Tired of Ted

Need I say more?

2006-12-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

I AM THE WORST BLOGGER EVER

2006-10-31T15:54:00.000-08:00

An Update

2006-05-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

So after many phone calls, unpleasant conversations, and throwing around the idea of lawsuits, we have an apartment. Alas, it is not the one we lost when the tenants threatened to not move, and then said they would move. It is a different apartment, but just as nice, if not nicer, although there is an electric stove- the kind w/individual coils- blech. The best piece of advice I can give you about all of this is to avoid our realtor (the one we used the second time around- I would highly recommend our original realtor).

So life goes on, and the past few days have been dedicated to packing, helping people get furniture out of our house, and just generally stressing about moving. The upside is that we have made a tidy sum of money by selling most of our furniture. Amen to Craigslist.

Back to the grind. On an unrelated note, the NY Times book review this week is dedicated to books about food- cookbooks, memoirs and the like. Bill Buford's book is reviewed - he quit his job as fiction editor of the New Yorker to try and become a chef under Mario Batali. It was supposed to be a story, but then became a full-time endeavor. He also apprenticed under a Dante-quoting butcher in Tuscany. The book review is very good. And we had a wonderful meal the other night in the hip and trendy section of our town. We had been meaning to try this particular restaurant, but never seemed to be in the mood. Well, when the wait at our original restaurant of choice was 45 minutes (at 9pm!), it became the right mood. We had sauteed shrimp in garlic and cherry, and Elle had Tuna Tartar while I had an excellent skirt stake with a cilantro - garlic sauce. Light, but hearty. It ended up being just what we were in the mood for, and the restaurant itself is very well-decorated. We took away some ideas for our own new apartment, so can't wait to see what you guys think. We enjoyed an excellent 2003 Cotes Du Rhone from an importer Elle's dad told us about, and it really rounded out the meal. We discussed dessert and after-dinner drinks, but passed. Until a server brought us two small (and funky!) glasses of dessert wine - on the house. Soooooo good. Our waitress came by to ask us how everything was, and asked us if we wanted more dessert wine. Sure! So she brought out the bottle and gave us a refill. Doesn't it always work out that you discover hidden gems just as you're about to leave the mine? At least we had the chance to eat there.

Back to the packing grind. Possibly one of my least favorite activities.

Deep Breath And...

2006-05-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

First off: Congrats to the Favs!! Adorable, and the name is perfect.

All right. Here's the deal. In the last 2 months or so, I have:

Decided to move to Boston
Gotten engaged!
Resigned from my job of 7 years working for a premier money manager
Found a new job with less known but ambitious money manager
Entered into negotiations to sell our house
Searched, found, lost, found, lost, found-and-still-waiting-to-hear on an apartment in Boston.

Over those past few months, I have also taken a vacation in Italy, taken a couple of trips for work, and generally experienced more stress than in the prior 29 years of my life.

Here is a smattering of some of the more stress-inducing events:
On trip up to Boston to interview with potential new employer, while checking out of the hotel I was staying in, I run into CEO of current employer in lobby. And it isn't like we're IBM and so this guy wouldn't know me from Adam. I've presented in front of him, been in numerous lunch meetings with him, and he knows exactly who I am. I proceed to soil myself. Just kidding. I was stunned however to run into him. As they say in the movies, "Of all the gin joints." We agreed that we would discuss why I was in Boston the following week, and he did do his best to put me at ease. Given that my fiancee had just resigned (we were working for the same company) to go to school in Boston, it was very clear exactly what I was doing in Boston. Ultimately though we had a very good conversation about my decision to leave work and the reasons, and all is well.

Negotiations on selling our house. Oy. To begin with, the buyers are very stubborn, and that is their right. However, they had a 3-week trip to China scheduled, and the day they left was the day they did the inspection. So, their attorney has negotiation powers - no problem, right? Well there was an issue that needed negotiating. So we convey our position to our attorney, and he conveys our position to their attorney, who then informs us that he needs to contact his clients. What?!?? They are in China! You - Attorney! What happened to your so -called "negotiating priveleges"? Thank goodness for email.

