December 2006

This entry is a huge THANK YOU! to Keilaron, who, single-handedly is sponsoring my licensing test to become a Life Insurance Agent.

I made the payment this morning via PayPal, and I’ve been working on the material.

It’s a bit dry, but I haven’t much time to work with. I have to get this done, and get insured as quickly as possible.

I WILL do this.

Sorry I’ve had to neglect the PayPerPost forums, but this comes first, the ability to pay my bills and support myself, as well as my family.
I have to get this done.

No.

I WILL GET THIS DONE.

I’m sick of being afraid.
I’m sick of being sick.
I have a goal.

I want to win, and I want to move forward with my life.
I want to shrug off all my debts, and be able to show myself, and show my late parents that I can be gainfully employed.

They’re watching me now, on this giant stage we call Life, and it’s time for me to show my power in this, the next act of my life.

I got almost nothing for Christmas.
I won’t mention the two gifts, though.

That’s okay, though. I couldn’t afford to buy anyone anything in return, so I don’t feel obligated.

Though, it’s a tad annoying that the family always calls on me to do this and that and this and that for them without at least bothering to offer me so much as gas money when I have to run off and do things for ‘em. Ah, well.

Hope your Christmas was more restful than mine, at the very least.
Take care.

I’ve noticed that a lot of my more recent posts have some sort of an image in them.

If I ever get a really good camera, maybe I’ll start a photoblog. Photos are always good.

I just feel that pictures can convey a message better than just words. It’s like when you go shopping, you look at the price tags (a picture), instead of just asking “How much is that?”

Ah, well, speaking of price tags… Off to work.

Hey, Ted.

I’m looking under the Christmas tree at all the gifts there, and none of those boxes and awkward packages belong to me.
Even the dog has more presents under the tree than I do.

I’ve looked through everything I brought with me from moving to this house, and noticed that my old digital camera (1.3 megapixel, generic camera, and required a USB cable to move pictures back and forth) isn’t among the stuff that came with me. I was getting into digital photography, learning as I go along about what makes a good shot or not.

That’s a shot I took with my old camera.
I can only imagine how much better it’d have been with a new camera, especially one of those nice HP cameras with an LCD display on the back instead of trying to get the offset to line up on a classic piece of glass viewfinder.
We’re selling an HP camera at work (I forget the model), but it’s just not in the budget for me to get, sadly. It even supports SD cards, which makes it even better for extended shooting sessions, AND for short movie making, too.

The camera in my phone is only VGA quality, which means it’s not even a single megapixel for resolution. The shots this camera takes aren’t that good, with, or without decent lighting.

I won’t be able to have one of them by Christmas of this year, but that’s okay.
I just like being remembered for gifts and stuff, is all.
Please, PayPerPost, Please pimp my Christmas Tree!

This post is sponsored by HP.

Happy Crimbo.

Festive Wishes to all, from Xial / Justin.
No matter your holiday, your beliefs, or your customs, enjoy the season, and enjoy your family.

Take care of yourselves.

From yesterday:

Sixty-nine minutes (Yes, an hour, nine minutes) on hold with Verizon.

My neck was getting tired, so I put the phone down, unmuted my microphone, and placed it on the earpiece, so I can rest for a minute.

Attention, Businesses: It’s sad when you make your customers do this.
It’s even sadder still when you make them sit and outwait the hold music, and hope their phone’s battery does not die. If you know it’s going to take this long, here’s an idea:
Dedicate two queues to the cause:
Queue 1 takes callers already on hold.
Allow callers who have waited at least a half hour to leave their phone number, and a brief message as to what they want.
Queue 2 goes through, and calls people out of that particular queue, so as to, uhm…
Let users who are waiting go use the restroom, cook dinner, eat, shower, something?

Either way… this sucks.

UPDATE: The timer on the phone got up to 88:31, while I called again on my Sprint phone (I wub yuu, Sprint) to see what the hell was going on.
The first number said it was closed, call back tomorrow.

So I called the Repair office, and began ranting.
The guy was apologizing off the bat, when I told him just how long I’ve been on hold.

ProTip: If you are running an automated system, and your office runs the risk of closing with people on hold, try injecting messages in every five minutes, about 30 minutes before you close, and don’t let new people enter the queue after you close. It just serves to piss people off. TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE ALREADY IN THE QUEUE.
Do not just leave them there and go home!

Jesus.

CAMEL CHOKER

Camel Cigarettes sent me a blindfold in the mail yesterday, with some specific instructions.

I decided to not follow them, and instead show you the truth.

Puff-puff, pass.

For the record, yes, that is a Camel Turkish Silver cigarette.
Yes, I do smoke on occasion, but usually when I’m drinking as well.

(p.s.: I would love a Flickr Pro account.)