Call me Mr. MCDST

Well, I finally took the tests for Microsoft Certified Desktop Service Technician and passed them both, so now I am a Microsoft Certified Professional. It doesn't do much for me in my current job, except that studying for it was responsible for me getting the part time IT job with CM/IT.

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I'm in!

I got the CM/IT job I was interviewing for. I had to go to a couple of orientation sessions and take some certification tests but I passed everything and am ready to start working. Probably next week. I am also still working on the MS certification. I will take the first test next Tuesday. I postponed it once and have been using some self test software I purchased access to. This is helping me a lot so I hope the first test will go well. I do not want to have to take the tests more than once. One thing for sure, doing this studying made the certification tests for CM/IT a snap.

Serenity Rocks!

I have seen the new movie "Serenity" twice now and it is great! Gotta see it some more, not only because it is a great movie but because I have to support it so they can get the sequel. They are saying that to get a sequel, they will have to have $80M in US ticket sales. However, if they can make a sequel to "Deuce Bigelow", they can sure make a Serenity sequel. The numbers so far are here.

Just back from class

So I just spent a week taking a couple of MS classes to get my MCDST (Microsoft Certified Desktop Service Technician) cerification. The classes were interesting and now I have a little studying to do so I can take the tests, hopefully sometime next month. I would also like to take a look at the requirements for an A+ certification and see if I can also get that.

The fun part of doing these classes was they were given close to Brian's apartment so I went and stayed at this place for the week. We went bowling one evening and bought him a new mattress. Otherwise it was a pretty quiet week. I also got to see "House" and "CSI" in HD on his big TV.

These classes were paid for by the retraining money IBM gave me after I was "down sized" last year. I am also interviewing for a job with CMIT. I had a call today with them and will have a face-to-face interview on Wednesday. This is for a part-time job doing deskside support in Eastern Fairfield County, CT.

Summer's last gasp?

So today is one of the last (official) days of Summer '05. I wish it weren't so but at least we are having some of the most beautiful weather you could imagine for the holiday weekend. Today we took our kayaks out on Lake Lillinonah. It was ok but we don't like doing the big lakes and rivers like we do the small ones, where there are no speed boats and smoother waters. We did about 5 1/2 miles but had planned to go 9 miles down to Lake Zoar. However, we did not anticipate the dam between them (oops, who knew). So we went about 2/3 of the way to the dam and then came back.

Where the hell did the summer go?

Oh no, it is the end of August. I hate this time of year because I know that soon it will be too cool out to have our windows open at night and we will have to start putting the blankets back on the bed. Also, the leaves will start falling again and I will have to clean the yard.

One of the things I found at the Bridgewater Fair that should help with the leaf cleanup this year is the LG-BAGZ-IT leaf hauler. I am hoping it will be easier than using a blanket and wheelbarrow.

Today I spent a couple hours cleaning the gutters. Of course, they will be full of leaves again soon but at least I got the plants that were growing in them out. Actually, they probably contained a lot of good top soil. I was looking at gutter guard solutions this morning and came upon the truth about gutter systems. Seems gutter guards work better at keeping you from clean out clogs than at keeping out the stuff that clogs them.

I also spent most of the day listening to my favorite podcasts. TWIT (This Week In Tech) and The Signal (Firefly info) are among them.

Speaking of Firefly and Serenity, I am getting really excited about the movie coming on 9/30. I also need to get my DVDs back so I can watch the series and get Ellyn to watch it too, so she will be up to speed on it when the movie comes out.

Kayak Instructions

You can find my instructions for putting the kayaks on top of the van here.

Comics Reader for Windows

So I finally found Comics Reader, a Windows based comics collector which collects and displays daily comics in one page. His website says Windows 3.1 but it has been more recently updated. After installing, I ran the updater and it sucked in the latest fixes. I had to configure a few of my favorites and I sent the author links to the daily pages for some of the King Features comics, which only have archives for a few comics. However, most of them are available at the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer websites. You still have to follow links to see them, as KF won't let you display the image directly without a "referer" (whatever that is) but I still have the links on the page. An improvement over the bookmark list I was using before.

I put in links to the comics I usually read in the paper so I don't have to bother with finding the comics page in the News-Times each day any more.

Update

So Brian and I had a great time at the concert. The Johns put on great shows and Fogerty came out during Mellencamp's set to do a couple of songs with him. We left about 2/3 of the way through Mellencamp's show because Brian had to get to work the next morning and he had more than an hour drive. My ears are still ringing.

Ellyn and I just got back from spending the weekend in Boston with Brian. We went up Friday and came back last night. We went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Imax. The Imax theater was in the back of a furniture store. Very bizzare. We slept in the second bedroom of Brian's apartment. Very bizarre.

