Hoo's Blog?

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-25T13:04:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah Hanukkah or however it's spelled, Happy Holidays etc etc etc!!

For those of you who didn't receive this years holiday card in the mail (everyone), here it is electronically.

LAME!!! But, Jordan and I do have some ridiculously cute puppies. Shame we couldn't keep them.

Holidays are great. Nothing better than waking up whenever you like, sitting on your butt with nothing planned all day, eating great food and lots of it, indulging in tasty libations, seeing fam and friends and not having to work. Few things are better.

I hope everyone's enjoying their time off and making the most of it. I'm doing my best to do so.

Until next time... Cheers!

ps - anyone else really excited for the January transfer window to open?!?!

Out of Control

2008-12-17T17:23:00.002-05:00

Sporting event tickets are way too much money. Shit's gotten so far out of control it's not even funny.

Wanted to pick up tickets for the Sixers vs. Bullets (forget the wizards, so lame) game Friday night. So I went to the Bullets site and hit up Ticketmaster (Whose service charge is BS too!). The cheapest tickets were $20. $20 isn't bad, have no problem paying that.... The only problem is that the seats are obviously garbage. For those of you who've been to a bball game know, sitting far away is terrible. Hockey, soccer and maybe a few other sports are alright from a distance, but bball is horrible from afar.

So I checked out seats from the next price range, $48. They were just as far away (nosebleed) but located at half court.... Both sets suck. Would much rather watch it on tv and listen to the moronic announcers spew garbage for 2 hours. Seriously, if $48 can't get you a decent seat to watch two sub .500 teams duke it out early in the season, than I don't ever want to go to another NBA game again.

It's a good thing the Bullets signed Arenas to such a huge contract. He's earning every penny of that $120 million contract sitting on the bench nursing his 3rd knee operation in as many years (I dono if that's exact, but it's close enough). Seriously, what a F'ing joke. The Sixers are nearly as bad. Brand got a sick contract, something like $80 million and they still suck harder than an industrial strength Hoover. Way to go management, keep shelling out dumbass contracts to undeserving players and jacking up the price of tickets for idiotically loyal fans.

After $48, the next ticket section is $88, and those damn seats aren't even anything to brag about! Maybe I should buy the $2,500.00 tickets. Yea that's what I'll do. For $2,500.00 I'd rather buy a first class round trip ticket to Vegas, rent a car, drive to the bunny ranch and pay three overpriced prostitutes to take turns punching me in the balls. I'd still probably have some leftover money if I chose to go that route. F the NBA's ticket prices!!!!

My favorite thing though was the Wizards $11 Economic Stimulus tickets. LOL!!! Those seats are horrible. Economic stimulus tickets for an NBA game.... Classic! How about you get Gilbert Arenas to go out and buy 10 Ford automobiles, have each of his teammates hop in a car and drive them off a cliff. That's stimulating the economy, and entertainment!

Check this out

2008-11-24T18:38:00.003-05:00

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f7/i-got-married-last-weekend-pics-877461/

I really don't know how to respond to this. Mixed emotions. Read the comments and dude's responses to them, pretty damn funny. The John Candy photo comparison is classic.

3 Days

2008-11-22T19:23:00.008-05:00

And then there were 3.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, home. Beautiful.

It's sort of weird thinking that I'll be back in Maryland come Wednesday. Iowa seriously feels like home. I'll have been out here for 52 days, minus 1 weekend. Wow, 52 days.

So after 52 days, not only does it feel as though I live here, but the people I spend night and day with become good pals. It's weird to think that I won't be seeing any of these clowns for a little while, if again. Wouldn't go as far as shedding a tear (sorry), but I've definitely met some good people here that I'll stay in touch with.
So now that the sentimental crap is out of the way. Let's play ball!

Hedge apple ball, that is. No better way to break up the monotony of a 10 hour work day, then to grab a bunch of hedge apples a nice piece of wood, and play ball.

The Bambino

Nice field, right? The stands were packed.

Amazing form. Simply amazing.

Raw power.

Dustin (The Babe) just showed me a new ball he meticulously handcrafted out of duct tape. I'm excited to test it out tomorrow. Hopefully we can replace the hedge apples and actually be able to see how far we can jack some shots.

So, I'm really looking forward to being back in MD Wednesday, even though it'll just be for the night. I'll be heading up to NJ/PA for at least a portion of the weekend to see the fam and some friends. Should be a great time. I'm pretty excited. That and I get to eat some home cooking! Nothing better.

Also, I've been informed that snow has blessed the MD/PA/WV slopes. If anyone wants to go anywhere, anytime, don't hesitate to give me a call. I know spending more time on lifts then skiing sucks, but any skiing is better than no skiing.

Well, until next time. Au Revoir!

Sunday, not so Bloody Sunday

2008-11-16T22:29:00.003-05:00

Well, let's see. Not too much to write about again. Life in Iowa just isn't that exciting.

Today was my last day off work while here in Iowa. Nine, ten hour work days left... ninety more hours of work. Ninety hours, that's it. I suppose I'll move to Maryland after my job here in Iowa is done. For those of you who don't know, I actually used to live there. I remember it being nice, figure I'll move back.

So, the Eagles tied today. That's pathetic. I'd almost rather they lost. Seriously though, I don't know what their problem is... Oh wait, I do. Andy Reid needs to get the axe. Nice guy, nice family (bwaa ha haaa) but shit play caller. 58 passing attempts vs 18 runs. Now that's a nice balanced attack. It's no wonder McNabb gets hurt; Drop back 60 times and you're bound to get injured.

What are the Phillies going to do this off season??? I was disappointed to see Holliday go to the A's. And now that the Yankess are set to buy every other free agent from here to Japan, I'm curious to see what the Phils will do. Need to address their lack of a left fielder. Anyone know anything I don't (regarding this anyways)?

I had grand plans of writing about some worthwhile topics, but as you can see, I've fallen very short of that goal. I'll have to see about posting again tomorrow night once I'm not so tired. Anywho, goodnight to all and to all a goodnight.

This post is almost not worth posting.

Here, have a blog

2008-11-12T21:19:00.008-05:00

My apologies.

I have had absolutely zero, zilch, nada and noooo desire to blog of late. It's sad really, it's not there hasn't been enough going on it the world. The Phillies won the World Series, a new Pres just got elected, I think we found Little Boy, I was home for a weekend (which was over my favorite holiday), and all sorts of other jazz... Just haven't been motivated to chime in on any of it.

I think Iowa has won by KO. I put up a valiant effort, fought a gritty fight, pulled tooth and nail... I just couldn't outlast the heavy weight, title belt holding champ. A 5.5 week KO. And there's still more rounds to go.

*Sigh*

Even now, as I'm blogging, I really don't want to be doing it.

So now, I present to you, a very brief picture based rundown of the last however many weeks of life here in Iowa.

Edward 40 hands

Dead deer with ass eaten out by carnivores. Look at my big smile.

Sunday commercial watching that's occasionally interrupted by a blip of a football game.

Sexy poses in the woods with machetes.

Potential deer ass eater.

So, I walked into my room this evening after dining at the finest of Mexican restaurants and realized that my room smells, bad. I need to do laundry and let house keeping come in more frequently.

This is all for now... Maybe I'll add more in a day or two. Must.... get.... motivated.... arrrrrrgh

La Nuit de la Citrouille

2008-10-25T00:24:00.011-04:00

Sorry for not blogging for so long... Haven't much felt like it. The fact that I'm stuck in Burlington, Iowa doesn't help much. There's not too much going on out here that's really worth blogging about... That is, until now!!

Bam!! Pumpkin carving night!! Who knows how to have fun? Steve does.

See the excitement? Yea, it's coursing through my veins right here. Actually had to sit down and crank a beer to calm myself. The only bad thing about the evening was that I've been unable to find Sam Adams Octoberfest out here. I've been to 3 places, and each has been sold out! I had to settle for the Cherry Wheat tonight... Just wasn't the same. A great pumpkin can only be carved with the accompaniment of a delicious Octoberfest.

I got over the lack of Octoberfest soon as the first cut was made.

Marc's thrilled to begin the creation process!

Proud fathers.

Yea I know, you afraid. Yea I know, I'm a loser. Especially for adding in the music. Can't help it, Halloween was on while carving. Anyways, I have to be up in all of 4 hours for work.

Au revoir!

Phillies!!!!

2008-10-15T23:37:00.002-04:00

That's all I have to say.

A Sunday morning tour of Burlington, Iowa

2008-10-12T11:13:00.012-04:00

Welcome to Burlington! My home away from home.

