Matt's Journal

but things got a little hectic. After a beautiful day and a few "I do"s I am pleased to introduce the newest member of the Sandler family, Stacey:

For those that have never met her before, a closer view of the beautiful bride:

There are a whole mess of pictures and I could spend forever sticking them here, so if you are that interested let me know and I can point you in the right direction. Once the photos come back from the photographer I may make a master collection some place, but no promises. The day went off without a hitch and we are both very happy. On a side note, if anyone is looking for a tropical vacation, St. Lucia is absolutely gorgeous. Pictures from the honeymoon to follow as well. Just wanted to get this up here before I get yelled at again for not making this public already. Details and more pictures to follow soon...

A quiet Saturday spent at home with the cats today. Stacey is at work until 6 and once she is home around 6:30 so we will seek some dinner and entertainment. Stacey had one of her techs call out today so she had a single tech for the entire 8-6 day. I made the offer many times to come over and help her out, but she apparently never needed me that badly. Regardless, I spent the day here just in case she needed to get a hold of me. I have a bunch of pictures I need to put up, but my gallery is busted and I have yet to be motivated to spend the time to fix it. When I get home at night from my real job I just can't get myself to sit behind a machine long enough to fix it, especially now that Stacey is around. But when that eventually gets fixed, I will post a bunch of pictures of the place and the cats.

Spent last weekend moving

wxs and

meesh. They moved to a nicer, cheaper apartment down route 7. The

nuzz^tm came over to help pack up the old place over here and thankfully we were met on the other end to help get all the damn crap up to the FOURTH floor. It was a long tiring day for sure. Stacey and I will have to get over there soon and see how the new place looks all set up. Stacey really liked their new apartment (minus the holes in the door and tobacco stink), so if we are unable to find some to buy in the next few months, chances are we will end up out that way. Our first option is to buy something, hopefully close to where we will both end up working. Right now, she is out in Chantilly and I will be moving out to that area very soon, so we will have to start to search out there soon. My lease is up in December, so that gives us a few months. I am sure we will be able to find something.

Hopefully she will be getting home soon cause I am starving. I am looking for a new LJ icon. Anyone have any ideas?

Many developments going on in my little world recently. First and most important, Stacey moved down this past weekend. After much debate, we decided to move right in together. It seemed crazy to waste more rent money especially since we would most likely end up sleeping at one place or the other anyways. I flew back last thursday night, helped her back all day Friday, had dinner with her and her family Friday night so she could say goodbye, and the movers came Saturday morning. As soon as the movers had her apartment empty, we hit the road for the 8 or so hour trip to northern Virginia. The drive ended up being over 11 hours long with massive traffic tie ups in CT and NY. Damn Republicans and their convention. Needless to say after 11 hours stuck in a little subaru with 2 cats and a mess of personal belongings, we only emptied the bare necessities after our arrival and hit the sack. We spent Saturday unloading her things and getting her settled. The cats seem to be having a worse time adjusting to the change than she does. We took a ride out her to testing center and her new store yesterday so she would be in good shape for today. She should be in her licensing exam as we speak so as of 1pm she should be licensed in the great state of Virginia. As long as all goes well she will work a few hours this week to get used to how things run in the new store and her first official day will be next Monday. I am very happy to have her down here. It is nice to be able to come home to something besides an empty house. Sometimes the cats can be annoying (like this morning when they wanted everyone to be up with them at 5am), but they are cute as hell and it is very difficult to stay mad at them for long. We have been taking a bunch of pictures of the cats lately so I will get those up to my gallery soon.

The other major change going on involves my current employer. I have been offered a number of positions that I would consider not only to be more technical, but also of a subject matter that I find more interesting. I have submitted applications and spoken to the people who posted the openings, so hopefully I will find myself in a new position within the next few weeks. Could that be more vague? Welcome to my employer's little world.

Other than that, things are going well. My current position keeps me busy with Sys Admin tasks. Still working my second job as well, although that may soon come to an end if Stacey has her way. She has a very good point. If she is off that day from work (which is 3 or 4 days a week since she works 14 hour days) and I work both jobs then I will be gone from 7am-10pm and she will be home alone all day. So I am currently bargaining with her to work the nights that she works until 10pm which I think is fair. It isn't the money at all, I just like the job. At the rate they pay me, it is almost volunteer work anyways. We will see how that all works out.

My next round of medical testing is set up for Sept 17th. If I can hit my 2 year mark in November without any setbacks then my chance of having a relapse drop to a point where I almost don't have to worry about it anymore. I feel great, so here's hoping.

Ok, I think that is enough random brain spewing. Current events have been summed up nicely. Back to work.

So I suppose it is time for an update on current ongoings...

The job is going well...I just finished 5 weeks of training which was a suprisingly good time and allowed me to meet some very cool new people. Things are a little crazy in the office lately but hopefully all of that will work itself out in the coming weeks.

I have a new girl who was just down all of last week for a little vacation. She is currently up in the great state of Massachusetts but is planning to make a move down here in the coming months. She is a good kid and makes me very happy, so lets hope things work out. While she was down we visited DC and VA Beach and took some digitial pictures. I had been meaning to install gallery, and these new pictures provided me with a reason, so both galleries can be found here. There is also a gallery of my apartment. I will have to keep up with the photography and make use of the install.

