Thursday, September 30th 2004

Damn trains. Got to Penn Station this evening, and my next two trains to get home were on "Standby", then "Delayed", then "Cancelled". I hightailed it to the 32nd St. PATH station, jumped on the train about to leave for Hoboken, and 20 mins later took the next train out of Hoboken to get home. Just one of those days.

I hate to admit it, but I found the 1st presidential debate interesting. So sue me.

Busy day tomorrow. To keep you occupied in the meantime, my old friend Manu sent me video of the the fabled skit where one of the Conan O'Brien employees goes to an Indian call center. Definitely a hoot.

Wednesday, September 29th 2004

So we lost today in Trivial Pursuit. Yes, yes, setting ourselves up for a fall, but the other team (Patty & Julissa) got some easy 5-point questions, and BOOM!, they were miles ahead of us, and we couldn't catch up in the remaining 7 minutes (total of 20 minutes to play each game.) Ah well.

The players	Julissa, Patty	Steve Z., Kristen, Olivia all running the game	Yes, we're so 21st century

Pictures from Bangalore & Rashmi's wedding

I still haven't had a chance to get our Anniversary Weekend in Washington DC pictures online, but I did fix up more pictures from the India trip -- 50 more, to be precise. I've got one more roll to publish, and some additional ones from Num's cousin Vinod back in India. Only then may Joel rest.

Going to see Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow Friday night with Doug and his brother Mike. I'm looking forward to it. Speaking of movies, Mel Brooks is working on a sequel to Spaceballs, and hopes to get it in theaters a week before Revenge of the Sith comes out next May. Also, next year, filming begins on Terminator 4, with Arnold getting a minor role.

Tuesday, September 28th 2004

Hello to Preethi & Milind, down in Florida. You two are so cute!

I pulled an all-nighter last night, so I wouldn't fall asleep, and get in late. The result? I got into the office at 7:15am, after watching the entire Star Wars Trilogy. Unfortunately, I was dead tired the entire day, but I kept moving.

You ever start nodding off during a meeting or class, but then someone says something, you realize immediately that you look like you're nodding, and then you're wide awake from fear of discovery? I was nodding off in a rather boring meeting this morning, when I heard the word "Audit" really loud. I woke up with a start, in a cold sweat. No one was looking at me, nor was the speaker, so I figure my secret was still safe. Still, I was wide-awake the rest of the meeting.

Are you aware that Hollywood is working on another Fantastic Four movie? (The previous one in the 90's really stank, and was shelved without ever being released.) Here are the photos and stars.

Ioan Gruffudd as Mr. Fantastic	Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman	Chris Evans as the Human Torch	Michael Chiklis as The Thing

Wow, fashion designer Geoffrey Beene died. I worked 2 months at a Geoffrey Beene mall store during college. At least I learned how to fold clothes (though fitted bedsheets still befuddle me.)

My Quicken 2005 Premier free upgrade came in the mail today, because I use Intuit's online bill pay service through Quicken. The upgrade went well, but I can't get the Bill Pay service to work. According to Technical Support, they'll have the problem corrected in 3-5 days. Thankfully, I made all my payments last night.

This evening, my in-laws took us out for dinner at Red Lobster up on Route 17. I've been to Red Lobster twice before, and didn't like it. Tonight, I had steak and shrimp, and that worked for me. Good for me.

I gained close to 3 lbs over the past week (and weekend). Damn desserts. I'm so bad at dieting.

Tomorrow starts our department Trivial Pursuit challenge to raise money for the United Way. I'm partnered with my coworker Rick, and we're planning to beat the socks off the competition. Category? Movies & Television. Easy money, people.

Okay, 12:10am, and time for bed.

Monday, September 27th 2004

And we're back. It was a nice 3-day weekend, sightseeing, eating, more sightseeing, more eating. I have pictures and pictures, and more pictures sitting around now to edit and publish. This weekend. The 2nd half of the India trip. Geez. Not to mention the India trip next month to anticipate. I'll tell you what was nice about the hotel -- free wireless Internet. We brought Num's laptop, and used it for researching locations, phone numbers, directions, etc.

Friday was pretty much done, as we only arrived at the hotel in Arlington by 12 midnight. Saturday was walking around Georgetown, then going to dinner at Num's cousin Beenie's (spelling?) house. Sunday was a bit of Alexandria, more Georgetown, and dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill. Monday was more sightseeing in the Capitol, then a long drive home. We got home tonight at 7.

