November 2001 Archives
Cool. It's November. The onset of November usually means one thing to me. My birthday's coming soon. The best part about Halloween for me, now that I'm a grown-up, is that it's exactly two weeks before my birthday. Not that I'm looking forward to being another year older or anything, but you can't overlook the gift aspect.
Posted on November 1, 2001 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Halloween fun with The Spark!
Posted on November 1, 2001 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I was having an odd dream last night. I remember VERY little of it. I believe several people from work were in it, but I can't remember for sure. All I do remember is that I was standing in the middle of this big, almost empty room, flipping through the channels on this gigantic TV. And I stopped on a channel that was showing a concert. It was Herbie Hancock. I believe he was just finishing up "Rockit". And suddenly, I was at the concert. Pretty far from the stage, but I could see it like it was still on the TV. And then suddenly another song started up. It took me a second to recognize it, but it was actually a Shiina Ringo tune. And both Herbie and Shiina were up there, just playing away together. Then I felt someone tugging on my arm and I was suddenly back in the room, watching the TV. Someone was trying to get me to come back to the party or something. That's all I remember. Pretty weird. I haven't remembered a dream in weeks and this is the kind of stuff I get? Sheesh.
Posted on November 2, 2001 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Have you ever seen people spell something incorrectly so often that you start wondering if you were spelling it wrong the whole time? Thank heavens for Merriam-Webster Online. It keeps me from slipping further into insanity.
Posted on November 2, 2001 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Gotta love media mail. Last month, I got something shipped from Oregon and it took almost 3 weeks to get here. This week, I got something shipped 2 days ago from the same place in Oregon and it showed up today. I just enjoy the randomness of it immensely.
Posted on November 2, 2001 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Well, the move has been made to my new home on the net. Thanks go out to Ryan for setting me up with the new digs. I like it. I've also switched over to dotcomments for my blog commenting system. This should work out better than ReBlogger did for me. I know the colors are probably still kinda ugly, but... eh... I'm trying to figure out something prettier. For now, you must suffer.
Posted on November 3, 2001 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
I don't think I quite have the patience to become a good web page maker. It can be difficult enough for me to visualize something whole. But I also seem to have little patience for something that takes a while to bear fruit. Indeed, even when doing programming for work, I'm much less motivated when I haven't gotten to the point where the program is actually doing something interesting. Once I've gotten to that point, I'm much more into the debugging of things and adding little features in. But getting there can sometimes take a bit of time. I don't know where this impatience comes from, but I really wish it wasn't there. It seems to have stunted my learning quite a bit.
Posted on November 4, 2001 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
This weekend, I cut out a coupon for soy milk. This is something I never thought I'd do. At one time, the very idea seemed ludicrous to me. But lately I've been starting to wonder if I've got some measure of lactose intolerance. So I'm considering experimenting a little to discover if I can actually bear the taste of these dairy substitutes.
I once had an iron stomach. I could eat anything. The richest foods in the world wouldn't bother me. I could drink milk with an orange juice chaser and it didn't bother me a bit. Sure, whenever a stomach bug hit, I was usually the first to get it and I got it good. But what I ate was never a problem. Some major stresses and anxieties in my mid-teens put an end to that. Eating pizza and wings in college far too often exacerbated the problem. Now we're at the point where, if I eat pretty much anything, there's a very good chance that it'll bother my tummy at least a little bit. So, basically, I'm looking for ways to stop that from happening so much. I may be getting older, but I'm not THAT old yet.
Posted on November 5, 2001 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
I've updated my main page with a link to my brand spankin' new music page. Not that anyone cares what kind of music I like, but it was fun to do. I'm still trying to decide what I should do with this site of mine, but right now, I'll do lame stuff like put up little pages about stuff I like. :)
Posted on November 5, 2001 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sometimes I wish I'd taken more psychology classes (actually I wish I'd taken more archaeology classes more than psychology classes, but that's another thing entirely). I'd really love to understand what it is in our brains that makes us so clearly remember our embarassments and mistakes. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm the only one who does that. Or maybe only certain types of people do it. I'm sure it has something to do with the emotions you feel when you're screwing up something. But it's really a pain in the ass to be able to vividly remember making a complete fool of yourself in junior high but not be able to remember hardly anything you've ever done right.
Posted on November 6, 2001 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
The job offers are coming in for Sarah and she has more interviews lined up. This is a good and happy thing. Now let's hope these people will pay her enough. If not, you may see me on a street corner in a nearby urban community.
