Failure

Well, it is unlikely that there will be a matching 166th post in the blog this year. I'm back from the holidays in Maine and I'm doing a poor job of attempting to be productive on my few remaining days off. Tonight I did manage to exchange a shirt that I got for Xmas for a pair of new jeans. It was an even trade more or less... I only had to pay $1.84 in difference.

The holidays were good. I met my little cousin Justin, which is pretty much the first "baby" in my family that I've ever had contact with. Up until now, I was still the baby within the circle of relatives that I am close to. It was good to lose that title and Justin Ward brought a lot of joy to the holidays.

I have some house cleaning to attend to so I think I will bid the blog adieu.

Blog Entry

Yes indeed, another entry I shall write, because it is my destiny to do my best to match the 166 posts of last year. I don't care if there is absolutely nothing of value or substance for me to write about, I WILL put down my prose, I WILL write of the mundane, I WILL attempt to entertain? (Hey those last two rhyme!)

My evening prior to now:
Shopping, going to a liquor store to get beer (I had been looking forward to some quality drinking since a rather unpleasant commute home on public transit), getting lost in Peabody while looking for a store, realizing it is too late to have the pizza I had my heart set upon, settling on McDonald's because it is one of the few take out places still open, having my night cap, wrapping presents... and tah dah, here I am at last writing this Blog Entry.

Last weekend before the Holidays...

AND... I still haven't completed my Christmas Shopping. Whoopee!

I'm not looking forward to work particularly.

The weekend was good, I was snowed in, but other than that it was good. Kate and I put up my little tree and exchanged gifts. We had a Harrow's Chicken pot pie on Saturday night, and today we took advantage of the new Subway shop in the Richdale's convenience store next to my building. I need to wrap a couple of presents tonight to achieve my "daily accomplishment" so this is going to be short and sweet.

Enjoy your Monday.

Dinner out in a blizzard...and a funny article

I went out to Stearns & Hill's Bistro in Melrose for supper with his girlfriend Millie. It was sort of a last minute thing that came together yesterday and today. I was kind of out of it (tired I guess...) at supper, socially awkward, unintentionally interrupting etc. Midway through the meal I dropped the fork I was eating with on the floor. I got one from another table after turning down an offer from Millie to get another one for me. Millie was midway through explaining her thoughts about a political issue, I looked down at the floor then back up at Jason and Millie and said "go on" as I smirked and attempted to brush it off. My other bad habit was answering when the waitress asked a question with "I think we're all set" etc. It was a force of habit because when I'm out with Kate we are always on the same page and we'd talk it out beforehand if we weren't, so I can answer for us without concern. I've noticed that I've become more assertive over the past couple years, when I always used to be more passive. I may need to step back again and find some middle ground. Anyway enough of my psychological internal reflection babble.....

My idiosyncrasies aside, I think we all had a good time.

It is snowing at a fairly good quip. The town is really quiet with the exception of snow plows in the distance, and the occasional passing of the Commuter Rail.

And now finally the funny article:

Bush signs off on Clinton pay cut

I suppose I have a strange sense of humor, but I find this bizarre, and it sort of demonstrates everything that is messed up about government. Technically Bush could potentially refuse to sign off on the pay cut and keep Hillary out, wouldn't that be petty. (and funny too!)

YAWN....

I'm seriously waaay too tired lately.
Got home pretty early today, had a doctor's appointment, got some Chinese take out, and then after messing around with face book I pretty much crashed in exhaustion.

I have this new idea that I'm going to accomplish an errand or task on a "to do list" daily. So far it has been a very rewarding resolution of sorts. The past couple days however, I've just felt like I'm up against insurmountable odds.

Well I think I'm just about finished writing this dry, completely uninteresting blog post.

Happy Holidays and such.

Happy food

These master works of art are from the menu at Prince's on Rt. 1. Kate and I went there on Saturday night and had some bruschetta and pizza. It was lovely. Kate's slice is the one pictured on the left. My more minimalist design can be seen on the right.

Aside from that we went shopping on Sunday. And ate at the dandelion green in Burlington. Despite having pricey dinner options, the lunch was pretty reasonable.

Well, here we are another week....

Break comes soon!

