Main > Joel's October 2007 News
.:Picture of the Day:.



 

Sunday, October 28th 2007

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Keanu Reeves in Constantine

Interesting weekend. First off, we saw not one, but two movies this weekend -- the 2nd being Constantine. Good movie, btw. Thanks for the recommendation, Kanishk!

Next, we went to a friend's house for their son's two-year birthday party. The best part in all honesty? Josh went to the basement for maybe an entire hour to play with the other kids, and my wife and I sat on the couch at their house to watch TV in peace. I just needed someone to feed me chocolate, and I would have been in Heaven.

On Sunday, we visited Atlantic Farms in Monmouth county to pick out a pumpkin, and check out their petting zoo. In late afternoon, I drove up to Rutherford to meet friends Doug and Kathy to see the Jets vs. Bills game. Okay, the Jets lost, but I liked hanging out with my friends for a few hours. Thanks to my cousin John for getting me the tickets!

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View of the game from our seats
Me, Doug, Kathy

Tomorrow morning, I'm on the early morning bus to NYC for a training class to learn about Active Directory. I hope it's good.

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Friday, October 26th 2007

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Will Smith & Eva Mendes in Hitch

I know the weekends go fast, but thank goodness for the weekend. What a long week it has been. I am so happy it's Friday. To celebrate, we picked up some Indian food to go, and rented Hitch and Constantine.

Next week, I'm in training downtown. Woohoo. However, as I still haven't closed out my audit, I may be running back and forth between the training site and one of our offices downtown. Woo.....hoo. :(

Late last night, I was doing work at home, and I was having some weird issues with my wireless network connection. I did a scan of the wireless networks in my neighborhood (from the guest room using my laptop), and four other networks showed up. You know, the usual "linksys" network SSID always shows up, which means 10-to-1 they haven't secured their network. For shits and giggles, I tried to connect to the "linksys" network, and I was accepted. Next, I tried the Linksys administration page using the default password, and I'm in. I start browsing through, and of course everything is set to the defaults. I browse the users, and there's "Emily", "toshiba-user", "Stephanie", etc. How pathetic. I was half-tempted to be evil, change their router password on them, and disable their wireless. I left them alone, but people who don't take the time to secure their wireless networks are morons.

There are wireless networks floating everywhere. One time I was trying to do work at my in-laws' house, I discovered that although they don't have a WLAN, five of their neighbors did. Guess who piggybacked on Fred and Ethel's wireless network? It won't ever be as secure as Fort Knox, but can't you even try changing the default password? If you are going to invest in technology, you gotta at least try to understand it. Pathetic.

We've got an exciting yet relaxing weekend coming up. While I need to do some work this weekend, I don't have to do it tonight! Free time allows me to catch up on photos. Below are wedding photos from Shannon (Num's former coworker) and Michael's wedding last weekend.

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St. Paul's RC Church in Princeton
Shannon & Michael
Num and her coworker Nicole dancing up a storm
Babysitters + formal event = happy adults

Num's cousin Reshmi (from India) has been visiting the States for about a month now. Last week, she came to stay in NJ for a few days. Apart from a classy dinner at TGI Friday's last Friday, we took her sightseeing that Sunday in NYC. I've posted new photos in the Family gallery for October but not all of the photos that I shot of the buildings and structures. I figure I've taken enough of them in the past. In addition, I've added the remaining photos from RoseAnn's wedding from earlier this month.

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More photos from RoseAnn's wedding
Sightseeing in NYC with cousin Reshmi

Lastly, in honor of Holloween...... I have to get my wife to shop here. I cracked up when I saw the "Sexy Jesus" costume.

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Wednesday, October 17th 2007

Another late night in the office with some of the team. Thank goodness my wife is covering for me at home with all the double-duty parenting she's doing. By the time we finished up (or gave up) in the office tonight, it was 9pm, so a few of us got something to eat at the local Carrabba's. First time for me at a Carrabba's, but my friend Leena swears by them. Two more days left in Fieldwork, and I think my team is in the home stretch. I can actually see the finish line. I'm not ruling out any last minute hiccups that will prevent me from closing out FW on Friday -- there's always something, but we'll do our best.

