As many of you know, I've been moving to Rochester, Minnesota over the past week for my new job. I've come to despise moving after doing it so many times over my college career for co-ops and internships in Minnesota. Thankfully, this should be the last move for a while... at least I hope so!

My townhouse is pretty cool and I'm convinced I probably got the unit with the best view. It's a corner unit (8 in each building) so I have windows facing two directions. One direction looks off into darkness where Rochester basically ends. The other direction looks out over some rolling hills of a farm. Each unit also has a small patio area outside which allows you to look out over the city. I'll have to post pictures of the views when I find all of my camera stuff in all my junk. The only downside to these views is having some pretty strong winds all the time since I'm on a hill. Since Rochester is windy all the time I guess it doesn't really matter anyway.



I'm pretty much done unpacking now and it comes at a good time since I start my job next week. I fly to New York for a few days for some orientation stuff and then come back to work in town. I don't know exactly what kind of stuff I'll be working on but judging from the previous times I've worked here I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

Normally when I move I only bring my LCD monitor which I got when I first started college, but since I was moving almost all my stuff this time I decided to bring my old CRT monitor along too. I have them setup as dual monitors right now and I think I'll really enjoy it. I don't really know what to put on the other monitor though. So far I just have my buddy list over there and if anyone messages me I'm sure I'd put that over on the second monitor as well. Two monitors almost seems unnecessary to me at home but it's funny how I can't live without two screens at work.

The way my living room is built, there is a hole cutout in the wall above the fireplace which is made for a TV. The hole is reasonably large so you can fit a decent size TV in it, but they really didn't design it for doing things other than watching TV. There is a small shelf at the top of the hole for things like cable boxes or small DVD players, but game consoles or speaker equipment just won't fit at all. I have been thinking about the situation for a long time and decided I'd try and get one HDMI cable to go through the wall in the hole down to the floor outside the wall and plug all my stuff into a receiver there. My dad is a pretty handy guy so I suggested that we try the project ourselves. I'm sure a professional could have come in with his/her fancy tools and done the job in 10 minutes but I really didn't want to pay or setup the appointment. My dad and I ended up getting the job done, but it took several days since we weren't really sure where in the hole to make the hole. It's going to look very nice once I get my receiver (this Friday) and the cabinet I ordered to put the electronic equipment in. However, currently it looks weird since there are a ton of wires coming out of the wall and they don't plug into anything.

My dad has always enjoyed using X10 stuff in our homes to automate lights so that they go on and off at certain times during the day. Now that I have my own place I think I might try and do the same sort of stuff. I'd love to replace all the light switches in the house with X10 (or Insteon, I guess it's newer?) switches so I can put things on timers. Since my place is obviously not as big as a house I really don't have that many things to automate though. I think the thing that really matters the most would be the outside lights. I never remember to turn it on so having it on a timer would be nice.

The webcam will be back eventually. I just setup the computer that it normally plugs into about an hour ago and I still need to figure out how to get the camera pointing out the window. The shades I have are sort of heavy and may be provide a challenge while trying to put the webcam in front of them. The webcam I currently have really works pretty poorly anyway, so maybe if I can think of a better solution using a new camera I'll try that. Stay tuned.

Labels: computers, davecam, home theater, house, insteon, job, rochester

As requested by Ryan and others, I guess it's time to post again.

Quite a few things have changed since I last posted. I spent part of my spring break in Rochester looking for a place to live. I decided that I'd buy instead of rent since it's obviously a good market for buyers right now. My dad went with me to help me out and we took a look at about seven townhouses. Most of them I really didn't care for though and would rather rent instead of buy them. It's amazing how different places look in person than they do online. I ended up finding a few that I thought I would like and ended up buying one! It's been a pretty weird experience so far. There is so much paperwork and a lot of stuff that seems unnecessarily confusing. Anyway, here's a picture of the kitchen with pretty nice appliances.



I'll be going there to close on the place in early May and then going back in mid-May to move my stuff. Finally, I'll be starting work at the end of May. It's pretty exciting.

