My Mama has the power of the cards, mon!

Yesterday evening, at about ten o'clock, after my shift ended at the Help Desk, I discovered a couple of voicemails on my cellular telephone. The first was from my dad (stop calling me, dammit), and the second was from my mama. She said she had a crazy feeling that something bad had happened, and indeed, I had gotten into a car accident a few days prior. Maybe Mary Jane is the gateway to a sixth sense.

My mom rules, she cares so much.

THESE CARDS DON'T LIE MON!

A Wondrously Whacked Week

I haven't updated for awhile, because I have truly not had the time to sit down and compose a Blogger post. Since Wednesday morning at 6 a.m., I have been Brandon Adams, on the go! Every day since that I have woken up at six, been at school at seven, had classes from 8-1, and then been volunteering at the table setup at WCC for our New York Times fundraising. When I get home I make something to eat, do some kind of work that occupies the rest of the night, and then die in bed at midnight. Among those kinds of work:

• Helping Crystal with her computer problems. Some l33t h4x0r who's stealing teh intarweb off of their wireless router thought he'd be really l33t and turn off Automatic DNS on the router, thus disabling their use of teh intarweb. This guaranteed that they'd call up one of their l33t h4x0r friends (me!) to fix the problem. The friend would no doubt lock down the network, and the original l33t h4x0r would have free internet access no longer. What an unthinking anus this guy was.
  


• Crafted fancy posterboard-on-posterboard signs for the fundraisering at WCC. Here they be:

• Walked Paige through setting up modem pool access on her computaring machine.


• Stared into space with a sleep deprivation headache

Amidst all that insanity, I also managed to get into a vehicular accident! A new roundabout had been constructed at WCC. For the past month or so it had stop signs (which completely defeat the concept of a roundabout) but had recently changed to yield signs. I was on the outside lane, cruising along, when a clueless old lady jumped her Ford Explorer out in front of my Jeep. I panicked, left a nice skid mark, and collided.

Strangely and luckily enough, there was not a single scratch, nor an area of disturbed dust, to be found on her car. After a bit of reasoning, I've concluded that I must have hit her tire. Unfortunately, my car did not escape damage:



I was shaking like Micheal J. Fox because of the adrenaline and the fear that either the cops would show up or that she would insist on calling them. I don't have automobile insurance, you see. Not because I'm an asshole or an idiot, but because I truly cannot afford the $200 a month basic coverage would cost me. When she started talking like she wanted to call the cops, I insisted that she did not. She said that we were required to file a police report, but I informed her (and this is true) that accidents with damages totalling less than $500 do not have to be reported. She relented, we exchanged info, and went along our unmerry ways.

An amazingly good samaritan stopped, gave us his info as a witness to the incident, and took pictures with his digi. He'll be emailing those to me soon.

I bought new sheets, amazingly comfortable 300 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets. Look at my decadent fucking bed:


I bought books. And then I took all of them back. And then I bought them again. I wrote a check on Tuesday excepting my financial aid money to be in my bank account by Wednesday, the first day of school, but it wasn't. I had to return them and deposit the refund in my bank to keep the check from bouncing.

My classes:

• MGMT 271 - Business law, or something like it. No one seems fond of this prof aside from me. He's animated and opinionated, which keeps me awake at the hour of 8 a.m. Folks say that he's a hard grader, but that's fine with me, since I'm an excellent study, anyway. An excessively hot Asian chick in this class. She wears skater/snowboard clothes, is insanely cute, and has smartlookin glasses. Her name is Christina.


• ACCT 245 - Managerial accounting. My prof's name is Zite (pronounced 'zeet') Hutton. Zite is short for Marguerite, somehow. She has the largest ass in proportion to her body that I have ever seen. If I'm ever in a situation where a photograph would be appropriate, I'd definitely take a pic to immortalize my excessively assed accounting prof. This particular prof happened to get both of her degrees from UTA, as well (shout out to Minh).


• HIST 286 - Modern History of Africa. My prof is originally from France, but studied in England. She's very apologetic about her English, but her speech is better than most Americans I know. Today I very carefully and quietly put my things in my bag, and sat waiting for a moment when I could leave without interrupting class. I did this for a few minutes, and then she very politely said that if I had to leave, I could go. I felt like a crazy freshmen, but oh well, she's excessively nice, and I like it. Also, we have a real live African (Sudan) in our class. DIVERSITY!


• PHIL 102 - Intro to Logic. The prof seems like a nice guy. The class is filled with crazy freshmen who are taking PHIL 102 because it can be used to fulfill the math GUR, and they are frightened of math. Haha, bitches, you got punk'd, logic is math. During our first session he explained that we were to submit all of our homework online, except for the first assignment, because it had been corrupted by some crazy cracker. I believe seven people asked questions about this, all of which could've been answered themselves had they used a little logic. I guess they really need this class.

