A Job And A Car

It's been forever since I've blogged at all, but that's because I've been super busy trying to make things and/or help make things happen. And they have.

For anyone out there who cares about my life, here's the update: I got a decent 30+hr/week minimum wage ($7.25/hr) job at Cinemark, the local movie theater inside the mall. And Thanks to Dad and Matt, I also have a nice car. A 2004 Volkswagen Passat GLX. I'm quite happy with these things.

It's taken a lot of time and effort to finally land a job (See previous post). I've been through so many applications, rejections, interviews, most of them with no feedback or anything. Back in September, I put out a bunch of apps in the mall. And just for the heck of it, (I think it was actually Aunt Marina's idea?) I put an application in at the Cinemark theater. I didn't see it coming what would end up happening. So then all the stuff in the previous post happens.  And now, out of nowhere, I get a call from Mr. T (I pity the foo who tries to pronounce his real name. OK, sorry, that was bad. :S) at Cinemark asking for an interview, and telling me to bring my license and social security card. (This pretty much told me what was about to happen in the next day or two...) In the next day or two I showed up, he interviewed me, and hired me on the spot. He copied my license and SSN and then discussed stuff with me, gave me a packet and handbook to read when I get home, and made me watch a Training video. And so, I was hired at Cinemark as a Concession Worker. (And also, whatever the manager or other employees need done worker)

I started work on the 1st of November. That day, I showed up in black dress slacks and black dress shoes and a white undershirt. I received my black Cinemark Polo T-shirt, ID card lanyard, and cap.

You KNOW I Instagrammed that right before my 1st shift.

It's been pretty fun. Everyone's nice. I'm pretty much the only guy working concession (I've only met girl concession workers so far). Everyone seems to be college age (except highest ranking managers), which is nice. Even though I've been told so far to do dirty work from mopping and sweeping to scrubbing down copper pipes and metal drain covers, It's not a bad job. It especially makes me happy to see even the managers in suits doing this work along with me. It's refreshing to see managers who don't have some kind of 'I'm better than you' complex.

The job has so far consisted of helping the concession cashiers gather the stuff ordered by the customers, doing a little cashier work myself, cleaning, unloading, counting, restocking, checking, double checking and waiting. I'm getting there. I think I'm doing ok for someone just hired.

Dad and Matt have done a lot of work researching cars. The idea/goal was to get a luxury brand (or otherwise very nice) car used with 150,000 miles or less for $5,000 or less. There were many cars we looked at and drove out to see and test drive. Most of them were Volvo, Audi and BMW. One of them was a slightly older Mercedes-Benz S class. That really looked like it was the one... until the inspection came back from Dad/Matt's Mercedes-Benz dealership saying that it needed significant repairs before it would be good to drive. There were some SUVs on the list like a Ford Explorer, Volvo XC90 and BMW X5. We even considered a Chevy Aveo. My goal was simply to get a car with good gas mileage and low insurance rates while still being inexpensive (and in good running and cosmetic condition). Which ruled out SUVs (bad gas mileage) and sports cars (high insurance rates). This pretty much left us searching for nice Sedans. There were some nice BMWs, Volvos and Audis. But the problem is, most of these cars either ran well and looked rough, or looked great and ran rough. Or a mediocre blend of the two.

Eventually, we were lucky enough to stumble upon a nice top of the class Volkswagen Passat. So we went to the VW dealership, I immediately called USAA to get an insurance policy for the car in my name, got that set up, signed the paperwork to get the car in my name, and Bam. Just like that, thanks to Dad's and Matt's awesomeness, I own a nice VW Passat. The coolest part is, the dealer went way down on the price. It was a seriously good deal. The car is in great shape, with only a few little scratches and tiny dents and minor exterior cosmetic things. It runs great, and the interior is perfect and tidy (None of that saggy headliner business). The previous owners clearly took great care of this car.

Seriously. It's SO clean! :O

The guages and controls glow red when the headlights are on

The screens glow an epic blue when the headlights are on

And so I drove my new car off the lot and straight to work. It was such a cool experience. Only thing is, I skipped the detailing, refueling, and cleaning of the car to make it to work on time. It's been good fun driving to work and back home.

My ride home from work waiting for me after a crazy Saturday night shift

Included in the paperwork was the VW dealership agreeing to fix the tail light and the mirror adjustment knob. So the other day, I called up and drove out. I stuck around for a lot longer than I thought, and then finally it was done. While I was waiting I got quotes for the chrome trim around the back bumper (there's a small section of it missing) and the driver front fog lamp (the glass cover is busted, but the light still works). That may take some time for me to save up and repair. Meh.

