2003

2003 by the numbers:
365 days
58 skier days
34,000 miles driven
40 days without my car
7 Dave Matthews shows (1 D&T, 4 DMB, 2 D&F)
3 Trips outside New England and New York ( Utah, Florida, Columbus, OH)
2,099 miles from home when in Utah (furthest ever)
21 states I was in at some point (ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, FL, UT, OH, IL, TX)
5 girls dated, feel like I am missing one OR 3 using John's definition
0 times I had sex (879 days and counting)
277 livejournal entries
5 days longest consecutive streak without an entry (Jan1 - Jan5)
32 entries in March (high for year)
2 top ten life days (Alta Powder Day and Central Park Dave Matthews show)
4676 pictures taken on my new camera
1364 songs on my iPod
4 months in my new apartment
2700 dollars worth of damage to my car
230 days I worked
230 days I worked and wanted to quit

I got some new hats

My entry from last year CLASSIC PICTURES!!

First Supper
AFter another lovely day at work, Kate came to my house and we used my new cookbook to make some raviolis and sauce. I have attached some pictures so you all can see me just what it looks like when I cook. I do want to thank Chris for clearing up the definition of a garlic clove. It turned out great and as far as I can tell Kate actually enjoyed my cooking. It was the first time she visited so that was good, it was a great evening.

Now I am going to bed. Tomorrow's the last day of the year are y'all ready.

Me

Random Pictures of Me

Yup Yup Yup!!!

Middle of the Day

Random Boston Pictures including tearing down the Central Artery, a giant ship and other pictures of Boston. I just decided to post some pictures because well I can if I want to.



Its been quite a thrilling day hear at work. Earlier in the day some guy bought ten pizzas and randomly handed them out to different groups of people. I don't know who he was since he doesn't work in our group, but I thought it was really nice. The people ate them all, but I just wasn't sure about taking free pizzas and it turns out my restraint paid off because almost everybody who ate the pizzas got sick. Now I don't know if they were poisoned or what, but it really seems suspicious to me. The people were running around like crazy and yakking in trash barrels, it was like a scene out of a zombie movie. Sadly enough I didn't take pictures because, well, it just seemed wrong. So be aware of a random pizza delivery guy giving out free pizzas, they might upset your stomach a little bit. Very strange!!!

Another Weekend in Maine, Surprise!!!

My Weekend in Maine

I'm not gonna talk about the weekend because well its just the same old thing again, well at least for the most part. So what am I going to write about well lets see. How 'bout the fact that I love my iPod and I am really starting to get into the iTunes thing. I keep buying songs, which at a dollar song could start getting expensive. It is tough to not just buy everything I see. My favorite part is downloading my favorite songs I can remember from the past and just dumping the on the iPod. The whole single song thing ( almost typed song + thing = thong), boy its gettin late, means i get quite a diverse group of artists, from Paul Simon to System of A Down. Yep thats right Britt I got Sugar by SOAD and also some Rage Against the Machine. I was thinking of having some sort of a get Keegan updated with the music scene and borrowing CD's from people who actually listen to more than three artists. So if some people, errr Collage Kids could help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

Artists I want most:
1) Pearl Jam
2) Red Hot Chili Peppers
3) Nirvana
4) U2
5) Avril Lavigne
6) Led Zeppelin

However I am willing to accept anything, just to fill up my computer and prevent me from buying more songs. I gotta finish my favorite songs of all time playlist and my favorite songs that get me in a psyched, like that Woo Hoo song by some band I can't remember, but I think the video has the band in a box bouncing off the walls.

Okay its getting late I should be heading to bed.

Christmas Passed

Christmas Day Slideshow
The day has finally passed, there are now 365 shopping days until Christmas (the world breathes a collective sigh of relief). I have observed a bunch of interesting things about people and the holidays. First of all most people get so wrapped up in it they don't enjoy the time spent with family. Thankfully we have a relatively small family so we are able to just have a great time and it becomes more about hanging out and chatting then giving gifts. Speaking of gifts I have also found I prefer giving to receiving. I am a very bad gift receiver, it seems no matter what the gift is I just don't show any emotion or excitement, its not because I don't like my gifts, because I was quite happy with everything I received. Perhaps it is the neat freak inside who realizes I will have the gift at my house and need to store it somewhere. It could also be my rigorous process of picking out a gift and only buying the perfect gift for each and every person and my high standards being passed on to everybody else. So if you give me a present and don't really receive a reaction, its not you, its me.

Another peculiar thing I observed came at various points, but especially after the big day. Friends seemed to be a big part of our day, from the conference call with Vanessa to the visit from Ryan to the night at Nissa's and finally with the rush to the internet for pictures and IM's about each other's holiday. The internet and cell phones seem to bring us closer and encourage us to connect at times when we typically wouldn't have in the past, which is definitely a good thing. Maybe I am just noticing it because of my lack of friends at the holidays in the past, but it seems to be a little different than how things migh have occurred ten years ago.

Finally, I noticed my almost complete absence of girlfriend thoughts. In the past at the holidays I have typically been down because of a lack there of, but this year I didn't stop to think about it at all. Instead I just enjoyed the holiday and realized I have things pretty good anyway and while it would be nice, Christmas is still a bunch of fun. I will admit my complacency about the situation kind of makes me nervous, I don't want to become tooo comfortable with being single though, because it probably wouldn't be the best thing for me. We'll see what next year brings though.

I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday and it is now time to shift our focus to the past year for a couple days and then gaze ahead to the fresh start we will be given in a week's time. 2004 is upon us and I plan on living each of the 366 days to their fullest.

Peace to all,
Keegan

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Yes the merry day is upon us already. I have had quite the day from a rather relaxed and boring day at work to crazy funny ringing in Christmas at Miss Nissa Perrot's house. Since you all know my work is extra boring I will start at the point where I got off the train in Salem and ran in the rain to my car. I quickly jetted in my Jetta to my Dad's house in The 'Bury. It was great to see everybody over there since it is such a rarity for me to visit. I got to see his pictures from Las Vegas and more importantly the Hoover Dam, can't wait to check out the dam. I finally got some digital pics of my dad and I and even some one with Brendan, how very festive. Okay need to keep moving. Dad's Christmas Eve Slideshow

Next stop 39R to visit the other half of the family. You gotta love those split up families nothing like adding extra stress to your holidays. Lots of people there which always makes things extra fun. As you can see from the pictures we went crazy and basically did a ton of things including eating a lot of food: meatballs, lunchable type cracker sandwiches, chocolate, veggies and dip and soda pop. Becky showed up and then the hits kept coming with a visit from OJ and the Emoster (haven't seen that kid in ages). At one point we called Vanessa at home and put her on spearkerphone so she could chat it up with all of us. Check this out --->
Vanessa on speakerphone with her grandmother singing Croatian Christmas carolsWe continued with our fun and then moved the party to Nissa's house. 39R Christmas Eve Slideshow

I finally saw Nissa for the first time since the summer, which was nice. There was an adult party going on along with a smaller kid party well smaller until we showed up. Of course with Ry, Emily, Becky, Britt and me adding to the kids party it was bound to change. We enjoyed catching up for a little while before a little gift exchanging. It was very chill and once again a good time was had by all. The holidays are so great in that you just end up seeing people you really like spending time with and have only few commitments which allows you to have some quality time. I stayed there for a while and then drove all the way back to Salem. Yes I know I could have stayed in The 'Bury, but I just wanted to go back water my tree, shower in the morning, change into new clothes and sleep in my own bed. Nissa's Christmas Eve Slideshow

Okay thats it for now. Vanessa, I hope you enjoyed the picture and the video clip. Fingers crossed for the gift you really want, I guess the LJ scene will see very soon.

Christmas Eve

Yes I know this picture has nothing to do with Christmas, BUT I was looking at some old pics and I thought this was a funny one. Plus Britt seeing as Vanessa is at the beach today, you might be able to post the first comment to my LJ. Who goes to the beach on Christmas Eve? I suppose if it was warm enough up here we would, well I guess I can't because I have to be at this hell hole known as work.

Okay I am done, I hope you all have a great holiday. I can't wait to go to 39R for some crazy Christmas fun.

Keeg

Happy Holidays!!!

It is almost THE day and since most of us will be busy tomorrow I wanted to take the chance to wish you all a Merry Christmas!! Have a safe holiday and enjoy the time spent with your family. It has been an exhausting couple of weeks with Christmas shopping and everything else associated with the holidays and I am looking forward to just hanging out on Christmas day and hopefully eating some yummy food.

I just came up with a great idea, Question of the Day. What will you be doing for the Christmas holiday?


Finally...
Eleven years ago on this date Dave Matthews played Christmas Song for the first time. In the spirit of the holidays I have uploaded it for your listening pleasure. Christmas Song (1992.12.23) Enjoy!!!

