Concerts!

Okay, so these are a couple months late, but I still wanted to say something about them! So here it goes:


Porcupine Tree - 4/30@The Riviera Theater in Chicago


Wow...Mind blowing! They played the whole "The Incident" album, which took about an hour. This was the 1st half of their set. And I have to say I really like seeing an album live, performed in its entirety! Not only does it bring up memories next time you hear it, but it gives you a whole new way of 'looking' at the album. This album is a great one, and seeing it performed live was impressive! After this, they took a break. 

Porcupine Tree

They returned to play a mix of their older songs. About another hour. They did not play 'Arriving Somewhere But Not Here' my favorite song of theirs, off the 'Deadwing' album. But that is the only thing I would change! 


The set list:



First Set: The Incident
Occam's Razor
The Blind House
Great Expectations
Kneel and Disconnect
Drawing the Line
The Incident
Your Unpleasant Family
The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train
Time Flies
Degree Zero of Liberty
Octane Twisted
The Séance
Circle of Manias
I Drive the Hearse


Second Set
Hatesong
Lazarus
Russia on Ice
Anesthetize
Stars Die
Normal
Bonnie the Cat


Encore:
Blackest Eyes
Trains


All in all, mind blowing concert! To this concert I went with Geli and my work buddies Matt C. and Kevin(who we kinda dragged to last minute haha). Oh and parking was like $2(meter parking, and you can pay with a credit card!) hahaha fools are those that pay astronomical amounts for parking! We had to walk a couple blocks, but we never mind that. 


Them Crooked Vultures - 5/18@The Aragon Theater in Chicago


So this one was a special one. I have been a Dave Grohl fan for as long as I have been into music and hadn't seen him live! I thought back in 2002 that I was going to! He did the drums for the Queens of the Stone Age 'Songs for the Deaf' album and I went to go see them, but he did not drum for them during the tour(it was nonetheless one of the best concerts I have been to!) So this time, when I heard that Dave Grohl on drums, Josh Homme(QOTSA) and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones were teaming up, I had to check it out! I bought the album and really really liked it. So when they were coming to Chicago, it was a no-brainer! We had to go! We bought the tickets over a month ahead of time, and Geli got a job and started 5/17 once we had the tickets and this was in Chicago! But we decided this would be worth not sleeping well....

Dave Grohl pounding away!

Them Crooked Vultures

The performance exceeded my expectations(as if that means anything! haha). They are technically a 'super group'. But in their dedication to what they do, they are a world apart. These guys reminded me what passion for what you do is! You could tell from the way they were playing and enjoying the show that this is what they want to be doing! It was great! They only have one album. They could have just played that, collected their cash and taken off. But they played for about 2 hours! Extending songs, jamming, and just enjoying themselves musically. It was a very enjoyable performance to witness. John Paul Jones is an integral part of this band, he even played keyboards and sang a song on his own at some point. A very interesting show. And I finally got to see Dave live! So much energy to his drumming! 


Setlist: 



No One Loves Me & Neither Do I 
Gunman 
Scumbag Blues 
Dead End Friends 
Elephants 
Highway One 
New Fang 
Bandoliers 
Interlude With Ludes 
Mind Eraser, No Chaser 
Caligulove 
You Can't Possibly Begin To Imagine 
Spinning In Daffodils 
Reptiles 
Warsaw or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up 


This time it was just Geli and I :) and we took a ZipCar to Chicago! Parking again was only a couple dollars at the meter! 

Intense concert week! (Triple concert review!)

This last week was full of concerts!!! We had not been to a concert in over a year probably! Although we had seen some comedians(like Eddie Izzard), but no musicians. And just this last week(in 8 days, to be precise) we saw 3 unique and awesome concerts, all in their own way.

Friday March 26th, 2010 - Stone Temple Pilots at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, WI


I was very excited to find out Stone Temple Pilots was back together, on tour, releasing a new album(out in May), and coming to Milwaukee! I have liked them for a long long time. They were never one of my favorite bands, but I have always liked their music, and they were gone for years, and what seemed like it would be forever. I had even seen Army of Anyone, which was the Deleo brothers from STP + the singer from Filter in El Paso and that was cool, but it was no STP haha. So this was something I was definitely looking forward to. "Tab the Band" was the opening act. And they were good, best I can describe them is a 50's Rock and Roll band with a modern sound. It was enjoyable. Then STP came out. Here is the set list they played:

