September 29, 2004

Presidential Fax

This article disturbed me. It does not bode well that our two presidential candidates are this concerned about such a topic. Yes, I understand the importance of 'appearance' during a televised debate. However this is nothing more than gagging the press - something I expect in China, Russia, or Iraq(during Hussein's rule). Kudos to the press for refusing to go along with it. For me, this foreshadows a debate high on spin and polish but bankrupt on honest, thought-out, personal (gasp!) ideas from the candidates. Welcome to the new democracy, were your ethnic, social, gender, and age class is placated with a soundbite then ignored for 4 years.

I promised myself I wouldn't get worked up about this debate. So far all I've accomplished is wildly oscillating between indifference and despair.

September 28, 2004

NFL Week 3: Monday Hangover

Oh, geez. It was certainly not worth the wait. The 'Skins Monday night debut can be categorized as shaky (at best) or wretched (at worst). Two losses to division teams simply make it that much harder to win in the latter half of the season. With that, here is how the peeps are stacking up:
In-laws & Philly: 3-0
Adam & the Pats: 2-0 (bye week)
Sam & Detriot: 2-1
Dan & Giants: 2-1
and sadly,
Washington: 1-2

September 27, 2004

Moms Away!

So Mother has left the country. She let us take her to the airport, which was a surprise. Originally, she told us we couldn't take her to the airport because it would be too emotional. However, in the end she relented. Her reason? Too much luggage. Also she realized I'm a robot and therefore possess no emotions what so ever.

15 hours later she gave us a call to say she arrived safely. We are very excited for her and the countless opportunities that await her. Go mom!

September 25, 2004

Bows & Arrows

Thursday night I saw the Walkmen at the 9:30. I was super excited to see them perform, having spent the coming days memorizing their latest album. Their sound is unique. One of the many unique elements is the singer's voice. On the album he uses a similar vocal technique as Bob Dylan - a dry, raspy, no-tone sing/shouty thing. Being familiar with this delivery I was shocked to hear him live. He did this shouting/screaming, contorting thing while he looked like he was fighting his internal organs to make his voice come out of him. At first sight, it was rather disturbing and many people exchanged glances. After the first couple of songs he dialed down the intensity and it all came together in a glorious racket. That crazy organ they use - another one of their unique elements - sounded so amazing live. All & all it was a great show and a good evening.

September 23, 2004

NFL: Mid-week recap

Week 2 was not kind to those in Washington DC, as the Redskins repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. They'd better bring their A-game to Dallas this week because 2 losses in a row to divisions teams does not help one reach the playoffs.
So far, it stacks up like this:
Adam & New England: 2-0
Sam & Detroit: 2-0
In-laws & Philly: 2-0
Me & the 'Skins: 1-1
Dan & The Giants: 1-1

Week 3 brings us an interesting match-up. The In-laws vs. the Best Man- ONLY ONE WILL SURVIVE!

September 20, 2004

Motivation UPdate

I wanted to update everyone on the dour ruminations of my professional career. Friday was a great day at work - one re-energized my efforts and my spirits. Not surprisingly, this is because I had honest work to do for the first time in two weeks. Nothing re-aligns one's professional self like having a goal to work towards. Until Friday my days were filled with training, training, and more training. I'm all for on-the-job training however two weeks of it made the job feel stale (and made the mind turn to jelly).Three cheers for billable work!

September 16, 2004

Happy Birthday!

Today is this gal's birthday. Please take a moment to put some birthday wishes on her blog. I'm sure she's appreciate it.

September 13, 2004

NFL: Week 1

This weekend was the opening week of the 2004-2005 NFL season. Almost everyone's team won - Adam up in New England; Sam's Detroit Lions; our Washington Redskins(!); and the in-laws up in up Philly. Sadly, Dan's team - the Giants - lost to the Eagles. So really, someone had to lose this weekend. To the victors I say - congrats - and to the world I say - thank goodness it's football season once again!

Motivation

For the last month or so I've had considerable trouble motivating myself at work like I do at home. For the last couple of years the quality of my 'personal life' has improved greatly - I fell in love, got married, got a pet - while I've experienced increased frustration in my 'professional life'. I'm not always excited about what I do at work or small accomplishments. Additionally, I find myself less than excited to undertake personal projects in my free time that would directly benefit my professional skills.

Maybe it's a sign I should change my career or maybe it's just a bit of exhaustion from a year of planning a wedding, getting married and moving. Either way, it's annoying and want it to go away.

September 10, 2004

Vogue


Posted by Hello
For those interested here is our new friend.

Kittens Ahoy!

As most of you already know we got our cat on Monday. It's been a crazy week, mostly due to the new addition. It's interesting to teach something 'rules' when you're not sure if it understands you. And by 'rules' I mean 'Don't Bite Me' and 'Don't Bite Me While I'm Sleeping'. At 2am this seems annoying but in all honesty it's wonderful. I've always wanted a pet and now I've got one! Success - it's been a banner year!

Our kitten contributed the following to this post:
' n n'.

Good kitty.

September 05, 2004

Nailed!

So the wife stepped on a nail, or possibly a long pin, Friday afternoon. As if that wasn't bad enough when she jerked her foot back the 'foreign object' broke off inside her foot. So we take her to our local INOVA hospital just up the street (it's where we spent Thanksgiving & the day after Christmas last year) and they admit her. The podiatrist on call looks at her foot, makes a small cut and attempts to take out the sliver of metal but, sadly, fails. Chances of us making it to the operating room (OR) on Friday are nil and Saturday isn't much better. We are told that we 'might' be able to make it in after 5pm, but to be sure the wife should not eat anything after midnight, ' just in case we get bumped up'. This isn't such a great idea since the wife typically can't handle pills, especially pain-killers on an empty stomach. Our only other option is to wait until Tuesday! Not gonna happen!
Instead, after some consultation with her uncle in PA - also a podiatrist but with his own practice & hospital - we go to sleep knowing our next plan of action: wake up at 4:30 am on Saturday to slip under the crush of Labor Day weekend traffic and drive to Allentown PA. For the second time in my life I made a road trip in which the sun came up well after we'd begun our trip. After admitting wife to the OR in Allentown, wife's uncle was successful in removing this troublesome chunk of metal from her foot.

It's a great weekend to celebrate Labor Day - the wife's foot is saved, we're surrounded by family, and I watched two episodes of a great HBO series (Real Time with Bill Maher) and a great movie (The Station Agent) along with a good movie (School of Rock). I also got comp'd into my cousin-in-laws concert in a loft. Ah, hardcore music, reminds me of my sophomore year of college.