Random Drivel

Holy shit its like 5am. I just got back from playin cards with the guys. I'm tha winner! Take that, bitches!

I haven't really written anything in a few days. Thursday I didn't do anything, and Friday I just went to play poker for like 9 hours. I came in first after playing heads-up for like 3 hours… Wow. I'm also up 40 bucks now online, even though I've only played a little bit because I'm busy. I'm glad I don't have to work this weekend because I am tired as hell… I need to get some sleep.

One more month until I'm headin back to the Haute!

Its taken a long time going but I finally made it! And to celebrate, I have pictures of my new HTPC that I finally got up and running today. Here you go! Windows XP is currently installing on it as I type this.

Antec Overture HTPC enclosure
AMD Athlon XP Barton 2500+ CPU w/ heatsink/fan
Abit NF7-s Rev. 2 Motherboard
Nec DVD+/-RW ND-2500A (silver) DVD burner
Crucial PC3200 DDRAM 512MB
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 128 MB 8X AGP
Maxtor 60gb hard drive
Western Digital 160gb hard drive 8mb cache
Hauppauge PVR250 + SageTV

This is the insides. Its packed, but full of awesome stuff!

This is the silver finish of the front. Its awesome, and will look great next to my TV and stereo.

This is without the flash. It shows the superbright blue light. I might have to mod the disk drive to make it have a blue light as well.

This is the Hauppauge WinTV PVR250 MCE card. I haven't installed it yet, but its supposed to be one of the best PVR cards on the market. Hopefully I'll have it up and running tonight! I'll post more info in this thread.

Here is my Dell FP1801 Monitor, with XP installing as we speak. You can see my wireless mouse on the desk. Jeez, what a messed up desk. I need to clear it up so I can get the HTPC up on the desk by the TV.

Tonight was Blake's Eagle Scout ceremony. I haven't been to one since my own Eagle Scout ceremony in May of 2002. After work today, I went over to their house, where Ryan and Kate had come in from Fayetteville for the day. We had dinner and went over to the Church to set up for the video. I brought my laptop and my dad brought a projector in from work and showed a DVD that Hayley made for Blake. I got in the video twice! Once for given Blake the Eagle coin that he passed on tonight to Davey. (That kid better get Eagle!)

I saw Bourne Supremacy on Saturday with Jeff. That kicked ass, I'm ready to see the third movie now! Sunday I woke up late and ate steaks, then went to Mass at 5. Ryan and Kate had to go back tonight because Ryan has work in the morning. I'm probably gonna go back up to Fayetteville some weekend to hang out again. Tomorrow I think Jeff and Stephen and I are doin somethin, maybe a few other people if I can get ahold of em. I think I'm gonna go to a dollar movie sometime this week (I think most of em suck) and then Friday is Poker night again!

My motherboard should get in Thursday, so that gives me something to do on Thursday, and then I think for Saturday I'm gonna go see The Village. Signs was the last M. Night Shyamalan movie that I saw, and that was like two years ago I think. I remember when Sixth Sense came out, I think I saw that with Danielle and the other girls almost 6 years ago. Its almost August, which means one more month (my last ever, probably) in Tulsa before heading back to the Haute. Next summer I plan on getting an internship with a big company, somewhere out east probably, and I need to look at grad schools (I need to see if going after I graduate or waiting a few years would be better). Lots planned!

Song I haven't heard in a long time, but has alwasy been one of my favorites… Our Lady Peace - Clumsy. Heard it a few days ago, and its been stuck in my head. I've had a thing for lyrics these past few days, I dunno why. I think I'm gonna put the Our Lady Peace CD in my car tomorrow…

Throw away the radio
Suitcase keeps you awake
Hide the telephone, the telephone
Telephone, in case you realize
That some days your just not ok
You'll level off, you'll level off, you'll level off
And its not alright now
You need to understand
Theres nothing strange about this
You need to know your friends
You need to know that

I'll be waving my hand
Watching you drown
Watching you scream
Quiet or loud

And maybe you should sleep
And maybe you just need, a friend
As clumsy as you've been
There's no one laughing
You will be safe in here
You will be safe in here

Throw away this very old shoelace
It tripped you again
Try and shrug it off, shrug it off, shrug it off
Its only skin
Now you need to understand
There's nothing fake about this
You need to let me in
Watching you and

I'll be waving my hand
Watching you drown
Watching you scream
No ones around

And maybe you should sleep
And maybe you just need, a friend
As clumsy as you've been
Theres no one laughing
You will be safe in here
You will be safe in

I will be waving my hand
Watching you drown
Watching you scream
Quiet or loud

And maybe you should sleep
And maybe you just need, a friend
As clumsy as you've been
Theres no one laughing
You will be safe in here
You will be safe in here
Well you will be safe in here
In here

This is the link: freeipods.com. Read these instructions first, to make sure you don't have to pay a thing.

Ok, this is instructions for how to get a free iPod. If you are interested if this is legit or how anybody can possibly offer this without going insta-bankrupt, read this short article: http://wireless.engadget.com/entry/1771223899144212

Here are the materials you need:
click this link to sign up: Free iPod!

