The Flight to Orlando

I arrived in Orlando safe and sound although we had an adventurous pilot. I'm not well traveled or a frequent flier by any means, but from what experiences I do have flying, this particular flight was one of the more queasy that I've been on. Its as though this pilot felt that he was flying a F-16 rather than a 757. Extra sharp and sudden turns, super steep assents, stomach dropping altitude adjustments and rather extreme angles were not uncharacteristic of this little adventure in the sky. I'm not one to generally be bothered by flights, turbulence, take off, & landings typically don't phase me. The skies weren't rough at all, but just the maneuverings of this pilot had me in a nice sweat after take off. Upon landing my hands were cold and clammy.

Getting out of the Airport was quick, and the rental was uneventful. They wanted to shaft me with a minivan again, and this time, especially with gas as it us, I did not want that. Before I realized I was not getting my compact car, they dangled the "Convertible" carrot in my face. Initially I refused, but upon the possibility of the minivan, I jumped at the convertible. It is a bit more, but with the gas I would have had to put into the mommymobile I'll probably break even.

We found Jason's apartment fairly easy, with a slight delay, as the rental place was off site and my directions had to be reconfigured slightly. Jason hadn't arrived back from work quite yet, but he did leave us a spare key and we sprawled out on the bed in our room until he arrived.

When Jason did arrive we enjoyed a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant called "Brio Tuscan Grille" in the Millennia Mall near by which is where Jason introduced Kate & I to P.F. Chang's last year. It was very reasonable, nice atmosphere and good food. We had drinks, appetizers, salad, the main course and desert & coffee. I hadn't eaten all day, so it definitely hit the spot.

When we headed over Jason immediately went out to my convertible and figured out how to operate the roof, which aside from unclamping it from the windshield, pretty much works at the touch of a button. It was a beautiful night in the 80s, and it made for a very nice drive.

So tomorrow we are trying to head out by 8 to go to Miami. We expect to be there by 4 hours, but it should be a fairly straight shot & easy drive. Then the beach will be ours to take in!

I'll probably try to write a bit on Friday night & possibly Saturday or Sunday, but Thursday I shouldn't have the time or access to internet as I'll be amongst the pretty people sticking out like a sore thumb :D

So, Till then!

Have a great weekend!

Packing.. Or procrastination

I don't have much to say today.... I can't help but have this nagging feeling I'm forgetting something. I really have a lot to do to get ready for the trip, but I'm also feeling really lazy. hmmmmm.....


Anyway...I should at least pack my suitcase tonight so I should go.



enjoy this star wars bit.

Vacation Soon!

Wednesday through Monday I'll be headed down to Florida with Kate. We are going to spend a couple days in South Beach, then take some time with my friend Jason. So.. blog entries will likely be light after Wednesday.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was decent. Kate and I finally watched Empire Falls which we've been meaning to do. We both read the book by Richard Russo. The HBO miniseries (really a 3+ hour movie split up) was excellent. It was filmed mostly in Skowhegan and Waterville Maine. The characters in this story are very realistic and easy to relate to. The story reads a bit like a Dickens novel, a bit tragic, however the characters manage to get by. Paul Newman, Ed Harris, Helen Hunt, & Philip Seymour Hoffman make up a stellar cast. The production was controlled by Newman as well.

This review from the NY times goes over the book:

Townie

Review for the Mini Series

I read a couple of poor reviews. The most common complaint is that it is too slow, however, I think that the pace is appropriate. The book was written in this manner, even though there is a lot going on, much of it is background noise. And you have to admit, isn't that what life is all about?

One particurally bad review was from the Bangor paper. Someone took offense to what they called "bad accents" As someone who typically notices that stuff... I actually thought the contrary. Ed Harris's character Miles, appropriately has less of an accent because he went away to school. College, especially one that may have many out-of-staters in the student body, makes one more conscious of the many, many, many, foolish speaking habits of Mainers. Amongst these are, removing the letter r from words where it belongs, and adding it where it doesn't. Using imaginary grammar, such as "somewheres" instead of "somewhere". Copious usage of the word "Wicked". Using the phrase "you know" excessively. And there is a certain drawl which tends to be sex dependent, the women sound more nasally, the men seem to hollow our or draw out our add more emphasis to a's and u's. The sort of sound like Ted Kennedy, but where Ted goes Ehhhhh, the Mainer's go "Auuuhhh", otherwise Maine and Massachusetts accents are almost the same. So anyway, I digress, this reviewer was offended by what he said was a cast that makes Mainers sound like a "The Village Idiot". Having left Maine for several years and come back.... I hate to break it to you, but, that's what we sound like in our purest form.

