So, yeah... Long time, no see! I suppose i could write down a few updates and other tidbits.

School:
School is going alright. I'm taking summer classes both semesters. Classes in both Macro and Micro economics. Right now I'm in macro. It's pretty dry and boring. No offense to the professor, he tries his hardest to make it interesting, but there's only so much you can do with it. My grade is probably a high 'B' right now, and with the final project in the next week, i should be able to pull it up into 'A' range. It is an 8 AM class, which really isnt my cup o' tea, but some how i keep getting up on time (more or less) for class. I'm taking Micro in July, with a different professor. We'll see how that goes.

Vacation:
Unfortunately this summer, since i'm taking classes i haven/wont have a chance to really get out and go anywhere. That coupled with the loss of my flight benefits, really means no traveling for Tim. That's ok though, Natalie came out to visit for a few days. I'm really glad that she had the opportunity to visit. She's a great friend, and I really like spending time with her. I had so much planned for the few days that she came out, and when the bad weather started rolling in, everything just went to ashes. We were going to go jetskiing on Billy's boat, but weather cut that short... *WAY SHORT*. Then while towing the boat, the hitch jumped off the ball and made a huge ding in the back of my brother's car. I felt really horrible about that for a while. The next day we were to go to 6-flags, but the forecast said thunderstorms ALL day. Come to find out, it didnt rain at all. *grr*. The last day that she was out, we ate at a chinese food place and she got sick... So a tragic end to the vacation. I feel bad about having so much planned, but so little done.

Work:
Eh, work is still work. Nothing crazy happening too much. People are still irritated and dont read the fine print on our advertisements, and we still sell stuff. The normal retail cycle. My job has been very forgiving with my school schedule, allowing me to work few hours, but maintain my position.

That's about it. Oh, i also got a gmail account. If you want an invite, just lemme know ;)

-Tim
*I've felt those things.*

So... today I accidentally woke up early (That'll teach me to mess with my alarm settings just before bed!), while this isnt necessarily a bad thing, a funny thing happened in my Sociology class.

I'm usually notorious for being about 10 minutes late to class... and I think i've missed about 2 or so classes. So today, i'm sitting at my desk with my books out. The professor walks in and sees me. He practically does a double take and says something. Then he says "Tim, you know it's not usually a good thing when the teacher notices these things." lol. Whoops. Apparently I didnt realize that when I walked in late, I needed to see the prof after class to make sure he had my attendance recorded. So, after clearing up my tardyness... i'm back in the black.

-Tim
*A Jury of my peers?!*

So... A couple weekends ago, one of my friends (Natalie) turned 21... I've known her for a while, and we're pretty good friends. I've gone out to visit her a few times, and she (and Loreanne) have come out to visit me. Well, since Natalie had recently turned 21, she wanted to have a little party out in Las Vegas. This past weekend, just that happened.

The first part of the adventure was just getting out to Vegas. I had to fly standby to get out there (thank you southwest flight benefits!). Which wasnt too much of an issue. I went through Houston at 7am (bleh), and then continued my flight to Las Vegas. I think I ended up landing at around 10 (local time) which means i had been traveling for about 4 or 5 hours already. Unfortunately some bad weather was rolling in, and they had started delaying flights. Even worse, my friends Kenny and Natalie were delayed... for 3 hours. So... i stuck around the airport for even longer. I tried my hand at a $1 slot machine. After putting $3 in, i won $30! I was quite shocked, and if the rest of the trip would turn out this way, i'd be on easy street. I didnt want to gamble away my money, so i pocketed my winnings, and sat in the terminal and people watched for the remaining time.

Finally Natalie and Kenny's flight arrived, and we were off to our hotel (The Stratosphere). I had seen it on final arrival in the airplane, it's one of the tallest things in vegas. We took a shuttle to the hotel, and checked in. Nothing really fancy about the rooms, just your standard every day rooms. Kenny and I got the 2 bed variety, and Natalie got the 1 bed. Also when we were checking in, we purchased our tickets to the Blueman Group show. After we dropped off our luggage, and decided to walk the strip, we walked the strip. I dont think we planned on walking the ENTIRE strip... but you know, tourists (Note to self: Dont do that again). While walking, and kind of before walking too, each of us expressed interest in locating some food. But, due to the inability of anyone to make a decision we just kept walking... and walking... and walking. Finally I asked kenny what kind of food he wanted, and decided to go into Ny,Ny... However this hotel has about 20 resturants inside.... Thank you Kenny :). Finally, we locate a resturant inside that we want to eat at... The prices are somewhat high, you'd think that with all the money that the hotel is making on the casino, they'd cut back on gouging prices of food. Oh well, $8 and a big bowl of Macaroni and Cheese later, i'm full.

After dinner/lunch/whatever we wandered around the casino for a little bit. I was watching people play roulette... that game is amazing. How it works, how the people bet. I dunno, i was just mesmorized by it. I ended up playing like $10 on it. I totally lost. I originally wanted 10 $1 chips to maximize my betting area, but the table person wouldnt give me those chips. We then went over and watched some people playing Blackjack. (another $10 minimum table) I played blackjack for a little while. $20 got me about 15 mins of play? I'm not too sure, but that game moves very fast. It was fun, i enjoyed blackjack. I however felt that It wasnt fun for my friends to watch me, so we left. We continued to walk down the strip, and made it to the Excalibur. We took the Excalibur shuttle to the Luxor, and wandered around there for a while. Kenny and Natalie really didn't want to gamble much, and I felt somewhat bad about doing something that they didnt want to do, so not much more gambling took place, although i gave kenny $1 and he put it into a penny-slot machine. Somehow he got some bonus multiplier game, and it was playing itself. Fun times.