As usual, I'll try to get to the pictures later this week. All of them.

Great news on the Extended edition of the LOTR: Return of the King. It'll be released on Dec 14th, and will be a smorgasbord for the Tolkien fans. An additional 50 minutes of footage added in, 300 new special effects, etc. Very nice. One of my favorite aspects of the Extended editions is that they incorporate DTS 6.1 surround sound, so I get to use my three rear speakers. They are the only DVDs that I'm aware of that use 6 speakers.

In other great news, I'm down to 176 lbs. Bite me!

Friday, September 24th 2004

Busy week. Too busy for updates, but you'll all be happy to know my DVDs came in. They're good, but I haven't had much time to watch them. Ah, the injustices of life.

See you all next week!

Tuesday, September 21st 2004

Star Wars Trilogy

It's coming! It's coming! On DVD! It's coming! According to Amazon.com, my Star Wars Trilogy DVD collection shipped today. According to UPS, it arrives tomorrow. Mwahahahahaha. BTW, did you know UPS officially changed the company name to just "UPS"? They did, but I can't remember when, and it was this year, I think.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition

Speaking of Sci-Fi, I was rewatching Star Trek: The Motion Picture on DVD tonight. I have the Director's Edition. It's a tiny bit on the 70's style-kick, and was kinda plodding before, but the Director's Edition is a marked improvement. Cleaning special effects (including new CG effects), re-edited, tightened up the pacing, etc. I also like putting the volume on the home theater receiver really high. :) Hell, like anyone reading this is a Star Trek fan. Heathens.

Went to this new fastfood joint on Park Ave & 23rd called NY Burger Co. or something for lunch today with some coworkers. It looked appealing from the outside, but the burgers are hideously expensive. I went to buy just a burger and a soda, and the cashier told me it was $9.75. Just for a burger and soda. Now, looking at the menu, if I opted for "The Real Deal", I could get fries with that, and that combo would cost only $9.20. Does that make sense to anyone else? So, I just got the combo and didn't eat my fries (or many of them -- how can I really resist french fries?) Anyway, the burger wasn't that spectacular, so now you know.

What a story that was.

De'Longhi Deep Fryer

I was hesistant to go weigh myself today, because I figured I'd been pigging-out on potato chips, cookes, chocolate, all last week. Turns out, I lost 2 lbs. I felt so good, I went running after work today.

I was in charge of dinner tonight. I made bowties with veggie tomato sauce, with eggplant cutlets on the side. Is that special? No. However, I used our De'Longhi Deep Fryer (bridal shower gift), and it was great! Last night, Num used it to make awesome tuna cutlets. To tell the truth, I wasn't onboard when Num wanted to get it, but now I understand.

Deep-frying food in a big vat of oil is cool! Tomorrow -- deep-fried Twinkies!

Monday, September 20th 2004

Blade: Trinity

I made it to work today. You may all rejoice.

The Blade: Trinity trailer is finally out. Go to the movie website, and click on Surveillance.

I really wish Mariska Hargitay won last night @ the Emmys. I don't particularly like Hollywood award shows, but the Ipes around here really just like her a lot. Here's something you probably didn't know. She was only 3 when, with her siblings and mother (bombshell Jayne Mansfield) were in a car accident on June 29th 1967, and her mother was killed.

Mariska Hargitay

Jayne Mansfield

In a promise to a certain Cherickel out there, I swear to tone down the amount of news articles I publish, apart from those booby-related. Hey, a man has needs. :)

I don't mind personal websites. Hell, I apparently have one of my own. However, before you commit to one, I think you should decide, "Am I really going to keep up with this?" Why? Because it's pretty sad to have no changes or updates since 1974. You know when a site has jumped the shark, and is now spiralling to a unearthly demise? When the latest sign of life, be it blog or general update, is....."Nothing happened this week."

So, now that I said that, and I have now promised here to Mr. Cherickel to cut down on the news articles, I have nothing really to say. Oh, that's not true. I suffer diarrhea of the mouth. Let's all settle down next to the fireplace and I'll leave you kids with a Joel Story (i.e. foolishness on Joel's part).

When I was four years old, and we were visiting India for my sister's baptism, I was hanging around in front of the house my Dad grew up on, wearing my usual stylish-yet-naughty short-shorts of my youth. At that moment, I wanted to go see the cows (yes, we had cows), in the stable, but there was a small 2-foot drop to the lower level of the yard, to get to the stable.

