Halloween in the city

Friday night was my big night. I went as a nerd, which I've actually been doing for like 3 years, but I keep moving, so no one ever sees me and I can keep pulling the same thing, 'cause I'm lazy. (The photo here isn't actually this year’s, but the only difference is this year's had suspenders.) Normally I like to keep the costumes a secret, but after seeing nerd costumes in the store, and seeing another nerd at a party, I feel it is time to retire this one.

Anyway, I started at a coworker's party which was alright, but I'm not really that tight with many of my coworkers, and despite the fact that this was planned in the cube across from mine, there weren't more than a handful of coworkers there, so I didn't really feel the need to stay there too terribly long. That, and my friend Amy was throwing a party out in Brooklyn so I did some party hopping. Unfortunately, I've recent discovered that Verizon doesn't play well with other cell phone services, and long text messages get cut off. This was a particular problem on this evening because Amy texted me directions. To compound matters, she apparently left her cell phone in her room, so despite multiple attempts to get a hold her before I left, I was unsuccessful.

This sort of ended up being a mistake, because by the time I got to Brooklyn, she still had not gotten the messages and it was raining harder. However, being the determined I guy I am, I tried to see if I could remember it on my own since I had been there once before. Of course then it was sunny, and Friday was night and raining. So I ended up walking around in Williamsburg for like and hour and was almost back to the subway when Amy finally called me back. Thankfully she lives close enough to the subway, and I was already soaked, so another 5 minutes in the rain really wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. Of course when I got there my vindictive side came out and I gave her a big hug in my soaked jacket. Anyway, good times ensued, and I got very pleasantly drunk.

The only bad part was the ND was playing a NOON game, which is just way too early if you don't go to bed until almost 5 am. It was nice to see ND actually win convincingly for once though. I've had enough of these 4th quarter comebacks for a while.

Saturday I did a bit of bar hoping. The highlight was probably a guy dressed as Borat in a thong definitely trying to get in a threesome.

Sunday I went to The Knitting Factory to check out my friend's band Tip the Van at the 3 floors of ska show. It was good times. They put on a good set including a ska version of "Such Great Heights." I saw Big D and the Kids Table who I'd seen before, and they put on a good set too as usual. I also wanted to see The Toasters but as I was 45 minute local train ride away from my apartment, and it was 11:15 I decided it was time to go home. This whole job thing really puts a cramp in the social life.

Anyway, tonight, there is nothing to report. I didn't get any trick or treat-ors at my apartment, so now I have a bag of Milky Way minis I'm desperately trying to avoid eating in one sitting. Wish me luck.

Is it Friday yet?

A very frustrating day at work. While I think we all know my career path does not lie in sales and marketing, I do sort of wonder how I got to a spot where two of things I hate/couldn't care less about (advertising and legal BS) are the main things almost all of my coworkers deal with on a day to day basis. The particular frustrating point is that we have a client who is not just 1) wrong about something but is also 2) lying to us. Unfortunately, because they're paying us a shit load of money, we just have to bend over and take their BS, which will probably mean more work for me, adding to what I already know will be the second crappiest month of my time here. Grrrrrr...................

Other:
If you're not at least tuning in for a few innings of the World Series, you should be. Baseball rules. I'm ok with putting it on mute since I hate Tim McCarver and Joe Buck too, but you should still watch it. Along with the many really annoying things Fox does (in game manager interviews, "Scooter") I don't get what they're doing with these player profiles. It's like the stuff ESPN does during the Little League World Series. It's kinda cute (but still a little annoying) for 12 year olds, but its flat out retarded for the 25-35 year olds.

I stole this from Tucker. I don't think this will really surprise anyone.

I tashte like Alcohol. Heh. Heh. I taste like beer. I like beer. Buy me a beer. I'm not drunk, I can drink plenty without... What was I saying? Beer. What Flavour Are You?

Anecdotes

While sitting in the A train at 125th street Monday, I noticed someone scribbled, "Math saves more lives than Jesus." I knew there was a reason I got my degree in Math.

I think I saw the most content homeless person ever Monday. In fact, he looked so content, I'm not even 100% sure he was homeless, except for the fact that he was sitting on the floor of the subway station, and didn't appear to have any shoes. However, unlike most homeless people, he wasn't begging or acting crazy, he was just sitting the reading the newspaper, looking quite content.

Saturday, after spending the day in hangover recovery, (yeah we watched ND at home instead of the game watch), I decided to call a few people after I decided the hangover was gone because, hey, I was home on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, the rest of the world tends to plan a little farther ahead than I like to, so I resorted to craigslist (me=loser, but hey it was reasonably located on the platonic section). I posted an ad and actually got a response from someone in The Heights. We went to a wine bar and just chilled and had a generally good time, where we hung out some more and had another bottle of wine. I behaved myself, meaning I probably dropped the ball, but she was 3 years older than me, and I prefer to know people for more than a few hours generally before I try to hook up with them.

