liberty

greetings from beyond the haze! here are some pictures, yo.

I've been slowly making my way through this list of the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2006, which has been pretty entertaining during scattered spare moments. In addition to some hilarious blunders, there's six appearances by Wal-Mart on the list, a case of two different groups of Microsoft Employees naming completely different products the same, and an appearance by my former sworn enemy Bob Nardelli, from back in my GE days.

Everything is else is pretty much rollin'. Time with the lady. Some rock-n-roll. Lots of work at work.. but good work, which I'm cool with.

On the near horizon: going back to the gym, signing up to take and preparing for the GMATs, and reading more than I have since my commute went from an hour and half to eight minutes. Bigger things beyond. --

And The Saints prevail! It was enjoyable watching the Eagles/Saints game in South Jersey last weekend. The bar Marissa and I were in was split about 50/50 amongst Eagles lovers and loathers, so watching the happiness drain from the faces of the Philadelphia faithful in (arguably) their own territory was priceless. This is less priceless, but still a little bit funny in that humor-blog kind of way.

Last weekend provided some much needed relaxation. Marissa and I took it easy on Friday night... casual dinner with the recently married Paul and Christy followed up with viewings of Season 2 The Office episodes and an early bedtime. On Saturday we finished building the furniture for my new entertainment center and then headed down to my aunt's shore house in Seaside Park, NJ. We always try to get down there a few times during the off-season. No cell phone service, no one around.. it' s a nice way to really relax for a few days. Aside from the supermarket, Klee's for some football and bar food, and one trek under and over the boardwalk we just spent our time cooking food, watching cheesy TV, and drifting in and out of sleep. Some pics:

Jersey Stinks. Oh well. Looks like I'm going to have a hard time blaming foul Jersey odors on Staten Island for awhile.

I know I wasn't imagining things because Marissa heard it, too... but no one else I've talked to noticed one of the announcer's of the Giants/Eagles game on Sunday noting in the fourth quarter that if the Giants were going to win they'd have to play "balls out". It was quite possibly the best thing that happened in either horrid NY football game this weekend. Yuck. Let's go Saints!

Ron & Fez are back on regular radio (92.3 Free FM, 6-9pm), which is pretty cool. Somewhere on the Free FM site exists podcasts of past shows... but I can't seem to find the link at the moment. It's hands down the most entertaining thing I've ever heard on the radio. I haven't listened to music in my car for quite some time.. lately it's been all talk via my iPod or the old fashioned FM air waves. I remember driving around with my father when I was younger and being completely bored by him listening to talk all day (Imus, Mike & the Mad Dog).. but with more or less no new music that I'm interested in these days, it seems to be the only way to keep me occupied while driving. Maybe I'm getting old. --

"One day man will connect his apparatus to the very wheelwork of the universe... and the very forces that motivate the planets in their orbits and cause them to rotate will rotate his own machinery" -tesla

simon norfolk

I figured that switching over to the new Blogger might respark my interest in writing on this thing.. but as far as I can tell right now there's not a whole lot of differences, other than the fact that I'm now logging in through Google. Truth be told, I didn't even know that Google purchased Blogger, so shame on me for not being up on things.

It's been awhile. How are we? Good? Good. Christmas / New Years were both excellent. The former was spent down here in good ole Wayne, NJ and the latter up in Marissa's neck of the woods in Mass. Both allowed me a lot of great food, company, and relaxation. I was hoping to walk back into work this morning completely refreshed, but I've unfortunately come down with my first cold of the winter and it's hitting me pretty hard. If I had felt like this at my old job I definitely would've spent the day at home.. but since I'm trying to be a dedicated professional here at new job central, I'm going to suck it up. I can't imagine that starting off the first day of the year with a sick day is a good thing, anyway.

So, we've got both New York football teams in the playoffs this weekend. It's an all east coast brawl and I'm excited for both games. I don't mind the Patriots at all, in fact when I'm not watching NY football I always seek out the Pats, but seeing Big Boy Bell getting his ass handed to him by his former protege Mangini would make for a great story and a nice new reason to bicker with my New England born friends. The Giants have disappointed me (and everyone) so much this season that I honestly have a hard time caring about them winning... but my hate for all things Philadelphia is stronger than those apathetic feelings, so let's hope Eli turns into a big boy and Tiki gives us another performance worth remembering. --