Kelly's on a Rainy December Night

AND IT WAS THE BEST RAINY DECEMBER NIGHT EATING AT KELLY'S..... possibly ever!


Mike Caprio joined me at one of Boston's institutions... or at least a replication of the institution in Medford for a feast.

Caprio went for the time honored tradition of Kelly's Roast Beef sandwich. I had my heart set on the artery clogging seafood and got a clam plate. Here we wait anxiously... I was number 19, Mike was 2, apparently Kelly's counts off in intervals of 17. Whatever works.


The food has arrived in this shot, my plate is ridiculously large being the glutton that I am. The soda was diet, if nothing else, but I foolishly ordered a large thinking that the small was too small.

A certain Scott Wilkinson was supposed to accompany Mike and I, however he cancelled because of errands. No sorry guys can't come out tonight, I really have to do laundry. Well Scott, you missed out, you missed out.
A chipper Kelly's employee was kind enough to take our picture. You can see how we are just exuding joy and excitement.

You too could have had a plate of fries, or some roast beef, Scott. It is a shame really.

This last shot is really kind of sad. Here is Mike shivering in the cold rain waiting for a train to arrive. A train perhaps that he wouldn't have had to take if only Scott were there to drive him home. Instead Mike suffered there on the MBTA concrete and braved the rickety orange line back to Charlestown. But you know what? I think Mike and I both agree that the rain and the cold were well worth it. A great time was had by all. All who were present....

Molly is Looking Good...

My rubber plant, which traces its humble roots back to a Tewksbury Home Depot when Tim Hayes and I lived up in Lowell, is now taller than I am. It has been nearly 8 years now and Molly, affectionately named a couple of years ago by Kate, had a little bit of a spa treatment today. I gave her a trim, and a lift, and a nourshing 2 liters of water. She sports two 5 foot pieces of conduit piping which I purchased tonight to support her tallest and heaviest branches. She's graduated from the dowels I bought a few years back which tend to rot out at the base where I stick them in the pot.

How about that Rod Blagojevich? Selling Obama's Senate seat... how on earth did he ever imagine he'd pull that one off? Wow...

Looks like congress and W are bent on giving some candy to the Automakers Union. 14 billion instead of 15 billion, what is 1 billion less some sort of compromise? With any luck there will be a filibuster in the senate.

The First 2008 December Weekend

My weekend started a little early on Friday when we had a holiday party at a local pub. From noon to 10:00 pm I essentially ate and drank, and until 4:00 pm it was on the company dime, which was very nice. A few of us stragglers, basically myself, and two other coworkers headed over to Bartley's for a late supper. I tasted my first sweet potato fries (finally) which were good, however I still prefer good old traditional potatoes.

When Kate came over Saturday night I had been seduced by Pizza Hut's latest marketing campaign for their "Panormous Pizza". Kate was immediately reluctant, and as you'll find out she was correct in her reservations. We decided to order the pizza online since Pizza Hut was offering a 20% discount, on top of an already great deal. When all was said and done, we got the "Panormous" along with the order of cheese sticks. The Panormous is like Pizza Hut's typical pan pizza, however it is the size of one of the Bigfoot Pizzas that have long ago been discontinued.

Well.... Kate and I headed out to pick up the pizza only to find out that the place I believed Pizza Hut to be was now vacant. I went inside the Rite Aid next door and they claimed that it had gone out of business 7 months ago. Kate and I were in a good enough mood that we both found this to be pretty funny. We headed back to my apartment, rechecked the address on their website, and discovered that it was at a new location near Everett's city center. I printed out the directions and finally an hour late we arrived to pick up our pizza. I unfortunately neglected to take pictures of the vacant Pizza Hut, so you'll just have to imagine it.

So we get back with our panormous prize, only to mutually agree that it wasn't that good. Despite a good nostalgic experience at an old fashion (if such a description can apply) sit down Pizza Hut this summer, Kate and I agree that Pizza Hut has probably seen the last of our business.

Today Kate and I did some Christmas shopping. After dropping Kate off, I headed back home and watched "A Christmas Carol" on television. It was the 1970s version with George C. Scott. I always thought they should make a horror movie/story that should scare people into decency. What I neglected to realize is that in many ways Dickens already wrote it in this holiday classic that has been retold again and again.

