Christmas was good!

Its been a while since I could say that I had such a wonderful Christmas. Man I got all sorts of cool loot. Tara really did a number on spoiling me rotton. The picture you see above was taken with my first present my new Digital Camera a Kodak z740. Not the best camera in the whole world, but it sure does a darn good job of taking photos. Its a good point and shoot, plus it lets me learn to do all the manual settings that you can do. I should be able to learn a lot with this thing. I am excited to take lots of photos with it.

I also got a new fleece jacket. Its really sweet its a Giants one of course. I got a Licence plate cover for my car to finally replace "Always Late, But Worth the Wait" that Angelique left on my car. Now at least its a Utah Jazz frame, even if they suck this year. I also got a 12" skillet. Which will double as a weapon for Tara if I am not home. I got a box of Orange Krispies from See's Candies, a really nice Shirt made by quicksliver that feels like silk. Its really nice. I got all 4 Star Wars Movies that I didn't have on DVD before. I got Episode III, IV, V and VI.

I was also spoiled with a bunch of other things, Tara holding me on Christmas Morning. She also got me two little Mr. Potato Heads, that are dressed up as "DarthTater" and a "SpudTrooper". They are a little silly, but pretty cute. The SpudTrooper even has a little potato masher in his hand instead of a blaster. And Granny got me a new school house for my Christmas Village, and Tara got me some silocone Handles for my pans when I put them in the oven when I forget that they are hot and burn my hands. She also got me a bottle of CoolWater, and a Darth Vader Ornament that talks when you press a button.

Mom and dad were nice enough to send us some new cooking chopsticks, something I have needed for a long time. Along with some inari sushi skins and seasoning packet.

I suppose I spoiled Tara pretty bad too. I got her a new bracelette that has a bunch of Saphire's and Diamonds. She also got an exercize bike, some new pajamas, a box of chocolates, a new vase for the flowers I get her all the time, a new purse, and a wallet that will hold all of her stuph that she had in random places in the purse. I also got her some Gardeing tools, that she has needed for a long time. And a new nozzel for the hose which will give her more control over the water, so she can water her plants a bit better. Oh yeah and I got her a lot of Chocolates. She deserves them all.

It was really a good time. We had Christmas Eve with Tara's friend Jina, and Christmas morning we woke up at 5:00am opened up all of our presents, then went back to bet at about 6:30, and got up at about 9. We watched football, and watched my Fantasy Football score as I was playing in the Superbowl for my leauge. I ended up winning that thing and I will take home a cool 500 bucks for doing so. It has been one of the better chirstmases in my life and I can't wait for more of them with Tara. Maybe next time my family will be able to be around.

My brother Link is the only one who called me on that day, except for my parents, who called 3 times before they finally got a hold of me. It was nice to hear their voices again. They sounded so much closer than being in Japan. I am truly greatful for the holiday time. I just have to make it through another brithday now. I will be 28 and that is a bit scary, but more on that later. . .

Acoustics are FUN!

Tonight Tara and I are having people over for a little Christmas Party, and so I was picking up some groceries at the local Trader Joes. I arrived about 10 min before they opened and was pleased to find a little bit of Science fun while I was waiting.

Its hard to see from this picture but there is a puddle at the top of the picture just down and to the right of the big puddle. I guess the dept of the water was just perfect to pick up the sound waves coming from my car. As I sat there waiting for the wonderful people at Trader Joes, to open their doors, I watched that little puddle and it seemed strange. The ripples in the puddle seemed to be going on with some sort of pattern.

So I watched harder, and couldn't figure it out for a bit. Why do they look so wierd? I thought if I turned down my radio I might get a better view of them and be less distracted. So I turned down NPR and watched. To my surprise. No more ripples. "That seems, wierd. I am at least 30 feet away from that puddle, in an asphalt parking lot. How could my radio be doing that?" I thought to myself, half outloud.

So I turned the Radio back up. Sure enough the ripples came back. And this time I was watching to see if they were coming at the same time as the bass in the speakers voices. Amazingly enough it was. How wierd this was. So I hit the "Loud" button on my stereo which gives it more bass, and turned the loud feature off. Amazing again, the ripples were still there but much less intense. So I turned the loud back up, and even changed the station to see if I could get it to happen in time with the music. Sure enough, there were my little ripples. It was pretty cool. I guess no one else waiting had their radio's on.

Life can be very fun sometimes, if you just take the time to look around and see what is going on. I hope that I will keep looking. I took a picture and had to post it. Its amazing to me anyway. . .

Flicks in Riverbank

We went to a restaurant last night called Flicks. Its in Riverbank, CA very close to Modesto. The place sits next to a movie theater, and inside is all sorts of killer stuph from lots of movies. Most of the really cool stuph is from Star Wars of course. They have an X-Wing, a Tie Fighter, a full size version of Darth Vader, a GIANT AT-AT, and so much more.

There are more pictures on my flickr site from the place. The food was also very good. I got to have a Flat Iron steak for the first time. I have been wanting to try one for some time now, and I must admit that they are pretty darn good. They have all sorts of movie themed foods. My Flat Iron was called "Pumping Iron." They also have "Planet of the Skins" which are just regular potato skins.

Everything was very good. Can't wait to go back!

Upgrades

Lots of things have been going on lately I suppose. I have upgraded quite a few things in my life lately. First of all, IE7 Beta1, thank you BitTorrent. Its not bad, though I will admit I had some troubles with it. I got the download to complete after about a week of trying to get it down. Once I did, being the silly geek boy that I am, I installed it on my system. No problems with the installation, like I had with Office 12 Beta. Rebooted the system and tried to go about my business as usual.

