.: What’s Bruin :.

With the upcoming trip to Greece and the continued annoyance, irritation, and PAIN of my right toe, I decided to get it taken care of tonight after Josephine and I had dinner at Mr. Taco. For the past two weeks I’ve been soaking my foot in warm Epsom salt water, as well as finishing the 6-day round of antibiotics. But it has not loosened the nail out from digging and cutting in the side of my toe. The weird thing about this toenail is that the pain is pinpointed right at the corner of my toe.

Fortunately, I did have to wait long in the waiting room at the Urgent Care. When I arrived, I was the only patient in the waiting room. After the usual weigh-in, pulse, temperature, blood pressure and patient history checks, the doctor saw me and poked around with my toe and caused some sharp-shooting pain! At first he could not find the nail, which was kind of annoying since he had to keep digging around. But when he would touch the corner, it would HURT! So he finally decided to do the procedure since my toe was in pain to the touch.

First he put something to freeze and numb the toe at the surface. I’m not sure what it was, maybe liquid nitrogen or something, who knows? Then came the INJECTION. He placed the needle right on the spot where it HURT THE MOST. Ggggrrrrr! But the doctor said I moved too much, so he had to inject me some more. So he put some more of the freezing stuff on my toe and shot the same spot. But because the anesthetic had started to take effect, it did not hurt as much on the second shot. And then finally a third short at the base of the nail.

Then the doctor sliced off the offensive portion of the nail. When I finally had the chance to look, my toe was bleeding, but it felt so much better. He then sliced away the dead tissue and callous that was covering up the ingrown nail.

Instructions: Soak in Epsom salt water and DON’T CUT INSIDE the toe anymore!

I thought my toe looked funny when it was wrapped up in the dressing.

Funny Big Toe

Toe Unwrapped and Sore

Tags: Health, ingrown-toenail

Today I made the most important presentation of my educational career, my Master’s Project Presentation entitled: “A Market Analysis for A Regional Online Music Community.” It’s the final requirement for me to get my MBA and graduate on May 14th.

There were seven groups presenting in my class today. We were Group #3, presenting in the 4th spot. We presented in one of the nicer lecture halls at CSUSM. This is the same room where Josephine and I went to the MBA Program Orientation meeting three years ago.

UH 100 - The Room Where It All Began

The order in our group was:

1. Jeremy - Introduction/Research Problem
2. Me - Target Market Demographic Profile
3. Jeremy - Artist/Musician Segment Required Components
4. Jeff - Consumer Segment Required Components
5. Jeff - Conclusion

The Online Music Community Group

Getting Ready - Last Minute Prep

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Tags: CSUSM, education_and_training, MBA

Waiting for me via Federal Express is my Mac OSX Tiger release software, was was delivered today. Today is Tiger Launch Day.

Tags: Announcements, Apple, Computers, OSX

FQ1: Your favorite sweet food? When did you last have it?

I’m not much of a sweet eater. I enjoy vanilla ice cream and New York cheesecake most often. But I would have to say that vanilla ice cream is my favorite sweet. It’s been several weeks since I had some. I’m on a diet!

FQ2: Your favorite salty food? When did you last have it?

I’m not really a big fan of salty food, which helps to keep my blood pressure at normal levels. Most Filipino foods have salt in them. So I guess my favorite would be pancit. My aunt’s pancit is the best, even better than mom’s. And the last time I had pancit was last Saturday at my cousin’s Welcome Reception. (But my aunt who makes the best pancit was not there, neither was her pancit.)

Pancit - Not that salty

FQ3: Your favorite sour food? When did you last have it?

I also don’t like sour food that much. I don’t really know what sour stuff tastes like. I mean I like sweet and sour pork (Chinese), but is that really sour? Then I think of stuff like sauerkraut on hot dogs. Is that sour? If it is, then that’s all I can think of for this undesirable food category. The last time I had sauerkraut was this morning for breakfast. I had it on a hot dog with mustard and ketchup.

FQ EDIBLE: What’s the best thing you’ve ever tasted? The most horrible thing you’ve ever tasted?

Hmmm. The best thing. That would be difficult to isolate because I think about my favorite foods, which might not necessarily be the best thing I’ve ever tasted. But here goes… My favorite food of all time is carne asada burrito. It’s probably not the best thing I’ve ever tasted because Josephine’s cooking is definitely very tasty. Maybe I would have to say Josephine’s Greek salad, especially after not having one for a long time. I love how the onions, olive oil, and vinegar make my mouth water. The most horrible thing I’ve ever tasted would have to be liver. Lima beans are a close second, followed by cottage cheese. They all taste like vomit to me.

