Look at me still talking, when there's science to do

Re: anna's survey

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:35:31 GMT

anna did a survey about me, I do a survey about anna. The same survey:

1. They are watching TV. What are they watching?
Clean House. Lots of Clean House or Law and Order SVU.

2. You're out to eat. What kind of dressing do they get on their salad?
Caeasar?

3. What's one food this person doesn't like?
Anything awesome that has more than 1000 calories, though she takes exception to Blooming Onions or Awesome Blossoms

4. You go out to the bar. He/she orders...
Coke

5. Where did he/she go to high school?
Smyrna High School? I don't know the name of the place. Oddly, she discusses her middle school more than her high school.

6. What size shoe do they wear?
10?

7. If this person were to collect anything, it would be...
Mazda3s

8. What is their favorite type of sandwich?
I think her favorite is a sandwich from Jimmy Johns or Publix. Some form of club. Possibly from Atkin's Park too.

9. This person could eat ______ everyday.
Popcorn

10. Favorite cereal?
Oh I forgot the name, but she bought some and then Cristina ate it.

11. This person wouldn't be caught dead wearing?
I don't think I've ever seen her wear makeup. Not once

12. Favorite sports team?
Georgia Force

13. Who will he/she vote for
She has a standup of Barack Obama in her home standing next to Abraham Lincoln.

14. What is their sign?
Well she was born in February so it must be...who knows.

15. What is something you do that he/she wishes you didn't?
Make bad jokes

16. How many states has this person lived in?
1

17. What is his/her heritage?
Awesome

18. You bake them a cake for their birthday. What kind do you bake?
Hmm..she likes cookie cakes a lot. And confetti cakes

19. Did he/she play sports in high school?
Marching band, she claims

20. This person could spend hours...
On Facebook

21. He/She wants a new...
Mazda3. Hers has gotten a little dirty.

22. The CD I would probably find in their vehicle is...
Tegan and Sarah

23. What can you do that will guarantee a laugh from him/her?
She mistook her answer for my answer here. My answer is fall.

24. Does he/she get along well with their family?
Well enough

25. If money wasn't an option, I would buy him/her...
Mazda3...or a monitor.

CJ's Stories - Sad Heart

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:34:31 GMT

This is the final story in the CJ's Stories collection. It details a heart that was sad. How can a heart be sad you ask? Well let's read and find out.

This story tells quite the opposite story of what most children's stories of the time were telling. My message was all about how being different was bad and you need to CONFORM. If I had a psychologist they'd be all over this. Luckily, a faerie (We call that deus ex machina in the writing world) fixed all that right up. Also, I apparently spell faerie differently all of the sudden. Damn fantasy books.

CJ's Stories - Dinosaur Day

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:58:43 GMT

In my young mind, I don't think I had a solid grasp on what exactly a dinosaur was yet.

It was once a day. No truer words have ever been spoken.

My favorite thing about this picture is that everything mentioned in the story is happening all at the same time. In one image. AMAZING. I like that in the top right corner you can see a gun that was thrown up and is shooting the dinodragon in the neck. Also, that leg is HUGE

Up Next: The final story, Sad Heart. DON'T MISS IT

CJ's Stories - Halloween Day and Another Halloween Day

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:08:59 GMT

You people are in luck! I'm going to post two this time, because I feel like you're starting to get the gist of the Halloween ones. I LIKED HALLOWEEN OK.

First off is Halloween Day. Is it a prequel? A sequel? Who knows! All I know is it is a solid narrative.

You heard me. No head, one eye, and one mouth. Don't ask questions.

Now for the sequel, Another Halloween Day:

Ghosts shouldn't be asking dumb questions anyway.

Up Next: One of my personal favorites, Dinosaur Day

CJ's Stories: Another Halloween Night

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:41:48 GMT

My lovely girlfriend has conspired against me to put her childhood on the Internet as well. She thinks her childhood stories are better than mine! So far they haven't even had a single dragon in them, so I doubt she'll ever outdo my stories.

I like to think of Another Halloween Night, the sequel to Halloween Night, as a little slice-of-life story.

You'll see the invisible witches from earlier have made a reappearance (No pun intended, lolz), though they weren't entirely mentioned in the story. The fire coming out of that dragon looks pretty sweet though.

Up Next: Halloween Day. It'll be spooktacular!

CJ's Stories - Introduction and Halloween Night

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:02:27 GMT

When I was a young lass (Very young, probably no older than 12) I gained a very short lived interest in scrapbooking. Though it didn't last long, I did put some things that I wrote when I was even younger (Probably around 8, who knows though) into this scrapbook and have only recently rediscovered them. I have a collection of stories called "CJ's Stories" that I think are the greatest pieces of literary work of our time. I decided to share them will all of my livejournal/facebook friends in a series of posts. I think I'll put one up every few days for everyone to enjoy what a genius young CJ was.

So, without further introduction, I give you CJ's Stories:

See, the witches were invisible. THAT'S WHY YOU ONLY SEE HATS

There are 6 stories total, and for some reason 4 are about Halloween. You'll notice some themes in this one that are repeated later on. The young me had an obsession with dragons that I don't really know about. Good thing I'm over that.

