Catching Up

I've got a admit, I've been a little slow with updating my blog. This hasn't been because of a lack of time as much as I've been a little lazy :-) So since classes have ended I've been looking for a job, and I got a interview at HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union. Its an entry level programming position is a custom in-house language. I'm looking forward to starting to work and I'm anticipating that I'll get the job ;-)

To prepair for the interview I have a nice suit and am getting several letters of recommendation together. One is from Hawaii Council on Economic Education, the company I "worked" for on the software project last semester. Next is from one of my professors, the one who taught the software project. Then I am getting one from my old boss from the computer lab. I figure that should be enough...

My Christmas was nice and peaceful. I opened the presents mom sent me. There are lots of usable items (shampoo, snacks, etc.) and some fun items (SuDoKu book and Rubik Cube, etc.) I got a nice card from Volker and Linda (Uncle and Aunt) which was very nice. Overall I enjoyed everything I got. Anastasia gave me a Starbucks gift card which has already com in handy :-) and Jamie gave me a booklet for the movies (free tickes and snacks) which was very nice. Melissa and I both agreed not to get gifts but she made me a very nice little present containing a note and a drawing she made (she's a very good artist!) I do feel bad for not getting a card though and will have to make it up to her in the future... As for everyone else this year, I'm sorry, not much in the bank for gifts but I'm thinking about sending late Christmas gifts after I get a job :-)

I've been keeping in touch with friends from school. Gabe and I had coffee and talked for a bit yesterday and today I'm supposed to meet up with Hanna for lunch. I had a nice coffee and chat with Anastasia and Jordan the other day and I met up with Chris a little while ago. Melissa and Jamie are out of town with family. I've been keeping in touch with friends back home on and off too. Holly I've been talking to a bit lately and Chrissie seems to be doing just fine. I haven't talked to Stacy in a little while...

I've been mainly relaxing and enjoying my time off (unemployed) a little while looking for a job. I've put in 5 applications at the mall but haven't heard anything back from any of them. I'm going to have to check up on them... In my free time I've been keeping up with my computer skill by writing a little game, not done yet but its been fun making it so far.

Well that should catch everyone up a little on the past week or so of my life. Hope everyone reading this (not sure how many do... post something if you do read this, it would be nice to know) had a great holiday this year and is ready for the new one coming up quickly...

The Day After

Sitting here chatting about Harry Potter and the last book... My christmas was funn but uneventfull, i'll put a post up about it tomorrow. :-)

Last Bit Done

Well the last bit of school is finally done. I just got back from HCEE where I installed the project we did for them this semester. The install went smooth and the addition of email notifications went easily. The whole experience working with the organization was very educational and enjoyable. I can now say I have nothing left to think about in regards to my education :-) That's really a good feeling!

Afternoon With Tara

Cheez Grin :-) just say a movie and had dinner with Tara. Always nice to hang out with her when i can.

Melissa Can Juggle

Fun Times in Sears

I'm a Graduate :-)

Well i'm finally done with school. My last final was last night and i tink it went well. My last day of work at the lab was Wednesday so i'm unemployed at the moment, but thats ok. I'm headed down to the mall to pick up a quick temporary job. I've got my resume out but will have a lot more time to look now. I sent it in to one place that a really hope i get, its a nice entry level programming job.

The Weekend

Friday was nice, Tara setup a lunch with me. We went to a little place off campus during her lunch break and spent some time talking over lunch. Its been a while sense we met up outside of school. This weekend has been a little boring, not much really going on. I cleaned the apartment and have listened to a bit of the Harry Potter books. There are a few movies out I'd like to see but thats gonna have to wait till pay day, I'm a tad poor at the moment. Its not to bad though, 7 days and I get paid... Tonight Anastasia is setting something up, I'm supposed to meet her in Waikiki around 4:45. It will be nice to see her, been about a week sense we met up last...

Presentation Over

Well, we had group presentations tonight. There are three groups in the Software Project class, we were the first to go. There are six people in the group and we all did a little talking. My part was a live walk through of the project, explaining how it all works. The whole presentation was about 35 min. long. After we finished there was a little 5 min. break before the next one. I went to talk to the professor and to give him a copy of all the documents/manuals we had. He mad a passing comment that he rarely ever gives out 100%... Always a nice thing to hear after a lot of hard work. The last bit that need done is the peer evaluations due on the 14th, the day of the final. The final exam itself is going to be 10 questions, all short answer, all open book, so it shouldn't be to hard. We are all heading over to the bar for a few drinks to celebrate the completion of a very difficult class.

