Archive for June, 2004

Depressed

6/2/2004

Wow am I depressed today. The doldrums of life seem to be taking their toll on me. On the drive into work today all I could think about is everything in life that I’ve missed so far (and it’s a long list, to me at least). It seems that more and more I’ve been getting these feelings of being lost, which leads to depression later. I am hoping that good fortunes will smile down on me soon to break me out of this funk. If anyone is listening up above, I could use positive movement in my life. :-) (Wishful thinking, but dreaming is not a bad thing.)

posted in blog | Comments Off

And now, the weather

6/8/2004

Today is a hot sticky muggy day. The air outside feels like you’re breathing through a sponge. It is absolutely horrible.

I have never liked hot weather all too much, especially when it gets muggy. Here in Connecticut, the air gets really thick during the warmer months. Because I don’t have any air conditioning where I live, it makes it tough to deal with.

Hot weather isn’t good for cars, either. You have to be careful not to overheat the engine and make sure to let your car have a “breather” every so often. When I drive in hot weather for a long period of time, I usually stop at a convenience store or something and let the car sit for 10 minutes or so with the hood open. Maybe that’s a bit of overkill, but I think it’s worth it.

I have heard that the air is much easier to breathe during the hotter months in places like Nevada and Arizona (not that I would want to live in those places) because the humidity is much lower. Makes me wonder if that’s better for your skin or not when you stand outside. Does less humidity mean you will be sunburned less, or more? Hm…

The A/C will be running in the car on my way home today from work. This sucks for two reasons: A) It makes the engine work harder and run hotter. I never like it when the engine runs hot, at all. It’s not that the engine can’t handle it, I just avoid running a hot engine whenever I can. B) Gas prices are through the roof right now. I paid $2.23 a gallon in Norwich yesterday (for a total of $25 bucks to fill the tank). Running A/C is not exactly good for gas mileage.

But, I’d rather be able to breathe than save money. Breathing is definitely more important. (grin)

posted in blog | Comments Off

Lord of the Rings over?

6/8/2004

I finally got to see Lord of the Rings: Return of the King recently. Good movie? Hell yeah, masterfully done - but then again it is a great story. A movie is only as good as the story behind it.

The end(s) of the movie were great, no doubt about it. Everything fell into their proper place, but I guess I’m a little disappointed it ended. No, I’m not disappointed in how the movie ended, I’m disappointed that the story ended. It seems like it could go on forever, in a million different directions. No, I’m not suggesting anything - don’t worry. (grin) I’m just saying that it was hard to say goodbye to those characters.

I think that when you encounter difficulty in saying goodbyes to characters in a movie, that above all is a sign of a geniunely good movie. It’s like the old saying goes: “Leave them wanting more.” ‘Rings definitely did that.

posted in blog | Comments Off

Counter-Strike cleanup!

6/9/2004

Running a Counter-Strike team is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Recently, we had to kick out yet another team member for being a doofus.

Those who want the nitty gritty of what happened (assuming you know how Counter-Strike teams work), here’s the skinny: Our team members are based on invite-only. We happened to invite this guy to the team. A day later, he shows up in the server wearing another team’s tag - not ours. That’s bad. Then he got caught doing what’s called “aim-bot’ing”, so he was immediately booted the next day.

The team member who originally brought him in apologized to the rest of the team which was cool on his part.. but it’s still annoying that we all had to deal with it.

There’s also been talk back and forth about doing the CAL-O thing (Counter-Strike open). Will we do it? Yeah, we will. It just takes time. We have to practice our map strategies more on maps like de_dust2, de_aztec and de_train to name a few.

