Random rumblings from Bubba!

Keep your hands away from its mouth!

2006-07-30T17:56:26Z

CIMG1056, originally uploaded by bubbaatmsu.

live in fear of the bread eating demon squirrels on campus :)

Tame squirrel or mini-Buddha?

2006-04-24T20:24:49Z

Tame squirrel or mini-Buddha?, originally uploaded by bubbaatmsu.

I love spring! These squirrels are so freaking tame :)

Hawk outside of the CC

2006-04-22T23:27:10Z

Hawk outside of the CC, originally uploaded by bubbaatmsu.

Gotta love spring time!

Birds of Prey are cool!

2006-04-22T23:24:59Z

Birds of Prey are cool!, originally uploaded by bubbaatmsu.

Seen outside the Computer Center last week at MSU!

Better late than never...

2005-07-08T03:33:29Z

Hi All,
I know that it's been forever since I've updated. I _KNOW_ you all miss me :) I've recently failed to get my job done and that makes me feel like ass ;) I'll just postpone things and get it done even better later :) In recent news, I've got a dog! You can all see pictures here. I'll post more when I freaking get some sleep and have something interesting to post. Have a great weekend!

Holy Crap!

2005-03-24T01:38:03Z

Has it really been over a month since I've updated? WTF!?!??

I've been hella busy at both work and martial arts. I've been going out with my friends and making new ones too :) Hoot Hoot for new friends ;) I tested for my Gold-Black Belt last Friday. I made it and now I'm one belt below my Black Belt. So, now it's just a few months of review and then I start testing! Super excited :)

I've been going out with my friends which is always fun! Robin moved away :( Matt moved back :) Tony and Cathy are not moving :) I've been going out with Christina, not to be confused with Chrissy, and having a WONDERFUL time. Who knew?

Chrissy had her D-Day party (pics at the usual place). It was a blast! I ended up fixing the computer for the bar we were at and they gave me a bunch of free drinks. That rocked. Of course, to balance that out, ANGEL died and I had to go into work that night :( Oh well, I learned a bunch from that failure :)

I know there's a bunch more that I wanted to say/write, but, I can't remember what it is right now :) Sorry to everyone that I fell out of touch with, it happens sometimes when I get really busy. Don't hate the bubba :)

*hugs* to you all!

Bow down before me...

2005-02-16T14:56:27Z

Thanks rachie13

bubbaatmsu @ 2005-02-06T22:22:00

2005-02-07T03:47:56Z

Man, this weekend rocked too! I know you all care and want the gory details :)

Friday my friend Robin was back in town, several months early. She has been in Florida for about a month and wasn't supposed to return until March. The reason she's here sucks, her granddad died. However, we got to have dinner, I did her taxes, we talked about her granddad, and we just enjoyed the evening. So, I'm hopping it was a silver lining for her as I know I was excited to see her so unexpectedly.

Saturday was pretty good too! I slept in and cleaned stuff, as per usual. Then that night, we had a birthday party for a friend of a friend. The theme was prom 2005! So, we all got dressed up like we were going to prom! I bought a hot new sport coat and looked pretty darn good, if I do say so myself :) Everyone was so jealous! Our party got lots of looks and comments at Houlihan's and at BW3s. You can see a few pictures here. Then after all that I got to spend some time with another good friend which was nice too *snugglies*!

Sunday, I slept in AGAIN :) Woo hoo for the sleeping in on the weekends! When I finally roused myself, I had breakfast with a friend at Sparty's Coney Island. Man, that place makes an awesome breakfast! After that, it was off the mall for some retail therapy :) I bought some more new clothes and a nice new belt. My poor credit card is feeling the burn from the work outs I've been putting it through :) After all of this, I had dinner with a friend from work. We had a great time just hanging out and chatting. We also watched the Surreal life on VH1. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. It's like a train wreck that you can't look away from. Heck, this time, Verne Troyer is on the show. Silly little mini-me! To top it all off, I'm just now sitting down to watch the new Simpson's Episode and the new show, American Dad :) I know, I'm a TV geek :)

Lately, I've noticed a trend in the conversations I've had with some of my female friends.

