Trying to Change the World...One Blog at a Time

This is our country

2007-07-04T22:18:00.000-05:00

July 4th. America’s Independence Day. This is a day of hot dogs, baseball, apple pie and fireworks; all pieces of Americana. Little league baseball games, sipping cold lemonade on the front porch as the sun drops below the horizon, county fairs are all pieces of Americana as well. Washington, DC is my favorite piece of Americana.

I’ve been to DC various times for different reasons. The first time was in 8th grade on a class trip. I’ve been there numerous times to visit Brian when he lived there for four years after college. I’ve been there a variety times when I lived in Virginia, although I lived 2 hours away.

I love Washington, DC. I love how it was designed, its rich history, the monuments, the galleries, its tribute to the Americans who built this country and who died for it and most importantly, what it stands for. I love DC at night when the monuments are all lit up. I love how every year, millions of people come to visit DC and stand in awe of all of those things. I stand in awe of all of those things every time I am there, which, unfortunately, has not been in the past two years.

There are two times I visited DC that stand out in my mind in particular.

The first time was probably about 9 years ago, when I went to visit Brian, we were out and about sightseeing at night and taking pictures around the Mall. We wandered around for a while, finally settling on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. We snapped pictures, talked and just sat there, quietly, thinking about that moment in time and other moments in time, in that very place.

On this night, we saw a couple of amazing events take place. First, there was this couple. They were dressed to the nines, he in his tuxedo, replete with top hat and cape and she in her elegant red dress. They sauntered around the Memorial, at the top of the steps, inching closer to the statue of Abraham Lincoln. As they moved around on that level, they began to dance together, gracefully. There was no music playing. Really, there was no sound at all, other than the distant sound of cars speeding by and some chirping of crickets, yet these two people were dancing to the sound of music in their heads. It was beautiful. It was awe-inspiring.

The second event that occurred this night was equally, if not more stirring. We were still sitting on the steps of the Memorial, although I believe we had moved up closer to the top and in the silence of night, we began to hear voices singing. Two young men, I think they were African-American and were probably in their late teens or early twenties were singing, while wandering around near the pillars, just in front of the statue of Lincoln. They were singing the Star Spangled Banner and they were singing it beautifully. In addition to their incredible voices, the sounds and the words of the song were echoing off the marble walls of the Memorial making this experience even more impressive. I can still see that scene and replay the sounds in my head. I will never forget them.

(a picture taken that night)

The other time I vividly remember in DC was the one July 4th we spent there, again, visiting Brian. I believe it was ’97, but I’m not entirely sure. If you’ve never been to DC to be a part of the July 4th spectacular, you are missing an unbelievable experience. We took the train to the Mall and walked past the Smithsonian and the Jefferson Memorial. Flying slightly above the grass were hundreds of thousands of fireflies. It was the first time I’d seen that many in one place and it was as though they were putting on a show before the show. Anyway, we continued to walk to the Mall to try to find a spot to sit down and watch, which is a feat in itself, since there are a few hundred thousand people there. We found the perfect spot, about 200 yards west of the Washington Monument, facing the Lincoln Memorial. We laid down on the grass, looking up into the sky, listening to the people around us and the music off in the distance. When the fireworks started, we didn’t need to sit up, or look in all different directions, we were able to lie there, on the grass, surrounded by thousands of people, taking in the sights and sounds while the fireworks display was going on immediately over our heads. For almost an hour, the blasts rocked the night sky, taking you higher and bringing you back down with expert execution. It was magnificent.

If you haven’t been to Washington, DC, I can’t stress enough how great it is to go there. I couldn’t imagine living there, but visiting has always been a pleasure. I think Americans take for granted this great city, its rich history and all the regalia associated with our nation’s capital because of what goes on there – politics. It puts a sour taste in our mouths to think of the bureaucracy and lies and deceit, while forget the good things that our government does, such as…ok, I can’t think of anything right now, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, on this 4th of July, I just wanted to remind myself of a piece of Americana that I love almost as much as apple pie.

I wish I could be as carefree and wild, but I got cat class and I got cat style

2007-06-06T10:01:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, my cats are so funny, but still so cute, they remind me just how silly life can be.

Things I’ve learned from my cats in the last couple of days:

They will eat the carpeting if there is catnip on it.

Getting a good tan requires a nap in the sun.

Getting a good amount of sleep requires being comfortable.

Goldfish, the crackers, are excellent play toys, they taste great if you just lick them, but it sort of scares them when I step on one in the middle of the night and don’t know what that “crackling sound” is under my foot.

The warmest place to sleep is on the keyboard of the laptop, plus, they can IM my mom (I should've taken a picture of that!).

Squeaky is 7 years old now, but is still very playful…well, with me anyway, not so much with Cowboy. She sleeps right up against my feet and must be touching me at all times!

Cowboy just turned 18 months and he has so much personality, it’s pretty funny to watch and listen to him. He’ll even hold a conversation with you! He tries to get into everything, including, but not limited to: the refrigerator, the freezer, any and all cabinets, the washing machine and his favorite is the shower! He usually sits on the edge of the tub, occasionally poking his head inside to get a sprinkle of water. Sometimes, he comes right in and gets his paws wet…then chases Squeak around, so I have wet paws all over my desk and computer.

The two of them are such complete opposites, but the do enjoy getting my attention and adoration. Most of all, I love having their attention and adoration.

Pour us a road, we’ll both drink and drive

2007-06-05T21:41:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, we’re so counterproductive in our society, it’s a wonder we get anything accomplished. Hell, look at government as a good example! Seriously though, if we used just a slice of common sense, we might actually get to the other side of the road and go, “Huh, if I had known it was that easy, I would’ve done that a long time ago!”

The reason I’m mentioning this is that last night, I took a friends brother who is in town for the week to my favorite hockey bar to watch Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals while my friend was busy with a previous commitment. After I arrived home from work, changed and was heading out the door, my brother walked in and asked where I was headed, so I mentioned it to him and asked if he wanted to join us. Now I know my brother is only 19 years old, but he has been in this bar before, not with me, but with some other people that know the owners, so I figured we’d be ok.

We get to the bar, find some seats and get ready to sit down, but the bartender spotted us as we were walking in and asked to see everyone’s ID. First off, um, hello? I have a beard and some grayish hair; I think I can pass for 21! Second, I mentioned that my brother wasn’t 21, but we brought him so he could be our designated driver, which I thought would be a logical excuse. It wasn’t likely that he’d be drinking; however, the law in Texas says that he can’t be in there, but then, it also says this:

In Houston, Texas, beer many not be purchased after midnight on Sunday, but can be purchased anytime on Monday...which happens to begin right after midnight on Sunday! So it's illegal to buy it when it’s legal to buy it?

I digress.

This left us with two options, pick up some beer, go back to the house and watch the game, or I drive my brother home and come back. He said it was ok if I took him home and I mentioned option 1, but he said he was cool with going home, so I drove him back there and headed back to the bar to hang out with my friends’ brother.

This brings about non-logical point number two: I know have to waste gas to drive my brother home. This is really not the time to be wasting energy resources! If we let him stay at the bar, I can drink a little more and have a safe, reliable driver waiting to take me home AND only use one trip’s worth of gas. This is opposed to the two trip’s worth of gas I had to use to take him home and then try not to drink too much so I could be a responsible driver for myself. Does that make sense to anyone? Sober driver and less gas used, or slightly intoxicated driver and more gas used, which sounds better?

On a side note, my brother is not a big hockey fan because he grew up in the south, whereas I grew up in the north. He has watched a number of games at home with me during the playoffs, but he’s just not a big fan in general. My friends’ brother on the other hand…anyway.

Needless to say, tomorrow night, we’re staying in to watch the game.

All in all, we're just bricks in the wall

2007-05-25T13:13:00.000-05:00

Updated 5/29: On Sunday 5/27, Alexandria from Houstonist gave me some props in her "local blog roundup" post. Thanks! Also, in the comments section, I completed a thought that wasn't explained very well in the original post, so I suggest reading there as well.

Maybe it's because I'm not originally from Texas and I've never heard of closing underperforming schools before, but how does that help?

It sounds to me, that moving students to other schools would only shuffle underperforming students to schools that are currently performing at an acceptable rate, thus dragging down those schools scores.

Here's an idea, let's try reorganizing the staff. Move some (certainly not all) of the teachers that are able to excel in these tough situations out of the acceptable schools and into these schools. Let's hire more staff. Oh wait, that's right, our schools are cash-strapped because of extraneous, ridiculous overspending in other areas.

I never understood how or why education funding declines or remains stagnant. Seriously, the people in our schools will be taking care of you and I in 30-40 years; don't we want them to be the best possible people they can be? If we need to raise taxes for better education funding, then so be it, it's in everyone's interest. Generating more income would provide more staff, or at the very least, possibly a more qualified staff like they have at those fancy schmancy private schools.

Education is one of those things on which we should not be skimping. We’re already lagging in compared to other countries when it comes to how many engineers or scientists we’re churning out of our colleges.

In our society of billionaires, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Paul Allen, Michael Dell, and more familiarly Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Forbes & the Walton Family of Wal-Mart fame, why not throw a couple BILLION (each) at our education system. Meanwhile, here in Houston, Ken Lay’s widow is worried about unfreezing her dead husbands’ assets. Do you think if she does receive any of that money she will throw it back into these schools? I think not.

I don’t want to go completely off topic, but many of the people who are in these struggling schools may ultimately wind up fighting and dying in a war that throwing money towards doesn’t seem to be as big a conundrum for the government.

Every time she sneezes, I believe its love and oh, lord, I’m not ready for this sort of thing

2007-05-14T15:20:00.000-05:00

Of course, I’ve saved the best story for last.

Back in February, just after I had broken up with the girl I had been seeing for 4 months, I met someone else that I wasn’t expecting at all. I was walking over to PetSmart, which is just up the street, to pick up cat food. She was out walking her dog; he saw someone new and wanted to play! So I stopped to play and we began chatting. I actually don’t remember the conversation, but it must have been interesting because she walked to the pet store with me and then back towards my apartment. It turns out that she lives in the same complex, but across the street. We were chatting non-stop, laughing and obviously flirting with one another. As we were awkwardly standing there, finishing our conversation, but not quite wanting to leave it, I decided to see if she wanted to go for a drink.

She said yes.

We decided to just go to the bar across the street, but not until she dropped off the dog and we both needed to get cleaned up a little as well.

I came by at 830 to pick her up and we walked across the street. We continued with great conversation over a few beers and around 1130, we decided to walk back home. As we got back to the gate outside her side of the complex, I mentioned what a great time I had, how nice it was to meet her and that I’m glad I didn’t have any plans that evening! She mentioned that originally, she was supposed to get dinner with some friends, but when I asked her out, she cancelled with them. When she mentioned dinner, it dawned on me that I never ate dinner. Then it dawned on me that if she cancelled, she probably hadn’t eaten either. So I asked if she was hungry and if she wanted to continue over some food.

She said yes.

We walked up the street to the late night diner and continued our conversation over dinner. I couldn’t have had a better date if I scripted it.

We continued to see each other numerous times over the next few weeks, but then something happened. I’m not sure exactly what, but I received an email letting me know that she didn’t think we should see each other anymore.

A few weeks later, I joined the dating sight and the story picks back up from there.

Then, about a month ago, I got an email from her saying she wished she had done things differently and hoped that in time, maybe we could be friends. I gave it some serious thought and emailed her back a few days later letting her know that would be ok, but for now, it would need to be on my terms.

So in between talking to and going on dates with San Diego girl, miss high maintenance, the out of town medical sales rep and the non bean counter, I’ve also been talking to the girl next door, so to speak, but we never went out anywhere, so to me, there were no serious intentions.

That was until last week.

She called me about two weeks ago to see if I would join her in going to an Astros game with some people from work. I’m always up for that, so we went to the game and had fun. It was as though we had never broken up; however, she did probably drink too much, which led to an interesting conversation on the way home. She claimed that I had said we were “just friends” a few times during the day and that seemed to upset her. So I asked if that was what she wanted? She said it was obviously what I wanted and that she would deal with that.

I chalked it up to her being slightly drunk and let it go.

She then called me last Thursday to see if I wanted to come to happy hour with the same people from her job that were at the game. I quickly accepted and met them there later in the day. After most people had left, we were talking and again, she was kind of tipsy (she doesn’t normally drink a lot, I swear!) and started in on that same conversation again.

I quickly got her to the point this time. She wanted another chance. She told me that no one ever treated her the way I had, that she made a mistake and asked if I could forgive her?

I said yes.

I put some rules on it however:

We cannot see each other more than 3 times in one week;
We will not stay over at the other persons place;
We will not have sex; and
We can still see other people.

All of these rules are in place for at least a month and at my discretion. If things work out the way they started, then I’ll relax the rules and we’ll see where it goes, but in the meantime, I want to have the option to keep any relationship between us growing at a slower pace than last time. I also want her to understand that I (potentially) have other options too…even though right now, I don’t, but that’s not the point.

I honestly want this to work out. She is easily, the best girl I’ve dated in the last 18 months and I truly enjoy spending time with her. I also start thinking about the future every time I’m with her, which has not happened in a long time.

Nobody's perfect, and that's something that I'm sure she'll know

2007-05-10T16:41:00.000-05:00

While I was actually going out on dates, I continued to talk on the phone to a girl who is a medical sales rep. We only spoke on the phone because she lives much further away than I really would prefer, but she also has a great personality and she comes to Houston every weekend – except for the last 3 weekends. Without getting into too much detail about our individual traveling plans, we figured out that we wouldn’t be able to see each other until at least the third weekend of June. Needless to say, we don’t speak anymore.

Then there is the Non-Bean Counter. I call her this because it’s her designation for herself. She is in the accounting department of a rather large company, but she doesn’t do taxes, so she says that she is not a bean counter. Whatever. Anyway, her profile was incredible. I felt an immediate connection to the words I was reading on the screen and I knew I had to email her. A week later, after actually giving up, I finally received an email asking if I wrote my profile after reading hers? I didn’t know whether to be offended or if she truly couldn’t believe how similar they were. I mentioned that my profile has been up for 2 weeks or and hadn’t changed in all that time, but why was she so concerned about it?

Her response was “It was that our profiles match so well.... couldn't that be a negative though? no yin to the yang?” I could see her point, but how would she ever know if she didn’t get to know me?

Again, an interesting response ensued, “what are your plans for next week? I was thinking we could meet up for (not drinks, not lunch...) maybe grocery shopping?” For some reason I thought this was a great idea. Here’s a tip, grocery shopping on the first date is NOT a good idea. Why? Because you’re concentrating on what you’d like to buy, versus looking like a pig, all while trying to impress this new girl by holding an intelligent, yet flirty conversation.

By the time we were ready to go, I thought that I’d like to see her again, but I’m just not sure, so I think I’ll just pass on asking for a second date. However, after we checked out, I walked her to her car and helped to load her groceries. In her trunk were golf clubs, so I asked how often she played and she responded that she doesn’t “play” much, but she tries to get to the range twice a week. We talked and joked about golf for a few minutes while loading my groceries and she then asked if I wanted to hit some balls at the range sometime. Well, since she asked…

So we met at the range the following week. I talked about how my week went and she told me about how she scraped her knee over the weekend (a drinking accident). Once we finally started hitting, we would chat, but trying to concentrate on what we were doing lent itself to a lot of silence. In between shots however, I would try to start conversations, but I kept running into a different obstacle – the guy next to us – who was eavesdropping/getting involved in our conversations. He was very nice, but buddy, I’m on a date here!

Anyway, I gave her some pointers, some of which helped her, some didn’t and she noticed how much I use my ass/hips when swinging through the ball. At the end of the bucket, we walked back to our cars and chatted some more. She was taking some classes to earn her CPA designation and had a test coming up that she had to study for, so we said goodnight and this time I hoped to see her again.

I emailed her later that night to let her know that I had a good time and that I’d take her out for some celebratory drinks after her exam. She responded the next day and she would give me a call that night after the exam.

We met for pizza and beer at a bar around the corner while watching the basketball game. It was a decent setting and for a while, it was quiet enough that we could have a normal conversation. I got to know more about her in an hour than I had in the previous two dates! As the night moved on though, it got louder and I had a hard time hearing her, plus we were starting to get a little tipsy, so we decided to head out.

When I walked her out to the car, I mentioned we should get together next weekend (she was going to be busy that coming weekend) and she said, “We’ll see.” That’s not a good sign.

On Monday of last week, I emailed her to see if she wanted to head to the driving range again. I didn’t receive any response so I figured she truly was not interested, so I chalked up her to another dating story…until Sunday night when I got an email from her. She apologized for not emailing sooner, claiming she was busy. She also goes on to say, “I think you are a really nice guy, I don't feel any chemistry, and we could hang out every once in a while, hit some balls, grab a beer, see a show... but that's about it....”

Oh well. Another one bites the dust. The only regret I had about the Non-Bean Counter was not telling her how great I thought she was…and sexy as hell. I don’t think it would’ve made a difference, but being able to relieve yourself of your inner thoughts (like through a blog!) is very therapeutic.

But wait, that’s not all…

If you could just stop looking for someone special, you might save yourself some pain

2007-05-09T10:20:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned the other day, I've wanted to post about dating, girlfriends and ex-girlfriends. This past month has been very strange, with some developments in the relationship department.

First off, I joined a dating site - a very popular one - as I've done in the past. It has worked fairly well as far as finding dates and interesting people to meet, a couple of whom have turned into good friends. I met the girl I moved to Houston for on there and my most recent girlfriend was met through the site as well. I like being able to weed out the people I think I'm not going to be a good fit with before I go and spend time and money on something that has no possibility. I'm also "over" trying to pick someone up in a bar - as if that has any real potential anyway.

In any event, the first few days of being on the site are fraught with reading dozens of women's profiles, viewing their pictures, deciding whether to email them. Then, if I do, what do I say to (a) break the ice and (b) grab their attention? After the initial fun of it and waiting for responses, it actually gets annoying trying to find "new" women to message because the women who show up in your (sometimes too specific) searches are always the same ones you've already sent an email to. On the rare occasion that you do find someone new and they meet your criteria, you send them an email and again, hope for the best.

Usually, within a day or two, I'll begin getting responses. From there, sometimes things they say, questions they ask or responses to questions I've asked, will either keep me intrigued or tell me that this isn't someone I prefer to meet.

Conversely, after a few days of having my profile out there, I also begin to receive initial emails from women who are definitely not my type (how they ever thought that I am their type remains a mystery) or only saw a picture of me and decided to email me. I can usually pick those women out easily because they ask me a question that, had they read my profile, would've been answered already. My favorite example of this is the woman who sent me an email telling me she "must be dreaming" and that I'm "her perfect match". Really? After checking her profile, I determined we were never meant to be just by reading the first line in her "About" section. It read, "First and foremost, Jesus is a part of my everyday life...would prefer someone with the same values." Check please! If you know me at all, you'll know that I do not partake in a religion of any kind and it is clearly stated in my profile that while I don’t have a problem with you exercising your right, please don’t think that I’ll be joining you. This was an easy decision to give her a polite, "No thanks". There's much more, funny stuff to that story, but I don't care to talk about it, so I digress...

Now, of course after reading and re-reading women’s’ profiles and a few communications with them, either through email or over the phone, some of them are ready to go out. This is where it gets interesting.

First, there was the San Diego girl who moved here last year for work. We started communicating on a Saturday morning and by that evening were meeting for drinks. Our personalities meshed incredibly well and we had a good, flowing conversation the whole time we spent together. We left the bar around 130 am and decided to get together the next day as well for lunch and a movie. Well, with the crappy weather that day, she offered to order take out and rent a movie at her place. That was fine by me. We spent the majority of the day together, but by the end, even though we interacted well with one another, she irked me. There was no sense pursuing something with her if I could hardly stand her after just one day.

Next, there was the high maintenance girl. She emailed me first, with a simple, but effective, “What’s up?” She was very attractive, which of course grabbed my attention, but after reading her profile, I was much more interested. I emailed back to tell her she was intriguing, funny and had remarkable eyes. We communicated one more time before she told me to call her to get together. She preferred that rather than emailing or spending time on the phone. So we met a couple weeks ago for lunch on a Saturday at a place near her house. After about 45 minutes, I knew this wouldn’t work because of numerous reasons, but mostly because I could already tell, she was high maintenance. I say that as though it’s a bad thing, it’s not. I have plenty of friends who are that way, but they’re not people I could date. Anyway, we ate and talked and I think we both knew this would be it, but we were polite and when we finished, we decided to leave it at that. As we were saying how nice it was to meet each other and eventually goodbye, she did give me a nice hug however, which was a little surprising, though it’s always nice to get a hug from an attractive woman in a public place :)

To be continued...and then some…

Answer the phone, I know that you're home

2007-05-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love my new cell phone, the MOTORAZR V3xx. Why, you ask?

I bought the software that lets me connect it to my computer so I can:

Edit my address book;
Create & edit ring tones;
Add pictures from my computer;
Transfer files from phone to computer and vice versa; and
I can even use my phone as a modem to connect to the internet

I can assign every single person a different ring tone, if I so desire
If I enter a persons birthday, it tells me their sign
My address book holds so much information, it’s almost overwhelming
It’s loud
It’s got a nice big screen so when I’m taking a picture/video, I can actually see what I’m shooting
I can check my email, quickly
I can get traffic updates from Houston Transtar
I can go mobile with my AIM or Yahoo IM
It's smart when I am texting/IM'ing/emailing someone. It remembers words I've used and auto-completes. Since my vocabulary is pretty limited, it doesn't have to be a genius :)
The call quality is superb
It’s brand spankin’ new. Enough said.

I'm a rocket man

2007-05-07T17:27:00.000-05:00

So a couple of weeks ago, I got called into the bosses office. He began to give me details about a presentation he was giving for the European Space Agency at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He had the majority of the information ready to be put into PowerPoint format, but he still needed bits of pieces filled in. He gave me both responsibilities, which was fine, but the second of the two is not normally an area of my job that I am well versed in, so completing this task was not going to be as easy as I had hoped.