One area I did agree was that Helen Hunt was miscast as Janine. Even though she is a good actress, Helen seems, unbelievable as a former "overweight" woman, too grounded. Janine was a woman who had a confusion of values that is all to common. I think the movie actually didn't explore this as well, as the book examines the Empire Falls world more from Janine's perspective. Her character in the book spends much of it feeling personally assaulted by not only her husband, but by her mother and even her own daughter. She blames them for her unhappiness. She blames Miles for not showing her that he loved her. The movie focuses more on Miles's inability to say "I love you". In the book Janine as seen more of a hedonist enjoying better sex with her new lover, and being attracted to his money and power (which is a facade more than anything). She sacrifices the stable life she has with Miles, and her daughter's happiness, for sex and frills. Janine is a spoiled simpleton who thinks that happiness is personal pleasure that should be lavished upon her. She believes that is more important than her daughter or the work she should put into her relationships. Helen Hunt is too grounded to play this sort of "blind" character. Janine is too much of a contrast with Hunt's former characters in "As Good as it Gets" and "Mad about you". I remember when reading the novel, you want to feel for Janine, but she is filled with so much baseless venom, for imaginary crimes committed against her, that she almost seems borderline crazy. With the exception of 1 scene where Hunt yells at Harris for about 10 minutes, without him even speaking a word (an argument... in Janine's mind), the delusion of this character was not captured on screen.

I remember when this movie first went into production, I believe the intent was originally to make it a movie to be released in the theaters. On the commentary Newman suggests that HBO gave them the leniency to make it long. I personally feel that since it was a mini series, it could of, and probably should have even been longer.

Subterranean Cockroach

My class was fairly interesting today. I managed to get to the Doubletree Hotel in plenty of time, even though I needed to walk about a mile to get there.

Really, the highlight of my day, other than seeing Kate for supper ;) was seeing a cockroach climb up the wall at the downtown crossing subway station. I was fascinated by this 2-3 inch critter waving its antennae around as it moved up along the tunnel wall.

AH HA HA!
Kid takes teacher's van for joyride

Peculiar Pageants Crown Quirky Queens

This is pretty amusing, enjoy!

The Hotel with no Entrance

My week is semi over I guess you could say, as tomorrow and Friday I get to go to a class at the Doubletree Hotel in Allston MA. I have to get up fairly early to get over to the Boston University central stop on the B line and then its a 15+ minute walk along the Charles to get there.

I had a tough time figuring out how to get there without the hassle of driving. The information provided by mapquest and the mbta trip planner is misleading and impractical at best. The mbta directed me to the Babcock stop which it claims is
only .31 miles from the hotel/conference center, but this must be as the bird flies. In between lies the Mass Pike, numerous toll booths, Storrow drive, a rail yard, and there is no way to cross it. It really is an enormous obstacle that really divides up that section of Boston. You don't realize it until you have to go somewhere in that region. I didn't make it to the gym tonight in light of my search for tomorrow's transit route, but I did a hell of a lot of walking, which should make up for it. You can see the hotel's tower there taunting you within reach, but you have to make a couple mile loop by following the roads. When all hope was lost, I discovered I could use a bike path along Storrow drive, and a pedestrian bridge from the back side of the Boston University campus. I'll probably have to walk just short of a mile, rather than 2-3 miles.


Caught the end of the Sox game tonight in time to see Adam stern nearly kill himself running full throttle into the Green Monster to successfully catch a ball. Ahhhh Baseball.

Southpark was definitely amusing tonight. It started with Towleeie getting a job at P.F. Changs where it took him 15 minutes to mix the spicy sauce because he was stoned. Quality television.

I need to conduct some spring cleaning Friday. I have to come up with a plan and stick to it with discipline. I think I'll do my planting on the balcony as well since we seem to be getting warm weather.

