Chaos
Yes, chaos. But a good kind! A ton of stuff has happened in the past week or so. The main one, which is a good thing - I got a job! Woo! I finally got one, at a place called Metris. I'll be doing programming. Hopefully I can wow them with my skills, maybe get some good experience. Sadly, now that I have a job, I've been getting many more job opportunities. Today ALONE I've been contacted five times about job openings. Ugh. And some of them offered hefty wages, but I'm already committed. I just wish they could have decided to contact me earlier. Maybe if I hear of one that just sounds too lovely, I might take it. But for now, I'm happy to work at Metris.

So there's been that, and I've been doing side work, as well. Computer educating, as well as spyware removal. Man. I went to a friend of my mom's to work on fixing up her computer - she doesn't use it at all, but her cousin and daughter use it regularly. It had over 4000 pieces of spyware on it. I'm surprised it was still functioning at all. I tried fixing it as best I could, but to do a full job on a case like that would take a lot more time. It took me a good four hours to do what I did, as it is. It should be a lot better now, though.

Ooh! And I signed up for a couple of mystery shopper places. Although I haven't gotten any chances to try it out, yet. Might be a fun way to bring in extra income, who knows. Who wouldn't want to get paid to go out to eat, or to watch movies?

So I got into Google Talk, since it's Google, and Google is cool. I got a few people on my list, and I especially like the VOIP capabilities. It comes through very cleanly, and it's easy to use. It's like opening up some sort of portal to your friend, so you have a space in between that you can talk through. It's very, very clean, and it's almost like just having them there in the same room. A slight bit of lag, but that's expected. I did get to try it (VOIP) out with my friend Amy, and I think she liked it. You might try it out! Anyone with a gmail account can use it, free of charge. It's still beta, so they're going to add a ton of stuff, I'm sure. The actual IM part of it is pretty good, too.

Oh, I caved in and signed up for Blockbuster's DVD for delivery thingie. I canceled my other thing I had with them, where you actually have to GO to a location to pick up movies. Man! Who does that anymore, really? So much work. Anyway, I signed up, you get three movies at a time, unlimited rentals, under $20 a month. Not too shabby. The part I like the most is that you can actually find movies you WANT to see. Not like the crap they stock at their stores. And they'll recommend movies to you, based on what you "rate". Their choices they recommended me are consistent with the quality of movies they keep on their shelves, which means maybe one in twenty gets me thinking, "Hmm, maybe..." I'm finishing up Season 1 of CSI, which is cool, and I've got many more movies in my queue, just waiting to be delivered. Like the Karate Kid! Yeah! Wax on, wax off.

That was my advertising section. They're not paying me for THAT. Yet. Ooh! But another product I've been using is something called Guitar Pro. And for anyone who plays guitar and can read tablature, it's pretty freakin' sweet. I used it to learn a couple of songs already. I've had it for a while, but I never got into it - when I tried using it was when my other drive started going bad, so I guess I just made associations of negativity with it. But in reality, it's quite nice. You can put in your song by just typing in the tab with the correct notation for timing, and then you can play it back in MIDI, adjust the timing as necessary to practice, and just set it to repeat. Even a couple of measures at a time - just pick a number of beats per minute, a number of repetitions, and then how many BPMs you want to increase it by each time it repeats. It helped me a bit. And you can export MIDI files, too! So I've tabbed a few songs. Like this one. Yeah, midi isn't very good, and the voice could be a lot better, but with the limited resources I had, I think it turned out okay. Hopefully you do, too.

Ooh! I found a picture, and I liked it a lot, I had to share. I'm really tempted to make this into a t-shirt.

Maybe it's a little not right, but it made you smile, didn't it?

I did get to go on a float trip this last weekend with Newman - it was a lot of fun. Got some sun, got to meet people. We had a good mix of ages, so I wasn't the only alum there. I think getting out and getting into the sun is something everyone can use. Except make sure you use sunscreen if you're not used to it - a certain Jon somebody (I won't say who it is, except that his last name is Peyton) turned a nice rosy RED from the sun. I hope he's not losing multiple layers of skin.

And the hurricane has hit, which isn't such good chaos. I can't imagine having a home there, having to go through all of that. I just hope people are okay, even if their residences might not be so well. Several cities were hit hard, some more than others.

Okay, that's sad. So here's a joke to make things balanced! This one's an old story I've heard - I don't know if it's true or not, but it's still interesting:
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Introductory Chemistry at Duke has been taught for about a zillion years by Professor Bonk (really), and his course is semi-affectionately known as "Bonkistry". He has been around forever, so I wouldn't put it past him to come up with something like this.

