This last week (Wednesday thru Tuesday) I was spending time around the Big Island of Hawaii with my younger brother, Aaron, and his friend Randy.

What a trip it was.  I saw so much during the short amount of time we were on the island and so glad I was able to get away. Read the rest of this entry

This weekend I did a lot, and then I didn’t do a lot.  It was pretty great.

Friday afternoon, I had a study session with my new flight instructor.  It was a good time.

Friday night and Saturday morning I spent my time playing pool in the Portland Tri-Cups.  We didn’t end up winning, but I got an awesome patch for getting an 8-ball break.  In fact, because of that 8-ball break, I beat a much higher ranked player, two matches to his one.

The rest of Saturday I didn’t do a ton other than try to figure out what I wanted to do that evening and playing some video games.  I ended up finally finishing the Tales of Monkey Island.  This is a five-part game which continues one of my favorite video game series.

That evening I ended up going on a walking tour around part of Portland themed around Ghosts. It was a private event for Couch Surfers.  There were around fifteen of us, of that I knew around four or five.  Afterwards we went to the Green Dragon in SE Portland.  Nice bar with a ton of beers.

Sunday was very relaxing.  I finally caught up on some sleep.  Beat another game I’d been meaning to play through, Braid.  This game is a really awesome time-based side scrolling game.  I’ve seen a number of components used in other games, but never done so well.  It was a great game, though the story gets confusing in parts.

The rest of the day was spent watching the first episode of the prequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.  The first season was awesome and made me really want more.  Sadly though, I found out the lead actor who played Spartacus, Andy Whitfield, ended up being diagnosed with cancer.  This really made me bummed because he is an awesome actor that I wanted to see a lot more of.  Well instead of cancelling the show, they decided to come out with a prequel (I’m hoping until Andy gets fixed for the sequel to Blood and Sand).  So far, I’m excited for the direction of the show!

The evening was coming close to an end as I decided to finally watch one of the movies I have queued up.  What was the movie of the evening, you ask!?  None other than… “Machete”.

I enjoyed this movie.  The story wasn’t the most interesting, but the portrayal of the characters was hilarious and all for fun.  It also has one of my favorites, Jessica Alba, who looked so damn good.  If you get a chance and want to watch an action movie with a bit of humor, then check this one out.

That brings a close to my weekend.  Nothing too crazy, but overall it was great.

How about yourself?  Do anything awesome over the weekend?  Tell me in the comment!

Starting tonight, the pool team I’m the captain for will be going to the Greater Portland Area Tri-County APA Pool Tournament (Tri-Cups).

I’m very proud of the team and really think we stand a chance in placing in this tournament and moving onto regionals which would then lead to nationals in Las Vegas.

I wanted to share the address of the team where I’ll be keeping things updated that come to the pool team. Go to http://chalkandawepool.com

It’s going to be one exciting weekend for me and the rest of the team.

Wish us luck as we go and play our hearts out!?

Since I haven’t updated for a while, I figured I’d share what is going on.

As of yesterday, I have been working at my new job working at Coaxis (aka. Viewpoint Construction Software). I started on April 19th after leaving IGT on April 9th. The new job change was due to IGT deciding to close the Corvallis location and my desire to stick in Oregon. So far, it has been a wise decision.

Read the rest of this entry

It sure has been some time since I’ve posted and figure it is time I do so.

Last time I posted I was talking about some documents I’ve been reading. Well since then I’ve made a number of changes.

With the closing of IGT Corvallis at the end of June, I’ve decided that instead of moving to Reno for IGT, that I would interview around and see what I can find. In the few months I applied I was able to get three confirmed offers. Two in Reno and one in Portland. I almost had one in Corvallis, however they failed to get permission to seek a new candidate before they began interviewing candidates…silly companies.

Though one of the offers in Reno was great, I decided to stay in Oregon and accept a position in Portland with a company called Coaxis. They deal mainly with their software called Viewpoint Construction Software which I hear is quite popular with construction companies; which is a good thing for me that I get into a business that is still growing. It is quite exciting and I will be able to contribute quite a lot. The great thing about going to Coaxis is that I get to work with a couple of co-workers from IGT that are already there.

Moving to Portland will also be quite fun and exciting. I’ve been interested in getting up in the Portland area so I am happy to have the chance to move up closer to friends I don’t get to see as often as I would like. Though this means I’ll be farther from friends, girlfriend included, in the Albany/Corvallis area, it just means that I’ll have to make lots of visits to the area.

Lucky for me, I really like to drive my car and really enjoy spending time with friends that it’ll be a great time.

With this whole move and starting a new company it means the end to a current one. I am leaving IGT for the right reasons (for me), and because of this I do not think it will be difficult to go. I will definitely miss working with all the great people I have gotten to know over the couple years I have been there, but the work itself I feel satisfied with. I was able to see my work running in a casino, and the current projects I was developing passed off into good hands. Hopefully I hear from the folks working on the project I spent so much time on and how successful it will turn out for them.

IGT was a great starting company after graduating and I will always remember the experiences with such great people. I look forward though to my next adventures which are starting quite soon.

This Friday (April 9th) will be my last day with IGT, I am then taking the next 9 days to just relax and move up to Portland. I then start day one at Coaxis on April 19th (a day after my birthday).

Here is to exciting and wonderful new changes. And here is to hoping that the people I meet at Coaxis will be as wonderful as those I met at IGT.

Jason