DJ Reverend Cybian: LiveJournal

I have tons of things to update, but I am working my little butt off! The past four days flew by way too fast. I always feel that I do not get to hang out or say hi to everyone. Comic-Con and XSanguin VI was a blast. I had way too much fun. I was finally able to take two days off work without any interruptions. I was very happy about that. The last time I tried to take off work, I was basically on the phone and online most of the days.

I'll try and post some highlights later on. It was absolutely great running into everyone.

I've been extremely busy at work, but that is for another post. Right now I am currently getting over the affects of Novocaine. This morning I had a temporary crown put in and I am not feeling up to par. kambrieloktober just called about lunch and I am patiently waiting for her to call again and meet her for lunch. I hope she calls soon because I am getting hungry and I am sure food will help in getting me back to normal. As normal as I can be! 0_o

I took a break at the beginning of the year from deejaying to finish my bachelors degree. After I finished school my daughter was born and that occupied a good part of my free time. Actually all my spare time. I haven't been really thinking much about DJing and haven't taken up Franck's offers throughout the year to do a DJ guest spot at Das Bunker. Mostly because of time with being occupied with school, my daughter, work, etc.

Now that my daughter is sleeping throughout the night, I am running out of excusing to not DJ. Part of the reason I haven't jumped back into the DJ booth is that I have not felt the mood or desire to DJ. I just haven't felt the need to DJ at this moment in time. Another reason is that I am starting to get gun shy. I haven't deejayed since the beginning of the year and I feel like I am starting to get rusty and loose my edge. The last reason is I haven't bought new music in awhile and that has always been a factor for me loving to DJ.

Right now I am listening to Cleen's Designed Memories and Believe just played. That song brought back so many memories of me deejaying. That used to be one of my favorite tracks to play in my sets back back in the day. It brought back warm fuzzy feelings and nostalgia.

The only problem for me getting back into deejaying is right now I only want to take up Franck's offer for a guest DJ spot at Das Bunker. I have always loved doing guest spots at Das Bunker and always had a great reception. The only problem with deejaying at Das Bunker is fighting the traffic up to LA on a Friday, especially when you just got off work. My only other problem is I am afraid that I would have such a great time doing a guest spot that I would be depressed that I do not have a regular DJ residency. I'm afraid of getting back into deejaying and not having a regular outlet.

This is the time when all my cases(tasks) are done for the month and now they are in the hands of QA this week and the code gets released to production next week. Basically my task is to support these other two current tasks, but I am never called for any clarification on the correct response with an application or help with the release.

I had my planning meeting with my SCRUM team yesterday and I know what my tasks are for next month's iteration. The problem is that my main task that is a high priority from the business unit has no feature definition document or specifications yet. So I can't start coding the Java application part for the application. But there is always refractoring of code. Maybe I will do some JUnit testing for other applications that do not have them. JUnit testing doesn't affect production code nor does it go through QA testing. Oh joy... More JUnit coding.

In other news... We got to go to May Potrero War!!! We did not decide to actually go until almost noon on Thursday. After the phone call from Michelle, I went to my manager and told him I was leaving and would be taking Friday off also. He wasn't blindsided because I warned him that I might be taking Thursday and Friday off.

So I quickly went home to load the car and was at the camp site around 7:00pm. Spend most of the night setting up and Michelle met me the next day. I am so grateful for all the help we received with watching the kids. It would not have been possible to go without people stepping up to the plate. It was still hard and Kieran was a major problem all day and especially at night. Michelle wound up going home Saturday night and coming back on Sunday.

I basically fought only on Saturday and decided not to fight on Sunday because I did not want to be drained during tear down of our camp. It was good seeing people I have not seen in awhile and getting to hang out with others and getting to know them better. Again kudos to all the people that helped. We really did appreciate it. I'm still so damn happy that we got to go to War for most of the time. Hopefully it will be easier next time. I think we need a War nanny!

Yesterday I submitted my graduation application to receive my diploma and transcripts! I went online to see if the credits for Principles of Public Speaking were evaluated. They were not in the morning when I logged in, but were when I logged in again in the afternoon. I noticed they were evaluated, but not applied to my Comm Arts. I called my academic counselor and left a message to see when they would be applied because it usually takes two to three weeks.