Anyway, one year there were these two guys who were taking Chemistry and who did pretty well on all of the quizzes and the mid-terms and labs, etc., such that going into the final they had a solid A. These friends were so confident going into the final that the weekend before finals week (even though the Chem final was on Monday), they decided to go up to the University of Virginia and party with some friends up there.

They did this and had a great time. However, with their hangovers and everything, they overslept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Duke until early Monday morning.

Rather than taking the final then, they found Professor Bonk after the final and explained to him why they missed the final. They told him that they went up to UVA for the weekend, and had planned to come back in time to study, but that they had a flat tire on the way back and didn't have a spare and couldn't get help for a long time and so were late getting back to campus.

Bonk thought this over and then agreed that they could make up the final on the following day. The two guys were elated, relieved and very proud of their story. So, they studied that night and went in the next day at the time Bonk had told them. He placed them in separate rooms and handed each of them a test booklet and told them to begin.

They looked at the first problem, which was something simple about molarity and solutions and was worth 5 points. "Cool," they thought, "this is going to be easy." They did that problem and turned the page. They were unprepared, however, for what they saw on the next page...

WHICH TIRE? (95 points)
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Okay - I've got to go to kung fu! Time for class! I'll tell you more about kung fu stuff later. For now - a random link! It's a game I am TRULY excited about. The same company that did ICO is releasing this. Just look at it - it is beauty.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 6:48 PM | 2 comments

 
Ah, Beethoven
Yes, I'm listening to Symphony No. 7. I like it quite a bit, although I especially like the second movement. I know, I know, EVERYONE likes the second movement, but hey. So work is still a distant memory/hope, but I AM making some progress. Had an interview today, which was good. And another tomorrow, which is also good. Yay! I have a part time side job, as well, being an educator. No, not kung fu. No, not guitar. But computers! Yes, someone who is rather computer illiterate wanted some instruction on understanding computers, so I am helping her out. For enough money to help put a dent in the bills. So that's good for me. AND for her. Hopefully. We had our first lesson today, and I think it went well. I taught her about MS Word, how to use it, and about the clipboard and copying and pasting. To give you an idea, she didn't even know what highlighting was, or how to do it, and what it's good for. Much less copy and pasting. So I think the progress was decent. We'll see how it goes.

So I've been noticing, as I use the TV occasionally (as I do), a SPIDER crosses the screen. Goodness! I get up to smush it fast! But no, it gets away and I can't find it. So it happened a couple of times, and finally I managed to get to it before it got away - SMUSH! Oh wait, there wasn't a smush. That's right, there was NO SMUSH. Did I miss? No! I pull the napkin away and it's still there! Plenty of life left in it! What happened, you might be wondering? As I was myself, for about .34 seconds. And then I realized, it's living IN MY TV. Yes, that's right. It was under the protective screen above the REAL TV screen, which is which screen the spider was actually on. I'm debating on cracking the TV open to hunt it down, or maybe removing my protective screen (which can be done, as I have before), but I'm paranoid about protecting my screen. Oh well. For the moment, Mr. Spider, you shall live. Enjoy! Roll up your victim bugs while you can! Because the day may come when I will roll up YOU. In a nice paper towel, perhaps. Or even a kleenex.

So yesterday I did something new. Brand new, yes! I FRIED an EGG. That's right, I had never done that before yesterday. Laugh, go ahead. But I did it, and I felt substantially proud of myself. I even fried it over medium. Now I have scrambled eggs before, and boiled them, naturally, but never fried one. It always made me nervous to. That, and I never buy eggs. But I did it! And I was so happy, I was going to get to eat a fried egg (over medium) that I had cooked. And I like fried eggs! I was so happy I had to do a little dance while I put it on a plate. And then I decided I was HUNGRY, so I had to fry a second egg! Yes! And I did it, too! How'd that one turn out? Great. And both of them? They were DELICIOUS. It's making me hungry, talking about all these fried eggs. I might just have to go fry another one here in a moment. Mmmm, mmmm.