When I launched my beloved Trillian to get on and tell my buddie's about my new upgrade, it crashed. Not having the time to worry about fixing it I put it off. Well I have solved the problem, turns out the MSN plugin for Trillian requires some things that IE6 had, that IE7 does not. Its ok, Trillian's website had a new .dll file that simply had to be copied to a plugin directory. Problem solved.

I can't say that there is too much to call a major change. At least from the asthetic point of view. Its basically just IE6 with tabs. Though I will say there is a bit more lag. I dont' think pages load quite as rapidly, and there are some sites that don't work at all. My intranet site for instance, does not work with IE7 at all. Something I am sure I will have to find a work around for.

I have also recently recieved my Intel Retail Edge bundle. Consisting of a Intel Pentium D 820 processor (Dual 2.8GHz 2MB L2 cache), a D945PSN Motherboard, Windows XP Professional, and a couple of Adobe products. This puts me on the track to be able to do somthine that I have been dying to do for quite some time. Its time to start work on two systems. the first will be my new Desktop which I finally have to replace just about everything.

The new board requires me to have a SATA HD, something I have wanted for a long time anyway, but now since the new Mobo has only one IDE channell, it seems time to upgrade to a nice Big and Beefy SATA drive, probably the 250GB 16MB Cache Drive from Western Digital. I will also need to upgrade my DVD burner as the one I have is only a 4x single layer jobby, and we have 15X Dual Layer Jobbie's for like 60 bucks. I am also going to have to upgrade my memory. Intel has already made the switch to DDR2, so I am going to have to give up my 2GB of DDR400 that I am running currently and move over to probably just 512 of DDR2, at least to start with.

It seems it is also time for me to bid farewell to my GeForce 3 Ultra that I have had for over 5 years. In fact I got the thing before 9/11. Long time to have a video card I know, but it has certainly fullfilled its purpose.

Fortunatly for me, and my sanity, all of these old parts will not go to waste, as I finally get to work on my media center pc. I have been working this thing out in my head for some time now. I am going to need to get a new antenna for my new Router, so that my media server can go in another room. This will allow me to have a PVR without using any silly subscription garbage or monthly fee's. I mean why on earth would I want to pay TiVo to record shows for me when I can simply do it all myself on my own computer/Hometheater. It will be a long time before the thing is complete, as I still need a new case that will not look like a PC, and will eventually need a TV that will support HD and all that other good stuph. First up will be the Haupage 350 so that I have an HD tv tuner.

It will be a long time before either PC is complete, but at least I have a couple of really cool projects to work on for quite some time coming. I am excited. Its the first time in YEARS, since I have had to upgrade every part of my system. And its going to be a long process, since I think I am going to even get into some case modding on this guy. Might even be time for me to give the server a new case. Who knows they might all end up matching someday.

Sam

I come home from work one day and Tara told me that she took a picture while I was gone. She wouldn't tell me what it was, jus that I had to check the camera. So I did, and there is Sam perched like he owns the desk. What a little punk.

I must admit though, he has been a saving grace. He has kept me company when there was no one else around. When I had no friends, he was always there. Now he has bonded with Tara so much, that he is practically her cat. She will never admit it of course. But he sleeps with her, plays with her and never wants to be away from where she is.

I guess he knows what good people are. Tara is the most incredible person that I have ever met. I thank the stars everyday for someone so incredible, and wish on them everynight that I don't ever wake up from this wonderful dream.

I just wish that I could get a job where I can make a decent living so that I don't feel like she is always the one who takes care of me. I am sure it will be ok eventually. I guess I am just going to have to learn to be patient, and enjoy the time that I have given me now.

Freemont Street Expierience

Well we just got back from Vegas. This was one of the coolest things we saw while we were there. It is called the Freemont Street Expierience and it is the world's largest Big Screen TV. It covers 3 city blocks. It was freakin sweet.

This was a bunch of hands playin pianoo keyes. I must admit that this was really fun. We went to the expierience with Tara's Parents and the family of the groom. we got to see the thing go off twice, and both times it was comletely different.

This was probably the best show that we saw the whole time we were there. I will definatly e putting a lot more pictures of our trip to Vegas up here as soon as I get them transfered over to the system off my Camera.

We had some interesting food while we were there, of course you all expected that out of me. The first meal we had was by far the worst, and i think it is what made almost everyone sick. Don't ever eat the buffet at the Excaliber. It was horrible. The next meal was dinner at what will forever be refered to as the "Ho." Its the Westward Ho, and they have a little cafe which has some truly fantastic Chicken Wings. I have not had better since I was in Reno eating at Bully's. I wish I knew how they got them to be so damn crispy.

We did end up eating a couple of pretty good meals too. The Dinner that Tara and I had together was quite good if not a bit over priced, but the drinks there sucked. It was a little place in the Alladin, the Chicken Franchese was good, but wasn't spectacular, but they had a happy hour and were doing two from one Drinks, which was nice, but they brought them both at the same time, which was dumb. Our best meal was our last one. We had breakfast at the Venitian. It was awesome, I had steak and eggs and the best orange juice I have ever had. Tara said the pancakes were wonderful, but the english muffins were GREAT!!!!!!

"THE" Poker Room

This is just a picture of the poker room in the best place to play boker ever. Its where they hold the World Series of Poker. It was really cool to see it, but what a dumpy casino!

Jen Scaffidi

Last night Tara and I went to see a good friend of mine perform at the Queen Bean in Modesto, CA. She did not dissapoint. If you ever hear of Jen Scaffidi (www.jenscaffidi.com) performing in your town, I highly suggest that you head over there toot sweet.

She is very Liz Phair/Anni DeFranco esque. And she is wonderful with a crowd. There was not much of a crowd there last night, but I will admit that those who were there she comanded with a force unknown to most.

