This is a long overdue update... A ton has happened in just the few months since I last wrote. I'll try to make this as chronological as possible:

Patti came up to visit in mid-October. She spent 9 days here, and for the first time she got to meet my other best friend who lives here. They got along great (of course they are practically the same person, so why wouldn't they)...

So right on to November... the first weekend of November Patrice, Brian and Megan all came up for the Boston College/Florida State game. We had a blast and we got to see FSU upset the #2 team in the country! Woohoo! I felt a little bad for the BC fans, but it still felt great over all... Patrice was absolutely miserable because it was in the low 40's and pouring rain and her feet got wet on the walk over the the stadium. Megan had a blast though!

For Thanksgiving I flew out for a week's vacation at my grandparent's lake house in Homer, Louisiana. Lots of my family also went which was awesome. I was feeling really homesick at this point. Even more exciting though, was Mike, one of my best friends while growing up, decided to fly out and spend the week there as well. His sister Tatiana also drove in from Tallahassee. It felt great to catch up with him. It's always fun to hang out with Honey and Papa as well.

On to a very sad and depressing thing: my friends lost their baby Wesley so I only had the title of god father for less than a day. The whole situation has really brought me down during the last few months, so to avoid thinking about it, that is all I'm going to say... at least for now. On the brighter side, I'm flying to Australia in May for their wedding! 9 days in Sydney and 4 days in Fiji. I'm extremely uberly excited about it!

Now, in December I flew home for the holidays. My PTO expires at the end of the year, so with the combination of holidays, I was there for almost 2 weeks. While I was there I got to see my god daughter Ashlyn! She makes me happier than anyone on the face of the planet! It is so hard not being there while she grows up. I spent 2 days with her though... Man, those were two very tiring days.

During the holidays my dad, my grandma and I decided to do a three way car swap. My grandma got my car, my dad got her car, and I got his car. It's been a major ordeal, but it is finally working out. I was tired of paying $400 a month in car payments when I was only driving 30 miles a month.

Dmitri was kind enough to drive my dad's car up to me, and my car down to my dad. Of course, he got a free trip to Boston out of it. He spent a little over a week here, and during that time we went skiing in New Hampshire with my neighbor's brother Doug and my co-worker/friend Josh.

Of course, not everything is wonderful... I have horrible elbow pains from too much computing (of course, I'm using the computer to write this, which probably isn't the best idea). I've been to a Dr. who says I need to see a specialist... I also talked to her about my knee pain that I've had for nearly 3 years now... It hurts a ton to run/ski/hike/walk/ride my bike, etc. It most likely is going to require some sort of cartilage manipulation surgery, but hopefully not.

For new years I quit soda again... I drank no Dr. Pepper all of 2005 and absolutely no soda for 2006, but then I rewarded my self with a Dr. Pepper to ring in the new years 2007... well, that was a bad way to start a new year... so after getting in the habit of drink way to much soda again, I am forcing myself to quit it... for good this time... I'm 32 days sober... go me!

Well, I think that covers everything, although extremely briefly... but I'm suppose to stay off the computer, so that's all I'm going to write.

Labels: allie evans, ashlyn pinner, best friend, boston, boston college, brian and patrice mankowski, dmitri sokgobenzon, florida state university, homer, josh kolash, megan folts, mike smith, mike treffehn, papa and honey, patti botero, tatiana treffehn, wedding

Work is still kicking ass... the new version is super cool, a few little things to do yet, but the main design is pretty much done. Been a busy month, I got to see my friend Alana Rush, who I haven't seen in over a year. She had been traveling the world doing cool stuff. When she finally moved back to the states, it just happen to be 45 minutes from me. I just found out another one of my high school friends moved to Florida, MA as well. Hopefully we'll get back in touch as well.

I've been really happy with my decision ever since I moved here. I love my job, my neighbors, the weather... pretty much everything about it. I am wickedly stoked about the weather... Fall starts in a few days, but it already feels like it... today was the first day this week to hit 70 degrees! The smell of the air brings back wonderful memories of days before Florida. I don't know how I made it nearly 9 years there... It completely and utterly sucks...

