexy pirate, a zombie, a phantom mime, a fairy, a fireman, a psycho nurse, a tiny pumpkin, and a costume consisting of leather and sheer material its owner would only refer to as "Trouble". On the whole, we were all strangely lethargic at the party and the only interesting thing we did was scare neighbors and fascinate the kids upstairs. Pictures will come later.

Needless to say, an interesting weekend, albeit a bit busy, but it was a good change.

Stupid Head Allergies

Some days I wish I could trade my sinuses in for a brand spanking new set (if sinuses could come in "sets"), this is one of those days. Don't know if it's the sudden change in temperature, or the trip this past weekend, or the fact there's an air vent over my head thats pouring cold air down on me, but something has my sinues completely up in arms, which is causing a scratchy throat from the drainage and junk. Right now it's just the left side, but inevitably it will make it's way to the right side. But, as long as it stays above the neck I can deal with it with enough Sudafed. So far this morning I've had 2 cups of starbucks coffee, a Sobe Adrenaline Rush, and a dose of sudafed...is it just me, or is the world shaking??

It's been well established that I'm a cool weather person. However, I'm NOT a fan of the weather going from humid and 87 one day to windy and 55 the next, at least give us time to get out of our shorts and into some jeans.

Random Stuff

Finally got a closing date on our house, November 23rd. So by the time November ends we will be living in our very own house, which is sort of surreal feeling. This should make Thanksgiving interesting, turkey + packing.

I have nothing else to blog, so here's a limerick, just for some filler...

There once was a nice blue raccoon
Who was really a bit of a loon
His map led the way
To treasure one day
and we all ended up in his room.

Pardon me if I don't have all the necessary punctuation, etc. It's probably been 18 years since I had to write anything like a limerick.

Just Another Manic Monday

Yes, I just compared the beginning of my work week to that cheesey 80s song...

Had a good weekend, Christie and I went to Atlanta this weekend to visit some friends. While we were there, we went to the BIGGEST electronics store I've ever seen: Fry's Electronics. Think Best Buy, Circuit City, and Radio Shack combined, along with a computer book selection that's as big as some Books-A-Millions I've been in...all in a building the size of an average Wal-Mart Supercenter (and not nearly as evil). Absolutely insane. I want to go back...NOW. I did get one of these after dropping my CD player in the gym last week and breaking it in half:

http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=12720

Awesome little device, it feels so wrong to have something so small with that many features.

Checked out the house again Friday afternoon, we officially have walls on the inside now! It really gives a sense of available space with the walls...but alas, still no room for my subterranean fortress. Oh well, maybe the 3rd bedroom will do for the time being.

Cooler weather is here...I love it!

Afternoon Woes

ARGH! If the clock doesn't move, I'm going to scream. I think Friday afternoon from 12:00 until 4:30 occurs in some sort of time expansion nexus, where 1 friday minute = 25 regular minutes.

Speaking of screaming, here's something else that nearly made me scream, until I realized that it's so absurd that it HAS to be fake:

http://www.adequacy.org/public/stories/2001.12.2.42056.2147.html

I guess according that article, I would be a HACKER VIRTUOSO. I'm really not though...not even close, I can hardly remember my password so I can log into my computer system legally.

Just another 1.25 hours and I will be out of here. Going to check out our house this afternoon, supposedly they've began hanging drywall. It will be nice to see the inside of the house with walls in it, it's sort of confusing to be able to see through the walls, since our eyes generally don't grant us that ability.

T minus 01:15:24 and counting...

The Sweet Taste of.....Caffeine

Mmmmm, coffee is good...especially when it's not office coffee. This, my friends, is a REAL cup of coffee (Hawaiian Kona).

Got off on time yesterday for the first time this week...working 7a to 9p gets old QUICK (like in 3 days).