– Meme from FridayQ.

Tags: Food, Participation

So I get this phone call on my cell yesterday from a company called S Tech. It seems that I had submitted an application to them via monster.com a week or so ago. The job is for an instructional designer position dealing with aviation at SPAWAR. The pay range is exactly what I am looking for, $55K - $70K. Even at the lowest end, I would still be making more money than at A Corp.

So I agreed to an interview in Point Loma on Monday at 10:00 AM at this coffee shop called The Living Room. I’m gonna bring my laptop and a presentation to show if I get a chance to demonstrate some of my work.

Anyways, I give the guy a call back after hours and learn that the company is actually a subsidiary of S Tech called A Eng. My friend Doug P. works at S Tech. So I called him on the way home from work yesterday to see if he knows the person who is interviewing me. I also asked about how he liked the company. He says they are a good company. You get three weeks of vacation right off the bat. S-W-E-E-T! Not to mention the higher pay. Plus he says their benefits are good. I will have to look up some stuff this weekend when I have more time.

So I called the guy who called me again this morning because the confirmation email I received had two conflicting dates. I mention that I know someone with the same last name as him. And low and behold, the guy is Doug’s brother! What a small world. So we chit-chatted a bit. I hope this is a good omen for me and that it works out so I can leave A Corp. and start at S tech at the higher pay scale.

We shall see!

Update 4/29/05:
I made a CD-ROM of some of my work samples, and then dropped it off to their Human Resources office where I met Tyler, Doug’s brother. I chatted with him for a few minutes. He seems like a nice guy. And he wished me well on my interview.

God I hope I get this job. What a blessing that would be.

Tags: Career, work

So I was heading back to work after eating a carne asada burrito for lunch at a nearby taco shop. And as I was driving through the parking lot heading for the exit, I saw someone on the ground, lying on their back in the street with their arms and legs floundering in the air. I thought to myself: “What the heck?” Then I spotted the overturned motorized wheelchair. I slowed my car down to a stop and put the car in “park.” As I was about to get out of the car to help the disabled/handicapped man, two other men ran from across the street to help.

They pulled him up; he was not lightweight. One guy uprighted the wheelchair, while the other one held the guy up. Then they helped him sit in the chair. One guy started picking up his basket of stuff: coke bottle, radio, and lots of papers while the other person helped start the wheelchair. Once the wheelchair got started the handicapped guy moved forward out of the way.

I felt a little bad because I remained in the car and did not help. But if I had gotten out, there would have been too many cooks in the kitchen.

Oh yeah, by the time I got my digital camera out, the guy was already in the chair. I thought it would be interesting to shoot a pic of him on the ground, but then I felt bad about taking a picture like that, so I let it go. That’s why there are no pics of this strange event.

As soon as he got out of the way, I put my car in “drive” and went back to the office.

Tags: Food, general_stuff, Life, strange-events, work

Slight gain due to Sunday brunch.

Sunrider Weight Loss Tracking:
Week 11

Tags: Health, Sunrider, weight

Yesterday was our sixth anniversary!

We exchanged gifts in the morning. I gave Josephine a bottle of Dream Angels Divine body splash from Victoria’s Secrets, a wrought iron plant stand and four hanging candle holder thingies (I forget the actual name of these things). I received Quicken 2005 for Mac. (It seems that I am slowly replacing my PC desktop with my PowerBook G4 laptop, which is clearly a superior machine.)

Josephine’s Gifts

Hanging Candle Holders for the Patio

To celebrate, we decided to eat Sunday brunch at the 94th Aero Squadron in Balboa. This is a great restaurant. I had eaten here once before with A Corp at a lunch buffet. To take advantage of an “early bird” savings, we skipped church and got to the restaurant by 9:00 AM. There was already a long line of people waiting to get inside.

Front of the 94th Aero Squadron

The hostess who greeted us knew Josephine from Mt. Carmel High School. I didn’t recognize her at first because she looked all grown up, but she was Jordana, one of my former students at Mesa Verde Middle School. She joked with us how she took my algebra class three times, which is true (7th and 8th grade, and then in 9th grade summer school at the high school). She definitely should have passed the first time, but she never did any work. I asked for a window seat since we had connections now.
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Tags: anniverary, Events, Food, love

We went to Anaheim on Saturday to my aunt/uncle’s new home for a reception for my cousin, Marjot, and her husband and three kids. I had not seen her since I was 11 years old on a family vacation to the Philippines.

