Matt picked us up from the hotel and we headed out to Hawaiian Adventures Water park. It was a pretty good time. I got a little burned though. It wasn't too bad. I had quite a bit of sunscreen on so I was pretty covered. I was significantly pink though. Decent place. It was small but the slides were pretty good. I would say it was a bit too expensive. It is small because I think many people don't want to go to a water park when there is the Ocean ALL around you.
There were some slides there that were just like races. It was sweet. I totally dug em. Matt and his friends REALLY liked them though. The wave pool was SOOOO awesome. I had such a good time there.
One of the highlights of the place was the GIANT half-pipe that you used with a tube for 2. It was great. Just picture a skateboard half-pipe only there is water on it. You get the idea.
After the park we went over to Matt's place. His view is AWESOME. He can basically see all Honolulu and at night this view is incredible. He has a nice place that he shares with a few guys he knows. One of them is his cousin. We were talking to a few of them about housing costs (wink wink) and as it turns out, things aren't so bad down here. Yeah its an arm and a leg for anything but it is not a shock to us as it is remarkably similar to DC/Maryland/Virginia.
Left his place and we ended up eating at a place called Duke's Waikiki Restaurant. The food was pretty good. I had some Fish Tacos (which I love) and we ate RIGHT ON THE BEACH. We were so close that on the same pavement was a shower for the surfers. They would walk up basically right next to us and shower off. It was great.
After dinner Matt and Shelly and we went to this place on the windward side where the houses were right on the beach. Shelly said that it was titled the "Number 1 beach in the United States". The sand is VERY VERY VERY soft and there are little specs of phosphorous that glow in the moonlight. Kathy was able to find one glowing even though the sun was covered by clouds. Off in the distance about 1 mile away you could see little islands. I forget what they are called now. I will update this when I get the name.
The 45 minute jeep ride back to the hotel was FREEZING. It was rough but we made it.
We called it a night at about 11:30.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Day 1
So the trip to Hawaii was pretty uneventful. LONG, but uneventful. Ryan picked us up at my place and we left EXACTLY at 11:30 which is a great start. We took a wrong turn on the way to the airport. That was dumb. We got to the airport after midnight and apparently I slept for a good hour or so while we waited for the desk to open.
Flight was uneventful. Arrived in Houston on time. Left Houston on time on a really large 767. I don't know that I have ever been on a plane that big. Not in recent memory anyway. I took about 5 or 6 catnaps (30 minutes or less) throughout the trip. I basically woke up when I realized my mouth was open and it felt really uncomfortable.
Arrived in Hawaii and it was great. A little overcast so that is a bit disappointing. Matt called before we even got to baggage claim so that was cool. We saw some people getting "leid" which was kinda cool. Except that one of the Lei s looked ed. Hot, but ed.
We were a bit groggy from the lack of sleep so it wasn't laughing and joy when we got here.
First thing I did was shower up and shave. I didn't want to hit the beach with a beard and end up with a perma-beard-tan. We scouted the hotel for a bit and found the pool and all that jazz. Its on the roof. Its cool. Our view is decent. I will post some pictures when I get back. Till then here is where our hotel is.
Went to the beach for awhile. We had to meet Matt Pounds at 5 for dinner so we knew we wouldn't have much time (it was about 3:30 at this point). We went to the beach and walked around, saw some nice hotels and trees and beach areas. Swam around for about 45 minutes. It was great. Rolling around in the waves is a really good time for me. The best part about Waikiki Beach was the view we had of Diamond Head State Park. It looks great from the beach.
So we went back to the hotel and hung out in the hot tub while it rained. We got all cleaned up then we met up with Matt Pounds and he took us to Dave and Busters. It was pretty good. Met up with a couple of his friends from the school he teaches at. They wanted to catch a movie and we were pretty tired from traveling. So we walked back to the hotel. It was kinda far. We crashed at about 8:30PM.
Woke up at 5 the next day.
Flight was uneventful. Arrived in Houston on time. Left Houston on time on a really large 767. I don't know that I have ever been on a plane that big. Not in recent memory anyway. I took about 5 or 6 catnaps (30 minutes or less) throughout the trip. I basically woke up when I realized my mouth was open and it felt really uncomfortable.
