Wednesday, December 17, 2008

So not amused

Well my lovely Rabbit had a run-in with a trailer hitch yesterday on the highway. Now to be clear, I'm fine and the damage was limited to my car. Also, to be clear the trailer hitch was not attached to anything and was simply bouncing around on the highway. Here's the damage:

From The Crystal Cave


So I've already called it into my insurance, had it appraised and now am waiting for the result of the appraisal. Ugh... Merry Christmas indeed.
Posted in

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Were the World Mine

I saw Were the World Mine this past Wednesday. I went in to the Kendal Square Landmark Cinema in Cambridge to see it with Jony and Dani. I was a bit worried because I have been looking forward to it so much I feared I'd be dissapointed. The wonderful thing was that it exceeded my expectations. Was it a perfect movie? No. Were there points that I could critique it? Yes. Was it greater than the sum of its parts? Completely.

The singing and music was fantastic and incredibly well done. It was uplifting and happy without being overly sappy. It was though provoking without being to cerebral. Overall it was a movie that once it got going just made you enjoy it. It was fantastical but had consequences.

Unfortunately it is no longer playing (only a one week engagement), but I recommend looking for it when it comes out on DVD in the spring/summer.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Ever the counselor...

Your results:
You are Deanna Troi

You are a caring and loving individual. You understand people's emotions and you are able to comfort and counsel them.

 

Deanna Troi
75%
Geordi LaForge
70%
Uhura
65%
Jean-Luc Picard
65%
James T. Kirk (Captain)
60%
Chekov
60%
Spock
52%
Beverly Crusher
45%
Will Riker
45%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)
40%
Data
32%
Mr. Scott
30%
Mr. Sulu
30%
Worf
30%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt)
10%

Friday, November 21, 2008

A picture is worth...

So I found a really cool website called Wordle that lets you create a "tag cloud" of the most common words used in a blog. Below is mine. I guess you can tell what i"m passionate about.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Musical? Shakespeare? Gay boys in love? I'm sooo there!

Ok, I've recently become obsessed with a new film coming out in Boston on Friday December 5.

The story is about a boy, after being cast as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, who stumbles upon a hidden recipe within the script to make the play's love pansy, causing anyone to fall in love with the first person they lay eyes on. He proceeds to turn most of his small-town gay to varying results and consequences.

The music sounds great, and the voices on the two leads are just incredible. I plan to see it when it opens, anyone with me?

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Election

I'll admit, I'm not thrilled with exactly how Obama parses his gay rights stance, but at the very least he's not going out of his way to make things any worse. He just wants gays to have marriage light, as opposed to full marriage.

McCain has voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in the past, saying its a state's issue, but then has supported Arizona's state amendment to ban it and currently has supported the California ban against gay marriage that will be up for a vote in November. Palin has also stated that Gays can expect an administration where there will be tolerance, but count me out of feeling warm and fuzzy about people who merely tolerate my existance. She's also made clear that she wants to stir things up and bring back the push for the Federal Marriage Amendment. Here's the full quote:

"I am, in my own, state, I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a federal level that that's where we would go because I don't support gay marriage. I'm not going to be out there judging individuals, sitting in a seat of judgment telling what they can and can't do, should and should not do, but I certainly can express my own opinion here and take actions that I believe would be best for traditional marriage and that's casting my votes and speaking up for traditional marriage that, that instrument that it's the foundation of our society is that strong family and that's based on that traditional definition of marriage, so I do support that."

Is it wrong that I just want this whole election mess to be over?

Friday, October 17, 2008

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The final curtain

Well we did it. We finished the show. It was a fantastic show to end it all with and we even got it on video, so I'm looking forward to that.

Just a little bit more admistrative stuff to finalize the production side of things but we should have it settled down soon.

Time to crash. Ahh sleep. I missed you.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Eye of the storm

Well it's currently in the break between the matinee and the evening performance. The hall is empty and I have the green room to myself for a time. It's quite peaceful and relaxing at the moment.

Just a few more hours and what has taken over my life for the last 4 weeks (as it does every year) will be over. I always seem to reach a point in the process where I am looking forward to it being over just because its such a lot of work, but without fail, as it near the final performance it just feels such a shame to have it all end.

Just one more curtain and then off to the rest of my life.