Finally, it was time to see our show (the 10pm Show). Wow. That's all i have to say. The Blueman Group show was amazing. Not a dull moment at all, and it's a bonus that I really like their music, and have both CDs. By the time we get out of the show, it's about midnight. So we wander around the casino for a little bit, and take a Cab back to the stratosphere. $18 later, we're back in our hotel.

We hang out in Natalie's room for a little bit, and figure out that it's too late to get pizza (i'm not sure how we came to this conclusion, since Vegas seems to be open 24/7). Eventually, Kenny and I leave Natalie's room in search for food. The Buffet is closed, and so are all of the resturants in the Casino (2am ish i think). I see a little convience store next to the elevators, so I look in there, and they have some small snacks and sandwiches. While I was paying for my drink and pastry, some drunk girl starts hitting on kenny. It was pretty funny to me, Kenny just seemed annoyed. We got back up to the room, and i ate my snack... and promptly passed out. I had been up for a VERY long time, and hadn't had much sleep the night before. After getting a good night sleep, I woke up at 10, took a shower and we checked out. Well, we went down to the lobby to check out, but there was a HUGE line, so i went back upstairs and used the TV to check out. We went to the bell-hop desk and checked our bags for the day since we didnt want to lug them around.

So, instead of walking the entire strip again (no thanks), we took the Trolly system. It cost $1.75, and you can go the entire strip. We went back to the Mandelay bay area because Natalie wanted to see the Sharks. Unfortunately when we got there, there was a HUGE line to get in. So we passed on that. We went to the M&M's store instead. Natalie bought some stuff there, and i kept looking at my watch. My flight was the first to leave, and even though i knew that there were delays (rain pushed everything out atleast 4 hours), we had to get back. So, we took another trolly back to the stratosphere, and got on a shuttle to the airport. The airport was a MADHOUSE. The Weather was delaying everything, so people were stuck in the terminal hoping that their flights would get them home. I went and tried to put my name on the standby list, but since there were so many paying customers i pretty much gave up. Also, when I attempted to put my name on the List, we found out that Kenny's entire flight had been cancelled. *not good*

And this begins the What to do when trapped in an airport segment of our story. Kenny eventually put his name on a standby list to get back out to Oakland. His chances of getting onto a flight seemed pretty good. His flight number gave him priority status to get onto another flight. Natalie on the other hand needed to fly standby, so she had no priority what so ever. We figured that she would just catch the first flight out in the morning. While waiting, we got some food, and pretty much hung out... watched some tv. Natalie wandered off somewhere to talk with her boyfriend (as kenny put it ;). So Kenny and I watched the simpsons. Great show. Finally, Kenny's name was called, and he was very happy that he'd be able to go home. That was his 'Big Win' in Vegas... a trip home, that he already paid for! So, Natalie and I were left in the terminal. We found some seats and I found a newspaper. Not much interesting, although there were a couple good articles on how cabdrivers were taking longer routes than necessary and overcharging tourists. 'Longhauling' is what they called it... It seemed that many cabbies were doing it, and the City was just starting to crack down on it. It was about 12 or so, and one of the last flights to oakland was about to leave. I suggested to natalie to use my perfect attendance pass (which my dad gave me) to use to get home. She didnt think it would work, but i really didnt want her to have to stay longer than necessary. So she went up to the ticket counter, and asked them. I guess that there were seats avalible, so she rushed back, packed threw everything back in her bag and ran to the gate. Just in time i suppose. Unfortunately she didnt have time to even say goodbye... It's ok though, she was in a rush. While she was on the plane, she called and thanked me for the ticket.

And so begins my waiting in the airport. Sure the Airport has some slot machines, but by this point i was all out of cash, and didnt want to pay some stupidly crazy ammount to pull my money out of my bank account through an atm machine. There were various TVs around the terminal, so I watched that for a while, but when infomercials were the only thing left... I was forced to find something else to do. I can only take so much of setting something and forgetting it. So, I ended up leaving the 'Secure' area of the terminal and going back out to the common area. Where all the ticket counters and baggage claims are. There were a LOT more people out there. I found some place to sit, and just sort of watched people for hours. I think i fell asaleep for about 20 minutes or so... But i didnt feel comfortable sleeping in the airport. Who knows what could happen, people stealing my bag, i didnt want to chance it. So I got up and walked around some more. There was a little 'History of Aviation' exhibit in the airport. Finally 4am rolled around, and the Southwest ticket counters opened up. I got in line, and had my security doccument printed out so i could get back through securtiy.

