Name: Mark
Age: 19 (03.05.85)
Ethnicity: Filipino
Location: Irvine, CA
School: UCI - 2nd year English major
E-mail: maalvare@uci.edu
AIM: Mark3y Mark
Other People
:: abby
:: aj
:: amanda
:: annie
:: ben
:: cheri
:: christine
:: denise
:: donald
:: emma
:: erick
:: erika
:: gail
:: grace
:: irene
:: jeanelle
:: joe
:: kathy
:: kim
:: krin
:: linda
:: margie
:: marikka
:: melissa
:: skeeter
:: takashi
:: vince
:: wynonah
:: xerina
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
My check engine light (CEL) came on today. It first did this back in August. Back then, I took it to the dealer, and paid them $80 to reset the ECU (i.e. unplug and replug the battery). So the next couple of times the light went off, I just reset it myself and it would go away. Now, I reset the ECU, but the CEL STILL comes on. I checked the code and it was CEL 07 (the same as before) - throttle angle/bad TPS. I'm gonna try to have a look at the TB if i can (no tools down here in Irvine) this weekend, and hopefully figure something out. If not, I might be stuck having to buy a new TB, which will cost a pretty penny at around $700. Eh. Let's hope that turns out OK.
Phew...pretty tired.
Sorry for not making it to the Grudge on Friday. I just got called by Best Buy to come in for orientation on Saturday. It was supposed to end at 2 PM yesterday, but it ended up going a little longer than expected, and because of that I didn't get to go to friendship games either. Hope you guys enjoyed yourselves.
Well first off, just wanted to wish Skeeter (a.k.a. Mike, Flamer, Conservative Douchebag, etc.) a very happy birthday. Hope everything's going well for you over there in Indiana bro. I left you a message on Facebook because I didn't know how to reach you by phone, LoL. Have fun today, get wasted, Well it's midterm season again, and so far I've taken my Bio 35, and my Poli Sci 71 midterms. I'm hoping I did well on both, but I'm feeling a little better about the Poli Sci one, since it was the kind of test where if you know the facts, you can bullshit your way through it (well, at least I hope it was). I knew the Bio material, but the professor is really tricky with the way she words her questions, so I may have run into a little trouble. Latest
post Arisara came to stop by yesterday,
which was nice since I haven't seen her since last school year. She's
officially the first person outside of family to visit the new apartment
(too bad Takashi, you had your chance :-p). We just chilled a bit,
played a little guitar, and went to eat at some Japanese place for dinner. I'm kinda nervous about my interview at
Best Buy tomorrow, mainly because I need to call them to make sure that
the interview is set at 5:30 PM, like I think it is, and not 4:30 or
even 3:30. Hopefully it goes well. I really could use a job right now. I
mean, the chicken pot pies and hot pockets I bought at Costco last
weekend are nearly all gone, and too be honest, you get tired of the same
food day in and day out. With a little money, maybe I can actually eat
something that hasn't been microwaved to a crispy texture in 3 minutes :-p.
Well I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow. Earlier post That doesn't mean that I'm just gonna leave
this site to rot though. I'm still learning how to use stuff like Photoshop
and Dreamweaver and Flash real well, and maybe if I get good enough I can
put some stuff up. I'll be adjusting stuff here and there, too, so what you
see now isn't necessarily gonna be what you see tomorrow. Oh well, you
didn't need to know all this, LoL. Enjoy yourselves.
On a better note, I started work at Best Buy today. A lot of it was four hours of standing around watching the cashiers, but I did get to run the register a couple of times. Cash registers are pretty much the same thing as what I had to work with when I was at the bank, but it feels weird because you don't have the glass. There's a whole bunch of functions on the computer that I still need to learn, but hopefully I won't need to get too versed in it, since I'll be working in the wireless/digital imaging section anyway. The cashier that trained me, Lisa, was a second year management major at Cal State Long Beach. She was a pretty cute asian girl too....*SCORE*...haha. But yeah, just did some training for four hours. I come in on Sunday for my first full 8-hour shift, so that should be interesting.
