some things considered

2009-10-31T11:08:00.001-04:00

Nothing unusual outside. The neighbors seem to be acting a little strange.

Halloween Morning

2009-10-31T10:46:00.001-04:00

In Albany while my girlfriend works her shift at Albany Med. Strange orange hue outside. Going to check it out.

Isaac at Skidmore College

2009-03-21T18:28:00.002-04:00

Stupid inventions Part 1: The Chumby, may God have mercy on its soul

2008-03-06T08:49:00.003-05:00

I really don't understand why people think anything like this would be of any use to anyone. Why don't you just use the computer sitting right next to the stupid thing? Plus, it's called Chumby. If the Chumby was a human being I'd seriously kick its ass just for being called Chumby. Apparently the Masie Center is infatuated with it and I am just wondering why? It's so tiny you would think that they would at least made it battery powered. Nope, you have to plug it into the wall which makes it even more useless. At least if it was battery powered I could take it with me to a coffee shop to impress people with my technical gadgetry. This is for people who think that wearing one of these things makes them suddenly a VIP not to be f****d with while the rest of us just laugh.

Better Off Dead

2008-03-03T23:51:00.004-05:00

I don't know. Parrots? Why? Wouldn't it be easier to just buy a tape recorder?

Paid for by The Citizens of America Who Hope All Parrots Die and also by The Association of Displaced Anger On Innocent Exotic Birds Who Don't Deserve To Live But We're Starting To See Their Value Anyway And Wish Them Luck (But We're Going To Kill Them Anyway) Association and also by the National Association Of Parrot Haters (NAPH)

This is a one part series on the intrinsic value of the parrot in modern day society from a Marxist-Feminist (i.e. a liberal arts) perspective. God save the sparrow.

Hillary Clinton for president because she's a womyn! Obama cuz he's a brotha! McCain cuz he'll get 'er done!

2008-02-27T22:01:00.007-05:00

Narcissism: self-admiration or self-love; a tendency to over-estimate one's abilities and importance. [ref.]

The 2008 election is becoming a very frustrating election for me to watch unfold. I just read this blog article "A Woman in the White House" by Jennifer Baumgardner on the Huffington Post website. Here are the parts that drive me up the wall:

The reasons people give for not supporting her range from her war authorization vote to fear that her husband will dominate the rest of the election cycle or the White House, but what I hear more is the fact that she's just not "electable" because, as some say, wrinkling their noses, "she not likeable." Creating this self-fulfilling prophecy, the media have piled on, chalking up 62 major incidents of egregious misogyny in the last six months, according to a tally of anti-Hillary sexist episodes in the primary campaign compiled by Melissa McEwan. As Stan Fish wrote on his New York Times blog, to mention her name is to prompt an archive more of vitriol, most of it reflecting a frightening level of woman-hating.

OK. I understand where you are coming from. You are thoroughly convinced that the only reason on God(dess)'s green earth that Clinton will not become the next president is that, well, people just don't want a woman as president. If you say "No, you are wrong. I don't want Clinton for president" then your argument is somehow moot because regardless of what you say it's really all about the fact that there's a silent conspiracy to ensure that a womyn in the oval office doesn't come to pass, at least as a president.

Here's some more of her article so you can see where I'm coming from but feel free to read it all:

"It's hard for me to understand those feminists who are voting for an unknown quantity instead of her, when they have this chance of a lifetime. Especially since the rivals' positions are so similar."

Finally:

Here we are: several generations raised with the mantra that a "woman" could be president, and learning that we don't mean any woman who actually exists.

Oh, for the love of God! Please stop playing the victim! I thought feminism was about empowerment? If you really want Hillary Clinton to be the president so damn bad then quit whining and do something about it!

I'm sorry but being a woman , no matter who you happen to be, does not automatically mean that every woman or person who considers themselves a feminist has to vote for that person. Yeah, it's great she's running but you know what? When was the last time you thought that a black man stood a chance of becoming president? Shouldn't that be an equally noble cause?

In the end, for you to be my baby it doesn't matter if your black or white. Sorry, I had to throw in a Michael Jackson lyric. There's a reason, and it has nothing to do with Obama being a man and Clinton being a woman, that people are moving into the Obama camp more and more. I repeat, it has nothing to do with Obama being a man.

The reasons that I see people moving towards Obama are several. Yes, there are some people who don't want to see a woman in the white house, though I can guaran-freaking-tee you that there are plenty of racists who don't want to see Obama in the white house either.

People love a winner. It's that simple. When Obama started winning people wanted to vote for the winner.
Obama has the support of people, not demographics of people. As much as this may hurt you to hear it, Clinton's inevitability last year was nothing but pomp and circumstance. She never has had the wide base of support that you may have imagined. Look at who's voting for her. Look at the demographics.
Clinton is not electable in the general election because her last name is Clinton. I'm sorry but more people don't like Hillary just because of her last name and because she's Bill's wife than because she's a woman. That's just the truth.
Clinton has never won a real election. I never voted for her because I actually wanted her to be my senator. If you want to know why I voted for her for the senate then see reason number one above and the fact that I'm a Democrat. She wasn't even a New Yorker for God's sake! She ran against Ralph freaking Lazio! The Republicans have never seriously tried to beat Clinton in New York. Not to diminish her accomplishment but I don't think that I'm the only person in New York to find this a rather underwhelming accomplishment. I'm also not the only person in New York to be a little pissed off that a non-New Yorker could just waltz in and become a senator for my state. I would have been just as pissed off if Bill Clinton or Al Gore decided to just one day become a New Yorker and be my senator no matter how much I admire them.
She is politics as usual. See above.

I'm very excited to be voting in what is truly a historical election. To have a black man or a woman in the white house would truly be exciting. However, let's not lose sight of the words of Martin Luther King who said that people should be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. There are millions of Americans who, for the first time ever, see themselves reflected in the candidates who are running for office. Let's vote for the right reasons and not because, like Narcissus, you have fallen in love with your own reflection.

Fuck you Ralph Nader

2008-02-22T16:27:00.003-05:00

Nader considering another White House run

Thank you Ralph Nader for eight of the worst years of my life. Yes, I blame you for George W. Dumbass' tenure in the oval office and every dumb fucking idiot who voted for you. If you hadn't been so self absorbed and run in 2000 for some stupid ass principal then you know what? The world would be a much brighter place now. It's your fault that Bush has made the USA the United States of Haliburton.

You have done more harm to this country than Osama bin Laden and if you really do feel like you just have to contribute something to this country how about you contribute nothing? That would be a much worthier contribution than what you seem to feel your something could possibly offer.

Mitt Romney is as fake as his hair

2008-01-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

I love this quote from the Rominator.

"Washington is fundamentally broken," Romney said. "We're not going to change Washington just by sending the same people back just to sit in different chairs."

If anyone is old enough to vote they should know that EVERY person who tries to enter Washington politics for the first time says the SAME EXACT thing. You know what, Rominator? You aren't Mr. Smith and you sure ain't going to Washington.

Let's remember the last person who used that tired line and who happened to be a governor with overly zealous religious beliefs. That's right, it was George W. DumbAss. Think twice, three times and maybe more the next time you listen to the man with the perfect hair.

The National Organization for Women New York Chapter sets feminism back 30 years!

2008-01-29T08:49:00.000-05:00

Penis. Vagina. Penis. Vagina. Apparently the only decision to be made to determine who is the next president of the United States, according to the New York state chapter of NOW, is whether the person has a penis or a vagina. Here is the unabridged press release:

Senator Kennedy Betrays Women by Not Standing
For Hillary Clinton for President
January 28, 2008

Women have just experienced the ultimate betrayal. Senator Kennedy’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton’s opponent in the Democratic presidential primary campaign has really hit women hard. Women have forgiven Kennedy, stuck up for him, stood by him, hushed the fact that he was late in his support of Title IX, the ERA, and the Family and Medical Leave Act to name a few. Women have buried their anger that his support for the compromises in No Child Left Behind and the Medicare bogus drug benefit brought us the passage of these flawed bills. We have thanked him for his ardent support of many civil rights bills, BUT women are always waiting in the wings.

And now the greatest betrayal! We are repaid with his abandonment! He’s picked the new guy over us. He’s joined the list of progressive white men who can’t or won’t handle the prospect of a woman president who is Hillary Clinton (they will of course say they support a woman president, just not “this” one). “They” are Howard Dean and Jim Dean (Yup! That’s Howard’s brother) who run DFA (that’s the group and list from the Dean campaign that we women helped start and grow). "They" are Alternet, Progressive Democrats of America, democrats.com, Kucinich lovers and all the other groups that take women's money, say they’ll do feminist and women’s rights issues one of these days, and conveniently forget to mention women and children when they talk about poverty or human needs or America’s future.

This latest move by Kennedy, is so telling about the status of and respect for women’s rights, women’s voices, women’s equality, women’s authority and our ability – indeed, our obligation- to promote and earn and deserve and elect, unabashedly, a President that is the first woman after centuries of men who “know what’s best for us.

To save face the national organization released this piece of damage control:

January 28, 2008

The National Organization for Women has enormous respect and admiration for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D- Mass.). For decades Sen. Kennedy has been a friend of NOW, and a leader and fighter for women's civil and reproductive rights, and his record shows that.

Though the National Organization for Women Political Action Committee has proudly endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for president, we respect Sen. Kennedy's endorsement. We continue to encourage women everywhere to express their opinions and exercise their right to vote.