• Vasoline
• Crackerman
• Wicked Garden
• Hollywood Bitch
• Between the Lines
• Hickory Dichotomy
• Big Empty
• Sour Girl
• Creep
• Plush
• Interstate Love Song
• Bagman
• Huckleberry Crumble
• Sex Type Thing
• Dead and Bloated (Partial)
• Lounge Fly (Partial)
• Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart

It was an awesome concert. Scott Weiland was talking gibberish and mumbling in between songs, but I had never seen him before, so I didn't know if that's just how he was. For the most part, he sang well and I didn't think much of anything was wrong. Then Dead and Bloated started, and it all went to hell...They must  have been about a minute and a half into it, and then Weiland was just lost. He kept singing the same verse over and over, even when it was time for the chorus. The sound man tried to fix it by lowering the volume of his microphone, but there was no hiding it. The Deleo brothers kept trying to go back to the part Weiland was singing, but they lost Eric Kretz(drummer) in the process. They even completely stopped to see where Weiland was at, and then tried to play to what he was singing! Weiland was completely oblivious to any of this(or so it seemed) he just kept on singing and dancing like nothing was wrong.The band just gave up...The band(except for Weiland) was clearly pissed. Robert Deleo removed Weiland's ear monitor and yelled something in his ear, and then they started 'Lounge Fly'. It started well. But then again, about a minute into it, Weiland got lost again, and just kept on singing. The rest of the band desperately tried to salvage the song. The Deleo brothers stopped playing, and let Eric try to find where Weiland was at, and then they tried to play along to weiland, but it was a disaster. The band left Weiland on stage, and he kept on singing like they didn't just destroy two songs that they have been playing for almost 20 years!! Finally Weiland got off the stage, and I don't know what they did back there, but they came back on and played 'Trippin' and they played it pretty well, especially considering what they had just done to the previous two songs! This is just sad and pathetic, all at the same time. I mean I feel bad for the rest of the band that they have to deal with this at this point in their careers. But at the same time, they should not be putting back together a band that cannot deliver. We must have spent over $90 on the 2 tickets, and while they did give an almost complete concert, a professional, international band should not be doing this. It is unprofessional and unacceptable. I really like STP, and Weiland is an awesome singer, but man, what a loser. You have one of the dream jobs of the world. Lead singer in a world-class rock band, and you can't get your shit together. I mean, he is no kid, he must be well into his 40's...but anyway, enough about Weiland. Despite the mishaps, it was an overall great concert! I am really glad that I got to see Stone Temple Pilots :)

Tuesday March 30th, 2010 - Puscifer at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, WI

Okay, this was a show that we decided to go to because we were curious. We were almost not gonna go. I had heard a few of the tracks on their website, and it was interesting. I noticed my taste in music is beginning to broaden. On the album, they have a lot of electronic sounds and samples. Something that would have immediately turned me off from the band a few years ago. But I would listen to their music they have up on their website at work while I was working and it grew on me. We ordered their CD, and gave it a listen. I still had no idea what to expect live. Just Maynard with a keyboard/synth and a DJ? A couple musicians + Maynard? I really had no clue. And I was in for a surprise. Neil Hamburger opened the show, a comedian(anti-comedian actually haha). And his jokes were so abrasive and tasteless that it was funny. He must have done 15 minutes of RHCP and Anthony Kiedis jokes, a good 5 minutes of Courtney Love jokes and he also had the time to do some Madonna, 311, and I don't know what other jokes. And he also destroyed anyone's attempt at heckling, this guy was something else haha I have never seen anything like it. Then Puscifer came out, and wow...

It was like a huge Saturday Night Live show, but with a band playing to most of the skits. There was 7 musicians total, of which there was usually 4-6 playing at one time. A female singer that took center stage with Maynard, the Primus drummer, and some other musicians that I was not familiar with their other bands. It was almost as if there was a movie/skit going on and they were the soundtrack to it. There was a couch and tables, and a laptop on stage(front and center) that the musicians that were not playing during a certain song would sit at and drink some wine.
And the TV that Maynard and the girl would sing behind were really cool. 

The music was just amazing. I would never have guessed it, but this is one of the best concerts I have ever been to. It was that good. In Maynard we trust lol. What a contrast from what I had just seen the previous Friday. At least when it comes to being a professional.

