When I start my day at work, I usually browse news stories and my daily web comics and things before I get started. It kind of warms me up to sitting in front of a computer all day. Over the weekends I tend to forget about stuff I would normally check on during the regular week and then catch up with them on Monday. The purpose of me saying this, is that my blog sort of falls into this category. It doesn't ever occur to me that I should write something over the weekend.
As it is though, I'm so busy with audit packages that I don't really have that much time to write. And since no one is really reading this thing but me, and maybe my sister and my wife, I don't feel like I'm letting too many people down if I space out the posts every few days. Once I get my work under control and start going home at a decent hour (last Friday I got home at 10:30, blech) I plan to write on a nearly daily basis about whatever comes to mind. And then maybe I'll let a few more people know about it.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Audit Season
Audit season usually runs from around December to February, but depending on the property and potential complications, it can run longer. It's not unheard of to have an audit still incomplete by the time June and July come around. I'm not actually doing the audit. It's more along the lines of preparing the financials to be audited. Then an outside CPA firm takes that work and verifies that it's accurate. Having audited financials basically means that our accounts were validated by a third party and thus are trustworthy.
I'm in the thick of it now. I'm past deadlines on a couple of work paper packages and getting caught up is like wading through chest high mud, but there is hope. It is because I'm inundated with work right now that I write about it, so I'm sure I'll have more interesting things to talk about in the future.
Speaking of interesting things, I went to a Boston Celtics game last night at the TD Banknorth Garden. They were playing the Portland Trailblazers who I used to watch when I was younger, and actually followed basketball. I remember Clyde "The Glide" Drexler, Kevin Duckworth (who I share a birthday with), and Danny Ainge, who apparently is an executive director for the Celtics now. Now, looking at the roster for the Blazers, nearly all of them are between the ages of 19 and 28, with only two of them being born before 1980. And I don't recognize any of the names. Not that I would. I haven't followed basketball for years, and when I did it was only the Blazers. I've gone to two Celtics games this season with some good friends and had a blast though, so I could get back into it a little. The least I can do is update my fantasy team on that fantasy basketball thing I signed up for.
I'm in the thick of it now. I'm past deadlines on a couple of work paper packages and getting caught up is like wading through chest high mud, but there is hope. It is because I'm inundated with work right now that I write about it, so I'm sure I'll have more interesting things to talk about in the future.
Speaking of interesting things, I went to a Boston Celtics game last night at the TD Banknorth Garden. They were playing the Portland Trailblazers who I used to watch when I was younger, and actually followed basketball. I remember Clyde "The Glide" Drexler, Kevin Duckworth (who I share a birthday with), and Danny Ainge, who apparently is an executive director for the Celtics now. Now, looking at the roster for the Blazers, nearly all of them are between the ages of 19 and 28, with only two of them being born before 1980. And I don't recognize any of the names. Not that I would. I haven't followed basketball for years, and when I did it was only the Blazers. I've gone to two Celtics games this season with some good friends and had a blast though, so I could get back into it a little. The least I can do is update my fantasy team on that fantasy basketball thing I signed up for.
Monday, January 14, 2008
What I do
If long ramblings about my favorite addiction over the course of my life is not to your liking, you may enjoy this shorter, more constructive post.
I have been working for a non-profit housing developer for the last two and half years now. The company finds investors to fund the building of low income housing and works with the housing authorities to manage and maintain those properties. My specific role is a property accountant for a portfolio of those properties. My current portfolio includes a few developments in Pittsburgh and a larger one in the Cincinnati area. I'm technically a financial accountant, so I don't have anything to do with taxes. Anytime I tell people I do accounting, they inevitably ask if April is a busy time for me. It isn't. January is.
My main job is to issue monthly financials on the properties' assets, liabilities, income and expenses, and then to compile it all for an audit at the end of each year. These audits, once finalized, are sent out to the investors to show them just how their investments are doing. Other than that, I also reconcile a ton of bank statements and help the properties pay their bills. So that's the job in a nutshell. I wish I could say I love what I do, but I can't. It's not a bad job and the work is never too bad, with the exception of this month in which my weeks are dotted with deadlines that I can never seem to meet. So it's back to work for me. I just didn't want to neglect the blog completely as it would be silly to start a blog and not write in it.
I have been working for a non-profit housing developer for the last two and half years now. The company finds investors to fund the building of low income housing and works with the housing authorities to manage and maintain those properties. My specific role is a property accountant for a portfolio of those properties. My current portfolio includes a few developments in Pittsburgh and a larger one in the Cincinnati area. I'm technically a financial accountant, so I don't have anything to do with taxes. Anytime I tell people I do accounting, they inevitably ask if April is a busy time for me. It isn't. January is.
