left handed in my right mind...

i love my ipod touch!!

2009-02-24T18:20:00.000-08:00

yes. you heard me right. i love my ipod touch. btw the way...its an ipod touch, not an itouch LOL

so anyway, this gadget is in-cred-ible! i poted to get the ipod touch instead of the iphone for 2 reasons. First - my Helio Ocean has every feature the iphone has MINUS the touch screen. I really like my Ocean. no plans on switching anytime soon. Secondly - the ipod touch is smaller and sexier. And I primarily wanted an ipod, not a new phone anyway.

wi-fi is awesome on it. my laptop time has been cut by over 60% cuz i can do most of what i usually would do on my laptop, on my ipod now! check email, myspace, facebook, blog etc. i can even watch youtube and other videos. surfing the web isnt a 100% experience but it is definately do-able.

right now i have about 2gb of music, 1 movie, 5 various video clips, 1 episode of family guy, 1101 photos on it. Still have over 5 gb left LOL

Don't get me started on the app store and all the FREE apps. I have been through about 50 or more so far. I have about 15 or so that are still on my ipod. the games are great. some are almost PSP quality. there's also alot of crap out there. just gotta take you time and find the good stuff.

bottom line - if you want an ipod, and dont need 160gb worth of storage... get the touch! you wont be sorry.

back again...

2009-02-24T18:03:00.000-08:00

i know i know...

i have no excuse. life has been just busy enough to keep me away from this blog. i don't have much of anything to complain about. Just bought 2 tires for my truck and caught an awesome deal on them from Walmart. Of course now my "service engine soon" light has come on. What does that even mean? Oh well it will have to wait until next Friday LOL

my kid is doing good in school. she was on the swim team this fall. plans on going out again for the spring season. i love how she loves sports. she'll play anything!

recently had another fire at work. a decently bad one. lost one apartment totally. no one was injured thank God. lots of smoke damage. very surreal experience.

anyway, I'm back so I'm going to try to update more frequently. no promises LOL

peace...

Where'd November go?

2008-11-26T10:42:00.000-08:00

man that month just flew by. i been neglecting this thing again I know. well lets see... Gramps has been in and out of the hospital. just dosent seem to be making any pogress. probably mainly cuz he refuses to do what the doctors tell him he needs to do. he wont do any chemo. which in his already weakened state, i can understand i guess. but he also wont do the simple stuff, like not sitting in the hard straight backed kitchen chair all freaking day reading the Bible. its very detrimental to his circulation. if he keeps on, he could possibly lose his legs. but he is very stubborn. he is trying to cling to the way things used to be. he is a very routine oriented person. he likes to do the same thing every day, at the same time. well unfortunately, he cant do that anymore and he wont accept that. so he is back in the hospital again. will be spending thanksgiving in there. at least this time hopefully gran or his doctors will make him stay so he can get better.

aliyah is on the swim team now. she loves it and is doing pretty well. they have won several meets. i dont know what their record is so dont ask me lol

as for me, i'm doing pretty well. doctor has me on some anti-inflamatory so my knees feel better. Lots less pain. Also I'm back on my diabetes meds. Metaformin i think it is LOL I just feel better with my body regulated. no more highs and lows.

the job is still decent. nothing real exciting to talk about. Broke up a chick fight in the parking lot the other day LOL Wasnt much of a fight. 2 girls beating a lone girl. Nobody realy got hurt. The victim was pretty battered but nothing broken or bleeding.

Its cold. and theres slush on the ground. Yay. i soo hate winter. cant wait for spring already LOL the only good thing about winter is thanksgiving and Christmas. Period.

Anyway.. thats the update. I'll post some t-day pics prolly this weekend.

I can't believe it didn't rain!!!!

2008-11-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

Last night was the FIRST halloween that i can remember that it didn't rain or snow!! and I can remember back at least 10 halloweens...it was surreal how nice it was... nearly 60 degrees. i know you non-michigan folsk might not appreciate the significance of this but trust me... it was an event LOL

Aliyah went as a killer clown. i made her clown suit. the whole thing actually came off as pretty creepy and she got more than a few "oh my gosh!" when she appeared at their front door! I quote one lady,

"OOh a clown!! Are you a good clown? ...no....no you're not. You're a bad one (as she backed away from the bowl of candy)...help yourself... Don't look Jenny!!"

Enjoy the pics...

2008-10-31T22:35:00.000-07:00

Boo...

Rain...

2008-10-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

Well its a rainy, dreary day at work and I'm bored. Bad weather adversely affects my traffic flow so its gonna be a slow day.

September was an interesting month. Got to spend alot of time with Aliyah. Did a lot of just wandering around trying to find new stuff to get into. Her mother just purchased a new house, which I am very glad of. She needs some stability in her life. Its a nice little house in a very nice, quiet neighborhood not too far from Aliyahs new school.

Speaking of her new school, she loves it. Aliyah is on the basketball team and so far they are 8-1 i believe. She's so proud of her school, she's got everything: t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, etc. LOL I remember being gung-ho about school at that age too. Her grades are awesome also.. she got all A's and one C-. The C- is in Science. It's mostly a comprehension thing. The teacher is a fast, low talker that hates to repeat herself. I plan on having a talk with her soon.

SO as far as me, I'm still at the apartment complex. Still loving my job. Oh it has its moments, believe me! But its still one of the best jobs I've had in years. Lost my boss thoitugh. She got promoted. Good news is, my new boss is the girl that trained me in the first place! She is really cool, and we have a great relationship so everything is very good! She even brought a fellow regional manager to my property to show me off LOL

Man it is raining like it is never gonna stop. I dont mind rain usually but I hate cold, grey rainy days. I'm a spring/summer rainstorm kinda guy.

Thinking about getting another pet. I gave my homie David his cat back, as his baby girl was missing it. Now Aliyah is missing it, so I need to replace it with something. Don't know if I really want another cat though. Kinda nice not having to sweep up cat litter LOL Was thinking maybe a lil dog. Something like a Pug or Chiuaua or maybe a small terrier type. I haven't decided. I really would like a dog, but then again I don't know if thats a comitent I want to make right now. The daily care isnt a problem really, unless I want to go somewhere. I'm used to just picking up and leaving. WHen I had a cat it was easy... just make sure the litter was clean, and there was food/water available and I could be gone for 3-4 days no problem. Cat would be fine. Can't do that with a dog. DOg has to be let out multiple times a day. Dog cant self manage food. Dogs bark when they want attention. ANd so on... So its a quandry. I'l decide before winter here anyway. Either way I'm getting the pet from the HUmane SOciety or ANimal Control. I'm all about rescuing strays. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HUMANE SOCIETY!!!

