Jonathan’s Blog

I never did write about my holiday. Some noteable events:

Fireworks
My brothers bought hundreds of dollars worth of legal and illegal fireworks, and we had a bit of fun shooting them off on July 4th’s evening with friends and family. Took us a few hours. No serious injuries although I managed to burn some hair off my hand.

Rock Band
I borrowed Tiffany’s Rock Band for the Xbox 360 and introduced the game to my brother and his family. They liked it. I knew they would. It’s freaking Rock Band! Great game.

And that’s really about it. We just kind of hung out and relaxed. It was a good weekend.

Contrary to popular belief, I do think on occasion.

I’m really glad that Katy Perry has a hit song with “I Kissed a Girl.” Why? Mostly because I’m hoping it encourages more girls to kiss each other, preferably in front of me.

It’s a good thing I’m in a Halo 3 clan, or else I don’t think I’d care to ever play the game.

I wonder if Nadal would beat Federer in Wii Tennis. I’d like to play more tennis.

I’m having trouble deciding between Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour. Guess I’ll wait for the reviews.

Bully is a lot of fun. It’s like the teenage version of GTA III.

I’m not one bit excited to actually play Spore, but I am interested to see if people do anything cool with it.

I remember when I was young I could play almost any game on my Super Nintendo and enjoy it. Now I’m so darn picky that I don’t like most games.

I’ve begun some training in PHP. Maybe one day I can be a great programmer with the language.

Will people stop complaining that Obama beat Hillary? Majority wins, my friends. Hillary was not going to save the world, so stop acting like she is the second coming of Jesus.

There is a 10 year old Jack Terrier with the breath of a dead fish sitting next to me as I write this post. Lovely! Time for a life update.

School
I finished my ENC2210 (Technical Communications) class last week. My final paper received a B. Not my greatest work, but I finished the class overall with a high A. I’m not taking anymore classes until the Fall, which should give me some spare time to learn some PHP programming.

I went ahead and sold back my textbook today so I’m $32.25 richer. I also saw all of my old friends/co-workers while there (I worked at the campus bookstore for many months). It’s nice to see everyone again.

I’m not sure how many classes I will be taking in the Fall. At least two, I assume. I’d like to continue working and save up money, but I also need to finish my classes and get my degree in a (relatively) timely fashion. The more classes I take, the less I can work, so it’s a balancing act.

Car Accident
Tiffany and I were in a car accident the other day. We decided to go eat out and then hit up the mall. For once I didn’t feel like driving, so she took her car and drove. After finishing lunch, we drove out to an intersection and stopped at the red light. A Jeep Liberty was making a left turn towards us, and she didn’t yield properly. A big Dodge Ram slammed into her, and consequently pushed the Jeep into Tiffany’s Honda Accord. The whole front end is damaged. No one seemed to be severely hurt, although the Jeep lady definitely had some bruises. Now we’re just hoping the insurance company doesn’t decide to “total” the Accord. We’d rather have it fixed.

It was just a normal and sunny Sunday afternoon. These things come out of nowhere!

Video Gaming
I’ve been playing a lot of Bully and Rock Band with Tiffany lately. We’re starting to get pretty good. In Rock Band we have moved off of Easy and now can play most songs in Medium difficulty. I’m a drummer and she plays guitar. Man, I freakin’ love hitting things with sticks in an orderly fashion! Anyway, I am hoping I can eventually play most songs on Hard, but I don’t think I’m dedicated enough to be an Expert player.

And as always, I have been playing a bit of Halo 3. Our clan is having an internal 2v2 tournament. My partner Hazy and I have made it to the second round and if we’re victorious we will be in the finals.

Work
The web developing is going pretty good. My managers gave us a few extra days off for the holiday which was a nice unexpected surprise. We had some deadlines on July 1st and I’ve mostly hit them. There are some things on one project that took me longer than expected. I’ve also been having a little trouble focusing lately at work. I think I just need more sleep and a better breakfast in the morning. Even though I have the longer holiday, I still plan on doing some work from home to get a little ahead.

Have a great July 4th!

Here I sum up my feelings on the following relationship topics.

Single & Free vs. Ball & Chain
Being single is a good time. It’s nice to do whatever you want without consulting someone else. But really, I like the idea of marriage. Two people making a public (and legal) vow to share each other’s life, be faithful, honest, helpful, and so on. It’s a great idea. The fundamental problem with marriage is that people suck at it. Some people get married for the wrong reasons. Some people have a complete personality change. Some people should never be married to begin with. Some can’t stay faithful. Some people don’t love themselves, let alone a spouse. Sometimes it’s just an honest mistake. There are many reasons why our divorce rate is over 40%.

