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  • The Trip Home

    So, I didn’t go in to the shop early yesterday morning.  When they called me on Monday, I had said to go ahead with everything, so there really wasn’t much I could say in the morning.  So, I didn’t hear back, and I didn’t hear back.  The whole time, I’m thinking how incredibly pissed I’m going to be when I didn’t get my truck back by the time they close at 5.  Well, I get a call at 4:15, and my truck is ready.  Thanfully for both them and me, the truck was finished yesterday.  It was exactly as much as they said it was going to be, when I got there too.  After thet guy went through the reciept and everything that had been done, I said, “I don’t think I should be charged for towing.”  The guy started to bring up the fact that it wasn’t his fault, so I asked to talk to the manager about it.  Well, the manager was sitting in an office behind the counter with the door open.  He apparantly heard everything and just said, “Give it to him.” 

    I don’t know if the guy helping me thought that I was personally attacking him this whole time or not.  He quickly because defensive as soon as I became irritated about the tow job, and when I asked for the refund.  However, as soon as it was cleared with the manager, he went back to being a nice guy.  It made totally no sense to me, but whatever.  I got the tow job off, and it was a fairly painless process.

    In other car news, I’m glad that there are 2 latches on hoods.  As I was driving down the freeway, the first one came loose.  Talk about scaring the crap out of you.  Driving ~77mph and see the hood jump 3 inches and start flappying.  Needless to say, I just reclosed it and didn’t have a problem the rest of the trip.

    Square One is all moved in, and for the most part totally unpacked.  The doors are on, and everything was set except for a few electical jack covers and finishing up the ethernet wiring.  All in all, it was definitely a productive 2 days.

  • God Dammit

    So, I’m writing this from my Aunt’s Mac.  Yes, I won’t be coming home tonight as originally expected.  If I could, I probably would, but as of right now it is physically impossible for me to drive home.  Yes, that’s right kids, my car is kaput.  So I drove the 4 hours up here, no problem.  I happened to pull into my Aunts driveway right before her kids.  Needless to say, we needed to swap cars so that they could get out in the morning.  So, I’m pulling out, and I start to turn the wheel.  I hear this thunk, so, thinking I just hit her curb, I start to pull forward.  I hear this nice grinding sound, like I picked up something from backing up and was dragging it.  I get out and look, it turns out that I didn’t pick up anything, but sure enough I was dragging something…my left side tire rod.  Joy.  I don’t think I can explain the joy I was feeling at that moment.  Well, being that it was Sunday night at 7pm, I had to wait till this morning to call anybody.

    This morning I call the car shop at 7:11am EST, 6am my time.  I haven’t seen 6am in about forever.  So, I tell them what’s going on and ask if they’ll be able to look at it today.  I kinda needed it, so if they would’ve said no, I definitely would’ve called someone else.  They said it wouldn’t be a problem, and that they’ll send a tow truck out in about an hour.  I’m thinking to myself, sweet, maybe this won’t be that big of a deal, and I’ll be able to head home tonight still. 

    So, by 11:30 I hadn’t heard back from them yet, so my Aunt and I decided to drive by the house to see if the car was still there.  Sure enough, still there.  Joy.  I give the shop a call again, and they tell me that the guy should be there in an hour. 

    I drive by again at 1.  Guess, what?  The car was still there.  Screw calling them, I drove down there and went in and talked to them.  They got on the phone with the tow company (a 3rd party company) and they were told there was a guy on his way right them.  Ok, so I’m thinking they’ll at least be able to look at it, and potentially start working on it.

    I haven’t heard from them by 4pm.  What the hell?  I give them a call, and yeah, they haven’t even started looking at it.  M*ther F*cker.  So, I drive myself down to the shop.  Synopsis of conversation follows:

    “Yeah, so I just called and found out that you haven’t even looked at my truck yet.  I called at 7 this morning asking for you to look at it as quickly as possible because I’m from out of town and need to drive home.  You told me it wouldn’t be a problem”

    “Yeah, the tow company didn’t get around to getting your car till after 1.  We called them multiple times about it.”

    I’m thinking to myself, “Right…you called 2x, because that’s how many times I bitched at you.”

    “Right, but I called you and you said you’d take care of it, which you didn’t.”

    “This isn’t our problem, you could’ve had someone else tow your car.”

    “No, I specifically called you at 7am, and you said you’d take care of it.”

    “Right, but it was the tow company’s fault.”

    “Ok, then you have beef with the tow company.  I have beef with you.  You told me at 7am that you would take care of it.  After that point it was YOUR responsibility in my eyes.  It’s not like I could’ve called a different tow company after you had said you were going to take care of it.”