What a day it's been already?

I never know whether to capitalize just the first word, all the words or only the larger words in the subject. Can anybody provide me with some insight on that one?

Story of my weekend was that I was sick all weekend. I went to Maine and skiied but only for a few runs and then went back home to watch TV, play guitar and do crossword puzzle (thanks Vanessa). I did manage to make it to the Grizz on Saturday night. I stayed in Maine to watch Driven: Dave Matthews on VH-1 and then went home. I saw Return of the King and was quite satisfied with the whole trilogy. On my way there I remembered how over three years ago in the summer of 2001 I was at the Loews Theatre in Danvers and saw the first movie poster for the Lord of the Rings series. At the time I had no idea what the Lord of the Rings thing was all about and thought, how daring it was they were making three movies about some video game without even showing one to test the waters. Fast forward three years and I have read four books by J.R.R. Tolkien and went to see each movie within a week of its release. What a difference a few years makes?

Things I hate about being sick:
1) You can't do any physical activities.
2) Hallucinating in my sleep.
3) The constant aches and pains.
4) Not knowing when you are better, it seems to just happen one day.
5) Feeling okay in the morning and then by five or six at night you feel like shit again.
6) Lack of appetite (even for pizza)
7) Phlegm!!

Things I like about being sick:
1) Its nice to sit on your ass sometimes and do nothing but watch TV.
2) I seem to play the guitar better, well at least I did this weekend.
3) Some people call in sick to work, so that is good.

That's it, I think the general consensus is being sick really sucks!!!

This was a funny IM this morning so I am adding it since I am apparently out of humor for my LJ.
Essa02 (11:15:23 AM): how are you?
KeegSands (11:15:25 AM): godo
KeegSands (11:15:27 AM): good
KeegSands (11:15:38 AM): godo being a close relative to the extinct dodo
Essa02 (11:15:47 AM): hahaha
KeegSands (11:15:51 AM): he was smaller and went extinct sooner
Essa02 (11:15:58 AM): aww poor bird
KeegSands (11:16:02 AM): thats why you never heard about him
Essa02 (11:16:17 AM): HA!

Because I Am Tired

My Dave Matthews Band Stats

I Keep Going and Going and Going

Okay so today was a crazy day for me. I walked to the train again, but unfortunately I was iPod-less. So in its absence I decided to sing. I had to keep checking around me to make sure nobody could here me. The highlight of the walk would have to be the old Macintosh box in somebody's trash, this thing was old school as in 1985 style. I have included a picture of it in This Here Slideshow.

Work was the same old crap except since it was John's birthday we had some cake which made me extra hyper in the afternoon and I was noticeably off the wall. Oh well hyper makes the day go by faster. I was tempted to go and see Return of the King, but at 200 minutes in length I think they will miss me at work.

Today was Vanessa's last day in the city, which is very sad. It is hard to believe she really won't be BACK until the end of the summer. I mean yeah she will be around in January and then in May, but for just brief periods of time. :o( Oh well enjoy Europe, get out and see the world while you can, I am very jealous.

What else? Oh yeah the basketball game. My mom hooked me up with some sweet Celtics tickets and I asked Victor, the biggest basketball fan I know if he wanted to go. We got to the Fleet, my second night in a row, and found the seats which were five rows off of the floor. Now I am not a huge basketball fan, but it was an amazing game. Not only was it a good game because of Antoine Walker's first time back at the Fleet since his trade, but it was also the first game with the new guys from the recent trade. The Celtics struggled for most of the game and couldn't get rebounds and missed a ton of shots. The were behind most of the way until the end of the fourth quarter when they really came alive. The lead changed several times in the last couple minutes with each team firing back and forth at each other. In the end it came to to Pierce hitting a jumper over Walker and then Walker missing a key shot in the last seconds leaving the Celtics with a come from behind victory. Everybody was out of control, it was as if we had one the World Championship.
Highlights of the game:
1) Several tres attractive ladies in the stands.
2) The various shots of the crowd doing there thing.
3) Movie clips on the jumbotron to inspire the fans. (Hoosiers, Network, Brave Heart, A Few Good Men)
4) Free hot dogs.
5) Lucky the mascot, at first he was annoying but he grows on ya.
6) The come from behind victory.

Upon getting back home I completed my Christmas shopping on Ofoto. So yes some of you should be expecting some of my photography for the holidays. It caused a little more than I hoped, but I finished it all with the click of a few buttons, which to me makes it all worth the extra money. Okay I am exhausted and have to go out again tomorrow night for the BoCaNO Christmas party. Hmmmmm, maybe I will bring my guitar for some caroling.

Another Great Night

Many of you know tonight I went to see Dave at the Fleet Center with his friends, I didn't go with his friends, but they performed with him. Mark and I had some front row seats which was pretty sweet. After meeting some friends for a couple drinks before the show I was able to sneak my camera in by disguising it in my pocket as a cell phone. Once we got to our seats we were pretty excited since they were better than about 18000 other people's seats. The show began and I started snapping away because everybody around me was also taking pictures. After eleven pictures a security guy came over and made me give him my battery so I was out of luck. I didn't really care because I knew it was a risk I was taking. Bottom line is I am not trying that stunt again besides the cost of the battery, which thankfully I had an extra of, the pictures just come out shitty. I did enjoy the rest of the show, with some highlights being Some Devil and a Trey and Dave acoustic duet on both Everyday and Waste. I don't have much more to say about the show partly because it is 1:30 in the morning.

Tomorrow night is going to be another late one since I will probably be going to the Celtics game. I probably shouldn't seeing as I have some more Christmas present activities to do, but you only live once right.

Have a great night y'all. By the way tonight was my 40th show I guess the big Four-One will have to wait until next year.

The Hits Keep Coming

Yep it has been a full weekend. It all started with me picking my car up on Friday, which led to the work holiday party and karaoke. The next day was Christmas Tree Cutting time with Van and Britt. It was quite an adventure. I dropped them off in Boston and then off to Providence for some Dave Matthews and Friends. The concert was unbelieveable especially because I had second row seats, definitely in my top 5 of 39 shows. Next morning it was up early for a couple days of skiing with my stepbrother Zack. Cold on Sunday and kind of miserable, but mother nature stepped in again and dropped nineteen more inches of snow on us last night. We shovelled out and skiied today and of course it was amazing. I decided to not wuss out and due tele today, and it definitely paid off. The flat stuff is now going to be so easy since I can now go through some messed up powder with relative ease. For once in my life I am actually proud of myself. Made it home and continued work on my Christmas presents. Tomorrow night is the second Dave Matthews show and this time I will be sitting in the front row. I will be sneaking the camera in with the hope security is lax like in Providence.

Total miles driven since getting the car back, 675. It seems to be working okay.


I took a test online at match.com. To get to it go to Match.com choose the Free Personality Test and then choose the Physical Attraction test. It is a good way to that we are quite shallow. Enjoy the test and my results especially my tendency to like younger girls with a good gap. Attraction Test Results

HOORAY!!!!!

It was over forty days and forty nights since I last drove my car and at first it was a bit strange, but within minutes I was one with the car. The best part about getting it back was that the same song was still playing on the CD player as I pulled out of the lot, Drive In, Drive Out. I drove all the way into the city this morning because I couldn't stand the thought of leaving it more than a mile away and because the holiday party at work is tonight.

I finally have a good answer for the question: Where Do You Want To Go Today? Anywhere I Want To!!!!!

First Time For Everything

So yes the picture is accurate and not doctored in anyway I did sing at a Karaoke last night in Boston. We were out for BoCaNO and the singing began so we grabbed the song list and started looking through it. I couldn't believe how many songs there were, but despite this fact I couldn't find anything I liked. The only Dave Matthews songs were Crash Into Me (impossible) and What Would You Say (very dependent on the Dave vocals). I considered "Ain't Nuthin But a "G" Thang", "Ice, Ice Baby" and "Drops of Jupiter", but finally settled on what I know, Dave. Yep I sang to "What Would You Say", I took a shot before I went up to sing and I don't know if it made a difference or not, but once I was up there it wasn't too bad. I started to really get into and the crowd started cheering, I don't know if it was due to me being good or bad, but afterwards a couple of guys gave me high fives which was cool.

I am pretty excited because I just didn't think I had it in me. Its good preparation for the Holiday Party at work and for the Backstage. What have I started?

Okay its gettin late time to go to bed.

Late Night Radio

Yep thats a great David Gray song and for some reason just popped in my head. I am slowly becoming a night person and can't seem to figure out why. Here's a list
Reasons for my new sleep schedules:
1) Ski weekends keep me up until very late at night.
2) No car means I can walk to the train whenever I want to.
3) It gets dark so soon I don't know when I am supposed to sleep anymore.
4) Internet at home allows me to chat until all hours of the night.
5) Skiing means I have to do more errands during the week.
6) The collage kids schedule is contagious.