After passing back through security, I had another long wait ahead of me. The flight was not supposed to leave untill 8, it was 4 now. So, i watch some TV and attempt not to fall asaleep due to those pesky bag theifs or something. By about 6:45 a LOT more people had showed up, and i was very concerned that i wouldn't be able to catch my flight. The Ticket agent knew that I had stayed the night before, and told me that she would do her best to get me on the flight so I could get home (they had oversold the flight by 1 seat). Eventually she gave me a boarding pass, Some people who had signed up for the flight didnt make it in time. *YAY* out of LAS. I arrive in ABQ just in time to miss my other flight. It hadn't pushed from the gate yet, but they were not going to allow any more passengers. So, I look and see that the next Non-stop flight from ABQ to DAL isn't for a few hours. There is another flight through AMA, and it'll get me home sooner than the non-stop... but i have to transfer, and deal with the standby list shenanigans again. So, I get on the flight to AMA, it was wide open, so I didnt have to deal with the standby stuff. Quick flight to Amarillo (55 mins). When I arrive, in Amarillo, I see that another non-stop flight to Dallas had been delayed. So I get on that flight, and hurridly get home (another hour). By this point it's 4 and i'm VERY exhausted. I get home, and take a shower.

Overall I had a blast in LasVegas with my friends. I'd do it again, but if i had the choice, i'd do it on a weekend where record setting rains, and fly in/out on non-popular travel days (friday and sunday are BAD ideas). I think Kenny and Natalie had a lot of fun too. We should do it again ;)

-Tim
*Offer Good through 5 Minutes ago. Sorry.*

Ok... So tonight was our 'Going Away' party for Brian. He's a good guy, manages the hardline area in Oshman's. He decides that it would be a good idea to throw a little party in celebration of his promotion to another store. All is well and good.

The party is tonight. *Yay Party*. Unfortunately since the venue he chose was a bar, the youngins couldn't get in (Sorry Chris and Mike). That left 8 of us. As we enter the bar, Brian leads us into a kind of follow-the-leader through hoards of people. Somewhat interesting, but whatever. Finally we locate some place to sit, order our drinks, and talk/bullshit. It was fun. A bit later in the evening a very forward mid-30's woman comes up and plops herself down at our table. Kind of an unusual situation to me, since i've never really been in this sort of environment. She seems very interested in Brian, yet keeps leaning over and putting her arm around me, or for instance when she'd laugh, she would grab onto my arm. *shrug* women. More drinks are ordered, and Brian is way past sober. It's funny to watch someone progress through those stages of sobriety to almost drunkenness.

The short story is that we tell brian not to go home with this lady (even though he wants to), Craig and his wife/girlfriend/whatever get into some kind of mini argument over the drinks that craig had ordered (bare in mind that craig wasn't supposed to be drinking at all tonight). My tab was not that much.

I really should have more to say, but i just wanted to write about the highlights of this party (Brian wanting some not too attractive girl (beer goggles), and that's about it). Have fun... hopefully i'll write soon.

-Tim

GAH.
Short update...

My new car... with around 1,200 miles gets rear-ended on the highway by a BMW Z3. Double ouch. Such a sexy car to make an unfortunate meeting with mine :( I'm not exactly sure how the other driver's insurance will handle the matter, but lordy this really stinks! Depending on how promply they attempt to fix my car, I might drop $500 and pay my collision deductable and have my insurance cover it, and then let them pursue the other insurance company. Tomorrow will only tell. Hopefully he's already called them and filed a claim. I took some pictures with my phone at the accident, i havent transfered them anywhere... Look for an update in the near future with pictures.

Item 2... I got a fancy new phone! w00. It's a Sony Ericsson T610. With Bluetooth... such a cool technology. I've been playing with it in the various computer stores. Sending contacts to various machines, in essence BLUEJAQ'ING them. bwahhaha.

Item C. School is out. *w00* I think i did alright in my classes. I've enrolled in classes for the next semester, 13 credit hours... nothing over the top. However, i've put all of my classes into 2 days for the week. This will give me overflowing 4-day weekends, BUT... i'll have to work my ass off during the week. Oh well.

In Conclusion... Well, this isnt really that short of an update, but anyways. Car accident is bad, but insurance makes it better. I shall leave you with an actual quote from my store.

-Tim
*"What is the fastest running shoe you have?"*

Wow... I would normally say that not much has happened recently, but that is not true this time. Many new things have happened, and are happening.

1) My dad got a new car. He decided on getting a small economy car. He went with my mom and test-drove many different cars. Finally the Ford Focus stuck on him. He got an amazing deal on it, and is quite proud of his barganing techniques. It's black, and has power nothing. It does, however, have A/C which is necessary in Texas. It's a nice car, and since it's light weight, the small-ish engine in it has a good ammount of pickup. It gets much better gas mileage than his previous vehicle. I believe the Focus gets like 27/34 or something.

2) David got a new-ish car. Since my dad bought the Focus, we had an extra vehicle. My parents decided to give David a car for while he's off at college. He got the 1994 Volvo 850. Quite a nice car. He got a parking garage spot for it to protect it while he's out marching around or whatever the corps does. He's very pleased with the car.

3) My Mom got a new car! (You might begin to see a theme here). She ended up getting a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited in White. It's a VERY pretty car, and has an awesome tope leather interior. It is nice to drive, and has all the features you'd expect from a grand cherokee limited. She traded in her 96 Jeep for this one. It has some new features like being able to program what the remote-keys do without going to the dealership. Fancy Fancy!

