I haven't had a morning like this in a long time. This was easily one of my most ridiculous mornings. It might even make my top list because this is too memorable.
As you know, my car is in the shop. Well, I failed to remember this waking up in the morning. I woke up at 7 and while I was getting ready, the thought came to my head "Oh shoot. I have to walk to the trolley." At about 7:15, I make my way out of the house.
Walking down the street, I had another realization; my roommate Juan told me a while back that the trolley ticket boxes don't take card at our particular stop. Thankfully, I was still on my main street and a 7-11 was not far from there. I was just going to get cash back.
I walk into the 7-11 looking for something to get because it makes it easier on the cashier when you buy something to get cash back. I grab a Snickers, walk towards the register and on it I see a piece of paper with hand writing "No credit card." I've seen that before and it was only on one register like it was then. So I place the Snickers on the counter and I notify the guy that I have debit and he responds that are not taking any cards. I freeze for a moment and I reply "I can't pay for it then." I say "thank you" and walk off outside.
I have two options at this point. There is another 7-11 about 5-10 minutes up the street going away from the trolley. There is also a Starbucks 5-10 minutes up the street going towards the trolley. The dilemma became the distance. I could walk to the 7-11, which I knew had a cash back system and walk even further or go to Starbucks which I wasn't sure had a cash back system. Normally, I would just walk to the 7-11 and be good but this time, I took my chances.
I walked to the Starbucks and started looking at the menu. I felt really stupid doing that. Who goes into a Starbucks nowadays and looks at the menu? I stood there for a long minute before I decided on what I was going to buy. I felt really stupid. I chose to get an Apple Fritter and as the lady rings it up and I pull out my card, I ask "do y'all do cash back?" She shakes her head and somewhat shocked, I hand her my card and pay for the Fritter.
A little disturbed by the fact that I don't still have cash, I'm close to the trolley and I make the decision to walk over to the stop and see if they accept cards now. I step to the ticket machine and start going through the steps to pay for my ticket. When that screen popped up, all but the card were valid forms of payment. Now, I could either all the way back to the other 7-11 or go to Wal-Mart. I choose to go to Wal-Mart. Neither are really that close.
On my way there, I came across this woman who looked at me very strange. She seemed to look like a crackhead but I wasn't completely sure. She asks me "you a faggot brotha?" I wasn't sure if she had said what she said and I look at her confused. I said "what?" and she replied "Where you from?" I replied "LA."
"What?" she shouted back. At this point, I realize that she's a hard of hearing crackhead. So I replied in a loud, but as collected as I could be, "Los Angeles." She says, "That's a shame. That's a shame." Now I know she said what she said and I reply "What?" in total confusion. She keeps repeating her last words. The pedestrian man lights up so I walk away.
I finally reach Wal-Mart and to my joy, they have an ATM. Of course it charged me money to pull out the $5 I needed for the trolley but I don't care at this point. It's already 7:45.
8:25 is when I exhaustingly get to work. Easily, one of my craziest, if not the craziest, mornings ever.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Better than expected
I knew it was supposed to rain today but I didn't know that I was going to have get up at 6:30 in the morning to moderately hard poring rain. But that's how my day kicked off.
I took my car in this morning to get the check that I wanted on Saturday and the rain was not helping the situation since being without a car only means one thing--walking. Yes, I know busses exist but in Mission Valley, where the Chrysler dealership is, I don't know the bus routes go to and where the bus stops are. The bus stops I have seen don't even have any overheads for rainy situations so it would make more sense for me to walk to the trolley in the rain than to wait for a bus where I don't even know where it's going and don't know when it's coming.
Thankfully, they had a shuttle I could use to get to work--free. Their customer service was surprisingly good and although it wasn't the cheapest bill, I'm glad to get the kinks out of my car before something ridiculous happens to it.
On my way to work in the shuttle, I met a man who was a twenty-five year, now retired, library aid who has a family of Shelton's. The driver had a niece who got accepted to San Diego State, was number one in her class and also got accepted to Stanford. Both people were good guys and the small talk made my morning ride to work more enjoyable.