I feel that everyone who is thinking about marriage should take a Marriage & Family class at their local community college. I did and I learned a lot. It also fulfilled my Diversity requirement for my degree.

Despite what the humorous NoMarriage.com philosophies will tell you, there are benefits. Many who have been married for years report a feeling of intimacy and trust that people who are not in long-term relationships will never experience. If you find someone you truly love, and if they just happen to truly love you back… hey, that’s a wonderful thing. That’s rare. You should wake up every morning feeling blessed. Marriage is probably the easiest and hardest thing many people ever do.

Promiscuous vs. Monogamy
The late George Carlin said, “Sex without love has its place, and it’s pretty cool, but when you have it hand in hand with deep commitment and respect and caring, it’s nine thousand times better.”

I basically feel the same way. I take it one step further and avoid sex without love to begin with. I always have my eye on the gold medal, not the bronze. Besides, considering that about 25% of young women have a STD, the idea of casual sex is scary. I don’t want a girl who sleeps around, even for a night. Plus there are pregnancies and other issues that are just best to avoid.

I never had a desire for casual relationships. It’s just not something I cared about. I’ve had opportunities for some, especially since starting college. Some girls practically just throw themselves at guys. Add alcohol into the mix and you have an easy combination. A little flirting is fun on occasion but I’d never want to go beyond that.

I am a “Good-natured Realist.” My result for this personal test is pretty accurate, I think. Try it yourself by clicking my purple button above. It only takes a few minutes.

Update: I wasn’t required to register for anything when I took the test, but a friend of mine said that he had to. I’m not sure what’s up with that!

I’ve spent all of my life mastering the art of laziness. Like most, I’m very good at slacking off when I want to. But since becoming an employed adult years ago, I’ve discovered ways to be very productive too. Here I explain some things that make me move. Maybe they will work for you.

Know what to do
When you have something to accomplish, take a few minutes to write out a plan full of steps to accomplish the goal. Sometimes you won’t know all of the steps at first. That’s okay, just write what you do know. It helps to write it down so you can just check it off. For example, if my goal was to “get ready for work,” all of my steps would be:

1. Be alive and wake up.
2. Take a shower, brush & floss teeth.
3. Get dressed.
4. Lock bedroom door on the way out so none of your crazy roommates destroy your stuff.
5. Get in car, drive to work. Stop cutting in front of old ladies.

Race yourself
I created this technique when I was employed in Wal-Mart’s pharmacy. One of my tasks was stocking shelves. After my first few weeks of learning where everything goes, my next goal was to do it faster than anyone else. In the morning when I was alone, I would count how many carts of merchandise we have, and time myself to see how fast I could finish them. I would pretend that I was racing against someone else. Occasionally a customer would notice my hussle and look surprised.

I have a similar technique now when I take quizzes for my online classes. Using the program CoolTimer, I’ll set a countdown from 20 minutes and finish as quickly as possible. I can usually ace a quiz within 15 minutes. Alternatively, if I’m at my girlfriend’s house and taking a similar quiz, it usually takes me over an hour and I don’t always do as well. That’s the power of focus.

Sometimes going faster isn’t the best option, and it won’t help you if you’re not playing smart. When I worked with a friend as an electrical and plumbing tester for a mobile home factory, I would constantly try to outpace him. I would move faster. I’d be running around while he was walking at his leisurely pace. But he would finish much quicker than me every time. The reason is although I was trying harder, he understood better what he was doing. He trained me and I tried to copy his routine. It helped, but I was never as fast as him. Maybe eventually I would have been, but I quit after a few months to focus more on school.

So it goes without saying that you should always try to move fast, but it is important to be good at what you do too. Every swimmer knows that racing isn’t about moving your arms wildly fast — it’s about having the best technique. The best stroke. The best whatever (I’m not a swimmer).

Keep a time log
A time log is similar to a money log where you keep track of every penny you spend to see where your money really goes. After doing this for a month, you’ll likely be surprised on some of the stuff you waste money on. Likewise, if you keep track of your time, you can see where it is being wasted. This can be tedious at first but it can also make a big improvement. If you’d like to learn more about this technique, please visit Steve Pavlina’s blog article.