Friday, August 29, 2008

The Three Penny Opera

Hey everyone. Just a quick blurb. I've been super busy so I haven't had time for my final England adventures post, but that will come soon. In the mean time please think about coming to see the source of my lack of time, The Three Penny Opera.

Shows are at Alden Hall at WPI and are the following dates/times:

September 19 - 7:30 pm
September 20 - 2:00 pm
September 20 - 7:30 pm

Doors open 30 minutes before the show.

TC

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Home sweet home

I'm home safe and sound. I got in last night at Logan at about 8:30. After waiting for luggage, customs and auto travel, I got home at about 11. I'll update with info from London and other things later. For the moment I have 1060 emails to sort through, and that's just on my work email. Haven't yet gone through the 125 on my personal account. Ahh vacation!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Leaving Worcester

Well this is my last day in Worcester.

Cate and her mom Betty came last night to the performance. While the performances weren't the most well attended the audience both nights had good praise for the show. Overall I think it came off well.

I may have yet another crack at it as well, as John is planning a commercial recording next summer so I may just have to make another trip to London. Darn. :)

So I leave on at an 11:23 train back to Paddington Station and stay in London tonight. Cate and I are going to hop around the city and do some touristy things so maybe I'll even be inclined to take more pictures. Tomorrow we head to the airport and back home; so really I'll only be out of Worcester for about a day. To think, a trans-Atlantic flight, two 2-hour train trips only to spend all of my vacation in Worcester. I think that's amusing.

Anyways, I don't know what my internet situation is so this may be my last England post. See everyone soon. I so am not ready to go home though. If it were possible I'd vacation another full week. TTFN!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Notes from England - #2

So, for everyone who complains that last call in MA is at 1:45 consider this; in England the bars shut down at 11:00. I'd forgotten that from my time in Ireland.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Notes from England

Not much new to report. Still in Worcester at the moment. Rehearsals are going well, we even have tonight off.

I'll be heading to Worcester Cathedral for Evensong tonight. The boy's choir from All Saints Church in Worcester, MA is currently over here on tour and will be singing this evening.

One thing I've noticed in the UK is that all the cars are small. Small hatchbacks make up about 80-90% of the cars that I've seen with the remainder being mostly mid-size sedans with a few full size ones and small vans that look like they are built on car frames.

Also of note is that everything is walkable. Pretty much every day I walk at least 4 miles as my guest house is about a mile from the city center, and I usually take a walk into the city in the early day as well as later for dinner.

Well that's all for now. Signing off.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Your other left!

So one thing I still cannot get used to is the driving on the left thing, and I'm not even doing any driving. The main thing is that I keep having to do is pretty much relearn how to cross the street. After years of getting drilled into my head as a child to "look left, look right" it's a bit difficult to retrain myself to do the opposite order at this point.

If this is how hard it is to cross the road as a pedestrian, I can't imagine how difficult it is to adapt as a driver!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Cheerio!

Well, today is the first day in England that hasn't' been part of traveling. I took off on Friday night and arrived Saturday morning.

The flight was fairly uneventful, but we did end up leaving 1.5 hours late due to inclement weather. Thankfully we made up most of that time in the air and only arrived about 35 minutes later than planned.

I flew standby and was hoping to end up in first class, but alas, coach it was. I was able to sleep a fair amount of the trip so it wasn't that bad.

After going through customs I grabbed the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station and from there picked up the First Great Western train on the British railway to Worcester. It was a lovely view of the countryside and took about 2 hours until I got to my destination.

Now the lovely thing is that I remembered to call my credit cards and notify them that I'd be in England, but forgot that Bank of America credit and Bank of America checking are two totally different entities and so I never notified them that I'd be using the ATMs in England. Consequently cash machines refused to give me any money. Add to that, that I didn't want to take a cash advance off my credit cards and I had forgotten to order British Pounds prior to my trip, and that left me with only credit cards, no cash and a mile and a half distance to the guest house I am staying at. I asked and was told that Taxi's required cash, so I ended up walking the distance with my bags. Oh, did I mention it was raining? Did I also mention that I discovered as I was walking that my nice black shoes that I was wearing apparently have cracks in the rubber soles? Yeah, that was fun.