Anyway, the actual purpose of this was that I learned a valuable bit of information about my radiators. Now for those of you that don't know, I have no control of the heat in this apartment. There is no thermostat, so the radiators turn on, and if they're too hot, you need to open a window to cool things off, which is pretty much a complete pain in the ass. Now, this I girl I had just met informed that there are knobs on the radiators that allows you turn them on or off. Consequently, all the radiators in my apartment are now "off." Now, they're not truly off, because they still feel a little warm, but they're a little warm as opposed "sauna," which meant I got to come home to an apartment that actually felt like it was at a reasonable temperature this evening.

In conclusion, I'm hoping to have a new friend that a) is within walking distance, b) will want to go out to places within walking distance and c) I have an apartment that I might be able to get a little cool. Anyone who happened to be in the basement of my now destroyed house senior year knows I don’t really have a problem with cold (though the basement of that house was a bit extreme, even for my taste).

Finally, I discovered my credit limit went up today. This is a good thing, not that I was even approaching the limit before, but it should be my credit score (while good to begin with) should be going up.

Mary Poppins and Newark

More social life = less blogging. The irony being that I actually have something to talk about when I have a social life, but not the time to blog about it. Anyway, last Wednesday a friend of mine invited me to see Mary Poppins, which is currently in previews on Broadway. Generally speaking, I don't really have a whole lot of interest in the Disney musicals, but Mary Poppins is sort of a classic so I decided that it would be worth to check it out. That and it was free, so why the hell not? It’s actually pretty good. If anyone gets a chance to see it, I would recommend going. The set is phenomenal. It's almost worth going for just the sake of checking out the set.

Friday night, I ventured out of the city to Newark for my friend Steve's birthday party, and I lived to tell the tale! It was good times. Hung out with a bunch of his med student friends, played a little beer pong at the bar. I slept on his couch (he uh, needed to be walked home, as one should be on their birthday;-)). I also discovered that apparently he and Carrie started dating 2 weekends ago when she came to visit me in the city. (They spent the next 2 nights in Newark.)

In football news, I have a man crush on Jeff Samardzija for that last second TD. At least he shows up to play today. What the hell happened to our O-Line? Out Heisman trophy candidate isn't going to be able to much when he keeps getting sacked. And Walker isn't going to be able to run when the D-line meets him in the backfield on every play. I also wasn't a fan of the play calling in general today. Charlie seemed to be going for too many big plays instead of calling a lot of short and intermediate routes. Whatever, I should stop bitching, a win is a win.

In other news, my stalker is apparently still kicking around. TriDeltGodess who started IM-ing me senior year, apparently is still aware of my existence, and feels the need to IM me, despite the fact that I have no idea who she or he is. Kat claimed to know who it was, but was supposedly sworn to secrecy. Of course, now that I'm rarely ever at my computer, IM is no longer something I would consider to be an effective way of stalking me.

Hockey and Music

After a weekend that involved me doing a whole lot of nothing and spending lots of time on AllofMP3.com, I decided there were a few new albums I needed to purchase. Conveniently, there is a Tower Records across the street from my office, so I can buy new music and then listen to it while I'm at work. The good news was everything was 15% off, which brings the prices down from too high to reasonable. The bad news is it is because the store is going out of business, so I'll actually need to do marginal legwork to new music (yeah, I'm lazy).

CD1: Deftones - B-Sides and Rarities. I'm giving it 4 stars. Solid disc top to bottom. My favorite tracks are "Wax and Wane" and "No Ordinary Love" (that's right, Deftones doing Sade, rock on). It also has a DVD of all the Deftones music videos. After watching it tonight, it seems that I've never seen a Deftones music video in my life, because I didn't recognize any of them. I'll have to bust out White Pony and the second self-titled album to see what was on those discs because they were both enhanced and I thought they had music videos.

