BONGOS!

Ugh. Have I ever told you that I hate Bongos? I'm talking, like, with a passion. The instrument itself doesn't really bother me, it has more to do with them being played in the time range of 1-3am when I have to be up at 6am for work, or, if I'm just sleeping in general.

Last night my good buddy (insert sarcasm) upstairs, Mr. Brett Downing, of WPI as well, was playing his MOTHER FUCKING BONGOS again. At 3am. Why?! I'm sorry, but couldn't you have played earlier, or, wait till the morning and play then? You have a friggin three-day weekend ahead of you, with plenty of time for your hippie-slacker beatnick bongo playing. So I stand on my desk and bang on my ceiling and yell as loudly as I can (without waking my own roommates up in the process, because then that would make me just as bad as him) for about 10 min, intermittantly, before he stopped.

Well, at this point, it's 3:30, and I can't fall back asleep. So, I spend the next two hours watching seinfeld episodes and going through mail and paperwork that I needed to get caught up on anyways. I then went to clinton, went for a 30min bike ride, gave myself a hair cut, ate breakfast, and did more laundry. And still made it to work (yes, I'm working on the saturday of Memorial Day weekend) by 9:30. Ugh. Worst morning ever. Well, not ever, but in a long time.

Even rock stars like larger than average portions...

So my mom has been asking for a while to go out to dinner with me some night, so, we went out last night after I picked up my new kayak skirt from NE Backpacker. I figured, what the hell, let's go to Vinny Testa's so that I can get my meal and have plenty for leftovers this weekend (which, of course, I do now, AND I had my leftover calamari for breakfast this morning...yum!).

We sit down and I look over at the next table and see two people that I recognize. Then it clicked, it was Tim Brennan & Mark Orell (both of Dropkick Murphys), and Tim's gf Erin. I hadn't seen them since they played at WPI in December, so, I stopped by at one point and talked with them for a few minutes. It was also funny to see them perfectly sober.

So, a potentially crappy night out on the town turned into a pretty fun evening.

Trade Show!

I'm going to a trade show today at the BigE. Don't expect to see anything else for the day.....BECAUSE I WON'T BE AT WORK!

Woohoo! (I'm excited, can you tell?)

Clash of the Sith

So I'm leaving work last night and driving out to worcester for my class at wpi, and I'm listening to "the essential clash" on the ole cd player. While "Clampdown" was playing, I noticed a line in there that had never really caught my attention up until now:

"Let fury have the hour, anger can be power"

Now, I know it's a little coincidental timing on this that the new Star Wars just came out, but really, think about this; are the members of The Clash really dark lords of the Sith?
This is the most deep thought that I've had, since.....well...since breakfast, I guess. Don't think about it too hard, you might get a headache.

Long, but fun, weekend

This weekend was pretty long, but awesome all together.

Friday:
Went and got pizza from Corner Grille with Kali and watched Zoolander because she had never seen it before. She ate 3 slices, and I ate the rest. Yes, I ate almost an entire 18" corner grille pizza. It was insane. Plus, I wasn't really hungry when we started. Weird
Then i went and met up with the HnH/SocComm crew at the Sole for drinks. It was great to see Abad again.

Saturday:
Went with the family to watch Kali play in the districts at Shrewsbury High School. She won the first round and lost in the second, so, she placed somewhere in the top 8, which is awesome. Congrats Kali!
Then I went over to WPI and watched the commencement. Saw a lot of old friends (Marian! Haven't seen her in ages) and hung out. Then I went back to clinton and we all went over to the OG at solomon, then back to the Hogans to watch Napoleon Dynamite, then we went to Rota's for ice cream, and then bowling at Mason's in Fitchburg. Whew!
Oh, and I also got the Nubira up to 109. Once again, I was slowed down by traffic. I really need an adequate testing ground to see the full potential of the machine.

Sunday:
Fought with my family...awesome as usual.
Worked on my project till 3, then went and saw Star Wars: Episode III with Amy/Justin. It was awesome. I'm so glad that it didn't sucks like Episode I. Well, then again, they did keep Jar-Jar's mouth shut, that alone made the difference.
Then I worked out, ate, and passed out from exhuastion.

