Nesil

Astounding...

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:23:40 GMT

Why has it taken this long for someone to just come right out and explain what happened on September 15th? Representative Kanjorski (D-PA) on the 'electronic run' on the banks...

Please, watch the video. We were so close to complete financial and political collapse it's frightening. We're witnessing convulsions of the entire capitalistic system, and it's hard to predict what's going to happen next... Comment on it please; I want to know if anyone else comes to the same conclusions.

Life is still good. After living together for nearly two years, Foxx and I still haven't had argument, still haven't raised our voices in conflict... It's scary how well we're matched... <3

Hope everyone is doing well. :-)

Yes, they did

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:44:38 GMT

I was hoping he would win, but I had no idea it would be that great a margin. I'll remember the morning forever -- Getting up, heading for the TV, and seeing those numbers... And for the first time in the past 7 years or so, I felt a bit of hope. In the back of my mind is the knowledge that really, every campaign's goal is to make enough convincing lies to get folks to vote for the candidate.

But with any luck, this time it will be different. This time, maybe...

It's very important...

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:52:53 GMT

Please add your voice to others who believe this should be our nation's highest priority.

We Can Solve It.

So nothing ever came of the break-in. We have defenses set up now, so all is well once more. Just to show you, here's some pics of what we found when we came home. Breaking and Entering

Hoping you are well!

Breaking and entering...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:24:45 GMT

So yeah, Foxx and I get back home from AC to find that our apartment had been broken into. The door jam has a big chunk missing from it, exposing the inner workings of the door and making the deadbolt useless.

The strangest thing? Nothing was stolen. Nothing at all. We've got quite a bit of technology in this abode, and not even a DVD had been taken.

The officer that came to investigate said that the thief may have been scared by something and fled the scene. This is the only logical explaination besides the remote chance that someone was coming after us. The sliding glass door was also unlocked, and Foxx was sure he checked it twice before we left. So we think the guy broke down the door, got scared, and then ran through the apartment and out the sliding glass door.

This has got to be one of the craziest weekends ever for me.

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:01:44 GMT

Hey, folks!

Life is good. My job is going well. I'm making changes to the way the information in our region is organized and stored, changes that to me seem obvious and very needed, but apparently hadn't occurred to the others. So it makes me look good. ^_^

My personal life has also never been better. I think I've found someone that I can spend the rest of my life with. And the best part is, he feels the same way. We may go in together on a house at some point soon... And that would be amazing.

The main reason I'm making a post though is to let folks know I'll be going to AC in a pair o' weeks, and I hope I can meet up with those of you that are also going. :-)

Hoping you are well!

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:26:05 GMT

Still alive, still going.

So yeah, I got laid off on New Year's Eve. Turns out Verizon had to cut one of the 9 people from our team, and even though I was the second longest tenured of the team, I was the one to get cut. And I've been told it was a random thing -- They just happened to pull my name out of the literal hat. So I was pretty bummed about that for a while.

But then, just a couple weeks ago, I was called by a contracting company called DISYS up in Washington DC... Seems they had a position open with the EPA. Technically, I'm a contractor through DISYS with another company called CSC, and then the EPA. It's my highest paying job so far... And it's relatively easy at the moment. I'm handling the 20-some vehicles for the Emergency Response and Removal Branch of the EPA; the trucks the employees take when they have to go out to clean up oil spills or hazardous chemicals or other such things. In the future it promises to expand to taking care of everything the IT administrator currently does in case he has to go out somewhere. I feel somewhat underqualified, but I'll be learning quite a bit.

The story of the day I went in for an interview is rather embarassing but humerous when I look back on it. I drove to the dead center of the city looking for the Federal Building... I thought the address was on Folsom Street NW, so I at first parked next to the curb near a no parking sign. When I read the sign I was pretty sure I wasn't in the hours in which it was a no parking area. So I got out and wandered up and down the street for a while trying to find 61 Folsom Street NW. There was no such building.

So I finally get back to my car just in time to see a parking enforcement officer putting a ticket on my windshield. Dammit. Luckily it was only 25 bucks. At this point it's exactly the time when I'm supposed to be at the interview. So I hurriedly get into my car and hear a heart-sinking *rriiip*. I had torn a nice 2.5 inch hole in the crotch of my pants. Predictably, I'm starting to freak out. I call my agent in DISYS and she calms me down somewhat. I ask if it's possible to reschedule for the next day, and she asks why. I explain I just had a wardrobe malfunction. She advised me to just untuck my shirt and hope no one notices.

