On RelationSHIPS

The following link is from a post that one of my Twitter buds wrote about relationships. I thought it was pretty powerful. Opened my eyes.

http://2bigblackmenandapancake.tumblr.com/post/2444023018/give-take

Why Auburn

A few days after excepting the job (and after the board approved it), I drove down to Tuskegee to try and find somewhere decent to live.  I knew trying to find somewhere in Tuskegee I was going to like was going to be a challenge.

Before I moved back to Atlanta, I lived in a studio apartment in a duplex that was within walking distance of campus.  Work was 5 to 10 minutes away depending on how many slow cars I got behind or traffic lights I caught.  Often I would roll out of bed and head to work and would come home for lunch.  I really wanted that convenience again.

However, my main concern with living in Tuskegee was security.  My apartment in Tuskegee was broken into twice within six months (between October 2006 and February 2007).  I have an idea who it was.  Granted, it was probably my fault for letting strangers in my house and leaving the windows open all day some days.  I believe that reason Asia disappeared was because of the second break in.

I first looked at an apartment complex where a lot of college students lived.  It was decent by Tuskegee standards.  They had bars on the doors and windows.  However, the apartment manager had all of the leases expire at the same time and I was looking to be moved before that happened.   I also checked another apartment complex out in Tuskegee.  Single bedroom, rent was cheap too.  Perfect for a college student, or someone trying to save some money starting off.  There were no bars on the windows or doors and it look like an easy target for a determined thef.  Even though the units were wired for ADT, someone could still break in your apartment and steal something before the police came.  Plus you have the added emotional baggage of someone violating your stuff.    I figured I could live there for a year or so, save up a lot of cash and perhaps find something else decent in Tusekgee.   I checked out a couple of houses that were for rent, but i just didn’t like the neighborhood that they were in.

I started  to become tired and frustrated.  It looked as if I wasn’t going to find something I liked in Tuskegee in timely matter.

Auburn it is!

The biggest issue I had with living in Auburn is the football traffic.  Auburn University’s football team is doing very well and their home games are well attended by students, alumni and fans.  As if one didn’t see enough of the variety Auburn University decals affixed to vehicles in all kind of ways, home games added flags on cars and faux tiger tails attached to rear bumpers.

By the time I got to Auburn, it was lunch time and so most of the rental offices were closed.  I was able to check out one place that catered to a lot of college students.  What irked me about a lot of the apartments in Auburn is that they were rented by the rooms and not units.  College town business I guess.  This particular complex only had three bed rooms available, but they said I could rent it  for paying the price of two rooms which came about to be a little over $1100.  $1100 for an apartment in Auburn, Alabama!?!?  $1100 would get me a studio or one bedroom apartment in midtown Atlanta with a decent view.  I started to get a headache and even more frustrated than i was before I left Tuskegee.

After driving around Auburn looking at different places there, I decided to call a friend of mine and asked her where she lived.  I spoke with her before online a few days prior and she told me about the complex where she stayed.  It was a little more than what I really wanted to start paying for a place initially, but the rent was within my preliminary budget.  My other concern was that it was a little further from work which would increase my commute time.

I got the directions from my friend and decided to check the place out.  The complex is called Paces at the Estates and is currently the only apartment complex in the Estates subdivision. The Estates is a relatively new subdivision that have very nice homes from the upper 200s, town homes in the upper 100s and perhaps 2 to 3 bedroom homes in the upper 100s.  The subdivision is in close proximity of the mall, movie theater and a private school.  A Wal-Mart is less than 5 minutes away and Tiger Town (a shopping center) is about 10 minutes away.  It’s also not far from a main artery of the Auburn/Opelika area where a lot businesses are situated.

I had already seen pictures from the website my friend sent me and it seemed like a really nice place.  And it is.  They only had two one bedrooms available.  One of the first and one of the second floor.  The one on the second floor is cheaper than the top and bottom floor.  The top floor has vaulted ceilings and the bottom floor has a nice stained concrete floors.  I had opted for the cheaper option, but the tenet wasn’t scheduled to move for a few more weeks and I needed to be moved in right away.  So I decided to take the first floor apartment and I’m glad I did.  I like the floors anyway and I can stomp all I want to.  My apartment has a study which will be my office.  It’s currently full of junk right now from the move.  The kitchen has track lighting, and I also got a complementary washing machine.  It was left from the previous tenet and the landlord said I can keep it.  I’m currently renting a dryer.

About a month ago, I finally got some furniture and bought my first very first tv, a 50 inch Panasonic Plasma.

