Work's been busy/good the past few days; I'm tired/have a cold. Looking to have a nice New Years Eve. But I can see it now, "NYE sucked!" Let's hope not.
[Posted exactly at 11:44 PM]
Christmas was good. My mom got me all kinds of stuff for my apartment, like almost everything for my bathroom, comforter and stuff for my bed, different stuff for walls, and all kinds of good stuff. She also got me all kinds of clothes, with a good amount of Drexelware. J liked the gifts, and from J I got two real nice ExpressMen shirts (awesome blue and a nice red), and some clothes from Aero.
Got my headunit installed and working, it's sweet. I plan on getting a car alarm, with possibly one that unlocks/locks the doors too, soon... probably will be around $200-300.
I was pulled over again on the Turnpike, but I don't feel like going through the whole story right now... basically I got the same ticket as last week - a $44 windsheild view obstruction ticket (for the radar detector). I think I'll just take the thing down when I'm on that road...
[Posted exactly at 1:48 PM]
Well the day started off OK, and then took a turn for the worst, and now is going OK again.After presuming that Greg wouldn't come through quick enough for me with the "harness" I needed for my new headunit, I ordered one from Crutchfield the other day. It was $8 bucks total, including shipping -- which was guaranteed by Christmas. Indeed it was. I received it today and decided to put the headunit in today. Everything went smooth from cramping the wires to plugging it into the car and making sure it worked, up until I realized that the asshole who stole my last headunit also must have needed an antenna adapter. So when I realized this TODAY, I was fucking pissed. Probably more pissed than when the last headunit was stolen! I had to call around and find a Pep Boys which had the adapter, and luckily the Stratford one had one. $11, no big deal. In the parking lot of Pep Boys, I make sure it works... and it does. I'm a happy man. I decide to go home and then place the headunit in the dash correctly.
I get home and start attempting to put it in the dash. For some reason, my car has like 3 inches LESS space in the dash than what I need to put the dash in. But it worked with the last headunit, so it'll work this time. So anyway, somewhere in between me pushing and shoving the headunit in the dash, a wire came loose. Now there are about 15 different wires that could have came loose. But of course, my luck, the fucking BATTERY supply wire comes off. Argh. At the same time my interior light starts to have a mind of its own (and eventually, and still, stop working).
So now the headunit doesnt work at all. I'm hoping it's just the fuse, but my luck? The whole thing will be broke... we'll see. BLEH -- BACK TO THE WALKMAN STEREO.Among other things, I dropped a light bulb in the house... that was fun cleaning up.
Our "snow" for Christmas will probably be more rain than anything else... and just to make it clear, I LOATHE RAIN IN THE WINTER. And last time I checked, it's fucking winter. After I'm done college, I want to live somewhere where snow is common... and the weathermen don't act like it's their enemy.My response to the e-mail... I think I handled it appropriately. But as in the e-mail awhile ago to Ellen (now THAT e-mail was interesting), I'll probably hear some crap from someone. "Josh,
I just wanted to formally respond to your e-mail, since you requested these issues to be addressed, and I'm not sure if you received my voice mail.First, my blog is not like halfhonk.com. What I mean is that it's not a Web site that I advertise and brag about; it's basically just a personal site. While I don't know of everyone that visits it, I'm pretty sure no one that I don't know visits it (I don't even have a counter on it). As corny as it may sound, my blog usually helps me relieve stress. The day you quoted below was most likely one of the more stressful days I've had. Sometimes I just need to vent how I feel and then when I look back months from now, I can laugh at myself. The writings in my blog are not concerns. If they were concerns of mine, I would have e-mailed you, as I have before. Needless to say, I feel that my privacy was somewhat violated when you, as a manager, quoted my blog and demanded that my thoughts be explained. However, I will explain them as best I can for you:
1. The computer. Without any notice to me about the computer, I did not know it was for me to use. Just as there was a note here today saying "use this puter", there could have been a note last Sunday. Do I understand that you are busy? Of course I do. Was I dying for a new computer, enough to bother you with a phone call or e-mail seeing if I could use this one, especially for only 20 hours a month? No, not at all. (Either way, thank you for having a new computer put in place.)
2. The ticket system. Basically the problem here is that I was never notified of a new ticket system. If you sent an e-mail to tech@interactivenetsys.com simply stating that we were using a new ticket system, I did not receive it. I came into work that day, noticed there were no new tickets and e-mailed both you and Jason. I received your reply asking if anyone told me about the new ticket system, and then after I replied, you replied back with the URL and such. I did not expect any kind of training on the ticket system. I only wanted to know if we had a new ticket system, and if we did, where it was. Your initial reply had me thinking that I shouldn't have even bothered asking about the ticket system. All I wanted to do was my job.
3. Raise. I do not want a raise. Even if hypothetically I was given a $2 raise to $10/hour, after taxes that would amount to about $10 more a week. To be honest with you, the only reason I mentioned it in my blog was because it was just something I could complain about, since I was on a roll about other things also. (FYI: in the same blog I was more pissed about getting a ticket and the water in our basement.)I did not have the slightest idea that you would be reading those very words I typed. I read three or four of my friends' blogs now. I think reading blogs are great for people you don't see everyday. It gives you an insight on how they are doing and what is going on in their life. On the other hand, I haven't thought much of how I would feel if one of those blogs was talking negatively on me -- as I think about it, I can see why you were upset and/or surprised.
As I said on your voice mail, I have learned that even the problems I see as important, are usually a company's smallest problems. You probably think I haven't changed since the days when we would have screaming matches, the days when I would bug for a Windows machine, or even the days when I would get pissed off at the smallest things. Working full time has helped me learn a variety of new things. And while I could probably compile an entire list of things that one could complain about, small things at JerseyNet don't bother me anymore. I don't "throw stones" at you through my blog. I have the utmost respect for you because of your IT knowledge and experience, ability to be "a cool manager" (this is seriously how I describe you to others), and putting up with Bil, Steve, et. al everyday.
I don't need or want a reply to this e-mail. As far as I am concerned, you should read my blog as a friend, not as a manager; and I'll continue to post to my blog as if no one reads it -- my thoughts since I started it. More so, I sincerely apologize that it offended you.
If anything in this e-mail angered you, please call or IM me. I still consider you a friend."
Finished my book the other night, then went to Josh's to chill... just basically him and Kate there. We watched Ocean's Eleven (great movie), I didn't fall asleep, and Kate's cell phone, aka the smoke alarm, rang a bunch of times. Fun though.
It's Christmas Eve and I still have to wrap presents for J and my mom. Speaking of mom, she still has about 1000 things to do since we're having people over for dinner tomorrow. I think her and I are going to the 10:30AM mass at St. Maria Goretti's.
[Posted exactly at 9:56 PM]
Reading this powerful book has me intrigued like none other has before. I only have two small chapters left before I finish it. What a great book by Michael Datcher.
I sound like a radio advertisement. But I'm being honest!Just opened my presents from my Godparents. My Godfather gave me a $100 -- about $100 more than he should have; my Godmother gave me a $100 gift card to Linens N Things, for my apartment. They are so good to me.
Off to Josh's to chill -- haven't been there in a while.
[Posted exactly at 9:08 PM]
Went to Target late last night for some Christmas shopping. Looking at some stuff, I was getting all excited about my new apartment. I picked up the lease from Gina the other day and all three of us, plus my mom, have to sign it. In the mean while, things seem to be going smoothly. While time will tell, please please let this work out for us all. I don't want to be regretting that I moved into my own apartment.Yesterday was Santa Ride-around. I was at the station at about 11AM, helping put the lights on the trucks and such. About 10 minutes later, the assistant chief comes walking in and starts tirading around giving orders. Needless to say, that didn't go over too well. Two of the guys ending up leaving, and he pissed me off quite a few times. He said we didn't need lead vehicles (i.e. a chiefs car in front of the fire truck, so that kids don't run in front of the truck and also to 'alert' the residents Santa is coming), and had more than enough guys on each truck. Oh well, we ended up finishing around 6 or 7, so that's a plus.
At work (CIGNA), I have been getting bugged to set up the NOC's new Web site, including setting up NT authentication, displaying linkable flowcharts, among other things. This one guy, let's call him... Bob (heh), pesters me everyday about it. Saying we need to "blow it out" before the end of the year. Well, newsflash, it's Christmas time... and I don't know about him, but I plan on taking a few days off around the two biggest holidays of the year. Besides, it's a damn internal Web site!!!
Friday our old team (3 of the people that were relocated to a different group, 2 of the people that were laid off, and then 2 of the people still in the group) went out for a holiday lunch. It went well. At the end we were diviying up the check and Gary, the old manager, got out his credit card and told us he was paying. I thought that was very nice of him.
After, I went home for a bit then headed to the Systems Christmas Party, at the Colisieum. I only stayed for about half an hour. I walked in, saw one of the co-ops from upstairs (a non-annoying one, imagine that!), talked to him for a few minutes, and headed on over to the bar. Asked for my social drink, the SIMPLE (yet, "sissy") drink Kahlua and Cream. Do they have that? Of course not; you might think milk is impossible to get. So I just get a beer, more or less for the hell of it, and she's like, "How old are you?" "21, do you want ID?" I say. "No, that's alright," she says as she gets the beer, and then when she turns around she tells me, "Actually, yeh, can you show me because they're (the co-workers) going to want me to see it." I show her my "ID" and set I am. I only had half a beer, chatted with some people I work with, and then jetted. It was about 2 notches about an Office Space party. Haha.Oh and I plan on taking the text again in January. After more studying, of course.
