Michael's Shower

Cool Outlook

Seeing how I never got to use Outlook 2003, I have really enjoyed using version 2007. It took some work to get it installed... It was not on the disk, only the install code was on the cardboard case for the disc i got.. After downloading, and installing, I noticed I had little hard drive space!

A quick clean up of the hard drive freed up the 3 Gigs I had prior to the install. Then, came the learning curve. I like it! Not so sure i like the RSS feed features, but oh well?

Tried a couple options to get a date for Friday but nothing worked out. Maybe I should have focused on Saturday. Oh well, next time?

Eventful New day

I was ready for a new day this morning. I went to Microsoft's New Day launch event. I got a good breakfast. Not sure I was supposed to be in that room, but oh well.

I made it home with the software this time. I'll install Outlook in the morning. I might install the rest one day. I don't use Office that much anymore anyway.

I did get to play with Vista a bit. just about as exciting watching someone else play with it.

Mentioned to some guy I was only there for the free food, software, T-shirt, and information. After talking to him for a bit, I learned he was a Microsoft employee. D'oh!

Shaped by the surroundings?

I recently saw the making of a movie I grew up with. The scene from the Dark Crystal , looked like a scene I envisioned for the start of my Zem book. I guess a dark castle with lightening isn't rare but I just started to wonder how many of my stories are regurgitations of other movies I have seen or books I have read.

If I am doing this then who else is too?

This actually one reason I fast forward through movies. I put myself in the place of the writer and anticipate what I would have said or done. It is easy to guess what is coming so why wait to find out if I am right?

Colts go to the Super Bowl!

It was a great weekend.

Went to breakfast with a co-worker, then to Fort Ward with a friend. She'd never been there and it was Robert E. Lee's 200th birthday, I thought she was disappointed there was not much to see. Oh well, I enjoyed spending time with her.

I was actually disappointed to learn the fort was a recreation.

I then went to this mid-singles dinner event. Over all, it was great.

Church was great too. It started to snow and we visited all our people on the list.

And of course, the Colts won!!!!

Interviews: Waste of time?

I go to this interview after wasting a lot of time filling out a gay application which was never refererred to and my resume was only looked at, only to find out that not only did they tell me they might already have filled the position but they scheduled other things over my appointment.

Thanks for keeping me in the loop. My time is not that important. Please shove that up my butt a few more times.. I really liked it.

Glad I did not suit up as much as other butt kissers probably would only to face the cold and snow in vain. (Suit coats are not that thick.)

ESIGN Act

I was filling out a form online when it asked for a signature. I did not want to print it out and then send it in. That was why I did it on line in the first place. Then i saw a link and got to this place that let my do an online signature.

I liked the US code reference and had to look it up. Here is the link.

Section 101(c)(1)(C)(ii) of the Act requires businesses to obtain from consumers electronic consent or confirmation to receive information electronically that a law requires to be in writing. The Act went into effect in October 2000.

(codified at 15 U.S.C. § 7001 et seq.).

That NOAA project I worked on could have used this.

Strangest recruiter

A while back I spoke with a recruiter over the phone. A couple days later I got a card from her. I started to get other emails All of them said nothing was new but she was still looking out for me. I started to flirt with her just because. Well, I think she caught on what I was doing and haven't heard from her since.

Remember Spencer?

I just listened to chapter 6 from the Kimball book. It was good although I was not focused on listening too close.

The other day I was asked to give a thought. I was not in the mood to give any good thoughts. It was a busy day, my ride was late, although I made it on time to my appointment.

I flopped on the thought. During the song, I scooted over to someone I thought I knew. When I realized i had the wrong person, I left the room embarrassed.

I went to a different class after running into a friend in the hall way. Everyone had their scriptures out. I was asked about mine and responded with the flippant remark that they were written on the flashy tablets of the heart.

They started with chapter 1 of Alma. I put in my two cents about priestcraft and enforcement via the sword. Turned out I was right. They moved on. The teacher wrote stuff on the board. I asked if this was the place where the Church had become a stumbling block for the community.

I was right again. The teacher jumped to section 9. I immediately voiced something about heart and mind. My friend started to agree that I had the scriptures down. Little does he know?

Then the teacher wrote the word "remember"on the board. I had heard that was Kimball's favorite word. I went home to look up the word in the index just to see what references I'd find, but decided to use the Church's site.

I liked all the online tools they had. I need to use them more. I wondered what order these references were coming back in, but I think I did find the reference I was looking for.

Now, I had thought worth sharing?

Wow Wednesday

Wednesday was a crazy day.... I went 24 hours without checking my mail or using Skype!

Got up early only to wait around for a long time for my ride (Cable) to the Bishop's Storehouse. We got lost on the way there and got to the gates of Andrews AFB. I forgot to call my MP friend ahead of time, I wanted to see if he would let me in or talk with him through the gate.

I put in a full day at the storehouse. Hardest I have worked in a long time. Those who didn't know better, knew me as Justin. That was what I put on my name tag.

