sure there aren't six stages?

the Kübler-Ross model (aka the five stages of grief) doesn't seem to have any room in it for the stage that can only be described as "so what the fuck happens now, and where do i go from here? how am i supposed to go on continuing to do the same shit each and every fucking day?"

o grammar, where art thou

Having complained long and loud in the past regarding the death of grammar in contemporary society as perpetrated by the media, I am not going start again.

I will however vent my feelings on how the lack of clear pronunciation has widely propagated a lot of grammatical errors. Is it just sheer laziness, or lack of understanding how words string together? After all, language is a little more than the ability to sequentially put together grunts and sounds so as to convey some sort of meaning, ever so slightly.

What's wrong with this statement:
If I knew it was wrong, I would of not done it.

I can bet that 3 out of 4 Americans will say that it seems perfectly fine. I would wager that if I showed this following sentence the same 3 of 4 would still think both sentences hold valid.

If I knew it was wrong, I would have not done it.

Once again, I blame the press - grammatical errors are dime a dozen in the printed media, while it appears to no longer be a prerequisite to have half a brain or an understanding of the English language to get a job on television or radio.

Of course, I don't get how blogs like these and that Twitting fandango and user-generated content media like Wiki stopped being communication forms and actually became sources of information - I still have people in the graduate course that I'm doing in project management cite personal blogs as references. Aaargh!

corporatese

I'm taking yet another one of those corporate management classes this semester, and I love the cheat sheet we were given for some commonly used acronyms.. enjoy!

BUPPIE - Black Urban Professional
DIMP - Double Income, Money Problems
DINK - Double Income, No Kids
DINKY - Double Income, No Kids Yet
FLY - Fun Loving Youth
GRAMPIE - Grown Active Moneyed People in Excellent State
GUPPIE - Gay Urban Professional
LIPS - Low Income, Parents Supporting
OINK - One Income, No Kids
OPF - One Parent Family
POSSLQ - Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters
SELPIE - Second Life People
SINBAD - Single Income, No Boyfriend, Abso¬lutely Desperate
SKIPPY - School Kid with Purchasing Power
VIP - Very Important Person
VIPI - Very Important Person Indeed
WASP - White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
WOOPIE - Well-Off Older Person
YUPPIE - Young Urban Professional

hot for teacher!

you just knew that every news item, blog post and other media interaction that picked up on this story would title it after the Van Halen song.. of course!

what news item? ok, lean in.. this has gotta be on the down low... you know how when you were in high school there was that teacher, the really young and pretty one, who either taught an obscure class or was a student counselor, something nondescript and you would do whatever it took to walk past her and make eye contact in the corridors or be in her class as many times in the day as possible, sometimes staying back after the class and making up fictional questions just so that you could talk to her?

so now that i got you going about that hot teacher that you had the hots for, what if i kicked up the hotness factor of the story by mentioning to you, what if along with that first hot teacher was also a second hot teacher at the school! double the pleasure, double the fun! aren't you wishing you were back in high school now? how about we take these two teachers and put them together in an empty classroom? ooof, i can barely look straight now, forget about typing!

anyways, transplant our story to Brooklyn, NY and we have these two high school teachers.. while the rest of the school was watching a talent show in the auditorium, said teachers were displaying a completely different yet unique and highly-appreciated talent of their own in private in a classroom! extra.. extra.. read all about it!

what i find really strange is that they were busted by the janitor! that has gotta be a first! almost every school janitor i have met is some bananas short of a bunch, lift not quite going to the top floor, or has some other weird and wild eccentricity. and this one? noooo, this one had to be on the straight and narrow and turned them in, bah! then again, maybe he tried to join in the party and was spurned leading to this fiasco. nothing quite like a janitor scorned eh? of course, this would never have come to light had he not tattled.

ahh well, high school, what a great time.. and now, back to reality

trading in your clunker?

this Cash-for-Clunkers program is pretty interesting, and stepping on the gas now. recently the program asked the government for more money as it was really catching on.

today i saw something though, some data released on the types of vehicles being traded in and what is being bought should not be a surprise to anyone..

every single one of the top ten traded in cars is an american-built car, for the most part SUVs and soccer mom wagons. now what does this tell you how highly people view these cars now, after they were all the rage a few years ago. i think it's a sign that the boom is over and the recession has kicked in. at least it appears people are getting fiscally responsible now.

The Top Ten Trade-Ins: 1. 1998 Ford Explorer 2. 1997 Ford Explorer 3. 1996 Ford Explorer 4. 1999 Ford Explorer 5. Jeep Grand Cherokee 6. Jeep Cherokee 7. 1995 Ford Explorer 8. 1994 Ford Explorer 9. 1997 Ford Windstar 10. 1999 Dodge Caravan

The Top Ten New Cars: 1. Ford Focus 2. Honda Civic 3. Toyota Corolla 4. Toyota Prius 5. Ford Escape 6. Toyota Camry 7. Dodge Caliber 8. Hyundai Elantra 9. Honda Fit 10. Chevy Cobalt

medical schmedical

it was too good to last. i have no idea why it came as a surprise to me that i was not invincible. that in itself should tell you how surprised i was when the doctor handed me the report.

so now, in with portion control, and reading nutrition facts,

out with the steak, and sixpacks of beer,

here comes the elliptical, and the wine rack,

and there goes the gizzards, pepperoni and salami..

three and counting

the gf and i just celebrated our third anniversary



we're not breaking any longlasting records yet, but we're getting there!

mother's day, live from boston

only that mother's day was actually mother's fortnight.

mom made the flight up from kenya for a fortnight - i'm not sure if she was trying to get away from dad, or he was glad to be away from her, but it apparently worked out both ways. i, of course, was glad to see her as we hadn't met since early '05 and i was getting quite tired of my limited repertoire of indian food.

one thing - as your parents get older, jet lag hits them harder. do not make the mistake of judging how they are doing by the first glance as they walk out in the Arrivals terminal lugging cartloads of stuff they think you might need after an eighteen hour trip. needless to say, even if you are worried how they look, do not vocalize what you feel.

this was her first trip out to the States, and she took it like a trooper. no amount of restaurants we took her to would faze her - she loved Mexican food, wasn't thrilled with Japanese sashimi, piled it on at the Chinese buffet and polished off a whole plate of homestyle Italian pasta. we walked around in Boston in the Common, and walked the two miles of the Freedom Trail.

she was never a big one for sightseeing or experimenting, but if she felt any culture shock coming here she sure didn't show it. most of my older colleagues at work thought she was 'just daaahling'. she wasn't impressed by the spring New England weather either, but who could blame her, neither am i.

anyways, by the end of the two weeks she did have the restless look in her eye, like she wanted to go back home, and back to dad, i guess! it was good to see her again, (.. cue nostalgia..) and definitely made me miss being back home.

Michael Crichton

this is coming on a year late, but i still wanted to make a note of it. Michael Crichton's passing away did not hit me very hard at first. it was more like a "oh. ok, RIP dude." moment until the other day when i was killing time browsing through the used books section at the Brattle Bookstore when i came upon a couple of Crichton's books. i took a moment to pause and reflect.

i read Andromeda Strain about the same time as the first Jurassic Park movie came out (early '90s), and i remember being quite shocked that Andromeda Strain was actually written in 1969! and as simply as that, i was hooked by the thought that microorganisms could be intelligently trained as described in the book. i was never a huge fan of the Jurassic Park franchise, so i pointedly avoided those. then i discovered that Crichton had written other books too (remember, this was pre-Internet - the only way you knew what a writer's earlier works were was by looking at the reticent page between the title and the dedication pages).. i started haunting my friends' bookshelves looking for the name Crichton to pop up.. Congo, The Terminal Man, Sphere, The Great Train Robbery.. his spectrum fascinated me, he dabbled with time travel, structural technology, biomaterials, science fiction and space adeptly and seamlessly. for a growing teenage mind this was fascinating - skipping across genres is not something i could comprehend that easily. it's like you love vanilla ice cream. you also love chocolate ice cream. and then one day you realize that you could have both! not just one scoop of one on top of the other, but in swirls, like you'd get out of the machine. wow!

