year end thoughts

i guess it was inevitable that i would start writing this post. it happens every year and i was wondering when i would get around to thinking about this last year. a lot has happened in this year, as with any year, and i should do this year justice by reflecting on some of the larger milestones of the year.

i remember last year around this time i was feeling pretty down. things just didn’t look like they were looking up and i hid myself away from all of the troubles of the world by working excessively crazy hours.

if i had to describe the one big change in my life this year, i would probably say my involvement in volleyball was the biggest change in my life. i have gone from playing one day a week casually to three days a week plus tournaments. it’s a big change from my sedentary lifestyle that i used to have. i think that i had a lot more free time back then though…i do miss the free time. i think that the only way i can recapture the lost time is by staying up later, unfortunately.

this year also marked the purchase of 2 cameras. my beloved canon 10D and the more recently acquired canon s400. two cameras in one year. wow. that’s a lot.

professionally, i think that i’ve settled in to my job and things on that front are moving along pretty decently. i’m involved in interesting projects, so i guess one can’t complain there.

all in all, i think it’s been a pretty good year and i’m looking forward to the next.

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new year’s eve party

this year i’m throwing a new year’s eve party at my place. presumably there will be some drunken fun as well as some potsticker making. i’m hoping that the potstickers will be made before the drunkeness starts.

i personally like more laid back new year’s celebrations. i don’t really like going out, and i’d be perfectly happy home alone quietly celebrating the new year’s passing. i think that i used to enjoy the idea of going out to big celebrations, but these days i find that i’m more hermit like. nothing to the likes of my sacramento days, but definitely less social these days.

but i’m looking forward to this new year’s eve party. i think it will be lots of fun. nothing too crazy, though there’s enough alcohol at my place that i fear that a spark would set the whole place aflame.

as is my usual tradition, the new year’s eve party is funded (at least in part) by all of my spare change that i’ve accumulated over the year. i went to a coinstar machine today and it gave me $200.85 for the change i’ve saved up this year. not too shabby. it funded my costco run which consisted of most of the alcohol for the evening. i plan to make a run to safeway and ranch 99 tomorrow to get the rest of the food stuffs. i hope they are open, otherwise we won’t be eating potstickers for dinner.

i hope all of you have a happy and safe new year’s.

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snowboarding fun

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i went snowboarding the other weekend. i guess the thrill of it is lost on me. i’m not really into doing anything crazy anymore for fear of hurting myself. after the shoulder injury i had earlier this year, i am much more reluctant to put myself in high risk situations that may affect my day to day life. it was absolutely horrible when i had to stop playing volleyball and ice my shoulder at work. it was awful when i couldn’t lift my arms up to pick up things. i just don’t want that kind of hardship again.

i fear i am getting old.

but anyway, i went snowboarding and it was still a lot of fun. i got some good runs in and the snow was actually quite fluffy. i think that there may be another trip or two in for me for this season and then i’m out.

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11.5 gram poker chips, revisited

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i found them on the cheap and got me some. i bought out the inventory that the store had, it was a shame that they didn’t have more. oh well. they are some NICE poker chips. it definitely makes the ones i have feel pretty flimsy and it makes the plastic set feel even cheaper. i think that i may need to buy a few more from the set to even out the numbers, but i’m pretty happy with them.

it seems that there is only one manufacturer that makes the 11.5 gram poker chips and it seems that they only make a few varieties of it. it’s a shame that there isn’t more variety on the market.

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LAN party

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over the weekend a few friends of mine got together to relive some old memories via a LAN party. for those of you not in the know, a LAN party is when a bunch of people drag their computers over to somebody’s house and then network them together and play games against each other.

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what this entails is people bringing massive amounts of hardware (computer, keyboard, mouse, monitor) over from their homes to my place. it is conveniently at my place so i don’t have to move a thing. =P

so anyway, people came, and we set up the massive network. cables were strewn everywhere. computers were humming, headphones were blasting music, and hard drives were whirling away. it was a nice walk down memory lane. we used to do this all the time. it was a lot of fun back then…still is, a little. but i didn’t get burned out so quickly before.

but it was fun. i think i’ve had my fill of LAN partying for a while now. i think that i may have had the most fun playing tetrinet2. man, it’s been a while since i last played tetris.