I've been watching a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is probably obvious to those of you who come to my site often as you have probably seen the Netflix list on the side contain a lot of Buffy discs. I never would have watched this show but after Justin got so into it and then Jackie started watching it, I pretty much had to give it a chance. After the first season the storyline really starts to pick up and it's really hard to stop watching. I think my favorite season so far is season 5, which had a lot of good episodes. I still have the last season to go through so don't put spoilers in the comments! I've also been watching Angel, the spin-off of Buffy. I'm only on season two but it's pretty decent so far. I really like the darker tone of the show compared to Buffy.

I've been working at the Computer Science Learning Center at school this semester. It's basically a place where people in the first two years of computer science classes can come in and get help on their assignments. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but it's actually a pretty interesting job. It's nice when you see repeat students and they have learned a lot from what you've been helping them with.

This winter there was a few faculty from different schools that were here building an ice sculpture with a 1978 Chevy Nova in it. They have a blog that documented the process. It started a lot different than it ended up as, but the final product was pretty cool looking.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because I was walking by the car today and I noticed something I hadn't seen there before... a ticket! Either one of the people who give out tickets or someone who received a ticket put one on the Nova. It made me laugh pretty good so I thought I'd take a picture with my crappy cell phone camera and post it on here.



I don't get why so many people park in places which are obviously not parking spots. At any given time during the day, if I walk by the parking lot in front of the library I am willing to bet that I could find at least 20 cars who either are parked in a non-spot or parked in a legal spot but didn't pay the meter. The school could get a lot more money if they actually did their job and ticketed these people. I also think it's pretty stupid when people drive around with the ticket still under their windshield wipers. Do they think it's cool or something? Apparently a pink ticket packet on your window automatically makes you cooler. I don't get these people.

As far as games go, I've been playing Condemned 2. For those of you who don't know what the game is about, it's a survival horror type game and gives you a good scare a few times during the game. The first game was very good and this one is pretty decent so far too. I was probably half way through the game when my save file just magically disappeared. After searching online it sounds like it's a pretty common problem with this game. Talk about a big bug.

Labels: angel, buffy, condemned 2, house, learning center, rochester, winter

I posted some pictures of my new apartment in Rochester. You can get to them by going to the pictures section or by clicking here.

I'll be going to Madison today to see some friends at a graduation party/birthday. I'm not looking forward to the drive too much but it should be worth it. Hopefully gas is cheap somewhere along the way!

I've been playing the Halo 3 Beta online with some online friends and I have to say that it is way better than Halo 2. I can't put my finger on exactly what I didn't like about Halo 2's multiplayer, but I think it may have had something to do with how common dual wielding was. It's much harder in Halo 3 to dual wield because they don't start you off with weapons that can do that. Overall, it seems to make it so that it isn't just luck on who ends up killing who, but skill. They have this awesome stats page now (for both Halo 2 and 3) that shows a ton of different stats for individual games and overall games. Check out my stats. I think it's cool that it keeps track of your overall kill to death ratio. That should tell people if you really are helpful to your team or not.

Labels: friends, halo 3, rochester

Well I'm all moved in to my new Apartment in Rochester. I'll post some pictures when I get around to making a page for them.

It was a really busy week last week. First my Dad and I packed everything in the U-Haul. This wasn't too bad except that the couch wouldn't fit back through the doors easily so we ended up taking them off. When we got to Green Bay, we had to unload everything to take the couch out, since I wasn't bringing it to Rochester, and put everything back in. Finally, we got to Rochester and had to take it to my apartment. Then we went to Ikea and a few other places to get some things that I needed. I was surprised that there aren't really any unencrypted wireless networks near my apartment. Because of that we had to live without Internet until Friday when the cable guy came. Finally, we went back to Green Bay for the weekend for a baseball game a Mother's Day.

As I mentioned, we went to a baseball game last Saturday. Hall of fame Cub Ryne Sandberg is the coach of the Peoria Chiefs and they were coming to Appleton to play the Timber Rattlers. Naturally, since my family is all Cubs fans we went to go see the team play and to see Ryne Sandberg. Of course, I forgot my camera and had to take pictures with my cell phone. I might post them, even though they are terrible. The Chiefs lost in true Cubs fashion, 11-1.

Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta started today. I had some spare time this morning before work so I downloaded it and tried played a game. It seems like it will be a pretty fun game when it comes out in September. Halo 2 was good but it didn't capture my attention like Halo 1 did. Maybe Halo 3 will do it again.