The opening performers were not bad, in fact the first lady played a beautiful love song, that I wish I could get a hold of, but alas, I am not even sure there is a recording of that song. The next person to perform was a male, and the only way that I can think to describe him is this: Johnny Cash with a whole lot of Methamphetemines and his testicles in a vice. He was funny, but looked way too overexcited while on stage. Still it was entertaining enough.

Once again please check out Jen if you ever see her coming to your town. She is currently on her way to Washington and Oregon, try to catch her, she is going to be big some day.

Kings A Lot Warrios A Little

I never meant for this blog to become a log of my visits to sporting events. But it has turned out to be as such almost. I hope to be posting more soon. I have just been so busy and have not been taking many pictures. All well.

It was a fun game. We were luck and had prepaid parking, and got a space right by the exit. It sure didn't take us long to get out of there. Not like the debacle at the 49er game. Arco at least provides you with alternate routes out of the arena.

The seats weren't great, but it was still fun to see people play ball. It has been since last season since we had been to a game. We are really excited about the season, probably Tara more than I, because her kings will probably be much better than the Jazz. Still we will probably hit more Kings games than Jazz games. It will all depend on where we end up next spring. I will keep you all posted.

Why there should be no instant replay in Baseball

The reason that baseball is such a wonderful sport, why it has captivated people for over a century is simple. It is like life, fraught with errors. Last night's call that put A.J. Pierzynski on first base after a strike out, may not have been the correct call, but it was the call that the man behind the plate made.

The game is given to human foibals, for which I am greatful. Without the human aspect I think we could end up losing sight of just why this sport is so spectacular, and fun to talk about. Everyone everywhere knows about this call. It will end up being an incredibly controversal call, like the immaculate reception. In today's world of instant replay's there could never be another call like it. The referee's that make every other call, made the call. Maybe they were right, maybe they were wrong, but the fact that we allow them to make mistakes makes this game truly beautiful

49ers 3 Colts 28

Well, it wasn't close, but it was fun. Of course no one in the stadium even gave the 49ers a fighting chance, and rightfully so. We had a rookie QuarterBack playing in his first NFL start ever, against a QB who may well turn out to be the best one to ever play.

Alex Smith, the aforementioned QB for the 49ers, definatly has a lot of learning to do. After 4 Interceptions, and one fumble lost, he is not anyone that I would recomend anyone take on a fantasy team any time soon. I don't know if he needs a better QB coach or what, but the kid definatly has some real learning to do.

Peyton did not have his best game ever, in fact he was sacked for the first time all year, and he threw 2 interceptions. Not the best day, but he still managed to lead his team to victory. It wasn't much of a contest, though it was close all the way till about 6 min left in the 4th quarter. Reguardless of the score Tara and I had a wonderful time (aside from the traffic, which is another blog entry on its own). Tara got to go to her first ever football game and though it was much hotter than we could have ever thought it would be and the team we were both rooting for didn't stand a chance, it was fun. And the seats were INCREDIBLE. Right on the 45 yard line, you could read the name on the back of every jersy, I probably won't ever again have tickets that good so we were happy to sweat it out, and my face was also pleased to have a burn on the left side from sitting in a much more swealtering heat than we could have ever immagined.

What a Time!

Well, if you are not a Baseball fan, then you just can't appreciate what is going on in the beliegard NL West. It is a dumpy division, the winner of the division will not finish with a winning record (at least I hope not). But what is happening right now between the Giants and the Padre's is truly invigorating and fun to watch.

Last night a game tying tripple by, one of our new favorite Giants; Randy Winn; a go ahead single by one of the most beloved Giants of all time J.T. Snow. It was great. Even though I feel like death warmed over, i screamed at the top of my lungs when Winn got his Tripple. I think I might have scared Tara, but still. She screamed too. It was quite awesome to see this game.

I am so lucky to have Tara here to watch this amazing race play out. She is a real fan. We might be going to the game on Sunday, if there is still a race to be talked about, and of course if there are tickets available. Still. If you like sports, if you love Baseball, even if you don't start watching grown men play. Its a way to escape from the dulldrums of everyday life. This could be one of the most exciting combacks in baseball history. Lets GOOOOOO GIANTS!!!!!

Giants 2 Dodgers 1

Went to the best ballpark in Baseball on Saturday. We went to watch the Giants play the Dodgers. It was one heck of a Game. Even though Barry Bonds didn't play, the giants still put on one heck of a show. Jason Schmidt pitched for the Giants and as usual, he did a great job, though it was stressful, again usual for Schmitty.

It was one of the best baseball games that I have ever seen, including a blown homerun call by the umpires, which gave the Giants a 4 to 1 lead, which was actually corrected, and Ray Durham ended up grounding out instead. but man what a shot, it was foul which was incredibly obvious from where we were sitting. It was ruled a home run by the home plate umpire. But later reversed after the umpire's had a conference.

It was an emotional win for the Giants who one the game in the bottom of the 8th inning on a single by Omar Vizquel, who drove in Dan Ortmier (a rookie only up for a few days now). We were all thrilled to be able to see the game and to see the Giants go a game ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West. Only 5.5 games behind the leading Padre's who have been colapsing over and over, and we can only hope that their late night heroics last night are not going to continue.

Exciting Time . . .

Ok, so I put this up just to spite Brian, I mean yeah, he has a 27Mb connection at his school, but this is from home d00d, eat my high speed dust!. HEHE, just kidding. I jest because I find myself in a rather good mood. It is quite a time to be awake and alive. This is quickly becoming my favorite time of year.