4-Digit Cardio

So I normally divy my workouts into 2/3 weights and 1/3 cardio. Well, I'm trying to shed a few pounds before the summer months, so, I thought that I'd switch the ratios up a bit.

Previously, the most cardio that I've done (measured in calories burned) in one sitting was 700. So tonight, I'm like "how long would it take to do 1000?"

I can now tell you that it takes 48 minutes on an eliptical machine. As expected, I'm wicked tired now. And sweaty. I'm going to go take a shower.

Video Copying

So when I'm getting ready for work in the morning, and typically running late, I like to have some kind of entertainment going on in the background, ie music or videos or shows of some nature.

This morning I was playing music videos that I have dl'ed on my computer. I'm watching the video from Finch for "What it is to burn", and I start to think, "isn't this exactly like a Brand New video?". Afterwards I go through my list of BN videos, and what do you know, I recall the similarities between that and Brand New's "The quiet things that no one ever knows". I was right. Practically the same video. I never caught that before. Odd. Has anyone else noticed this and agrees?

Eventful Day

Today marks several important events going on in my life:

1. My one year anniversary here at Nypro, Inc. Technically it isn't my real one year anniversary in terms of benefits because it was when I started my internship here (my real anniversary will be september 9th of this year), but, I'm still happy. It certainly went by quick. Now I just have to do this another 42 times and I can retire.

2. Seinfeld Season 4 DVD is being released today. I plan on running to the mall after work and picking it up. :)

The Weekend Review

So this weekend was pretty good overall. Some excitement, some lazyness, either way, it was a good way to end my 2-week vacation prior to starting E term at WPI. Here's what went down, in chronological order for your convenience:

Friday the 13th
-Left work right on time and blasted out to the woo to get ready for my night at the House of Rock (HoR).
-Went climbing with MikeD down in Meriden, CT, got a tour of the the HoR and spent the night.
-Beans were eaten. MikeD has lots of beans.
-We also worked out after climbing. The kid is insane.

Saturday the 14th
-Woke up bright and early and drove back to the woo. I made it in 1 hr 6 min. That's right, I shaved off 40 minutes from the mapquest estimate. I also went 105mph on several occassions during the trip. The nubira was good to me. :)
-Went and watched Kali's tennis matches at WPI. She won both that day and is moving on to the next phase of the Districts next week. Congrats Kali!
-Afterwards, Kali and I went out to eat at OG and saw 'house of wax'. It was a pretty gruesome movie, but funny at the same time.
-Danielle left for Costa Rica this morning. It will be a long two months. Goodluck on your project!

Sunday the 15th
-Goofed off around the apartment for most of the morning and edited pics from Kali's match.
-Went home, did laundry, went grocery shopping, helped my great-aunt with some computer issues, came back to the woo, worked out, cooked, ate, watched 2 movies, and slept. THE END.

Musical Clarity

So, I've been looking for my Clarity cd for a while now. I really had no clue where it was. This disturbed me.

So yesterday I threw my new Weezer cd into my disk drive on my computer at work to listen to it while I got some stuff done, and.....what do you know? The sunofagun was right in there. Apparently I had brought it in to listen to earlier and just plain forgot. I love this cd. I've been listening to it all morning now that I have it back.

Jimmy Eat World - 23

I felt for sure last night
That once we said goodbye
No one else will know these lonely dreams
No one else will know that part of me
I'm still driving away
And I'm sorry every day
I won't always love these selfish things
I won't always live...
Not stopping...

It was my turn to decide
I knew this was our time
No one else will have me like you do
No one else will have me, only you

You'll sit alone forever
If you wait for the right time
What are you hoping for?
I'm here I'm now I'm ready
Holding on tight
Don't give away the end
The one thing that stays mine

Amazing still it seems
I'll be 23
I won't always love what I'll never have
I won't always live in my regrets

You'll sit alone forever
If you wait for the right time
What are you hoping for?
I'm here I'm now I'm ready
Holding on tight
Don't give away the end
The one thing that stays mine

You'll sit alone forever
If you wait for the right time
What are you hoping for?
I'm here I'm now I'm ready
Holding on tight
Don't give away the end
The one thing that stays mine...

