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Goal of the Day.
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Goal of the day:
Become the best God damned PHP programmer ever.
First C, then C++, then Java, now JavaScript and PHP. I'm getting a little
overwhelmed, a...
12 years ago
31 December 2008
Christmas this year seemed laid back and exhausting at the same time. Maybe it was because I was still recovering from finals, or maybe it was due to the rainy weather. Regardless, there was just so much going on and flew by in a flash.
The entire family gathered at our house this year, with a new twist aimed at relieving the overwhelming nature of Christmas morning. Instead of all getting together and opening a mountain of presents under one tree, the many small, immediate families opened together at their own houses and then met at our house for dinner. Also, the adults only bought presents for the kids this year, nothing for each other. I was still considered a kid : ) I had a lot of fun seeing the family and hanging out with all the cousins every night.
Other than that, I pretty much just took it easy. Did some shopping, saw some movies, played some games. That's about it. I'm really looking forward to the New Year.
22 December 2008
Wow, it's been a long time since I updated my blog. So much has happened since the last real post and there's a lot to say, but I'll try and keep it as short as possible.
Last I checked in, I was on the trolley, on my way to take the last final and the biggest one of the semester. School is the reason why I haven't blogged in so long, so I'll start with that. The two weeks leading up to finals were spent preparing for all six of them; making and reviewing flashcards, cheat sheets, and study guides. Lots of late nights and very little sleep. So much so that my body finally caved in and a got a little under the weather. Of course, I was able to bounce back in about 2 days thanks to apple cider vinegar and a lot of tea. Also, the burden on all the intense studying was a little lighter thanks to all the fun study sessions we had with so many different people and places. We all met at Starbucks, other coffee shops, and people's houses to get shit done and have fun at the same time. In the end, I did really well on all my finals and made sure I got through all my classes. I'm so close to graduating and I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. It's really exciting.
Now for the fun stuff. Thursday night after my FIN 323 final, I headed to Parkway Bowl to celebrate with the guys. Had some beer and played pool for a while. Chasing the feeling of victory and relief with Coors Light and Cope was one of the best feelings, followed by a burrito at Sombrero's. Not our first choice, but for some reason Santana's was closed : (. Watched some of The Office with Martin and Justyn, went for a run and finally got some sleep. Great way to start winter break '08.
On Friday, I banged out a productive day at work with nothing to distract me. I don't really like talking abut anything work-related, but it's actually kind of exciting. The boss and I are embarking on a new business venture in which I have to script, write, produce, and edit all of our marketing e-mails, websites, and movies. Oh and it's all done on Mac! Welcome to Final Cut. Anyway, i came home excited for the weekend and got in a good weight sesh before heading out to Fashion Valley with Chris, Martin and Eli. I bought some clothes for the next night and searched for someone to stick a hole in my lip. It was a no-go that night, but I lucked out and found a guy who would do it the next day for $21 because it was his birthday. Guess what age? So it was nice to eat one last NK at Del Taco without having metal scrape my teeth.
Saturday started with carpet cleaning at the Kowalski house. The plan was to be picked up by Chris and the guys to head over to Parkway to finish shopping. My family needed help however, so I had to drive all the way to El Cajon for a vacuum cleaner part, pick up Del Taco, drop it all off at home and then go back to the mall to meet everyone. I finally got there and changed my attire plans for the night, which I ended up liking more. After the mall, we stopped at Santana's to eat, although I didn't : (. Walked across the parking lot, climbed in the chair and got a metal rod stuck through my bottom left lip where the old one used to be. It didn't really hurt, although it's much thicker than the first one and the stud is a little more annoying than the ring. It's kind of growing on me, but once it heals, I'll find something better. After that, we got Justyn outfitted in his cowboy gear for the night, hit up Target and BevMo for the beverage of choice that night and returned to Santee for a rest.
The party wasn't starting until 9:00, so we all met in our formal gear and watched some Office at Justyn's to kill some time. Once we arrived, everything started a little slow until picking up and becoming a really fun night. We all did our shots of 151, some more than others, and basically just enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere with friends. We also found a moment to sing happy birthday to Justyn and watch him have his first drink of alcohol. Way to go big boy. Oh and Martin, Justyn, Ruben, Scotty, and I all did flaming Dr. Peppers. That was cool. Once everything settled down, we cleaned up some and started to crash on the couch. I think. Actually, Justyn and I walked home. Except he didn't want to sleep so he went back to 7-11 to chill with some fine company and eat a 14 hour old hot dog. Happy birthday man.
Sunday was a very nice day as well. I woke up in time to watch the second half of the Chargers beating the Buccaneers in Tampa over at Kate's with Martin and Mike. Hurdle one done: beat Tampa Bay. Now, all we needed was a loss from Denver to Buffalo. So we went, picked up Justyn and ate at Oggi's while watching some of the game. good times, but it looked like Buffalo was going to fuck up once again. Once we left though, Buffalo somehow slowly pulled it off and ended up winning by a touchdown. Hurdle two down: Denver loss to Tampa Bay. Next week is going to be the most exciting football game of the year. Cannot wait. After that, I went home to help unload our Christmas tree. Very nice. After, I went over to Parkway for a private shopping sesh to get almost all of my gifts purchased and wrapped. I only need a few more things, but this is going to be a great Christmas and I'm excited to spend it with you all.
18 December 2008
Finally, the final final. And it's Finance, 323 to be specific. Since last night, I've been focused solely on this exam and nothing else in my life.
