Quick One

Last night I went to the BoSox game with Britt and Vanessa. It was great we were relatively close and within range of several foul balls. The batters just can't hit a Tim Wakefield knuckleball into fair territory as well as they hit it into foul territory. I felt lucky that I was able to see another baseball rarity, the errorless in-the-park homerun, I get to add it to the list which also includes a no-hitter. Of course there were tons of amusing people at the game, but if I were to list them all most of you would get tired of reading. Highlights would have to be the girl with the thong ornament, the Sweet Caroline cheerleader and the girl with body piercings all over her face and a cape. I hope to have some pictures very soon, since we brought the good ol' spycam.

Today I saw some interesting people in the city. The first guy was at the State Street T stop, he was sitting on a bench with a boombox which was playing music. At first I thought okay so he is playing music and thinks people are going to give him money. Then he started singing along to the music, and it wasn't a karaoke machine, he was singing along. Here I go giving him money. The next thing was at Downtown Crossing, where the Boston Metro and Boston Globe workers were yelling across the square at each other. The Globe girl was saying how her paper was better and how she works harder than he does. The she proceeded to try and yell to sell the paper, but she wasn't yelling headlines, but instead trying to make up clever slogans. I would definitely read over the headlines and then repeat them out loud, just like they used to do.

Gotta work hard now, ttyl.
-Keeg

Free Ice Cream

I just wanted to let everybody know that today is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's. So just stop by and get a free cone and one scoop of ice cream.

For more details go to the Ben & Jerry's Website

Boston Locations
Ben & Jerry's - NEWBURY
174 Newbury Street
Boston , MA 02116
617-536-5456

Ben & Jerry's - PARK PLAZA
20 Park Plaza
Boston, MA 02116
617-426-0890

Ben & Jerry's - PRUDENTIAL CENTER
600 Boylston St. Mall Building - Terrace Food Court
Boston, MA 02116
617-266-0767

Cambridge Locations
Ben & Jerry's - CAMBRIDGE
36 J.F.K. Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-864-2828

Ben & Jerry's - CAMBRIDGESIDE GALLERIA
100 Cambridgeside Place
Cambridge , MA 02141

I Love the Taste of Summer

I have to say yesterday was a delightful day. Work was work, though it was interesting carrying my Jay-Bo pizza all over the place while Scott and Suha decided on the what and where for lunch. We stopped in front of Viga where they were giving out free samples, I didn't get one since I had a box of pizza in my hands, but everybody was stopping to grab a small slice. Two guys in all there excitement completely made fools of themselves. The first guy started to eat his pizza and all of his motor skills focused on the slice instead of the open can of coke he was holding and he spilled soda all over his shirt and tie, it was a riot. The second guy was walking with his girlfriend and they both grabbed a piece, though she looked like she was having second thoughts about it, anyway he got a spot of sauce on his chin, but for some reason she didn't tell him and they walked away arguing about something, while I laughed my ass off. After the Viga incidents we went to PO Square and battled for a seat, they have about 15 tables out there with 20 chairs, which doesn't bode well for a party of three.

I made it home around 5:30 last night and went right to the beach to rollerblade. I hadn't been skating in a while, but it turns out it is just like riding a bicycle, in that you just remember. It was sooo nice, but they do need to sweep the sidewalks at times there was so much sand it felt like I was actually skating on the beach. I couldn't believe all of the pimped out cars and skanky looking girls who were down there yesterday, I wonder if they get sick of the Hampton Beach thing by mid-July. It was nice to see some bikini clad girls though, not like I would talk to them or anything.

Time to get to work. Going to see the BoSox tonight with Britt and Vanessa, which will mos def be a good time.

We were walking
Just the other day
It was so hot outside
You could fry an egg
-David John Matthews

Lyrics and Audio of Stay (Wastin' Time)

How far will they go?

I was driving to work this morning and saw the following sticker on a car.

I think it is an abbreviation for Salisbury, MA, but I can't be sure. I checked dictionary.com, but there isn't a salis to be found, however the acronymn finder had two results:
SALIS is School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (Dublin City University)
SALIS is Substance Abuse Librarians & Information Specialists
So I am going to assume not many people are proud members of the Substance Abuse Librarians & Information Specialists group and the sticker was for Salisbury. I think these stickers were cool once, but now they have become too mainstream. It is okay for them to have the three letter airport codes, ie. BOS, ACK, DEN, SLC, HUL. Five letters though now that is just crazy, what is next full city names such as the following sticker for The 'Bury

How far will they push the limits of the innocent black ellipse? Something needs to be done to curb this letter expansion before we end up with the following sticker.

Yes that is the actual name of a town. The town is found in South Wales for more info you can check out theCity with the longest name.

Final skiing weekend?

I had a pretty busy long weekend, lets start with Friday. Woke up ran to Wal-mart to buy a blank tshirt for computer tshirt creation. After that I headed up to UNH to pick Emily up for a nice lunch at TGI Friday's. I got the sizzling cheese chicken dish, you know from the commercial. It was pretty decent. Afterwards I stopped by home and then drove in to Boston to drop off the tshirt and transfer sheet for John. Yeah I know it sounds crazy but I finally got a chance to drive in the Liberty Tunnel and over the Zakim Bridge. The bridge was much cooler when I walked on it last May. Upon returning home my parents were going to dinner so I joined them.

