ChrisMaverick dotcom

things of note in my life…

1) found a temp job… supposedly… verbally agreed to it, but I haven’t seen the contract yet. And its not supposed to start until mid Feb. Decently hourly rate, but they can’t guarantee 40 hours a week. They tell me I can probably get 20, but that would basically be not much better than unemployment. If I get less than that (which they aren’t be expecting) it will actually be worse. Plus, as I said, its only a temp thing (3 months). So I need to keep looking, I guess. On a good note, if I work the entire 3 months, that will definitely set me up to take me through the rest of my unemployment year and make me renewable again in July/August. Bleah… why oh why or why can’t I find a nice CMU staff job? One with reasonable pay, reasonable benefits, free classes(God, I miss classes) and maybe some health insurance.

2) Learned to run the ropes in wrestling last week. Fucking Ow! What a lot of people don’t realize I think, is what the ropes are made of. On TV, they look rubber. Actually, they’re steel cable wrapped in rubber. Not much rubber either. And when you hit them, they hurt. A lot. Especially when you repeatedly bounce off of them over and over (one of our drills). The next morning, it feels like someone hit me in the back with a crowbar. Also need to work on my suplex, which was just looking very very sloppy yesterday. I think my biggest problem is that I’m not yanking the guy I’m suplexing through the air hard enough. Probably subconsciously afraid of hurting someone. Problem being, it’s actually more dangerous since I’m not protecting the opponent the right way when he hits… and it looks like shit. Need to work on that.

3) I have copies of iLife ’04 reserved for me and anukul at MacOutfitters. Theoretically, that means that I should have it Friday morning. Whoohoo! GarageBand! I’m going to need to get a cheap USB Midi interface for my keyboard. Suggestions? max1975, danitapgh, I’m looking in your general directions… Key word being “cheap”.

4) ow…

om

10 comments for “things of note in my life…

  1. January 14, 2004 at 9:10 am

    iLife 4.0

    Hey, would you be able to let me know if there’s a significant improvement in this version? I’d like to know before I throw down $49 (that I don’t really have) on buying it.

    1. mav
      January 14, 2004 at 9:46 am

      Re: iLife 4.0

      yeah, of course

      I’ll post some opinions on it, but it would help if I knew exactly what you used the iLife apps for. For instance, I am really looking forward to the iDVD improvements. But if you never make DVDs, you might not care.

      1. January 14, 2004 at 9:42 pm

        Re: iLife 4.0

        I’m totally in it for iPhoto: now featuring Sucklessness!

  2. January 14, 2004 at 12:36 pm

    1) It’s really hard to get a staff job when you’re not currently a student, I’ve found. Not stopping me from trying, though. I could really use someone else paying for the classes I’m taking. And some health insurance once cobra runs out.

    2) Have you ever seen “Faking It” on BBCA? I saw an episode last week where they turned a ballet dancer into a wrestler. I have a little more sense of what you’re doing now from seeing it.

    1. mav
      January 14, 2004 at 6:34 pm

      Wow… you’re taking classes? I can’t even come close to afford being able to take classes. Well, other than wrestling, which is significantly cheaper than CMU tuition. I need to start applying for Pitt jobs too… Health insurance would definitely be nice. Particularly given the injury chances with wrestling. *sigh* This whole unemployed thing is really starting to weigh on me, but then the alternatives haven’t been so great either. Like this current thing, crappy hours, crappy benefits, crappy rates and will likely get in the way of me finding something better. Seriously considering turning theme down before I sign with them.

      No, haven’t seen that show. Sounds interesting.

      1. January 14, 2004 at 6:52 pm

        I have a little money saved up – I’m spending mostly on classes. Pitt tuition is much more resonable than CMU, anyway (about 1/3 as much). I don’t think I’m going to be able to afford classes after this semester, though, unless I get a scholarship for the summer Japanese course. But I’m (waveringly) trying to change fields, so taking classes makes sense for me.

        At the same time I’m teaching myself WinCE programming, so I guess I’m just not sure what to do next.

        I almost got a temp job last semester. It wouldn’t have been bad, probably — the problem was it was too many hours (because I was in class), but too short a time (so it didn’t make sense to drop the classes for a 6 week job). I wish I could find something part-time but decently paying.

  3. January 15, 2004 at 1:27 pm

    But does it feel like you’ve been hit in the back with a crowbar just once, or hit repeatedly?

    1. mav
      January 15, 2004 at 1:37 pm

      hard to say… it really doesn’t hurt that bad while I’m doing it… (unless I screw up, and don’t turn the right way, which I do sometimes and I end up winding myself). Its the soreness and bruising that occurs a couple hours later that really hurts.

  4. January 16, 2004 at 1:51 pm

    3) I have copies of iLife ’04 reserved for me and anukul at MacOutfitters. Theoretically, that means that I should have it Friday morning. Whoohoo! GarageBand! I’m going to need to get a cheap USB Midi interface for my keyboard. Suggestions? max1975, danitapgh, I’m looking in your general directions… Key word being “cheap”.

    http://midiman.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=0f9b57d1a31a74a42bcb466298353d69

    1. January 16, 2004 at 4:02 pm

      To elaborate, which I didn’t have time for earlier: The midisport 1×1 is rather limited. I can’t recall whether 1×1 means 1 in and 1 out, or 1 in OR 1 out. It doesn’t matter. I know what your keyboard sounds like, and I can’t see any reason why you’d ever want to do midi out to it.

      Anyway, the 1×1 works fine for me, and it’ll work fine for you unless you start assembling a big rack o’ synthesizers to make me envious, and if you were gonna do that, “cheap” would not be your key word in regard to midi interfaces.

      The 1×1 is $50 from midiman.com, I’m guessing you could find one cheaper if you really looked for it. Alternatively, you could take your little sister to MacWorld and have her use her Powers of Cuteness to make the midiman rep give you one for free…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.