[Posted exactly at 3:20 PM]
Six months, ahh, grand. =)
[Posted exactly at 12:48 AM]
Didn't pass
[Posted exactly at 2:16 PM]
Studying for the exam, which I scheduled for tomorrow at 1PM. I'm not feeling too confident right now... :/
And to think, in six months I'll be studying/cramming for 3, 4, or more exams at ONCE. Bleh.
[Posted exactly at 11:40 PM]
We had a dwelling fire tonight... needless to say, I'm very tired... and dirty...
[Posted exactly at 12:26 AM]
I got myself in trouble with this blog, again...
[Posted exactly at 1:59 PM]
So yeah, I have to get shopping. I'm not really sure what else to get my mom. So far I got her something she asked me specifically for, and other than that, haven't gotten her anything. Other peoples' gifts? Not progressing too well. I guess I'll be out with all the other crazy shoppers some day(s) this week.Quite an event-packed weekend, so let's start in chronological order, if I can do that. (Except for the fact that I'm typing this in notepad, because Blogger really really sucks. It's preventing me from posting to BOTH sites right now; blah.)
Friday morning began with a bunch of calls, one of which was an MVA with people trapped in their cars. It was in Pine Hill and our guys took one of the doors off. Everything went pretty well. I saw Ronnie, a past-firefighter who is now a cop, he was real cool to me. Hopefully he'll be sending me a much-needed 2003 FOP card.
I went into work late and my machine was successfully upgraded from NT4 (I cringe typing that) to XP. It was more cool than I thought; besides the fact that I think they gave me a new hard drive. I still need a bunch of applications (custom ones, etc.) installed, but I didn't feel like bothering with that then. Kathy, my somewhat of a manager, took a half day, so I decided I would leave early too. I ended up leaving around 2 I think. I went home, watched ER, and took a nap.
I didn't sleep too long cause I had to start getting ready for Josh's. It was his birthday Friday, and he had a bunch of people partying at his house down at UD. I'm so glad I went... it felt like it's been a while since I've chilled with them. I gave him a card and money and he seemed happy/surprised by that, so that's cool. Anyway, I only had 3 beers because I didn't want to be all fucked up and be hung over the next day. So I had just enough for me to be happy :) (I would have had more but the keg was kicked when I was ready for a fourth, and I wasn't in the mood for any Old E's.) Oh yeh, a whole bunch of people at his part are apparently huge fans of halfhonk.com. Some people couldn't believe they were meeting me. They were calling me a celebrity. Well, I don't know about that, but it was cool I suppose. Too bad I don't have that much drive for halfhonk.com anymore. (Scott IM'ed me earlier today, ironically, and said
he didn't want me to shut the site down.)Bill Heath was at Josh's party, even though I was told that he wouldn't. Ugh. To my surprise, he didn't use any racial slurs! Wow.
Greg was drinking Everclear -- that surprised me. I didn't even want to look at that shit, no thanks. He got pretty wasted. And it wouldn't be a party if Greg and Kate didn't get into an argument with me pretty much in the middle, so off they went. I... think I'll just leave it at that.I went to bed around 3 on the pull out couch and woke around 10ish. Left and went to the station to help with the Pictures with Santa. It went OK. I had a feeling we'd get a call in the middle, and we did. Luckily it was only a quick one, so no big deal.
And it rained a good amount this weekend, so what does that mean? Our house (the houseboat, as I call it) got water in it. What else is new. I can't take this anymore, I'm going to see if I can get an estimate to get the whole fucking thing waterproofed. I must have been mistaken, but I thought this was 2002... and it shouldn't be impossible to NOT have water in your basement pratically every time it rains.On top of that, my mom told me that the neighbor rang the doorbell today (while my mom was sleeping) and asked if we could reposition our storm drain things cause they are getting water in their basement. First of all, welcome to the club. Second, we have a fenced-in yard... how did they see them? And last, our houses are like 40 feet apart... give me a break!
Yesterday I cut my hair and proceeded up to North Jersey. I don't have the patience to type the entire story, but I got pulled over on the Turnpike and was issued a ticket for an object obstructing my windshield. I don't think it has any points, and it's $44. Whenever I get around to typing the whole (what I can recall) dialogue out, it will be long since the ordeal lasted TWENTY FIVE MINUTES.
Got up to North Jersey eventually, took in some Starbucks, and later ordered out from a diner. Popcorn shrimp, yummie. Left this morning, went on my normal routine (Church, JerseyNet). Speaking of JerseyNet, they are up to no good again. I did end up replying to my manager's e-mail asking, "no one told you about the new ticket system?" and he responded with the URL and such. I replied back saying it was no problem and mentioned how the machine I use has been real slow lately, especially with the new ticket system, and also asked him how he has been, etc. Did he even
bother to reply? No. Or should I say... "(blank)" It's like, whatever dude.
So anyway, I walk in today and see there's a new computer near my area and a monitor. No one sent me an e-mail about it, so I don't bother to touch it, except to see that the new guy has been using it. I don't really care, I'd rather have my own machine anyway. So I then see that MY speakers are hooked up to the new machine, as well as the Ethernet connection. It's like, WHAT IN THE FUCK. I removed the connections and hooked them where they should be -- to my machine. When I left I didn't bother putting them back either. Why should I, they don't.
Every now and then the people at JerseyNet like to play games. And I have a feeling that when I want to work BOTH days on the weekends (when I go back to class), Josh will tell me some bullshit. Well guess what, if that happens, BYE BYE JerseyNet. Not to mention I've been there for 3+ years, have never called out sick, have worked many a holiday weekends/days when no one else wanted to, and haven't gotten a raise in 2+ years... but that's OK.While every other college student is studying for finals they have this week, I'm trying my best to study for my CCNA exam. I am pushing myself to take the exam this month, more specifically by the end of this week. We'll see how it goes.
[Posted exactly at 1:02 PM]
Another ticket.... Oh and Blogger sucks.
[Posted exactly at 9:33 AM]
So I purchased an access point (for wireless Internet access in the house) from Best Buy online, and I didn't feel like waiting the 3-5000 daysfor it to arrive, so I used their "pick up" option. I figured this wouldn't be a big deal since I have a Best Buy store about 15 minutes from my house. However, I forgot that EVERY TIME I go to that fucking store, there is, in some way, a major stress test given to me.
Prior to my arrival, Best Buy e-mailed me with instructions (as well as listed on its Web site) on what and how to to pick up the item, and ID that was required. I walk up to the counter, wait for about 5 minutes for somone to help me and some girl decides to (how generous of her). I told her I was there for "product pick-up," and after the second time saying it, she finally got it. Dumbass. Then she asked if I had my "paperwork." I proceeder to tell yes, and she said, "WELL... can I SEE it?!" I told her I had it memorized and I had the other info to show her. She was upset -- I guess at the fact that I had memorized the 7 digit confirmation number, instead of WASTING time, ink, and paper to print out the e-mail that they sent me. Regardless, none of the info. ever said to print out the e-mail; it only said to bring a photo ID, the same credit card, and to have the confirmation number.
Well anyway, she eventually told me, "You need to lose that attitude." Now I will say that until this point, I did not have an attitude. Once she said this moronic comment, however, I was pissed. I literally yelled at her, "WHAT? You know what ... (she was saying something at this point) DONT SAY ANOTHER WORD, I WANT TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER." Some employees were looking over at this point, she eventually got the manager, and I explained the situation to her. I told the manager what happened, and that the employee shouldn't be reprimanded, and also that no info. ever said I needed to PRINT OUT the e-mail I received. When I got home, I double-checked, and guess what?
I was correct.Either way, the wireless Internet for the most part is working. I still have to work out some (extra security) kinks, which will require some troubleshooting and research. P.S. I love wireless! (among other things.)
I saw Christina Aguilera's video tonight... it's quite interesting. But even though I'm not a fan of hers, I think the song (You are beautiful) is awesome.
Uh, Flyers won tonight... I saw about 20 combined minutes of the game (I had firehouse stuff to do most of the night), and they won 2-1. Wasn't overally impressed. In fact, Primeau makes me want to get really violent. He's so shitty! Ugh, trade his sorry ass. On the other hand, Roenick had a really good hit on a guy... and the fucking refs gave him a penalty. It was a clean hit, and they penalize him. Makes sense.My mom got me a new TV about a week ago and we finally took the old one down and the new one up. This one is a tri-combo (I'm coining that phrase) DVD player and VCR. It's a birthday/Christmas gift. Speaking of gifts, other than some small stuff, I don't know what I'm going to get my mom for Christmas yet. Ack :/ Oh, and I don't know when we're going to hang lights and stuff, let alone get a Christmas tree.
Last week I lectored at the 10:30 Mass. Ugh, I messed up a smidgen on the reading, and then messed up bad enough that I said "excuse me" during the Prayer of the Faithful. I don't know why I get nervous when I read in front of people. Probably because I have like a million things going through my mind at that point.Today we had about 6 calls, 4 of which I responded on. The first two were this morning, one a bullshit alarm system, and the other an mva involving a GTPD police car. There were news choppers all over the place, of couse. And tonight there were another two. The first of those was a bullshit EMS call, and the other was a supposed hit-and-run. The 98 Mazda was pretty totalled. While we were there, I had to ask the Winslow Twp. cop some simple questions, and each time he responded with a I-am-a-cock attitude. Phew, easy there CHiPs.