Apartment hunting. We decided to take one weekend earlier in May to try and see as many places as possible. We saw a good amount of places, and made a decision on a place. The building was going through a transition to a new owner, but we were assured that our unit would be available for move-in on June 1. A week ago, I received a call from our realtor in which he informed me that the tenants in the apartment we were supposed to rent are not leaving on June 1 and were making noise about taking the new landlord to court. So this might be a problem, it might not. We had already provided first and last month's rent, and security, and so we decided to discuss our situation with a certain Harvard Law grad to see what our options were and to best protect ourselves from possibly losing any money. Technically, we were entitled to lots of things under the law. So we let the realty company know that we were concerned and knew our legal rights. They quickly called back to let us know that the apartment wouldn't be available until February 2007, and they were refunding all of our money. Are you kidding me? This was on May 19. So no apartment. We did have two back-ups, but we weren't thrilled with either. So fiancee decides to go up to Boston and see more places, joined by my sister, who was a HUGE help. They see some places, and they find one that is just gorgeous. Great location, high ceilings, perfect layout for entertaining (which we are known to do once in a while). There is another application in for the apartment, but we were ready to provide a deposit while the other applicant had not done so. However, we do have a dog and a cat, which has proved to be an obstacle, albeit not insurmountable, in this hunt. So the realtor has to ask the landlord if they would be okay with pets. This takes an entire day. So late Tuesday (yes three days ago), we find out that there is a no-pet policy in the building. Why would you show a couple desperately looking for an apartment a gorgeous unit in a non-pet building, knowing that they have pets?? So, May 23, and no apartment. We decide to take a different apartment, which seems nice enough. We call the realtor to let her know, and she promptly calls the landlord to see if the pets are okay. Turns out the landlord is concerned because he had a bad experience with a cat. But if we turn over our first born as security, he'll consider us. 30 minutes of negotiations later we hammer out a deal- rent, deposit, security, etc. Next day the realtor faxes us a lease, we sign it, and fax it back. We also provided a hefty deposit. However, we find out Thursday (yes, yesterday) that the landlord now wants confirmation that our dog is not a rottweiler. Nevermind the dog-racism implicit in this, he actually wants us to fax vet records to try and prove this point. Importantly, we had already emailed photos of our dog to the same realtor for another building, and it is pretty goddamn clear that our dog is not a rottweiler. However, judge for yourself:

So here it is, Friday morning, and we still do not have confirmation of the apartment definitively being ours. And to add insult to injury, remember our first choice for an apartment, where the tenants had made a ruckus about not moving. Yes, that's right- they're moving.

I am sure you're all exhausted and stressed just from reading this. But, as my father tells me (and his mother told him), "This too shall pass."

I look forward to the new chapter of my life in a great city where we have wonderful supportive friends and family. I look forward to sharing this life with my wonderful fiancee and two fantastic pets. See you soon.

I bought them hats a long time ago...

2006-05-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

I wondered if it was even worthwhile providing an update. I figure people probably stop checking. But, I don't want to be a lame-ass blogger.

And besides, there is so much to say. The last time you read my blog, I was not engaged. After a fantastic trip to Italy, I'm engaged! Very exciting. Italy was fantastic. Ate and drank my way through Florence with fiancee, and her sister and brother-in-law. Highlights included getting engaged, watching the explosion of the cart at the Duomo for Easter, and getting completely and utterly inebriated at an irish pub.

Check these guys out. They're from Finland. No, I am not making this up. They will be participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. Previous winners include Abba and Celine Dion, and it was where "Volare" gained worldwide prominence.

And the hat follow-up: I wore the old Italian Man walking hat quite a bit in the cold weather, but have yet to bust out the fancy grey felt.

