The Zero Initiative

Alrighty...
I am highly disappointed in myself.
I recently came across some extra time to get a lot of things done that I really need to get done.
Instead of actually doing anything,
I sat around being bored.

I wasted so much time....and I have no good excuse.
Bad Matt!
No cookie.

Deal or No Deal Casting Call Experience

Ok, so I totally screwed up my casting...
but I still had fun.

I thought that they would ask us how we intended to spend the money.
Instead, I was asked to describe myself.... explain what makes me unique.
I completely choked.

A friend of mine told me I should have said something along the lines of:
I used to work for a movie theatre, but now I develop websites for gynocological clinics.

Another friend told me I should have mentioned my vicious ferret.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Still, though, it was fun.

I arrove at the stadium a little early. I got there about 8am. I had no problems finding a parking space, but many of the people in line with me did. Apparently, right after I arrived, they closed off the stadium parking lot.... So...several hundred...possibly a couple thousand people drove down the street and used the theatre's parking lot.
After my interview, I actually stopped by Hollywood to see how things were going. I wanted to see how full the parking lot was...
and yes....it was packed almost to the brim.
I decided to visit with my people inside the theatre....and they were not very busy at all.
It was funny.

Anyway,
I stayed in line for over 4 hours.
I chatted with people and discussed various things.
Apparently, only one other person I talked to had filled out the same application as I did.
Everyone else had a "short version". Like, 2 pages.
Mine was 9 pages.... and it seemed almost like a job application.
As I was walking up to my interview.... one of the guys directing people took my application from me and started scanning through it.
I thought THIS was highly strange since I did not see him do that with anyone else. I guess maybe it had something to do with my application being much thicker than everyone else's.

I got to hold up my application in front of a camera. On the back of the application I had written my name and phone number in big bold letters.
Then, I had 30 seconds to sell myself.
I did very poorly.

However.... I did accomplish a couple of things the casting director stated he wanted to see...
Someone that could not stop smiling...
and
someone that could not stop moving.

The moving part was not difficult at all.
The smiling part was a tad more involved.
What I wound up doing was constantly thinking about my all-time favorite Garfield comic.

It was winter...and Jon was preparing to run outside to play in the snow, but Garfield and Odie were already outside. When he ran out, all of the snow in the yard was gone. He turned around and saw a giant, angered-looking Snowman head on top of the roof staring back at him, while Garfield seemed pleased with his work. The work on Jon's face was one of the most hilarious things I had ever seen. I cannot look at that coming without laughing.

It was very useful. In fact, I had to stifle some chuckles a couple of times.

I had a good time,
but in retrospect... I do regret missing hanging out with my friends at the Battleship. That would have been tons of fun.

I shall have to make sure I make our next outing.


....

After the casting, I headed over to Springhill Toyota to catch up with Julie. At the last minute before walking into the stadium, I had given her my cooler to hold for me. Thanks, Julie!
I did not want to lose my place in line by running back to put it in my truck. They told us at the last minute that we were not allowed to carry coolers into the stadium.

So, while I was at Springhill Toyota, I decided to check out the Yarises. Unfortunately, after looking at every car on the lot, I only saw one. I did not like the color.
I headed home and checked some prices on Yari online. I tried to use Palmer's "Build Your Own" program to put in the features I like, but it just sat at the Loading screen forever. I think it was just broken.

I headed over to Shillinger to visit Palmer's Toyota Superstore. They had two Yari. Neither was a color I liked, nor did they have all the features I wanted.
I want a friggen Tachometer!!
Unfortunately, it seems the only way to get that is with the "Power Package"... which includes all the power feature: locks, windows, seats....and whatnot. That adds like 12-15 hundred dollars to the price.
What I need to do is learn how to drive a manual transmission... that way I can afford the power package, because I can probably take $800 off the price by going for manual.

I spoke with a Salesperson who is hopefully going to call me when they get a red one in with a Tachometer. I do not have a real good reason for wanting one.... I just do... alright?

I hope to get a new car soon.

Oh well... I shall end this post now.
Catch you all later.

Good to be single?

Heck yes.
Being single has wonderful advantages.
I do not have to worry about remembering her birthday.
I do not have to worry about remembering Valentine's day.
I do not have to worry about buying a Christmas present.
I do not have to pay double my normal price for eating dinner out.
I do not have to worry about "accidentally" creating another mouth to feed.
I do not have to worry about catching some strange STD.
I do not have to worry about planning a wedding in the near future.
I do not have to focus any energy on attempting to maintain a healthy relationship.

