WEBmikey

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Triple event weekend
5.03.2008 9:23 PM \| Link	This has been a jam-packed weekend so far, and tons of fun! Friday night there was a bachelor dinner in honor of Jonathan's wedding (coming up in a couple weeks!), so all of gathered for a long meal at the Clay Pit with plenty of drinking, story telling, and lots of laughter. After dinner we decided to walk to the Cloak Room, which is one of Jonathan's secret late-night haunts. Most of us had never been there before, and it was cool to discover this tiny, dark bar that's famous for being filled with Texas legislators (since it's right at the foot of the Capitol). It was a really fun evening! Today I got up early to get my weekend chores done so I could head out to enjoy Free Comic Book Day! Matt decided he wanted to check it out also, so we went to Capstone Comics (a really nice place that I'll definitely revisit) and ran into George and his grandson Devin, which was nice since I love seeing kids getting excited about free comics. The store really went all out for the event with raffle drawings, guests artists signing things, and even guys in authentic Star Wars costumes! Next, after an hour or so of rest, the Greatest American Heroes drove to Temple to play a benefit for the American Cancer Society. We played in a high school football stadium, right on the 50-yard line, and although we were missing Chris on guitar and had a guest bassist, we had a great time and seemed to be well received. It was so refreshing to play outside in the beautiful weather, and then have an awesome meal together at a 50s themed diner. Now I'm finally home, a little sunburnt, and a lot tired, but I've enjoyed every minute of this crazy weekend! I'm definitely going to kick back tomorrow! View photos: Jonathan's Bachelor Dinner View photos: Comics & Heroes Labels: bands, life, pals, photos
Glen is Billy
4.30.2008 12:13 PM \| Link	When I was growing up, I would always read the newspaper comics with my mom at breakfast, so of course I've read hundreds of goofy Family Circus panels by cartoonist Bil Keane. Recently I found out that Glen Keane, one of Disney's most talented animators and one of my heroes, is Bil Keane's son (and even appears in Family Circus as Billy)! I feel like I'm the last person to find this out (I'm sure all the other animation fans already knew this), but I thought it was pretty interesting! It's amazing that the lead animator for Ariel, the Beast, Aladdin, and Tarzan was right there in front of me while I was eating cereal! Labels: disney, life
Watching a novel
11:56 AM \| Link	While I was reading Douglas Coupland's novel JPod, I was surprised to find out it had been turned into a TV series in Canada! Thanks to the good ol' web, I was able to watch all 13 episodes of the show, which has unfortunately already been cancelled (and even caused a fan uproar). The show was really well-produced with great casting, and it was so funny to see many of the quirky scenes from the book adapted for the series. Actually, the episodes managed to cover most of the complete novel, so if it had continued to another season, there would have been new stories created for the characters! Anyway, this is the kind of show that people will either love or be bored with - if the outlandish lives of a group of video game developers sounds cool to you, I'll bet you'll like the show (and you can watch it on the CBC's site). I definitely enjoyed seeing a novel I never dreamed would be adapted brought to life for a while! Labels: life
The bonus cup
4.04.2008 10:55 AM \| Link	Since I'm a minor coffee snob, I have my own little coffee maker in my office so I don't have to drink the generic Folgers that we have at work. I grind some beans at home every few days and bring them in, so the first thing I do everyday is make my own little pot of caffeine, which I love sipping to wake up while I'm getting settled in. I like small mugs better than huge ones, since a smaller mug means less coffee to get cold, so I've been using a cool Kogepan mug that my pal Barron bought me in Japan everyday for the past several years! I usually have two of those mugs full right away, but then I try to save the rest of my pot for the afternoon. Around 3:00 PM my brain starts shutting down, so it's nice to have an extra sip of coffee without making a new pot (I just nuke the dregs for half a minute!). Lately I've been calling this the "bonus cup" in my own internal monologue. I love seeing that magic hour come along and thinking to my myself, "Time for the bonus cup!" Of course, sometimes I can't resist and I drink it all in the morning, and then I have to suffer in the afternoon. Poor me! Labels: life
DVD triumph
3.31.2008 8:51 PM \| Link	I'd like to formally announce that I've finally finished watching all of the DVDs that super-generous Santa gave me for Christmas this year! I'm also proud to say that I stayed true to my new frugal goal, and I haven't bought a single new DVD this year, since I already had so many good ones waiting to watch. This is a big deal for me, since I used to buy new DVDs all the time and stay perpetually behind in watching them! Of course, now I'm free to think about buying some that I've had my eye on, but I'm going to try to stick to getting one (or two, tops!) at a time and enjoying Netflix in between. Speaking of DVDs, I had been wondering for some time if Disney was ever going to release Zorro on DVD, since I used to like watching the old episodes on the Disney Channel before they changed their format. Well, I recently discovered they already have it on DVD, but it's only available as an exclusive Disney Movie Club selection! There's no way I'm joining, since I already own 95% of their entire catalog, so that's a really bummer. But there's still a chance I can get Zorro, since I also found out you can earn it as a prize for Disney Movie Rewards points! These points come with most Disney DVDs, and I have quite a few saved up, so I hope it works out that I can earn enough to get it before Disney changes their mind or sells out. Labels: disney, life
WEBmikey on the web
3.29.2008 6:27 AM \| Link	I've been expressing myself digitally a little more often recently, so here's an update on WEBmikey stuff. First, I finally caved-in and started using Twitter, which is one of those super-popular sites that millions of people are addicted to, and now I'm hooked, too! Twitter is really hard to explain (and people have written essays and even made films trying to get the idea across), but the best explanation I have heard is that it's a way to record and tell the world and your friends what you're doing or thinking when you don't have time to write an official blog post. It's fun to check it, since some of my friends are using it, so it's also a little like instant messaging, too. Anyway, I enjoy it, and it's fun to update it from both my MacBook and my iPhone! Next, I discovered a cool site called Profilactic that combines your online presence into one neat page. The new buzzword for this is "lifestreaming", and I think it's pretty cool. It's fun to see all of my WEBmikey posts, Flickr photos, Twitter posts, Delicious bookmarks, and even songs I'm listening to (since I use Last.fm to record what iTunes is playing) all in one chronological list! Finally, I've been working towards adding labels to all my prior WEBmikey posts, so things like my old poetry posts are getting collected together now (lots of ancient stuff out there!). I've also resurrected my Japanese practice blog, since my tutor Kumiko is giving me some great writing assignments for homework! After we correct them together, it's fun to have a record of what I'm learning online, so I'm sure this collection will keep growing! I'm also finally starting to take some macro toy photos again, which you may have noticed popping up in my Flickr photostream. Labels: life
Green, orange, red, yellow
3.28.2008 5:17 AM \| Link	Even though I enjoy using Lean Cuisine and 100-calorie snacks to help me control my diet, recently I was feeling like everything I ate was tasting the same. Nothing was fresh, and everything was so salty! I can pretty much accept this situation since I really have no interest in cooking, but I figured I could at least try eating more fresh food. Even though I like veggies and especially fruit of almost any kind, I almost never buy them because I can never eat them before they go bad, but I decided to just buy less and go to the grocery store more often if needed. So, I got some salad, broccoli, carrots, apples and bananas, and I went a whole day eating nothing but fresh stuff, and it felt great! I also dropped a few stubborn pounds, too. Of course, I'm still going to supplement with a Lean Cuisine every now and then, but I'm cutting out the salty snacks for the most part and eating like a bunny instead! Labels: life
Peaceful Easter weekend
3.23.2008 2:41 PM \| Link	Today's special Easter service at Gateway was fantastic! It was a full musical production, with sets, costumes, lighting and other multimedia, telling a modern version of the parable of the prodigal son (or daughter, in this case), using the songs of U2. I know, it sounds pretty unusual, but it was totally amazing, and really had a wonderful message filled with Easter spirit! It was a nice addition to the great weekend I've been having, which included lunch at the lake, scanning some old childhood memories, doing Japanese homework, and going out for beer with Matt & Kumiko. Of course, all of this is combined with quality "chair time" - reading manga, watching Disney and Jpop DVDs, and enjoying my first awesome naps in my new leather lounger. Labels: easter, life
A comfy butt is a happy butt
3.20.2008 5:36 PM \| Link	One of my goals this year is to finally replace some old furniture from my early Austin days (and even the old Tulsa days), and I'm happy to say that I'm writing this from the comfort of my new La-Z-Boy! Whether I like to admit it or not, I spend a lot of hours on my rear end watching DVDs, reading, or surfing the web, and for more than 10 years I've been doing that in a wooden rocking chair. It wasn't so bad really, but I was sick of that all too familiar sore feeling, so I decided to get something nice. I really wanted something like a club chair, but since Mom & Dad trained me from infancy to be always rocking, I had to go for a rocker/recliner. I picked the smallest one I could find (since I don't like the overstuffed look), with simple lines and a fairly modern style, and it was finally delivered today! I'm already happy with it, and I was impressed that the back is completely removable to make moving it easier. Now I have to decide what DVD to watch to break it in! Labels: life
Welcome to post 3000!