I dropped off my shirts at the cleaners this morning for same-day service, but never got a chance to pick them up before 6:30pm. Tomorrow morning is going to be another early-pick-up of shirts, and a quick change in the mens' room for me. :)

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Monday, October 15th 2007

I'm not invincible anymore. I used to think I was, but I'm slowly coming to the realization that I'm not. Also, I think I'm getting old.

  • I can no longer stay up any night I want, just to do work. After a long day at work, I come home, take care of my kid, we eat dinner, watch an hour of tv, and I'm ready to sleep. Heck, I'm tired at 9pm.
  • My body takes longer to recuperate after working out.
  • Every once in a blue moon, I can be doing something, and then get a pinched nerve in my spine, and it's just like some character in a sitcom -- paralyzing, and you shout "Oh, my back!"
  • I don't want to go clubbing anymore, or hit the bars. Every once in a while, I like to go out for drinks, but otherwise, I'd just rather be chilling out at home.
  • Did I mention teenagers get on my nerves? And why won't they get off my lawn? And get a job?

In the end, it all comes back to me being invincible. Or not being invincible anymore. I used to think I could do anything, but my body is actually putting limits on me. I used to run on adrenaline and sheer will sometimes, in high school, college, and in my twenties. Seriously though, after I hit 30, I started to hit a wall. Maybe's all the mental energy of keeping up with all the crap at my job, or being a Dad. I don't know. I'm just tired.

I hope my wife isn't poisoning me. It would be just like in Forensic Files, or other crime detective show on late-night cable tv. If I die, and my wife is cavorting with her bowling instructor Jacque, she did me in. Luckily, I have the complete and utter intention to haunt her and Jacque, and anyone else in the bowling alley. Gutter balls and warm beer for everyone!

I'm really in the mood for Thai food, and my Pad Ke Mow noodles. Can a vengeful ghost have a craving for Thai food?

One benefit I like about my phone is the 2 megapixel camera built it. The MOBLOG is back, baby, and I hope you all are checking it out again. I can take better photos, and it's so much easier to upload the photos now. Yeehaw.

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Sunday, October 14th 2007

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Our new refrigerator has finally arrived

You won't believe what arrived yesterday. At 6:45am Saturday morning, Lowe's called us, and abruptly woke us up. They'd be here in 20 mins. We scurried and got the kitchen cleaned up to make room for the new refrigerator. At 7:15am, guess who showed up? And guess what's now in our kitchen? Yeah, baby. We've got a new fridge that will change our lives, solve the world hunger, and build a better mousetrap. Hmmm, I gotta fill out that rebate.

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First batch of the 46 cat toys

Funny thing was, I knew old fridge was probably covering up mountains of dust bunnies, but I was unprepared for what was waiting for me. Dust bunnies? Yes, also left by the previous homeowners were pencils, a broken dish, and 46 "mouse" cat toys. Forty-six. How did they all get under the old refrigerator? I can't say, but I guess I know where the previous cats were storing their toys for future use.

Man, it's cold out there this weekend. Autumn is truly here. As were were making way for the delivery guys yesterday, I was thinking to myself that it was awfully cold in the house. I checked out the thermostat, and it was 66 degrees Fahrenheit in the house. Yikes, that's cold. No more shorts for me this year.

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Knocked Up

We rented the movie Knocked Up on Friday Night, starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan. It looked so funny in the movie trailer, and it had good reviews, but we never caught it in the movie theater (like we ever see a movie in the movie theater anymore.) So we finally rented it, but we didn't like. Nums really didn't like it at all, and I chuckled maybe once or twice during the movie. I wasn't grossed out at all, but.... I just didn't think the movie was all that funny. Just lots of uncomfortableness and such. Aw well.

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Anup & RoseAnn get married

Last night was RoseAnn and Anup's wedding up in Westchester -- specifically the wedding was in Scarsdale, and the reception was at the Surf Club in New Rochelle. Nice wedding, but the wedding reception was really nice. Right on the water, good food, fancy place. We didn't know many people at the wedding, but Lesh & Plex were at our table, and our friend Teena was the maid of honor.

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Dinner with Julie & Robbie

BTW, I added a new picture and minor word tweaking to the Oct 10 2007 blog posting. More October 2007 Family photos are now online. I'm out of control!