Nonetheless, I started in on what he wanted. I was able to produce a draft in just a few hours and I enjoyed learning about what he would be presenting as well. Over the course of the next 4 days, some 40 hours worth of work went into this presentation. I created what I felt was a beautiful presentation that I was very proud of and I was sure he liked it as well.

I also had to liaison with a rep from the ESA regarding different facets of the presentation and some of the facts he would be discussing as well. To me, this was the second coolest part of the project. The absolute best part was being able to tell people that I was preparing a presentation for the ESA.

What? They didn’t need to know I wasn’t the presenter!

Taking care of business

2007-05-04T13:13:00.000-05:00

The past 2-1/2 weeks have been crazy busy for me, mostly with work and while I have so many things to say, I just haven't had time to say them.

However, here are some tidbits I'll be touching on, in no particular order, hopefully this weekend:

The European Space Agency
Dating, girlfriends & ex-girlfriends
Hockey
Work
Health, money and health insurance
New cell phone
Music
Blogging

That should keep me pretty busy I think!

Virginia Tech tragedy

2007-04-18T17:39:00.000-05:00

I know I will take a whole bunch of crap for this, but I’m going to say it anyway.

First off, what happened in Blacksburg, Virginia on Monday was an unnecessary, senseless tragedy and my heart goes out to all of the victims' families, students, classmates, teachers and the overall general community that Virginia Tech encompasses.

The next thing is that I lived in Charlottesville, Virginia for 4.5 years. Charlottesville is where the University of Virginia (UVA) is located and they are the in-state rival to Virginia Tech (VT). That being said, I have no allegiance to either school, but I know of the rivalry and I’ve been to both campuses numerous times. I know a number of people who have graduated from each school and both schools are well respected amongst each community.

All of that aside, the VT students have laid a lot of blame at the feet of the administration for not locking down the campus after the first gunshot incident at the dorm. In my opinion, for the most part, the school acted accordingly. I say for the most because I think the email that arrived at 9:26 was far too after-the-fact, but I do not believe it would have saved any less than the 32 lives lost and the countless numbers that were wounded. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and this is just my opinion.

Now this part is going to get me in trouble with people. While the students are bitching at the administration (and probably the parents too), we are reading stories on the internet about how the students believed he could be a school shooter (before this event occured), that his creative writing stories were unbelievably violent and that he showed signs of being mentally disturbed. The fact that he was also sent to counseling for his stalker-like actions and he was removed from a class by a professor who claims she knew he was the shooter before his name even came out bothers me more than anything. I have to lay blame on ALL of these people for not doing something sooner. Did we not learn anything from Columbine? Apparently, the stories from the creative writing class, which I’ll also address in a minute, were talked about at great length by the other students in the class, but no one did anything about it, other than the former chairwoman of the English department. Students said that they were supposed to recap their creative stories after having them discussed with the rest of the class, but the teacher did not even ask him to do so because he never spoke to anyone. What kind of insanity is that from a college professor? I find it amazing he made it to his senior year of college without any interaction in his classes. Particularly being an English major, you would think he would have to do some speaking and defend his writing at some point during his college career. Sadly, no. He was just passed onto the next phase of the system, only to finally come to the breaking point on Monday morning, April 16, 2007. At least the one professor had some sense to ask him to be removed from the class (because he was photographing some of the other students and it bothered them) and have him admitted to counseling.

As for his creative writing, if you have not read the stories online, I urge you to read them. A) In my opinion, they are not nearly as graphic as some people would like you to believe; and B) I find it incomprehensible that a college senior wrote them. These are stories that a 12 or 13 year old might write. The grammar is horrendous and while the topics were gross, they are issues a child or early teen would usually deal with, not a 23-year old.

Honestly, I do have a heart. It disturbed me all day on Monday that this would happen in such a nice place, to such great people, but I feel that the blame does not lie solely with the shooter. I think everyone who ever encountered him, in whatever limited capacity it may have been, have a drop of blood on their hands as well and that is what saddens me most. We had the chance to stop this, but ignored the problem, hoping it would graduate and go away instead.

Donate, it's the right thing to do.

With each of the links I've provided to main stories, there are several links which will explain more of the issues I've discussed here, most of them are cnn.com videos.

Don't wanna talk about politics, refuse to talk about politics

2007-03-28T17:27:00.000-05:00

I've been keeping up with and participating in an interesting debate going on here. It's a complex issue that deserves attention and I am encouraging people to get involved to help resolve a large problem in this country and throughout the world.

The cult of personality

2007-03-20T01:05:00.000-05:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

We are the champions

2007-03-19T13:07:00.000-05:00

The college I went to for the first three semesters after high school holds a special place in my heart. I met all of my best friends there. All my boys in NYC lived within 75 feet of my dorm room freshman year. However, one of the main reasons I went there was that it is a well known, Division-III hockey school. I felt that I could play at that level and I felt that this school was close enough to home for my parents to come watch, but far enough away for me to be away from my parents!

Long story short, I wound up not playing hockey there. I never even tried out. I did know a bunch of people on the team and I went to many games, enjoying the atmosphere and reveling in the rivalries.

This past weekend, the Oswego State Lakers won their first D-III National Championship and I cannot describe how great it felt to hear about their triumph.

http://www.oswego.edu/athletics/news_story.html?id=2547_0_6_0_C

Last night I had the strangest dream...Part II

2007-03-19T12:27:00.000-05:00

I woke up Wednesday morning feeling slightly ill that I had had that dream. Why? In an extremely unbelievable occurrence, BOTH of my parents were having surgery on Wednesday. My dad’s surgery was originally scheduled for Friday, but a cancellation moved him up and my mom wasn’t supposed to go for about three more weeks, but she decided to get it done sooner, rather than later. It turned out, everything just happened on the same day.

My parents are divorced, in case I’ve never mentioned that before. They live 500 miles apart and reside in two different states. They are on speaking terms, especially since my sister has given them a grandchild and they generally get along very well, so it’s not a point of stress in our lives. They’re also very young. Let’s just say they’re in their early 50’s and I’m 33, do the math and you’ll probably understand why they’re divorced.

Anyway, because they are so young, I think my sister and I have hard time dealing with their aches and pains and in this case, surgery. My anxieties came shining through in this dream.

The representations of different things in this dream were incredible. My grandparents’ house being a place where I felt safe; the family being together and being “normal”, in my view and the mowing of the lawn as being something familiar to me, a routine; but then the sudden moving out and subsequent immediate moving in of a new family, well, this has me slightly puzzled. I’m not sure what my subconscious was trying to tell me here, but I do have a theory. I think it was because the parents were my age, it was a different issue I’m having coming to light: that I’d like to find someone to settle down with and start a family.

In any event, the dream really shook me and I was very worried for the majority of the day until I heard everything was fine on both ends. I even spoke to my dad on IM that night. My mom was very groggy, so my sister called to let me know to call her Thursday. Dad is now back at work, Mom is resting somewhat comfortably on the couch for the next week or so and I am still looking to settle down and start a family. I think the last one might take a little bit more time.

Last night I had the strangest dream...Part I

2007-03-14T21:19:00.000-05:00

My mom’s parents have been gone for a while. My grandmother has been gone for 10 years and my grandfather for almost seven. The house that I spent so much time in as a child, and even lived in for a couple of years as a man in my early twenties, was sold two years before either of them left us. Yet in this dream, it played a huge role in, well, something…

The dream began with a bunch of people, mostly family members, doing odd tasks; cooking, watching TV, chasing small kids around and having casual conversations with each other. None of this activity was really out of the ordinary for anytime that my family would get together.

As for myself, I was wandering around outside. I thought about how the garage used to lean to one side. Continuous years of snow piling onto its roof caused the structure to lean and became unstable. It was fixed long before we sold the house, but I always remember it that way.

Anyway, the dream skipped around randomly and then significant things began to take place. Again, I was wandering around the outside of the house looking at how much the grass had grown and how it needed to be cut. So I grabbed the lawnmower out of the garage, as I had so many times in my youth, and began to mow the lawn in the backyard. It was an odd-shaped yard and if you tried to keep the lines running completely straight, it looked funny, so it was better to just go with the natural flow created by the curvature of the driveway and shrubbery along the line that divides us between our neighbors. When I finished, the yard looked so nice and I was very proud of myself. I trimmed the edges of the lawn and it was really the most work I had ever done in the backyard (It’s in the BACK of the house, who is going to see that??).

Once I finished back there, I moved to the front lawn. The front was small and usually took about 10 minutes to mow, but the two large trees usually left broken sticks and twigs all over the place from the squirrels running through the trees. You had to be careful when mowing the front because the blades would shoot the debris out the back into your bare legs, sometimes cutting them up pretty good.

I’m way off my point here, so back I go.

I finished the lawn, but as I turned to head into the house, a large moving truck pulled up, then another. The first truck was to take everything away. The second one contained the belongings of the new family that was moving in – apparently immediately! Moments later, the family arrived in their minivan. A nice, young couple, probably my age, stepped out and opened the back doors to retrieve their children – two girls and a boy - ages six, four and 18 months.

My family came out to greet them and we exchanged pleasantries. However, in a matter of moments, something clicked inside of me and I began to weep. Moments later, I was really crying, the way I have only cried at family funerals. I ran to the other side of the moving trucks so no one else could see me and I sat on the curb and openly sobbed for what seemed like a very long time.

So what does this all mean? To be continued…

A year has passed since I wrote my note

2007-03-09T00:15:00.000-06:00

Now that my birthday is officially over and I’ve spent the day reflecting, I’m ready to share my year in review, as somber as it may be.

Lows -

Dating: On my birthday last year, the girl I was dating and I broke up. I followed this same girl to Houston just over a year earlier because I was in love with her. She broke it off, but I am the one who was stupid.

A few months and dates later, I started dating someone new and over the course of a few dates, I knew I wanted to spend as much time as I could with this girl. 4 months later, I had to break it off because I didn’t have enough time to spend with her. This was not an easy decision, but I had to be fair to be both of us. The reason I didn’t have enough time was…

School: I was having a very difficult time with the particular class I was taking at the time. I spent an entire weekend sitting in front of the computer doing research. Fortunately, she was working that weekend, however, it made me realize that if she hadn’t, she would’ve wanted time with me and one of two things would’ve happened: 1) I would’ve let my schoolwork suffer; or 2) I wouldn’t see her and the relationship would’ve suffered. I felt it was fair decision for both of us. I couldn’t give her all of myself at the time and she deserved better than that. I knew that my classes were only going to get tougher, so if this was an indication of things to come, I felt that the sooner I broke it off, the less painful it would be for both of, but particularly for her.

Work: It sucked. I didn’t get a raise after my first year and I started looking for new jobs. I actually had a few interviews, a couple of the positions I was very interested in, but was passed up for each of them.

Money: I went into some serious debt this past year and struggled at many times to pay my bills and eat. I’m not sure how I managed to make it without missing payments and killing my credit.

Social life: For months after the first breakup, my social life was non-existent. I would spend almost every weekend inside my apartment, either doing schoolwork or just trying to catch up on, well, everything! It sucked, period. Think about this - it was now summertime and I was inside...all the time.

Pets: My new cat, Cowboy, was a little hellion for about 4 months. I actually almost took him back to the SPCA. He was just too wild and terrorized my older cat, Squeaky.

Highs -

Dating: I dated someone that I really enjoyed spending time with and had a great 4-month ride with her. I wish I didn’t have to end it, but it was the right decision, I’m sure of that.

School: I graduated with my 2-year degree (finally!) in November and I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was (can you say, “weight off my shoulders?”). Now I’m onto the 4-year degree and it’s kickin’ my ass!

Work: It’s much better now. I have received a significant upgrade in my responsibilities and I understand what my duties entail much more clearly. I am up for another review next month and I swear if I don’t get a raise, I might have to go postal (just kidding, I’m against guns!). A significant raise should be imminent, so I’m not worried.

Money: Somehow, through all of last year’s struggles, I made it and now I am paying off some of the debt I racked up last year. I’m actually paying it off at an alarmingly fast rate. I was able to scrape up enough money to buy myself a little vacation in NYC in November to see my friends and now I’m paying things off so quickly that I have money to do the things that I want to do this year as well – such as go on vacation with my friends in Cape Cod this summer.

Social life: It’s actually not much better, but I’m working on it.

Pets: It killed me to think what would happen to Cowboy if I took him back and someone else didn’t adopt him, so here he is now. He is still a little hellion sometimes, he doesn’t know his name, or the sound associated with his name, he bites, he scratches and he still attacks Squeak, but he is terribly cute and a little lover at night when I go to bed. He likes to snuggle and smush his nose into my chest while he purrs – how could I send that back? Squeak is still my little girl though and she knows it. She runs up into my lap when she is being chased because she knows I’m like home base. Once in a while, there is peace throughout the apartment, but not often.

Through all of the highs and lows of the past year, my emotional state has varied constantly as well. I think of myself as a very emotionally stable person, but this past year as been very trying on me. I won’t even begin to try to recap the whole year; I’ll just let you know where I’m at right now. Tired, frustrated, agitated, sad, lonely and stressed. However, after what I went through the past year, I know that I am on the upswing of these emotions and while I have a long way to go, I don’t feel as lost as I did just a few months ago.

If the wind is right you can sail away and find tranquility

2007-03-06T01:01:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned in the comments from my previous post, I wanted to talk about the sanctuary I found when I started sailing with my dad.

I’ve always loved the water. I think part of it is due to growing up so close to Lake Erie, part of it because I am drawn to its peacefulness and part of it just inherit in me because of I’m a Pisces. The serenity I feel when I’m on the boat is indescribable. All of my thoughts and worries disappear. However, it did not start out this way. When I was younger, whenever I was on the boat, I would get seasick. When I started racing, because I had responsibilities, my mind did not have time to worry about getting sick and I found that I rarely had that nauseous feeling.

Anyway, back to finding peace on the water. Every Wednesday, from the May through mid-September, we would race for about 2 hours, but it was the 30-45 minutes prior to the race when I would completely lose myself. During that time, while heading away from the dock, I would begin to set up the sails. We would head up the channel and slip by the people hanging out on the waterfront on a hot summer night. Once the sails were set and we only had time to kill, I would sit with my back against the mast, facing the bow, away from everyone else on the boat. It was there that I could lose everything in my head.

Staring out over the water, watching the other boats sail by, listening to the seagulls overhead and watching the people on the shore enjoy the summer night, I could let myself go. The troubles of the day, the troubles of life slipped overboard into the water.

It’s very difficult to describe how I would feel for that 30 minutes, other than it was very spiritual for me. These moments were the few times when I was at peace with myself and to tie this together with my comments, I found that my sanctuary was on the bow of that boat, leaning against the mast and soaking in the atmosphere.

Do you believe in God? Cos that's what I'm sellin

2007-03-02T11:48:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to pose this question for a week or so, but this article I read the other day finally reminded me to do so.

What if religion and all the belief that goes with it was proven a hoax; or even some of what we thought we knew was proven as false? What would happen to society - to the human race? For the millions of people who had put their faith in something that isn't real, they would be lost without their beliefs.

Or are we confusing religion with spirituality? Obviously, there are some hardcore religious people out there, who swear they "speak with God" or "know God", but I would be willing to bet that most people are more affected by the spirituality of religion, the feeling of belonging to something bigger than themselves, than the hardcore beliefs that most religious people claim to hold.

I know I have very spiritual moments. However, I don't attribute those moments to a "God" or anything else other than me being in a certain place and time in my life and that it feels special at that moment. Do I attribute this to religion, in the sense that we generally think of? Of course not, however, I do attribute it to a spirituality that I have inside me that keeps me at peace and gives me strength and hope. The difference is that I don’t base it on a far-fetched tale that was told 2,000 years ago to keep people in line.

Consequently, if we’re affected by spirituality more so than “religion”, I’m not sure anything would happen in the long term. The short term might be somewhat chaotic and people would be searching for answers that nobody would have, but I think eventually people could become at peace with who they are, what they believe in. The control that others had on people’s lives would be returned to the individual. Essentially, everyone would be free.

Unfortunately, ~~some~~ many people need guidance and I suppose the downside to this is that those people would be truly lost. What I think would happen to them, is the beginnings of the next, new cult. New leaders would emerge, with new philosophies and for the next however-many-years, people would begin to buy into these beliefs and all of a sudden, poof, we have “religion” again.

So the sad truth is this: despite my dislike for religion, it will not be going anywhere, anytime soon.

Please don't bury me down in that cold, cold ground

2007-02-22T17:53:00.000-06:00

Two solutions to the Anna Nicole Smith "problem":

Cremate her and put us out of our entire misery. Spread her ashes all over the damned Earth for all I care, just stop making this such a big freakin deal.

Chop her into pieces and bury them in different locations. Heart/torso in the Bahamas; head in Houston; and ass/legs in LA near Marilyn Monroe. Hell you can even freeze her boobs next to Ted Williams head in Arizona, if you're so inclined.

Interesting people die everyday, none of them get this much exposure in the news - and that is a damned shame.

Will I choose water over wine and hold my own and drive?

2007-02-12T17:37:00.000-06:00

An excerpt from this article:

"It's snow. We get a lot of it. So what?" said Allan Babcock, a lifelong resident who owns a popular diner in this village of 650 people located about 38 miles northeast of Syracuse.

Roads were mostly cleared Sunday as workers turned their attention to removing the snow and trimming down 10- and 12-foot-high snow banks.

The intense blast of snow hasn't been blamed for any deaths in Oswego County. Elsewhere, however, more than a week of bitter cold and slippery roads have contributed to at least 25 deaths across the northeastern quarter of the nation — five in Ohio, four in Illinois, four in Indiana, two in Kentucky, seven in Michigan, and one each in Wisconsin, and Maryland and elsewhere in New York, authorities said.

So many people complain, or shiver at the thought of all that cold weather and snow, yet only 25 people have died and while that is tragic, it’s such a relatively small number when compared to say, a hurricane. Particularly, a hurricane that people were told could be the one that sinks their city.

You see, when natural disasters occur in the north, such as massive amounts of snow, people do what they’re told – stay inside and only drive on the roads if it’s an emergency. Northerners know that going outside, and specifically driving, is seriously putting your life at risk. 115 inches of snow have fallen in Central New York and not one person has died because of it. 36 hours in advance of a hurricane people were told to get out. They didn’t and a couple thousand people – and an entire city - died.

I used to ride my big wheel, and sell lemonade, eat popcorn with grandpa while we watched the parade

2007-02-07T12:06:00.000-06:00

I remember when the worst thing I worried about walking home from school was getting hit with a snowball in the back (of the head!).

People are out of control!

Maybe that it would do me good if I believed there were a God out in the starry firmament

2007-01-23T13:20:00.000-06:00

It’s amazing how little things can set you off.

I was reading this article, which I thought from the headline would be an interesting story, but it turns out that it got deep into my into my psyche and then I couldn’t stop my head from thinking about my own death…and life, but mostly about how I won’t be here someday. In addition to having to deal with my recent loss, the combination of the two was too much for my mind and I imploded.

I got all twitchy, my breath got short and my heart rate increased. It was a panic attack. I haven’t had one since the day my (now ex) wife told me that we needed to split. I would get them frequently, mostly at night, and I would calm down by getting out of bed, throwing water on my face and lying down with one of the cats. This time however, I’m at work. I can’t get to the restroom without being noticed and I don’t have a cat nearby. To resolve the situation, I grabbed my stress ball off my desk and walked into the back of the file area, which is pretty close to my office, where it’s sort of secluded and dark. I just stood in there and tried to calm myself down.

I started to think about death, my death, and life, my life. I know this will get entirely too philosophical, but what are we doing here? I am back in school, and having a rough time of it, I might add, trying to get a degree so I can work for an organization that helps people. Shouldn’t my willingness/eagerness to want to help be enough? Why do I need a piece of paper to say to the organization, “Hire him, he’s ok. He’s one of us!” On-the-job experience will teach me more than any textbook, classroom or academic paper ever could.

We work so hard, for so long and for what? I know many people who work hard to provide for their families so the next generation can be better. That used to be a good moniker. Nowadays however, how much more does the next generation need? Isn’t this eventually going to wear itself out? Is it selfish of me to say that my life is not about my legacy? My family isn’t going to have it worse than me. I would consider my life, so far, to have been pretty good. In a shade more than 6 weeks, I’ll be 33 and I feel very lucky to have done many of the things I have, but does my legacy need more than that? I feel that, while the environment in which I grew up was not ideal, it has made a strong person. I don’t shy away from things because I had a tougher childhood than what my kids will likely have. By no means was my childhood as tough as so many other kids were either. At least I had a loving family, though my parents divorced when I was young; I had quality interaction with both of them then and to this day. My grandparents had a large influence on me as well because I spent a great amount of time with them throughout my childhood and even into my teen years.

I’ve run far away from the point of this post, so I am going hit the brakes and try to quiet my brain for the remainder of my workday.

It's not that we're scared, It's just that it's delicate

2007-01-21T23:15:00.000-06:00

Death has a way of entering our lives at very inopportune moments. I guess though, when is there a good time for death? Death is one a few things that I am afraid of. I am “scared to death” of it, definitely no pun intended.

I bring this up because I spent Monday and Tuesday last week dealing with a death in my family. My great uncle passed away after having a stroke, which was a possible risk after his successful back surgery. He had a small stroke, to which his abilities were limited, but the potential for recovery was there. Then he had a massive stroke and he was left with no chance. My grandmother flew in from California. His children, stepchildren and grandchildren arrived in waves to say their final goodbyes before the doctors took him off the ventilator.

My dad emailed me about the situation a almost two weeks ago on Tuesday. I had pretty much made up my mind afterwards that I wanted to be at the funeral, whenever it was going to take place, regardless of the cost or strain on my personal schedule. On Sunday afternoon, while watching football, I got the call that he had passed.

I am going to skip the inane details of trying to get a last minute flight and the weather issues I had to deal with for now. Maybe by the end of the week, when I have some time, I’ll be able to write about those situations. For now, I’m going to write about a wonderful man; the extraordinary funeral he had and say my own goodbye.

