Not feelin the greatest.

Been playin games to pass the time, sucks when your guts liquify.

-N

I have been playing around with my iphone more.  I’ve grown quite accustomed to it.  My only problem now is that the Google G1 phone is coming out.  I’ve been waiting for a somewhat “open source” phone.  Lots of free stuff, great apps and no regulation by a money/power hungry company dictating what can/can’t be developed for the phone.

Full Specs Here

Coming out Oct. 22nd.

-N

Well, Jen and I have pretty much decided on a REALLY, really small wedding.  We’re talking super immediate family and that is pretty much it. 

We’re trying to save up for a house and it just doesn’t make sense to blow money that could go towards a house on a wedding.  Houses can provide “memories of a lifetime” too ya know

-N

So I haven’t been updating much, I’ll be honest, I’m lazy. Most of the time, if you want to know what is going on with me, just view my PHOTO BLOG. It’s much easier to update for me since I can do it with my phone and you get a nifty idea of what I’m up to (shopping, eating out, getting pulled over by DPS…etc)

I’ve been busy with my car, my woman, my music, etc…

Been diving head-strong into Cisco Unified Wirless Networking too. I’ve been trying to get more schooled in the art of wireless so that troubleshooting is easier. I’ve also managed to pick up a few networking side-jobs here and there. They pay handsomely

In car news:

I bought a JLT cold air intake and new “no slip” pulleys.

I also installed a “KILLER CHILLER” system. It takes your A/C system and super-cools your intercooler fluid so that your air-charge is super cold. Essentially, it’s like running your car in winter, year round. Anyone who has a fast car knows how it feels in cold weather!

Life is good. Just chuggin along.

I asked Jennifer to marry me. She said yes.

:)

-N

My dad’s bike caught fire this past week. They say it may have been the battery. He usually eats at the office or out somewhere. For whatever reason he came home and smelled smoke. He opened the garage door and was met with thick black smoke. As I said, they’re not exactly sure what happened with the bike, they just know that it seems to have originated from the battery on his old harley. It’s pretty beat up (see pics), but it will ride again - just need to clean it up. What was bad was there was TONS of soot that thickly covered everything in the garage. All the instruments, the sound stuff….etc.Here are a few pics:

We moved everything out to try and wipe down as much as we could.

My nephews came over to help out along with Pete and my Uncle Jerry.

My gas-mask that a good friend of mine gave me in High-School. It worked like a charm. None of that black stuff in my lungs!

The Aftermath of cleaning up. I was covered in black soot. I can’t imagine being a fireman and having to deal with this crap daily!

On another note, the 4th of July parade is coming up, that will be really fun. It is every year. All the stuff I got for my car is put in and now it just needs to be tuned up. Pedro will take care of that in time.

-N

My car was recently vandalized…yay.

They scratched it and tried to pop the lock in. I just got the car back and everything seems to be okay.

I also ran into a GREAT deal on some exhaust. A full cat-back for 400 shipped. That’s not bad considering the condition these are in. The mufflers and tips are still mirror finish. A Magnaflow exhaust typically costs well over 500 new PLUS shipping.

On a side note, Jen took me out to go see Iron Man. Definitely one of the better movies of the past year or so. I enjoyed it very much. I will admit, I was a bit skeptical when I hear Robert Downey was playing Tony Stark. BUT, after having seen it, he fit the role to a T!

This weekend was the scavenger hunt for the mustang club. Everything went well. Jen slaved over the oven for hours baking cookies and they came out scrumptious!! *thanks*

My Uncle from Phleugerville (spelling, whatever…it’s North of Austin) moved down and it’s always nice to have another family member down around the “clan”. I wish him luck in selling his house and hope that he finds a replacement soon.

Work has been going good. My supervisor has been including me in more things and being in the loop is nice even if you don’t participate right away. A lot of times, things happen and I don’t know the first detail about what’s going on. He’s a great guy - I try my hardest to make him look good.

-N

Well, it’s been almost a month since my last update.  The house nightmare is over.  Well, most of it.  Now comes the “hard” part of the house nightmare - the shitty credit for 7 years, or til I go to court over the divorce decree - whichever comes first.

Jennifer is off on training an the house is so quiet/lonely without her.  Seems like the kitties and the dog behave much differently without her there.  They are much more calm and seem to obey more. I guess they know that if they don’t stay in line, I’ll be forced to beat them with a stick.

I ordered some new parts for my car: Billetflow Pulleys (just top 2) and a JLT RAI kit.  Pete was nice enough to install the “boost a pump”.   The pulleys and JLT RAI haven’t been put on yet, but they will be soon enough.

My sister treated me to some bad-ass lasagna yesterday, I don’t blog about many things.  If and when I do, it’s seldom about food.  Let me tell you, this stuff was GOooooood.  Wish Jen could have had some, she’d have loved it.  Cheesy as all hell.

That’s it for now?

Well, it’s official, the house is out of my hands.

I tried to keep it floating along til it sold but I just couldn’t afford it. The way in which I found out was quite interesting…

I get an IM from Jon saying “hey, Mel (his wife, they live the next street down) said there is a big black guy and 2 white girls at your front door with tools trying to get in”. I dialed 911 and hauled ass out the door.

I ran from my office to the car (about 1/4 mile…easy), flipped on my hazards and flew down to my house. I slide round the corner and get down to my house. I get there to see two cruisers with a third pulling up behind me and eventually a fourth.

The door knob and dead-bolt were completely obliterated.

The officers were taking information from the suspects and it turns out they were from the “property preservation” company that the mortgage company contracted to secure the house after foreclosure.

