goings-on
on wednesday i braved the bureaucratic maze that is the DMV. it seems my bank requires a new drivers' license in order to have my name changed on my account. apparently it has something to do with the new requirements related to the patriot act. when i work from home, i don't mind taking a slightly longer lunch, but when i'm faced with the potential of being away from "the office" for an unknown long period of time, i get worried. i was also worried that i'd get to the DMV and end up waiting for more than 3 hours and i had to LEAD a conference call at noon. well, wednesday started out as any other these days with an early-morning swim. marshall strongly urged me to go to the DMV as soon as i could after getting showered and dressed. i managed to shower, dress, and clear the majority of my email inbox before heading to the los gatos DMV (it's closer and often-times less busy). anyway, i learned when i got in line, which was already out the door, that they don't open until 9am on wednesdays. that meant i had gotten there mere minutes after they opened. as i waited in line, just for the starting process, the waiting time changed from 4-10 minutes for non-appointment visitors. i got to the front, the "greeter" gave me my form and told me to come back in line when i was finished. i did that and while i was filling out the form, the wait went grew from 10-17 minutes. i got back in line and she quickly scanned my form to make sure it was all filled out properly and gave me my number G-019 (it was like playing a very boring version of bingo). they were currently helping, of the g-category, G-009. so, i waited patiently. i'm telling you, DMV needs to get with the times: they need WiFi. anyway, i watched the non-appointment time quickly creep to 45 minutes while i waited. they finally called my number. i had all the necessary documents (new SS-card and marriage certificate). i signed my interim license; they punched a whole in the current one; then i waited in a new line to have my picture taken. i'm actually kinda glad they took a new picture of me. i've started wearing my glasses and i'm not in my old picture. they apparently gave the photographer position to a very unfortunate-looking man with a horrible comb-over. he looked like he belonged in a basement somewhere. anyway, he didn't explain the thumbprint scanner and it took me almost 5 times to get it right. i kept pulling my thumb away before it could finish. luckily, the photo took just one shot and i was on my way home. the whole process took a surprisingly short hour and 30 minutes. not too shabby for the DMV and i'll have my new license in 2 weeks.
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dariosmonkey and i got together for dinner on tuesday night. we agreed on a little chinese place around the corner from our apartment: oriental garden. i like this place and i think their food is adequate for a little hole-in-the-wall. i find it less greasy than union restaurant and overall much better tasting than blue sky. the unfortunate thing is that oriental garden is never busy. in fact, we were the only people in the place for the majority of our dinner. normally the rule is you avoid places which aren't busy, but this place breaks that rule. i feel bad because the food is great and the location is unfortunate. located in a very old and small strip-mall, sandwiched between a safe store and a baking supply store, you can drive by without noticing that there is a restaurant in there. damneddonkey and i have gone a few times for lunch and i think lunch is where they get the majority of their business. anyway, we had a lovely meal and talked about a plethora of subjects. i've really enjoyed our weekly meals together. :) we decided our next meal to be sushi and naturally that means michi sushi!! :D
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marshall and i FINALLY got our office put back together. the bikes fit perfectly against the wall and my desk is great in its new spot. everything is organized and put away and i love having a functioning office again. to celebrate i attempted to install borderlands onto my machine, using the files liam "shared" with me. i couldn't get it to work. i kept getting cyclical errors or something with certain files and they wouldn't copy onto my machine. so, i gave up and if i want to play the game, i'll probably just buy it like a sucker. i've learned i'm too lazy to be a hacker. :P while working with my desktop, i noticed that its performance is lacking horribly. it needs a few upgrades and i'm hoping i can get some of those things done this summer. i noticed my HDD is almost full; i apparently have more music than i originally thought. all my pictures probably don't help either! so, i could use an additional hard drive. i know fry's is always having specials on 1TB drives, so i can easily pick one up from there. i have plenty of RAM (6GB total), so i'm set with that. my graphics card is fine for what i do. i made a poor decision when i built my computer originally and i got a plain ol' CD-ROM. why did marshall let me do that? yes, it was only $20, but it's pretty much useless. i need to replace it with a second DVD-RW, which will only be about $40 anyway! one big upgrade will also be upgrading from XP to windows 7. i'm not sure what that upgrade looks like, but i know you CAN get 3 upgrade licenses for only $150, with a student discount. i'm not sure if it's best to go with a simple upgrade or buy the full version, just in case something happens. i know the upgrade from vista to 7 isn't that big, but XP to 7 might be more involved. i'm sure i could get a sizable student discount for the full version if necessary. lastly, and pretty much least important, is getting a new case. i went for a "cool looking" case the last time and that decision has bit me in the butt. it's not as sturdy as i would like and for being as big as it is, there is surprisingly little room to move around inside. i really like marshall's ginormous case, but i don't to be a copycat. maybe i'll check out what central computers has to offer for cases, otherwise it'll be another great purchase from newegg. :)
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i recently switched from a woman's deodorant to a man's deodorant. men have so much more choice when it comes to deodorant than woman, especially when it comes to straight deodorant. i moved away from antiperspirant a long time ago, to avoid stains on my white shirts. i also was sweating through them anyway, so what's the point of shoving a whole bunch of chemicals under my arms when they don't even work? anyway, i was hoping the new old spice scents came in just deodorant, but they don't. my eyes finally settled on the axe deodorants. i found one i liked that wasn't TOO manly and it's been working out just fine. the thing is, once in a while i'll catch a whiff of myself and get slightly turned on.
damn you, axe.