Josh, our salesman, even cleaned the passenger headlight cover to the best of his ability when I mentioned I noticed it wasn't quite as clear as the other one. It looks great. He's such a cool guy going the extra mile like that. While I was there he detailed and filled the gas tank. He offered to wash it and vacuum it out whenever I next have the chance. Needless to say, I like VW, I like the dealership. So yeah. I'm so gonna take him up on that offer this week.

So yeah. Thank you so much, Dad and Matt, for sacrificing so much of your time and own money to get me this car. I'm very pleased with it. It's like Christmas has come early.

Today, I opened my USAA Checking&Savings accounts, set up auto-pay for USAA auto insurance and set up Auto-pay for my AT&T iPhone bill (so Matt or Dad don't have to pay it anymore, yay for having my own job and bank account..) On my next work shift, I will set up direct deposit. I also checked on University of Houston and FAFSA deadlines for applying for college next year. Yeah.

So I'm definitely on track toward my goals here. I have a life.. :') I have my own job, car, bank account, lovely girl and everything. Yay. :)

Job Hunting

So anyone who knows me knows I've been searching for a job. I'm here for a year waiting to become a TX resident to get in-state tuition for University of Houston next year so I can finish my degree. In the meantime, it would be good to have a job and start saving up money.  Here is a description of my experience on that so far.

I started by using Google Maps to find places around the area that might be hiring. Like Home Depot, Best Buy, Apple Store, Starbucks, Gap, and so one. Many of them were in the mall. Point is, I made a list of a lot of places.

Then I applied to these places. While we were out at Home Depot one day, I decided to sit at the computer where it says Hiring and fill out an application. It took ages. Dad sent me MMS photos of him sleeping in the car, and Matt got bored of standing by me waiting for me to be done. We were both surprised by some of the questions this thing asked. A few of them required algebra. So you need to be good at maths to work at Home Depot. That's not a bad thing, but still. Who integrates Maths pop quizzes into job apps? After that, I decided to fill out apps on my own time online. All big name sites have a Careers link at the bottom of the page. These were mostly easier and quicker than that one. Apple's online application is by far the quickest and easiest.

Then the waiting game. Who would call for an interview? Who wouldn't? It turned out, I received many rejection emails. And some of these said please feel free to apply again in 2 months. This was quite lame.

I want to work at the local Best Buy. Because I really believe I would be good at helping people find and buy stuff that they'd like to use. So after getting one of those rejection emails from them, I decided by Dad and Matt's advice to show up to the Best Buy in person to talk to the manager about the email and the job. I found the manager shortly after walking in. I asked him about the job and we had a little chat. He seemed like a really cool guy. He introduced me to the hiring manager guy, who took me to the Job Application computer. So basically, from what I understand of him telling me, If I apply again, he will see the application and look into getting me an interview there. So I sit there and apply again. He had to go back to work and do a bunch of stuff, so he told me to tell him when I'm done and about to submit the app. I finish the app and then I stand around and sit around, awkwardly and notice he's not coming back to me. So I go up to the manager and ask where he is and find him and remind him I'm done. After a while, he joins me at the machine and I send the app in. Then finally he said that should be it and then I left. A day later, the same rejection email. Corporate HR is rejecting my application and it is never getting to the store. And conveniently, they won't tell me why it is that I'm being rejected or not considered. I called back and a different manager answers the phone and then finally tells me that it's up to Corporate HR who gets hired and who doesn't. Why did they tell me this in the first place? Way to get my hopes up. :|

The first to call me in for an interview was actually the Apple Store. That's probably because I went in there and told a Specialist I'd applied online and they wrote down my name and number. That was a very nice time. It actually woke me up but when I heard who it was calling, I immediately somehow became alert and awake so I didn't sound like I was just sleeping. So I now had an interview that day in the afternoon. I got up, ate cereal, got dressed and ready and was able to convince Aunt Marina to drive me to the mall for the interview despite super short notice. So I show up at the Apple Store, then tell someone I'm there for an interview and a few minutes later the manager comes out and we go out into the mall somewhere to sit. The interview itself was really nice and laid back. It was more her getting to know me. It felt just like a normal conversation where I felt free enough to talk about my life and my interests and why I should work at Apple. (Which is really funny because anyone who has known me for the past 3 years would know I do not have a thing for Apple and instead I'm actually a Google, Android, Linux/PC kind of guy. Strongly. Not to say I hated Mac/iPhone and what not because I like Apple a lot more than Microsoft.) Anyway, it was about a 20 minute ordeal where she almost lost track of time. She told me I would get an email and/or a call for the second part of the 3-part interview. The next day I called and said I didn't get the email. I changed my Apple ID and so I don't know what happened, maybe they sent it again. So days pass and I go into the store to tell her I still haven't got that email yet. She said it's nothing to stress about, and if it were, I'd get a call. I never heard anything at all from Apple since then. I kind of gave up on them. I have been in there many times. I hear it's actually very hard to get a job at the Apple Store. Most people don't get in even the first 3 or 4 times they try.

