OmegaSpade79's musings...

Well this will come as a surprise based on my last post, but I resigned from my job on Tuesday.

Stress was mounting to a ridiculous degree and they were still not allowing me to delegate to the help desk. Today they counter offered me and it finally got figured out.... Silly me I thought my job as a consultant was to maximize revenue. Actually according to them it is to document the crap out of the network and then sales will follow... My Method was stabilization, reasonable and critical documentation, make the sale then fill in less critical time consuming documentation as needed. In a more perfect world people who make less then me would fill in the gaps and handle user level issues. I have now been corrected I am supposed to be a one man show and damn the revenue once I hit a minimum. Fortunately, I already had two job offers and I will be accepting one tomorrow morning. At least I can leave with a clear conscious now that I know we fundamentally disagree on what my job was. I'm looking forward to a huge reduction in stress and increase in pay :) Plus an oppertunity to get back into enterprise technology.

So my last day will be May 15th. My new job starts June 2nd. In between I will be going to Alabama and Atlanta to see Mike. I'm also going to drive up to Eureka to see Adam for a few days.

Speaking of driving, Ford came back to me and offered me a $50 a month 7 year 100,000 mile warranty for Stranger so I've got that setup. I also paid off the last of my student loans. I'm hoping to have stranger paid off by the end of the year.

At the beginning of this month my old boss Lou was in Pleasanton and I had dinner with him. It was good to catch up with him and he helped give me some confidence in my job hunt.

I've seen a lot of movies since my last update. Persepolis the animated movie about an Iranian girl growing up in the midst of the revolution. The animation was excellent and I'll never look at a head scarf the same. Fight Club was playing at the SpeakEasy last night which I had never seen on the big screen so that was cool. I've also started rereading The Song of Fire & Ice.

I am making big progress on my CCNA should have that done by June 2nd.

My life has been consumed by work and looking for another job in the last few months. Looking forward to that changing :)

I had asian food for lunch today, my fortune was you will have a thrilling day...

Then I had my review right afterward and it was quite thrilling. It's a relief I will not have to worry seriously about them for a long time. Endsight did the right thing for me without having to fight which was a relief. I now have the highest recurring revenue among my group of engineers.

I've been on a couple more dates this month. Nothing special came out of either one. I consider myself a moral relativist because morality is determined by societal custom. Likewise it has occurred to me that standards of beauty are the same so all that should matter is what makes me happy.

I saw my niece last weekend she is smiling and interacting a bit now and is a lot more fun. I am going to Stockton for the Superbowl this weekend.

Obama is not my ideal candidate but he is the best of what is left.

I saw walk hard recently it was okay. Cloverfield was really unimpressive.
I went and saw "Blade Runner" Final cut, I liked this cut best of all of them.

Adam was down in San Jose for training and I met up with him for dinner it was good catching up with him.

I bought CCNA books so I plan to get that done within the next couple of months, since besides MCSE that is the other key cert to have and I have been doing more NOC work lately.

I've been 28 for 2 whole days. Speaking of days it's been a very good one for me. I have wrapped up fixing another client and performed some dicey installations successfully on several servers. I am now up to 11 clients total. I have another review and bonus next month I am really looking forward too.

I spent xmas with my immediate family. My sisters baby is doing fine, she is smiling and sitting up now. I think I'm going to spend new years with Eric & Bree in Santa Rosa.

The older I get the bigger my ego seems to get :P It's so irritating that most people have to do something stupid before they get smart about what is important in life. On the other hand, thinking things through and avoiding what I consider obvious mistakes makes me an odd ball. More and more it is also being clear that the simple ability to prioritize efficiently to make the most of time makes me some kind of amazing dynamo relative to other people... And really it comes easily to me and I am a person who really enjoys my leisure time AND being the best at things.

Recently I have seen Juno & Sweeny Todd. Juno was very funny the dialog is a little to witty for kids that age but I thought it was funny with a good twist. Sweeny Todd is just what you expect from Tim Burton & Johnny Depp and I was really impressed and enjoyed it. I really want to see I am Legend still.

Without any updates.

Well the biggest news I have been up to is I have now paid off all my credit card debt and in early February I will have all my debts paid except for stranger and my student loans at 1.6%.

My sister also had her Baby Girl. I'd never really been around infants, they don't really do anything. But my sister is doing well.

Work is still going well I am up to 9 clients now. Our Christmas Party was in a Luxury box during a warriors game. It was the best company xmas party I had been to great food, and a lot of fun without political BS.

I interviewed for an internet research volunteer organization, waiting to hear back on that.

Overall I have been spending a lot of time working and saving.

It has been a very busy last couple of months. I am up to 6 clients as of Thursday this week. Would be 7 but one of them can no longer afford us so I am losing them. Work is going well still though. I paid off one credit card last month and this month I will pay off my last one with my first bonus. For this reason I have decided to cancel my Cancun trip. If I save, I should be able to pay off my only private student loan with my next bonus and tax return in January leaving me with only my Car and 1.6% student loans as my only debts :) I still plan to go on a 2 week trip in June to Europe if I can swing it with work. After that I will start saving to pay off my car.

I joined Toastmasters a couple of weeks ago finally. They meet 11am Sundays a few miles away and it is a decent size group. I have my first speech next week, I wrote this afternoon and will practice this week.

My sister's "IT" should be born this week because they are going to induce.

Things are still going well with my roommates, one of my roommates now has a kitten.

I also finally visited the SpeakEasy theater in Oakland. You can order beer and food and watch a movie! I saw King of Kong and Shoot'em up there. Both very funny.

I also saw the new Resident Evil in my opinion the best of the series so far except for the garder belt :P

So I went to "Hops in Humboldt" this weekend a local brewery festival. Spent the day getting very nicely toasted with Adam and Eric. We had an awesome time.

Work is going very well still. I am up to 4 clients now and everyone is still giving me high praise.

I have been doing some blind dating in the last month. I have learned a ton from that. I think I have really found my center and learned a lot about what I am looking for. This was the first time for me that I have gone out with someone before I knew definitively if I liked them. Probably needles to say none of them have been amazing, but I have been having a good time meeting new interesting people.

Been seeing a lot of movies as usual the most notable was "SuperBad". Most vulgar I may have ever seen but super funny, maybe the funniest this summer.

I'm also trying to decide where to take my Annual Thanksgiving weekend trip. Right now Cancun is my top pick.

I just saw Sicko, it is a movie I recommend for every American. It is a gut punch to the American Ideal of selfishness, he brings all the pieces together wonderfully and there was not a dry eye in the theater.

So far so good in Berkeley. I really like my new job, it has given me a huge confidence boost in my Server engineering skills since I am working on my own. My boss and coworkers have also been really cool. The perks have been decent so far too. I maybe taking on my second client this week. My house mates have been cool so far too.

I also met up with my friend Josh who lives in Berkeley I had not seen in 5 years. We seem to still have a lot in common so I look forward to hanging out with him. He also let me know the White Stripes are playing at the Greek bowl at the end of September so I am trying to get a bunch of people together to see it.

I'm updating from the Sea Bean coffee shop in Seward Alaska, the most inland Ice free port in Alaska. I started this trip in Anchorage Saturday. It costs as much to fly to Alaska as Europe, but it is only a 4 hour flight. I had a lay over in Seattle weird airport since you can't see the city from the airport the way you usually can. Arrived at my hotel about 10 pm. The Airport is only open at night, about 8pm-2am so all flights are red-eyes. Sunday I did about 5 miles of hiking and went to the zoo I got a lot of good pictures I will post when I get back to California. I went to a Turkish restaurant that was pretty good for dinner. Alaska is beautiful country but as expensive as California.

Yesterday, I took a train into Seward and went on a day cruise, I saw seals, dolphins and Glaciers. Glaciers are amazing looking and according to the park service are not shrinking here in Alaska in the last 100 years. It takes 100' of snow to make a foot Glacier ice. The food on the ship was some of the best prime rib and salmon I have ever had. Today I walked all over the tiny town of Seward and picked up some gifts and my communist party membership card from Russia. Before I get back on the train tonight I am going to a Bistro for dinner. I still have not seen any whales or salmon so I am hoping to see them on my Cruise in Whitter tomorrow.