In other news, my awesome girlfriend finally finishes another quarter of school and hopefully I get to see her tonight even if it's just briefly. I'm really excited about it.
I took my car in this morning to get the check that I wanted on Saturday and the rain was not helping the situation since being without a car only means one thing--walking. Yes, I know busses exist but in Mission Valley, where the Chrysler dealership is, I don't know the bus routes go to and where the bus stops are. The bus stops I have seen don't even have any overheads for rainy situations so it would make more sense for me to walk to the trolley in the rain than to wait for a bus where I don't even know where it's going and don't know when it's coming.
Thankfully, they had a shuttle I could use to get to work--free. Their customer service was surprisingly good and although it wasn't the cheapest bill, I'm glad to get the kinks out of my car before something ridiculous happens to it.
On my way to work in the shuttle, I met a man who was a twenty-five year, now retired, library aid who has a family of Shelton's. The driver had a niece who got accepted to San Diego State, was number one in her class and also got accepted to Stanford. Both people were good guys and the small talk made my morning ride to work more enjoyable.
In other news, my awesome girlfriend finally finishes another quarter of school and hopefully I get to see her tonight even if it's just briefly. I'm really excited about it.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Lakers Win and Car Trouble
Kobe had one of the greatest game winning shots in history last night. Two guys on you and you can still pull it from a little under 3 feet behind the ARC, just amazing.
Before all the riotous celebration however, my car started acting up on the road. The gauges on my car began shutting off in quick succession. They would shut for about a half a second and sometimes it would shut off over and over again quickly. To add to the madness, I was on the road when this was happening and my car began sputtering and almost shut off a few times. By the grace of God, the only time my car every completely shut off was when I was warming it up in the parking lot this morning.
Some months ago, this was happening to me but it wasn't to this degree at all. It usually happened when my car was really cold though and once it got warmed up, it was fine for the most part.
I took it in to the dealership today and they said they don't have electricians working on Saturday so I'd have to bring it in Monday. That's a bit of a pain since the bus routes are pretty lengthy to campus, I think. I actually haven't checked so I shouldn't even wonder but from the dealership to campus by bus, it isn't short. I'm probably going to need to take the trolley. Monday will be a long day for me. Perhaps I just go see my girl on her break if I can.
Before all the riotous celebration however, my car started acting up on the road. The gauges on my car began shutting off in quick succession. They would shut for about a half a second and sometimes it would shut off over and over again quickly. To add to the madness, I was on the road when this was happening and my car began sputtering and almost shut off a few times. By the grace of God, the only time my car every completely shut off was when I was warming it up in the parking lot this morning.
Some months ago, this was happening to me but it wasn't to this degree at all. It usually happened when my car was really cold though and once it got warmed up, it was fine for the most part.
I took it in to the dealership today and they said they don't have electricians working on Saturday so I'd have to bring it in Monday. That's a bit of a pain since the bus routes are pretty lengthy to campus, I think. I actually haven't checked so I shouldn't even wonder but from the dealership to campus by bus, it isn't short. I'm probably going to need to take the trolley. Monday will be a long day for me. Perhaps I just go see my girl on her break if I can.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Almost but no cigar
After sorting through more than 500 files worth of footage, I can honestly say, I am not quite three-fourth's of the way done but I am more than half.
At this point, all the footage is where I need it to be. Now it's just a matter of putting the files in appropriate folders. Some of the shots are a little harder to qualify something as. For example, we have a lot of campus shots--just random shots of campus. It's hard to categorize them into my main folder "Campus Life" because nothing is going on. I realized, I'm probably going to have to make a folder for each section of campus that I take to make things easier as looking through 300 files of wel-named, random footage is still a hassle. That is what's keeping me from being three-fourth's of the way done.
Hopefully Monday I will have this thing finished. It's entirely possible since my assistant isn't coming in.
