A weekend of firsts

This weekend i have to say is one of the best whole weekends ive had since moving here.

Friday was chill. We went to a Sports Bar on campus and had a few drinks. Listened to two dudes on acoustics butcher some good songs. Then got hit on in the parking lot by two chicks from out of town. Decent relaxing night, nothing crazy.

Sat we went to a Pub Crawl near campus (my first). The area is called North Gate since its right outside of the North Gates of campus. All the bars in that area are really cool, all very chill. Anyway, we get to the pub crawl 20 min after everything started and there were already 1500 people there. The first bar was the biggest and was packed. Shoulder to shoulder people. We tried to get to the bar for 5 min and decided to leave.

After goofing off outside for 15-20 min we went to the 2nd to last stop of the pub crawl. I know the managers and owners of the bar since we are holding an event there on Tuesday. We decided we were just going to post up there the whole night and wait for the crowd to come to us. It was already busy anyway.

The rest of the night consisted of general drunkin shenannigans. The smallest person in our office trying to pick fights with everyone and finding a mop so he can “mop up all the d-bags” A girl i know ignoring me because she thinks im running game by saying “hey i know you” You know, the usual.

So Sunday i get up and go to a Crawfish boil (another first). I have been excited to try this since i moved out here. Everything i had heard though is that its too early in the season for crawfish, but one of our testers was nice enough to organize one anyway.

I must say, it was a very enjoyable time. You start off with a huge pot and burner, similar to frying a turkey. You get the water to a boil then add spices, they just used a pre made bag mix and some brown sugar. Then you add in potatos, garlic, lemons, sausage, mushrooms, corn, and they threw in some kumquats because there was a tree behind the house. Ive come to realize that most cooking in BR involves just throwing whatever you have into a pot.

Once all that is in, you add the crawfish, they scream a little when they go in…its kinda interesting. They only cook for about 5 min, then you cut the flame and let them “soak” for another 20-30 min. Then you take everything out of the pot and spread it out on the table and dig in. I didnt know you ate only the tails of the crawfish, but after a little teaching from the natives and some practice, i got the hang of it. Im surprised but i actually liked crawfish a lot. And the sausage, potatos and corn were amazing too. The corn was redonkulously spicy though since they were in the water for the longest.

Im uploading pics now.

ReStart

Ok ive been gone awhile. But i didnt have anything to write about really.

But now i do. Kelly posted this earlier today on facebook, and i thought it was really cool. So i thought id post it on here and tell a little more of the story behind each one. Maybe even add a couple more.

1. I become more like my father everyday.

My cousin pointed it out to me a couple years ago in a pic on MySpace. Now that ive worked at EA for awhile, my work ethic comes directly from him.

2. Im probably more dedicated to my work than i should be

Im not sure how much busting my ass at work is really paying off. Especially when i see other people who are no where as good as me getting promoted at other studios.

3. I have grown up a lot in the last year

Everything about moving has made me think a lot, which has helped me realize a lot of things about myself.

4. Removing myself from a bad relationship was the best thing Ive ever done

This made the choice to move much easier, as well as made me think about what i want from relationships and how i get into them.

5. Sometimes i feel like a crappy friend to the people who treat me the best
I think i take for granted the people who are really there for me. Which also means i try harder with people who dont treat me as well.

6. I haven’t been drunk in years (but Ive acted like it)

It takes a lot of beer to get me drunk. Generally ill drink enough to loosen up and that’s about it. I can have fun with other drunk people without actually being drunk. Also my fear of not being in control makes it difficult to get to the point where i wont be in control.

7. My biggest fears are heights and lack of control

Yes the 6’4″ kid is afraid of heights. I have no idea where this started. Im afraid its going to start affecting things at some point. I dont like flying anymore. The lack of control probably came from when i was in HS and two “friends” left me at a McDonald’s as a joke. Since then its slowly progressed.

8. I love driving

I just go for a drive at least once a week. I have no problems driving 12+ hours in a day. I drove to Colorado in 2 days by myself.

9. I’m tired of the “car scene”

Its too expensive and full of drama that its not worth it sometimes. Its funny that now that im not with the ex anymore, i don’t want to be in the scene when she tried so hard to get me to give it up when we were together.

10. Drama annoys me

Most of it is unnecessary.

11. I rarely get bored

I generally have fun in whatever im doing. If i do get bored or unhappy i do something different.