3.16.2008 10:18 AM \| Link	Today marks the 3000th post on WEBmikey, and I'm just as shocked as you are! If someone forced me to sit down and write about 3000 different things, I don't think I could do it, and yet somehow that's just what I've done. So, here's a brief site history and some comments about what it means to me. This site started in early 2000 (before blogs really existed) as something to do for fun - I remember I was even a little embarrassed to tell my friends about it! Here's a small image of my original pre-blog header (so nostalgic!). At the time, personal websites were called "vanity sites", and I thought they were kind of silly, but eventually I caved in and wanted to make my own (hence the old tag line "The impossible vanity site"). The name was kind of an accident - when I tried to register a domain name, of course "mikey.com" was taken, but it offered the suggestion "webmikey". I thought it had a nice ring to it, and got the idea of making things look like fake HTML tags (which is the reason for the weird capitalization). I decided that I wanted to boil my life down to series of lists (which was pretty fun), so everything was organized into four broad sections: Last 5 (which was the start of my mini-reviews), Today (which was the start of a blog about current life), Yesterday (which was all of my life lists), and Creativity (which contained poetry and other writings). When Blogger hit the web, I realized it would be so much easier to use than doing everything by hand, so I originally created a separate blog for each of these areas. Later, I got tired of that, and switched everything to a single giant blog, which is how it stands today. The best thing about WEBmikey for me is being able to step back and observe myself. When I browse my old posts, I can watch my writing style evolve and my attitudes change! I also use the site (along with Google search) as a reference into my own opinions - I can't tell you how many times I've wondered what I thought of some movie way back when, and it's always fun to read my old review. Speaking of reviews, 1440 of these 3000 posts are my mini-reviews of DVDs, movies, books, CDs, and various other things! Since I have links to all my Flickr photos here as well, lots of my pals use WEBmikey to find photos I've taken, and I'm proud of that! I've also run into some old friends and reconnected sets of people who happened to find WEBmikey through searches, which is pretty nice. The only thing I'd like to change here (besides eventually changing this stale site design!) is to finally start making shorter posts more often - I'd like to record more spontaneous thoughts here, but I have a phobia of two sentence posts that I need to get over! So, thanks to anyone who has read even one of these 3000 posts! I'm pretty confident that I'll keep writing, since WEBmikey has not only become a record of who I was, but also helps define who I am today. See you at post 4000! Labels: life
Lazy-itis
2.26.2008 10:10 PM \| Link	I don't have a good excuse for the lack of fresh WEBmikey, except to say that I've been super lazy lately! (It's true - I'm not always productive!) For some reason, I snapped on Sunday and did nothing but drink coffee all day and watch DVDs (before watching the semi-boring Academy Awards with Matt & Kumiko), and that started a trend of just goofing off this week. The only news I have to report is my DVD player finally broke (it had been making funny noises for several weeks), but my trusty PS2 came to the rescue so I've still been absorbing DVDs. I already have a new Philips player on the way (I like Philips since they are so easy to region-hack so I can play all my Japanese DVDs), and this one will do HD up-converting so I'll be ready whenever I get around to replacing my TV! I am now eight reviews behind, so I better get my WEBmikey butt in gear pretty soon (but tonight turned out to be another anime-fest instead)! Labels: life
Cereal with beans
2.23.2008 1:29 PM \| Link	Since childhood, I've always been a cereal fiend. It doesn't matter what kind of cereal - from the super sweet Cap'n Crunch to healthy stuff like Grape Nuts, I love it all. Of course I ate it all the time as a kid, but I kept on eating it (for breakfast, snacks, and even dinner) into adulthood, until a few years ago when I suddenly discovered I had become lactose intolerant (yuck). I tried special milk like Lactaid, but it still affected me the same way. So, I sadly gave up my cereal habit, only breaking the rules every now and then (and facing the consequences on the toilet). Sometimes I would eat cereal dry, or sometimes with just a light mist of milk, and in recent years I've been using yogurt as a milk-replacement (pretty goopy, but good). I always thought soy milk was gross, so I never gave it a try, but recently I happened to see a commercial for Silk, which stirred up my cereal cravings. So, I bought some, wondering what that brownish weird stuff would taste like, and on cereal, I have to say that it's delicious! Actually, I can' even remember what real milk tastes like now, so Silk tastes like the real thing to me. I tried it on some Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch, which was ultra-yummy, and with regular Grape Nuts, and it was so good that I ate cereal for all three meals that day (which I don't recommend, since I was so full)! So, I think cereal is back in my diet, as long as I can keep it under control. Today I bought some Raisin Bran (on Mom's suggestion), and it was fantastic for lunch! I'm so happy I can enjoy cereal with milk again! Labels: life
Garage lessons
2.17.2008 12:19 PM \| Link	There are lots of inspiring things being written about decluttering these days, but I enjoy adding my own words at times, especially when I face up to a particular experience myself. Lately I've been working on a second round of garage decluttering, since when I did it the first time I managed to get everything in nice, neat storage containers, but I still kept a lot of things that I really didn't need. This time around I decided to go through my paper containers (where I actually had every last note I took during college) and my souvenir/memory boxes. It was kind of fun to actually see all these items again, but ultimately a little melancholy since I knew there was absolutely no need for me to keep most of them. I would never again be looking at these Large Scale Scientific Computing matrix equations, if it wasn't for the fact that I was going through them to throw them out! It's been good for me to reassess the value of "things", since I often equate the physical thing to a memory. I had to remind myself that my memories are never going to change if I don't have this Shakespeare exam buried in a box in my garage - I will still remember the class fondly! So, I was able to reduce three giant boxes of paper down to one giant box - I had to keep just a few favorite projects and all of my journal notebooks (since I may read them when I'm 75 or something!). I went through the same emotions with my other old items, and even old clothes. It may be difficult, but I found it really liberating to "detach" from things, and now I've reduced my box of "treasures" by 50%, too. I'm sure someday even the items I'm keeping now will mean much less to me than the memories I have of them - and the memories can be stored in zero physical space! Now I can say my garage is totally complete! After round two and a trip to Goodwill, I can fit everything I need on my shelves without having other storage containers lining the walls, and it feels great! Labels: decluttering, life
Tons of birthday fun
2.03.2008 8:05 AM \| Link	I've really had a great birthday this year, with plenty of surprise gifts and fun with friends! My pal Melinda bought me dinner (plus a birthday cake), and then gave me a cool Star Wars LEGO set, as well as a fantastic Mickey Mouse figurine with small snowglobes that re-creates a scene from the 1932 Disney short Mickey's Nightmare! I found the original short on my Disney Treasures DVDs so we were able to watch it right away, too (it's nice to have all those Disney DVDs in my library!). (By the way, this image is the original movie poster, and I just realized that the figurine is an exact replica of this illustration!) On Friday, Chris & Eliza hosted a little combined birthday get-together (it was Eliza's birthday recently, too), and along with a "Happy Birthday Old People" cake, there were more presents! Tom gave me a huge bottle of Grey Goose vodka, Shawn & Bernadette gave me some vintage Disney comic books, and Matt & Kumiko gave me one of the new Indiana Jones LEGO sets (I have some fun building ahead of me!). Chris & Barron went together to get me Guitar Hero for the Wii, and I had a blast playing it yesterday (the wireless guitar controller is so nice)! I'm so amazed at how incredible all of my friends are, and how lucky I am to have them. It definitely makes it easier to be a child trapped in an old man's body! It's been a busy weekend, so I haven't had time to take photos of my awesome presents, but don't worry, you can be sure I'll get around to snapping some pictures eventually! Labels: disney, life, pals
Birthday bliss