    “…”

    “So, now that you’ve made me stay an extra day, what are you going to do for me?”

    Guy #2…the guy with SOME customer skills, “What exactly do you mean?”

    “Well, I don’t feel as if I should pay for the tow job, and you guys need to make this right in my eyes.”

    “After we check it out we’ll see what we can do.”

    So, I head back to the office, awaiting my phonecall before 5 (the time in which they close).  At 4:55 I’m like this is pointless, if they thought I was pissed when I went in at 4, they haven’t seen anything yet.  At 7am they are gonna have one pissed off customer in their lobby.

    5:05 they call back.  They told me the that left tire rod was busted (no shit) ($), and that the right tire rod was about ready to fall off to ($$).  They then tell me that while they had the car apart, they checked the spark plugs, and stuff.  Turns out that the electrode is actually coming out of the plug and there is significant charring on the end.  They recommend replacing those ($$$).  The belt that runs the alternator is severly cracked, and the rachet that autotightens it is broken ($$$$).  The transmission, brack, and differential fluid is about as thick as mud ($$$$$).  And, they saw the oil change sticker on my windshield that was over due ($$$$$$).

    The damage…$1300.  Joy.  I tell them, might as well do all of it.  They say it will most likely be ready by 5 tomorrow.  Currently, I’m not holding my breath.  Needless to say, tomorrow morning, I’m going to stop by and make sure that a) they didn’t charge me for the towing ($60), and b) that I’m getting some other deal because they seriously screwed me over.  I’m sure I’ll get the same bs about it being the towing company’s fault, but once they said they’d take care of the tow, it became their problem.  It’s there job to then bitch at the towing company as to why it didn’t happen.  I just don’t see tomorrow going well, especially as well as it went earlier.  Joy.

  • Lost It’s Fun

    I think this has lost it’s fun.  It seems so forced most of the time, and I think that’s why I end up not posting things as often anymore.  I barely have time to do this anymore except for the weekends, and then I’d rather do other things.  I come home from work, eat, then either go climbing or go to the gym.  Hell, somedays I do both.  Climbing is a great warmup before I go run and lift.  It’s way better than walking for a little bit before the run.  If I wasn’t going to help my Aunt and her company (Square One Design) move tomorrow and Monday, I probably would’ve headed down to Jackson today since it was beautiful out.

    Today was Colleen’s first day working days (I know, it was supposed to be tomorrow, but it WAS, until they changed her schedule).  She gets the 1pm-11pm shift.  Plus she got a fairly substantial raise.  She’s definitely happy about it (as am I).

    I’m definitely enjoying having all my speakers now.  I’ve been slowly going through all my DVD’s and listening to them they way they should be.  When I bought the center channel and the surrounds from the guy, I had mentioned that my HT system is pretty much done, except for a sub.  He said that when he bought his mains (which I’m currently using as surrounds…hehe), he was told he wouldn’t need a sub unless he wanted really low punchy bass.  I’m just listening to some music (streaming off my xbox from my mp3’s upstairs) in stereo (the way it’s meant to be listened to), and I can’t believe how punchy the bass is on my mains.  I’m used to stupid computer speaker setups with whimpy subs, and it’s insane how floppy they sound compared to what I’m listening to now (Sherly Crow – The Very Best Of).  When I was listening to the Matrix, the building entrance scene was intense.  I had to turn it down multiple times for fear of the neighbors.

    So, for those of you that go to the University, you may see some flyers on the quad, and in various buildings about modding xbox’s and ps2’s.  Well, that’s Aaron and I.  We’re gonna print up a few fliers here in the next week or so and see what kinda interest there is.  Should be good times.  The fliers are actually all made, I just need to make a make shift website for it now.  Currently he’s going to be hosting it, but since his site is down quite a bit, it *may* get moved to mine.

  • More Taxes

    Of course, I didn’t get all of Colleen’s forms when I did her taxes.  Her’s is so much more of a pain than mine because of all her student loans.  Needless to say, I forgot to include the 1098-T Form which can be used for educational credits.  It turns out that she only needed to pay $29 in federal taxes last year, so she’s pretty much getting it all back.  The “want it now” side of me is saying how that is grossly unfair, but then the “what the hell are you thinking” part of me knows better.  I’d much rather have it my way, where I don’t have any debt, than having it her way, paying student loans but getting a big check from the gov’t this year.  I doubt she’ll be able to get the up to $2000 tax credit next year because Cunningham should be paying for her tuition.  That is a nice tax break though, and it can be used for any higher education learning whenever (unlike the Hope credit which is can only be used 2 years).

