I typically don’t see the point in “general life” updates, but it’s been a while, so maybe it’s needed. I usually think that if I don’t have an opinion about something, that’s it’s pointless to talk about simply for the sake of posting something. No ones cares that I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch today. That’s all I’m trying to say.

That’s why I talk about games so much. They’re interesting, I can form an opinion about them, and it’s a subject that interest me. I also care about photography, web design, computers in general and all sorts of things. I am however, not in any way an expert on those things. I do feel however that I can speak with some degree of knowledge about games.

I digress. This is not a post about video games. This is a post about me.

For the most part, things are going fantastically well. I really like my new job, my colleagues respect me and I honestly feel like I’m contributing good things to the department. I’ve gotten a call or two from higher-ups expressing that they liked something that I did and they were happy to have me on board. I’m used to getting creative critiques and not “atta boy’s”, but I’ll take’em when I get them.

My wife’s dad is STILL in the hospital, in case you were wondering how that all turned out. The short version of the story is that the original surgeon screwed up, did more harm than good and he laid in the hospital for two months, leaking intestinal fluid into the medical industry equivalent of a zip-lock baggy. Today he’s having surgery at this very minute to once and for all correct the problem. Hopefully, after a short 1-1.5 week recovery, he should be back and home eating solid foods, which he hasn’t had any of for nearly 3 months. We’re all pulling for him.

Our apartment complex, last year, decided to jump our rent by a huge amount and for a while we thought it would be ok. After months of throwing away our disposable income and money that should have been going to savings to make up the difference, I think we’ve finally had enough. Our lease is up at the end of September, and we’re most definitely moving out. I’m not sure exactly where to yet, but the move is coming. We’ve been putting in on the back burner so we could help out with her father, and hopefully if everything goes well today, we can start putting together a plan on how to move forward. Whether it’s a house or another apartment remains to be seen.

Switching directions, while all this has been going on, my in-laws have been fighting with Dish Network over crappy service and DVRs that don’t work. They decided to take the plunge and get the newly offered in our area, AT&T Uverse fiber. I’m curious to see whether it’s everything it’s cracked up to be. I might go that way myself. We already have AT&T for our phone (no choice in the apartment) so we’d be swapping cable and cable modem for Uverse TV and uber-DSL. I’ll see how it works out for them before doing anything, but it would be nice to get away from Comcast (aka The Devil).

A little news from my brother. He’s finished up school and was offered a couple different positions based on his internships over the summer. He’s decided to take a job as an “investment analyst” at a startup in NYC. He had also gotten an offer from Standard and Poore but, based on my suggestion and those of his friends, he decided to go with the startup. He’s young and while the S&P would have looked good on a resume, this is a chance for him to jump ahead if things work out and if not he’s got the background and can always go back to some place like that. I told him that taking chances when he was starting out was probably a better call then taking chances later in when he’d have more to lose. So, he’s planning on working there for a few years, followed up law school here in Houston or at the University of Texas in Austin.

Also heard good news from Chris about job related stuff, but he probably doesn’t want me to mention the specifics quite yet, so I’ll let him tell everyone when he’s ready, and more importantly, able due to what I’m sure are legal and NDA agreements. Needless to say, congrats to him.

That’s about all I got from this end. How’s everyone else doing?

Matt out

UPDATE: My father-in-law is out of surgery, awake, and doing just fine. Yah!