Inventory

One of the most terrifying things about being such a packrat has been moving. Moving from Cedar wing to Aspen wing of Gabaldon was downright terrifying, and somehow in the past few weeks, I've managed to get not only another computer of the desktop variety, but another two are on their way.

One of the things I suppose I need to start doing is finding the time to work on some of my other projects, like re-combining the ThinkPad 760 machines so I can toss out my least favorite one. Same with the PowerBook 520s, and I think I need to send a computer or two back home, probably the PowerBook 180 and/or whichever 520 I deem the best. Plus the e-PCs probably, and who knows whether or not I'll keep using the U60.

I've also got optical discs I need to get rid of because they're useless, a whole box of extra sheets, blankets and clothes I've never worn, and a bunch of other little nicnacs.

For the summer, living minimalistically is both very easy, and extraordinarily difficult. It's difficult to get through the day without having to dig through the various layers of boxes underneath the bed. I find it difficult to move around the room without tripping on something that hasn't found it's own place that's out of the way.

In summation, I need to get rid of stuff, or at least figure out a better way to move it and have it around without it being in my way.

Errands

Today has been very busy. Lots of errands were run. I've been to the helpdesk, to Staples & Walmart, and I've just now gotten back from getting food (Taco Bell) for Glenn, who now has a job at the front desk of Gabaldon. In a few more moments, I'm heading out with Meaghan, Tyson, Mel and probably a few other people to go see the new Indiana Jones movie.

As an update on 'Precious' the Dell Inspiron 530s, I have decided not to get a new monitor for it yet, I am going to run it with the 19" dell trinitron monitor, which I found out is capable of running at 1600x1200@75Hz, which is a very viewable resolution and refresh rate. I'm going to try color calibrating the thing in the next week or so.

I'm also still looking at graphics cards for it. I've found nearly a dozen individual suitable cards, but I'm not a hundred percent certain which one I'm going to get yet.

Frenzy

If you're reading this -- Blogger's scheduled posting still works. If everything has gone down properly, I should either be in Tucson right now, or should be on my way. I'm pretty excited about having some time to just sit around and not do anything, and seeing Rent this weekend.

I'm sorry for all of the pre-written posts, but all I can do is just attempt to express how insane the past few days have been. After covering an overnight Monday evening, then sleeping in the office until noon, a bit of studying and procrastinating on actually packing up until I was done with all of my finals yesterday.

Speaking of finals -- they went pretty well. I'm pretty sure I'm ending this semester with a record number of Bs, and probably a few Cs, but as far as I know I haven't failed anything, and I'm certainly not doing online courses again.

Packing went okay -- I packed some, moved a few things into Megan's storage unit, and then packed some more. As of this writing, the only thing I have left to pack is my food stuff in the top of the closet, then I need to clean up and get everything moved.

I'm at work right now because the prospect of more packing seems pretty terrible. It's things like this that make me consider a life of minimalism, fewer clothes, and only one computer. But would I really be able to stay a minimalist? probably not.

Moving!

Well, if everything goes like the emails have said they would, I should be moving today. I've pre-written this because I need to be packing and moving today, not writing on my blog.

Another Overnight

Well... I remember writing yesterday about how I was done with overnights for the semester, but the opportunity arose and I'm here for another night.

I'm not too terribly concerned at the loss of studying time, because I haven't got any finals tomorrow and I'm purportedly using some of this time to study.

My two finals left are for German and History, and after that I've got to get everything packed and ready to move.

Luckily, I've heard that I may be able to move into my room in Aspen for the summer as early as this Friday, because (luckily!) nobody has requested an extended check-out in that room. Another cool tidbit is that I'm on the second floor of Aspen, so I'll be right near the kitchen and laundry room.

The other cool thing about being able to move in on Friday is that I may be able to go to Tucson with Megan, and see Rent this coming Sunday.

The Destruction of my Network

Actually, this post isn't so much about my network, like someone came into my room and snipped the ends off of my Ethernet cables, as much as it's about the fact that today I took down the TREL and unhooked the printer from my dorm network, in preparation for moving to Aspen wing at the start of this summer.

And so, we come to the actual purpose of this post, my description of how I think I"m being shafted by ResLife, who are going to make me move at the beginning of summer, and for some reason I've got this weird idea that they are probably going to make me move at the end of summer too. Had I known this earlier, it wouldn't have been such a big problem, but my issue is that I was led to believe by just about everyone that I wouldn't have to move.

Almost worse than reslife doing this is what I've done to the room -- Jim and I have made a few customizations, and we've got the room absolutely filled to the brim with random crap. Huge collections of novels, my nine computers (of which, to be fair, seven are laptops, one is the iMac and the last is the decTOP), among other things.

So for the next few weeks, in addition to studying and taking exams, Jim and I have to clean the room and get everything ready to move out. But I don't just have to move. I have to move on Sunday, May 11th. The day I'm going to see Rent with Megan. My intent was to hang out with her in Tucson all weekend, go back up to Phoenix to see Rent, then take a Greyhound bus from
Phoenix to Flagstaff, in time to get sleep and be at work Monday afternoon.

