What's new?

Brian is wasting time on the internet. Gee, what else is new?

Well, for starters, he has begun to refer to himself in the third person, which is one of the early stages of insanity. (But then again, you asked what was new . . . .)

So, here is a recent rundown of the last six months of my life.

March 22, 2008 - Sign a lease with three awesome roommates at a townhouse in Santa Rosa.

April 1, 2008 - Walk into work to find I've just been laid off. Yes, you read the date right.

April 2, 2008 - Begin planning move to Sacramento for the summer, with the goal of building closer friendships with a few people that really matter in my life, most of whom live in or near in Sacramento.

April 8, 2008 - Go on spontaneous road trip to Redding/Clear Lake. This was intended to be one of many spontaneous road trips. Unfortunately, lethargy and busyness take over.

May 11, 2008 - Move to Sacramento with friend Collin. Initiate deal where I drive him to work each day, and he lets me sleep at his place for free.

June 1, 2008 - Fed up with sleeping on a couch every night, not having a computer set up (though I could've set it up in the garage), sharing one bathroom with three other people, and getting peed on by their dog. I move in with Giana, a dancer/musician/rollerblader who responded to my Craigslist ad. Begin three months of significantly better living conditions, but unfortunately, no boost in personal productivity.

August 14, 2008 - After having given up on finding a summer job, and realizing that summer itself is practically over, I received a surprise phone call from Mike Szesterniak, Parker Hannifin's (my previous employer) regional manager for Southern California. He informs me that a startup in San Diego needs someone to program their servo controller, and all the contractors in Southern California that he knows are unavailable. So he offers me the project, and it sounds like easy work. Oh was I mistaken.

August 21, 2008 - GTU Orientation. Met some great people and added to my excitement (and fear) about grad school. Fly to San Diego as soon as it's over for servo project.

August 22-29, 2008 - Work on the project, explore San Diego (I got to visit Catherine and Grace!), fly back to Berkeley for 2nd day of orientation, fly back to San Diego to try to finish the project for three more days, fly back to Sacramento to pack, move all my stuff from Berkeley and Sacramento into Berkeley, practice music for friend Helga's wedding, meet friends for last lunch in Sac, attend going-away party. Need I mention that I was extremely short on sleep? Need I further mention that I was not very efficient, either at writing servo code, or at managing my to-do list? Just ask me about that going-away party...

August 30-Sept 1, 2008 - With friends Adam and Andie (Jackie unfortunately couldn't make it), go on vacation to Oregon. I believe I have no further need of evidence that I am crazy. Although, for additional comedic effect, see next date.

Sept 2, 2008 - Start classes at GTU. Of course, my first day included a six-hour marathon of classes, but I was rearin' to go! Classes were very interesting, and I began to feel happy about committing the next two years of my life to this.

Sept 7, 2008 - My clients from San Diego, eager to help me finish their project in whatever way they could, drive the machine up from San Diego, setting it up in my garage so that I can work on it when I'm not busy with class.

Sept 8, 2008 - Laptop computer that I need for work breaks down, forcing me to hysterically scour East Bay for computer rentals. End up getting laptop with Windows XP (which runs sooooo much faster than any other Windows computer I've seen -- probably because it had no spyware!) for $80/week.

Sept 9-Oct 9, 2008 - Slave away at servo project whenever I'm not slaving away at school. Evidently I didn't slave hard enough because I dropped behind in both areas. Brings to mind old sayings about doing too much and therefore doing none of it very well. Finally finish project at 8:00am on Oct 9, after doing two all-nighters in three days.

Oct 10, 2008 - Relax. Prepare to begin new life in Berkeley. Realize that it's alreay a month in. Shrug shoulders. Start blog.