Saturday April 3rd, 2010 - Judgement Day at Ronny's in Chicago, IL

We first saw Judgement Day open up for Dredg last year here in Milwaukee at the Rave and it was nothing short of mind blowing! They were impressive, and different. They are an instrumental trio. Violin + cello + drums = greatness! They just released a new album that they put out themselves(check them out at stringmetal.com, like really, go!) and were on a national tour. So we decided to get some bus tickets and make the trip to Chicago to go see them. These guys are not on a label and from talking to Anton(violinist) at the show, they are not looking for one, which was very interesting. This show was at a local bar, your normal local venue. I had not been to a local type show since I was living in El Paso over 2 years ago and played w/Scenic Drive. It was cool to see another one again. A girl singer/guitar player opened up. Then there was a band called Girls in Trouble from Brooklyn, NY which was very interesting. They had no drums(except for a bucket bass drum), a stand-up bass, an accordion, and 2 girls that would play violin, guitar, and these little bell/xylophone type things. What I found most interesting was the subjects of their songs! They wrote their songs about the atrocities that happen to women in the bible(Judges 11 was one of the stories). I mean, that sounds like something I would write about! I never expected to find a band fronted by girls that wrote about that! Then this local band whose name I do not know played, and reminded me of Alphabetter a little, except much heavier. And then Judgement Day came on. And wow...they are such an awesome band. 

I really wish they had more of a following wherever they went, they really deserve it. But we can't even get Mari and Sergio to go to the show in Las Cruces!! So I can see why that happens...they didn't play as long as I would have liked, but it was an awesome show nonetheless!


Here are a few videos of the show as recorded from our camera haha

There was an couple issues on this Chicago trip. One, it was raining when we left Milwaukee, so we changed into our waterproof/snow boots(something we never needed in El Paso lol). And well, one of my boots had a malfunction and a part of the insole gave my foot a blister so it made it uncomfortable to walk haha. But we still walked the 10 or so miles around Chicago. The other issue was the hotel...we finally made it to a hotel near the downtown bus station around 3am and the hotel that Geli got an online rate of $80/night for was actually $125...this was after stopping at a couple more on the way that were also outrageously expensive. We were way too tired and decided to pay it anyway. It was Sophie's birthday on Sunday and we didn't want to be completely exhausted, sleepy, and moody on her birthday. It still feels like such a rip off since we were out by 9am. But oh well, it was still an awesome trip! 


As far as restaurants go, we ate at 3 places. One was Karyn's on Green which was awesome! An all vegan fancy restaurant! It was delicious. Then the after the show plan went awry when the restaurant we were going to eat at was closed. Well the place was open as a bar, but the kitchen was closed.  And vegan in Chicago is a common term, and even those restaurants that are not vegan friendly are familiar with the term, which is more than can be said of El Paso for example. When you go eat in El Paso as a vegan no one has a clue what that even is! It is funny and sad. But at J. Wellington's in Chicago they were very nice and despite not having anything but fries that was vegan(they also had a tofu burger, but the breading was not vegan)they offered to cook something up for us. They ended up making us some sauteed tofu that was not breaded with onions and tomatoes. It was really good. In the morning, we were too tired to look for a restaurant and we were short on time, so we just got a veggie Mediterranean sandwich from Panera and a couple bagels. Then off to Milwaukee we were :)

These last 8 days were awesome! Concerts we will never forget! A nice break from routine is always welcome. And now, we have Porcupine Tree on 4/30 and then Them Crooked Vultures on 5/18! Those should be stellar performances as well!

Finally...

It took me a long time, but I finally feel like I know what I want. I feel like I finally know what I want to be when I "grow up". Like I finally know what I should have been looking for in life all along. Like I finally know what questions to ask. I feel like I finally know what I am passionate about...


Okay, so I'm "grown up" already, at least physically I am. And some of these are obvious to some people. But they were not to me. I had to search and learn to find what really interested me. When I was younger I was really into music, but I did not see a stable future there. I was good at math and science, but nothing was overly interesting. I really don't think I cared about much. I was just cruising by. What a waste of time(at least academically) that was...


So where do I start? Well, the easy one. What do I want to be when I "grow up"? Quick answer, a scientist. An Evolutionary Biologist, to be precise. Science enhances your life everyday in countless ways. I want to be part of that discovery. Researching what we don't know, or learning more about what we don't know much about. Astronomy comes a close second. But I think despite both being fascinating, Biology is still a bit more interesting to me. What can be more fascinating than the study of life?! Haha, I know most people don't agree. But that's the whole point, now I know what interests me.  

