So I had to take the opportunity and make a so post from the tiki bar.

I walked out of the mac store for the last time today. I’m now an employee of apple computer. I celebrate this moment at tiki. On to bigger and better things.

And thank you wordpress for making it possible to blog from the tiki bar!

So I discovered that the MySpace (ButtSpace) crossposter was causing mobile wordpress to crash. Noted, and solved. So, if you’re using the wordpress mobile app on your iPhone, or iPod Touch, turn off myspace crossposting. It’ll b0rk things. 

In other news, I put MYM in indefinite hiatus. It was creepy, considering I’ve had that site for 5 years. Its still up, I’m just not posting there for a while. Probably a really long while. Why? Oh, yes. I should get to that, shouldnt I. Here goes.

I have a new job. Last month, things happened at the current employer, brought about by the current economy. Needless to say, I almost ended up laid off. However, things happened and I moved to one of the retail stores. However, after examining that situation, it became clear that I needed to make a change in order to keep financially stable. So, long story short, there were emails and interviews and offer letters. It was pretty interesting and exciting. All told, tomorrow is my last day with the current company. As of 6:01 PM tomorrow, take a wild guess who I work for? Yup. I work for Apple, Inc. (Its not Apple Computer anymore) Details aside, I still get to do what I love, for a good company, for a good wage. This all pleases me. 

Of course, part of me is sad. I’ve spent the better part of the last decade working for independent Apple Specialists. I love the small business atmosphere, and all that goes with it. I loved being the little service provider that could. Capitol Mac, MacUpgrades, MacForce, CSNW, its been a hell of a good time. And I have my thanks to offer up.

Bryan (Scooby). Thanks for coming into EB that night. I wouldnt be here if not for that chance meeting.

Jim. Shit, everything. Pushing me to be a better tech. Racing me through machines. Always being just as much of a nerd. Being family. You mook.

Mikey-San. PC-LOAD-LETTER? What the fuck does that mean?

Scott. For always being Scott. 

A-Wood. For all that you did, and always smiling when flipping me the bird. 

Alan. For being so hard to figure out sometimes. Making you laugh made my day, every time. 

Sean. Yeah. Nothing but respect and appreciation. You really are one of the most top-shelf guys I know. 

David. If you didnt pick on me, I’d worry. How are you such an ass, and such a nice guy at the same time?

Todd. Dude. Stuff. And things. You know it. Rock that shit. 

Rob. Travel. Adventure. Seattle and Eugene. Thanks for being such a nice guy. 

Amy. I’m never setting foot inside your old house again. I hate sneezing.

Jason. Best Dispatch Tech Ever. You’re gold standard. And you’re my brother. I’m glad you worked there too.

Lou. For giving me someone to look up to, from time to time. Even though we’re both 12 mentally. 

Kurt. For that Sugar Son line 4 years ago. Funniest shit ever. 

Betsy. Because you kick ass. Even if you dont always think so. 

Mohawk Sam. Because you reminded me of my punk rock days. And you’ve got talent. Move forward, Son. 

Mr. Speed. Sailor Bacon, and Sailor PoundCake. Aqua Teen on boring afternoons. 

Bread. For always making me defend my argument. Just because you could. 

Mr. Nelson. Doctor! Your friendship is one of the reasons I’m glad I moved west. 

The Eugene shop, et al. You’re all awesome. I will very much miss you. 

The Beaverton shop. You’re a good group of guys/girls. I wish I could stick around. 

I’m sure there’s more, but at 11:35, I cant remember them all. Suffice it to say, my decade of independent Apple Service has been a ton of fun, an utter nightmare, a learning experience, and an adventure I never expected, when I started down this path. I honestly wouldnt trade it for anything. The amount of stuff I’ve learned, memorized, applied, fixed, broken, etc, is almost mind numbing. I look back at all I’ve done since January of 2001, and it amazes me, all that I’ve done. As of wednesday, I wont be indy anymore. Despite that however, I’ll never forget where I came from. Because I wouldnt be who I am, and where I am, without the experiences of the last eight years. 