I need this to be my best one, and I'm riding the trolley to SDSU for the last time this year confident that it will be. I've noticed that the tests you actually look forward to taking are the ones you are most prepared for. And I cannot WAIT to take this thing.
My head is just laughing at my heart and saying "I told you so"...
09 December 2008
I just finished the Chapter 8 cheat sheet for FIN 323. Still have to do Chapter 10. Flashcards for IDS 483 and IDS 306 are done. I should get started in IDS 302 and maybe MGT 350.
Just finished my last IDS 483 assignment, due today, and MKTG 370 which is done but I don't have to submit for a few days.
Even though I'm incredibly busy, it's been fun.
08 December 2008
I think I'll keep this one short since we took it pretty easy this weekend. Everyone is busy preparing for finals, Christmas shopping, or just in anticipation of all the fun we're going to have during winter break.
Friday night we just lounged around finishing up Season 03 of The Office at Martin's. Kind of a good thing because we had to get shit done the next morning, although I did manage to stay up until 4 am talking on AIM and hanging out with the bros. Sounded like Justyn even eventually went to sleep around 6 because he was doing some hw. Damn bro, that's dedication.
Saturday Chris, Jusyn and I left around 11 to do some errands: return the projector to Office Depot, return the kegs to BevMo (I got them to waive all the cleaning and rental fees because the O ring on the winter lager tap broke : ), lunch at Arby's, then Guitar Center to cash in our free $10 we all got in the mail. After all that, meet up with Martin at the lab for a Saturday session. We ran through everything we know so far and then learned a new one. I think we have a good variety of genres in the music we're playing: some emo-sap pop rock, alternative, dance punk. I even plan on throwing in some classic but tasteful country-sounding stuff. This latest one is kind of gritty, with a drive that comes purely from how hard you strum the augmented, somewhat painful dischords on a clean guitar turned up really loud. No effects, just blood to muscle to impact to sound. After breaking for showers/dinner, we all headed up to attempt Christmas celebrating at Balboa, with a stop along the way at Macy's for Justyn's sweet new jacket. All of downtown was packed and we couldn't find a single space to park (or we just didn't want to drive around for very long looking). We decided to meet Flo at Grossmont to see 4 Christmases, which turned out to be less about Christmas and more about dysfunctionality. Not what we were looking for! Came home, played some game boards, grabbed some Yellow Shack and called it a night. Everyone went home to their cozy, warm beds ; )
Sunday was very unproductive. No Charger game, I woke up around 11 and didn't do much except play guitar until going back to sleep. I decided I should probably get some work done and I wanted to get out of the house so I went to Starbucks to study. Chris and Flo met me there and then we disbanded to our designated dinner assignments: Flo to 99 for family dinner time, Chris and I to Domo for Sushi Sunday with the crew. We all regrouped at Del Taco to help Justyn close up and then relocated to my dining room table for some cyber cafe studying. Fun, productive night.
This is the last week before finals. I have to finish all my preparations and start cramming the information in my head. On top of that, I have to finish my Christmas shopping and get something to wear to Kate's party. All work but very exciting.
04 December 2008
I think I'll layout my situation and strategy for December 4th thru December 18th. Here it is:
The week of finals is the 15th of December, six finals in 4 days (Monday-Thursday).
The test in each class requires a different method of study: flashcards (heavy memorization), cheat sheet (can be used on test), or study guide (lost of equations). Could also be a combination of two. Also, certain tests take priority over others based on amount of material to cover, current grade in the class, date of Final, or level of relevance to my career (i.e. do I give a shit about the material). Here are all six, top priority first:
FIN 323 - Cheat Sheet - Great class, but horrible Midterm 1 grade requires an A on both Midterm 2 and Final.
IDS 483 - Flashcards - Favorite class, tons of memorization, current grade must be sustained/improved
IDS 306 - Flashcards - Interesting, excellent project grade but weak Midterm 1 grade. Decent Final will clinch class.
IDS 302 - Flashcards, Study Guide - Awesome class, good current grade, just do well on Final.
MGT 350 - Cheat Sheet - Bullshit class, but I kind of need a good grade on the Final.
MKTG 370 - Flashcards - Another BSer and I have a solid grade so it gets lowest priority.
So I have the rest of this week and next week to prepare and study. Throw in a little extra time during finals week for late night cram sessions. As of now, I have all flashcards complete for IDS 483 and I should be finishing IDS 306 tonight. This weekend I hope to start on MGT 350 cheat sheet and maybe IDS 302 flashcards/study guide.
02 December 2008
I'm just sitting here listening to Wilco and, you know, I hope in another few years I'm not the same person I am today. I want to be completely different, more calm, less wide-eyed. I don't really think I can stop that from happening anyway, but it will be really beneficial. Strangely, I feel very at peace today.
For the next two weeks though, I need to really focus on school and avoid, or at least put-off for a while, any emotional baggage I'm carrying. There will be time for that, but I HAVE to get stuff done. And so do YOU ;)
01 December 2008
As many people know, it's been a wild last few days during the Thanksgiving holiday. Here's what went down:
It was a short week for my normal routine so my adventure started on Wednesday afternoon. I went to work and then routinely left for school only to find that quiet, deserted campus that comes around during holiday breaks. It was overcast and somewhat erie, but also ominous of the events that were to come. After turning in a networking assignment, the class was promptly dismissed and left me with an extra hour or so to kill. I ate some dinner and did a little studying, just to keep up during the break. School was even more quiet when I went to my 7:00 class, but we only lectured for about an hour and then the weekend finally began. My family was already on their way to the airport so I was stoked to come home to an empty house that would be my playground all weekend. I ended up playing Sims all night with Flo and left the initial preparations for Thanksgiving Day.