Friday last week was my last day at Capital. It marked 26 months with them. Jody took us out to dinner and we hung out at Kevin's afterward. Everyone has found a better job and I think everyone is going to be fine. So it was more of a celebration of leaving the company. I start my new job at Endsight next monday and I am looking forward to it.

I am also looking forward to seeing "Sicko" & "Live free or Die Hard" when I get back to California.

I got my hands on Iggy Thump last week the new White Stripes album, musically best I have heard this year. Year Zero by NIN still is my favorite though due to the message and lyrics. I like the new Manson album but I am disappointed. Manson to me was the embodiment of the religious rights inner-child. His latest album is a personal piece about his love experience, and while it is catchy and a nice listen so is a lot of pop music. Manson has always tried to be an objectivist rather then political, while challenging society as an Icon Iconoclast. His latest album does not carry this tradition. Trent Reznor on the other hand has suddenly surged into Activism with his latest album predicting the beginning of the end of human society in the next 25 years, at the hands of the American Theocratic Empire that is destroying the world and the environment. If you haven't heard it yet, you need to.

I left for Raleigh on Tuesday night as planned. I met up with Mike, Sarah and Todd for Dinner at the Angus Barn/Wild Turkey Saloon. We had a great time over great food and drink. The amount of drink disabled me till noon the next day. At that point we left for the wedding rehearsal. I always thought weddings just happened there was a lot more to it then just showing up. The rehearsal dinner was held at "Tylers Tap Room" with a hosted bar. So I had a great time with Ryan trying to drink each other under the table while enjoying NC style pork. After that us kids headed over to another Brewery and had several beers and rounds. Once again we didn't really get moving till noon again. Sarah and Mike did a great job planning evSoerything so it was a mellow day, no drama. It did rain out their outdoor ceremony so the ceremony ended up being held at our hotel. The reception, food, and drinking was great. A lo of people flew out from California that I had not seen in years and we all had a great time. I am just now starting to get over my hangover. I hadn't drunk this much since living in England. I have a lot of good pictures. I'll upload when I get from my next vacation.

So this is my last week with Capital. It should be fairly light, and then after the going away party Friday, I will be leaving for Norcal. Because my flight to Alaska leaves at 3pm from SFO on Saturday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070529/ap_on_re_us/cindy_sheehan

Dear Cindy,

Thank you for fighting the good fight for as long as you did. I am writing to say I completely understand why you are retiring from the movement. I went through the same thing a few years ago in Grad school. A life of public service is a very hard thing when you are not being wined and dined by lobbyists. A life of public service is one of self-sacrifice for what you believe to be the greater good of society.

The problem I realized and you seem to have come to the same conclusion is that no matter how much you give there will always be those waiting in the wings to undo everything you worked so hard to change.

The Democratic party is nothing about apologists, apologizing for being liberals because at the end of the day they are owned by the same corporate interests that run the republican agenda.

At least the Republicans own up to their agenda and give their base what they thrive off of, Hate & Fear.

What does the Democratic base get? Nothing but false hope and promises that one day when the time is right we will honor what you put us in office to do. Until then, you need to be patient and wave your flags for us and not say anything mean about our dirty business as usual.

Ultimately it is just disgusting and like you I don't see a way out. The 2 party system here in America is too cemented in place for now.

I extend my deepest sympathy for your son and thank you for sharing your loss with the rest of us. My heart hurts every time I hear a personal story behind the death of an American service men. I just wish the rest of the public would wake up and see the lives of all these young people with bright potentials is in no way worth whatever rationalization of the week there is for the War in Iraq. I hope they figure it out before we invade Iran and more brave young people have to die for what?

I hope you can still find some peace,

Art Jannicelli

So my new company end-sight.com has set my start date for July 9th. I finally had an opportunity to talk with my new boss and I am very excited about my first client and have been studying for it.

Landam is laying us all off on June 30th. So rather than sit around bored in Berkeley for a week I decided to take another trip. So I thought to myself where can I go by myself without terrible crowds and being too hot on the week of 4th of July. I decided on Alaska on June 30th I am flying into Anchorage and spending a day there. The Next day I am going to Seward to go on a Whale/Glacier cruise for a couple of days. Then I'll be going to Whitter for the 4th of July for a Prince William Sound wildlife cruise and they have an annual BBQ celebration in this tiny town with fireworks. I am then taking a Red eye back to California on Friday July 6th. I'm going to take loads of pictures as usual to post here. I am really looking forward to this trip. I also will have lots of pictures from Mike's Wedding in N. Carolina I'll be heading out for that on June 19th.

I get to work remotely till probably Tuesday June 5th. I had start playing WOW again a week ago, but as usual it dawned on me that devoting so much time to a game is silly. Without any new certs to study I have decided I am going to try getting back into writing. I have a couple of ideas for truth stranger then fiction funny short stories I am going to try to write up to start off with. I really love the way Sci-fi shares philosophy with people who don't take philosophy classes. I am just not confident in my ability to create natural conversation. We'll see how this goes...

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6186193.html

This is purely extortion...

I call bullshite:

"If that doesn't happen, other taxes may zoom upward instead, warned Sen. Michael Enzi, a Wyoming Republican, at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. "Are we implicitly blessing a situation where states are forced to raise other taxes, such as income or property taxes, to offset the growing loss of sales tax revenue?" Enzi said. "I want to avoid that."

Excuse me, did anyone else notice the skyrocketing of home value in the last few years? Oh you did, well that translated into billions more in property tax revenue since homes are taxed on their value.

IF any taxes are imposed on the internet they should be for one purpose alone, to create nationwide free broadband access and to protect the Internet from malicious attack. I'd pay for that, but the internet tax should not be used for general fund.

It's also unworkable to force every etailer to give sales tax to every state as the article says it's just not feasible. Plus we already have to pay shipping, not paying tax evens that cost out.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/gop_candidates_.html#comments

This story is shocking in itself, the Bush Administration is going headlong into war with Iran. Not only have they been having the CIA attempt to destabilize the Iranian government they have moved 3 aircraft carrier fleets into the gulf and as of today are playing war games landing marines miles from the Iranian border in Kuwait... Anyone else notice the Iranian's are just playing tit-for-tat in meddling in Iraq?

What is even more amazing is the comments on this story. Many FOX news disciples are calling for charges of Treason be brought against ABC for reporting a story that was checked by the White House and CIA. Worse, there is no legal authorization from congress allowing acts of war to be committed against Iran. ABC was 100% justified in running this story even without asking the White House and CIA!

Then you see all these Republicans parroting Right wing talk radio that Valerie Plame was not "covert" so she was not outed. Way to split hairs, CIA people are not always out in the field and a lot of them like her work incognito as agents by running important American interests as basically sleepers for the CIA.

Lastly, I am sick of hearing that this country is split between the far left and right in congress! WRONG! There is no far left in congress except maybe Dennis. The far left are people like me who stand for Peace and Social Justice. The current Democratic party is right of center and are so because they are hooked on corporate money the same as Republicans. There is only one party in America Republican and Republican-lite (democrats). The DNC does not represent the left, they represent the do nothing center-right. If anything what this country needs is a charismatic radical leader to remind them the left is in their best interests and the right is just exploiting them.

The more successful I get the easier it gets to see how the rich are so disconnected from the rest of society. It's easier to blame the victim and the different then confront your own mistakes and learn from them. I'd like to think I am different because I work towards solutions rather then blaming.

7 weeks left in Socal. The roommate situation is still good. In fact I am fairly certain I am going to look for another roommate situation in Berkeley. Yep I have a great job offer in Berkeley. I officially start on 7/1/07. The pay is very fair, and the culture is very similar to Capital and they offer a lot of training including an MBA program. So I am releaved to be done with my job hunt. Not only does this company look great but Berkeley looks like an ideal place for me, young town with lots of liberal activism. The company has invited me to company Go-Kart races on 6/15/07.

Work has been extremely busy with long hours. But we are trying to turn things over by June 1. So we won't have to work out of the office at all hopefully in June we'll just telecommute.

