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Merry Christmas! [Dec. 25th, 2007|10:41 am]
[Current Location |In front of the Christmas Tree]
[mood | touched]
[music |The Glenn Miller Orchestra - Walking in a Winter Wonderland]

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Festive Festivus, Feliz Navidad, and a Happy Agnostica to one and all!  Did I miss any? :-)

This is what I really wanted this year and did get (weep!).  No, I didn't - I'm just kidding.  I don't own a motorcycle, yet.

Anyway, I thought that was a total hoot!

This Christmas marks the first one back with my roommies in Ann Arbor.  We'll be getting together Christmas morning from now on - I missed not being with them on Christmas morning; they did as well.  We're waiting for J to get up, then we'll exchange the gifts under the tree.  I'll head to my parents' place later this morning, to exchange gifts with my parents, then head over to my brother's place, to exchange gifts with him and his family.

Then, it's back home for many, many hours of World of Warcraft and Half Life 2.

Woot!
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What? A post? [Dec. 11th, 2007|07:08 pm]
[Current Location |At Home]
[mood | cheerful]
[music |Satellite Party - Wish Upon a Dogstar]

Egads!  Yeah, it's been awhile, hasn't it?  I've been pretty preoccupied this semester.  Things have been fairly busy for me at work, which spills over at home.  This semester I've been working on writing an RFP for a new storage system, helping two other units at U of M write RFPs for new storage systems and doing my usual NAS storage work.  So far, things are progressing nicely.  I have a lot of work to do during Christmas break, but that's the way things go - working IT in academia.

I'm pretty proud of myself, as far as Christmas goes.  I've bought gifts for my family and roommates, with all of it already here or enroute.  That's the earliest I've ever finished up for Christmas.  I bought about 70% of it online this year, up from about 50% last year.  I only had to make two or three trips to the mall, and that was really to help my housemate have a chance to get her shopping done.  I'm pretty pleased, all-in-all.

I should have a few days of downtime this Christmas break, which I will use for a Pirate Party with [info]nagashi.  Hopefully, much digital content will flow back and forth.  I have an empty(!) 500GB drive ready and waiting...

Unlike nagashi (way to go!!!), I am still single.  It's not all that bad - I still hang out with the gal I was dating this time last year, but the lack of regular dates has returned me to dating lameness.  Ah well.

On the upside, I have much more time for WoW now!  I spend most evenings farming gold, pwning n00bs in PvP, and generally smacking raid bosses upside the head.  Oh, and then I wake up from my dreams!  Yeah, I don't have any Level 70 characters, and only one in the 60s.  My housemates play as well, and have a host of characters; some day, I'll finish with this one and roll a few more.

Yeah, that's pretty much it for me - no dates, lots of work, lots of WoW.  And right now, I wouldn't have it any other way. :-)
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Pumpkins! [Oct. 29th, 2007|10:11 pm]
[Current Location |Underneath a cat]
[mood | happy]
[music |Eletric Light Orchestra - I'm Alive]

[info]nagashi has astounded me, yet again!  Take a look at this!

I think Haro is by far the awesomest!  I want to try my hand at a pumpkin this year - wish me luck!
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Sunday night laugh [Sep. 10th, 2007|12:02 am]
[Current Location |Propped up in front of the computer]
[mood | exhausted]
[music |Daft Punk - Ouverture]

http://www.offworlddesigns.com/pc-116-6-american-goth.aspx

Haha!  My ex would probably adore this.  L would too, methinks...

Michigan lost on Saturday.  Worked on building a deck with my roommates.  Tired.  Oh so tired.  And sore.  Very sore.

On the lighter side, I'm rediscovering my childhood.  I've been watching TV serials from the 70s and 80s that I grew up on.  So far, I've watched every episode of Kojak and Columbo I can lay my hands on.  Now, I've moved onto stuff from the 80s like Knight Rider, Airwolf and the last of the 'Super Vehicles' shows, Streethawk.  Ahh, the 80s - what a magic time!

