Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. One of the things I got this year for Christmas was money for a ceiling fan. I went to get it today and through a wonderful twist of fate, the one I liked was actually 50% off and there were two of them so I got both. Here's a picture below. Now the metal is actually a dark bronzed look so it looks really nice.


Also, in keeping with past Christmas traditions I got my yearly supply of alcohol and/or alcohol accessories. I got 3 bottles of wine and two cork screws.

Still no luck yet in the roommate department. I'm hoping the one coming to see the place Friday will be happy with what he sees and will say yes.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

One flight down...

First off, no I didn't actually post this while I was in the air but I did write it then, and so I'm setting the post time to coincide with when I wrote it.

It's quite amazing to be flying. The clouds below look like blankets of snow as far as the eye can see. It's funny because it's been so warm lately that the idea of snow is almost completely foreign. The captain just mentioned that its supposed to be a very warm weekend in Boston and that its currently 50 degrees.

We're beginning our descent right now and the clouds are giving way to show the ground beneath. It looks like a giant shore line in the middle of the air. The fact that we're over Long Island Sound doesn't hurt the illusion with the water being the only thing that I can see where the clouds have cleared up a bit.

As much as I enjoyed DC it'll be good to be coming back. I'm also looking forward to the time off during the holiday break. The best part will be catching up with old friends. Max has the week off as well so I hope to hang out with him some. Donald is going to be working at Hartford again so hopefully we can get together at some point.

It's been a while since I had an evening flight. I forgot how all the lights from below look when you're 19,000 ft up in the air. It looks like a blanket of Christmas lights.

Well we're getting close to the point where I have to put my laptop away so I'm going to sign off at this point. Who knows when my next post will be so to have a happy
Hanukkah this weekend and have a Merry Christmas the weekend after that and finally a happy New Year to everyone.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Ahh, technology

I love that in about the time it takes to get from Worcester to Logan Airport I can fly down to DC. Half the seaboard in the same time as half the state.

Overall it was a good flight. No real turbulance this time.

It's also funny how things become pattern very quickly. I got off at the Foggy Bottom metro station and just went right to the Hotel, barely thinking of how to get there because I'd walked the route so many times last month. It's a bit disconcerting to come back here and have everything just feel familiar.


Here's a quick pic of the tree! Trust me it doesn't do it full justice.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Oh Tannenbaum

So yesterday I went and bought a 9.5 foot White Pine tree. Today I decorated it with several close friends.

Final result is that it looks great. I hope to put pictures up sometime soon.

Tomorrow I'm off to DC for final round of training so it'll be a while before the pics go up.

Well I have to pack so I'll write more later.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Bound and Determined

What a weekend. There was so much going on that I'm suprised I'm not still passed out from exhaustion.

To start everything off, last week was a great week for work. I got several things done that I've been working on for quites some time so that is always a good way to end the week.

Friday night was the AYO 24 hr show. The 24 hr show is a lot of fun to do. Here's what it is:
In 24 hours 3 shows were written, a set was built, lights were hung, lines were learned, staging was blocked and a show was performed. Everything to do with a show was done in the span of 24 hours. It's intense, it's crazy and it's a whole lot of fun. Also, it usually ends up that you get little to know sleep so that just adds to the insanity. I got about 4 hrs of sleep during the course of the show.

The show in 24 hours is completely unpredictable. As an actor you get picked by a team of writer(s) and a director. It's very much like kickball teams as a kid; each director picks one actor and then it repeats again through the directors until all actors are picked. Then the playwrights create a script based on those actors. The really crazy thing is that you never know what kind of show you'll end up in until you read it the next day. You basically do something that can be a bit scary for an actor. You give the writer a blank check and then you have to perform whatever they write, and because of that I ended up bound to a chair for over an hour on Saturday night, and for about 40 minutes of that I was also covered with a black sheet. Not exactly how I expected to be spending the evening.

The play I was in was called "Hangman" and it was a play about two men who have been kidnapped by a serial killer called "The Slasher". It goes through their attempts to get free and try to figure out what is going on and why they were targeted. The show went up wonderfully and it was a great performance by all involved.

After we struck the show I then went out with Max who had come to see the show. We hung out with his friend Brian and Brian's boyfriend Ronny. We went and danced at Blu (formally Rage) and I surprised myself by staying awake until the club closed at 2 am. Not bad for 4 hours of sleep in 42 hours. It's always a great time when Max visits.

On Sunday morning after saying goodbye to Max, I went to the pinning ceremony for our new Alpha Chi Rho postulants. I got to say a few words as the Chapter Advisor and meet the new guys and their parents.

Later that evening I got to see Patrick for the first time in ages. He *gasp* actually came to Worcester! We had a great time at the Sole for dinner and then shared a bottle of wine at my place and caught up with each other's lives before he had to go back to Boston.

What a weekend!

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

And the beat goes on

Not a whole lot to update lately. I'm still working a lot at the office to get everything going on Blackboard and everything. I seem to have about 5 projects going at once and not enough time to do any of them.

I'm hoping to get my Christmas tree sometime this week or next. I can't wait.

To answer people's questions, yes, I get called Tommy by my aunts and some other family members. :) And if any of you try it, you'll find that you no longer be living. hehe. VERY few people get away with calling me that.

Still searching for a roommate, so if you know of anyone, let me know. Room is available starting Jan 1.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

In full bloom

Last year at Christmas I was at my Grandmother's and I got two cuttings of Christmas cactus. One was I think 2 links long, and the other 3 links. I planted them and over the course of the year they grew a lot. There's now at least 20 links in each of the pots. Its to the point that I really should re-pot them since I can see the roots coming up in the soil.

I've been a bit remiss lately in watering my plants so today I made extra sure to water them and I noted new leaf buds coming out of the links, which has happened at least once every month or so since I've had them here at the condo. Upon closer inspection I realized that these were different. These were round and oval instead of the flat growth of a leaf. As it turns out, my cactus is flowering! This is the third plant that I've gotten to flower since moving into the loft. The first was the moonflower vine (which unfortunately has since been thrown out - it was dying and the soil was really bad), the second was my aloe plant, and now my Christmas cactus is flowering. I don't know where my green thumb came from, but I like it!

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Do I Dare to Dream?

Well today the MA Legislature voted to recess the Constitutional Convention until January 2, 2007, the last day of the legislative session. They did this after over 2 hours of debate on the anti-gay marriage amendment without voting on it.

Theoretically the legislature could convene on January 2, but the thinking is that that is unlikely.

Personally I'm not going to rest easy until January 3, 2007 when the session is over and any bill that wasn't dealt with is dead.

Some people say "Let the people vote". I can see the rationale behind that argument and on the surface it seems very logical and the right thing to do, but scratch a little deeper and you see the fullness of the issue.

Is it fair to ask a majority to vote to take away civil rights of a minority? What if desegregation has been put to a vote? Inter-racial marriage? Women's suffrage? Would any of these have passed? Does anyone today think that these are bad things? Would anyone today suggest we remove those rights?

If you don't want to go the route of civil rights and protecting the minority, let's look at the fact that this was put up by the legislature 2 years ago and defeated. Let's look at the fact that the process of getting signatures was a complete bastardization of the petition process. There was a sickening amount of fraud associated with the processes of bringing the petition to the legislature. Why is it that anti-gay forces excused and dismissed the fraud and deceitfulness of their process but then deigned it appropriate to hold everyone else to do "what is right" or what "the constitution intended". My mother always told me that two wrongs don't make a right, so how does pulling fast ones on unsuspecting citizens to get them to sign it then make the anti-gay groups have the moral authority to decry the gay rights groups' intentions to defeat this amendment by any means necessary?

Additionally, bills die all the time in various parliamentary procedures when lawmakers don't want to deal with it or don't want to be on the record as opposing it. How often do we hear about a bill being "sent back to committee" with everyone giving each other a knowing look because everyone knows that means the bill is dead. What makes this bill different? Only that they anti-gay forces want to be viewed as the moral high ground defending the noble process of our states vaunted constitutional process. Bullshit. All they want is this bill to pass by any means necessary.

I'm exhausted with this battle. It has been raging since 2001 when the first voter initiative was started. That sought to declare marriage as being between one man and one woman only. In the fall of 2002 it was brought to the legislature. That was defeated by adjourning the convention without voting on it. I was elated when new year arrived, the session was over and the initiative was dead.

The next 4 years were a rollercoaster of elation, excitement, frustration, disappointment and anger. It was a rollercoaster of emotions that I don't wish on anyone. Here's a timeline of events to give you an idea of the stress level that's been a constant in my life.

May of 2002 - there was a push for a federal amendment to the US Constitution to ban gay marriage across the nation. This thankfully was defeated but not before raising my blood pressure and stress level.

July 17, 2002 - Thomas Birmingham adjourns, with a vote of 137-53, the Constitutional Convention (ConCon) without voting on the first anti-gay marriage voter petition. Jane Swift asks, but does not require, the Legislature to come back to vote on the amendment. On December 31, 2002 at 11:59 pm any bills left on the table by the Legislature, including this amendment, is dead. The other side vows to resubmit.

June 2003 - the US Supreme Court decides Lawrence v. Texas which nullifies anti-sodomy laws which decriminalizes homosexual sex as well as of course any sex more adventurous than your basic missionary position given that sodomy not only includes anal sex, but oral sex and can include any sexual gratification (such as vibrators) that is not achieved by coital sexual intercourse.

November 17, 2003 - the MA Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) decides that there is no constitutional basis for denying same-sex marriage and proceeds to give a 180-day stay until their decision takes effect. Begin the countdown to May 17, 2004.

