| Close call |
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January 28, 2006 |
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Wow, I must have really pissed someone off royally and they’re thinking very malicious thoughts of me right now or I did something totally despicable in a past life. I almost got into not one but two accidents on my way home from class today, and neither were my fault. Usually I’m driving too fast and I freak somebody out or something as a result of it, but here I am actually going the speed limit and minding my own business and that’s when I get into trouble. The first incident was on the frontage road. This guy with his wife and KIDS in the car doesn’t know where he’s going so he pulls to the side of the road and makes a u-turn pulling out right in front of me. I’m going slow so it’s okay, stupid move, but no biggie. Then as we’re driving along in the middle of the road (where there is a turning lane by the way) he just slams on the brakes and comes to a dead stop. I slam on my brakes and swerve to the right to keep from rear ending the van when he flips his left signal light on and jerks to the right as well. I just barely missed hitting the fucker. Then he straightens out and starts driving off down the street again. I vow to pass him as soon as we enter the passing zone when he slams his brakes on again and swerves to the right, despite not being in the passing zone I revved the car and passed him. I glance back in my rear view mirror in time to see the idiot do another u-turn and head back in the opposite direction. What the fuck? Second close call was actually a lot closer and I guess someone was watching out for me as well because it was sheer dumb luck that my car hit some gravel and went into a spin when it did or I wouldn’t be here typing right now. I’d probably be lucky to be alive, that’s how close of a call it was. Coming off the freeway ramp there is a street that leads down to Vado and La Mesa well the speed limit there used to 45mph but because of the newly built elementary school it is now 35mph and is 5+ miles of no passing. It drives people crazy and to be honest no one really goes the speed limit. Since it was the weekend when cops are out more I was going the speed limit behind another car going about 40mph. We came around a curve and there was this maroon 4x4 Chevy truck there inching to pull out. He saw us and stopped thankfully, end of that right? No. Traveling down the road where the school is there is a side street that cuts my trip home down by a few minutes so I normally take it. On that street there is the new school on the left side and a day care on the right, the day care has a gravel parking lot and so there is usually lose gravel on the entrance of that street so I normally take the turn a little more careful. Well I started slowing down for the turn and flipped on my left signal light. There was a white truck approaching in the distance but it was far enough that I’d be fine so I started turning. Now remember that maroon Chevy truck that almost pulled out in front of me and the car in front of me earlier? Well he was behind me and apparently he didn’t want to wait for me to turn and so he decided to rev his truck up and pass me - on my left which is where I was turning. I was already turning and I had a moment to look up when I heard his truck rev up and to see him coming straight at me. I hadn’t crossed the left lane yet and would have hit my driver’s side door. My car is tough but a dodge neon versus a big old monster truck in a head on collision? No contest. I heard one of the people in the day care’s parking lot start screaming and tires skidding as I tried to gun my car when my front tires hit the gravel too fast and I lost control of my car. I went into a counter clockwise spin and the truck just barely missed me. The fucker never even slowed down or anything just kept flying down the street and almost hit a white truck coming in the opposite direction. I just sat there for a moment completely stunned. The truck had passed right by me and barely avoided scraping me. I was literally a hair’s breath away from getting smashed. I have always hated gravel roads and parking lots because of how the rocks scratch my car and how bumpy they are. I suddenly find myself appreciating gravel a whole hell of a lot more. If I had hit the gravel when I did, the idiot would have plowed right into me. I’m not quite sure how I managed to get home, I was shaking that much. I’ve seen tons of accidents before, been in a few and had some close calls with idiots pulling out in front of me or nearly clipping me because they weren’t paying attention when switching lanes. But that was the first time I have ever been involved in an accident where I know that it was just sheer luck, or the Goddess’ will that kept me from being hurt. What makes it worse is that I know that if he had hit me this would have been one accident I wouldn’t have been able to walk away from. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, NM has the worst drivers I have ever seen. Thank you  :Julie
 @ 1:59pm
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| Busy busy |
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January 26, 2006 |