Congo was two borders away - so the story resonated easily. The Terminal Man answered a few questions on what we think and how we think. Sphere expounded my uneasiness with water and depths. The Great Train Robbery i have read multiple times, what a fantastic and daring heist! i have recreated and replayed that scene when Pierce waits for the policeman to go to the bathroom to sneak in with the key.. fantastic! what an amazing tool books are, letting you build scenarios in your own head. the movie completely chewed up this scene, turning a delicious juicy pork chop into a dry wedge of petrified cardboard. in fact i only just watched Eaters of the Dead / The 13th Warrior about a month ago and loved that too.

i would go on to say that some of his books molded me in my formative years, giving me insights and opinions that i had not seen or heard yet, filling me with a healthy curiosity for the marvels of science.

i went on to college with my mind made up that engineering was what i wanted to do. then i read Airframe, and that blew my mind away. once again his theme of man-machine interaction gone wrong reared its head. they should have added Crichton as a writer to the Terminator franchise! his next book Timeline was a delightful romp through time, back to the Dark Ages. the time continuum warp is always good fodder for a book.

his next book came when i had just moved to Buffalo, NY and was starting grad school. i was still unsure what i really wanted to do for my graduate thesis at the time. and then two things happened in almost consecutive weeks. i was auditing a class on biomaterials, not sure what it would be about and met a professor unlike any other i had met. Dr. B made sitting in class for three hours a fun experience. getting to play in his lab was another 'high' all on its own. soon after that i read Prey.

Prey equally horrified and fascinated me. it was my first exposure to nanoparticles and the possibilities they presented. i came up with a few ideas, went to see Dr. B and in a few days we had the beginnings of a thesis. i was completely engulfed by swarm theory and i was thrilled to find out how far technology had come.

State of Fear followed, where he addresses the elephant in the room that no one seems to see - global warming and other environmental issues. the last book of his i read was Next, which comes back to an old favorite theme of his - genetics. it delves into the murky world of venture capitalism and patent protection, very contemporary issues again.

i hear Mr.Crichton has one last card up his sleeve, to be played later this year - Pirate Latitudes is a finished manuscript one of his assistants found on his computer after he died. this book follows in the vein of the Great Train Robbery, but looks in depth at one of my favorite themes of all time - pirates! hopefully his treatment of the story will not have received the effluent-wash that the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise tainted everything with - i'd like to see more young Jim Hawkins & crusty Long John Silver in his book and less of bumbling Cap'n Jack Sparrow & now-busty, now-not-so-busty Elizabeth Swann.

thank you Michael Crichton, you changed my life and opened up many doors. rest in peace, and enjoy the company in Valhalla.

to the opera

check off one more from the list of things to do at least once in my life even though i think i'm not really going to enjoy doing it, and add it to the list of things that i didn't think i'd like but surprisingly it was actually quite fun'. culturification can be quite entertaining too, luckily!

we'd gone to the opera a couple of weeks ago.. yes, you read right, the opera. it wasn't one of the classic ones, a la Figaro Figaro Figaro, Fi-Ga-Rooooo.. but still pretty good. this one was called 'Rusalka' by Czech writer Anton Dvorak - for synopsis and a bit of cultural background, hop on over to the Wizard's page..

it wasn't as snooty as i had feared it would be, the upper crust and cognoscenti hobnobbed freely with the rednecks and bourgeois.. enough so that i believe i will be going back again. the balcony provided an awesome view with reasonably priced tickets, though the leg room was more appropriate for a horde of first graders.. luckily no act was longer than an hour, so there was desperately-needed intermissions to stretch the appendages.

it's that time of year again.. NOT!

you've probably never heard of the Lake Superior State University, and probably never will either. one of its claims to fame is that its on the northernmost tip of Michigan before Canada at Sault Sainte Marie. the other is the annual 'Banished Words List'..

"Each new year brings another installment of the school's List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. It has been going strong since 1976 and receives significant media coverage. Word-watchers pull nominations throughout the year from everyday speech, as well as from the news, fields of education, technology, advertising, politics, and more. A committee gathers the entries and chooses the best in December. The list is released on New Year's Day." - From Wiki.

the words to be banned from 2008 are:

Environmental buzzwords are getting the axe this year - GREEN, CARBON FOOTPRINT or CARBON OFFSETTING
Presidential election years are always ripe for language abuse - MAVERICK, FIRST DUDE
Of course, the economy couldn't escape the list this year - BAILOUT, WALL STREET/MAIN STREET
Internet and texting blues - MONKEY, <3
Overuse in news and entertainment - ICON or ICONIC, GAME CHANGER, STAYCATION, DESPERATE SEARCH, NOT SO MUCH, WINNER OF FIVE NOMINATIONS, IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

seasons greetings!

hey there everyone.. here's wishing you all a happy holidays, whatever you may be celebrating.. even if you aren't celebrating anything.

stay safe and party hard.. don't drink and drive.. feel free to eat too much, resolution time is coming soon!

(Click on the picture for a special surprise!)

any port in a storm

the ice storm from yesterday sure caused a ruckus and a half. we only just got our power back - over a million people in the Northeast still have no power, and it might take into next week before electricity services are resumed.



an ice storm occurs when a rare combination of low pressure, moist air, and cold, powerful winds produces an ice front - yesterday night's punishing ice storm swept through the region, felling countless power lines and trees and closing hundreds of roads. the weight of the ice bows trees down, and strong winds snap branches, stems and utility poles.

Obama it is!

CNN has just announced that its projections show Barack Obama has won the election, and is going to become the first African-American President of the USA etc etc.

As a person of Kenyan origin myself, I am doubly pleased! I might not agree with all his politics, but I definitely believe in change and fresh faces. Now we wait to see.. will history be made, or will the past be continued.

You can vote too!

This is where you can go vote for the next US President.. virtually of course!

cast your ballot

See what the rest of the world thinks..

say more, do more

if you knock long enough, and hard enough.. you will be heard
if you keep saying it, and living it.. your example will be followed

Blog Action Day 2008 was a success as far as raising awareness, bringing up issues and giving voice to the voiceless.. see for yourself how many people came together to blog about poverty.

however, this is just the first step. again i ask every one of you, what have you done lately for anyone else?

who's lying this time?

as the US presidential election draws closer, both candidates seem to be getting more desperate. despite previous promises of not resorting to slander etc, there's been lots of name-calling, slandering, pandering and general rumor-mongering as each is trying to undermine the other.

all three presidential debates have been travesties blatantly ignoring the whole point of having these debates. the questions posed to the candidates are actually supposed to the let the voting public know what their candidates stand for. but instead of actually answering the questions, both idiots have instead flipped from switching topic to topic and flopped from telling tale to tale.

which then got me searching.. how many of the accusations are actually real? how much of the electorate actually bothers to check? do the candidates lie through their teeth because they know most people will not look up what is true and what is not? aren't the majority of us taken in by first impressions and false pretenses? an independent site (at least i think it's independent!!) called Fact Check actually takes these claims made and tries to research them, and is a good site to take a look at.

in the meantime.. we will hopefully end up voting for the lesser of the two evils.. if only we could find out in time which one of Obama and McCain is less of a liar and more of a doer.

