My Journal

I have done what I have wanted to do for so so long.  I have finally added phone lines to the second story of the house and it was not easy.

I bought a few things from monoprice.com mainly the Cat5e cable the two double phone line covers.  A few other things for network cables but thats for something else.

Anyway, I did want to drop the line in the kitchen since both phone lines are located there.   It should have been much easier than dropping the line where the phone box is at.  Nope, not going to happen since the upstairs room cover the drop point of where I would have dropped the line in the kitchen.  So I kept looking around the attic (oh man, its so fuckin scary walking on beams) and found an access point to the outside phone box.  Woohoo!  Tricky part is its WAY OVER THERE!  Like I had to walk on beams to the other side of the house.  Luckily I had the bright idea of hooking up the cat5e cable to my belt loop on my pants so all I had to do was venture off in the direction.  I crawled to the area  and puts lots of line there just in case because there was no way I was going to do that again.  Oh man, oh man, oh man, that was the most fuckin scariest thing I've done.  I was in a corner where one false step and I would have fallen through the ceiling.  My head was two inches or so away from the roof with nails!  EEEE!!!

Long story short, hooked up the cat5e cable to phone box, lined the cable to my sisters and moms room and had the fun part of stripping the wires and trying to remember which one was which.

But, yeah, I finally have done what I wanted to do for almost two years now.  Ya me.

Good thing is that its cold or I would have never done it today.

I wanted to wire some other rooms but there would have been no way to do it the way the house is built.  Oh well.  But I did do the upstairs and that was the main priority.

Hells yeah do I deserve the title of Jack of all Trade. :D

I'm alive.  From what I've heard thats always a good thing.
:)

YAY! I am happy because there is a new Spider Man cartoon.  Intro is actually pretty cool too.  I am so stoked by this news.  Like the animation, the character creation, spider man having the web under his arms (always did love that aspect in the comics) everything is just golden.  I especially love the character Montana.  Hes so cool and never knew about him or the group called The Enforcers.  Hammerhead is cool as well.  Totally a bad ass.

Also for all the care, I am moving out of my moms house which is something I've been wanting to do for a long time but could never do it on my own.  Why am I going to move in with?  My girlfriend.  Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking (and what people have told me) thats its too soon (only dating for two months) but I really REALLY feel like she is the one.  I am amazed by all the we have in common, how we care for each other and how I really do care for her.  I mean, seriously, I love her a lot.  More than anyone I have ever cared for in my life.  We see each other everyday.  I mean, hell, I leave the house door open (she works graveyard) and its nice to wake up to the women that you love.  Its an awesome feeling.

We were going to move into our apartment this Thursday but mom and Shannon are out of town for a week and guess who has to house sit?  Me.  Of course I could have REALLY loved this information before I told the landlady we were going to move into the apartment so, yeah, now i have to tell her were moving in next week and, bah, I feel like a bad tenant for already postponing our move.

Anyway, apartment is cool.  Second floor corner so we wont see anyone pass by.  Middle of Mission, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, living room and kitchen, and it comes with an alarm system for the low low price of 475 a month. Washer and dryer are on location, and its a locked apartment complex.  Not gated but the entranceways are locked after 10PM.  It is SO freakin  bad ass and a great location.  Its only two blocks away from an HEB and three blocks away from Rey so even better.  Everything is so close by and did I mention that right across the street is Lual which is THE best place to get AWESOME burgers and fried chicken.  I mean, STELLAR chicken.  I cant wait.  Oh and I could get broadband which I wasn't even thinking about when we were looking for apartments.  Of course for the time being I'm going to pray if there is a wireless signal unprotected so I can log on with my laptop.

Oh I got a laptop.  Its a Dell XPS 1530.

2.5GHz with 6MB of cache (T9300)
4GB of RAM
320GB Hard Drive
Windows Vista Home Premium
8600M GT 256MB video card
1440x900 on a 15.4" screen
Free upgrade to the 9-cell battery which props up the laptop about a quarter of an inch is nice.  It is coooool.
Oh and I do love the keyboard on it.  Its a full size keyboard which is something I really wanted on a keyboard.
Did spend 25 dollars to have a blue cover and the reason on that is so I can distinguish my laptop from Reys.  That and I like blue :D

Gave Shannon my old computer so shes happy.  The only thing that kindof sucks is that I have NO idea on how Vista works.  I'm working on it and already disabled that stupid ass "Are you sure you want to install..." prompt on EVERYTHING YOU TRY TO INSTALL!  What a nightmare that thing is.  Other than that I'm really digging Vista once I disabled all the damn apps that were hogging my resources.  Oh and disabled that stupid side bar on the right side.  I'll try it again once I move into the apartment but doing things on dial up is such a pain.