At this point, all the footage is where I need it to be. Now it's just a matter of putting the files in appropriate folders. Some of the shots are a little harder to qualify something as. For example, we have a lot of campus shots--just random shots of campus. It's hard to categorize them into my main folder "Campus Life" because nothing is going on. I realized, I'm probably going to have to make a folder for each section of campus that I take to make things easier as looking through 300 files of wel-named, random footage is still a hassle. That is what's keeping me from being three-fourth's of the way done.
Hopefully Monday I will have this thing finished. It's entirely possible since my assistant isn't coming in.
Time to reorganize!
Before taking my break which included getting blasted around in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and talking to my girl, I was sitting in my office doing one of the most tedious, but necessary, chores I have ever done--reorganizing all our digital film on our server and my computer.
I needed to add some shots to a video in a collage form and this always requires looking through a lot of footage. Our footage is so disorganized so my boss recommended that I organize the footage so looking for appropriate b-roll wouldn't be even more tedious than it already is.
Imagine you have a crap load of groceries. They are all in different bags and you know that they go into specific place but things have gotten to a point where you have to organize the groceries in your cupboards a little better. You want to make sure your canned foods stay with your canned foods, your boxed foods with your boxed, etc. Unfortunately, this may require you taking everything out of the cupboards and putting them back where they belong or putting then in a much spacier spot. Essentially, this is what I have to do on my computer with files on our hard drive and our server. To add to this, I also have to rename files which at this point, I am in the hundreds.
A small look at what I have to work through:
It was a lot worse before this and it's still bad.
I was complaining at first but I realized this project was going to take patience and they were never prepared to deal with a lot of footage from our own offices (a lot of times other people shoot for us--it's lengthy explanation). Once I settled down and understood that it was going to be a very long process, things were going smoother.
I am far from done but I'm hoping I can finish this today before I leave. If not, then hopefully three-fourths of it gets done today.
I needed to add some shots to a video in a collage form and this always requires looking through a lot of footage. Our footage is so disorganized so my boss recommended that I organize the footage so looking for appropriate b-roll wouldn't be even more tedious than it already is.
Imagine you have a crap load of groceries. They are all in different bags and you know that they go into specific place but things have gotten to a point where you have to organize the groceries in your cupboards a little better. You want to make sure your canned foods stay with your canned foods, your boxed foods with your boxed, etc. Unfortunately, this may require you taking everything out of the cupboards and putting them back where they belong or putting then in a much spacier spot. Essentially, this is what I have to do on my computer with files on our hard drive and our server. To add to this, I also have to rename files which at this point, I am in the hundreds.
A small look at what I have to work through:
It was a lot worse before this and it's still bad.
I was complaining at first but I realized this project was going to take patience and they were never prepared to deal with a lot of footage from our own offices (a lot of times other people shoot for us--it's lengthy explanation). Once I settled down and understood that it was going to be a very long process, things were going smoother.
I am far from done but I'm hoping I can finish this today before I leave. If not, then hopefully three-fourths of it gets done today.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Oscar Mike
Not realizing I named my blog based off of military alphabet "Oscar Mike" (which means On the Move), I found this on Giantbomb.com which gave me my revelation of my blog name.
Image taken from Giantbomb.com
Support this cause if you truly love the kids.
Image taken from Giantbomb.com
Support this cause if you truly love the kids.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
This is something I have to get off my chest. I thought this was one of the most amazing conversations that I have had with a person and that I have watched.
First off, for context purposes, I help out with a Christian college campus group called Ignite Student Ministries. Our goal is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and to help students graduate with the know-how to spread the gospel also. Our group has a table we rent from campus that we use to put ourselves out there and have conversations with people and such. We're not beating people with the bible but if people are interested, we definitely talk to them about it.
So, a Hari Krishna monk approaches our table and begins to make conversation about God and Jesus and certain things we believe in. In my mind, he's a Hari Krishna so I don't know what they know about the bible, if anything so it comes as surprise to me when he starts bringing up several key points and scripture about the bible. To be honest, I thought he was legit at first but something wasn't really adding up and I felt a little uneasy.
