The Cat's Nuts

Today was a great day. I did my best impression of the old man and the sea, a la Ernest Hemmingway. Melissa and i went fishing today with two poles that we borrowed from her brother and went to the intacostal for some afternoon fishing. When we got there, after much fuss and bother, we realized the fishing reel on one of the poles was not working. For a little while, she and i traded off fishing with the one pole that was working, but eventually I got bored and decided to string up some line with a hook, a sinker and a live shrimp. As it turned out, my methode was actually much more effective than i could have hoped. Within a minute, yes, sixty seconds, i had caught my first fish. It was rather exciting. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, I continued fishing with my ghetto "fishing pole" and had some good success. Between the two of us, we caught around 8 fish. We ended up throwing them all back, but it was a lovely afternoon and i got some good sun.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to go out driftboat fishing, but there is a tropical storm heading in, so i dont see that actually happening. They are expecting 4-6 foot swells, so we'll see. At this point we have pretty much nixed the idea, but we'll have to wait and see what the weather brings us tomorrow.

Posted by Michael at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, I was just mezmorised for a solid 15 minutes, staring at my computer screen with my mouth hanging open...I usually reserve that pose for when I am looking at porn, but it happened today at work...

Here is the sexiness that kept me gawking...

Posted by Michael at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm going to do it again. I don't know why. I really don't. Like I have nothing better to do with my life?

I'm going to install it. What you ask? It. The only thing over 200megs that I download that's actually legal....Linux.

Ubuntu just released a new version of their software, the Gutsy Gibbon, and it's supposedly the greatest thing since sliced bread. It looks better, works faster, supports lots of stuff and is just and overall better platform. Going to have to see how it handles Picassa and Photoshop, because while I have moved away from them in daily use, I plan on getting more involved.

Yes, I know that I just blew away my Linux and Vista dual boot machine and that I've finally gotten my computer to a point where I am enjoying using it and it's giving me zero hassle playtime...but if I didn't do stuff like this, then what kind of IT person could I be? A shitty one, that's what.

I figure that I will have to wait until I get back from vacation because there is nothing like coming home to the blue screen of death after a nice relaxing vacationa dn having to work on your computer so that you can check your gmail...that's a miserable time. I once actually missed the SuperBowl because I thought it would be a good idea to install windows XP. I was upgrading from a Windows 2000 version that I had and decided that it would be a good idea to use the new fangled (at the time) NTFS file format and well...I was using FAT32 and they didn't play nicely together. Anyway.... I spend a solid 10 hours getting my computer back up to snuff. I lost every piece of writing that I did all through high school and my first year at college. It sucked. I was less than pleased. Oh well, what can you do?

It's just about hit 5:00pm here and I am getting ready to head out. Our development environment finally came back online today, so that was good, we're actually able to start doing some construction. I am going to be working a half day tomorrow, so I don't think that I'll be doing all that much development, but I should be able to get a little something done. I just can't bear to think about actually doing any of it NOW....that wouldn't be fun....so I won't.

Anyway... just wanted to fill everyone in on my stupid decision to go and install Linux once again. Oh well.

Posted by Michael at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So in line with what I was talking about in my last post, I was thinking about how I should go about getting more into photography in the coming year, and this is what I have come up with.

Pretty much it's just creative use of lighting to create images and portraits and things of that nature. I figure that I have enough white walls in my apartment that I can do something good with it. We'll see. Still trying to figure out what I'm going to do there.

Oh, and here is a Dilbert comic about my life.

Posted by Michael at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't know for sure, but I am going to take a guess that my good friend Brad, who lives down in Louisiana, finally got his computer fixed, because last night, starting at around 4:00am, I started to receive a string of emails from him. 12 of them in all, and not all at once either...they came over a 3 hour period...

Normally that wouldn't bother me all that much, but considering how my Blackberry sits right on my nightstand and acts as my alarm clock, this became an issue. Finally, when my alarm clock (also the Blackberry) went off, I was so tired of getting emails from Brad that I turned off the alarm without looking.

