Leaving on a jet plane

Well today is the day for me. I get to hop on a plane and set sail for a new job in a new town in a new state with some old friends. If I didn't see you, sorry. Wish me luck.

Oh. Good luck Ish.

Some more farewells

Yesterday, my parents invited over some of the family and friendds to bid me off. It was awesome. I never complain about seeing family. Long ago, moving away would have been difficult, but with fast communication, it not nearly as bad. I will miss seeing them, but I will still be able to hear them.

So I have been collecting email addresses of folks around here that I know so I at least have that as a means of keeping in the loop. Grabbed one of Fish Store Don. I know that isn't his primary job but did it to keep his tanks stocked, but I would visit with him just about Sunday until he left the fish store when he became the president of the local FOP. And since I wasn't able to get his contact information before, I got it now.

So yesterday we had a cookout. Good old burgers and dogs. Love that stuff. Although in Seattle I will probably have to go with salmon burgers and salmon dogs. :)

Move status

Things yet to do:

1. Finish cleaning
2. Take care of fish and tanks
3. Finalize realtor stuff
4. Get car move finalized
5. Get stuff move finalized
6. Pack our necessary stuff
7. Move

So there we have it. I am sure I am missing stuff. Really feels like a lot to do. Cleaning will take a couple more days. We through out a lot of stuff so now it is just moving to locations so that the realtor can come in and get photos and final appraisal. From what he said, the market here right now is very, very slow. So it really depends on how I work the budget as to it we can wait out a better market. But I have concerns that the market may not get better. Got in my last xbox live for a while so that was fun. I ended up quitting early as my broadband was sucking. Tried to join Matches, but he was playing new maps that I had not downloaded yet. When I got back on, he was not there.

House sales: Scrub-a-dub-dub

So I have spent the last few days cleaning up my house as best as I can to make it presentable for a realtor and "guests". Let me tell you, more to do than I thought possible. We have filled 5.5 cubic yards of dumpster to date with junk that doesn't work and with empty boxes and other crap. If we could give it away to goodwill or other places, we have done so, but there is always junk that you collection.

Did you know that I had 2 dot-matrix printers? They may work, but I wasn't going to futz with them. Into the trash they go. 2 dead ink jets went in the trash as well. Soon I will cut down my keyboard collection from 12 to 5. Just so much stuff that makes no sense to keep.

Today was another boss's last day. Again, like my last boss, I have a ton of respect for and know that they will succeed in the things they do. Hopefully I can live up to the experiences they have both provided me. My other ex-boss hasn't been fired yet, so cheers!

So I decided to tell a story at my current boss's exit coffee, which covered the time that he came back from vacation and took the whole department down with an illness. Sometimes it is hard to judge the content of the story to be told as the audience is not reacting to much. But all in all, best of luck Jay! Don't let Sara beat you up too much.

Earlier proof of my half-fro 

Proof that at one time I did in fact have hair! 

The Start of Something Big

Well, I can finally mention some news of note. I put in my two week notice at Whirlpool Corporation on Friday. I have been working there for about 5.5 years permanently, but I had interned there as well since Feb of 1996. So after almost 10 years, I decided it was time to experience something different.

I would not stop anyone from working for Whirlpool. From what I saw in the time I was there, was most of their employees were treated well. And the experiences you gain are wonderful.

So, now I am moving to Seattle to work for Amazon.com. I am very excited and very nervous. I definitely have a concern that I am getting in over my head, going from a web developer in research at a manufacturer to working as a software developer for production systems at the largest online retailer with some of the brightest minds in the business. This is my first real test and I look forward to acing it.

To be honest, the biggest worry for me right now is selling the house. But that is mostly out of my control. I have done what I could in the last 3 years to make changes in the house for the better. But we shall see.

Fireworks and video games

St. Joseph's July 4th Fireworks

So another July 4th. It was pretty crowded at the beach last night. Sometime when things aren't crowded I should like to take my tripod and try to get some good fireworks shots. Basically I set the exposure to maximum and set the lighting for sunset of my Minolta E500.