Good night!
[Posted exactly at 12:32 AM]
Got my laptop tonight... and I love it. =D
Probably going to get a wireless AP tomorrow so I can truly be a wireless person.Tonight we had a few firecalls. One of which was a fire with reported people trapped. This is a rare occurence (rightfully so), so of course everyone stepped it up. Except our assistant chief was looking at the map on the wall before we left, so afterward we all were busting his balls big time. Anyway, it turned out that the fire - which was started by a TV - was mostly extinguished by the time the first truck got there. Presumable put out by who I call the "fire cops" -- the police officers that think they are firefighters. When they start letting us carry guns, I'll be OK with this idea.
Real World was a real good one tonight.
And the book I'm reading, "Raising Fences" by Michael Datcher is pretty good. I'm reading it just for the hell of it. A certain someone got me into reading more :P
[Posted exactly at 11:25 PM]
I've been pretty beat since yesterday, so I fell asleep tonight around 6:30 and initially woke up at 7:30, rolled over and was awoken again at 8. So I got a decent hour and a half nap. Meanwhile, I didn't feel like going to the fire company tonight (I think it was drill night), oh well. I have to go to the Pictures with Santa this Saturday and then the Santa on the firetruck ridearound is the following Saturday, so it's not like I won't be devoting my time. Some guys up there are so annoying anyways, so better I stay home and relax, hah.So Pat, Ryan and his parents, and I looked at the University Crossings apartment (#904) Saturday and we decided we're going to get it. For some reason I remembered the rooms very skinny, and they really werent. And there's a big 2x2 pillar in my room, but it looks like my bed will fit right along side of it, leaving me with a good amount of space. The security deposit is $1350 (one month's rent) and we all, including my mom the co-signor, have $50 application fees. We decided it would be easier for me to pay it all, since it has to be paid through certified check, and then the others will just reimburse me (not fast enough, I can tell you, heh).
So speaking of the certified check... I went to the bank today during my lunch break to accomplish this. As usual, it's a mob house in there and it's a big process for the tellers to "grant" you access to the next available teller. So while I'm waiting in line, I'm eying up all the tellers. To the far left is a small Chinese woman, who seems to be nice. Next to her is Tiana (handy counter tags) and what appears to be someone in training. For some reason, the trainee cannot stop laughing. And when she comes up for air to stop laughing (about nothing evidentally), it's blatantly obvious that she's trying to hold it in. I was wondering if I was at the kiddee bank, or a real bank. What's so fucking funny? That we're all waiting here like farm animals waiting to be fed?! Anyway, to their right is some older blonde hair woman who looks like a bat out of hell, and next to her is a woman that has gone from the bathroom, to the safe, to the customer service center, to the teller-window area, and back ... about 3 times. I don't know where the hell she is going, maybe she's got a nervous tick. So anyway, I decide that I would like to have the small Chinese woman help me because she seems the nicest and I certainly don't want that other idiot laughing the whole time I'm up there. After what seems forever, I finally am first in line. There's some old guy that has been with the Chinese woman forfuckignever, who knows what was going on there. So of course, who do I get? The blonde/bat bitch.
I tell her what I need and she acts as if she's doing me a HUGE favor. She asks me to write my name, bank account #, and amounts of the checks needed. At some point she asks if I'd like her to place anything in the memo fields of the checks. She says she can type them in there. Ok, cool, sure, you can do that. About TEN minutes later, she asks, "And how will you be paying for this, cash?" And I'm like, "No, through my checking account." While I say this, I'm thinking, do I look like I have $1550 in cash on me? And why else would you take my account # down? DUH. So then she asks if I have a blank chank on me and I tell her no, which trust me, is no big deal -- they have blank checks there. And she says, "Well you're just really trying to make this difficult aren't you?!!?"
I'm sorry, I thought you were a fucking BANK TELLER. Would you prefer for me to walk around and help myself to the certified checks? Shut the fuck up and hurry it up.
I eventually tell her to forget the memo typing thing, and sooner or later it appears she finished when she walks across the bank for what I guess was to have the manager sign the checks. (On the way to my car I notice she spells "application" wrong in the one memo field. Furthering my point of stupid bitch.)
I walked into that bank at 1PM today. I walked out at 1:30. All from "America's most convenient bank"!On that same lunch break I go to Wawa for some hotdogs. I open the hotdog holder thing and see the hotdogs have their 'eat marked by' dates as 12:30. And it was way past 12:30. So I asked the woman behind the counter if there were any hotdogs on the rollers... she said yes. When I get home I see the two hotdogs are shrivelled as shit. I mean, did she give me even OLDER ones? What was the point of me asking for different hotdogs? Apparently just for fun, I guess.
Contrary to the above writings, I'm not having a bad day. Knock on wood.
Busy day at work today ... and I'm actually pushing myself to study Cisco cause I really want to take the CCNA exam this month. We'll see.I bought an MP3-compatible head unit for my car today. And I am almost positively getting a car alarm. I am also considering adding more ("comprehensive") insurance to my car, for which will cost about an extra $600 a year. On my wish list is re-tinting the rear vent window and tinting the front windows, even though it's illegal. And other items I want is an access point (which will complement my soon-to-arrive laptop and its wireless card) and a CD-RW (which will complement my MP3 headunit).
We lost ... A G A I N ... last night. I could have seen that one coming, though. It's so sickening. The coach just keeps preaching about "play the system" to everyone. Blah Blah. But I did get my new wheels after the game. And hopefully that'll help me a bit.
Friday I'm going down Josh's house for a birthday party type thing. This'll be the first time really drinking alcohol in probably ... 4 months, since Bill's (from JerseyNet) party. And before that it was in July at Greg's down the shore and before that at Josh's. So not that much drinking lately, heh. Boy I could go for a Corona right about now, haha...
[Posted exactly at 9:39 PM]
Yes snow =)
[Posted exactly at 7:37 AM]
Pretty busy tonight ... quick update.
I found out there's a Starbucks going up about 10 minutes away from my house. As I rode by and saw the signs yesterday, I was literally screaming for joy, haha.Um, the other thing is Commerce Bank lowered my bank account interest down to HALF a fucking percent. Yes 0.5%. Uh, time for a switch.
I have practice at 10:30 tonight and I am so tired. I know I'll be begging for mercy cause I'll be out of breath, energy, and whatever else I usually have.
[Posted exactly at 8:15 PM]
I'm in one of those moods.We lost 7-0 in our game Sunday night, making us 0-7. At certain points during our games I think of how much I dislike hockey. Sunday night I just wanted to vomit I was so sick of losing. I mean, come on. But I know I love hockey so much, it makes me happy.
Speaking of, the Flyers lost again tonight. What a joke (although I'm still a loyal fan) they are. Gee, I guess Bill Barber wasn't the problem last year, eh boys? LeClair is a joke, Primeau is a pice of shit ... bleh.I'm considering a few different things ... one being killing halfhonk.com. I haven't posted there in a while, and it's just not me anymore. Scott, the kid from Arizona that was posting daily, is barely posting twice a week now. The other day I removed the AIM link so annoying 13 year olds don't bother me anymore. The other thing I am slightly thinking of is The Triangle. I've been there for about 8 months I guess, but it's just not that fun anymore. Not to mention I feel as if there hasn't been much of interest (to me) to write about anymore. Half the shit we write I feel like most students don't give a flying fuck about. And it really bothers me ot think that faculty and staff find interest in certain stuff, because frankly, we are a student newspaper. But more and more I feel like we are Drexelink -- the school ran newsletter, full of good news this and that. And the editor, Geof (whom I bet will read this), has been blowing much smoke up my ass lately. It annoys me how he makes a big deal out of the smallest of things, but doesn't seem to give two shits about things that he really should be interested in ... such as every single newspaper on campus was stolen approximately 2 hours after we delivered them to all the stands. No big deal, right? Nah, who cares. Or an office so messy, < insert joke or anology here >. Or the fact that every fucking Thursday night a lucky 3 or 4 people stay until 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or even 7AM. In fact, for us to be done at 2AM would be a blessing. I'd be in bed by 2:30, giving me 5 hours of sleep. Instead, the lucky 3 or 4 people end up fighting over one word in the least important story for 2 hours and I end up getting between 2 hours and 20 minutes of sleep before my full day of work. But I guess it's OK since some of the 3 or 4 luckies don't have class until later in the day, or they got to sleep in the previous day, or they don't need more than 3 hours to operate.
I guess I'm bitching too much, cause once spring term comes, it should be easier for me to stay so late. But it's just as if I feel unimportant to the paper since Geof makes a big deal about people that leave at 8PM and 11PM. People that really do contribute a good amount to the paper, but don't go that extra mile or whatever and stay late. Whatever, who cares. I don't know why I care so much about stupid shit like this. But when people tell me not to make a big deal out of it, they are basically telling me to not care. And when I don't care, I either don't do a good job or I want to quit the organization altogether. And then they can find someone else to give 8 hours of their time to do news layout and whatever else.I don't think I posted this, but I was supposed to help GE do some network installation in November. About a week prior I e-mailed two of the guys. I actually e-mailed them twice in a few days; they never got back to me. This kinda darkens my hopes for returning there next September. I loved working there so much.