Please enjoy my graphics, may they serve as antidotes to this otherwise dull entry.

Scott Wilkinson text messaged me to say "Happy Easter". I thought I was imagining things when I saw his name on my phone while on a pre-Easter feast stroll with Kate. Kate said "Maybe Scott is calling to wish you a Happy Easter?" and I looked at her like she was mad. Well tonight I was goofing around with my options on my phone only to discover I had a text message from Scotty. Kate you were right. Scotty you are a good man. A cheeseball, :D but a good man regardless.

My Adventures of Late

Great game tonight! Red Sox vs. Tampa bay. Stellar performance by Clement. Even former Sox, Fossum pitched a nice game for Tampa, however their bullpen could not stand up to ours. (Ahhhhh... Sounds nice to say that!) The catch Adam Stern made to end the game was spectacular! Summer is coming!

Well to sum up the past few days. I spent a couple days in Philadelphia on business last week. It was a great experience for me, and hopefully I'll get to do this again in the future. Business aside, I had fun in Philly as well. I stayed in a Marriott right outside of City Hall downtown. I walked into the old city and saw the Liberty Bell, Independence hall, and the shores of the Delaware River. The colonial buildings were generally more simplistic than that of Beacon Hill, reminding one more of those in Colonial Williamsburg.

I asked around for advice on the best Philly Cheese Steak sub and was lead to a little diner called Jim's Cheese steak, located on South Street. There was a line out in the street, so I took that for a sign that I had been brought to the right destination.

As I entered this stainless steel white tile throw back to the 40s and 50s I was impressed by the organized chaos that this operation is. Behind the counter, one cook, a food prep assistant and a cashier run the show. The line snakes through a cramped ordering area that is lined with a Formica bench and swivel stools up against the wall.

I observe the cook cutting up mounds of ground beef with a spatula and cooking it. The sizzle of the sirloin, causes me to salivate involuntarily. Pavlov could have used this place in a couple of experiments. Next to this on the expansive iron skillet are heaping piles of peppers, onions, mushrooms, and then vats of various other, albeit less popular toppings. On a nearby shelf is a large can of "Wiz", the cheap Velvetta like cheddar that is overwhelmingly the most popular cheese choice in the establishment. Also available are American and Provalone.

Equally amazed and amused, I watched the cook and cashier yell and taunt the patrons. If you are caught not paying attention, it is frowned upon. I didn't see these Philly guys refuse anyone an order, although I wouldn't put it past them. I watched carefully, so I could order properly when it was my turn. I also wanted the "Classic" cheese steak sub experience so I decided against my inclination towards provalone, and got a "Wiz" sub accompanied by a Coke. I had peppers and onions on mine. It was a delight. My order was boldly shouted out at the cook with perfect timing so I was quickly processed. I grabbed a swivel stool at the bench by the wall and wolfed down my sandwich.

The upper walls, between the tile and tin ceiling, are adorned with numerous awards, and signed photos from various famous fans. Many are Philadelphia based classic R&B artists and sports stars, but there were many others from all over the country. Tony Bennett apparently likes a good cheese steak sub.

South street is other worldly and a sharp contrast from its neighboring Old quarters. Here an eclectic group of people adorn the sidewalks. Although predominantly having an African American influence, many punks and goths can be seen strolling about brightly colored outlandish shops. There is a heavy tourist contingent here, but save a couple exceptions it still appears largely untouched by the commercialization that we often see take these areas by storm. (Think Times square, and even Harvard square). This street is a party, it is though Philadelphia has its own year round Mardi Gras happening right in the middle of it. There is a welcoming amusement park atmosphere element to it, while it is still gritty enough to almost appear slightly seedy and elude to a possible danger. This just adds to the charm that makes it so unique.