    Well, it was 50 degrees here 2 days ago and yesterday morning.  It’s unfortunate that it had to go back to normal.  At least 99% of the ice and snow melted.  I was getting sick of driving everywhere and hitting the ice from the tiny bit of snow that had melted during the day.  I can’t wait till it gets warmer out.  I can’t wait till I can go outside and actually do something without having to bundle up first.

    For those of you that don’t know, Colleen is moving to days on the 29th.  Both of us are very excited about that.  She’ll be working 12pm-10pm on the weekdays, and 10am-10pm on the weekends.  They will also be getting a new schedule so they actually get paid the full amount of time for the 2 weeks of pay.  Unlike the way it is now, half of the paychecks they get paid for 36hrs, while the other half get paid 48hrs.  I think they work 3 days, have 2 off, then two days, then two days off then 3 days, or something like that.  I’m not exactly sure.  She should also be getting a payraise.  However, she has yet to get anything formal in writing about it.  Hell, they just scheduled her for days without even really giving her the promotion or having her agree to it in writing.  She doesn’t seem worried, but it doesn’t seem like the best practice.

    Weee, talk about a bunch of garbled thoughts.  Deal with it, I’m going to go shower.

  • Xmas, in February?!

    Well, yesterday I got my center channel and rears from the ebay auction.  Weehaw, now I’m just waiting on 200’ of 12 guage speaker wire that I ordered from partsexpress.  Apparantly it shipped today, and since they’re only in OH, I figure it may be here tomorrow or Wednesday.  I also recieved my valentines day gift today (a little late, but I’ll forgive you Colleen).  I ended up getting an Arc’teryx RT 45.  I’m definitely glad I went with the bigger size, because the bag doesn’t poof out that much, so there isn’t that much space.  It will work great as a day pack when I start heading down South in the spring though.  Plus, it’s waterproof, which I like a lot.  It’s going to be fun getting gear to fill it 🙂

    I’ve been going to the gym and climbing regularily, which I love.  It actually hurts to type on the keyboard right now because I just got back from the climbing gym not more than an hour ago.  One of the guy’s that works there, Arie, really likes to try and kill me.  I guess it’s my own fault though, since I try to keep up.  I sometimes scare myself on what I can keep up with though.

    Yesterday I went to the fitness center and did my usual routine.  Yesterday happened to be the midarms, legs and abs day.  Needless to say the Jacks pizza I had before I left didn’t sit with me too well.  I definitely think it’s because of the abs workout.  I hate feeling nauseated while not at home.  Well, at least I made it home before worshipping the porcelain god.  It was definitely one of those times where I knew I didn’t have the flu or anything, because as soon as it was over, I felt fine.  Needless to say, when I went climbing today, I didn’t eat anything before hand 🙂

    Ack, I hate getting sick like that.  I hate the way it feels like I have a sore throat afterwards.  The scratchiness causes my mouth to salivate more than normal, and I just hate it.  I guess I’d never be a good bulimic, or is it anorexic, or both.  I always forget.

    Anyways, my fingers are really getting sensitive, so I’m going to eat ice cream or something.

  • Taxes

    Well, I finally got around to buying TurboTax and doing my taxes.  I’m glad I did, since I’m getting back something like $750.  I can’t complain about that.  I also did Colleen’s and she’ll be more than happy with as much as she’s getting back.  A whopping $840.  Both of us are getting back $60 from the state too.  I’m definitely taking my money and sticking it into either my Life Insurance plan, or into my savings account.  I’m gonna need money for a down payment on a house, and this will help.  I just can’t believe how much Cunningham had her overpaying.  Maybe it’s because she wasn’t working there for the full year, but who knows.  I mean, she’s getting back 6% of what she made last year.  I just can’t believe how easy it is to do a return through the software solutions now.  It’s just crazy.  I did mine in like 20 minutes, and her’s didn’t take much more than that (I did it 2x because it seemed like she was getting an awful lot back).  I suppose it also helps that we have like no deductions.  Next years tax time will be a little different though.  Especially since I’m planning on getting a house, and we have a lot of clothes to give to goodwill (well, it should’ve been included this time, but I totally forgot we had stuff), etc.  Good times.  I can never complain about getting my hard earned monies back.

  • Am I Missing Something?

