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busygeek
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Name: Andy
Country: United States
State: Colorado
Metro: Denver
Birthday: 9/25/1976
Gender: Male
Interests: My interests include: Trains, computer hardware repair, car maintenance, sound reinforcement, hiking, camping, biking, sci fi, anime, cartoons.
Expertise: I am proficient in computer hardware repair from desktops to highend servers and backup solutions. I can also perform most car repairs and maintenance.
Occupation: Computer related
Industry: Computers (Hardware)
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
8/4/2005
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| Sitting at church waiting for worship practice to end. Looking forward to some wings at Old Chicago. Not sure why I am posting but it has been well over a year and about time to break the silence. Work has been challenging and tiring over the last two months. I have been tasked with replacing 900 or so computers in my work area. Unfortunately my work partner tore a muscle in his back about 3 weeks ago and is on a lifting restriction of 5lbs now. This means I am doing all of the physical work now as well as the software loads I was doing earlier. At least the weeks fly by and the paychecks are good. Maybe I can afford to go on some trips this summer to various parts of the US to ride the rails. I am contemplating Cass Railfan weekend in West Virginia in May, the Grand Canyon Railway, Heber Valley Railroad in Utah, Nevada Northern Railroad, and the Mount Hood Railroad sometime this summer to name a few. I would really like to go on a cruise and then ride the rails in Alaska including infamous White Pass and Yukon Route but I think that will need a bit of planning and some saving, so maybe next year. It's a good thing trains have become an interest to me. I was starting to go a little crazy living on my own and all running out of things that interested me. I now have something to look forward to instead of a messy house with vehicles surrounding it in various states of disrepair. I now have some motivation to get rid of those as well but haven't made much progress. Now that the snow in my yard is gone and I can see something other that white, maybe I can get some things out.
Next weekend I am planning to go to the Colorado Railroad Museum for the Train Operations and Rules class so that I can start volunteering for steam-up days as well as some restoration and track work. I am excited to see #346 starting to make progress with boiler inspections as well as some other work. Maybe I will see it run as soon as later this year or next.
4 weeks ago on February 9th I rode the Ski Train to Winter Park and was fortunate enough to have the Rio Grande Heritage unit pulling us as one of the regular locomotives was down for repairs. What luck! The Heritage unit was only on the Ski Train two weekends or maybe three at most and I happened to catch it. Too bad my camera was broken that weekend but plenty of other railfans got some great pictures while the 1989 was in charge.
Well, my back hurts and I am tired of typing. Check for another update in a year or so.........
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<font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style='color:black; font-size: 14pt;'>
<strong>Your Eyes Should Be Brown</strong>
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<center><img src="http://images.blogthings.com/whatcolorshouldyoureyesbequiz/brown.jpg" height="100" width="100"></center>
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Your eyes reflect: Depth and wisdom<br />
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What's hidden behind your eyes: A tender heart
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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorshouldyoureyesbequiz/">What Color Should Your Eyes Be?</a></div>
Darn html isn't doing what it should and right now I don't care enough to figure it out. It should be cut and paste and user friendly. Must be unix based , I don't have patience for that either. I will leave that to the true geeks. I am just a wannabe geek with a dash of wannabe redneck. Anyway it was supposed to be a quiz on what color your eyes should be. They said brown for me and said I have wisdom and depth with a tender heart behind my eyes. Funny how that works out. The wisdom and depth part aren't me though. Not much to me, what you see is what you get. Good thing about that is there is no guessing.
3 shows this week starting with MXPX and Relient K on Monday, Some Kind of Hero thursday night, and Ben Park Drive last night.
Last week I saw Depeche Mode and the Bravery. Great show but a bit expensive. I had not seen Depeche Mode since the Ultra tour and their new album is really growing on me.
Well I have nothing more to say and I should quit avoiding some work outside. My car is starting to whine and scream and may blowup if not attended to. People ask me if I would ever want kids. I reply, "Why would I want those, I already have 13 at home, some big and some small." Sometimes I just want to get rid of all but maybe two or three to minimize the headache. Maybe I thrive on caous though, just not all at once. | | |
| I couldn't decide what to dress up as since I didn't get a Bender mask ordered in time and I have always wanted a mohawk, so I attempted it last night. It didn't turn out too bad but I am thinking to do it right, you need to have someone else help you (that and shaving the sides, etc.). I tried some gel and hair spray but it was not working well with only me to hold my hair up. I looked on the internet and someone suggested elmers white glue. It worked ok and thankfully it washed out good this morning After finishing my attempt to transform my hair into a mohawk, I got in the car and headed for church. It was rather difficult to slouch down and bend my head sideways. If only I still had the Camarao, I could have taken out the t-top and had no problem. I got there near the end of our harvest festival at church so I helped cleanup and put away chairs and tables. Then I went over and joined some other friends at another church to play a little touch football and watch a movie.
Sunday night was a lot of fun as well. My friend Dave Villano was playing a show with the full band at a cafe in Lafayette called Nissis. It was a cool atmosphere with good food and overly chlorinated water I had the caesar salad and the butternut squash (reminded me of my Aunt Marion's but not as good as hers) The girl that opened for him was very good as well as she sang and played keyboard. She sang some of her own stuff as well as a few cover tunes. She had just returned from India the day before and was engaged to Matt Henderson, who was playing drums for Dave that evening, while in India.
