Well, this quarter of school is almost over and I'm really glad to be (almost) done with my English class. The folks at Sinclair have asked me to become a tutor there teaching computers and helping out. The only problem is that I need to have (at least) 6 credit hours to take the job, or even continue working there as a student assistant.
I had plans to take my final English class (for my Associates degree) in the summer, but I'm not sure if I want to after 2 consecutive quarters of writing papers. That (along with Photography) would be the only classes I would be able to take, since I don't have anymore gen-ed classes to take. Most of the classes I need to take have prerequisites and they aren't always offered every quarter, so it has to be planned out in advance. If I am to follow the current schedule, I will be done in Spring 2009. I don't know if Photography is offered during the summer, but I will look into it as another class I could take to make up the required 6 credit hours needed to continue working.
There's also the pay and maximum amount of hours I can work at Sinclair. I'm paid minimum wage, and can't work more than 20 hours a week. I was looking at finding a better job (I found one posted for a nice one at Honda) and only taking English 113 online, but now I'm presented with another choice: do I want to sacrifice money or convenience.
Friday, June 01, 2007
New Content
I just spent some time sprucing up my template and adding content to the sidebar. I really like the new visual way to change the templates on Blogger now. It makes it fun to add new stuff.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Moving...again
Well, it's not me this time, but another of my friends. I just helped my friend, Randy, move this past Saturday and it was an ordeal. He's going through a tough time right now with a (VERY possible) divorce and none of his relatives-in-law were on hand to help out in the nearly 9-hours that I helped him move. In fact, his father-in-law even offered my help for me. : /
Randy took it in stride (only possible through his newly refreshed Christian zeal). In fact, he's stayed courageous through this awfully tough time and I don't envy what he is dealing with, but he's stayed calm and mature through these hardships.
I've been going to his small church and really felt welcome there (something I wasn't feeling from my current(/old?) church.
On other topics, college is going well, though my English class (online, no less) is taking a lot out of me and I haven't been getting much sleep lately. I have 2 more years to go, but I just have to struggle through these English courses and it should be fun for the rest of the way, as those are the only GEN-ED ones I need to do for my degree. My new sister-in-law, Lyz, just got her Masters in education while working at a school, rockin' with a 4.0 GPA. That's amazing (something recently impressed upon me by her husband ;) Congrats to you, again, Lyz! See you, both, this weekend!
I'll write when I get a life...
Randy took it in stride (only possible through his newly refreshed Christian zeal). In fact, he's stayed courageous through this awfully tough time and I don't envy what he is dealing with, but he's stayed calm and mature through these hardships.
I've been going to his small church and really felt welcome there (something I wasn't feeling from my current(/old?) church.
On other topics, college is going well, though my English class (online, no less) is taking a lot out of me and I haven't been getting much sleep lately. I have 2 more years to go, but I just have to struggle through these English courses and it should be fun for the rest of the way, as those are the only GEN-ED ones I need to do for my degree. My new sister-in-law, Lyz, just got her Masters in education while working at a school, rockin' with a 4.0 GPA. That's amazing (something recently impressed upon me by her husband ;) Congrats to you, again, Lyz! See you, both, this weekend!
I'll write when I get a life...
Monday, April 16, 2007
Moving Friends, College Life
Well, this past weekend I helped my friend, Ben, move into his new place with his roommate. He had lots of help and I feel exhausted, but I'm glad he got such a nice place and I hope to visit him up there often (time and schedule permitting).
I'm settling into college life and this will be my third quarter back after my long hiatus. I'm taking it easy right now mainly due to the limited window I can take my classes. I'm taking English Composition II right now and it's a pain in the ass. I'm glad the rest of my schedule is so lax, therefore I can really not be stressed out about the commitment it takes to write these papers. It's my first class online at my current college and it's a bit different.
After ENG-112, I'm planning to take ENG-113 (my last english course for my degree) in the summer online. Once I get done with that, I'll be done with all of my gen-ed classes out of the way and I'll just have fun classes left. Photoshop, photography, 3D software; I'd already taken these at my old college, but Sinclair isn't taking my transfer credit for them, which kind of sucks. I have about 2 more years to do, and I was quite a ways to getting my Assosciates Degree before, so it kind of feels like I'm starting over from scratch. At least they took almost all of my gen-ed classes.
On the personal front, still single and I have a friend who will be soon, as well. He's going through a difficult divorce right now and I've had to keep him company and try to be there for him through this rough time. It's hard trying to give advice in a situation you have no knowledge of. The best I can give him is just to keep seeing his counselor, get a lawyer, keep working out at the gym, and keep praying. It looks like he'll be moving soon, too, so I'll help him move again. I think I've helped him move over 5 times now.
I'm settling into college life and this will be my third quarter back after my long hiatus. I'm taking it easy right now mainly due to the limited window I can take my classes. I'm taking English Composition II right now and it's a pain in the ass. I'm glad the rest of my schedule is so lax, therefore I can really not be stressed out about the commitment it takes to write these papers. It's my first class online at my current college and it's a bit different.
After ENG-112, I'm planning to take ENG-113 (my last english course for my degree) in the summer online. Once I get done with that, I'll be done with all of my gen-ed classes out of the way and I'll just have fun classes left. Photoshop, photography, 3D software; I'd already taken these at my old college, but Sinclair isn't taking my transfer credit for them, which kind of sucks. I have about 2 more years to do, and I was quite a ways to getting my Assosciates Degree before, so it kind of feels like I'm starting over from scratch. At least they took almost all of my gen-ed classes.
On the personal front, still single and I have a friend who will be soon, as well. He's going through a difficult divorce right now and I've had to keep him company and try to be there for him through this rough time. It's hard trying to give advice in a situation you have no knowledge of. The best I can give him is just to keep seeing his counselor, get a lawyer, keep working out at the gym, and keep praying. It looks like he'll be moving soon, too, so I'll help him move again. I think I've helped him move over 5 times now.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Car Wreck and Rental
Well, on the way to work this morning I became of a victim of the winter weather and icy conditions. All of this made worse by the rear-wheel drive, front-engine setup of my 1993 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, which spun my car like a top the moment I hit an unforeseen puddle of slippery water/ice hidden behind a small ridge.
I tried to control the mad fishtail my car was in and was able to keep it mostly straight. In hindsight, I imagine I might have been able to keep it on the road, by accelerating, instead of braking, while I was swerving back and forth. I was fine (though a little shaken) and my car was drivable, receiving mostly cosmetic damage, despite careening into the oncoming lane (no traffic, thank God) and off the side of the road, tearing through two sections of barb wire fence and sliding to a halt in the deep snow.
I had it towed back onto the road and made arrangements to have it repaired with my $500 deductible and rental coverage. My car might just be better than before the accident when I get it back. For the next few days to a week, I'll be driving around in this brand new Dodge Magnum. NICE!
I tried to control the mad fishtail my car was in and was able to keep it mostly straight. In hindsight, I imagine I might have been able to keep it on the road, by accelerating, instead of braking, while I was swerving back and forth. I was fine (though a little shaken) and my car was drivable, receiving mostly cosmetic damage, despite careening into the oncoming lane (no traffic, thank God) and off the side of the road, tearing through two sections of barb wire fence and sliding to a halt in the deep snow.I had it towed back onto the road and made arrangements to have it repaired with my $500 deductible and rental coverage. My car might just be better than before the accident when I get it back. For the next few days to a week, I'll be driving around in this brand new Dodge Magnum. NICE!
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Next Step: (?)
Well, I've taken another quarter on, but I'm taking this one a little easier. It's winter and I don't have the best snow tires or vehicle, so I've taken my classes closer to home (very close in fact).
I've also landed a job at school. The pay and hours aren't the best, but it should be a good experience. I'm also working for the government now. Oooh, scary!
I've also landed a job at school. The pay and hours aren't the best, but it should be a good experience. I'm also working for the government now. Oooh, scary!
