Motivation Sucessful

I started reading down my blogs as I sometimes do to remind myself of what I was thinking and doing in the past. A few months ago I posted about being motivated by my best friend Philip to go out and exercise. I posted about how I thought there were two reasons I was failing at maintaining my health. First, I was lazy after work and I ate out a lot. Fast forward and I still eat out but not as frequently, but I did join the gym and so far it has been the best thing going for me. I go 6 days a week, heavy workouts 3 days a week and some type of cardio the other three days. I also got myself a personal trainier who is worth her weight in gold.

I will have to admit that since that post, there were a few more motivating factors in my life. A wedding that I attended required that I let out a suit, which opened my eyes to how fat I really got. Secondly a visit to the doctor put into numbers how bad my health was.

My lightest since working out has been 170, thats 16 lbs lost (but several lbs of muscle gained too). I ate a lot this weekend, so sadly, thats not my weight, but a lot of that is water weight. I am not deterred.

General Update

October always turns out to be one awesome month. There are so many reasons for me and my friends to gather, celebrate, and just enjoy each others company. This November is turning out to be similar, while traditionally it is usually reserved for family gathering. Next week, I will be going to San Francisco. For me, this is not an out of the ordinary occurrence, except this time will be the first time that I am going with friends. For years we have talked about going on a road trip or just going somewhere. Now that we have passed the part in our lives where we split a 99 cent jumbo jack and now spend seven dollars on gas to drive to MoVal to get a hotdog, we can finally do things outside of our routine. Anyways, Im excited.

I have been consistent with my workout. I am coming close to my four week mark and I have lost a few pounds, nothing the celebrate over yet, but a few regardless. I know for certain that I am getting in better health since I am wheezing a lot less after strenuous activities, my fat seems to be tightening up and I am in a just overall better mood most of the time. I am starting to struggle with going to the gym, but my motivation has not wavered yet. I decided to keep my personal trainer sessions, as pricey as it is, I think she will keep me motivated through the holiday seasons.  She is the best but is lacking in some areas. I don't quite understand the whats and whys, but she certainly kicks my butt and is good about making sure that I do my sessions correctly and effectively. I scheduled her every Monday to start my week of strong. I began a workout journal to track my sessions so I can make sure that I am targeting my whole body through the week and to make sure that each week I am progressing. Unfortunately, after one day of using my journal, I forgot it under the elliptical machine. No huge loss, there was no personal data in there and just one days worth of workouts.

I might go to NY for New Years. April, my old roomy, is going with a gang of people and it sounds exciting. I have never gone and I am only getting older. If only I wasn't broke like a mofo.

A Wedding and a Birthday

This weekend was very exciting and fun. I started off by heading up to Mountain View. I had lunch with a friend who I keep in contact with via AIM. Its a little funny since I know him because he is the spouse, then fiance, of this girl who I was totally jonesin on at the time. Its only kinda funny since I am friends with the guy, but no longer speak to this girl due to a misunderstood joke with my ill timed humor.

After the lunch, I went to my cousins house and just hung out. We went to the bay and had dinner at a Thai place that was very good. However, I guess this was downtown since there were crazy night people all over the place. The city is full of interesting people. There were tranny hookers and crack addicts mingled with hippies, goths, bankers, and the average (according to tv) white American families. There was this one guy/girl who was all dressed in fish stockings and spandex totally tweaking out and dropping stuff in front of people just to bend over in front of them. I don't know why, but I assume to get clients or this person was just crazy.

Anyways, the next day I went to the wedding where I had tons of fun meeting cousins that I vaguely remember when I was young child. All I remember about them is that on Chinese new years, they would convince me to play blackjack with them, and I am convinced they used card mechanics to cheat me out of my newly acquired money.

I am sure a little bit of it had to do with the fact that we were at at wedding, but I did notice something about my family. Nobody can accuse our family of not having fashion. Myself excluded, everyone was rockin the name brand stuff. Of course my dads side of the family is notorious for fronting wealth. (I suppose that's where I get my standards from)

With that said, the only uncomfortable thing about being there was that I didn't really know who family was and there were all these attractive girls there that I wanted to hit on, but I was too afraid they might be my cousin.