Foregoing the nearby stairs (a whole 20 feet away), I sat down on the edge of the drop, and jumped off. It was only a 2-foot drop, so what's the big deal? In the 10 seconds it took me to will myself to jump off, red ants (the biting kind -- the only kind in India) had enough time to scurry into my shorts, and wreck havoc.

That day, my relatives saw a little 4-year old brown boy running around, screaming, swatting, with red ants biting the crap out of him in his shorts.

And that, my friends, is a Joel Story. So you see, folks, it isn't alcohol, or friends, fast cars, or fast women. The reason I do stupid things is... I'm an idiot. Always have been, always will be.

Sunday, September 19th 2004

Did we make it to church today? No, because we woke up at noon, and let me tell you, the service is completely finished by noon.

Went cycling this afternoon up to Ridgewood, NJ, and back -- 43 miles in 3.5 hours. I went grocery shopping afterwards, but I am extremely woozy.

Woooooooozy! Still, I am proud to say that I broke the 500-mile mark today. It was unseasonably cool today, so I'm wondering if my cycling season is winding down. I hope not.

Finally, I realized today that I bought the wrong Motorola headset. I got confused between the HS810 and the HS820 (gosh, how could that happen?) Well, instead of crying and gnashing my teeth, wearing a burlap sack, I'm okay with the mixup. It still works pretty well, and how much could another $20 in a headset be?

Saturday, September 18th 2004

Okay, first, the big news.

Missy has promised to help incubate my child every night

What? Like she's tired from folding my laundry or something?

Okay, how was that? We found out in July, but have done our best to keep a lid on it. By now, we've told family and as many friends as we could, but now it's time for the general public. Unfortunately, the "general public" doesn't read this, so anyone who should know, probably already knows. How confusing is that? Anyway, she's due March 22nd.

Friday, I had every intention of going to work, but I woke up late, and very groggy. Since Thursday's risk rating meeting went well, nothing much was happening on Friday, and I could have used the rest. In the afternoon, we went to the bank (more on that later), and maternity clothes shopping at Garden State Plaza.

While at the 2nd maternity store, I realize that my ATM card is not in my wallet, and upon further realization, that I must have left it in the ATM in my haste to go shopping. What....an....idiot. Luckily, after calling the bank, there were no transactions after my ATM withdrawal, so they closed the card, and will have a new card to me end of this week or so.

Today was Saji's wedding, and the last wedding for a while. I'll be missing Abby's in November, because of the India audit.

This week, Tracey Gold AND Macaulay Culkin were arrested for DUI and other drug-related charges. Nice. Speaking of which, I didn't know about it, but The Smoking Gun website has an archive of celebrity mugshots. Not bad, I say. My favorites are Yasmine and Nick.

Tracey Gold	Macaulay Culkin	Yasmine Bleeth (Yikes!)	Nick Nolte

Saji's wedding

BTW, lots of site updates tonight.

• I've just added another Miss America photo for the 9/16 entry
• Added photos from Neil's party & dinner @ my parents' to the 9/13 entry
• Saw Chasing Amy tonight
• Bought the Motorola wireless headset. (YES!!!)
• Added photos from Saji's wedding (today's event)
• Started the India Trip gallery. I published over 60 photos so far, and I'm only halfway through. I still have 3 more rolls to put up. It's crazy!
• I finally chose a photo for my Houston 2002 trip gallery. I know, I know, I kept waiting for two years, but Janet in Houston had this great picture of me in a sombrero, but she's been MIA, and has the only copy of it.

Oh, something interesting to share: my buddy Vib told me about this site called Vault, which has tons of career-related information, such has company rankings, workplace and salary surveys, etc. The majority of it is pay-to-access, but there's still some free stuff. Even some of the pay-to-access information isn't too pricey, considering what helpful research you can get when you're researching future employers. Thanks, buddy boy!

Finally, a little hello to Matt & Tabitha, who we saw today at Saji's wedding, and we haven't seen in a long time! Keep in touch, will ya?

Thursday, September 16th 2004

Hyatt Regency Delhi India

Another audit successfully completed. Just some wrap-up work, then my next audit starts...well, it started already, but I'm jumping into it Monday. That'll take me through until the India audit. Speaking of which, the Hyatt Regency Delhi looks awfully nice, inside & out.

Here's an interesting development: I wrote yesterday that I'll be attending an IIAG 3-day meeting next month in Philadelphia. Turns out, my department recommended me to be the moderator for the Information Technology morning & afternoon sessions on that Thursday. How sweet is that? So, as of today, I'm officially the moderator for the two sessions. I just gotta remember to stay cool, and speak slowly.