Late Night

Late night group work... We started today at 9:30 in the morning and we will finish at about 1:00am. The day has been very productive though, 6 Documents done, basically everything due for the rest of the semester :-)

Seven Wonders of the World

I voted, did you? Looks like they, whoever "they" are, are updating the list of the seven wonders of the world. The cool thing is voting is open to the general population of the world. Head over to http://www.new7wonders.com/ and register, then vote. It takes about 5 min. to do both. My votes are below...

Angkor

Easter Island Statues

Great Wall

Kremlin (St. Basil)

Petra

Pyramids of Giza

Stonehenge

Jamie!!!

Just had lunch with Jamie at Ryan's. Now yes are waiting for a movie to start :-)

I'm at a movie with Anastasia :-) We have been trying to hang out for a bit but she canceled on me for work. Its ok though, i get to hang now. Its always nice to get together with her :-)

Fun Times

Went to Kahala mall, Melissa bought two foam swords at KBToys. We were playing with them when security said we couldn't inside the mall. We went outside and played for a bit :-) When we went back in to look in The Gap, like the map said, it wasn't there any more so we went back out to play some more before dinner. I was hoping to hear from Jamie today about hanging out. :-( I'll call her tomorrow.

Thanksgiving dinner... Me with turkey and Melissa with pizza :-)

Headache Tonight

I'm up with a headache. I've been tossing and turning all night so far but it got bed enough to get me up. I took a few aspirin and am hoping they work so i can go to sleep. If i lay down now it just gets worse again. I kinda oney this was coming as i had a little headache all day long, i even said something about it to Melissa over dinner. Just on fun :-(

Tonight

Melissa and me having a little fun. Hope you all are too. We grabbed a few drinks and are headed to separate destinations tonight. One possibly dancing and the other possibly relaxing. :-)

Dinner and a iPod

i'm at dinner with Melissa tonight. It was a nice surprise actually, Wednesday is normally a busy day. I got to show her my new iPod that Anastasia got me... for no reason whatsoever. It was a very nice surprise when i got home!

I'm sitting go Astronomy class and an rather bored at the moment. The professor is nice but the class is all about watching a powerpoint presentation... Once this is over i'm gonna work on my group stuff a bit, then off to dinner as Chris's place.

I'm off to meat Anastasia for coffee and was passing Aka Moana mall when i saw this... So what happened to Thanksgiving?

Wish time!

B-Day

Jamie's B-Day dinner! She's a whopping 23 years young today! Don't i just feel ancient :-)

Wednesday Night

So i'm hanging out with Melissa and Jamie tonight. We had a bite to eat and are talking away for a little bit. Not sure whats up now, might go see a movie might just stay hanging out... Hope everyone is having a good night.

Paul :-)

Chris :-)

Melissa :-)

Jamie :-)

The Jamie Pose

We missed Jamie tonight. It would have been nice if the three of us could have hung out. Next time maybe.

Dinner

Dinner time :-) I got a salad and Melissa got a soup. The salad was really good but i forgot to say no dressing... Melissa was nice enough to switch with me so i finished the soup... We are off to rent a movie now.

Fun Times

I'm out with Melissa and Peter tonight. Melissa had the great idea to play pool, so we all met up at Dave & Busters. It seems I can play pool better after a beer or two... :-) All in all its a nice Sunday night out and a good end to the week. Just have to do the whole work thing in the morning, unfortunately.

Relaxing

Hi folks. I'm with a smiling Melissa tonight catching up a bit with whats going on. We had some hot chocolate from starbucks. Neither of us really want to do anything to much tonight besides chill.

Sunset

Sunset from Aloha Tower. Melissa and a stopped off here for a bit of a chat before heading over to First Friday to walk around some galleries. We are going to meet some friends me hers there for a little bit. As you can hopefully see the sunset was really nice this evening. It was just a deep orange color. Also as you can see i got posting from my phone working again!