Is It Fall already?

2008-10-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

Man.. where did Summer go? Halloween in 3 weeks? WTH? Oh well.. here is some of what you missed...

labor day week end 2 - int'l jazz fest

2008-09-02T16:03:00.001-07:00

labor day weekend

2008-09-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

some pics from the holiday...

slackin..

2008-09-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

yep thats me... slacker. lol i havent been purposely ignoring my blog but life has been a bit fuller than usual, so i havent felt the need to fill my downtime with posting *wink wink* but now i feel like i'm neglecting an old friend so i'm back. i think this thing is evolving into more of a photo blog, than a blog in the "pure" sense. i am going to make a concetrated effort to be more prolific in my blogging..well at least this one. think i'm gonna kill a couple of my other ones. that being said... huzzah for i have returned! lol...

2008-08-27T03:10:00.000-07:00

Just some pics...

Is it strange that i like hospitals? I

2008-08-14T01:26:00.000-07:00

Is it strange that i like hospitals? I mean i like the environment. The smiling faces, the aura of caring, the technology, even the food lol Its just too bad you have to be sick to stay there ;)

pics from the 4th

2008-07-09T19:34:00.001-07:00

i finally got it!

2008-07-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

here it is...my new baby...

secsi aint it? lol

no, its not what i had in mind when i arrived at the dealership, it just kinda grew on me during the 6 hours we were there. And the test drive cinched it.

so now i'm mobile again. that also means that i now have to contend with the gas price debacle that I had largely been ignoring up till this point. i'm not too worried about it. i have a zero mile commute, and the truck is a small 6 cylinder. 2000 GMC Jimmy 117k miles. Power everything, push button 4 wheel drive, cd, new tires, hitch, factory dark tint windows. my first suv lol

so tomorrow i get to go buy stuff for it.. floor mats, frgrance, vanity plate lol i think its gonna say "SXYCANI" ;)

ramblings...

2008-06-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

hey. just droppin off some stuff on my plate. i havent been posting much lately, but its not becuz nothing is going on lol

where to start... well, the job is still going good. no real issues to speak of. getting bonuses pretty regular, at least one each check so the money has been great! i report to the regional property manager, which is cool cuz she's like never here since we have brand new properties in florida and illinios. i wouldnt mind here job. she's always flying off somewhere. plus she's a really laid back easy going type of person, i think we get along very well.

been spending alot of time with my kid. she's turning 13 this year so i want to make sure i'm there for her whenever she needs me. i know the teen years can be rough, so my goal is to be available for her whenever! she's currently at sumer camp, which is a first for her. i can't wait to here about it when she gets back. the camp is run by a christian organization, so thats cool also. they have a website thats pretty interactive. you can email your child and see pics of them taken daily. the only catch is they cant email you back, which was kind of frustrating. over all i'm sure it has been an awesome experience for her. i think i'm gonna have her for the fourth, so i need to start planning eh lol

oh yeah... i still have Kitty. she no longer in heat, but she's found other ways to be equally annoying lol she has decided that i must give her my undivided attention the second i walk in the door from work. if i don't, she makes it a point to get in the way of anything else i may be trying to do. if i try to use the bathroom she'll plant herself in front of the toilet, if i go in the kitchen she'll lean against the fridge door, if i sit on the couch she'll jump up in my lap and head butt me in the chin lol once i finally give her some attention, she'll dismiss e and go somewhere and sleep for an hour or so. then its the same routine over again. this goes on until i go to bed lol good thing i love cats *grin*

...begats cellphone...

2008-06-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

so my kid is a technophille just like her dad. and she seems to have inherited my obsession with all things cellphone lol. having played with my new phone (see previous post i.e. helio), she instantly hated her Razr *surprise surprise* luckily, her new disgust with her phone coincided with her mothers desire to no longer pay for it LOL

so... long story short...here is my daughters new phone...

and here she is enthusastically enjoying it lol its actually a cool phone, one that I would carry myself, were i not a "helion" lol its a definate texting oriented phone. virgin mobile is the company. so far so good, decent rates, excellent signal (uses verizon towers). the phone itself was only $99. i love how you can do everything online. their website could be a bit more intuitive, especially since their target market is the younger demographic, but its still pretty good. something wacky is going on with her text messaging regarding how many messages she does/does not have, but I'm sure that will be fixed with a call to customer service.

bottom line is she loves it, so i love it...thats what count right?

living...

2008-06-20T17:36:00.001-07:00

just some random pics from my life lately...enjoy..

summer breeze, makes me feel fine...

2008-06-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

check it out... the storms of summer have arrived. yesterday we were under a severe thunderstorm watch for most of the day. periodically it was upgraded to a tornado warning, then downgraded, then upgraded again. we actually got some heavy rain for a bit, and some high winds, but nothing spectacular or dangerous. the clouds looked pretty wicked though, hence the pics lol

In a word...

2008-06-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

babysitting. it is what it is. lol one of my closest friends, David, who lives in virginia, left his cat (Kitty) here in michigan with his in-laws. it's been like 3-4 years now. for some reason they can't (or wont) keep the cat any more and suggested putting her in the pound. David was understandably upset and against this action. as was i. i remember when he got kitty. it was during a "wild" time in both our lives. she's been a part of the fam for 9+ years. to let her go to the pound at this point would be cruel. all they would do is euthanize her since she is so old. so i volunteered to keep her until..... what ever. thats the kinda guy i am ;)

so anyway, ....she's in heat. i neglected to inquire if she had been fixed. apparently not. so now i have this hot and bothered old cat crawling around my pad, screeching and yowling 24/7. ah the joys of lifelong friendship LOL

Great weekend. Hung out with the kid. Di

2008-06-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

Great weekend. Hung out with the kid. Did some shopping. She won a scholarship to a week long camp, so she needed a new swim suit. MAN i wont EVEN go into the drama that entails lolOther than that we had fun. Had chinese one day and mexican the next lol I promised her Red Lobster next time. Its time for crab legs!!Oh yeah, the zoo is open! We are so there next weekend! Oh wait, next weekend s my birthday ;)

Thought i'd ask the question...why do ge

2008-05-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

Thought i'd ask the question...why do geese act like gangbangers? They are bullies.

i can hear the Ocean...

