Blog's moved

Hi guys,

I've moved my blog to WordPress:

http://qtheblog.wordpress.com

If you've got the RSS link, you can update your links too:

http://qtheblog.wordpress.com/feed/

All the previous posts are on the new blog as well as all of your comments. I've already posted some stuff to the new site. Check it out.

Enjoy!

Semper Fi

God bless the men and women who serve our country.

I got a glimpse into the lives of our Marines in training during a Leadership Venture to Officer Candidate School in September. Wharton sent a group of us down to Quantico, VA, to experience some of the leadership-building exercises the Marines put their officer candidates through.



We were given a presentation about the structure of the OCS program (they promised they were not trying to recruit us). The 10-week program is intense and almost brutal - yet somehow attractive. At the end of the presentation they invite the Gunnery Sergeants to join us. That's when the fun began.

We experienced a night of yelling, confusion, and a lot of unintelligible "english." I had a blast! We were told how to do everything from walking to standing to making our "racks" (beds) to how to sleep in them (though no one really paid attention to that one). I was even assigned and hour during night watch. When the morning time came (notice i didn't say when the sun came up), we were woken up with yelling and excitement. We then striped our beds and marched across the complex to eat breakfast. The sun still had about 1.5 more hours to sleep before it came up.

During the next day, we went through two of the Marines' training courses. The first was the Leadership Reaction Course. The LRC was a collection of puzzles which require both mental and physical exercise. For example, our first one was involved crossing a river (represented by a pool of water) to retrieve a barrel of supplies. The constraints on where we could step, what we could touch, and what resources we could use made this puzzles complex. Each person on our group was chosen as the leader for one of the puzzles. We successfully completed zero out of the five we tried. However, we had fun on all of them. Oh, and we learned something about ourselves too :)

After the LRC, we grabbed some MRE's for lunch. The Meals Ready to Eat were better than I expected (then again, I was only eating them for one meal so the novelty - and hunger - may have been just the right seasoning). I had some chicken and rice with crackers & jam followed by carrot cake.

Now for the real challenge. We completed the big obstacle course in the afternoon. I must say, I don't remember ever being so sore after any one two-hour event in my life. We climbed walls, walked across roped and logs with 20ft drops below, scaled muddy hills (thanks to the fresh rain two days before), waded through mud, slid under barbed wire, and swam in pretty chilly water (although after Ironwood, "cold water" has new meaning to me). We did all of this while caring our replica, to scale and weight, rifles.

My favorite part was the Quigley (pictured to the right). We got down on our bellies and slide through this pond/swamp-like portion of the course while holding our riffles above the water. At certain point we had to slide under logs and through submerged sewer pipes (no real sewage of course).

At the end of the day a hot shower never felt so go. We were covered form head to toe in mud and dirt. I am still not sure how that much dirt got into some place :) It was a good thing I brought cloths I didn't mind throwing away. We washed up, changed, and had a nice reception with hor d'overs and an open bar.

When I got back to Philly I wanted to do it all over again. I wanted to go out and accomplish great things. I wanted to apply want I learned. I wanted to prove my mental and physical toughness. But, what I truly want most of all was to go to sleep.


Cheers.

It's been a long time...

For the past several months i have been telling myself: "you really need to update your blog." 

I am finally listening. :)

Well there is a lot of catching up to do and it is not all going to be done in this post.

I just wanted to let both of my readers know that I am indeed still alive. School (and recruiting for jobs) hasn't gotten the best of me. The first quarter is drawing to a close, and I am still standing. 

Business school thing is fun, albeit challenging. Classes are interesting and applicable. My classmates come from all over the world and were doing various things from banking to professional hockey before school. I am just shy of 12.5% of the way through and I am having a blast. 

Check some of the next few posts for more on my experiences so far.

It's good to be back :)

Cheers. 

Congratulation Matt and Molly (again :)

Matt and Molly are almost official grownups! They've completed 3 of
the 4 steps: married, got a good job, and they have a house!!! (now
you just need some kids to complete the picture ;)

Their house is wonderful. I was out in NE visiting them a couple
weekends ago. One of the coolest things is the pool in the back. I
tend to see it as a pool with a house in the front yard :) The layout of the place is great - plenty of space. Matt even has his own room for a recording studio. It's definitely a 30-year keeper house.