One note before I begin. Due to this uncle existing on my father’s side of the family, I did not spend a great amount of time with him. I would see him maybe once every couple of years at family functions. However, he was also a best friend of an uncle on my mom’s side of the family whom I did see often, so I would get updates as to how he was and what was going on with him on a regular occasion.

That being said, the time I spent with him was always memorable. The first thing I always noticed was his smile. He always had a big smile on his face. If I had the opportunity to speak with him, and most likely I would because he always made a point of mingling with everyone, he would make sure to ask how I was doing, what was going on in my life and was I happy. As the conversation progressed from topic to topic, he always spoke with passion and conviction, regardless of the topic. In our ardent conversations, his face and voice were always animated and I could tell he genuinely enjoyed speaking with me.

It is said that people are not judged by the things they possess, but by the company they keep. If this is true, then my uncle will receive the highest of honors. The turnout for his funeral was phenomenal. Well over 250 people who had been touched by him in some manner showed up to pay their respects and say their goodbyes. There were nine speakers: a son, a stepdaughter, a stepson, two granddaughters, a former student’s mother and two colleagues/friends. While they all spoke eloquently, two stood out.

My uncle was a professor of business and marketing at a State University. He was a department head. He was the student advisor to a number of different organizations on campus. One of his organizations, Students in Free Enterprise, was a competition. His group finished first in regional competitions nine years in a row. Nationally, they were ranked third and this is amongst some of the best schools in the country. There is no division I, II or III. I give you this background because the President of the University was one of the speakers and spoke more highly of him than I’d ever heard of such a common person. However, he wasn’t a common person. He was exceptional.

Above all else, his family came first. He lost his first wife in his late 30’s, while his children were in their teens. He married his second wife in his mid-40’s, bringing her three children together with his and creating one large, loving family. The children all got along very well and remain close to this day. From these two families, he welcomed sons and daughter’s-in-law, as well as numerous grandchildren. His eldest granddaughter spoke at his funeral and she was the most eloquent, poised and composed speaker of the morning. She spoke about sitting on the patio while he would tell her stories, helping her with her homework and listening to talk about anything and everything that was going on in her life. She talked about how difficult it was to see him in the hospital and much she would miss him.

When she finished, the only audible sound in the room were that of sniffles, blowing noses and quiet sobbing. She had everyone in the room thinking about what a great man he was and how much he will be missed. Her speech described and reinforced the very soul and spirit of the man he was: husband, father, grandfather, uncle and friend.

I cannot do justice in my attempts to describe any of what the speakers said that day, so I will not try. The best that I can say about how amazing this funeral was, is that of the 250+ that showed up for the service, around 75 showed up at the cemetery, in 9°, windy, snowy weather, to say their final goodbyes. Among those who showed up for the service were members from my mom’s side of the family as well. Aside from his best friend, my uncle whom I mentioned before, my aunt and uncle, my mother’s brother and sister and another great uncle as well. When I spoke with each of them, after being somewhat surprised to see them there, they each conveyed how much they enjoyed having the opportunity to know this man. His presence went well beyond the boundaries of the two sides of my family and I continued to be amazed.

I wish I could’ve seen him more often than I did. I wish I had seen him more recently than the last time, which was two years ago and I wish that my final goodbye at that time was not my final goodbye.

May he rest in peace knowing that he touched the lives of so many, even those he only came in contact with for the briefest of moments. We will all miss you greatly.

I'm on the football team

2007-01-09T17:25:00.000-06:00

With the recent college bowl games occurring nightly for the past 2 weeks, there has been a lot made of the issue that the bowl games bring in millions of dollars for each school, and that college players give up a lot to play football, yet with all that money coming in, they aren’t paid to play. I watched a few interviews on ESPN and I thought, “You’re getting a free education and room and board!” Moreover, many of the stars on these teams will continue on to the pro level where they can make more money in a few years than an average person with a four-year degree will probably make in their lifetime. Of course, don’t forget that while the athletes are making their millions after graduating with a free degree, if they graduate at all, the rest of us will have to pay back our student loans while working an entry/low-to-mid-level job making a fraction of what their signing bonus was.

Don’t give me this crap about how they should be paid to play. They have even more of a choice than everyone else has; play sports and get a free education or don’t play sports and work a real job like the rest of the world.

The bigger problem here is that the sponsors for the bowl games and the networks have ramped up the prices for everything so they can afford to dish out these multimillion-dollar awards to the teams who represent their products in the “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl”, the “Nokia Sugar Bowl”, the “Chik-Fil-A Bowl” or the “Rose Bowl presented by Citi.” It’s obscene how much money universities get for playing a game. The driving force for a school should not be how much money they can make by developing a quality athletic program, it should be how many quality individuals can their education department turn out year after year. This is among the many reasons our education system is backwards and our kids priorities are so screwed up.

I'm here for my sanity, sanity! I am here for you.

2007-01-04T23:02:00.000-06:00

Recently, many of the hits I’ve received have been from people searching for answers to a question I once faced – and despised – “The study habits of Joe Student.”

I’m very curious as to exactly what you were looking for because I know how serious the college takes plagiarism. Also, many of the visits have been for a decent length of time, such as the one person who spent 18 HOURS reading my posts. It’s tough to get your homework done when you’re reading blogs online! Shame, shame! Just kidding. Obviously, I’ve been where you are, so I know how idiotic that question is and how hard it is to concentrate when you think the question is stupid and useless. What I can tell you is that I answered the question with about 250 words of bullshit and got 23/30 points. My asswipe instructor wrote some comment that if I had simplified my thought process, I could’ve received the other seven points. What. Ever. The question was stupid then and I stand by my answer a year later.

All that being said, one year later, I received my two-year degree in business and my 3.63 GPA never really missed those seven points.

Since you’re here, and not doing your homework, why not let me know what you think of the Joe Student question? It’s only fair since I’ve told you what I thought of it.

In other news, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year everyone. You would’ve thought with the 14 hours I sat on the couch and watched Bowl games on Monday (yes, I picked Boise State over OU!), I could’ve done that earlier. Nonetheless, it’s now been said.

With 2006 out of the way, I am looking forward to a new start in ’07 and with that, I am going to attempt to spend some more time sharing my pearls of wisdom. Enjoy!

We wish you a Merry Christmas

2006-12-20T19:30:00.000-06:00

Christmas Carols for the Disturbed:

Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?
Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are
Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Busses and Trucks and Trees and.....
Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why
Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooh look at the froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ---Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle, Bells,Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells ...

So bite your tongue, you're not the only one, who's been let down

2006-12-20T17:45:00.000-06:00

I was recently accused of not working to my potential at my job. Ok, accused is not the correct word in this situation. It’s more as if I was flat-out told this. I have spent the last few days thinking about my situation here and what their reasons for believing this are.

This has been a complex problem to tackle because I’ve always been a hard worker and I am having a very difficult time seeing their point of view. I know that I am not working to what I feel is my potential and that, I feel, is due to the fact that I am simply not allowed to. I also know that there is a plethora of reasons I have a lack of productivity, again, mostly because I am not allowed to.

I’ve probably felt for about 12-14 months now, and I'm pretty sure it's because my opinions were never considered, when they were voiced in my first few months, as possible solutions to issues. My ideas on how to deal with the issues in this office, which is part of the management aspect of my job, are not valued in any sense. Often times now, I don’t bother to speak up, even when I feel strongly about an issue, because I know that my voice isn’t heard. After being shot down time and time again, one gets the feeling that they have very little worth in their position, thus creating an atmosphere of apathy and low self esteem, neither of which I have a problem with outside of this building.

I realize that I have three options: 1) If I continue on this path, I’ll probably be terminated in the next 3-6 months. 2) If I start speaking up, at least people will feel as though I’m participating and maybe they’ll take that as a sign that I’m trying, even if I know that my efforts are fruitless. 3) Point out why I feel the way I do and maybe enough of a change from others will occur that I will actually become slightly happier, thus more productive here.

I know this is not my career choice, that’s why I’m back in school. This is the “In the meantime” job to pay the bills; but I’m also using this job to gain experience working in an office environment.

When I worked in the restaurant, I was the head manager, I made numerous decisions without any supervision on a daily basis and my efforts were rewarded with raises and bonus money. I made more profit in that restaurant than they had ever seen previously. I had broken long-standing records; I created and fostered a fun, but hard-working environment in a location that had been nothing but a problem before I arrived. It’s also been nothing but problems since I’ve left. Running a successful business is very basic. It’s not as difficult as people make it out to be. Take care of the people who take care of you – your customers/clientele – they pay your salary! Take care of your employees, listen to them, and trust them – sometimes, they see areas of opportunity that even the brightest businessperson won’t see. Be honest with everyone you deal with. Whether it’s a client/customer, an employee or a vendor you regularly deal with; not being honest with those people will only hurt you later down the line. Don’t be stubborn. It’s ok to be cautious, but sometimes stubbornness is confused with cautiousness and there is a significant difference. Spend a little, save a little. It’s been said thousands of times, “You have to spend money to make money.” Not all spending is necessary. Know when to splurge and know when to pull the reigns in a bit, but never be penny wise and pound-foolish.

I know how to run a successful business. I think my record of accomplishments speak for themselves. So why won’t anyone listen to me?

With your hand on my shoulders, a meaningless movement... a moviescript ending and the patrons are leaving, leaving

2006-12-08T12:40:00.000-06:00

Have movies priced themselves out of people’s budgets? I had a conversation with a co-worker this morning about whether I had seen a certain movie yet, to which I responded, “No, I’ll wait for that one on DVD.”

He said it was good and that I should go see it. I asked if he thought it was worth the $9 (per person, b/c who goes to the movies alone?) I would have to pay to see it in the theatre. He said probably not and that brought up the original question that I posed. That question begat a different version of the question, are movies theatres just a giant waste of money? The buildings that house the individual theatres are like warehouses now. There are as many as 24 individual theatres in some buildings with huge lobby areas for teenagers to congregate, 20 ticket windows, through which you cannot understand what the person on the other side is saying, large, somewhat clean restrooms and an overpriced concession area with 15 registers available to order at every 150 feet. The theatres themselves are built with comfortable seats, some with armrests that lift up, so you can “get cozy with someone next to you”, drink holders and spacious aisles, so as your going to the two empty seats in the middle of the aisle, your crotch/ass isn’t directly in the face of the people you’re attempting squeeze by.

All of that being said, here is my argument: A movie that comes out in, say, July/August (the summer “blockbuster” months) will be available on DVD in time for Christmas, or just after Christmas/New Year’s. You can go cool off during those months in the theatre or maybe go to a drive-in (if you’re lucky enough to live near one) and spend $9/person for tickets, $5.50 for a medium popcorn and $4.75 on a medium drink. For the same money, you could get a decent meal somewhere and enjoy the company of your friends, family, etc and in a few months rent the DVD for $5 from Blockbuster, get a six-pack of beer for $6 and buy a box of microwave popcorn for $3.50. Then you could sit in the comfort of your living room/home theatre and watch the movie in an atmosphere that is just as relaxing and may even have less teenagers hanging around! In addition, you don’t have to worry about missing anything because you can hit the pause button if you need to go to the bathroom! If your cell phone rings, you won’t bother anyone by answering it and again, you can stop the movie for any other type of emergency that might arise.

My perspective is also skewed because I belong to an online DVD rental club. I pay $20/month for unlimited movies, of which I can have three “out” at one time. Going back through my last year of rentals, I’ve averaged about 10-12 movies/month and if we do the math, that’s right, it costs me less than $2/movie. I’ve only waited 3-5 months for the movie to come out on DVD and when it does, it’s in my mailbox within a few days. The best thing I like about renting movies is that if the movie is bad, I can turn it off and know that I didn’t just blow a ridiculous amount of money in the theatre to see it. I simply eject it and send it back.

Now there is something to be said for, “it can only be truly experienced on the big screen.” I can agree with that. Star Wars, Batman, King Kong, The Last Samurai, Superman, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Apollo 13, most movies about war, some, but very few horror movies and most action movies are certainly experienced better in the theatre, but to know which ones will be worth the money is the trick.

Back to answering my original question, in my budget, movies are overpriced and I’ll continue with my rentals unless I see something that is a must-see in the theatre.

I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about I, wanna talk about number one, oh my, me, my!

2006-11-28T12:00:00.000-06:00

I got an email from someone recently that asked to know more about me. They claimed that while they could get a sense of who I am and what I am all about through reading here, I’ve never let anyone know the really personal side of me. I’m going to do this in pieces, as I think of things, probably about 10-15 at a time.

So here goes, one of those obligatory “…things about me” lists, although I can’t say how many I’ll come up with.

I was born 2 weeks late…and I am much happier that my birthday is in March instead of February!
I’ve known how to ice skate since I was 2, which is almost as long as I’ve known how to walk and have been playing ice hockey since I was 5.
I have very few memories of my childhood, not that it was bad, actually I know I grew up in a great home, but I just don’t remember a lot of it.
#3 not withstanding, I remember all of my elementary school teachers’ names because of their individual influences on me.
I didn’t learn how to ride a bicycle until I was about 9 years old. It’s not that I didn’t try; I just couldn’t get the hang of it. Go back to #2 and you’ll understand why it’s funny to me now.
I have an uncanny sense of direction and learn my surroundings extremely fast. My mom’s favorite example of this is when I was able to direct my stepfather, who was new to the area, from my house to my grandparent’s house, 7 miles away, when I was 5 years old.
I rarely ever write down directions.
Because my parents were so young when I was born, I got to know my great grandmother while growing up. She died when I was 18 and I’ll always associate the smell of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies with her because that’s what her house always smelled like.
Growing up, I remember being extremely curious about where certain streets led as I passed them. I also remember making mental notes that when I learned to drive, I was going to go back down those streets, if I hadn’t yet, to find this out. I still do this.
I’ve done most of the streets in #9 - to the best of my memory.
My family tree is tough to explain to new people, but see if you can follow: I have a blood-sister (30), a half brother (19 – the one who lives with me) from my mom and stepfather, a stepsister (29), who is his daughter from a previous marriage, and a stepbrother (22) and sister (20) from my stepmothers’ previous marriage. Got that?
Of all of the “kids” in my family, meaning children from my mom’s generation, I am the eldest. My sister is next and then it drops off to my 23-year-old cousin, then to my brother. My point in bringing this up is that I am not as close with my cousins as my parents were because of the age difference and this bothers me.
The first and only fight I was ever in was with Dylan Jones, a kid who lived 4 houses away, when I was about 7 years old. It’s a weird thing to remember considering #3.
While I’ve had numerous black eyes and a handful of split lips, mostly from bad hops while playing baseball; a bum rotator cuff in my right shoulder, again from baseball, pulled muscles and 5 stitches on top of my head from hockey, I have never broken a bone in my body and the fear of that pain drives me nuts!
I used to like wearing a tie to work, until I had to wear one everyday. Now I’ve toned it down to once a week, especially in the summer – it’s just too hot here.
If I could change anything about my body, it would be the hair on my head. I buzz it in the summer, because it’s too hot here, but in the cooler months, as I had it for 25 years before, I let it grow out. It gets all frizzy and I need about a quarter-size dollop of pomade to keep it under control. I would prefer to have hair that blows easily in the breeze, instead of having a windblown look – which isn’t pretty!

Ok, that’s all you get. I swear there will be more soon. Deal with this for now.

One day we'll celebrate every Halloween...Year two

2006-11-02T16:08:00.000-06:00

So we were having this conversation yesterday at work about how people bought 6-8 bags of candy and expected to have about 1-2 remaining after Halloween, but wound up with less than one – and they were mildly disappointed. I asked how many kids would they estimate came to their doors and most people said anywhere from 50-100. So I started to do some math: roughly 40 pieces of candy/bag times 8 bags = 320 minus 1 bag leftover (50 pieces) = 270 divided by ~75 kids = 3.6 pieces of candy/kid. THREE pt. SIX pieces of candy PER KID – roughly. Also, the fact that a bag of candy cost around $4, that’s $32 in candy.

I reminded everyone that when I went trick or treating in my youth, I usually only received 1 piece from every house I went to. When I started handing out candy as an adult, I also handed out 1 piece for every halloweenie that came to my door. My esteemed co-workers noted that this was the price of inflation since I was a kid. In addition, as an adult, I usually buy about 3 bags of candy, which save me from having to buy 8 bags and spending $20, which I do not have.

I then questioned that in this day and age of how we’re such proponents for an obese America by advertising McDonald’s on every street corner and that we’re a fast-food nation, why are we handing out so much freakin’ candy on Halloween?! Aren’t these kids sugared up enough? Or after they get home, do the parents prick their fingers to see what their blood sugar is and then determine what they can and cannot eat?

Our society is so screwed up, I swear. One day we’re all up in arms about how kids are overweight and that it contributes to poor self-esteem and oh my god, the health risks as they get older. Then, for one day of the year, we are freely adding to that by pawning off 3.6 pieces of sugar and chocolate into every child that comes knocking on our doors.

I'm pretty sure this is in conjunction with my absolute hatred of Halloween.

Next year, I am going to buy 20 sugar-free gum packs and hand that out – 1 piece for every kid – that should equate to 100 kids. So, if you’re looking for Snickers’ Bites, Tootsie Rolls and M&M’s – all at the same house – don’t come trick or treating near me!

Goin' to the Chapel and we're gonna get married...

2006-10-31T13:18:00.000-06:00

Well, not really, because this was a Jewish wedding, and it wasn’t even at a Synagogue. I wrote about this wedding last week in this post. I wasn’t just in the wedding party, oh no. It was a whole weekend of wedding parties, because these people love to party…and party we did.

Have I mentioned I hate Halloween? Oh yes, I have. Nonetheless, part of this wedding weekend spectacular was the costume party after the rehearsal dinner. I was the hit of the party, which was completely ironic in so many ways: remember, this was a Jewish wedding; how much I hate Halloween; my lack of religion; and the fact that my costume idea was the only thing I could think of for this party. So a convict, Captain Morgan and Jesus walk into a bar… If you don’t understand why this is funny, well, I’m sorry you have to go through life feeling like this (and yes, I am holding 2 bottles of beer in the same hand – it was late, I was drunk, get over it).

Anyway, the wedding weekend was fantastic; fun was had by all, glasses were stomped on, Mazel Tov’s were shouted, everybody held their peace and nobody said, “I don’t”. I would say that’s a successful wedding!

In unrelated news, I finished my paper – for the class I didn’t really understand the material – and received 223/250 points. That’s not bad for about 2000 words of BS! So, I have passed one of my last 2 classes and I just have to finish 4 more Supreme Court briefs to be finished in my other class. Then I go to NYC for Veteran’s Day weekend with the girlfriend to see my friends and I am off from school until January 9, 2007 – that’s almost 2 months of freedom. What will I do with myself? Well, maybe I’ll be able to spend some time keeping this blog updated. Ummm…don’t hold your breath!

Happy Halloween!

Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones and I will try to fix you.

2006-10-26T18:01:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, you just have to wonder, “What the fuck are people thinking?”

I saw a great commercial the other day for November 10th when Cinemax will show all six Star Wars episodes in order for the first time ever. Scenes from all six movies were set to Coldplay’s “Fix You” and it very well done and poignant, you know, for a movie marathon trailer. Now, I have no issue with this because if I had Cinemax, I would definitely sit there for 14 hours and watch Star Wars continuously. The issue I have is that it starts at midnight. 12:00 am. 00:00:00 on the clock. Why would you start a movie marathon at that time of the day? Whose genius idea was this? Do you think the marketing people at Cinemax were sitting around a room brainstorming and then somebody piped up and said, “…and we should start it at midnight!” And the whole room stopped for a moment and thought, “Wow, that IS a really good idea! Let’s do it!” And so it began. On the one hand, hardcore Star Wars enthusiast will do this and normal people such as myself will be sound asleep for the majority of that time and then watch them on DVD later because there is no way I am going to screw up my sleep schedule and stay up ALL NIGHT to watch Star Wars!

Watch the trailer here.

Well, you don't know what we can find. Why don't you come with me little girl, on a magic carpet ride.

2006-10-22T23:12:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe it’s already the last full week of October! Where has the time gone? I swear, if I don’t catch up on sleep soon, I’m just going to have to take a week vacation for that purpose alone! Anyway, come along for the ride and see what’s going on with me:

A) I have 2 weeks left of school and then I’m off until January. Yay! Except that the last 2-3 weeks is always the hardest part. I have 7 Supreme Court cases to brief in one class and a 3000 word paper to write in the other class on a subject that I don’t completely understand. I know, I know, this all sounds like fun to you – well it isn’t! In addition to all of this…

B) I am in a wedding this upcoming weekend, which means from Thursday to Saturday, I am booked solid with events to get drunk at (hence, not much schoolwork is getting finished).

C) Hockey season started both for me personally and in the NHL. Since my beloved Buffalo Sabres are red hot right now (8-0 to start the season), I am trying to listen to the games via the internet while doing homework. For my personal hockey seasons, Sunday’s and Wednesday’s are now lost for 3-4 hours while I go work out some stress. This is great, but again, not much homework is being done.

D) After last hockey season ended for me around the end of August, I took about 3 weeks off to let my body heal. Now that I am back playing, my body is even sorer and I am contemplating actually going to the doctor to see how bad it is. My body is pretty beat up and I’ve only played in five games since the end of September. My right knee has a shooting pain the day after a game and both shoulders/rotator cuffs hurt for about 2 days after. This is worrisome because I had RC problems in my right shoulder when I was 16 and I am hoping I don’t have to go through that again! My back is usually stiff now, the joints in my hips always hold some level of pain and my right elbow has a constant twinge in it as well. I am worried that he is going to tell me to take time off from hockey and there is just no way I could survive without it. If anyone has a health tip to get me through this, feel free to let me know!