While I like to think I'm no Scrooge, I do relate to Ebeneezer in some ways, and I suspect most people probably can in some aspect more than they care to admit. The part that particularly hits home for me is the commercialism of the holiday, and a feeling of just going through the motions of gift exchanges rather than appreciating the true spirit of the holidays which should be a celebration of life and what you have. To Mr. scrooge the holidays had lost some of their magic. It can be a downer when it seems the world around you is self absorbed, chaotic, and lacking heart. It is easy to lose faith in the season and become part of the drab existence. It can be all too common to end up merely participating out of conditioning, rather than for your happiness, and to promote the happiness of others. I suppose it is up to the individual to make certain that it does not happen within themselves. That is what really matters before anything else.

MBTA to test Torture Chamber

MBTA to experiment with nearly seatless subway cars
Welcome to an accident waiting to happen. There are clearly no posts in the center of the train to hold onto. There are times on the red line when you are on a car that has seats, and it is so crowded that you can't grab a hold of a bar if you are near the doors, so.... I can't wait to see how this works.

The joke is that there are going to be surveys seeing if people are still going to willing to ride. It isn't about being willing to ride or not, a lot of people don't even have a choice. I think it is such a joke that the government can force a small business to close because they don't have a handicap accessible ramp or elevator, but then turn around and concoct an abomination such as this.

My mother, who isn't elderly, fell down on a train this summer and seriously injured her back because she was slow to react.

The comments section after the article I linked to is great. 1 out of 10 people actually support the idea, but they are totally missing the point of the complaints. They say to the people who want to run more cars that it is an impossibility. Try again, the MBTA can't make trains longer due to station constraints, but they can run more trains and increase the frequency at which they arrive in stations. Secondly, yes, they added more bars to hold onto, as is evidenced by the window bar in the picture, however, this is NOT where they are needed. many NYC trains have a centrally located post in the intersection of doorways, not only would it be wise to include those on all red line trains, but these central posts must be installed if they are even going to ponder removing any seats.

It really makes me wonder if they even hired an engineer or if some brilliant T work just came up with the idea and got out a screw driver. Come ON!!!

I had supper at Kate's tonight, we pigged out on tacos, nachos, and topped it off with a brownie sundae for desert. Can't beat that! The weekend is almost here!

Candidate for Museum of Bad Art

Quite a while ago (This Summer?) I had purchased a stretched canvas upon which I was going to create an abstract masterpiece. After painting the background the wrong color and abandoning the project for months I pretty much half-assed (according to spell check assed is not a word) it and completed a much simpler, cruder, and somewhat unsatisfactory design. I debated on working on it more, repainting etc, and perhaps I will, but since my turn over is incredibly slow I just decided to go ahead and hang it up anyway. I even went out of my way to buy a kit at the craft store last night so I could get it up on the wall. Perhaps if I see this lack luster dud every day I'll rise to the occasion and try something new. Now I have to find a spot for the photo of barren trees which used to occupy the spot (something I found in a discount prints bin at Michael's a few years back). It was too small for the former location anyway.

Interestingly there seems to be something about the squiggly lined patterns I made that reflects my penmanship. Kate joked once that we could paint abstract designs representing each other's personality. Perhaps inadvertently I painted my own personality. I think the only reason I ultimately put it up was that it matched some of the accents in my futon, and I thought it was at least as good as half the crap they do on TLC in those shows like trading spaces.

So Long Sling!

My Dr. visit was a quick one. The doctor asked me if my arm seemed more stable, I said yes. I was then handed new instructions for physical therapy, told to toss the sling, and sent on my way. Probably taking the entire day off was a bit unnecessary, but it was a nice extension to my vacation. I headed to Burlington to start some of the Christmas shopping I neglected over the weekend.

My other accomplishment was putting up the jigsaw puzzle that Kate bought for me while I was recovering from my surgery. It took me several attempts to get this photo to come out with out the glare, while remaining focused. It seems my camera always is more sensitive to slight movement when the flash is off. I finally used the refrigerator door as my "tripod" and angled the camera up with the flash on.

Tomorrow it is back to the grind. Of course I should be thankful that I have work for the time being, because who knows what may happen in this economy.