About a week ago, on Monday August 21st, I tried to go to the gym after work around 4pm to get in a quick workout before pool league. I've been going to the U of A Rec Center for 15+ years, for over a decade since I graduated and basically ever since I've been living in Tucson.
That Monday, I couldn't even find a place to park. There's only a handful of metered parking spaces (30 or so) and everything else is restricted parking without a parking permit before 5pm. My annual membership was also up for renewal that day, and so I started to question why I still go to the U of A Rec Center. Honestly, during the school year it is just way too crowded. Even my go-to time of 10pm to close was crowded. A lot of the kids are obnoxious and impolite. Several times I'd ask to work in with somebody and they'd actually refuse to let me, suggesting I use a different machine. I'd hold doors for the girls and they'd walk right by without even acknowledging the small favor. It got to a point where I was like, "I'm 34 now, I just deserve better than this lifestyle."
So I recently explored options around Tucson. I ended up going with LA Fitness since they have several gyms around town that I can access (including gyms in Phoenix and Scottsdale). I've been going for a week now, and while it's different, it's definitely more relaxed and I don't have to deal with the immaturity I got while going to a University gym. Oh and hey, look at that, tons of free parking! While I'll miss the pick-up basketball at the U of A, LA Fitness still has a court that I can get my game on whenever I'm feeling it.
And so ends an era of working out at the U of A. Crazy I lasted 15 years there, but I guess times change and you need to adapt accordingly. We'll see how long I stay at LA Fitness, but for now, I'm there for the next year.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Monday, July 31, 2017
It's Quiet...
Not much to report these days.
Few trips planned for the rest of the year, but thinking of doing an East Coast trip where I hit Connecticut, Jersey, and DC to visit Nate, Chris, and Mike all in one fell swoop. Possibly sometime in October.
I qualified for the APA Singles Regional Tournament for both 8-ball and 9-ball this fall. That will be held in Phoenix the first weekend of October. If I win there, I'll get to play at Nationals in Las Vegas.
Golf league ended a couple months ago. Over the course of a 12-week session, I ended up with a 17.5 handicap for 9-holes. A lot of work to do if I'm ever going to improve my golf game. We'll get there someday, I hope.
Right now just going to pool league on Monday and Tuesdays. The rest of my nights have been pretty open, which is a nice change of pace.
Work has been busy as of late. At the beginning of the year, they cut funding on the project I was working on: FlashSystem. Then they split my time across two projects: DS8000 and Hydra. In the second quarter, I added a third project: MetaOcean. And in 3Q they want me to drop DS8000 and Hydra and transition to Spectrum Scale. I'm always up for the challenge and I go where the team needs my skills. I'm likely the most versatile piece on this team...a utilityman if you will. However, lots of adjusting to do in the process.
I still find time to play tons of video games, but my queue is still large. On PS4, I'm currently playing Horizon Zero Dawn with Life is Strange waiting on deck. On PC, it's mostly Left 4 Dead or some 7 Days to Die whenever my friends are on, but I've got XCOM, Cities: Skylines, Dishonored, and Arkham Knight in the queue, all games I picked up during this year's summer Steam sale.
Duncan is good, house is good, I'm good. As always, thanks for checking in on me and I'll see ya next time!
Few trips planned for the rest of the year, but thinking of doing an East Coast trip where I hit Connecticut, Jersey, and DC to visit Nate, Chris, and Mike all in one fell swoop. Possibly sometime in October.
I qualified for the APA Singles Regional Tournament for both 8-ball and 9-ball this fall. That will be held in Phoenix the first weekend of October. If I win there, I'll get to play at Nationals in Las Vegas.
Golf league ended a couple months ago. Over the course of a 12-week session, I ended up with a 17.5 handicap for 9-holes. A lot of work to do if I'm ever going to improve my golf game. We'll get there someday, I hope.
Right now just going to pool league on Monday and Tuesdays. The rest of my nights have been pretty open, which is a nice change of pace.