Up Next: "Another Halloween Night"

Survey 2: Back in the Habit

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:58:45 GMT

This one is from anna. So THANKS DUDE

1) Favorite hobby?
World of Warcraft at the moment, but video games in general

2) Have you ever done heroin?
You don't even ask about a gateway drug first?

3) Do you own guns?
Nope, not even an oozinator

4) What flavor do you add to your drink at sonic?
I may have once added Watermelon to something, but I'm not sure. I don't usually partake of addons.

5) Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
Nah, I don't see why I would. I'm dying whether they tell me I am or I don't go and they don't tell me

6) What do you think of hot dogs?
I once put four on a bagel and a piece of cheese on that.

7) Favorite Christmas song?
I've had a goal the past couple of Christmases not to watch any Christmas movies. I was successful two years ago. My new goal is not to hear any Christmas music, but I feel this is probably impossible if I want to still go out of my house. It's not that the music is bad, I'm just so tired of it.

8) What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Occasionally I'll have a soda

9) Can you do push ups?
Nope, but in 6 weeks and 3 days I should be able to do 100 (http://hundredpushups.com/)

10) Can you do a chin up?
Nope. About 3/4 of the way is the furthest I ever got. I have a lot of mass to lift and not a lot of muscle to lift it.

11) What's your favorite piece of jewelry?
Bracelets. Oh, wait, I don't wear any

12) Do you like bleu cheese?
No, and it's spelled blue.

13) Ever been in a car wreck?
I remember when I was really young being in one that made my head hit my little He-Man sword that I had with me and having to wait it out in a bank or something.

14) Do you have ADD?
No, and probably many people who say they do do not.

15) What's one trait that you hate about yourself?
I have a very difficult time getting up and out of bed in the morning. I've been doing better lately, but it's really hard for me to get up early for no reason other than to be up early

16) Middle name?
Charles

17) Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment.
Hope the boss doesn't ask me what I'm doing
That sesame chicken was delicious but it was filling
How do I make this thing run without getting an out of memory error? Is it possible?

18) Name 3 things you bought yesterday (or was with someone who bought them)
Chinese Food, but that's it.

19) Name 3 drinks you regularly drink
Soda, usually Coke, though I've been trying some Diet drinks
Water
That 5 calorie lemonade mix

20) Current worry?
I gotta poop soon, who knows how that will turn out?

21) Current hate right now?
Disaster Movie

22) When was the last time you talked to or sent a message to your someone special?
About an hour ago, she's eating lunch right now

23) How did you bring in the New Year?
If anna brought it in at the Meathouse then I assume I did too. I don't really remember

24) Where would you like to be right now?
At anna's or Azeroth

25) Name three people who will complete this?
I don't really expect anyone to complete this. I don't have a lot of active livejournal friends and don't expect Facebook people to do it. And even if they did I wouldn't see it.

26) Do you own slippers?
After the Half-Marathon I got some slippers to help me walk comfortably. But I only need them for a day and they never fit right so I don't even wear them anymore. Maybe I should give them to the rats?

27) What shirt are you wearing?
Just a grey collared shirt for work.

28) Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?
Maybe? I'm not sure

29) Can you whistle?
Both breathing out and breathing in. That's skill

31) Would you be a pirate?
I'm not big into stealing other people's stuff and raping women

32) What songs do you sing in the shower?
None to my knowledge

33) Favorite girl's name?
I always liked the name Rayne

34) Favorite boy's name?
CJ Jr

35) What's in your pocket?
The one ring? Tricksy hobbits

36) Last thing that made you laugh?
That archeology joke I posted in the last post was pretty solid

37) Best bed sheets as a child?
I don't remember having any wacky bed sheets. I don't really remember my past bed sheets at all

38) Worst injury you've ever had?
I've broken my arm before when I was a youngling

39) Do you love where you live?
My house? It's pretty sweet, though it can get dirty

40) How many TVs do you have in your house?
Oh man. In use or just total? In use: 6, total: 7

41) Who is your loudest friend?
Vincent can be, but it doesn't happen often. Let's just say there have been times where I have to turn on the Power Window lock

42) How many dogs do you have?
None, but Luigi freaked out this morning when he saw me. Just went nuts

43) Does someone have a crush on you?
I've seen the way anna's dog has been looking at me

45) What is your favorite book?
Unlike SOME people, I'm only going to list my favorite book, not list every book I've ever liked. Brother's War

46) What is your favorite candy?
Snickers

47) Favorite Sports Team?
Georgia Force? I don't know dude

48) What song do you want played at your funeral?
Still Alive from Portal. "While you're dying I'll be still alive. While you're dead I'll be still alive. Still alive. Still alive"

49) What were you doing 12 AM last night?
Sleeping

50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
Gotta log on to do those daily quests. You might not be able to tell, but WoW has been a big deal to me and will be until July 4 with the Midsummer Fire Festival is over.

Survey 1: Thanks to Jacquie

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:41:40 GMT

All right, both anna and Jacquie came through for me. Future CJ, this is for you. Also, Future CJ, when you read this, remember how badly Little CJ failed you.

