The Dog House

Well Its Been A While

2009-03-28T22:16:00.003-05:00

So its been quite a while since I blogged. I have not done much lately other than work. Been pulling lots of OT lately - about 7-10hrs each week. Hopefully we will finish the design stage soon so we can get back to coding. I enjoyed the design stuff to begin with but of course coding is there its at.

Had to buy some tools lately. My car would not start a few weeks ago and I ran the battery dead trying to start it. Borrowed a charger and extension cord from Mark and got it cranked no problem. Then promptly went and bought both of my own. Sears had a nice sale on the charger and Walmart had a 25ft heavy duty extension cord. Then last Monday I had a flat on my truck when I went to leave for work - took the GTO instead. Borrowed a air compressor from Mark to pump it up enough to get to the tire shop. Ended up being a bad tire valve. Due to all that I went and bought a air compressor of my own today from Sears. Its a nice 5 gallon 125psi model that included the basic hose and a few tire tools and was on sale for $169. I like it so far and all seems to work fine. It did take a few tries to get it an air tight connection on one end of the hose but all is fine now.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T20:46:00.001-06:00

Well another year has come and gone. Hope everyone had a good New Year!

More Tires and Work Like Most

2008-09-20T11:09:00.004-05:00

Well I just got back from getting new front tires on my GTO. They were in BAD shape. After seeing them off I was kinda surprised at how bad they really were. One had a bulge that was 6" long, 4" wide or larger and came out of the tire a few inches. It was so deformed that I thought the new tires were larger overall then the old. But new tires fixed the problem and she runs great now. Next step is to get the throttle cable replaced and the emergency brake worked on.

Other than that all I do is work - like everybody else. On the weekends I relax or maybe do something with Mark and Bren. We have started a little thing on Thurs so its Picklefish Thursday without the Pickelfish. Nice place with good food and drink specials.

Well its about time for the Bama game so I'm going to watch that. ROLL TIDE!!

Tires and Drought?

2008-08-23T10:47:00.003-05:00

Well I moved down on the 15th. The trip was far from uneventful. It is normally about an 8 hour drive but the trip down was far far longer. We had 3 tires blow on the trailer that was hauling my car. The first before we hit the FL state line. The second about 30 minutes outside Crestview, FL and the final a few miles outside of Crestview. The first tire shredded completely but we were back up in a few minutes thanks to the spare. When the second one went we caught it before it completely shredded but had lost the tread. It took about an hour and a half to get 3 new tires (2 of which were mounted). The third one lost its tread just outside Crestview so we went back to the same tire shop and had the 3rd tire mounted. After 3 new tires we hod no other complications down. It just cost of several hours overall.

Once down here I found out that the garage for my car wasn't going to be avaliable for another day so it had to sit in the parking lot overnight. No probs thankfully. My furnature didn't arrive till Monday instead of on Sat as we had planned. But it finally arrived and the apartment is finally set up.

Then by Monday afternoon the rains began. It had been a drought down here but I think that the ~19 inches of rain fixed that problem. Roads down here are still underwater in some places. The lake in our apt complex rose by about 4 feet and the parking lot next door was under about 1.5 feet of water. No flooding problems in our complex though. Mark and Brenda's house was fine as well but the streets in their neighborhood was under a few feet. His boss' house had 6 inches of water inside.

The rains did let me know that my truck windshield was leaking so Safelite is coming out to fix that this afternoon.

I start work on Monday so I'm looking forward to that. Till the next post...

Done Done

2008-07-21T21:03:00.005-05:00

Well IT is completely complete. No almost, just about, basically, etc complete. The IT of course is my thesis. I turned in all of my manuscript copies with all but two signatures on Friday and got the final two (from the same person) today.

In case people do not know the cost of printing and binding, I will break it down. At a minimum, you will need 7 copies (one of which must be on 100% cotton paper) to cover what the Graduate School and School of CIS require. This number is also with a bare minimum number of committee members - 3. You must then tack on however many personal copies you want.

The cheapest place around for printing was Staples at $0.065 per black and white sheet on 24lb paper. All other places (Office Max, Office Depot, Kinko's) only printed on 20lb paper and charged extra for "premium" paper. The 100% cotton printing at Staples was $0.16 a sheet with the paper included. (USA Bookstore sells the same paper for ~$11 for 100 sheets.) Overall my cost for printing was ~$70. (I had 10 copies total)

Then we get to the binding fees. $10 per copy unless you want/have to have a CD in it and then its $12. The microfilm copy is not bound but does cost $50 to be put on microfilm. Overall my cost for binding was $158.

I plan on using the slim jewel cases with Light Scribe CDs (makes a nice cover) for my CDs that overall will cost me ~$12.

Thus, overall the cost of my thesis was $240 just to print and bind it.

But it will be well worth it in the long run and I'm so glad its done. Now I have a life again.

Why Flying Somtimes Sucks

2008-07-10T14:51:00.002-05:00

Well, I am currently sitting in the Melbourne airport with Aaron. Our flight is at 4:17 pm eastern time but thanks to rain in ATL it seems to be 2.5 hrs late and this will leave at 6:45 pm. Our plane is grounded in ATL and who knows when it will come in here. The really crappy thing about flying through ATL is that any problem effects every later flight.

Our connecting flight in ATL leaves at 7:16 pm eastern time. Thus, we might miss that flight and who knows if/when we will make it back to Pensacola. At times like this it really sucks to fly even with the nice (normal) quick times.

On the way here, our flight from ATL to Melbourne was delayed by 40 mins causing about us to get here about an hour later.

In other better news, we did find a place to live - the Legacy at Hibicus Park. We have a 3 bed/2 bath apartment with a garage for my car. They are newer and a bit more expensive than the other places but it's centrally located for both mine and Aaron's commute to work. The kitchen is fairly large with a lot of counter and cabinet space. It has a microwave, dishwasher, fridge, stove, pantry, and they added a free washer/dryer for our lease duration. Other amenities include a pool, sauna, tanning area, front door trash pickup, and free printing at the business center. Its all on the 2nd floor (as soon as you come in the private door you go up stairs) and has a great view of the lake between the buildings. (Not the best lake but nice nonetheless.

Hopefully I will make it home today.

