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Boarding pass...I am really going to Iceland.

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QotD: Weekend Plans

What are your plans for the weekend?

This weekend... hum... well, for one I'm messing around with Internet Explorer 7.  It's pretty slick so far.  It's my default browser...for now.  We'll see how it goes.

I'm also currently taking part in a rather large war operation in EVE Online.  My alliance has gone to war.  It's a lot of work (although I haven't been taking part that much), but it's going pretty well.

At some point there are plans to go see a movie with some friends.  Sushi too?

And then theoretically I have a Zul'Gurub raid in World of Warcraft on Sunday.  Not sure if I'm going to go though.  Would rather spend the weekend before I feck off to Iceland doing something with Janine.

That's that.  Time to get back to the war, I think we're about to roll out.

QotD: My First Gig

What was your very first job? 

Let's dump my list of jobs, because you might find it interesting...

1. Busboy at the Royal Fork Buffet in Grand Forks, ND.  Later got promoted to a linestocker.  The management was impressed, I was able to recite the training manual nearly word for word.  (I actually took studying it seriously, heh.)
   
2. Sandwich Artist at Subway in Altus, OK.  I spent a year here as the lead closer, working 30-40 hours a week at the age of 16.  It was pretty brutal but I got a lot of money (relatively, I was paid $5.15 and later $5.35 per hour).
3. Computer Guy at the Learning Resources Center (Library) in Altus, OK.  I fixed computers and helped out around the library.  I spent a lot of time playing on Materia Magica (a MUD).  A lot of time.  I memorized an Office '97 license key which I can still mostly remember - MMQGJ-B7HTK-YCV69-9JYVD-WP68B.  (I'm pretty sure a digit or two is transposed at this point 6 years later...)
4. Customer Service Specialist at Amazon.com in Grand Forks, ND.  Was very quickly promoted to Order Specialist (Tier II) and worked the Christmas 2000 season.  I was pretty famous for my insane hours - I think my record was a 90 hour week while maintaining nearly the highest per hour stats in the 20 person team.  Won some prizes once - an original Pets.com puppet thing which I still have in box somewhere.  I then transferred out to Seattle and got laid off.
   
5. Loan Servicing Specialist at Washington Mutual in Seattle, WA.  Same sort of story, did really well, and eventually they got me working on a programming project.  Worked with the Learning and Performance Development group (LaPD heh) on a test creation/delivery/tracking system in Access '97 with a bunch of JavaScript to do the actual test.  (It was awesome, I still have it around somewhere.)  I quit after a year and went to school.
6. Computer Guy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA.  While at school I worked in the tech group and did support.  It paid okay and it gave 10-15 hours a week so it was a great way to just get some income.  Around this time I did some contract work too for a site, that was pretty fun.
7. Sandwich Artist at Subway in Worcester, MA.  This was pretty sad, I was in the dregs of depression, couldn't afford to fly home for Christmas, so I spent it alone at school in a friend's apartment that I borrowed.  My parents mailed me presents.  I was pretty bad off.
8. Software Engineer at Danga Interactive in Beaverton, OR.  You know this part.
9. Software Engineer at Six Apart in San Francisco, CA.  This is where I'm at now.
10. Web Developer at CCP Games in Reykjavik, Iceland.  This is the future, it sounds like.  Just have to make it happen... oh yeah, October 20th is my last day at Six Apart.

I guess this post is as good a time as any for an announcement, huh.  I'll post more later, I have to run for now and get some work done before a meeting later.

to the fore!!!

Busy, busy, busy.  That sums up my life.  Moving to Iceland is not an easy task, nor is trying to move locally.  I'm so busy.

Does anybody reading this want any of the following items.  We may be getting rid of them, of course it'd be nice to get a little bit of cash for them, as they're in perfect brand new condition.  But yeah.