I saw 28 days later this week, and after seeing that excellent movie I am really looking forward to seeing 28 weeks later this weekend. There are a lot of good movies due out this month.

So now my emphasis will be changing to finding a room to rent in the next 7 weeks. I have gone to one open house. The people were cool the room wasn't that great though.

Yep took and passed my last test today. I am officially an MCSE with Exchange and SMS 2003 specialization. A huge relief to finish those 9 exams. Although I am starting to consider taking the Citrix CCA exam.

My company laptop motherboard just died. So I will be without a laptop for at least 1 week. Figures since it only had to last another 10 weeks before the company would take it from and most likely never use it again. Could have been worse though, the warranty was going to expire in 3 weeks.

I saw "Hot Fuzz" Tonight. Great movie very very funny.

I have moved in as a roommate to a new place in Irvine. I have turned over my keys to my old place so I am hoping it gets rented soon. I ended up having to move out inside a week, because I got into a dispute with my old landlord over when I gave notice.

So now I have just 10 weeks left in Socal. I have started looking for work and I have a couple of interviews next Friday. My MCSE is making me a hot item. So it looks like I have turned a corner as an IT professional and may not have to difficult a time finding work in the future.

I just went and watched Grindhouse tonight. WOW! What a movie, Tarantino & Rodriguez at their best. Planet Terror was a classic gore Zombie movie, great dialogue, and fairly original and Rose McGowan is HOT. PEOPLE THIS IS A DOUBLE FEATURE a good part of the audience left after the first movie and did not come back for the second feature "Death Proof". The intermission had a hilarious slasher movie called "Machete" and another called "Thanksgiving" so stick around to watch them. Death Proof was also really good, I thought it was pretty unexpected, I really liked the ending too. Both movies were pretty different from what their trailers had suggested. You will want to see these movies sooner rather then later because there were not that many people there so they may not be in Theaters long. I hope this isn't the end of double features $8.50 for 200 minutes of great cinema is a bargain.

I passed my 293 exam. I have finished reading the book for 294, and I plan to study and review this weekend and hopefully take the exam Tuesday morning at the latest and then I will be all done wooh.

I had a great time in Stockton. My Sister is pregnant! My Brother in law got a new great job. So I took them out to Ruth Chris Steak House to celebrate. the food was great about $50 a head, but everyone agreed it was money well spent. Then we went to Tory's wedding she looked beautiful and I was glad to see her wedding and meet her husband finnally.

I also put a deposit down on a room to rent for a couple of months since my lease runs out on 4/28. The complex has tons of great features, and it is fully furnished so I am going to sell off everything that won't fit into stranger. It was hard to find a place for a good price for just 2 months and was okay with me working from home at least 3 days a week. Another thing I like about this place is there is a huge pool right outside.

In the last month I have been trying to get more healthy. I have started jogging. I am also eating fruit, yougurt, and cottage cheese as snacks. I eat one meal a day either at work or I just have rice with chicken/Fish at home.

I just got my taxes done too today. Ended up owing $600 thanks to my options cash out last year when capital was purchased. If not for my student loan interest and moving deductions it would have been a lot worse.

Now I need to get motivated to clean up my place so I can put my stuff on craigslist for sale. On top of my studying and jogging. At least I have a few weeks to get it done. I also need to get the place cleaned out of my stuff so I can hire cleaners to come into to clean the place and shampoo the rugs. I only have a $300 deposit so I need to be sure everything is as perfect as possible.

I also started reading another great book, "Android's Dream" very funny sci-fi. The same author has another book coming out on the 15th :) NIN has a new album coming out on the same day that I love the singles for. Manson's album is slated for Late May at this point.

It's going to be a busy month, but lots of good things happening. Oh, and we have been notified we will be terminated on 7/1/07 so I won't have to quit and now I can get unemployment if I haven't found a job by then. However, I have already started looking, so hopefully I will find something good in nocal before then.

For the last 7 years I have avoided the topics of religion and faith except in a very superficial sense on this site. Although, for those who know me in reality they know that this is a very important topic to me. I was raised roman catholic so religion is a very controversial issue in my family.

I've known I was an Atheist for almost half of my life now. At first I was probably attracted to it because of my tendency to distrust authority and tradition. It became hardened as I lost faith in mankind and the leaders of men who claimed to do God's work when all they really did was preach hate, racism, militarism, nationalism, and supremacy of their own religion. Manson, sums it up with, "I never really hated one true God, but the God of the people I hated".

Since moving back from England though, my sister married into a Baptist Family of really good people. I have also become very good friends with a Mormon. These are good people to their core's and I never expected to respect and trust people so full of Faith. In fact, when it comes down to it, we have a lot of the same goals and hopes for humanity, we just have different motivation for wanting them.

This inspired me to think about what actually makes us so different and I determined it comes down to Faith. Simply, I have none, people of Faith speak of feeling the supernatural and of their love and trust in humanity. I simply do not have either. I have learned to depend on myself. When I need something I set a goal and I take care of it myself. I do not need to involve a higher power.

With this established, I started thinking about what caused this divide where 90% of the population has some kind of Faith, and where so few have none. I started by thinking about the phrase, "Our Father's our are models for God". However the more I considered it the more I realized it wasn't just one person, I admittedly have a very low opinion of people in general. One of the tenants I live by is, "Expect nothing and you will never be disappointed" Teddy Roosevelt. Ultimately what I came up with is Faith is an expression of trust in mankind and lacking that, I have no Faith which is what the new rant I posted, "On Faith" is all about.

Back to the usual, I have finished reading and practicing for the 293 exam and have started working on study guides my goal is to take the test Thursday morning, after that I will have just one more to go.

This weekend I am going to Stockton, I am looking forward to it, Tory is getting married.

I saw Pan's Labyrinth. Yes it is as wonderful as everyone says it is, go see it. The story and the effects were great, and I liked the theme of confronting Fascism.

I just added a new rant for the first time in a long time, "Jesus Camp Review". That movie was very hard for me to watch.

I also so "Nomad" earlier this week about Khazackstan's Nomadic history. Weak Cliched movie, and they take credit for Genghis Khan... I was not impressed.

My Phoenix trip for next week has been postponed a month so I have started working on exam 293.

The motherboard I bought for my new server arrived DOA. So no new server till I get the RMA taken care of.

Yep, I passed 291. I way over studied for it. I also passed the SMS test today. So I am officially down to 293 & 294 to become a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer with exchange and SMS specialization. I am very excited and it kind of feels unreal to be at this point. I still plan to finish these last two tests by 4/28.

I have been meaning to update for a couple of weeks, but every time I was ready something would come up that made me want to wait so I could add it to the update.

My other big news is there is a very good chance that the company that bought Capital is close to making me an offer to come work for them in Norcal, specifically Martinez. I have been told me three different sources this is in the works. I am not enthusiastic about moving to Martinez, but if they make me a fair offer I will probably go. I just hope they can give me an offer before I have to sign a lease in Irvine. I am going to start looking for a room in Irvine again if I have not heard anything by the first week of April.

I have also decided to liquidate my stuff again. It occurred to me that replacing everything I own minus clothes, books, and computer gear would cost far less then renting a moving truck again. So in April I am going start selling off my stuff. I'm going to do it in two lots, saving essentials like my Bed and TV for last. I'll then hopefully be moved into the next place I can live so I can hire professional cleaners off of Craigslist to clean my place for me and shampoo my carpets. My current complex has a nasty reputation for screwing people on move out and since I only put $300 for a deposit I am going to be careful not to owe them anything over that. It has sunk in as well, I bought boxes last night.

I also broke down and spent the $89 to build myself a new server out of spare parts that should be Longhorn 64 compatible. So far it's a AMD3200, Gig of Ram, 250GB HD. Fry's had a free with mail in rebate sale on computer cases. I am hoping to get rid of the computer I built in 2000 for about $150 on CL. I am going to finish putting the computer together after I finish this update.

I saw "The Host" today a Korean Monster movie that got rave reviews. I was not impressed, it was okay, but not nearly as funny or scary as it was reviewed. I don't think it was a bad idea for them to release it the same weekend as 300.