4) Last but certianly not least is me. I got a new car too. My 1989 Volvo 240 had served it's purpose well, showing over 203,000 miles and the engine has many more miles left in it. But after weighing the cost of the maintence, the cost of the vehicle, and other associated expenses on the car, we figured that we were paying over $200 a month for the life of the vehicle (7.5 years). Quite a bit of money. That is pretty much a car payment on a new car. (gotta love that justification right?) So after test-driving many more vehicles we found the Toyota Corolla S. It drives very nice, and I like the 5-speed Transmission. I ended up getting the S-package which includes some body kit, remote, power windows and other such goodies. I'm very pleased with it so far (56 miles ;), and it gets insane gas mileage 32/40. Compared to the 20mpg that my volvo got.

So that's what's been going on for the past few weeks. New cars (woo), School is going pretty well. I'm excited about the fact that classes are almost over for the semester.

-Tim
*Lemme introduce ya to 'Tony*

Gah... not many things irritate me to this level which I am currently at. Here's the story (gather around):
I was driving from my house to school. I left with about 10 minutes before class (it takes like 6 minutes to get to the school, so I had enough time). I stopped by the 7-11 to pick up a drink. As i'm exiting the parking lot onto the Parkway, this truck is barrling down the street straight to a stoplight. I feel that i have more than adequate time to get infront of this truck, and over into a lane that he is not in (the far left lane). I preform this manuver, and nothing (that I felt) happend wrong. He didnt slam on his brakes (on account of me, but the stop light is another story), he didnt have to swerve, he didnt even honk. Just normal driving in my opinion. There was a Police Cruiser in another lane of the intersection, and he felt that I had done some injustice to the citizens of Frisco, Tx. So, he pulled me over. When I saw the lights behind me, I got over into the right lane. Lights continued to move behind me so I put on my hazard lights and make a right turn onto another street. I was going to proceed to the Church parking lot on that street, but the cop honked his horn so I just stopped in the middle of the street (I really prefer to get off of the street in a "tim gets pulled over" situation). He walks up to my car with his partner, and asks for my liscense and insurance. He then takes a very close look at my registration and emissions stickers. I think he was looking for a reason to write a ticket. He then tells me that i didnt yield 'right of way' to the truck. So I tell him that i felt i had enough time to move out of the way of this truck, and he didnt slam on his brakes or honk or anything. The cop looked at me kind of irritated and went back to his cruiser to check my liscense and vehicle tags (to further make sure I'm not wanted). This whole ordeal is wasting a LOT of my time. So, he comes back to my car and hands me my liscense (he seemed unhappy that there werent any warrants out for me or a reason to write me a ticket). He tells me to "drive safe" and walks back to his car. A complete waste of time. *GAH* So I get to school 15 mins late. And skip my class.

That's about it for now... I might update later.

-Tim
*Sounds like SOMEONE has a case of the mondays.*

As the topic of this entry clearly states, the inventory was completed. Lastweekend even. Sunday *gah* i was at work at freakin 5am. I felt like i only got an hour of sleep. It's ok though, i went to work in my Quakecon shirt ready to whoop some inventory ass. First they set me off to do the exercise pad (not too difficult). Then my manager had me do a secret task which involved looking at the weight sets and the inventory and putting certian numbers down on another piece of paper. After my secret mission was completed, i was given the evil EVIL task of doing the ammo bunker. LORDY that was an evil task. Inventorying all the ammunition in that store... about 6 hours later i was finished. I took an hour lunch. For my lunch i went home, and put a hot-pocket into the microwave. Sat down and apparently closed my eyes. Approximately 45 minutes later i woke up and rushed back to work. (no lunch for me... but a short nap). I then went back to work for 30 mins and then went home and passed out.

Not much interesting happened at school this week. I mistakingly rushed and finishd the beginnings of a project. When I got to class, i asked the professor about the project, and she gave me a puzzled look like "you shouldnt be that far yet". The prof had allocated class time for the project, so i just went home early.

Today was an interesting day. Marissa is taking classes at a cosmetology school. And this week was their Friends/Family week. Their task was to invite friends and family in and do their craft on those poor unfortunate souls (i'm kidding), and whoever brings in the most people gets some special gift or something. Well i went in today. A very interesting experience. Nothing bad though. Pretty much got my face massaged, and some kind of mask put on. I really dont know what happened, my eyes were closed most of the time. The room was all dark and had soft music playing. $10 well spent :)

Not much more excitement is going on right now. Work is giving me more responsibilities (yay), but no pay raise (boo). They're gonna have to hook a brotha up with some flow... all these extra responsibilities are tiresome without any financial compensation. As one of my co-workers said i'm well on my way to being a Full-time manager at a part time sallary (gah). A part of me feels that someone is attempting to set me up for a writeup or getting fired if something isnt done exactly accurately. We shall see though.