After that, I got a call from Starbucks because I applied for Barista. I don't even want to talk about how bad this interview was. Let's just say the girl who was interviewed before me was in the interview for like 25 minutes and then my interview lasted less than 5. *shudder* BAD. I was then haunted for the next 40 hours about how horrific this interview was. Nothing about it was right. Moving on.

Then I got called by Gap. I went in there while I was at the mall one day. Aunt Marina noticed a Now Hiring sign on the door, so I went in to ask about that. The guy was so enthusiastic and handed me a card with info to apply. I applied and then a couple days later I followed up calling about it. I then got an interview date for a few days later. This time, I was prepared. I borrowed a couple things from Dad's closet and looked pro. I went in there and had a nice chat with the manager. It was not bad at all. I tried so hard not to act nervous but she was still able to tell. Oh well. I'd say this one went very well overall. I answered all the questions naturally and sounded good, I thought. The biggest win here was right when I was leaving the store, she told me, "By the way, you look fabulous today!" That was awesome. And as you know, I totally tweeted about that on my way out. I must have done something right having been told that by a manager of a clothing shop like Gap. Either that, or Dad has a good sense of style. (Both? *shrug*) the next day I wrote and sent a short little Thank you note that looked amazing and professional.

After that, I decided for the heck of it to go in to Hollister and ask if they're hiring. Apparently, they are always hiring. They gave me a paper with a link and password to fill out an app. I got called what must be the next day saying that position wasn't open, but another one was, so I filled out the app for that. Then I called back saying I did that. Then she said that Overnight pays more and is also open. So I then fill THAT app out and call back. I was told orientation would be on Sunday morning. So apparently, working from 9 PM to sometimes 1 AM was totally not cool. One of the three would have to wake up in the middle of the night just to drive me home from work and they all wake up early. We kinda panicked a little bit and tried to think about what to do that would make sense. I said I would try to switch position at orientation on Sunday. And so I did, luckily enough. So on Sunday, Marina drove me to the mall (Yet again. I'm sure by now she's tired of driving me to the mall. And not only that, every time we go, we pass that shop where she always means to drop a ring of hers off for repair ;D) I went into the Hollister store when I saw someone opening one of the side doors letting a couple people in. So from here, people were registering for their work IDs. I managed to switch position to Impact (day-time stock). Then went back and heard basics about working there. Loss-prevention, general things and about what we have to wear while working there. After that I decided to visit the captain see if I need to cut. Unfortunately, I did not. Someone else who had more experience than me was hired. A few days later I went back to buy work clothes. At first I picked up the wrong shirts so had to get ones that were in the Style Guide. Eh. So yeah. Now I work at Hollister part time. And by part time, I mean I've had two shifts in two weeks, and then now for 3 weeks running, zero shifts. Seriously, this is crazy. I need to find something more stable and reliable than this.

So then I go on to Craigslist. Then for 2 days I search for job listings. It turns out that there actually is a classified section on craigslist for jobs. I looked at restaurant jobs I looked at retail jobs and none of them seem to be right for me. Some listings required experience others did not. I disregarded those that did. I sent off some emails to some of those listings. I actually got a reply from the main one which was a local website development company close to where Dad works so he would be able to drive me to work. It was exciting to get an email from them because they were the main people that I thought would be really cool to work for. So they asked me to show up for an interview and basically the same thing over again but this time I dressed up a little bit more. The interview went pretty well I think. It took a little while to find their office because it was on the second floor of some building that was not really obvious where it was supposed to be, but luckily I was still on time. I went into the office is open to take a seat so I set there for a little while. And then finally the guy came over and met me to bring me to a conference room. And so while we were trying to figure out the phone thing for the conference call (one of the guys in Canada), I was offered coffee and I made had a little chat. Once the phone was set up, the guy on the phone gave a quick rundown on the company and its history. Then he asked me a lot of technical questions about JavaScript/JQuery, definitely a lot of things about CSS and things like that for website development, as expected, and I generally knew the answers to these questions. After that was over, everyone shook hands, said it was a pleasure and then I was on my way. I did some digging to find email addresses of the people in the conference and then later that night sent a thank you email to each. I still have yet to hear back.

