My Journal

philychez @ 2008-09-26T23:44:00

2008-09-27T04:49:38Z

Attention Iowa females (or persons who know Iowa females):

Just like Meg did last year, Planned Parenthood is offering Free IUDs again. As copied from their website:

"Free long-acting reversible contraception!
Worry free and easy long-acting reversible birth control can help you plan your family and your future. Call 1.800.230.PLAN (7526) by September 30 to make an appointment for your FREE IUD or Implanon."

If I remember right from Meg, it's "Free" as in they bill your insurance, and whatever they don't pay, PP will pay the rest. So a copay or deductable or something might apply, but it won't be the normal ~$600.

Here's a link to their website.

Here's a link to PP's website about IUDs. Meg has Mirena, the plastic one that slowly leeches hormones and lasts 5 years.

Meg loves hers, so if you're sick of trying to remember to take a pill everyday, or considering starting on Birth Control, I'd recommend checking it out. Meg would be a better person to ask questions to, though.

philychez @ 2008-08-19T14:44:00

2008-08-19T19:49:45Z

I don't know if anyone still has me on their friend's list, since I haven't posted in a long time, but if anyone sees this, HI! *waves*

So I'm in a big dilema here. On the one hand, I like T-Mobile and the awesome plan I have. On the other hand, I need my phone to work where I live.

I just moved across town, and my apartment complex is a deadzone for T-Mobile. I can get 1 bar right outside my landlord's office, but when I go towards my apt I lose all signal. I've been on the phone with them, and they put in a ticket to send an engineer out to my place and I have to wait 72hours. Ugh.

I'm not sure what to expect though. I doubt that the engineer will miraculously have a solution for me, and if they say "Well WE didn't have any problems" then what do I do? I hope I'll still have grounds to cancel my contract w/o penalty.

Instead of doing all this, I should probably just flat out tell them I want to cancel because of coverage issues, but I dunno if that'll work or not. And like I said, I like my phone/plan so I don't want to switch if I don't have to.

Hopefully things get worked out.

Writer's Block: Your Username

2008-08-19T17:17:14Z

Why did you choose your user name? Is there any special meaning or story behind it?

Submitted By lilbananapie

View 502 Answers

It's really stupid, actually.

When I moved to college, the guys I hung out with already had a Rich in the group. So they decided that my name would be Phil for the rest of the year. Then one day someone being a dumbass (possibly drunk) said something to the effect of "Phil? Like PHILYCHEESE STEAK!?! AHAHAHA". I just rolled my eyes and told myself it's better than "Rich? CAN I CALL YOU DICK!?! AHAHAHA I'M SO ORIGINAL", which I get all the time. So philycheese shortened to philychez.

I like it because it's never taken when i register places :)

philychez @ 2008-01-03T21:44:00

2008-01-04T03:47:54Z

Well the caucuses are over, and although I'm not surprised, I am dissapointed. Huckabee won the Republicans with 34%, with Romney at 25%, Thompson/McCain at 13%, and Paul pulling only 10%. I initially had some high hopes, because Paul took ~50% of all the votes in my voting room, but that didn't pan out statewide.

Democratic looked more interesting, with Obama winning with 37%, Edwards/Clinton in a tight race around 30%, and no one else getting more than 2%.

I will still hold out for a while, and see how Paul does in New Hampshire and the rest of the Primaries, but if this trend continues I will have to switch tickets again and find a new candidate. Probably 3rd party.

philychez @ 2007-11-26T22:16:00

2007-11-27T04:21:11Z

So we've been having some severe problems with the internet. Horrible download speeds, horrible lag spikes, making it almost unusable. So I troubleshoot a bit, reset modem/router, reset computer, nothing. Do some speed tests, I'm getting about 300Kbps. I should be getting between 7000-8000Kbps. That's not even 0.5%. So I regretfully called Mediacomm technical support. I actually got a nice guy who didn't try to talk down to me when I said the service was bad. Did some speed tests for him, he went "Huh." He did some pings of my modem, 10% PACKET LOSS. No wonder!

So we have a tech coming out Wednesday to take a look.