• Portable air conditioner (12,000 BTU I think; dual hose variety; has wheels; used this summer only)
• Refrigerator (I don't have the specs; it's a white standard fridge)
• Washer/Dryer (brand new this summer, I don't have the specs, they're great for us, not heavy duty, just normal stuff)
• Chest freezer (pretty good sized thing that would go great in a garage)
• Portable dishwasher (it's a standard size, has wheels, hooks to the sink - very awesome thing!)

There are more things, these are just the major appliance ones.  We pretty much have to get rid of them, as Janine is moving into an apartment that will already have them furnished.

Thanks.

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Fudge and Ball

spam

I get a fair bit of interesting spam.  People sometimes randomly email my Gmail account out of the blue with things that shouldn't be going to me.

I've decided to blog them.  Meet Email Me!, my new Vox account.

getting around

I wasn't in time to answer this question.  (Feature request: show old QotDs so I can answer them!)  I'm going to answer it now, at any rate.

1. Altus, OK (born here)
   
2. Wichita Falls, TX
3. San Antonio, TX
4. El Paso, TX
5. Omaha, NE
6. Lillington, NC (summers)
   
7. Grand Forks, ND
8. O'Fallon, IL
9. Scott AFB, IL
10. Scott AFB, IL (changed house)
11. Browns Mills, NJ
12. McGuire AFB, NJ
13. Smithburg, WV
14. Grand Forks, ND
15. Altus, OK
16. Grand Forks, ND
17. Seattle, WA
18. Worcester, MA (dorm)
19. Worcester, MA (sublet)
20. Worcester, MA (dorm house)
21. Beaverton, OR (apt)
22. Beaverton, OR (house)
23. San Francisco, CA (apt)
24. San Francisco, CA (another apt)
25. Fremont, CA (house)

I'm sure that I'm missing something somewhere, but that's what I can think of.  Military brat (Air Force), but also lots of moving on my own.

QotD: Reflecting on September 11th

What are your personal memories of September 11th?

Oh.  You had to ask.

The morning of September 11th I was living north of Seattle and working downtown.  I got out of bed around 6 AM (which is 9 AM east coast) and got on IRC.  People were going crazy - it was impossible to figure out what was going on.  I thought it was a joke.  Turns out it wasn't.

I decided to go to work - people told me not to.  (I worked downtown amid all the skyscrapers.)  They said to call in sick or something.  Whatever - I decided to go in.  I usually took the bus in to work, but had to drive to the Park and Ride.  On the way over, I listened to the radio.

The news was talking about car bombs and said one had exploded on Capitol Hill.  They were talking about Washington DC but I thought they were talking about the one in Seattle - I was at that minute turning into a parking spot and ended up hitting another vehicle.  Left a note with my number and went to work.

Everybody who called in was talking about the tragedy.  We had a radio on all day.  We didn't really know what to think or do.  I had one person break down crying on the phone because one of her friends was on one of the planes.  It touched so many people.

Janine was upset about it too.  Her brother lived (and still does) in Manhattan.  She had a bunch of friends that lived up there too.  Turns out none of them were near that part of the city, but it wouldn't have taken too much bad luck to end up there for a meeting or something.

Overall, I remember the day being just -- shocking.  I guess that's the best word for it.  How could someone do this to us?  Who did it?  They need to pay - someone needs to pay.  I felt anger, I wanted to join up with the military and go punch someone in the nuts.

I remember the outpouring of hatred against people of Arab descent (or whatever the PC term is).  I remember wanting to kill those people who dared call themselves Americans and then beat and hurt somebody simply for the color of their skin.

I flew a month later into Newark.  I remember the guards with guns, walking around, keeping a watchful eye on things.  I didn't envy their jobs, but wished them luck.

I guess in the end it didn't really accomplish much.

I'm such a nerd because...

What's the nerdiest thing about you?

Heh.  Do I even have to answer this?  Come on, who posts about an MMORPG, has a TCG set at his desk, and thinks the best kind of weekend involves a bunch of friends, tons of Mountain Dew, and Diablo II on Nightmare.

Srsly.

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In the Mens Room.

Random Sticker in Men's Room