June 13, 2005 22:29

I think I might be going insane. I have fake memories. I have a mental image of a part of I-20 that I used to drive down when heading to Carrolton. In the past few months, in my trips to Birmingham, I have travelled the same stretch of road, and I have not yet travelled that stretch of road that is lodged in my memory. It is a very bizarre situation. So I'm not really going insane.

I'm in the midst of more life-altering decisions. I'm looking around and seeing what's going on in my life and in the environment around me, and there is some uncertainty, mixed in with that feeling that I might be (finally) growing up. It's not a good feeling.

Elisabeth Röhm is a hottie. Yeah, Law & Order is on. I planned on doing some reading, but I got caught up computery stuff and television. Gee, what a surprise.

There was something else I was going to talk about, but I got distracted again. Ho hum.

June 12, 2005 19:36

Another weekend draws to a close. I've done almost everything on my list of things to do this weekend. What's left undone? Burn CDs (new mix CDs), check out sunbed session, sort out tux for Brad's wedding (it's a black tie things). Not bad at all. Today I was awake really early, and just spent the morning reading and surfing the web. This afternoon I bought myself a Samsung mp3 player, a Bluetooth hands-free kit the car (so I can use my phone hands-free, not the car), a hook for the bathroom door, food (tasty salmon for dinner, along with tasty green beans and tasty broccoli), and some householdy stuff. As for the sunbed thing, I went for a walk after I loaded up my mp3 player, and stopped at the sunbed place, but it was already closed. Next week I guess.

I have finished putting pictures up on my website (click on the Pictures link on the left), including the Once de Mayo pictures. That took a while, I know, but they are now up there. When I get some more time and inclination, I'll make the captions more descriptive and add some navigation controls. Who knows, that might even happen tonight.

That's all for now. Check with me again soon. Oh wait, one last thing, I updated my CD list. Check it out!

June 11, 2005 19:43

Wow, it's seven-thirty already. I've had a mildly productive day. Things were purchased, food was consumed, bathrooms were tidied, heads were shaved, benches were cleaned, accounts were balanced, bills were paid, websites were updated, and Mongols were smited. Yeah, that's productivity for you.

So I have now been off the turps for 12 days. My skin is showing some signs of improvement, but it's not an all-over thing. I was planning on trying to get to a sun bed today, but that didn't work out. I did start on a new regimen of vitamins and things from a company called Mannatech. That may at least help with my general health and well-being.

I mentioned updates to my web site. Well, I've now added code to handle pictures, and I've even uploaded a bunch of pictures. I haven't quite got to the Once de Mayo pictures yet, but I should tomorrow. I'm getting hungry so I'm going to deal with that issue first.

I do have some other things to report, but I can't be bothered typing it up just now. Check back later.

June 08, 2005 21:40

I'm less than impressed with my accomodations for this evening. For some reason, I could not get a room at my first five choices tonight, so I am, for one night only, staying at a Jameson Inn. Definitely not the quality that I am used to. It's more like a motel - I open the door and I'm outside, looking at my car. Thankfully it's only for one night.

I tried to work on some documentation but just couldn't get my head around what I wanted to write. I suppose I could do some reading; I do have a lot of stuff to read. South Park is on the TV. I'm letting myself be distracted by that.

Oh yeah, one piece of good news: my state tax refund will be deposited into my bank account tomorrow evening. Finally. It's just going to go into credit card repayments, but it's necessary.

June 07, 2005 23:01

Heheh. I just finished watching Charmed. It's one of those guitly pleasures I indulge in only when travelling. My favourite of the three is Piper, played by Holly Marie Combs. She's really hot.

That's all I've got for now. The Daily Show is jsut starting and then I need to get some sleep.

June 06, 2005 21:28

It was pointed out to me that in my last food post, I neglected to mention the word, "tasty." Well, the food was quite tasty. Except the steak I had last night. The George Foreman Grill just did not cook it tastily; I think I will stick to pan-searing cow meat, and stick to chicken and pork in the grilling machine.

I am in Birmingham again (more correctly, Trussville). I went to Chili's for dinner, and had a tasty steak. I read some of the latest Economist and played some TextTwist and watched Spiderman on TBS. Lots of fun. I also picked up a book that my brother had asked for; I'll look into shipping that over to him next week.

June 05, 2005 17:46

A food post.

On Friday night, Brandy, Lauren, Matt, and I had dinner at The Real Chow Baby. This is Mongolian-barbecue style restaurant, in which you load up a bowl with all the stuff you want and then they cook it for you. It's up to you to pick ingredients that go together. My first blast was a little crazy, trying to put too much together. My second was pretty good, though. It was a sort of pepper steak mix, with lots of spices to make it really peppery. Very good food.

Last night I made dinner for Brandy and I. First course was a salad with fresh arugula, baby spinach, radishes, carrots, onion, spring onions, green peppers, parmesan. Add a bit of olive oil and it was very tasty. The main course consisted of grilled zucchini and squash along side trout poached in red wine. I was very impressed with how that came out. The flavours were quite subtle, but it was rather awesome. I got the recipe from a book of Italian recipes I had picked up a few weeks ago. Quite pleased.

Tonight I am going to finish off the salad and try my first steak on my George Foreman Grill. And I'll have some steamed or sauteed vegetables to go with it. Yeah, that sounds good.

Okay, enough with the food, and onto the geek stuff.

