A lot has happened since I left BDO. Life has been a lot more calm and a lot less stressful. I havent visited an airport in a long time. As soon as I got my new job, I took time for myself to rest and enjoy the slower pace of life.
Currently, I have to take Saturday classes for the entire month of May. It definitely doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but it's something I need to do if I want to pass the CISA exam.
I'm also heading out to Boston next week for training. I'm going to try to get Celtic tickets and watch a game out there.
I know I don't update Xanga as much as I used to, but I will try to update this thing as soon as I can. I haven't updated with any pictures in a while, so below are some pictures from the last time I updated:
Dec 13, 2008 - Kristin's 18th Birthday
Dec 20, 2008 - Outing at Kabuki for someone's birthday
Dec 20, 2008 - Team Mickey Christmas Gathering
Dec 27, 2008 - Night out with friends!
Jan 3, 2009 - First people for Secret Santa
Jan 3, 2009 - The whole gang for Secret Santa
Feb 7, 2009 - Ben's Surprise Birthday
Feb 7, 2009 - Theresa's Wedding
Feb 7, 2009 - Group Picture with the camera at the floor
Feb 28, 2009 - Snowboarding with Jody and Theresa!
Feb 28, 2009 - At the top of Snow Summit
Mar 7, 2009 - Ate Jennifer's Wedding
Mar 7, 2009 - Picture with Ate Olive and Kuya Oliver
Mar 21, 2009 - Kristin's first time snowboarding
Mar 21, 2009 - Steven's first time snowboarding
Mar 21, 2009 - Teaching my siblings how to snowboard at Summit
Apr 18, 2009 - My old boss Randy and old co-worker Charles
Apr 18, 2009 - BDO Bowling at Lucky Strike
Apr 25, 2009 - Matt's Birthday Gathering
Apr 26, 2009 - Six Flags with Billy and Ben!
Apr 26, 2009 - Only one word for this picture: PRICELESS
Apr 26, 2009 - In front of the Six Flags entrance
Apr 26, 2009 - At the Six Flags ticketing booth before heading home
April 25, 2005 was my first day working at BDO. For 3 years and 9 months, I was worked diligently and endured so many headaches and frustrations. Having gone through 4 busy seasons, I felt how it was to be busy. However, through it all, I would not change a thing. I got the opportunity to work with great management and great co-workers. My manager always told me that work will always be work; however, it is your co-workers that will make a difference.
Truth be told, I would have probably left BDO a lot sooner if it wasn’t for my co-workers. We always looked after each other and acted like family in the most professional manner. It was hard leaving the company when you know you’re leaving people you care for. It was difficult to see myself doing another job without the individuals I have worked with for such a long time. January 23, 2009 was my last day as a part of BDO.
On February 2, 2009, I started a new chapter in my life with people at Beckman Coulter. So far, everything seems to be going alright. My co-workers seem to be a great group of individuals. My managers look like they care a lot about their staff members. A lot of what I had at BDO appears to be reflected at the culture at Beckman.
The workload isn’t hectic, and it feels like my current job creates value for the company. So far, everything is going well with no complaints on my side. I miss my old co-workers, and I miss working with them. However, I don’t miss all the headaches that went into the hours, budgets, and project scoping for every engagement you worked on. The current pace of this new job is a lot nicer, and much calmer. It is something I definitely embrace and currently enjoying.
The year 2008 will probably come down as one of my most memorable years. I had so much fun, and I had so many memories that I have what seems like a billion pictures to remember all the good memories. Here is a quick run down of all the fun things that has happened this year:
January: • Finishing my move from Los Angeles to Irvine • Jody’s Birthday Dinner at Pasadena • Finding a new close friend, Randy • Snowboarding at Big Bear with Ben, Kris, and Elmer
February: • My house warming party • Night out with the OC crew • Theresa’s engagement dinner
March: • The beginning of poker nights • Kris Kern’s farewell to NorCal • Snowboarding with Linzen, my cousin from Oklahoma • Good times at the bowling alley
April: • Vegas trip to go see Joseph
May: • Another new friend arrives, Neil • OC Fair • Taking care of 2 drunks at the club (ahem Ben and Randy) • Wii Fit with the hoola-hoop • Board game weekends • Lakers Western Conference Championship game • Reijo’s graduation party
June: • Van’s birthday dinner • Jaypee’s party • Paul visits from Texas! • Hanging out with Chris before he heads out to China • BBQ by the pool • Jason’s 21st Birthday Party at the Hills of Hollywood
July: • Los Angeles Sparks game • Vega’s trip • More LA nightlife with the OC crew • San Diego Bonfire • Marky Mark’s party • Huntington Beach fun • New York with the Co-Workers for training
September: • Abe visits from Maryland • Kaba Modern • Toga party at Vegas • East Coast Road Trip: Manchester, NH • East Coast Road Trip: Boston, MA • East Coast Road Trip: Providence, RI • East Coast Road Trip: New York, NY • East Coast Road Trip: Philadelphia, PA • Karaoke at San Diego
October: • E for All Expo
November: • Gears of War 2 launch party
December: • Kristin’s 18th birthday celebration • Kevin’s birthday dinner • Team Mickey Secret Santa
Top 5 moments of 2008: 1. Penny Arcade Expo 2. East Coast Road Trip 3. Hiking / Bungee Jumping 4. Jason’s 21st birthday party at the hills of Hollywood 5. Lakers win over the Spurs for the Western Conference championship
Thanks to all my friends who has made this such a memorable year. If you ever need to look back on what we did, I'm pretty sure I have blogged and posted pictures about it on this Xanga. As good as 2008 sounded like, I would like to thank all of my friends who were there to listen to me during the shaky times I had the last couple of months. It's not often that I come to people with my problems, and for those that got to listen to them, it's just another side of me you got to experience.
