so this is where you should start to have your own ideas

Referring to the class I had this morning. It is another one of those capstone courses where you're suppose to take all the book stuff you've learned in the last few years and apply them to real companies. I had some real life experience I can throw in there, which is cool. I mentioned something that the company we are studying is doing... and people just went along with it. Here's the thing, it's great that Dell went ahead and started selling retail to try to gain back some market shares, but it doesn't mean it's a good place to expand on. Here are a few reasons:

1) look at what happened to Gateway. There needs to be a capability to have a solution and deliver it. Gateway tried it and failed, look where they are now.

2) It's a good thing they started selling at BBY. It gives them direct comparison with the products in the same category. People get to play with it. People get to pick it up right away. They don't need to build an infrastructure for it, it is already there in BBY. True they are adding a middleman in this business and cuts into profit, but that's not the goal here. The goal here is to build brand equity. There are different things that builds up a competitive advantage. This is not part of their core business, it is merely an outlet to capture those people who walks in every fricking week and ask... do you have any Dells?

3) Going retail goes against the company strategy. Going retail means having a much higher turnover time and depreciation of inventory that does not sell. This erodes on the one month inventory lead time that it has over its competition.

So those are my two-cents. I got so tired to listening to people in class today. I don't mind giving other people a chance to talk in class, but if they're not prepared and contribute to a conversation that has some substance to it, stop wasting my time. Anyway.... learning process I guess. I think I'll be walking over a lot of people in the work place. I have my ideas, I prepare, and I assert them. It works, try it sometime. =p

The Gore-Powell ticket....

Yeah, I wish. Wouldn't that be a cool thing? Hell I would even campaign for that. Out of my incredibly busy schedule I will find time to help make it happen. I kid you not. But hell... that'll never happen... So this is yet another fairly depressing election. I decided not to vote for the primary. Honestly I don't really like anyone in particular right now. I heard on the radio or maybe it was the TV this morning something I've been saying for a while. I think it's awesome we have a black man running. Notice I didn't say "african american", I said black. After all I don't say "female american" for the other candidate. I'm tired of this politically correct bullshit. Anyway, point is, somebody mentioned it's great that he talks about hope and change and move forward and some such... but where is the substance? I don't see any of that, it's actually a little depressing. I was watching the news this morning and there was yet another investigative report. So what if Hillary was the board of Walmart. People are so fricking hypocritical. This company is successful because it has a clear vision and great execution. People may not agree with they way they run the business, but hey, it's the 10th(?) largest economy in the WORLD by itself, and there are great reasons for that. People want to turn the board member thing against her. I think that's a more or less desperate move. The roles of unions are getting more and more marginalized. The AFL/CIO does not hold as much power then it did before. The whole reason to have a union is to gain bargaining power. With the advance of information technology, people are more and more aware of the rights they have when it comes to employment. With the exception of the SEIU, the union is becoming obsolete. I starting to not like watching the news.

Anyway, I had too much coffee this morning I think. It's not even 9 in the morning and I'm sitting in the union ranting. I have a pretty damn good reason for it. I got up early so I can find parking. It took me 5 minutes instead of my 45 minutes then ending up at park-and-ride like Tuesday. It's not that bad, it's actually about 45 later then I had to get up last semester, and I get to eat before I head out. I think I'll have to do that from now on. Ah well.

I got all of my classes. This semester I'm only taking 15 unites. Yeah I said only. I took 18 last semester. But I think there's actually going to be more work this semester, seeing they're mostly capstone seminars. Did I mention those are the last classes I need to take? Yeah it looks like I get to walk this May.

I honestly don't know what I want to do after this. I just want to put my head down and get done with it.

The new-ish Foo Fighters album is pretty good. I finally got around to listen to it. I wish they were going to play closer then Oakland. I would have gotten tickets for it.

ah yes, school and stuff

So this week was the first week of school. Well technically half week because it didn't start until Wednesday. It has been all kinds of suck. I have 3 classes I need to add into, and one of them I'm not even sure if there will be enough room. So yeah. Good times. I'm just not going to worry about it now, nothing I can do at the moment. I will most likely get into the classes I need. So yeah.... frustrating, but it will happen.

