Bri-Bri's Back

after the friendly encouragement from debbie, i've taken the 240 seconds it takes to post a blog. the only thing i've learned this summer is that one should never shop at radioshack unless you're either lazy or indeed need a cell phone. for the people in the back who haven't heard what i've been doing this summer, i spend my days as a hot-tempered sales associate at the shack and my nights as a free-loading server at the allen center on campus. it's nice to have something to constantly do since most people are just as busy or not even here. it is awful to think that i now work as much as i used to nap. *tear*

the shack, which gets its name from the cabinet on a boat where the radio is housed, seemed liked the best fit for me seeing how i'm a geek to the nth degree. i now realize i should've just joined the geek squad. i'm paid on commission which is annoying and stressful. to not be guaranteed pay (well i am guaranteed $6.50 an hour) and to feel like i have to pressure people to buy more in order to make more is very stressful. it's funny cuz my manager has the same qualms with suggestive selling yet can easily justify it by saying he's making sure they get the best experience from what we're selling. it's not so easy for me to agree with him considering my mom is one of the many people who in the 90s spent twice as much as what they had. i'm most likely going to quit at the end of september cuz it'll be too much work to have during school.

the allen center is a wonderful job to have during school. we do so little and hopefully i'll be able to be bartending during the year which will be fun. who wants a cocktail? it's also very nice not having to worry about eating that night cuz they feed me. how wonderful. not the best food but free food for me is always welcomed. finally the feed-a-lineman foundation has found a benefactor. a bit late but still it's going to use.

speaking of jobs i was contacted about a co-op job for spring/summer at northrop grumman. to all those who don't know what that is, it's a defense contractor for the military that has a location out in rolling meadows, il. there used to be a kid, phil, in isrc who worked there a few years ago for co-op and actually got a job there after he graduated. i'm hoping i get the job but you never know. i would need a car to get out there everyday considering it's a 40 minute drive. at the allen center, i used to work with a kid whose brother works for them in maryland. he was telling me about the different levels of security clearance and how his brother is working on some highly-classified projects that even he can know some of the aspects of. that'd be fun but kinda weird at the same time. either way it'll be good to get my first co-op job. then i'd feel like i was getting somewhere with that.

i haven't been working the entire summer. in the middle of july julia came to visit and i went last week. when she was here we just bummed around evanston. we saw batman begins and so should all of you even if you've seen it already. we hung out with merina but sadly not marielle. damn you and your salsa parties, marielle. oh well. when i went out to ohio, we headed up to sandusky for a few days and camped out. haven't done that in almost 10 years. i again remembered why i hadn't: too many bugs. fuck 'em all. we went to cedar point. their rides are a lot of fun. a much more exciting atmosphere than six flags which is all i'm used to. they had more than one song playing throughout the park. we didn't get on the top thrill dragster which goes 120 mph and up 400 or so feet but we did go on millennium force which is over 300 feet high. it was a hoot.

flying to ohio made me miss being able to travel but luckily i get to visit my brother out in california. oh yeah my brother's out in california. he moved out there at the end of june and actually got a job within a month of being out there. he's staying with my uncle in sacramento so hopefully at thanksgiving i'll be able to fly out there. i found some flights for under $200 but it would require me missing 4 days of school. hehe. either way i think julia and i are gonna go out there. i don't think i'll be backpacking in italy for christmas depsite how much fun that sounds but london is almost a certainty. i can't believe the taxes for an international flight are over $200. oh well. i found out a friend from home is gonna be in london all spring semester so it'll be nice to see him.

so much money but thankfully i can afford this which is awesome. i also was able to afford a new video card for my computer. i turned it off one day and it never came back on. thankfully my brother gave me three of his so i wasn't without one but a couple of weeks ago i finally had the time to look at it and decided to buy a video card that can also capture tv like tivo. hehe. i really shouldn't have given more reason for me to stay on my computer but it actually lets me get away from it a bit more. nice. alright i'm a geek we know that already. well i'll let all that sink in or let you all ignore it. whichever. but i hope you're all having a good ending to your summers.

brian