Tag Archive for 'Trish'

I’m going to write here even if it kills me

Published on January 19, 2010 in Hobbies and Media. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Okay. I’ve stared at this blog long enough. I never set aside time to specifically write in it, so screw it, I’m writing now. x_x Long overdue anyway.

First up: I’m engaged. Yeah that’s right. You guys have no idea how hard it is to write here over the last few months and try to say something meaningful without talking about the only freaking thing I want to talk about. Here’s how it went down.

So I planned way earlier this year to pop the question. Reason being that we’ve been going out for almost 3 years now, been friends for about 7, and I knew that living together wouldn’t be an issue. Surprise – it’s been awesome. Considering I uprooted this poor girl from everything she knew in Oregon to come live in the Dirty South, I figured I’d better keep her close and let her know that I’m serious about us. :)

With my job from over the summer, I had more than enough money to get a ring. The original plan was to go to Walt Disney World, be at the World Showcase Lagoon on New Year’s Eve, wait for the kiss at the new year and, amidst the fireworks, ask on a bended knee. The only way I could pull this off (and afford this), though, was bringing friends – preferably a couple. Kiki and Patches, ok.

Yeah, that didn’t work out for obvious reasons. And of course I don’t blame either of them. So, new plan – owaitwheredidtheymoneygo. New Macbook was needed. Crapcrap.

The my monetary savior came in the form of a Marta bus. A bump to my car inflated my bank account by almost $800, and I was back in the game. A call to my aunt, and I had a ring. More on that later. Now how do I propose?

Well, I still wanted New Year’s Eve. Tricia is addicted to food, so I had to bring her out for dinner. Then what? Began to go through ideas online… and then it hit me. Online. We met online, we cultured our relationship online, and I am an online freak. Why not draw upon that? I love to share funny videos off of Youtube. I had my answer. Make a video! Rather than try to describe it, I’ll share it:

Tada. :) So obvious, I have a moment there to present the ring. And here it is:

And for some more pictures, click on these links.

Now for why I called my wonderful aunt. She has connections and really knows this stuff. Through her and her expertise, I ended up purchasing this ring. White gold, with a .47 carat centerpiece diamond, 2 sapphires, and a slew of smaller diamonds, this ring is over 1 carat, yet I paid $1050, tax included. But. My aunt, being as smart as she is, bought it at the New York Diamond Exchange for wholesale. The ring itself is appraised for $1700, and I’m told such a ring would sell here in Atlanta for about $3000. I’m pleased. :)

Oh, and she said yes. Hyperventilating and excited, after a great meal at Stonecrest Steakhouse in Augusta, resting at home alongside me on the sofa, Tricia said yes. And best of all, she had no idea. :)

Well! I’ve babbled on enough about romance stuff. In the last month, my Xbox red-ringed and was returned yesterday, much to the pleasure of my brother and I (Modern Warfare 2 ahoy!), and I’ve been played far too much Maplestory with my friends, see? Yep. I’ve reformatted Tricia’s Macbook so it will run better, and I got a 3.75 GPA last semester.

Life has been pretty good.

And I’m done for now. Perhaps I’ll write later about stuff that everyone else hasn’t seen already. XD

a friend in need is a friend indeed, a friend with weed is better

Published on October 2, 2009 in Hobbies and Media. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

…Pay no mind to the title, simply a lyric from Placebo’s “Pure Morning” from their debut album “Without You I’m Nothing”. Picked it up last night from iTunes, and I’m enjoying it so far.

A number of times I load my blog and contemplate what to say. A number less I close it with far more work ahead of me. These past few weeks have been exactly that. What with Tricia moving in, fraternal obligations, but mostly class and project obligations… I’m been a busy fish. Working on a sonification project for Interactive Narrative/Fiction, our UI Design project, and just finished our Shakespeare Star Wars mashup, which I’d like to share here.

And opinions are more than welcome, either commented here or on the actual YouTube. :) I’m pleased with the outcome, especially Yoda’s bits and the Viceroy’s bits. :P

So I’m now sitting in UI Design and my weekend plans have been canceled. I’m okay with it – I understand why. I think I’ll end up sleeping when I get back to the apartment, but I’m unsure. I don’t know what else I can do – I’m actually more interested in doing nothing this weekend. :P

And suddenly it smells strongly of cut grass in here. Not the good kind of smell either, though I’ve never been a fan of the scent, but the sweaty gardener cut grass smell, and I’m getting a headache from this crap. I’ve actually been paying attention in this class now, but there’s only 10 minutes left. Maybe my next paragraph will be for the next class, but I feel like wrapping this up sooner than later.

