So I'm 628 pages into my 666 page borrowed Photoshop: Classroom in a Book. I have learned a lot in the last 3 weeks...didn't realize there was so much to photoshop and imageready that I did not know already. I'm on chapter 19 out of 20 and these last ones mainly deal with Color Management and Printing so without further ado, here are the 4 pictures I'm proud of:

Golf Vector Poster
Matte
Funky Bird
Montage

I would like to try out my new skillz and create more Michelle originals once I am done with the book, but I'm stumped on ideas. I have 30 hours a week at work to think so they'll come in time.

Mike has me reading this awesome series called the Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony. Took a month to finish the first book, which is about the office of Death. Started reading the 2nd book that is about the office of Time and by the 2nd day I was already on chapter 5. I had so forgotten my passion for reading for fun during my many years in college. Probably read another 2 chapters tonight while I'm waiting for Yahya to get out of his karate class.

I'm so so tired all week. Leave the house by 9:30 in the morning, get done working at 8:30-9 at night depending on the day and then trek off to some other activity. Mondays and Wednesdays I meet Mike at the SRC and we work out for an hour or so. Tuesdays are tv night, Thursdays are Mike night (or rather, hang out with Mike for about 2 hours)...in any event I don't get home til 10p-11:30p. So sleepy! Seems like after I leave work on Friday, I spin around a few times and then its time to go to bed because its Sunday at midnight and work is early in the morning. But as much as I complain, I'd rather be doing this than not have a job. And I'm happy to be able to see Mike as often as I do.

Not much else to say at the moment. Probably plan on having at least 1 party before I leave for London in mid-July. Afterall, other than the mini-Memorial Day BBQ, we haven't really rocked the house since Nick moved in. He needs to see us all at our "peaks." I'm open to ideas, themes, etc that we could do.

Ta ta for now.

I went to the dentist today, he said my teeth were super excellent (that's a paraphrase) but that if I don't keep brushing good they may take away my only upper wisdom tooth left. This makes me sad. I asked why they couldn't just fill it and they said they were lazy and just wanted to take my tooth away from me (again a paraphrase). I replied to that by saying you do whatever you need to do to keep my teeth in my mouth...end of story.

I've noticed an increasingly number of customers at work that don't see a problem with standing outside of my periphereal vision waiting until I notice them and help them. Call me crazy but even when I'm just screwing around on the computer, I'm not capable of seeing all 360 degrees around me. New rule: if I cannot see you, you cannot be mad or annoyed that I'm not helping you.

Mike's bday is Saturday...time to paaarty! Once again, he will have caught up, numerically, to me and I wont feel like the older woman seducing him at every turn. Luckily I look, at the very least, several years younger than him.

This past weekend was craaaazy, hardly no time for just me. I spent Saturday night fighting with my computer and my new Sims expansions. Ima gonna be pissed if I have to get a no cd crack for a game I bought legitimately. This is total crap! I spent most of Sunday installing my new computer parts. I got a firewire card, a 160 gb hard drive, and a dvd burner. Putting in the parts didn't take too long and it was with minimal fuss. Just learning the basics of the dvd burning software took up a large chunk of time and by the time my new hd was partitioned and formatted it was time to go to Mike's house for some hanging out time before The Dead Zone started. Watch it, its gooood.

Work is over, I'll write more later.

Blogger seems to be amused with constantly changing that sidebar you see to the right without my permission. So if you think it looks weird or redundant, that's just Blogger being a fucker and reverting to previous saves and I'll get to fixing it in a little while (or rather, as soon as I notice it).

On a new note, before me and Mike went out on Friday night, I was driving home after work and ran into some idiocy I'd like to share in hopes of preventing future death. I was driving East on the 60 from Rural to Dobson. The guy in front of me was going 15 mph under the speed limit after we both took the Dobson exit (which is almost a mile before the actual street and is only 1 lane so I could not pass). This annoyed me greatly. Then he started swerving a whole bunch so I slowed down (moreso) so that I wouldn't be near what I thought was a drunkard. At the light, I pulled up next to him to give him a dirty look and the fucking idiot was READING! For fuck sake, why the hell are people reading and driving? THE END.

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room AZ Drivers

Reach for the lasers with Antic's Sims-ulator!

It is a Friday night, just got back from Sammy's Woodfired Pizza on Mill Ave. I'm glad Mike and I didn't spend too much money there because it was a pretty bad experience. Mike is in the bathroom right now dealing with his body trying to rid itself of the pizza. I'm sure I'll follow suit in a little while. I was very very hungry and so the first 3 slices of this tiny $10 pizza went down easily but something was off and I couldn't figure out what. At least one of the 5 cheeses on my 5-Cheese pizza (oh like I would get any other kind! :) ) was very bad tasting but it wasn't that. When Mike and I had finished 80% of our pizza and the waitress finally got around to bringing the parmesan we asked for when we first got our pizzas, I noticed that my "pizza" was completely devoid of any pizza sauce - it was 5 cheeses and crust. When Mike was able to flag down our increasingly absent waitress, I inquired if it was suppose to be that way or if it was an error. Apparently they have gotten numerous food awards because they lack an essential pizza ingredient and thus have created something to OOoooh and Aaaah over. But I vote it as one of the worst pizza experiences ever...I think I'd rather order from Dominos....ick! Mike's exact words when reviewing a bite of my pizza were, "I would love to eat this if I were in prison." The one good thing was the $7.50 sundae that had more fudge than ice cream and whip cream combined. Mike said that he was not impressed but I liked it a lot. I probably would not have been so impressed if we had not had the coupon that made it free, but I like to think some good came of it all. And we didn't get a parking ticket! (We parked in some obscure parking lot a few blocks from the restaurant...didn't see any signs that said we couldn't park there so I crossed my fingers). Now we are home, I think its my turn for the bathroom. So that's my story for the night. Going to see the new Harry Potter movie tomorrow with Mike, mom, and my little brother. I think it will be a good time. I've heard many good reviews on the movie already. Ta ta for now.

