by Matt | Oct 15, 2003 | Imported Entry
Well, after an absolutely insane weekend working double weddings, I was thankfully given the day off yesterday. Usually I have Sunday and Monday off but since I was working Sunday we took Tuesday off instead. That left me plenty of time to unpack things around the apartment. I actually is starting to look like someone lives there rather than “a bunch of Matt’s stuff”. To answer Mr. Marshalls last question, no, the shipment wasn’t insurred but thankfully I was able to fix most of what was broken and there wasn’t any significant computer damage. It didn’t turn out so bad. The graphics card/monitor problem somehow went away on it’s own with both of them working perfectly as of Monday. As for my photographs, most of the damage is to the edges of pictures, most of which can either be covered up by a matte or simply trimmed off. There were a few (dozen or so) CDs that didn’t make it which upset me a little but that was mostly due to the fact that they were packed on a spindle and not in a case. Other than that everything is fine. I set up both Lauren’s computer and my own and I’m planning on running network cable in the next day or two. I’m also going to call Road Runner today and see about a cable modem. Other than that I’ve spent two days cleaning, unpacking, moving and generally making my apartment a home. A few little maintenance issues, like the shower head sucking, but other than that it’s a great apartment
Last thing before I get back to work…
CHIP, GET MEASURED FOR YOUR DAMN TUX! 🙂
Seriously though, I need those measurements asap.
Matt out.
by Matt | Oct 11, 2003 | Imported Entry
I realize of course that after I post this, most of you will think I’m some ungrateful brat. Truth be told, I am incredibly grateful that my parents shipped my belongings. Without them I’d still be living out of a suitcase. However, I’ve got a bone to pick with them. My parents tried to find the cheapest and easiest way to get my things to me. Freight seemed like a good solution. However, when everything you own arrives in thousands of tiny broken pieces, it looks less and less like a good idea and more and more like a really fucking stupid plan. This is of course what happened. I don’t particularly blame the freight company however because the way in which it was packed most certainly contributed to the destruction of untold numbers of items. Basically, they threw the shit in the truck. There were loose CDs, books flying around, my guitar, all without boxes or any sort of packing material. Most upsetting to find was my collection of college work torn to shreds. Prints ripped in half from the weight of things on top of them. I’d also like to know exactly why they felt compelled to ship not only my personal belongings of recent use but everything I’ve ever owned. There was, and I kid you not, a box marked “Matt’s elementary school stuff”. Now, call me crazy, but old copies of Hardy Boy books and a few old teddy bears were probably something that could have stayed in storage. What’s actually odd is that I didn’t get “all” of that stuff. Things like my Nintendo, snes, Atari, my record (vinyl) collection, etc, were not included. Those would be things I might actually be pleased to open a box and find.
So, all in all, it’s rather frustrating. I can’t really be mad at the shipping company because of the way it was packed and the fact that it is, well, freight. I also can’t really be mad at my parents since they did actually ship it to me. But, what I’m left with is an apartment full of semi-broken stuff. Great.
At least the computer made it down. That baby is my priority for tomorrow. That at least was packed well… of course they used my $200 leather jacket to wrap around it as packing material. Again, mixed emotions. Computer being in one piece is good, leather jacket being ruined is bad.
Do they offer courses in Common Sense and Basic Reasoning at colleges? They should.
So, last night I unpacked. Rather unsuccessfully but what else is new. I managed to separate all the boxes into “important and worth unpacking” and “these are so old, just put them in the closet now”. Guess what there was a lot more of. Yup, worthless crap. Oh, and did I mention that they forgot my TV? Yeah. Not in the boxes. Nice huh? Now I’m in the market for both a TV and a Tivo. I’m planning on unpacking more tomorrow and Monday. Tonight we have a wedding.
Like every Saturday, I have a wedding to shoot. This one is a big one, 400+ guest, giant reception at “The Crystal Ballroom” (some upscale wannabe resort thing). It’s scheduled to go until midnight, which of course means I won’t get home until 1:30am. Then, tomorrow, we have another wedding, this time a smaller one. Luckily it’ll wrap up around 4:00pm. At which point I’ll either go home and pass out or unpack some more. That would all depend on the all important “caffeine factor”. So, that’s what I’m doing this weekend.
I’m actually supposed to be packing up equipment for this evening, so I should probably go.
Matt out.
by Matt | Oct 10, 2003 | Imported Entry
Watkins – Black AM (king unique remix) and Timo Maas – OCB
Damn.
Listening to those two at 10+ while driving to work. Very nice.
by Matt | Oct 8, 2003 | Imported Entry
This week (and weekend) has been a big attempt at getting a lot of little things out of the way. Actually, we were quite productive.
Saturday I was at a wedding all day and then came home to relax Saturday night. Sunday we took Lauren’s parents over to see the apartment and brought our first load of “move in” stuff. We also went down the street to Target to get some basics (TP, laundry detergents, spoons, etc). That set me back a cool $100 but most of that was because I picked up the super-elite-mega-special edition of Monty Python’s Holy Grail. I knew they would do that do me so I held off in buying simply the “special edition” and waited for this collectors set. It’s got everything from an actual film still to a copy of the screen play and more DVD extras than you can shake a stick at.