Bands you've been listening a lot to lately, in no order.
3. All that I have (I listen to all of my music on random)
2. New Alanis Morissette CD
1. Sleeves of Ron and Fez fame

Things you look forward to:
3. Getting a sweet Brazier thing in World of Warcraft
2. First attempt at geocaching this weekend
1. Blizzard's big announcment that they've been leading up to in splash screen changes

Things you like to wear:
4. Socks
3. Shoes
2. Jeans
1. T-shirt

Things that annoy you:
1. That Disaster Movie actually exists and people will go see it

Things you say most days:
2. A bad joke
1. What's an archeologist? Someone whose career is in ruins.

Things you do every day:
3. The daily quests for the Midsummer Fire Festival in World of Warcraft. I'm leveling like crazy from this mug!
2. Listen to Ron and Fez
1. Speak with anna (Though rarely sometimes only online) (And probably not going to happen much anymore since I made two WoW references in one post, and am considering making a third)

People you want to spend more time with:
1. I probably don't see my extended family enough.

Movies you could watch over and over again:
4. Aliens
3. Predator 2
2. Troll 2
1. Fifth Element

Your favorite songs the moment:
3. Still Alive from Portal (Sung by GLaDOS) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthZgszykLs)
2. "The Trapper Song" from Cannibal the Musical (http://www.cannibalthemusical.org/sounds/Cannibal%20The%20Musical%20-%20Trapper%20Song.mp3)
1. Bajeebee by Sleeves (http://www.atomsmotion.com/uploads/bajibi.mp3) (I am aware the file name of the song is actually spelled differently than the title)

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:53:47 GMT

I saw CJ doing this quiz, so I decided to take one too.

1)Is your name CJ?
Yep

We came out from the deep / To learn to love, to learn how to live / ... / That's why we're here

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:46:39 GMT

What a lame subject. I gotta stop typing the music I'm listening to at the moment.

Someone do a survey so I can then do it. I only do surveys if someone has done them first, and no one on my friends list has done surveys in a while. But I was reading over an old one and I'm freakin' hilarious so I'd like to do another one so that I can make future self laugh again.

In the meanwhile, I found this story very interesting but it is long. Took me nearly two hours (Well I was working at the same time):

http://www.goodthink.com/writing/view_stories.cfm?id=11&page_id=2

Survey: GO

Thu, 29 May 2008 15:55:35 GMT

anna made me a new livejournal icon so I can be cool like her. Hopefully she'll comment so everyone can see the comparison (Sorry Facebook readers, you don't get to see)

Half-Marathonathalon: Epilogue

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:35:14 GMT

Well, I only managed to document two weeks of my half-marathon training. Not so good, CJ, not so good.

In any case, the half-marathon happened two months ago now, so I thought I'd go over my goals and see how I did with them. To save some precious scrolling, I've put my goals below, with what I originally said in italics and then my new comments will be in...regular talics?

Goal 1: Complete the half-marathon in 7 hours

This goal should be easy. You have to move at 2.2 miles per hour in order to go 13 miles in 7 hours, and I may be lazy but I know I can at least do that.

Well well past CJ, you got a little hasty here. You never took into account the pain that would occur. I did indeed complete this goal, but not without having a blister on every toe on my left foot and a few more on my right foot. Some different socks would have made a world of difference here.

Goal 2: Run half of the marathon

Truthfully, I don't believe I'd ever be able to run/jog 13 miles after going from no exercise to four months of training. But if I could jog half of it, I'd see that as a great accomplishment (I've never run more than a mile I don't believe, and I know I probably couldn't even do that now). If I could jog half of it, walk maybe another fourth, then finish it up with jogging that'd be amazing.

While training I got injured a couple of times and lost a few weeks of training here and there. This caused me to be way off schedule by the time the marathon came up. I'd never run more than 3 miles, which seems to be the magic number where I'll injure myself. I would get to 3 miles, get hurt, and have to build back up to it again. Now I have different shoes and what I like to call a "knee bra" to help with these injuries, but they really slowed me down at the time. As such, I decided to walk the entire half-marathon, which ended up being a painful challenge in itself.

Goal 3: Keep up with my training

The great thing about part of this training is that I will be doing it at work. I've tried exercising before, but with no goals that I was going for and no one to keep me doing it I've fallen out of it. However, I'm certain that a run once a week after work won't be enough to get ready for this marathon so I will have to train on my own. I want to be able to keep up with this.

I actually stopped running at work after a while and was running at home. Though I did hurt myself a couple of times and I did miss a day here and there, I'm willing to say that I at least partially met this goal. I just need to have less excuses to miss running.

Goal 4: Lose a little weight

It's never been a great interest of mine to lose weight, and I've never exercised with that intent in mind. However, I feel that it's inevitable if I keep up with my training that some weight will be lost. So we'll see where I am in four months. Last time I was weighed, it was around 210. Possibly 215. I generally hover around there at all times (And I don't weight myself naked because, come on, I'm clothed far more than I'm naked so clothed is a much better representation of my weight). If I can get around a scale anytime soon I'll get a more accurate weight.

My weight was fairly accurate when I posted this, probably around 215. Since I've started running, I actually gained weight. I think I'm around 220 now, maybe even a little more. I think this is because when I started running I began to get hungry more often and then would eat more, and I believe I was taking in more calories than I was losing because of the running. An unexpected side effect that maybe more running will cure?

Goal 5: Don't change my diet.

Right now I don't want to change my diet, but if the boss says I'll need to then I'll go for it. We'll see what happens after the first training session.

