20 days until my scheduled closing date. As you can imagine, I'm pretty excited so this is really drawing out my days. You know how your day feels longer when you are anxiously awaiting something that night? That's how the last week felt, and the next three will probably feel.
The last variable left is the appraisal which should be in at the end of this week or the beginning of next week. Assuming everything is good there, I'll be set to go.
What will we need to do when we get the keys? Nothing needs to be done, but we want to repaint any necessary rooms. We're not totally keen on a couple of the room colors, so we'll probably do that first. Also one room as wood paneling which I'd like to remove, but other people have told me they'd just leave it. Maybe that'd be easier?
I'd also like to run Ethernet drops to the rooms. Why? Because I'm a nerd, mostly. But more seriously, I'm sure most of you can attest to the numerous problems you run into when dealing with wireless internet. Random cutouts, having to power cycle the router, random speed drops, etc. I want to run ethernet drops to each room so you can just plug in your PC and go. No need for random wireless problems. Wireless is good for laptops, phones, tablets. Running desktops off of wireless is just asking for problems. Who's with me?!
Speaking of problems, the "Great Desk Soak of 2011" ended without much issue. Like I said before, I noticed some speaker problems and it still seems a bit messed up. It turns on and off, but the volume knob doesn't work most of the time. It stays at one volume regardless of what the knob is set at. Maybe I can take it apart and try to fix that. Otherwise I'll just learn to deal for now.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
whoopsies
I drink a lot of water. Yesterday, this bit me in the ass. I had a full, 32 oz cup of water sitting on my desk. One careless movement and BAM —now there is water all over everything. My desk was soaked in water, which got over my speakers, my wireless USB adapter, and even my computer. I turned off my computer as fast as I could, and then started toweling off all that water.
I'm going to go home tonight and run a hair dryer over everything to dry up and remaining water, but I think I already had my first casualty this morning. My speakers have a separate unit to control volume, treble, bass, and power. It didn't really get that wet, but it did splashed some. I dried it off with a towel but apparently not good enough. I powered it off last night with the power button, and when I woke up this morning it was on again. Uh oh. I tried to power it off and the button is unresponsive. The volume knob works, but it also seems to flicker around and do some weird stuff. Since my computer was off, I couldn't actually test to see if it worked. I'm assuming there is some permanent damage, but maybe it's still usable.
Hopefully I get luckier with my computer.
I'm going to go home tonight and run a hair dryer over everything to dry up and remaining water, but I think I already had my first casualty this morning. My speakers have a separate unit to control volume, treble, bass, and power. It didn't really get that wet, but it did splashed some. I dried it off with a towel but apparently not good enough. I powered it off last night with the power button, and when I woke up this morning it was on again. Uh oh. I tried to power it off and the button is unresponsive. The volume knob works, but it also seems to flicker around and do some weird stuff. Since my computer was off, I couldn't actually test to see if it worked. I'm assuming there is some permanent damage, but maybe it's still usable.
Hopefully I get luckier with my computer.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
times are a changin'
It's been almost a month since I've updated — sorry about that! I went ahead and updated my blog template because I was getting tired of the old look. Also, most of all that side matter wasn't important and no one cared about. I "cleaned" it up. I couldn't decide on the background photo, so this will have to do for now. Maybe I'll find a better one to replace it in the future. It's just some stock photograph that Blogger will let you use.
Actually, it turns out that Google has made some changes to some of its services, too. It updated the look of Google Reader and Gmail. Gmail I don't care much about, but the changes to Google Reader impacts how I shared my links on the right. I can't do it anymore! So unfortunately, for now, those links on the right will be stagnant until I can figure out how to do it the new way. Why kid myself, they were already pretty stagnant to begin with.
Last week, I flew to Georgia to do some training with our customer. Without going into any detail, I'll just say it went really well and we received a lot of praise from them and our management as well. Sweet.
