Andy's Blog

my life -- packed up

This saturday, I'm moving to a new (to me) apartment, so that means that this machine, and all of the blogs, pictures, and name games that it hosts, are going to be down for awhile. It hurts, but there's not any way around it -- the new place doesn't have Comcast, and I'm of the mind to switch to DSL anyway. But I'm sure there is going to be some lag time between when I order the DSL and it is actually passing traffic. Until that time, redefine.dyndns.org is going to be down. So, no more blog posts from me for awhile.

-Andy.

I liked living in Storrs, because people always came to visit me

And now, of course, it is time for another picture of me at Case, sitting in front of my computer:

One of the great things about living in Storrs, was that people always came to visit me. This meant that I combine two of my favorite things -- sitting in front of the computer and hanging out with my friends. Actually, in those days, I think that sitting in front of the computer had a lot to do with getting work done.

Anyways, the really great thing about this picture is Eric. He always specialized in giving normal, everyday things a slight twist, so that if you look with your lazy eye, you see the same bland thing that every one else does. But if you look with your attentive, you see how Eric is playing with the norm. That kindof stuff is cool, and it is a crime against humanity that I don't talk to Eric more.

-Andy.

A weird couple of days

The last couple of days have been -- weird. Last Thursday and Friday, I was forced to attend "TMS" training. I found out that I'm a "creator/innovator". And I guess since everyone on my team knows where they fit on the wheel, now we will like, be able to work in harmony, or something. Judging by my level of sarcasm about this, you can probably infer that I mostly think that it was a load.

Even more interesting, however, is that on Friday morning, my car wouldn't start. It worked just fine the night before, as evidenced by the fact that I drove over to Anjali's for some Bollywood action. But the subsequent morning -- no love. So, I walked to work (about 2.5 miles, it took me about half an hour). After work, I managed to hitch a ride back home with a co-worker. I tried starting it again, but still no dice. Google indicated that it was probably a bad starter. Anecdotally, I thought that I could have a dead battery as well, but I didn't think that was the case, because I still had power, and because I didn't leave the lights on or anything.

Well, I called a tow truck, and they guy tried to give me a jump first before doing the whole tow thing. As it turns out, that was $50 well spent, because that was my problem -- dead battery. So, I managed to scoot on over to Pep Boys in order to get a new battery installed, before having dinner with Kevin, and seeing "Mean Girls" with Kevin and Anjali. Then of course, we played hearts for 2 hours.

And this is only up to Friday. On Saturday, I looked at a lot of apartments. I think I have it narrowed down now, and I should be committal guy tomorrow. Basically, due to the combination of the fact that I am picky, and the fact that I am cheap, I could look at apartments forever. But thankfully, the process cannot go on forever, so I will know where I am living soon.

Afterwards, I drove up to Berkeley in order to have dinner with Stan, and his friend Jean. Afterwards, we were joined by Mike for some Albatross action. I will hand it to Berkeley on this one -- they have one very cool bar.

Today, I hiked to the top of Mission Peak with a bunch of IBM people (my "in" was via Kevin). That being a goodly hike, I was fairly tired afterwards, and just chilled out until it was time to meet Mike and Kevin for dinner. But then, of course, I pulled my "complete bonehead" move for the year, and simultaneously locked myself out of my car and apartment. How? By locking my fucking car keys in the trunk, as I was trying to unload a whole bunch of stuff into there.

Now, I did this right at about 5:45 PM. On a normal day, this wouldn't have been so bad -- I would have just gone to the office, gotten their spare key, gone into my apartment, gotten my spare car key, and ka-blam! Problem solved.

But did it work that way today? Oh hell now. As it turns out, the office closed early -- and by early, I mean that they closed yesterday, and will open again tomorrow. So, I had to page the maintenance guy in order to get the key. I think I'll be paying my apartment $40 tomorrow when I return the spare key.

sigh

I think that I need a keeper. Or at least, a keeper robot.

-Andy.

Me and Chris

So, I've got one more post that I want to make, one which I have been thinking about writing for a few days now (but have been too busy). What with Chris being in town last weekend, and me on this nostalgia kick, I think one of the pictures that I found sums up a lot of our relationship:

In this photo, you see a lot of things. Our "L" room in Storrs, #415. Chris and I at the computer, cracking each other up with something wacky that we did and/or found. I think that you can also see Becky's shoulder, as she leans up against Chris' chair while playing a round of "Tetris Attack!" for my SNES. I think that this was probably taken towards the end of our Sophomore year, but I'm not positive. Those were definitely some good times.

-Andy.

Maynard's hair band

I just want to jot down a few notes about last Sunday's "A Perfect Circle" show, mostly things that differ from the last show that I saw (with Sara). The biggest thing about this show is that I felt that it actually sounded better than the show at the Civic Center. The SJSU Arena is just a box, nothing special, but for some reason, the band sounded better.