You know what's odd? My Mom is totally against seeing a man & woman on TV make out, or even just be in the same room together. Yet, she loves to watch the Miss USA, Miss America, and Miss Universe pageants. I've never really cared for them. In related news, the Miss America contestants wil be wearing skimpy Speedo bikinis (with option of one-piece if you have to) for the competition. What do bikinis have to do with my Mom? Because as a rule, it's always important to drive any conversation into one about girls wearing bikinis. Duh.

Miss America contestants and the bikinis that love them

My buddy Mike found a link on The Digital Bits with screen captures of the SW Trilogy on DVD changes. Thanks Mike for finding this.

Of course, as soon as I purchase Mobile PhoneTools 2.0, version 3.0 is coming out this year. Thankfully, it's free to download if you own 1.0 or 2.0. Now, Joel will sigh with relief.

The following random bits of news are for techies and gadget-freaks: Iomega (remember them?) is coming out with a network-attached storage device equipped with wireless networking. I just think that's damn neat. Also, I just found out that Symantec has signed an agreement to acquire @stake, who originally came out with the l0phtcrack password-cracking software. Reading the same article, I didn't know that the McAfee firm bought security specialist Foundstone in August. This is all huge in the Information Security world.

Okay, we may have a tentative plan for the anniversary weekend. I think I'm going to take a 1/2 day on Friday, then we'll drive down to Arlington, Virginia. We like the D.C. area, so why not get away for a while? Friday - Monday (I'll take a vacation day) visiting Old Alexandria, D.C., Georgetown, etc. We'll look at hotels this weekend.

I have other news, big news, but I will share it this weekend with you all. Here is today's list of random news:

• The coroner found 9 different drugs in Rick James' system. 50% of us will say, "Holy crap!" The other 50% will shrug their shoulders and say, "What? You're surprised?"
• I know I live in Jersey and all, but how far down the hall do the Nets want to go? They've already lost Kenyon Martin, Kerry Kittles, and Lucious Harris. Now, there's talk of trading away Jason Kidd? Bruce Ratner just wants any basketball team that'll fit his new arena that he's building in Brooklyn.
• Did you hear that the U.S. Mint has redesigned the nickel?
• In 2005, Gap is launching a new retail store brand aimed at women over 35.

I watched The "I Do" Diaries: Wedding Videos Revealed on Lifetime (don't ask why I was watching -- I just was) with Num this evening. One of those blooper reel-type shows. Gotta tell you, there are some f%#&'ed up people out there getting married.

Dinner with my sister tomorrow night. Looking forward to it. Also, my friend Saji's wedding Saturday. It is the marrying season.

Wednesday, September 15th 2004

Stayed late today at the office to get some work done. By the time I got home at 7:30pm, it was too dark to go running. Shucks.

Synchronizing my Outlook & my phone. Ingenious!

The good news? My Mobile PhoneTools CD & cable came in the mail. However, after about 3 hours of troubleshooting (and repeated downloading of newer versions of the software -- why aren't they all in one easy-to-find place?), the computer still couldn't find my phone. Then, when I was about to reinstall the software (literally, on the way to Add/Remove Programs), it just worked.

Johnny Ramone died. Bummer

Judy Blume is a winner

So, now my phone is updated with all my phone numbers in Outlook. Also, I downloaded the new Plaxo 2.0 software last night, so now I can upload my Outlook Calendar and Tasks (including contacts) to their website for easy online viewing. Furthermore, I can create/edit a number of contacts, tasks, calendar entries, and then synch them to my Outlook (and PDA) when I get home.

Today's word is "synchronization". My Outlook, my Plaxo info online, my PDA, and now my cell phone, are all synched up. Hear that? That's the planets in our solar system lining up. I still don't know why the software started working. Should I chalk it up to "Act of God"?

Btw, Johnny Ramone died today. That's pretty sad. The Ramones were awesome. Also, children's author Judy Blume has been named this year's winner of an honorary National Book Award for contributions to American letters. I read a number of her books growing up many moons ago. Good for her.

What else? Ah, India is "official". I booked my flight, flying Lufthansa (1st time), leaving Oct 29th, back home Nov 19th. Will you all miss me? Will I probably secretly do updates from India? All signs point to "yes". Hmm, also, I'm attending an IIAG meeting in Philly Oct 6-8th, and just booked the hotel and AMTRAK tickets today as well. Busy travel day, eh?