Monday, December 04, 2006
Out of school (for now) ... on to the next step
My brother, Thomas, has another benefit concert happening on December 16th at the Oregon Express in Dayton. This is helping raise funds to help him pay his medical bills he incurred after his stroke.
There have been a few and this should be the first one that I would be able to attend, as I was just too busy with school projects previously. It should be fun. Here's the banner ad he supplied me, but it's impossible to even read what's going on in the ad (too fast). Go to the website if you want info.
There have been a few and this should be the first one that I would be able to attend, as I was just too busy with school projects previously. It should be fun. Here's the banner ad he supplied me, but it's impossible to even read what's going on in the ad (too fast). Go to the website if you want info.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The right way (or the highway)
I'm so sick of I-75 that I've sworn off using it in the foresee-able future (especially going to/from school).
Going down to class the past couple of weeks, the traffic has been pretty heavy, and sometimes I've had to watch out for very slow or stopped traffic, but last Thursday, going down to college, I was stuck for over an hour making me late for class by about an hour. Then, yesterday, I just happened to be up in the morning (well, actually I stayed up night, but that's another issue). I saw a news story about a 7-car accident on I-75 causing delays, so I took that into account when I was finally ready to go down to campus and found alternate routes off of the highway if there was any sign of traffic. Well, there was none, so I kept on right through, though there was no shortage of asshole drivers.
Well, after being up (and having done a rigorous exercise routine earlier in the day), I barely made it through my professor's boring lecture, so I was absolutely ready to go home as quick as possible and I've never had any problem going I-75 North from Dayton, so I thought I'd be fine. Boy, was I wrong!
At about the Needmore exit, traffic began piling up and came to a complete stop. This was somewhat understandable as they have been doing construction work on the I-70/I-75 Interchange, and the left-most lane has been closed for a while (though none of the asshole drivers know how to read the sign and expected us to let them in or suffer an accident; I have a guideline: if you don't have your turn-signal on, then you don't get in front of me). This would have made for some sketchy situations as per usual, but tonight both left lanes were closed and they didn't tell us beforehand. So, the lane that I was in was closed as well and, even using my turn-signal, I barely made it over before I absolutely had to change lanes (people don't seem to follow my rule of being courteous to drivers who signal when they change lanes).
I was stuck in traffic for about an hour and it was down to one lane at the I-70/I-75 Interchange, with people merging in making it even more dangerous. Then, when the whole merging over business was done with, traffic seemed to pick the pace, though we couldn't really go that fast, as the lanes were bordered closely with cones and the lanes were moving past construction workers.
Finally, the construction ended right before the exit I was going to take. I was so frustrated by this inconvenience, but I was glad to past the trouble spot and was dreaming of my couch & bed. Well, the route I was taking was closed due to construction at the railroad tracks, so I had to take a detour north for quite a ways and the next route I could take was at another road with a railroad crossing, which unfortunately had a train crossing it when I finally got up to it. Just one delay after another.
At this time, I had to take a leak really badly, so I put it in reverse and kept on Hyatt and decided to drop in on where my brother's staying, though when it looked like nobody was there, I decided to head to Burger King to use the facilities and get some food. Then, while I was waiting for my food, I must have been standing there for about 15 min., though there there was nobody else in line.
Not all was bad yesterday, though: I saw Dan's friend, Enrique at the Sinclair library (with his Asian classmate he has a crush on). I was able to get my paper done, make copies, though I left my Tartan card in the copy machine and nearly forgot it because I was in such a hurry to finish my paper and make it to class. I noticed it wasn't in my wallet when I was buying Starbucks. Somebody had taken it out of the machine and set it on top. Then, on the way to class, I saw a friend I used to work with at Menlo. I hadn't seen him in months, but I couldn't really stop to talk. I made it to class, and the professor surprising let all us study the terms before our quiz for a few minutes. Without doing so, I would have bombed it worse than I had the previous one.
Going down to class the past couple of weeks, the traffic has been pretty heavy, and sometimes I've had to watch out for very slow or stopped traffic, but last Thursday, going down to college, I was stuck for over an hour making me late for class by about an hour. Then, yesterday, I just happened to be up in the morning (well, actually I stayed up night, but that's another issue). I saw a news story about a 7-car accident on I-75 causing delays, so I took that into account when I was finally ready to go down to campus and found alternate routes off of the highway if there was any sign of traffic. Well, there was none, so I kept on right through, though there was no shortage of asshole drivers.
Well, after being up (and having done a rigorous exercise routine earlier in the day), I barely made it through my professor's boring lecture, so I was absolutely ready to go home as quick as possible and I've never had any problem going I-75 North from Dayton, so I thought I'd be fine. Boy, was I wrong!
At about the Needmore exit, traffic began piling up and came to a complete stop. This was somewhat understandable as they have been doing construction work on the I-70/I-75 Interchange, and the left-most lane has been closed for a while (though none of the asshole drivers know how to read the sign and expected us to let them in or suffer an accident; I have a guideline: if you don't have your turn-signal on, then you don't get in front of me). This would have made for some sketchy situations as per usual, but tonight both left lanes were closed and they didn't tell us beforehand. So, the lane that I was in was closed as well and, even using my turn-signal, I barely made it over before I absolutely had to change lanes (people don't seem to follow my rule of being courteous to drivers who signal when they change lanes).
I was stuck in traffic for about an hour and it was down to one lane at the I-70/I-75 Interchange, with people merging in making it even more dangerous. Then, when the whole merging over business was done with, traffic seemed to pick the pace, though we couldn't really go that fast, as the lanes were bordered closely with cones and the lanes were moving past construction workers.
Finally, the construction ended right before the exit I was going to take. I was so frustrated by this inconvenience, but I was glad to past the trouble spot and was dreaming of my couch & bed. Well, the route I was taking was closed due to construction at the railroad tracks, so I had to take a detour north for quite a ways and the next route I could take was at another road with a railroad crossing, which unfortunately had a train crossing it when I finally got up to it. Just one delay after another.
At this time, I had to take a leak really badly, so I put it in reverse and kept on Hyatt and decided to drop in on where my brother's staying, though when it looked like nobody was there, I decided to head to Burger King to use the facilities and get some food. Then, while I was waiting for my food, I must have been standing there for about 15 min., though there there was nobody else in line.
Not all was bad yesterday, though: I saw Dan's friend, Enrique at the Sinclair library (with his Asian classmate he has a crush on). I was able to get my paper done, make copies, though I left my Tartan card in the copy machine and nearly forgot it because I was in such a hurry to finish my paper and make it to class. I noticed it wasn't in my wallet when I was buying Starbucks. Somebody had taken it out of the machine and set it on top. Then, on the way to class, I saw a friend I used to work with at Menlo. I hadn't seen him in months, but I couldn't really stop to talk. I made it to class, and the professor surprising let all us study the terms before our quiz for a few minutes. Without doing so, I would have bombed it worse than I had the previous one.
Friday, September 29, 2006
No Hobart for you!
The job-nazi spat this in my face as I got a call from Rachel (a very nice-looking woman) whom I met with Wednesday.
She told me that I might be able to get into the other location of Honda, but that they were 2nd-shift and I wouldn't be able to do that because of my class schedule.
Then, she told me of her friend who works at Honda and told me to call her about possibly getting a job there.
She told me that I might be able to get into the other location of Honda, but that they were 2nd-shift and I wouldn't be able to do that because of my class schedule.
Then, she told me of her friend who works at Honda and told me to call her about possibly getting a job there.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
I might get a job at Hobart
Well, I just got a call on Tue. and went in for a tour today, so if I get picked, I should hear by this Friday if I got the job. If I do, I should be starting by next Tue. or Wed.
If I don't get that job (which would be great, other than it's further away from home than my last job), there's still a possibility that I could get in at a job where an acquaintance works.
I'm not too worried about getting a job (at least not this week). I like the free-time, but I need a steady income to get me out of debt.