So yes. On Wednesday, I start an exciting new adventure in the world of Apple Computer Service. I’m excited, nervous, maybe a little scared, but determined. Why determined? Because I’ve got too much fun ahead of me. And this is only the start of a new adventure.

And on that note, I’m going to call it a night. Tomorrow will be an interesting day, and I’d like to be rested up.

I’ve been a fan of Wordpress for a long time. It really is my favourite blogging environment. And I have to say that I love the iPod touch. It’s abilities coupled with the wealth of software for it make it one if my favourite pieces of technology. The only downside is that safari mobile had issues with wp. As in, I could log in, but I couldn’t post. Weak! But, it seems to no longer be an issue.

There’s now a wordpress app for the iPhone/touch! It allows you to set it up to post to multiple blogs, lets you tag everything correctly, and so on. Pure win!

Having just installed it, this is my test post.

My thanks to the awesome folks who wrote this app, and then made it free. You rule!

I’ve been holding off on this until the time was right. Now that the appropriate parties have been notified, I can say this out loud. I’m taking a new job. After a strange and hectic year with the current outfit, I’ll be migrating to a new outfit in two weeks. What will I be doing? Much the same. Mac support. Who is this new outfit? A little company called Apple.

Yes, I’ve been picked up by Mother-Ship. And it looks like August will be my time in cupertino. Jim, you’re driving up to see me. No arguments. We’l talk details when I have them. Pam, it’ll be a crime if we dont do stuff. Duh. Details to you, when I have them.

Suffice it to say, I’m excited about this. I think this is gonna be good. Of course, I should also mention that while I was subject to much NDA stuffs in the past, I’ll now be subject to even more. Tons more.  I wont be able to talk about a lot of stuff. But thats par for the course.

Well, another NBSUD has come and gone. Its been a good day. My step-sister, my brother in law, my parents, Scott, Moose, Pookie, and a host of others were here, and its been a hell of a day. Dave made ribs on the grill, I made strawberry and wookiee turd ice cream, my mother made potato salad and a ton of other stuff, and the house was full of people. My brother in law, phil, showed up with a ton of fireworks, and we proceeded to entertain the kids that showed up with our pyrotechnic prowess. Phil, Jason, and I were using sparklers as timers in order to set off multiple explosives. Of course, with all of the explosions, an officer from the fire marshal’s office came over and asked us to cease with the firecrackers, which we did. He was actually really nice about it. We decided at thattime, to take a break from the explodey. Of course, an hour or two later, we started up again, but no firecrackers this time. Of course, we made one mistake. We lit off a fountain with lots of popping and crackling. And we managed to light it off just as fairfax high school was having a moment of silence. Of course, an officer came over again, and informed us that we needed to stop lighting off stuff entirely, since we were disrupting the city of Fairfax’s fourth of July celebration. Oops. we even lost our sparkler privelidges! Who saw that coming? I was impressed that we’d managed to cause that much of a disruption. 

So, once we finished with explodey, we ended up stuffing ourselves with food, talking trash, telling stories, and then headed over to view the fairfax high school fireworks display. Now, much later, and with everyone home and my niece completely burnt out after a crazy day, the house is quiet. 

Tomorrow, the zoo. Sunday, brunch with Tom and Tiff. Monday, back to PDX, and time to start prepping for the new job. Its an exciting time coming up. Soon, I’ll speak more on the topic. For now, I need a bottle of water, a shower, and a good night’s sleep. 

Nooch!

