2002 - The Year In Review
Well, here it comes. A reflection on my life in the year 2002.
- Final semester of college
4 years spent studying electrical engineering at the University of Illinois culminated in one last semester of class and graduation in May. These were probably the most memorable years in my life, and in this time I can honestly say that grew a great deal physically, mentally (I hope), emotionally, and spiritually.
But most of all, they were great times with really great friends. As I look back on my last semester, I think both of how much fun I had, but also how much I may have missed out in the 3 1/2 years preceding it. It wasn't until my last few months at school that I actually spent time chilling on the Quad in nice weather, or playing tennis at IMPE, or broomball, and all kinds of stuff that I should've been doing all along instead of studying at Grainger every night or playing video games in every spare moment (not knocking video games, video games are good).
Even though I loved all 4 years at U of I, it seems like I didn't make the most of my time there until it was almost over. Which is a little sad, but I'd rather look at it as a positive, that I went out on a good note and didn't overstay my welcome in Champaign-Urbana.
- Working For My Dad
After graduation, then what? A bachelor's degree in electrical engineering bought me next to nothing coming out of school, other than some scattered looks of sympathy in light of the slumping economy. Thankfully, I was able to spend some time working in a whole other field, the world of business with my dad. I already wrote quite a bit about this experience in an old blog, but mostly all I can say is that I am glad that I got this opportunity to learn and understand what my old man had spent 20+ years working in. And if nothing else, it was out of this time that dudo509.blogspot.com was born.
- Job at NG
A few months later, I got the call and accepted a job offer, beginning the Northrop Grumman chapter of my life. How long will this chapter last? Who knows. For now, I should probably just be content and happy to be where I am. It's been a good 2-3 months so far and I'll just take things as they come, I guess.
- G35
2002 also saw me wave goodbye to my first love, the '97 Maxima, and say hello to my new buddy, '03 G35 sedan. Of course I love the Infiniti, but as they say, you never forget your first love. At least I get to see her whenever my sister comes home. Meanwhile, I fully plan on keeping the G and driving it until he dies. That would be a sad day, but lets not think about that right now.
- Fantasy Baseball/Basketball
Another year, another set of failures in my fantasy sports leagues. In baseball, I had maybe the best collection of star hitters ever seen on one team. But in the end, A-Rod, Barry, Soriano and the boys could not overcome the pitching of the Jobberz, namely Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson. And in football, Kurt Warner killed me once again, except this time from within. The team stumbled out of the gates, recovered momentarily, then faltered again before a hot streak to finish the season (5-1) fell short of 2nd place and its accompanying $10 glory prize. More importantly, the team came up empty once again in two matchups against Dave's gang of thugs.
2003 - The Year Ahead
Well, it may be hard to top 2002 in terms of life-altering events, but I expect nothing less in terms of personal growth and making memories. I don't believe in making New Year's Resolutions, I think you should just set goals and make changes when they are needed throughout the year at any point. But there are some things I do hope to see or accomplish in the coming 12 months:
I definitely hope to see more of my friends and get to know some people better. I will also work on being a better son, a better brother, and a better boyfriend.
I want to move out of the house, learn to cook and take care of myself and live on my own within 1 year.
I want to beat Dave's team in fantasy football, just ONCE, even if I lose every other game in the season.
I'd like to take more pictures and be a little better at photography, so I can record some of the moments I experience in the coming years.
I hope I continue writing in this blog, and that I continue to have different and new things to say. Whether it's a quick journal of what I did today, some random thoughts about commuting to work, stories about my mom, a list of songs I'm currently listening to, or deep thoughts on life, I want to keep on doing it. If I ever lose the feeling of enjoyment from writing, I don't know what I'd do. It will be a sad day if it ever happens.
I am gonna get some more Star Wars action figures to go with the Falcon. Maybe some X-wings, TIE Fighters, and AT-ATs as well.
That's all I can think of for now. If anyone else has a suggestion for me, I'm listening.
Wednesday, January 01, 2003
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
Dudo509's Day Off
Today I didn't even have to use my AK
I got to say it was a good day... - Ice Cube
It's hard for me to imagine going back to work after having the past week free to do whatever, but Thursday is coming soon and I had to live it up while I could.
So I spent the day like any other thug would, at the MSI with my homies. (That's Museum of Science and Industry in case you aren't hip). It was a pretty good time, I hadn't been to the museum in like 15 years, but it's still cool. The best part was the hatchery. Baby chickens are cool.
Anyways, it was nice to do something different with people I don't normally see that much (plus Piya), so it was a good day. I'm glad whoever was able to make it came along and had fun along with me.
