Hot Weekend

Hi everybody it is your favorite tired, hot LJ writer. As most of you know it was a hot weekend in New England, but lucky for Jennifer and I we spent a measly 100 bucks and bought an air conditioner. Definitely the best money I have spent in a while. Since we don't have a three prong outlet in the bedroom, the back room has been converted into a temporary bedroom.

What else did I do this weekend? Went to see Meme in Kingston and then went to Amesbury to chill by the pool and chat with the family. Afterwards we went to the beach to watch the sunset. Yesterday we did a little shopping and I scoped out desks for the one I plan to build in the coming months. We came home and put together Jennifer's desk and computer, so she could have her own little workstation. It turned out pretty good.

I am extremely tired and now I must go make dinner. Work is wonderful, although all this new stuff in my brain is keeping me up nights. You should see the bags under my eyes, haven't seen bags like this since I worked at four in the morning at Shaw's.

Decent Weather

It is Wednesday and I have had a busy week so far. First of all somehow I caught Jen's stomach virus and was sick for 24 hours, starting early Monday morning. It all coincided with my first day of work, but I made it through without any problems. Luckily I woke up yesterday and felt 100% better. Since I was feeling better I rollerbladed over to Andy's house for work. We installed some more software and then went to Matt's to work for the afternoon. I learned a ton of stuff, mostly watching Andy walk through some modifications. It was a good day. Last night we had some people over for dinner and had a great time. Jennifer cooked up some chicken and we had tacos. This morning I will be working from home for the morning and then meeting up with Andy later to finish up the project from yesterday. I had some mySQL issues, but have since resolved them. Now on to bigger and tougher problems.

First Day

Out with the old and in with the new. I start my career at CaseNET today some time after nine. I have also been informed of the dress code: You have to be dressed in a least a pair of mesh shorts and a t shirt. Could it be true I am going to work somewhere that realizes how you dress doesn't make one bit of difference. I am excited and quite sure this is one of the best life decisions I have made.

Alright now for my weekend. Friday night I went to the Bell In Hand for Elio's last night. It was a good time and afterwards Jennifer and I went to get pizza in the North End. After that we picked up some canolis at Mike's Pastry. In the morning we picked Jennifer's sister up and drove towards Connecticut. Unfortunately Jennifer got a case of food poisoning and was extremely sick all day Saturday and wasn't able to go to the Dave Matthews concert. However I did go and had a good time although the setlist was less than spectacular. The next morning Jennifer was still feeling ill, but throughout the day she got better. Once we were back home I did a bunch of chores around the house before we drove up to Amesbury for Father's Day. It was good to see everybody and we also got home early. In the middle of the night last night I felt really sick and then proceeded to throw up this morning. It seems a lot like the illness Jennifer had this weekend, but if it was food poisoning I should have had it on Saturday too. I don't know, I have been taking it easy and despite being a little weak I am feeling much better than I was at five. Oh well its a beautiful day outside and I have to start a new job!!!! Rock on!!!

The End (of my career at State Street)

My last day at State Street is finally here. It has been five years seven months and two days since I first walked into Launch class. Over the time I have been here I sat in five different desks, had five different positions and four different bosses. There have been good times and bad times, but overall I am happy with my experience.

Now it is on to smaller and better things. I am very excited to start work in a new company and learn the ins and outs of a new industry. Obviously I am a bit nervous about it, but the last few months have shown that I can fit right in rather quickly. Heck I was only in my most recent job for three months and somebody baked me a cake for my last day. How cool is that?

I guess that is all I have to say for now. If you are in the city tonight a bunch of people are going to the Bell In Hand after work.
Keeg

Cool Bug

How do you like that picture? I found him on the beach Saturday. Jennifer, Melissa and I went to Salisbury on Saturday to cool off from this awful heat wave. The good news is that the awful weather is coming to an end. It is supposed to drop down into the sixties this afternoon. I can't wait these last few nights have been unbearable.

It was a relatively busy weekend. Like I said we went to the beach on Saturday and then visited my mom's house. On Sunday Jennifer and I went to the cafe down the street and then to Harvard Square to watch the Dragon Boat races. It was really hot even down by the river and we only lasted about an hour. In order to cool off we went and saw Crash at the movies. It was a strange racially charged movie, at times I felt uncomfortable by some of the things they were saying onscreen. Overall I guess it was a good movie though.

The countdown continues toward my last day at State Street. Only four more days to go. It has been hard getting motivated once I am there, but the number of projects I have has decreased to two. I can't wait to get out of there.

Have a great day!!!!

Weekend Outdoors

Hi everybody I hope you enjoy the photo above it was one of my favorites from my past weekend. Saturday Jennifer and I spent a lot of time up on the good old North Shore. We first stopped in Wakefield to go to the annual Friends of Beebe library book sale. She bought a huge bag of books while I walked around the lake listening to my iPod. After the book sale we went up to Salisbury beach and enjoyed the sun and sand. I actually went in the water, I mean all the way under. It was frigid and I only did it once. Afterwards we went to Maudsley State Park and walked around for a bit. Jennifer stubbed her toe pretty badly, luckily I had some duct tape on my water bottle and I patched it up (see the photo). We were starving at this point and went to Flatbread for dinner. Since I hadn't seen my dad in such a long time we went to his house and visited. We were lucky enough to see all of the pictures from his most recent cruise.

On Sunday, Mark and Kate picked me up and we all drove up to Mount Passaconway. It was a long drive up there and when we got there it was really hot. The hike started off okay until we started getting attacked by bugs. They were out of control and followed us through our entire hike, including our stop for lunch. The hike up was also challenging because we ended up going to the top of a ridge and then way down in between and then back up again and then down. We probably ended up climbing the height of the mountain twice. The trip down was much better and was very gradual all the way to the car, except the bugs were still all over us. We finally made it back to the car and dove into it to get away from the bugs. Lesson learned do not hike in the summer, because its too hot and there are lots of bugs.

In other news I got a new job and will be leaving State Street on June 17th. My new title will be Software Engineer at CaseNET. More details on this to come in the near future. It's time to say goodbye to the corporate living and hello to a nice small start up.

Not Always Easy

I have found its not always easy to update this journal because I hate making a narrative style entry saying I did this on Saturday and that on Sunday. I suppose those entries are just as important as the clever entries that sometimes end up on this page. Well enough of that and on to the news.

The weather finally broke this past weekend, of course it wasn't the perfect weekend, but there were moments when not a cloud was seen overhead. Saturday we spent the morning cleaning the apartment from top to bottom. I found that I had a flat tire and tried to change it except my wheel was stuck to the car so I had to call AAA. They came, put on the spare and I went to Amesbury to get it fixed. Since I was in town I stopped by the house and spent the evening with the family.

On Sunday Jen's parents came up and we helped her sister move into her new place. Its a great apartment with lots of space and glossy hardwood floors. After moving Jen and I went back home and began putting together a pizza dinner for everybody. It was a lot of work, but everything turned out really well and I think everybody enjoyed the pizza.

Monday was my favorite day of the weekend because it involved a lot of time outdoors by the ocean. After Jen's parents left in the morning I told Jen to pack a bag for the beach. We jumped in the car at nine and were in Rockport by ten. We found a great spot on the rocks and spent the next few hours enjoying the clear skies and beautiful views. The clouds started to roll in so we decided it was time to go back towards Somerville. We stopped by the mall on the way back so I could get a camera bag and then slowly made our way back to Somerville. It was such a nice day, I am so glad summer is finally here.

I guess that's all for now. Have a great day!!!