Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Omm Shews

Had a pretty great Christmas :) The drive down after work on Tuesday wasn't too bad. The kitties slept most of the way until about an hour and a half from Gainesville. When I arrived at Mike's around 11 at night, he had chocolate fondue set up for me as an anniversary dessert, since our one-year anniversary had been the day before. Was very sweet :)  He even had a variety of dipping items, including cheddar cheese, which I don't think he expected me to actually use :D

We went over to my parents' house for Christmas the next morning. I don't think Mike expected to make out like a bandit, but my Mom wasn't going to not get him Christmas presents :) I had gotten him a replica of Altair's sword, the #6 Dragonball, and a functioning Nerf gun painted to resemble a gun from Mass Effect. I also had a pair of dog tags made for us, one for each of us to wear :) I ended up getting a second monitor for my desktop computer (finally, yay!), some floating shelves, a Korean style hoodie, and Lego Marvel Heroes :D I brought the kittens over to enjoy the festivities, but Ayla decided to hide behind the couch for all 5 hours. We enjoyed a huge Christmas lunch, and Mike and I returned to his house to spend what ended up being the most time with him I would get to spend the rest of my vacation.

Thursday and Friday, Mike and I both had to work, I just did so remotely from his house. I did get to go out to lunch with him and Dwyer on Thursday, and then Dave and Tina at Bentos on Friday, but otherwise I was stuck at the house coding. We were (and still are) buckling down to get this site done. Even after Mike got home from work, I spent most of my time working while he finished Assassin's Creed IV.

Friday night, after going rockclimbing, Mike cooked steaks for us, and we watched my Christmas movie (Love Actually) together :) That was definitely a nice time :D

Saturday I had some more work to do, but I did get to meet Matt and Liz out at Burrito Bros with Mike for lunch :) Woo! Got to see great people and accomplished my three Gainesville visit requirements.

Dinner Saturday night was "new years eve" with my family, since I wasn't going to be there tonight. Had our delicious yearly tradition of King crab legs and beef tenderloin :D Also played a fun game of Big Bertha!

Sunday I got my things together, spent a little bit of time with Mike playing Terraria together, and then headed home to Knoxville. Only took me 7 and a half hours to get back with 2 stops for gas. Atlanta was a bit trafficy, but that's normal. Cats were excited to be home, I'm sure. They both were super quiet on the way back. Maybe they're getting used to the traveling? :)

Mike and I reinstated our WoW accounts last night. Didn't play for long, but I'm already 85 and we're in Pandaland! Probably what I'll be doing tonight... and tomorrow XD


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Get me gaming

Had my first 12 hour work day yesterday. I always get into the office at 7, well before anyone else. Yesterday was no different. I had been previously warned that my officemate Chris and I would not be leaving until the new website project was testable. Turned out that meant C# coding until 7 at night. I didn't even leave for lunch, as I'm usually one to take a 20 minute kitchen sit down for lunch. Been a long time since it was dark outside when I both went into and came out from work :o The 12 hours actually went by fairly quickly.

I had been invited to meet up immediately after for dinner with 2 other coworkers, Nathan and Rose, and with Nathan's partner Jamie. We went to a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place called Chez Guevara. Was really good, although I'm still craving a sweet potato burrito from Burrito Bros ;) We had a fun time! And apparently my office Christmas party dress made a great impression :D

Already back at work at 7 this morning. My brain is still fairly spent, so we'll see how it goes :)

Missed the afternoon Steam sales yesterday due to the crazy coding. Hope I didn't miss anything good!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Ready to go at noon!

So officially GRU won't be doing anything about my last water bill for my condo (surprise there.) Someone must've seen the For Rent sign and used one of my outside water connections while it was vacant. Damn old people neighbors. Oh well. I'm thankful it's not a water leak. I'd rather pay the nearly $200 water bill than have to pay to have my floor torn up to have a pipe replaced again. Nothx.

I got the okay from my boss to work remotely next Thursday and Friday, so I'll be able to go to Gainesville for Christmas :) There are 2 things I must do while there: rock climb because I still have a membership until January, and eat at Bentos or Chopstix because thus far there exists no similar restaurant in Knoxville that I've found or my coworkers have been able to point out for me.

Went out to the bar down the street last night with coworker Chris and his girlfriend Lindsey. Not the first time, but this time some of his friends showed up, including 2 nerdier than him! Michael (yay more Michaels...) and Matt, who I believe are roommates, both have participated in DnD games before, and mentioned wanting to get into a Shadowrun game! OMM YAY NERD STUFF! I told them to keep me in the loop if a table top game of any kind is being assimilated. I need my fix so bad! Stupid Chance not wanting to let me play via Skype :( They just lost a player, too. I think that makes it a 4 player party, which means I could help round it out! ;D

Steam Christmas sales ahoy! Although I haven't bought anything yet. My wishlist is nearly entirely on sale however, so if none of those go on a crazier sale before January 2nd, I'll probably be picking up a few of them. It's hard to resist when most are only around $5 a piece or less.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Mario's Disenheartening at 6:30

I've been really terrible at this blogging thing. Not that I haven't been getting myself into things, or that I've been to busy, just haven't made myself sit down and do it. As a result, this entry may be jumbled... so yay!
 