300 on the other hand was awesome, the effects were outstanding. I liked the story, but I am sucker for anything that underscores humanities innate violent and sexual core. The only failing I thought it had were, the sex scene at the beginning between the King & Queen was unnecessary, and overall they did a poor job of defining how free blood thirsty killers are better then tyrant blood thirsty killers since that is all a matter of perspective.

With all the furor over Iran taking offense some people might think it odd I liked the movie. Bottom line, most American's are incapable of distinguishing Persia and Iran. The people who do know, recognize 300 as a work of fiction. Most American's probably thought Persia was a legend or make believe empire. In fact if it weren't in the news they definitely would never know better.

Stranger spent almost a week at Ford this time, however after bringing in actual Ford engineers I have not heard the sound since. I will know for certain after I return from my Norcal trip a the end of the month.

A friend of mine gave me 4 pre-release tracks off of the new NIN album they are GREAT, I am looking forward to a political album from Reznor. Manson has tentatively set his release date for June.

Oh and I gotta just say this season of Rome was spectacular! I really liked the finally, I like where the series is heading and I can't wait till next season.

That's it for now, I am going to start working on building my new server.

Last week I passed 70-297 after taking the week long Microsoft training course at Quick start. I was very impressed with Quick Start I learned a lot from the class the computer equipment was satisfactory and the complimentary breakfasts and one lunch were nice.

I have started studying for 70-291 when I have passed that I will be MCSA w/messaging. If I pass 2 more after that I will be MCSE. I am also going to take the SMS test. I plan to have all of this done by 4/28.

Why 4/28? Well that is when I will have to take down my home lab. I got my lease renewal today and these bastards want over $350 more a month to go month to month. Since my work contract is unpredictable and will not last long enough for a lease, I will be moving out on 4/28. At this point I plan to rent a room, because it will be a lot cheaper and it will make it easier to move back to Norcal ASAP once I am down with work here in Socal. So now I have to start thinking about what to sell, Trash, keep, or store. At the moment it looks like I will be working for capital until the bonus pay out of 6/30/07 and there are strong indicators they want me to stay past that. However, one of my rules is I don't work for free, with all of my certs done I should be able to land a 20% raise by changing jobs in Nocal on top of the cost of living decrease. So to keep me down here I'd need another large bonus and salary bump. It will take a whole lot more once my VP leaves.

So between Cert's and moving I am going to be very busy the next few months.

Eric is coming down for the weekend, I am looking forward to seeing him. Last time I saw him was at the Tenacious D show in November.

Stranger is also starting to make a growling noise from the rear axle again... Not sure what can do on the 3rd attempt...

I have now passed MS 07-284 & 70-285 the exams were on Exchange Administration and Implementation. I passed both with a 910. I have been talking with other people taking these exams and I'm told I am doing it faster then most people.

Capital has paid for me to go to classroom training for my next exam 70-297 Active Directory and Network Infrastructure Implementation. Hopefully I will take that exam the week after. Assuming I pass that will leave just 3 exams till I will be a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer with Messaging specialization. This should open a lot of doors for me, I will no longer have to skip jobs that require an MCSE as a Prereq.

It also occured to me last night I have only 90 days on my lease left. I can't believe it has been 9 months since I moved here. I will be moving to another place when my lease runs out on May 1st, it is just not worth the $1333 a month.

With work winding down my focus is on finishing my MCSE testing. I am starting to itch to move back to Norcal.

Finally some new movies are coming out this month I am looking forward to seeing.

...

Just got back from seeing Chlidren of Men For once the critics were right. That movie was outstanding. The filming and symbolism were excellent, the story was told subtly and kept moving. The action was suspenseful and moving, and served the plot. The people who hate this movie, are missing the point that it is a story that is trying to make a point about the human condition while on a quest. The reason why women are infertile is just a motivating factor.

I passed the Windows XP test for MCSA. I have started studying for the Exchange portion, I plan to take that late next week.

I just got back from another vacation. This time I drove to Norcal for the Holidays. It is about a 5.5 hour drive from Lake Forest to Stockton, CA. I didn't hit traffic coming or going. I left on the 21st and returned on the 1st. Stranger's rear axle is getting ever louder. However I probably will not be able to put it into the dealership until the last week of the month.

I spent Xmas weekend with my immediate family and had a good time catching up. I also had flown in on the weekend of the 18th to Surprise my Mom for her Xmas party.

Tuesday Night I went to Dinner with Bill and Mike, they got me the best gifts this year. It was good to see both of them; I had last seen them when we went to Europe together in June. It was good to hear from Bill that his next movie "Blood Gulch" is on schedule and they should be filming in June, so far I am on board for the website and being one of Bill's Gophers. Bill will be producing and directing this one. I am officially a "Technical Consultant"

On Wednesday I went to a Stockton Thunder Hockey Game with Mike and Chris.
Hockey is much better close up in person.

Thursday night I went met up with Natalie in Sacramento who I had not seen in about 18months. It was great catching up with her, she is flying out on the 23rd so I'll see her again which will be fun.

Friday I got to see Tory at the poorly planned surprise party for me. My Family does not know any of my post-high school friends other then Tory. But we had a great time with the people who were there and it is always good to see Tory.

Saturday I got wrapped up in a great book, "Old Man's War". Basically, in this Universe when Earthlings hit 75 they become legally dead and join the military to defends the Human inter-galactic empire in return for a cloned body to become young again. It was a very entertaining book with a fresh perspective on Sc-fi warfare since the soldiers had the minds of 75 year olds and the bodies of 19 year olds. At only 300 pages it is a good light read. I am also working on "Slaughter House 5".

Sunday night was New Years, Cece and I went to the Rio City Cafe in Old sac to celebrate. We were able to enjoy a nice meal and see some fireworks warm and indoors without crowds. My xmas gifts were also a hit.

So it has been a very busy last few weeks but a lot of fun.

Oh and a big WOOH! On December 22nd I became a Microsoft Certified Professional when I passed my first Cert test on Server 2k3 (Covering 700 pages of reference material and requiring demonstration of knowledge via simulation). I am now 66% done preparing for the XP test, which I hope to take by early next week. Then I will start on the Exchange test which should not be too tough. Then I will start cracking on the really challenging 291 exam. These tests take up so much of my time, but I have decided they will be my emphasis for the New Year. I really over studied for the first test I took, but passing easily has given me the confidence and motivation to work towards finishing the other 6 tests.

I've also seen a couple of bad movies, 'Babel' and 'Good Sheppard' both are critically acclaimed both are dull and slow. I got the point but you could get to it faster and with more effect on the audience.

So hopefully next time I update I will have two more cert tests done.

I have also started looking into where I will work in Norcal once I am bought out of my contract here, any time between tomorrow and October. I am really going to try to not settle on the first offer I get and prepare myself as much as possible by getting certified.

You never realize how much you need a vacation till you get one.

Seeing Adam and Eric last weekend really loosened me up. We had a great time at the Tenacious D show. 16oz beers were $7 which I pointed out was cheap for SF. The show itself was good, they stayed true to the album. I will see the movie this weekend. The album out is just the movie soundtrack and I was not all that impressed. Other then that I spent a lot of time with my Sister and Brother in law that weekend and was pleased they also like Sushi and there is a good Sushi place in Stockton.

Then I had a short week at work and set out for my Arizona trip. If you ever decide to go to Hoover dam, be advised there is a lot of slow traffic which would be maddening on a motorcycle. The Dam itself was interesting and I got some good pictures I will post when I have the time.

After the Dam I took the 40 to Williams. What a disappointment a very small town. In the future I will stay at the railroad museum hotel or the Grand Canyon itself. I did get to use an old fashioned gas pump for the first time when I was there. The Grand Canyon Resort Hotel lacked a working TV or Internet and no alarm clock in the room on top of thin walls allowing neighbors to wake me up constantly.

When I woke up my car was covered in ice and it took several minutes to defrost. Then I headed to the train museum to take the train to the Grand Canyon. I decided against that when I was informed it was a $75 trip by train. So I drove "Stranger" my Mustang to the Grand Canyon. Along the way I stopped at an indian trading post and bought some great gifts.

The Grand Canyon itself was amazing, pictures and movies do not capture the size. I drove all around the rim and got lots of pictures. It was $25 per car to get into the park, I would recommend getting a pass in one of the shops on the way to save yourself the time of buying one at the park gate.

