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

WOOHOO! I was found out today that I am going to be the God Father of two of my closest friend's first born! What an honor! Super exciting, I can't wait until he/she is born! They told me right before work, and then I had to try and not be too excited and actually be productive! For those of you who don't know, I am the godfather of my cousin's daughter (love of my life... hardest part of moving to Boston was leaving her) as well.

Well, I haven't updated in forever, but that is because it has been some of the busiest weeks of my life... I finished moving to Boston, I am almost completely settled now... need a few more random things, but other than that, I am pretty much set up. In a gist: I absolutely love my apartment, my neighbors kick ass, and work is very enjoyable and is only about a mile from me. Jäger is loving life here too, so many new smells.

On the way up to Boston I made lots of stops. First, I stopped in Tampa for Patrice & Brian's wedding. This was absolutely awesome beyond words... Everything was perfect... short ceremony, long reception, good food, and most importantly great people. It was great to see all my family and friends. Some of the people there I hadn't seen in nearly 11 years! All the parents of my elementary school friends were there... It was great seeing them... and for the first time I was an adult as well... much different conversations take place between two adults, than between a child and an adult. It was very enjoyable. For the third wedding in a row, I caught the garter... still single ladies!

The next day I continued my drive to Boston. I stopped in Tallahassee to pick up a few things (at this point my car was packed to the brim with at least 2 tons of my belongings). I had dinner with Kyle, Shannon, Dmitri and Nithin. And then early the next morning I was off... I drove all the way to Philly, arriving after 1:00 AM... I stayed at my friend Mike Treffehn's apartment. He and I had fallen far out of touch in recent years, and I was really happy to catch up with him! (despite it being after 1:00 AM we chatted for nearly 2 hours).

I was off the next morning for the final leg of my drive. The drive through New York sucked, but Connecticut was beautiful! I need to do that drive in the Fall, it has to be gorgeous.

Once I finally arrived, I had to unload the 2 tons of stuff from my car... then I went Target shopping, filling my car again, having to unload it again. Then I went to Ikea, and had to unload another 3 tons form my car... then I went grocery shopping and had to unload even more... Once I was finally done, every muscle in my body ached.

Well, that is all I have time for, but in general, everything is going great! Can't wait for Boston tourist to seek refuge in my apartment!

Labels: allie evans, ashlyn pinner, boston, brian and patrice mankowski, dmitri sokgobenzon, dogs, kyle gower-winter, mike smith, mike treffehn, new york, nithin sathyamoorthy, philly, tampa, work

Florida State University's circus is celebrating their 60th anniversary, and for the first time during my attendance here I went to see it along with Nithin and two of his friends. I was amazed at how well the students performed... The entire show was put together by students of FSU. They made a few mistakes here and there, but if you saw the things they were attempting, you would be amazed just at the attempts. Growing up I only went to one Circus because my mom is highly allergic to, well... everything, but in this case animal dander. I forgive her though, she at least took me to one!

On the job front: I seem to have done well on my first technical phone interview, because now the company wants to fly me out for another one. I really have to find a way to relax during these things! My heart rate skyrockets, I start sweating like a dog, and I can't process words very well. No matter how much I try to calm down, I just can't do it. Interviewing has always been a huge fear of mine, one that I have tried hard to overcome by mock interviews etc... Nothing seems to work... During this interview I wasn't sure what to expect... I had read some websites about what to expect, but I hadn't been in the situation yet, so maybe that made me more nervous... I totally went blank on some very easy questions, so thought I was bombing it. I guess I got the point across that I really like to program, and that, when I get into a project, I own it completely.

On this upcoming Tuesday I have a second interview with another company that I have dreamed about working for since high school. I am very nervous about it, after this last interview I went out and bought books about technical interviews with big companies such as this one, and plan on reading as much of them as possible before then. The only problem with that is that I have a huge Compiler's program due Wednesday, and an Analytical Methods assignment due Friday (these "assignments" take anywhere between 60-100 hours to complete, and I have so far only had time to put a good 15 into it). My favorite e-store has also contacted me about a potential job and wants my availability for a "technical phone interview" that I should be "prepared to code" for... Well, how do you code over the phone? I guess I'll find out.