Rainy Day

It was a bit of a rainy day in Hawai'i. Really not alot of fun. I got up and tried to wait everything out, but I had to head to class around 10am. By the time I got to campus I was rather wet, even with an umbrella. The day itself was kinda blah, but I did manage to get some stuff done. I finished moving the blog over to the new version of blogger.com. I still am working on posting from my phone like I used to. Once that happens then I should be posting alot more, just like before. Today I also managed to work a bit more on my Software Project stuff. Things are really starting to come together. Well, hope your all having a good, sunny, day today.

Halloween

Tonight was alot of fun. I met up with Melissa at her place to help her out with the costume. After that we headed over to Dave & Busters for the night. They had a show on the roof bar and two of our favorite bands were playing. We met up with Jamie and her firends for a bit that night and stayed at the show till our bands both had played. I was a good bit of fun :-) Melissa took a picture of me in my costume, once I get a copy I'll post it. Hope all of you had a good Halloween too.

My Weekend

Nothing big went on this weekend, but a few little things did. Friday I had a meeting with the client for my Software Project class and after that I was in the lab working of a bunch of stuff for it with the group. Anastasia and I were going to have lunch on Friday, but she wasn't feeling very well. I stayed at the lab and just continued to work on the project. After I headed to Waikiki and stopped over to see her. We hung out for a bit before Jordan got home. We all ordered in some dinner and watched a bit of TV, Anastasia fell asleep shortly after finishing dinner.

A little after dinner I headed over to Lily's place. She had invited me over for a bit and had a little gathering of people over. I stayed there till around 2:00am. The rest of the people stayed longer but I was getting tired and had a 30min. bike ride to get home :-) The night was fun, we all were playing a drinking game and just hung out for a bit.

After that night I really didn't do much of anything on Saturday. After I got up (very late I might add), I got a call from Holly. She and I talked on the phone for about 45min. before I headed to the lab to work on my HTML class. Its an on-line class but the teacher is being extremely unrealistic with the expectation for an intro level class. Not many of us are happy and a few of us are going to be going to the dean. After that I came home and just hung out there for the night.

Its Sunday morning now and I'm killing a bit of time before Jamie gets here. She is picking me up and we are headed to the theaters to catch two more Hawaii International Film Festival films. We are planning on grabbing a quick lunch between them and making a nice day out of it. Tonight I'm going to have dinner with Melissa and catch up with her. We haven't seen each other at all this week. She has had her brother and his friend visiting and they leave tonight. From the texts we sent it sounds like they all had a very busy but fun week, I'm looking forward to hearing about it.

A.P.T.

I went to see a Hawaii International Film Festival film called A.P.T. with Jamie and Richie. Now I had not heard a lot about this film, just that its about people disappearing from an apartment building every night at the same time. I was thinking and therefore expecting the film to be a mystery type of thing. Well to my surprise it was a suspense/thriller. It was a very well thought out plot and the filming was done perfectly. Not a lot of blood or gore in the film at all, but packed full of suspense. Needless to say I was a bit creaped out leaving the theater... I'm going to a few more on Sunday but already have an idea about them :-)

The Weekend and The Future

This past weekend was very low key. I went on Friday night to Detox and listened to some bands. They had both the upper and lower levels going so it was about 6 bands for the night. Black Square one of my preferred bands was playing. Well they play most Fridays. :-) Saturday was a nice catch-up day with Jamie. We went to Island Burgers at Ala Moana mall. Neither of us had eaten there before so it was new to us both. The spinach and artichoke dip with chips was really yummy and burgers are big, but come with no fries. A single order of fries is 4 bucks, but it is worth it. The order would be enough for four people. After eating our lunches we went to the movies. Guardian was well done, not quite what I expected but a very good movie none the less. Not much happened on Sunday at all. I cleaned the apartment (it was my week) and worked on the Software Project for a bit. The project is basically an event management and registration system.

Well, if everything goes as planned I'll be graduating in January. I've put in a petition and ordered a cap and gown. On the 10th of January I'm walking across a stage and getting deploma. The next step is basically back to the "real" working world. I have about 2 and a 1/2 months to find a job. I'm not to worried about it right now though. But that said I need to get my backup plan in place so if there is no job then I can get on with a Masters without waiting. To do this its a little complicates.

Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) does not offer a masters in Computer Science (CS) only in Information Systems (IS). The difference is CS is a coder and IS is a administrator, more or less. I would much prefer a CS major than an IS major so I would have to go to the University of Hawaii (UH). This isn't a big deal in and of itself. I wouldn't have to move and in the end it would probably be cheaper as I'm a Hawaii resident. The problem is that UH requires a Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) for the masters program. What's a GRE you ask, well its a Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) for masters. There are two tests a general and a subject, they each cost 130 bucks!

Now I've done my digging and I can get a waver from financial aid here at HPU to the test cost 0 bucks each. This is a one time waver because I'm not dependent and I'm poor, at the moment. So I went and got the waver. :-) The process took about 10 min. to print stuff of the internet and walk to financial aid, then about 30 min. to get them to give me the waver. Its not a normal thing they get here at HPU because to get a masters here does not require either test.

So I got the waver and I got the application, next step it to fill it out and mail it in. That's on tap for Thursday. So my plans for the future are a tiny tiny bit safer now. I hope to get a job, but if not I can get a masters. I was a CS masters but that requires a GRE. If for some reason I fail the GRE or just can't get into UH, I can still take the IS masters here a HPU. :-) So my goal, backup and 2nd backup are coming into place.

Now pop-quiz time, define the following:
UH, GRE, HPU, IS, SAT, CS

Earthquake

Well on Sunday I was in my very first earthquake. The epicenter was about 200 miles off the coast of the Big Island was measured to be 6.5 followed by a 5.5 after shock. The first lasted about 2 seconds and the second about 15 seconds. I've never been in an earthquake before so it was a shock to me. When it happened the first was over so quick, by the time I got out of bed it was over. During the second I was standing in my room, then in the doorway to my room. I know its supposed to be the stucturally safest place to stand, but if the house is gonna come down, um... it won't help. The house itself shook quite a bit. Think of a rollercoaster and how you get shaken up, its similar but not quite the same :-)

After it was all over we (roommates and I) turned on the TV to see what was up. That lasted all of, maybe, 5 min. before the power went out. So no radio, no TV, no lights, etc. Not to bad as it was morning still. I typed to call Melissa but didn't have any luck with the phone, all circuits were busy so I texted her just to make sure everything was ok. I got a voicemail from her so moved on with calls. After I tried to call some people back home and I got ahold of Carmine. She didn't here about the quake yet (it just happened :-) so she turned on CNN and relayed me some information. Not much else I could so so I got up, had a nice hot shower and hopped on my bike to ride around. The first thing I noticed was no sound from most anywhere. Some people were in their cars with the radios on, but other than that just kids playing.

Once I was downtown heading to Waikiki I noticed that there were no street lights. Well most everyone was treating inersections like stop signs. You did see the occational idiot just blowing threw them though. Once I got into Waikiki not much was going on, no electricity can put a damper on things. The ABC stores were open, but would only let 2-3 people in at a time. Employees were escorting them around the store as it was dark. After riding around for an hour or so I got a call from Melissa. Her phone was dead so she was on a payphone. We met up for a bit before I headed home. Riding through town again the cops were out in most major inersections. Not sure they were helping much though..

I ended up getting power back at 12:25AM.

Friday the 13th

Well, its today, the 13th and a Friday.... never a good thing I guess. Well its a rare 13th too...
10 / 13 / 2006
1+0+1+3+2+0+0+6 = 13

Not much has been going on lately. I went to Lily's place a few nights ago to hang out. It was a good time. We had a few Corona's and got a chance to talk a bit. After that I headed home (about 2am ish). The only other big stuff this week has been working on my Software Project class. I have to say the group I'm in is working really well together. The project is moving along nicely and our grades have been nice and high. Tonight is going to be nice an relaxing. I'm hoping to go see a movie and hang out with some friends.

A Week Later

Its been a week sense my last post. Nothing big has happened but a lot of little stuff. Tuesday night was our gathering over at Chris' place. It was my turn to do food but we didn't know for sure if it was on till that day, so I didn't cook anything. I got pizza for everyone instead :-) We watched a movie and talked for a short while. After the gathering Melissa and I stopped off at McDonalds for coffee before heading home.

Thursday was the Poetry Slam at Hawaiian Hut. It was supposed to be a lot of us getting together, but it didn't work out. Chris and Jamie were sick and Richie stayed home to take care of Jamie. Melissa, myself and Melissa's friend enjoyed the show though. The slam is a mini contest in 2 rounds. Everyone who signed up gets to do one poem. Then the top three get to do it again. The night was enjoyable to say the least.