Whatever the reason I am not sure whether I like it or not. So here I sit writing something to waste away more time tonight, but also to save me time in the morning at work. I am tired tonight from doing the other half of my laundry and from going through my 6600 pictures trying to narrow them down for my Ofoto Christmas. I am slowly getting there the number is now around 240 pictures, its hard because each one is like my baby and nobody should have to live through a Sophie's Choice situation.

Have 2 Feet Will Travel

I made it back, yes I am back at the helm here at the Lafayette Corporate Center. The commute this morning was relatively painless, I shifted my stuff from my messenger bag to a backpack, wore some boots instead and stuck my shoes in my backpack like a woman and altered my course due to a lack of sidewalks. However when all was said and done the walk took the same amount of time and I made it to work in a very timely manner. Last week I made the entry about adding a little snow to a commute, well I find people have dealt with the addition of 30 inches of snow fairly well up in Salem. We received the highest snow amounts in Massachusetts and it is certainly evident on my street. Let me just say thank goodness I don't have my car because I wouldn't have anywhere to put it. I will be getting it back for sure either Wednesday or Thursday depending on when I get up to Portsmouth, at this point it doesn't really make much of a difference. I can't wait to give my precious a big hug.


Friday - I drove up to Maine and had a little confusion with Travis about the key. He made it up to the Outpost (what I am calling the house in Maine) at 1:45 AM and I was able to get inside and go to bed.
Saturday - We woke up to no snow on the ground outside and went skiing. I telemarked for the first time and it went very well, I look forward to a long free heeling winter and some sore leg muscles. The snow started in the early afternoon and continued throughout the rest of the day. I went to Noelle's birthday party at her house and had some fantastic food, wonderful wine, and super shots. We even had a little dance party at one point, even Hagrid was dancing. We followed up the party with a trip to Tango Mary's to catch Entrain. We left at 11 when there was about a foot of snow on the ground and slowly made our way to White Cap. Danced the night away there, yes I know me dancing who would have thought. You can see pictures of a couple making out at Tango Mary's, we took a whole bunch of fake outs. They were just all over each other and we had to capture it on the camera. Kate, Mark and I left and managed to push the car out of the now 16 inches of snow on the ground. The window on my mom's car was fogged and we, oh I hated doing it, wiped off the inside of the windshield. Somehow we managed to make it back to Noelle's and I then made my way back to the Outpost. Bear River Road was covered in snow and all I could see was two tire tracks in front of me. I didn't know if I was on the right or left side of the road I just kept going forward. After a long time I made it to Riverwood Drive, stepped on the gas and plowed through the end of the street, unfortunately my headlights got covered and I couldn't see where I was going, but I couldn't stop for fear I would be stuck. I made it to where I thought the driveway was and turned only to get stuck half in the driveway. I jumped out and ran inside to get Travis, after yelling his name a dozen times I finally shook him awake. He grumbled and came outside to help me move the car. We had about 20 inches at this point and after about a half hour we were able to move the car into the driveway. Finally I jumped in bed around 1:30AM.
Sunday - This time we woke up and there was plenty of snow on the ground. I wanted to get up to the mountain early, but certain things stood in my way, they were called snowflakes. We were up at 6:45 and outside shoveling within minutes. I jumped out and tooks some pictures and noticed they hadn't plowed our street which is about a quarter mile long. We shoveled the driveway out to the street and then began the tedious task of shoveling the street. I abandoned this project and worked on shoveling out my mom's car. We were slowly progressing and I decided to try and turn the car around, of course this was the impatient foolish Keegan thinking and I managed to get the car stuck in a ditch. I finished shoveling the other half of the driveway out to the street before we tried to get the car out. After several attempts we finally put the car into reverse and both pushed it out of the ditch, but since it was in gear it rolled back in to a snow bank on the other side. A much needed food break was had and I talked to Amy who said they had finally shoveled out to Bear River Road and were planning on going to the mountain soon. I had to get to the mountain, so I packed my gear up and began walking to Amy's. On the way there a guy in a pickup truck offered me a ride in the back so I hopped in and got dropped off at Amy's. We finally made it to the mountain and experience the rare event of powder skiing in New England. My legs were still sore from tele, but I managed to ski for a couple hours. The girls dropped me off at the house which was now plowed out and I started to do a little cleaning up. Once again I became impatient and got the car stuck again. Luckily Amy and Jennie were able to help my push it out of the othe ditch and it stayed unstuck for the rest of the weekend.

Monday - I woke up early and finished cleaning up the yard and the car. It was so nice to have everything cleaned off and organized. I skied for about five hours and then made my way back to Massachusetts. Hopped on the train, but didn't have money for the ticket, the guy let it slide. We got stopped in North Beverly for a half hour and finally made it to Salem. The walk home from the train was tough because there weren't sidewalks and somehow I made it back. I can't tell you how great it was to be back at my apartment. What a long weekend.


Weekend by the Numbers
36 inches of snow at the Outpost ( Maine ski house)
300 miles travelled
8 times I listened to the same DMB mix CD because it was all I had
45 minutes waiting in the car outside the house for Travis
3 skier days
1 pair of shoes for the entire weekend
6 hours spent shoveling
12 times I cleaned the snow off of a car
9 people at Noelle's birthday party
4 times I got the car stuck
37 hours of snow
2 shots of Mr. Dooley's
27 trails open before the storm
65 trails open after the storm
1 run before I fell face first into the snow on the powder day and almost lost my ski
166 pictures taken over the weekend

I hope everybody is doing well and made it safely through the snowstorm. I can only imagine what the rest of the winter has in store for us.

A Little Snow Anybody?

Here are some slideshows to keep you entertained.

First day of skiing
Noelle's Birthday Party
The Storm
After the Storm
Skiing the day after

Very Strange

LJ Community for people who think they are faeries Its a weird one.

BTW No car until next week.

Christmas Tree Lighting

Last night was the tree lighting in Boston Common so I met up with Britt, Vanessa, Becky and Holly to check out the festivities. We got there and were all hungry but agreed we would stand through some of it. After a half an hour are stomachs got the best of us and we went to eat at Upper Crust on Charles Street. The show in the Common had also gone sour with a horrible singing number by the MUCH younger sister of Mrs. Claus. Please I don't need to starve just to sit through that crap.

A classic scene occurred at Upper Crust while we were standing in line trying to decide what type of pizza to buy. A guy called the manager on the phone requesting a delivery, but he would only tell her his apartment number. She kept asking him what street he lives on and he would only reiterate his apartment number. She asked again saying she would need to know what his address was before he could deliver the pizza. We just stood back and watched as she hung up and he called back and she just left the phone on the counter. HA!! The pizza was great, its a good thing I was with so many Santas, because they helped make finishing two pizzas possible. Very impressive ladies!

Next up was the debating about what to do next and we finally settled on Elf at the LBC but only after going from street corner to street corner. The movie was hilarious and only made funnier by the muppet laugher two seats down on my right. Went back to 100 Beacon to pass the time away, good times hanging out like a college kid, gotta love dorm life. Finally walked to the train and then ran to my house from Salem station because I just wanted to get home.

The fun continued this morning because since I can't stop in Salem I had to pack my bags and carry them all the way to the train and then to work. It sucks not having a car and the cold weather doesn't help at all.

The Gayest Picture of Me Ever

Cool Link

Awesome Super Mario Brothers 3 Video

The Long Cold Walk

I am frozen solid from walking all over the place in this cold. I walked to the train station and then North Station to work and then the same thing backwards. I definitely know why I spend $370 a month for my car. Hopefully it will be in my possession again on Friday, fingers crossed.


We had a little BoCaNO tonight at the Kinsale and it just so happened that it was trivia night. Bottom line: We sucked. Of the 17 or so teams we were in last place or at least nearly last. Our team was, Jennie, Kate, Amy and I. We got a lot of questions right, but it wasn't enough to compete with the rest of the teams. It was hella fun and we got some fun pictures.

Takin' It Back To The Old Skool

I was looking through some old pictures and figured I needed to post some of them on the LJ since when the pictures were taken there was no LJ. I hope you enjoy them, some are almost five years old.

Hmmmm..

My ingredients: Milk chocolate, peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, skim milk, butter, mkilfat, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, lactose, salt, egg whites and artificial flavor.

What am I?

If you guessed:

You were correct!!!

Over 500,000 Commuters + 6AM Snow Squall = Disaster

We had our first snow in Boston today, it was only about a half an inch, but it sure did wreak havoc on the commuting. I drove down the street and knew right away it would be better to just brave the cold and walk. I snapped a couple pictures of the cars on the road, notice how icy it is and in the final picture the cars are sliding all over the place. I think I made a good decision.