G'night!
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We are Family! [Aug. 13th, 2007|08:39 pm]
[Current Location |On the receiving end of a 10GbE pipe...]
[mood | happy]
[music |Hybrid - Blackout]

Where have I been?  What have I been doing?  For the past few weeks, I've been making Tshirts for a surprise party.  My Dad turns 70th this year, so Mom wanted to celebrate and surprise him.  Relatives from all over came out this weekend to celebrate.  I've seen aunts, uncles and cousins I haven't seen since Frampton Came Alive (some of you kids will have to Google that reference!).

It was great, getting a chance to hang out with family I haven't seen in ages.  I had an excellent time.  Plenty of pictures are here.

If anyone needs Tshirts embroidered, I'm your man!
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Burning through the summer! [Jul. 5th, 2007|03:56 pm]
[Current Location |At Home, with power!]
[mood |geeky]
[music |Hybrid - Marrakech]

As I write this, I'm sitting at home while my neighborhood has no power.  The juice went out at 3:20PM or so, during a thunderstorm.  I hooked up the generator and brought up everything except the A/C.  It's funny looking at my WiFi, and seeing no other access points are up.  What's even funnier is that there are nine hosts trying to associate with our AP.  My neighbors must really miss thar internets... ^-^

I briefly uncapped the cable modem and was able to upload at 1.6Mbs sustained, while maintaining a 3.2Mb/s SFTP session to my laptop at work.  Funny what happens to your bandwidth when there's nobody you have to share with.  Remember that, next time Comcast or AT&T lies to you about performance and availability....

L emailed me a few weeks back, to tell me she's still alive.  Always a good thing, in my book!

My Dad is getting healthier after his surgery - he looks a lot better now!

My brother is working obscene amounts of overtime now.  He was employed by Daimler-Chrysler Financial but is being moved to Mercedes Benz.  The result?  A 70-hour work week.  He gets home at 10PM, only to go back to work at 7AM - six days a week, sometimes on Sunday, too.  The overtime pay is good, but hopefully this will end soon.  We're planning a camping trip in August, so hopefully they'll give him a break.

I've been contracting with the Digital Library Production Service at the U. I should see my first paycheck from them at the end of the month.  With my inability to sell my garden tractor, this should be a nice bump in income.  If you know anyone who wants a Cub Cadet GT-2186 20HP garden tractor with a 48" mowing deck, send 'em my way!  Or if you're willing to transport it, I'll be happy to come and mow your lawn for you.  But I warn you: I will show up in a wife beater with a Coors Light in my cupholder (gotta keep up appearances, ya know!)

I am trying really hard to go the Video Games Live! Concert in Detroit on Friday night.  Tickets are here, if you're so inclined.  I've over-committed, as usual, and I have to much happening at once.  Sigh.
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Loot, ramblings and such [Jun. 9th, 2007|09:44 am]
[Current Location |At Home]
[mood | happy]
[music |Take Off - London Philharmonic Orchestra (Gundam SEED Destiny)]

On an interesting note, I have an opportunity to make a little cash on the side in a few weeks.  Another unit on campus is contracting several hours of my time for project consulting and some on-site support during a maintenance window.  This is a first for me, actually getting paid to do this.  I could always use a few more bucks, so this is pretty cool.  Combined with the possibility of actually selling my Cub Cadet tractor, I could actually have some bucks in my pocket soon!

It's actually pretty funny - I've been unable to sell the Cub Cadet GT-2186 lawn tractor I bought to mow my ex-wife's place.  I've been trying to sell this thing for almost a year with no luck.  It's in great condition, but the market's just too soft right now.  Sigh.  And it's a good tractor, too...  Ah, well.

Speaking of loot, I'm in the process of paying off much of the debt I acquired under said ex-wife (which means I can get back to paying off my own debts).  I can finally start putting away a significant amount money into savings for a house or condo.  With the housing market taking a dip, I have a shot at scoring a nice place with little money, provided I'm willing to risk a little predatory lending.  It will be nice to finally have a place of my own, if interest rates stay put.  That, I can finally have a dog again - yah!