For those of you out there who have absolutely NO IDEA what any of the above means, don’t worry. Counter-Strike is a world of its own like those other geeky games like AD&D and Magic The Gathering. You either know the lingo or you don’t. To those who say “Counter-Strike is geeky? Is that true?” Yes it is. It’s a video game. Video games are geeky by nature. And yeah I’m a geeky Counter-Strike player. (grin)

posted in blog | Comments Off

The Interview…

6/10/2004

Today, which is seeming to drag on forever where seconds seem like minutes, I had an interview for a job. This was a job that was offered internally where I work. An e-mail came across a few weeks back and I responded to it. Today I had the interview. Did I do well? I have no idea. Interviews kinda freak me out. I always try to make myself sound amicable and ready to work. And yes, I’m ready to work - I want this job. It’s for web development and database admin. Sounds boring, but I would do it it in a second - it’s my kind of thing. Also, I do not like phone-rat support (a.k.a. helpdesk technical support, my current job). I have never liked it. I only took it because I needed the money. But a web solutions job I would truly enjoy. I’m crossing my fingers and hope I get the job - it would really add a boost to my life in many respects.

posted in blog | Comments Off

Like sands through the hourglass

6/11/2004

Holy SHIT is this day taking forever to get over with. Yeah I’m still at werk right now (and yes I purposely spell that word wrong.) Remember how I said before that seconds seem like minutes? Today is another one of those days. So.. be that as it may I will just ramble on and on here for no other reason than do it. Ok, here goes:

Haven’t heard anything about that interview I just did, however, I did hear some encouraging stuff. One of the other applicants was told “no”, as in “no you’re not getting the job” during the interview. I wasn’t told that. That’s a good thing. It at least means I may have a shot, and I like that thought. I like it a lot, actually.

I have been doing work on a friend’s Condition Zero server. CZ is a video game for those who don’t know - much like the Counter-Strike server I talk about on this site frequently. I just set up his ReconGamer account and some other stuff so he has more options as an “admin” now than he did before.

I deleted my Yahoo Personals account. Basically speaking, I said to hell with it. Being single sucks, no doubt about it.. but I didn’t want to be in the situation of checking the personals like some idiot waiting for a response. Screw that. I’ll take my chances elsewhere.

Prices for gas are crazy in two respects now. One: They’re sky high in price and Two: Oddly enough they can very by as much as 7 cents EITHER WAY. A few days ago, the price of gas was $2.23 for cheap shit. Today, it’s $2.16. Same gas station. Same pump. And yeah, that’s only a few days apart. Crazy.

Other than that - I am going to bed as soon as I get home because I am dead tired. More than likely I will get a bunch of calls while I am asleep, but hey I need my rest. And I know there are lots of people out there who would absolutely love to have the option of coming home and immediately going to bed, but can’t for one reason or another (girlfriend/wife, kids, family, whatever). I am lucky in that respect and do take full advantage of it.

posted in blog | Comments Off

Messing ’round with SQL

6/12/2004

If some of you out there notice this site may load a little bit slow, it’s because I’m messing around with the database that runs this blog thing.

It will get back up to speed in a few - not to worry. (grin)

posted in blog | Comments Off

Backfired

6/16/2004

Remember how I went all on about how I should get more sleep? Well, last night I did that. Did it feel good? Yep. Was it worth it? Yep. But what time did I wake up? 2 in the morning, and I couldn’t fall back asleep again. I guess that’s what I get for going to bed at 9pm. (sigh)

Today I will try going to bed at 11pm. Then I should be ok. (grin)

posted in blog | Comments Off

Feeling crappy

6/17/2004

Last night I stayed up until 1am doing some web work for one of the web sites I maintain. Got the work done but I am very tired today. I’m supposed to be at team practice this evening for my Counter-Strike team, but I’m not sure if I’m going to attend or not. It depends on how I feel at the end of the day today.

Also, I’m not feeling so good for some reason. Don’t know why. Could be just nerves, could be something else. Not sure at this point.

posted in blog | Comments Off

Fax THIS!

6/18/2004

As if getting junk e-mails wasn’t bad enough.. I’ve started to get junk FAXES now. About 1 or 2 a day. Fortunately my fax service is through eFax so it appears in my e-mail and doesn’t waste any paper, but it’s still VERY annoying. The last time I received junk faxes was about 2 years ago, and I thought I’d never see another one. Guess I was wrong there.

posted in blog | Comments Off