There seemed to definitely be some other cool things worth seeing in Philadelphia. Unfortunately the Art Museum steps, made famous by Rocky are far away from everything and I didn't make it over there. Perhaps another time. My complaints about Philly are such: Much like Downtown crossing here in Boston, the stores close incredibly early and seem to be more for retired folks and stay at home mothers rather than average working people. The transit system is a bit more expensive than Boston's and is under utilized. In my casual observations, I noticed that it seems to suffer from an inconsistency of service. Philly is like Boston in it's tendency for Subway routes to be outdated, and Commuter Rail and bus connections to be over complicated. As Philadelphia is actually laid out on a grid, unlike Boston, it makes the mass-transit mess a bit tougher to stomach. Boston's full trains compared to their nearly empty ones are as good a review as any. Last on my complaint list, their sports complex is rather sad. They have a brand new baseball stadium that sits next to their football and hockey arenas. My problem is that the area around them is desolate. There is public transit, although expansive parking lots suggest it isn't used. Additionally, there isn't even a McDonald's let alone any visibly decent restaurants or bars within a half mile of these facilities. Its tough to fathom, as it is still essentially in city limits. I'm assuming politics are likely sources of this ugly neighborhood.

This weekend I took Kate to see the folks in Maine for Easter. Saturday we actually roamed around Portland for a bit. It was pretty dead, likely due to the holidays, however we had a nice walk. I purchased a loaf of Boule bread at a bakery in the Old Port, and picked up a couple gourmet vinaigrette for my mother's Easter extravaganza.

I decided to bring Kate to the Village cafe rather than try anything too exotic, or take a risk on an unfamiliar restaurant. We both enjoyed our wonderful comfort food. The Village cafe is an Italian restaurant which has a very broad menu. I've gone there with my family since I was a child. The lasagna that I had definitely hit the spot, and the tennis ball sized meatball was a dream.

Following our meal we continued our walk to the Eastern Promenade. A fog was shrouding the islands in the harbor, and the waves peacefully licked the shores below us at the bottom of the embankment that makes up Portland's eastern most main point. There was a sort of melancholy created in this atmosphere that seemed like it would form the back drop for a good romance or mystery novel. The fog was continuing to get thicker, and droplets began touching our faces as we took in our surroundings. We decided that it would be best to head back to get shelter from seemingly impending rain.

Ultimately the mist gave way to a sprinkling, and the sprinkling to sheets of rain. Awkwardly trying to fit under one travel umbrella Kate & I and scurried for shelter in a tiny hole in the wall coffee shop up on Munjoy Hill. We had hot chocolate and waited for a gap in the downpour. As we sipped our frothy warm beverages we watched Congress St. glisten in the rain. There was something comforting about the fog that settled upon the old clapboard buildings and those brick sidewalks. The thunder rumbled and rain simmered, but Stereolab softly filled the air of the shop and soothed us as a sugar high brewed in our bellies. With the boost of sucrose we would try and make it back to our parking garage which was about a mile away at the Public Market in the Bayside neighborhood.

The rain ultimately let up so I decided to show Portland Headlight to Kate. Of course there could have been better days to go there, but the fog gave it all a different sort of beauty. The light house couldn't even be seen from 100 yards away. Visibility was sufficient for us to follow the various paths to it. The haunting bellow of the fog horn was activated, and we stood next to its grandeur reading a sign telling of a shipwreck that occurred at the spot on Christmas Eve many years ago.

I have fond memories of going to Fort Williams Park, where Portland Headlight resides. When I was at St. Joe's in college I went a few times with Marc Blouin and once with Kevin Rivard, and climbed around on the rocks. I remember them as always being very contemplative days.

Anyway, Sunday we had dinner with my family and went on a few more walks around Lewiston and Auburn.

Sunday night I spent with Kate in anticipation of going to see the Boston Marathon on Monday. She lives right on the route in Brookline. I had never been before and so I was really looking forward to the chance to see it happen this year. It really was a spectacular event, and to any one who gets a chance, it definitely is a feel good experience to watch these people strive to accomplish the journey.

Kate mentioned to that one of her coworkers gets emotional when she watches the race. I kind of laughed upon hearing this, but after watching it myself, I totally understand where she is coming from.

Anyway... If you've gotten this far I've got to say, I'm pretty impressed if not flattered. :D I hope your week is going well! Have a wicked Wednesday!

No time

Too little time tonight to post anything of much interest. I'll provide an entry of more substance tomorrow.

Here's a great daily show bit about the 2006 Olympics. Funny stuff:

Stinky Jor

Well if tonight is any forshadowing, my business trip is off to a lousy start. A water main broke outside our building and no one around has any water. This means I can't shower, this also means at this very moment there is a dude with a jackhammer about 50 yards from me, which means no rest for the weary. In light of the circumstances I've succumbed to drinking coke to pull me through these tough times :D . Its as if all the forces are working to make me look over tired and possibly flaky. Hopefully I can manage to make it there in one piece at this rate.