Hats Off to Me

2006-02-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

I bought two hats today. Two fancy hats. I've been threatening to buy a hat for months, and today I finally pulled the trigger. I had a couple of styles in mind, and I had tried on a bunch of hats at different places- but not at a bona fide hat store. Until today, when I visited a fantastic hat store in nearby small city. A wonderful little man helped me out- I would put a hat on, look at it, and think, looks all right, and then he would make a slight adjustment to the brim, and it made a huge difference. So I bought an Italian Walking Hat, which is a brown tweed, and a grey felt dress hat. It was a delightful experience. I'm not really doing justice to the great old man who helped me, but he made the experience.

Also visited two museums, and then stopped at a TGIF for a couple of beers, some pot stickers and chicken fajitas. The museums were great- one a blend of old art and new, the other a natural history museum, where we saw the controversial Machu Picchu exhibit, where Peru is demanding many of the artifacts back.

All in all, just one of those very leisurely enjoyable day.

Saw "Walk the Line" this week, and "Capote." The former was okay, a nice love story, but not very explorational. The latter was terrific.

Tomorrow I'm off to Philly to celebrate the birth of a boy to very close friends.

Where You At?

2006-02-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

Some of you may recognize this as a tagline for some cell phone advertising campaign involving Fat Joe. I also overheard someone say it into their cell phone. Pretty normal. Except that this was while I was eating lunch in a restaurant whose menu explicitly said "No Cell Phones in the Dining Room Please." This is an era of entitlement that we live in, no question. Several other people at this table also very freely used their cell phones as well, with blatant disregard for restaurant policy. I was reminded of the time I saw "Spiderman" in the movie theater, and a crying baby would not stop crying. Finally, I said "Would you please take that baby outside," only to be met with, "I'll take you outside, motherfucker." You can ask Marielle.

This cell phone experience was the only blemish on an otherwise delightful few days in a major midwest city that I visited for business and turned into a long weekend. We know some friends in said town, and had a great time just walking around, eating well, shopping (I spent a small fortune on many new wardrobe pieces) and ice skating. Also fit in a great workout both days at a very fancy health club (Michael Jordan and Oprah both work out there, but were not sighted on this particular weekend). Took Marielle to one of my favorite restaurants, where we enjoyed chilled lobster salad, scallops, humboldt fog goat cheese (dynamite!) and a spectacular grilled veal chop. We also had some lovely pomme frites accompanied by some "not very good mayonnaise" according to Marielle. Now, being Belgian and visiting there every summer during her childhood, Marielle is well-qualified to judge the quality of mayonnaise, especially when it accompanies pomme frites. The only problem is that it wasn't mayonnaise. It was truffle cream, which was delicious, for truffle cream. Our evening ended with not one, but two spectacular desserts. Lest you accuse us of gluttony, we couldn't decide on the one dessert we wanted to share. I bet you think you know where this is going but you don't. So we asked the waiter which he would choose out of the two we were considering, and we went with his recommendation. However, he brought the other dessert, on the house. The one that we ordered was a buttercream chocolate cake with a malted vanillla milkshake (oh yeah). The other was a flourless chocolate cake with peppermint ice cream. Delish.

Other notable events of the past few weeks include the birth of a baby boy to a long-time friend of my family and her husband. Maazel Tov right? Well, I get to go to Philly on Super Bowl Sunday to attend the infamous ceremony performed on Jewish boys on the eighth day after their birth.

We also attended a very enjoyable, and adult, dinner party, with two other couples. There was great food, great wine, an impromptu wine tasting, and pleasant conversation covering a wide range of topics.

A closing note. One of my favorite words is "paradigm."

P.S. The hyperlink button has disappeared from my blogspot tool bar. Help.

Untitled

2006-01-22T10:13:00.000-08:00

Just saw one of these while I was out running errands.