Thursday, Thanksgiving, I woke up and did a little work on the house, mostly tidying up, hiding the breakables, vacuuming, and ''boarding'' up the doors with blankets. Dinner at my aunt's house was at 3, so I went with Flo to get some groceries and such for Friday and then took a shower before heading over. The food was great and the atmosphere was low-key and laid back. Very enjoyable. When I returned home, the REAL adventure began. Martin and Justyn came over with the bar and we set it up in the kitchen, along with a well-lit beer pong stadium in the back yard. Chris came over after his Thanksgiving with all the mixers and bar accessories. It was beginning to look legit, especially with all the rope light we found (thanks Mom :) ). We settled down to watch a little Office Season 03, but Chris had to work so we stopped a little early. Justyn also had to get some C++ done, so he went home for a while leaving me and Martin. We were all planning on hitting up the doorbusters in the early morning with Flo, but we weren't sure when that would happen exactly. I don't think either of us felt like sleeping anyway so we just stayed up, chilling in the bar we created. I even went on a run to kill some time. After we both scoped out some of the lines forming around east county (both Santee and Parkway Best Buys and Office Depots), we met up with Justyn again, laptop in possession, to head to Best Buy at 5 am. At this point, I don't think any of us except Flo had been to sleep yet. Best Buy FAILED to offer me a projector, so we left for Office Depot and picked one up. Then we went to Parkway, shopped (bought some shoes), and stopped at McDonald's on the way home for McMuffins. After a quick disbandment, Justyn took us to get the kegs and liquor from BevMo. We brought them home, and rest of the day was full of final preparations, errands, sound and light checks, etc. The final calm before the storm was upon us and the ultimate explosion looming...
You'll notice no paragraph break between Thursday and most of Friday in the story above. This happens when fun replaces sleep. Friday night deserves its own section anyway.
If I do say so myself, we had a great setup at the party. Originally, I had wanted a large quantity of people, just to say the party got that big, but with everyone pitching in, quality prevailed in the end. It was really nice to see more friendly, familiar faces around than a bunch of random people. Elements I think turned out the best and made the party: the bar (with Chris at the helm), the beer pong stadium (glass table, awesome lighting, MGD keg), and the playlist w/ itunes visualizer (not repetitive, good variety, energetic yet sophisticated). There was such a warm feeling in that kitchen with everyone around, having drinks, baking pumpkin bread, etc. I loved it. Of course with alcohol comes the invitation for hot heads and swinging fists. Some moron with a fucked up head or too much to drink thought my house was his, but thanks to some great guys he wasn't able to kick in my door. I remember at one point really wanting all of the riff raff to leave and call it a night. But once it was just the Santee boys, I got a second wind and cranked the MGMT up. The goal then became to drink anything that Chris made and like it. I probably would have drank myself dead if Flo hadn't rescued me. A bunch of people helped clean up the kitchen and then took off to Denny's, but I must have passed out on the couch in exhaustion. Great night.
Chris and Martin cam to wake me up around 1 pm on Saturday. I fell asleep fully clothed, woke up, and just continued on as-was. We grabbed some Santana's, cleaned up a bit, jammed a little, then the crew came over to play pictionary and drain the keg. WAY fun.
Sunday, my mind was swimming with all that had taken place the last couple of days, but I felt pretty good and went to go meet with my 306 group to prepare our final presentation for Tuesday. Things went smoothly and the time seemed to fly by. Sometimes I don't realize how burnt out I get with all the work and school, and a long break really helps. When I finished, I drove around town returning unneeded party supplies before meeting everyone for a small sushi sunday. Weekend over, time to pick up the fam. from the airport. I think they all knew about the party, except my dad, and were really impressed at how clean the house was. My dad had a talk with me about how I should just be honest with him; he wouldn't really have minded me having a party if I just told him. I'll remember that.
So we all had our fun, now let's get our head back in the game and, as Bell would say, get shit done. School, work, music...I just have to say that life rocks right now, and on Valentines day we are going to have an album to tell you all about it. Only three weeks left in this fantastic semester. So get it done and we'll do it all again on December 20th, the official first day of Winter Break '08! Cannot wait.
24 November 2008
Looks like we drank little or no alcohol this weekend and still had a blast. Here's what we did:
Friday night broke my routine a bit as the pool was closed for maintenance and I couldn't do my after-work swim that gets the weekend off on the right foot. I had to settle for weights. Anyway, we met up at the Trolley Center for a Christmas lighting winter celebration. Well, what Santee, or Southern CA, can call winter. Not very impressive, but Chris won $20 bucks to Oggi's and Martin $50 to Jamba Juice. Two of my favorites, score! I was only there for about 15 minutes before we left and had dinner at Filipi's (Phil EE PEES?). It's new in Santee and honestly, the pizza SUCKED. It was a decent place, but I've heard the one in Little Italy is the real deal. Maybe we'll venture out there sometime, but I doubt we'll return to the one close to home. We spent a pretty quiet evening starting season 03 of The Office and called it quits pre-marathon status. Most of us had stuff to do the next morning.