Due to my inability to sleep in, and my love of coffee, I arose early this morning and went out to explore some of the town. With camera and coffee thermos in hand, I was able to capture some decent shots of this cool little town.

This is the Great River Bridge which spans the Mississippi, connecting Burlington to Gulfport, Illinois (Which I believe was pretty well wiped out by the last major flooding of the Miss River). The bridge is pretty sweet looking... It's really well lit up at night, so I'll have to get out here this evening and see what pics I can take by opening up the lens for a while.

Bam... Snake Alley... The "Crookedest Alley in the World."

I'm pretty proud to say that I've conquered this wild little alley several times in my rental car. At times I feared for my life while navigating its bends, but that's what mavericks like McCain, Palin and myself do. Mavericks!!! Woo!!!

They have this pretty well lit up at night as well. I've got some serious picture taking to do.

This next picture is great. I love old homes with character, autumn, the Celtic new year that is All Hallows' Even and the sign that these folks have positioned oh so nicely in their front yard (An Obama sign if you can't make it out. There's also a pumpkin on the porch if you can't see that either).

Seriously, fall is amazing. Perfect weather, gorgeous scenery, that crisp autumn air, Halloween... What more do you need? As stated before, I wish I were at home, cruising scenic routes on my bike, sipping various Octoberfest brews and hanging out with friends... But alas, that will all have to wait. Damnit work!!!! Damnit Iowa!!!!Here you go Dad, this is a shout out to you and your Pops. Trains are cool, Choo Choo!! (I'm a loser).What the?!?! Bwaaaa?!?! Yea that's right, NYC doesn't have the only Statue of Liberty. What you know about Burlington's lady of liberty? The plaque said something about the Boy Scouts of America... blah blah.Twas an overcast morning, it twas.

This was taken from the Port of Burlington. And what a port it was... I didn't see any boats. But that's ok. I did however run into some dude who was chilling, smoking a cancer stick and enjoying his morning coffee. We got to talking (because I like talking to random men sitting on park benches early on Sunday mornings) and it turns out he's a 49ers fan (Bless his poor little heart). If the Eagles lose to the lowly Niners today, so help me god, I will burn one of the two Eagles jerseys I have out here. They should have won the past two games (Bears and Foreskins), but no, they chose to lose like losers. Eagles are supposed to fly... Fly to victory. Not lose.

And one final shot of the bridge.

Architecture is awesome. I love uniquely designed buildings, bridges, stadiums, etc (And no I don't fall "In love" when I see them, Jordan, Jason, Michelle, Dan and whoever else was there that night you were making fun of me for looking at skyscrapers online... I hate you all). I really need to get out in DC more to photograph that city. In due time I suppose. What I really want is a sick digital SLR camera. Anyone have an extra G laying around that they don't need? My ability to capture great photos is seriously limited by my rinky dink hundred dollar camera. Maybe after I win big at the casino next door I'll buy a new camera. Yea, a new camera and a house.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. Time to make some lunch, sit on my ass and love the fact that I'm not working today.

Au revoir mes amis!

La la la

2008-10-10T22:26:00.007-04:00

It's Friday night, I'm bored... Figured I'd blog.

The Phillies went up 2 games to none on the Dodgers tonight! For this, I am happy.

Due to work I've only been able to catch the later innings of each of the first 2 NLCS games. Fortunately though, I was able to see Utley's and Burrell's homers in game 1, and the last 3 innings of game 2. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty darn excited about the prospect of the Phils (Dare I say it? No, I can't do it yet).... How about I just say, Let's go Phillies! Can't wait to catch game 3 on Sunday.

Today brought with it some good and some bad.

We've now fully completed 1 of the 5 survey areas that I'm working on. This is good. It's only my 5th work day out here and we've already polished off 1 of the grids... Opow! That's right, Opow! I'm thinking the one we're starting on tomorrow should go pretty quickly. However, 1 of the areas is going to be a complete and total pain in the arse. Oh well, just have to keep chugging along and hope I can get out of here early.

Some bad news is that the dreaded travel boredom has begun to set in. The thing that really hammered it home was the fact that I went grocery shopping today after work. Anytime you have to go grocery shopping while living in a hotel, you know you've gotten yourself into a less than desirable situation. It's one thing if you go out and get a few snacks, or pick up enough for a few days... but oh no... I dropped over a hundo today (Granted a portion was on a bottle of gin, some Boulevard Wheat beer and of course, the post work case of Coors Light).

Wow, it really sucks writing this on a Friday night, knowing that I have to work tomorrow. Not sure if I'm working Sunday... Might as well though, right? It's not like there's a terrible amount of touristy things to do in Iowa (no offense Iowins).

I wish I had my Harley out here... There's some wide open roads, no traffic and autumn weather is perfect for riding. I see dudes with chicks on the backs of their bikes cruising all over the place out here... Ahhhh!!! Jealously sucks.

I've also been seriously jonesin' for ski season to get here. Not necessarily wanting the nice weather to come to an end, but I can't wait to ski.

I've been torturing myself by watching a few of the Warren Miller movies this week. I wish I would have been able to hold off another month of so before doing this to myself. Oh well. I couldn't help it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ0DSrXEfeE

Watch it, love it.

I'm looking at picking up a new pair of skis for this season... Not boots or bindings, just the skis. I had wanted to get a pair of telemark skis and try them out, but mid-atlantic living just doesn't really jive with that. Right now I'm looking at the K2 Apache Raiders or Rangers. I've had K2s as my last 2 pairs of skis, and would rather stick with them. That is unless I find a sick pair of Rossis for cheap (doubtful). I've also decided (I think) that I'll stick with alpines. No sense in getting twin tips (which I sort of want) and increasing the chance of me doing something stupid and hurting myself.

Anyways, I'm bored, this killed some time... Thanks for reading.

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.

2008-10-07T17:00:00.004-04:00

Wow. Tension is in the air out here in Iowa; Tension of the political variety.

As all of you know, unless you live in a cave (in which case you must be stealing a wireless connection from a nearby house), the circus that is the election is everywhere you turn. Since arriving in Iowa, I've been driven to a state of extreme anger on several occasions.

My first morning here, while trying to enjoy my free continental breakfast, I was subjected to the mind-numbing form of entertainment so commonly referred to as Fox "News".

I'm not going to go on a rant about Fox's absurdly biased news coverage, or the moronic, condescending mouth-breathers that they call news anchors, or their cheesy on screen graphics... Instead I'm simply going to point out that they kept showing the clip of Palin saying Obama pals around with terrorists. Then some shit-for-brains male news anchor who wore more makeup than all the members of Kiss combined, went and started to run with this story and spew all sorts of crap.

What a shit way to start your morning. I tried to block it out by reading my USA Today (Which sucks as well, minus their sports and games sections) to no avail. I ended up cutting breakfast short and getting out of there. I can deal with Fox News only when mentally prepared and in a mood for a good laugh. Definitely can't take it before I've even had my first sip of coffee.

Fortunately, a local news program was on this morning. But that didn't prevent several of the people I'm working with out here, including myself to get into multiple discussions/arguments/heated debates over the presidential race.

It sucks, especially when a few people wouldn't even bother to hear out others points. You just can't have an actual conversation with some people. They just don't have it in them. This one dude was just so obnoxious. His only sticking points were the color of Obama's skin and the "fact" that he's a terrorist. Awesome! When dealing with people like this, you can definitely have an amazing, open-minded conversation in which both people learn a lot of new things and come to a mutually agreed upon reasonable conclusion concerning the topics discussed.

Since it rained today, and we couldn't get much work done, there was a lot of sitting around time... Hence the political rants. It's tough not to get into it with the election so close and a number of people with varying political views sitting in the same room for half a day. It just happens.

Anyways, it was just frustrating seeing as though myself and another guy are the only ones who aren't die-hard Obama bashers out here. Crazy Iowa.

Aside from that, I'm now nearly through Day 3. 38 or so more to go!!!

I'll probably end up hitting up some dinner here soon. Right now, just kicking back, writing this blog and watching Monty Python's Holy Grail (for the hundredth time). There's some cool stuff in this town. There's a fairly large casino across the street as well as a place called Fun Land. I mean it's called Fun Land, it has a bowling alley, water slides, a large bar and God know what else. I can't wait to check it out... I'm thinking Thursday night. Apparently it's a locals hot spot on Thr, Fri and Sat nights. Bam!!! We also found out two of the more popular watering holes here in town... Annnnd, I drove the worlds curviest road last night!!! I'll take some pictures of it and some other parts of town soon as the weather clears up, and be sure to throw them on here.

So, it's about time to start my night. Nearly time for a shower and some dinner.

I'll leave you with some pics from yesterday. Good day from Iowa.