After the Canyon I drove to Phoenix and stayed at the 3 Palms resort which was really nice, I recommend it for the price. Sunday I met up with Jarret, Oaks, and Anthony to watch Football at 'tilted kilts' basically a Hooters sports bar. It was great seeing them and catching up with them.

After that I made the 7 hour drive back to Lake Forest, I only hit 45 minutes traffic which was shocking for a holiday weekend.

The only other downer is Stranger is making grinding noises from the rear axle again, so back to the dealership...

Now I am going to get busy with studying for my MCSA and I want to take the first test in the first or second week of December.

Wooh! Lots of Vacation. This weekend the company is flying me up to Nocal for a Project. So I am looking forward to seeing my friends up there again. Monday night I am going to see Tenacious D in San Francisco with Adam and Eric. I am going to pick up the new album when I get off work this afternoon.

I am planning on going to my Aunt's for Thanksgiving in Temecula which will be good.

The day after Thanksgiving, I am going to go on a road trip to Hoover dam, and then drive out to Flagstaff, AZ, Saturday I will be going to the Grand Canyon. Sunday I am going to drive into Phoenix to see my former coworkers which will be fun. Then back to Lake Forest. I'm kinda dreading the traffic, it was bad last year on the way back from Death Valley.

I saw stranger then fiction last weekend. The movie hit close to home and was Ferrell's transition to Drama. I enjoyed the movie, but I felt like I was leading the laughter in the theater.

I saw Borat the week before. It was very funny, there are a few extremely graphic minutes that were almost to much for me, but overall it was very good.

OT is picking up at work which is nice, my WOW toon is up to 46.

disappointed Vista will not be out till 11/30.

So we have a tenative retention agreement through June 07 at my company so that is a great relief. In June I will start looking for work in Norcal (East Bay, Silicon Valley, Sacramento, and Stockton).

The guys at work introduced me to Youtube.com so I am now keeping up with the Daily show and South Park for free. However, the latest South Park episode on Warcraft, got me to reinstall it and give it another shot... And I am hooked, at this moment I have a lvl 35 Warlock. Last time I played the server I was on was over crowded. Seems the crowds have calmed down and I am on a brand new server. So I am lvling with everyone else. Warcraft is EQ perfected.

I went and saw the 3d Nightmare before xmas this last weekend, the 3D glasses they used worked with my glasses. I had never seen the movie on the big screen and I really enjoyed the new details. Marilyn Manson is covering 'This is Halloween" on Leno on Halloween night I am looking forward to it.

I am still working on my MCSA. A lot of good movies are coming out in the next few weeks I am looking forward too.

I bought a Processor (FX 3GHZ OC)/Hard Drive (SATA2) Combo upgrade this week in preperation for installing Windows Vista next week. I am using IE7 and I really like the tabbed browsing, although it takes some getting used too.

Well in the last month I have gone on a lot of interviews. I had no trouble getting parralell offers. However, I was unable to land anything that would have been better then what I do now at capital.

Yesterday, Capital formerly was acquired by Landam. My Director has really pushed us hard to stay and said he will do everything he can to make it worth our while. So I have decided to stay with Landam and work on my MCSA. Unless, I find an outstanding oppertunity I will be most likely be moving back to Norcal next summer. In June of 07, I am going to spend a week in Washington DC after going to Mike's wedding. So after that I will be looking hard for work in Norcal probably. My Director thinks we should all still be employed by then. I hope to have my MSA done long before then. I built myself a Lab DC yesterday and so far so good.

Labor Day Weekend I flew out to Stockton. I had a great time, got a hair cut, saw my family, Tory and Bill.

I saw a great movie this weekend Idiocracy. It is a Mike Judge movie and he did a great job predicting the planets future and the moral delima of social responsibility. I highly recommend it for a laugh and a thought.

I also saw, This Film is not yet rated. It is a really good expose on the film ratings board. However as a movie, I did not like how it flowed or ended.

I bought the latest Disturbed album, 10,000 fists, this album did not dissapoint if you like Guitar driven metal you will enjoy it.

That is all I can think of for now.

~ Art

So the huge news is my job stability has gone from a 12-24 month window till lay offs to a 1-9 month window! Yikes! So I am working extremely hard to find a job in Orange county within in my pay range before the start of Quarter 4 on October 1 and hiring freezes.

I had my first interview Friday that I thought went pretty well, but I am competing with 10+ canidates so I can't be sure of what I am up against. It is a mid level engineer position at a nationwide consulting firm. The office itself was impressive similar culture to CTG just more casual. I think I could learn a lot there and so far they have been the most receptive to my salary expectations.

I have 2 other strong job leads. One is a position of last resort. While it pays okay it will not be much of a challenge and skill development will be up to me. However the other opportunity is outstanding, International consulting, and training. However the pay will probably just hit my minimums. The perks though are so tremendous I'd be an idiot to turn it down. Another IT manager used to work there, and gave my resume with a sterling recommendation to one of their EVP's and introduced me to the guy. Hopefully I will hear from them soon.

Fortunately CTG, has been very up front about the looming layoffs and have been understanding with accommodating our needs to look for work.

What motivated me to write an entry tonight were two articles that have been circulating in the Tech news that have been irritating me. First, there is a huge thing being made right now about PS3 issues. Specifically, it costs to much, it is too complex and therefore it will have a small customer base and as a result of that developers are pulling out of making games for it. I'll start by saying I am not a console gamer. I am so out of it with console gaming I thought no one in their right mind would pay $400+ for an xbox 360. Yet they were sold out on launch date. So now we have the Game media telling us, gamers won't pay $600 for the new PS3. I think they are dead wrong. The kind of people that bought the first 1 million 360's (some paying a $1,000 for package deals), were not buying the latest XBOX, they were buying the bragging rights and prestige to owning something in high demand that cost a lot. Console have reached a point where they are luxury commodities. As long as a shortage can be guaranteed and the same million people will get in line again and drop $600 or more to say they had it first. There are around 275 million Americans, even if just the top 1% of house holds needs to purchase the console it is a smash hit.

The second thing that I found irritating was Symantec's white paper today on Vista vunerabilities. In short the paper says, if malware is disguised as needing to run with legacy permissions or is mis-identified as an admin level process it will be able to compromise vista at a root level, UH! DUH! This article, followed PR this week from the Black Hat conference giving credit to Microsoft for doing a good job with Vista Security. To me this is Symantec flat out trying to justify it's own survival. Granted Microsoft has taken a shot at Symantec with it's own Anti-malware solution, however if Symantec made the best product like NOD32 they would have no need to fear. Microsoft is just beginning to delve into Malware prevention and removal, with the time and resources at Symantec's disposal it is laughable how much better NOD32 is compared to Symantec, Mcafee, and Trend Micro whose revenues and experience should allow them to create a superior product to Microsoft or NOD32.

In the last month, I have been reading a lot more then gaming. I've read Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton. It is a love story hidden below a great Sc-fi mercenary story. I really liked the ending and enjoyed classic Hamilton mercenary action :)

I also finished reading Fall of Hyperion. Interesting story, the writing in Hyperion was better. This one had more of a plot, I just couldn't get into it much.

I am now reading a collection of true stories written by Chuck Palahniuk. If you are a writer you should pick this up it is very insightful. So far he is arguing that the contemporary drive to succeed is a sort of drive to be able to choose who you socialize with. Self-Destruction on the other hand is a reaction to the loneliness the success builds and the self-destruction devolves you back into the mob.

I added another set of pictures, this time of my Death Valley trip from last thanksgiving. One of these days I will get around to uploading my new Europe trip. I was starting to get short on web space, but I just saw doteasy.com who hosts my domain is now giving me 100MB of space wooh. Also on the travel front, I will be going to Washington DC for the first time at the end of next June after Mike leaves for his honey moon.

I also went to Comicon again this year. For me, it is now officially too big. The highlight of the show was seeing the Boondocks Panel. 2 years ago when I went to that panel maybe 70 people there. This time at least a thousand! The good news is production has already started on Season 2 and I now own season 1:) On a side note I also got the new Chappelle season, I can see what Dave was upset about, it was not as good as season 2 and it really was doing more to enforce stereotypes then make fun of them.