On the way home, we got stuck in bad traffic in CT approaching Danbury. Apparently there had been a bus fire on the higway and they had closed it for a while and then opened just one lane. Traffic was backed up about 12 miles. We took about an extra hour to get home.

Where was I?

Looks like I have not posted here for a few weeks. Let's see what has happened.

Brian got a new car after he totaled ours. Now he is on his own insurance and car payments. We are saving a bunch. Here is his new car.


Ellyn and I recently had a couple trips; one to Las Vegas for the second annual Tivo Community Forum Convention (TC-Con'05). A lot of fun and we did not lose too much money at the craps table. The second was a driving trip to Huntsville, Alabama for the wedding of Ellyn's cousin Marge's step-son Isaac. It was a lot of fun with stops to see Ellyn's brother Howard and his wife, Liz and our neice, Sarah, and stopped to see old friends Barbara and Joe Davidson and Art and Barbara Geen.

In the next couple weeks, Brian and I are going to see John Fogerty and John Mellincamp in concert and then Brian, Logan, and I are going to Stafford Springs to see the races.

Oh crap

We got a call from Brian while on vacation in San Diego that he got into an accident with his car. Although we had signed the paperwork over to him, it was still on our insurance and still registered to us. So he contacted the insurance co. and got an adjuster to look at it (with some confusion, since they could not figure out if the car was in CT or MA). Finally, the news...it was totaled.

So now it is gone and Brian has a new car (photos to follow). We spent a couple of days frantically looking and buying (he bought with our help and the insurance money from the other car) a "new" 1999 Nissan Maxima. They were frantic because he was heading out to LA with his brother and friends to attend the E3 gaming conference. Now the car is in our garage waiting for me to finish the paperwork and get it registered for him before he gets back. Then he can drive it back to Boston.

Next one is all his own responsibility.

Catch up

Ok, so we got Brian moved in ok and there are some photos of the move and his new apartment here. He has now been working for 3 weeks and got his first paycheck. I'll bet that felt good.

Ellyn and I have been on vacation in San Diego visiting my brother Wes and his family. Then we went to Houston, TX to visit with some of Ellyn's cousins.

Moving day

We have been packing Brian for a few days now and today we got the moving van. Some friends had some old furniture to get rid of so we went and picked that up this afternoon. Now we are loading up the rest of Brian's stuff and tomorrow we will tow the van and Brian will drive his car. Then I will have the van to drive back on Friday. A lot of work left to do.

Apartment hunting in MA

Yesterday Ellyn, Brian, and I went to Boston for the day to do some apartment hunting for Brian. It was a lot of work, and Ellyn and Brian did most of it, between searching the internet and the classified ads. I did all the driving. It paid off. He found a nice two bedroom apartment near the Charles River in Waltham. It was a little more than he wanted to pay but he gets the extra room for visitors and there is lots of visitor parking as well, something with some apartment complexs are sadly lacking. He did see a few one bedroom places for less but he liked this place the best.

Finally!

Brian got the call he has been waiting two months for today. TV Guide wants him to come do firmware programming for him up in Boston $50K/year to start. Not too shabby!

Maybe at a crossroads

Brian may be getting a job offer from TV Guide afterall. He got a call the other day from Eric saying he should be hearing more from TV Guide any day now. He got a rejection letter last week but Ellyn also initially got a rejection letter from IBM before finally being hired by them...29 years ago.

Back to some visible construction changes.

So I have been doing electrical work for a while and the daily changes were small. Today, I got the electrical in the bathroom inspected so now I can close up some of the walls in there. However, before I can close up the vanity wall, I needed to work on the wall behind it in the hallway, which will contain a new bookcase. So today I opened up that wall, cut out the studs, and put in a new header over the opening to support a beam which holds up some of the ceiling joists. New pictures have been added to the remodeling photos on the WebShots website.

Tomorrow I will put in the rest of the framing members but I will not trim it until I tape the sheetrock on the back of the bookcase area.

Another milestone?

Well, I almost have the electrical in the bathroom ready for inspection. I should finish it up tomorrow and see if I can get it inspected on Wednesday, when the vanities are being delivered. I also got the timers for the fans today so I can order the switches and outlets for the bathroom. Perhaps I will see if i can save some money ordering them on line instead of going to F&M Electric.

What's up now?

So, what happened this week? Well, I have been doing some of the electrical work in the bathroom. I should finihs it up so I can get it inspected. Then I can convince Ellyn it is time to remove the shower. I put the lights in the ceiling of the bedroom the other day.