i'm in a world of hurt. well, i'm in a small room where the entire floor is soaked with hurt. that's more appropriate. because i'm training for the marathon, my next two months are gonna be filled with tightness, aching, whining, bitching, moaning, hobbling, and maybe some crying. so far, i've run somewhere close to 10 miles with no injuries and only mild chaffing.
things get more complicated since i play basketball twice a week and spend a few lunchtime workouts playing waterpolo with highschool PE classes. i'm trying to schedule my week's workouts so i have a day rest and i keep up with the running and can increase my mileage appropriately. it's not going so well.
there's something soothing about running. there's a satisfying something about it that i didn't see when i was a highschool kid in cross country. maybe it has something to do with being alone with yourself for a while. all the parts of you go into a rhythm and stop getting in the way of your real thoughts. or something.
this is not my point. i think my point has something to do with this reoccuring feeling of not knowing where i'm at or where i'm going in a spiritual or emotional sense. and no, the answer for me is not to pick up a bible and read or pray or something. i think the answer has something to do with running. or maybe more surfing. or maybe just some solid time lying on the floor of my apartment, listening to some quality music, and staring at the ceiling. i don't do much of that. i think maybe it has something to do with my brain-self getting back in touch with my inner-peace-soul-self. there's all these things that have gotten in the way over the past year or so. i've managed to keep things from falling apart, but are they really going ok?
ugh. ok. the depressive episodes end today. i'm gonna play some accounting league basketball, run, set up my wireless home network, and prepare for sipping maitais on the beach with mark when he finally makes it out here.
did i mention that my laptop is fooked? i ordered a new one from office depot. they had some kind of $230 mail-in rebate. the stuff sounded pretty ok. i ordered a dvd-burner because i have a big "sucker" sticker permanently on my head. but now i can set up my friends who want "archival copies" of their favorite dvds.
but the old laptop still holds on to a sliver of a chance at life. i ordered a new hard drive for it. all signs point toward it working once i put that in, but the computer might just not want to make it. i might have to throw it out of the window.
this is all kind of disappointing for me. i'm supposed to be some kind of IT professional, but my own shit just can't work right. it doesn't give me much confidence in myself, and probably wouldn't give my coworkers much faith in me. luckily, they don't know that every computer i touch turns to a gooey pile of goo. shhh...don't tell them.
but i do have some pretty decent ideas about how to get this school managing their information better. and that's pretty computer-related, right? i also have an idea to maybe convince my former english teacher to see if blogs could take the place of the student journal writing that was required back in my day. it might add a new dimension to writing development, though it might bring up new and ridiculous complications. the longer i'm here in this role of an employee, the more i realize that i really got involved in a lot of activities in highschool. i know more about how things run than the average person, and i can use that understanding to really get stuff working better.
if i don't blow things up first.
did you see the finale of the amazing race last night? it was awesome. the nice married parents won. they were behind after the last task (luging in calgary) and booked their flight to dallas late. but the direct flight to dallas, the flight the other two teams were on, was delayed two hours. so the parents went on some other flight and got to dallas an hour earlier than the others and won the million dollars. they were the nicest, calmest couple. i was literally jumping up and down and screaming at the tv when the other two couples found out that their flight was delayed and that the quicker flight was sold out.
i don't understand why anyone would want to do survivor when there's the amazing race to try out for. you get to fly all around the world, travel over 70,000 miles, do all these crazy things. and you don't have to starve and get bit by insects and see that fat naked gay guy.
so, right. amazing race. good stuff.
updates:
free tv - still processing my order. 3-5 days from now, the tv should be on its way to me.
computer - still possibly messed up, but is behaving now. install was quirky and upsetting, but i've played minesweeper, freecell and 3D space pinball. all seems well so far. next step? installing MS office. ooh!
these updates might be more annoying than i was when i was trying to get people to sign up.
anyway, they're already approved my stuff and the tv will be on its way to me in 2-5 days.
so remember my crusade to get a free tv?
well, i just got my 8th and final friend to sign up. i have the best friends in the world. well, at least 8 of them are. the site now says that they're checking to make sure my referrals are legit. apparently, that'll take them 5 business days. anyway, it says that if they're legit, then my tv will be on its way to me sometime next week! free tv!
right. i totally accept the fact that my free tv might never make it to me. sure. but isn't the possibility of getting a free $400 television enough to get excited about? pictures of the free tv will be posted. stay excited, america! thank you friends! this is a good news day!