Saturday, I did absolutely nothing until around noon when I went to the gym, 3 times in five days, getting back into it. Went back home and practiced the guitar before heading up to Sunday River for some skiing. Suds was dead, it is such a different town this time of year. It was cool to hang out there one last time, it is weird how much has changed since my first trip to Suds last September. I am sure things will change a bunch before the next ski season starts.

Today was the last weekend day of skiing at Sunday River. I got up there around eleven. The skiing was spring skiing to put it bluntly. It was tough on the legs, but a ton of fun, because the weather was so nice. We skiied every open trail, there were only 18 open trails, which really means six runs from top to bottom. I hit the big jump in the very sad terrain park, I can't wait for next season, the year of Tele and Phat Air. After a couple of hours it was time to call it a season and I headed home with all of my gear. I didn't know I had that much stuff. So now I am unpacking and rearranging my room. Good times.

I know I just don't quit

I just got back from lunch with the "Lovely Ladies", Britt and Vanessa. I don't know why they keep coming all the way across the common just to go to lunch with little old me. I usually just talk the entire time to the point of exhaustion. It took me forever to finish my sandwich today because I was talking so damn much. Anyway I definitely had a good time and it stinks that they will both be going home in the next couple of weeks.

After lunch we found a cool website, with some pretty funny home movies by a random kid. The site is Matthouchin.com. First check out the movies and also be sure to check out his "Cell Phone Collection".

Okay now I am going to test a new LJ html tag, it should allow me to shrink up the space my large entries take up on everybody's friends' pages.
The part you are reading right now should only be viewable from the second page. I can now extend my stories as long as I want without fear of it looking too long. I hope I just get used to using it.


Later,
Keeg

Oh what a night!!

Okay I'll give you all a freebie, "Oh What a Night" was the theme for my first prom, when I was 17. Haha! So now on to BoCaNO. We went to Flat Top Johnnies a pretty cool pool bar in Cambridge. We started things off by going over John's agenda, which while sometimes confusing and hard to understand is rather humorous.

Question 2: What is the last CD you bought?
KeegSands - The White Stripes
Mark - Nelly Furtado
Amy - The Dixie Chicks
E - Kid Rock
Natasha - Eva Cassidy
Kate - couldn't remember
Jen - Alison Kraus in Union Station
James - Bob Marley

While we were going over the agenda this self proclaimed obnoxious woman comes over and was trying to raise some money for Lukemia, not for the disease, but for the battle against it. We put in some money and got to punch in this little board which had numbers in it, if the number you punched matched a number on the prize list you won the prize. We didn't win the first time, though we were all hoping for the 2 month membership at Curves. One of the other prizes was a tour for a person and 80 friends at the Harpoon Brewery. Who has that many friends? The lady left and then the Boc's began to hatch a plan to negotiate for more hole punches. The going rate was 5 punches for $3, but in their never ending quest to save money they asked if they could get 30 punches for $10. I was against this because I don't think you should negotiate when it comes to giving money to charity, it just seems wrong to me. After much deliberation by the charity group they agreed and the thrifty ones got there punches and much to my joy did not win. Sorry guys!!

Another highlight, for me at least, was the automatic paper towl dispenser in the bathroom. It was amazing to see how far technology has come. Unfortunately the rest of the Boc's rained on my parade by saying it was great, BUT the faucets aren't automatic and you still have to touch them and also because the trash had a cover you had to touch to throw away the paper towel. Come on people there are germs everywhere even if you open doors using your shirt cuffs you are constantly breathing in contaminated air all of the time. Perhaps y'all should invest in air tight suits to walk around in if you are really so afraid of germs. Okay a lot more went on, but I couldn't write it all down. Oh one more thing, I did tell my story about the girl who asked me over to her house to remove porn from her computer one late night after a Dave Matthews concert. I won't go into to detail, but I did go over, removed the porn and then left. The general consensus on this is that I am a complete dumbass and should have stayed. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Quote of the night: Dude, there's a fuckin' thousand holes. - Obnoxious Marie

JERRY: Hi, I'm Jerry.
WOMAN: Hi.
JERRY: You might not know it to look at me, but I can run really, really fast.
From Seinfeld The Strike first aired December 18, 1997

I know enough entries already, but I wanted to test this out.

Enter a word in the box and submit it to see the word in sign language.

Have to add this fun blast from the past Play Mash

Not much to say

In an effort to put up some content, I am including a sweet picture. Check out the cool t-shirts you can buy from LiveJournal. I haven't place my order yet because I can't decide on a color.


Last night I made my triumphant return to the gym. I figured I needed a little bit of weight lifting before the summer time, I can't wait to go to the beach. I don't know why I ever stopped going, it is such a refreshing experience. Of course at this time tomorrow I will probably be sore and not feeling so refreshed, but for now I feel great. Some of the usual suspects were at the gym, it is strange how in your daily life you can recognize so many people without actually knowing them. It was most common when I used to ride the rail, you would see the same people almost everyday, but never say a word to them. I think there is a certain comfort in this phenomenon, which I have been missing since taking the T, so far there is only one woman I recognize. I sure do miss the familiar faces from the rail, but definitely don't miss the extra hour and forty minutes a day commuting.

