3.30.2009
I <3 Alec Baldwin
Clearly the best of the Baldwin brothers and is a comic genius on 30 rock, but more recently he has become a wii master...
it's so dirty yet so clean at the same time...
it's so dirty yet so clean at the same time...
3.27.2009
I have a few minutes
And no one really reads this anyway. I have piles of work to accomplish but a lack of desire and drive to accomplish the tasks at hand. I'm ready to be out the door, in the car and heading home.
Everything is in a bit of a lull right now.
Optimistically, my grandpa survived his surgery to remove the cancer found in his colon. they removed part of the colon as well as his liver. The best part...my family members decided to pitch in and buy cases of PBR instead of flowers -- that's my grandpa for you. MMM PBR. He's feeling better and should be heading home in a day or two. Starts chemo in 6 weeks but still plans to come to the wedding, which is optimistic in its own right.
But everything else is lull-like. There are few plans being generated. Everyone is busy. The weather is pretty lousy. The house stuff is in a weird state. We did lock our rate. 4.5% on a 30 yr-fixed mortgage. I'm proud of that. I'm not sure they'll get much lower than that again. I'll TAKE it! I also heard that the housing market is starting to turn around, which is a plus for the economy.
The house stuff will come out of nowhere. Paint and carpet. New fixtures and hardware. Seal the garage and update something new each paycheck. Hopefully it becomes a hot new pad people want to check out...that way we can save money from going out! BUT...at the same time, we're in a new town, new things to see and check out. Summer is near and we'll be able to hang out in dtown A. Heights or go to the track (it is only 4 blocks away). That'll be fun.
Saturdays have become the day to do something social. People have too much to do on Sundays to prepare for the week and everyone is so tired from working that Fridays become obsolete. We try (we = friends) to do Friday night things. Yet, like clockwork, we're all exhausted and barely buzzed by 11pm. My liver is the only one who truly appreciates this.
Wedding things are coming along nicely. The food is being developed and I'm excited for it. It's not your typical beef/chicken/pasta meal. It'll be fun but I won't give away details. You'll like it, you'll see.
I want some more warmth to head this way. I want to get my golf on. I'd like to wear flip flops. I want to BBQ and play outside. All of this rain/snow/moisture is getting in the way of all of that fun. I also want to teach Kim how to run. Sounds weird, right? According to her she just never learned how to run; so I'm going to teach her how!
Things I'm looking forward to in April and May:1. Opening Day (GO CUBS!)
2. The new UFC game for 360 or PS3
3. The next UFC fight
4. Moving
5. Getting to golf
6. Wrestlemania!
Let's see...anything else.
Nope.
3.22.2009
3.20.2009
an actual update
I don't write much in the blog space anymore. I do post videos and lots of them. I thought I'd have more time to write random thoughts, things that happen or whatever else pops in my brain. Between life, work and shiny objects that distract me - I haven't had much time. So, since I put off going to bed at any sort of reasonable time, I'll ramble a bit now.
Life's been busy.
Work has now taken to firing people. Most with some sense of reason but on Monday they let a handful of people go for reasons none of us know. They weren't necessarily tied to other struggling areas but let go just the same. They were in the Outlook system at 9 am and gone by 10. Weird. Just goes to show, the economy isn't getting better and no one's job is safe. I thought getting a promotion (which happened a few weeks back, surprisingly) would signify job security when it could mean I'm more in the headlights of scrutiny. Ick. But - firings aside - work has been busy. I'm there earlier, leaving later but time is going by faster. I'm finally involved in somewhat meaningful projects, so it makes it more enjoyable.
Life.
Life's been a joy and a pain all at the same time.
It seems that for every piece of good information or something of fun come along there is something far worse that is served.
For example: I'm excited. Month by month, week by week and day by day the wedding gets closer and closer. We've done the flowers. Food is in a few months. Most of my wedding party gifts are purchased (which I'm really happy about). We're done registering and we def registered for some awesome things from household things to stuff we'd like to do on our registry. I like it and here's hoping everyone else does too, haha! And today I was Tuxified. So the big things are getting knocked out. Each item scratched from the list makes the reality of the wedding more real. A good real. It'll be exciting. It'll be fun. I'm most excited to have a lot of great friends (whether they live here or far away) come and spend the night with Kim and I and dance/drink/eat his or her face off.