Fascination (Or, Middle America on a Ship)

2006-01-19T20:55:00.000-08:00

I'm back from the wonderful world of fanny packs, jorts, mom jeans, and denim looney tunes shirts. Otherwise known as a Carnival Cruise. Originally planned as a large (15-20) group outing of friends, the numbers dwindled down to a final four. While we had a nice time, I think it would have been a lot better with the large group. The weather also didn't cooperate. The cruise left from Florida on Friday afternoon and returned Monday morning. In between there was a docking in Nassau, Bahamas, and a "Fun Day at Sea." 60 degrees and windy wasn't exactly beach or deck weather, so we had to make do with other activities. A little mini golf, beer in a bucket, and football. The highlight of the weekend was definitely our dinner companions, with whom we sat for all three nights. They were two lesbian couples and they were great. They were funny and interesting and it made dinner a whole lot of fun. The most enjoyable aspect was the dynamic between one of the couples. One of the women in this couple was very young, just out of college, and pretty much spoke her mind, and her partner, who was in her thirties, was a little more reserved. Pretty much everytime her young partner spoke, her head would just fall forward into her hands, in a very much Oy vey! moment. They were also big into bingo. It wasn't clear right away (to me anyway, Marielle, who is very astute, picked up on it much quicker than me) that they were lesbians, but then we saw two of them on the Newlywed Game that the ship was having, and that kind of gave it away. The ship was huge, with some very fun things to do in the evening, including a casino, piano bar, disco, and karaoke. During the day, not so much things to do. And yes, there was plenty of food. I have to say that I did feel somewhat disconnected from a majority of the people on the ship- based on what people were wearing and doing and snippets of conversation that I overhead, "Look- it's Pente with Proskyooto." I am not making this up. Ironically, I started to read "What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America." This book essentially discusses how the Republicans have created such a backlash against the liberal elite, that democrats are out of touch with the values of the heartland, and are so consumed with things like lattes that they couldn't name a NASCAR driver. Further, the Republicans have managed to win the heartland despite economic policies that are extremely hurtful to them. Anyhow, walking around the ship, I couldn't but think that I did feel disconnected from most of these people, given that I was born, raised and live in the northeast. We may share some of the same values, but I felt miles apart. So, that's the cruise. I definitely think we made the best of it, considering the weather, and one of our crew catching a cold.

I am totally into "Dancing with the Stars." Check it out. B-list celebrities ballroom dancing with professional partners. Think Drew Lachey (Nick's brother), Jerry Rice, George Hamilton, and Tatum O'Neal. They compete against each other every week doing a different dance, and then are praised or panned by three very serious judges. It is very addictive.

Finally, I want to leave with this parting thought. We have a blender in our house that gets quite a bit of use- almost every day. Each time I wash it, I think how remarkable it is that we haven't dropped it into the porcelain sink yet. Well, back to ballroom dancing. Hope all is well with you out there.

Fun For All Ages

2006-01-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

Everyone should have a Chia Satchel.

Happy New Year. Yes, I am a few days late, but better nate than lever. Ah-- that is an old joke, but no time for that now. A fabulous New Years it was, with close friends, good food, good wine, and Mah Jongg. Yes, you heard me, Mah Jongg.

Reflecting back, I would say 2005 was a very good year. I settled into a new house, was able to take a few nice trips, and overall just enjoy life. Oh, and I turned 30.

In any event, a quick shout out to Joe Paterno, who everyone had castigated as being too old and behind the times.

Peace in the Middle East.

May All Your Holiday Wishes Come True

2005-12-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

And if not, there is always next year.

Here is a link to an awesome SNL video short that is becoming quite popular on the internet. It is called "The Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia." In case you haven't seen it, it is hysterical. If you have, here is an article about its genesis. More humorous stuff from the people that did the video can be found here.
More funny stuff: the book, "Bar Mitzvah Disco: The Music May Have Stopped, but the Party's Never Over," which chronicles the evolution of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah- the traditional write of passage into adulthood for Jewish boys and girls. This book had me doubled over with laughter with its depiction of the cheesy reflective photos, excess receptions, and classic '80s and '90s fashion trends, and brought back some memories of my own experiences, including the Bar/Bat Mitzvah outfit that my older sister put together for me: pleated bugle boy khakis, pink button-down shirt, thin black leather tie, silver blazer, and black penny loafers. I will try to dig up a photo.