I am tired right now so I am gonna go to sleep. But before I go, here is a picture of a gangsta fetus throwing down some signs that I took at MSI:
I would post more pics, but I think my photography skills suck or I haven't figured out how to use my camera right because most of the pictures I take turn out bad.
Today I didn't even have to use my AK
I got to say it was a good day... - Ice Cube
It's hard for me to imagine going back to work after having the past week free to do whatever, but Thursday is coming soon and I had to live it up while I could.
So I spent the day like any other thug would, at the MSI with my homies. (That's Museum of Science and Industry in case you aren't hip). It was a pretty good time, I hadn't been to the museum in like 15 years, but it's still cool. The best part was the hatchery. Baby chickens are cool.
Anyways, it was nice to do something different with people I don't normally see that much (plus Piya), so it was a good day. I'm glad whoever was able to make it came along and had fun along with me.
I am tired right now so I am gonna go to sleep. But before I go, here is a picture of a gangsta fetus throwing down some signs that I took at MSI:
I would post more pics, but I think my photography skills suck or I haven't figured out how to use my camera right because most of the pictures I take turn out bad.
Sunday, December 29, 2002
More Mom Fobbiness
Haven't written anything about my momma in a while, so this blog is due for a dudo509 momma story. I went over to Olivia's house to watch the Illini game, eat KFC, and play Starcraft for a few hours. When I got back, the following note was taped on my computer monitor:
"Joe:
You didn't shut off the computer again while staying away for such a long hours. Please not to do it, it's wasteful for the electricity for not working with it, right.
Mom
11:30 pm"
hahaha gotta love my mother.
Also, last night I went to Navy Pier with Olivia and some of her med school homies for some Winter Wonderfest thing. I ice skated for the first time in like 15 years and we also did this:
It was this cookie decorating thing that I got suckered into doing. That's supposed to be a snowman, we messed up the lips so we're just gonna say he's sticking out his tongue. Other than that, not bad, eh? And yes, those are our initials on the bottom.
I heard a funny thing from Will today. The ebonics word of the day - Omelette. Example: "I should punch you ded in the eye fo wha you jus sed, but omelette dis one slide."
Haven't written anything about my momma in a while, so this blog is due for a dudo509 momma story. I went over to Olivia's house to watch the Illini game, eat KFC, and play Starcraft for a few hours. When I got back, the following note was taped on my computer monitor:
"Joe:
You didn't shut off the computer again while staying away for such a long hours. Please not to do it, it's wasteful for the electricity for not working with it, right.
Mom
11:30 pm"
hahaha gotta love my mother.
Also, last night I went to Navy Pier with Olivia and some of her med school homies for some Winter Wonderfest thing. I ice skated for the first time in like 15 years and we also did this:
It was this cookie decorating thing that I got suckered into doing. That's supposed to be a snowman, we messed up the lips so we're just gonna say he's sticking out his tongue. Other than that, not bad, eh? And yes, those are our initials on the bottom.
I heard a funny thing from Will today. The ebonics word of the day - Omelette. Example: "I should punch you ded in the eye fo wha you jus sed, but omelette dis one slide."
Friday, December 27, 2002
Two Formats Later
Tip: After you install something on your computer and it says you need to restart, DO IT.
After I formatted my hard drive yesterday, installed Windows, Office, my wireless card, Winamp, AIM, WinZip, RioPort Audio Manager (for my mp3 player), Divx, my digital camera software, printer software, I had to do it all over again when it locked up after I tried to restart the computer.
That sucked. Formatting once in a day is plenty of work, twice is just way too much. Plus I lost all my documents the second time around cause I wasn't exactly planning to format again. Not my mp3s and videos, but my old ECE and Food Science lab writeups, my resume, pictures, bookmarks, and sounds I recorded for fun back when I had my microphone installed.
By the way, AIM direct connect is hilarious if you build up a library of sounds to use. I had a bunch of ones I recorded like "rod-is-gay.wav", plus some good Chris Rock quotes, James Iha saying "what up," and Homer Simpson saying "U R Gay" and laughing. Hours of fun, especially if you are immature like me.
I saw "Catch Me If You Can" yesterday too. It was pretty good, I enjoyed it even though I don't like either Leonardo DiCraprio or Tom Spanks (haha Olivia came up with Tom Spanks, I'm training her to be immature like me). A pleasant surprise was that Leo's dad was played by Christopher Walken. I guess Christopher Walken isn't "awesome" by himself, but after they had the Star Wars Audition thing on SNL making fun of him, it's mounds of joy to hear him talk in an actual movie. Cause that's how he really talks, I just didn't notice it until the SNL thing.
