niviene

Well, my blogging career is obviously a flop, as it's the first thing to go by the wayside when I am busy.  And, I have been busy. 

The good news is that I am happy to report that I have been in contact with - the one, the only, the dragon master himself, Nuclear_GG!  Yes, that's right, he is alive and well and he misses us.  We hope someday in the future that he comes back to mIRC and brings his evil, sarcastic humor with him.  God knows that my identical sense of humor could use some company.  I'm tired of making fun of everyone all on my own. ;)

So, I recently decided to try Modern Warfare 2.  WOW!  I totally love it.  I wasn't sure I would, I really got it to try the multiplayer feature with other channel pals.  Some other games I have tried for the same reason have really disappointed when I tried the campaign/single player side.  This one, however, was a huge surprise - in a great way.  I used to really enjoy playing Rogue Spear, and this is like a brand new version of that game.  I love the different types of guns, and the story line is very compelling.  To top it off, it has a 2 player co-op for the missions that, when combined with the voice chat feature on steam, becomes a BLAST to play with a friend. Usually it's me and vamp against those darn ruskies.  Vamp is good.  Too good....

That's it for now.  Lately I find myself angry that time is passing so quickly, but in spite of that, I have to say that I can't wait for spring.  I really, really dislike the cold weather!  Bring on the sunshine!

There's a new puppy in the house. :)

My mini schnauzer, Scotty, passed away within a few days of my birthday in May, 2008.  It was agonizing.  I didn't know if I'd ever be ready for another dog, and thinking of Scotty still makes me sad, even though we had tons of great memories.

However, after having looked and looked for months, testing the waters, I ran into what seemed like a great person doing really well-managed and maintained mini-schnauzer breeding.  I did some investigation, and wasn't sure if I was ready, but decided to go see her place and kinda check in on how things were run, how clean the place was, and how their dogs were being cared for.  I was impressed, and got a really good overall feeling.  Naturally, I loved the cute little puppies.  Once I picked this little guy up, I was sold.

He looks just like my old dog, same breed, same coloring.  His ears are slightly different, but mostly he's the same (I guess that's true of all dogs of the same breed; still it is slightly unusual to me!).  I brought him home on Sunday, October 4th, at approiximately 7 weeks old, and his name is Bones.  Just like with my old pal Scotty, my dad and I argued forever about the source of the name;  I claimed Scotty after Scotty Bowman, the coach of the RedWings at the time, and he claimed Scotty after the engineer from Star Trek.  Now, I claim Bones is a cute name for a puppy, and he says the name is Bones from Star Trek. Sigh. :)

I am glad that he's here.  It has taken away the sad parts (mostly) in my memory from the loss of my dog that I loved so, so dearly, and left me mostly with the happy memories from when Scotty was the same age and size. :)

Fall. Wow, I really love fall.  The colors, the smells, the college football Saturdays.  But, it seems perpetually to be the time of more work.  Before it was school, now it's just work.  The interns have gone away, and my workload has substantially increased.  I can't complain, I'm happy to have a job these days, especially considering that I do actually enjoy what I do.  However, the mountain of work is looming ever higher, and my summer tan is beginning to fade in the shadow of these obligations.  Eek!

Every now and then I get to do something really personally rewarding.  Inevitably, the day comes around and I'm thinking, "how can I get out of doing this? I'm busy/tired/lazy."  Usually, though, I force myself to go.  In the end, I'm always glad I went.  This past weekend was no exception.

Over the weekend in Columbus there was a Home Rescue Fair; a large gathering set up by HOTH (Homes on the Hill) and NCLR (National Council of La Raza) to help people deal with foreclosure situations on their homes.  Many were well into the foreclosure process; some were recently unemployed and seeking counseling on what to do while looking for new employment.  I went as a volunteer to help out; my background in mortgage finance law and fluency in Spanish really made me feel like I could both learn a thing or two about the process as well as assist some really scared people with finding out the truth about the process and discover that there is almost always some kind of help to be had.  Many large banks showed up - Citi, Chase, GMAC, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, etc.  Lawyers, Counselors, and even Franklin County sent their people out to assist people with pre- and post-foreclosure issues. It was truly spectacular to see so many people really seeming interested in helping out.  It was also a terrific feeling to be able to help people calm down and have some feelings of hope.  I am particularly partial to helping Spanish speakers, because I often put myself in their shoes and can't help but wonder how petrified I would be in the same situation without the ability to call for help; not knowing who would even understand me, and without the ability to understand all the papers being sent to me in English about the foreclosure of my home (or to be able to call and explain if I was out of work for a brief period of time but was now back working and able to patch things up... I heard that many times!).

