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Here lieth more of ye olde update posts. I decided it would be easier to just create a new page for the '04 posts, rather than tack them onto the '03 page.
10/16/04 8/25/04 7/12/04 6/25/04 6/10/04 4/27/04 4/21/04 4/13/04 3/30/04 3/3/04 2/19/04 2/3/04 1/27/04 1/22/04 1/21/04 1/20/04 1/13/04
10/16/04
I know, I know, I haven't updated in a while. So sue me. We had this little thing called a hurricane come through, and that screwed all sorts of things up. Speaking of which, my main reason for posting: I have finally gotten some pictures of what things looked like right after the storm and during cleanup. They're available for your perusalhere. Be patient if you have a sucky Internet connection; they're fairly low-res, but there are enough of them that it might take a while for them to load. Back to top 8/25/04 I'm baaaaack! Yes, I've finally decided to update my web site again. At least once. Mainly because I'm pissed off at the rain, but I've bitched enough about that in my LiveJournal (here, in case you're interested). I've finally started beating my asthma, getting back in shape, and toning up...and the rain's started again. Every time Mom and I go outside to walk/jog, it fucking thunders. I wouldn't mind the rain, so much; after all, it's usually hot enough that it would feel nice. But I'd rather not take my chances with the lightning while running down a wet, slippery, open street. There's really nothing else to do in the way of exercise around the house, either. Or, at least, nothing that works cardio. There are few places in Pensacola to work out that aren't priced for the rich, retired people. No fencing, no affordable dance/pilates/yoga/kickboxing/martial arts/anything. I don't think a lack of funds on my part has ever pissed me off this much. Anyhow, I did manage to go see the boyfriend for a week or so, for which I am glad. Apparently, the majority of his family, excepting one grandmother and one cousin, forgot his birthday. No calls, no cards, much less any presents. His parents and brother and sister sort of celebrated while I was there, but nothing too special was done (except the baking of a very good strawberry cake). Poor guy. I, on the other hand, forgot to even call my half sister on her birthday (the 18th) and have yet to get a card in the mail. Probably won't, as it's really, really late to do so now. I've already apologized. ;) Well, that's all for now--I really don't feel like posting much else. Back to top 7/12/04 Wow, it's been almost a month, has it? Haven't meant to take this long to respond, but this whole month has slid by like it was nothing. Job search is still kind of where it was, but I expect things to look up a little bit in the next month or so. I am, however, really looking forward to the end of this month/beginning of next month, as I'll be driving up to see my boyfriend for his birthday (August 3rd). We'll also both (hopefully) be stopping into Statesboro for a few days to visit with people and maybe game with the old group. And, as a special bonus, I don't have to deal with living at home for a few days!! Hooray! Anyhow, in case you want more recent, up-to-the-minute updates on my life, I've just started a LiveJournal, username fallen_ryba. I'm much more faithful (so far) about posting things there than I am here. What can I say? It's easier. Back to top 6/25/04 *coughcough*sneeze*cough* I've spent the past almost two hours going through most of the clothing that I own and trying to figure out what I could part with. Come to find out, that's over two very large trash bags full. Thanks to my valiant, if extremely dusty, efforts, I now have space to store some of the clothes I actually wear--and some of my winter clothes--in the chest-of-drawers in my room. I can actually see my floor. Of course, I had to enlist the help of my mother, who, as always, drove me nuts for most of it. The more I live at home, the more I realize that we're two completely different people, in many ways. We may look a lot alike, but personality-wise, I'm much more like my dad. I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing, but hey...it got him pretty far in life. 