One piece of sad news to report - you know the little intro shorts they play at AMC before previews and before the feature presentation? I think they replaced them with new ones. If you don't know what I'm talking about, they always have these short scenes featuring this guy made up of filmstrips. There's one where he's fumbling around in the dark and accidentally knocks over some stuff, and it says "Silence Is Golden". Or, before the feature presentation, it shows him getting ready to compose a symphony, but then all the musical notes on the sheet music fall off and he ends up spinning them all into a swirling stream of starry splendor. I think I watch too many movies at AMC. But it's sad that they might not have that filmstrip guy anymore.
One of my favorite things on the radio is when Tony Scofield does the news on WGCI. He announces the story in alliteration like "Saddam's still stashes his supply of Scuds so he can send stuff at surrounding small countries, while the coward continues to collect cool cash in his capital to create chemical compounds at a clandestine location." Ok, I made that one up so it's not as good. But it's pretty impressive if you get a chance to hear it and he does actually use words like clandestine which makes me giggle.
Tip: After you install something on your computer and it says you need to restart, DO IT.
After I formatted my hard drive yesterday, installed Windows, Office, my wireless card, Winamp, AIM, WinZip, RioPort Audio Manager (for my mp3 player), Divx, my digital camera software, printer software, I had to do it all over again when it locked up after I tried to restart the computer.
That sucked. Formatting once in a day is plenty of work, twice is just way too much. Plus I lost all my documents the second time around cause I wasn't exactly planning to format again. Not my mp3s and videos, but my old ECE and Food Science lab writeups, my resume, pictures, bookmarks, and sounds I recorded for fun back when I had my microphone installed.
By the way, AIM direct connect is hilarious if you build up a library of sounds to use. I had a bunch of ones I recorded like "rod-is-gay.wav", plus some good Chris Rock quotes, James Iha saying "what up," and Homer Simpson saying "U R Gay" and laughing. Hours of fun, especially if you are immature like me.
I saw "Catch Me If You Can" yesterday too. It was pretty good, I enjoyed it even though I don't like either Leonardo DiCraprio or Tom Spanks (haha Olivia came up with Tom Spanks, I'm training her to be immature like me). A pleasant surprise was that Leo's dad was played by Christopher Walken. I guess Christopher Walken isn't "awesome" by himself, but after they had the Star Wars Audition thing on SNL making fun of him, it's mounds of joy to hear him talk in an actual movie. Cause that's how he really talks, I just didn't notice it until the SNL thing.
One piece of sad news to report - you know the little intro shorts they play at AMC before previews and before the feature presentation? I think they replaced them with new ones. If you don't know what I'm talking about, they always have these short scenes featuring this guy made up of filmstrips. There's one where he's fumbling around in the dark and accidentally knocks over some stuff, and it says "Silence Is Golden". Or, before the feature presentation, it shows him getting ready to compose a symphony, but then all the musical notes on the sheet music fall off and he ends up spinning them all into a swirling stream of starry splendor. I think I watch too many movies at AMC. But it's sad that they might not have that filmstrip guy anymore.
One of my favorite things on the radio is when Tony Scofield does the news on WGCI. He announces the story in alliteration like "Saddam's still stashes his supply of Scuds so he can send stuff at surrounding small countries, while the coward continues to collect cool cash in his capital to create chemical compounds at a clandestine location." Ok, I made that one up so it's not as good. But it's pretty impressive if you get a chance to hear it and he does actually use words like clandestine which makes me giggle.
Thursday, December 26, 2002
Day After Christmas
Merry Day After Christmas everybody! Well, hope everyone had a good Christmas at least. Does everyone like my Christmas colors? Well I know of one person who said it was "way overboard" but I am leaving it up until New Years anyways.
My Christmas was good. First, I woke up and looked out the window to find everything covered in snow, a so-called "White Christmas" if you will. Then, my grandparents came over and there was some holiday mah-johng played. After they hustled me out of all the money in my wallet, they left. My grandma is a punk, she pretends to be going blind but she always wins anyways. (Ok, maybe she is actually going blind and not just pretending, but still...)
For dinner me and my sis went over to Olivia's house for some holiday hwo-gwo. Good stuff. We tried to stop by Bakers Square to pick up a pie to bring, but it was closed. Then we stopped by Jewel and it was closed. The only thing open that I saw was gas stations and Chinese restaurants. I wonder why there were still so many cars on the street if everything was closed. Where is everyone headed? They couldn't all be going to gas stations, Chinese restaurants, and Olivia's house, could they?
Notable gifts:
From my sister - Optical mouse. This was a clutch gift. If you have been a reader of my blog for more than a few months, you might remember on an old list of "things to do" that I wanted to buy one of these. Guess writing it down didn't work, but thankfully I have a thoughtful sis. I haven't tried it in crafting yet, but when I find the time, I will unleash my optical fury on the unsuspecting fools in Battle.net.