It's been a whirlwind holiday season, with a little bit of shlepping around to various holiday dinners, seeing friends and family, and eating way too much. I've started a third book, so I am now in the middle of three different books. Although two of the books are a collection of essays, so it's nice to be able to just pick up wherever. The most recent book I've started is a collection of essays by the humorist David Rakoff, entitled "Don't Get too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems." The first essay, which discusses the author's experience becoming a U.S. citizen (he's originally from our friendly neighbor north of the border) is a riot. Given that he decided to become a citizen for fear of being deported by the current U.S. president, you can guess where this is going. Very funny so far.

Finally, I would just like to call your attention to what might be one of the coolest cars I've ever seen. The Bugatti Veyron is the fastest and most expensive production car ever made. It has 1001 hp, goes 0-60 in 2.5 seconds, has a top speed of 254 miles, which makes for a fuel economy, at top speed, of 12 minutes. That's right- if you were to drive top speed, you would run out of gas in 12 minutes. All this can be yours for just $1.2 million. Here is a link to the NY Times review.
That's it for now. I hope everyone is having a happy, warm and safe holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate.

Quick Update

2005-12-25T10:14:00.000-08:00

Been out of pocket for past few days- busy with holiday stuff. However, I am working on a "Most/Best" list. So stay tuned.
For now- Happy Holidays.

Amusing Links for my Blog

2005-12-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

Thanks to NBK.

For you cat lovers out there.

