Fear the Crab

These customers were all leaving either tomorrow or the day after, so they decided to do all their shopping while they still had a chance. It kept me occupied enough that I didn’t get bored.

Maile told me her brother got some paternity papers from the state. It seems the woman he’s involved with has a long history of child neglect, abuse, and outright uncool stuff. It seems the woman has borne a plethora of kids, and all of them have been taken away. The state wants Keoni to take a paternity test to see if the child is really his (because neither he nor the woman are really that sure), and if so, whether he will take the baby or give it up to foster care. If the child does turn out to be his, I don’t really see him being able to take care of it, so it’s likely that kid will go to the state.

Maile also told me that Keoni knew about the woman’s history with kids, and even told a social worker to “check on her” because of her record. Perhaps he did it out of spite, but it’s possible that he did it out of actual concern for the child. I guess every person has their moment, and I’d really like to think that Keoni still retains some decency. It’s not healthy for me to continue thinking of him in ill-respect, if that makes sense. I’d rather consider (and treat) him as a human being, not some worthless fubar wasting precious air.

Today was Janet’s last day at Sports Authority, and I’m happy for her. It seems she’s having some trouble with her unemployment, though, as there are a few requirements of her that make no sense to the rest of us. She wants to collect partial unemployment, but the office is telling her that she needs to look for another full-time job.

Hopefully Janet’s situation can be resolved before her trip abroad. I asked her if she could buy me a bottle of Armani Gio and Johnnie Walker Blue Label. I’d give her the money, of course.

Tomorrow I go down to Toyota City and talk the talk with Bob. I hope to get a good deal on the truck I want. Armed with the MSRP as well as the actual invoice price, that knowledge may provide me with a bit of leverage when determining the final tally.

Spent much of the day in school, as is the usual for a Thursday. I managed to debug my Java program, so now it completely works and fulfills the requirements stated in the assignment. There are probably a million ways I could have made the program better, but now is not the time to think of them. I’d say I don’t even know half of Java’s capabilities.

Ate at Kyoya for dinner, with the family. I had the sashimi teishoku with an appetizer of hamachi sashimi, and a bottle of hot sake. I actually ate the hamachi for “dessert,” saving it for last because it’s my favorite.

I talked to Maile tonight and we gossiped about our day in school and the various events that took place. Maile knows some interesting people in her classes, more than myself, though it’s likely because she is taking core requirements that apply to everyone, rather than what I am taking; specialized fields. In my classes, everyone seems pretty “normal” to me, that is to say, they don’t seem too much crazier than I could hope to be.

If none of this makes any sense, I apologize. The mind does not function properly after it’s been awake for 22 hours.

Did some touch-up work on my homework assignment, fixing up some code and generally trying to make it look decent and organized. I still can’t figure out that bug, though.

Took Titan to the school at night, while it was cool. He ran around again and seemed to have a jolly ol’ time, though as with all fun it had to end too soon. I have to wake up early the next day, after all.

It’s odd how the day works. I went to bed last night at 2130 hours, hoping to get at least 7 hours of sleep before 0400. Yet it was at 0330 that I awoke, and since I was already up (and leery of challenging the alarm clock) I got out of bed and made a pot of coffee. I spent the next hour trying to figure out some of the Java code that’s due for homework, then got ready and left for school.

It only took me 20 minutes to get to campus and find a parking stall. That just gave me more time to work on that code. Unfortunately, the progress I had made earlier in the morning did little to further my efforts. I went to my math class, and spent that hour teetering on the edge of understanding and confusion. Probability seems very easy to grasp, but something in the back of my head is shorting out as it tries to comprehend other problems involving probability.

I ate breakfast at Paradise Palms; the usual fare of fried rice, scrambled eggs, portuguese sausage, and spam. Since I was eating, I didn’t want to work on my code, and since it’s not due until next Monday, I figured I had plenty of time. That time certainly came into play early, as I browsed onto Microsoft’s Windows Update page, and found a service pack for XP. That bloke took me nearly an hour to download, then another 15 minutes to install. I just hope it was worth it.

I managed to talk to one of my classmates, and together we looked at the code we programmed for ICS 211. Much kudos to him, because he was able to help me get past a few hurdles I couldn’t get around. Thanks to his help, I can now say that I’m finished with the assignment, and I have already turned it in. The big question is whether or not the program will run on a UNIX machine, since that’s what the TAs and professor will be testing it on. I FTPd the assignment into my UHUnix account, and did some test runs, and did not come across anything different or explosive. Instead of being satisfied, I’m worried that something else will happen that I was unable to foresee and ruin my grade. My goal over the next several days is to log on and try as many test cases as I can think of to “break” the code and discover any bugs. Perhaps a fresh night’s sleep will help clear the mind.

I must also remember to begin work on my math assignments. It’s not due for another two weeks, but it’s best to get an early start, especially with my brain’s inability to function properly in times of crises.

On a side note: A bottle of whiskey is $10. The whiskey itself is $9 more than the bottle. How much is the bottle?

