Archive for the 'Hobbies' Category

Please hold; your call is important to us

It’s been a while since I’ve really had a solid chance to update. Quite a lot has happened, too. Where do I begin…

My multicolored bear, Ali.

This is Ali. A few weeks ago, Tricia’s coworker invited us out to join her and her boyfriend on a bit of a double-date night. Her roommate joined in, and the 5 of us ate at Hooters (deep fried pickles FTW) and found ourselves at our original destination for the evening: Dave and Buster’s. I’d never been before, and if you haven’t, imagine a large arcade with an adjoining bar, billiards room, restaurant, the works. We were only there for the arcade, and after paying for a swipe card (the entire establishment works on swipe cards – swipe to play, tickets are stored there, etc), we were off.

Inevitably, I found myself at a claw machine. I figured “what the heck, I’ll try”. I’d never won before, despite having tried my luck many times in the past. I swiped my card, went for a strategic target, and pressed the button. Lo and behold, the claw actually grabbed this bear. I’m STILL surprised. First try at D&B, and I had it. That’s the furthest extent my luck may ever reach regarding those machines, too.

…We have a kitten now! Here’s the story: Tricia, my younger brother, and I all live and share an apartment together. We’ve wanted a pet for a while now, and had pretty much decided upon a cat, probably adopted from a shelter. About four weeks ago, along comes a friend of mine messaging me up online. A friend of a friend of hers works at a veterinary clinic in mid-GA, where they had gotten in a 4-week old black kitten, abandoned by the mother-cat and attacked by a dog. The vet took her in, but absolutely could not keep her, as the vet herself had 2 young children and a host of other territorial pets already. My friend advised us to contact the vet and get more information.

After an exchange of calls and info, we learned this kitten was completely healthy – negative on kitty leukemia and kitty AIDS, no worms or fleas, etc. The vet began her on vaccines and other prevention shots, and was taking care of her. She said, if we wanted, we could have her completely free (medical treatment/papers and all) in two weeks, as she was underweight and still needed eyedrops and anti-bacterials as a result of the dog attack.

Two weeks later, we drove out there and got ourselves a six-week old, pound-and-a-half black kitten. The vet was even kind enough to give us a bag of Iams for her – a saint, this woman is. For my brother and myself, it’s our first pet that’s not in a glass tank. XD She’s the most adventurous kitten – within 20 minutes of getting her home (from an hour ride on the highway in a box, no less), we had her playing with her toys, and within another 20 minutes we had her purring up a storm (like an old computer doing its damnedest to load a huge Geocities page). She eats and drinks and poops like a machine, and jumps on EVERYTHING. She seems to enjoy sleeping with us in bed, jumping on us at 8AM sharp, running around and attacking everything and anything, using my shoes and messenger bag as scratching posts, and hiding in her cube house.

Anyway, her name is Ella, named after Ella Fitzgerald. Have some pictures and YouTubes. (Click the pictures for bigger versions!)


She did surprisingly well with our move. Oh, yeah, we moved. On June 8th, we moved to another apartment in our complex – an upgrade move, 2 bedrooms to 3 bedrooms, since my brother’s girlfriend will be joining us in August. That day was exhausting; 12 solid hours of moving all my crap into a new place. However, I did get to take a pretty neat shot of the old place before we moved, so I may as well share it here now.

Drag around! It’s nifty, I think. :P Soon I’ll attempt this with the new place, but it’s a weird layout that I don’t think will work too well with this sort of technology.

Other events in my life surround Apple. No surprises there, for anyone that knows me well enough. I applied for a position as a Specialist (floor retail) at the Lenox Mall Apple Store, while simultaneously being referred to the position by a friend working at the Augusta Mall Apple Store. I got a email requesting a phone interview in the following days, and I must have done well enough on the phone interview to warrant an in-person interview at the store itself. At this point, my friends intervened and to make a long story short, I now have 10 less inches of hair, a goatee, and I rather like the new style. Pictures to come, but not yet.

Unfortunately, I was turned down for the position at the Apple Store in Lenox Mall, and I’ll attribute that to having never worked retail before. Alas. I politely responded asking about perhaps a position at the Perimeter Mall Apple Store, so here’s hoping. :)

The other Apple event in my life is my iPhone 4 preorder. I’m fairly excited; it’s been a while since I had a new iPhone, and this one has the works: new design I love, way better screen, the new iOS 4, front facing camera (videochat!), better rear camera with flash and 720P video recording… And I was lucky enough to secure a preorder slot before they were shut down. I’m expecting the phone to arrive via FedEx on the 24th, launch day. Let’s hope everything works out!

My fingers are tired, and so am I. Goodnight, all!

Short update

First, a clever and very well constructed commercial:

I finished off the semester. It was a rough one. I don’t have all my grades in yet, but two B’s are for certain. I’m hoping the other two are an A and B, and I’m satisfied with that. Although, I have to admit it does feel weird to see Facebook statuses and updates regarding graduation of some of my peers today. I mean, congrats to them – it’s a big deal and definitely something to be proud about, given how many of my peers dropped out or never quite achieved their goals. I know Georgia Tech is generally regarded as being finished in five years, so four and a half years is fantastic (or so I’m told). And I know a degree from Georgia Tech is a great asset. Given that, I can’t wait for December – I hope to have my class ring by then, too.