Oh, that reminds me; getting out of debt was one of the goals I had for this year (or was it last year?). Well, I've got most of my credit (which was at ~$4,000 before I started work at my last job) onto a 0% APR credit card so I'm not getting hit with compound interest while I pay off my debt. That has helped a little, but the real thing that has helped me cut my debt in half in about 5 months was to come up with a simple ratio for my money and get Quicken to help me keep tabs on where I put my money. Also, to get a debit card and use that instead of credit. I've also tried not to eat out much and curb my spending habits.
I've got a little over $1, 000 in savings and about the same in a checking account I use for all my bills and spending. If I was to pay off my credit with my money I have saved in both accounts, I would be almost in the black (that might have changed to black with my last paycheck I will receive from my last job). I like the control I feel I have over my expenses and using Quicken to visually see where my money goes and what I spend the most on has been really fun, actually.
If I don't get that job (which would be great, other than it's further away from home than my last job), there's still a possibility that I could get in at a job where an acquaintance works.
I'm not too worried about getting a job (at least not this week). I like the free-time, but I need a steady income to get me out of debt.
Oh, that reminds me; getting out of debt was one of the goals I had for this year (or was it last year?). Well, I've got most of my credit (which was at ~$4,000 before I started work at my last job) onto a 0% APR credit card so I'm not getting hit with compound interest while I pay off my debt. That has helped a little, but the real thing that has helped me cut my debt in half in about 5 months was to come up with a simple ratio for my money and get Quicken to help me keep tabs on where I put my money. Also, to get a debit card and use that instead of credit. I've also tried not to eat out much and curb my spending habits.
I've got a little over $1, 000 in savings and about the same in a checking account I use for all my bills and spending. If I was to pay off my credit with my money I have saved in both accounts, I would be almost in the black (that might have changed to black with my last paycheck I will receive from my last job). I like the control I feel I have over my expenses and using Quicken to visually see where my money goes and what I spend the most on has been really fun, actually.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
School, sleep, (look for work?)
Well, yesterday was my last day of work and to celebrate, some of the people from work went bowling at a local bowling alley. For some of the people working there, it was the end of an era, but for me, it was just a short (but very long) 5 months.
While I don't get along with everybody (in fact, there were a few people I had a hard time with, or they had a hard time with me), it was nice that I could go and have a fun time with a few of the people I'd worked with nearly every day for almost half a year. I didn't really get to make friends with anybody there, but I wouldn't mind getting together in the future.
Anyway, I'll have a LOT of free-time on my hands now and it'd be a good chance to get some of the homework I have to do for my classes next week, but I don't want to get sedentary again and lazy.
GET A JOB!!
While I don't get along with everybody (in fact, there were a few people I had a hard time with, or they had a hard time with me), it was nice that I could go and have a fun time with a few of the people I'd worked with nearly every day for almost half a year. I didn't really get to make friends with anybody there, but I wouldn't mind getting together in the future.
Anyway, I'll have a LOT of free-time on my hands now and it'd be a good chance to get some of the homework I have to do for my classes next week, but I don't want to get sedentary again and lazy.
GET A JOB!!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
School, work, sleep(?)
Well, I haven't posted in a while, but that's isn't because I haven't had anything to say. Currently, I'm in my second week of college (first time back in about 5 years), and still working, though my job I've been at for nearly 5 months will be over next week (they're moving operations to Columbus, OH).
There's been hard things to deal with at this job, but there isn't much stress involved and it's close to home. After I get out of work, I have an hour to drive down to Sinclair Community College in Dayton. This quarter is my first time at Sinclair (I'm a transfer student) and it was a little scary trying to find my way around campus and finding the best parking spot, but my classes meet only once a week, so I can leave my homework for the weekends if I don't have any energy left after work on the weekdays.
I just got fitted for a tuxedo I'm going to be renting for my brother's wedding in about a month. This will be the first wedding I've not got to sit in the audience for (I'm one of the groomsman).
Okay, I'm tired and I'll end it now before I spend all night on this entry. Later!
Addition: I almost forgot to say something about my birthday which is September 14th. I'm writing this on the 23rd and I still haven't gotten to do really anything for my birthday, or received any presents. : ( I'll change that though in the near future.
There's been hard things to deal with at this job, but there isn't much stress involved and it's close to home. After I get out of work, I have an hour to drive down to Sinclair Community College in Dayton. This quarter is my first time at Sinclair (I'm a transfer student) and it was a little scary trying to find my way around campus and finding the best parking spot, but my classes meet only once a week, so I can leave my homework for the weekends if I don't have any energy left after work on the weekdays.
I just got fitted for a tuxedo I'm going to be renting for my brother's wedding in about a month. This will be the first wedding I've not got to sit in the audience for (I'm one of the groomsman).
Okay, I'm tired and I'll end it now before I spend all night on this entry. Later!
Addition: I almost forgot to say something about my birthday which is September 14th. I'm writing this on the 23rd and I still haven't gotten to do really anything for my birthday, or received any presents. : ( I'll change that though in the near future.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
"are you receiving me?"
"Can you hear me now?"
Just a post to get some response in my comments. While I mainly post on my blog for myself (as a way to write down my thoughts, a record of the events going on in my life), I also try to write things from a perspective that others may read it. The thing is, since noone write comments on my blog, I'm not even sure if anyone even reads it.
I don't need to be an internet personality or want 'fame' from my efforts here, as the only people I think would even benefit from my musings or ramblings is people I know personally. I just would like an echo back once in a while from people I know to let me know they care. :D
[I'm pretty sure you don't need a Blogger account to post, but in order to curb my comments from being spammed by robots with useless junk, you have to be able to confirm that you see a picture with words and letters to comment on my blog.]
Just a post to get some response in my comments. While I mainly post on my blog for myself (as a way to write down my thoughts, a record of the events going on in my life), I also try to write things from a perspective that others may read it. The thing is, since noone write comments on my blog, I'm not even sure if anyone even reads it.
I don't need to be an internet personality or want 'fame' from my efforts here, as the only people I think would even benefit from my musings or ramblings is people I know personally. I just would like an echo back once in a while from people I know to let me know they care. :D
[I'm pretty sure you don't need a Blogger account to post, but in order to curb my comments from being spammed by robots with useless junk, you have to be able to confirm that you see a picture with words and letters to comment on my blog.]
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
See you in a couple months...
My sister just went back home to Fairbanks, Alaska early this morning, but she will (hopefully) come back to Ohio for our brother's wedding in October. She'd been down here visiting friends and family for about 2 weeks. She brought her trusty dog, Molly, down with her to keep her company (and to keep an eye on her).
Sunday, June 9th, we tried to get over to Fairfield Commons to watch Pirates 2 with some of her friends, but I-675 was completedly shut down. I've never seen this before and I never heard the reason it was closed. We took another route and it took a lot longer than we thought, but everything worked out when we got to the theater because her friends got there late, too and we all sat together. Oh, the CGI in Pirates was great, but there was just too much going on. It was still decent, though.
Monday, June 10th: Marty, my sister, invited me to go eat with our older brother and his fiancee at a nice sushi restaurant down near the Dayton Mall (Kai Sushi Cafe). This was actually my second time here and it was the first place I had "real" sushi.
I had the Sushi Cafe Combo and when it arrived, I was greeted by a some rolls with fish eggs (one with a quail egg on top and another with sea urchin on top) and a scary-looking shrimp head. I decided I wouldn't eat the shrimp head (but my brother did) and I saved the quail egg roll for the very last (when I was almost through my bottle of cold sake). I really liked the "dancing shrimp roll" my sister had and some of the other stuff on my plate, but I think next time I go there, I'll just get the 'regular' sushi combo and save some money (as well as not having to suppress my gag reflex). Tip included, I spent almost $50.
