Ehh.. perhaps monthly

So, lets just go for a blah generic monthly update for the 3 readers I still have. The new job is going very well. You would think 5 o'clock meetings every Friday would suck, but when beer is provided, they seem a lot better.

Well, let's get to the important stuff, sports. Notre Dame. Yeah, well, we pretty much suck this year. I'm glad we're finally moving to Sharpley. Granted the ceiling is higher on Clausen, but sorry, the kid just ain't that good. We could probably live with this if there was anyone else on our team who knew how to play football, but unfortunately this isn't the case. Anyway, I'm headed out for the Navy game (um, if ever there was a year for the streak to end...lets just not think of this). I still have extra ticket if anyone's interested.

How about my good teams. The Red Sox were doing real well up until the ALCS. This is a fairly accurate representation of my feelings on this series, except for the Joe Buck/Tim McCarver thing. I wasn't that big a fan of TBS coverage, but it was still better than those to morons. Anyway, we only have one good starting pitcher, one fewer good relievers than Cleveland, and 5 guys in our lineup who can't hit. It's a bad combination. I picked a helluva time to start dating someone from Cleveland. (She's also a domer).

Moving on to a team I don't have any doubts about, the Patriots. I feel like this is like watching a High School prep team taking on the local public high school every week. It's nice to be able to sit down and watch a game, and not just know that you'll win, but that you're going to kick ass. That's all for now. I still have delusions of blogging more often, but lets hope I least keep this up monthly.

To Do List

1) Update the blog template.

2) Start learning PHP.

3) Apply for the ND ticket lottery (Penn State and a TBD home game)

4) Donate money so I can be in next year's lottery.

5) Buy my sister a graduation present (once I think of something good).

6) Buy a train ticket so I can actually attend the graduation.

Everything I can remember

So yeah, it's been a while. I haven't been posting or reading. It's kinda bad. This entry will be random, and possibly a little rambling.

Fashion:
I've noticed recently the wallet chain is making a come back. Though its really more among the ghetto kids the the punk kids. I remarked on this phenomenon to a friend of mine and she said that not only is they ghetto crowd sporting the wallet chains, but that they've also started wearing suspenders and the checkered vans. I didn't believe and then saw that exact combination on the way home. When the hell did the ghetto kids start looking to the nerdy emo/punk kids for fashion ideas. Next dogs and cats will start marrying each other and there will be mass hysteria.

1 Year
March 10th was my one year anniversary in the city. This also marked the end of my opposition to dating anyone in the city. This will have more relevance later, but I'm trying to go chronologically here.

St. Patrick's day.
1 Hockey game and 3 bars later, I got two phone numbers. How a guy wearing jeans and hoodie who isn't shaved and is already 6 hours into drinking pulls this off is beyond me. I celebrated by having a vague recollection of catching the uptown D train at 14th street. The next thing I remember is peeing on the platform at 205th street in the Bronx. I really need to stop passing out on trains. Of course by the same token, anyone that trys to mug me will be really disapointed because I usually don't have much money left in my wallet by the end of nights like that anway.

Birthday
Thanks to those who left my the myspace birthday love, it was appreciated.

Speaking of birthdays, that meant I as in Atlantic City. It was good tiems. I love taking people's money at the poker table. I love it even more when they're smart enough to know what i have, but dumb enough to keep putting down more money just so they can see my cards. Thanks for bringing me back into the game kids! This excursion involved the small but good crew of Rory and Jim; amazingly we all survived. I think we drunk dialed everyone that we mutually knew and had numbers for until our phones died. Apologies if you feel left out. Get me your number and I promise it won't happen again.

Anyway, after gambling, Hooters, a stop back to the room to watch the Final Four, we headed out to a bar with a cover band. We were hanging out, singing along to our favorite dorm room party songs when some drunk idiot bumped into me causing me to spill my beer a little. (FYI, the bar was crowded, but there was still sufficient walking room.) Being the asshole that I am, I felt the need to shove back. This caused him to shove me back causing me to spill more of my beer onto the courgar I was flirting with. Thankfully, Jim being the least drunk and most level headed of all us stepped between us so I didn't do something insanely stupid. Well the night continues on without incident for another hour or 2 and the cover band wraps it up for the night.