So, yeah, thats my life so far.  Woot, woot.

Got some news to share.

1. I have a girlfriend now.  Dating for about two weeks and all is going well.  Shes totally awesome.

2.  Dell upped my credit from 1,500 to 3,000.  Nice!

3.  Found out that I can get wireless broadband where I live.  Its pricey (50 bucks for 1Mbps) but its REALLY the only thing available.  Tempted.

I  have a hankering to do something productive in the next comming months.  I want to try and get my Net+ Certification.  Then when I do get it, I can place it right next to my A+ thats collecting dust.  Do you have to retest the Net+ every couple of years or thats another test?  i know the A+ is once you got it, you got it for LYFE!

ZOMG! FINALS!

Fuck you schedule for having to take some Tuesday and the rest Thursday.  I want to go one day for all my finals, not split into two days :(

Also I am losing weight.  This is different from before as I lose weight, I get all excited about losing it, then do something stupid and gain it back.  Not this time. I'm going to keep losing weight.  I can see the difference and I like it.  As it is, I'm doing really good at work.  For lunch I'm buying those microwavable Progresso soups and a Diet Snapple.  About 300 calories give or take depending on the soup.  Sometimes I get something else like a Lean Pocket instead of the soup or Targets Popcorn/Drink combo even though the popcorn gives me some mild heart burn but its sooooo gooooood.

Anyway, yeah, totally going to keep the weight off.  I'm thinking of buying a mountain bike to ride the trails (I'm totally going to outrun the Border Patrol).  I remember riding all the way to Bentsen State Park when I was a kid which is a few miles from me.  Back in the day when kids used to go leave the house for hours on end without parents worrying where their kid(s) were.  I should take pictures whenever I do plan on doing this.  Shannon wants a bike as well but she wants one of those free style bikes that are similar to low rider bikes.  Not gonna happen.  Seriously, you need a mountain bike.  So I'm totally going to buy her and myself a bike.  I think my mom wanted one too but she can get her own. :D

Back to the weight loss, I am enjoying it.  I needed new work pants because the old ones were fitting really big.  I am truly a size 36 now.  Not relax fit or whatever, regular 36 pants and I look so good.  They fit a bit tight but the way I'm eating and all the walking at work, it'll be a breeze to lose the weight.  I know I can be a 34 if I want to but I cannot see myself being any smaller than 34.  Unless I drastically lose a lot of muscle mass than, okay, it could happen but not now.

I also bought two new shirts.  A regular collar shirt and a BITCHING going out shirt for 20 dollars (it was half off).  Seriously, it looks great on me.  I need to go out one of these days so I can show off my new threads :-D

EDIT :  OMFG!  I need to go the FUCK out with this shirt.  I've been wearing it for a good 10 minutes and have this BIG ASS GRIN ON MY FUCKIN FACE!  This shirt is the fuckin BOMB.  I MEAN IT!  Its like my coolness factor has increased by 5 to a total of 3!

 Ok, I've been watching TOO MANY horror/slasher movies recently.  I've basically seen or about to see all Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street movies thanks to the wonderful DVR.  Then other unknown movies like From Beyond, Beyond Re-Animator, and stuff like that.

That wouldnt be too bad but I've been having really FUCKED UP DREAMS LATELY!

Last night was similar to any zombie movie you've seen but along the lines of Zombie Pet.  You keep a zombie as a pet.  You train it and the likes.  Yesterdays dream the zombie escpaed and raided the kitchen.  Of course since its a zombie (even though its human size) hes a crafty critter and has the ability to be sneeky sneeky and tackle you down and starts biting you.  Of course hes a PET!  You're not afraid of him, just push him off you while you get your meds so you dont turn into a zombie because for some strange reason they havent invented a reverse zombie medication.

Not to mention the other dream dealing with time travel.  Some guy goes back in time, gets shot, cowboy dude uses machine to go back into the future, since hes, like, a distant cousin or some shit the dead guys collegues cannot distinguish between the two of you and you live a nice happy life 200 years in the future.  Crazy shinanigans happen and the cowboy guy is a FUCKIN SUPERHERO AND SHIT!

Crazy dreams, crazy dreams.

WOOO!!!!

Computer working again.  YAY!  Stupid computer.  Stupid, stupid computer.  You learn new things all the time.

