Life, Kids, Technology & that move to another continent
It sucked, they are a bunch of pain in the ass’s. No really, I am just kidding. I always wanted to play a prank on the blog. I know sean reads this, so hey Sean. I am kidding! Feel the love:)
I actually had a great time. I need to get together with them more often. I want to go out by them sometime after I move. I think it is time to cash in some Delta Sky Miles.
They had a cool rental car with GPS, that worked. I had a blast. I want to write more, but sleep awaits…
I have allot to write about, but for some reason don’t feel that up to writing today. So here will be a quick recap of the weekend.
I continued to throw stuff out of my apartment in anticipation of my move next month.
I am also getting ready to ebay a bunch of tech stuff I have. I realized that allot of my crap is not worth that much anymore used. So it is easier to just keep it and or give it away.
Had dinner with Carrie, and my grandmother tonight. Morgan also! My grandmother was in to visit my cousin who is sick. She took us to dinner. it was actually pleasant. That is not always the case with my grandmother.
Got a hair cut on Saturday. My regular barber wasn’t there. Not sure what his deal was. His father did my hair. Didn’t do a good job. it is ok, but he didn’t listen to me when I gave him instructions. That may be the last time I go to that place since I am moving. I need to find a new place in the city for next time.
We had an issue with one of our Call Manager Servers Saturday that caused it to fail. The second machine in the cluster took over fine, but we had about 15 seconds of down time while that happened. Kai is working on getting a patch for it. I spent allot of Saturday working on the phone system because of that, and other issues.
The plus side is I did some more work on our IVR. I even setup our own for Support, to prove the concept. An IVR for support is overkill but we had extra 800#’s and it shows that they system can work.
This blog entry was written while listening to Machine Head by Bush
My friend Sean and his wife Kelly are visiting today. They flew into DC a few days ago and are driving up to NYC today. They will hang out tonight and stay over by me before they continue their drive up to his parents place near albany tomorrow.
I haven’t seen them in almost a year and a half. It doesn’t feel that long, but I think it has been. Sean is one of those friends that I am sad lives very far away. I have other friends that I wish lived that far away. Go figure.
We IM a few times a month and keep in touch, but it is hard when people are so far away. It will be good to see them.
We are planning on hitting Angelo and Maxis by my office for dinner. I will need to fast today to eat their later.
I got the air mattress from my parents last night so they have a place to sleep. I love that air mattress. I slept on it for almost 6 weeks when I moved to Baton Rouge. it is comfy. Just plug it in and hit the button and it inflates. Ah the joys of technology.
Jayson was going to goto Kingston today. Those plans have changed. He is still trying to find an apartment so he needs a few more days in the city. He leaves to go home Thursday so he can finish packing and officially move. he will be back after the 4th of July weekend.
Other change of plans include Halo night last night. We were going to John’s but when we were on the 7 train he called and said he would be later than anticipated. I didn’t want to wait 30-45 minutes on his front step at 9PM at night, so I got off the 7 at Woodside and took the rail road back to my house.
Jayson continued on to John’s house. I only assume he stayed to play. Dave was going to take him home since he is on vacation and has no where to be this week.
Sean & Kelly are still on for being at my place tomorrow. They are driving up from DC. They should be around by dinner time. They want to goto angelo and maxi’s by my work. We went there years ago and they both loved it so they wanted to go again. I could take them to a better steak place but as Sean says, don’t it is tried and true, and they haven’t been there in a while.
For my fathers day we took my dad to dim son. I can’t spell it. He loves that stuff. He extra special gift was that Morgan slept over last night with my mom and dad. Oh my sister did also, but I don’t think that was as big a deal as Morgan being there.
We all went out for brunch, except mike. he had an overnight shift at the CCU. Carrie and the baby are doing dinner with him after he sleeps. I went with my parents to their customary sunday dinner, pizza at my dad’s favorite place. they are such creatures of habit these days. I guess that is good.
I tried to fix my dad’s printer, but it looks like the motor is jammed or something mechanical screwed up. I told him it is not worth trying to fix a 4 year old $100 ink jet printer. He doesn’t think he needs it anyway. he will print color stuff at work. if he needs a printer he will let me know. I may just give him my old laser printer and get one that works on my mac. not sure yet. Money for the next couple of months may be tight with the move, so I want to save for a while. that means no major purchases unless I go on an ebay selling spree.
