Friday Night

Well, nothing super substantial to update on yet. However, I woke up to something epic this morning. I'm lying in bed around 8:30 AM, and all of a sudden I hear a very loud banging on someone's door outside. All of a sudden, I heard a man shout out "good morning!". Moments later was a loud thud and a crash, I jumped from bed to find out what had happened. It turns out my neighbor across the hall was raided and arrested, a huge stash of paraphernalia and a plant was confiscated from her apartment. I guess that explains why her electricity was shut off. Anyway, I just found the Good Morning as an entry warning hilarious.

Other than that, I've been playing a good amount of box, progressing in the games I have. In NFS: Shift, I got to tier 4, which is a nice achievement. Sami has completed all the missions in Lego Batman, so now it's up to free play to finish "completing" the game to 100%. That shouldn't be too difficult, I would think. My UO account has been shut off for a number of days, and I don't really miss it. I'm occupied enough as it is.

I started reading Beauty's Release, the third book in the Sleeping Beauty trilogy by Anne Rice. So far so good, but I'm also working on Pandora. Here, I will now set my official reading goal. Including the two books I am presently reading, 10 in total occupy the first shelf of my book case. If I can finish all of them before the end of March 2010, I will be happy. I don't get a lot of spare time for recreational reading after all, especially with school. I'm back on track, by the way, and carrying a 95 in my server class. Still waiting to hear about this independent contracting situation as well, but keep your fingers crossed for me.

Otherwise, this isn't a very eventful night. I'm obviously at home, alone, until Sami gets off work at 10. We're supposed to spend some time together tonight because she will be gone most of tomorrow, and I work a closing shift tomorrow evening, too. Kind of lame, but it'll be just fine. I still need a Halloween costume idea. One of our friends had a makeup preview picture displayed on Facebook, and I was impressed by it. It also made me feel slightly worse that I have no idea what I'm doing yet. I got my financial aid rebate check, but it was less than expected.. hence less funds to work with. I plan to call school on Monday though, and find out what exactly happened with that, because I should have received substantially more.

I am a little bit nervous about my Net+ cert test, but at the same time, I don't find it too frightening. I mean, how difficult could it really be? I see it as an entry level certification, and so much of that material is stuff I've covered time and again in classes. I just don't want to get nailed on technicalities, so I'm going to make sure I bring my A game of course.

I hope to do some writing soon, but I wish I had someone to share it with, preferably without turning to DeviantArt for feedback. I'm kind of tired of that site, and after over 5 years of membership, not much has changed. It's either get lucky or have a "fan club" if you expect to get any exposure. I'm not expecting anything drastic, but just a little discussion from time to time would be great. I maintain that I write for myself (of course, this blog has no readership as it is), but outside observations are always welcome.

I'm going to go play more box. Must achieve more....

Update

I don't think this will be a very long post, because I am so tired. Yesterday's update that I planned on doing was also foregone, because I decided to head back to the gym. I had a pretty decent leg workout, resulting in a good amount of soreness for me today. Then, I returned this afternoon to follow up with a chest/shoulders split. I got through it pretty well, and downed a trial pack of MassPort during the workout. Ryan hooked me up with some Waxy Maize to add in my shakes post-workout. My definitive goal now is to hit 165 by Christmas, which I think is very possible. The last few days alone I've been seeing amazing results by amping up my usual diet and doing things the right way again.

Missed work today, but in stead of that I did get a lot of chores and homework completed. Good timing too, seeing as how I have class tomorrow and all. Hopefully I can iron out the rest of the issues I was having with Virtual PC. Beyond that, I think I'm all caught up for class, I just have to watch a final CBTNugget video tomorrow about DNS.

I've had a few things on my mind that I've been wanting to blog about, but they're probably best left for a time when I can dedicate more energy into the effort. They're a little more serious in nature and require a particular eloquence that I don't think I can lend right at this moment. I can tell my body is aching for rest, but right now I'm staying up to see the girlfriend when she gets home from work. She has off tomorrow, and as far as I know is having a friend or two over to catch up and hang out.

I've been getting some reading done, and worked on my NFS: Shift game. If I do end up updating tomorrow, I'll include my reading goal. Work in the AM, but at least I'll have stocking to keep me busy for my shift. I hope things aren't terrible there now on account of the mishap today. Perhaps I can explain that in further detail later, also. Until next time.

More Monday Madness

Well, I just got some of that cooking finished. Chicken and baked potatoes, as well as a frozen pizza to hold myself over until later. I know that's kind of cheating, but it's still food that we have and has to be eaten, and hopefully it will help make up for some lost ground. I'm sure Sami will appreciate my effort later, and I'll probably do some vegetables for her so that she can stick to her diet plan. I just made up a progress spreadsheet too, so we can track our efforts. I'm really not one to micromanage with weight though, I think it's more discouraging than anything. Weekly weigh-ins are probably best because of fluctuations and all.

