Well, its been an eventful past couple of weeks.

Last week, the concept of Nifto came into existance the ball began to roll and from there its been all down hill. This week I have been gone all day, every day, trying to get things off the ground and rolling with my partner. It is almost surprising just how newbie we really are, but we are making a good go of it and learning quickly. We are extremely excited to be working on our first legitimate contract. With some luck and a lot more work we will be a well oiled business machine in no time.

As for the rest of my life ... its been pretty much on hold. I saw a few movies over last week, but I have been so swamped that I haven't gotten my reviews done and posted. I have also been neglecting the website a bit and this blog has been a bit empty as well. I think I am most disappointed in my lack of time spent on artwork. If it wasn't for my life drawing class I might not be doing any at all. I guess thats just the brakes though ... there is only so much time in a day. Hopefully I will get on a more manageable schedule and be able to work out my schedule to fit everything in.

As much as I hate being overly busy ... I must admit that it feels good to have something meaningful to do each day.

-- AG

Well, it has been a pretty eventful past few days. First, and most important, is the launch of nifto.com, my first buisness. Why try fighting the economy and finding a job when you can just create one for yourself? While starting a business is never easy, I think we have a decent chance, and at least we are taking the initiative.

Second, is Chicago. Surprising that I just saw the movie Chicago and loved it, and now I am going to be on my way there. Yup, thanks to Gun I'll be spending a bit of time in Chicago some time in the next couple months. I am really stoked about it and looking forward to the adventures I know I'll have, plus I'll get to visit my friends the Vesper's :)

Third is Perl Milk Ice Tea. Its a pretty strange drink that I was subjected to by my friends the other night after we got some sushi. Basically it's a flavored iced tea with milk and tapioca balls. Most of the flavors come from some kind of fruit, like strawberry, mango, or guava. Anyways ... It's always fun to try new stuff and even better when its good stuff.

Welp ... things seem to be looking up a bit. At least I am more focused and optimistic about things right now. I am starting my own business, taking a drawing class, and will be going to Chicago. can't ask for much more than that.

It may not be envy so much as a feeling of disarray about how much blogging is going on out there. I was just checking out the Moveable Type homepage and browsing the different blogs people have setup. Then it struck me. People aren't just exchanging information on the internet anymore ... they are sharing themselves. As I browsed around and read some of the quarky things that people put in their blogs I couldn't help but want to make comments everywhere. Not to be a joker, or a menace, but to participate, somehow, in their life. To think that they will come back to their computer some time, read my comment, and get the funny feeling you get when you meet someone new. I could become a frequent visitor of any blog I want ... know that persons life ... correspond with them ... and all because they were willing to put their thoughts and their life out there for people to find. The thought of millions of people making the intimate details of their lives available for others to share in is a pretty powerful thing.

I hope when people find my blog they are willing to make a comment.

The first week of class is over now and we had our first drawing session last night. I was quite glad to find that I had not totally forgotten how to draw, but I think it helped that I am using a larger drawing pad for this class. In drawing, bigger is easier. I'm unfortunately sceptical of how much instruction and help I am going to get from our teacher. She seems to know how to draw very well, but that doesn't make you a good art teacher, so we'll see.

I have been trying to work on my resume and getting a job, but without a working word processor on my system it has been tough. I really love linux and find that almost everything I need works under linux, but sometimes there are issues that pretty much drive me up the wall. I have a really bad bug showing up in Open Office and I have no idea how or why it is happening. It seems that linux starts to have more of its problems when you look for more complex programs. Finding a program to login to AIM is easy, but getting a fully functional and feature rich desktop publishing suite is more difficult. I am sure Open Office will do the trick, if I can figure out what the hell is wrong with it.

Anyway ... I think I'll try tackling the Open Office problem today, as well as catching up on my reviews and working on the website some more.

Alright, so I wanted to get this up for myself as an attempt to make good on this years resolutions. So rather than just let them linger in my head only to be forgotten come February, this time we do it right and put it in writing.

1. New Hours - I have decided that the whole 11PM-3AM schedule isn't good for me, and so I am changing my hours to a more normal schedule of around 8AM-10PM. I figure its better to spend more time awake while the sun is up :)

2. Get Outside - Engineers are like gophers, we live in holes. Unfortunately I think this is unhealthy and so I will be trying to get my ass outside for some fresh air and natural excercise on a regular basis.