Saturday I took off for school around 10:00 am to meet with my 306 group and it kind of fell through. But it was an easy task and I was glad to not have to stay there for more than an hour. Flo wanted to go shopping but then had other plans, so when I got home I just hung around until we could start recording for the day. We actually had to pick up some computer parts for the lab at Fry's, so we jammed a little first and then took off. We returned and only recorded part of the song, but it will be completed next weekend. After some convincing (a lot actually), Flo was down to go to Fashion Valley with me and Chris. I returned that awesome red jacket to GAP in favor if a black hoodie at H & M, which is more my style anyway. By the time we were ready to leave, we were all three pretty hungry. This led to the events of the rest of the night:
Nathan: "I say we go to Oggi's and redeem the crappy pizza from last night."
Chris: "Meh."
Flo: "No."
Nathan: ''Why don't we just go to Cotijas, we never go there anymore.
Chris: "I'm down."
Nathan: "You want Cotijas Flo?"
Flo: "No."
Nathan: "Well, what do you want Flo dear?"
Flo: "I want JJ's..." (in whiny princess voice)
PAUSE
Ok, so here's her first mistake. Suggesting something she wants, ASSUMING it can't or won't happen, as if WE are the ones who are not going to be down. Especially when it's such a fantastic idea. Learn from this mistake, Flo.
CONTINUE
Chris and Nathan: "OH FUCK YA, WE ARE GOING TO LA TONIGHT FOR JJ's! Great idea Flo, you rock!!"
Flo: ''We are NOT going to JJ's!" (in angry princess voice)
Chris: ''Think we're NOT!?''
Nathan: "Chris, call Martin and Justyn. Tell them to get Sheila and get ready to go. We're taking Summer."
Flo: ''This is totally impractical. I am not going."
Chris: "Oh, you're going. It's not even a question"
Flo: "Me and my big mouth..." (in relenting princess voice)
So of course, we all bolted for JJ's in Monterey Park. Watched some Office season 01, listened to music, etc. Food was expansive and delicious, and I think everyone except Flo ate until their stomachs screamed furiously.
Sunday was beautiful. Played some catch at the park for a while, started our dream house on The Sims, and then watched the Chargers lose a heart-breaker to Indy at Kate's. I went home and was all set to get a ton of HW done, but I ended up losing all of my energy and motivation so I just went on a run and called it a night. Great weekend though.
I guess I should also mention the party on Friday. See flyer.
20 November 2008
No doubt I just destroyed that midterm and got the score I'll so desperately need at the end of the semester. Feelin' dandy!
My finance midterm is in about 3 hours and I think I've done everything I can do to prepare for it. Man, it's a LOT of information to take in in one week and demonstrate I know in 2 hours. But like I said, I've actually enjoyed studying it and I plan to do well tonight. So after tonight, and a little group work this weekend, I'll be ready to really sit down and plan Black Friday. I want it to be huge.
18 November 2008
Just sitting in Marketing class and thought I'd do a G1 post. Basically, I have a huge midterm for Finance on Thursday. It's one of those important ones that I have to spend hours every night this week preparing for. Luckily, once I get started I get kind of excited about it and I really buckle down. The way I see it, regardless of what my test grade says, I've learned a ton and enjoyed doing it. That's not to say I don't want to do well. I'm gonna kick it's ass actually.
16 November 2008
So another eventful week and weekend has passed, time to reminisce.
On Friday morning, 12:01 AM, we all saw Quantum of Solace at Grossmont. It was alright, but Casino Royal seemed like the better of the two. After a few hours of sleep and a day of work, we gathered on Friday night to finish season two of The Office at Flo's. All the men drank redline and laughed until dawn. I left around 4:30 or so and went home, still with my chemically-fueled energy. I got some work done, watch a couple episodes of Entourage, then went on a Saturday morning run at around 5 to watch the sunrise. The cool thing was that it felt just as good as earlier in the week, except that it was Saturday and I didn't have any school or work when I got home. Great feeling!
I rested a bit and headed to Justyn's for another recording session. I don't think music has ever come so easily and I feel privileged that everyone is having fun playing these little tunes I come up with. After Santana's and a shower, we went to the new Henry's and bought some beer. I tried experimenting with ''monkey beer'' for Justyn, but it didn't turn out very well. I apologize. My mistake for the night was the peach rum (more on the effects of liquor on Nathan at the end of the post). I don't really remember much from Saturday so we'll just move on.
Sunday was Sunday. Ditched my group at SDSU in favor of taco shop with Flo and Chris. We grabbed our stuff and went to Kate's for the Charger game. Chris got duped and did not receive his veggie burrito, which was a major buzz kill on the enjoyment of my own machaca torta :( But, we moved on and watched the Chargers lose 11-10 in Pittsburgh. Shit's weak. After a nap with and a VERY weird dream, we all gathered one last time for sushi and called it a weekend.
So, what have I taken away from these experiences? Well, it's nothing I don't already know but something I HAVE to fix now. No more ignoring it. One: I can't drink hard alcohol anymore. It makes me sick, out of control, loud, and I can NEVER remember any of it. Something bad always happens and along with the hangover, the regret is too much to handle the next morning. So no more. Two: Anyone who knows me knows I can be an asshole a lot of the time. Luckily I have friends that can put up with it, but I don't want them to have to do it anymore. I never intend to come off this way or intentionally hurt anyone, but I have an aggressive nature that I developed for myself as a sort of defense mechanism. I realized that I don't need it anymore, so for all who I may have said anything hurtful too or rubbed them the wrong way, I apologize. New Years won't be here for another couple of months, but I'm starting my resolutions now. Nice guy in, bad boy out. Nathan 3.0 is here.
