Surreal Life is really turning into a great season but it looks like
next week's episode is chock full of drama.  Like very girly
drama.  From the looks of it Adrianne's character is like "Oh, no
one ever wants me."  Bullshit! You were on America's Next Model,
life really is not that bad for you.  Cry me a fucking river.

I
was looking at cruise prices the other week for no reason and found
that a crappy indoor room in Fall 2005 is going for a little less than
$300.  I'm going to start looking into this and seeing exactly how
much this will all cost.  The real question is, who wants to go on
a cruise?

Is chapstick the best invention ever? 

I
brought my car to the car wash yesterday and had perhaps the worst car
wash ever.  Why was it so bad? Because it failed to clean the car
in the spots in needed to.  There was still dirt on the roof,
under the spoiler, all over the back of the car, under the rims. 
Clearly automated car washes are garbage.  My dad wanted to bring
it back to get a refund but I was just feeling too lazy. 

The day after tomorrow I'm going to Florida.....I cannot wait!

Song of the Day: The Game - How We Do

Now that I've gotten to the "bill paying age", has anyone else noticed
that a real sense of fear runs through you when you get a letter in the
mail with a generic envelope and some unknown mailing address? 
It's the kind of fear you used to get when you got sent to the
principals office or had to tell your parents about something bad you
did.  Well unmarked envelopes can stop me dead in my tracks. 
Do you know what gets mailed in unmarked envelopes? Supeonas, warnings
to pay bills, final notices before someone comes and takes your
possesions away and other equally scary shit.  And then of course
they send new credit cards in unmarked envelopes.  So I se the
envelope and my stomach drops like there's a highway patrol car behind
me with his lights on, my hands start to sweat, my heart races, my
brain tries to figure out what I could have forgotten and then I
realize when opening it that it's my new Fleet card. 

You
know what sucks? When you get all dressed up for work to impress
someone and that someone isn't at work that day.  When that
happens I just feel like I could have worn sweat pants to work that
day.  Like it's a waste that I cared about what I looked
like. 

I've finally motivated myself to start working out
again and I've adopted a new schedule.  Basically I've split up
the routines to do one day on arms and one day on abs.  I figure
by doing more of each on one day, I'll do more with less.  It
makes sense in my head so here's hoping that I'll be back in Olympic
shape very soon.

I was reading the news and maybe it's the nerd in me but does anyone else get goosebumps looking at the photos from Titan? 
If you stop and think about it, these pictures were taken by a machine
that is  millions of miles away on a moon that is so big that it
has it's own atmosphere and oh yea, it's right next to the mother of
all planets, Saturn.  Besides goosebumps it really just makes you
feel small; like when you stare at the night sky on a clear night and
really see how big things are and how small you are. It's a really
cosmic thought but I can't help but look at that picture and be in awe.

Dare I say that the new season of Surreal Life is the best one yet?  Who thought anyone could top Flava Flav?

Song of the Day: Journey - Who's Crying Now

I swear, these weekends are getting shorter and shorter.  One
second you're getting out of work on Friday and the next it's Sunday
night and you have to force yourself to go to bed.  There's just
not enough time.  I didn't do a whole lot this weekend, and that's
the way I like it.  Friday night I was at Pete's just hanging
out.  Saturday I was in my PJ's all day and at night we all went
out to Margaritas(my absolute favorite restaurant now). Sunday I went
to the gas station and vaccumed out my car and then helped my dad by
reformatting his computer at work.

Tonight I have a
teleconference for my grad class.  I haven't done shit or read
anything.  I really should but I don't want to.  I liked the
idea of graduating college and being done with class so I'm less than
enthusiastic about doing work.  I'm really like a 7 year old who
is told to do work, responds, "Fiiiiiine", and then drags his feet all
the way. 

I've decided to cancel my Xanga premium subscription since all I do is post reposts of my blog entries. 
Pretty dumb to be paying for it, eh?  I'll still update my Xanga
with my reposts but I'm sure as hell not paying for it.

