Four Shy

I am 4 posts away from equaling the same amount of posts I've written in my first Blogger blog. My first post on that blog was written 7/6/2000, it was a reminder that I shot a 48 in the league and that Danilo was here for shore leave before heading to Norfolk, VA. That seemed like a long time ago but it also doesn't seem that long ago either. My first blog that I called inconsequential ramblings lasted for a year and 6 days. I guess, I don't talk as much as I did then.

The Switch

I just finished upgrading my router with DD-WRT SP2. I have been running v23 for over a year without any issues. I just Nishanth-ed my router but it's all good. I am thinking about actually going bleeding edge and try out v24 beta. The reason for actually paying attention to my router is because in a couple of days, I am switching to AT&T DSL from Charter cable modem. I am planning to use VOIP and based from Chin's comment QoS is needed. I cannot wait to start playing around.

Walking

I am the last person to comment on how people walk but I noticed that there are a lot of women that do not know how to walk with heels. The same women insisting on wearing heels. They look like they've just let their significant other do them in the pooper.

Playing Naruto on the Mac

I had downloaded the codec for playing Naruto on the previous set up of my Mac. I cannot seem to find the right one for playing XVID files. I just downloaded VLC Media Player instead. It works on all files that I've tried.

Sabado

Nohemi and I just got back from the movies. We went to see Pan's Labyrinth at the movie theater downtown. This has been the most number of times that Nohemi and I have driven into town in a while. I like the feel of going there instead of Crossroads and Kalamazoo 10.

This afternoon, I went to Chris' new place for a bit of wiring action. He bought a Wii from Target in West Main and it's a lot of fun. I played the boxing game a lot.

My VOIP setup at home

I switched my broadband from Charter Communications to AT&T. Here's why:

3MB at Charter is $55 a month
3MB at AT&T DSL is $25 a month

I am also planning to join the bandwagon... I am going to set up a Trixbox at home. I am going to use a Sipura SPA-3000 because it has POTS, FXO and FXO ports. I am going to use VOIPBuster as my SIP provider. I am also keeping my POTS line from AT&T because I do not have 100% trust in VOIP service.

I played around this afternoon at work and set up what I had envisioned. It's fully functional. I can place calls to Spain (landline) for free. Calls in the U.S. is also for free.

Getting Things Done

I have been listening to the 43 folders podcast, specifically the Productive Talk series with David Allen. I think, I am going to buy his book.

iPod Mod

Tom was talking about a place around Kalamazoo called iPod Mod. He went there because his wife's iPod's battery only lasted an hour (it's a 3rd gen, you do the math... "Math is hard"). They sell iPod replacement batteries for $50 with a lifetime guarantee.

You PC TV

I am wondering how long this will last until the RIAA & MPAA lawyers kill it.

Unnecessary Rebuild

There is absolutely no reason to do it but I am rebuilding my Mac. It works perfectly, it's set up exactly the way I like it but I am going to blast it any way. Out of the box, it worked wonderfully but I feel like I have been too complacent. I feel like everything is working too good.

Rave Motion Pictures Cityplace 14

Nohemi and I watched The Good Shepherd last night at the new movie theater downtown (Rave Motion Pictures Cityplace 14). It's nice that they've put up a movie theater downtown. I hope that they try to revitalize downtown more in the future. It's nice to be able to walk around the city and have things to do and looks at. Beats walking around a mall.

My Favorite Extension

In Firefox, my favorite extension so far is Adblock Filterset.G Updater.

Te Jota was h4xx0rd

This via email from Tom

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- TJX Cos., operator of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls discount stores, said Wednesday its computer systems were hacked late last year and customer data has been stolen.

The company said the full extent of the intrusion is not yet known, but it is conducting a full investigation.

The hackers broke into a system that handles credit and debit card transactions, as well as checks and merchandise returns for customers in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and may also involve customers of T.J. Maxx stores in the U.K. and Ireland.

The break-in was discovered in mid-December, but was kept confidential upon the request of law enforcement officials.

TJX said it has hired General Dynamics Corp. and IBM Corp. to upgrade its security system.

Nohemi and I were just there last night.

Rewards

In the process of cleaning my cubicle, I found a card given to me by HR for my 5 year anniversary. It was dated 2003. I claimed my promo goods which added up to 4 golf shirts and a tie. Yay for cleanliness!

We've recently had an ice storm pass through that knocked out a few semaphores. When a semaphore is out, the intersection must be treated as a 4-way stop. A lot of people seem to not know this fact.

Organized

 I had my mind set on being more organized with everything. My new tool at work is Microsoft Outlook 2007 with its tasks, categories and follow up flags. I also wanted to set up my work environment as uncluttered as possible. So today, I spent six hours gutting my desk and setting it up the way I wanted to work.

Empty.


The new spread.

New movie theater in Kalamazoo

New movie theater in Kalamazoo, originally uploaded by hywell.

I heard nothing about this new theater in downtown Kalamazoo. I was surprised to see its schedule in Google. It's neat to have another theater to choose from in town. Too bad we don't have any theaters showing indy flicks or anything interesting.

IT Repository

While I was gone, my cubicle at work became the departmental depot. A lot of junk had piled up in the past 4 weeks. Today, I going to clean my desk and function in a more organized fashion. Along with the not getting pissed off or letting people irritate me, the working in an organized manner is my other new year's resolution. So far, I have managed to remove 2 monitors, a computer and a laser printer. It's work in progress.