I had the distinct honor of being their first house guest. While I was out there several other friends rolled through for a bbq and pool party. We also took a trip to see the state capitol building.

Another great trip to the Midwest.

Thanks again, Matt and Molly for a fabulous time, and congrats on your new place.

Cheers.

Small Town Decompression

This past July I visit my special friend in Ironwood, a small, mining
town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (aka Superior). Adrienne and
I had a fabulous time. Everyday we made it to at least one beach (on
Lake Superior) or body of water .

For those who don't know, Lake Superior is absolutely gorgeous - and
as cold as it is beautiful. But that did to stop me from going in
(well once it did, but after the first time I jumped right in :) The
weekend before I came they experienced some really cold weather (for
July) so I packed some longer, heavier clothes. The weekend I show
up? Record heat! So jumping in the cold lake felt even better.

We also went camping the Porcupine Mountains. We did have a cabin so
it wasn't totally roughing it, but for me, it was a new experience. I
enjoyed it. We went canoeing in a small pond too. The hike was not
very strenuous, but the woods were lovely (less the biting flies).

We also visited some places in Wisconsin and Minnesota. We stayed in
Bayfield, WI, a quant beach town with nice B&B's and a very laid back
attitude. Then went onto Minneapolis (I flew in and of MSP).

It was my first time to all of these places. I thoroughly enjoyed
myself. They were not the speed I would like to live my life, but
they were a welcome and decompressing break from the normal. I looked
at my cellphone 3 times and checked email once every other day or
so. I don't even think I was carrying ID for half the trip (well,
for the parts when we went to beach and played in the woods). It was
great to feel like I could escape reality completely, albeit
temporarily.

I would love to go back and visit the North Woods again.

Check out pictures of my trip on my photo blog.

Cheers.

tinsimup - blup.

Move over Diddy

In my mom's spare time she has been taking classes to perfect her radio voice for voiceover acting and commercials. Check out my mom's spot advocating voter participation: Constance Marie.

I admire my mom for not settling for a boring life. She stays active - always with a fun activity planned: golf, acting/voice lessons, poetry.

Go Mom!

City of Brotherly Love

Last weekend I finally, actually moved to Philadelphia. No more suburbs for me (at least not for the next two years). I am excite to live in West Philly (shush to all you nay-sayers).

Big ups to my cousin Jay for helping me unload the U-Haul. With no elevator, I am sure he is happy I only live on the second floor.

I've spent the majority of this past week setting things up and getting comfortable. The space is definitely big - my ceilings are so high you can hear the echo over the phone. I also like that there is a separate kitchen.

If you around Philly look me up. I am just a few blocks from the UPenn campus.

In the mean time, check out the pictures of my transition from old room at my aunt's house to my new apartment: Moving In.

Enjoy.

Fairwell, Uncle Martin.

Last week was my final week of work. I had a good run for the last few years. I met some really great people (who are hopefully new readers of my blog :) so I had mixed emotions about leaving. I am sad to leave some of the cool people I've gotten to know. At the same time, I am excited about my new opportunity (and, in the immediate, my July off :)

A huge thank you for those who made my time at Lockheed enjoyable. I wish the best for you all.

Cheers.

New Photo Blog

I've revamped my other website and turned it into a photo blog. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures. There will be more to come as I embark on my July escapades.

Check out the link to the right: Q's Spot - Photo Blog

Cheers.

Elvis to N'Sync - A Complete Review of Pop Music

Check out this video. It's a guy taking us on a one man trip through the evolution of dance. [insert Darwin joke] He does a pretty good job of capturing the top moves of each era (with a heavy emphasis on the late 80's through 90's :)

Enjoy.

Exercise does a mind good too :)

So while it's obvious exercise is good for a body, i've noticed that it's effected my attitude as well.

One of my goals in getting into shape is to improve my endurance. When I fatigue while running I like to pick a point a little bit beyond where I would like to rest and push myself to that point. If I get there and still have something left in me, I repeat the processes until I can't really go any further. Then I may walk to jog slowly for a bit and do it again.