Lately my friends have been putting together Halo nights, which we haven't done in a while. So I've been part of the cacophony of gunfire and shouting. It's fun stuff. And a bit of DOA3, which is always great. Me and Justin (not Sihing, a different one) like to pair up with Leon and Bass, for our Patty Cake pair of PAIN. See, when that particular team wins a match, they turn to each other and play a little bit of patty cake. "PATTY CAKE! PATTY CAKE! RAAAAAAR!" And they unleash the pain in team tags of GREAT JUSTICE. One of them involves Bass grabbing the hands of the opponent, swinging them up as the other team member (Leon) rushes in and grabs the feet. Then they swing them up, then down, then up, and down into the ground. BOOM! It's the hammock move. Another team tag is where Leon sets up the opponent as Bass slams into them, and then they both run madly OVER the poor opponent, stomping merrily. Mad merriment, I tell you. It's a lot of fun.

Anyway, I traded some movies with Justin (DOA Justin). I gave him Payback, an EXCELLENT film. With Mel Gibson. Well, it's a very fun film. So what'd he give me? Zardoz. Oh God. I hadn't even heard of it before (as is probably true with most of you now), and I decided NOT to look it up to see what kind of movie I might want to expect. And now that I've seen it, I think looking it up still would not have prepared me. It's got Sean Connery in it. How? I wonder the same thing. It's both a horrible movie, and horribly FASCINATING. It has so many elements that are completely gone from any sort of normality, that searching for meaning in various possible interpretations of the human "reality" becomes necessary. That's all I have to say about it. Trying to think of other things to say about it hurts my head.

The XBox 360 is coming out this year. I have mine pre-ordered. But silly Microsoft, they had to go and pull some shenanigans. Oh man. Oh well, I can't even think about that until after I land my next fabulous job.

Kung fu? I haven't even talked about it! And I think for today, I'll take a kung fu break. I did manage to scrape the skin off of a couple of my knuckles today in full contact training, but it wasn't bad.

So choir's coming back in full force at Newman, and it's great. I've missed having the full choir there, and it's been going pretty good. Except for this last Sunday, when I was playing and all of a sudden my G string snapped! Yes, think all your naughty thoughts and go ahead and get them out of the way. Since it's a 12-string, I still had another string there, but it meant that the pressure was off, so it went way out of tune, which was sucky. I had to figure out a way to retune it quickly when I could. The funny thing was that hardly anyone noticed I even broke a string. Because I KEPT PLAYING. Yeah, that's right, I can manage under pressure. Even when my G string comes RIGHT OFF.

Okay, enough shenanigans from ME. I don't know why I'm in such a good mood... I think it might have something to do with landing two interviews in a row, PLUS some part time work for a bit o' income. Yeah, that's all good news bears. How come we never seen them? Huh? How come the BAD news bears always have to show their faces? I like the good news bears better. Anyway! Time for a random link. I like new toys! All sorts of new technology is fun. And this definitely fits in that category. Oh, and here's a recipe for an omelet, too.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 11:37 PM | 2 comments

 
S - A - T - U - R, D - A - Y... night!
Yeah, it's Saturday night, and sadly, I'm at my computer. I had a few things to do, but when gas is EXPENSIVE and money is scarce, it's not so much an option. So I'm sitting on my butt, talking to people and watching a bit o' DVD. Bleah, I have a mild headache, so it's probably not a bad idea.

Why do I have a headache, you may be asking? (Or you may be NOT.) Well, today was full contact practice. And Sifu's getting a little less rough on us, which is nice for a change. It's more fighing now than anything, and I'm still the only one sparring Justin. Although Sifu did start making us do situps instead of crunches, and a lot of people don't do GOOD crunches, so full situps hurts a bit more. So it's been a hundred situps each time. I think I need to bump mine up another fifty, because I feel it's cheating for me. I don't have a LOT of weight to sit up. More of my weight is in my legs. You know, after so many horse stances, all that.

ANYway, my headache. Yeah, we sparred, and Justin and I went quite hard against each other. I wore full gear so he could practice hitting harder. We went for a while, trading some good hits, both ways. And at the end of it all, we closed up, he circled behind me and did a perfect sweep, taking both of my legs out from under me. Yeah, I hit the ground with my feet in the air, top of the back and head hitting first. Everyone that was there gave a big "Oh!" when I hit, but I was laughing. It was a great sweep. Yeah, my head's a little sore, but it was a good fight.

Ooh! That reminds me - I don't think I talked about it, but one of our practices (I think two weeks ago) I actually nailed Justin for the first time in a while. Feint the right, then follow through, perfect shot to the nose. Actually bloodied his nose. I think I bloody someone's nose every time we have practice. Today it was Cory. Last time I think it was Jordan, although I've been nailing Cory in the face on a regular basis. He has a bad habit of turning his head INTO punches. Dislocated his nose slightly once. But it recovers nicely. Unlike his fractured shin, which he hasn't seen a doctor about. I'm pretty sure it's fractured, but we don't know for sure.

