Thursday, September 30, 2004

I want to disappear


Ahh today at work has been so stressful and crazy. My boss also told me I could leave early, which in most cases would be fantastic. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize I can't leave because I still have one more project to finish. I wanted to post a picture of me trying to hide from people here. Its not working, but oh well.

btw last night at BoCaNO, Kate and I had our own trivia team called KeKa and we battled against our cronies. It was a tie until the final round, but we were able to pull ahead on a question about the animal that is responsible for the most human deaths in the US each year. The answer, which I am all too familiar with is deer. Woohoo, go KeKa!!!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Monday, September 27, 2004

Kayaking

Friday night I took Jen out to the Parrish Cafe for her birthday dinner. It was very delicious, I even tried Polenta, which is a cornmeal bread topped with tomatoes, mushrooms and mozzarella. After dinner we walked to the Public Garden and then joined her sister for dessert at Finale. It was excellent.

We woke up on Saturday morning and went up to Newburyport to go kayaking. I was a bit nervous since I had never kayaked before but after being in the river for a minute or two I quickly got my bearings. We paddled out towards Joppa Flats and even went up the river towards the Plum Island bridge. At one point we just stopped along the marsh and watch these tiny little birds running along the shore. It was so very peaceful.

The tide was still going out, but instead of waiting for it to change we made our way back up river against the tide and wind. It turns out to have been a good idea, because we barely made it across the Flats before it was a giant sandbar. It was a tough paddle back, but after a couple stops and some cormorant chasing we made it back to the ramp. It was an amazing four hours and I can't wait to go out kayaking again.

After kayaking we headed straight for Salisbury beach and I introduced Jen to Christy's pizza. As one would expect she loved it. Next stop was Dairy Queen and then back to Somerville for my housewarming party. I only had a few people show up, but I was grateful that they did. We kept to ourselves most of the night and watched the baseball game. It was a good time though.

Yesterday I went up to Amesbury to visit the family and then drove out to Plum Island to read and enjoy the beautiful weather. I took some pictures and here they are Plum Island on a sunny day

Friday, September 24, 2004

What are you trying to say?

I just went to CVS to stock up on candy, because for some reason I was feeling the sweet tooth. When I got back up to the office I noticed something funny about the coupon they gave me on the bottom of my receipt. It was for a $1.50 off Oral care products. Now I know at the supermarket they sometimes give you coupons for certain products. Do you think I got this coupon to counteract all of the candy I just purchased. Very strange. Here is a Photo of my receipt

Have a good weekend everybody. Housewarming party at my house Saturday night at 6 PM. Be there or be square.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!!

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Bowling

Last night for BoCaNO we went bowling in Davis Square. It was lots of fun and was followed up by a nice dinner at RedBones. Here are some pictures from BowlCaNO. So has anybody else been up late at night watching Keith Foulke single handedly cause me intense stress. I don't know if my nerves are ready for another extra inning game seven playoff game. These games are taking time off of my life.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Tuesday Afternoon

Okay so I wanted to update my LJ, but first I need to apologize for any spelling errors or accidental use of homophones, such as their and there OR threw and through. I rarely if ever read over my entries before hitting the post button, because it is usually early in the morning and I have to get to work. So please forgive me. My mother was very upset and embarrassed when reading my entry from a few days ago. I promise to try and read before dumping things out on to the interweb.

Next up... I am sick and tired of being inundated with free newspapers when I go to work in the morning. The Metro is fine because it is small and you can read it on the train, but for the last couple weeks they have been giving out the Boston Globe too. Now don't get me wrong I am not being ungrateful, but seriously I only have so much time to read the paper every night. I just can't see people reading the Globe on the train because it just involves way too much work. Why couldn't they have done this when I was commuting to Salem? On the bright side I can now finish the crossword without looking at the answers.

Here's a question for you. In the picture below what emotion am I expressing? Please answer so I can prove Jen and her sister wrong. I know it must be a NewYorkTexasOhioCaliforniaConnecticutan thing.


Check out the new poster I made at work for our new PC team work response system. PC Team Poster Aren't I just the most creative creature you ever met.

Monday, September 20, 2004

Rain Out


Lots of big plans for the weekend, but most were rained out on Saturday due to the crazy rain in the area. My mom, who I was unable to get a hold of all weekend, would certainly have said, "If this had been snow we would have over two feet on the ground." I can't even imagine how great that would have been, snow in September. Actually I guess it wouldn't really do me much good since I don't even have a ski pass yet. On Friday night I went out after work for Chris Hayes' going away outing at Foley's. A ton of people showed up and it was great to hang out with some former State Street crew members. On Saturday morning the rain prevented us from going on a hike, so instead Jen and I stayed in for a while before braving the rain and going to IHOP in Revere. We then picked up some piping at Home Depot for her new portable washing machine (more on that later). After a chill and relaxing afternoon, where I slept for a couple of hours, we went down to Quincy for a pizza and movie rental with Mark and Kate. We rented The Station Agent a quirky comedy about a dwarf. It was one of those movies that is different from the norm and in the end not many lose ends are tied up, but it was fantastic and very funny.