Does this mean that I hate where I am at, or what I am doing? Not at all. I like IT and it is also interesting. And I am doing well in IT. IT is just not as interesting as Biology now is to me. I just wish I would have known this when I was 17! haha But I was a foolish teenager. For some strange reason, I took pride in not reading! 

I did everything I could to get out of reading, whether it be text books, novels in English class(Cliff notes were enough to pass most of the time lol), or anything really. I did the least amount of reading I could to get by. I am pretty sure that is why I never felt very interested in anything I was doing. And now, I don't have enough time in the day to do the reading I would like to! I spent my whole time at school(minus the last year at NMSU) with the wrong mentality. I will most likely go back to school sometime in the near future. It shouldn't take me a full 4 years to get a degree, considering I have my basics and plenty of math and science courses from my electrical engineering days. Even if it does, I will enjoy learning this time, and I won't fight it, or see it as a drag. I look forward to it. For now, I will continue to learn about Biology, Astronomy, Technology, and whatever else I can. 


I have changed a lot in the last few years in many respects...

Door to Door Rocking!

I'm not sure why, but a few days ago I was remembering how Paco and I came to hear of Tenacious D. We first saw one of their HBO specials and immediately liked them. In case you do not know who Tenacious D is, it is a comedy rock band(more like a duo), consisting of actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass. And the HBO specials is  all we heard from Tenacious D for a long time. I recorded all the episodes on the DVR and we enjoyed watching them a lot! The sasquatch episode was probably our favorite! Paco figured them out on guitar, and he and his friend Greg would go door to door rocking to people's houses! I was never brave enough to go with him. 

I want to guess that this was sometime in 2004 maybe? Paco was developing his drum skills at the time and was beginning to feel confident about his drumming. And in the sasquatch episode, they recruit sasquatch to play drums for them, except he sucks and ruins the songs. And since the way they do the episodes has an autobiographical feeling to it(the D's rise to power, as they call it haha), I think Paco interpreted that to mean that they were seeking a drummer, and they had not succeeded. He was making a plan to see if he could somehow audition for Tenacious D and be their drummer! Since they seemed like a band that was not very popular(everyone we talked to about Tenacious D had no idea who they were), it seemed somewhat plausible that this could be the case. Obviously, we knew very little about Tenacious D at the time!

We really liked them. I am not sure why we never bothered to check to see if they had recorded any albums. I guess we didn't really take them seriously? haha Then one day I was at Best Buy, and I saw that Tenacious D had an album! So I immediately bought it, and started listening to it in the car on the way home. And wow! To my surprise, pretty much all the songs had a full band to them! Bass, drums, the works! I had to call Paco and tell him the this, so I did. He was a little bummed out of course, but what cheered him up was that the drummer they got for their album at least was none other than Dave Grohl!! In case you are not familiar with who that is, he was Nirvana's drummer, and is also the guitarist and singer for Foo Fighters(now he is playing drums for Them Crooked Vultures, good stuff! Check them out). So I mean, to be fair, he never had a chance haha If they can get Dave Grohl for their drummer, they were not struggling to find one, at all. 

I am not sure why this came to mind recently :) good times though!!! Good Times indeed! 

The Moon!!!

So I have known for a while, as most people probably do, that we only see one side of the moon here from earth.

But it was not until last night that I finally "saw" how and why! It was so exciting!! haha I know, I'm such a geek! It was very discouraging at first because I read the 1st sentence about it in an astronomy book we have and it was really hard to picture what the book was saying. Here is that sentence:

The moving sun
Because earth spins on its axis every 23 hours 56 minutes, but also moves more than 2.5 million km along its orbit in that time, each point on our planet's surface must spin a little further each day to return to the same point in relation to the Sun - and as a result, a full 'day' in solar terms takes 24 hours.

This was one of those things where I read it, I understand what the words mean individually, but I do not understand the concept it was trying to explain. But then I thought about it a lot and discussed it with Geli and used a soccer ball and a beach ball as visual aids to act out what the book was saying and it worked! It made sense. I mean, that sentence specifically was not talking about the moon, but it was the key to "seeing" what the book was trying to explain. It is no longer a fact I accept because I'm told, but now I understand why!! It is a very liberating feeling. I understand the difference between an earth day and a solar day now. I will definitely be reading that book now. 

The reason we only see one side of the moon is because it takes the same amount of time for the moon to spin on its axis as it does to complete its orbit around the earth. Again, it is one of those things that, at least for me, I had to use the soccer and beach balls to be able to visualize and understand it. And the reason that the moon's orbit and rotation times have synchronized is because of the earth's gravity constantly tugging at the moon. Understanding this really felt like some sort of epiphany haha. 

the 2 sides of the moon

It is a very satisfying and fulfilling feeling, at least for me, to understand the world around us the best I can, and to continually learn more about our world and our universe.