But then there's a negative (not wedding related).
My buddy Richie loses his job. Then he leaves his apartment and moves into his gf's parent's house in STC. That stinks. Now a buddy who was a few short minutes away will become ghostly due to distance. I really hope he finds a job and doesn't get sucked into the ease of unemployment. Plus, jobs are tough to find and I hope he finds the right one ASAP. I read that a janitorial job in Michigan received over 700 job applications. Even Al (who recently was laid off due to company cuts) applied for a job and when he called to follow up they told him they had received over 600 resumes in under a day for the position. That's nuts. If you have a job - appreciate it, even if it sucks because being unemployed has to be a scary place. It's an odd place to be because I want to help someone in need whenever possible, but I get rendered useless when it comes to finding something in nothing.
What else.
Ah - one of the more exciting and financially draining (haha) events of recent news is that Kim and I found, offered up and are now going to own a house (townhouse to be exact). It's in a great location. Much easier for people to find. Easier access to much of where we live. Gets Kim to work faster and doesn't do too much to my commute. A good time to buy, a good tax credit and won't have to deal with kids running above us for 3 hours a day. We lose a backyard but gain a 2.5 car garage. We lose a workout facility but we gain 1 br and 1.5 more bathrooms. Kim gets stairs. There's hardwood. It'll be really nice. I'm excite to move in (in May), paint, furnish and have people over all the time. Now there's a bathroom for them to use, a bedroom to actually sleep in and more space for everything.
But right as this news rolls out and we wallow in the joy of it all we get more bad news. We recently found out that Kim's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Talk about a blow. I mean, it runs in her family but I don't care. It's something you never want to have happen to anyone. Everyone is working to remain in good spirits. It's a common form of BC and she's being treated immediately, which is great news. Also, there's been so much research on BC that she's in really good shape. On any note - it's a terrible thing to come up. We're trying to remain cheery with the positives going on around us but learning about cancer...is just that a cancer. It drains you. Kim is trying to be a rock but I know it's hard, real hard on her and I don't blame her. If my mom was diagnosed, I'd be a mess. But I keep happy thoughts and know things will turn up soon.
More cancer?
So, what else could go wrong? Well, earlier this week I found out that my grandfather was also diagnosed with cancer. Colon cancer. Damn.
He has surgery next week. He's optimistic, which means I should be so too. I am. But damn. I mean, let me take this opportunity to address cancer. Hey. Cancer. Go harass some other family. I'm sick of your antics and intentions. No thanks. I vote no. It's tough, he's up in North Dakota and it's not like ND is a vacation destination, so seeing them isn't something that's been feasible for anyone in recent years. Only due to Eric dying did it get all of us up there and able to see them, otherwise who knows when. Wedding maybe? Seeing them often or not, it's still a terrible thing to happen to a family.
Bah. See what I mean? You look for all of the positives but when you get served pies of bad news it begins to drain on you. But the upside is - I believe they'll all be ok. The house will move forward as it should. Kim and I will love it and life will continue to be great. The wedding will happen without a hitch (or not too many, at least). Her mom will be there. My grandpa better be there. I'll go on my first major vacation in...ever and things will be dandy as candy.
But aside from wedding, jobs, house, and dirty-unwanted cancer life is going smoothly yet quickly.
St. Patty's day was an uncharacteristic evening but 76 kinds of fun. We spent the evening at a party hosted by Josh and Melissa. As always, Josh took fabulous photos. I pretended I knew how to manage a DSLR and I failed fabulously. It was a night of their friends, Kim, Dustin and I. Typically you'd find me @ CBN with green beers and hand and forgetful memories and 100s of off-the-cuff photos...each one progressively more intoxicated than the last. Typically the former power crew (of Dustin, Kim, Richie, Kate, KK, KKs gf @ the time (cori now, woo) Scotty T, and Missy/Bis) would be around but not this year. Change is a good thing though. Keeps things fresh. The photos turned out fantastic. Click here to see the awesome St. P pics.
