Well it seemed as though I wasn't ever going to find a car to buy. In the past week, I feel like I've driven more different cars than I had in the whole rest of my life. Seems like this economy is making people crazy. Nobody seems to know what their car is really worth, and wants 150% of it's value.
Finally, just yesterday, I found one. I found the ad in craigslist almost 2 weeks ago, and when I called on it the guy said something about going out of town and he'd call me this week. Why anyone would post an ad the day before they go out of town is beyond me. Needless to say, I felt about as confident that this one would work out as all the others. Hopeful, but pessimistic. So it was a very pleasant surprise when I showed up and the car was in almost perfect condition.
It's a 95, yet has only 92,000 miles on it. That's less than 7,000 miles a year. Receipts for everything. Hell, this guy still had the original window sticker from when he bought it new. And it's a rare car. You've probably never heard of it. Subaru SVX. There were only 14,000 made over the course of 6 years. Total. So even if you've heard of it, you've probably never seen one. So now I've only got a couple hours before I get to go take delivery. W00t!

About 3 days before I moved back up to Ohio, I totalled my car. It sucked. Badly. And what sucks worse is that I had no cash sitting around to buy a new one. And I've got too much debt already, I don't need to be taking out another loan. So I've been car-less since I moved from Florida.

That was in NOVEMBER. Now, I've had a vehicle to drive. Just not my OWN vehicle to drive. I've been rolling around in a Suburban belonging to my stepdad with 263,000 miles on it for a few months now. And since I've only been working 2 days a week, getting that cash together for a new ride of my own has been a slow process. But I'm there now. I have all the money I plan on spending.

All week long, it's been Craigslist, then Autotrader.com, then driving around to some dealerships, then more Craigslist, etc. I've come across a few possibilities, and I feel like I've driven more different cars this week than the rest of my life combined. So far, I've got nothing. Well, I do have another appointment Sunday AM to look at a Talon TSi, which, I'm really hoping is in good enough condition that I'll try and make this guy an offer.

I hope this one works out. I'm so so so done with bumming rides.

So this blog 'o mine, during it's infancy, had a boring-ass stock blogspot look to it. A few months went by, and I started getting a bit more serious about it. So began the search for some different, better, options. I realize I don't have a whole bunch of people reading this thing. Hell, only 11 subscribers according to feedburner, and 3 of them are me! But now that I'm starting to post a bit more often, and have some things to say that maybe I wouldn't mind others finding, I think it's time to create a look, a theme, a feel that goes along with the content. That goes along with who I am.

Now, I don't currently have the use of my Mac, and am stuck using my older-than-time-itself Windows desktop. Well, suposedly it isn't THAT old. But in computer years, being born in 2001 makes this thing something like 924 years old. Someone could double-check the math there for me, but I'm pretty sure I got it. My resolution won't even go past 1024. Makes viewing an awful lot of webpages, well, awful. The point is, I'm probably looking for some kind of pre-done design, as I don't have alot of resources to customize it right now.

I've joined several new networking sites, and thus have several new badges for the sidebar.

If anyone does actually read this and has any suggestions, please, leave me a comment. Or send it to my Twitter, @decrepdsol. I'm sure if you are reading this, you probably came from twitter, and thanks for following.

So be on the lookout for a whole new look. Soon.

Well as you know, I've been spending a lot of time trying to better my guitar playing. This means solos. And lot's of 'em. Really I've been able to hold my own playing rhythm for quite some time now, and frankly, I'm starting to get bored with it. But all this lead work is a whole new beast. I'm working with a lot of Metallica songs currently, and for a few reasons:

1. Kirk Hammett is the man. And his solos are totally bad-ass.
2. I'm already super familiar with their guitar style; I'm already an expert on their whole rhythm catalog.
3. Playing the solos at regular speed can't be any tougher than playing the rhythms at 120%.