I finally make it to the interview. It's myself, the IT admin I'll be working under, and another IT manager up in Washington DC joining us through a video conference. During the interview he asks quite a few questions about my experience, and it made me rather uncomfortable and doubting my own abilities. While it's never good to speak negatively about yourself I find it necessary to say that I'm not sure I'd be the best fit for the job at this point... Both of my interviewers are rather taken aback at my honesty. By the time I leave, I'm not feeling very good at all about my chances.

Then a couple hours later I'm contacted by my agent in DISYS and was offered the position! Needless to say I was ecstatic.

So now I'm working once more, making about 50% more than my last job. The only down side is now I'm having to go all the way into the heart of downtown every day, via MARTA. Strangely enough the commute is merely an hour either way.

The environment is relatively comfortable for me, though I'm sure I'll be rather busy once I gain a user ID for the network. I've gotta think up a new way to handle the vehicles, as the system they have now is rather... Chaotic.

In other news, now that I'm gainfully employed once more the odds of me attending AC have risen considerably. I just hope I can get the time off to get there Thursday night or Friday. We shall see!

Step into the Total Perspective Vortex and call me in the morning! (Been listening to the Hitchhiker's Guide and Dirk Gently serieseses, it's good stuff! I highly recommend them)

Hoping you're doing well, reader. ^_^

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:27:53 GMT

Foxx sent me a link to this quote that I find both hilarious and disheartening.

"A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."

-- from Ronald Reagan's recently published diaries, May 17, 1986.

Gotta love it.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to visit Orlando on my way back from Thanksgiving... My apologies to those who were expecting me. I just decided I needed to get back here to work on Tuesday. But I'll make another trip down at some point and perhaps I'll be able to stay more than part of a day.

Work is still going well, though in the past two weeks we've been quite literally out of work. I've spent most of my days delving into Wikipedia or browsing the news (the only two activities you can really do through the firewall) or chatting with my coworkers... Our managers love us since we're keeping the work down for the whole IT Security department, and I'm building a good rapport.

Foxx and I might be moving in a couple months to somewhere around Cumming (Giggity) or Alpharetta so we don't have as long of a commute. I don't look forward to having to pack everything up and move again, but who does? It'll be nice to not have as long a drive in the morning.

That's about it. All is well.

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 00:02:54 GMT

An interesting article... Humans go into heat after all!

All is well...

My job is staying interesting if a bit boring at times. Our team is now up to 8 members, with only two left who have been there longer than me. And I've only been there for two months. One of them is leaving this month. I'm really surprised at how long the company waited to hire more folks. The contractors they hire for the job can only stay for three years max. And with so few people on the team, some are experts on one particular program... And when they leave, the knowledge goes with them. But I'm adapting well, definitely earning a reputation for doing things fast and right.

I'm going down to Sarasota three times in the next two months. Two flying and one driving. The first will be Thanksgiving, and since I'm driving I'll be able to stop in Gainesville to visit friends, and then again in Orlando on the way back north. It'll be nice to say hey to folks there again.

It's been 8 months since I left. It feels like such a short time... But I think it's generally better that I moved here. I have companionship, a good job which is all but guarenteed to be a spring board to better jobs, countless sources of entertainment around the area which I have yet to explore... I'm not glad I left Orlando, but I'm happy things are working out in my new location.

I hope you, reader, are doing well. And I wish you an enjoyable weekend!

New stuff

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:22:20 GMT

I was right in saying traffic would be a battle...

I'm now working for Verizon Wireless, as a security administrator. The pay's not very hot, but since I'm working as a contractor it's understandable. The job itself isn't that difficult either. Mostly data entry... Out of the three most recent hires I think the small group I'm in likes me most... Which makes me feel warm and squishy inside. It's pretty wild to think that even though I'm a contractor, and have significantly lower pay than an employee, that I have so much control over their IDs. Not that I'd ever mess with it, but still...

The only 'issue' I have with the job is the commute... Takes me 45 - an hour without traffic in the afternoon, despite leaving between 3 - 4 pm. The positive point of this: I've got a long time of listening to audio books or one of my lectures.