Finally, I'm looking at taking a trip to Toronto... with my ex-girlfriend.  No, not my ex-wife, my ex-girlfriend (I'm looking at you, Chris, I can't believe you said that in a meeting!)  She's got a little vacation time to burn at work this summer and wants a 'traveling partner'.  We get a long great (aside from me being a complete ass to her), so I think we can go and have a nice, fun, platonic time.  As much as I'd like to be in a relationship with her, it's clear that there's no spark - a limited amount of chemistry.  She deserves someone with a little more refinement, more culture.  I deserve someone who can tolerate a couch potato. :-)
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Where in the World is Karl SanDeigo? [Jun. 2nd, 2007|10:26 am]
[Current Location |At Home]
[mood | blah]
[music |Duran Duran - Reflex]

Lame jokes aside, life is what it is.  Let's see - my Dad had major surgery last month and is slowly recovering. I was seeing someone, now I'm not.  A friend of mine was being sued by a former client, now he's settled out of court.

My roommies have got me playing WoW, at long last.  I suck, but nearly as much as I suck at Albatross 18:Realms of Pangya.  Since I refuse to get a calculator or otherwise cheat, it's well-nigh impossible to make excellent shots without lots and lots and lots of practice.  And it's just not much fun to play a round with players who are lower-level than you, but are out scoring you by eight or nine strokes, because they're making a hole in one on every Par 3.  I'll still play friends (I know, Mike, I gotta make the time to play a round with ya!), but I haven't played a casual game of A18 in over a month.  No big deal.  I liked having a game I could play for free, no subscriptions, but A18 isn't turning out to be that game for me.

Anyway, WoW isn't too bad.  I have a few characters in their teens, which isn't too bad.  So far, the game isn't too much of a time-sink, so I'll probably play at this casual pace (usually at work for 20 or 30 minutes, while running I/O benchmarks and waiting for results) for now.

In other news, I'm just generally blah right now.  Haven't heard much from L, lately, but I know her summer is obscenely busy at the zoo.

I'm thinking about taking a trip later this summer.  Don't know where, just yet, but I'm making good progress paying down some bills, so I'm considering actually using my 327 hours of vacation.  Sick, eh?  Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all in the last 10 years.  Yes, this November starts my 11th year full-time at U of M.  Hard to believe you'd ever work the same job for a decade, huh?  That's what I said in the 90s.

Time for a change?  We'll see...
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Imagine the sound of Nirvana..... umm, heaven, not the band.... [Apr. 25th, 2007|06:53 pm]
[Current Location |At Home]
[mood | w00t!]
[music |EPMD - You Must Learn]

Okay, now imagine me bursting through the wall like the Kool-Aid man.  And why, praytell, am I so blissful?

Because, soon I will be able to smite Zakus and Goufs with the power of a WiiMote!

Yes, boys and girls, Bandai's new Gundam MS Warfront 0079 (shipping in July) will allow you to control your Gundam's beam saber with the WiiMote.  Do you know how long I've been aching for a Wii game to do that?!?

That makes Karl happy.  Soooooo happy!

Most of you know what a Gundam fanboy I am, but this is just too cool for words.  And I can't wait until the new Gundam SEED title is unwrapped in time for Christmas.....
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Of storage and stuffs... [Apr. 20th, 2007|10:53 pm]
[Current Location |In my own, cozy bed]
[mood | chipper]
[music |DB Boulevard - Point of View]

.....and we're back from San Diego!  Storage Networking World 2007 was, well, those three words.  And stuff. :-)

Each year, I go to one or two conferences related to the computer storage industry.  SNW is the strange hybrid of a trade show that hosts educational venues, professional development and good old-fashioned marketing.  As expensive as it may be, I prefer this one to Storage Decisions (which I usually attend in Chicago, IL) and Storage World Conference (only held in Long Beach, CA). 