I did a fun little quiz thing on ABC News last night. It's a match-o-matic on ideology. So who are my top 3 candidates for this election? Biden, Dodd, and Hilary. Imagine that. I just find it amusing.

I think I got somebody at work in trouble today. I felt kind of bad about it for a bit. He's a nice kid and all. But when you sell 19 computers/printers with no service plans at all, and you tell me you didn't really try, I don't think I should feel too guilty about it. One of the managers said he needs to talk to him, another one got upset enough to want to see a write up. That comes at a bad time because he just applied for a leadership position. This gets me thinking. Am I out to get people that is actually nice to me? I feel like I'm out there to hinder somebody's career. He has a lot more to lose then I do. Maybe this is my way to try to push him to do better. I don't know. Maybe I like to put people down. I'm sadistic like that. Maybe I just felt obligated. I know it was the right thing to do. I didn't actually point out that particular shortfall. It stands out by itself. It is something I had to show those people anyway and they had been asking for it. Maybe that is where ethics and loyalty comes in. I tell it like it is. I do what I'm suppose to do. I can still sleep at night. That probably means I'm doing the right thing.

cooler...

this rain is actually a little depressing. I didn't feel like going out at all today. Well actually I couldn't have even if I wanted to. I was buried in my piles of dust-balls and "I have that?". I was actually productive today. For once. I wish I had the drive to do all of that stuff when I started my vacation... mmm... a whole frickin month ago. Ah well, at least it is done. So my bookshelf for current school work is ready, my whole corner of the desk is organized, my stacks of books looks good too. I got this in a state that I can put in a new monitor with not a lot of problems. I'll be so happy when I get that 22" monitor for pretty much nothing.

I thought about picking up a new case for this computer. It turned out to be unnecessary. Which is good, because I don't really want to spend another hundred bucks. I'm turning into a sort of cautious shopper. Which is good I think.

The subject of buying some sort of residential property came up the other day. I'm really starting to think about it. I am pretty comfortable right now, but it would be nice to have my own place. I refuse to rent. What is the point for me to rent when I live in a good location already. Saved rent money become house payment of the future is what I say. I'm just happy I have the freedom to do that.

I dug up my resume. I need to work on it. A lot. I need to send it out and find a real job. I should go to the career center sometime soon. I need to get those things done. Ha... look at me planning... =p

I'm cold. I'm on my rig and I'm cold. This thing runs about 30 degrees cooler then my last cpu. I lost my space heater.

I've decided to really tone down my laptop use in school. Unless there is something I need to look up and data to enter, I'll keep it in my pack. I find it to be a huge distraction when I'm in class. And I need to do well this semester. So yeah, that's all.

new rig

So I started cleaning my desk today, and went, what the hell.... I put my new Mobo and CPU in. Took a little bit to get everything working again. Well actually that was the easy part. The hard part was to rearrange my stuff on my desk. When in hell did I accumulate all of this crap? I rewired everything on my desk. I'm also cold. Why? This thing runs a helluva lot cooler then my old rig.

track it

so, I made a few changes to my side bar here. I put the tentative links to my new classes in for the semester. Put up the food and exercise plan. Made a list of stuff I do that makes me happy an the last time I did it. Put the link back up for fit day. I've decided to use that just to track my weight and activity. It's way too hard to track my food intake on it. It's just because the things I eat are too complicated to track. I just need to watch my portion size and when I'm eating is all. I set a weight goal of 5 lbs a month. It's actually a little low, but I want to take a little bit at a time. It's easier to reach little goals anyway. I went to trader joe's earlier and got a few things I think will help with my diet. I need to personally take control of my diet again. I hate calling it a diet. But I suppose it is for the time being.

I finally decide to really use my phone as a pda. I synced up a few tasks and my calender. I'm not going to be relying on it too much. I've see things go wrong with outlook too many times at work. It's not a good idea to put all my eggs in one basket.

mmm...

I have done just about nothing this whole vacation. I had a little more then a month off and I got nothing done. I feel tired. I've been so burnt out from last semester that I have been sleeping until noon nearly every day. For a month. Pretty bad excuse I think.

So here I sat for the whole month and played mindless games. I've been gold farming on WoW, waiting for my friends to catch up in level. I think one of them gave up, which is poop, because we sort of starting playing again because he wanted to. Now I'm 40 levels ahead and I feel kind of bad about it. Aside from the fact that now we have enough gold to do the things we wanted to do. Catch 22 I think.