Posted on November 6, 2001 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
I can't believe how gorgeous the skies are today. They've been utterly blue all day. Not a cloud in the sky. Hopefully it's just as nice this weekend. It'd be nice to get out of the apartment for a while. It's a bit chilly out, but if it's sunny, I don't mind. The peak foliage has already passed us by, but there's still some good fall views out there. I have a roll of film to finish, so it'd be fun to use it on some fall scenery.
Posted on November 6, 2001 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I got 8 DVDs today. 8. All 6 of the ones that were supposed to come out today actually arrived in the mail today. The 2 others were only a few days late. This is a miracle. Not that I'll get the chance to watch all of them right away, but it's nice to have them.
And the best part was that I won a free cone at Baskin Robbins with my Shrek DVD. Woo! :P
Posted on November 6, 2001 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
It took me a while this morning to realize I'd remembered part of a dream. It was kind of odd and I wish I remembered more of it. All I can remember is that Ryan was amazingly pissed at me in it. And I think I was almost completely oblivious to it until he said something about it. I talked to him about DVDs and music and stuff. I paid him for the web hosting. And the whole time he was just really angry. I'm actually not even sure that he ever said anything about it in the dream, but I get the distinct impression he did.
Angry Ryan is scary.
Posted on November 7, 2001 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Well, I got laid off today. I'm surprisingly calm about it, which is strange, since I usually freak out about money. But I guess I saw something like this coming. Well, not really. But it feels nice to say that. 7 other people went with me, so at least I wasn't alone. I feel bad for others who are in worse situations than I am. So... now I'm on the look out for work. Maybe this will give me a chance to rethink my career path. Or consider other options about what I want to do with my life. We'll see. I just hope I don't lose touch with the people I was working with that I actually liked. That's probably unrealistic, but... I still hope.
Posted on November 7, 2001 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Well, last night was what was supposed to be the company's hockey night. I actually ended up going because I'm anal about money and I never feel right not using something I pay for. Besides... it's not like I suddenly hate everyone who works for my ex-company. And there weren't any corporate people going. I kinda wish a few others who'd been laid off had gone, but I can understand them not going.
It's felt very nice to have so many people be supportive to me. Especially ex-co-workers. Just about everyone I've talked to that I actually worked with offered to give me a reference. And they've been really nice to me. For a person with incredibly low self-esteem and self-confidence like myself, this is good. There are days when I figure everyone hates me.
Posted on November 9, 2001 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
I somewhat dread going on interviews. I really am a very poor interviewee. I get very uncomfortable and nervous and my brain totally stops functioning. What makes it worse is that I'm naturally shy. It takes a while for me to warm up to people. Just about everyone I know tells me they had no idea I was like what I'm like until they actually talked to me for a while, since it's not like I approach others usually. This is also why I didn't really date in high school.
But anyhow... you don't really have this kind of time in an interview. So I usually come off as quiet, reserved, and somewhat stand-offish. It's been 5 years since I've interviewed anywhere, so maybe I've conquered this a bit, but probably not to the degree that I'd like to.
I'm hoping this will open up a new door for me. I honestly wasn't in love with my job. Sure, I understand the need for software testing, but I just never got into it as much as I felt I should've. There were many times I considered looking for something else. But I really did like the atmosphere and many of the people I worked with. That's something that's harder to find, I think. So hopefully I can find that again, as well as finding a job that I really enjoy doing.
Posted on November 10, 2001 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
I think I would've made a good Japanese person. I've got the self-deprecation and modesty down. Which is yet another reason I'm bad at interviews. I don't sell myself very well.
I guess I really wouldn't make it on a street corner after all.
Posted on November 10, 2001 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Kinda interesting story. We hit the 29 Diner tonight as sort of a pre-birthday dinner. The last thing I ordered was a strawberry milkshake and the waitress just stared at me for a while. I thought she just hadn't heard me right or that she thought I was odd for ordering a milkshake in 45 degree weather. But no. She just didn't like making them and I was the first person who'd ordered one from her today. :)
It turned out to be an excellent milkshake, though. Had some really really good fried chicken, too. Yummers.
