Category: Personal

WARNING READ ME!

James Asher2 Comments

I, uh, use some angry adult language in this post, FYI. If you don’t like that sort of thing, then skip this post.

If you check your credit rating – and you should DO NOT DO IT FROM CONSUMERINFO.COM. Don’t even sign up for their free deal. I signed up about 8 months ago to get a free credit report. They never sent me the confirmation email. Then I find out about 3 months later they charged me like five bucks for it. I couldn’t get it off my account, and really it’s only five bucks so it isn’t worth it. So I just activated the account and got the services that the five dollars paid for. It’s basically just showing you any changes to your credit report. You don’t get your credit score. Anyways, so I check my bank account online through commerce bank and lo and behold, they charged me another 79.95 for god fucking knows what. I’m going to yell at  them bastards on the phone here in 2 1/2 hours during my lunch break.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

If you have any information there, delete it, especially your credit card number. Fucking bastards.

My Up-coming DVD Collection

James Asher14 Comments

Ah Kansas City (Overland Park, really, but whatever). I have but one real friend here. I work all the time – at least 9 hour days, usually a little more. After dinner and maybe a trip to the gym, I’m usually reading a book on Access Programming. I guess that would make time for work or work-related things increase to around 12 hours. Nonetheless, with the little amount of free-time I do have, I don’t really do much. This coming weekend I’m going to Manhattan and Wichita, for picking up my mail and to a wedding, respectively. Odds are, I’ll be venturing back to KC on Sunday. So that leaves me one day to get little stuff done, like go to Wal-Mart, Target, etc. So, what can I do to during my down-time?

Oh, you had to ask, didn’t you? 😉 The answer is two-fold: NEC ND-3500A and Netflix.

I’ll briefly detail why I made the choices that I did.

First, the NEC ND-3500A. This is, arguably, the best DVD burner on the market today. Really, it was a toss up between this one, which is featured in Ars Technica’s November 2004 God Box and the Sony DRU-710A, featured in Maximum PC‘s Best of the Best. It should be noted, however, that Ars Technica tends to make recommendations for hardware prior to it being widely available. Also, Maximum PC is a magazine, so things are a little slow. The only difference that I can see between the two is that the Sony has an 8x write speed for DVD-R, whereas the NEC has a 16x write speed. Everything else is the same. Oh, I guess the NEC is also $26.00 cheaper.

Now, Netflix. This was a toss-up between Blockbuster and Netflix. If I were still in Manhattan, I’d have gone the Digital Shelf or Hastings maybe route. But, I’m in KC and I don’t have much free time. You may have heard about the little battle / price war / whatever between Netflix and Blockbuster. As far as I know, it ended and the result is that Blockbuster’s monthly rate is $15.00/month and Netflix is $18.00/month. Not a big difference. Also, I should note that Blockbuster also gives you two free in-store movie or game rentals each month.

So why did I choose the more expensive one? Well, Netflix has been in this business a lot longer than Blockbuster. And by this business I mean the DVD through the internet/mail thing. Netflix is known across the board for getting you movies very quickly. As in, usually one day. Plus, I’ve heard from people who’ve used both and are going back to Netflix. They cited a bigger catalogue of movies. So that’s nice. Plus, Blockbuster just seems very Corporate and I’m very not. Well, when I can be.

And that’s about it. Pretty soon my DVD collection will rival that of Barrett and even, dare I say it, Collin. W00t.

I Am A Genius, Really

James Asher2 Comments

I completed my move to KC on Saturday. For the rest of that day and the next, I spent all my time unpacking. During this laborious task, I came to realize that I am, in fact, a genius. There were three notable genius-moments:

Fixing my desk
During the move down, my desk got a little beat up. My dad strapped down the pieces so hard that it ripped some of the boards right off the screws. Hmm, how to fix this problem? I mean, I did just buy this desk a few years ago, it’s still perfectly good. The solution: Liquid Nails. Fill up some of holes with that, and you’re golden.
Agglomeration of all things entertainment related
Now sitting in the corner of my living room is my big TV, with no inherent RCA jacks, my five disk DVD changer, a Nintendo 64, and a regular 8-bit Nintendo. Oh, and a 2 channel RCA switcher ( I also have a 4-channel if I need it ).
Agglomeration of all things food related
What do you do when you really don’t have that much space for food? You become a genius, like me, of course. It seems that most of my pots / pans / cups / plates / glasses / etc. take up most of my cupboards. I also have no pantry to speak of. My solution: just put all my food in the refridgerator. Can’t hurt it.

And that is the list so far. I’m sure there will be more, I am a genius and all.

Scheduled Downtime (For Me)

James Asher2 Comments

Just a little FYI for everyone: this morning I will finish up all my packing and complete my move to KC. Because it is the weekend, I can’t have my cable set up yet, so I’ll probably be offline for a while until I can arrange that. I have a computer at work (obviously) so I’ll probably have access to the internet and what not, just not like I normally am.

Oh, and Happy New Year.

This Is Growing Up

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In the last two weeks my life has changed drastically. Let me explain…

Exactly two weeks to the day I graduated from Kansas State University. This accomplishment alone was four and a half years in the making. I got a B.S. in Computer Information Systems (bottom half of the page). My grandparents from Reno, NV came into town, that was nice. I don’t get to see them very often and they’re wonderful people, so that was quite nice.

My biggest problem in life was that I didn’t yet have a job yet. Numerous interviews, something close to ten, I think. However, in one whirlwind day, December 21st – ten days later, that changed. I had an interview with XTEC. I had talked to the president a bit on the phone the day before and he asked me to come down the next day if I wasn’t busy. Actually, he asked me to come down later that day, but I had to work at K-State, so I suggested the next day. Oh, and by “come down,” I mean Olathe, KS. My interview went quite well, we talked about the company and what I would be doing and things of that general nature. A little while later he offered me the job. So then my biggest problem was rectified.

The company needs me to start fairly soon. Some projects have been put off until my position was filled. Consequently, after I accepted, we went apartment hunting. I called up Ashley. She lives in Overland Park, but that’s just 5-10 minutes away from where I work in Olathe. I figured she might know of some good places to live. We ended up being referred to Stonepost Ranch Apartment Homes by a leasing consultant from a different company. The place is brand new. So new, in fact, my apartment isn’t built yet. The reason I chose this place is because, although my apartment is small, 592 ft2, the amenities of the place are top notch. Too many to list, in fact. Come by the new place, I’ll detail it more then. Perhaps whilst playing putt putt or at the driving ranges. 😉 So, again, new job and new place in one day.

Moving along to December 24th. Actually, let me back up two days. Long story short: the transmission in my Ford Bronco II has been dying lately and then around the 22nd or so, it really died. So, I needed a new car. Early Christmas Eve morning, dad and I went out looking for new cars. Not really sure if anyone would actually be open. We shopped around a bit. Dad test drove this Cadillac that he had no intention of buying whatsoever. I think that’s customary when legitimately looking for cars, honestly, I really wanted to get a car from http://www.intelligentcarleasing.com/deals/mercedes_benz/a-class they seemed to be the best. We eventually made our way to Midwest Auto Search (don’t judge my new car by way of their website design). They seem to deal with trucks mostly, which is what I was interested in. We test drove a ’99 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a ’00 Isuzu Rodeo. I ended up getting the Rodeo. I got a good deal on it and it’s a nice car. Everyone that I’ve shown it to agrees with me.

So, to sum up: two weeks to the day, I have graduated from college, got a new job, a new apartment, and a new car. Life is sweet. Everyone wish me luck.