Oh and going to upgrade the computer not get a new computer.  After thinking about it, I just need a new video card and keep the processor (P4 @ 3.4GHz HT) and I'll be set.  Might get a 500GB hard drive just so I can have lots and lots of things on the hard drive.  Keep the external to transfer stuff from my computer to whoevers and vice versa.

Looking at 340 dollars for those two components.  The 8800GTS (G92) and a 500GB hard drive.  Woot, woot.

Two things I've learned on Wednesday.

Number one.  I may love my car and do stupid things in it because, well, I can.  But you know what?  Its not a truck and can get stuck in the mud. :*(  With the help of a tractor I now have some new scratches on my car.  He pushed me out.  Not pull, pushed.  Oh well.  More crazy shenangians!!!

Number two.  If you  have a PCI Express card and wish to reinstall Windows, you need SP2 for some crazy reason.  So, yeah, computer felt like forgetting some system files and in the process of trying to repair it, it craps out on you.  Bummer.  Wouldnt be a problem but I dont have a copy of SP2.  Oh well.

Sucks is I may need to redo all of CoD4 to unlock the weapons.  Sure I could crack my file to unlock all the weapons, but thats just cheating.

Oh YAY Mavs and Rockets for winning.  Too bad Suns keep losing and have them going all the way in my fantasy team so, yeah, I'm screwed if they go out in the first round.

puppy asleep on lap and using on screen keyboard so i dont wake him.  awesome!

Penny pinching Orlie to the rescue!  So I need checks since I'm out and the bank is going to charge me 14 bucks for a box of checks.  The lame ass one with nothing on them.  I'll get back to them because, well, I'm fuckin cheap.  So I venture online to see what I can get and have had great deals in the past.  I remember getting some navel base checks because they were half off... or clerence.  Dont remember but they were cheap and came with address stickers on them for free.  Awesome!

Anyway, since I'm a cheap bastard I'll get anything as long as its a check.  I mean, seriously, whats the purpose of  a check other than writing down who your going to mail this ammount for but since I'm a cheap bastard, I'm going to see if I can save a few pennies here and there before I commit to the bank of my 14 hard earned dollars.

So I found these checks.  Total after shipping is $10.94.  Fuck yeah!  I just saved myself $3.06.  Screw you bank.  I got me some checks AND they have a design compared to your crappy shit!  Did I mention its also Duplicate?  One box can last me a year or two.  Muhahahahaha!

EDIT:  HA!  Theres an online coupon "SAVE" and I saved myself an EXTRA DOLLAH!  WOOOO!!!!

You know, the more and more I used Office 2007, the more I am loving it.  Sure you have to relearn the program considering Office 97 to 2003 has not changed as drastically (hell, I cant even tell) as 2007 has but the neat features of changing text, having numerious templates displayed on the fly, and how really (not even joking) easy it is to get to features compared to the old version.  Sure theres going to be a lot of back tracking looking for some but, seriously, considering how counterintuitive the other Office Suites are compared to 2007, its no comparison.

Totally going to install it on the new compter... and then enjoy the fiasco of why 2007 dosent play well with others. :(

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Also, NBA Playoffs.  WOOO!!!

:waves tiny Mavs flag:

If not Mavs, then the Suns.  Only two teams I'm really rooting for.  Not a big SA fan, Kobe lost face during the offseason last year (even though he does have two good teammates but still!), Rockets dont have a chance in hell.  The only thing Im pissed off about this year is the Warriors are not in the playoffs.  Better luck next year, though.  Oh and dont even get me started on piss poor of a performance the Eastern Conference has been.  Seriously, if the Celtics dont even make the Finals, then they did something EXTREMELY WRONG!

Hey Jerry!  After Anthony replaced all hardware on his computer, it was the one piece of hardware that HE didnt replace that was fucking up on him.  His RAM.  So, yeah, it was the RAM.  I could have sworn a 32bit OS would not work on a 64bit processor but I guess I was wrong.   For the meantime hes using one of my 1GB ram sticks until he gets his back.  Also, he had ADATA which is something I wouldnt have gotten to begin with but thats just me.

Hes probably going to go with the four main ones.  Crucial, Kingston, Munskin, or OCZ.  Either way thanks dude!

 Oh damn I am one lucky SOB.  I accidentaly left my thumb drive on one of the school computers earlier today.  I didnt know about it until just right now.  Luckily I am sitting right next to the computer that I was using earlier today and its still connected!

Oh man, talk about lucky!  Its been around 3 hours since I left the computer lab.  Whew!