Sunday, June 16th: During the local heat-wave, my sister and I took our dogs for a short hike with some of her friends from Dayton and their dogs around Yellow Springs (too bad we didn't bump into Dave Chappelle). They were pretty nice people and we had a nice time, despite the intense heat and humidity. Afterwards, we went for ice cream cones.
Monday, June 17th:For the second week in a row, I got to eat out with my sister and older brother, this time at an Indian buffet place that my brother and his fiance like. It was my first time having Indian food, so I got the buffet like everyone else. It wasn't appetizing to look at and I was confused with all the sauces and vegetables, but once I tried some stuff out, I began to find stuff I liked: the 'nan' bread, lamb curry with rice. I might try it again sometime, but it's not my favorite ethnic food.
I had a good time and even though I was gone most of the day at work (and tired afterwards), I'm glad we got to hang out as much as we did, Marty. See you in a couple months...
Sunday, June 9th, we tried to get over to Fairfield Commons to watch Pirates 2 with some of her friends, but I-675 was completedly shut down. I've never seen this before and I never heard the reason it was closed. We took another route and it took a lot longer than we thought, but everything worked out when we got to the theater because her friends got there late, too and we all sat together. Oh, the CGI in Pirates was great, but there was just too much going on. It was still decent, though.
Monday, June 10th: Marty, my sister, invited me to go eat with our older brother and his fiancee at a nice sushi restaurant down near the Dayton Mall (Kai Sushi Cafe). This was actually my second time here and it was the first place I had "real" sushi.
I had the Sushi Cafe Combo and when it arrived, I was greeted by a some rolls with fish eggs (one with a quail egg on top and another with sea urchin on top) and a scary-looking shrimp head. I decided I wouldn't eat the shrimp head (but my brother did) and I saved the quail egg roll for the very last (when I was almost through my bottle of cold sake). I really liked the "dancing shrimp roll" my sister had and some of the other stuff on my plate, but I think next time I go there, I'll just get the 'regular' sushi combo and save some money (as well as not having to suppress my gag reflex). Tip included, I spent almost $50.
Sunday, June 16th: During the local heat-wave, my sister and I took our dogs for a short hike with some of her friends from Dayton and their dogs around Yellow Springs (too bad we didn't bump into Dave Chappelle). They were pretty nice people and we had a nice time, despite the intense heat and humidity. Afterwards, we went for ice cream cones.
Monday, June 17th:For the second week in a row, I got to eat out with my sister and older brother, this time at an Indian buffet place that my brother and his fiance like. It was my first time having Indian food, so I got the buffet like everyone else. It wasn't appetizing to look at and I was confused with all the sauces and vegetables, but once I tried some stuff out, I began to find stuff I liked: the 'nan' bread, lamb curry with rice. I might try it again sometime, but it's not my favorite ethnic food.
I had a good time and even though I was gone most of the day at work (and tired afterwards), I'm glad we got to hang out as much as we did, Marty. See you in a couple months...
Friday, July 07, 2006
The Competitive Underground of Gamerscore Whores
At first, I let the gamerscore addiction get to me. I used to be super-competitive with people on my friends list. After a while, I became more and more aware that it really is petty. It's just a silly number after all, but the main thing I loved about it, was the act of achieving something in a game (I wrote a previous post about how I love it, btw).
Before, I had a lot more time, and could afford to spend it playing games. Recently, in the last four months, I've had a lot less time and even less desire to play games (for gamerscore, or not). Even when I did have time on my hands, I be waiting for a game to come from Gamefly (REALLY upset at their delivery time and game availability as of late). Most of the time, the game that I really wanted to play was not available (ex: Oblivion), so I ended up playing some stupid game that I'd rather not waste my time on.
Now, when I happened upon DEVIL JIN27, I was playing Dead or Alive 4 online (read earlier blog post) and I thought: 'Now this is a cool guy. I'd like to become friends with him.' So, I sent him a friend request while playing online with him and we've been friends ever since. For a while, our gamerscore was so close, there was a little competition and it came out one day while playing online how competitive we both were. I had comprised an oath that I didn't want our "friendship" to be spoiled by petty gamescore jealousy and bickering. We'd form a pact that we'd never compete with each other like that and not to get mad at the other. I said that if it ever came to that, we'd stop being friends, because I like to play to have fun and I want to play with people that aren't immature and childish. I'd been like that and realized that it's just stupid to stress over gamerscore that much, that you begin to really resent your 'friends' if they have more than you.
DEVIL JIN27 eventually got far past me in gamerscore and I was okay with it, happy for him to get so many points and playing lots of fun new games (that I wished I could be playing, as well). He got so far ahead of me, that there was no chance for me to catch up with him (he's currently around 10, 000 more than me). I didn't really care that he was ahead of me, but I really wished that Gamefly would actually send me a game that I wanted to play. He's far enough ahead of me in raw gamerscore, that there definitely shouldn't be any competition between us.
I calmed down a lot about the gamerscore, and with my new job, I have much less time and energy to afford to gaming. So, I really enjoy the rare times I get to play games and I like to have enough time to really get into them (this almost always happens on the weekends, if at all). Out of the blue, I get this message last week on my Xbox 360-
From: DEVIL JIN27
6/29/2006 6:38 PM
(Voice Message): "Damn you and your 740 in PGR...Now you make me want to go play that game, and I don't want to play that game. Ahh! It's so hard; I don't know how you did that. I don't know if you did platinums. It's so crazy!"
[DEVIL JIN27 must have been looking at my achievements and comparing mine to his in Project Gotham Racing 3 specifically and felt that I couldn't be 'better' than him at any game and it just 'irked' him that I was better than him at PGR3]
I thought to myself, "Okay." Well, I did play PGR3 and I got all of those legitimately, and they were hard and very time consuming to get and I'm proud that I was able to do it. There were times I was about to give up on getting all gold medals in the single player, but I kept on determined to get them. Now, I'm not going to lie and say that every achievement that I've gotten in every other game has been received legit, but most of them have been legit (there are websites, like achieve360points.com dedicated to helping people get them, sometimes using less honorable methods).
Then, I start playing Top Spin 2 yesterday to play with Sovereign Phil online as we had agreed before I left for the holiday weekend. While I waited (a few hours actually), I saw that DEVIL JIN27 came online and I was bored, so I checked out to see what games he'd been playing recently. I noticed that he'd been playing PGR3 and I was shocked to see that he somehow had more points/achievements than me in that game (the game he was just complaining about was too hard and that he wasn't very good at). I investigated to see which points he had in that game and I went online to Xbox.com to compare scores. I was shocked to see that amazingly, he'd gotten not only the achievement/score for "Gold", but also "Platinum" medals (which I gave up on/see earlier post) and "Online Professional" (which until recently had been un-glitched so more people could get it). The mysterious thing is he'd gotten all of these achievements in one day, or VERY quickly (much faster than when I got them legitimately and he could have if he'd played legit himself). The telling thing is: all of these achievements, he received while not connected to Xbox Live (including the "Online Professional" which isn't really possible to get if you are offline).
When I first got his voice message, I thought he was silly for 'competing' with me and complaining that I had more points in PGR3 than him and that it made him want to play a game he wasn't very good at. I didn't seriously think he would cheat (which I had a serious suspicion of) just to get them. That made me a little mad that he would stoop so low just to 'compete' with me (especially when I never wanted us to "compete" with each other in the first place). He can do whatever he wants with his console and it doesn't affect me personally, but it felt more like a slap in the face and it made me feel betrayed and like all the time I spent getting those achievements legitimately were all for nothing. [personal note: I was still extremely tired from not getting enough sleep after coming home 1:30AM the previous night and having to wake up at 7AM for work the next day, so I was a little grumpy and probably over-reacted. Anyone that knows me personally, knows this fact: when I'm tired, I'm VERY grumpy.]