I think that in general, they also put on a better show. Maynard mentioned something about them playing their first two shows ever in San Jose, so I think that might have something to do with it. He also mentioned something about Dmitry and Scott, one with 3 testicles, the other with 5 testicles, but I don't know what's up with that...

Of the two songs that I really-wanted-to-hear-but-didn't from last time, I got one of them this time: "Brena". And boy, it was great. I'm still waiting to hear "Gravity" performed live, however. I may have to go and check for some bootlegs later...

The stage setup was the same as the last show -- MJK on a raised stage in the middle, James on the left (also semi-raised), Jordi in between James and MJK on the stage proper, with Billy and Josh Freese on the right side. Although Maynard is in the most prominent position, he was only lit maybe once or twice -- it is literally nearly impossible to see him. He did have a full head of hair though. And a street sign that said "MAYNARD Dr." attached to his microphone stand.

-Andy.

jam-packed

So, I'm really freaking out these days. I had a jam-packed (but damn fun) weekend, consumed by having me good friend Chris in town, and going rafting and to see A Perfect Circle with him. The rafting trip was pretty fun -- exhausting, but fun. Chris and I were joined by Mike, Sheila, Kevin, Kalpana, Koji, and Anjali. Koji has posted some pictures, and Anjali has as well. I would definitely be game to do the rafting thing again.

But before and after Chris was in town, I have been searching for a new apartment like mad. Since I was unable to find a new roommate, I gave the current place my 30 days notice, with the intention of finding a 1 bedroom somewhere.

The full weight of this decision hit upon me when I realized that:

1. It's looking like I'm going to be in Detroit from the 27th - July 2nd (moving day is scheduled for the 26th)


2. I'm going to be super-busy at work next week (in preparation for this Detroit nonsense)


3. And finally, I'm a picky asshole, so it is hard for me to find an apartment that I'll actually spend money on...

It seems like there is some light at the end of the tunnel, however. I saw a place today that I didn't totally hate. I think I'm going to fill out the application tomorrow, which will give me 3 days to keep looking for something better. But if I don't find anything, I will have an acceptable backup. And this means that everything will be decided by Saturday, which is pretty nice to know.

I'm also trying to figure out how my blog is not going to be down for like 2 weeks. With the move followed by the traveling, I doubt that I'll be able to get new Internet service installed. So, I'm going to be sniffing out co-location options in order to keep this thing afloat. Mark and Rushabh, you have been warned...

-Andy.

Storrs Halloween

Unfortunately, my memory is a little fuzzy on this picture. I'm pretty sure it is from one of the Storrs halloween parties that we had. I say pretty sure, because you never know when Steve would be sketching out dead body chalk lines in the hall. I mean, that guy had all kinds of rage goin' on (I kid, I kid...). Nevertheless, I think that this is from my Junior year, and would have been the first Halloween party that we did. The basic idea was that each quad would decorate, and there was some judging, and a winner was declared. Clearly, Steve and Justin's quad thought that implied death was scary:

Me, I think the idea of someone putting down the chalk line before the murder is scary. I mean, that's like Babe Ruth pointing out into left field, 'ya know?

Anyways, I'd be interested whatever else anyone can remember about Storrs Halloween. Post away in the comments section...

-Andy.

A Memorable Memorial Day

I took two days off of work last week, and flew from SFO to Kansas City, MO. My dad was there, attending some sort of conference on like, security or something. Anyways, he picked me up from the airport, and we drove to Lawrence Kansas, where we spent some time with my Aunt Bibi, and her son Skip. That was pretty cool -- I haven't seen Skip in like 12 years, or something.

The next day, my dad and I drove to St. Louis, in order to pay a visit to grandma Vi. This was the more "difficult" part of the trip, and actually the reason why I went out of my way to fly to Kansas City. My dad hadn't been down there to see his mom since Beth died, and since Vi has never been supportive of Beth, I didn't want my dad to have to go down there alone. I'm going to gloss over the details, but the point is that Vi is getting older, and as such she is having a hard time living her life the way that she wants to, which makes her difficult to deal with. It's too bad that they don't actually make a "clue stick".

Anyways, my Dad and Vi are like oil and water these days, so we only spent about 4 hours or so in St. Louis, before we were out of there like rockets. I did a lot of driving -- I got us past Bloomington, before the old bean took over. We got to Wheaton at about 1:00 AM, so we were both pretty tired.

The rest of the weekend was good. Visited Mark and Laura on Sunday, and the whole family got together at Uncle Tom's new place on Monday, before I had to fly out of O'Hare. All in all, it was a good trip. I'm glad that I was able to visit Bibi and Skip, and that I was able to back my dad up with the St. Louis leg of the trip.

-Andy.

As I predicted

My flight has just changed from gate C25 to gate C26. At least I don't have to walk back to concourse B, or anything... :)

-Andy.

(PS -- I tried to post this from the airport, but after about 90 minutes, it seems like the T-Mobile GPRS was out to lunch. Either that, or comcast took a nose dive again...)