-Tim
*The worst was yet to come.*

WOW.... I'm totally floored. I just got word that one of my great friends Natalie just got hired as a flight attendant! I am so happy for her! This is something that she's talked about wanting for the longest time. She is extremely excited about this and i dont blame her. Although I told her that i'd have to kick her butt if she didnt do well in the training class ;)

Recently not much has been going on in my life. I went and played some video games with Kate the other night. That was pretty fun, just kicking back and having a couple of drinks and participating in mindless video game fun. We played a few games of DDR with the controllers (yes i know this is cheating, but i dont have a DDR mat) and we also played Mario Party on the GameCube. Her dog bit me though :( I understand the situation of why she bit me though. I was acting semi-strange with my hands full... and her owner was running around the apartment trying to pick things up. She was just being protective. After Kate scolded Bailey (the dog) she was happy as ever to see me, and didnt bark or act agressive at all. I played fetch with her and the old-crusty-well chewed soccerball. Great times.

School and work are going. 2 Tests tomorrow to be taken in the wonderful testing center. No HUGE projects on the radar yet, but i know that they're coming, i can FEEL them. It's inventory time at work, and i'm not looking forward to that. I've already done a few bays. I was supposed to come in this week and work some extra hours. That really didnt happen, but they've got many extra people to help with the inventory stuff. It'll take a while, that store is HUGE. *gah* inventory nightmares.

-Tim
*Want you in my Caddy.*

Well... I'm going to write in my journal, but i'm not too sure what to write about ... kind of a small problem. lol.

School is going alright. My 8:30 class is going ok, i've only missed it once. *crosses fingers* Actually, i've missed/skipped ALL of my classes once... only once. I fully intend to keep it that way. Only my Technical Writing class has had any real 'graded' material due. It's all good though, my professors arent mean (yet). School has just started, and i'm totally ready for a vacation. Anyone want me to visit them? lol!

I went and saw Matchstick Men. I really liked this movie. Huge twist about 3/4 of the way through. I half-saw it coming, but didnt expect for it to occur the way that the director made it. Nicholas Cage is an incredible actor. He played someone that had OCD... with facial ticks and everything. There's one scene where he looks like he has tourettes. Very funny. I would suggest for other people to see this movie. I also saw Once Upon a Time in Mexico. This is in my opinion the best of the 3 in the El Mariachi series. There are some halarious parts, and the action scenes are done incredibly well. Depp and Banderas are amazing actors, and they definately deliver in this film. I definately have to go and see this one again soon.

That's about it for now.

-Tim

*"everyone type /clear"*

Yay for journal updates! I'm really trying hard to write in here on a more often/regular basis. We'll see how it goes.

Today, was a lazy day, i absolutly enjoyed it. Last night i stayed up untill the wee hours of the morning. The sun might have been coming up when i went to bed. I slept in a little bit (got up at 10'ish i think) Didnt do much at all. Probably played on my computer more than i should have.

It came close to time to work, so i got ready, and went off to work. It had been raining off and on all day, so things were super slow at work. I certianly was not complaining. After work, i went and played some pool and some video games with Kate. Kate was a girl that went to my highschool, and we had common friends (i was friends with her brother, but not so much her). I found out through one of my old roomates that she lives like 10 minutes away. So we set up to go out and shoot some pool. We did that tonight. It was really cool being able to talk with someone i went to high school with, and someone that i had common friends with. I dunno, you would have had to have been there. So, i get home tonight, and see this sitting on my desk. It was my fortune from the night before. *waves hands in the air and makes a wooooo sound*. Odd. That's all i've got to say. Kate mentioned wanting to hang out more, which i'm totally cool with, more friends is always good with me! lol.

Alright, i'm headed off to bed, i'm semi-tired.

-Tim
*Me... Sarcastic?! NEVER.*

Lordy... It has been some time since i've last updated my journal. Quite a few things have happened... but i guess i dont really feel like writing entries concerning those things.

Quakecon came and went (boo). Sarah came out to visit (yay), and then left (boo). Nate and the Colorado-springs guys came out for the NAC tournament, which was cool, and i had the opportunity to play with them. Something i hadn't done for a long while (probably since TOT of last year).

School is going alright. I'm keeping up with my homework for the most part (well the classes that check it atleast). I've been doing the majority of my math homework, but since it's not graded, i'm not putting 100% effort into it. That 8:30 class really wasn't a great idea, but i've been on time for all the classes except for once (today), where i absolutly slept through my alarm clock and would have been 20+ minutes late. Which really isnt a good idea. So i ran some errands and what not. I felt good about getting all that stuff done, and i was prepared for my technical writing course homework.

My computer has been a pain lately (yes... NAUGHTY computer). I tried to put a new 80gig hard drive in it, and i sware it spat it out and said it tasted bad. But, i kept trying. I eventually found out that my ide-raid controller doesn't like to have devices on the slave channels. So i've got 1 primary, and 1 secondary. It is much happier this way. My keyboard died earlier today. It was working fine before i took my nap, and then *poof* the y-h-n-7- and t keys wouldn't work. I have no clue. So i got a new keyboard, i dont nearly like it as much, it's still a natural (split) keyboard, which i like... but the curvature of it just isnt the same. I'm sure i'll get used to it. I also put in my live drive (from like 5 years ago when i built my computer). I've had the need for front inputs on my soundcard, so the livedrive works quite nicely.

That's about it for now. The weather out here is absolutly wonderful (if you dont mind the rain). The temperatures have been plesantly in the mid to low 80's with all this rain. It needs to stay this way. I might even have to bust out some fall clothes (jeans and sweat shirts) those clothes are very comfortable.

