If you are interested, please e-mail me to let me know.

Thanks!  Love y'all!

Here's the floor plan:

Don't worry about scouring the internet for "netflix coupon codes" or "netflix promo codes" to get a good deal either. I've got the hook-up right here for 1 month of Netflix free (Expires 10/31/2008). Cancel if you don't want it anymore, but the price is fair, and the service is exceptional.

Katie and I have had it most of this year, and even went out and bought the Netflix player by Roku. We love it, you'll love it, and now you can get it free for a month instead of for just 2 weeks. The only thing they're lacking is a referral program. We'd be rich if they had one, haha.

It would be super sweet to enable my apps to have access to non-fee-based cloud storage. But it does not look like that's going to happen any time soon.

:-(

All of these, save for 1, were Vista Business edition -- a version that cuts some of the advanced crypto functionality, and most noticably Windows Media Center. I've lived without it since it was created, so I did not figure it was that big of a deal.

Recently, Katie and I set up a new computer that had a TV-Tuner card built-in. Since it had the TV-Tuner card, I decided to install Windows Vista Ultimate edition on it. It picked up all the over the air stations (we're too cheap for cable), and provided up to the minute information about what we were watching. However, it also allowed us to hit pause, or rewind, or record. If it was recorded, we could fast forward. This sounds like no big deal, until you experience it.

Tuesday night, was one of the first nights that Katie and I had at home where I made dinner and we ate, and there was no TV going on. You might think that's a waste of a TV Tuner card, but it was just the opposite. Our shows don't have to be on durng dinner time anymore. We don't have to watch commercials anymore. We don't have to stay up late to catch the only 10 minutes of an hour long show that we would ever care about. It's been a huge time saver, and has been quite enjoyable.

I highly recommend that you get a TV Tuner and turn your computer into a PVR system, so you can watch less TV. You don't need Vista Ultimate, and you don't even need a desktop computer.

This is how Katie and I remain connected to the internet(s) while on the road:

I've dubbed it the briefcase of connectivity. It's a briefcase with a clearwire modem, a linksys router, and two myPower All battery packs. It charges in 4 hours, and lasts for 20 hours. Best of all, it works anywhere within clearwire's coverage area.

I'm fairly pleased with the setup, though it doesn't do Netflix streaming at very good quality through our Roku box. Anyway, enjoy!

Yay!

"I really think you'd be a great teller.  I hope you come back in 6 months."

Yeah right, Bank of America.  You do realize that you made me waste the last month and a half of my life with your "I feel really good about this one" and waiting a week between parts of the application process?  Do you honestly think that in 6 months, I'm going to put myself through all that again?

Another thing.  Asking me to return in 6 months makes 2 assumptions about me:

1) That I want to give y'all a second chance
2) That I'll still be out of work

I'm not giving up that easy.  I'll find a job...and it won't be with you.  It's probably better anyway considering that you're probably on that list of banks that might be going under...not very stable, if you ask me.

So the recruiter called and told me the news on Tuesday and said there would be a BoA job fair Thursday (today) that I should go to because there were several banks in the area hiring tellers.  So I put on my suit and made myself up and printed out several copies of my resume and was on my way. 

When I got there I sat for a few minutes and was eventually taken back for an interview with the manager of the Redmond Branch.  He was interviewing for his branch and for the North Redmond Branch (located in a QFC) and he seemed very enthusiastic about me.  So I guess he faxed over my resume right away to the North Redmond Branch and the recruiter said there was no need for any more interviews because it seemed pretty sure.

Hopefully that works out, eh.

I don't know how much of this is really what's happening now.  I know it's happened in the past, but maybe some people are different. 

Truth be told, I'm having a difficult time right now with life.  Mom has started having what we're calling "episodes" where she'll wake up dizzy, tired, blinder than normal, and her heart hurting.  When this happened the first time, Dad took her to the doctor...there's nothing anyone can do.  This is just something new to add to her already difficult life.

After the first episode, the doctor and Dad decided the best thing for her was an assisted living facility.  So, Dad and Mom are going to be moving into the Powell Valley assisted living facility.  The room is much much smaller than their house, so this last week, I went down to go through all the boxes containing my childhood and decide what of theirs I wanted.

I couldn't take everything, so what's left of my childhood is in my living room.  I also took a couple of things of theirs (I was able to get all that I wanted of that.  It's hard, you know.  Most people my age are worried about things like getting their first job, having their first baby, and getting into their first house.  This is something I shouldn't have to deal with for at least 20 years and because of that, none of my peers can possibly understand the things going through my head.

While I was down there, I did get to see the living facility and it's really nice.  I would want to live there.  The "cafeteria" looks more like a fancy restaurant, there's a beautiful courtyard with flowers, trees and fountains (which my parents' apartment will have a view of), and all sorts of activities and such.  Mom will have so much more freedom to walk around and do things and her friends are still going to come and see her during the day.  It will be better for her, especially since Dad will be with her and she can keep her cats.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share...it may explain a bit why I'm a little sensitive right now.  I feel very alone in this.  I have great support from Nick, but there's just something about going through a situation and having no one who can relate.

Anytime I move or they move, I'm forgotten...something like a long-lost memory or a person involved in a story of "what was her name again?"  I don't know what it is about me that is forgettable, but something is. 

Even when I do currently have friends, I am the one making plans to hang out with them or inviting me to come on a group outing is an after thought and by the time I'm invited (generally at the most an hour beforehand), I can't go.