    Yeah, I know it’s been awhile since I posted last, but I have excuses.  Lots of excuses, bwahahahah.  Let’s see, Monday I went climbing, Tuesday Colleen and I went to look at packs at Champaign Surplus and there was a climbing meeting, Wednesday we went climbing again, and Thursday we met her dad in Springfield for dinner.  See, I told you I got mad excuses!

    Anyways, on to the title.  So, I went and worked out tonight (actually I just got home before I started posting this), and as I was driving home at night, it felt like I was missing something.  Of course, the reason I’m sharing this with all of you is because I’m not quite sure what it is.  It just feels like there’s something missing.  I go to work, come home and either go climbing, go workout, or sit on the couch.  I then go to bed, and then rinse and repeat.  I’ve been trying to find hobbies to get into (e.g. marine fish aquariums), but who knows if that will fix my void.  Maybe if I could go outside and do stuff.  However, being isolated in the middle of a corn field can allow you to do only so much.  Or maybe it’s the lack of a group of friends that I can call up and go do stuff with.

    Works been decent, but I’d hardly call it fufilling.  I’m pretty much just doing the same stuff over and over.  I really need to take my MCP test, but I’m not a fan of tests.  For the most part I’m ready for it, I just need to get motivated, put 2-3 days of review in, and go take it.  I wish there was some way in which people (read, employers) could see that I know the material without having to take a stupid test.  I mean, so many people that just user braindumps take the tests anyways that the waters are so diluted.  I really want to get on the ball with the getting my MCSE over and done with.  It’s not that I don’t find the material interesting, it’s just that reading about it is the worst.  Now, when I was having DNS problems on my home network, it was great to go to a book, read about it and then implement the fix (or try to at least).  However, just reading the book to read and take a test defeats the whole purpose.  It just plain sucks.  I just need to keep telling myself, once I get my MCSE, I’ll go back and get my master’s.  I don’t know what yet, but it will definitely be something technology related, because LAS is a joke (no offense LAS people, but it is to me).

    Maybe that will cure my hunger, but I doubt it. 

    Sunday I’m going to meet the guy that I won the speakers off ebay, somewhere in the middle of IL at a walmart.  Should be a good time.  I need to measure Colleen’s car to ensure that they’ll fit, otherwise, I’m going to have to take my truck, and I really don’t want to do that, since they may bang around in the back.  I can’t wait to get them and try em out.

    Man, the apt reeks of bacon.  I must remember to do the bacon in the oven instead of on the stove.  Our stupid hood over the stove vents back out into the room, instead of outside (who thought of that, I don’t know…).  Needless to say, it was a nice smog fest.  And I wonder why we don’t have batteries in the fire alarm.  Oh yeah, if we cook anything on the stove it goes off…

  • Was Going to Post This Yesterday

    Well, I was going to post this last night, but I was exhausted, so I thought it best to wait until today.  I think it was a good idea.  The reason I was so tired yesterday was because I went to Upper Limits with James again.  I did 13 routes, he did 15.  All of this in 4 hours, plus he lead 4 routes (which makes it slower).  For those of you that have never been, it’s 4 silos and then a main area.  The silo’s are ~60ft while the main area is around 40.  So, that means, I climbed over 700ft yesterday.  Granted we weren’t doing the more challenging stuff, but still.  I think this is why I felt tired all over instead of just my arms, or my forearms. 

    The rebelpeon.com blog world is still expanding.  Our latest edition is Joeyligs.  Granted, all the people that have blogs here are friends of mine, but still, that’s not the point.  Hopefully I’ll have a tape backup solution running within the next few days too.  That way none of these wonderful creations are lost if something catastrophic happens.  Just to recap, we have my site, Colleen’s site, Bree’s site, and now Joe’s site.  To add to other blogging news, Aaron Binford (a guy that works with me), has gotten his site up to more than 95% functionality.  It may look similar to mine, but that could be because he’s using my templates, modified a little, until he gets a better understanding of html.  Nick may also move to a movabletype backend.  Man, once one person goes, it’s like the domino effect.  I’m taking everybody with me! 

    Colleen wasn’t happy about me putting off the saltwater aquarium until we move again.  As she puts it, “I’ve wanted one for a long time, we need to get it now.”  Needless to say, waiting an additional 6 months for her is going to be unbarable.  All I have to say is, tough.  There’s no way I’m setting it up 2 times, just so she can look at them for 3.5 months before we move.  TOUGH!