So, I sent him this text message yesterday-
To: DEVIL JIN27
7/5/2006 7:-- PM
"Oh, in response to your last voice message: 'Damn your legitimate PGR3 score, makes me want to cheat just to get more points than you'. : p If you did got those achievements for real, then good for you, otherwise: >: /"
He replied with this message a few minutes later-
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/5/2006 7:15 PM
"boo hahaha... think what u will... im the best racer"
Now, I had a sneaking suspicion, but I left it open if I really was wrong about him cheating. Now, I was willing to let my anger subside depending on if he was honest if he cheated or not and depending on the tone of the message. I didn't like the tone (which was rude and haughty and without having an emoticon or being a voice message to guage if he was being silly or not, I took it at face value). This didn't sit right with me, and I decided that if that's how petty he is with gamerscore (to cheat just to 'better' me in a game), then I didn't need that kind of stress and 'competition', so there was no reason for him to be on my friends list anymore if he was just going to try to 'show me up' like that. I took him off my list and forgot about it.
I was going to go to sleep because it was around 9PM (which is about the time I usually 'should' go to sleep), but I got a message from Sovereign Phil that he had fallen asleep and wanted to know if I could play with him online right then. I decided to stay up and help each other get some online achievements. While playing, I asked Phil if he had talked to DEVIL JIN27 recently and told him about what happened between us.
When I got home today after work and checked my Xbox Live messages, I found these four text message from DEVIL JIN27-
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/6/2006 1:34 AM
"wow thanx 4 the goodbye there wat! u sure have a funny way of being a friend.. maybe if u had something 2 ask me u could have talked 2 me not phil.. its sad that u act this way."
[I assume that Sovereign Phil must have talked to DEVIL JIN27 after I signed off last night. I did tell DEVIL JIN27 what I had to say in my own text message to him before I took him off my friends list and I wasn't talking about him to Phil without talking to him first.]
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/6/2006 1:40 AM
"you think im a cheater or i used a friends save 2 get points? and what if i did? how does that effect u? so when i help u in a game or give u hints that will make the game easy, your the cheater? i mean really.. u get mad and spy on me?"
[I did and still do think he cheated on PGR3 (he pretty much confirmed my suspicion that he cheated and his method of doing so by this: "i used a friends save 2 get points... and what if i did?". I don't care if he cheats or not in a game, but I don't like that he cheated just to get more points than me and to a lesser extent that he's competing with me in the first place, but the fact that he knows that I'm better than him at PGR3 and he had to cheat just to 'one-up' me. If he had gotten the achievements legit like me, then he would have gotten my respect and I gladly would have given it (like I did in my text message to him). I have rarely asked him for tips or explanations of how he got certain achievements, but that is public knowledge that I could have gotten elsewhere had I been so inclined (most likely his original source for these 'secrets', as well). While some of these methods might not be completely what the developers intended to achieve points, this is most likely the same way most people have gotten them. I have never stooped so low that I have someone else get achievements/points for me or used someone else's save game to get them.]
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/6/2006 1:46 AM
"i have 2 say you have alot of growing up 2 do man. u act like a untrusting little kid. i dont know what your problem is and why u over react 2 not.. but go on your way. i have no time 4 u anymore! get a life and stop worrying what others are doing.."
[I can't say that the fact that it hurts him so much that I have more "points" than him in PGR3 that he has to cheat to 'achieve' them is very mature behavior. If I have a reason to be suspicious, and he's never denied that he didn't cheat and almost admitted he did, then I was right to be "untrusting". Yeah, sure. I know how I reacted wasn't mature either (taking him off my list without warning), but I was tired and over-reacted. I figured he would have gotten the message that I wasn't pleased with this type of behavior directed towards me (I've done it before, btw). Oh, I know I have a life (that's what keeping me from gaming constantly and I sure don't "spy on what others are doing" (in fact, it seems the reverse is true of him). I don't think it's very mature to imply that others don't "have a life", either.]
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/6/2006 1:51 AM
"i will not be your friend again.. you lost that along with my respect.. im blocking u so dont bother writting back.. ~The Greatness that is... ME!!! DEVIL JIN"
[I told him before that if he would be compete with me and become petty like that, then I wouldn't want him as a friend and would be off my friends list. Well, I thought I had his respect for getting PGR3 achievements he couldn't get and was going to take his weird voice message as just his way of giving me a compliment. After the way that he cheated just to get those points to 'better' me in a game that I slaved over for months and his slanderous text messages, I have lost all respect for him, so I don't value his opinion anymore. I only took him off my friends list; he could still send me messages (which he did). If he had been mature, admitted that he cheated and sent me another friend request, I would have accepted it, too. If he didn't cheat, then I would have apologized. Now, he's blocked me from even replying, hence one of the reasons I felt to post this on my blog. Finally, his 'signature' is also a reference to Sovereign Phil favorite personal title, but it also shows how highly he thinks of himself. ;) ]
Now, the best place to put this would be in an email to him, but this is a good example for me (and others) not to become petty about gamerscore and ruin your friendship, so I thought I'd put this up on my blog. I let myself get my feelings hurt when he cheated. He's right: his cheating didn't directly affect me. It got me angry because it made all the time and skill I used to get my achievements legitimatly seem wasted. It also seemed he got those points for no other reason than just to make me look inferior (I also know he's VERY obsessed about his gamerscore and having "incomplete" scores on games). I would like to apologize to DEVIL JIN27 (Pete) for over-reacting and getting my feelings hurt. I'm writing this here to document how a good internet 'relationship' can go downhill because of something so petty. This to remind myself (and possibly others) what not to do when comparing yourself with others and how jealousy can become infectuous. If anything, this experience has turned me off playing my Xbox and video games in general and has shown how pointless the time that you put into getting gamerscore/achievements are if someone can cheat their way through it.
Edit (July 28, 2006):
What is with this guy? It's been weeks since he told me to get a life and quit spying on people and today I received this message from him:
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/26/2006 9:49 PM
"Hiding your achievements? Wat Wat Wat"
What is his problem? I've gotten over it, and he still wants to antogonize me. In fact, I've only hidden my achievements from people who aren't my friends (and I'm glad I've done so). Now, I'm even considering hiding them altogether. I just want to remove this whole competitive element of gamerscore anyway (comparing yourself to others). I'd recommend removing the score/points and instead having separate "percentage complete" for each game you've played.
This is just ridiculous! Why does he need to see my achievements? The reason: he's still trying to compete with me, for some reason. Anyway, he's got his achievements hidden, as well. : P
Before, I had a lot more time, and could afford to spend it playing games. Recently, in the last four months, I've had a lot less time and even less desire to play games (for gamerscore, or not). Even when I did have time on my hands, I be waiting for a game to come from Gamefly (REALLY upset at their delivery time and game availability as of late). Most of the time, the game that I really wanted to play was not available (ex: Oblivion), so I ended up playing some stupid game that I'd rather not waste my time on.
Now, when I happened upon DEVIL JIN27, I was playing Dead or Alive 4 online (read earlier blog post) and I thought: 'Now this is a cool guy. I'd like to become friends with him.' So, I sent him a friend request while playing online with him and we've been friends ever since. For a while, our gamerscore was so close, there was a little competition and it came out one day while playing online how competitive we both were. I had comprised an oath that I didn't want our "friendship" to be spoiled by petty gamescore jealousy and bickering. We'd form a pact that we'd never compete with each other like that and not to get mad at the other. I said that if it ever came to that, we'd stop being friends, because I like to play to have fun and I want to play with people that aren't immature and childish. I'd been like that and realized that it's just stupid to stress over gamerscore that much, that you begin to really resent your 'friends' if they have more than you.
DEVIL JIN27 eventually got far past me in gamerscore and I was okay with it, happy for him to get so many points and playing lots of fun new games (that I wished I could be playing, as well). He got so far ahead of me, that there was no chance for me to catch up with him (he's currently around 10, 000 more than me). I didn't really care that he was ahead of me, but I really wished that Gamefly would actually send me a game that I wanted to play. He's far enough ahead of me in raw gamerscore, that there definitely shouldn't be any competition between us.