A unique version of the bible

Back From Barbados

2005-12-20T05:38:00.000-08:00

And I can't get back there soon enough. Despite a rough beginning (the airline lost one of our bags and it didn't arrive for two full days), we ended up having a fantastic vacation. Now, I never fancied myself much of a beach person, but I decided to try and make it happen anyway, packing enough reading material to survive being in a bomb shelter for a month. Of course, I barely dented it. There was so much to do on the island, and we tried to take advantage of as much as we could. At first, we weren't sure how we were going to get around - we hadn't rented a car for fear of the English way of driving, and it would've been impractical and too expensive to just take taxis everywhere. But then we discovered the buses. In Barbados, there are two types of buses: the government owned bus, which runs on a schedule (albeit once an hour), has a licensed and uniformed driver, and a machine to drop your $1.50 Barbados ($0.75 USD). They are big buses, and they run on a set route. Waiting at our bus stop, there would be smaller buses going by every so often, and we weren't quite sure what to make of them. Until the day we decided to brave the unknown. We step up into the bus, and there is no uniformed driver, and there is no machine. We take a seat, and about 30 seconds later, the hip-hop music started blasting from the speakers. It was around 3pm, and there were several school children on the bus, all of whom were nodding there heads to the beat and mouthing the words- something along the lines of marijuana, and avoiding STDs. I'm not joking. So we took in the atmosphere, almost feeling like a local, perhaps figuring that a schoolbus had picked us up as a favor. There was a man on the bus designated to collect the fare, and it was the same as the government bus. It was a fun and interesting bus ride to say the least. Later, we found out that there are two bus "systems". The government-run system, and the privately-owned system. We frequented the latter many many times, and it was always an adventure, with music playing almost everytime, and wonderful, helpful people that told the bus driver where we wanted to go if he didn't know it, and more often than not stopping the bus for us exactly where we needed to be, as opposed to the bus stop. So once we figured out the bus system, we were golden. In fact, the Concierge at our hotel labeled us 'Bajan' (which is a term for Barbadian), she was so enamored with our adventurousness.
So, needless to say, we had a very busy week, filled with exploring, eating, drinking, soaking up Bajan culture, touring Rum factories (and of course sampling the finished product), snorkeling, sailing, tubing and kayaking. For anyone looking for a caribbean vacation on an island that has the right mix of things to do and beaches to rest on, I think Barbados is it. I would probably rent a car though- the bus system is fun, and it'll get you where you need to go, but it takes about twice as long, and there is no guarantee you'll get back to where you came from.
The food on the island was terrific. We sampled very fancy, exotic caribbean cuisine, and we had very simple fish shack cuisine. To me, having a variety of choices to eat is also important, and again, Barbados fits the bill. You can also fly there directly from where we live, which is another bonus.
I did manage to find some time to read though, and want to mention two books specifically that I started, but have not yet finished. The first, compliments of MH & RH, is a book about some of the world's most famous chefs retelling culinary disasters that they've experienced. It's called "Don't Try This At Home: Culinary Disasters from the World's Greatest Chefs." The stories vary from having the main course of a 2500-plate meal go bad and having to scramble to find replacement food, to the story of a young cook who had been going through electro-therapy to repair nerve damage to his arm who is miraculously cured when he electrocutes himself. The stories are interesting and funny, and if you're into food and chefs (and really, who isn't?) then you will certainly enjoy this book. The other book I started is a memoir about a young man growing up in England and developing his hunger and affinity for food. It is called "Toast," by Nigel Slater. And it is written very well, with great wit and humour. I'm still reading about the early part of his life, but his memories are warm, heartfelt and hilarious.
I also manged to dig into a couple of New Yorkers, and read two fascinating articles. Unfortunately, the New Yorker doesn't archive their articles, so I can't link to them. The first article is about Matthew Carter- one of the preeminent typeface designers today. He designed Verdana for Microsoft, among other things. The article traces his life as an apprentice in a very old school typeface shop (where they use methods no longer in existence) to his success today. It was really quite interesting.
The second article involves a case in Pennsylvania where the school board tried to introduce "intelligent design" into the biology curriculum of the public schools, a few teachers sued the school, and the trial apparently is being overseen by a very witty, humourous and fair judge. The article was laced with many of the judge's quips, but also paints a frightening picture: the transition of 'creationism' to 'intelligent design' as the latter masks any religious connotations, and the fact that you can see how proponents of creationism are learning from their defeats to narrow down the appropriate angle to wedge creationism into biology curriculums. Unfortunately (for them- fortunately for the rest of us), the school board members were so blatant in their advocay of creationism from a religious standpoint (one advocate was quoted as saying, "Two thousand years ago, someone died on a cross. Can't someone take a stand for Him?"). I mean, reading the article, it is really upsetting to see what is happening with this issue. Thankfully, the creationism advocates painted themselves as religious zealots that it is likely the judge will rule in favor of disallowing intelligent design to be introduced. However, someone, somewhere, is going to find a way to wedge it in. In an update, the Judge just announced that it is unconstitutional to even mention intelligent design in biology class.
I've been feeling very philosophical recently, and I think I can trace it back to the U2 concert I saw for my 30th birthday, and the stunning NY Times Magazine profile of Bono. The man will change the world. I'm convinced. Visiting Barbados, where people are happy and carefree even though most of them pretty much have the shirt on their backs and not much else, really put some things into perspective for me. Material needs and wants, conspicuous consumption, vanity. Also, attending the concert and seeing the efforts being made to fight poverty and disease is also enlightening. I am convinced that I can be doing better things for this world. I'm just not sure how.