That same drive, or mental toughness, helps me to push to accomplish tasks that are mentally draining as well. I've noticed myself saying, "Well, you can get one or two more tasks done before you take a break."

The mental byproduct of exercise surprised me.

Big City of Dreams

I love spending time with my mommy :)

This past weekend we were in NYC - just hanging out. She had a conference in the city so we took advantage of the opportunity.

Thursday night we meetin up with a colleague of her's for dinner at Asia de Cuba (excellent). Friday I did some work from the hotel/library and she finished up her conference. Unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs all friday evening so we just chilled.

Saturday was a blast though. We headed up midtown for lunch and the matinee of Avenue Q. The show was fantastic! If you haven't seen it, head to TKTS, get some tickets and check it out. While coming out of Avenue Q we happened upon Julia Roberts exiting after her show Three Days of Rain. My mom was thrilled because she called Julia's name and Julia looked directly at her and smiled. They bonded :) Instead of heading back downtown, we hung around Times Square for a while then saw The Break Up. (The acting was good, but I didn't like the story. Over all, I thought it was just an okay movie.)

Sunday we planned on head out to Liberty Island, but there were no more tickets available. So instead we decided to chill in Battery Park for a bit. On the walk back to the hotel we came across the National Museum of the American Indian. If you are downtown, stop by. They've got an intereseting exhibit on ceramics and a beatiful jewelry display. We also stopped by Ground Zero then happened upon the River to River Festival. All throughout the weekend they were shooting the next spidey movie downtown. At one point we saw the live taping - although no stars, just a bunch of extras pretending to watch Spiderman on the side a building.

It was a fabulous weekend in the city with Moms :)

Cheers.

Memorial Day

This past Memorial Day was really chill - just what I needed. I got to spend some good time with my boy Okwui. While I really enjoy his girlfriend, Jenn, there was something nice about having a guy's weekend :) Although, I must say we are getting older: we didn't even go out except to see X-men (a must see, btw).

Anyway, the point is: it was a relaxing, much-needed weekend away from all things estrogen :)

Big ups to Okes.

Cheers.

Panoramic Virtual Reality

Check out this site:

http://www.panoramas.dk/

I am sure it's not news to some, but I think some of the scenes are great. There are a few pictures under the news category that have sound as well so you almost feel like you are there (as best as can be expected via a computer monitor, I guess).

Enjoy.

RE: Spring has sprung

Alas, summer is here, and spring is faded.

Spring has sprung

Awww, spring time is a fabulous time of year. :)

Cheers.

Marriage of Figaro

Hooray for opera! :)

Neither Adrienne nor I had been to an opera before. The Opera Company of Philadelphia is currently running Marriage of Figaro so we figure we would grab some of the cheap seats and give it a try.

I must say, I did not have high expectations for an opera, but this experience was fun by any standard. Marriage of Figaro is a witty, scandalous, and generally engaging opera. I think it was a great one to start with. For $8.50 we figured we couldn't go wrong. Our seats were up in the rafters (eye-level with the chandelier) were we could inconspicuously nod off if it was boring. It turned out the show was great and the seats weren't bad (if you forgive the blocked view of 1/4 of stage left).

The acts flew by! Before we knew it, we were at intermission. There were surtitles (it's sung in Italian) but I felt like I only read them half the time. I kind of got the jist of what was going on just by watching the actors/singers (what do you call them in an opera?). By the time we got around to the forth act we had been in the theater for about 2.5 hours. It felt like we just sat down. When the opera was over, we definitely wanted to see more. :)

If you haven't yet, I encourage you to go to the opera - or at least go see Marriage of Figaro (I am still skeptical of some of the slower ones ;)

Cheers.

BTW, I now know were R. Kelly go his inspiration for Trapped in the Closet. Check out Act II of Marriage of Figaro.

Lame Duck Session (Part 3)

...and then there were four.

Yay Michaela!!

Michaela, who teaches in the public schools of NYC, served notice this morning. While sharing Molly's, Adrienne's, and my sentiments, she was very professional - resignation letter and all.

I am sad to see NYC schools lose such a wonderful person from their teaching ranks. It is a symptom of the larger problem, which causes such talented people to be miserable and runs them out. But that's neither here nor there (for this post ;). In the mean time...

