Greetings, everyone.
In the next two weeks, I will be undergoing training for my new position at work, which has me coming to the office in the mornings. Afterwards, I will be fully integrated into my new afternoon shift, and hopefully into a more comfortable position at my company.
So until that time, this blog will be put on hiatus. I wish I didn't feel guilty about taking a break, but having missed the last two weeks of entries unavoidably turns this brief departure into a full month of neglect.
But fear not, readers (assuming I have any left); The blog has never left my mind, and I have been restlessly toying with some new changes I will be adding in two weeks time. You can look forward to new improvements such as:
1) Two entries a week.
2) Samples and drafts of my past and future written work.
3) Shorter, less pretentious articles.
4) All-Around more fun.
I'm also working into changing the name and address as well. Basically, consider the first few entries as practice. I hope you will notice significant improvements in future entries to come. And I especially hope you stick around long enough to read my written work, after I feel satisfied enough to host them.
I hope to see all of you, newcomers included, back in two weeks.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
What's In Your Wallet?
My wallet must be pretty much empty at this point, based on the amount I've funded toward the Xbox 360. One person chided me when I was still indecisive toward purchasing the machine, stating that whenever he wants to buy a new system or videogame, he just does it.
Simple. Except it isn't.
I partly wanted to avoid this, as I would have remained content on my monetary ignorance, but here is the breakdown of all my Xbox-related purchases, all within a singular September shopping spree.
1. Xbox 360 Premium (with HDMI port): $360 (rough estimate after tax and irony)
2. Gears of War: $40 (thanks to a previously unknown CompUSA special)
3. Bioshock: $50 (Ebay)
4. Dead Rising: $28 used (after coupon)
5. HDMI Cable: $16.66 (monoprice, the cheapest place to get cables)
6. Ethernet Cable: $4.51 (same)
7. Halo 3: $60
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: $8.00 (since you can only buy points in increments)
9. Optical Audio Outlet: $20 (normally $50, though I found a Gamestop employee nice enough to sell his after hours)
10. 1 year subscription to Xbox Live Gold: $35
Total: $622.17.
Pricey, but not quite as high a number as I initially expected, thanks in part to coupons and discounts and whatnot. However, this October won't be a spend-free month either, as I eagerly await purchasing The Orange Box, Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles, and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Then in November there's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Mass Effect.
This could be a record year for my video game spending budget, but with a new well-paying job, I don't feel very guilty about it. Although I did miss my chance to earn a $750 bonus from work, I still have one more chance to earn at least $500 extra. Anything to help cover the costs from last month would be greatly appreciated, but I'm not holding my breath on earning any bonuses, since I worked so hard for the former and ended up empty-handed.
But fortunately, my wallet is nowhere near empty, so I'm thankful for the job regardless.
Simple. Except it isn't.
I partly wanted to avoid this, as I would have remained content on my monetary ignorance, but here is the breakdown of all my Xbox-related purchases, all within a singular September shopping spree.
1. Xbox 360 Premium (with HDMI port): $360 (rough estimate after tax and irony)
2. Gears of War: $40 (thanks to a previously unknown CompUSA special)
3. Bioshock: $50 (Ebay)
4. Dead Rising: $28 used (after coupon)
5. HDMI Cable: $16.66 (monoprice, the cheapest place to get cables)
6. Ethernet Cable: $4.51 (same)
7. Halo 3: $60
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: $8.00 (since you can only buy points in increments)
9. Optical Audio Outlet: $20 (normally $50, though I found a Gamestop employee nice enough to sell his after hours)
10. 1 year subscription to Xbox Live Gold: $35
Total: $622.17.
Pricey, but not quite as high a number as I initially expected, thanks in part to coupons and discounts and whatnot. However, this October won't be a spend-free month either, as I eagerly await purchasing The Orange Box, Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles, and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Then in November there's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Mass Effect.
This could be a record year for my video game spending budget, but with a new well-paying job, I don't feel very guilty about it. Although I did miss my chance to earn a $750 bonus from work, I still have one more chance to earn at least $500 extra. Anything to help cover the costs from last month would be greatly appreciated, but I'm not holding my breath on earning any bonuses, since I worked so hard for the former and ended up empty-handed.
But fortunately, my wallet is nowhere near empty, so I'm thankful for the job regardless.
Monday, October 1, 2007
The Current State of Things
Sorry for missing last week's entry. It was actually vacation time for me, though I suppose I could have at least included a short entry reminding all of you about said vacation; Originally, I dismissed such an entry as a lazy excuse, although in hindsight skipping the week altogether may also be considered lazy. Two lazy's don't make an up-to-date blog.
Part of it had to do with my scheduled deadline of Sunday. I had originally picked this particular day due to my upcoming work schedule, although I had recently found out that my new schedule won't take into effect until December.
Therefore, I'm moving the deadline up to Monday. From now on, all weekly entries will be made every Monday.