That's about it for now. I've been taking more pictures of just random things lately. Hit me up on e-mail or aim or whatever, and maybe i'll show you the stuff.

-Tim
*I can see, but not that far*

2 updates in 1 day?! What is this?! Has the world stopped turning? heh, oh well I figured i'd spread out my post between Quakecon and other upcomming things that are happning.

I've been working an AWFULL lot lately. I figured it out, and before quakecon, i had worked 13 days in a row. I was totally getting burnt out on work, so i'm glad i was able to take those days off and totally get my party on. Work has been goign ok lately. I think one of the managers has it out for me. He hasnt written me up or anything, but he keeps on giving me the shit jobs. I dont complain or anything. Also this is the same manager that has assumed control of scheduling our department. He totally has NO clue what he's doing. For some odd reason, he will schedule 3 ppl to be working in the middle of the day when the store volume is low, and then when the store closes (high volume) he only schedules one cashier?! It was funny i overheard the store manager and asst. manager talking about going over the schedule and making sure it was good enough.

In other news, School is starting next week! I'm semi-excited about this. I want to get back into the school environment, and get my learn on. Work towards my degree and move on with life. I'm not excited about the homework though. It's all good though, hopefully i can stay on top of things this year. This year i'm taking 12 hours. I was originally taking 16 hours, but the school elected to cancel one of my courses, and not inform me untill yesterday. I figured it out early when i printed out my schedule to get my books. Speaking of books, i ended up spending $300... GAH. That was all used books except for my math book, that one was around $100. All-in-all i'm excited. I think i'll need to attempt to sell back some of my books from last semester.

SARAH IS COMING OUT NEXT WEEK! w00. I'm immensely excited about getting to see her again. I went out to visit her in maryland, and she's coming out to see me! I'm not really sure what to plan for the both of us. I'm pretty sure we're going to go to 6-flags, and i'm going to borrow Billy's jet-ski, but *shrug* that's about it. Probably a bunch of relaxing. Sarah has been working quite hard, and this is her vacation.

So that's what's on my agenda. I've got the day off today, so I think i'll stop by that book store. and get PENNIES BACK ON THE DOLLAR... gah.

-Tim
*at the czars*

Wow... Lots of stuff happening recently. The main thing that just happened was QUAKECON. Lordy this was a fun event. 5 Days of LAN-party shenanigans. A few of my friends from colorado ended up driving/flying out. I definately wanted to spend some time with them so I volunteered to pick up the ones that flew in at the airport. On wednesday Erwin flew in to the D/FW airport. So I went and picked him up. We drove back to my place and i packed up all my gear. Erwin just kind of sat down and took a 5 min nap. Off to quakecon we went!

Upon arriving, this hotel was just starting to see what quakecon was. People were already lining up to get their computers in (they would still have to wait another 7 hours). Erwin went and found EJ (the former executive director), and they had some beers, i just kind of tagged along untill i convinced someone to give me a badge (bwahhaha). I went into the BYOC to help crimp some cables and then LM and I were getting kind of hungry. GM wanted a microwave, so i volunteered to go to my house to pick up an extra one for their room. LM and I go and get the microwave and a cooler for our beers, and head back to the 'con. Not much had happened, the line to get into the byoc was longer.

2nd day, Bliz and Mystikal are flying into the airport. So i drive out there again to pick them up. It was so cool seeing all these guys again, i hadnt seen them for a long time. They check into their hotel, and I start to hold their spot to get into the byoc. We had radios to keep in touch with each other. It was VERY annoying, 'cause with 2,000 ppl there, a lot of signal confusion ensued, We finally chose channel 6^25. No one else seemed to crosstalk onto us (yay). Finally everyone gets their computers into the BYOC, and the lanning commences.

All in all this event was immensely fun. I'm quite glad i got to spend some time with my friends that i talk with every day on IRC.

-Tim
*The villain is 6-feet underground*

Well... by the scoring at the top... I have one point (yay me), Sleep has 5 points (damn you sleep), and those pesky full flights almost have a whole point. There is some explination involved with all of this.

Over the past few days i took a vacation. I went out to Maryland to visit my friend Sarah. I had really been meaning to get out there for the longest time. Sarah and I talk online and on the phone for HOURS at a time. I've helped her get through some situations in her life, and she's done the same for me. So when it came down to visiting, we both wanted to see each other. Since i have to fly standby, i wanted to fly on the days that had the least number of people flying. As my parents informed me during the middle of the week, and Saturday were the least people flying. Thurs/Fri/Sat were nailed down, and I took the time off at work.

Thursday:
Well ... yeah. Foolish me decided to go and see the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen on wednesday night... the 9pm showing. *gah* BAD idea. Not only was the movie BAD but it was LONG. I still needed to pack my things to get ready for my trip. BUT my bed was calling my name... "tiiiimmm.... take a nap, you'll feel refreshed and you can pack when you wake uppppp" Like a fool, i listened to the siren song of my bed and proceeded to become dead to the world as my head touched my pillow (this was at about 1am). I knew that i had to be up at around 3 so i could finish packing, and get on my way to the airport an hour ahead of my flight (6:15am). Fast-forward about 4 hours to my dad barging into my room at 5:30. He yells at me to get up and that i'll miss my flight (Sleep got a few points here). Half asaleep i think to myself ... well i wasnt really thinking, i was more like *NEED SLEEP*, but getting out to see Sarah was more important. Hurridly i jump in the shower, brush my teeth and haphazardly stuff some clothes into my bag. Forgetting other clothes, my camera and other such things. Just as i'm rushing out the door my dad reminds me to get my flight passes. I really would have been in a pickle if i had forgotten those passes.

