Sharan Volin

I drove to class this morning and was wondering why car alarms were going off and people were standing outside with people wearing orange vests, then much later I heard someone mention an earthquake and got the breaking news alert on my MSN Direct watch. I guess I didn't feel anything because I was driving.

Meanwhile I'm still swamped with the new job and getting through the last of my Operating Systems class (the final project is due tomorrow and the final is next Tuesday) so I probably won't have time to catch up here until after Worldcon (yes I'm going. My brother lives in Denver so I'm staying with him.).

I don't want to post anything just yet until I make a final decision but it's been a busy week and I should have some really big news to post here by the end of next week:).

Right now I've got a lot going on, including a project for class that's now overdue (my team keeps getting 3rd members that seem to vanish off the face of the Earth and not contribute to the projects, unfortunately) and a midterm on Tuesday. And I never realized quite how much looking for work really IS a full time job until now. So I haven't checked in for a while and will have a lot of catching up to do soon.

Damn, I still have so much I want to do this summer and there are only about 6 weeks left before it all starts over again with the classes! And the next few weeks will be busy, since I'm seeing Rush at the Hollywood Bowl on Monday, Dream Theater at the Gibson Amphitheater on Friday, heading to either Las Vegas or Comicon for the weekend (I'm not sure which yet), seeing Symphony X the following Tuesday (maybe Monday too if we're back and I feel up to the trek down to Anaheim. EDIT: apparently the Anaheim show just got moved to Santa Ana), and then I head to NY on Thursday the 2nd for 9 days. I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

In other news, when I head off to NY I'll also be headed back to only occasional work status at the current job as I go back to work for my roommate's company. He just signed a 6 month contract for a website with a 3d game component that should be interesting! If you know any good programmers in the L.A. area (or are one) let me know, since he's going to be hiring!

There's also news on the Rockers Online front. I finally got fed up with my old web host screwing up my site and my e-mail and switched to a new one. Then I fixed a few bugs (including my rss feed, which I had no idea was down for so long, and my forum activation, which the old host broke by changing the server on me). Last weekend I finally added the first new band in years, Queensryche (and damn, do they have a lot of sites devoted to them!). I think it's probably safe to say I now have the most comprehensive list of links on the band on the net:). Also my roommate decided as a test to pay someone to write up news for my site for a month to see if it increases traffic, and I'm on the 3rd day of that (so there will actually be things posted to rockersonline).

Of all my goals for the summer, the one I was most on track for (at least until I blew it last week and I'm hoping to make up the difference this week) is reading at least 1 book a week. I finally finished "The Harlequin" By Laurell K. Hamilton this morning and will be working on the new Demon Hunting Soccer Mom book by Julie Kenner next. Now those are fun books! They really are like if Buffy retired and got married and had kids and suddenly started getting attacked by vampires again. It should be a quick read so maybe I'll make 2 books this week:).

I think I finally figured out what the problem is with the new Laurell K. Hamilton books. ( My opinions here... )

I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but the cops have several blocks completely blocked off here, and there's a helicopter that's apparently been circling for hours. They wouldn't even let me drive home, even though I was about 1/2 a block away. I parked on the street just outside of the blocked off zone, and they let me walk home, but told me I couldn't go on the other side of the street. At least I was able to get home, since I'm flying to NY tomorrow and haven't even started packing yet! But we seem to be right on the edge of the blocked off zone.

I can't find anything about it on the news, but we did hear someone over a bullhorn telling someone to drop their weapons and come out with their hands up. (That's about all we managed to make out of what they said.) It's really weird hearing that in person and not just on some TV show! This area is generally a pretty good area, although it gets a little seedier a couple of blocks down.

Well, I better go try to do some packing.

Update: Whatever it was, the crisis seems to be over. When I realized we couldn't hear the helicopter anymore I went out to get my car and there were still cops there but they said it was O.K. to get my car and bring it home.