It was unusually warm today in comparison to recent weather. It was quite pleasing, even though I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. At the least, the windows are open now, and the heat is off. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

I find myself trying to reconcile my "guilt". Yesterday was kind of a bad day in that respect, because I was invited over to my mom's house to watch the football game with her boyfriend. I didn't go, and even though I had a pretty legitimate reason (mass hangover, shopping, lunch), I still felt a little bad about it. Then it was my grandma's birthday, yet I didn't call her. I don't have her number, but it would have only taken a small effort to uncover it. Then my sister texted me as well, because it was the "anniversary" of my father's birthday. I'm pretty sure he would have been (46?). The anniversary of his death was earlier this month, it's been seven years. But I digress. Plainly put, I'm not the type to make excuses.

I hope my sister doesn't think I've been blatantly ignoring her. I mean, we've had our ups and downs, but she is still blood. I want us to at least be able to act politely while in each others company. And really I don't take a lot of time to talk to anyone anymore, text or otherwise. It's not necessarily something I'm proud of, but it is the truth. One of the quotes I'm most fond of is: "To thine own self be true." Many good quotes are common sense in practice.

Sometimes I really hate the ability of my memory, or at least I think that's how I mean to describe this sensation. I want to hang on to thoughts of sweet moments in my life, but sometimes they seem to happen at inopportune times, when I can't give them the full attention they deserve. This is something that truly irks me, because I need these small thoughts in my head as reminders. I'm not sure what I need to be reminded of, but they are nice intangible talismans when things become difficult. Sometimes when this event happens, in retrospect, I can only remember getting the sense that someone was being really kind, like maybe they said something that would put a smile on my face. However, if it was a conversation, I can't seem to grasp the words. If this doesn't make any sense at all, and I sound like a crazy person, do not be alarmed. I'm no danger to myself or anyone else. Besides, that's the best I've probably ever described that feeling, and many times my attempts to do just that end up in exasperation and giving up.

I want to set a solid goal for my reading habits. I mean, the overall goal is to read all the books in my shelf, but I feel like I should set a date or something. I've even been contemplating breaking it up into more manageable portions, like by shelf or something. You have to do what works for ya.

I think I'm off for now, to play some 360. Need For Speed Shift has been a really entertaining game thus far, I'm glad I got it, even though it is a real challenge. I think I'm much better with dealing with frustration than in years past. Glad to see that's improved, even though I have always viewed myself as a patient person.

Random Stuff

I've been trying to think of a decent Halloween costume, hopefully using materials I already own. So far, the best idea seems to be Patrick Swayze, or possibly a zombie version of the same. I thought of a funny idea yesterday: "baroque" Obama. Maybe someone can use it, since I won't.

Just been doing chores tonight since Sami left. COD4 disk is broken, sadly, at least the the point of me not being able to advance any further in the campaign. I'll have to borrow my cousins' or something. Cafe World was maxed so that all I could do was prepare more dishes of what I already have up on the counter. More cheesecake will be served tomorrow morning around 7 AM.

I called Mr. C just a short while ago, and received some good and bad news. He's a family friend helping me out big time with securing an internship. The good is that his immediate manager is pretty enthusiastic about things, but the "bad" is that he's soon getting a new supervisor. However, I'm staying hopeful, and he's thinking that it would be nice to get me started in there around Nov. 2nd (also the new fiscal year for this company). At any rate, this is taking a while, so I think I will do a project as well for a backup, so I don't fail one of my classes. Doing so could have pretty catastrophic consequences, quite frankly. I've been having issues with Virtual PC, though I did improve them a bit today by playing around some. At least DHCP works now. Tomorrow I'm calling one of my instructors during his office hours to try and get a project assigned (since I can't think of one on my own) and explain the situation. I'm sure he could help me with VPC also, but if not, then on Thursday I will get it done. Things with school are going to be very hectic in the coming weeks, but I'm highly determined to pull out on top. And hey, my UO subscription ran out today, so that can't stand in my way anymore either!

I completed a form for the Post Office that's been sitting there for a while. I want to get that mailed tomorrow if possible, so I can get that wrapped up finally. It's been nagging me in the back of my head. I tilex'd the shower and took out the garbage/recycling earlier. Next I'm going to organize Sami's external HD, which is now being used as a network share to host a lot of our data. I think there's over 300GB available, which is nice. This also means I can use my external for academic purposes only, and when mounting guest operating systems from it, it should speed up a bit. I rolled Vista SP2 on her laptop, and maybe I can even defrag my ext.HD later on too, if I get ambitious.