I'm not a woman so I'm sure that my thoughts will be dismissed as just some guy who doesn't get it but I have read and re-read the initial statement made by my state chapter of NOW and the meaning has not changed to me. It simply states this:

Ted Kennedy is an asshole because he won't vote for a person who has a vagina.

Apparently it doesn't matter what Hilary Clinton stands for (besides having a vagina), her record on issues, her leadership qualities or the fact that she killed my cat (that's another story). The only thing that matters is that YOU MUST VOTE FOR HILARY BECAUSE SHE HAS A VAGINA. IF YOU DON'T YOU ARE ANTI-FEMINIST AND DON'T GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT WOMEN.

Excuse me, NOW. Since when is feminism about getting a woman behind the oval office just because she's a woman? Give me one good reason why Hilary over Obama? Being a woman can not be the only reason we choose to elect someone into office as this press release states.

To me, this tirade is completely emotional and illogical. Not good if you are trying to move forward a cause that says that women are not emotional and illogical and therefore should not be president. Dig? A little self censorship goes a long way. Many companies teach email etiquette. One of the basic premises of email is that you shouldn't send something if you are in a pissy mood because you just might regret it.

Well, I hope that the New York State chapter of NOW issues a recant of this statement. I hope that they are calm now and take a look at what they actually wrote and how childish the statement is and issue an apology.

No wonder people see you as a man hating lesbian club.

I'm voting for Obama. Not because he has a penis. Not because he is black and most importantly, not because he's not Hilary. I'm voting for Obama because I believe he can lead this country down a united path towards something greater than any other candidate can offer despite whether or not that candidate has a penis or a vagina.

The fact of the matter is, there's a whole lot of people who hate Hilary as much as they hated Bill and as much as I hate George W. DumbAss. I don't want a divisive candidate. I don't want a "uniter" in the guise of George W. DumbAss (I was told they explained to him what that meant on the same day he said it). I want someone who actually has the ability to unite the nation and who has the ability to let the world see that we aren't a bunch of oppressive white people trying to destroy Islam, Africa and all developing third world countries who have a leader who might have read Karl Marx at one point in their lives.

We need someone who has the ability to heal what Bush has done. We need someone who has the ability to contrast the image of our country with the image that the extremists in Islam see. We need someone who is not a corporate puppet using the White House to get his buddies rich while sinking the economy into a recession and killing our soldiers in unjust wars.

I'm sorry but I just don't think that Hilary has the ability to step up to the plate and it's not because she has a vagina. It's because I think Obama is simply the better candidate.

2007, the year that wasn't... in my blog

2008-01-08T20:41:00.001-05:00

What the hell happened to 2007? I see I posted something sometime back in March about Gabe getting old and then, nothing. How did such a prolific blogger cease and desist for so long littering the internet with his brain detritus (look it up)? Where is all of the witty banter? Forever lost to the world? Well, I'd love to rehash the year that almost was but really, not much to get too excited about. It started with a bang and ended with a whimper (like most of my relationships, me doing the banging and the whimpering).

So being that this is the internet I think it only fitting that I come up with my top ten list of reasons I didn't write my blog in 2007.

Why I didn't write in my blog in 2007 and how the butterfly who didn't flap his wings still impacted the world in many profound ways.

10. I bought an XBox 360 and saved the galaxy! That's right. I purchased an XBox 360 after years of being a PS2 fan (but not a fanboy, that's dumb). Why would I do such a traiterous thing? Me, the Mac guy (insert piano music) who reluctantly decided to work for a software company that makes Windows only software (well, not that reluctantly)?! Me, the guy who bitches and bitches and bitches about Microsoft (I guess that's just something people do, like bitching about taxes)?! Well, for one thing, since I have 3 PCs in my humble abode, two with Windows Media Center, it seemed like I could take more advantage of what the XBox has to offer. I stream my 80 gb of music (all legally purchased, thank you very much! except for the ones my friends gave me and yes they are my friends even if I've never met them!). I can play games at 1080i which you can't do on the PS3 unless the game is 1080i compatible! How could Sony dis me like that! You may not know why this is significant but, trust me, it is. Fuck them! The other consideration is that XBox Live is actually fun! It actually makes me almost want to play videogames against 8 year old kids in Iowa and watch them kick my ass! Not! The other reason I bought an XBox 360, and this is key, it didn't come with Blu-ray. That's right, screw Blu-ray. Screw HD-DVD, too. I'm not paying for it. You guys who come up with this stuff are idiots. Two Hi-Def DVD formats? As my friend Jen would say, "Bite me."

9. My friend Alex gave me movie passes! That's right! My friend Alex gave me one of those movie pass books and I wound up leaving my humble abode more and since I don't bring my laptop to the movies I certainly couldn't blog. Alex, I know you wanted some movie reviews and somewhere I actually wrote down the movies I saw so that I could review them, but I lost my list. So without further ado, in the middle of my top 10 list, here's another top 10 list which is the top 10 movies I saw last year!

Superbad - Now that was a damn funny movie.
Knocked Up - I laughed. I cried. I'm glad that wasn't me.
I Spit on Your Grave - I know it didn't come out in 2007 and I didn't see it in a theater but I had to throw it in here because it's one of the reasons I went to film school.
The Transformers - I was a little too old to appreciate them back in the day but this was one fun movie that I don't really remember which is a true sign that a summer blockbuster movie achieved it's goal of pure escapist fun! Who was in this movie?
Live Free or Die Hard - Now this movie made me realize that I must be a guy because I thoroughly enjoyed this mindless, slightly womanizing piece of over the top summer action fare! One thumb up!
Children of Men - This is hands down the best movie I have seen in years. I can not speak highly enough of this movie. If you haven't seen this movie you should go rent this movie now! I didn't see it in the theater but I sat really close to the tv so that counts on some level, I think.
The Bourne Ultimatum - I'm not gay. I just liked the movie.
The Devil Wears Prada - See comments above.
300 - See comments above.
Not the Bradys - Told you I was straight!

8. I won a crap ton of money at the racetrack! That's right, for the first time in my life I had to stand in the IRS window at the racetrack here in Saratoga Springs. How can I blog when I'm spending the tracks money all summer?! I hit an exact on 9/11 which was a $1500 exacta which I spent a dollar on which was $750 which I had to split with my friend Patricia which was $375 and I just did that without even using a calculator!

7. I went to Boston and hung out outside of Fenway Park during the first playoff game against the Angels! Gabe and myself trekked to Boston for a support conference and it just happened to be scheduled on the same day as the first game of the ALDS playoffs! Hell, yeah! We went to a bar outside of Fenway and drank and ate and watched Josh Beckett kick some Angel ass! Good times! How could I blog while I was doing that?

6. Global Warming I survived blackouts, brownouts, two flooded basements. When was I to find time to blog when I was so busy trying to find power and dry land?

5. Windows Vista I had to upgrade to Vista for work and I have hated my computer ever since. How can I blog when my damn computer is constantly harassing me because I'm trying to use it? Yes, I am absolutely sure I want to install an application. Yes, I am absolutely sure that changing the colors on my computer is a safe thing to do. How does having a computer asking you if you want to constantly do stuff make the computer more safe? It just makes a lame ass operating system even that much more lame ass.

4. I can't find Soledad O'Brien on television anymore - OK, there's sexy women in the news still, but how can I wake up in the morning and get my mojo working to write in my blog without Soldedad on CNN anymore in the morning? Dammit!

3. The internet is disgusting! - OK, there's a viral video out there that must be seen to be believed. If you visit the web page where this video is located you can probably figure out the name of the site but I'm telling you, don't watch it! Don't! You won't blog for months!

2. I started reading again Who knew that reading could be so much fun and take up so much time? I plowed through some great books and some not so great books and because I already have a top 10 list in my top 10 list I won't bore you with all the fun books that I read. But how can I blog when I'm trying to read? Sorry, I'm not that good of a multi-tasker.

1. I inspired a whole nation of writers to go on strike! That's right. It may have gone completely unnoticed in the blogosphere but who do you think got the whole ball rolling on this Writers Guild of America strike business? That's right, me. I was a revolutionary back in March. I even grew a strike beard before there was a strike beard to grow! When you guys finally sort out your mess and get back to work so you can make $600,000 instead of $550,000 don't forget the man who got it all started. Feel free to leave a comment and I'll give you my Swiss bank account deposit info so you can hook a brother up.

Happy Birthday Gabe!!!

2007-03-25T12:33:00.000-04:00

My friend Gabe turns 30 in a week and his wife Jen decided to throw him quite the surprise party. We all gathered at the l0cal brewery and had a wonderful time. Click the photo to view the photo show and don't forget to view Gabe's moving toast.

Big Bear, CA

2007-03-11T09:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been one busy guy and I haven't really had time to think about or write in my blog. I know that some of you have been waiting to see my pictures from my trip to Big Bear. It turns out there really aren't that many! I made a photoshow for you to enjoy. If you click on the picture above you'll see it.

leave no dog behind

2007-01-31T22:51:00.001-05:00

OK. Here I go. California. You better be there when I get there or I'm going to be pissed. After putting in a full work week and then some over the course of the past few days (I clocked fifteen plus hours on Tuesday) I am heading off to the great Steinbeckian (it's my blog and I'll make up words if I want to!) state of California.

Where you can apparently bring in anything you want to the state, except fruit.