The rain has begun. Heard the rest of this week (and weekend) is going to be a wash, due to Ivan. Damn weather. I'll have to talk to Destro about borrowing his weather control device. My only problem? Cobra Commander and Serpentor are jerks, and never want to share.

Sigh. Wasn't G.I. Joe too cool for words?

Finally, a big "Ah shucks" and "Thanks" for all my friends who keep up with me by diligently reading this website. And it's amazing that you are all beautiful people. What a coincidence!

Tuesday, September 14th 2004

Today? Very boring in the office. I don't know why I even show up anymore.

Oh, right. The regular paycheck.

Had a NY ISACA meeting this evening, and got home a little after 8pm. I've joined their Academic Relations Committee, and will be a liaison to Pace University, my alma mater. More importantly, Num had dinner waiting for me when I got home -- pasta. Yeah, I know it's carbs, but shut up. I had ice cream too.

Hello, fat pants. Missed me?

"Hello, fat pants. Missed me?"

Black Eyed Peas "Elephunk"

Just finished watching Star Wars: Empire of Dreams on A&E. Very good. I'm pretty excited to receive my Star Wars Trilogy on DVD later this month. I ordered the darn thing back on June 10th from Amazon. Speaking of ordering music on the Internet (what?), I just used downloaded the Black Eyed Peas Elephunk album from the Real Music Store. Good band.

BTW, my buddy Paul is getting the v710 phone October 1st when his contract is up. He may also get same Bluetooth headset I want. Do you smell "guinea pig"? I'll wait until he gets it, then find out how it is. Also, I'm excited to know there will be someone else I can send racy pictures of my butt crack to on a daily basis.

I wonder if "butt crack" is one word, two words, or hyphenated?

Some thoughts:

• Yahoo! is buying Musicmatch.
• Sierra Wireless has just released their Voq smartphone running the Microsoft OS. Cool feature? Flip-out QWERTY keyboard.
• Amy (of AngryAlien.com) has recently published her latest Bunnies masterpiece, a re-enactment of the movie "Jaws".
• Any Bewitched tv show fans out there? Turns out, the upcoming movie version is only loosely-based. I'm sure you really care.
• I don't care that Johnny Knoxville & Seann William Scott are playing Bo & Luke Duke, Jessica Simpson will portray Daisy Duke, in the upcoming remake of the Dukes of Hazzard movie. I am looking forward to Sky Captain this weekend. I gotta see if I can drag Doug out somehow. He's such a hermit sometimes.

I still can't find the digital camera, and Num went to sleep already. Speaking of which, I really should get some sleep, since I keep getting to work late. Fell asleep watching TV last night, never got to wash the dishes. What a dolt.

Monday, September 13th 2004

Man, I wish I was back on vacation. Paying the bills, website updates, cooking dinner, cleaning up after dinner, getting up for work. What was I thinking? As usual, you slave drivers start complaining when I don't make a recent update. Geez, Thursday wasn't that far off. Yes, Kenar and Rick, I'm talking about you. I'll just pretend it's your own personal form of affection. Ewww.

Past couple of days, as usual, have been busy.

Friday

Friday night, went out with some current and former coworkers (Hi Stacy!) at Madame X on West Houston, then went to Fiddlesticks on Greenwich Ave to hang out with Doug, Adrian, and a bunch of Brits. (No, Adrian hasn't quite left yet.) Btw, Fiddlesticks may be an Irish pub, but they've got $3 drinks during Happy Hour from 4-8pm. I highly recommend it.

Now, time for the newest "What Dumb Thing Did Joel Do Now When Drunk" story. Calling someone at Fiddlesticks, I realize my cell phone is nearly dead, and the one-and-only phone charger is back at the office. As I have to catch a 10:32pm train, I book it at 9:30pm. I'm in a rush, right? So, I stumble to the nearest pizzeria, and order a slice of pepperoni.

Hmm, wait, I don't have time to eat pizza! I'll just....take it with me to the 14th St. subway station! Pizza is still too hot by the time I get there, so I decide that it makes sense to eat the pizza while I walk the 14 blocks to the office! In a suit!

Somewhere on 6th Ave, between 18th and 22nd, I finish the steamy hot pizza, arrive at my office on 28th St, and get the charger from the office. Should I take the subway now? Nah! No point now! Let's walk!