Arrived in Hawaii and it was great. A little overcast so that is a bit disappointing. Matt called before we even got to baggage claim so that was cool. We saw some people getting "leid" which was kinda cool. Except that one of the Lei s looked ed. Hot, but ed.
We were a bit groggy from the lack of sleep so it wasn't laughing and joy when we got here.
First thing I did was shower up and shave. I didn't want to hit the beach with a beard and end up with a perma-beard-tan. We scouted the hotel for a bit and found the pool and all that jazz. Its on the roof. Its cool. Our view is decent. I will post some pictures when I get back. Till then here is where our hotel is.
Went to the beach for awhile. We had to meet Matt Pounds at 5 for dinner so we knew we wouldn't have much time (it was about 3:30 at this point). We went to the beach and walked around, saw some nice hotels and trees and beach areas. Swam around for about 45 minutes. It was great. Rolling around in the waves is a really good time for me. The best part about Waikiki Beach was the view we had of Diamond Head State Park. It looks great from the beach.
So we went back to the hotel and hung out in the hot tub while it rained. We got all cleaned up then we met up with Matt Pounds and he took us to Dave and Busters. It was pretty good. Met up with a couple of his friends from the school he teaches at. They wanted to catch a movie and we were pretty tired from traveling. So we walked back to the hotel. It was kinda far. We crashed at about 8:30PM.
Woke up at 5 the next day.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
I am off to Hawaii
So I am at work. It is 6:30. That means it is time to go to Hawaii.
I leave at 11:30 from my place to the airport. Kathy and I will have to wait till 6:10 for our flight. I think thats fine. Kathy has a shirt she is Crocheting and I can read or sleep cuz I am tired.
We will be in Hawaii for 10 days. Its gonna rule.
I am taking bets as to how many pictures I will take.
Ten to One over unders on 783 pictures.
1003 place.
645 to show.
783 1003 and 1003 783 get the quinella.
That didn't make sense.
I leave at 11:30 from my place to the airport. Kathy and I will have to wait till 6:10 for our flight. I think thats fine. Kathy has a shirt she is Crocheting and I can read or sleep cuz I am tired.
We will be in Hawaii for 10 days. Its gonna rule.
I am taking bets as to how many pictures I will take.
Ten to One over unders on 783 pictures.
1003 place.
645 to show.
783 1003 and 1003 783 get the quinella.
That didn't make sense.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Paintball, house, Christie, productive weekend
Things I did this weekend:
Some other things that happened:
Paintball. God I love it. I really wanna get into that. I would love to go out and buy me a Tippmann 98 Custom. That would rule. I at least want to buy a facemask before the next time I go out (May 14th). I have a great story from that, Id like to post a graphic but I think I don't have time now. Ill do that later, maybe in the comments.
Kathy and I are going to be buying a house. I had a good long talk with Rick and he basically convinced me to overcome the fears and face reality that there is no other way to survive. Not to mention the benefits this POTENTIALLY adds to the relationship Kathy and I have.
Of course the work section. I am going to request that we get moving on the Mentorship that my managers discussed with me. I will do this with my weekly status report that I will send this week.
That is all for now.
Hawaii in 4 days.
- Saw the New Family Guy
- Reinstalled Suse on my Desktop
- Beat a few levels of Krash Nitro Cart
- Hung out with Shane Cummings
- He is in town to visit his sister and girlfriend and Kathy and I. Good times
- Found out my sister is getting married
- He is really a great guy. The whole fam was just waiting for it to happen. Its a good thing. I will probably put pictures on my gallery of the proposal. It sounded very emotional and symbolic
- Saw my Aunt and Uncle who were visiting VA/NC for Golf.
- They came through and paid for lunch for Kathy and I. It was great.
- Went to the Gym at least once.
Some other things that happened:
Paintball. God I love it. I really wanna get into that. I would love to go out and buy me a Tippmann 98 Custom. That would rule. I at least want to buy a facemask before the next time I go out (May 14th). I have a great story from that, Id like to post a graphic but I think I don't have time now. Ill do that later, maybe in the comments.
