Please...just shut up!!!
Mood:  down
Topic: Grad School
Oh boy!

I had my other class tonight...this one is gonna stink!! It is a three hour class...that would normally be bad enough, but this class, which is titled Operations Management, seems to be more about Statistics so far. The professor yapped for over an hour about terminology and formulas. It is a good thing that I brought my laptop to class or I would have been asleep!

As it was, I only zoned in occasionally...just to see what he was talking about. When I'd recognize a term or two, I'd zone back out again. I only really zoned in when he mentioned the word calculus...I thought this class might contain a bit of a challenge, but then he said we didn't have to really know how to use the formulas because computers have made that irrelevent...then I zoned out again.

But at least there isn't a final exam...although there is another damned group project!

It begins again!
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Grad School
Well, school has started up again...the class I have so far should be fairly easy for me since it is about networking, and that has been part of a previous job. But having to learn it from a book and repeat it properly may make it a little more difficult.

We'll see what my other class is like on Wed.

So close!
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Life
I had to show up for jury duty today. There were 9 cases at the start of the day that needed to select juries, but by the end of the day 6 of those cases had been settled and I was picked to be on the final jury selection...as an extra.

I was number 23 in the jury selection process, and they originally sat 21 as potential jurors. So I sat in the audience with the other candidates and just watched the questions and procedure. It was interesting for sure, then we were dismissed while the lawyers tried to pick a jury for the trial. When we came back in, they had chosen a jury from the first pool of jurors, so I wasn't needed. Next time I'd like to get picked...if the selection process was that involved, I can't wait to see what am actual trial is like.

Another jury summons
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Life
I got another jury summons. I'm supposed to appear the Monday I get back from vacation...so I guess that's good timing.

My juror number is much lower this time, so there is a better chance that I might get to participate. As I stated earlier...I'm looking forward to seeing how the process really works. And how terribly wrong Hollywood gets it.

Those ads are more like it.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Politics
I finally figured out how to stop those stupid Anti-Bush, Anti-War, Anti-America ads from showing up on my site. I just loaded the keywords section up with magic words like Republican, Conservative, Pro-Bush, Pro-America...and the ads disappeared!! It's amazing what a little optimism does when it shines the light on Liberalism! It forces it to run and hide.

God I love that!

A deal at last!!!
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Sports
After losing a season, hockey is back!! Games start again in October...assuming that both sides ratify the deal. Now I just have to plan to be back in Tampa on opening night!!!

This is actually a bitter-sweet moment for me...there will be hockey this year, but I will be four hours away from it! ;(

I'm glad that's over with.
Topic: Grad School
I had to give a presentation on our "working" project yesterday. I spent a lot of time the last week working on it, and even though I wasn't able to get it working completely, I was able to BS enough during my speech that I think we did ok. Now I just have to get it doing what I said it could do!!

Nice Holiday
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Life
The long weekend was nice! But man do I hate having to come back up here!

Luckily I was able to get most of my shift covered on Sunday night so that I was able to call in and get the rest of it excused. And since I didn't work on Monday, that gave me an extra day off...which was nice.

However, like after every long weekend...I hate my job even more! I wish there was an easy way to find a new job...but it seems to take forever to hear anything in this town.

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!!