Updates From The Crock Pot

Updates.

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:44:53 GMT

Yeah, I know. I'm not dead, I promise. Just busy.

But before we continue, this LJ will be friends-locked going forward. If you are my friend and cannot read it, you should talk to me, and we'll figure something out.

My 90-day review.

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 04:16:20 GMT

Scene: boss' office, conference call on mute.

Me: "Reminds me. We need to do my 90-day review."
Boss: *pauses* "Didn't we already do that?"
Me: "No. We did the checklist you've never seen before, remember?"
Boss: *pauses again* "You sure?"
Me: "Yeah, I'm sure."
Boss: *goes back to sifting through his mail* "Fuck you. You aren't allowed to quit anyway."

You only wish your company was this cool.

What's in your rig?

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 14:50:15 GMT

Okay, now I mean it.

I want to build a homebrewed DVR at the end of the year (probably using MythTV). For a couple reasons:

-It'll be fun, and I like to be able to customize.
-Dena has difficulty remembering to press 'Record' on the VCR (hey, she's busy, I understand).
-We want to be able to move TV shows to iPods and computers and the like.
-It's time to upgrade my computer anyway (four years), so I might as well put this one to good use.
-My company makes structured wiring products. I want to play with the applications that are the backbone of the business case, and this is one of 'em.

I don't know what's hot, anymore, as far as motherboards, CPU, form factor, etc. I'm hoping to set the bar at 'BF2142-ready,' with a minimum of '40-man raid in WoW-ready' but I get the idea that might not be cost-effective. And I'm curious to see what folks have in their boxen and what they're happy with.

You know you want to post.

Travel.

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:38:39 GMT

I'm in Hershey, PA. We had a good two days presenting product to an up-and-coming distributor. I need to lock myself in a room and give the presentation to an empty room about a dozen times, but that's okay. Everything is going at about the pace I expected, and will speed up tremendously at this point. I'm excited (yes, honey, I said it). I will need to spend the rest of the week lining up more travel and get out to see the troops.

Something I reflected on after dinner: a common misconception is that businessfolk have a blast when on travel. I won't lie - I've had many good nights throwing back drinks with customers and coworkers (Pleasure Island in Orlando comes to mind quickly). I like seeing new cities and eating in cool restaurants. But, strangely enough, getting hammered just enough on vodka tonics to build a relationship with a customer (vs. speaking Dutch and hitting on a barstool) is work. Finding enough to talk about with a coworker over dinner is work. Not putting your elbows on the table? Fucking work. I'd rather be curled up on the couch with my girlfriend with take-out than be out in a fancy $75/head restaurant with French wine with a distributor. Maybe I'm starting to get old (my dad has a very similar attitude). And I don't really like Vegas yet.

I'm considering throwing WoW on my laptop. You tend to have a lot of lag time in the evenings, especially with a Blackberry (which keeps your email coming all the time), and that's a perfect time to level up a gnome mage. My laptop should support it (plenty of memory and a beefy processor), but we'll see. It'll need to be tested out.

Lesse. Getting home tomorrow afternoon. Spend a couple hours in the office and answering emails. Home the rest of the week, going to Hector, MN (Company HQ) on Friday to meet with various folks. Hopefully, I'll get some more of my office set up this weekend and make a run to the storage place to pick up the stereo, some books, and some financial records (the city of Pittsburgh says I owe them money; I say they're hallucinating). And some quality time with the girl.

G'night, y'all. Sleep tight.

Priorities.

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 22:31:46 GMT

So, yeah. I'm moved to MSP, everything is settled, good homelife with the GF, blahblah. My computer is shot.

Wouldn't fire up after I plugged it in. After replacing the case/PS (cheap case, 450W supply on an Athlon 1.7GHz board), the damn thing still won't power up. At all. The board acknowledges it's receiving power, the power switch has been wired in both directions, and when throwing the switch...nothing. Gilch. Not even a murmur. No fans come up, no boot activity, dick. It sits there. I'm assuming that the board suffered some kind of terminal bump during the move.

I'm kinda annoyed. One more damned thing to pay for.