My little buddy I found.An even bigger snake in the grass.Baby snake that tried to bite me... Cute.Fossils!!! Sweet brachiopods and crinoid columns. Yesssss, rocks.

Home Sweet Home (v2.0)

2008-10-05T22:37:00.009-04:00

I've come to the realization that staying in hotels for extended periods of time has only increased my laziness when it comes to keeping a tidy room. Having someone come in everyday, vacuum, change my sheets and make my bed, change my towels, clean my sink and toilet and do a general tidy up has spoiled me. When I'm home in Maryland, I think I expect a cleaning lady to come in and clean up my room for me when I'm at work... It hasn't happened yet.

So, I'm in Iowa... For 6 weeks... 6 long, boring weeks. How did this happen?

Collin was kind enough to send me a nice little calculation today. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but according to his calculations, I'll be spending something like 1/526th of my life here. That's a bit depressing.

Here it is... My home for 1/526th of my life. Voila!

So here it is... The pad. I really like the carpeting. I just love how Fairfield always goes with that lovely puke green color. Screams class.

The kitchen. Note how I have multiple appliances. I'm just living the dream. Ima put Emeril to shame with this setup.

Where I'll be spending mass amounts of time watching baseball (GO PHILLIES!!!), football (fother mucking Eagles), reading and writing many a novel and sipping on fine beverages such as Coors Light, Sam Adams Octoberfest, Bud and Bud Light.

My office. No big deal, jus takin' care of bidness.

The entertainment center. I added the xbox. Not only can I now watch dvds, but I can hit up FIFA 09 when that comes out on the 14th. Only 9 more days, I can't wait.

And finally, the master (and only) bedroom. Where the magic won't be happening.

Ohhh Yeaa, nice.

25th Hour

2008-10-01T22:21:00.002-04:00

Arghhh...

Not enough time in a day.

Seriously, I think I just blinked, and summer was over.

I'm in Ohio. It's cold. I want to blog b/c I have a lot to blog about. I'm too tired to blog. I shall blog non-stop starting next Monday.

Enjoy your weekend.

That time of the year

2008-09-10T07:38:00.002-04:00

The weeks just prior to the start of American football season had me a bit concerned. I wasn't nearly as amped for college football and the NFL to begin as I normally am. Not sure why, maybe I just had a lot going on. Anyway, now that they're both in full swing, my level of anticipation for the weekends has increased exponentially.

A few noteworthy games:

Of course we've got the USC and OSU game on Saturday at 8pm. But who really cares about that one? Hopefully they end in a 0-0 tie and both squads somehow fall out of the top 25.

The big games this weekend, aren't even this weekend. We've got the big Monday night game which features my Birds taking on the cowgirls. Should be a great game. I think some people are underestimating just how good the Eagles could be this year... I'm pumped.

The next Wednesday I'll be headed out to Colorado to watch the Mountaineers take on, duh, Colorado. Hopefully the 'Eers can redeem themselves with a nice stomping of the Buffaloes. Make sure you tune in, the games on Thursday night at 8:30 on ESPN.

Bye for now.

He Survived.

2008-09-08T22:20:00.009-04:00

Well, the Strine survived his bachelor party... We did our best, but he survived.

Not going to go into much detail here, for obvious reasons... but it was definitely a great time.

The festivities took place in Ohiopyle, PA. It was a pretty cool little hippy rafting town. Lots of outdoorsy stuff to do up there. Definitely worth making another trip up there next summer.

This was the pad we rented out... pretty sick. Could have easily fit 30 people in there. Instead we had 10, or actually 12 for about 2 hours.

Patron!!!Strine opening his gifts looking like a 5 year old on Christmas morning.
Groom and Best Man.

There should be a bachelor party every weekend

2008-09-07T22:59:00.003-04:00

Wow, good times... I wish more of my friends would go ahead and get married... bachelor parties and weddings are always a good time.

Pics to come.

0 for 2

2008-09-02T21:32:00.002-04:00

A couple things I wanted to throw out there prior to bed.

First, I've officially signed up for too many fantasy football leagues this year. After completing my latest draft last night, I've come to the realization that by signing up for all these leagues I own about half the players in the NFL. There is one benefit to this, and one potential benefit.

For those of you who play fantasy football know, when you are in a league, you end up rooting for players and teams that you'd never normally root for. Example: In my one league, I have Westbrook, McNabb and the Cowboys defense. This sucks. When the birds play the girls I'll want McNabb and Westbrook to get as many points as possible leading them to an Eagles win, but as you know, it'll come at the expense of my fantasy team defense. Oh how difficult life can be. Here lies the benefit to being in so many leagues. Since I own basically every player in the league, all unnecessary rooting has basically been negated. Now I can go back to rooting only for the Eagles.

The potential benefit to being in this many leagues is simply that I stand a better chance of winning some cheddar... not that I needed better odds.

The other thing on my mind is this stupid upcoming election. Damnit!!! What happens if you don't like any of the candidates? I love voting, as I feel everyone should... But I don't want to cast a vote for either of the two shit parties. Who's going to be running as an independent?

I have serious concerns with both pairs running.

Ok, I'm going to try to keep this as brief as possible so as not to bore you to death, and so that I can actually go to sleep sometime tonight instead of sitting here typing until my fingers bleed.

As a person, I really like McCain. From what I can tell, he seems like he has a good head on his shoulders. I feel like he'd be able to make rational decisions necessary to move this country in the proper direction. Though I'm registered non-partisan, I typically consider myself to be slightly more of a democrat than republican. Either way, I'm not one of those people who votes straight ticket no matter who's running (I hate it when people vote straight ticket, voting for people whom they've never even heard of and know nothing about, yet feel the need to help place them in control of having a say in how we run our lives... stupid). Anywho, I feel like this past year McCain has sort of moved himself slightly more right than he was in the past. I'm hoping that if elected, he'll resort back to his more moderate ways. Hopefully he's only making himself more likable to the right wing folks to get the nod for the republican nomination. We'll see.

My main concerns with McCain are the obvious ones. His health, both mental and physical make me nervous to cast my vote for him. With his pick for VP, the oil-loving Palin, I find myself scared to give McCain my nod just for the simple reason that if he croaks, this nobody would be our president... No thank you. This lady is too inexperienced, has no relevant political background, and has way too many question marks next to her for me to have any confidence in her to lead the US. (I also don't like the fact that her husband is in the oil industry up in Alaska, she's all about drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, and she was apparently involved in some group called the Alaskan Independence Party who wanted Alaska to secede from the US. If she wanted out of the US, why would I want her to be our Pres?). Plus, how can McCain not be somewhat mental for being held as a POW?

Obama, wow, I just don't know how he's risen as quickly as he has... Oh wait, I do... Because he's young, black, attractive, educated and well-spoken... making him a media darling. I just can't buy into it. There's something about him that I don't like.

It seems to me like he's just going to be another George Bush. How can I compare him to Bush? Easy. He'll simply be another hollow shell, a puppet controlled by whatever groups and individuals whose pockets he's got his hands in. He's risen too quickly for my liking. I don't like him for one of the same reasons I don't like Palin, he's just too inexperienced to be our leader. Guess that's why he chose the Senator of the amazing huge and awesome state of Delaware. Wow, Joe Biden... awesome. He just screams asshole. I swear, we're looking at Bush and Cheney running this country all over again.

Where is Obama going to lead us? He's thrown out no true plans for reviving our economy, no plan for resolving some issues in the middle east (Which is the furthest thing from an easy task as you can get), and has really brought nothing to the table aside from a pretty face and some well spoken speeches.

I just wish I knew Obama's agenda... you know he has one, they all do. The only good thing about those that have been in the spotlight for a little longer is that their underlying agendas are often better known.

I can't see this man leading our country out of the 'funk' it's been in and getting us back on track. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't like him.

If anyone wants to chime in, feel free to write an extended comment or give me a shout on the phone. I love talking about this and getting other people's opinions. The more we discuss, the more informed we become.

Also, please don't just sit there and listen to all the he says she says bullshit that's presented every night on FOX News and CNBC and all those shit networks. There's more informative and more reliable sources of information out there. Hit up BBC, the Times, the Post or anything other than those stupid, ignorant, money-grubbing, ratings obsessed talking heads.

Annnnnnd, I'm done for now.

Some More Pics From Assateague

2008-08-25T18:36:00.008-04:00

Got some pictures from Justins camera today, figured I share them with you.

It's a horse!! We've come to the conclusion that the horses chill on the beach to seek refuge from all the mosquitoes (sp?) and flies. There's no other reason for them to be out there. This dude stood in the same spot for a good hour before making his way further down the beach. Didn't sit, didn't move, just stood there... dumb animals.