'Course, it also means that when he and I have arguments, they're pretty nasty, but they're usually over fairly quickly, thank God. If they weren't, I have a feeling I might be living with my uncle or still in Statesboro right now. Anyhow, updates on this past week: went out with some friends Wednesday night for somebody's birthday celebration. Had lots of fun. Finished tearing down limbs and branches in the side yard, enduring pouring rain one day in order to finish the job. The reason I felt the need to stay out in the rain and work was that every other day I'd tried to work in the yard this week, I'd gotten 30 or 45 minutes into the job and been rained and thundered inside. I wasn't giving up. That's pretty much all that's been going on in my life, except the fact that I've read at least three books in as many weeks and my Mom and I started doing Yoga-lates, which is a combination of Yoga and Pilates. It's awesome. We're also dieting, or attempting to, and are going to start walking again next chance we get. I've played a lot of Diablo II online lately, but my character is still a level 30 sorceress, though she does have quite a few really cool abilities now. If anybody's bored and plays Diablo II, my account name is BackhoeFairy. Don't ask. Long story. Anyway, I'm starving, and as I need to shower before the 'rents and I go to Fire Mountain tonight for dinner (really good buffet just down the road), I'd better get going. Back to top 6/10/04 Well, this is the first update since moving back into the 'rents' house. Thankfully, they got rid of their dialup and actually got cable, also known as a Decent Internet Connection. Now I can host Diablo II games from my house for my friends in Statesboro and not worry so much about the evil lag! Ha ha ha!!!1 Okay, so I'm a geek. If you haven't figured that out by now, you really don't know me. It's hard to believe I've actually graduated from college. Me? Qualified to contribute something useful to some business out there?? You've got to be kidding. But the prospects--and implications--are interesting. I'm hoping to really start updating this site more, as I usually do, but never seem to get around to keeping up. I had a rant to go up here tonight, too, but I guess my brain's too fried for me to remember what it was. I've spent the entire day today doing yardwork of some sort. Dad decided to burn the stuff on the burn pile today, which meant that--guess what--I got to watch it while he went to Sears to get a new riding lawn mower. Which is badass, as the mower completely rocks compared to the old one, but I spent an hour and a half out in the sun watching a pile of sticks burn really, really hot. It was over 90 anyway, so that just added to the fun. I've started a new hands-on project, though: another walking stick. Only this time, it'll be sturdy enough that I could beat the crap out of someone with it, should I so desire. Turns out a guy came to work on the streetlight in our backyard (don't ask) and ended up cutting down a really big sycamore branch, which I'm cutting a little off the top and bottom of. I'm currently taking the bark off of it, but after I'm done with that, I'll use my great-grandfather's plane to shave it down to a manageable thickness and weight. I thought it was really cool that Dad's letting me use his grandfather's tools. Anyhow, beyond that, I've picked up every stick in the front yard (over an acre), cut half the front yard (what Dad didn't cut), edged the back sidewalk, swept the back sidewalk (doesn't sound like a chore, but it hadn't been swept all winter/spring), swept the front sidewalk, helped Dad and the next-door neighbor with some of their winemaking/bottling, and I'm now tackling the side yard, which has more deadfall in it from this past winter (and branches Mom has cut and left lying in the gigantic leaf piles) than you can...wait, I refuse to make the obvious "shake a stick at" comment. I'm not that much of a geek. But I haven't finished that yet. More work left, most definitely. And a job to find. Does it ever end?? Back to top 4/27/04 *2:28 AM. Subject sits in computer lab in IT building. Appears to cleaning staff to be working on some important final project. In truth, subject has found a way to use ASP to create the ever-feared Skynet and take over the world's computer systems and is using school software to further her efforts at world domination... Subject wakes suddenly from wonderful, if short, daydream of conquering ASP and continues to work on important final project.* Yes, it's that time again--finals week. We all know and love it as the Time of No Sleep, the Period of Endless Projects, and the Precursor to Much Drinking. And yes, perhaps this year's finals week is somewhat worse for me than previously since I'm graduating this coming Saturday. However, that doesn't change the fact that I'm in the computer lab at 2:33 in the morning working on an ASP project. At least I have company in the form of a classmate and friend who has agreed to some mutual ass-saving on this project (as in I'll point out his stupid little syntax errors in his programming if he'll do the same for me). So please excuse this post if it seems a little more scrambled than the rest--I'm brain dead at the moment. Too much ASP will do that to a person. It's like the old commercials: this is your brain. This is your brain on ASP... Back to top 4/21/04 Almost made the one-week mark for this update. Might as well get the ranting out of the way right now. Rogers (my global prof) screwed me out of