This weekend has been pretty quiet. Friday night

wxs,

meesh and I headed over to Zach and Brenton's for a little BBQ. Jared met us over there and we had some good chicken, baked potatoes and corn on the cob. Yesterday was spent finding patio accessories for my sorry looking slabs of concrete. I ended up getting 4 chairs and a little table from CVS after wasting a trip to Target. I came home, set them up, and decided I wanted a big table that would allow me to sit and eat out there if I were in the mood to listen to all the traffic go by. So I set out last night on a quest to find a small green patio table. I ended up finding one at Giant (our grocery store). I didn't even think to look there, but it looks good now and I am happy. Everything even matches. Today was spent doing the usual apartment cleaning and laundry. Always a good time. Tonight is the usual Sunday affair at the

nuzz's^tm. It used to be just a meeting for the Soprano's, but we have added a movie the last few weeks and it seems to be working out well. Allows us more than an hour to spend out that way.

It is hot as all holy hell here already, and it is only May. We saw temps in the 90s before May even came. I have a feeling summers around here are going to be a bit nasty. I will watch my power bill skyrocket from the use of the good old AC. I am trying to plan a trip home in June to participate in this years Cancer Walk. It is a good cause and the money goes right to the center where I was treated, so I try to make a showing every year. Those of us in attendence last year will remember the drunken cancer stumble. I still finished every step last year, but hopefully this year I will be a little more on top of my game. If anyone is going to be around that area and would like to participate, let me know. I am always looking for a few new members for our team!

Ya know, if I updated more often, the entries would be a bit shorter and more to the point. I should work on that...

Another year older...23 years ago today my mom was yelling and throwing bedpans at nurses. I got yelled at this morning for using my cell phone while riding through the security gate. I even put the thing down in my lap so that the guard had my undivided attention. He yelled at me when I picked it up after I was through the other side. I should have said something, but I decided that I didn't want to get shot this morning. Guard=dickhead. Not the guy who checked my badge, I like him. Some other punk who was hiding in the shack. Lovely way to start my birthday. Oh well, he is a jerk and I am moving on. Lots of things to do this morning and the day will get much better. Everyone should be nice to me today dammit! It's my BIRTHDAY!!

create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Big weekend coming up, will be interesting to see where things stand when the dust settles. Spent half my day in a training course today learning how to send emails and use Netscape to surf the internet. I always did wonder how one would do those kind of things. Wasn't a complete waste of time since it gave me the oppurtunity to stop at the credit union and the gift shop. Wes stopped by on his way home and had some dinner and caught the wrestling I TIVOed for us last night. I should get to bed soon since I have a big meeting tomorrow, but I am not tired yet. Paid all my bills tonight and still have some money left over which is a good thing. Just have to kill another hour or so before bed...

So I was at work today and we were discussing states we have visited. And, although this may seem unbelievable, I was the only one there that had visited the great state of Wisconsin. A discussion about farming techniques ensued and about 20 minutes later they knew all they ever wanted to know about units, milking, scraping shit and pulling calves. So we all get back to work and I check livejournal and

msassy had just posted one of her dad's famous emails about some bitch cow they finally got rid of after fighting with it for a year. She could hear my laugh all the way from DC, but not as well as the rest of my office. How bizzare is that? Guess no matter how hard she tries to avoid me, our minds still allign every once in a while.

Work is going well. I am getting into the swing of things and am starting to realize exactly what I will be doing on a day to day basis. Some of my co-workers even like me (as evidenced above.) Sat down with pen and paper and realized that I can make it down here without my second job, so the next time they piss me off I am finished down there. Either that or when my boss finds me some OT that pays four times the rate of CVS. I am hoping for the second option. Money == good.

We went out this last weekend for a bit of socializing. Since I had not ventured out any of the 3 previous weekends I have been down here, I decided it was definetly time. I headed out with

wxs,

nuzz and Brian to test a bar they had found online. The place was very retro. Orange and blue decor with funky lights and lots of small tables to gather around. There was also a bar and 8 or 10 pool tables. We put our name in for pool and found out it would be $10/person. That seemed a little excessive, but there was no cover and my Jack and coke was only $4.50, so I guess it all balances out. Don met us there after a while and we just sat and socialized. We elected to give up our spot in the pool line after a few hours and head into Georgetown to try a different bar. We ended up at Mr.Smith's. Very crowded but everyone inside was singing along to the live piano player and the atmosphere couldn't be beat. Definetly plenty of eye candy down there. So that's what a college scene is like. Then I realized we were barhopping on Pennsylvania Ave which I thought was pretty damn cool but everyone else didnt seem to care about. So another hour or so there and we headed home. Crawled into bed a little past 2:30am. Only bad thing about the night was people can smoke down here in bars. I really miss my smoke-free bars at home. Very good night overall spent with very cool people. Spent Sunday cleaning the apartment, doing laundry, going shopping and some other assorted domesticated tasks.