This woman was trying to teach me how to surf. We were at a river, which was calm and not too choppy, and I was told to go out there while she stayed on the riverbed. Strangely enough, there were waves on the river, so I was able to catch some. Then the wind shifted, and instead of waves moving towards shore, the waves went downstream. I was able to catch some waves going that way, and eventually ended up in another part of town where this girl asked me if I could surf in Norway. The woman who was teaching me said that of course I could surf in Norway, and I kept trying to imagine how a river in Norway would be and whether or not the waves would be as big as this. Then the three of us were at this gymnasium, me still with my surfboard, and we were trying to avoid the members of this karate dojo. It seemed this dojo had taken up the entire gym, and were similar to what you’d find in a bad karate movie (evil sensei, evil students, etc). My entire dream seemed to turn into a bad karate movie, complete with awful auto-dubbed English dialogue, as the three of us tried to sneak our way around the gymnasium without alerting the evil karate students and their masters. I even had fast-fowards where this one guy snooped through the evil sensei’s room to look for clues as to the dojo’s purpose (in life, I guess), and ended up getting killed by the master himself for his insolence.

Work was pleasant enough, though I was in the duty free section by myself. Thankfully George was also working, so it meant I had someone to converse with. Work itself was slow, with few people wandering about the section. Duty Paid saw a little more action, especially with that Fuller convention still on the premises. I think I sold things to maybe four customers total for my entire shift.

I made an “appointment” to see a sales manager at Toyota City for Wednesday. My intent is to get a price list of the Tacoma and all the options I want, and see if it jives with what I’ve gotten from the web site. I also intend to ask if Toyota City offers services like tinting and alarms, because I may as well get it done through them (factory-installed, as it would be) rather than wait until a third party can do it. This way, too, I shouldn’t have as big a headache if it turns out to be illegal (ie tinting).

The only problem, though, is that it seems Toyota City has only the regular cab Tacomas on hand. This information has not been confirmed, but it is enough to indicate that I may have to wait longer to get the truck I want. I don’t know if they’d have to ship it from another dealer on the mainland, or order it from the factory. Whichever is the case, I may as well go for the 2003 model.

It was boring at work. There was nobody to talk to and I actually had to help customers. To top it all off, the big group that’s staying at the hotel are from Puerto Rico and Mexico, and they only speak Spanish. I think the group guides can speak English, but that’s a ratio of maybe one to one hundred. I’m actually looking forward to going to school on Tuesday.

Not much else went on today. I did finally decide on which truck I wanted to get, and that is the Tacoma. Both the Frontier and Tacoma had strong points and some weak points, but overall it seems the Tacoma is better suited for what I want to do. Sure, the Frontier is supposed to handle better on the highway, but the interior is said to be uncomfortable. However, what ultimately was the deciding factor was which car certain other people really liked. Now it is simply a matter of heading down to Toyota City and talking with the staff. Of course, there could be all sorts of problems that may occur while I’m down there, but at least the decision-making process is done, and now I can get down to other serious business.

She still has to see a doctor next week to ensure it’s not something serious. This has relieved me tremendously; I almost burped my stomach out this morning, and I think it was because I’ve been so worried about the whole situation. I can now only hope that her next clinical visit will show nothing’s wrong, and also that the experience won’t be as painful as the last one.

I polished my boots tonight at George’s house. It was the first time I had ever taken a brush and wax to any of my footwear, but it’s a lot more simple than I had originally thought it would be. I think I was feeling a little anxious about the whole thing, not only because it was the first time I had done it, but because it’s nerve-racking when you’re doing something you’ve never done before to something you’ve invested some money into. It’s like trying out a brand new bottle of carwash for a brand new automobile. In the end it was all for naught, and now my boots look a bit more like how I bought them. I did notice, however, that the crease that normally comes from everyday wear on the right boot isn’t as “crisp” as the left, and that seems to make the left boot a bit more cleaner. Well, so long as I keep up the maintenance every couple of weeks or so, I shouldn’t have to worry. Now if I could only keep that mindset for my car…

Maile told me she had to go to the emergency room because of pain in her stomach and back. She believes it was acid reflux (sp?), but the doctors at Kaiser took some blood tests to ensure it wasn’t gall stones. Maile’s experience at the hospital was less than what those commercials would have you believe. The staff were abrupt and rude, and the nurse that took Maile’s blood made the ordeal literally painful. In addition to perhaps hitting a nerve while looking for a vein, they screwed up the sample somehow, forcing Maile to wait even longer for a second test to be conducted. At least the second time around, a lab nurse came by and did an excellent job extracting the blood, with no pain at all.

I’m still worried about her health, and I wish there was something I could do to help her. I don’t think I’ll get any homework done tonight, not with everything running through my head.

Today was a normal day at school, except for the fact that I found out the Legislature has cut the budget for the ICS department, meaning that there will be less professors and less classes for me to take. Considering the amount of students already in the program (and likely entering the program in the future), the chances aren’t looking good for me to get into a class. Compound that with the fact that I register last, and there’s a problem. I won’t know the full extent of this problem until next semester, though.

Feeling particularly tired, likely due to the constant early rises I’ve had to endure these past two weeks. Four to six hours of sleep aren’t enough to someone used to a full eight. At least today I cut back on the coffee and instead loaded up on energy via orange juice and breakfast food from the school cafeteria. Their scrambled eggs were very fluffy and delicious, and of course a breakfast meal can’t be complete without fried rice, portuguese sausage and spam.

Narrowed my choices down to either the Toyota Tacoma or the Nissan Frontier. Both are comparable in terms of quality and maintenance, with some differences in power and handling. I think it will eventually boil down to how much all those extra options will raise the price. Now the research turns to finding out those facts.