November 20, 2005 21:43

It's been a little while. I've been doing stuff, maily work stuff, but definitely stuff. Highlights in one paragraph and in no particular order: started project #3, bought a washing machine, did four loads of laundry, watched entire season of Firefly, watched entire season two of Arrested Development (which, by the way, appears to have had Season Three cancelled - bastards), did billing, shaved my head, had people over to watch football (American variety), had lunch with Ajesh, went grocery shopping, organized my CDs, changed my linens, took out the trash.

This weekend's sporting results that matter: Liverpool 3 Portsmouth 0. New Zealand 23 England 19. Falcons 27 Buccaneers 30. So two out of three. The Falcons game was close. But disappointing, nonetheless. The biggest problem was a very unsettled first quarter in which they just gave away a penalty almost every other play. Liverpool has now won four (three Premiership, one Champions League) games in a row, without being scored upon. It's about time; just as long as theu keep it up. And as for the All Blacks, they're one game away from a Grand Slam (for those not in the know, that will be winnng all four of the Home Nations games (that is, Wales, Ireland, England, Scotland)).

I'm going back to New Zealand for Christmas. I'll arrive on the 20th, have a meeting in Masterton on the 21st, and will be heading back to the US on the 29th.

In other holiday news, Thanksgiving is this week. I've now had four invites; I guess I should make a decision on where I shall be. But irrespective of that decision, I am staying in The ATL this week. I shall be working from home Monday through Wednesday, although I am waiting on information to complete some of the things I need to do.

Family Guy was really funny tonight. Very irreverant. The Simpsons was rather lacklustre. I think I'm going to eat some ice cream. I think it's really funny the totally right wing establishment that is the Fox News Channel and the anti-establishment shows on the regular Fox channel. Of course, it's all about the all-mighty ($), but still funny.

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November 13, 2005 21:36

Hey world, what's going on? It's Sunday evening again, and I'm back in Charlotte. It has been an up and down sort of weekend. On the good side, I got a lot accomplished. On the not so good side, my non-drinking decision is having an impact on my social life. Anyways...

Friday I got home and dealt to my bills and billing. I think I did something else, but I don't remember what. Then I went to the Local to get some dinner. I chatted with Jason, who I hadn't seen in a while and then ate. While I ate, he chatted with this cute chick who seemingly turned up from nowhere. Jason left, I finished my dinner, and then noticed that Burt and another girl were talking with the cute girl I had noticed before. I went over to chat with Burt and he introduced me to his sister, Shannon, and the other girl, also Shannon. It was all very enjoyable but I decided that I should go home before I succumbed to the urge to have a drink. I probably should have stayed a while longer, because she was very cute, and seemed cool. Oh well.

I got home and worked on getting my computer to use my HDTV as a monitor. After much playing about and tweaking and experimenting I determined the following: the best resolution for computer usage is 858x480. Unfortunately, it wasn't the resolution for playing Civ - that went into an interlaced mode that wasn't altogether easy on the eye. No matter, the lower resolution was suitable for video. And then I got a phone call from a well-intoxicated Lauren, followed a little while later by a visit from Miss Appel, with Matt and Lexi.

On Saturday I got stuff done: emmissions inspection for the car, drycleaning, other stuff. I also ended up watching the Wales vs Fiji and Ireland vs New Zealand rugby games. I watched the former live via streaming media from Media Zone and downloaded the other for watching later (which I did). I ended up staying in on Saturday night and watching episodes of The X Files.

Sunday was more stuff-done-getting. I picked up another UPS for my entertainment center and a numeric keypad for playing Civ IV on my laptop. I also picked up Firefly and season two of Arrested Development. I then picked up some windscreen cleaner and a new lug wrench. Then I came back to watch some football, back up my laptop, and burn some new travel CDs. And then it was time to head to Charlotte. Yep, that was my weekend. Oh yeah, the other thing on Saturday afternoon was spending an hour or so at the Local with Stacy and Dill, who came by right around 5pm.

Oh yeah: today's travel music: Industrial mix, Primitives, Manic Street Preachers.