Overall, it was a success.  At the end of the day, I felt like I had helped everyone, even myself.  I met some amazing people.  I helped some amazing people.  Their stories were both sad and powerful.  I didn't want to go before I left the house each day, but once I got there, and after it was over, I couldn't be happier that I was a part of it.  I had a hand in helping 86 clients. Wow. :)

BUt, now I have to get back to my mountains of work, and it's late, and I'm sooooo tired.  This coming weekend is the first week of College football, and I'm excited, so I better get my work done, so I can enjoy it. :)

I love to run.  Loooooooove.  Even when I have slightly sore shins or legs or feet, it's an addiction I can't shake.  I love to push myself to new personal bests.  I'm not the fastest runner, but I enjoy running for distance, or running on certain trails that have harsh hills and uneven surfaces, like hiking trails.  It must be some sick fascination with seeing just how much I can do.  It makes me feel so good, actually.  I can't stand to be sweaty, so that part sucks, because I'm always totally drenched by the end of my run.  I have to immediately clean up.  I wish I could stand it long enough to stretch more than I do.

Anyway, I have discovered a little piece of technology that helps me with all this.  My iPod!  I bought an iPod Nano (well, it was technically a Christmas present... ;) ) and then about a month after Christmas, I started seeing ads for Nike+iPod.  I didn't think much about it, because I didn't think MY particular iPod would work with it.  I went to Dick's Sporting Goods for new sneakers, and settled on an amazing pair of Nike Max Motos.  Two or three days later, I discovered to my surprise that my shoes were Nike+iPod enabled!  I looked on the website, and found that my iPod indeed worked with the program, and I ordered my chip.  Several days later, I inserted the chip into the sole of my left shoe, and I've been hooked ever since.

This thing is amazing.  I can program in 50 different ways.  I put in my info, including my weight, calibrated the sensor, and then started running.  Generally I run by either time or distance, and one thing I love is that it will tell me how I'm doing as I'm going along.  For example:  If I were to set it on 60 minutes, it would tell me at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc - then when I am halfway.  Then, for the last 5 minutes, it will count down.  This is so terrific if you run like me - I like to run at about 65-75% of my possible speed for long distance, and then towards the end I like to sprint as hard as I can.  So, when it starts counting down (in distance mode, it counts down by yards, which I also love), I know to sprint at the 3 minute mark or whatever.  I can stay in my zombie-like tranced out zone, arms pumping, I don't have to look at my watch, I can just go.  And, when I'm finished, it will tell me how I did, and it has some cool bonus features with that.  Like, yesterday, I broke my personal best pace, and Tiger Woods' voice came on to congratulate me.  How cool!  I also have my iPod in a waterproof casing, and I bought some sturdy sport earbuds, that are so water and sweat proof, that I have worn them in the water (while dunking my entire head) many times without a single problem.  For a $30 product, I couldn't be happier.

My friends and I have been enjoying Left4Dead for some months now.  We just finished yet another game.  Although the content is really kinda tiny, there are so many ways to change the game, that is just keeps on being fun, day after day.  Killing tons of zombies and trying to keep the team alive is a blast and usually gets my adrenaline up. 

We got tired of playing with the boring weapons provided in the game, so I tweaked them a bit to make them more realistic.  Id est - when you used to get shot with a gun by a friend, it would do some slight damage.  Now, however, when someone shoots you in the body, it incapacitates you; a headshot is instantly fatal.  THis is much more fun, espcially considering the friendly fire damage - I often find myself laughing so hard I can barely catch my breath at some of the hilarious friendly fire incidents.  If you'd like to have these modified weapon files as we use them in our games, click on the Left4Dead link in the menu on the left.  The instructions are on the page, too. :)

I've wanted to have a blog for quite some time.  A year ago I installed the software to create one, but I didn't quite know how to set it up, so I just forgot about it. But today while screwing around with something lame and useless, I finally stumbled on the answer.  So, hurray.  I get to write about stuff that means nothing to anyone but me.

Sooooo....... uhhhh..................... I got nothing.  Later ;)