When they say love is a sickness, I think I may understand it a bit more now. I've only just met this girl Jennifer this past weekend and only talked with her for about 2 weeks. Obviously, I'm not "IN LOVE" at this point because I still have so much to find out about her and she has so much to find out about me. But I can definitely say, I'm seriously crazy about this girl. And I don't really know at what point you consider yourself in love with someone anyway... but I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen until you get over the phase I'm in.

I can't sleep very well... I constantly find myself distracted doing literally anything. My conversations over IM (as Grayce can attest to) are very interesting as I constantly am not making sense. I can't seem to be comfortable anywhere. My appetite hasn't disappeared (thank god) but I do find myself not really considering the taste of what I'm eating just that I eat something.

Everything about her right now interests me and keeps me going. There is non-stop communication between us through email, text messaging, and phone conversations throughout the day. I just feel totally crazy but I don't feel alone in it. She seems to be in the absolute same situation as I am at the moment.

I guess I know realistically that down the line, that sort of "puppy" love or whatever you may want to call it disappears... but it's something I don't think I've ever felt so strongly about before. In fact, I know I have never felt so passionately strong about a person before... yet I really haven't known her long enough to say something like that. I just feel so comfortable already... we seem to say directly what is on our minds to each other (without the typical filter you find at the beginning of a relationship). She wants to meet my friends and family and vice versa. We mesh on all the important things... we seem to be at the same point with how we regard life... and we both feel very sure and comfortable of who we are.

Either way, I can honestly say life is absolutely wonderful, but I wish I wouldn't feel like a crazy person. I'm going up to see her this weekend for 15 hours before I have to be back in Portland for Halloween plans I had with Anna and friends. And then I will be going up the following weekend. And then she'll be down for 4 days the weekend after that. Neither of us feel things are progressing in too fast of a state... but there's still a small part of me that feels this whole thing is crazy. I feel like I'm going to wake up and find it was just a sick dream.

I also feel like I need to shut up about it... because I can't stop talking about her with people I know. I guess when something dominates your mind... you want to talk about it... but doesn't mean that everyone wants to hear it. Especially since many people have gone through or are in similar situations themselves right now.

So to all my friends... I promise... I will try to be less puke-worthy. If you feel like I need to shut up about it... by all means tell me and I will shut up. Honestly, I think the disease is taking its hold and it will be a while before I recover.

This week they finally announced who was being laid off or not in my group... and thankfully I survived once again. It's becoming sort of funny as this might be a yearly thing. To put it in perspective, the company was at over 100,500+ at the beginning of 2006 and is now down to 86,000. The positive thing is that our profit margin is better than it has been in a while, and we had a record 3rd quarter for our quarterly earnings. If we can continue to do that, I hope my stocks become worth something someday.

Other than that, progress at the gym has been steady and going well. My training sessions are almost over at which point I will just be driving this on my own. Either way, I am very happy with my progress and will continue to work towards my goal of 20+ pounds.

This weekend, I'm doing something that should prove to be quite interesting... as I'm driving 3 hours to Seattle to meet for a first date. I had put up an ad on Craigslist (did it once before in Spring) and for the most part wasn't too impressed with most of the girls who contacted me. I got one email though that just seemed too perfect. This girl is intelligent, easy-going, fun, driven, and overall we just seem to have clicked pretty decently over email and phone conversations. The only problem is she is currently in Seattle attending law school and won't be in Portland til March (where she already has a job waiting for her). She remembered my previous ad on Craigslist from spring, but didn't contact me because she didn't know yet where she would end up after law school. I'm really excited to meet her though, as she seems so cool in many ways. Obviously, I'm guarded because you never know if you have chemistry until you meet face to face. It's just so hard when we seem to click so well over the phone and such. Either way, my Saturday should prove to be a very fun day. Aquarium, Sushi, and Dancing... going to be a fun date.

I'm really looking forward to snowboarding this winter as well. The trip to Whistler in December is looking so far away still. And looks like Mt. Hood and such is already getting good snow. Sounds like Peter also has some friends we can possibly hook up a cabin deal with.

Anyway, my mood the last few days has been extraordinarily good. Obviously, those who care, I'll update on how my date goes Saturday. And Adam and Natalie... move to Portland!!! That would be just awesome! Forget that Crescent City crap... who needs money when you have me around!? Either way though, I hope you guys figure out what you want to do.