And this is where I am now. I have a part time job that hardly gives me any hours and there is definitely not even a regular schedule, and I still have yet to hear back from anyone else, who I pretty much assume by now has looked on and forgotten about me. It's been a long journey. One that is just completely ridiculous and tiring and annoying and never ending. I seriously hope that somebody hires me because I really need some work right now and I want to do something productive in this next year before I start school again. But it wasn't all annoying sometimes it was actually quite exciting. It's all very new fresh and it's something that's necessary and a milestone of life and part of moving forward.

TL;DR: I've been looking for a job for over 2 months now and it's an annoying and long process. I got interviewed many times and managed to get hired somewhere. It's been fun and new yet also very annoying and tiring at the same time after a while.

Random Nostalgia

There's a song by Trace Adkins where the chorus goes like this:

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These Are Some Good Times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

I was looking randomly online to see how much 1st generation iPod Nano is going for these days. Because I remember those days. Mine got stolen. It was a 1GB. (LOL) It's so hard to believe it's been 7 years since the iPod Nano 1st generation.

It was my first year of high school. And then I start thinking about how trends have changed over the years, even if minutely.. It made me think of when I was 10, how much fun I had scootin around the neighborhood on one of these:

Those were the days. Get off school, ride down the street to play one of these:

or trade some of these:

Good times, when things were fun and simple. Everyone had GameBoys, instead of iPod Touch or PSP or DS. Because those didn't exist. No one really had computers, laptops were not even cool. Internet was Dial-up and intolerably slow. People had house phones, and sometimes even a Nokia or LG flip phone. With no camera or colour screen. Texting was not even thought of, and people had limited minutes. People had pagers still. And most people had to remember everyone's phone number because there wasn't a contacts app except on mobile phones. And even then, many people didn't even use it because they remembered the numbers anyway.

LOL I am so old.

I remember when VCRs were the latest and greatest. And when DVDs first started being cool. And CDs. And now look. None of those things are even relevant. Blu-Ray and digital downloads are the latest.

But yeah. I feel like I'm getting so old now. I'm only 22, but sometimes I just feel old. And remember the good times of when I was a kid. Not that times now are bad. Just different.

I swear time is accelerating. Anyone else notice that? The older you get, the faster time goes and seems to pass you by.

Google+

I really like Google+. For those who don't know, Google+ is a social network site that Google came out with a few years ago. It was at first a huge success, getting lots of users, fast. but then it slowed down a little bit.

Everyone who does social does Facebook. Or has. Facebook just keeps sucking more and more every year. I'm not liking what I see when I log in. Those huge ads taking up space in my news feed is the latest final straw. The interface is annoying, too. And in my opinion it looks cluttered and kind of thrown together, so much stuff all up in your face. Google+ though, I think, got it right. The interface is much simpler, and you only see the stuff you actually care about. It's organised, and easy. It looks prettier.

I'm one of those people who really likes and enjoys Google products and the Google environment. I think Google is awesome. Gmail is by far my favourite email site. I like how all my stuff is integrated. And it's on all of my devices. And now that Google+ is integrated with Blogger, it's so easy to use photos that are tied to my Google+ account. I have my iPhone and Nexus 7 automatically upload photos to Google+ so all my photos are in the cloud privately stored and ready to share either here or on Google+. And whenever I make a post on Blogger, I get a prompt to share the post on Google+ to either Public, or whatever Circles I want.

Circles. I really like the idea of Google+ Circles. It makes the organisation of family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and people/pages you follow so easy. You can create a bunch of circles, and on your home page you can just click on what circle you want to see updates from. When you go to post, you select which circles to share it with, or all of them, or Public. This way, people only see what they feel like seeing. You share stuff with only the people who actually care about it. Or, you can just post everything publicly, or just share stuff with one person at a time. It's up to you.

Communities. The Communities on Google+ are awesome. You can search for topics on Google+ and join huge numbers of Communities. They are actually quite active with many members posting all day every day. In a Community, you can go in and see what people are writing in the group, and contribute your own posts. It's a great way to meet many people like you who share your interests. Google+ really is not the "ghost town" people think it is.

My Google+ home page feed is always moving with a lot of content. The sad part is, it's all from people I mostly don't know personally. Most people currently on Google+ are tech geeks and fans of Google stuff, or photographers, artists, and people like that. I really wish all my friends would give Google+ a decent chance. I would love so much to ditch Facebook. I hate the vicious cycle going on:

"No one" is on Google+ because "no one" is on Google+.

or

No one is joining Google+ because no one they know is on Google+.
No one they know is on Google+ because no one they know is on Google+. .......