The only thing I miss about Florida is my friends and family... Nithin has already come to visit, he was the first, and he gets many friend points for that (note to all you other friends who haven't yet). Patrice, Brian and maybe Megan are all coming up in early November for the Boston College/FSU game. Patti plans on coming up sometime next month as well. YAY visitors!

When Nithin was here we did a lot of the touristy Boston stuff, so now I know what to suggest to people when they come up to visit me... I'll still use the next few as guinea pigs, but at least now if I have to work, I'll have something to suggest to people...

On the 1st of this month I helped my best friend move. I had to carry heavy furniture down 3 flights of narrow stairs, walk it 4 blocks, and then up another 4 flights of stairs... it took 3 of us 4 hours to get everything, and she claims to have already moved "the majority of it" before I started helping... I was sore for a week...

Not much else besides hanging with the neighbors, waiting for visitors, moving friends, and catching up with old friends has happened as of late, so not much else to blog about...

Labels: best friend, boston, boston college, brian and patrice mankowski, florida state university, megan folts, nithin sathyamoorthy, patti botero, work

I have been really busy in the last two weeks! It is a long process to explain, but I don't want to forget anything later in life, so bare with me!

So, where to begin... I was about to accept a job for a start up in Boston when, that night, I get a call from two huge companies. One of the two being the notorious Facebook (which had previously turned me down). Well, this all happened on a Thursday night. I was flying to Boston the following Wednesday through Friday to check out the company, but both the other companies want to interview me. I told one I could on Tuesday, and the other I could on Monday.

Sunday night I fly out to San Francisco from Miami. I arrived at 9:30 at night, woke up the next morning for an 11:00 interview. The interview ended at 2:08, so I sprint to catch the 2:11 train. I get back to the airport, get my luggage, and head out to catch my 5:15 flight. I was flying from San Francisco to Omaha for the Tuesday interview, unfortunately I had a layover in Denver. Well, United decided to cancel my flight, so I had to spend the night there, and fly out first thing the next morning. Only problem with this was that it was 12:30 PM before I finally got to sleep. I had to wait in a 1.5 hour line to book a flight the next morning, and then an hour line to get my luggage since I would be flying on a different airline. Luckily I was one of very few passengers that got their hotel paid for. Many were told it was weather-related, while I was told it was mechanical... pretty sketchy!

I barely made it to Omaha in time for my 11:00 interview. It finished, and I drove back to the airport for my 3:55 flight from Omaha to Atlanta (to catch a connection to Miami). Well, right before take off, they were told to return to the gate due to weather in ATL. Well, I wouldn't usually worry but I was suppose to fly out of Fort Lauderdale to Boston at 6:00AM the next morning, so I had them switch my ATL connection so that, instead of flying to Miami, I would fly straight to Boston. Around 6:30 we were able to leave, arriving in ATL around 10:30. I spent the night in the extravagant Crown Plaza hotel (thanks dad for using your points), then once again, woke up bright and early for my flight.

I arrived in Boston on Wednesday morning, and spent the entire day with the Daily Jolt (the company I now work for). They walked me through exactly what I'd be doing, they even worked out a time schedule. I was really impressed, and really excited because I knew exactly what I'd be doing. After spending the day with the Daily Jolt, Facebook called me and told me I should expect a verbal offer the next day by mid-day.

Thursday was spent with a Realtor, touring all of Boston, checking out the different areas to live. I fell in love with Beacon Hill, but it cost a fortune to live there. Fortunately I also liked the Brighton area. Facebook finally called me at around 7:00 PM and discussed their offer with me. Very intriguing offer, slightly more than the Boston job. Of course, the Daily Jolt wanted an answers by that night. So, I spent 2 stressful hours weighing my options, then I went to dinner with Aaron (my new boss) and told him the situation. I explained what Facebook had offered me, and we were able to work out a very similar offer, and I decided the Daily Jolt was the right job for me. I am an east-coast kind of guy, I'll be a Mid-level programmer rather than a Junior-level programmer (meaning I'll be essential to the company, rather than just another programmer), I'll be able to do a lot of work from home, I'll be in Boston (where I've wanted to live for 7 years now), the cost of living in Boston is quite a bit cheaper than San Francisco, and on top of everything, my best friend lives here. I have yet to regret my decision, once Facebook goes public maybe, but we'll see.