I want, badly, some money. More and more often I find myself pining after something I can’t have, even though I would really like it. Even though I have the money for it, too, I can’t bring myself to buy it… like that Canon T1i. So… an alumnus emailed the fraternity with a job opening for a data entry specialist, and I emailed back my resume. 15 hours a week at $10 an hour? I hope they are okay with me. I’d love some spending money. I would buy that Canon T1i so fast. And… save for lenses. Like a Telephoto Zoom lense… or a tilt-shift lense. I had never seen or heard of tilt-shift before seeing this video last night. I am now fascinated with this, as this video is beautiful and perplexing at the same time.

This is Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Yes. The actual thing. The lense changes perspective so strongly you think you’re looking at a miniature model. I. Want. To. Do. This. x.x Also, the music is so soothing.

Not to mention a plethora of other little doodads I could use, like an external harddrive or a new router. I just ordered a new thumbdrive from Amazon that’s the same size and shape as a key, so it will fit with my keychain a lot easier. Y’know, stuff like that. >.>

Let’s see where things go, right?

Life is a strange thing

Published on September 9, 2009 in Media and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Tricia arrived safe and sound Saturday evening when her flight landed a few minutes earlier than scheduled. I picked her up from the airport as soon as she landed, and we went to Taco Mac for burgers and beers and slept soundly that night.

Giving a slight synopsis here, the weekend was pretty pleasant, what with visiting Augusta for my grandmother’s birthday, but there was a slight hiccup with my car that delayed our return Monday and cost quite a few bills to fix. =/ Such is life.

Last night was pretty… awful. After a relatively okay day, I got home to work on a paper that never seemed to end. Then I got the news that an old friend from TaeKwonDo, Conor Waters, a man who was a mere 7 years older than myself and whom I sparred with consistently back in the day, had… somehow passed away. It struck me pretty solidly – I had only spoken with him last about mid-summer when I ran into him at his job at the PeachMac Store in Augusta, and only Monday afternoon did I run across his business card in my wallet and I said “I should give that guy a call and see if we can play on Xbox Live”. I wish I had called, now. I’ll never get to do that. It’s a sobering, depressing thought. RIP, Conor, you’ll be sorely missed.

It could be that or because I am running off of 4 hours sleep (hardly enough), but I just feel strange and awful. I do not want anything to do with my next classes at all. I want to go home, sleep, play some Animal Crossing, and I don’t want to go to the Phi Kap meeting later tonight. Yuck.

Speaking of Animal Crossing, if anyone appreciates a very dark yet comedic satire based on Animal Crossing, you need to read The Terrible Secret of Animal Crossing. This is a dark, chilling tale. I. Love. It.

I don’t have much more to say right now. I feel pretty listless. Perhaps I’ll have more later. I’m looking forward to listening to some Beatles later and following the news of Apple’s “It’s Only Rock and Roll” Media Event today. Anyway, toodles.

aardvarks and apologies

Published on September 4, 2009 in Hobbies and Media. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Fish here, writing for the first time in forever ago. Reason being is that school has started, and I was a busy fellow running and coordinating Rush for my fraternity, beginning classes, juggling a budding social life, rising from the ashes of said social life’s death last spring when I left for the summer. I am pleased to be back in Atlanta, even if it means dealing with some of the difficulties (traffic, homeless, idiots, etc). It’s good to be back.

Another thing one may notice is that I’ve replaced the blog. I had to update my Wordpress installation, which borked itself and I had to restart from scratch. I’m surprised and amazed I remembered HOW to even do it. As a result, though, things may take a bit of tweaking for a few days, but I’m overall very pleased with the new Wordpress (I upgraded from 2.5.1 to the current 2.8.4, so there was a LOT of newness in here for me).

I’m currently sitting in my Shakespeare course watching Morpheus Laurence Fishburne play Othello on the DVD my professor is showing. These stories are always so tragic. =/ This is just one of several classes I’m rather enjoying this semester – I’m taking a course in Interactive Narrative and Fiction, another in Constructing the Moving Image, another in User Interface Design, and another in Ethics in Computing. Very good semester, and all things I’m interested in. :)

My apartment is quite nice and comfortable, but needs a bit more decoration and furniture. I guess that’s why Tricia’s moving in (TOMORROW!) to take care of that sort of thing for me. ;D She’ll enjoy it, and I’m looking so forward to finally having her here – words cannot do my feelings justice.