The solution to this is, get on Google+ and invite people you know. If everyone did this, there would be more people on Google+... Obviously.

Seriously, Just give it a try. If you're bored one day, and you find yourself on Google.com ... just move your mouse to that black bar at the top and click on +You. If you already use Gmail, then you're basically more than halfway to joining Google+.

Why I Use The Dvorak Keyboard Layout And Love It

So everyone in the English-speaking world uses the qwerty keyboard. It's a huge seemingly universal standard. And it has been for ages. But one day, my friend Michael (aka Seze) showed me the Dvorak keyboard and explained why he uses it and loves it: It's comfortable, it makes a lot of sense, and it's just amazing. One does not simply go back to qwerty after having used and learned Dvorak.

What in the world is a Dvorak keyboard? It's this:

Compare that to your keyboard.

Notice how lots of stuff got moved around. Before you call this stupid or weird or whatever, consider the genius of its design.

Qwerty was literally designed to be awkward. It was designed in the days of typewriters such that the chance of two adjacent key hammers sticking would be as low as possible. It was by no means designed to be ergonomic or fit well with comfort and ease of typing. It's just so your typewriter doesn't jam.

But now, No one really ever uses typewriters. Everyone uses computers. So that problem is now irrelevant. But the keyboard layout has never changed. Because no one likes change, even if for the better and for comfort. It's just too inconvenient, I guess.

Dvorak was actually designed to not be awkward. It was designed for maximum comfort and speed and minimum finger movement distance. All the vowels are on home row. All the most commonly used consonants are on the rest of home row. Therefore, a huge amount of legitimate English words can be typed on home row alone, without ever moving off it. Then from there, all the other letters frequently used are close by. The design totally minimizes two-row jumps (look at qwerty, at how you have to type words like decade, because, but, deceased, etc. then look at Dvorak how those would be typed)

To me, It just makes sense. It's just so comfortable to type on. Every time I try to type on a qwerty computer keyboard, it just feels so awkward and wrong and horrible.

I use the Dvorak layout on all my devices that support it. Basically, everything that isn't an Apple device. (Mac supports it, but for some reason, iPad, iPod, iPhone do not.) My Netbook, my Chromebook, my Nexus 7.

Trust me, It is very worth it to learn this layout. And the best way to learn it is to just permanently switch to it and practice it. Force yourself to use it. Your brain will get used to it and once you're used to it, it's a dream to type on. Try it, and once you are used to it, you'll love it. (check out this website) You'll wonder WHY in the world does ANYONE still use qwerty?

Nightmare At The Texas DPS

Sorry this is a kind of a late post. All of this is over as of almost about a week now, but I still kinda feel the need to rant about it here. In case anyone is interested in one of many examples of why bureaucracy annoys me greatly.

So for the third time, Aunt Marina and I try to get our TX Driver's Licenses. ಠ_ಠ

The first time, the wait ended up taking SO long, we just up and left. 

The second time, I apparently didn't have enough documentation to prove that I'm a TX resident. OK... I assumed that there was a little more continuity in the United States here... I figured that I could just move from one state to another, and easily get a license there, provided I could at least prove that I am a US citizen and already have a non-expired, non-suspended, non-revoked driver's license... I was definitely wrong. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Driver's License office seems to be very, I'd even say overly strict about getting a license here. 

So I sit there at the station after a little while of waiting. The computer system actually malfunctioned, causing extra wait time... (Thankfully, you can get in line online at DPS Mega Centers, so the wait was not that bad, relatively.) I identify myself, and say I want to get a new TX driver's license. I then hand over my current Maryland license. Then my Birth Certificate. Then my Social Security card. These official documents should be enough to prove my identity. cool. I've proven my identity as a human being, and resident and citizen of the USA. 

The lady then asks for two official documents proving that I am a resident of Texas. I'm dumbfounded, as I do not recall seeing on the website that I need that. I just remember needing those forms of ID, one of them being a valid license. Then Aunt Marina, who's standing there, in the same situation as me (She's moved down here with us from Kentucky) kinda stands in my defense. 

We do not have anything in our name here yet. First of all, we just got here, and second of all, we are living in Dad's house. Everything is in his name or in Matt's. So now, we have to prove that. The lady hands me her last copy of a residency affidavit. Apparently, if I cannot show I'm a Texas resident, I have to prove that I am living with someone who can prove they are a Texas resident. The lady said we can just get the affidavit notarized and signed by Dad and then we just submit that as well as the two documents he will use to prove his residency.

