Euphoric Pain

I decided to take the 7:30AM Amtrak up north. I was going to just sleep at the airport leaning against a wall, then I realized "Hey, I have a pocket full of money" and went to the Best Western. Didn't get there until after 1, fell asleep around 1:30AM, then woke up at 5:30AM. Had to catch a shuttle to the airport, then another shuttle to the train station.

It was my first train ride. I don't mind them that much. I think from now on, I'll probably just fly into LA and then ride the train up to San Luis Obispo. About a 5 hour ride, and only $39 after you count in the shuttle fees.

Anyways, moral of this story is: You have to have an actual credit card these days to travel. $1500 in your pocket, $3000+ in your checking account and debit card, and 730 credit score isn't good enough for them I guess.

Secondary Moral is: Trains are neat.

Ok, so my job ended a little early. I decided I would suprise Gigi by flying back today, and be home by our anniversary tomorrow. Well, I booked a ticket from Gulfport to LAX, and reserved a rental car from LAX to San Luis Obispo (our home).

I had to pack quickly to get to the airport on time and find a way to get there. Manage to get that settled, no sweat. Flights are fine. I get to LAX and go to get my car... and I can't. I don't have a credit card. Let's ignore my 740 credit score and the fact that my debit card has over $3000, and is SUPPOSED to work as a credit card in every way. Well it doesn't. By the time I realize this, it's too late to get a bus or shuttle or another flight into San Luis.

So here I am, sitting in Los Angeles Airport at midnight (Pacific Time). Earliest I can leave is 7:30AM on an Amtrak to San Luis.

VoicePost 120K 0:39

(no transcription available)

Sorry about the horrible quality. You can't even really hear the bike well when I revved it up, but you can get the general sound of it from when it's idling. It's not your typical crotch-rocket sound. =)

I... er... um... WE bought a motorcycle last night. Here are pics.

2001 Harley Davidson Buell Blast (500cc)
4700 miles on it
( Read more... )

And I blame this for it.

The tears I then shed, when I realized how sad it was that I actually understood the three-body problem, burned even more.

Then I realized the only way to actually solve that problem, would be to have the two girls remain motionless. Or have it with two immensely fat chics.

By the way, props if you understood my last comments without research.

So take a look at Time's most influential people.

Take a VERY good look at the standings.

Don't worry, it's actually Time.com, no tricks or anything there.

I've been in Arizona working for 4 weeks. I am tired and wanting this job to be over with.

That is all.

I get a call this morning from Gigi. She got a ticket this morning. No big deal, I got one a few weeks ago. We'll get over it. I do my morning paperwork at the job, then run around doing errands: buying some supplies at Home Depot, getting ice and water for the laborers, picking up blueprints, etc. My phone battery dies right after I leave the job, so I don't have a cell phone while I do my errands. No big deal, no one needs to get me anyways and I'll be back in an hour and a half.

When I get back at the job site I get reamed because no one could get ahold of me for the past hour and a half. They tell me I need to go to the hospital and do the paperwork for Brady (my uncle). He hurt his - already messed up - back. So I go to the hospital and as I'm in his room helping fill out paperwork and making the needed phone calls, I get a call from Gigi. She tells me she's been in an accident. Come to find out it's not that bad. Hopefully she'll be able to pay the guy to fix his car without insurance getting involved.

O well, we'll deal with it all and everything will be alright.

As far as Brady goes, he's been having bad back problems for a while. He's been told he needs back surgery for a while, but he's only 35 and was going to put it off for a while, despite the fact that he eats 1-2 Loritab 7.5s a day.

So yea, now I'm sittin at my hotel. Seems like this job may last a few more weeks. Six 10-11 hour days sucks. We are now on week 4 =(

I really shouldn't be looking at bikes on the internet now. I REALLY REALLY shouldn't be looking at Ducati motorcycles on the internet... There is no reason I need a motorcycle that will go 200+ mph.

But I want...