Needless to say, I slept well into the day. 10:00am to be exact. It ended up not being that big a deal as work is slow on this particular day due to some code freeze that was put into effect this morning, but still....it was irritating. I have to make myself a new "sleep" profile.

Anyway, I am very much looking forward to this weekend, as I am flying down to Ft.Lauderdale to visit Melissa and her family. It'll be the first time meeting her father and brothers, which will be interesting and enjoyable I am sure. We've got a few things planned for the few days we'll be down there, including a fishing trip and a trip to the Keys at some point. We're going to be down there through Halloween, so that'll be fun getting out and about for the holiday. We're flying back November 1st, so we'll have the weekend to spend in Atlanta.

I am thinking that for the new year, I am going to attempt to get myself back into the whole Photography mood, as that has been something that I have gone away from in the recent months and it's something that I really enjoy, so I'll have to figure out how I can best go about doing that.

Posted by Michael at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few weeks ago, Melissa came back from Italy and came down to see me in Atlanta. She brought me all sorts of things..you know, the usual...chocolates, coffee, pene pasta stuff, sex toys, the whole gamut. Among the various gifts she brought me, she gave me this robe. Now... normally, I must say that she has excellent taste, but this robe...it's hideous. It looks something like this...

Now, granted, it's more robe and less....ummm...60's to it, but you get the idea.

Anyway, tonight, I was up, watching Californication, and one of my contacts got dry, and well, you know the rest. As I was haphazardly, moistening the contact on the tip of my tongue, I walked over to these very fancy Ikea mirrors that I have hung up in the kitchen to help me aid in restoring my half blurred vision. I popped the contact in and had an epiphany. I look like a pimp when I am wearing this robe. I mean 100% pimp. All I needed was a purple hat with a feather and a flock of hoes and I would be in business. Just wanted to share.

Posted by Michael at 01:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think that I finally won my battle that I have been having with my ISP. Since the middle of August, my internet connection has been spotty, working well at times and bogging down to a point where it's practically not usable. I have called and called and called to get Purdigital to come and fix it. Well, after issuing 6 service tickets to them and never having it get better, two weeks ago, I stared to escalate to the higher level managers. I spoke with a few different people and all of them assured me that the issue would be resolved and a tech would come out...blah blah blah. Nothing.

I called in today, after sending two emails without reply last week and again today and finally got some answers. I was told that there was some equipment that was broken and needed to be replaced. These parts have been ordered and are going to "be here when they get here." Yep... they will be here when they get here. In other words, they won't make any promises. On the upside, since the first day that I called in and had a ticket issued, I'll be getting free (crippled) internet.

Frankly, I had already given up on my ISP and decided to go to the darkside and just order if from Comcast, but after two unsuccessful attempts to get a package from them online, and reaching a super bitchy phone rep, THEN getting a quote of $60 a month for internet alone. I was like WTF?!? Apparently they want you to combine your services so they can rape you later on when the promotion runs out. I wasn't having any of that and hung up on them. Maybe it's good that I'm not going to be using their service. Jeez...$60 a month for internet? That's double what I pay. Oh well. That's why I call them the dark side.

The only problem that I face now is that I have no timeline for my internet to get fixed and until it does, I am stuck with shitty shitty internet and there is nothing I can do about it other than pay $60/month. Ugh... bastards. I guess that's the trade off I pay for living in a fancy gated community. Pure unadulterated restricted internet access. Pity me.

Posted by Michael at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a weekend of popping pain killers and muscle relaxers, my back is now feeling pretty good. I was able to walk to the train station this morning with my computer over my shoulder without any adverse side effects.

The weekend went fast, so that is kind of a bummer, but this week should go quickly as we are in UAT for the software release. I don’t really foresee there being any problems, but you never really know. I just hope that things run smoothly and we don’t hit any major snags.

I had the strangest dream last night where my brother and I were standing around, and he started telling me a story about how I wheeled i a pound of pot into high school on a skateboard. I then proceeded to pick it up and bite into it, causing it to catch fire. Strange.