Sunday morning Mark, Kate and I drove up to Mount Osceola for a day hike. The sky seemed great in Somerville, but the closer we got to the mountains the cloudier it became. When we got out of the car it was fifty degrees and cloudy, perfect for hike with a view, NOT! It was a brief hike and unfortunately we couldn't see anything from the chilly summit. We did see our first ice of the season, you can see it in one of the pictures. After getting back down four hours after leaving the car we drove back towards Boston. We stopped at Not Your Average Joe's for dinner. One highlight of that was when Mark tried to flip his straw around in his mouth without using his hands. We all proceeded to give it a try with me being a complete failure, the only way I could get it to work was by chewing up the straw and spitting it back out.

Once I returned from Somerville and hung out at my house a while I drove over to Jen's house. When I got there she was washing her first load of laundry, but it would not do the spin and drain cycle. It would fill with water and then it would agitate, but right when it should have started to drain and then spin it just stopped. We played around with it for a good three hours, which included us manually draining it three times. Of course since I have no idea how to do anything around the house I was unable to fix it. Jen did figure out that her landlord had tested it and so it must have drained since she bought it. Hopefully he will be able to help us out.

Oh yeah and Mark the whole caliber thing with regards to bullets was the diameter of the bore of a firearm. See the definition of Caliber. .45 caliber is 45 hundredths of an inch in diameter and an 88 mm gun has a bore that is 88 millimeters in diameter.

Friday, September 17, 2004

Wine Anyone?

Last night Jen threw a little cocktail party at her house and invited some of her friends as well as some of my friends. I arrived at her house around 5 and we immediately began preparing. I made a fantastic vegetable platter with carrots, celery, mushrooms and tomatoes. It looked great if I do say so myself. A bunch of people showed up and I will spare listing them all for fear that I will most likely spell their names incorrectly. It appeared that a fun evening was had by all. The clean up was even fun. Since I never really use dishes at my new place, it was nice to get into the sink and just wash a ton of dishes. I even took a sip of wine because I didn't want to waste or mess up my dish water. I don't know whether it was linked to the wine, but afterwards my face broke out in a little rash. It was strange since I have never had an adverse reaction to food before. Hmmm very interesting.

Looking forward to Chris' going away party tonight at Foley's. Tomorrow will involve a hike somewhere up in NH of some mountain over 4000 feet. Sunday is the day Jen's sister moves to Somerville, which is very exciting. Busy weekend ahead. Hope y'all have a good one.

Meredith's Top Ten Favorite Things About Southerners

Asperger's Syndrome Information Apparently it occurs in both boys and girls. I guess that means score one for Meghan and the girls team.

Funny Advertisement making fun of Bush

Monday, September 13, 2004

Oh W

In an apparent misstatement while speaking of medical liability for OB-GYN doctors, the president said, ""We've got an issue in America. Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country."

On Saturday I went hiking up Mount Adams with Mark and Kate. We went up the King Ravine and I must say it was absolutely beautiful. Of all the 4000 footers I have done so far it has to be my favorite. The ravine was huge and made me feel as small as dust next to the giant rocks and the steep headwall. If you ever want to go on a somewhat difficult, but amazing hike try this one out.

Mt Adams Slideshow

I was surprised to find it so nice out yesterday. It was definitely what the meteorologists call a top ten day. I spent most of the morning recovering from the hike and then met Jen's parents out in Sturbridge. They were great and I think they even might have liked me. Lunch was hilarious there were all of these elderly people at the Sturbridge Bistro and they were just classic old people. One of the women was having the worst time trying to use a video camera so Jen went over and helped her out. I must say though it was frightening when they all left because each little old woman hopped into a different car and they kept backing up all over the place. I thought for sure I was going to get hit.

Thursday, September 9, 2004

E5. Miss!!!!


I rarely make entries where I poke fun at somebody I dated or give an account of a bad date (remember the farewell email from the girl with the priority list), but Mark brought an interesting article to my attention this morning. Now for a little background, do you see the girl on the left in the picture above that is Emily aka E5. We met up at Sunday River last winter, we hung out a couple of times, but nothing materialized. One funny thing I remember distinctly was finding out she was a Republican after I saw her gym bag with a Bush/Cheney '04 sticker. I couldn't fathom how anybody would seriously posess one of those stickers unless it was for a joke. I could go on and on with a bunch of ridiculously funny stories, but none will comepare to what Mark found in the New Yorker. Apparently she has been busy with the presidential campaign and the New Yorker was great enough to interview her at the RNC last week. Here is the New Yorker Article Emily's interview starts in the third paragraph. All I have to say is Newportant?!?! WTF!!! Absolutely!!!