So I can’t remember if I actually wrote about my new Macbook Pro that I love so very very much. Everything about this magnificent machine is to my exact desires – a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GBs of DDR3 RAM, and a 320GB HDD for starters. I JUST purchased Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard for only a mere $29 a week ago today, and I’ve seen some significant improvements in the realm of how this computer runs and handles itself. I’m quite pleased overall. I’m now waiting for two dates for Apple-related excitement: September 9th is Apple’s standard media event for the refresh of their iPod line (here is where they typically release a new version of iTunes, hoping for some sweet improvements… maybe 64-bit?), and September 25th, when AT&T finally stopstries to stop failing so fucking hard and grants iPhone owners the ability to MMS-text message pictures for those not in the know. I have some sweet programs for my Mac now too – Things for Mac (and subsequently, Things for iPhone) have made task management and keeping up with things so. much. easier. for me. I’m kinda in love with being able to take a quick glance and see everything that’s due of me. ^_^ I’ve also obtained Adobe’s CS4 Master Collection, which is fantastic for the programs and talents expected of me in my major here at Georgia Tech. Photoshop and Flash will more than likely prove to be far more useful than anything else I can possibly have. I’ve also installed Aperture 2 for my Mac, in preparation for the DSLR I plan to get – Aperture 2 is a photo management and RAW image handler developed and sold by Apple, and it should work wonderfully for my needs. :)

But yes! A DSLR – specifically, the Canon EOS 500D (otherwise known as the Digital Rebel T1i), a fantastic 15 megapixel DSLR camera that also does HD video and has Live View, two neat knick-knacks for a DSLR. Every review I’ve read says this camera is best in its price class and seems perfect for my desires and hobbies. I can’t wait to purchase this camera and develop my photography skills, but I want to sell my current camera before I run off and buy this thing… and I need to find a buyer. Anyone who is interested and reading this, hit me up, PLEASE. :P

I wanted to say more than simply facts or… almost sales-pitchy things in this post, but I suppose I have to get all that out of the way before I go on with other things. I guess those thoughts will come later today though – class is almost over and I should wrap this up. :P So, until later…!

“Welcome to your Mac.”

Published on July 4, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Photobucket

… So yeah, I finally ordered it. Brand new 13″ MacBook Pro 2.53GHz, 4GB DDR3, and 320GB HD. I’m fairly excited. Also, I got a free 8GB iPod Touch out of the deal and I ordered MobileMe (mostly for the Find My iPhone feature) at a discount, not to mention opted to have iWork ‘09 preinstalled (no more MS Office for meeeee).

Funny enough, each of those three things (MBP, MobileMe, iPod Touch) are all being shipped separately, but all should be arriving within this coming week. Which is good, considering I have a lot I need to do this next week, too. A week from today is when my brother and I are going to be signing for our new apartment in Atlanta at the Post Renaissance. We’re getting a 2 bedroom/2 bath place, and we have a bit of work to do in making sure everything is squared away. No cable TV for us, to begin with – I don’t feel like paying for the Comcastic rape that is their TV charges. Yuck. But we need to set up utilities and the like before moving in, including connection dates and everything. Then the actual “moving” portion, which will suck. But, nevertheless, I’m looking very forward to it.

Tricia bought a plane ticket, too, for September 6th. One way, and then she’s stuck here. ;) Looking forward to receiving her at the airport for hopefully the final time.

Well… I need to be going. Will be writing sometime soon again.

I’ll leave you with my favorite MJ performance. Sucks that he’s dead.

Regarding my girlfriend’s Facebook account

Published on June 8, 2009 in Rants. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

(Note: I’ve updated this. – Fish)

To whom it may concern:

My name is Clint, and I’m emailing regarding my girlfriend’s account. Before you immediate write this email off as “We cannot correspond with you because this is not the email of the disabled account”, continue reading.

Her account was disabled April 17th, 2009.

For the mathematically challenged, that’s 52 days ago.

Here’s the kicker – you didn’t even tell her why. Not a word, not even a hint, or a -wink wink nudge nudge-.

Instead, when she emailed that same day regarding the matter she was merely greeted with a stale, carbon copy response from a anonymous entity “The Facebook Team”, offering an empty-handed promise of “We should get back to you soon.” Ha. Ha ha.

Fast forward to a week ago, when she, again, emailed from the same (correct) address (for records sake, the date on the email is May 31st, 2009), offering yet another appeal for information and a bid at having her erroneously disabled (but I’ll get to that in a moment) account revived. Perhaps, one might assume, that 6 weeks might constitute as ’soon’ in whatever fictional Mickey Mouse world Facebook seems to be operating within. Mind you, as Facebook has been around for 5 years, 6 weeks is roughly 1/50th of that time-span. Likewise, when I think of ’soon’, I too think of 1/50th of my lifespan – which is 5 months. This ratio tends to serve me well in life – for instance, that term paper due ’soon’? 5 months from now. You see where I’m headed here.