So we go home, kinda upset that we wasted all of this time. I showed Dad and Matt the affidavit that night and read to them the list of acceptable documents, two of which would be required. The list is rather intrusive on privacy. If you can think of something you think is no one's business, it was on that list. Mortgage stuff, bills, government-issued documents, documents from financial institutions, stuff like that. Then the next morning, Dad went to work, copied his documents, notarized the affidavits, and waited for me and Marina to come to his workplace and pick it up and start all over again...

The third and final time...

A completely candid shot that Dad took of Marina and me being totally miserable

We get in line online. Deal with Navigation again. Show up. Wait. for ages. Then I get called and Marina follows me to the booth thing again. I do exactly as I did last time. I hand the lady my MD license, SSN card, and birth certificate. and the signed, notarized affidavit with the related not two, but four documents. (Dad and Matt decided to do four, just in case one or two of them were not acceptable). She looks at the affidavit, looks up at us, and notices that Dad is not present. She then says that he must physically be here because it cannot be proven that he is related to me. Yes, I admit that my birth certificate kinda doesn't have his name on it... Long story, irrelevant... She said had his name been on there, we could just move right on along. But no. He has to leave work in the middle of something important and drive all the way down here to the DPS just to exist in the same physical space as us in order for us to get licenses. So I'm dismissed and we go to the waiting area. Marina calls Dad and tells him the news. He is not pleased. We wait in line for a century. He arrives, and we all three sit there for another eternity.

Finally we are called. Both marina and I got called at the same time. So I go yet again to a lady in a booth thing. I present my documents. Dad stands there and explains and we move along smoothly. Marina, who is sitting a few booths down from me needs him present too, so he moves down there to be with her. Then the woman at my booth needed him so I had to keep looking down toward him and wait for him to come back to me. He had to show his license, so it could be copied, he had to sign some stuff.  Then he had to do the same thing a few units down from mine. Back and forth, back and forth.

Finally, the never-ending nightmare ends. I get a receipt of the license which is to be mailed to the house. Marina mentions how ridiculous it is that after all this, we still don't even have the actual licenses in our hands. We have to still wait for them to arrive in the post. Dad, completely inconvenienced, said he should have charged the DPS his "hourly rate". ;D Then off we all go, Dad to work, and Marina and I back home.

UGH.

Me and Marina keepin it real, gettin McDonalds iced tea and fries after that ridiculous ordeal

The insane traffic we ran into after the McDonalds trip

Samsung Series 3 Chromebook

So. Chromebooks. I replaced my old trusty ASUS netbook with the new Samsung Chromebook.

At first, I thought the idea of the Chromebook was stupid. I mean.. Who would want a computer that can only run a browser and nothing else? Who would want it if its entire usefulness depends on being connected to WiFi? WELL I went out and bought one. Here are my thoughts on the Chromebook after having had it for a couple months:

1. It's AMAZINGLY affordable. $249 USD is a really nice price for a laptop.
2. It's VERY portable. Its form factor and even appearance is very comparable to MacBook Air.
3. It's FAST. Boots in seconds. Literally, after having powered it down and closed it, I open it and it automatically starts booting. I don't even have enough time to unravel and plug the charger in the wall before it's at the login screen. It wakes up from shutting the lid after like a half second. win.
4. The keyboard is very good. It has great support for input languages and layouts. I was VERY HAPPY and even a little surprised to see the Dvorak layout supported. (Why I am weird and use Dvorak among other things in another post.) 
5. The trackpad pretty much just reminds me of Mac except it pretty much only recognises up to two finger gestures. That's all I need really.
6. It really IS useful. Two words: Web Apps. And some of them have capability to work offline. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Google Drive + Docs/Sheets/Slides works without an internet connection after going into my Google Drive Settings and enabling that feature. So I can write documents, edit spreadsheets or presentations offline. At this point, for me, this thing is literally every bit as useful as my netbook. Which honestly isn't super useful outside the internet. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it has a file manager pre-installed and that it works nicely with NTFS external hard drives. I was able to watch videos and look at photos on the hard drive easily. And there is a torrent app (JSTorrent).
7. The battery life is good. I can use this when I'm out throughout the day without even worrying about running out of battery before I get back home.

