Hell yeah!!
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Sports
Unfortunately I had class during the banner raising and first period of the Lightning's first home game last night. So I taped it, but I was able to watch the second and third periods. It was really nice to have fresh hockey on tv again!!!

I'm watching the tape now, the ceremony was nice, and right now I'm about half way through the first period right now...the Lightning look like they haven't even missed a beat during the last year.

I can't wait to get back down to Tampa so I can go to some games!!

Hockey! Hockey! Hockey!
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Sports
I saw the other day on the Lightning's website that all of the regular season games will be on tv...either a national broadcast or on Sunshine!! That's great...at least I'll have the opportunity to see them all.

But I still need to try to get down there to see a few in person!

Summer Semester grades.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Grad School
I forgot to report on my grades for the summer semester. I got an A- and a B. The A- came in the class that I was hoping to get a B in...so that was a nice surprise.

The B came in a class where the professor was a complete dumb ass. This woman has some supposed real world experience in IT. But she was going to fail my group because she couldn't figure out that her particular computers problems couldn't possibly be addressed in our documentation. If the installation manual for any given piece of software was taking in to account every possible error for every possible computer problem, no one would bother reading them, and then no one would bother printing them.

This woman knew that she was restricted on her computer from installing new software by the network administrator, but tried to blame us because our installation documentation didn't tell her how to contact some one to install it. Then she didn't have a data file that was not only required...but was the sole reason I had to write the damn program to begin with...it was part of step one in running the program. She still tried to run the program, and said that our program had errors. Yeah...user errors!!!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have her in any other classes...if I do, I will walk out and drop the class. There is nothing that woman can teach me that I want to learn!

Can you believe it's been four years!
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Life
I spent yesterday on an emotional roller coaster...but mostly I was just a mess. We watched three or four things on 9/11, and I just can't help but feel like I'm watching it happen live on TV again. It still feels like it was just yesterday that I watched the WTC collapse onto itself, and that giant wall of smoke and debris looming down the streets of New York engulfing anyone not fast enough to stay ahead of it.

I hope that most Americans watched some of the specials yesterday, because it seems like so many have forgotten about it...and forgotten why we are in the middle east and what we are trying to accomplish.

It is so obvious to me...just by looking at the actions of the terrorists. The terrorists know full well what is going on in Iraq, and what they have to lose. If we are successful in establishing a stable democracy in the heart of the middle east, their way of life (if that is what it can be called) is history. Using the fall of the Taliban and Saddam as examples should be proof that the majority of Muslims in the middle east region would rejoice at the opportunity for freedom.

This is why the insurgency...they should be called what they are, terrorists...are flocking from all over to Iraq, because they can not afford to lose this battle. They have shifted the aim of their attacks away from US soldiers and onto the Iraqi citizens in a futile attempt to scare them from participating in their new government.

We can only hope that the Iraqi people are fully committed to the peace and prosperity that a stable democratic government will provide for them, and that they can see through the tactics of the cowards that try to stop the process. If they are successful, America and the civilized world will be a much safer place.

Oh come on!
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: Politics
I guess it was only a matter of time before the black leadership in this country started crying. I heard through some co-workers that people in New Orleans were whining that the government didn't give them enough warning to get out. Now seriously, did they never watch a TV, or listen to a radio, or read a paper, or even talk to anyone who had? I find that hard to believe.

There was also a mandatory evacuation order given a day or two before the storm hit...that should be plenty of time to get out. But the black caucus and Al Sharpton have their ugly mugs all over the news complaining about the slow response, and the media coverage of the barbaric acts of the mostly black population of New Orleans. But the media isn't to blame...if people are shooting at those folks trying to bring in aid and help people...then that needs to be reported. If the black caucus doesn't like it, and thinks that it is just the media trying to perpetuate a stereotype...then perhaps they should try and change the black American culture. That culture breeds violence...ever listen to rap music or hip hop? Ever seen a "black" movie? There is tons of violence and horrible examples of how to live your life...but those ways are applauded as being "street" or whatever. That is for another post on another day though...

And then there are some of the serious wack jobs on the left saying that Bush somehow tried to stop aid and help from getting in...because he doesn't like black people. Really? Didn't he declare the area a disaster area before the storm even hit? I remember hearing that and thinking, at the time, that seemed odd to be doing that before the storm even touched land. That is much sooner than usual.

And then you had the dumb-asses that stayed, in a city below sea level, and then were somehow surprised that the city flooded. Duh! And after that, they are surprised that with no power, water, telephone or cell towers...or roads for that matter...that it took a couple of days for supplies to get in. Now I don't think that you have to be the head cashier at Wal-mart to figure out that if there is a storm coming, the supplies need to be moved out of the way of the storm, and then afterward, they need to be brought back in once the roads have been cleared of debris. Well, this time the roads were completely flooded, and I'm sure there was plenty of debris that needed to be cleared before even getting to the New Orleans area. All of that takes time...could have been done faster, I don't know, I'm not there but...

On top of all that, whoever was in New Orleans that was shooting at cops, and firefighters and doctors are more to blame for the slow trickle of supplies that got in immediately. I wouldn't have gone in either if I knew that there were morons shooting at people that were trying to bring in help. If the people of New Orleans want to blame anyone for the slow response...start with those people!

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!!