E) Work has been keeping me quite busy. I have found some intermittent time to do my regular blog surfing/reading, but none to do any of my own posts. I’ve been arriving at work relatively close to on time, which is a significant step up from last year at this time when I couldn’t get to work before 10am! I have been shoveling food down my face during my ½ hour lunch breaks and getting right back to work. Then most nights, I am leaving well after my scheduled time – and once again, the homework problem! My paychecks have been nice, with all the OT I’m accumulating and it’s a good thing I have more money now because…

F) I have a girlfriend! I just adore her and I enjoy taking her places, getting dinner with her, lying on the couch with her and just staring at her because she is just so damned cute! She looks a lot like Amy Smart, but with shorter hair. Her personality suits mine perfectly and we have had a lot of fun in the past 2 months. So much so that I invited her to come to NYC with me in - see the “Trip to NYC” Clock, in my sidebar, below the Quote of the Day. Anyway, the extra money I’ve gained working OT and that my brother is now here splitting the bills with me, has all gone to the "girlfriend fund". It’s all good though, she makes me very happy, so it’s worth it! However, that’s right, you know it’s coming…the homework is not being done promptly and I tend to stay up really late now...for some reason (hint, hint).

Now, is anyone still wondering why I haven’t posted in a while? Yea, I didn’t think so.

Rebel, rebel and yell cause our people still dwell in hell.

2006-09-25T13:36:00.000-05:00

Oooooooo, I am feisty today!

I received what I thought was spam in my email this morning. It was from an American/Israeli group in regards to the war in Iraq, the situation in Israel, the lies being told by American mainstream media...blah, blah, blah. After reading about 5 sentences, I was pretty mad, so I just started to write a reply back, my thoughts flowing like a fire hydrant and I laid into whoever wrote the email real good. However, I did not assault the person personally, I only attacked their "group" for continuing with the lies that they so vehemently oppose from our own media. I'm not going to bore you with details of either email. What I will tell you is that it was not spam! I know this because I got a response from a specific person who attacked me, my upbringing, my marital status (why, I do not know) and my mother!

Need I say more as to why I am feisty today? Well, I'm going to anyway.

Next.

Women. I love women, but for the love of...please wear a bra when you are going to wear a tank top to the grocery store! a) It's usually chilly in the store and men will notice those things; and b) With every step you take, I swear one of your melons are going to fly out the side! I wouldn't have mentioned this if it had just been one weirdo women, but it was more like 5 women - and 3 of them were fairly attractive, so it was difficult not to stare!

Next.

Before I moved last week, I purchased DirecTV. I scheduled the installation appointment for Friday. I didn’t realize that my apartment did not face the southern sky as much as it needed to, so I had to cancel it and go back to cable. When I called to cancel, the customer service lady asked me why I was cancelling and I told her the straightforward reason. Her next question, I kid you not, "Will you want to reschedule your appointment?" I wanted to say, "Well, if my apartment suddenly rotates enough to start facing the southern sky, I'll reschedule," but I politely said, "No, thank you." She then asked, "Why?" I swear I am not making this up! I politely reiterated my statement from earlier and she must have understood my frustration because she said, "Ok then, have a nice weekend!"

I Will Remember You

2006-09-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

Alok Kumar Mehta, Hempstead, NY - 23 years old

Five years ago today, as the world stopped because of these acts of horror and tragedy, Alok was working for Cantor Fitzgerald as a manager in the World Trade Center.

While I could not know the too-short story that was Alok's life, I am certain that his life will always be remembered by his friends, family and those who were acquainted with him even for the briefest of moments. His friends remember his terrible backrubs, his wicked sense of humor and his amazing knowledge of pro football stats. He graduated from Colorado State University in 1998 and had entered in the MBA program at Hofstra. He was interning at Cantor Fitzgerald when tragedy struck.

His friends recall that he was a very caring, open person with a huge heart. He was liked by everyone. Funny, smart, charismatic and he made everyone around him feel important.

That fateful morning, Alok was just a fresh-faced 23-year-old manager working in the World Trade Center, which was probably one of the biggest thrills of his life. I can only imagine the view he had on a daily basis; searching the horizon from his office, high atop the Trade Center. Did he scour the upper Manhattan skyline; the boroughs to the east; maybe he looked down upon New Jersey; or maybe he was able to view the Statue of Liberty lonely standing by herself in the Hudson River, the ever enduring symbol of the United States.

Alok, you are missed greatly by all those who know and love you. You are also missed greatly by those who have never met you, but will honor your life, and your death. Peace be with you.

I urge you to leave comments here for Alok or on these message boards:

September11victims.com

9-11 heroes.us

terroristattack.com

Don't wait up for me tonight, cause I won't be comin' home. And everything's gonna be alright, I just wanted you to know.

2006-09-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

My September 11, 2001.

While I realize in the grand scheme of things, my day was nothing in comparison, my point in writing this is that I remember it as though it happened yesterday, not 5 years ago. For the 3,000 people who perished and to the families who are less one or more members, my heart aches for you. Always.

As with most of the country, Tuesday September 11, 2001 started as a typical day for me. I was working at the restaurant, my normal shift of 7 am – 5 pm. The supply order had come in overnight and I, along with another person moved the cases of food and paper goods around to be able to work more efficiently. After finishing, I began preparing my plans for the remainder of the day, who is working each station, when to send them on break, playing all the “what if?” scenarios in my head for the possibility of being short staffed, as usual. Little did I know? As I concluded my daily planning ritual, I took a few phone calls from co-workers and my supervisor as to my previous day’s sales, what my forecast for today looked like and so on. As I prepared the daily bank deposit and set up my money for the day, my then-girlfriend called me on my cell, screaming, “A plane hit the World Trade Center!” My sarcastic response with that small amount of information was, “That’s pretty cool. I wonder who got the worst of that one?” In my head, I imagined some small Cessna bouncing off the monstrosities of lower Manhattan. She hung up, but I wasn’t terribly concerned because I had no idea of the magnitude of the situation.

25 minutes later, I was walking to my car to head to the bank and she called again. “A second plane just hit the other tower!” I now knew without anyone telling me that the first one was no accident. She said the first one had this thick cloud of black smoke rising from it and when the second one hit, it burst into a fireball that rocketed skywards. I was a little frozen for just a moment. Thoughts were speeding through my head as to how to handle this situation. For myself, I wanted so badly to get to a television, but had no way to do so. We didn’t have internet at the restaurant, so I couldn’t keep up with it at work either. I called her back telling her to run over to my apartment, turn on NBC and hit record on the VCR. I wanted as much live coverage as possible to watch when I got home. She was a very good girlfriend at the time and did as I asked. Thank you.

As for my other thoughts, how could I possibly work knowing this was happening? I knew now that for as much planning as I had done, I was going to be very shorthanded now. I called my supervisor and told him I already had a bunch of call offs, I’ve made calls, but no one is answering and could you blame them? I needed help; he had to come help me. I wrestled with the notion of whether to tell the people who were already there what has happened. Would they want to leave? Would they be willing to stay, knowing it was going to be one of those days? My boss called me back saying he was on his way, with help too. He also mentioned that we wouldn’t be busy because people would go to places so they could watch the coverage, not to my place. Never was he more wrong, but more on that later.

While at the bank, they had set up a TV and I saw for the first time the devastation that had already occurred, yet both towers were still standing at this point. We stood and watched in disbelief for what seemed like an eternity. The day was only beginning.

Just after the first tower fell, my friend who lives in Cleveland called to tell me and described it as looking like a “war zone”. He also told me about the Pentagon, since I hadn’t heard about it and the missing plane (United 93) that was last known to be over Cleveland. He told me he’d called me later to update and I thanked him for calling.

The day became a blur for the next 5 hours. 11 am to 4 pm was absolutely crazy! Short-staffed and frustrated, we barely survived until the night manager came in to what he must have thought was a war zone. Nothing was organized, nothing was clean, dishes piled high with no one around to wash them, customers steadily flowing in and out and employees not calling or showing up. It was small compared to what was happening just in D.C., just two hours from where we were and in NYC, but I felt the pressure of having to serve the people who put their trust in us to get them in and out quickly so they could get back to watching the days’ events unfold. Personally, I was agonizing over when I would get home and be able to catch up with what was going on. My cell hadn’t stopped ringing since 230, but I hadn’t answered. The only call I answered was from my mother. September 11th is also my brother’s birthday. Should we still go to dinner? I told her it should be up to him, being all of 14 now; he should be able to make a rational decision.

By 630 pm, I had reasonably cleaned up the days’ mess and finished my bank deposits’. My sales reports completed and brief summary of the days events were written in the log as well, although I knew we would never need to look at it again, 9/11 would forever be ingrained in our memories.

At 645, I was home on my couch with the girlfriend watching my VCR tape that had run out around 330 pm. We fast-forwarded though large portions so we could get to what was happening at the moment. By 8, we left for dinner with my family, Red Lobster, the brothers choice. We talked about what we had seen and heard. We talked about a family member who we knew worked very near, or possibly, in the WTC, we weren’t sure. He was fine. He did work in the north tower, but was not there at the time. I talked about how I tried to call Brian, because I didn’t know where he worked in NYC. I needed to know he was ok. He called me 2 days later, much to my relief. Dinner was solemn, but we still, quietly, celebrated my brothers 14 years.

After dinner, the girlfriend and I returned to the comfort of my apartment. Lying in bed, I held her as Tom Brokaw narrated our evening. We sat quietly as we watched and listened and drifted off to sleep.

Click the title of this post to read the lyrics of Matt Ryczek’s 9/11 tribute song “Goodbye”

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

2006-09-04T22:53:00.000-05:00

Anyone who comes here knows that I don’t update on a regular basis. Last month, I only posted twice and one of those was only a link to something else. The reason for this lack of production is that I’ve actually had to be productive at work, but more on that later. Aside from work, while school has been going really well and my grades are good, however, it has been taking a lot of time to finish assignments. Nevertheless, I am now in my last 2 classes before I finish my Associates degree and then I’m taking 2 months off until January before I start on my Bachelor’s. I suppose that’s good news!

Now as for work, two weeks ago, two of our attorneys left to start their own firm and then last week another attorney left to start a new job at another firm. Needless to say, this has caused a serious amount of overload for everyone else, including me. My job is to make sure all of the files are transferred to other attorneys so none of them fall between the cracks. So far, so good, but getting the principal partner to reassign everything in between all of his regularly scheduled work has been a daunting task.

In addition to this, I am working with someone we hired to market the firm better. We are changing the face of the firm, changing the “brand”, hopefully for the better. I was assigned the task of designing a cover sheet to go on presentations for when we meet with potential clients. I have no background in graphic design or in marketing. I do know how to put a good PowerPoint presentation together, something I’ve learned from my classes, but I’m not sure how that really translates to this situation. On Friday, I presented 3 different designs, two of which I was not very pleased with and the other one was good, but I knew it needed something. After discussing and tweaking it with this marketing person, we presented it and it was very well received. I have to admit, I was pleased with the results myself and it was also extremely nice to have some of my work recognized while not worrying about taking the brunt of the dissent, since I was not the principal on this project. For a few minutes, I actually enjoyed my job and if you’ve read previous posts about the dislike I have for my job you’ll understand why this next issue is huge…

I’m putting looking for a job on the back burner for now. The job I wrote about two posts ago that I really wanted never called and I know the position has been filled, so my thinking is that I finish the Associates degree, and then try to find a job after the New Year’s. Plus, if I stay till next year, I’ll see a bonus check, which I could certainly use!

Ok, and the last thing that has changed or will change my life drastically is that in 2 weeks, my brother, who turns 19 next week, will be moving down here to live with me. I’ll have to be the big brother that I haven’t had to be so far and I’ll have to live with someone for the first time since being married over 6 years ago. The biggest positive for me will be the financial situation. After consistently racking up debt month after month, I’ll finally be able to start paying down debt…do I have to tell you how excited I am about that? I didn’t think so.

Lastly, I went on fantastic date Saturday night and I really like this girl, so maybe all that extra money will be spent elsewhere…but at least I wouldn’t mind spending it on someone other than me :)

Oh yea two more things…(1) On Friday I celebrted on year of keeping this blog, 104 posts in 365 days, eh, not great, but I'm going to try to to do better. (2) The NHL hockey season starts one month from today. Game. On.

Take me to your leader, I sure could use a laugh.

2006-08-17T12:56:00.000-05:00

A clip from Bill Maher, whom I always deem worth watching:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12318129/site/newsweek/?bclid=192955681&bctid=192875525

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike & What I need is a good defense cause I'm feelin like a criminal

2006-08-02T16:43:00.000-05:00

After the Lance Armstrong issues last year, the banning of the favorites from this years’ Tour de France and now the Floyd Landis scandal, I have an idea for international cycling: Everyone should be allowed a certain amount of performance enhancing drugs. If it’s regulated, no one will be cheating any more than any one else. You know baseball is standing in the corner, pointing their fingers at cycling and laughing their asses off, while chuckling, “And the media thought WE had steroid issues, HA!”

I read this story somewhere yesterday and now I can’t find it, but it was funny as hell. A waitress was asking for I.D. from a young girl to make sure she was of legal age to be served alcohol. What she received was her own, stolen, driver’s license! “I’m proud to say that some of the dumbest criminals are working right here in America” (Points if you know where that is quoted from!).

I found another job to apply for and this one is actually in the field I’m studying to get into, so here’s hoping they’ll overlook the lack-of-a-college-degree issue, for now. I’m just going to have to write the best cover letter ever written. If anyone would care to volunteer their writing services, feel free!

Being single sucks. I think I’ll leave it at that for now. Happy Wednesday!

The same old scenario, the same old rain. And there's no explosions here.

2006-07-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

So I went on a job interview a week ago Tuesday and I was very nervous because I really wanted the job. I actually got there about 45 minutes early, so I left and went to get food. Then I thought, if I get food, I‘d need to run home to brush my teeth. I don’t want to go into the interview with food in my teeth! Fortunately, this place is very close to home, one of the many reasons I wanted this job and essentially, I picked something up on the way home to brush my teeth!

I returned in half an hour, teeth clean, and walked into the building, which is in this massive complex of buildings, all connected by underground tunnels so people don’t need to go out in the summer Houston heat. In the tunnels are shops and restaurants and it was then that I realized I could’ve eaten there and bought a toothbrush, or some floss. Anyway, I went upstairs to the main floor and walked into the office. I spoke with the receptionist who let me know I was to go to the 16th floor and meet interviewer #1 (I-1).

I-1 was a very nice lady in her late 40’s who had been with the company 19 years and loved every minute of it. She told me how much she enjoys working for her boss and many other positive things about the company. I can only describe the vibe I was getting as very positive! We chatted about my work history, why I need to leave my current job, why I moved to Houston and numerous other things and by the end of my 30 minutes with her, I was so at ease, I forgot all about being nervous.

I-2 came in a few moments later and I’d already had a phone interview with her where we had hit it off, so this was very laid back for me. We went into a little more detail about the job description, but overall, it was more a half-hour of BS’ing than anything else.

I-3 came in and was the person I really needed to impress. He is the attorney I’d be assisting, so he went on about his expectations of what he is looking for and talked about what it is that he does. He then asked numerous detailed questions about my current and former jobs, which I thought I answered very well. We talked about my restaurant management experience and what I liked and disliked about it, why I left that, my current situation, including the “below my intelligence level” issues and where I want my career to go from here.

Overall, I could not have been happier with my interview and I thought that I had a strong lead on most of the candidates because I knew the HR person as well. I was able to talk with him last Sunday, he told me that I impressed everyone I spoke with, that I had I-1 wrapped around my finger, and that I-3 was very high on me as well. I thought I was golden.

On Wednesday, I was told that I interviewed too well, I was considered over-qualified and that they hired someone else. Last year when I was looking for a job, I was under-qualified for everything and now, all of a sudden after one year, I’m over-qualified? I was pretty mad for the reasoning, but I had no issue with the people I spoke with. In fact, I-3 mentioned he was going to pass my resume on to other departments in case they needed someone as qualified as I was, so I guessed some good came out of it, just not how I expected it to.

So on I go with my job search and in the meantime, I’ve turned in my goals to my boss and I expect he’ll want to discuss them with me this week. That’s about when I plan to hit him up for a raise, since I think I may be there a while.

We don't need no ed-u-ca-tion

2006-07-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

I just got a good laugh at the expense of some people who have far more education than I. The Human Resources Manager and Office Manager came to my office to ask me how to set up the computer and projector in the conference room for an attorney meeting. I quickly replied that they turn on like every other computer in this office and the projector works just like a TV. The response I got was, "Could you show us how to do it?" So, grudgingly, and while rolling my eyes, I got up from my chair and went to the conference room. I leaned over, pushed the button on the front of the computer and said, "See?" Then I grabbed the remote, which was sitting right next to the projector, and sarcastically asked, "See this little green button labeled 'On'?"

Remember when I mentioned how this job is below my level of intelligence? Apparently that is not the case for everyone here in this office!

They're laid to rest before they know just what to do. Their souls are lost because they could never find what's this life for?

2006-07-13T11:44:00.000-05:00

I am not an introspective person. I rarely think about who I am. I live thinking, rather dreaming, about the bigger things. Is there a god? Is there life on other planets? Is there anybody out there just like me? What is death like? What does real, physical pain feel like? I think about that one because the worst pain I’ve ever had is when I severely pulled my groin muscle while playing hockey. When I say severely, I mean that I also broke a bunch of blood vessels in my leg, which caused a lot of blood to seep into the muscle; which caused a lot of black, blue, purple, then eventually yellow and green colors to form on the entire inside of my left leg; which also caused so much swelling, my leg was stretching the leg opening in my boxers and fit snugly into my jeans. To me, that’s the only pain I’ve even known, but what does it feel like to break a bone? To be concussed? Or sprain an ankle? Ok, so this is not where I intended this post to go, so I’ll stop with the pain section!

Anyway, the reason I’m talking about not being an introspective person is due to my boss calling me in for a little chat on Tuesday. He stated that while I do very good work on assignments with specific due dates, anything that is left open-ended seems to stay unfinished. I told him that I understood what he was saying, but I also explained that when I have those types of projects, anything else that comes up with a deadline, tends to be the priority and the other ones just keep getting pushed back. I don’t need assistance in finishing these projects; I just need other things to not come up, as they tend to do.

He went on to say that it is in my best interest to finish these projects because it reflects better on me that I am completing things and when bonuses roll around at the end of the year, it will show in mine.

What he asked me to do was come up with a list of 5 goals that I have for myself, to provide motivation for completing these tasks and for them to see what drives me and how they can help. This is where I have the problem of not being introspective. Sure, I know what I want; it’s pretty basic I think. It isn’t anything that most people don’t want. A house, a better car, a companion, a family, to travel, to have friends that truly know you, to retire comfortably, to take care of your parents when they're older are the big ones I can think of. Who doesn’t want at least one of those things?

The bigger question, I suppose, is what drives me to get those things? Is it in this office? Is it in this city? I have always had a hard time defining myself and this question has truly tested my thoughts.

I know this for sure: I came up with 2 lists so far and I am working on a third. The first list is all of my short-term goals. Finish school, find a job in my field, take a great vacation (I’m thinking the 2010 Vancouver Olympics!), buy a car, and pay off my debt. The second list is long-term goals: find a companion, start a family, buy a house, travel regularly and build a life and live it. The third list is all of those in between things that are important to me, drive me to be a better person and will make a difference in not only who I am, but the people around me as well. These are items like, be a great friend who can be counted on, be active in my community to make changes for the better of our society, donate money or time to charities that I think are worthy (Alzheimer’s and heart disease), be a good dad (when that time comes).

After writing these things down, I began to wonder which were more important? I mean, without finishing school and finding a job in my field, I suppose none of the others are likely possibilities. However, is it more important to be a great friend or to travel regularly? The questions I’ve been asking myself for the past 40 hours or so are: What is the most important thing in our lives? Everything is inter-related, but which one should take the priority and why? I’m at an impasse. I could give him the easy answers and see what he has to say, but inside, I know there are so many more questions that I need to answer for myself that I think I’d be cheating if I gave him those. What to do?

O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

2006-07-05T17:48:00.000-05:00

In 2 months, on September 11, 2006, it will be the 5th anniversary of the day that changed the United States forever. To honor the 2,996 who perished that day, I have volunteered to write about a specific person who will be assigned to me by this website. I wish that anyone who reads this will be willing to add their name to the list of volunteers.

I found this site through here, by way of here. I thought they should get mention for leading me to something that I am passionate about.

What it can buy I can use, I need money, that's what I want

2006-06-28T15:00:00.000-05:00

Are we just a bunch of free agents? Is this what sports have taught us? If we think we aren’t making market value for our job, or if we’re unhappy with our current employer, we can’t seek a trade to another company, like athletes do, but we can apply and interview for a new job, essentially a try out for a different team that wants our services. When we get that new job, we play for that team for a while and when we’re unhappy or undervalued again, we try out for another new team. I’m a big believer in loyalty. I worked for the same company for 15 years before moving to Houston and switching careers altogether. However, as I stated a while ago, I am currently looking for more. Part of it is that I feel undervalued, but a bigger part of it is that I am underutilized. My intelligence level is way beyond this job, as well as the fact that this place is family owned. While they ask for my input, they don’t really want it, they have their minds made up before I open my mouth and that makes being here difficult. It’s too bad really, because this place has problems that I know I could fix, but I’m not being allowed to do those things, so I sit here and write blog entries when I have either the time or a topic to write about.

Going back to my original point though (are we just some free agents?), this seems to be a phenomenon that has only recently taken hold in the U.S., say the last 20 years. Before then, workers showed loyalty through good and bad times for their employer. I’m not sure loyalty really exists anymore. People come and go all the time, even here. It’s a wonder we get any work done because we’re always training someone new. By the time they know what they’re doing, they’re usually gone because they can get paid more elsewhere. Part of it I blame solely on this family for not paying their employees fair market value, but part of it I blame on the people themselves. They use this place to get their careers in order, get experience and move on to a better paying team. "That workplace may be better or worse, but there’s more money over there." That’s what the driving force is for most people. They need money to support themselves, their families, healthcare costs, childcare costs, 401K and other retirement funds, hobbies, habits, activities, vacations, social events, sporting events, transportation and the list goes on. I realize the cost of living is rising faster than the cost of wages and that people don’t want to settle for middle class anymore, you’re either wealthy or you’re not. It’s not about being happy in your mediocrity, it’s about being comfortable, maybe only slightly above mediocrity, but to them it’s comfortable.