November 07, 2005 22:57

Ugh. What a day. A long day. But I have now learned why SAP projects are consistently over time and over budget, if they even finish. Dinner was last night's left overs. Tomorrow I shall eat well.

In other news, I deposited my last check from my first project and submitted an invoice for the first two weeks of my new project. Quite pleased with that. I also called my dad to wish him happy 60th birthday (his birthday is the 8th, which it already is in NZ), and to tell him that I was going to be home for Christmas.

Right now I'm watching the second of two episodes of Arrested Development. This makes up well for missing Charmed. I think I might try for an early night tonight, but then again I probably won't.

November 06, 2005 22:54

And so another fleeting weekend comes to an end. I left Charlotte early on Friday and therefore got home mid-afternoon. I worked on my billing and my bills, and then started playing my newly arrived copy of Civilization IV. I'm enjoying it. Granted, I'm playing at the easiest levels to learn all the new functionality, but so far it's fun. I popped up to the Local for some dinner and to chat with the regulars. I came home to play some more Civ and watch some TV, and then got a relatively early night.

An early night, yes, because 7:45am was kick-off time for Liverpool and Aston Villa at Villa Park. It was quite a game. Cisse continued to be dissappointingly unable to complete; Crouch still has not been able to prove his worth, although I must admit he was a little unlucky on the day. He was brought down in the box, which lead to Gerrard scoring from the penalty spot, which I guess is some consolation. Alonso followed with a cracker shot four minutes later, to give Liverpool the much needed 2-0 victory. I was unable to watch the next sporting event of the weekend, but was very pleased with the All Blacks victory over Wales. At 11:25 I walked over to Georgia Tech, to meet Scott C and Ajesh from my old job. We were going to watch my very first college football game: Georgia Tech vs Wake Forest. It was a lot of fun. Tech won, 30-10. After the game I came home and played more Civ until Kris summoned me up to the Local. I wandered up and chatted with her, Tim, and Brandy. I left around 9:30 and returned home to play more Civ and watch TV.

On Sunday I finished my chores, scanned all my receipts, picked up my company mail, packed my bags, grabbed some lunch, and watched the Falcons beat the Dolphins. So, all in all, a good weekend for sport. I also updated the songs on my mp3 player and burned a new CD for my driving enjoyment. And then it was off to Charlotte, to the sounds of Death Cab for Cutie, Doves, Robbie Williams, and Manic Street Preachers. Good stuff! And it made the journey very enjoyable.

So November is to be a non-drinking month. The last drink I had was a shot of some ouzo drink on the 29th, to celebrate Gesture Steve's birthday. I had a couple of drinks on the Wednesday of the week prior (the 26th, I think) which I'm really counting as the last drinks that I have had. I'm not really seeing any benefit from the abstinence yet, but I had bloody better, since I'm attempting to stay off the juice for the whole month.

Oh yeah, funny story: I downloaded the Sealab 2021 theme to be the ring tone on my new phone. But the first time it rang, I was somewhat confused, until I realized that it was my phone...

November 03, 2005 21:39

It seems like this week is taking forever. Fortunately tomorrow is Friday and I get to head back to Atlanta. And the other good thing is that I do have a good amount of billable hours. Not sure when I'll get paid yet - not sure when I'll be able to bill yet! But it will be a good check when it arrives.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. After seven years and eleven months of living the US, I am going to my first American Football game. And it's a college game. But the day will start with real football: Aston Villa vs Liverpool at 7:45am. Later on, I'll be meeting former work colleagues (Scott and Ajesh) for lunch and then we'll be heading to the Georgia Tech vs Wake Forest game at Bobby Dodd Stadium (that's GA Tech's football stadium).

I think I might try to do some work on my company website.

November 02, 2005 18:23

I forgot to mention in my previous posts that this past weekend we went off daylight saving time. That means I'm 18 hours behind New Zealand. For a more useful explanation, if it's 9am in Auckland, it's 3pm yesterday in Atlanta. Or Charlotte, seeing as that is where I am most of the time.