Okay, so I’m sitting here in the airport concourse, waiting for my flight. I have 90 minutes to kill till takeoff, about an hour till we board. It was easier this time than ever before. I was surprised. Seriously. There was minimal traffic on the freeway, although I made a point of going the slightly longer route, since it meant less stoplights. Still it was like weekend traffic at rush hour. Go figure. When I got into the terminal, I had barely finished at the check in kiosk when the delta counter person came up to me and asked for my id and to check my bag. No waiting, no counter. whole process took about 2 minutes. When I went to the luggage drop off, yet again, no waiting. 2 minutes. So, I proceeded in to security to get screened. It always takes a while here because people behave like idiot cattle and move slowly and get set to do the x-ray shuffle at the last minute. Not so this time. There were more screeners than people, tons of scanning bins, and NO LINE. I pulled out MeatLoaf! (my macbook pro), removed my shoes, belt, and watch, and was through security in yet again, less than two minutes. Go figure. I then walked to my gate. Now, I’m online.

Sitting here, its almost surreal. PDX is usually a very busy airport. Lots of people, lots going on, the whole usual airport gig. But not tonight. Its almost dead. Sure, there’s people milling about, but its feels more like its early morning or late night here. Not like a Monday evening of a holiday week. So far, for my flight, there’s only a half dozen people here. The flight was listed as booked, but with this few people here, maybe it’ll stay empty and I can score a whole row of seats and sleep.

I’m sitting here, and I’m wondering. Wondering if the cost of fuel and the price of airline tickets isnt off-putting to people. Maybe people arent flying because of the cost. If thats the case, it may very well be possible that the airlines are shooting themselves in the foot in regard to their checked bag fees and such. Seriously, I’ve never seen an airport so empty.

On the plus side, this gorgeous, brunette girl just sat down across from me. Now, I dont mean gorgeous in that statuesque or fashion model kinda way. I mean normal girl gorgeous. You know her. She’s in the coffee shop, or she’s at the grocery store, and she makes beautiful look easy. Easy like putting on a t-shirt. Its impressive. I’m actually making an attempt not to throw glances at her constantly. I dont want to be the creepy oggling guy. But jebus, her parents deserve a thank you note. Now, wouldnt it be awesome if I lucked out and caught a seat next to her on the plane. That is, if I cant get my own row of seats. That would be choice. 

In other flight news, there are a couple people here with kids. Small kids. Kids that cry when their ears get pressurized. Thank the gods of technology for noise canceling headphones. I can kick back with a movie and ignore everything. 

Anyway, I’m gonna be up for 24 hours by the time this ordeal is over. Granted, the red-eye is better than any other time I’ve flown, but still. Nothing like getting to your connecting flight at 6AM and all you want is a sandwich and a nap.

In other news, there’s good news on topics of which I cant speak. However, I’m not gonna say jack until its all finalized. I refuse to jinx myself. But, for what its worth, keep crossing those fingers and thinking good thoughts for me. Its worked out so far.

So it seems I’m getting a chance to post on the weekends, more than not, and that twitter has brokulated itself again. Joyi. Oh well. I’ll keep playing and figure it out eventually.

In any case, its been a sweltering hot weekend in Portland. The temperature has been up around the upper 90’s since late thursday early friday. and hasnt really settled back yet. Normally people would just grin and bear it, but we’re talking about a part of the country where being in the 80’s is considered hot. Then bear in mind that most homes in portland dont have A/C since we usually dont need it. So, its been a bit toasty. Luckily, thunderstorms moved through this evening, and helped cool things off. I was pleased to say the least.

Otherwise, I’ve been slowly pulling my stuff together for the trip. I’m starting to flesh out my carry on, dig out my traveling books, charge my various batteries, and locate all my various cables. A man cant travel without cables. I’ve also picked up a new electric toothbrush (my old one died yesterday) as well as things like trail mix and such. At current, I’m processing movies for my iPod so I’l have entertainment on the flights, and wont have to wear down my macbook pro batteries. Granted, I have two batteries, but still, I’d rather not waste them unless I have to. Checking email between planes is more important than watching Futurama in flight. I’d rather make do with my ipod. The upside is that I have good movies for the flight. I’m especially looking forward to Batman: Gotham Knight. Yes, the anime style batman piece. I’m hoping its as good as I want it to be.