Oh.  I always get the promises: "That will never happen with us." "I won't ever forget you." "I'll keep in touch."
But I always know it's not true.  Spare me, please.

Where is this all coming from, you might ask?  Well, about 2 months ago, most of my NU friends graduated and the summer began.  Guess how many have written me a message or given me a phone call since then...you got it.  Not one.  Not even people who are still attending school there.

Surprised?  I'm ashamed to say that I am.  I should have known better.  Every once in a while, a person comes along that I feel like I can trust wholeheartedly and I always get crushed.

It's when this happens that I look back on the friendship when that person was in my general area and I discover something.  It depends on the friendship concerning what it is.  Things I notice: I got called when someone needed an extra hand, but rarely for another reason.  I got called when someone wanted to go off campus (and I had a car and they didn't).  When I called to do something, the other person had some great stories of when they hung out with 5 other people the night before...and the night before that...and the night before that.

I would say it's because I'm married, but I know that's not true.  It's always been this way...for as long as I can remember. 

So here I sit, friendless again after 4 years of what I thought was friendship.  Maybe I'll just stick to my family from now on...I can't handle this kind of passive rejection anymore.

Just imagine a world in which it was possible to tick a box and schedule a package for "evening delivery". I would not ship with any other shipper. I wouldn't have to worry about UPS blindly leaving my package on the doorstep, or FedEx refusing to deliver at all.

As it is, FedEx sucks much worse. I just received the dreaded door tag on my door saying that they had attempted to deliver a package (containing a most excellent gift) at 10 am this morning. Unfortunately, I had been at work for nearly 2 hours at that point. I called them when I got home, and now my package is in Auburn. Sure they have facilities in Seattle and Issaquah (which none of their CSRs could pronounce properly), which are both closer, yet my package is in Auburn.

FedEx does offer an option to re-route a package. It requires that you call them, indentify yourself as the sender, give the tracking number, and tell them where you want the package to end up. They can even get it moved from Auburn to Kirkland by the end of the day. However, I'm not the sender. I'm the recipient. This doesn't make sense, as it does not require anything extra of the sender, and I am the recipient specified by the sender. No matter who re-routes the package, I'm still the one that has to show ID to verify that I am the recipient.

I just want my package today, I've been waiting a long time, and FedEx botched this one (they were supposed to deliver to the mail room, but failed to do so). And FedEx won't do anything about it. Same thing happened with UPS yesterday, but they got it to the mail room, and I got my package.

Just imagine what life would be like with "evening delivery".

I built the prototype in (literally) 5 minutes during my lunch break, and polished it up at home (over the course of a few hours).

Another web property that I developed this week is http://guidguide.com. And before you ask, yes they do look very similar. That's because I was lazy and didn't want to have to do a lot of CSS programming, so I just copy-pasted from BibleShared.com's styles. If you're curious, I used the style applied to comments.

So about GuidGuide -- it's kind of a parody of Wikipedia. Instead of being an encyclopedia of everything, GuidGuide is an encyclopedia of GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers aka Really, really, really, really long numbers). All of the pages are auto-generated, so it appears as if there are trillions upon trillions of pages (1 for each GUID number), but there's really only 2 files in the whole web site (the same goes for mesecond.com).

Well, I'm going to bed. Have fun with my latest experiments.

I've been doing a lot of BI work lately, and trying to conceptualize OLAP cubes and how data will be represented to the end-user (in a pivot table or a dash board), and my brain starts to break down while trying to follow the path of a single piece of data into an aggregated, sliced, and sorted view.

Four dimensions is all I can handle, for reals. I'll leave the rest up to the computer for now.

Back to work.

Hopefully something else will come along.

With the long commute in mind, we set out last night to find a car with low gas mileage, and something that wouldn't cost too much. We ended up with a 2003 Chevy Malibu. Katie likes it, and I appreciate that it doesn't look too girly.

We were able to seal the deal at less than $5,000 all said and done. y00t!

Worse than that, they have apparently been granted permission to quote the NIV on their site -- something that even BibleShared.com was not allowed to do.

What an absolute outrage.

Oh well, I'll still have my kitty cat someday...

I looked at the Event Calendar for Northwest University and discovered 2 very important dates:

December 12-Fall Graduation Chapel
December 18-My last day of school EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

231 days till I graduate...

Monday, I finished History (Final Exam).
Tuesday, I finished Mass Communication (Final Exam) and Practicum (Paper).
Wednesday, I finished Sociology (Final Exam).
Today, I finished Small Group Dynamics (Presentation).

So happy about this.  You have no idea.  Not only that, but today is the first day I'm going without my boot.  I can tell my calf muscles in my leg are weaker.  It's a little difficult to walk up stairs.  Also, my ankle still hurts a little, but the pain is virtually gone.

Tonight, I have Liz's bridal shower to go to.  I got her something cheap, but clever and also got the same thing for Cara (her shower was a couple weeks ago).  hehe...looking forward to those red faces.  Hopefully they get the joke.

Tomorrow, I am going to pick up around the house for Nick (he's going to use the spider-stay-away spray, as a preemptive strike, on Saturday and has requested I pick up to make it easier).  We also have a church leadership meeting to go to tomorrow night.

On Saturday, Emily, my sister-in-law, is having a Partylite Party that I'll be going to in the afternoon.  While I'm gone, Nick will be doing said spraying.  Then, I can relax...yay.

*sighs in relief*