Anyways, the following day was equally awesome. I spent a lot of it in my car (which kinda defeated the purpose of me flying). I drove to my aunts house. I spent about an hour and a half in traffic since there was a marathon going on blocking the park leaving only 19th street open to get through. Once I got there I find out that they did not go home, but instead stayed at the hotel near where the wedding took place. So, after another hour drive to get back out of the city, I finally just decided to go to the airport. I also stoped for some Pho0-- it was good. Okay, that morning kinda sucked.. but no big deal.

The evening was a different story however. I went to Universal Studios for their fright feast event which absolutely rocked. Perhaps because every year, knot's version has gradually gotten worse and worse from years previous, perhaps because I am getting older and these things just don't appeal to me the way they used to.... maybe a combination of the two-- I just wasn't stoked to go. I was excited to spend time with friends and act foolish, which I feel I successfully accomplished. Anyways, with low expectations coming in, and the level that they stepped things up, everything was hella fun. The mazes did an excellent job with design, but more than that, they were set up in ways that caught me off guard and I was actually "got" several time throughout the night. They had me screaming like a lil girl a few times. I think it was even more fun, that it wasn't just me, a lot of us got "got".

Thanks guys for a good time.

A Motivating Weekend

I spent this weekend hanging out with my best friend Philip and we went jogging. He has been motivated at bettering himself. There was a time when I was motivated in bettering myself, but that time has come and gone. Talking to him reminded me when I did these things, and I started to think how much better life was when I tried. I just felt better, I had more energy and I liked myself better. At the moment, I am just living day to day waiting for who knows what. I usually attribute education as forward progression, but I believe that at this point in my life, further education will only improve my employment prospects and I need to round out my life. Work is going well; however, my health has been deteriorating since I left the military. I have decided to make that my number one priority, followed by changing my outlook on life. I don’t know how to go about changing that, I maintain a pessimistic point of view which either leads to my success or downfall depending on how I assess a situation. Usually when I am pessimistic I over prepare for the worst, and when the worst happens, I am ready for it. Unfortunately, sometimes I stress out worrying about things that never happen. Sometimes, I am so pessimistic I just stop trying.

I did it once before, with the help of a nutritionist, and the very helpful website http://www.sparkpeople.com. I believe that I can do it on my own. Currently, I have two issues that cause me to lose motivation. First, I eat out a lot. Secondly, when I get home and take off my shoes, all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch some television and zone out. I think signing up for the gym is my solution for both problems. It forces me to work out before I relax, and once I work out I always have enough energy to do things like cook. I eat out a lot because I don’t have the motivation to cook when I get home, especially if I veg out and watch TV. When I lost 30 lbs a year and a half ago, I had a routine going. After work, I would go directly to the gym and work out for an hour. The gym was free and I had a workout partner who would keep me motivated to go. I don’t have a partner this time, but I have to pay 350 bucks and just like with school, when I pay money I don’t want it to go to waste so I am sure that I will go, especially once I make it a daily routine.

I have set this goal many times before as I am sure many do, but I believe this time will be successful as I have an active plan with specific workout routines in mind, and my mindset is significantly different than other times when I am just ho-hum about working out. I am truly excited to go to the gym, be revived and energized when I am done.

Random Business Idea

Okay, so I was eating lunch at Rubios and I was reading one of those things they have on their tables about how fresh they are and all that crap and an idea came into my head. It seems to me we are only at the beginning of the green trend, there is no "man" keeping down the hippies of the 2000s, in fact the hippies of old are now "the man" pushing this green movement further. So, as soon as I read fresh I though of a garden and then for some reason, hydroponics. What if we could bring an indoor garden into major metros and make it the center around several restaurants. Fine dining, casual dining, even fast food all centered around local garden fresh food. I know there is a loose connection there from the green movement to garden fresh restaurants, but its there regardless.

Road rage

So, I was driving to my moms house and there is a long stretch of a two lane highway (one lane each way). Having driven in Oklahoma and Florida, I can understand people driving slow, it is a speed limit, and there is nothing wrong with driving within those limitations. There are a few things though that really irritate me though with these slow drivers. First, if it is a single lane, if I have to compromise, so do they.. They should drive at least the speed limit, or a where they feel comfortable if they are not willing to go 20 over like most Californians do. Even that wasn't the issue. What made me the most irritated was that when there was a second lane to pass the slow moving vehicles, and I tried to go around then, they speed up to whatever I was driving so I couldn't pass them and when it went back down to one lane, and they were ahead of me... it was back down to speed limit again.