Oh, and I guess I have some big news. Taylor and I are in the process of buying a house. The offer was accepted last weekend, and we're in the contract and mortgage approval process right now. I'll post up some pictures once everything is a done deal, but until then I'm still waiting for something to blow up in my face. Always better to be mentally prepared for disaster and stress, right?
Actually, it turns out that Google has made some changes to some of its services, too. It updated the look of Google Reader and Gmail. Gmail I don't care much about, but the changes to Google Reader impacts how I shared my links on the right. I can't do it anymore! So unfortunately, for now, those links on the right will be stagnant until I can figure out how to do it the new way. Why kid myself, they were already pretty stagnant to begin with.
Last week, I flew to Georgia to do some training with our customer. Without going into any detail, I'll just say it went really well and we received a lot of praise from them and our management as well. Sweet.
Oh, and I guess I have some big news. Taylor and I are in the process of buying a house. The offer was accepted last weekend, and we're in the contract and mortgage approval process right now. I'll post up some pictures once everything is a done deal, but until then I'm still waiting for something to blow up in my face. Always better to be mentally prepared for disaster and stress, right?
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
man oh man
It's been pretty slow for a while, hasn't it?
That's my fault, or rather, work's fault. It's been so busy the last few weeks while we try to meet deadlines and milestones. The week before last I logged an almost 60 hour week, which wears on you quickly. But enough about work, what else has been going on?
Last weekend was ACL weekend, and leading up to the weekend, my excitement was minimal. In my opinion, the bands they booked were weaker than the last few years, which is pathetic because it was the "celebrated" 10th year anniversary of the festival. Well, it didn't seem like they pulled out all the stops here. The two "biggest" (in my opinion) headliners — Coldplay and Kanye West — were both given the lower, Friday timeslots. Stevie Wonder closed Saturday (meh), and Arcade Fire closed the entire festival on Sunday (even more meh). In fact, the highlights of the weekend weren't even really related to the festival. Taylor and I bought some new bikes, using the festival as an excuse to finally replace my old, stolen bike. We got the whole shabang: bikes, helmets, lights (you need them to ride at night, legally), and a car rack. We mounted them on her SUV, parked at Mark's (or around), and biked down a trail about 15-20 blocks to the park. Last year, I rode my motorcycle which got me pretty close to the entrance at motorcycle parking. The bikes have it the best, though, because the racks are right at the entrance.
The other highlight of the weekend was the rain. Apparently it wasn't as widespread as I thought, but it rained all three days at Zilker. On Friday and Saturday, there were even some heavier downpours. I almost started getting worried that we were going to have another mud bowl because of the rain, but luckily the ground was so dry that all of it soaked up pretty well.
This weekend has been good. On Friday night, we went to a high school football game featuring the Cedar Park Timberwolves against the Vandergrift Vipers. It turned out to be a great football game. We were rooting for the Timberwolves, who got down 13-0 early. They rallied and scored three unanswered touchdowns, giving them a 21-13 lead. In the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves' quarterback threw a nice pass to a wide open receiver, who had a clear shot into the endzone to ice the game. Sadly, he fumbled it right before the endzone and the Vipers recovered in for a touchback. The Vipers marched down the field and scored a touchdown, bringing them to within two. They had to go for the two point conversion, which they got on a magic heave. The quarterback was getting major pressure, and basically just heaved it in the general direction of a receiver. The receiver jumped way up, and while falling backwards, raised one hand to tip it into his chest as he fell down on his back. It was damn ridiculous. The game went into overtime (college rules, they each get an opportunity from the 25 yard line), and the Vipers scored on their very first drive to give them the advantage. The Timberwolves looked uneasy and faltered on their first couple downs, but managed to sneak in a touchdown. This is it: you can either kick the PAT and tie, which is the safe choice, or go for the two point conversion and end the game right there. What would you do? Most people say go with the safe bet. Not the Timberwolves, they could taste victory. They went for two, and wouldn't you know it, they got it. Great ending to a great game.
Saturday was spent running some errands, and then making a pasta bake dinner. Today was a pretty productive day for me. I did some reading, finished all my laundry, went to the grocery store, made a potato salad recipe (average outcome), and watched a ton of football. And it's only 6pm! There's still more football to watch.