So I make it one block when I develop the hiccups. No time to stop! I catch the train, walk back to my apartment, and finally get a glass of water. You ever have the hiccups for an hour? Not pleasant.

And that was only Friday.

Saturday

Neil's party: While Kanika is tired of my shenanigans, Chirag is still perky

Motorola Bluetooth headset

Dinner @ my parents' place

Note the matching girls

Kenar & Mital's Engagement

Much recuperating, and my legs were pretty darn sore from all the previous night's walking. If you're not familiar with NYC, Greenwich to Penn Station is about 26 blocks. I did it in 40 minutes, with a pizza.

Got the India pictures back. 6 rolls, doubles, and a Kodak Picture CD = $100+. Holy crap! Most came out pretty decent, except for the occasional blinking.

Went to Neil's apartment-warming / Megha's no-longer-a-surprise birthday party on 87th St on the Upper East Side. We didn't know many people, so we left after an hour or so. However, we got pizza with Kanika & Chirag, and that made the whole evening much better.

Sunday

Missed church, because we overslept. We did do grocery shopping, but we got mostly junkfood. Why? I have no idea, but now at least we have potato chips, which I'm not supposed to eat.

Num did the 1st load of laundry (since India!), and I went cycling. Did 23 miles, and I'm sore from that now, too. I got back real quick, then we went to my parents' place for dinner with my cousins who all came over. I can't find the digital camera, but I'll add the few pics tomorrow night.

Monday

Today? Pretty darn boring. I weighed myself, and I'm back down to 179. Kiss my ass, 180.

• Oprah gave her entire TV audience new cars.
• I'm enjoying my new phone, but I wish someone else had all the cool photo capabilities, since I can't use them unless someone else does too. We did order a car charger, an additional home charger, and the Motorola Mobile PhoneTools v2.0 cd (and data cable) so that I can sync my phone with Microsoft Outlook. All on Ebay, and damn cheap too. I'm still longing for the Motorola HS820 Bluetooth wireless headset.
• Looks like my India audit in November is going to be a reality. Too bad I'm missing my friend Abby's wedding in November.
• Put up the Kenar & Mital engagement photos.
• Finally got around to doing the bills, but at least the credit card bills are getting paid off....slowly.
• Num & I are debating what to do for our 1-year anniversary later this month. Dinner and a Broadway show? Stay overnight in a NYC hotel? Go away for the weekend? We don't have a clue.
• We're also planning to fly down to Florida to visit cousins Millind (spelling?) & Preethi, and friends Sanjay & Leena. I gotta check out airfare and such at some point.
• I've also come to the conclusion that I don't like Bush or Kerry, and I don't want to vote for either of them.

That was the weekend. Hope you enjoyed yours!

Thursday, September 9th 2004

It was bound to happen -- the jet lag bit back. I woke up 8am today, and was barely able to get out of bed. Got to the office at 9:50am. Ah, just like old times.

After a lot of worrying about the weather, it didn't rain so much today. At 4pm, I headed home a little early so I could shower, change my clothes, and take the wife. We went to the Yankee - Tampa Bay game. Of course, as we only arrived during the 2nd inning, and then we had a discussion with the folks "keeping our seats warm for us", the Yanks had 7 runs in the 2nd inning alone. I missed them all completely.

Played with my phone a bit more today, and I'm getting the hang of it. That's good news.

Anyway, let's depart with a joke that RoseAnn sent me back in January, but it's a keeper. Thanks, RoseAnn.

Girl's Nite Out

Two women friends had gone for a Girls Nite Out, and had been decidedly over-enthusiastic on the Bacardi Breezers.

Incredibly drunk and walking home they needed to pee. They were very near a graveyard and one of them suggested they do their business behind a head stone or something.

The first woman had nothing to wipe with so she thought she'd take off her panties, use them, then throw them away. Her friend however was wearing a rather expensive underwear set and didn't want to ruin hers but was lucky enough to salvage a large ribbon from a wreath that was on one of the graves and proceeded to wipe herself with that.

After finishing, they then made off for home.

The next day the first woman's husband phoned the other husband and said: "These damn Girls Nite Out have got to stop. My wife came home last night without her panties."

"That's nothing." said the other, "Mine came back with a card stuck between the cheeks of her ass that said; "From all of us at the Fire Station. We'll never forget you."