- An e-mail address
- A home postal address (US only)
- Credit card
- 5 friends

I'll outline the specific process to go through because for people not use to things like this, it can be a little tricky. These instructions aren't a workaround to get free things illegaly, this is a legal offer and these instructions are only a guideline to make things easier to follow. You can do all of these things and never pay a penny. It might be a good idea to not wait too long before doing all of this because in a week or two it might be so popular that they have to put people on backorder due to over-demand compared to what their suppliers can currently handle. They've already discontinued the 15 gig iPod offer, and now all current 15 gig iPods are upgraded to 20 gig iPods!

FreeiPods.com Offer:

Read these steps first, and then click the signup link. It may save you time.

1. Sign up using the link below, entering your e-mail address and desired password, then your shipping info.

2. Once you have signed up, there will be a series of Yes/No advertisements. They are all optional and are not important, you can click No on all of them, unless one of them interests you.

3. Once you've finished with that, check your e-mail for an activation e-mail from FreeiPods and click the activation link. This will bring you to a page where you can complete one of the required offers.

4. Out of the list of offers, there are 2 in particular that I have used and know. The AOL Broadband offer and the Ancestry.com (geneology stuff) offer. I signed up for the Ancestry.com trial which is a 2 week trial, so be make sure to cancel it after 11-13 days or so to be sure you aren't charged. The AOL broadband offer is a 45 day trial, so you have a while to cancel it. As long as you cancel your trials before they are over, you will never be charged any money for doing this.

5. Once you have completed signing up for AOL or Ancestry or whatever you decided to do try out, it may take 24 hours to 3 days for you to receive credit for signing up. FreeiPods.com will have to receive some sort of notice from the company that you have signed up, then they'll update your FreeiPods account. For now, you can log into your FreeiPods.com account using the username and password you chose when you signed up.

NOTE: If for some reason you never saw the page which asks you to select which offer you want to try, you can go to the Check Status page after logging in, and you will see a link that says “click here to complete an offer yada yada” and that will take you to the page. If you've already completed an offer, that link will still exist there until FreeiPods gets updated that you completed it.

6. Once you have logged in, click on the “Refer Your Friends” link at the top and copy the referrer link mentioned at the bottom of the page. That is your referral link that you need to point your friends to. It's probably preferrable to send a direct e-mail to your friends instead of using the FreeiPods.com built in friend notifier where you enter in 5 friends addresses. This way you can include these instructions and help them understand a bit better what it's all about.

Use this link to sign up for your free iPod! If you get five friends to sign up, you'll get your free iPod too.

come up to meet you
tell you i'm sorry
you don't know how lovely you are
i had to find you
tell you i need you
tell you i've set you apart
tell me your secrets
and ask me your questions
oh let's go back to the start
running in circles
coming in tails
heads are a science apart
Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start.
i ws just guessing
at numbers and figures
pulling the puzzles apart
questions of science
science and progress
They don't speak as loud as my heart.
oh, tell me you love me
come back and hold me
oh when i rush to the start
running in circles
chasing tails
coming back as we are.
Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
I'm going back to the start

Forfeit the game before somebody else

Takes you out of the frame and puts your name to shame

Cover up your face you can’t run the race

The pace is too fast you just won’t last

You love the way I look at you

While taking pleasure in the awful things you put me through

You take away if I give in

My life, my pride is broken

You like to think you’re never wrong

(You like to think you’re never wrong)

You have to act like you’re someone

(You have to act like you’re someone)

You want someone to hurt like you

(You want someone to hurt like you)

You want to share what you’ve been through

You live what you learn

You love the things I say I'll do

The way I’ll hurt myself again just to get back at you

You take away when I give in

My life, my pride is broken

You like to think you’re never wrong

(You like to think you’re never wrong)

You have to act like you’re someone

(You have to act like you’re someone)

You want someone to hurt like you

(You want someone to hurt like you)

You want to share what you’ve been through

(You live what you learn)

Yo..yo

Forfeit the game before somebody else

Takes you out of the frame and puts your name to shame

Cover up your face you can’t run the race

The pace is too fast you just won’t last

Forfeit the game before somebody else

Takes you out of the frame and puts your name to shame

Cover up your face you can’t run the race

The pace is too fast you just won’t last

You have to act like you’re someone

(You have to act like you’re someone)

You want someone to hurt like you

(You want someone to hurt like you)

You want to share what you’ve been through

You like to think you’re never wrong

(You like to think you’re never wrong)

You have to act like you’re someone

(You have to act like you’re someone)

You want someone to hurt like you

(You want someone to hurt like you)

You want to share what you’ve been through

(You live what you learn)

I've been busy these last few days, with work and other stuff. Whew, being busy takes up all your time.