CD2: Postal Service - Give Up. I'll with 3 stars for this one. I have a feeling this cd will sort of mark the end of the mellow/emo-ish phase I've been in for the past year or so. This cd is basically Death Cab for Cutie, only instead of a band, its 2 guys (one of which is Death Cab's lead singer) and a lot of electronics. The cd's best songs are at the beginning, and then the rest of it is good background stuff, but nothing really grabs you. The best song I think is "The District Sleeps Tonight"

In other news one of my old coworkers from Bristol, who now works for the NHL sent me an IM Monday afternoon if I wanted to go to the Rangers games. (Hmmm, go home and work out, or go out and watch hockey and drink beer, guess which one won.) It was the first time I had ever been to MSG. It's very blah. It doesn't really have a personality. It's relatively clean, and it looks like it is set up pretty well so there are good seats most everywhere, but there is nothing particularly memorable about the building. However, I feel I may going to these games relatively often, since last minute tickets will probably be relatively common for him, and the other hockey fans he know would practically need to leave work in CT as soon as he asked if they wanted to go, and I can work a full day. I love living in NYC. There is some song the play after the Rangers score that I'm going to have to learn I think. It's certainly no Brass Bonanza, but it will have to do.

It's getting colder!

And I love it. Unfortunately the cold weather means the heat is on in my apartment, which most of you might not think is bad, but I have no control over it. Also, while I'm far from perfect (but none of you would think I would ever admit that), I do make a modest effort to be eco friendly, and would probably rarely turn the heat on, since living on the 6th floor of the building, I would probably just benefit from everyone else turning their heat up too high. Of course this just means that I'll have my windows open all winter. Last night I made the switch from boxers to the flannel bottoms for my sleeping attire, and even wore the winter jacket to work this morning. Yay cold!

In other news, the thought of joining a gym has crossed my mind. Very slowly I'm developing a belly. It started last December when I broke my collar bone, and had 6 weeks where I couldn't do anything. I reached "full" health around the time I moved to NYC, where I really only work out about twice a week now, as opposed to CT where I would work out 2 or 3 times, plus play gatorball once or twice a week, and play hockey at least once. My one attempt to start getting into more physical activity resulted in me breaking my bike. Realistically, this won't happen until I get off my lazy ass and join the ND club of NY, which will allow me to get a discount at a gym. Also, a second month of hell at work is looming on the horizon, so I suppose this will be some sort of early Christmas present to myself, instead of having to buy new pants for a slightly increased waistline.

A poll and stuff

Ok, so next Wednesday apparently there is some charity thing where UCLA and ND alumns are going to be guest bartenders. I'm debating whether or not I actually want to volunteer for this. The upside would be that I would get to pretend that I'm a bartender for a few hours. The downside is that I would have to leave work a little earlier than I want to (and we're about to get crazy busy again, stupid football season) and get down to the lower east side. So basically, I'm looking for peer pressure. Make me bow to it.

Stuff
I saw a woman plucking her eyebrows on the train the other day. This seems like a rather dangerous activity, considering many of the conductors make a concerted effort to drive the trains like they're some sort of crazy cabbie. I would have laughed hysterically if the train stopped suddenly and she gouged out her eye. Oh, she also put in her contacts on the train. I hate people who get on early enough that they get to site down in the morning.

I may need to boycott Coke

I just say a commercial where a Coke showed a Notre Dame fan and a USC enjoying a coke together. I'm sorry, but on no circumstances would this ever occur. This would be like Jesus and Satan going out for a beer after work one day. It just doesn't happen like that. I would never watch ND v. USC with a USC fan. EVER! That's just like sleeping with the enemy. Anyone who does that will find himself or herself in the inner circle of hell (I can't remember if its 7th or 9th, English majors help me out here).

In other news, Carrie and Steve were in town this weekend. We went to Spelling Bee Friday night, which was very funny. I thought Avenue Q was a little funnier, and more musically exciting, but Spelling Bee was still very good. Despite my best efforts, they both insisted upon sleeping on the floor, despite the presence of another bed and a La-Z-Boy reclining chair. Whatever. Saturday we went to the ND Stanford game watch, which drew an unusually small crowd. Not that I minded too much. It was nice to be able actually move around and be served promptly.

I also have to mention, that I did not one but 2 good deeds, in the same week. (Crazy huh?) The first was a donation to the Breast Cancer walk thing that happened in NYC this weekend. Granted, it was only because my coworker asked, but even I'm not a cheap enough, or enough of an ass to not donate $5 to that (uh, when directly asked by someone I know). The good deed I did was donating my old cell phone to the ND club of NY so they can pass it off to a legit charity. I've actually been looking to donate it since I got a new phone (in November), and the game watch provided the perfect opportunity to get off my lazy ass.

If anyone asks me to do anything nice for the rest of the year, I will tell them to refer to this post, and let them know I've reached my max of good deeds for the year.

Because blogging is cooler than myspace

Sound track of you life.