3. Moving On - I know the economy is rough and jobs are scarce, but living at home just isn't for me. Its nice not paying rent, but there comes a time when you must move on, and that time will come in 2003.

4. 100 Movies - This is a pretty tall order for anyone who actually keeps track of how many movies they watch. This roughly translates to about 2 movies per week, but have no fear, I have done this before =)

5. 100 Drawings - I am putting this here to coincide with the 100 movies resolution, and as a way to keep my ass drawing. Now what this means is 100 decent drawings, not just crappy 5 min sketches. And they can't be from class, they need to be something I actually tried to create from an idea.

6. Budget - Its not that I spend too much, its that I just don't keep track of what I spend. Its too easy to let things go when mom and dad share the bill, but this year we change that and keep track of every expense.

7. Website - This is a given, but needs to be here. I plan to keep updating the website throughout the entire year, and hopefully it will be reasonably current the whole time. If I can keep to it that should mean and art section with at least 100 new drawings ... at least 100 new movie reviews ... and of course the oh so inspiring blog entries ;)

8. Musically Challenged - I think the world has become musically challenged with the onset of mp3's and file sharing. While its great to lash out against the music industry and steal 500 cds online, really this gets us nowhere. I like music, and I think it should be purchased, so I plan to buy a new cd every 2 weeks throughout the year.

Well, that should be good for this year. If I think of anything else that really must be here then I'll edit it in. I would have put finish Star Trek dvds, but that one is so ingraned into my head that it would be pointless to add. Anyways ... if you know me then help out by holding me to my resolutions. If you agree with any of these resolutions then feel free to add them to your list, I am not copyrighting them, although maybe I should since its a damn fine list :)

Cheers and Happy New Year 2003
-- AG

Alright. Well, I'm finally feeling better. Man do I hate getting a cold.

I saw "Gangs of New York" last night with my folks and found myself stuck to my seat at the end. hmm. Anyways, the movie was pretty damn good and I am contemplating another viewing, I'm sure Panos will be up for that. I'm going to try and get caught up on my reviews tonight which will include the Gangs review.

Today I went over to Mission College to enroll myself in a life drawing class. The class will be meeting Tues and Thurs from 7:00-10:00 ... its a bit more than I really wanted (one night a week is enough), but I'm sure the practice will be good for me. Anyways ... it was a major ordeal getting into the class since it requires some other drawing prereqs that I obviously didn't have since I just became a Mission student today. So, the short story is that I waited in lots of lines and finally ended up in the class, yay.

Well, I got back from Maui on Thursday and unfortunately haven't been feeling too well since then. My dad got sick during the trip and managed to get the rest of the family sick along the way. Luckily I caught it on the last day of the trip as we were leaving, so it didn't really spoil anything. Since being back I have just been resting and watching football all weekend. Come next week I will be regathering myself and planning my attack on the new year, should be fun. Other than that I look forward to the two and a half seasons of Star Trek I have left to watch :)

As for the trip itself, well, there really wasn't much too it. I always love getting away from home, so in that sense it was a good break. It was a rather odd time to go on vacation though, and the island seemed pretty dead. Most of the time I was hanging out and doing some surfing with my dad and my sister, who is just learning. Most notable on the trip was the food. We had a number of great meals including Duck Confit at Gerard's ... yum. Overall its a pretty boring trip to talk about, but definitely an enjoyable trip.

I haven't posted my "New Year's Resolutions" journal entry since we left so soon after new years. Once I get it organized that'll go up.

-- AG

Well, its a new year.

I had a good time going up to SF for New Years and strolling around the Embarcadero with my friends. The fireworks were really nice, and it was kewl to ride bart for the first time.

So, now I am actually going to Maui tomorrow. My sister had been trying to get my parents to take this trip to Hawaii after new years, and finally yesterday they were able to book a place and get some decent airfare. So we leave tomorrow. Should be a good chance to get away from home for a while and relax and maybe get some surfing in.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to post an entry or two while I'm gone, otherwise I'll have to post it all when I get back.

-- AG