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Tonight's Restaurant

Reach for the lasers with Antic's Sims-ulator!

I believe I am a victim of this proverb: "In any organization there is one person who knows what is going on. This person must be fired."

On a completely non-related note:

So I was searching through my M: Drive at work today and found these old tests I took, here are the results:

Geek Test
I am 44% Geek

You probably work in computers, or a history deptartment at a college. You never really fit in with the "normal" crowd. But you have friends, and this is a good thing.

Take the GEEK test at Fuali.com

Internet Addict
I am 55% Internet Addict

I am pretty addicted, but there is hope. I think I'm just well connected to the internet and technology, but it's really a start of a drug-like addiction. I must act now! Unplug this computer!

Take the Internet Addict Test at fuali.com

Evil Genius:
I am 51% Evil Genius

Evil courses through my blood. Lies and deceit motivate my evil deeds. Crushing the weaklings and idiots that do nothing but interfere in my doings.

Take the Evil Genius Test at fuali.com

I think these numbers are fixed, I am a mega internet addict and I got enough geek in me to fill up a Myrrh bucket.

Peak 1 is finished! It was my bitch this weekend! I played massive amounts of SSX3 this past Memorial Day weekend. And what a great weekend it was. Played hours upon hours of video games - mostly with Mike, got some reading done, saw The Day After Tomorrow the day after it came out...I'll let you think about that one for a while (good movie btw, Cheeze says SEE THAT MOVIE WHILE ITS STILL IN THE THEATER), and spent just about every minute of my 3-day weekend with Mike...it was super-excellent! Had a small group over yesterday for gaming, bbqing, and swimming in honor of the holiday. Got some of the people launching each other off into the pool on tape. We were being so so silly. Fun times but I sure am tired today.

I can't seem to find any recent updates of the AC Saga so here goes:
2 Thursdays Ago ~9pm: I come home to find a hot house again. Rage consumes me as I tear open the vent in the hall. No, just kidding, I used a screw driver and my step ladder, but I was pretty peeved. Entire inside unit is frozen over. I have dealt with this before and I actually knew what to do. Use my hair dryer to thaw it and then a tough scrubby brush to remove the nasties up there. It works fine for about 40 minutes before freezing over again.
Next Morning: After waking in a pool of sweat, I go to the shower in hopes of not being disgusting and find the water turned off for the day (found a notice in the dirt behind the grill after this). The rage continues. Put in a service call with the warrenty company, all goes well with that. 45 minutes later get a call from AC company #1, they apologize that the soonest they can come is Sunday so that gets scheduled.
Saturday: AC isn't freezing at higher temps such as ~82 degrees. We turn it down little by little and it seems to work.
Sunday: Turn the AC to 68 degrees to try to replicate the problem before the fix-it guy comes. No dice. I cancel the appt.
Monday Morning: I wake up in a pool of sweat again. I call the warrenty people, reopen the claim, 45 minutes later, AC Company #1 calls to schedule for that day. I am in a good mood.
Monday Night: I get home to a cool house.
Wednesday Night: I get around to looking over the bill and seeing what was wrong. It needed Freon, that's it. Funny, I had the outside unit replaced last month, why would it need Freon so soon?
Friday: I called the company and talked to the tech who serviced my house. He said that it isn't normal for it to need Freon so soon and that the company that replaced the unit last month didn't put the caps on the Freon chamber and also didn't charge it correctly. They advise me to call the warrenty company about getting my $40 (service fee deductable) back.
Today: Was on hold for a pretty long while with the warrenty company but I should be expecting a check within 7-14 business days.

Moral of the story: Old Republic Warrenty Company is awesome and I highly recommend them if you own your house - they are worth it.

I'm still hunting for jobs. All previous happenings have either fallen thru or don't exist anymore.

On Saturday I purchased a new 160 GB hard drive, a DVD Burner, and a firewire card. They should come in the mail hopefully before the weekend. Once installed I can get all my videos from my digital camcorder tapes into a more practical data form. I will be the talk of Kazaa yet! Mwahahaha! Currently all my computers and all my mom's computers work without problems... hell may have frozen over but this also may only be a test. But we'll see what happens when I install the new parts next week. That outta shut me up...unless I bleed on it and satisfy the computing gods that is. Once these parts and also my $216 one credit summer class at ASU is paid for, I priced building a nice compact little server for less than $400. This will drop the load my main computer has as it currently shares out the internet connection to the rest of the computers in the house (only 4 others at the moment) and will allow Miguel to have his ftp server back up and running for everyone who likes downloading all his goodies. And I will be able to turn my main computer OFF once in a while thus preserving its life span and the temperature in my room. Hopefully this will be done before I head to London in mid-July. It could be done right now but getting fired kinda sets me back a few bucks. Lets be frank here, I'm bitter and will always be bitter because the only thing wrong that I did was be too enthusiastic about working at my super cool job. (No, there was not any sarcasm in that last sentence, that is what happened - I finally found out the reason but am not posting because technically I shouldn't know and the names have been changed to protect the innocent).

More stuff to come later...mainly cause I have a bit of a headache right now. Ciao!

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Upgrading

Reach for the lasers with Antic's Sims-ulator!