My main job is to issue monthly financials on the properties' assets, liabilities, income and expenses, and then to compile it all for an audit at the end of each year. These audits, once finalized, are sent out to the investors to show them just how their investments are doing. Other than that, I also reconcile a ton of bank statements and help the properties pay their bills. So that's the job in a nutshell. I wish I could say I love what I do, but I can't. It's not a bad job and the work is never too bad, with the exception of this month in which my weeks are dotted with deadlines that I can never seem to meet. So it's back to work for me. I just didn't want to neglect the blog completely as it would be silly to start a blog and not write in it.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
On the Topic of Video Games
Let's just lay it out on the table. I love to play video games. I've played them since I was about 5, starting with the mighty Atari 2600 system and graduating to a Nintendo Entertainment System when I was about 6 or 7 (courtesy of my grandparents who had bought if for themselves and felt that it sat unused too much of the time). I was hooked on Mario, Zelda, and a slew of other fun games with not so recognizable heroes. I considered myself a Nintendo person. When the Super NES came out, I saved my allowance until I could buy it. On this system I was introduced to the Final Fantasy Series, and RPG type games, with Final Fantasy II. Along with the Super Nintendo Zelda, it quickly became one of my favorite games. I played a lot growing up. Probably more than my parents should have allowed. I would rent games on the weekends and play them for hours, usually only stopping for meals and when I went to bed. When I would usually be sleeping in on a weekend, I would find I had the uncanny ability to wake up really early without an alarm because I anticipated being able to play a game in the morning. I proudly returned many rented games which I had completed within the 3 day rental period.
Final Fantasy III came out on the Super Nintendo and blew me away. It's still one of my all time favorite games and probably my favorite of the series. I played it to death, even after I beat it, just to find all of the little secrets and max out my character stats. Soon came the N64 and once again I saved my earnings and bought it myself. Top priorities were Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda, and Starfox 64. Sadly, it was announced that the Final Fantasy games were moving to the PlayStation. So what did I do? That's right. I saved and bought myself a PlayStation, almost solely so I could continue playing Final Fantasy. When I got Final Fantasy 7, I played it for about 30 hours in the first week, which was a regular school week. My mom was sort of taken aback and said to me that's nearly a full time job. When I went to college, I didn't have a TV, so I left my game systems at home. But I did take a brand new laptop which I had bought for school.
A friend of mine had introduced me to StarCraft in the last year or so of High School. I played it on our home computer quite a bit, but didn't do too much of the online gaming with it. In college, I was among a lot of fellow gamers my freshman year. I played Half-Life and we often played Counter-Strike on the dorm LAN. My RA also introduced me to Everquest which had come out earlier that year. RPG games really appealed to me, and this one seemed like the ultimate RPG, but I didn't have the time or money for it then. Half way through the year, I bought a small TV and brought my systems down to college with me. We played a lot of Final Fantasy VIII, Mario Kart 64, and Mario Party 2.
Next year, I switched schools, took my systems with me and a little game called Goldeneye 64, arguably one of the best N64 games, and the only first person shooter I've ever had any proficiency at. I got into a competition with a guy across the hall. He was really good. So good, he had mapped out where you re-spawn after a death and he could just continuously kill you. By the end of the year, I had managed to catch up to him though and was able to match him pretty evenly. I was pretty proud of that. After that year, I was going through some tough times, and while home for the Summer I finally picked up Everquest. It pretty much took over my life. I was working as a stock boy for a retail store, so I worked 12 AM to 8:30 AM. My schedule, for pretty much 3 months straight, was go to work, come home and go to bed, get up around 4 PM and play Everquest until it was time to go to work. Insane. When I got back to school, I sort of saw what a waste my summer had been and gave up the game completely, destroying the CD and game box so as not to tempt myself.
But I wasn't giving up gaming completely. Final Fantasy X and the Playstation 2 were on the horizon, and I spent hard earned money on both. Oddly enough, while long identifying myself with Nintendo, I had no inclination to get a Gamecube. As college came to a close, I actually sold off a lot of my gaming stuff to purchase an XBOX and play the Star Wars RPG, Knights of the Old Republic and a few other games. But a year or so down the road I got married, and video games took a back seat for awhile. The XBOX pretty much became a DVD player, and all the other systems got put in the closet. I had sold my PS2 and all my games to get the XBOX, so I didn't even have that when Final Fantasy XII was released. My desire to play the game was so great that I re-purchased a PS2 on eBay and got back into it. I bought a couple other games, Okami is worth mentioning, and every now and then I got a chance to play. Around December, 2006 I picked up the Sims 2 and even got my wife to play, and she didn't really play a lot of games at the time. She's still hooked. I got her the expansions this Christmas.