All in all, things are going pretty good so far.  The job is keeping me busy as expected, but at least they are paying me right this time.  Makes it all worth it.

Transition: Complete

The past couple of months have been pretty interesting.  I’ve moved back to Alabama after excepting to take my old job back with a bigger salary.  Even with the increase, it wasn’t an easy decision.  I toiled with the idea day and night.  I called and asked other people’s thoughts and opinions.  My family was all in for me going back.  Some of my friends not so much.  My friends knew of the drama I had with the job before and all of the ish that went on.  I went back to Atlanta not looking back and hoping to start my life over there.  God had other plans….

I really enjoyed myself at Georgia Tech.  My coworkers were pretty cool and I got to work for one of the most internationally recognized universities in the world.  I learned alot more about admining linux servers thanks to my boss.

All in all, I’m enjoying being back.  The people are super nice and friendly as usual and most people (as I knew would be) were happy to see me come back.

Moving back  has put a new spin on things with my life and put some other things on hold.  I’m back to having no social life, but being an introvert, it’s the least of my worries.

Alive Like Me

Since I’m caught up on Bleach and my favorite shows have either ended (Battle Star Galatica) or been canceled (Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles), or out of season (Lost, Simpson, Family and a bunch others), I’ve been looking on Hulu to find some new shows to watch.  I started off with “Lie to Me” which I really enjoyed.  Then, I started watching “Bones.”  Also, another good show, but sometimes it was difficult looking at some of those episodes, especially while I was eating.

When I finished with those shows, I once again starting perusing Hulu’s site to find something new to watch.  I tried a few; some didn’t appeal to me; some I couldn’t even finish watching one episode.

I found “Dead Like Me.”  I actually had the series in my Netflix queue, but I ended up taking it out because there was just too much stuff I wanted to watch in my queue.  I think I previously saw 2 or 3 episodes so when I started again, I tried to pick up where I left off.  Hulu currently has seasons 1 and 2 on there site.

I’ve been really enjoying the show.  I’m now in Season two and I’m halfway done.  The show is centered around a smart mouth 18 year old girl named “George,” short for Georgia.  After her unfortunately demise by a toilet seat from the International Space station, she is “turned” into a reaper.  She eventually joins up with other reapers were they meet in a diner (think Waffle House) everyday to receive their “reap” assignments from “Rube” (lets call him the chef reaper of this group).  We later find out that there are other reaper “groups” and different kinds of reapers.  Even pets have reapers.

These reapers receive their assignment on a post-it given to them by Rube.  The post-it only contains first initial, last name, date/time and place where the soul should be reaped.  The reapers have to show up in time, reap the soul (by touching them), and sometimes stand by and watch them die a traffic and often humorous death.  Normally after the person dies, they appear in the same form before death standing next to the reaper looking at their dead body confused.  Of course no one can see them but the reaper and they can pass through people and objects.  The reapers are then to guide the souls on to the next life.  What the souls see before they “pass on” is different for each one.  Often the souls asks the reapers what’s on the other side, but they don’t really have a clue themselves, but their job is to comfort the soul as much as possible and get them to “cross on over.”

Interesting enough, these reapers have physical needs and they have to have a place to stay and eat.  Since reaping doesn’t pay the bills, they have to get “real” jobs.  The main character so far is the only person we know with a real job, even though Rube assures everyone that reaping is serious business and it “has to be done.”  George works at a temp agency called Happy Times which is hilarious in and of itself.  I can see that becoming a spin off.  Anyway, when George looks in the mirror, she doesn’t see her self as she was when she was alive.  To me, the person in the mirror is a lot less attractive and I would assumed obviously so, but she is regarded as pretty throughout the show. *shrug*

Anyway, the writing is very interesting.  The deaths are pretty stupid and some even lame, but it’s not really about how they died, but who and what they did before they died.  There are some pretty deap episodes and there is some pretty good character development going on with some episodes half focusing on one character in a serious situation while the others are off being silly.  It’s really a riot.

Of course I don’t believe in reapers and the so called “after life.”

“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” – Ecclesiastes 9:5 KJV

But we have this comforting promise:

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.   For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. – 1st Thessalonians 13-17 KJV

And I’ve even considered I really shouldn’t be watching the show since it’s so biblically incorrect and what not.  But it’s just some mild entertainment.

WordPress is Alive!

I finally have the wordpress site up and running.  Took alot of design tweeking in Photoshop and CSS editing.

Overall, I’m pleased with the design.  The color scheme is ok, but it’s going to stay that way for a while unless some new design inspiration comes my way.