12. I suck at spelling

We took standardized tests in elementary school, one was for spelling. It was graded on a scale of 1-10. I got a 2. Its never gotten much better.

13. So far moving to Baton Rouge was a good idea

I have yet to find something i don’t like.

14. Baton Rouge people are far nicer than anyone in Orlando

Even the random crazy dudes that are at the bar are nice. People in orlando are assholes.

15. I know how a person knows me by what name they call me

Jackson is EA people or anyone in Baton Rouge. Dan is anyone in orlando. Daniel is anyone from my HS graduating class. Danny is any family member or friend pre graduation.

16. Ive never done drugs, but Ive lived with a drug dealer

This one will probably scare the crap out of my parents, but whatever. In college, my roommate sold a lot of pot. It was the best anti drug commercial ever.

17. I want a tattoo but i change my mind too much to get one

a lot of my friends have tats, i just wish i could make up my mind on one that ill like forever.

18. I’m allergic to cats, but they love me

Most understand that im allergic, and make sure to shed as much as possible around me. Kittens like to use me as a jungle gym and climb all over me.

19. I have gotten along with all of my ex’s parents

So much so that 2 of my ex’s dated me only after their parents pushed them after meeting me.

20. Ive been cheated on once, that’s enough

Probably one of the reasons i try so hard to make my GFs happy, no matter what it takes. Which actually ends up causing problems.

21. The work version of me, is not the home version of me

I’m loud, confident, and constantly moving at work. I’m quiet and sometimes timid at home.

22. I love awesomely bad music

I pretty much love all music.

23. My new years resolution is to take better care of me

Too much worrying about other people and letting myself suffer

24. I played the clarinet in Middle School

Was never really a fan

25. I was a huge nerd in HS, anyone who has seen my first drivers license knows that.

My HS years were not the greatest time in my life, but i think it very much shaped who i am today

New Apartment

Tonight is the first night in the new apartment. So far everything is going well. It’s starting to feel normal again after the storm, work is picking up, I have my new apartment. To make things even better the weather is going to be amazing this week, highs around 81 and lows around 60.

Food

Before I moved out here everyone told me that I will love the food, and everything is so good. So far I have to say they have been totally correct.

If your reading this then you probably know how pickey of an eater I am. Before I left I told myself that I’m going to try anything once.

The first thing I heard about were Boudin Balls (pronounced boo-dan). These are made up of ground sausage, rice and spices, then battered and fried like a hush puppy. I finally had an opprotunity to have Boudin tonight and they were mighty tasty. It’s interesting to see all the different types of good you’ll see on menues here. No matter what the restaurant type you can probably see boudin, etufee, gumbo, crawfish, and poboys on the menu in some form.

My coworkers seem to be fans of fried motzerella sticks. Normally these are thin sticks and not too exciting. Aparently they do things differently here in Baton Rouge. Every time we have ordered motzerella sticks they have been massive, as in inch and a half wide by 5-6 inch long sticks. There was one night where they were round balls like cheese puffs.

I think crawfish or gumbo is next on the list of things I want to try.

Updated: Hurricane Gustav

Right now I’m riding with Erob (coworker/friend) to Natchez, MS to ride out the hurricane. The group wasn’t too worried about this storm until we started talking to people from around here. Yesterday we went to the mall and there were already stores closed and they were planning on stating closed till Thursday. Last night we tried to find some place to go eat and a good number of restaurants were closed. Olive Garden, Chilis, Roadhouse all closed till Thursday. That’s 6 days!
This is the kind of stuff that gets us nervous. We’ve all stocked up on food but since were living out of hotel rooms were a little stuck. So Erob and I decided to drive the 90 miles or so up to Natchez. We’d both rather sit at a house and watch it rain than a crappy hotel room.

So I forgot to mention that were staying at Erob’s aunt and uncles. Their house is very nice, two stories and five bedrooms. This is much better than sitting in a hotel room. We will probably be here till Tuesday night or Wed.

Oh and Happy Birthday to me, thanks mother nature.

Update: 1:25am Tuesday. The storm has pretty much passed, and nothing major to report. Everyone is safe, we lost power for about an hour this afternoon and then again about 8pm. It’s been off since then and we have heard the entire city of Natchez is without power. We may head back to Baton Rouge tomorrow depending on what we hear from our coworkers who are still there.