I want to research Silverlight a bit more. I downloaded the installer on my desktop the other day, but haven't touched it since. I heard it will allow me to watch CBT Nuggets on FireFox, which would probably be all I use it for, but I could be wrong. I worked on the home network more today too, and made some progress. Now I just need the laptops to recognize the desktop, and things should be all squared away. I have sharing worked out besides that now, so it's at least an improvement.

I'm going to cook up some food tonight, at least some chicken and possibly baked potatoes. That should help the convenience factor out a lot, since we both started our diets today. I know I need to hit it way harder to start seeing results, but I'm pretty confident Sami had a great day so far. I'll probably update again in a while after I finish some of these things up..

Aftermath

Well, I woke up today with a massive hangover. I'm still quite tired, and my head is spinning. I took some vitamins and an advil earlier, and gratuitous amounts of my home version of "iced coffee" is helping with the headache also. I just ate some mild lunch, so I'm doing okay. I don't know how long I will end up staying awake today, though. I think I can honestly say I'm done drinking for a while. (I haven't really drunk much recently, anyway.) I'm so over the usual binge drinking scenario, and in fact any drinking at all I find myself loathing lately. I don't want to say regretting, because that rings of guilt, and guilt might indicate some underlying issue. I'm really not a problem drinker, I just go all out when I do drink most of the time. I'm just sick of wasting time dealing with the aftermath. If I do drink on Halloween, I will take a very gradual, measured approach. I also want to end up at home that night, instead of staying somewhere. I may not even drink at all, we will see.

Other than that, fitness and nutrition have been the topics of the last day or so. My g/f and I would like to start our clean eating tomorrow. My friend and I made up an eating plan for her last night, in a drunken stupor around 3:30 AM. However, having double checked it today, it looks pretty feasible. Sami and I went on a grocery shopping adventure today and got some supplies to do this right. I think we're in pretty good shape, but I'm most concerned about having enough protein staples. Anyway, her goal is to lose 20 pounds by Christmas, which is very realistic from my experience. I would like to get back up to 160, but that will be a serious challenge for me. I weighed in today at 145.8, and I'm a serious "hardgainer" for the most part. Anyway, here's the baseline eating plan we designed for her:

Breakfast-
2 egg whites
2 whole eggs
1 serving oatmeal
1 cup milk

Morning Snack-
1 fruit
1 scoop protein in milk
1 serving nuts

Lunch-
2 slices wheat bread
turkey/ham/chicken/tuna/ deli meat
cheese, lite mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle etc.
1 or 2 cups green salad (spinach or romaine lettuce)

Post Workout-
Shake in milk

Dinner-
chicken/lean beef/fish
1 or 2 servings veggies
1 fruit

*Remember: losing weight is 80% nutrition, and 20% exercise.

Sami asked me today "if this is what I'm going to eat, what are you going to eat then?" I told her everything you eat, times three. In essence, that's the situation. I will clean up my diet considerably, but I have to work primarily on hitting my key calorie range, likely 4000+ daily. I'm also stressing the importance of water for both of us. Of course the plan listed above is quite rough, and surely will require tweaking, I think it's a good baseline day. I haven't calculated out the calories, but I think that practice is overrated when used in excess. They are clean calories, and that's what counts more. I'm an advocate of overall (holistic) health, more so than following a specific diet plan.

As for exercise, she currently feels most comfortable working out at home. I'm going to see if I can get back in the gym for lifting, which benefits me most. It really depends on the financial situation (a little tight right now, as mentioned previously). I hope to jump on my friends' plan, a strength program 3x a week. Pretty basic, good to get back on the bandwagon. For Sami, I'd like to see "lifting" at home with dumbbells 3x a week. I'm going to teach her proper form first and foremost, and stick with compound movements for maximum benefit. Then I told her for starters, pick 2 days in there to do cardio, she has a pretty nice (Jillian Michaels) DVD she picked up. I tested it myself, and found it quite vigorous, so for all intensive purposes that will be cardio for now. We both dislike running, she doesn't know how to ride a bike, and even though I do, outdoor biking season is pretty much wrapped up for the year.

I have off today and tomorrow, and I'd like to make the most of that time obviously. I have to make a serious effort for school, especially. I hope I can wake up here yet today and do some productive things. I need to clean, too. Mostly do the dishes, and sweep/mop the floor, as well as wipe up the kitchen surfaces. We like a tidy house around here :)

More More More!

Did that post title remind you of "tora! tora! tora!"? Just curious.