I was very excited to get home after a week of traveling the nation. I left Boston early Friday morning, and had a layover in Philly. Well, as you could probably have guessed due to my extreme luck, there were issues. They boarded the plane right on time, I passed out 2 minutes after boarding. Well, after I passed out, they announced that "there was a small mechanical problem, but it should be fixed in about 10 minutes and we'll be off". I fell back to sleep, into a deep sleep, and after 30 minutes they decided to make everyone get off the plane. Of course, I was in such a deep sleep the flight attendant had to wake me up. I noticed I was the only one on the plane, and she told me I had to get off. I asked "We already are there?" and she explained the situation to me. Oh boy! Another never-ending layover!

Once I get off the plane, they announce that "The good news is that it is a small mechanical problem... The bad news is that we have to fly the part in from Atlanta." Of course, this meant they weren't canceling the flight, so we had to sit there and wait. They did offer us a $25 voucher for a future flight (after reading the fine print I found out it expired 7 days later), as well as a $10 food voucher to use while we were waiting.

1 hour passes...

2 hours pass...

"Attention passengers, we regret to inform you that the part didn't make it from Atlanta. We are going to have to cancel the flight. Oh, and every flight to Florida is over booked until tomorrow at 2:30! Thank you for flying Air Tran"

Luckily for me, I had nowhere I had to be... most the other passengers were leaving the next morning on a cruise, so obviously 2:30 PM flight wasn't going to work. Some of them drove to Baltimore, others just broke down and cried. "It is our anniversary, and now we are stuck in Philly". I felt bad for them. I waited in line to rebook a flight (another 1.5 hours) and to get my free round-trip voucher. I nicely asked to be upgraded to business class as well. They also were kind enough to give every passenger a $30 discount at a hotel (even though it was mechanical failure).

Finally I was re-booked for the next day, had my hotel coupon and I made my way to the luggage area to get my bags. It was now after 4:00 PM (the flight was suppose to leave at 11:11 AM). I get to the luggage area, and it is all chaos. There were passengers at the end of their rope with the airlines, yelling at anyone with an AirTran t-shirt. They had no clue on when our luggage was going to be brought to us, so, realizing I had a while, I nicely mentioned that I had expected to get my hotel paid for considering it was mechanical failure that was the cause of my misfortune. Well, the baggage lady was eager to help since I was the only one being polite. She called about 5 different "supervisors", and none of them answered. Finally one showed up (not for me, he had an issue he was trying to resolve). She explained to him my situation, and he reluctantly brought me to the front desk. Well, 30 minutes later I had a voucher for a free hotel night. My luggage arrived right when I got back, and so I headed to the hotel (nearly 6:00).

At least in Philly I was able to sleep in the next morning since my flight wasn't until 2:30. It was my first full night sleep that entire week.

I flew back here (to Boston) this last Thursday, once again having flight issues. My flight leaving Fort Lauderdale left 2 hours late. I arrived to my connect in Philly 30 minutes before it was suppose to leave. Thinking I had to hurry I rush to the next gate, only to find out that my connection was also running late. I got to sit in Philly for 2.5 hours! Woohoo. Of course, by this time, I was very accustom to waiting, especially in airports.

During the week I was in Fort Lauderdale, I had been looking for apartments using craigslist. I found this one that I just had a feeling for. I couldn't tell you why I was so fond of it, just that I kept saying how much I wanted to see it in person. I spent Friday morning looking at places in Beacon Hill... $1500+/month for 350 sq. ft. apartments. None of them excited me too much. At around 2:00 Megan and I headed over to the apartment I found on craigslist. Immediately I knew it was the place for me. $1425/month for a 650 sq. ft. apartment with 10 foot ceilings. Everything was brand new, including the kitchen appliances. They redid all the electrical as well, so it can support my electrical needs. Across the street there is a park with a lake where I can walk my dog. It is directly on the Green line (Trolley to downtown), and there is a bus that goes straight to work. I also have a shared deck and a backyard so I can let my dog out there as well. I'll post pictures as soon as possible.