March 29, 2004 - the Legislature passes the first round of a legislative amendment to ban gay marriage. If passed in 2005 again this would end up on the 2006 ballot. Obviously since you didn't vote on it, it failed.

May 17, 2004 - Gays get married and the world doesn't end. Amazing.

September 14, 2005 - the legislative amendment is voted down 157-39. There was much rejoicing then immediately everyone got into battle mode again as a new voter initiative had already begun.

December 7, 2005 - the signed petition was presented to be voted on at the next ConCon.

November 9, 2006 - the legislature recesses without voting on the amendment.

January 3, 2007 - the day after the legislative session ends. Hopefully I can relax at this point.

So at the moment I'm not celebrating or breaking out the champagne. I barely even want to take a sigh of relief for fear of yet another shoe to drop. I probably won't rest until the tide starts to turn on a national scale so that the national religious right wing "family" organizations stop funneling all their efforts at turning back the victory we won in Massachusetts in September of 2003.

To those of you who got this far, thank you for reading this through. I know this was a long post but it had to be written and it had to be put out there.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Remeber to Vote

Just a reminder to everyone to please remember to go out and vote today!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Looking for a room to rent?

So my roomie just let me know he'll probably be moving out by Jan 1. He's got a potentially great opportunity for a residency spot that will require him to move out of state.

Anyone know anybody that's looking for a place to live starting January 1, 2007?

Friday, November 03, 2006

Love that dirty water...

Its good to be back in Boston. As much as I loved DC, its good to be home, and yes I know that in actuality that Worcester is home and not Boston, but when travling around the country or the world, its Boston that I consider my home. Its nice to come back to a familiar city and a familiar airport.

I'm currently on my way home from Logan right now. Having a data enabled cell phone rocks! :) I took Worcester Limo Shared Van service into and out of Boston to save the hassle of driving myself and the cost of leaving my car at Logan. On the return trip I have lucked out. They transferred me to a private limo towncar for the return trip. SWEET!

I have to say that two of the things that really struck me about DC was the driving and the homeless people. The homeless seemed to be everywhere. It was rare to go more than a few blocks without seeing someone sitting or sleeping on a park bench, on the side of a building, or on a window sill of a building. I know that Boston does have its share of homeless, but it didn't seem to be so prevelant.

Then there's the driving. I know people give a lot of grief about "boston drivers" but the DC drivers were crazy. They'd honk and cut people off a lot worse than in Boston. At least in Boston, most people seem to know what they are doing. They are VERY agressive but it seems like people understand and expect it. In NYC most of the drivers on the streets are cabbies, and they are all used to each other anyway. In DC, though, it seemed like people were just erratic and didn't know from one minute to the next what they were doing.

The flight home was less rocky and bumpy than the flight down which is always a plus. I was worried about getting my ride home since we took off about 10 minutes late from Dulles, but we seemed to make up about 15 minutes in the air and actually arrived early. I have to say I'm impressed with JetBlue. Its pretty good service for the price. The only thing I miss about the regular airlines are the larger planes, because they, like larger ships, seem to be less affected by turbulence and changing currents.

All-in-all it was good training and a worthwhile trip. I'm looking forward to going back in December.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

UGHHH

It all makes sense now.... Mercury is in retrograde again. It started on Saturday and won't end until Dec 4. AGHHHH!

Monday, October 30, 2006

DC - Day 2

Well training went well today. Afterwards I went to the Washington Monument only to find out that tickets are only available until 4:30 and it closes at 5:00 which means that I won't have an opportunity to go up the monument this time around. Maybe I'll have a chance to do it in December when I come back for the next training.

Since the monument was closed I went and saw the WWII memorial and then the Lincoln memorial. They were both breathtaking. It was the first time that I had seen the WWII memorial, and I have to say it is quite powerful.

All-in-all, a good day.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Off to DC - Day 1

Well, I made it to DC safe and sound. It's been a bit of an ordeal througout the whole process thus far. First off, the limo service van came about 20 minutes early so I was still taking care of last minute things so it took a few minutes for me to get down to the van, and to top it all off I got a call from the dispatcher for the limo service telling me that she "needed to get the driver out of there", aka I needed to hurry up. Thankfully at that point I was climbing into the van, otherwise I would have given her a piece of my mind for getting there outside of the appointed time and then expecting me to be instantly accomodating to their changes.

Getting into the air was pretty rough with all of the wind gusting about off the water. It sucked because normally I love take-offs. This one I was tense the entire time. Not the most auspicious of beginnins. The rest of the flight went fairly well and the landing at Dulles was passable.

After this I take a bus to the Metro and then walk the block to the hotel. This was a bit of a pain since I had no idea where Pennsylvania Ave was from the train station and then I ended up going the wrong way. After getting turned around a few times I finally got the hotel. I have to say the room is nice. I went to get setup on the internet only to realize I had no ethernet cable. I packed EVERYTHING else I could need and I guess I just assumed they'd be doing wireless. Whoops! Well thankfully the front desk had an ethernet cable I could use. I then plugged in and got ready to check my e-mail etc and then... nothing. All I could get was a 169.*.*.* address, so I called the Front Desk, who told me to call the support company.

I called the support company and they walked me through about 5 tests I had already donen and then asked me to manually set the link speed to test that as well. Those tests all failed. At that point I exhasted the options at that level of support and I was told that they had to kick it up to Tier 3 so they could look at the network configuration of the Hote. I was told I should be contacted in about 30 minutes. 45 minutes later I called again and was told the SLA was 2 hours and that no one should have told me 30. I thanked the phone tech and waited for the rest of the 2 hour time period. 2 hours comes and goes so I call back. This time they kick me directly to Tier 3 and I get someone who walks me through additional steps, most I've already checked and still no success. At one point he has me empty my temporary internet files, which makes no sense at this point. I could understand if I had an IP and couldn't get to their internet provisioning server but at this point I still didn't have an IP. Finally he restarts the switch and voila, internet. The only good thing is that the entire time I was doing this I was sitting in my nice comfy hotel provided aeron chair.

So at this point I'm off to bed so I can get up for breakfast and training tomorrow. Lets hope things go smoother tomorrow.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Que Syrah Syrah

Had a lovely glass or two of Syrah wine this evening. As I've recently found it apparently Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape. I've also found out that's not to confuse them with being the same wine. Shiraz is typically the Australian varietal and is usually more of a modern sharp crisp taste, while the Syrah is usually the European varietal and is often a more rounded old world style flavor. All in all a very nice addition to my collection of wines that I like.

I changed around the setup of my living room last weekend for my the housewarming for my Mom's side of the family. I have to say I'm very happy with it. It definitely opens up the room a lot more. Amazing how switching around furniture, even just a few pieces can really change a place up.

So next week I head out to DC to do training for Blackboard (for the WPI kids reading its the software behind myWPI). Should be fun, haven't been traveling in a while.

Monday, October 23, 2006

MIA

So yeah, I've been missing in action on the blog front. I've been so very busy lately, and while part of me hates to be so "go, go, go" all the time, anther part of me knows that I go nuts when all of a sudden I stop and bam, I've got nothing to do, nothing planned, nothing scheduled. I've found I thrive on having my life planned out weeks to months in advance. I've gotten to the point where I find it hard to be spontaneous, partly my own doing and partly because if I wanted to be spontaneous, all the people I'd want to be spontaneous with are busy with other things because I didn't schedule things in advance. *sigh* heh

Part of why I haven't blogged in a while is decompressing after Sweeney and adjusting to new job responsibilities. After such an intense schedule for Sweeney there was a lot of things in my life that I had neglected that needed catching up on. Additionally I've come into new responsibilities at the office.

One of the server administrators left to go to another institution and since I was in the process of becoming the backup administrator for the online course management software that we run at WPI, I ended up by default as the most knowlegable person on the systems. Now, don't get me wrong, I am happy to have gotten more responsibility and am looking forward to the challenges but its very stressful to suddenly be dropped into a position that you know very little about and have to run with it. The good news is that I'm flying down to DC for training next week and that should alleviate some of the feeling of flying blind.

Another reason for lack of posts is not for lack of things to write about. In fact there have been several times I've thought of posting something. The problem is that every time I got to that point the mental filter went through its checklist and vetoed the post. When I started out this blog I swore that I would do my best to not use this as some sort of passive/agressive method of complaining about issues that I wouldn't do otherwise. I have a few key things that I use as checks and balances on my posts. If the answer to the question is no, then I don't post.
  • If I'm complaining about something, have I dealt with the issue directly yet?
  • If I talk about someone in particular, would I say the same to their face?
  • Would I be comfortable if a person involved read the post?
  • Would I be comfortable if my mother read the post? (very appropriate since she and my aunts do, in fact, read my blog)

When I hit those areas I either deal with it and then post or talk to a friend (or several friends) directly about it and don't post. Also for those things where I just want to write it out I'll usually just write it in my diary.

Finally, it all comes down to an excerpt of Netwon's First Law (yes I'm a geek) which states "An object at rest tends to stay at rest...". What this essentially means is that the longer it is between posts, the larger the effort it is to post again. Hopefully that means that now that I've begun posting again I'll keep it up.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

A dream come true

When I came to WPI in '97 it was after two years of being involved in my high school musicals as well as show choir. (For those who don't know what show choir is, basically its choreographed songs, usually show tunes, and put together in a group to form a theme. Our group usually went for more of a concert medley of a full Broadway show such as Tommy or Jesus Christ Superstar than just a mix of songs) I loved singing but I was starting to really enjoy doing more than just standing on a stage and singing. It was fun learning all the dance moves in Show Choir and learning lines and blocking in the musicals. Upon arriving at WPI I immediately went to both the initial meetings of Masque and Glee Club. I quickly found out that Masque only did stage plays (they have done musicals but only once in a great while and each one affirming the mantra that "musicals just can't get done at WPI), and that it was pretty much an either or situation with Glee Club and Masque. There just really wasn't time to fully dedicate to both.