11 November 2008
This pretty much came out of left field, but we all stayed up until 5 am watching season 2 of The Office to celebrate Veterans Day. You know you have great friends when you can all get together on a Monday night, regardless of what everyone does or doesn't have to do the next day. Obviously, all are not capable of surviving an Office massacre. And I've even SEEN all of these episodes multiple times, but I never laughed as hard as I did watching it at 3 am this morning. Laughter is certainly a contagious disease.
Not to get all emotional (I know that's not what these blogs are for) and it's not really in me to express myself like this anyway, but I have to say life really feels good right now. It's definitely due to my friends and the experiences we share together, but also a change in my own attitude. I don't think anything can bring me down inside anymore: not school, not work, not relationships or family, it all seems insignificant now. More than anything, I just feel content with who I am and what I'm doing with the little time I have. Life is too short and too good to be wasting it worrying, fighting, crying, or even sleeping...
Yes, me and Justyn did our run at about 5:30 this morning after staying up all night. I'm not going to lie, we are champions of the night, and now the morning as well. My body felt really good too, light and strong in the early morning cold. By the time we made it up to the school and turned to head back east, the sun was starting to come up and illuminate the November sky. As many times as I've stayed up late enough to watch the sunrise in the morning, it's a whole different experience running towards it as it happens.
It's also a strange feeling when you can't tell when one day ends and the next begins. Sleep makes each 24 hour set so definable. But when you decide to just keep going you cross a certain threshold and make it into a whole new dimension. I wish I could remember all of the thoughts that went through my head while we ran, but I seem to have come down from that high and I wouldn't be able to accurately put it in print with the same effect anyway. I realized though that as much as I abuse my body, it will probably come back and destroy me later in life. Not really ME though, just the casing that houses me. My essence will always continue to grow, and I enjoy the tradeoff.
And so I'm now sitting at work and have typed everything that has already happened to me for November 11, 2008, Veterans Day, at 9:00 am while people are still rubbing sleep out of their eyes. What a life.
10 November 2008
Well, not really that manic but I do have a big midterm at 4. I do need to study hard before then, but I've already been taking a little time each day the past couple of weeks to review the material, which I usually don't do. Hopefully all goes well.
Very busy weekend. All the bullet points can be seen in Chris's post, but I'll go into detail on some of them. Friday was good clean fun (for most of us). Went for a swim at the Y. Almost got hooked up with Kim :/ Got some tapioca and chicken with Flo, Martin, and Chris. Mark had his birthday party and we all just hung out and played rock band inside all night. We then went to go look for ghosts with no success because there are no ghosts in Santee thanks to me. We discussed our progress with running and it seems like everyone is doing well and should be ready for this marathon in May.
Saturday morning we all awoke with no alcohol in our system for a change, which did make for a very productive day of writing and recording music. I consider myself more a technical musician, a fundamentalist if you will, but what little creativity I have seems to be flowing very easily right now. The biggest reason is that I'm just having fun with it and not over-thinking.
I finally got my Wing back! At this point, it felt like more of a relic but it's still very functional. I even rocked it Saturday night instead of the G1. After picking it up from Tran, we went to Fashion Valley and I spent too much on way sweet jackets. Did I buy the wrong color? I may have...
After a short discussion, we decided that after a night of sobriety, drinking was in order and would not break our stride. Chris consulted the G1 bartender and our drink for the night became the Green Demon. I don't really remember what it consists of exactly but it's a green shot with a very sweet after-taste. Along with Miller light, the fun was flowing all night until we caravanned for the taco shops. Justyn, Garrett and I went to Yellow Shack, the official mexican food of late night drunks. The rest went to posh Santana's and supposedly sang a ton of karaoke on the way. Our trip was more meditative and spiritual as we drove the rural back-roads of Santee in the early morning rain, thanks to Beck. Much cooler. When we got home, a small storm stirred up outside and made for an awesome late night/early morning atmosphere. Then bedtime.
On Sunday, the Chargers finally got a win against the Chiefs. Neither team played well, although the Chargers did play well enough to win by one point and the defense did show improvement under Rivera compared to the last few games. We watched it at Kate's house and ate enchiladas, which were awesome. Her dad is hilarious and all of her family is really cool. After a brief intermission, we met up again for Sushi and Iron Man. Good movie, especially on Blu-Ray and in spite of limited sound. I even got some studying done while watching it and ate some delicious kettle corn. Yay.
At 1:30 am, went for a pretty good run with Justyn, slept a few hours and now I'm writing this to try and capture it all.
06 November 2008
Since we're all on the subject of jogging and blogging about it, I decided I'd comment now after reading some of the latest posts:
I like the rivalry Justyn! East side vs. West side, strings vs. percussion/vocals, short vs. tall...well not really, I guess that's the only only area we're even in. Anyway, even though it's no contest who will come out victorious, as long as everyone is having fun and getting healthier, that's all that matters ;)
So along with blogging, it looks like running may be new in-thing. Justyn has started running with me late at night, and so far it's been pretty enjoyable. I always run alone, and as big a part of my life as routine and structure are, it's nice to do something different by running with other people.