There are pros and cons to working where I am currently. CIGNA is a much more laid-back company ... which I have to admit, I really don't like, but I've gotten accustomed to it. I take lunch breaks that are often over an hour and half. And for the majority of the day I chit chat with (regular) employees, browse Web sites, or study CCNA material (I think this actually classifies as work though). The number of hours of week that I actually work is probably pretty low. I don't even want to calculate it because I'm embarassed. If I would have know I would be in this situation, I would have said "FUCK YOU" to my school's career office and to CIGNA back in late August when GE begged for me to stay. I' d be learning so much more.
One of the good things is that they are letting me be be involved with hiring the next co-op. Well anyway, I was looking at all these resumes (some bad, of course), and of the good ones I was thinking, 'Man, we'd be wasting some good skill if we hired this kid here.' At the same time I get envious of some of the networking skills, experience, and certifications some of the guys had. So many people (friends, etc.) tell me that I know so much about computers and I'm so good with them, blah blah. I know fucking jack shit. Especially new shit, bleh.So yeh, Wed. night my mom was out shopping and I decided to be productive. Our toilet hasn't been flushing right - you had to hold down the handle for like 5 secs - so I attempted to fix the length of the chain inside. I adjusted it, and it wasn't good enough, then adjusted it again, and then went to put the lid back on the toilet and what do I do? Somehow bang the lid on the toilet and chip off a piece of the toilet, and water starting gushing. Oh fucking great I was thinking (or moreso, 'kill me'). And of course at that same exact time I hear the door open and it's my mom coming home from shopping. Argh, such luck. I ran to the front door to tell her that she's going to kill me and that I broke the toilet. Long story made short, mom got very upset, we had to purchase a new $110 toilet that night (Thanksgiving Eve) and I installed it. One thing after another didn't go right: the screws that attach the (old) toilet to the floor would not unscrew, so I had to saw them off (couldn't find our flashlight, which in turn couldn't find our hacksaw, which in turn I had to go to the fire house and borrow that one). Then the "wingnuts" (sounds like that windows font wingdings) that attach the toilet to the tank were rusted times 200, and I tried to get them off with plyers, but of course I broke the thing right in half. And then when I finally removed the toilet, a piece of the very very old gasket thing fell into the sewer pipe. Luckily we found a light somewhere in the house and I was able to get it out of the pipe. Installed the new toilet, but of course there are 500 warnings telling you not to tighten the bolts too tight or you'll crack the porcelain, so we still have a few leaks and I have to pick up a new water line hose. But other than that, the toilet is mostly working. All this for me trying to do something nice and be productive.
(With the exception of last Wednesday) I haven't done 50 pushups/50 crunches in I-don't-know-how-long. I'm so out of shape it's not even funny. And I need a haircut.
JerseyNet is getting on my nerves again, but too much. I e-mailed my manager asking for the new URL for our ticket system (for customer e-mails and stuff). What does he reply back with? "um, yeah. No one told you about the new ticket system?" Well what the fuck do you think? You know what, I'm not even going to reply to his e-mail, and come next Sunday, I won't bother with the ticket system, since I don't know the URL to it. It's not a huge corporation, you can afford 7 seconds to tell me the URL.
I have a stupid peer leader meeting Thursday from 5-7. I say STUPID because I'm sure it will be filled with 1 hour and 47 minutes of useless information as well as dumb "fun" things to do. Oh well, I'm half way down this class ... and then I'll have 4 credits which will hopefully boost my GPA a tad, since that sucks too.Other than these things, I guess what's left is my car. Still no head unit yet, but I have my walkman in there so it's OK for now. Just sucks when I have other people in the car ... you know, dead ... si... silence. Too bad one of my "best friends" Greg couldn't help me out with finding a new headunit, or anything, it's OK. I haven't spoken to him (and I'm only talking about via AIM) in at least a week or more. And my other "best friend" Jim? Havent' talked to him (in person) in probably over a year. You know "best friends for life," right Jim? haha. Oh and my good friend ... nevermind, he reads this, I won't bitch about that. Or the other person either.
Oh yeh I ran a red light today and there was a (Stratford) cop at the intersection -- obviously he pulled me over. Stupid mood, but I was cut slack.
[Posted exactly at 1:22 AM]
Broken the fucking toilet and I've been "installing" the new one all fucking night ... UGHHHHHHHHHH.
[Posted exactly at 12:47 AM]
Purchased a Dell laptop online tonight. And it might snow tonight/tomorrow (although we'll see), and I only have half a day of work tomorrow. And I'm in a good mood.
Good night =)
[Posted exactly at 11:21 PM]
Pat, the 3rd roommate, says he's in for a full year at the apartment. So I think that's good.
Had a good weekend w/ JB, saw Die Another Day (it was good, not as good as the first I don't think).
Got the car window fixed on Friday (also skipped work due in part of that) for $160. They also washed the car, good deal eh?
Things I'm considering on buying, in no order: Dell laptop, Canon S200 digicam, CD-RW, mp3-compatible headunit, car alarm, all-window tint, more car insurance.Our hockey team lost again tonight. Can you say 0-6? But we lost 7-5, so not so bad. Midway through the game, I got c-r-e-a-m-e-d by someone, didn't feel too good. Wouldn't be surprised if I got a mild concussion. But all's OK now.
It's Thanksgiving week -- hell yeh turkey! (And no Triangle; how nice it'll be to sleep more than 2 hours on a Thursday night. Speaking of, apparently all of the 6,000 papers on campus got stolen Friday.)
[Posted exactly at 1:01 AM]
Ugh. Right now we're (myself and the production manager ... the other two are sleeping temporarily) waiting for the proofs to come out of the printer. It's been a long night -- here then 2 1/2 hours of hockey practice then back here -- and I'm due for a nice sleep. But not today, cause I have to be at work in 2 1/2 hours. Well at least there's no paper next week, so that'll be nice having a week off from The Triangle. And as far as work goes, I'll probably be taking at least Thursday and Friday off, and going to North Jersey. That's where I'll be headed tomorrow, hopefully after my car (broken window) gets repaired rather quickly.
All I have to do is survive through about 3 hours of Sniffer training at work tomorrow ... and I should be set for my "weekend."
[Posted exactly at 6:07 AM]
Oh boy, where to start. I guess I can start with a reference back to Saturday when I said, "I'd like to make a note that life is going well right now." Silly me, I guess I'm currently being tested.
It's amazing how one day you can see everything as going right and then another day you can turn it all around and say, this is shit. Well I'm not saying that, but ... whatever.Sat. night my car was broken into up in Weehawken. Rear quarter glass was broken, my head unit ($200 Panasonic, anout 3 years old), scanner (I paid about $60), about 10 CDs - 4 or so of them weren't even mine - were taken, my hands free unit for my cell, and a Saint card. The glass is going to cost me approximately $160 to get fixed. And driving without any music is borderline crazy.
And when I woke up this morning, our basement had about 2 inches of water in it -- again. Bleh, we live on a fucking boathouse apparently.
We lost our game last night, 5-0; our record is now 0-5.
Work will be busy all week due to Sniffer training. Let's just hope I can get the car window repaired before the weekend.
[Posted exactly at 11:50 PM]
and there's water in our basement ... AGAIN!!!
[Posted exactly at 5:58 PM]
Car was broken into last night up in North Jersey...
[Posted exactly at 9:09 PM]
Saw Eight Mile tonight ... definitely a good movie! And yes, Eminem is a good actor.
[Posted exactly at 11:45 PM]
So I'm starting to listen to Christmas (streaming) music -- I'm allowed to do that now, right?
I really want to get a Dell laptop for Christmas. I told my mom, whose birthday was yesterday =), that I'd pay like half or 2/3 and she can pay the rest as a present. For her birthday I ordered her flowers but wasn't there to see them delivered, so I hope they actually bothered to deliver them.On to other things ... I am planning to move back onto campus for when I return to classes in March. But Pat, the third kid, recently said he didn't want to live on campus for the whole year, but only for 6 months. So that threw me and the other kid, Ryan, for a loop. We kinda have to look for another apartment now, because the one we were looking at is $1350/month and with the added price of utilities (plus Internet and cable), we wouldn't be able to afford it with just the two of us. But damn, this place is pretty nice. The bedrooms are somewhat small, but it's a brand new apartment, kitchen appliances included, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and not to mention it's right on top of campus! And for someone as stingy as myself, I think it would fit nicely. So I'm going to try and see if we can make a "deal" for Pat to stay the entire year. We'll see... :/
Wednesday night I got 4 hours of sleep because of our late practice and Thursday night I got 3 hours of sleep because of The Triangle. Speaking of hockey, the president of the club responded to my e-mail, and for the most part, his response was well-taken. The board members are saying things will improve, and while only time will tell, I believe them. Our practice went well and I'm really thinking we'll get our first win this week.
My co-op at CIGNA is going OK. Two guys in our department got laid off and their last days are forthcoming. In hindsight, I wish I would have done much more research into CIGNA before I accepted the job. Almost every day the company is in the papers - either for laying people off, or losing tons of money, or under investigation by the government, or a combination of all - and I doubt I would ever return there for a full-time or co-op job. The people are nice and it's a laid-back atmosphere, but I think I really like the fast-pace environment of other companies (i.e. GE). Next week I have a week-long Sniffer training course, so that should be good for me.