I never stopped wanting to do a musical and when John Delorey arrived in '01 we started discussing musicals. I nearly fell off my chair when he told me he'd optioned the rights to Les Miserables. Unfortunately with all the rules and regulations on getting the rights to perform the show, it still hasn't become a viable option yet. We began the road to a musical in small steps. We started with a concert of show tunes from shows such as Oklahoma, South Pacific, and A Funny Thing Happend on the Way to the Forum amung others. John also put together a chamber group to perform Mahogany and then later a semi-staged version of Whitchwife.

Last year we began discussions of doing a full out musical with lights, sound, set, costume, props, the works. We mulled around several different shows and came up with Sweeny Todd. It was a good size show, wasn't too rangey, not too many or too few characters and could have a small chorus. Also important was that it had name recognition. The next question came as to when to have it. Formost in my mind after two years of being involved in Masque is that we didn't want this show, and hopefully future musicals, to compete with the existing framework of shows at WPI. After mulling it over we ended up going with A term as the show dates for the production. We would Audition the show in C term and then go on a mini-hiatus during New Voices so as not to compete for time and then do rehearsals before the summer and then give everyone their scripts to learn over the summer.

The rehearsal schedule was VERY aggressive when we came back. We had rehearsals nearly every day for at least 2-4 members of the cast depending on the scenes being run and for the last two and half weeks its been pretty much rehearsals every day. It was a lot of work and a lot of stress but finally it ends tonight and I'm so proud of what we accomplished. The first two nights have been INCREDIBLE. We've gotten glowing acolades from the President of the college as well as the provost for the Opening show and Susan saw the Friday performance and said that we did a wonderful job and that she enjoyed our performance.

Tonight nine years of wishing and hoping and five years of working with John have finally born fruit with the close of a very successful run of the show.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Eyeliner is hard to remove

I now have so much more respect for the lengths women go to to make themselves look good. Sweeney Todd is the first show that I've done that I've had to do any major stage makeup and just doing foundation and eyeliner each night is not that easy, then you have to make sure you don't touch your eyes AT ALL so you don't smudge your makeup. On top of that if you get anything on your face you need to reapply your foundation. After all of that is the lovely process of REMOVING it all. Eyeliner just doesn't want to remove itself at ALL.

At any rate, the opening night was fantastic! This is going to be a great show. If you are coming to the show I advise you to come early because the next two nights are looking like they will sell out. If you haven't already reserved your tickets you should do that now at sweeneytix@wpi.edu.

Well, gotta get back to work!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Attend the tale of Sweeny Todd



I'm currently in a production of Sweeney Todd, playing Judge Turpin. The show will be September 21, 22, and 23 at 7:30 pm at Alden Hall at WPI. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for students. Tickets can be reserved at sweeneytix@wpi.edu or by calling (508) 831-5051. I highly suggest reserving your tickets now since we've had quite a number of people reserve them already and we haven't even started the real major run of publicity.

I hope to see you there!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Requiem aeternam dona eis

It's the end of an era today. Interstate 8, WPI's "No fella, a cappella", has been retired. It has become the Technicords. For more specific information go Tara's blog.

I try my best to stay out of the blog wars and escalating emotions that can sometimes happen on blogs but today I just have to say my piece.

Founded just a year before I got to WPI in 1996 I've seen the girls through many changes and iterations. I was there for the Julie years, the BJ years, the Diane years as well as seeing them helmed by a few other very capable women. Whether it was their signature piece "Swing Low Chariot", Heather doing an incredible "Moondance", Malia being "Beautiful", getting the shivers listing the the incomprable "Alone (The Jam)", or the updated Alma Mater, their music could always make me smile.

I just found out today. I don't know what to say, or how to say it. I'm a bit numb right now. I have been a fan of I8 for years. I've personally known just about every Alumna of the organization. I would always say that they were all "my" I8 girls. There were years when I was jokingly referred to as the I8 groupie. It was always great seeing the new girls every year because they were a connection to some of great people I was friends with at WPI; Jillo, Heather, Diane, Sara, Malia, Tara, Terry, Julie, Christine, Sunshine, BJ, Jen, and so many more that I know I'm leaving off this list.

The question that rings through my head is "Why". I just don't understand. I know things change and I know time passes but I don't understand this.

Some of you may say its just a name, and didn't Shakespeare ask "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other word would smell as sweet." Unfortunately there's more to it than that. Every year was a new group of girls, some old, some new, but all were I8. It was the common factor. It was the thing that connected everything. Now its both new girls and a new name, the connection has been broken.

I have nothing against the new girls in their endeavors and I wish them well, but I hope they realize they have retired that which made the group unique and special amongst the other groups.

I also understand the hurt that the alumae are going through. I saw these girls give blood, sweat and tears to this group. They sacrificed much to keep it going. I saw them struggle to keep the group afloat when they seperated from Alden Voices, I saw the members decide to do I8 gigs rather than do other events or social events.

One other thing to the Technicords, you only stand so high because you have the benefit of standing on the shoulders of giants. Each one of those girls brought the group "Higher and Higher".

I will always have the friendships I made, the CDs, the memories and my I8 postcard saying "I8 Loves TC" signed by all the girls from 2000. :)

A toast and good bye to my dear friend I8. I'll miss you.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Thunder and Lighting

Its amazing. I was tired enough that I was going to crawl into bed at about 7:30 pm tonight and then just as I'm settling in I see the beginning flashes and at that point I know. It's a thunderstorm. At this point I'm wide awake and there's no thoughts about sleeping, not at least until the storm gets a bit further away.

Now I know what you might be thinking, and you'd probably be wrong. I'm not up because I can't sleep in a thunderstorm, but because I don't want to. Ever since I was a kid I've loved the rain and especially thunderstorms. I don't know what it is but there's something to them that is just incredible. This one is a particularly loud, flashy one. There's even been some actual strike lightening as opposed to the usual cloud light show.

Personally I don't care for the single loud boom, as anyone who knows me will tell you I spook easily and will jump at any loud or sudden noise, but I prefer the thunder that is more of a peal or a tear. The ones that are loud enough to show they are close but take a good 2-3 seconds to finish.

I estimate that I'll be up for at least another 20 minutes enoughing the sound of the rain on the roof and the flashes of lightening and the slowly reducing sound of the thunder.

Oh and before you think I'm crazy to be typing away at my computer during a thunderstorm, rest assured I'm on my laptop away from any plugs or electrical cords. I'm on pure battery power at the moment. :)

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

What's in a dream...

So I had an odd dream last night. I dreamt that I was wrestling with someone. We were mostly just horsing around, but there was a lot of tension between us. Kinda like we both knew what we wanted but neither would admit it. It's odd how dreams can just come upon you randomly like that.

I know I haven't posted much lately. I've been putting a lot of hours at the office. Work has been long and stressful. I'm behind on just about all of my deadlines, as I am most years going into NSO. Things are almost done and I'll be happy when it is. We have some new guys on the team and that really makes things better overall. I'll have time to work on new projects and work to redefine my role in the group. I'm hoping to complete my SysAdmin certification this year.

I also haven't been going to the gym really at all in a while. I've been getting up early but pretty much to go to the office. Amazingly I've maintained my 186 weight through all of this.

Also interesting is that I've had the opportunity to reconnect with a lot of old friends; people I haven't seen and/or heard from in 2-5 years. When it rains it pours I guess. Overall its been great.

Overall I'm happy with the direction my life is taking. Here's hoping things continue to go well.

Monday, July 31, 2006

And so it goes...

So I know I've been bad about updates. Sometimes you are in the mood for updates and sometimes you aren't. I've been stressing a LOT about money lately but that seems like its finally working itself out. I have a roomate settled in and that is going well. I'm finally getting a handle on what it will cost to manage the air temperture here (aka NOT cheap).

I've begun the process of looking for a new car since the Audi is finally dying. I've had that car for just over 6 years now. I've had it for just over 1/5 of my life. I've had it through the last two years of college, through my entire coming out process, through the crazy year that was my senior year, through the time I worked in Boston, all the places I've lived in Worcester and Webster. It's funny how things can become a part of you. I've had the same CD in slot 3 of the 6-disk changer for probably 90% of the time that I've had the car; Vertical Horizon "Everything You Want". It's the car that took me to Hampton Beach for excursions with Patrick, Mary, Sare, Jen and the rest of the gang. It's the car that took me camping in Vermont. It's the car that took me to Canada with Colin. It's the car that took me to New York City twice to perform Off-Off Broadway. I've gone on so many road trips in that car (one of the reasons that I put an average of 17,000 miles a year on it, although the average was probably much higher before the last few years). That car is the reason for creating "Audi Privileges" ;) I have so many memories in that car its hard to say goodbye.

Other changes are happening too. At work I've moved my office. I moved upstairs to the cubes behind the main office area. The benefits to this is that I'm now closer to the rest of my team, I get a resonable temperture (70 degrees instead of 82 degrees), I get sunlight, and best of all I get cell reception. The negative is that I'm now closer to the rest of my team (mostly cuz they can be LOUD! hehe), and that I don't have the benefit of being able to close more door or ask my officemate to leave for a short while to allow me to make a phone call or talk with someone in the office privately. The noise aspect I will hopefuly take care of with my brand new pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones. *grin* Also a plus is that we just got brand new black Aeron chairs. These are THE most comfortable chairs you have ever sat on.