Hopefully, now that things have calmed down a bit at work, I can ramp up my blog again. Take it easy!
That's my fault, or rather, work's fault. It's been so busy the last few weeks while we try to meet deadlines and milestones. The week before last I logged an almost 60 hour week, which wears on you quickly. But enough about work, what else has been going on?
Last weekend was ACL weekend, and leading up to the weekend, my excitement was minimal. In my opinion, the bands they booked were weaker than the last few years, which is pathetic because it was the "celebrated" 10th year anniversary of the festival. Well, it didn't seem like they pulled out all the stops here. The two "biggest" (in my opinion) headliners — Coldplay and Kanye West — were both given the lower, Friday timeslots. Stevie Wonder closed Saturday (meh), and Arcade Fire closed the entire festival on Sunday (even more meh). In fact, the highlights of the weekend weren't even really related to the festival. Taylor and I bought some new bikes, using the festival as an excuse to finally replace my old, stolen bike. We got the whole shabang: bikes, helmets, lights (you need them to ride at night, legally), and a car rack. We mounted them on her SUV, parked at Mark's (or around), and biked down a trail about 15-20 blocks to the park. Last year, I rode my motorcycle which got me pretty close to the entrance at motorcycle parking. The bikes have it the best, though, because the racks are right at the entrance.
The other highlight of the weekend was the rain. Apparently it wasn't as widespread as I thought, but it rained all three days at Zilker. On Friday and Saturday, there were even some heavier downpours. I almost started getting worried that we were going to have another mud bowl because of the rain, but luckily the ground was so dry that all of it soaked up pretty well.
This weekend has been good. On Friday night, we went to a high school football game featuring the Cedar Park Timberwolves against the Vandergrift Vipers. It turned out to be a great football game. We were rooting for the Timberwolves, who got down 13-0 early. They rallied and scored three unanswered touchdowns, giving them a 21-13 lead. In the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves' quarterback threw a nice pass to a wide open receiver, who had a clear shot into the endzone to ice the game. Sadly, he fumbled it right before the endzone and the Vipers recovered in for a touchback. The Vipers marched down the field and scored a touchdown, bringing them to within two. They had to go for the two point conversion, which they got on a magic heave. The quarterback was getting major pressure, and basically just heaved it in the general direction of a receiver. The receiver jumped way up, and while falling backwards, raised one hand to tip it into his chest as he fell down on his back. It was damn ridiculous. The game went into overtime (college rules, they each get an opportunity from the 25 yard line), and the Vipers scored on their very first drive to give them the advantage. The Timberwolves looked uneasy and faltered on their first couple downs, but managed to sneak in a touchdown. This is it: you can either kick the PAT and tie, which is the safe choice, or go for the two point conversion and end the game right there. What would you do? Most people say go with the safe bet. Not the Timberwolves, they could taste victory. They went for two, and wouldn't you know it, they got it. Great ending to a great game.
Saturday was spent running some errands, and then making a pasta bake dinner. Today was a pretty productive day for me. I did some reading, finished all my laundry, went to the grocery store, made a potato salad recipe (average outcome), and watched a ton of football. And it's only 6pm! There's still more football to watch.
Hopefully, now that things have calmed down a bit at work, I can ramp up my blog again. Take it easy!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
SO BUSY
I laugh to think that I was busy at work before. Now we are busy. I'll probably have to work a lot this weekend, and there's also a chance I have to fly out to Jacksonville, FL for a couple days early next week for work. Unfortunately, if I have to do that, I still don't get any reprieve on all the other stuff I have to do. So that would just delay me by 2 days.
At least I started off this week with an enjoyable 4 day weekend. I think when the next 2 or 3 weeks are up, I'll have to take another long weekend to wind down.
At least I started off this week with an enjoyable 4 day weekend. I think when the next 2 or 3 weeks are up, I'll have to take another long weekend to wind down.
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