Friday I saw the boondocks panel and did some shopping. Saturday was a zoo, in short due to the crowds and stupidity of security in and out of the convention I did not get to meet Kevin Smith or see the Simpsons movie preview. However, I did get to see Rose Mcgowan, Rosario Dawson, and Quinton Terrintino for the first time.

As usual I have also been seeing at least one movie a weekend.

Saw a pre-release of "A scanner Darkly", a little predictable, but I enjoyed it overall. If you are into stoner humor you will really like it.

Also saw Clerks 2. I have seen all of the View Askew movies. This one really picks up after Clerks 1. I enjoyed it a lot, it was very funny and I could empathize with what Smith was saying to our generation. What I got out of it was, don't do what you are "supposed" to do, do what will make you happy. The other theme was don't underestimate the less then beautiful people.

I saw 'The Ballad of Ricky Bobby tonight' holy crap, that movie was FUNNY! I did not stop launching the whole time. Damn the critics see this movie. Although, I will admit to watching Nascar occasionally so that could have been part of it... In other sports news I have completed my draft picks for Fantasy Football.

I think that is quite enough for tonight. I am going to work on tweaking my resume so more and writing a template interview thank you. If any of you know of decently paying System Administrator positions in Orange County drop me an email.

~Art

Just about the week, I last posted, one of the other guys in my group got laid off. Not to worry my job is pretty secure for now :) I was seriosuly considering a job in Stockton but I was talked out of it by a peer. So I am going to stick it out with these great guys until its impossible to continue to do so.

Last weekend I bought a used bed a golden wood color. I also bought a new desk. Consequently I can now rock Duel displays (posted a picture in the Mustang gallery).

I have been doing a whole lot of reading in the last mont. I have read:

Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton, this is the final book in his latest series. Once again Hamilton succesfully creates a whole new world that is amazing. In this series he tackles the epic question of how does Genocide/Xenocide fit within the idenity of Humanity.

Native Son by Richard Wright: For a Classic this book is a real page turner. The story revolves around a mistake early in the book so vivid it feels like a dream. If you've ever wondered what it feels like to be poor, Black and Angry this may be as close as you can get.

Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast: If you liked "Best Democracy money can buy" You are gonna love this book. Palast's chapters on Big and the robbery of the 08' elections are very enlightening. His chapter on Oil changed my perspective on how Saudi manipulates the oil market through Opec. As a result I am pulling my money out of Big Oil.

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuck (Author of Fight Club): AMAZING book, it is a collection of short stories woven together into a single plot. He tackles Humanities self-destructive nature and asks is out of Fear of Pain or the Stupidity of never moving past our own pain? Not for the weak of Stomach. Just make it through "GUTS" and it is easy from there.

Hyperion: A Scifi classic very intetrguing anotehr set of short stories woven together, I will read the sequel.

Next I am going to read Fallen Dragon and then return to Hyperion. Hopefully I can keep all this reading up.

I have also seen:

Superman ~ Lois sure can take a beating... To much Drama not enough action. Good but dissapointing.

Nacho Libre ~ Funny! If you like Jack Black you will like this movie.

Who killed the Electric Car? Really great movie. I had no idea a viable Electric Car has been available since 1996 and how far off Hydrogen technology. Check this one out!

Inconvient Truth: Al Gore does a great job of bringing all the facts of global warming together. If you have doubts see this, and if you don't bone up your arguments.

Final Fantasy 7: Best CG I have seen to date. Clearly pointed at Children But very true to the game.

Xmen3: Good Effects, interesting story.

I am going to stop my Net flix this month in light of all the reading I am doing and discovering a really good independent movie house less then 20 minutes from my place.

I also beat Knights of the Old Republic. I have never been that huge a Star Wars fan. My Epic is the Matrix. However, after playing Knights of the Old Republic I must admit the Jedi story is much closer to my heart. I have already ordered Knights of the old Republic 2.

In the near future I am still looking for more to do outside of work. I am flying to Nocal this weekend for a work project. Maybe exercise more and volunteer when I get back for what though? I'll be keeping an eye on the Meixcan Presidential elections and Isreali attack on Palestine could be a highly explosive week.

WOOH!

I got back from Europe last night. I had a great time. I will upload pictures when I get back to Orange county this week. We made it to Budapest, Prague, and Krakow under budget. There was quite a Snafu at the beginning with one of our people missing the flight cause they arrived less then an hour before the flight so the rest of us barely made it. He ended up taking a BA flight though and caught up with us a couple of hours after the rest of landed in London.

From London we took a connecting flight to Budapest on BA. I don't think I have been on a plane with less leg room... Fortunately it was a short flight around an hour. At the Budapest Airport we met the Cab I pre-arranged and went straight to our room at the Kleopatra Apartments.

http://visitprague.cz/main.php3s1=accommodation&s2=apartments&s3=detail&lng=en&sekce=3&id=172

I highly recommend this place. Tamas' will take good care of you. He got us the cab. The room it self was clean and well stocked at a great price. If you are going to Budapest consider staying with him.

The first day in Budapest we walked south from our Apartment, and saw the parliament and walked through the biggest Mall I have been in anywhere. It was as long as a city block in a V-Shape 4 levels both side were the same length. The Metro system there is really good and cheap. Fair warning they do check tickets. The 2nd Day Mike & I went to the Castle District and saw the huge Church there and the Fisherman's Grotto. That night we went to a great buffet. Our last day we went to the city park and saw the Circus and Beer Tent.

Overall we had a great time, their dollar is worth .005 of a US dollar so things were cheap. The food was not that great, very little English was spoken, and there was virtually Tourist stuff to buy. However they are doing a great job renovating some great sites and in a couple of years this place might surpass Prague due to its prices.

We took the train from Budapest to Prague. The ride was smooth, other then being woken up 3x for our passports. We saved about 50% over flying. However, you really do not get to sleep well taking the train. Next time I might bight the bullet and pay for the flight and hotel room.

In Prague we had a great if expensive breakfast buffet at the Intercontinental. We were not able to check in until 10am. Then we slept until late in the Afternoon. At that point we walked out to the Charles Bridge, and looked at the shops. Mike and I had dinner at the "Crazy Cow Steak House" restaurant. It was reasonably priced and VERY good. The next day we went on the communist and city tours and did a lot of shopping. Our guide really drove home, how badly communism damaged Prague, and the effect of the holocaust had on the local Jewish population.

The Apartment it self was okay. There was no shower curtain, the locks were very difficult to work with. The TV had no English channels. They did arrange a cab when we left. I would stay here again, but I definitely we look at all my options.

Overall, Prague is everything that is said about it. It was the most expensive place we stayed. This does dictate how much fun you will have.

We took the train again from Prague to Krakow. The train ride was bumpier this time and we got less sleep. We stayed at Hotel Cracovia http://www.polhotels.com/Cracow/Cracovia/

I really recommend this place. They serve a good Polish style breakfast buffet. The place is dirt cheap. Rooms are clean and well stocked. They arranged a cab for us to the airport. The location is prime, tours pickup here last and drop off first.

I went to the Salt Mine and took a tour of the city. The city tour was amazing, I knew Poland was Catholic, but omfg the churches in the city are second only to the Vatican. I also picked up a lot of gifts here.

The flight back was extremely, close I had only 20 minutes when we landed at Heathrow, to get my bags, and go from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 to pickup my boarding pass and I made it! Never in my life has my bag come out first!

Overall Krakow is still my favorite city to visit. It is very cheap, friendly and safe. There is a lot to do whether you are drinking, eating, shopping, or sight seeing.

The trip as a whole was a great experience. I had a lot of fun with everyone. We did a lot of drinking ate some great food, and saw a lot of Eastern Europe.

I did learn to when Virgin Atlantic says they close their ticket desk 60 minutes before the flight they mean it.

Now after 2 weeks off I am ready to get back to work at full speed.

Next weekend my Parents are visiting me at my new place in Socal.