Man, too much happened, my brain is full.

ZOMG SCHOOL!

This week is going to give me schizophrenia.

I've got much fundraising at WCC, and very few volunteers with which to do it. I'll be covering most of the volunteering there.

I've got my first day of school tomorrow. Yeehaw, bitchess! Here is the final schedule, I fenagled it a bit:



I gambled today and wrote a check for the books I needed. Web4U showed that FinAid had submitted the electronic transfer of funds, so hopefully my bank account shoots up before the College Store deposits the check I wrote.

I have to send off the DVD-RW +/- I sold on the SA forums.

Help Desk! I love the help desk. The help desk embiggens my soul. Even the most clueless users, like John Friesen, are a pleasure to help.

I owe grandma $400. She gets the next big ol' check.

I was on Minh's radio on Sunday! I think I was too formal, I'll crank up the conversationalness for next week.

Now I must get my laundry.

Beerputer

I went to this chick's house to fix her computer tonight. She's kinda goth, kinda cute, kinda twenty-five years old. She looks a lot like Betty Paige, and her nickname is Paige because of that fact:



She fed me alcohol and gave me seventy dollars. I had fun.

Breakfast!

Minh rang me up this morning mere seconds after I had turned on the stove to make myself some breakfast. I was scrambling to bring up the script I had wrote for myself, cause I thought we were live and on the air (she tricked me by saying so in the beginning!) but she was really calling me to let me know that their phone lines were screwy today and that I wouldn't be on her Vietnamese Texas radio. Well, damn.

Here's my breakfast:



It was good. Now it's in my belly.

Red-Assed Monkey Sex

This day is not awesome.

I started by heading over to the WCC Bookstore. It was closed again. Less than a week before classes resume, and the bookstore is closed. WTF?

I then came back home, checked my finances, and realized that I don't have enough money to buy books. I have $95.11 in my checking account. I owe $1351.70 on my credit card. I also owe $400 to my grandma. When my financial aid comes, I ought to have about $2171 deposited in my checking account. My financial aid is funny, though. The projected payment date was Sept 13 (long since passed) and when I checked my account today, it looks as if they forgot to include my loans as part of the projected payment. I really need those loans. No loans means no food or shelter for Brandon. I have to go talk to the financial aid department on Monday.

Aside from that, I'm still angry about my schedule. I've been checking Classfinder to see if any classes have opened up that I've been wanting. I managed to snag a seat in an early morning MGMT 271, but still no luck with DSCI 205. It would be possible for me to take DSCI 205 through independent learning, but I don't know if the tuition I've already paid would cover that or if I'd have to pay a separate tuition. Here's my mad schedule:



I really hate 8:00 a.m. classes, I'd be much better off working the Help Desk that early in the morning. I can't learn so well at 8:00, but I can perform instinctual computer support tasks just fine.

Things I need to do:

• Talk to Financial Aid about my loans


• Talk to EESP about included vs. extra tuition


• Email NSCS members about the NYT fundraiser stuff at WCC


• Get in touch with the elusive fucking bookstore manager at WCC


• List everything wrong with my apartment on the form my landlord gave me


• Whore myself for book money

All College Day?!

This day brought bad/stupid news.

While at work, I received this email (the original message explains the origins of the reply):

I am sorry that there is no way that I can help.. becasue DSCI205 is a self-managing registration system. Students just register as long as there are spaces. Otherwise nobody can get into the class. I do not offer "over-ride" code.
Prof. Zhang

-----Original Message-----
From: Brandon Adams
Sent: Thu 9/16/2004 11:04 AM
To: George Zhang
Cc:
Subject: DSCI 205 Override Codes



Hello Dr. Zhang,

Yesterday when I registered for classes I was greeted with the
unpleasant surprise that all the courses that I had planned on taking
this quarter were closed. Yours was among them. This class is vital
to my progress at Western. I plan on pledging for Alpha Beta Psi
winter quarter. In order to do that, I need to have declared my major
(accounting and economics). To declare my major I need to be accepted
into CBE, and to apply to CBE I first need to have completed all the
CBE foundation courses.

I beg that you allow me entrance into one of your sections, as you are
the only professor teaching DSCI 205. I've earned an A- in Math 128
(accelerated calculus), so I don't anticipate to have problems
performing in DSCI 205. It's entirely your choice which section to
allow me to register for, but I would prefer the 12:00 p.m. section. I
like to spend my mornings at the ATUS Help Desk, where I work.