I mostly stuck with this goal. I did learn to occasionally eat a little healthier right before I run, but usually it didn't bother me. However since I did start eating more yet didn't change my diet, I did gain some weight. I think I need to begin training myself not to eat everything on my plate, which, as a the 2006 Pudding Eating Champion, is hard for me to do, we'll see how if I can pull it off.

So the half-marathon itself was interesting. I'd never been in so much pain before in my life. I believe I posted the photos on facebook, and you can tell I am not looking happy. Also, I was the last in my entire company to finish (Excluding the people who didn't show up), which is a little sad I suppose. But to be honest, I could have gone faster but I walked the whole thing with another guy from my company instead of going it alone.

Well, to be more specific, I could have done the first half faster. The second half and particularly the final fourth I was a shambling wreck. At least somewhere along the way someone was playing Eye of the Tiger, and occasionally there were people out there with free beer for any runners who wanted it. It was an interesting experience.

At the end I said I'd never do anything like it again. However, one week later when I could walk again I was a little more willing to say it's a possibility. Right now I'll just wait and see.

After the marathon, I took a week off of running. Then, I decided to reboot my schedule and start over from the beginning. What was nice was anna decided to join me, so we didn't miss a day of running for a little over a month. Unfortunately anna needed to quit after that time and instantly I started missing days again. Then I had to work overtime for a week. Then I went to Las Vegas and didn't run. And now I'm back home, and have just picked it up again. Hopefully I'll be able to keep on schedule (Though I've already missed a day this week too) and keep up on this running thing, but we'll just have to see.

What's the proper name for a shish kabob?
Shish karobert!

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:01:35 GMT

Well I have this problem where if two people on my friends list do a survey, I usually feel the need to do it too. So everyone can thank Jacquie and anna for this one.

Has anyone ever told you you have pretty eyes?
-- Yep

When was the last time you saw the person you last kissed?
-- Last night

What did you do today?
-- Woke up, checked woot to see what people are getting in their bags of crap, checked to see how my bag of crap is doing in shipping, and then went to work.

How many different people of the opposite sex have you cried over?
-- I'm a man and NEVER CRY

Do You Like to Smile?
-- Sure why not? Who would answer no? Are my fingernails painted black?

How Tall Are You?
-- 6'3"

Last person you rode in a car with under the age of 20?
-- I'm going to try and one up Jacquie and anna and come up with who it actually was. If I had to guess, I'd say my bro, but that'd be 2 years or so ago.

What Time Do You Usually Wake Up On the Weekends?
-- If I have a vet appointment, around 9:30. Otherwise I shoot for 11-ish.

Last thing you had to drink?
-- Water

What are you wearing?
-- Jeans and a collared shirt. Work clothes

What brand of body lotion do you use?
-- Summer's Eve? I can't name body lotion, I never touch it.

What color are your eyes?
-- Blue...um, hazel? One of those words that isn't "blue" or "brown" that girls use.

If you could live in any other country, which one would you pick?
-- This one is tough. I'd want it to be an English-speaking country, but I'm not particularly happy with Canada, England, or Australia. I suppose I'd go with Canada though.

Where were you when you heard about the World Trade Towers?
-- Driving from the Central Education Center to my high school. I heard it from the Morning X with Barnes, Leslie, and Jimmy and then told my geometry teacher.

Do you like your phone?
-- Yep

Last tv show you watched?
-- Ummm...on TV? It would have had to be with anna, so I'd guess America's Funniest Home Videos.

Are you friends with the last person you kissed?
-- Yes, why so many kissing questions?

What color are your bed sheets?
-- Red or tan? REVERSIBLE COMFORTER

Do you ever keep arguing even when you know you’re wrong?
-- Nah, not really. anna might disagree.

Have you ever kissed any one on your top friends?
-- I don't know who my top friends are, but I'm going to assume either Syl or anna is up there.

Do long distance relationships work?
-- Depends on the situation. And the distance.

Are you tan?
-- Nope

What's your favorite girl scout cookie?
-- Those plain ones with milk. They are AWESOME.

Have you ever slept in a bed with the opposite sex?
-- Yes, come on, is this quiz for 14 year olds? Even then I had.

Is there any part of your body that hurts?
-- My ankle has been hurting off and on since the half-marathon.

Are you happy with your life right now?
-- Yep

What's one thing you've learned recently?
-- I could go for a soda, but that's neither here nor there. The thing I learned is that my bag of crap will be here on the 15th. This is important to me.

How do you earn money?
-- Programming and writing about what I'm going to be programming

Last time you took a nap?
-- I try to avoid taking naps because I have a hard time getting up. However I took one on Sunday after the half-marathon.

Who made you laugh today?
-- The day is young, but anna got me with her response to "Are you friends with the last person you kissed?"

Are you slowly drifting away from someone close?
-- If I was drifting away how are they close?

When was the last time you cried really hard?
-- Balls son. A long, long time

Who was the last person who IMed you?
-- anna

When was the last time you held someone’s hand?
-- Last night

Who do you tell everything to?
-- Just anna, really

Last bed you slept in?
-- My bed, and it's still awesome

Last words you spoke?
-- "Hey Syl, you enjoying our lightning fast internet?" Ok that wasn't the last thing, but that's the last one where I can remember what I said.