Around April of 2007 I decided to try out World of Warcraft. I had put off trying another online Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) ever since the Everquest fiasco that had sucked away that one Summer, but I had heard good things about WoW, one of which was that you didn't have to devote nearly as much time to it in order to enjoy it like some other MMORPGs. I was instantly hooked and am still playing it today. I could easily play it all day (and that's pretty much what I did one week when my wife was visiting family) but responsibilities and other hobbies keep me from losing myself to it like I did with Everquest. And similar to my elementary school days, I wake up early to play before I have to leave for work, though admittedly I have to use an alarm and I don't always get up. I plan to use this blog for a bit of writing on Warcraft, so look for that in the future if you're interested.
It doesn't end there though. Just recently we got a Nintendo Wii, we've already had a lot of fun with it. We played Wii Sports Bowling with practically everyone on my wife's side of the family during Christmas and had a blast. Then I got The Legend of Zelda for the Wii which I'm excited about because I haven't played a new Zelda game in so long.
So there you have it. I play video games. As far as I can remember, I always have. I like to think I keep it in moderation, but I do tend to obsess about them. When I'm not playing them, I might be thinking about them, looking stuff up about them on the Internet, or planning for when I get to play again. I have to watch out for that because then I don't get anything else done. It's my favorite form of entertainment, so be prepared to read posts about games if you read this blog.
Final Fantasy III came out on the Super Nintendo and blew me away. It's still one of my all time favorite games and probably my favorite of the series. I played it to death, even after I beat it, just to find all of the little secrets and max out my character stats. Soon came the N64 and once again I saved my earnings and bought it myself. Top priorities were Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda, and Starfox 64. Sadly, it was announced that the Final Fantasy games were moving to the PlayStation. So what did I do? That's right. I saved and bought myself a PlayStation, almost solely so I could continue playing Final Fantasy. When I got Final Fantasy 7, I played it for about 30 hours in the first week, which was a regular school week. My mom was sort of taken aback and said to me that's nearly a full time job. When I went to college, I didn't have a TV, so I left my game systems at home. But I did take a brand new laptop which I had bought for school.
A friend of mine had introduced me to StarCraft in the last year or so of High School. I played it on our home computer quite a bit, but didn't do too much of the online gaming with it. In college, I was among a lot of fellow gamers my freshman year. I played Half-Life and we often played Counter-Strike on the dorm LAN. My RA also introduced me to Everquest which had come out earlier that year. RPG games really appealed to me, and this one seemed like the ultimate RPG, but I didn't have the time or money for it then. Half way through the year, I bought a small TV and brought my systems down to college with me. We played a lot of Final Fantasy VIII, Mario Kart 64, and Mario Party 2.
Next year, I switched schools, took my systems with me and a little game called Goldeneye 64, arguably one of the best N64 games, and the only first person shooter I've ever had any proficiency at. I got into a competition with a guy across the hall. He was really good. So good, he had mapped out where you re-spawn after a death and he could just continuously kill you. By the end of the year, I had managed to catch up to him though and was able to match him pretty evenly. I was pretty proud of that. After that year, I was going through some tough times, and while home for the Summer I finally picked up Everquest. It pretty much took over my life. I was working as a stock boy for a retail store, so I worked 12 AM to 8:30 AM. My schedule, for pretty much 3 months straight, was go to work, come home and go to bed, get up around 4 PM and play Everquest until it was time to go to work. Insane. When I got back to school, I sort of saw what a waste my summer had been and gave up the game completely, destroying the CD and game box so as not to tempt myself.
But I wasn't giving up gaming completely. Final Fantasy X and the Playstation 2 were on the horizon, and I spent hard earned money on both. Oddly enough, while long identifying myself with Nintendo, I had no inclination to get a Gamecube. As college came to a close, I actually sold off a lot of my gaming stuff to purchase an XBOX and play the Star Wars RPG, Knights of the Old Republic and a few other games. But a year or so down the road I got married, and video games took a back seat for awhile. The XBOX pretty much became a DVD player, and all the other systems got put in the closet. I had sold my PS2 and all my games to get the XBOX, so I didn't even have that when Final Fantasy XII was released. My desire to play the game was so great that I re-purchased a PS2 on eBay and got back into it. I bought a couple other games, Okami is worth mentioning, and every now and then I got a chance to play. Around December, 2006 I picked up the Sims 2 and even got my wife to play, and she didn't really play a lot of games at the time. She's still hooked. I got her the expansions this Christmas.