I'd like to make a note that life is going well right now. I know back in the spring I had "duldrums" quite often, and fortunately I can't remember the last time I've felt really really shitty. Of course bad moods and stressful times still occur, but the serious depressing times are a distant memory.
Sometimes when things are going well for a while, you don't tend to sit back and recognize it. I'm thankful. 14324736JB =DLastly, an awesome song:
We got the afternoon
You got this room for two
One thing I've left to do
Discover me
Discovering youOne mile to every inch of
Your skin like porcelain
One pair of candy lips and
Your bubblegum tongue'Cause if you want love
We'll make it
Swimming a deep sea
Of blankets
Take all your big plans
And break 'em
This is bound to be a whileChorus: Your body Is a wonderland
Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)
Your body Is a wonderlandSomething 'bout the way the hair falls in your face
I love the shape you take when crawling towards the pillowcase
You tell me where to go and
Though I might leave to find it
I'll never let your head hit the bed
Without my hand behind ityou want love?
We'll make it
Swimming a deep sea
Of blankets
Take all your big plans
And break 'em
This is bound to be a whileChorus
Damn baby
You frustrate me
I know you're mine all mine all mine
But you look so good it hurts sometimesChorus
[Posted exactly at 3:30 PM]
Ugh ... what a long day. And tomorrow will be another long one. And Mommy somehow "LOST" her carkeys ... and it's 4 hours until I have to get up for work... and I can't get ahold of someone ... UGHHHHHHH
[Posted exactly at 2:43 AM]
E-mail I sent yesterday to the President of the roller hockey club I'm in: (He has since responded in a nice way, telling me there will be an e-mail sent out soon. He appreciated me bring up the issues.)Hi Bill,
I understand that the club is in the midst of its largest year. However, the D-team is receiving, by far, the shortest end of the stick. This e-mail intends to inform you of the problems that our team has encountered so that you can start to address them. For a team that pays the same amount of money as every other DURHC team, we certainly deserve your attention.
As you may or may not know, our team had no goalie for tonight's game (until 10 minutes remaining in the last period). This is an example of the lack of communication that this club has. On Tuesday, I took note of the A & B team's games this weekend and then asked on the message board who would be our goalie for tonight. The message was replied to on Wednesday with a "all of the PCRHL goalies will be back in plenty of time for the game at 5pm. No problems." Quite the contrary, we found out tonight. I can tell you that it's very disheartening to play a game with no goalie. Why did this happen? More so, if we have one, who is our permanent goalie?
Secondly, there is a major issue with practices. To date, we have had four games and only one practice - it was before the first game and before any of us knew each other. Since then, there has been one canceled practice with a two-hour notice and another canceled practice with a two-day notice. Do our club fees cover practice time? If yes, why aren't we receiving our money's worth? The D-team is probably the team that the guys know each other the least, and probably is also the team that requires the most amount of time for improvement. I think it would also only be fair for our practice sessions to involve our goalie and, if possible, our practices should involve only our team, not sharing a rink with C-team.
Third, I believe the club needs to better organize its' finance collections. Brian Humphreys told us he wanted payment two of club dues to him tonight. I brought my check with me (as well as cash for two sweatshirts I want to purchase) and Hump was nowhere to be found. I have no problem paying, but if there is no person to collect the money, how am I expected to pay? I'm currently living at home so a trip to campus is not easy. I don't expect Hump to spend an entire day at Marple collecting money, but I can't afford to have my records put on hold because I didn't pay $75 for my hockey club.
Some smaller but still important issues: 1. We have yet to receive any part of our uniforms. Yet, we did pay - as far as I am aware - at the same time as everyone else. Besides the fact that it was a month ago. 2. It is only fair that practices and games be announced a reasonable amount of time (for example: one week) in advance.
If you would like us to have fun and take pride in being a part of DURHC, we should be treated equally.
I have considered quitting the club because of the above problems. I hope that you understand my intention of sending you this e-mail; it certainly isn't to start problems.I know that a few of the guys on our team have expressed some concern, but this e-mail is only from me. I am speaking only for myself so it may be necessary to ask other D-team players their opinion.
We know the board members are extremely busy. And as Humphreys said, it's "a second full-time job ... Only no pay." I completely believe that and APPRECIATE the work you are ALL doing. However, ask some of the regular club members what they have on their plate. I personally have a full-time job, a part-time job, a volunteer job, a 4 credit class, 15-25 hours a week at The Triangle (for free), and play for this club, among other things. Just because someone has many things to do, or because they aren't getting paid for it, doesn't mean they can drop the ball.
I would appreciate a response.
Thank you!Chris Duffy
[Posted exactly at 6:15 PM]
So I didn't get to see Eight Mile - a movie I've been excited to see for a month now - last night, it was sold out. So maybe next weekend.
Thursday night was interesting. We didn't finish the paper til 5:15AM Friday, and I stayed awake til I had to go to a half-day training for work. Then went up to North Jersey and didn't get to bed til around 9. That's like 35 hours of awake-ness.The Flyers have lost their past 2 games, oh well.
[Posted exactly at 1:26 PM]
About to leave The Triangle ... we finished around 5:15 AM and I have a class for work to go to in Atlantic City at 8:30 so I figured it'd be useless to go home and try and sleep. So I stayed here and tidied up the office. The class is SUPPOSED to be done at noon today, and it better, because I don't know if I'll even make it til then, since I've been up for ... 24 hours so far. Wee.
[Posted exactly at 6:50 AM]
Baby when I heard you for the first time I knew we were meant to be as one.Real World was pretty good tonight. I wonder if there were boring times for them in Vegas?
Holy poop, I just realized halfhonk.com has been open for 2 1/2 years and pretty close to half a mil visitors. That's pretty cool.
My cousin gave me $100 for my birthday ... I was initially going to put it in the bank, but ... hrm, I would like the use of a digicam again, yummy!
Lastly, I noticed yesterday that I have been considerably (knock on wood) less stressed since I started working for CIGNA. Not to say that I don't miss the hectic work place at GE, but hey, a change is good - once I get used to it. Good night! =)
[Posted exactly at 11:20 PM]
Reporting from NNJ ... Saw 13th Child tonight. Shitty movie, except for some scary parts. And the blonde actress is a horrible one!
I'm excited to see Eminem's 8 Mile soon ... it comes out Friday.
At the movie theater tonight, there was this girl about 3 rows back talking and talking and talking. After I SSHHHHHH'ed her twice in about 10 minutes, I literally yelled back "If you want to talk, go outside." I heard her say something like "What?" to the person she was with ... dumb bitch. Why don't you go see what food you can find at the dump; you know, scrounge around for some good stuff.
Speaking of, at Starbucks - my new favorite place - there was a group of about 5 kids that were running in and out. Also, there was a couple with their annoying little girl that was screaming and yelling and the parents thought it was the cutest thing ever. But besides those two occurrences, I enjoyed my time there.I had a weird dream last night/this morning ... "Moron" from my summer job was in it at some mall, and he was threatening me with some kind of a small knife. From what I remember, I eventually got him to the ground, threw the knife from his hands, and was threatening to hit him. After that, I picked up my coat and was looking for my messenger bag. Two girls were on a couch (I know, a mall in a mall? Weird.) and my bag was under another bag while they were acting like I wasn't looking for my bag. I remember grabbing the bag then yelling at them and pushing the bag against them. Meanwhile, some lady was walking by and gave me a dirty look. I then left, with my bag. I'm a dream bullie, aren't I.
Tomorrow I'm lectoring for the Sunday Mass. Eh, that will require me to get up earlier than usual, but hey, I got to sleep (on and off a little) til like 2:30 p.m. today, sweet!
We have a hockey game tomorrow ... at 9, I think. Maybe we can score a goal this time.
Monday is meeting night at the fire department, woop-ee.My mom got back from a week-long Ireland vacation yesterday. She said she had a good time; I'm glad, she definitely deserved it.
[Posted exactly at 11:45 PM]
Bleh. Hockey game (our 2nd so far) tonight... we lost something like 8-0, whatever. I also got hit in the mouth with a stick. Nice of the refs to be paying ttention, but ya know, whatever. No big deal - I guess.
I'm tired and I don't feel like going to work tomorrow. How come whenever there's a time change - even when it benefits you with an extra hour - I'm tired as shit?This weekend was pretty good. I got new black (dress) shoes. By Lugz. They are pretty sweet and I like 'em. Other than that, just made the usual weekend trip to my best friend's house in North Jersey, as well as Starbucks, and Benny Tudino's on Washington Street. I'm going up there (NNJ) again Tuesday after work and then for the weekend starting Friday after work. This Sunday I am lectoring for the 10:30AM mass.
Friday night I went to a Halloween party. Boo. Not the scary Boo, but Boo the bad Boo. I was there for less than an hour. I primarily left because I wasn't feeling too great (coughing). Secondly, it was kind of cold outside. Why do I say this? Well, the party was mostly outside. Besides the fact that I didn't really know anyone; oh and someone else was wearing the same costume as I. This didn't necessarily surprise me as much as the person changing into regular clothes 15 minutes after I got there did. Did I mention there was kindof a lack of alcohol there too? That didn't matter though because, as I said, I wasn't feeling well anyway. Just ended up leaving without saying anything to anyone, no biggie. Kinda wasted the $35 on the costume though. Oh well.Coughing. For the past week I've been coughing probably 5,000 times a day. *Cough* *Cough* See, right there I just literally coughed twice. I'm hoping this coughing thing *cough* goes away soon.
