tgcgel . net^blog

I've lapsed in my posting, and for that i apologize, but not too much. i dont feel bad that ive been really busy enjoying life and staying on top of school/social life. not too much new is going on these days. that clock of impending "you're-leaving-austin-and-going-to-get-a-real-job" doom has been ever ticking down, reminding me that my days are numbered here. of more immediate interest is the upcoming spring break. for spring break im going to boston to check out some apartments and check out cisco and the city. should be a fun trip.

today i went to see bill gates of microsoft fame address the computer science students/department. it was a good address and he touched on a lot of good, important issues. since he was addressing a "technical" audience i wish he wouldve gone into more technical areas, but he cant be faulted for putting on a good performance that seemed to please most of the attendees. of course there were the scattered hard core "im-so-freaking-awesome-because-i-hate-and-or-dont-use-windows" computer nerds that got up during the question and answer session to bash windows and show one of the most famous men in america how terribly ungrateful and tactless the students at UT can be. i was embarassed for the school for those few people who got up to say such things like "dur, why does windows crash? *snickering to myself because i think im so cool for my skilless and unmasked attempt to bash someone for something they did very little to produce*" WAKE UP MORONS! i agree that windows can be slow and cumbersome and that many viable and attractive alternatives exist, but seriously, its not like bill gates wrote the windows operating system. i would be surprised if he actually coded any part of it at all, so can we for a minute realize we're not in some online "LiNuX_RULEZZZZZZZ WindoZE SUX" chatroom and pretend like we know what manners and social skills are? it was really too bad those few had to ruin what was otherwise a good presentation.

enough ranting for now. more next time...

im on flight number 3 for the day. ive spent now a total of almost 16 hours flying, and im eagerly awaiting the words "we're begining our descent into houston", for that will mean the end of this exhausting journey back home; well, the flying part at least. i'll still have a good 3 hours of drive time under my belt when i decide to head on back to austin. thats not too bad though; sitting on the plane for hours on end circling an airport is.

enough lamenting. if anyone has reason to rejoice it is i, for i have returned from a wonderful stay in switzerland! the food, company, and sights were all excellent, and even surprising. admittedly i was a bit worried and/or nervous about going to stay with and visit my ex-fianceé's family, not so much the siblings, but the parents. they were warm to me, but it did feel a bit akward the first time we met again. by the end of the trip though it was like old times and they were just as sorry to see me leave as i was sorry to leave them. for those of you who dont know she was not there, if she had been i wouldn't have gone in the first place. i added that bit of information to avoid the question that countless others have already asked me.

it would be tiresome and lengthy to try and list all my expolits and adventures, so i will present a brief list to whet your appetite while i prepare a better and more thorough entry full of the resplendent anecdotes and memories you'd expect.

so what did i see?:
Geneva, Bern, Solothurn, Padova and Como (Italy), Divonne-les-Bains (a small french city close to Geneva), the chocolate factory in Courtelary, as well as many drives through the Jura and Alps.

this list is by no means complete, so bear with me as i try at a later day to complete it. you have to realize ive been travelling for almost 20 hours today and my mental faculties are not quite what they would normally be :) this was just a good way to kill some time on the plane, since i am dreadfully bored and have nothing with which to entertain myself. enough ranting for now though, more to come soon...

so happy new years. i rang in the new years mid way over the atlantic. they didnt even make an announcement or anything on my flight, i just deduced it from the world clock on my computer.

its 5:41 in the morning here and we've just begun cruising over france. as we crossed the channel we passed over a small port town. i vividly remember passing over this same exact town last year when i came to switzerland. you're probably thinking im just imagining it, but if you could see the intricate mass of colors and lights of these tentacles streched out to sea it would most assuredly be ingrained in your memory the way it is in mine.

i was thinking as we left new york and looked out on the blazing lights of that great city that if there was ever a breathtaking night shot of a city, this is it. evidently i thought too soon, because this small town glowing beneath us as i type captivates in a different, and more inspiring way. i could try and explain it to you, but you wouldn't appreciate it unless you too had experienced what i am feeling now.

So then you asked yourself 'Isn't there something more to life?'

Yeah, well let me clue you in on something... There isn't.