finishing the requirements for the fucking Honors program, which I've done extra work for every year for the four years I've been in college, Graves (the orchestra conductor) has decided that I'm going to play second part for my last concert at Southern (even though I'm principal flute and am better than Kenza will ever even think about being), and I have to find time before I grad to go see the dean of the college of IT to tell her what I liked and disliked about the program. (She's also collecting resumes, which is the main reason I'm even going to bother with it.) I've got a group presentation tomorrow I really don't feel prepared for and can't find my group members' phone numbers, and I have a group meeting tonight for another project due next week (presentation and all) which I'll probably have to do the report for this coming weekend. *sigh* Now that the ranting is over, I'd like to get to some of the good stuff. Only problem is, there really isn't much good. I have more time now that I don't have music rehearsals three days a week, but that's balanced by the fact that I enjoyed said rehearsals (even despite the fact that Jay, the first chair asshole--I mean, saxophone player always played really loud and sat right behind me). Oh--a buddy of mine let me borrow some A/V cable, so I now have my computer hooked up to my stereo system, which is infinitely better than using my really crappy computer speakers. I can actually hear my music loudly and clearly now. In other news, Rodney rearranged his room last night, and it looks really nice. I also won't have allergy attacks every time I walk in the place because he vacuumed for the first time in ages. Even got under the furniture when he moved it. I'm so proud. Anyhow, got to get to the post office and mail off graduation announcements before 5:15 and back to the IT building by about 5:00 for a group meeting (it's 4:21 right now), maybe eat something in there somewhere. Signing off for now. Back to top 4/13/04 Begin senior year burnout. I've gotten most of the things I have to get done to graduate done, but I've still got to pass all of my classes, which is really what's kicking my ass. And I've got to get a job by the end of May or face moving back home. *cue evil music* It'd be a whole lot easier to just move straight from the 'Boro, instead of moving everything eight hours away, then moving somewhere else. Anyhow, if anyone's interested in inheriting some milk crates and Coke crates, maybe a tabletop, some Ramen noodles...maybe a few other things...let me know. That'll make less for me to move. Anyhow, I'm sitting in decision support systems, waiting for the rest of the class to catch up. (I was the first one to have my sample test question posted.) Haven't posted here in a while, so I thought I'd make a quick update while I had a chance. I get to spend most of tonight cleaning my apartment--the dishes in the sink are piled almost over the top, my bathroom hasn't been cleaned in ages, and my room's a complete and total mess, not to mention that the living room is hardly navigable. I think that's one of the hardest things about having to spend so much time on classwork; my apartment has gone from fairly orderly to complete disaster area. And my landlord's having to show my apartment to see if he can get it rented out for next year. Since he never calls to see if I'm there before bringing people over (which I'm usually not there when he visits, anyway), I never know when he's been there or whether he's left my roommate's door open (which I leave closed since I've closed the air vent to save on heating and cooling). It's also rather annoying to know that strange people have been in my apartment and probably seen my undies, since I haven't had time to get them up off the floor or the bed and into their drawer. So anyway, if you didn't read the last post, I'm doing research on online communities and would like your help, if you happen to belong to one or know anything about one. Please, please email me and let me know--evenstar13@yahoo.com, if you don't want to use the link on this page. Thanks! Back to top 3/30/04 I'M GRADUATING!!!!! Part of the reason I haven't posted in a while is that I've had to study to test out of the Georgia History and Constitution classes they make you take here. Needless to say, I passed both with flying colors. So now all I have to do is pass all of my classes with a C or better and try to get things arranged for graduation. And do an extra eight to ten page paper on online communities. So if you know of any or are part of any, you can help me with my research! O:) Seriously, I'd really appreciate it if you'd email me and let me know. As for the rest of life...well, there really isn't much to it. I'm now a godmother (twice over, if you count my mom...), which is really, really cool. My nephews are growing by the