The gym also in some strange way inspired me to stop at the grocery store and pick up some food for the rest of the week. It is amazing to me how much food you can get for such little money. For less than twenty dollars I bought enough food for the rest of the week. I was disappointed to find out that they don't make Cheese Nip Crisps anymore, I thought for sure they would be here to stay.

Keep smilin',
Keeg

I'd like to think the best of me
is still hiding up my sleeve
- John Mayer

The Difficult Task

A have been slightly busy since my last entry, so I have the difficult task of making this entry as short as possible. I will try to do it using list format.

Good Friday - Woke up didn't do much stuff until the afternoon, when I went to the movies to see Phone Booth and A Man Apart. I enjoyed both movies though the endings were kind of weak. After the movies I began my search for bike parts and I also bought some blank cd's. Finally, went home and watched television.

Great Saturday - Ran some bike part gathering errands in the morning before going to Maudsley with Nissa and Ryan. I rode my bike while they jogged, it was the final bike ride with my old school handlebars. Upon returning home I began the task of installing a new brake system, grip shifters, handlebars and bar ends. Five hours later I was grip shifting and stopping without trouble. It was a great learning experience. I picked Nissa up and we headed to Ryan's, the staging area for the expedition to Portsmouth. Once in Portsmouth about twelve of us ate dinner at the Friendly Toast. It was everything I thought it would be and more. We then went to Bull Moose and finally returned back to Ryan's house to hang out for a little while.

Easter Sunday - After celebrating the resurrection of JC, which pretty much included me eating some chocolate easter eggs I joined my family outside. I had to do some fine tuning on the bike, but once that was all set I played some basketball. My mom then suggested I was my car so for the next two to three hours I worked on "My Precious". It was the first hand wash and wax. It looks like new :o) I then went to the beach for a little stroll and saw some seals and an out of place beaver. He was definitely lost, the park ranger was going to take care of him. Britt called me and asked if I wanted to join an apartment party at Ryan's so I went over there at eight. Britt, Ry, Nissa and I had some good times with karaoke, food, and more work on my giant collage. Finally got home at 12:30.

Overall a great weekend. I am so glad to have accomplished some of the things I wanted to do, I think the only thing I didn't finish was the documenting of the ski movie. I'll save that for a rainy day.

Late Breaking News I just happened to go online yesterday and Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds are going to be playing one more show at UMass on May 5th. It is like a nice second chance for me, since I missed out on the CT and RI concerts. Nissa is going to help me out if I can't get tickets from the Warehouse. If I get tickets it is going to be amazing.

What To Do

Yep I am still sick, but luckily I didn't have to work today, so I am able to rest up a little bit. Might make an attempt at the gym later today if my body will hold up for such an activity. Yesterday I walked over to 100 Beacon to pick Britt up for the trip back to Amesbury. Lotsalafswurhad!! I did absolutely nothing last night except watch tv and noodle around with the guitar. I just had some pancakes, which was the first real breakfast I have had in as long as I can remember.

Now I am trying to figure out what to do with my day. I have to watch Zack until noonish, but after that nothing planned.
Options include:
1) Documenting the scenes of my ski videos
2) Buying bike parts and then putting them on my bike.
3) Go to the movies.
4) Get something from the library to move on with the next 25 in the list.
5) Go to the gym.

Wow look at my exciting life. Have a great weekend everybody!!
Keegan Willis Sands

Scuzzy Guys

Howdy, y'all!! Yes I am still sick for all of you readers who I am sure are concerned about my health. It doesn't seem to be getting better either. I did go to BoCaNO last night, which was a good time even though I didn't really eat anything. We went to Fajita's and 'ritas, which is cool because of the paper tablecloths or maybe it is just tablepapers. You can see some pictures above the big one is the general tablepaper from yesterday and you can click on the thumbnails to zoom in on the smaller sections. We started with a discussion about work and whether or not I should move to Seattle to work, because I was considering that well at least I was yesterday afternoon. The conversation then moved on to good old JC. Not many of us are very religious and were looking for some Easter questions from the more religious in the group, ie. so how was JC locked in the cave, who the hell is Mary Magdalene(sp?) and is the bible out on video yet? Most questions were left unanswered, because apparently we don't really have a clue about religion. Moving on from god we talked about ghosts, and how some people while not believers in god believe in ghosts, which I find interesting. I try to cover all bases and don't believe in either.

The conversation then took a turn towards online dating and 8 Minute Dating. You will never guess who brought this up O:-) I was talking about the 8 minute dating thing and Danica made a comment about it is probably only sketchy people that would do that, the funny thing was she said it after I mentioned I was considering it. It was pretty funny. Anyway, we also talked about an idea Mark and I came up with to have 8 Minute Dating, Mic'd Up Picture this, sending me into 8 Minute Dating with a microphone recording the conversations from the eight dates. I think it would be a riot to just hear how stupid I would sound. I am sure while listening I would get a lot of "Who Says That!" and "Why did you ask that question?". After talking about online dating I made a comment about how I give up and how I am just going to remain single forever, it is just a lot easier. Danica and Kate proceeded to draw out my less than interesting life if I in fact I do give up on children, they drew out each step on the tablepaper. After eating we headed to the 21st Amendment, some of us went against our wills, but trudged up Beacon Hill anyway. Upon getting there, the crowd inside was to hip and it almost seemed like a gathering which we weren't invited to. I know I didn't fit in with my LL Bean jacket and bag. So we headed home and another BoCaNO came to an end.