Kathy and I are going to be buying a house. I had a good long talk with Rick and he basically convinced me to overcome the fears and face reality that there is no other way to survive. Not to mention the benefits this POTENTIALLY adds to the relationship Kathy and I have.
Of course the work section. I am going to request that we get moving on the Mentorship that my managers discussed with me. I will do this with my weekly status report that I will send this week.
That is all for now.
Hawaii in 4 days.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Time machines
My Time Machine:
On Sunday April 3rd, Kathy's roommate Melissa had a going away party. She is moving to Miami. At this party, they had a poker table set up. We decided to play a few hands. $10 buy-ins. The game started decent. Then I got some good hands. My secret is that I am terrible at bluffing, so normally I don't bluff. I usually go big when I got what it takes to win. So I went big, got excited and cracked a huge smile. Everyone thought I was bluffing. Truth is, I was just excited. +$40 later I left the table with a really good feeling. We set up another day to play on Wednesday. +$50 later, I am thinking this is the best way for me to make income.
With Quicken, I am able to figure out that I net +$27/day on average. That is after food and rent and fun spending. These poker matches are basically placing me into the future. It's my time machine. I am 3 days ahead right now. This is great. I will continue to play poker often.
Work got a bit better:
(side note): A friend talked to me Saturday about IEC. She has worked on some really cool stuff. Her impression of my project from the outside is exactly the same as my impression of the project from the inside. We talked about what COTS meant and she feels the same as I do. *edit*
Friday I had a meeting with my manager and my manager's manager. It was one of those "What do you want to be when you grow up?" conversations. There is a formal document that needs to be filled out that I needed to do which I had a very planned response too. I think they weren't expecting this because of what everyone else has been saying. ("I don't know", "Maybe a manager or something non-specific", "code-monkey", "etc"). My response was that I wanted to be a CTO. But in the case where my background is not sufficient, I would settle for the rest of my career heading towards that. They replied: "GREAT, here is what we will do...". My 2nd line said that she knew a guy we could get in touch with. I can interview him and get his resume and see the kind of stuff he did to become the CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST. How cool is that. So end of June I will do this thing and they said that what they would like is for me to do some type of Mentorship with him. This made my day. I could be really excited about something like that. I wish I had a time machine so I could go to the end of June and get this thing on my schedule so I can start my career.
Weekend/Weather/Exercise:
This was the best weekend (that I didn't have visitors) in as long as I can remember. Started out Friday with that meeting (see work section). Then Mario, Kathy and I played some hot racquetball for a few hours. That ruled. After that we went to a dinner with Amanda, Azella, Re Re and her friend and a few others. It was great. Re Re and her friend and I talked quite a bit. It was great. I think we are all going to get together and go dancing. It will rule. Re Re seems like a really chill chick. I saw her house on the bike trail when I went with Derek. Rules.
We called it an early night Friday (11:30) and we went to the Cherry Blossom festival (check back after work hours today) on Saturday morning with Mario, Stephen Long, Melissa Mong and her friend (see gallery). It was wicked nice out and I got a wicked sunburn (see gallery). We all had a great time eating Japanese food and seeing the trees.
Sunday we got up, watched Lost (which was Flippin AMAZING), then I went home and fixed my bike and took her out for a spin. I rode all the way up to Kathy's place by way of Great Seneca. There is a path basically going all the way to her place. That ruled. I love Gaithersburg. It was probably like 12 miles or so. Based on this and the Pythagorean Theorem. We finished the day with the front 9 of the Seneca Park Disc Golf course and some tasteless home made turkey burgers. It was a healthy/athletic weekend with perfect weather. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and live that weekend again.
Moving:
So hanging with Melissa Mong (CHAP president), she talked about where she lived in Bethesda. It seemed like it was about 2 stops from the metro center so it was mad close to everything in DC. I think she even pays less for me in rent and stuff. And her ride to work isn't bad at all. I was totally jealous. Damn. Then we were talking to Mario about getting pre-approved. Based on what he said and my situation, I think that I can get pre-approved for $200k. With that I would be really excited to buy a place similar to the one I was looking at on Christopher ave (map to work). This would not hinder my move to Hawaii NEXT summer either. It would only add to the savings. Good deal. I am looking into it. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and not spend so much on credit cards.