Congratulations Michaela!! I am so happy for you. Welcome to the flock!

So grows the NIQMJD celebration. :)

Cheers.

In other news:
I know of a few other people from my current job who will be leaving soon to pursue higher education. I can't say who just yet, but rest assured there are more lame ducks out there waiting to join the flock.

I also know of a hyphy duckling in the Bay who is trying to be lame as soon as possible. Big ups to Driver B in the struggle. Solidarity sister! ...ghostride the whip.

Now, bark like a chicken.

Do you remember that one in-class assignment in from elementary school where you are given a long list of instructions like write your name on this paper, stand on your chair, bark like a dog, flap your arms, etc? The first one was read all of the instructions before beginning, the second was write your name at the top of this paper, and the last was disregard all of the instructions except numbers 1 and 2.

There were those two kids in class who actually read the whole thing, wrote their names, and just sat quitely with a smile, watching everyone else flapping and barking. I was not one of those kids.

I just did like 1.5-2 hrs of work I didn't have to do. If only I would have read the directions in their entirety before starting. I updated 300+ items in an excel file when the directions called for an update to only the "new" items, all 12 of them. *sigh*

Haha. Yeah, I am laughing at myself for it, so you can laugh too. It's just one of those mornings.

:)

Lame Duck Session (Part 2)

Congratulations Molly!

Molly just got a new job, and she and Matt are moving back home to the heartland. The best part is that they both got jobs they are excited about in the same city, and they can engineer stuff to their hearts content. They are getting a house with a yard, a big kitchen, and room for kids. :)

I am sure Molly shares the same sentiment as Adrienne and I. Happy Belated National I Quit My Job Day, Mo!!

Cheers.

Lame Duck Session

"I quit, suckas!"

Well those where not the exact words she said to her boss, but that was the sentiment. :)

Last monday was officially dubbed National I Quit My Job Day as my friend Adrienne and I celebrated our lame duck status. That morning she just told her managers that she is leaving. I had notified my bosses I am leaving a couple weeks ago. We decided to celebrate our new-found hope.

There is a fabulous sense of liberty that comes along with knowing that your current environment is not your destiny and that you will soon be free to explore your own dreams.

So from here on out May 1 is the day to celebrate creating new opportunies and leaving stale ones behind.

Cheers.

Would you like a receipt?

Now generally I am not am not one to tell people what they can/cannot do or should/shouldn't do with their money, nor am I one to say that every dime of disposable income should go directly to helping "the less fortunate." But still, when I read stuff like this:

Mystery Bidder Spends $95 Million on a Picasso

I start to think, "$207.5 million spent in one night... on art??" Now, don't get me wrong. I value art (and in a greater sense "the arts"). But I think there comes a point when things get to be ridiculous. Houses, cars, and, yes, art. You committed $95 million just to say, "I've got this one piece of art work."

Now I am not just hung up on the one guy who paid that much. It was an auction. That means at least one other person was willing to pay up to just under $95 million. I mean law of supply and demand is great. It works well, generally speaking. But this application is a bit ludicrous to me. Actually, the root cause is what I find ludicrous. People are willing to pay millions upon millions for status. I understand this Russian-sounding gentleman was not identified so there is no way of know the extent to which he is active in his community or the global community. But that does not negate my belief that $95 million is a grotesque amount for a status symbol.

I am happy for people who have worked hard, pulled themselves up by the boot straps, had a dream and never let it go, etc. That's great. You earned your keep. However, there comes a point where one really should begin thinking about the world around you and how you can make it better. I would like to think that point is from dollar 1, but I am pretty certain it has to come before number 94,999,999.

Forever? Forever-ever? ...Forever-ever?

I like this new idea from the Post Office:

Post Office Hopes Idea Of 'Forever Stamp' Sticks

I could get down with buying up a bunch and using them over the years - just have to make sure not to loose them. :) Hmmm, I guess it would be an even greater honor to get your face a forever stamp.