Around April of 2007 I decided to try out World of Warcraft. I had put off trying another online Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) ever since the Everquest fiasco that had sucked away that one Summer, but I had heard good things about WoW, one of which was that you didn't have to devote nearly as much time to it in order to enjoy it like some other MMORPGs. I was instantly hooked and am still playing it today. I could easily play it all day (and that's pretty much what I did one week when my wife was visiting family) but responsibilities and other hobbies keep me from losing myself to it like I did with Everquest. And similar to my elementary school days, I wake up early to play before I have to leave for work, though admittedly I have to use an alarm and I don't always get up. I plan to use this blog for a bit of writing on Warcraft, so look for that in the future if you're interested.
It doesn't end there though. Just recently we got a Nintendo Wii, we've already had a lot of fun with it. We played Wii Sports Bowling with practically everyone on my wife's side of the family during Christmas and had a blast. Then I got The Legend of Zelda for the Wii which I'm excited about because I haven't played a new Zelda game in so long.
So there you have it. I play video games. As far as I can remember, I always have. I like to think I keep it in moderation, but I do tend to obsess about them. When I'm not playing them, I might be thinking about them, looking stuff up about them on the Internet, or planning for when I get to play again. I have to watch out for that because then I don't get anything else done. It's my favorite form of entertainment, so be prepared to read posts about games if you read this blog.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Age of the Internet
While it was not the first time I had heard of or read some blogs, I did remember when I started reading them more seriously. A friend and old college roommate of mine sent out an update email and had a link to his blog back in 2005. It reconnected us briefly and I started reading his blog on a fairly regular basis. So in a way, I'm hoping that this blog might help me keep in touch with people and maybe give them an insight to my life even though we're separated by hundreds of miles or more. One of the great things about the age of the Internet is the ability to connect with people in a plethora of ways.
Another great thing is the ability to find out just about any fact within a few moments of booting up a web browser. Some time ago, my wife and I were wanting to know more information about something we'd just seen on TV. An actor's name, I think it was. Within seconds we had all the information we wanted and more. She commented to me that before the Internet, you would have had to have something like an encyclopedia collection to come even close to the instant access to information we have now. It really points out how spoiled we've both been growing up. Obviously there were libraries, magazine, books, newspapers, the radio and TV, all of which could provide information, but none of them were necessarily at your fingertips. We've had the Internet since we were in High School and it really does give you instant information on things you may not have bothered to find out before because there was no easy way to find out. My grandfather started using the Internet in his home just this last couple of years, so I asked him, "What did you do when you wanted to know something, growing up, before you had access to the Internet?" His response:
"We just sat around not knowing a lot of things."
Another great thing is the ability to find out just about any fact within a few moments of booting up a web browser. Some time ago, my wife and I were wanting to know more information about something we'd just seen on TV. An actor's name, I think it was. Within seconds we had all the information we wanted and more. She commented to me that before the Internet, you would have had to have something like an encyclopedia collection to come even close to the instant access to information we have now. It really points out how spoiled we've both been growing up. Obviously there were libraries, magazine, books, newspapers, the radio and TV, all of which could provide information, but none of them were necessarily at your fingertips. We've had the Internet since we were in High School and it really does give you instant information on things you may not have bothered to find out before because there was no easy way to find out. My grandfather started using the Internet in his home just this last couple of years, so I asked him, "What did you do when you wanted to know something, growing up, before you had access to the Internet?" His response:
"We just sat around not knowing a lot of things."
And So It Begins
I'm trying to figure out the first time I heard the term "blog" or when I discovered what it meant, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I do know it didn't seem like the type of thing I thought I would find myself doing on down the line, but alas, here it is, in print, on the Internet. My blog.
As of yet, I'm still unsure of what I'm going to do with it. I might use it as a daily journal, or perhaps somewhere to talk about my favorite things, like video games, television, or my tendency to become so distracted by them. I might talk about where I am in my career as an accountant, but I guess I should be careful of saying too much about my employer, or I could be the next big news story about a guy fired for something he posted about his pointy haired boss on his blog.
I guess those are some ideas to get me started, but I'm sure it won't be anything like I thought it would be in a few months, seeing as how I didn't think I would have a blog a year ago. I'm not looking to become the next great blogger, but I am throwing my hat out there. Whether it be lauded or trampled on has yet to be determined.
As of yet, I'm still unsure of what I'm going to do with it. I might use it as a daily journal, or perhaps somewhere to talk about my favorite things, like video games, television, or my tendency to become so distracted by them. I might talk about where I am in my career as an accountant, but I guess I should be careful of saying too much about my employer, or I could be the next big news story about a guy fired for something he posted about his pointy haired boss on his blog.
I guess those are some ideas to get me started, but I'm sure it won't be anything like I thought it would be in a few months, seeing as how I didn't think I would have a blog a year ago. I'm not looking to become the next great blogger, but I am throwing my hat out there. Whether it be lauded or trampled on has yet to be determined.
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