So yes, Tuesday, I get on a plane and head home. Jason will retrieve me from the airport Wednesday, and then I can spend the day recuperating from traveling, while helping the moms prep for the arrival of my step sister, my brother in law, and my niece. They’ll be dead tired by the time they get in, but I’d be lying if I said I wasnt super excited to see my niece. I cant wait to play with and get to know the little goblin, considering its been 2 years since I saw her. Of course, I consider this unacceptable. As of Wed, I will have remedied the problem. 

In yet other news, I’m now in the mid 80’s in terms of completion of GTA4. I need to put in more time, but I’ve been multi-playing, and focusing on non L.C. space things. More than anything, I’ve been just focusing on what I need to do, so I can help time pass more quickly, while I think about my vacation. Yes, I’m fixating on my week in DC. I havent had a true week off since thanksgiving, when I went to see Jim and Jaide in Vegas. Sure, I made it home for a weekend in January, but that was a quick turn-around so I could get a bunch of tech done for the Mom’s company. So, I didnt have near enough time to see anyone, or do anything other than sit in the basement and fix things. Now, when I go home, I’ll have time to see people, and yes, fix things. Being able to split my time will be a plus for sure. 

And of course there’s other news thats interesting and of importance, but I’m not at liberty to discuss it. Its a matter of the fact that it really isnt disclosable, and I also really dont want to jinx myself. If all goes well, I will get to make announcements, because at such time, such things will be disclosable. So, everyone cross your fingers for me, even if you dont really know why. It’ll all make sense later. 

Lastly, I went out to see Wall-E with my friend Amy this evening. Upon exiting the theatre, we commented on how awesome it was, and how many mac jokes there were, and how many nods to classic science fiction there were, and how it was totally written for the geek crowd. We also realized that we were laughing at things in the movie that other people totally didnt notice. More specifically the geek jokes than anything else. But that was the point the animators were going for, I think. A movie kids would love, that most adults would enjoy, but had all kinds of great inside jokes. Yet again, I say that this is why Pixar consistently hits it out of the park. They get it. And I’m glad they do. 

And so, with all of this said, I think I’m pretty close to being caught up. I’m sure more will come as I’m traveling, as one would expect. If you want to look me up, I’ll be home wednesday morning. Same cell number as always. call or text me. I’ll be local. 

Lastly, so I can end this with a picture, here’s a photo-booth picture of the Hello Kitty I got for my niece for a belated birthday present. Cause I’m an awesome uncle. 

In nine days, next Tuesday, I’ll be getting on a plane at 10PM. At 8:30AM the next morning, I’ll be landing at BWI. And I wont have to go back to the airport until the following monday. A week at home. I’m happy about this. Its gonna be good. The family will be there, my niece will be there, and I’ll have the opportunity to see friends I havent seen in a good while. 

On the friend note, given that I have more than a weekend, if you want to see me, you should definitely email, call, or post a comment. I’d like to see people, so definitely let me know whats up so I can keep track. 

I say this now, because the future is still uncertain. I dont know when I’ll make it home next. Its entirely possible it might be a long time. Given that, I havent seen some of you in almost two years. Others of you, seen, much less spoken to in that time span. Therefore, make some noise so I can make time for you. 

And on that note, I look forward to burning through this week, so I can get to the travel awesomeness of next week. Yes, you heard that right. I think traveling is awesome. I’m good at it. I like airports, flying, and the whole thing. Maybe I’m crazy. I dunno. Probably yes. But if having to jump through the hoops of airports and airlines brings me back to seeing people I miss, and places I know and love, then its worth it. 

• And its wednesday. I think I’ve beaten back the head cold. I woke up feeling much better. This pleases me to no end. woooo! #
• Just completed my first solo transaction in our Point of Sale system. Without making any mistakes. Who decided terminal was good for this? #

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• At the new store. These guys are good guys. If I can work the pay up, I could enjoy it here. For seriouus. #
• @tbridge, is it okay if I leave the tank parked out front, and just come in to meet up at the front desk? #

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