He quoted a scripture from Luke, I believe, which talks about if we want to be disciples of Jesus, we have to hate our mother and father. He also put other scriptures with it trying to bring up the point that we should denounce, deny and throw all things that do not have to do with God.
Wes, our campus minister and leader of our group, told him that's not what that meant and that in the original context and translations it meant to put other things before God but not that those other things are bad, they just shouldn't be before God. This did not sit well with the man so they began a discussion about this. Wes explained that watching a Laker game wasn't bad and that if he wanted to, he could watch Lakers all day for the rest of his life if he wanted and God would be okay with that. At that point, the Hare Krishna person cusssed at him and walked away. I found it funny how we wanted to denounce everything but cussing.
Later, Ricky and Charisse, two members from our group, were talking to him and I crept into the conversation. He apologized to me for the way he behaved (he didn't apologize to Wes...). I could read he was only doing it to make nice with me so I would agree with what he was saying--which I never did in the first place.
We talked what we left off talking about and later he asked me how could you tell if someone was a Christian. I told him the love of God would be apparent in their life--everything marked out in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. Then he asks me if Christians, disciples of Jesus, were the only ones capable of love. I replied with a "yes" and he shook his head and walked away to talk to someone else about this. What I found funny and interesting was that he called himself a Christian so I don't know what he would be upset about in my statement.
I disturbs me when people only talk to people looking for other people to agree with them. It shows they don't understand why they believe what they believe. If a person has confidence in what they believe then no matter what someone says, they still believe it. The evidence of their success is proven in their life so they don't need someone else to prove anything for them. It's been proven in their personal life.
Don't try to convince someone of something. Let the person evidence be the proof and no one will be able to deny it.
First off, for context purposes, I help out with a Christian college campus group called Ignite Student Ministries. Our goal is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and to help students graduate with the know-how to spread the gospel also. Our group has a table we rent from campus that we use to put ourselves out there and have conversations with people and such. We're not beating people with the bible but if people are interested, we definitely talk to them about it.
So, a Hari Krishna monk approaches our table and begins to make conversation about God and Jesus and certain things we believe in. In my mind, he's a Hari Krishna so I don't know what they know about the bible, if anything so it comes as surprise to me when he starts bringing up several key points and scripture about the bible. To be honest, I thought he was legit at first but something wasn't really adding up and I felt a little uneasy.
He quoted a scripture from Luke, I believe, which talks about if we want to be disciples of Jesus, we have to hate our mother and father. He also put other scriptures with it trying to bring up the point that we should denounce, deny and throw all things that do not have to do with God.
Wes, our campus minister and leader of our group, told him that's not what that meant and that in the original context and translations it meant to put other things before God but not that those other things are bad, they just shouldn't be before God. This did not sit well with the man so they began a discussion about this. Wes explained that watching a Laker game wasn't bad and that if he wanted to, he could watch Lakers all day for the rest of his life if he wanted and God would be okay with that. At that point, the Hare Krishna person cusssed at him and walked away. I found it funny how we wanted to denounce everything but cussing.
Later, Ricky and Charisse, two members from our group, were talking to him and I crept into the conversation. He apologized to me for the way he behaved (he didn't apologize to Wes...). I could read he was only doing it to make nice with me so I would agree with what he was saying--which I never did in the first place.
We talked what we left off talking about and later he asked me how could you tell if someone was a Christian. I told him the love of God would be apparent in their life--everything marked out in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. Then he asks me if Christians, disciples of Jesus, were the only ones capable of love. I replied with a "yes" and he shook his head and walked away to talk to someone else about this. What I found funny and interesting was that he called himself a Christian so I don't know what he would be upset about in my statement.
I disturbs me when people only talk to people looking for other people to agree with them. It shows they don't understand why they believe what they believe. If a person has confidence in what they believe then no matter what someone says, they still believe it. The evidence of their success is proven in their life so they don't need someone else to prove anything for them. It's been proven in their personal life.
Don't try to convince someone of something. Let the person evidence be the proof and no one will be able to deny it.
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