CHAP Athletics:
I am the Athletic head for the MD West chapter of the College Hire Acceleration program. This means that I have to set up a paintball game in May (done), and semi-weekly Disc golf games. The good news is that CHAP will pay for the new set of Discs. Of course I will be responsible for storing and transporting (i.e. CHAP is buying my new discs). Good times. I don't need a time machine. I enjoy life now.
On Sunday April 3rd, Kathy's roommate Melissa had a going away party. She is moving to Miami. At this party, they had a poker table set up. We decided to play a few hands. $10 buy-ins. The game started decent. Then I got some good hands. My secret is that I am terrible at bluffing, so normally I don't bluff. I usually go big when I got what it takes to win. So I went big, got excited and cracked a huge smile. Everyone thought I was bluffing. Truth is, I was just excited. +$40 later I left the table with a really good feeling. We set up another day to play on Wednesday. +$50 later, I am thinking this is the best way for me to make income.
With Quicken, I am able to figure out that I net +$27/day on average. That is after food and rent and fun spending. These poker matches are basically placing me into the future. It's my time machine. I am 3 days ahead right now. This is great. I will continue to play poker often.
Work got a bit better:
(side note): A friend talked to me Saturday about IEC. She has worked on some really cool stuff. Her impression of my project from the outside is exactly the same as my impression of the project from the inside. We talked about what COTS meant and she feels the same as I do. *edit*
Friday I had a meeting with my manager and my manager's manager. It was one of those "What do you want to be when you grow up?" conversations. There is a formal document that needs to be filled out that I needed to do which I had a very planned response too. I think they weren't expecting this because of what everyone else has been saying. ("I don't know", "Maybe a manager or something non-specific", "code-monkey", "etc"). My response was that I wanted to be a CTO. But in the case where my background is not sufficient, I would settle for the rest of my career heading towards that. They replied: "GREAT, here is what we will do...". My 2nd line said that she knew a guy we could get in touch with. I can interview him and get his resume and see the kind of stuff he did to become the CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST. How cool is that. So end of June I will do this thing and they said that what they would like is for me to do some type of Mentorship with him. This made my day. I could be really excited about something like that. I wish I had a time machine so I could go to the end of June and get this thing on my schedule so I can start my career.
Weekend/Weather/Exercise:
This was the best weekend (that I didn't have visitors) in as long as I can remember. Started out Friday with that meeting (see work section). Then Mario, Kathy and I played some hot racquetball for a few hours. That ruled. After that we went to a dinner with Amanda, Azella, Re Re and her friend and a few others. It was great. Re Re and her friend and I talked quite a bit. It was great. I think we are all going to get together and go dancing. It will rule. Re Re seems like a really chill chick. I saw her house on the bike trail when I went with Derek. Rules.
We called it an early night Friday (11:30) and we went to the Cherry Blossom festival (check back after work hours today) on Saturday morning with Mario, Stephen Long, Melissa Mong and her friend (see gallery). It was wicked nice out and I got a wicked sunburn (see gallery). We all had a great time eating Japanese food and seeing the trees.
Sunday we got up, watched Lost (which was Flippin AMAZING), then I went home and fixed my bike and took her out for a spin. I rode all the way up to Kathy's place by way of Great Seneca. There is a path basically going all the way to her place. That ruled. I love Gaithersburg. It was probably like 12 miles or so. Based on this and the Pythagorean Theorem. We finished the day with the front 9 of the Seneca Park Disc Golf course and some tasteless home made turkey burgers. It was a healthy/athletic weekend with perfect weather. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and live that weekend again.
Moving:
So hanging with Melissa Mong (CHAP president), she talked about where she lived in Bethesda. It seemed like it was about 2 stops from the metro center so it was mad close to everything in DC. I think she even pays less for me in rent and stuff. And her ride to work isn't bad at all. I was totally jealous. Damn. Then we were talking to Mario about getting pre-approved. Based on what he said and my situation, I think that I can get pre-approved for $200k. With that I would be really excited to buy a place similar to the one I was looking at on Christopher ave (map to work). This would not hinder my move to Hawaii NEXT summer either. It would only add to the savings. Good deal. I am looking into it. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and not spend so much on credit cards.