For some
reason, my Photoshop skills have immensly increased to the point where
I'm doing all these awesome effects and there's really no explanation
as to why.  I'll just be thinking, "It'd be nice to be able to
[whatever]..." and then presto, a few clicks and I figure it out. 
I guess after you turn 23 you gain an uncanny ability to design stuff
in Photoshop.  Thank you Adobe!

My favorite quote from Toy
Story, which was on this weekend:Buzz: "I can fly around this room with
my eyes closed!"Woody: "Ok then Mr. Lightbeer, prove it."Don't know why
but that makes me laugh

And now some funny videos..
.The car we all wish we had
Some people never learn

Song of the Day: Alicia Keys - Karma

Earlier in the week I bought an XM Radio reciever for my car and
finally got it installed and activated yesterday.  Let me be the first
to say that XM Radio must cause an untold amount of accidents. 
Personally, I'm easily taking my eyes off the road for far too long to
see what station I'm on and why I can't find anything to listen to. 
Sadly, XM suffers from the same problem that afflicts cable TV users;
Over 200 channels and nothing is on!  The comedy channel is so far the
best I've found but the real reason I bought it was to have so much
good music that I'd feel bad listening to the same station for more
than 5 minutes.  But instead most of the stations play lesser known
songs of whatever genre its covering.  My first month of XM is free but
I'm quickly thinking I made a bad purchase.  Besides, if I don't cancel
the thing first, I'm sure it'll lead to an accident.

Well vacation is over and it's back to work.  It was such a nice week
off.  Pete and John came home and it almost felt like the way it was a
few years ago (I sound like an 80 year old reminiscing).  And the best
part of the vacation?  I did nothing!  Honestly, vacations where you
sit around at home and relax are much better than going somewhere.  If
you go somewhere, you'll probably come back even more exhausted than
when you left because you were so anal about making sure you got the
most out of your vacation by doing all sorts of things.  But when you
sit at home, wake up around noon and sit in your PJ's for the better
part of the day, you come back to work refreshed.  But like any
vacation, it didn't come fast enough, went by all too fast once it did
come and I still need a few more days off. 

Now after rambling about how staying at home is the best vacation, I
booked a flight to Florida for a long weekend I'm taking in February. 
I'm sure we all say that vacations where you stay at home are better,
but every one of us has a "vacation vice"; a place somewhere in the
world that we'll splurge on even if we owe $2000 to the credit card
companies and even if we need to take it easy.  For me, this place is
Disney World.  I love it and can't get enough and of course I can see
some of my friends who are down there, like Jeanne & Jillian et
al,  so I'll be heading down there. Besides, where else would I go for
a long weekend that is relatively inexpensive and can go by yourself? 
And hey, it's Florida. It'll be warmer and I'll have a good time.  Now
I just have to book a hotel to stay at.

Funniest thing I read in the Bon Jovi Boxed Set booklet thingee: "The
number one cause of unwanted pregnancies in the 80's  was the Bon Jovi
ballad."

There's a natural progression of acceptence of work at work that I've discovered.

Phase 1: Surprise, "Oh look, work for me to do."
Phase 2: Shock, "Who the fuck do they think they are to give me this kind of work load?"
Phase 3: Stubborness, "There is no way I'm doing all this work!"
Phase 4: Scheming, "How can I get rid of this work load and give it to someone else to do?"
Phase 5: Sorrow, "Oh my god, what did I do to deserve this amount of work?!"
Phase 6: Acceptance, "Oh screw it, I'll just do it and then leave early.  That'll show 'em."