Posted by Michael at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Turns out that I really did hurt myself this time. I went to the doctor on Friday to find out if I really hurt myself and as it turns out, I totally tweaked up my back. The doc thinks that I sprained my lower back or damaged a disc. Hopefully it's just a sprain and it will just heal on its own, but if it doesn't I gotta schedule myself for a MRI in a month. I am really hoping that it'll work itself out and I'll be good in a week, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Yesterday, even with my back hurting, I was fairly productive. I went and turned in my physical therapy form to the Jui-Jitsu place so that I could put my account on hold while I am healing. While I was up in Sandy Springs, I stopped by Wine Craft to get some yeast. On Friday I got my new brewpot, so I figured that I would put it to the test and see how it did. Around 4:00 I started to brew up a batch of beer using whatever I had laying around. Turns out I had the right stuff to make a Stout, so that's what I ended up brewing. It may be closer to a Porter, but we'll see. I kept the hop content low so that I didn't make it overly bitter. Hopefully it'll turn out okay, but as it stands, it's not going to be ready until Christmas. Hopefully, if it's any good, I can give out 6 packs for Christmas. :)

In addition to brewing, I washed all my work clothes and did some picking up around the house. Things are looking pretty good and I'm in a generally good mood. The weather is crisp and cool, so sleeping with the windows open has been pretty nice. Changed my sheets too, so that helped. With my back all torqued up, I've had some trouble sleeping, but it's getting better every night.

Melissa and I finally booked a vacation. We're going to go and visit her parents down in Boca Raton, FL for 4-5 days. The plan is to hit up the Florida Keys for a night or two, so I am looking forward to that. After we're done in Florida Melissa is going to come back to Atlanta with me for the weekend, which will be nice as she hasn't been down here in about 6 weeks.

Other than those goings on, I don't have much planned for the rest of my weekend. Today, Pete is going to come over and we're going to watch the Dolphins lose again, this time at the hands of the Cleveland Browns, which, in and of itself is pathetic. Oh well. There's still some hope. At least Trent Green isn't the QB and we'll get to watch Cleo Lemon shit the bed. Ugh.. It's hard being a Dolphins fan.

I am about to go and get some pictures printed up, so I'm done with the blog for the time being.

Posted by Michael at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ugh. Tuesday night, I was at BJJ, wrestling a live match, and when the time finally ran out, I sat back and knew I had done something bad. My lower back screamed in protest, instantly clenching all the muscles around my lower back. I hobbled to my feet, told the instructor that I was going to head out and got in my car for the drive home.

Often, when these things happen, it's a 2-3 day ordeal, where I try to be good and no doing anything active, but end up pushing it too hard and making it s 5-6 day problem. Well...this time is a little different. Yesterday, I didn't go to BJJ (Smart, right?), and hung out at home. My the end of the day, my back was feeling pretty good...so good in fact, that I decided to skip my Ibprofin and just go to bed. Well....THAT was a bad move.

I woke up this morning with so much pain in my lower back that I wanted to cry. I walked in bent over pain over to my shower and ran the hot water. That helped a bit, but it was still quite miserable. I popped in 600mg of Ibprofin in hopes that it would make my day salvagable, but I question if that'll actually happen. I think the worst part about the whole back issue is that I have to carry my laptop bag and THAT is what hurts it...I think that I may just leave it at work.

I am going to set up and appointment with a doctor to take some Xrays, as something just doesn't feel right in there. What a great way to start the weekend, right?

Posted by Michael at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the past 6 months, I have been working for the same consultancy at a project with a major Telecom here in Atlanta. Things have been good and I've gotten a chance to really dive deep into the workings of their reporting system and have gotten the chance to learn the Siebel Analytics software that they have running it. Recently, my group was told that we were going to be moving away from our current reporting duties and starting a fresh dashboard using Business Objects. We had a lunch meeting with one of the directors and we were told that if either of us had any desire to move onto a different project, now would be the ideal time.

