| Just when I thought it was over. . . | April 29 2004, 01:39 pm |
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So here I am sitting here remember the hellish work schedules that were handed to me for the past few weeks, and thankful that its finally over and slowing down to some kind of normality, when I realize that next week will be even worse, since we'll be down to three actual techs (plus one that work on weekends only) because one of us decided to take the week off. Great. . . just great. . . On the other hand, I finally got the multifunction printer I've been wanting for years. Its a Epson CX6400. And its a vast improvement over what I had originally (an HP DJ630C and a Acer 620U Scanner). I did as much research as I could before deciding on this printer, and so far I'm pleased with my decision. The other purchase I made was Silent Scope Complete for my XBox, along with the Silent Scope Rifle. I've only had time to crack open the case and put the rifle together, and haven't had a chance to play it. Probably will do so when I come home from work tonight. And despite the fact that the box says not to repaint the rifle, guess what I'm going to do? Exactly. Repainting the rifle. :P |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| Busy Weekend | April 26 2004, 11:05 am |
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Well, the past five days went by pretty fast. YanYan's mom arrived without any delay (her plane actually arrived early), and mother and daughter were finally reunited after almost two years of separation. This also meant that YanYan would move back to her apartment for the time being, so its a little quiter around OC4 nowadays. . . The rest of my family swung by late Friday and all six of us went out for dinner. The atmosphere was amicable, and much seafood was consumed by all. Afterwards we swung by the Mixer Group's third annual Mixer (which I only received the invitation to at literally the last second), and were promptly entertained by a skilled fire dancer. Yes, she can really move those great balls of fire. This was followed in the morning by dimsum (again, with the six of us), in which a furious grab-the-check-before-the-opposite-party-pays-first war ensued. Alliances and allegiances were tested all up and down the line, as other interested parties in the resturant watched on. The gathering separated on Saturday afternoon, as dad had several customers calling in and asking why the shop was closed. YanYan's mom cooked a big pot of duck stew last night, and thus I was obliged to dine at her place instead of munching on ramen noodles. It was a quiet affair, punctured by interesting tidbits from her roommates. But the food was definitely good. Came home rather late, but did get started on prepping for my 2nd A+ exam. The goal is to finish by the end of this week. Hopefully I won't come across any problems. . . |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| Must. . . keep. . . going. . . | April 21 2004, 01:02 pm |
| Bleh. . . after spending a tiring day at work, I got to spend a tiring night staying up with YanYan as she finished one of her critical projects. There really wasn't a whole lot I could do to help her with the project, so I provided moral support instead. If I didn't work earlier in the day, I might've lasted a few hours more, but I crashed and burned by 7AM when she had to leave for class. And guess who's arriving at the airport later today? Yup. . . YanYan's mom is here. . . wheeeee. . . | |
| Posted by: Paladin | |
| First of many. . . | April 20 2004, 01:19 am |
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After being unnecessarily overtly nervous about my first A+ exam, it was quite a relief to find out I had passed with flying colors despite a plethora of eccentric questions that dealt with theoretical scenarios rather than real-world situations. In celebration of my minor feat, I gave myself today off from studying, and will begin prepping for the OS exam tomorrow. I'm getting used to the new work routine. . . although I'm not saying that I like it much. Overtime hours are great. . . sure. . . but they mean diddly squat without any health insurance. |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| To New Worlds. . . | April 16 2004, 02:28 am |
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After yet another fairly stressful day at work, I'm finally able to get a breather for the next 36 hours. It won't last long though, as next week is going to be even worse than this week. Officially I was suppose to work 39 hours this week, but it will probably end up looking like 42 hours. Next week will be at least 45 hours, pushing 50 if its anything like this week. Long John Silvers and Star Trek Nemesis was our dinner and a movie for the night. We had some coupons for LJS, so we chowed down on half their menu. As for ST:N, I finally was able to convince YanYan to watch it with me, despite her dislike of scary/action films. To be honest, it was probably one of the best TNG movies I've seen (will ever see, if it is indeed the final movie by the TNG cast), seconded by First Contact. The story revolved heavily around Picard and Data. . . and not to spoil the storyline for anyone who hasn't seen it, the way the ending was done was memorable. If the generation has to end, it should end like this. Towards the final moments of the film, it actually reminded me of the Space Battleship Yamato series. . . quite poignant and yet haunting. My compliments to the crew and cast, as I do believe Gene Roddenberry would've been proud. |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| Of all plans laid by Mice and Men. . . | April 14 2004, 11:32 pm |
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. . . said plans never survive contact with reality. What was originally going to be the Double Agent interview that was *suppose* to take place on April 19th got bumped to today at 9AM. I received less than 24 hour notice (which immediately precludes any chance of rescheduling the exam), which left me scrambling on how to salvage my A+ Exam (which would take place at 11AM). Fortunately for me, my manager pulled some strings to let me go first, leaving me ample time to get to the test site. Unfortunately for me, all my rushing was for naught, as Prometric's systems decided to take the day off, thus cancelling all exams for the day. As for the interview itself, it went fairly smoothly in my opinion. There were some areas I could have done a little better in, but nothing that I can recall that would invalidate me for the position. Hopefully none of the other candidates will far surpass me in the interview, as there are only three positions open. The fact that later in the day, I find out that they are trying to call in ex-employees to fill the positions does not make me feel better at all. *sigh*. . . guess we'll see. Although I will scream bloody murder if I find out the entire interview process is a farce and there were alot of internal politicks going on to fill the slots. . . |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| Figured as much. . . | April 13 2004, 01:00 pm |