Check out the links for some great skiing pictures, I just found online. Sorry Kate, have to look out for the readers.
Keeg Early Season Picture
Keeg Late Season Picture

Kate Skiing

Easter eggs, Easter eggs
Hidden all around.
Come my children look about
And see where they are found
Easter eggs, Easter eggs
They're a sight to see.
One for Tom and one for Ann
And a special one for me!
Easter Eggs (Tune: Jingle Bells)

I just found this great story Cupid's needle in a haystack about Second Chances type systems.

Oh my the Second Chances today were classic. My three favorites were:
1) The guy who offers a reward of a Caribbean villa for a week if the girl is found.
2) The guy who sees a girl in her Corolla and she runs a red light, and he says"You are just the type of bad girl I am looking for."
3) The guy who watches a girl sleep on the train.

These people are so classic.

Day Three

So for the third day in a row I am not feeling well, I hope this cold goes away before the weekend. I want to get back to the gym, but sick and gym are not a good combination. Yesterday was such sweet weather and I couldn't go for a run because of my stupid cold.

I talked to a bunch of people today who had trouble sleeping last night. Last night's warm weather reminded me of how much I hate the summer nights because it is so impossible to sleep with all of the heat. All I did was tossed and turned for half of the night trying to get comfortable. At one point I tried to shut the window, slipped and slammed both of my wrists on my bed frame, OUCH!! I would have to say overall it was pretty much a nightmare and I can't wait to feel better.

That's all folks.

Long work day calls for a long lunch

I just got back to lunch and figured why not post an entry since it was somewhat eventful, or eventful for my boring life. First Scottie and I went down to PO Square for some people watching. I don't know where they store the girls in the winter, but they have definitely come out of storage. One peep peeping highlight was the girl on the cell phone trying to find her friend. I find it amusing when people do this, especially at concerts, they are always talking and looking around trying to give landmarks which just ends up confusing the person. Eventually her friend showed up and we realized it would have been a fun game to try and figure out who she would have been. The next person worth mentioning was the girl with light colored pants who decided to sit on the grass and show everybody her underwear. Attention girls if you where hip hugger pants be aware that sitting down could result in an underwear display. Finally at PO Square, the little blonde haired girl from the train came and sat right next to us. Of course I didn't talk to her, but it had been a while since I had seen her and she looked great as always.

Scottie then headed back to work but I stayed out and went to the common for a nap. First I laid in the grass with the constant fear of wet spots on my shirt and pants. I laid there for a good half hour before tons of flies were hovering around me and I knew it was time to find a new resting spot. I then found a granite bench and continued my napping, until a bunch of birds surrounded me and I figured before any other animals decided to surround me I should get some Jay-Bo and go back to work. So here I am.

I love this weather.

Asi asi

It appears that today is going to be a great day so I actually wore a short sleeved shirt and no jacket in anticipation of some warm weather. I was going to bring a lunch but alas we did not have ziploc bags or brown paper bags so I guess I will have to get Jay-Bo damn. Yesterday was an okay day, the highlight would have to be lunch with Britt and Vanessa, which was followed by a walk through the park and some Ben & Jerry's. Work was okay, I ended up working over ten hours, because I was so involved in my current project. The bad part about yesterday was the fact that I felt sicker and sicker throughout the day, I feel a little better this morning, but you always feel better in the morning. Last night I watched Jackass: The Movie with the group commentary turned on, it was so funny to hear the guys reliving each of the scenes. Bam is hilarious, the best of the cast, well next to Brandon DiCamillo, who is the funniest guy ever. After the movie I chatted online a bit with some friends old and new, but then got to bed early for some much needed rest.

Now to Dave for some words of wisdom.

Dying doesn't seem too bad
Being left behind seems the troubled path
-David John Matthews
Lyrics to Dressed In Black

Monday again

Well I am back to work for yet another Monday, but the good news is the week will be a short one, because of Good Friday. Thank goodness for good old JC, if it wasn't for him we would have half as many holidays. As you would probably have guessed I went skiing again, but it looks like no skiing next weekend, since everybody else is staying home. It has been so long since I have spent a weekend in Amesbury, I have no idea what I am going to do. Any ideas? I guess it all depends on the weather. Speaking of weather, be prepared the high temperature for tomorrow will be near 80 degrees, yes its true, so break out the summer clothes and enjoy because on Thursday the forecast calls for cold with mixed precip and maybe even some snow :o(

I have had about enough of the new pop up ads on the internet. The older ads are annoying, but easy to get rid of, because they just made a new browser window, the new ads aren't as simple. I was on a website today and this thing pops up, its not a window, but some sort of shaped object. I look in the upper right hand corner, but there aren't any close buttons. Now I have to read the damn ad to figure out how to close it, I mean I guess that is the point, but please does ANYBODY actually buy things because of the ads. Annoying.