So last weekend. Two things happened. Where I was was TEC, so there was that. I was in charge of music stuff, and it turned out not too bad. I have to say, it was a great weekend. I got to meet some cool new people, make some friends, see old friends. I gave a talk, and I think people liked it. Good times.

The other thing? The fight! Justin and Crystal both fought. I didn't get to watch, but I heard a lot about it. There's supposed to be a video of it, so when we get it I'll definitely be watching. Crystal was in the first fight, against what was apparently some sort of mutant female. Supposedly 17, but looked more like 26. Had thighs thicker than Justin's. Crystal charged her, and the girl landed a solid thrust kick into her stomach. She still moved in, started going hard, and the ref stopped it, pulled them apart. Then she went back towards the other girl, and BAM - another kick. Stopped Crystal cold (knocked her wind out), and the ref called the fight. Alas. At least it was a good first experience to break Crystal in. A few more fights, and then Justin was up. He fought a third degree black belt in taekwondo, who had some Muay Thai as well. The guy was 32 and 6' tall. So he had an age and reach advantage on Justin. That didn't stop Sihing. What I hear is that the guy threw a lot more attacks on Justin, but hardly landed anything. Justin threw fewer attacks, but they were harder, and he landed most of them. Sadly, the judges ended up in favor of the other guy, although a lot of people told Justin they thought he had won the match. Some of Justin's co-workers came to watch, they sat in the public seating, and they said the other guy's hits didn't look too hard... but when Justin hit him with his kicks, they could hear it, all the way in the far seats. Clearly. It sounds to me like the other guy was probably hurting a bit after the fighting was done. Justin got a black eyelid, and a few hip bruises, but that was about it. The black eye was from the other guy doing an illegal move - the grab on the back of the head followed by a knee to the face. Yeah, that's not legal in the ring. It was okay. Justin got him with a solid face shot that rolled his eyes. He kept clinching up, though, so Justin couldn't follow through. Which was too bad. Justin said he loved it, though, and he's definitely going to be back. And he asked the guy for a rematch. I'll definitely be there for that one.

Oh! Almost forgot. Here's a pic of almost all of our full contact fighters (Jordan's not there). From left to right: Kim, Cory, Crystal, Me, and Justin (Sihing!).

We're fierce!

So this week has been more job hunting. Ugh! I'm getting tired of the people hiring taking their time. One of my leads that sounds like it should come through soon I've been waiting on for something like a month. So if anyone out there has any contacts I might be good to be contacting, please, please let me know. IT stuff, development, security, web-related, even database stuff. I have a pretty wide base of knowledge.

Okay, time for a joke. I'm warning you, some of you may be offended my this, but it made me laugh.
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On a transatlantic flight, a plane passes through a severe storm. The turbulence is awful, and things go from bad to worse when one wing is struck by lightning. One woman in particular loses it.

Screaming, she stands up in front of the plane. "I'm too young to die!" she wails. "Well, if I'm going to die, I want my last minutes on Earth to be memorable! I've had plenty of sex in my life, but no one has ever made me really feel like a woman! Well I've had it! Is there ANYONE on this plane who can make me feel like a WOMAN??"

For a moment, there is silence. Everyone has forgotten their own peril, and they all stare, riveted, at the desperate woman in the front of the plane.

Then, a man stands up in the rear of the plane. "I can make you feel like a woman," he says. He's gorgeous. Tall, built, with long, flowing black hair and jet black eyes, he starts to walk slowly up the aisle, unbuttoning his shirt one button at a time. No one moves.

The woman is breathing heavily in anticipation as the stranger approaches. He removes his shirt. Muscles ripple across his chest as he reaches her, and extends the arm holding his shirt to the trembling woman, and whispers:

"Iron this."
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AHHH hahahaahahahahahaha! Yes, it is funny. Humor is good for the soul.

I think it's time for a bit of cereal and some CSI (rented, I still don't have cable). So I'll lay some random links on you! I have lots this time, to make up for lack of blogging. I bought some very nice headphones a few years back, and they're awesome for plane trips, just getting away. But they're pricey. Want decent headphones that aren't pricey? Seriously, good headphones make a difference. Check them out. I found a random site about travel info. Had some definitely interesting info about one city in particular. Are you female? Worried about crazy guys trying to attack you, but don't know kung fu? Your options have broadened. I've put these guys up before, but they're still cool. Especially if you like both rock music and video games. And finally, just a comic I liked.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 10:06 PM | 2 comments