Where my fellow white folks aren't just racist towards blacks but also hispanics and asians, too (depending on where you are)!

I'll be in a little place called Big Bear, CA which is apparently a place you go to ski and drink tequilla (this makes no sense to me so it must be a "Californian" thing). I am going to be hanging out with twelve men in one ski chalet! This is going to be like the Brotherhood of the Travelling Laptops! I'm sure no woman in their right mind could even comprehend what twelve men could do together over the course of one weekend at a ski chalet and there's probably a good reason for that.

Here's how I am envisioning my little vacation:
Get to the chalet.
Fall asleep.
Wake up.
Tequilla.
Hot Tub.
Skiing.
Food.
Tequilla.
Hot Tub.
Fall asleep.
Repeat chorus.
Third verse, same as the first verse.

Notice there's none of that talking stuff happening? That's why I have friends who are female. So I don't forget how to talk.

If there are any group hugs, James Blunt, tofu, enemas (I know you do that out there, don't lie), someone trying to balance my chakras, excessive mellow or chill attitudes, a retreat to a day spa, an unexpected book club, or any other untowardly acts that I know happen in California, I'm outta there. That's all I'm saying.

So here I go.
Off to California.
Or as Jack Bauer would say...
Dammit!

Isaac, I'll miss you buddy. I'll be home soon.

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Denial is just a river in Egypt

2007-01-28T10:38:00.001-05:00

As part of my ongoing attempt at getting at least one of my resolutions started this year (I am going to California this week. That's one.) I've decided to revisit some of my philosophical approaches to life. Someone once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Well, then I must be insane.

Today is January 28th. That's almost a full month past New Year's Day (at least in my country it is, _________ [insert proud to be an american quote from your favorite country song or at least something about prying my gun from my cold dead hands despite the fact that I don't have a gun]). Let's see how we're doing, shall we?

Quit smoking. No. Make me. OK, I do have a date for this. It's when I get back from California, next Monday. I'm serious.
Unbachelorize my apartment. Well, now I think it looks like I've abandoned the place so that's at least different. OK, I haven't done this. It's just that I know where my clothes are if I keep them in my laundry baskets and I really haven't had the time to find that poster of those two kids holding hands on the bench. I know you know what I'm talking about.
Get in shape. What the hell does that mean anyway? I am a shape, dammit! Wonder twin powers, activate! Form of a glacier! Shape of a mountain lion!
Go cross country skiing. Ha, I have done that! There hasn't been much snow on the ground but I have been on my NordicTrak, dammit! So yes to three and four! Sweet!
Read more. I am still reading! In fact, I just read what I just wrote! I'm on a roll, baby!
I will not buy another MP3 player. This should be pretty easy and no, I haven't. Mmmmm, iphone. Grrrrr......
Train Isaac to not hump stuff. Well, he isn't right now. Does that count?
Go visit my brothers in April. I obviously can't do this one right now so it's almost like it doesn't count. Yet.
My car is still not totaled! Awesome!
Well, I am going to California this week so there!

So let's see I have started three, four, five, six, maybe seven kind of, eight doesn't count (yet), nine and ten! That's seven out of ten baby! Weehoo!!!

Don't hate the player, hate the resolution.

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New York outlaws the use of Spanish during any board games or drinking games

2007-01-11T09:50:00.001-05:00

In a surprising move early in Eliot Spitzer's term in office as Governor of New York he has outlawed the use of the Spanish language during the playing of board games and drinking games within the state of New York. Fines can range from $500 and two-weeks of community service to $5000 and five weeks of yodel torture by Gwen Stefani depending on the amount of Spanish used and the speed at which the language was spoken.

He said that this law was introduced to minimize cheating, particularly in the game of Taboo. He said with reference to two unknown individuals: "That means you too Alex and Cati!"

My New Year's Resolutions (so you can watch as I don't do a single damn one of 'em)

2006-12-29T13:31:00.001-05:00

I always make secret New Year's resolutions. I never follow through with them. They usually involve some level of self improvement and I usually can keep them going for at least a little while. I remember one fine year (I don't remember the actual year but I think it was 1997) when I successfully quit smoking for several months. Well, I went to a New Year's party and by the end of the night I had successfully negated quitting smoking! I guess that's not really a resolution but it just goes to show you how easy it is to fall of the proverbial resolution wagon. So with that in mind I'm putting finger to keyboard and publicly announcing all of my resolutions and let's just see how it goes!

Quit smoking... dammit! I try and try and try and try...
Unbachelorize my apartment. No, I don't think that's actually a word either but it's the best I could do to describe what I actually need to do to my apartment to make it presentable to someone other than myself. A guy clearly lives in my apartment and it's a guy who clearly hasn't spent much time watching HGTV.
Get my lazy ass off the couch and get in shape... dammit! I go through phases with this but I never stick to it. Why? Well, I don't know. Ask Dr. Phil.
Go cross country skiing. There's no snow so this might be a bit difficult. Global warming sucks.
Read more. I actually started this one early and so far, so good. I'm reading the Time Traveller's Wife right now which is a chick book, but a fun read nonetheless!
I will not buy another mp3 player. I will not buy another mp3 player. I will not buy another mp3 player.
Get Isaac to stop humping everything all the time. Seriously, Isaac, off!
Go visit my brothers down south in April. Get ready, cuz here I come!
Not have some jerk total my new car. OK, this one's out of my control so maybe it's not a real resolution but seriously, if you see a slate colored 2006 Scion XA on the road don't hit me!
Last but not least, I'm going back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali. I'm going back to Cali, man, I really think so.

Elf Yourself!

2006-12-22T21:20:00.001-05:00

OK, this is too much fun. Thanks to my friend Cati for pointing out how you can transform yourself into a dancing elf!

Is this true?

2006-12-22T20:42:00.001-05:00

Get Better Portraits by Turning Your Camera Upside Down? : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech

Since I purchased my brand new Casio Exilim EX-Z70 digital camera I have been having a great time taking photos and taking advantage of my free software PhotoShow from Time Warner, my ISP.

One thing I wasn't aware of, and I haven't actually tested this, is apparently digital cameras take better portrait photos if you turn the camera upside down. Fact or fiction? I guess you'll have to give it a try to find out! Let me know!

I just broke up with NetFlix and I feel fine

2006-12-21T14:45:00.000-05:00

I have been a silent advocate of Netflix on my blog by placing my queue and a little ad on the side of my blog so everyone could see what I was going to be watching. It's a great program for many reasons. You can rate movies, share recommendations with friends and watch all of those seasons you missed of your favorite television program.

Well, I never got around to watching 24 as I had intended when I originally signed up. I also found that the frequency I received my two dvds a week actually put me behind schedule so by the time I was watching a movie it was already on HBO or Showtime. I'm not rich and I can't really justify having HBO, Showtime and Netflix so I had to make a choice.

Good bye Netflix.

While the freedom to choose your own programming is great, Netflix doesn't have the original series that I like to watch until it's already been on televsion. For the same price I was paying for Netflix (okay it's a little bit more) I can watch all of my favorite shows like The L Word, Weeds, Sleeper Cell, Brotherhood, etc... live in high definition, baby! I'm not mentioning any HBO programming because, well, they haven't had any new series I could attach myself to in a while. Everything is on season 18 or whatever. I'm not going to start watching the Sopranos now!

So back to supporting my local video rental store. I miss being spontaneous and just deciding Hey, I want to rent a movie! and then going out and getting one, two, or three. This is a ritual I actually have missed since getting Netflix.

I may not be able to find all of the unique foreign titles I could find through Netflix but so what? You can't watch everything!

So if you have Netflix, I wish I was rich and could too. If you don't have Netflix, think before you make the commitment. While it's a great deal for those without HBO and Showtime or the other movie stations on cable, if you already have these stations consider the cost. You may find it just ain't worth it.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

2006-12-19T18:04:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my friends Alex and Cati for throwing such a unique Christmas party this past Saturday. The theme of the party was ugly Christmas sweaters. As you can see from the picture, I pulled out all the punches with a fine ensemble courtesy of the JC Penny's women's department. The sweater was normally fifty dollars and I got it on sale for only twenty! You can't beat that. I won a nice bottle of sherry and some chocolates for best ugly sweater.

You can view two new PhotoShows of the party:
Alex and Cati's X-Mas Party
ugly-sweater-party-justin-photos

new camera

2006-12-05T23:28:00.000-05:00

Click photo above to see PhotoShow!

Well, it's been a little bit since I've updated my blog. The good news is that I now have a new digital camera since my old one decided to die on me. I've given it a bit of a test run. I'll write more when I'm less tired but I really want to see what this photoshow looks like after publishing this.

Damn lack of technological tools to facilitate a happy Thanskgiving

2006-11-22T13:10:00.000-05:00

Aaahhhh, a freaking day off! I'm over at the folks house wondering where the hell everyone is. "Come over in the afternoon, we'll be here!" OK, where are you? Anyway, my niece, who I haven't seen since last December when she was a wee bit of a two week old is here and of course my digital camera that isn't even two years old has decided to die on me. What's up with the obituaries for my toys? This is my second one! I'm not even going to give it a eulogy. Screw that thing. Three hundred bucks for a camera that lasts two years?! I should have bought a plane ticket to Vegas instead!