I finally got to the guest house and checked in just about 1 pm BST (that's British Summer Time or GMT +1 - it's still only 5 hrs different because the US is on DST). I was able to get online (yay free wi-fi in my room) and send off emails saying I had arrived safe and sound and then I crashed and took a mid-day nap. After a few hours I woke up and was able to make plans with Delorey to meet up and head out for dinner. While at his hotel I was finally able to get in touch with Bank of America, clear the block, and authorize ATM access while I'm in England. Within 15 minutes of that phone call I had money, with no ATM fee as an added bonus since I found BoA's British "partner" bank.

John and I had a nice Italian dinner (and by Italian I mean Italian, all of the wait staff spoke Italian greetings to customers and spoke in full Italian to each other) and then we each headed home.

Today I woke up to have breakfast which was a full English breakfast. Bacon, eggs, sausage, toast, and tea. My excitement at this pretty much ended when I saw the "bacon". English bacon is apparently fried fatty ham. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't bacon.

So now I'm just killing time until rehearsal at 2. I'll post more later in the week.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

So now what?

Well my primary reason for getting a PS3 in the next year is now officially gone. Final Fantasy 13 is going to be released on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

I guess at this point I really need to look at the options and see which one I really want and which ones has other titles I may want.

I really figured I'd finally buy the PS3 for FF13, just as I did for the PS2 and FFX.

Choices, choices...

Friday, July 11, 2008

Shady things are happening in my loft

Well, that's not quite right. They aren't shades, they are blinds. Today I finally had blinds installed on my windows (the double cell honeycomb fabric style) and I don't know how I lived without them. Already my place feels cooler and there's much less glare. Life is good.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Inconceivable

So opening night of the Princess Bride was a success. My swordfight with Inego has never been better, and to top it all of we had a huge showing tonight for audience.

Apparnetly it had something to do with the fact that a side column note about the show was in the Telegram and Gazette on the front page of the Living section above the fold.

Here's the article:
http://www.telegram.com/article/20080612/EWORCESTER/316450495/-1/eworcester

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

Ok time for bed!

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Running and running

So today I ran my first 6k race. I finished in 39 minutes. All-in-all given the 90+ degree heat and almost total lack of any shade I think I did well.

I'm pretty proud of myself. I've been working up to this for a few months now and got a bit side-tracked this past month due to allergies hitting me hard for the first time ever. I was able to pull through and get through the race.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

The Princess Bride

I'm in a production of "The Princess Bride" at WPI. We are doing an outdoor production at WPI Higgins Gardens. For those familiar with the story I will be playing Count Rugen, The six fingered man.

The performances are June 12, 13, 14 at 7pm.
House opens at 6:30
The show is free.

Here's a synopsys from the for those who don't know the show. Also, please note that the script we are using is an adaptation of both the book and the screenplay so some things may be a bit different for those die-hard fans who can quote every line.

Based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, The Princess Bride is staged as a book read by grandfather to his ill grandson. The grandfather assures a romance-weary grandson that the book has much more to deliver than a simpering love story, including but not limited to fencing, fighting, torture, death, true love, giants, and pirates. Indeed, The Princess Bride offers a tongue-in-cheek fairy tale depicting stable boy-turned-pirate Westley's journey to rescue Buttercup, his true love, away from the evil prince, whom she had agreed to marry five years after learning of what she had believed to be news of Westley's death. With help from Prince Humperdinck's disgruntled former employee Miracle Max, swordsman Inigo Montoya, and a very large man named Fezzik, the star-crossed lovers are reunited.


Directions: http://www.wpi.edu/About/Visitors/directions.html
Campus Map: http://www.wpi.edu/Images/CMS/WPI/walkingmap.pdf

We are at building 17 on the map and you can park in the lot marked "Staff Lot" that is off of Salisbury Street and the entrance road to Higgins House.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

What's going on...

Well it's been a while since I've made a proper post. So much has gone on lately. After the flurry of activity while I was in CA I guess I just got a bit burnt out. :)

Let's see....

Things are progressing along quite nicely for the Three Penny Opera. We had our initial rehearsal and I think its going to be a fantastic show. For those that don't know the show is about Macheath a.k.a. Mack the Knife (yes, like the song). It will be September 19, and 20. More details to follow later.

For those keeping score at home, in February I became the Chairman of the Board for Fremont Lofts. That's going well. It seems like we are finally getting things under control.