Master

2008-06-21T13:44:00.002-05:00

Well its all over but the red tape. I defended my thesis yesterday. I thought everything went well and my committee also thought everything went well - the latter was very important. Did a little celebration with Julie, Doug, Casey, and BJD last night. Much fun indeed.

I have the next week to get the document ready for the First Submission Deadline. So within a month I should be completely free of all thesis work. WOOOO!!!!

Round One Complete

2008-05-09T23:54:00.002-05:00

Well its been a long time since I posted. Not much new stuff going on I guess just working on my thesis as usual. I did finish the first final draft of my thesis!!! WOOOOO!!!!

Think thats about the best thing to happen lately, though the crawfish and rib parties that have been pretty good indeed. Must do some more crawfish sometime too.

Till more exciting stuff happens...

New Google?

2008-03-29T01:31:00.008-05:00

I use Google as my homepage so I get to see it every time I start FireFox. Just a few minutes ago I saw a very different Google homepage - it was all black. So to make sure everyone got to see it, I took the screen shot below.

I personally like it and might see if there is an iGoogle that will let me keep it that way. Of course its for a reason, as can be seen via a link on the page. As it already explains it I don't feel the need to. Enjoy as I did.

And a new one begins . . .

2008-01-13T20:38:00.001-06:00

Well it has been almost two weeks but Happy New Year! New Years was great this year. I went out of town and had a great time. Watched a symphony (my first) and would not mind going to another. They had a toast at the intermission but the champaign we had back at the house was much better. I relaxed all weekend and watched a decent amount of football with my hosts. We also shot some fireworks- haven't done that in I can't remember when. Overall it was a great time - much enjoyed the company I was with.

In other news Doug and I went to see Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby last night. Great concert! They played for over 2 hours without stopping. We had great seats as well. No people in front of us that could block the show. I even bought their duet CD - great stuff on it. I'm sure Doug will post some pics and vids on his blog at some point.

BEST and the Worst

2007-11-03T21:44:00.000-05:00

So, BEST was two weeks ago and it went over quite well. Excluding the delay in weighing the robots, compliance and check-in went just fine. There was 5 of us back there to help out and that was very beneficial. The teams played well and it was an extremely close competition. One team missed out on the finals by .0007 points. That's the closest I have seen scoring in the 3yrs I have been involved.

The environment was set up very nicely as well. They had a lighting company come in to provide lights, projectors, and screens. It looked great and I think made it that much better for the kids. It did make compliance check-in more difficult as they shut off all the main lights at first. But, they fixed the problem by putting us under a spotlight for a while.

After the competition was over cleanup began. It actually was completed quicker than anticipated. The field, lighting stuff, and everything else was up by 9:30ish. The only problem was my injury. For all those that might not know happened I will retell it briefly (feel free to skip the next paragraph if you know the story):

The portable stage breaks down into sections. Each section can then be loaded onto a cart for easier transporting. Once fully loaded a cart weights about 1400 lbs. I had already rolled one said cart back to the loading area and Brian and I were moving the other back there as well. I didn't know we were as far back as we were and my hand stopped the moving cart against the stationary one. Yep, that's right - between two 1400 lbs carts. Brian said he saw it coming but it was to late. He actually said he felt the cart we were pushing bounce back when it hit.

Needless to say that messed all my plans up for that night. I just went home after checking in with one of our nurses on the status of possible broken bones. The following Monday I went to the doctor to get an x-ray. No broken or fractured bones were found nor has it even bruised. It was swollen for a few days and hurt to use it - still hurts a bit with curtain movements. But all and all after a week things were just about back to normal.

Well, that about sums BEST up. Excluding my hand I enjoyed the day and watching the robots. There was some really ingenious designs that caught my eye while there. Till the next time....

Car Trouble

2007-09-29T01:36:00.000-05:00

Well most of the end of this week, especially today, has been really bad. Thursday my AC went out so I have been driving around for a bit without it. Its not horribly hot out there but it is hot enough.

Then today my alternator went out and thus my truck died. I don't have a volt meter on my truck so it started by my ABS light coming on and then the air bag light blinking at me. Shortly thereafter I started to loose speed and had to pull over. What makes this even more annoying is I was on the Bay Way when it all happened. It took about 10 minutes for the ALDOT to see me and send a truck to help. In that time I was able to watch all except two automobiles (one 18 wheeler and a car) not change lanes and pass me at 65mph+ less than 2ft away. The DOT truck pushed me off the bridge and I was able to get my dad change my battery and drive to a mechanic.

I did fin out was that it is illegal for someone to come on the bridge to help me out. As in a normal person to come pull me off, etc. Now that makes some sense but the next thing the DOT guy told me just blew my mind -

If I am broke down on the side of the bridge and someone hits me, the person who hit me can sue me. They can sue me as if its my fault that I broke down. The ability to sue is allowed because of a law about stopping while on the bridge. I could not believe that kinda of crap. Stupid people and the laws they make.

People are idiots when driving. They passed in very close proximity to my truck and did not try to move over nor slowed down. The DOT guy that helped me even said he has been hit twice while helping someone and his truck has numerous flashing lights on it.

Trying to end this post of a somewhat good not is that the ALDOT will come help you out at no charge. If you have a flat tire they will come to keep the passing cars off you, give you a gallon of gas if needed, or push/tow you if need. again, all free of charge. Just ask me if you want their dispatch number.

Linux OS Update

2007-08-02T17:46:00.000-05:00

I have been installing Linux OS distributions all day. I am working with a 20GB drive that a friend gave me. I have had to reinstall a few times as the footprint of the different OSs where larger than I thought.

Initially, I gave each OS 6GB with 512MB for swap space. Ubuntu only took up about 2.5GB and BackTrack 2 took about 3GB. Unfortunately, Sabayon takes about 12GB for all the options I selected. After a few tries I think I finally have the partitions right - the changes even allow for a larger swap space. Hopefully the install will work this time.

In other computer news, all my data recovery has been preformed and hard drives installed. After Sabayon finishes installing, my computer will be all set. W00t!!!!!