Work has been busy as of late. At the beginning of the year, they cut funding on the project I was working on: FlashSystem. Then they split my time across two projects: DS8000 and Hydra. In the second quarter, I added a third project: MetaOcean. And in 3Q they want me to drop DS8000 and Hydra and transition to Spectrum Scale. I'm always up for the challenge and I go where the team needs my skills. I'm likely the most versatile piece on this team...a utilityman if you will. However, lots of adjusting to do in the process.
I still find time to play tons of video games, but my queue is still large. On PS4, I'm currently playing Horizon Zero Dawn with Life is Strange waiting on deck. On PC, it's mostly Left 4 Dead or some 7 Days to Die whenever my friends are on, but I've got XCOM, Cities: Skylines, Dishonored, and Arkham Knight in the queue, all games I picked up during this year's summer Steam sale.
Duncan is good, house is good, I'm good. As always, thanks for checking in on me and I'll see ya next time!
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
E3 2017
Last week I went to E3 2017, again held in Los Angeles, CA. This was my second year in a row attending E3, so my expectations were pretty much set based on last year's experience, which I had heard wasn't as exciting as previous years.
I got into L.A. on a Tuesday night and ended up staying at the Shelter Hotel in Koreatown. I decided to only go for 2 days this year, since I felt the first day (Tuesday) was too busy for me to care to attend.
On Wednesday, I arrived at E3 around noon and met up with my friend Kavita. We were able to see pretty much all of the exhibits the convention had to offer in one day, but when you don't care to wait hours in line to play a new game like Destiny 2 or Mario Odyssey, you end up just walking around the exhibits, like a big museum or theme park.
I went back on Thursday by myself, mostly for a half day to get a final look at any booths Kavita didn't care to look at, such as the independent games. But overall, I was pretty disappointed this year, mostly because there was no news whatsoever for the game I was most interested in hearing about (Square Enix's FF7 Remake). It just seemed like a down year for video games. The Nintendo Switch is pretty cool and Mario Odyssey looks amazing, so at least there's that. I'll be getting one later this year.
So as an IBMer, I still get to attend the convention for free, but I'm considering skipping next year. While playing demos of upcoming games and checking out new technology is exciting, I don't really enjoy waiting hours in line for them. We'll see...
I got into L.A. on a Tuesday night and ended up staying at the Shelter Hotel in Koreatown. I decided to only go for 2 days this year, since I felt the first day (Tuesday) was too busy for me to care to attend.
On Wednesday, I arrived at E3 around noon and met up with my friend Kavita. We were able to see pretty much all of the exhibits the convention had to offer in one day, but when you don't care to wait hours in line to play a new game like Destiny 2 or Mario Odyssey, you end up just walking around the exhibits, like a big museum or theme park.
So as an IBMer, I still get to attend the convention for free, but I'm considering skipping next year. While playing demos of upcoming games and checking out new technology is exciting, I don't really enjoy waiting hours in line for them. We'll see...
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Kevin's Wedding in Denton, TX
Last month I attended my friend Kevin's wedding in Denton, TX. It had been 6 years since I last visited Kevin, just a few years after he moved out to Denton to attend the University of North Texas. Kevin and I had spent most of our post-college days hanging out while he was still living in Tucson. Bowling, clubbing, Madden...these were our weekly routines.
Kevin's one of those guys who even if I don't see or talk to him in years, it's like nothings really changed. Our friendship bond is pretty strong and those kind of relationships only strengthen with time, regardless of distance. I was very excited to attend his wedding, although I was a little saddened that he didn't feel close enough to any of our mutual friends from Tucson and the University of Arizona. In fact, I was the only one from AZ to attend the wedding.
I got into Dallas on a Thursday afternoon. I'm love having Gold membership status with Hertz though IBM. You literally just walk to the rental car area, pick a vehicle you like, then drive off (after a very quick check-in at the exit). The first thing I had to do when I arrived in Texas was get Freebirds World Burrito! I found the closest one and ordered my burrito. I told the guy over the counter how excited I was for Freebirds since we don't have them in AZ and at the end, he decided to give me the burrito on the house! I gave him a fat tip and it was already a great start to the trip!
