Danger: Swans Can Bite Off Weewees

I don't know the above danger from my own experiences, but somebody once told me it is common knowledge for every child in Norway. Anyway, moving on.... I have had a BUSY week, yesterday was the busiest day, with all sorts of driving in the city, going out to lunch, and working. Believe it or not I almost got lost yesterday in Boston, or at least I couldn't find the road I was looking for. I was going to the airport to pick up Vanessa and Jess, so I figured I'd hop on I-90 East and take the Ted Williams Tunnel. Apparently you can't get there from here. I first went South, but there was only the option to go on I-90 West. I turned around in South Boston and took I-93 North hoping I could find the other tunnel under the river, but in the end I had to go over the Tobin and drive all the way around just to get to the airport. It took an hour to go from downtown Boston to the airport, WTF. Once there, it was nearly impossible to find parking, but finally I parked under an Exit sign.

Oooh time to go to work. Enjoy the pictures and have a great weekend.
Keeg

I never update this anymore

Weekend Pictures including TJ's party
I know it has been a while since I have updated, but not much has gone on. Well I suppose a lot of things have happened I just haven't put them online. For instance, it is now official that I am moving, I told my landlord last night that I will be moving out May 31st. It is a little sad leaving Salem, since I really do like my apartment and the neighborhood. I just wish it was closer to the city and I didn't need to buy a commuter rail pass. Oh well onward and upward into a new home in Somerville.

What else lets see. I had Mark and Kate over for homemade pizza on Sunday. We also watched some home movies of me from middle school, the prom, college and finally an old spring break video. After that we enjoyed the Office which I bought on DVD and finally I played a short acoustic set.
Set list:
Dressed In Black -> Big Eyed Fish
In My Life
Angel From Montgomery
Too Much
Help (Alternate Lyrics)

I was so nervous at first, but eventually calmed down and became comfortable with playing in front of people. I guess it was my first performance with an actual setlist. So for all you fan sites out there be sure to keep track of April 25, 2004.

Talk to y'all later. I'm goin to the BoSox game with mom tonight. Hooray what fun!!!

Colombia's Population

For this evening's BoCaNO we went to trivia night at the Kinsale. We got off to a rocky start, but once the Tufts kids showed up things began to turn around. After the first standings announcement we were in fourth place. Now this was nothing new we had always done well, but things were different prior to the final round. The Trivia Jockey announced us as being in second place by a point. We knew these next two questions would count and we went for it and go the first question wrong. The final question was a bit easier and we waged the maximum bid and got it correct. They then began announcing the final results and we finished in third place, but wait there was a problem and we were forced into a tie breaker round. The question was what is the population of Colombia? We guessed 7.8 million and the other team guessed 4.5 million. The actual population was 41 million, so we won third place outright. Our reward was a $10 gift certificate to the Kinsale. It was very exciting and we told the TJ we would be back and do better next time.

Good times!!!
KWS

Multimedia Day

Well I have some multimedia for you today from pictures to two new songs. First off I have a link to some pictures I took at the Boston Marathon on Monday. I also have pics of the macaroni and cheese I made on monday night. There are also pictures of the Public Garden yesterday afternoon. Here is the link Boston Marathon Slide Show

I haven't made any more guitar movies lately so last night I recorded a bunch of stuff. So without wasting anymore of your time here are TWO links today. The Too Much was just having fun, but it turned out okay I guess.
Imagine
Too Much

Okay time for work. Enjoy my tunes.
Keeg

She stands a tear falls from her chin
She wonders
In all these hours and all these years
I woke up today to find out
It all comes down to nothing.

Good times!!!

Above is a picture of Zack's baseball game which I attended on Saturday, well at least I saw the bottom half of the last inning of the game. I was in Amesbury again because it was on my way home from the VW dealership. I brought my car in for service, which they said would take several hours, so I was prepared and had lots of music and reading. Fortunately they finished in just under two hours and it gave me time to take a drive down the coast and also visit the family.