Tonight, we met up with my sister Julie and her husband Robbie for dinner at a nearby Chili's. I hope we can meet up with them more often, even though they live in South Jersey, near the Mexican border.

After my fieldwork ends this week, I'll have a week to recuperate, then off to a week of training in NYC. Actual training in a job-skill!

 

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Thursday, October 11th 2007

I'm looking forward to this weekend already. Our friend RoseAnn is getting married on Saturday, so we'll be at the wedding up in Westchester. On Sunday, we're meeting up for dinner with my sister and her "husband" Robbie. I'm still befuddled that my little sister got married, but I was in the wedding, so I was there.

I ordered a 2 Gb microSD card for my BlackBerry, and a book...... A BOOK FOR READING!, all from Amazon.com. They should be here sometime early next week. I miss reading actual books, and I haven't taken the time to read a good once since 2004. How pathetic.

FYI, no recent reschedulings of the refrigerator delivery this week. We sit here with baited breath, skeptical eyes, and suspicious minds for Saturday's delivery. Regardless, I still have every intention of writing that letter to Lowe's to complain.

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Wednesday, October 10th 2007

Today is officially the halfway mark of my fieldwork. Another week and a half to go, and it's going fairly alright. Not too many speed bumps. It doesn't preclude the possibility of some FUBAR incident tomorrow, or my laptop getting stolen, but let's hope for the best. :)

You know one thing I realized that I haven't figured out yet? Well, besides talking to senior management without sounding like an idiot, is navigating the rivers of politics. Be it a large organization or a small one, politics seems to be everywhere. CC'ing the right person, the right tone of an email, oye ve, it's a pain. Definitely an area that I need to work on.

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Touch A Truck event

This past weekend was decent. Josh and I went to the Mercer County Touch A Truck Day event at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, where we got to check out all the rigs, big and small. The party at Doug & Kathy's was nice. Good weather all around. I checked out the iPod Touch this weekend at the nearest Apple store while Joshua was running around trying out all the electronics. Truth be told, I wasn't that impressed with it. Once you actually hold it, the features feel stripped down compared to the iPhone. It doesn't feel like it's worth $400. iLounge (huge iPod website) gave it a sad rating of B-, and after seeing the screenshots of the video quality, I tend to agree. I'm torn between just waiting for another version, or buying a Classic. Go figure.

I've been sleeping so oddly the past few days. One night I can't sleep, so I end up watching TV in the living room until I have to get up for work. Another day I oversleep. Tonight I was nodding off in the living room, and after getting ready for bed, I can't sleep, and it's nearly 2am. Sometimes I sleep when I don't want to, and like tonight, I know I should sleep, but I feel like I should do anything but sleep. Being human can be so frustrating. Maybe the audit is messing with me.

I realize that Missy's anniversary is coming up next week, one year since we put her to sleep. I still think about that stupid cat every once in a while. Regret. Guilt. Sorrow. It's so easy to forget the good times, and so hard to forget the painful ones.

Last year was such a tough year for us, in many ways that I don't care to mention. Around this time last year, I wrote about how tough the year had been on us, and that maybe it was just birthing pains for 2007. The year so far has certainly been better for everyone, but ghosts can still haunt you years later.

What did Elton John sing about back in the 80's?

Guess there are times when we all need to share a little pain
And ironing out the rough spots
Is the hardest part when memories remain
And it's times like these when we all need to hear the radio
`Cause from the lips of some old singer
We can share the troubles we already know

Turn them on, turn them on
Turn on those sad songs
When all hope is gone
Why don't you tune in and turn them on

They reach into your room
Just feel their gentle touch
When all hope is gone
Sad songs say so much

If someone else is suffering enough to write it down
When every single word makes sense
Then it's easier to have those songs around
The kick inside is in the line that finally gets to you
and it feels so good to hurt so bad
And suffer just enough to sing the blues

I've always preferred sad songs vs. the happy-go-lucky ones. Sad songs can touch you right to the core, connect to emotions that have been buried to protect yourself from pain. Lost relationships. Lost loved ones. Anger at yourself for past mistakes. Wallowing in your own sorrow. Guilt for pain that you've caused another.