Thank you,

Brandon Adams (W00489930)
(360) 220-3529 (cell)
(360) 650-3333 (work)

That's crippity crap, bitches! I ought not have to delay my education because they understimated the demand for this course. I've realized that I can take a distance ed version of DSCI 205, but I don't know if I'd have to pay extra (pay extra money for less instruction!) or if I could take that course as part of the 17 credits allowed by paying undergraduate tuition.

Later, I went to Whatcom Community College in pursuit of an elusive bookstore manager. I'd been trying to get in touch for the past month, to speak about the NYT fundraiser, with no luck. Their computer system had been down, before, keeping the bookstore closed. Those problems had been resolved, so I expected the bookstore to be open. It wasn't, though, in observance of 'All College Day.' WTF IS THAT?!?!?! We'll honor the college system by closing parts of it that students need?!?! I would shit in the lunch of the person who invented all college day, if I knew who they were, for they surely shat on my day.

I have arrived!

Its nearly 1 a.m., and I'm sitting comfortably in my new apartment. I can't really form many coherent sentences, cause I'm awfully sleepy, but I can take pictures. Check these out:








I found the awesome spider in the last picture upon moving in. I posted a thread about it on SA. 99% of the people on SA are deathly afraid of spiders.

I'm not close to being done decorating, but the pics ought to give a good idea of what my place looks like, and the style I'm going for. It's time to go to sleep for the first time on my brand new pillow-top Simmons mattress.

Edit: Minh hates spiders, too. Happy birthday, Minh!
Edit 2: I forgot a pic of my bed + stuff.

It's Going Swimmingly

The email I sent out regarding NSCS's NYT Fundraiser is generating a favorable response - I've gotten a number of emails so far from people that know they want to participate, but don't know their schedules yet. I'm psyched, my first management job is going swimmingly. I still need to:

• Talk to Jon of the WCC Bookstore and inform him of his responsibilities


• Call WCC and inform them of the final dates and times we'll be on campus, as well as ask if they distribute a "Welcome to WCC!" type of thing to new students that we could maybe put our fliers in.


• Talk to Alison Magner and explain to her where and how the papers will be delivered to WCC


• Finalize a volunteer schedule

I've also received a big box of frisbees. I took the pic with my new digital camera that arrived today, a Canon S330.

This New Apartment is Righteous

I'm posting from new apartment again. Everything is now spotless! Their crew did an awesome job. They even painted! I think I might have chosen a hippie complex, though, by the looks of my neighbors.

There are two new things that are amiss: the door doesn't latch shut (I can deadbolt it until they fix it) and there is no screen on my bedroom window. Those two things aside, though.... Righteous!

Those Wacky AzNs

The first group I rented a boat to today was a group of three extremely cute Asian chicks. I asked if anyone was over eighteen and got giggles all around. It turns out out two of them, including the hottest one, were both 30 years of age.

Then, a few hours later, a group shows up (mostly Asian) that appears to be composed of all college kids with some younger siblings. I ask the same question - anyone over eighteen? The hottest one there (extremely Asian) replied that she was the fucking mother of another kid, who had to be at least fourteen.

Having learned the lesson that Asian girls that appear young are actually much older, I proceeded to make small talk with a particularly cute Asian girl that happened to be my last renter.

"So, are you camping up here?"
"Yup, it's our last day."
"Where are you from?"
"Bellevue."
"Oh, cool. High school?"
"Uhh, middle school...."

WTF?!? Dammit, I sure don't feel like some sort of predator, now. Moral of the story: Asian women age differently from all other kinds of women. Beware.

More eBay Nastiness

I bought a mighty fine Canon S330 off of eBay. I thought it would be in my posession by now, but it isn't. The tracking number which I was emailed by the seller does not work on UPS's site. I informed the seller:

Hello,

The tracking number still doesn't work, though I've tried it a few
times since I received it.  Are you sure that this is the right number
and that the package is, indeed, shipped?

Thanks,

Brandon Adams

I received this reply:

YES.
PLEASE BE PATIENT!
IT TAKES 5 WORKING DAYS.
IF YOU DID NOT RECEIVE IT BY THEN ,PLEASE CALL ME @714-895-5802 I WILL PUT A
TRACE ON IT.
AJ

WTF? Put a trace on it? What? I replied:

I didn't email you to notify you that the package hasn't arrived yet,
I wanted to tell you that the tracking number (1Z90096203397730323)
hasn't, and still doesn't, work.

Thanks,

I haven't gotten a reply back. I've never been scammed on the eBay before. I hope I'm not experiecning my first scam.