Alright, did a bit of comp shop at CompUSA (hey, TigerDirect bought them? WHEN?!) and saw a case and PSU that I liked.  Same price as newegg, but all I have to pay for is tax.  Thats right, fuck shipping!  Its not the Crucial PSU but it has the connectors I want and enough watts for me.  I know I'm not going to use SLi and if I did, well then, I would have my computer with it already :D

Since I'm probably going to get the gigabye board I just found out it uses different speed RAM.  It requires 1066 speed not 800 so thats 40 bucks more right there!  Would it be worthwhile? 

Considering the processor I wants FSB is 1333 and the equivalent processor @ 1066 is MORE would it be worth it to get the processor and memory at the same speed?

Its 100 dollars more ADDED to the fact its going to cost me 40 dollars MORE to get memory at 1066?  Is spending 140 MORE to get the same RAM speed and processor speed worth it even though its 100 LESS to get a faster FSB processor?

I really think its not worth the price and use that money on the video card.  Thats what I think.  Thoughts?

Also CompUSA is now the equivalent of Fry's Electronics Computer Dept w/ a hint of Home Entertainment.  Where did all the movies/Apple/ games go?

So I've been thinking of getting a new computer.  As in build one since its been a while.  That and what I really want cost significantly less than what Im willing to pay on a pre built.  Like I can save myself 500 dollars (more if I warez the OS but, meh, I want vista so might as well buy it.  If only I knew someone who goes to Pan Am and could get me a cheap copy. DAMN YOU JERRY FOR GRADUMICATING. Fuck STC and their "Oh we dont sell discounted software." Grr.)

Before I went to work I was seeing the Mavs get their ass kicked by the Suns.  Bah, only 10 minutes left in the game, its over, the Mavs lost, their chances to win the finals much less the first round is over.  Hell at this rate they're going to miss the playoffs because of how awesome the western conference is.

Went to work and I stress that out very loosly.  I lost my name badge so the first 20 minutes of work was spent on waiting for the supervisor to open the drawer where the backup name bages are.  He comes in and says he dosent have the key.  Luckily for me I clocked in so free break.  Did a few things and 20 minutes later, closing huddle thing which is usually 5 minutes.  But this one turned into a seminar so it went on for, like, 20 minutes.  So my first hour consisted of doing absolutely nothing.

Worked a bit, break time.  Walked half of my section in 30 minutes, then lunch time.  Woot.  Came back, and worked 30 more minutes and BAM, store is closed.  Muhahaha.  Store closes at 9.  I clocked in at 5.  Minutes 30 minutes for lunch so for 3 1/2 hours I did NOTHING AT ALL!  Left at eleven and all was well. 

Then I came back home, checked to see how badly the Mavs lost and OMFG!  THE MAVS FUCKIN WON! THEY FUCKIN WON! O.M.G. the Mavs won!

Turns out the last play I saw was the beginning of the end of the Suns.  I hate it when that happens :(

But a breakthrough and the rest of the games should be easy.  Next game against the Seattle Supersonics?  They better fuckin win or I'll kill someone.

I've ben thinking for a few months on starting my own business.  None of that taco stand BS thats EVERYWHERE here but something different.  Seriously, there is this one stand thats had at least 10 different owners in a 1 1/2 years time frame.  I've been counting and the reason I know is because each and every single time a new owner (well renter) comes into play, they paint the damn shack a different color than before! The longest I've seen someone in business there was 2 months.  TWO MONTHS!  I have been thinking of three things mostly.

1.  An independent movie theatre that serves food.  Similar to The Tavern in Arlington, TX and Cine El Rey in McAllen, TX before they sold out and only do concerts for old people!  Fuckin sucks ass.  Also like the Angelika Movie theatres around the the states.  I can still remember the last movies I saw in each theatre.

The Tarvern: Dawn of the Dead (totally got drunk with my brother.  Had to have Lori pick us up since we couldnt drive.  Movie was so much better drunk)
Cine El Rey: The Science of Sleep
Angelika: Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (before that we sneaked into Better Luck Tomorrow and saw the first 20 minutes.  Bought it on DVD because of it)

I know I can do this.  There is a 1 screen movie theatre close to home (The Border Theatre) which is now closed.  It was a nice business but nothing extravagent.  The best thing they had was a Double Feature but it didnt even mix (think first showing horror then next family movie).  Tickets were cheap, food was expensive compared to the tickets, theatre, well, it was trashed.  Yes, I know the theatre was built in the 1920s or so but, comeon, renovate the place.  Seats were like sitting on cardboard, audio was terrible, video was dirty, it was basically you get what you paid for.