2008-05-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

i upgraded!!! lol well the full story is i was seriously considering jumping ship from Helio to either ATT or Verizon. not because i was unhappy with Helio service, i get signal almost everywhere and the plan i have is awesome. i just HATED my phone. i did the typical consumer thing, buy jumping on the 'free' phone they offered during the holidaze instead of picking a good phone. caveat emptor right? lol

so anyway, i was all set to make that move, actually had the ATT Tilt on order when i decided to give Helio a call. they made me an offer i couldn't refuse. so here i am with my new Helio Ocean.
as you can see, it is a dual slider. full QWERTY keyboard on one side, dedicated keypad for dialing. the software is top tier. Helio really has made this phone their flagship model. It has totally intergrated the all of the popular IM, email, and social sites smoothly into the interface. total pocket communication. it also has a 2mp camera with flash and zoom. plays mp3s and videos. total web browsing. it can even stream Youtube videos. not much more i need in a phone lol

i'll post a more definitive review one i've had it a couple weeks... ciao!

Celebrations continued....

2008-05-18T13:09:00.001-07:00

Look at the size of her sandwich!! Its as big as her face! LOL Eating at Joe's Be-Bop BBQ in Navy Pier.
Crystal Garden in Navy Pier. Notice the leaping fountains in the background?
Aliyah getting counseling from a piece of art in Navy Pier Park.
We're dwarves!! LOL
Finally heading home after a LOOOONG day of reckless merriment and father/daughter bonding :) On the train, relaxing for the 3.5 hour ride home.

Celebrations!

2008-05-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

Ok you've heard of the MEP tests right? If not, they are standardized scholastic tests used in Michigan to guage where your childs aptitude (is that the right word?) is. Well Aliyah took hers not too long ago and we recently received the results.

She scored well above average in just about every subject, which to be honest, wasn't a surprise. My daughter has always done well in school. What WAS a suprise is her math score. She not only scored highest in her grade (7th) but she scored highest in her SCHOOL (6 - 8th grade)!! The principle came to personally congratulate us and she received a letter from the Governor.

So anyway, to reward her, I decided to take her on a trip to Chicago, via train! Both were first for her so it was very exciting. With her about to be 13, it was her first "big girl" trip. We had a blast. Check out some photos...

This is Aliyah on a bridge on Michigan Ave? I can't remember LOL
In front of the Sears Tower of course. We didn't go up this time... line was too long.
On the water taxi, on the way to Navy Pier
Aliyah watching a group of canoeists on a tour LOL I'll post some more pics in the next post or two.

more family time...

2008-04-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

we went to a semi-pro basketball last night. we meaning me, my brother, my daughter, and my nephew. had a total ball! the team (battle creek knights) won handily at 131 - 103 i beleive. i have never seen any single team hit so many 3 pointers in a row in my life. i dont know what set them off but the knights were "on fire" last night!

it was cool cuz they (the knights) try to make it a family, interactive affair. with lots of screaming and loud music and dancing and give aways. we didn't end up getting anything but the kids were worn out from all the screaming and dancing lol

so far this summer is looking like it will be a good one...

family

2008-04-19T20:28:00.001-07:00

i recently got to spend time with my little brother and his son. its funny calling him my little brother since he's about 6-1" or so, and about 285 or better LOL

anyway, i havent physically seen him in about 2 years. we both been kinda all over doing whatever and it seemed like we just couldn't get together. we loosley kept in touch via phone and my Gran. no matter what seems like he always kept in touch with Gran, and so I would get updates through her. we both have gone through several cell phone numbers over the years so Gran proved to be a good resource LOL

well he has been going thru his own trials, and came to the decision that he is moving back to the hometown also. that is awesome news! he came and spent a couple days with me. we had fun. it was great hanging out with him. we've never really hung out much with each other as adults, so when it does happen, i really enjoy it. we were also able to pick up his son and spend time with him also.

so i'm really hyped about him moving back here. i hope things go smoothly for him. he's excited too, to be back in his kids life full time. i think its a win-win for everyone.

the IM saga...

2008-04-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

i've been IM'ing for over a decade. started out with BBSs, then IRC, went from there to ICQ (whatever happened to them?), then to Yahoo Messenger. i was a devoted Yahoo fan for years. i still use the original yahoo email address i signed up with back when Yahoo first "opened". over the years i have tried out many many other IM apps but none of them had really any chance of toppling Yahoo as the best, IMO.

the last few years have changed this. now there are so many decent IM apps out there, its hard to not try them out. as far as i'm concerned, Yahoo Messenger is still the best at what it does. But now there are so many apps that do what Yahoo Messenger does and MUCH more, that i have a hard time justifying my loyalty anymore lol

my favorite are the apps that combine the services of multiple IM services, as i have friends on various ones. i've tried out a few of the majors, Gaim, Miranda, MSN, Trillian and some others. they all perform as advertised but each one had minor flaws that didn't make them ideal for me. Trillian was the best of that bunch, but i don't really like the design of the program, and it wasn't as easy as it should have been to setup accounts, or make changes to them. i do recommend checking it out though.

my new direction has been in web based IM apps, of which meebo is the hands down favorite! that little app handles IMing for several services with ease and polish. so if you're looking for a web based app, i highly recommend meebo. also give ebuddy a look, they came in a strong second.

what i'm using currently is like a combination of all the above mentioned apps and a bit more. it's called Digsby. it has all the power of a stand alone IM app, plus all of the smoothness and seamless integration of a web app. it works with all of the major IM services, PLUS it can access/monitor your email! you can even send email right from the app without opening an email program (even yahoo/gmail). its also has a social aspect in that it can montitor your pages in Myspace and Facebook and others. no more running a bunch of different apps to keep up with things. just run Digsby. man if they ever add a feed reader, i'll never have to open my browser lol it also monitors Twitter..

so check it out www.digsby.com

sorry Yahoo :)

alone at last!!!