I'm gonna keep trying (I'm quickly running out of options here), but I'm going to have to look into a new MB/processor combo. Any recommendations on what the kids are throwing into their machines nowadays? Think low-to-medium, and preferrably something compatible with DDR400 memory (I have 1.5G I'd love to try and save).

Serenity now.

EDIT: I am, as they say, an idiot. It help if you press the right button.

A night of drinking.

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 06:08:44 GMT

"You can't leave."
"What?"
"I said, you can't leave." I've known Scottie for about three years. And like many of the friends I've made in the last three years, he's a good one. I don't see him much, but it doesn't matter. We pick up where we left off, and every time.
"I'm only going to Minnesota. It's not Bangkok."
"I know." He is, for the record, waving his eighth beer at me. "And I understand the money, the job, and the girl. But you can't leave."
I ruffle his hair, what little he's got left (poor guy's going bald). "I'll be back. Promise. Can't get rid of me that easily. Shit, we may be flying in for Halloween."
"You'd better, bitch." And he grins, and I buy him another Corona. Because he shouldn't be drinking PBR. It's bad for him.

I will genuinely, sincerely, more than any other time, miss my friends.

Intarweb Supreme.

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:17:05 GMT

My landlady got the goddamned DSL pipe from Verizon up and running. Praise Jesus. I have teh broadband once more.

The moving truck is scheduled, the labor is booked, the storage is booked, my friends are coming. All I have to do is put my minimal possession into boxes, and we're off. Future Boss is very excited to have me start, and my first week will include meeting sales guys and some hot-hot casino-hotel action in MSP (the sales meeting is held at an Indian casino in the area). And a product line to manage and things to learn andandand.

I can't wait to go to work.

New job.

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 16:31:28 GMT

I got the job.

Yes, I'm actually very excited. However, I move very quickly through 'YAY!' to 'HOLY SHIT.' to 'wow, I've got a lot to do to make this good thing actually work.' Call it being male or an engineer or whatever, but there it is.

On our last conversation, my boss expressed that he pretty much wanted me two weeks ago. So I'm moving ver' quickly. It'll be a bitch.

Moving will also restore my bandwidth situation. Yay. :)

Two days.

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:02:07 GMT

Borrowed bandwidth. It works for me.

Off to MSP tomorrow, be back Thursday. We'll se how it all goes.

If any of y'all light candles and the like, throw one in for me?

Oh, yeah. Forgot.

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 17:14:10 GMT

My Internet connection at home is down. My landlady is trying to get a new provider in place, but it's not going well. So I steal email-checking bandwidth when/where I can. If you are someone who is used to seeing me online in various places, and I'm not? This be why.

I have a very promising 2nd interview on Thursday in MSP, and will be in town for Wed. night/Thurs. morning (meeting with Management on Thurs. morning), to fly home early Thurs. afternoon. If it goes how I hope, I don't care if I get my Intar-web back in Pgh. or not; if it doesn't, I will be calling VZ and rolling my own. This sharing bullshit, while a financial boost, is a practical/execution failure.

Remind me not to do this again.

Love,

Matt.

MSP.

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 15:49:09 GMT

At Dena's. [stop]
Roughly 100 degrees outside, 500 degrees inside. Sweating while standing still. [stop]
2nd interview with company in MSP is set up for 27th. Travel arrangements to follow. [stop]
Still madly in love with girlfriend. [stop]

Enough of the telegraph format. Got in last night, good Thai, medicore movie, wonderful cuddling w/blonde. Taking her to dance class, will attempt to study while she dances. Laziness to follow afterwards.

See y'all Sunday night or Monday. :)

Drunk post.

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 05:54:13 GMT

I started off the night with Dogfish 90 Minute. For those not in the know, it's a very hoppy (read: bitter) IPA clocking in at 9% APV.

That last sentence took a full four minutes to type. That's probably a bad sign.

Tyler, I expect a matching drunken post. It's only appropriate. Whiskey is an acceptable agent.

I am going to bed. I love you, babydoll. :) (No, Tyler, that does not refer to you. Unless, y'know, you want it to.) I shall talk at thee later.

Random update

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 15:54:17 GMT

People complaining I don't update enough. Been kinda busy. Sorry.