Labels: atlanta, best friend, denver, dogs, nebraska, patrick folts, philly, san francisco, work

1300+ miles each way... Long drive, but well worth it. Last week was Spring break and Dmitri and I drove ALL the way to Boston (24 hour drive, with only food and restroom breaks) to see my best friend Megan. We stayed there for 3 nights and she gave us a tour of the historical parts of the city. We saw Paul Revere's house, as well as the church he lit up... We also went to the original Cheers restaurant, pretty cool place!

After Boston we drove out to Vermont and stayed 4 nights .5 miles from the base of the ski slopes! It was absolutely great. When we weren't skiing, we were relaxing (something that I don't get to do often in grad school!)... Of course, knowing my luck, we got the coldest week EVER recorded in Vermont for March... -15 degrees Fahrenheit, without the wind chill, and the wind was 20-30 miles an hour! I mean gosh, the second day was so cold that we couldn't ski, so we went to the mall in the town over. The car refused to start for a good 2 minutes (rather new car, it was just too cold)... The windshield wiper fluid was rated to work as low as -25 degrees, but it was frozen solid. Anyways, once we finally got to the mall, we bought some books and went back to the hotel and read all day. Quite nice indeed!

Labels: best friend, boston, grad school, skiing, vacation

This is the second attempt at posting, the first attempt got deleted when the stupid IE popup blocker went on... so yeah... SPREAD FIREFOX!

Anyways, my evil uncle woke me up at 6:30 just because he wanted to see me annoyed one last time... he he... I guess I can't blame him for trying to get one last laugh out of me... I have had to put up with this for the whole summer, but I guess I can't complain since he was nice enough to let me stay here free of charge... at least my aunt sides with me sometimes when it comes to the constant bashing of Nikk... I'll miss having them around... Tina and Cory will also be missed, they were my main source of entertainment (human entertainment that is) over the summer... they also introduced me to Heather, who's really cool and deserves more then what she lets herself have... I just want to let all of them know how much they have meant to me over the Summer, despite the fact that they are glad I am leaving... he he... oh well, have to finish my last minute packing before I head over to the dentist for my crown... after that I am going to hit the road and try to make it all the way back to Tally, but the weather report says I am going to hit a ton of rain, which will probably slow me down... I might spend the night in New Orleans because my best friend Megan is there visiting her brother and her dad... but that depends on the time I am making and my mental state after the 510 mile leg of my drive...

Labels: austin texas, best friend, dentist, firefox, heather, kelly folts, tallahassee, tina folts, tina marie palma

Yesterday we went to a Dave and Busters like place called Main Event... first we bowled for an hour, which my arm is still sore because I used a 16 lb ball... I am getting really good at putting the spin on the ball though... anyways, once we were done with bowling we played some arcade games to win points (equivalent to tickets)... with $30 we won 2206 points because we found this one game that Megan was really good at... so we just kept getting points... but that was only after we wasted 10 of that $30 on skiball which gave us hardly any points at all... With the points Megan got a gumball machine and a stuffed animal... and then we both got cups with spiral straws and cool little parachuting aliens... oh, and I got a deck of cards... the gumball machine has got to be worth at least $20 alone... at least if you bought it at Spencer's Gifts it would have... so yeah, we made off pretty good... if only we didn't waste all that money on skiball we'd have a ton more points... Well, after that we played two games of pool before heading home and watching Hitch... which is a great movie by the way... Then I was stupid enough to introduce Megan to the Sims 2... 7 hours later I was able to pull her off so that I could go to bed... now she is obsessed with the game... I'll have to be more careful next time I suggest the Sims 2... it tends to have that affect on people...