My new phone

My new phone, originally uploaded by hywell.

I switched from the BlackBerry 8700 to the BlackBerry Pearl. It's a cute & pretty phone.

I Is So Sleepy

It's 9 o'clock in the evening in Kalamazoo and I am so close to passing out from exhaustion. I am trying to stay awake as long as possible. Nohemi and I are back from our trip to Spain.

Waking Up

Tomorrow, Nohemi and I are heading back to Kalamazoo. We need to catch a taxi at 6:30AM for a flight to Madrid at 8:10. We leave Madrid at noon (GMT+1) and arrive Chicago at 2 o´clock in the afternoon (GMT-6). We then need to rent a car then drive to Kalamazoo.

I am sad.

Making Sheep

Today, we went to IKEA to buy stuff for Esther. They had a couple of set ups of flats that were 31 & 46 sq. meters. The layout is well done with room for storage.

After we headed to a town called Orient. It's a really small and picturesque town but we encountered issues. The main road was under construction and couldn´t go through. After several attempts to go through the town of Bunyola (place that had the road construction) we decided to go a different route. We managed to get close to the town using the alternate route but! When we were close to Orient the road became private and we could only go through walking. So we turned around and headed back to Palma.

Fava Bean

During the Three Kings day it is traditional to eat a pastry called roscon de reyes. Hidden inside the cake is a figurine of a king and a fava bean. The tradition is that the person who gets the slice with the king figurine that person is the king for the day. The person that gets the fava bean has to buy the cake following year. Last year, Nohemi got the king and Esther the fava bean. This year, Nohemi got the king again and I got the fava bean. Nohemi has been lucky for 4 years straight now.

Día de Reyes

Last night, we had dinner and opened gifts. Today, there'll be a parade where the Three Kings go around the barrios. We heard the fireworks that signals that the Three Kings have left their house.

Noche de Reyes

Nohemi, Katti and I went to plaza de la reina to see the Three Kings. They throw candy to the crowd of kids and it was a lot of fun. We were really close to the road so we were able to grab lots of candy. I'll post some pictures later.

Right now, we are waiting for Katti's parents before having dinner. Dinner is at Esther's place. She prepared all the food while we were out playing. Pobrecita.

Update:
I've added some pictures of the parade. There were a bunch of little kids sitting on their parent's shoulders to see. Watching their excitement was great. The other kids were sitting on the curb waiting for candies.

Early Morning Racket

The cleaning of the Esther's building's facade started a few days ago. Today, however, they're working on Esther's floor. They started at 8 o'clock with the dentist drill sound, accompanied with hammering. By 9 o'clock, Juan, who slept over, got out of bed and he woke me up. Nohemi explained the whole guy working-in-construction work hours. They start at 8, have breakfast at 9:30-10:00, stop at 1 for lunch and start again at 3 then go home at 5. In addition, the whole one person works and the rest look rule applies too. They took almost two week to erect the scaffold. This whole cleaning/fixing of balconies process should end by August. I am not complaining but expressing my admiration.

Moral of the story? Ulcers hurt.

Excursion

Today, we went to the eastern part of Mallorca. We were going to initially take the train but the skies were a bit cludy and we were afraid that it would rain. It's fine for us but we didn't want to get abuelo rained on. He's 93 years old. I posted some pics on Flickr of the trip.


Juan and Apo came over for dinner. Juan wanted to eat curry so I made some. I was talking to Sanjay while I was making the curry and the sauce all evaporated. Overall, I think, it was good.

Post #268

I have used Blogger in the past. My very first blog with Blogger lasted over a year and had 297 posts. I had issues with Blogger then and decided to leave. I used GreyMatter for a while then switched to something that my ISP had already set up. After that, I used WordPress for also about a year. I had also used LiveJournal but never posted anything. To come and think of it, I am a fairly prolific blogger. I hope that this revision of my blog lasts longer than the others. Why mention it now? I don´t really know, it´s something that I just noticed.

P.S.
I just noticed that Travis already ranted after only two days back from Christmas break. I must last longer than two days... I will not stress over people at work is my new year's resolution. They can have the flaws that they have, in their personality, but I will not let it affect me. They can escalate things, go over my head, or pressure and irritate me to their heart's content but no, it will not bother me. If it does, I need to look for another job.

Dinner with Apo & Juan

We had dinner at Apolonia's house after picking up Juan from soccer practice. We had lamb and played ping-pong.

Cleaning and Repair

They're cleaning Esther's building and to mask the work plus to protect the people walking they cover the building with netting.

Angel's Place

We just got back from dinner at Angel's place in Inca.

Back To Work

Today, people all over are going back to work. Kids are heading back to school too, I think. This morning, Nohemi's mom went to the dentist. We are going to the eye glass place to find Nohemi new frames. After, we're going to have more of Esther's pictures framed.

On Thursday, we're heading to Manacor by train with abuelo. Manacor is where Rafa Nadal is from and is the end of the line for the train. It's a town away from Petra, the center of the universe. It should be fun.

Yesterday, Esther and I went to San Agustin to grab a trunk. It is now serving as her coffee table. I was amazed at the way I was able to park the car in both places with ease.

Today's objective is to just take pictures.

Cleaning

Nohemi and Esther (me too) cleaned this morning. It was a lot of cleaning.

We're going to San Agustin this morning to pick up some things for Esther's place. Neus will be heading back to Barcelona today too. People have to go back to work tomorrow. I am glad that I have one more week to relax.