Ok, my computer got here last week, but the motherboard had problems. So I had to RMA it back to Abit, and I'm expecting to get my new one back sometime next week. Its frustrating, but oh well. That's what happens sometimes. I tested the rest of the parts in my other computer, and they work (although they kinda need the motherboard to work…) so I'm excited about getting to use this box. As soon as its up, I'll post pretty pictures.

Its gettin hot out there! Phew!

Anyhoo. Thursday I left work early and came home. I went to the airport at about 4pm to pick up Danielle. We came back to the house, and got my stuff and left at about 5pm for Fayetteville. We made good time, got there about 6:30pm or so. That night we went to Applebees, and Ryan and I ordered martini's to go with our steaks. Ryan said it was his birthday, and the guy suggested the martini. He didn't even bother asking if I was 21, and didn't card either of us. I guess saying its your birthday automatically means you can't possibly be lying! It was pretty good. Afterward, Ryan wanted to go to the liquor store and exercise his age by purchasing drinks. I got a six pack of Woodchuck and Bacardi O3, and Ryan bought a six pack of Amber Bock and some Jack Punch. We split the bill on a liter of Smirnoff. Played some video games, watched Super Troopers.

Friday, we made sausage and Eggs for brunch, and that night went to see I, Robot. It was better than I expected it. Will Smith does a pretty good job of being Future Boy. Later, we went back to the Apt. to wait for Kate's roommates, and then Danielle, Ryan, Kate, me and the girls went into town. We left the girls at Big Daddy's to go to the ATM, and on the way back Ryan and I ordered shots at one bar, and Ryan said it was his birthday. The girl sitting next to us at the bar said to the bartender “Don't they get free shots on their birthdays?” And he made us his favorite drink, and said “Drink up, ladies!” We went back to the bar the girls were at, and played pool for a while. The bartender there also gave us a free drink, and I was talking to him about being a bartender. He said he's been doin it since he was 20, and he got fired from his first job when they found out he wasn't 21. I'd still like to be a bartender this year, because I could use the monies. Besides, its gotta be a lot of fun, too. (Hard work, I'm sure, but fun). There was a live band at the bar, can't remember who it was but it sounded pretty good.

Saturday, we drove back to Tulsa. That night we had dinner at Ryan's house. We warned Danielle about Ryan's parents, but she wasn't worried. They were nice to her. They liked her alot, which made me glad. Dinner was your typical dinner at the Ingrams… loud but funny…

“I'm allergic to bullshit.”

We came back to my house and watched Minority Report, and went to bed. Sunday, we went to BBD after Mass, and then Danielle and I went out to the mall with Ryan and Kate. We went out to the Brook for dinner that night, too.

Danielle had to leave Monday morning, so I took her to the airport before work. I took all the pictures to Wal-Mart to develop, so I'm gonna have to drop 'em in the snail mail. They all turned out really good (I posted 3 of them the other day).

Ugh, this week has been long. I've been working on these crazy long projects. I downloaded AIM to my work computer, so if you're on during the day (maybe you're at work too) IM me @ Tighr2. It'll keep me sane while I wade through these reports. At least I'm getting valuable experience for my resume! I need to start looking into grad schools and where I want to go. I have a few ideas. Ok, this has been a really long post, but thats ok, its here so I can remember the weekend.

Danielle got here Thursday, and we went up to Fayetteville for Ryan's birthday:

We went out to a few bars Friday night, and then came back to Tulsa on Saturday. We went out to dinner Saturday at Ryan's house, and then went to the Brook Sunday night.

Lots of fun! This weekend was great, more fun than I've had in a long long time!

You wish your cell phone had the following ringtones:

• Tetris
• Super Mario Bros
• Bubble Bobble (if you are my friend, this is your ringtone!)
• Legend of Zelda

Oh yeah. Oh baby oh baby, yeah.

Today seemed to drag on. Maybe its because I got up really early, or maybe its cause its real late now. Maybe its because I washed my car, or made dinner, or watched a dvd. Maybe its because I did my laundry, maybe its because I didn't take any naps. Maybe its because my entire family is gone for a week, and I haven't seen anybody all day (well, I saw a few neighbors as I washed my car).

Whatever the reason today dragged on so long, it's ok. Because I enjoyed the day. I had a good day. For the first time in a long time, I feel good, I've got no worries and I enjoy being me. Maybe its because I have a week of work to look forward to, because I'm starting a new project. Maybe its because I get my new computer parts tomorrow (hopefully) and that will also give me something to do in this empty house with no distractions. Maybe its because my bestest friend Danielle, whom I haven't seen for over three years, is coming for a visit, and maybe its because my other bestest friend Ryan is having a birthday on Thursday and we're going to hang out and have a great time Thursday and Friday nights (not gonna drink too much, gotta be the sensible one. Thats my job!) Everyone I know is having a birthday this week… What a busy busy week.

Mom comes back from Cali Saturday, Dad and Angie come back from IN Sunday, and Danielle leaves Monday morning, another 6 weeks or so of work, then I'm going to head back up to school. Brand new room! Brand new roommates! I have a lot to be thankful for. I know this year is going to be better. I have no excuses; my life is what I make of it!