Later y'all,
Keeg

"Remember two things, love your mother and leave only footprints." - David John Matthews

It was a great day!!!

Lets go over the good things in my day!!
1) Woke up on time.
2) Bought my T pass at the Red Lion Smoke Shop and didn't miss my train.
3) Paid off my outstanding parking tickets.
4) Almost finished the crossword on the way in to Boston, with a little help from my friend Stephanie.
5) Cancelled HBO and Cinemax.
6) Found out my car may be ready by Friday.
7) Learned that REI sold tele gear and could have my skis ready by Friday.
8) Figured out the SEC Yield database problem.
9) Calculated expenses and fixed any outstanding issues.
10) Devoured a yummy Wild Mountain Chicken Sandwich from Wendy's. (If you haven't had it go now they are open late.)
11) Had some delicious apple pie.
12) Ate some of Julie's birthday cake.
13) Unsubsribed to Match.com just before they charged me for another month.
14) Left work after only eight and a half hours.
15) Caught the 5:25 express to Salem. (I didn't even know there was such a train)
16) Mom told me I could keep the car for another night.
17) Talked to landlord, Jesse, about using his washer and dryer.
18) Got some cool tele bindings and poles at REI.
19) Finally bought some groceries.

I am sure I missed some stuff, but it is good to leave the list on a prime number. So yes it was a good day and btw one more good thing is that I am taking the next two Mondays off from work and enjoying the early season skiing.

EDIT: I forgot this one. 20) Vanessa is back in Beantown.

Another Lovely Ski Weekend

Yep so I skied. While skiing I spent a lot of time thinking about various subjects and one of these happened to be the similarity between trails skied and setlists for a concert. Okay so at Sunday River there are around 120 trails, it is nearly impossible to ski every trail in one day and you are forced to pick certain trails. Now think of trails as songs, you can't play every song you know at a concert only a limited number. In the skiing of trails you might not get to ski your favorite trails every week and will also end up skiing on some less than desirable trails. The theory holds true for concerts in that you will probably end up hearing a song you don't enjoy, because the artist may not know songs are your favorites. Taking it even further you could break each peak into an album and people tend to ski the newer peaks more often just like a band will play its new stuff more often when a new album is released. Some trails tend to be old favorites which is similar to some songs that always shop up at concerts. There are also the trails you rarely ever ski because they are never open and this would be the same concept as any rare songs which are played only once every few years.

Just some random insight into my mind on a typical day at Sunday River.

So it has been almost a week since I last updated this craziness, but since I have some cool pictures from THE GAME. Yeah I don't know why I keep calling it that, but well I do. The Fighting Injuns actually won this year something like 27-6. Everybody seemed very shocked at this, because it seems like it has been years since they actually won a T-Day game. Chillin' with B-rok and Beans was cool, I got to see Mr. Yeat in person for the first time. Beans had the quote of the holiday,"What's up YEAT!!" Haha, his response was one of confusion it was a classic moment. I then received a call from work and so here I sit in good old Boston. I am hoping I can score and extra day off now that I have come in on this holiday.

Once I get out of here it will be a nice trip home for some dinner and then on to Sunday River for the weekend. Looking forward to joining another mug club at the Grizzly this weekend. Okay that is all, just had to get those pictures out there. Woohoo expenses just finished. Have a great weekend y'all!!!!

Yes I did go skiing this weekend kind of. Travis and I went up, but it was horrible. After all the rain last week it really wasn't worth the trouble so we did a few runs and went back to the house. Rockin party at Amy's house on Saturday for more detail see the photos. Aren't Mark and Kate just the cutest couple ever. Awww!!!

My lack of a car continues and let me tell you it has just screwed up my life in the oddest ways. For example, I am now running out of food at the house because I can't go to the store, I have the pressure of finding a ride up to Maine on the weekends and believe me there is nothing I hate more than getting a ride from somebody, I just feel so indebted to that person. What else, oh yeah, I have to walk to and from the train station which is okay on a sunny morning, but not okay at 12:45 AM in the rain through a sketchy part of Salem. Today I was completely screwed and had to walk from the train to my house carrying a two duffle bags, my work bag and my guitar. It took forever and I was so sore afterwards. The auto body shop won't give me a time, but I am guessing I won't have the car back until the second week in December. WTF am I going to do. Plus how am I going to get to the Bury for the big game. My life has been turned upside down and I don't fucking like it very much.

I did accomplish a lot once I got home. I added about 150 songs to my iPod, including the Central Park show. I also watched about eight hours of the 12 hours of shows I have taped over the last week. I am now up to last week's West Wing. I am determined to get through it all by tomorrow night. I also made some cookies tonight, granted they were the pre mixed kind, but I still had to monitor them in the oven and overall they are okay.

Nice, I think this is my first entry from my apartment, since I apparently don't have time to update at work anymore this is how it will have to be for now.

Two Down, Three To Go

I will abbreviate this story because I don't have time to type out the full good version and I am sure you all don't want to read it anyhow.
-Went to Borders grabbed a ticket to stand in line for the Boyd Tinsley signing.
-Met up with Jeremy and he went back to the dorm to get his CD because no CD = no autograph.
-Went to Starbucks and grabbed a gingerbread latte and the number FOUR of the twelve days of Christmas.
-Returned to Borders and stood in line to listen to Boyd answer questions
-Boyd was within feet of meet and then went to some room for questioning.
-He answered five questions and then we got in line for the signing.
-The line wrapped around the store.
-Walked through the sex section.
-Worked on the crossword puzzle while Jeremy went to McDonalds.
-Walked through the religion section.
-Finally got to the reference section for some help with the crossword puzzle.
-Let the two girls behind me use my phone.
-Discussed DMB and the shows we've been to with my other linemates.
-Made a girl envious because of my iPod.
-Finally got near Boyd and prepared my items for signing.
-In a rush of confusion I met Boyd.
-He signed three things and I told him to keep doing what he's doing or something like that.
-Gathered my things together and took a couple pictures.
-Gave my linemates business cards so they could get pictures from me.
-Went to the end of BoCaNO Thanksgiving.
-Finally walked home from the train station at 1AM.

Ski Season Has Begun

Thats right ski season started for me this past weekend, but I am not going to talk about it. I remember last year how it seemed like every Monday entry was all about skiing and it gets boring quickly. Instead I am just going to include a slide show of the weekend and try to talk about something different. It was a great weekend though, the skiing was fun and staying at the new ski house by was fun. I used the iPod and it was great, getting adjusted to all my new equipment was tricky, but by the end of next weekend I should be all set.

I was in the Bury last night doing laundry and my mom took back her car, at least for today. Fortunately, Caitlin helped me out and gave me a ride back to Salem. She couldn't believe all the crap I had, from my guitar to the single weight my brother let me have for my new in home gym. Thanks so much for the ride. Now for those of you who are real thinkers, you now realize I needed to walk to the train this morning. I wasn't sure how long it would take, so I left a little early i.e. 7:07. The walk took me almost twenty minutes, I am going to have to alter my path and speed things up, I know I can get it down to fifteen minutes. It is good to be back at work, well I say that now I am sure once everybody gets hear I will be singing a different tune.

It seems like I am too busy to come up with something clever, I wish something would just annoy me. Did anybody else see the Bud commercial last night where there were a bunch of people falling over like dominoes. My entire family was captivated and burst out laughing. Haha, too funny!!!

I'm So Excited and I Just Can't Hide It

First of all let me say good things have been happening to me like crazy. First of all I got a promotion, then well I hit the deer, but it will get me a new hood. Next up was the cold weekend which allowed the snowmakers to open Sunday River five days before the original opening day. I will be enjoying the snow on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So as you can see things have been going well, so what else could possibly happen to top all of this great news. Well let me give you a hint picture:

That's right Dave, but since there are so many facets of Dave what is it this time that is causing me such jubiliation. The answer is FRONT ROW TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!! Yes you read it correctly I will be sitting in the front row at "An Acoustic and Electric Evening with Dave Matthews & Friends" at the Fleet Center on December 16th. It will be my first time sitting in the front row since the December 9, 2000 show in Albany and before that the only other time was my best show January 29, 1997 at UMaine. I don't want to get my expectations up, but this show could possibly surpass UMaine. It is an acoustic show so it gets extra points, plus now I know more of the songs, the commute will be relatively easy, which is a big selling point of the UMaine show. Either way I am very excited. Oh yeah and I almost forgot to mention the second row seats I have at the Providence show three days before the Fleet Center show. Boy when it rains it pours.

This smile will not leave my face, I'll be riding this high until 2004.

Wired Again

Do you want to Make Snowflake.