Computer specific (dual monitors)
Just a quick tip for computer users. I’ve read that having a dual monitor setup can increase your productivity by 20% or more. God only knows how they measure that. I’m new to dual monitors and have been using them at work. They are awesome and I do feel that they can vastly increase productivity. Get them!

I plan to update the look of this site. At the very least, I just want a custom header graphic instead of the default. God only knows when I’ll get around to doing that.

My class is going fine. This should be an A unless I somehow screw up horribly. I want to start taking some classes on MIT’s Courseware but it can be a little hard to find the time. I should set aside 30 minutes a day, if not more.

Work is going well. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff in Photoshop and Illustrator this week. It’s enjoyable and our projects are being completed on time.

I haven’t been playing much Halo lately. So sad. But I do intend to put in some time this weekend. I love the game! And speaking of games, I need to pickup Bully soon. Rockstar Games released the patch that fixes the freezing issue the game had, so now I’m ready for it. Maybe for my birthday in July…

After 5+ years of working on my Mario Kart site, I finally called it quits. Just don’t have the time for it anymore, and not much of a desire either. It was good times.

Another Monday, another night of Ultimate Frisbee. I do love this game, but I hate injuring someone or getting injured, and I did a bit of both tonight. First I started with knocking the wind out of our only female player, which really sucks. I don’t like to get anyone hurt, but I’d rather it be a guy if I do. Then later on I got trampled a few times myself. But alas, that’s why we call it ultimate.

I was planning on taking an intro to c++ programming class this summer at my school, but then I found out that it wouldn’t count towards my electives. I think I’ll just learn (cheaper) on my own time. I’m currently enrolled for Technical Communications (ENC2210) but that’s it. I’d like to take at least one other class but I’m not sure if anything I need is available. We shall see!

Ah, finally, It’s Saturday. Time for me to catch up on cleaning my apartment and a whole ton of other little things. I haven’t updated my Mario Kart site in a while, and that’s kind of bad since a new version for the Wii has just been released. I’ll try to get some good stuff on there soon.

My finals went well. I’m confident that I have another 4.0 semester, but I won’t know for sure until my grades are posted on the 6th. It’s possible I could have a B in my American History class, but we shall see!

Grand Theft Auto IV is a lot of fun. I’ve been playing it with friends quite a bit and we’ve been having a good time. I recommend it. And that’s all for now, folks. Have a good weekend!

Wow. I suck! I haven’t made a new post in a while. I have been quite busy though, and I will give you a quick rundown of noteworthy events that have happened since my last post.

Santa Fe Community College Bomb Threat
First we had a gunman and now a bomb threat. I don’t believe one was ever found. They had all of us go out to the softball fields. That would have been the best place to plant a bomb because it could have killed dozens of us packed in there (depending on the bomb, of course). The evacuation was much more organized than the one with the gunman, so the school has improved in that area, but they still have some other things to work on.

Halo 3 Clan!
I joined a Halo 3 clan called Buddy System Gaming. It’s a great group of guys and gals and we have a good time playing together. I never did find a good clan I enjoyed in Halo 2 but luckily I found one for Halo 3. My brother also joined up in the clan. Good times!

New Job!
I wasn’t on the lookout for a new job but one kind of fell my way. As some of you already know, I have worked at my college campus bookstore for many months, and I was planning on going into their Bestseller Program which is basically just being trained for management and supervising positions. I really enjoyed working there and consider my co-workers to be good friends of mine. When you spend 20+ hours a week with people, you kind of get to know them after a while.

So Torie told me about a possible new job where she works. I emailed a manager for more information and eventually went in for an interview. Everything went great and now I’m working with the University of Florida in their college of medicine as a web developer. I’ve been there for two weeks so far and I’ve really enjoyed it. The people there are very good-spirited and they’re quite smart too. I’m happy to be working there also because it is a job more related to my field (computer engineering).

I think I’m fitting in well over there. I’m trying my best to stay focused and get a lot of work done as quickly as possible. I want to show that it was worth hiring me!

School
I’m doing well. I’m practically guaranteed an A in at least two of my classes. My American History class might end up with a B, but I think I did pretty well on my last exam, so I should hopefully have an A. I was sitting at an 85 before this final so we shall see. My last two finals are on Wednesday so that’s going to be quite an important day!

So as you can see, I have been pretty busy, but I will try to get back into the habit of updating this blog. Not only for my sake, but also for all of my MILLIONS of readers out there. Yeah… right.