The work situation is getting interesting. We have been advised that within a year or two it will be in our best interest to work someplace else due to the pending acquisition. For me this does not change much, I will continue to work hard to get better and improve my title. It just means, I will need to follow company strategy closely to jump ship at the right moment with the right people hopefully.

So I moved down here on April 30th. It was good to spend time with Bill for a couple of days we don't get to do that very often anymore. I rented a Uhaul and spent the night in Bakersfield. I ended up getting a 16' truck which ended up being the right size, my stuff would not have fit in a 10'. I ended up only having 11 boxes, plus my furniture. I seemed to have only lost one box in the move.

The weeks leading up to the move were nice as I throttled down my work load and handed it over. This is the first time I have left a professional job on really good terms. I made sure to leave a lasting good impression on the leaders I would work for again.

Once, I got to my apartment, it has been problem after problem. My Oven and Dryer still suck. My fridge was missing when I moved in. The carpets need to be repalced. The shower was very slopply grouted. The washing machine leaks. Not to mention the amazing incompotence of the managerial staff, the mainteannce staff has been fast and great so far.

With that said, the job has been great. Plenty of time to work on one thing at a time. I am really enjoying it.

This last weekend, Cece flew out, and I took her to Dave and Busters and Redondo Beach to a Samba Brazillian BBQ place. We had a good time.

This weekend I have to start packing for Europe.

So this week I put a down payment on an apartment in Lake Forest. It is less then 2 miles from my new office, and it has in unit washer/dryer and garage. I'm getting for $100 less then I thought I would be paying.

Lake Forest itself is really a nice area. In fact I have never lived in a better area. I spent the weekend driving all over and there appears to be plenty of everything.

I saw "Thank you for smoking" Friday night, it was pretty entertaining I'd give it a B". Sunday I saw "Inside man", I enjoyed, I didn't look at the time once, which is unusal for me.

Besides that I spent the last 5 days working with my new work team. After working with them and seeing where I will be living and working this is getting much more exciting, there are a lot of perks I did not factor in. I am eager to get down here and start working.

They also gave me a Treo 650. These things really are like crack, so much to setup and customize. I already ordered some accessories from Ebay.

So the rest of this month is going to be dedicated to moving, finalizing plans for the europe trip and seeing my Norcal friends and family before I go.

This time I have an excuse... I couldn't reveal what was going on till I was sure it was going to happen.

For those of you I haven't nauseated with constant updates, it is official. I am being promoted to Computer Systems Engineer (Mega ultra supa l337 computer N3rd). The promotion was conditional on moving to Orange county. So as of May 1st this year I will be living in Lake Forest, California.

In a perfect world I could have taken this promotion and continued to live in Northern California, but that just is not possible. This is the kind of opportunity you have to take when it comes, you can't go to college to get into this, and experience is definitely king in this new position.

I'm hoping to move into a place with an attached garage and in unit washer and dryer.

I have been living in limbo since Thanksgiving when I hit my IT director up for this promotion. It is nice to finally know a date and it is a sure thing.

I went to Eureka with Eric this weekend and saw Adam. I went on a ride along with him, he seems to really be good at being a cop. It's too bad we just keep moving further and further away from each other.

I sold the Cougar less then 24hours after posting on craigslist, I put allt hat money into savings so I will have plenty for Europe in June.

So now I need to get busy getting all packed up again to move.

Been way to long since I updated. However a lot has been happening and I have been very busy.

I did fly to Socal for Thanksgiving. It was a great Holiday. I wanted to rent a Mustang but ended up with a Monta Carlo. I was not impressed. I had a great time with my family down there.

On December 22nd I bought a new car... A 2006 Mustange GT! I got the premium model with the Red Leather interior. The gas mileage is only slightly worse then the Cougar, and it is a whole lot faster then the Cougar. No buyers remorse yet. I got it for just $500 over invoice.

Xmas was great spent it with my immeadiate family. Had fun buying gifts this year since I had both the time and money to do it. I also gt really great thoughtful gifts from my family.

December 27th I flew out to Alabama and spent a week out there with Mike. We went to Nashville for New Years and stopped in Lynchburg Tennesse on the way. I had a great time. Ate great food, and experienced the best restaraunts there are "Brazilian Steak Houses".

Work is going extremely well. I'm still enjoying it. It's going to be a very busy year to say the least.

My new years resolution is to lose weight and get into shape for my trip to europe at the end of May.

My lease also ends in May, and I'll be moving out of this place, the flooding has been really bad. No water inside my unit, but I don't like slopping through it every time it rains. Maybe I can get Satelite at the new place too.

So Happy New Year, I'll be Dieting, working out, and making sure I have plenty of Money for Europe.

I know it has been a while. Lucky you, I am still at work right now and I'm on hour 14. At the moment I am configuring 20 new workstations for a project tomorrow.

Recent news, I got a nice raise last Friday. So I am as happy as I have ever been working here. It's actually been just over a year since I got back from England and I am now making just about double what I did working at HPM that I left on April Fool's day. It's nice to be working in such a positive enviornment where I see almost limitless possibilties for the future. So I don't mind being at work right now :)

A couple of weeks ago I bought my ticket to Alabama for a weeks vacation I am taking at the end of December to go out to see Mike. I've also planned a trip to eastern Europe for next June. Mike is on board, and I have the time off. I'll probably commit to it this month. We are going to Budapest, Prague, and Krakow, over 10 days. I want to get back to Europe before the air fares get insane due to oil prices. That are only going up from here on out.

So the IT Golf weekend was a lot of fun. I even enjoyed Golfing. Something I would like to improve on. Doesn't seem that difficult a thing to get decent at.

I got the cougar repainted this month too. I'm glad to be out of 2 tone. I have also had my alignment done, and installed 4 high performance tires.

I did buy a new case for my computer. I got an Antec Lanboy. I am sold on paying good money for cases now. It cost me $100 but it came together like a dream. Its light, and I added a couple more LED's and it looks great.

Other then that, I have just been keeping busy with work and seeing movies. This weekend I am having Cable installed. Going to start shopping for a digital camera for my upcoming trips too.

Well a 15 hour work day is enough. I'll finish up tomorrow.

As Profound as 911 was... These London bombing hit mucher closer to home for me. I have been in every place that was bombed. I have good friends that still live in London. Fortunatly, none of them were hurt. However, this was still much more chilling. The reaction of the English has been unique. America went into a histeric blood thirsty panic. The people of Spain immeadiatly called for action to prevent future attacks. The English are patiently waiting for investigation results. More on this as I think about it.

July 1st I went to the AMD tech tour. The food was dissapointing, but understandable due to the number of people. The AMD HQ was very bland and unimpressive. So I put together my new PC on Thursday night, AMD64 3200, GIG of PC3200, Asus A8N-E, and Radeon X800XL. The only thing is the case I bought is too small for the power supply, so I am considering buying a new one and putting my old computer in it. I am still debating what to do with my old 2ghz, 1 gig of RAM, computer with a 9800 Pro. Probably only worth a couple hundred at the most. But the new computer is a vast improvement over the old. I resubscribed to EQ2 and Planetside and they play MUCH smoother now and no crashes yet!

I also have officially finished my probation. I signed up for a huge amount of life/cancer/health/dental insurance. In a couple of weeks my company is flying me down to San Diego for IT department team building weekend which should be a lot of fun.

I am strongly considering getting my car repainted when I get back. I need to get an alignment this weekend.

My next dilema is joining a health club. But the rates those rent seeking bastards charge are crazy.

So it's raining and its June. Work is still going well, just finished my 2nd month here. This weekend I am going to be Santa Rosa for work. July 1st I am going to the AMD & Microsoft Tech Tour in Sunnyvale. I am getting the desktop bundle, so I'll have myself a new PC in July :)

I am half way through the Hitchhikers series, and its still good ;) George RR Martin also announced his new book is going to publication WOO!

Direct TV came out to my house last weekend... They couldn't get a signal either. This means I am going to be stuck using an Antenna until I move... Although, SBC thinks they finally got my DSL fixed last night. Turns out my jacks were not wired correctly.

I am still really enjoying Netflix. I watched "Being John Malcovich" last week. Wow, what a great unconventional movie.