Good times last night. I couldn't wait to get home and get my internet working. Turned on the PC and it was all set, sweet!!!!! I then updated all of my software that has grown old due to lack of internet. My favourite upgrade was for my iPod. There is now a game where the iPod will play a song and you have to guess the name of the song. Its difficult now that I have 1052 songs. The internet makes putting CD's on it much easier, unfortunately I only have two more CD's to put on before I bust into my Dave Matthews collection, which won't be on CDDB. Did some grocery shopping? Listening to music while shopping makes it much more fun, though I am afraid I probably looked like a freak. I made some yummy pizza for dinner and also got to play the guitar, but only for a couple of songs. I have to keep practicing my singing on Gravedigger and Jimi Thing. Two songs down only 100 or so more to go.

Too Busy 'til Now

Many of you know this weekend was mostly spent in the city hanging out with the girls from 100 Beacon and their visitors. Basically what this involved was lots and lots of walking along with lots of eating at various locales in the Hub. Vanessa and I met Lauren and Lindsay at the airport on Thursday morning before I went to work. A huge bunch of us went to Border Cafe that night, especially because of the santas all eating fajitas (photos to be provided soon). Friday night we went to the Kinsale for some very good Irish cuisine, followed by a trip to 100 Beacon Street (photos to be provided soon). Saturday was quite fun, NOT!! I had to sit inside all day long waiting for the cable guy to make install my new digital cable box. He showed up twenty minutes after the 1-3 window I had been given, but no harm no foul. So now I have digital cable and internet, which also means I have less money. I then went to pick up a wireless router at Best Buy before going into the city for dinner with everybody.

We walked in the cold to Chilli Duck on Boylston near the Pru. It was a quaint Thai restaurant, I had their signature dish, Chilli Duck and thought it was okay, except very strange to eat. I periodically went outside to get pictures of the lunar eclipse. My Attempt at Moon Photos I found it to be rather anti-climactic, I am not sure I will go out of my way to catch the next one in six months. Following Chilli Duck we went to see an accapella performance over in Harvard Square. The show was good and there were definitely some interesting people there, Cambridge never fails to provide plenty of classic people, like the waitress who cursed at the bartender and then on the next walk by called one of the girls a Biatch. Haha it was funny. Of course as always I left relatively early and went back home to sleep through Dave Matthews on SNL. It happens every time. Yesterday I had to go home and do laundry, which was as fun as ever. After being there for about an hour a fire broke out in Newburyport and I went over there to take pictures. The fire department did a great job, because by the time I got there it was pretty much out, but I got some decent pictures all the same. Merrimack Street Fire Slideshow
I finished my laundry packed up a bunch of stuff and went back into the city to drop off some stuff including a plastic lawn ornament Santa Claus for Britt. I drove around the Common forever before finding a parking space and then had to carry the Santa through the streets of Boston. I should mention I did see Amy walking around while looking for a space, I almost didn't recognize her with the straight hair. For the rest of the afternoon Britt and I did some good old fashioned cousinly bonding, she read while I went through all of the Emerson students iTunes libraries and played music. I was looking for a classic 80's tune to cover on the guitar. Last year at Suds some kid got up on stage and played some old tune and the crowd just loved it unfortunately I can't remember what song he played. A little help?? Vanessa came back from her meeting and we went to dinner in the North End. The food was excellent, I had the largest Chicken Parm I have ever had at Al Dente. We had some trouble with the bill. Two new pet peeves from this weekend, settling a group tab and how everybody asks what everybody else is getting before they order. Next and final stop appropriately was Finale. The dessert was great as can be seen in the slideshow above, the company was even greater. I parted ways with everybody and went back to Salem to battle with my computer, internet and wireless router.

So typically in my life whenever I try to do anything with technology I am usually missing one part that prevents me from getting it to work exactly how I want it too. For example, everything in my entertainment center uses RCA style cables except for my TV, so I can't really set it up exactly how it should be set up. Another example, I wanted to install the new version of software in my iPod, but my computer didn't have the correct service pack and it didn't work. My internet looked like it my be the same way, but I might be okay. After wokring on it for two hours last night I gave up, because for some reason my laptop's battery can't hold a charge for more than ten minutes. Now this would be fine if I could leave it in the dock, but unfortunately have to bring it over to my television to set it up for the first time. So basically I had to set some of it up, plug it back in and finally when I was almost there, the stupid thing dies again. I gave up went to bed and with the twenty minutes I am allotted in the morning actually got it working. The only thing left is to get the wireless router set up and I will be on my way to LJ updates at home instead of them taking up half of my work day.

The weekend was great, busy and exhausting, but still great. It was great to see Lauren and Lindsay again. It feels strange that I have only met them in person once this summer down in Florida, it seems like I hung out with them more. Weird how things work in this new internet wired world, gotta love IM and LJ's, they connect you to a group of people you may never have known otherwise. It was also good to finally meet Ben and Chris, who were also up visiting from Florida, I had heard there names a lot, but Putting Names To Faces = Always Good. They were definitely on a mission to see Boston, all of Boston before leaving, and from the plan they were talking about yesterday I think they are actually see almost everything. Heck they already saw the self cleaning toilet in action, they didn't actually use it, but put a quarter in anyway to see what it did. Who does that?

The weekend officially put an end to the skiing off-season which officially ended at Killington at noon today. Sunday River will be following suit this Friday. They have been making snow all weekend long and will probably have a handful of trails open for the weekend. Hmmmmm, Friday, maybe I'll, no I couldn't, well I do have mom's car and I will need a head start on the rest of the crew....

Not Much To Say

Scottie sent me this movie this morning and I thought it would be nice to let you guys check it out. Clever and funny end of the world movie

So I still haven't heard a thing about my car and won't today because the lady handling my claim is not working today. I miss it already and for the weekend my mom wants her car back so I will be stranded in Salem or at least only within walking distance of the commuter rail. I will probably be in the city a bunch this weekend to hang out with the collage kids. I love being tour guide, which was obvious when I explained why the tiles in the Big Dig only go half way up the wall.

Okay I am done now. Hope for a nice and short day, it sounds like John is staying late so I can leave earlier than I thought and go to Border Cafe tonight. I'm still trying to figure out how to prevent my jacket and clothes from reaking of fried food, since Border is famous for stinking things up.

Have a great day!!!
Keeg

Promotion

It's about time I got this email from my boss, too bad I had to actually go and argue for it.
I am pleased to announce that Keegan Sands has been promoted to the position of Application Developer 2 in the MFS Fund Group.

Keegan joined the MFS Group in November 1999 as a Fund Accountant and quickly grasped the daily responsibilities of the FA role. While in the FA role, Keegan began to develop simple macros that interfaced with MCH and assisted him and his FA Group in completing some of their daily tasks. His initiative to leverage technology in a useful and meaningful way helped him get promoted to a Technology Analyst 1 in July of 2000.

As a TA1, Keegan worked hard to improve his technical skills by researching different coding techniques that could be utilized in the MFS Fund Group. He used his acquired technical skills and business background to build more complex macros that the MFS Fund Group readily embraced. Keegan always took care to build macros that meet the user requirements and were user friendly. During this time, Keegan also spearheaded the effort to move the MFS Fund Group from Excel based macros to Access based applications.

In November 2001, Keegan was promoted to a Technical Analyst 2. As a TA2, Keegan continued to expand his technical and business knowledge in an effort to make the MFS Fund Group as efficient and productive as possible. He personally developed many of the integral Access applications that the MFS fund group uses on a daily and has modified many of the others.

Keegan has been and is one of the driving forces behind most of the forward progress the MFS fund group makes in terms of technology and new ideas that help make the MFS Fund Group successful. Aside from his technical and business capabilities, Keegan is a pleasure to work with. He is a team player and is always willing to do what it takes to get the job done. Keegan is especially effective in time-critical situations, remaining cool, calm and collective.

I value Keegan�s past contributions and look forward to his participation in future endeavors that the MFS Fund Group decides to work on. Please join me in congratulating Keegan on his promotion.

Oh Deer!!

The sun began to set on another warm autumn day in the western mountains of Maine as I drove down Route 2 contemplating a possible trip home through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I had been up at our new ski house assisting in the installation of a new hot tub and also the completion of some odd chores around the house, the most random of which was vacuuming up bugs from every window in the house. The work went quickly and painless and I even found some time to take a nice little scenic trip up to Grafton Notch State Park. After working at the house I stopped by Sunday River to pick up my season pass to avoid the long lines which would certainly occur when the season finally begins in a few weeks. I filled up my tank in anticipation of a long non-stop trip back towards Massachusetts, the only question was which way to go. The White Mountains while much more fun to drive would take longer and since the sun had nearly set I decided the beauty of the mountains would be lost in the darkness. So I took a left turn off Route 2 and saved the drive through New Hampshire for another day when perhaps daylight would make the longer route seem worth it.


