Life in a House

Thought A Lot

2007-09-11T15:29:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd write a little refresher post since I have to be using Blogger again for one of my HRIM classes.

Let's see, here are five things that probably might possibly be new for me since the last time I began quitting my blog:

1. I'm a senior at UD.
2. I moved back on campus.
3. I'm a RA in 3rd floor Cannon.
4. I do my school work on time.
5. I no longer have an iPod.

Well, that's enough procrastination for one afternoon (like it will actually stop with this post). Leave some love and have fun!

mwY

2006-09-12T22:29:00.000-05:00

I just love mewithoutYou.

The bird cracks me up.

All is Full of Love

2006-09-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

Been real busy with school starting up. Been listening to the new Gatsby's American Dream, Cursive, This Providence and mewithoutYou. Brand New's new record is slated to be released on 21 November 2006. Straylight Run is finished recording for their new album. I'd like to get my hands on the new As Tall As Lions. Also watching football. The Giants lost and so did my fantasy team. Too lazy for links this time around. Cheers.

Is that robot copping a feel? A lesbian feel?

I think I'm...

2006-08-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

What can I say about turning 21? So far it's been a headache.

Music and Exercise

2006-08-14T09:52:00.000-05:00

It's been a while I know...

I've been busy with work. Still going 9-5. Riding my bike more now. Also running. I ran a mile in 6 minutes and 30 seconds yesterday. That's a full 19 seconds faster than my previous time. Oh, right, I should tell you that I've been working on running a fast mile. So far I think I'm doing pretty well. Me and Chris have also been biking some distances in preparation of Bike to the Bay in October. We hope to beat our previous record of 5.5 hours (and not get lost this time).

Here are some musical updates:

Say Anything will be headlining with special musical guests mewithoutYou, Piebald, and Days Away. They'll be at the Electric Factory in Philly on Oct. 12th and you know I'll be going, so if anyone else gets the urge then hit me up. You can buy tickets here (screw you, Ticketmaster!).

An interesting interview with Gatsby's American Dream guitarist Bobby Darling can be found here.

Death Cab for Cutie's guitarist and David Bowe look alike Chris Walla will release his yet-to-be-recorded album on Barsuk in March 2007.

* How cool is this? Here is a full story.
** I don't know if I mentioned it before, but MewithoutYou has a new song up at their My Space page called "Nice and Blue Pt Two".

Minus 100

2006-07-26T07:49:00.000-05:00

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but we finally have our fourth roommate for sure. His name is Nat and he is the onfield MC for Cal Ripken, Jr. Stadium in Aberdeen, MD. Pretty cool.

Work is going well; I finally got a key to actually get into my office! Now I don't have to wait outside on the bench. Plus I can get in the office a half an hour early and grab up some extra cash.

Been listening to Sufjan Stevens and the new Early November.

Musipalooza

2006-07-25T07:43:00.000-05:00

Been listening to new music from a reunited Cursive, Gym Class Heroes and Hellogoodbye. Anxiously awaiting releases Gatsby's American Dream (Aug 8, Self-Titled), This Providence (Sept 12, Self-Titled), mewithoutYou (Sept 26, "Brother, Sister") and Brand New (who's to say really?).

I have already pre-ordered the Gatsby's album. I was looking over the GAD website which has posted a set list of the songs they play during shows (b/c that is a set list) and I was amazed to see the number of songs they play during their live shows. Then I remembered that all of their songs are very short. That was right before I remembered that all of their songs are also very good. Remembering this led me to the realization that seeing this band live would be a very fun experience. Lots and lots of quick, highly entertaining songs. Put that on my list of things to do.

Tuesdays Are the New Mondays

2006-07-18T14:07:00.000-05:00

Back from vacation and feeling oh-so good about it. Didn't go to work on Monday, but I'm here on Tuesday and time seems to be flying by. Work is going good with lots of productive type things going on.

I have to say that I am super excited for the 2006 NFL season to start (Go Giants!!). I've even already joined my fantasy league (thank-you-very-much), but would I join another if presented with the oportunity? Heck yes! I have already started a list of four players from each "position" that I want to draft. The players within the positions are numbered one to four, and the positions themselfves have been numbered in order of importance. That may all have to change on the fly depending on what the competition selects during the draft, but if all goes well, I believe that I could have my most informed fantasy season yet. More on that later.

This Is Only a Test

2006-07-08T09:12:00.000-05:00

Pictures.

Above is my first audio post. ...Testing...
Been busy with work and then vacationing...don't always have an internet connection, but if you can prove you're paying attention, I'll prove that I can be consistent.

2006-06-20T14:44:00.000-05:00

Think we finally found a roommate for the house.

I go on summer vacation from June 30th to July 16th.

I really dislike when bands put out songs months in advance of the release of their album. I would much rather wait said months for the whole thing than get sick of listening to one (good) song over and over again in anticipation of the record. Ruins that song for me. I want the whole experience at once, not just one part.

