Matt put on an amazing show. He sounds as good live as he does on CD if not better which really speaks to his talent and ability. Not to mention, he had some pretty funny between song banter including a bit about he was crazy, and a few brief Lord of the Rings songs based on the sexual tension between the characters in the movie. Impressive. Worth doing, and I deffinitely want to do it again.
So I FINALLY got around to turning in my application and everything. Little did I realize, I had to tender my birth certificate temporarily – right before going to Canada for a concert.
So I had to rush order a new birth certificate so I could actually see the concert, but it was worth it. The passport showed up a little faster than I expected too – they said 6-8 weeks, it probably took closer to 3 or 4. I had heard rumors about them being totally backlogged, but was pleasently surprised.
Passed my first test. I’m now MCP certified. I’m looking to go the security route, and hoping to get to MCSA at the very least before the full roll-out of the 2008 certifications.
He’s touring right now! So if you’re in the… Canada… area, now’s your chance. I’ve got my tickets for the Sarnia show in October.
I now want to move to Kalamazoo just to be closer to the brewery. My roommate surprised me and said “Hey, wanna drive clear across the state today to visit the place where your favorite beer is born?”
How could I say no to that? Not to mention, they had some amazing homemade salsa and spinach artichoke dip. So all in all, I got to drink some awesome beers, have some great food, and really relax.
Now that the weather here is starting to warm up, I’ve started running again. I think this is the most I’ve enjoyed running since I started 5 years ago. So far I’ve run every day this week, and today I ran a 5K program on the treadmill which is really great. Now to keep up with it to achieve my ‘exercise regularly’ goal.
It appears I’ve been frugal enough lately, and have finally paid off all of my credit cards.
So the changes I made? Got a decent job, avoided unnecessary purchases, kept better track of what types of things I was spending money on (budgeting). Now all I have to do is only charge what I can pay off in a month.
For those of you who might be wondering, becoming student body president at Ferris State University was possibly the most defining moment for me in my 4 years there. I had an excellent group of people to work with, and together we totally changed the image of our Student Government. We had a record setting semester in terms of legislation proposed, but I couldn’t have done a thing without my cabinet supporting me. Definitely worth doing.
I realized that these open ended goals are sometimes as useful as having no goal at all. So here’s my update to this goal – To take a picture every day for a week straight. Of something, anything. Maybe where I work, maybe something interesting I see, maybe a new perspective on something I see every day. Who knows, I just want to work on some creative works lately.
Well, I’ve recently been employed by a local IT Consulting firm as a desktop specialist. I’ve been working there for about a week, and it looks like it’s going to be a good match for me so far. Lots of freedom and variety, and great oppertunities for learning and becoming a part of a growing company.
I used to be able to do this fairly regularly, but you have to be able to devote some time to it, and of course, some sleep.
Of course, Waking Life had an effect on my interest in this, but wasn’t the first I’d heard of or done it. I was only able to do it once or twice before I saw the movie.
I found a guide online somewhere that gave some tips and pointers on lucid dreaming. One of the most useful pointers to me was learn to test if you’re dreaming regularly while awake – make it a habit, a part of your routine. When you see some cue, simply think to yourself “Am I dreaming?” Of course, when you’re awake, you’ll immediatly think “nope”. But when you see the cue in a dream, there’s a chance it’ll spark you to lucidity.
Look into other reality checks here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lucid_Dreaming
And on a separate note, something that helped me was getting an alarm clock with a variable snooze timer. This one takes some time, so here’s what I did (I’m usually able to go back to sleep repeatedly after an alarm, so this may or may not work for you):
1. Make sure you’ve got lucid dreaming on the mind the night before, and you’re prepared for this.
2. Set an alarm for a normal or slightly earlier than usual time on a weekend (or a day off).
3. Set another alarm for 20-80 minutes later. This part depends on your sleep cycles. (In my case, a variable snooze I’m able to hit the snooze once for 10 minutes, twice for 20 minutes, and so on – my magic number was usually around 30 minutes)
3. Continue ‘snoozing’ for a few hours, or as long as you’re willing and able to.
I’m no expert, but here’s why I believe this works: If you hit your sleep cycle right, you’ll be waken up in the middle of a dream – that means you’re more likely to remember the dream. If you remember it, go back to sleep, only to be waken up in dream sleep again, it makes you more aware of your dreams.
Hopefully this helps someone. This was fun, but took some time and energy reading about different methods and training my mind. I’ve since let the idea lapse, and don’t really want to devote the time again right now. Still, deffinitely WORTH DOING.
This mostly is directed at me stepping outside of my comfort zone so to speak. I don’t want to do anything drastic, just adjust some of my views.
Just took a job offer from a local IT Consulting firm. Not a bad deal for an entry level position.
So I did it. I got myself a pet snake. It’s an impressive creature. Next step – feeding it in a few days.
Well, I’ve been doing my research, and while I’m still a little torn between ball pythons and corn snakes (leaning toward the python), I’ve got the enclosure purchased, cleaned, warming up and ready to go. I bought a vivarium, under tank heat pad, thermometer, water dish, hide log, and a decorative climbing rock. I’m using papertowel for the substrate for the first couple weeks as recommended by a few websites, then I’ll probably switch to something a little more moisture and visually friendly.
I have a feeling I’m going to need a heat lamp as well, but we’ll see.
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to make my purchase.
My current website – or actually, my website as it was before I put it on hiatus – was a lot of personal accounts stories, and images. Unfortunately, that’s not the image I want to present to the world any longer, especially considering my current job search. I’ve got a couple ideas, but I need to clean it up, and make it professional. I still want to keep my personal site, but I want it tucked away.
I just finished my 4th and final year of college only to return home and find out (surprise) things are different. Leaving behind people at college and the friendships forged over the last few years has been difficult, but it’s the nature of things. I’ll stay in contact with them, but I do need to find some more local friends.
I had an interview recently, and am still looking and trying to figure out what’s available. Unfortunately, the small amount of looking I’ve done hasn’t turned up many good entry level jobs in my field, so I might have to educate myself a little better.
I need to brush up on some languages and skills, and possibly get some certifications. But I really start digging all over to find that job that I want to do and am properly qualified for (or close to.)
I used to drink alot of cola beverages – I can hardly drink them any more. Aside from the (unrelated) digestive problems I’ve developed, the drink is just very ‘heavy’ and never really made me feel good. I stay away from most carbonated beverages now, opting for water, juice, lemonade, or iced tea.
I’ve been doing some research, and being a beginner, I came down to two potential choices; Corn snakes and Ball Pythons. While I do like the color and pattern variety of corn snakes, I’m leaning toward a ball python because of their size and nature.