Another 4:00 am blog

Okay, its really like 3:30, but I have awaken again. I am not sure if it is because my body is just used to five hours of sleep and I have been sleeping early in preperation for an early day of work. It could have been the barking dog and the screaming drunk woman outside my bedroom earlier this morning. Either way, I have found myself awake and I tried to go back to sleep but it just doesnt seem to happen.

I purchased a dining room table and chair set. A very basic counter high square table wtih chocolate stained wood and matching chair set. It was 300 bucks, which was higher than I set out to pay for a table and chair, but after some research, thats about the price I would pay for a build it yourself Ikea set made of pressboard. This was a clearance item, marked down from an original price of over 500 dollars, but they could have just marked it up to over five hundren simply to put it on clearnce for 300, right? It even if thats the case, 300 bucks is not a horrible price to pay for a solid table. I also bought a tv hutch/stand. I negotiated free delivery and 20 bucks off his asking price. Honeslty, it wasnt a horrible deal either. I would have liked to haggle down further, but 20 bucks was almost 10% already and it was a mom and pop shop. I wasn't spending a butt load of money on new furniture or anything so I would have felt bad taking their small profit margin.

This morning I feel really good about having moved to California. I can't say that I love my job out here, especially since it deviates from what I loved about my last job so much. That is, my authority to self manage. I don't even get basic decision making skills like how to dress cables so they look good. Everything is dictated to me and I am a pawn in someone elses crappy design. Actually, that is not true. The design of this network is spectacular and I only hope that one of these guys has a clear enough understanding so that I can myself gain further understanding of the hows and whys.

Interesting

A few days ago Philip brought my attention to a post on Meebo about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). I had actually once ran across this several years ago and posted it on my Myspace blog. I ended up testing the same now, as I did then. I am an INTP. Of course, reality is that humans can not be summed into 16 catagorize, but I find that of the few groups I do fit, I mostly fit into INTP. There are some crazy points that are so true (and a few that are way off).

Interesting facts about the INTP:

• On personality trait measures, score as Candid, Ingenious, Complicated, Independent, and Rebellious
• More likely than other types to study a foreign language
• Most frequent type among college students committing alcohol and drug policy violations
• Have lowest level of coping resources of all the types (with ISTPs)
• One of types least likely to believe in a higher spiritual power
• Highest of all types in career dissatisfaction (with INFPs)
• In school, have lower grades than would be predicted from aptitude scores
• More likely than average to complete engineering programs
• Personal values include Autonomy, Freedom, and Independence
• Overrepresented among working MBA students
• Commonly found in science and technical occupations

Now, here is where they are way off...

Popular leisure activities for an INTP include
reading, ........ we can just stop right there, this whole thing is crap!

Stuff

I haven't written much lately except for a few blurbs of nothingness really. I suppose that there is a lot to write about these days as my life has been turned up-side-down in the recent weeks.

I don't suppose that anyone who actually reads this thing doesn't already know, but I quit my job and I am moving back to California. The action of moving has been fairly quick, I got called about a job two weeks ago, and I got hired a week later, and I move today. This decision has been in motion for quite some time. The reality is, I had always intended to move to California, even before I got out of the military. The only reason that I decided to take the position in Oklahoma was because I was in the process of being hired on with a high end company that had a long hiring process and I needed to make sure that I had a steady source of income during the process. Needless to say that I ended up not qualifying for the position and that left me stuck in Oklahoma. I had been asking to get moved for some time and my request had been falling on deaf ears. I have had my resume out there for some time and my biggest hurdle has been the fact that I live in Oklahoma City. Not that there is anything wrong with that, companies just don't want to look outside the local area, especially since Orange County is chocked full of quality Network Engineers.

I only have two worries. Right now I am a little bit paranoid that this is not a legitimate offer. I know this is a bit conspiracy theory mentality, but I have this sinking feeling that I am going to go to the office and they are going to be like, I don't know who you are and I will find out later that what had really happened was my identity was stolen and this was a tactic to get me to fax my Identification. That nonsense behind, my other fear is that I am not qualified for the position. It frightens me that this offer is so high compared to standard SoCal offers. They never interviewed me, so I wonder what they expect from me in a technical standpoint. I am not worried that I don't think that I can quickly learn what needs to be learned, or that I am not good at what I do; but, if they are expecting me to be an expert at certain things out the door, I might fall short of their expectations and then I will end up enemployed in a place that I cant afford to live in. I suppose the unknown will always haunt me when I make changes as big as this. I must move forward and do what is best for me with the information I have on hand. Had I known that I was in line for a promotion to a middle managment type position, I might have not considered moving. I found this out over a beer last night at BWW.