Do you regret your last kiss?
-- No. Seriously. All these kissing questions are ridiculous. Is this supposed to be the "Recently broken up quiz?"

What is your natural hair color?
-- Brown

What is the next concert you're going to?
-- None that I know of.

You prefer warm or cold weather?
-- Cold

Who is your last text/im from?
-- Google

What is the last movie you watched in theaters?
-- Run Fatboy Run

Who was the last person you shared a bed with?
-- anna

Do you have any nicknames?
-- Ceej is what I hear the most, ceejsauce, ceejsteak

Do fish have feelings?
-- Is this what it feels like when doves cry?

What'd you do last night?
-- Jogged with anna for the first time and bought some dog food.

Would you rather watch football or baseball?
-- The two ladies who answered this before me really didn't answer the question. If I had to watch one, I think I'd watch...football.

Do you like to cuddle?
-- Yes, and some might be able to see where this is a problem.

Last thing you bought?
-- I bought some sweet skull license plate screw things. I'm not sure how to describe them, but they hold in my license plate and end with skulls.

Have you ever shared a drink with anyone?
-- Sure

How much money do you have on you?
-- A couple hundred, depending on the day of the week and if it's the start of a new month. Probably shouldn't be advertising that to the Internet.

Do you have braces?
-- No

Is there someone on your mind that shouldn't be?
-- Rick Astley

Do you burn easily in the sun?
-- Yep

What made you happy today?
-- Well not too much so far. anna's online right now so let's see what she can pull off.

What's your ringtone?
-- Depends on who is calling. For anna, who calls me the most, it's the theme music to That's So Raven. I regret it. For generic calls it's Magus' theme from Chrono Trigger.

What’s the most important thing you've discovered about yourself lately?
-- I can walk 13.1 miles, but why would I want to ever again?

Where did your last hug take place?
-- anna's driveway

Did you cry today?
-- No, but the day is young!

Would you rather wait for a person OR move on to something better?
-- What do you mean? Like if I'm at the movies to meet someone to watch Fool's Gold but they are late so I watch Live Free or Die Hard instead? Then I guess I'd move on to something better, because Life Free or Die Hard was awesome. I just recently watched it in case you didn't know. And why should you?

Where were you raised?
-- I moved around a lot, but I feel like I really started to become the person I am today in Alabama/Germany. That's when I started to get into fantasy and video games a lot more anyway.

Do you have a reason to smile right now?
-- No anna deleted my comment on her survey and I am NOT HAPPY

Have you ever seen your crush kiss another person?
-- Umm...since early High School? No.

What are you about to do?
-- Work. Also rumor is there are bagels in the breakroom and I might grab one. But I already had a bagel this morning so who knows. Decisions, decisions.

Quiz time!

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:03:38 GMT

When two people on my friends list take the same quiz (This time Jacquie and anna) I just have to participate as well. That's what Livejournal (Oh excuse me, apparently it's now LiVEJOURNAL in the top right corner. The world would come to a crashing end if we had a capital i in something) is for, isn't it? (Facebook people...well...you don't read this anyway)
age turned this year?
- I last turned 24

best memory:
- I'm pretty old these days and my memory isn't too great. Um...I beat a dragon and a Hill Giant in Neverwinter Nights 2. AT THE SAME TIME. Oh also hit two years with anna (Had an annaversary, if you will)

worst memory:
- Um...I don't know, when the first time I tried the stupid dragon killed me?

did you stay in a relationship?
- Of course

great people you met:
- Kari Byron, Terry Brooks (from afar), Ron and Fez

longest road trip:
- I imagine I went to Tennessee with my family at some point. Oh and Florida.

best place visited:
- New York city and specifically the Ron and Fez studios

worst place visited:
- I don't know, probably the Masquerade or wherever

earned any new names:
- I earn a new name a day

biggest challenge this year?
- Just trying to put aside some money

how many moving violations?
- None...wait, was it this year? If so, one, but I got out of it.

how many parking tickets did you get?
- None

how many subjects did you take?
- I take no subjects.

what were your grades?
- A for Awesome

did you moon a cop?
- This is a dumb question. Is this what the kids are doing these days?

new best friend?
- I try not to meet new people.

person you wish you became closer to:
- I don't know, Bill Gates? Someone who is very rich yet quite charitable?

any awards?
- Was this the year of the pudding challenge? If so I got a trophy for it.

did you sleep through your alarm?
- No I don't believe I have

did you lose or gain weight?
- I stay around the same weight at all times

did you break any bones this year?
- Did I do anything that would break a bone? Of course not

sports played?
- Let's not kid ourselves here

what do you hope for 2008?
- Well that I'll be able to run half of that half-marathon. That'd be nice. Also that I'll have enough money put aside to buy a car when mine finally cuts out.

new love for food?
- Nah, my food tastes are limited.

kiss anyone?
- A few people. Ok just one

dance in the rain?
- What am I, in a Ricky Martin song?

have you changed?
- Every year I get more cynical

how was your birthday?
- I don't remember really. I think anna took me to O'Charley's? If so then it was AWESOME

any snow this year?
- I live in Georgia

did you lose any family members?
- I don't believe so

did you disappoint anyone close?
- I've never disappointed anyone

did you sleep under the stars?
- Not this year. It's not as great as romanticists make it out to be

have you ever pretended to be happy?
- Probably not

did you keep your new year's resolution?
- I may have made a resolution not to make any resolutions. If so then...yes? Or no? You decide.