Justin and his buddy posing for the camera

Seeing as though I'm pretty scared of horses, I'm surprised I got this close to this one... Must have been due to my lack of sobriety. It looks like I'm nude and hiding behind the horse head... Rest assured, I have pants on.

Another photo of a great sit... I passed out in a chair for a good hour once I had eaten my fill of hot dogs.

So on another note, it appears as though the traveling part of my job could be kicking up again in a few weeks. The opportunity may present itself to go to the United Arab Emirates for a few weeks. Think it's close to Abu Dhabi, so that would be sick. We'll see, I don't know if I'm being considered for the job, but I hope I am.

I've also been tossing around a few other work related ideas... I'll elaborate more on this at a later date.

So I Took A Break...

2008-08-24T21:24:00.008-04:00

Ok, here we go.

As with most of you I'm sure, it's been a busy month. The end of the summer is always such a hectic time of year. It seems like every weekend from now until October is booked. It's great to have stuff to look forward to, but it's also annoying knowing that it'll be tough to squeeze in any new opportunities that present themselves. I mean, I must have been busy of late, look at the number of blog posts I've thrown on here recently... That's gotta change.

Where to begin?

I've used most of my free time lately playing sports (tennis with The Big D and soccer with J Osh and her indoor team as well as outdoors with the Washington Soccer Society), some video games (FIFA and Madden), riding my Harley and hanging out with my peoples (yes, my peoples). I must say, I've immensely enjoyed being in town the past month and a half. It's been nice getting into a routine and knowing that I'll be around, so I can actually make plans a week or two in advance. Not used to that whole thing.

This past Saturday was spent on the lovely but bug and horse infested Assateague Island. Myself, the all too often blogged about Mr. S-Z and 3 other coworkers/friends headed out to Assateague to relax, fish, drink, eat and camp out. Even though the fish refused to cooperate, the day was great. Couldn't have asked for better weather. It was in the high 80's with an amazing light breeze coming off the ocean from the east.

The setup. Think we had 6 or 7 lines out there, 2 baited for shark, the others for all those other little ocean dwellers.

Chillin and grillin... you know our steeze.

Cooked out over a fire on the beach until about 11, then headed back to the campsite on the bay side of the island. If I'm wearing that hat, you know I'm in the middle of a great sit. It treated me good in Wyoming, and it treated me good in Assateague. Great sits are great.

God only knows what thoughts are running through his head.

Night shot

Good times.

So I passed out in my car back at the campsite only to wake up to 5 or 6 of those little wild horses tearing apart our trash bags and trying to drink our floaters at 6 in the morning. In a drunken stupor, I made a sorry attempt at shooing them out of our site, then proceeded to pass back out for a few more hours. For being 'wild' horses, they weren't too wild. Had I been brave/dumb/drunk enough, I could have easily jumped on the back of one, and ridden off into the sunset. A heavy fine and possible jail time would have ensued, but to say I tamed a wild horse, might make it all worth it.

Now I've got my soccer to look forward to. Dunder Mifflin (or Dander Mufflin as the sportsplex calls us) is now 2-1 in the Rockville Sportsplex division 3 coed league. We have another game coming up Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to it. Arguably the best 50 minutes of my week. Well, 25 minutes... I play goalie for half the game, so that's ok, but not nearly as fun as being in the field. Hopefully we can dominate some chumps and improve to 3-1.

Until next post... which I promise will be sooner than later... have a good one.

Ashamed

2008-08-05T22:57:00.001-04:00

This has been some piss poor posting. I shall step my game up.

What Have I Become?

2008-07-22T20:40:00.003-04:00

Well, here it is... dinner.

Mom, I can explain. My grocery store has been closed for a little while now, and isn't set to re-open for another week. Because of this, my cupboards are barren. Yes, I know I could go to another store, but really, who wants to do all that.

So tonight I went to my local shopping center with intentions of buying a good, inexpensive sandwich from the store next to the beer store, but they were closed. So was the only other food store there... so I did the only thing I could think of. I went into the beer store, bought some cheese curls, some beef jerky and a delicious sixer with which to wash my dinner down.

I am a degenerate.

Crappy Treasure

2008-07-21T21:42:00.003-04:00

At long last, my Bag of Crap has arrived. It wasn't due to arrive till Wednesday, but alas, Christmas has come early this year. Unfortunately, I would have been more than willing to skip this Christmas morning.

Well, here's the take...

10 x Nike Sport Armband for iPod Nano

1 x Targus Digital Memory Card Case

1 x Buzztime Home Trivia System

1 x Porcelain Hinged Box, Cooking & Crafting Series, Cooktop & Copper Pot w/ Broccoli

Who's the lucky guy? That's right, Steve's the lucky guy.

So, my first BOC wasn't all that great to me. But I don't have a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm just that much more determined to get myself another BOC. There will be plenty more Bags of Crap, Screaming Woot Monkeys and Woot-Offs in my future. Rest Assured.

Pics from Training

2008-07-19T10:31:00.006-04:00

I watched Boca Juniors practice session Thursday evening, and loved every second of it.

Dudes are pretty sick. Made me wish I could go and watch quality teams play more often. DC United games are fun and all, but, they're not anywhere near this level.

I didn't wait around and fight the masses for autographs or pics with the players... too much of a hassle. There were probably a couple hundred people there watching, and as soon as the session ended, they all began jockeying for position to get some signatures. That's when I dipped. Oh well, may go up there again this weekend... we'll see.

Argh

2008-07-16T22:52:00.002-04:00

Spurned by CABJ on my first attempt. They didn't show up for their training session this evening, or at least, not by 7:15 (they were supposed to be there at 6).

I sat there and watched the Washington Freedom, a womens or girls soccer team (couldn't tell how old they were, looked to be 16 or so) warm up for a while then start to play while I waited... hardly a decent consolation prize... but that's ok.

If you think I'm discouraged, think again. I'll more than likely be back up there tomorrow night. Palacio and Palermo await.

CABJ

2008-07-15T19:10:00.003-04:00

Today I was sitting outside at a restaurant at the RIO in Gaithersburg enjoying some lunch with my coworkers. I glanced at a window of the restaurant and in the reflection saw a bunch of Boca Juniors Megatone jerseys. As I turned around I expected to see a bunch of kids walking along the lake outside the restaurant, only to see 5 grown ass men.

I did a quick double take and realized I was looking at some of the Boca Juniors players!!! Palermo and some other players just casually strolled right by me as I was sitting there holding a taco trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

As they passed I turned to my 4 coworkers and was like "That's freaking Boca Juniors!" None of them follow soccer, so they looked at me blankly... but I was going nuts. I don't get worked up seeing "famous" people, but this was just so out of the blue, I was taken aback. I had no idea why the best Argentinian club team, who are always ranked in the top 20 by FIFA, would be walking around Maryland wearing their unis.

Long story short, I didn't try to get any autographs or pictures, I felt lame approaching them seeing as though I only know 2 or 3 of the players, and don't speak Spanish. But that's alright, there will be some more opportunities to do all that tomorrow when I go back there for lunch, and then again when I watch them train up at the Soccerplex in Germantown tomorrow night.

Turns out, they're here for about 10 days to train for their season... which is awesome!!! How often to you get to see world class players out in the public like that and then watch them train at a small facility? Only in America baby. Anywhere else and they'd be mobbed by people. Here, all but pretty much Riquelme and Palermo would go unnoticed by 99/100 people.

This is awesome, hopefully I'll post some pics tomorrow night with me and the players... stay tuned!!! I can't wait! Maybe I'll go up to Palermo tomorrow, take off my shirt and tie and try to do a jersey exchange with him like they do after the games.

Stars & Stripes For Sale

2008-07-14T23:50:00.005-04:00

This is a sad day... sad, sad day.

3 days ago...

It's Friday night, and I'm chillin' by myself, kicking back a few brews, waiting for the clock to strike 1. I think that was the first Friday in a real long time that I actually did nothing, and loved every second of it. Some FIFA was played, some tv watched and the internet was surfed (Whipahhh!!! Bahhh!!! Pitted, so pitted.) all while sipping on some Bud heavies all by my lonesome.

I know all of you know why I was doing this right? Of course you do... In honor of Woot's birthday.

Thanks to the Strine, I was well aware of the fact that when the clock struck 1, there would be a Bag of Crap (BOC) for sale.

For those of you who don't know what a BOC is, you need to hit up woot! or just call me up and ask me about it, and I'll gladly go on a five minute rant about the awesomeness that is, Woot.