Blog Action Day 2008 - Poverty

Today, on Blog Action Day, thousands of people worldwide have decided that we are going to unite to discuss a single issue - poverty.

In this world of "what have you done for me lately", what have you done for any one else lately? I'm not talking just poverty of the economic kind here, but emotional and moral poverty as well. Do we stop to care any more? What's our collective issue? No time, no money?

In case you're wondering.. what can you do, as an individual? We’re told that poverty can be eliminated within our lifetimes, but even so, most of us feel stuck when it comes to taking action. There are in fact a range of things that anyone can do. (Info retrieved from Blog Action Day 2008)

What is Advocacy?
Advocacy is speaking up. Before change can happen, decision-makers need to know that their customers, community and constituents want change. Advocacy is letting them know.

Consumer Advocacy
Many businesses are in a position to make positive changes, by letting them know that customers want those changes, we empower them to do so. Some examples of consumer advocacy are:

• Investing in “Ethical” funds that balance social responsibility with financial return - showing businesses that social responsibility is profitable
• Letting your local coffee shop know that you would buy Fairtrade coffee if they stocked it
• Buying clothing from a company that doesn’t make use of sweatshops, so that business sees the profit in being ethical.

Political Advocacy
Politicians are elected to serve the people, so it makes sense that if they have a clear mandate that their constituents are all in favour of something, they will be empowered to chase those goals. Political advocacy is about letting them know, and creating that mandate. Examples of political advocacy are:

• Writing a letter to your local government representative - yes they actually read those letters!
• Visiting your local representative to discuss issues relating to poverty - a little more daunting
• Signing petitions to be delivered to government officials

Community Advocacy
By creating community awareness we broaden the support base for pro-poor action to take place and create a general environment conducive to change. There are many projects that anyone can easily join which are designed for exactly this purpose. A great example is the Stand Up Against Poverty project that falls just two days after Blog Action Day (October 17-19). Participants simply stand up, sometimes alone, most often in groups, to send a message to governments that people demand anti-poverty targets be met. Last year 43 million people participated, this year no doubt will be even larger.

By organising a Stand Up group in a local school, church or other organisation, you introduce other members of the community to the cause and issues and inform and educate them so they themselves become advocates in their own right.

There are a variety of ways that we can use our professional skills in the fight against poverty, that simply require thinking out of the box. Here are some examples:

• Volunteering time with charitable organisations to provide specialist, professional skills
• Getting your business or workplace to engage in pro-poor research. For example industries like agriculture and health are particularly important to developing economies. However even industries like finance and computers can yield innovations like microloans and the 1 Laptop per Child project, that can be of tremendous benefit to the poor.
• Doing business in areas that are both profitable and beneficial to the needy. Bill Gates calls this “Creative Capitalism”, that is using the creative spark of entrepreneurship to bring the benefits of capitalism to the disadvantaged.

Giving is the simplest of all actions that can be taken. There are many, many charities that do great work and benefit from our contributions. Recently giving has also grown to encompass microfinancing - small loans given to entrepreneurs in developing areas to help them life themselves and their communities out of poverty. Participants in Blog Action Day 2008 are encouraged to donate their day’s earnings to either the Global Fund or Kiva Microloans. You can find out more about both these organisations here.

Information is the platform for better decision making, but all too often we don’t know much about what impact our daily actions have. Informing yourself and informing those around you, enables you to make better choices in daily life.

For more information on what you can do to raise awareness and make a difference, today and every day going forward, go on to Blog Action Day 2008 and let's do something!

money..

.. get back,
i'm all right jack keep your hands off of my stack..

'Money' - Pink Floyd

i don't want to comment much on the whole stock market fiasco from the last fortnight or so.. people don't believe my conspiracy theories anyways, but it is slightly fishy when the only people who walk away from all these crashes with their pockets bulging are the same people who make policies and decisions. is it just me who sees something amiss here?!

anyways, for people who have 401k and IRA accounts, you must be fretting and spending sleepless nights wondering if your mutual fund accounts are going to be decimated any more at this point. there are two concepts to keep in mind here:

1. Portfolio balancing act - depending on what stage of your life you are in, the mix between stocks, cash and bonds will vary. Cash and bonds are low risk, low return methods; stocks are high risk high return, and among stocks you have several sections: low, mid and high cap, foreign, growth, etc.
   
   The closer you get to retirement age the lesser chunk of your savings you want to be in stocks. What you have at this point is worth too many years of hard labor to risk frittering away in an attempt to gain a pittance.


2. Dollar-cost averaging - this refers to investing a fixed amount at regular intervals (e.g. monthly), regardless of market movements and, by doing so, more shares are purchased when security prices are low, and fewer shares are purchased when prices are high.
   
   This strategy is intended to moderate the volatility of a portfolio over time by minimizing one's exposure to the risk associated with investing a large sum of capital in one asset (or asset class) just prior to a sudden decline in the asset's value.

don't bother trying to predict the market's next upturn, or which stocks are going to rise tomorrow. what you want to look at is the bigger picture. emerging markets like china and india will slow down, but still have higher growth rates than the usa. russian markets will always be unstable. when investing in mutual funds, research as much as you can on the expense ratios, alpha, beta and r-squared values - these tell you whether the fund is flagrantly mismanaged or the account management knows what it's doing. remember, investment people have no obligation whatsoever to make money for you, even though you might be putting your entire life savings in his hands!

the stock market is cyclical, on a roughly five-year loop, but overall it will keep rising. it's hard to see that right now because we are at pretty much the lowest point of the cycle that started about 2002. so hang in there, read and ask questions. don't sit around passively thinking ol' uncle sam is going to save you. hold your local legislators accountable. ask them about their energy policies. ask them where they stand with subprime mortgages. your future is not in your hands now, you need to snatch it back.

playing ketch-up

i know i haven't written in ages, basically i have a bunch of incomplete posts saved as drafts only cos things have been hectic and i haven't had a chance to finish them. lots to talk about though.. two Pearl Jam concerts, structural changes at work, the annual trip to New Orleans.. see you back here soonish!!