I accelerated after I made the quick corner onto Route 5 because after driving down this road every weekend last winter I was very familiar with almost all of the twists, turns and hidden dips of this obscure back road. It wasn't long before I left Bethel behind and hurtled deeper into the woods, the thrill of driving quickly increased as civilization began to fade away. I was now in the most rural part of the trip where I could really open up and let the turbo engine work its magic. My fun abruptly came to an end when I came to the end of the road and was forced to stop at an intersection. After stopping I made a change of music and put in a different Dave Matthews CD, something more mellow for the sudden change in lightness outside. Tearing out of the stop sign I left Route 5 behind and continued on Route 35 towards Waterford.

It wasn't long before I once again came to an intersection and had to slow down again, immediately following that was a hill with a market on it, once again causing me to putter along at a snails pace. I always get concerned near the market especially on the way up to Maine because it is near the bottom of the hill and you never know where the police are hiding. After passing the market I began to accelerate up the hill, and as I approached the top something jumped out in front of me. I slammed on the brakes, but it was too late and the collision began. The deer hit the front bumper with a loud thud and was thrown out of the way of the car, at the same instant the deer was flying off towards the should I could see the metal Volkswagen emblem flying off in the other direction. The car came to a screeching halt and in my rear view mirror I saw the deer slowly come to rest on the side of the road. He didn't seem to be moving, but my attention quickly turned to my car and what sort of damage had been done. Initially I was angry, not at the deer, but at myself for not being more aware, however I quickly realized there was nothing I could have done to avoid the wild animal which had dashed out into the road in front of me. I turned off the car and through on my hazard lights before jumping out of the car to assess the damage. The hood was badly crumpled, the grill was missing and the radiator was hissing like a soda can with a small puncture. I glanced back towards the deer and he was motionless except for a slight spasm in one of his outstretched legs, he did not fair as well as I did in this incident.

My brain zipped back to reality and I realized I needed to take action about the situation, and I went back to the car to get my mobile phone to call for assistance. I selected the number for VW Roadside Assistance and pressed the send button, only to hear the deafening sound of the no service alert. I was now stuck in the middle of nowhere with a damaged car and no way of contacting the civilized world. After pondering my options for a minute I decided to attempt to start the car and see if it was still in working condition and to my surprise it started and none of the dashboard warning lights were aglow. I made a U-Turn and began driving down the hill towards the market about a half mile back, when a truck passed me in the opposite direction, slowed and then backed down the road. I pulled over and got out of the car to speak with the obviously concerned citizen and to my surprise the truck contained two hunters covered from head to toe in blaze orange. They had some very strong Maine accents and immediately pointed out the obvious.

"So it looks like you hit a deer," said the driver.
"Yep, it jumped right out in front of me, do you guys know what I need to do now?" I replied.
The passenger, looking over at the deer says, "It looks like a young one, you can tell by its small antlers."
"I was thinking about driving down to the market and calling the police, is that the standard of procedure for this sort of thing?"
"Yep, that sounds like a good idea to me," answered the driver.

We went over to my car and they checked out the front of it making comments about what they thought would be wrong. The determined that I needed a new hood and it sounded like my air conditioning needed to be replace, but the radiator might be okay. I thanked them for their help and continued the drive down towards the market. The drive was short and I pulled into a parking space in front of the store, put the car in park and make my way inside to call for help. I stand in line behind some customers and eventually ask the woman behind the counter for help. I ask to use the phone to call the police and tell her how I just hit a deer. She dials the number and hands me the phone on my first 911 call of my entire life. As expected the operator answers with, "9-1-1 what's your emergency?" I tell her what happened and she directs me to a different operator who also utters the same question. I recite the story again and she says an officer needs to come out and fill out a report. The store owner hands me a card so I can tell the operator where I am. I hang up the phone and remember my stepfather is a couple towns away and I should notify him of my situation. My stepfather knew the second he heard my voice something was wrong and said he would be there as soon as possible. I assured him I was alright and to take his time.

The time is now five o'clock, fifteen minutes has passed since my accident and I realize I am going to be here for a while, but since I am not hungry I pass on the Snickers bar and instead go with a drink. As soon as I step into line the two hunters from earlier walk in the door and just stand there looking at me. One of then approaches me and begins to inquire about the deer.
"So are the police on their way?" the first hunter asks.
"Yep, who knows how long it could take."
"We were wondering, do you think you are going to want that deer."
"I don't really know, I guess it is mine though, huh."
"Well if you don't want it let us know."

I left the vultures inside so I could wait for the police to come and fill out my report. It was now almost dark and people kept stopping in to have their deer tagged, because as I later found out it was the first day of hunting season. The proprietors were very excited to hear Melby's Market had the highest number of deer compared to any other deer station under their warden's jurisdiction. I returned to my car to survey the damage and realized I hadn't taken one picture yet, so I grabbed the camera and took a bunch of pictures. Photographing my car was exciting, but after a few pictures I became bored and went back to the front of the store to continue waiting for the police. My two favorite hunters had come outside to wait with me; apparently they really wanted the deer. Finally after an hour the State Police showed up and took my information, he also asked me what I wanted to do about the deer. I told him about the scavenger hunters and he told me it was easier for him if I let them have it. I agreed and he told them they could have the deer. They tore off towards their truck and were out of sight within seconds in search of my deer. The officer then recommended I call to have my car towed since it would take a while for them to show up. It seemed rude to bother the store owners again for the use of their phone so I tried the pay phone outside. It had been years since I had used such a device and the experience helped back up my less than positive view of them. After waiting on hold for what seemed like an eternity of bad eighties music the operator took my call and said a tow truck would be there within the hour.

My stepfather showed up and surveyed the car and also made observations about what was wrong with the car. It seems to be a thing men do when damage has occurred to anything especially automobiles. My stomach began rumbling so I went back inside the market to find something to eat. I went to the counter and ordered a hot dog something I had been craving for some time. The waitress gave me a placemat and I hurriedly completed the word search just before my hot dog was ready. My meal was delicious, I hadn't had a red hot dog in such a long time and it tasted delicious. Upon completion of dinner I went back outside and told my stepfather he should go back to the house and pack things up and then come back and get me since it would obviously be a long time before the tow truck showed up. Two hours had now passed since I hit the deer and I was becoming a little bit anxious about being stuck in North Waterford. In an effort to feel more secure I went back to my car and took out my iPod to listen to some calming music. I was now alone in the middle of nowhere with a broken car, a useless phone and only ten dollars to my name with no ATM in sight. Walking back into the store a man made a snide remark asking me how the hunting was today. I shrugged it off and continued walking toward the very 1950's style counter.

The waitress who had helped me earlier asked me if I needed anything else, and I couldn't resist more food and ordered up some berry pie. We ended up talking about the SAT's and she told me about the two career interests she was considering. It was the first time since the accident I actually had a normal conversation with somebody and it was very relaxing. The pie came and we continued talking about life in Maine and about why in the world I was driving through town. When I began enjoying my pie she returned to the kitchen to work on cleaning up the place for the night. More people came in and enjoyed dinners, the owner was kind enough to point out the fact that I got my first deer today. The parties would congratulate me until she added the key piece of information about how my weapon was my car. They would then show sympathy towards me and remind me how lucky I was to not be injured.

Quiet was only interrupted when the phone would ring, and generally the calls were for me and the inability of AAA to find somebody who wanted to bring my car down to New Hampshire. Finally, they located a man in Fryeburg and he only had one condition, he wanted to pick it up tonight and then bring it to the garage in the morning. It didn't make much of a difference to me since nobody would be doing work on it for several days. I agreed and he said he would be there within the hour, not the first person to make the same promise. Boredom began to set and I thought for a moment I would be stuck in this little town forever and be forced to go and ask for a job at the market to survive.

A few minutes after the clock struck eight the tow truck pulled into the parking lot. Finally, I had some sort of activity to do. The driver took my keys asked me for a couple details and then drove off with my Jetta hanging from his truck. It was a sad moment, but oddly enough not the first time my less than one year old car had to be towed. I returned to the market only to find it was nearly closing time and in fifteen minutes I would have to sit outside. The kind waitress gave me my check and I paid with a generous tip, partly because of the great service and hospitality, but I also didn't want to give up the two dollar bill I had received for change. Closing time finally came and I asked my kind hosts if I could snap a picture of them to help remember my adventure at Melby's Market. They were hesitant but did pose for a photograph. I thanked them for there hospitality and assured them I would be back to try the pizza. The owner said I also needed to come in for breakfast some morning and I promised I would.

