Since things have been pretty fluctuational lately, I decided that some people may need a brief recap of what’s up. Today would be good, since as a result of doing so much lately, I did practically nothing today. I finished my ugly rug.

[Job] I have been doing some contracting work for TravelCLICK. It seems like I may get some hours every quarter, as I have since I created the eTRAK report maker. They raised my pay (after a polite request) to $40 an hour, so I am very happy about doing business with them. I am still in the process of looking for a job. It seems like right now, I am very interested in working as an independent consultant salesperson for AFLAC supplemental insurance (yes, the duck). I will probably be offered a contract from them on Monday.
[Alan] Alan and I have been together for 2 years and 3 months. This fall semester, he will be a graduate student. He graduated from his undergrad (computer engineering at U of IL) a year early. He plans to get his masters and possibly doctorate in the specialized topic of robotics and computer vision. In addition to going to school this semester, he will be working as a teacher’s assistant (so he doesn’t have to pay tuition). He’ll also spend 20 hours a week working for his brother’s company, Corner Suite Studios (sorry if the link doesn’t work), making a real time strategy game that operates in both 3rd person and 1st person. It will have graphics atypical of the average RTS and its own game engine. In addition to all that, he’s going to be finishing up his work for a professor. He is translating some code from MatLab to C++, and getting the code to manipulate a robot. Essentially, the program tracks some object you specify, and moves the robot arm along with the object.
[Pets] I still have my pet fish, Brian. He’s less exciting now than before, but for no fault of his own. We keep him on the dinner table now. The most interesting thing he did lately was flare up when a serving spoon was placed within a half inch of his bowl. I still want a dog or a cat, but I haven’t been pressing the desire lately, because we don’t have a lot of money, and I haven’t been quite as lonely as I was when I originally began my search.
[Building a computer] I have purchased all the parts for building a computer for my cousin Amy (and her family of course) except the case, which is out of stock until Monday. They are all sadly sitting in my living room, waiting to become useful.
[Birthday] My birthday is coming up, and I have a free North Beach party on the 20th. I sent out an email today (if you didn’t get it, it’s probably because I don’t know your email or you aren’t 21 or over) inviting people, and anyone is welcome to come (since it’s all free). Contact me if you didn’t hear about it and want to come. I will have some sort of get together on my birthday in the suburbs. I plan to have a party in Champaign after school has started.

Feeling: Inactive
Listening to: The Ataris – Your Boyfriend Sucks