Marjot and Me

Funny moment: During a group birthday cake celebration, one of my other cousin’s sons, Jerrick, was coughing without covering his mouth while we were singing Happy Birthday. The problem was that he was standing in front of the cake! So we skipped the cake due to the extra frosting provided.

Jerrick - little guy in blue

Tags: Events, family

Last April 16th we had an appointment at the Cemetary Office at San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside to get some information about cemetary plots, etc. A burial site is one of the details we have planned for as we are drafting our trust/will before we leave for Greece. So we get to the mission and on the cemetary office door is a note: “Office closed due to illness. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

And this is from the guy who told me on the phone to be sure to let him know if I had a change in plans and couldn’t make it.

So we decided to walk around and look. The cemetary is a very nice place, very peaceful and beautiful. I got the idea about this place from Andrew.

San Luis Rey Mission Cemetary

But after not being able to talk to anyone, we decided to look elsewhere. We found a place just up the street, called Eternal Hills Memorial Park. It’s also beautiful in a different way than the mission. But what we like about it is that it’s a “one-stop shop” where family can plan all final arrangements from mortuary services to burial, even flowers and memorial services. I think this type of place makes it easy for family members at what will obviously be a stressful time. Eternal Hills (not the mission) is where we have decided to be buried when the time comes.

Tags: death, estate, Events

FQ1: Any pets as a kid?

I had a black Scottish terrier and some tropical freshwater fish.

FQ2: Any pets now?

No, I don’t really like animals anymore. They smell and are pretty disgusting.

FQ3: Name your favorite famous pet from television or movies.

Krypto, the Superdog.

FQ BEST FRIEND: If money and legality were not a barrier, what exotic animal would you like as a pet?

I would like to have a small dinosaur to guard my house!

– Meme from FridayQ.

Tags: Participation

Setting up my two printers with the new PowerBook G4 has been kinda sketchy. I have an ancient HP DeskJet 880c that I use for regular printing and an HP LaserJet 1012 for printing stuff for schoolwork or other important stuff or just for fast printing.

The new cable modem gateway Motorola SBG900 does not have an integrated print server, so I bought one from Fry’s called a Hawking Tech HPS12U print server that can connect to one parallel printer and two USB printers.

I was able to print through the new print server from my Windows XP PC no problem. But setting the printers on the Apple is a pain. The Apple does not directly recognize either printer by their “real name.” I was able to trick the Apple to recognize the DeskJet by using an analogous printer, the HP DeskJet 895C. The analogous laser equivalent would be the HP LaserJet 1015, but the Apple does not have that driver.

I can print to the laser printer directly by connecting the USB cable, but not through the print server. So I did a search on USB Switches and found the Sewell USB 2.0 Manual Share Switch. It works like a charm. I can switch between using the PC to print to the laser printer via the print server and using the Apple laptop to print to the laser printer via a direct USB connection.

It’s kind of a pain to manually switch, but perhaps if there are more accessible printer drivers for Apple, I may be able to get rid of the switch. In any case, it’s an inexpensive solution/alternative to unhooking the USB cable from the PC and attaching it to the Apple.

Tags: Computers, printers, technology

Didn’t you learn this in business school?

When your employees travel on business to represent your company, don’t allow them to reimburse the tips they give to attendants at airports or hotels, even if other people traveling on business are allowed to do so. You save a whole lot of money. I know it works because I saved $2 the last time I did this. Plus, I communicate worth and value to my employees this way and endear them not only to myself but to the mission of our company.

Tags: Career, work

There’s a party goin’ on ’round here!

I just finished my Master’s Project– final page count is 103 pages.

I am officially turning my brain to the OFF position.

What’s left before graduation?

1. Video case study in Strategic Management
2. Read Chapters 12 & 13 in Strategic Management
3. Peer Evaluation in Strategic Management
4. Final Exam in Strategic Management
5. Peer Evaluation in Strategic Management
6. Case Study in Managerial Model Building
7. Final Project in Managerial Model Building
8. Final Project Presentation in Managerial Model Building
9. Master’s Project Presentation
10. Peer Evaluation in Master’s Project
11. Group Presentation Evaluations in Master’s Project

The only thing that matters is #9. Graduation is a mere 24 days away.

Celebrate good times, c’mon!

Tags: Announcements, CSUSM, education_and_training, MBA

Got your attention with that title.

I’ve been reading some posts on people’s blogs about celebrating “4-20″ today. I’ll be brief. If you smoke dope or do drugs, you are an asswipe, dumbass, and just plain stupid.

Tags: Commentary, Rants, stupid-people