What made everything fishy besides their “work attire” was that they didn’t have any company id, no work order (they said it “flew out of their pocket), and just didnt’ have an overall good vibe. The girl in the halter top was really mouthy and was getting on my nerves. Remember, I had been broken into 2 times before. I told her “Why didn’t you all just call the realty company, myself or the police?”. They said “Uh sir, we don’t have any of that information, how are we supposed to call *you*?” I said “easy, see that big red sign in the yard in front of you - there’s a big phone number there” She went on to bitch about how I didn’t have to worry about anything because “Technically the house isn’t mine anymore….it’s not my problem”. I told her that “Until I can verify they are who they said they were and they were authorized to be doing what they were, it *IS* my problem.”. She had a real attitude, like I was some typical dead-beat not paying on a house or whatever. Well, I wasn’t but there was a good reason for it - those of you who know me already know that

Anyway, here are more pics: they really did a number on the door.

Here are the suspects:

The officers asked them to put a knob/lock back on and come back after everything was verified. It turns out (after multiple calls to wells-fargo and some attorney’s office) that everything was seemingly okay. I guess this closes this chapter in my life - no more house.

For a nutshell version of how I got here:
I wanted a divorce. Part of the “deal” my x wanted was to keep living in the house and have 1 year to buy, re-finance (under her/someone else’s name other than mine), or sell the house and keep any profit. I told her I didn’t feel comfortable because my name was on the line and that things happen to where you can’t afford to pay your payments - emergencies or whatever. I wanted have EVERYONE move out and sell the house then and there. She didn’t want to and wouldn’t sign/agree to the decree unless she got what she stipulated. Her mom assured me that the payments “would be made” that “I won’t have to worry about it”. (even after I reminded them both about extenuating circumstances).
I agreed to all that so long as she kept making payments. If she missed a payment (went past 30 days) OR went past the 1 year mark, she’d have to move out and *I* would sell the house for whatever *I* wanted (though any profits would still go to her).

She stopped making payments after 9 or so months. She did not tell me that she stopped making payments. I found out through the mortgage company calling me. I called her to inquire and she lied about sending in payments.

I reminded her that it was her duty to pay and she told me about how her family had a medical emergency and she couldn’t afford to pay…etc. I told her to remember the day we were all discussing this very thing and she said she felt justified. I’ll just leave it at that. If you want more, call her up and get her side of that whole story.

Meanwhile, I told her she needed to move out so I can sell the house. She agreed to a date and it came and went. She promised that I could get in the house with the Realtor to take pictures and list the house. We had an “appointment” and hours before we were supposed to go, she cancels - 2x’s even.

I finally get her to move out WEEKS after she “agreed to”. I even went so far as to have her sign a little paper I drew up saying she’d move out by x date…blah blah. She missed that date too. Part of her move was to leave the house as we bought it.

When the Realtor (Joyce Smithers - great realtor and even better person) and I went to the house, she was taking the last load out. We get in and inspect the house, not bad. She had promised to replace all the fans she took out (they were installed after we moved in) with the light fixtures we saved. Part of that agreement was that the stove was supposed to stay (came with house) along with MY fan (I had bought a nice fan with a remote and magnetic drive…etc). Well, the stove was gone, the light fixtures were on the floor, bare wires were left on the ceiling, and my fan was partially disassembled on the floor.

As per the decree, she was supposed to be keeping up on payments on the house no matter what happened. She didn’t.  After 10 months, I had already established myself financially elsewhere.  I could not afford to make the payments.  I took out a loan and floated the house for 2 months.  As you well know, the slumping economy and the huge crash in mortgage situation both contributed to no one buying the house.  I tried my best to sell it.  All this in spite of my engine blowing up due to some dipshit.  I had to take out a loan to fix that too.
On a side note, the AC units were mysteriously “stolen” shortly after she moved out and my bbq pit (she knew how much I loved it) was gone too - someone had taken it one day according to her.

There you have it.
-N

Things have been smooth for a bit.  No problems other than a few things.  I had to replace the brakes on my car, they were almost down to the metal.

I found that the braking system on a Cobra (and I’m sure many others…) has a brake-pad checking mechanism.  As your pads wear down, the fluid in the master cylinder lowers.  At the point in which your brake pads are getting low, you’ll start to see a “brake” icon light up on the dash - the same as the “parking brake is on” light.  If you see it while driving or applying brakes and you’re parking brake isn’t on, you know it’s time to check your pads.  Neat!

I’ve been trying to learn more and more here at work about my field.  I’ve finally managed to get a MUCH better grasp of some stuff that had been kind of confusing.  I now know it well enough to where I feel I could teach someone else about it.  To me THAT is the point at which you know something somewhat well.  The hard part isn’t learning the theory, it’s applying it in real-world applications.  Factor all the little things that go wrong along the way with the fact that each equipment manufacturer does things slightly/majorly different and it provides for a real fun time. hahah

I could have cheated and asked for help from others.  In fact, I did.  I asked my supervisor but the solution eluded us both.  Its when you research and try/fail on your own that things stick to you.  I’m glad I didn’t give up.

The iphone continues to be the best phone I’ve bought so far.  From the threaded SMS’s to the easy, snappy OS it runs. (Springboard?).  The battery life is pretty good and the web-browsing is great (for the most part). I’ve added TONS of new ringtones to my website, feel free to check them out HERE!!
This month will be a busy one with the Mustang club.   There are events every weekend this month, including two car shows!  I doubt I’ll place, but I’m going just to have some fun and see some faces I haven’t seen in quite some time.

-N