I hope to be able to use the telescope a lot more this year. We have a lot of things to look at and learn :)

Impossible client request...

So the other day at work I get this client who had no idea what she wanted, yet I still was able to resolve her issue. This is more or less how it went:>


Me: "VCPI this is Jesus"

Client: "Yes, I think I just deleted something by accident, can you help me get it back?"



Me: "That depends on what it was and how it was deleted. What did you delete?"

Client: "I don't know".



Me: "What do you mean you don't know?"

Client: "Well, it was on my screen, and now it is not, can you bring it back?"



Me: "Well, what was it? A Word document? A Spreadsheet? An email? A webpage?

Client: "I don't know"



Me: "What was it for? What were you doing with it? Did you create this file?"

Client: "I don't know. It was a spending file I think" (she worked in the Business office, so that didn't help much, although at this point I was pretty sure she didn't create this file, since she knows nothing about it)



Me: "Do you know where you got this file from? Was it in the facility or global shared network drives? In 'My Documents'? Where did it come from?"

Client: "I'm not sure. So can you get it back?"



Me: "I need to know what it was in order to try and get it back for you. I can't get something for you if I don't know what it is"

Client: "Well, I was looking at it and then it was gone."



Me: "Yes, but what were you looking at? I realize that it is gone, but for me to get it back, I need to know what it was you were looking at."

Client: "I'm not sure, because I had just opened it".



Me: "Okay, let me shadow in on your screen."

Client: "Okay"



Me: **Looking through her desktop**

Client: "I really hope you can find it, because else, my boss will be upset at me"



Me: "So did your boss send you this file?"

Client: "I think so"



Me: **Opens up her email** "What is your boss's name?"

Client: "Wanda"



Me: **Looks for emails from Wanda with attachments, shows her the most recent one, which has a spend down spreadsheet attached and opens the spreadsheet** "Is this the file you were looking for?"

Client: "Yes!!!!!!!!! It is! Thanks so much! What happened?"



Me: "I'm not sure what happened, but there it is. My guess is that you just viewed the file in Outlook, without saving it to your desktop, and then forgot that it came in the email"

Client: "Oh...okay. Thanks!"



Me: "Have a good day"





I think she should have given me a tip for this! haha I mean I found what she was looking for and she didn't even tell me what it was! No waiter can do that! Usually I wouldn't even have started looking for something that the client can't even tell me what it is. I don't even know why I started looking, so I kind of surprised myself there. I guess I was in a really good mood or something.


In conclusion, I think IT staff should be able to get tips! haha Because, as you will probably agree, this request was not one that she could reasonably expect someone to resolve for her.

Treachery! No taxation without representation!

Okay, so maybe this is more of a rant than a blog...but still, I feel that this is a treachery! How quickly this country forgets the ideas that it was founded on. Although in this case, I feel it is not forgetfulness, or even hypocrisy, but actual treachery! I'll explain...


As most of you may or may not know, Angelica and I are at odds with the ways of this country. Unfortunately, this is with most of the things this country does, at least the main and probably most important ones in our view. We disagree with its approach to health care, which to make things short should be a human right, not based on insurance, employment, money, pre-existing conditions, but on your health-care needs. <---Period. Of course I don't feel comfortable in a system that devotes such a huge part of its national budget to "defense" which is actually more like "attack". The educational system in this country is a joke(not a very funny one). So is its environmental policy(this one is also not funny). Separation of church and state is headed backwards instead of towards a true separation. This country places corporations before people. I can go on and on....the point is, that unlike most people that just talk and talk, we actually wanted to do something about it. GET OUT! Yes, we want to move out of this country. You hear people say "If you don't like it, get out!". And that is exactly what we want to do. Except, here is what is really treacherous. And I quote from the IRS.gov website:

"If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, the rules for filing income, estate, and gift tax returns and paying estimated tax are generally the same whether you are in the United States or abroad. Your worldwide income is subject to U.S. income tax, regardless of where you reside."