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Guess who worked all night by himself again? Yeah. . . 5th time in a row. . . all I got was a lousy "Thank You" from one of the managers. While I'd like to say that that would be enough for my efforts, it isn't. I'm not so much as wanting a raise as I need the benefits that comes hand in hand with full-time status. On the other hand, it looks like we might be losing an otherwise very dependable tech. Hope nothing bad happened to him though. He was a good kid. 24 hours left before my first A+ exam. I'm feeling good about it though. I've passed all of the practice exams with flying colors on the first try so far. . . but that's only 6 out of 11 exams. Once I pass the other 5 I'll feel even more confident. |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| Arrrrggg. . . | April 11 2004, 11:10 pm |
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As exepcted, Saturday was not a fun day at work either. The weather started off bad and then turned to worse as I slogged my way through the day. It was only made interesting by the two brownouts we had at the store. Royally fragged every electrical component, as well as the nerves of all managers present. How would you feel if your store's prosperity relied on equipement that drew thousands of watts of power, and there's a friggin lightening storm outside? Hell. . . I'm sure our insurance people were downing Jack Daniels one bottle after another. . . Oh oh oh. . . and to make matters worse, one of our usually more dependable techs decided to no-call-no-show. Which leaves. . . ME. . . working all alone towards the end of my nine hour shift. Fourth time this week. . . just friggin great. And I'm pretty sure I won't be getting any fair compensation out of it, as management will view it as "all part of the job". *sigh*. . . I guess I'll just bide my time while finishing my other preparations to dig myself out of this hole I've been stuck in for the past couple of years. The first A+ exam has been scheduled for this week. And with any luck, the second will follow next week. Ideally I should have the A+ certification by the end of the month, and will have begun prepping for the Net+ exam by May. By the end of this year I should have completed all the remaining certifications and ready to come back out of hiding. Yeah yeah yeah. . . I took a little too long of a vacation. YanYan's been reminding me of that for awhile now. So its interesting now that I'm hitting the books as hard as she's hitting her drawing pads. . . |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| Day off. . . | April 9 2004, 09:47 pm |
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Whee. . . finally enjoyed a day off after spending 4 hellish days at work. It wouldn't have been so bad, except I was stuck working solo for 3 out of those 4 shifts. You try working solo in an environment like that before saying I have no right to complain. Company policy states that at no point in time should a tech be left without backup. At some point in time that policy was thrown out the window for our store. Went to Hobby Lobby, Container Store, and Cycle Gear today to get some things that I've been wanting. Hobby Lobby and Container Store had some accessories I needed for my Walther PPKS. Went to Cycle Gear for some micro blinkers to replace my stock blinkers for Shadow Phoenix. Quite a productive day. . . I think. . . Now to finish prepping for my A+ Exam. It will happen next week. . . |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| Ugh. . . | April 6 2004, 11:45 pm |
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They say one should be careful of what they wish for. After tonight I tend to agree with them. I wanted more hours at work so I can start putting some money away. I got more hours at work than I wanted. Today was a hellish day working by myself and while I would like to say it'd be something I care not to repeat, chances are it will be repeated for the weeks to come. This due to the fact that the supervisor for my dept got promoted, and we're short one full-timer (whom they've yet to announce the replacement for), AND everyone except for two people were unavailable to work on Tuesday. So guess who got screwed? Exactly. . . Only good news is I may have a way to replace my graphics card without much fuss. After exhausting just about every other alternative, I'm tentatively putting the blame on my current system troubles on my graphics card. Guess time will tell if I'm right or not. . . |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| More troubleshooting. . . | April 3 2004, 11:44 am |
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So after running some diagnostics on Windows registry files and DLLs and Adware/Spyware removals and multiple disk and virii scans, I am no closer to resolving my gaming disability than a week ago. This is "almost" like what happened back in August of '02, but not quite. I'd hate to have to blame it on faulty hardware, since I did revive the motherboard, and I just installed heat spreaders on the RAM. And God forbid it being the video card. . . . . . grrrr. . . In other news, I just took (and PASSED) Best Buy's Geek Squad Apptitude test. Basically that certifies me to be able to apply for the Double Agent position. Downside is, there are only three available positions in Austin, and I have to compete with applicants from the other two BBYs in town. Here goes nothing. . . |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |
| W. . . T. . . F?!?!?!?! | April 2 2004, 02:44 am |
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Wow this is getting irritating. . . almost instantaneously, literally overnight, Quincy XII decided that it doesn't want to play games anymore. Grr. . . just a few days ago I was playing Battlefield Vietnam and Far Cry just fine, but now neither game works, and quite possibly just about every other game that uses 3D intensively is equally disabled. Stupid DirectX. . . I've always had problems with it, and I doubt it'll stop anytime soon. In case you're wondering, yes, I've updated the drivers, yes, I've updated the game, and yes, I'm about ready to take a jackhammer to the system (a few hours ago the motherboard decided to play dead, and no, I didn't take it well as a April Fool's joke). Console gaming seems to be more and more the way to go. . . hell of a lot less headaches. . . |
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| Posted by: Paladin | |