And now, some interesing links...
Elvis is still the king
Only in New Orleans
Post Xmas Letter
The Exorcist in 30 seconds
Scary Tsunami video
VERY graphic photo of the Tsunami

Song of the Day: AC/DC - Back in Black

Well we got hit with a pretty big storm and have about 3 or 4 inches on
the ground, the temperature is 10 degrees out but the real feel is -19,
all the schools in the state are closed, the roads are terrible but oh
yea, we're open! WTF?!  I woke up this morning and was watching
the little ticker on the bottom of the screen.  Branford, closed.
Guilford, closed. Madison, closed. New Haven public school,
closed.  And UNH? Open!  I guess short of a blizzard we're
open for business.  They're just lucky that I'm the best damn
driver on earth and that my piece of shit Ford Escort is secretly known
as the snow king because nothing fazes it (except unplowed uphill
drives, then it resembles an olympic figure skater as it does perfect
figure 8's). 

A bit of better news, on Saturday we went
car shopping and I had to break a bit of bad news to my beloved Ford
Mustang. I've met another.  And she's so much sweeter.  I saw
the 2004 Chevy Monte Carlo SS in the showroom and it was meant to be my
car.  It's totally awesome.  Leather seats, CD player,
OnStar, V-6 240HP engine, sunroof, radio controls on steering wheel,
17" rims.   I totally want it. We're going to the dealer on
Tuesday (we would have gone today but the snow kind of screwed that up)
to talk turkey and figure out financing and how I can afford this
beast.  However it looks like I'm going to have to delay my move
out of home if I get it because I'll basically be dumping my savings on
the down payment in an effort to reduce the monthly payments.  Not
the end of the world cuz I'll be driving a pimp ass car. 

After
the dealership visit, the whole family went to the movies.  My mom
and sisters saw Spanglish(and they all said it was terrible) and me and
my dad went to go see Flight of the Phoenix.  It was an allright
movie, nothing special.  My dad was excited because he saw the
original movie in the 60's but by the end he knew the original was
better and I found this movie to be "at least I didn't have to pay to
see it" kind of movie.

Yesterday we went to my grandmothers
apartment in Long Island for a belated Hanukkah party.  Evidently
sometime last week or so the family decided to have a Hanukkah party
after deciding not to have one.  I guess the change of heart
resulted in when everyone realized we were all getting nothing for
Hanukkah this year. I got a sweater, book and a Bon Jovi boxed
set.  I'm still waiting on my sister's present as it's still "in
the mail".  But an interesting development at the party was I was
talking to my uncle about getting a place in New Haven because he lives
in New Haven now.  Well long story short, he ended up giving me
his wife's key to their apartment telling me that I could use it as a
fall back option when I go to New Haven and get totally shit
faced.  Pretty sweet deal.  My dad later said "I can't
believe he gave you a key to his place; I wouldn't have given you
one." 

Going back to the Bon Jovi box set, I was
expecting a kick ass compilation of their absolute best hits. 
Instead its mostly unreleased music and the tracks that were previously
unreleased are just different recordings. Nothing on here is any of
their really famous songs.  But I made a realization that I really
didn't care the music was nothing special because I've reached a point
in the scale of "fandom" where I love anything they put out.  You
really realize when you're a real fan and not some floozy fan who likes
3 songs when you can listen to anything they put out and still enjoy
it. 

Favorite song I can listen to over and over: Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart
Song of the Moment: Bing Crosby - Let It Snow
Song of the Day: Bing Crosby - It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas

On Saturday I went car shopping.  We went to Ford, Chrysler & GMC
and saw alot of cars I didn't want.  In the end it's really a battle of
me versus my parents.  I want the 2005 Ford
Mustang but they don't like it because it has rear wheel
drive(which means it's not that good in the snow).  My contention is,
there are perhaps 3 days a year that it actually snows enough to be of
concern.  They don't care.  The only other car that I liked was the
2004
Chevy Impala.  Here's my problem.  I want the Mustang.  Any
other car feels like I'm settling for something else.  Why should I
settle? I'm the one who is going to pay for it.  I'm the one who's
gonna drive it and I'm the one who is going to have my name on the
title.  I've kept about as much an open mind as I can have on the
subject but at the end of the day, the car I want to drive home in is
the Mustang.  This is my first new car and I'm supposed to adore my
first new car.  Every car after this will be some sort of a compromise
because I'll have more responsibilities and need a different kind of
car. Right now I'm young and dumb and want this bad boy.  I've driven a
sensible, piece of crap that gets good gas mileage for the past 5-6
years and it worked but now I want a change.  