I think we may have a squirrel problem :/

Until then, atleast we can use the landlords slower (but faster than what we're getting now!) internet.

Whee!

philychez @ 2007-11-20T21:51:00

2007-11-21T03:52:00Z

( o Y o )

That is all.

philychez @ 2007-11-13T12:34:00

2007-11-13T18:44:38Z

Hmm... so I'm switching my E-mail over to GMail from IAState, and I don't know if I'm backwards but I'm used to filtering incoming mail into folders for easy sorting (and a cleaner inbox). So, LJ comment notifications would be sent to a folder, Facebook spam to a different, etc etc. GMail doesn't do that; it puts all your mail into your Inbox and applies "Labels" to them for easy sorting. I guess it'll just take some getting used to, and a bit more work keeping my inbox clean.

WoW Patch 2.3 today should be lots of fun! Good stuff for everyone, from Zul'Aman to guild banks to lots of class fixes and Azeroth overhaul. Lots of fun stuff to play with :)

Not much happening other than that. Working, playing WoW, and spending time with Meg is what I do. Which I am very happy with.

Oh, and for those of you like Ping Chan and Meg didn't tell anyone: We're back together. Have been since September sometime (don't make me remember dates).

Anyhew, time to shower and get ready for the day. Comment on this so I can test out my new GMail filtering and whatnot :D

philychez @ 2007-10-26T19:44:00

2007-10-27T00:45:26Z

Good ol' Polka music set to WoW. Very fitting.

>.>

philychez @ 2007-10-19T19:31:00

2007-10-20T00:33:12Z

"Remember when the platform was sliding into the fire pit and I said 'Good Bye!' and you were like 'NO WAI!' and I then I was all 'We pretended we were going to murder you'. That was great." -GLaDOS

XD

Also, I downloaded GCF Scape and can access the sound files individually. So if anyone wants one of the quotes as a ringtone or something, just let me know. Or for fun Window's themes. :)

philychez @ 2007-10-18T15:32:00

2007-10-18T20:39:33Z

Image below the cut to save your friends page. Look at the GIF and tell me which direction (clockwise or counterclockwise, looking from the top) the sillouette is turning.

People here at work are seeing it go both directions, and if I concentrate I can make her go either direction. It's WEEEEEIRD!

philychez @ 2007-10-14T16:17:00

2007-10-14T21:17:48Z

THE CAKE IS A LIE!
THE CAKE IS A LIE!
THE CAKE IS A LIE!
THE CAKE IS A LIE!

philychez @ 2007-09-18T20:48:00

2007-09-19T01:52:55Z

Student is tasered during a Town Hall meeting with John Kerrey

Synopsis: Student is asking questions to Sen. Kerrey, and becomes very accusatory towards the senator, not allowing him to respond. Police ask him to leave, he doesn't. Then they escort him out, he resists. Finally they end up tasering him before he gives up.

When I first saw the video, I instantly thought "Wow, what a dumbass." He created a disturbance by asking question after question after question (Kerry seemed like he'd respond, but the guy wouldn't let him), then when he was asked to leave, he didn't. Then the cops tried to escort him out, he resisted. And kept resisting, both physically and verbally. Then they tell him "stop resisting or you'll be tasered". He keeps resisting. They taser him.

Sounds justifiable to me. Maybe a little harsh, but I wasn't there. It's tough to see what the guy's doing when he's on the ground.

People say "He has a right to be heard!" and things like that, and I agree, but that's different than berating a prominent senator and not giving him a chance to respond to your allegations/questions. I believe he should have been lead out, but that's just me. I can see where people could argue he shouldn't have been lead out. After that, though, I think the police handled it just fine.

If a cop says "Stop resisting", you stop resisting. If a cop says "Stop resisiting or you'll be tasered", then you're surprised when you're tasered?

Maybe I'm missing something.

What do you think?

philychez @ 2007-08-28T22:01:00

2007-08-29T03:03:03Z

The most innocent things can be taken out of context and be very funny.

