Author Archive

Kettering University

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

Kettering universityAs many of you know, I’m still looking into colleges. I’m leaning towards Devry right now but that’s because they have exactly what I’m looking for. A quick two-year degree that I can complete in six months. I’m going to need financial aid and all kinds of things in order to afford it but eventually I’ll be able to figure it out so I can just enroll and get it done with – finally.

During my search for schools I did come across Kettering University, they’ve taken a unique viral approach to getting students to look into their school. They have little webisodes, which I find amusing on top of being informative, I posted one of the first ones. I saw them all and they were equally interesting but this one basically gets to the point the fastest:

Kettering UniversitySo after that I went floating around to see what they had to offer and while there isn’t anything of interest for me personally, they do have more ‘hands on’ kind of methods for those looking into mechanical engineering and other majors like it. Supposedly the US News and World Report has ranked Kettering as the #1 University in the nation for Industrial and Manufacturing engineering in it’s America’s Best Colleges Guide for 2008. That, to me, shows just how highly regarded the school really is. It’s too bad I’m stuck on the computer technology kick. They do have a Computer Science course but there really isn’t a focus on the field that I’d like to go into so I’ll have to overlook that for now. I do think if you’re looking for a good school then they’re worth checking out. If you go to their website you can view all of the Webisodes and laugh along with me. Why wouldn’t you want to look at something that’s considered one of the US News Best Colleges?

Kettering University

Keeping Busy

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

I did quite a bit of cleaning yesterday.  I went into the laundry room and it looked as though a few laundry bins had exploded all over the room.  So I straightened everything up and finally got around to doing my own laundry.  After I was done with that I started on everything else in there and now the room is so damn clean it looks like it’s never been used.  That’s always a plus side when you’re trying to cut down on dust collecting.

So while all of that was in the wash I vacuumed the entire house and went extra heavy in the bedroom because there’s sand and food all over the floor.  The sand is from me, it stays in my socks while I’m walking back to the room to change them.  The food is thanks to Bella, I crunched up something for her the other night and she didn’t finish eating it all, Sean being someone who refuses to look down he stepped on the plate and they went all over the place.  I think it was left-over nachos from taco bell, I’m not really sure.  It was something crunchy that almost went through my foot when I stepped out of bed yesterday morning.  There was also some dust piling up on the side-tables so that had to go.  Now the room is nice and clean and so much more relaxing.  I do need to invest in a good duster though, the fan blades are kind of icky looking.  I’ll get up there later on today with a wet rag so the dust doesn’t go all over the bed.  The bed takes up almost the entire room (it’s a king in a 10×10 bedroom) so the only option is to stand on it.  It helps to get the height I need but it’s such a soft bed that it’s no where near as stable as I’d need it to be to stand up there for a long period of time…heh.

Hrm, not bad.

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

So I’m working on a template for a client and I have to say, I like it way too much.¬† So much so that I think I’m going to change a few key aspects of the design and then use it as the new template on acidgloss.net.¬† It looks more like a CNN kind of template, and there is one available for like $90 but when you know how to code with heavy CSS and then work it into WordPress, why pay $90?¬† I’m getting like $150-$200 for the job but that’s only because there are a lot of function changes and I’m also going to integrate a forum into it.

During the process I took a while of poking around the net to figure out a way to get each entry to have it’s own individual post icon, something like what you can do with LiveJournal.¬† There’s no official “plugin” for it, it’s really dependent upon a template file and “Custom Fields” I haven’t used that option in so long it’s unreal.¬† Either way I have figured it out.¬†¬† I did shoot the idea over to Sean though.¬† I know exactly what I’d like the plugin to do – there just isn’t one available.

To give a quick break down, if you use LiveJournal you should be able to understand where I’m coming from.¬† When you’re posting an entry there should be some kind of a drop-down menu or browse button for images you’ve uploaded¬†onto your server via WordPress.¬† Now typically this is a “Browse” option but that’s for pasting the icon directly into the entry, I want it to be part of the index.php template file itself.