day, it seems, and I'm really glad that I live close enough to be a part of their lives. (Which really means that I'm glad I live close enough to spoil the crap out of them as they're growing up. *evil grin* ) I'll hopefully be living even closer soon, once I get out and get a job. Anyhow, got to get going--online research calls. Back to top 3/3/04 So...very...tired--and it's only Wednesday. Thankfully, my week's slacking off from here, so I might actually be able to not only get ahead on some school work (might), but I may have time to clean my apartment! Oh my God!! I'll have dishes, and living room floor space, and clean clothes in my closet and not on the floor, and clean cooking utensils...the list goes on. It's amazing what you can do with a night of free time, if you're industrious. We'll see if any of this actually happens. ;) Back to top 2/19/04 Update on the sickness: went to the Voodoo Hut yesterday (a.k.a. the on-campus medical facility) and discovered that I not only have mild bronchitis, I also have a sinus infection. However, good news is that they helped me find a place in the 'Boro that takes my insurance, so I was able to get my meds for a grand total of $12. Which means I was able to get the Z-Pak stuff (five days, one pill a day) instead of the generic pills you have to take twice a day for something like ten days. And they gave me this stuff called BTuss or something like that--it's a cough syrup. Helps my coughing immensely, but it really makes me weird. I feel like I've been drinking, complete with the slowed nerve responses and all. For instance, it just took me a few extra seconds to realize my left foot was falling asleep in the position I had it in. So I'm going to go find something mindless to half concentrate on now. Back to top 2/3/04 I'm getting sick. I've finally admitted it to myself. Oh, it's nothing too bad, just something of a chest cold (preferable to a head cold, if you ask me), but I plan on watching it fairly closely--the last thing I need this semester is pneumonia or bronchitis or something like that. I've got some tea that's helping, and I hope to stay on that and not have to take oodles of meds just to stay afloat for a few weeks. Anyhow, latest in the escapades of my life. Last night, just before I went to bed, I noticed a strange noise coming from my fridge and some water on the floor. Thinking this could not be good, I called the boyfriend, who came and helped me move the fridge out of the way--and, sure enough, the water line for the ice maker, or something connected to it, is busted. He was able to turn off the water to it and prevent more water damage to my kitchen (the linoleum has been pulling away from the wall for a while now). Here's the main problem: they weren't supposed to even connect the ice maker at all. However, my landlord couldn't be there when the fridge was installed and they (evidently) connected it anyway. There haven't been any problems for a year and a half. It just up and decided to bust last night, I suppose, just so I could start off my week with some sort of annoying problem. It's not enough that I got stopped going 73 mph in a 55 mph zone trying to catch up with the guy I was caravaning with from Augusta Sunday evening and got my car searched because the guy in the passenger seat had his hands in his pockets and had just leaned over before the police officer got to the car. Nooooo. Things have to start breaking during my last semester living in this apartment, just because it is my last semester and I've got way too much to do already. Bitter? Moi?? Never. Back to top 1/27/04 (Got tired of that little newspaper.) I got my computer up and running a few days ago. Ends up I had that frigging virus that's running rampant on XP boxes everywhere--downloaded a patch before it restarted again and it's working just fine now. I've been having fun downloading things like Trillian, etc. over the past few days. Haven't gotten around to reinstalling any games, though. (That could have something to do with the fact that I can't find the CDs for most of them.) Anyhow, on to other topics...I'm incredibly sore today, as I did about 30 minutes of footwork at fencing yesterday. It feels good. I actually feel like I've done something. Now we'll see if I make it through running tonight... Anyhow, off to maybe grab a little more sleep before my next class. Back to top 1/22/04 Okay, so the computer situation's not going quite as well as I'd hoped. It seems I need to download and install a few windows updates to keep it from restarting about every 5 minutes. However, I really am not sure how I am to download and install something in the time given to me by my stupid computer. Seems kinda dumb, if you ask me. I'm sure I'll find a way to do it, though. Oh, and I'm going to have to reinstall every program I have on my old hard drive that I intend to