As far as the living arrangement goes, I'm quite pleased with our 2-room pad. And of course the company is wonderful. Foxx and I get along rather well; moreso than with any room mate I've had before. We've met with one or two of the local furs but until recently Foxx had been extraordinarily busy at his job. Luckily that's not a problem anymore, though.

An interesting article attracted my attention today. It's been done before, but it's still exciting to think that they're getting closer to a quantum transistor. Nifty stuff.

Foxx and I recently got kittens, and they're awesome. We named them Dib and Gaz. Some pics can be seen here. They keep us entertained, especially when the laser pointer comes out.

I wish you all well, and apologize for the long delay in posts.

Thanks for all the fish

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 04:09:16 GMT

Well, having graduated back in '04 and hung around here for another couple years, I've finally decided to head off to other places. I've lived all my life in Florida, and though I've traveled to many other lands I've never lived outside the state. But now I shall; in mid-March I'll be moving up to the Atlanta area. A friend of mine, Foxxfire, up and moved over from the west coast, and I've decided to go up there and keep him company. There's also a lot more opportunity in tech-type jobs, and while I currently have a job 'building' firewalls, it's still rather low pay for what it costs to live in my present residence; not to mention a lack of benefits and tuition reimbursement. So my folks are gonna sell the town house, and I'll head up there to battle with the traffic of a capital city.

I know I lost touch with a lot of my furry friends, and for that I apologize. Obviously I won't be that far from Orlando, and I'm going to continue attending conventions so I'm sure I'll see some of you again. I'll miss this place. It's been my home for 7 years, but everyone has to move on at some point.

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:17:43 GMT

So I call a friend on my cell phone and after ending the call the phone got locked into some kind of restart loop. Would come up, show me I had 5 bars... 4... 3, 1, black screen, white screen, background with full display... Restart. Every 5 - 10 seconds this would happen regardless of what I tried to do.

Now I started service a year and 2 months ago, and having worked for the company, I know the warranty expires after 1 year and my account can't be 'upgraded' (no discounted phones) until a year and 9 months... Well, I take the phone into the Cingular store, knowing they won't be able to do anything. Indeed, I was right, after listening to this lady berate the store guy for 15 minutes about the terrible experience she's had with Cingular, I get my turn only to be told "yeah, it sucks, but I can't do anything". Well screw you very much.

So I go outside... Take out the battery and SIM card... And chuck the thing across the parking lot. It bounced once, flipping open, then it landed in the grass. I retrieved it, put the SIM and battery back in, and turned it on thinking, "No way it could possibly work now..." And lo and behold, it works as perfectly as it had yesterday. Spread the word folks, Cingular phones can be fixed by attempting to break them. :-D Aside from a few more scratches on the cover, it seems to be working fine.

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 02:53:21 GMT

The picture freaked me out until I read it was a sculpture. But it's interesting to think about.

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060808_chimera.htm

Classes start in 10 days for me. Should be an interesting semester... My classes are as follows:

Fundamentals of Applied Optics
Interference and Diffraction
Fundamentals of Optoelectronic Devices
Optical Wave Propagation

Sounds like fun stuff, huh? I should have some interesting points of interest once in a while through the semester.

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 06:46:46 GMT

I find this article to be rather interesting... Two dimensional squares emerging from a point? Three dimensional cubes being pulled downwards? Or just the result of some bored british yahoos looking to make people go 'wtf?'

Oh, and my website has been almost fully updated... Only need to put up something for my World of Warcraft area. You can check it out here.

And I also have a couple dozen pictures of my recent trip to Scotland and Ireland... You can see those here.

... Oh, and what's the deal with Pee Wee on Cartoon Network? o.O I mean, it's better than Saved By the Bell... But still...

I want one

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 01:41:58 GMT

One of the factors stopping our information devices from getting smaller is the size of the input peripheral.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/

1,000 days left

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 06:02:37 GMT

http://www.backwardsbush.com/

:-/ I just look at this site for the counter, not necessarily the content contained therein...

Job Satisfaction

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 00:36:50 GMT

I handed in my 'resignation form' today... It wasn't as dramatic as I had initially thought, but that's nothing to cry about. Last day is going to be 4-19 (Officially it's 4-20... But I'll use vacation for that day). I can't wait for my 'exit interview' so I can give them a piece of my mind. While I know it's likely going to fall on deaf ears, it makes me feel better. ;-)

Now I have to find a less annoying job that I can temp at for a bit after my trip... And start cutting my expenses.