Well, I have an essay to write, take it easy people.
MarkDaSPARKNotes: Mark needs to check out his CEL, started training at best buy with a cute girl from CSULB, and is off to write his essay.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Orientation was pretty cool, and it was, effectively, my first day on the job. I got to meet all the other new hires. The thing is that we're all temporary/seasonal, which means they pretty much hired as to fill in during the busy holidays. They told us that about 70% of us would be terminated after the holidays. Basically, I gotta compete and stay on top of things if I wanna have a chance to stay. We'll see what the next couple of months bring. It seems like a REALLY CHILL place to work (and I can't emphasize that enough). The people here are all REAL friendly, and the cool thing is that it's a genuine benevolence, not the faks comraderie/teamwork shit you find at other places. Also, even though I'm only a seasonal per se, I do get discounts. It really depends on what the item is, but for some of the stuff I'm looking to get the discounts are INSANE. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to my time here, however long (or short) that may be.
I got a call from my mom and was told to go to the valley for my cousin Grace's 18th surprise birthday party. I missed the initial "SURPRISE", since I went to move my car and got trapped outside when she suddenly got there. In any case, it was a real chill party (I'll save happy birthdays for her real birthday on the 29th...happy birthday to her older sister, Gail though :-D). It was weird being one of the oldest ones there, but I guess something that I guess I'm gonna have to get used to. I don't think I'll be getting any younger anytime soon. But I'll save that insight for the next update...sorry for dragging this on longer than necessary :-p.
MarkDaSPARKNotes:Mark apologizes to everyone for not being able to go to watch the Grudge and not being able to go to friendship games; had a interesting orientation at Best Buy and is lookin forward to working there, and enjoyed Grace's surprise birthday party, while wanting to wish her sister Gail a happy 20th....*phew....took long enough...haha.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
get laid (oops...haha :-p), and play hold 'em or something.
Back here in the real world, classes are going by pretty well so far I think. I got the results of the first Bio 35 midterm back, and I was one point shy of an A! ONE FUCKING POINT! Argh...I'm pissed...but then again, considering that that's the best grade I've gotten in a college science class so far, it's not TOO bad...haha. The Sociology 179(Vietnam War) class has its midterm multiple choice next week, and the take home essay was handed out last night. The instructors said it should take about 4 hours to do, so knowing me, pretty much my whole weekend :-p. But we'll drive that car when we get it started. For now I'm working on a case brief for Poli Sci 71A(Law). It's on some case called Katzenbach v. McClung, and it's not going so well at the moment. Maybe I should stop this and get back to that....
MarkDaSPARKNotes:Mark wishes Skeeter a very happy birthday, thinks school is going pretty well, and still has a case brief to do.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
I also rearranged my room the other night. If you guys have been here before. Wait, that's none of you...LoL. Let me rephrase that. If any of you saw the pictures from a couple of weeks ago, try to remember that image. I turned my bed against the wall the window in the corner, and I put the desk between the bed and the closet. It leaves me a lot more room to work with now, so that digitial piano I've been looking to buy will fit perfectly. I can actually watch TV now if I wanted to put one on the dresser. I'll try to put a pic or two up if I have time.
MarkDaSPARKNotes: Mark is done with two midterms and has two to go; rearranged his room to make more space; and thinks you guys really need to come down sometime :-p.
Wednesday, October 6, 2004
Well, changed things up a bit around here.
For now, I'm trying to keep it as simple as I can. Sure, I guess it looks
kinda like the Xanga format, but I guess it makes it easier to update. The
truth is, I'm really looking into gettin a webserver and domain name
(something like markdaspark.com) if it's not TOO expensive. The Angelfire
host is great, but I really someplace I can store my pictures a) to share em
with you guys, and b) in case my computer crashes or needs to be
reformatted. I guess I'll try to put the picture section I had before up,
but until I can figure out how to get it all running smoothly without taking
up to much space and bandwith, I guess posting three random pictures on the
right will have to do for now --->
Ma and Max at my cousin's party
Karaoke is the best!
Me, Amanda, and AJ
Me and Arisara