2008-04-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

i moved into my new spot! I am soooo freakin happy about that. don't get me wrong, i love my old folks more than just about anything in this world, but OMG was i tired of living liked i was 75 instead of 40 lol

here's some preliminary pics of the diggs. it's still kinda empty of course but its coming along.

my kitchen and living room are HUGE. look at all that counter space? what am i gonna fill that with? lol

i think i'm gonna at least get a futon for the living room and maybe some type of casual chair, something from d3 or ikea, or someplace similar. as far as the kitchen i know i need a microwave, toaster, george foreman grill, blender...i'm sure i'll come up with more. feel free to chime in with suggestions...

i'll put up pics of the bedroom once i get some furniture in there ;)

so i got shot at...

2008-04-02T15:41:00.000-07:00

seriously. remember that post when i said "..if i don't get shot. seriously..."? well dammit i'm a prophet cuz i got shot at today. by whom you ask? let me tell you, by the educated, normally professional acting, older woman whose belongings we were putting out by the curb.

i can understand her being upset. even though she's had every opportunity over the past 2+ months to make some kind of arrangements, it still sucks when it happens. so i understand that. and she did totally act like an ass when we showed up with the sheriff. tried every argument in the book to get us to leave, but by then it was way past too late. her son was there to complicate things of course. the sheriff was adamant though, so we started CAREFULLY placing her items outside. we were told we didnt hafta be nice about it, but we did cuz i don't roll like that.

anyway, we get all of her stuff outside without much incident. her daughter showed up to help watch the stuff while her son went and got a uhaul. she had just got the last of the stuff and i followed her out to the sidewalk. i was standing there when she got into a heated argument with her sons wife. it was kinda intense so i observed incase i needed to involve the sheriff. all of a sudden, she turned my direction, with a gun in her hand! it was all matrix-y and slow motion as she pointed it at me so turned and did like road runner for the door! i head a loud CRACK as i dove in, right down the stairs to the feet of the sheriff, who immediately drew his gun and went outside looking for her, but she had fled the scene.

so of course i filed a report and am pressing charges. wouldn't you? i'm sure she'll give herself up eventually. i mean until now, she was a pretty respectable person. she has a job, kids, i think she may have even gone to church LOL who knows? well thats all over now cuz she's going to prison. well at least jail.

i love my job. well.....

cheese!! nuff said...

2008-03-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

i love cheese. in just about all its forms and flavors. i tend to steer away from "non-traditional" flavors like chocolate (ew), or fruity cheeses. but just about everything else is all good! i found a store near my job that rocks! not only does it have just about every kind of fresh produce you can think of, including traditionally hispanic items, but its cheese selection en second lieu à aucun! sorry i had to drop in some french to go with my gourmand mood LOL so far my favorites have been a red wax hollow cheddar, and a smoked gouda. i'm typically a cheddar addict, so i plan on trying every variety they have. the store also puts out huge sample plates of select cheeses everyday! so you know i spend more than a few minutes in that section LOL cheese! its the perfect food :)

burn baby burn...

2008-03-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

so, we had a fire. at the job. actually several fires. electrical apparently. luckily not too much damaged happened to occupied units. we are currently only at about 53% occupancy so that worked out to be a good thing in this case.

anyway, i was on my way home. my day was done. i was actually at the bus stop, headphones on, thinking about the weekend, when i saw a fire truck approaching lights blazing. so of course i'm watching to see where its going. right into the driveway of my complex. damn.

so i go running back up to the building as the firefighters reach the door. i'm yelling "hey i'm the manager!! i have keys!". they look at me and proceed to chop the door down. so i just run up between them and open the door. with the key. took like 1 second. all that damage for nothing. now don't get me wrong, i have nothing but respect for firefighters and what they do. and i know they know their job. but i really dont understand why they chose to destroy my entry unnecessarily when i was RIGHT THERE with the key in my hand.

anyway, it turned out not to be as bad as was initially thought. it was an electrical fire between two unoccupied apartments. exhaust fans probably. the firefighters ripped the bathroom ceilings out of both apartments. so we had that plus the actually fire damage, and then the water damage. but it was contained. the fire chief okayed re-entry for the tenants and we restored power to the building. i called the water extraction/clean-up guys. they came and got started. the red cross also showed up for the one tenant who was displaced due to water damage. after all that was taken care of i went home. totally drained. between the smoke, my asthma, running up and down several flights of stairs several times, and the stress of the situation, i was a deadman walking. all i wanted to do is get home and sleep. so thats what i did.

9:10pm. my "on call" cellphone rings. its the clean up guys. they say that the firefighters are back on scene. there's MORE FIRES!! i am beyond stressed cuz i do NOT wanna go back down there. i don't think i could have physically anyhow. so i call my boss. she immediately says she'll handle. she rocks like that. :) about a half hour later she calls me just to check up on me. i told her i was good just needed to rest and get my breathing under control. i was touched that she was concerned.

i woke up this morning feeling much better but not one hundred percent yet. at least i can breathe. can't wait to get insurance so i can see a doc. its about time for a visit. it's been like 3 yrs lol.

photography

2008-03-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

these are some shots i took of some ice formations in puddles. i thought they looked pretty abstract so i wanted to preserve them. enjoy..

the job - week 3ish or whatever

2008-03-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

so the job is going decent. i had an interview last monday. my trainers manager interviewed me. basically said she wants to hire me. which i think is good. more money, and a bonus apartment. free rent is always good. anyway, initially she said that she wanted to, but couldn't hire me immediately as i am currently a temp agency employee, as such, they are under contract with said agency. to hire me immediately, they would have to pay a large fee to the temp agency, which of course they dont want to pay. guess they like me, but not that much eh? lol so she told me i have to wait 60 more days, which sucks cuz i didnt plan on it taking that long for me to get hired somewhere permanent, plus i dont know if i can afford to keep working part time that much longer.

well all that became moot, when she told me friday that she thinks she CAN hire me now, as the temp agency kinda owes her company from a previous big screw up on the part of the agency. good news right? well kinda. cuz now i have to majorly accelerate the time frame of me paying off my ticket and obtaining a vehicle. the position entails a lot of car travel, not to mention having to go to ann arbor for training. so i'm kinda in a quandary and don't really have any prospects as to how i'm going to achieve this but... what else is new? God will provide right? if i don't have anything else i have faith :) so pray for me... and/or send donations! lol...

