Adventures in Australia

Smoking

I'm not sure if I have said this or not, but I am a smoker. I've been having frequent meetings with Marlboro Lights for quite a while now. Well, I've finally decided that its time to quit. It's not because I woke up to an epiphany, but really it is because of the cash. I simply don't have the money to smoke. Here in the city of Chicago, it is almost US$7.00 a pack! I simply cannot afford that, and I need to save every dime.

Now, I wanted to quit with the aid of the Nicotrol Inhaler, but my doctor decided with me that even though I have used the inhaler in the past, the patch was a much cheaper path. So, as of right now, I have a Step 1 Patch, with 21-mg of Nicotine applied to my left arm. The next couple days is supposed to be the hardest, so here's to lots and lots of coffee and hot tea. I hope the patch works out well, cause right now, it itches...

Digital Camera

So I'm getting a digital camera, and a beast at that. As a cinematographer, I take all aspects of Photography very seriously, and have been pushing off getting a digital camera as I want something that was not only professional, but cost effective. Well, as you know, I work for a large electronic retailer, and my employee discount is decent. When I saw this camera and checked the employee price, I couldn't pass it up.

The camera is the Olympus EVOLT E-500. Not only is it a Digital SLR, but it comes in at a large 8 Megapixel, and most importantly to me, comes with two lenses. So, as I was talking to my parents about the camera, they offered to purchase the camera for me as my Christmas present, to which I went bouncing off the walls. Of course, this will be my one and only gift from them, which I am more than fine with.

I should be getting the camera in approximately two weeks, so expect to start seeing photos throughout the site, and probably an entire redesign for a more gallery/blog feel. I'm frickn' excited.

UPDATE (Nov 27th): I couldn't wait, I wanted the camera now! I found a store close to me that had 7 of these units, and I am now the proud owner of the EVOLT E-500. The only downfall I've heard / read / and now experiencing is that it takes a little bit of time to charge the battery, but besides that, it is truly a great camera!!

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving here in the United States. I'm not a huge fan of Thanksgiving, but as this is the last one I'll have for a while, I'm off with the family all day visiting family. Basically, I have to drive up to Wisconsin and hop between the two sides of the family. I'm sure I'll be very tired at the end of the day, when I get home at 10PM! And I'm not even a fan of turkey.

Retail Hell

So I work for a large electronic retailer here in the States. This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the states, and Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year here in the states, called Green Friday by the company, and Black Friday by the employees. Before I got promoted to the internal film crew, I worked as a technician inside one of the stores. Apart from actually fixing computers and home electronics, one of the biggest part of my job was to sell services and attach accessories to computers. I was very good at it.

So, on last years Black Friday I sold more services and accessories than any other employee inside of the store. Well, over the past few weeks every single manager from the store has called myself and my current boss requesting that I get the day off from my video work and come back and sell for one day. After a little negotiating, I am going to once again be back in the store selling services and attaching accessories to the cheap computers. It is going to be fun, and hell at the same time. The worst part is that I have to be at the store at 3:30AM, as the store opens at 5AM for the day, and I need a half hour to go over the plan with the managers, and then an hour to setup my area. Simply put, any retail job that requires you to be at work at 3:30AM is quite frankly, Retail Hell.

DAMN FUNNY

All right, so I was browsing a few blogs and I happened to find a link to this video. This had me on the ground laughing my ass off.

Link to the Video.

I am not going to say anything except that this is funny as hell. Watch it, and tell me what you think in the comments.

UPDATE:
I have found two more videos. Add them to your must watch.
Link to Video 2.
Link to Video 3.

I HATE SNOW

I am not a fan of the cold and snow. I can already hear the people calling me, "dude, snow is awesome". Well, dumb-ass, thats because you live in Arizona in the middle of the frickn' desert! You've never experienced what a real snowy winter is. Digging your car out of a snow bank because the dumb city plow pushes three feet of snow next to your car, scrapping the ice off the windshield so you can see, and waiting 15 minutes in the cold while your car is "warming up". Now, take all that, and subtract the car, and be forced to walk in the city of Chicago, the windy city, with wind chill's in the negative 10s (F) on average, sometimes much worse. People don't shovel the sidewalks for some damn reason in this city. Wait, some do. So you'll be walking down a street and every other patch of 10 feet will be either clean, clumped down wet snow, or just thick ass ice just waiting to get a feel of your ass hitting it as you trip over your own two feet.