After releiving himself, Jim returns to tell me that the guy I was trying to pick a fight with was apparently hanging on to the urinal for dear life. That would have been funny enough, but then the guy decides he wants to try to pick the fight this time. He wedges himself between me and the wall as I was next to and I think says something about not liking the sideburns (hey they're not for everyone). Jim this time decides that the smart choice is to just take my beer from me to prevent any alcohol abuse. In what can only be described as an amazing degree of restraint (particularly considering that I'm drunk and teh bar is closing so getting thrown out wouldn't be that big of a deal), I convince the guy to get the hell away from me. The guy then wanders forward a few steps, and I guess he tried to get on stage, where he ended up tripping and completely taking himself out. He was then carried out of the bar by security. High comedy.

The Academy is...
A friend of mine had an extra ticket to a "live taping" of The Academy is... for MTV. This conveniently fell the week I had off from rehearsal so I could actually go. I only knew 2 songs by them, but I liked those 2 songs so decided hey, free ticket lets go check them out. I was disturbed by 2 things. First, I had to walk through a metal detector to get in. I can deal with this, but the fact that I set it off and I was told to keep walking was really weird. Second, all ages shows really kinda suck because hanging out with high school kids makes me feel a little dirty. It's also a little sad that I probably have more in common with the 40 and 50 year old parents than I do with the high school kids. Anyway, they put on a decent show, though I don't think I'll be buying any CD's.

Notre Dame Hockey
A dispointing second round exit, but what I really want to talk about is our first round opponent. Alabama-Huntsville. That's right, a school in Alabama can support a D-I hockey team. WTF? Can anyone explain to me how this is possible? Is there another D-I hockey school with 500 miles of them? Who the hell plays hockey in Alabama? Needless to say I'm perpelexed.

Sit down for this one.
I'm actually dating someone. We had agreed to "casually date" with the implication of being able to date other people, though it seems to be sliding towards "exlusively date." While its nice for now, I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be going much of anywhere for 1 main reason: she's spending the summer studying abroad. There are several other contributing factors that cause me to have doubts as well, but if I am going to do this dating thing, I suppose you have to throw yourself out there a little right?

getting caught up.

So the weekend after being woken up by runners I was woken up by workers sawing through bricks on the building across the street. I thought the blue collar people in this city had unions that told them not to work on weekends, then someone pointed out to me that the unions actually tell them to work on weekends so they make time and a half. I can't win. It's like some divine sing telling me I should grow up and start getting out of bed earlier on the weekends so I do something productive with me day. Personally, I'd rather make a lot more money and move into a high rise apartment building where I'm above all the noise. They seem to be equally difficult, but the making money idea seems a lot more enjoyable.

In other news, the second busiest time of the sports year after football season, is march madness. I may disappear for a little while.

Speaking of sports, I missed ND's loss in the tournament. I'm disappointed obviously, but I didn't see the game so I can't really comment on it. I will comment on the lack of underdogs in the sweet sixteen though. This is the most boring tournament in years. At least the women's tournament has an underdog in the sweet sixteen. I'm officially on the Marist bandwagon, but I'm pretty sure Tennessee will kill them in the next round.

Friday night I was supposed to hang out some old coworkers from Bristol, but then that whole nor'easter thing happened, and they decided it wasn't worth risking their lives to go watch the Knicks, which I can't really blame them for. Anyway, the Knicks donned green unis for the game which I thought were pretty tight. If I cared about the NBA at all, and was a Knicks fan, I definitely would have spent too much on a jersey.

St. Patty's day I found myself back at MSG for the Rangers vs. Bruins. This game was a blowout, but it was also the first time I've seen the goalie get pulled, only to see the replacement get pulled later and have the starter go back in. After this I did bit of bar hopping and ended up meeting a couple of cute girls. Good times all around except for the hour of time missing when I tried to take the subway home. That was a little scary.