Next up was meeting Scottie and Dale in Methuen for Kill Bill Volume 2. It was pretty decent, much different than the first one, but still worth seeing. Afterwards things got a bit interesting... Scott needed to get a stripper for his friend's bachelor party, so he went online and found a couple online. The only problem was she wouldn't post her picture online, so he had to set up and interview of sorts with her in person. Now that is where I come in. He planned on meeting her after the movie which just happened to be the same time I would be with him. It was very covert from the one way phone calls to the meeting in a public place. She wouldn't give out her phone number which made meeting up all the more difficult. Finally after several phone calls we agreed to meet her and her partner at the mall. While we were waiting for them to show up we kept looking at all the women that walked through the door and wondered if it was them. They finally called and said they were there and it didn't take long for us to find them. Now I don't believe I had every actually talked to her seen a stripper up so close and upon seeing them they pretty much looked like any other girls walking around the mall. I guess this goes to show how little girls where these days. They were attractive, but it goes to show how I do really like the plain and plain girls. We introduced ourselves and proceeded with the er... interview. I had know idea what we could ask, but Scott as always was prepared and had several questions, mostly business and logistics. After he ran out of questions they basically went over some of the things they do in their um.. act. I feel like Howard Stern on the radio, trying to keep it PG, but at the same time entertaining. We thanked them for there time and left. It was certainly a once in a lifetime experience, and if it does happen again at least I know what questions to ask.

Afterwards I went to Scott's house for an awesome dinner of pork chops, steak, potatoes, squash and Mrs. K's apple sauce. It was excellent and a great prelude to our trip to Boston to see Dave Attell at the Comedy Connection. I drove in and at one point accidentally turned down a one way street the wrong way, upon realizing this I turned back on to the original street, but in the wrong lane. I kind of scared everybody in the car, but I wasn't too rattled. The city was so warm and everybody was out and about just enjoying the beautiful weather. The show was very funny and it was nice to be experiencing a Saturday night like most twenty somethings do, out in the city. Seeing everybody out and having a great time just made me feel like I didn't really belong. I think I have missed an important part of life, the part where most people learn to go out and socialize in public. Perhaps it was the fact that most of my college life was spent working and not partying like the rest of the world. It seems like something I will never really learn so I guess there really isn't much point reflecting on it.

Today was another nice day spent mostly at home resting. In the afternoon I went to Amesbury to do laundry. It was a pretty uneventful day. Oh yeah except for the fact that I brough three trash bags full of clothes to the Salvation Army. I was inspired after watching an episode of Queer Eye. The Fab 5 were just ripping through this guys closet and giving him such grief about his clothes. I decided to do the same thing and realized about half of the stuff I own I will never wear. One of the hardest things to get rid of was a bunch of my Dave Matthews t-shirts. I just realized that I never wear half of them because they are the shirts with the tour dates on the back. I kept a couple of them, including my first shirt, but the rest are now in a big red dumpster in Newburyport.

Best Mom Ever!!

Just so you all know your mom's might be good, but unfortunately for you I have the best mom ever. You might ask why is my mom better than all of the rest of the moms? Well there are several reasons, but one big reason is that she drove in to Boston from Amesbury last night at nine o'clock just to give me a ride to Salem. The reason I couldn't commute like I do every other night was because of the Charlestown acid spill which interrupted most commutes north of the city. Thanks again mom.


Okay now on to the movie review. Last night's BoCaNO was a movie night. We saw "The Girl Next Door". The movie was good and had many clever twists and turns which were hard to predict and in my history of movie watching that is a good thing. It also didn't hurt to have porn stars in almost every scene. Okay now obviously I wouldn't end this without some sort of criticism I mean it had to have something wrong with it since its a teenager movie. My big problem with the movie was how quickly it jumped from one scene/situation to the next. It all seemed very rushed, one example was how within two days of meeting Danielle, Matthew was already completely in love and made a big speech to her about how much he liked her. By this time she had already decided to go back to porn, after just having one high school kid foolishly treat her like a porn star. Another example was when Kelly became friends with Matthew and picked him up at school. It seemed like a friendship or some odd relationship was starting and then the next day he is off to Las Vegas for the Adult Video Convention. The story just seemed to move along without enough inter-character development. Overall though I would give the movie a B rating. Check it out.

Bad News:Good News

Well the bad news is that the rain is out of control up here. I just can't believe how heavy it has been. Yes I know it was lame bad news, but I needed to come up with some clever writing technique.