Monday was where we really go down to it. I called the public records office back home and asked what I needed to do to get a copy of my birth cirtificate. We went to the DMV (here in TX called the DPS) to get me a Texas drivers license. It should be mailed to me in a few weeks, hopefully in time for the trip. We also went to the county court house and got our marriage license.
We also went and I picked out my wedding band. Very cool. I got a titanium and gold band. The gold is a strip / band within (in the middle) of the ring and the part thats touching my finger is actually titanium. I think I’m mildly allergic to yellow gold (or more accurately the nickel in gold) and so this was a cool way of getting the traditional gold in there while having a hypoallergenic and nearly indestructible ring in the process.
My shipment has arrived from New Hampshire as well. It’s at the shipping / transfer station as I write. Paul has offered to go over there at lunch with me and get as much (read: all) as we can and bring it back to the studio. That way, if I have to make more than one or two trips I won’t have to go back to essentially “the docks” to get my stuff, I can take it home to the apartment little by little at my own convience. That was nice of him.
As for the rest of the world, so much has happened since I last wrote. Those Boston boys have made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs and will face off against those ass-hat Yankees tonight. I’ve either watched or listened to every single game of the series. I’m obsessed. I won’t be the A-typical Boston fan and declare this to be “the year” only to be shot down at the end of the week, but its very exciting to see them playing well and if they keep it up they have a real shot this year. I actually would like to see Boston and Chicago in the world series but something tells me that if that actually happens the earth would split open and hell would freeze over. But here’s to hoping.
Also, Half-Life 2 MIGHT (and probably will) be delayed until 2004. The early story out of France said it was definatly delayed, but theres still no official word from Valve. Since I don’t like the French because they smell funny, the only information I plan on taking to heart is that spoken directly from the mouth of Gabe Newell. We wait in anticipation.
There are so many other things I could go on and on about. The record companies reversing their price cuts, Capt. Moron becoming governor of California, Newt being addicted to pain killers. I could go on forever. That will, unfortunately, have to wait until I get my system up. The system should be “running” by tomorrow but a connection to the outside world will probably have to wait until next week. And then… let the blog flood begin.
Matt out.
by Matt | Oct 3, 2003 | Imported Entry
A few odds and ends to mention. Most importantly, my belongings have shipped from New Hampshire and are somewhere mid-journey to Texas. They should arrive Monday or Tuesday. The new apartment is nice and now I’ll have things to put in it. Hurray. I’m not sure what they shipped, they just said “everything” and I believe them since the invoice they forwarded my says 1300lbs worth of freight.
Technically we “moved in” on Tuesday when I got the keys but I haven’t been back over there since. Tonight we’re supposed to move a few things over and then pretty much all weekend will be packing, moving, etc.
I also picked up Halo for the PC and almost made a scene at CompUSA when they tried to give me some crap about a rebate. I’ll mention that again later. It’s a nice game. I had gotten halfway through on Paul’s XBox and now I get to finish it with kick ass graphics. Actually, I should take that back. People have been having some driver issues with it and frankly, it’s not a pretty as it could be. They really half-assed the textures in this one. They upped the particle effects and the lighting but left the standard XBox textures in there. It’s playable on my new work machine with the Radeon 9800 Pro but not at home on Lauren’s computer or (once it gets here) on mine. It might be upgrade season. If Halo, which has only a few DirectX 9 enhancements, is having issues, Half Life 2 is going to be a nightmare. I want to be blown away by HL2, not discouraged because I can barely play it.
So, that means it might be time for a new mobo, cpu and graphics combo. I’m all of a sudden glad that I didn’t buy that $300 phone.
Ok, back to work for me, long day of retouching and then a shoot this afternoon. Afterwards I get to move some stuff. There’s no rest for the weary.
Oh, and I still need Chips tux messurements. *poke*
by Matt | Sep 30, 2003 | Imported Entry
Well, I went and got the keys for the new apartment this morning. Its very cool. The parking is a little sparse but I can deal. There’s also unfortunately a car-port right in front of the side of the complex I’m on so I won’t be parking directly in front of my apartment. I can however, park beside it and see my car from the bedroom window. I had a little trouble sorting things out with the rental office this morning. The keys they gave me didn’t work and neither did the gate openers. They reprogrammed the openers for me while a maintenance guy changed the door locks, so everything is working now. The gate is pretty weird though, it only opens on one side but its a double sided (two lane, in and out)gate. Although that could simply be my opener not working 100%. We’ll see.
As for the apartment itself, I don’t have any pictures to show yet but I can give you a mental walk through… As you come in, the kitchen is immediately to your right, separated by a bar. The living room is immediately to your left. Also on the left, through the living room is the “study” or second bedroom. Strait ahead as you come in the door is the dinning room (connecting to the kitchen on the right). Further in, there’s a large closet (for the washer and dryer) on the left and the master bathroom is on the right. At the end of the hall is the master bedroom and a huge (room sized) walk in closet. I’ll get some pictures soon.
Also, Jason just let me know that he’s flying into Intercontinental Airport on Friday morning. I’ll figure out some way to get him but for those of you who haven’t booked your plane tickets yet, please, for the love of god, fly into Houston-Hobby. Not Houston-InterCont. Hobby is much closer (only 10 minutes away) and I know it and the area pretty well. I don’t even know where INTC is.
Later.
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