This is blatantly ripped of from ms airhead's myspace, but blogging is cooler, so I'm putting here instead. I did something similar once before, and it was pretty damn random, and basically made no sense.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...
7. (I totally added this one on my own) Add senseless commentary to each song

Opening Credits: Brick - Ben Folds Five (starting pretty random)

Waking Up: Water, Fire, Burn - Bloodhound Gang (yes, my roof being on fire would probably wake me up... especially if I got off my lazy ass and got the super to install the smoke detector....)

First Day At School: You're the one that I want - Grease (pretend you didn't see this in the mp3 collection)

Falling In Love: Love Like Winter - AFI (interesting)

Fight Song: Head Like a Hole - Nine Inch Nails (this is off to a much more logical start than the last time I tried this)

Breaking Up: Tequila - Champs (works for me!)

Prom: Agoraphobia - Incubus (actually, with the lyrics to this song, this kinda makes sense too.....)

Life's OK: I'm only happy when it rains - Garbage (insert sarcasm here)

Mental Breakdown: Need someone to shove - Soul Asylum (yup, been there before)

Driving: Return to Innocence - Enigma (eh, it works)

Flashback: Hectic - The Urge (I got nothin’)

Getting Back Together: Scott's a Dork - Reel Big Fish (Ladies and Gentlemen, we just got random)....(upon further review, the lyrics kind of make sense for this one too.)

Wedding: Heaven Beside You - Alice in Chains (gee, that's uplifting)

Birth of Child: Beware! Criminal - Incubus (I don't like where this is heading)

Final Battle: I Stay Away - Alice in Chains (Winamp clearly has a thing for certain bands this evening)

Death Scene: Mr Brownstown - Guns 'n' Roses (Hey, if you're gonna go...)

Funeral Song: 3am - Matchbox 20 (ok)

End Credits: Gold Dust Woman - Hole (Um, no, sorry, that's just not going to work)

All in all this made a lot more sense than the last time I tried it.

I need to add in a quick story from the ND weekend that I forgot about. While checking in for my flight home, I was using those computers they have now since real people cost the airlines too much money. The guy to the right of me clearly had never used one of these before, and was definitely one of those people who is petrified of technology. Now we all know they ask you how many bags your checking, and below that they ask in a second row if you're checking skis, and in a third row they ask about boxes or something (I can't remember exactly, it's never been relevant). Anyway, I had finished checking my bags and was about to leave when the guy to my right asked "What is S, K, I, S?" I looked at him with a (mostly) straight face and said "Skis" and walked away.

I miss Glee Club, and many other things

'Twas a good weekend. I took Thursday and Friday off, and had a relaxing travel day Thursday. I stayed in Chicago at the home of Jim, Schwaz, Jesse and Bubba, all former otters. My original plan was to pay them all in football tickets for putting me up, but Jim wasn't there, Schwaz already had tickets, and Jesse and Bubba decided they didn’t want to go. Oh well, I owe them one. We ended up just hanging in and playing Halo 2 and drinking beer. It was fantastic. I miss the Otter Room, and college in general.

Friday I took the South Shore to the Bend. I thought that by getting to the bookstore midday on Friday I could get just ahead of the mad rush at the bookstore. Unfortunately they were already sold out of the shirt in large. Next time I need to talk to people who either are going out sooner, or go to school there so I get the size I actually want to wear. At least I'm big enough that an XL doesn't look completely awkward. In the afternoon we had rehearsal for the concert, followed by a picnic. The concert itself certainly won't go down as anyone's finest performance, but then the point isn't necessarily high end musical performance as much as it is the joy of getting together with 200 guys who just want to get up and sing and have fun.

I stayed at a friend's apartment out there in order to avoid exorbitant hotel costs. Unfortunately she's seeing someone so I got a lot more sleep that initially anticipated, but then I wasn't really every looking to get caught up on rest this weekend.

All in all the reunion was a blast. My vocal range isn't what it used to be, and now that I don't sing 5 hours a week anymore singing 3 or 4 times a day takes a much greater toll on my voice. Perhaps I need to do more karaoke to get back in shape. This reunion was far less organized than the two we had when I was still a student, but it was still an amazing weekend. I wish I were still a college student.

In other news, I discovered that 3 out of the 4 places I lived when I was at ND have changed. My freshman year double was changed into a single my junior year. (My old roommate and I tried to push the idea that only those who were forced to live in it as a double should be able to choose, but the rector never bought that idea.) My sophomore year double, next to the Quint on the first floor, which had no RA's at the time, has been changed into an RA's room. (Just a travesty.) My small junior year single is still a small single. The house I had senior year, doesn't exist anymore. It’s a grass field with a sign promoting future condos. It's sad, but at the same time my house was a shit hole. I remember us near breaking the living room floor at the post spring concert reception, and there was the crack in the foundation before I moved in, but whatever.