ok bye
so the laptop is re-done. or re-formatted. i had to do things like delete partitions and format things and make a change from NTFS to FAT32. they're words i've heard before, but still don't know what they mean. also, when i say that it's done, i mean that i haven't found anything to be broken yet. there were two error messages while i reinstalled winXP, but hey i'm gonna live on the edge. i could get used to being an IT professional. maybe. eh, we'll see.
also: it's voting day. the primary election is going down, and i just have to walk across the street to my voting place. it's some white guy named duke against some big samoan guy named mufi (MOO-fee) for mayor. my experiences with the two are listed here:
duke: he's a doctor who my father vaguely knows and likes. he used to live in the building i grew up in. i believe my mom still has potholders with dude's election logo on them.
mufi: my former employer is good (read: shady) friends with mufi, thus i've been to several mufi fund-raisers. he speaks well and is tall. another time, i was at an ice cream joint late at night with my girlfriend when mufi walked in. he stood behind her in line while i sat at a table. i got to watch as he used his height to more easily stare down her shirt.
does the election really come down to your plan for "cleaning up goverment" or "reworking the city's sewer problems"? or does it come down to potholders and boob-staring? all these questions to consider as i become a real-live grown-up.
so the computer is ALMOST fixed. it had been giving me that blue screen of death. sure, microsoft says that windows XP makes the blue screen not come up, but i've found that to be a very untrue statement.
anyway, there's some problem with the BIOS or the video hardware or something that sounds way complicated. the laptop crapped out on me during setup of XP after i cleaned everything out. but i'm working on it. i just get tired and like to sleep.
it'll be done soon, though. i promise. but all these problems make me think that maybe i should make the conversion to uber-dork and set it up as a linux box. yeah, totally not gonna do it. sorry.
so there's something weird going on in the world. i've gotten about 20 comments on various (usually quite old) posts. "but so many people read your wonderful blog. how could them wanting to comment be strange to you?" good point, i say. but this is strange because all the comments are from an entity that calls itself "sunny". from sunny@texas-holdum.us. i'm assuming that it's some kind of bot or even a RObot. or maybe some kind of gremlin who gets bored in the middle of the day. either way, i'm gonna either need to make the comments "closed" after a certain period of time, or get some kind of blocking stuff.
it's more computer stuff for this brand-spanking-new IT professional to learn about. it's fun, and i love it. well, it's probably not gonna be all love. it'll be more like when i took 1.00 (Introduction to Computers and Engineering Problem Solving. or something like that): i'll start out a bit frustrated, then i'll be pleased at how i solve problems that i create, then i'll get frustrated again and throw stuff around. sounds good to me.
oh, reformatting went better than i expected. everything works fine. i feel like my computer is lighter and cleaner. it doesn't necessarily run any faster, though. and it kind of makes a weird clicking noise with every rotation of something in there. eesh.
also, i don't have TB. so i have that to be thankful for.
and i've rearranged my apartment. it's done and clean. i didn't realize how dusty and dirty an underneath-the-bed space could get. and somehow, i have all the same stuff in there, but arranged differently, the room seems that much larger. everything is clean and organized and i'm very satisfied. the feeling will end next week when i realize that everything in the place has become organized into two piles of laziness.
- this is post #201.
- college football doesn't really do it for me. there are too many schools to keep track of. i can get into UH games, but the team kind of sucks, so it's not so fun. i end up watching football just for the sake of watching football. i'm not sure if that's good or bad.
- i got a TB test yesterday. i go back in on monday to see if i actually have it or not. uh... i once made out with a girl who later told me that she had TB that was dormant and she was on antibiotics for it and there was no way i could get it from her. frick. but the test looks ok so far. and as the son of a doctor, i'm fully qualified to make those kinds of statements. kind of.
- i'm reformatting my computer. i'm terrified. if all goes well, the laptop will run faster and better and just be the best thing ever. more than likely, this is the beginning of a month-long process of trying to get it to work at all. being an IT professional now, i should feel completely comfortable with this challenge. "should" is the word of choice.
- wish me luck. if you don't hear from me for a while, the broken computer is one of the reasons.
so the engineering league had us beat. ok. good job, guys.
whatever.
this accounting league seems to be more my speed. we run slower, play zone defense, and don't go entirely all-out when we play. it's not to say that we don't play hard or try, cause we do. but if it comes down to the point where the guy could let you score or he could elbow you in the head, he's probably gonna let you score. much happier, no?
and we killed (KILLED) our opponents last night. a complete role-reversal from the previous night's game. but even more enjoyable than demoralizing our opponents was the easy-going, have-fun attitude everyone had. no one got hurt, no one started a fight, no one peed themselves. everybody's a winner.
our engineering league basketball team is a losing effort. it's embarassing. it's horrible. i'll explain.