Computer Issues

2007-07-29T23:06:00.000-05:00

We had a LAN last night that was cool. Played some UT2k4 and Rise of Nations for about 8 hours ... fun times. I know why I don't play RTS games - I suck at them. They are no where near as intuitive as FPS and no ones tends to inform you of how to play.

Case in point - my experience last night. This story was hilarious at the time and I just wanted to have it written down somewhere. We were playing above mentioned RTS with four players. After a while playing I am minding my own business in my cities when Brian begins to attack me. His tanks are shelling my cities so I send my troops and citizens to attempt to defend it. My troops have bows and arrows - thats it. Needless to say that city was lost very quickly - a complete slaughter. Thus I retreat my few remaining living people to my other city. My bow and arrow people are being attacked by bombers.... flying B-52ish bombers. I as also nuked a few times before I finally lost. I lost all cities very fast and in general had my butt kicked.

The reason for the uneven fight - no one told me I had to explicitly research going up an era in history. I was at era 1 but had research for the next 3 eras complete. The next game was better but the computer still killed me. I still prefer FPS games.

To get to the title of this post I lost a hard drive today, my 300GB Maxtor. Brian has lost 3 and now I have lost 1, all for the same reason. The Master File Table is missing so Windows sees it as unallocated space. So I get to recover my data and buy a new drive. Not going to be getting any more Maxtor drives any time soon. I just bought two new Seagate drives and will be recovering my data to one of them.

In other news, life is pretty good. Nothing really new to report so I will write again whenever.

New OSs

2007-06-06T23:11:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I have been playing around with some Linux OSs do to my forensic class. We are using Knoppix to get an image of a hard drive (hdd) without having to boot to that hdd. Well, Knoppix does not like my computer for some reason, it simply refuses to boot off the Live CD. Strangely, BackTrack, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu all boot without a problem.

Another one, Sabayon, that was given to me would boot but I think the disk is scratched and thus never makes it all the way in. Thus, I have downloaded another, also newest version, and plan on trying that. I am told this OS "unleash[es] the full potential of your Computer." We will see at some point.

Slowly I am learning a few Linux commands and how to get around in it, but only time will tell. Though, I do play on getting a small hdd to install about 4 versions of Linux on to play with them all. Right now I'm looking at BackTrack, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Sabayon - the latter 3 all x86-64. Yes I know Ubuntu basically equals Kubuntu so I will get help on how to install them so I don't have to actually install both.

If anyone has suggestions of other good releases that I might want to look at let me know and I shall check them out. Till the next time.

Yeah its been a while...

2007-04-21T16:45:00.000-05:00

Ok, so its been over a month since I have posted. Nothing major has been going on. The ACM Banquet was Friday the 13th. It was very nice at the Exploreum and the food was really good as well, much better than last year.

Classes are about over, this coming week is my last week and I should have only one exam left - complexity final. Not really looking forward to that but at least it will be over soon. I'll be taking a computer forensics course over the summer to make up the 1 credit hour I am lacking from the UG screw up.

I have started watching a new series Drive staring Nathan Fillion (from Serenity/Firefly). I've watched 3 eps so far and they are really good. I recommend it to anyone - on FOX on Mondays though I don't know what time. I'm in class so I never get to see them when they air.

Other than that nothing major has occurred. Till the next time...

Funny Stuff

2007-03-09T16:18:00.000-06:00

Everyone seemed to like this part of the Meet the Robinsons movie trailer so I had to go find it.

Enjoy as I have.

All and All

2007-03-07T12:51:00.000-06:00

Well it has been a long while since I have posted, 2 months actually. New Years was good and I have just been busy with life and school over those two months.

During those two months I went to my first Fat Tuesday downtown. That is an activity that must happen agian. I had a great time. Good food, drinks, company, and a bit of action too. We had to be standing in the happening place that day. Watched a guy get taken down by the cops, another guy get taken away by the paramedics (someone said he hit is head twice somehow), another dude in the last parade fall off the top of the float, and Brian and Matt managed to catch a flasher behind where we were standing. It made for quite an interesting day.

Most recenetly a group of us went to the Chili Cookoff. I can't remember how many I had but they were at least around the mid to upper teens. Note: while antacids keep your stomach in order they slow down the digestion process and you can't eat as much. But at least I got to eat without probs. Afterwards we went to see Wild Hogs. It was hilarious, I highly recommned people to go see the movie. A great day overall.

The dean prospective gave his presentation to the faculty, staff, and students the other week. That following Friday he asked to meet with a small group of students to talk one-on-one with us. That meeting was not in his original schedule but added at his request. I liked the fact he wanted to talk with us and find out our thoughts on the School. I liked the guy and do hope he becomes our new dean, he seems to have a lot of good ideas for the School and might shake things up. His nitch is in computer security so that would be interesting.

The other two candidates come in April. One is big into bioinformatics the other into dataminning. Those don't interest me to much so I'm sure thats part of the reason I like the one I have seen already.

Well thats about it for me. Life is good and till next time...

All Is Well

2006-12-30T23:13:00.000-06:00

Well this is basically just a short post on how the holidays have been being - great so far.

The break was much needed, I have done as little as possible. The only exception was moving with KC and Brian. A full day on Wednesday and a partial on Thursday (someone ask Brian about getting the dryer and washer, kinda funny).

My birthday was very good. It happened to coincide with BJD's Christmas party. Good food, drinks, and friends of course. Came home and did the present thing with my immediate family so that was good as well.

Overall it has been a great holiday. Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

Another Semester Over

2006-12-16T14:13:00.000-06:00

Well, this semester is finally over. WOOOOO!! My week was great, ending in finding out my grades for algorithms and architecture, of which I am very happy about. I was a little worried about both. The algorithms exam was nothing like Hain's normal exams. It was completely different from the other 8 I have had with him. The same can be said about architecture. Normally those exams have way over 100pts possible, but this one only had 92. The questions were not the usual type either. But I guess I pulled them off.

In other news, I have started watching Robin Hood from BBC. I highly recommend it to anyone. While I have only watched a few episodes, they did a great job making a movie into a series. Great actors and actresses.

My plan for the semester break involved lots of game playing that I have yet to make it to. Been busy with things in Mobile and watching new TV shows. (Dang you Kisea for introducing me to new ones before I can finish others I have started.)