So i get to the airport late... but am able to catch the 7am flight to Houston. Somehow, i got on the very last seat avalible for this flight. (.25 points to Full Flights). Crammed into the airplane, sitting between 2 guys bigger than me... I shrug it off and proceed to read the little Sky-Mall magazine and the southwest magazine. Lots of pictures, that's for sure. Two of the things that i had forgotten to bring were a book, and my headphones. Not much i could have done at this point. Flight lands in Houston-Hobby airport, and I make my way to the ticket counter for my flight to BWI (bee-wee as my dad puts it). Second in line for the standby tickets, the lady at the desk doesnt seem too enthuiastic about me getting on the flight. It was WAY overbooked. but i HAD to get out to see Sarah... So i wandered around close by to the ticket desk and ate a complimentary Southwest Doughnut(tm). Time rolls by and they're starting to allow passengers from boarding group A on board, yet i still dont have my ticktet. I'm starting to get very nervous at this point. The Ticket agent tells me that if i cant get on this flight i can go through nashville and then to BWI. Not much of a problem, but i'd rather get to BWI sooner. Boarding group B is called onto the flight, and the ticket agent tells me that there are only 2 seats avalible. I know that i have the lowest standby priority, so if someone ... ANYONE else wants on this flight, they'll get ahead of me. Boarding group C gets called to get onto the flight. Someone else walks up to the ticket agent. I'm concerned at this point... 'cause i would like to get on my flight. Oh well, But as it turns out, it's the other standby person infront of me. No one else comes up to the counter, and the airplane is about ready to push from the ramp. So, the agent gives the 2 standby passengers their tickets (him and me) and i board my flight. (Full flights gets another .25 points here... for i was the last passenger on the flight). I locate a seat, and proceed to fall asaleep. Semi-Long flight, across the time-line, and whatever, i'm tired.

Flight lands in BWI Airport (Baltimore Washington International). And i'm so nervous. I've known Sarah for the better part of 9 years, so there's no reason to be nervous. But i was. So i start walking out to the terminal, and looking for someone that is looking for me. Sarah recognizes me before i see her. I saw her looking at me with that puzzled *Are you tim?* sort of look. So i give her that same *are you Sarah* look back... and *TA-DAAA* we meet. I gave her a small hug and we were off. At this point i was somewhat un-easy and nervous. I knew her voice, and how she talked and all that, but i hadnt really seen pictures of her. So we talked on the way to her parent's house and that totally reassured that she was the same person that i had talked with for so long. So, we get to her house, and she introduces me to her mother and step-father. Her dogs take an immediate interest in me. One of them keeps barking and pretending to be ferocious. He nips at my shoes and i just kind of ignore him untill he calms down. The other dog seems much more laid back, and just wants to be petted. Things calm down, and i put my stuff into the guest room. Sarah and I talk for a little while and she comments about how i look sleepy. So i take a nap. She says she has a few things to work on, and will wake me up when it's time to go to class. 5:30 rolls by, and her mom tells her to wake up, she'll be late for class. (sleep gets 2 points here... 'cause we both were sleeping).

Sarah is taking a summer class to get credits for a degree. Before i came out i told her that i'd go to her class with her. So we get to her school, and it's really nice. A brand new building, with brand new computers in each of the rooms. Today for her class the professor has alotted time for them to research somethings that they are writing about. So i boot up one of the computers and proceed to surf. Some people kind of look at me strangely , but it's ok, i'm there with Sarah, and things are alright. The Professor says it's time to go to the library for everyone to continue their research. So we all walk to the library on the other side of the campus, This building was much older, but still had many computers for the students to use. I found one, and continued my surfing. After a short while, i got bored, and went back to sit by Sarah, and look through some of her books. The Prof. had dissappeared, and no one knew where he went. Some time later he re-appeared and was answering questions for the students. I spoke with him for a little bit, he asked where i was living and how i met Sarah... Those kind of things. He seemed alright i suppose. Sarah and I left class a little early, and proceeded to Ft. Mead.

The guard checks our IDs and waves us onto the Post. Sarah drives to the Barracks, and i meet 2 of her friends that are also MPs (Military Police). It was cool meeting these people, we got ready for dinner, and Someone invited some other people. So we have to wait for a little bit for the other party to arrive so we can all drive together. I meet some more people, and we're off to go get some food at the Cheesecake factory in Baltimore. We drive by raven stadium, and where the Baltimore baseball team plays. I get to see the harbor, and some big ships parked out there. We park in a garage, and proceed to go to the resturant. After a great dinner, and conversation with everyone (party of 8), we leave. I think that they were trying to kick us out because it was like midnight at this point. We walk back to the parking garage, and pay to get the cars out. People pile into cars depending on where they were going. Sarah and I got into hers. We drive home, talk more on the way there. We say goodnight, and i lay down for bed.