In April I was in a play called "The Punisher" about a literary super hero that does his best to rid the world of bad puns. I played exposition. I had had 4 monologues and each monologue had a separate costume. I think I win for line to costume ration of 1:1. The costumes were Toga, Professor, Bard and finally a one piece, grey and orange spandex superhero costume with cape. The show went well and New Voices 26 as a whole went fantastically.

At the end of April I took off to Florida for a work conference with a colleague. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. It was also fun to be able to go swimming in the large in-ground pool and relax in the jacuzzi every night.

The second weekend of May I went to NYC from Friday to Monday for Judd's graduation celebration. I'll post more about that later since it deserves its own post. I'll just drop a few key words to give you an idea of what it entailed: drinks, karaoke, ninjas, rent, Nintendo.

Most recently, I've been cast as "Count Rugen" in an outdoor garden production of "The Princess Bride". We will be performing June 12, 13 and 14 at Higgins Gardens. The start time will be announced later as it will be based on sunset.

Well that's all for now. More later.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

California Supreme Court overturns Gay Marriage Ban

So I've been meaning to update my blog lately and I have a lot to post but this had to go first. California has just overturned the state's ban on gay marriage.

Boston Globe
CNN
Advocate
Bay Windows

Statement from the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenneger :

"I respect the Court’s decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling,"
the governor said in a statement just released by his office. "Also, as I have
said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would
overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."



Looks like lots of good things going forward. Maybe soon California will be the second state in the nation to allow gay marriage and we'll have gays getting married from sea to shining sea.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Lawmaker says gays are worse than terrorists

Every once and a while I begin to forget that as a gay man, I'm targeted. I forget at times that as a gay man there are people out there who fear me and hate me. This is one of those times I'm forced to remember.

This clip was from Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern speaking to a Republican group. She says at one point:

"I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam."
If you'd like to do something about this you can go to the HRC to send a letter to the Governor and top legislators.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Sweet! New Music!

Well I'm excited cuz I just found out that Jesse McCartney is coming out with a new album on May 20. I hope it is as good as his last album. :)

Jesse's got a great voice and I'm excited to see what he's gonna do. It's called "Departure" and it seems he's going to be trying new things so we'll see what happens.

If you wanna hear an interview with him about the ablum you can go here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CSWUu3e581o.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Home Sweet Home

Well, after numerous delays (DEN to BOS got delayed TWICE for a total of an hour and 5 minutes) I'm finally home. Now to pass out in my own bed.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

The beauty of it all

So I both like and don't like flying. What I don't like is turbulence and the idea that artificial thrust and aerodynamic pieces of metal are the only think keeping the plane above ground. From time to time I think that the idea of standing against gravity is just sheer lunacy.

On the other hand, when the plane is calmly soaring at its cruising altitude, it can be a thing of utter peace and beauty. I always prefer a window seat when possible when flying; I have since I was a child. The wonderment of looking out the window at the world below has never diminished.

I used to go up to my dad's offices in the various buildings he worked at and I would look out at the world below and look at all the people below and how they looked like ants. The cars looked like toys. Flying above the world is even more amazing.

Currently I'm flying over mountains and plains that are just covered completely in snow. The only signs of civilization are the occasional road that you can barely notice. It's amazing to just see rolling plains of white as far as the eye can see, which is pretty far from this vantage point.

It's also amazing to see the horizon and see it bend around in a circle. It truly makes you appreciate how big and round this planet is. The sun is beginning to set and it is just beautiful. Looking down at the ever changing landscape just makes you pause and appreciate the beauty of it all.

And so it goes

Well, today I fly out from Oregon to Boston. The first real vacation I've taken in years is over. I vow to never let it go this long again before a vacation of some substance.

Visiting Sean in Oregon was a nice end to the vacation. We got to hang out and get back in touch for the first time in ages. We saw National Treasure on DVD and then went to see National Treasure 2. Both movies were pretty good.

I really don't care for United. Every single time I've checked in it's been a lackluster experience. The nicest thing I can say about it is that all things considered it could have been worse, but is that the endorsement you want your customers to have?

Today my flight got delayed out of PDX to DEN by 45 minutes. Thankfully I had a 1.5 hour layover in DEN so I'll be able to make my connecting flight out to BOS which is still listed as on time.