The good news is that I got my Dave Matthews Band seat locations for the four shows I am going to this summer.
Here's the breakdown:
June 17 in St. Louis - 5th row center
July 6 in Mansfield - 17th row center
July 7 in Mansfield - 4th row way back where the lawn used to be
July 29 in Tampa - 7th row center

I don't think I did too bad. Now I just have to figure out who will be going to one of the Mansfield shows. I am really looking forward to the St. Louis show, because it will involve a nice trip to Chicago, Washington DC and in some other areas I haven't yet decided on yet.

When Calculators Attack

Many of you might have experienced the power surge which apparently happened in most of Massachusetts. When I came in to work this morning a bunch of calculators at peoples desks were running out of control. There were printing out papers with random zeros on them. I took some pictures of the desks with the paper. Don't mind the random picture of me, I cut myself shaving and wanted to make sure I didn't have blood all over me.

Weekend Of Nothing. Ok Maybe I Did Something

Friday involved me not leaving my house until very late because I was tired and decided it was time I actually stayed in and did nothing. Actually while I was here I did make some cheese quesadillas, a dress rehearsals of sorts. They turned out okay. I then ventured to the movie theater to see "The Passion of the Christ". Let's just say I wasn't that impressed and I didn't cry. The story wasn't much of a surprise since I knew Jesus was going to die. I was also given the impression that Jesus was a defying sarcastic ass. I don't know how many times he could have gotten out of his situation, but he had to wise talk, first the Jews and then the Roman governor. I guess there is something to be said about standing up for your beliefs, but seriously just tell them what they want to hear and get on with your preaching. After that waste of ten dollars I went to Uno's for a nice pizza dinner.

Saturday I woke up and did a little more nothing, before boring of that and going for a drive in the car. I went to Salem Willows and did some reading by the seashore. It was very relaxing and a nice way to spend the afternoon. I then drove around Cape Ann for a little scenery, it was very relaxing and nice to go for a drive. I found a new state park in Rockport which had a bunch of trails leading to a quarry and the ocean. It was my first time there and I was glad I found such a hidden gem. I took a bunch of pictures, but for some reason the Ofoto upload is not working. Oh well. After my little jaunt outside it was time for another movie. My intention was to see the sneak preview of 13 Going On 30, but it was sold out and I wen to see the Alamo. Another boring movie I knew the outcome too. I am so glad I wasted twenty dollars on two horrible movies.

For Easter I returned to the Bury to spend it with my fabulous family. I was able to wash my car and vaccuum the inside, it was the first time since before I hit the deer. It is so much nicer to drive now in a clean car. Travis stopped by and we eneded up going to the beach for some pizza. Up in Hampton we passed my dad on his motorcycle and pulled a quick U-Turn. He pulled over and we chatted a while. Easter dinner would soon be served at my mom's so we rushed back just in time for the ham. We watched the Red Sox while we ate and they finally won the game on David Ortiz'z two run homer in the bottom of the twelfth inning. What a great family holiday afternoon? Somebody phone Norman Rockwell and line him up for a painting.

Oh yeah I saw an interesting show on MTV this weekend. They basically take to groups of popular girls, one of sophomores and the other of freshman. Each group chooses somebody in the others class to makeover with $500. They make them over and then the whole school decides who looks better. It was great, I guess it is only on for the MTV High School week, but they should add it to the MTV lineup. So very good.

Okay time for bed.

So Different

Last night I was watching television and since my typical lineup was in rerun I fell back on reality television. I know, shame on me for caving and supporting such terrible programming. So at nine o'clock I tuned in to watch The Bachelor. I don't ever remember watching this show before, so all I really knew was the basic concept of the show. Well let me tell you I couldn't believe what I was seeing, women were just bubbling over meeting him and then once one of them was picked for the secret first impression rose, they all got catty towards one another. Fast forward two hours to the final rose handing out at the end of the show where Jesse has to pick fifteen women to stay. Jesse handed out the first thirteen with out much ado, but then when handing out the final rose he accidentally called the wrong name. You could actually see him looking at Karen and then when he said Katie a slight bit of shock appeared on his face, but he gave her the rose anyway. After realizing his error he went to discuss the situation with the host and then had to tell Katie he didn't mean to give her the rose and if she wanted to stay she could. What drama?