1.30.2008 3:39 PM \| Link	Happy birthday to me! What do you know, I turned eight years old again! Actually, if I had to pick an age, I'd go with 27 - you're old enough to do anything you want, but young enough that everyone says "Man, you're so young!" For the past few years, I've been spending my birthday in total zero responsibility mode, so I took the day off work, and I've been relaxing at home watching Animaniacs cartoons and Jpop videos, reading manga and drinking coffee. I also recently discovered that I had an old Droid Developer Kit LEGO set from 1999 that I had never even opened, so I just finished building R2-D2! It even has a motor so it can roll around - as usual, I'm completely in awe of LEGO engineering. It definitely makes me want to build more and more Star Wars LEGO sets! Tonight I'm having a birthday dinner with my pal Melinda, and I've been getting some nice birthday emails today, too. As you know, Mom & Dad bought my iPhone super-early for my birthday gift, but they still sent me some surprise cash anyway (because they are such amazing parents)! As I get older, each year seems a little shorter, but I also feel a little more peaceful and content with my life each day, which makes every birthday a happy one! Labels: lego, life, star wars
Wide open spaces
1.26.2008 1:25 PM \| Link	I'm happy to say I just finished Operation Loft! Today I built my new Elfa tables (which was pretty easy even though you have to use a drill), and then I unplugged all of my equipment to get ready for the swap. Next I took apart (demolished) my old computer table, and got it out of there along with the old broken filing cabinet, and then I set up all of my things again, doing my best to keep the cables fairly neat. Now I have a ton of wide open space, since I was able to put some items that I used to keep in my desk inside the extra drawers of the new filing cabinet! I also have room under the table for my new shredder - I kind of went a little overboard buying a new one (this thing will even chomp up a CD!), but at least I'm pretty sure it will last longer than the last one. Some day I'm going to replace my Power Mac with an iMac, not only because I want all my Macs to be Intel, but also because it will open up more floor space and reduce even more cable clutter. I'm really happy with today's accomplishment - this marks the end of a big series of tasks for my loft, and now it serves as my library (books, manga, DVDs) and workspace. Take a look! Labels: decluttering, life
One thing is all it takes
1.25.2008 7:19 PM \| Link	I'm addicted to list making, which can be a great thing (since I don't often forget to do things I need to do), but can also be a bad thing. For me, the dark side of list making shows itself when I try to cram too many tasks into a single day, and at the end of the day when I look at my half-finished list, I feel like I've failed. I've decided that self-induced guilt is generally terrible and a waste of time, so lately I've been trying a new "get one thing done" method. Each morning I look at my general big list of stuff and pick one thing that I will definitely do today, and when I get that finished, my day is a success! Usually I feel so great about it that I'll end up doing more things, all because I haven't made myself feel like I "must" do them. I know, it's just a Jedi mind trick, but it's been working for me! Here's some examples of recent "get one thing done" goals. Earlier this week I had to get my driver's license renewed - Texas has a new requirement where they need proof of your SSN and even fingerprints on file, so I had to wait two hours at the DMV to get my new license (next time I'll be able to renew online)! I did that in the morning, so the rest of the day I felt happy and free, and still got other things done. Yesterday my goal was to sell my latest batch of books and DVDs at Half Price Books. So, I hauled everything to the store, walked out with $45 bucks, and felt successful again. I usually have the most trouble on the weekends, since I feel like I should be able to do a million things, but I'm going to stick with one goal tomorrow, too - and I'll bet I get it done! Labels: life
Prerequisite decluttering
1.20.2008 7:27 AM \| Link	Yesterday was a great weekend day, because I finally got started on my last decluttering project for my loft, which is setting up a new computer work area! One thing I've learned about projects like this is that one task always has some sort of prerequisite task, so sometimes it's a puzzle to figure out how to begin. For example, I knew I wanted two simple Elfa tables (no need for a complicated desk for me) with one supported by a new filing cabinet (since my old filing cabinet is ugly, ancient, and broken!). So, first I had to declutter my old files (which I did last week, burning out my old cheap shredder in the process, so a new one is on the way!), and then figure out what to do with an old set of drawers that I used to store VHS tapes in (the tapes are all gone from last year's decluttering, but I was still using it as a table). Thankfully, my boss George can use the drawers, so I moved them downstairs for him to pick up next week. Next, I needed to empty out one of three DVD racks to make room for the new tables, so that meant it was DVD decluttering time! Actually, I had quite a few I could part with, mainly because Disney keeps re-releasing movies as Platinum Editions (which I buy, of course!), so there's no need for me to keep the old releases of the same movies. But I still had a way to go to free up that rack, so I decided to move a row or two of DVDs to my bookcases, which meant (you guessed it) decluttering my books again! I severely pruned my books last year, but it was surprisingly easy to do it again - there were still a few college books that I know I would never touch, as well as some novels that I can't imagine re-reading, so out they went. To top off the day, I did actually make it to The Container Store to buy my tables (which were part of the Elfa sale!) and filing cabinet, so soon I'll get to build them and actually enjoy the results of my labor. I intended to use this situation as an introduction to mentioning my use of "minimum space" to help control what I buy, but it took so long that I'll have to save it for another post! Labels: decluttering, life
Less really is more
1.16.2008 9:26 PM \| Link	Lately I've been more and more convinced that decluttering, in all shapes and forms, is a good thing for me, and finding ways to simplify my life continues to be one of the areas I want to focus on this year. I did a great job last year, and during that time did a lot of reading about the idea that "external" clutter definitely has an effect on "internal" clutter, meaning that too much stuff in my world does the same thing to my mind. It's true that removing things I don't need gives me a huge sense of relief, which makes my thoughts clearer, which helps me enjoy life more. Lately I've been struggling with trying to do too much, which only makes me disappointed when I don't meet all my expectations, so I've been thinking a lot about decluttering again, which includes simplifying what I do with my time. For example, since I'm kind of a media addict, I've been trying to keep up with way too many websites, RSS feeds, podcasts, and even shows on TiVo, so today I just decided to cut way back, and now I won't be concerned about all of it piling up. I even did a little tidying up at my office today, which seemed to help me think straight, too. Anyway, I'm mentioning all of this because I'm going to try to change how I write on WEBmikey to make blogging more fun and less of a chore. I still want to keep writing reviews, but since I'll never be a true critic, I'm going to write more personally and just enjoy sharing my thoughts about something. I'm also hoping to let myself write shorter posts off the top of my head, just to have fun! I think by doing less, I'm actually going to end up doing more, because I'm going to be doing things less out of self-imposed obligation, and more out of simple joy. Labels: decluttering, life
Fun with cedar
1.14.2008 10:13 PM \| Link	The joyous Austin cedar allergy season is definitely here, and on Sunday it hit me like a ton of bricks! My nose was running like a faucet, so I practically had all my trash cans filled with Kleenex by noon! Thanks to my trusty Benedryl (Claritin does nothing for me), I got some relief in the afternoon, just in time for a quick visit from Matt & Kumiko and their friends Yosuke & Aya, visiting from Japan. Yosuke is a big Disney fan (they visit Tokyo Disneyland about five times a year and have even been to Hong Kong Disneyland!), so Kumiko wanted to be sure they saw my home full of Disney collectibles. I had fun showing them around, and I loved Yosuke's true fan reactions to my stuff (I heard lots of Kore hoshii, or "I want this")! After they left, the Benedryl knocked me out for four hours, after which I just curled up with a box of Kleenex and watched episode after episode of The Muppet Show, which was fun even though my nose was raw. Miraculously, today I feel just fine and I've barely even had the sniffles today! Labels: life, pals
Productive distraction
