March 2004

I found out today that my dog Spirit has a tumor in her intestents.... She can't poop, so she can't eat... I thought I was ready for this to happen... I mean she is 13, almost 14... can't see, can't hear, and now can't poop...

There is an operation to remove it, but the vet said that it is risky... and that since she is so old she probably won't make it through it... so now we have to decide if we should put her to sleep or not and take the risk of her dying a more painful death if the surgery fails... It is just so hard to know that she is suffering... I have had her since I was 7... that is a long time... it is going to be weird living in a world without her... I want to put her to sleep though, I don't want to risk her feeling more pain than she already is... and even if we did teh operation, she probably would have something else go wrong with her body pretty soon...

My little sister is taking it the worse... Spirit has been in her life since she was 2... she went out and bought her a whole bunch of her favorite foods (bologna, peanut butter, etc.), but she can't even eat it... she gets to stay home tomorrow and be with her... I might not get to see her again, which is hard... I did say goodbye to her as if it were the last time I would see her though, because I knew it could happen any time...

She is the smartest and most freeminded dog that I ever have known... She will be missed...

Ok, semi-subject change... on another animial note... there is a cat that won't leave our back porch... it is one of the sweetest cat I have met (I don't usually like cats)... just wants to be loved... but we can't have it because my mom is allergic to them... and when she comes to visit she wouldn't be able to be in our house... So, for now it plays with our dog in the back yard and we feed it and water it because it was here for almost a week and we knew it was starving because it looked like it... it is black with white paws... and looks to be about a year old... we posted signs around the neighborhood but nobody has called yet... we are calling the pound or whatever tomorrow to see if anybody has called in a cat missing with that description...

Labels: brian and patrice mankowski, dogs, lori folts, megan folts

I am getting a modem for my computer that lets me have caller ID on my computer... I know that doesn't sound that great, but with the amount of calls my roommates get, I will know without running to the phone who is calling... I can also set it up to automatically hang up on certain people... I am really excited about it...

I totally have fixed my computer up in the last few days, instead of studying... it is running better than it did when I built it...

I can't decide if I want to go to grad school or not... I decide I am going to apply for this scholarship that is just for FSU students... FSU's Computer Science department is one of 36 Universites that is NSA (National Security Agency... A government agency) certified... Being certified the CS department alone gets over $1,000,000 a year to give to their students that will promise to work for them for 2 years (work for the NSA for 2 years)... well, FSU actually has barely enough people applying for this scholarship... so they say it is pretty easy to get...

Benifits: All food, books, housing, tuition paid for, plus $8,000 a school year (2 semesters) spending money... (that is $1000 a month spending money)... and $55,000+ starting salary... (which isn't quite the average starting wage getting out of college with a masters, but they paid for it, unlike others... The starting wage is more like 65,000)

I just don't know if I am interested in the security... but that would be a great opertunity whether I liked it or not... I don't know... the two downfalls about it is 1) don't get to choose where I would move... most likely would be DC, which isn't bad... but still... 2) sign 4 years of my life away... (2 years for masters, 2 for job)

Oh well, give me your opinions if you have any...

Labels: florida state university, grad school, work

Hola friends, Francisca won't stop talking to me on my cell phone so I got out of it by telling her I was going to write here... he he... j/k (I just have to stand outside in the sun in order to talk on my cell phone so it was a pain... she wanted me to talk to her for 3000 hours... but I was like "uh, yeah")

Anyways, I miss my titters, I think I am going to go there this weekend... Roach insists that her new "LCD" is better than my "CRT" (flat screen is better than my big, bulky monitor) but she is uberly wrong...) she wants me to see her's, and she wants me to fix her computer... we might even go all the way down to Orlando because it is the titter sister's birthday... doubt it though, titters has to work...

My Aunt is finally telling the parents at her school about the website... I am really excited, now people will actually be using it... it won't just sit there looking pretty... which of course it is... B) She is also going to start paying me $30 a month to maintain it... B)

Ken's office messed up on my taxes, they told the government that I earned more than I did, so she said she would pay the difference, the thing is, I think the difference is $300 because I actually earned so little that there was no taxes... but yeah... that is still exciting...

Sebastian, the super cool dude, gave me his old GForce 3 (a REALLY cool video card)... it is like 4 times better than my old one... he is super awesome and I thank him...

I am officially broke... I have to get my dad to pay me back for gas that I used to get home...

I sent my resume to Bob Myers (That Human Resource Manager for all of Reebok) he is editing it for me and then sending it off the the "important person" at EA...

I have no food here... I need to go grocery shopping...

Labels: christina roach, electronic arts, francisca amunategui, kristen foster, sebastian amunategui, work

I got really excited today when talking to my parents close friend Bob Myers... He is the Human Resource manager for ALL of Reebok... former Vice President of The Bank of Boston, and most impressing, former Vice President of the Limited/Victory Seceret and all those stores owned by that company... Needless to say, he has connections... Well, turns out he is pretty close to an important person at EA (Electronic Arts.... they own many different computer gaming companies, including Maxis... The one that makes the Sims and SimCity)... He suggested that I try to get an internship there this summer with his help... he told me, "give me your resume and I can help you edit it and I'll fax it to him, and maybe he can slip it to the top of the pile..." B) just talking about it freaked me out because it was so exciting... The sole cause of my passion for computers came from a little revolutionary program... SimCity Classic... and now I have a chance to get an internship there, or if it is too late to get one for this summer, possibly a job there... My heart was pitter pattering like crazy... I knew he had connections, but he just happened to mention the one company I would want to work for more than any other... even if I didn't get hired forever, if I got an internship there I would be satisfied for life... I don't know... but to me that is exciting...

Anyways, later on in the conversation Microsoft is brought up... turns out he knows the HR Manager there along with a few other VIPs in the company... Microsoft scares me though because it is what made computing what it is today, and I don't know if I have what it takes to contribute to that... REALLY nerve racking to think about working on something that has to do with so many peoples life's... yeah...

All this is really scary to me... I feel like I am so little compared to these HUGE companies that are practically the cause that I am who I am... I have never been so excited... even if I don't get the job, knowing that I have at least a better chance than most people is exciting...

My parents have been friends with Bob's wife since 8th grade... and with him since 11th grade... All I know is that I will owe him so much even if I don't get the job... he doesn't have to do anything for me, but he is... I talked to him for only 20 minutes about this particular subject, but it has thrilled me... It is completely different discussing something that you could always talk about, but when you did you were thinking "yeah right like that will ever happen", when you can stop thinking that, even if it is just for a minute...

Oh well, Isketch time... I hope I can fall asleep...

Labels: electronic arts, lori folts, microsoft, patrick folts, work