After a few months of contemplating, I made an impulse purchase at Best Buy last evening.  I went in with intentions of getting a couple DVDs, Marvel Ultimate Alliance for 360, and a new TV stand.  I walked out having spent over $900.  I bought the Insignia 30" tube HDTV.  My main reason for buying one was to make the most out of the power of the 360.  I don't intend to upgrade to HD cable, at least not yet anyway.  So in my conversation with the salesperson, I decided a tube tv would be optimal for my purposes.  When viewing SD cable, an LCD HD display has a tendency to process the image slightly blurry. The tube tv does not have the same problem.  Plus, I got a larger TV than I was initially looking at for nearly $200 less.  Sure, its a big lug at 110 pounds, but I don't mind the tradeoff. 

Unfortunately, I have yet been unable to take advantage of my purchase, as we're in the process of renovating my room and we have to wait until the wallpaper border arrives at the store for pick-up.  But once that's done, you can bet I'll be gaming it up in sweet, sweet HD resolution.

Let me start off by saying that I am really enjoying my new job so far.  Yesterday was actually my one month anniversary of the hire date and so far, this has been a great choice as a first post-college job.

With my schedule, there are two weeks where I can choose to work two double shifts and a single shift each week for two consecutive weeks.  This week was my first opportunity to do so.  You may ask yourself why anybody would want to work double shifts.  I myself asked that when the option was first presented to me.  But see, here's the thing...on the second week, I have my double shifts on Monday and Tuesday and my single on Wednesday.  For you math savvy types, I have just worked 40 hours in 3 days.  Therefore, my full time requirement is met.  Because of this, I take the rest of the week off (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday).  The week following your second double shift week you don't have to come in again until Tuesday.  For those on the ball, you've already figured out that I have just earned myself a 5 day mini-vacation without actually having to take vacation time.

I tell you this to share that tonight was my second double shift of my first week.  About 10:15 yesterday evening, I answer a phone call from one of the midnight staffers that was scheduled to work from 11:00-9:00 saying that she wasn't going to be able to make it in.  I immediately told the senior staff member that was working with me (he doubled too).  Chris proceeds to call the supervisor to see if he could come in, but he didn't answer the phone.  After this, Chris called all of the people on the fill-in list.  Naturally, none of them answered either.  So this puts both of us in a real pickle.  One of us gets the unfortunate task of having to stay through the 10 hour shift because there must be two staff on duty at all times because of the clients we serve (prevent run aways/AWOLs). 

I volunteered enthusiastically (yeah, I wonder what's wrong with me too) to work the shift.  Anyway, to wrap up a long story, I worked 56.5 hours this week.  Because I work on an hourly pay rate, I also got 16.5 hours of time-and-a-half overtime (13.50 per hour) for a total before taxes of $224.  My paycheck the on the 24th will net me over $700!  I may have just worked a 26 hour shift, but seeing the paycheck will make it all worthwhile!

Actually, I have already started the job, what with the three days of training I attended last week.  However, today marks the first day I'll actually be working at my job site.  I am working for Adelphoi Village, a community-based correctional alternative for youth.

What that means is that instead of doing time in a juvenile detention center, the convicting judge gives the youth a set period of time to live in a controlled environment with other youth who have been involved in similar offenses.  Adelphoi treats youth who have committed crimes from petty theft to sexual crimes.  The unit I am in is inhabited by youth of varying offenses, but no sexual offenders.  Which is a good thing, because I don't think I'm ready to handle those kind of youth.

But anyway, I'm looking forward to my first day, even though I'm sure it will be a very challenging experience.  The youth will try to take advantage of the "new guy" and I won't realy know all of the rules they are expected to follow.  I have a feeling that I'll be bothering the senior staff members quite often tomorrow.

There comes a time in every college graduate's life where a big decision is made.  Today is that day for me.  In less than an hour from now, I will be the owner of a 2000 Saturn SL2.  For me, this is a huge accomplishment. 

Of the three cars I've owned since getting my driver's license, the newest I've had has been a 1992 Pontiac Grand Am.  The rest of the cars, including the Pontiac, have been pieces of crap.  I'll post photos of the car later, but I am quite happy with this purchase, and hope to keep this car for a few years to come.

As I posted in my last blog, I recently purchased an Xbox 360 and got two games - Oblivion and Condemned: Criminal Origins.  Both games were used copies and I was able to save almost $10 on the purchase of both because of my discount card at GameStop.

Well, you may not know this, but at GameStop and EB Games, when you purchase used games, you have 7 days to decide whether you want to keep it.  If you decide not to keep a game, you can take it back to the store and either get your money refunded or full credit toward another purchase.

Well, I finished playing through Condemned today and unlocked nearly all of the achievements (870 points/970 total) and had no desire to get the remaining points because it would have taken a few playthroughs to accomplish.  Plus, the game wasn't the best game and not really much replayability.