Anyway, the family is all here. I met up with my brothers by surprise last night at 9 Maple Avenue, the best bar in Saratoga springs. A martini and several Old Speckled Hens and a bounty of laughs filled the evening. It's great to see everyone. Too bad I won't have any damn photos of the experience! I can't wait for Thanksgiving as I'm sure y'all can't either. We've earned it and I'm sure everyone has a lot to be thankful about. Here's my little list of the things I am thankful for.

My health - I know, everyone's thankful for their health but seriously, as far as I can tell I am healthy and that's a lot to be thankful for!
My whole family is in town! Hell, yeah! How often does that happen? Not a whole lot. Let's hope our family photo isn't going to be a group of individual mug shots after a night on the town!
My job. It's nice to have money.
My pups, Isaac. Ruff.
My friends old and new.

I hope everyone who reads this has a great Thanksgiving, even if their damn digital camera they only had for two years broke and they can't take pictures of the niece they rarely get to see.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The Tide is Turning

2006-11-08T07:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I ran a mental marathon. I woke up from the haze of my friend Jami's birthday party and turned on CNN. I continued to watch CNN, MSNBC and even Fox News all day long waiting in excited anticipation for the results of the election. I clocked in at around eight in the morning and quietly fell asleep at around one in the morning elated to find that I was not alone in my disgust of President Bush and our corrupt, wasteful Republican Congress.

Not only did the Democrats take control of the House but it looks like we may have a small majority in the Senate when all is said and done. My representative, John Sweeney, was ousted by Kirsten Gillibrand. I had no hope of this actually happening.

God bless America!

Our jobs as citizens of this democracy is far from over. We have spoken loud and clear that it is time for a change. It's also time to get involved. I'm not going to assume that just because my peeps are now in control of Congress that anything is going to change. I'm going to let my little voice be heard about the changes I want to see take place. I would hope that we all do the same. It's really pretty easy in the digital age. Go visit Congress' website and let them know the direction you want to see this country move in.

Newly redesigned blog!

2006-11-04T10:26:00.000-05:00

I forgot to mention, and you may have noticed, that I recently moved to a new design for my blog. I even have labels now over there, see 'em? You can view entries based on specific topics. I thought you might like that! Anyway, I hope you like the new design.

Vote Yes for the Saratoga Spring city charter reform on Tuesday

2006-11-04T10:11:00.000-05:00

I hate to do this to you but I'm going to write about politics, again. On Tuesday the citizens of Saratoga Springs have the opportunity to bring city government into, well, the late twentieth century. I've been getting those stupid mailings from both sides of the issue and I really didn't care either way about the charter reform issue until now. When I see who opposes the city charter reform my decision has become quite clear.

Vote yes.

Why? Well, the only reason not to is so that certain people can maintain their power in the city council and certain constituents can benefit from our current weak form of city government. In grade school we all learned about the checks and balances of the United States government and how it was such a great idea. Well, that's what voting yes does. It puts a system of checks and balances in place that does not currently exist. Makes sense to me. What more do you need to know?

Well, when you don't have a system of checks and balances in place (like when the Republicans control all three branches of government) you tend to get a crappy self serving government.

So quit taking sides. How is this a Republican versus Democrat issue? It's not. It's about creating an efficient and effective form of city government.

Please, get up off your knees

2006-11-03T09:26:00.000-05:00

I generally don't like to talk about politics unless I'm preaching to the converted. What's the point? Well, the point is this - George W. Bush is the worst president ever. Don't believe me? OK, I'll run down the list of accomplishments of George Bush's tenure as president.

George Bush has killed and injured more Americans than were killed or injured on 9/11 by sending us into a war under false pretenses, with no plan and no end in sight.

While there is plenty of blame to go around for the debacle that was and still is Hurricane Katrina, George Bush has done nothing to lead New Orleans down a road to recovery. I would argue that Bill Clinton and Bush's dad have done a whole lot more than our bungling government could or will ever do.

When George Bush entered office our country had a surplus. Now we're borrowing money from Mexico and China.

Unless you are rich or work in the oil industry or for Halliburton or any of the other companies cherry picked by Bush and his stooges to get rich in Iraq you HAVE NOT benefited one iota from Bush being in office. If you think you have, pass me whatever it is you're smoking.

Leave no child behind = Leave most children behind.

I know we can't vote out the president. We can do one thing that is just as important. Make him a lame duck president. Let's do our best to elect a Congress that will not help Bush in anyway destroy this great country of ours anymore than he already has.

Oh, and if the Democrats actually do get a majority, please impeach the president and charge him with war crimes and crimes against humanity. I know that's not going to happen. I had a little lapse in reason. Well, at least do the following:

Healthcare for all. What's the point of getting a free public school education if you are just going to die because you can't go see a doctor?

Get out of Iraq. It takes courage to admit you made a mistake.

Bring our National Guard troops home IMMEDIATELY. They are the "National" Guard! They aren't supposed to be in harm's way in Iraq. Bush should know that better than anyone else. We certainly could have used them when we lost New Orleans.

Investigate the oil scandal which is far worse than Enron. People should be in jail for this scam. Free market my ass.

Brazil is leading the world by moving to alternative energy sources. Remember when America was the leader in the world? Now Americans want to retain two things - their money and their power. Unfortunately, this doesn't really make one forward thinking. Forward thinking involves risk.

Ditch the seven hundred mile wall plan. Um, the border is a lot longer than that. Of course, I'm sure it seems like a good idea to the people who think Bush is a good idea.

Tax the freaking rich like everyone else. Screw you rich people! I pay taxes. The poor pay taxes. If you don't pay taxes or your fair share of taxes then you shouldn't have the right to vote and we should strip your citizenship.

Take care of the American people, not American big business. Republicans turned welfare into a nasty word and yet they subsidize American big business at unprecedented levels. Welfare is welfare. I'd rather you help those who need help then those who don't. It's the Chrsitian thing to do.

While I'm on the subject of Christianity. The religious right are not Christians. They are the Antichrist. Don't believe me? Read the bible. The meek shall inherit the Earth. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Turn the other cheek. What freaking bible are you reading? You're about as Christian as Satan. Go watch your Nascar (cars that get two miles a gallon by the way. There's fuel econonmy for you!), grab your guns and go kill a duck. Just do the rational and educated people in the world a favor and stay out of the polls next Tuesday.

OK, I'll try and refrain from politics from this point forward. See what happens?

Happy Halloween!!!!

2006-11-03T09:03:00.000-05:00

I don't normally load my blog up with photos but I just had to after having a great time at Alex and Cati's party in Albany. I haven't got dressed up for Halloween in some time and this was a great excuse! The following week I went to another Halloween party as a nun with a handlebar and a leisure suit. Hopefully someone will be busting out some photos from that party so I can share with you the raucous fun!

Who's the lucky 1000th visitor?

2006-10-04T17:12:00.000-04:00

Well, my blog is fast approaching it's one thousandth visitor. Who's it gonna be? You? Me? My dog, Issac? Thanks everyone for visiting. I can't wait to share some of my crazy adventures with you all but that's going to have to wait for another day.

While you are waiting, check out the software the boys at Articulate have been putting together, Engage! You can try it free for 15 days! I'm very excited to be a part of such a talented team.

U2 Book Signing

2006-09-26T18:36:00.000-04:00

Today was a normal day for me. I worked, I ate, I laughed, I cried. It wasn't normal for one important reason - U2 were signing books at a Barnes and Nobles in New York City. If anyone knows me they know that I am a huge U2 fan. In fact I had been keeping my eye out for a New York book signing since I saw they were signing books in London and Dublin. Last night they performed on Monday Night Football with Green Day! They tricked me! I got sucked into the football game and forgot to check their website for any news. So all day today I sat in front of my computer wondering what might have been had I known that they would be within a seven hour driving radius of me today. It has been a dream of mine to meet these guys for I don't know how long and I blew my opportunity! I can only hope they will be doing another book signing somewhere near me soon. I have already scheduled an open-ended day off for this.

C'mon, boys! Where you gonna be?

Pajamas, leaves and must see tv!

2006-09-21T21:24:00.000-04:00

Last Christmas I decided to make my parents life easier. I asked for a gift certificate for LL Bean and then I went shopping online. By the time Christmas rolled around I had all of my presents under the tree. The wonders of the internet! The most important addition to my wardrobe that I made that Christmas was loungewear. Oh, yes, that's right.

I work from home and when you work from home it's important to be comfortable. It's also important to live out your fantasies of what you always thought working from home would be. One of the visions I had in my head when I started my new job was sitting on my la-z-boy with my laptop (on my lap) reclined back with soap operas on the telly and wearing my pjs. Well, that fantasy never came to be. I'm not really into soap operas and I don't like feeling the radioactive energy from the laptop slowly ruining whatever chances I have of someday becoming a father. I do have a laptop but I prefer to use that when I work from my local coffeeshop. The one thing that came true in that fantasy I had is my pjs.

Now that autumn is here I can start wearing my pjs, my bathrobe and my slippers. What a nice treat! All summer wearing shorts and flip flops, c'mon! It's important if you live in the northeast to embrace the change of seasons, lest you go mad. This is one of the ways that I do it.

Speaking of autumn, it's really here! Soon the northway will be filled with foliageheads gawking at all the beautiful colors. Good for them! It's always a much shorter season than you remember from the year before it seems. I will be making the sojourn to Vermont at some point. What the heck?