Wednesday, September 8th 2004

4:58AM, Wednesday Morning

So I fell asleep on the living room floor again. I was watching an episode of Law & Order called Undercovered, and was getting kinda sleepy. I turned off the tv, and next thing I know, I wake up on the living room floor, and it's 4:32am. Since then, I've fed Missy, rebooted my computer after installing Windows Service Pack 2 (it's running fine), washed out the Brita water jug-thingy, replaced the filter in it, and washed the ice cube trays for the freezer.

My new office

Did I really wash the ice cube trays? Oye.

Went running last night, which is the 1st time sind mid-August. I find that if I don't go running, or perform some other sort of physical activity, my entire lower body feels tense, and it's hard for me to sleep. I just lay there in bed, trying to stretch my legs, ankles, etc. Pisses off my wife to no end.

See this? This branch is working for "the man"

Finally finished unpacking my office and putting everything away. Took me an unreasonable 2+ days, if you ask me. I was trying to find a way to stretch it out so that I could put off work. Now that I've put everything away, I guess I'll have to be productive.

You know, I got a parking ticket on Friday night, and I'm cheesed off about it. I looked for parking, and thought I had a great spot. I parked right before the yellow stripe, and should be fine. Instead, I come back from Zanzibar, and there's a big yellow envelope and ticket. After searching, I found the sign directly above my car, obscured by trees. I'm going to fight this one, just because it was very hard to notice. $115 NYC parking tickets are very hard to swallow.

BTW, my new, more-than-I-usually-spend dress shoes kinda hurt. The top edges rub against my ankles in certain situations. Such is my life.

11:59PM Update

Let's call this the "midnight update".

Got my phone! Got new service! I bit the bullet, and have handed my proverbial keys (and my mobile life) to Verizon Wireless. I don't hate them, but I am very reluctant to trust their customer service, which I think is abysmal. Of course, to make me feel better, I stood in their Livingston Mall store for 25 minutes, waiting for them to call me. I have never waited in a cellular phone store to get helped; let alone trying to join. As I was finally getting my phone, another woman started railling against the sales rep about how poor customer service was.

I just bit my tongue, and waited for it to be over.

Anyway, my new Motorola v710 phone seems cool: color screen, 1.2 megapixel camera (and flash), mp3 player, speakerphone, etc. I still plan to get the Motorola MobileTools software for synchronizing my phonebook with MS Outlook. Until then, I'm not typing in one telephone number.

BTW, have you heard that Kevin Smith is planning a Clerks sequel? Interesting. Hope he doesn't screw it up. Num saw Jersey Girl on the plane, and said it wasn't very good.

Can't believe it's after midnight. There goes my sleep schedule....and I was doing so well.

Monday, September 6th 2004

Happy Labor Day! Have you gone rioting yet against the Proletariat?

Up a little early this morning at 6:32am, so I've been working on the website, fine-tuning and such. I'm starting to wonder if I'm turning this simple repository for online photos into a shrine onto myself. Do the pictures count as graven images? Am I breaking the Lord's Commandments with every word I type?

Well, I guess it's alright, since it was already on my To-Do list.

Updated the Resume page (which actually contained my resume for about a blip two years ago), the Trivia page (I'll rotate them into the nearby Interesting Facts sidebar next week), and did some tweaking to the latest Friends page.

I'll do another update after the day is over, and hopefully I've gotten some new dress shoes. Yes, I need new black dress shoes. Just before India, I went to get my previous ones polished, and even the shoeshine guy shook his head and said, "Geez, these are pretty bad."

Right. I used them for the wedding in India, then dumped them before we left so I could have room in the suitcase. Tuesday begins business dress in the office (suits, ties, etc), and I'll need shoes. Nordstrom has $500 dress shoes, but let's not get crazy here. I'm trying to keep it at $120, since I usually wear them out in a year.

Shout outs to Vib, Kiran, and the girl on the plane I chatted with from Newark to Bombay, on her way to Coimbatore! Meet any new Swami Gurus?

Monday Evening Update

Next time you see me, tell me, "Nice shoes."

Julie cooked up a pretty great pasta lunch for us. I was verily impressed. We dropped off all the Indian clothes (sarees, salwar kameezes, lenghas) we bought for Mom & Julie in India, and they, in turn, were verily impressed. Then we left and went shoe-shopping at Garden State Plaza. We got some very nice Kenneth Cole Reaction shoes from the Bostonian Shoe store. They're actually double the price of what I usually purchase, but then again, my shoes usually only last a year. In 12 months, I'll tell you how they're doing.