YEAH!

So, I've been wanting to go to Disney Land for a while now.. and now, I can make that happen. WOOT! I am excited to be coming home.

Damn Gout

Its hard enough for me to get motivated and work out. I am well, lazy. But, throw on top of that, gout attacks in my knees and I have an excuse for a whole week to not work out. If it was a small pain, I think I could convince myself to just work through it, but its not, its a pretty debilitating pain that I had to take two prescription pain killers to relieve (which, still didn't help with the pain).

Oh... I saw the south park naggers episode.. Hilarious!

My hand is being held together by electrical tape

Its been a while since Ive seriously cut myself where I needed a good solid bandage, but it happened. As I was trying to pry my DVD ROM out of the computer case (one of the screws is stripped in, so its not getting out), I jammed my hand against a sharp edge which gave me a nice deep slice on the side of my hand. Well, the bandages I have don't really stick very well and the blood is pretty much rushing out. Thankfully, a random roll of black electrical tape was laying on the floor ( I dont know where it came from either, oddly ). So, my bandage is being held on by electrical tape.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

There seems to be a correlation to my being content and how clean my apartment it. I don't know if its that I clean when I am feeling content, or I feel content when my apartment is clean.

I suppose its the feeling of accomplishment that makes me feel good. Who knows, right now all I know is that I am getting a whole lot done which I haven't done in a while.

Studying Takes a lot of out of me

So, I recently acquired some training videos for Cisco Certifications. It has been quite a significant help for me. Since I started yesterday I have already been through four, one to two hour long sessions with practice time on some real equipment that a co-worker of mine has laying around his cube while he is on vacation. My brain is hurting but it is so exciting all the cool new stuff I am learning, not to mention watching videos is significantly easier and more developmentally helpful then trying to read a book on such difficult topics. Sadly I wont get to finish as strong as I started, since I have actual work to do starting on Monday and I will have to be forced to do this training at home and on the weekends from then on out.

huh

so, apparently, making sure that heat compound is thinly spread across the heat sink will make or break these super sensitive systems.

Hmmm

Okay, so my parts came in for my HTPC/media server. First, the fan was WAY bigger than the case would allow, so I cant close the case. No big deal, I can get myself another fan. However, I finally powered up the equipment, tried to install an operating system and immediately my computer shut down. So, I cant get an OS installed and I am frustrated because I have never really not been able to get a system to work. I don't know what is wrong and I don't know what I can/cant return especially since I have already installed the CPU and applied heat sink cream all over it.

I screwed up.

So, my friend asked me to come and help him build a storage shed in his back yard. I knew there was a problem from the get go when I woke up this morning and my eye was all puffy from having a cyst the previous day. Anyways, to prove that I wasn't a flake and that I am capable of doing manual labor, I went anyways. Only to totally forget to protect my skin from sunburn. I brought gloves but got a razor dropped on my hand when I wasn't wearing them. So, now I have a gross eye, a cut hand, and arms and a neck that feel like they just came out of the oven. What did I prove? that I knew nothing about outdoor manual labor.

The Fork in the Road

When I look back in life I see that I have been faced with many decisions. Which school should I go to? Should I join the military, should I get out of the military, should I move back to California. Looking forward I see similar choices. My hearts desires direct me to go one way, but my logical reasoning pulls me the other way. I have most often taken the safe route and I always think "what if".

My most recent trip back to California has allowed me to see myself in my what if scenario. Although, I had a lot of fun this last week with my friends I certainly do not share the same passions any longer and so I wonder if it is the fact that we have been separated geographically and see each other so infrequently that the only thing we have holding us together is our shared past. So, I wonder had I stayed in California would we still be friends? Would I have the same relationship with my family? Or Could joining the military and leaving California have been the best thing period.

So, I present myself the same old question in a new light. Should I move back to California? Certainly I am no fan of Oklahoma but is California only great because of its nostalgia? There are definitely benefits to working in the office here in Oklahoma. More and more I can find positive things about living in Oklahoma as well, but I only believe there are benefits to moving back to California. In all reality, on the return home I can find that I no longer share any commonality with my best friend and we will fade away into each others pasts. I can grow to resent my family for demanding so much out of me as I did before I joined the military. I can find that I cannot financially sustain myself and I spiral into a deep depression and anxiety after I have secluded myself from my friends and family. So although I say I hate Oklahoma and I want nothing more than to move to California, it may be the only thing keeping me from being a crazy bum living on the streets of Southern California.

