Christmas Travel

Posted by Thomas Sat, 24 Dec 2005 01:50:16 +0000

Well, travelling today was pretty much uneventful, yet stressful. Something about getting out of the routine and getting everything done that needs to get done, and remembering to take everything that needs to be taken. Flight left Atlanta at 9:30am, which meant that I got up at 6am. Having gone to bed around 1am made for a short night (I was watching Wedding Crashers…). Leaving at about 6:45, the temperature outside was about 23 degrees F. There was ice on my windows. So, I searched for my ice scraper for a bit, but wound up busting out the de-ice spray to expedite my work. I tried to check in with Continental (since they were who I actually bought the ticket from), but they sent me to Delta, who the flight was actually with. Don’t ask me how that works that I buy a Continental ticket & get a Delta flight. I don’t care if you put me on a Delta flight, but you should at least let me check in with the people from whom I bought the ticket. I digress… I’m not sure if it was the early morning stupor (ala 9.30) or if I dreamed this or what, but I would have sworn that I heard Jaimie Hicks a couple of rows back from me. Out of the whole plane, I think that there was only one conversation going on, so I listened in. Hey, what else was I going to do while I was trying to fall asleep before takeoff? Anyway, some young woman who sounded like and laughed just like Jaimie was part of this conversation. Isn’t it odd how you will think that you see a friend or hear a friend, even though they are 100s of miles away? From my perspective we left a little late, putting us late into IAH. I got off the plane in Terminal A and had to change to Terminal B to catch my connection. I never knew until today that going from A to B at IAH would require me to go out of security and immediately back in. That sucked. Especially when I had roughtly 15 minutes until the plane started boarding (45 until takeoff). I was a little stressed terminal hopping, but made it. I only had time for a pit stop, which meant that by the time that I got to AMA at 1ish Central, I hadn’t had anything all day besides a DP at 6am Eastern. Connection in IAH on the way back is less time, so I’m glad that it’s Continental all the way. Hopefully no terminal changes next time. I guess that I should also buy tickets with a little more layover time. While I was in ATL I did manage to take some time lapse pics in the aiport, so, if after I look at them and they aren’t crap, then I might post them.

Cheers and Merry Christmas for now!

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Update

Posted by Thomas Tue, 20 Dec 2005 00:07:23 +0000

Well, I watched a whole lot this weekend. I must have watched maybe 4 episodes of both Mash & West Wing. Also watched my Netflix, of Stealth, Elecktra, and Daredevil. Somewhere in there I also watched Casablanca.

Casablanca, Elecktra, and even Stealth were all pretty good. I thought that DD was a little weak. Casablanca of course is a classic, and now I finally understand why. I liked the Eastern-ness of Elecktra a bunch. Not so much your regular comic feel, but more like a ninja movie. Ninja movies are cool. When I picked them, I didn’t even realize that DD and E were connected…

I’ve really felt like a slacker lately. Maybe it’s because my apt’s a little messier than it should me. I don’t know why, but I wish the feeling would go away. That, or that I could get some motivation to get my life in order, but that task is never completed. Tasks without end are not fun.

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Arm

Posted by Thomas Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:07:12 +0000

I guess that my right arm is just tired/sore. The possible causes that I’m leaning towards are stress build up in the arm and an un-ergonomic workstation. I’m not really sure if it’s even possible to hold stress in your arm, but I know that I probably do hold stress in my back, so the arm is just another muscle and not too much of a stretch in my mind, anyway. Here’s looking for better ergonomics. Laters.

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146

Posted by Thomas Mon, 12 Dec 2005 00:33:37 +0000

I guess that you guys are in for a treat! Two posts in one day. Perhaps I’m trying to compensate for how ever many days it has been since I last posted (not counting today). Most of you I would guess are procrastinating from finals, so I’m glad to be of service.

I had Papa Johns for lunch and dinner today. What can I say? A large is two meals. Especially when it costs $13.