I thought about recommending some tunes but my likes have been all over the place. So, as usual, if you want some tunes just let me know and I'll set you right. I hope everyone has a great weekend. If you're doing the March Madness noise, I hope you rock the socks off of your brackets, but if I'm in a league against you...well, I hope you do well but not as well as me :)
I think this is my favorite sober, not-too-propped photo from St. P...cracks me up: here ya go. And this would be my fav one after I had a few --- irish me
Alright, it's still March but time's moving fast. I hope it gets warmer soon. I hope friends come out of the woodwork soon. For whatever reason, I've concluded that the warmer the weather the more people want to do things. baseball season is coming up which means Go Cubs, more Flyers games and...well, just more to do outside. The new house is near the race track...so there may be a new hangout and some new gambling addictions formed soon. And as an early aside - if you like to paint or tile or move things...feel free to let me know because there's going to be a lot of it coming up! :)
Anyway. That's enough for one sit down and write session.
Hopefully you don't get caught up reading this at work. You'll keep reading wondering when it will end or if it'll be funny or if you'll actually learn anything and...no on all 3 counts.
So - here's to hoping life gets cheerier, interest rates fall next week and that I can sleep in this weekend!
Done and done.
----------------
Listening to: Lisa Hannigan - Splishy Splashy
via FoxyTunes
Life's been busy.
Work has now taken to firing people. Most with some sense of reason but on Monday they let a handful of people go for reasons none of us know. They weren't necessarily tied to other struggling areas but let go just the same. They were in the Outlook system at 9 am and gone by 10. Weird. Just goes to show, the economy isn't getting better and no one's job is safe. I thought getting a promotion (which happened a few weeks back, surprisingly) would signify job security when it could mean I'm more in the headlights of scrutiny. Ick. But - firings aside - work has been busy. I'm there earlier, leaving later but time is going by faster. I'm finally involved in somewhat meaningful projects, so it makes it more enjoyable.
Life.
Life's been a joy and a pain all at the same time.
It seems that for every piece of good information or something of fun come along there is something far worse that is served.
For example: I'm excited. Month by month, week by week and day by day the wedding gets closer and closer. We've done the flowers. Food is in a few months. Most of my wedding party gifts are purchased (which I'm really happy about). We're done registering and we def registered for some awesome things from household things to stuff we'd like to do on our registry. I like it and here's hoping everyone else does too, haha! And today I was Tuxified. So the big things are getting knocked out. Each item scratched from the list makes the reality of the wedding more real. A good real. It'll be exciting. It'll be fun. I'm most excited to have a lot of great friends (whether they live here or far away) come and spend the night with Kim and I and dance/drink/eat his or her face off.
But then there's a negative (not wedding related).
My buddy Richie loses his job. Then he leaves his apartment and moves into his gf's parent's house in STC. That stinks. Now a buddy who was a few short minutes away will become ghostly due to distance. I really hope he finds a job and doesn't get sucked into the ease of unemployment. Plus, jobs are tough to find and I hope he finds the right one ASAP. I read that a janitorial job in Michigan received over 700 job applications. Even Al (who recently was laid off due to company cuts) applied for a job and when he called to follow up they told him they had received over 600 resumes in under a day for the position. That's nuts. If you have a job - appreciate it, even if it sucks because being unemployed has to be a scary place. It's an odd place to be because I want to help someone in need whenever possible, but I get rendered useless when it comes to finding something in nothing.
What else.
Ah - one of the more exciting and financially draining (haha) events of recent news is that Kim and I found, offered up and are now going to own a house (townhouse to be exact). It's in a great location. Much easier for people to find. Easier access to much of where we live. Gets Kim to work faster and doesn't do too much to my commute. A good time to buy, a good tax credit and won't have to deal with kids running above us for 3 hours a day. We lose a backyard but gain a 2.5 car garage. We lose a workout facility but we gain 1 br and 1.5 more bathrooms. Kim gets stairs. There's hardwood. It'll be really nice. I'm excite to move in (in May), paint, furnish and have people over all the time. Now there's a bathroom for them to use, a bedroom to actually sleep in and more space for everything.