So! Here's some tripe. :)

Your Eyes Should Be Blue

Your eyes reflect: Innocence and sweetness

What's hidden behind your eyes: A calculating mind

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

Half of that is...wrong. Really, really wrong.

Phone interview.

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:56:13 GMT

Went very, very well. A product management position in Minnetonka, working with cable provider technology (and other stuff). The VP was very excited about my experience and ideas. Need to get some HR stuff out of the way, at this point. 2nd interview (in Minneapolis) will probably be mid-July.

This is the first time in two years that I could actually breathe.

A day.

Wed, 24 May 2006 15:06:54 GMT

You ever have one of those days?

It's the one that starts with high hopes and aspirations, then takes a turn for the...bizarre. When the very, uh, buxom (and frankly huge) bank teller has her cell phone secured between her breasts so as not to miss that important call.

And then the cashier/bagger at the grocery store figures, hey, if there's physical room for more items in a grocery bag, one should put them there. If there isn't, there should be (by God). 50 lbs. in groceries? He looks like a strapping young lad.

And then your housekeys go missing, right off the fucking ring. Nowhere to be found. Gone. Sucked into the void. And you drive across town, losing 1.5 hours of your day to get a spare from your landlady, only to find they had fallen off your ring and the bottom of one of the massive, afore-mentioned grocery bags. Your plans of a leisurely afternoon of cooking and reading GMAT study guides is show.

And then later in the evening, whilst attempting to drown said day in Aperhof, drama ensures: Bar Manager (claiming to be an international criminal) and one of his would-be paramours, Barmaid (a friend of your friends) get hammered beyond recognition and create a mild scene, nearly falling off a 20-ft. balcony. While outside on the deck freezing your ass off and waiting out the 7% beer, your drunk-ass friend Waiter loots (lewts?) a nearby restaurant apron, giving you a stolen wine key (at your drunk-ass request). Moments later, Waiter's walking up all innocent-like to the owner, lying through his teeth. Waiter Jr. jumps to the cause, assisting with the lie with a skill that only alcohol can provide.

Before you know where you are, you're halfway down the block. Apparently, Feet decided it was time to go home. The wine key, by the way, is green.

(I feel bad about the wine key.)

Like a prairie dog.

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:18:07 GMT

Yeah, I'm wiping the dust off of LJ. Not much to say and not a lot of time to say it, so waste the digital space.

Lesse.

I have an iPod now. It's a 40GB one, 4th generation, a hand-me-down. When iTunes asked me to name it, I named it 'Tryst.' It comes from a broken home, and found its way to me. The ubergeek in the Apple store was helpful in getting the necessary cabling and a FM transmitter for the car, but they do need to go one notch up on the social ability' scale when picking their geeks. He was almost creepy; a female might have not been comfortable with him.

Work continues. Two promotions and a merit raise later (in just over a year), and my income level is now a point where I can make financial headway (with my severely reduced cost of living and by working nights). No one wants to tell me how you become a marketing guy in this goddamned company, and it's starting to annoy me greatly. Boss #3 is a good guy, and a rare exception to the dearth of low-level leadership they've got. Basically, when you get uneducated, unintelligent, unmotivated lunatics and then promote them to run the asylum? Yeah.

Anyway, now is the time to start shoving with regards to finding the marketing track. I'm very tired.

Dena and I are still in love, and I continuously look for ways to get to a city where we can both be. MSP is still the first choice, and Seattle has entered in as a strong #2. The bitch of getting any job is knowing people who have them; not being in said city makes life really difficult in that vein. This is a song I've sung a thousand time, but rest assured, it continues to play. That's a good thing.

She comes in Friday-Sun for a quick visit. It's been way too long, and I cannot wait. I have to clean the house now, but still. She's worth it.

Health is good. Family is good. Parents bought a beach house in NJ; I may never see my stepmother again (she'll probably spend the summers there, since it's near her family in Philadelphia). Sister-in-law called me hammered at around 1AM the other day so her maid of honor could apologize for a minor drunken scene at their rehearsal dinner (well after the dinner, which is all water under the bridge by now). Brother is good, enjoying the working world and helping us claim the last of our inheritance from several years back. Yay for windfall.