Quote of the weekend: We were watching MSNBC and the Iraqis were yelling, "Go home Yankees." In response one of the American soldiers yells, "We're here for your fucking freedom." Good call dude.

Words, words, words, have you heard
A bird in hand is much better than,
Any number free to wander
-David John Matthews
Lyrics and audio of Pay For What You Get

New Haircut for the weekend

I finally did it and cut my hair for the first time in two months or so. My head feels so light, it feels good though. I do have a noticeable tan line, but that will all change if the sun ever comes out again. Have a great weekend everybody, its off to Maine for more skiing, really need to make some progress on the ski movie.

Peace out,
Keeg

The Amusing Vegan

vegan - n. A vegetarian who eats plant products only, especially one who uses no products derived from animals, as fur or leather.

Disclaimer: I would like to put a disclaimer on this entry by saying that I am not against veganism and I have nothing against vegans or vegatarians, I am just posting observations to possibly create some discussion on the subject and to tell an interesting story.

Last night I went to the Olive Garden in Framingham to have dinner with Sarah, her friend Amanda, and Amanda's boyfriend Tim. I made it in record time and was able to begin the 55 minute wait for a table before everybody else got there. Once the we were all there and seated the fun began. While ordering our food I learned that Tim was a vegan, which really intrigued me since I had never been to dinner with an active vegan. So of course he didn't announce it right away, but asked the waiter about each dish and if it had cheese in it. He then asked to have the breadsticks without butter, which kind of disappointed me since it is the best part. At first I thought he was lactose intolerant ( or as I learned from him later a lactard), but eventually Sarah asked and he told us he was vegan. I didn't inquire as to why, which I am regretting now, because I am very curious. We did have a small discussion about it and there was some debate about how evolved we are and whether are bodies truly are designed to digest meat, it got scientific, but I do remember his last words, "I guess I am just more evolved." Finally the food came and after a quick inspection of the salad and an inquiry about cheese in the dressing we were able to eat. The waiter apologized for the delay on the breadsticks, but they had to bake a special batch for us. The next fun fact I learned was that he was straight-edge on top of being vegan and even avoids all forms of caffeine. I am trying to put together a list of the foods I wouldn't be able to eat anymore and realize I should just make a list of the foods I do eat that I could still eat if I were vegan since it would include about ten things. The dinner continued with little talk about being a vegan, occasionally the girls would talk about science, but I would say the second most popular topic was Tim's job as a teacher. He teaches Social Studies and had several interesting stories, it sounds like his class is one of the better to have, since he doesn't give homework, because "I don't want to correct it." One more amusing tidbit was his constant use of "word" or "word up".
For example:
Tim: So where are you from?
Me: Amesbury.
Tim: Rockin ( he possibly said representing) the North Shore. Word!
Me: Yep
It was a fun and memorable dinner. I definitely learned that I can't be a vegan, first of all because I would miss pizza too much and because I would definitely be labeled "Keegan The Vegan".

In my research of the topic I came across a great site showing Vegan Tattoos Strange things going on out there.

You see this crazy man decided not to breathe
He turned red and blue - purple, colorful indeed
No matter how his friends begged and pleaded the man would not concede
And now he�s dead you see the silly man should know you got to breathe
-David John Matthews
Lyrics or audio to Big Eyed Fish

My View of the World

While I was sitting here at my desk I thought it has been a while since I have had a picture on the LJ, so I decided to give you all a glimpse into what I see for over eight hours a day. So I took a picture of part of my desk.
Things to notice:
Nalgene water bottle (hasn't been washed in I don't know how long)
MS Natural keyboard (for ergonomics)
whiteboard (spot of much amusement)
pictures (to remind me of the outside world)
rearview mirror (upper left part of monitor)
Jay-Bo menu (pink paper)
radio (always on WBCN)
two pinwheels (top corners of monitor)
Lord of the Rings desk calendar c/o John (gotta know the date )
headphones (so the guys at work don't kill me for playing too much Dave)

It occurred to me that while I chat with a lot of people everyday, in most cases I have no idea what the room looks like where they are chatting from. I find that I have a picture in my head about what people's offices and dorm rooms, but I am sure it isn't even close to what they actually look like. So if you have access to a digital camera, either post it on your LJ's or send it to me so I can clear up that picture in my mind. Perhaps we need a sequence in bLOggErS of everybody's typical posting environment to establish characters.

BoCaNO last night was good. We started at the Beantown Pub, but since they don't have seating there, we decided to finish the night at RockBottom. Nothing about the conversation was extraordinary, with the exception of our ordering food. Some of us, me included tend to order like Sally from When Harry Met Sally, for example Brewer's Club sandwich w/o lettuce and tomatoes, but with the caesar salad OR Chicken Fried Chicken w/o gravy, onions or coleslaw. We sound like poster children for Burger King's "Get it your way" slogan.

Quote of the night: Fajitas don't seem like the type of food Mexican's would eat, it just seems like too much work for such lazy people.