4 years and 776 posts..

missed this blog's fourth anniversary a couple of weeks ago.. much has changed, and yet not much has changed. good times still abound, while growing up has happened alongside. i still don't believe i wake up and go to work six days a week, considering the rockstar lifestyle we led back in college. oh well, life goes on. this blog goes on too.

this is living

it's two years to the day that the gf and i met and she moved in. forget the cliches of 'time flying by' and 'two hearts beating as one' yada yada yada. if only it were that remotely easy, or simple.

two people living together as a couple is different. different from what? it's just different. as an only kid, the concepts of time and space were very well defined for me. it was very easy to just phase out and be in my own world for long parts of the day and night. it's no wonder growing up i talked to myself all the time. i still have long, relevant and pertinent discussions with my mind - very refreshing i find them.

still, having enjoyed this phase for the last two years of cohabitation/living-in-sin/whatever you wanna call it, i wouldn't have it any other way..

it's like living with your best buds, but better. all the fun of great conversation and crazy partying, with the added bonus of a quick romp or three in any room of the apartment, and no one's the wiser.. heh!

it's like living at home with your folks, but better. you actually eat square meals on proper plates, wear clothes that get more than annually laundered and live in a house that doesn't require you turning it upside down every time you can't find your favorite Metallica tshirt.

it's like living alone at your own place, but better. romantic dinners for two; cosying up on the couch for a funny movie; getting blazed and making out; sharing a great bottle of wine; smart conversation not involving politics, Playmates and getting plastered; going to concerts together; cooking new stuff out of a recipe book; going shopping for potted plants for the living room windowsill; putting away yet another shitload of groceries; not having to watch Sabres' games alone; actually discovering new music by listening to what she listens to; laughing together hysterically at 'Family Guy' reruns..

this is a long incomplete list, but an awesome one nevertheless.. happy anniversary babe!!

there goes another manager

can someone say deja vu all over again.. at least this current boss of mine lasted into the summer, the previous one didn't even make it out of winter! but yes, that's the news.. my boss will be quitting soon. that just tells you how hard a man his boss is to work with! personally i have no issues with his boss, let's see how i feel after working directly for him this summer.

if you hadn't heard yet, the economy is in recession. as a direct result sales volumes are down for soda and other soft drinks, though bottled water is holding its own. this means that this summer might not be the busiest time of the year for the plant. let me take that back, all it means is that we'll probably not be running production seven days a week, but my maintenance dept. as always will be in fix and repair machines, and try to get some preventive maintenance in as well..

what i'd really like to see is if the people upstairs actually offer me his job straight up this time, instead of wasting everyone's time with trying to hire another underling manager!

sabres meet n' greet

went for the last game of the season, sabres at bruins in boston. unfortunately no luxury box seats this time, pepsi hospitality only goes so far when you're merely a lower level executive. anyways, we had pretty good seats up on the balcony..

the sabres won 3-0, which was awesome, unfortunately we missed the playoffs so that was that for hockey this season. the real bonus was that i knew someone who knew someone and after the game we got to go down and meet the sabres leaving the locker rooms. we got to speak to most of the team, take pics and get autographs too! here's us with the sabres star goalie ryan miller, and with star-to-be drew stafford

shuffle-o to buffalo

so one day i'm browsing through the bookshelf, and suddenly i realize i cannot find any of my andy mcnab's!! now those of you who don't know me too well probably also don't know how much i love his books, and so it really bothered me to also realize that the books were still in a box back in my old apartment in buffalo! so then i got a-thinking about what the heck else i had left back there! it appeared that there was actually a good chunk of my wardrobe and books and other important documents still back at old 122H..

then i also got thinking, that it would be fantastic to go go check out the Buffalo Sabres play at home, surrounded by raving raging buffalonians rather than in the stodgy confines of boston, in enemy territory! by the miracles of ebay and travelocity, credit card info was transferred and tickets were bought, and before you could say "let's go Sabres" we were headed off to buffalo to watch the Sabres play the Capitals, with the added bonus of watching Ovechkin play - his rugged jawline makes the gf swoon, apparently..



unfortunately the Sabres lost, but the rest of the two-day whirlwind trip was fantastic, despite the snowstorms and biting cold. i retrieved all my missing stuff, had strong sensations of deja vu walking the streets of University heights, past 33H and 122H, eating at Just Pizza, dropping by the library i worked at, peering into classrooms that i rarely sat in and finally meeting up with my thesis advisor and being surprised by how warmly he welcomed me back!


one final note, these small puddle-jumpers for local direct flights make for some rough flying in bad weather, definitely not for the queasy ones!

the luxury box

after months of nagging the bosses at work that i'm a huge Buffalo Sabres fan and wanted tickets to go watch them in Boston when they came to town to play the Boston Bruins, finally they relented.. and how! i mean, there's a five foot by three foot flag of the Buffalo Sabres hanging in my office, how much more of an indication could i give!!

anyways, the Pepsi luxury box was fantastic, top notch food - prime rib, shrimp cocktail, etc.. beer in the mini-fridge.. the view was awesome too, with exclsuive replay tvs and the works..




of course, it was all the sweeter that the Sabres won!

NB:- I'm headed to Buffalo tomorrow for a short holiday, to catch the Sabres play the Washington Capitals.. now that should be a helluva game

'Image Too Large To Display'

i have a Canon PowerShot A520 digital camera. it's not the greatest digicam in the world, but it fulfills most of the basic requirements of digital photography. for the most part it has behaved itself. the only issue i have had with it in the past was its snobbish intolerance of not indubitable SD memory cards, by haughtily proclaiming "Memory Card Not Readable".

during our recent trip to Chicago, this dinky little device threw a new tantrum. after taking a picture, when i tried to review the image on the camera itself, it shrunk the image to a postage stamp size, and announced "Image Too Large To Display". what the #%&@?! since when did cameras start taking pictures bigger than they could display?! it actually got better - i took out the memory card and slid it into its slot on the computer to see if i could download the pics. on trying to open one of the pictures, the computer promptly hung. when eventually it shook the cobwebs out of its head, it gave me a very interesting nugget of info. apparently twelve of the pictures were each 4Gb in size. at four gigs a pop, these would have to be super high resolution snaps where even specks of dirt would show up on the picture! of course, the biggest irony is that the memory card itself was only one gig in size.. no wild guesses that the data on the card was corrupted.

it's feb. 20th today, kurt cobain would have turned 41 today were he still around. would he still have been making grunge music? who knows. one thing for sure is that he would have been pretty shocked at what passes for music these days. also, it's taken a few years, but it appears finally the stigma surrounding his death is wearing off. memorial concerts have been organized, his hometown Aberdeen changed its welcome sign, the album 'Nevermind' has been inducted to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry (reserved for historically significant recordings), a memorial park and youth center are being planned too. RIP Kurt.

quot et demonstratum (qed)

came upon a most interesting quote today, which has been happening every day now that i have changed my browser homepage to Google. previously it was the CNN page but i did get quite wearisome of waking up, switching on the comp and being blasted with details about gory deaths, sordid affairs and lurid politics while i was still rubbing sleep out of my eyes in a haze of smoke

oh no, i'm not pretending i haven't seen the date or don't know what day it is - i think i have done my fair part in keeping the commercialism of v-day going. ever since i was a scruffy undergrad trying to scrounge together some change to pick up any flowers bearing a shade of red, i have bowed to the gods of marketing who have deemed that this fourteenth day of february be used to not only enshrine the female half of every relationship equation, but further propagated onto pretty much every other girl/lady/woman who plays some part or the other in your life.

it is thanks to these glamorous denizens of television commercials who in breathy voices gasp their ecstasy to the men in their lives who shower them with jewelry that a pretty comic moment was played out between the gf and me yesterday. having procured well ahead of time a pretty necklace which was proclaimed on the idiot box to be the flavor of the season, i sat confident watching men everywhere scramble to get out of the doghouse. so here we are watching tv, and an ad comes up for the very piece that i have purchased. i ask the girl what she thinks of that, and with a cursory glance she goes "nahh" with nary a thought that there might be subterfuge involved in why i was asking her that! now when i fish the necklace out from behind my back, she ends up looking sheepish and i end up green to the gills. i dunno, i guess you just had to have been there.

anyways, back to the quote i referred to in the beginning:

"Have you ever observed that we pay much more attention to a wise passage when it is quoted than when we read it in the original author?"