Well that's all I have for now. I'll be sure to update more as I can.

Oh, I almost forgot. I'm going to be an uncle. My sister is having a baby and it'll be due in January. This will DEFINITELY take a bit of getting used to.

TTFN

Monday, July 24, 2006

Fun in the woods

Well this weekend I spent some time up in the mountains in NH with Booj. I went up Friday night and we had a few drinks and then we headed back to his place. He's got a great house right on the lake. We went out back to the dock to see the lake. The water was completely placid and a light fog was on the surface. The stars were beautiful. You could even see the Milky Way among the stars. It was incredible and something I always love to look at when I'm out camping. The other thing that was wonderful was the absolute silence. There wasn't any noise from any motors or anything man-made. It was beautifully, wonderfuly quiet. I dipped my toes into the water and it was so warm; it was like bath water. Unfortunately we never had time this weekend to go for a swim. After chatting for a bit we went to bed since we had an early day in store.

I woke up to a wondefully cooked breakfast by Tom's mom. We then drove over to North Conway and hiked up Tuckerman's Ravine. We hiked the three miles up to the base of the bowl over a two hour period, four hours total for the six mile round trip. We made it up all the way with only a bit of rain sprinkling. We started down the mountain and got about 1/3 of the way down when the skies opened up. By the time we got to the bottom we were both soaked to the core.

All in all a pretty good time, although I have to say I hurt in so many places right now. It was painful just to get up this morning, hehe. My legs are sore, my back is sore, my arms are sore. Can't wait until I can do it again! :)

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

And the fight continues...

Well another page has been written in the history of the gay marriage saga. Yesterday, June 10, 2006, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) unanimously voted to certify the ballot initiative that will be voted on at tomorrow's Constitional Convention (ConCon).

Some people might not like what I'm about to say, and I find myself in the weird position of being supportive of something I don't particularly like. Personally I feel that the SJC made the right decision in certifying the ballot. That doesn't mean I like the ballot, or that I don't think that there are plenty of other things wrong with it.

For those that don't know what I'm talking about, the ballot initiative in question is one that seeks to amend the MA Constitution to state that Marriage will be defined as being between one man and one woman. I'll skip over the drama and scandal of the process that led to getting the signatures and get to the part of the issue that was taken to the SJC.

This whole issue revolves around the certification of the ballot question. All voter ballot initiatives need to be certified by the Attourney General in order to get put on the ballot. GLAD tried to block this certifcation citing that the MA Constitution states that you cannot seek to overturn a judicial judgement by a ballot initiative. The rationale for this is so you can't run to the voters every time you don't like a decision handed down by the courts. All well and good, right? Sounds like a fairly reasonable argument to block the initiative. Well, Thomas Reilly (MA AG) certified it saying that the rule cited by GLAD didn't apply in this case. GLAD then sued Reilly and the decision was brought to the SJC. As you see now the SJC supported the certification of the ballot.

I want to see this ballot be defeated just as much as anyone but I really don't think it was wise to try to attack it in this way. The key difference that makes this ballot certifiable is that it seeks to ammend the constitution. It seeks to change the fundamental law and basis for the SJC decision. If the ballot was simply "Vote yes to overturn the SJC decision", I'd agree with GLAD 100%, but that's not the case. If this case had been decided against the ballot, there would have been far reaching implications any time the court made a ruling based on the existing code of laws and someone didn't want the laws changed for future rulings. I feel that every time we get to close to the "win at any costs" mentality where we are willing to find any loophole and exploit any opportunity to our advantage we become just a little bit more like the people we say we are opposing. It only gives the other side rational arguments against us.

I'm hoping for a miracle tomorrow so that we somehow get 151 people to vote no on the ballot and it gets wiped out for good. Personally, I think the mantra of some representatives to "let the people vote" is cowardly and naively simplistic. The point of the ConCon is not to simply rubberstamp any ballot and send it to the voters. If its simply a matter of "let the people vote" then voter initiatives would simply be done by signature drives. The ConCon is there as a check and balance to the voter initiative process. The legislaters should vote their hearts and the concience and vote an initiative through on its merits. If they feel that its a good law or at least one they agree is worthwhile, then pass it on to the voters. If they feel it is bad law or that it is not in the best interest of the commenwealth they should vote it down and doing so does not deny the voters their rights. It simply proves that there is not enough support for the measure that they are trying to pass.

I truly doubt that the measure will be blocked tomorrow and it will at least go to the 2007 ConCon. Maybe by that time we'll have the votes to kill it, maybe not. I just hope that by 2008, with 4 years of same-sex marriages that haven't caused the destruction of civilization, that maybe we'll have enough voter support to kill this measure, once and for all. Part of me wants this to go to the voters just for the strength that would come from winning on a voter ballot question. It would cement the fact that its a minority that has the largest problem with same-sex marriage and take the wind out of the sails of further attempts to recind the existing right of same-sex couples to marry.

Gym Update

Sorry for no update yesterday but I was swamped at work and was too tired to put it up when I got home.

In short I back-slid a bit back up to 187.5. It's probably a combination of the holiday and not going to the gym much last week. I didn't go on Tuesday since it was the day after hosting my party and after cleaning up I just didn't feel like hitting the gym. Wednesday and Thursday my stomach was not feeling well at all so I skipped those days. Friday was a reduced workout because I hit a wall earlier on and didn't want to push it and cause problems. Saturday was a fraternity party and Sunday was just a lazy day. Yesterday I hit 3 miles again, today I hit 2. I think with not running for a week the 3 miles yesterday was a bit much to start with which is why I ran out of steam today. Hopefully I can ramp back up by weeks end back to where I was, and hopefully the weight gain will be very temporary and will come off as easy as it went on.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Roommate found!

Well, one very large weight is off my shoulder. I finally found a more permanent roommate. Living with Jon was great but alas, he had this odd need to live in Boston. Something about being near where he worked and within walking distance to the T as well as near all sorts of fun places to go? Some kind of nonsense like that. :) At any rate, thanks Jon for being a great roomie.

So as of today I have a new roommate, Carlos. He's working at UMass Med. Hopefully this will work out in the long term so I don't have to worry about finding a new roommate anytime soon, or at least long enough so I can put aside the necessary reserve to not be desperate for a new roommate should I need to find one.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy Independance Day


Well last night's party was a complete success. It was great to have so many good friends over to share the good times. Remby, as promised, brought over two George Forman grills to help grill up all the food. What I didn't realize is that he was going to bring over the indoor/outdoor bbq grill as seen to the left. Seriosly, this thing is amazing and I'm going to have to get one.

The party wrapped up at 2:15 AM and a good time was had by all.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Monday Report

So I cheated last week. No, not with food. Well, ok, not much with food, but as I said before, giving in on occasion prevents going overboard and binging later. For the most part I've been doing great at eating better and eating smaller portions at all meals.

No, what I cheated on was my resolution to not step on the scale except for Monday due to the variable nature of weight fluctuation. If I take my weight at the same time and day every week, I'm more likely to get a representative trend of where my weight is. Well, on Friday I stepped on the scale and I was extremely happy. I had dropped to 184! Now that is fantastic. Seeing that led me to weight myself this weekend and I was upset to see I was at 188.5. Today at my normal time to weigh in, I stepped on the scale for the moment of truth. I was 186, which just proves that I should stick to my resolution of only weighing myself once a week.

So I'm currently 186, 36" waist, 36.5" stomach. As you can see I've only lost a pound and no change since last week on the tummy area. I'm not too worried because I can visibly see the progress at this point. Everything is tightening up, my arms are filling out a bit, the love handles are disappearing, my chest is beginning to have some definition and the gut is definitely shrinking, even if not measurably. Overall, I feel the best I've felt in ages and I feel good when I look in the mirror, and believe me, my bathroom mirror doesn't hide anything. The mirror is 68" wide and 36" tall. The thing is brutally honest and Dani and I both agree that it is quite the motivating partner in our workout routines.

If I continue to lose weight at this rate (1 lb/week) I'll only be 179 by August 19th, but I'll be happy with that. At this rate I'll hit my target on October 9th. I'm hoping that I'm hitting a plateau right now and that it'll come off a bit faster over the next few weeks but I'm not going to push it. I want to do this safely and slowly so that not only am I healthy but I can more easily keep the weight off. It's important that whatever I do to take the weight off be a full lifestyle change. I can never go back to eating the portion sizes that I used to and not exercising several times a week. I have to realize that I'm not a teenager with an insatiable metabolism any more. My goal is to be able to drop to 3 miles plus weights/3 times a week to maintain my target weight. During the winter holidays I'll try to ramp back up to 5 days a week just to keep ahead of the winter weight gain (as well as being smart at holiday dinners and parties).

At this point I'm very happy with my progress and now its just a matter of sticking with it. I did 6 days of excersize last week. I even did a session on Saturday. I was very motivated and tempted to hit the gym on Sunday but wanted to make sure I gave myself at least one full day of rest, whether I felt I needed it or not. I don't want to push myself too hard or too fast. "Slow but sure" is my guiding principle here.

Well that's all for today. I have to prep for my BYOBBQ party!