The reason I’m bringing this all up is because in my economics class yesterday, we were talking about how companies should be required to give cost of living increases, even if they can’t match the current rate of increase, they should have to give you something to offset how much a home value or the price of gas has increased. I was quick to point out that not all companies could do this, such as small family owned companies like this one. I started to think about how to resolve this issue, or at least give a starting point as to how to resolve it and I came up with this:

Tax credits for companies who pay for healthcare and childcare costs for employees under a certain, government dictated, wage level . Instead of giving them tax breaks on silly things that hurt the environment, the local economy, or worse a tax break to the top 1% of Americans. Give them tax breaks that actually help the economy. For example, (and this is JUST AN EXAMPLE!) company X makes multi-million dollar profits on a yearly basis and employs 100 people under this wage level (let's say 35K/year). If they pay for their employees health insurance and pay for the 50 people who also have childcare costs, let’s say they have to pay 6K/employee for healthcare and 4K/employee for childcare (I don’t know how reasonable those numbers are, but we’ll go with them anyway), that’s 10K/employee, times 50 employees is 500K and then for the other 50 employees it will cost them 300K. That’s 800K/year to take care of their employees. Now, the company has made a very significant investment in its employees, what do they get in return? Well, they get a tax break on a certain percentage of what they paid out in those costs. I think it would have to work in brackets, sort of how it does now, where the more you paid, the more you get back. In any event, the company is winning because its employees are happier and the employees are winning because they just got a raise without their base salary increasing. Happy employees lead to more loyal and productive employees. Without the high turnover, the company becomes even more productive and sees its profits grow to heights unseen before. Maybe to partially offset some of this, the company also reduces the number of personal time off days each employee earns, not by a lot, maybe just a couple days/year, but this way, instead of a company paying you to not be at work, you are at work and being productive. Companies could get creative on how to offset these initial costs, but in the long run, doesn’t this sound like a huge win-win?

Now of course, here’s the glitch: does this plan make enough money for the government? If they are giving these tax credits out all over the place, is there anything left for them? Well, here’s the answer the Democrats are going to love: raise taxes. Of course, it can’t be a ridiculous increase or this wouldn’t work at all, but if we raised it even just a little, it could work.

What about the employees over that wage level? Well, maybe they get a percentage of their costs paid for, as they do now. To me it’s obvious that if you make over X amount of dollars/year, you should not be in trouble financially and if you are, it’s your own fault and your employer shouldn’t have to bail you out because you can’t budget well enough (let’s hope you don’t work in the accounting department!).

I believe companies have given-in to their employees in many cases, which is due to the low-level people in the organization sometimes being more important to the day-to-day functions than some CEO making $20 million a year is. But, in my mind, there are all sorts of benefits to this plan. It works for the company, the employee, the government and local, regional, state, national and global economies. It does have a downside though, psychiatrists may not have as many people coming to straighten their lives out because people would be happier. Well, I know I would happier, I could use the health insurance so I can pay for seeing my shrink.

It’s a choice between fact and fiction; And the whole world has gone astray; Except there’s no religion, no religion, no religion here today

2006-06-14T16:24:00.000-05:00

So, I started out over here reading comments, which led me to here, but this post in particular. I've talked about religion and God before (here, here and here) and I only got through reading about half of that post when a few thoughts struck me. Now maybe this logic doesn't work for anybody else, but in my mind, it works just fine.

I began to reason that because homosexuality DOES exist, it helps to prove that Catholics/Christians are wrong about their God and that maybe it helps, in a small way, to prove that God doesn’t exist at all. Their God says that homosexuality is an abomination right? Then why does it exist? Why would He (or She) have even created the concept? Isn’t it fair to say that because the concept and the reality of homosexuality DOES exist, that God, in Catholic/Christian terms, could not co-exist? He’s all big and self-righteous about saying what a bad thing it is, but if it’s so bad, then why did you create it in the first place? I guess this argument goes along with the argument of Evil. If it’s so bad and we are supposed to love one another, then why does evil exist in the world? Even a religious man such as George W. Bush [as I chuckle and smirk] acknowledges the existence of evil.

Thoughts?

A Change Will Do You Good

2006-06-11T01:36:00.000-05:00

Ok, so everyone is probably wondering where I’ve been right? What? You didn’t notice I haven’t been around? Fine. Be that way! So you don’t care that I’ve been ridiculously busy at work and only have time to make comments on the blogs I read, so what? See if I care that you don’t care about me – I DON’T! Ok, seriously, I do! Please come back and read me! I’m just so busy that I don’t have the time to do this as I wish I could. Plus, I’m searching for a new job which is extremely time consuming, but if anybody knows of a job opening that pays well and doesn’t require a lot of experience, feel free to let me know about it. I’ll take you out to dinner after I get said job, because with it’s great salary, I’ll then be able to afford going out to dinner!

Anyway, I have a specific topic I want to discuss and I plan on pissing someone specific off, so by all means, please comment on whether you think I’m right or wrong and if I am wrong, I’ll definitely apologize – but I’m not wrong, so don’t worry about it.

Ok, in the last few weeks, The Puck Stops Here has managed to anger me in ways that only comes about when I am deeply passionate about something; in this case, it is hockey. If you’ve read my previous posts about hockey (here and here), you’ll know this already. In order to properly understand why he has pissed me off, you’ll probably need to read THIS POST, THIS POST AND all of their subsequent comments. This WILL take a while. It’s ok, I’ll wait. (sung to the Jeopardy theme) Dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum. Dum dum dum dum duuum da da da da da. Dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum. Dum, da dum, da dum. Dum. Dum.

Ok seriously, you had to have read those posts and comments or you will not completely understand my position. Did you read them? Honestly? Ok, if not, you asked for it!

Yes, hockey has changed. It is not the same game it was 5, 10 20, or 50 years ago. That happens. Maybe you hadn’t noticed it in other sports, but it does happen in ALL sports.

Football has changed. The rules have changed. The game is harder hitting, the players are bigger and faster and teams have a salary cap. There was instant replay, then there wasn't, now there is again. The game that Jim Brown played is not the same game that Walter Payton played and his game was not the same game that Reggie Bush will be playing. It’s a billion dollar business played by multimillion-dollar athletes. Many of who have a “me first” attitude, which personally, I despise. Watch films of games from the 50’s and 60’s. The game was brutal, players were almost always bloodied, they played on fields that were not nearly as well-taken care of as they are today, but they played their hearts out because they loved the game. I don’t know how many of today’s players see it the same way as they did 50 years ago.

Baseball has changed too. The players are more athletic, train harder, although they rarely ever play injured (god forbid they have a hangnail), and is also a billion dollar business, played by multimillion dollar crybabies who are juiced up. Ok, not all of them. Nevertheless, seriously, who needs a $125 million dollar/10-year contract? Watch the series “When It Was a Game” and you’ll notice the difference between then and now is dramatic. Babe Ruth used to smoke, drink, and go hunting in the off-season. Now if a young guy doesn’t workout or play in the winter leagues, he’ll probably never make it.

Basketball has changed as well. It is starting to recover from the “Jordan hangover” and has some serious superstars that have taken the game to a different era. However it is still not the same game that Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls played. His game wasn’t the same as the game Larry Bird and Magic Johnson played. That game was not the same game Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain played either.

See my point? Hockey too has evolved; it’s changed. We had Gordie Howe. We had Wayne Gretzky. We had Boom Boom Geoffrion. We had Rocket Richard. We had Mark Messier. We had Patrick Roy. Now we have new superstars and maybe we’re in the same sort of “hangover” that basketball had after Jordan. But, we have some fresh, young talented players who will take the league to new heights in the next decade. Crosby, Staal, Ovechkin, Malkin, Miller. I don’t care that in the meantime, there is, as you have put it, mediocrity. To me, the game is still entertaining; maybe not as it once was, but if you watch the game for what it is - a game - it can be pretty good!**

Life is a series of high and low times. Hockey is coming out of its lowest time ever. We knew that it would never be the same after the lockout last year. Whether you care to accept it is your personal choice and it is certainly your right to express your opinion.

However, here is where I take issue with you. I have said a few times in my comments that it may be too early to tell what the complete ramifications of the new CBA are. I’ve also said that the teams that have had success this year, be it in the regular season or the playoffs, may be the future of the NHL, but unless we have a crystal ball and can see what that future is for sure, we can’t speculate on their successes or lack of until they happen. I realize this gives you something to do and a place to debate and I admit, I have taken part of it willingly. Nonetheless, I think your are so blinded by the past versus the here and now that you are unwilling to look at what the future may hold and you chastise everything that the NHL may be trying to accomplish in its future.

I will openly admit, your arguments and responses are well thought out and make sense if you know what the future holds. But you don't know and it appears to me, as your reader, that you don’t acknowledge the fact that you may eventually be wrong. You argue your points with conviction and I admire that, but you tend to not acknowledge or accept that another point of view exists. It is your way or no way.

Here is my point. If you don’t like where the game is headed; if you don’t like having to wallow watching “mediocre” hockey – THEN STOP WACTHING IT and STOP BLOGGING ABOUT IT. I used to enjoy reading your blog because it would get me fired up about things, but recently I realized after re-reading all of your particular comments on the “elite teams” post, that you’re not going to change unless in a few years you’re proven wrong somehow, probably with some metric system that someone will invent. If you’re not going to change, and it's your right not to, I can't keep reading, because I have better things to do than get all fired up about some guy who craps on the game I love.

It’s too bad it has come to this because I certainly don’t like pissing people off and I never intended to write this sort of post on here, but the passion I feel for hockey brings me to this level of anger after reading your blog.

**Of course I don’t have the time to go over everything about how each of the big four sports have changed, I gave a few examples of each and left it at that. Some of the changes have been for the better of the sport and some, many people would argue are not, but they’ve changed nonetheless and are more popular and make more money than ever before. This is where I hope hockey heads, even if it means we lose a little of how great the game once was.

Do You Come From A Land Down Under?

2006-05-18T18:06:00.000-05:00

Imagine That...

Your Linguistic Profile::

45% General American English

35% Yankee

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Midwestern

0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

2006-05-16T16:54:00.001-05:00

The intention of my blog was never to rant about recreational issues. Issues like sports and things going on in my personal life. It was started because I wanted talk about things that really mattered. It’s apparent in my first few posts, but eventually, I realized that to talk about those things, you really need to research the issues and I just couldn’t find the time to do that. In addition, my interests shifted slightly, so here I am talking about me. And sports.

The NHL playoffs are about halfway through and heading into the third round. Only one second round series is left to be decided and because three of the four series’ ended in five games or less, the media and bloggers have been rehashing numerous issues about the teams that lost those series.

Of course, I’m a huge homer and I’m rooting for my beloved Sabres to continue on their marvelous playoff run. However, in reading what people have to say about their second round win against the very talented Ottawa Senators, most people are faulting the Sens problems and barely giving credit to Buffalo’s accomplishments (if any!). Maybe everybody has forgotten that the Sabres were only 3 points behind the Senators at the end of the regular season. Maybe they forgot that the Sabres won 52 games this year. Maybe they forgot the Sabres had the fifth best record in the entire league. Maybe they weren’t watching the same series where the Sabres out coached and out hustled the Senators. I don’t know what the problem is, but I’m just asking for a little bit of credit to the Buffalo Sabres for playing within a system and successfully beating the favorite to win it all this year.

All that being said, I know the Senators were not the same team they were during most of the regular season. They had injury issues, most notably to Dominik Hasek. Yes, Ray Emery let in some soft goals and he was shaky at times, but I think he also played the best he could at times. He saved them in Game 4 (the only game the Senators won). They had their two best defensemen battling issues as well. Zdeno Chara was not the same dominant player he was for ¾ of the regular season. Wade Redden just lost his mother a couple weeks ago and was still likely feeling her loss. Many of the star players on the Senators did not “show up” to play (Heatley (cough), Alfredsson (cough, cough)).

Or maybe, just maybe, the Sabres found a separate weakness and exploited that. Maybe the forward line of Chris Drury, Mike Grier and Derek Roy, as well as the defensive pairing of Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder had a job to do, which was to shut down Heatley, Alfredsson & Spezza and they did that. Maybe Ryan Miller had to show how much of a big-time goalie he is now and will be for the future and he did that. Maybe the Sabres needed scoring from everyone on their roster instead of relying on four or five players, like the Senators must and they did that. Maybe the Sabres are greater as a whole team (hence the word TEAM!) than they are as individual parts, like the Senators are.

Maybe the Sabres had that one intangible thing that most teams would give their backup goalie for – confidence. They knew if they executed their game plan, they would beat the Senators. They didn’t question themselves, they believed they would win this series from the start. Ottawa may have had confidence before game one, but losing five different leads, two of which were in the last 1:37 of the third period and then to lose 18 seconds into overtime, the confidence left the Senators locker room and firmly planted itself in the Buffalo Sabres room for good. It was like a three-year old throwing a temper tantrum, screaming, “No way am I going back to them!” It was firmly entrenched in the Sabres minds and they forced it onto the Senators for the rest of the series.

Instead of laying the loss at the Senators feet because of their faults, how about showing a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the Sabres and their accomplishments.

Life is a highway...

2006-04-28T16:23:00.000-05:00

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine yesterday about my preference of driving to flying. I now realize that this is because I grew up in the east and you can get anywhere by driving because places are closer together and you can save a lot of money usually. I also realize this because I now live in the south/southwest and you can't really get anywhere without flying. Houston is only 45 minutes to 1-hour from the Gulf/beach, 3 hours from San Antonio & Austin, 4 hours from Dallas/Ft. Worth and 5 hours from New Orleans. Otherwise, you're flying somewhere. Anyway, evenutally our conversation started to drift towards where we've been and where we'd like to go. I started to think about all the places I've driven and it turns out that I've driven a lot of places! If anyone cares to know, here's the list of where I've been:

New York (all over the state), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire (I don't care if it only takes 30 minutes to go from Mass. to Maine, I've been there!), Maine, Delaware (see NH, except it goes from Maryland to PA), Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia (all over, not just around DC), Washington, DC, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida (all over, not just to Disneyworld!), Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California (from Vegas to LA then I-10 towards Phoenix), Ohio (all over, I got around in OH!), Indiana (wow is it flat out there!), Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska & finally Hawaii (Maui & the Big Island).

As far as cities, I’ve driven in or to New York twice , Chicago twice, Philadelphia three times, Baltimore three times, Houston (obviously!), Phoenix once, LA once, Knoxville three times, Nashville once, Memphis once, Little Rock once, Oklahoma City once, Boston twice, DC too many times to count, Albuquerque once (it is beautiful out there!), Bangor, ME once, Birmingham three times, Charlotte three times, Biloxi twice, Mobile twice, Atlanta twice, Cleveland (I lived there!), Cincinnati twice, Columbus once, Toledo four times, Buffalo (obviously), Rochester numerous times, Syracuse numerous times, Houston (again, obviously!), San Antonio twice, Vegas once – can’t wait to get back, Tucson once, El Paso once, Jacksonville twice, Greensboro five or six times, Raleigh-Durham twice, Richmond numerous times, Pittsburgh way too many times, Akron/Canton a lot, Omaha once, Des Moines once, Portland, Maine twice (ugh), Cape Cod once, but I’m trying to go again this summer, Hartford four times, Providence once, New Haven, CT three times (woo hoo!), Kona, HI while I visited, Roanoke numerous times & Charleston, SC once. I've also driven to and from Toronto on numerous occasions, when I lived in Buffalo. (For the grammar nazi’s out there - yes I know that was a long run on sentence - bite me!)

If you’re counting, that’s 33 states, our nation’s capitol, a lot of major and mid-sized cities, as well as one major international city. That leaves:

Michigan (is there anything to see there?), Vermont, Kentucky (I’ve been there, I just wasn’t driving), Missouri (Although I’m taking care of that in two weeks!), Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, North & South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, Utah (wow, I cannot wait to meet the Mormon’s, they’re gonna LOVE me!), Oregon, Washington state, & Alaska.

I’d say for someone my age, with not a lot of money and very little time, I’ve been fairly well traveled in the U.S.

I love driving. I drove cross-country 2 summers ago with Brian (for part of it), the anniversary of which is coming up in 26 days (not that I’m counting) and I had a blast. I liken it to the section of Forrest Gump when he runs cross-country. I saw things that I had yet to see and hope to see again someday, sort of like he did. I also found it very spiritual for me as well. I found parts of myself that I don’t know I would’ve discovered if I hadn’t done that. To me, there is nothing like filling up the tank (which nowadays empties your wallet!), putting the windows down, powering up the iPod (with all 4055 songs currently on there) and blasting the music, all while venturing out into places I've only dreamed of, not yet covered by my tires and not yet seen by my eyes.

I think my heart is itching for a road trip. Hey Brian, Dave, are you two free this summer?

When he was a kid, he'd be up at five. Take shots till eight. Out after school, back on ice. That was his life, he was gonna play in the Big League.

2006-04-24T16:21:00.000-05:00

For whoever still comes here to read the posts I put up, I thought I would share a more personal post with you than I usually do.

Some people may know that my “screen name”- goal10der – comes from the fact that I play ice hockey and that my position is, well, goaltender! I can hear people now going “goal-10-der, oh, NOW I get it!” Anyway, I’ve been playing hockey for as long as I can remember. I started skating around the age of 2 and I think started playing organized around 5, but my dad could tell you for sure. I love hockey. I wish I could explain it in more detail, but that’s it – I love hockey. For baseball fans, you can relate this way: you love the smells in the ballpark, the grass, the hot dogs, the peanuts; I love the smell of the rink, the fresh smell of a clean sheet of ice. For football fans, we love the contact and the intensity. For basketball fans, well, sorry basketball fans, that sport is just stupid and I don’t understand how a team can have so many timeouts in one game! I don’t mind shooting hoops, I used to be pretty good at it, but basketball is not a sport I enjoy at all. All that being said, basketball players are special athletes that are in tremendous shape and do some incredible things, I don’t take that away from them, I just don’t like the game.

Ok, that’s a whole different rant in itself, so where was I again? Oh yes, hockey. A couple months ago, at one of our league games, we had to wait for the Zamboni (the machine that cleans the ice) to work it’s magic and a friend and I were sitting on the bench patiently waiting. About ¾ of the way through the cleaning, he turned to me and said, “I love soccer, but I was born to play hockey. Every time I see a fresh sheet of ice, it reminds me of how much I love the game.” I think that accurately sums it up for me too, but it also goes so much deeper than that.

My father played hockey, my uncle played hockey and was a goaltender as well. One of my first memories as a child is going to my first hockey game in Buffalo with my dad. I’m not sure how old I was at this time, but I know the details. He had season tickets in the Oranges, the top section of the old Aud. Center ice, literally right on the red line. They were almost all the way at the top, which in the old buildings was still right on top of the ice. The Sabres were playing the Minnesota North Stars. Don Beaupre played goal for them, Bob Suave played for the Sabres. The rest of the details didn’t really matter; I only wanted to watch the goalies! Years have passed, I’ve been to 50 games or so in that time, I sat 13 rows from the ice during Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals in '99, but I still remember that first one over all the others.

Last weekend, when I was back in Buffalo, my dad and I got the opportunity to sit down and watch the Sabres come from behind to beat the Montreal Canadiens. It was a pretty special night, dad and I drinking a couple beers, watching, talking and living for nothing but the hockey game. The comments we made throughout the game were observations and thoughts stemming from years of playing and watching intently how the game has evolved and in many ways become better. We had a lot of fun and I wish I could do that more often, but living so far away from him now makes it very difficult.

At any rate, I’ve completely gone off course from where I intended this post to go, so let me right myself now. Since moving to Houston, I've joined 2 leagues, some of the same guys are on both teams, but they are decidedly different. The one team that I'm going to concentrate on here is a great group of guys who I just started playing with last summer. This team has really changed in the last 32 games. Most of them have been together for a long time and the team had it’s share of ups and downs. We started out last season as an OK team, winning some and losing some, but never really playing with much confidence or emotion. We made the playoffs in December, seeding ourselves 6th. To our fortune, the 2nd seed fell in the first round and we shutout our opponents. Having an easier game than we might have had if the 2nd seed had won, we cruised through the 2nd round as well putting us on our way to the championship game against the #1 seed. We played them close, but their youth and speed overwhelmed us in the 3rd period and we lost 3-1. In those 3 playoff games however, we became a team, more than we had been all season.

The season that began in January had us changing our name to a new sponsor, Houston Strength. With a name change, new uniforms and a newfound “team”, we set out to have a successful season; and we did. We started out 7-0-1, but stumbled late, going 2-3-1 in our last 6 games to finish at 9-3-2. We were seeded 2nd going into the playoffs, which began last night. We watched the excitement in the game before us with a shootout ending that wound up with the 8th seed defeating the 1st seed 1-0 in the shootout. We knew our game would be tough as well.

Are you wondering where I’m headed with this? Well, keep reading, its coming up right now.

I mentioned how we became a team in the last playoffs. This is one of those things that I’m sure other sports are similar in, but for me, its hockey and this is one of the many reasons I love it. It’s all about the team. Last night, we had 3 players who showed and played sick. I’m not talking, “I’ve got a stomach ache.” I’m saying they were vomiting, had diarrhea, fever and cold sweats. They were dehydrated and their muscles were aching; that kind of sick. Nevertheless, they came and they played anyway. They left whatever energy they had out on the ice and played their asses off. They didn’t even look healthy. They knew how much it meant to the team that they play though. They were willing to give up their bodies to play a game; to be a part of the team.

