Corporate Hippy

All I want to do is work on my webpage, the southeast chapter webpage, and update my ipod. Seems simple enough, right? I mean, shit.. I’m a Network Security Administrator by trade. I work with complex computing devices all week long. It shouldn’t be that much of a problem to update a cascading style sheet while updating my tunes.

Ever hear the saying “the shoemakers children have no shoes” ? Yeah .. that’s me .. I’m my own shoemaker’s child …

Its been so long since I’ve upgraded my desktop PC that I’ve been able to get a CCNP certification and have it expire. It could have been nearly 4 years since my last motherboard purchase. When I got my iPod last year, I had to update it using usb 1.0 because my computer doesn’t have any 2.0 jacks. It took nearly 3 days to copy all of my tunes from my PC to my iPod.

I’ve since been able to scam a sound card from my stepson that happens to have a firewire port on it. So, that has helped the iPod process a bit. Well, except that when I put it in, I couldn’t find any screws to secure it in place, and it would wiggle loose every now and then, requiring me to open my PC case, reseat the card and try again.

I’ve added a hard drive to my system, so I have a 40gb drive and an 80gb drive. For awhile, my 80 was the largest capacity in the house, and it acted as a server for some time. I’ve had this 80gb drive in my system for a couple of years now. Its been making funny noises for some time, but alas .. its not been replaced.

I’ve got a cd burner and a dvd rom .. and a big huge CRT monitor on my desk .. Compared to most people’s systems, mine looks like its from the stonage.

I was going to be productive today. I plugged in some speakers that had been sitting in a box by my desk for MONTHS .. I found a screw and secured that firewire card, cleaned up my desk. Successfully connected my iPod and got it sync’d with my system. I finally put computer in the right workgroup to see Nick’s computer so that I could share some of the new music he’s been getting. And then, it happened.

I tried to browse my 80gig drive, and found only one folder. The only folder I could see was a backup from Jess’s computer that I made last year.

Fuck.

Luckily, iTunes was still able to access my music, which resides on that 80g drive. And, if I manually put the path into the explorer window, I could see my music files. So, all hope might not be lost. Currently, its running through a check disk program, hoping this will let me get to my stuff. I can hear the hard drive ‘clicking’ as the system is checking it. NOT a good sign.

As it turns out, I can get a REALLY BIG hard drive for like less than a hundy these days. Why haven’t I done this already? Procrastination is my biggest weakness ..

*sigh*

In a couple of weeks, we will have paid off just about every debt we had incurred.  We’ll still have the house payment, jeep and one smaller debt to a friend; but everything else is gone.  Dakota Pickup is PAID IN FULL, Credit Cards are gone, Boat will be paid off soon, even that SBC bill that was left over from the old apartment has been paid.  Hell, we even (finally) sprung for the lifetime Tivo subscription, just before they shut that option down.  Our savings account is actually showing signs of life again as well – haven’t had to dip in there in a few weeks.
Its kinda like financial freedom.  I never realized what kind of teather would be attached when I bought my first truck back in 1998.  It started small – $241/month for that little truck.  But then, we sold that truck to buy a bigger one – $485/month, and then we found the boat we just HAD to have – $198/month, sold the neon to buy a jeep – $411/month … Got a sears credit card to buy a TV …. maxed the master card to buy camping gear … Got a lowes credit card to buy some drywall … and so on …

It becomes a trap.  And we’ve finally escaped.  I’m not ready to celebrate just yet, but as soon as that boat is paid off, then we might party a bit.

My coworker Mark found salvation in Tae Kwon Do, similar to the salvation I’ve found in biking. He’s been at it for a year or so i think, and is on a black belt track. Nick had to work late last night, so I decided to see what all the hype was about. I’ve always had an interest in martial arts, but I never really knew anything about it.