I saw Oceans Twelve Saturday night with the folks and it was a good
movie.  Better than Oceans Eleven? Nah.  But my favorite bit in the
movie is when they introduce George Clooney's character, he's living in
East Haven, CT. Later in the movie Clooney meets up with Brad Pitt and
they have an exchange:

Clooney: "How's the hotel business?"

Pitt: "Sucks. How's East Haven?"

Clooney: "Sucks."

God bless anyone who publicly berates Connecticut.

On Sunday I watched Super Size
Me, a great documentry on the horrors of fast food. Let me
tell you, if you ever want to lose weight but can't find a good reason
to, go watch this movie.  At the end of it, you will feel like the
fattest person alive and never want to touch another piece of food
again.  It was well done and it's definetly worth the $4 at Blockbuster
to rent it.

Funny videos of the day:

Avril Lavigne in a Hooters outfit

Michelle, of Destiny's Child, falls

Happy birthday to John!

Song of the Day: Eminem - Toy Soldiers

My parents are on the war path.  No, my room doesn't need
cleaning, my bills are paid(sort of) and I'm not corrupting my little
sister(not recently anyway).  They have thrown themselves into 5th
gear in the past two weeks or so into me getting myself a nice Jewish
girlfriend. And I'm not talking about nudges or hints.  It seems
every third thing out of their mouths is, "You have to go pick up
dinner tonight and oh yea, go get a girlfriend!".  They even sent
me a friggin link to JDate. 
This is the most anal they've been about me getting a girl since senior
year of high school when they bribed me with a trip to Disney in order
to get me to go to Senior Prom(if this is news to you, then ask me
sometime to tell you the story). I swear I'm gonna come home one of
these days and there's gonna be some girl sitting in the kitchen that
my mom met in the supermarket or something.

I spent my weekend with Carrie and Riley.  Riley is the cutest
thing that shits itself every few hours.  She's 6 months old and
is just so much fun.  Friday night John's parents watched Riley so
me and Carrie could go meet up with Pete(and girlfriend and
girlfriend's friends) at a bar.  Bar was nothing special but we
did end up seeing Pete's cadaver which was mildly interesting. 
Saturday night I watched Band of Brothers
with Carrie and yesterday I helped put up the (fake) Christmas
tree!  I put on some Christmas music and sipped some bloody mary
while John's dad put up the tree and the rest of us pointed out spots
where he needed to spread the branches to make it look less fake. 
I spent most of the time commenting on why they should have a real tree
and a life size nativity scene in the front of the house. Good times.

Tomorrow night is Hannukah!

Song of the Day: Andy Williams - Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I've finally uploaded pictures from my trip to Disney & Cruise and they can be found by clicking here.

And here's a list of stuff I want for Hanukkah/my birthday:
Halo 2
Bon Jovi Box Set
Smallville: Season 3
Family Guy Volume 2
Xbox Live starter set
Eminem CD
Robosapien

I just bought some cologne.  First, I bought a refill of my favorite cologne, Romance by Ralph Lauren and then I bought a new cologne I sampled at Epcot and thought it was good, London by Burberry. It's funny because last time I went to Epcot and went through the UK pavillion, I ended up going home and buying Touch by Burberry.  There seems to be a trend developing.