So basically, for $249 this thing does everything I need it to do. (Especially since I used a cool little script Crouton to install Ubuntu. More on this later) And it basically just runs Google Chrome. I'm surprised at how much I can do with a browser. It's for most consumers basically a functional laptop. The only programs I miss from my netbook were Skype and TeamSpeak. Google+ Hangout has been working ok as an alternative, but not everyone has Google+... Cool thing is, a friend of mine sent me his used netbook, so I actually have one again. :)

So yeah, if you are looking for a cheap laptop and you're on the web a lot, look no further than a Chromebook. If you already have a Chromebook, I suggest checking out the following links if you have not already. (From the Chromebooks Community on Google+)

• [Official] Support Forum
• [Official] Support Centre
• [Official] Contact a Ninja
• [Official] Release Announcement Blog
• Current Channel Versions
• [Blog] Chrome Story
• [Blog] OMG! Chrome!
• [Resource] Find Alternative Apps

It Is What It Is and I Am Who I Am

It is what it is and I am who I am. I like what I like, and I don't like what I don't like. I'm not picky. I'm very moderate. I'm easygoing and agreeable. I don't put a price tag on life. It's all about good times and being happy. No, I don't really care about wealth. I will probably never drive luxury or own a million dollar house. I won't wear designer clothes. And that's totally cool with me. I also will probably not be on the streets begging for food or money. All I want is to have a place. And that pretty much automatically means a job. And someone to live life with so I'm not lonely. I really don't need much to be happy. I'm not hard to please. Really. Nothing's changed, and it never will. Sure it's cool or whatever to have a high paying job, slick car and huge house. But I'm happy with what I have. I don't need more stuff, much less more of more expensive stuff. And personally, I'm happy with a typical suburban place and job that pays the bills. If I need a car to get to work or whatever, it just mainly needs to be one that runs properly. Honestly though, I could be happy even if I were homeless and broke. If I just had my special someone by my side.

I just don't think that the U.S. Dollar is the correct unit of measurement for a person's character. I can't think of a standard unit of measure, but I'd say that attitude, outlook, personal mottoes, and actions are great places to start. Wanna know how good someone is? Look at how they actually treat other people and what they say about other people. Look at how other people treat them and what other people say about them. Often, these go hand in hand. Also, not everyone is in real life what they make themselves out to be on social media. Some people like to keep it real online, some others like to joke around and have a certain persona which is different than their real-life one. Not like any of this even matters because judging is lame.

I'm staying true to myself, my standards, and preferences as I'm sorting things out to make a life for myself. I'm just looking to live a happy life. Simple as that. Along the way I'm just gonna try to be as good as I can be and do my best. And have fun with it, hopefully.

Just me drinking some orange juice. No big deal.

Pleasant Surprise

So the other day I was flicking through my Twitter stream. And then out of the corner of my eye I see a tweet made by Dad with a link to the latest post on the Houston Chronicle blog he and Matt write for. The headline was "The Call That Changed It All". So I decided to click it.

To my surprise, it was a blog post all about me, and how genuinely ecstatic Dad and Matt are to have me move in with them. That was very very nice.

Click here to read the post. (I would copy and paste it here, but I feel like it would be nice to give the Chronicle website the traffic.)

So yeah. After a bit of talking to my girl, I just HAD to give him and Matt a hug for writing that post. Yay for having people who care about you. Later that night he sent me a really nice Facebook message about how truly happy they are about all this.

 

Moving

Ahhh, moving house. Everyone's favourite activity. NOT.

I hear that moving into a new home is one of the most stressful things about being alive for most people these days. And it's true. But the thing is, the most stressful part can be handled if you hire a service to pack everything in the house and then move it into the new house. I will have to say, that surely is THE BEST way to move house. Not only is it fast, it saves so much back pain. And people who do that for a living get money to support their families. Cool.

But you still have to unpack the seemingly endless boxes and unwrap the seemingly endless paper. The rubbish pile accumulates to mountainous sizes. Once you get used to it though, it's not really that bad. As long as the mentality stays one room at a time with a positive optimistic attitude.

It may not be immediately obvious, but moving house is actually typically a nice bonding experience and you see who your real friends are. Especially if you don't go for a moving service. ;D It's always cool to go through stuff while unpacking and talking about how much stuff you have that you had no idea that you had. Like the tonnes of fine china that belonged to my great grandmother. I don't remember ever having fine china or ever dining with it. Apparently that is a shame and I've lived a sheltered life. ;D I have never seen so many spiffy little tea cups. Tea party for 4 families? :D

There's just something about organising stuff in the new place that's part of the excitement of it being new. It was cool to unpack my room. Not just because it was the quickest and required the least effort, but also because it's a fresh new start for me. It's been fun to unpack all my stuff I brought here with me. I went and got a desk and chair and built those.