There are so many things that have gone down in the last few weeks. I'll try to summarize as much as possible:

Adam's Wedding
It was great to see Adam and Natalie again. It made me jealous that yet another one of my friends is married and I'm no closer to that stage than I was 8 years ago. Was good to see everyone in town and while it went quickly, it was just a good week!

Pictures from that weekend.

Vegas
Vegas was lots of fun again. I lose $60 to gambling... we stayed at Treasure Island. Saw most of the major casinos again, had lots of good food and drinks. Want to do it again.

Pictures from my trip.

PAX
The Penny Arcade Expo was incredibly fun. Since E3 has basically toned down from a huge conference to something smaller, PAX seemed to take more of that space this year. There were over 40,000 attendees, lots of speaker sessions, concerts, exhibition floor demoing cool stuff, DS playing, console playing, and PC gaming. It was incredibly and for the most part just lots of fun. Wil Wheaton was the keynote speaker and he was awesome. Even got a picture with him! Overall, lots of fun.

Pictures from PAX.

My New PC
I basically bought a brand new computer (nothing from my old computer is going in my new computer). I bought all the pieces from Newegg (except for the CPU which I bought from Intel directly since I get half-off). I barely got it running last night after fighting out the issues with the hardware (found out I had a bad memory stick that I picked up from Fry's). Since it's a Quad-core machine with one of the top-line video cards... this machine will be a monster.

Camping Trip
I'm excited about the camping trip with Peter's dad this weekend. It'll be the first time I get to actually wake-board and have fun with it. Since I can actually stay up on the wake-board now... it should prove to be lots of fun!

Personal Trainer Time
I have been seeing a personal trainer for the last two and a 1/2 weeks and it has proven to be very good. I'm already 7 pounds heavier and working towards my 25 pound goal! I'm also starting to tone a little bit (although not hugely yet). My eating habits have changed too (I eat a lot more)... and I feel better overall. I am working right now 3 times a week with some exercise at home. The personal trainer I will see for a total of 16 sessions and then after that I will continue on my own. It's great so far.

Whistler
We have a trip to Whistler again scheduled for Dec 14-18. I am incredibly excited. I have been dying to go snowboarding again. My trainer is actually helping me train for that too (working on my balance, etc). It will be loads of fun... Peter is coming too! Woo!!

iPod Craziness
So I just kept on the iPod craziness that happened today. Christ, they have a good line-up. First they dropped the 8 gig iPhone by $200!! It's now in a reasonable price-range of $400. Too bad though it doesn't work for my work email, which is the reason I wouldn't get it right now. Then they announced TWO update iPods. One an update to their HardDrive iPods (now in 80 and 160 gig flavors). Then they announced the Flash Based iPod Touches which are basically the iPhone without the phone part. Those things are sexy and I will be very tempted to get one. The new iPod Nanos are looking pretty damn cool too (can even play video!). Overall, Apple will definitely be kicking some major ass in the winter months.

Overall, things are pretty good and August and so far September have been good months. Work wise, things have been good as I have good projects but also bad as the impending doom of layoffs are out and about. We will know more at the end of October. It is going to be a fairly significant cut and I have a feeling that I am going to see a lot of good people go. Morale isn't very high right now.

Alright... that's my spiel!

I totally have a political crush on Barack Obama. I don't necessarily align with all his stances... but for the most part he is such a well spoken, intelligent sounding, reasonable guy. He doesn't seem TOO entrenched in the political machine that is Washington (although we know you don't get to be a Senator without at least somewhat being trapped in the system). He comes off as very charismatic (which I think is good for a leader). He doesn't seem to paint things in a US vs. THEM type of way for most topics and he talks in a lot of greys. I like him a hell of lot more than Hillary and more than I do Edwards. I really REALLY hope that he gets the nomination because I do believe he could win the whole thing versus the crappy assortment of Republican candidates.

I've seen him in a few of the debates and for the most part his answers are fairly logical and make sense. There's been a couple times I didn't quite like his answer... but other than Kucinich (who has no chance in hell of winning the nomination), I think Obama sounds like the most reasonable Democratic candidate on ticket.