Getting to San Diego proved to be half the challenge!  I've flown Northwest Airlines almost exclusively for over 20 years (damn, I'm getting old).  After my fiasco flying to Chicago (see my blog from March), I was reluctant to fly Northwest again so soon.  The cheapest non-stop flight I could get (in March) was $809 on American; there's no way that was going to get past my boss.  Expedia listed Frontier Airlines, a low-cost carrier based out of Denver, as the cheapest - at $404 round trip.  This was my first time flying on Frontier Airlines, so I was pretty apprehensive. 

I was pleasantly surprised with both the service and the flight.  Our flight left only a few minutes late, but still arrived a few minutes early.  After a short layover (47 minutes), I was off on the next leg.  While SNW was full of storage-goodness, San Diego let me down a little.  It was actually warmer in Detroit this week than in San Diego!  I had notions of running around in short sleeves all week, which really didn't happen.  Ahh well....

The convention was reasonably decent - I'm a sucker for this storage stuff.  I won't bore you with my commentary on Infiniband versus PCIe, but suffice it to say, I learned lots of neat stuff.
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'Totally Pink' or 'How to Capitalize on Capitalism' [Apr. 12th, 2007|10:14 pm]
[Current Location |On the couch, under a blanket of cats!]
[mood | bouncy]
[music |I'm Alive - Electronic Light Orchestra]

Such a good week - sorta...

Got a chance to catch up with Mike for dinner.  That was rock-solid.  Unexpectedly, also got a chance to hang with JTZ and Andrew briefly.  That was an extra-special bonus! 

On the downside, I had a problem that drug me into the office from 9PM to 1AM or so last night.  It was most-uncool, because I had to get my boss up to handle parts of it in the wee hours of the morning.  And to top it off, I'm not sure things are 100% and I'll be out of town for a week!  Sigh...

I'm going to Storage Networking World in San Diego, April 15th - 19th.  It's nice to get a chance to attend these kinds of conferences - I haven't been to SNW in a few years - the last one was in Phoenix in 2004.  I've mostly been going to Storage Decisions in Chicago - that's cool and all, but it's nice to get a better perspective on the storage industry, sometimes.  I'm making some small progress with a campus-wide storage initiative at U of M, but I have quite a ways to go.

In other news, have you checked out the new Albatross 18 course, Pink Wind?  It's a one-star course, so it's pretty easy.  It's a sad attempt at an Easter tie-in: a pink, Spring theme, easter egg hunts, an easter phoenix and so on.  I scored -3 on my first tourney on the new course, having never played all 18 holes.  It's pretty easy, but there are a few challenging holes.  Mostly, it's blatant attempt for more people to get hole-in-ones.  Some of the folks I played with were scoring -13 and better - thanks to nothing but HIOs on the front 9!  I'm going to play at least a few times over the weekend, and see if I can some Tomahawk practice.  I can sometimes land a good Tomahawk when I need to, but only sometimes.  And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should go to www.albatross18.com. :-)
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Trying to regain my sense of humor... [Mar. 21st, 2007|11:11 am]
[Current Location |At work]
[mood | chipper]
[music |Hybrid - True to Form]

A mathematician, a biologist and an engineer were sitting in a bar and had been for four days.  All this time, they were observing a building across the street.  On the fifth day, they agreed that the building was empty.  On the sixth day, they observed two people entering the building in the morning and three people exiting the building in the afternoon.

"Aha!", exclaimed the engineer, "the building was never truly empty!"

The biologist said, "No, no - they must have procreated."

The mathematician pondered the situation.  He slowly said, "If one more person enters the building, then it will be empty."
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All kinds of "suck" [Mar. 19th, 2007|01:24 pm]
[Current Location |At work]
[mood | calm]
[music |Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Kimi to Machi Made]

Life is all kinds of suck.  Has been for the past few weeks.  I've been digesting my stomach lining over a few things, not work-related (for a change), and it turns out my life isn't going as well as I thought.

Details sometime tomorrow.

Edit - 03/20/2007 -

Okay, life is slightly less suck.  Mike called last night with an offer of sushi-goodness (thanks man, you are always a rock star in my book!  I will take you up on that when I get back from this conference!)