So lately I have been playing a couple of new games. First off I picked up Guild Wars. Now I haven't had much time to play, but from what I have, it is a darn fun game. Haven't had much human interaction time, but the quests are interesting and the world is absolutely beautiful. A recommended pickup.

The other will likely bring some ridicule. Battlefield 2. You see, I picked it up and thought I might be able to run it. By the look of the requirements on the box, I was cutting it pretty close. So I went home and checked into my system (in the old days I would have known what every part on the machine was) and it looked like I wouldn't be able to run it due to a inadequate video card. So I bitched and moaned to my friends and coworkers who bought the game with me. Well, after a couple of days, I decided to install it, just to see how bad it would be. It runs. Not great, but it does run. I am running maximum res for my LCD panel, but lowest graphic settings and it runs smooth as glass. But again, haven't done much playing but man is it fun! Ah future addictions...

Death of a water heater

So I have had the last few days off of work. One for holiday and the other to take care of removing a dead water heater. Which I decided to hire done versus having to remove it myself. Would have been able to but it would have taken all day. So I now have a new high efficiency water heater to go with all the other things I have upgraded on the house. Also removed the dead garbage disposal and put in a straight pipe. All this in the name of selling the house soon.

Also I have been trying to get grass to grow where the tree in my front yard used to be. Well low and behold, this morning I have little grass sprouts. I thought I was going to lose that battle as I have tried to grow it for about a week with nothing to show till this morning. Also the other project I tackled was repainting the trim in the front of the house. Thank Lowes and wonder of color matching to make a darn close match to what was there.

Oh yeah. The dead water heater technically still ran, it was just the puddle on my floor that made me upset. It had a leak in the bottom of the tank.

So do you know of anyone who wants to buy a house in southwest michigan? Or do you know someone who wants a fish tank or 5?

Karaoke and Poker

Where can we find a bigger waste of our survival roots than to look at what we do for entertainment? So last weekend, I went out to a Karaoke contest to support my friend. For once I was glad not to have signed up. These folks were pretty darn good. Not really that good, but out of the 17 contestants, I would have looked like some yokel who thought yodelling was back in style. Needless to say, my friend didn't win, although I thought he did well. I am not sure what the judges had for criteria, but my friend was able to mimic the artist he was singing. Or maybe they thought he should have used more challenging songs. If nothing I thought he should have placed top 3. Ah well. I am proud of him for getting up and trying and I think he should continue. If he got lessons, I am sure he could kick everyones butt, just to pick up some good techniques.

Last night I decided to give away my money in a poker game. We did the standard texas hold'em. I wish we would have some other variants. But what can you do. I did not win a single hand all night. It was so bad that I could not have won a single hand all night. It was structured better, so there was no way I was going to bluff anyone out and the only good hand I had, someone else tied me on the river. So in the end, I lost my $20. So after poker nights I am down $21.50. SUCK. I shouldn't have bought in for another set of hands.

Game Review: Jade Empire

What can I say? Just a phenomenal game. Bioware has to be the best RPG / Storytelling company out there right now. KOTOR and this were excellent as well as their roots of Baldur's Gate... but they just keep getting better.

First off, Jade Empire is similar to Fable in terms of combat. Lots of ducking and rolling. But otherwise, this had a story that was enjoyable and the combat was more enjoyable.

I always wonder in a review should I tell you anything of the story? Does it really matter? It may be better to tell you that it took about 24 hours of gameplay to complete it once. Or that they borrowed the light-side / dark-side ideas from KOTOR but placed it in open palm / closed fist. Experience is done in a standard way as well as leveling up, but the real point to leveling up is around your skills and techniques. By the end I had an army of techniques, but I honestly only used 3 skills heavily. And the game was not just a cake walk either. It came with some meat although the beginning is easy.