The other sign that autumn is finally here is the new television season. How exciting is that? Well, based on what I've seen so far, about as exciting as plucking out your nose hairs. I've seen a few shows that I thought I would be excited about but so far nothing has grabbed my attention. I saw My Name is Earl and The Office tonight and those were pretty good. However, I haven't seen anything new that has really excited me. I guess I'll have to wait and see. Thank God for Netflix!

Welcome back, Autumn. I missed you.

Does this guy even write in his blog? What's he been doing?

2006-09-20T21:06:00.000-04:00

OK. I know. I have been a horrible blogger as of late. I enjoy the act of writing and I enjoy piecing these words together into something a little better than chatter but not quite Faulkner. What have I been up to lately? I'll give you the run down:

1) Went to two Boston/Chicago games over Labor Day weekend at Fenway Park. We won. I sat by the Pesky Pole. I have pictures. Wouldn't you like to see them? Oh, yeah. There's some Travers photos too.
2) I finally got my new 2006 Scion XA! Let's hope some bastard doesn't total this one.

See you haven't missed much!

birthday, part three: Isaac's Revenge

2006-08-28T18:33:00.000-04:00

I've had it with these muthaRUFFin' blogs about these muthaRUFFin' birthdays!

Isaac Wilcox, August 28th, 2006

On August 19th, 1999 a dalmatian was born into the world. He was christened Isaac Wilcox sometime that October. I can't tell you his name beforehand. He was briefly being raised by a single mother in a little apartment in Gloversville, New York. Needless to say, a newborn baby and a newborn dalmatian do not go hand in hand. He was quickly returned to the breeder. I was fortunate enough that fall to pick up a Want Ad Digest and saw an ad for a dalmatian for fifty dollars!

For those of you who don't know me that well, I have always wanted a dalmatian for as long as I can remember. I had posters of dalmatians, I owned the 101 Dalmatians movie, I had many things dalmatian before I ever was in a position to own one. In fact, I probably wasn't in a position to own one when I did get Isaac. I was living with two roommates at the time and I didn't ask them permission. Oh, well. You can't always live your life for others and at the time it seemed necessary. Let me explain.

I'm a dog lover. I've always loved dogs. On a dark late fall evening in 1998 one decided to attack me. Of course, the dog wasn't a miniature poodle. It was a full grown german shepherd. They have really sharp teeth and very strong jaws. My face was no match. I can't really tell you much about that night except the doctor gave me a wonderful drug called demarol. If your nose is ever dangling off of your face, trust me, you'll want some. After a lot of surgery I was put back together rather well. The one thing the doctor couldn't do, though, was restore my faith in dogs.

In hindsight, it would have been better to get an okay from the people I lived with when I decided to get Isaac. However, I felt compelled to drive to Corinth and pick up a little dalmatian puppy. When I first arrived at the breeders house, Isaac's parents went wild and were barking furiously. I was scared. I was sweating. I was mad. Dalmatians are supposed to be my peeps! Should I just turn around and drive back home?

No.

I recently had a discussion with someone about randomness versus fate. I chose fate's side in that conversation. I don't think that it's random that the one thing I wanted more than anything, a dalmatian, had turned into two barking mad versions of the thing I loved most. It clearly was time to face down a fear. I walked up to the house and introduced myself. Isaac's parents were sent inside. Isaac was let out. Let me tell you that I have never seen a cuter puppy in all of my life. He was perfect! Insane, but perfect! I took my bundle of spastic insanity home that day not really quite sure what I was getting into. I just knew I had to get into it.

Over the past seven years Isaac has brought me so much joy. I remember the first (and last) time he went swimming up in Lake Desolation. I remember the first (and not the last) time he decided to hump one of my friends. He was the month of May this year in the colondar. He sat on my lap through the American League Championships in 2004 when I watched my Red Sox come back from dead to do the unthinkable. He was on my lap almost the entire time, except when Pedro was brought in at the end of that one game. He has been with me through good times and bad and he has always had my back.

I know I'm a little late with the birthday shout out, Isaac, and I can hear you barking in your sleep as I write this. I just want you to know (Okay, I know that Isaac can't read and really doesn't care that I'm writing this now. I'm not stupid! Cut a guy some slack!) that you are a great dog, a great companion and dare I say, a great friend.

Happy birthday, buddy.

birthday, part 2: this time it's personal

2006-08-28T14:54:00.000-04:00

Damn, I'm old.
-Justin Wilcox, August 10th, 2006

On August 10th of this year I woke up a new man. I had just spent the previous evening at the orchestra drinking champagne and listening to Yo-Yo Ma blow away the Saratoga Performing Arts Center with his Hendrixian interpretation of a Dvorak cello concerto. I was inspired! I was on a musical high never to come down! What a great way to turn thirty-five! Half way to seventy, baby!

I had taken my birthday off in advance and intended to relax which I did. I went over to the folks house and had some yummy lemon meringue pie and came home to get ready for my par-tayy on Fri-dayy!

I was quite excited to have some friends over to celebrate my birthday. I haven't really used my apartment as a party headquarters so no time like the present (now, of course Friday, August 11th would be the past)! I woke up late on Friday and took a trip to Minogue's Beverage Center where I loaded up on all the cheap beer I could find. I had Genny, Pabst, Schaeffer and Utica Club. Does it get much better than that? No, I didn't think so either. I headed home and got ready to go to a work lunch at the Olde Bryan Inn (now I did have the day off and typically I don't work on a day off but I love their lunch and it was free food. Can't pass up free food!).

I decided to take the shortcut that I always take to get to the Olde Bryan Inn which is to go over by Skidmore on Third Street which turns into East Avenue. It's nice because you avoid Route 50. I turned onto the Third Street and was minding my own business when ...

BAMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why does my car smell like my radiator? Why am I shaking uncontrollably? Why am I on the other side of the road? Why are people looking at me? Why are my airbags hanging out? Why did I pick this song to listen to right now? It sure is nice out! Why is there smoke coming through my dashboard? Maybe I should get out of the car now? I don't think I'm going to lunch now.

Yes, it's true. My brand new 2006 Scion XA that I had only driven one thousand miles was t-boned by some asshole track guy who decided to light a cigarette in his stupid jeep and blow a stop sign on Woodlawn Avenue thereby crushing the front passenger side of my car and sending me off to the other side of the road. After my initial shock I did get out of my car, and as I had mentioned in my previous post about my father's gift of his creative use of the English language, I said a whole lot of things that can not be printed. I then looked at my car. It was destroyed. I fell to the ground in tears. I'm a man, but I'll be damned if crying doesn't have it's time and place. That was the time. That was the place.

One of the nice things about having a terribly traumatic thing happen to you is your brain's ability to just switch it all off. My car was destroyed, a million things went through my mind and then the mind just said, "F.A.Q. it." Someone told me the cops were on their way. I wasn't sure what to do. I wasn't going to call my insurance company at the moment. So what does a guy do when he just turns thirty-five and has his car wrecked by some idiot? Well, not only did this man cry - he called his mom.

The cop took my statement, the tow truck came, I gathered my belongings and hitched a ride home from my mom.

At least no one was injured.

Thank God my dog, Isaac, wasn't in the car!

I don't know about you but I seem to like to rationalize things that can't be rationalized. My car was gone. I still had made no preparations for my party besides buying three cases of cheap beer.

At least the beer wasn't in the car.

I got home and gathered my thoughts. One thought I had was something I remember from a Robert Frost poem about how taking the road less travelled made all the difference and blah, blah, blah...

Yeah, thanks. Your lame agrarian neo-romantic allegory really helps in the real world, bastard. If I had taken the road more travelled I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in right now!

That's the last time I listen to a poet!

I eventually straightened my brain out and my friends were nice enough to finish the preparations for the party. We all had a great time! I still don't have a car. I'm waiting for the insurance people to work their incredibly slow magic. I would love to tell you that I learned something from this experience. I would love to tell you that I realize the importance of not getting attached to earthly desires as it causes suffering. Yeah, Buddha figured that one out a long time ago. I guess the only wisdom I gained that fateful day is this:

If you think you can ride a Yo-Yo Ma musical high for the rest of your life, you're wrong.

Oh, wait, I think I learned something else, too:

Don't listen to poets, ever.

The best Snakes on a Plane blog entry ever!!!!!

2006-08-19T11:31:00.000-04:00

Snakes on a Plane

Shamelessly attracting internet traffic is fun.

snakes plane blog snakes plane blog snakes plane blog samuel l. jackson snakes blog plane

Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty?

2006-08-19T09:41:00.000-04:00

If this isn't a forced smile, I don't know what one is.

Every once in a while a man reaches a milestone in his life. Some milestones are personal, like the time I ate 50 clams one sunny July afternoon. Some are much bigger than that, like my father's sixtieth birthday. The big Six-O. The big sixty fo shizzy.

When my grandparents celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary I remember the large dinner and celebration that came with it. Some of the photos in my parents collection that I cherish the most are from that special occasion. With that in mind, expectations were high for such a milestone birthday in my father's life. Friends, family from all across the nation gathering together to celebrate all of the joy and wonderful contributions he has given us throughout his life.