I mean, what are you thinking about, marriage? Family? They're prisons! Man-made prisons. You're doing time. You get up in the morning, she's there. You go to sleep at night, she's there. It's like you gotta ask permission to use the bathroom. 'Is it alright if I use the bathroom now?!' And you can forget about watching TV while you're eating. You know why? Because it's dinnertime, and you know what you do at dinner? You talk about your day. 'How was your day today? Did you have a good day today or a bad day today? Well, what kind of day was it? Well, I don't know, how about you, how was your day?' It's sad. It's a sad state of affairs.

greetings! what better time to update the masses than 745am on a freezing thursday morning while everyone in the home sleeps soundly, except myself? im awake early because i went to bed last night around 7pm...i woke up on the couch around 10 and moved to my bed and was asleep again by 11; i got quite a lot of sleep last night. i am on the sick side, so its warranted. i didnt do a whole lot of anything yesterday aside from sneezing and blowing my nose. 2 of my sisters left yesterday and i took them to the airport. my family likes to find and return the little carts for the 25 cent deposit, and we must have seen at least 20 of them in the parking garage and at the check-in counter...makes for a lot of quarters wouldnt you say?

christmas day was good to me. it was good to have everyone around and be together. we hadn't all been home for christmas for some time, which was my fault of course. it was a slow, lazy day, the kind that makes you want to curl up and read a good book, the kind that can be only slower and lazier if there is rain. there was no rain, but it was still nice. i spent a good portion of the day reformatting and updating the family computer. it works great now much to their delight.

today finally is a car shopping day. hopefully i will return with a new car. what will it be? i dont know...but we shall see soon enough.

what a day! it started nice and late, the way i like my saturdays to start, and was rather uneventuful until early afternoon when i went shopping with my mother. We hit target and best buy and then went to pick up my pants from the dry cleaners. we were in search of earphones for an ipod but our efforts were fruitless; my brother will just have to look for some after the holiday slam. after that brief outing i spent the late afternoon with the family, watching the office, playing the wii, doing the usual.

ive also been doing a lot of thinking about my new years resolutions. im not one to usually vest much time or effort into such things, but this year i'm really going to do it. there are a few things on my mind that i want to change, different ways to act, or live, and i'm really going to do it. i was sitting by a window in my home, watching my cat sitting on the window sill when i noticed the explosive sunset. i had though to myself just the day before how beautiful that sunset was and to see an equally enchanting scene only one day later surprised me. there was something soothing and empowering, even motivating about the glowing orange and red hues glowing throughout the skies that made me stop to think and reflect and ponder...so its decided! some of them i will post, others will be for my "eyes" only :)

eventually when the boredom hit and i could take it no longer i made my way up north to visit my old friend tina. I hadnt seen her in years, and it was good to catch up. shes all moved out and on her own in a nice apartment in the woodlands. We went to eat and to see a friend of hers and then to a movie, and it was a really good evening. we saw a very good, albeit morbid, movie. curious? well you'll just have to ask me about it...

so im at home again. its good to be back and visit with the family. last night most of us went down to play tennis together at the courts in the neighborhood. it was kind of cool and we ended up playing for hours. i quickly found out that playing racquetball has greatly affected my tennis skills. i played tennis for years and years and then took up racquetball in college. i spent the whole time trying to kill the ball against the corner of the net and the ground while my brother rolled his eyes at me. it was still fun and afterwards i went and spent some time on the exercise bike. im going to spend this holiday season eating as much as i want and still losing weight, just to rub it in.

my father is also in the market for a new car, so we went to go test drive a bmw 325 on our way to ikea. wow... that is a nice car, with an equally impressive ride....i want it.

in less than 10 days in back in europe. pretty crazy. i have a feeling the break is going to pass so quickly. i dont want it to. i like the time to relax and catch up on sleep. the last semester really wore me thin and purtroppo the stress was starting to get to me.

today should be fun. im looking forward to hanging out with some old friends i havent seen in a long time. old friends are fun :) ill keep you posted

its been a while since ive written, i know. its also been a while since i've experienced a christmas at home with the family, so it is today actually that i will make my way back home to houston to spend my first christmas in 3 years back at home. it will be strange, thats for sure.

not only am i going home for christmas, but once again im going to spend part of my winter break in switzerland. needless to say i am beyond excited, AND as if that wasnt exciting enough i'll spend 3 days in italy, visting some of the cities up in the north part of the country. che bello! i feel like such a world traveller, though in all honesty i really am not much of one. ill make my trans-atlantic journey on new years eve, and arrive at 7am, new years eve in Zurich. ill be there until jan 10th, so once again im bringing in the new year swiss style. :)

the raging and firey inferno known as finals is over. im not 100% sure how i did, not terribly well i assume, but well enough to pass all my classes. thats all that really matters now that im contractually in with cisco. certainly i wanted to nail the 4-oh again this semester...but what can ya do? im just glad im done with it all, and that i survived with my sanity semi-intact. its important to maintain some semblace of normalcy until i can restructure my mental facilities during the break.

there isnt much else to write really. i knows its been nearly a month, and one would think that something meritous of mention would transpire in my life...but whatever it be it escpaes me at the moment. that said i bid the reader adieu, and wish you a merry christmas! (screw political correctness, if you dont like christmas, then tough. you cant hide the celebrations of close to a billion people simply because you choose not to observe this holiday).