Today was Megan's last day here... her sister suggested that we all go to this park down town that is a natural spring that pumps 36 million gallons a day into a creek... They gated it off and damned two ends to make the creek deeper near the spring and to keep the street runoff from polluting the immediate area so it is completely clear and clean... (even if a little kid would to pee in the springs, 36 million clean gallons would be there the next day)... at first the 68 degrees that it is year round is extremely cold after being in the 95+ degree air... but after about 5 minutes in the water it becomes rather refreshing... After swimming, we sat under an old tree and talked, which was just another way to relax...

Oh well, bed time...

Labels: austin texas, best friend, bowling, gaming, vacation

My best friend (and yes, friend only) Megan is driving all the way from Atlanta to visit me here in Austin for a week... I very excited because she is really the only person I feel completely comfortable around... We have been best friends since I asked her out the second week of 9th grade... Our relationship only lasted about four days because she only dated me because she needed an excuse to dump the boyfriend she was with when I asked her... I forgive her though... we just became closer and closer after that and we even made the common pact of "if we are old and both single, lets get married..." Well, at the time the ripe old age of 26 seemed suitable... I mean that was 11 years from then... but now it seems so soon, and so it is an on going joke that we better hurry and find somebody so we don't get stuck together... Of course, if we ended up together, it won't be a completely horrible thing... he he... I mean, if only she weren't republican... but I am hoping she will grow out of that, but we'll see... I mean she is moving to the wonderful city of Democrats (Boston) for Grad School... maybe she'll see how miserable it is being a republican, or at least she'll want to try and fit in... he he... Anyways, recently she has been my lifeline during a rapidly changing time in my life... I'm balding (rapidly), I'm single, I feel old, I am starting Grad School, etc... She has always been able to help me step back and take a deep breath, she lets me realize everything is ok... So yeah, she is awesome... I just hope everyone in the world can be lucky enough to have a friend like her, because I know I'd be lost without her...

Labels: best friend, boston, grad school, politics

I was told by my boss today that I possess "the skills, knowledge, motivation, and ethics" that make me a perfect fit for Freescale... Pretty nice... I didn't think I would have another internship opportunity next summer because I have finished everything he needed done, but it turns out that he thinks he will need somebody next summer for something similar, yet different... So he hopes he can pull me away from summer classes at FSU so that I can do that, and if he ends up not needing me he said he is going to put in a good word for other departments so that I could still get hired... The exciting thing is that now that I have this internship under my belt, as well as I would be half way done with my Masters degree, my starting salary should be closer to $65-70,000/year ($33/hour... $264/day... $1320/week)... and I'll have nobody to spend it on except for me! They explained how they decide the pay rate by plugging in your credentials and it spits back a number after assessing you... They explained how it assesses you by how much school and how many internships you have had... woot woot... and so if I decide not to stay at Freescale, which I would rather not in the long run, but still, if I don't stay here then I could still say that I made $70,000ish at my last job so I would be making tons when I got out of school... I think I am going to apply for internships at other companies next summer as well... maybe diversity would be better, it doesn't matter where your internships were according to Freescale, but I would think other companies might think otherwise... If I could find an internship at a video game company I would scream... yeah... oh well...

Megan comes to Austin on Wednesday... I am excited to see her... I am going to take off most Thursday and all of Friday so I can chill with her...

I miss my fellow CSers... can't wait to get back to Tallahassee, move into my house, buy a dog, and start programming... I still want to program after programming the whole summer, which is a good sign that I am on the right career path... Oh well...

Labels: austin texas, best friend, freescale, tallahassee, work

Well, I worked for 10 and a half hours yesterday which was good because I don't want to work much this Friday... On Friday we are having a intern picnic so if I only have to go to that and not come into the office, that would be nice... Harry Potter comes out at 12:00 midnight, but if Heather wants to hang out I don't think I am going to the festivities... I preordered mine (Deluxe Edition) through Amazon.com because it was $18 cheaper then in stores... Last night I went to see the Fantastic 4... pretty good... it is unrealistic in my eyes so I liked Batman a ton better but it was still a worth while movie...