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 05:08:23 GMT

Well, I checked my mail today and found a nice letter from the folks over at UCF... Apparently they think I'm good enough to attend their graduate school. So starting in August I'll be going back to begin learning for my future... My goal: A Master's degree in electro-optics. And I finally get to quit this dead-end job! W00t!

33 GHz

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 05:01:16 GMT

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-10-06-man-made-diamonds_x.htm

Old news, but groundbreaking enough to talk about, I think. Diamonds can be used instead of silicon in chips, abling them to run at higher temperatures and also down the line allow them to process light instead of electrons. Pretty sweet.

I don't like my job...

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 01:45:17 GMT

We here at Cingular are striving to raise the bar... Right up our customer's collective asses.

Thanks for your time.

Our world is made of language

Sat, 03 Sep 2005 04:56:24 GMT

I thought I'd make a post because I found a pretty cool link... In my opinion, at least. Computers learning language, in a manner of speaking.

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/050831_langfrm.htm

In all honesty the reason for my lack of posts is that my life is rather boring at the moment... Just work and sleep, for the most part. Although I do need to find a better (paying) job before the end of the year or I'll be moving back to Sarasota until I can fully support myself. So if any of you here in O-Town know of a good place in North Orlando needing either a help desk agent for computer hardware or an actual PC repair tech, let me know. ;-) I'll send you my resume...

I can't believe what's going on in Louisiana and Mississippi. The massivity of it is still hard to believe. 80% of New Orleans with standing water, thousands feared dead, looting, rioting... It's hard to imagine. My heart goes out to anyone who has family or friends in that area. I hope for their safety.

It's getting late, so I'll depart with two programs people should download: Google Earth and Celestia. G'night!

Oooo...

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 05:41:54 GMT

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/050424_mindreadfrm.htm

This is very interesting! I imagine reading sensory perceptions will be the first advances, but language will take a little longer... Still a surprising leap for computer-human interfaces, for sure.

Neat link...

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 16:26:08 GMT

A friend of mine showed me this site... It's pretty nifty -- A medley of Nintendo songs done a cappella in front of a live audience. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/nintendoacapella.html

In the mean time... They elected the German with the conservative agenda. I guess the Catholic Church isn't going to be making any big policy changes soon. Glad I'm not one of them. :-)

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 02:00:53 GMT

Would any of us want to live like Terry Schaivo? I don't like the idea of being a vegetable for the rest of my 'life', I don't know about the rest of you. Whether recovery was possible or not, she was there for 15 years in that state. Could you imagine 15 years of laying in a bed and doing nothing -- Whether you realized that's what you were doing or not? I'm not saying it was right to starve her to death, but I wish there was some other option aside from keep her alive indefinitely... :-(

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 01:58:28 GMT

Wow, so I have a LiveJournal? Cool! Just a little hypothetical for you all... Something I've been mulling over for a few months:

Picture yourself at home some time in the near future, just watching TV or surfing the 'net or doing other normal things. Just another day. Slowly, your vision begins to tunnel -- Your peripheral becomes stretched somewhat, and your sight begins to cloud and become indistinct. Your body refuses to comply with your brain's commands, leaving you still as this happens. Slowly, your cloudy eyes clear somewhat, but now your vision is filled with a face -- A very, very old face with sagging eyes; deep, dark pools that reflect your own head. It looks at you for a long while, which seems like eternity and a moment somehow combined, and then you hear a deep but soft voice say, "I am with you. I am always watching you. And I love you with a love that knows no bounds." Just as quickly as it came, the face vanishes, and with a snap you're back in your home as if nothing happened. Time didn't pass, you didn't go anywhere.

Now what if it happened to everyone in the world at the exact same moment? Everyone had stopped for a split second in the real world and everyone experienced this face saying the same thing in their native language. How would it change you?

Mon, 28 Jun 2004 15:39:11 GMT

Anyone ever heard of RFID chips? They're pretty 'neat'. Tiny chips that have a few numbers programmed into them, readable at a distance.

And they're already starting to show up everywhere.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&ie=ascii&q=RFID

So I ask you guys... Good thing or bad thing or both?