It's also refreshing to see people take an interest in their health to coincide with all the drinking, smoking, and dipping we do. As good (or bad) as running makes us feel and look, what it does for your insides is more valuable. Hopefully we all live longer, stronger lives because of it.
Also, congratulations to Adrian Gonzalez, who won the National League Gold Glove for first base. In an incredibly disappointing and embarrassing season, you provided the only talent and pride we could call our own in San Diego.
04 November 2008
I'm sitting on the couch at home, Nov. 4th, 2008. McCain has just given a speech in Phoenix congratulating President Obama, the first black president in American history. More than the significance of equality now present in our country, I am excited for the transition from an older generation of leadership to one I feel I am more a part of. There is no doubt that our views of race in this country have come a long way, and I won't take for granted the hardships that our ancestors lived through and the way the old world thought in general. So, congratulations to Barack Obama. You have a big job ahead of you and your supporters would love more than anything to see you start turning this country around and leading the world for a new generation of adults.
03 November 2008
02 November 2008
I'll probably be doing these long blog posts on Sunday nights for a while now: one, I'm usually too busy or passed out most of Friday and Saturday to give any updates. Two, I've made Sunday my Charger game/all day study and HW-fest here at State where I'm sitting right now. So let's get to it...
Friday afternoon, doing nothing at work, talking to Chris on the Nokia and BOOM! The G1 hits my porch like thunder by a man in brown short shorts. So I leave work to get it and that's how I spend the rest of my productive work day. So what do I think so far?
Definitely a sexy, functional phone. However, it's a rookie. Just got called up, has the potential and the flash, but still working out a lot of the bugs. We found out that the 3G isn't available east of La Mesa, which is awesome for us Santee folk :( Dumb bitch at the T-Mobile in the mall explained it all so well to me! But I actually get it pretty good most other places and it's pretty fast when I do have it. Most of the frustration comes when you can't get a signal at all. The apps are useful and plentiful though. There's a ton already and more being added everyday. Cool.
Awesome fun party here on Friday night with costumes just as cool, maybe cooler, than last Saturday. For sure, we partied about 53% harder. The Woo-Woos got us started right (thanks G1 for the tip ;)) and there was a ton of beer. See pic, enough said. I ended up getting separated from everyone and stumbling around the college area on my own in search of a burrito mecca. I found it sure enough, and even had the sense to find everyone outside before they drove away to their warm beds in my own car!
Took it pretty easy on Saturday. Went to get the wing fixed, which is almost complete although it's not a huge priority now. Went to hang out/jam at Justyn's and instead got treated to a feast at Barona Buffet by his parents. Thanks again! Zack and Miri Make a Porno was hilarious and pretty feel-good if I do say so myself. Honestly, for as sleazy as it comes off to people, it had a good story and was shot really well. Loved it.
So that's about it for now, I'm just about to wrap this up and head home. I think Justyn may join me for a jog and Martin is now in the Santee bloggosphere talking about the Rock and Roll Marathon.. We're gonna run it in 7 months, so time to get ready...chumps ;).
--NJK
31 October 2008
So far, Halloween has been good to me. Looks like the G1 is out for delivery today! I can't wait to try it out and actually has a decent phone. Man, it's been so long...almost two months since I broke my Wing. I still need to get that fixed too so I can have back-up, plus it's still a great phone and I miss it. UPDATE: G1 was just delivered, I'm gonna go get it right now! :) To be continued....
29 October 2008
I just dispersed my funs to my checking account from Amazon. That was actually resolved pretty fast, so I can keep using Amazon...
28 October 2008
So like I mentioned in an earlier post from Sunday, Amazon.com is holding all of my funds for 45 days to review my seller account. This is based on my "low" seller rating, which is a totally inaccurate representation of all my past activity. People never give positive feedback when an order goes through normally and on time, but they jump on the opportunity for revenge by giving negative feedback when something goes wrong. Yes, I shipped some orders late in the past, but that was more than two years ago and my last 20 or so orders have been fine. So I'm waiting for my funds that I STILL have not received for that whole Sidekick mess.
27 October 2008
Man, that's some intense rain in Philadelphia for Game 5. I thought it was unusual that it was called mid-game, and yes, I found out it's the first time in World Series history.
26 October 2008
Wow. What a week and what a weekend. Midterms, projects and costume design basically controlled my life but I accomplished what I set out to do (although not with the greatest results, I'll have to make up for that later). I haven't even had a chance to blog...
IDS 306 midterm wasn't too bad, and IDS 302 got curved, yay! That MS Project project was long but I finished it all on Friday night.
FIN 323 was really bad, but this next midterm will be easier and I understand it a lot more because it's all formulas.
MKTG 350 is bullshit and the guy is all backwards but I just finished the make-up test.
Just gotta BS my MGT 350 presentation tomorrow and I'll be good! Wait, wasn't the lesson to work harder...
And I still love IDS 483, networking, the only good class. Pretty sure I got 100% on the IP project and I'll bring up my crappy midterm 1 grade I didn't study for. Shin chan understands though.
Ok, enough about school. Lily's was wild and all this hard work definitely makes you drunker, faster, and with better results when you finally cut loose. Super Mario Bros. rocked Santee, only to be outdone by Ash and his stupid, pointless Metapod. Oh and don't fucking pee in Lily's backyard.