(I wonder how this would effect the Post Office's cash flow. If people rush to grab forever stamps, they will get a decent influx of cash upfront (of course they do hemorrhage money every year anyway). )

"Chick Lit" Mashup

I feel a little bad for this Harvard* girl:

Publisher Drops Book Deal With 'Opal' Author

As my friend RJ put it, "She's a little ahead of her time." All she really did was a creative chick lit mashup. She took the best parts of a couple books, flipped them, and made them her own, made them something new. From what I understand, she did it with finesse too. According to RJ, authors should be able to "clear samples" and remix old text. I like his idea. She's like the Kanye West of teenage women's literature.

Down with those pesky little copyrights!!

haha :)

Cheers.

*I feel the adboard would love for her to take this same approach on a final paper.

Keepin it real

I like to read Sheeshamunga, a blog with thoughts and observations by a good friend. She's got some thought-provoking posts and some funny commentary on everyday observations.

Check out her latest post:

Keepin it real: "Normally I am not going to be throwing a bunch of links out here, but this is too important to pass up:

http://thankyoustephencolbert.org/

Watch the clips."

The link is definitely worth the watch (scroll down to the links to 3 video clips). It shows Steven Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. If you don't know about Steven Colbert's The Colbert Report (or at least The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) you have been living in the dark.

We all could use a little more truthiness.

Enjoy.

Thanks Driver B. ;o)

"Baby Got Book"

I ran across this video while surfing the world wide interweb today:

"Baby Got Book" - Dan "Southpaw" Smith

Yeah, it's what you think - a play on "Baby Got Back." It's a comedic Christian rap about the Bible. At first I was cracking up, then as it keep going (yeah, it's the full song - not just a verse), I was impressed how well he's able to pull off the whole deal. He has some cool one-for-one swaps of words and themes. (Its still had me rolling the whole way through though.)

Check out his website: www.whiteboydj.com

Yo!, I need to get me one of those KJV chains!! :)

Enjoy.

School Days

I am not sure why it's taken me so long to blog this:

I am going to Wharton! - Yippie!! :)

I was refraining from blogging the whole experience until I told my boss, but now I am happy to say: I am headed back to school! I told my boss and my director a couple weeks ago and the formal announcement to our department was sent out last week.

It was a pretty long journey, starting with MLT's MBA Prep program, which is geared toward increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in MBA programs (I highly recommend contacting them if you are considering applying). I applied and was accepted in January '05. Through the program, I worked on my business school application (GMATs, introspective analysis, essays, references, etc) pretty much all of 2005. The process was tough at times, but my couch, Couch Jackson, was very supportive and encouraging, with just the right level of finger-wagging.

In December '05 came the true crunch time. With applications due just after Christmas, I had to buckle down. I had gotten the GMAT out of the way in May, so Dec was a month of essays. I am grateful for the volunteers from the program who read essays, made comments and corrections, etc. I am also grateful for my wonderful friends who took their time to read through my essays as well (Big ups to Desiree - she read every essay for every school! ...well except Wharton, but I still got into the others :) My recommenders were also fabulous. I had one who was unable to complete the recommendation. When I asked my backup, he was able to bang them out in a matter of days, saving my hide!

After pushing the "Submit" buttons, the anxiety and relief were both overwhelming. I couldn't believe a solid year of work was done and out of my hands. I also couldn't wait to find out what my future will be.

I had heard from some schools and was waiting to hear from others when I got the acceptance to Wharton. In that moment, the rest of the schools faded out of focus into the background. Visiting during Wharton Welcome Weekend all but solidified my decision (sending in my deposit truly solidified my decision :)

So it's official, I am going to be in the 125th graduating class from the world's first collegiate business school, established in 1881, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

God is good.

Amazing Origami

Check out: Robert J. Lang's Origami. It's amazing the things he creates with folded paper! I am sure it took a million years. I am always in awe of such dedication to intricite hobbies.

Enjoy.

(curtesy of Pogue Posts - a blog from NY Times tech author David Pogue)

Next Chapter in the Chronicles of M&M

I am up in State College, PA this weekend on my last trip to see Matt and Molly before they head back west. It's been such a pleasure getting to know them over the years. They are a great couple. :)

Last night two of their friends, Matt and Whitney, came over for dinner. I like those two - another really fun and chill couple. Needless to say, there was non-stop laughter and jokes all night long. We playing a few rounds of Scattergories. I had heard of it, but that was my first time playing. Tons of fun, especially with a larger, creative group.