Charmed was good this afternoon. And what's better is that the two episodes per day is moving to start at 5pm rather than 4pm, so I should be able to see more. Woohoo! Tonight is a new episode of South Park and Drawn Together. Should keep me entertained. Unless I switch to NBC and watch Law and Order. So many decisions. Speaking of which, I need to make some dinner decisions.

November 01, 2005 21:09

Ah yes. I'm sitting on the couch watching last night's The Colbert Report. It's amusing. I had a good day today, working on documenting my learnings and identifying new areas to question. I'm learning a lot with this project, but it will be over soon enough.

So here's what's on my mind: I would like the next girl I date to be a non-smoker. This does sit on my mind a bit, because I know so very few non-smokers here in the US. I think I can count the number of non-smokers I know on my fingers. It makes for an interesting comparison with NZ, where a majority of my friends are non-smokers. But anyway, to the original point: I'd like to date a non-smoker, but I don't really like my chances of finding one...

I think I should be reading. I need to be doing some reading. But I am allowing myself to be distracted by TV. Gee there's a surprise. But there's nothing on that I'm interested in watching. Currently the TV is on ESPN - World Series of Poker. I still can't really understand the whole concept of showing Texas Hold'em tournaments on TV; and the commentators are just inane.

Nothing more to talk about just now.

October 31, 2005 18:29

Look at that, it's Monday evening, and I'm watching Charmed. I had a pretty good weekend. I got home on Wednesday night and then went to the NAMA trade show on Thursday and Friday, which allowed me to catch up with a number of people in the industry that I am now working in again. On Friday evening I stopped in at the Local, then had dinner with Tim at Outback, and then watched Ring Two. It wasn't as good as the the first one, but it was okay.

But there was some intial frustration. On Friday afternoon I headed up to Marietta to renew my drivers license. You see, there is not a drivers license office in town in Atlanta, which is absolutely crazy. The closest to me is 8 miles away in South Decatur. I knew where the one in Marietta was, because that's where I originally got my license - even though it was a good 14 mile trip. And it is near the Sears outlet store, where I planned to stop to buy a new washing machine (so I can stop using Susan's). So I get to the license place at 2pm, and there's a very short line. It doesn't take long to get processed, except that they needed to see my residency card. Damn it. That requirement was in none of the documentation I had received. So I was unable to get my license. They did give me a pass so I could come back on Saturday morning and not have to wait in line. But this meant that I didn't go by the Sears store since I wasn't sure how long I would be busy on Saturday so wouldn't be able to specify a delivery time.

On Saturday morning I got up, made myself some breakfast (sausages and eggs), had a shower, and headed up to Marietta again. The line there was very long, out the door and down the side of the building. Ugly. But I just walked right in and up to the counter and gave them my "get out of jail free" card, and was immediately into the processing stage. My photo and fingerprints were taken and ten minutes later I had a new license. I stopped by the Sears store and confirmed that they don't deliver on same day, nor on Sundays. So no washing machine.

Next stop was Mens Wearhouse to buy a coat, a jumper, some cufflinks, and shoes. I found a really nice woollen coat, but at $300 it was outside my planned budget. I bought a nice jumper marked down from $99 to $50, and the coat I bought was also marked down. Not bad, I then went over to the regular Sears store to buy some jeans and ended up buying a couple of shirts as well. Then I wandered around the mall looking for Christmas present ideas, and pretty much failed miserably. Then I headed home for lunch.

Saturday evening started with me picking up Jennifer M, and going to Baraonda for dinner. We then walked up to the Fox Theater to watch The Atlanta Ballet perform Carmina Burana. It was really good. We then went by a party of a former classmate of hers from university. While at the party I got a phone call from a very drunk Ben. After the party I dropped Jen home and then called Ben back. He was really quite drunk. So drunk that he needed somewhere to crash. So I went home and waited for him to stumble up and I put him to bed on my couch. Poor drunk, bitter, Ben.

On Sunday, I dropped Ben back at his car and then did started my laundry over at Susan's. I burned a couple of CDs, did some more sorting and unpacking (one more box gone), and went to Target to attempt some more Christmas shopping. I wasn't entirely unsuccessful. Then, around 4pm I finished packing up and headed off to Charlotte.