How about those Phillies!? They just clobbered Tampa bay 10-2 and they're now up 3 games to 1. I've barely been able to watch it and I didn't make a schedule, but the love is there. I can't help but root for the Phillies. It's all about pre-world war II teams, that's what I always say.
So that's it for this week. G1 is coming, Amazon is holding all my money, and I'm tired so I'll talk about those later.
Oh one last thing, I'm staking claim to the blog revolution I'm starting in Santee ;)
21 October 2008
Stayed up way too late last night, reading, studying among other things. Midterm just now wasn't too bad, but could have been better. Digging those holes again...
18 October 2008
Too late/tired to blog last night. I even fell asleep during the office. Good times though, just a step session with the guys. And the town drunk Ruben.
17 October 2008
Wow, what a comeback by Boston. Down 7-0, they scored 8 un-answered runs after the 7th to win by one run.
16 October 2008
I was right about to say the Rays put away the Red Sox for another year....looks like Boston has tied it at 7!
Tran wireless is going to be closed on Saturday, so unless i haul ass out there after work on tomorrow, I'll have to wait ANOTHER week to see my Wing again:(...it's a shame I'll have to sell it once it's fixed, it's been good to me.
14 October 2008
Chris and I both bought the T-Mobile G1 today. Well, ''bought'' is not an accurate verb. I haven't paid for anything yet, but it'll show up on my next bill along with the sidekick. It's gonna be pretty hefty.
AND my checking account isn't too hot right now after Super Charger weekend, so I'll have some new income projects. Next one: repair the Wing and sell it on E-Bay. Really, it'll just make up for all the money I've lost tracking it down and repairing it.
I also need Fall clothes. H and M!
13 October 2008
Been a while since I last checked in. Fall festival this year was pretty fun, didn't drink so much but ate WAY too much.
Had to work with my IDS 306 group for 4 hours on Saturday, but I still had time to wash Summer and try out the new Squash air freshener. I got an e-mail from Tran Wireless that the ribbon for the WIng came in, but I didn't make it out there on Saturday and they were closed on Sunday. Oh well, looks like next weekend I should definitely have my real phone back...unless something ELSE goes wrong. The Nokia has served me well though.
Charger game on Sunday was AWESOME. Me, Chris, Eli and Ruben lost our voice and I have a Nate Kaeding jersey now. Hopefully the next game we go to is a playoff game in December.
08 October 2008
Should have my Charger vs. Patriots tickets on Friday, says Cade:)
The Eikosha air freshener came today, it's cool! I think a cat with muddy feet climbed on my car last weekend. Gotta wash summer and give it a smell.
I'm trying something sneaky on Amazon that I hope works. I think it's ok for people to sell used Sidekicks but not new ones, which is why my listing was getting booted or orders were denied. I listed it as used but put in the comments that it is new. So far, so good...
07 October 2008
Here are the Division Series results and the Championship Series schedule...finally.
I haven't really talked about my picks or opinions much on what's happening, but so far it's gone the way I wanted or as expected. It's not really surprising that the Cubs choked or the Red Sox beat the team with the best record in baseball; the Red Sox are an October team, and the Cubs finished their 100th year in a row not being one.
Anyway, the Rays and Red Sox is going to be a great ALCS. I think the Championship Series is usually better than the World Series most years, although I REALLY want to see the Los Angeles and Boston, with Manny coming back to Bean Town!
06 October 2008
This weekend finally felt like Fall...the air was cool and crisp, the Oktoberfest beer was flowing, and it even rained a little. It did not carry over into today however, which was in the low 80's and forced me to remove my jacket and carry it around all day.
I guess I have to get approval from Amazon to sell my Sidekick. I'm pretty sure three people have tried to buy it and have been declined by Amazon. Hopefully I'll hear back from them tomorrow about my request.
Brewers and Cubs are out....who saw that coming? The Cubs were swept by the Dodgers over the weekend, who played much better and seemed to have the more talented team. Milwaukee at least won a game but could not move past the Phillies.
Los Angeles is still fighting to survive against Boston, winning on Sunday night in a 5 hour game. The Rays beat the White Sox today to clinch their division series in 4 games. BJ Upton hit two homeruns. As of now, the Red Sox are up 2-0 against the Angels in game 4.
I haven't posted a thing since the playoff predictions, but I have Division Series summary and Championship Series schedules ready to go. Just need to be not lazy and get them posted.
In other news, I'm using this old Nokia phone until Tran Wireless gets the LCD ribbon and can use my LCD to repair the Wing. It's good to finally be connected again, but I really miss having a full keyboard...you don't know what you have until it's gone.
03 October 2008
New ride for the MacBook...and a working phone sometime soon. My Crumpler Boomer and LCD screen came today! Check it out:
02 October 2008
I still haven't uploaded the Division Series schedule yet, too lazy. I don't want to update after every game either, so I'll get it up and check back when the big stuff happens. Right now, the Dodgers and Cubs are playing Game 2.
Still no Crumpler bag or LCD screen. And I ordered yet another thing online that I will be waiting impatiently to come:
It's an Eikosha CS-X3 Air Spencer. And yes, it has not use except making my car smell like squash. Yum!
01 October 2008
Even though it was in the mid 90s again, the air feels a little different today...October 1st, the postseason is here!
The Phillies already won game 1 against the Brewers 3-1. The Dodgers are up 4-2 against the Cubs on a grand slam by James Loney. I'm watching at the pub on campus before class and as expected, there's quite a few Dodger fans. The Red Sox and Angels are coming up after this.