Its the little things... the little things.

Of course someone offered me a ticket to the Sox game tomorrow night at I can't go because I will be undead in some hotel room, or trying to be a tourist in a zombified state. I likely won't get to enjoy my non-work time. Stinker. Anyway its given me more time to think, I just packed my swim trunks and flip flops, which I probably won't use. Its a "Downtown Marriott" so its likely to have a pool. Maybe I'll look it up now.

Anyway, more than likely this will be this weeks last post. Monday is a holiday here in Massachusetts, so that will likely be a holiday here as well. Have a good weekend all!

Well I might as well sleep for two hours or try...

Buy stock in fence companies!

Immigration bill may lose felony proviso

holy sh*t! Good news for a change?
No, scratch that I was wrong.
They still plan to make felons out of illegal aliens within the country, which has potential to bring social and economic havoc to the states. Not to mention, yet another distraction for police officers who as it is, don't have the resources or incentive to concentrate on "real crime" as opposed to the drug and other petty convictions that overcrowd our prisons nation wide. Hey, but whatever it takes to get a raise or a promotion, arrest those Phish heads & Mexicans and just let the rape, murder, & white collar crime investigations get pushed to the back of the shelve. Turns out law enforcement and illegal immigrants have something in common, both will do what they have to, in order to make ends meet. After all Mexican children have to eat, and cops need to be able to afford to get little Johnny the latest Grand Theft Auto game.

Dream trip: Inca ruins of Machu Picchu
I've always wanted to visit Machu Picchu it looks pretty far out. Perhaps I could have some wacky spiritual experience like Shirley McClain. And that is my random thought for the day.

Here's an old daily show skit from a year ago or so... Its pretty good: Bush vs. Bush

And lastly, this also looks a bit dated, but I've never seen this one. Andy Dick playing W's speech writer. Very keen.

ü < Alt 0252 ! Wow, you learn something new every day

-See Yesterdays comments for explanation of today's title

Enjoy this lovely speech on Global Warming


Today was a day of coincidental collisions. Work was smooth and at a nice pace for a change. I accomplished what I set out to do, and things were organized and streamlined. It was a beautiful thing. I am getting to travel for business Thursday and Friday, which will be a new experience for me, so I'm a bit excited, perhaps a little anxious.

Upon leaving work, I headed to Porter Square to go to Bally's for a workout. I am determined to lose 10 lbs before the end of the month. Today would have been a great start provided I didn't break down tonight and get Chinese take out. I only ate half of it however, and I drank Kate's Diet Coke. You have to start somewhere. For lunch I only had green bean casserole, and water. I'm trying to officially remove coke from my diet, and that will be the toughest thing to do, although, really it is probably the most effective at reducing calorie intake. Well, enough about this seemingly pointless self torture....back to the collisions.

So, coming off the subway, I heard someone yell my name a couple times. I had my mp3 player on and wasn't quite sure where it came from. "Oh well", I thought "Must have been someone in a car who pulled away in traffic, or perhaps it was for a different George" Although surprisingly, outside of the offspring of heavyweight champions and presidents, there really aren't that many Georges frolicking about. If someone was yelling at me, perhaps I'd hear about it later.

I burned 700+ calories at the gym on the elliptical and tread mill, and felt satisfied, albeit exhausted. I definitely was not up to par today and just couldn't keep pace in my jog.

After the gym, I saw none other than CAPRIO at Downtown Crossing. Now that Mike is in Charlestown, it seems like this should have happened some time ago, as we both ride the Orange line, however, the stars just did not line up correctly until today. Apparently Caps, as he is often called, has a membership at the Downtown Crossing Bally's. Great minds think alike.

Anyway, to summarize, we had a nice chat about crumpets and our favorite brands of tea. I prefer Earl Grey while Mike said you can't beat a nice commercialized black tea with cream, sugar, and English tea biscuits. Ahhh.. Mike you always have been a traditionalist.