I finally got approved for my new apartment. It took them long enough. I move on the 15th of July. I can’t wait. I now have to call and order cable, electric, etc. I also need to cancel my old stuff. I also have to get movers. My sister is going to give me the number of her movers. The ones I used to get all my furniture in my place were good, but it was expensive. I want a flat rate, and not T&M.
Now I have to go through 3 more weeks at my current place. I am inpatient. Now that everything is a done deal, I want to just move.
I am going through my place throwing out old stuff that I don’t think I want. Moving gets you to clean up. For me I just don’t want to move crap that I don’t really need.
This blog entry was written while listening to Promises from the album “Euphoria” by Def Leppard
I called today to verify that I passed my credit check on my new apartment. Well they weren’t done with it yet. Not sure if that is a bad sign or if they are just slow on the paperwork. The lady said to call tomorrow and check again. I don’t anticipate any problems but because of what I do I become pessimistic unless I see positive results. I don’t just assume.
On a good note Jayson claims he found a nice place. He is now working out the details of it. He should hopefully know in a few days if the deal will work out.
now all we both have to do is pack and actually move. It is also interesting that Dari at work is also moving in 2 weeks. We are all shifting around. Of course Dari is going further down town, while jay and I are looking at the upper east side. Jay will go anywhere but the current place he likes is upper east side.
More updates as they progress…
This blog entry was written while listening to I Dare You To Move from the album “Learning to Breath” by Switchfoot
Weirdness abound today. Well maybe just weird irony. Let me explain. Kai was down from Kingston for the day (see previous post). While we were working we were discussing our team, old and current employee’s. It was so hot in my office that I fled with Kai to a cube by our portable AC units. Jayson was crazy and held out in the office. Since we were all so hot we decided to go out for some ice cream.
On the way out we ran into Keith. Turns out he came by to get some softball equipment we had. The irony in that?
When we came out of the building he was talking to Mitch and one or two other people. I didn’t stop to say anything. I just waved when we left the building. I wanted to go over and talk to him. I just don’t know what to say. I don’t hold any hurt feelings. I just don’t know if he still has issues. The last time we spoke it didn’t go very well. Not sure how it would have gone over if I actually tried to talk to him. To be honest I didn’t want to risk an argument. I just don’t want to deal with one. I would like to resolve some open “issues” but I realized over 2 months ago that their will be no resolution. I will live with that. Life is too short to dwell on that.
This blog entry was written while listening to Our Lives from the album “Two” by The Calling
I got allot done today. Some days I get allot done, but it doesn’t feel that way. The majority of days feel that way. It is the nature of what I do that the work I do in a day is not always (almost never) what I plan on doing when I get up in the morning. I mean some of what I plan on doing usually gets done, but there are always things that pop up.
Today I was able to work through my back log of issues. I got allot of the requests done. I only have a few more to clear out. I am under 10 issues in my “ticket box”. that is good for me. That does not include the 57 open tasks my department has. I am just talking about issues that crop up throughout the day.
I also was able to go out for lunch with cari and jayson. We went to the Old Town Tavern. it was nice. We don’t normally get to go out for lunch.
I am off to home to do my laundry, and take a nap. I have to be up by 1AM to do some work on our Fulfillment servers. I need to put them on our automated update schedule.
I hope I can nap. But I am not holding my breath.
Friday I went looking for an apartment again, and I found something I loved. It was in my price range. Near the subway, had a doorman, and even had a health club and pool in the complex. Basically everything I wanted and more. I was surprised to find I could afford what I got, in Manhattan. I didn’t think it was possible.
I signed papers last friday. I brought my deposit of a first month’s rent and the security deposit. I now await final approval. The building needs to finish running my credit check. I am not worried about that, but I still don’t have a definitive yes or no yet. That is what drives me crazy.
I am ending up eating the cost of a deposit I put down on a place on Tuesday. I am not happy about that, but if I ate the $400 deposit, I can goto the nicer place. The original apartment I tried to get had a small bedroom, and the building was not as nice. I think I am definitely upgrading in my choose.
I am very excited. I heard good things about the location and the building. It is a small world since Mark from work also lives in the same building, and Molly who used to work with us also lives there. So far I have heard only positive things from people that have lived there.
The commute will be about 20-30 minutes. On the long end of what I wanted to do, but it is all one train. And the train stops close to work and to the new apartment. It looks like there is places to eat and buy stuff nearby also.
My issue is that I have to wait till July 15 to move in. It saves me from paying a full month of double rent, and I am happy about that, but I want to get the move over with already. I have been wanting to do this since late April. I like to move fast on stuff like this. Oh well. For now I can just plan and prepare for the move.