Long story short, I've been subpoenaed to testify.  Yup.  Case details are pending, so I obviously can't talk about in a public fashion.  I really can't discuss case details, but I've been called to testify and I'm reeeaaalllly not looking forward to it.  My friends and family are all okay, so this doesn't involve them.

Long story short, kids, if you decide to consult or do a favor for a friend, be sure you know what you're getting yourself into.  Testifying for or against a friend/coworker/family member/pet is not healthy for you in the long run!
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w00tage and suck4ge [Feb. 17th, 2007|11:12 am]
[Current Location |At Home]
[mood | sleepy]
[music |Hybrid - Gravastar]

Ugh.  My roommies noticed an oil leak in my car, so I took a look-see.  Sure enough, the underside of the oil pan had a good amount of oil on it.  Even though it was -7 degrees with the windchill last night, my roommies suggested I change my oil, since either my drain plug was leaking or my filter was leaking.  I'm not one for changing my own oil, but my roommates are primo for that stuff. 
After swapping my car into the garage and starting a propane heater, we jacked up my car and I did my very first oil change!  Yeah - it's scary how cheap/easy it can be, if you have adult supervision (thanks, Rob!).  So, now I'm good for another 3000 miles...

Just to make my day even better, a back-end storage loop on one of the storage arrays I manage got hung up at 11:30PM.  I didn't check my phone 'til 1:45AM, so I came into the office as soon as I saw that.  I had things fixed and working by 3AM or so.  Now my sleep schedule is out of whack, since I was up again at 9AM.  Such is my life, I guess...

Things are going well with Ramona, I think.  She came over on Monday to make Valentine cookies and baby shower cards for her coworker.  She gets along pretty well with Jane, so hopefully the two of them can get together on occasion and work on craft projects together.  Jane could really use the company sometimes.

Valentine's is one of Ramona's biggest holidays.  We got together for a little wine and movie for Valentine's day, but we had no dinner plans or anything like that.  She likes to go places and do things, instead of just spending money.  We planned to get away to Traverse City for the week of Spring Break, but now, it looks like she has to work on Friday.  I'm entertaining suggestions for alternate, two-day romantic getaways. :-)
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CCCOOLLDD! [Feb. 3rd, 2007|12:27 pm]
[Current Location |On the couch, under blankets]
[mood | cold]
[music |John Mayer - The Great Indoors]

Brrr!!  Unless you're a penguin, you've probably noticed it's in the single digits right now, here in Ann Arbor.  We're expected to be in the single digits for most of the next week, with sub-zero lows.  Sigh.  I wish I smart like my girlfriend - she's in Hawaii!!  Yeah, she went with her Mom and sister to take a little time off work.  If I had half a brain, I'd have taken some vacation time and gone with her.  Ha - who am I kidding.  I never take vacation :-)

In all seriousness, I'm glad she had a chance to get away.  She's got a full summer of orientation programs for work, so she won't get much vacation time from March until September.  We're planning a getaway for the latter half of Spring Break, but that's about it.

So far, she's gone surfing and been to a luau in Hawaii.  She and her sister ran a 10k race on Monday, so the rest of the week should be full of fun and relaxation for her.  Lucky her.

For me, my past week was full of documentation and presentations.  This upcoming week is full of work in the data center and getting my student employees up-to-speed on some new procedures.

For those of you who haven't heard, there's a new course available in Pangya - Shining Sands.  Today was a Double Pang day, so I've played a few hours this morning.  The holes are kinda neat, with a crazy, mystical "boost hoop" you can pass your shots through.  Don't be afraid to use a Strength Boost potion - many of the hoops are ~220+ yds.  You'll need the extra distance to actually pass through the hoop.  Also, many of the holes have overhead obstacles - floating platforms, collapsed arches, etc.  Be sure to use a low shot trajectory to get under arches and whatnot.
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Oh, the Melodrama! [Jan. 15th, 2007|01:42 pm]
[Current Location |Home, on the couch]
[mood | amused]
[music |The awesome hum of the microwave, making dinner]

Life's been pretty eventful the last few weeks.  Some of you know I've been seeing someone for a few months.  It's been a fun and interesting past few weeks.  I cooked dinner at her place a few weeks back; we made plans to go the North American International Auto Show this Friday; Sunday was her birthday.