CHAP Athletics:
I am the Athletic head for the MD West chapter of the College Hire Acceleration program. This means that I have to set up a paintball game in May (done), and semi-weekly Disc golf games. The good news is that CHAP will pay for the new set of Discs. Of course I will be responsible for storing and transporting (i.e. CHAP is buying my new discs). Good times. I don't need a time machine. I enjoy life now.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
"This Afternoon" (dumb post)
Kathy and I were Talking.
Campbell, Roderic says: when are we leaving.
Law, Kathy says: this afternoon
Law, Kathy says: don't know what time
Campbell, Roderic says: "this afternoon" sounds weierd
Campbell, Roderic says: its like "next door"
Campbell, Roderic says: I don't get it
Law, Kathy says: as opposed to next afternoon
Law, Kathy says: what's your problem?
Campbell, Roderic says: afternoon is a state not a noun
Campbell, Roderic says: its like saying, "When will you go to sleep" "This tired"
Law, Kathy says: afternoon is a time not a state
Campbell, Roderic says: "When are we leaving" "This 1PM" I hate that.
Law, Kathy says:you wouldn't just say "when are we leaving" "afternoon"
Campbell, Roderic says: but you should
Law, Kathy says: no
Campbell, Roderic says: Because it is not a noun
Campbell, Roderic says: when are we leaving.
Law, Kathy says: this afternoon
Law, Kathy says: don't know what time
Campbell, Roderic says: "this afternoon" sounds weierd
Campbell, Roderic says: its like "next door"
Campbell, Roderic says: I don't get it
Law, Kathy says: as opposed to next afternoon
Law, Kathy says: what's your problem?
Campbell, Roderic says: afternoon is a state not a noun
Campbell, Roderic says: its like saying, "When will you go to sleep" "This tired"
Law, Kathy says: afternoon is a time not a state
Campbell, Roderic says: "When are we leaving" "This 1PM" I hate that.
Law, Kathy says:you wouldn't just say "when are we leaving" "afternoon"
Campbell, Roderic says: but you should
Law, Kathy says: no
Campbell, Roderic says: Because it is not a noun
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Visitors and DrumCorps
Visitors:
Alan Cona visited this weekend. I haven't seen him since probably freshman year of college. So like 6 or 7 years ago. Anyway it was cool. He was mostly the same. But I have a new found respect for his brutal honesty. He has done some pretty wild things. Sounds like he has had a full life. He is a pretty smart dude also. I am sure he will be fine. Some things worry me though. Like what he brought to my place. <wink wink> Anyway, we played racquetball because it was raining. We also ate out at a few places and it was good.
Wes also visited. But not so much me. He has a friend in Columbia. So Wes, Vin, Bonnie, Marissa, Derek, Kathy and I went out to Cheesecake Factory on Friday night. We then met up with them on Saturday night too. That was fun.
Saturday Alan and Kathy and Azelle and Amanda and I all went to Tyson's Corner and shoped for hours. Alan and I just caught up. It was cool. The girls did their thing.
We went to Olive garden for the worst service EVER!
Work and Drumcorp(?):
Thats right. They get the same category.
So I was sitting in work *edit* and I started searching the internet for camp videos and I came accross Dev's Feb camp or something. Man I started missing it so much I almost flippin' cried. Anyway, Mario suggests it is because it represents a part of my life where I was rediculously productive and now I am *slower*. I think he is right. I was sad.
So I get a call today from Matt Lusky and he says that he has a spot during movins where he is going to need some help teaching the X-men Bassline. At first I was a little hesitant, but then I thought about it. That would be perfect. Its like 2-3 days that would get me the fix I really need. I could go there and hang with some drummer boys and get some REDICULOUS teaching on my resume. I could also come home and work the rest of the week and manage to not take ANY vacation time. This could be good.
I really feel like I have some things I could really show them that Lusky may not know about. I am really excited about this now. I really hope this happens. It would pretty much make my day.
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