Approximately every year or so, I get a crazy idea in my head.

You know, I bet Krystals really aren’t that bad…

Tonight was that night. It didn’t hurt that my grandfather wanted those little hot dogs that they have. I don’t even know what they call them. Anyway, I figured while I was there, I might as well get it over with for the year.

For those of you who haven’t had a Krystal, there’s a reason why a friend of mine from UA called them the “gray goo”. The tiny little meat patty has this unsettling way of transferring its natural juices into the bun more than any other hamburger ever. It’s not worth getting into any more than that, except to say that I just can’t bring myself to eat them under most circumstances. Except for when I have the aforementioned thought and “treat” myself to them.

The verdict this time? Let’s just say it’ll be at least another year before I start thinking about having them again.

I am in the process of trying to get addresses for wedding invitations to send to Kelly. If you read this, and would like an invitation, shoot me an e-mail with your current address.

I have a bit of a cold today, like many people apparently up here. I never like being sick, but this was my first time going to work feeling sick. I didn’t look forward to it. I got through the day well enough, but I was ready to get home.

A site update: a big update to the rivalries site. Check there for updates.

It’s back!

Tonight, Kelly and I will be joining Ricky and Tammy for the 6^th 1122 Productions Flannel Quest! This will be the first FQ in three years, and the first ever to include my significant other in the mix, which I must say I’m happy about. 🙂

It’s already a good time for flannel, as it’s already starting to get colder up here. Right now 90% of my cold weather clothing is packed up, so it would be nice to have something to wear around the house right now before I can get down to Gainesville and get my winter wear. But mainly it’s an excuse to get together and relive some old traditions (and who knows…maybe even start some new ones).

Watch this space (and the aforementioned flannel page) for the report on the trip. And as for the “coming soon” on the 2001 version…you might have to wait a bit longer. I don’t even remember anything about it! 🙂

I seem to have added another year to my life. Funny, that. I think that officially pushes me out of the “mid-20s” now, doesn’t it?

I had known how I was going to propose to the woman I was going to marry for over eight years.

When I was in 12th grade, as part of an English assignment, I wrote a short allegory describing myself as a house. Included in this house was a place that housed my hopes and dreams. But many of those dreams were locked away in boxes, to which I didn

The first week went by pretty quickly once I got everything up and running. A large portion of the week was just getting a system set up to work on. However, once that was taken care of, I managed to get some work done, with the assistance of my supervisor. The project that I’m working on consists of lots of code, and even knowing where everything is will take some time. But at least I got something productive done, and that’s a good start.

I always figured that it would be nice knowing that there would be a pretty strict delineation between work and free time, and that’s been true. Of course, it’s only been one week, so who knows, but it’s been nice to know that when 5:00 comes around, you don’t have to worry about anything until the next day, or in the case of Friday, the next week. Of course, free time is smaller in quantity than it was in college, but I figure that not having the sword of Damocles above you, reminding you of everything that you could be doing, makes up for that.

The biggest drawback to being in Birmingham for me is that Kelly isn’t here. The problem with your girlfriend being in Boca Raton when you are in Birmingham, is that, well, she’s in Boca Raton and you’re in Birmingham. We haven’t seen each other in over two weeks, but it really feels like a lot more than that. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I think that distance plays a pretty big role in it too. Add that to the fact that Kelly’s really busy now, and the fact that I have working hours and an implied “normal” sleep schedule, and I don’t get to talk to her as much as I used to. I don’t like that so much. I’m waiting for the day when I get to come home, knowing she’ll be there.

So, yeah, I had my first day at work today.

If you didn’t know, I made a decision (not a recent one, mind you) to get out of the Ph.D. program at Florida and find a “real world” job. I was fortunate enough to find one in Birmingham, and after a couple of weeks taking care of paperwork both here and Gainesville, this morning I started.

I am working for e-systems. You can find out more about them on their web site. My job description is J2EE programmer; this means I get paid to write code.

My first day was equal parts uneventful and…well, eventful. Our office didn’t have phone or internet service for much of the day, which made it kinda tough to get stuff done. But I learned a lot of the ropes of the application I’ll be working on; tomorrow I get to actually write some stuff. It’ll be interesting; there’s a lot of Java that it uses that I want to become more proficient in, so it’ll be good. Everyone that I’ve met thus far (I’ve met all but one person) has been really friendly and helpful, and I think we’ll all get along fine.

I know that this is a pretty generic description of what happened today, but frankly I don’t really feel like writing this right now…I’m pretty tired. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so I’ll be trying to make up for it tonight.

1. File a police report with the local PD. They probably won’t find your wallet, but it can’t hurt, and it’s good to do it for credit agency purposes.
2. Call and cancel all of your credit/check/ATM cards.
3. File a fraud security claim with the credit reporting agencies. Equifax, one of the big three, will forward your claim automatically to the other two and provide you with a free copy of your credit report as they have it.
4. Procure your birth certificate, or a certified copy of it. If you don’t have one readily available to you via a family member, VitalChek is one company who is well-known for doing this.
5. If you had a school ID, get it again. It should be one of the easiest ID cards to get back, as most universities now use an ID separate from your SSN, and so should have an easily-recognizable pictoral record of you on file for visual proof. It’s also much easier to complete the next step with one.
6. If you lost your Social Security card, fill out an application for a replacement. Go to socialsecurity.gov for the application and more information. Your birth certificate won’t work here, but a school ID will. If you don’t have a school ID, your passport or life insurance policy, among other things, will work. The social security agency will give you a stamped note stating that your SSN belongs to you; this should work in lieu of the card, which won’t arrive for a week at least. By the way, social security’s fraud division will not file a fraud claim unless you show someone is actively trying to steal your identity, so be on the lookout for a while to come.
7. Now that you have that back, get your driver’s license. The birth certificate / social security notification combination should be sufficient for just about every state and situation you could be in.
8. Use the newly acquired license to invalidate and replace all of your other items: membership cards, library cards, voter registration cards, etc.
9. If you lost any checks as well, call the bank and invalidate them all immediately, and place stops on anything purchased since the time that you lost your wallet. The quicker you do it, the less you’re liable for. If you’re really concerned, you can just close out the account and start over fresh, although that will take a little extra time and money.
10. Oh, and buy a new wallet.

One guess as to why this journal entry came about. Another guess as to how my past week has been.

I have never liked to drive at night. There are several reasons why – harder to see, glaring headlights, more potential for animal-related wrecks…but one of the biggest is that if something bad happens to the car, it’s much more difficult to get it fixed at night than it is during the day. This is especially the case when it’s a weekend night.

So last night I’m coming home from Boca Raton after seeing Kelly for the weekend. I realized when I left that I’d be making about half of the trip at night. This didn’t thrill me, but I had wanted to stay as long as I could in Boca. So I prepared myself for night driving.

My car’s right rear tire did not.

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