Baseball is getting extreemly exciting, and even though I know that the Giants winning the NL West is a long shot, and probably will never happen this year, it is still exciting with Barry Bonds back in the line-up. They are starting to win games that they should win, and are competing and you never know with baseball. Once you get the best player in baseball back on your team, good things can most certainly happen. We have games against the dodgers, and Padre's comin up. If we can take the majority of them, we could still make this happen.

Why would I speak of myself along with the Giants in the first person (or second whatever), its simple. I am a fan. Baseball is for fans, and I am a HUGE giants fan, as you will notice from my previous post about the best present ever (My Personalized Giants Jersey, thanks again Tara, you RULE!). This saturday I will get to sport that thing in the most public of places, SBC park in San Francisco, where we will be watching Barry Bonds and the Giants take on the Los Angeles Dodgers, and beating the living snot out of them. Man, I love this time of year.

Not to mention the fact that Football has just started, and the 49ERS don't seem to be as horrifying as they were last year. Its pretty spiffy acutally, they beat the Rams in week one, which may not say too much about them as far as the whole season goes, but I really do think they have a chance to win a lot more games this year. They have a very improved Dfence and their offence actually looks like it could score some points.

I am also in a Fantasy leauge again this year, and its quite fun. Though I will admit that my pics left me a bit upset at their poor performance in week one, I mean who thought Bret Favre would only get me 13.5 points. Well there is always next week, the season isn't over yet.

Tara is even more beautiful than ever, and our plans for moving are coming together. It still won't be till next year, but still our plans are forming and we think it will be a good move for us. It will be hard and challenging, but I think it will be completely worth it. I will be able to get out of debt soon, it will also be a trying process, but somthing I am sure I can do with the support of my beauty.

I suppose that is all for now, and by the way Brian pbtpbtpbtpbtpbt!!!!! I have more bandwidth than you! See you on Saturday.

Headache

I have had this stinkin headache now for like two weeks. The stupid thing just won't go away. I don't know if it is from the fact that the weather is changing or what. But I have not felt myself for a while, and I feel like its hurting my relationship. I am lucky to have Tara in my life. She has been so incredible and understanding. I don't know how I ever got along without her.

I wish that I wasn't so tired after work everyday, and that I could get into a normal set work week, it would really help me out having time to eat everyday, at the same time. I don't think my body likes me screwing with it so much.

Yesterday at work, I had trouble standing up, I felt dizzy all day. They asked me if I wanted to go home, but I don't go home. I work, I hate calling in sick. I just want to do the best that I can always. I want to prove to them that I am willing to do what it takes to get the job done, even if I have to do things no one else is willing to do.

I just want to be able to move to full time and hopefully transfer to Indiana. Tara and I have been talking alot about that lately. We think it will be a good place to raise a family, and for us to be able to have closer ties with her Brother Jason, who I am yet to meet, but will on October 22nd when we fly to Vegas.

Katrina

I know that there are not a lot of people who read this blog, and I suppose that is ok. I just have to get this off my chest and hope that somehow people will find it and read it. Because of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of people are displaced, away from their homes, and families, hundreds of people are dead, many people are missing, there are people searching everywhere for family and friends.

I have no information on that. I do know that we as the human race need to get off our collective behinds and do something. I am disgusted when I hear that there are people in LA tearing the place apart, looing anything and everything they can get their hands on. These people need to be helping, not hurting the situation. Families are no longer able to talk to each other. How on earth could anyone ever capitalize on the horrible situation that has befallen everyone there. This is a time for selflessness, not selfishness. Anyone who has been looting, should be put in prison. I know it will not do any good, but the things they are stealing belong to someone, someone who worked hard their whole lives to get the few things that have. These poor people have nothing else, many people were so poor they could not even leave (see www.eosisms.com for more details and first hand accounts). Please if you have been looting, or know someone who has been looting, convince them to return it, or return the stolen good yourself. You have no right to the things that you have taken, because you did not earn them.

There are few situations that I can understand, if you are there with your families, please by all means get the bread and food that you need if it is accessible, but keep track of all you take, and pay them back. Someone depends on those things just as you depend on the food. We are a good people at heart, I would love to think that the people of this country, and this world understand that basic human nature is not to turn to evil, and steal, but to help those that are less fortunate than we. If there is anything anyone can do please leave a comment with informaiton on how we can all help.

Lets prove that we are a good nation, not people who need to steal, but people who want desperatly to help one another.

Tom Petty

Last night we went to the Greek Theater in Berkeley, CA. It was quite a drive, but I must admit that it was completely worth it. I have never been a huge Tom Petty fan, in the past. I am affraid that will just have to change. After seeing him live I can completely understand how they can have been around for 30 years together.

The comoradory on the stage is astounding. I was very surprised to see older gentlemen, all came out wearing jackets, or sport coats if you will. They all seemed to be very interested in what they were donig. They all seem to love the music. I will say that thier music, at least live, is what all of Rock and Roll should aspire to be. The show does not rely on astounding special effects, fire, or any big to do on stage, they rely on the music, which I must say they seem to have mastered.

The man who plays the piano is incredible. I have never seen anyone who had such a mastry of the keys, of sound. The lead guitarist was also very gifted. The solo's that they performed were incredible. I must say that if you were not to see them live you may never truly appreciate what they are all about. I don't think you can get a true impression of them without being there.

Through the cloud of smoke the music prevailed, and I for one am thrilled that I had the opportunity to attend such an amazing show.

The Black Crows were the opening band, and they were very good, though they seemed as if they were stuck in 1972, which is very possible since it is the type of music that they play. They were not nearly as diverse as Tom Petty who played songs that could have been played by Elvis, something that Aerosmith would have been proud of and of course his own brand of incredible . . . Well, its Rock and Roll, it isn't rock, not like Metallica, or anything hard like that, but what Rock and Roll was meant to be. It is a true appreciation of the music that they play. They just loved playing, and they loved the crowd. If you ever have a chance to see them JUMP at it, and let yourself free fall out into nothing. . .