After I left the voice mail, I decided to check online again to see if they have been applied. I thought just maybe someone would be on the ball and apply them right away because it took so long for the exam results. Sure enough... they were applied within the hour of when they were evaluated and online. I was ecstatic!!! I quickly clicked the online graduation application and proceeded to complete the application.

After a few minutes I was done. I have officially completed everything I needed in order to receive my Bachelors of Science in Information Technology degree. All I have to do is wait for approximately 30 business days to receive my diploma and transcripts. Yesterday I started to go through all my old school paperwork in numerous boxes. I'm keeping some of my written papers, but everything else is going in the recycle bin. It sure feels nice doing some spring cleaning in the office. Actually if feels very nice.

I believe the subject says it all in regards to receiving my Prinicples of Public Speaking DANTES test score yesterday.

Here's a quick breakdown of the dates involved with this test. I took the written/oral exam on Friday, 16 Feburary 2007. I had to take the oral exam again on Wednesday, 04 April 2007 because they said the tape was blank. The date of report for sending the final score was on Wednesday, 09 May 2007. I finally received my test score in the mail on Monday, 14 May 2007. The 16th of Feburary date will be the offical date of the exam. 0_o

Needless to say, I passed with flying colors and can finally say I met all the requirements for my Bachelors of Science in Information Technology. Now I just have to wait for the credits to be applied to Comm Arts. Usually it takes between two to three weeks, but I think I have waited long enough and will call them by the end of the week. Then I can finally apply for my diploma and transcripts.

I can't believe I can finally say I have officially met my requirements. It's only been since Friday, 09 March 2007, when I completed my final exam.

Just ask Michelle or view the little posts and replies we are doing on everyone's journal. I'm supposed to be writing some JUnit tests for our services, but it's bringing up some questions with our framework. It's bringing up some major refactoring issues. I have to setup a meeting with some of the other developers to see what approach we would like to go with our framework, services, etc.

In other news... It seems like I will only be using the elliptical machine for the next week. I can't get a workout routine going if my life depended on it. It looks like I might have an AC joint separation in my left shoulder that I received from fighter practice three weeks ago. I've been working out with it, but truthfully it has been painful and the pain stays with me throughout the day. I had x-rays taken today and will know more later. Getting old sucks major ass.

Is anyone going to the opening of Spiderman 3 at San Diego's new IMAX theater? I used to go to opening night for movies, but I have been out of the loop for a very long time and don't get to play in any reindeer games. Do people still go to opening night at the movies? Is anyone lucky enough to be going to Spiderman 3 at the IMAX theater?

Taken from everyone...

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Use the 1st letter of your first name to answer each of the following. If you can't think of anything, skip it. You can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Chris (Cybian) Oooohhh... Double C!
Famous Music artist/group: Combichrist
3 letter word: Cum
Street name: Church St.
Color: Cyan
Gifts/present: Cock ring
Vehicle: Chevrolet Camaro
Show: CSI
Country: Czech Republic
Boy Name: Cieran
Girl Name: Caitlyn
Alcoholic drink: Cranberry & Vodka
Occupation: Coder
Flower: Chrysanthemum
Celebrity: Christopher Walken
Something found in a kitchen: Cutlery
Reason for Being Late: Chihuahua... ran in front of my car while driving. Want to check the tire?
Something Scary: Cootchie Mama
A Feeling: Chipper
Animal: Cat
Something you shout: Cocksucker!

So I started to run again almost three weeks ago. The exercise bug has hit me hard. But my legs and knees have been constantly bothering me after the runs. I thought my body would get used to running and last week it almost seemed that my body was getting used to running. But when I ran again in the beginning of the week my knees were killing me afterward. I was in the Marine Corps 10 years and never had knee problems. I don't plan on starting now.

So I have been looking into alternatives to running. I really like elliptical machines and this was the first thing I started to look into. At first I was thinking about buying one because I like to workout at home on my own time. One of the problems though is space. If we were living in our old house there would be tons of room, but not with the new house. So I decided to check out one of my company's satellite gyms that is next to my office.