Goal Setting

I think one of the reasons that I have been very upset with the way my life is going is that I feel very stagnant. When I was in the military I set educational goals so that when it was time to move on with my life I had something to show for the time spent in the military. Now that I am a working civilian, I find that I am no longer moving forward, but instead I am working simply to pay the bills. Granted, unlike before I joined the military, I actually enjoy doing my job. The last few weeks I have been focusing on making my life happier. I suspected that I was unhappy because I was away from my hometown friends and my family. But I don't necessarily think that is the case. I have spent the last six years of my life away and most of the time, I was quite happy. Obviously, the big issue here is that I haven't gotten my foundation here in Oklahoma city yet. So although this isn't a firm decision, I have leaned towards staying with the company and continuing to do the work that I enjoy doing. Along with that, I have decided to set educational goals. Right now, a masters degree seems a little out of reach due to my scheduling, but what is a lot more realistic and obtainable is two very critical certifications. I have my CCNA, Cisco Certified Network Associate already but it is time for me to get my CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional). Unlike the CCNA which everyone and their mother has, the CCNP requires four separate tests. I suspect that I can easily prepare myself for each test in five weeks or less each. Concurrently, I believe that I can also work on getting MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator). I have already taken three months worth of classes, I have years of practical experience, and I have all the self study guides for the tests. There are about 7 tests I must pass to get that, but likewise I think I can prepare myself for each test in under five weeks each. So, when I achieve my certification goals, along with adding two additional years of experience, I can move into a position in California more prepared and better qualified for the types of positions I am really looking for.

I know I can do this. When I was going to college online, everything was pretty much self taught by reading for hours every day. The only difference here is that I will have to set my own deadlines. Now, for doing two certs at a time... that might be tough, but I used to do two and sometimes three classes at a time. I hated it, but I cant say that I regretted it.

HA!

Opening scene of the new House... all the nurses are on strike.

Humorous.

드디어 가정 (Home at Last)

My two week journey has come to an end. I'm not exactly certain what is to come next, but I know that I am ready to be home, for a short while anyways. While I had a lot of fun in Korea, it seemed to me that I wasn't doing anything of value, I spent all my time downtown at the bars just hanging out or shopping, spending too much money none the less.

I think what hooked me to downtown was that I just needed to feel wanted, and down there for about ten bucks you can get all the attention that you want. Not to say prostitution, but you wont find a shortage of attractive women who are willing to start up a conversation, play a game of pool, or just sit back and relax in your arms. Of course, I didn't opt for that easy route. My dumb ass decided to go back to what for what I had been missing since I left. Boram worked as a bartender at the Station and she was quite the sweetest thing... actually she was quite a pill and has a very American attitude when it comes to women. I am not exactly sure what attracts me to her, but for some reason I just cant seem to get myself away with the exception of going home. Now that I am home, I can use an out of sight, out of mind mentality. Anyways, my point here was that she had me on the hook, and there was nothing I could do to get away. The most difficult part was that she wasn't a "juicy girl" that I could pay to get the attention that I wanted. So it wasn't like I could ignore her like she was a money hungry ho, she wasn't, she has always proven to be my friend. So thus, its no different than any other girl in my life who considers me a friend and I want a little bit more except that this time I would only be there for a week. And hence, I wasted all my free time downtown with this girl who I couldn't have conversation with because she was just too busy working or just didn't understand what I was trying to say.

Anyways, the overall trip feels like a success. The work portion was very successful I think, and on top of that I got see a whole lot of people who I have not seen for a very long time. Of that, the most surprising visit has to be Heather.

Well, I suppose that my next trip will be Panama City, Florida. I am supposed to be doing that one next, but it seems that Edwards AFB is heading into install phase and its quite possible that I can be part of that too, which would be good because then I will be in Southern California again.

AHHH.... Memories

The last four days have been a memory recall bonanza. My trip to Korea started with a layover in Salt Lake City, UT. With just a few hours to get from one plane to another, I somehow found a way to squeeze a little over an hour to have brunch with one of my favorite peoples, Heather. I sent her a text message letting her know that I was at the airport but she called me said that she would come get me right away and twenty minutes later there she was in her Cadillac and we had a wonderful time at the BK lounge.