But sometimes.... when my friends are telling me about problems they are having in their relationships...or sharing the wonders of their relationships.........
it makes me remember my former relationships....... if you can call anything I have ever had a relationship.

It makes me temporarily lonely.
A good night's sleep will help me forget I am lonely.
Tomorrow I shall be fine.

Still though.... a moment of reminiscing...
I started out with ES, then moved on to AW.
AW was interesting.
Well...After AW, I figured I would just try to stay single for a while...
but then I saw NV in class....and she was the most beautiful thing ever.
We shared a wonderful summer, but eventually that came to and end.
I missed her greatly.
Then, I met WC.
I attempted to ask her out, but I failed.
As it turns out, she was "kinda" seeing someone.
I, however, did not find that out until I crossed paths with her the following semester.
I made a second attempt to ask her out, and succeeded.
We dated for a month, that was it.

Of these...my fondest memories are still of NV, our time together, and our little escapades.
I miss her.

....
Aaack.
I need sleep.
Hopefully by morning I will have something else on my mind.
Hopefully I will not reread this blog to remind me that she is on my mind.

BTW, is that even healthy?
Well...I guess dreams are ok. Dreaming about things is great.

Oh well...so long, blog.

Mystery Splotches Revealed

"As you may presently yourself fully be aware of, my grammar sucks."

Still, though...as you may already be aware, Gibbet has been suffering from Ferret Pattern Baldness. She started losing her fur a few months ago. Then it suddenly increased.
I figured it was probably Adrenal disease, as the books and websites would have me believe. Unfortunately, the test to confirm this would be $165.

I finally took Gibbet to the vet. Even the vet thought she was a wild one.
Well...the vet mentioned that it may be Adrenal disease.
I had two options. I could have her tested...or I could just try treating her for it without a test.
I opted for the treatment.
I was told that if this first treatment did not work, and I wanted to try a second treatment, that I would have to sign a document stating that I had willingly skipped the test.

While Gibbet was there, the vet noticed some sores on her stomach. I had not seen then the day before...and I had not paid any attention to her that morning, so I was surprised by them. I was worried about them.

Well...Gibbet got some treatment....but it did not seem to help.
Those sores on her stomach got much more pronounced....
but they eventually faded.

I was relieved.

Then some dark splotches showed up on her stomach exactly where the sores had been.
This worried me much more.
Were they bruises? Some form of skin cancer? What?

Well...today... I was giving her a bath and noticed the splotches were much darker. This worried me at first...but then I noticed they weren't splotches. They were little patches of fur!!!
Dark...dark...fur.

Hurray, Gibbet! Your fur is trying to grow back!

An Odd Fourth

Well, I slept in. It felt good.
I woke up around 10ish I think. Not sure exactly when. I just know I turned on the TV and Coneheads was playing on Comedy Central.
While watching that, I put away some clothes. Some got placed in drawers, some got hung in the closet. Yes, "hung" is a word.

I chatted with some people online, at some food, and killed time.
Eventually I took a shower.
At some point, Jeremy mentioned to me that Kari was going to be at Dragon*Con.
I checked the site to confirm this.
I then checked her MySpace profile, which mentioned nothing about it. So I checked Grant's profile, and he had his list of cons there. Dragon*Con was listed. As it turns out, Kari, Tory and Grant will all be at Dragon*Con..... so that is going to be awesome.
Well...in the process, I sent geeky little fan notes to Kari and Grant.
I actually got a response from Grant. That was awesome.
I wonder if Kari will respond.
Her profile says she is married!! Strangely enough.

Anyway, I eventually went to hang out.
Watched the Germany/Italy game at Hooters.
In the last half...I started to feel very ill.
Christy said it was the barometric pressure, but that has never happened to me.
The game was tied at 0/0 through 28 minutes of overtime...
then...suddenly..out of nowhere...Italy scored.
Germany still had a slight chance of scoring...but then...
Italy scored again just before the end of overtime.
It was a depressing moment for the table.

Well, Christy drove me to my truck.
I drove home.
I went to sleep.
I felt so horrible.
I woke up an hour later...feeling a little better.
I woke up 2 hours after that...and felt much better.

I watched TV, played on the computer, watched some fireworks, and burned some stuff.

Now I am blogging, and I intend to get some sleep shortly.

That was my day.

To Build, or Not to Build?

What's the question?