My LCD screen should be arriving tomorrow. I got word from Tran wireless that the ribbon will be here sometime next week and it's going to cost me $65.50. That bastard at Fonlogix owes me. I haven't had a phone for a month now.
30 September 2008
Looks like the White Sox have claimed the Al Central, beating the Twins 1-0 on a solo shot by Jim Thome. Jr. also threw a runner out at the plate to stop the tying run from scoring.
So...the only team NOT predicted to make the playoffs was the White Sox. Everything else was correct! Actual playoff schedules and predictions to come.
29 September 2008
The White Sox beat the Tigers in their last game of the season, a make-up game that was rained out, to force a one-game playoff in Chicago against the Twins. The winner will move on as AL East Champs.
In other news, the Feds shot down the bailout plan and but must continue trying to repair this flailing bank system.
I shipped out the iPod Touch and printer today, which I found sold when I woke up Sunday morning to watch the Chargers pull off a win against Oakland.
Still waiting on the replacement LCD screen to come in so I can get the Wing fixed, and I'll have to sell the new Sidekick LX for at least $400 to come out even from all the losses. Getting close though....
28 September 2008
Brewers are in as the NL Wild Card. They beat the cubs 3-1 and the Mets lost to the Marlins 4-2 in the last game at Shea Stadium. NY chokes again!
It's all down to Chicago and Minnesota for the AL Central. As of now, Chicago has already beat Cleveland 5-1, so they are tied with Minnesota. The Twins are up on the Royals 6-0 in the 9th, so once they wrap that up, they'll move back to a half-game lead. Chicago then has to play their make-up game on Monday with Detroit. If they win, they move back to a tie and will host a one-game playoff against Minnesota to determine the AL Central.
I'm also watching the Chargers behind 15-0 against the Raiders. Oakland's defense looks good.
I went to get the Wing fixed and the cable was messed up inside, so they have to wait for that part to come in. I'm also waiting for the REAL touch screen to come from Fonlogix, who did not send me the right one.
I also got T-Mobile to sell me a Sidekick LX for $200, which is not bad. I have so much stuff to sell though now:
1x HP C4480 All-in-One Printer
1x iPod Touch 8 GB
1x Sidekick LX Blue
ALL Brand New!
27 September 2008
Good convo. with Eli and the guys about politics, music, etc. Oh and Ruben showed up way drunk and poured more feelings out. Cool.
Looks like the Rays clinched the East tonight. Red Sox are the Wild Card team. The Mets are still a game behind the Phillies in the east and Milwaukee in the Wild Card. Minnesota is a half game up on Chicago.
I need to get my phone fixed tomorrow, no matter what. Busy day though. Meet with IDS 306 group in the morning, T-Mobile, and cell phone repair shop.
25 September 2008
The Twins and Brewers both had walk-off wins. Minnesota is now a half game up on Chicago in the Central and Milwaukee remains tied with New York for first in the Wild Card.
I heard the new Killers single, ''Human''. Good. Seems like they're melding the Vegas disco sound of Hot Fuss with the dirty cowboy rock of Sam's Town. There was cover art for the single on Last.fm of a long haired human man, kinda trippy. I couldn't find a pic though.
Another band I'm really looking forward to hearing new stuff from, although it will never sound like it used to and it may take a while for it to grow on me. Hope it happens.
24 September 2008
I forgot The Raconteurs are playing tonight at the SDSU Open Air Theater. I couldn't go, but I can hear them practicing!
- Boston has clinched the AL Wild Card
- Minnesota beat Chicago in game 1 of a 3 game series. They're now 1-1/2 games behind Chicago- Tampa Bay wins both games of a double-header against Baltimore, magic number is now 2 to win the AL East
- The Mets won and Philadelphia lost, putting New York 1-1/2 games out in the East and still 1 game ahead of Milwaukee in the Wild Card
23 September 2008
Posted the iPod Touch and printer on both Amazon and Craigslist today. I low-priced the Amazon listings but got greedy on Craigslist. Within an hour, someone bought the iPod!
Still waiting/working for a new phone. The G1 was shown today and looks a little different than the previous picture:
The Chargers finally got win number 1, and it was big.
22 September 2008
The G1 (or Dream) is being unveiled tomorrow in New York.
SD vs. Brett is underway! I gotta watch it here at school though... oh well. This is State, at least there's beer.
21 September 2008
Just got home from Tucson. It was a great trip because it was short and sweet; the party was fun and it was great to see lots of family, which is kind of rare these days.
Not much on the horizon right now except for school and work which keeps me busy enough. Except for football and the playoffs! The brackets and key match-ups are coming.
I'm dying to get a new phone. Hopefully everything works out...
19 September 2008
About leave for the airport, going to Arizona for the grandparents' anniversary so I'll be back on Sunday.
Chargers play Monday which is sweet. Hopefully they can handle Brett Favre and his new team.
... And with the baseball season wrapping up shortly, time to start picking the matches that are gonna be worth seeing. Probably check back on Monday.
18 September 2008
Very nice addition, I'm having fun with it at 2 AM. Just joined Geeks as well.
17 September 2008
My new MacBook is arriving today, so I'm a 66.66% converted Apple user (I use one at work)... maybe a little more actually because of iPod II ;)
Now I just need to sell the Touch and the printer on the flooded Amazon and eBay market. Anyone interested?
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