Updates
Mar/091
Right now, Allagash is watching me type. She really loves to chase the mouse pointer on my 22 inch LCD. I just hope she doesn’t decide to scratch said monitor. As I’ve got a lot of fragments, here is a bulleted update.
- I went out for dinner tonight with the Girl I mentioned a week or so ago. We went to my secret Philadelphia gem known as Zot. It is a cool bar/restaurant of the Belgian variety but is much classier than Euology or Monk’s. One of my favorite things is the way an entrée works. You select a meat (or the fish of the day), a sauce for your dish and a side (which consists of many options including stoemp – Belgian mashed potatos). I chose Kangaroo and she choose Ostrich (I had that last time). Mine was awesome.
- I think you would consider this to be a really decent second date. I showed up before her (barely). I had Duvel Green to drink (Duvel draft). She drank Belgian beer. The conversation was 98% fluid. She isn’t vegetarian. I felt like I opened up a little and cracked some minor sarcastic jokes and shared more of my personality.
- Almost from the start I felt “on” and it was kind of fun. We’ll definitely go out again.
- A guy from work owes me $25 in beer so we are going to State Line Liquor after work. I look forward to that.
- I’m watching season 3 of The Wire and it is awesome so far.
- I’m about 7 episodes behind on Lost and need to catch up soon.
- I had a half epiphany this week when I realized I am an manager of people. People listen to what I say and judge my every action. It is not as simple as showing up to work and doing some job. Things matter. Phew.
- I called my car insurance agent and lowered my premium by $450.
- Allagash is a lap cat and isn’t particularly afraid of anything anymore.
- I’ve got a box of peanut butter Captain Crunch and no milk.
- I haven’t lost a soccer game in something like 10 games (a few ties in there) and between my two teams, I only have one loss this session (8-1-3 with two games left)
- This weekend I head to State College and I look forward to that and the stops I’ll make throughout the weekend.
Good Bye Winter, Please
Mar/097
The last weekends have been teasers as there has been a bit of sun, a little warmth and a hint that spring is just around the corner. I can’t wait for a permanent switch to the spring weather. As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to appreciate the ending of winter a little more each year. Don’t get me wrong, the cold and snow and darkness has its place but it would all do us a lot of good if it only lasted for 3 weeks.
Ah yes the darkness. That is probably the biggest hindrance. I’m not sure to what degree I am afflicted with the season disorder thing, but I’m pretty sure I am. Surprisingly though, this winter wasn’t that bad. I kept in a pretty decent mood with the exception of Christmas. I attribute that to a few well-timed trips to other places, a ridiculous busy work schedule, lots of good beers and a couple of decent soccer sessions to round it out. When we changed the clocks the other week I was almost surprised how quickly the time and flown but was also quite pleased to get that extra daylight.
As I think about the spring and the pending summer, there are definitely a few things to look forward to.
- The 2nd Annual Beer Olympics at Nate’s cabin
- Camping in the mountains with the guys
- Buying a fishing license so that I can go fishing for 1 weekend at a friend’s cabin and not catching anything
- Having Nate and his son James come down for a baseball game
- Bike Race Weekend
- John and Sarah’s wedding
- John’s bachelor party
- Going to Montreal for work
- Going to Boston for work
- Running outside in the warmth
- Maybe my first trip to the “shore” (aka New Jersey crappy beaches)
- Musikfest
- Cabin-hunting
- Brewing some beer
- Artsfest in State College
- Phish concert
- Concerts at Festival Pier
- My continued search for an amazing lady
- Golf
- Grilling 5 nights a week
- Outdoor soccer games
- Sunlight!
- Sitting on the deck doing absolutely nothing
Am I missing anything?
Toronto 2
Mar/095
The last two days or so have been interesting. Perhaps I shall start with Monday. Was up here doing my thing. Generally speaking, things were on track. I went out for 2 beers and dinner at C’est What of which I’ve written about previously. The layout and decor of this pub is about 85% of what I want in my bar some day. If it weren’t for the fact that it is in Toronto, I’d spend a lot of time and money there. They also have a delicious lamb burger (which I believe I got last time as well).