I'm now comfortable playing through Fade to Black, Orion, and The Unforgiven. But I'm not perfect on any of them yet. So, periodically, when I feel I've made some vast improvement on one, I'll probably put up a new video. We'll see though, once I start to get more songs down pat, It'll be an awful lot of videos.
The goal for now is to be able to play those 3, plus 3 more by this time next month. I know, I know, that sounds like a long time, for someone who sits home and plays so many hours a day. But that's a lot of notes to learn. Three whole solos? And to get these 3 down perfect? I think a month may actually be optimistic.

This past Saturday I went ahead and purchased a FlipUltra. This thing is pretty sweet. The plan was actually to get one of the new ones, the Mino HD, but since I had some gift cards to spend, I only spent like $12 on this one. Today I plugged it into my computer for the first time. I haven't edited anything yet, but I've put together a few clips of me sitting around playing guitar. Since I've recently started trying to play some solos, It's nice seeing my progress, and how my fingers look while I'm playing. I'll try to get something put together I can share online.

Well, Christmas was almost a month ago. So maybe I'm a bit late. Maybe not. Who cares? Not I. So I got some stuff, blah blah blah, you're not interested. I did, though, get some good books. A couple of Tim Sandlin novels. Great books, in that comedy-novel genre, but I'm through them by now. I got "House of Leaves," by Mark Z, Danielewski. Haven't read more than the introduction, but so far, i think this could turn out to be the weirdest book I've ever read. What kind of a *novel* has a 40 page index in the back? Weird. Anyway, I had mentioned to my mom and step-dad that I'm going to try to go back to school come the spring term. And that I wanted to branch out from the audio/video production type program I used to be in, that I wanted to go for some kind of computer science degree. So they got me a couple of beginner level Java programming books.

So today, I started into the first of them. I've made it through a few (well, 8, actually) of the 24 lessons in this book, and I have to say, I've impressed myself with how well I'm comprehending it all. I mean, other than playing around with BASIC back in elementary school, I've got literally no experience with any of this. I guess I do spend an awful lot of time on the interwebs using other people's Java programs, but starting from scratch is all new to me.

So far, it's all been text-based, writing short programs to display text from a command prompt or terminal. Just kind of getting the hang of some of these keywords and commands. I've got 4 chapters of objects to get through next, then finally some programs with a visual output. I can't wait.

So I was reading an article about Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, and I got an idea. I think his $10,000 goal might be a bit high, but I think I'm going to give it a shot. $0 to $5,000. Should take a *while* to get started, hell, it's tough just getting entry into the freerolls. they fill up so quickly it's ridiculous. then I've got to win a few of em. Then play some *really* low limits to build up even a small bankroll. This is going to take a *long* time. But, I think I can do it. wish me luck.

So here I am, back in Ohio. Sitting here pondering my options. When I first decided to move back here, I had been thinking about following Chris into the Navy. When I found that I was ineligible to join up, I went to my plan B. I wasn't thrilled about the Army, but I needed something to help me out. I thought the military would have been my best option. I'd have a place to stay, wouldn't need a car (but would be in a position to buy one as soon as I got out), and would have all the money I needed to get my ass into school. However, the Army said no also.

well it's official: I've been defeated.  My quest for a new life down south in Orlando has come to an end. I've gone the past 3 months without my laptop, thus haven't posted since then. It's time for a change. I tried to make this work for 6 months now, and I'm now at the point where I have to give up. I'll be around more now, with my Mac back in hand.

Well I've started working and making some cash again. It's frustrating, though, to be the low man on the totem pole. It's okay, I know I'll only be there for a short time. I have a habit of moving up the food chain pretty quickly. I think Brio is going to make me a lot of money. 

So yesterday I got up, showered, went to work, and was having a pretty boring day. I got off from lunch and went on break with Justin, one of the others from my training class. We're driving down the road, then stop at a stoplight. While we're stopped, I notice a silver Hyundai 3 cars ahead in the lane next to us. I watch as the trunk pops open suddenly. Then I about shit myself when a girl climbs out. A real, living girl. A brunette. Couldn't have been more than 12. And then she just walked around and got in the passenger seat. I could not believe my eyes. Later, we pulled next to the car, and there was some old lady driving. Like her grandmother, maybe. 