When you’ve chosen your image and published your entry it will appear wherever you pasted the include file.¬† Now you can do this with the custom field, but the option it doesn’t have is the ability to automatically set a default image to the entries that don’t have a related images, and I don’t want to have to go back through 2 years worth of archives to paste the image into the article – you know?.¬† I’m sure there’s a way to just rewrite the default WP custom_meta code but who knows.¬† I have asked Sean to consider creating the plugin so that he can add it to his list, and I’ll certainly pimp the hell out of it because I think it’s a decent idea.

Note: I just had him come in and write up a quick if-statement and the rest is cake.¬† Now I’m just going to have to come up with a default image.¬† I’ll have to play around in photoshop for a little while for that one.

So I’ve been busy with that and right now I’m hoping to get a few things completed so I can take a shower and get out of here.¬† I have some errands to run, Bella’s out of food and I want to stop into a few stores to check in on my applications.¬† I’m also hoping to apply at the beauty supply shop down here but that’s because of my experience with it while I was at my grandmothers store.¬† This place is kind of like¬†a Sally’s but they don’t have a lot of Sally’s specific supplies that I use on a regular basis.¬† Either way they’re over loaded with hair products so it wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway.

So I guess I should get my ass in gear.

Headache Central

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

I’m not sure if it’s from my previous stomach ache today or if it’s got something to do with all of the chaos in the house right now, but my head is throbbing.¬† It’s not my usual eye headache from looking at the screen, it’s kind of bouncing around all over.¬† I’ve got myself setup in the bedroom with my laptop.¬† There are a few things for me to accomplish today but that’s really nothing major.¬† You’ll see a few posts here and there on other domains but that’s about it.¬† I do hope to get around to finishing the template I started for acidgloss.net but I’ll get to that when I’m in the mood to.

As of right now I’m flipping through channels in hopes to find something to watch.¬† Unfortunately I don’t see that happening considering there’s nothing on TV on Tuesday’s now that House and Nip/Tuck are off the air.¬† Stupid writers strike!

So for now I’ve got Jackie keeping me company on AIM, I’m going through email and also responding to a few job postings looking for resumes.¬† Hopefully something will spring up, because I’m unsure of what to do anymore.

Nintendo Wii

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

WiiI know that I was lucky enough to get mine last year but there are still people waiting desperately to pick up a Wii. I have to say that it’s one of the best systems out there when it comes to having fun. A lot of people purchased a PS3 over the course of the last year but there’s really two reasons for that. While the graphics are nice on it and all it really was just the only one left to find because more than 50% of the Playstation users saw that minus the blue-ray , it’s a complete waste of money. I know a few people with PS3’s but none of them actually use it for more than watching movies. When it first came out there weren’t any good games for it, at all.

So while everyone else spent a wasted $800 on a PS3, I spent a very nice $275 on a Wii. It was $25 more because we bought it from a seller in Canada. It works great and even looks pretty nice on our new 37″ HDLCD in the office. We do have quite a few games for it but have limited ourselves to the WiiSport games, mainly because we’re now bowling fanatics. The sports game comes with the Wii, something a lot of people don’t realize. We did buy “WiiPlay” which has a controller and tons of mini-games to play, including Pool – something I’ve got down to a science at this point.

For those interested in getting their own Wii, however, there’s a company that’s giving you a chance to win one. Click Here for a Chance to Win a Nintendo¬Æ Wii‚Ñ¢!. It’s worth it if you truly want one, nothing like winning something great – right?

Talk about surprise.

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

I’ve frantically ran around the house to get some final cleaning in.¬† Why?¬† About 10pm we got a phone call from Karen’s sister stating that she’s been on the road since about 5pm this afternoon to get down here.¬† Unfortunately she got lost in Eastern Pennsylvania so now that she’s back on the right track she’s probably going to be here within the next couple of hours.