I went yesterday and did a cardio workout on one of the elliptical machines and worked with a few of the weight machines during lunch. I was pretty pleased with the facility, so I decided to start working out during lunch. Some of the perks with working out during lunch at work is that I don't have to go far and it's free! Also I can get a workout during all types of inclement weather, which would have affected my workout if I was running outdoors.

Well one of my coworkers has also started going to the gym during lunch and wanted a workout partner. I told him that I was starting to go to the gym and I'll go with him. I wasn't really thinking about it, but this has turned out to be a real workout and not just a cardio workout. Actually he is more into working out for muscle buildup and definition. He's only 26 and doesn't have to worry about speeding up his metabolism or losing tons of extra poundage. He has it easy... he's still young and is in better shape than I am.

Well today we worked on mostly shoulders and back. We also did a few abs exercises. I can still feel the burn as I type. But it feels good and I am extremely pleased to be getting back into a workout routine. Unfortunately for me when we were finished with our workout, he left and I still had to do my cardio workout on the elliptical machine. Like I mentioned before I have to work a little harder because I also have to speed up my metabolism again. After years of not doing much activity because of school and other obligations, it has finally taken a toll on my body. My metabolism is at a crawl right now. Hopefully it will start to speed up again soon. I know it won't be like I was young, but hopefully it will be better than what it is currently.

So if you don't recognize me next time you see me, you will know why. Actually it will be because of my beard, but I can wish a little... Can't I? Shit... I'll have that 300 Spartans thang going on in no time.

I am really starting to get antsy right now. Mixed in with being tired and my body just feels funky. I keep bouncing my knee up and down and I feel like electricity is coursing through my body.

I think it is partially because I haven't had a true vacation in awhile. I really want to travel somewhere in the world. But I would take a Vegas trip in a heartbeat. Also now that I am out of school there seems to be a void in my life. I'm used to always being on the go and having something to do, whether I liked it or not. Although school is not the most exciting thing in life, at least I knew I had things to get done. Add to the fact that I have not deejayed since the beginning of the year and all of the sudden I don't have much to do. Or at least it feels that way.

Sure my new daughter has been occupying my time, but I don't consider that something that is counted towards personal tasks, interests, hobbies, etc. Plus I believe kids should be a part of your life, not your life, so I would like to keep my individuality, interests, hobbies, etc.

Now the only problem is that I have been working for my degree for so long, now that I kind of have time (or getting close to it), I am not sure what I want to do. I feel like I want to do everything and I want to do nothing at the same time. This affects the motivation to start different things. I have started to run again, but running in Poway is not the most exciting thing. I should work on my bike and do a little riding also. I went to fighter practice last Sunday and plan on trying to go at least two weeks a month.

I think I am starting to babble now. The last reason I think I feel antsy is that war is coming up and we are probably not going to be able to make it. It was one thing to go when Kieran was only five months old. At least he was sleeping through the night and Michelle did not have to pump at night. This May, Killian will only be 2½ months old and Michelle will still need to pump at night. Plus it will be hard on M when I am fighting while she feeds Killian and Kieran wants to blaze a trail through camp.

Yea... If we are at home during Memorial weekend, it will be the first time in years that we will not be at war. It's going to be hard to stay at home for an extended weekend and have no plans.

I was wondering what are some good PC games to try out. I'm an old Evercrack addict, but I want to try a game that I can play alone. I haven't been playing EQ2 lately and I'm a little tired of all the twinks on the PVP server. I'm also not too pleased with necros being nurfed in EQ2. Plus I can't level my main character without Michelley and I haven't been able to find another toon that I like to play besides my main DE Necro.

I was told about Oblivion at work, but my friend Troy mentioned that you need an extreme system to get the most out of it. My current system is a 3400 AMD with a 6800 Nvida card. It was top of the line two years ago and I thought it should be good for anything out there, but I might be wrong. Oh... Troy mentioned that I might like this new game called Stalker. Has anyone played it?

So what are some of the current games out there. I haven't played any of the Call of Duty, war games, etc. that have come out in the passed few years. Nor have I ever played the strategic take over the world games. Since I have only played EQ and EQ2 for the past years, I am pretty rusty with the Quake style games. Actually I suck since I played Doom 3 around a year ago and didn't get too far on it.