Now lets go back to Tuesday night. I went to see a wonderfully written movie called Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was a great movie, of course it was a bit strange, but I think the use of well known actors and a strong script helped it walk the fine line between drama and fantasy. Another big help in making this movie remain understandable was the simple plot, sometimes in movies with flashbacks and abstract editing you can get lost in the plot and wonder what is actually occurring. Eternal Sunshine did not fall into this trap and through the entire movie you had a pretty good idea about what was reality.

Now I have posted this entry to point out that our world of entertainment is so screwed up. Why are we forced to watched mindless fluff on tv, while the movie theater is showing such amazing and provocative films. Why can't the general tv viewing public actually watch decent programming so the state of television can rise from the depths it has reached over the past few years. I just wish the quality shows on television weren't so few and far between. Long live the movie theater and Matt Vears the King of Nothing.

btw - My power went off last night, which was rather annoying. Luckily it went off really late so I just went to bed.

Quizno's

The Quizno's Subs at Downtown Crossing opened today. I of course went down there to get a taste of the yummy toasted subs. The line was out the door when I got there, but since I had to have one I just stood in line. Finally after an hour I was finally out the door with my new warm sub in my hand. I am eating it right now and it is delicious.
-Keeg

The Ski Season Ends With A Bang

Once again it was time for Bust 'n' Burn and I was at the mountain bright and early on Saturday to register and pick up my bib. Upon unravling my bib I found it to be #41, which is probably the most popular of the four numbered songs, by Dave Matthews Band, so it was a sign of good luck. I went down the course a few times to get warmed up. Overall the course turned out to be okay despite the bare spot and ice sheet on the red course. Once I was comfortable with it, I skied elsewhere with Mark to get my mind off of the pressure of racing. A little while later I returned for the painful standing around before you actually race. Basically you stand around for a good hour or so waiting for your turn to race, all the while your legs cramp up and make it that much more difficult. My number was finally called and it was time for my run. I got in the starting gate and prepared to go. My primary goal for this year was to get better air than last year and that was all I was really focusing on. The starter said, "Go" and I began my run. I chose the right side of the blue course because it had the most snow and I had practiced on it a few times. My first air was a twister spread, which I think looked pretty stable and good. Then it was back into the bumps on my way to the second air. I had told myself I was going to do a heli, it wasn't a sure thing, but I knew I had to take the chance. As I approached the jump I knew I could pull it off and once in the air began spinning. I am not exactly sure if I landed it and then fell or if I just crash landed. Either way before I knew it I was picking myself up off the ground and I definitely remember being angry with myself for falling. I finished the course and heard the announce say,"Well sometimes you bust and sometimes you burn." Ahhh every year that guy gets me. I turned in my bib and then met up with my cheering section. We discussed the run, and overall I was very happy with how I did especially since I tried the heli. We skied the rest of the day and finally ended up at the pond skimming.

I returned to the awards ceremony that evening to hopefully hear that I had placed 33rd so I wouldn't have to compete the next day. I sat through one announcement after another until I my name was announced as the 25th overall competitor in the Open category. I was in shock and went over to get my free pair of goggles. I couldn't believe I had to go back up and do the course again, except this time I would be going in a head to head race.

The next morning I arrived at the mountain at 7:30, which was made all the more difficult by the time change. I filled out my bio and got my new bib for today's competition. All the paperwork was filled out within five minutes and so I sat at the base waiting for the lifts to open. Once again I went down the course a bunch of times, mostly just taking it slowly and helping smooth out the course. Mark and Kate showed up so I took a run with them to get the race off of my mind. After a brief run down Obsession it was time to wait at the top again for day two. I was informed by the judge that my competitor hadn't showed up and I would be advancing to the next round to fact the 24th seeded competitor who also had advanced via a bye. Now I had to wait extra long before my race was set to begin. After about an hour I was finally called to start and moved into the starting gate. I was once again on the blue course and instead of focusing on air this time I decided to focus on beating my competitor to the bottom. It turns out this was not the best strategy. We started off and were neck and neck going into the first air. I don't remember what I did, but whatever it was I am sure it wasn't pretty. Over the next stretch of bumps I could see him in my peripheral vision as I began to go out of control and started to ride on the back of my skis. Coming into the next jump I had too much speed and shot into the air, I managed an uncontrolled twister and continued down. We were still very close and finished at the exact same time. The result was he beat me 4-1. I was happy not to be shut out, but looking back it seems if I had taken my time and focused on my skiing, I might have advanced to the next round where I would have faced the number one seed. I turned in my bib and met up with my new larger cheering section. I wasn't happy with the strategy I chose, but the fact that I made it to the second day was beyond any expectations I had set for myself.