The door closed behind me and I was now sitting on a bench in the cold in front of the market. The hunters had all gone home and the only cars left in the parking lot were of the employees who were putting the finishing touches on the closing duties. The night was very peaceful and it seemed strange how the amount of activity had changed so much in the last four hours. In a very short amount of time the market had gone from a bustling hub of activity to a quiet shadow of its former self. While it was now peaceful and quiet I missed the people and commotion I had witnessed upon my arrival. The market I had dreaded and been so bored with earlier was now something of a comfort and I couldn't wait to return; hopefully under better circumstances.

Wait for it, wait for it

So yes it was a rather eventful weekend, so much so that I have to break it into two parts. First of all to keep the story I am going to tell separate from the basic what I have been up to and because I want to get some of this stuff out there now.

The Halloween season was good despite the fact I didn't get dressed up in any costumes this year, though it was from a lack of ideas. On Thursday Britt and Vanessa came up to Salem to check out the scene and while it was slightly disappointing I think it is safe to say everybody involved had a good time. The candlelit tour was definitely a highlight for me, not only because of the scary tour guide, but because so many people had trouble with their candles, from Vanessa dropping her's about two minutes into the tour to the old woman's which caught fire and had to be put out by her daughter. The wax museum was blah and not necessarily worth the six bucks, but it was somewhat informative. Here is the slide show for that Pre-Halloween Slideshow



On All Hallow's Eve I met up with the Emerson crew and went with them while they trick or treated on Beacon Hill. It was a new experience for me since I only know Halloween in Amesbury and was quite impressed by the amount of participation by the people on the Hill. Almost all of the people handing out candy had costumes and even more people had some sort of decorations up. One house actually had a cotton candy machine and was giving out cotton candy. A couple house made the kids put on a little show before they were allowed candy, which allowed Ryan the chance to use his Cuban Rowing team joke. Why doesn't Cuba have a rowing team? Answer: Because all the good rowers are in Florida. The act worked well and helped the candy count. I left Boston on the 9:30 train, which was a mad house because of all the people in costumes heading for Salem. The train was packed and everybody was talking and just having a great time. We finally got to Salem and upon stepping off the train I was amazed to see the people on the platform waiting to go back to Boston. Almost everybody was in costume and they were all a little intoxicated. I decided to walk downtown and just see what the Salem Halloween Scene was all about and boy did I see. Every street downtown was closed and people were just aimlessly walking around checking out everybody elses costumes. Now people have asked me what costumes I saw, but I honestly couldn't tell you because I saw so many. One observation I can make is there were a lot of people dressed in slutty outfits, from slutty nurses to the extremely popular school girl outfit. I did a couple laps of downtown and then went home.

I woke up early on Saturday to go to Maine and help move a hot tub on to the deck at our new house. I got up there at nine and we had it on the deck by 10:30. I then helped do some work around the yard, believe me it was so exciting. I did at one point play baseball with rocks and a piece of wood, until the bat broke. Notice in the pictures how I almost backed my car into a sink hole. Here are some pictures per my mom's request Ski House

Later in the day I went for a ride over to good old Grafton Notch State Park and took some waterfall pictures, which can be seen in the Grafton Notch slideshow I then picked up my season pass at Sunday River and began the long trip back to Salem. To be continued....

Early Thursday

I had to make it an early day today, so I am a little less with it than usual. The train in the morning is very different from the later trains. First of all there are fewer people which makes sense. The people are also very territorial about there seats and tend to sit on the aisle even in the three seaters. Of course when I got here everything was okay with the main process, but the parallel process didn't work out so well. We are working on getting it fixed so we can finally move to Oracle.

Last night was the first night of BoyCottaNO, which proved to be pretty successful. I went home and cooked myself a nice dinner of penne and red sauce. I have such a hard time judging how much pasta I will end up with from just dropping in the dry pasta, so halfway through cooking it I through in more (bad idea) so some of the pasta wasn't exactly al dente. Overall it was good and I continued to multi task at home which involves updating my iPod with more music. It is taking forever and I think I can put all of my cd's on it without a problem, but I don't know if I want to just dump everything on there and have some crappy stuff OR do I want to start putting some of my live DMB CD's which would prove to be of lesser quality but better music than my Titanic Soundtrack, Britney Spears and Chicago (the band) CD's.

Only time will tell.

iPod statistics so far
268 songs
1.5 GB
8 artists
23 albums

Another Rainy Day

I took some pictures yesterday in the Common yesterday and have put them into a nice little slide show for all of you lovely people out there. Not many trees have changed but the few that have looked great. It is so ironic how the leaves down here are better than the leaves up in Maine when I drove all the way up there last weekend. Hey if you can't go to the foliage just wait until the foliage comes to you.

It is raining again, but it isn't putting a damper on my spirits at all. The strange thing about the rain is how it can be so frustrating when you look out in the morning and know the commute will be just a little more difficult and wet. I usually dread standing at the train station waiting in the pouring rain while my pants get soaked because of the run off from my waterproof jacket. Next there is the dreaded activity of sitting in between two similarly wet people on the train for a nice musty smelling half hour trip into Boston. Finally you walk out of North Station and see the rain just pouring down on to the North End and realize being the constant goal seeker you are that you will forgo the relatively dry and painless subway trip and instead march down the flooded streets of the Hub. Only once I started walking down Canal Street with some music playing in my ears did I realize how much I enjoy walking in the rain. Yes you read correctly I actually enjoy the rain, but only if I am on foot.

Today I was reminded of a warm rainy night a few years ago when I was still in college. It was a typical late spring evening in Orono, I had been to class and went for dinner at the Union before I put on my rain jacket and made my way out into the showers which had been falling all day long. The walk from the Union to Somerset Hall takes about ten minutes and involves several winding paths which lead to my dorm atop the highest hill on campus. I zipped up my coat turned on my CD player and began my journey into the wet wonderland. I remember I was listening to an acoustic Dave Matthews disc, because it is all I listened to while walking around campus that year. The music combined with the rain put a huge smile on my face, it was perhaps one of the happiest moments of my life, but I couldn't exactly tell you why. Perhaps it the feeling you get once you are completely soaked and know you are going to be wet for a while and just don't care anymore. Whatever it was, the strange combination of my mood, the weather, the music and the lighting created some sort of wave of happiness which overtook me and I couldn't help but smile. It is certainly a brief moment in time I will remember for the rest of my life and somehow oddly ranks up there in my long list of happy times.

So while you are out there in the rain today or any day for that matter, just remember while the rain can sometimes be annoying and a nuisance, it can also bring out some very odd feelings of joy, just accept your new saturated state and enjoy the little packages of joy from above.

Calling All Santas

I was reading through my Boston Metro this morning while riding on the train and listening to the musical stylings of Howie Day and came across this at and could barely contain the laughter. I hope they have a lot of open positions, because I know a bunch of Santas that could fill the position.


Well this one goes out to Britt. You missed out on a great opportunity to personally meet real live Boston Celtics players. Yes its true this morning between 7:30 and 8:30 two players were signing calendars at both the Government Center and Park Street stations. I stopped by to take some pictures for you, but didn't want to stand in line and besides the fact I wouldn't know which players they were I also wouldn't know what to say when I got to them. However I knew I had to take pictures for you so you could see what you missed. I almost called you, but I knew you would be sound asleep so I refrained. Oh man its sometimes good to be the early bird.

I am considering starting a scientific study on the commuting situation at Salem station. I leave my house at the same time everyday, but the parking lot and number of people waiting for the train varies daily. I want to write down some environmental factors, such as the temperature, the weather, and the day of the week to see if they cause the parking lot to fill up sooner. I thought the rain yesterday would fill the parking lot, but it still had spaces left when I got there at 7:20, and today with relatively nice weather the lot was completely full at 7:20. Can anybody shed some light on this?

Wow what a weekend!!!

Friday night in the North End with B-Rok, Beans and Essa
Friday night at Border Cafe
Foliage and ocean slideshow
Family day in Boston
Pumpkin Carving Party

Weekend by the Numbers
160 miles driven in my car
16 people I hung out with over the course of the weekend (B, B, V, L, F, B, C, J, R, M, K, A, M, S, J, C)
9 meals eaten
700 dollars spent (580 on computer stuff)
6 hours of taped television I watched
206 pictures takend
2.50 price of one rose not a package of two
5 times we played the predator game
20 minutes for Beans to finish her fajita
2 hawks/eagles in Boston Common feasting on squirrels
6 pictures of the eagle I took with other people's cameras
125 minutes to go shopping for computer stuff
45 minutes until I finally listened to a song on my new iPod
8 hours spent with the Morin's this weekend (Thanks for dinner, twice!!)
0 times I was bored this weekend

Me = NO iPod

Last night I rushed home from work, jumped in my car and drove over to the North Shore Mall. I walked into the Apple Store and told the guy, "Could I have a 20 Gb iPod." Here is the conversation that followed:
"You can't have one, but you can buy one," said the fat Apple worker.
"Oh well I tried," I replied.
The other worker said, "I'll go out back and get one, hold on a minute."
"Thank you," I said gratefully.
I then remembered I had one more question to ask, which I had forgotten from last time. So I asked the fat guy, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill is the answer to your question," he cleverly snapped back.
"Okay, I don't think so, but anyway, I only have a 10 Gb hard drive and was wondering if I would be able to put music on it, move the songs to the iPod, delete the music and then put more music on until the iPod is full," I asked.
He answered, "No way, if your hard drive became erased you'd have to put all your files back on to your hard drive."
"Is there anything I can do?" I enquired.
"You would have to buy a new hard drive," he quickly snorted back.
I quietly uttered back, "Okay, well I guess I'm not getting an iPod then, thanks."