UPDATE: One other thing I should mention is that at 179 lbs I will have met the larger goal of moving to the "normal" range of BMI scores; 179 is a 24.9, "overweight" starts at 25. I am currently at 25.9 right now with 186. My target weight of 172 is a 24 BMI which is still the upper end of the "normal" BMI range, but I'm very comfortable with that weight. I think that weight is very healthy for my body type. I will of course be bringing all of this up with my doctor at my yearly physical in September.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Superman Returns

Well, I went to see the movie Superman Returns last night.  It was absolutely spectacular.  I haven't been that enthralled in a movie since I was just a kid.  I sat in my seat glued to the screen at every moment of the movie.  Not once during the entire 2.5 hour movie did I look at my watch or think "is this over yet". 

 I had a lot of worry about how this whole thing would turn out given its very long and sordid history.  If you don't know anything about it you can read it here.  I will warn you though, you will finish reading it and want to cry or hurt something when you realize how incompetent and idiotic movie producers can be.  You will also breathe a HUGE sigh of relief that the movie ended up the way it did.

 There were a few plot points that were a bit questionable and it will be interesting to see what happens in the sequels and where they go from here.

 Overall it was fantastic.  There were several homages to the past Superman incarnations including almost an exact word-for-word set of lines at the very beginning of the movie.  If you know your lines from Superman I you will grin when you hear it.

 Brandon Routh is incredible as the new man of steel.  I am so glad they went with a total unknown.  It makes it easier to get into the movie.  Brandon nails all of the classic Christopher Reeve mannerisms for Clark/Superman while simultaneously making the characters his own original works.  I've been told that in an interview Brandon stated the only thing he religiously copied from Christopher Reeve's Clark was the way he always pushed up his glasses.

 Kevin Spacey is fantastic as Lex Luthor.  At times he was a carbon copy of Gene Hackman's Lex.  He got all the great Lex'isms that really made Gene Hackman's Lex shine.  Additionally Kevin really made the character his own.

 Parker Posey is a gem as Lex's ditzy gal, but all I could think of while watching her is "Damn, she'd make a great Mrs. Hannigan in an Annie remake."

 To sum it up, I highly recommend going to see the film.  At the end right before the credits there is a dedication to Christopher and Dana Reeve.  There is nothing after the credits so no worries about leaving after you see the dedication.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

The Morning Run

Well, it seems that running at 8 PM for 3 miles makes your legs a little too sore to do it again 9 hours later at 5 AM. I only hit 1.5 miles today. I could have pushed it a bit but didn't want to hurt myself. I'd rather do 1.5 miles for a few days and then get back to 3 miles on a regular basis than hit 3 miles two days in a row and be unable to walk or run for a week.

I'm probably going to hit the eliptical machine tomorrow instead of the treadmill, that way I can still get the miles in but I won't have any impact on my legs.

I'm also happy since I've bumped up the weights on my workout on the machines. My bench press is up as are my pulldowns. One step at a time, right?

Power overwheming

So I saw this over on Patrick's blog (which I'll have to start checking out to see if he makes any more entries other than quizzes) and decided to take it myself.

Your Power Level is: 90%

You have all the tools you need to be a success - both professionally and personally.
You'll probably go beyond reaching your goals. You'll change the world (at least a little).


Sorry my dear, but I still reign supreme. ;) Luv ya, hun!!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

A new MILEstone

Well, without even realizing it or thinking about it (I was watching TV in the gym) I hit the 3 mile mark. I was barely tired and looked down to see I was at 2.78 miles so I figured, "why not", and ran out the full 3 miles. I feel great. Hitting the 3 mile mark is a huge goal of mine so that I can burn those extra calories every day and lose the weight a bit faster.

Since I've only recently started hitting 2.5 I will be trying for 3 every day but will be ready to punch the cool down button anytime that I don't feel ok when running. I don't want to do something to hurt myself in trying to get to 3 miles every day that will prevent me from running at all. Meeting my goal at any cost will not help anything. Its the long term that matters more than the short term.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Monday Report

So this weekend was exhausting. I was up at 6 AM on Saturday to get to work for 6:45 AM in order to do work on the servers. The schedule was to be done by noon, but as it often happens with scheduled downtime various things went wrong and we finally wrapped up at about 2:30 PM. After that we had lunch at the 99. After that I had a few fraternity brothers over for dinner which was fun, but it completely threw my day off to do any running. I finally went to sleep at 2:20 AM Sunday morning.

Sunday was mostly recovery from being up for 20 hours straight on Saturday. I got woken up at noon with a call from the DBA at work saying that the database was down and he couldn't get a hold of the two more senior SysAdmins, so I got up and trucked into work. I at least got about 10 hours of sleep which didn't entirely make up for the complete lack of sleep for the previous few days. I decided to give myself at least one full day of rest so that I wasn't moving servers or running or working out.

This morning I got up and I ran 2.5 miles. I'm very happy with that new milestone. The goal is to hit 2.5 miles all week and then bring it up to 3 miles next week. That's where I'd like to be for the long term; 3 miles every morning.

I weighed myself this morning and the scale showed 188.5. I was very dissapointed since I was hoping to have continued to lose weight after running for 5 full days last week. I took a shower and dried off and once I did that I got on the scale just for the hell of it and was 187.0 WOOOHOOO!! I have lost another pound. :-D

I'm still the same on my measurements for stomach/waist; 36.5/36.5 so no change there. The next time I weigh in will be next Monday. I'm making sure I do not weigh in more than once a week so as to not stress myself out with the daily fluctuations in weight. I've seen weight go up or down by 1-3 pounds easily which is very frustrating when you are trying to be good and lose weight.

Well that's todays update. Also I'm happy to report that Dani met her goal of losing 2 pounds today. Congratulations Dani!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The Battle of the Bulge

** Disclaimer - the following post is not trying to be depressing, self-indulgent or self-pitying. I'm simply putting all of this out there in the hopes that writing it all out will help me understand it all and to continually give me the motivation to do what I need to do to get healthy. Plus it puts everything in perspective since I'm going to catalogue the process on my blog so you should get all the information on the table to start with. **

So the process of getting healthy has begun. I figure if I don't really fight this now, it'll get out of my control and at that point it'll be too hard to motivate myself to do what I need to do. I've seen what the likely path is in my father.

I've tried to get into the habit of working out over the last two years or so and every time it just seems to fall apart after a while. The best I did was before Merrily We Roll Along in February of '05. I think I got down to about 185 lbs and slimmed the stomach down. Since then its been slowly creeping back up.

This time I think I'll stick with it. I got to 194 lbs on the scale and seeing that strengthened my resolve. That is the most I've ever weighed in my life. BTW, I know I'm talking about weight and some of you who read this may look at me and say I look good, that I don't seem to lose weight or that you'd love to be my weight. I can understand and even empathize with that. We all need our goals and my goal is to get back to 170, which is about where my healthy target is. The primary goal of all of this is to get healthy. Part of that process is to create goals based on weight, hence I'll be talking about weight a bunch. If this upsets anyone, I'm sorry about that.

According the CDC's page on BMI (Body Mass Index), the rating for a man with a height of 5' 11" and and a weight of 194 lbs is a 27.1 BMI, which is within the 25-29.9 BMI range of "Overweight". 30+ BMI is considered "Obese" which is 214 lbs so I'm in no immediate danger of that. The "Normal" weight classification is a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 which translates to a weight of 132.36 to 178.158 lbs. My current goal is to get to a 24 BMI which is 172 lbs.

I also understand that there are plateaus during weight loss and that can be upsetting so on advice of serveral friends I also have a handy-dandy tailor's measuring tape. This way I can measure the tummy which is what upsets me more than anything else. When I weighed 194 I also had 40 inch gut and a 39 inch waist. The semi-amusing thing is that I was still fitting into my "32-inch" waistband pants. Gotta love the American marketplace. Rather than make people realize they are getting bigger overall, they simply increase the size of a "32-inch" waist so people won't feel bad about having to go a size up. My nice 32" pants actually measure in at 36".

The other thing that has pushed me towards all this is looking at myself in pictures. I can especially see the weight in my face. I used to have a dimple in my left cheek when I smiled; not there any more. I also see it in the fit of my clothes.

So here's the deal. I'm now getting up every weekday at 5am (even on days that I have off from work, too!) to go running and do some weight training with Dani. We are both there for each other to push each other and keep each other going. She's currently documenting her path to healthy living on her blog too (link to her blog "Yellow Chevy" in the upper right hand corner).

I am running 2 miles a day at this point. I figure another week or so and I'll bump it to 2.5 miles, then to 3 miles and probably plateau there. I'm doing weights a bit to build some muscle to help increase metabolism and the definition certainly won't be something I complain about.

I've been doing this and ramping up for about two weeks now. I'm currently at 188 lbs, BMI of 26.2, a 36.5 inch waist and a 36.5 inch stomach. That's a loss of 6 lbs, 0.9 on BMI, 3.5 inches of waist and 3 inches of stomach. The goal is healthy BMI of 24 with a weight of 172 and a nice flat stomach. With a healthy slow loss of 2 lbs per week that means that I should be able to make it to my target weight in 8 weeks by the time school starts August 19th. In addition to working out I will also be trying to watch what I eat, how often I do fast food, and how big my portion sizes are when I make food and eat out. I will indulge from time to time simply because if you have a craving, its better to just let yourself have a bit of a reward and then get back on track than to deny yourself until you break down and binge and lose all motivation to go back to healthy eating. I'm making sure to have a light breakfast every morning and a sensible lunch and dinner.

So that's the plan folks. Operation Stress Out and Buy The Condo is finished. Time to start Operation Be Healthy and Look Good. I'll post updates about the battle every monday which is weigh in/measuring day.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Red skies

So the thunderstorm this evening just came through. As it rolled in the sky was still blue and clear to the east and it was coming in from the west. The setting sun reflected off of the thunderclouds as they rolled in. As the storm got closer and closer overhead the entire area was covered in hues of blood red. It was especially eerie looking out into the cemetary as this happened. I swear it looked like the end of days. It was both beautiful and frightening.