Simply put, if you have an Xbox, BUY THIS GAME. Unless you don't like good stories or role playing games.

5 out of 5 stars.

For a friend. Emily and her favorite mask. 

The Art of Sculpting a Shrubbery

With a good trimmer and a steady hand, even you can create even lines and a great contour. I have now owned my very own hedge for 3 years and each time I trim it down, I get a little bit better at making sure it doesn't look hideous. It acts as part of the border between my neighbors yard and mine, but definitely sits on my side (so my responsibility).

For all you newbie bush trimmers, I recommend going with the growth of the plant. For me, this means straight up and near the sides, slightly forward. This just makes it easy to take care of the branches that stick out. As for the top, I haven't got any good tips other than to go over it twice to make sure that you get all of it. I usually use a rake on it afterwords to get out any of the bits of plant in it.

Why am I writing about a shrubbery? I am really trying to not write about how my day is. Blogs tend to fall into such a rut of I ate cereal, I love so and so, I am just miserable, or some other diary associated thing. I will occasionally fall into that rut, but try not to.

Movie Review: Batman begins

Well, Batman began and began with a thunder. I was very impressed at the story and visual display of this movie. There was a general feel to the movie that was amazing and thrilling. What I found cool was the ability to set up the backdrop of Batman and Bruce Wayne without it feeling oppressive. Normally when they introduce a character and then move on to a main story it feels like there is two movies smashed together and neither feel right. This felt right.

Liam Neeson was simply amazing. He is just one of those charismatic guys that you can't stop watching. Amazing. Christian Bale however needed some help. He wasn't bad mind you, but I didn't get the feel of randomness out of Bruce Wayne nor did I get the sense of power or fear from Batman. Best Bruce Wayne is still Keaton and the best Batman is still Clooney even though those movies were perhaps the worst movies ever created. Worst. Uggg.

So what do I say? Resounding two thumbs up. 4.75 stars out of 5. Go See It!

Always good to see friends

Although it seems that the friends seem to be further and further away everytime you turn around. I can only look at the way it was years ago and people did not move far from "home." Now it is a regular occurence to do so. I look at what happened when I graduated from high school. People scattered to the four winds. Some folks stayed local, but many went where the scholarships took them. Fast forward to a new bunch friends in a college setting and get the same thing. First everyone is from a vast region and now you have to go where the jobs take you.

But, the good thing, is the friends still find a way to stay in touch even if once in a while, we forget to write for a while. Plus sometimes, like this weekend, one or the other will decide to make a trip. Thanks a bunch for the dinner. It was great.

Dad's birthday

Well today is my dad's birthday. So I am going over there to hang out celebrate, as his present hasn't made it in the mail. So much for overnight shipping. Submitted days ago at that.

So yesterday, my parents, grandma and me we to Gingerman raceway which is a small road track in South Haven, Michigan. It was viper day. We had a good time although I got a bit too much of sunshine so I am little bit crispy today. Not as bad as if I hadn't worn a hat though. It was a lot of fun though. I was a little surprised at the price though. It was $10 and I think we were the only spectators. Maybe if it was $5, they would get more spectators.

Anywho, Happy Birthday Dad.

Another tax payer gets ready to contribute... maybe

Jen's Graduation!

So Michelle and I just got back from our trip up north, which this time included Michelle's youngest sisters graduation. It was fun. They had me manning the bar with Michelle's middle sister's boyfriend. Oh the headache the next day.

As a note for those that attended the "Firefly" party. Those pictures are gone. I lost them.

sorry.

Like any good geek

So, tonight I saw Star Wars Episode III. I want to say that I was going in with low expectations. I tried awfully damn hard to lower my expectations fo the film, but I failed. But not completely. I went in just totally confused. And then in a matter of seconds, I had made up my mind and destroyed the entire popcorn staff.

Ok. I kid. About the killing that is. I entered unsure of what would be. Would I hate it or love it and in the end, I say neither. In the end, I enjoyed many scenes. I enjoyed the story. I felt what I think George Lucas wanted me to feel. Deep down Anakin still lived and that he was and still is a confused teenager trapped in so many lies.