After that my uncle started talking about genealogy and I got him really excited about some things I have found out using census records... nerdy, I know, but still, genealogy is so much fun... a HUGE puzzle to solve history... I'll probably be spending a lot of time with him working on that now... Anyways, as I likely mentioned before, my friend Megan is coming to visit in the end of July and that really excites me... she is so much fun... she relaxes me too... I want her to meet Heather too... Oh well, we'll see if anything happens with Heather and I... I want to do something to night but I think she is working... I might just go sit at Chili's and let her serve me B)...

Labels: amazon, best friend, genealogy, harry potter, heather, kelly folts, movie, work

My friend Megan and I weren't sure if we were up to the long drive to my Grandparent's lake house (I wasn't because I had had 9 hours of sleep in the 3 days before) but finally we decided it would be good to get our minds off things... so we both hopped in our cars and headed there... right before leaving I got my car its first oil change, which turns out to cost me extra because it is difficult to do... so that cost me $45 because I didn't know of any cheap places to get it done... hopefully in the future it will be cheaper... anyways... About 200 miles into my trip as I approached Dallas the sky turned pitch black, and it was noon... The clouds were nearly touching the ground and the winds were blowing hard... the horizon had a green tint and it began to hail... I was freaking out because I was still 20 minutes from Dallas and I had to go about 10 miles before I found a good place to stop to let it pass... I swear a tornado had to have passed within a mile because that was some sort of storm... that is exactly what you see when you see it on the weather channel... Luckily it only lasted like 20 minutes until it cleared up enough for me to get out on the road... so I jumped in my car and started to drive... the highway was flooded after the quick storm and I was in a construction area and the construction dust had combined with the water, making it white... yeah, that was scary...

Once I finally got there I greeted everyone and then played basketball... I pitched one over my head, without looking, all the way across the court, and made it! That shot almost let me win in horse... but, when I was about to win, Megan pulled up and I was sweaty and covered in dirt so I gave her a big hug... aren't I nice... When she got there we ate dinner and then I think we went kayaking for the first of many times during the weekend... Then we just chilled and talked about stuff that was on our minds... the next morning I woke up early, Papa and I went outside and talked while he had his morning smoke... he is hilarious... by 6:30 I was bored so I went to see if Megan looked like she was in a deep sleep and she did, so I stayed talking to my papa for another 30 minutes and then checked on her again, this time she had an angry look in her face and her hand was over her eyes so I knew she wasn't sleeping soundly (the sun was beaming through the window straight into her eyes)... I went inside and tickled her arm pit to wake her up... We just chilled most the morning and went kayaking, swimming in the middle of the lake and ate... then sometime in the afternoon we both passed out in each others arms... I don't know if it was her breathing that calmed me, but for some reason I was able to relax and get things out of my mind and sleep for a much needed hour...

Once we awoke, the Fourth of July celebration started (yes it was the 2nd, but that is when they start on the lake) with a parade of all the boats decked out in red white and blue... this happens as the sun sets and once a full circle around the lake is complete, the boats gather by the dam and watch a fireworks display...

The next morning was much like the first, just chilling... We tried to take a nap on the hammock but just ended up talking for 2 or 3 hours... in the afternoon we went inner tubing, but as soon as Megan got on the boat ran out of gas, so I didn't get a turn and her's was a short one... after a jet ski towed our boat back to the dock we talked to the neighbors (the Browns who are the parents of my Dad's childhood best friend) until dinner was ready... on the way to dinner Megan pushed me into the lake where it was only 2 feet deep so she had to run like crazy before I got out and tried to drown her... after dinner it was time for more fireworks! We were all out on the dock and my uncle tried to push me in but barely missed so then, when he was trying to push Tina in, I ran up behind him and pushed him instead... Everyone was so happy I did because they love picking on him, mainly because he is constantly picking on them...