The only thing I did that fairly constructive was to start my notebook to keep track of stuff I need to do daily. If only I actually use it. I'm sure I'll really start using it next week when school starts again. I'm totally lost when I don't have a regular routine.

My random work schedule doesn't really help me either. I don't think they're placing me in the most effective way. I really stopped caring.

Writing regularly is a good way to maintain my routine. It keeps my mind active. I need to do things to have something to write about. A lot of my writing involves planning, as if all I am doing now is passing time until the opportunity comes along to do things. Or maybe I'm just cautious. The last few days I had off I had planned to go out. Then the more I think about it, it all involved shopping. I had nothing in particularly I really need to buy and I stopped myself from going out. A friend of mine suggested maybe I should go take a drive or take a walk. I reason that gas is too expensive for me to take a drive and I had nobody to go out with. I don't like walking by myself. When I'm in the mall it's different, there are many other people. I don't really have many friends.

I had a huge list of things I could have done, but I just didn't feel like it.

I'm not trying to be depressing and all, I just want to look at this at a different angle. I'm not going to feel sad about how much time I have wasted this vacation. I can only look at it and think about how I can spend my time more wisely from now on.

I realize I am much happier when I keep focus on myself. One of the things that makes me feel accomplished is when I knock out things on my daily to do list. Those are things that are good for me. I should just do it and not procrastinate. See, more planning.

I finally got my new motherboard and cpu combo. I need to find time to build it. I'm still thinking about getting a new case. I think I might wait a little longer when I get all my parts. I already started backing up my computer. It helps a lot. At least I know when I mess it up, I have something to fall back on.

I need to lose more weight. It's been almost a month since I was last in the gym. I know I need to go. There is a wall of mirrors at the gym. The last time I left the place I watched myself walk. I've come a long way since I came home, but it's nowhere near enough. I know there's a tight and lean body somewhere in there, I just need to dig it out a little bit at a time. Just a bit of a run every day, and doing all my crunches would be enough. I'm trying to get out of the instant gratification stage. I'm seriously thinking about getting back on weight watchers again. Or something else to that effect. Funny thing is, I already know all the stuff the books and programs can teach me. I know what I can do. I just need the will to do it. There are way too many temptations here at home.

- 48oz water, dairy, supplement, fruit and/or veggie
- big breakfast: 1 egg + waffle/toast + sausage/ham/fake sausage, cereal
- mid-morning snack if needed: banana/fruit/bar
- good size lunch: preferably large salad, veggie soup + bread, sandwich
- small dinner
- light dessert: yogurt, chocolate, fat free ice cream, etc.

- 1 sun salutation
- 3+ miles on treadmill
- 100 crunches any style
- 10 leg lift/reverse crunch
- 10 lunges
- 5 push-ups

That's pretty much it actually. The whole workout shouldn't take more then 2 hours per day, travel time included. Food is a pretty big problem when I work, but I guess I can work that out somehow. See it's simple, 3 meals and 1 snack plus working out. That's all.

funny how i remember this....

IMG_0307
Originally uploaded by odrini

So it was my birthday this past Monday, but I decided to celebrate the night before. We went to BJ's just because I felt like getting plastered. Funny I held everything down. I had one bacardi and coke, one giant shot of patron, an irish car bomb, a cement mixer, some drink that involved hard cider and a shot of johnny walker, and as you may see later in the pictures a bit of hefeweizen straight out of the pitcher. Capped it off with a really sweet turkish cigar. yeah that was fun.

idiot box

I feel a pull away from the television. So what's on TV tonight? I can name a few things off top of my head but nothing is appealing. It feels like a big waste of time to me. The only thing I really watch now is the news, and that too is repetitive. I've been listening to podcasts and tried to read. Somehow that feels more fulfilling. I've also been knitting. Different patterns and such. Am I domesticating myself? I'm not sure.

bag it

So my buddy just started her own Etsy shop to sell some hand made bags....

check it out =)



Maybe I should start one too... on my pretty scarves =p

another new year

I'm not sure what this year will bring, but there are already changes around. We'll see.