Yes, my mind is filled with even more useless garbage. A few random notes:

-Start drinking much more water (200% more?)
-Update social media junk, such as Facebook updates. Maybe say "hi" to some people?
-Work on watching more seasons together: Six Feet, Rome?

Otherwise, I just wanted to mention something fun I've been working on in my conscious mind when I'm supposed to be working. I have been developing the conceptual part of a new network protocol. For obvious reasons I will not share the details of my planning, but I can give a general overview. The intent is to create a faster, more reliable, and more secure protocol for use in intranets. I almost consider it an extension of DHCP with added capabilities. I think it's an idea past due, and like any good protocol, it needs a great synonym. At present, mine is LIMP, and I'll reveal the full name later.

In the reading world, I've been on an Anne Rice kick lately. That could partially be because of how easy it is to get through those books, thus making my quest more expeditious. I have been a fan of her writing style for a few years now, and I think her novels are relatively easy, yet enjoyable reads. Her style inspired this short dialogue I created, also during precious downtime at work, (characters still unnamed):

-"Who is this that enters our convene in rags? Speak for yourself, and be quick about it."
-"'Tis but all I can afford, master. I make sincere apology for my appearance."
-"Yes, it is a shame, and moreover a pittance." He spoke solemnly, observing again the man who wore a frayed wool coat which haled in comparison to the finery he was dressed in.
-"Sir, I come to humbly beg your intervention..."

Next comes a bit of writing which I demand remains completely rhetorical, because I don't know what state of mind I was in when I did write it. So please, read it with a grain of salt. At present, it is so rough, and I like it most only as a concept. (Also partially Anne Rice inspired, but very loosely so.)

"The Philosophy of a Sensualist"

Show me a misanthropist, really, in this savage garden. The environ tends toward it's occupants, with a light of singularity omnipresent above the din of organic progress. The dynamics seldom add to more than different combinations of infinitesimal factoring.


As you can see, a lot of these things are left unfinished, and in this raw form, they are merely fragments. From time to time, I bring the pieces together, and create a sense of unity among common themes. A lot of times this is with poetry. Occasionally it works out well, and sometimes it's rather tragic. The attempt is what is most pleasing, though. The acts of observation, introspection, analysis, and conclusion.

Today, I told someone that my dishwasher was like a group of angry hobos with drinking straws furiously blowing water at our dishes with medium velocity. The point was that it's slightly less than effective, and that tends toward making me have to scrub things before loading them in. Sometimes this gets to be quite the process, after more than a few have piled up.

...So, in closing, while it wouldn't be honest to say that these were all thoughts of today, it wouldn't be unfair to think that I am capable of producing a great deal of material in a given day. I could write volumes from my stream of consciousness.

To Do List and Added Bonus

My mind is too cluttered today. I will say that Cafe World from Zynga (on Facebook) is quite addictive when you get in to it. I tried to setup my home network a little more extensively, but unfortunately the xbox extender was being stupid. Media Center kept giving me errors on my desktop PC, so I'm gonna try and pull the update through Windows Update at a later time. Other than that, I'm going to set up an external HD as a network share, but I have to fix permissions with our laptops to make this work properly. At least we're all on the same workgroup, now.

I'm waiting for an important call back about the possibility of me getting an internship, which would definitely be a godsend right about now. Both my hours and my girlfriends' have been reduced at work for the following week or more. Although I know we can still make it on our budget, I would like to be putting a little more away than I am. I can't help but feel a little guilty about buying the box yesterday, although I keep reassuring myself not to panic. In about a week I will have a reasonable amount of money to work with once again, I just have to make it until then. Other than that, we're just going to have to play it smart and plan ahead so that we give ourselves options.

(*Note to self: ask how much debt she has remaining, maybe we could take care of that. Reducing or eliminating the monthly payments could be vital in trimming our budget, a sure key to financial stability and success.)

To Do:
-Talk about getting the car, and making sure our insurance is set up.
-Organize crafting materials, inventory and plan for needed supplies.
-Get caught up on homework for class, update academic blog accordingly.
-Study for certification, watch labsims, and CBT Nuggets.
-Create a working fitness plan for g/f.
-Talk to landlord about package, sink repair (leak/rod), AC cover.
-Restrategize budget: who will pay what, etc.
-Item Dispute/Post Office (i.e. the pain in my ass)
-Add contacts to PC database: if phone is lost, all contact info is also.

There are a few items left that I would like to get for myself in the coming month or so, given the chance. They are COD: Modern Warfare 2, a decent office chair, and an LCD monitor for my desktop computer. On a positive note, that isn't a very extensive list, and I think I have enough things around now already to keep me busy/occupied/sane for a LONG time. My reading list alone is quite sizable.