Before I dive into the celebration that was my father's birthday, here are a few facts about this guy:

I can't give you the exact year but my brother and I had him voted the Best Father of the Year some time ago I believe in our local paper, the Saratogian (No, sorry, you don't get a link. That would just be, um, embarrassing). It was so long ago that one of the prizes was our very first videogame console, Pong. Yes, it was even before Atari. I imagine it was before my life really began, the day I saw Star Wars in the movie theater.
If you really aren't that good at fishing, why not take your children to a lake that is so overstocked with fish that you are catching them simply because they get caught on your hook. They don't even have to bite! That was the joy of our vacations to Lake Snow in the Adirondacks. I caught so many fish on that lake it did border on the ridiculous. Nothing worth eating but I would like to apologize to the one fish who I caught by the eye. Being young and inventive I even managed to catch another fish with that fish's eye! Sorry about that. In hindsight I do see that using a fish's eye to catch another fish of the same species may have been rather cruel. Thanks, Dad!
My father is something of a virtuoso with the English language. I was never uncool in the schoolyard for lack of witty phrases. I think the one that sticks in my mind the most was the clever way he used the term douche bag. Fortunately, at the time, myself and no one else around me really knew what I was calling them.
I can't tell you exactly when, but at some point in my father's life as a Classification and Pay Analyst for the State of New York (which by the way has to be the sexiest job title after my current job title of Customer Support Engineer) my father decided to join the theater. No, that is not code for anything. My father and mother are still happily married thank you very much. He did, though, literally join the Home Made Theater at the Spa Little Theater. I have been fortunate enough to see many of his performances and if my father leaves a legacy outside of making sure some nurse at a state hospital was well compensated for her work it would be his contribution to our little community theater. He has been in countless plays, served on the board for something short of forever and I know that HMT would not be the same without him.

So now back to my father's big sixtieth birthday! As I mentioned sixty is somewhat of a milestone. That's no four in front of that zero. That's a whole cute twenty year old college girl after forty (sorry, that's how I do math sometimes)! I was of course invited and zoomed over in my former car (that's another blog entry).

I greeted my mom and my dad and everyone else who was nice enough to show up on my dad's big day! Let's see who else was there, ummmm... my mother, my father, my dog Isaac and me. What the hell was that?! Did you not just read everything I wrote above?! Sixty, milestone, joy, contribution, friends, family from all across the nation!

Well, okay, we could work with this. I mean it's not quantity it's quality, right? At least he got piles and piles of cards to open... or not. It looked like just a regular stack of mail you get on any given day. The cards, don't get me started. My folks best friends in the world who always deliver on birthdays with the wittiest, dirtiest cards gave him a generic happy birthday card. Not one card even mentioned he turned sixty! It took maybe two minutes to open, read, photograph and re-read all of the cards my dad received. I'm not entirely innocent in this travesty, I didn't even bring him a card! Oops.

My mom and myself delivered perhaps the worst synchronized "Happy Birthday" song to ever be sung. I believe I sang it in A flat minor moderato while my mom went for a more upbeat D minor adagio. We almost sang in something of a round but, to be honest, the whole thing kind of unravelled there in the end.

This story does have a happy ending, though. After we had a nice dinner we met up at the best bar in Saratoga Springs 9 Maple Avenue where many of my father's friends greeted him with warm birthday cheer. Everyone had a great time and the birthday was redeemed in martinis and foofy pink drinks.

So, Dad, consider this blog entry my birthday card to you. Happy 60th!

Love,

Justin

I'm on vacation.

2006-08-08T11:42:00.000-04:00

Well, I know that my prolific blog writing has fallen off and sorry about that. I'm on vacation! Well, not at the moment but I pretty much am on a mental vacation. I do have a lot to write about starting with my dad's infamous sixtieth birthday party! So I'll see y'all on the other side of this week.

hadley, heat waves, horses, rum... and cottage cheese

2006-07-24T20:46:00.000-04:00

Yes, I do realize that just uploading photos and making no comments about my trip to Hadley Mountain probably doesn't make for the most exciting blog entry in the world but a picture's worth a thousand words so that's like a 10000 word blog entry! I didn't want to overwhelm anyone. I must remember to actually bring water up the mountain next time. Isaac was none too pleased about this oversight on my part. He survived on the water running down the mountain and I sucked it up Sid (saying Sally there doesn't make a lot of since in my case, I'm a dude). If you live in the Saratoga region you have no excuses to not make the short drive to the mountain, unless you have a note from your doctor. It's really not that bad of a hike. Heck, it's over before you start! The views at the top are well worth the hour and a half or so of physical exertion. I also forgot to mention that black flies need your blood. In a way, you aren't just doing it for yourself. You are also becoming an active participant in the cycle of life. The black flies will love you for this! I remember them all gathering around and waving their tearful goodbyes as I headed back down the mountain. They kindly offered to let their friends, the gnats, walk me down the mountain. That was great. I really needed the escort. Nothing makes you feel better than having hundreds of gnats escort you down a mountain. Thanks guys!

Air conditioning is a splendid invention. According to Wikipedia, the man I have to thank is Willis Haviland Carrier. Thanks, Willie. Mind if I call you Willie? Last week Isaac, my humble canine companion, and myself luxuriated in the dry coolness of my two Samsung air conditioners while the world outside suffered in its own stink, heat and humidity. I can't wait to get my electric bill!

If you live in the greater capital district I hope you realize that it is time to play the ponies at the Saratoga Racetrack! I have been waiting for like a whole year! I'll be working on opening day but you will definitely see me there around lunchtime placing some bets. If I hit it big I have already promised "one whose name can not be spoken" (why have all of my friends banned me from speaking about them on my blog?) a little loaner for a little air conditioner. So horseracing gods, it's for a good cause! Hook a brother up!

A concoction for those of you watching your weight but enjoy a thirst quenching rum drink. I like to call this Bacardi Superior and Waist Watcher Diet Black Raspberry. Here's the instructions:

Get a pint glass.
Fill it with ice.
Pour in two shots of Bacardi Superior.
Fill the glass with Waist Watcher Diet Black Raspberry.
Add lemon wedge if you got it.
Drink and enjoy!

Maybe I need a better name but its darn tasty. How about I call it a Superior Razz? Hmmm, if you have any ideas feel free to add a comment. However, it's only 120 calories and no carbs! Can't beat that! Wait, what are those calories then? I'll have to reasearch that and get back to you.

Another great idea for all of you watching what you eat. Need a healthy snack before bedtime? Try mixing no fat cottage cheese with some no added sugar organic applesauce. Sounds gross doesn't it? Well, it is if you dont' get the ratio right. Just keep adding applesauce until it doesn't take like crap.

Why am I talking about watching what I eat? Well, if you must know I started a weight training program. Yes, I'm laughing too. I'll post some before and after photos in about a month and then we'll see whose laughing! Yes, it will probably be you.

A view from Hadley Mountain, New York

2006-07-19T21:57:00.000-04:00

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let's have a war, why not?

2006-07-14T20:31:00.000-04:00

I swore and swore and swore up and down and all around that I wouldn't discuss politics on my blog. I'm still trying really hard to refrain from saying anything about the recent events in the Middle East.

Errrrrrrrrrrrrr.....!!!!!!!!

Phew, sorry about that. I guess sometimes you just have to speak your mind on current events. Have a happy and safe evening world! I promise to refrain from discussing politics any further on my blog.

blog rules 101

2006-07-07T22:42:00.000-04:00

If you are sitting in front of a computer in a house, apartment, at work, a cafe or some other place you may not write about how awful your life is unless you are in imminent danger or a teenager or a damn good writer. You are in a safe place, you are not hungry, you at least have electricity. Grow up. The world is filled with enough egomaniacal, self loathing people already. Please don't spread it around. Keep it contained. Share it with a priest, shaman or therapist. Don't share it on the internet. Really, I mean it.
Don't write a blog like u are instant messaging me. LOL. I'm serious. ROTFL. Wait, I'll BRB. OK. CU. If you want me to read your blog, write out the actual words you want to say or you can KMA. You don't know me. I'm not your buddy. I'm not the forty year old guy pretending to be the hot chick you thought you just had cybersex with ROTFLOL. I'm just here for the read, man. LOL.
Don't copy and paste lyrics of a real song that someone else wrote and call that a blog entry. It isn't. I'm very proud of you for learning what CTRL+C and CTRL+V do on your keyboard but that doesn't qualify as a legitimate blog entry, sorry. Man, I love this song.

The Rose, by Bette Midler

Some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
and you its only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
that never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
who cannot seem to give,
and the soul afraid of dyin'
that never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been to long,
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose.
Follow the rules of basic design. In other words, if you have a background on your blog with a bunch of swirly pink flowers, don't use pink as the color of your text. If you want people to read your blog, make it easy to read. I treasure my vision. Please don't ruin it for me.
Delete your blog if you aren't going to write in it. There's already enough stuff on the internet. We are the keepers of mother internet just like we are keepers of mother earth. Give a hoot. Don't pollute.
We all wake up in the morning, eat at some point, take a shower, talk to or see people and then go to bed. No one should be blogging about these things, ever. Trust me, your mother doesn't even care. I would give you an example of this but I'm tired. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I woke up at around seven this morning and I couldn't believe it was that early! I decided to have some oatmeal for breakfast and then I walked my dog. The oatmeal was really hot and it was nice out. Isaac likes to walk outside when it's nice out. I worked all day which was okay and it felt really really long maybe because today is Friday so it's the end of the work week here in America. I really think that my job is great. I went to dinner at Longfellows and had some great tuna and then I watched the Red Sox on t.v. and talked to my friend Gabe which was a lot of fun and now I'm getting ready for bed. Good night.

a time to grill

2006-07-01T20:37:00.000-04:00

As we head deeper into the July 4th weekend I thought I'd give you some pointers about grilling based on my own personal experience. These are things to take into consideration. Things I had to learn the hard way. Things that most people probably already know. The details can all be seen in the photograph above.