How not to get promoted

Accept Big East Tournament tickets at 10 am, and then leave the office for 3 hours to go watch a basketball game. But hey we won!

Stumbling out of the gate

So very slowly I'm getting my new computer set up. I meant to do a lot with it this weekend, but Saturday I was doing laundry and watching ND kick the crap out of Marquette (by the way my expectations for next year will be very high for this team). Sunday I was just a complete bum. Anyway, if you're thinking of buying a new computer with Vista, I recommend holding off for a year so they can work out the bugs. I've had this thing for a week and I've already had some problems with it. Granted, I knew this was a bad time to buy a new PC, but the top of the line computer from my freshman year of college really just couldn't take it anymore. Anyway, things are at least fixed now, but I still need to re-network my computers so I can move the crap from my old PC to my new one.

In other news I have joined The University Glee Club of New York. Singing with the guys is definitely something I miss, and has been a bit of a hole in my life that will now be filled. Unfortunately I won't be able to sing in the concert May 19th because it's my sister's graduation weekend (from URI for those who are curious), but at least I'll get to sing once a week and get a group of guys to hang out with in the city, which is currently something I lack.

Can we win a road game?

Seriously. In Big East play we're 5-0 at home, and 1-5 on the road (I think the 102 spot we put up on the 'Cuse was a bit of an aberration). Ok, Carter and Kurz were less than 100% but seriously. We seem to do alright without McAlarney when we're at home, but on the road we seem to come up just short. I suppose this si better thatn last year when we caem up just short EVERY Big East game, but it's still damn frustrating. I have two other frustrations with this team. 2 or 3 times a game Carter takes inexplicably bad shots just because he seems to be feeling it. If it wasn't for that, I'd think he'd have a good shot in the NBA next year. Also WTF is up with Colin Falls taking the ball up the floor with 25 seconds left. I know he's a senior and he was having a great game, but he's still the only the 3rd best ball handler we ahve on the floor after Jackson (our actual point guard) and Carter (who is the only other player I really have faith in to be able to handle the ball). Also, both of them are a helluva lot more athletic than Falls. I suppose if you wanted someone fouled it woudl be him, but why not get the ball to Carter if you have no one back on D huh? GRRRRRR>:0

Now I must try not to drown my sorrows my finishing an entire bottle of wine.

Music: Korn - Life is Peachy

I think I need to stop supporting ND

No, really, I have a good reason for this. I'm starting to think I'm bad luck. Here's the list of things I've attended since graduation:

October 2nd 2004/Football: L to Purdue 41-16
October 16th 2004/Football: W @ Navy (Meadowlands) 27-9
September 3rd 2005/Football: W @ Pitt 42-21
February 22nd 2006/MBBall: L @ UConn 75-74
March 4th 2006/WBBall: W vs. S. Florida (Big East Tourney) 73-66
March 5th 2006/WBball: L vs UConn (Big East Tourney)71-60
September 30th 2006/Football: W vs. Purdue 35-21
January 3rd 2007/Football: L vs. LSU (Sugar Bowl) 41-14
January 23rd 2007/MBBall: L @ St. John's 71-68

OK, looking at it all written down, it doesn't look completely horrible (4-5), but still that's a pretty lousy record considering that all of those teams have records considerably over .500 for the given time frame. Maybe I'm overreacting because the last two events I went to we lost.

Speaking of which, getting your starting point guard kicked out of school for possession of marijuana really fucks the team. Don't get me wrong, I like the punishment (though it does seem a little heavy handed), and I'm really glad we set the bar higher than many other schools (see Uconn, laptops). Torry Jackson definitely has some talent, but he definitely makes a lot of freshman mistakes. But still, we lost to St. Johns. They suck. I understand Big East road wins are had to come by, but this was a gimme. Unfortunately, I think ND had this mentality going into the game, and consequently half assed it for the first half before Brey kicked everyone's ass in the locker room and they showed up in the second half. Damn, at least my seats kicked butt.

I'm alive, really, I swear it.