So are there any suggestions out there?

Not much to say at the moment. I finished the main portion of my current dev task. All I can say is the WideOrbit Broadcasting application sucks for custom development. But I managed to bang out a script that will create an xml for our program guide that will work with our system.

Yesterday I received an outstanding work review and heard of some more good things coming my way. As Michelle said, "It looks like your ship as finally come in." I've only been busting my ass for almost 10 years now, but I am happy that everything I have done to enhance my career is finally coming together. It's been one wild roller coaster since I left the Marine Corps and all the blood, sweat, & tears is finally about to pay off. Yes... I guess I am a little excited about my review. Oh... I have to find two training classes and a conference to attend. Too bad I can't attend the JavaOne conference up in SF in May, but its to soon with Killian's birth.

But I will admit, currently I am a little bored. I spent around a week going over this application and now I am a cross roads. I finished the coding portion and now have to integrate it into our build. Plus I need to do some testing with the production data. The WideOrbit dev server has data from last year and the data is basically skeletal in nature. Right now I rather be doing my run or some other activity.

I need a Nap Nap. I wish I didn't feel so tired everyday. Well actually I didn't feel tired yesterday until late afternoon. This does not help the motivation level to do anything at work. I really want to start running after work, but by the time I get home I am so tired and lazy. Maybe I should just say fuck it and go for a little run this afternoon. Hopefully I will not pass out in some ditch.

It seems I will have to wait a little longer until I am officially graduated and have my degree and transcripts in hand. I took my final CLEP test (College Mathematics) on March 9th and passed. Praise the Lord for receiving your results right away and satisfying your instant gratification urge. I was going to post something on that day, but I have been waiting for results on the DANTES Principles of Public Speaking exam, which I took on February 16th. I was told that it usually takes between six to eight weeks before receiving your results. This is because you have to send in a taped five minute persuasive speech in addition to the written exam. I have been waiting for my results ever since.

Yesterday I came into work and noticed I had voice mail. I didn't check my voice mail until almost lunch. When I finally checked the message it was from the testing coordinator at my school. He mentioned that DANTES sent back the tape because there was nothing on it and I had to do the taped portion of the exam over. Do I have to mention how extremely pissed off I became?

I called him right away and he basically stated again what he left on my voice mail. That he received a package from DANTES and it said that the tape originally sent did not have anything on it and that I would have to redo my speech portion of the exam. Does somebody at either DANTES or UoP not know that you need to keep tapes away from magnetic substances? Another blank tape and topic was included in the package. By now I was furious and kindly told him that this was bullshit. I asked if I could come in right now and take the speech portion of the exam again. He said that was fine and in a couple of minutes I was off.

Basically when I arrived at school I was still extremely pissed. The coordinator and I talked for a few minutes wondering what might have happened then I was off to take the speech portion of the exam. The coordinator was kind enough to loan me his watch, which had a big digital stop watch interface. That was extremely helpful because the speech can not be under three minutes or over five minutes or it's an automatic failure. I was then given my new topic and ten minutes to prepare my persuasive speech on, "Should women be allowed in combat." In the 10 minutes of preparation I probably wrote an outline for a 10 minute speech. My speech was around 4 minutes, 54 seconds long and I did not cover everything in my outline. I believe I did a fairly decent job, enough to pass at least. Public speaking is something I am good at, I usually get compliments from my instructors and the class is usually told to take notes on how I delivered my speech and that I am a prime example for how to deliver a speech.

So... Basically I have to wait a couple of weeks before receiving my results on this exam. After that I have to wait at least two weeks until they are counted towards my Comm Arts credits. Finally I will be able to apply for my diploma and transcripts, which they have 30 business days to complete. I'll be lucky to receive everything by July. 0_o

Sure I am... Just busy knocking out my last nine credits.

I always watch this movie during the season to remember that life is good... Unfortunately its not working.

No sappy responses...

After two years plus of working, going to school, having a kid, buying a house, changing jobs, selling a house, buying another house, DJing to nobody, learning new languages and technologies, expecting another kid, and other stresses I will not mention... I am finally burned out!