1.10.2008 9:28 PM \| Link	Sometimes I have to deal with a big internal conflict involving my free time, which is balancing the things I've planned to do with what I actually want to do at the moment. It's really silly, since everything amounts to stuff that I actually desire to accomplish, but at times I get obsessed with something, which throws out all of of my carefully time-distributed plans! I love having the discipline to say I'll do a set of tasks each day (such as Japanese study, writing WEBmikey, and so on), leaving the rest of my time for other things I like to do. But sometimes (like recently!) something I get started on takes over, and I have to admit it's fun being obsessed, since I like the energy! The other day I got started reading Revolution in the Valley (which I'll review soon), and I absolutely could not stop reading it - I've been stealing every free moment in the morning, during lunch, and evenings, too. Tonight I decided I had to get it out of my system, so I just read for four hours straight (something I almost never do!) and finished it! I'm also getting a new burst of decluttering energy, since I spent some time recently to go through my filing cabinet to get rid of old documents. While I was doing it I got thinking about even more decluttering, such as going through my books and clothes again, and now I have more projects flying around in my head! So, you could say I've been undisciplined in my usual schedule lately, but I don't really mind, since my time is still getting filled with worthwhile efforts. Labels: decluttering, life
Resolution report
1.01.2008 8:28 AM \| Link	Happy New Year, everyone! For the past few years I've really been into thinking hard about New Year's resolutions, and I took some time over the weekend to look back on 2007 and look forward to 2008. Since I keep my thoughts written down, I really enjoy reading what I was thinking on this day last year and seeing how I did. Last year my main goal was decluttering, and I have to give myself an A+ on that one! Getting rid of all kinds of stuff and organizing everything has brought me tons of enjoyment and peace of mind, and really changed the way I think about buying new things. My next goal was to get new furniture, which I only half-finished - I bought things to help with my decluttering, but not important items like a new couch! My next goal was my biggest failure - I made almost no progress on health and fitness in 2007. I was really happy with myself in 2005, but it's been downhill since then, so that resolution really tanked! But I did much better on my next goal, which was to go to church regularly again. I had a time of church burn-out in 2006, but now I really look forward to going to Gateway each week and I've been much more spiritually-minded, and I feel great about it! Finally, my last goal was to experience more art and culture, but after a great start last year, I kind of fizzled out. Overall, I had a great year, and I'm proud of my successful goals, and not too discouraged by the ones I missed! Of course, I have another list of goals for 2008, but I'll write about those next year. Actually, they are quite similar to last year (maybe a little more defined), and I'm filled with confidence that I can make them happen! While I'm on the topic of the New Year, my pal Kumiko gave me a special set of Disney New Year postcards from Japan. This is the Year of the Rat on the Chinese Zodiac, so Mickey Mouse is the perfect symbol for 2008! Labels: decluttering, disney, life
Thankful day
11.22.2007 6:08 AM \| Link	Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'm really going to enjoy this holiday weekend, both for getting things accomplished and for personal recharging! Last weekend I went to Waco to meet Mom & Dad for our usual pre-Thanksgiving dinner with family, and it was fun to be with them, as always. I gave Mom this year's Christmas Minnie Mouse plush (like I do every year!) and Mom loaded me up with sweets and other goodies to start my holiday eating! Last night I enjoyed some of Mom's homemade banana nut bread and pumpkin bread, which were both more than delicious! It was so relaxing to enjoy Mom's baking and read a good book, and I was in a sentimental mood thinking about all the love that Mom put into making those treats. I wouldn't trade the taste of Mom's cooking for any meal in the world, and I'm thankful for every bite! Labels: family, life
Car maintenance saga
11.10.2007 6:34 AM \| Link	My 1998 Acura Integra is starting to get a little old, now that it's creeping around the 94,000 mile mark, so I never know what to expect when I take it in for regular maintenance. Last month I had a bit of an adventure, right when I was super-busy editing my Christmas video! First, I had a leak in my oil pump seals, which is one of those cheap parts that takes all day to take the whole car apart and costs a bundle. But, I needed to have it done, so I dealt with it. Then a week later I started noticing more leaks! I took it in again, thinking it was nothing more than a simple botch from last time, and they told me my rear seals were leaking! Another whole day of labor and another giant gob on my credit card, but I figured that would take care of it. But a week later, it was leaking again (very small, but I wanted this taken care of)! When I showed up the third time, the mechanics were actually surprised, since they totally remembered taking my car apart twice. This time it was the cam seals � more huge work! But they discovered that my PCV valve was the problem all along � it was completely clogged shut, so my car was just finding new seals to pop to release pressure. They kind of felt bad about it, I think, so they did the cam seal work at a 75% discount, which was nice! On the down side, it was really a pain to have my car in the shop three weeks in a row when they could have replaced that valve in five minutes, but on the up side, my seals were all 10 years old and probably ready to go anyway. For now, I'm happy to have a leak-free engine, and since I love not having a car payment, I'm going to keep driving my Acura for a long time to come! Labels: life
Hiatus over
11.05.2007 8:00 AM \| Link	The past couple weeks have been one of the longest spans of time without a WEBmikey post in quite a while, but I'm happy to say that I'm back! My Christmas video project for my pals is now completely finished, and I can't wait to get readjusted to normal life. I've really seen the value of being single-tasked, since by putting 100% of my effort and free time into the video I was able to finish well ahead of my plans! Working on the video was really fun - more fun than the past couple years, for sure - and I'm happy with the result. Now I can forget about it for a month and when my pals and I get together to watch it, it will seem new to me, too! This morning I've been enjoying my old morning routine, and it feels so nice. Part of that routine is studying Japanese vocabulary and kanji, and thankfully I haven't forgotten as much as I expected I would. My new purpose in life for the next month will be getting back to solid Japanese study, since the JLPT is coming up fast! Anyway, welcome back to WEBmikey - I have lots of things to write about, so hopefully I'll be back to daily posts from now on! Labels: life
Editing obsession
10.23.2007 7:53 AM \| Link	Since 2007 is really starting to wind down, I'm into full-blown editing mode for my yearly holiday video project. I've been filming tons of stuff for the past several weeks, and now it's time to get serious with iMovie and crank it out! In fact, I've pretty much been doing nothing but editing for the past few days now. On Saturday I edited 10 hours straight and even got a crick in my neck from my overworked mouse arm. I really love making this video, but I have a problem with getting obsessed by it! Once I get into creative mode, I have trouble shutting it off - every free cycle of my brain starts planning the next shot, and ideas start coming to me in the shower or when I'm trying to go to sleep. On one hand, I love this kind of creative obsession, and it makes me feel good to make something cool for my friends. But on the other hand, it totally disrupts the beloved routines of my life, so I haven't been studying Japanese or writing for WEBmikey (hence the lack of posts!). Unfortunately, creative bursts also make me eat pizza (or maybe that's an excuse!). Anyway, I'm having fun experiencing new styles of editing - now I have some sympathy for what the editors of reality TV shows much go through. I just need to work on keeping my life in balance! Labels: life
DHL sucks
10.06.2007 11:58 AM \| Link	Yes, DHL really sucks. This is my own little rant, but I'm hoping that at least one person Googles "DHL" and finds this post someday. DHL is the absolute worst shipping carrier on the planet, with terrible web feedback and customer response. My story begins with a photo book from QOOP that was shipped using DHL's "guaranteed by 3:00 PM next day" service. My package arrived in Austin around 9:00 AM, but was still not delivered by 5:00 PM (so much for the 3:00 PM time). With absolutely nothing updated on their tracking website, I called DHL and spoke to a representative, who said they would page the driver and call me back. Forty-five minutes later, after no one called, I called them again and got the same story. Finally, the place with my personal mailbox (where the package was going) closed, so that was it. The representative called me back and said it would be delivered the next day. Of course, still no response from the driver, and no updates on their website. Today I kept waiting for something to change with the tracking status, but of course, nothing had been updated (it still says it will be delivered yesterday!). I just called them, and now they tell me the suite number was wrong on the address! I know for a fact that the address was correct with QOOP, so I'm guessing the label was truncated by some 1970s mainframe hillbilly computer that DHL is using. Now I have to wait until Monday for delivery, and I'm furious. Of course, they weren't going to give me any updates on the situation, and their tracking system is a complete joke. There's nothing I can do but write them a scathing email (which I did), and write this post, so please heed my warning. Never use DHL. DHL sucks. Update: I'd like to add that QOOP had nothing to do with this problem. In fact, they actually contacted me after reading this post, which is amazing customer service! QOOP's photo books are simply fantastic, and I highly recommend them! Labels: life