10 Minute Obama clip: Daily Show Appearance.

Anyway... back to your regularly scheduled lives. :)

With Superbad coming out this weekend... it reminded me of how awesome Michael Cera is. I don't know why... but I just think he's hilarious in his own awkward style of humor. He was George Michael in the show Arrested Development and since then he's been trying to get a movie career started. He's done a few things that have cracked me up since then.

George Michael Gets Angry
Since he was starring in Apatow's Superbad... there was a funny viral video of him supposedly trying out for Apatow's previous movie, Knocked Up, in place of Seth Rogen. At first I thought it was real too. Here's the video:

Michael Cera Flips Out

It's basically a spoof of when David O. Russell (director of I Heart Huckabees) flipped out on Lily Tomlin and in turn her flipping out on him. That incident wasn't fake. You can see that here:

David O. Russell Flipping Out

Cera and his Internet Show
Michael Cera also has his own show that you can only watch on the Internet as far as I know. It's called Clark and Michael, which follows the two of them trying to bust their way into Hollywood with movie scripts and everything. I have watched the episodes... and just like Arrested Development... there are a lot of memorable quotes in there... "I'm too legit to quit smoking...". You can see the first episode and then watch the next nine:

Clark and Michael - First Episode

Superbad
I can't speak for the movie yet... but for some reason I really want to see Superbad. It just looks funny to me. And Apatow has had a good track record for the most part... so it will be interesting to see how it comes out. Also that Michael Cera is in it makes it sound even better.

I really hope that this guy does succeed in developing a good career. I find his sense of weird awkward humor to just be great. The fact is though, like Arrested Development, I think he just doesn't resonate with a large audience. I wish all the Arrested Development folks good careers because of the awesomeness that the show entails... but for some reason I'm rooting for Cera more than the rest.

So, this past weekend, I moved from my apartment into Grayce's basement (daylight basement). My apartment has always been kind of bare... but I didn't realize how much crap I had until I moved. With my entire family helping and my friend Jonathan, the move went pretty quickly. I am still in the process of unpacking.

The place is pretty nice though. I have a bedroom and a huge living space that I think is bigger than my apartment. I pretty much have my own bathroom and obviously, I get use of the kitchen upstairs. There's another girl who has her own living area and bedroom down here as well, but apparently she is never here so I get the entire basement to myself for the most part.

I really like the way the space is setup and if I had any complaint, it would be the lack of a closet. I need to go to IKEA or something and get a cabinet for my clothes. My cats are adjusting fairly well too, they seem to be enjoying themselves.

Now, I'm back near my parents (cause Grayce just lives in the area right behind St. Vincents). It's nice living closer to friends. Also, the commute time really isn't that much more than it was from my apartment surprisingly. Instead of the 20 minutes (on average) it took me from the time I left my apartment to the time I reached my desk... it now takes me about 25-28 minutes. I attribute this to the fact that I hit a lot less lights compared to my route from my apartment.

It will be a nice place to live until I'm ready to buy my own house. Plus, it's nice to live with friends... gives me an opportunity to see people again. I was starting to feel way to alone in my apartment as friends got busier with their lives.

/vent mode on

For the most part, I like my job. Yeah... sometimes I hate certain things about it... but overall I feel I'm pretty lucky. What I hate is the workplace or company itself right now. Especially IT. We are just being screwed over and over. Our budgets are cut, new layoffs, and just less resources to do more work. It doesn't look like this will end anytime soon. It just brings my entire mood down and I hate it.

Problem is leadership. We have some very Bush-worthy leaders at our company who seem to have no long-term strategy for the company and do not want to look at the reality of the market. Right now, morale is pretty low in IT, and frustrating because we are over-worked and underpowered. We don't even have the ability to make decisions on whether something should go forward or not. It makes it a very depressing atmosphere.

Now with new layoffs in IT, it will just be as bad as it was last year around this time.

I need a new job. I need to get out of here. It's been depressing for the last year and a half... and it just doesn't look like it's getting better anytime soon.

/vent mode off

I'm super paranoid now... I keep seeing hints of Harry Potter 7 spoilers all over the place. Websites I like to visit become traps. Message boards are minefields I have to tread carefully. Today I came across someone who posted an article and then right in the middle of it started with spoilers for the book. FUCK THEM! I managed only to see a small portion of it so I didn't really get anything. It was a close call though.