all that aside.. i may have to physically evict 2 people this week and i really dont want to have to do that. but its reached that point. the day they were supposed to be out is well past and the matter has been filed in court an assigned to the local sheriff. now all that remains is for the sheriff to contact me with the date and time of the eviction. then i'm told he'll show up with a deputy or two and watch over us as we put the tenants belongings on the curb. that sucks. but it's kinda hard to feel all that sorry for them becuz from the beginging (the entire process has taken over 2 months) they new what was going on every step of the way and have had every opportunity to seek assistance or make arrangments or whatever. neither one of them has chosen to do so, so here we are. oh well, maybe i wont get shot.. lol. no ... seriously.

old country buffet

2008-03-24T15:14:00.001-07:00

bout a week ago, me and the kid went to old country buffet. in case you don't have one near you, its a classic all-you-can-eat buffet with a typical assortment of food americana. i like it, she loves it. i just enjoy they time we spend together although i've never been one to turn down a chance to get my eat on LOL

i always eat too much at these places. i say "i'm not gonna pig out. just get full..." but of course they have so many freaking things i like, and you just have to taste them all LOL it's one of the few restaurants i eat at that i feel i get my moneys worth!

she always hates it when i take pics of her eating. i told her thats what she gets for stealing my hat! plus its in the dad's handbook that i have the right to embarrass her at will. which i so delight in doing LOL

places...

2008-03-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

thought i'd drop a few pics here of one of the trails i frequent near where i live. i was inspired as it was the first sunny and warm day we've had here in like forever! so please..enjoy :)

the job - week three "ish"

2008-03-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

well things are moving right along. my "boss" has decided i know what i'm doing for the most part and has abandoned me to my devices lol which is definitely not a bad thing. kind of frustrating occasionally though when i need an answer and someone dosen't call/email me back quickly. i'll take it though to not have someone hovering over me. i'm used to being rather independent in my work environment. i tend to do my best work alone, not that i'm not a team player if it calls for it.

so anyway over the last week or so i've had to go to court twice for eviction proceedings. that whole setup is pretty automated. i basically show up, establish they owe rent and how much, they deny it, judge rules in my favor. done. i would feel bad if the reasons some of those folks give for not paying their rent weren't so asinine. but i digress..

i still like the job so far. there's some minor issues, like me doing the housekeeping part of it, but over all its a decent gig. my bosses boss is coming monday to interview me for the permanent position. hope she makes me a decent offer. pray for me.

i couldn't help myself...

2008-03-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

ok if this isnt the cutest, most expressive little girl you've seen recently, then i wanna come live your world LOL

i have no idea what language she's singing in, but she is so serious about it! and she knows the entire freakin song! i am suitably impressed. this video makes me smile every time i've seen it LOL

decisions decisions...

2008-03-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

as you may have noticed, my blog design has changed yet again. i'm a bit of a compulsive tinkerer when it comes to web pages. always trying to find a better to do something that should be fairly simple LOL

this time, i removed the clipcast module. it was just too big and cluttered up the screen. i added a bunch of tracking buttons and related widgets so i can get a better idea of who is reading what, if anyone lol i'm just curious...

anyway thanks for putting up with my chaos for a bit.

something new...

2008-03-08T07:39:00.001-08:00

i've been working on a project for some time now. i've been trying to develop a unique strategy based board games. it has its roots in ancient games such as xianggi, go, and chess. my goal is simplicity of play, but challenging strategic maneuvers.

i have finaly reached a major milestone in the development process. i have a working prototype. the following show the prototype in unfinished and finished stages.

so now i'm in the "rules" stage. you know working out what will and/or wont work in play. the hardest part is finding that fine line between "challenging" and "so hard it's not fun". it's caused me many headaches already LOL well is anyone has any ideas feel free to send them my way. i'll make sure you get credit in the finshed product :)

battle creek.. home turf

2008-03-08T07:33:00.000-08:00

SOMEbody was feeling a lil homesick and nostalgic about the hometown, so i thought i'd be nice and post some pics for her :)

just whatever

2008-03-04T10:44:00.000-08:00

haven't been online as much lately. work has been tiring lately so that when i get home, i haven't found it worth it to go to the library for 1.5 to 2 hrs MAYBE of net time, then have to walk back home. i need to change that. working on. need to talk my old folks into letting me get net at home LOL

other than work not alot else has been up. well ... okay. it's been bothering me a bit so i might as well get it off my chest....

what do you do, when you've been friends with someone for like 100 years. i mean basically from 6th grade, till now. you've been best friends the entire time. but in the last few years I feel like i'm the only one putting in any effort to maintaining that friendship. i mean before there were miles between us and so that was an excuse for lack of communication and what not. but now we live in the same city. not 10 miles from each other. we both have cell phones, email, myspace, facebook, etc. but i feel like i'm the only one trying. i don't get calls returned on the regular. i email, no response. i text message... same deal. or we'll make plans to hang or whatever, and he'll no-show. i don't get a call or anything. he just wont show up. then eventually he'll show up or call me... a week later....like nothing has happened. i've been taking it in stride for years. i just figured thats the way he is, especially since we lived so far apart. i mean we've been boys since 6th grade!! or maybe its just me, becuase i have another friend i've had since like '91 and he kinda acts the same way. i don't understand it. am i acting like a wuss? or do i have a legitimate concern? i dunno. i just feel like i shouldn't hafta be the one to track them down all the time.

maybe its just me.

the job - week two

2008-03-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

well. another week gone by. how was it you ask? well surprisingly uneventful, if you don't count the tenant who i had to call the police on due to the DENSE weed smoke billowing out of her apartment when i went there to verify that she was indeed still there (she's in the process of eviction, so i had to verify that she hadn't just up and left...wishful thinking).

anyway, so the cops showed up, and i escorted them to the apartment. they banged on the door and of course she was like "just a minute!". well nearly 10 minutes later she opens the door, and the hallway is flooded with the smells of weed and air freshener LOL. the cops just start laughing because it was so obvious. comedic dialog ensues..."i'm not smoking weed!" "we can smell it. it's like you smoked a tree in there!" "i wasn't smoking anything." "is there someone else in there that could have possibly smoked it?" "umm..uh...no" "is there someone else in there?" "um...yes, my boyfriend" "could he have smoked the weed?" "i just woke up" "could he have smoked it when you were asleep?" "no." "how do you know? weren't you asleep?" "i'm not saying i don't smoke weed. but i haven't smoked any today!" etc. etc.

