The Jack Noodle Journal

We have arrived! The last day of 2004 is upon us! We made through another year together my friends. How exciting. The year seemed to go by at a rapid pace didn’t it? Actually, last January seems like a long ways away. I think this year went by at a pretty average clip. Not too fast and not too slow.

What is going on for your New Years celebrations? I’m not totally sure what is going on with us yet. I think K wanted to have some people over here but then I thought we were going to other peoples

Hey there. We are having trouble staying awake here at the Noodle house today. I have been napping on and off for a few hours this afternoon. K has been passed out asleep for quite a while now also. It’s good to nap right? I think that our busy holiday has finally caught up with us and we are sleeping it off. Hopefully we will be able to wake up this evening and do something.

My mother came over and visited with us this morning. I sure do like that lady. Her plane is flying out tomorrow afternoon.

Oh my goodness. Isn’t the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that occurred off the coast of Southeast Asia on Christmas day just horrible? They are saying now that 33,000 people were killed. It has been all over the news. How frightening and sad for those families. One more event for the 2004 history books, too bad it was such a tragic one.

Good late morning to you folks! I can’t believe it but we actually have some sunshine this afternoon. It’s pretty chilly outside right now though so don’t let the Sun fool you. I sure do like the version of the Sun that the people in Arizona and California get. Have I mentioned that yet? Our version of the Sun here in Portland is nice also. We do have you guys beat in the green lushness and tree department though.

Damn it! My laptop screen just went out again! I was just thinking this morning about how cool it was that my computer monitor had fixed itself. Cool, a self healing computer. Not so I guess. That sucks. One day I will have to spend money and get it fixed. I was looking at new computers this morning. Maybe I should stop doing that and just fix up my current computer. Hold on one second won’t you?

Last night we went over to my brother and family’s house and celebrated Christmas with my mom’s side of the family. It was nice seeing everybody but it didn’t seem like we were there for very long. I think it was getting late for grandpa and grandma. They looked a bit tired. I was happy to see my mom. She’s going to be in town for a couple more days so I will get to see her again before she leaves. I think last night was the final event on our Christmas itinerary. Next up is celebrating the new year. Woo hoo!

I have been in a very contemplative mood over the last 2 days. This morning I have been reflecting on the 2004 year that we are about to wrap up. There have been quite a few end of year stories on the TV and internet and I am trying to piece together my end of year story for the journal here. It was a pretty good year huh? I need to go through the journal and make a list of the highlights of 2004.

One of the major highlights of my 2004 of course was the Europe trip at the end of June start of July. I’m entering in those 12 missing journal entries now. I’ve been reading those 12 days over and think that I need to add some more commentary on them now before I forget the events and what I was thinking at the time.

Along with thinking about 2004 I am starting to get some plans and goals in place for 2005. We have seen where we have been and now it’s time to look forward to where we are going.

I am also preparing to kick major ass next term. I am already planning out how I will attack my classes. The grades from last term are out and I am not very pleased with them. One class was a throw away but I was surprised by one of the others. That’s it though. My last 3 remaining terms will be 4 point terms. I need to type up a list and get the mission all planned out before school starts again on the 10th. I’m tired of screwing around. That school will witness the full force of the Noodle attack!

Merry day after Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry day after Christmas!

How the heck are you all? Did you have a nice Christmas celebration? We have had a wonderful holiday time. Yes, we are back from our travels. We flew in from Arizona last night at about 5:00 PM. It was a wonderfully relaxing time. It was good to see all of the family we got to see.

For the first leg of our trip K and I flew with my dad and Valerie down to Sacramento California. There we rented a car and drove to my Grandparent’s house in Roseville. We surprised my grandpa Hartford who wasn’t expecting any visitors for his 80th birthday. Other family members also showed up and surprised him. It was a pretty fun time. I hadn’t seen my Grandparent’s house in Roseville before. I also was happy to see a few cousins that I haven’t seen in 12 or so years.

We stayed at my Grandparent’s house over the weekend. Early Monday morning K and I took the rental car and drove from Roseville, California to Phoenix, Arizona. The whole drive took about 13 hours. I thought it was a pretty fun adventure. I think that has been the longest amount of driving in one go that K and I have undertook together. The rental car had a CD player in it so we rocked out the whole way.

When we got to Phoenix we dumped the rental car off at the airport and were picked up by Mr. Baptist who then drove us another 2 hours to Ajo, Arizona where K’s parents are living. We spent the rest of our winter trip in the desert. Ajo was very sunny but actually not that warm. It was in the 60s the whole time we were there. The Sun was out every single day though. Not a cloud in the sky. I think I could really get use to that. On Wednesday we went down to Mexico, looked around, did some shopping and eating. We had a tasty Christmas feast on Christmas eve and were on the plane again heading for home on Christmas day.