did you leave the country?
- I went to New York, which is similar.

are you moving in the new year?
- How would I know?

did you lose anything expensive?
- Did I break my car this year? If so, then yes.

learn anything new about yourself?
- I have a very hard time getting up for work. It's becoming a problem. Oh, also, politically I learned I'm libertarian leaning but I'm not ready to take the plunge and say I'm libertarian yet.

did you find out who your true friends were?
- No need?

made a change in your life?
- I'm training for a half-marathon. I think that's a pretty major change for me. Also, I'm trying to get less software illegally.

did you stay up 'til sunrise?
- Did I play World of Warcraft this year? If so, yes. Yes I did.

do anything you regret?
- Trying to start my car while it was in a large puddle. A very large puddle.

go to any parties?
- Sure

make much money?
- At UPS I made more money than I ever thought I would for years. Now, I'm doing ok.

did you keep your job?
- I'm keeping the one I got. I hope

did you attend a funeral?
- Nope

gain any new family members?
- Probably, I can't keep track of my cousins.

get a new car?
- I think so...well...used.

develop any health problems?
- I think I get migraines? Around once a month. It's been going on longer than a year but it's only recently that I put a name to it. And it sucks.

end up in a hospital?
- Nah

attend a concert?
- You could call them that

travel out of state?
- Yes, didn't I already answer this?

read any books?
- There are people who go a year without reading books?

sign up to facebook?
- I was there before it was cool

eat anything you've never had before?
- I'm sure Vincent made me something that no one had ever had before

did anyone develop feelings for you?
- Matt was getting frisky at the movies the other day...

attend church?
- Nope

favorite day of the year?
- Christmas is always fun

least favorite day of the year?
- I don't know, the day I have to fill out tax information? That's pretty boring

was 2007 a great year for you?
- Yeah why not?

If I'd realized how long that was before I started, I would have skipped it. I don't know how teenagers do it. Is it because they type u instead of you? Does that give them the stamina?

I miss Web 1.72

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:57:31 GMT

With Gmail's recent ability to connect to AIM from within it, I've had a radical thought. Over the past few years I've slowly but surely stopped using any e-mail account but Gmail. Also, I rarely if ever use any chat service beyond AIM and Google Talk. My current setup at home, though, has me using Pidgin for IM and Outlook for e-mail, which is mostly just an IMAP connection back to my Gmail.

So here's my radical thought. I just uninstall both of those applications and use an always-open copy of Gmail on my home computer for these things. Has anyone made such a switch? I haven't been the most web 2.0 focused person, but I'm heading in that direction (I see myself using google docs more and more, and one day I completely switched from my RSS reader to Google Reader and haven't looked back). Anyone have any concerns? I believe this would use up less processing power on my PC, but I could be confused as to how Gmail works.

All you CS people in livejournal and facebook let me know.

Half-Marathonathalon: Week 3

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:29:24 GMT

Hello everyone,

Though I've been keeping up on my running, I find it harder to keep up with posting about my running. I mean, who really cares?

Anyway, so far I've made some progress. I'm able to jog over a mile on a track, and at this Wednesday's group jog we'll be going for a full 1.2 miles with hills and the like. My dad has started joining us for the group meetings which is really nice because he's around the same level as I am (Actually, he just ran 2 miles so he may be a little ahead).

So far, the furthest I've gone is six laps around the track at the middle school near me. Unfortunately it isn't a standard sized track so I don't know how far that is. What I do know is it's between 1.2 to 1.5 miles. So not bad? But definitely not as good as I'm going to need to run my goal of 6 miles. But it's definite progress from my shuffling around that I did two weeks ago.

Umm...I think that's all I have to report for now. I'll update again some other time in the future.

Half-Marathonathalon: Week 1

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:51:40 GMT

HEY GUYS GET READY FOR WEEKLY UPDATES (Well at least for now)

Wednesday was the first day of our group training. There were about 10-15 people who showed up for this. Nils (my boss and the organizer of this thing and runner extraordinaire) handed out training schedules for us to choose from.

There were three options:

Walking
Novice Runner
Intermediate Runner

I looked at the walking schedule and it was nothing but increasing amounts of walking for three months. I know I'm not in shape, but I also know I can handle walking. I don't need to go on a 20 minute walk.

So I picked up the Novice Runner sheet. Unbeknowest to me, out of all the people there, only three chose to run. Me, Jan (The guy who sits across from me), and Nils. And Jan and Nils are in MUCH better shape than me. I expected there to be more people willing to run but still in the beginning stages of it!

So I knew it'd be embarrassing. On top of that, even the Novice Runner sheet asks you to run 2 miles. 2 miles on my very first day! That's impossible!

Anyway Jan and Nils were nice enough to slow it down for me. We'd jog a little, then walk a little, and repeat that. But eventually I could jog no more (I estimate after a mile and a half, which truthfully I don't think was too bad) and I let them go on ahead. They really picked up the pace and did another "lap" while I strolled the final mile or so back to the office. What was nice, though, is that they reached the office at the same time I did (After doing their second lap) so it looked to all the walkers as if I'd stuck with them the whole time. So that's nice.