The next day Megan had to leave really early in the morning because she worked at 6:30 AM on the 5th... I decided to stay though, and played scrabble with my sister, watched karate kid, and stayed in my pjs all day even to watch the fireworks... (I knew I couldn't go down by the lake or my uncle would have pushed me in) After the fireworks, we all played Scategories, which was really hard because we had around 9 people playing so it was hard to be creative enough to get any points...

At 4:45 the next morning I headed back to Austin with my sister so that I could make it back in time for my appointment where I got my wart removed... hopefully it won't grow back, I got it removed before and it did, but this time they cut it off, then burned it, so it didn't bleed, and also so it might destroy it at the root... oh well, we'll see...

Labels: best friend, family, homer, honey folts, kelly folts, megan folts, papa folts

I highly recommend everyone goes and sees Mr. And Mrs. Smith... It is hilarious and Angelina Jolie is gorgeous... Batman Begins is also a great movie... Anyways, my younger sister is in town for 12 days... I have been really busy working 10 hour days so that I don't have to use my Paid Time Off this Friday to head out to Homer, LA where my Grandparents built a lake house... I am really excited, I get to see my best friend Megan (best friends since 9th grade) because she is driving down there from Atlanta... I don't think I am going to have time to finish the Harry Potter series in the next 15 days 16 hours... to busy and I am falling behind because I can't read when I have a lot on my mind... which I do...

Next weekend I am setting up somebody's computer and that will earn me some extra cash... As I probably mentioned, my sister and I are trying to go to Europe this Winter and I have to pay for a lot of her until she can pay me back, so I have to make as much as possible... I might change my mind and just end up buying skis and going to Colorado, but that doesn't sound as fun... It has been forever since I was in Europe and it is my favorite place to be... We'd stay at a youth hostel in Munich and take a train everyday to the Alps and go skiing... Then, on Christmas Eve we would take the train up to Frankfurt area and see the Treffehns for Christmas... Both Tatiana and Mike are going to be there visiting too... I haven't seen Mike in a million years and he use to be my best friend... He also might come and visit me and his sister in Tallahassee this Fall...

I am excited about school starting... I hope I get to work in the Lab still because I get to be social and the regulars there are fun to talk to... and the money is nice as well...

I am really excited about the sofas I am getting from Adriana... They are sooooooooooo awesome... I've spent a lot of nights passed out cold on them... and a lot of days sunken deep between their cushions watching movies... good times good times... uber comfortable...

Labels: adriana infante, best friend, harry potter, honey folts, megan folts, mike treffehn, munich, papa folts, tallahassee, tatiana treffehn, vacation

Well, I am done with school... I aced my History test, so now I have at least two of four A's for sure, the only two classes I am unsure about are OpSys and Distributed Networks, both classes depend on the class curve... I will be pissed if they give me an A- or something... I calculated it and if they didn't have minuses here then I could graduate with a 3.5 rather than a 3.489599999ish... I'm going to see if they will drop some of my classes that doesn't count toward my major... one that I got a C in, and then that would throw me over the 3.5 GPA too... oh well...

I was really excited for about an hour after my exam... now I am already bored... About a week ago I was excited about seeing everyone for my birthday and chilling, and then I found out that everyone I've asked isn't going to be there for my birthday... I feel old... I got my first gray hair this week too... The reason I probably haven't gotten one before this is because my hair is falling out before it can turn gray... I am so close to graduation too, that makes me feel even older... I don't know what I am going to do with my life either... my life has just got so flipped upside down this year... I can't wait until this year is over...

I am a completely different person than I was this time last year... 35 lbs lighter, (most of that is probably hair weight loss... he he), 1% smarter, etc... At least I am still 100% sexy... even with my ugly "Paul Bunyan" beard that I have no reason to shave... I haven't kept up with anyone I use to hang out with, haven't had time I suppose, haven't had anything to talk to them about... My friend Megan and I have become close again at least... Patrice's boyfriend is really cool, I just kicked his ass in Scrabble...