What would I do?  Ask for donations to renovate the place.  Charge this much (say 8 dollars a pop) for the mean time for renovation but once its done, it will be lower.  Have cheaper days to bring in customers (during the weekday) to keep some type of money comming in.  Have some press going for the place.  Say for the meantime we are opening and, yes, it does look like trash but every customer that comes in, every dollar that you donate, it will be spent wisely and it will be for the better for the city, place, people, blah blah blah.  Basically milk'em.  Rent it out for special occassions and have a group discount.  Even show some horror movies during Octorber like Evil Dead or something.  Maybe even have some game tournament.  I mean, hell, who wouldnt want to play a fighting game on a FUCKIN MOVIE SCREEN!

What movies would it be?  Independent movies... hopefully.  Theres really not a big market here where I live for independent movies... seriously.  I guess thats a reason why Cine El Rey switched.  Maybe a blockbuster here and there but mostly independent movies.  Thats the only thing thats killer for this.  Not a really big market for independent movies around this area especially the location of the theatre.  I could, technically, put up fliers around the two colleges around here but thats time consuming.  It could work but its one of those long shot type deals.

2.  Have a Cyber Cafe.  Not a LAN Center, but a Cyber Cafe.  People go in, use computers to surf the web, yadda, yadda.  A new idea that popped into my head a few days ago so still fleshing out the ideas on it.  Might go on the cheap and buy old school computers for now, upgrade them, and set them up on a network.  Have a few friends that could help me on security, set up accts, time their activity and all.  I would have a few rules already in place: No Torrents, No Porn, NO Illegal Activity.  Thats about it.  They could download but nothing huge. 500MB Demo, ok.  500MB porn, NOT ok.  I dont have a location.  Around Mission/Sharyland area for this.  I can see a great market in that area.  Sell snacks, thumb drives, and individual CD/DVD-Rs.

3.  Start a franchise.  I'm thinking Hardee's.  There are no Hardee's here and people like eating fat, disgusting, unhealthy things around here.  Its a win-win situation... if I had around 1 million in collateral.  I looked it up :D  We used to have a Carls Jr but the location was SO FUCKIN WRONG!  Too far away, next to an all you can eat chinese buffet, no easy way to get to, did I mention it was too far away?  If they moved it, like, on the other side of the street and about 2 blocks THIS way, it would have done better but NO, they had to select that LOCATION!  We also used to have a fuckin Arbys.  I cannot say anything about their locations.  They had stellar locations but the only thing that sucked for them is 1. no variety 2. expensive for the area it was in.  South Texas is probably the lowest place to earn a living.  In Arlington I would make 9 dollars an hour while doing the same job here in South Texas I would be making 6.50 dollars an hour.  Its just fuckin crazy how cheap of a living it is and companies are using that to their advantage.

Thats about it.  I am very business oriented and... man, maybe I should switch my major to business?  I dunno, it could help.  I have always been a person who thinks about making a dollar no matter what.  I really should think about that.

One of these days, once I get enough money, fix my damn credit, I'll do one of these things.  Probably option 1.  If I do that, I wont quit my day job.  Just keep it running while working and see where it leads to.  I really do want to start my own business. I really do.

Of course if I ever did the Hardee's route, I would do it in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, or Austin.  Fuck the valley on this one.  Probably the DFW area since my brother lives there.  I could live with him while I got everything working.  But, again, I dont have 1 FUCKIN MILLION DOLLARS :(

R4DS is a piece of shit!  Cant even support HC media.  I mean, WTF?  Why even BOTHER with this old ass technology?!  Its not even WORTH it.  Like, seriously, just toss it in the trash and burn it.  Seriously, like, do it now.  DO IT!

Its time for the new improved technology to take over.  Hellooooo R6DS!

OMG! Who wants to buy my R4DS?  Maybe to a sucker (friend) who dosent know any better and only wants to carry 2GBs not 6GBs worth of info?  Its still new so I'll wait, but, thats awesome.

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Who wants a free 64MB flash drive?  Then head on over to Target and get their Speed Racer Gift Card!  It has some stuff about the movie (nothing worthwhile... not even a link to the movies homepage. *tisk tisk*) but it would be a good way of hiding some small stuff.  Who wants to swipe a gift card anyway?  Still, free 64MB flash drive!  I mean us geeks know what it is but other people would not.  Great for students who need some very cheap storage for school.  Think about it.