The guy who went to get my iPod came back and I had to tell him I couldn't buy it and told him why. In a nicer tone and demeanor he confirmed my worst fears and said the manual sync wouldn't work how I thought it would. If anybody has insight into this for me I would love to hear it from them. It looks like I might end up investing in a new hard drive, at least that way I can download some of my ski movies and finally put something together.

We'll see what the weekend brings.

Personality Test

I took a personality test today. Tell me what you think, it seems to be pretty close darn dead on.

Keegan's Personality Test Report

Take the Test Yourself

First Snow, okay it was more like the first flurry

Despite the fact that you can't see the flurries in the picture we definitely had some today. Apparently out in western Massachusetts they received up to an inch of snow, which is strange because on this day last year we also received snow. It is kind of exciting to think that winter is right around the corner, but at the same time I am not taking this cold raw weather very well. I have a request, in an effort to make life easier and better for everybody when you go to the slideshow could you please sign up for an Ofoto account. It won't cost you anything and even if you don't plan on storing pictures you will have access to all of the slideshows you view that have been shared by me or anybody else. It keeps track of all shared albums you have accessed under your username. After today I will set up any slideshows to require sign in.

Last night we had BoCaNO at the Sevens and it was good, pretty par for the course; I might need to miss a couple of weeks to make it fresher. I got home and watched Fraternity Life on MTV, which just had me glued to the TV. One of the pledges started the night making out with this one girl(Sharie) and then saw another girl (Lauren) and quickly moved to her. However, Sharie was a PSYCHO and kept pestering him while he was trying to hook up with Lauren. He ended up sleeping with Lauren, but not after Sharie came in while they were in bed together and told him to go to hell. Sharie came back again in the morning and gave Slater a hard time again and he told her she was banned from the house. Ha, classic TV. The next show on was called Room Raiders, where a guy goes into three girls rooms and looks everything over, including underwear drawers, hampers, closets and anything else in their room. He then decides which one he wants to date based on her room. It's quite amusing and thankfully the guy was a comedian and made it extremely funny. My one issue was how one of the girls was 18 and he was 24, strangely enough he picked her.

We had a fire drill at work yesterday and I decided to document it with my camera. Hey you have to spice things up somehow, once we got back inside I made a little slideshow and lucky for you I have put it out onto the internet. Fire Drill Pictures with captions

Baby name fun again. Source is at Popular Baby names How does your name rank?
summary="Most Popular Names for Births in Years 1900-1909." >

Most Popular Names of the 1900's
	Male		Female
Rank	Name	Number	Name	Number
1	John	25515	Mary	24455
2	William	20247	Helen	11468
3	James	15196	Margaret	9638
4	George	13000	Anna	8856
5	Joseph	12144	Ruth	8148
6	Charles	11436	Elizabeth	6833
7	Robert	9672	Dorothy	6639
8	Frank	8786	Marie	5874
9	Edward	7428	Mildred	5800
10	Henry	6477	Alice	5573
11	Walter	6423	Florence	5532
12	Thomas	6163	Ethel	4972
13	Harry	5894	Lillian	4958
14	Arthur	5191	Rose	4874
15	Harold	4962	Gladys	4834
16	Albert	4941	Frances	4496
17	Paul	4492	Edna	4435
18	Clarence	4439	Grace	4093
19	Fred	4273	Catherine	3717
20	Carl	3952	Hazel	3715

Keegan is making a run these days for both boys and girls.

That's all for now.
Keeg

So Much To Say

Oh man it doesn't get more fun then trying to see how many Dave Matthews titles you can squeeze into a series of sentences:

pseed36 (1:02:43 PM): Oh, you are so damn lucky. What you are may even be considered crazy. You never know when all those songs will come in handy though, like if you retired to bethel and became a bartender or something, pouring pints of that Halloween ale for the mug clubbers. You'd also have to learn that spoon trick to make the black and tans. Be careful with that bar though. The space between the liquor table and the bar is pretty narrow. Don't crash into it. That would be trouble. You could also hire back that waitress, Angel, from Liams. You know her, she's all that girl raised her baby, remember?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Auto response from KeegSands (1:02:43 PM): Ok so here's the Dave breakdown:
38 shows I've been to.
100 full shows on disc
2500 mp3s including different versions
5 hours of ants
6 hours of two step
31 days I could listen to Dave and not here the same version twice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

pseed36 (1:03:03 PM): Probably be a fool to think that she'd ever work at Suds everyday again though. Even if she did come back, she probably would not stay for more than 1 winter anyway. She wouldn't care if she let you down, so that may be a bad idea. An' another thing& I heard from joe that when she left the 1st time she didn't even say goodbye. I guess she thought there was too much BS with the new management. Recently its been hard to find good staff up there. You gotta take the best of whats around and hope it all works out.

So Close

For once I was a good kid and held back on spending a huge chunk of change on a tech gadget. The gadget in question is the iPod.

I was actually in the Apple Store last night and asked the guy a bunch of questions about Firewire and Windows compatability. I filled in the rest of the information I had been wondering about and then began to walk out of the store. I thought twice and then walked out of the store without and iPod, my reasoning was, well I don't really know, since I am confident that I will use the hell out of it and while it is $400, the amount of music I can put on it, calendar, contacts and various games are definitely worth the money. The use of it during the ski season alone will make it worth it. Perhaps I will save $20 and buy it in NH this weekend for my anticipated foliage trip

Passwordless Head of the Charles Pictures

I have so much to say, but have to get to work now. However I can squeeze this one comment out. What is the deal with all of the people with the blonde highlights and all this hair lightening that is going on? I wish everybody would just go to their natural hair color so we could see how many brunettes there are out there. It is just out of control.

Quick

Head of the Charles Regatta Photos
Autumn in Amesbury

I have some more pictures from Friday night at Pizzeria Regina and I will try to put them online a little later.

Have a great day everybody.
Keeg

BoSox: Classic Fall

"The Yankees win. Boone hit a homerun." The quote from the guy on the train which will haunt me for the rest of my days. A half dozen commuters all piled up at the front of the car to hear the play by play from some guy with an FM tuner on his Discman. Its amazing and comforting how moments like this can bring people together. After the homerun we all chatted about missed chances, Grady Little's decision to pitch Pedro into the eighth, the curse, tv ratings and the weather. While sitting there and listening to my fellow fans I realized sports are more than just for making money or showcasing star athletes, but they are about community and a sense of unity for people all over the country. Aside from national tragedies, which fortunately occur rarely, when do people from one geographic region come together and feel a togetherness like we all felt last night? Walking to work this morning I knew I wasn't the only one with a sinking feeling in my stomach and everybody else had the same thoughts running through their head. It actually allows you too put a smile on your face knowing you aren't alone.


Now for all of you collage kids, who really didn't know much about the BoSox or baseball for that matter before this heartbreaking season, I would like to personally welcome you to the hell that is a Boston fan's life. My mom told me two nights ago how she remembers me staying up late watching the 1986 World Series and how upset I was after the Buckner incident. At the time I didn't know anything about curses or the heart ache Boston had been through, but this time around I was prepared. I knew the only possible thing that can come from an early BoSox lead is the loss of that lead and they didn't disappoint. I was a fool to think I would actually see them win a World Series so early in my life. I think about my grandfather and how after the age of three in 1918 went on to endure 80 years of the BoSox failing to win a World Series, now talk about frustrating. In those 80 years he witnessed them lose four World Series (1946, 1967, 1975, 1986) all in the seventh game, two ALCS (1988, 1990) both four game sweeps and one ALDS (1995). It just wouldnt be fair for me to get off so easily with only one World Series (1986), four ALCS(1988, 1990, 1999, 2003) and one ALDS(1995) losses. So all you young fans out there prepare yourself for a long and painful relationship with our favorite Fenway residents and remember these three words which have begun to haunt me and hopefully won't haunt us much longer. MAYBE NEXT YEAR