I dropped a couple items. I think I was the only one. The Bishop, who works for the Church there, did come by and teased me.... only because I tease him....

Got a ride from Josh to the metro where I went to Rosslyn to wait for Kevin. Ate dinner, met some guy from Jamaica who asked for my name and I told him it was George.

He then went off on saying that he has been in the US for two weeks and that he came all this way to tell me God loves me. He first asked if I knew that God loved me.

Well, I thought. I just busted my butt all day at His storehouse. He better love me. Besides, are we talking about the same God?

I chuckled when he told me that I was loved. Great, thought I. Like I needed some whack-o to tell me that.

He kept on his spiel. What, does he want money? Look pal, I don't know how they do this in Jamaica, but here you sound like a raving loon.

I thought Kevin was coming at 6 - which was really early I thought, but waited until about 6:30 when I was going to leave. Well, I just checked. We arranged to met at 6:30 and he called right on the dot.

Good thing I didn't leave.

We talked about Kat, Lillian, etc. on the way there. I "offended" him when I told him I didn't like Ben that much. I'm just jelous I guess.

I could have taken my bag but decided not to. I talked to Kathleen (Kat) while renting my stuff. I wanted to bring up the plan for Saturday but I didn't want her to lie or feel uncomfortable.... It was great to see/talk her though.

Well, I knew both Colonial wards were going to be there, but I was still shocked that it was packed. I ran into Andrew and his wife on the stair case... I swatted him from behind. After greeting me (Andrew's wife was there when I helped clean last week. We met at Travis's going away party before that.), Andrew joked about being swatted on the butt.

"Well," I said. "I could not exactly grab it."

Kristen was there along with a plethora of beautiful women. I think every seat on the woman's side was filled.

I asked Kristen for a ride and was pretty upset she never responded and yet showed up. Oh well.

Anyway, I busted one of the straps on the robe. I was not sure what to do. The guy went and got a new robe... it was not fun having everyone watch me.

The guy asked for 4 women once. Then he asked for a row of guys. I thought he wanted just 4 so I sat there for a second.... I swear people must really think I am slow.

Got a ride home with Warren and Jared. Had I known they were going, I could have changed at home.... and not had to rent everything, bust the strap, etc. I guess I would have missed Kat too. Maybe that would have been OK.

I'm calling her tonight.

Quite busy day(s)

I shall explain later.

Went to my first NBA game yesterday. Funny, it was a wizards game against the Utah Jazz. It was good. I then went to FHE.... also good.

Today I was at work running all over the office.

Lots of Football

As the weekend drew closer I started to reflect back to the time where I felt I was in a cell. My Condo is a nice place, but sitting in there for extended amounts of time, really stinks.

I talked to an old roommate about going to a basketball game (Monday). Talked a few people. Went to Church. Watched almost every play off game.

Need a life? Somethings never change.

TWIT Army

I had to subscribe to This Week in Tech on my computer at home. Tomorrow is a Holiday and I could not wait until Tuesday. It is pretty funny and full of great information.

I was one of the many who thought I needed an iPod to listen to a Podcast. I heard about TWIT a while ago... I had to go back and listen to the old casts.

I guess I'm part of the Army now? I'm more of an eavesdropper. Just like to know what is going on.

Go Colts

Super Bowl for the Colts? I just watched most of a game with my team. First one this season? I'd like to see them win. One more Play off game to go.

Phones

I checked online to see how many minutes I had left on my cell and I knew 2 minutes was wrong. Where is that receipt? Do i need to fight with these guys too?

Cool. I went to the receipt and noticed there was a number I needed to enter into the web site to add minutes to my new cell phone. I knew I paid for extra minutes! Just glad I kept that receipt and all!

I like the phone because it is small. It works well enough for what it was for. I tried to use Skype to add the minutes, but it was much easier to do on the web.

I downloaded Skype again on my laptop because the one I had at work had cool features that weren't on my laptop. Features like links in IE make it easy to click and call numbers found on a web site.

I thought about sticking Skype on the public computer downstairs, but after I saw it log in as me under a different user account, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be installing it on the computer I have in the family room.

Not all solutions are the best? Get what you pay for?

What a day

Helped clean the temple. Found out an old friend moved to a neighboring state. Listened the President's address about more troops to Iraq... It's all supposed to end in November?

Got no message from a certain somebody. Went to the neighbor' to show off the recent family picture. Meet with some recruiter and was again reminded how bad it can stink to look for jobs... C++ version 2? What the heck is that?

Some of the code samples I saw for the one and only test I wanted to skim over, reminded me about this guy who would write the wackiest code just to see what it would do. Aside from really getting to know the compiler, what is the logic in writing such unreadable and unmaintainable code?

After all this, I had to try and contact this government agency regarding a back ground check of a former roommate. Not every day you get to do that!

Permission to speak freely II

Another classic momement regarded this QA lady we hired for a silly purpose. All that is a book of stories on it's own.