The drive is on

I’m packed and ready to go. I’m currently sitting in front of my apartment getting ready to leave. I’ll be uploading pics along the way, assuming there are interesting things to take pics of.

Nice beetle cabrio I saw at my first stop just south of Gainsville.

Update 2:27pm. I’ve stopped for lunch just east of Tallahasse, mainly because I refuse to stop in that city. I think I’m going to try to make it to either Penssecola or Mobil tonight.

Crossing into Alabama for the first time in my life…crazyness.

These last three got posted in reverse order.

Crossing into Mississippi

random tunnel in donwtown Mobile

Mobile

So I made it slightly past my goal for the day and I ended up driving all the way to Baton Rouge. The drive wasn’t too bad, I10 was pretty empty all day.

The move is on

So after spending over $1000 on service and maintenance on the car over the last 2 days, i started packing today for the movers to show up tomorrow. This means i have to pack up the computer till i get to the hotel on Friday afternoon sometime. Ill still be able to get online with my phone so i wont be totally out of contact.

Tomorrow the movers show up between 8-11am. Who knows how long its going to take them to pack everything up. Once they are done ill pack up the car with the stuff i need until my new apartment is ready. Once thats done i have to find something to do till the meet. Then its seeing all the car people one last time at the meet then the bar. Hopefully ill get to see a certain someone again before i leave.

Thursday morning ill head out around 9-10 am. Ill be uploading pics along the way assuming there is something interesting to take a pic of. Ill stop after about 6-7 hours and finish the drive up on Friday. I should be in to Baton Rouge early afternoon Friday.

Check for updates starting sometime tomorrow, or Thursday.

Oh, and start hoping for this hurricane to go somewhere other than Louisiana.

EDIT 8-27 11:40am
The movers are here and just finishing up packing. They will be loading the truck soon. I wasn’t expecting it to be just two guys, but they are surprisingly quick. They also pack my stuff a lot better than I would have.

Official Announcement

So the LSU test center has been officially announced. Its kinda cool to see something your directly working on in the news and making a impact.

 

Electronic Arts and Governor Bobby Jindal Announce the Creation of EA North American Test Center at Louisiana State University

Baton Rouge-based Global Quality Assurance Center to be First in U.S.

Last update: 11:16 a.m. EDT Aug. 20, 2008

BATON ROUGE, La., Aug 20, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Governor Bobby Jindal and Electronic Arts Inc. today announced a partnership including Electronic Arts (EA), Louisiana State University (LSU) and the Louisiana Department of Economic Development (LED) that will lead to the creation of a new global quality assurance (QA) center in Baton Rouge. The facility will be the first of its kind in the United States and will serve primarily as a test center for EA SPORTS’ software titles.

Joining Governor Jindal in making the announcement were EA’s Senior Vice President for Central Development Services Sharon Knight, LSU Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development Dr. Brooks Keel, Baton Rouge Mayor Melvin L. “Kip” Holden, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Economic Development (LED) Stephen Moret, President and CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC) Adam Knapp and President of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation John Davies.

Governor Jindal said, “This announcement of EA putting the first-of-its-kind video game testing center in the U.S. right here in Baton Rouge is a terrific win for the city and the future of our state. We know our economic development initiatives have to be aggressive, but they must also be innovative, and EA has both of these important attributes. This testing center will create 20 full time jobs, and more than 200 part-time jobs for LSU students who will get paid to play video games. I know this will be a dream job for some kids, but it is also a key part of strengthening our state’s economic development so we become the best place in the world to do business and all of our children can stay right here at home to pursue their dreams.” Jindal added, “This job win is a critical step in creating a digital media economy that will generate even more high-paying high tech jobs and help us compete for even more jobs within EA in the future.”

Gov. Jindal personally cultivated a relationship with EA, and his state budget for fiscal year 2009 includes funding for two new positions focused specifically on growing the digital media industry in Louisiana.

The QA center, created through the EA/LSU partnership, will be a testing facility for new software designed by EA’s development studios. The center will ramp up to approximately 20 full time employees as well as over 200 part time testers made up predominately of LSU students. Payroll for the operation is expected to increase to approximately $5.7 million per year within two years.

“We are proud that EA will be part of this initiative that will assist in the development of the digital media industry in Louisiana,” said Sharon Knight, Senior Vice President of Central Development Services at EA. “We feel EA SPORTS is a great fit with LSU as there is a deep-rooted heritage in sports at the university. This partnership will open future opportunities for the state of Louisiana, LSU and EA.”