About 8 hours later I found myself in Hawaii. I was able to get a hold of an old friend from combat comm in Oklahoma. I went on two deployments with this guy, and we went to the DMZ in Korea together. He didn't get back to me until later in the evening, but we went out downtown and had some Thai cuisine and then walked through the streets checking out the locals and their wares.

Finally I arrived in Korea and I meet my old friends from the Station. Hippo, Sook, and Boram. Although, it was a challenge as neither Sook, nor Boram work at the station anymore. But, I found them and partied like I was 26 and in the military again. I have to say, I was useless the whole next day.

Somebody bought MY car!

So, less than a week after I got my car, one of my office managers bought the same car, same model, same color.... for a second I felt so unique. LOL

Downfall of Hollywood, mcdonalds, & rolling stones

So,I just got done watching the movie rendition. I was very disappointed. Although, the concept seemed to be a very good, there was just no plot, or storyline. There were several stories going on at once, all of them were very disconnected.

This is just one example of the downfall of movies lately. Is it that I am getting older, and maybe I desire more in my movies than just special effects?

I was having a conversation the other day with a co-worker of mine and we were talking about how much more pickier we have become in our older age. Ten years ago, if I had gotten soggy fries at Micky D's, I would have just been eating soggy fries, but now.. I don't hesitate to demand better quality products and services from my providers.

This also makes me think about a conversation that I had with another co-worker of mine. He told me that I am never satisfied. After thinking about it, he is right. However, I retorted, of course I am never satisfied. If I ever reached a point in my life where I did not want more out of life, there would be nothing to work hard for and honestly, life wouldn't be worth living at that point.

Nothing to blog about, but nothing else to do.

So, the big event in my life is my car purchase. I have slightly mixed emotions about this purchase as it wasn't exactly in my direct interests. I ignored my logical reasoning as it would have been best to wait and drive my Sebring into the ground. I was nearly done paying for it, it had a few more years left and I am sure that I will be driving a rental car more often than I will be driving my new car. I also went against my desires for a sporty luxury car like the IS350, or the Acura TL. Had I just waited a few years, I would have had more than enough to put a down payment on an even better luxury vehicle with reasonable payments.

I can't exactly say that this Honda purchase was as random as my previous Honda Purchase. I have been actively searching for a new vehicle, looking for the best overall value that satisfied my comfort, reliability, and power needs. I just didn't intend on purchasing a car at that very moment in time. I had some extra time on my hands and I was looking for something in the used lot, specifically the IS350. New, that car is just more expensive than I am willing to extend myself. I was open to a good deal, and I was open to the type of vehicle I was willing to purchase.

I think I am torn because I honestly believe that my new car is great. It has virtually everything I am looking for in a vehicle: Power, style, luxury, reliability, and a good price. Its just, I was too easily convinced that this was the car that I wanted to get, It happened too quickly as I had no desire to get an Accord when I drove into that dealership. I simply don't know if I just wanted a car that badly that I settled, if I was peer pressured from a sales person and gave in, or if I really found "the right car".

I tell myself that what really happened was that it was a little bit of settling, a good amount of finding the right car.. and a lot about getting the best deal. Honestly, I negotiated the best trade value for my vehicle. I negotiated the best rate for my financing and I negotiated a pretty good price for a new vehicle. All those put together, there was no better time to make that purchase except for just waiting until my old car was paid off and having enough money to purchase a new car in cash.

Something Else

I got something else.... Honda Accord EXL-V6 in Diamond white.

Woot of the Month

I purchased 6 of these today for less than 20 bucks including shipping.





WOOT!

I'm in trouble!

I went to Wall-mart the other day to pick up a few items and as a side item, one of them just happened to be Ben and Jerry's Creme Brule. I don't know what tempted me.. but OMG its good.

Cooking again and a new car

I cooked again for the first time since i got sick last week. I made a breakfast burrito which was friggin delicious.

Mine didn't look exactly like that, but it tasted as deliciouses as this looks.

I also cooked French onion soup. I made that once before, but this time it turned out really good. Last time I didn't cut the onions into small enough pieces and they didn't caramelize correctly -- effectively I made raw onion soup.