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It’s been awhile since my last entry hasn’t it? Well I’ve been a bit busy with school right now and my fan listings. My schedule is pretty fucked up because it causes me to waste so much time (not to mention money) traveling back and forth to Las Cruces for a couple of hours here and there. When I’m not at work or in class I’m running errands or working on my fan listings so I’ve pretty much neglected Nanashi. My bad. I created a fanlistings collective called Fanatic Otaku and I have finally finished moving all of my current fanlistings to the collective as well as new ones I’m working on right now. See what slowed me down so much was I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to use Enthusiast and getting everything to work. *shakes head* I can be really slow to learn things sometimes and this was sadly one of those times. But once I got everything figured out it was pretty easy. I’m debating leaving my joined fanlistings here at Nanashi or creating a joined section at the collective and putting them all over there. Decisions decisions. Considering I’ve joined well over 150 fanlistings that’s a lot of update forms I’d have to send out which I think would be just a bit too troublesome for me. None of my classes really look like they’re going to be mentally challenging. Time consuming yes, challenging no. Sad really considering they’re all upper division courses. You’d think one or two might actually challenge me. Human Osteology seems the most likely canidate for a challenge thus far, but CJ 301 is close runner up, only because the Chinese grad student teaching the class doesn’t seem to know what he’s teaching and has thus far (in three class meetings) taught us more about China and the views of it’s people than research methods. Amazingly enough, with the exception of some chapters to read for my once a week only classes I don’t have any homework thus far. The chapters for those classes though are pointless to read right now as the class doesn’t meet for another week, meaning I’m not going to remember what I read a week later. So yeah, joy. Thank you : Josephine, Julie, Miranda & Kate
@ 10:22am
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| Assholes |
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January 11, 2006 |
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So we were without a phone line once again. On the 10th of January EBID (Elephant Butte Irrigation District) finally got around to doing what they said they were going to do, lay down new irrigation pipes to replace the old runs that run directly underneath the entrance to our driveway. About a month ago they sent out a line locator company who located the path that our phone and gas lines run, spray painted the path and put little flags down to mark the way. The phone line runs from the outside connection by my window, along side the house and up the driveway. EBID knew this and were having a hard time trying to figure out a way to replace the piping without cutting our lines. One morning they were even outside checking the depth of the lines and re-checking the location, my mother on her way to work stopped to ask them what they were doing and they admitted to not knowing how they were going to go about doing their job, that it would not be easy. Well today they came and started digging anyway without regard to the line, they just hacked it up. My grandfather went out to speak with them and they said "they didn’t know the line was there". Bullshit. They told my grandfather that they sent a repair report to Qwest (the phone company) and that tomorrow they would be back to fill in the gigantic hole in our driveway because the cement pieces the pipes hadn’t dried yet and they couldn’t fill it in until then. So let’s review; EBID cuts our phone line despite knowing it’s there; lie about not knowing where the line was; tears up our driveway (they were finished by 1:30pm) and then leaves it that way. It is lucky that our house is situated by a canal and that we (unlike most people) have two ways to get into the yard other wise my mother would be screwed when she gets home. Now EBID told my grandfather that they had called Qwest already and notified them of the problem, I didn’t believe them. I mean they lied about knowing the location of the lines why not lie about admitting to your errors as well? So I called Qwest myself on my cell. At first I used their automated system but it didn’t let me tell them what really happened so I keep clicking and waiting through long messages before I was able to get to a repair technician. It was well worth the wait, I explained why I had filled out the repair ticket on the automated system and then explained what happened this morning. Well what do you know, this was the first Qwest had heard about it. EBID never called to inform them that they tampered with the lines. So it is a good thing I called because otherwise we would have been waiting around for technicians to come that would never have come. When I explained what had happened and that someone had come and even marked the lines for EBID meaning that EBID was fully aware of where both our gas and phone lines were and that they still went ahead and deliberately cut them then lied about knowing they were there, well to say the least the woman I spoke to was floored. Apparently this isn’t the first time EBID has pulled this shit with them. Now the reason that I am so pissed about EBID’s underhandedness is because if a phone line is destroyed or deteriorates due to time or the elements it is the phone company that pays for the expense. If it is destroyed or damaged due to human negligence then it is the people that pay for it. No doubt EBID was hoping that we would trust their word and not call Qwest until it was too late and EBID could claim that