At first I felt a little stupid and silly, I’d gone to an “All Student’s” class, which was a buncha little tiny kids and me. But since Mark is learning to become a teacher, he took me off to the side and taught me the basics while the kids were doing their ‘workout’ . I leared some stances and some kicks. I enjoied the moves and the workout. It’d be great cross training if I had any time to dedicate to it. Time. That’s what it always comes down to.

I have to admit tho, the whole procedural mumbo jumbo is something I have a hard time swallowing — bow to the dojo, bow to the flag, stand at attention, blah blah .. Its just all so serious. For some reason, that all just seemed to be too much for me. I suppose if I were to get more into it, go to more classes, learn more, and get better, I might have more respect for the art and history of it. But for now, it all just seems silly.

One thing I really liked about this place in particular is that they focus on self-defense. They teach from a self-defense perspective. I’ve been wanting to take more control of myself through self-defense classes of some sort. So, that part is cool. But the dojo is in Novi (and Farmington Hills) and the classes for adults are generally 6:00 or later … so, I just can’t see where I’d have time to make any classes. I thought I might be able to comit to Friday classes, but I’m not sure yet if I want to make that kind of commitment.

Plus, I’d have to get one of those outfits … and who needs more gear? Especially when I can’t stop buying bikes …

Buying bikes …. Yeah, last night, I committed to buying a road bike. My good friend Shirlee is selling her Giant OCR3 for a good price. Its got real low miles on it, and she treats her stuff really well. John says its a good bike and a good price (I know NOTHING about road bikes, so I had to consult the experts ) … So I told Shirlee I’ll take it!

And this is Shirlee, this is why I love her so much:

this other chick was wanting photos and wanting to drive up here from Detroit…I’m like, back off STALKER–I’m waiting to hear from Marty!!

Ahh friends … they’re just great 🙂

Its monday morning and I’m back at work.  How does the weekend go by so fast?

It was a pretty good and productive weekend though.  We took a big bite out of our horendous laundry situation, cleaned the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, went grocery shopping, rode outside, rode inside and made it to a friend’s house for the debut of the new season of Soprano’s.  All in all, a pretty good weekend.

The weather was beautiful, so we had the doors open to get some fresh air in the house.  Nick raked and cleaned up the front yard.  Jarek cleaned up the attic (his bedroom and domain, as well as his messy brother’s).  The front room and living room could still use some dusting and cleaning up, but mostly they’re livable and clutter free.

This week, the weather gets nasty.  Today its thunderstorming, gray, mild temperatures, but humid.  Its supposed to get cold and snowy tonight, and just be messy for the rest of the week.  This has been the most bizzare winter.  I’d almost believed this weekend that we’d be getting an early spring.  Guess mom nature has a sicker sense of humor than I’d originally given her credit for.

I’m going to try a new thing this week tho.  My coworker has been bugging me to try Tae Kwan Do and has convinced me to give it a shot on Wednesday.  I’m intregued.  I really don’t need another hobby, but this is something I’ve wanted to try for awhile, so I’m going to check it out.

Well, its Monday and I have work to do .. blah ..

We’ve been on a roll. We’ve been on the bikes (trainer or outside) 9 out of the past 10 days. And it feels great.

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with my pretty new titus since I’ve brought her home in October. It took me awhile to get the fit right and the rear shock ‘dialed-in’ , though, she served me well at iceman. I’ve had her on the rollers (w/fork stand) for the winter in hopes of building a solid relationship wtih her.

Well, last weekend, I let her come outside and play. I thought she was angry because she’d been locked away in someone else’s basement all winter. I felt like she was trying to throw me off – as if i was a cowboy riding a bull. So, I went to the shop and whined my heart out to Mike and John … yada, yada, yada, today she thanked me for buying her.

Turns out, all she needed was some air in the rear shock (and for her dumbass driver to unlock the front shock doh!). Apparently, when she went on a field trip in early winter, the pressure in the rear shock was severely reduced.

I think she was also pleased with mother nature today, as was I. I mean, it was gorgeous out today. We rode out our front door, for ~40 minutes or so, turned around and came back home. It was fantastic. Titus treated me well today … yes she did.