All and all it has been very good the last week or so. Looking forward to Christmas and spending time with family and friends.

Till whenever I next post....

Short Post on Trip and Bond

2006-11-26T18:05:00.000-06:00

Well life has been busy. Went to TN for the conference, that went well. I had a good time, met some nice people and my presentation went very good. I hope to go back next year regardless of if I present or not. (No problems with the trip up or back, so I lucked out from what I hear from Skrubby)

Saw the new Bond today. Most know I love Bond and was skeptical of the new guy. But he did a good job. Besides the hair issue I think he will make a good replacement. They even got the gun usage and finally the car usage right. I was afraid they might screw both of them up. I would recommend anyone go see it if they like Bond. While he is definitely different from the previous Bonds, his character version is good. This movie was about the beginning of Bond and how he became who he is. It makes a lot of things make sense.

A side note, I need Vol 3 of the special edition set from a few years ago and can't find it for under $300 new or under $100 for used. It has 6 DVDs in it. Hopefully I can find a decent priced version to finish getting the first 20 films.

Well back to all the stuff I have to do.

Halloween and Such

2006-11-01T23:45:00.000-06:00

Well first things first..... BJD's party was great! I had a blast. The costumes were great, people interesting and just having a good time, drinks.... well we can all say they were good, and last but certainly not least, the ribs were great as usual. The party was so good that it even made my Saturday bearable.

The programming contest did not go so well for my team and all because we could not remember how to convert from an int -> string in C++. Of course now we do, have at least 4 implementations sent to us for that matter. I will probably never forget how to do it ever again.

In other news, I was accepted to the Galinberg, TN ACM Mid-Southeast Conference. So the weekend of Nov. 16 I will be up there. I think I present that Friday at 3:15.

Just finished Hain test #2. It was rough but not to bad. I said killer earlier but I think thats cause I got really dizzy and nauseous toward the end. As all my weekends lately I am busy and will be in Mobile again. I get to help move Cbot and possibly with BEST. Not 100% sure yet, guess we will see.

That be all with me lately, till later.

Weekend Review

2006-10-09T10:56:00.000-05:00

Well this weekend I went to Bayfest. Had a great time overall with Sunday being the best. Friday I saw Keith Anderson and Gretchen Wilson, both country artists. Keith was ok, I only know a couple of his songs so that kinda lessened it. He is new but not bad as an artist. Gretchen was better. She had a fairly excitement packed show with lots of faster music and fireworks and flame.

Saturday was better than Friday though one long day. I was up at 5:30 that morning to go to the hunting camp to finish fixing a much needed bridge. Then home to eat and relax a bit before Bayfest that night. After a big mix up on Bayfest's fault (their paper copy had different schedules than online) I did manage to see Hinder and I think 10 Years. Hinder was great, got to hear the two main songs I like by them. Met up with Brian and Matt and later Miranda and later still saw Kenny and KC. 10 Years is just not my kind of music at all so I did not care for them. After that I went over to Gary Allan. He was great. Good selection of songs from his various CDs. He left then came back out for 3 more songs, his best to me.

Sunday top it all off. Got there early (5:30) to meet KC and Kenny for some M.C. Hammer. But after 30 minutes of no show we left and walked over to where Brian was at Sister Hazel. Was annoyed about the Hammer but Sister Hazel was pretty good. We hung around for the rest of that concert and then waited on the Wreckers. They were without a doubt awesome. Michelle Branch is gorgeous and Jessica Harp is also extremely beautiful. We were about 10 feet from the stage so we could see really good. Brian has a bunch of photos and a couple videos. We left as they were closing with their debut song to see part of Skynyrd. I had seen them before but KC, Kenny, nor Brian had. We got there to hear Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird. Nothing major for me as I had seen them before but good nonetheless.

A friend from South had a few extra VIP passes that she graciously let us have. Brian, KC, and Kenny did not have to walk by the VIP section so I did on my way out and stopped to see if they were still open. I called the above mentioned to inform them of such but they "were not interested." Now, that being said, the VIP section had 2 bars with at least 10 types of liquor- all you can drink for free. I partook of one drink (Doc has me on none but could not pass up free). Then I just went home.

Overall it was a great weekend. Till next time....

Health Issues

2006-09-25T22:59:00.000-05:00

Well this post is to add to the growing number of health posts lately. I went to the doc today to hopefully get my stomach fixed. Got there early to fill out all the paperwork and then finally got in. The doc was nice and was in to see me fairly quickly.

On of the first things he asked me was if I was diagnosing myself what would I say my problem was. I was thinking, well that's why I came to you. Either way he confirmed what I and I believe another doc had said of acid reflux. Based on the location of my pain he said it could not be an ulcer due to it being to high. Basically it set everyone else strait that is was not an ulcer.

As far as treatment, I am now on Nexium and can't drink any caffeine or alcohol for a month. This of course sucks. But its not over yet. He wants me to walk for 30 minutes a day, do some sit ups daily, and lift weights for 3 times a week. I feel I don't have time for all that regardless of what other people say. Doc said loosing weight and exercising would help the reflux.

In other news, all the studying was for Hain's exam tonight. After the exam my head was killing me. Still slightly hurting and I am tired. Hopefully I did ok in it, few people I asked had similar answers for some problems.

I am trying to get a new phone too. Cingular will rip you off in a heartbeat on getting a new phone and resigning a contract. I know some hate them but they do have good coverage for me, rarely have a problem. So next is to look for the phone I want for cheaper. Thinking about goin on eBay (don't anticipate having the same problem as Matt did).

Well that about covers it all. Till later.

End of the Summer

2006-09-05T22:52:00.000-05:00

Been awhile since I blogged. Read all the others but haven't written one myself, most likely cause I haven't had much to talk about.

Well Monday was the last holiday for the summer, kinda making it officially over. Was a good weekend. Went to the beach and did a whole lot of nothing. The R&R was great. Also allowed me to no have classes on Monday; always good.

Not a great deal has happened between this post and my last. Did start classes and my new job. My boss took me out to eat my last day, it was good. They finally implemented the drop down navigation that I had been working on, on and off, for the last year. I think I went through about 3-4 different ideas before I got one that worked right on all browsers. Check the USA homepage out if you want to see it. Note though that its a modified version of mine. They removed all the images that I had to make it look very similar to the original.