they never did the job or that the lines were working when they left. They could still try to claim that the lines were intact when they finished their job, except they haven’t finished their job. They left the hole open and lines exposed though and I mentioned this to Qwest so that their technician would know he wouldn‘t be able to drive into our driveway. Originally the technician was scheduled to show up sometime between 8am and 7pm, the woman I spoke to changed that time real fast to 8am-12pm and made sure to note it on the order they’re sending him in hopes that he can get out here before EBID fills up the hole. EBID likes to run away a lot and apparently Qwest would like to have a few words with them. So yeah, it was a little after 2pm on Tuesday January 10, 2006 when I fist started typing this entry. Since I’m without access to the internet I probably won’t be able to post this until midday Wednesday , Thursday at the latest. I’ve been bored out of my mind recently, what with having nothing to do and all and now I am even more bored. No internet and because of the way my car is parked in the front of the house I can’t get out so I’m stuck here at home bored silly and thinking of ways to torture and maim the EBID construction workers. Hell none of them even looked good, and the ones that took their shirts off while working made me cringe and say "eew put it back on!". Talk about serious beer belly. Well I just shot some pictures of the wreckage they have caused. This is how big and deep the thing is:   
I made sure to pay special attention to the lines that were painted down our driveway and across the street that detailed where the phone and gas lines were:   
In these shots you can see clearly that the painted lines matched up to where the telephone line is and as you can see they clearly disregarded it and cut it up.  
Now here’s a scary sight, the warning flag and lines showing where buried gas lines are:  
And look they dug there anyway: 
Lucky for us gas lines are buried pretty deep and thankfully went deeper then what they dug. See I even made sure to take shots of them at the scene of the crime. :P Bastards:  
I shot 31 pictures. I went a bit crazy but I wanted to make sure that there is proof that the lines were there and that they dug them up anyway. And you can tell the lines were not freshly painted either. I thought it best that since they’ve already lied about knowing about the lines and then lied about reporting their fuck up to Qwest that I should have some proof saved up. CYA. I am SO glad I got this little digital camera for Christmas. ------ As you guessed I’ve got the internet back once again since you’re seeing this post. EBID came bright and early this morning to spend four hours filling up half of the hole. Yes that’s right just half, they left one side unfilled so Qwest can get to the line to repair it. The EBID guys looked kind of pissy when they saw me. I don’t think they like me. If things weren’t bad enough with them messing with our lines they decided that while they were here they were going to go ahead and trim back the tree branches that cross over onto the canal and that might interfere with traffic. They did this with a backhoe by swing the arm back and forth and knocking branches. They didn’t bother to use a trimmer like they are supposed to. Talk about childish. Thank you : Julie & Josephine
@ 3:10am
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| .PHP & Anime |
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January 8, 2006 |
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Because I am such a lazy person and totally love the idea of changing a single file (or two) and updating the entire site in one fell swoop I have begun the tedious task of switching my sites over from .html to .php. So far no problems. I actually first tested it out on Dark Waters since that is my latest fanlisting that hasn’t been approved yet and doesn’t have any members yet. Everything is working fine and now if I want to change the layout I don’t have to worry about going in and editing every single friggin page, really. I’ll be working on converting the other listings to php as well and then move on to the other (larger) sites. That should be fun. Another reason I’m so gung-ho about converting is because I am seriously debating installing a script to better manage the listings. I never wanted to before because it seems totally lazy and seemingly makes things way too easy, not to mention it it’s trendy and I don’t like doing trends. I do however already have 7 current fanlistings, 2 fanlistings up and awaiting approval, 1 hate listing, 1 hate listing pending approval, and 3 more fanlistings I just applied for. If I get all of thelistings on upcoming approved I will have 14 listings total. Doing everything manually isn’t too difficult or taxing right now, but when school starts I probably will fall horribly behind. That said I’m thinking of using Enthusiast since phpfanbase isn’t too secure. I know that codegrrl was supposed to have released a newer version, because I’ve seen a lot of fan listings with a so-called "fixed" version yet every time I go to codegrrl it says that all their scripts are offline due to security risks.  I have found a ton of helpful tutorials for installing and running phpfanbase but I haven’t found anything particularly helpful for Enthusiast, and as I’m barely trying to figure it out it’s a real pain in the arse. So baby steps first, get all the fan listings converted to php then worry about which script to use and how.