Anyway, I know this schedule will be impossible for me for now. I knew that before I got started. Tonight I'm hoping to go out and walk a mile or two, take Friday as a day of rest, and then Saturday maybe try a walk/jog for a mile and a half and work my way up. It's unfortunate that I can't use the schedule given to me, but it shouldn't be too bad to make up my own for a month then move into the schedule given to me.

I'm a (half-) marathon man

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:11:06 GMT

It just occurred to me that I did not put Thelma in my last post about Pee Outside (.org). CRAP. There goes an era.

So at work my boss was recently challenged to get a certain percentage of the employees (16%) to run in an upcoming half-marathon, the ING Georgia Marathon. So, I agreed to do it!

Now this is craziness to anyone who knows me, and I assume you know me if you're reading this. It's so crazy because I can't walk up the stairs at my house without getting out of breath, yet now I have to run (Or otherwise propel myself using my legs) 13.1 miles in 7 hours?

We are going to begin "training" after work in a couple of days, and so since this is so early I thought I'd post some of my goals and then I'd come back and see how I did with them. The marathon is on March 30, 2008 which gives me a little less that four months of training.

Goal 1: Complete the half-marathon in 7 hours

This goal should be easy. You have to move at 2.2 miles per hour in order to go 13 miles in 7 hours, and I may be lazy but I know I can at least do that.

Goal 2: Run half of the marathon

Truthfully, I don't believe I'd ever be able to run/jog 13 miles after going from no exercise to four months of training. But if I could jog half of it, I'd see that as a great accomplishment (I've never run more than a mile I don't believe, and I know I probably couldn't even do that now). If I could jog half of it, walk maybe another fourth, then finish it up with jogging that'd be amazing.

Goal 3: Keep up with my training

The great thing about part of this training is that I will be doing it at work. I've tried exercising before, but with no goals that I was going for and no one to keep me doing it I've fallen out of it. However, I'm certain that a run once a week after work won't be enough to get ready for this marathon so I will have to train on my own. I want to be able to keep up with this.

Goal 4: Lose a little weight

It's never been a great interest of mine to lose weight, and I've never exercised with that intent in mind. However, I feel that it's inevitable if I keep up with my training that some weight will be lost. So we'll see where I am in four months. Last time I was weighed, it was around 210. Possibly 215. I generally hover around there at all times (And I don't weight myself naked because, come on, I'm clothed far more than I'm naked so clothed is a much better representation of my weight). If I can get around a scale anytime soon I'll get a more accurate weight.

Goal 5: Don't change my diet.

Right now I don't want to change my diet, but if the boss says I'll need to then I'll go for it. We'll see what happens after the first training session.

And those are my goals for now. It'll be interesting to see in four months whether or not I stuck with them or things changed. I was so unequipped for this that I had to go out and buy running shoes and pants this past weekend, but at least that also makes me feel that I'm committed now too. Because I hate wasting money more than I hate running.

Pee Outside

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:01:14 GMT

HEY EVERYONE

I wanted to take a moment to promote a website that is trying to make a difference with the drought problem here in Georgia. Some of you may have heard of it, but I'm sure others have not yet. The website is Pee Outside (.org). Check it out!

Did you know the average toilet uses 3 gallons of water per flush? If every man in Atlanta would pee outside (Or in a varied alternative, like down a drain) one time a day, it would save 7.5 million gallons of water a day!

Think about 3 gallons of water for a second. Imagine if that was three gallons of milk. Imagine how much space that takes up in your refrigerator. Once again, if it were milk, every flush would be costing you around $12 ($18 if you buy Mayfield)!

So do your part and Pee Outside (.org). If you can't pee outside for whatever reason, you can still support Pee Outside by joining the Facebook group or buying some sweet merch.

Come on everyone, go yellow and do your part for Georgia.

Alternate ending: Population: DVD

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:31:20 GMT

When you turn on my DVD player, it says "Welcome to DVD World" I wish after that it said "Population: You"

New jobbers

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:26:03 GMT

All,

I got a new job at a little place called Stibo Catalog. I chose Stibo Catalog for a few reasons:
A) I can wear jeans almost every day
B) There are doughnuts every Friday
C) Very good benefits
D) They were the first company to offer me a job.
E) No

So far I've enjoyed it. Currently I'm just working on some Visual Basic for Applications to hit a web service through Excel, but I will eventually be working in Java. I imagine.

In other news, I have two more rats, which brings me up to 3 more than the number I said I never wanted to have more than (2), and 1 more of the second number I said I never wanted to have more than (4). But that's life. I also have a super-cage now to dwarf all other cages. Except other cages of the same brand. Which are the same size.

Their names are Jordan and Daisy. I didn't name them, ergo I don't love them, but, you know, just wanted to let everyone know they are there.

Rats!

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:10:06 GMT

Hey everyone I got rats again! I always kept the cage from the olden days of Ben, FRA, and the jerk of jerks Socrates, so I felt like there was always a part of me that wanted rats again.