Now I have a cozy bed, a nice desk, everything. Except WiFi. My room is the only room in the house where the WiFi connection is really bad or nonexistent on my mobile devices. But that shall change very soon when I unpack the range extenders. Yay. :D

Yeah. I'm loving this nice new place. It's roomy and cozy. A bit chaotic still as the unpacking/rennovating saga continues. With all the lighting reforms, painting sessions (which I have not had to take part in except a little taping), and getting some new furniture and whatnot and stuff. It took me forever today for some reason just to hook up a basic functioning Living Room A/V setup. Embarrassing, I know. :S But I must say this house is coming together quite nicely.

Then Aunt Marina (and her four Shih Tzu kids) arrives with this big truck full of stuff of her own to move in. A good friend of hers stayed a little while to help unload and unpack a little bit. It actually was not as much stuff or as bad as I thought it was going to be. But then again, in general, we seem to have a lot more to unpack than we thought we even had. That small-ish minimalist house we came from seemed to hide away stuff very well. She did some personalisation of the place herself. Including adding a not-so-welcomed Redskins hat to the Dad's classy decorative foyer gnome. Crazy Redskins fan. Let's hope she doesn't get herself evicted from Texas cheering too loud for the Skins.

I love unpacking as much as the next guy but I just can't wait until it's over. Soon enough I get my TX drivers license (which thankfully will be quick and easy) and start applying for jobs. YAY for making my own money!

I'm liking where life is going so far. I think moving down here to Dad's has been a good move. Yee haw! (Because everyone TOTALLY says that round here in Houston, Texas.)

Hello, World!

Hey everybody what's up? 

I just figured I'd check out Blogger again to see what's going on and maybe get back into the blogging scene a little bit. So this will be a place to organise my random rants. Feel free to comment and discuss. Just know I won't put up with trolls.

Some random stuff about me:

• I'm 22, male, straight and happily taken. 6'1", ~200lb
• From Baltimore, now living near Houston.
• I don't smoke or drink. I have before but not anymore. It's not really as cool as the manufacturers force us to believe.
• I'm a big fan of languages, science, maths, and tech. Therefore, I'm a nerd. Or something. 
• I love Sci-Fi. James Cameron's AVATAR and Doctor Who. 
• Generally speaking, I'm on #TeamGoogle and/or #TeamAndroid. But I don't hate on Apple. Not seriously, anyway. 
• I'm always on Social Media checkin stuff out. Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and Facebook. (Not the biggest fan of Facebook, but I'm kinda stuck using it.)
• I'm a Linux user and support Free and Open Source software. 
• Speaking of which, though I'm not particularly amazing, I like to write code. I know Java, XML (I like to play with Android sometimes), Python, Javascript, and a little of some others. They're all interesting.
• As for spoken languages, I'm only truly fluent in English, But my Na'vi (from AVATAR) is pretty good (seriously. I love teaching it to people. It's actually easy. Nerdy to the max, I know, but whatever) and in general, I can understand German. I'm familiar with some stuff in other languages too, like alphabets of Russian, Korean and Greek. I need to brush up on Japanese. And then actually learn it. I can also understand Spanish, but for some reason can't speak it very well these days. 
• I want to travel the world but I'm broke.
• Just because I think tech is kinda cool does not mean that I think nature is uncool; I totally think nature is beautiful and fascinating. I like green stuff. Going green whenever possible is cool.
• I totally appreciate wide varieties of art both visual and auditory though I cannot create super awesome stuff myself. Or at least I think so anyway. My girl begs to differ.
• I play guitar and a little bass. I have a history of hard rock and metal, but I like the soothing stuff too. Especially these days. I guess I'm either getting old, or mellowing out or both. meh.
• Modern stuff is cool, but I respect the classics.
• Not too keen on sports. I'm also terrible at every single one I've ever played. Might have something to do with it.
• I'm almost always calm and chill. I'm not much for violence. Or hate. I'm just not a violent or hateful guy. Equal Rights supporter. 
• I consistently wear jeans and T-shirts. Sometimes I go crazy and do cargo and Polo. I don't actually care what I look like or wear as much as other people do, or as I should, probably. Oh well.
• I've got TL;DR syndrome. 
• This post is getting kinda long

Okey so some of these things will get their own posts or series later on. Hopefully I'll find the time to post things here. I may come off as a bit ranty, but that's just natural for me. I'm not holding back. And yes this is how I actually talk in real life. Anyways, that's about enough ranting for today, I think you guys get the general idea here. Seeya around. Hopefully on Google+.