But right as this news rolls out and we wallow in the joy of it all we get more bad news. We recently found out that Kim's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Talk about a blow. I mean, it runs in her family but I don't care. It's something you never want to have happen to anyone. Everyone is working to remain in good spirits. It's a common form of BC and she's being treated immediately, which is great news. Also, there's been so much research on BC that she's in really good shape. On any note - it's a terrible thing to come up. We're trying to remain cheery with the positives going on around us but learning about cancer...is just that a cancer. It drains you. Kim is trying to be a rock but I know it's hard, real hard on her and I don't blame her. If my mom was diagnosed, I'd be a mess. But I keep happy thoughts and know things will turn up soon.
More cancer?
So, what else could go wrong? Well, earlier this week I found out that my grandfather was also diagnosed with cancer. Colon cancer. Damn.
He has surgery next week. He's optimistic, which means I should be so too. I am. But damn. I mean, let me take this opportunity to address cancer. Hey. Cancer. Go harass some other family. I'm sick of your antics and intentions. No thanks. I vote no. It's tough, he's up in North Dakota and it's not like ND is a vacation destination, so seeing them isn't something that's been feasible for anyone in recent years. Only due to Eric dying did it get all of us up there and able to see them, otherwise who knows when. Wedding maybe? Seeing them often or not, it's still a terrible thing to happen to a family.
Bah. See what I mean? You look for all of the positives but when you get served pies of bad news it begins to drain on you. But the upside is - I believe they'll all be ok. The house will move forward as it should. Kim and I will love it and life will continue to be great. The wedding will happen without a hitch (or not too many, at least). Her mom will be there. My grandpa better be there. I'll go on my first major vacation in...ever and things will be dandy as candy.
But aside from wedding, jobs, house, and dirty-unwanted cancer life is going smoothly yet quickly.
St. Patty's day was an uncharacteristic evening but 76 kinds of fun. We spent the evening at a party hosted by Josh and Melissa. As always, Josh took fabulous photos. I pretended I knew how to manage a DSLR and I failed fabulously. It was a night of their friends, Kim, Dustin and I. Typically you'd find me @ CBN with green beers and hand and forgetful memories and 100s of off-the-cuff photos...each one progressively more intoxicated than the last. Typically the former power crew (of Dustin, Kim, Richie, Kate, KK, KKs gf @ the time (cori now, woo) Scotty T, and Missy/Bis) would be around but not this year. Change is a good thing though. Keeps things fresh. The photos turned out fantastic. Click here to see the awesome St. P pics.
I thought about recommending some tunes but my likes have been all over the place. So, as usual, if you want some tunes just let me know and I'll set you right. I hope everyone has a great weekend. If you're doing the March Madness noise, I hope you rock the socks off of your brackets, but if I'm in a league against you...well, I hope you do well but not as well as me :)
I think this is my favorite sober, not-too-propped photo from St. P...cracks me up: here ya go. And this would be my fav one after I had a few --- irish me
Alright, it's still March but time's moving fast. I hope it gets warmer soon. I hope friends come out of the woodwork soon. For whatever reason, I've concluded that the warmer the weather the more people want to do things. baseball season is coming up which means Go Cubs, more Flyers games and...well, just more to do outside. The new house is near the race track...so there may be a new hangout and some new gambling addictions formed soon. And as an early aside - if you like to paint or tile or move things...feel free to let me know because there's going to be a lot of it coming up! :)
Anyway. That's enough for one sit down and write session.
Hopefully you don't get caught up reading this at work. You'll keep reading wondering when it will end or if it'll be funny or if you'll actually learn anything and...no on all 3 counts.
So - here's to hoping life gets cheerier, interest rates fall next week and that I can sleep in this weekend!
Done and done.
----------------
Listening to: Lisa Hannigan - Splishy Splashy
via FoxyTunes
3.18.2009
3.11.2009
Office Space recut
I don't know what's with this trend, lately, to recut movie trailers from older movies and make them HILARIOUS, but I love it.
3.03.2009
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)