Philip G. Hamerton, "The Intellectual Life"

January flying by

this month of January has been whizzing by at warp speed.. between work life, school life and home life, there's really no time to do anything else. besides, it would help if i had exciting or groundbreaking news to reveal, but you've already read or seen or heard the news, and i don't have much to report beyond the death, destruction and distractions that life throws up.

here's a picture i leave you to ruminate on as i am off on a long weekend holiday to Chicago for SuperBowl weekend..

onward..

into another year we move.. here's wishing all of you a 2008 that brings you joy and happiness, and even better than the previous year brought you..

Happy Holidays!

bad winter

this is showing all the signs of being a long hard winter.. we're expecting the third big snowstorm of this winter tonight, and it's not even x-mas yet.. i think last year we had three storms all winter long!

exit wounds

there's gotta be more to life than work > study > drink > sleep > work > study > drink > sleep > work..

cold already, brrr

whew, we hardly saw fall this time around.. winter has come blowing in pretty early this year, we're already getting sub-freezing temperatures, and now this weekend should mark the first snow of the season too

luckily i'm off to Denver on work next week for a few days, that'll be a good change as long as the weather holds.

it's a hard life, that i'm going through..

lyrics

dog days

contrary to popular opinion, the hot and sultry days of august were not named thusly because animals of the canine persuasion rolled around on their backs and stuck their tongues out.. from what wikipedia tells me, it was coined by the Romans for the period of summer when my zodiac sign Sirius (aka Dog-Star) is directly overhead, coinciding with the period of summer when it is hottest and humidest (can i get away with using that word?) in the northern hemisphere..

if this conjures up images in your head of lying at the beach, or on the patio overlooking a lake, with a colorful drink sporting a tiny umbrella in your hand, while music wafts by on the still air.. then good for you. this luxury seems preserved for those of you still lucky enough to be in college, or else having made your millions, are able to afford taking a vacation at this most unholy time for the beverage production industry..

the end of august also spells the end of summer.. which is a shame, because pretty women every where will soon think of packing away all the itsy-bitsy tops, the teeny-weeny skirts, the yellow polka-dot bikinis.. thus depriving the general viewing (and in some cases, paying) public the small joys of life.. after this the only time you will get to see a fine pair of legs is if when autumn blows around a young lady's skirt and generously billows it up and about a la Marilyn Monroe

and finally, the end of august also means time for school to resume. for most students, it's back to school after a summer.. in my case it means back to college after an almost two-year hiatus. yes you heard it here first, i am headed back to grad school! it's not like i suffer from particularly masochistic tendencies, but this move is the right way ahead for my career. i will still be working, this is all part-time.. though i wish i could go back to full-time college with the money i have now.. heh, that would be real trouble then!

small town psychos?

the thing with living in middle america is that this small town more than any other seems to have more than its fair share of hobos, weirdos, alckies, dopies and other assorted "one banana short of a dozen" people.. and of course, most of them love to hang out at the small excuse for a train stop we have!

Ayer, MA is only a tiny town, barely six thousand odd people in it, a three-block main street flanked on both sides by the only two bars in town.. it's the kind of place where you live for a year and you know almost everyone and everyone knows you..

the part that i don't get is just the sheer numbers of oddballs here.. i know at least ten by sight.. must be another hundred lurking about under the eaves of the old houses, and another hundred skulking about behind the gas station.. don't get me wrong, i don't have anything against deadbeats and people shunned by society - they often make great company waiting for the train.. it's the sheer numbers for a small town this size that gets me.

for the most part they seem to be non-violent, but the cops have been cracking down on them the last couple of weeks.. hope things work out for Stumblin' Eddie and 'Buy Me A Beer' Beth, and all their friends!

breakfast of champions

the term 'breakfast of champions' has been variously used and abused since it was first coined by the late author Kurt Vonnegut who died earlier this year.. Vonnegut in his prime was a creative satyrist, and that was the title of his 1973 novel.. but the phrase is more often used to describe any sort of a pick-me-up in the morning - cocaine and champagne (a martini glass filled with champagne and cocaine on the rim of the glass, like salt on a margarita glass - famous in the late '80s); burgers and nicotine (as popularised by Dire Straits in 'Heavy Fuel'); or any sort of alcohol and inhalant with a traditional breakfast (as my breakfast choices were dubbed by the brownie boys)

it's funny, i had actually driven past Vonnegut's house in Cape Cod and hadn't given it a second thought.. until the Wizard of Odd introduced me to '1 Giant Leap', a compilation multimedia project on which he spoke. (Side note - you must watch this video and listen to the CD if you ever get a chance - it has a track - 'The Way You Dream' done by REM frontman Michael Stipe & Indian crooner Asha Bhosle).. anyways, this post is not about the 1 Giant Leap project, or about the writer Kurt Vonnegut..

back when i was trying to finish my thesis and struggling with an on-campus job, i splurged on weekends and that was my breakfast of champions, see earlier post.. what's funny now is that it's still pretty much the same, only that it's the rare sunday where i didn't have to go into work to troubleshoot something or the other, and as a result i am up and awake at 7 am on a sunshiny sunday morn, making a slightly modified version of that old breakfast, only this one has no orange juice and coffee, which have been replaced by gatorade and beer..

getting hammered early on sunday morning and going to bed is fast becoming my new favorite thing to do over the weekend.. heh!

not a new topic

like the concept of 'tough love', here's another theme that has over the years become ingrained in popular culture - 'the 5 stages of grief/loss/change'. the three have been pooled together only because the three emotions are often interwoven.. i'll leave you to dig out the history and all that by following the wiki link given.. i think i have mentioned these here before but i can't for the life of me remember when

so as you can see, these five stages generally represent what happens any time a normal (or not so normal either) person is placed in a situation where there is loss..
- denial - "hell no! this is not happening!"
- anger - "what the fuck?!"
- bargaining - "oh come on, pleaaase?"
- depression - "aww man i'm so fuuucked"
- acceptance - "i'll live.. so what's next?"

now if your car just gave up the ghost on you, then it looks like this..
- denial - "what do you mean it won't start?!"
- anger - "start you fuckin' piece of shit!"
- bargaining - "please start, please, just one more time?"
- depression - "i'm going to get fired when i get late today"
- acceptance - "can i call someone for a ride? cab it maybe?"

if it's the girlfriend who just packed a suitcase and went a-walking out..
- denial - "of course i didn't say that i wouldn't go down on you"
- anger - "fine! get lost bitch! and don't come back!"
- bargaining - "i'm sorry honey, i had no idea what i was saying, please stay!"
- depression - "she's never coming back. i'll never get laid again"
- acceptance - "errm, let's see if i can pick up a crack whore at the mall"

finally, if you do the job that i do, at the factory 3 a.m. every morning..
- denial - "i don't care, today will be a good day, we'll get high efficiencies!"
- anger - "fuck you, you fucking hunk of metal. fuck the fuckin' shit! gah!"
- bargaining - "please darling, just run today, i'll grease you lovingly tomorrow"
- depression - "i give up, this thing will never run again"
- acceptance - "i'm going to go have a cigarette break, if it runs it'll run.."

meet the parents?

did this happen to you, cos it sure happened to me!

around the bend

i'm not an alcoholic.. alcoholics go to meetings

chill, aka how dirty boys get clean

after a really hard thirteen hour day's work, with the summer sun heating the fuckin' plant to a mild floor temperature of 108F (42°C).. there's no better way to relax and slow down than a slow soak in the tub and a bottle (or three) of Molson's finest Canadian beer..

pertinent observations

like any other man or woman, i am a creature of habit. when i lived alone i never thought i'd be able to deal with living with someone. now that i've been living with someone it doesn't feel like i can live alone again. this is confusing.

the significant other left today for a long, long journey that will cover three seas, three continents and three months. which brings me to another point - how do you like your goodbyes? short and painful, or long and tortuous? i've tried both and the unequivocal response is that they both suck equally.

triple threat

yes, this blog is three years old today. and no, i won't give you a long spiel about how good it's been and how faithful all ye readers are for still dropping by even though i write more rarely than a monk swears

but i will let you know that while lots of old time bloggers are falling by the wayside and others are taking sabbaticals.. i'll still be here, plodding along with a post or so whenever it tickles my fancy or guilt wracks my mind, but more so when i have something to write about.. so hang around, i ain't done yet.

just to celebrate the third birthday.. a picture of three tits.



ok ok, i kid.. three perfect breasts coming up..



fine, those were only chicken breasts.. so here's third time lucky!



you see, i always come through! now raise your glasses and here's a toast to good times..

where will you be..