They all wonder why guys are so 'strange'. I've tried to explain to all of them that we, the guys, feel the same way about them, the girls. I've attempted to get across the fact that it never really ends. It can get better as you learn how to talk to each other, but, it never goes away completely. I wish there were an easier answer to this age old problem. I wish it were in my power to write a 'girl to guy' communications filter for the guys and then a 'guy to girl' filter for the girls. Until I get that worked out, I will say that I have noticed that if you at least attempt to communicate, things are usually 'happier'. Also, don't make assumptions and don't play scenarios out in your head. If you have a question, ask! Don't let it fester! If you don't like/understand the answer, ask if you understood the other person correctly. If there are two ways to take something, one good and one bad, assume the other person means the good one as that is usually the case :) Just try to talk to each other and when in doubt, pass out a hug or two :)

And that is all! Hope your curiosity has been sated for now :) *hugs*

long weekends + winning money == awesome 3 days...

2005-01-31T23:58:57Z

Hi All,
I know, I know, I'm not good at this updating thing! Hope you all will forgive me :) I'd make it up to you, if I could. But, I'm busy, so you'll have to make it up to yourself :)

This weekend, I had a great time! Friday I had a trapping seminar at martial arts. So, that was 3 hours of fun and pain :)

Saturday, I slept in and it was awesome! After that, I did a bunch of house work. I know, lame! Then I went to dinner with and the casino with some friends. It was awesome! I was up and down (cash-wise, get your mind out of the gutter) for a few hours. Then I started to loose. So, I 'colored up' my chips and decided to leave. At this point, I figured, "what the heck! I expected to loose anyway" and put 100$ on red. It came up red :) So, nice way to double your money when you're walking out the door. I figure I've used up my luck for the month, but, it was fun!

Sunday I spent the afternoon with my folks. It was nice! We had a great lunch at Carrabas. If you haven't been there, go there tomorrow and have some great Italian food! After that we went shopping and I found that JC Pennys was having a huge 70% off sale. So, I bought a bunch of new clothes :) Woot for me! Once that was done, we picked up my new ottoman that matches my new sofa! It's so comfy! That night, I saw 'Sideways' with a friend. It was a cute movie. Worth a viewing!

Finally on Monday, that's right on Monday, I had the day off! I got up and got some breakfast and spent the day relaxing and doing nothing! It was awesome! I wish I had more days off with pay :)

Other than all that, it's just the same stuff. Martial arts and work and hanging with my friends. Well, I guess it's News that my buddy Matt is in the process of moving back to the East Lansing/Lansing area! Which means more hanging out and crazy stuff to report in the future.

Hope you're all well and having a great week/month/year so far :) *hugs* Be well!

Argh! what kind of pir8 be ye?

2005-01-17T02:13:11Z

My pirate name is:

Iron William Read

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. Even through many pirates have a reputation for not being the brightest souls on earth, you defy the sterotypes. You've got taste and education. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Happy 2005 to you all!

2005-01-02T03:24:43Z

Hi All,

I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and what not. I hung out with some friends, had a few drinks, watched movies, played games, and stuff :) It was lots of fun! I know, I'm lame :) But, it was still lots of fun! Did you all make some resolutions? If so, what are they? I made several :)

Loose 20 pounds <---don't we always make this one?
Get my blackbelt <---on track to do this with ease
Stop fighting for things I don't want <---why can't I just let things alone?
Fight harder for the things I do want <---figuring this out might take time
In general be a nicer/better person <---gotta try!
Pass out even more *hugs* <--- *hugs* and you KNOW you liked it :)

Have a great weekend! *hugs*

Holy CRAP I'm a slacker!!!

2004-12-20T03:36:21Z

Hi All,
I just realized that it's been almost a month since I've updated. I've been busy at work and what not and haven't really had the urge to write that much. So here's a mini-update until I can find the time to compose my thoughts :)

Congrats to all my friends that have graduated recently
Had an awesome time at a recent Holiday Party! Made some cool new friends!
Looking forward to the work Christmas party just because!
Got all my shopping done, but, the gifts aren't wrapped :(
I miss everyone that's away! Life is more boring when you're gone
I think I'm getting a cold for the holidays and that sucks!
Went to training in Detroit and it was actually good training!

Updates? We don't need no stinking updates....