You can only guess what response her second email garnered. If you guessed “stale, carbon copy response from an anonymous entity offering an empty-handed promise (again) of ‘We should get back to you soon’”, well, you get a cookie.

After all, a cookie is more than my girlfriend has got. You know, as opposed to an explanation for the defamation of her character you’ve caused in revoking everything to do with her and her account in the blink of an eye over 6 weeks ago, leaving family, friends, and co-workers to merely question the same thing my girlfriend has every day for 6 weeks – “what did I do wrong?” At this point, one can only ascertain that Facebook’s ideal outward appearance of customer service and satisfaction consists of sticking one’s index fingers in their ears and saying “Lalala, I can’t hear you!”

Let’s see. As per the website directed to her upon a fruitless login, we have the following potential pitfalls for why her account was disabled:

1: Registration with fake names or impersonation: I think I would know if this were the case.
2: Unsolicited messages or harassing messages to people they don’t know, or posts advertising a product or service: Again, I think I would know if this were the case. After all, I’ve only been seeing her for upwards of 3 years.
3: Code of Conduct breach concerning graphic or otherwise sexual posts: I think I would DEFINITELY know about this, thank you very much.

My noticeable omission here is the “violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service”, which is quite vast and itemizations of each potential infraction is, frankly, a waste of my time as as well as yours, whoever ends up reading this email.

If it ends up being read at all.

I’m willing to bet I’ll simply receive an email stating that I’m not emailing this from the correct address, and her account will further slip into the abyss of “Facebook’s victims of draconian law stating we can do whatever we want as we have no public shareholders to appeal to”.

So prove me wrong, Facebook. Send her, or I, an email regarding why, specifically, her account was disabled, and when, specifically, her account can and WILL be reactivated. Hope to see that stale, carbon copy email soon (i.e. See you in 6 weeks).

Begrudgingly,
-Clint

**Author’s note: Yes, I did email this to Facebook, with the exception that the title of the entry is the title of the email, yet the email listed her email address instead of “my girlfriend”.

EDIT WITH UPDATES: I got back two emails:

Hi,

The Facebook Team has received your inquiry. We should get back to you soon. In the meantime, we encourage you to review our Terms of Use (http://www.facebook.com/terms.php) for more information.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,

The Facebook Team

And:

Hi,

The email address from which are writing is not associated with a Facebook account. We will not be able to assist you with your request until you respond from the email address that you use to log in to your account.

When you respond, be sure to write your login email address in the subject line and include all of our previous correspondence so that we can refer to your original inquiry.

If you are unable to access your login email address, please visit http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=746

Thanks,

The Facebook Team

Then, today, Tricia got a response from Facebook stating that, yes, her account had indeed been disabled in error and apologized and restored her profile.

I’m the FUCKIN’ man. :D My email did the trick, and I’m QUITE happy.

I’m not sick, but I’m not well

Published on August 31, 2008 in Hobbies. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

So here I am, at home on Labor Day weekend. Two weeks into classes, and they’re going rather well.

I’m all moved in to Phi Kap, too. I’m pleased with my room and how it turned out. The room I ended up getting was not really on my list of potentials, but all the same I’m very glad I got it – it’s a fantastic room and location. I’m hoping I can keep it clean all year, and that it’ll continue to be fun to have people in and play games and the like (people come and hang out nd play games and watch movies and I like it). Work week was fun – we refloored almost every bedroom in the house with laminate hardwood. Next task is to finish those rooms and hopefully new locks will come soon. Kinda want those before Tricia comes.

She’ll be here in just shy of 2 weeks. It’s gonna be loads of fun, too. Not too many planned out things, so I hope the days are relaxing, yknow? We’ve mentioned the Aquarium again, the Zoo, Dantes for food… but not much else. Hopefully some downtime for movies and hanging out with friends and stuff. I can hardly wait. :3

Sorry I’ve not been posting much recently (or over the summer, too.) I’ve been busy and also a bit out of it recently. I’m hoping when Tricia comes this funk goes away.

I’ve been considering purchasing a Blu-Ray player. Since the PS3 is the best at it, and it’s about the same price as every other Blu-Ray player out there… and it does far more… It’s been my focus of interest. I might pick one up either today or tomorrow with a movie. *shrugs* EDIT: I’m going to wait for Christmas.

I don’t have anything else to say, really. Take care and I hope I can talk to some of ya soon.