I had a fantastic Thanksgiving, despite not heading home for the holiday. One of my coworkers invited me over to his family's house for dinner. They cooked 2 turkeys even though there were only 9 of us, and there were plenty of fixings to go around! :) He (Darrin) and his wife sent me home with 4 huge tupperware containers full of food. They're awesome people!

After being apart for a month, Mike and I had last week to spend together. He came up to Knoxville late last Friday night (not this past Friday.) We went to my company's Christmas party, played video games together, went out to eat, and then Monday morning we left for Wisconsin. The thermometer gage on my car slowly went down from a lovely mid 50's temperature, to freezing, to a balmy 1 by the time we arrived at the Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva. I was worried there wouldn't be any snow (per weather reports), but that had all changed. Nature's icing was everywhere :D Mike had never seen snow before, but I think I was far more excited than he was.
 















 
Because the temperature would regularly dip below zero, we didn't spend much time outdoors. Besides, there wasn't much to peruse in the metropolis that was Lake Geneva anyway. We did go up to Two Rivers to visit with my Grandma and her boyfriend, and they took us out to a lovely, delicious dinner where I was convinced to enjoy a beer sampler. Terrible influencers!
 
 
I woke up with a cold Thursday morning at Grandma's, which meant I wasn't up for touring Milwaukee :( Also meant that we decided to return to Knoxville on Friday, instead of Saturday as previously planned. Still had a great time tho :)

Knoxville has been a very welcoming place to live thus far. My first month has been almost nothing but awesome, and my new job has definitely been pushing the developer knowledge I have (very challenging!) It's been good tho :) Been out to dinner and around town with several of my coworkers already, so they are definitely fun people to hang out with.

Received my last GRU bill for my condo for the month that it was vacant, and the water usage was crazy high. Normally, I would use around 4kgal, and it listed my bill as having used 24kgal... but no one was there! Of course, it's nearly impossible to get through to GRU over the phone, so Mike was kind enough to stop by and check my water meter. It appears as though it was horribly misread. Hopefully, I can get through to them, because they don't deserve double my normal bill for a vacant condo!

Against all odds and my dislikes of these two video game series, I have started playing Assassins's Creed Brotherhood and Mass Effect 2. So far, the latter is much more entertaining than the former. I also borrowed GTA V from my officemate, Chris, and have been tooling around with that. Luckily for me, I was selected to participate in the Hearthstone beta. I'm so far absolutely terrible at it, but it's quite simple to learn, fast-paced, and fun. And speaking of betas, there's another game I've been testing, but I don't think that I will be anymore... it's just not what I would hope for :/

I am intending on returning to Gainesville next week for Christmas, so long as my boss allows me to work remotely for 2 of those days. Still have to check with her. I'll also be bringing the kittens along, so I'm sure they're looking forward to another road trip!

I had a slice of the most delicious red velvet cake I've ever had today. I must find this Linton's, and eat moar cake!
 
 

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Clandestiny

Been a busy couple of weeks!  After the Food and Wine Festival in Orlando, Mike and I drove up to Knoxville to check out apartments!  We stayed in 2 Embassy Suites (one in Chattanooga and the other in Knoxville) for free- Thanks Mom!!



Trekked around Knoxville an entire Saturday looking at apartments.  Only one was pretty bad, and some were a little too nice.  Sunday, we awoke and drove to Columbia to see his older brother, and then returned home.

Went bowling with Topher and others for his going away party.


Went out to dinner at Chopstix with Mike, Dwyer, Mehdi, Curtis, Michelle, their new baby, Potocki and Lady Potocki for my sendoff :)  Also went to Ker's Wing House with Mike and Scott before I left town :)  That place was okay.  Kind of like Hooter's, but still not as delicious!

Spent a lot of time (and money -_-;; ) making sure my condo was in tip-top shape to be rented out.  Mike, Dwyer, Mehdi, my Mom, Dad, and Donna all came over on a Saturday to help me fill up my ABF U-Pack trailer (a service which I HIGHLY recommend!)  It's awesome having friends and family who care :D

When the trailer was initially dropped-off, I was intimidated by how large it was!  (That's what she said.)  I felt obnoxious on my street with how big it was... but I ended up using exactly how much space was pre-determined for me (10' out of the 28' trailer.)  Thought we had everything packed up pretty securely... (and Doc helped...)