New job is great. Unfortunately, I still have to be at South every day which means I have to drive over every day. Work is not that hard, just have to remember to sign my time sheet. I don't have access to it like I did at Web Services so not as much time to sign it.

The ACM is having a fairly large amount of people join. Hopefully it will keep growing and become as good as I hear it once was. One new member is on a Quake 3 drive. We have more maps than one would ever need. We also have a few moods for it as well.

Well that's about it. Be back when....

Gaming

2006-08-06T19:36:00.000-05:00

Well lately several of the people from class have gotten into Battlefield 1942. Its a pretty cool game so I bought the collector's edition containing all the expansion packs for $20. For a good game with no multiplayer fees, it was well worth it. At the ACM LAN the I found out that I cannot fly and that you can shoot your own plan down from the tail gunners position. Needless to say Mark and I died quick that first time. With my own mouse I can fly a lot better but still not good.

Kisea bought a joystick at Walmart for $20 and said it was pretty good. So I decided why not get into gaming heavier and give it a whirl. I fly a lot better with it, but still manage to crash a fair amount. (Kisea gets a nice life or watching my fly low over a hill and then is say "MadDogGTO is no more") But I am getting better.

We played some today which was awesome. Zach set up a talk server so we can all communicate easier with our teams. My next purchase is a headset. My current setup involves a set of normal headphones with a mic hanging on the cord. I use the cord wrapper (aka bread wrapper) to keep it exactly in place. Looks stupid but does the job temporarily. The gaming is great and I am sure more is to come.

In other news, classes start shortly and my break has not been nearly long enough. I get to have Hain and Simmons at least, possibly Pardue as well.

Well that about covers it all, well at least the good stuff. Till next time.

New Computer and Parts

2006-07-01T22:34:00.000-05:00

Well after over a month of waiting and shopping around. I have a new laptop. For those that have not heard the old laptop story here it is.

My laptop screen died and I sent it off for warranty to replace it. They called me back and said that it showed signs of physical damage like it had been dropped. They thus refused to fix it and sent it back. Upon inspection when I get it back, it did show signs of being dropped but not from me dropping it. After complaining to the people higher up, they decided to give me a new laptop or a gift card. Begin the new machine was only slightly better than my old one (4yrs old), I took the gift card. Then I got this HP dv5215us.

I am happy with it so far though I am not sure I will ever use all the features of Media Center Edition. Nice to know I have them I guess. I was happy with the lightscribe, 1gb RAM, and 64bit processor.

In parts, I bought a new 320gb hdd. My secondary drive only has 5gb left. At first I will just use it to install XP 32bit to use at the LAN Party. After a small problem (apparently my motherboard default resets to seeing the ATA drives as the boot drives instead of the SATA ones) I have it up and formatting.

I think I may have to reinstall Windows. The Battlefield 2 Demo killed my Alcohol virtual drive capabilities and I cannot find how to restore them. Reinstalling Alcohol just puts me into a infinite loop on driver install and reboots. If anyone knows how to fix it fell free to let me know. EA sucks. They screw people up on FREE DEMOS when they might use their virtual drives for right reasons. For example, all my MSDNAA software.

Will keep playing with my new machine for now, tell next time...

Am Alive

2006-06-06T00:10:00.000-05:00

Well this is the first post in a very long time. I tried posting before but due to pop up blockers, my post was lost and I decided to give up for that night. I have been very busy with family/friends coming into town. For some reason they all decided to come back to back for a month strait. First my aunt and uncle from KY for my bro and cousin's highschool graduation. Then family friends from IL for a vacation (one had just returned from a tour in the sandbox (Iraq) as a 1st division recon) and finally family from MO. Some of the MO people I have not seen in 6yrs and some of their kids ever. Great to be able to spend time with family.

Unfortunately I missed ribs at BJD due to the latter set. This was a great loss. I spent the time eating with and seeing those I have not in so very long but did think about the ribs I must miss. Hopefully I am not banned from ribs in the future and life will calm down to allow me to come (no family coming in that I know of for a while)

In other news, I graduated and then started classes again. My Advanced OS class conflicts completely with PF on Thurs night so I will have to miss it all summer long. I do tend to make the PPFP thanks to a 2hr break between work and class.

I also have an interview on Thurs. So hopefully I will have a full time job with money soon.

In really good news, the warranty people decided to replace my laptop (its extended warranty dies in Aug) due to damage that looks to have occurred from dropping it of which was not there when we sent it to them to be fixed. The new machine is slightly better than the old but I think I may take the money and get a new machine for a couple hundred dollars extra.

Well this post is getting long so I will call it a wrap...

BEST

2006-03-26T16:17:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I volunteered for BEST at Davison High. I have never done it before and thoroughly enjoyed it. Seeing all the robots that different schools had build and their strategy. No one tried the booster motor, which didn't surprise me. Each school also had a presentation and a booth to do, the booths where interesting too. One school had numerous technical drawings and Ghantt charts which impressed me. I had no clue what a Ghantt chart was in highschool. All the robots did ok in the first 24 seeding rounds. Then they all started breaking things in the semi-finals. Davison's team ended up not doing to well do to a broken robot. We watched them practice Friday night and they were pretty good. Unfortunately, I think Skrubby won't be helping with the one down here (if there is one next year) but instead help with one in Auburn and Montgomery. So I am not sure if I will get to help with one again later or not, will see then I guess.

While there Matt gave a "tour" of Davision while we were walking around. I had never walked around in the school before. I do like how its laid out with the garden/parklike places. Even the second floor had one in it. Those were prob the coolest parts of the school.

I was up at 5am, at Davison by 7am, and done with BEST by 4pm. After not getting Mark or Melissa on the phone I just came home. Missed out on the food and drinks with some of the folks but will get in on that at least on Thurs at PF. All in all I was up for 20.5hrs yesterday. It was fun and I would do it again. Till next blog...

Spring Break Wrap-Up

2006-03-19T12:14:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow I have to go back to school, not looking forward to it. I have enjoyed my week off with no SE. When I get back I also have a cryptology exam on Wed so that will be interesting. Over the week I basically worked all week long. No major hours each day. Thursday I went to PF as normal, always good times. Friday Brian and I spent about 7-8hrs putting computers together. My mom's new one went up fine; my new one, not so much.