A vacation from work was greatly needed, considering the debacle that occurred last week; All of us trainees were under investigation, as it turned out a few of us were prematurely hanging up on our customers, either to reduce our call time (one out of three things we get scored on) or to just shut that annoying jerk up. Shortly after, a couple of people were called aside and to this day have not returned; Their silence confirmed their guilt. One person I wasn't terribly surprised about, since he was the equivalent of that one jerk in high school who always hung in the back of the room, laughing it up with his idiot friends and constantly being shushed by the teacher. I'm surprised he even lasted this long.
The other person, however, was a complete shock to me; He sat behind me under one cubicle, always showing dedication to his new job with clipped notes and daily monitoring of his scores. He even asked me beforehand if I had any clues which one of us was responsible for the early hang-ups. Either he was putting on a show, or he had no idea what he was doing.
Between the shock of seeing him being "suspended until further notice", and the fact that I was carrying the lowest hold time scores (lowest is best, by the way), I was constantly looking over my shoulder for the remainder of the week, worried that I would be approached next, despite my confidence that I was performing as expected. It didn't help that I had a vivid dream the following day, where I'm typing away at my cubicle, when suddenly this giant man (giant for someone who's over six feet, mind you, so he had to have been at least twelve or so) with a thick long beard and glasses towered behind me, quietly but deeply muttered "We need to talk." as he hoisted me up effortlessly with one hand on my shoulder. After taking me to a small desk, he then bellowed "Sit your ass down" and dropped me right to my chair. Afterwards, he pulls out a thick book and begins flipping the pages.
That's when I woke up. Needless to say, I constantly looked over my shoulder the following day. My boss got a good laugh out of the dream, though, and assured me that I the investigation was over.
I really needed that vacation. Sadly, I spent the majority of it playing Halo 3, though the real sad thing was that I'm not that sad about it; I'm late into the series, but I can see why it's so popular, although it's still ridiculously overrated (reports say the game made more money on its opening day than the movie Spider-Man 2).
As for this blog, I'm currently researching templates in the hopes of making the site stick out a bit more (although I made it a big priority that the text would be easy on the eyes, so I'll be sticking to light backdrops). I also included a little slideshow application in the bottom, which I'll be routinely updating with my photos. Feel free to pass along the ones you find preferable.
Finally, I'll be typing my first story, the one I mentioned in my opening post, onto my computer, then sharing it here. I won't make any promised dates on when it will be finished, but I can promise "soon".
Later.
Part of it had to do with my scheduled deadline of Sunday. I had originally picked this particular day due to my upcoming work schedule, although I had recently found out that my new schedule won't take into effect until December.
Therefore, I'm moving the deadline up to Monday. From now on, all weekly entries will be made every Monday.
A vacation from work was greatly needed, considering the debacle that occurred last week; All of us trainees were under investigation, as it turned out a few of us were prematurely hanging up on our customers, either to reduce our call time (one out of three things we get scored on) or to just shut that annoying jerk up. Shortly after, a couple of people were called aside and to this day have not returned; Their silence confirmed their guilt. One person I wasn't terribly surprised about, since he was the equivalent of that one jerk in high school who always hung in the back of the room, laughing it up with his idiot friends and constantly being shushed by the teacher. I'm surprised he even lasted this long.
The other person, however, was a complete shock to me; He sat behind me under one cubicle, always showing dedication to his new job with clipped notes and daily monitoring of his scores. He even asked me beforehand if I had any clues which one of us was responsible for the early hang-ups. Either he was putting on a show, or he had no idea what he was doing.
Between the shock of seeing him being "suspended until further notice", and the fact that I was carrying the lowest hold time scores (lowest is best, by the way), I was constantly looking over my shoulder for the remainder of the week, worried that I would be approached next, despite my confidence that I was performing as expected. It didn't help that I had a vivid dream the following day, where I'm typing away at my cubicle, when suddenly this giant man (giant for someone who's over six feet, mind you, so he had to have been at least twelve or so) with a thick long beard and glasses towered behind me, quietly but deeply muttered "We need to talk." as he hoisted me up effortlessly with one hand on my shoulder. After taking me to a small desk, he then bellowed "Sit your ass down" and dropped me right to my chair. Afterwards, he pulls out a thick book and begins flipping the pages.
That's when I woke up. Needless to say, I constantly looked over my shoulder the following day. My boss got a good laugh out of the dream, though, and assured me that I the investigation was over.
I really needed that vacation. Sadly, I spent the majority of it playing Halo 3, though the real sad thing was that I'm not that sad about it; I'm late into the series, but I can see why it's so popular, although it's still ridiculously overrated (reports say the game made more money on its opening day than the movie Spider-Man 2).
As for this blog, I'm currently researching templates in the hopes of making the site stick out a bit more (although I made it a big priority that the text would be easy on the eyes, so I'll be sticking to light backdrops). I also included a little slideshow application in the bottom, which I'll be routinely updating with my photos. Feel free to pass along the ones you find preferable.
Finally, I'll be typing my first story, the one I mentioned in my opening post, onto my computer, then sharing it here. I won't make any promised dates on when it will be finished, but I can promise "soon".
Later.
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