When the plane was making it’s final descent into Portland we knew we were home. There was thick cloud cover, everything was gray and it was raining. Quite the opposite of our California and Arizona vacation. Now we are home and very happy to see the puppies and the kitty.

Hey there. I think I had yesterday listed as Friday here didn’t I? Well don’t you worry, I’ll fix that right now. How are you doing this fine morning? I am pretty good. I was just out watering Phillip and I stood in the Sun for a long moment. The rays from the Sun felt wonderful. It is very bright out there right now. I just microwaved some coffee and I am feeling good. See, being 32 isn’t the end of the World.

I slept in a little bit longer this morning. I still woke up thinking I had to go to school though. I think right when I am able to correct my sleeping pattern into relaxed, not having to get up mode it will be time to back to school.

Hey, the writing every single remaining day of 2004 is still on! I may have to make some paper entries coming up but I will enter them into the computer as soon as possible. The website may be stuck for a few days but don’t worry, I am keeping my records.

I had a fun birthday yesterday. We went to La Buca and had a marvelous Italian feast. Then we back to Seth and Alicia’s and hung out until the wee small hours of the morning. Not too exciting but an excellent way for an old man like myself to spend his birthday.

I’ve got to get to packing now. I’m running out of time! I wanted to go see the portfolio show today at school to check out the graduate work. Some really talented people graduated this term and I want to see their stuff. They are the competition you know. We’ll see if I have any time left.

Good morning! Holy crap! That was the biggest gap of non-journal writing days that we have seen here this year. The Europe trip had a bigger gap but actually I have all those days typed up. I just haven’t posted them here yet. I am going to declare that I will write a journal entry for every single remaining day of this year! That’s 15 more days. I wonder if I will be able to do it? I am going to have to get going on my end of year wrap up and discuss the highlights of 2004.

Oh yeah, guess who is 32 today? This guy. Yep, I am one old man now for sure. Happy birthday old man. I think about this every year, but when I was a kid I remember 32 year old people as being so old. I’m not what I had imagined a 32 year old as being. I’m going to have to start acting like an adult soon. I should stop for a moment and think about what I imagine a 64 year old to be now. Maybe when I am 64 I will be saying that I’m not what I imagined a 64 year old as being.

I think it will be a mellow birthday this year. I don’t think there is anything big planned. I’m an old man now, I have to take it easy. We went out, had a few drinks at the Bonfire last night and watched the clock turn over to my birthday. That should be enough for celebrating right? I can’t get too crazy because I have to be level headed and in good spirits when we get on the plane to fly to California tomorrow.

The Fall 2004 school term is over my friends! Woo hoo! That is part of the reason for the last few days of silence in the journal. I was making one final push to get all of my work done. I think everything came together nicely in the end. I feel much better about this term than I did at the end of last term. There was only one class I am still unsure about and that is that darn computer based training. I don’t feel good about my performance in that class. I think I did pretty good grade wise. Hopefully there aren’t any surprises come report card time. I was so wound up after school yesterday that it took me about 4 hours before I could relax and enjoy the fact that the term was over. Going on our trip for the holidays will be a nice and relaxing break.

I am going to head out now and get a birthday haircut. I know it’s winter time but I am still going to get it all shaved again. I can’t handle having hair longer than half an inch. I have been sporting a mustache now days and that is going to need a trim also.

How do you do? It’s Friday folks. The weekend is upon us! Run for your lives! Geeze. You know last night it was fairly mild temperature wise. I was waiting for the bus and wasn’t that cold at all really. There we some rain drops but they weren’t noticeable. I was outside this morning already and it seemed to be a tad colder but the strange undercurrent of mildness was still present.

I am currently at the bunch of crap faze with my end of term school work. It is all a bunch of crap. I am really getting tired of this stress at the end of every term. Enough already. I guess that is what school is all about though isn’t it? I haven’t seen the light at the end of the tunnel yet with my school work. Only a few more days left! I spent most of the day at the school yesterday and I may head in there again today if things aren’t going well here. I seem to get more work done on campus. I can finish typing these papers that won’t die this morning I hope.

The giant thorn in my side is going to be that computer based training project. I am anticipating nothing but doom with that bastard. One thing at a time Noodle. One thing at a time. I need to make a checklist. Yes, a checklist is the answer!

After all of this I am off to do my holiday traveling. It will be nice not having to think about school work for a week or two. When I am at my darkest hour in the next few days I will just imagine the warm California and Arizona air blowing through my hair and everything will be fine.

Do I still want to do two more years of this at the University of Michigan?

Yo! Yo to YOU!

How’s that? I was trying to think of an original to the journal greeting. Was that better than good afternoon?

I am taking a break now from writing one of my final papers. We are doing a group paper for my usability strategies class. I have a section of four pages to write for it. It’s going okay so far. Four pages isn’t that much to type really. Today I have set aside as my paper writing day. I have a proposal to write also for my career development class and then that’s it for papers. Tomorrow it is back to finishing up my 2 Flash web projects.