Friday:
ok, VERY VERY Early friday.
Sarah is called by one of the people that we had gone out to dinner with, and told that her wallet was in the back of Sarah's car. The Key to her room was in her wallet, so she couldn't get into her room. I tell Sarah that i'll go with her. We get onto the post, and find our way to this house where Becky was (wallet owner). Shit was in the process of hitting the fan. Amber and Wain (i think that's how you spell it) are married, and were having some fight before she had to go to work. Things weren't good. Amber ended up being slightly late for work, and crying. I really didn't want to get into the middle of all the drama, being an outside person that no one really knew, except for Sarah. So people are talking, and i play with the dog and cat and listen to what the people have to say about what's going on. 5am rolls by, and there seems to be agreements on both ends, so Sarah and I go back to her house, and crash. (i'm not going to go into details here about the argument, because even I shouldn't really know anything about it).

Friday afternoon Sarah wakes me up (i think). And I take a shower and get ready for the day. We both eat our leftovers from the night before, and prepare to take on D.C.

We take the Metro into the city, and I want to go see the Air/Space Museum. So we start wandering up and down the Mall to find it. There are SO many museums in DC it isn't even funny. So much to do, it would take more than a month to see it all. So our measly few hours won't even put a dent in it. But we try. We finally locate the Air/Space museum, and enter. As sarah fondly calls me a Geek, it's ok though, i totally geek out in the museum. Airplanes, and Rockets, and History (Oh my!). It was quite cool beign able to see all that stuff, I could have spent a whole day in there and not seen it all. It was kind of funny, on 2 displays there were either models or pictures of airplanes that my dad has flown (me geeking out again).

After we leave the museum, things were staring to close. It really isnt a good idea to be in D.C. without armed bodyguards after dark... but it wasnt approaching sunset quite yet. We wandered to the Washington Monument, then down past where they were building the WWII Memorial, to the Lincoln Memorial (all these monuments were SO amazing, it isnt even funny). We then went past the Vietnam Memorial. So many names on that wall. There were a lot of people standing there, looking at the names as well. Someone had left a bottle of JD. Other people had put flowers of little Flags.

It's starting to get late, and Sarah and I head back to the metro to get her car and drive back to her house. Sarah changes, and we decide to go out and play some pool. We both suck. Straight up. I won 1 game, and Sarah won 2. After pool, we drove around a little bit, and decided to go to eat at the olive garden. (mmmmm) Sarah calls Amber after we eat to find out what they're doing. They are going to some club (a country club or something, we really werent sure) But as it turned out Amber couldnt get in 'cause she was under 21. So Plan B is developed. We were gonna go to some Country bar, and have fun there. So we get in, and Wain buys a round of drinks for all of us. Wain and Amber dance around, and everyone watches. It was very entertaining. We end up staying at the bar untill about 2. We all drive back to the Post, and entertain Becky for a little while (she was on Guard duty at one of the remote gates). I say bye to everyone, and Sarah and I head back to her place. Unfortunately i need to be up at around 6'ish, and head off to the airport at 7. Leaves little time for sleep.

Saturday:
Fortunately Sarah put her alarm-clock in my room, and set it for 6am. It did the trick, and i woke up. Took a shower and woke up sarah. We left for the airport on time and i really didnt want to go. There was so much more to do, and i was having so much fun actually seeing and hanging out with sarah who i had known for SO long just as a voice and text. Good-byes really suck... especially so soon after they are hellos. Sarah walked me to the airpot termals and we gave each other a huge hug.

My flights back werent extremely full like the ones heading out to Maryland. First flight was to LittleRock. Not full at all, i think more people were flying standby/nonrev than not. I got my seat, and 2 young children sat next to me. Brother and sister flying home from visting family in Maryland. I was talking with them and played some card games with the little boy. He was telling me about how he went and saw Pirates (great GREAT movie). The flight went by kind of quickly. I gave the boy my cookies, he seemed appreciative.

Second flight was a bit more of an adventure. The ticket agent was overwhelmed by people. Someone had called in sick, and at one point in time she was taking care of 3 flights that were all leaving within 10 minutes of each other. There was a gentleman standing next to me that was a First Officer based out of BWI. He was headed to Dallas, and then probably to somewhere else. He had his family with him (like 4 or 5 kids, it was a miracle his wife wasnt going insane). So he was in a rush to get his family on the flight first so they could all sit together, But with all the crazyness of the 3 flights leaving at the same time he couldnt get his boarding passes soon enough. While we were waiting i told him to go ahead of me so he could get back with his family. He kept thanking me and what not. Asked what my story was with southwest (he had seen my non-rev pass). I told him that my dad was a pilot, and based out of DAL. Someone standing by us kind of perked up when i mentioned my last name. I didnt pay much mind to it at first, and then i mentioned something else... and come to find out that the other passenger was a graduate of the Airforce Academy, and my dad was one of his instructors! Small world... very small.

Ok, so my novel is closing here. I finally did get home. I passed out from lack of sleep. (this is why sleep won the game). All went amazingly though. I really want to go out and visit sarah again. I had so much fun meeting her and everything.

-Tim
*NOW IS THE WINTER OF YOUR DISCONTENT*