Bye bye trailer!


Had to take down my second bedroom's 'wallpaper.'  Luckily, it came off pretty much in one piece.  Just did some clean-up afterward, and painted over it!  Mike didn't care much for the color (turned out kind of pea-greenish) but it was the only color I had that wasn't the gray from the living room area, and I sure as hell wasn't about to go buy more paint!







Moved into Mike's house for my last week in Gainesville.  The kittens took to it fairly quickly.  Ayla like hiding in the bathroom through, I think she saw it as a perfect vantage point (behind the door she could see down the hallway, in case anyone came by to pet her :P )


Last Thursday (the 7th) I left Mike's around 5, kittens and all my things packed up in the car.  Drove up to Atlanta, where we spent the night in a very nice Sheraton :)  The kittens did really well!  I expected Ayla to cry the entire ride, but Doc was the only one who pepped up about an hour before we made it to the hotel.  Ayla chimed in after Doc had been going on a bit, but they both settled into the hotel quickly.  I didn't sleep much, was worried Ayla would do her business on the bed :/  Both kittens remained well-behaved the rest of the drive up to Knoxville, though :)

Got them into the apartment fairly quickly.  I had to do an initial inspection of the place, at which point I took advantage and got them out of the car so they could wander about their new home.  My trailer beat me to the apartment complex, but the unpackers I hired were a little late :(  Thankfully, they were super efficient, and we had everything out of the trailer and into the apartment in just 2 hours!

Some stuff had been dinged up from the trailer (and the unpackers were surprised that my glass patio table didn't break), but for the most part everything was okay.  One of my bottles of bleach had leaked a bit, and ate away a box, but nothing was damaged.  And the DVD racks appeared as though they had been destroyed, but I was able to salvage 3 of the 4 :)



Didn't spend much time that Friday getting things unpacked.  Saturday and Sunday I got most essentials assembled and set up around the apartment.  Did a little bit of driving exploration.  Found the 'Archer Rd' of West Knoxville- and it's only about a 5 minute drive down the road! :)  And while I compare it to Archer Rd, it's really more like Archer Rd on steroids XD  It'll definitely do! :D

My first week at work went really well!  My officemate Chris is pretty cool (big gamer), and my boss Franciel is super nice and helpful.  Everyone else around the office have been nothing but kind and friendly to me :)  Even got an invite to one of my coworker's family Thanksgiving dinner on my first day in the office :D  I won't be heading down to Gainesville for the holiday, so it'll be nice to have somewhere to be :)  Been learning a lot of Drupal and PHP.  Definitely lots of work to be done, but having tons of fun so far :D

Yesterday I completed all of the unpacking, everything's in its place around the apartment :)  I have lots of space left (it's definitely larger than my condo), but it is still starting to feel very homey :D  Have plenty of room for Mike's things, once he gets a job and moves up here.  Until then... it's me and then kitten-cats!





Monday, October 28, 2013

Fists of Kitten Fury!

I have been crazy busy as of late!  Got a job offer from a web development government contractor in Knoxville, TN... and I took it! :)  They wanted me ASAP, so I've been getting everything in order in short time.

Been going through all my things, packing and what not.  Getting rid of the things I don't need, donating some stuff to others.  However, it still feels like I have way too much stuff -_-;;  Makes me feel like a pack rat.  Most of the boxes I've filled are video games, DVDs, gaming systems, books... a couple smaller boxes are just little knick knacks, figurines that I have up on shelves.  Stuff I don't really need, I suppose... makes me want to leave the boxes behind since they aren't necessities.  But they're just little things... ack!  I guess we'll really see how everything goes once the pod arrives on Thursday for me to pack everything in.  I'm hoping things go swimmingly (much like most everything has thus far *KNOCK ON WOOD.*)  Wanted to go with the moving service that Topher used for his recent move, but their quote for me was about 1k$ too much for me (apparently because they can't bring their truck to my street, they'd have to "shuttle" all of my stuff to their truck... whatever!)

Tore down the gaming wallpaper in the second bedroom *sigh!*  It's all painted again.  Oh well :P

Going to be renting my condo out using a management service.  I don't really have time to take care of it myself, and I wouldn't feel right doing it all on my own anyway.  Why not leave it in the hands of professionals?

Already have the apartment in Knoxville picked out, and my application was accepted!  Super excited! :)

Really looking forward to having my two kitties in the car for an 8 and a half hour drive.  Especially Ayla... the crier... hopefully she cries herself to sleep, or relaxes after awhile.  We shall see!

