Starting to get back into the groove

The second day back has been far more productive. I got my desk back, but I had to spend a large portion of yesterday and today setting up my build environment (stupid Windows). Actually managed to fix a bug today, plus I closed out 2 more without having to do any coding (remember kids, it's always someone else's fault ;-) ). Now I have to start looking at the next major release and what projects I'll actually be working on. There's some neat stuff buried amongst the planned projects, so it ought to be fun to pick and choose.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

So I finally got around to finishing Zelda yesterday. I had to put in 2 marathon sessions on Sunday and Monday to finish it up (almost 20 hours in 2 days!). I didn't get all the heart pieces (I missed 8), nor did I get all the maps (I think I missed 6 or 7), but I'm content with beating the game at this point. I have so many games that I've either never played (Metroid Fusion being one), or only got about 2 or 3 hours into (the GB Zelda games). Now that Wind Waker is out of the way, I can go back to those. I promised myself I wouldn't buy any more video games this summer, so I should have plenty of time to catch back up.

Back to work...

Back to work in Tewksbury today. When I got in I went over to where my desk is suppose to be (the former desk of the guy who left), only to find that someone was inhabiting it already. So I'm back to my temporary home. The good thing is this desk as a window view.

Home again, home again

Back from the visit to SLC. Saw Guinn graduate, and a good time was had by all. Actually got home last night, but I was so tired I slept till some time this afternoon. Needless to say, I haven't done much today. Might head over to the 'rents on Monday for a little barbeque. It'll be my last day off before I truly have to go back to work. Time flies when you're having fun.

3XThursday : Corporate Ethics Policy Handbook

From 8bit Joystick

1. What do you think is totally unethical but legal?
   Parents entering children into beauty contests. It's one thing when a 12 year old wants to be little miss wonderful or whatever, but when parents enter 1-2 year olds in the beautiful toddler contest, that crap just makes me sick.
2. What do you think is ethical but illegal?
   I'm a small-L libertarian (I agree with the libertarian view, but the party is just a little too out there for me), so I have to say drug use. I don't believe the government should have the right to tell me what I can and can't do with my body. I've been known to occasionally smoke marijuana, and the fact that I choose to do so could get me fined or, in the extreme, jailed really ticks me off. Our jails are filled with non-violent drug offenders; the news media complains on a regular basis about how much it costs to maintain our prison system. Stop the insanity.
3. So who do you think is more unethical? Porno actors or politicians?
   In a broad generalization, politicians. Porno actors don't lie to you about what the do; they have sex on camera for money. Politicians on the other hand, campaign for months, make promises they can't possibly keep, all to get your votes, or more importantly your money.

Bonus Question: So are white lies good or bad?
Now, considering they way I answered #3 I'd be a hypocrite if I said good. A lie is a lie, even if it is a small one. That does not mean, however, that I claim I never lie. I never said any such thing, so don't say I did, you liar :-P.

Everyone's moving

So, last weekend I was helping my friend Sibi move down to CT. She's got a place right near Michael, another friend of mine (and her boyfriend). Joel moved to Maryland today to take a better paying job. Shane's going to be moving in to the Nashua apartment for a while, and of course that means Sarah will be finding her own place.

So many of my friends are moving, and after helping one of them, I realize how much I don't want to move again. When I was going to school, I lived in 6 different apartments in 5 years. Add the fact that I moved home to Merrimack the summer after my Freshman year, and I moved 7 times in 5 years and I haven't been in one place for a day longer than 1 year. Contemplating moving again any time soon just makes my cringe. I'm back in a good position, and I really don't see myself moving unless one of two things happens:

1. I get a job offer outside of a sane driving distance from Nashua
2. I somehow manage to buy a house/condo

#1 is a lot more feasible than #2 at this point, but I still don't think I'll be moving for at least 6 more months. My lease rolls over in August, at which point I'll be a tennant at-will. That will give me a lot more flexibility should something funky happen. But I suppose only time will tell.

It's been quiet around here

I wish I could say the lack of updates was from being really busy, but the truth is I've been rather lazy. Didn't get as much done as I'd hoped with my two weeks off, but something is better than nothing. Nearing the end of Zelda, don't think I'll finish it before next week though. Tomorrow, I have to take care of the title to my car, get the lean transfered to DCU, then Shane and I will be heading to SLC for graduation. We'll see when I feel the urge to post again.

Getting paid is a good thing

I got two checks from Softech in the mail today. It'll be a nice little boost to my bank account. Tomorrow will be somewhat busy, going to the gym with Dad in the morning, then have a physical before lunch. Then I would like to get a couple things done like closing out my Fleet account before I head down to Boston.

I'll be meeting up with the boys at Boston Billards as a send off to Joel. Apparently he's moving to Maryland for a new job, this is the first I've heard about it. I'm losing my friends one by one it seems. Though on the bright side, the reunion may rekindle a few friendships along the way. We shall see.

This feels like unemployment

Was suppose to go to the gym this morning with my dad, but I got a call this morning just as I was getting up from my mom. Apparently Dad didn't get to bed until 5AM, and had developed a fever. Part of me wonders how much of it is just psychosomatic. I'm going to have to come up with a contigency plan if he's going to do this to me once a week.

Ended up not really doing much at all today. Watched a little more anime, still trying to catch up with the stuff I'm actively downloading, haven't even thought about the backlog yet. Need to get more motivated tomorrow or this two weeks is going to end up like my unemployment.

A very nice mothers' day

Had a very nice get together with the family today for moms' day. The children put together a meal and brought it to the house and we all sat down and had a very nice family meal. Got to sit down and talk to everyone again, which we haven't done since Christmas.

Looking forward to seeing Matrix Reloaded this week. Otherwise I plan to play a whole lot more Zelda in between working on the website. I plan on enjoying my time off damnit! :-P

It's getting close

Got the site pretty close to where I want it, just a few style layouts here and there left. After that I can move to actually creating some new content. I'm rather excited about how well this is turning out.

Hooray for MySQL

Finally got MT using MySQL. Getting the correct version of DBI was a real headache, I had to update perl just to get it to build. All is well now though, so I should be able to start building some MySQL/PHP stuff. First up will probably be a CD catalog, or possibly something even more simple like what Joel did for his gas mileage. We'll see what strikes me next week.

Site Cleanup

I'm working on cleaning up the website. Got to PHP-ize some stuff I'm working on for overall site navigation (not just for the blog). Hopefully this two week lay off I've got will help me get stuff the way I want it.