I hate that people have to be such assholes about it. Why? Let us Harry Potter nerds enjoy our book for at least 1 week before you start doing that crap. I just have to shut off the Internet for the next week.

(: .sı ʇɐɥʇ ʎɥʍ ɹǝpuoʍ ı .ɹǝʌo dı1ɟ oʇ sɯǝǝs buıɥʇʎɹǝʌǝ 'ʇɥbıɐɹʇs puɐ1 oʇ sʇɹoɟɟǝ ʇsǝq ʎɯ ǝʇıdsǝp .sǝɯıʇǝɯos dn ǝpıs ʇɥbıɹ ʇ,uǝɹɐ sbuıɥʇ ʇɐɥʇ 1ǝǝɟ ʇnq d1ǝɥ ʇou uɐɔ ı

I finished my class last week. I was so happy because I had put so much time into that class for a class that should have been so freaking easy. I guess it was one of those "weed-out" type of classes. The frustrating thing was the actual material was so easy (I mean business is for the most part very logical and common sense most of the time)... but the project we worked on was the major portion of our grade and that's where frustration set in.

The teacher was unclear about what she wanted and there was constant clarification with her through email or meetings. And it didn't help that she graded very harshly for stupid things. Considering our assignments themselves were each 8-10 pages... and the Phase 1 & 2 projects were 30 pages each... so stupid small mistakes were bound to happen when we'd have these assignments each week and then followed by the Phase 1 & 2 projects halfway and at the end of the term. She'd take points off for a simple spelling mistake (mis-use of a word) or stuff like that... so no matter how good the actual material was... we'd get a 6/10 on an assignment for 4 simple stupid mistakes. Frustrating. Plus she would ask for something, and then pretend you know all of the content in the hundred of documents she has on her site to understand the specifics of what she was asking for. You never knew when she was asking for something general or specific.

I've never disliked but at the same time like a teacher. She's a very nice lady. She tries really hard to be there for any questions. She usually was always willing to answer any email and meet with us. She kept the class interesting enough to stay awake (it's a 4 hour class and I never once felt like I was going to fall asleep). But her real lack of being clear made the class so damn frustrating. Plus, to get an A in the class, I had to put more work into this class than I have in any class previously. Either way, it's done, my team kicked ass, and I managed to pull an A... so I'm happy.

I also ended up getting a State Farm check for $130... and it just SCREAMED "DS Lite" to me. Grayce had gotten one a couple weeks earlier, May's conversation about it, the conversations about it on some of the message boards I read, just all told me to buy one. Being the weak-willed gamer that I am, I bought one with Big Brain Academy and the New Super Mario Bros. Both are great games and offer interesting things. When compared to my younger brother's PSP... I definitely say the DS seems to have more interesting gameplay opportunities... and looks to have a better game library. I kind of wish they had a Smash Bros version for the DS. They do have a new Zelda game (already out in Japan) coming that's in the same style as Windwaker. Overall, very cool little device.

May, you should get one and join the cult with Grayce and I. :)

The VSE game is now officially over (as the Stock Market is now closed). Today was the last day, and now we can announce the winners! Everyone started with $150,000. These are the numbers we ended up with.

#1 - Ryan (a guy from my work) with a grand total of $164,187.55 or a total gain of 9.46%!
#2 - Natalie with a grand total of $154,105.56 or a total gain of 2.74%.
#3 - May with a grand total of $154,014.91 or a total gain of 2.68%.
#4 - Peter with a grand total of $149,638.18 or a total loss of -0.24%.
#5 - Adam with a grand total of $148,041.85 or a total loss of -1.31%
#6 - legomanosu (no idea who this is) with a grand total of $145,160.44 or a total loss of -3.23%.
#7 - Aimee (May's friend) with a grand total of $142,566.15 or a total loss of -4.96%.
#8 - Patrick with a grand total of $137,215.23 or a total loss of -8.52%. (woohoo!)

Ryan was going to give me a short blurb about some of the strategies he used... but he hasn't given it to me yet. I know that my last place was a result of stupidity. I held onto Google stock that I bought for too much for way too long... and when I finally just sold it for a loss... and I tried the cheap trick of buying cheap stock that I thought would go up and I could sell off once it hit a limit. That didn't happen and I ended up taking tremendous losses on one because of some legal crap the company went through.