Do not leave your portable grill you bought for seven dollars at a supermarket out in the elements. It will rust.
Do not pick up a grill from in front of someone's driveway that has a sign on it that says "Free! (translation: sucker)." The grill in the very back was this very grill. Guess what? It doesn't work.
Do not go to a big box store to pick up a grill and grab the box directly underneath the grill that you want. That's the grill in the center there, behind the lighter fluid.

I went to Lowe's the other day to replace the first two grills. It is summer after all and I wanted to do a little grilling outside, invite some friends over and enjoy the sunshine. I like the idea of gas grills. It's cheaper to burn gas than charcoal, the flame is more manageable and I tend to get better results. I saw a perfect little portable gas grill at Loew's and decided, hey, it beats spending two hundred dollars on a gigantic stainless steel grill. I'm not one to showboat and I can certainly cook as well on a portable gas grill as I can on a big fancy gas grill. I picked up the box directly beneath the grill that I wanted and brought it home.

Unfortunately, God did not bless me with mechanical skills. The box looked as big as the grill so I just assumed that it was fully assembled. I was wrong. Well, I placed all the pieces all over my picnic table in a nice organized fashion and slowly began assembling my new grill. After about an hour and several curse words I finally finished my brand new gas...

Son of a BITCH!!!!!

It turns out the damn grill I purchased was not only not fully assembled but I didn't realize until I had finished assembling the damn thing that it wasn't even the grill that I wanted. In fact, it was a charcoal grill! You may be able to make out in the above picture my frustration with the discovery. The handle is broken off and the CharBroil sign is hanging by a screw. I guess throwing a grill across a backyard will do that. Oh, well. I learned my lesson. I'm actually even starting to enjoy my new little broken charcoal grill.

So when you are grilling on your fancy new gas grill this weekend just remember that some of us had to fight, scrape and scavenge just to wind up with a stupid portable charcoal grill. Tailgate, anyone?

death of a mac

2006-06-20T18:17:00.000-04:00

1999-2006
For those of you have been reading my blog hi, Mom!, I apologize for the lapse of time that has passed between entries. It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my dearly beloved mac G4, hub. I don't really remember why I called him that. I do remember that it came in handy when I needed to name my new hard drive and my external cd burner (yes I named them all). So there was hub, dub (my other hard drive where I stored all of my music) and nub (my cd burner).

Nub didn't live that long thanks to excessive use. Dub being inside hub unfortunately didn't make it either. I might be able to at least revive them to retrieve all of my music, photos, etc.. I'm still not sure. So I'd like to give a few shout outs to my lost friend, hub. I'll miss you, dammit. I'll miss you.

For being the reason I was able to teach myself graphic design and land my previous job at Tribune Media Services. Thanks for the paychecks, man.
For introducing me to the wonderful world of the internet. Thanks for all the spam.
For being my musical jukebox both online and off. I filled you up with over seventy gigs of music and you in turn filled up my iPod and made my road trips to U2, Indiana, South Carolina and everywhere else memorable experiences. If I can't get that music back you should just thank your lucky stars you're already dead!

Maybe not the best list and I apologize for that, hub. I actually wrote your eulogy the day you died and it magically disappeared. That one was really good. Anyway, I did save this rendition of a favorite song of mine and I would like to dedicate it to you. If anyone is reading this, feel free to sing it out loud, especially if you are in your office.

Nothing Compares 2 U

It's been seven reinstalls and fifteen reboots
Since you took your hard drive away
I go online every night and work on pcs all day
Since you took your hard drive away
Since you been gone I can do whatever I want
I can use another mac if I choose

I can store my music and photos in a fancy Dell pc
But nothing, I said nothing can take away these blues'
Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you

It's been so lonely without you here
Like a disc without a drive
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
Tell me hub where did I go wrong
I could put my arms around every mac I see
But they'd only remind me of you

I went to the Apple store guess what they told me, guess what they told me
They said boy you better buy a new mac no matter what you do
But there all fools'
Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you

All the files that I saved, hub, in your hard drive
All died when you went away
I know that living with you hub was sometimes hard
But I'm willing to give it another try
'Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you

How long must we sing this song?

2006-06-17T21:36:00.000-04:00

Please click here to view the above video.

Other people have blue or red stuff coming out of them, or how I swore a lot without actually swearing

2006-06-13T21:35:00.000-04:00

If you have been around the internet, and I'm assuming that you have and this isn't the very first place that you wound up, you probably have read a motherf.a.q.in' f.a.q. or two. If you don't know what the f.a.q. a F.A.Q. is, it's short for frequently asked questions. Websites have these little treasure troves of f.a.q.in' information so that we all stop sending them stupid f.a.q.in' emails that they've probably already answered a million f.a.q.in' times. I really wish they gave us one of these in regards to life, or should I say wished? What the f.a.q. am I talking about? Read on.

I was reading an article on the Wired website about a game called Second Life. I don't have the f.a.q.in' graphics card to jump into this virtual world which is a f.a.q.in' bummer. It sounds interesting, though. Apparently the game plays something like this:

Get a free membership.
Download the game.
Do anything you want in the virtual world including making real money! F.a.q., yeah!
Keep playing.
Show up to work late because you are playing a f.a.q.in' video game.
Get fired from real job because your virtual job is much too f.a.q.in' important.
Lose girlfriend because you stop talking to her or answering her f.a.q.in' phone calls.
Get virtual girlfriend.
Get virtually married.
Have a virtual kid.
Buy some virtual land to put up your virtual family.
Live happily ever after.

This may not be the exact f.a.q.in' game, I couldn't tell, and like I said I can't put it on my f.a.q.in' computer to play it anyway. What struck me about the game was its very useful f.a.q.. I didn't actually look at the answers but I thought the questions were good enough for a f.a.q.in' blog entry because it really answers some important real life questions. Don't believe me? Check it the f.a.q. out. Skip the f.a.q.in' stuff on top. Scroll all the f.a.q.in' way down to Inworld Problems.

My character takes forever to start walking, or doesn't stop walking.
I know I've been in both situations at least once in my f.a.q.in' life.
I can't walk, I can only rotate in place.
I saw a guy doing this just the other night downtown at around 1 a.m. in front of a bar. He should have checked the f.a.q.in' f.a.q.!
The world's too dark.
'Nuff f.a.q.in' said.
Other people have blue or red stuff coming out of them.
I wish I had the answer to this when I was in f.a.q.in' college.
I'm told I can't teleport closer.
It's a fact. Long distance relationships don't f.a.q.in' work.
Things are missing from my inventory.
Wouldn't you pay someone a lot of f.a.q.in' money to answer this one for you?
Other people's appearances are wrong.
If only there was a way to make them right. Hmm...
My avatar changed into a woman with short dark hair on its own.
I don't know what the f.a.q. they're talking about but I know I've had this happen to me, too.
I can't stop this animation.
Again, I wish I had the answer to this in college.

And last but not least...
I have a title in front of my name; I want it removed.
I often wondered how to stop my Mom from calling me "Jesus Justin!" every time I f.a.q.in' did something wrong.

That's all the f.a.q.in' time I have. Good f.a.q.in' night.

The new U2 IPod is sweet! I hate you new U2 IPod, I hate you! I mean I love you new U2 IPod, I love you!

2006-06-09T23:47:00.000-04:00

photo courtesy of Bob Reck

On June 6th Apple announced that they were releasing a new version of my beloved U2 Ipod. I won't bore you with photos of my old U2 Ipod. The new U2 Ipod is 30 gb not 20 gb. The new U2 Ipod plays U2 Videos. Mine just plays their songs, geez! It looks pretty much the same as the old one but a little thinner and a little lighter (isn't it funny how technology gets thinner and lighter as it gets older and we get... oh, nevermind). I have yet to get my hands on one but I will be sure to make a point of it.

This got me thinking about music and about how people discover music and listen to music. It wasn't too long ago (actually it was over twenty years ago) that I started buying cds even though I didn't have a cd player to listen to them with. That was one of my ways of saying "Mom, I want a damn cd player!" One of my first cds was, of course, U2's The Unforgettable Fire. Anyway, I wasn't raised by a television like most people my age. I was raised by my stereo thanks in large part to The Beatles who turned my mom into a music junkie (not something you can recover from, btw). I remember when we got our new neat stereo with the eight track player. I could be wrong about the neat part but I know stereos weren't phat in the 70's. My first music that I owned and treasured were my Kiss eight track tapes. I was in a make believe Kiss group and I had the good fortune of being Gene Simmons. My brother, Mike, was Peter Criss. I think my best friends back then were the family stereo and our cool Atari system.

We eventually moved up into the world of cassettes and that was great. I could make awesome mix tapes and give them to my "girlfriend" of the time or just make a great mix tape and listen to it and think about the girl I wanted to be my girlfriend at the time. Then the cd revolution and then...

Well, I could write a novel about how the music industry has effectively abandoned people like me. People who love music, people who listen to music every day and love to discover new music. I can tell you that no one in their right mind would pay what they charged for cds in the nineties. $16.99 for something everyone knows only costs a fraction of that to make?! Somewhere along the line I became a bitter music lover. I was NOT going to give record companies that much money for a cd I don't care who it is (except for U2). I'm certainly not going to spend that kind of money on music I don't know much about. Well, I can't say that I'm alone. The music industry is still recovering from their greed in the nineties because all of those pissed off music lovers started throwing music online for free!