.. the day the music dies?

free internet radio is under threat.. the capitalist pigs rooting about in the Senate have now levied a bunch of taxes that threaten the very existence of internet radio. under the guise of royalty payments, and sponsored by the filthy swine who control our lives (unfortunately), the government is trying to impose huge taxes designed to push the smaller webcasters out of business, leaving the free internet in the hands of the big corporations who will eventually sell you the air you breathe.

in a world where nothing is certain but death and taxes, it is not ironic in the least that the imposition of one will lead to the proposition of the other.

there is still time, as the clock ticks down to July 15th 2007. follow the links here: read more about the issue at Save Net Radio, call up your local representative, sign the petition, blog about this issue, forward emails to your friends, and most of all, speak up!

don't let The Man beat you yet again, like he did with gas prices and unnecessary wars. don't let The Man steal your music from your internet. let your voice be heard. free internet radio will be saved.

in-between

i don't blog much these days.. i don't find much to write about. feels like my creativity is being stifled and my energy is being sapped.

work is insanely crazy. the good days are when i can get out after 12 hours. i don't mind the long hours as much as the timing of those hours.. from 3am to 3pm and beyond does not allow the body to settle into either a day schedule or night schedule. it's an in-between schedule, and therefore i have become an in-between person.

i do things in-between nowadays. i sleep in-between the hours dayshift and nightshift people sleep. sometimes i prefer to stay at work because when i'm at home i'm getting calls from the plant. so actually i sleep in-between being at work and being on the phone to work. i eat two meals a day, in-between doing some desk work or falling asleep on the couch. i live on gravity, machines, steaks and Gatorade. in-between i try to spend some quality time, cook, clean and go grocery shopping.

the only thing that makes my eyes light up and brings a smile to my face is the Sabres. of course, i have to break my sleep time into two 3-hr shifts to catch their games, so i watch them in-between. such a pleasure to behold the Sabres in full counter-attacking flight, silver skates glistening as they leave molten ice in their wake, the puck caroming in-between their sticks like a pinball.. then a quick flash and the black disc whirrs into the net past flailing goaltenders and flaming defensemen.. only to nestle safely in-between the goalposts, setting off the goal buzzer and a million blue-and-gold Buffalonian hearts. let's go Sabres!

this is turning into an "i this.." and "i that.." post, the kind i don't like. oops, i again. it is ridiculous the extent of punishment the human body can take - the people at work don't ask me what shift i am on nowadays, cos i answer "all shifts". almost two months into doing both my job and my boss'job, i do feel like i'm growing older much faster than i should be, in no small part due to the hedonistic college lifestyle i had adopted before i started working.

pretty much the only positive point here is that i'm keeping pretty fit n' trim. i cycle to and from work, am on my feet for most of the hours at work, and a quick romp or three in the sack never hurt anybody.

there is no point, moral, lesson, purpose or wisdom in this post - it's just in-between.

spring finally?

the weather has finally taken a turn for the better after a march and april filled with nasty snow storms and wicked rain bursts.. the weekend is gonna hit mid-70s (mid-20s celsius)

i hope to get out of work early on saturday morning and spend some quality time in the outdoors, there's a hiking trail nearby that i've had my eye on for a while now! besides it's about time to break out the shorts, t-shirts and sandals!

have yourselves an awesome weekend..

wisdom, in hindsight

wisdom is almost always garnered in the most useless way possible, i.e. after the fact.

for example the one thing i have learned about education and the part it plays in our future is that you better work hard in school. study your books, listen to your teachers, pay attention in class, do your homework and go ahead and score good grades. why is all this necessary? so that you can get a good job, cos most of the better employers out there will not even look at your resume unless you have some pretty high grades.

irony eh, me saying all this?! but it's true.. cos i feel like the foolish grasshopper who pranced and danced his way through the summer, and when winter came along he felt pretty silly. so when i get home all bleary-eyed after pulling consecutive 14-hr workdays, in my head i can see all those smart hardworking classmates of mine all well-rested, putting their feet up on their la-z-boys and laughing all the way to the bank.. you bet i feel more than a slight twinge of jealousy!

but hey, i have no regrets about how i did what i did, and how things are shaping up.. after all, it's April Fool's Day.. and the fool in me is talking to the fool in you

v-day swings by

here's wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day.. if you did not receive one by email then consider yourself wished here! this would be a great place for me to throw in a valentine's day anecdote, but my memory fails me, and i have none as of now. although, i do remember giving out my first Valentine's Day card and roses.. it was way back when i was 11, to a girl in my class who i had a crush on ever since the first day of grade one! she's now happily married far far away, and was gracious enough to remind me that she was my first ever Valentine.. heh!

those in the Midwest and Eastern parts of the USA, hope you are alive and well, and that the storm hasn't caused too much damage or heartache. most people have postponed their v-day dinner plans until the weekend, especially with this being a long weekend. i look outside at the snowdrifts and think this is a very good plan. i'm glad work didn't get cancelled or else it would have meant going in on saturday instead!

o ye celebrating or commiserating an anti-valentine.. rejoice, the weather gods have heard ye'r prayers!

still here, still around

yes yes, i'm still alive. nothing new to report. no shocking news. no dastardly deeds. just a life as monotonously straight as a road through the desert, occasionally swerving gently to avoid a sand dune or general depression, but otherwise heading in the same general direction.

which reminds me.. i saw something in the news here that amused me greatly. for a country that counts itself as one of the most immoral of the lot.. this new law allowing the widespread buying of the morning-after pill without a prescription is sure gonna make it even easier to play musical beds! i mean, here infidelity is more the norm than the revelation, and the 6th Commandment takes a daily beating (6th Commandment by the Catholic Church, "thou shalt not commit adultery")..

WASHINGTON, 08/24/06 (AFP) - Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription — but only with proof they’re 18 or older, federal health officials decided Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration ruling culminated a contentious three-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive. Girls 17 and younger still will need a doctor’s note to buy the pills, called Plan B, the FDA told manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.