Music Me

2006-06-16T11:08:00.000-05:00

Haven't updated because I've been waiting for something I deemed blog-worthy.

This from the Brand New website:

" june 10, 2006
Our main focus for these past 10 months was to make the best record we
possibly could…for us and you. With this in mind there was always a
part we felt we could play better, or a part we felt could be
improved. This tedious process explains why it has taken so long. We
have all lost our minds on numerous occasions, and to be honest…still
haven't found them.

We will finally be entering the mixing process on Monday June 12.
Rich Costey has signed on to man the faders and we all couldn't be happier!
The record should be out…you know…sometime this year…..
There will be 13, 14, 15, or 16 songs being mixed
And 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16 of those songs will make it on the record.

We are blown away by the response the tour has received and hopefully
will be testing out a few new songs on the road.

We, again, are sorry we have not kept you guys in the loop. We
feel now that we are truly happy with our record, and we will notify
you of any SIGNIFICANT news in the future.

We can't say it enough:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

.brian / brand new"

This Providence, another band that I am a huge fan of has their sophmore album slated for a mid-September release. They also have a new song called "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" up on the Fueled By Ramen's SUMMER AUDIO SAMPLER PureVolume site. This song is available for download on the same site.

Speaking of bands from the Seattle area, Gatsby's American Dream (who are now touring with This Providence) have released a new song on their MySpace site in anticipation of their self-title album to be released on August 8th. The new song, called "Station 5: The Pearl" is in reference to ABC's television drama, Lost. You can find more info on Station 5: The Pearl here. The song may be downloaded here.

That's it for this update. Leave me some love and check back in a day or so for another update.

Finally

2006-06-13T15:55:00.000-05:00

I'm done for the day! The end of the work day could not have come soon enough. Today found me traveling to Wilmington again to set up a lady's DSL. Her modem was bad which basically means I wasn't able to help her. So I have to go back tomorrow when her new modem arrives.

I have a soccer game tonight. Maybe more than 9 people will show up this time. Should be fun. Gotta go! Not staying at work any longer than necessary!

...a case of the Mondays.

2006-06-12T08:03:00.000-05:00

Work work. Ah. Another day, another dollar, right?

How would I know? I haven't gotten paid yet. After working here for 13 days full-time, I'm about ready to get some of my hard-earned cash-money. I supposedly get paid on Thursday and then I will finally be able to pay for all of the bills that have been coming in since I moved into my new house. Not to mention my credit card bill which has gotten out of control ever since I built my computer in January.

Still looking for a fourth roommate if anyone knows someone who is looking to live in a house in Newark. We do have several people interested, but most of them are either old, foreign exchange students or both.

Today seems like it will turn out to be a pretty crappy day. I've been watching most all of the World Cup games so far and today I'm going to be missing three. Including the first United States match. Such a bummer. It's also raining outside which should make it fun when I ride my bike home. Three miles in the pouring rain. Nice.

If you feel like talking I'll be on AIM Express all day probably. My "job" for today is looking up and comparing different tablet PCs. Exciting.

Never say "Oops," always say "Mmmm, interesting."

2006-06-07T10:26:00.000-05:00

Work, work, work.

I'm all about work these last few weeks. Learning HTML, dBase and our InfoCare software has consumed most of my time at work along with calls from doctor's office receptionists who can't get their computers or our software to work but swear they've done nothing wrong or different since the last time they called and couldn't get their printers to print. All they did was delete the .exe file. It's only one little file. What's the big deal?

Working customer service is pretty much the same here as it is everywhere else. Customer gets oil changed on car and drives away. Customer notices a noise somewhere under hood. (Mmm. That's interesting. Never noticed that before....probably those stupid mechanics.) SpeedBUMP! (Can't even do a simple thing like changing the oil without messing something else up...) HANDBREAK U-TURN! (Could go back and complain. Obviously it's all their fault...) SWERVE! (after all, I've never noticed the noise before now...) HARD BREAKING! (Ah, screw it. I have places to go. That noise is probably nothing anyway.) REVS ENGINE. (...And even if it is something major, I'll just say it was those darn car mechanics fault) FLOORS IT. (...serves them, right) FLIPS CAR (...overcharged me for that oil change anyway).

I gotta get back to work. Customer service things...

Sport Me

2006-06-06T15:25:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a game! Game one between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers was a real scorcher. The Hurricanes looked like they were out of it for sure towards the end of the 2nd period, but wow did they come back. The game was so exciting it was kind of disappointing to see captian Jason Smith and Conklin blunder behind the net to allow the game-winning goal for Carolina. My dad came over and bought us pizza. That was cool. He should be coming over again tomorrow night. If anyone's thinking about hockey and pizza and couches and you know my number then hit me up.