Go Flyers.
[Posted exactly at 12:38 AM]
Uhh... we had our first game the other night and lost 4-0. We'll get better, I feel.
Had peer leader today. From 1-3 I signed in freshmen going to lab and then distributed Junior Achievement packets. From 3-430 was the class time. I gave a 45 min or so presentation on writing resumes and preparing for job interview. I think I did pretty well. This class does help with my public speaking skills, I think.Oh yeh, I actually paid my meter today. 2 trips, 4 hours total, $4 worth, no tickets. I guess that's a deal.
Tomorrow is ... Suicide Thursday.
[Posted exactly at 10:16 PM]
Hanging in North Jersey with one of my best friends ... having a good time.Oh yeh, Thursday was real interesting working 8-4, Triangle 5-9, hockey practice 1030-1, Triangle 130-5. I think that classifies as a Suicide Thursday. Good night.
[Posted exactly at 10:48 PM]
Not one, but TWO parking tickets today. (On a day I actually gave the meter 3 quarters - all the quarters I had.)
You know, I wouldn't have a problem paying for parking (meters) if my only option wasn't carrying around $6 worth of quarters, not to fucking mention that the meters only last 2 hours long. So I would have had to make 2 trips BACK to my car in the pouring rain & hurricane-style winds today. I hate you PPA. Oh, but for one of the tickets it has "FD" (I guess they got confused since I have firefighter plates) included in the license plate number, WRONG. I wonder if they'll figure it out.
I wouldn't mind paying a certian fee per month for parking. I could send them a check every month and I could have a sticker on my window. What's so complicated about that?
[Posted exactly at 8:42 PM]
Real World was pretty good tonight. I noticed Trishelle has this strange mark on one of her teeth. I still don't realize how everyone thinks she's so "hot." I guess I'm not a fan of Southern girls.Worked at JerseyNet tonight for a few hours. I saw Bil, the owner, for the first time in a while. He complimented me on helping out the company and also asked when I was going to be working full time (there) again. I was taken back a little. And then he was like, "Can you co-op here?" And luckily I kind of got sidetracked and then he asked Josh (the manager) and that conversation disparsed. But that's cool to know that he at least recognizes my work there, and if I ever got stuck for no co-op, I'm pretty sure I'd be able to do a co-op there.
So I don't know if I spoke of hockey tryouts 2 Saturdays ago, but they were a bust for me. I HATE trying out. And meanwhile they were telling us all to "just have fun." Yeh well it's hard to have fun when you have to fucking skate up and down the rink 20 times and do all these drills that you've never fucking down before! Well anyway, I finally found out the other day that I made the "D" team. And I found out TODAY that we have practice THURSDAY NIGHT at 10:30PM. Like what the fuck, ever hear of advance notice? I mean 2 days notice is a tad ridiculous. Thursday nights are Triangle nights and I can't just be bailing out on the newspaper. I better know about the next practice far in advance and it better not be on a Thursday night at the crack ass hours of the night.
But I love hockey. Speaking of, the Flyers won 6-2 tonight. LeClair, who sucked last year, had 4 goals tonight. The whole team, from what I saw, looked really sharp tonight. I hope this is the year baby.JB is awesome.
[Posted exactly at 10:43 PM]
Work was much better today. One of the guys that was recenlty moved upstairs (he used to be a manager in the department I work in) was showing me some MRTG stuff and offered to bring in some Perl (a programming language) books for me. He said he will give me some small projects to work on - therefore I can hopefully learn Perl. I'm not too interested in programming, but I figure it can't hurt to learn, right?
We were also talking about when he took the CCNA exam, so that gave me some more inspriation to take the test.Have fire prevention at the station tonight. I have to be there at 5:30 in my Class B uniform (I haven't yet found my pants, ut oh) and probably won't get home until after 11.
Tomorrow I'm working normal hours at CIGNA then working some hours at JerseyNet - Josh asked me to do him that favor.I spoke to Monsignor Rock today and told him I would be interested in helping him out in being a lector. He was cool, as usual, and said it wouldn't be starting til November. I need to brush up on my public speaking/reading skills anyway. I also told him a story in reference to his homily 2 Sunday's ago. In the homily he spoke about how we cannot demand miracles from God but we can surely ask for them, and that we have nothing to lose in asking for them. At a firecall sometime last week, we got called into Pine Hill to help the Police Department locate a missing 3-year-old girl. My crew and I were specially searching the woods and at some point I asked God for a small miracle that she would be found. I briefly thought of all the recent kidnappings and horrible things and hoped that her parents wouldn't have to go through all that shit. Soon enough, the girl was found. I thought that was pretty cool.
[Posted exactly at 4:40 PM]
Saw "The Rules of Attraction" last night with my good friend. The movie was just a tad bit more weird that what I had thought, although it was still OK.
I'm tired and it's going to be another busy week, or at least until I take FRIDAY OFF - HAHAHAHAHH!
[Posted exactly at 11:01 PM]
Been busy lately, as usual I guess. Wednesday was my 20th - after work and class went out with Mom and my Godmother. Then talked to my cousin on the phone for a while that night.I had to work at JerseyNet today, because one of the guys couldn't and he asked me to. So I'm going to take off work from CIGNA on Friday cause I really need a day off. Speaking of CIGNA, it's going ok, but the end half of this week mostly everyone in the group I work in is on vacation.
I'm up to like chapter 15 in my "The Cliff Walk" book and finally finished my CCNA for Dummies book. My goal is to take my CCNA test by Dec. 15 of this year. I really would like to get that certification.
[Posted exactly at 3:23 PM]
This post is, like many others, in an attempt to calm my pissed off self down.Where do I start... Well actually, I've had worse days than this, I know that.. it's just that I'm enraged right now.
The other night at The Triangle, one of the staffers started questioning why I always have to have an opinion on something. After a few times of me telling her politely to leave me alone, I flipped out on her and told her to shut the fuck up. And guess what, she deserved every decible of it. She's a fucking whiny little baby. I wouldn't have such a big problem with that if she contributed more. Well anyway, she ended up leaving about 5 minutes later, and of course everyone was saying, oh no - you're going to be on her shit list now. Do you think I give a fuck?The paper has always been stressful, but now it seems like it's always something new. Today I have seriously considered quitting. But I hate quitting, that's probably one of only a few reasons why I didn't click send on that resignation email.
[Posted exactly at 3:51 PM]
Bad mood. Fuck you.
[Posted exactly at 2:39 PM]
Chilled with my good friend in NNJ last night/yesterday... Had a good time.Saw Red Dragon tonight ... was a fucked up movie + it was good + it was scary!
Reminder to self: Email sent to Triangle member....
[Posted exactly at 3:14 AM]
I might be in bed by 5AM this morning ... The mood right now is "light and lively" according to Geof. Yoni wants to put his dick on Ellen. Goodnight.
[Posted exactly at 4:15 AM]
$552 for my fucking car. But atleast: 1.) it's fixed now and I'm glad I have a car, 2.) it doesn't make that LOUD and extremely annoying noise when I go over 75MPH now (not yet anyways).Spent 8 hours of Triangle work today... probably another 8 tomorrow... I don't feel like going to work tomorrow, bleh ...
[Posted exactly at 11:28 PM]
So busy... gona be a busy week ....
[Posted exactly at 12:03 AM]
I just wrote my biggest check out: $1200 to Encompass Insurance for this year's payment on my car insurance.
[Posted exactly at 9:17 PM]
It's so nice to wake up when I want (130PM), do what I want (eat buffalo wings and lay around the house), and not have to worry about leaving for work and such. A good 'ol Saturday off. My only day off, I value it very much, haha.However, my car - now at 80K miles - is acting up. It appears that I need 4 new tires. I am also about 2,000 miles over my 3,000 mile oil change. I'll try to get the oil change before work tomorrow morning and I'll see if I can get the tires done Mondat after work, we'll see.
As far as work, it's going ok ... Friday I learned some stuff about Sniffers; it seems that it is starting to pick up. It's also nice getting a paid hour lunch everyday. So as I usually say: There are pros and cons to everything.Thursday night wasn't too bad, even though I stayed til 5:15AM. I was complimented for my articles and I got compliments on Friday for the news layout.
[Posted exactly at 6:54 PM]
It's the wee hours of the morning - where else would I rather spend my Friday, besides of course in my fucking comfortable bed?!
[Posted exactly at 4:49 AM]
Tired, have a cold, exhausted... I guess there's something going around cause I got it. Oh and my cell phone APPEARS to allow me to make outgoing pheon calls... shouldn't I be thankful. Ironically I also received my $67 phone bill ($8 roaming, $5 over minutes, $1.30 for 411.. yeh it adds up, oh well). Good ol Cingular.My Univ101/Peer leader class went well today. No problems... so far.
Ugh tomorrow is Triangle Thursday.
[Posted exactly at 8:42 PM]
WHY THE FUCK is my cell phone not working now? Every time I try to place an outgoing call tonight I get an annoying heavy duty busy signal. WHAT THE FUCK... FUCKING CINGULAR, AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Posted exactly at 11:22 PM]
Work is going ok... I am finally progressing somewhat with CCNA preparation. My realistic goal is now to have my CCNA cerification by the end of this year. Wish me luck.My car insurance this year went down... I'm down to $1200 (for only liability), which I guess is a perk of now being a driver for 3 years. Getting old, I guess.