I calmed down a lot about the gamerscore, and with my new job, I have much less time and energy to afford to gaming. So, I really enjoy the rare times I get to play games and I like to have enough time to really get into them (this almost always happens on the weekends, if at all). Out of the blue, I get this message last week on my Xbox 360-
From: DEVIL JIN27
6/29/2006 6:38 PM
(Voice Message): "Damn you and your 740 in PGR...Now you make me want to go play that game, and I don't want to play that game. Ahh! It's so hard; I don't know how you did that. I don't know if you did platinums. It's so crazy!"
[DEVIL JIN27 must have been looking at my achievements and comparing mine to his in Project Gotham Racing 3 specifically and felt that I couldn't be 'better' than him at any game and it just 'irked' him that I was better than him at PGR3]
I thought to myself, "Okay." Well, I did play PGR3 and I got all of those legitimately, and they were hard and very time consuming to get and I'm proud that I was able to do it. There were times I was about to give up on getting all gold medals in the single player, but I kept on determined to get them. Now, I'm not going to lie and say that every achievement that I've gotten in every other game has been received legit, but most of them have been legit (there are websites, like achieve360points.com dedicated to helping people get them, sometimes using less honorable methods).
Then, I start playing Top Spin 2 yesterday to play with Sovereign Phil online as we had agreed before I left for the holiday weekend. While I waited (a few hours actually), I saw that DEVIL JIN27 came online and I was bored, so I checked out to see what games he'd been playing recently. I noticed that he'd been playing PGR3 and I was shocked to see that he somehow had more points/achievements than me in that game (the game he was just complaining about was too hard and that he wasn't very good at). I investigated to see which points he had in that game and I went online to Xbox.com to compare scores. I was shocked to see that amazingly, he'd gotten not only the achievement/score for "Gold", but also "Platinum" medals (which I gave up on/see earlier post) and "Online Professional" (which until recently had been un-glitched so more people could get it). The mysterious thing is he'd gotten all of these achievements in one day, or VERY quickly (much faster than when I got them legitimately and he could have if he'd played legit himself). The telling thing is: all of these achievements, he received while not connected to Xbox Live (including the "Online Professional" which isn't really possible to get if you are offline).
When I first got his voice message, I thought he was silly for 'competing' with me and complaining that I had more points in PGR3 than him and that it made him want to play a game he wasn't very good at. I didn't seriously think he would cheat (which I had a serious suspicion of) just to get them. That made me a little mad that he would stoop so low just to 'compete' with me (especially when I never wanted us to "compete" with each other in the first place). He can do whatever he wants with his console and it doesn't affect me personally, but it felt more like a slap in the face and it made me feel betrayed and like all the time I spent getting those achievements legitimately were all for nothing. [personal note: I was still extremely tired from not getting enough sleep after coming home 1:30AM the previous night and having to wake up at 7AM for work the next day, so I was a little grumpy and probably over-reacted. Anyone that knows me personally, knows this fact: when I'm tired, I'm VERY grumpy.]
So, I sent him this text message yesterday-
To: DEVIL JIN27
7/5/2006 7:-- PM
"Oh, in response to your last voice message: 'Damn your legitimate PGR3 score, makes me want to cheat just to get more points than you'. : p If you did got those achievements for real, then good for you, otherwise: >: /"
He replied with this message a few minutes later-
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/5/2006 7:15 PM
"boo hahaha... think what u will... im the best racer"
Now, I had a sneaking suspicion, but I left it open if I really was wrong about him cheating. Now, I was willing to let my anger subside depending on if he was honest if he cheated or not and depending on the tone of the message. I didn't like the tone (which was rude and haughty and without having an emoticon or being a voice message to guage if he was being silly or not, I took it at face value). This didn't sit right with me, and I decided that if that's how petty he is with gamerscore (to cheat just to 'better' me in a game), then I didn't need that kind of stress and 'competition', so there was no reason for him to be on my friends list anymore if he was just going to try to 'show me up' like that. I took him off my list and forgot about it.
I was going to go to sleep because it was around 9PM (which is about the time I usually 'should' go to sleep), but I got a message from Sovereign Phil that he had fallen asleep and wanted to know if I could play with him online right then. I decided to stay up and help each other get some online achievements. While playing, I asked Phil if he had talked to DEVIL JIN27 recently and told him about what happened between us.
When I got home today after work and checked my Xbox Live messages, I found these four text message from DEVIL JIN27-
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/6/2006 1:34 AM
"wow thanx 4 the goodbye there wat! u sure have a funny way of being a friend.. maybe if u had something 2 ask me u could have talked 2 me not phil.. its sad that u act this way."
[I assume that Sovereign Phil must have talked to DEVIL JIN27 after I signed off last night. I did tell DEVIL JIN27 what I had to say in my own text message to him before I took him off my friends list and I wasn't talking about him to Phil without talking to him first.]
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/6/2006 1:40 AM
"you think im a cheater or i used a friends save 2 get points? and what if i did? how does that effect u? so when i help u in a game or give u hints that will make the game easy, your the cheater? i mean really.. u get mad and spy on me?"
[I did and still do think he cheated on PGR3 (he pretty much confirmed my suspicion that he cheated and his method of doing so by this: "i used a friends save 2 get points... and what if i did?". I don't care if he cheats or not in a game, but I don't like that he cheated just to get more points than me and to a lesser extent that he's competing with me in the first place, but the fact that he knows that I'm better than him at PGR3 and he had to cheat just to 'one-up' me. If he had gotten the achievements legit like me, then he would have gotten my respect and I gladly would have given it (like I did in my text message to him). I have rarely asked him for tips or explanations of how he got certain achievements, but that is public knowledge that I could have gotten elsewhere had I been so inclined (most likely his original source for these 'secrets', as well). While some of these methods might not be completely what the developers intended to achieve points, this is most likely the same way most people have gotten them. I have never stooped so low that I have someone else get achievements/points for me or used someone else's save game to get them.]
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/6/2006 1:46 AM
"i have 2 say you have alot of growing up 2 do man. u act like a untrusting little kid. i dont know what your problem is and why u over react 2 not.. but go on your way. i have no time 4 u anymore! get a life and stop worrying what others are doing.."
[I can't say that the fact that it hurts him so much that I have more "points" than him in PGR3 that he has to cheat to 'achieve' them is very mature behavior. If I have a reason to be suspicious, and he's never denied that he didn't cheat and almost admitted he did, then I was right to be "untrusting". Yeah, sure. I know how I reacted wasn't mature either (taking him off my list without warning), but I was tired and over-reacted. I figured he would have gotten the message that I wasn't pleased with this type of behavior directed towards me (I've done it before, btw). Oh, I know I have a life (that's what keeping me from gaming constantly and I sure don't "spy on what others are doing" (in fact, it seems the reverse is true of him). I don't think it's very mature to imply that others don't "have a life", either.]
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/6/2006 1:51 AM
"i will not be your friend again.. you lost that along with my respect.. im blocking u so dont bother writting back.. ~The Greatness that is... ME!!! DEVIL JIN"
[I told him before that if he would be compete with me and become petty like that, then I wouldn't want him as a friend and would be off my friends list. Well, I thought I had his respect for getting PGR3 achievements he couldn't get and was going to take his weird voice message as just his way of giving me a compliment. After the way that he cheated just to get those points to 'better' me in a game that I slaved over for months and his slanderous text messages, I have lost all respect for him, so I don't value his opinion anymore. I only took him off my friends list; he could still send me messages (which he did). If he had been mature, admitted that he cheated and sent me another friend request, I would have accepted it, too. If he didn't cheat, then I would have apologized. Now, he's blocked me from even replying, hence one of the reasons I felt to post this on my blog. Finally, his 'signature' is also a reference to Sovereign Phil favorite personal title, but it also shows how highly he thinks of himself. ;) ]
Now, the best place to put this would be in an email to him, but this is a good example for me (and others) not to become petty about gamerscore and ruin your friendship, so I thought I'd put this up on my blog. I let myself get my feelings hurt when he cheated. He's right: his cheating didn't directly affect me. It got me angry because it made all the time and skill I used to get my achievements legitimatly seem wasted. It also seemed he got those points for no other reason than just to make me look inferior (I also know he's VERY obsessed about his gamerscore and having "incomplete" scores on games). I would like to apologize to DEVIL JIN27 (Pete) for over-reacting and getting my feelings hurt. I'm writing this here to document how a good internet 'relationship' can go downhill because of something so petty. This to remind myself (and possibly others) what not to do when comparing yourself with others and how jealousy can become infectuous. If anything, this experience has turned me off playing my Xbox and video games in general and has shown how pointless the time that you put into getting gamerscore/achievements are if someone can cheat their way through it.