What I hated. Dialog. Still. I also disliked that many scenes felt stilted and not fully fleshed out. Like he wanted one more movie to tie it together and just strung together the parts and pieces to attempt something greater, and missed. The acting felt better, but still vast room for improvement and I honestly don't blame the actors but the directing. Sometimes you should let the actors portray what they think the character would. The director is best when they explain the reasons and the actor believes, and vice versa as well. Hard line direction often leads to lack of full characterization.

Will you love this film? How the heck do I know? I will watch this again (on DVD, and pray that they have some extended scenes). I will hate Lucas, if he releases a special edition. Then my view that he has turned to the dark side will be complete. The evil money empire and it's Lord of the Sith.

So what do we have the 4, 5, and 6? We have 3 different versions that all minted fortunes and I fear the same for these as Lucas matures and his vision changes. I may believe that executives corrupted his vision for the films for original release, but I sure don't believe the special rerelease is his original vision. It is just a product of the time in between and the time long ago to create something not quite right.

So. Go spend the money and see. You may be disappointed, but you will at least be entertained if not enjoy it.

The Plague

Well strike me down and turn me into goo. Ok, it isn't that bad. Seems I went from sore throat to chest congestion in 2 days. Just makes it tough to talk. Not like I need to talk. I blame it on my friends, because . . . I . . . uh, don't hang out with enemies. Yeah, that was lame. Oh well. One of the sucky parts is a work pal is throwing a pirate party. I may have to miss the Pirate Party. Arrrrgggghhhh!

Anywho. Haven't written much. Always so many plans to write, most I just don't want to sit in front of a monitor lately when I get home from work.

Movies seen: Hitchiker's Guide. Good. Captures the spirit but misses the depth. Can't expect that in a short film though. And damn it talk about the towel!!!! Also saw Kingdom of Heaven, which has the surprising theme of tolerance in the guise of a crusade movie. I recommend it. I enjoyed it. Although something was missing, just can't put my finger on it. Cannibal the Musical. Very funny. Except my wife HATED it. I thought it was hot. Like a baked potato.

Home coding done? I am working through a C# irritation, well Windows forms irritation concerning dynamically updating a combo box. You can't do it. You have to use a data view. Not thrilled with that. I tried to code it up without my tutorial ridden web and got 90% there. Will continue it later. Also working on top secret project LUNCH. Will tell more as I get it closer to open source depositing.

Well, that is it. I want to say thanks to my friends that I invited. Sorry I could not invite you all, but well, I am bad at larger shindigs and organization.

Party all done

First off, sorry that I did not invite a bunch a folks from Tech. Kept it small, intimate and limited to the number of sleeping spaces I had available. Although sleeping was not really the in thing to do. What can I say? It was fun. It was about 1 block of fun!

In Aaron measurements.

Well the story goes that we chitchatted waiting for the Blogonoke bunch until Cory needed to solve a much needed FREE frosty fix. So we walked over there, and then separated where some went back to the house and the rest headed to Hollywood Video to pick up Cannibal the musical. Darn funny show. I mean hot like a baked potato. So after that I railroaded a couple of the party goers to watch some firefly. I know I haven't written about it before, but I do consider it a better show than Farscape, in that the characters seem a little more intelligent and as Ish put it best, "The main character has the scoundrel architype. Yeah," although that probably wasn't an exact quote. Folks gradually trickled off leaving my wife and I lonely and missing all the visitors again. You guys are the greatest.

On the stupid note. I forgot to call Amanda. I suck. When Andy and Cory left (which was much too early) I had been drinking and therefore I sucked.

I am going to attempt to write more frequently. And hopefully stuff that will be more useful to internet masses instead of mindless rants and more. Also, I will post pictures up to my main site from the party and if the Princess would like to send me her pics, I can get those up as well.