Just my luck

So I brought home the halogen desk lamp that's been sitting in my office for almost 2 years now, ever since the bulb burnt out. I finally go to the store and get a new bulb. I put in the bulb, plugged it in and the thing just blew out the new bulb. I go to switch it back to off and the switch doesn't want stay switched back. I finally get it to click "off" and now it won't switch back on.

Great. I finally get around to having it work and now its totally broken. *sigh*

Monday, June 19, 2006

General Update

Well, not a whole lot of new things happening to report. Jon, my current roommate, leaves at the end of this month to start his new lease in the Boston area. Thanks for being a great roommate.

So I don't have much in the way of leads for new roommates which is worrying me a bit. Next month is going to be very tight. It's a combination of expenses that I don't normally have to budget for, setting my W4 exemption level from 1 back to zero, and my raise not kicking in until the end of July.

So what I did was after two years of having to pay taxes I resolved to never have to worry about that again. What I did is bump my claimed deduction down to zero which is where I've always had it with the exception of the last year and a half. I put it at 1 since I needed to have more cash in the bank earning interest for me for the condo. It did work but at the price of having to pay out this past April. I should be good next year with being at a zero for half the year plus the benefits of having a mortgage deduction. That refund will probably go towards a down payment on a new car. As I've mentioned in a previous post, the Audi is nearing the end of its life with me.

The raise is just an issue of it not kicking in until the first paycheck of the new fiscal year, which means my July paycheck which I will get July 31. Things will be a bit more comfortable once that kicks in, and hopefully I'll have a roommate by then so it will just end up being icing on the cake.

I've also realize the truth of the never-ending spending that comes with adult life. You no sooner reach a goal that you've been striving for over the course of 2-3 years and you are suddenly faced with new things you need to work towards.

I will need to get a new car soon. I really want to get a new dining room table and chairs. (I've decided after all to get the espresso stain. The light wood would just get washed out in the condo). I need to get a new computer. I know what some of you are thinking, "He doesn't really need to get a new PC, he only wants one." No, the sad fact is that my current PC is getting very sluggish for just web browsing and running office and all the other various applications that I run on a day to day basis. Combine this with the increased specifciations for Vista and I'm going to need to upgrade probably in the January time frame. I'll probably use part of my refund to buy it. I also need to get ceiling fans before the winter. At least if I have issues getting those I have a way to probably get them as a gift. Dad, ever so causually, mentioned that I should ask for ceiling fans for Christmas.

Of course all that above doesn't even get into all the things that I want to get, such as new towels for the bathroom(s), new TV and entertainment center, new surround speaker system, framing some of my photography for decoration, a fire safe for documents and valuables, a new bed (frame and mattress), a new bedroom furnature set, and the list goes on.

I'm also beginning the battle once again to lose some weight, or as my friend Dani mentioned I should phrase it, getting in shape. The thing is that I'm very dissatisfied with my personal appearance. I have a bit of a gut going on. Its something that various family members have mentioned for a few years now and its gotten the worst its ever been. Now I'm not looking for sympathy from anyone because I'm certainly not doing all that bad in the grand scheme of things. I just want to be able to take my shirt off at the beach and be happy with it. At any rate, I'm off to a good start and will hopefully be able to stick with it this time. Here's hoping!

Well, for someone who didn't have a lot to say I certainly took a long time to say it. I'll post more later, time for bed.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Party Time

Well I had a fantastic birthday/housewarming party on Friday night. To anyone I may have neglected to add to my invite list I do apologize. I'm forever being forgetful there. Try as I might I always seem to forget someone I should have on the list.

It was great to see Travis again. I haven't seen him in about a year and a half. His boyfriend was up to and he's a great guy. I can see exactly what Travis sees in him and I wish them both the best.

I made the faux pas of having the party be on the eve of Pride weekend so my dearest Patrick and a few others of the Boston area gays couldn't make it out due to conflicting prior arrangements, but I will do what I can to have them out some other time.

Since my request was that if anyone wanted to really get me anything to please get me stuff to stock the bar here's the list of what I got:
- Stoli Vodka
- Captain Morgan Private Stock (sooo very good - like vanilla)
- Three Olives Chocolate Vodka
- Jack Daniel Single Barrel
- Rosemont Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
- Italian Chianti Clasico Riserva

For the gifts, thank you very, very much. To everyone who came, thank you so much. It was such a great time to entertain you all.

For those who want to know when the next round is, I'll be having my annual BYOBBQ on July 3rd at 6pm. If you haven't yet gotten an evite, let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Give my regards to Broadway

Well, we didn't win but we had an incredible run for this show. 4 seperate performances of the life of the show is pretty a pretty good run for a WPI show. Each one was a limited one-night engagement; one in December, one in February, one in May and the final night in June in NYC.

I am very happy with my peformance and truly feel it was one of my better efforts.

As Susan is fond of saying, the best thing about theatre is the worst thing about theatre, you are always off to another project. As such, I now begin the process of studying for the role of Judge Turpin in the A term (September) production of Sweeney Todd as well as understudying for Sweeney.

I cannot wait to sink my teeth into a musical.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Curtain Call

Well, another performance has ended, and what a performance. I truly felt it was one of my best performances as well as the very best performance of this play ever. The energy was just there tonight. It was electric. Win or lose, I can be very proud of this performance.

After the performance I had a very lovely dinner with my Dad and Lisa. Fantastic filet mignon, wine, dessert and port. I’m going to need to do extra time on the treadmill for the next week now.

Tomorrow I come back home to Worcester.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Lots of Shiny

So as you can tell, I didn’t go to bed immediately after the last post. I ended up going to the Apple store on 5th Avenue with Sarah and Mike. I have to say it certainly was interesting. It’s still just a store, especially once you get down below then it’s just like any other boxy store. I’ll give Apple one thing though, it certainly knows how to do presentation and the above ground portion is definitely that; presentation.

Off to sleep in the city that doesn’t

Well, we made it down without too much traffic. We did it in just about four hours overall.

Once we got here we settled into our hotel rooms and waited for a bit before going to the Comedy Cellar to see some comics. There were a few good ones, such as Sherrod Small and several that were a waste of my time, notably Dave Attell. He just seemed like he was drunk or something and was a complete waste of time and energy.

At this point it’s time to go to bed so I can be ready to do tech tomorrow. We have tech at 1 pm. We then perform at about 7:30 or so and then we wait for the phone call that night to see if we got into the finals. Then we go home Saturday. It’s barely begun and it’s almost over.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

The Road Ahead

Well, I’m off to New York City in just a few hours. I’m going to pack my bags and head down to the Great White Way for the second year in a row.

The preview performance was last night and it was incredible. Every time we perform this show it gets better. Who knew that a show written, rehearsed and performed under the effects of sleep deprivation and caffeine highs in a 22 hour period would end up 2 blocks off of Broadway at the annual Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival?

Well I have to finish packing and running errands, so I’m signing off and I’ll post again when I can.

Monday, May 29, 2006

General Update

Funny how sometimes I just get into a posting mood. :)

At any rate, I have two new temporary roomies: Dani and Anthony. Dani still doesn't have a set closing date so she'll be here for a little bit on my couches. Yay, slumber party. :P

Also, this week is production week for NYC. The schedule is like this:

Tuesday - Tech/Dress Rehearsal
Wednesday - Benefit Preview Performance at the Little Theatre - $20 suggested donation
http://users.wpi.edu/~nvinny for more details
Thursday - Leave for NY
Friday - Tech time then performance that night, dinner with Dad afterwards
Saturday - Return to Worcester

It kind of hasn't hit me yet that I'm going back to NYC. I don't think its a "been there done that" kind of thing, its more that its just so surreal to be doing this, let alone for a second time, that I haven't really let it register. It'll probably hit me the same two times it hit me last year; immediately following the preview and upon setting foot on the stage in NYC.

Well, if i can make it there...

Sunday, May 28, 2006

The Secret Of The Sword

So, I'm a totaly and complete geek and child of the 80s. Today, along with 3 of my friends, I went to the Blackstone Valley Shoppes and saw "The Secret of the Sword" which was a movie that was made up of the first 5 episodes that introduced She-Ra.

The most hilarious thing was when we walked in at 10 AM (apparently every month on Sundays they play a different kids cartoon movie for $3.50.) everyone working the ticket stand was sitting around waiting for the 11 am matinee's to get going. As soon as the first of us ordered our ticket for She-Ra, one of the older women walks over to one of the guys with a huge smile on her face and her hand out saying "Pay up". Apparently they had bet between them whether we were here super early for X-Men at 11:15 or for She-Ra. Well, she was correct.

Also amusing was that as Judd and I were waiting for Josie and Smriti, who should walk up but 3 other WPI people, so in the end it was 7 WPI alumni walking in to see She-Ra. To top it all off, apparently they had only about 3 kids see the show the entire month, but they had 20 adults and we made up just under 40% of the total.

[UPDATE: Actually, I've since found out online (gotta love the internet) that The Secret of The Sword was originally a limited theatrical release. They then carved this into the first 5 episodes of She-Ra: Princess of Power with additional footage.]

[UPDATE2: Apparently there will be a DVD release of the "Best of She-Ra: Princess of Power" which will contain 5 episodes and will have the theatrical release of "The Secret of the Sword" and starting this fall the full series of 93 episodes will be released in three volumes. Apparently the same is already in progress for He-Man. Also the Christmas Special for He-Man and She-Ra is available on DVD.]