Edit (July 28, 2006):
What is with this guy? It's been weeks since he told me to get a life and quit spying on people and today I received this message from him:
From: DEVIL JIN27
7/26/2006 9:49 PM
"Hiding your achievements? Wat Wat Wat"
What is his problem? I've gotten over it, and he still wants to antogonize me. In fact, I've only hidden my achievements from people who aren't my friends (and I'm glad I've done so). Now, I'm even considering hiding them altogether. I just want to remove this whole competitive element of gamerscore anyway (comparing yourself to others). I'd recommend removing the score/points and instead having separate "percentage complete" for each game you've played.
This is just ridiculous! Why does he need to see my achievements? The reason: he's still trying to compete with me, for some reason. Anyway, he's got his achievements hidden, as well. : P
Fourth of July Weekend '06
Well, I had a really fun weekend up in the Cleveland area of Ohio. I had four days off.
On Saturday (July 1st, 2006), I waited till my brother came back from his class, and we left around 6PM driving all the way up to the small village of Burton. The drive took about 4 hours and we didn't get there until about 11PM.
We met friends (Kevin and Luke) who were house-sitting for a couple who were doing missionary work in Africa for a year. It was a nice place, hidden away in the woods right off a hilly road. It had a nice backyard and a deck and I was really glad that Dan invited me to go up there with him to spend time with him and his friends. After working so much and being tired all the time, it was a nice setting to just kick back and relax.
July 02, 2006: The next morning, we went with them to their church and soon after, Dan and I had to leave to go to a family gathering that our aunt was throwing for her son, who was just back in the States from Africa doing medical work. He was only going to be home for a little bit, and they thought it'd be nice to throw a party for him. We drove over to Medina County from Geauga County and got there about 2PM just in time to eat some food. We stayed for a few hours and had the family picture pose for pictures (my aunt lives for this stuff). No doubt we'll see them projected up on a wall come turkey-time.After everybody got tired of the heat, people started leaving and going their separate ways. I got a little face-time with my cousins and then, Dan and I headed back over to Burton where we would be staying for the rest of the long weekend.
Once we got at the house, Kevin suggested going to see a jet car/demolition show. We decided not to go, as we didn't think it was worth $15 to see. We instead went to see the local fireworks display for free, which was really well done and it was the first time in a long time I remember seeing fireworks this close (at home, I can see about 5 different cities' fireworks displays).
July 03, 2006: The next day, while we waited for Kevin to get back from work Luke took us to a nice small coffee shop that was set up like a mom-and-pop Starbucks. They even had a frozen cappucino which I bought and it was pretty good. When Kevin got back, we went to the Ox Roast, in Mesopotamia, where one of Kevin and Luke's friends was playing. It was quite interesting to see SO many Amish people and buggies everywhere (Geauga County is home to the fourth largest Amish population in the US). We got some BBQ sandwiches and went into a great historical corner store that had many varieties of soda in bottles, penny candy and lots of odds and ends.Later, we drove around thinking about going to the beach on Lake Erie (Mentor on the Lake, I think), that Luke had told me about earlier. The only problem was it kept raining off and on. We instead stopped in Chardon, where we got some videos and ate at a nice Mexican restaurant (El Patron). After eating all that, we played some sand volleyball with Luke's brother and his wife.
After that, we came home and started a camp fire out back and I rode the quad for a bit, riding around through the woods and in the yard. I was really starting to get the hang of it. Dan got ahold of it and stalled it in the woods and I had to help him try to get it stared again, to no avail. After we pushed it back to the small barn, we talked around the fire for a bit, then watched one of the videos, Munich, we rented, though most of us fell asleep before it was over.July 04, 2006: During the night, the rain just wouldn't let up its barrage and I woke up a few times. I was worried that the rain would affect our plans of going to Snowflake Lake, a private lake that was owned by a family friend of Kevin's. It did finally let up, but it was too wet to get a little quad riding in.
We drove over to the lake later in the day, after helping Kevin clean up some branchs that had fallen over at his parent's house. They gave me a tour of the surrouding area of the lake, driving by Don King's house and stopping for pictures of a covered bridge. The lake was pretty small but it was nice to have it all to ourselves. There was a small lodge with a fireplace next to it and some ropes to swing on. We swam around for a bit, used the small paddle-boat and swung on the ropes. Afterwards, we got a fire going in the lodge fireplace and cooked some hot dogs and had lunch. We played a few hands of euchre, then threw the frisbee around some. I had everyone pose for some shot on the ropes and we left.We watched the other movie, Hoodwinked, we rented when we got back to their house and once that was over, it really was time to leave to go back home. I really would have liked to stay longer (Dan did as well), but I had to work the next morning at 8AM, so I really wanted to leave around 8 or 9PM and it was already 9:30.
We finally got out the door and said goodbye. I got a last picture and we were on our way. I was very close to falling asleep in the car, but I really don't like sleeping anywhere but in my bed. We got some food on the way back and we saw all of the nice fireworks from the highway while driving (kinda dangerous). We didn't get back until about 1:30AM, but I stuck it out and went to work the next day, tired, but getting paid. :D
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Superman Returns IMAX
Well, after talking about it with my friend, Randall, we went down to Springdale, Ohio to see Supermans Returns in IMAX 3D. We couldn't buy the tickets online and we had to go down to get the tickets before they sold out, so soon after we got off work, we left from my house and headed down there. I grabbed some Johnsonville brats on the way out the door.
There was some traffic on the way down; being that it was the start of the 4th of July weekend, it was expected. The route was pretty straightforward and I had no problem finding the way. We got there around 7:45 (or 2 hours before the movie started) and there wasn't many seats left (they were reserved seating) and we took 2 seats in the back row. While we waited, we had some drinks in the bar, including some cool movie-themed house creations (like the Kryptonite which changed colors and make a big splash).
Also, in the bar were an older couple who were big Superman fans (both of them had t-shirts with the big "S" on them). They enjoyed the Kryptonite and watching Randy and I drink them (in a friendly race).
Once it was around 30 minutes to the movie start, we took our seats. We received our 3D glasses and waited. Once the trailers came on, we slipped our glasses on and marvelled at the convincing 3D effects. There were only scenes of the movie that were in 3D, but when it came on, there was a small icon on the screen letting us know when to put them on or take them off. The effects were very cool and some of the actions scenes were pretty intense. When there was an object in the foreground that wasn't clipping off the edge of the frame, it appeared to float over the audience in front of me. Now, this wasn't some cheesy red and blue glasses, these involved 2 projectors showing offset pictures and the glasses were polarized to allow only the left and right eye to see one picture for each eye. Aside from the limited 3D, the movie itself was very good, especially the flying scenes.
What was unexpected (and awefully annoying) was the wife of the older man that sat next to Randall and I in the bar earlier, had sat down right in front of us in the theater. She was extremely emotional during the movie, clapping and shouting loudly (like a little child) when Superman saved the day. What was even stranger was when Superman was being pummelled with Kryptonite shards, she was weeping with full-on tears and crying like she had lost her son! Either she was a big fan, or had emotional problems. Either way, it was pretty funny how much she was over-reacting to a work of fiction (besides, Superman NEVER dies in movies!). I couldn't help but laugh to myself as well as others around us.
