Month: October 2005

I hit the bar last night with a new guy friend. The boy’s a total blast. We had a few beers each, split some food, and ended up pumping quarters into a stand-up Galaga arcade machine and closed the bar down. I won 3 out of 5 games. Yippee! I also met a girl named Sophia last night, but she prefers to go by Sophie or Soph. I asked her if she had ever watched Carnivale. She said she hadn’t. Lame.

I had to work early this morning, and this amazing lesbian came in today needing some tech support. My gay-dar was going way off and, as she was leaving, I noticed she had some rainbow earrings on (so gay…). It’s funny to be at work, be approached by someone of similar orientation, and suddenly feel the super thick vibe between each other. It’s so random sometimes.

With that, I am off to dinner as I’m never one to pass up a free meal. Ever.

I hear bulleted lists are in style these days, so here’s another.

• Midterm was last Friday. I checked my grades online. I had a crappy start in one of my classes, because I couldn’t figure out what the professor’s format was. Regardless, I am running a 3.65 for the semester. I feel awesome. Very awesome.
• I rarely talk about work here, but I’ve got to spill it. It seems I have been taking on more responsibilty at work, due to a new supervisor moving in. He has me making daily outlooks, planning group discussions for team meetings, and building daily and MTD reports. I spend less time working on machines, and more time in the staff development room with this guy planning strategy. I understand there is another senior position opening soon. I am directly in line for this position and can almost taste it. I’m looking forward to the recognition and the raise.
• I’ve been hanging out with people from work a lot, usually twice a week. It’s so great to meet new people, and to talk to people that you’ve known for a while but have not been exactly close to. New friends that you hang out with consistently can make you feel like a new person. Old friends, while totally great and reliable, talk about the same stuff, but new friends know nothing of your past and want to learn about you and tell you about themselves. I used to call this networking, but it’s quite different this time. It’s very cool to re-introduce yourself to new people. Everyone should try it.
• Non-work-related, I did a massive water change in my aquarium today. The fish seem to really like a new percentage of water. My remaining catfish hangs out in the cave rock all day long and then will come out when I shut off the light at night. It’s belly looks super fat, so I am thinking there is either another consumed catfish inside, or it (she??) is pregnant. I’ve had pregnant fish before. It’s weird to see a bunch just swimming in the tank one day. From 2 to 8 in the span of an hour. Very weird. I hope it/she is not pregnant, as I would not know what to do with a bunch of catfish.
• Halloween is a week away. I’ve decided that my daughter is going to choose what she wants to be. We were going to go shopping for a costume today, but didn’t make it. My next day off is Friday, so we’ll have to do it then. Also, on Friday, I will be carving pumpkins. It’s my favorite thing to do. Oh how I love it so. I already have three pumpkins planned, including one with an Apple logo, one for my daughter, and another one unmentionable. I love Halloween so much. So much.
• I’m cancelling my netflix account as I don’t have any use for it anymore. Besides, I’d rather spend the money on my electric bill.

The other day I purchased two pictus catfish to add to my aquarium, and they were thriving until this morning. I woke to find one hanging out on the bottom of the tank, in a corner, barely swimming. So, I left for class, hoping to come home afterwards and find the conditions a little better. Arriving home, I went over to the tank and saw that one of the catfish was “missing.” I stuck a net, turning over the cave structure, figuring he swam in there, and… died. But, overturning it produced no dead fish. Now, there were two catfish in the tank when I left this morning. One remains. Our options:

• The other fish ate the dead one. This particular breed of catfish is scaleless, which means that the remaining catfish as well as the remaining Danio could have consumed him/her.
• He/She jumped out! I don’t think it possible for the fish to have jumped out of the tank. Besides, I haven’t found any catfish on the floor.
• Someone stole him/her. While I’d like to think that this is not at all an option, it ran through my mind. Would someone from management, at my apartment building, come in and steal a fish? Highly unlikely.

What makes me think that the first scenario didn’t take place is the fact that there are NO remnants of a fish in the tank. No head, no barbs, nothing. It’s quite creepy, actually. It’s almost as if the fish never existed (Cue twilight zone music).

Since I can’t afford to have a dog, cat, or anything furry of that nature, I have opted for fish. Today I picked up an aquarium, and all that one would need to create an interesting habitat for beings that swim. I will admit that I had some casualties earlier today, and then went to talk to a nice young lady at a local pet store. She told me that I had to “cycle” the tank due to New Tank Syndrome, and recommended a pair of Zebra Danios to get the job done. Doing research earlier today, it was recommended to get a handful (or more) of gravel from an already established tank. I asked if she could do that, and she scooped up a hefty amount and tossed it in with the fish. I came home, after class, and dumped the two fish in the tank, and I think they’re okay. She told me that I could bring a water sample to the store (in a week), and she, or someone else, would be able to tell me if I could put more fish into the tank. While it’s cool to have fish thriving in the tank now, the Danios are so small. Fiesty, but small. I want to get mini sharks and mini catfish, and possibly a dragon fish. I like really long fish with awesome features and cool fins. The Danios are cool, because they’re hearty and going to culture the tank; otherwise, they’re quite a bore.