So we sailed up to the sun
Till we found the sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine
-John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Lyrics to Yellow Submarine.

The Statue has fallen

So we were watching CNBC and the crazy Iraqis were having a devil of a time trying to knock down a statue of Sadaam. First they were hacking away at the cement base with a sledgehammer. The were to impatient to take turns and then began fighting over the sledgehammer. Upon realizing that would take longer than it took us to get to Baghdad, they decided to climb it, which really didn't accomplish much. We were all just waiting for one of them to fall off. Finally a US tank pulled up to the statue and an hour later using a crane attachment pulled the statue down. The best part was how the Iraqis kept throwing stones at it and actually shot at it with a gun. Once it was all on the ground they began jumping on it like crazy people. Was it really a bright idea to liberate these people? I don't think they are bright enough to govern themselves, sometimes I thank god for dictatorships. Also the latest from Al-Jazeera, is that Sadaam is now taking refuge in the Russian Embassy. It must be hard for this guy to lose everything he has worked so hard for. I would be devastated if they were televising pictures of people tearing down my statue or looting one of my hundred's of houses. However, I don't feel bad for the guy.

Grrr

So its been a rather stressful couple of days for me, but it was for no apparent reason. Yesterday I woke up at 5:30 and decided to go to work late and fell asleep for another hour. Upon waking up I decided to watch "The West Wing" from last week. I began getting stressed because I was worried about getting to Malden before 9. I did and then took my time getting to work.

We went to Chicken Heaven for lunch and I can't say I'd recommend the place. I was sketched out about the place to begin with and the menu was different but I decided on a "Slice, dice and rice" dish. I ordered and then followed the line towards the cash register. I knew something was up when people on either side of me got there food, but I didn't have mine. I got to the register and the guy was like, what did you get, so I told him and he asked me where it was. I said, "I don't know, I was hoping you could tell me." So a giant scene ensued while he went to put together my plate for me. He finally gave me my chicken and said, "That will be 4.83." So I handed the guy $10 and he gave me back four ones and change and I had to ask why I was getting less than five dollars back and he showed me the receipt. I got back to my seat, where the fun continued. The table was rickety and everytime somebody came in the store a blast of cold air hit me so I had to wear my jacket. Never going back there, I am stickin with Jay-Bo.

I got home and my brother needed help with computer stuff, which pretty much took up my entire night. This morning I accidentally overslept and I had to forgo a shower, so I could get to the good parking lot. I headed to Malden, but not only was I late, but I needed to get gas and get money for the parking. So I was running late and needed to run errands, ahhhhh so frustrating. I got to the parking lot with tons of time to spare, goddamnit why did I get so freaked.

It was a long day at work, but late in the day Britt came online and I suggested we go out to eat and we did. I met up with her, Katie, Vanessa and Becky for dinner at Crazy Dough. I had been talking about it for a while, so it was good to finally show them how good the pizza is there. It was tons of laughs, from the road trip to the validity of the word gotten. We still have to figure out when to have the LJ party. Oh yeah if you want to export your link go to Export Journal Once there enter your user name and password, fill in the year and month boxes and finally i recommend changing the format to XML. Hit proceed and then when the new page loads do a file SaveAs and save it somewhere on your hard drive, and it is best if you rename it something like "April03.xml" You can then print it out for the LJ party.

Okay I was given an assignment by Britt. It was to summarize what the trip to Florida will be like. So basically here it is:
Amesbury to Columbus 808 miles, 13 hours (I think this is still an overestimate)
Columbus to Tampa 1033 miles, 16 hours 47 minutes

The concert is on June 17th at 7:00 PM. So we will have to leave based on that otherwise the rest is totally up to us.
Map of first leg

Have a good night y'all.

The weight has been lifted, for now!

I feel a long entry coming on, so please be patient. As many of you know this past weekend was the Bust n' Burn mogul competition at Sunday River . Ever since I was a wee lad of 11 or 12, I have wanted to dawn a competition bib and test my luck at one of the most challenging types of ski racing out there. Well I finally did it on Saturday morning. I headed up to Sunday River for some practice on Friday and was able to actually do the course about a dozen times. On Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to get my bib and to get a few more practice runs in before the start time of 10:00. The weather was snowy and icy, which made things a bit interesting. I arrived at the start gate and watched the first bunch of competitors do their runs until it was finally my turn. Upon stepping up to the start gate, I decided I would take the blue course, because in practice runs it was my better course. Only a little while early did I learn that it wasn't going to be a dual format race but instead a single format race, which means I would ski alone and would be judged on turns and air. A total of five judges rated my skiing, three on turns and two on air. I was quite nervous, because I had never skiied when a bunch of people were just watching me, plus I had this built up anxiety from all the years of wanting to do it. Overall, I felt my skiing was less than spectacular and my air was in my opinion a disgrace. I was so focused on the skiing, I totally neglected my air component and ended up doing two lame twisters, very disappointing. However, I am happy to have finally accomplished my goal. Yeah I didn't exactly bring my "A" game, but now I know what to practice next year and I promise you this I will make it to the second day. I finally saw the Bust 'n Burn Official Results last night and I finished 87th out of 165 competitors. I do have some pictures we took which are in the Bust 'n Burn Photo Album
I also found links to some professional photos they took during the competition, but wasn't able to steal them from the web site, so instead I have provided links to the photos below, you can even order a picture if you really want :
Bust 'n Burn Photo 1,Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5, Photo 6