Tuesday started out alright and got progressively terrible. If you know anything about patch/application management system such as SMS, then you probably know how much a PitA they can be when they don’t work and you have absolutely nothing to do with the management of the servers. Let’s just say that I went through 3 different plans for how the day would progress and ended settling on a minute by minute change of events. At 12:30am I accidentally discovered that what I thought was 100% not working was only 50% not working and I would be able to finish my job.
Needless to say, you can describe the last blur of my life as either
1) I just worked 30 straight hours with an hour and a half nap in the middle
2) I worked from 8am to 5am, Tuesday through Wednesday, drove back to my hotel to sleep for an hour and a half, was back at work at 8am and worked until a little after 6pm on Wednesday. Oh, and I took 30 minutes for dinner.
I don’t write that to brag like my terrible working life is so awesome and I work so hard and that makes me great. I write because that is ridiculous. No one really bats an eye. At least know one I know at work. In fact, there were only two people who asked me when I left Tuesday night and they were not on my direct team. My answer was “I left when I got the work done.” Simple as that. In reality, that is messed up, but, this is, my life. Wow. That blows my mind.
To make up for that, I did something for myself tonight. For starters, I visited the CN Tower which at one point was the world’s tallest. I was about 1000 feet off the ground and it was an awesome view. I then went for dinner at a placed named Beer Bistro (which I’ve also mentioned prior). They seated me on the Chef’s table which is a section of 4 chairs right next to the kitchen (you get to see what is really going on back there). I had 2 tasty brews (from their impressive catalog) including a Unibroue beer that is no longer produced: La Fringante. It was slightly corked, but still drinkable. My tomato soup and catfish main course were both tasty. I was so full by the end of the meal I stopped enjoying it actually. I actually felt so much discomfort from being stuffed that I questioned why I hadn’t just gotten a bag of chips from 7-11. To be honest, I blame it on my messed up eating schedule (my stomach doesn’t know what to do).
I’ve got a sticky note with 6 or 7 bullets of things I wanted to accomplish tonight. I just can’t do it. They must wait until the morning.
Totally unrelated, my rental this week is a black 2009 Mazda 6. It is a nice looking car. Surprisingly, it is a tight fit for me. It drives like it wants to pretend to be a sports car but isn’t anywhere close (and I’ve never actually driven a sports car). It has the clutchless shifting thing which is totally stupid. It does smell nice though.
I miss my cat. Wow, this is my life and some might say that is sad. That’s all I miss.
Toronto
Mar/091
I’m back up in Toronto again. I’m going to write more about this later but I just wanted to put something down so you don’t need to keep reading about cats. Speaking of that, yes, I realize I’m a terrible pet owner as I get a cat and then have to go out of town for a few days. Thank goodness for Danielle being awesome and offering to stop by and take car of things. I’m staying in possibly the best hotel room I’ve ever had. If you like tall buildings and lots of windows (relatively speaking), this room is great.
Allagash
Mar/092
I have confirmed that my cat’s name is Allagash. You can call her Alli or Alley Cat for short. She is still a scaredy-cat but it getting better. She has potential to be awesome.
The Latest Date
Mar/095
I went out on a date this week with a real person this past week. Finding free time in the schedule was a challenge as things have been both busy with work and home with the cat thing. I’ve decided that working hard, which often equals a lot of hours, is important right now but that doesn’t mean I need to be spending all my time in the office. I’m making it a point to be around home more and if I have to continue doing work, that is fine, but at least I’m home. It’s the whole work/life balance thing.
Anyway, I met up for drinks with this Girl from Match. I’ve concluded that the number one first date scenario is that you go for drinks and sit at the corner of a bar (if possible). The drinks are both simple and add the social lubrication factor that helps to ease any nerves. The sitting at the bar is because your natural position is looking forward and you can make eye contact as needed but you don’t have to be stuck staring directly at someone. Seriously, this is very key.