The past week has been quite rough, not because of work or school, but the result of personal issues. Today was the first time in a long time I woke up and felt okay. I feel okay about me, the situation, the day, and the future. I can’t let things bother me anymore. Aahhh, letting go…

I have two tests today to look forward to. Algebra and Human Sexuality. I feel more ready for the algebra test than for the HS test, only because I have been on the ball about this algebra stuff. Factoring is quite easy for me, as well. School today and work, then a complete day off tomorrow. I think the sprout and I may do something cool tomorrow.

Yesterday I discovered that my Windows machine won’t turn on. So, it’s either the power supply, the switch, or the worst… the board. While I find it hard to believe it’s the power supply, it doesn’t fire up. If the power supply was still good, I figured it would at least turn on, with fans spinning. But, it could also be the switch that’s pressed to turn it on. While I am 85% positive it’s not the board, I could be entirely wrong (no status LEDs). For ease: I hope it’s the power supply. For cost: I hope it’s the switch. One never hopes it’s the motherboard. Never.

I took it apart all night last night, checking to see if the power supply had blown (it hadn’t), or if the wires from the switch to the board had come loose at the button (they hadn’t). I checked for any blown capacitors on the board (none), and generally scratched my head baffled. I am taking it to work to get a second opinion, and to have someone look at it that’s not me. Meh…

Update: Power Supply! I was under the impression that Antec made good products, but this has totally changed my mind. Sucks, as it was only about 6 months old.

I plugged headphones into my PowerBook today, and sound was only coming out of the left speaker, so I checked settings for sound and found that the balance was set to Left. No wonder it has sounded so shitty coming out of the onboard speakers. Everything sounds great now.

While I’m at work, my daughter’s grandma watches her at her house. Today my daughter came out of her house holding a huge jar that she wouldn’t let go of. It’s contents? Some leaves, a twig or two, a rock, and a very furry caterpilar. So, I had two charter home two delicate creatures. Now I have to share the house with my daughter and a caterpilar. My daughter has been calling it her “baby.” She has already put “her baby” to bed twice (in the jar), covering it with a blanket. She made me turn the TV on for “her baby,” and now the little furry baby is sitting on my new couch watching afternoon cartoons. I hope, for my sake, that she doesn’t give “her baby” her bed and expect to sleep in my room with me.

I have to get back to writing my paper now, since it’s due this evening in about two hours.

Also, somebody with a local number has called my phone three times since I’ve been off work and has hung up immediately. Reverse look-up brings back a name of a person I have never met. Meh…

Oh how I love reading (spying) on people that are separated by six degrees (two degrees) from me. It brings me great joy sometimes. I love it so. I’m so curious if people read my blog the same way.

I was finally able to download last week’s Survivor and I watched it last night. Good stuff. I totally have a crush on Stephenie, who came back for a second season in a “Survivor twist”. She’s gorgeous, tone, and fiesty. I am pretty happy with the way the show is slowly starting to develop itself. There’s no cut-throat behavior yet, but it will come. It always does.

So, the new Kanye album, Late Registration, has been spinning on my hard drive every morning for the past week or so. It’s so great. My favorite track is less than two minutes long. It’s called My Way Home, which features Common (who had John Mayer featured on his Go! track). It’s such a great little ditty. I am going to check into Common’s album, Be, and I hope it features some tracks like My Way Home.

I’m also going to start watching Lost, but have to get my hands on the first season so I can backtrack and catch up. Lori was over last night and had nothing bad to say about it, only good. I figure I will give it a try. I’ve heard mostly good things.

Today is going to be a busy day as much is on my agenda including, but not limited to:

• Laundry
• Pay my $4.28 electric bill
• See a movie with my daughter, maybe
• Get a haircut
• Have dinner with some extended family
• Do a little homework
• Clean my spot

So, I have been super busy with moving into my new place and have not had anytime to post. Besides that, I only have dial-up at the new pad and it’s quite irritating to do anything over dial-up. I really want to post pictures soon, but will probably have to do so tomorrow as I must get quite a few things done today.

The high-speed wireless connection at my folks’ house is acting odd. I am getting terrible page loads and am only able to DL a torrent at a varying speed of 8-15k/s. WTF?? I missed last week’s Survivor (and the one prior, and the one prior), but have been relying on torrents to keep current. I usually watch the show and then rid my machine of the .avi file. This week I am super late. I usually DL the episode the day after, not two days before the next one comes on TV. I am going to have to do something about this crap, as I am having terrible withdrawal speeds of 10k/s mean it takes damn near 9 hours to get an episode. I love Survivor and all, but it’s totally not worth all of that.

Meh… off to get a haircut. Post soon…