Summer outdoor soccer league started today. We lost our first game 0-1. It felt good to get out there and run around. I needed a little excersize. It's not like I ride my bike 6 miles a day, five days a week. It's also cool because I get to play with my brother Jon and my roommate Chris.

I'm going to bed without a shower.

Managerial Dookie

2006-06-05T15:58:00.000-05:00

Ever had a manager or coworker that you just couldn't stand? Someone who makes you dread going to work like you dreaded going to the dentist when you were younger?(or now, depending on your oral hygiene, I suppose) Someone who makes work so tedious, so tiresome, so thankless that you wish Odd Job would just walk through the door and lop off his head with his razor sharp hat? I think we've all had someone like this at one time or another in our work lives, and in mine it's Dan.

Dan is a military veteran of 22 years with a southern drawl so bad it makes me want to blink slow. He's balding, has huge, emo-rimmed glasses (for seeing, not style) and has a penchant for giving orders with nary a "thank you" nor "please" within 100 miles of the Mason-Dixon Line. His hobbies include talking to you as if you have no clue what's going on about anything...even if you've been working there for six years...and giving out jobs that in no way pertain to the actual job that you're supposed to be doing.

Now, I'm not unreasonable. Impolite, militaristic southern people I can handle. I work in customer service after all. It's impolite, militaristic southern people that make me come into work when it's raining and I have no car that really push my buttons. Now before you start foaming at the mouth, yelling that you have to go to work rain or shine, let me offer up some background info on my job.

I don't go in when it rains. Period. End of story. I work at a job such that when it rains there are no customers. When there are no customers there is no job for me to do, thus I do not go in. It worked out quite nicely until about four months ago. Enter Dan.

"Dan is a military veteran of 22 years
with a southern drawl so bad it makes
me want to blink slow."

When it rains, I call, make sure it's raining there as well, then go back to bed. Not so anymore. Every time it has rained since he has started working I have had to go into work. Every time. Each time when I go in he makes me stay for one to two hours then tells me to go home. Again, every single time. He knows I don't have a car. He knows I ride my bike to and from work.

So, being the exemplary employee I am, I haven't complained, I've just taken to writing "Bonus" on my time card on these days. This last Saturday I didn't even call when I woke up and found it to be raining. Just got up and went right into work. I sat outside for about an hour and a half before I gave up and went inside to find Dan. When I finally found him lounging in the office he looked up at me as if trying to pretend he was surprised to see me and said,

"Oh Jeff, I didn't even know you were here. I thought you would have known to call when it rains."

Seriously? Are you absolutely kidding me? You have me come into work every single rain day to date, and the one day I come in without calling you don't need me? That's unreal. This guy needs a punch in the teeth like...well, think of your appropriate simile: this guy needs a punch in the teeth.

But what could I do?

I left.

And, in case you couldn't tell, I'd rather be in Puerto Rico.

2006-06-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'll try to keep this short. I haven't ranted on work because I have been too busy relaxing and not working. I'll probably go ahead and save that post until I'm actually at work when I have more inspiration. Believe me though, after Saturday, I have plenty of reason to rant about work. Stay tuned.

2006-06-02T09:10:00.000-05:00

We were good as married in my mind, but married in my mind's no good.

This morning has been all about rediscovering Weezer's sophmore album, Pinkerton. What a great album. Sincere yet irreverent.

Today is Friday and that means tomorrow is Saturday. The weekend. It's about time. I have had over a week to become acclimated to my new job, and I think things are progressing slower than they could be. Yesterday I did make some headway when Devindra showed me step-by-step instructions on how to operate InfoCare, InfoQuest Systems' insurance claims database. Not hard, just very involved. I have also been taking calls from practices who use our software and are having problems...let me just say that happens all too often.

Tonight is my night to do something cool with Rachel and I'm thinking picnic (hey Boo-Boo), but I don't get off work until 5, so it would have to be a dinner picnic. Not bad, but not the same. Maybe we'll go to Brewed Awakenings on Main Street. I once got an Italian Soda
from there that tasted just like an orange creamsicle. Delicious.

That's all I got for now. Stay tuned for the weekend edition where I rant about working six days a week.

2006-06-01T09:38:00.000-05:00

Hi. My name is Jeff and for the next year or so I will be living in a house in Newark, DE. I have created this blog to keep track of my thoughts and activities throughout the year, but mainly as a test-blog for the InfoQuest Systems blog that I am creating for work.

I will be writing posts, posting pictures and links, creating an RSS feed, making audio posts, playing around with HTML and perhaps trying out AdSense to see what that's really all about.

Me (left) and my old ApartmentLife roomate, Justin at the beach last summer. Not to be confused with the shore.

On the right I have listed links to my old blog, ApartmentLife, at Xanga, the InfoQuest blog I am slowly creating, and the blog of my favorite podcast, Escape Pod.