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crazy rain ranting

man, it’s POURING right now. i forgot to bring a heavy jacket with me so i have a very thin jacket with me that will be just thick enough to soak all the water from the rain. this is just great. it doesn’t look like there’s an end in sight, either. the wind is howling ferociously outside and there’s little i want to do except curl up and go to bed. unfortunately, i have to go run some errands tonight, so it looks like there will be no relief for me.

i haven’t seen it rain this hard in a long time. i used to love the rain when i was younger. i would get all bundled up and then i would go stomping around in the puddles. my affinity for the rain has diminshed since then, though.

this does, however, renew my interest in going rain hiking. it would be just my luck though that it would stop raining when i finally get the opportunity to do it. i would be interested in getting the waterproof kit for the s400, though. hmmm…perhaps soon.

the big thing i don’t like about the rain is driving in it. there are a lot of accidents out there and i don’t want to get caught in any of them. when the next big lull in the rain comes, i think i will make a dash to the car and head home.

anyway, on to the rant of the moment, i’m currently evaluating some software and it’s pretty funny because i’m looking at some of this code and there’s only so much one can do to protect your software when you are writing scripts. this one guy says “do not remove my logo or else my software won’t work”. now that’s a pretty cool idea so i checked how he does this. it turns out that the first thing is program does is check to see if his logo is there. i guess if you don’t know how to program, this might be a stumbling block, but if you know even the littlest bit, it’s easy to work around. it’s funny what software programmers will try to do.

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sickness

oh dear. it’s come over me again.

it’s a sickness of sorts, really. when it first came, it swept over me like a plague infecting my every breath. each breath became progressively more difficult. as i labored to recover and try to remember what life was like before the sickness, i could only wish that there would be an end.

but no. salvation would not come. it mocked me as i withered away in the agony.

it’s been years since i kicked the habit, and i thought for sure that all would be ok now. i thought for sure that i had managed to escape from the clenches of this addiction, but now, years after my initial dealings with this venom it has returned.

and i have relented.

and so now i’m left with nothing to do but fight.

and so i will.

tetrinet2, anyone?

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working blues

today resumes the usual work blues. i guess this weekend wasn’t as relaxing as i had hoped. it wasn’t nearly as productive, either. i’ve got a lot of cleaning to do still.

there is a tradition at my household where we clean up the house as much as possible before the new year starts. this is primarily so that all of the bad dirties don’t stay with you the following year. i guess it’s a japanese thing…though i thought that it was an asian thing. anyway, my apartment is in dire need of cleaning.

and so i think i’ll spend the rest of this year cleaning it up.

sigh. woe is me.

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failed beginnings

it was about this time, i think two years ago, when i was on the brink of pursuing this one girl. all seemed well enough and i was beginning to develop an interest in her. it seemed that things were mutual, and just as i was about to make my move, i found out that she had made plans already to visit this guy. the plans were already in the works weeks prior to me ever meeting her.

this ordinarily would not have been a big deal, however, it turns out that this meeting that she had with this guy was romantic in nature. in fact, it seemed that there would be some booty calling to be had.

but she completely ok with this and attempting to start something with me.

i could not believe it.

yeah, i’m going to go over there and meet up with this guy and we’re probably going to hook up. but once i’m done with him, i’d like to hang out with you again, if that’s cool. you know…that sort of thing.

and that’s when i realized that she just wanted to play around. i definitely did not want my heart strings to be toyed with and decided to quickly distance myself from her. i don’t think much about it anymore, but today i was reminded of this story for some strange reason.

i’m glad that i made the decision that i did and if i had to make it all over again, i would do the same. the only thing i regret is that i lost out on what could have been a good friend. we’ve lost touch since then and i haven’t seen her in quite some time.

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all work and no play…

sadly, i’m at work today. it’s hard working when virtually EVERYONE no one else is at the office. is that cause for concern? not really. it is probably one of the most vacationed away days in the year, after all.

but i am actually getting some work done, surprisingly. go figure, eh?

what’s surpising even more is that there are some people who are answering support calls today. i’ve made several inquiries about some products and all of my questions were promptly answered.