I really don't like the PDX airport. First off they don't check your bags at the station. You bring your bags to the check-in station, and then you have to bring them over to the x-ray scanner yourself. Given the cost of air travel is it too much to ask to have that taken care of behind the scene? Secondly, since I ended up having an extra 45 minutes at the airport I decided to get food, but most of the actual restaurants are outside of the security zone. I really didn't want to deal with the hassle of going through TSA security checkpoints AGAIN so I thankfully found a Wendy's and got food from there.

Here's hoping the rest of the flight is better than the PDX portion.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Last Day in L.A.

So yesterday Colin and I went to the Grand Central Market where we got some fresh produce and walked around the city a bit.

After that we headed home, got lunch and I got on a conference call for the board of the Glee Club Associates, our alumni group. That went well and we got the alumni concert planned.

Following that, Kristin came home and we watched some TV, ordered pizza and just relaxed before the end goal of the evening, which was heading out to West Hollywood, or WeHo, for some fun times dancing at a gay club. The plan was for it to be me, Kristin, and two of her friends. The ladies and I were all set to go and then we had an unexpected addition of Colin being able to leave a little early from work, so he joined us.

We went to Rage which looked like it would have been perfect.... if it hadn't been Latino night. This is what you get for going out on a Wednesday. :-/ Colin and Kristin had fun showing off their fine salsa moves but we then left to move on to other venues for the evening, but it looked like everywhere else were just bars, rather than dance clubs, or just plain empty; again with the Wednesday night thing. Ahh well.

We then went home, made drinks, made cookies, and watched Project Runway, which I'm afraid to admit, I think I'm addicted to now. Damn you Kristin!! :)

So now I'm getting everything packed up to head up to Oregon today to visit my friend Sean and begin the last portion of my travels before returning home Sunday night and back to work on Monday.

I promise to try to bring back some Cali weather!!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

California Adventure Continued

So last night we went to the Santa Monica Boulevard and went around to the shops there and got sushi and gelato.

Today we went to The Grove and then to Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Also, I saw the Hollywood sign.

It was also another fun trip with Colin on his motorcycle. This time we took the freeway and going that fast was FUN! Don't worry; I had a padded jacket and helmet on the entire time. Colin takes good care of his passengers.

Tomorrow is my last full day :( I don't want this part of the vacation to end. I still have another 4 days in Oregon before my vacation ends.

I so don't want to leave this weather.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Top Chef

So yesterday was lots of fun, and very relaxing. We basically spent the day just lounging around the house and then C and K had their friends over for dinner. They have a dinner rotation and they got it for while I was here. I had promised to make my Chocolate Raspberry Bavarian Cake which was a huge hit by everyone. Honestly it's the best I've ever made it.

Additionally I made a recent favorite dish of mine; Lemon Rosemary Chicken, Asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and parmesan mashed red potatoes with skin still on. The dinner was also a hit. :)

Today I get to experience "In and Out" burger which I've been told is the best fast food out there, so we'll see if it lives up to the hype.

Oh and the temperature for yesterday was 75, today is 76 and tomorrow is 78. I don't know if I want to come back to MA anymore.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Fun in the sun

So today was a nice relaxing day. Kristin and I spent the morning at Redondo beach. I didn't go swimming because the water was too cold for my liking but that didn't stop a lot of other people from getting in as well as those where were surfing. It was nice I got some sun, got some exercise running along the water and was able to relax and read a book for the first time in ages.

It's nice I'm finally getting to the point where I'm not worried about work or anything else back home and actually relaxing. Scarey, isn't it? I mean I've actually turned off email on my phone! Seriously, I have needed this vacation.

Tonight we're eating in and just relaxing. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Like, Totally!

So once I landed Kristin had to go back to work and Colin wasn't home yet so I entertained myself a bit until about 3pm when they all got home. At that point we just hung out and watched "Legally Blonde: The Musical" which was a recording by MTV of the Broadway production. It was hilarious.

Colin then took a nap since he had to head to work at 11 pm (he's working third shift while I'm here) and Kristin left for Choir practice. I ended up falling asleep on the couch and only woke up when Kristin returned at 9:30. After that she got Colin up and he went off to work and she and I had drinks and caught up. All in all, a good day.