So I got all of the dishes done, straightened up the living room since they’ll all be sleeping in here (Her and both kids) and then got the bathroom “reorganized” because her son likes to rearrange things.¬† He wound up redoing the neighbors back-yard the last time he was down here, if he’ll go that far who can only imagine what he’ll do with my make up?

I do still need to run the vacuum over the floor but I’m going to wait until Karen gets off the phone with her.¬† I may have to run over to the supermarket but I’m not sure of that yet, we’ll see what happens within the next hour or so.¬† I don’t even know where she is in relation to here at this point – hopefully she’s at least on the Jersey turnpike!

Odd.

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

After about 13 hours of downtime, it seems like all .nu’s that weren’t directly registered through nunames.nu are back up and running.¬† This is the third time it’s happened during the life of my domain and I don’t really understand why.¬† Either way everything is back up and I guess that’s all that matters.

It’s been a pretty slow day, I put in some more applications, got the house straightened up and then kind of hung out for the day.¬† I did get some blogging done on other domains, and I even got a letter from my mother – out of no where which was strange but either way I updated her on things and now I’m waiting on a response.

I just finished watching CMT’s “My Big Redneck Wedding”.¬† I know it sounds strange but it sparked my interest when I saw Eastern Maryland, I actually have been to where the wedding/reception was held and I have to say I’m happy that I had no intentions of ever going back to this place anyway heh.

Time to finish getting some template things done, now that I can actually get to see them after they’ve been uploaded.¬† I floated around and did some commenting today too, I’m way behind on that.

Life in a nut-shell.

Friday, March 7th, 2008

I know I’m late again but I finally got around to getting the March template up and running. I have no idea how it looks on the Mac because I haven’t made much of an effort to go into the office lately. I have my laptop and I’m enjoying flipping through 400+ channels and finding absolutely nothing to watch.

I got everything taken care of at the DMV on Monday and now all I need is to find a decent job to bring in enough money for my own car. Sean’s is great and all but it’s got over 120,000 miles on it so it’s only a matter of time before we’re looking to get rid of it. It’s a 1995, naturally there’s only a limited amount of time left with it. I narrowed my options though, I know I’m not willing to spend anything more than $12,000 and while even that seems like a lot, I also know I’m not coming home with something brand new. I found a few dealerships in the area that have the car I want and while the ’05 Chevy Cobalt that I’ve been looking into has about 50,000 miles on it already, it’s also still under warrenty for another 40,000 miles and since I am working locally, I’m not too concerned about that.

I started and quit a job on Tuesday, it just wasn’t the place for me and I have other things going on right now that I don’t wish to go into. I put in some applications in other stores and I’m hoping to hear from one of them sometime within the next few days.

We’re going to have company this weekend, Karen’s sister is coming down to continue house-hunting so I spent the bulk of the day straightening up the house. I finally got around to giving the bathroom the “deep clean” it’s needed for the last two weeks. It’s easy to wipe down the counter and throw some bleach on the floor but I’m the kind of person who likes to get down and scrub the shit out of things. When you can eat off the bathroom floor, you know there’s no cross-contamination and excess bacteria floating around. I also do the same scrubbing in the kitchen on a daily basis. Even if I don’t cook and a drop of soda happens to be on the counter, I go into over-drive and take care of things.

My sleep schedule is back on track. I typically crash around midnight and I’m up around 9am. It’s a good feeling to see more than a few hours of sunlight during the day considering my hours were more like 9am to 2pm and since the sun (for a few weeks) started to set around 5pm things were really kind of sluggish for me. Now I’m up and ready to take on the day after a good nights rest. Bella still isn’t quite used to the change, but no matter what time schedule I was on she typically slept for most of the day anyway.