The young Seth has been over today keeping me on task. The lovely Alicia and him are living in the neighborhood now, so that has been fun. I’ve been distracted away from my paper today by trying to get their computer hooked up to the wi-fi universe. Guess what? We have free wireless internet here at the house! Isn’t that crazy? I don’t have a wi-fi hook up in this computer, but Seth has one in his. Mark this day in history, Noodle is on his way slowly but surely into the wireless revolution. That is so exciting. I need to get a wi-fi card in this computer and stop paying for this. The fine folks at Personal Telco have been setting nodes up all over Portland and luckily I live in a part of town that is heavily hooked up. Or would that be unhooked?

Hey Seth, are you reading this now wireless? Hi there. Look over your shoulder. Wireless is fun.

Yes, so I should get back to typing my paper.

I was supposed to take Phillip in for a check up today, but I lost my car keys. Come to find out he wasn’t scheduled to come in anyway. I think K has both sets of keys today. I hope she does so I don’t look so crazy. Mr. Phillip is doing quite well now, thanks for asking. His leg seems to be healing quite nicely.

Good morning again my friends. How have you been doing? I have been doing alright. I have been having coughing fits the last 2 nights. What’s that about? I’m not sure if I am sick or not. I haven’t been coughing during the day much. Oh who knows. We have rain and cold outside right now this morning. A very good time for warm coffee. Hold one moment won’t you? I’ll get the coffee brewing.

Well kids, the fall 2004 term is coming to an end. It’s week number 10 right now. I am in the middle of trying to get all of my work finished. I worked at the school all day yesterday! I got some good stuff going but it was a long day for sure. I got a healthy chunk of my scripting language topics final project done. I worked in Flash all day. You know, that program isn’t as bad as I have been saying. I just need to start using it more. Practice, practice, practice! I have a lot of things that I need to continually keep practicing on. I have been learning enough these last 2 years to know what I need to study more of. I think my scripting language topics project is going to turn out pretty cool.

Not much has been going on with me except for the school work. I have been working on some wire frame mock-ups for my new portfolio website. That has been pretty fun. I really am a selfish designer. I get the most excited about projects when I’m doing them for myself. I guess a lot of people are like that though.

I am happy to be excited. Maybe I am actually excited to be happy. It seems like not too long ago I was in the depths of creative despair, so being pumped up, motivated and ready to go nuts artistically is a great feeling.

I smell the finished yummy coffee. I’ve got to get back to school work.

Good morning to you all on this lovely, cold Friday. How are you all doing? I am doing okay this morning. I am up and I am awake. The coffee is warm and tasty today. I have been feeling like a cold is trying to get me for the last couple of weeks. I kind of have a sore throat right now. Also a slight case of the sniffles. I hope I can keep it off until after our Christmas break. Save sickness for the new year.

Yeah, so what’s going down today eh? Good question. Well it’s Friday. The weekend is almost here. I am going to have to kick homework into high gear. I have got to start getting some of this crap finished. I have quite a bit of flash work that I have to do before the end of the term (two weeks). I don’t care for flash so much but I am starting to warm up to it. I have to use the schools computers for the flash projects because my version of flash is way too old. I also have a usability paper that I would like to write today. I may work on some Noodle website work when I am distracted from the homework.

Speaking of distractions, I have been spending a healthy amount of time playing “Tony Hawk Underground 2″ this week. Luckily I took it back to the video store last night. My occasional urge to play video games would have to come during finals. It is a pretty fun and addictive game. It’s a skateboarding game like the regular Tony Hawk series, but the “Underground” series has more missions and tasks that you have to complete making it more like a Tomb Raider style game. You have to go around performing a certain number of tasks and make some mischief before you can move on to the next city. I will probably check it out again once the term is over.

Hold on one second, I need to get some more coffee.

This house is an absolute pig sty. I should really clean up around here before I start anything this morning. The dishes are pretty scary right now.

Our lovely friend Martin has a performance this evening that I think we are going to try to get over and see. Martin is going to school now studying classical drumming. I think that’s what he’s studying. It’s funny how none of us who are in school now know exactly what the other is studying. Anyway there is a performance this evening, it’s a classical concert, and Martin is playing the bass drum. Now would that be a symphony or an orchestra. Oh geeze. I’m going to look those two up in the dictionary now and figure out what the difference is.

Gosh I’m a bit dull in the smarts department yes? I should delete that last paragraph so that I don’t appear to be such an uneducated, uncultured, dolt. The symphony is the piece that the orchestra plays. Of course I knew that! Perhaps I was confused because you always hear the term “symphony orchestra” thrown around. See, I had a question, I looked it up and I learned something. Great! Now I can get back to my video games.