I don't know if you follow the treachery of what this means. But it is saying that even if I live in ANY other country, and work for a foreign company, the US still taxes me just because I am or was at one point a US citizen! What???!!! This country went up in arms because of this very same principle! The United States fought England because they were being taxed, but not represented! No taxation without representation!! There was a revolution in this country over this!!! That was one of the slogans!! Did they forget this already? How is this any different? If I am living in Mexico, France, Costa Rica, Canada, the moon, doesn't matter. The US is no longer representing me, so why are they taxing me?!?!?!?!?!?!?! And get this, it is illegal to denounce your US citizenship for tax reasons. what?! Is hating most of what this country stands for a valid reason? And yet another catch. Even after you denounce your citizenship, you are still responsible for paying the US taxes for 10 years!!! And of course the US has income tax treaties with over 42 other countries. Now, both the IRS and the foreign taxing authorities can exchange information on their citizens living in the other country. What this means is that if I choose not to pay the US taxes when I move away, the local authorities may choose to arrest me for "tax evasion" and turn me over to the US...

Can anyone explain to me how it is fair to tax someone you don't provide anything to?! "If you don't like it, get out of this country!" doesn't really work when you can't get out of this country unless you want to pay double taxes! This is really upsetting...why does the US get away with anything it wants?! Why is it so hypocritical? Or is this seriously just ill intentioned? How does it seem acceptable to violate the very same principles you take so much pride of being founded upon? And what can be done about this? Can laws that screw the few people that are leaving this country even get the necessary legal push behind them to be changed? This affects no one that plans to stay in this country...which is like 99.999% of people in this country. This country won't even change a healthcare system that is hurting millions, how can this possibly get any attention?! This really makes me consider becoming a "rebel" and living under the radar of the US. I utterly refuse to pay the US taxes when I am no longer here. Why should I?! If anyone can please rationally explain why it is my duty to do so, please do! I am trying to make sense of this, but I can only conclude that this is a treacherous country...and I truly wish I was not part of it.

Working from home :)

Last week on Wednesday I had the chance to work from home. It was sort of by accident that I was able to work from home. For some reason, at work they are obsessed with making us come into the office when we could all do our jobs just fine from home. And I had just been "issued" a laptop also, kinda. I had to work the weekend of the 5th and 6th, and I asked if I could work from downtown(<2mi away) because I didn't want to go all the way out to the tech center(~12mi away) if I didn't have to(its an hour each way by bus). So she lent me or issued me a laptop(she didn't specify, and I was supposed to have one anyway, since I work Sunday nights every week from home). But recently, due to a scheduling mishap, 2 out of 3 of the Financial techs were gonna be off on the same day. So my sup decided to ask me if I could work that day(I had it off because I worked the previous weekend), get Friday off instead, AND I could work it from home. So that was a no-brainer. I work from home every Sunday night for on-call, but its a little different since its at night, and I don't have to be in front of the PC all night(they call a company cell phone when they need me). 


So I worked from home that day....and wow!! Its everything I thought it could be, and more! I had heard people say working from home is so great and bla bla bla, but NOW I see what they mean. I get up everyday at 5:45 to be at work by 7:30am. I get out at 4:30pm, but sometimes I am not able to get home till like 5ish, even 6 sometimes if the bus decides to take forever to show up. And that day, I got up at 7:15am!! and when I was done for the day, I was home!! Not to mention I got to have lunch with Geli and Sophie!! No time wasted on commute, waiting for the bus, or in traffic(I carpool with Matt most of the time), and I got more sleep...it was just awesome!!!


Now, one of my goals is to get a job I can do from home! I don't get why a company wouldn't want us to work from home, at least during the winter. During really bad snow, lots of people are late, or even miss work. If we are home we are not using their electricity, we are not late, we are happier to not have to commute, etc...


In conclusion, working from home is THE BEST!!!!!!!! I highly recommend it.

New Shoes!!!

Well, I feel weird even writing about shoes. But I think these "dress" shoes call for that. Being vegan, buying leather shoes, belts, or anything leather or wool is out of the question. Society relies SO HEAVILY on leather, that it complicates buying shoes and belts when you are vegan. I had found some shoes at payless that were not leather, but as is expected at payless, this is not done for any ethical reasons, but for economical reasons. As a result, these shoes leave a lot to be desired when it comes to quality. They were peeling, the soles had holes in them in less than a year, it was just embarrasing to even wear them lol. I was dreading looking for shoes again because its no easy task. After looking online, I found some shoes that I decided to buy, although I did not have high expectations because they were labeled vegan, and that alone usually makes the item super expensive, even if the quality is not necessarily superior. But I ordered them anyway, after all, they were on sale and had my size. They were only $50.