Instant enlargements
10.05.2007 7:30 AM \| Link	When I used to work at Eckerd's (way back in ancient history), one of my jobs was camera clerk, so I had to help people fill out their photo orders and deal with people who were upset because sometimes it took forever for processing to be finished. I can remember that enlargements were an especially big chore (and expensive!), since you had to find the right negatives on your strip, fill out the form, wait about a week or more for them to come back, and then hope they didn't get dog-eared when they were being sent to the store. It just hit me yesterday how times have changed! I needed a few enlargements yesterday morning, so I uploaded a few digital images to Walgreens, clicked a few buttons, selected the store that practically sits in my backyard, and by the time I got to work, I had an email saying they were ready to be picked up! So basically in about 20 minutes with almost no work on my part, I had enlargements ready to go less than a mile from my condo, and they were cheap, too! I know, this kind of technology has been around for years now, but yesterday was the first time I tried it out, and I was pretty amazed. Labels: life
Super snooze
10.03.2007 9:20 PM \| Link	At the end of last week my allergies transformed into a little sinus infection, and I've been fighting it for a while now. Since Claritin doesn't seem to work for me, I'm normally fine with taking regular Benedryl and just struggling with being sleepy for a few hours. I took one in the morning yesterday, and for some reason, it hit me like a super-duper extra strength dose! I was so tired all day long, and when I got home from work, I hit the couch right away and slept three hours straight, then opened my eyes for some TV, and then went to bed and slept another eight hours, for a total of eleven full hours of sleep! I usually sleep only 5-6 hours a night, so this was double rest for me. I'm pretty amazed that I slept that much, but I'm sure I needed it. Today I skipped the Benedryl and felt really alert (even though I had to blow my nose), and I just scored the best I ever have on a JLPT listening comprehension test at my Japanese lesson with Mikie, so maybe all that sleep made me smarter! Labels: life
Buying is scary!
9.28.2007 4:03 PM \| Link	The other day I was talking with Ryan about the upcoming release of The Jungle Book Platinum Edition DVD, and I experienced the strangest feeling. Since I've recently finished viewing all my unwatched DVDs and love the feeling of being caught-up, I realized that I'm actually afraid of buying new ones! Of course, there's no doubt that I will actually get this DVD - collecting all the Disney Platinum Editions is something I have to do. But the question is should I get it right away or add it to my Christmas list? I'm really busy trying to devote all of my free time to my holiday video project, so it's not like I could watch it right away. Plus I've finally been getting to my unwatched downloaded stuff (I didn't count those in the previous goal), which means I've seen about 120 Jpop music videos in the past few weeks! I think I've talked myself into waiting while writing this - I may not wait for Santa to bring The Jungle Book, but I'm definitely not going to buy it on release day. Now that's a shocking development in WEBmikey's world! Maybe I should take my temperature. Labels: life
Goodbye old phone, hello ten bucks
9.27.2007 8:23 AM \| Link	After getting my iPhone, I had to figure out what to do with my old Motorola V505 phone. It was really cool a long time ago, but for the past year or so it's felt more like a clunky piece of junk in my pocket! I probably would have tossed in the garbage (which I know is a bad idea, although I have to admit I've done it with other cell phones), but I recently read about Second Rotation, which is a site that buys old electronics, so I thought I would give it a try. It was super easy to sign up, find the model of my phone on the site, and answer a few questions about it's condition. They immediately tell you what they will pay (which was $10 in my case), and you can instantly print a pre-paid shipping label. So, I just put everything in a bubble envelope, taped on the label, and that was it! It cost me nothing, and I didn't add to any electronics landfills! This morning my $10 payment showed up in my PayPal account, so even though it took a few weeks to get paid, they came through with the cash. Second Rotation is a fantastic idea - I really hope the company stays around long enough for a few more of my gadget upgrades! Labels: life
Still simplifying
9.15.2007 4:07 PM \| Link	Lately I've been finding other ways to make simplification and de-cluttering part of my life, and the whole concept is really working for me. Now I'm kind of working on mental de-cluttering, by removing things that nag me in in the back of my mind. The best example of this is keeping up with my own DVD and book purchases, which I typically have a pile of waiting for me to enjoy. I decided recently to just stop buying new DVDs and books until I made it through everything I already have, and I'm happy to say that I'm half-way through my last unwatched DVD! I can't even remember the last time I was caught up on DVD viewing. I'm starting to dig in to my unread books, too, and the feeling of personal accomplishment is great, plus I'll be prepared for all the goodies Santa will bring me for Christmas! Another thing I've been trying is keeping more of my day-to-day stuff online, rather than on my own computer. Even though I liked using Mori to record my thoughts and to-do lists, I always wanted to add something or refer to them during breaks at work, but I couldn't. Now I'm using Backpack for everything, and my list keeping has never been better! I can even check things out from my iPhone now, which is really convenient. I used to use SplashID on my Palm to keep track of things like numbers and accounts, but since I've finally said goodbye to my Palm days, I've moved all of that information to PassPack, which seems to be a really cool (and extremely secure) solution. I love the feeling of getting mental clutter out of my head, and everything I've done this year with my environment and habits has really made me feel productive and happy! Labels: decluttering, life
Very little laboring
9.04.2007 7:02 AM \| Link	I hope everyone had a nice three-day weekend for Labor Day! I had a great time with a combination of relaxing and getting some tasks done, including things like building another shelf for my Toy Museum, framing and hanging my Disney postage stamps, as well as having a few beers with Tom, watching Swiss Family Robinson with Matt and Jonathan, and seeing a movie at the Alamo with Ernesto and Matt. I also kicked back and read some manga cover to cover, but I also spent a lot of time studying Japanese (I finished working through the 2006 JLPT again). On top of that, both of my bands played gigs, too! It's always nice to have Monday off, but this time it's even nicer since I'm taking a few more days off at the end of the week since my parents are coming to visit! Labels: life
Flickr accomplished
8.30.2007 6:58 AM \| Link	I had planned on mentioning this morning that I recently finished moving all of my 2004 photos from Kodak Gallery to Flickr, but I've been so obsessed with this project for the past few nights that I'm happy to report I'm now completely finished with the whole thing! That's right, during the past few weeks I moved over nearly 200 albums of memories, and now everything is in one place on Flickr, nicely tagged and ready to enjoy! My Flickr counts are seriously huge now, since I have over 11,000 photos and more than 250 sets. I love being able to browse around and see pictures that I haven't viewed in quite a while since Kodak Gallery was so clunky. I've really been into setting little personal goals for myself lately, and finishing this one makes me feel really great! Labels: life, photos
Cable savings