Speaking of movies I did Starwars the night of my last update. It did what Kill Bill 2 did to Kill Bill 1, made the first movies even better. I am going to buy all 6 on DVD when they sell as a package.

I also bought a Betta fish after the movie. Took it about a week to get 100% healthy but it looks great. It is red and blue in color. Last week I got another one, this one is mostly black with some turquioz and red. I have their tanks setup next to each other and they are having fun flaring at each other. The only problem I have had is they refuse to eat anything but frozen foods. Right now I am feeding them blood worms they love.

I went to Stockton the last couple of weekends. Tis last weekend I went and saw "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". While I loved the movie, I think Disney did a very poor job with it. First, the movie is a satirical dark comedy full of adult humor, Disney putting their name on it alone marketed it as a kids movie when it is not. The movie also could have been a lot more appealing as a true style animation feature like Final Fantasy. Lastly and the most fatal flaw was the fact this movie was unwatchable unless you had read the books. It was almost one inside joke after another. So here's hoping they get it right in 5 years when it gets remade. It also motivated me to reread the series again and I have already finished the first book. I am really enjoying the series all over again.

Monday night I went and saw MCChris in San Francisco. www.MCChris.com. It was a great show, started a little bit late, but I got really into it and had a great time. MCChris really gets the white Nerd Demographic. MCChris is the voice of Sealab on Sealab2021 and MCPeepants on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

I still don't have Satelite here. I might break down and get it installed next month.

I am also on the verge of buying a Betta fish, maybe tonight. They don't need gravel, or air pumps. They seem pretty low maintenance and look very cool.

Tonight I am also thinking of going to the 2rd starwars movie at 5:30pm if work stays quiet and ez.

I am still eagerly awaiting George RR Martin to finish the next book in his series the last teaser chapter he put out was great.

Next 2 weekends I am working. Memorial Day weekend I am hoping to get up to Eureka to see Adam's place and just hang out.

Later.

A whole lot has changed since the last time I posted...

To pick up from my last post, the tires I bought from tirerack.com are great, only cost $27 to get them installed. So I would recommend them to anyone looking for car hardware. Turns out I don't need new suspension at all and now that I am not commuting anymore no real serious need for new brakes.

Wednesday night I went to the NIN show at the Warfield. They actually started right on time I was shocked! He played all their greatest hits, the only one I missed was Perfect Drug. I am going to pick up their new album on the 3rd for sure.

Speaking of music, I got the 2 MCChris CD's off of MCChris.com. He is just as funny on those CD's as on adult swim. If your a hesh fan you should pick them up.

In other entertainment news, I quit playing EQ2 more then a month ago. While I enjoyed playing, I simply did not have enough time to keep up on the lvl'ing treadmill and that is the only way to keep the game fun, and the treadmil in any context is never fun. I'm now playing Planetside again and may start playing guild wars. I like these games cause I login and play for 20 minute intervals.

Now for the big change... I now once again live in my own place in... San Leandro, CA. This all started just about exactly one month ago. My Boss and VP told me while you are working in the best interests of HPM you are not doing things our way, and told me I must get every decision I make approved. Having effectively removed my ability to learn anything new I aggressively began to look or another job. Fortunatly, in less then a week, I applied, interviewed, and was hired at my new job in less then a work. I am now a member of the IT staff with a Title Company in the Bay Area.

I am responsible for all of Northern California. So my job require traveling. I moved to San Leandro because I am based out of Pleasanton. For my first 2 weeks on the job I had to commute. So far I really like this place and plan to stay for years to come. I have already recieved major perks and it was a significant raise.

The place in San Leandro I got is a luxury apartment, and only 15 minutes from work and right off the freeway. The deposit and rent are very fair. However, replacing all the stuff I got rid of when I moved to Chico has been very expensive and I still have more to buy.

My DSL was installed last night, I got the DSL Wireless gateway. Surprisingly, the security is very good on it.

I signed up for Netflix this week. I did it because, I cannot get Dish Network from my new place. Comcast does not offer Tivo, and DirectTV charges $100 for theres. So I am going to see if netflix can keep me entertained. So far I have over 160 DVD's in my queue.

This weekend I am working. I am also going to go see the Hitchhikers movie. I am hoping it rekindles a desire to read the massive series again. I last read them 10 years ago.

Hopefully, I will start updating more. Although, I thinking of taking this site in a different direction. I have to change webhosts in October most likely and I am not sure what I want to do.

Big news! I paid off my car on Friday, paid it off over a year early. This is such a relief since I have to start paying an equivalent amount in student loans in April.

I also saw "Cursed" on friday. It was a decent, entertaining, and funny tenny-bopper horror flick.

Other then that I am now 34 in EQ2. Tonight is the first Hot night of the new yaer. I am not looking forward to the summer. I am really looking forward to moving out on my own again.

I think my next savings project after moving out will be a complete overhaul brake and suspension overhaul. I am going to try providing all of my own parts. I found a site that was very helpful and seemed to have good prices www.Tirerack.com

So March is almost here. In less then a week my cougar will be paid off completely, 18 months early. My next big endeavor is moving out on my own again. I am shooting for June 1st or July 1st depending on whether Mike needs a roommate or not. Work is going all right, I am still leaning a lot of things. They have hired another help desk guy to help me out. I am enjoying doing more network projects. Friday night I went to a local theater groups production of a couple of twilight zone episodes. I really enjoyed the evening. However I woke up with a cold yesterday, however it is responding to cold medicine.

Last weekend was a holiday weekend and I had a great time. Friday night I went and saw COnstintine with Cece, I really enjoyed the effects and the story was somewhat interesting. Saturday, Bill got his Croos of Honor, I had to learn a new part during the installation. There was an after party at Bill's place and I had a great time. Although, I think that will be the last Demolay event I go to for many years. Sunday I drove up to old Sacramento and had dinner with Kathleen. She is doing much better and it was good to see her again.

I am still playing EQ2, up to a 32 Nec and a 31 Prov. I really enjoy the game, however I am going to try and limit my time to just week night playing mostly.

I have also been doing a lot of reading. I finished the Peter F Hamilton book I had been reading, Pandora's star. It is nto as good as the reality dysfunction, but I'll read the next book. I also read Religion War by Scott Adams, it was a great follow up to God Debris. Religion War offers an obvious solution to the World Religion War that could break out on Earth, although he realistically shows the US could never swallow the solution. My next book will be rereading the Hitchhiker's quintology before the movie comes out.

Back to the grind.

The big news is I received my first evaluation at work and passed with flying colors. I also received a personal thank you from the owner at his address to the company at the xmas party.

Xmas & New years were okay. Didn't really do anything. I saw Adam & Eric. I picked up the new Peter F. Hamilton book, which I am enjoying. Although, it is a ne style for him, he is starting this saga from a mid point rather then the very begining as he did with the reality dysfunction series. I also picked up another Henry Rollins book I am enjoying. If you are a fan of great dark short fiction, take a look at Henry Rollins. I would suggest starting with "Black Coffee Bean Blues."

I am plannig to go see "Life Aquatic" once Mike gets back from the south.

In EQ2, my Necro is now lvl 25. I am really enjoying the evolution of my class. I am also lucky enough to be in a guild where I am not being totally ditched.

Well I know it has been a while...

However, things have been going so well and mundane for me there hasn't been any reason to update.

Right now I am sitting in a Hotel in Eureka an hour away from seeing Adam Graduate from the POST academy. He is going to be a great cop.

The hotel in Eureka is cool, got it for $80 a night, best $80 a night place I have ever stayed.

So in the last 2 months I have finished my probation at work and seen a lot of movies and started Playing EQ2. I am also doing a lot more network admin stuff @ work.

EQ2 runs great on my computer which is now an A7V with a 2GHZ AMD. At the moment I have a 19 Summoner which I am enjoying playing. Although working as much as I do does not leave as much time to play as I would like.

The 2 best movies I have seen recently were SpongeBOB and the Incredibles. I also saw Blade and Team America, both were okay. Team America was dissapointing, I think the SouthPark movie was much better written.

I am now considering starting to do computer cert's rather then going to Delta. I think I am actaully going to make some Resolutions for next year....

Greetings,

I know its been another month...

I've been occupied. I'm still n