And that about wraps it up. I'm gonna put on some pants, clean the house, look for more jobs. Have fun. :)

Um.

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 16:27:44 GMT

Definitely.
You scored 60% Cold and 38% Level-Headed!

You can kill. But the question "Why would you?" arises.

Out of safety or cruelty?

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 70% on Cold
You scored higher than 3% on Level-Headed

Link: The Can You Kill a Man? Test written by notmarkflynn on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

For my WoW peoples.

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 15:37:18 GMT

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/01/16

Sun Chips.

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 22:08:46 GMT

While winding down from my day off (I consult on my days off; it's not healthy for me), I sit here with a sammich and a bag of Sun Chips. Sun Chips is one of my comfort foods, the other being ice cream. I rarely keep ice cream in the house: it does not stand a chance in hell with me armed with a spoon. Sun Chips, however, make an appearance here and there.

On Tuesday (Geek Night), I had a half a bag of Sour Cream left, and was munching on them. Jason frowned, leaned over, and asked for a sample. I obliged. And his hand never left the bag all night.

My new marketing slogan for the Sun Chip people: 'Sun Chips! They're the shit!'

(So, y'know, instead of writing posts where I say 'holy lord I'm so stressed out I want to cry,' you get this. I know, it's heartbreaking.)

And, with Sun Chips in hand, I'm off to write my statement of purpose for grad school. Loveya!

Breathe.

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 22:36:15 GMT

I about hyper-ventilated when I couldn't find the manilla folder with 2 of my 3 letters of rec. in them (I had moved them to the living room table when friends had come over).

I can't wait until this is done.

Ohyeah. Real GRE score.

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 15:38:00 GMT

V: 590
M: 690

(Off 100 points from my practice.)

I choked. I have to take the motherfucker again.

Carry on.

Sidecar.

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 07:00:38 GMT

Of whiskey, actually. It was that kind of evening.

Dena's mad at me. She hung up on me, and didn't answer the phone when I called to tuck her in. Alcohol won't solve our problems, but it dulled life nicely, to the point where I babbled endlessly to a good friend of mine, and she grinned at me, at the end.

Something someone said basically summed up to: this is what happens when your put a practical boy and a romantic girl together. They tussle over things. With any luck, they last a lifetime.

Ohyeah, I got word I've gotten my second promotion in a year. Yay-fucking-me.

I'm going to bed before I type anything else stupid. G'night.

First practice test.

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 21:03:35 GMT

(Practice scores only.)

Verbal: 640
Math: 740

I took WAGs on the last five math questions, due to running out of time. The verbal is still 92nd percentile.

Brush up my unit circle and a few more vocab words and I might be okay.

A moment.

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 18:13:50 GMT

When the GRE is over tomorrow, I shall re-emerge. Today, I am calling in sick, being domestic, finishing some last-minute studying, and playing cards tonight.

In the meantime: http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/ It will make the geeks laugh. Stella, make sure Mike sees that.

Dan, Auto Assault crashed to the desktop before I even saw the first glorious screen. So I may have to re-download it and re-patch it. Again, after test.

I love you, sweetie. Hope your day at work went well.

(That's for Dena. Not Dan. Though, y'know, Dan is a hot commodity, and a snazzy dresser. Right.)

Love,

Matt.

Tips for a night of carousing.

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 08:08:32 GMT

Because, y'know, I haven't posted drunk in a really long time..

'Regular' status is worth its weight in gold. Or, apparently, in vodka. When the smoking-hot bartender is pouring you 2.5 shots per tonic. And not charging you. Ever. (You leave her $10 on the bar, and she's happy.)

Your girlfriend (read: my girlfriend) is hotter than every other girl in the bar. On this one, I am not kidding. 'cause I looked, and I win.

Fair trade: GRE hints on the math section in exchange for manchego (Spanish cheese).

Tostito Scoops and queso are required elements. Hell, any junk food items, really. As they keep you from eating the stir-fry you made for lunch the next day.

Babbling power increases with the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream. True masters? Four shots, and they can talk about nothing for a full hour.

I'm going to bed. G'night. :)