Loss. Anger. Sorrow. Guilt. Strong emotions that don't dissipate so easily. Sad songs indeed can say so much.

Man, I can be such a bummer sometimes. :) Surf over to People Weekly, and find out what pitfall Britney has fallen into now.

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Friday, October 5th 2007

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Our weekend getaway

I'm all caught up on photos! Our Cape May & Wildwood weekend getaway photos are now online. The best part was the stunning woman I went away with. :)

Week one of my audit fieldwork is over. Going well so far, but next week still looks stressful. Par for the course, I believe.

Sometimes I can't believe that I'm married, with a family, and live in my own home. It shouldn't be that hard to believe at this point, but sometimes it is. When I walk around to turn off the lights at night, or simply walk up the stairs, I'm stunned that this is my house. And I'm married? With family? Being Indian, you get conditioned by parents fairly early about getting married when you finish college. Gosh, I think my Mom used to talk about my sister and I each getting married since we were in elementary school. But growing up, who actually is thinking about what having your own family really feels like? Sometimes, I still feel like I'm that college kid.

I must admit I like owning my stairs. I wonder where that stain came from? :)

I'm glad the weekend is finally here, and for some of us, a 3-day weekend too (Columbus Day). My entire company is not off for Columbus Day, but my department follows the Federal Holiday Schedule. Unfortunately, Nums is working most of the weekend, so it's mostly an Ipe Boys weekend adventure. Saturday consists of getting an oil change, the Ipe boys going to the Mercer County Touch A Truck Day at Sovereign Bank Arena (oh, whatever, it's free, and we live in a hickish area.) In the evening, we're going to Doug & Kathy's for their housewarming party. Crap, I gotta get a gift.

Sunday, I don't know what we're doing. Absolutely no idea.

Monday, Nums is working, Josh is going to school, and I'll be home in my pyjamas, catching up on work, and watching TV.

Enjoy your weekend!

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Tuesday, October 3rd 2007

Stupid Lowe's. Ask me if we have our refrigerator. Just ask me. Simple question. We've received not one, but two delivery reschedule calls this week from Lowe's. They still don't have it. Tonight, we got the call from the same guy Benny (I should have "Benny" on speedial at this point) explaing that they still don't have it yet, and are rescheduling it to Oct 13th. We ordered this simple refrigerator on Sept 2nd. I'm calling tomorrow morning. I am going to bitch up the management chain until they send me flowers and a box of chocolates to my office. Not just any old Walgreen's chocolates. I want the airport duty-free Toblerone..... the giant kind that you can't eat alone.

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Labor Day weekend BBQ
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Who is he calling? His broker?

I'm catching up on photos. Here's a few (seriously, it's just four) from last month's BBQ at the Kondorfs' back during Labor Day weekend. Also, we have the long-awaited family photos from August 2007, and a veritable slew of new photos from September 2007. I'm still working on the Capy May trip page. In the meantime, enjoy.

Yesterday, the word got around at the office that I have a website. There was some discussion in my conference room in the morning. By the evening, my director walked by me, and said simply, "Joelipe.com, huh." That's when I realized that news can travel awfully fast in the workplace. :)

I got an interesting fortune in my fortune cookie this evening. BTW, my lucky numbers are 2, 27, 12, 36, 3, 16. If you win the lottery, I expect 20%]. Anyway, my fortune said,

Today, put away the diplomat in order to protect your own interests.

Just this morning, I was thinking that I need to be more assertive as the auditor when I'm dealing with the business folks. Call it what you want -- being assertive, calling the shots, etc. Too many times, we try to act nice and helpful, and do you know what get in return? They often try to bully their way into getting what they want. Maybe they've dealt with so many auditors in the past, they know how to intimidate the new auditor who's still trying to understand the process. Auditors have a mandate from senior management, and we shouldn't allow ourselves to get bullied. I don't let them walk over me, but I think I'm too nice at times. I think the pendulum has to swing back a bit. Eh, what do I know, right? It's just been my experience these past 5-6 years now in my past jobs.

You won't believe it, but I actually hit the gym today during lunch. Can you believe it? I had lost a few pounds this summer, but it seems to be all back. Argh, the daily battle with the bulge.

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