jerkharris.com

Wow. Work has been pretty hectic lately. It is uncommonly busy coupled with a few freak occurences. The overwhelming hours are soon to stop I hear. That comes as a relief. I feel like I’ve been spending more time at the office than I do at home. Nobody said this would be easy. I’m happy to be a part of something and I’m even happier that I am reaping the rewards. Okay.. Enough about work. Seems thats all I talk about. Here’s some stuff I’ve done in my free time.

• I’ve installed and fallen in love with Arch Linux
• Setup a webcam facing out my window @ http://cam.cesp.us
• Lusted over the Fallout 3 videos
• Watched the entire run of Space: Above and Beyond
• Started playing Eve Online

This weekend should be great. Helen and I are going to find the recently relocated Maxwell Street Market on Des Plaines street and get some tacos. Then, we’ll probably come home and take a nap since eating tacos is a physically taxing experience. Delicious as well!

Well, its Friday again. Helen is going to come pick me up from work tonight so I don’t have to ride the train home. I could walk home and get home sooner than I would riding the train. Its only a 10 minute ride. Its just having to wait 20 minutes for the train to get there that sucks.  My mom is getting into town tomorrow and is going to stay with us for the weekend. I’m excited since I haven’t seen her in a few months and its the first time she’s visited since I moved here. Seems like there is so much going on this weekend. The Air and Water show is going on. The Blue Angels have been doing flybys of downtown for the past few days. Helen got really excited about seeing them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a girl get excited about fighter planes flying in formation. It was totally cute.

I can’t believe its already Thursday night. I seriously thought yesterday was Tuesday. I’m looking forward to getting home. I’m jonesin’ for some TF2. I played a bit last night, but Helen got after me for being loud since she wasn’t feeling well. I’m looking forward to this weekend. I have it off. Sunday, we’re going to the Maxwell Street Market again for tacos and quesadillas. I always enjoy it since Helen gets so excited about the food. She says it reminds her of home.

The view isn’t that great and its still beautiful.

Jake: i have some bad news bunny

helen: ?

Jake Harris: are you sitting down?

helen: yes what

Jake Harris: cuz this isnt good

helen: oh jake
helen: what

Jake Harris: we are out of tea

helen: you asshole

I haven’t had a weekend without plans in way too long. I’m done moving things into the apartment. I don’t have to go back to Michigan for anything. I haven’t got to work Sunday.  I finally have a television, thanks to Zac and Alexis. I have an ample cache of booze. I have several “new” video games to keep my attention. The only thing I’m missing is the Helen to keep me company. Nor will I have her around for the next two weeks. In other words, my life is boring beyond belief right now. What fun is a weekend off without someone to share it with?

Jake Harris: Hi Sally. What can I do for you?
Sally: i haz ur bucket
Jake Harris: LUL oh noez.

This weekend, I am helping my girlfriend move. At first I thought this would suck. I mean, I don’t even look forward to move my own stuff. But as I was just getting some water out of the fridge, I realized the one thing that would make this whole thing not suck. The slim possibility of saying “Your clothes.. Give them to me!”

Silly, I know.  But those are the kind of things that make my life worth living.

And if you got my reference, you get a cookie.

Jeez, I suck at updating my blog. I’ve been working a lot lately. I think I must be averaging about 60 hours a week. I feel like I’ve been at the office more than I’ve been at home lately. I’m on a 12 day stretch before I get a day off.

I have moved out of my studio apartment into a legit one bedroom. My lovely lady, the Helen, will be moving in later this week. She has been staying with me on and off over the last few months and she’s been gone pretty much since last week. I have to say that I have really become used to having her around so much and miss her a great deal when she’s gone. I finally met her parents and eldest brother last weekend. The meeting went pretty well, aside from me not knowing any Spanish.

In other news, since working nights has killed my social life, I amassed a bunch of extra cash and built a new gaming machine. In all, it ran me about $800 and it was totally worth it. Here’s the run down on the specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550
4GB G.Skill PC2-6400 RAM
250GB Western Digital WD2500YS
ASUS PN5-E Motherboard
EVGA GeForce 8600GTS
Antec NeoPower 550 ATX12V PSU
Antec P182 ATX Mid Tower Case

Not super high end, but it does the job. I’ve been playing the games from the Orange Box suite lately. I’ve also been playing WoW. I know I always used to clown on the other people that play, but it really is more fun than one would expect. After the move though, I haven’t been spending much time in front of the computer as I don’t have my internet working at home.

Thats all I got for now. Pictures of the new place will be posted as soon as we get moved in all the way.

Its been a productive week. Work is starting to pick up. I couldn’t be happier about it. Aside from work, I’ve been working on learning some PHP for a new project. Follow the link to my tech blog for all the nerdy bits. Helen has been staying with me the past few weeks. Its been nice having her around to keep me company. I just wished we could have gone out and done something together other than just hanging out at my apartment.  That has to be my main complaint about working nights. I can never go out at night and by the time the weekend comes around, I just want to sleep the whole time.

I had my year end employee review today. I was honestly really nervous about it. Thankfully, everything went really well. There were, of course, things that I can work on. This didn’t bother me, because with everything in life, there is always room for improvement. But overall, I am apparently doing a good job with work. The customer feedback seems to always be positive.  I can’t complain about that. So, when you ask me if I’m glad I took the job and moved to Chicago, the answer is an emphatic yes.