Lights are fun

This here is my new keyboard. Its rather nice. I must admit when I first saw these types of keyboards on ThinkGeek, I was impressed and very excited about someday being able to save up enough money to get one.

Turns out that they are not the only place you can get them. I found mine at PC Club, my new work. It is nicer than I thought it would be, because I thought that I really would end up with a normal keyboard that has some LED's in it, but this turned out to be a killer keyboard.

For those of you who know about my love of laptop keyboards you will understand this a bit better. Its got a nice short throw like laptop keyboards do. A bit more stiff than my old Gateway Solo 5300 (may it find tranquilty in Japan). Which I like a lot because it feels more stable. Plus it will be great when I get to work on my iMac. It's a USB keyboard so I should be able to use it on the iMac with no problems, but that is also a downside to the keyboard.

Having only USB connections makes it difficult to get into the BIOS on my system or even to get into safe mode. No updates for my board to allow me to use a USB keyboard to enter those parts of my system. It is ok, though and I will be able to make due. I still have other keyboards that have ruddy old PS2 connections.

All in all I must admit that this keyboard is better than I could have hoped, and not to mention the fact that its less than half the price that it was when I first found them on ThinkGeek. Consider me one happy geek boy!

Yum

This is a rather interesting looking bottle. I found it while walking through Cost Plus World Market, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite stores. Part of the reason is because they have all sorts of asian house decorations, another is the fantastic food they have there, and of course the fact that I can walk over there from work on my lunch hours is GREAT!!!!!

Employment!

Well, it happened. I got a job. I didn't get the one that I interviewed for the other day with the Keyes Elementary School District, but at least I can now say that I have a job. It don't pay what I want it to, but at least its got my foot in the door.

I think this could be the start of something wonderful, I know that I can impress them with my work ethic, if I remember what work is, just kidding. Still 4 months without having a real job is gonna make the transition difficult, but at least I get a discount.

I work for a company called PC Club, they are the 6th largest PC retailer in the country and hopefully they will continue to grow. I am hoping that I will be able to help them grow, and that I will be able to learn a great deal from working there. Also since its a part time thing, I think I will be devoting a lot of my time and money to taking the Microsoft Exams, within the next year I hope to be a full MCSE.

Nerves

Yup that is me. I am all ready for my job interview today with the Keyes Elementary School. The position is for a Media Technician/Computer Services. From what I read about the position it sounds like a great job. I am hoping that my hours of preperation have paid off. I didn't sleep too well last night cause I couldn't stop thinking about what I should say, how can I prove to these people that I really do want to be able to do the job.

I guess it really got me thinking about what I want to do with mylife. I am sure that if I wanted to I could get a job that would pay a lot more than a school is willing to pay, and I could probably also get a less stressful job, but then I realized that there were so many teachers that helped me learn, and more importantly love to learn, that I want to give back. I want to work with children, I want to use my talents to help them. I am 27 years old, and I think I just figured out what I want to do. I want to help make this world better. Since I am a computer geek, I figure that the best thing that I can do is to work with schools and try as hard as I can everyday to make their jobs, as teachers, administrators, and students easier.

Isn't that what computers were designed to do in the first place, make life easier? I thought that is what they wanted to do when they first started working on them. I know that most people think that they are a headache and that working on computers only causes more stress in their life, but can you imagine if you had to had write all this stuph all the time? Wouldn't that be a pain? I hope that I will be able to find a job that I will be able to really help children. I want them to love to learn, I want them to thirst for knowledge.

I don't know if I will have to go back to school to finish getting a degree or what, but I will do what I have to, if I have to do school online or at night I will if I can. I want to make sure students and teachers have an easier go of things so that the future of our country will be a bright and wonderful one. (WOW I sound cheesey, but its true!)

Things in my head

Its strange, this morning I woke up with a terrible headache. I didn't geel well at all last night, not from my head hurting but I just wasn't hungry. So I never ate anything, and now I am wondering if that is why my head hurt so much this morning. I am not sure that was the cause of it, but as the day progressed my head got worse and worse.

It was an extreemly uncomfortable situation that I was in. I recomend to anyone who can avoid it, don't screw around with a migrane. By the time I was driving home from the Auto Shop, where we just spend 270 bucks on getting an O2 sensor looked at and replaced, my right eye almost did nothing, I could hardly see out of it, and it was watering something fierce.

I really hope that the job interview that I have on Monday helps me work some things out financially, because I need income, and I need to get some health insurance. It will be very stressful week if I get the job, seeing as how we are going to have to buy a car so that we can both get to work. Tara will probalby drive the Tundra, and I will drive the Tercell, its a good little car that gets great gas mileage, and my commute will be 2 times as long as hers.

I am certainly hoping that we will be able to get me work. Please everyone keep good thoughts in your heads as I go to this interview.

My Favorite Saying

I know I watch Mythbusters a lot, and well it has given me a new favorite saying!

"Whatever you do don't try exploding decapitation, by means of hair care products at home"

I am telling you again, this is the coolest show, I love it, so much to learn, and so much fun if only I could find a way to do that for a living!

Harry Potter

Well, I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone and I must admit, that I do now see what all the fuss was about. I have seen the movies, and perhaps it helped with some of the imagry, like fluffy, but really there is nothing at all like the imagination. A persons mind can truly make things come to life. I am very impressed with the way this book is written. I can see why J.K. Rowling has such an incredible following.