The bad news is that our system most likely isn't going to pass testing...again...too many little things piling up. The good news is that our implementation schedule is going to change a bit, and from the sounds of it, for the better. Focusing on our 4-5 big apps, then incrementally bringing everything else to speed sounds like a good idea.

We finally planned our trip to Sloss Furnace, after much conversation. We are ditching a company picnic to do it next Friday afternoon, but we ARE staying for the obligatory staff meeting before. Should be pretty fun, check it out:

http://www.frightfurnace.com/

It's supposed to be a genuine haunted location...we will see. I remain a skeptic until proven otherwise.

HA! SomethingAwful.com reviews the worst Halloween costumes. Good reading for a Friday morning:

http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3294

Off to the grind.

The State of....EVERYTHING

Really f**king good article about the state of software...managers, take heed:

http://www.masshightech.com/displayarticledetail.asp?Art_ID=69982

Or to put software in another light: you can have it cheap, soon, or stable, pick any 2.

Ponder This...

Amish Lap Dance.

--Courtesy of Bobbiestan

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another

Another later than usual night, we made it happen though, we totally pwned those problems.

I think there should be a little bowing before us before this is over with.

Traffic has been unusually heavy the past few mornings, because apparently with all their research, the road crews still found that weekday mornings are the best time to re-pave a MAJOR ROAD. If I were like my hero, Mouse Fitzgerald, I would, while en route to rob a bank, drive my yellow jet taxi straight through the roadwork while chatting with my pet chinchilla and drinking a beer...but we can't all be THAT cool.

I love reading news, it make me realize that things ain't so bad. Here are a few that prove, once again, that truth is indeed stranger than fiction:

Woman Dies After Microwaving Clothes:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16978874-2,00.html

Thai Ice Cream Vendor Attacks Dentist with A Sword:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051019/ap_on_fe_st/thailand_dentist_attacked

There can be only 31!

This one just screams WTF? http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3129559

Well, the assignments are rolling in, so it's time to kick this pig.

Time to go Home + 1:15

Emergency fix time again, I actually can't wait to see what they've brought us this time ("you want the computer to dance and sing a tune? Yeah, we'll get right on that...")

I've also confirmed that there's an inverse relationship between how easy a problem sounds to fix and how many 4-letter expletives will be used during the fix...but it makes for some interesting comments in the code. For example, the phrase "new jersey rules you backwoods retarded creep. aka these lines of code need to be here to make this work" appears at least 3 times in our source code.

The plot thickens...

A little insanity

So testing seems to be going well, and the tech support call went well...or as well as can be expected. I haven't punched a baby yet, so this is a good thing.

People always ask me how I manage to maintain such a good attitude, and I think it's because I don't deal with stupid people on a daily basis. For the most part, I work around bright and intelligent people that I get along with, that is probably the biggest part of my attitude. Sitting behind a computer and programming is definitely for me. A job that is NOT for me: social work. Something about trying to help people that WON'T help themselves just rubs me the wrong way.

Well, back to it...

Tech Support and Other Stuff

Well, I get to have a tech support call this morning about why stuff that SHOULD work DOESN'T work (not my fault, I just need answers). At least it's at 9am and I can have a considerable amount of caffeine in my system by then. This guy is good though, we've spoken before, and he really knows his stuff.

Made it out of here just shy of 9pm last night, making "after hours quick fixes" which turned out to NOT be so "quick". Funny how the easy to say problems are always the hardest to implement. No bitterness here though, it just goes with the territory.

In good news, our house is going to be finished by the end of next month, Christie and I are really looking forward to not paying rent...even though the house payment will be more than rent, it is something that we will own in a finite amount of time, which can't be said for renting an apartment. We'd have never imagined that we would be moving into a house almost a year to the day after we got married...now if people will just shut up about having kids (NOT in our forseeable future, barring any divine intervention)

And in closing...shopping for furniture should NOT be this much fun...

while (1) do_work();

So far so good, not much trouble with the testing...little stuff, which is manageable.