From my mom/dad - Digital camera. This was also a clutch gift. I don't know much about the world of digital cameras yet but I had been thinking of getting one. Maybe this will lead to a more visual blog as I get to post some pics on this page more often.
From Olivia - Millenium Falcon. AWWWW sheeezy. Yes, an old school Millenium Falcon. It's not "mint condition" or anything but who cares, I'm gonna be playing with it all the time anyways. Girls are amazing when it comes to getting gift ideas. I think I mentioned in passing like a long time ago that I would probably wanna look for old Star Wars toys someday. And from that, she went out and "did it eBay" and now I have myself a Millenium Falcon.
"Fast ... ship? You've never heard ... of the ... Millenium Falcon? It's the ship ... that made the kessel run ... in less than ... 12 parsecs. She's ... fast enough ... for you ... old man ..."
Now all I need is to go get me some action figures. Maybe some of you guys can go out and get some X-Wings or Star Destroyers and I'll let you come over and play with me in the basement. hahahaha
One bit of bad news, this morning I woke up at 9:30 again and I couldn't fall asleep. Oh well. I ended up cleaning all the crap off my desk, vacuuming my room and my car and doing laundry so at least I accomplished something.
Something I miss from the pre-working days is watching late night TV. I didn't realize until last night that I hadn't watched Conan in about half a year, when I used to watch him almost every day. That show is quality, one of the best on TV, period. I used to watch MTV After Hours all the time too, but I don't think they have that anymore. And of course, all the reruns of Sportscenter and Baseball Tonight.
Ok, I need to format my computer. If you don't see me on AIM or post any blogs for a long time, it might mean that I severely porked up my computer. Lets hope that doesn't happen.
Merry Day After Christmas everybody! Well, hope everyone had a good Christmas at least. Does everyone like my Christmas colors? Well I know of one person who said it was "way overboard" but I am leaving it up until New Years anyways.
My Christmas was good. First, I woke up and looked out the window to find everything covered in snow, a so-called "White Christmas" if you will. Then, my grandparents came over and there was some holiday mah-johng played. After they hustled me out of all the money in my wallet, they left. My grandma is a punk, she pretends to be going blind but she always wins anyways. (Ok, maybe she is actually going blind and not just pretending, but still...)
For dinner me and my sis went over to Olivia's house for some holiday hwo-gwo. Good stuff. We tried to stop by Bakers Square to pick up a pie to bring, but it was closed. Then we stopped by Jewel and it was closed. The only thing open that I saw was gas stations and Chinese restaurants. I wonder why there were still so many cars on the street if everything was closed. Where is everyone headed? They couldn't all be going to gas stations, Chinese restaurants, and Olivia's house, could they?
Notable gifts:
From my sister - Optical mouse. This was a clutch gift. If you have been a reader of my blog for more than a few months, you might remember on an old list of "things to do" that I wanted to buy one of these. Guess writing it down didn't work, but thankfully I have a thoughtful sis. I haven't tried it in crafting yet, but when I find the time, I will unleash my optical fury on the unsuspecting fools in Battle.net.
From my mom/dad - Digital camera. This was also a clutch gift. I don't know much about the world of digital cameras yet but I had been thinking of getting one. Maybe this will lead to a more visual blog as I get to post some pics on this page more often.
From Olivia - Millenium Falcon. AWWWW sheeezy. Yes, an old school Millenium Falcon. It's not "mint condition" or anything but who cares, I'm gonna be playing with it all the time anyways. Girls are amazing when it comes to getting gift ideas. I think I mentioned in passing like a long time ago that I would probably wanna look for old Star Wars toys someday. And from that, she went out and "did it eBay" and now I have myself a Millenium Falcon.
"Fast ... ship? You've never heard ... of the ... Millenium Falcon? It's the ship ... that made the kessel run ... in less than ... 12 parsecs. She's ... fast enough ... for you ... old man ..."
Now all I need is to go get me some action figures. Maybe some of you guys can go out and get some X-Wings or Star Destroyers and I'll let you come over and play with me in the basement. hahahaha
One bit of bad news, this morning I woke up at 9:30 again and I couldn't fall asleep. Oh well. I ended up cleaning all the crap off my desk, vacuuming my room and my car and doing laundry so at least I accomplished something.
Something I miss from the pre-working days is watching late night TV. I didn't realize until last night that I hadn't watched Conan in about half a year, when I used to watch him almost every day. That show is quality, one of the best on TV, period. I used to watch MTV After Hours all the time too, but I don't think they have that anymore. And of course, all the reruns of Sportscenter and Baseball Tonight.
Ok, I need to format my computer. If you don't see me on AIM or post any blogs for a long time, it might mean that I severely porked up my computer. Lets hope that doesn't happen.
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