Ok...so here's the deal.
I went out today to check local prices on computer components. I saw some cool cases. I saw some nice parts.
I also decided to see if I could find some memory for my laptop. Long story short, it seems no on in Mobile sells what I need for that.
Anyway...
I made the mistake of walking into the computer section of Best Buy. Yes, yes, I know the whole store is pretty much computers. I am talking about the section where they display PCs and such.

Then...it happened. I saw a computer that I thought was super sexy. It was a Gateway. Now...I never EVER thought I would be attracted to a Gateway.
As I walked down the aisle...I noticed another one...
an HP system.
It was beyond sexy.
I had to pull myself away from it to keep from buying it.
It had everything I wanted to put into the computer I want to build, plus more.
The only drawback is that it came with Windows MCE. I do not know anything about that operating system. It probably isn't a big deal at all.

Well...I pulled myself away.
I went to some other places to check on prices for parts.
I tried to head over to Tech Advanced...but they moved...
So I tried again....and succeeded.
I perused their collection. They had some pretty cool cases.
I also looked at their motherboards. Kinda hard to read the details on the box when it is locked up.
Oh well....

I had to make a pitstop, so I headed home.
I set up my PS2 for my little nephew to play. My niece is afraid of me. She associates me with Gibbet, and she associates Gibbet with lots-and-lots-of pain. Malina loved me until that fateful day. Now she jumps up and runs if I walk in the room while she is coloring.

After a little while, I was pondering things and decided, "It's about time I got a new computer desk." So, I went to Office Depot to try to price some, but they were closed. I decided to see if Office Max was still open by chance, but no.
Well..Office Max was near Circuit City, and I haven't been there in ages, so I decided to head over and check things out, and yes I realize this is a run-on sentence.

I was walking through the store when...what....what is that on the end of the counter?
What? The same computer I saw at Best Buy? Oh no.... It's pulling me in.
It was actually a tad more expensive at Circuit City, but came with a $100 rebate...so I guess that makes it cheaper? Counting the rebate, it's cheaper by about $65.

Thoughts started running through my head.
"Ok, if I get a corner-style desk, get a 19-21" LCD monitor, and the computer...I can just put it where I keep my entertainment stuff now, and totally rearrange my room. I can move my bed by the wall, and put Gibbet's cage in the corner by the window. Then I can move the Chest-of-drawers to where Gibbet's cage is now and place the bookshelf next to that. I could probably move them both down some and put the DVD stand right next to the computer."
Then...it dawns on me that I totally forgot that the first thought was that the bed would be where Gibbet's cage is, and there would be no room on that wall for the other items, so they would have to go on the other side of the room. That would be ok...because with the introduction of the new desk, I can get rid of the old desk. I can put the the shelves in the other corner.
There are so many ways I can pull this off. I just don't know.

So...I started seriously crunching some numbers.
Yes...I want to build a computer...eventually.

Building the computer with the same components.... would cost me a whole heck of a lot more than just buying it outright right now. The catch? Building it would allow me to extend the cost of the computer over several months and buy the new components when I please. The drawback of that situation would be....I would not be able to immediately use the computer.
So I supposed this all boils down to whether or not I want instance gratification, which I do.
However...I am not going to buy the computer and bring it into my home without a proper playplace for it... I have to buy a new desk first.

Buying the desk would require that I do some serious cleaning and organizing of my room.
Still...though...I kindof digressed from the crunching-numbers section.
If I were to buy the system from Best Buy...it would be financed for some unGodly length of time. This does not really matter, since I would be paying way more than the minimum each month anyway. Still though, they would charge like...22% interest if I could not pay it off within 3 months.

Circuit City has a different plan with a much longer no-interest period. I find that awesome too.
Or...I could wait another 2 weeks and just buy it with cash. Problem? What if that same system is not still available? And what if I have other expenses?
The pay-over-time deal seems pretty good.

Yes...I know...I know... financing is bad...
But you should have seen this system.
It makes me want to just buy it.

I have not used credit in 2 years.
All of my credit cards are locked away. The ones that expired...I did not renew.
I pay for everything in cash.

I just realized I did not finish the crunching-numbers section.
Basically...I figured out that...even if I WERE to finance it...even from Best Buy...
it would still cost less than buying all the pieces and building it myself.
Drawback? No sense of self-satisfaction.
I shall still have to eventually build one of my own.

On a different note.
Anyone know a good way to hang posters and wall scrolls on plaster walls?
I have so many built-up posters and scrolls.... They just want to hang on the wall!
Why shouldn't they? Now they are just collecting dust in the various places in which they take up space now.

Oh well.

Man that computer was sexy.