First night as a PAT
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Work
Last night was my first time on the phones as a PAT agent. That's a customer service agent for the company I work for...but I also answer calls as a Live Operator for our customers' customers.

Anyway, I was working from 9:30PM to 2:30AM...exactly the hours I wanted because the call volume is very low compared to daytime hours...and FEMA kinda burned me out on the phones. So last night I did lots of transcriptions...which is a service we offer where customers will setup a line that gathers information from their customers, and then we listen to the messages and transcribe the important parts to forward to the customer every morning. Normally I did an average 7 an hour as a FEMA agent, but last night I did a total of like 235 or something like that. Because call volume was nice and low, I went almost an entire hour without a call...and I'll be getting graveyard pay, an extra $2 an hour to do this!!

GTA 3
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: PS2/Games
Well, I've been here by myself for a few weeks...and as you can see I'm really keeping up with the postings!!

I've started playing Grand Theft Auto 3 again...since I never finished it. And now I'm nearly done with it...only about 20% left to go. I also have GTA Vice City that I haven't played at all, so I guess I'll hit that next. And by then, hopefully Socom 3 will be out!!

Right on the kisser!!
Topic: Life
This morning, Frankie, one of my larger birds, decided that he wanted to excerise his lungs at 7:15 AM!! So I got up to see if there was something wrong...no food, no water, he was hurt...but nothing, he just wanted to scream apparently. When I approached the cage, both he and Lola started to really scream loud...and constant. And then they flew into the other room and landed on the playpen. So I followed them in and when they landed, they got quiet.

So I'm standing there talking to them, and when I tried to give Frankie a kiss on the wing...which he never has a problem with...he bit the crap out of my lip! That hurt like hell! Luckily he wasn't able to get his bottom beak under my lip or he probably could have bitten through it. As it was, he basically just pinched it really good...and broke skin!

Needless to say, I retreated to the bathroom to inspect it...and to put some distance between my fist and Frankie!! All is ok now though, I still don't know what his problem was, but he is being much better now.

That was close!!
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Grad School
Boy did I have a scare today...I've been keeping my schoolwork on my flash drive, and when I plugged it in today...it wasn't recognized by my computer.

A 1 page and a 6 page paper were on it that are due tomorrow. So when I got to school, I tried it on a computer there...and nothing. So now I'm starting to get a little worked up...and I decide that when I get home, I'll fix the Doyle way!!!

So, I get home and after a few minutes, I got it cracked open to look at the insides. As I'm looking at it, I happen to notice a little tiny resistor that broke off and is sitting in the casing. So, I use a pair of tweezers, and a magnifying glass and discover where and how it fits on the circuit board. I then plugged the naked drive into the USB, and pressed down on the resistor. Luckily, I was able to make a connection long enough to copy my files over to my hard drive.

I currently have it glued on, but I will need to solder it back on at some point.

Nice break
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Life
The holiday weekend was a nice break from this town.

But it all started up again pretty much when I got back into town. I had class last night after getting in. It wasn't too bad, and we even got to leave early, so that was nice.

As it turns out, I only take FEMA calls today and tomorrow, since I'm not scheduled for Friday...so that is nice I guess. But on Friday I have to meet with my sponsors for my project....that should be loads of fun!

Socom 3
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: PS2/Games
I have seen some movies for the new Socom coming out...it looks great! And 32 players per room online!! I can't wait for it to come out!

Star Wars rocks!
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life
All I can say is...SWEET!

I wanted to go and see it when it opened up on Thursday, but I had school work to do. So I was using it as motivation to finish my project update and my paper. So, after class yesterday night, I went and watched it by myself.

I thought the movie overall was great. There were some pretty cheesy parts, but what movie doesn't have chessy parts? This movie really filled in some holes from Ep 2 to Ep 4, plus, I liked the way they handled a few things. And when Anakin falls to the dark side...it is a serious plung!!

I did read a review or two before going, and in one of them, the dumbass was complaining about the love scenes! I mean come on, this is Star Wars for God's sake!! Not Padme does Coruscant!!

One for the record books!
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Work
Oh wow, I took a phone call this morning, my first call as a matter of fact that went like this:

I answered and asked for his name...then this old man, in a mean voice, asked why I needed his information already. So I told him that it was for contact information in case we needed to call him for anything...which is true...but at this point I'm thinking that this call is gonna be horrible!

Then this geezer goes into some tirade about the problems in his local government...for a few minutes. Then when I was able to squeeze a word in, and try to find out what he wanted....because had just been babbling about crap that didn't pertain to any reason why some one would call us...he got upset that I couldn't answer his question other than "that needs to be taken up at your local level sir."