I get a lot of accolades for playing goal. Sometimes I can single-handedly win a game or keep us in a game when we shouldn’t be close. Sometimes I don’t make a big difference, but this team congratulates me either way and I give them their credit as well. It’s all part of being a team. I’m not big on being the focal point because I only want to win (no, I’m not competitive at all!) and I don’t care if I make 50 saves or 5. Last night, I played well, I made some big saves to keep us in it, but despite all my efforts, we lost. Despite all of these other 3 guys efforts, we lost. Did we lose because of them? Hell no. As I said, they played their hearts out, the whole team did, but we just didn’t play well enough to win.

I can’t quite put into words how I felt after the game. On the one hand, I felt a huge amount of disappointment. The 2nd seeded team loses a game they should’ve won. I took my share of the blame as well; I could’ve saved at least 2 of their goals, but as a team, nobody really stepped up. On the other hand, I felt this amazing sense of pride. We had a great season. We played well all season and won a couple games that maybe we shouldn’t have. But the one overwhelming feeling I had was the sense the we are a team in every sense of the word. Three players come to play sick, knowing their not at even 60%, they played anyway. The rest of the team didn’t make excuses after the game because we didn’t have our best team on the ice. In my view, we had more than our best team on the ice; those guys played with some serious heart and I am so proud to be able to say those are my teammates.

We're buying and selling your history. How we go about it is no mystery

2006-04-20T17:07:00.000-05:00

In my international business class a couple weeks ago, we were discussing how many foreign-based companies produce things that Americans believe to be made by American owned companies. I piped up with the fact that we have a $8.5 TRILLION dollar national debt and while a lot of that is owed to U.S. based companies, a great portion of it is also owed to foreign countries/companies. So this begs the question, "What does America really own if we are in this much debt?" Hence, this cartoon:

Who's the smart guy at the wheel, running out of gas? He likes to wear a flight suit and fly around for laughs

2006-04-06T13:20:00.000-05:00

Seriously, this is one of the best emails I've read in a long time. A friend sent this to me today.

http://houston.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/144019002.html

In other news, I give up on trying to get my NYC blogs finished! It's been almost a month and I'm just too busy to try to write. Maybe over the weekend, but I doubt it.

You bring me closer to God

2006-03-31T16:45:00.000-06:00

First off, Day 3 of the NYC is coming, hold on a day or so more. My final papers are due in my classes, so this week has been busy. I was just reading this article and I think it speaks for itself..

Study fails to show healing power of prayer
By Michael Conlon

Fri Mar 31, 9:49 AM ET

A study of more than 1,800 patients who underwent heart bypass surgery has failed to show that prayers specially organized for their recovery had any impact, researchers said Thursday.
In fact, the study found some of the patients who knew they were being prayed for did worse than others who were only told they might be prayed for -- though those who did the study said they could not explain why.

The patients in the study at six U.S. hospitals included 604 who were actually prayed for after being told they might or might not be; another 597 patients who were not prayed for after being told they might or might not be; and a group of 601 who were prayed for and told they would be the subject of such prayer.

The praying was done by members of three Christian groups in monasteries and elsewhere -- two Catholic and one Protestant -- who were given written prayers and the first name and initial of the last name of the prayer subjects. The prayers started on the eve of or day of surgery and lasted for two weeks.

Among the first group -- who were prayed for but only told they might be -- 52 percent had post-surgical complications compared to 51 percent in the second group, the ones who were not prayed for though told they might be. In the third group, who knew they were being prayed for, 59 percent had complications.

After 30 days, however, the death rates and incidence of major complications was about the same across all three groups, said the study published in the American Heart Journal.

COMPLICATIONS AFTER SURGERY

"Intercessory prayer itself had no effect on whether complications occurred (and) patients who were certain that intercessors would pray for them had a higher rate of complications than patients who were uncertain but did receive intercessory prayer," the study said.

There is "no clear explanation" for the latter finding, it added.

The study -- called the largest of its kind -- was designed only to try to measure the impact of intercessory prayer on heart surgery patients, an intervention that some earlier reports had showed seemed to be beneficial.

"Our study was never intended to address the existence of God or the presence or absence of intelligent design in the universe" or to compare the efficacy of one prayer form over another, said the Rev. Dean Marek, director of chaplain services at the Mayo Clinic, one of the authors.

The patients in the study had similar religious profiles with most believing in spiritual healing and almost all also thinking that friends or relatives would be praying for them as well, he said.

"One caveat is that with so many individuals receiving prayer from friends and family, as well as personal prayer, it may be impossible to disentangle the effects of study prayer from background prayer," Manoj Jain of Baptist Memorial Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, another author of the report.

The authors said one possible limitation to their study was that those doing the special praying had no connection or acquaintance with the subjects of their prayer, which would not usually be the norm.

"Private or family prayer is widely believed to influence recovery from illness, and the results of this study do not challenge this belief," the report concluded.

Oh my starry eyed surprise, sundown to sunrise

2006-03-21T00:09:00.000-06:00

Waking up at 10am, I hear Brian tell me, “Oh, I forgot to give you a pillow.” That hardly stirred me as I took the pillow and fell back into a good sleep. When I finally awoke from my alcohol-induced slumber at noon, I got up and tapped on Brian’s door to see if he was up, which he was. We reminisced about the things we could recall, filling each other in on events we had forgotten, even though they had only occurred in the previous 12 hours. Also, at some point in the middle of the night, although I have no idea when, I got up, went to my bag and without throwing everything out of it, pulled my pajamas out and changed into them. My jeans and sneakers were lying on the couch and apparently, I had the presence of mind to not sleep in them the whole night. The things we do when we’re drunk!

We had originally planned to do so many things on Friday. He was going to show me where his office is; ground zero; take the ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty, maybe see Central Park, since it was such a nice day out, 75 degrees the first week of March. However, our late start to the day pretty much cancelled all of that out. Or, was it the fact that we had the hangover blahs? We didn’t have the “sick” type of hangovers, where we’re throwing up all day, with headaches and what not. We just didn’t feel “right”. Eventually, we pulled ourselves together, showered and went for some food at the Neptune Diner.

Once we finished breakfast/lunch around 3 pm, we headed back over to his apartment to drop a couple things off and then head into the city. Our plan now was to go get the key to E’s apartment to grab some blankets for Dave’s arrival later that night. We got a little sidetracked however, when we sat down on the couch and started watching the ACC tournament.

While we watched the games, we had a great conversation about God/religion/atheism/the existence of prophets and many of the things that I’ve been dealing with either here or over here. This is a typical conversation when Brian and I get together, although there is usually more alcohol involved at the time. Needless to say, at 515, we needed to get going!

We walked to the subway and called Dave to tell him to get on his horse and get down here already! We took the train in and walked to meet E at her office building, which is right up the street from Radio City Music Hall. After she met us outside, we took the subway back to her apartment, picked up the blankets, convinced her to meet us for dinner and headed off to get Dave from Grand Central Station.

We arrived minutes before Dave did and were waiting for him when he exited the train. He was a little groggy from working all day and then taking a nap on the ride in, but we knew that would soon change!

We headed back to Brian’s apartment to drop off everything, Dave’s bags and the blankets and headed right back out to meet E and J.K. for dinner.

Dinner was really good, but uneventful, except for when Dave told the waitress that the last slice of Pizza was going to be her tip!

After dinner, E was departing us so that we could have a guys night out. Nap was supposed to meet us at some point, so we were awaiting his call, but in the meantime, we went to 2nd Avenue and walked a ways to find a bar. The first place we went was cool, but emptied out quickly after we arrived. We left there and headed to a bar where we hoped a friend was working, The Joshua Tree.

After carefully navigating the crowd of obnoxiously drunk guys and decent-looking, but drunk girls, we found our buddy and hung out there. Brian and I headed to the bar for beers and attempted the journey back through the crowd without spilling any on either us or someone else. No sooner than 5 steps away from bar did someone bump Brian and he spilled a fair amount down the shoulder and arm of this girl who must have either been really hot (temperature wise) or just so damned drunk that she didn’t notice! I know she had a lot on her because when I tried to slide by, my arm rubbed against where he spilled the beer and she was soaked. She didn’t even flinch and I wasn’t about to say anything, so I kept on walking. We arrived back with Dave, but J.K. had headed home because he had a long ride back and we had early plans for Saturday morning of which he was an integral, sober part (more on that later).

We tried coaxing Dave into talking to some girls, hoping he would at least get a couple numbers, but he wouldn’t. There was this one pretty hot girl in a black dress and I told him I would buy his drinks the rest of the night if he would just go talk to her, but he was having none of it. Eventually, our friend got the cute waitress (a different cute waitress than the previous night) to come over and introduced her to Dave. They didn’t say much, but it was a start at least.

After finishing our beers, we were soaked with sweat and some beer that splashed on us as well, and wanted to head out, so we started heading towards the door, when Dave decides he wants to start talking to the waitress! Brian was already halfway across the bar and I was standing there like an idiot waiting for Dave, so I started heading for the door as well. Brian and I waited for a few minutes and eventually Dave saunters out, sans phone number though.

I had mentioned to Brian earlier in the day that I’d never been to Times Square, so what better time to go there than on a Friday night at 100 am? So we started walking in that direction when Nap finally calls! He had fallen asleep and wasn’t going to come out, since it was so late. We gave him plenty of shit for that, but we were pleased with how the night was headed so far, so there was no need to add mayhem to it. Little did we know…

We arrived at Times Square around 130 am, snapped some pictures (pay no attention to the time on the pics since my camera was still in Central time) and decided we were hungry. Lets find some food! We tried locating a Gray’s Papaya, but we didn’t know where one was close by, so we thought we’d head back towards Brian’s apartment and get something closer to there.

While on the subway, we decided that Dave needed to experience Café Bar, so we exited and walked over there around 215 am. Once we arrived, we decided to call Nap. Remember, he only lives a few blocks away, he needed to get up and come visit because we found our favorite waitress working, or at least our favorite from last night, Tanya. She remembered us and even asked where our friend was. She wanted him, it was obvious. I was able to coax Nap into coming with the fabulous line of, “How often am I in NYC? Get your ass over here!” Or something very close to that. About 10 minutes later, Dave and Brian both got text messages that he was on his way! Dave, Brian and I grabbed the cards and poker chips and proceeded to start playing some Texas Hold ‘Em, albeit not very well! Nap arrived, much to Tanya’s delight and the night has now begun.

We dealt him in, drank some beers, had lively conversation, of course, Nap flirted with Tanya and we actually kept it pretty tame – drink-wise, compared to the night before, although you might not know it by this picture! We all agreed that we really liked this bar and that we were much more comfortable here than at Joshua Tree, plus have I mentioned the great music they play? That is, until Dave requested Enigma – just kidding Dave!

At 415 am, you’re thinking this night has got to be over right? Not so fast!

Since we were still hungry, we wanted to find an all night diner to get some food. Following Nap’s poor advice, we wandered from street to street looking, but none of the diner’s he was thinking of were still open, so we headed back towards Neptune Diner, for Brian and I, the second time in 15 hours!

During the walk over there, we passed a house that had this on their porch. Who keeps these things on their porch? We had to sneak into the gated area to get that picture, but it was so worth it!

We finally arrived at Neptune Diner and Brian and Nap got the best seats in house as we were right by the door and they got to watch all the cute, drunk, skimpy-dressed girls come in and leave. (E – Brian was only looking for Dave, not for himself, don’t be mad at him! They don’t hold a candle to you anyway ;)) Dave got a good rear-view, but not much else.

We ate heartily, especially for 515 am, except for Nap, since he spent most of the night asleep. We paid up and headed out, with the dawn beginning to break. We arrived back at Brian’s apartment in a few minutes and said our goodbyes to Nap because he wouldn’t be joining us for Day 3’s festivities. Dave wanted to see the roof, so I took him up there and as I reached for my pocket to take a picture, I realized I left my camera in the Diner – OH NO!

Dave and I got the key to the apartment from Brian and raced back over there. They had my camera stored for me. I thanked them and we returned to the apartment building. Upon trying to enter, Dave was having some problems figuring out which key to use. After trying them all and having one almost get stuck on him, I took a turn. After a couple minutes of me toiling with the lock, Dave looked at the door and realized we were at the wrong entrance! We seem to have a lot of that problem, but this time we were pretty sober! After getting inside the first door, I started trying the keys on the inside door and although one of them fit, it wouldn’t turn. After a minute of fooling with it, I remembered that this door wasn’t locked – D’OH!

Dave and I headed back up to the roof to take some pictures, because it was now 545 am and since we were up…

Finally at a few minutes after 6 am, we all settled in for a few hours of sleep to prepare for Day 3.

Day 2 – the fun has just begun!

Just a little patience, yeaaaahhhh.

2006-03-19T22:52:00.000-06:00

I know everyone is waiting for days 2 & 3 from NYC, because they were good stories, but I was crazy busy at work last week and my rough draft for my paper was due tonight, so the only writing I've been doing is for that. I'm finished now and Monday is a light day at work, so check back Monday afternoon sometime and at the very least, day 2 should be up and ready for your reading discomfort.

I get by with a little help from my friends

2006-03-14T23:54:00.000-06:00

Ok, ok. I know I’ve been back for 2 full days, I haven’t posted anything about my trip and you’re all anxiously awaiting the details, right? Well, that’s a silly question really, because I know that you are! I’m going to split these posts up into each day because so much happened I couldn’t write it all at once. So, here is day 1:

After sleeping for about 4 hours Wednesday night, I was dropped off at the airport at 730 am for my 830 flight to Charlotte, NC, where I would catch my connecting flight to Newark. Heaven forbid my flight would actually begin on time though. They overbooked the flight and asked for three volunteers for which they were giving the standard free round trip ticket to anywhere in the lower 48. Amazingly enough, only one person volunteered however. I have been tempted to do this on more than one occasion, but there was no way in hell I was going to do it this time because I needed to get the hell outta Houston ASAP! So after upping the ante and offering a free RT ticket AND a one-way ticket as well, they got their three and we departed 45 minutes behind schedule at 915. Needless to say, at this point, I’m a little worried that I wouldn’t make my connection because it was due to leave at 1240 and now I would be arriving around 1220. In addition, I’ve had a couple of run-ins at the Charlotte airport where I arrived at terminal C on time, but had to run as fast as I could clear across the airport to terminal A to board my connection within minutes of departing. Fortunately, when we arrived at gate C9, I had only 500 feet to walk in 20 minutes to gate C14 – I figured I had enough time to crawl, but I’d look like an idiot, so I didn’t.

My flight from Charlotte to Newark was hands-down, the best flight I’ve ever been on. We were in a 737, the type of plane that has 3 seats on each side of the aisle. I was originally seated in row 24, 3 rows from the back. The flight attendant came to let us know the flight was nowhere near full and we could move up if we’d like. Long story short, I had my own row – all six seats.

I arrived in Newark right on time and when I got through security, Brian was there to greet me which was a serious relief (this comes back to haunt me later on). As we left the gate, we stopped so I could put my fleece on for going outside. While standing there, Brian noted that I had packed light, since I only had my backpack with me. It then struck me that I had to get my bag! Could you imagine leaving the airport without your luggage? We collected my bag and looked for something quick to eat in the airport since I hadn’t eaten but a couple of the bags of airplane peanuts. $2.00 for a cheeseburger at BK later, we left to catch the Airtrain, which would then take us to the train into Penn Station.

Brian and I had a great conversation catching up on things on the train to Penn Station and then we caught the subway back to his apartment. He lives Astoria, Queens, in a great little place, which is relatively new, with a great view off the roof. It is also close to the subway stop, which was great since my bag was getting heavy. We were scheduled to leave a few minutes after arriving at his place because we were having dinner with his girlfriend whom I had yet to meet, but heard great things about. So, we boarded the subway again, minus all the luggage and headed back into Manhattan.

We got to the restaurant and sat down at the bar for a couple of drinks while we awaited the E’s (Brian’s girlfriend) arrival. I was ready for a beer, but Brian had a basketball game later, so he stuck to Coke. E arrived just as we were being called for our table and she is even cuter in person than in the pictures I’ve seen. There is little to tell about dinner, other than we had great drinks, food and conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know E and watching her and Brian interact. I can tell how much they care for one another. She told me the story of how they met, which she tells very well, because Brian’s version was short, to the point and I wanted to know what she thought of him and how this all came to be. I think we all had a great time at dinner and around 815, we parted ways with E for Brian’s game over at Chelsea Piers.

On the team is another friend who we would be spending most of the weekend with as well, J.K. I’m guessing there are only a few people who are interested in the details of the game, so, I’m skipping past it. They lost by 9, I’ll leave it at that.

It’s now about 1015 after the game and you’re reading this thinking, Josh, you’ve had a long day, this is probably where the night ended, right? Not so fast. This is where the night begins!

While we were waiting for a cab, our other friend, Nap, called. He wants us to meet him back in Astoria at the Café Bar, which is a few blocks from their respective apartments (Nap lives a couple blocks from Brian). We arrived around 1045, headed for the bar and asked what they had on tap. They have no beer on tap, only bottles. Ok, what do you have? The list goes on until we hear the sweet sound of our favorite beer, Duvel. If you don’t know about Duvel, the name means, “The Devil’s Brew”. It is a great Belgian beer and the alcohol content is around 9% (most beers are 4 - 4.5%), so drinking one is like drinking two regular beers (for those of you who couldn’t do the math). Brian and I have a serious history with Duvel, which I guess I’m going to have to explain at a later time. We begin to drink slowly, as is suggested clearly on the bottle, when Nap arrives. We say our hellos and he heads to the bar to order. He comes back over and waits for his drink to arrive. The waitress, who comes into play later, comes over with his bottle of, you guessed it, Duvel, and 3 shots of Tequila. We toast to a fantastic weekend with fantastic friends and do our shots. Stay with me, this is only the beginning.

Ok, so Café Bar is this great little place that played amazing music through a computer jukebox that had a lot of everything you’d want in a cozy little place like this. There are chairs and couches situated around coffee tables, bar tables, booths and stools at the bar as well. They have all sorts of games, checkers, backgammon, cards & poker chips, Boggle, Yahtzee, Monopoly and probably more that we didn’t see. It has minimal lighting and maximum atmosphere. It was the perfect bar to end a long day at with great friends. Oh, and our waitress, Tanya, was cute as a button.

As is expected, Brian, Nap and I had our typical amazing conversations ranging from politics to religion to sports to Naps’ ex-girlfriend, to love, sex and probably more that I cannot remember. I do remember that Nap and I played a game of backgammon and that we were there a long time and drinking a lot. How much is a lot, you ask? Before I answer this, I will let you know that I don’t drink very often, or very much, so for me, this night equals a lot. 4 bottles of Duvel, the aforementioned shot of Tequila and a shot of Jack Daniel’s that we basically finished the night off with around 130 am. Also, around 1230, we called Dave, who was joining us on Friday night, because we figured he needed to know what he was missing out on.

Before leaving, of course we settled up, but I’m not quite sure who paid or how much. However, Tanya slipped Brian her number to give to Nap. Even as drunk as we were, we could tell she was flirting with him most of the night and as I said, she was really cute.

Whew! What a day! Oh wait, it doesn’t end there!

We needed to go over Nap’s apartment to pick up some blankets. On the drunken walk over there, we see a mannequin of some kind lying in the trash and Brian proceeds to kick its head off. We then threw it around like a football for a couple of minutes and then we decided we’re going to try to scare Dave, on Friday night. So we took it with us. We grabbed the blankets, stumbled back to Brian’s.

When we got out of the elevator and stepped into the hallway. It smelled like smoke, which Brian noted and then he tried to unlock the door. After a few seconds of unsuccessfully unlocking it, he looks up and says, “Why are we on the third floor? We’re on the wrong floor!” This is why it smelled like smoke. We get back in the elevator and head up again, this time arriving at and unlocking the correct door.

The last thing I remember this evening, now at 215 am, is Brian blowing up the air mattress, giving me the blankets and me climbing into bed, still in my clothes.

Day 1 – mission accomplished

Start spreadin' the news...

2006-03-03T16:47:00.000-06:00

“I’m leavin’ on Thurs-day. I’m gonna be a part of it, New York, New York!” That’s right, I am going on a 3.5-day mini vacation to NYC next week for my birthday (Wednesday, in case you’d like to send me a gift, in which case, I prefer cash). I am going to see all of my friends, we are going to have an excellent weekend of drinking, laughing, maybe some gambling in Atlantic City, and I’m sure we’ll have some great conversations as well, which is the norm when we get together. I’ll be sure to try to update over the course of the weekend and post a few pictures as well! I. Am. Excited!

Ok, that’s out of the way, so on to a lighter hearted post.

Why don’t dogs jump out of the window of a moving car? Usually, they can’t get outside fast enough, but get them in the car, open the window and they sit there. I don’t get it.

The law clerk in the office next to me called the Houston Chronicle today to let them know they deleted her favorite word puzzle from the daily paper. Ok, I know many people are into that sort of thing; it helps to stimulate your mind and keeps your mind sharp, but seriously, find a different puzzle to work on and get over it.

When the elevator doors open on the bottom floor, more than likely, people will be exiting, namely, ME. Wait for me to walk out before attempting to get on the elevator. Stand back a few feet to give me room to exit, and then when it looks to be all clear, I assume you’ll know when that occurs, step in. Really, it’s not that hard folks. Also, it seems to me that this is just a common courtesy.

Finally, two weasels are sitting at a bar. One turns to the other and screams, “I slept with your mother!” The bar hushes waiting to hear what is going to happen next. He gets up off his stool and screams again, “Did you hear me? I slept with your mother!” The other weasel calmly turns around to face him and says, “Go home Dad, you’re drunk.”

That’s all I have folks, thank you and good night!

Out & About
Rants
Work

I was dancing with the queen of New Orleans. Dancing in the streets of New Orleans.