The drive to Denton is about 30 minutes, but can be extended to 45 with rush hour traffic. I arrived in Denton in the evening, checked into my discounted Marriott room (thanks Anthony!), then met Kevin and his friends for food and drinks at Hoochies. I had only met one of Kevin's friends before this (at least those in attendance for his wedding), so I had to be pretty social and extroverted to befriend everyone. The first night was pretty chill, mostly just guys in his wedding and I finally got to meet Peyton (his now wife) as well. Yep, that's how long it had been since I visited him...he was dating someone else the last time I was out there. :P
On Friday a few of us gathered to play some disc golf. Kevin had introduced me to the game the last time I was out here, so it was only fitting we'd play a round this weekend. While Kevin is a talented disc golfer in his own right, one of his friends, Eric, was extremely good. He could drive the disc 400ft+ (no joke). I've never seen anyone through a disc that straight and far before, I was simply in awe. We only played about 10 holes since we had to make it to the rehearsal dinner later that night.
The rehearsal dinner was quaint, taking place at the Denton's Women's Club. Several people went out for drinks afterwards, but many called it an early night due to the early wedding activities they had to partake in the next day. Since I wasn't actually in this wedding (for a change), I decided to stick around the bar scene for a little longer. This one bar had ping pong tables outside and I had just finished playing. A cute little brunette came up and asked if anyone was on it, and I said no. She asked if I wanted to play since she was by herself and waiting on friends, so I obviously I wasn't gonna say no to a pretty face. She was really good at ping pong; beat me the first game 21-13 and I'm no slouch, although I may have been a little drunk at the time. She challenged me to a rematch, but again she did me in, another 21-13 ass-whooping. After two games, her friends had arrived, so I figured that was my cue to depart, but she asked if I wanted to meet them. When I did, I figured everything was going really well and I might have a good chance with this one. But then the funny part of the story (or is it sad?), when she was talking to someone at the table, she said "well I like girls." At that point, I knew what was up and was like, of course, that's typically Andy-luck right there. I decided to call it a night shortly after, saving myself from further embarrassment of hitting on a lesbian.
The wedding was on Saturday and was at The Grove, a good 20-minutes outside of Denton. Good thing I had that rental vehicle. It was a nice, countryside wedding. Fortunately, I had made plenty of friends I could talk to at this point, so I never felt too alone.
It was a great opportunity for me to visit my friend Kevin and meet his lovely wife Peyton. I'm really glad I made it out there. Congratulations you two! Until next time.
Kevin's one of those guys who even if I don't see or talk to him in years, it's like nothings really changed. Our friendship bond is pretty strong and those kind of relationships only strengthen with time, regardless of distance. I was very excited to attend his wedding, although I was a little saddened that he didn't feel close enough to any of our mutual friends from Tucson and the University of Arizona. In fact, I was the only one from AZ to attend the wedding.
I got into Dallas on a Thursday afternoon. I'm love having Gold membership status with Hertz though IBM. You literally just walk to the rental car area, pick a vehicle you like, then drive off (after a very quick check-in at the exit). The first thing I had to do when I arrived in Texas was get Freebirds World Burrito! I found the closest one and ordered my burrito. I told the guy over the counter how excited I was for Freebirds since we don't have them in AZ and at the end, he decided to give me the burrito on the house! I gave him a fat tip and it was already a great start to the trip!
On Friday a few of us gathered to play some disc golf. Kevin had introduced me to the game the last time I was out here, so it was only fitting we'd play a round this weekend. While Kevin is a talented disc golfer in his own right, one of his friends, Eric, was extremely good. He could drive the disc 400ft+ (no joke). I've never seen anyone through a disc that straight and far before, I was simply in awe. We only played about 10 holes since we had to make it to the rehearsal dinner later that night.
The wedding was on Saturday and was at The Grove, a good 20-minutes outside of Denton. Good thing I had that rental vehicle. It was a nice, countryside wedding. Fortunately, I had made plenty of friends I could talk to at this point, so I never felt too alone.
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