It snowed last night. Only 3 or 4 inches, but apparently that is a big deal around here. They even made work optional today. You could take the day off but they take it out of your annual leave. No thanks. No one was there today and I barely got anything done. Definetly not worth a vacation day. WXS is supposed to come over sometime soon since I tivo'ed about 3 hours worth of shows for him. If not, there is always Wednesday night (I have to work tomorrow). Well, there is another uninteresting update. Hope you all enjoyed. Oh, and it is someone's birthday today too. Happy Birthday!

To everyone, especially those who are traveling, have a safe and happy holiday...

The Ultimate LiveJournal Obsession Test
Category	Your Score	Average LJer
Community Attachment	15.05% You've got pals to cheer you up when you're down, but no audience to applaud you... Yet.	22.98%
MemeSheepage	22.81% Only trendy when it's sufficiently entertaining	28.95%
Original Content	37.1% Some stories must be told - and you're the one to tell them	38.96%
Psychodrama Quotient	9.64% Had a comment taken out of context once or twice	17.17%
Attention Whoring	18.18% Slothfully Seeking Susan	20.85%
Take The Ultimate LiveJournal Obsession Test and see how you match up!

Busy at work, no word from DC yet...

Job front: I am still waiting to hear back (or anything) from my friends in the government about my clearance. Until then I am working at my local CVS as a pharamcy technician. Guess I should put my knowledge of drugs to use somehow. Probably the only thing being sick gave me.

Home front: My mom bought a trailor in New Hampshire so she is gone almost every weekend and I am free to go up there anytime I want. My little brother Brian is the only one left living here with me at home so that makes it much more barable. I went to 6 Flags New England this last weekend. Superman is the best coaster ever assembled. I waited in huge lines to ride it 4 different times, 2 of which were in the dark which made it much much cooler. I rode another dozen rides and would have loved to spend some time in the brand new waterpark but there just wasnt enough time in the day. Next summer we will most likely make a weekend out of it. Moni just moved to RI for grad school which puts her a little more than an hour from here which is awesome. I will definetly be visiting her soon.

I am strongly considering coming up to Rochester the weekend of welcome back to both see all the CSHers as well as Sara before she heads down to NC for her rotation. I figure I know plently of people up there and I could find someplace to crash for the weekend. As long as work comes through with the time off things should be good. Who else is going up that weekend?

1)Happy Birthday Sara!

2)I continue to be in very good health after my checkups today

3)I got my degree in the mail from RIT today...guess this makes it official. Hopefully I will be down in VA soon. I am excited to get things moving in that direction.

Got back to lovely Massachusetts yesterday and just finished reorganizing my reclaimed room and unpacking. The room looks much better and it needed to change so my mind thinks it is different than last summer. Too many bad memories. I decided that I am going to give myself a week off to relax before starting a full time job or two part time jobs. Many people have mentioned possible positions so hopefully one of those will come through. If not than I can always find one for myself. Graduation was good and I was very pleased with everything that RIT did last weekend. The weather could have been a little better but it did not ruin the festivities at all. Went out with some of my friends my high school earlier for lunch and realized that nothing has changed about this place. Same drama, same bullshit. I updated my profile so if you need to contact me use that or shoot me an email or AIM. It is very strange being at home and having nothing to do all the time. I feel as if I am waiting for something that may never come. Hopefully things will turn out the way I am hoping they will with the permanent job hunt. I promised Sara that I would keep this thing updated for the summer so we will see how that goes. If you are reading this, you better keep in touch. This means YOU! I am off to grab some dinner and meet up with my dad.

So all my finals are over with, my cap and gown are sitting in my RIT closey cubby, and I just worked my second to last night on campus. I think I should be more excited than I am but I'm beginning to realize that very soon I will no longer be able to live my life the way it is now. I wish the future was more structured or I had some more time here. I feel like the end is rushing near and I am missing something. Soon my life as well as that of all the friends I have made here will scatter to the wind. Very scary.

Then I sit and think if the last four years of my life have been worth it. Were the decisions I made to come to RIT right? Did I learn a huge amount of information that will allow me to be a better IT professional? Was the $100,00 that I spent here and will spend the next 10 years paying back worth it? I think so. I have developed a great deal as a person the last four years and have had the opportunity to meet some of the most fun and caring people that will remain a part of my life forever. I think what my life would be without all the close friends I made in CSH and ResLife and that makes it worth it. I don't think I gained that much technical knowledge, but then again, I did not take every opportunity to grasp every bit I could. I am happy with the last four years social wise and that is as important if not more important to me than technical knowledge. I could always read a book on the latest and greatest technological trends and have a firm grasp on them. I have yet to find a book of friendships.

So I guess the only thing to do is live life as it happens, day by day and make the most of it. Hopefully good things may happen and maybe I can use that technical knowledge to land a decent job (once Bush fixes the economy). For now, I am just thankful for all those who shared the last four years with me and hope they feel the same. Without you, RIT would not have been worth a dime. Celebration is order, and the sooner the better!

I scored a 87% on the "How Rochester New York Are You?" Quizie! What about you?</b>

I scored a 91% on the "How much of a MASS HOLE are you??" Quizie! What about you?</b>

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