8.25.2007 7:16 AM \| Link	I've had HBO and Cinemax on my Time Warner Cable plan for as long as I can remember, mainly because back in the days before Netflix (and before I was watching so many Japanese shows and DVD sets) that was the best way to catch movies when I missed them in the theater. But recently I realized that the only thing I ever watched was The Sopranos, which is over now, and anything else I would ever want to see comes out on DVD or on the web just a few months after broadcast (it's amazing how TV watching has changed that way). So, I decided to save a few dollars and cancel my premium channels. I kept putting off the phone call, because I expected a hard sale to keep the programming, but I got a super nice person on the phone. She said that besides removing the channels, she would adjust my bill to the "current rate". I had been a customer so long (of all three services - cable TV, internet, and phone) that rates have changed since I signed up, and of course they don't let you pay less unless you ask about it. So, when she re-computed my rate, my bill was $70 less a month! I was amazed! Of course, I'm totally psyched that I'm going to save that money, but think of all the months that I paid "extra" just because I've been a customer so long. What a way to reward loyalty! Anyway, I'm just happy to be paying less now, and it feels great to get rid of yet another thing I don't really use. Labels: life
Dad's birthday
8.16.2007 7:32 AM \| Link	Today is Dad's birthday! I'm really thankful to have such youthful parents, and I'm glad we've been on so many adventures together, with many more to come! I'm still in the middle of migrating literally thousands of photos to Flickr, and last weekend I went "carpal-crazy" and finished all of 2002 (40 different parties, trips and other events!), and I'm well on my way into 2003 now. It's been great taking the time to see old photos again, and there are plenty of my parents to enjoy. So, to celebrate my dad's birthday, take a look at my Dad-tag photos (and there are many more Parents-tag photos, since I usually take pictures of them together). Happy Birthday, Dad! (Sorry for putting your craziest picture on this post, taken at Epcot!) Labels: family, life
Migration mania
8.09.2007 7:37 AM \| Link	If anyone is keeping track of my growing Flickr photostream, I've finished moving all of my Kodak Gallery albums from 2000 and 2001 over, and I'm well on my way into 2002. Even though this is a tedious task, it's fun to actually look at all of these photos again, seeing all my pals looking thinner/thicker with more/less hair, and laughing at some of the silly photo titles I used to come up with. I've definitely learned that less is more - no one (including me) wants to look through sets of over 50 shots! I think it's best to choose around 30 of the best photos, which seems to be the right number to really enjoy an event. But I'm still moving everything over to preserve the past, of course. The KFMP (Kodak to Flickr Migration Project) continues! Labels: life
A little more progress
7.31.2007 7:54 PM \| Link	Here we are at the end of July - it feels like 2007 is really flying! Now I officially have four more months to study for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level 3, and I also have to really get moving on my usual end of the year video project at the same time. Today I took half of the 2004 Level 3 exam, and I did pretty well, but I think I need to specifically study whatever vocabulary I don't already know (rather than the complete word list). I'm going to start focusing my studies on sample exams for the next month or so, so I can start to judge how I'm doing! Besides studying and staying busy with my bands, I did manage to completely finish my Astro Boy 8-DVD set (yatta!). I also hit a nice milestone with my de-cluttering project - I've now been through each and every room, closet, cabinet and drawer in the entire condo, getting rid of everything I don't need and organizing the rest! I think I need to make another pass at the garage, but it's still a wonderful feeling. There are other goals that I wanted to accomplish in 2007, and I'm not sure if I have the time, but at least every day brings a little more progress, and there's always 2008 ahead of me! Labels: decluttering, jlpt, life
Focusing on finishing
7.27.2007 7:06 AM \| Link	I've still been working on de-cluttering my house (I recently made another pass through my clothes and got rid of some old stuff), and now I have the urge to de-clutter not only my physical environment, but my mental world as well! When I stop and think about it, there are a lot of things that I have started doing that just crawl along at a snail's pace, and I think having too many of those long term tasks cooking in my brain isn't such a good idea. So, my new obsession is finishing things! I started Rosetta Stone Japanese Level 2 so long ago, and I've only been working on a lesson when I felt like it, but now I really want to complete it. Now that I've started moving my Kodak Gallery photos to Flickr, I really want to finish the job. Similarly, I'm concentrating my money into an early loan payoff. I guess what I'm doing is focusing my efforts on a few things to actually finish them before I move on to other things. However, I decided to see what's ahead of me and how long it will take - I have to finish 91 Rosetta Stone lessons and move over 186 photo albums, both of which will take a few months. Oh well, I'm committed! Labels: decluttering, life
Okaeri, Matto-san!
7.18.2007 8:14 PM \| Link	It's finally time to start blogging again! I took a little WEBmikey break since I was busy having fun with my pal Matt, who has just moved back after seven years of living in Japan! Matt stayed with me for a few days, and I had a blast catching up with him and introducing him to my favorite cartoons that he hadn't seen before. We've been shopping together and eating plenty of good food that he's been missing (mostly giant American sandwiches!). He also got to sing a few tunes with the Ernesto Marquez Sextet, and even went to Bernadette's baby shower where he hit it off with all of his new and old friends. Matt's been getting his life in order really quickly, and now he already has an interim apartment, an iMac, a cell phone, and a car! It's so nice to have another one of my close friends back in Austin, and I'm also looking forward to October when Matt's wife Kumiko joins him here! I can't wait to have another Japanese teacher, and all of my pals are looking forward to welcoming her. I didn't take any photos last week, so here's a picture of Matt just before he moved away seven years ago (which reminds me I really want to move all my old Kodak Gallery albums over to Flickr!). Labels: life, pals
OKC jetting
7.09.2007 8:45 PM \| Link	I really enjoyed my four days in Oklahoma City with my parents! We had a great time losing money at the casino, going to a movie, eating wonderful food, and playing lots of game shows together on TV. Even though I'm a fairly loyal American Airlines flyer, I decided to try out the relatively new ExpressJet airlines this time, since they have the only direct non-stop flight from Austin to Oklahoma City. The flights went well and on-time, and it was so nice not stopping in Dallas to switch planes! On the way back I even gate-checked my bag, which made things even faster. Even better, when I was at the airport to catch my return flight, I heard the American travelers were all delayed an hour due to weather in Dallas, but I was able to get home on time. So far the convenience has me sold, so I think I'll keep ExpressJet in mind for my Christmas flight! Labels: life, trips
Rainy holiday
7.04.2007 2:02 PM \| Link	Happy 4th of July! I'm enjoying this rainy day off with lots of studying, de-cluttering my bathroom and washroom cabinets (if anyone needs some anti-itch cream that expired in 2004, let me know!), shooting a few toy photos, and taking breaks to watch anime. Tomorrow I'm off to Oklahoma City for a short vacation with Mom & Dad, but I think I'll still make a few WEBmikey posts, so stay tuned. I've finally took some shots of my finished LEGO Y-Wing fighter, which I built while watching Episode 4 (and drinking beer) as my own little Star Wars 30th anniversary celebration. The Y-Wing design is really cool, and it actually took just about the exact length of the movie to complete! View photos: LEGO Y-Wing Labels: decluttering, lego, life, star wars
A really long novel
7.01.2007 1:26 PM \| Link	I don't write very often about spirituality, since I kind of keep that on the personal side (although I did go through a list of my various phases a long time ago), but recently I've really been enjoying being spiritual in a new way. I've been going to Gateway Church now for almost a year (pretty sparsely at first, but now regularly), and even though they use many different Bible translations in the service, one time they mentioned a modern language paraphrase called The Message that I had never heard of. Even though I've read through the Bible at least a couple times in my life, I thought it would be fun to explore it again. I bought the "remix" version, which has everything portioned into daily readings, and I've made it through 60 of them so far. A few things are really interesting. First, the presentation is meant to be read like a story - there are no verse numbers, and no long footnotes with scholarly commentary. This is just about absorbing the Bible as a whole and understanding it in your own way. Second, the readings are not in the usual Bible order, but this actually makes a lot of sense - Leviticus is one of the most boring books, but when you read part of it along with part of Hebrews, the parallels are fascinating! Overall the modern language is very cool - I think it's the most understandable version of Romans I've ever read. If you're ever thinking about checking out scripture with a new twist, I would definitely recommend giving The Message a try. Labels: life, spirituality