Lesh came and took my wife away for dinner. What am I stuck with? Some leftover pizza, a needy cat, and my computer. So, here I am. I've rejiggered the Church photo gallery to the same look-and-feel as the other revised galleries. I have more to add, but at least I'm on the right track. You can see what I've added from my really old archives, if you're interested.

I forgot to mention -- we finished watching the Clerks DVD that I borrowed from Regina. An interesting movie, to say the least. I find Randall absolutely hilarious. I still have Mallrats and Chasing Amy on loan from her, so I hope to get to them this week.

Now, on to the pizza!

Sunday, September 5th 2004

I'm back.

We flew back Wednesday, and my Dad picked us up from the airport. Mom & Julie were waiting at home, so we greeted them, chit-chatted for a while, then they left. We watched a little TV, then we crashed the rest of the night.

Here's the summary: the trip was good, but we're glad to be home. I'll give the complete summary when I get my pictures (6 rolls of film!) developed this week. I'll have an unbelievably huge trip page to complete, but I'll get it done. Imagine that - 6 rolls of film.

We're still pretty jet-lagged, so we're sleeping a bit much in the afternoons, and waking up very early in the morning (4am). On a positive note, I've been to work by 8am on both Thursday & Friday of this week, and we were so early for church today that we went to our local diner for breakfast. I hope to keep this trend alive, since I never really liked getting to the office late.

Speaking of the office, I've spent the past two days unpacking my boxes. I don't know if I mentioned it previously, but my entire department moved across the street while they renovate our main office building. In 18 months, if I'm still working there, we'll move back to the main building, but on a new floor. In the meantime, we're across the street, on street level. I don't have a window view, but my office is a bit bigger. I'll take a picture on Tuesday.

Abby's last day

Imagine my surprise to find out my coworker Abby was leaving. I missed the big lunch and all, but some of us went out with her Friday for lunch at this Farmer's Market restaurant, then bowling at Bowlmor Lanes in Union Square.

See you around, Adrian

Afterwards, I went home, showered and such, then went out for dinner to see Adrian off. He works for the British Consulate, but he just got offered a position in Hong Kong to oversee IT support for the Asian consulates/embassies, etc. So, later this month, he'll be gone for good. Had to see him off, right? Dinner at Churrascaria Plataforma in midtown, then more drinks at Zanzibar.

Saturday was my friend Kenar's engagement to Mital. Took pictures using my APS camera to finish up the 6th roll, so I'll have those available later this week as well. We got stuck in loads of traffic to/from the event in Garden City, Long Island. Matter of fact, we got to the engagement 2 hours late. Luckily, they were still doing all the blessings and such.

Laura Branigan

Sunday, made it to church, but you knew that already. Now we're just home. Now that I'm back, it feels good to be part of civilized society. Here's what's going on in the news:

• Netflix and Tivo will announce a new partnership later this month. If you are a member of both (and have broadband at home), you'll be able to download your Netflix movies straight to your Tivo, instead of using the trademark red envelopes. Pretty cool, eh?
• This was a record-breaking summer for the movie industry, and I missed most of the movies.
• Singer Laura Branigan died just last Thursday August 26th at home of a brain aneurysm at the age of 47. She was Grammy-nominated, and famous for the songs "Gloria", "Self Control", etc. She was a Brewster, NY (Doug's hometown) girl, and after her husband died, she had just started singing again. I just watched the VH1 "Where are they now?" segment on her website, and the person you're watching talking about how they want to get back out there and succeed, just died. Sad.

I got the Golden Spokes Award!

I would have totally missed the Laura Branigan story if Num hadn't told me about it. I'm listening to "Self Control" on Rhapsody, and I haven't heard this song in years. I think it used to be a featured song on Knight Rider, and I never knew who sang it, and it's really taking me back years. Wow.

You know, we're still sorting the postal mail, and guess what? The local National MS Society Jersey Chapter sent me a plaque for helping out during the Bike Tour. I raised $1200 (through all your wonderful contributions), and the Mid-New Jersey Chapter raised over $800,000 from the Bike Tour. You should feel good. I feel good, and I got a plaque too. Here's the picture. Num won't let me hang it up here, so I'm going to take it to work. I could use more decorations.

Today looks to be a lazy day, and I'm glad I'm off tomorrow for Labor Day. I need to buy some new dress shoes tomorrow, plus drop off the film for developing, and go to my parents' place for lunch. Oh, I added a few more trivia items for yourselves, and fixed up the Trivia page as well. Enjoy!