Friday was First Friday. Anastasia, Jordan, Melissa, Melissa and myself went to Bar Next Door for a few drinks. After we walked around some of the galleries. Some of the art is really very nice, others not so much. This week things were kinda dead for some reason, not a lot of people out at all. We ended up going to Murphy's for a late dinner and talking. Anastasia and Jordan headed home and Melissa and I headed to a party that Melissa was invited to. We stayed there for about an hour or so before heading home ourselves.

The weekend itself was nice and relaxing. I had dinner with Anastasia on Saturday before heading to Detox for a show. I had helped the manager of Black Square with something so I was on the "VIP" list for the night, didn't have to pay cover to get in. Three bands played and we all had a good time listening and dancing. Sunday was a nice mellow day. I took care of some homework stuff and just relaxed for the day.

Daughter of a Friend of a Friend

Well I got a call from Melissa inviting me to this "thing." Her friend from work has a daughter in a singing compitition. I said I would go. Now the show started after I got the invite, so I hoped on my bike and headed to Melissa's place. I made it to her place in time and we were off to Waikiki to see the show. One thing I have to mention, there are bike racks in Waikiki, but not nearly enought!

We parked our bikes and headed into the show, now it was around this point I found out the show was a TV show! Hawaii Stars is somthing like American Idol, but just for Hawaii. Over about an hour and a half we watched, clapped, oooed and aahhhed. It was alot of fun seeing the quick and yet still somehow slow filming process for the TV program. In about 3 hours time we filmed 3 shows.

After we finished watching our singer for the 3rd show Melissa and I headed out. We were on our way to grab some food to sneek into a movie. We were headed to see School for Scoundrels at Ward. the movie was extreamly funny. Both of us laughed our heads off most of the way through the movie. If your in the mood for a laugh I would recommend seeing it.

Sunday :-)

I went out today and had a coffee at Starbucks with Anastasia. It was nice, just the two of us. We got to catch up on the week for a little then we went and caught a movie. I'de recommend Open Season, its got a nice storyline and is animated very well.

Right now I'm outstide my appartment, as you can see from the picture, working on some school work for my Software Project class. I was lucky enough to find a wireless signal out here that I can use. Its not the best but it works.

Lost

I'm at Sunset on the Beach which is a movie shown on a big screen on the beach. Tonight is the premier of the TV show Lost. Its filmed on the island so they show the premier here first then on TV this Wednesday. Friends from work and Jamie should all be coming in a bit, but its already packed!

Well Jamie had something come up so she didn't make it and with all the people I didn't see my friends from work. On the other hand did run into some people I knew from school. The show was fun to watch, its a unique experience to watch a movie on the beach like that. I hadn't done it sense I lived in Waikiki.

The Show

Having fun at the show!

The Day

I'm waiting outside of Harbor Pub for a dinner with Melissa, Jamie and Molly. We're having a bite to eat then off to a show at Pipeline. Today was filled with run around stuff. I turned in my petition to graduate along with the 120 dollar fee. The school didn't have enough money from all my tuition payments from four years... After that i did some homework for one of my classes. Finally i started looking around the net for information on the GRE which is basically like the SAT but for graduate school. I need to take it in case i want or have to start my masters in the spring.

Sorry

Some of you have been asking where my blog went. Well I tried to update to the new beta blogger and it didn't go real smooth. I'm back to the old system for now. Not much has been missed though. Monday was basically a full day of work. After work I spent some time with Melissa, always a fun experience. :-) Tuesday I had my first meeting for my Software Project class. The project is relatively non-complex. We went over what everyone has done and basically prepared for class tomorrow. After the meeting I met up with Melissa for a bit. We had a good time again. :-) Today I didn't do much, talked with Melissa over the phone for an hour or so and hanging out here at home most of it. As you can tell by this post I happened to find a wireless signal to hop online with. Hope it will be around for awhile :-) The only bad thing is I have to sit outside to get it...

Lunch

I'm out to a lunch with Anastasia at Cheese Burger in Paradise. She's taking about getting into grad schools and how its not an easy process. Food is here, time to eat :-)