On the topic of pets, I got her groomed last week and she was a little – clingy – for a couple of days. She seems to be getting back to normal but I’ve noticed that since the mood kind of lightened (a few days after we put Candy down) she’s really taken a hold to Karen and follows her around as much as she does me. And at night there’s that spot on the couch that she’s taken over which is usually curled up in the blanket by Karen as well. It’s a little strange, and I have no idea why but I think she realizes that if jobs do go through for me, that I won’t be around for the entire day the way I used to.

I did find out that the bump on her stomach is a benign tumor. She’s had it since she was very little and it’s gradually gotten bigger over the course of the last year so I’m going to have to bring her to the vet and see what they can do for me. I’m confident that it’s nothing too serious but I would like to get it taken care of so it can’t potentially turn into something fatal.

And on the topic of Cancer, Princess has been diagnosed with Cushings (as I’ve noted previously). The vet gave Karen a prescription for Kemo and we’re a little hesitant about giving it to her. She’s 22-pounds and they have her on 500MG of Kemo a day. Now, the documentation for this particular drug (LYSODREN known as Mitotane) notes that you should only have 50MG so naturally we’re thinking “Wait, won’t 10-times the amount be fatal?” We’ve verified with the Vet that the dosage is correct because of “her size” and I can only imagine what they’d give a large-breed dog that’s 100lbs. I don’t even want to think about it.

There are some other big things going on but they aren’t worth discussing right now, probably because I haven’t had time to process the bad news yet. I just hope things start to pick up and get back on track, or I have no idea what I’m going to do.

WHY IS THE WORLD SO SCREWED UP!?

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

It’s another one of those days where everything that could possibly go wrong…can.

I woke up this morning with the intent of just going to Wal-mart and picking up everything I need for Bella and myself and then just coming home and relaxing for a while until Lost comes on tonight.

About two hours ago Karen called with the test results for Princess, they believe she has Cushings disease but will need to admit her on Monday to run some more tests and figure things out. If she does have it then there’s a 50/50 chance that she’ll live or need to be put down, it depends on how far along she is with the disease. So that was upsetting blow number two today. The first one was the call from the vet stating that Candy’s ashes were ready and we can pick them up when we’re ready to.

A few moments ago while I was contemplating life and hoping to hear something from any job that doesn’t require being a cashier part-time, the phone rang out of no where and it was Karen’s sister who needed Sean to head down to the store and give her a jump because her car died a few moments after she got a phone call from her boyfriend stating that his mother had passed away this morning.

There are only two months out of the year that effect me the most in life. February has always been a bad one for me but the final “bad moment” up until putting Candy down was having my last moments with Joe alive without any outside influence. We’re coming up to the two-year mark of his death and I’m already in a daze about that, so now adding to the fact that there’s a 50/50 chance that Princess will be put down around the same time…my nerves are shot….beyond shot.

I fully understand that the world has it’s way of balancing itself out but why does everything need to happen at once? While Bella is my baby I’ve grown very close to Princess. She’s the ultimate lap dog and I love her as much as anyone could. Candy I adored but since she was so much older than Princess and Bella she really just didn’t want to be bothered so I never had any “bonding” moments with her that were memorable, the only time I’ve ever held her was when we were going to the vet for one of her random bad days that would come out of no where. Princess and I have fallen asleep together lord knows how many times on the couch and I’ve given her more personal-time than I have Candy, and her death upset me but Princess would be like losing my own pet, even though she’s more “everyone’s” dog than Candy was.

Why does everything happen at once? I just don’t get it.

Candy, may you rest in peace.

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

We put Candy to sleep on Tuesday at 4pm. After a bad weekend and a lot of tears Karen came to the decision that Candy would be better off being put to sleep so that she could not suffer anymore. I received a phone call this morning letting us know that her ashes were available to be picked up from the Vets office and when Karen comes home from work for lunch I’ll let her know.