Sunday was an interesting evening.  We had a dinner get-together with her friends and coworkers at Mongolian Barbeque, then migrated over to Cafe Felix.  When I dropped her off at her place around 11:30PM, it was entertaining to skid around on the ice in downtown Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.  Funny - it was like the county salt trucks decided against salting the roads last night.  Go figure!

To make matters worse, the lock to her apartment chose this moment to break, stranding us in the hallway for an hour.  When the locksmith finally got the door opening, he wanted to hang the faulty doorknob up on his wall as a trophy.

Ahh, the fun of it all!
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Christmas l00t! [Dec. 25th, 2006|02:12 pm]
[Current Location |Ann Arbor, MI]
[mood | w00t! l00t!]
[music |Bob and Doug Mackenzie - The Twelve Days of Christmas]

Merry Christmas, everyone everywhere!

I got plenty of Christmas loot from my roommies!  Highlights include:
  • new sets of towels (I gave up towels and linens to my ex, after the divorce)
  • a new coffee mug (can you believe I have three broken mugs that I can't fix?!?)
  • pocket tools
  • a kite!
I'm leaving shortly for my folks' place.  I got my brother and sister-in-law a new 19" monitor, to replace their 19" CRT.  I got my folks a few DVDs and a new DSL router.  My neice and nephew get a few Michigan shirts.  So far, I think this year's gift-giving is still under budget (don't ask; trust me - I just spent less than last year and two years ago!).

Strangely enough, I actually wondered if my ex-wife got anything good from her folks, boyfriend/caretaker/latest mooch target.  Not that I care, really (don't give me that look XD), I just found it funny that I'd thought about it.  Heh.  In reality, I really hope L got something cool from Mike this year.  I think she gets a little worked up about relationship stuff sometimes, and hope she won't be too worried this time around.  He seems to be a really good guy (that I still haven't had a chance to really meet, pout, pout, pout), so hopefully he scored something really nifty for her.

In other news, at just after 7AM I had to deal with a cranky NAS server that I haven't devoted enough time to fix.  I have to work on the 27th and 28th this week, so I'll try and deal with it then.  It only took a few minutes to resolve, but I regret not taking the time to fix it properly after Thanksgiving.  Ah well.   Life goes on.  It will be kinda nice to be in during the holidays - I can do a lot a stuff when noone is bugging me.  In fact, I'm looking forward to being in on 28th.  Maintenance staff are checking the batteries in the UPS that protects one of the data centers.  I just have to be on hand, in case something goes awry.  In years past, those of us who come in and work, sit around while the maintenance goes on.  In fact, we sit around in the conference room with my Gamecube hooked up the projector!  We played a lot of Mario Kart and Smash Brothers.  This year, we'll probably play Lego Star Wars II and Mario Party.

I'm hoping to score a Wii sometime in January or February.  Say, can anyone tell me 1) why did Nintendo decide to call 'Albatross 18', 'Super Swing Golf' and 2) why the heck it isn't online?  Anybody played it?  How well does it compare?  I know it uses the Wiimote and what not, but I was hoping that I could hit Pangya more easily on the Wii.  I still find myself struggling to hit more Pangya shots.  I'm in the low 19% range; I need to hit more Pangya shots, but, well, I suck.

Anyways, Merry Christmas to you and yours!
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Another orbit around the sun! [Dec. 20th, 2006|01:01 pm]
[Current Location |5th floor ERB]
[mood | happy]
[music |Rockapella - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch]

Hi ho family and friends!