In other news, Matt got a new toy today: nord lead 2 virtual analog synth. It is crazy fun! We have been playing with it all morning. Matt figured out how to make it say "Yes" - it almost sounds real :)

Check out the action:


Well, M&M, it's been a pleasure hanging out with you guys in State College. I look forward to visiting Omaha again this summer. :) God bless!

Frolicking in Valley Forge

Had a great time yesterday after work. The weather was perfect so Adrienne and I went out to Valley Forge Park with some take out Indian food (which was half bad) and some cheap, boxed wine from the Wine & Spirits store that was next to the Indian place.

Check out the pictures of our sillyness: Frolickling in Valley Forge - Facebook

Mala K Party

My normal routine is to head up to NYC Friday after work, hang out for the weekend, then head back to Philly late afternoon on Sunday. This weekend I broke routine and stayed for Kamala Salmon's party: the Mala K Music Album release of "H"- The Music, Vol 1. It was definitely worth the 6am train ride straight to work the next day. :)

The party was tight. It was held at Libation, and the turn out was pretty impressive - especially for a first party and on a Sunday night. There were performances from the voices on the album, including Kelley Nicole, Soulfege, and Shu.

Nuff respects to Kamala for a good time and great music. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all my friends. They are so talented, and (as my mom would say) they do me proud.

For more info, check out the website: www.malakmusic.com

Gotta love a marathon ...and Keren (gotta love 'em both :)

This past weekend, I took a trip to NYC - surprise, surprise :)

It was my friend Keren's b-day last week, so she had a nice get together at a local bar (well, a couple local bars - we did some hopping). I figured I would come up for the weekend for her party, especially cause I missed the festivities last year. I had a good time and met some more of her friends.

I like hanging out with Keren. She is a good person all around. This weekend was rainy and there was a Godfather marathon on AMC, so we were chillin for the most part catching various parts of the series, on and off, and piecing together the rest from memory.

Yay, Keren. Happy Birthday again.

Hanging with Matt, Mo, and Casey

For St. Patty's Day (hey, I've never professed to being timely with
the post, okay?) I took a quick drive up to State College, PA to hang
out with my favorite newly weds. I was pleasantly surprises to find
out Casey was there the same weekend.

The four of us had a good time. Matt and Molly throw a Party that
Friday night with some of their friends from PSU. As always everyone
enjoyed themselves.

I am so excited for M&M! They are headed back West ... well Midwest, but still. =) I am going to miss hanging out with them when they go to Omaha. But, they are going to have a wonderful time back in their home state. (And I can always come stay at their house... HOUSE!! ...when I come visit)

Yay Matt and Molly!! Congrats!

Sure, I can hear you now.

This is my first post from my new phone: an SE W600i from Cingular. So far i am loving it. I was nervous about switching from Verizon but so far I get better reception every where I go. Yay for new gadgets!! :)

More Lego Fun :)

I previously posted about Bible stories being depicted with Legos. Well check out this aircraft carrier: Lego Aircraft Carrier.

I assembled one of those 3-D Puzzles (Neushwanstein Castle) when my leg was busted back in high school. It took a couple full days to get the whole thing together, so I can imagine the dedication it takes to put together such elaborate creations with Legos.

Enjoy.

(I ran across these aircraft carrier pictures while surfing www.digg.com. - very cool place to start a bored web surfing session. There are some cool links.)

The Ultimate Flying Machine?

Airbus worked with BMW to come up with the interior for the A350. I've got to get me one of the these! :) The business-class ride in one of these planes will be pretty comfy according to the specs quoted in the article.

Check it out @ www.newlauches.com

Enjoy.

The Hardcore. Straight outta Harvard.

Check out this clip of Natalie Portman's gangsta rap on SNL:

Natalie Portman: Gangsta Rap

Yeah, I went to school with her. I think that makes it even funnier. :)

Enjoy.

(Thanks for the link, RJ)

Text Away

From Engadget Mobile today...