Revisiting my first collision, I got back to the apartment, before breaking down for some Peking Ravioli, I checked my email. Mark Farmer!, Mark Farmer, who the hell is Mark Farmer?! Mark is an old coworker from Peoples Genetics, a great guy who I miss working with. I hadn't seen him in, I don't know, 6 months, maybe a year? I think Mark, Maisy and I got together at "On the Border" this Fall perhaps. Anyway it was Farmer of course who was shouting my name. He suggested a Peoples reunion over grub and beer some time soon, and that we should perhaps try to get Kevin Arnold (not Fred Savage), our foul mouthed "Brit" boss to come along. Good idea, but I'd bet my spleen that we can't get Arnold to show up :D. Perhaps Farmer will carry some pull that Maisy and I have not been able to.

Wow, I'm impressed W, you are making ole Bubbah Billy Boy (Clinton) look like an amateur. Critics: White House should explain why information was released

From the above article: "The court documents do not suggest Bush approved the leaking of the agent's identity." Of course they have now admitted to pretty much all of the other pieces of this puzzle, so it almost goes without saying that the chain of command was responsible for that is well.

The following is from: Bush interviewed in CIA leak probe
"The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation," McClellan said.

"He was pleased to do his part to help the investigation move forward. No one wants to get to the bottom of this matter more than the president of the United States and he has said on more than one occasion that if anyone inside or outside the government has information to help get to the bottom of this, they should help."

McClellan deferred to the investigators all questions about the substance of the questioning or whether Bush was explicitly told he was not the target of the probe.



"Legal experts have speculated that Woodward's source in the Plame affair came from within the White House, State Department or CIA, but White House officials have ruled out President Bush; his Chief of Staff Andrew Card; Bush's counselor, Dan Bartlett; and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley." -from Whodunit? The world may never know

Have to hand it to him... the man is talented. What other tricks do they have up their sleeves? See.... the funny thing is, there are probably multiple investigations, which are potential impeachable offenses, this of course depends upon: Will the Democrats get power over the legislative branch in November (I personally think the likelihood of this is being over-exaggerated)? Then, if they do gain power, can they essentially impeach both the President and the Vice President, as they are proving to both be equally involved it the misuse of power, deceit, corruption, etc, etc.? Will they risk the havoc it could unleash on our system? Find out next week on "As the World Turns".

We are doomed....., Ross Perot, where are you? Hell, I'd let Trump be our political savior at this point.

Tangents, & The Man

Before you read my quasi-depressing rants and raves, perhaps a viral vid for you? There is an "ass" in this one so consider yourself prewarned. Jess showed me this one a while back, and I just rediscovered it.



I don't know exactly what to write about today..

I'm pleased that the Red Sox swept Baltimore. I watched one game yesterday, and I watched Wakefield today. 3 K's in a row the Wake was on fire. Ummmm.....

Monday sucks, I'm really not into a new week at this point, but then at the same time I was too tired and depressed to do anything useful with my Sunday, so I guess I might as well be at work. Unfortunately the idea of lying in my boxers, unshaven, with bed head, sounds much more appealing to me :D.

I read a bit in a book which is primarily about the Beatles. It is pretty interesting, although I barely had the energy to do that, and only made it a couple chapters before giving up.

I know I should have called my parents... but I didn't want to do that. And I probably should have done other things too.

Watched The Family Guy tonight. It was good as always, its potty humor and random unrelated deviations from its plot line warmed my heart as always. During commercial breaks they kept putting this Old Navy ad on with attractive tan people dancing on some roof in horrifying planned choreography. It wasn't funny, and it made me feel like throwing open my sliding door and jumping off the balcony. I'm imagining the old lady down stairs finding my dirty unshaven corpse in boxers in her path, my neck broken by the nearly 4 story fall. Now that... that right there is hilarious. They should put that in an Old Navy commercial. "Old Navy, driving people over the edge, since Morgan Fairchild."

Actually what they should do is have a new ad featuring Morgan Fairchild. She's cool and sexy, dancing with some fetching lads in polos and khaki shorts... (or whatever other cheap knockoff crap with a propensity to dissolve after one wash cycle, which the cheapest sector of "The Gap" is pushing (whew!)). Then get this, when she opens her mouth: bats, flies, wasps and maggots come out of it, and the flesh peels off everyone in the room with her, but the clothes... they survive. Yeah I know its false advertisement, but lets be honest, how many people put on their clothes and instantaneously become mindless and uber pretty and have the sudden urge to spin in sheer joy.