About six months ago, anna was helping me get over my fear of rats and we'd go to places and play with rats a little bit to show that they won't bite my lip off. Again. Well, that was a mistake because we went to one place that sells rats as feeders and played with one lovely little rat. When we got back to my house, it was decided that we just couldn't let that rat get fed to a snake (Screw the other ones, though.) and made a mad dash back to the pet store, got there right after closing, and were let in and got the rat who was soon named Dorothy. She came in a paper bag. You can see how this place cares about their rats.

That place didn't have any other female rats, so we waited a couple weeks and got Poopsmith from PetSmart. She was originally going to be called Ratlas Shrugged, but when we got her out of the bin she pooped all over anna (Which she hilariously didn't notice), so Poopsmith it was.

Fast forward a while. Poopsmith gets sick, gets better, a month later Dorothy dies of unknown causes. It really came out of no where. My original plan was to let Poopsmith die alone, clean the cage completely, and then get rats from breeders which aren't nearly as unhealthy and a lot more socialized. But that didn't happen.

So one trip to Petsmart later, we came home with the new and improved Ratlas Shrugged and Blanche (By the way, I let anna name one of each pair and that's where the stupid Golden Girl names are coming from. I'm not excited about a "Rose" and "Sophia.") Ratlas Shrugged is a pretty cool rat, I suppose, but Blanche I like to call Evil Dorothy, as she looks like Dorothy, just much, much more evil.

Finally, just recently, Poopsmith got really sick again and it was gross, but I won't go into detail. The point is she's better now but I have to give them all medicine and Blanche poops all over me when I get her out.

Anyway, pictures!

I built this hammock myself and it took a while. But i don't have a job, what do I care?

That's Poopsmith looking at the camera and Ratlas seeing whats going on

And finally Poopsmith again with Blanche making an appearance.

By the way, I don't care if you don't like the size of the images, I gotta better things to do than resize images for your pleasure.

You know who else doesn't care to resize images or use technology?

THELMA

anna is tired of this bit but I think it's still strong.

After this I'm pooping

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 19:40:30 GMT

Actually I'm gonna poop now, hold on.

Ok now that I've taken care of that and some other things, let's get to this reunion tour of posting.

Hello everyone!

So here's what's going on with me. As my last post says, I got a contracting position with UPS. Well, two weeks ago they told me that a UPSer had decided to take back that position, effectively giving me the boot. My last day was two days ago.

So that sucked, but in a way it's been nice. I was half-ready to move on anyway. It was still a little sad to leave my work buddies. I got taken out to lunch and a toast was made to me. I've never had a toast made to me. Chants, sure, but not toasts.

Now I'm in that great place of being without a job again, so I seem to have taken up construction of various projects. Yesterday I built two screen windows and a hammock for my rats (More on them later), and applied to a bunch of jobs. Today's been a different story, but I'll get to that later.

My favorite part about being gone from UPS though?

NO MORE THELMA. F YOU THELMA. F YOU IN THE A.

I'm going to try to work her into every post, because that's how I roll.

My baby takes the morning train, he works from nine to five and then...

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:37:16 GMT

So I got a new job. Kinda regot an old job?

So out of the blue last week my old manager from when I interned at UPS gave me a call. Seems they had an opening, and they wanted me to intern for it. So the next day I did. An hour later they called me back and said I got the job. So that was pretty sweet.

Today was my first day, and it was pretty boring. I read technical documentation all day. I'm where one of the people who gave me jobs when I was intern sat, which is really kinda weird because I sit there and I'm like "You guys can't tell me what to do anymore. WE'RE NOT WORKING ON THE SAME PORTION OF UPS.COM SUCKAS"

This whole position is a little weird. First off, technically, I'm not working for UPS but rather a company called Matrix which staffs UPS. And there are so many things I have questions about and no one ever has the answers.

I'm really tired so I think this post is going all over the place. HOWEVER. This morning I met with a guy from Matrix at UPS, and I thought he was going to answer some questions or something. Instead, he gave me a bag full of sweet stuff (Like a mouse pad, a coffee mug, another cup for coffee, some mints and gum, and one of those blocks of sticky notes), introduced me to my manager who I had met months prior while working for him, and left. And I was like, hey, you drove all the way from South Carolina for this?

So the point is I have to see this again every day when I come in:

I HATE YOU THELMA

P.S. - lol, I was looking at an old post I made and read this:

"Oh, also, it seems like I've got a paid internship at UPS now, so that's cool I guess. My mom was excited about it, but that certainly isn't a place I want to stay too long."

Oh, me, how not finding a job prior to now has crushed my hopes and dreams.

We're going down, down, in an earlier round

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 02:49:37 GMT

Hey, ho, let's go. Hey, ho, let's go.

Hey guys I got an internship at UPS. Ok now you're caught up. So every day I walk by this damn poster on my way to my little cubicle where I spend time doing nothing. Here's what it says:

For those of you unable to read pictures yet somehow able to read this, it says "Technology can sometimes get in the way of doing my job." On the left it says "Thelma the Traditionalist."

This poster pisses me off every time I walk by it. Enough to make a boring livejournal post about. Technology does NOT ever get in the way of doing your job. YOU being a dumbass is what's getting in the way of doing your job. LEARN TO DEAL WITH CHANGE. Oh look, she "prefers to do things her own way." You know what I prefer, Thelma? I prefer to do things the FAST and EFFICIENT way. I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON AN ABACUS.

And that's how I spent my summer vacation.