I'm not really into illegal downloading (anymore). It's a waste of time. I mean you never knew what you were going to get and what kind of quality it was going to be. Maybe it was really a virus, who knows? Then U2 and Apple blessed me with the U2 Ipod and U2 music I could download and own without the hassle of big bulky expensive cd's. I could download almost anything I could think of from the store through ITunes and put it on my IPod and I was good to go. I also put my entire cd collection on my computer. This was genius! However...

As I had mentioned I like to discover new music. I'm still a little weary about forking over a large amount of cash for my music addiction. I'm older now and I actually have bills and stuff. How could I continue to discover music? Who could help me? I'm no longer a part of any radio station's demographic that I can find. That's when I discovered a new wonderful thing, Yahoo! Music.

They let you create your own radio station that you can customize by rating music. It's a brilliant idea. I've been rating music for quite some time and have discovered a great deal of music that I wouldn't otherwise own or know about. The more music you rate the more accurate your station becomes. I love it so much I'm paying for it (sorry ITunes). I bought myself a little mp3 player that is compatible with their downloads and now I can take the music with me wherever I go. It's a lot like Netflix, but for music fans.

I'm not going to abandon my U2 Ipod. In fact, I'm not going to abandon ITunes either. I'm still going to go there to buy the music I absolutely must own. However, this gives me an option that I haven't had before. The option to subscribe to music that I can download and listen to on my computer or in my car or while I'm walking my dog or wherever but it's music that I don't need to own forever. New bands, classical music, jazz, anything I want is at my fingertips. Whatever I'm in the mood to listen to. So now when I'm sick of my own music collection I have another alternative that is cd quality and not the radio and not streaming.

Thank you Yahoo! Music for allowing a music fan a fresh way to discover new music and even listen to it on the go. Of course, thank you Apple for my U2 Ipod and allowing me to own music for a price I'm actually willing to spend.

BTW, Bono, if your reading this, I've given you guys a lot of money throughout my life. Feel free to send me a brand new IPod. Thanks!

Hey, we gotta win at least one!

2006-06-08T22:07:00.000-04:00

So, it looks like blogger is back online. I lost a couple of exciting fun-filled posts never to be seen again because I didn't save them anywhere. Oh, well. My evening is winding down watching Curt Schilling go through eight innings against The Team Whose Name Can Not Be Spoken. The stadium is slowly emptying and quieting down. Aaron Small is pitching and it looks like The Team Whose Name Can Not Be Spoken have all but declared defeat. Excellent, a nice way to celebrate my third day of not smoking.

I suppose three days is really not a big deal, especially when you are on the patch, but it's a big deal to me. While blogger was down I went through the initial nictotine fits, lack of concentration, extreme anxiety and basically making Isaac, my dalmatian, somewhat nervous. Breathing is key. Breathe, dammit, BREATHE!!!

I wrote a review about an excellent horror movie from Hong Kong called Three Extremes. It's basically three short films by three famous Hong Kong directors. If you like the horror genre this is definitely a movie to pick up. While visually graphic, the horror is more psychological than your standard Hollywood fare.

So Nim-Rod is up to bat. It's 0-2... oops, he just struck out. Thank you baseball gods and good night.

blogger down! blogger down!

2006-06-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

So I enter the wonderful world of free blogging. Today it seems the blogger server has been down for most of the day. Hopefully at some point I will be able to post this to my blog.

I work in the world of technical support so I am kind of grinning and bearing it. I'm also looking into extracting myself from the free blog. I mean, c'mon, I'm only a couple of posts into this thing!

“A weed is no more than a flower in disguise.”

There's my happy thought for the day from the folks at Thinkexist.

It's time to start quitting

2006-06-05T22:16:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I'm going to start quitting - smoking that is. I have done this before and I've gone quite awhile without, but I've always seemed to go back. I always seem to have a good excuse, too. I always remind myself of the guy in the Movie Airplane, you know the guy with these memorable lines:

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smokin'.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinkin'.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffin' glue.

There's always an excuse not to quit, or to quit quitting or to start starting or, you know what I mean. I need to keep that little Tony Robbins guy in my head on full alert. The guy who says:

If you can only say you'll try, then you'll never be able to say you did.

Perhaps that isn't his exact message but you get the point. Anyway, on the eve of quitting smoking I'd like to give a couple of shoutouts.

A shotout to my peeps who showed me the ropes in college. Dude, you're not inhaling!

A shotout to the lady who sold me my first pack of smokes at the Citgo station off of Exit 7 on I90 heading east towards Massachussetts. Yeah, you know who you are!

A shotout to Nancy Reagan and her Just Say No campaign on drugs. Yeah, that doesn't really work, Nancy, if the drug is legal and you can buy it anywhere and you're already addicted!

A shotout to the folks at American Spirit. Dude, this stuff is all natural . REALLY?!! Thanks, guys. pphhhhwwwwoooooop!! pahhhhhhhhh!!! Wow, it's really healthy!

Finally I'd like to give a shotout to the state of New York for making tobacco so goddamn expensive I could retire just by saving the money I'm spending on buying cigarrettes. Hmmm, not a bad idea come to think of it.Thanks, guys and gals! You rock! Who says my blue state of New York can't dispense with the tough love. I know you're only doing it because you care (about the cost to the taxpayer should I get really sick from smoking cigarettes).

Heroes aren't cool

2006-06-04T23:09:00.000-04:00

Though nothing will drive them away, we can beat them just for one day. We can be heroes just for one day.
-David Bowie from Heroes

I recently created a My Space account. One of the questions that they asked me to answer was to name my heroes. I can't think of a tougher question. My short answer was that anyone out there in the world who is willing to make a difference. My generation, in my opinion, has placed a stronger emphasis on cool than on walking the right path. How do I mean? Well, let's take a simple example. Listening to Johnny Cash is cool. Nothing wrong with that. I happen to have caught his last performance at SPAC a few years back. He was an amazing artist. However, the thought of getting your hands dirty in the muck of the shit of the world is not cool.

Take, for example, Mr. Paul Hewson from Ireland. He's a short lad. You probably wouldn't think much of him if he didn't happen to also be Bono, lead singer of U2. "Dear, God, can there be a less cool person out there? How bloatedly self important can you be?" Growing up when I did, in the era of cool, the era of grunge, the era of self indulgence, the era of ego, I can't help to think that this gentleman might be one of my biggest heroes. Why? Well, for the simple reason that he didn't give a shit about being cool. He has big, uncool dreams like eradicating poverty from the world. That's very uncool. So this got me thinking about who really are my heroes?

The other night I had just signed off of work and was flipping around my five thousand digital cable channels when I saw that Hotel Rwanda was on Showtime. I had seen that it was on several times before and I had wanted to watch it but was never in the appropriate mindset to watch it. I decided the other night to give it a shot. I have to say that the movie was very moving. To know that we as the western civilization of truth, justice and liberty allows genocide to take place in Africa, even to this day, is deplorable. The line that stuck with me the most was spoken by Nick Nolte's character, a U.N. commander. I'm paraphrasing her but essentially his response to why the U.N. was not going to help out was:

"You're not even niggers. You're Africans."

I will not forget that line for as long as I live because it is true. The west doesn't care about African genocide. It's not cool to care. It's racism for those of us who think we aren't racist. The act of doing nothing in Africa, when millions of people are dying from genocide and poverty is a form of racism. It's outrageous. If Europe was suffering through genocide, poverty and an AIDS pandemic I'm sure that we would not stand idly by and watch it happen.

So this brings me to my point. Who are my heroes? Well, right now at the top of my list is not that short guy from Ireland. It's my brother. My brother joined the Peace Corps several years ago. He was stationed in Cameroon. Being the kind of guy my brother is he rapidly learned French and a tribal language and stayed on in Cameroon for an extra year. Right there I guess you could say he's done more than I could ever do and that's what makes a hero. It's someone who can do what you can't do. It's someone you admire for their ability to take on a challenge that, to you, isn't possible.

I'm not the kind of guy who could ever join the Peace Corps. I just don't have that in me. My brother is now in Liberia working on cocoa development in Africa. To my brother, Africans are people and not just some liberal idea in his head like "I've got to do something to help Africa. I'm going to send Bono a text message!" He's there. Making a difference. No, what he's doing is not cool in the slightest. There's no reason that Time magazine is going to make my brother the man of the year. He's not going to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is still one of my heroes. Have a safe trip home, brother.

...and so i dive into the internet

2006-06-04T17:53:00.000-04:00

I've always been the rather reluctant sort. Reluctant to do the dishes, reluctant to organize my clothes outside of the laundry basket, reluctant to shave, well reluctant to do a lot of things. I guess there's always tomorrow. In the world of the internet, my tomorrow has come. Despite working with computers for the bulk of my professional career, the thought of putting anything out there that is myself on the internet has always seemed somewhat strange. After all, there's a billion other people putting themselves out there so why add another random thought into the mix? I don't know, but I'm doing it anyway.

This isn't going to be one of those bitch about the world blogs, though I may decide to from time to time. No, I'm not even sure what I hope to be realized from this. Maybe just a few cathartic moments over a cup of java so I can get along with my day.

Anyway, here I am sitting in front of my computer on a Sunday adding my little voice to the mix.

You can also visit me at MySpace or Yahoo! 360°.