Work has been a bit slow lately, so I actually have some time to sit down and write. I t should be this way through the end of the year, so I think I will start pursuing some other certifications or at least read some books or something during the slow times. | | |
| Foozer at the Can
Another busy week finally over. Friday night we had the unbearably long wedding rehearsal and then I rushed downtown for the Weezer / Foo Fighters concert at the "Can" (also known as the Pepsi Center) I think I made it in on the second or third song for Weezer. That was who I was really there to see but Foo Fighters put on a great show as well. I really enjoyed the show even though I was pretty wiped out from the week. Weezer put on an amazing show playing most of my favorites and even through a nice twist into a few. For the encore, they closed out with an acoustic version of "Island in the Sun" with lead singer Rivers Cuomo playing on a small stage on the other end of the arena. As he made his way back to the stage the rest of the band grabbed a guy out of the audience to play acoustic on "Undone" He did a great job and the crowd was going nuts. I had not seen Foo Fighters before, so this was a nice bonus. I liked most of their stuff and heard a lot of my favorites from them as well as stuff off their new album which I do not have yet. After the show, I headed to a club downtown to meet up with my friend Charity and a bunch of our other friends to celebrate her 30th birthday. Our birthdays are less than a week apart but she is nearly a year older than me. I like to joke around that I feel old and she says "I don't want to hear it, I am a year older and I am not old."
Yesterday was the wedding of my good friend Tyler and his lovely bride Cecy who is from El Salvador. I was a groomsman and the wedding went well and all had a great time. At the reception after the cake cutting, the dj opened up the dance floor and the bride and groom had their first dance. The second song they had the wedding party come out for a dance. I was horrified, no where to hide, anyone who knows me knows that I don't dance, nor do I like to try. It was about 30 seconds too late to hide in the restroom or the bar. I even made a fleeting grab for one of my other friends who was an usher in the wedding to take my place as I was drug out on the floor. Of course I had the best looking bridesmaid there, nice dark hair about 5'2" and Spanish or Central/South American decent, so that didn't help my awkwardness at all (I had a hard enough time just walking with her in the ceremony). The biggest relief was that she is getting married in 3 weeks so I didn't have to talk much or worry about what she thought. So there I am on the floor looking about as awkward as ever and not having a clue what to do. She tried to do some spinning moves and I ended up getting all tangled up. I was glad to provide some entertainment as I made a complete idiot out of myself as everyone had a good laugh at my expense. At least Napoleon Dynamite had a good dance routine down, I may as well have been wearing roller skates with a blindfold, I probably would have done better. I was beet red and made a beeline for the restroom as soon as the song was over. Hopefully someone got it on video and I can sell copies to make some money on the side 
Earlier in the week was just as busy. House church Monday night with taco bar and the football game. Tuesday night company dinner with the big boss in from New Jersey. Wednesday night, bachelor party for my friend Tyler. We went for Magiannos Italian food and then bowling. Thursday night I helped Tyler move into a new apartment. Today I want to go for a drive in the mountains to look at the colors after church and returning my tux to the rental shop. I better get to church so I can run sound for second service.
P.S. The album I am currently listening to, The Fray, is a local band from Denver that released their first album on September 13th. I went to their release show on the 16th downtown at the Paramount theatre. Good show but the sound quality isn't the greatest there. | | |
| I went to the 30 seconds to Mars concert last night in Boulder and it was awesome. Loud, with a lot of energy, and a good venue, the Fox Theatre.
Man, how time flies. It has been over a month already since I last wrote. I have been feeling rather burned out and frustrated lately and just needed to take a break and regroup (more on this later, maybe ) This is my birthday weekend and I am now one year away from that 30 that I feel will make or break me so to speak. Every year I typically reflect on the last year and what has gone the way I wanted it to and what has not. I also like to live in the past, mine or someone elses at least more than I normally do. I like to remember good memories and either visit places I have been and liked or visit new places. Last year I took the Durango Silverton Train and really enjoyed it. I plan to make this a yearly event of taking a train trip somewhere on my birthday weekend. This weekend I am going on the Cumbres Toltec Scenic Railroad on Saturday and haven't really made any solid plans for Sunday yet. I will probably hang out with some friends and go to the mountains on Sunday after church and maybe a nice place to eat in the evening. Then back to work on Monday.
This last year has been upside down for the most part. So I started reflecting early, like end of July till now. Some of the cause has been me with my tastes changing: getting older, more out of shape, busier with work, busier with church groups, more concerts, way more concerts, etc. Some things have not been in my control or asked for, difficult things to deal with : friends dealing with deaths in their family or close circles, friends losing jobs, friends struggling with their marriages and relationships. It all weighs down on you and you kind of have to choose which ones to be closely involved with and which ones to just pray for. I think I am through the worst of it.... for now 
I am getting ready to leave for church now. I am taking a break from all of my groups for the rest of the year or at least most of them. Citywide is the fourth Friday of the month and I will continue to do that and Sunday mornings when I can. Other than those, I have way too many things that have gone neglected and ignored. Somewhat on purpose and some just because I allowed myself to get too busy. I need to seel a truck and a snowmobile and get some other stuff repaired and decide if I want to keep it or sell it. | | |
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