+_+_+
marshall and i are going out on a date tonight. the retro-dome is playing alien tonight at 7pm. i've never seen that movie before.
i'll wait until you regain consciousness...
anyway, so i thought it would be a cool movie to see in the theaters together. there are new movies we both want to see, but this sounds funner. :P after the movie we plan on trotting across the street to have a burger at red robin. i think i might under eat my burger and save room for a milk shake. mmmmm....
+_+_+
dariosmonkey and i got together for dinner on tuesday night. we agreed on a little chinese place around the corner from our apartment: oriental garden. i like this place and i think their food is adequate for a little hole-in-the-wall. i find it less greasy than union restaurant and overall much better tasting than blue sky. the unfortunate thing is that oriental garden is never busy. in fact, we were the only people in the place for the majority of our dinner. normally the rule is you avoid places which aren't busy, but this place breaks that rule. i feel bad because the food is great and the location is unfortunate. located in a very old and small strip-mall, sandwiched between a safe store and a baking supply store, you can drive by without noticing that there is a restaurant in there. damneddonkey and i have gone a few times for lunch and i think lunch is where they get the majority of their business. anyway, we had a lovely meal and talked about a plethora of subjects. i've really enjoyed our weekly meals together. :) we decided our next meal to be sushi and naturally that means michi sushi!! :D
+_+_+
marshall and i FINALLY got our office put back together. the bikes fit perfectly against the wall and my desk is great in its new spot. everything is organized and put away and i love having a functioning office again. to celebrate i attempted to install borderlands onto my machine, using the files liam "shared" with me. i couldn't get it to work. i kept getting cyclical errors or something with certain files and they wouldn't copy onto my machine. so, i gave up and if i want to play the game, i'll probably just buy it like a sucker. i've learned i'm too lazy to be a hacker. :P while working with my desktop, i noticed that its performance is lacking horribly. it needs a few upgrades and i'm hoping i can get some of those things done this summer. i noticed my HDD is almost full; i apparently have more music than i originally thought. all my pictures probably don't help either! so, i could use an additional hard drive. i know fry's is always having specials on 1TB drives, so i can easily pick one up from there. i have plenty of RAM (6GB total), so i'm set with that. my graphics card is fine for what i do. i made a poor decision when i built my computer originally and i got a plain ol' CD-ROM. why did marshall let me do that? yes, it was only $20, but it's pretty much useless. i need to replace it with a second DVD-RW, which will only be about $40 anyway! one big upgrade will also be upgrading from XP to windows 7. i'm not sure what that upgrade looks like, but i know you CAN get 3 upgrade licenses for only $150, with a student discount. i'm not sure if it's best to go with a simple upgrade or buy the full version, just in case something happens. i know the upgrade from vista to 7 isn't that big, but XP to 7 might be more involved. i'm sure i could get a sizable student discount for the full version if necessary. lastly, and pretty much least important, is getting a new case. i went for a "cool looking" case the last time and that decision has bit me in the butt. it's not as sturdy as i would like and for being as big as it is, there is surprisingly little room to move around inside. i really like marshall's ginormous case, but i don't to be a copycat. maybe i'll check out what central computers has to offer for cases, otherwise it'll be another great purchase from newegg. :)
+_+_+
i recently switched from a woman's deodorant to a man's deodorant. men have so much more choice when it comes to deodorant than woman, especially when it comes to straight deodorant. i moved away from antiperspirant a long time ago, to avoid stains on my white shirts. i also was sweating through them anyway, so what's the point of shoving a whole bunch of chemicals under my arms when they don't even work? anyway, i was hoping the new old spice scents came in just deodorant, but they don't. my eyes finally settled on the axe deodorants. i found one i liked that wasn't TOO manly and it's been working out just fine. the thing is, once in a while i'll catch a whiff of myself and get slightly turned on.
damn you, axe.
+_+_+
marshall and i are going out on a date tonight. the retro-dome is playing alien tonight at 7pm. i've never seen that movie before.
i'll wait until you regain consciousness...
anyway, so i thought it would be a cool movie to see in the theaters together. there are new movies we both want to see, but this sounds funner. :P after the movie we plan on trotting across the street to have a burger at red robin. i think i might under eat my burger and save room for a milk shake. mmmmm....