There are the regulars in the lab (the place I work) that are really cool too, but I don't know if they just put up with me because they want to use the lab or not... and I don't know if I will work in the lab next semester either, depends on how my schedule works out... I don't even talk to my family much anymore either... nothing to talk about except for boring classes... glad they are over...

Me, Vin, Anton, Duane, Tom, and some guys that Vin knows are planning to make a website with puzzle like games to play... I didn't think it was going to actually happen because I thought I was the only one who has the motivation for something like this, but when they saw my half-made tetris game they all got excited and they actually have a meeting planned to start working on the design for the site and gather game ideas... I didn't even start this either, Vin did and invited me to take part in it... If this actually works out it might help me get into Guildhall like I want (the gaming school)...

Oh well, I am just going to play xbox the whole time I am there... Me, Sebastian, Joe, and Sean... whenever they are not in school/not in South Florida... I am going to my Grandma's for Christmas, I am excited... I'd prefer it if she came down to my house, but still, I am excited...

I fly home tomorrow afternoon... glad to get out of this place for a month... I need a time to relax and find out who the single Nikk is... I am a little scared about seeing Francisca again because last time, even though I swore to myself I could do it, I really couldn't... I got all defensive and to prevent from shutting down completely I tried to just push her even further away... She doesn't want me and it hurts... I want her as my friend so much, but it hurts too much... One minute I would be happy never to hear her name again, the next minute I would never be happier to talk to her... grrrrr times a million...

I finally got the pay check that they didn't give me 2 weeks ago... that was exciting... money money moneeeeyyy, moneyyyyyyyyy... speaking of the apprentice, they picked the dumb "barbie" girl as a finalist... if she wins I will never respect Trump as a corporation again... I just want to smack some sense into that stick with legs...

Oh well, enough talking to myself since I know I already bored everyone so much that they haven't been reading for the past 7 paragraphs... yeah... I'll update later once I have anything good to add... which I probably won't... I might have a party on the 18th, I know that the Benham Christmas party is that night, but it is the only night I have a chance of celebrating my birthday... D and Anton will be down in South Florida during that weekend so they can come too... I just don't know where I would have it...

Labels: best friend, brian and patrice mankowski, francisca amunategui, gaming, joe castelbuono, sean rush, sebastian amunategui, undergrad

The Sims 2 comes out this Thursday or Friday (the website says Friday, but the commercials say Thursday) I will finally have a life... or at least be able to act one out... I am really excited... the graphics are awesome...

I get paid Friday as well... and I already got some of my money I earned when I was down there... It is all going to pay off my debt that I have for buying my laptop, as well as other computer parts for my desktop... doesn't matter though, I have nothing to save it for or use it for... I'm going to get a $60,000 job when I get out and have nothing to spend that money on either...

I keep feeling like I am getting ahead in school, but then they assign a ton more and I am right back where I was, with a ton to do... I am taking the two hardest Computer Science classes right now... Programming Languages and Operating Systems... Programming Languages is a "history of" course... <yawn> we learn all about the many different computer languages and why/how/when they were developed... in Operating Systems, it is more interesting, but much much harder... we have to do low level programming, aka, disk access, file management, etc... (the basics of what Windows does)

I went out tonight with people in my major, but only to work on a hard assignment for programming languages... it was as fun as doing homework can be... The other week Patti came here and I spent 72 hours straight with her... I have been talking to my other best friend on the phone a lot lately... I might even see her this week if I evacuate to Atlanta... Weekends aren't really something to look forward too, I just sleep through them because I have nothing to do... I do all my homework at work... so weekends might as well be weekdays... at least then time goes by quicker...

I am getting to know people's name in my major... it might be useful someday... everyone sees me as the nerd though, because I "always" do good, and I enjoy programming... oh well...

Its frustrating me that Ivan moved further west... I already boarded the whole house, upstairs and down, because I knew I wouldn't have had time later in the week to do it... it better have been for something... hopefully it makes a big turn and heads straight towards me... assuming everyone would stay safe of course...

Oh well, I organized my thoughts now... time to go to bed...

Labels: best friend, electronic arts, hurricane, nerd, patti botero, programming, undergrad