Returning to the Family guy... if you watched the latest Southpark, Trey Parker & Matt Stone were taking pot shots at The Family Guy in their latest anti censorship bid. Now, it was amusing, but I thought it revealed that these two dudes are a couple of arrogant jerks. It reminded me of kids in high school. Lets say two groups of kids have a garage band, yet one group is outwardly vocal about how much more sophisticated they are than the other group. Probably a quarter of the kids agree in allegiance, another quarter like the outspoken band but secretly think they are childish pricks, and perhaps another quarter thinks they are jerks and like the other band. The last quarter of kids of course are more interested in who will be voted prom king & queen, and how well the football team is doing, what student government voted on, etc, etc. They don't care and probably don't even realize anything else exists.

Hey what was I talking about again?

In other news:
Golden retriever was on run for 2 years
Some times I just feel like run-ning.... -Forrest Gump
(Sigh).... You just can't fight the man. You just have to figure out how best to fit into his plan.

über (-bûr)
1. (adj.) Really; very; above everything else. Origins: from German über alles above everything else.

Pondering time passage, careers, life...

Sometimes when you are sitting watching the days pass by, you can't help but wonder what it all means. What is the significance of all this? Why are there all of these phases and passages in life? I realized this evening as I sat around avoiding the laundry I needed to iron, I realized the distance I've put between not only who I was in high school, who I was at St. Joe's, who I was at UWYO... but even who I was in the various incarnations of "Post College" George. For the first time, as I sat there thinking about the past (going on 6 years now since college), I realized that ages 22, 23, hell, even 25 & 26 were worlds ago. And I realized that perhaps I was a different person with different priorities. I suppose my top priority in life is preserving my quality of life, and improving it where I can. Most important is enjoying the time I've got.

I've got to say I've never completely understood the career driven people who don't really have a specific goal. I'm talking about the idea that climbing to the top continuously (the proverbial corporate ladder) is a must. To me it seems like this is a trap, because you will always want more than what you currently have. People with goals that are more concrete like, I want to have this much saved by this time, I want to help someone, I want to buy property, I want to send my kids to college, I want to get my PhD, and so on... These seem to make sense because they are finite goals that physically change the world around you. You can affect other peoples lives for the positive.

A continuing... and in my view pointless status climb without direction seems nothing more than self serving, and to what end? Permanent dis-satisfaction because you always want what your boss has? I think if unchecked, pride- the quest for "status", is much like greed. It is insatiable.

Now if you are going to justify your career by the improved lifestyle it provides you (nice home, living in the city, going out, going on vacations, etc..), I think you can really make it work, so long as you don't let the climb take place of those goals you originally intended to achieve.

It is really tough to find a job that satisfies you, but if nothing else perhaps you can find one that helps you quench various other thirsts in your life, if only indirectly.

I have the idealized belief that we were put here to improve humankind, each and every one of us. I think my goal in this world is to have a positive impact on people I encounter. Some people are lucky enough to have the talent to come up with something Brilliant to save lives. Others make that idea a reality. Some might help people along their lifetime. Others, in a manner that is completely unrelated to "personal goals" or "career" just make life a bit more pleasant with their attitude and thoughts. I would like to aspire to be that sort of person.

But of course it would be nice to have the best of both worlds too!

I'm ending today's post with a picture taken at York Beach last summer (actually I think this technically isn't York Beach, it is the one right in the village of York, and I forget the name) It was a spectacular summer day. I don't think the picture reflects it well, but the water was a beautiful turquoise that you would expect to see in a tropical area, and I was quite taken by that because I've never seen it look like that anywhere else in New England. The picture is funny, because looking at it, the photo almost looks out of date, as though lost in time. It could have easily been taken in the 60s as in present day, and there is very little to distinguish that. This was one of my favorite days last summer, Kate & I took a late afternoon swim at Wells Beach after walking around York. York was a wonderfully quaint tourist town, where I had never been. Wells Beach, was probably the ocean beach for swimming I've been to in Maine. A close runner up is Higgins/Scarborough beach. Both beaches share the trait of good waves (relative to other New England Beaches) and a shallow grade allowing you to go far out before it becomes too deep.