Posted on November 11, 2001 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
One oddity I've noticed. I'm sleeping much better now that I'm unemployed. It really makes no sense. I'm the type of person that gets anxious about this kind of thing. Extremely. Hell, when anyone got fired or there were layoffs before, I always figured I was next and got freaked out about it. For the past few weeks, I'd been sleeping horribly. I'd stare at the ceiling for at least an hour before falling asleep and I'd wake up at least 2 hours before the alarm went off. Now... now I'm falling asleep right away. And sleeping late. When I'm exhausted, I actually sleep. This is weird. Maybe I disliked my job more than I thought.
Posted on November 11, 2001 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Blah. Today I discovered that something was wrong with my camera, so the film hadn't been advancing. Something was wrong with the part that holds the film roll in place, preventing the film from coming out of the roll. So all the pictures I took during Michael and Jennifer's wedding won't come out. Ah well. I guess I hadn't used it in so long that it'd gotten a little stuck. A minor tweak fixed it easily. Yay!
Posted on November 12, 2001 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Well, I went to the unemployment office today. That was interesting. As this was my very first real job, I hadn't ever had to go before. I was there for 3 hours, but it was really a lot less painful than I expected.
The nice thing was, when I got home, I had 2 birthday cards waiting for me. :) That sort of thing can really help cushion the blow, oddly enough...
Posted on November 13, 2001 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Happy birfday to me! :) Sarah woke me up with breakfast in bed and had gifts laid out for me on the couch. We lazed around in bed for a while and it's been a pretty quiet day. But that's O.K. I certainly don't mind.
Posted on November 14, 2001 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Well, I had a pretty nice birthday. :) Got some good gifts and a lot of birthday wishes from people, so that was nice. Went out and had a nice dinner and everything. No one got me a job for my birthday, but I imagine that's a pretty tall order. Oh well. Maybe for Christmas.
Went out for lunch today with an ex-co-worker. Things seem to be weird but getting back to normal at my old company. Which is good. I'd hate for anything to happen to anyone I know and care about who still works there.
Posted on November 15, 2001 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Well... I'm off for a little while. We're heading out of town for the holidays and won't be back until November 26th. I'll miss my blogging, but I'm sure you won't. I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving. Don't stuff yourself with turkey or tofurky or anything else.
Posted on November 16, 2001 2:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Well, I'm not back from the holiday travels yet. But, as Sarah's told everyone that she wants to tell in person, she's allowed me to post here about her news. Sarah got a job! :) She'll be working as a library aide at the middle school of the Flint Hill School in Oakton, VA. It's a part-time position, so she'll have lots of time to do other things. It pays much better than she expected and they budget it out for her so that she'll be paid when she's off during the summer. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. Sarah's thrilled. As an incredibly avid reader, this is a dream job for her.
Now let's just see if I can find one... I've got a few resumes out there, so we'll see...
Posted on November 24, 2001 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Being back in Massachusetts to visit my parents for Thanksgiving reminded me of one thing... the early settlers were entirely uncreative. Practically every town name in Massachusetts is the name of an English town, derived from the name of an English town, or an American Indian word. Surely they could've gotten together and come up with something new.
Posted on November 27, 2001 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
It may seem like a very silly thing for an unemployed guy to do, but I bought a car yesterday. We went to Carmax looking for a '97 Saturn SL2 that we'd seen online that was about $7500. We've had a good experience with our Saturn, even though Saturn of Sterling really sucks. Unfortunately, that car had already been sold. However, we saw a '00 Saturn LS1 with a sunroof, CD player, and power everything for about $5000 more. It seemed like a good deal, so I put some money down, got a good APR, and bought it. Since Sarah's working so far away and her hours are weird, it didn't seem feasible to keep sharing a car. Unless I found a job right here in Sterling, it just wouldn't work. This will greatly increase my range. It's a risk and it scares me a bit, but I think it'll work out. Pray for me. ;)
Posted on November 28, 2001 8:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
There were a few oddities in the Carmax experience. As we were originally looking for a specific car, we told the guy what we wanted. Instead of looking for it in the computer or something, we wandered out onto the lot to see if it was still there. We looked all over. Bizarre. The funniest thing, though, was when we were getting in the car for a test drive, the salesman said, "Oh, look! It's got a spoiler!" as if a)this was a complete surprise to him and b)this was the kind of thing that would make us HAVE to buy the car.
Posted on November 29, 2001 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
As a big Beatles fan, I have to take the time to mourn the passing of George Harrison, the quiet one. Though his death won't shock the world as much as John's murder, it's still a somewhat unexpected and sad occasion. After surviving a knife attack and battling with cancer, George is now gone. Thanks for the music, George...
Posted on November 30, 2001 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)