She was very nice and we are definitely going to meet up again. Meeting someone new who is nice can really improve morale.
Cat
Mar/0917
I’ve decided to open up the cat name discussion again. Currently, her name is Alesia but I don’t like that at all and I’m sure she doesn’t either. I was going to name her Allagash, but I’ve decided that doesn’t quite work because then I have to explain why I picked that name and I’m tired of doing that. So, feel free to throw some ideas out.
So far, my pet ownership anxiety has decreased a good bit. She has shown signs of being cool. She likes kitty treats, catnip, cardboard scratching things, plastic straws and pipe cleaners. She got a little bit scared when I walked upstairs to go to the bathroom and for 5 minutes I couldn’t find her. The pet people said I should keep her in one room for a week so that she gets used to the new place and the litter box location. I guess that is a reasonable suggestion, but I want her to come upstairs to play Guitar Hero with me later.
The woman who was fostering the cat made it a little bit of an uncomfortable experience. This was the first cat she’s fostered that was adopted so she was a bit emotional. I guess that’s fair. She raised the cat from 7 weeks old. I guess I shouldn’t judge these cat rescue people because they are doing a good thing.
Surprises
Mar/091
Tomorrow, I will reveal a great surprise that will result in some people shaking their head and others saying finally. Some people may already know and many may surmise what I’m talking about. I can assure you it will certainly be a interesting change in my life
Sports Stuff
Mar/094
For starters, hot off the press is the fact that Florida State University athletics are in a bit of trouble. Apparently, there was cheating going on in the classroom with the athletes. Wait! Athletes go to the classroom? Anyway, the story is that a bunch of football wins will be forfeit, which means Joe Paterno will be way way ahead of Bobby Bowden. Now to be fair, I question all athletic departments and the measures they take to ensure their athletes pass classes. Penn State might have its own sketchy practices but I certain hope they do not.
At the end of April I’ll be flying to Nashville Tennessee for a Rock n’ Roll half-marathon. I started training last Sunday. It was my second run since the marathon back in mid-October. Not too surprisingly, my legs still work. I’m out of shape and slow, but I can still go out and put in a few miles. I’ve got about 7 weeks left and I’m quite confident that I’ll be ready to run 13.1 miles. I’m probably not going to set a PR, but I’ll finish the race.
On Wednesday night I experienced a sporting event that I suspect I’ll never forget. It was coed soccer with my coworkers but it was an event. We battled against a team comprised of individuals from an industry I know a good bit about. In the back of my mind, this put a little pride on the line. I’m afraid I can’t explain it better than that. Anyway, the other team had really skilled player. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t play defense and they didn’t play as a team. We battled all game. They went ahead with maybe 5 minutes to play.
With under 30 seconds left I pull myself from goal and take a sprint down the field in hopes of a last second goal. I made a decent run and get a pass to me. I believe I got beat and lost the ball. I may have slightly fouled a guy. They went on a half-assed attack. I believe one of my teammates fouled one of their players but we ended up with the ball and no call. There are 14 seconds left on the clock. A quick pass to the best player on our team. I sprinted down the left side unguarded. He kicked a rocket against the boards. I think I called for the ball but I don’t know if he heard me. The ball hits the boards and it could have been slow motion. I run right towards it. There is spin and it takes a funny hop. I run right through the ball with no idea how I struck it. I watch it fly tall and slightly right. Keep has no chance. It hits the back of the net with 6 seconds to spare. I lose my balance and slide as I turn to run back down the field. We end in a tie as my team cheers for me.
It was one of those clutch moments that you dream about.
Sleeping at Work
Mar/098
Last night I slept at work. Well, it was hardly sleep as I got about 1.5 hours of restlessness while I was sprawled out on my cold office floor with a bag of packing peanuts for a pillow. Some stuff didn’t go right and I felt obligated to both try and fix it and be around when the UK guys would roll into the office at 4am my time. Fortunately, the effort paid off and I got the thing fixed but now I am quite tired and a little lacking in morale.