Text messaging bigger than Hollywood?:

We find this one a little hard to believe, but according to at least one set of stats, text messaging is a bigger business than the movie industry. Revenues for texting in 2005 were about $75 billion, vs. $30 billion for Hollywood. Text is even bigger than the video game biz, which only brings in $40 billion. And, to top it off, texting has a 90% profit margin. Given that texting is bigger than the movie business, we assume it's only a matter of time before it has its own stars and scandals. Oh, wait, it's already got that, right Paris?
(reference:www.textually.org)

I am not sure of the numbers (presumably all worldwide figures), but if true, thats a cool figure for text messaging. Pulling down that much revenue with 90% margins, the cellphone companies seem to be making out like a bandit (yet Verizon insists on charging extra for every little thing! grr. And another thing, Verizon, if I pay $100 - $200 for a phone, I was all the bloody features it is supposed to come with!!!! ...sorry, I am not pleased with Verizon right now) Somehow, knowing what cellphone companies are making off me isn't going to deter me from texting my friends. It's just too convenient. :)

The City is Mine

D, RJ, RJ's friend, and I went down to Fisherman's Wharf in San Fran today (pictures forthcoming). D and I parked the car at a 1hr, metered spot, and as we were headed to meet RJ and his friend, we saw a spot open up in the free, 4hr parking area. D runs to get the car and I stand in the spot.

Just before D turns the corner, this old guy in drives up in a Jetta. I wave him off. He then rolls down his window down as yells, "You can't save spots. You don't own the city you know!" Just then D pulls up and parks in the spot.

For a moment I felt bad. Then I remembered: the city is mine.

:)

Who's Line with Richard Simmons

Here's another long overdue link. Check out this episode of Who's Line is it Anyway? with Richard Simmons as the guess. This thing had me rolling the first time I saw it.

Enjoy.

Kosovo music video

There are a bunch of links I have been meaning to blog. This is one of them: Kosovo Its a fun take on the Beach Boys song Kokomo. It's not a new video (found it a while back) but I still get a chuckle out of it.

Enjoy.

Lego Bible Stories

Check out this Lego depiction of Bible stories. It is pretty extensive. A guy who goes by The Reverend Brendan Powell Smith took the time to put these scenes together. Definitely impressive - and he keeps adding new stories.

Enjoy.

Accenture Prom

D, RJ and I went to Accenture's annual formal party last. It was very fun and also very impressive.

The company rented out San Francisco's City Hall for the night, and all the Bay Area employees were invited. There was something like 1000 people there and plenty of food and drinks to go around. In the main enterance there were sushi and carving stations and a couple open bar setups. In the North Light Court, they had some chocolate fountains and top 40 music. The South Light Court hosted additional food spreads and a live band playing classic, old school rock and R&B songs.

I had a fun time hanging out with RJ, D and friends eating and dancing and eating some more :)

Thanks guys!

(btw this picture is actually from the pre-party at Mr. Smith's in SoMa.)

Please Hammer don't hurt 'em

Again in my random surfing of the worldwide web, I ran across MC Hammer's Blog. As with most things on the worldwide web, I may be late to the game, but I still think its a fun find. :)

Enjoy!

To read more about Stanley Kirk Burrell, check out the MC Hammer Wikipedia entry.

Google Reader

I came across Google Reader by happenstance when I curiously clicked an "Add to Google" button while surfing the worldwide web (that's a new term I came up with for the "internet" - it will catch on). Reader is probably old news, but it is fun to me so I thought I would share.

It is a web-based RSS reader - pretty simple and elegant way to read your RSS feeds. I like it because I have the same feed list and the same interface anywhere I go. I no longer have to sync my reading list between home and work. So far It was worked well with Safari and Camino (Mac) and with Firefox (PC). I haven't tried IE, but I am sure it will work just the same there.

If you are a fan of Gmail and read RSS feeds, then I and pretty sure you would enjoy Google Reader.

Zanna, Ho-zanna, Hey, Superstar

This past weekend I went home to hang out with my moms. (Always a pleasure. It feels good to be home, Mom :) We got some work in cleaning out the garage on Saturday. We both had a lot of crap in there. After dropping two carloads worth of stuff on Goodwill's door step, we showered and headed downtown to the show: Jesus Christ Superstar at the Byham Theater.