One day we were having this meeting. Not sure what it was all about, but out of the blue, this QA lady said "The Q in my office stands for quality."

My first thought, besides What the heck is she talking about, was Did she really have some letter Q on the wall or did she refer to some queue of stuff.

Either option seemed pretty lame. After the meeting, I verified that there was a letter Q mounted on the wall in her office.

When meetings got lame after that day, I would turn to a co-worker and repeat. "The Q in my office...."

Floating holiday

I took my floating holiday today. I got a bunch of stuff completed. I almost wish I had everyday off or rather the flexibility to do what I wanted all the time. It is nice to go to a new place/office. Especially when you have interesting stuff to do. And lots of it.

It is getting close to nap time. I guess my own roommate will come home soon. He is irritating enough to keep myself in my room, on my laptop for a few more hours.

Balanced the checkbook as best I ever do. Baked a cake, cleaned up a bit.... Of course, talked to a bunch of people. I wanted to make an entry before I got bogged down. I need to locate this rebate form....

Miscommunication in the morning

The last night I was in Utah, I spent sometime with my oldest niece. I heard my other niece crying probably because she thought it was unfair. I can understand all that, but that is life?

Anyway, in the morning the second oldest came down to see if I was awake. I invited to come sit by me. We watched the fire for a time. Then I asked if it was time to get up.

I went to brush my teeth. When I got back, she was gone. She went back upstairs and told her mom with a sob that I was still asleep.

I should have just turned the light on...

Such a nice day

It was such a nice day that I went running. I like the nice weather, just leery that it is a calm before the storm. Is it going to get really cold one day, or is summer going to be so unbearably hot?

Back where it is warm

I heard that the cherry blossoms might come out earlier this year because it has been unusually warm for this area. It has been fairly interesting the couple days I have been back.

I could have gotten out to play Ultimate, butt it really isn't the funnest sport and I got up latter than expected. I went to see a movie which was very slow and long. We actually left after two hours. Did anyone check to see how long it was?

I got a bunch of things to get done before I go to this Shakespeare play tonight. I need some culture and it was a great date idea. Can't pass up a free play.

Playing with blocks

My nephews got some Lego-like blocks for Christmas. And why not buy the cheap ones that come in a small bag? Unless you need them to stick together tightly, and/or you really like the Lego logo, and/or the blocks are for the kids who will most likely loose a lot of pieces, then by all means get the expensive, real thing.

Anyway, there were no really long and wide single layer pieces so I started to snap things together to start making the hull of a star ship or jet. It started to look fairly nice. I had to add little support pieces to keep the thing snapped together.

My one nephew liked it too and took it off production. When I noticed he set it aside, I asked if I could finish it. Looking back, I did not like the wing design, but I gave the finished product to my other nephew who had not taken it from me. Of course that just made the first jealous.

I than started to improve on a shotty design. It looked like a bus, but I turned it into a boat. The jealous nephew didn’t like it even though it could shoot missiles at the jet. He wanted wings so I put really gay looking wings on and did a test flight.

Well, that didn’t do and he started to cry. So, I prettied up the boat and put sleek manifolds on the partially redesigned wings. It still looked like a bus with wings. I so liked the first one better, but it looked nice enough to get out of the whole block business for the time.

The tears stopped and I even got a quite thank you.

The Kids

I miss them already.

It was lots of fun to hang out with them.

More Cell headaches

I tried to get a new cell phone. This time from T-mobile. I got a cheap prepaid one. Well, my other number wasn't carried over and I'm probably going to get screwed from Sprint on a exit fee or something. I sent an email explaining my qualms with Sprint's lousy customer service.

I only need a phone for the following:

• Emergency calls.


• Voice mail.


• Missed calls.


• Limited text messages.
  
• Time/calender.

Spencer's podcast

Cool, there is podcast a for the Kimball book. I think it is awesome! OK, it is probably just a simple XML file...but Now I can see myself listening to the book all the way through because iTunes will download it for me.

I just don't get it

Almost everyone I hear complain about the hidden menu's in IE 7 and MS Office. I honestly did not notice they were gone until someone cried about it for the first time.

I thought it was strange because I recalled hitting Alt-F and I got the File menu in IE7. So, I had to go look at what was going on.

I think it was smart to hide the menus. It took up space anyway. With Office? It sounds like these ribbon things would be pretty intuitive to use. And for all the old school (remember the argument between users that like to type everything in the console to those who just want to click?) users, press the Alt key when you need to see your menus!

Got what I expected

I got my phone back not fixed. I was expecting to get a new one or something because it was under warranty. I only bought the stupid thing a few months ago.

The trash was not taken out, that was expected but it still ticked me off. I sent everyone an email telling them to take it out.

I forgot my belt this morning. What else did I forget? Was this a result of the drugs I took to combat the expected cold I picked up?

Happy New Year!

The trip is drawing to a close. it was lots of fun, very informative and mostly very great memories.

Of course, I have tried to plan for the coming weekend. Hopefully it will be just as good as these last two.