Her story's are well thought out, engaging and well, fun. Her characters are lovable, believable and detailed enough so that you really understand why they act the way that they do. I will also say this. I have a new found appreciation for the public library system. Without having found Tara I would have not been able to read all the books that I have in the past few months. I feel that most of us completely underuse the public libraries. I mean we all pay for them with our taxes, but so few of us use them. They are wonderful institutions, that offer a wonderful service, they let you learn, for FREE, yes people FREE. Will Hunting wasn't kidding when he said "I won't have wasted a hundred and fifty thousand dollars on an education that I could have gotten for a dollar fifty at the public library." So please EVERYONE read, its good for you, its good for your brain!

UPDATE:
UPDATE! I have since finished the second book (Chamber of Secrets) and am nearly done with the third book (Prisioner of Azkaban), and have therefore checked out the fourth book (Goblet of Fire) and I would like to say something to Mrs. J.K. Rowlings: COME ON!!!!!! you get all all hooked when we read the first three then you make the fourth book over 700 pages! That is just crazieness!!!!! Still I look forward to reading the book more.

County Fair

This is Tara and I at the Stanislaus County Fair. It was great fun. We saw one of those old style photo booths, and decided we should give it a go! We got some nifty photo's and I must admit, this is definatly my favorite. I was just leaning in to tell her something when the flash went off, and the picture came out so very well. The others are nice too, and you can see them at my flickr site.

I must admit that the main reason that we went was to eat corndogs, and funnel cakes, which we didn't even eat. We each had a corn dog, and we each had a caramel apple. Quite delicious, though not as good as the ones that I make myself. I will have to make some for Tara when the time is better in the fall and the right apples are available.

We also got to see a bunch of animals, and for anyone that knows me that is a big deal to me. We saw some goats called La Mancha, they looked funny because it seemed like they had no ears, but they just turned out to be very small. But those goats, man alive were they friendly. They would walk right up to the side of the pens and stick their heads through so that you would pet them, then they would just stay right next to you while you scratch them. Very cute little things. I dont' yet know if they will give decent milk or not, but I am hoping that someday we can have a small farm and make our own goat cheese.

D00rky D00r Lock

ok, ok, ok. Before you read this you MUST know that I am a HUGE geek. Giant, if its electronic and cool, I will either have it or want it, unless it sux. Well, this does not SUCK! What is it you might ask? Well its a RFID Digital Door Lock. Its like the security badges that you have when you work for a bigger company.

Pretty sweet. I would check out the details of the thing and read about it if I were you. I must say it looks rather impressive.

My New Desktop

Thanks to my buddy Brian, I have an all new desktop. All of those spiffy little "widgets" that you see are part of a killller program called Konfabulator! so basically what you are seeing is what OSX Tiger has implimented called the Dashboard.

It gives you a whole slew (i have been waiting a long time to get "slew" into a post) of downloadable widgets. At present time I have a to do list, a weather one, a clock, a Simpsons Quoter, a power button, and of course a mini ip reader.

They have all provided me with some helpful information, and i hope that I will be able to find more of them that are pertinant to what I do on a daily basis. I highly recomend that you download the program and play with it as much as you can!

Santa Cruz

This picture was taken while walking on the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, CA. It was after a long day of cruizin up and down the boardwalk. It really was a great day. Tara and I went to celebrate 5 months together. I am still lucky to have her in my life.

She will tell you the picture is terrible, but I would disagree. We found a place that sells Salt Water Taffy, its really good. And we got me some new Reef Sandlals. If you don't know what they are then man you gotta get yourself a pair. They are the most comfortable sandals in the world! Squishy and the last pair that I had I had for over 8 years. Well worth the 21.95 they cost at a shop on the boardwalk.

OH D00d this is Awesome!

I must be the luckiest person on the face of the freakin planet! Check out what I got for my 5 month anniversary present. Its the Giants Batting practice jersy, that is personallized. Its got my number and my name on it. This lady that I have is truly incredible.

In case ya'll didn't know I am a huge baseball fan. I love the Giants, even though they are not having the best of seasons right now. It will be great if they were doing better, but I will always be a fan. I showed Tara that I liked the jersey cause it matched my hat that I bought a couple of years ago when the Giants were in the Playoff's. I bought it as a lucky hat, which hasn't worked yet, but of course it nabbed me her, and she thinks I look cute in it.

This may be one of the best presents that I have ever recieved. Not just because of what it is, which puts it pretty damn high up there, but also because of the thought that went into it. She cares so much. I am honored, and this will be the outfit I wear to the Giants v Dodgers game in September! D00d this just rules!

The Answer, and more. . .

As I am sure most of you know, the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42. It just so hapens that my new address is 42. Let me tell you something that ROCKS! It isn't just because its from a horrifying movie that was a bit of a discrace to all those who have read Sir Douglas's books, but because its about freakin time that I found it.

Just to the left of that numbered sign resides the most incredible woman that I have ever met. Truly the answer to everything that I had been searching for before this. What a killer coincidence.

Dream Job

I don't know how many of you have acutally seen this show or not, but it is quite amazing. Its on the Discovery Channel and its called MythBusters. Basically its a couple of guys who used to do special effects for a living, who had too much free time on thier hands. They find out a myth, and try to bust it.

Everything from Finding a Needle in a Haystack, to leaving a pilot light on when doing a roach bomb. These guys get to blow things up, play with heavy machinery and then blow up the heavy machinery. It really does look like a dream job for a geek. If you haven't seen the show yet, you really should give it a chance!

Plates

Ok, so I was at CostPlus World Importers and they had these plates. They are freakin awesome looking. I have absoluetly no idea what they mean or anything, but man they are awesome. I hope that someday we can afford them, but 8 bucks a plate seems a little much.

I suppose I should ask my parents to bring me something like these from Japan. I hope they have something like it there, who knows. I can only hope, but they have lots of them at CostPlus, they are cool as hell, white ones, black ones, all sorts of different shapes and sizes, bowls everything. I am hooked! I love that place.

