Songs that remind me of

Goesaroundcomesaround album by Fono always reminds me of playing Rollercoaster Tycoon (the original) with my brother.

How to treat a customer

Since I've been coming down with a cold, I've increased my consumption of food. Whoo hooo...anyways, I went to Arby's yesterday with my coupon for a meal (sandwich, fries, and drink). The picture has a beef n' cheddar, which is what I always get (unless it's a deal for a plain beef sandwich and then I buy some cheese to add). In my distraction with the tap your credit card feature, I didn't fully say what sandwich I wanted. At my seat, it was not a beef n' cheddar :(

So, when there wasn't a line I went up to the counter and said I had meant to order a beef n' cheddar. My receipt did say regular roast beef, so I was trying not to get my hopes up that they would fix my situation (as you may know, they are sticklers to coupons/deals). The manager was about to go get me an entire new sandwich until he realized I just wanted some cheese. He was even more happy to oblige with that. He came back with the cheese in a container and the red sauce. :)

This left me perplexed, red sauce. I always thought it was Arby's sauce that was on beef n' cheddars. Come to find out, yes, there is the difference between Arby's sauce and the sauce on a beef n' cheddar. After all these years I never knew...and I always thought somehow it was the change in bun that made it taste different.

Back to my point, awesome customer service. I had a problem, even my mistake not double checking the items on my receipt (cost was the same), and the manager (at Arby's) was willing to fix it. With a smile.

This is in contrast to Qdobas refusing to credit my free student drink earlier this summer, without apologizing, and an overall rude tone (in my humble opinion). That is why Arby's will be getting more $$$ and Qdobas will not. Customer service. Learn it or weep.

Applied

Another card applied for. Summer just keeps ticking away. Ice Age 3 was good. Funny. A bit thought provoking as well. I definitely want to take another bike tour sometime this summer. There is so much more I would love to do, but I guess I really should prioritize. Working does take up a ton of time.

Night.

That I could get there

Sometimes I just don't know. I struggle with a lack of motivation. I have never had the real desire to "be known". Many people want to become famous or remembered for one thing or another. They are goal oriented and they will work at that until they accomplish that goal. Contrasty, I am a task oriented person. If you give me steps to the end goal then I will be successful. The other question that I need to have answered before moving forward is why? Before I start each step I like to have an understanding why this step needs to occur for the end result. This makes me slow at obtaining things I desire. I always wish and hope to dream but for some reason I never believe in a million years that I could get there. That's how I feel at the moment.

Note to self

SQL 2005 SSAS Measure Display Folders:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/robfarley/archive/2009/06/09/putting-a-calculated-member-into-a-display-folder.aspx

SQL 2005 SSIS Sharepoint list tool component:
http://sqlsrvintegrationsrv.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=17652

Bing+Twitter

Maybe the only interesting thing about twitter is how it's combined with bing.
http://bingtweets.com/
Now to work

Give Camp

If you program, develop, or are cool: http://michigangivecamp.org/
Then check it out.

Hears my voice

It's not too often that I remember dreams. However, I still remember my dream from a few nights ago, and I wish to share it with you. It was a dark and spooky night, and....jk that is not how it really stared out.

It was a Sunday afternoon and I was located at church. Many of the church members were there along with a good deal of guests. Some reason or another I was in charge of leading worship, from the drums of course. The band setup behind everyone, basically in the main entrance way into the room. The first song apparently went well even though I wasn't there for it and walked in to lead the second song. On top of that, we (the band) ended up playing a song different than originally planned. So the girl running the slides (a girl that I haven't talked to since middle school in real life, very strange) had to find slides for the song that had been used before. She did this rather quickly, but halfway through the song it changed to different languages. For some reason I knew that this was because some missionaries had done a presentation and had the slides in different languages.

This leads us to the entire point of me telling you, the reader, this dream (in which I also told the people in my dream). Isn't it amazing that no matter what language we speak, God hears us? As Psalm 55:16-17 reads: But I call to God, and the LORD saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.


Simple reminders are always good.

Hawaii Pictures

I've started posting some pictures from my adventures in California and Hawaii on windows live: Hawaii 2009 Album

Now, to find things to do since my drumset is not located at my house...

The Normal Freak Side Show

Red velvet lips, yelling your nickname.
Cause we're normal, as a freak side show.
Let me tell you, I don't play these games.
No more no more, baby I don't know.

To the tune of Let's not and say we did -AE


cheer!O's

Battle Creek Air Show

F-15 Strike Eagle Demo, Mohr Barnstorming, F-18 Super Hornet Demo, Aerostars 3-Ship Yak, AeroShell Aerobatic Team in the T-6’s, Manfred Radius’ Sailplane, Dan Buchannan’s Airplane & Glider Extravaganza, Doug Jackson’s Japanese A6M Zero, the Hoppers in their L-39’s, Roger Buis in Otto the Helicopter & Todd Green Mid-Air Transfer, and Shockley’s Shockwave Jet Truck.

The fighter jets were amazing and loud. The AeroShell T-6's are also awesome (I've had pictures of them on my work wallpaper for quite some time). And the person jumping from a bi-plane to a helicopter was nearly unbelievable.

F-16 Thunderbirds below:

Another Day in Paradise

It's a weekend to remember,
Comes once a year like September.

Words from my mouth may be few, but
Words from my fingers are many.


Cheer!Os

mos-quito

I not only get the worst mosquito bites, but I also get them in the strangest locations. My mosquito bites swell up really big and people usually ask me if I'm okay when the see them. In reference to the locations, I currently have mosquito bites on my elbow, arm, chin, forehead, finger, and on my knuckle.

The ones on my chin and forehead look really strange, and the ones on my finger and knuckle are really annoying.

Also happy 4th of July for those who read this. I am planning on going to the Battle Creek air show and South Haven fireworks. Those should make for one completely packed day.

Cheers~!

Hawaii

A little bit of fun in the sun never hurt anyone. And frankly I enjoyed Hawaii very much so. In many ways Hawaii is the most diversely amazing location I have ever visited. In contrast, Hawaii took me by surprise as it was far different than I had imagined.
The temperature was warm, never cold or overbearingly hot. In fact, the weather gave me a mellow mood. According to some locals, Kona usually isn't as cloudy as the week was when I visited. The rainy season and the wind blowing the volcanic-fog (vog) over Kona kept the sun hidden a good amount of the time.
The beaches on Big Island are not what I perceive as a beach. When one says, walk on the beach, I think: walk on sand. Most of the beaches were composed of volcanic rocks and little sand. There was a bit of sand to layout on, but rocks are present the moment you get to the edge of the water.

Anyways, the fun stuff that I did included: running, kayaking, snorkeling at Cpt. Cook's monument, eating out on the ocean front, hiking mauna kea, luau, more snorkeling, volcano national park (lava tubes, seeing the smoke from the current erupting volcano, and more scenic views from black lava to rain forests), coffee farm tour, catamaran sunset sail, and probably other stuff I am forgetting but will fill in later. I made it into the hot tub every single day in Hawaii.

Back in California, before the flight to Hawaii, I walked around downtown disney. Ate at the Cheesecake Factory, and walked around a California mall (much more enjoyable than a Michigan mall). Went to Gremban's wedding located at a vineyard which was stunning!
After Hawaii, I relaxed at the pool and hot tub. In the evening I went to an Angles vs. Rockies baseball game with Kevin.

Side note: I slept on the couch every single night of the vacation except for the last night which I was only in the hotel for 6 hours anyways. All my stuff was packed into a carry on and a backpack.

That's all folks, cheers!