We forgot to plug in one of the power wires and then had CD probs with XP x64. We did finally get it up and I have been working on it most of the weekend. Unfortunately, several pieces of software I used no longer work on x64. My wireless keyboard and mouse also provide the basic functions. Logitch Custom Service did say they are working on it but who knows. I am thinking about buying a new one but its about $150 so I am not sure. At least not now thats for sure.

That about sums the week up. Did a little homework last night and have more today. Oh well...

Fast Cars and Freedom

2006-03-12T19:21:00.000-06:00

Friday was the start of Spring Break, wooo! After work I went over to Kiseas and ordered parts for my computer. The listing follows:

Of course some other parts like power supply but no need to post it here being that several of the crew use the same one. Will be putting it together and getting my mom's PC up and running when parts come in, hopefully about midweek.

That night, the ACM went bowling. We had a great time. A few games of which I did ok. Nothing great was seen all night by me. I did manage, along with several other people on my lane, were robbed of several strikes/spares. Right down the center of the lane and leave one pin. That part sucked but overall great fun.

Saturday was the DD car show. Jarred and Brian came. There were two '57 Belair's, a '65 Ford Pickup, A '64 1/2 Mustang Fastback, a new '05 Chevy SS/R and my '70 GTO. Small for a start but people are wanting to do it monthly. My car had trouble starting, still have to work on that. Do have a few things to try that should give some light on the problem.

Saw Firewall with Brian last night. Pretty good movie. I am sure we will go see a few more before the weekend. All this new freedom allows me to do things I want and not have to. Though I do have some homework to do over the week.

All in all the weekend was good. Till the next round...

Fun and Games

2006-03-05T20:52:00.000-06:00

Well Friday night was Game Night. It was great fun that will have to be done again sometime. I commanded a team on Savage twice. The first we did great, the second- not so much. Then I gave the command to anyone else and tried my hand at some combat. I did ok. Blew a few people up with the catapult. Even destroyed some buildings. I had to leave at about 1is and the rest played UT 2k4 until 4ish. All and all it was a blast and all who missed it missed out on some awesome fun.

Worked on my car some. I have it to where it will crank. I had to put a bunch of new parts into the ignition. Though now I think my carb needs some adjacent too. Have to look into that. Its currently with my cousin to get detailed before the show next Sat.

Another reminder, the DD car show is next Sat from 10-2pm. Don't know what all cars will be there but I can say that a '70 GTO and a '65 Chevy Pickup should be there.

That about covers all the new happenings. Till next time...

Mardi Gras Round-up

2006-02-28T23:52:00.000-06:00

Well today is Fat Tuesday. I slept in then had to run errands. Had to get tags for all our cars (until yesterday I had no clue they were going to expire this month), then got a hair cut, and followed that up with a few errands for DD. Due to this I missed the party with some of the crew downtown. Due to this BJD as put me on the shelf with Cbot and Matt. I even got a personal phone call from BJD informing me of this sad development. Hopefully I can find a way to get off somehow. It is hard being up here, blackballed for BJD and ribs. So sad.

In other news MSC asked me what model guns I am looking at and will try to get them in. This comes after about a month of weekly calls. So hopefully I can look at some models and make a decision and get a gun soon. Also am looking at computer parts now. Going to modify mine for mom for business and upgrade my to a 64bit system.

Game night is on Friday, as of now that is. COME TO GAME NIGHT!!!

Other events on the agenda are the March 11 DD car show. Hopefully it will be a good turn out. I know I will be there and Kisea mentioned he wanted to come as well.

Other things floated around inb my head as I typed this but I have no clue what they were. So I shall wait till the next time. Till then...

Weekend in Review

2006-02-20T23:43:00.000-06:00

Well my weekend can be summed up in one word... work. Friday night, Saturday all day, and most of Sunday I was at DD working. We did ok business, about normal. Saw a few attractive ladies but I think they all would have gotten me in trouble. I have a hard time telling some girl's age now days. What sucks the most is having to work caused me to miss about half of Rick's talk, pool with a friend, and BJD ribs. Overall a sucky weekend considering.

After work my dad and I one night and then the same with the addition of my brother another went to Wings. I love hot wings so I get them every chance I can get. First night I had X Hot and the next night XX Hot. Both where ok but lacking in the spicy heat department. I have to try the 911 now.

While there the first night our waitress talked with me quite abit. She must have seen the shirt I was wearing and started asking questions about my highschool and college life. She has just started South after takes 2yrs off of school. She's not 100% sure what she wants to do but it is something in the med field. I am still not sure if she was flirting with me or not. But when she mentioned an ex-boyfriend that was 31 when she was 21, I kinda stop worrying about it to much. Not really crazy about a girl that dates a guy that much older than her at that age.

Well that about sums my weekend up. Hope everyone else had a better one than I did. Till when...

V-Day

2006-02-14T21:24:00.000-06:00

Well today is Valentines Day, the one day set aside for love and all things mushy. So I was thinking today about V-Day. It is an extremely biased holiday. People will tell you how good the holiday is depending solely on their circumstances and outlook. V-Day can be grouped into two categories: single and non-single people.

For single people it can also be broken down.
A single person can say the day sucks due to them being single.
They can also say its great because they don't have to run around like chicken with its head cut off looking for the right gift for their significant other and spend all the money that entails.

Then there are the non-single people that can be broken down.
Some non-single people say its great due to a holiday of love and them having someone special to spend it with.
On the other hand a non-single person who is very selfish (and probably not have a significant other for very long) will complain about how much money they have to spend on a gift.

Those are basically the two types of people and ideas you can get from V-Day.

I will leave you with one other idea (that was given to me) that can't be considered a normal V-Day idea:

Happy St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

TV Series and Ice Cream

2006-02-12T21:22:00.000-06:00

Well I have finished the first season of Lost. Very good series and must get season 2 now. Watching those 3 episodes from season 2 had me confused but now I understand them. I also must know how things turn out.