Yeah, looks like I've survived another orbit 'round the Sun.  I turned 32 yesterday and can honestly say it was one of my best birthdays to-date.  My parents gave me money I shouldn't have; my brother called me and had his kids wish me happy birthday - more of the usual fun!  What's really funny is, my Mom was going to give me a membership to eHarmony as a birthday present.  She saw that news report on Match.com employees going on dates to prevent users from canceling their subscriptions and decided against it. XD

But the most exciting birthday event for me was an honest-to-God date!  Yes, I used the word date

For the last few months, I've been corresponding with a woman I met online.  She's my age, and the assistant director for campus life at a local university (hint: it's local, but not the one I work for).  We met for the first time two weeks ago and saw the new Denzel Washington movie, Deja Vu.  I enjoyed the movie more than I expected, but enjoyed the company even more.

So after the movie, we agreed to try and get together again before she left campus for the holiday (going on a little vacation).  I opted to get together Tuesday night - it fit nicely with her exam schedule (grad courses!) and my work schedule.  We met at the Corner Brewery in Ypsi and had a few beers (she's partial to the Red Snapper, what a gal!).  We had a wonderful conversation - I feel like I really got to know a bit about her, which was really good for me.  We talked a little about my divorce (and my utterly psychotic ex-wife), my job and my family.

A little later, we stopped by the Sidetrack, since no birthday would be complete with dessert!  The place was littered with students who were decompressing from exams and smoking like chimneys, so my allergies went south.  Still, it was really nice to spend an evening in the company of such a remarkable woman.  I was really taken aback by just how smart and funny she is!  You'd like her, L - she's snarky. XD

It was a really great birthday for me.  I'm looking forward to spending a little time out of the office during break  With a little luck, I'll have another date in early January.  Stay tuned!

P.S. - anyone have any Bennie K complete albums?  I managed to wipe out all of my Jpop starting with 'B'.  I replaced B'z and everything but Bennie K.  Sigh....
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Now with lasers! [Dec. 17th, 2006|10:15 am]
[Current Location |Next to sleeping kitties...]
[mood | calm]
[music |Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song]

News from the front:

Work - getting ready for the usual end-of-semester, Winter Break projects.  I also have a NAS gateway that's having seizures.  It's in production now, so I can't do much about it.  I'll upgrade it to a newer version of code this week, once the engineers finish analyzing the crash dumps.  I think it has to do with a memory leak in the CIFS services, but we'll see.  I hate to assume these kinds of things....

Home - My roommies are doing well.  We picked out a really nice tree this year.  I'll embed pictures in my LJ later in the week, so check back!  I'm looking forward to chillin' during the break.

Family -  The folks are doing well and the work on the basement is progressing nicely.  With luck, Mom and Dad can go south for the Winter, once their various appointments are done.  Dad is doing really well, and I'm glad he's gone more energy lately.

Me - My blood pressure is up, thanks to the NAS problem I've been having this weekend.  Ah, well.  Can't be helped.  Things will calm down soon, so I'll be cool.  I've been trying to keep my Christmas spending under control this year, and I think I've done a great job.  Oh, and I went on a date last week, too!

I'll update this a little later in the week - I'm off to see my parents!
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The old man is falling apart [Nov. 27th, 2006|03:04 pm]
[Current Location |Down in the dumps, looking up at the sky]
[mood | gloomy]
[music |Asian Kung-fu Generation - Kimi to iu Hana]

So, my quest to finally get off high-blood pressure medication has ended in futility.  About a year ago, my doctor sent me to a cardiologist, who started me on meds for my pre-hypertension.  I've been eating better and working out, hoping that things would improve and I could get off my meds - gotta donate my organs, ya know!  My blood pressure has been pretty good, but my cardiologist is more interested in my thickening heart muscle.

I had an ultrasound surface echo-cardiogram of the old pumper this morning, to compare against my echo from almost exactly one year ago (strangely enough, it kept beating the whole time!)  My cardiologist said that the muscle is just as thick and I'll need to go on a different medication.  Sigh.

I'm starting to wonder why I even bothered with this.  The problem is my genetic disposition for this condition.  No amount of diet or exercise seems to be able to combat this; I'm pretty much guaranteed to be on some form of medication for the foreseeable future.  Sigh indeed.

More comments later, once I stop being so glum about this.
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