Anthony’s Ramblings

The view of the city of Albuquerque, from Interstate 40 (heading east) right before you enter the city, is amazing. As you’re coming down into the valley, the horizon is flooded with city lights as far as you can see. I’m going to attempt to take pictures of the view. The population of Albuquerque is only around half a million people, but the city is so spread out that it feels as if the city’s population is much greater.

I arrived at Jorge’s house yesterday morning around 4 AM MST. We’re going to go pay a visit to the Hinkle Family Fun Center later today (dumb name…crappy website…but it’s actually quite fun). It’s about the only thing we have planned to do…but playing things by ear/spur of the moment can be more fun. Speaking of playing things by ear…I haven’t quite decided when I’m leaving. I’ll probably end up leaving Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Maybe later or maybe sooner…you just won’t know until I leave. hehe.

This is the first long road trip I’ve done with the T-Bird. It gets 3-5 mile per gallon more than the Cougar does on the trek to Albuquerque, and it’s got 60 more horsepower. This, my friend, makes me happy.

Merry Christmas!

My grandpa has Alzheimer’s disease. If any of you have dealt with people with Alzheimer’s, it’s a fucking roller coaster. They remember enough to remember they have Alzheimer’s (or a really bad memory problem), and that is frustrating. It causes a loop of frustration that progresses to losing the will to live. Eventually he’ll forget he’s mad (ususally after going to bed), so it’s not permanent…but is a frequent thing.

Well…when Grandpa decides he want’s to go home…he wants to go HOME. He won’t listen to anybody, doesn’t care how far or long the trip is (they live in Mountain View), doesn’t care that Grandma hates driving at night, doesn’t care that Grandma has already had some to drink, doesn’t care that hwy 152 is dangerous, doesn’t care we care about him, he told the police to “fuck off”, doesn’t care about anything. I talked to him for a little bit, and he struck me with, “I’m too old. I’d rather die than get any older.” He tried walking home a few minutes ago. I’ve never had the police come to my house on a holiday before…whew so fun. So, to keep a short story short, they’re going home before Grandpa gets violent.

Grandpa having Alzheimer’s affects my Grandma’s health too. She suppresses her feelings so much, that the stress causes health issues, and that is not good. She needs a good vent, but she won’t do it. She’ll probably die from it. I can’t begin to imagine how Grandma feels…watching the love of her life slowly wither away with no way to help. Grandma said that this was probably the last time they’ll be able to come over, and cried a little before they left. Grandpa seems to like (and actually remembers) our house in Twain Harte…we should do the next holiday/family gathering there and see how that works out.

My dad always knew this would happen.

I’ve always felt a fast death was much better than a slow crippling death. This is why.

I’m not afraid to admit that I finished up my shopping today . I had a hell of a time figuring out what to get a few people. I could take the easy route and give everybody candy and/or gift certificates, but something that actually shows a little thought is much much better, in my opinion. Sure, it’s easy to go pick things up for people, but I don’t like to give useless gifts. I try to make all my gifts something that the other person won’t want to “re-gift” or will be put away and ignored. So, this wasn’t the easiest task, but with a lot of thought (I actually developed notes on people) and running around…I think I did it (I hope). hehe

Merry Christmas!

It’s official. I got the registration paperwork back today. I’m in!

The only bad thing: The AppleScript conference was full. Major suckage, but oh well. It was the one I was looking forward to the most.

I’ll live.

I received a 10% off Dell XPS PCs priced at $1499 or higher code in the mail today, *looks at the clock*, actually… yesterday. I don’t exactly plan on buying a Dell any time soon (or one that expensive)…so it’s first come first serve.

Get 10% off Dell XPS PCs priced $1499 or more. Code: 2GK9M?3HV$G89X

On a side note: Today, Sam’s dad proved that Dell’s tech support can sometimes actually be somewhat reasonable. His dad’s flat panel died, and maybe 15 minutes of dumb questions from a Dell tech over their crappy online chat resulted in them shipping him a new monitor. I’ve never had a really bad experience with them, but let me tell you…it’s not the best. I would ramble on….but this is just a side note.

Yahoo! Answers is a huge forum where people post questions open for any Yahoo! user to answer. The person asking the question can rate the answers received and pick the “best answer”. You earn points for asking questions, posting answers, and if your answer gets picked as the “best”.

Typically, you receive responses within minutes. I’ve been posting questions and answers, and it’s quite addicting.

This is a rather cool Christmas light display…

http://media.putfile.com/WizardsofWinter-SM

The lights are animated to the song Wizards of Winter by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. If you haven’t clicked already, CLICK IT.

Not that you’d want to buy it, but…

ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 8X AGP Video Card

Tell all your friends, please.