So about this time, I'm thinking that maybe this call could be some fun instead, so I start screwing with him a little. I poke and prod him in his "government conspiracy" bone...which sounded like it was rather large...and he goes off about the war in Iraq. Then he gives me a 5 minute history lesson on the US dollar bill and where the serial numbers come from and who has his name on more money than anyone else. And as he is going through the list of which mint was given which letter of the alphabet to represent them on the serial number, I finally stopped him at "L"!!

Then I politely asked him what in the hell that had to do with flood zones!? He then went into some tirade about China and oil prices...then we hit the on the "worthless sacs of crap on welfare" - his words. And after that I kinda faded out because I just wasn't having as much on the call anymore. But then a supervisor started to listen in because the call had been going on for over 30 minutes now. And he came by and just laughed.

After another attempt to get this geezer back on track as to why he called in the first place...I started to catch him in his lies. And when I explained the process for what he was calling about...and he knew that I knew he was full of crap...he was actually quiet for a few seconds and then tried to backtrack. But I stayed on him, because I tasted blood, and then I set him up to lie to me some more and then shot him down again.

Then he went off on another tangent about government corruption, which who can argue with that?? but I was really getting tired of this call by then. So I forcefully asked him three times in a row if there was anything that I could actually help him with, and then ended the call....48 minutes after started!! My longest call previously was 40 something, but more like 43.

Then...to top it all off, my very next call was a 30 minute Spanish call with a woman that would not listen to a word I was trying to tell her...and people wonder why I stay at my job! I get to screw with people on the phone....and I'm not only starting to like it...but I'm starting to get really good at it! :P

PS3
Mood:  energetic
Topic: PS2/Games
News about the PS3 have been coming out the last couple of days...I'm excited. Although I won't be buying one right away. I usually wait a year or so for the price to come down some. But the technology that the new systems (PS3, Xbox 360 & the new Nintendo) are using are gonna make the games incredible. I've seen some cut scenes from a few games for the new systems...if the game play graphics are anywhere near the cut scenes...WOW!

Another semester over, and a new one just begun.
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Grad School
I ended up getting an A and a B+ last semester. Not bad I guess.

Anyway, I've been complaining about my classes not really being new material, and being mostly review. Well, this semester I have a class that is all case studies...and long ones too!! The first set of articles are (date, length): 1985, 12 & 1993, 15 & 1996, 4 & 2002, 2. So most of what I had to read through is obsolete and outdated. But next week's reading is three articles and almost 100 pages!! I don't read that much in an entire semester...let alone one week!!

I'm not sure how this class is gonna work out, if I can somehow pull out a B...I'll be happy!

How's your hammer hangin?
Mood:  energetic
Topic: TV
Rock on!!

New Family Guy episodes...I love that show!! And American Dad isn't bad either.

I've been watching the Family Guy reruns on adult swim on the cartoon network the last few months...and I was definitely ready for some new ones. I can't wait for more!

New Survivor winner
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: TV
Well, Tom ended up winning this season of Survivor. I'm not sure how I feel about that...he was kind of annoying. Mostly because he talked a lot but never really said anything.

Although I don't think that Katie deserved to be in the final two, Tom did play the game well. So I guess I'm fine with it...not like I could change it anyway!

Turned down again!
Mood:  down
Topic: Work
I'm trying to figure out that age old problem of getting experience without a job, and not being able to get a job without experience.

It is really annoying to go up for an "entry level position" and get turned down because I have no experience. Isn't the point of an entry level position supposed to be for people who have no experience?

I'm just hoping to find a winning lottery ticket on the sidewalk now...

One more down
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life
Well, we had TKD belt testing last week, and I am now a yellow belt. One more down, plenty to go. For this next testing session, we have started working on some spinning kicks. I may have some trouble with these because I have already gotten dizzy doing a few of them. But I think once I start hitting them right, it'll be pretty cool.

Did I hear the fat lady??
Topic: Grad School
Well, I've been done with my classes since Thursday...and it sure is nice...no projects to work on right now & no reports to pull out of my ass. And I can spend more time getting ready for the TKD belt testing tomorrow. I've been practicing with my bow staff for the last few days.

I know that I got an A in one class, my database management class, because I got a 100 on the first test, 96 on the second and a 100 on the last one. And I got a 100 on my project and homeworks. But I'm right on the edge of an A in my project management class, so we'll just have to wait and see...