after about 15 minutes of that entertaining banter, the cops basically called her an unfit mother and told her that they could call child protective services and have her kids taken. i swear she didn't even blink. couldn't have fazed her any less. taking those kids probably would have been the best thing in those kids lives. but i digress.. suffice to say that the cops didn't take the kids or the chick. but now its logged as a drug related call, and after 3 or so of those, the cops can enter without a warrant and search/arrest.

about an hour after the cops left, guess who comes down to my office? the weed chick. i'm surprised she didnt bring her boyfriend with her. LOL she's comes in all pissy (meaning her attitude, but she did also have a strong odor going on too, something like old sex and wet dog), and says "i feel like i'm being harassed!". i just looked at her. "you guys are already putting me out, now you trying to send me to jail!". I was like, i'm not trying to do anything but to make you stop smoking dope in my building. if you'd stop, you wouldn't have anything to worry about right? she's like "right. i know.", so i said "then we are done here. have a nice day." and she left. LOL clueless...

on a lighter (and better smelling) note, the company let the housekeeping guy go, so now am i not only running the office, but i have to do the housekeeping, light maintenance, and yard work. Kinda sucks. But I figure I'm earning brownie points to a permanent job offer. which my boss kinda sorta felt me out for this week also. but more on that later..

i am soooo friggin sick of snow! twice this week i found myself outside digging thru drifts of the accursed crap so that my tenants could walk safely to their vehicles. my days of manual labor are soooooooo behind me. it kills my back and knees. so we'll see how long i can put up with it.

on to week 3....

the job - week one

2008-02-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

so the first week of the new job is over. went pretty smoothly. until friday.

i had called chris and we made plans to go to the cheap flicks. gonna see vantage point. heard it was pretty good. so i'm all amped up to see it, plus i haven't hung out with chris in a little while so i'm looking forward to going right? he says he's gonna pick me up at work when i get off at 5pm so we can hit the 5:15pm showing. i'm like "cool".

to preface this, let me fill you in. the night before i got a call from a tenant saying her toilet, sink, and bathtub were backing up sewage. ok, crisis situation as that is a bio-hazard and just plain nasty. so i call our contract plumbers out (at $120/hr). i figure they can handle the situation at that price LOL

next day as soon as i get to work, she (the tenant) calls me saying her bathroom is still jacked up. she says the plumber was there for like 4 hrs but didnt fix anything. she said he (the plumber) said that its a city matter. so i call my boss; she says call the City and see what the status is. i do that. they tell me that NOTHING has been reported to them. so i tell them whats going on. they say they wil send an engineer out. so now i'm feeling good thinking that the 'engineer' will get to the root of the problem.

wrong. the City showed up, messed around in the street for a bit, and declared the issue wasn't theirs but inside of my building. great. so now i call the plumbers back and they say that they "didn't" say to call the City and they will be right out. over and hour later they show up. after 'roding' the outside connection and the toilet in the affected unit. he says that it was indeed the 'main' that was clogged and the City needed to fix it. also by this time, 3 other units called in to report backups. suffice to say that by this time i was pissed. its like 7pm and i've BEEN ready to go home. so i call the plumbers back, and tell them whats going on. they say they will be there first thing (7:30am) saturday morn. so i call the infinitley patient tenant, to give her a heads up so she isn't woken up unexpectedly. the plumbers never showed.

so saturday morning the tenant calls me wondering whats up. i immediately call the plumbers and bitch them out about the no show. so they finally have a , different than the one who blew us off, plumber call me and he says he is enroute. that was saturday morning. i haven't had any calls since then so i'm assuming everything is good. i refuse to call and check lol i'm not too worried cuz i'm sure the tenants would have called me if it wasn't fixed. whew. oh yeah, we didn't make the movie obviously on friday LOL

here's to week 2....

2008-02-20T04:41:00.000-08:00

i'm sittin here at work. stressed. not over the job. i love it so far. but transportation is fast becoming an issue. i cant belive i'm in this situation. i know God has a plan for me , but MAN i wish i had a clue what it is!

new job

2008-02-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

so i start the new job tomorrow. slightly anxious cuz its for an apartment community and involves leasing apartments (which i've never done), and i've been told its in a "rough" part of town, and that there have been "problem" tenants. i'm not "skeered" but i truly have enough drama in my life LOL i'm actually hoping it will just be entertaining. Plus its a JOB, so i'm not complaining. the pay isn't half bad either, but right now its only 30 hours a week. so hopefully that will increase soon once i get trained fully. wish me luck and pray! lol

my reason for life itself

2008-02-17T11:59:00.001-08:00

i could not be prouder of my baby girl. she is beautiful, smart, talented! anything she puts her mind to she achieves. she got that trait from her daddy :) she recently received an award for scoring higher in math on her assessment tests than anyone in her grade level, in her school! math has always been her favorite and best subject. the total opposite of me lol i hate math.

thats it. i just wanted to brag on my baby girl :)

a series of unfortunate events

2008-02-17T11:11:00.000-08:00

the title pretty much sums up how i arrived at the place in life i am now. let me start at the beginning...

Back in 2006 i was working for centennial wireless. was there for almost 2 years. that company had more turn over than any bakery (pun intended). it was ridiculous. during one period we went through 4 district managers in a 6 month period and about 8 store managers. now when the senior management is fleeing, then obviously the company is doing something wrong. anyway, in october of 2006 we got yet another district manager. this guy was a cocky know-it-all who claimed he was from the "mean streets of detroit". later it was found out he never lived in detroit, but in one of its affluent, ethnically challenged suburbs. of course we rubbed each other the wrong way from day one. instant dislike. the problem was, even though he wanted to, he couldn't get rid of me because not only did i perform my job above and beyond what was required, but my store manager found me invaluable to the store (they called me mr.customer service lol). so we existed with each other in a tense but professional atmosphere.

then came the first of the unfortunate events. on my way to work one day in december 2006, i was struck by another car in an icy intersection. my car was totaled. thank God my daughter and i werent injured (other than me having a busted lip. damn air bag lol). what i didn't know at the time was that my insurance had lapsed 2 days before. no more car. to get to the chase, it provided a perfect opportunity for my dm to fire me. because i was unable to come to work for 3 days (even though i talked to my store manager and okayed it), he fired me for 'job abandonment'. Then when i applied for unemployment, he tried to deny it. luckily when i told the agent exactly what happened, they canceled his claim and i got full benefits.