Long story short, I got 3 (that's right t-h-r-e-e) Bags of Crap! In a mere two weeks, I will know the contents of these bags, and will obviously share the results with all of you via this blog. I can't freaking wait. It's my first BOC, and I'm ecstatic about it.

This is not why it's a sad, sad day.

On Saturday I went to the DC United game to watch them lose to Chivas. WTF Moreno... 20 in a row and then that!!! Come on now! Anyways, it was a great time. Got down there a few hours before the game, did some grilling, some chilling and once again sipped on some Bud... both leaded and unleaded.Sunday involved some poolage, some mexican food, a little mall wandering and an exhausted Esteban.

Now to the bad news...

My most frequently consumed beer, Budweiser, is no longer American owned!!! This is seriously a shame. I'm distraught, and I'm not joking. I knew that they were looking at doing a hostile takeover, but I held out hope that it wouldn't go down like that... prayer answered; Except they stinking sold it, punks... rich punks.

Now I don't want to buy it, but I still want to drink it. This sucks. It's not like I can easily replace Bud either. It really does go with everything. Don't get me wrong, I in no means consider it to be a "good" beer, but I really do enjoy drinking it. Now what am I supposed to do, drink Miller products... ha, not a chance.

Looks like I might be biting the silver bullet for a while, until I make up my mind as to whether or not I'm going to purchase Bud products any longer. What a pain... I didn't need this kind of strife in my life... Argh!$%&!

ps... sorry for not posting in a while, I got lazy. Mike, you can stop yelling at me, and the game wasn't the same w/o you clowns. Although, no grills were destroyed in the post game festivities.

Shopping

2008-07-01T17:14:00.003-04:00

My car's fuel light is on, and I don't feel like dropping $55 to fill the thing up. As a result, I've been riding my Harley everywhere I go since I got back to MD.

Last night I needed to go grocery shopping since the only things in the fridge that are mine are two things of 4% large curd cottage cheese and some 3 day old Papa John's cheese sticks and pizza (and obviously some assorted condiments, which combined properly, could probably become edible). So I threw on my backpack and headed out, in some light rain, to the store.

Long story short, I came back with ten beers and four rolls of toilet paper (since I'd been out for literally over a month).

Today I came home from work to 16 empty beer cans in my room, and three and a half rolls of mountain money in my bathroom.

It appears as though I need to go grocery shopping again.

Beer fueled weeknight FIFA is not good for anyone, especially the 13 year old kids that get romped on by the two greatest sets of thumbs to ever control Juve's players. Buffon.

Now I'm off to play real soccer with real people down in DC. Good day to you all.

And that's a wrap

2008-06-25T19:28:00.012-04:00

Got back in Maryland last night, and I couldn't be happier about it. This year has been crazy so far, way too much traveling. Hopefully I can stay in the area for a while and start enjoying my summer a bit.
It's Super Mario!

Glad I didn't have to drive home.

In preparation for my second round of golf out in Sacto, we brought out some junker golf balls, some clubs and used my rental cars floor mats as a tee. Was a great way to kill time while surveying out there. Thankfully the rental agency didn't notice the divot I took out of the one mat. Knew I should've stuck with the woods.

I was able to get out and play a few rounds of golf while out in the Sac. Played Turkey Creek up in Lincoln, CA twice. Was a really nice course. It was in great condition and was more scenic than the east coast courses that I'm used to playing. The fairways and greens were bordered by granite outcrops and lots of oaks. I also found out why the course was named what it is... These little guys were all over the place. I didn't even know they had turkeys out there.

Mmm... little turkey McNuggets.

I'm now signed up for two indoor soccer leagues, which is awesome b/c contrary to Collin's comments, soccer is awesome. The only problem is, one of the is in Sacramento, and one is in Maryland. Hopefully the games aren't on the same nights, that'll make it tough to get to both. Our office out there has a team put together and I hopped in and played a game with them on Monday night. We were pretty bad, apparently they haven't won a game all season. Was good fun though. Got to embarrass a few clowns, netted a few goals and now I'm signed up for their next league which starts in a few weeks. So, if I go back out to the Sac, I'll have a league to play in there. I'm also signed up for a coed league here in MD, which I'm thrilled about. Ever since I moved down to Bethes from the Rock, I haven't really played much soccer. I'm signed up with the Washington Soccer Society http://pickupsoccer.meetup.com/106/ but I haven't really gotten out to play with them. Anyways, I'm looking forward to playing some indoor footy... will be glorious.

Time to get some grub and do some laundry. Maybe I'll even get to go grocery shopping... hopefully I remember how to do that.

WOW

2008-06-23T00:53:00.002-04:00

So, with Spain's defeat of Italy (whom I despise b/c they're defensive minded dirty play is butt to watch), the final four of the Euro 08 is set. The games have been awesome so far. Hopefully you have been watching them, they've been on ESPN. They're also covering the USMNT's 2010 World Cup qualifying games. It's nice to see all this soccer on prime time tv.

This brings me to the point of this blog, to address this issue with Christiano Ronaldo and all the Real talk. If Real Madrid offer up over 100 million pounds and Robinho to Manchester, they'd be the biggest clowns not to take the offer.

Sure it'll be tough to replace 42 goals, or whatever he netted this past season, but a bunch of those were on penalty kicks. Real is looking to unload a bunch of their players, and they've got some great young talent. If Man. U. could get over 100 million Euros!!!! and Robinho for Ronaldo, take it. They could chase players like Sergio Ramos, Benzema, Lampard and Ronaldinho for 20 or 40 million Euros each. So ridiculous. Over 100 million just for one player! Bonkers. All this "Not for sale" nonsense is just to jack up the price even more. Every player is for sale. It's a business after all, not just about playing the game at that level.

For those of you who couldn't give two squirts about soccer, my bad. You should really start following it though.

What the?!?! What next?

2008-06-21T19:26:00.008-04:00

Yarr!!! Still in the Sac. Should be home now, but alas, I've got a few days left to defeat Davis.

It's been a crappy week here out in the Sac. Every day there seemed to be something going wrong. But, all you can do is roll with the punches and keep on going.

So it's Saturday afternoon, got done work a few hours ago, and I'm bored already. My plans are to head down to the bar, talk to my favorite bartender who's fortunately on tonight, see if any of the cool front desk ladies are on, eat some dinner, hit up Luis and see what we can't get into tonight. Tomorrow will most likely include pool, a Spanish catholic mass and a round of golf.

The area around Davis is full of crazy animals that we don't have back in Bethes. The only cool one that I've seen that I haven't been able to photograph was the coyote that ran by me last week. I thought it was a dog at first, but once he got close I realized it wasn't any dog I'd seen before. Luis was like, "That's a coyote." I said "A what?" He says "A coyote." I say "A what?" He says it was "A coyote!" I was just messing with him, just thought the way he said coyote with his Mexican accent was hilarious.

Birds kickin' it in the rice fields.

Jack Rabbits are all over the place.

These birds lay their eggs right in the middle of the road on the levees. They don't have any fear either. As soon as I come driving up, they puff up and start flipping out, trying to defend their nest (against a huge SUV mind you). Sometimes they'll run away from their nests, hoping that you'll chase after them and leave the eggs along. Feel bad for them, hopefully I haven't run over any of the eggs.

It's still ridiculously hot out here. Today though, was the first day that there were clouds. There was like 3 of them. It was great. No direct sun for about 20 minutes. They said it was up to 105 today, but I don't know if it got that hot where I was at. Not only is it hot, but it's also crazy dry, as I said before. Any time there's a breeze it kicks up all kinds of dust. Not that fun.

See how cloudy of a day it was? Told ya. This pic was at 10 in the morning or something, and I was already dying. You can only last so long without soaking yourself in water and seeking shelter from the sun.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simple Man

2008-06-21T00:55:00.001-04:00

This is my jam. Flat out, favorite classic rock song... and now you know.

I mean, great tune and simple, strong lyrics... awesome.

Tip of the Tongue

2008-06-18T22:10:00.014-04:00

Hey hey!

I know, I know. It's about time I threw a new post on here right? The anticipation is over, now you can stop hating.
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I was able to make it up to Portland this past weekend, and though it was a quick trip, and I was pretty much a zombie while there, it was still great to get up there and see these suckas...