Kayak and stuff

So I bought my new kayak on saturday. It's awesome. My dad already has his eye on it, because it's better than his on several aspects. The man's going to have a rude awakening if he thinks a trade is coming up. Since he bought his, I have never been able to use his kayak if we were both on the same trip, and I was always stuck with the tiny otter or a canoe. I can't wait to use it tonight, I'm going to christen it after work on South Meadow. Not the most exciting body of water, but it's something. I just need to get paddling! :)

In other news, the new Weezer album comes out tomorrow. I'm pretty excited. I'll have to swing by BestBuy after work and pick it up. I'm actually listening to the demos again as I type. Check it out. I'm not really feeling 'grabbed' by the music yet, but, it's Weezer, so, I'm fairly confident that it'll be good.

Kayak!

So I finally decided on the kayak that I'm buying. It's similar to the one that I was going to get all along (i.e. the one that I made my dad buy last summer because I liked it so much), but more narrow and more manueverable. It's the Old Town Dirigo 120. (scroll down about 1/2 way)

I'm pretty pysched. I'll probably go buy it this weekend so that I can take it out a few times prior to our big Memorial Day weekend up in the Whites.

The Eagle died in the year 1911

So, after doing more research and talking to several gun shop owners, I have confirmed my fears.....it is illegal to purchase a Magnum Research Desert Eagle in the state of massachusetts, well, atleast a new one (I don't want to buy used for safety and performance considerations).

This means that I will be going with plan B for my secondary gun (I had planned on buying two right off the bat, but didn't feel like dropping that much cabbage in one shot). So, I will probably end up getting a 0.450 Smith & Wesson 1911. With a stainless body, it's pretty sexy, and I wanted one with more bang than the beretta has, which this will definitely deliver. I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably give in and finally get it mid-June while it's on sale at Four Seasons, where I buy my gear.

I did something bad last night...

So I'm at Sam's Club running around with my giant shopping cart grabbing tons of huge quantity items that I probably don't need, when I round the corner to the drink aisle. I notice that they sell giant pallets of Red Bull energy drink, and think "hmm...that would be awesome, I could STAY UP ALL NIGHT AND DO WORK!", but then I realized that I was done with my ridiculous cam design class, and probably won't have to do any all nighters for a while.

However, my eyes start to drift down the rows a few feet and I notice another pallet. This pallet has on it these smaller pallets, with tough little cardboard bottoms and rugged shrink wrap holding together the 12 little units of 9.5 fl. oz. of heavenly goodness. What is this you ask? Oh, you know what I'm talking about. The tiny little bottles of Starbucks Frappachino. Oh lord. I love that stuff, but rarely buy it because those POS's usually cost anywhere from $1-2.50 depending on where you buy them and in what quantity. This, however, was 12 for $9. That's right, these little suckers were only 75 cents a piece! How could I not buy them!?

So now, I'll probably buy them all the time and continue to dump more money into Sam's Club. yah!......ugh

The past couple of weeks...

I haven't posted in a while, yet I've done a ton of stuff. Here's the shizzy, broken down by dates, for your reading pleasure:

4/20-4/25: Went down to Atlanta, GA for the FIRST Nationals. Awesome time, we got screwed on some bad calls and didn't really place well, but a great time overall. I also got a great new tshirt from the HRC down there that says "Musician, looking for groupies". It's pretty funny, and has been complimented several times.

4/28: Finished up my ginormous cam design project that I've been working on for a while. I was a little unhappy with it considering that I had to leave some stuff out that had been lost when my craptop died, but, oh well. We'll just have to see what I get for a grade.

4/29: SocComm Formal in higgins house. My first ever dance without a date. It was pretty good though, and I took tons of pics with my new studio light. :)

4/30: goofed off all day, did some laundry, put my new bike tires on, and then hung out with Tyler and Jeff.

5/1: Put my new fairing on my car rack, finished laundry, shot my beretta some more, then watched 4.5 hours total of Family Guy and The Aviator with the SocComm crew.

Ah, good times. Hopefully I'll have some more to talk about now that I have 2 weeks off (from school, atleast) until E term starts. That's right, I'm taking a summer class....what a loser....