Not even to mention the 1/2 hour I spent in the beer section, just looking and reading labels, but that is a different story for a different time.

Boating Hurts

Let me tell you something. Boating is fun. Boating is exciting, Boating HURTS! We went out to Lake Don Pedro on Sunday the 3rd of July, and rode around on a boat for hours and hours. It was great fun, and turned out to be a grand adventure.

We started early in the morning, had no troubles launching the thing, got out going and swam a bit. Then we decided to get our friend Shannon out on her WaterSki. Took us a few times, but we really got her going for a while. It was a lot of fun. Then we took Savannah out on the tube, with me and Tara, then Tara went by herself, then me.

Here is a small piece of advice. Don't sit in an innertube. Just hold on. If you sit on an innertube, and are a boy, its like you are basicallly sitting directly on the water. Just a thin film of canvas separating your most precious of parts from the harsness that is the water. Plus I got dumped on my head. My ears still feel weird.

Eventually we stopped and had something to eat. Mostly because the engine wouldn't start. We waited about an hour and tried again, no luck. We ended up floating toward a house boat. The people on it were very nice. Helped us figure out how to use the trolling motor. We took off at the amazing speed of 3 miles per hour. 2 hours later, the steering on the troll went out. I had to manually steer the thing as it was loosing power, we did manage to flag some people down who were nice enough to tow us to a dock. We had to wait at the dock for a couple more hours while we got the truck over to pull us out of the water.

Still, I am very glad that I went. No way to learn like Trial by Fire! I learned a lot that day. Sunscreen helps, but doesn't prevent everything, and man oh man am I sore!

Angie, my Bud!

Last night me and Tara got to hang out with the friend of ours that set us up. We are extreeemly grateful for that. It was a little wierd because it was the first time that she has seen us together since the first weekend that we met. But all was good. She spoiled Tara more than I do. Sheesh, who know someone needed that many clothes!

Its OK cause Tara deserves it. She brought her niece with her last night, what a darling little girl. Talks a bit, and the more you are around her the more you understand. What seemed strange though is how facinated with the candle that Tara keeps in the bathroom. It was lit, and all the little one could say was "oooh light". She wanted everyone to go look at it and explain it to her. We were all tired and didn't really want to get up so that she could walk us up the stairs.

Still the whole point of this post, was simple. It looks like to me Angie is ready to hvae little ones of her own. I guess she has been spending a lot of time with her Brother's kids. But she is very caring, and has a watchful eye that I have not seen in her before. I know she wants to have them. Maybe she is more ready than she thinks?

Happy Birthday Tara!

On the 27th of June 1980, this beautiful woman next to me, was born. She is quite possibly the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am greateful everyday to have her in my life, even if I don't show her as much as I should. I try.

We had some friends of her's over and had some good food, at least people told me it was good. Pulled Pork, Macaroni Salad, Fruit Salad, some spicy beans, and of course, Birthday Cake.

I got her some Diamond Earrings that she said she wanted, I hope that she really likes them. I miss her. I hope she enjoyed hersel and that she will keep me around for a little longer. Happy Birthday Baby!

Mr. and Mrs. Brian Hardie

Well, people my best friend just got married. Just want to give a quick congratulations to Brian and Janet, or Mr. and Mrs. Hardie if you were.

It was a very nice ceremony, and I am sure that the two of them will be happy for years to come. She has made him a better person, someone who is extreemly confident in himself and who knows what he wants from life.

I am proud of you Brian.

Sexiest Thing EVER!

Most of you are going to think that I am crazy for writing this, but one thing is for sure. My brother will appreciate it and anyone who truly loves the greatest sport ever created will also understand.

Last night Tara and I were watching the Chicago WhiteSox and Los Angeles Dodgers Game on ESPN during comercials of the NBA Finals. Now Tara is a die hard Giants fan, as she should be, and hates the Dodgers as any pure blood Giants fan would, but she really has no stock whatsoever in the WhiteSox, I however have been a fan of theirs for some time, so I figured she was letting me stay on the channel to be nice.

It was the bottom of the 8th inning (they were playing in Chicago) and the Damn Dodgers were up 3 to 2. Dodgers walked the lead off man, and had botched a sacrifice bunt play, when Hee Sop Choi didn't do what he was supposed to and got in the way of the throw to first base where Jeff Kent was covering. They called him safe, which was the wrong call as the replay clearly showed Jeff Kent had his foot on the bag.

So what does the best team in all of Baseball do in that situation? They try to execute another sacrifice bunt. To most casual fans, this is not the most elegant nor entertaining thing to watch. I figured the NBA game was going to be back on, and it was a close hard fought game, so I switched it back. Big deal you say? Well here comes the sexy part. Tara told me to turn it back! She wanted to watch the Sac Bunt! Man she is just awesome! They ended up doing a perfect job and scoring both runners that they moved over to win the game 4 to 3. It was a WONDERFUL night!

Fishing!

Well, I didn't get to do a whole lot of camping. We stayed for two nights in one of the most beautiful camping area's that I have ever seen. It was fantastic. We went hiking and we sat around and did nothing, I read more of the Davinci Code (Great Book), and as you can see I did a little bit of Fishin.

I didn't have my own Pole so Gary let me use his pole. Went out at 10:45am, and this picture was taking about 11:35. I caught 5 Fish in less than an hour. The funny thing about all this is that I had not been fishing for years. I can't really remember the last time. It took me a bit to remember how to cast. Once I did, though I was hooked. Acutally the fish was, on my first real decent cast. Brought in a nice rainbow trout. I think they all were rainbows. And let me tell you they taste fantastic!

