8.24.2009
9:44pm

Kevin helped me bring home my new TV from hhgregg tonight. I ended up getting a Mitsubishi WD-60C9 on sale for $1033 + tax. 1080p/24 support, 120hz output, 3 hdmi, all the important stuff. It's not as big as the front projection setup I had in the apartment, but the video quality is better.

Yesterday was long and exhausting, but I enjoyed it. Needless to say, I was a bit sore today. Most of the volunteers there are around my age or still in college. I was there from 10am until after dark, and the group of us went to a mexican restaurant in Mebane to end the day.

8.22.2009
5:26pm

For some reason I thought it was September already. Even opened up a new text file to start the month. Oops.

Today I had two things going on. One was the server outage at HSX so that the new electrical circuits could be patched in. They had to shut the whole building down except for some emergency lights. The shutdown went almost 100% smoothly, and I was done with my stuff by 8:30am.

The second thing I had going on today was volunteer orientation at CCI. I got over there at 10am and was given the overview and tour by Frank and Kim. There was one other new volunteer attending orientation today along with me. In the middle of the tour there was a big downpour so we got soaked but kept moving along. CCI has a few more animals than the place I volunteered in Florida, and has some 45 acres that's still undeveloped.

I had to leave around 1pm to head back to work and restart the servers. Steve already had some up by the time I got back, and I helped bring everything else online.

So now it's almost dinnertime and I'm trying to figure out what to do this evening. I am heading back to CCI tomorrow to help finish a wolf enclosure and who knows what else. Doug and Mindy run the place and they have a huge amount of knowledge between the two of them.

8.04.2009
5:25pm

I found out today that I will have to take 2 weeks of vacation starting no later than September 21st. Where should I go? If I venture far away from Raleigh I will have to find a cat-sitter again, or try to take the cats with me. Saphira and Lazula have both adjusted really well to the new house.

Last night I bought a desk on sale at staples ($50 off to $119.99), and the manager gave me a free $30 warranty with it. Not sure why, but it was cool of him. Maybe they are low on their service plan quota for the month. I also stopped into Harris Teeter to get some condiments and saw that their prices are just as high as usual. Probably won't be going there often.

The number of Melbourne people working at the RTP office now has increased. There are also a few salespeople visiting this week. I went to lunch again with Tony and Kevin to a pizza buffet joint that was pretty good. Better than Cici's, maybe not quite Pizza Hut quality but the price was right.

I might start volunteering soon at the Conservators' Center in Mebane. I contacted the owner yesterday and should be going to training/orientation at their next session. I'm pretty excited about it... should be quite different from Elmira's sanctuary.