Here is the Slideshow from February 16th, 2004. Look at how long and crazy my hair is in that picture. Our pizza party isn't exactly like a British High Tea Party.

Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Rainy Day

I forgot all about updating this thing and so here you go. It was a very exhausting and busy Labor Day for me. I rollerbladed on Friday night and then dealt with a Red Line shuttle bus. Saturday involved a trip up to the 'Bury to do laundry and see my dad and grandmother. I left there and drove down to Plymouth to hang out with the pond people. It was so nice to be down there for sadly the last weekend of the year. We played wiffle ball in the hall at midnight. I felt like a kid again, just goofing off and making up different games. After a long Sunday in Plymouth I went back to Somerville to see Jen. Monday was super relaxing, we just hung out, walked to Davis Square for a Starbucks, did some shopping and then went to Ben's BBQ. A great way to end a superb weekend. However I am now completely exhausted and really need to get some rest. I have been running every weekday so far in September. Only two months to go until ski season starts. Woohoo!!!

Friday, September 3, 2004

Simple Update

It was a day of several good things:
I got out of work at four o'clock which is good.
I brought my other guitar (the one Scott gave me) to the repair shop and they fixed the tuners for only five bucks (well four because thats all I had on me)
Met up with my bestest friend in the whole world, Kate Harvey!!!
Talked about how my mind can sometimes drive me crazy with its constant thinking about things. One, two, three, RELAX!!!!!
Walked the bike path from Davis Square to Alewife.
Ate at Anna's Taqueria for the first time. It was pretty good. Not as yummy as Qdoba, but half the price.
Played with my newly repaired guitar. A much different sound than my other guitar.
Wrote a letter using the classic nib pen and ink. Boy writing cursive is hard.
Went to Jen's and saw all of her new school clothes, including 8 new skirts. Haha I have like six pairs of pants total.
Realized how lucky I am to have great friends, live in a super apartment in a fun city, the basic ability to play a guitar, a job (okay I am working on that), a wonderful family back up in the 'Bury and an amazing girlfriend who is a true match (pun intended).

Have a great Labor Day weekend everybody. I'll be in Plimoth all weekend. The Chowdah race is tomorrow.
Keegan Willis Sands

Thursday, September 2, 2004

Argh Republicans

I was walking to the train this morning and the nice Metro guy handed me my daily copy. On the front cover is a big picture of Dick Cheney with a giant grin on his face and it really irritated me. Why was I irritated? Because he knows as do I now that Bush will win the election in November. Let's face it I don't want him to win, but that is the way the insane rest of our country feels. I just don't appreciate the whole rubbing it in, because they are so certain and know there is nothing that can be done. It's amazing what money can buy. Of course the democrats aren't exactly putting up a fight. I don't think I could be less excited about John Kerry. Is he even running for president because it certainly doesn't feel that way. The Democrats should have picked somebody that at least had some chance in the South. He also doesn't look presidential, the phrase always a senator never a president definitely come to mind when thinking of him. I don't want to discourage anybody from voting, because it is obviously not a done deal, but its beginning to look that way. Our country is just plain, DUMB!!!!

Does anybody else see a likeness between Dick Cheney and the Penguin?

Wednesday, September 1, 2004

September Is Here

It is now September 1st and the weather has changed accordingly to a comfortable coolness that lets you sleep through the night. It was so refreshing waking up to such nice weather. I also began training for ski season this morning by going for a half an hour run. I don't know how far I ran, but i would estimate somewhere around two and a half to three miles. I did okay, well considering I haven't run in quite a while. I was considering the gym, but for the time being I am just going to try and run everyday and maybe start the gym in October. I don't know, we'll see how it goes.

So I didn't buy my season and decided to hold out because I knew they would still be offering the pass after the date they said. I was right they have now extended the deadline to October 25th and added $30 to the price of the pass. So now I get to wait and definitely won't have to put it on my already mountainous credit card debt. While on the subject I have decided now that I have less rent to pay I am making a focused effort to dig away at the mountain. I have vowed that by this time next year, September 1, 2005. I will be in a completely different situation with a mountain of savings, so if I have to move I will be able to something more effective with my money than just paying rent. September 1st this year is like everybody else's January 1st. I have so many New Year's resolutions. Now it is just a matter of following through. I know I will definitely have support so I am not worried.

Learn about American cheese
White Bread vs. Wheat Bread
The Air Sign Libra