Tomorrow got a half day at work, then meeting with the instructor of the class I will be assisting with, then maybe some Triangle work (note to self: gotta do that article), then the actual class at 3 til 4:20. Then probably some more Triangle work, then home. Not looking forward to Thursday night, aka spend-hours-of-time-where-I-would-otherwise-be-sleeping-at-The-Triangle. Enough of my bitching, it's not even Wednesday yet!
[Posted exactly at 10:51 PM]
Not too much going on... Spent the night up in North Jersey Friday; rented 2 movies - Panic Room & New Best Friend. Ironically, I thought both started off kind of slow, but turned out to be good movies.I haven't heard back from Jordan in reference to a possible opening in his apartment for March. I talked to him online last week and he said he'd call me back as soon as he talked to the kid that will be moving out... and it's a week later so I guess I'm shit outta luck for that idea, damn. Another possible place I could live is at Anthony's apartment... but I'd have to share his room, which isn't that huge... I'm not too crazy about that idea. And another idea is that I could get an apartment in a newly-renovated complex on campus, with Ryan -aka IKE ("I know everything")- and Pat from my dorm last year. I don't know how valid that offer still is, so I guess I'll to figure something out soon. If I don't get an apartment to live in in March, I will be pissed since I have been looking forward to that for a little while now.
Thursday night was Triangle night. I stayed there until 4:15 AM - that's 12 hours of newspaper fun - mostly because I didn't have to go into work that day until 11:30. My huge article, which was a 6-month review of things, received some compliments and didn't get altered too much before production. Layout was OK. Now that we are in the fall term, we have to produce a paper every Thursday night instead of every other Thurs. like in the summer. Ugh, it's going to be interesting since I work full-time during fall and winter terms. For example, I can say that I will NOT be staying until 4:15 this Thursday night... oh and by the way, they weren't done everything until 6:30 AM. When spring rolls around, I'll be able to stay the whole production night and "contribute."
Went to Church this morning (I'm such a good boy), now at work, and tomorrow I have to go to Philly for some orientation meeting at Cigna Headquarters. I'm not too excited for that.
Wednesday is the first class that I have to attend for the Peer Leader course, which should be interesting. I JUST found out yesterday which instructor I'll be working with, and his title includes the words "director" and "learning," so I hope he's not a stickler on following the every single rule.
I finally spoke to Chad the other day... first time in at least 3 months. Turns out his phone got thrown into a pool and he finally got a new one.Flyers are 1-1 in their preseason... their first regular season game is October 10th, one day after my birthday. A nice birthday present would be for them to win the Cup this year.
[Posted exactly at 1:30 PM]
I just found where I can get Howard Stern audio!!!!! I'm so friggon excited, it's pathetic!!! =D
[Posted exactly at 6:27 PM]
Real World owns. I'm so addicted to that show now. The new season, in Las Vegas, started tonight. Bunch of good looking people going on there. The room they have - on the 28th floor of a hotel - is fucking astounding with an outrageous view, seriously. I want Real World to come to Philly, that'd be awesome.Hockey last night was a killer.. Only 5 of us showed up, one of which is the goalie... so that meant we all played the ENTIRE game - that's 45 minutes of game hockey, phew. I was DEAD beat afterward, but I had a goal (we each had one ironically) so I there's a bright side to everything.
The new job (co-op at Cigna) is going OK. This first week is basically just a training thing with the departing co-op, so I guess it's kind of hard to judge the job on that, especially if he's not too personally motiviated....
Finished my huge ass article for The Triangle. It was a "six months in review." Tomorrow night is production night so I'll be there for endless hours, seriously. At least it's not on a Thursday this week, although after this week it will be for every single week, for a long 10 weeks....
Good night =)
[Posted exactly at 11:22 PM]
The "ropes course" actually turned out to be fun, go figure. However, I did kind of jet out early, around 8PM last night I left.
Went from there to OP's (aka Anthony - lived across the hall at my old dorm) new apartment in the city. His two floor apartment is sweet! It's pretty nice, I liked it alot. It was cool seeing him and Ryan (his best friend) again... we had a good time last night.Went to Church, then work, then my Godmother's birthday today... I'm tired as crap right now, don't know why... and tomorrow is my first day at Cigna, followed by some hours at The Triangle, and a 9:30PM hockey game. I need a day off, phew.
[Posted exactly at 9:55 PM]
Right now AIM is acting up on me. AIM is quite important to me because it really does serve as a point of contact for me and friends, co-workers, family, etc.
And what gets to me is that the problem only seems to be only affecting me right now.This weekend I have to attend a "ropes course" - UGHHHHH just the sound of that fucking phrase drives me nuts - for an extra class I'm particpating in this fall and winter during my co-op term. You know, it's not like I'm joining the fucking army, I signed up to be a "peer leader." All freshmen have to go through about a 4 month program in which they teach Philadelphia city school kids... mostly in grades K through 5th. And sophomores act as mentors, if you will, to the freshmen... to not only help them in teaching their mini-classes to the little kids, but also in the "University 101" course, which includes getting to know Drexel, Philly, and college itself. What I signed up for is a good thing for the resume and should be a good experience.... on top of that I get a 4 credit class out of it which will help my shitty 3.14 GPA. However, the one thing I'm definitely not looking forward to is this stupid weekend-long ropes course where I have to get up at 7AM and drive to West Jabip to be with the rest of the peer leaders. Saturdays are my only days off and I don't like getting up early and playing "climb this mountain." I won't even get into the list of things that I have to bring, but I'll say insect repellent and "peer leader manual" are some of the required items... sounds like a weekend full of excitement...... for everyone except me. Can't wait.
On to other things. Yesterday, 4 of the guys that I work with at GE took me out to lunch. Tomorrow is my last day working at GE as a summer intern and I can truly say that I learned alot about GE, and about what I like most in IT - networking. I will admit that I am somewhat sentimental... Part of the reason is because I know that some of the people will miss my presence and hard work... I could honestly tell when one of the guys said bye today. He was kind of silent; didn't know what to say really. I also met with the CIO of the company today and she was (I'm not bragging) very complimenting of me, calling me mature, a hard worker, etc. She also said "We would be thrilled" to have me back working there next year. She's been with GE for 15 years and what she said meant alot. Tomrorrow, my last day, I have enough projects/assignments I need to wrap up and also finish up setting up the transition needed for who will be taking care of my responsibilites. I had a great three months and I definitely want to work for GE again in the future.
Only a few weeks until the Flyers start their season, and as usual I am excitied. Let's hope they don't flop AGAIN in the playoffs this year.
P.S. I'm glad my feeling was incorrect that something bad might happen yesterday.
[Posted exactly at 9:49 PM]
This is going to come out wrong, but I feel like tonight is the feeling on a Christmas Eve night, but with the opposite type of feeling. I still can't fully believe that we were attacked a year ago... and now that we have "anti-missle" defenses in place, this is kind of unreal. I seriously hope nothing happens tomorrow - or in the future for that matter - and I honestly said a quick prayer on the way home from work today. Hopefully the people entrusted with protecting us and preventing bad things from happening (FBI, CIA, White House, etc. etc. ) will do a good job.On a softer note, I am in my final days of my 3-month long summer internship with GE. The last few days have been extremely busy, but I like keeping busy, and I am reluctant to leave (even though I have no choice).
I received an email today from one of the girls at GE that I worked with over the past 3 months.... the email definitely put a smile on my face:
"Chris,I am sorry that I didn't get to say goodbye...I didn't really realize that you would be leaving us on Friday and that I would be in training. At any rate, I just wanted to let you
know what a pleasure it was to work with you and we hope that you can join us in some form again soon....it is so rare to find someone who cares so much, especially knowing that
you were only going to be here short term. So, sorry to sound corny but I thought that one of us should let you know how we all feel...including, Gary, Anthony, and Ray. We all
have been more than happy to have you on our team, even if it was for a short time. You have showed dedication and determination and it is a rare quality. Thank you for all that
you did for us, you were a HUGE help!Good luck in all that you do...you don't need luck, you will go far! We hope to see you soon!"
[Posted exactly at 10:49 PM]
Blah.
[Posted exactly at 11:18 PM]
I found out that a firefighter friend's dad died a week ago... pretty sad. :/ I just found out today... I wish I could have gone to the arrangements even though I didn't know his dad, just to show my support. His dad, also a firefighter, was only 60 and he was a firefighter for over 35 years. R.I.P. Mr. Devitt.
[Posted exactly at 10:29 PM]
I just bought a movie I've been wanting to re-watch for a long time - Private Parts - off eBay for $1.50. Ebay is pretty cool. Watch.. now that I said that the video will come in about 4,000 pieces. Heh.Let's go over the shitty day I had yesterday... Actually traffic wasn't that bad, but the work day itself was pretty shitty. Basically one of the guys was trying to tell me that the 190+ branches we have don't NEED Internet connections and that the business wouldn't make alot more money if their connection problems were resolved. BULL shit. And I know that's bullshit, but it kind of made me feel like a robot doing all kinds of work for nothing. But by the end of the day I pretty much realized that we (the business) wouldn't be spending an extraordinary amount of money on our IT department if the branches didn't need us. I guess he was just having a bad day too, who knows.