Below are some links I threw together this morning.

Bust 'n' Burn Day 1 Results
Sharpshooter photographs from Bust 'n' Burn (To see more pics click the next link I am in 17-21 of 109)

Sharpshooter photographs from Bust 'n' Burn 2nd Air (To see more pics click the next link I am in 34-36 of 76)

I also want to thank everybody for their support this weekend. It definitely helped me relax a bit and have fun with it.

The Salem Level Of My Commute Game Increased In Difficulty

Pictures of the Salem Level
After the drenching yesterday I thought I was prepared for my commute today, especially since it was only drizzling, ha drizzle come on give me a challenge. Most of the way to the train station was atypical until I was halfway down Bridge Street. I decided to forgo the park because it was a prime time for leashless dogs. As I made my way over the first hill I saw the biggest challenge I have ever faced, about 100 meters of flooded roadway. I walked closer hoping there might be some way through the deluge, but all I found was water in every direction. In the middle of the water there were several cars, some parked from the prior night and others were left in the middle of the road after an apparently unsuccessful attempt at floating it across the flood zone. I glanced over towards the train tracks on the left and they were also flooded, which eliminated one of my most viable options. I determined there were two possible ways around this, either turn around and go back up through my typical snow route or to scale the seven foot fence and go through the park. Being the adventurous type I chose the latter and began trying to find a dry way down to the fence. I back tracked a little bit and found a couple dry spots on the other side of the train tracks, however I had to skip from rail to rail just to get to the ground near the fence. Once at the bottom of the fence I pulled myself up and made it over with ease, which was a surprise given my klutzy tendencies. I quickly glanced around and fortunately the dogs were now all on the other side of the park. I figured I was in the clear, well at least I thought so until I noticed the walkway under the overpass was completely flooded and looked more like a river bed than a rail bed. As I approached the overpass I came to the realization that I once again had few options. I knew I couldn't cross the water so I climbed up the steep hill to the top of the overpass. My new options then became clear, take the long road around and possibly miss my train or cross the four lanes of oncoming traffic and take my chances with the sea wall. Once again adventure got the best of me and I crossed the roadway. The sea wall was about five inches wide and given the windy conditions it was very difficult to balance. My first obstacle on the wall was a small tree which caused some trouble, but I quickly climbed around it. The scariest part came next, six feet below me on the left was the harbor and three feet below me to the right was a giant puddle. The wind blew, but couldn't knock me off and before I knew it I was on dry land again with a clear path to the train station platform. It was quite an adventure to say the least I only hope the trip home will be a bit less eventful.

So It Rained

I wasn't going to update, but my camera had some pictures on it so I decided to upload them. You can see how in the picture above I am soaking wet, well that is because it has been pouring like crazy here. I left work early and intended to take the subway, but there was some sort of fire down there and I had to walk. By the time I got to North Station my jacket and pants were wet, but not too bad. I managed to find a seat and got off in Salem. We stopped at the station and the rain was coming down in sheets, unfortunately I had walked to the station and as you may have presumed I had to walk the mile or so back home. I turned up my iPod and began walking, with a complete understanding that I would end up completely drenched by the time I got home. Once I made it across the parking lot I decided to let loose and put back my hood and took off my hat to become completely saturated. The puddles were deep and the rain came down harder and harder, and by the time I made it back I was soaked all over. I loved every minute of it, because it was such a cleansing experience. However, I hope this rain is done by morning, because it's a lot easier to change at home than it is at work.

Stay dry everybody,
Keegan