My boss returned on Friday as planned, so the two person dynamic of the house is gone. I’m now the third wheel, which is fine as I had expected as much. We went out for pizza on Friday night and Tim, having arrived safely just hours before, also joined us.

Yesterday I test drove a Subaru WRX Sedan. I really liked it, but have since started vascillating all over the place trying to make a decision. The main drawback is that the rear seats don’t fold down, so the cargo capacity is really limited. I’m also thinking about the wagon version, but that has no moonroof, which I almost consider a necessity. So, now I’m toying with the idea of a Forrester, except it is definitely not a car. I think I’m somehow stuck on the idea of a Subaru, I have no idea where that came from though. They just seem like a smart car company, why doesn’t everyone else come with standard ABS and AWD?

Otherwise, it has been a rather blah weekend. I helped Corinne put together a pretty big damn desk at her place yesterday. I stayed up watching a bunch of military programs on Discovery. I don’t understand how I can be so intrigued and excited by military hardware, yet completely repulsed by what it really stands for (killing, oppression, etc). Oh well, yet another source of cognitive dissonance, bring it on!

Today I did some hardware troubleshooting for the house. It seems that I will be tapped as the IT guy out here until the real deal arrives from Oakland. Otherwise I’ve been playing around with my cell phone, working on a WML version of this site, and being pissed at AT&T for not allowing International Text Messaging to most countries. So, I can’t SMS Meegan in Switzerland, which is very irritating. I’m not sure if this is irritating enough to make me cancel the service (I’ve got 30 days), I’m not sure what the alternatives are. I love this phone, and there are no other carriers in North Carolina that can sell it, let alone support it. I could use another bluetooth phone, but I’m not so keen on Sony Ericson’s offerings. *sigh*

The mood icon is mostly due to my rather childish provocation of Corinne. We both seem prone to friendly arguments over quite inane subjects. It is sort of fun at times, I just hope someone doesn’t go too far.

I just received my [[amazon:B00009ADFH Nokia 3650]] today, which replaces my year old Nokia 8390. I liked the 8390, but the 3650 kicks its azz! Bluetooth, 4k+ color display, Symban OS, camera with video capture, and tons of other cool sheaht make this phone really nice.

I think this will really give my Palm Pilot a run for its money. It isn’t as customizable and there isn’t as much software out there for it, but I might look into how to develop for it, and the convenience factor is high. I’m stoked. *grin*

I plan on also buying the [[amazon:B00006B7DB D-Link USB Bluetooth Adapter]] and [[amazon:B00006Z95D Jabra Bluetooth Headset]] if Amazon can asure me they won’t ship the non-working headset. I’m looking forward to having my computer sense my presence, that is just too damn cool!

Charlie Kaufman strikes again with [[imdb:0290538 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind]]. I wasn’t even aware that this was his script until the credits, but some may remember his other greats like Being John Malkovich and [[grahame:movies/adaptation Adaptation]].

Again, the line between reality and fiction are blurred, although the confusion was initiated by the book’s author and main character, Chuck Barris. Chuck Barris was the creator of 60s and 70s hit game shows such as the Dating Game, Newlywed Game, Gong Show, and many others.

One of the main plot points is that Chuck Barris is recruited by the CIA as an assassin. Whether or not this is true of the real Chuck Barris we may never know. But it makes for an interesting mind game, trying to deduce whether this could have actually happened.

This is George Clooney’s premier as a director, and he appears to do a great job. Sam Rockwell is fabulous as usual, one of many under known and appreciated actors. There are quite a few big name actors in this production, from Julia Roberts to Rutger Hauer to Drew Barrymore all of which deliver well.

A strange and bizarre movie in total, but quite enjoyable and definitely worth a watch.

I’ve been out here 4 days now, 2 of which I’ve been working. It has been a nice change of pace, although I have been delinquent in my blogging. The thought to blog just doesn’t come naturally yet I guess. Things at work have been a bit crazy, my boss is running around freaking out about everything. She wants all the higherups working longer hours, which applies to the engineers as well. She wants lots of new deliverables to give to the masses. Joy.

The VPN solution for connecting my computer to work’s network is somewhat frustrating. There are speed issues opening files, and Outlook doesn’t always tell me when I get a new message. The file speed thing does really affect my development though, it can take 2 minutes to push a new war file to the dev server. Bahhhh.

My boss’s house is REALLY nice, she really lucked out. It is not very big, for for one person it is perfect, but it is very cute. It is the first house I’ve seen with more bathrooms than bedrooms (3bd/3.5ba). The neighborhood is pretty nice too, its quiet, has lots of big trees, and is near lots of shops. It is a bit weird to be working out of someone’s living room though.

Corinne is my boss’s biggest lieutenant. She’s been out here for a few weeks now, and house sitting for my boss. It has been a lot of fun being here with Corinne. Just hanging out with anyone is nice I suppose, but she’s a kick regardless of my loneliness factor. It has been nice sitting outside on the porch, yacking it up.

I went out to dinner with Halle and Jake on Monday night. The plan was oringially for Sunday night, but they had just returned from a wedding and Ohio and were worn out. We went to Bogart’s, a sort of American style restaurant very near here. It was nice to see them again. They’re starting to look for a house out here, so I can relate to what they’re going through.

DalRae is now living at the CA house temporarily. She’s cat sitting in a way, and moving the last of the stuff out. It looks like I missed packing quite a few things, so she’s going to mail them out to me. She is also talking about giving the cat up for adoption, which initially really upset me. I immediately offered to take her, and DalRae pursued that avenue. But after I stopped and thought about it, it really doesn’t make all that much sense. It was mostly a selfish response, I just don’t want to lose the cat. Knowing the cat is with DalRae somehow makes her a little bit closer, as though I might still be able to go see her sometime. But shipping her out here would be quite traumatic for her, and I wouldn’t provide the best home for her anyway. She needs a quiet, stable family who is home a lot. That I’m not.

In other news, Tim, another employee, got in a major wreck while driving out here. Thankfully, all living things in the truck got through it with only bruises. But all of Tim’s stuff is completely ruined, so he’s got a lot of crap to deal with. And I found out that another employee might be joining us from Oakland, as soon as the new office happens.

And something I’m quite ashamed of, Corinne somehow got me to watch the Gilmore girls, One Tree Hill, and Judging Amy. Such fluff, it was fun, but droll in their overly melodramatic nature. This just reinforced why I don’t watch that crap, so I suppose there is a flip side. But poor Corinne is hopelessly addicted

My boss returns on Friday, so I will probably start staying at my place then. There is apparently an air mattress here that I can use. Oh well, it’ll be sort of good to start using my place. I’ll still be here most of my working life for the next month or so anyway. Hopefully work will slow down so that I can start settling and getting out, doing stuff, and meeting new people. On a somewhat related note, I found out last night that Corinne and Kevin are potential camping buddies. Score.

I love Jackie Chan, so I was really looking forward to seeing [[imdb:0290095 The Tuxedo]]. And I wasn’t disappointed, it delivers the standard you would expect from the master of physical performance.

This was a different sort of movie for Jackie. Maybe he will finally be able to break away from his super-cop-type roles. In this movie, he’s just an average taxi-driver, who falls into the world of espionage.

Jeniffer Love Hewitt as the ditsy, bitchy, and reluctant sidekick, Jason Issacs as the super-spy, Peter Stormare as the socially inept scientist are also pretty good. Although I had trouble liking Hewitt, you wanted her to just grow up a little in the movie, but she never did.

All in all, a fun and entertaining movie, as Chan’s always are. Physical comedy at its best, a la Buster Keaton.