December 2001 Archives

December 1, 2001
Beware the 8th Continent

Well... I tried 8th Continent soy milk tonight. It was the vanilla flavor. A very odd taste that I think could take some getting used to. Kind of an odd aftertaste and it was VERY vanilla-y. Not really what I was expecting. The vanilla seemed a little too overpowering to me. Maybe I should've gone with the chocolate instead. I'm not giving up, though. Just mulling over the odd flavor.

Posted on December 1, 2001 1:09 AM | | Comments (2)

December 3, 2001
Kitchen Band-Aid

On Saturday, Sarah picked up an early Christmas gift for me. She felt that it was too big to hide and she didn't want to miss out on a good deal she was getting, so she got it for me early. I know this will sound dorky, but it was a KitchenAid Professional 6 Quart Stand Mixer. I've wanted a KitchenAid mixer since I was a teen. Sure, we don't really have room for it in our kitchen with its tiny amount of counter space, but it's nice to have it. I can't wait to make something with it.

Yes, I am a dork.

Since Sarah gave me my big present early, I gave her her biggest present early, as well. A Gameboy Advance with a few games. She loved it, even though she's swearing at Super Mario Advance. :)

Posted on December 3, 2001 4:08 PM | | Comments (2)

Thank you

Cool. Got thank you cards for both Ryan and Huyen's wedding and Michael and Jennifer's wedding. Thank you cards are neat. :)

Posted on December 3, 2001 5:17 PM | | Comments (5)

December 5, 2001
Lord of the Onion Rings

Blah. I was hoping to get our car back from Carmax in time for Sarah to drop me off there on her way to work, so I could have the car for the day. Not that I desperately needed it, but I had potential lunch plans. So Sarah leaves around 11 and about 5 minutes later, Carmax calls and says the car's ready. Argh. Oh well.

Speaking of Carmax... when we went to drop the car off last night, we stopped in at Burger King to snag one of those Lord of the Rings goblets. They're actually quite cool. We got two of them, though I don't think you're supposed to be able to do that with purchasing only one Whopper value meal. But who knows? The person at the counter could barely speak English, so it was amazing that we got it at all. :)

Posted on December 5, 2001 11:21 AM | | Comments (0)

December 8, 2001
Mommy, I'm sick!

Hrmph. I've managed to get a yucky cold, so I'm grumpy. I blame it on Sarah. Working at a middle school, she's now surrounded by germs daily. I bet some school kid gave it to her and then she passed it on to me. A cunning plan.

Posted on December 8, 2001 1:07 PM | | Comments (0)

December 10, 2001
Travelin' gnome...

On Friday, Sarah and I went to see Amelie at the Cinema Arts Theatre in Fairfax. If you get the chance to see it, definitely go and don't let the subtitles scare you. This is a charming, hilarious film with some very fine acting and cinematography.

And don't just take my word for it. Head on over to the new ADDmovies to see reviews of this and other movies.

Posted on December 10, 2001 12:05 PM | | Comments (1)

December 11, 2001
Mine mine mine!

Well, I've got a lead on a possible job. The school Sarah works for is looking for a tech support guy. Someone to install software, set up printers, set up scanners, that sort of thing. It's a bit out of my field, but I've been installing software and hardware in my own machines since I was 12 or 13 and I almost completely put together my current machine. So I should be able to handle it. It sounds like the job won't pay as much as I was making before, but a job's a job. Plus, getting a job now might allow the economy and the tech industry to recover a bit by the time the school year's over if they decide to not make it a permanent position. I'm interviewing tomorrow morning, so we'll see how it goes. :)

Posted on December 11, 2001 4:58 PM | | Comments (3)

December 12, 2001
I am... the temp

I went to the interview today. It was very odd. It lasted about 10-15 minutes and they didn't even want to see my resume and asked relatively few questions. They actually gave me the job right then and would've had me start right away except I was wearing a suit and they didn't want to ruin it. It's only a temporary, part-time thing, but it'll be nice to get some extra money while I'm looking for something else. Which they expect me to do and they're completely fine with it. Which is nice. But it'll be cool doing stuff I enjoy and making some money and helping people out. Hopefully once the holidays are over, something permanent will show up. Until then... this is good.

Posted on December 12, 2001 8:12 PM | | Comments (4)

December 17, 2001
Piddly update...

I sincerely apologize for being so quiet lately. This job and the holiday season have made it feel like things are hectic, even if they're not. The job's been going well so far. In a way, it's too bad it's not a permanent job, but I know it doesn't pay quite well enough anyhow. But it's still nice, even if the commute's longer.

Went up to Ohio this weekend to visit Sarah's family. Had a good time playing with the babies. The drive's long and I'm not much for long trips, so it feels good to be home.

Hopefully soon I'll catch up on things and get back to doing some reviews for ADDmovies.

Posted on December 17, 2001 9:47 PM | | Comments (1)

December 20, 2001
Christmas in Middle Earth

It's almost Christmas and it doesn't really feel like it. It just hasn't been cold enough and there's been no hint of snow whatsoever. Ah well...

Last night we went to see the first Lord of the Rings movie with a bunch of ex-co-workers. That's the first time I've been to a movie on opening day in a while. It was a good movie, but I couldn't help being disappointed by certain things. The fact that I'd just read the first book for the first time very recently made it difficult for me to not be very aware of omissions and differences. For the most part, though, it was a great movie and the scenery was breathtaking. I really MUST visit New Zealand some day...

Posted on December 20, 2001 9:01 PM | | Comments (1)

December 24, 2001
Patty-cake, patty-cake...

I enjoy cooking. It's one of the few domestic skills I was brought up to learn that I actually do like. Unfortunately, my current kitchen is completely not conducive to cooking. Though we finally have an oven that works, the counter space is lacking. We can't even fit a pan and a mixing bowl on the same counter. So I don't do it very often. It's one of the few things I feel I can do fairly well, though, so I wish I did it more. I meant to do more this Christmas, but things didn't turn out the way I'd planned. Ah well...

Posted on December 24, 2001 11:34 AM | | Comments (0)

December 27, 2001
Interview, you are MINE!

Hi there. Well, it looks like blogger's back after what happened to the poor thing. Hackers are yucky. Ah well...

The good news is that I have a job interview tomorrow. It's for a consulting firm. It sounds like they pretty much staff projects for people, though I'll learn more tomorrow. But the woman I talked to said they needed 4 mid-to-senior level C++ developers, so hopefully I've got a good shot at getting the job. We'll see what happens, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up TOO much. It'd be great to get the job, though, even if I decide I don't like it. It'd definitely make me feel better.

Posted on December 27, 2001 7:25 PM | | Comments (5)