Rent A Bag?

What has the world come to? Look at this article Renting a Handful of Luxury. This has to be a joke. Why would anybody pay up to 175 dollars a month to rent a hand bag? You know what I am just speechless and really have nothing more to say about this whole thing.

410 Dollars Later

My car is finally back after a two day visit to Boston VW. I brought it in for the 60,000 mile service which includes a whole bunch of things I don't care to list right now. If you want to find out you can just google it. Anyway I brought it in the other night and originally intended to get my radio reception fixed, but the guy said it would cost $300 to fix since my warranty has expired. I passed on the radio thing and decided instead to have my reverse lights fixed. They said my car would probably be done by the next morning which shocked me since my appointment really wasn't supposed to be until the next morning. Late yesterday I had checked the status of my repairs online and finally decided to call. The guy on the phone said it was still in the queue and hadn't even been looked at yet. I was so annoyed, but he said he would call me as soon as they had checked it out. The rest of the day went by and then this morning they finally called to tell me that it was going to fix 125 dollars to fix my reverse lights, they weren't working because of faulty wiring near the transmission. I told the guy to fix it and now began to wonder how much this little trip to the dealership was going to cost. They finally called when it was finished and the grand total was around 410 dollars. On one hand I was thankful that more wasn't wrong with it, but I had still just dropped almost a half a g on my car. Hopefully I won't need any major service again for a while. Grrr!!!!

Rain Rain Go Away

Given the amount of rain lately and my recent carpentry conquest, I am considering building an ark. The forecast doesn't look promising, the seven day forecast involves lots of rain. Maybe we should be happy that it will at least be different levels, (showers, light rain, sprinkles, rain, heavy rain). Variety is the spice of life, although I prefer ginger.

I was so tired yesterday and could barely keep focused at work, once home I didn't feel like a nap and just watched some tv before dropping my car off at the shop. I brought it in for a 60,000 mile service. They will also be doing four recall jobs on it. My radio has had poor reception lately, but they said it could be a $300 job to check the antenna out. Since my warranty is over I decided to pass on fixing it for now and will just listen to Cd's. I think the whole warranty thing should be changed. I think I had a five year 60,000 mile warranty. Its unfair that things completely unrelated to the mileage should be excluded if I pass a certain threshold. The radio reception should be covered no matter how many miles are on the car for five years. You would think they could come up with something a little more flexible to try and lure people towards their cars.

Last night we had all sorts of problems with our stove. About a month ago I woke up in the morning and smelled gas. I was able to track it down to the stove and noticed that one of the pilot lights went out. You see on our stove we don't have the clicking noise, but instead there are two pilot lights which stay on all the time. Well one of them went out. So after calling more knowledgeable parental units Jennifer lit the pilot back up and our problem was solved. At about the same time the oven started acting up too but in a different way. After being on for about ten minutes it started making a humming noise, it actually sounded very mechanical. It still worked so we kept using it. Fast forward to last night. I lit the front burner on the stove and it just didn't sound right and the entire burner wasn't lit, so I used the back burner instead. After I was finished I tried the front burner and it wouldn't light because the pilot was out again. We relit it and then watched tv before bed. At 4:30 this morning I woke up and smelled gas. I got up and went to the kitchen and both pilots seemed to be on so I went back to bed. Of course since I am paranoid about things like that I was unable to sleep and finally around six asked Jennifer if she could smell anything. She could not. I was frustrated and just figured I was overreacting, however after her shower she did notice the smell and upon closer examination noticed that the other pilot was out. We again relit the pilot and things have returned to normal. We left a note for the landlord and hopefully she will get somebody to come in and look at it. Now I am super tired again and leave for work in a few short minutes. I can't wait to be a homeowner ;o)

Unbelievable Concert

Last night Jennifer and I ventured across the Charles River to the BU Agganis arena for a David Gray concert. The ride wasn't nearly as long as we thought (Red line into the city Green line out of the city), which was a welcome surprise. We walked around the area for a little while until they opened the doors. Once inside we found our seats in the middle of the arena only two rows off of the floor. The view from our seats was fantastic and the sound was just right too. David came on stage and was fantastic. He has such an amazing voice, it easily filled the arena and he wasn't off key once. If you haven't heard his new album, Life In Slow Motion, you should definitely go listen to some clips on his website. The show lasted a couple hours and ended with a great version of Babylon. I have to say he is definitely one of my favorite performers to see live.