Such a flattering picture of Matt. Melted into the couch, showing off a little mid drift, nice.
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Didn't really get into a whole lot while up there, which really is what I was looking for. Since I didn't get in till 10 on Friday, ended up just chilling, watching some tv, drinking some beer and passing out at a semi-reasonable hour. Saturday involved a round of golf, a delicious dinner and a large amount of beer and wine consumption. Almost pissed myself from laughter at one point. Good times. Thanks again guys for having me up there.
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So we played at Mountain View golf course in Boring, Oregon (What a town name!), and they didn't have a course ball! What course doesn't have a course ball? That's some nonsense.
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Here's a view from the first tee. Note Mt. Hood in the background. A pretty nice course, even though they didn't have course balls. It's a shame my play didn't match the weather and course condition.Since I've been trying to play as much golf as possible this summer, I thought I'd do two things. First, I came to the realization that I've never seen my swing. How can I fix what needs to be fixed if I've never even seen my own swing. Well, I've posted two videos, for your viewing enjoyment, of my swing. Oh boy. Second, I don't have a handicap. I'm now going to keep track of my scores and calculate my handicap once I've played enough rounds. Hopefully I can count high enough to figure out my handicap. I think I'll need at least 10 hands.

Ok, so back to the Sac.

I'm working around Davis, CA... which has the UC Davis branch... Man, I picked WVU for college?!?! What was I thinking? I guess beggars can't be choosers, right?

I'm getting tired of typing this blog, there's beer to be drank/drunk, and there's swimming in the hotel pool to be done. Time to switch to an abbreviated bullet version of the blog.

This is my set up. Bam, this is how I do work.

My main man, Luis.

Sacramento from Davis, looking across the Yolo Bypass (Huge flood plain). Huge migratory bird landing pad from what I understand. It's crazy, that whole area has been completely underwater before. Hooray for levees! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolo_Bypass

Beneath a portion of I-80 along the Yolo Bypass... a great home for the homeless.

Pelicans. Neat.

A few more things I feel like throwing out there:

Motorcyclists In CA can pass cars between lanes as long as they're going less than 55 mph. Traffic jams don't slow up bikers, it's great. Plus, if you're riding, you don't have to worry about some arse opening his door on you when you go by if you're passing during stop and go traffic!

I messed up my back, again. Alieves aren't cutting it. Fortunately I got hooked up with some anti-inflammatory pills. Or at least that's what I'm told they are. The label was in Spanish. Hopefully I didn't herniate a disk or something, and it goes away in a few days with some stretching. Note, don't lift deep-cycle marine batteries first thing in the morning immediately after getting out of bed.

Nugget supermarkets are glorious!

Oh man!! It's a Woot-Off. Get there, now, before it's over!http://www.woot.com/ This could have a serious negative impact on my hope of getting a good nights sleep.

Surfer on the News

2008-06-15T18:42:00.001-04:00

This is Cali... Whipahh!!! Baahhh!!! Pitted, so pitted.

Tom Goes to the Mayor

2008-06-14T12:25:00.001-04:00

Anyone ever watch this show?.. clips are hilarious.

Let me put you on game

2008-06-14T12:18:00.002-04:00

It is hot and dry in Sacramento, really hot and really dry. If you look at the grass the wrong way, it will burst into flames. When I first went out to Davis on Wednesday (Where I'm working), it was a clear day . I could see 3 separate fires in the distance. Thursday and Friday were super hazy, and not b/c of the humidity like back east, but b/c of the fires. Nutso.

Only got a minor amount of heat stroke today... if you stop sweating and feel nauseous, drink water, soak a towel with cold water and wrap it around your neck and get in the ac. Or do as I did, and do the first two things and continue working. Beast. Determined another way I'd not like to die. From heat stroke or dehydration. Am I weird that I continue to address my own demise in my blogs? To counteract this trend, I've decided that a decent way for me to go out would be as follows. I'll probably croak at the age of 84 via a heart attack suffered while making sweet sweet love to my 24 year old playmate girlfriend. I know you may think it'd be a traumatic experience for her, to have me bite it during the act... but if she's with me, than she's obviously already had all of her dreams come true... so you can't feel too bad.

I'm actually up in Portland this weekend, got in Friday night. I'll be here till Sunday evening, visiting the eldest of brothers, Matt. After I go back to Sacramento and finish up there, I'm thinking about going on a vacation for a week or two. I was thinking Maryland. I have a pretty nice place to stay out there in Bethesda, and I know a fair amount of people in the area. It'll be nice, you know, a change of pace. I hear Maryland this time of year is pretty nice. May bring my clubs with me and see if I can't get out and play a few rounds of golf. If I do get the opportunity to go out there, my company has an office there that I could probably work out of for a little while. We'll see. A vacation in Maryland is a lot to ask, I know... but I can always dream can't I?

Right now, just watching Spain and Sweden in Euro 08. My main man Torres just netted the first goal in the 15th minute... nice.

I was going to throw some pictures on here, but I apparently forgot my download cable. Have to add them at a later date.

I Love Being Home...

2008-06-07T21:08:00.008-04:00

But...

Got back from Wisconsin on Friday, and it feels great. I'm trying to pack as much in to this weekend as possible. After watching a horrible movie on Friday night (Awake), proceeded to head out in the Bethes for a little while. Saturday started out with a hangover, which transitioned into FIFA, motorcycle riding, swimming, tennis and more swimming. Not a bad Saturday.

Not getting into too much tonight. I'm heading up to Camp Hill, PA tomorrow morning to meet up with my G'Ma, parents and younger brother for Chris's 21st birthday. Unfortunately, I won't be getting him lit, but there will be other opportunities for that.

Before catching our flight out of Minneapolis on Friday, the Strine and I hit up the Mall of America for an hour. I have now been to the two largest malls in the states. The King of Prussia mall outside Philly and the Mall of America. What's the third largest? I feel like I should complete the top three.

Me in the mall.

Me with Lego Boba Fett (who really didn't die in the mouth of the sarlacc when he fell off Jabba's sail barge, but you already knew that).

The Lego Millennium Falcon. Only $499.00, what a steal!! I bought two!

Char, ignore his comment about cruising for chicks... Twas just a joke. It was 9 in the morning when we were there, we were exhausted after waking up at 4 and driving for 4 hours (lots of 4's) and unloading the equipment at FedEx... The man knows not what he says.

I have to go back to Sacramento on Tuesday. I'm not thrilled about going, but I knew it was coming, so I just have to get out there and do the work. Another two week stint, hopefully it'll go by quickly and I can get back home for a few weeks and enjoy my summer. May make another attempt at getting up to Portland and maybe Tucson. I dono, I'm sort of sick of traveling, may just sit my ass by the pool on the weekends, sip some beer, read my books and talk to myself. Wish they had a second crew going out there, or someone was out there with me. Sort of boring, so when I'm there, feel free to give me a call, even if you having nothing to say. Thanks.

Gordon Lightfoot - The Edmund Fitzgerald - Dedication

2008-06-06T00:13:00.001-04:00

So, the Fitzgerald sank here... craziness. I still don't understand how a ship sinks in a lake, but, I haven't seen these "Great" lakes during a storm. I must admit, I really know nothing of the lakes.

I do however know that Gordon Lightfoot is the man, and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is a great tune (Yea Pops). However, my favorite of his songs has to be Sundown. Here's a shoutout to my main man Gordon.

Some Observations From Wisconsin

2008-06-05T23:26:00.006-04:00

1) Summers in Wisconsin don't exist... The average temp out here was 60 freakin' degrees Fahrenheit. It's June. June is in summer. 60 degrees isn't summer.

2) Unlike one of my favorite shows, It's Never Sunny in Wisconsin... I didn't see the sun once this week. Monday through Friday, no sun. Not once. I had some color goin' on before I got out here. Coming from the Sac which is too sunny, to this lovely place is a tough transition. I think I'll be in a constant state of depression for the next month due to the lack of vitamin D.

3) There's no cheese in Wisconsin. Don't believe the hype. Cheese is hard to come by. The only cheese I had was on my Bacon Egg & Cheeese biscuit from McD's, and in the beer & cheese soup I had (which is pretty good, but tastes like plain cheese soup... except it has popcorn in it too, really weird).

4) There really aren't many hotties up here... As previously stated, I'm staying in a hotel with a water park that has a bar in it!!! I feel like it should be a requirement that some attractive 20 something years olds hang out in the pool area at all times. Some BS!!! It took till today (Thursday) for a few biscotties ( yea that's right) to present themselves. Granted, it was worth the wait, but I mean, come on. The hotel should really consider hiring some attractive women to either lifeguard at the pool, or at least hang around there and mingle with the guests... I mean, I'm not talking prostitutes or anything, but at least escort type broads. Is that really too much to ask?

5) I didn't die on site as previously anticipated.

6) Lake Superior is F'in huge!!! I still can't comprehend the magnitude of the body of water... but I am able to finally realize why they call them the "Great Lakes".

7) I could never, ever, ever ever ever live in Wisconsin.

8) This might be the greatest drink ever... Possibly surpassing Bud Heavy.

9) They let dogs drive here.