Labels: cubs, halo 3, rochester

The end of my junior year, that is. This is the last week of classes for this semester so I'll be free next week Thursday, after my last final. This semester really wasn't bad at all. It might be because I was only at school half of the year, but it really flew by. I think the work experience I had greatly helped me in school work. I seemed to plan out my assignments a lot better which resulted in better code.

I start work again in Rochester on May 14th. I'll move there the week before that to get settled in though. Todd, my parents, and I are also going to see former Cub and hall-of-famer Ryne Sandberg coach the Cubs minor league team, the Peoria Chiefs, play the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Obviously, we will be cheering for the Chiefs and I will be sporting Cubs apparel.

Speaking of the Cubs, they have been absolutely terrible in close games this year. They are last in the division right now at 7-12. The pitching has been pretty good, at least from Lilly, Hill, and Marquis. Wade Miller has been terrible and Zambrano hasn't been himself though. Hopefully that gets sorted out. Hill has been amazing though. He's 3-0 in 3 starts and has an ERA of .41, which is ridiculous. He's pitching tonight so you can bet I'll be watching.

I read a Cubs blog called The View From the Bleachers and they mentioned something I found very interesting the other day. Someone said that he's encouraged by the fact that Derrek Lee has not hit a homerun yet. I'll admit I've been kind of nervous that he hasn't, but he has been red hot in batting average. The point that the poster made was that this means that Derrek Lee is likely to get even hotter than he is now. Imagine a lineup with Derrek Lee hitting BETTER than he is now along with a also very good Ramirez and a Soriano who has to be getting hot soon as well. The Cubs will be able to score a TON of runs.

Anyway, back to Rochester. I'm excited to move back and start biking again. It's been really nice out and I've really wanted to get out on some trails. I'm planning on going at least 3 times a week for long rides. I also just purchased a bike rack for my car so I'll be able to drive to some trails I've never been to around the area.

Labels: biking, cubs, mtu, rochester

Only about a week and a half left until I'm leaving Rochester. Or 10 work days I guess. It's funny how fast this 8 months went by. It started extremely slow but things picked up in the summer when I got my bike and was able to go out and see everything the city had and get some exercise in too. It made my days go by a lot faster. Then in early fall things just flew by. It feels like yesterday it was October. A lot of that has to do with being used to my job now I suppose. As well as meeting some cool people to keep me company.

Justin let me borrow the newest Evanescence CD from him yesterday after I kept hearing it in his car and thought it was pretty good. I like it better than the first Evanescence CD. I don't really have a specific reason why, it just sounds better. I've only listened to it one time through though.

I should probably head off to bed.

Labels: music, rochester

Don't worry, I'm alive.

There has been quite a bit I've wanted to post on here but I've been way too lazy to post it all. I'll just post a few things that I'm remembering right now.

My last day of work is December 22nd. I'm probably going to come home that day or the next depending on weather and if I feel like driving. In early January I have to go back to Rochester and pick up my crap from the apartment and then haul it to Houghton.

I'm not sure if I'm really looking forward to coming home or not. I really don't even know what "home" I'm talking about anymore actually. I've noticed that wherever I am not, I call home. So I guess I'm constantly not at home, if that's possible. I guess I'm looking forward to school again but I'm sure that will wear off quickly.

Here are two videos I thought were really funny. Live action hamster video game. This one is really funny. I feel bad for the hamster actually, especially when he almost gets crushed. Viva Pinata commercial. This is one of the best commercials I have ever seen. I think it's just because it's the kind of humor that I really love. Nonsense stuff. I'm sure most of you will laugh at it.

Labels: funny, rochester

In case you were skeptical about that XBox 360 blog I mentioned before, here is part of the latest entry that it put up for me:

I heard someone tell drstan00 to go play outside and he was like 'screw that!' so we did some gaming.

Come on, don't think find that hilarious? It's supposed to be from the XBox's point of view.

So I have a little over a month left here. It has actually gone by fairly quickly. I thought it might drag on and on but for some reason it hasn't. At first it was going by very slowly but lately it seems like I'll wonder what day of the week it is and it's already Thursday or Friday (except today is Monday unfortunately). I'm kind of excited to get back to school and see everyone but I'll probably miss not having homework.

I'm pretty tired, so I'll stop typing since I keep making mistakes and it's driving me crazy.

Labels: rochester, xbox 360