When I got them, I was very pleasantly surprised. They still need to be put to the test(and the "Chuy" test is no easy test). But as far as initial quality, I am very impressed. Impressed enough to blog about them haha. They feel like good shoes, firm, yet comfortable. If they last, I am so ordering them again! So of course, it CAN be done. We don't need leather to make good quality shoes. People just choose not to, which is the sad part.

Morning Person?!

So I never expected this...but it has happened. I think I am now a morning person.

First of all, it seems that unless it is the weekend, I cannot get a full 8 hours of sleep. Ever. We try to put Sophie to bed early, but she always finds a way to delay us. She'll stall eating her dinner or find some other clever way of not going to bed on time. Then, once she is finally in bed and there is peace and quiet in the house again, there is usually something to do around the house. Whether it is getting something ready for the next day, cleaning up, etc, or even just talking to Geli(since there is finally some time to talk about stuff without Sophie interrupting and wanting attention). So i usually get to bed later than I'd like, and while I have a hard time getting up, once I am up, I am usually not sleepy during the morning or the day. Its not till around 7 or 8pm that my body reminds me that I am sleepy. If we watch a movie in the afternoon, chances are very good that I will fall asleep during the movie. I have a hard time staying up late now, anything after 11pm is out of the question unless I have some coffee or something. I am just much more alert and productive in the mornings than in the nights...

It didn't use to be that way. I used to always be falling asleep in school, or at my previous jobs when I worked in the mornings. And I used to be alert at night. Is becoming a morning person a sign of growing up? or getting old?! I don't know, but its weird....I am not used to it. I suppose it works out, since I am at work in the mornings, and I don't want to be falling asleep there. But still, I don't think I've grown up. I still want to play video games, and watch dragon ball, and like the ninja turtles, saint seiya(caballeros del zodiaco), Beavis and butt-head, etc....so what's going on?!

Gustavo = Tuca

Sophie definitely misses everyone in El Paso. She is constantly asking us to draw you guys for her. She'll bring us a paper and one of her color pencils and say "Abue Martha" or "Tia Mari" and "Gustavo" and then "Paco" and on and on with all the names she can remember. Now she will draw smiley faces and she will call them Mari, Martha, Gustavo, Paco, etc...She is always looking for patterns that to her, are someone she knows. One of the cutest and funniest is that when we would watch Pumas play, she would see Tuca Ferreti, the coach, and call him Gustavo!!! The resemblance is rather obvious, and now she has taken that to pretty much anything with a mustache(including the lorax from the Dr. Seuss book she has) is Gustavo! Here are some pictures of Tuca, in case you did not know who he is:

So I am sure she will be thrilled to visit El Paso. She is more aware now, and she will get on the "avion" which I am sure she will be excited about since she is always pointing out airplanes in the sky and she gets mega excited about that.

During last week's Pumas vs Indios game, Sophie made us laugh with a new "discovery". As we were watching the game, she would point to the screen and say "Gustavo" whenever Tuca would appear on the screen. But this time she also pointed at Juan Francisco Palencia and said "Daddy"! Which is pretty funny. I personally don't think I look like him, but I can see why she would say that. Dark skinned guy with long hair. Here he is, in case you don't know who he is:

So I don't fully understand why Sophie has to find people she knows on TV, books, and just about anything, but I find it amusing and extremely cute...

Mexican Jale!!!

So the vacuum cleaner wasn't working this weekend. The brush would not spin, and it smelled like burnt plastic when you turned it on. I don't know why, but I decided to take it apart. I wasn't expecting to be able to fix it or anything, I just wanted to see if I could see what was wrong. I am a terrible handyman, I don't know how to fix anything around the house. But I took it apart, which was more difficult than I thought it would be, since two of the screws were inside of a deep hole, so I could not see what I was doing in there. I was just assuming there was two screws in there lol. I finally took them out and was able to open the case and see the inside. It turns out it was just the belt that broke(more like melted off). We did not have any spare vacuum belts of course, so I had to improvise. I got 3 of those thick blue rubber bands we had around the kitchen(I think they come with the broccoli lol) and used that as the belt. One was too close to the edge so it rubbed against the edge and got burned off lol but the other two were working fine. The brush was now spinning and I was able to put the vacuum back together and vacuum the living room and our bedroom.