The deal with the car: I heard something funny when I locked the doors using the remote. Didn’t think too much about it at the time. But when I came back and the power lock on the driver’s side door wasn’t working, I figured that some rod had popped out. No big deal, right? I figured that when I had some time and some daylight, I’d look into it. Which was the next Saturday. I began to take off the inside part of the door, only to find out that my 7mm socket wasn’t quite going to do it for me. I decided that I would just get what I needed at Wal-Mart and headed out. In the parking lot I ran into two co-workers. These guys happened to be working on one of their cars, and so I asked them if they could help me out in the tool area. Which of course they did. I followed them back and finished taking apart the door. To my dismay, it wasn’t so much that a rod had popped out of a guide, as the power lock actuator had come detached from the door and was just hanging inside it. After some pondering I figured that if I had some sort of hacking device, I could probably take out the rivets and just reattach the actuator using some machine screws and nuts. But, by this time I was cold and wasn’t really in any mood to fiddle with it any more. I had neither a hack saw, nor any machine screws, and I just wasn’t in the mood to track everything down. Since it was precariously perched, I wasn’t about to slam the door shut to break anything further. I just closed it enough so that it would be locked, but not shut all the way. That weekend it rained a bunch. Since my door wasn’t shut all the way, the seal wasn’t tight, letting rain water in. My seat was pretty damp when I got in on Monday, but didn’t really realize what had happened until after my but was wet. I just stuck it out driving to work and had a soggy bottom for a while. Nobody seemed to notice, so asll was good. Anyway, I just left it pretty much as it was for several days. The inside of the door just sort of hanging on by a thread. Late this past week I was finally fed up with my door not quite being whole, so I pulled the actuator out of the inside of the door so that the window would work properly, and put it all back together. Which is where it still is. I am currently thinking that I would love to pay a bunch of money to the dealer to fix it. We’ll see. I did though get an oil change and a car wash yesterday. It needed both. I also got some overpriced wiper blades and an air filter at the quick oil change place. Yes, I know. I let them do it to me so I wouldn’t have to figure anything out. I knowingly paid the premium for my own convienence.

What else, I guess that I haven’t told you guys about the AVEL Linkplayer2 that I got. It was an early Christmas present from the ‘rents. Which pretty much all of my presents have been, well all of the big ones at least. Since I’m more than 500 miles from home, it would be an ordeal to try and get presents back with me on the plane. Not impossible, just a hassle that I’d rather live without. So, they ordered stuff and had everything shipped out to me, which is totally cool with me. But it does make me wonder what this year will be like at home when everyone else will be opening presents. I know that they’ll have some stuff for me too, then, but things just won’t be the same. I guess that’s what I can expect for a while so long as it is cheaper and better for me to fly rather than drive.

Well, what else? I did see Saw II today. It was good, but to me it was exactly like Saw I. Definitely not worth the $6.50. Walked around the mall cruising for chicks. Didn’t find any. :( Bought a broadband router at Circuit City. Note to self: Send in the rebates.

Work is good. Changed gears a bunch. Change is good, until it becomes the norm, then more change is needed. Rinse & repeat. Been taking pictures. I took a few tonight, but I haven’t seen them, yet. I looked at Circuit City for a X-in-1 card reader, but they wanted $40. I’m willing to pay $10 for one, so no dice. I have to import them from the camera, so it’s more steps than I’d like, leading to me putting off downloading them in a timely manner. I would have taken more, but it was cold and I had neither the desire to get shot, nor the desire to get arrested. I might have tresspassed on a high school… At least some old farmer dude didn’t let out the air in my tires.

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Crappy

Posted by Thomas Sun, 11 Dec 2005 14:15:12 +0000

Damn it. Don’t you hate it when you type a whole bunch of crap into your blog, only to have it quickly erased? Yeah, me too.

Well, I had written this whole long story about how much my driver’s side door actuator has the rivets busted on its bracket, how I tried to fix it and failed, and how my butt got wet in the process. But I guess that you’ll never know the story, because of my slip of the key.

Well, I’m sorry that it’s been so long since my last post, and writing all of that only to have it gone has really put me into a not good mood. I watched Saw (once regular and then once with the director’s commentary), the first episode of Firefly (once regular & once with the director’s commentary) and then the second episode of Firefly with director’s commentary. I’ve still got the Alamo to watch, but I sort of want to see Saw II in the theater, so I might go do that today.

My right forearm has been acting up lately. Maybe it’s due to my longer stints of sitting in front of a computer nowadays. It feels like I’ve worked it harder than I should have and like it’s a little weak. A feeling like when you run until your legs feel like jelly. Cole, any adverse effects from coding at work?

I was reading Guy’s blog, and he mentioned Rich Jones. I’m pretty sure that I know this person. Small world.

And I posted a bunch to the photoblog. Check it out.

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