Yesterday was an oddly amazing day. I didn't actually get up to the mountain until 10:30, because I was exhausted from a late night and the whole time change thing. The prior day had been very icy and I wasn't expecting anything great, but once I took a few runs I knew it was going to be one of those great days. The sun was shining, but it was rather cold, so I got all bundled up and stayed warm. The conditions were excellent though, you could do some nice carving, but at the same time the sides of the trails were covered with powder, you could also ski the bumps because they were nice and soft. It was amazing, however after a few hours my body was really feeling the strain and I had to take it easy. I didn't care and just kept doing runs right up until three o'clock. I must say it was quite possibly one of the top ten days of the year. Overall the weekend has reminded me why I ski and I am now motivated once again and can't wait to go up again next weekend. I also am very excited to go to Tuckerman at some point in the next month. I totally forgot that I have that to look forward to. The ski movie is going to kick ass, I think I am going to call it Kansas. The slogan will be, "It's long and boring, but you can't help but watch it."

Maddox did update his site recently with his latest rant calledTwenty-six things a perfect guy would do, and other propaganda disseminated by misguided women


Finally, I learned late last night about the death of MSNBC journalist David Bloom. It took me by complete surprise, especially the fact that he died from non combat related causes, and I wanted to mention it. Over the past couple weeks I have found his reports from the front line to be the best in the business. He would always provide you with the common man's view of the battle and what was going on. He was always quick to mention the soldier's he was traveling with and would pass on hellos to their families. In an age where Geraldo Rivera is destroying the reputation of the "embedded journalist", David was helping to show why we have journalists in the field. He was honest, funny and apparently loved his job, not for the fame, but instead for the joy of keeping the public informed. The common image we all have of Gulf War I, will always be the anti aircraft fire over Baghdad from January of 1991, I think in ten years the common image we will have of this war will be of David riding with the 3rd Army through sandstorms in the desert.
David Bloom (1963-2003)

The Movement Begins

Its official the Night Out movement began last night. While BoCaNO was learning sign language at "Miracle of Science" in Cambridge, a small group of "collage girls" was gathered across the Charles in Boston at the Rock Bottom Brewery. They call themselves ECNUNO, Emerson College Northeastern University Night Out. Think of it as BoCaNO: The college years. I don't have details on what went on exactly, but I understand it was modeled after BoCaNO. I originally asked them if they could move it to a different night so I can go, but now I think it should stay on Wednesday and remain separate from BoCaNO, which will make it much more interesting when we have a joint BoNUECCaNO. I can't wait to see the two groups together, it will be so CLASSIC!! So best wishes to ECNUNO. Also to the Boc's check out my friends link and read a little bit about the ECNUNO. Just do it, I know ou are skeptical but give it a shot.

BoCaNO was a good time last night, I felt like I was really on a roll, from the french laugh to the discussion about porn in Amy's office. We practiced sign language throughout the night and I now know the entire alphabet, though I still am not sure what "Q" is. Sorry Natasha I don't think it is the bunny rabbit ears. I left at around nine because I knew it would take me forever to get home and it did. Upon getting home I foolishly started up my computer and as soon as IM came up I was hooked and ended up chatting for an hour or so. Sleep always loses over chatting. I wasn't able to work on my brother's project so now I have to get cracking. I almost forgot, I was watching Letterman last night and the guest was Helen Hunt and she told a story about her and her boyfriend. So I think that is proof enough that she is not a lesbian, since she has a boyfriend.

So what are the dates for the road trip? I have to be in Columbus, OH on June 17 for DMB.

Not Toasted! Not Toasted!

So I just got back from an errand and just had to share a little story from my brief expedition. I walked into Finagle A Bagel and stood in line. I scan the line looking for any cute girls and my eyes find one. A quick glance at her left hand shows she is taken, but she is the best looking girl in the place so I watch as she orders and that is when I knew something interesting was bound to happen. As she places the order she carefully instructs the cashier on how she wants her bagel. I immediately thought HMB (high maitenance bitch), I had an inkling when I first saw her, because of the tailored suit and bitchy facial expressions, but her ordering confirmed my suspicions. It was now my turn to order and I had to forget about the girl for a second. Once my order was placed and the bagel was sent down the conveyor belt I headed towards the pick up area and there she was right up against the counter watching her bagel being put toghther. I positioned myself in the perfect place to watch and hear what was about to go down.
Here is the dialogue:
HMB: That's not toasted right.
FAB1: Not toasted.
HMB: Not toasted.
FAB1: Not toasted.
FAB2: Not toasted.
HMB reaches over the counter and grabs the wrapped bagel.
HMB: How come its warm?
FAB1: Not toasted.
HMB: But its warm.
FAB Supervisor: Its not toasted.
HMB: Then how come its warm?
FAB Supervisor: It just came out of the oven.
HMB: Do you have any that aren't warm?
FAB Supervisor yells back to cashier to check for a cooler bagel.
FAB Supervisor: They are all warm.
HMB: Well I don't like melted cream cheese. Can you cut one and give me the cream cheese on the side.
FAB Supervisor: Okay.