Therefore, I decided to take the game back, say I didn't like it and pick up something else instead.  I saw that they had the special edition of Perfect Dark Zero used for $5 less than I got Condemned for so I snatched it up.  Haven't played it yet, but we'll see if I decide to keep it come 7 days or return it for something else.  Sure, it may be using the system, but its a nice little loophole to have discovered.

So I finally went and did it.  I broke down and bought a Xbox 360 today at GameStop.  I had been debating for a while whether or not to make the purchase.  I stopped into the store by my house today and asked about the system and told them that I had an Xbox that I'd like to trade in towards the purchase of the system.  I was told that if I did that, and purchased the system today that I could get an additional $30 trade-in credit.  That took the system from $50 up to $80.  I also had been doing some research and found that I had quite a few games that wouldn't be compatible with the system so I traded those in, earning myself another $45 in trade in.

So to make a long story as short as possible, I ended up getting the full system, plus used copies of Condemned: Criminal Origins and Oblivion for under $400. 

I haven't set up my Gamertag yet because I don't have my bedroom networked. Hopefully that will come soon, since I plan to buy a wireless router and card for my PC.  I might look into getting the wireless network adaptor for the 360 as well. 

I'll have to go back to my apartment at school and bring back my television, cause I'm trying to play on a 13" screen right now, which is totally uncool.  I hope to get a decent job that way I can buy a HDTV and turn my room into a gamer's dream.

So, I'm a long way from having the killer apps set up for the 360, but I took the first step today, and it was a big one.

...but now I need a job.  But seriously, yesterday is the culmination of 5 short years of hard work (and hard drinking sometimes).  It all seems to go by so quickly.  5 years ago, I couldn't wait to get out of high school.  Now that I'm finished with college and my Bachelor's degree, I can't help but feel like something's missing.  A huge part of my life where I truly became the person that I am today is now over, I kind of feel empty. 

Ah, but enough of my innane musings, I really am quite happy to be finished.  I had a job interview last Monday for a job as a Couseling Specialist at a school for juvenile offenders.  I haven't heard back from them yet about the job, so I'll call tomorrow to see if they decided yet.  The interviewer said something about a second interview being needed, so hopefully I'll make the cut.  If this doesn't work out for me, it looks like I'll be picking up a low paying job at Wal-Mart or (hopefully) GameStop for a while until I can find something more professional.  Wish me luck.  Oh and if there is anybody out there who is looking for a college grad for employment, I'm sure I'm what you're looking for.

Yeah...that's not something that most people have the pleasure of experiencing in their lives.  I hadn't...until tonight, that is.  Rest assured, dear readers, I'm not in trouble or anything.  Apparently, one of my roomates was in a car accident, fleeing the scene before the police arived.  The responding officer notified the department where my university is located.  Two officers came up to my apartment, looking for any information as to her whereabouts. 

The reason why I was awakened at gunpoint is because the first cop came into the apartment when nobody answered the door.  Upon inspection of the other side of the apartment, where the roomate lives revealed a mess of clothing (looking like the apartment had been ransacked, but she's really just a big slob).  The cop opened my door, gun drawn with flashlight shining on my bed, where I was sleeping!  It's a good thing I didn't move fast, who knows what might have happened to me then...

Well, the long and short of things is they were looking for a way to contact her to see if she was alright.  The accident was pretty bad, I guess, though no other cars were involved.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to help out much...but I did what I could.  I didn't have her cell phone number or any way to contact her.  The search for her continues, I'll let you all know as I find out more information!

Yep...22 years of life and I just went to Disney World for the first time ever this week.  I got the chance to visit Animal Kingdom in the morning where I went to the "It's Tough to be a Bug" 4D show, the Dinosaur simulator ride, and the new Expedition Everest coaster.

From Animal Kingdom, I hopped on the transport over to Disney-MGM Studios where I rode the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (very fun ride!!), the Rockin' Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith, and played Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. 

The last stop for the evening was the Magic Kingdom, where I rode the Buzz Lightyear thingy, Space Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, visited the Hall of Presidents, and Big Thunder Mountain railroad.  We ate dinner at the Liberty Tree Restaurant which was absolutely fantastic (I got a picture taken with Pluto licking my head, lol)!

I know I didn't get to do everything since I was only there for one day and hit up three parks, but I feel I had a very full experience for the first time being there!

As being somebody who never watched too much TV because of, among many other things, my busy schedule and my love of other media (movies and games)...there have been many shows that I wanted to watch but never got the chance. This has all changed now because I get to watch many of these shows on convenient discs. Most of the shows that I have wanted to watch have come and gone and are now available on DVD, that I can either purchase or rent, and watch at my own leisure. Most of the TV on DVD that I watch includes Star Trek, but I recently discovered Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Angel, and Highlander among others. Not having to worry about being home at a specific time each week and just being able to pop in a disc when I have time is the best thing for someone like me. There are many other shows out there that I have yet to get around to watching, and they're on the list. For now, however, I have two seasons of Buffy and much of the first season of Dark Angel to keep me company.