Backing up my backup
6.19.2007 6:57 AM \| Link	Probably the best thing to come out of my recent MacBook defect is getting serious about backing up everything. Previously I would backup things like photos to DVD, but I didn't have any backups of my 14,000 plus song iTunes library! So, I finally bought a LaCie 500 GB external hard-drive (which matches the LaCie 120 GB drive I already had), and now everything is backed up properly! It definitely feels good to have all of my photos, video projects, songs, and home folders (from both my MacBook and my Power Mac) safely copied with plenty of room to spare. Speaking of my MacBook, I have great news - the repair is complete and FedEx tracking says I'll have it back today! I'm totally thrilled - it's been weird not having it for a while (and it's been crimping my blogging frequency, which I'm going to use for my excuse this time)! Labels: life
Hallmark discrimination
6:51 AM \| Link	I hope all the dads out there had a nice Father's Day! I sent my Dad some chocolate goodies and a Hallmark card, but each time I go card shopping I'm noticing a bad trend - discrimination against only-child sons! The Father's Day section was almost 50% filled with those silly "From the both of us" cards, so those are right out for single only-kids like me. The next 25% are all daughter cards, because I guess Hallmark thinks only girls want to give their daddies nice cards. The last 25% is a smattering of step-dad cards, plus a whole bunch of cards that begin with "I know I never told you this before, but...", but since I'm in the habit of actually telling my parents I love them (what a shock), I can't use those either! Thankfully, I found something nice in the mere 5% of cards that apply to me, but I hope Hallmark starts making more cards that work for sons like me! Labels: life
Crazy week continues
6.14.2007 5:39 PM \| Link	I guess problems come in threes sometimes! This morning I got up early to get some things done, and I was feeling pretty good when I left for work. I hopped in the car, drove about 100 feet and realized I had a flat tire! After getting over the shock from all the stuff that has gone down this week, I let my office know what was going on and put on the spare donut. I was able to do it myself with no problem, and it only took me about 30 minutes. Then I changed my sweaty shirt and drove to NTB to have it fixed, but of course they said they couldn't get to it until noon. Thankfully my pal Ryan was able to come get me, and they actually called me back around 11:00 to say it was fixed! I was really glad it was fixable - they said that a wire had got inside there and finally poked its way through. Now I have a working car with four good tires again. Hopefully things will calm down now - I'm just glad I didn't decide to try skydiving this week! Labels: life
Busy but getting better
6.13.2007 12:38 PM \| Link	OK, it's time for a little catch-up! Life has been really busy lately, which is why WEBmikey has been stale for so long. Last weekend was completely full, since I went on a road trip with my pal Tom to Galveston (with a museum stop in Houston), and this week is one of those times when I have something going on every night, as well as plenty of errands that I need to take care of. I've been getting up early to keep up with my Japanese studies, but I keep running out of time for blogging. On top of being busy, I also had two annoying problems pop-up at the same time (both of which are taken care of now). The first problem was I noticed my car had a minor oil leak. I had just got my 90,000 mile service done before the road trip, so I figured it was related somehow. I actually noticed it before the trip, but since it was only a few drops a night, I just kept my eye on it for the drive, and the level never budged whenever I checked it. Early this morning I took it to the shop, and it was only a simple washer that had been put in crooked, so the fix was really fast (and the service department left me a big apology note in the car!). So, one problem down! The second problem was my beloved MacBook suddenly developed a display defect! I single pixel-wide horizontal line appeared across the screen and stuck there, and since it was there both in Mac OS X and in Windows XP (via BootCamp), I knew it was a hardware problem. I took it in to the new Apple Store at the Domain, which is really convenient since it's so close, and the guy at the Genius Bar immediately said "Let's get you a new display". Of course, this meant shipping it off for repair, but at least they can do that right from the Apple Store (and the fixed computer will be shipped back to me). The day before I took it in, I stayed up late to back everything up, and now it's on the way (I'm writing this on my trusty Power Mac now). I should get it back next week, and thankfully everything is covered by the warranty. At least it's the only hardware problem I've had with all the Macs I've owned! Labels: life
Finally finished
6.05.2007 7:14 AM \| Link	Whenever I can see the end of a task is in sight, I have a habit of making a sprint to the light at the end of the tunnel - I just like to go all out to finish up whatever I'm doing. This weekend my mad dash was to finish watching all of the shows I purchased from YesJapan, and now I can say I've seen nearly every single episode they have to offer, and I've got them all archived for the future. I watched so many shows (usually about 30 minutes each) that I lost count, but it must have been at least 15 or so. Back when I discovered YesJapan, I thought these were the greatest thing I'd ever seen, but now they are only semi-interesting, so I'm glad I've finished them up (although I'll probably still check out new episodes periodically). Although there's some great Japanese learning buried in there, I'm weary of sifting through all the boring and often rude humor to learn something! I still think YesJapan is a cool resource, and I know beginners will be just as excited as I was when they take a look, but I can learn more watching an anime episode rather than cringing over these shows' embarrassing moments. Anyway, it was still a nice accomplishment to see them all! Labels: japanese, life
More mornings, please
5.31.2007 6:41 AM \| Link	I've often considered myself as both an early morning and a late night person, since I love to get up early and start the day, but I also love to stay up late! However, it's become more and more obvious to me lately that I can really only get things done in the morning - the evening is just for goofing off. Of course, these work against each other - when I stay up late watching anime (as I have been doing to finish Bubblegum Crisis 2040 again!), then I tend to miss the morning time before work completely. So, I decide I will get some things done after work, but then there's usually a Japanese lesson or a band rehearsal! The worst is when I do have a free night with several things I'd like to do, but I end up goofing off too much (or falling asleep too early). The weekends are so much easier, when my morning can be as long as I want! All of this is a long way to say that I wish I were writing more here on WEBmikey lately, so I guess I need to accept the fact that I just have to get up early when my brain is firing correctly. Labels: life
Saturday recharge
5.27.2007 7:13 AM \| Link	Sometimes (pretty often, actually) my schedule will end up with a week where I have something going on every night. It's always stuff that I enjoy, but going out night after night gets to me after a while, since I really need time at home every now and then to recharge. This was one of those weeks, but now it's Memorial Day weekend! Since I have an extra day to do my regular weekend chores, I decided to devote every minute of Saturday to pure relaxing! It was really cool - I watched a ton of DVDs, played Nintendo DS and Wii, read manga, listened to lots of music, built LEGO, and thoroughly enjoyed myself! It was actually tough for me to stop myself from doing laundry and paying bills and things (believe it or not), but it was worth it. Today I have a great Sunday planned with lots of activities, and then on Monday I'll catch up on everything I put off. I highly recommend spending a 100% no-work day to everyone! Labels: life
Enjoying the moment
5.19.2007 5:15 PM \| Link	I need to take a moment to say life is really wonderful, especially when you enjoy all the simple things. Last night I had fun playing with the Ernesto Marquez Sextet - it wasn't our best show ever, but we still entertained everyone, and afterwards we all went to The Gallery (the super cool club on top of the Continental Club) to have some drinks to celebrate Ernesto's birthday (which is today!). It was so cool too all hang out both as a band and as pals, talking about all kinds of stuff. Today I slept in, had a nice phone call with Mom & Dad (as always), then saw Shrek the Third with my pal Melinda, and we had a great time laughing together. Afterwards I went to the Arboretum to look at Austin map books for my friends Matt & Kumiko, who will be moving here from Japan soon (another reason I'm in such a good mood!), and the weather was so nice that I just had to do my exercise walk, which felt great. As soon as I got home I hit my lounge chair outside - what could be better than sunshine, beer, two and half volumes of manga, and Japanese girls singing in my ears through my trusty iPod shuffle? I feel so great right now, and the weekend isn't even half over! I need to let myself relax like this more often! Labels: life