Afterward we walked out to wait for a Green line train and after about twenty minutes one finally showed up. Of course being the Green line it was packed all the way into town. Luckily the wait for the Red line was much shorter and we were back in Somerville in no time.

My 7 favorite musical artists at this very moment:
7) John Mayer
6) Jason Mraz
5) Jack Johnson
4) Howie Day
3) Coldplay
2) David Gray
1) Dave Matthews Band

Robert Wadlow

At BoCaNO last night I couldn't remember the name of the tallest man ever, but this morning on the way to work the name Robert Wadlow popped into my head. Here is a little info on him Robert Wadlow Official Site.

It's been a good couple of days. Work has been fantastic, I have been busy with new and interesting things. My relationship has also been fantastic. I was walking to the train last night and thinking about how happy I am with everything. I love my job, love where I live, have great friends, and can't express in words how happy I am with Jennifer. Sorry to gush so much, but life is unbelievably good.

Have a great weekend everybody!!! Try to stay dry!!!
Keeg

Weeks

It has been weeks since I have updated this silly journal and I can't help but feel bad about it. I have been busy doing all sorts of things. First off Jennifer's birthday went well, I have a bunch of pictures, unfortunately they are on my computer at home. Work has finally settled down a bit, we made our release on Monday and now we are working on other projects. It is really nice to go home around five and not stress about what I have to do at work tomorrow. The commute lately has been tough, I can't believe how many cars there are out there and how long it can take one person to drive nine miles. On Monday I did a lot of things on a to do list that had grown out of control. First I phoned my phone insurance company because they claimed they hadn't received my damaged phone, of course they haven't called back yet. I made an appointment for a physical, which is going to be in January. I even scheduled an appointment for my car to have its 60,000 mile service. It was an uber productive day that ended with me exercising at the gym. I do feel that a certain amount of stress has been lifted from my shoulders, at least for the time being. Oh yeah I also got information on where to send my retirement rollover money. I can't believe how much I actually have saved in my 401k at State Street. Thank goodness for automatic pay check deductions.

On Sunday I went over to Amy's new abode to watch the baseball game. It must have been the longest game ever, well next to the huge blow out against the Yankees in last year's ALCS. It was great hanging out with everybody on a weekend and not in a bar. I think I need to make a greater effort in rounding up the troops for weekend get togethers. Especially since I won't have a ski house this winter and won't get to go up every weekend. It is almost time to buy my pass, I have been debating about whether or not I should. My conclusion is that I will probably want to go up at least six times and I don't want to burden friends by asking for free tickets. So this weekend I will drop the 369 dollars and get the pass. I find its harder to part with my money these days, but its just something I have to do. Now I just need to find a cheap pair of 160-170cm skis for telemarking.

Alright time to get to work.
Keeg

Autumn Arrives

Since my last entry the season has changed and today the weather is definitely reflecting the change. It is now about 60 degrees outside and sunny. I was actually cold this morning with only a t-shirt on and had to grab a long sleeve shirt. I have been concerned recently with the goings on in our country, from the two hurricanes that have slammed into the Gulf Coast over the last two weeks to the emergency plane landing in California. Things are going crazy around here, I wonder what is in store for us in the near future. The news programs can't even keep up with all of the news. I am glad I don't live down where the hurricanes have been hitting, I can't imagine having to evacuate and leave all of my belongings behind to be destroyed by the wind, rain and storm surge.

Aside from it being autumn already, today is also Jennifer's birthday. We have a busy day ahead of us, we are currently at the cafe down the street from our house, afterwards we are going up to Amesbury for an afternoon of apple picking and cider donuts. This evening we will be heading in to the city for a little wine and appetizers at a swanky restaurant/wine bar. Tomorrow we are going to Sturbridge for lunch with the Riebe's at Picadilly Pub. At some point I will be removing part of my desk, so I can realign one set of legs, because I didn't put them on straight. I must have been rushing towards the end and just measured wrong. I also need to add some cross pieces to help keep it from swaying. I will put pictures up once it is all back together.