I got home, already being in a shitty mood, and decided to start cleaning up the basement (we got water in it the other day - blehhh). That was no fun, especially when there is hardly any light in certain spots of the basement making it hard to clean up what you can't see. Somewhere in the mix I decided to move the 50 pound dog food bag... well I forgot that it was WET and when I picked up the bag, guess what happened? No, a dove didn't fly out like a magician can do... but the dog food went ALL over the fucking WET floor. Boy, I was actually laughing it was so shitty. So after cleaing up the dog food with a snow shovel (classy, right?) and emptying a few more 6-gallon things of water, I decided to give that project a break.
I then decided to cut the fucking forest of a lawn that we have. I first had to clean up about... 25 piles of dogshit spread, intelligently hidden, throughout the backyard. That process is not only bad because of the obvious but because every mosquito in Erial decides to atack me from head to toe. Those fuckers, I thought... After cleaning up the shit, I went inside and sprayed bug spray all over. Helped.. very little. Anyway, I cut the lawn, blah blah. That was about the end of my shitty day.
[Posted exactly at 8:27 PM]
Friday night I went over Bill from work's house for a little get together. Started off with a Kahlua and cream and no clue what I finished off with. I had a hangover pretty bad yesterday, probably because it's been over 2 months since I got drunk.
Lately I have been waking up in the middle of the night. I'm not sure why, but I'm used to getting a solid night of sleep. I'm looking forward to sleeping in (barring any firecalls) tomorrow. And as far as Labor Day is concerned, I doubt I'll be doing anything exciting... which is fine by me because I need a full day off.Spoke with Jordan, a kid from school, today... I'm hoping to move into his apartment (total of 4 people) when I go back to classes in March. He said rent will be around $500 a month. Doesn't sound too bad but I'll have to make sure I have 6 months of that saved up by the time I get there. My plan is to work at JerseyNet on the weekends (for spending money) when I go back to classes in March. I'm not a fan of the job search, so as long as my manager can wait til March for me to work BOTH days on the weekends, all is well.
[Posted exactly at 4:04 PM]
Well.. baseball didn't go on strike and I know I'm not the only one that is disappointed.Work has been going well... real busy; only 2 weeks to go at GE, then off to Cigna. I got a call today from my yet-to-be manager saying he needs me to start the 16th. So basically, that week I was planning on having off? Forget that plan.
Watched the VMAs last night at Greg's. VMAs are so overplayed but its really a joke. I hate lip singing/lip syncing. Secondly, there is that kid, Bill, who annoys me. One of the reasons: everytime I'm around him (which is not often, thankfully), he somehow seems to drop the N word. I don't think he realizes that I am part black, nor do I think he is smarter than a dead hamster.
[Posted exactly at 6:30 PM]
I sure hope baseball goes on strike, I just dislike it that much.
[Posted exactly at 5:51 PM]
Got my car fixed yesterday morning... $170 but that's ok, I just wanted it fixed.
Had to work yesterday.. and had off today, but went up to NNJ and just got back a bit ago.I got some stuff from Omaha Steaks via the CIO at my GE job... It made my night Friday (i waited almost 4 hours for a tow... and I was broke down on the Schuylkill Expressway - notice the word KILL in the word... fucking AAA!). The message read: "Thanks for your extra efforts to replace the routers! Awesome Teamwork!" So it was 4 filet migons and 4 lobster tails. Sweet... can't wait to eat those babies!
[Posted exactly at 10:01 PM]
Shitty day, broken car, what more can a guy ask for?
[Posted exactly at 9:47 PM]
So Thursday morning I went to work at 8AM, regular time. Worked til 4 then went to The Triangle to contribute with news layout for a bit. Actually got that almost completely finished until when I had to leave at 10PM and go back to work. We had planned to do some router upgrades and since it affects the entire network, it has to be done after business hours. We did the router switchover and then ran into some problems... The problems occured around 2AM. We finally fixed the problem - and overall it was a good experience doing the router upgrade. I left there around 5:45AM. So on my way home I was all excited that I would get to listen to Howard Stern from the point that he starts. I waited and waited for 6am (when the show starts) and then there was some strange music on... Then I realized that it was a fucking repeat! I hate repeat Howard Stern shows. I was pretty mad, heh. But then I got home and pretty much went to bed... At that point I had been up for 24 hours since Thursday morning. It was good that I had the rest of the day (Friday) off though.
Slept til around 1. Then eventually got my back 3 car windows tinted. I'm pretty much satisfied with the job that was done.Yesterday went to visit a friend in North Jersey... we went to the mall and shit... Got a few new clothes - I haven't shopped in a while. At the 3rd store I used my VISA at, they made a big stink. They wanted to see a second form of ID and call the manager over.. JUST to approve a fucking use of a $30 purchase on a credit card! Not going back there again.
The other day I received the following email reply from one of the managers at my GE (TIP) job:
"As always you are doing a super job. Any chance that you will change your mind and accept a co-op posotion at TIP? I'm serious. I will call your school if you like."
Needless to say, I was pretty stunned. I mean... I know they are happy with me, but I didn't see this offer coming. So basically I got very excited - because I love that job... I talked to my co-op coordinator at Drexel to see if I could, somehow, get out of the co-op I was scheduled to work for Cigna starting Sept. 23... And there's no way I can get out of it. I'd lose a bunch of credits if I did. Oh well.. yeh, it sucks that I cant continue to work at GE but on the other hand,,, Cigna will hopefully have its own pro's. And here is the job description:
"Assist Cigna's NOC and Network Capacity and Performance Planning Team, in the daily support of CIGNA's Network. Maintain, monitor, and troubleshoot all network components, including: T1.5, T3, DS3, Frame Relay and ATM circuits, Cisco routers and switches, Token Ring and Ethernet LAN infrastructure. Use and maintain various tools including sniffers to monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot all components of the network and its infrastructure. Proactively monitor network performance and capacity using various tools and reporting functions. Assist in configuring and maintaining Network Associates Sniffers. Monitor and troubleshoot application and server performance, slow response issues and circuit capacity."The other day I received a notice from the Phila. Parking Authority. They want an additional $23 because they didn't recevie my check (which they have already CASHED) within 8 fucking days. As usual, PPA sucks.
Time to get some food.
[Posted exactly at 5:57 PM]
I've been up for 24 hours so... I'm going to bed.
[Posted exactly at 6:39 AM]
Work is still going well... the interns had to do presentations today... All of us did a good job on them, well... except for that one kid.... I won't get into details but he mentioned "wifebeater," "this is my first job," "i'm spoiled..." and well, you get the idea. What an IDIOT... That's why I don't associate myself with him.
Anyway, I worked 9 hours today... and tomorrow I'm working my regular hours probably then probably going to The Triangle for a bit then going back to work around 10PM to install some new routers (that I helped plan for). It will be good experience plus some overtime (actually, just making up for the hours I missed on Tuesday).My Mom and I were talking last night about random things and I mentioned that once I graduate college, I don't want to have to worry about a million different loans and shit.. I gave examples for what I'd rather be paying for (if college were already paid for at that time), such as car, apartment... and she was like "WHAT?... an apartment?" I thought she was kidding. Turns out she has this plan for me to live in the house after I graduate for awhile. Well that's awesome that I have that option to chose from ... but I like to have my own things so if I can afford a nice apartment, that's my plan. My Mom is cool though, don't mess with her!
Got my new skates (for roller hockey) today.. and they seem to fit pretty well. It's going to take me some time to adjust to the wheels and shit, but I think it will turn out nice.
Lastly, I finally ordered a hands free kit for my cell phone off Ebay today.. hopefully it works well and I like it... because I really hate the idea of a cell phone next to my brain for 2000+ minutes a month. =)
Good night =)
[Posted exactly at 9:07 PM]
Got my oil changed today... only 3,000 miles over the suggested 3,000 miles. Hey, but it's done.
[Posted exactly at 6:03 PM]
Busy day today at JerseyNet.
I've been getting compliments from my leader, manager, and the CIO at my GE (now GE Equipment Management, TIP/Modular Space)... going well.
[Posted exactly at 2:37 PM]
Tomorrow is Thursday, yay.
I didn't go to my hockey game Monday night... ironically the other team didn't have a goalie so we won like 12-2, I was told. Speaking of, I ordered new skates... with 2nd day air - so they should be here in time for my game next Monday.I plan on getting the car re-inspected tomorrow night... let's hope it "PASS"es.
[Posted exactly at 10:30 PM]
Tired (period, and of general bullshit). I'm in one of those lazy moods :P
New layout for hh.com almost done... just gotta re-do the side sections then I should be good to go.I do and don't want to go to work tomorrow - does that make sense?
[Posted exactly at 10:07 PM]
Got to sleep in (til 12) today.. washed the car... put the new lens in (you know, the one that made me fail fucking car inspection), hehe....also saw "Halloween: Resurrection." Yeh, somewhat scary, but iffy plotline, that's OK though.Got paid yesterday... that was nice.
Hrmm, that's about it... except that I can't believe it's August, before I know it it'll be Christmas, weee!
[Posted exactly at 1:03 AM]
Woke up on time today.The other day I saw "Office Space" for the first time. HAHA, what a funny movie. The traffic part, especially, reminds me of my days of work. =)
[Posted exactly at 9:54 PM]