so we went 6-0 to start the season. oh yes, we're good. SO good. no one can touch us. we even do the thing where we kind of stop trying to score because we're up so much. yes, THAT good.
ok, then the last game of the season comes. just another game. oh, but our leading scorer is moving to the mainland for law school. ok, not a problem. other people will just step up. oh, our second leading scorer is on the neighbor island. huh. we'll just play hard. we'll be fine.
at half time, we were down 20. we didn't put up much of a fight after that.
tonight was our playoff game. what we didn't realize was how other teams recruit large and amazing players for the playoffs. we just brought extra beer for after the game. our strategy didn't help our game so much. we lost decisively.
so right! we're losers. kind of. we ended up 4th out of 7 teams. boo. um... i don't really like playing basketball anyway. phooey.
our next league starts tomorrow night. it's an accounting league, and now we know what we're up against. i'll bring my A game. or, hopefully, i'll figure out a way to bring 'a' game. or something like that. ugh.
so i just got back from a weekend on kauai, right? right. it was ridiculous. seriously ridiculous. i cannot believe. we stayed in this marriot (just click on the photo tour, then the "view all photos"). extravagant doesn't really begin to describe it. it was beautiful. a hugangeous pool with 5 (FIVE) jacuzzis around it. with 5 (FIVE) of these statues with water spouting out of the mouths of them shooting into the air and arching into the pool. in this beautiful bay with gentle waves lapping the shore, permanent beach volleyball nets set up for anyone to use, and beautiful naked women frolicking around everywhere. ok. i went overboard with the naked women. but even without that, it was amazing. the room we stayed in was at least twice as big as this studio that i live in.
and even the simple things would amaze you. like the faucets in the bathroom; their outflow of water was the smoothest you've ever seen. and the bed wasn't ridiculously large or extravagant-looking, but once you lie down on it, you'll be asleep before you know. and, of course, there was the whirlpool tub as clean as you could imagine and the double-sinked counter that was just shorter than the length of my studio. all in all, the bathroom was about the size of my home.
ok. enough of that. let's talk about food. there was the delightful teri burger that i ate pool-side this afternoon. then there was hamura's saimin, a small time, local family-run must-try. and there was puka dog. it's supposedly one of the top 5 (FIVE) hotdog stands in the world. or something like that. it's this place that pokes a hole (a "puka") in the loaf of bread that they use as a bun. then they squirt their secret sauce and fruit-flavored relishes in the bread, and slide a hotdog in there. definitely tasty. top 5? eh. maybe.
either way, i photo documented the pukadog experience.
check out the highlights of the trip.
and i present you with a video tour of the room. it takes 3 30-second clips. right-click and "save target as..."
so i'm at school, and it's friday. you'd think that the feelings of "get me the hell out of here" wouldn't really apply to a working man. but yeah, you'd be wrong. don't get me wrong, i'm loving the job here. but i'm also looking forward to a weekend on kauai. i've made special requests to surf in the better, less crowded spots. someone just has to tell me where they are. and they better tell me soon, cause i leave on an early flight in the morning. make sure to check the surf on kauai before do your mental imaging of me ripping it up out there.
and in less fortunate news, i've been working with macs a lot. well, just today. i broke two of them. (i think we need to throw those out. sorry, guys.) but while i'm still significantly afraid of them, i'm attracted by how pretty they are. they're so white and sleek and smooth. someone intervene, please.
so i'm in hour four of my first workday at punahou. it's fun to go back to highschool. some of the teachers remember me, and some others pretend that they do so they seem polite. fun fun. i get to call them by their first names, which is weird. my former dean offered to set me up with one of their single freshman girls. (i hope she was kidding).
but it's time for lunch. and thanks to this IT department that i've just joined, we have the faculty dining room menu online:
Faculty Dining Room Menu
Monday 8/30/04
Soup Du Jour/Bread
Shoyu Chicken
Tofu Pattie'
Rice/Brown Rice
Vegetables
Tuesday 8/31/04
Soup du Jour/Bread
Spaghetti with meat sauce
Spaghetti with marinara
Rice/Brown Rice
Vegetables
Wednesday 9/1/04
Soup Du Jour/Bread
Teri Chicken
Red Roasted potatoes with veggies
Rice/Brown Rice
Vegetables
Thursday 9/2/04
Soup du Jour/Bread
Beef Stroganoff
Cheese Ravioli
Rice/Brown Rice
Vegetables
Friday 9/3/04
Soup du Jour/Bread
Fish
Spinach Pie
Rice/Brown Rice
Vegetables
yum yum.