I have been working at this company for a few months now, and now that I am finacially stable I think it is time for me to go ahead and begin looking at making some big purchases. Next week I am going to sit down with my boss and ask him to let me move to California. Depending on what he says, I may be buying a house out there. I am not sure if I am willing to buy a house here in Oklahoma, but I just might for the sake of being a property owner. Hopefully, I wont have to make that decision. I am also looking at getting a new car. While my current vehicle can get me from point A to point B, I have been wanting to get something a lot more comfortable, powerful, and overall nicer. I have been looking at the Lexus IS 350, but I might be convinced to get something else.

My enjoyment for technology rediscovered

I go through cycles of enjoyment. Sometimes, all I want to do is watch TV and other days I just find it to be the biggest waste of time ever. Likewise, some days I sit on the computer all day long, and other days I just want to leave the house as I am constantly in front of the computer all day long and I want nothing more than not to look at the computer screen for another minute. Today, however, I have been playing with my relatively new computer. Not too long ago, I decided that it was worth my time, effort, and money to procure a new laptop computer. My employment takes me away from my apartment for long periods of time, so I do not have time to play with my desktop solution. Actually, my desktop has been sitting in my living room for the last few weeks waiting for me to install an operating system on it. The last time I was at home, I loaded Linux on it just to play around. I didn't get very far in that project, as I never got a keyboard working on it. Regardless, now that I have my laptop with windows Vista (BOO!) I just don't have the motivation to do anything with that other system. I talked to my friend Philip and he is looking for a new system to make his parents, so I decided to go ahead and just give him the parts that he needs from that system and just get rid of the rest.

I have been spending the last few hours tweaking my system. I had spent some time when I first got it, loading a whole bunch of software that was designed for Windows XP and just doesn't work with Vista at all. Unfortunately, instead of just not working it made my system run slower to the point where the system could not keep up to the speed of my typing. I might type faster than some people at work, but I don't break any speed typing records. Reluctantly, I factory restored my laptop.

With the fresh start, I got rid of all the extra Dell crap that they loaded on my system that I absolutely don't want, which is pretty much dang near everything. Then I systematically loaded all the key things that I knew that I would need on my core system.

• Microsoft products
• I tunes
• Blackberry manager
• Sprint Internet card software

I decided that I should have the latest and greatest drivers and thus ended up spending hours learning how I can make my Ipod sync up with the Internet and I can check my e-mail and do a whole bunch of other funky stuff. I also discovered how to enable my blue tooth on my Blackberry and pair it up with my computer to constantly keep the two devices in sync. Of course, then I started looking at things that I don't really need, but was always slightly interested in.

• Foxfire
• Skype
• Picasa

I am just in information overload right now, even as I do this blog. I am doing it using a much enhanced program called scribe fire. That doesn't exactly mean that my blogs are going to be any less boring or irrelevant to you as a reader, it just means that it takes that much less effort to add links and do bullets, so I might even go as far as doing that on a more frequent basis.

I am never cooking again!

It was bound to happen eventually. I cooked something bad and it made me sick. I was up all weekend loosing fluids every which way but bleeding, after making some lobster (imitation crab) bisque. I hope that it is just that I am still getting over the illness, but I can barely think about eating, none-the-less cooking. I woke up this morning feeling much better, so I managed to eat half a sandwich and a cup of italian wedding soup for lunch. I dont wish the pain that I had to endure on anyone, nor do I want to experince it again. So, for now.. I'll leave the cooking to the professionals.

Talk about life going full circle!!!

It is amzing how things work sometimes. My military travels have sent me to some interesting places. Now, as I have started my new career I find myself strangly making those same trips. Here I am again in Oklahoma, and then they assigned me to my last base in Florida, but they just recently re-assigned me to work on another base... Osan AB in Korea. I dont know anyone who is there, but... I remember a few locals and hopefully they are still around.

How do you fix a FUBAR situation?

I have found myself in a situation where I cannot do anything to make it better. I can try to work it, but any wrong move will make it tumble. But, its barely holding itself up and is bound to fall on itself anyways.

Hmm.. sounds like Jenga.. I was never good at that game either.

Finally in the Black!

If I wanted to..I could pay off all my credit cards and loans and still have a few dollars in the bank. For the sake of maintaining a high credit score, I wont do that... but its nice to know that I could.

Makin Bread

I decided to make bread today and use the baugette shaping pan that Alana and Philip bought for me for Christmas. Dough is rising.. more to follow soon.

SUCSESS!!!!!