This is part of the reason why I have not posted in so long. I have started to feel drained a few months ago and did not have any energy nor anything to say in the past months. But it has finally come to a full blown hilt when I am programming and everything starts to look like Chinese. My brain is basically telling me that it is going in hiatus. I wish I could go with it, but I am stuck going through the daily grind we call life.

I'm not sure why I am posting right now. Guess I will stare at some code although someone else broke the build and I am stuck in the water now. Looks like someone might have updated the code, so I will try another install/compile.

So... Last night I decided to go up to Das Bunker in LA by myself to see Noisex. I just have to say that I have not had that much fun at a club in so many years! I am very happy with my decision to drive up by myself. It was great seeing people that I have not seen in years. It was great to especially see Mike Orgillon and his girlfriend, Franck H-Bomb, and Raoul from Noisex. It was also nice to run into SD people like heliamphora, seductress, namey, mismonster, redpooka, and miriku. I also saw a few people from SD that I haven't probably seen since the Luminal days. All in all it was definitely a night of catching up with old friends.

As far as Das Bunker the club goes, it is amazing. If San Diego could only have a venue like the one Das Bunker is using. Three rooms of Industrial Disco Tech. Last night the Powernoize room had the upstairs, which is the biggest of the rooms. This is also where Noisex and the other bands performed. Downstairs you had a EBM, Electro, and TBM room and an Old School room. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the music in all three rooms. It was pretty fun to bounce between the rooms and see what they were playing.

This was actually my first time at that venue for Das Bunker. Yes, it has been a few years since I visited Das Bunker. I will definitely have to go up there more often. Actually Franck and I were discussing a guest spot for the second Friday of January. It will be so nice to spin an exclusive Powernoize set again. It's been a few years where I can just spin a full Powernoize set and not just play Powernoze in the beginning or end of the set.

Time to enjoy the rest of the evening with kambrieloktober. You know you had fun when you are still walking around with a smile on your face!

I was wondering if anyone was going to see Noisex this Friday at Das Bunker? I was thinking of going, but I was wondering if anyone else was driving up to LA. So... Anyone going up to Das Bunker and would not mind if I tag along?

Well... Underworld was OK. I knew there were a lot of parties going on that night and the parties seemed to have a small affect on the attendance. But there were still some cool people that attended. Although I believe I have scared off dj_harlot and ladynoir from attending Underworld when I am spinning. Suxxors... I liked talking to those two at the clubs. Besides those two ladies, I also ran into people like namey, which always is a pleasure seeing at the clubs. I guess I should also mention these three people since they have been attending every week that I have spun at Underworld for the past couple of weeks: Chad, Jackie, and December. They are starting my entourage... kudos to them! Plus they sometimes drag people out like Troy and Harrison.

I will have to admit, I was a little too frustrated than I should have been during the night. But then again I did run into technical problems throughout that night, which can add to unnecessary stress. The night started off with my headphones broken that I had to fix with tape. This made me late in starting off the night. And the night ended off with one of my CDs skipping. A CD that I have been spinning regularly for the past few weeks and never had problems with playing it. Plus there are many new people into the scene and personally I really don't know what they listen to these days.

It can be hard when you see a club patron coming to the club before it opens and expecting to hear something different than what you spin or have brought to the club. She was a very nice young girl and pleasant when asking for requests. My problem is I am really tired of spinning what I like to call Top 40 Goth. I'm not going to go into detail, but I am sure you know what I mean. Plus to be honest, I probably own over 2500 CDs and I just can't bring all of them to the club. There comes a time when you finally have to decide what direction you want to spin. There are many genres in Industrial and Gothic and you only have a set amount of time in one night. I probably get to play between 30 - 35 songs in one night. That is really not many songs to play in one night and do you really want it used up to hear the same songs from the past 20 years and not listen to any current songs/bands? Actually I am getting sidetracked with my musings and this subject can probably use its own separate entry.

I do have to end the post with this statement that was told to me at Denny's at the end of the night.

"Cybian, you should start playing your aggro set earlier in the night."

This is because I progressively spin harder stuff as the night goes on. I start off usually with some type of IDM/Noise or Electro/Darkwave and build up from there.

AAAAAaaagggggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Runs away screaming!

I doubt that there are, but are there any xml programmers out there? I have a question about an xml application that I am about to develop.