I am just surprised I was able to fix something lol and by improvising thick rubber bands as the belt! It probably wont last long, but next time we are out and about we can stop by the hardware store and get the right belt. Oh, and by the way, I hate carpets...they are just a magnet for stains and dirt, and are impossible to clean properly! Especially with Sophie around the house. Whenever we have a house, NO CARPETS!!! ANYWHERE! Maybe rugs, that can be more easily cleaned/replaced, but I really really don't like carpet. Man....I really want a house.

Oh, and Sophie is still TERRIFIED of the vacuum cleaner!!! She was scared for her life this weekend haha because she went up to it and turned it on, but I guess she did not expect it to turn on and she was SOOOO scared, more than I have ever seen her get scared. It was really funny, and heartbreaking at the same time. its a shame i didn't get it on video!!

CompTIA Security+!!!

I'll keep this one brief, because it seems like this is all I talk about! But today I took another certification exam. Today I took the CompTIA Security+ exam and passed it with an 870/900!

I was pretty sure I would pass, since I read a whole textbook on it(I had never done that before), and did some practice questions, but I definitely didn't think I would do that well. I didn't plan on reading the whole thing, but it was interesting, so I kept reading, till I finished it. Cryptography(encription), hashing,  and network security are very interesting. This brings my list to:

• CompTIA A+ Remote Support Technician
• CompTIA Network+
• CompTIA Security+
• MCP
• MCITP: Enterprise Support
• MCDST
• MCTS: Vista Configuration

Next, I will do the MCSA(Systems Administrator), since I am only missing 2 exams for it(out of 4). That will probably take me a little longer than these, since it is server stuff, and I don't have experience with that, but I will get them :)

And.....2 more!!!

Today I took another Microsoft Certification Exam. This time, the 70-621 Upgrading your MCDST to MCITP Enterprise Support. I passed it with a 933/1000! So I got the MCITP: Enterprise Support and MCTS(Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist): Windows Vista Configuration certifications.

So this brings my list to:

• MCITP: Enterprise Support
• MCTS: Vista Configuration
• CompTIA A+ Remote Support Technician
• CompTIA Network+
• MCP
• MCDST(Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician)

So perhaps I am a little addicted to getting certifications. But I like learning this stuff, and work pays for it. So why wouldn't I do this? Plus, it should help me climb some positions at work, and hopefully be in a job role that doesn't require me being on the phones sometime in the near future. I like this new job role I have(Financial Technical Analyst), but its still not ideal. I mostly do call-backs on tickets other techs were unable to resolve or that are of a Financial nature(Payroll applications, billing insurance companies, claims transmissions, etc.), which is better than the Tech 1 role I was at. But I hope to move into a position where my job is not phone related. I have been working a call center in some way since I was 17, so I could use a change. So now, on to my next one.....CompTIA Security+. It builds on the Network+ I already have, so it should not require too much studying lol. Then, who knows the order, but it will most likely include Linux+, MCSA/MCSE, CCA, and more. This week was also my 1 year anniversary at VCPI. So things have been going very well at work. Let's hope they continue to do so, I know I will do my part.

Microsoft Certified Professional!!!

Yesterday I took my first two Microsoft Exams. They were pretty intense. I was nervous going in, and nervous when I submitted the exams, since I was not completely sure I would pass. I didn't study too much for these exams(i did cram the night before though, like any good procrastinator!) because I figured I should be able to pass without much studying, since the tests were almost on what I do at work exactly lol. I took 70-271(Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Windows XP Operating System) and 70-272(Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Windows XP Operating System) and passed them both! So I am now a Microsoft Certified Professional as well as a Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician.

BUT WAIT!!!! There's more!! hahaha I've been watching too many infomercials...damn regular TV. But yeah, I was saying that what's cool on top of all that is that work pays for the exams, and the study materials($277 total. $125 per exam and a couple study guides). So as long as I pass, work pays for all the certifications I get! So far I have gotten:

* CompTIA A+ Remote Support Technician(2 exams)
* CompTIA Network+
* MCP
* MCDST

And I plan to get MANY more :) Now I just have to decide what certifcations to get next...its not easy deciding. There are SOOOO many haha. I am thinking of getting the Linux+, Security+, CCA(Citrix Certified Administrator), and MCSE(Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) as well as CCNA(Cisco Certified Networking Associate). I guess in the end it won't matter, because I will get them ALL!! But which one will I pursue next? Hmmm...

On another note, I ordered the new Richard Dawkins book!! The Greatest Show on Earth! I can't wait until it arrives :) We also got some books for Geli and Sophie. And I believe Geli is in the process of booking our flight to El Paso for x-mas! We should be there from the 19th to the 26th of December! Yes!!