So I can have this in an easy to find spot, I’m making a list of some Xbox 360 games I’d like to get. Just as soon as my system is fixed (thanks to the flashing red ring of death).

• Guitar Hero 3 (have for the PS3 currently)
• Forza Motorsport 2 (came with the new 360)
• Mass Effect
• Call of Duty 4
• Project Gotham Racing 4
• Bioshock
• NHL 08
• Guitar Hero II

I had some others in mind, but those are at the top of my list.

Edit: I have a new Xbox 360 Elite now, I’ll get my old one fixed at some point.

I haven’t found a decent theme that I’m happy with for Wordpress, I guess I’ll have to make my own one of these days. And finish moving my existing old pages to a dynamic WP format. Then I can just edit them online - which is actually something I had written to do myself previously, but it’s nice that this is built into WP. Maybe I might actually get around to writing some of the pages I had been thinking about, too.

My site is in need of a major overhaul anyway.

This year I’ve decided to finally start doing something about my (bad) financial situation. In the past, I’ve had a bunch of debts that I haven’t been very good about paying back. Hardly saving any money at all, even when I have plenty of extra cash after paying the necessary stuff. When I had credit cards back when I started university, I abused them for stuff I didn’t need and never paid more than the minimum amounts, if that (not surprisingly, both of them went to collections eventually). Fiddling with info on my student loan applications (not quite lying) to get as much as I could. And then wasting most of that on booze and other things you would when you’re 18-20 and in school with your friends.

So, I’ve been working and living at home for the last five years. And what do I have saved? Practically nothing at all. Well, now I do, but that’s pretty much all from the last few months. I received a decent sized bonus cheque at work yesterday, and I’m quite pleased that most of it went towards some bills that I’ve been putting off. Well, one wasn’t really a bill, but my web/email hosting renewal was there. Spent a little on myself, but nothing extravagant. It sure was tempting to get a nice home theatre system or big LCD television. But I resisted! :)

Now, I’m aiming to get an apartment of my own this summer, by August (or maybe even July). Of course, this will reduce the extra money I have, but I can deal with that. I wasn’t really spending a lot of it on anything useful anyway (I’m afraid to go back and check to see how much I spent at the liquor store between Thanksgiving and New Year’s last year). My plan is to really bump up the amount I’m putting into savings (ING Direct - ask me about the $13 bonus for new accounts referred by me, for each of us) until then. Which I’d use for basic furnishings that I don’t already have access to, security deposit, etc, plus having a chunk of money set aside for emergencies.

After I get a certain amount put aside for an emergency fund, I’m planning to start putting that much money into whatever debts I have to get them paid as quickly as possible. At this point though, I think it’s just my student loans that are left. One of which might never get paid. The smaller one I’d like to pay off. Then I can build up my emergency fund to something that could last 6-8 months if really necessary, and then start putting a lot more into RSPs and a little into another account for gifts to myself (stuff like a new tv, etc).

So yeah… a bit of a long and rambling entry there. Just typing as stuff came into my head. I’m pretty dedicated to this, I’m tired of being in debt and “broke” (well, spending/wasting every extra dollar I get at least).

Oh, I never did post any pictures of my custom poker chips. I’ll have to do that sometime. Another thing I’d like to do sometime is possibly switch over to Wordpress from Movable Type. A redesign of my web page couldn’t hurt either. I’ve been uninterested in playing World of Warcraft for the last 3-4 weeks, compared to before when I was playing it constantly. Gives me a little time to fiddle with things like that :)

I really haven’t been updating this at all lately. I’ll just quickly go through some of what happened since last summer…

I started taking three courses at SWGC in September, which was technically fulltime - the first time I’ve done so in quite a while. I ended up finishing the semester with a 79.3 average, which is pretty good considering I also work fulltime.

I stepped down as support manager at work, mostly due to school and lack of time to concentrate on that. They still haven’t filled the position, and probably won’t post it again until they can find someone else that wants the job and is competent.

I’ve gotten more poker chips and good playing cards (Copag, Kem, etc) over the months. I currently have an order for 1000 custom chips from a special offering with choices not normally available. That should be here in April sometime.

I’m taking this current semester off school. I just need a break - the last 6 or 7 months were quite hectic/busy/stressful/etc. I did well last term, and want to continue to do well. I think that if I kept up with this semester doing another three courses, my marks would suffer. I may drop back to just one or to classes in September, or I may do three again. I’m not sure yet.

Hopefully my next entry won’t be after such a long break :)

The poker chips I’ve been babbling about in various places finally got here a few days ago, they’re really nice!

And now I’ll subject you all to pictures! Muhahah!

My camera has been annoying lately. And/or my batteries. Plus, the battery cover on my camera broke a while back, so it doesn’t really stay in place without holding onto it, or taping it in place. Which sucks.

Long hours though, at least I’m kept busy the whole time. There’s never enough time to finish everything you’d like to get done. Last week I think I had almost 44 hours, and about the same this week. That’s a ton of overtime. I’m afraid of the taxes…

Off tonight and tomorrow though, which is cool. I’ll get to play some poker tonight with the guys (need to have a regular Thursday night game, since I’ll always be off!). Too bad my clay poker chips from ASM won’t be here, I ordered them last Friday and mailed my payment on Monday. I doubt I’ll have them before next Thursday, but should have them before my vacation at least. I’ll be sure to post pictures and an update when I do get them.

At least I’ll have regular days off now, every Wednesday and Thursday. No weekends, but if I ever need a weekend off for something, that can easily be arranged now that we have two support managers on nights.