Talking to a passenger over the phone today:

P: "Hi, can I get a 1A from Kildee hall?"
Me: "No, sorry, the 1A doesn't run by Kildee hall at this time of night. You'll need to take a number 2. It will be there at (time)"

After I said that, I looked at my supervisor and said "That didn't come out right, did it?" She started laughing and said "Yea, I caught that and laughed a bit to myself."

Fun times!

philychez @ 2007-08-27T02:46:00

2007-08-27T07:52:43Z

Finally beat Paper Mario (the one for 64). Good game, lots to customize with your badges and partners, simple math for damage taken/received. If you have a Wii I definately recommend downloading it. I'll probably download Super Metroid next, just so I have it, then Metroid Prime 3: Corruption comes out on Tuesday! I haven't preordered it anywhere, so I doubt I'll get it on Tuesday, but sometime I'll get it.

Patch day on Tuesday most likely for those who play WoW. My downloader is already starting on 2.2, so its coming soon. Might start it now (54mb) so you dont' have as much to download on Tuesday.

Moonlight really screws up my schedule. Normally I goto bed around 2a or so, get up at 10a. Moonlight goes until 3:30a, then if I goto Perkins with my drivers afterwards I usually don't leave until after 4:30a. Last night I didn't get to bed until almost 6a because of a late night at Perkins and then I couldn't sleep. And 2 people above me have to leave before I get out of moonlight, so I'll probably be doing it for a while.

On the brighter note we've had 2 weekends of MLX so far and it's going well. Lots of new people driving, so once they're on their own it could be a different story, but hopefully we can keep our trend of improving MLX every year. And from a general CyRide standpoint we're also doing well. We have many more people working this fall then we did last fall, so we're not scrambling for drivers as bad. There is some BS going on in management, but hopefully that works itself out.

Anyhew, I should sleep. Good night all.

philychez @ 2007-08-15T11:19:00

2007-08-15T16:26:45Z

It's Fall Semester time, everyone! Incoming freshman! Are we having fun yet? I know I am. I get all the wonderful calls about "When's the next bus from Friley to Beach?" over and over and over and over..... I also get all the information calls, like "Where's *location*?" or "How do I get from *location1* to *location2*?" I'm a nice guy, so I'll help them if I can.

For example, "How do I get from Beach to Freddy Ct?". I tell them they can take a Blue, but it won't be for another 35 mins. They decide to walk, and ask how to get there. I tell them to take Beach north, past the greenhouses, and go through the tunnel. They call 3 more times, verifying this, then get pissy with ME because it's dark and can't find the tunnel. *sigh* And we get to deal with the people who dart after ANY bus they see, and ask if they're going to HyVee/Target/Mall/Friley/etc, even after the driver tells them to wait at a stop.

I wish there was a better way to teach everyone, but there really isn't. We could give maps/instructions during orientation, but I doubt that'd help any. Instead myself and the other dispatchers get to be innondated with call after call until our ears bleed, while trying to run a bus system. We just hired 2 recepionists, but I doubt they'll help with call loads for a while.

PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! If you or your child pukes in the back of my bus, please tell my driver! DO NOT leave it there until they come back to the garage to find a PUDDLE (yes, a puddle, it filled one of our bucket seats) of vomit. *sigh*

And on a fun note, I can type something like 80 WPM. My accuracy probably has a lot to be desired, but oh well. I blame WoW and AIM for increasing my typing speed. :D

And in other news...

2007-08-02T17:24:58Z

philychez @ 2007-07-25T21:53:00

2007-07-26T02:58:09Z

Well, I finally fixed my DDR pad. After a few years of sitting dormant, I finally found a switch that works, and now I have a fully functional DDR pad.

It's not much to look at, but once I print off some decals for the arrows it will look a lot better.

Another thing I did for the pad is put the main electronics OUTSIDE the pad in a separate box (C-box). This way, I can make another C-box for, say, an XBox or Gamecube or computer. So when DDR for the Wii comes out (I'm not making this up, it IS coming out and will have Remote functions as well) I can still use my pad.

I'm so HAPPY at how well it works! It's sensitive, yet durable, which is amazing that I could make something like that. Granted, I had help from the internets for the design, but I still had to make it,and make it work.