Hopefully I'll be able to get it arranged with Leslie Jo and Dylan (current and summer RHDs of Gabaldon) to either move into Aspen wing on Friday/Saturday, or Monday, and then get a ride down to Phoenix for Rent on Sunday. (I may have to do the Greyhound thing even then -- I suppose I should familiarize myself with their schedule.)

So if I seem on-edge, or in general "really angry" over the next week or so, that's why.

Rent, & Other Summer Plans.

Well, as a way to celebrate the end of the semester, Megan and I are planning on going to see Rent on Sunday, May 11th, down in Phoenix. I'm not sure of the details yet, but Megan really wants to go, and I do quite like Rent too. We're going down to Tucson on Friday after my last normal Spring2008 shift at the helpdesk, hanging out there for a bit, and then Rent on Sunday, and I'm taking the Flagstaff Express back to campus, in time to get some sleep before the first ACHD shift of Summer, 2008!

Also, I am still REALLY ready for the summer to begin. I've started having heartburn, VERY frequently, and I think it may be a result of the stress of almost the end of the semester.

This summer I'm working 20 hours a week at the helpdesk, and I'm not taking any classes. As far as I know I'm not going to be working any other on-campus jobs.

After Rent, I intend to reformat the ThinkPad R61i with a fresh install of Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, mainly because since I did the overlay from the included Home Premium to the Ultimate disc I have.

The other thing this summer I'm doing is taking a train trip from Kingman to Michigan for a few weeks to visit grandma. My brother's coming with me on the train, both ways, so I'm really not sure how that'll work out, but at least there's only one 23-hour layover, the one going East.

With the new backpack, the D300 and the R61i working properly, this trip promises to be pretty great. I can't wait to get daytime Amtrak photos, and of course it'll be great to have my photo workflow to use on my family members.

Another cool piece of technology I intend to bring is the EDGE data card for the R61i. I'm going to use the EDGE card to put photos on Flickr and make posts to the blog during the trip -- I may pre-write and schedule some posts for each end of the trip though, just in case I don't get any time to do so on those days. If I do get some time to write those days and need to go ahead and post something, it's really easy to use Blogger's interface to move something out even further in the future.

Other than that, my plans include "not having a roommate," "hanging out with Meaghan," and "lots and lots of photography." I also intend to "not move at all, the whole summer."

So I'm pretty excited about that.

Classes Canceled

Well aren't I just a happy clam right now. It's about eight in the morning on this fine bright Monday, and I'm just kind of hanging out in the room, listening to youtube videos, copying SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop to the ThinkPad R61i to be burned to a DVD, and relaxing before my helpdesk shift at 1:30 later in the afternoon.

Classes are canceled today, which I've got to admit, almost never happens here at NAU. It snowed up a pretty awful storm yesterday and last night, and at about 5:45 this morning, an e-mail was sent by NAU's reporting system Inside NAU saying classes are canceled and that only essential employees are to report to work.

What makes an NAU employee essential? Well I'd like to think all NAU employees are essential, but as it turns out, those of us working at the Academic Computing Help Desk are considered to  be essential, so I'll be reporting to my shift later on today. I've got to admit, it's a nice little ego boost for the day to know that the ACHD is considered essential, and that if it's within my ability to remain alive while going to work today, I'm to do so. Luckily, I only live like 500 feet from the ACHD, so it's by no means a hardship for me.

The stress of breaks.

I'm mildly unhappy because I had an extraordinarily stressful post-finals week. Unlike my prediction of it being completely stress-free because there was going to be no deadline for leaving, it was more stressful because Megan and Glenn stayed in Gabaldon too, meaning that most of my time outside of work was dedicated to either hanging out at Megan's work, or making sure that Megan and Glenn didn't kill each other.

I realize that there was an expectation from Megan that she and I have some time alone, probably more than we actually did (which was still quite a lot by my standards), but there's also the fact that Jim still lives in the room, and has paid for it, and likewise with Glenn. Not only did Megan not get enough time alone with me, but she and I didn't get enough time alone without anyone, we estimate less than two hours alone time for the whole week, which is a lot less than either of us gets during the semester.

Those various factors led to what turned into an epic breakdown on Friday night, wherein I revealed that I actually wanted to sleep alone for a night, Megan revealed she wouldn't be capable of sleeping in Glenn's room for the night, and I got pissed (needlessly as per Megan) off at Megan and Glenn. Let's just say that neither of them know when to shut up, even if you say "shut up" to them seventeen times repeatedly. I also learned that I'm apparently a rather frightening person when I'm pissed off. Megan and Glenn wouldn't shut up though, Both of them were so stressed, or feeling so superior, that it wasn't an option to just close their mouths and open their ears long enough to realize that the solution to their problem was extraordinarily simple. I  moved one chair sixteen inches to the right, and moved the display we were viewing the movie on eight inches to the right, and all three of us were able to watch the last Real Bout High School DVD. Not too difficult, but some people seem to really enjoy being pissed off for no reason.

At least Megan got The Sims 2 installed on her Sony computer, which we picked up in great condition at Best Buy, and was able to get her people loaded back in fine.