So I bought a Microsoft Buletooth Desktop. I realised when I got home that I didn't get the one with the charger for the mouse, but no matter. After some initial troubles, I finally got everything running nicely and detecting correctly on startup. I also bought a graphics card with TV out. This was an EVGA GeForce FX5200. Courtesy of Windows XP, I have found that I can run dual monitors quite nicely with my other video card. I also discovered that my original video card also has TV-Out. D'oh! No matter, maybe I'll experiment with some other funkiness when I finally set this machine up as my media center. Finally, I also picked up and installed an 802.11g card for this box. All I need to get now is a laptop - but that won't be until credit cards are paid off.

I've been playing a pretty good game of Civ in my spare time over the past few days, when I've been in town. I'm a very successful, large, powerful, Greek empire. I have a couple of dangerous borders (Mayans, Mongols) that I need to beef up security on, but neither border is that poorly defended, they just need to be stronger.

That should do it for now. This is day six since my last alcoholic beverage. The initial goal is one month, but that will clash with Brad's wedding and the trip to Vegas; we'll see how things go through that period. The key thing to watch is the level of improvement in my skin.

June 03, 2005 12:24

Solution to my problem from the other day with respect to making my computer into a media center somewhat better than my Powerpuff PC: instead of going all-out on a HD video card (which, by the way, I don't have enough ports on my TV for, unless I can replace my DVD player with a DVI-output component, so it's all kind of moot anyway), I can get an 4X AGP card with S-Video-out. It won't have the same resolution or quality as the high-def, but my hands are somewhat tied.

So, things to acquire: Graphics card with S-Video out, Bluetooth keyboard & mouse, 802.11g card (PCI). I may also look into an IR receiver that can be used to control RealPlayer. That would be fun. I may even consider that an actual project for me to build. Whether I build or purchase, it would have to be controllable from my super remote control. That's important, you know.

Things that need to be done this weekend: pick up contact lenses; check out the green market at Piedmont Park; pick up new heads for my toothbrush; pick up stuff to clean the tape off my new side table; drop off/pick up psoriasis prescriptions/refills; have a first blast at a sun bed. I probably won't be heading to the Local, since I'm back on the not drinking thing. I need to see some significant improvement in my skin before I start drinking again. I'm also trying to get back onto the Atkin's induction phase, but each day there has been something carby that has come along to bite me (or be bitten by me).

Oh yeah, Brad T is getting married. His wedding is the night that I was originally slated to head out to Las Vegas, so I spent some time on Wednesday night rearranging my travel plans. That worked out, but it did cost me an additional $250 to change my flights. On the positive side, I'm getting a small refund on my hotel cost, and they're giving me some free chips for use in the casino. I won't complain about that, I guess. I will need to advise Thomo of my change of plans. It also means I'm taking an extra day off work. C'est la vie.

June 01, 2005 15:40

So my body is falling apart. Well, not my body exactly, just my skin. The strange spots and rash-like bits are actually just a different type of psoriasis. Yay. Recommendation from the dermatologist I saw today (not my usual dermy): additional topicals, series of injections, stop drinking alcohol, and "get thee to a sunbed." Hrm. I'll make an appointment to see my regular dermy next week and discuss the suggestions and then take action. Well, I guess I'll stop drinking for now.

In other health news, it appears that I did not have hepatitis A thirteen years ago. Nope, it seems that it may have been a misdiagnosis, and instead I apparently recovered relatively quickly from a mild case of hepatitis B. How do I know this now? Well, the reason I went to the doctor today was to discuss the results of the liver test I did about a month ago. Apparently I have Hep-B antibodies floating around in my bloodstream, but no Hep-A, so the doctor decided he wanted to give me the Hep-A vaccinations.

In sports, Liverpool beat AC Milan last Wednesday to win the European Champions League cup for the fifth time. That means they get to keep the trophy. Unfortunately, since they only made fifth place in the premiership they are not in next year's competition. There are talks going around to try to get them in, but the rules are what they are. In any case, the game was amazing. The Reds came from 3-0 down at the half to tie the game, scoring their 3 goals in six minutes. The game went through overtime to a penalty shoot-out. Incredible. Then I got drunk.

Other sports results of the last couple of weeks or so: Arsenal beat Manchester United in the FA Cup. This means that Manchester United get no silverware this year. That does put a smile on my face... Preston failed to beat West Ham at the Millenium Stadium, and therefore won't be promoted to the Premiership for the next season. I watched the replay of the game at the Brewhouse on Monday; I was the only one wearing a Preston jersey, and may have been the only supporter there. Everyone else was cheering for West Ham.

Trivia tonight. Birmingham tomorrow. Whisky last Sunday. I guess I'll be keeping a low profile until my Las Vegas trip at the end of the month. That'll probably help me save a little money until then, anyway.

I'll try to have more cheery news in my next update. And pictures from the Once de Mayo party.

May 20, 2005 19:39

Balls. That's all I have to say on the matter.

You see, it all started with me thinking that I might like to apply some minor upgrades to one of my PCs and make it a permanent media center. You know, get an HDTV-output video card, a TV tuner, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and one or two other widgets, and have this nice box connected to my entertainment centre. But, when it comes down to it, my most recent PC is still under-spec'ed to handle the HDTV card. All the HD-out cards require PCI-Express or AGP 8X; I have standard PCI and AGP 4X. So I guess I'm not going to go down that path after all. Maybe I'll take a look at other options there. Hrm.