Genki ippai
5.17.2007 7:32 PM \| Link	Genki ippai is an expression you could translate many ways, but it pretty much means "full of energy" or "full of life". (Although I have a funny Japanese book that always translates genki as "vivacious", which cracks me up!) I really like that expression - I really want to be that expression! Yes, this is another one of those posts where I ramble on about how there are so many cool, fun, meaningful, super-neato things in life that I'll never be able to see and do it all. There are places like Niagara Falls that simply amaze me - I'm not really one for "adventure" vacations, but there are still lots of places I'd like to visit. There are practical things I want to do with my living environment and finances. There are definitely improvements I want to make to stay healthy so I can live as long as possible to do all the things I love. There are a million great times coming up to enjoy with family and friends. And yes, there are way, way, too many books, anime, manga, DVDs, CDs, and toys that I want to collect and devour! Some people I know would say that my "goals" in life are a "waste of time", but I say, "No time to waste!" My most difficult decision in life is figuring out what kind of fun to have next, because I don't think I will ever run out. Labels: life
DVD mini-marathon
5.14.2007 7:47 AM \| Link	I'm back from a fantastic trip to Niagara Falls! Hopefully I'll write about it and get some photos up tonight, but last night I was still in vacation mode, which means I didn't feel like doing anything but relaxing. I have so many DVD sets waiting for me to enjoy, but I can never decide what to watch, so I just decided to have a mini-marathon and watch a little of all of them! It was a blast to watch so many shows in one night, one after another. I started out with an episode of Bubblegum Crisis 2040, then moved on to Ultraman (working my way through the second DVD set), and then took at look at the 1980 animated Astro Boy (which is a really fun show so far!). After that, I started Kamen Rider V3 (which is great since I miss watching Kikaida), started re-watching Chobits, and then started watching Sailor Stars, the final season of Sailor Moon (it was nice to see old familiar characters again). Then to top it off, I watched a few episodes of the old Hardy Boys serial from the Mickey Mouse Club! Of course, now I have to keep up with all of these DVDs at once, so I don't forget the plots! Anyway, watching everything in one evening definitely cured my indecisiveness. Labels: life
Jazz weekend
5.06.2007 12:32 PM \| Link	Besides being a great weekend for geeking out with free comics and Spider-Man, this was also a weekend with two fun gigs for the Ernesto Marquez Sextet! On Friday night we played at North by Northwest, which is a nice brewery/restaurant with a large outdoor patio venue, and we had a nice crowd of people enjoying the food and our tunes. We played a three-hour show, which meant we could be a "real" jazz band and take all the solos we wanted, since we had plenty of time. Lots of friends showed up to see us, too! On Saturday night we played our first show at Tree House Italian Grill, which is a wonderful restaurant with a huge outdoor eating area surrounding a massive tree. Fred, the guy who runs the restaurant, made us feel like stars - he fed us a fantastic meal, bought us a bottle of wine, and even piped our music into the restaurant so folks eating inside could enjoy us, too. It was a great experience, and it must have went well, since we have three more gigs booked there in the near future! Check out the official band website for details, and enjoy a few photos from last night (with thanks to Shawn for the action shots). View photos: Ernesto Marquez Sextet Labels: life, pals, photos
Toy museum paradise
5.02.2007 7:25 AM \| Link	It's organizational update time! I now have two tall square shelves in the toy room (one on each side of the window), and these are perfect for displaying a Disney Big Fig on the top, so I have a Mickey Mouse on each of them! I completely filled one shelf with my Disney die-cast ride vehicle collection (which hasn't been on display in months), and the other one is basically free for future toys to come. Because of my plan to fill all the walls with toy shelves, I moved anything hanging (such as my animation art) up to the top of the wall (close to the ceiling), and I even got to hang some Disneyland 50th Anniversary merchandise that has been sitting in the closet since I bought it. The room is finally starting to look like a toy museum paradise, and I'm really excited about it! This weekend I worked on the garage, and now its just a matter of figuring out how many garbage days I will need to dump so much junk. I also hung some old posters on the walls out there, so even my garage is going to look cool! In the digital world, I have completely finished moving all of my bookmarks to Delicious (over 1,500 of them), and they are all tagged and ready when I need them. Now Safari just has the things I need on a daily basis, and I think it's great! Labels: life
A suite ballgame
4.29.2007 2:43 PM \| Link	A week ago my pals Ryan and Robert and some other guys at work entered a whiffle-ball home run derby contest, and they were the champions! Their prize was tickets to a Round Rock Express baseball game in a private suite, complete with free food and beer. Robert was nice enough to let me use his extra ticket, so last night I got to enjoy the game with the guys. The Express lost 8-4 to the Albuquerque Isotopes (what a name!), but the whole experience was a blast! The suite had cool leather couches, satellite TV, a huge window wall between home and first base, plus our own regular seats just outside the window (kind of like a balcony). We were served twelve hamburgers and twelve hot dogs for the group, plus a ton of chips, and of course, an entire refrigerator full of cans of beer. In about five hours, the entire group of about 10 people drank over 100 beers (I only had four)! It was a ton of fun hanging out with everyone, enjoying the nice evening weather, and watching the game - thanks, guys! Labels: life, pals
Ant conditioning
4.27.2007 7:21 AM \| Link	Earlier this week my air conditioner stopped working for the first time since I've lived in my condo. When the air would kick on, the unit outside was just making a buzzing noise, but the rotor wasn't spinning at all! I was going to call for maintenance, but then the next day it worked perfectly all day long. But then yesterday it stopped again, so I figured I should call someone. I looked up maintenance on the Lennox website, and found a place really close to me and called them at lunch, and they had a guy here in only ten minutes. I couldn't believe what the problem was - ants! It turns out that ants are attracted to the electrical contacts, and they crawl in there and get electrocuted, but all their dead bodies eventually start preventing the circuit from closing. The guy replaced the contact unit and showed me the old one - there were hundreds of dead ants in there (so many in fact that he said he was going to show it to their training class!). He sprayed some super ant killer inside there, and also checked everything else out on the A/C, which is working perfectly now. I'm so glad the problem turned out to be something so simple, even if it was pretty bizarre! Labels: life
Maybe I need to join a snoozetet
4.24.2007 7:52 AM \| Link	Last night I missed rehearsal for the Ernesto Marquez Sextet because I slept through it! After work I was feeling sleepy, so I set my oven timer (which I use for an alarm clock all the time) for 30 minutes, and started napping on the couch. Before I knew it, I was waking up about an hour after rehearsal started! The band called my cell phone, but it was still on silent mode from going to the movie on Sunday. I can't believe I slept through the oven timer, too. Everyone was nice to me when I called, though, and they still had a good rehearsal. I just stayed home and continued organizing software CDs instead! Anyway, this is a good excuse to mention that recently Chris finished a fantastic website for the band, where you can hear our tunes and check our schedule, so take a look! Labels: bands, life
Themed rooms
4.22.2007 6:38 AM \| Link	I'm sure you're getting tired of reading about all my organizing, but I don't care because I'm still having fun! Yesterday morning I got up early to work on my DVDs. Earlier this week I bought another Qube shelf to hold a few DVDs and CDs that I keep downstairs, which let me move my third DVD rack back upstairs, along with the two racks that were in the Toy Room. Now my three DVDs racks are in the loft, which officially turns the loft into my Library, and my Toy Room will now be completely for toys! Later in the day I started on my junk closet, and there's lots of stuff to go (including a ton of old Zip disks - I don't have a Zip drive or even a computer that could read