So, why am I ranting? Because yesterday, it SNOWED!!. It is way to goddamned early to be snowing. Snow is allowed only on Christmas eve and day, after that, it needs to go away. Now, thank god that snow melted by today, but right now it is 22 degrees Fahrenheit , thats -6 degrees celsius people! I hate snow, I hate the cold. Overall, I'm just not a fan of the winter. I can't wait to fly out in February, the coldest month of the year in Chicago, and arrive in warmth. Until then, snow must die.

Music I'm Listening To

Recently I've found myself adding a lot of music to my collection. About a week ago, my iPod started to die! I was bummed, but I have the protection plan and went into the Apple Store. After talking to one of the managers, I simply told him that if my iPod was to be exchanged for the same model, that this would be the 4th iPod I've had for this generation. So, I simply asked if I could upgrade, I'd be willing to pay the difference. He was cool and gave me a free upgrade. I didn't get the Video iPod, but I did get the iPod Photo. I was happy cause now I have a color screen, but really because he gave me a huge upgrade on storage. I had a 15GB iPod, now I have a 60GB iPod!!. I then got home and realized, "damn, I've got a lot of space to fill."

So, I went through my CD collection and imported some CDs I hadn't gotten around too. I also download a great Apple Script called iTunesCool that downloads the cover art for the song. Its not perfect, but it does work better than others I've tried. I also started to add new music to my collection, thanks to AllofMP3.com (you can't beat $.02 US a MB). One of the new albums I've added is the latest from David Gray, Life in Slow Motion. I think this music sums up the type of music I like. Even though I listen to everything from Metallica to Yo-Yo Ma, I really like the sound and feel of David Gray's new album. If you haven't heard it, I highly suggest you check it out.

Off Campus Living and Budget

So last night I was going over a budget with my father for my studies in Australia. Even though I'm paying for everything myself, my father still wanted to go over a budget with me just to make sure I'm covered financially. After going over the budget for all 3 semesters for my Masters, I found that even though I'd have enough money, it's a little tighter than I thought. So, with that, I am going to have to apply for a small private loan to give me that safety cushion. I also wanted to get a new notebook computer before I leave, and the private loan is really the only way.

I also have been looking at Off Campus Housing, and found one I like. International Student Villas. I'm going to be sending a down payment soon as they fill up fast, and as I don't know what my chances are of getting On Campus Accommodation, so this way I'll have a place lined up, and as long as I cancel 7 days or more in advance, I'll get the cash back. If anyone has heard of this student complex, please tell me anything about it, thanks!

Art

Today I had the day off from work, and as I was sitting down in front of the television flipping channels, I landed upon Jeopardy, and for some reason I watched it. I hate Jeopardy. But anyways, one of the categories was on works of art. It then struck me that I have been so busy with work that the time I've spent on my own art work has nearly vanished.

I used to be a regular at The Art Institute of Chicago. You can spend days in there and still never see the same thing. I've now realized that it has been almost 6 months since I've been to The Art Institute of Chicago. I've allowed my work to take priority over my art, which is funny, because all throughout my undergraduate studies I would have serious debates on the importance of art in our society, and would say that I don't think I could ever allow my work to take over my passion of art. Well, I guess I was wrong.

Now though, its time to fix that. Tomorrow, I'm off to the Art Institute of Chicago.

I found my seat

This weekend has been fun and boring at the same time. Friday night I drove out to Northern Illinois University and partied with some friends who go to uni there. Saturday we all woke up at around noon, went and got food, and then decided to go to this great little cheap Hookah bar. After almost three hours of talking, relaxing, and smoking "fruit punch" flavored tobacco, I then had to drive back down into the city.

That was the fun part. The boring part is what I've done since returning home. Nothing. I've simply been walking around bored out of my mind, flipping on the TV or watching a movie. In my boredom, I logged onto my account with Qantas. I saw a message telling me that my flight had changed, to call and confirm immediately. So, I call up Qantas and find out what exactly changed. They tell me that the departure time on my flight from Chicago to Los Angels changed by 4 minutes! Big Deal! If it changed by 40 minutes then that would be something, but overall, big deal.

So, as I'm talking on the phone with them I'm browsing through Qantas' website and find the plane I will be on, as well as my seat number. What I found out was that I'm in Economy C, the "highest" level of economy. Which from what I see means that only 20 people are sharing the bathroom rather than the 75 in the two other economy classes. I would have never found it if I wasn't bored. But still, boredom sucks!