In other series, I have missed 3 episodes of Wildfire cause people aren't putting them online anymore. Luckily KC records them but I just have to find a way to get those large files to my computer- might bring my laptop over and grab them sometime this weekend.

We have a new flavor at the store, Chocolate Covered Cherries. Its great and tastes exactly like the candy. Unfortunately, I have to work the store all this coming weekend due to my mom and 2 aunts going to Orlando for a DD franchise meeting. This means that I probably won't make it for ribs next Sunday- sucks of course.

Nothing else is going on so I will close this entry. Till when.

Still Lost and lost

2006-02-05T01:35:00.000-06:00

I am still watching the first season of Lost. Not bad at all. Problem is I can't just watch it when I want. With my mom interested as well I have to make sure we can both sit down and watch it- which happens rarely. Good though, I am learning more about some of my favorite people and the four episodes I watch at Brians of season 2 are making more sense. '

As far as the other lost, UML sucks. It makes no sense at all. Include, extend- I have no real clue where to use what. Every time I think I do I find I am wrong. Been doing models and senerios and use cases all weekend and I hate it even more now. I can talk to the client well enough to not need stupid models. I am also lost in cryptology. We are doing things with matrices and I have never used them before at all. In Cal 1-3 we never touched them. Not having Linear Algebra or Number Theory might be a problem overall. A guy from my CSC527 group showed me how to do things in my TI-89 which is helpful.

More recently, I went to the Chili Cookoff today. The only food I had all day was chili (except a piece of Brian's garlic-cheese bread after the cookoff). I lost count of how many I had but they were all mostly good. Brian would get to come before me and let me know to not worry about them. I did like the fact that I tried gator, deer, and kangaroo chili. The first two were good but the kangaroo took some acquired taste, not bad though. After the cookoff, Doug, Casey, Brian, Matt, and myself went to a bar on Dauphin Street. The name escapes me but it was the first time I had ever had anything to drink at a bar on Dauphin Street. Thanks Doug for the shots. Overall had a great time. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to come home and do some homework. The event will have to be an annual attendance for me.

Well till I get the change to post again...

I am Lost

2006-01-29T17:21:00.000-06:00

Waiting for PK Thurs night I was at Kisea's and watched a few eposides of Lost Season 2. Well that only managed to confuse me on what was going on. Thus, I borrowed Kisea's season 1 and am currently watching it. So far I have made it though the first 3eps. Not a bad show- I will have to keep watching it.

Before I started Lost I watched Batman Begins. Someone finally got it right. Very good movie that if you haven't seen it you should. Hopefully they will make a second one from it.

Before all my movie watching I was very productive this weekend. Did all my reading and written homework for 518 and 527. I have a 9pm meeting with my cliet for 527 because the only time he can is after 8:30. That makes my day tomorrow go from 9am-ish to 10pm or after. I am gunna hate meeting with the group that late. Will be so glad when this semester and 527 are over. Well, getting back to Lost.

First Meeting

2006-01-24T22:19:00.000-06:00

Well I went to the my first meeting of ACM. It was intersting. I know that a lot of things have changed lately and thus the chaos. I do think that there should be a limit on the number of words certian people can say. And if those people are saying stupid stuff that to me seemed to go agaist certain aspects of the meetings, they can be hushed by any means necessary. I will be glad when they get some good officers in, namely Kisea. Got my vote!

Ouside of that- on my desk this morning was a women's phone number wanting a website. I called her a few times before I got her. I have to meet her way over in Theodore at 10:30am on Friday to talk about it. Kinda annoys me that I have to drive all the way over there. While on the phone I got directions from her to the model home we are to meet at. I love how people give directions are Mach I speeds and expect people to write them down. Knowing this I get the address and try to Google it and MapQuest it. Neither place knew the address so now I have to call her again to get new messages.

Homework is also getting more. I had several things to do in Cryptology, finished up whats due in 518, putting off some homework in 527 till the weekend, and have to read the rest of a thesis and write a biography for it. But don't want to.

In other news, brought another over to the good side, Gmail. Jarred asked for an invite so now he is part of the Google force.

Well thats is about it for now. Till the next time we cross paths....

Late Night Movie

2006-01-21T01:12:00.000-06:00

I went with Kisea and Cbot to see Underworld: Evolution and personally thought it was an ok movie, not great but ok. They disagreed with a thumbs down. Some parts were pretty worthless or highly predictable (would elaborate but don't want to ruin things for those who might go see it). They left shortly after the movie cause Cbot was exhausted (waking up at 5am for work is just nuts).

I stayed a bit longer talking to Matt while watching some employees climbing this tall ladder to change light bulbs above the concession stand. It shook on the climb up and down, not to mention that I think it could have buckled at any time. Nope, you still would not get me up it if I worked there for the little amount of money I am sure they pay non-position people.

On another note, my laptop has been giving me a odd wireless network connection message. It keeps telling me I have a limited connection and won't let me access the Net. Irritates me that it hasn't been working for 2 nights now. Will have to look at it tomorrow.

Well I am going to wrap this post up. Till the next round....

TV Bullcrap

2006-01-17T20:26:00.000-06:00

Ok, so Kisea lets me know House is coming on Fox at 8pm. Great! Thats a great show that needs to come on more than it does. Thank goodness that it comes on Fox and USA, new ones on Fox and reruns on USA.

I had to go to the store to help with a few things and then rushed people out so I could get home by 8pm. I get home a little before 8 and get things setup- some grub, right channel, etc.

And what do I see- freakin American Idol! Who wants to watch stupid people on reality TV? Reality TV is the downfall of American television! Its on every station now, even the scientific and history channels. And not only is it just on in general but it takes time slots of good TV.

American is being duped by "reality" TV as well. We all know its like wrestling and complete made up as well. The sad part is I think most people know it is made up but still watch out of stupidity.

Well thats my rant on reality TV.

Long Day

2006-01-14T18:44:00.000-06:00

Well today has been a very long day. Got up around 4:45am, on the road at 5:30, in the woods all day, and didn't get home till about 5:00pm. The wind today was strong. I could not hear a thing so the deer and dogs would be almost on top of me before I knew it. I did see 2 does; couldn't shoot them though. I was standing by a creek and the deer crossed on the other side. When I through the safety off, they froze. By then I found out that they were does and couldn't shoot them. I yelled "boo" and away they went. Four - five minutes later the dogs made it to me. I had the lovely pleasure to cross the creek 4 times trying to catch them only to get none when they scattered like quail.