The compromise decision is a partial victory for women’s advocacy and medical groups which say eliminating sales restrictions could cut in half the nation’s 3 million annual unplanned pregnancies. Opponents have argued that wider access could increase promiscuity.

but i guess you gotta get on top of the family planning situation, the illegitimate children and the whole alimony industry.. so this is as good a step as any. sometimes legislators do things that just make you smile, and i gotta say this is one of them.. now get out there you naughty monkeys and have yourselves some fun!

so, i got a little story for you

yes i'm back.. unfortunately. actually i was back on sunday afternoon, and even went into work on sunday night. work has been so hectic this week that i haven't really been able to revel in the memories of the now-distant florida trip, let alone type out a few lines of the blog..

i'd like to give you all the details of the trip but what happens in vegas florida stays in vegas florida.. heh! i will admit a few things though - yes, i had lots of fun, a bit too much fun if you ask me! the meetings were great too, lots got dicussed and the positive contribution of the junior members of staff was duly noted.

heartfelt thanks and sincerest apologies to two particular establishments that we haunted.. Flanigan's and the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, both in Deerfield Beach. we would love to be back next year, as long as you promise to make the same awesome wings and ribs, and let us commandeer your bar and ballroom again!

to AirTran.. your cheap fares and on-time flights are negated by your refusing-to-recline tiny seats and poor baggage handling staff. the only reason you are still in business is the free XM Satellite Radio and the fact the other airlines can be equally horrendous!

the 7-Eleven franchise, especially in florida - kudos for being open to sell beer until 2am, just when all the bars are closing. and for having my favorite Hall's cough drops too. and also for acknowledging that by no figment of the imagination do i look under 21 and therefore not bothering to card me.

mom-n-pop diners, non-chain rib shacks and other small eateries - you guys are the best.. for honest to goodness food at ridiculous prices, even in tourist-dense markets like florida.

casinos in florida suck. they only have slot machines and poker tables. what happened to the craps, and the blackjack, and all the other traditional casino attractions like cabarets? the Seminole Hard Rock Casino was especially bad! i'm glad i didn't throw away too much of my money on you!

airboat tour operators in the sawgrass area - your loud boats are still an environmental pestilence, despite all your bragging about ecotourism. what is described in this article here has to be the biggest crap ever, as the boats are so loud that they frighten all living beings in the vicinity deep into the 3 foot tall sawgrass or the 2 foot deep swamp.

riding down the intercoastal at night on the GM's 48 ft yacht, looking at the huge houses and boats of the rich and famous has to be one of the most inspiring and awesome things i have ever done. when you're done slowly rolling up your tongue and lifting your lower jaw from the deck, you have to wonder how people make so much money as to be able to afford such lifestyles!! kudos to anyone who did it, even if it took selling drugs to get there!

boy i'm glad i don't tan/burn easy.. cos hanging out at the beach was a lot of fun. the jury is still hung whether watching beach volleyball is better than playing beach volleyball, but the verdict is definitely all in that bikinis were made with brazilian women in mind. yum.

getting drunk might be overrated, but there is a particularly morbid entertainment in getting drunk with your colleagues and superiors. that is taken to the next level when you end up taking full advantage of the open-bar, to the tune of 20+ drinks. the pretty bartender sure made a lot of tips, i felt i owed her after emptying two bottles of her finest rum, and all the shots she's making here. oh yes, that's my boss on the bar, trying to upstage me at my not-so-finest hour! i was told the next day that i had sat his boss down too and explained very loudly what my master plan was to knock the place shipshape again. i'm only glad he holds grudges as often as i hold hangovers! i am still amazed at how it took only two Tylenol and a bottle of Gatorade to get me bouncing back to form at 5 the next morning!

finally, one thing that you cannot ever get over is how beautiful the sunrise can be. this shot below is worth slogging your butt off now so that you make enough money to be able to wake up to this every morning..

to warmer climes!

maybe this is where my year takes a turn for the better.. am off to florida in the next couple of hours for some seriously needed r&r.

it's not actually a holiday.. the company is having the annual offsite managers' meeting down there, but hey, i just need an excuse to get out of these -2F° temperatures we've been having here! deep-sea fishing, casinos, drinks, sunshine and hot chicas.. all on the company tab.. cannot complain!

the year so far

i hope the year 2007 is working out for you cos sure as hell it ain't working for me! this is the third time i'm trying to write this post and it would sure as hell help if damned Firefox wouldn't keep crashing and not allow me to recover post either.. *(&*^$%$%^#.. sure as hell, this year has not improved at all from how 2006 ended.. if anything things have just gotten crappier! ok, now no more hell metaphors.

work-wise this year officially sucks. every day in every way things do not improve. with the last couple of four-day weeks we've had, production runs twenty two hours a day, so the 3rd shift maintenance team that i head has had no time to do jackshit! so much work to do, and funnily enough even in winter, which is the down season, no time to do it in! every day i plod into work before midnight, readying myself for yet another night of misery.. sometimes i've been so busy that between getting to work and hanging my jacket on the coathanger and leaving some 12 hours later, all i get time to do is grab a polystyrene cup of not-so-fresh java and a quick couple of puffs on Mr. Camel Lights..

with the holiday mentality still in the air, plant efficiencies have gone to crap. sometimes i've had to crack the management whip.. but if you know me, you also know that i'm not the kind of manager who tries to wear the do-what-i-tell-you-to-do suit, but unfortunately there are times i have to..

my health has gone for a bit of a toss too.. i've had a lingering cough and cold for the last couple of weeks, and sleep has been an elusive mistress, even more elusive than usual. i've even stopped smoking everything for a bit, but yet as soon as i lay my head down to sleep every day the coughing fits that kick in have been keeping me restless. during the night at work i keep hawking up gobs of nasty phlegm, but it's only when i hit the bed that it really buggers me. and not only has sleep been affected, but whenever we're in the mood for some horizontal salsa, the humpin' n' pumpin' has been tainted by stops for huffin' n' puffin' as i try to catch my breath and keep up the pace!

in fact, i barely managed to do any partying during the new year's eve and the subsequent happy birthday's celebrations.. which kinda sucked! i didn't really feel like i was dying, although i was really glad to cross the threshold of 27 and move into 28.. considering so many of the icons of the rock n' roll lifestyle kicked the bucket during that fateful twenty seventh year.. Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin..

so that's that, i'm still waiting on this year 2007 to turn a new leaf and better itself and my life too.. how's your year looking so far?!

and that was 2006..

Happy New Year everyone, and yes, it's annual 'catchup with s!' time again.. so if you've been hiding under a rock all year and haven't been in touch, this is me letting you know how it went.. (previous rehashes here - 2004 & 2005)

January -
- went to Detroit for a short holiday and the Auto Show
- started writing the final draft of the thesis

February -
- quit my student job at the library to focus fulltime on the thesis

March -
- went to Cleveland to watch the UB Bulls in the basketball playoffs
- finally defended my MS thesis and officially graduated

April -
- went hiking in the Allegany Mountains
- went to Boston on a short holiday, and got a job there

May -
- packed up and moved to Boston to start working at Pepsi
- went to a Pearl Jam concert, yet another long-lived dream

June -
- the soccer World Cup started
- cherry-picking season came early this year!

July -
- Italy won the World Cup!

August -
- got my first promotion at work

September -
- football season started - i'd go on to win a few hundred bucks in the office pool
- went to a Tool concert, and yet another long-lived dream

October -
- went back to Buffalo for Sank's bachelor party
- went to an Alice In Chains concert, my third dream-come-true band this year

November -
- finally got digital cable, so that i could watch my beloved Buffalo Sabres
- cooked my first full Thanksgiving dinner, what a lot of food!