Song of the Day: Irene Cara - Flashdance

I'm back!  I had a great time and can't wait to go back. 
Weather was so-so but it never rained and it was always hot enough for
shorts and short sleeve shirts.  My cruise experience was
great.  I ate waaay too much, drank alot and had a great
time.  Of course, this wasn't a "sleeping vacation" so I was in
bed by about 8:30 last night but it was a good vacation.  I didn't
get as much sun as I would have liked but I managed to get enough to
get some color and I hope it's enough for others to notice.  I
downloaded all the pictures off my camera last night but my internet
was being less than cooperative so hopefully I'll be able to upload
them tonight.  

Rather than bore you all with stories, here are some of the highlights:
- Being able to get any sort of food I want at any hour of the day or night
- Meeting (finally) Leslie
- Taking too many shots with the Nassau natives while shopping for booze
- Drinking some local beer out of a paper bag, walking down the streets of Nassau and wearing shorts is the way life should be.
- Doing my best impression of those Corona beer commercials
- Falling asleep on the plane ride back and forth, thus making the whole flying experience very easy.
- Eating fish & chips with a half yard of Bass at the UK pavillion in Epcot.

You know what I hate? When someone sneaks in "Have a good holiday" into
a conversation because if they say it first, then I always feel like a
jerk for not saying it first and by me saying "Yea, you too" it's like
"That's right, I'm a jerk and didn't want to say it to you but since
you brought it up, I'll say it back to you even though I hope you
die".  Maybe I'm just being stupid but thats the way I feel.

It was only recently that I realized the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing
Santa Claus" is about a mom kissing her husband dressed up as Santa
Claus, and not my previous theory which was the mom was some sort of
skank that hit on Santa Claus. Go figure.

How come whenever I am introduced to people who are allegedly “so like me”, I hate them?

Song of the Day: Todd Rundgren - Bang On The Drum

Back to work today after a nice weekend but it's a short work week. 
Just today and tomorrow and then I'm off to sunny Florida and I cannot
wait!  Back to this past weekend, I spent Friday night and a good
portion of Saturday putting together my new computer.  I'm quite
pleases with how it turned out.  I did all the work myself, except for
when I had my dad help me with screwing in the motherboard but
everything else was all me.  And I have about a dozen cuts on my hands
to prove it.  My hands look like I spent the time playing with barbed
wire and not a computer.  Nonetheless, it's together, working and
kicking ass.  The lights and everything look awesome.  I have minor
details to attend to with it but it's done for the most part. 

 I went tanning yesterday and got so burned it's not even funny.  I even
burnt the underside of my kneecaps. Do you know how hard it is to burn
the underside of your kneecaps?  This is all the stupid girl at the
desk's fault.  I spent too much time staring at her cleavage and not
enough time paying attention to the fact that I ordered too much time. 
I'm praying that this is just post-tanning redness and it will go away
but I fear I've fucked it all up.  

On Sunday I substituted again at Hebrew school and I had a different
class this time and these kids were honestly the best class I ever
had.  When I came in in the morning, I always let them do whatever the
hell they want until school starts.  Normally the kids yell at each
other or something but these kids grabbed flash cards and tried to see
who could stump who.  I could tell at that point they were
semi-normal.  I had brought in munchkins as a bribe to keep them at bay
but could have easily gone without them but was more than happy to part
with them.  There was one snag though, one girl was trying to read
something as part of a contest to see who could get the most words
right.  Well she didn't take it very well and started crying silently. 
I decided to ignore it because what the hell was I gonna do?  Anyway,
it turned out to be the right course of action because 2 or 3 words
later she knew the answer to it and popped up and was fine after that. 
Looks like my revolutionary ideas of ignoring kids works.

Went to go see National Treasure last night with the folks.  Not that
bad a movie, really.  Dumb dialogue but I was never bored and the movie
held my interest.  Something was always happening and the female lead,
Diane
Kruger, was sooooo hot. Oh my god,  I need to move to Germany
to find a girl like her(Ed. note: and then get shot down).  Anyway,
movie was good and I've been a fan of Sean Bean's work ever since
Goldeneye.

1 day & 15 hours until Florida!

Song of the Day: U2 - Vertigo