Anyway... I thought this would be nice to dream of leading into your weekend. Summer will be here soon!

Wild Wednesday on the town

Brown sugar, how come you taste sooo good, yeah yeah yeah Whooooooo!

I'm definitely sure Mick didn't exactly have this in mind when he was singing those lyrics... Buut... I had the best dinner out in a while tonight at The Brown Sugar Cafe. I had Tender Beef Pepper: Sliced tender beef marinated in House Special Sauce stir-fried with fresh hot peppers, assorted mushrooms, red peppers, green peppers and scallions. There were at least 4 different types of mushrooms in this. One mushroom was sort of spicy, another was sweet.... it was beyond belief good. Kate had Gaprow Chicken: Spicy minced chicken in chili sauce with green and red peppers, red onions and sweet basil leaves. It reminded me a little of the filling for P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps, although the strong basil presence gave this a lovely flavor. For an appetizer we had Brown Sugar Spareribs: Charcoal grilled pork ribs lightly glazed with chef's special sauce. these were sweet, I mean literally, I think a bit of honey & brown sugar was involved. The decor in this place was wonderful, very classy, but not too imposing as to make you feel out of place. I'll definitely go back.

I was swearing and cursing up a storm seconds ago when my browser froze and I completely lost all of this information. This is the second time I've written this, I was really quite angry... I kind of still am now. I'll probably even be pissed off when I get up tomorrow morning. Its funny how little things can be so irritating.

This is an old (and by old I mean a week or two...) clip from the daily show. It is another of the "Trendspotter" bits on "Myspace" It is fairly amusing.



And an interview of Congressman Brad Sherman by Stephen Colbert. He is very insistent on asking about a certain industry in the San Fernando Valley.

Summarizing and the ninja guru

Hello hello,

And so another week in the life of our hero begins. He wakes wiping the crust from his eyes and separating his tangled lashes to view another day. What will the future bring you ask? Will our hero face the future with his feet on the ground and his head on straight? Will monkeys lead an uprising that will incite the ultimate demise of mankind? Will our hero lead us to a brighter tomorrow where daffodils bloom eternally in a constant dawn? Will Batman catch the Joker and force him to bake cup cakes? Stay tuned and find out this and more on "Incomplete Theater", check your local listings to find out it doesn't exist.

I had a decent weekend, it was restful. I hope you all found something positive in your Saturday and Sunday experiences. If you are lucky, perhaps your Friday night was an Ok time. If you REALLY lucky than perhaps Monday was smooth sailing on placid seas where the sun left a warm comfortable feeling on your shoulders. My Monday was dismal, yet somehow I was surprisingly content with it.

Friday I finally got around to watching "The Squid & The Whale" which was produced by Wes Anderson. Jeff Daniels is a self centered struggling English professor and writer who's dysfunctional family is rapidly coming undone. Usually Anderson's project's highlight dysfunction but there is a level of surrealism about it. I don't think this "dark comedy" was surreal at all. This could be many messed up families. The mother and father are deeply selfish, and the children suffer by their screwed up priorities and total lack of any sensible guidance. It was rather sad, while still giving a few chuckles along the way. There are painful moments, like when the family's teenage son performs Pink Floyd's "Hey You" on acoustic guitar and claims he wrote it for a talent competition at his school. The film is set in the early 80s, and perhaps in light of this no one recognizes the tune till later, and he is forced to return his prize money. The Squid & the Whale is one of those snapshot in time stories, that don't go into too much detail about the past, and definitely leave the future wide open. The intention on some level is to leave you scratching your head, I'm almost certain of it.

Next I went up to Maine Saturday night and saw Walk The Line again, and then Cinderella man with my folks. Cinderella man was fantastic. It won a lot of good press when it came out, but I think it should have had even more. It was quite an excellent movie, really ten times the movie that "Rocky" is. Although Rocky does have that neat-o music... and those cool steps.

I have another wacky video for you. This one is called Ask a Ninja

Next I must say since most people who read my blog are Simpsons and Kevin Smith fans that both of these should be of interest to you.

Clerk's II trailer (warning vulgarities present... of course)


Simpsons trailer