the next thing that happened was of course i lost my apartment of 3 years. which kinda sucked but then again it didn't because i had been thinking of moving anyway because i was paying way more than it was worth, just not under those circumstances LOL So anyway i moved in with a friend for a bit then my mother asked me to come to detroit. so i moved up there with her for awhile.

that proved to be a massive mistake. whi;e staying with her, i discovered my mother (who i hadn't lived with since i was 15) has classics symptoms of bipolar disease and is in total denial that anything is wrong with her. i'm not a doctor of course, but if i have ever seen a case its her. her mood swings are extreme and irrational. plus she is anti-social. compounded by the fact the we have never had what you would call a loving relationship. i though that maybe this was a chance for us to finally bond, since it was her idea i come there. man i could not have been more wrong. everything i did was wrong. nothing about me was good enough. everything was my fault. as if it wasn't humiliating enough to be in the situation in the first place, i was getting put down at every turn. after 3 months of this i bailed. thank God i had people in detroit that actually gave a damn about me. they took me in so i could continue my job search there. turned out to be a much better situation for me. i stayed there through the summer but couldn't find anything. so i came back to grand rapids (where i lived for the past 14-15 years) and stayed with one of my best friends. i worked through temp agencys but could find nothing permanent.

while i was in grand rapids, the next event happened. you sensing a pattern here? before going to detroit, i had placed my belongings in a storage facility. i neglected to purchase the insurance beacause frankly i couldn't afford it at the time. well, there was a storm, small fire, and of course my stuff was ruined. clothes, furniture, memories, computers, etc. all gone.

shortly after that my grandmother suggested i come back to battle creek (hometown) and regroup. so thats what i did. i moved back to bc, currently living with my grandparents helping them out a bit and also keeping an eye on my great aunts (2 of them) who live next door lol it's not perfect by any stretch but it'll do till i get back on my feet.

so thats where i am and how i got here. by rights i should near suicidal and on anti-depressants. but whats the point? whats gonna happen is gonna happen. i just put my faith in God and push on. keep me in your prayers....

helio...don't call it tech support!

2008-02-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

[the following is a re-post of a blog from my myspace page. i find it still relevant enough to share here also. enjoy.]

Have you heard of it? Helio is a new "piggy back" phone company. Sort of a boutique style thing. I call it a "piggy back" company because it dosent own its own net work. It leases it from Sprint. So if you get them, you basically are getting Sprints signal with Helios services. Just like if you go with Virgin Mobile. Or Net10, or Boost Mobile, etc. They all lease fromt he big boys - ATT, Sprint, Verizon, maybe even T-Mobile although I don't know who would be that desperate LOL

Anyway, after long consideration and research I decided on Helio. Why? Because for $65 I get 500 anytime minutes, free nights/weekends, UNLIMITED text messages, UNLIMITED picture messages, UNLIMITED internet, MOBILE MYSPACE (which rocks btw), IM (Yahoo/Aim/MSN), and more. Plus even the cheapest phone (The Heat) is HOT. Of course I got the Heat cuz it was FREE during the holidays LOL

As far as the phone goes - LOVE IT! As far as the services and features - LOVE IT! The signal is so-so. Thats not Helios fault. It's Sprints. Not that big of a deal.

What IS a big deal is the technical support AND the customer service. The customer service wouldn't be that bad but apparently Helio is yet another company that outsources its customer service to a foreign country where English is NOT the native language. How does that make sense? I am sooo tired of getting a "specialist" who I cant friggin understand because they cant speak proper english. Then they have the nerve to get frustrated with me because they have to repeat things over. But at least they try to be helpful.

Helios tech support is a whole nother story all together. They just plain suck. They dont know anything! You ask them the simplest of questions, that any "tech" should know, any they put you on hold for 5 minutes to "confer with their technicians". I thought I was talking to a technician?? I've had to call twice now and both times were 40+ minute calls with NO resolution for relatiely minor issues. The first one I figured out myself. The second issue (an overheating battery) their solution was to "find a battery at some store" and they would credit my account. Why should I have to do that? I'm paying them for insurance! They said "Because the phone wasn't dropped or damaged, insurance wont replace the battery...". That is insane. SO because I didn't break my phone, I'm being punished. I swear if I wasnt in love with the Helio services and the phone I break this contract and go elsewhere. I still may if they keep pissing me off LOL

Ranting aside... I do love my Helio. Especially MySpace Mobile. I can do almost anything in Myspace from my phone. I can check my email (Yahoo/Gmail), plus Helio gives me a free email (me@myhelio.com) which works just like Gmail for the most part. I can IM...and not using text msgs either LOL [edit: this is the phone that i mobile blog with :) ] I think later I may upgrade to the Ocean. All the stuff I mentioned is even better on that handset. Dont call it a phone! lol

If you're thinking of trying Helio.. hit me up with any questions. I'll give you the real deal....peace!!

old folks and cell phones part deux

2008-02-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

well. my gran did what i suggested. she went and paid her bill, and then canceled her cell phone. good right? well, maybe. instead of coming home to get me, so WE could go shop for a new phone, she let the sales guy at centennial wireless talk her into keeping her old phone, but replacing her contract SIM with a pre-paid SIM. to his credit he did give her a $20 minute card for free. gran says that he said, when she comes back to get more minutes he's going to give her another $20 card for free. well if thats true, then i suppose this will be a good deal. my only caveat with the process is that i kinda wanted to get her into a bit of an upgrade to her phone. she says she never would use any of the 'fancy' features, but she always asks 'can my phone do that?' whenever someone is talking about what their new phone can do. oh well.. cie la vie. the good thing is centennial is a gsm company so can always get an unlocked gsm phone for her. now that i think of of it.. thats what i'll do...

old folks and cell phones

2008-02-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

my gran has a cell phone. i have no idea why as she has given no one the phone number (i have it but i dont think anyone else does), she dosen't answer it when i call it, and she has no clue how to do anything more than answer it.

now you're probably think thats as a good grandson, i should take it upon myself to 'train' her in the proper usage of said device. well i have. over and over again. it just dosen't stick. i love my gran to death. i'm closer to her than my own mother (thats a whole nother blog trust me). but there are some things that she just dosen't get. technology is one of them.