So! If anyone wants to play DDR for free, come on over! I prefer you use shoes with it, since it does have raised screws and possible sharp corners, but Benn played w/o shoes at his own risk. :D

Now to find my ITG... where the hell did it go...

philychez @ 2007-07-22T22:31:00

2007-07-23T03:31:59Z

VAGINA BEER!

(it says "Pomegranite Raspberry", since it's kinda blurry)

philychez @ 2007-07-22T10:43:00

2007-07-22T16:26:21Z

OK. I have finally come to the realization that I need to lose some weight. I got some new pants at work in my regular size, and they didn't fit. I had to get 40" waist pants. SO! Now to see if I can actually do anything about this, or stop caring again and continue playing WoW.

One thing to (hopefully) help myself with this is my DDR pad. I don't know if anyone remembers, but I built my own DDR pad a while ago, but the sensors never worked right, so I mostly gave up on it. Today, I was browsing the DDRFreak forums, and I found an AWESOME sensor idea.

Before, I had just screw heads providing both the contact surface and the support for the arrows, and had a piece of metal on the lexan button to make contact. This proved to be very touchy and very difficult to wire and align. The new sensor idea also uses screws, but instead of having the metal on the lexan, it hovers a piece of metal over the button using mousepad material.

So I'm going to go to Lowe's today and pick up the materials I need and see if I can't fix it. If you have any ideas/suggestions, I'd love to hear them! :D

philychez @ 2007-07-22T08:35:00

2007-07-22T13:39:45Z

Ugh, I think my iPod is dying. Recently I swapped the battery in my iPod 4thGen because it would not hold a charge longer than 2 hours. After I swapped the battery and charged it, it seemed to work just fine. Then I left it sit near my computer for about a month (didn't have a reason to use it), and last night I brought it to work and it didn't work.

So I took it home, did a "Restore" on it, and reuploaded my music. Now it makes clicking noises, which for a hard drive is bad. :( I smack it a few times, and now it seems to be working, but I'm sure it will stop any day now.

Looks like I get to BACK into my iPod and replace the HardDrive. YAY for me! Know what Apple charges to service my 4th Gen? $250. Fuck them, I'm getting a HDD off of eBay for $50.

Anyhew, back to work. Worked 10 hours yesterday, and another 7 today. Atleast I get the internet :D

philychez @ 2007-07-20T23:42:00

2007-07-21T04:43:31Z

Stolen from the B3ta weekly newsletter:

>> Unfortunate Advertising <<
Placing advertising is a tricksy job, news
happens quickly and story-vs-spot juxtaposition
can create some interesting tension. Some
classics of the genre are found here.
http://www.oddee.com/item_87332.aspx

Click the link. Do eet. Full of lots of lol's.

philychez @ 2007-07-20T14:54:00

2007-07-20T19:55:56Z

Work Schedule next week:

Monday 5:30p-11:15p
Tuesday 5:30p-11:15p
Wednesday OFF
Thursday OFF
Friday 12:30-5:30p
Saturday 5:00p-10:15p
Sunday 8:00a-3:00p

philychez @ 2007-07-19T11:58:00

2007-07-19T17:00:16Z

So I got a call at 8a yesterday morning (when I was most decidedly sleeping), but after the 4th call I picked up. My dad was unable to goto Spamalot and wanted to know if I wanted to go. HELLS YES!

So I saw Spamalot! last night. That show was AMAZING! Hilarity everywhere, audience interaction, making fun of musicals WITHIN the musical. And, of course, all the goofyness of Monty Python, complete with their animations.

If you get a chance sometime, I highly recommend seeing it.

Now for Rockapella next week Friday! WHEE!

philychez @ 2007-07-16T22:36:00

2007-07-17T03:36:33Z

marriedtothesea.com

philychez @ 2007-07-15T12:59:00

2007-07-15T18:00:31Z

Tee Hee, new user icon. This is from the episode where Stewie is afraid of the tooth fairy and asks "If I want to stop a fairy I'll have to think like a fairy", where Brian smirks and the audience is encouraged to TextMsg for different ways for Brian to react. :)

Also, work is boring.