2004-11-22T03:06:54Z

Well, apparently I'm on a super secret update cycle that's so secret that I don't even know what it is :)

I've said it before, but, I'll say it again, I have great friends! There _is_ life outside of work :) Going out and just having lunch/dinner is always a nice way to decompress :) The only problem that I've had lately is finding time to spend with everyone. I know, I'm lame for complaining about having too much fun stuff to do :) Maybe I'll have to code up an organizer/appointment scheduler for everyone to book their Bubba time :) Just kidding :)

Since my last update, I've leveled up in the real world. Well, at least in martial arts. I was promoted to the next rank two months early. The instructors at the dojo just sprung that one on me :) So, now I'm a Red-Black belt. In this system, the next belt is Gold-Black and then finally Black. So, I'm about a year out from my Black belt. Woo hoo! So, look out y'all :) Just kidding! I'm still reasonably uncoordinated :)

This last week at work was fun too! I finally felt like I was actually a manager instead of just a code-monkey who happens to go to more meetings. We'll have to see if I can keep that up! Of course, I don't want to stop being a code-monkey completely :) I'll have to work on that :)

The weekend was lots of fun too! On Friday, some of us went to Barley's and we had a few drinks and played darts! It was great! After that, I got to flirt with a cute blond :) On Saturday, I was lucky enough to spend some time with some of my other friends at a great restaurant, CHAMPPS, watching the GAME. Man, I don't know how MSU's football team figures out who they're going to play hard against. That night, I totally took some me time and just laid around the house playing Xbox! I haven't done that in MONTHS! Sunday was great as well! I slept in, hung out with another friend, and just relaxed in general. This weekend was awesome!

I'm so looking forward to this next week. I love short work weeks and Turkeyday!

I know that you all needed to know what's been going on with me :) Admit it :) Hope you're all having a great week! *hugs* TTFN!

Long time no post....I know, I suck!

2004-11-10T19:59:47Z

It's been a while since I've posted anything but a survey. I know you all have missed me :) Admit it! Admitting that you have a Bubba problem is the first step toward controlling that problem :)

Work has been crazy busy these last two weeks. I do feel like I've gotten a bunch accomplished. Which is a good thing. It's always fun when you re-write someone's code and they say "wow! thanks, that's a bunch faster" :)

Last weekend was lots of fun too! It started on Thursday when I met a friend for drinks at the Barrel. Too bad one turned into five :) Friday I had dinner and watched movies with another friend of mine. Who doesn't LOVE Shrek I & II? Saturday I got up just in time to clean house, do laundry, and go see Chicago at the Wharton Center! What an awesome show! I highly recommend it to anyone that loves the theater! And finally Sunday I celebrated my Dad's 63rd birthday by taking him out to lunch and spending time with him. It was a great weekend! Of course, that lead me to being kind of sick on Monday, but, it was all worth it! Especially when I took a sick day on Monday and slept in! I love sleeping in! If sleep were an Olympic event, I'd win the Gold every time :)

The weekend before that was CRAZY! But, also lots of fun! I went on a Pub Crawl for Halloween on Saturday. 7 Bars and LOTS of fun costumes! You can see some of them on my web site at http://manetheren.cl.msu.edu/~buchanon/gallery/halloween-04-pub-crawl/ If you recognize anyone don't go blabbing to them about the pictures you saw as I like having my photos online :) That Sunday, Halloween proper, I gave out 12 big bags of candy in like an hour and scared a bunch of little kids with my costume :) It was LOTS of fun :)

Hope everyone has had a great couple of weeks! I'm looking forward to the Holidays. Especially since by reading this you've all agreed to buy me presents for Christmas :) Take care and I'll write more soon. *hugs*

bubbaatmsu @ 2004-11-08T14:06:00

2004-11-08T19:07:18Z

Rohirrim

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

Excellent! Thanks rachie13

OMG, I have the best friends ever!!

2004-10-24T16:45:45Z

Wow! Saturday ROCKED! Robin and I got breakfast and then I came back to relax and do nothing around the house. We meet for dinner and a trip to the casino at my place around 5pm.

We got to Claddagh's Irish pub where Robin wanted to go for dinner, she says "table for two" and then the hosts take us to the back of the restaurant. At this point, I see about 20 of my friends sitting around the larger table in the area and they all yell 'surprise!'.