In short, until I learn some more, I definitely will leave my stock portfolio up to the experts. :) From the group that reads Sehti, it looks like Natalie narrowly pulled ahead of May. So congrats Natalie on being the winner at least from this group!

Next game will start on Tuesday (just look at my last post for details on how to join). This time, for those of you who were screwed by stock splits or were hurt by the high commission costs on trades (it was 29.95 instead of the more realistic prices you can get through ETrade and such) the new system should help out a lot.

So with the VSE game ending on Friday (we'll have an official announcement of winners and losers - ME... on Friday), I've been looking at a new game. I learned some things in the last game (actually quite a bit)... and I hopefully won't make the massive mistakes I did this time around.

Our new game is actually going to be on a different system. Investopedia's Simulator is what I plan to do this time as it takes into account dividends, stock splits, and a little more configurable than the VSE game. It's on a 20 minute delay (just like the last system), everyone who joins starts with $250000, and it will be a 6-month game (start May 29, next Tuesday).

I encourage those who didn't join last time, to join in on the game this time! It's a lot of fun! It teaches you quite a bit about stocks.

Click here to join the new game.

I personally don't know how we'd do a prize... but I think it would be fun to have some kind of small prize at the end. Any ideas, considering we are all over the place?

I read this article today and thought it was interesting. New standards about reporting the gas efficiency of these cars are lowering the numbers of some hybrids by quite a bit. And even now with gas prices as high as they are, the amount of money saved vs. what you pay extra for, is hard to break even.

It's hard right now because for those that drive, gas is killing right now ($3.40 a gallon here in Oregon). So an immediate instinct is to look to hybrid's or other more gas efficient vehicles. I personally pondered the thought whether I should give up my poor little Subaru for something a bit more gas efficient... but realized I would be in the end wasting a lot more money than saving. And I've calculated over the past few weeks that my car gets an average (including commute to work, driving to school, going to friends/parents, etc) around 26 mpg, so not great but not horrible either.

BUT hybrids aren't just about money. It's also about the working on technologies that lessen our dependence on oil. I think the work on hybrids still needs to be done as well as other completely non-gas based vehicles (hydrogen, fuel-cell, etc). But, if you are looking for a hybrid just for saving money... really make sure that you are actually doing that. Some hybrids are better than others against their non-hybrid counterparts. Calculate the amount you'll save if you buy a hybrid in gas vs the premium you pay for the car. And make sure you are abiding by the new EPA ratings (not the old standards... as they are inflated).

Here's just a few things I wanted to talk about...

Conan O'Brien Visits Intel
I love Conan O'Brien. I am glad he will be taking Leno's spot... because I don't think there is someone more deserving to be in that slot. With that said, Intel was sponsoring him for his week in San Fransisco... and he made a visit to the Intel campus in Santa Clara. Here is the hilarious (and very true) result of that:

Conan Visits Intel

Spiderman 3
Secondly, I saw Spiderman 3 last Friday. For those who haven't watched it... wait until it is either on DVD or in a cheap theater. It was pretty bad (even with my lowered expectations). The emo-Spidey thing was so laughable. It tried too hard at points to be serious when it came off as very laughable. It was even cheesier than the last two. WAY too much Kirsten Dunst in this movie. There were scenes that made me laugh out of the sheer ludicrous and nonsensical nature of the scenes. Overall... not the worst comic book movie I've seen... but it was a bad follow-up to the first two and for being the most expensive movie ever made... you know there had to be some severe production problems. Money definitely doesn't reflect quality here.

Last King of Scotland
This movie was pretty damn amazing. Starring Forest Whitaker as the infamous Ugandan leader Idi Amin (who other than probably Nelson Mendela, Kofi Annan, and Desmond Tutu is probably the most widely known African around the world). The story is a mix of fiction and fact. The main character is actually fictional and plays as a Scottish doctor who Idi takes a liking to. It shows all the different facets of a man who was largely responsible for more than 300,000 deaths during his 8 year regime. I knew very little about Idi (other than he was known for being brutal)... and you get a better idea of the guy. Forest Whitaker did such a great job in the movie (he was also great in the last season of the Shield). The DVD also has a short documentary about the real Idi Amin... and there were a couple things that the movie took creative licensing on... and changed. I would recommend picking this up or renting from Netflix.