10) There's a lot of people that I haven't seen or talked to in a while... My apologies, seriously. I need to get in touch with way too many people.

Who you gonna call?

2008-06-03T22:08:00.010-04:00

Ghostbusters...

Alright, ok, alright ok...

You have to make the best out of the situation right? Well, I'm trying.

The last two days were a little rough. Must admit, I wasn't the happiest I've ever been, but
it's all good. I mean, I couldn't be grouchy for long, I'm staying at a hotel with a water
park, dollar Milwaukee's Best and, well, that's it. But sometimes, that's all it takes.

The Strine and I (http://www.sontavas.com/) hit up the $1 beverages and pool basketball net last night for an intense game of horse. He may have won, but it was on a great shot that I must give props for. I couldn't handle the off the head and backboard trick shot... was just too much. My plan is to get him drunk tonight and challenge him to a $5 rematch.

So I've established that in all likelihood, I'm going to die this week. Here is a list of the
ten most likely ways that Steve will go kaput while working on this job site.

1) TNT

2) DNT

3) NG

4) Bears

5) Wolves

6) Coyotes

7) Coy Dogs

8) Heat exhaustion/Freezing to death (in same hour)

9) Falling off cliff

10) Wild Things

The first 8 all exist, in large quantities on site. The temps here are so crazy... as soon as
we start working, I nearly sweat to death... then as soon as you stop moving, you begin
shivering. It's a no win situation. Cliffs are prevalent... death is eminent.

Here's the Strine and I before working this morning ( Who you gonna call?).

There's the Strine and I after working this afternoon (Ghostbusters).

Here's a few of the non-threatening animals that are all over the site... non-threatening,
unless they've ingested large amounts of the first 3 items on the list... in which case, they
could be walking, grazing, shitting time bombs.

The site is something like 1800 acres. Now, I know some of you won't believe what I'm about to
say. But I've seen animals that I've never seen before. They scared the shit outta me.
Thankfully I was able to creep my way back to the vehicle without being seen. Since I didn't
have my camera with me when I saw them, I hired an artist to render a sketch of what I saw.
Here they are...

Nah but, there's freaking animals all over the damn place out here... apparently there's a
momma bear and a cub right where we've been surveying over the last two days. If I get eaten
by a bear of wolf, I'm going to be so pissed off. I can't go out like that... screaming and
pointlessly punching and kicking as some big ass animals play tug of war with my limbs. Damn.
I guess it'd be better than having my plane go down in flames while sitting next to a large,
smelly, loud-mouthed dickhead on the flight home... Debatable.

Bwaa ha haaa.. forgot to mention that I got upgraded to first class on the flight out here.
While I snacked on mass amounts of free food, sipped on gin & tonics and got multiple free
wiener-massages in first class (b/c they do that up there), the Strine sat in the back of the
plane, fighting over bags of peanuts with the elephants he was wedged between. It's funny
though, he had actually requested an upgrade pre-flight... They're response, "Some people pay a lot of money for their tickets." Classic!!!!

Not sure what I'm getting into this weekend. The bike race is going on up in Philly, and I've
got the opportunity to head up there, see some friends I haven't seen in too long a period of
time, have some fun and cheer on the racers as they head up the wall in Manayunk. But it is
nice being home, that's for damn sure. We'll see.

Anyways, figured I'd throw a blog on here while I had the opportunity.

I've received one phone call on my personal phone since being out here. Thanks Beebe (even
though you don't read this blog). You know, where's the love? Do people even notice that I'm
gone? I'm leaning towards no. Awesome.

Things done changed

2008-05-31T09:46:00.004-04:00

Well, so much for all that.

I'm back in Maryland, got in last night. Needless to say, my trip up to visit my brother in Portland has been postponed, as has my trip to visit Walsh out in Tucson. What a pain in the ass.

Tomorrow, myself and the Strine are headed to Wisconsin for a fun filled week of electromagnetic surveying... woohoo! The plan is to fly out Sunday, stay in Minneapolis (Sp.?) or Deluth or some shit, then head to northern Wisconsin. Not only will mass amounts of cheese and beer be consumed, but we're apparently staying at a hotel with an indoor water park... This shall be glorious (mild amount of sarcasm).

As for today, plan on riding my bike, playing a round of golf with Jay and otherwise just hanging out... Not sure if I want to go out tonight.

Anyone have any suggestions for good books/authors to read? Aside from the Simon Winchester book Timbo gave me, I've been hung up on the same type of books lately; those entertaining but sort of lame fictitious, conspiracy, action-thriller type books... you know, Robert Ludlum, Dan Brown, James Rollins type books. I think it's time to switch up the genre. maybe some beneficial books, like self help... "How not to be a loser who blogs" or something like that.

I need to learn a foreign language... Spanish or French? French or Spanish? I think that'll be my poll.

-Esteban

p.s. How awesome does that new Discovery series look, "When We Left Earth"? Awesomeness! Looks as ill as the "Planet Earth" series... HD is super.

California Love

2008-05-28T20:11:00.007-04:00

You know what?... I feel the love.

My coworkers dish it out, the hotel staff dishes it out, mother nature dishes it out in the most generous of portions and the staff at Sushi King hooks it up like none other... Why again do I live on the east coast?

Flying into San Diego made me want to go there again so bad. I was there when I was in 3rd grade, with my older brother and dad. We went out to visit my great aunt Grace. Unfortunately, I don't remember all that much... and obviously I couldn't have appreciated it as much as I can now. But I mean, come on... how gorgeous is that area?!?! Bonkers.

Anywho, I'm back in the Sac for another 2 week stint, and I have mixed feelings about being out here. Sort of a bummer that I have to leave home for a while, but I'm packing a lot of cool stuff into this trip, and I get to see some people I haven't seen in a while. Plus, the points I'm getting from Marriott, Hertz and Southwest are clutch... hello free vacations.

I'm staying at the same place I stayed at last time. Aside from a few new faces, nothings changed. See below... Collin, note the music. It had to be done. I know it's not the Sac Anthem, but it'll have to do.

Obviously I'm bored, hence the video. I got done work fairly early today, drank a few beers by the pool, read some, mingled with the staff, took a shower, drank another beer, downloaded the data, wrote this blog up to this point, and it's still only 1735.

As for work out here, got right back into the swing of things. We're working down on a golf course in Stockton. That's only fitting though, seeing as the theme of this trip is golf, golf and more golf. Here's a pic of part of the site. Check out the middle work vehicle we got, nice. There's my main man Luis as well.

Not sure if I have to work this weekend, probably won't find out until Thursday or Friday. I'm not sure what I'll do if I have both days off... any suggestions? I'd like to venture to San Fran or Tahoe or check out Yosemite, but I don't know how much fun that would be all by my lonesome. May stick around, play some golf, and see if I can't get into something around here. We shall see.

I guess tomorrow I'm going to Mr. Hernandez's place for a family dinner/party after work. It's his wife's bday, and they're making a feast. He was nice enough to insist that I come, and I'm not one to turn down free food and cervezas... so cheers.

Just wanted to throw a blog out there, rest assured there will be plenty more to come. Off to get some dinner... Pho sounds tasty.

Forgot to mention that I'm disappointed with the USMNT 2-0 loss to England at Wembley today. Hopefully they can win one of their upcoming friendlies... some serious competition though. Think they have Spain next, then Argentina. You should tune in if you can, won't regret it.

every sperm is sacred vostfr monty python

2008-05-26T18:50:00.001-04:00

If I'm posting MP on here, it's required that I throw this one on here... Enjoy!

MONTY PYTHON ... sit on my face

2008-05-26T18:35:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite songs... used to have this as a ringtone back in the day. Slightly inappropriate, but that's alright.

A little mix

2008-05-21T18:19:00.004-04:00

What an incredible end to a great game.

The Champions League Final was all it was cracked up to be, and then some. No regrets skipping lunch and leaving work at 2:30 to head to the pub to watch all 120 minutes, plus pks of that game. Great match, great finale. Couldn't have asked for more. Congrats to Man U for their double.

After eating a burger from Five Guys yesterday for lunch, it can be said that their burgers and fries are the bomb... this fact cannot be argued.

Seeing as though I've gotten around of late (in the traveling sense of course), I've decided to figure out how the different food joints I've eaten at lately stack up with one another. Not only will this help me straighten out this dilemma in my own mind, but it will undoubtedly be of huge help to you, my friends, as you travel to these different places and look for an excellent place to grab a bite.

Round 1 - The previously aforementioned cheeseburger.

I think I've narrowed it down to three places, all chains.

Five Guys (Everywhere except for the far northeast, southeast and northwest)

vs.