I remember listening to the soundtrack to JCS as a kid so watching the show brought back a ton of memories. It was good. We enjoyed the cast, although (this sounds funny to say) Judas and Mary were better than Jesus. The company flipped a couple of the scenes (spoiler warning for those in Pittsburgh...) They had Caiaphas and his homies as Italian mobsters (conceivably to avoid any possibly antisemitic appearance) and they made the scene with Harod like a meeting in Trump's boardroom on the Apprentice, which I thought was a fun scene. One of the coolest things they did was recreating famous paintings by freeze-action posing during the play. All in all, Mom and I had a great time.

On a whim, we decided to pop into the movies to see what's playing on the way home. We showed up with perfect timing to see Madea's Family Reunion, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was funny, deep, and an all around feel-good movie. This was the first movie I have seen by Tyler Perry. My mom says she enjoyed it even better that Diary of a Mad Black Woman. I recommend it - especially if you grew up with a large black family.

Now I am off to San Fran to hang out with RJ and Danielle for two weekends ...oh and to do some work during the week between ;)

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night

(another long overdue post...)

My Disney Buddy, Michelle, has moved on to bigger and hopefully better (in the end) things: She took a temporary assignment down in the Washington, DC, Metro Area. I miss having her to bug a few cubes away (now I bug her via IM :), but I am sure she will be running things down there in a couple months. We had a fun dinner at Trappe Tavern in her honor.

Michelle, God bless on your rotation and life down in the WMA. Let's hang out sometime when you get back in town. :)

PS She is knelling (or kneeling) on a bar stool in that picture. She's not really 6'4" (actually, I think she is closer to 4'6" :)

It's not easy being green

In honor of my blogging revitalization, I have switched up my background. :)

I guess you can say I am hoping for an early spring no matter what Punxsutawney Phil says. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the layout.

PS Check this groundhog day site out: http://www.groundhogchase.com/

Hoop Dreams

(another overdue post ... I am catching up :)

For the last couple months I have been in a basketball league out here in King of Prussia, PA (just west of Philly). A bunch of guys from work, some of their friends from the area, and I took the league by storm, finishing undefeated in a convincing fashion (granted the competition wasn't really that high). Above is a picture of me following up a beautiful off-the-backboard alleyoop from Brian (red shorts) .

Now we've moved on to a different, more competitive league in Upper Merion. I missed the first game, but I am looking forward to a good one this coming Sunday.

Early Retirement

This post isn't as over due as the last (but I think I skipped over some stuff in the middle :)

Again travelling for work, I made my way down to Orlando for a couple weeks. Because I had to stay over the weekend, I got to miss the big storm.

But because I had to stay over the weekend I had to entertain myself too. I took a trip over to Universal Studios' City Walk - yeah, if you are thinking about going, make sure to wait until night fall. It wasn't much fun at 3pm on a Sunday. Apart from Sunday afternoon, I had a good time though. Got to know some folks from work a little better, met up with my cousin, and caught up with an old buddy (What's up, Arlon-Glenn!).

One of the funny things I noticed though: radio is radio, no matter where you go ...or what language it's in. I was jamming to 100.3, a spanish radio station, most of my trip. I "speak" a little spanish, but definitely not fluent yet. However, I was still able to tell that the same songs were on heavy rotation as well. By the end of the two weeks, I was humming along! :)

Now it's back to the cold. (But I still love me some East Coast. Snow and all.)

Mmmm.... Chicken & Waffles :)

This post is long over due :) Back in January I made my way down to ATL for work. While I was down there I got a chance to hang out with my friend Marie. We met up at Gladys Knight & Ron Winan's Chicken & Waffles.

As I am walking in and saying hi to Marie, I noticed this guy sitting right by the door. He looked familiar but I thought nothing of it. As we were walking to the table, Marie says, "You know who that was right?" I had no clue. It was Mace! (remember him?) I guess I should say Reverend Mace, please excuse me. Yeah, apparently he sat right next to Marie and she told him quite plainly to back up. He replies, "Do...you...know...who...I...am?" (if you've heard Mace talk, you realize how slow he talks). Marie: "No, I don't know who you are. Please move away from me." Yeah, afterwards she realized it was Mace. :)

Haha.

PS Marie, I forgive you for making fun of the way I say "chicken and waffles." I am going to have the tee shirt made next time i visit: Forgive me, y'all. I'm from the North. :)