Vegas
Going to Vegas on August 10-12. Woohoo! Excited! We are staying at Tresure Island, so that should be lots of fun.

My Class
I hate my BA101 class and I hate the teacher. She expects you to read her mind... she's ultimately confused herself... and I can't wait til the class is over. The material is so freaking easy... that it pains me to see how stupid the class is being taught. I think all this will do is scare people off from business.

Alright... that's all. :)

This past weekend I took a trip to Vancouver BC. Ever since I drove through it on the way to Whistler, I've really wanted to go. Anna had a 3 day weekend so we both headed up there on Friday morning.

Friday
It took us roughly 5 1/2 hours to get there. I had done the Priceline thing and bid for a 4-star hotel in the downtown area for $90 a night... and they accepted it at the Mariott (usually $200+ a night). So we headed to our hotel, dropped off our stuff, and decided to check out some of the city.

It was sort of rainy, but it was still nice.First location was Stanley Park (right outside of downtown). It's fairly similar to Washington Park although smaller and a bit more groomed. Still, we drove through, took pictures and enjoyed the scenery. Then we looped back and forth several times trying to figure out how to get onto the bridge to North Vancouver. From there, we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which was a cool little park where they had suspension bridges and platforms in the trees. After spending some time there, we headed back downtown and went back to the hotel again. We decided to eat dinner in this cool area that reminded me of the 23rd, 21st area in Portland. We ate a Japanese restaurant called Kingyo that looked kind of crappy from the outside... but was awesome on the inside. If I lived in Vancouver... it would have been the perfect date place (if I could ever get a date). Afterwards, we grabbed some dessert at this cool little dessert place called "True Confections" which had great desserts. Then headed back to the hotel. By this point, we were both incredibly tired so we headed to bed.

Saturday
Next morning, we woke up bright and early and headed out for breakfast and exploring the town. It was absolutely gorgeous out. We walked over to this little place called "GoodFellas" for breakfast and really liked it. Afterwards, we walked all over checking out the downtown area (malls, etc). We saw signs for their "Skytrain" which we thought would be cool. Turned out to be their subway system. We did see something about a Seabus... so we headed over towards the waterfront. Their Seabus is the ferry system that takes you over to North Vancouver, so we decided to do that.

On the other side was a little market and we just walked around the North Vancouver area for a couple hours. Finally, we headed back over to Downtown Vancouver again, and headed towards Gastown. Gastown is their older district, very tourist friendly. After walking down in that area for a while, we decided we were hungry so we went to "The Irish Heather". Very authentic and cool little Irish bar/restaurant, where we had good beer and great food. Anna was in love with the waiter there and probably would have left me in Vancouver friendless if he had asked her to stay. :) Next we decided to explore Gastown/Chinatown a bit more and ended up in this very unfriendly looking area that would have been very scary at night. After leaving that part of town, we headed to a cool little book store and then finally back to the hotel where we took a short nap.

After the nap, in true spirit of our geekiness, we spent a little time making a little picture story, which I will post probably later this weekend. In the process of doing this picture story though, I broke her camera and so we went out to get her a new camera. We decided to get smashed after that and headed back to the hotel and just crashed.

Sunday
The next morning (another gorgeous day), we got up, got our things together and piled everything in the car. After closing out... we made our way over to the Granville Public Market and had a blast. We ate a little place called the "Cats Meow" and then walked around the public market. There was a street performer performing all these juggling acts and just interacting with the audience. He was absolutely hilarious... and I haven't had a good laugh like that in a while. Somehow, I was picked out of the audience to be a participant in one of his stunts. Myself and a guy from Seattle had to perform a few little tricks... and then he brought out a strait-jacket where we had to make sure it was secure. Afterwards we had chains that we had to wrap around him and we put a lock on the chain. What seemed like a half-hour (an laughing the whole time as he kept making fun of us)... we head back into the audience as he pulls himself free. Apparently, he travels all over the world doing these performances and gets his money from donations after the show. We took a little more time around the market and then finally headed back to Portland.

Overall, it was a great trip! I really am glad I finally got to stay there and I probably will do the trip again sometime. I would recommend to anyone to take a trip up there!

Here are the pictures we took (minus our little story that we did):
Vancouver BC Pictures