On the way home, I kept my speed close to the legal limit, wary of the many cops out on the proul. There were many cars passing me on either side, but when I passed a cop in the middle facing my direction of traffic, he decided to follow me. I had my cruise control set to around 70, and I knew he wouldn't pull me over, so I decided not to freak out and brake (like the minivan that was in the fast lane, but was going slower than me anyway). At first the cop hung back waiting to see if I would go faster, but after a while, I think he realized that I had cruise on and he flew up right behind me (most likely to study my control of the car and make sure I wasn't swerving). He got off the interstate after a while watching me like a hawk and not finding anything to pull me over for.
There were MANY more people deserving of being pulled over, either for going much faster than me or being blatantly drunk and dangerously reckless. Case in point: a white (or cream) late-model lumina or monte carlo that sped past me on the right veering into my lane and just barely correcting himself. Then, he veering over to the fast lane almost slamming into the car in front of me and the car already in the fast lane. That scared the crap outta me and I kept an eye on him as he raced and swerved all over the place, tailing a semi for a while, then passing him and almost pulling into the cab of the truck. He was reckless through downtown Dayton and I had Randall call 9-1-1 to alert the law of this dangerous individual. We lost him after a while, but Randy seemed to have spotted him at a gas station for the exit I took to take him home.
Before that car, there also a yellow Honda CRX "boy racer" literally racing on the highway and was being following by, what I almost know, was an un-marked policecar. All in all, a pretty exciting night.
Now, I'm off to the Cleveland area of Ohio to visit some of Dan's friends and then visit with family and be gone all weekend for the holiday, being back in time for work on Wednesday.
Later.
There was some traffic on the way down; being that it was the start of the 4th of July weekend, it was expected. The route was pretty straightforward and I had no problem finding the way. We got there around 7:45 (or 2 hours before the movie started) and there wasn't many seats left (they were reserved seating) and we took 2 seats in the back row. While we waited, we had some drinks in the bar, including some cool movie-themed house creations (like the Kryptonite which changed colors and make a big splash).
Also, in the bar were an older couple who were big Superman fans (both of them had t-shirts with the big "S" on them). They enjoyed the Kryptonite and watching Randy and I drink them (in a friendly race).
Once it was around 30 minutes to the movie start, we took our seats. We received our 3D glasses and waited. Once the trailers came on, we slipped our glasses on and marvelled at the convincing 3D effects. There were only scenes of the movie that were in 3D, but when it came on, there was a small icon on the screen letting us know when to put them on or take them off. The effects were very cool and some of the actions scenes were pretty intense. When there was an object in the foreground that wasn't clipping off the edge of the frame, it appeared to float over the audience in front of me. Now, this wasn't some cheesy red and blue glasses, these involved 2 projectors showing offset pictures and the glasses were polarized to allow only the left and right eye to see one picture for each eye. Aside from the limited 3D, the movie itself was very good, especially the flying scenes.
What was unexpected (and awefully annoying) was the wife of the older man that sat next to Randall and I in the bar earlier, had sat down right in front of us in the theater. She was extremely emotional during the movie, clapping and shouting loudly (like a little child) when Superman saved the day. What was even stranger was when Superman was being pummelled with Kryptonite shards, she was weeping with full-on tears and crying like she had lost her son! Either she was a big fan, or had emotional problems. Either way, it was pretty funny how much she was over-reacting to a work of fiction (besides, Superman NEVER dies in movies!). I couldn't help but laugh to myself as well as others around us.
On the way home, I kept my speed close to the legal limit, wary of the many cops out on the proul. There were many cars passing me on either side, but when I passed a cop in the middle facing my direction of traffic, he decided to follow me. I had my cruise control set to around 70, and I knew he wouldn't pull me over, so I decided not to freak out and brake (like the minivan that was in the fast lane, but was going slower than me anyway). At first the cop hung back waiting to see if I would go faster, but after a while, I think he realized that I had cruise on and he flew up right behind me (most likely to study my control of the car and make sure I wasn't swerving). He got off the interstate after a while watching me like a hawk and not finding anything to pull me over for.
There were MANY more people deserving of being pulled over, either for going much faster than me or being blatantly drunk and dangerously reckless. Case in point: a white (or cream) late-model lumina or monte carlo that sped past me on the right veering into my lane and just barely correcting himself. Then, he veering over to the fast lane almost slamming into the car in front of me and the car already in the fast lane. That scared the crap outta me and I kept an eye on him as he raced and swerved all over the place, tailing a semi for a while, then passing him and almost pulling into the cab of the truck. He was reckless through downtown Dayton and I had Randall call 9-1-1 to alert the law of this dangerous individual. We lost him after a while, but Randy seemed to have spotted him at a gas station for the exit I took to take him home.
Before that car, there also a yellow Honda CRX "boy racer" literally racing on the highway and was being following by, what I almost know, was an un-marked policecar. All in all, a pretty exciting night.
Now, I'm off to the Cleveland area of Ohio to visit some of Dan's friends and then visit with family and be gone all weekend for the holiday, being back in time for work on Wednesday.
Later.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
The weekend
I still haven't recovered from it yet. On Saturday, I helped a friend move 3 couches and a loveseat and transport them between three homes. We didn't even get to do the armchair either.
After that, we went to see The Crystal Method play in Downtown Dayton. The show was good (though much too short for my taste).
After that, we went to see The Crystal Method play in Downtown Dayton. The show was good (though much too short for my taste).
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Not much to say
... but I thought I should let my blog know that I'm still here and haven't commited suicide (yet). [that's a joke, btw] Just working, working, looking for work, very little biking, not much gaming, not even as much sleeping as I need (I going to have to work on that). It's money (to get out of debt), it's helping me lose weight (or at least burn calories), so there's positives. I just need to make extra time to get my life going again (go back to school).
It's looks like I'll have a nice house to live at in the coming year, so that's some more sunshine. I'm tired. Gotta go to bed, to wake up tomorrow and not hate myself for not sleeping enough like last week.
Oh, and to show you how much I've been neglected my Xbox 360, you can read its blog. It whines and complains that I don't give it enough attention. Well, sorry, but sometimes I don't even have energy to do that.
It's looks like I'll have a nice house to live at in the coming year, so that's some more sunshine. I'm tired. Gotta go to bed, to wake up tomorrow and not hate myself for not sleeping enough like last week.
Oh, and to show you how much I've been neglected my Xbox 360, you can read its blog. It whines and complains that I don't give it enough attention. Well, sorry, but sometimes I don't even have energy to do that.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Gradiations
The changes of students to graduates happens every year, but it only seems important when someone you know gets this honor. My older brother, Thomas, just got his Bachelor's earlier today and it was amazing that there he was standing and receiving his degree only a year after he had a major stroke. It was very inspiring for me.
I still am in the process of school and will have to do some research in order to see what (or if) the credit hours I took at a small (un-named) community college will be carried over when I further my education possibly later this year. I'm holding off, because of my debt situation, but I'm going to look into what options I have in the way of assistance for school.
On a personal note: I'd like to check out Sinclair with you sometime and have you introduce me to the staff there. Congratulations on becoming a graduate (again) and I hope that your motivation rubs off on me a little. Take care! :D
I still am in the process of school and will have to do some research in order to see what (or if) the credit hours I took at a small (un-named) community college will be carried over when I further my education possibly later this year. I'm holding off, because of my debt situation, but I'm going to look into what options I have in the way of assistance for school.
On a personal note: I'd like to check out Sinclair with you sometime and have you introduce me to the staff there. Congratulations on becoming a graduate (again) and I hope that your motivation rubs off on me a little. Take care! :D
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