2006-02-28T17:15:00.000-06:00

I am sure I’m in the minority in this discussion, as I was in this post, but New Orleans SHOULD NOT be holding any sort of Mardi Gras festivities. I think after only 6 months of “recovery”, this is just not a good idea. Why? Because Hurricane Katrina taught us two major things, 1) the US Gov’t can be one giant bureaucratic fuck up; and 2) New Orleans has some serious racial and economic problems. Bringing a giant party to New Orleans to celebrate is not only rude, but also irresponsible. Seriously, how many people have to die in a major disaster in this country for a party to NOT be thrown? It just reeks of a lack of consideration for those who lost everything they ever had. How would you feel if 6 months after losing what you thought was your life, someone decided to throw a party at your former home? Of course, this is slightly metaphorical and not an exactly what is occurring because we all know the French Quarter was spared, much to the delight of Mardi Gras organizers. Ugh, this just makes me ill that people have the audacity to even consider this event.

The story I linked to in my title shows the other side of the argument, but I still think that those people are just in denial and lack respect.

Hurricane Katrina
New Orleans
Mardi Gras
Rants

I’m the center of attention in the walls inside my head

2006-02-21T12:09:00.000-06:00

Needless to say, Bill Maher is one of my favorite comediens and I agree with the majority of his poilitcal views as well. His show Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO just came back from hiatus and his rant during his New Rules section is hysterical...and true. Read for yourself.

Bill Maher
Rants

Piety obsolete. Faith obsolete. Mysticism obsolete. Prophetic vision obsolete.

2006-02-13T13:45:00.000-06:00

When I started this blog 5 months ago, I was bored at work and had a lot to say. I still have a lot to say, but I am so busy at work right now, with things I’d rather not be doing, that I don’t have the time to be writing as often as I’d like. I have found the time to read and comment on many of the blogs I read regularly, but I don’t have the time to sit down and write the things that I want to write about.

While I have finished saying all that, I do want to take a minute to point something out and actually say something as well. First, I wanted to point out that in the last two weeks or so, there has been a very good, spirited conversation going on over here. We’ve been dealing with religion, why it exists and the existence of god in general. It isn’t a heated discussion, rather a cordial, thought provoking one that I have enjoyed reading and taking part in. I encourage anyone with curiosity about this topic to visit and read on!

The question I would like to ask deals with this topic as well. Where have all the prophets gone? Thousands of years ago, all of these prophets were running around preaching this and that and people were listening to and following them religiously. Today, their teachings are still being discussed and debated, as well as taught. Encyclopedia Britannica defines a prophet as, “Men specially elected by God to be his messengers.”

When was the last time we named someone a prophet? Around Jesus’ time (if he actually existed)? Do we still have them? Or is our intellect too evolved to notice? Maybe Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prophet? Maybe JFK? Ronald Reagan? Abraham Lincoln? Thomas Jefferson? Josef Stalin? Winston Churchill? Adolf Hitler might have even been considered a prophet, in a twisted sort of way. The same could be said for Osama bin Laden. What was it about prophets from a few thousand years ago that made them prophets and what leads us to not having any today? Are we too smart to be led by that type of propaganda? I would say the answer to that is a resounding NO, considering all the bullshit and lies that we’re fed from our government, starting right at the top with our President. Or you could say the same thing about terrorists. They are told these lies about how wonderful the afterlife will be for them. Meanwhile, they are killing innocent people – and for what? Maybe we should stop referring to President Bush as the “President” and start calling him “The Prophet George”? It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Moses.

Blogging
Religion

Well, our fathers fought the second World War, spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore

2006-01-31T11:45:00.000-06:00

People have often called me a dreamer because I have these idealistic points of view about how life should be. I don’t feel as though my ideas have the romantic air about them that others do, I just think that people have stopped believing in those things.

Sure, I know that the world has changed dramatically over the last 5, 10, 25, 50, even 75 years, but when did we stop believing that we could still have our cake and eat it too? Why is it necessary to work on a Sunday, or any part of the weekend? Of course, some businesses would need to be open: hardware stores, restaurants, maybe some retail shops – businesses that sell the items or services that people would use on weekends should be open. What is so important in the world that an attorney must work at least one day out of every weekend?

When did we stop going to the “Jersey Shore” for weekends? When did we stop taking car rides to see relatives? When did we stop spending time with our families on the weekends to go into the office?

My favorite scene in the movie Eddie and the Cruisers is when they’re at the Jersey Shore writing music. Aside from the great dialogue that occurs, the scene in the background makes me wonder how and why we ever stopped doing these types of things.

I’m not saying the world has to stop on the weekends, because obviously, it doesn’t. What I’m saying is that we are so wrapped up in our careers, we have forgotten to live our lives, to show our children to live their lives for others and not for their career.

My thoughts on this began on the other day on the 29th, which would’ve been my grandfathers 87th birthday. I thought about when my mom was growing up in Buffalo; they used to go across to Crystal Beach, in Canada, and spend the weekend at a family cottage on the shore with other relatives. There was a great amusement park there, which has been closed for some 15 years, but it holds special memories for my mom and for my dad as well. When I was growing up, we went to the beach a little less often than my parents, but still, I had the experience of living that sort of life and as I’ve grown older, I wonder where that has gone and if we’ll ever get it back.

I think this all goes back to the “funk” I’ve been in and the aggravation I am feeling with having to earn a degree to get the job I want. I had a conversation with someone about this last week and they spoke about how going through college shows discipline and the ability to think. My response was that I worked for the same company for 15 years; I rose through the ranks to get to where I was a year ago when I left. I did this without spending $100K on an education and earned money instead. Isn’t that the equivalent to 4 years of college without the partying?

Nowadays, if I want to find the job that allows me to go to the Jersey Shore on weekends, I have to get a 4-year degree to prove that I am worthy. Is there anything LESS romantic than that?

Of course, I live a couple thousand miles away from the Jersey Shore, but that’s an entirely different problem!

Buffalo
Sociology

Drive in drive out, I'll come back again.

2006-01-26T16:52:00.000-06:00

What is with people passing me because I am driving at or just slightly above the speed limit? I mean, I don’t need to go 10 mph above the speed limit to get to the next red light. Every time people pass me, I wind up sitting behind them at the red light, how has this been productive for you? Instead of being behind me, you wound up in front of me. Congratulations, you won the race.

This happened once yesterday on my way in to work and the lady driving the Jeep Commander who passed me didn’t even have her hands on the wheel! I know this because when I looked in my rear view mirror, her one hand was holding the cell phone to her ear, while the other was holding her coffee mug up to her face. Then she proceeded to pass me at the first stop sign, then run the second stop sign and still only made it as far as the red light at the end of the street where I slowly pulled up behind her and waited for it to change. I didn’t see any checkered flag waving when I got there, so I assume she got out and took it for her trophy case at home.

It happened again today on my way to work, this time by a snobby looking fellow in a Mercedes (I’m not saying everyone who drives a Mercedes is snobby looking, but this guy WAS!). He passed me at the stop sign again, DID stop for the second one and still wound up right there in front of me at the signal.

Then on my way to lunch, I also had to stop at Barnes & Noble (I had a gift card - nosey!) for the new Duncan Sheik CD. This guy creeps up on my tail, like that is going to make me go faster, then juts out into the right lane and passes me at probably about 35 mph. Oh yea, I was in a SCHOOL ZONE! Guess what? I pulled up behind him at the next red light.

See driving faster than me doesn’t get you anywhere quicker. I know this because I’ve had about 10 speeding tickets prove it to me.

Anyway, here is what I’m getting at: by passing me in a short distance situation, you’re not gaining any significant time and really, you’re just pissing me off!

Money, it’s a crime. Share it fairly, but don’t take a slice of my pie.

2006-01-25T15:17:00.000-06:00

In this day and age, I have the utmost respect for an athlete who says, “I don’t want to play anywhere else, I only want to be a (whatever team they play for).” Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for superstars to play for multiple teams throughout their careers thanks to free agency and salary caps.

In this case, I admire Jeff Bagwell’s attitude for only wanting to play for the Houston Astros and not wanting to take a trade to the American League so he can be a DH for the remainder of his career. See, Bagwell has been very injured in the last few seasons, missing 115 games last year alone. The Astros contend he can’t play baseball anymore and will be filing an insurance claim on him, by no later the January 31st, to recoup some $15 million of the $17 million owed to him on his contract. He says he can play and plans to report to spring training as scheduled to prove the Astros wrong and earn his spot on the team. As noted in the article, he feels the team is showing him very little respect in exchange for the loyalty he has shown them and doesn’t think their relationship can ever be repaired.

For the most part, I have to agree with him. However, the question remains, can he come to spring training, work out, play and do all the things he used to do and sustain it for the long season of baseball? This is what the Astros are stuck wondering and don’t want to be forced into paying for a broken player when they could’ve saved that money, or spend it on 5 younger guys to groom and develop for the long haul.

I have a solution for both sides:

As I said, I admire Jeff Bagwell for his loyalty and hard work, but at this point in your life, paying you $17 million dollars seems a bit much. The Astros need to get their heads out of their asses and realize Jeff Bagwell has been the cornerstone of this franchise for over a decade now and he deserves a fair shot at playing baseball as much as anyone else.

Jeff Bagwell, humbly and graciously offer to restructure your contract. Yes, the Astros have shown you less respect than you deserve from them, but if you are serious about wanting to stay a Houston Astro and about wanting to play baseball this season, I think this is the only fair way for this to happen is for you to do this. It offers the Astros the out they are looking for if you are injured, but at the same time, you will be paid more than a fair wage for your services. $17 million per year breaks down to roughly $105K per game. Why not say, for every game you start and play a minimum number of innings, you’ll receive $110K. For any game you appear in (pinch-hitter/runner/defensive replacement), you’ll receive $30K or some other number, whatever. This only seems fair to me and as a fan, who is basically one of the many people paying your salary, I think you should do this. It’s important for me to know that when you put on that uniform, you can play to the best of your abilities and that your employer, the Houston Astros know that they are getting their money’s worth from you as well.

I'm not a miracle and you're not a saint, just another soldier on a road to nowhere.

2006-01-18T18:10:00.000-06:00

Have you ever had a spell where no matter is happening, nothing seems to satisfy, motivate, drive or bring out the passion inside you? I am probably going through the deepest funk that I’ve been, in a long, long time.

I am struggling to find the motivation to come into work on a daily basis and school is kicking my ass. I did really well in my first 2 classes, an A & B+, but these classes are 3 ½ weeks in and I feel as though I’m way back in the first week. I can’t seem to get my head focused to get the work done and the further I fall behind, the less I am inclined to catch up. I know in my head and in my heart that I have to do this. If I ever want a better career than what I have now, whatever that is, I must finish this. All this effort to get a silly piece of paper that says, “Hey, now that I have this degree, you can ignore the 15 years of my life that I devoted to one company, working my ass off 65 hours per week, climbing through the ranks and earning a good living because in today’s world, that means nothing." It’s all about the college-fucking-degree. Isn’t that just awful? Growing up in a blue-collar city, I always believed that hard work would get you through anything. If I sell my soul to the “Gods of Labor”, I can have a nice life in the future, but it doesn’t work like that and in the past 10 years, businesses have become so greedy, while cutting costs’ and slighting their payroll, that no matter how hard you work, you’re still always just a little behind.

I remember a conversation I had with my parents when I was about 14 or 15 about how I didn’t have an interest in going to college. My stepfather asked what kind of life I wanted and I responded that I don’t need a lot of money or material things; I just need enough to get by and a little extra for “fun”. Personally, I still believe that, but it’s not enough to only live for today anymore. You have to live for 40 years from now, plan for the future and only survive today. What I am doing now will affect me when I’m 75, never mind how I feel while I’m (coming up on) 32. Live today and work for the future. That’s the meaning of life nowadays.

This brings me back to needing the college degree. I don’t even know what I plan on doing with it once I get it. Maybe I’ll sell it on eBay so I can pay off my student loans! Maybe I’ll just burn it as an act of rebellion! Maybe I’ll take it with me on every job interview and threaten to burn it if they don’t hire me. I sacrificed a lot by going back to school at 31 years of age and they shouldn’t have even worried about whether I had that piece of paper, they could’ve figured out the type of person I was by actually reading my (impressive – if I do say so myself) resume.

Nowadays, loyalty means nothing; dedication is a lost art; and respect, well, that word just doesn’t exist unless the prefix “dis” is in front of it. In today’s world, everybody is disrespected or disrespectful, but nobody shows respect or reverence to anyone for anything. I guess I could say that I feel that my past qualifications should speak for themselves, but I am disrespected because I don’t have the college degree for which everyone keeps begging me. I don’t receive any respect for the work that I’ve done in the past, it’s all about the “What have you done for me lately?” How am I supposed to work for you today, but work for me for tomorrow – that doesn’t seem very fair now does it?

Anyway, I can’t help but wonder why I’m in such a terrible funk.

Rants
School

Oh, this virtual insanity we’re living in has got to change, yeah, things will never be the same and I can’t go on

2006-01-09T13:11:00.000-06:00

Wouldn’t this be a great idea for criminals? Put a microchip in their hand (or some other random body part) that connects to a GPS tracking device and they could never escape. I think we should put it on all of our politicians as well! Technology rules most of our lives anyway, so why not let it overtake these people’s lives?

We have all these identity theft issues nowadays; this could be the solution to all of those problems. No more worrying about whether someone has your social security or driver’s license numbers, the only way someone can be you is through your personalized microchip implanted into your body. Think of it – all the times you had to fill out repetitive paperwork could be stopped with the scan of your personal chip.

You could even personalize it to the extent where you go through McDonald’s drive thru, wave your hand and your order is placed – not a word is spoken. Once you get to the window, not cash or credit cards exchange hands, just swipe your hand and the money is deducted from your account or charged to your card!

Consider the possibilities! Your entire life could be on “speedpass”.

Technology

When the earth is restless, miners die. Bone and blood is the price of coal

2006-01-04T13:32:00.000-06:00

(Click the title to read the story)

Of course, the White House will investigate somebody else’s screw up, but heaven forbid they investigate their own screw-ups! (See Hurricane’s Katrina & Rita, among the many!)

My sympathy goes out to the miners families.

Tragedy
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Rita
Politics

So walk out backwards and I’ll think you’re walking in

2006-01-03T15:07:00.000-06:00

I know, I know. I’ve been terribly neglecting my blog in the past 2 weeks. The holidays were very hectic for me and I found very little time to do anything other than what was on my schedule. In any event, I am back and ready to tell my tales and go off on a society that is increasingly disturbing my good senses!

However, before I go off on just about everybody else, I will quickly humble myself and give everyone a fun laugh at my expense.

Last week Thursday and Friday, I watched a friend’s dog and stayed at his apartment. This way, I could easily take the dog on his morning walk and then go to work without having to waste a whole lot of time and gas. On Friday morning, I woke up a little later than I would’ve liked and walked the dog quickly. When I returned, I hopped in the shower, got dressed, throwing my tie around my neck, but not tying it and running out the door to get to work.

Usually, by 1230 or so, I will need to use the restroom, however, for some reason, on this day I didn’t need to go until 330. When I unzipped and reached inside, I couldn’t find the hole in my boxers. In about a half a second, I realized that something was very wrong – my boxers were on backwards.

I really don’t have anything else I can say after that!

Stupidity
Blogging

We are fam-il-y

2005-12-28T10:58:00.000-06:00

My adorable nephew. Umm, I didn't teach him the finger up the nose thing, in case you're wondering!

Have a holly jolly Christmas

2005-12-24T21:24:00.002-06:00

Where to begin? So many stories, so little time!

I arrived at the airport for my 114 pm flight a few minutes after 11 am figuring there is going to be a line at the ticket counter and a line to go through security, but I would still be early enough to have time to relax for a few minutes before boarding. Think again. At 1145 am, I was sitting in a seat at the gate waiting for the next hour and fifteen minutes to board my flight! There was no line at the ticket counter and I walked right up. I was about eighth or ninth in the line to go through security and I that didn’t take long either. So I plopped myself down, plugged in my laptop and here I am writing this post!

My flight to Atlanta was pleasant and the flight attendant was attractive and attentive, so that was nice.

When I arrived in Atlanta, I went right to the ticket counter to ask if I could get on standby for the earlier flight to Richmond, since I was on the last flight out, but wanted to get there earlier. The CSR asked if I carried on my bags and when I replied no, he said he was sorry, but I have to travel with my bags - even though we know this isn’t always true since luggage is lost all the time and if everyone were traveling with their bags, that would not occur – but I digress! So I consigned myself to my 5 hour layover and found a spot to plug myself in again and write this post! Remember all of this for future reference – you’ve been warned!

While I was waiting in line to speak with the CSR, there was a little boy, all of 3 years old sitting with his mother on the floor, near the gate. As every passenger passed by him, he yelled out, “Merry Christmas!” and we all thought it was funny and cute. The flight attendants waiting to board the plane were laughing hysterically, because it was pretty funny. The best part, however, was when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he yells, “Welcome to Atlanta!” followed by,“Happy Holidays!” and then he went back to his original greeting. It was so funny, if I had been in a bad mood, that surely would’ve turned it around.

I boarded my regularly scheduled flight around 855 thinking, “There is no way this plane is taking off on time (906 pm), but 15 minutes won’t kill us.” At 955 pm we finally pulled away from the gate after a few announcements from the Captain as to why we were still sitting there. At 1010 pm, we officially took off and at 1115 pm, we arrived at the gate in Richmond, almost 40 minutes late. I’m also going to mention that our landing was not bumpy, but it wasn’t smooth either. The term I am using is, “We Bounced.” Seriously, I think the pilot bounced us on the first touchdown and then eased it down again. It was a jarring landing, to say the least. Nonetheless, there is more!

I found my sister waiting for me and went to go get my luggage. After watching my entire flight find their luggage and leave the airport, we were left standing there, wondering where my bags are! So I trotted to the service counter and let the man know the situation. He asked for my last name and when I gave it to him he smiled, chuckled and said, “Your bags are already here, they came in on the earlier flight!” I asked him how that could’ve happened and he told me it happens all the time because the handlers don’t look at the time of the flight, the just see the code and put it on the next plane. So my bags and flew without me. Do you think they were scared of not being picked up?

Happy Holidays

2005-12-23T09:47:00.000-06:00

Where you are thats where I want to be and through your eyes are all the things I want to see. In the night you're my dreams, you’re everything to me.

2005-12-19T23:23:00.000-06:00

RIP
"The Great Mom"

I pledge allegiance to a nation without borders, without pride, without politicians like ourselves

2005-12-19T11:30:00.000-06:00

I spend a small amount of time each day reading various blogs regarding problems with our local, state, national and international politics. I read people bitching, sharing their various annoyances and I read the reported facts regarding their issues so I am informed and can understand why they’re angry. The problem that has gotten under my skin recently however, is that while it is our American right to bitch, it’s also our American right to do something proactive to change these things. We all seem to have something to say and we are more than willing to use the fairly anonymous medium of the internet to say it, but I don’t see or read about anybody actually doing something about these issues. It’s all well and good that we can sign petition after petition at moveon.org and other places to share our displeasure, but that doesn’t entirely solve the problem. Here are my 2 cents: I think the blogging community should start running for public office. Apparently, bloggers all know what the problems are, it’s obvious to us, Joe Public, but it’s not as obvious to our government officials. Most bloggers who read and write about political ineptitude are pretty smart people and they reach the audience that many politicians, in my opinion, feel they are above. Why not turn our passion for cleaning up bureaucracy into a political campaign to stop the lying, cheating and ignorance that beholds many of our public officials. I think we could do it if we all put our heads together! Think of the things we could accomplish! We would focus on the needs of real people, who have real problems, instead of giving another tax cut to the wealthiest 1% of us. We could also tell auto manufacturers to raise the CAFE standards, which, in turn, would drop the price of oil and save us all a little money in the end. Hell, as long as we’re saving some money, then we could institute logical and fair campaign finance reform, which of course we would all abide by, and save more money! Politicians wouldn’t need to shuffle money from one place to the next to pay for our campaigns and end up in prison because we were so power hungry we were willing to do anything to keep that power. Bloggers unite, rise up and be counted – literally – our voices are already heard on a daily basis. We have an audience, what we do with it is up to us.

Party all the time

2005-12-08T17:50:00.000-06:00

Lots o’parties this weekend!

The City of Houston, Metro and the Downtown District wish to thank the community for its support as we celebrate the completion of the Downtown Midtown Transit Streets Project.
Friday, December 9, 2005
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Main Street Square

Enjoy fun, festivities, live music, a visit from Santa Claus and special surprise guests! Plus, register to win a holiday prize package to be drawn during the Mayor's Holiday Celebration, Saturday, Dec. 10 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Yea, I think I’ll pass.

Hot for teacher (as in red hot MAD!)

2005-12-08T17:32:00.000-06:00

Have I mentioned that I am taking online classes? I don’t think that I have, so I am now. Of course, I can’t say which college I am enrolled in, but let’s just say that it’s probably the most popular one out there. One of my classes is called Internet Technologies, which is, basically, “how to use the Internet as a research, reference and study tool for your schooling”. Needless to say, it’s rather boring if you already know how to do this (see Google), but I have learned a couple new tricks and how to use the online library that is included with my rather costly tuition. Nonetheless, the instructor for this class has been able to get under my skin and I’ve never even verbally spoken to him. Our only contact is through email and he’s still managed to piss me off. Not only has he pissed me off, but he’s pissed off S as well. What has he done you ask? Here’s a list:

A day or two after we turn in an assignment, we receive the grade. A couple days into the new week, we then receive a summary of our grades for the previous weeks’ assignments with some comments. A few weeks back, he gave me a grade of 30/30 on the assignment, but on the summary, it was listed as 10/30. Of course, I wanted to know which one was right, so I emailed him and very politely asked which one was correct. He emailed back a few hours later saying, “OOOPs. my error. should be 30/30 and I will change that.” He didn’t say, “I’m sorry”, or apologize in any manner. This alone I felt was not a big deal until the next issue.

On my summary for week Five, which was just a couple weeks ago, none of the point values were filled in, just left as zeroes. Again, I emailed him to let him know of this situation and I joked, “Or did I do that poorly last week?” The response I received on this one, nothing. The only thing I received was a return email with the subject line reading, “Week 5 Summary Corrected”, but nothing in the body of the email, no apology again. I’m slightly ticked at this, but as long as it’s not affecting my grades, I guess I can let this slide, until this week’s problem.