Saturday, May 27, 2006

What you leave behind

Well, its the end of a chapter today. Colin and Kristin are moving home to Texas. I went over to Colin's place, which is also my old apartment, to take some food off their hands. While there I picked up a few things that were mine that I had left there like my ironing board and a wooden shelving unit that I had in the kitchen there.

Well it turns out I had a LOT more stuff there than I thought. Between all the food and spices I brought back with me (amusingly some of the spices were ones that was originally mine in first place), I also found my punch bowl, a large serving tray for hors'deurves, a chips/dip tray, the napkin holder, the paper towel dispenser, ice cube trays and an ice cube bucket for the freezer, and various other little things that I hadn't even remembered that I had left there.

Additionally I got several pint glasses and plenty of cleaning supplies and other assorted random things that are useful and that Colin wasn't moving back home with him.

I'm really going to miss both of them. Its funny how time flies. Just four years ago I met Colin in glee club and really got to know him when I bumped into him while shoe shopping in the Providence Place mall. By the end of that fall semester he was practically living at my place because it was far better than his dorm room (he really didn't like his roommate). The next year he moved in with me and later that year he and Kristin started dating. I liked her from the start. Before too long she and I bonded as friends. It worked out well because she was always at the apartment and sometimes it was just the two of us since Colin would be working late at NetOps or on one of his projects. We were able to get to know each other really quickly. The best part about it all was the fact that she was fun to have around. Sometimes someone's significant other can be a pain to have around, especially when they practically move in because they are there so much, but with Kristin, it was just natural. That was a fun year. We'd make dinner, hang out and watch our favorite TV shows together, just the three of us.

The next year we moved into Dean Street with Julian. That year I saw Kristin even more often, if that is even possible. She and I spent even more time just hanging out together on the couch while Colin was off doing whatever he was doing. I saw more of her that year than I did Colin. I got to meet her parents that year and they were very nice and invited me to see the Count Basie orchestra with them. Her parents are an incredible pair and I can see where Kristin gets her joie de vivre.

This past year when I lived in Webster, it was odd not hanging out with either of them all that much. We tried to get together occasionally but they were both busy with their final year and it was hard to get back into Worcester once I'd gone home to Webster. Thankfully I've been able to spend a bunch of time with them since moving into the Condo and as their schedules winded down. It culminated in the dinner party I hosted for them and friends and family after Kristin's bacalaureat celebration. It was such a fun time and I loved playing host.

Today I said goodbye and we had a big group hug with the three of us. They both fly back to Texas and this will likely be the last time I see them until the wedding next April. I will miss them both dearly. At least these days its a lot easier to stay in touch with people than ever so I have no worries that this is the end of us as friends.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Total Geekiness

So I’m a complete and utter geek. I’m sure you all knew that by now. The fun thing about working at a technical college is that I get to play with all sorts of toys. Currently I’m working on my new PC which is a Dell Optiplex 620. It is a Dual Core 3.2 GHz x64 processor with 2 Gigs of RAM and a RADEON X600 video card powering dual monitors.

While that is nice in and of itself, I’m also currently running Windows Vista Beta 2 x64 (Build 5384) with Office 2007 Beta 2. In fact I’m writing this post in Word 2007 Beta 2 in the new Blog tool that is built into Word.

I have to say, the new UI on both the OS and the Office Suite take a bit of getting used to but they really do work a lot better. Outlook 2007 is a huge improvement over 2003, about as much as 2003 was over 2002 (aka Outlook XP). Outlook will now auto detect your exchange settings if you are on a domain.

Well that’s all for now, I just wanted to test out the blog post functionality and share my excitement on using Vista and Office 2007.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

And so it begins...

Well, its time to start looking into getting a new car. The audi which has done so well for me for the last 6 years is getting to the point where its time to replace it. The car itself is about 10 years old; it's a '97 model. Servicing the car is just going to get more expensive from here and I don't want to worry about that. I'd prefer to have a set amount per month to budget for with fewer, if any, surprises in my finances.

I looked it up on Kelly Blue Book and the value for a 97 Audi A6 in Fair condition is about $4,500 which is a good amount for a down payment on a "new" car. What I'd like to do is get a certified pre-owned Audi A4 that's 3-4 years old.

We'll see what happens. Its all dependent on getting a steady roommate and saving up additional down payments prior to the purchase.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Caught in between

Its kind of wierd. I've been in a wierd mood all night. On the one hand I've enjoyed the peace and quiet and relaxation of being by myself. On the other hand I really wanted to go out and do something fun with friends. On the other hand I really didn't want to break the silence and deal with other people. On the other hand I was feeling lonely.

Maybe that explains the headache I've got right now. All those conflicting emotions and feelings just don't reconcile well. I don't know, I've been so busy for so long I don't know what to do with free time any more. I seriously need some R&R time but I also get antsy with nothing to do.

*sigh* I'm a complete contridiction these days.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Star light, star bright

Equally wonderful is to see the stars at night for the first time in ages. Also the moon, as I left Frank and Kates from a wonderful evening of cards, was a huge and low on the horizon and a beautiful shade of red. Here's to hoping we have more days without rain this week.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The sun has come out

The sun is finally shining and blue skies are everywhere. That is all. :)

Monday, May 15, 2006

Soaked

So I'm really sick and tired of the rain. It was relaxing and soothing to hear it on the roof when it was once in a while, NOT when it is constant and neverending. It is now day 8 of rain. It has rained just about every day since the 8th. When its not raining its misting, or just plain chilly and overcast. To top it all off we are scheduled for rain through at least Friday. So much for an outdoor commencement. :(

I want the rain to go away. I want to see the sun again. I want the weather to be getting warm again. ugh...

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

I hate scam artists

So I've listed my condo on roommates.com in the hopes of finding someone worthwhile to have as a roommate. All well and good.

The other day I receive an e-mail from a girl in the UK who is planning on moving to the US. That's cool I think. I check out the profile to get more info. The profile looks ok but a few alarm bells go off when I notice that her profile is exactly the same has her e-mail to me.

I decide to give her the benefit of the doubt as I got sick of trying to write unique e-mails to every person I was responding to. I replied back to her. I then recieved an e-mail asking for the breakdown of the costs and to send her some pics of the apartment.

Hmm.... that's odd. I sent her a URL of my web album with all the pics I've taken. I respond back and ask a few questions about her to try to get some personal information. Something to prove this wasn't a scam. NOPE.

I received the most recent e-mail today and it commented that she was hoping to finish her current assignment (apparently she worked for the W.H.O) on APRIL 15TH. Hmm.... I know the time zones are different but how do you "hope" to be done with an assignment by a date that is a MONTH OLD! Ugh...

At least I had the commen sense to not give out any major information until I had some better idea of who this person was and that I was able to come to the conclusion that it was a scammer from the beginning.

At any rate, does anyone know any professional-type people or grad students (basically not undergrads) that are looking for a room? Avialable starting June 1. :)

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Good times

Well this weekend has been a lot of fun. Friday I held an AYO gathering at my place and I think it went very well. I think I'll have another one at the beginning of the year.

Yesterday I spent the day in Boston with Henry, Mario, Emar, Sam, Radik, Randy and a few others for Janelle's birthday party pub crawl. We started at Boston Beerworks on Canal Street, went to Hurricane O'Reilley's, then went to the Bell in Hand, followed by the Black Rose, then went over to The Place and finally finished at Mojito's. All in all it was a very good night.

Also this weekend I got and installed the washer and dryer I bought from Robbie. Its so very nice to be able to do laundry in my own home again. The funny thing is now that I own my own washer and dryer; NOW i feel like I own this place. Odd the little things that really drive home the fact that you are a homeowner.

I don't know when I became a super planner. I don't know if this is part of the whole adult thing or what but it can get annoying. I have my weekends planned out pretty much at least 1 month out at all times, if not 2. I live and die by my calendar these days. I really cannot even begin to try to figure out what I can and cannot do unless I have my calendar in hand. Its quite sad really. On the flip side of this, when I actually have a day with nothing planned, I have no idea what to do. I can try to call other people but they too are stuck in planning mode. In some ways being an adult can really be a chore.

Oh well. Gotta enjoy the bad things with the good.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Up on the roof...

So another benefit of living on the top floor that I recently discovered, other than not having people walking across my ceiling, is that when it rains, I get to enjoy the sound that the rain makes when falling on the roof. Its really kind of nice to be able to look out and watch the rain as it falls on the roof above. Very relaxing.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Silence at last

So about a week ago my computer's system fan died. Thankfully the BIOS is set to suspend the system if the CPU temperture gets too hot so nothing catastrophic happened. I got a temporary fan from a co-worker who warned me that it was a bit loud. Well he was right, it was a jet engine. I immediately went online and bought a "silent" fan. The good news is that it came in today and it really is silent. Its even quieter than the original fan.

Also, given the whole post last night about lillies, I figured I should mention that as I walked down the ramp from my office to the parking lot I walked right past a lilac bush. I LOVE the smell of lilacs. Its how I truly know that spring has arrived.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Random ramblings...

The lovely bouquet of flowers that my New Voices stage manager got me had mostly died so I replaced them. I've really gotten to like having fresh flowers on my kitchen bar counter. It really adds a nice look to the place. I was thinking maybe of getting Tulips but now that we're in late spring and post-easter they seem to be completely out of season. When looking over the various flowers I was looking for ones that wouldn't look like a bunch of ramdom leaves and petals. Roses are nice but they are a bit over done and I'll leave that for when some cute boy gets them for me (so I guess I can count out getting roses anytime soon :-P ). I decided to get Lilies.