The other day she found an urn online that she truly adores and thankfully I’ve been snapping a lot of pictures lately so Candy’s best shot (which was hard to get, considering her fear of cameras) is now going to be airbrushed onto the urn. The photo can be found after the break.

Minus the death of Candy, things around the house seem to be going OK. Karen was more upset with the decision than the aftermath, but it’s the acceptance of Candy’s death that has made things so calm. Her sister is down here looking for a new house and while both her and her children were sick for a couple of days, everyone seems to be coming around so things haven’t been quite so hectic.

On Tuesday around 12:30 the Comcast guy showed up and setup the new boxes in the office and living room and we now have our new phone number, which I know I have to email to a few people. Sean’s very happy with the HD Box in the office and the living room TV still will barely go past the standard channels that we’ve been watching for years, but it’s good to know that we have them. In regards to the phone – thankfully the bill collectors for Karen haven’t found the new number yet but we’re also restricted from all lists (as of right now) so it’s not really much to be concerned about. However, the change was made the same day we put Candy down so since no one knew the phone number everything in regards to both Candy and Princess (urine test results for on-going kidney infection) have been sent to my cell phone. Princess is about 10 years old so even she’s getting up there in years but now Karen understands how peaceful putting an animal down can be, when it does come time for Princess.

Candy exceeded her life expectancy, for an animal to survive for 16 years is nothing short of amazing and the vet tech that we had there on Tuesday put Karen’s mind at ease in what would be the biggest choice she’d ever have to make in her life. The vet even told her that Candy was lucky to have her because with all of the medical problems Candy has had in the last three years – it’s nothing short of amazing that she survived as long as she did. Who would have thought that with a lot of love and support for a dog with no spleen, shallow breathing, frequent skin infections and an enlarged heart – she could live as long as she did.

(more…)

What would your choice be?

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

I know this is in a completely different tone than my previous post, but it’s just been one of those weeks. If you’re overly sensitive to animals, I ask that you not read this entry.

(more…)

Happy Valentines Day

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

I don’t typically do this but I was in the mood for photo posting today so that’s primarily what this entry will be.

It’s Valentine’s Day and Sean being the romantic he is typically doesn’t make a big deal out of things, publicly. We discussed what was going to happen this year and based on finances we decided that spending a quiet evening at home is the route we’re going to take. So tonight I’m going to be making dinner, and last night I went bake-happy and made cupcakes with cute little hearts on them and dual-flavor icing just to keep it interesting. Two dozen very quickly disappeared and that’s only because 12 of them went to work with Karen this morning for the guys in the warehouse, one is a sugar fanatic and wants them at any chance that he can get. I also snapped a few picks of the cupcakes last night, they really did turn out pretty cute.

Valentines Day 2008

Then of course there’s the extreme sweetness of Sean.

Valentines Day 2008

Valentines Day 2008

So as you can tell by the first image, I woke up to a very sweet gesture from Sean. The bag was filled with all kinds of sweet goodies. A dancing dog, I :heart: U milk chocolate, a singing rose and a very sweet card that almost brought me to tears. I wasn’t expecting this, I will say that. I figured we’d just have a quiet evening at home and he’d give me a card or something, considering that’s where I’d lost him in the store yesterday. I feel kind of bad though, I only got him a box of chocolate and a card. Yet, at the same time, I’ve also made him cupcakes, and I’m doing a pretty big spread with dinner tonight so when it comes down to it I think we’re basically even on this.

In any event, I’d like to wish all of you a Happy Valentines day, I hope you’re able to spend a wonderful day with your loved-ones.

Extra Work

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

I’ve been working extra hard on getting my totals up for the month. I slacked off for about a week and now I’m so far behind I wonder if I’ll make enough to cover my taxes this year. There are a few big write-offs though, so that’ll certainly help me out. With everything factored in I owe about $1200 or-so to taxes. After that I have about $1500 worth of write-offs including two computers, monitors and other electronics that I needed in order to even work during 2007. So hopefully that will balance everything out.