… Nobody wants to here me complain. Have a commercial for Shoedini with a guest star:

Today I played bass with my brother and his singer Chad. Very fun – I’m getting better at the instrument, and I’m having a damn fun time doing it. Speaking of hobbies, I took Tricia to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and took a TON of pictures of flowers and the such. I’m still editing them, but I’m hoping to have some of my best and favorites online soon. ^_^

This summer should be fun. I only have 9 hours of classes signed up, and I have friends in two of those three classes. Otherwise, I’m hoping for either a position at Apple Store or GTRI, thanks to some friends. And in my spare time, my brother, Tricia, some friends and myself are hoping to get in some valuable beach time, perhaps at Jekyll Island or Key West. Not to mention, Tricia’s grandmother is a generous woman and is sponsoring tickets for Tricia and myself to visit Oregon again, and meet more of Tricia’s extended family. It’ll be my first trip there in the summertime, and my first time traveling by plane with Tricia. I can’t wait.

I’m having trouble focusing right now. Could be because I’m tired – Again, hopefully I’ll update soon with pictures and such. Take care, all. I’ll leave you with a short video (I like videos) of either the greatest or worst idea I’ve ever seen:

I am very glad, because I’m finally returning back home (Trololo)

Um. Hi again. ‘Tis Fish. Yeah, I’ve been AWOL an unacceptably long length of time this…. time.

(A cookie for the reference! Or not, because I love to share.)

But I’m posting now, so that’s enough, right? RIGHT? Probably not. Either way, I’ve been busy trying to maintain a nice GPA and stay on top of my schoolwork. It’s a bit of a task, but soon it will all be worth it. Friday morning my time ticket for registration opened up, and at precisely (well, just about) 8:15:01AM (just a rough estimate) I had both my Summer and Fall schedules lined up for Georgia Tech. And, assuming I do well, they will be my last as well.

And that’s scary. Yet… comforting, and even exciting to consider, really. I’m taking some fascinating-sounding classes, from History of the Vietnam War, to Video Production, to Performance Studies: Music as Performance. So here’s to some fun things in the near future, I imagine.

Which reminds me that I simply must order a class ring sometime soon. My mother promised me as a junior in high school that a high school class ring is meaningless compared to a college class ring, and instead of buying me the high school one, she’d buy me a college one. Looking back, I remember I was ticked off, but I can honestly say that, now, I’d feel silly with a dinky ring that said “Evans High School“. Especially when I mentally compare it to the impressive “Georgia Institute of Technology” class ring. The past four years here have been fantastic, life-changing, and glorious – I can feel totally justified wearing this class ring.

GA Tech Class Ring!

And that the $700 ring isn’t coming from MY pocket, it’s even better…! ;)

I haven’t been up to as much as I’d have liked in the past month. I’ve been tweeting, as you can see in the sidebar, and I’ve added a mobile version of my blog that’s usable with iPhones, if anyone feels so compelled to follow stalk me from their phone on the go. You know who you are, you creepers. But… do try it – it’s pretty spiffy!

Recent happenings… I’ve played with an iPad today. I’m eagerly anticipating the forthcoming release of the Steam gaming platform on the Mac OS X operating system. I’ve been toying with ChatRoulette, avoiding as much penis as I can, while playing with ideas such as streaming ‘The Brave Little Toaster‘, and going as far as impersonating Jesus. I used Lenox Mall’s MyAkoo service to RickRoll the mall on multiple occasions. I went to Nashville with several fraternity brothers and our respective ladies.

And, I’ve terrorized the internet with this video, and its multiple reincarnations and hilarious parodies:

I’ve also begun to follow a fantastic website by the name of The Daily What, and I truly enjoy most of their postings and crazy videos. An example or two:


(Watch the Tiger-man in the background to the left, obviously.)

PACMAN: THE MOVIE TRAILER from Therefore Productions on Vimeo.

About the iPad, for a moment. Using it was surprisingly pleasant. It’s a substantial weight, so it doesn’t feel like I’m holding a flimsy piece of shit, and it’s highly responsive to touch and motion, so, for once, I can honestly say it reacts just like it looks in the commercials. While I loved using it, I won’t be getting one. I’m a bit poor at the moment, and I’m saving for a new iPhone when it comes out this summer. The rumors now say it may be named ‘iPhone HD’, based off the notion that it will have double the pixel dimensions (so mathematically 4x pixel count, double resolution), and will be assembled utilizing the Apple A4 chip the iPad runs off of. My iPhone 3G would go to Tricia, and we’d both be happier, lol.

And… for now, I suppose, that’s it. I’m pretty tired and I feel like chatting before falling asleep, so I’m going to wrap this up for now before I begin to link to each and every YouTube video I’ve favorited in the past three months. XD

Cheers, kids.