I got two different sets, one orange and red and the other white. They look very lovely and fairly simple and elegant. The problem is forgetting how much scents can get tied to memories. I went to settle down for the eavening and I got a big whiff of the lillies and I sort of stopped in my tracks. You see I forgot that anytime I smell lillies now I think of my Nana. They were her favorite flower. More to the point though is that I remember my Nana's wake. There were lillies everywhere. The smell of them was almost over-powering in the funeral home.
To this day I cannot smell them without thinking of Nana, without remembering the wake. I wonder if at any point in my future I'll ever be able to smell them without that connection. Who knows? Its just been so long since the last time I smelled lillies that the mental association really threw me this time around.

Wicked

So I went to see Wicked last night at the Boston Opera House. It was incredible. Completely fantastic. The singers were wonderful and the set was breathtaking.

The scary thing is that I know I'm totally becoming a theatre geek now. The first thing I thought as I sat in the theatre (after, damn they did a great job restoring this place) was "damn that's a nice pre-set", and "ooh, I really like the gobos they are using and the color choices." Oh what have I become!! hehe Even throughout thet performance at certain points I kept thinking, "oh I like how they used the spots there" and "oh that's a creative way to deal with those set pieces". I guess part of the downside of getting involved in all aspects of theatre (directing, acting, set crew, lighting, set build) is that now its like going to see a magic show when you know how the tricks are done. Of course its still the point that if its done well enough you won't care and you will still be awed by it and forget all the technical stuff. Total suspension of disbelief. And that was Wicked for me. Completely incredible.

Before we went, we had a great time at Fire and Ice. I went with my aunts Maureen and Christine and my Mom. It was a great time and I got to enjoy to very well poured Stoli Ras Martinis (thanks mom). It was definitely a nice break from all the stress of moving and buying the condo and such. All in all it was a very good time.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

The long rode home

Well its been a while since my last post. I don't know why but its been really hard to motivate myself to write a new entry. Everytime I seem to have time and set out to write a post I end up trailing off and not finishing it. Could be its just inertia that since I haven't posted in so long I don't really have the drive to do so again. Whatever the reason I've decided to make sure this post actually gets finished and posted.

So I finally bought a house. I suppose this makes me an adult or something like that. Its weird to have so much of my life say that I'm an adult when a large part of me still feels like a kid. I'm now 27, working a full time job and I own a house and a car. I'm the advisor to my fraternity and people actually listen to what I have to say. I'm seen as an authority figure in the various areas where I'm still involved with undergraduates. I'm having my five year reuninion next fall for college and some point next spring or summer I will have my 10 year reunion for high school.

Is this where I thought I'd be 9 years out of high school? I have no idea at this point. My life plan has changed so many times since leaving high school I don't even know if I have an idea for where I want it to go from here. If you asked me at the beginning of high school where I'd be I'd probably have said I would be an architecht or a lawyer, that I'd be married to a beautiful wife and have one possibly two kids by now. My parents did by this point. Instead, I'm a management major, gay and have been single for over two years at this point. The funny part is I think I'm happier with the actual outcome. I do like my life. I like the people who are in it. I like the things that I've done and the choices I've made. What is the worth of the goal if you don't take the time to enjoy the path that leads there.

In other news a play that I have had the opportunity to reprise once already will be showcased two more times this summer. "Treasures" from the Alpha Psi Omega Show in 24 Hours has been accepted to this year's Annual Samual French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. The first showcase will be the preview performance at WPI at the end of may and the second showcase will be at the Sam French festival itself on June 2nd at 7:30.

I'm also going to be playing the role of Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, which is the A term musical put on by Vox, the WPI Light Opera Company. The amusing thing is that for the second year in a row I play a lecherous older man who goes after a younger woman. The previous role was Sir George Crofts in Mrs. Warren's Profession. Additionally amusing and coincidental is that Sean Cassidy will be playing the affable young man who attemts to win the affections of the same woman and crosses paths with me to get her. Gotta love eery similarities.

Well that's enough for now I think. Hopefully now that the first update is out of the way I'll be back to updating more often.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

All Settled In

Well I'm all settled in at last and I finally have internet. My roomie Jon has moved in to so that's very good. I've gotten a good deal on a washer/dryer set so I'll be getting those as soon as I have time to go get them from Robbie.

New Voices owns my life for another two weeks and then its off to Sweeney Todd. I'm enjoying directing and acting but I swear, never both at the same again. I really don't have what it takes to balance both. I'm barely doing that now as it is. It didn't help that I had to move in the middle of New Voices. That is specifically why, when I was planning on moving last term, I didn't act or get majorly involved in the C term productions. I'm looking forward to a fairly relaxing summer, unless of course one or both of the two shows that are submitted to Sam French gets in; in which case I will go happily insane again this year. :)

Look forward to more frequent updates once New Voices is over.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Goodbye Webster, Hello Worcester

Well, tomorrow I make the big move back to Worcester and leave Webster behind. Its been wonderful living with Elliot again (techincally its the first time but when we both lived on Bowdoin Street, with him on 3rd and me on first, it was pretty much close enough) and I will miss him as a roommate.

Just so everyone knows I will be completely cut off from all electronic communication for a while since I don't have internet yet at the new place and don't know when I might. Add to that the fact that I'm on vacation this week so I won't be in the office at all to check mail there. I might get mail for the time that I'm at rehearsals this week but I wouldn't count on it.

Long story short, if you nee to get a hold of me you'll have to be old fashioned and call me or visit me.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Soooo Tired

Well I've begun the process of moving in. I moved some of the boxes from my room at Elliot's to the condo as well as some of the boxes from my Dad's place. I'll probably grab some more stuff tomorrow. Monday is the official "big" move day with professional movers and everything to move my couches, desk, bed, and other assorted actual furtniture. By Monday night I will be officially living in my new home.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Mission Accomplished

And after a long day, goodnight. I have closed on my condo. A 2.5 year saga has ended. I move in on Monday.

Countdown to Closing - Day 0

Well today is the day. I'm so excited and nervous at the same time. I barely slept all night. I was up about every hours or so. When I went to sleep I thought about how it felt like I used to at Christmas. The anticipation and the exceitment.

At 10 AM it happens. I become a homeowner, or as my Dad amusingly mentioned, a "landed gentry".

I'll post more later! Wish me luck!

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

We are go for launch

Its official. I have a closing date. 10 AM. Friday. I'm about to part with a rediculous amount of money and put myself in debt for an even more rediculous amount of money. Oh god, what have I done. :)

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Another year older and another year wiser?

Well for those that didn't know I just had my birthday on Sunday. Oh joy - another year closer to "death day cake". If you don't watch QAF you probably won't know that reference.

Hopefully this year will be a good one!

Friday, March 17, 2006

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Fremont Open House

Well today was the official "Completion Celbration" for the Fremont Lofts. There were some speeches by the head Realtor for the project, one of the primary partners of the development company, the mayor and one of the people from the city manager's office. There were also tours, coffee and desserts, and a small jazz quartet playing live music.

I showed my dad and Lisa my unit as well as Dani's. Dani and I went around looking at all the other units. Trust us, our layout is the best. Seriously, the Type J unit (our unit) has the best space utilization. There are very few units larger and the ones that are larger usually have thinner master bedrooms.

All in all it was nice. Dani and I hung out in my unit for a bit and chatted about random things and it really made me look forward to when I own the place. Just a little bit longer, hopefully. It's all been worth it.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Birthday Party Update

As some of you may have seen in a previous post I mentioned that I was likely going to have a birthday party on Friday March 24th. Well, given my complete lack of stability in my living arrangements and the complete lack of available time in April that I will not be having a birthday party any time soon.

I have decided that I will have an UN-birthday party in May or June. At that point I won't have the closing looming overhead, I will have settled into the condo more fully and I won't have New Voices to contend with.

Additionally this will have the added benefit of being nicer weather. So stay tuned for more information

I will still be having my Wine, Cheese and Candles party on 4/8.

Closing Update 2

Well as of today my closing has officially been delayed again. At this point the only thing I know is that I will not be closing at any point this week. I don't know when I may end up closing at this point, but I'll post it as soon as I know it.

I have gone through and cancelled my utility orders for gas, electric and cable. The only good from all of this is that Charter is doing the site survey so hopefully by the time I actually move in I can get cable and internet.

I'm definitely starting to get a bit frustrated.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Not again....

Another 3 days out, another delay. Appartenly the condo documents are not yet recorded and they don't think that they will be able to be ready for Wednesday. I'm beginning to get pissed off. Do they know how disruptive this is? Do they even care? I can only put my life on hold for this process so long before I run into problems. Thankfully, my boss and coworkers have been great about this and have been really flexible with me needing to take time off with little to no warning, but this cannot continue. I am unable to make appointments or schedule serious work because of this impending closing and moving thing I have on the horizon.

On top of all this when I asked Robin if my walkthrough was still on, she said she'd have to call me back once she did a walkthrough herself just in case it wasn't ready for me. Considering they were going to try to close my unit 2 weeks ago why the hell isn't it perfectly done now? The scary thing is that I'm told by people who have seen other condo's and done other closings that I'm doing fairly well and the quality of work I'm getting is better than many other developments out there.

Well now I have to call the movers and cancel them, put the utilities transfer on hold. I'm glad I didn't start moving on the change of address forms. Someone wake me when its all over please?

UPDATE: I had my walkthrough today and everything looked good. There were some items on the list but nothing major. I've cancelled my moving date, but hopefully I should have a new closing date soon.