Oh yeah, while I think about it - Liverpool won this weekend. They have a Champions League game on Tuesday, which they should win, too. They need to start winning more often. The last couple of weeks were pretty bad, so hopefully Saturday's game marks the start of a positive run.

So now it is Monday. I had a busy day today. It should be a very busy week. Lots of billable hours. That's a good thing. Especially if I can actually issue an invoice at the end of the week! (The new contract hasn't actually been signed yet - so I can't bill until it is and a PO has been issued for my services.)

I'm getting hungry now. Alias is currently on. But I'm not 100% sure if I'm into it yet. SO far I've only watched Season 4, and a couple of episodes of Season 1 (which started last week). At least, I think it's Season 1.

October 24, 2005 22:20

Have I ever mentioned that I hate the cold? I think that I may have once or twice in the past. Well, it's cold. And I hate it.

I had a very pleasant weekend. I had dinner at the Local, sans beer, and watched Sin City. I started to watch the movie version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but I found it annoying and frustrating. Mostly because of the dialogue that is missing. I turned it off and went to bed early.

On Saturday I awoke fairly early and did chores and such. I had a late lunch with Ashe and then went to Brandon and Gilli's wedding. They had it at The Abbey, a former abbey (whodathunk?) that has been converted into a restaurant. I had made a decision earlier in the week to go on a multiweek period of detox; that failed with the wedding. It was a lot of fun, with lots of people dressed in black, and general good fun.

Sunday was slow and then I began my journey to Charlotte. And then I came to an abrupt stop. Tire blowout. So I got to the side of the road, pulled out the spare tire and jack, and jacked the car up. And then I realised that I had a small problem: I had no tire iron to undo the wheel nuts. Damn. So I called the Ford Roadside Assistance to get some, well, assistance. I waited and waited and evetually a couple of guys turned up and sorted me out. Turns out, they weren't the Ford people, but they helped me out anyway. The Ford person caught up to me at the gas station I stopped at to make sure my spare was nicely pumped. I elected not to drive to Charlotte with no spare.

Home it was. Local for dinner. Some TV. And then bed.

So this morning I got up bright and early and headed up to Firestone for a couple of new tires. That took a bit longer than I had hoped, and then it was back on the road to Charlotte. This meant that I missed my 11am meeting, but I did get five hours of work in on my new project.

October 18, 2005 11:40

Bah and humbug. I'm sick again. Sore throat, headache, swollen neck lymph nodes, general lethargy, reduced apetite. I realise that it's all due to a compromised immune system caused by excessive fun over the weekend. Well, Saturday to be precise. First, breakfast at the Brewhouse which saw Liverpool's (much needed) second Premiership victory of the year, followed by The Great Decatur Beer Tasting Festival. I don't think much more needs to be said, except that it was a cracker of a day for it.

Sunday I tried to recover. But I was in bad shape. Mostly the general feeling of being run down. I had also lost my cellphone. Bah.

Monday I went by the Cingular store to pick up a new phone. They didn't have the phone I was most interested in looking at, so I went with the Motorola RAZR V3 Black. And then it was off to Charlotte.

When I got to Charlotte, I learned that my project has been officially moved into Close Out phase and that alternative projects are being sorted out for my attention. Funny how things happen.

But today, yes, today, I am not well. I actually wasn't feeling too good yesterday. I popped a Tylenol Flu (Daytime) when I got up yesterday, had an Advil when I got to the hotel last night, and have had another Tylenol Flu today. I'm staying at the hotel just in case whatever it is that is afflicting me is communicable. I'm trying to do work from here, but I'm finding myself distracted by other things.

And get this. I've cranked the AC up to 77F (25C) but it just doesn't feel that warm in here even though I'm wearing two t-shirts and a (sure, light) sweater. And it's only now that I realise that the thermostat is sitting right above a lamp - so the temperature is somewhat warmer right there. Okay, time to upload this message and get on with some work.

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