Category Archive

8 days ago, I started my new job at Concur Technologies in Redmond. I am exceedingly thankful to my family and friends for the outpouring of support they have given me to get me where I am today. But in actuality, it is through them that God made it happen. I finally have a job that is using my talents in graphic design and it is exciting! But it’s not all easy, as I’m constantly facing new challenges daily, but I am eager to learn and really harness what I’ve learned from high school to today. Thank you for being on that journey with me.

I am currently in a short term contract working in Concur’s Marketing department. The staff are very warm, friendly, and helpful. I love it, and I’m not just saying that to kiss up (in case the powers that be are reading). I mean it! I hope to work hard and we’ll see where it goes from there.

[This is part 3 of a trilogy of posts originally intended to have been posted on June 6, 2008.]

QFC/Starbucks of Harmon Rd. - 11:00am-ish
As I wrote the outlines of this small trilogy of blogs, an old man limped past the window to the Starbucks I sat at. He had a cane. I began dwelling on what this man’s life was like. Here was a guy who could barely walk without use of a simple wooden stick. He is reliant upon it for support everywhere he goes, everything he does. I then imagined myself as this man. How often do I carry a cane? Everyday! I treat God as this cane. Simply and too often I treat Him as nothing more than a walking stick to get what I want in life. That is a sad and pathetic way of life. God leads our lives, He doesn’t just support what we want. He can snap us like a twig if He wanted. How dare we treat Him as anything less. He is sovereign and I am forever grateful for it. Not much of a deep thought, but it was profound at the time I wrote it.

I just finished writing a Psalm. Yeah, the kind David wrote at His weakest. As soon as I finished writing it, what began playing in this very Starbucks but the opening sax notes of I Don’t Wanna Waste Your Time by Over the Rhine. Again, if you don’t listen to them, you are missing out, friend. As for the Psalm itself, heck no do you get to read it. Its for me and God. Take care today.

My computer system is obviously not down at the moment, thus I would not write this. I was purging old emails just now when I came across my newegg reciepts and I remembered that I was going to post the specs of my computer build in order for those of you who were interested and may know something about my crashes with the info provided.

So here’s the lineup in no particular order:

• ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
• Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
• XFX PVT73GUGF3 GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card
• Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply
• OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P8002GK
• Speeze 80mm Front Case Fan w/ 3 & 4 Pin Connector (S457-1007)

Feel free to leave comments or contact me. I’m pretty tired of dealing with this.

My hard-drive is dying. No really. It is. Thus, I’m making my move and taking the initiative in replacing it hastily, but with much decision. Tomorrow night, once my next check comes in, it’s Newegg to the rescue as I purchase three key items that begin my Winter Computer Restoration Project of ‘07-08.

Thanks to my roommate Thad for help, he suggested the right assortment at the right price.

The Motherboard
The Processor
The Hard Drive

If you know your stuff, and feel so inclined to inform me its a mistake on one of these items, I’m open for suggestions. I’m sticking to the slower RPM hard-drive as I know I most likely will not be editing videos or the sort anytime soon. But I can always buy another one some day down the line.

I am writing this on my roommate Scott’s new Macbook. My next blog will hopefully come from my new setup, so I’ll try to relay a hopefully good impression from the build and what I hope to do with it in my profession and ministry and the future of Slipstream.cc

Yeah, I’m posting one of those. There is a lot on my mind and heart that I really want to share, but so many other things have kept me away from even journaling, which I used to do. I will try to put aside some time to put out a thoughtful post soon. If you have questions or ideas of stuff you want to hear about, don’t hesitate to post the comment below and I will be sure to answer it in some form or another.

The following is an attempt to update you on the last two weeks in short bits, as I’m too tired to sit down write full thoughts about each, we’ll just breeze through them so I don’t stress about it anymore.

- Bus Accident
This past Monday, I had a minor bus collision involved with one small car intelligently pulling in front of a double long bus on the freeway at 60-70mph. The bus of course could not slow down enough and hit the back of the car, with only minor damage to both. However our bus was packed to the brim with the aisle completely full of people standing. Meaning that a slam on the breaks causes everyone to fall over on each other resulting in bruising and some back pain from the fall for some. I was thankfully one of the lucky ones sitting down. It caused about a half hour delay getting home, but thankfully it wasn’t as bad as it could of been. Excitement on the Metro.