My friends had pulled the wool over my eyes and thrown me a surprise party :) I'd never had one of those before. Especially a party where I had absolutely NO clue that it was going to happen :) I have the best friends EVER!

At dinner, they gave me a card with someone 'walking around money' in it for the trip to the casino and then we had cake :) Mmm, cake :)

The whole thing was great! Then we split off as not everyone was going to be able to go to the casino. We went to Soaring Eagle. I lost about 150$, but, my buddys tony and jim won 1000$ between the two of them! Isn't that awesome?

All in all, it was the best weekend I've had in a long time and the best birthday I've had in YEARS! I have awesome friends and it makes me feel really loved :) Thanks guys and gals! I love you all! Hope the rest of you had a great weekend too! *hugs*

went on a date...

2004-10-15T03:30:35Z

...and actually had fun! She was NOT crazy, very cute, and fun to talk to! What's up with that? We're going to go out again soon! Woo hoo for me ;)

This week has been pretty good all around! I earned another stripe on my Red Belt. Just a couple more and I move up a rank ;) This weekend, I'm going to see 'Team America: world police', then I'm going to go home to see my folks and celebrate my birthday and my mom's birthday with them on Sunday. Then that night, we're going to have some fun playing darts and having a few beers! Then on Monday, I'm going to sleep in and take the day off! Woo hoo!

I seem to be saying 'woo hoo' a bunch! Must be because I can't stop this stupid happy feeling :)

I hope you all have a great weekend! *hugs* to you all!

Long and interesting week...

2004-10-02T16:02:27Z

Man, I'm so glad this week is over :)

I was in my office until midnight on Monday. For those of you that care, there's a huge difference between "x AND y OR z" and "x AND (y OR z)" :) That sucked because my buddy Matt was in town and I didn't get to hang out :( Tuesday, I was in the office at 5:30am. So, in the first two days of the week, I was in my office a BUNCH! Of course, I did get a bunch of stuff worked out and done :)

Thursday, I had a fun night as it was my virtual Friday :) I love taking Fridays off :) I watched Envy with my friend Robin. It was funny, but, not worth owning.

Friday I had a 'maybe' date. We went to P.F. Changs, saw Shaun of the Dead, and then had a few beers at Trippers. Big fun! Before all that, I spent about 6 hours closing my pool. In case I haven't mentioned it, owning a pool is a pain in the arse. Anyone want to buy a pool? :)

BTW, Shaun of the Dead is freaking funny! Go see it if you like British humor at all! At Trippers, we were accosted by some really drunk old guy (yes, older than me). I swear he was really trying to relive his youth or something. The manager eventually had to ask him to leave.

Today, I'm going to sit around the house and do laundry and clean things :) Relaxation is a good thing :)

Sunday, I've got friends coming in for breakfast and family coming in for Dinner. So, all in all, it's a full and fun weekend!

Hope you all have a great weekend! *hugs*

moving on...

2004-09-27T01:06:24Z

Well, I think I've officially and finally moved on. Old songs no longer hold pain and an empty dresser no longer stands empty. Cleaning sucks, but, it's got to be done. I'm happy that it provided me with this little bit of insight. Hope you all had a great weekend. I know that I finally had the restful weekend that I've been yearning for since the start of the Semester :) *hugs*

Baa!

2004-09-20T21:07:47Z

Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

thanks rachie13

can I get one week where things don't suck?

2004-09-18T20:37:57Z

Hi All,
I've been so crazy busy that I haven't felt like updating when I've had the time. Things are starting to get better. It's mostly work stuff. I think I've got it all worked out and next week should be 1000x better. I could certainly use a week where I don't have to get up at 5am to deal with problems almost every day :) It also doesn't help that this extra stress load has made more likely to be in a bad mood. So, if you've gotten a flash of the grumpy bubba, sorry :) Hopefully, we'll put him back into hibernation :)

It's funny how you can say you want other people, read EXs, to date and be happy, but, when they start it hurts just a little because you're not dating yourself. I sincerely want the people in my life to be happy. I just wish I could be that happy as well :) Oh well, I'll keep on keeping on and it'll happen eventually.

The weather this weekend has been great so far! That's helping me come out of my funk. I cleaned EVERYTHING today! Even my SUV :)

Hope you all missed me just a little bit :) *hugs*

Time compression sucks!!!