We have an assignment due tonight, that I have yet to begin, but read through on Monday. Here is the assignment:

Correct the misconceptions of “Joe Student”, who believes he can work full-time and pursue his online degree without modifying the study habits he used in high school.

Offer suggestions to help Joe succeed as a distance learner.

I don’t quite fully understand this assignment because if “Joe Student” was a good student, who had acceptable study habits in high school, why would he think it won’t work for him in this scenario? So I emailed the instructor again, 120 words worth, with a number of questions and this is the response I received concerning my email, “Joe is anyone; any student grades are unimportant in this assignment.”

What? How can grades be unimportant when talking about study habits? Don’t good study habits lead to good grades? I’ve posed these questions, along with this whole situation to S and a few people at work and the response I’m getting is, “It’s time to just put some BS down on paper.” Unfortunately, I don’t even know where to begin! Any help on this would be appreciated, but this assignment is due by midnight Central Time, so if you could be expeditious in your response, I’d be very grateful to you.

Baby, it's cold outside

2005-12-08T09:12:00.000-06:00

It's pretty chilly here today, 31 degrees when I left for work, but probably about 20 with the wind chill, so I am wearing a sweater and my winter coat, which of course is made for winters in Buffalo, not necessarily for a few cold days in Houston. Nonetheless, I'm getting shit about it from my coworkers! I told them this is cold, even for people from the North, but they still insist on ragging on me. I don't remember complaining about how ridiculously hot was when it was 110 degrees with the heat index this summer! They need to lay off and stop coming to my office to razz me, it's really childish.

It’s the safety dance

2005-12-05T16:54:00.000-06:00

This is our government at work. Maybe we need to send them a wake up call by voting their lazy asses out of office!

I saw a great bumper sticker this morning:

W
Our Scarlet Letter

That’s all I have to say about that.

(Click the title of this post for the news story.)

A bottle of white, a bottle of red. Perhaps a bottle of rose instead?

2005-12-05T11:07:00.000-06:00

Why is it that when you go out with a large group of people for dinner, someone inevitably says, let’s just take the bill and divide it by X number of people we have? In theory, this is a reasonable idea; however, because I am the person who usually does not drink all the wine, or have the $9 appetizer, I wind up being screwed. It’s even worse when we go out for someone’s birthday because that person doesn’t pay, so there is one less to divide by. Over the weekend, twelve of us went out for a friend’s birthday and our share of the bill turned out to be $50 each. I had a $9.95 burger and $1.95 Dr. Pepper. Even including my share of the birthday boy’s meal and a couple of bucks for the cake we bought, how does that equate to $50? I had none of the seven $18 bottles of wine; I didn’t eat any of the five different $9.95 appetizers that were ordered. I was royally screwed and I didn’t even enjoy it. My burger was undercooked and greasier that it should’ve been. The fries were lukewarm. I don’t plan on going back to that restaurant either, but that’s for another day. One of these days I’m going to bring a notepad and a calculator, see who eats and drinks what and calculate the bill that way. We’ll see how they like it when the person who drank two bottles of wine, had an appetizer, the $17 entrée and the cup of coffee for dessert is stuck with the biggest tab while I wind up paying hardly anything. I don’t disagree with the theory, it’s just not a practical matter when you have people like me in your group and I’m beginning to take offense to having to pay more than my share when I can’t afford it.

A star is torn

2005-12-01T09:38:00.000-06:00

I like Gregory Peck as an actor as much as the next person, but this is ridiculous!

We live in a political world...We’re living in times where men commit crimes

2005-11-29T10:30:00.000-06:00

Apparently, the Republican Party, the party that wants to display the Ten Commandments in front of courthouses and have any phrase with the word “God” in it put into our daily vocabulary, whether it’s through the Pledge of Allegiance, or on a quarter, is forgetting how to represent certain commandments and whatever God they seem to acknowledge. I’m pretty sure this story takes care of commandment #’s 5, 8 & 9. In case you you’re a little rusty on what those commandments say, here’s a refresher course:

5. You shall not dishonor your parents.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not commit perjury.

I suppose if you want to get technical, you could include #6 in there as well (You shall not murder). Because he was taking bribes from defense contractors, he was indirectly murdering people. Or maybe I’m just stretching this a little far? Nonetheless, way to go GOP! It’s a good thing the Democrats have absolutely nobody to run against you in 2008.

They said screw you, I ain't got nothin' to lose

2005-11-28T14:36:00.000-06:00

I am pretty sure I just got screwed a little. I say “a little” because it was only about .20¢ worth, but nonetheless, I was screwed.

I go to Subway about once every 10 days or so for lunch. Today was one of those days and I bought the same thing that I always buy. I got my usual combo and when the girl handed me my drink cup, I looked at it quizzically and asked if that was the right size. She said yes and confirmed it with the other employee, who I think is a manager-type of some sort. She then told me they were out of the larger cups. If you’re out of those sized cups, then why am I paying my regular price and receiving less in return? Like I said, it’s probably only .20¢, but I want what I paid for.

Also, there are some 300-plus Subway restaurants in Houston; there is another one within 2 miles of this one. Somebody please go borrow some cups!

Turkey lurkey doo and turkey lurkey dap. I eat that turkey, then I take a nap!

2005-11-23T17:25:00.000-06:00

I know everyone is eagerly waiting the next thing I have to say, but this week has been crazy with work, birthdays, bitching about Christmas commercials and the damned holiday traffic seems to have started already as well. So all I have to say is this: Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and if you’re lucky, I’ll find some time to tell you what I have a problem with over the weekend. Although, that will be after I wake up from my after-turkey-eating slumber!

She takes you places your heart cannot go during the winter (& summer!) up in Buffalo

2005-11-18T18:00:00.000-06:00

This day has been filled with memories. This morning I was searching the web and wound up on a site that was talking about Buffalo and its lack of revitalization on the East Side. There were pictures of buildings that I recognized and streets were mentioned that I haven’t driven down in years. From the gist of what was being talked about, I gathered that someone is trying to build up those neighborhoods, but just because you build it, doesn’t mean people will come. It’s a catch-22. If you put nice, new homes in a neighborhood, the area will clean itself up and nice, new business will follow. Or is it vice versa? Well, this is not for me to ponder because I don’t live there anymore, but I thought I would mention it as something to think about.

Then my father and his email and the nostalgia he brought up about his old boat. I remember being on that boat, as he said, swimming off the stern, bucket wars in the hot August sun and as I got older, the moonlight sails to Point Abino the weekend of the Queen City Regatta and Mayor’s Cup. I remember duct tape sheets and having a race called due to lack of wind while we were 50 yards from the finish – way ahead of our nearest competition. I keep close in my mind leaning against the mast as we motored out of the channel to get ready for our Wednesday night races and preparing myself for the job ahead; setting the bag, setting the pole, jibing the chute, getting my 175 lb. frame off the bow as quickly as possible because it slows us down. I also remember being face down on the bow while setting the bag in 10 foot waves and every time we came out of a swell, a wave would crash on top of me; the whole time I’m thinking, ‘one hand for the boat, one hand for yourself’, but loving every damned minute of it. I too will miss the Getaway, but I haven’t been on her since ’99, so she doesn’t hold any recent memories for me. Dad offered her to me, but I have neither the time nor the money to take her off his hands; but oh, how I would love one more sail.

I always defend Buffalo when people criticize it, whether it’s because of the snowstorms or its sports teams, Buffalo is a very special place - home. I am often asked if I would ever return and my answer has always been the same since the day I left in ’99, “If the financial situation was better and other situations could work out, I would move back in a heartbeat." I don’t mind the snow; it’s better than running from a hurricane! I love the summers. 85 degrees and sunny almost every day is hard to beat and it’s certainly better than 105 and humid. The south doesn’t even know what fall foliage is and the area surrounding Buffalo is second to none when it comes to that. I love the architecture downtown and my dad does such a great job telling different stories about how this building was such and such and now it’s just a piece of history. Buffalo was a big part of the industrial revolution and has a huge part in American history around the turn of the 19th Century. I grew up a stone’s throw from the Erie Canal and learned about its rich history while in school. It’s close enough to Toronto to make a day trip up there and be in a world-renowned city that has a culture like no other. It’s close enough to the middle of nowhere to get lost in the country for a day and still make it home for a late dinner. You can get anywhere you need to be in 20 minutes. It’s a piece of my heart that just doesn’t die. It doesn’t matter how many times people put it down or I hear about all the economic disasters happening, I will always think of Buffalo as my home.

Wishful thinking/A change is gonna come

2005-11-18T15:15:00.000-06:00

Time for a Change, by (my father) in Buffalo, NY:

"Two things in life are always certain, death & taxes!" That's what we're told from when we were very young. The known and the unknown, you can count on that. Owning the same boat for many years gives one the sense of security and familiarity of knowing what you have and what to expect. I owned my Cal 25, Quick Getaway for some 23 years. Looking back on those years, I've single-handed all over Lake Erie, raced in just about every event in the area and had a ball doing it. I've got boxes of trophies, plaques, bowls, and plates or as my wife calls it, "a service for 12". It's safe, comfortable, easy to sail, and quick…what more could you want? It's fun, but the challenge is gone. We need new challenges to keep us moving forward. That's why after all the happy years with the Getaway it is time to move on. I need new challenges, I need to challenge my crew and that's the only way to get better. Fast is fun, faster is funner!

Moving on is tough, all those memories. It's like a first car, first house or first love. Contentment wasn't enough anymore. Sorry old Cal. I'll miss the simplicity of your rig, the feel on the helm and the years we spent together. I remember all too well when we spent that thunderstorm together in Presque Isle State Park. Anchored deep into the corner of the marina with lightning all around and the glow from the oil lamp flickering while I tried to read amongst the thunder claps. Or the time we got caught in a storm coming back from Dunkirk with waves as high as the top of the mast. We went through it together ol' Cal, survived it and arrived back home safe and sound.

My kids grew up on that boat. We'd swim off the stern when the wind died and had bucket wars in the August heat. When they got older they'd race with us and were great additions to the usual crew. Those are fond memories. Then there are the regattas with the crew. We knew what sail combinations to use, where to set the cars and who was doing what. We've seen this movie before! After years together, we knew the dance steps by heart, not a word was needed, we knew what came next. You've been good to us, I won't forget you; you'll always have a place at my table with the service for 12! The next owner will be very lucky indeed, in a well found boat with hundreds of safe miles under her keel, of that I am sure. It was with very mixed emotions the day I wrote the listing for my own boat. Parting is sweet sorrow.

I'm driving to Michigan this weekend to pick up my Beneteau Farr 25. It's new, fast and challenging, just what the doctor ordered. I'm up for the challenges ahead. I'm excited for the new adventure; a new chapter is about to begin. If the weather holds, we'll drop her in the water for a test sail before winter. To be continued…..

I couldn't have said it any better Dad.

I won’t become the thing I hate

2005-11-17T13:27:00.000-06:00

1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time.... I know where my watch is pal, where the hell is yours? Do I point at my crotch when I ask where the toilet is?

2. People who are willing to get off their ass to search the entire room for the T.V. remote because they refuse to walk to the T.V. and change the channel manually.

3. When people say "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too". Damn right! What good is cake if you can't eat it?

4. When people say, "it's always the last place you look". Of course it is. Why the hell would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they? I’m gonna kick their asses!

5. When people say while watching a film "did you see that?". No loser, I paid $12 to come to the cinema and stare at the damn floor.

6. People who ask, "Can I ask you a question?".... Didn't really give me a choice there, did ya sunshine?

7. When something is 'new and improved!'. Which is it? If it's new, then there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement, then there must have been something before, it couldn't be new.

8. When people say, "life is short". What the hell? Life is the longest damn thing anyone ever does!! What can you do that's longer?

9. When you are waiting for the bus and someone asks "Has the bus come yet?". If the bus came, would I be standing here, dumb ass?

Give a little bit

2005-11-14T15:17:00.000-06:00

Check out 10over100.org and give a little bit...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2005-11-12T23:10:00.000-06:00

It is too early for Christmas commercials! There, I’ve said it. Six weeks is too far in advance for Outback Steakhouse to be promoting their Bloomin’ Onion by using a little girl leaving it out for Santa Claus.

On Tuesday, this past week, the maintenance department at my office building was wrapping the lights around the trees and I thought to myself, is it that close already? No! It’s still 6 ½ weeks away! Please, let me get through Thanks-freakin’-giving before I see lights and holiday traffic. The commercials can start the Monday of Thanksgiving week, since that Friday is the big shopping day, I’ll allow that to start a couple days earlier, but the rest of it has to wait until AFTER I have eaten my turkey and taken my nap! Sheesh!!

Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride

2005-11-11T14:47:00.000-06:00

I just received this email from a coworker:

Ouch!

You don’t really need to know every last detail, it's hardly worth telling

2005-11-11T12:42:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading the latest post by Duncan Sheik on his website and on January 24, 2006, he will be releasing his new CD, White Limousine. It will have an extra surprise in it, which I am really looking forward to. If you care to know what that surprise is, follow the link to his blog!

The lawyers dwell on small details

2005-11-11T11:38:00.000-06:00

You Should Get a JD (Juris Doctor)

You're logical, driven, and ruthless.
You'd make a mighty fine lawyer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Apparently, these people don't know me very well.

That's just the way it is, some things will never change

2005-11-08T11:26:00.000-06:00

Here we are again, on the all-important Election Day. Does it really matter anymore who we vote into office? Months and months are spent campaigning, spending your money that you’ve donated to get them elected, but does anything really change just because we elect new officials? Whom do they really represent? I have concerns and questions. Is anyone listening to me? I have thoughts and ideas on important issues. Does anyone care? Politicians eagerly take and spend your money, but when was the last time they really did something for you? Somebody out there, please, talk to me!

Uhh..hmm..

2005-11-08T10:42:00.000-06:00

These can be purchased at the one-night stand. Get it - purchase them at the one-night "STAND"! Ok that was really bad, but seriously, do we need to differentiate if it's all down the same aisle? Won't people figure out which is which by themselves?

Sorry seems to the hardest word

2005-11-07T19:15:00.000-06:00

Would everyone please stop paying attention to Terrell Owens now? Please, for the love of Pete, stop paying him ANY attention! He won’t be playing anymore this year and if we’re lucky, EVER AGAIN!! Good grief! This boy (I am using the term “boy” because he is a spoiled, self-centered, egomaniac who has yet to grow up) only wants attention and every time he does something, he gets it. The media just keeps on feeding him. When he got kicked out of training cap earlier this year, the media followed him to his house. What does he do? He goes out in his driveway and starts working out – for the media – because they paid attention. When are they going to learn that this is just feeding fuel to the fire that is Terrell Owens? That fire got so hot, they had to douse him for the rest of the season and sit his sorry ass down. Is it hurting the Eagles? Sure it is and don’t let the Eagles fool you into thinking otherwise. T.O is an amazing athlete and football player, but his physical abilities are largely overshadowed by his verbal stupidity. I swear on how much I love chicken wings that if I have to hear about T.O. for the rest of the season and that includes his dumb-ass Right-Guard Power Stripe commercial, I am going to have to take someone down and it might just be T. freakin’ O. himself. He is driving me crazy – and I don’t even like the Eagles, I just feel sorry for them.

There was a great rant on Craigslist during training camp and I think everyone should read it because it is hilarious and true beyond words. I encourage everyone to read it and laugh their heads off.

Oh say can you see

2005-11-04T16:49:00.000-06:00

You wreck me baby, yea, you break me in two

2005-11-04T15:15:00.000-06:00

Ok, I have two different gripes right now and I’m just going to get ‘em off my fingers and onto my screen.

First off, I’m leaving for lunch and it just so happens that I am parked right next to the man who I shared the elevator with to my level in the parking garage. He drives a Lexus SUV and me, well, I don’t, let’s put it that way. He was parked inside the lines (in case you were wondering), but he said the rudest thing to me as I was getting into my car, “Watch that door!” Of course, he was probably only being half-serious about it, but still, that’s just rude. I mean, here I am in khaki’s and a polo, not an expensive polo either, just a casual, plain blue polo getting into my so-so car and he is dressed in a tailored suit getting into his leather interior, gold-trimmed Lexus SUV. Does he think I am not going to be careful about hitting his door because I have the money to throw away and do it? Hello? I’m being as careful as a brain surgeon is right now! Nevertheless, I chuckled, got in my car and went to lunch; but he lit a fuse and here you get to read the bomb going off.

Now for my second issue: I don’t understand gasoline stations and their prices. I filled up today at the logical station, the least expensive one. On the same corner, there are three stations, each with different prices. None of the three was close to the other. What? That’s right, three stations, same corner and three separate prices. One was $2.39, one $2.45 and the last one $2.54. Can somebody please explain to me why anyone would pay .15 cents more to go across the street? How does this station expect to compete? For every six ½ gallons of gas sold at the least expensive station, you’ve saved $1 that you would've spent the most expensive station. Therefore, if you have to put 24 gallons into your Lexus SUV that was not hit in the door earlier in the day, you would pay $4 less. That doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but over the course of a year, that equals $208. I know I could do many other things than waste my money on gas, which I could’ve and should’ve bought cheaper. Of course, if you’re driving any SUV, the price of gas is most likely not affecting you as it does the rest of the real world. Even so, there were people across the street filling their tanks up. Probably those same adults dressed up for Halloween. Apparently, people enjoy throwing money away.

As I lay me down tonight, I close my eyes and what a beautiful sight

2005-11-02T08:58:00.000-06:00

I awoke in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and get a drink of water. Once I finished that, I came back to bed and I was just staring at S as she slept peacefully. She was not moving, but for her chest moving air in and out quietly.

Then she snorted and the moment was gone.

Don’t need no credit card to ride this train

2005-11-01T15:30:00.000-06:00

I love how technology has overtaken rational thinking these days. Every month, my credit card bill is auto-generated by some computer at some office and then stuffed into an envelope and sent to me. No human interaction is involved until the actual stuffing and sending. I can also skip the paper and just have an e-bill sent to me, but I like wasting my money (I am essentially paying for the paper through my finance charge, correct?) I would at least like to think that we are technologically advanced enough to program the computer that spits out our monthly statements to make sure the due date does NOT fall on a weekend or holiday!

I received my credit card statement yesterday and the due date falls on Sunday, November 13th, but because the preceding Friday is Veteran’s Day, I need to get it there by Thursday, November 10th. How can a credit card company not catch this? I have to pay my bill three days early or it’s late. Why can’t we just shift my due date to Monday? Because money and technology rule the world, but not in my favor apparently.

Yeah it’s halloween tonight and every night

2005-10-31T16:29:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween!

I didn't realize there were so many people against Halloween in the same way I am!

http://www.sarahhatter.com

One day we’ll celebrate every Halloween

2005-10-29T23:58:00.000-05:00

What is up with adults dressing up for Halloween? God, I am so sick of people asking me what I am going to be for Halloween! If I had a dime for everyone who’s asked me this past week… Seriously people, I dress up every day to be someone I’m not; it’s called my job! Why would I want to do it again and spend more money on clothes that I’ll only use for one day? Halloween is such a crappy holiday anyway. What is it that makes it a holiday? Nobody gets the day off work. If you don’t get the day off work, it’s not real holiday.

I think it’s a giant conspiracy – and I mean huge!

Think about it, first it’s the people who grow the pumpkins. The only other thing people use pumpkins for are baking the seeds, pie and cookies right? What other uses are there?

Then, there are the card makers. Hallmark must have gotten in on this in the early stages. Why do we need a card for Halloween?

Then the candy companies got involved. Don’t even tell me Hershey’s wasn’t the first on this boat either! I’m all for chocolate, but I’m also very attached to my teeth! Which brings me to:

The Dentists! They are the ones who are manipulating parents all over the country by lobbying for this holiday because after all the candy has been consumed; teeth will be rotting for years, keeping the dentists in business forever.

But I’m talking about the adults dressing up, not the kids, the kids are fine, it’s supposed to be fun for them, not for the adults, we (supposedly) grew up.

Now we have the side businesses that benefit from Halloween. For instance, the grocery stores that have to sell the candy and the aisle of costumes they carry. Then it’s the party stores that for a month load up on the “hot costumes” for kids and adults alike. Then there are the adult erotica shops that carry the slightly more naughty costumes for adults. What about the bars? They must hold a Halloween costume party, complete with a contest for the best costume. All the while, people are drinking more than they should to celebrate a non-holiday, holiday. Sad.

You see all the people making money off of all you suckers for a one day “holiday”? If you’d like to throw away money for a better cause, try sending some this way or I’ll have to continue dressing up to be someone I’m not and go to work.

A government for hire

2005-10-28T12:14:00.000-05:00

My girlfriend forwarded an email to me, which was sent out by the Democratic Party candidate running against Tom DeLay, Nick Lampson. I think you'll get the idea of what that email said by reading the response I sent her:

“Ok, here's the problem I have with this email - it's all well and good that Tom DeLay is an idiot, but you and I know that already, as do a lot of other voters, especially the Democrats. Tell me what you are going to do! Nowhere in this email does he talk about what he is going to do about any of the problems we face as a region, state and country. I want answers, not blame. I'd rather run the actual donkey from the democrats logo, than someone who doesn't say anything important.

Instead of sending out this email, I would 1000x prefer an email that says something like, ‘While Tom DeLay is busy fighting his legal battles, what is he doing for you in Congress? The only battles I'll be fighting are to help save (blank), grow more jobs in our region and by working hard, I'll do (blank). Improving our education system in this country is my top priority and I'm going to present a plan that does (blank). This education plan is important because with a good education, the future workforce of Texas and America will be able to work the jobs I helped to create, which will keep this region, state and country's economy flowing and growing for years to come.’

Give me something to get excited about, not something to get more pissed off at (Tom DeLay). When are politicians going to get their heads out of their asses?”

Yes, I'm a little feisty today!