captbrando's log

Welp, being a homeowner is extremely rewarding. Looking at something and
saying, this is MINE. Well, actually its the bank’s for about 30 years,
but you get the idea.

Found some water leaking behind our shower this week. Looks like we are
out some change to get it fixed. Did meet a very cool contractor today
though. Very honest about the job, and gave us lots of options (including
remodeling the whole shower). Guess we’ll just have to take things one at
a time.

Got my official course registration today from the university! Only 3
more trimesters after this one and I’ll be an MBA! WHEE! I am slowly
making progress, and hanging on to every thread I can manage.

BTW, MCI == goood! Got all my fancy voicemail stuff set up and they
really have some nifty technology that helps the customer out. I bet it
was not that expensive overall to integrate as well. Its great that some
phone companies are really trying to turn things around and become a
customer oriented business.

On that note, sleeeep…

Well, MCI has finally lived up to the
customer service level that they promise and have been scratched off the
list. I finally got my business line fixed and things are all good now.

Conversely, Luxottica just made
the list. I am a REVO fan, and ever
since Ray Ban was picked up by Luxottica, service has gone right down the
tubes. I have now left three messages for a supervisor (which is always
conveniently not at his desk when I call) and have not gotten a call back.
Way to stand behind your products! Consequently, I will most likely
become a Maui Jim customer if
Luxottica can’t demonstrate that my business is worth their time.

Welp, the antibiotics are working! I am feeling much better today, and
hopefully things will progress so well that I’ll be feeling all better
tomorrow.

I hope everyone out there has a wonderful weekend! Please, come mow my
lawn!

Damnation if it did not strike again! I did catch this batch very early
though before it could really turn into a nasty case of Strep Throat, so
I’ll be all nice and healthy for the weekend. Hopefully these big aced
antibiotics will help get ol’ Brando back on track for enjoying a weekend
with friends and family.

I have been experimenting with wide-angle portraits lately and am excited
to see the results. Oh, and I’ve decided on a Canon PowerShot G2 as my
toy digicam. I need one for a few reasons. 1) To give the wife something
to play with when we are around family, 2) for test shots in the studio,
3) and for direct digital studio shots where high printable quality is not
needed. I am hoping that number 3 will really help me develop my studio
technique, and yield some interesting photos for the site when I redesign.

Anyway, I spose its time to get back to work. Whee!

So this weekend we blew the first keg in the kegerator. Holy crap that
was fast! We are professionals over here. The kitchen quickly went from
celebration to threat level orange. So we had to make a run to the S&K to
get a new keg before we had family coming. Thank goodness they keep them
nice and chilled. Lost very little coldness on the ride home and after I
cleaned out the tap we enjoyed good fresh tasty beer!!!

This week should be pretty fun. Germanfest is this weekend in Muenster,
and I think we are doing something else this week, but without classes as
my equilizer I am having problems remembering what each day brings. Work
as always will be a forefront, but hopefully this week will be productive
on several fronts.

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all! I hope everyone takes time to spend with their
families today. I certainly plan to!

See you next week!

Don’t forget to pay your taxes!! You have less than 6 hrs in CDT!

4, 3, 2, 1! The Guster concert is finally upon us! I’ll be there
tomorrow having lots-o-fun with some folks. I’m excited.

Still no word on one of my school grades which is rather frustrating. The
prof said there were issues getting stuff mailed to us so hopefully I
should get word by tomorrow whether or not I am golden. It sure does feel
good not getting in the car like 20 minutes ago and going to class tho.

Anyway, I am out!

Picture yourself wrestling with a problem for a few hours. Its something
baffling and outside the scope of what you think this thing is supposed to
do. You go searching and searching, and finally see a little 0 missing
in a long string of flags being passed to some subsystem way down deep at
the end of a big ass config file. RedHat just made the list…..

Greets there internet viewers. Not much to report today. It is a
beautiful day outside, we’ve got a pretty lazy weekend ahead of us (well
deserved) and I only got 1 of my 2 grades back (it was an A) from this
past trimester.

I’m currently trying to get some stuff ready for my photography business
so that I can make enough money to get the Mamiya 645AFD with a couple of
lenses. Once I get that, I may be in the mood to shoot a wedding or two.
None of my current gear would make that a pleasant experience.

Anyway, I am off to enjoy the day!

As all the television networks are broadcasting images from Baghdad as
Coalition troops begin to free the people there, I saw one of the most
hilarious signs I have ever seen. There are 2 Iraqi men who are holding a
sign that says “Go Home Human Shields, you US Wankers!” referring to the
people from the US who traveled to Iraq to be human shields for the doomed
Regime in protest of the war.

As I am writing this, 2 Iraqi men have climbed the statue of Saddam in
downtown Baghdad after fetching a ladder. God bless the free Iraq!

My last final for this Trimester of school starts in a mere 3.5 hours.
I’ve been studying all weekend so I certainly hope that I do well.

I had one of those “DUH” moments this weekend. I had planned on taking my
RZ to take some shots of this windmill that is behind the in-laws house.
Switched lenses, and could not get the shutter to pop. Turns out, it was
not cocked and I was not depressing the cocking lever down ALL the way.
At the very end of the dial’s action is a small catch which cocks the
shutter. Dangit. So I’ll just have to catch it maybe next week or the
week after.

I’m off for now. Final time!

After buying a barbecue last weekend (yes, I finally can feel like a man
in my backyard), we have been on a barbecuing frenzy! First the salmon,
then pork chops, and yesterday chicken. Mmmmmmtasty… It is so much fun
barbecuing.

Tomorrow is the Texas Rangers
home opener. Probably going to hit href=”http://www.hooters.com/”>Hooters for a little pre-game food and
libation celebration. Then this weekend will be a study weekend. Going
to take one of my finals either saturday or sunday, and my other final is
on Tuesday. Then I get about 3 weeks of no school before I start up
again. Whee.

Back to work for now…

Matt sent me this link and I think it is worthy for display here. Many of
the people that make up President Bush’s Administration (including of
course the big guy himself) have been ridiculed by many vociferous
individuals for being dumb. Obviously those people do not do their
research. Being from Texas, I have a special loyalty to the man and in
the one time I met him, he seemed more like a real guy than most
politicians even come close to on television.

So for all of you who think Bush is dumb, href=”http://www.hollywoodhalfwits.com/misc/cindyosborne.htm”>you just
click here and be humbled.