jrearick's blog

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OK, I didn't get anything done with the basement last night. I ended up getting on AIM to tell Colin something about his new ATX build and got side tracked in talking about a camping trip, Memorial Day weekend plans and plans for this afternoon. I still have not decided weather to go to service or graduation, though I am leaning towards just going to service no matter what. I probably won't make that decision until the last minute. I will be going to church for the food though.

I'm also thinking about having a BBQ memorial day weekend at my place. I have not run it by my 'rents yet, but I doubt they will have any objections. I don't really care what day of the weekend it will be on, but I was thinking Saturday or Sunday. Comments welcome. I'll probably send out an email later today after I get permission.

During my free time at work, I should get my budget figured out. I have been spending a lot of money lately. Being late for school a few times has forced me to park in the ramp, my books cost a ton of money for stat. There are more books to be bought for MIS, and I just had to satisfy my craving for the wireless mouse. The good thing is now I'm making a lot more money with more hours at work.

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Progress report on summer goals:
  • Get good grade in Stat 226 -- Perfect so far
  • Learn basic Cocoa programming -- Went though 1 tutorial in xCode
  • Improve on my blog program you are using now -- Nothing
  • Catch up with Stargate series -- Season 4 of 7
  • Create a budget for the next year that includes getting an apartment near campus -- Got example budget from Meri

I haven't done much other than Stargate. Perhaps I should schedule my evening time to get some of this other stuff done. I also need to be getting to bed earlier as I'm drained of energy most days.

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More storms last night. It was nice to see more of the sky from the sun room now that the willow tree is gone. There wasn't much lightning in Ames, but there was a lot of rain and a lot of wind.

I still need to finish the basement. I will conclude the current Stargate cliffhanger I am on now and finish the basement if I have enough energy. Right now I am about asleep.

Earlier today I put together another lab of G4s and iMac G3s. Hopefully that will be the last lab I have to do in a while. Imaging a lab is really boring and time consuming.

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Yawn. I got up this morning (noonish, closer to one) to the sound of the doorbell. It was my aunt and uncle Hawn. I was told that they were possibly going to stop by today, but I did not know what they were stopping by here for. Apparently, they were here to help us do a backyard overhaul. I was content with finishing up the basement and watching the rest of season 3 Stargate. We trimmed the hedge in the front yard, took out a bunch of weeds that were overgrown from our neighbor's yard, cleared out a lot of brush from the back of the yard, took down several volunteer trees and our dying willow tree, planted some flowers, and got our deck stuff out for the summer. It was a lot of unexpected work. I know the idea was past by me before about doing this stuff, but it was more of a "something we should do" rather than a "something we are going to do." I can sympathize with Colin when he unexpectedly gets drafted to do work without prior notice.

Yesterday was lots of fun as well. I got a bunch of episodes of season 3 taken care of and left off on the mid-season cliffhanger to do some grocery shopping. I was able to get myself some twizzlers, candy bars, and cookies to stow in the basement for my consumption. Though the only problem with shopping was the fact that I did it during the beginning of the storms. I ended up waiting for a good 30 mins or so in a parking lot waiting for the hail to stop and the rain to let up a little so that it would be safe for me to drive. I got very wet loading the groceries as well. Though, I do like storms, I really don't like getting caught IN storms.

I got quite a few submissions already for the quote rotator. I must specify, that I'm looking for some things that are original and make some sense to me. I have accepted Colin and Anya's submissions. Perhaps I should set up a way people can just look through all the quotes, but it wouldn't be any fun to already be familiar with the quote that appears on my website or blog page most of the time you visit.

Also, Anya pointed out the urban legend website associated with my previously posted article about a married couple not knowing how to procreate. Though, something like this can go in the comments of the post.

Well, I am tired, I've got another week ahead of me. Good night.

(No Subject)

As you can see, I have added a quote rotator to the blog. Though, there is one more difference I did with the rotator. You can now add your own quotes. Click the Add Quote button below the quote to submit your quote to be in the rounds. These will appear on the first page of my blog and on my main page.

Have Fun.

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I'm sorry, I just can't believe this.

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Wow, today turned out to be something unexpected. I got into work at a decent time. My schedule has been modified so that I don't have to be in at 7:30, but will after class at 10:40. I finished up a computer for someone I don't really know, but she is happy. Tom said fix, and I fixed. I remembered what my little summer work project was supposed to be. I'm going to create an administration system for the administrators to use while online scholarship applications are coming in. This way they will be able to see, modify, and act on data as it comes in rather than waiting until the deadline has passed.

Church was nice. The brats were good, and there was ice cream. The meal was well worth the $3. Meri volunteered to sing during service, and I tired to think when I actually heard her sing a performance. To think I have known her so long, but I can't remember a time I heard her preform. I know it is something that is really important to her, but I don't understand why I never experienced it before. She did an excellent job, btw.

After church, Adrienne, Colin, Molly, and I hung out and watched the Lewis Black HBO special (taped) at Adrienne and Molly's place before we headed out to the theater to see Shrek 2. I really liked the movie. All the little things they put in there that make it entertaining for adults, but still somewhat appropriate for the kids. Example: "Looks like we are up chocolate creek without a pop-sickle stick." Plus, the story didn't totally suck as they usually do for most sequels. I recommend this movie.

I'm going to take a shower now and get to bed. Tonight was lots of fun. Best of luck to Meri as she gets ready to leave early tomorrow morning for Olympiad.

Ohh, I almost forgot. I got myself a present. I usually don't give in to material urges to buy stuff, but this is something that I have been wanting for a while. I broke down and got a bluetooth mouse. I got the Logitech MX900 mouse. Granted, it's not officially supported for the Mac, but I have found that it works just great if you don't press the connect button. If you press the connect button, you will have to restart the computer to be able to pair with the device again. Other than that, I belive the mouse works just fine. I have no doubts that Logitech will eventually release official support for it anyway. I already have the buttons mapped to expose functions, so every button does something.