I’m dealing with a flood-zone at the moment. It’s been raining pretty hard for the last five hours or so and while everyone north of DE is enjoying snowfall or some kind of mixture, I’m dealing with horrible drainage and the lack of ability to see the drive-way because it’s under water right now. I hope it lets up soon. While I do love a good rainy day, it’s bringing me down today and I just don’t like it.

Once I accomplish getting all of my work done today I’ll be in the kitchen for a while. It desperately needs to be cleaned because we’re having house-guests this weekend, and after I’m done with that I’m going to be making about 4 dozen valentines cupcakes. Two dozen are going to work with Karen and the other two are staying here as my treat to Sean. Tomorrow night I’m going nuts on dinner too, it’s just cheaper to have V-Day at home this year, so I’ll pull some chicken out and make all kinds of sides for it and the rest is history.

Talk about pay day…

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

I have to say I’m a bit shocked about the news I found on MSNBC this afternoon. I missed part one of the story but part two told me more than I really needed to know.

You walk into Best Buy with a mission to purchase a new laptop to use for work. You pay a little over $1,100 which includes a $300 warranty in case something goes wrong with it. A few months later your on/off switch is broken and you, under warranty, bring it back to Best Buy to have it fixed. From there you spend about 6 months before ever hearing anything truthful about where your laptop’s status lays. Why? Because more than likely an employee of Best Buy has stolen the laptop from a secured back room and after 3 months of emails, phone calls and letters you’re told that it’s lost.

So what do you do? You file a $54 Million Lawsuit with Best Buy in hopes to make up for the fact that not only have you lost thousands of dollars worth of music but you’ve also lost thousands of important photos and did I forget to mention all of your TAX INFORMATION?

They then offer you $2500 to shut up and buy a new laptop. Yea, how well is that going to work out for them? While you may never win the case, you’re still going to fight it for as long as you possibly can.

Safety First

Monday, February 11th, 2008

LifeLock Have any of you seen the commercial for the new program called Lifelock? They’re a service that protects your identity, they’re so confident that their systems are secure that the representative of the program actually lists his social security number in public in hopes that someone attempts to use it so that they can instantly be proven of Lifelock’s effectiveness.

They offer pretty great service for only $10 a month. They include:

  • Proactive Identity Theft Protection
  • Reduced Junk Mail
  • Reduced Credit Card Offers
  • $1 Million Service Guarantee

Based on the reduce in Junk Mail alone I’m pretty interested in signing up with this company. I can’t tell you how many credit card offers I receive on a weekly basis. At least two a day from numerous companies, mainly Capital One which I find strange considering I’m already a user of Capital One’s services. Junk mail isn’t fun either, magazine offers, magazines I never signed up for but companies insist that I have to pay for them.

It’s unfortunate but identity theft is at an all time high and finding a service that helps you from falling victim to it, can really benefit you financially. It may not bring in any extra money during the month but it will help you avoid having to go into debt because someone else was a loser and decided not to do things on their own name and insisted that dragging someone else’s name into the mud would be the way to go for financial freedom.

Mars Edit

Monday, February 11th, 2008

So I’ve been using this MarsEdit software for the last two days and I have to say I’m growing more and more fond of it. I had to do a little .htaccess altering in order to get it to work with my WordPress blogs but that’s a server based thing that needed to be enabled anyway. I’ve got all of my blogs worked into it and there are so many useful options that it makes it very easy to use. My only dislike for the program is the fact that you can’t edit the date/time. There are some entries that I like to post-date on other domains but this program doesn’t give you that option. I’m sure something about it will pop up in later versions but we’ll have to see. It’s a 30 day trial and it’s for Mac OS X users only, for $30 you’ll have the paid-version which is no different than the trial because the creators really wanted to give you the option of using everything the program has to offer before you decide to purchase it. Which I think was pretty nice of them, honestly.