So for those of you who think I stopped blogging for the new year, sorry, I'm lazy. I've been busy too, but not so busy I can't post, really just more lazy.

Story 1)
So I sort of did the Times Square thing for new year's, except that I was in an office on Times Square 20 floors up, which is way cooler, and way nicer. Anyway, it was a cool party and all, and after the ball dropped, well, I was out of alcohol, and didn't see much reason to stay much longer since I had do a little work New Year's day (the downside of working on something that visible 24/7). Anyway, when I got to the door to exit, I discovered that someone else was trying to leave as well. Unfortunately the door was locked. Now, the lock was on the inside of the door, unfortunately it was no longer functioning, meaning everyone at the party was locked into the office.

Thankfully this was a theater office, so they had some tools floating around. We tried screwing around with the door knob for a while, but eventually we came to the conclusion that there was no way that lock was going to get unlocked. With a hammer and a screwdriver we ended up removing the door pins, and then someone on the other side (the hallway was accessible by climbing in through the windows off the ledge surrounding the building of other offices throwing parties) kicked in the door. Good times. I had door grease I couldn't wash off my heads for like 3 days.

Story 2.
So, I'll start by apologizing for not having any pictures. I never remember my camera, and for those of you that know Jim, you know he isn't this sort to remember that sort of thing either. Anyway, I left Tuesday afternoon where my flight got delayed over an hour coming out of JFK. Why you ask? Well, JFK sucks. Consequently I missed my connecting flight in Charlotte, and there were no other flights leaving there from New Orleans. So I had to spend the night in Charlotte. Unfortunately since missing my flight was not the airline's fault, I had to pay for my own hotel room. Grr... They did at least get me on a 6 am flight out of Charlotte to Chicago, and there I connected with a flight that finally allowed me to reach my hotel by about 11 am. The flight from Chicago to NO was first class too, which was pretty nice. One of the many annoying this about this (other than spending a night in Charlotte, and getting only 4 hours of sleep) was that I discovered Jim had gone to bed around the time my flight was taking off for Chicago. So not cool. Anyway, NO was pretty sweet , except for the game. (I think Rhema McKnight will go down as my most hated Irish player ever.) New Orleans may be the only city that is dirtier than New York, which is both impressive and sad at the same time.

In other news I finally have business cards after being in my current position for almost a year. In fact I have 2 boxes of them. I can probably count the number of times on one hand that I've actually needed one over the past year. I think I'll just go out one night and hand them out to everyone just so I can feel there is a justification for having that many.

There are probably more things I forgot to say, but I'll try not to be such a space cadet. Now I just need to get caught up on reading everyone else's blogs.

Little Things

Just a few little things since I feel like posting. I need to figure out what I want to do for the Sugar bowl. I was kind of hoping for a New Years Day bowl, but alas, this is now a difficult task with the current bowl structure. Anyway, I need to talk to the usual gang of idiot to see what's going on. I almost I feel I should just go to New Orleans just for the party, regardless of whether or not I get tickets. My counter argument is I don’t feel like dropping a grand on food, plane tickets, hotels, and possibly football tickets, as well as killing 2 or 3 of my 12 vacation days in the first week of the year.

Speaking of vacation, since I've been pretty thrifty with mine, I'm taking the next two Friday's off. I might get out and do some Christmas shopping. I'll probably just sleep late and then sit on my ass and play video games all day. I'm trying to think of it as saving my ambition for the new year, when I may decide definitely that the actuarial route will never happen, and start focusing completely on the career that seems to come quite a bit more naturally for me.

In other news, I have a new roommate. At least for about a month. He's a friend of my real roommate who most of you know is never here, so my real roommate is lending his friend his room while he looks for his own place. I apologize for the overuse of pronouns. Anyway, I now have to get in the habit of doing things I haven’t done since I lived here, like closing the bathroom door, which I pretty stopped doing. One of the perks though, is that he gets himself into the bathroom just a little before me in the morning, which is nice because I no longer have to wait 5 minutes for the hot water to make it up to my apartment:-)