December -
- first office Christmas party - acquitted myself quite well, didn't get drunk!

thank you to everyone who dropped by with birthday wishes, the good thoughts are much appreciated.. muchos gracias!

no news is good news

yeah, this once a week blogging is good for me.. cos i trawled around and didn't find any tags i could do (besides, i just did one and don't think i can take another cranial cavity search so soon), thought about all i did over the last week (nothing earth-shattering, apart from coming up with an amazing recipe for black pepper sirloin steak), all of which leaves me with a sum total of nothing new to say to you, o beloved reader of this blog.

my blog designer GirlUnfettered, frustrated by my apparent inability to understand that a move to Blogger Beta would be for my own benefit, went ahead and did the necessary and tweaked whatever had to be fiddled with.. so apparently this blog is now in Beta. better a bit of Beta, what do you say? ok, that sounded funnier in my head, maybe cos of the three vodka shots i had before i wrote this. must stop abusing liver and start focusing on kidneys and other regions too.. ahh, but i ramble again.

the only difference i see is that now i can label my posts, so if below-average-intelligence-readers (no no, not you!) were remotely interested in seeing the last time i wrote about a topic as abstract as 'what i really like', they only need to click that link and read.. though i can guarantee you that any information you glean cannot be used against me in a court of law, so sue me.

it's Christmas weekend.. and all i really want is (in no real order)..

• sleep (seriously, work is just killing me!),
• sex drugs and rock n' roll (all at the same time would be a bit overwhelming, but bring it on),
• Stanley Cup (i.e the Buffalo Sabres to win it, but that has to wait till June),
• salary hikes (i just got bumped up a bit, but isn't it possible to get a raise every week? no? damn!),
• Scion, Scion tC (still waiting on that dream car..),
• steaks.. sirloin, Salisbury or otherwise (a man's gotta have meat!),
• second wildcard spot in the AFC for the Buffalo Bills (non-football people look away)

have yourselves a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or whatever else you may be celebrating.. and remember, don't drink and drive, smoke a spliff and fly instead!!

a meal to give thanks

celebrated Thanksgiving at a colleague's on Thursday evening.. and then decided i might as well cook the 20lb. turkey that Pepsi were so good to give to each staff member! so this was the planned menu:

it did end up taking a good 3-4 hours to cook entirely.. but when we sat down to eat we were quite ravenous, and had much to give thanks about too

the last year between Thanksgiving periods has been good, and thanks must be given to numerous sources: all the wonderful people i have met, some memorable experiences and some not so sweet memories, but learning from them nonetheless.. and then there was successfully graduating from grad school, and getting the job i am in.. moving bed and baggage out of Buffalo and starting a whole new life.. here's to a great year ahead to all, and many more things to give thanks for!

Question 1

it's State Election day.. i don't really care who is standing for anything today cos they're all as bad as the next one. the thing that is interesting to me is the voting on the state laws, in particular Question 1 for Massachussets -

"Today, consumers in 34 states can buy wine at grocery stores. But in Massachusetts, a 72-year-old law prevents most grocery stores from selling wine."

a vote 'Yes' today will change that - sounds good to me! honestly, i don't get the hullabaloo though.. i get some pretty good wines, including italian and australian wines at the gas station a block away. actually, with the liquor store right across the road, i don't care much what the decision is. right now i choose my wine after i have picked up groceries to see what will go with what - if i can do that at the grocery store it saves me an extra trip.. so yeah, i'm all for it. if you're a Mass resident, vote 'Yes' on Question 1 today!

POSTSCRIPT - damned voters rejected the Question today.. gah! see details

weekend recap

this was a pretty good weekend.. there were some lows, not just in the temperature.. and there were some highs, not just the kind that involves intoxication!

the Tool concert was a bit of a letdown, a whole combination of factors worked against it - some idiots in the crowd, extremely cold weather, too much expectation, an indifferent performance by the band and pure exhaustion all came together to make it a huge letdown. that's life.

went off to Bristol, Rhode Island after that for the weekend. the weather continued to suck, but got some good company, met lots of new people, had some awesome food and generally had a great time despite the rain and cold. i love visiting new places, and the sea has always held a lot of fascination for me.

coming back home to go to work on sunday night in the dreary weather was really difficult, but that again is life. this week better zip by fast.

fall dawns

fall has made it's presence felt.. this is what sunrise was like on sunday morning

labor day weekend

boy am i glad for this long weekend.. with the monday off it gives me 24 hours more to rest and recuperate from what has to have been the week from hell! the older mechanics were saying never has there been a summer like this one at the plant, and definitely never a week like this one in my life!

had to go in for a few hours for saturday startup at 5 in the morn, which turned into the worst saturday ever, with all sorts of shit going wrong every few minutes and the radio crackling incessantly in my ear. it also didn't help that the day before my *&!@^#&*%$ boss totally crapped all over my review which led into a huge argument and i was THIS close to telling him to stuff his crummy job where even the retarded fish don't swim!

am glad the gf is over for the long weekend, helps having her patient ears and comforting hugs when the big bad world get's too big and too bad. yes, i do sound like a little boy.. but i have to say, nothing prepares you for real life quite like real life itself. more on that as life unfolds i guess.

i have dedicated the labor day weekend to the shrine of labor, i.e not doing anything at all! the only time we've even left the bed has been to make some delectable yummies.. pork rib roast, tuna fried rice and my latest creation - king crab in coconut milk gravy.. and to get refills for the vodka, wine and beer. so now i head back to the bed in front of the tv, and some more sleep. have a great week everyone!

perseverance

the persistence of human will is not a force to be mocked. actually, some animals have demonstrated that kind of resolute determination as well, but it's found more often in humans. some people can stick to their guns once they have decided their goals and are virtually immovable after that, while others tend to be a little more fickle and waver ever so often. most of the population is covered by that second demographic - as am i.

there is no point talking about that first group, cos as i said, they are set in stone and prove no inspiration whatsoever! okay okay, i exaggerate. but honestly, i am inspired more by a human than a humanoid - humans being the type who occasionally make mistakes as opposed to humanoids being the kind who do not let themselves make mistakes.

why all this talk of perseverance? cos when you wake up every morning (or night as it is in my case), and sit on the edge of the bed, staring at your feet while yawning, wondering why you're here, then perseverance is the only thing that gets you to work. the frustration can be infuriating at times - twice the last week i have had to go back in to work after leaving in the morning. the exhaustion can be killing - some times i am so tired that i can't sleep, just lay there staring at the ceiling too tired to roll over. the rewards can be unsatisfying - i am still waiting on my review and i work far far harder and get way more results than my paycheck shows.

so why do i do it? well, cos i am hoping and waiting that things get better. it's my first job out of college, things could have been much worse. the responsibilities i hold now look really good on the resume - they are the kind of things that would push me higher up the engineering management ladder when i look elsewhere. for now, i stretch, bide my time, and go back to work.

sleepless

i really envy people who can get their heads down and get some sleep.. cos hell i can't just.. sleep! there's always shit running through my head, things i have to do, bills to pay, people i have to speak to, etc etc. and no it doesn't end there, after that there is the continuous self-assessment and judgement of how, what and when i did whatever i did. there are people who tend to be hard on themsleves, and then there's me - ever-critical and always dragging myself down.

once upon a time i could meditate to clear my mind, but these days concentrating for periods longer than a deep breath is almost impossible. just need to find that flow again, a set routine which allows me to get 6-8 hours of good and uninterrupted sleep, as well as getting at least two solid meals a day. as far as exercise goes, the menial nature of the work i do and the cycling to and from work adequately makes up for that category!

so now i end up trying to beat my insomniac tendencies by listening to ambient music, cooling the room and darkening it, and hoping fervently i will nod off and not have my eyes fly back open after a couple of hours! any advice you good folk might have?