Memories of the Greatest Cookie in the World

2005-12-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

But first, an explanation. The biggest obstacle for me in starting a blog was what to call it. I really don't think of myself as a creative and witty person, and so I was very unsure of what I would call my blog. I thought it should reflect me and my interests somewhat, and so my first go 'round was "SoulChef". Believe it or not, SoulChef as an address was already taken. We won't get into the fact that the most recent (and only) posting on SoulChef's blog was from August 2004. So I chose Tired of Ted. Here is the story: a number of years ago, my sister was visiting Alaska in the summer. There is a Senator in Alaska named Ted Stevens. Well, he was up for re-election that year, and a gentleman with the same name as me, which rhymes with Ted, was running against him, and he had bumper stickers made that said "Tired of Ted? Vote for (insert name that rhymes with Ted here)", which my sister graciously peeled off of a lamppost and mailed to me. Needless to say it promptly went on to my 1988 Honda Accord hatchback with 180K miles on it, and thus a story was born. So I decided to name the blog "Tired of Ted".
Now that we've dispatched with the formalities, we move on to the Greatest Cookie in the World. Mallomars. 70% of Mallomars are sold in the NY area, and so I believe they are mostly a Northeastern, or perhaps even just a NY, thing. They are fantastic! And they're only available in late fall through early spring. Now, apparently they can keep chocolate from melting in Saudi Arabia, so there is no reason why Mallomars shouldn't be available year-round. A primer on Mallomars- they are essentially a thin cookie with a marshmallow on the thin cookie, covered in chocolate. They are delish. They are, dare I say, gorgeous. They also conjure up memories of growing up in a household that often did not have sweets in it. We did have one of those yellow, smiley-face cookie jars, but it was always filled with pretzels. However, once in a while, we would get Mallomars. They were my mother's absolute favorite. The only dessert she would really allow herself to indulge in. I mention this because of a wonderful article in the NY Times recently talking about how seasonal Mallomars, why they are seasonal, but most importantly, what a fantastic cookie they are. Upon discovering this article, I emailed it to my father, who instantly recalled similar memories. My mother would never share them with him, my father told me, but would not hesitate to share them with me or my sister. A testament to her love for us, he said.
It's dumping big fat snowballs onto the Northeast here, making for treacherous travel. Thankfully, I am off tomorrow to spend a week in the Caribbean.

I vow to use this Blog for Good!

2005-12-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

Wachovia. Turns out it's the Latin form of the German name Wachau. The Wachau is a well known Austrian valley with a landscape of high visual quality formed by the Danube River. (Thanks to reference.com for this information). It can also loosely be translated as 'rip someone off'. Running errands at lunch today, I needed stamps. I decide to go to the post office, which is right next door to a Wachovia. Wachovia happens to be the bank that I use, and I needed some money, so I used the ATM. While using the ATM, I discovered that you can purchase stamps from Wachovia via their ATM. So I decide to go ahead and buy 18 stamps, at a price, according to the screen, of $7.40. Who can do such math so quickly? I just assumed that 18 stamps at $0.37/each cost $7.40. Out come the stamps, and there, on the stamp book cover, right under the big U.S. flag, is $6.66. That's right- Wachovia charged me 74 cents more than what the stamps cost...perhaps for convenience? Now, I feel like a stooge, as I was right next door to a post office. Literally 10 yards away. But who would've thought that you would pay 4 cents more per stamp? Not me. So be forewarned- if you need stamps and you're at an ATM, it'll cost you.

Built-in Support (and I ain't talking about panty hose)

2005-12-07T21:28:00.000-08:00

I've taken the plunge. With my toe. A small parcel of real estate in cyberspace. It may not be manifest destiny, but I'll take it. I've joined the many with a blog. If it weren't for so many of the people I know having one of these and that they will hopefully include this in their links (hence the built-in support), and for my fabulous girlfriend (you know who she is), I wouldn't have done this.
It's a few days after my 30th birthday, and I'm watching quite possibly the craziest cat in the world beat the crap out of a tunnel. We call it the cat cave. You really need to see it to believe it. Is this really what blogging is about? Well, whatever.
Goodness, the pressure of a blog. I could be philosophical, or I can just muse. Why decide now? In any event. Here is a photo that I would like to share, which became the reason I decided to blog. Despite attending a State University, I think it's pretty clear that I am genius- at least according to this photo.
This was done in an Apple store, and let me tell you, I could've spent all day there just fiddling around with iSight and the different photo options it offers. It was the beginning of a fantastic day which included a great Star Wars experience and Italian comfort food with three of the most wonderful people I know. All of whom I've only technically known for a short time but in reality feel like lifelong friends. The evening culminated in a spectacular show by U2, a band you can really get behind. Visit www.one.org to help fight the war against poverty.

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