Been too busy to really acknowledge the emotions I've been going through.  I go from excited, to anxious, to nervous, to thrilled, to upset, to uber happy, to scared, and all back around again every so often. So many things going on at once!  All-in-all, I am really excited for my new adventure :D

Haven't had much time to play anything, but Mike and I did hop in Terraria with Cory last night for a bit.  The Halloween content is up, and the monsters have been dropping a bunch of costumes :)  We also pushed our game (on accident) into hard mode.  Time for some new fancy updated loot!  I did get into some Terraria today, and found some new stuff from the update :D  Have also gotten on Twitch.TV, but I'm not sure if my sound works.  Kind of hard to watch my channel and broadcast at the same time.  Watch me sometime! :D

Apparently, the Rift server Mike and I have been playing on (Necropolis) was merged with Seastone (my old server.)  What a coincidence!  Haven't had the time to play any of the Fall Festival content :(

Wondering if Mike and I should get back into Rift, or maybe even WoW, while we're in different cities... Cory did mention wanting to play WoW again, so maybe he'd play with us, too.  Don't know if I could do the subscription fee right after moving, tho.

TACO TIME!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

My brother's birthday was on the 9th.  Happy Birthday Jay!!



Had a blast this weekend for my birthday!  Friday Mike and I took off from work to do… yard work!  Woo!  I actually have been enjoying helping him clean up his yard.  The first time I got to mow the lawn, something I've never done, and he even has a riding lawn mower!  That was super fun, although it ran out of gas in the backyard :(  The next time, I got to use the weed whacker!  That, too, was awesome until it ran out of charge :(  Friday I finished destroying the weeds around the house while he changed the oil in our cars, and then I helped him power wash the outside of the house :)

He's had an ant problem for awhile, but no matter what he does they always seem to come back.  Even right after we power washed the house, they started showing up in droves and dying where pesticides had been put down (long before the power washing.)  Crazy bugs!

Mike decided to give me my birthday present early… a Playstation 3!  I'd been jonesing for one forever, since I have so many games for the system and yet don't own one.  Funny to think that he bought me my first PS2 back in highschool, too :D  He's so sweet <3


I had decided that since the Pathfinder game ended the previous week, that I still wanted to get together with the group and go out for dinner and pool (although after getting the PS3 I joked about cancelling dinner!)  Chance and Danielle were the only ones who could make it, and then Kaitlyn and Chad ended up coming back into town sooner than expected!  The 6 of us all enjoyed wings and some beer at Dockside :D

Kaitlyn and Chad left us afterward, at which point the remaining 4 of us headed down to Splitz for some pool.  The sticks were all warped, but we were the only ones there for most the time.  Had a blast drinking, losing, and winning :D

Saturday, I woke up early to setup my PS3 :)  Once Mike awoke, we had a little bit of time to goof around with some games before going to my parents' for birthday lunch.  My godparents also joined us, and we had a delicious lunch on the grill!  (The ice cream cake wasn't too bad either ;) )  I had already gotten my new futon from my parents a few weeks back, but they had also bought me a digital drawing tablet :D  Now I can practice my terrible art on the computer, rather than make paper and pencils shed tears of graphite.





Later in the evening, Dwyer and Mehdi came over to my house for coffee and cake  (that Dwyer made himself!)  It was a wonderful spiced cake with cream cheese frosting :)

Sunday, Mike and I packed for Orlando and made our way on down.  Our room was huge!  Met up with Cory, Krista, and the baby for dinner :)


  
 

Monday was the big eventful day: The Food and Wine Festival at Epcot!  I'd never been before, and really wanted to finally go- and doubly so since it was my birthday :D  I did attempt to convince Mike that we should cancel the trip, since he had gone out and bought me a PS3; felt bad having him spend more money (since we both paid our own ways for Epcot), but he wouldn't let me cancel :P  It turned out to not be nearly as expensive as everyone made it out to be, even!




We had so much fun!  Ate lots of different food, mostly delicious!  Had a couple of different alcoholic beverages as well.  I did my best to take a picture of everything we ate, but some of them I would forget and half of the plate would be gone (or all in one case!) before I remembered :d  We arrived at 9 when the park opened, but didn't realize that the world showcase (and all of the food) wasn't available until 11.  Had to stop in at the Starbucks to get Mike something to eat, or he was going to starve to death :)


 
The best food item by far was the filet mignon from Canada.  The Floridian Key Lime wine was pretty delicious, but I think the best drink was the grapefruit beer from Germany (although I didn't partake of very many alcoholic beverages.)  The honey meade from Ireland was super strong.  I probably would've drank more but I was worried about making myself too full.  Ended up having just enough of everything for me throughout the day :)  (And we were there until 8 at night- a long 11 hour day!)


Tuesday, after we packed up and left the resort, we stopped by to see Cory and the baby.  Hung out with them for a bit before returning home :)

Kitten jail pictures!



And apparently Ayla has some holy power within her! :P