At first I didn't know what I was going to do, seeing as how I have a pretty nice set up. I can walk to work, or take a 15 minute subway ride, my days end promptly at 5:00pm, and I overall it's not a very difficult job. After much consideration, I have decided that it would be best to move onto something else. I figure that getting a broader experience in more industry (especially finance) would be ideal in terms of future growth. In addition, traveling for projects would save me money and allow me to get free plane tickets up to NYC to see Melissa. One of the major benefits is that I would get to meet more people and networking is so very important in the Business Intelligence world.

It's about time to go to work, so wish me luck as today I am going to send out my email to those that it matters to...

Posted by Michael at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After about 4 months of going to Jiu-Jitsu, I finally went a full night of practice without getting tapped a single time. Yes, I know that's lame, but those are the small victories that I have to embrace. I didn't even go with crappy people either. I got put with a brown belt and a purple belt, and considering how I don't even HAVE a belt yet, that'd pretty damn good.

This weekend makes a pretty important landmark in my life and probably a much more important landmark to one of my close friends. My first girlfriend, and still good friend, Lauren, is getting married. She's met a great guy, Paul, and they have been dating for a solid 3 years. It's honestly, the first time that I have heard about a marriage, and said "Huh...good, that'll work.", so that's a good sign I suppose.

Tomorrow, I am flying up to Newburgh after work. I'm trying to finagle it so that I can rent a car when I get there and drive it up to Boston to pick up Melissa and hit up a party that she has going on at her job. For the past week, she's been working at the Sibos conference that's going on up there. Sibos is her biggest conference of the year, so she's been pretty stressed out about it over the past two weeks, so I'm looking forward to her returning back to her normal semi-stressed out state ;) Going to have to give Airtran a call tonight and see if they'll let me change my one-way flight up to Newburgh. Currently I get into Stewart at 11:30, and that's just a tad too late to drive into Boston. Hopefully I can jump on the earlier flight at 3:30 and get into Boston around 9, but we'll see. They tend to be bastards about it.

Yesterday, I got home from work to find that my all my chairs and beer brewing supplies that are normally out on the deck, were dragged into my apartment and left in the middle of my living room. This was the first time that I have been angry at Post Properties where I live. While it bothered me, I was willing to let it go as I knew they were working on the patio and needed the stuff inside. Additionally, there was a note saying that they had been in there. Not a big deal. So I opened my balcony door to check out what they had been working on, and that's when I saw it. Both of the candle holders that Melissa had gotten for me where broken. Now, I understand that accidents happen, but really...I mean, if you break one, how are you not going to move the other? It's not like they didn't notice. They had cleaned up the glass that had broken, so it wasn't an unknown mistake.

Overall, I was more annoyed than actually angry. The anger came later. So I grabbed the broken holders and walked down to the Post leasing office and talked to the people there. They assured me that it would be fine and that the contractors would compensate me for the damages. I was informed that the property manager would call me to let me know what was going on.

Later on that evening, I got a call from the property manager. She explained to me that they had left a note telling me that they were going to be doing work on the balcony and that they had asked everyone to move things off the balcony. Now, I'm not saying they didn't leave the note, I am just saying that I didn't get it. As I said before, this wasn't really my concern, my problem was the lack of care that the construction workers had. The property manager (PM) explained to me that they were "just construction workers, and don't have the common sense that we have", to which I flipped out. I mean, what the fuck? They are people. They understand that glass breaks. It's not a hard concept. It's a lack of caring or malicious intention, and either way, not my fault. She continued on telling me that they send out notices so things like this don't happen, and my contention is that regardless of my actions to clear off my balcony, that doesn't give them the right to break my stuff. Additionally, a Post Properties guy was the one that moved my stuff off the balcony in the first place, so why didn't he take the candle holders too? He just left them out there? Ugh... As I said before, it's not like this is a big deal, it's just the pricipal of the matter and how the PM chose to deal with it, shirking blame and trying to put it back on me. That kind of shit irritates the hell out of me.

Anyway, it's about time to try to get some work done.

Posted by Michael at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)