Individuals involved with forming the partnership cited multiple reasons why the Baton Rouge area was selected for the project. The list included an abundance of potential technology-minded employees, a deeply-rooted sports culture highly valuable for evaluating sports-themed software, digital media tax credits and a digital media curriculum being vigorously cultivated at LSU through a new program called AVATAR (Arts, Visualization Advanced Technologies and Research).

AVATAR will establish collaboration among various disciplines to produce research and projects related to digital media. As part of this joint venture, EA will assist in the development of the digital media industry in Louisiana, and will help to encourage technology research and development in the field, by assisting in the development of curricula, workforce programs and digital media cultivation efforts.

“LSU is committed to developing a world-class, comprehensive program aimed at advancing the education, research and workforce needs of the digital media industry,” said Dr. Brooks Keel, LSU’s Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development. “Our AVATAR Initiative will recruit leaders from around the world to LSU to perform cutting edge research in high-performance computing, video game development, interactive systems, visual effects and digital arts, and our developing Digital Media Curriculum will offer education and training for students interested in these areas. We are extremely excited about collaborating with EA, which will not only provide outstanding job opportunities for our digital media students, but will greatly enhance our ability to attract global leaders in digital media including scientists, artists, and engineers to LSU. Together, EA and LSU will ensure that Baton Rouge, and indeed the entire state of Louisiana, will become a global leader in the field of digital media and entertainment development.”

“With this announcement today, Baton Rouge has taken a giant leap forward in becoming a center for the digital media industry,” said Mayor-President Melvin L. “Kip” Holden. “EA brings exactly the kind of jobs we have been working to land – careers for the future that focus on technology, digital arts and video game development. We welcome this exciting company to Baton Rouge.”

Moret added, “With over $9.5 billion per year(1) in U.S. sales and an expected growth rate of nearly ten percent per year for the foreseeable future, the video-game development industry is likely to be one of the most exciting growth sectors for many years to come. This new partnership with EA represents a major boost in our effort to become one of the leading states in the country in this exciting growth industry. We plan to pursue other EA opportunities in the development arena, as well as use this partnership in our efforts to recruit other leading video-game development companies to Louisiana.”

Initial contact with EA was made through the Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium (BRADIC), a group established last year to cultivate the development of a digital media industry in the Capital Region. Its founding members include BRAC, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, the City of Baton Rouge / Parish of East Baton Rouge and LSU. BRADIC and LED collaborated to recruit EA to Louisiana.

“This is a momentous day for the Baton Rouge area and our emerging digital media sector. The decision by Electronic Arts to locate their North American quality assurance facility here is a major step in the realization of our goal of becoming the Creative Capital of the South,” said Knapp. “We have built a broad community consortium focused on developing this industry, and all of our partners are committed to making Electronic Arts’ operations, as well as all of our current Baton Rouge-based digital media companies, a long-term success.”

The QA facility will initially be located at LSU’s South Campus as part of the Louisiana Business and Technology Center. EA will make use of Louisiana’s Digital Media Tax Credit Program, as well as assistance from LED and EBR City-Parish for facility improvements.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS(TM), EA(TM), EA SPORTS Freestyle(TM) and POGO(TM). In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

First Post

Ok so this is my first blog. I kinda feel like a 13 year old girl writing in her diary, but in a cooler tech age kinda way.

I guess ill start by getting everyone up to speed on where I’m at now.

The Move: For those that dont know ill be moving from orlando to Baton Rouge LA at the end of the month. The moves will be here the 27th to pack up all my stuff, then ill be hitting the road the 28th, and arriving in BR on the 29th.

No matter what Mike tries to tell you, I’ll be gone for at least a year. If i leave the company for any reason before a year is up I owe them back all the money they spent to move me out there. Since thats way more money than want to pay back ill probably be sticking around awhile.

The Injury: In case you didn’t know i tried to slice my wrist like an emo kid over a month ago, AKA i accidentally cut myself on a drill bit while working on my car. Anyways, after many trips to the amazing Walk In Clinic, it appears to finally be healed. I no longer need to have any steri-strips or butterfly strips to hold it closed. Which means i don’t need to have it covered and don’t need my emo bracelet on to keep me from looking like a cutter.

Ok so thats enough for tonight, ill have plenty of time tomorrow while sitting in my apartment watching it rain sideways.