It's no wonder I'm a geek, playing games like this:

http://www.miniclip.com/sudoku/sudoku.htm

The phrase for the day is "Priority 1".

Egg Cutter in E Minor

*This has never happened before*

I just watched Bobbiestan play an egg cutter like a music instrument...not only did he play it, he sang lyrics along with it, something about "riding a camel through the sand" and "lightning in his hand".

THAT is why I come here.

Quote of the Morning

"I'm getting mauled by a Love Sloth." --Mike

8AM and All Is Well

No screaming from the trenches so far this morning with the testing...I'm sure it's just a matter of time though.

So it's October 18th...I guess if I'm going to get a Halloween costume, sometime soon would be good. I'm going to use Halloween as an excuse to dye my hair, unfortunately it will have to be something that doesn't violate the dress code here, so red or blue is out of the question...probably something like raven black...that should cover up the gray nicely.

Software and 80s Music

So far testing has gone well, no big problems (that we've heard of yet), though it's likely that we'll be approached at 4:30 (about time to go home) with some problems they want fixed before tomorrow morning...ahh, the prestigious life of a software engineer.

80s music = awesome. My current mp3 playlist consists of

Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild
Van Halen - Hot for Teacher
Warrant - Cherry Pie
Winger - Seventeen
Ratt - Round and Round
Dio - Rainbow in the Dark
Queensryche - Another Rainy Night
Guns N' Roses - Civil War

Nothing like some 80s rock...if I had much hair, it would be HUGE right now.

So We Didn't Meet My Family Like Robert Thought

So there's a running joke around here that I am part Mexican because I look a bit Mexican on my driver's license picture (I tell people the mailman was a mexican), and because of that, we refer to going out to eat Mexican food as "going to visit Brad's family at the hacienda" (or something equally insane). So immediately after sitting down at San Marcos today, Bobbiestan goes "Brad, I thought we were eating with your family?"

I can't blame him entirely though, with all the crazy coding going on, we are all suffering a -2 to our wisdom score.

Yes, the mexican food was good. No, I'm not related to anyone that works there.

It's About THAT Time

(Cue up Jaws music) The software testers are starting to arrive, and we have no alligators...oh well, probably for the best.

The start of a new week is refreshing, until you realize that it's mid October and you can't remember a thing since April. Probably the beginning signs of workaholism, guess I should watch it. Beautiful weather out though, a nice CRISP 49 degrees...cold weather just won't get here fast enough.

No big plans for work today, maybe I will chill, I've given this project enough hours of my life for the past 6 months, don't think they'll miss a day.

Adult swim has my new favorite show, 12 Oz Mouse. REALLY warped, check it:

http://www.adultswim.com/shows/12ozmouse/index.html

Skillet, we can totally do this.

L33t hax0r friends

Links to friends blogs. By our power combined we will....destroy any decent conversation. It's our destiny.

http://bulletproofshark.blogspot.com/

http://freaksinhats.blogspot.com/

Working 9 to 5

Well, here at work on Saturday, which sucks...but the weather is nice, which doesn't suck.

Software testers also suck, and they will be here on Monday. Last time we considered releasing 6 alligators in the building, and laughed about it. This time the only thing stopping us is the availability of alligators. Goal for the day: don't let Robert go postal. Film at 11.

Daily Musings

Nothing like crunch time for software development, or "who the hell broke my fix?" as it should be called. Nothing I'd rather do on a Saturday than wake up and come to work (*snicker*).

In other news, I heard a phrase this morning that I've been trying to figure out all day, spoken to a young lady entering a gas station while I was getting coffee:

"Hello stranger! Long time no see. How did you get out of jail?"

Not "WHEN?" but "HOW?". The only explanation I have involves ninja assassins from the future, and Montgomery is definitely not cool enough to have those. Oh well...I'm sure the REAL explanation is totally reasonable, though much less cool.

Hello

So I'm trying out this blog thing...we'll see how it goes.