On top of my school work and job search, I am trying to find renters for my house, and on top of it all this next week I have to work extra hours because the Computer Literacy II class has their tests to take. OH! And it seems that my whole family thinks this next week is a perfect time to visit!

Labels: family, florida state university, grad school, lori folts, nithin sathyamoorthy, work

Last Sunday Nithin, Kelley, Kelley's roommate, and I all drove down to Tampa to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform for their Stadium Arcadium tour. For those of you who don't know, it is a 4 hour drive from Tallahassee to Tampa. We arrived there at around 5:00 PM and doors opened at 6:30 PM, so we walked from the venue to look for a restaurant. After finding a ton, we eventually decided on Bennigan's, where we received some of the worst service ever. After that we headed back in time for the opening band Gnarls Barkley, who were okay, but I only knew their famous song, and just weren't able to pump me up for the greatness I was about to witness.

The four of us had split the cost of joining the fan club in order to buy tickets during the pre-sale, which was a wonderful idea because we were only a few rows back and to the side of the stage. They played for an hour and a half straight! There are only a handful of bands that I have seen (U2, Crosby Steels Nash and Young, Nine Inch Nails, and Foo Fighters) that can outperform the Chili Peppers, but even they would have struggled that night. Last time I saw the Peppers the show was better, but that was only because they were touring with Foo Fighters and I am a bigger fan of their old music since I have been listening to it since I was 14. They only played a few of their older songs since their latest CD has so many new ones.

The drive home started at 11:30 PM, and as I mentioned before it is a 4 hour drive... I downed two energy drinks, and made everyone stay up to play 20 questions. 3 hours of 20 questions and we still didn't get very good at guessing, maybe we were choosing items that were too specific. I stumped them on:

1. The Oscar Mayer Weiner Truck
2. a particular exit we passed on 75
3. a Hydrogen Molecule (h2o particularly)

These, along with a few others. It was quite fun! Once we got back to Tallahassee I had to drop everyone off, so I didn't get home till nearly 4:00 AM, I still wired from my energy drinks, so told myself I was going to stay up since I had class in the morning anyway. Well, that didn't work too well, I made it to 7:30 but then passed out, sleeping through my classes until late in the afternoon. I should have bought more energy drinks, oh well, next time...

Yesterday I had my first Compilers test, it went well, and I am hoping it went really well, but I think it just went plain-old well. There were 2 questions I wasn't sure on, but other than that I knew what I was doing. I actually figured out that question 2 had no answer and so got everyone credit for it, it would have been nice to get twice as much credit as them for figuring it out, but hey, I'm not greedy. I also turned in my first assignment for that class, it was pretty fun, we had to create a pascal-like language to java byte code compiler. Now all I have for the next few days is to start working on my assignment for Analytical Methods "oh boy!"

Labels: concert, grad school, kelley jones, music, nithin sathyamoorthy, red hot chili peppers

I officially have gotten another person addicted to the Sims 2... Dmitri hasn't been sleeping, and seems to have given up on his own life, just so he can make sure his Sim's life is working out. I too have been playing it a lot lately... on my third generation of Sims... I've also been Guitar Heroing it up to the point where I have blisters on 3 fingers and my arm... I have beaten 6 songs on ultimate despite not being able to beat "Psychobilly Freakout" on hard.

Yesterday I stayed on campus all day to finish up my first major project that is due next week. I also have a test next week, so thought I'd get the project out of the way. This weekend I am heading to Tampa for a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert with Nithin, Kelley, and her roommate. I am uber excited! Anyways, back to applying for jobs!

Labels: dmitri sokgobenzon, electronic arts, gaming, kelley jones, nithin sathyamoorthy, red hot chili peppers