Strange

I get it.... so nobody needs to explain it to me, but I find it so flippin hillarious that the black presidential candidate is winning the most notoriously racist states.

SUPER "CRAPPY" SUNDAY!!

I am not a big sports fan, I never pay attention to player or team statistics. More often than not, I don't even know who is playing in a game. However, I have always made it a point to watch the Super Bowl game. Honestly, like most Americans I watch for the outragous commercials. This year, the year of incredible changes for me, will be the first Super Sunday in whcih I am forced to enjoy the events by myself. I remember twice I was in the desert and thus watched on the super jumbo screen with everyone else on the camp. The year that I was in Korea, I ended up watching it in the day room with a whole bunch of other guys that lived in the drom room. Last year, I hosted a Super Bowl party which turned out great with lots of boozin, gamblin and being loud and annoying.

I knew it! So why am I suprised?

I came out here with two suitcases, fully packed. Now here I am trying to figure out how to pack two suitcases full of things in addition to about four shirts, two jeans, an extra pair of running shoes, running shorts, and four more t-shirts. Every time I went shopping I said to myself, how am I ever going to get this stuff home..Now, How am I ever going to get all this stuff home?

Gambling Addiction: Redefined

It is no secret to my friends that I am an avid Texas Holdem fan. When I lived in Florida, I played nearly every weekend, frequently both Friday and Saturday nights. After this weekend in Lake Tahoe however, I think I found a new love when it comes to gaming. CRAPS!!! Although, at first it seems like a daunting game, it is very simple and unlike Roulette, another game based on chance and percentages, I have discovered a method that wins. This is not a secret formula that will guarantee winning all the time; however, it is a methodology that capitalizes on the lucky streaks and reduces the losses on cold rollers. Basically, I was taught the different bets, what they mean, what the odds are, what the best numbers are and what best payouts are. I cant say it wins all the time because only one time did I walk away 600 up. Once I walked away 300 down, and another 4 dollars down. However, I can say I played for hours without having to pull out my wallet too frequently and as many players came and went from the table because they lost on sucker bets, I continued to play and enjoy myself. I suppose that it is a good thing that I don't live near a gaming establishment that has true craps. Id just be tempted to test out this system in the long run, and its just a fun game.

Moment of Zen

A few weeks ago I had to go to the doctors to get my prescriptions refilled. It occoured to me that I had let my health fall to the wayside again. The last time I checked my blood pressure and blood sugar levels were probably back in Florida. So, I checked them again out here and the numbers were outrageous. The last two weeks I have been working on eating right and I have been going to the gym five days a week, running on the tredmill for about 20 mins and doing a few things on the machines. This last week I motivated Doug, a coworker of mine, to also start going to the gym after work. We have been playing raquetball since he began too. It is a good improvment and I have been feeling better. I know that its a lifelong change that must be adopted as every lull in exercise and every week endulging in rich foods brings me closer and closer to my usual lackluster bill of health.

Culture of Money

I must admit that this assignment is nowhere as difficult as my previous assignment in terms of getting along with people and getting work done. My opinion is listened to and even if not implemented, I at least learn why my suggestions are not the most optimum. I still do not find myself very content though. Nobody is very happy with the company, the re-occuring theme is that the company just doesn't care about the employees.

I know I just started, but I am seriously considering leaving and doing something else. I try, but every day just seems like a struggle to wake up and go to work. I never felt that way when I was in the military. There were things I did not like, but I had job satisfaction. I don't feel that job satisfaction. I don't even feel pay satisfaction.

My cousin has a hookup at Google, and with any luck I can forward my resume through him and maybe pick up a job that they have posted. I'll probably apply through the normal channels too, but its always better from the inside.

It rains in California?

I made it into Sacramento on wednesday, with just enough time to get caught in this storm. The storm itself didn't bother me so much, I was working inside for most of it, but the aftermath has been a burden. The hotel I am staying in does not have any power, so I have about 1 hour left on my laptop. Thankfully I have a car charger for my cell phone and Ipod, otherwise I would go compleatly nuts. I went to Colusa casino which is about a half hour away from here. A friend of mine used to work there, its a small little casino, pretty nice. I had a 325 dollar seafood buffet. So I am told that Sanfracisco is just as nucking futs weather wise, so it might be pointless to make a journy that way. I guess I can call and see. Anyways.. this blows.

2008

Holy crap! its my 10 year reunion this year. not that im going, but im gettin old.