In other news, I was glad I am back in the PF routine. Missed not being able to go and hang out with the crew. Good times indeed. Had some good pizza and some good beer- though the waitress was a little slow on the latter's refill.

I have so much homework from SE and Cryptology. Must make sure to do it sometime this long weekend. A weekend I need, though I wish it was later and would do some real good. O well, till next time.

The Semester Start

2006-01-11T22:49:00.000-06:00

Well I have now had every class I am taking this semester. I started out with 518- its gunna be interesting with prob lots of writing- especially with only 4 people in the class. Next, I had MA 490- Cryptology. So far its seems like a cool class, I am looking forward to it. I wrapped up the night with 527. Its with Zhou and I hate it. Got in there and who did I see, Cbot. Thought cool, I know someone thats a good student and all the stuff that goes with that, get her in my group, etc. Find out the bad news today that she dropped and has thus left me in hell by myself (well 5 total now but still no Cbot that I know). I am sure I will be posting a lot about my extreme hatred for that class. Then had my GY class on Tuesday, its gunna be cool too (thanks Kisea for the heads up on it).

In other news, I missed the CTS open house. Kisea said it was nice and even that Matt and Cbot have tech interviews. I will definitely have to check it out when I grad (or maybe before). I was listening to Diagle scare our class to death with all the stuff we have to do for a masters. I was sitting there thinking "What did I get myself into." Hopefully I will survive, I refuse to quit and to make it. Not sure now if I want the thesis or project track. I live the idea that I wrote a thesis but not sure that I want to do will merit one and does not just qualify for a project. Good thing is both would let me get a Ph.D if I wanted to down the road.

Well I guess thats about it. Till something new comes up.

Good Games, Good Food and More

2006-01-06T23:05:00.000-06:00

Well most people (well those that watch football) know how the games turned out even if they didn't watch them. If you didn't you missed some good football with the SC/Texas and Penn St./FL St. Very intense games that should show people just how good college football is.

For the other part of this blogs post, we just got back for Olive Garden. I had this new dish with stuffed shells with shrimp. Its limited time and very good, highly recommend it to anyone who likes Italian.

I was offered a grading job for 230 by Doran for Denton. I like both professors and the pay would be nice is minimum wage but not sure if I will have the time with 6 grad hours and 10 undergrad. If I don't do it, I would like someone in there that will actually grade the stuff and grade it like I and others have been graded in the past. I think Espen graded my stuff in 320- and I know he is not overly easy on people. Had Ward for OS and we all know how he grades, as it should be.

In other news, I think I have descided I wanted the Walther PPK/S in the two-tone (thanks Kisea for the input). Now I just have to find one to look at to make sure. It sucks to want something and no one have it in stock due to it being the beginning of a year. Because they count inventory and because they don't want to have to count large amounts of things let said inventory go. Just will have to wait for about a week or more to see some things.

I have not gotton usted to this blog yet, have to remember to post more often.

--------Edit--------
Found the pay, its about minimum wage, so not so nice.

A Brand New Year

2006-01-01T21:45:00.000-06:00

Well is a new year, 2006. It flew by thats for sure. As Kisea talked about for his New Year's Day meal, I also had some black-eyed peas with "hog jawl". Hopefully I will have some good luck this year, bout time I had some.

Its been a while since I posted even though I have read most everone else's blog over the period of non-posting. I have been watching a lot of movies lately, from all locations. DVDs, computer, TV have all been visited. If not there I have been with family and friends which is always good.

I went hunting yesterday for the first time in over a month. With the Dippin' Dots opening we have been busy every Saturday. Heard a great race yesterday morning, all the dogs merged on a group of does. I didn't seen anything but at least it sounded good. It was Family Day so they had lots of food for us all to eat: fried deer, ham, deer stew, chicken, potato salad, beans, lots of deserts, and probably a lot of stuff I am forgetting. It was great.

Just finished watching all of the extras in Serenity- great as expected. Now I will have to see the Firefly extras.

Looking at getting a new gun- Walther PPK or Walther PPK/S. I need a smaller gun thats easier to carry. My .40 is just to big to keep concealed easy. I am a huge Bond fan, thus the PPK was a obvious choice. His was a stock .32 PPK. I want the .380 (I think its the same as the 9mm) due to it being larger than .32.

Problem is, I want to be as authentic as possible which means I should go with the PPK. But it only holds 6 in the magazine while the PPK/S holds 7. I want the largest capacity possible but not sure if I should trade off authenticity. Perplexing. The PPK/S also have more cooler options for coloring, one thats a cross for the shiny I like and the dark color for concealment. Hopefully I can see at least one model when I go to Mobile Shooting Center if I go tomorrow and it will help me make a decision.

If anyone has suggestions let me know. Till next time...

Nothing Major

2005-12-26T23:56:00.000-06:00

The title of this post might be slightly misleading. I had a good Christmas and birthday (not in that order) and day after Christmas. Saw family I haven't in a while and my best friend from WA who is in on levee from the navy. Actually, I just came home from hanging with him and some of his friends who I also haven't seen in a while. Hung out at the Rave (still mad at their outrageous $8 ticket prices) while talking to a Daphne officer we know there (cool guy). Thats actually while we were there.

But on the subject of this post's title, I am kinda in a bla mood. Not really sure why but am none the less. I have all week off and don't have to go back to work till the 3rd so I should be in a fairly good mood but not. O well. It should pass as does all moods.

Received Serenity and Firefly for Christmas so that was awesome. Also, an Alison Krauss CD, she is incredible. Some great instrument playing and singing. Also got some clothes, tools, and such, things I needed.

Well I think I may start a movie or go to bed not sure. Till then...

Opening Remarks

2005-12-24T19:58:00.000-06:00

This is my first post. Figured it was about time I started my own blog (will give me a place to complain and discuss or whatever).

My birthdays today so I have been celebrating some today. Nothing major considering its closeness to Christmas but some food and fun with family.

That's about all I have to say and posts will probably be sporadic but who knows. Off into the world of blogs.