Unfortunatly the rain came later that evening. Just as it started to drizzle I built a one match fire. It was great. I remembered everything about starting a fire. Had that sucker blazing till 10 that night. No lighter fluid, just one simple kleenex. A used one even. And lots of kindling. Love being a boy scout.

The kid with me in the picture is Ryan. He is 14 and it is sad to say that the big fish in the picture is his. At least we both caught our limit and we had a great time. The river was flowing probably 2 or 3 times as big as it normally is. Tara took me out to her favorite spot out there and it was almost completely covered. It was like looking at white caps as far as the eye could see. Would have been fun on a Kayak, but extreemly dangerous. Tara said they used to set their chairs in the middle of the river and just relax all day. Didn't happen this time. We are at over 150% of snow pack this year in Tahoe and the sierra. That is just some places, I saw some numbers that said that the snow pack was over 200% of what is needed. So the river was overflowing.

Overall, a fantastic trip. We woke up early on Friday to find ourselved sleeping in a puddle though. It was very unfortunate. It rained all night long. Tara and I came home friday. It was fun, and we enjoyed ourselved. We were even going to celebrate our anniversary this weekend, but are unable to do so, because right after we got back Tara threw out her back. She is still in bed in extreeme pain. Took her to the Hospital yesterday. She is on Vicodin and Flexoril, but I am sure she will be fine in a few days. What a lousy way to spend her long weekend though.

More to come!

Time for Change?

Ok, so I sit around a lot and I think. I have come to realize that this entire system is broken. Sure that isn't new for anyone to hear. A lot of people think so. I have just been thinking about it a lot lately. It seems like no matter what the people do it doesn't make a difference in the way things work.

I don't know if there is a way that it can be changed, but the people who make the laws no longer listen to the people who have them enforced upon them. We are no longer able to make drastic changes. California's Government needs to be changed, they spend too much money, hey wait doesn't every government here? Oh yeah its all the same. No matter where you live in this country you are always going to find people who think that the government is terrible. No matter what.

If we thought that there ever was a time when everyone thought that we had it right, then there would never have been a Civil War. Sure we all think Abe Lincoln was a revolutionary, one of the greatest leaders this country has ever had, but such was not the case during his life. I mean the man was shot, because he changed what we all (at least I hope we all) feel is one of the most unjust and wrong things that ever happened.

So how do we change the system that we all feel is so corrupt? What would Abe Lincoln have done? Can we rely on anyone to help make change? It isn't fair that I can't think of a single person alive that could acutally make change. Sad isn't it.

I live in Cali, so I see stupid comercials all the time. The Governator wants everything changed, right? He wants a new political system. At least he wants to reform the one we have. But why? Do you really think he wants it because it would be better for you and for me? Hell no, he wants it because it would be better for him. It would further his political carreer. We need change because it would acutally be good for the people in this country, this state, this house! (that means your house, not just mine). If anyone has any ideas how we can make this place better, let me know, but don't just let me know, let everyone know.

We have the power to at least be heard. Thanks to the internet, this wonderful mass media that isn't controlled by ANYONE, we control it by what we read, what we look at and what we decide to pay for.

Camping

Today we leave for Pinecrest, CA it should be a blast. Fishing, camping, fire, beer, all good things. I won't be posting while I am gone, but I should have some killer pictures for ya'll when I get back.

Tara

Not the best picture ever taken of her, but still. She is amazing. I am extreemly luck to have found her and I can't wait to spend more time with her. She treats me different than anyone ever. She has so much geniune concern for my well being it astounds me every day.

Long Horn Background

I just found this little app. Its a 19MB download, that totally fucks with your windows system files. So much so that it allows you to use your own themes, its about time MICROSOFT! We love you but come on you put the support in for themes, but made it nearly impossible for people to theme their desktops for free, unless they took the time to manually edit the system files.

I have been VERY impressed with it so far. The picture you see is simply my desktop the way it is setup now. I wasn't sure that I would like the sidebar that Longhorn is going to bring in, but so far it isn't too bad. I wish this one allowed for as much customization as some others that I have tried.

If anyone knows where I can get an acutal downloadable beta of Longhorn let me know. I am dying try it out. I have lots of free time right now. Hopefully that will change soon.

A Friends Wedding

Tara took this picture of me at a wedding it was fun, but damn it was hot.

Let me tell you this though, one of the cutest things that I have ever seen happen to me personally happened to me there. I was outright refusing to dance, cause really I can’t, and Savannah (a friends 4 year old daughter) walked up to me and said:

“Would you like to dance?”

How do you turn that down?

Speakers

Photo_#17.jpg

You know my speakers rock. I just wanted to get something here that spoke to the way I love my music, you might not agree with my choice in music, but baby its mine, All MINE! Really this was all just an excuse to play with my new setup. I should be sending photo's here all the time now. It may take me a while to update the postings and show you what they mean and where I were when I took em, but it should be fun, so come along for the ride, I am a big phat Dork!

Numero Uno

Its my first BLOG! well, its my first on here. I am hopefully going to keep this damn thing updated all the time.

I have not been sleeping lately. It has been driving me crazy, makes me feel like the days are lagging and that the past 2 days have taken eons to pass. I hope that this camping trip that we are taking tomorrow will make me feel at least a little better.

I mean, Beer, woods, fishing, chillin, no cell phone, no computers, no worries. Just fun. I hope.

I also found out some disturbing information yesterday. Turns out that my family reunionl, that I didn't go to, was quite eventful. My sister in law, Joan's neice died. She was on a hayride, in Sandy UT. She fell off and got run over. Then her family had to make the decision to take her off of life support the next day. She had no chance to survive, and the life support was only keeping her alive and in a great deal of pain.

Life can be extreemly strange.