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Updates

February 20, 2013 By: Aaron

So it’s been a while since I’ve written anything on my blog so I thought I would take this time to write a few updates on what’s been going on.

My Certification Studies:
I am still watching videos and reading material for the A+ Certification. I’ve been kinda slow  on my studying and after taking a practice exam and seeing what areas I needed to focus on I printed out a study guide for Networking (which is one of the 2 areas I need to study). I still have my goal to obtain my CCNA either by the end of 2013 or at the very beginning of 2014.

Volunteer Services:
Last month I volunteered at the P.F. Chang’s Rock and Roll Marathon helping out Phoenix Children’s Hospital. So far I have not done any other Volunteering this month, though I did go to an in-hospital volunteer information service. It was an hour long meeting that gave requirements about volunteering inside the hospital. I found it very informative and there are a few options that I may consider. It does take a commitment of at least one 2-4 hour shift a week for 6 months. There are a handful of events happening in March that fall on the weekend that I may have an opportunity to volunteer for such as “Run to Fight Children’s Cancer” taking place at Grand Canyon University or “Kohl’s Kids Rock Stars” taking place on the Great Lawn at Cardinal’s Stadium.

General Life:
Some other things that’s been going on since my last post. I’ve been reading Kellie Elmore’s  blog every now and then and have been enjoying it. I’ve posted a few comments here and there on it and she does a good job on responding back to people that leave comments. I have not read any of her books yet but I do have a quote by her on the home page of my website: “Life is like a steering wheel; it only takes one small move to change your entire direction”.

I’ve started doing a 5k every weeken (at least trying). On Saturdays I’ve been getting together with a handful of other people and we do 3.1 miles. I’ve signed up forthe Firefly 5k in April and I’m still wanting to do the P.F. Chang Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon next year. Right now the pace that we’re doing is a 15 minute mile at a walk which will bring in a time of just under 3.5 hours. I’m good with that pace, but I’m looking to drop a few minutes off the 1 mile time by getting to the point where I can sustain a decent jog for the 13 mile distance.

This weekend my wife and I are doing an ikebana class at the Phoenix Art Museum. I’m looking forward to it, it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a while. After the class we’re then going to the Matsuri festival down town. We’ve been to this several times in the past and I always have a good time there.

Gaming:
I’m still playing Guild Wars 2, enjoying the game a lot. Recently got my second character up to level 80, which will be my main. Started on the long road to forge a Legendary weapon which will take a long while to complete. One of our guild members has already completed his Legendary, you can view his YouTube videos here, and you can read his blog here.

I’ve been working on a website for our little clan which can be found at www.clan-kyodai.com, so far all of our members are people we know that live locally in the Phoenix area. We really haven’t done any recruiting for members.

There are a few beta’s coming up that I’m interested in, one is Elder Scrolls Online. I think this game holds a lot of promises and I’m hoping that I get a beta invite for it. The other is Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. This one is the second launch of FFXIV, it is suppose to be a complete re-work of the engine, story and game play of the first launch last year. Since I was in beta before for FFXIV I just got my invite to participate in the new upcoming beta.

Well, I think that about wraps it up for now.