Updates From The Summer Front

I'm obviously not a big blogger this summer... hell, looking at me total posts for all of 2008, I'm not even near a quarter of all the posts that I published in 2007. I blame this mostly on school: my final semester at BGSU was every bit the hellish, busy, monster that I thought it would be, and my writing (both fiction and blogging) was the first thing to go.

Now with summer here, I've made it my goal to just relax to the max. I've poured five years of hard work into BGSU, and before I go sniffing for a job all over the country (in search of the American Dream, no doubt), I'm taking this whole summer off to relax. I originally planned to write a few Windows applications, learn some new technologies (well, I am doing that, actually), and write like my life depended on it.

Instead, Wii, WoW, and nature are sucking up all my time.

So I'm working on getting BACK into the groove that I should have been all along. It's not a matter of if, but when... I'll eventually be back to my old, productive self... eventually. Without further ado, some updates:

• I'll start off with a success: I am learning a few new technologies this summer, and I'm enjoying the experience quite a bit! Seeing how many jobs out there actually use Microsoft technology, I'm working to learn ASP.NET, and in order to bring my web skills up to date, CSS as well. Both technologies are very easy to learn, kind of fun to use, and CSS outright rocks. I'm never going to use full-blown tables for webpage layouts again. CSS is a fundamental shift for me in designing webpages, and I'm glad I learned it. I also recently took up Javascript as well, and I'm well on my way to integrating that into my growing list of skills.

• I'm contemplating writing a series of short stories - something quick, that will allow me to push through a short piece without losing interest, while still allowing for a longer narrative to be told. I'm really stuck, because half of me wants to draw on past experiences, and the other half wants to unleash inner ghosts that have hundreds of things to say. I'm just not sure which way to go yet.

• I've done some really crazy things lately. First, a geek thing: As many people know, I'm not a big fan of Windows Vista... In fact, I've sworn to upgrade my parents to Ubuntu before they see Vista installed on their computer. But in fact, my favorite operating system is good old XP - why fix that ain't broke? So I finally got around to doing something wonderful: I've created a custom version of Windows XP that does not require a CD, nor activation, while still maintaining all the latest updates from Microsoft (Service Pack 3, IE 7, Media Player 11, etc.). Essentially, a version of Windows that I can use privately ad-nauseum without worrying about those damn product activations all the time. I also tweaked it a bit to cut some crap out (extra software, drivers, languages), and put some bonus stuff in (decent themes, commonly used software - Firefox, OpenOffice.org, etc.).

• Also, I signed up for a deviantART account. I've been skipping around the web for years, always noticing tiny bits of the web served up from or pointing to deviantART... and I said "what the hell? Why not try it?" So I did. I'm not the insanely artistic person that I once was, but I still have some interesting bits that I would like to put out there (including some that might make your jaw hit the floor twice over).

• I'm horribly content with Meijer as a job right now... which is halfway scary. With big payments coming up in November (it's been three months already!? Halfway there!), and a growing sense of urgency to move out of my parent's house, I'm really wanting a good job. And yet, since Meijer pays the bills and then some so well, it's hard to really be stressed about a job right now. To be honest, I want to do some more learning before I dive into the workplace: namely, I want to learn the technologies that I'm working on, and perhaps get a Microsoft Certification or two. I *am* plugging away on these goals, however, unlike some others that I've had (*cough*fiction*cough*).
  

But all in all, I'm enjoying my summer quite well, although to be honest, I think the upcoming school semester will be good for me. No, no, I'm not going back to BGSU, but a lot of my friends are, and I plan to take more time for myself for both personal reasons and professional reasons. Of course, I will be helping my remaining friends at BGSU get through their last year as smoothly as possible. Graduating feels good... trust me on that!

With that, B3 out.