2009 is right around the corner. As of right now, I wanted to look back so that genuine smile can come out of my face. It is something I really need with the one problem I am currently facing.
I decided to go to the launch party at Universal City to get my copy of Gears of War 2. I went with my little brother, Steven, and my high school buddy Mike for the launch event. Although the launch party wasn't as glamorous as I thought it would be, it was still a lot of fun. From out of hunderds of people lining up for the game, our group seemed to get a good share of camera time with the media since Mike and I brought our Gears of War 2 autographed poster from PAX.
The main reason why I wanted to go to the launch party was to be able to meet Cliff Blezinsky and get his autograph. Luckily, we were near the front of the line where we can see the back of Major Nelson's DJ booth that I was able to sneak up the back and get several autographs from the people that did the voices for the Gears characters. On top of that, I was able to get Cliff's autograph right on the center of my poster. It was a really sweet deal considering that I wasnt even planning on coming out to this event at all. The launch event was a really good experience, and it's something I should do with more of the blockbuster games coming out in the near future.
Now that I have spent 20 days with the game since it's release, here is my quick and easy verdict on Gears of War 2:
Campaign: Bigger, Better and More Badass! Multiplayer: Broken, Laggy and Downright Frustrating... -_-
I can go on and on about how I hate the multiplayer mode of Gears 2, but I know theyre going to eventually patch it to playable format. So until then, I will work on getting my "Seriously 2.0" achievement by playing campaign.
Cliffy B was nice enough to take a picture with my crew while we wait in line
I thought Cliff would be a complete jerk, but he's actually a really nice guy
As always, I have to take a picture with the beautiful Amanda McKay of GameTrailers.com
One more achievement to go... Seriously 2.0 (get 100,000 kills)
After playing the original Gears of War for 460 days, I can finally let the game retire since Gears of War 2 will be coming out within a couple of days. I have the game reserved at two places, one at my local Best Buy and the other at my local GameStop. I still don't know which store I'm going to pick up my game at since there ups and downs for each store. One one side, I can get a free remote controlled Gears car if I pick up my game at Best Buy. However, if I pick it up at Best Buy, I'm going to have to wait until 10:00 am on November 7th. If I pick up my game at GameStop, I can get the game during the midnight launch, but I won't get the free remote control car. Decisions.... decisions.... I guess I'll find out what I will be doing once Friday comes along.
My friends at xbox live are already planning which part of the game we should tackle. I'm pushing for us to beat horde mode, but a lot of them want to learn the multiplayer maps and play ranked games so that we can be high in the rankings in the early stages of the game. Then they want to worry about campaign and horde mode afterwards. I guess I'll go with the flow of the group, since they have been there since the game came out 2 years ago.
Like I said, Gears of War will be retired and replaced by Gears of War 2. As of today, I will be heading out of town and won't be back until I get Gears 2 in my hands. So it looks like this will be my final stat for Gears of War in Warzone:
On a side night, the east coast road trip was a lot of fun. I never got to update my Xanga about it, but here is a youtube video pretty much showing what happened in the trip.
See you guys on Live... Seriosuly 2.0 here I come!
A lot has happened since I left BDO. Life has been a lot more calm and a lot less stressful. I havent visited an airport in a long time. As soon as I got my new job, I took time for myself to rest and enjoy the slower pace of life.
April 25, 2005 was my first day working at BDO. For 3 years and 9 months, I was worked diligently and endured so many headaches and frustrations. Having gone through 4 busy seasons, I felt how it was to be busy. However, through it all, I would not change a thing. I got the opportunity to work with great management and great co-workers. My manager always told me that work will always be work; however, it is your co-workers that will make a difference.
On February 2, 2009, I started a new chapter in my life with people at Beckman Coulter. So far, everything seems to be going alright. My co-workers seem to be a great group of individuals. My managers look like they care a lot about their staff members. A lot of what I had at BDO appears to be reflected at the culture at Beckman.
February:
I decided to go to the launch party at Universal City to get my copy of Gears of War 2. I went with my little brother, Steven, and my high school buddy Mike for the launch event. Although the launch party wasn't as glamorous as I thought it would be, it was still a lot of fun. From out of hunderds of people lining up for the game, our group seemed to get a good share of camera time with the media since Mike and I brought our Gears of War 2 autographed poster from PAX.
After playing the original Gears of War for 460 days, I can finally let the game retire since Gears of War 2 will be coming out within a couple of days. I have the game reserved at two places, one at my local Best Buy and the other at my local GameStop. I still don't know which store I'm going to pick up my game at since there ups and downs for each store. One one side, I can get a free remote controlled Gears car if I pick up my game at Best Buy. However, if I pick it up at Best Buy, I'm going to have to wait until 10:00 am on November 7th. If I pick up my game at GameStop, I can get the game during the midnight launch, but I won't get the free remote control car. Decisions.... decisions.... I guess I'll find out what I will be doing once Friday comes along.