I am totally in love with Pixelfx.org, that site has the best tutorials. It’s where I figured out how to create databases and how to convert pages to php. I haven’t meant to blog a few days ago but alas, I was side tracked by my anime binge and work. I was able to put in some hours at the Pan Am and I took advantage of it by working every event available thus far. Then since I got my vcr working again I have been going back over all of my old anime VHS that I don’t yet own on DVD and just watching them in a long marathon. Primarily it’s been Gundam Wing and Weiss Kreuz, though I did start watching some Gravitation the other day. Speaking of anime I am so totally psyched. I was browsing Amazon.com and (gotta love Christmas returns) a person had a brand new, never been opened dvd box set of sCRYed for sale at the wonderful price of $39.99 + shipping and handling. Aside from that price the next cheapest price was a used one at $89. Normally the boxed set, meaning the entire series, runs anywhere from $120-$140 depending on any sales and discounts you might be able to snag. So this was a great find for me. Since expedited shipping was only $4.99 I went ahead and paid for it so I should be getting it on Tuesday or maybe even on Monday.  I am so going to veg out in front of the tv and just watch sCRYed all day long.
Thank you : Josephine, Julie x2, & Hannah
@ 3:10am
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| Ignoring that last one |
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January 1, 2006 |
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Well I finally got the new layout up :) it looks better than I thought it would. For some odd reason it took me quite some time to figure out how to get it to work right. *rolls eyes* I can be such a tard sometimes. So now we have a new look for the new year, pretty cool huh? I woke up just fine this morning, no hangover or anything. I did lounge around in bed for awhile though. It’s pretty windy outside right now. According to my little weather pixie thing the winds are blowing at 24.2mph. That sounds about right. The temperature outside right now is 66F so it certainly doesn’t feel like winter. I read back over my last post  and I’m going to claim that a gremlin posted it *nods* that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Well I know you’re supposed to reflect back on the year past and think about all the ways you can improve in the year to come and make some resolutions and what not. I can’t see a reason to make resolutions though, no one ever keeps them more than a few days (week tops) after the new year before they just forget them or give up on them.
In a way though I have set some goals for myself. In the past couple of months I’ve noticed my temper hasn’t been quite as quick to flare as it usually is. I’m going to keep working on that because I hate it when my anger gets the best of me and controls me. It makes me weak and pathetic because when I’m in that state I can’t think straight and often do things I’ll regret later. So I’ll continue working on that. I’m also going to step up my exercise routine a few more notches and kick back on the junk foods some more. These things though aren’t resolutions, just continuations of what I’ve been doing - but I guess we could count them, yes? Thank you : Josephine
@ 2:51am
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| HAPPY NEW YEAR!! |
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January 1, 2006 |
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Gah, well I’m a bit shit-faced right now. I decided to toast in the new year in a-typical fashion of most people. Let’s see if tomorrow I have my first hangoover. Yeah good thing about having had an alcoholic for a father, high tolerance for alcohol. I haven’t had a hang over yet but I think Mañana might be a different story. Oi I made the mistake of replying to some people’s blog entires in this condition so eyah, if what I say doesn’t make much sense please forgive me; yo no se pred comprendo que tias ascendo. Gah, I’m going to put up the brand new layout I did manage to get the site itself updated. It was a long awaited update too. Lots of little things and some sections got revamps and updates yesterday/tody so head on over to my update log to see what exactly last year’s update (teehee) entailed. And yeah, I don’t think I’ll be repeating this tradition of getting smashed on New year’s eve again. Oi, I can’t stand not being able to focus on the computer or what I’m typing. It’s taekne me way too long to get this short entry typed out and ready to post. Happy New Year everyone and may you all have had a fun and sage New Years!! Thank you : Julie, & Josephine
@ 3:46am
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