I finished "reading" the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind today. Best series I've ever read, including Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance series. Two of the books were slightly slow and they were drawn out, but the other nine books in the series were simply fantastic.

After I started reading this series, I found out there was a television show being made about it, Legend of the Seeker. The TV show is great as well, as long as you do not expect it to be just like the books.

So, go out, pick up the first book in the series or check out the TV show... preferably the book.

( Seriously, notice the character and guild names )

Overdraft from bank: $34
17 months of accumulated interest on Chase/Circuit City credit card: $452
Speeding Ticket for doing 59 in a 50: $132

Total money I found out I had to pay today: $618

Yay I'm broke again.

Also, for all of you that may be getting credit cards in the future, do not get Chase or Citibank. Trust me from personal experience. Chase hit me with $450 in finance charges cuz my payment was made 3 days late!

So my television which was $1950 new, as of last month I had less than $1400 left on it. Now I have $1800 left to pay.

8th day in a row working 13 hours every day.

I thought I would be home today, but it's looking more and more like I won't be home until Thursday or Friday.

I'll post more later when I get more than an hour or 2 max free a day.

~Jake/James

I updated my LinkedIn, it's been about a year since I have. If you guys are professionals and have a LinkedIn account, add me:

My LinkedIn

Just letting everyone know, I'm back in Mississippi.  I am in a plethora of mixed emotions.

Trip recount:
Miles Driven: 2240
Hours Driven: 33.25 hours
Miles per hour (counting all stops, except 7 hours at hotel in Texas): 67.37
Gallons of gas: 83.6 gallons
Average mpg in Mustang: 26.8mpg (86/87 octane)
Wednesday: 7:30AM (PST) --> 2:30AM (CST)
Thursday: 9:30AM (CST) --> 1:45AM (CST)
Hours slept: 6.5

I think I'm going to sleep now...
 

I'm officially withrawn from California Polytechnic University...

Now to see where to go from here...

I am from d futr. I am futr Jake. U must save us. D futr iz so stpd since txt msg in 2k. U can sav d wrld, just use punctuation and rl wrds.

Plz save d futr.

KKTHX BAI

 

My name is Jake.  I'm from the future.   Where I'm from, it is the year 2045.  This letter took me two weeks to write.  I had to use the last form of a, what you call "modern english", writing program, Microsoft Word MMXV (released in 2015).  The world is in disarray.  It all started with text messaging in the turn of the century.  In 2012, there were school courses devoted to "short-script" messaging.  By  2015, there were no more english grammar courses in public schools, due to it's limited use outside of academia.  Everyone spoke in short-script, saying it was more efficient.  You must help us.  Please tell your kids to use complete sentences and don't take the lazy route.  First it was text messages, then people just did not want to go outside, and finally people just stopped working.  I moved to the only place not affected by this, south Mississippi.  Life has only recently started going downhill here, and it is only a matter of time.

 

P.S. Save the rouge, and save the world!

Things I have learned in Physical Chemistry class (Advanced Thermodynamics):

First Law of Thermodynamics - You can't win.
(i.e. Energy is conserved)

Second Law of Thermodynamics - You can't even break even.
(i.e. You can not convert heat directly to work without some kind of energy loss)

Yet another reason why this is called "the depressing science".

I has Heelys!

I don't know when I'll be back again.

Ok, enough of the John Denver. Here's the news...

I'm moving to California in less than a month! My classes start January 5th. I'll be attending California Polytechnic Institute as a graduate student in Polymer Science, MS Program.

I've been accepted, got my student loans, and Gigi and myself have put in our notices at work. We have started packing and boxing things up here. We're going to drive her SUV and my Mustang across country (hence the "leaving in a Mustang" bit).

I can't wait! I'm going back to school! And they let me straight into their MS Polymer Science program, with my BS in Software Engineering. Granted, for one semester I am a conditional student. I'll be taking undergraduate Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Material Science this semester.