Yesterday, Kristin headed to work and Colin got up around 11 am (which is super early for him since he normally sleeps until 3pm or so since he gets home around 7 am.) and then we went out and did lunch. We went to Renaldi's and got some great subs and ate them at Manhattan beach which was gorgeous. The weather was so good yesterday I was in t-shirt and sandals.

After lunch Colin and I went to the La Braya Tar Pits which was an interesting place to visit. Getting there was just as much an experience because Colin took us on his motorcycle. I think the last time I was on a bike was as a kid so this was very much a new experience and heading out on the highway for your first time can be a bit heart pounding. You can really feel how fast you are going when you aren't surrounded by the walls and windows of a car. By the time we made the return trip I was just enjoying the experience.

After the tar pits we headed out to Sharkees for happy hour that his work was putting together for the new hire program. Drinks were a two for one special and I ended up ordering twice. I'll let you do the math. :) Happy hour was also a new experience since it has been illegal in MA since '84.

The last stop of the evening was "The Stinking Rose" a restaurant known for having garlic in every dish on the menu. I had a fantastic Filet Mignon.

All-in-all a great trip so far and it's barely begun. More to come later....

Friday, February 08, 2008

Oh my god you guys!

So I arrived in L.A. yesterday to visit Colin and Kristin. The flight left on time even with the snow coming down. The only thing that needed to be done was that the wings got de-iced. The flight was fairly uneventful with just minor turbulence from time to time. I slept off and on, otherwise I just read a book. What was really cool was to fly over the Grand Canyon and then to fly over the Rockies and to see the Pacific in the distance.

When I landed it was 65 degrees out and sunny. Much better than Boston. :)

More to be posted later...

Thursday, January 31, 2008

As much fun as chewing on broken glass

So I ate broken glass tonight...

I went to see "Mojo and the Sayso!" tonight and got to see another fantastic M. W. peformance. I swear they are really on a roll this year. Hat's off to Cara for a job well done and to Dom for a FANTASTIC set. Seriously, go see this show.

As for the glass, rest assured it was sugar glass and it really was yummy.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

And in other news

Well it's been a while since I've posted anything to really update people on what's going on in my life (aside from the random Country music post which I think has had more comments than any other post in the history of my blog).

So what's new, eh? Well let's break it down by the various typical areas:

How's work?
- Work is going well. I'm very adjusted these days handling the Blackboard system and that's going well. The SharePoint deployment has taken off like wildfire this year and has kept me VERY busy thus far. I've managed to get several projects started and completed so I feel like I've accomplished a lot in the past year. Hopefully this will translate into a fantastic review. :)

How's the personal life?
- Things are going well. I had a great time with my friends at my Tree Trimming party back in December and then I had a great New Year's party. Honestly I think it was one of my best. I had a ton of people attending and I think I set the bar for next year. I also hosted my division's holiday party and that was a great time had by all. It was a great showing from the IT/Library folks and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

I'm already invited to 4 weddings this year and already in one of them as a groomsman for my friend Chris. Last year was 5 total invites, and of that I attended 4 and was in the wedding party for three of them. Also, two of them were destination weddings. This year only one is a destination. I need to start setting aside a "wedding budget". With any luck this year will be the end of weddings for a while, it's getting exhausting. :) I've attended an average of 3 weddings a year since I graduated in 2001.

I'm also taking a 10 day vacation out to the west coast and will be visting Colin and Kristin in LA and then my friend Sean in Portland. With any luck my friend Nick will be able to come visit from Seattle.

Additionally I've been elected to the Board of my Condo Association and I've been elected Greek Alumni Council president. I'm such a glutton for punishment :).

Finally, I had an awesome time at Mezcal Monday night with my colleagues and then I went out for kareoke with my friend Janelle and it was SOOO much fun. After nailing a Sinatra song, one of the regulars declared a "Frank-off" and in the end I won. It was a blast.

I think that's pretty much it and this has been a very long post so I'll add more later if I think of it and I'll try to post more often.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Colin, what have you done to me...

Ok, today I was listening to the radio and heard the latest single from Cascada, a German dance music trio. The song was "What Hurts the Most", and as I listed to it I realized I had heard it before. As I found myself listing to this high-tempo dance/techno song, I ended up thinking, "Damn, the country version was so much better." (The version that I'm refering to is the Rascal Flatts version.)

Have I truly fallen that far? Does this mean I have to say I like country music now? What have you done to me Colin! This is totally your fault. :)