she needs a cell phone due to the fact that my grandfather (gramps) is recovering from prostate cancer and is still very weak at times. plus he has complications from heart disease and other issues. she frequently has to take him to the hospital for various reasons. so its good that she has a way to call for help if needed, while traveling.

my issue is she has a contract phone. basically she is just giving centennial wireless $40 every month for nothing. she dosen't use the phone. so today i told her that at the end of her contract she should ditch them and get a pre-paid phone. that way she controls how much she spends each month. and the phone is gonna be at least the equal of what she has now, probably better! turns out, she's not on a contract (thank God), so when she pays her bill this month she's gonna cancel it. then we are going to walmart and pick out a new prepaid phone for her. any suggestions? i'm thinking something simple like trac phone or maybe cingular go phone. help a brother out LOL

the walk from home to the library...a pictorial

2008-02-14T10:13:00.000-08:00

it is a beautiful day today so i thought i'd bring you with me...

zzz....koff...gasp...(groan)....zzz....

2008-02-14T09:35:00.001-08:00

i don't sleep well. i can't ever remember sleeping through the night. i sleep for a couple hours maybe, then i wake up. then i fall asleep after about half hour or so, then i sleep another hour, more or less, then i wake up again. rinse and repeat. all night.

someone suggested that i have a sleep study done, but i don't know about that yet. it seems kinda creepy to have someone watching me sleep. i have been known to have vivid dreams lol that could end up very embarrassing! I used to have sleep apnea very bad, so i know that has something to do with it, even though the symptoms aren't nearly as bad as they used to be (thats what i'm told). probably has to do with m weight loss. i'm down about 20 pounds since thanksgiving.

anyway, i'm debating on this sleep study. either way i have to wait until i have insurance so i suppose at this time the debate is moot. cie la vie....

i can always blog if i cant sleep lol

forgotten...

2008-02-13T13:06:00.001-08:00

i had forgotten i had taken these pics. both of these houses were in the middle of decent looking, middle class neighborhoods in detroit. i was shocked at their condition. when i asked neighbors about them, i was more shocked to hear they had been vacant for years, yet they weren't torn down. upon further research i find that this is the 'norm'. there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of abandoned, dilapidated, wrecks of buildings all over metro detroit. now many are still standing for various legal reasons, but the over whelming reason for the majority of them is CASH. it frankly costs the city too much money to tear them down. at least according to city hall. they apparently don't thinks its worth the investment to remove these eyesores, crack houses, and crime nests from their city. i am ashamed for them. i think its worth the cost... don't you?

second time around

2008-02-13T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hm. where do i start. i guess high school. in high school, i thought i was the man. i mean THE man. in tenth grade i had my own apartment, a job, and car. thats was pretty atypical back then, especially in small town battle creek. well battle creek wasn't mayberry but it definately had that small town feel back then.

i was decently popular in high school, which kinda puzzles me. i mean i only played football one year (because of an injury) and never ran for any class office, but it seemed like everyone knew me even if i didn't know them. i wasn't really that social either. i had my little circle of friends that i hung out with and wasn't all that interested in expanding it. And i had my best friend chris. we are still best friends to this day. guess i had good instincts for picking good friends eh? lol

i say all this as background to the reason for this post. back then i had a friend named karyn. well a couple of friends, karyn and her sister lynn. they hung out with me and chris alot and we got to be pretty close. i think karyn and i were closer than anyone else. that therein is the issue. i really liked karyn. but my lack of maturity and my desire to maintain my "player" status kept me in denial. it was obvious to others who knew us, but i wouldn't admit it. back then karyn was a sexy, funny, wild, extrovert who kept me guessing what crazy thing she was gonna do next. i really, really liked her.

i never told her, or expressed my feelings truly. we had a few quiet moments together here and there that hinted of what was underneath, but they passed without either of us acting on it. then as life frequently does, it moved on. I joined the army, and she moved out of state. that was the end of that...

years later i vaguely remember being back in battle creek, at a carnival, and running into karyn. instead of being happy to see her, i was preoccupied with looking for the girl i came to the carnival with. a romance that quickly fizzled into nothing. i was agitated and impatient with karyn, not even noticing her obvious happiness at see me again, until much later. whoever said hindsight is a mother never told a truer truth.

over the years i have often thought of her. wondering what she was doing. when i last talked to her, she was a mormon, so i assumed she was probably doing missionary work in some God forsaken backwater somewhere. i half heartedly looked for her a couple times or so. not really expecting to find her. not knowing what to expect if i DID find her. eventually i just stopped.

fast forward 20 or so years. i'm a full fledged netizen. i'm all over the net. had the same yahoo email address since yahoo was "born". got a myspace page and a facebook account. up until recently my myspace page has been the central means of communication for many people that know me. i'd always had a facebook page but never really got into until about a month ago. once i started playing with it, i liked it much better than myspace. facebook is much better for communication. [end techno-nerd transmission........now returning you to your regularly scheduled post]

so one day, i'm on facebook and i see a message. its from karyn! at first i didn't know what to do. should i respond? if i do, will she be mad at me? will she be disappointed? will i be disappointed? man i was stressed. finally i just went for broke and sent her a message back. she immediately responded. not only was she happy to hear from me, but all was forgiven! she understood the turbulent emotions and immaturity of the teen years and didn't hold it against me. now we talk every day. i am so blessed to have her back in my life, even if it is from afar. and who knows, maybe this time i wont screw it up ...

second time around...

changes

2008-02-12T09:46:00.001-08:00

hey guys. i decided to create separate blogs for my poetry and other scribblings and just use this as my primary general blog and my mobile blog. check out the "brain trust" in the sidebar for the links to the new blogs.

2008-02-10T12:14:00.000-08:00

kanye's performance was one of the best of the might. his tribute to his mother was touching. to bad the academy acted like asses and tried to drown out what he was saying. props to kanye for taking it like a pro.

2008-02-09T02:53:00.000-08:00

you would think that in todays age of technology, libraries would be set up for laptop use. not this one. they have wifi but as you see i pretty much made my own station lol whatever works. at least i can work in peace here.

2008-02-09T00:40:00.000-08:00

the laptop. center of my communication world. attached to me 24 hours a day lol