(*Note to all: One of my goals is to read all the books on my own shelf. This is underway, and later I'll include a link to my "LibraryThing" page so you can follow if you'd like.)

I really need to get back into some writing, just for myself. It is a true passion of mine, and one of the few creative outlets I really have. It's something that I can say I've done with a grain of consistency over the years, and there aren't many other things in my life like that. ((What a parallel between our lives.))

The times they are a changing...

Well, things have been progressing nicely. For those who are unaware, I live in a reasonably nice apartment with my girlfriend. As time passes, our living standards seem to be increasing accordingly. It's very pleasant to see hard work paying off. The most important thing is to stay focused on progress and take advantage of any new opportunities that come my way, or to create them for myself. Stagnation at this point in the game would be quite depressing, because I feel like we have to long to go.

I like to set goals for myself and achieve them. Just yesterday I hit an awesome milestone by purchasing a brand new Xbox 360 Elite. (Thanks for the help, honey!) For now I'm stringing a long ethernet cable through two rooms in order to get online, but at least I was able to recover my old gamertag. I had no gamer score on it though, so I still have to re-beat all of my game that I've played through with my younger brother in the past. The point is that for the time being, I'm saving about $80 by holding off on buying a wireless network adapter for my 360.

Today has been a sort of crazy gamer fest. I've been working on Call of Duty 4 campaign, playing a new game on facebook (Cafe World), and setting up my vendors in Ultima Online (henceforth referred to as UO). I have played UO for far too long it would seem, but it also makes the game's legacy quite impressive. I signed up around October 1997 and have played on and off (but mostly on) ever since. Side note: the girlfriend has had some moderate success (read: fun) playing Fable II. It really is about the fun, but she noticed already how much I've been obsessing over achievements. That's juts part of my personality, I guess. I truly enjoy accomplishing things and having some indicator of my progress. I work best when I break projects up into smaller, more manageable tasks and plug away over and over until they are completed. I am a master of the monotonous, it would seem. Must make level 5 blacksmith on Fable II...

A little more about this blog. As it grows onward into the future, infinitely, it will become apparent that it really will contain a variety of things. I would like to start including some of my writing on it, as well as random thoughts that never seem to find a home other than odd scrap pieces of paper I have lying around. I encourage comments and questions from the audience at any time. Finally, I make no guarantees about how often or how much I will update. My current schedule is hectic to say the least... school, work, social life, gaming. You get the idea.

Zombieland Review

I was probably most impressed with the presentation of this movie. The camera angles and perspectives were quite innovative. Right off the bat there was action that grabbed the audiences' attention, and I loved the slow-motion montage. Right away it had me thinking: "what a creative and fun take on zombies". I think this movie breathed life into a genre that has become quite common (and sometimes stale) in recent years. Zombieland was a pleasure to watch.

In terms of style, try to picture Superbad in the setting of a post-apocalyptic zombie infested world. I'm sure if you contrasted the two sets of characters, you wouldn't find too much difference. At any rate, there was quite a blend of laughs and a handful of serious moments as well. It was a genuinely entertaining film, and the one that sparked the idea for this blog. Zombieland was a lot of fun for my girlfriend and I.

Alright folks, a little bit about the zombies. Think "Shaun of the Dead" on speed. They are addle brained, yes, but they are also of the fast-footed variety. It made it comical at times though, and the character Tallahassee was indeed a master of dispatching the undead. The character Columbus was just what I expected after hearing his first few lines. He fit into the archetype I had in mind exactly. A little note: he narrates sporadically throughout the film. There is also an incorporation of his survival "Rules" during opportune moments, which were good for a few smirks on my behalf.

Emma Stone (Wichita) did a nice job in her role, and she looked great. She was a super cutie, and although a little cold-hearted, you definitely got to see her characters' softer side later on. Probably one of the most hilarious scenes in the whole movie was after they arrived at B.M.'s mansion. When I saw him, it was totally unexpected, and absolutely welcomed. If you want to save the surprise for the movie like I did (unknowingly), then stay away from the IMDB for now, if you haven't already heard the secret. I'll suffice it to say that it was awesomely ridiculous.

This is a movie worth watching, and definitely "couple-worthy". There's action (I didn't touch on this point much earlier, but it was pretty hardcore), romance, humor, and zombies. Convincing, delightful zombies. And clowns. And I need to wash my shirt. Yes, if the person you attend the film with is in fact startled by clowns, then I suggest leaving the soda on your side of the armrest. It's for the best...

*Check out the official site OR
the imdb.