    I watched Lost in Translation Friday night.  I liked it a lot (much more so than Monster).  Also Friday night, I won 2 auctions.  My surround sound home theater system is nearly complete.  I got a KLF C7 and a pair of KLF 10’s for a center channel and rears.  Thankfully the guy that was selling them lives in Monticello, IN, so I’m just going to pick them up instead of sending them UPS/Fedex.  It’s a little bit safer this way.  I wasn’t even going to bid on the KLF C7, but it had stayed fairly low.  Almost got outbid in the final minute, but the other bidder didn’t set his maximum high enough.  Hell, nobody even bid on the KLF 10’s (which made it very easy).

    ***Currently Listening To: Nothing.  It’s too early, and since I’ll be cleaning all day, I’ll be listening to music then.

  • Monster

    So, last night, Colleen and I went to see Monster.  I didn’t really enjoy the movie, but it was quite good.  I know, that may sound sort of oxymoronic, but I didn’t really care for the story much, but the way in which is was told, and the actresses that played the part did an excellent job.  It was amazing how Charlize Theron played the part of Aileen.  The way she was able to pull off the manerisms that weren’t her own were fascinating.  Overall, I’d give it 3.5/5.  If I would’ve rented it, I most likely would’ve turned it off before watching all of it.

    I’ve been reading alot about marine aquariums lately.  Colleen grabbed a few books at the bookstore the other day (not the ones I asked for, but decent ones none-the-less).  And I’m not sure if I want to start doing it now, or wait until I have a house.  I really want to get out of renting, and our lease is over in August.  I really want to get a house, and stop throwing my money down the drain.  Now, granted that it takes ~1-2 months to get the tank cycled, and running, that leaves about 3 months before I’d have to tear it down and move it (if we have a house…).  That seems counter intuitive to me, so I think I’m going to keep reading on the subject and figure out exactly what I want to get, and then when I get a house I can start.  That way I can get something that would maybe fit better with the house also.

    I’m currently looking at getting around a 55 gallon tank, and then go from there.  With everything hooked up, you can figure around 10lbs/gallon.  That means I’d have to drain almost all of it, and move it.  So, moving a 55 gallon tank in and of itself is a beast (without anything in it), plus I’d have to keep SOME water in it to not ruin the biological filtering.  Then what do I do with the fish?!  So, I definitely think I’m going to keep researching, and wait till I have a more permanent residence.  I think it will be better for me AND the fish that way.

    Lets see, lastly I’m finally on a “regular” workout interval.  Colleen really likes to do the yoga class on Sundays @ 7pm at the Fitness Center (when she’s not working), so that is when my workout week starts.  I go with her @7 on Sundays, run (2+ miles) and lift while she’s in her class for an hour.  Then, to avoid the busiest day at the Fitness Center, I go to the climbing gym on Monday.  Tuesday I again visit the Fitness Center and do my running and lifting, this time I concentrate on either arms or legs, whichever I didn’t do on Sunday.  Wednesday I’m back in the climbing gym.  Thursdays (when I want to, Thursdays aren’t mandatory, only if I’m bored) I can head back to the Fitness Center and run and lift.  This way I have (Thursday) Friday, and Saturday to do whatever I want.  I’m sure to visit the Fitness Center after 7:30 though, that way I’m sure to get a treadmill when I want, and not have to sit in line.

    ***Currently Listening To: Sarah McLachlan – Remixed I like this CD, it combines both Sarah McLachlan and trance.  Very nice.

  • While at Work

    Well, I’m at work, and I just finished testing the new Microsoft patches that were released today with out machines.  Thankfully, once again, there doesn’t seem to be any problems with the patches affecting our machines (knock on wood).  However, while I’ve tested the new patches on 3 different machines in VMWare (and installed all the software required for testing via GPO), I’ve been installing windows XP on a Virtual PC 2004 session.  Needless to say, I’m working on 3.5 hours, and the basic install of XP still hasn’t completed.  I can’t imagine how long it would take to do basic tasks inside of Virtual PC.  This is just rediculous.  Maybe it’s just the installation that takes forever.  However, wasting 3+ hours on a simple install is crazy.  Good thing I decided to use VMWare after I started install xp on the Virtual PC session, otherwise, I’d be here forever.

    In other news, I really want to get a saltwater fishtank now.  Hopefully Colleen will run by the bookstore today and grab a couple of books I want.  Then I’ll think about starting the tank.  I really want a reef tank, but I’ll start with fish, and after I get (more than) comfortable with that, I’ll move on to reef life.

    *** Currently Listening To: Cake – Prolonging the Magic It’s just another classic Cake album.  It’s fun to listen to, but even if you just set it as background music, it’s not loud or obnoxious or anything.  Good stuff.