use--which might be kinda hard, considering that I can't find the install files for any of them. Once again, I'm sure I'll find a way. Back to top 1/21/04 Good news--I'm adding this update from my own computer, newly fixed!! :D I'm now running both of my own hard drives, as opposed to one of mine and one of a friend's. It really wasn't as much of a bear to get it up and running as I thought it would be, either; there's just something my computer doesn't like about hard drives other than the one it came with. If I recall correctly, I've had the one hard drive since the first incarnation of this heap, back in 2000. Pretty much everything else has changed, but that's stayed, and my computer just doesn't like other hard drives. *shrug* At least it's consistent. In other news, my room is now clean. I know this doesn't sound like much, but when it was as bad as mine was, that's an accomplishment. Not to mention the fact that the reason it stayed so dirty so long is that I didn't have time to clean it. I skipped taking a nap after my first two classes today to clean my room and get my computer working again, which means I'll go to fencing today having only had about five hours of sleep. (And that was after a night of sleep deprivation. I've had two good nights' sleep in the past week, so far.) Oh, well--I'll sleep when I'm dead. For now, I've got lots of reading to keep up with and classwork to do. And I have to remember to eat somewhere in there. Speaking of food...got social dance at 1:00, so I'd better eat something. Back to top 1/20/04 Thank God for MLK day. If it weren't for the holiday this past Monday, I might not be in class right now. (That, or I'd be asleep in said class and unable to both pay attention and update my site.) For those of you who don't know, GaSoU hosted one of three of our annual fencing tournaments this past weekend, the Geoff Elder. It's quite possibly the largest one we host. I was greatly looking forward to participating, but unfortunately twisted my ankle walking to band last Wednesday and was not able to fence. However, I have since then become apprenticed to our armorer (the guy who fixes our equipment when it breaks), so even though I couldn't fence, I was able to at least contribute. So I spent all weekend fixing weapons, reels, body cords, and all manner of other things, not to mention cheering on my teammates and helping to keep the tournament running smoothly. It was Sunday evening (when a friend of mine looked at me and said, "Um...you really need some sleep...") before I realized that it's actually more tiring to work a tournament than it is to fence one. So I went home and slept for twelve hours yesterday. And it was very, very good. So then there's my boyfriend's roommate, who feels the need to hang his rebel flag in his bedroom window every year on what he calls "James Earl Ray Day" (the redneck name for MLK Day). I really don't think that's right, especially since he doesn't just do it as a southern pride thing; he does it to make it known that he's glad someone shot Martin Luther King, simply because the man was black. Come on, live in the 21st century, here! Dr. King was a very learned man, not to mention that he had some really good ideas. Not only that, he risked his life and was willing to die for those ideals. That's more than this guy can say. The least he could do is have a little respect. ::end rant:: Back to top 1/13/04 I got really tired of scrolling forever to get to certain things on the site, and I'm sure you did, too, so I'm putting all of last year's updates on a separate page. Wonder why I didn't think of that earlier... As for not posting in forever...well, things got really hairy toward the end of last semester. I got stuck doing about 75% of a 4-person project, as I was the only one in the group who seemed to be able to figure out anything whatsoever about SQL and Oracle. (And, just for the record: I hate Oracle. With a passion.) So we ended up pretty much failing the project, as I couldn't get it done fast enough due to the fact that said project was frigging enormous. However, most everyone else failed, as well, so to make a long story short, I passed with a C. 'Course, I also got a C in project management, which I should've had more like a high B or an A in mid-semester. Well, something had to give up some time so I could work on that stupid d-base project, and that was it. I say again, I hate database. Anyhow, things are looking up this semester--I've got 18 hours to deal with and lots of reading, but I've also got some pretty cool profs. I'll just be going crazy as I study for finals. But, as this is the last time I'll have to deal with finals (for a while), that shouldn't be too bad. Well, that's about it, for now; off to wind ensemble, then to DSS, the class for which the professor is still stuck in Korea. But that's another story.