- Costco
This next week, my roomies and I will be stocking up nuts for the winter, among other things with the aid of my new membership to Costco. Special thanks to my amazing aunt and uncle, Deena and Dan of Nashville, for helping out in this endeavor.

- A Mini OSP Seattle Reunion
This past weekend I hung out with friends Terri, Yugo, Demelza, and Casey [along with wife Christiane (pardon spelling- request for correction)] McCracken. Also along for the weekend festivies and hang out was Casey’s old friend from the Seattle area, Natasha. We all went out Friday for dinner at a pub in Capitol Hill. On Saturday afternoon we attended Fremont’s Red Bull Soap Box Race. It’s one of those crazy annual things you just have to try at least once while in Seattle. It was a blast seeing all these weird karts fly down the hill… or meander depending on their push. The winner I believe was a guy dressed as Murdock, driving an awesomely designed Kart/van inspired by The A Team. It was hilarious and when interviewed at the bottom of the hill, he proclaimed “I love it when a plan comes together.”

- Instant Oatmeal in the cold dark morning
It is the best, second to mom’s cooking breakfast on Christmas morning. I just picked up 4 boxes of the stuff from the local QFC for $8. Can’t say no to that.

- Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Not releasing till this week, I was able to pickup the new Zelda game for Nintendo DS from the company store on Thursday. It’s a beautiful game! They did a fine job on this installment. I’m hoping to trade in about four of my old titles pretty soon to get some money back. I just have too many I don’t play anymore. Such is the way of life and gaming, I suppose.

- Scripture reading
I’ve been doing my daily reading on the bus in the morning and in a mini break room when I get the time. I simply read as much as I can. No set limit other than what is alotted to me. I would like to read more, but my day simply does not allow for it. In the afternoons on the way back from work, I usually need that time to rest my eyes from reading anything from looking at screens all day.

- Glasses
This week, I’m going to attempt to visit some lens places around town and hopefully pick out some brand new specs. I’ll try to have a picture up as soon as I can to show ‘em off.

- Bottle Rocket
We are finally getting a Criterion Collection version on DVD! Our petitions and hopes were not in vain! For those who don’t know what this is, don’t worry about it. For those that do, I say ka-kaw, ka-kaw!

Today I missed the bus I aimed to use to transfer to the 545 which gets me to Redmond, so a quick call to my roommate Scott got me running back home to hop in his truck and floor it to Redmond. Luckily the traffic wasn’t so bad and I got to Nintendo of America in plenty of time for my paperwork and drug testing for this new job. Yes, that’s right, I can officially say it finally.

I accepted a position as an Aerotek product tester for Nintendo of America. w00t. So what does this mean? It means for 40+ hours [I want to stress that + in there, as it will probably be taken literally] I will play various Nintendo games over and over and over again and look for any bugs programmers and designers might have missed. It’s a strenuous job, but I’m excited about it. I start tomorrow, or Friday, August 31st.

As a treat to myself, I swung by a Redmond Fred Meyer and picked up a copy of Serenity Collector’s Edition. Sure I own the movie already, but I’m a collector for just about anything ‘The Verse has to offer, unless it’s really cheesy and not worth the dough. You may remember when the first DVD came out, I loathed the cover so much I threw it away immediately and printed out a fan made one. Well now, I can gladly boast this newer version. It’s a SLICK box. Very nice looking. It’s even hard to find, at least in the local Fred Meyer.

After I came home, Scott and I made arrangements to pick up my new full size bed from a staffer at Mars Hill Church. And I didn’t have to pay a dime! He was just giving it away. Rest assured, mom… he’s getting a thank you card soon.

So I shared the pilot of Firefly, as well as the following hour episode, everyone’s favorite, “The Train Job”. I think they enjoyed it well enough.

Well, I’m gonna make my bed, check my mail, then sleep. Tomorrow, I gotta get up for work. And that… is a good feeling.