I was going to modifiy an existing theme, but it was overcomplicated and had way too much CSS in it that I just wasn’t comfortable working with it and since I was new to theming in WordPress, I decided to start from scratch.  I looked at several tutorials and essentially created a skeleton site and then I designed around it putting the WordPress elements where they should go.

I’m not too crazy about the background, but that’s minor.  I’m going to install Gallery2 for any new photos that I upload.  The old gallery has been around for years and I don’t intend on transferring photos from it to Gallery2.

I’m glad that importing my old blog entries was trivial.  I’ve got entries all the way back to 2001 even though I’ve started blogging before then.  Those pages are LONG gone.

Anyway, enjoy!

Two Brothers Fell

I got the news Tuesday morning after my 8am (CST) class was over with. Andrew came up to me and said, man, “I almost didn’t make it to class.”  I asked, “What happend?”  Andrew was notorious for showing up to class late so I was waiting to hear what excuse he had this time. He said, “A plane few into the World Trade Center.  ” Instantly, I was shocked and my mind refused to believe it. Andrew and I parted ways then I immediately headed down the stairs making my way home to catch the news a fast as I could to see what had happend was true or not. Of course I believed him, but my mind didn’t.

As I was exiting the engineering building, I saw Mo.  She was with another friend of hers telling people what happend by the door.  As I was greeting her, she said, there were two planes involved. One each hit a tower.  Shocked even further, this was no accident.  My mind begin to race and I regretted not riding my bike to campus today.

All the while walking home, my mind virutally played what had happend. I immediately started thinking about the people inside.  I opened the front door to my apartment as fast as I could and immediately shooked the mouse of the computer to wake the monitor from sleep.  I couldn’t get STB TV Pro started quick enough and I fumbled with the remote and managed to hit the power botton for the VCR and DirecTV all the while sweating from the early morning sun and the 10 minute hurried walk home.

I immediately pressed the Turbo Tune botton for CNN, there indeed it was. By the time I got home (approx. 9:15 CST) one of the towers had already collasped…. I couldn’t believe it.  A World Trade Center tower was GONE!!! Just like that, A pile of rubble. The other tower was still standing and smoldering. I periodically flipped back and forth between CNN, NBC, and BBC because CNN seem to be a bit slow in getting the facts I needed. Even VH1 (and later MTV) was rebroadcasting a local CBS affilate in network. NBC replayed the video of the first and second tower being hit and then showing the first tower that collasped. Later was show, at ground zero, Fire Fighters entering the second building. Moments later, that tower collasped and I saw it LIVE on TV. I was horrified knowing that were were hundreds, even thousands of people that were inside. Now the World Trade Center was GONE. Completely GONE!!! I couldn’t believe it with my own eyes.

I logged onto the internet and began to try the various news sites such as cnn.com, msnbc and other sites that carry computer and technical news (that I visit daily) to see what they had to say. The mainstream news sites were pretty much useless with the overwhelming internet traffic they were experiencing. Even CNN.com devolved into a circa 1994 web site with one picture and succinct text on their site to minimize download time. This was world wide top news, who had time for the other stuff?

I then logged into the ISCA BBS to see what my fellow iscaites were saying. The BBS sysops created a temporary forum to discuss today’s events. I think on Tuesday was the highest number of ISCA users I’ve seen on it at one time since I’ve became a user since late ’96. Though old school ISCA users told me there use to be thousands on at a time, and one would wait in the log in cue for a long time. Forum constantly scrolls as people posted their various thoughts and opinions. Tuesday and Wednesday, I sat reading most of them. I had to stop that since school was still going on.

I stayed home that day watching the news for hours and hours. I only have on class on Tuesdays and Thursday anyway, and if I did have later that day, I would have missed it. All day until about 2pm CST, I intermittently flipped between NBC, CNN and BBC. Over and over they showed the planes crashing into the towers and showing them collasped. It was horrible. I was feeling horrible. I laid down at around 2 pm because I was physically and mentally drained. I layed down for about an hour and a half, got back up and watched more news. I had a 4pm Solar Decathlon meeting with Craig, Gregg and James in the engineering building. As soon as it was over, I headed back home to catch more news.

NBC showed people that were near the fire in one of the towers jumping to their imminent death. People were just falling one after another. Immediately tears began to fall…. They must have been surrounded by the fire… no way to escape…. I suppose they would rather fall to a quick death instead of being burned alive. Horror.

I couldn’t mentally function properly Tuesday and I know I had a quiz in Electronics the next day. I knew I would fail. This incident bothered me to much and was surprised that Tuskegee didn’t canceled classes (actually I wasn’t surprised, but they should have). Needless to say, I flunked the quiz.