Well I've gone and done it. I cut my dreads off. I guess really I was overdue for a big change. I'm trying to make the most of this moving thing. Trying to make a fresh start for myself. So it seemed like the perfect time to do it. I mean, I've been thinking of cutting them for some time now anyway, I just finally picked which side of the fence to stand on.

On another note, I had my first day of training at Brio today. I haven't had to get up that early in such a long time. Probably 1 time in the past year. maybe. It was the usual boring-ass orientation paperwork and videos and bullshit and such. There were 7 of us total, so I wasn't alone in my misery. I guess maybe I'm exaggerating. It really wasn't so bad. The food was awesome, everyone seems really cool, and I actually felt pretty comfortable there right off the bat. I don't get to start making any cash until next week, but the cash should be pretty good from there.

It took me about three weeks, but I managed to drag my ass down to the beach for Memorial Day. I must be a fool to have come down here. I mean, gosh, it sure is miserable. Actually, I couldn't be happier. The waves were powerful, the beer stayed cold, the ladies were wonderful, the sun was shining, and the bikinis were lovely. Dave, Jon, Kevin and I made the 45 minute trip. Then stayed most of the day. I didn't manage to pick up any sunscreen before we left, but thankfully Kevin looks as though he's never seen the sun. He had me covered. I still burnt, though not nearly like I would have. It was a great day, and hopefully this will become a weekly or biweekly type occasion.

wow. I was totally expecting to be let down. But I most assuredly was not let down. Everything Indiana Jones should be. finally Lucas and Spielberg got something right. I mean, it's only been, what, like 15 or 20 years since the last good script they've produced? They done good this time though.

Well it's been a week now. I feel like things are starting to fit. I'm getting along with my roommates, Ryan and Jon, quite well. I've gotten to see Dave now a few times, and have been tearing my fingertips to bits playing so much guitar.
Jon and I went out Sunday night and had a blast. Went to one bar for some live music, and got to see some pretty incredible music. One of the drummers put Danny Carey to shame. he was really that good. We then moved on to a new location, and by this time in the night, I've realized I'm going to get along really well down here.
I went out job searching Monday afternoon, but no winners yet. I hit up several restaurants in the area, but I'm thinking now of maybe checking out somewhere other than a restaurant.
Well enough for now.

Well it's certainly been a mission. I have finally made it down south, and just now got internet access again. The weather is wonderful, though it's hot. It's been in the 90's every day so far.  My roommates are both cool. I think we're going to get along just fine.  I did take a few pictures along the way, and I'll hope to get some of them, as well as some videos.  I have a new phone number now, 321.663.5878, so feel free to call. 

So I went to the casino the other night. After being the first one out at our little poker game at Adam's, I decided I wasn't done gambling.  So I waited, and waited and waited, until Pat, Adam, and Ashley were ready to go.  This could not possibly worked out any better.

Chris and I went down to the Reds game last night. They got a much needed win over the Dodgers, 8-1. Woo-Hoo! I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Chris had fun too, playing the role of "My Bitch." Basically since I paid for everything, I made him get all the beers. All-in-all we had a great time

Got my first torrent uploaded today. I chose my favorite NIN show, the Bridge School benefit. It's an all acoustic set, so very different from any other live NIN shows. the Link is below...  Also, bought myself a shiny new camera this afternoon. So I'll finally start having some pics. And I can get some videos going, maybe make this blog thing a bit more interesting. Look for them soon.

Well I've finally got everything all squared away.  Sent out a deposit earlier today to hold my room.  Moving in with 2 guys, to a condo outside of Orlando.  Officially, 5/5/08 is my move date. Should be down there by 5/6. I still have to decide if I want to make it a 1 or 2 day drive, but regardless I can't leave till the afternoon on the fifth. Talked to Dave yesterday, I can't wait to get down there and hang out. He sounds bored so hopefully I can change that. I've been getting a bunch of shit together. Got my tags and a new tire Monday, changing my oil right now. Boxes are everywhere, I've gotten through probably 75% of my things. well enough for now.