2004-09-03T15:34:45Z

Hi All,
This week has been a blur! I'd already worked 50 hours on Thursday. Add that to the normal martial arts stuff and I've been one crazy busy guy. I was hoping that the start of this semester would be painless. It wasn't!

I swear Microsoft is out there laughing, pointing, and counting their billions!

*microsoft* give us more money and flip this switch and all will be right with the world
*me* I did and it still didn't work
*microsoft* oh, you have a domain? you also have to flip this switch and sacrifice a squirrel!
*me* RARARAR!

All of that would be fine if I could restart the servers whenever I wanted to. However, I have a window in the morning and that's about it. So, if those switches don't get flipped in that window, I have to wait until the next day and get up nice and early and start all over again :( But, that's over with. The upgrade from SQL2K SE to SQL2K EE worked, finally, this morning and we're not using all the memory in the database server. That's a good thing. The painful part is that it took so long to get there. I hate that! Next week, more processors. After that, I don't know, we'll probably have to scale OUT instead of scaling UP. It's going to be an interesting year :)

So, after all was said and done, I'm tired and burnt and need a relaxing weekend. I'm so glad that this weekend is a nice long one. I'm going to do some house work today, spend some time with friends on Saturday, have lunch with my folks on Sunday, and just relax and do nothing on Monday (maybe bbq).

On a completely unrelated note, woo hoo for nice weather! I love campus when it's nice out like this. Hopefully, it'll stick around for next week so I can get out and walk around a bit and not be shackled to my desk or in the machine room. Oh, a word of advice to all you girls out there that like the micro-mini skirts; make sure you're AWARE that your ass is hanging out and that you're wear clean undergarments :) I mean really, leave a little to the imagination (not much, but, something) :)

Ok, I'm done for now. Maybe I'll have more later. Have a great weekend! Enjoy the day!

*hugs* to you all!

moving sucks...

2004-08-29T01:13:11Z

Hi All,

I got roped into helping a friend move today. You might think that was normal, but, it wasn't my friend whom I helped move. It was her pastor. I got a call at 9:30am on a Saturday morning asking me to help move her pastor and then go to breakfast. Well, I think you can see where this is going. At like 2pm, we're still moving stuff and I'm cranky and hungry. After we finished all of this, we went to Hooters and had some food/beer. The beer was yummy and we ended up going to the bar and having more while playing darts. Now, I'm home at 9pm, horny, and alone :) I'm sure some of you can relate. I guess I'll just do laundry and watch movies. Hope you're all having a great Saturday! *hugs*

long time no update...

2004-08-26T02:17:26Z

Hi All,
Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated. All I can say is "sorry" :) Hope you'll all forgive me :)

I've been crazy getting ready for this week. Those of you on campus know what I'm talking about :) The upgrade to ANGEL that I did on Tuesday went well. Most of the issues are minor and not in my control anyway. So, that's awesome.

Other than work and what not, I've been doing the martial arts stuff, as usual. I helped a friend of mine pack a bit as she moved to Chicago. I went bowling, haven't done that in a while. It was fun!

You know what drives me nuts, those NEW BK commercials with that Dr.Anugs guy. I'm starting to want him dead! You know what else drives me nuts, parents driving on campus. Am I the only one that thinks people should look at a map before they come to school? :)

Oh well, that's all for now. I'll post some pictures or something soon when I have more interesting stuff to say :)

*HUGS*

this last week...

2004-08-10T01:02:10Z

Hi All,
It's been a while since I've posted. My life is lame :) Friday I spent time with friends and it was really, really nice! Saturday was the same old same old (house work and cleaning and mowing and everything else that doesn't seem to get done in the week). Sunday I spent the afternoon with my folks. I love them, but, I wish my dad would begin to care about his health. He's going to end up eating himself to death if he doesn't. Previous to all of this, I've just been at work or martial arts and also playing www.kingdomofloathing.com Give it a shot! It's fun! I can't believe that it's only two weeks until the students come back and my life gets crazy hectic again! Where did the summer go?

I hope that everyone is having a great monday and that your weekends were all awesome!

Maybe this weekend, I'll get a chance to grab a beer and relax a bit! I hope so! *hugs* to everyone!