Again, good night.

(No Subject)

This summer I have not been getting enough sleep. Summer is supposed to be a relaxing time. Since summer has started I have been going though Stargate episodes like crazy. Though, anytime I set down to watch some episodes, I keep thinking to myself I can get one more episode in before I go to bed. This ends up happening until maybe 2:00 AM. I have work at 7:30. This is been happening a lot lately and I really should set my foot down to make me get to bed earlier.

Last night Meri and I went to the library to be productive for an hour. She was very productive and I was not. I did not have any stat homework assigned on the first day (or even today for that matter). I ended up online chatting with Colin and Adrienne while surfing the forums. Meri was extremely tired and I'm glad she got home at a decent time to get some sleep. She has a long week ahead of her with Olympiad Nationals coming up.

After I got home, I managed to clean up the basement "living space" (ie not my room and "office"). I got the entertainment area set up so the VCR is not setting in the middle of the floor when I want to plug my computer in. I finally found my VCR remote under the couch. Without it I can't set the VCR to AV to watch the computer input. Tonight I might get the refreshment/munchie area figured out with the island, then watch a bunch of Stargate and get to bed EARLY.

When I got into work after class today we had to move some office desks from 3rd floor Beardshear to 3rd floor Curtiss. These things were heavy metal desks. We loaded them onto a truck and had fun maneuvering the desks into the Curtiss elevator. The basement elevator access is very cramp. Eventually these desks will become ours when we move into 301 Curtiss in late summer.

I've got a computer to rebuild now. Everyone have a good day.

(No Subject)

Friday, I went to go see Troy with Colin. I have to admit that I was fairly tired when I went in to see the movie. I just about dozed off during a few scenes and regained my attention during the battle sequences. I really think the R rating was wasted on showing too much of Brad Pitt rather than with the gore. Then again, I may have become a little more desensitized to violence in movies. Later that night Meri called to see if I wanted to go to Perkins. I'm sorry, but I really was tired.

Saturday I cleaned out my brother's stuff from the basement and loaded the van with his stuff so that my dad can take the stuff to my brother's new home in Auburn, NY. I also managed to finish up season one of Stargate.

Today, I slept in 'til 3:00. I was woken by my mother yelling and pounding on the floor. She wonders why I don't think she doesn't stay out of my way living here. I forgot to mention that we didn't finish loading the van until 2:00 am. Yeah, I got 12 hours of sleep, but I wanted more. I have been getting a good 4 to 5 hours of sleep every day last week anyway, I needed to catch up. I mowed the lawn. I am beginning to believe that I may be developing allergies. After mowing the lawn I tend to end up with a stuffed up head and headache. I've got a headache right now. I would put on some soft music right now to help it, but I am typing this up on the couch that has my speakers are disassembled on the floor in front of me. It's a mess down here. I don't have a place to compute comfortably now that my brother's desk and comfy chair are gone :(.

Tomorrow is the first day of class. I forget exactly what time it is, but I know my Palm will go off when I need to leave for the class. Stat meets for one hour every day of the week until the second week of July. Right after that I start again with MIS 330 which, again, meets every day of the week until two weeks before Fall classes begin. Perhaps tomorrow when I get home I will work on getting the basement organized and clean. This means my "office" and room. I have a plan that should suit me quite well for over the summer.

Anyway, I'm still dirty from mowing the lawn, and I have a headache as mentioned earlier, and I'm tired. I need to take a shower and get to bed so I can be somewhat awake form my morning class and work.

(No Subject)

Once again, it has been a while since I posted. I've been tired all week for some reason. Perhaps the reason is that I start working earlier than when I usually start school (Work starts at 7:30, but I stumble in around 8 or 8:30) and I am still staying up until 2:00 am. I am cutting down on the number of hours I sleep. I slept in today a little, but I had a good excuse for work. I'm not going to say my excuse here, but if you are curious you may IM or email me. Please don't leave comments about it.

At work I managed to create a build for a computer lab and install it over the course of two days. If I was still going to school, this would have stressed me out a lot. That type of thing usually requires a good block of time to sit down and make things work just right. Since lab computers need to be secured and have a bunch of special software installed on them it takes a little extra effort to install. Also, installing the image to the lab machines takes a bit of time.

At home, I have been getting into Stargate (one of my previously mentioned goals for the summer). That may explain why I'm not online much in the evenings. Yesterday at church the food was really good. I don't know if I will be going every Wednesday, but I may alternate between that and seeing what's going on at the FUG meetings. Next week the food will be brats and hot dogs, so I don't think I want to miss that.

I have started to go though the Cocoa tutorial in xCode during my free time at work, though I also have the bad habit of surfing the forums. Improving my blog program is not something that is a big priority, but it's something that I kind of want to do. Meri sent me some of her Excel budget files so I could get a feel for how she budgets. I will probably use some of her ideas to create my own system. I still haven't cleaned out the basement, but that will happen easily after or during this weekend as I help move the rest of my brother's stuff out of here. I have been using his desk and office chair, and I will miss them.

Earlier tonight, Colin, Gaila and I went to see Van Helsing. I don't think it was as bad as the ratings on IMDB really say it was, but there were a few things that didn't rest quite well in the movie. One thing was the secret place in the Vatican that was sort of like Q's lab in the 007 movies. Also, for some reason, the carriages are really flammable. One carriage fell down a canyon and ended up exploding like a car in most movies. Though, my overall opinion of the movie was that it was much better than The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Anyway, that is what has been going on recently. I'm going to get an episode or two of Stargate in before I go to bed EARLY tonight.
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