That's right the cutie didn't want her cream cheese to be melted. That is what this was all about. It was annoying how she kept saying to the workers, "Not toasted.", because she assumed they didn't speak english very well. I am willing to bet that working at a bagel place you eventually learn what "toasted" even if you didn't speak a word of english. I feel bad that somewhere out there is a guy who is planning on putting up with that crap for the rest of his life. Maybe I will put up a message in the Boston.com second chances, and if I get a response get to the bottom of her dislike for melted cream cheese.

No Subject

I can't seem to come up with a subject today, so it will be "No Subject". I don't know if you all got yesterday's posting, but of course it was an April Fool's joke, I love my job and would never want to leave this place. I will admit the story was actually true, but I didn't get to the point where I actually quit. So yesterday was pretty run of the mill with the exception of my lunch with Britt and Vanessa at Finagle A Bagel. I love going there for lunch, while it is a bit expensive it definitely tastes great. I did try the new carbonated Nantucket Nectars and my opinion is blah. It was okay, but I don't think I would buy another one. It sounds like my new car may be making a road trip to Florida this summer, nothing like putting over 3000+ miles on the car in one trip. The big question now is how long will it take me to get to 100,000 miles. Perhaps I should have a new contest, and let the readers guess the date. I will have to come up with a good prize.

Last night was somewhat unproductive. Since getting the new network card for my computer I have pretty much spent my evenings in my room chatting on the internet and last night was no exception. It is amazing how quickly time passes when you are chatting it up, before I knew it I had been chatting for over two hours. It was cool to reminisce about old video games, makes me want to go out and buy a used Atari for some Q-Bert, right LL. I was able to work on my brother's most recent project some more and have become quite confident in my Perl programming skills. I guess I can now add it to my resume'. Looking forward to BoCaNO tonight, even though I do need to finish my brother's project.

No More Commute

I got home last night and an email from John and he was talking about how there was a problem with work, because some database was having issues. So I thought about it a little bit and the bottom line was that instead of blaming an FA for the problem they were trying to place the blame on my program. How fucking stupid is that? First of all if the FA's weren't so busy surfing the web they could verify the numbers on the five reports they print out each day. Second if we were actually provided with specifications for how the applications should work, we couldn't be held accountable. The more I thought about it the more it aggravated me and just how lame State Street is. So I have decided to quit. I am finished, it has just gone too far. The people here don't appreciate what we do for them and if something goes wrong who do they go to for the blame or the solution. US. I only wish we all quit at the same time, so they would be up shit creek without a paddle. I tried to think about what I would miss and aside from the few friends I have from here everybody else is just fake and stupid. I am sure that after I turn my back a ton of shit gets said about me.

So thats it I'm done. Anybody know of any good jobs or web sites where I can find one?

Over and out.
-Keeg

I love that commute

So yesterday was pretty typical, well until the T ride home last night. I was just sitting on the T minding my own business, when this girl comes over and just starts talking to me. Since that never ever happens to me, I talked back to her. We had quite a conversation and got so involved in chatting she missed her stop at Wellington. So upon getting to Oak Grove I offered to give her a ride back to Wellington station. We got in the car and headed towards Wellington, when it hit me that maybe I should ask her if she wants to go to dinner, seeing as it was about that time and I was quite hungry. So I asked and she said she would love to. We went up to Pacini's on route one in Saugus and had a great dinner. It is amazing how good the food is there, though I do have to admit that the waiter wasn't very good, I hope he was new, because otherwise he just has no ability to learn. After eating we ended up just sitting there and talking for a few hours, I found out all about her, including her name which is Sydney and her age 26. It turns out she lived in Merrimac for about five years and actually went to Pentucket, weird huh? So after closing the tab we hopped back in the car and once again we headed toward Wellington. Once we got there I thought for a minute, "What would John Do?" Since being the nice guy and chickening out when it comes to girls hasn't worked at all I decided what the hell, do the opposite of what you think. So I went for it and actually kissed her. Yeah can you believe it me sucking it up and actually kissing a girl on the first date. Logic then began to rush back in my brain and I decided to leave it at that for now, don't want to ruin a good thing. I know the guys are going to kick my ass for it, but it is what I felt I had to do. We exchanged numbers and said good bye for the night. Apparently she is a great skier and might come up to Bethel this weekend. Wow what a commute. Finally life imitates film, just like I thought it would.

Now I am sure all of you Keegan relationship skeptics are going to be shaking your heads and saying, "Here we go again.", but perhaps this time it will be different. Why do I think it will be different? Well her career is well under way as a web designer and she lives in Lynnfield, which is relatively close. Now of course talking about this at all is jumping the gun, but I need to shut down the skeptics early. I apologize for my feet first approach, but apparently it is just the way I work. It's about time shit started going my way.

If you ever get close to a human
And human behaviour
Be ready to get confused
There's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
To human behaviour
-Bjork
Lyrics to Human Behaviour.