In-N-Out Burger (California and the southeast)

vs.

Burgerville (Washington & Oregon)

This one is a toughy, and will require another visit to In-N-Out burger next week when in SacTown, and maybe a stop up at Burgerville when I go up to Portland for a weekend. I shall address this one in a week or two.

Round 2 - Sushi

I would love to say that I've found a great place in Maryland, but I haven't. Only been to a few, and haven't been happy with any. I'm under the assumption that an amazing place exists in DC, but until I find it, I'm going to have to venture to two other cities for this one.

RAW Sushi & Sake Lounge (Center City, Philadelphia)

vs.

Sushi King Japanese Cuisine & Sushi Bar (Sacramento)

I'm sure there's much better places out there, but these two are at the top of my list as of right now. Sushi King edges out RAW in regards to hospitality and the fact that they will make anything your clever little mind can come up with. RAW however had some bomb ass lunch platters and one of the greatest bathrooms I've ever urinated in. It's a toss-up. I recommend eating at each if your in the neighborhood.

Round 3 - Pho

Unfortunately, there isn't any debate right now.

PhoNam (Gaithersburg, MD) takes the cake for the time being. I've yet to eat at a comparable place. I'm determined to find one out in Sacramento that stacks up. Wish me luck.

Round 4 - Steaks & Hoagies

This is the debate of all debates. I don't think it possible to say that one place has the best cheesesteak or best hoagie, but I'll throw out some of my favorites.
For steaks, I have to go with Jims (South Street, Phila.), Pat's (9th, Wharton & Passyunk, S. Phila.), and Brothers, which I grew up with (Harleysville). Nearly every pizza shop in southeast PA and S Jersey has a great steak though.

Hoagies are pretty much in the same boat. Again, there are so many delis and pizza shops in the Philadelphia area that make amazing hoagies, it's hard to pick a favorite. The most important thing is to use Amoroso's bread, and never put too much meat on the hoagie.

I have however, finally found a crazy good shop down here in Maryland. The Italian Market up in Gaithersburg has by far, the best hoagies I've come across in MD. I had high hopes for a place called Philly Mike's down in Bethesda, but it's just not that great.

It's been nice being home for the past few weeks. This year has been a bit hectic thus far, hopefully the next few months will involve a little less travel... or at least more local work.

Been doing a bit of everything since I got back. Had the chance the frequent some of the local watering holes, played some basketball, some tennis and a little soccer. Even got out this past weekend and messed around with some roller-hockey with Ryan & J. Played a few games of beer-pong, decided to hop a fence at a local community center and play some hockey. Felt like a little kid... definitely brought back some memories.

Got out and played a round of golf for the first time this week as well... I choose not to reveal my score, seeing as though I played the worst round of golf since I was maybe 16. But it was fun regardless. I'm now committing myself to dropping my score and bettering my game. I'm going to play a quick 9 tomorrow morning with J.

As I said earlier in the blog, I'm headed back to the Sac Tuesday after Memorial Day. Will be out there for a two week stint. Shouldn't be too bad, aside from the triple digit temps. I'll be sure to keep those of you who are interested enough in my goings on to check this blog, up to date.

Apparently I'm making a vacation out of my work trip. I'm heading up to Portland for a weekend, and hitting up Tucson for a 3 night stint on my way back. Bringing the clubs with me; They'll be getting plenty of use.

As of right now, the plans are that I'll travel up to visit my older brother man, Matt, in Portland, my second weekend there. Then on Friday the 13th (dum dum dummmm), I'll head over to Tucson to visit my main man Walsh till Monday. Golf shall be played at each location, and it will be glorious.

So, over the next 3 weeks, I plan on hitting up the Central Valley in CA, driving to the west coast (ie San Fran) for a day, shooting up to Portland, OR for a weekend, then flying into Phoenix and driving down to Tucson for a long weekend, including of course, a trip to Mexico... Playing golf all along the way. We'll see how this plays out. I've enjoyed chilling out around here for the last few weeks, but fuck it, if the opportunity presents itself, why not travel? I'm a transient, what can I say. I'm just waiting for something to make me stop moving. Until that comes, I'm gonna keep doing my thing.

Phailure

2008-05-20T17:41:00.006-04:00

This blog has unfortunately been prompted by the Flyer's latest exedous from the Stanley Cup Playoffs...

The curse strikes again...

Brief, brief history for those of you not too familiar with The City of Brotherly Love.

Since the time of its completion in 1894, a statue of William Penn (The founder of the Province of Pennsylvania) has sat atop City Hall as the highest point in Philadelphia. In place, was a gentleman's agreement, ensuring that no structure rise above Billy Boy's hat.

The 70's and early 80's were great years for Philly sports teams. Not only were all the teams solid, having many great seasons, but they actually won championships. The Flyers took back-to-back cups in 74 & 75, the Phils won the series in 80 and the Sixers won the championship in 83. In 1984 though, plans were set in place to build skyscrapers in Center City. Construction of One Liberty Place was completed in 1987.

Since 83, no big four Philly sports team has won a championship.

Back to present day.

As I said before, the Fly-Guys were just knocked out of the eastern conference finals after one hell of a postseason run, making it 100 seasons, since one of the major four teams has won a championship. To commemerate this great milestone, SI compiled a list of the 100 biggest heartbreaks since 83. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/05/14/philadelphia.drought/index.html

Here are a few of my "favorites" and most memorable.

100. Phillies lose 10,000th game in franchise history July 15, 2007 With a nationally televised 10-2 loss to the Cardinals, the Phils become the first team in pro sports history to lose 10,000 games.

89. "Talkin' About Practice" May 9, 2002 Was it blown out of proportion? Absolutely. But the negative perception from Allen Iverson's famously surreal half-hour presser would reverse much of the national goodwill earned during his storybook '01 season and haunt the pint-sized scorer for the rest of his Philadelphia career.

87. Brian Westbrook KO'd for playoffs with Week 17 injury Dec. 27, 2003 The scatback Westbrook, one-third of Philly's three-headed monster, led the team with 13 touchdowns during the '03 season. But a torn tricep suffered in a Week 17 blowout victory in Washington required surgery and the Villanova alum missed the playoffs. In his absence, the Eagles mustered just three points in an NFC title game loss to Carolina.

86. Sixers trade for disinterested Chris Webber Feb. 23, 2005 Least favorite Philly sports pastime of the mid-2000s: Watching this gimpy, undersized forward pout and sulk in between hoisting 19-foot jumpers.

80. Fans boo Donovan McNabb at 1999 NFL Draft Apr. 17, 1999 Hindsight undresses Eagles fans on this one. But I'll come clean: I wanted Ricky Williams too.

75. The Charles Barkley spitting incident Mar. 26, 1991 Upset by a courtside heckler's alleged racial epithets in New Jersey, Barkley spit at his tormentor. But the All-Star forward "didn't get enough foam" and the substance ended up hitting an 8-year-old girl was sitting on her mother's lap. The league fined and suspended Barkley, and the subsequent public relations nightmare helped precipitate his trade out of Philly the following year.

57. J.D. Drew sits out whole year instead of signing with Phils 1997 The Phils selected Drew with the second pick of the MLB draft despite warnings the FSU product wouldn't sign for a dime under $10 million. Philadelphia management held their ground and Drew spent a year playing with the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League

55. Pat Croce "resigns" from Sixers July 25, 2001
His rags-to-riches ascent from trainer to team president awakened the organization from its mid-'90s dormancy. But when the public face of the Sixers lobbied for a larger ownership stake following the team's Finals run, Ed Snider banished Croce to a greatly diminished consultant role.

49. Scott Rolen forces trade to Cardinals July 29, 2002
After rejecting a 10-year contract extension which could have been worth up to $140 million, Rolen signed a one-year, $8.6M deal with the intent of leaving as a free agent at season's end. Things turned ugly when an anonymous teammate called the All-Star third baseman a clubhouse cancer and Rolen publicly slammed the team for their lack of commitment to winning. The Phils eventually dealt Rolen to the Cardinals for Placido Polanco, pitcher Bud Smith and reliever Mike Timlin.

43. McNabb's season ended (again) with ACL tear Nov. 19, 2006 McNabb's torn ACL marked the third time in five seasons the Pro Bowl quarterback was lost to injury with six or more games left in the season. Garcia stepped in and lead the Eagles to a surprising division title -- but McNabb would never take another snap without the dreaded injury-prone tag.

42. Larry Brown leaves Sixers for Pistons June 2, 2003
One week after resigning as coach of the Sixers after six years, Brown reached a long-term agreement to coach the Pistons -- the team which eliminated Philadelphia from the playoffs weeks prior.

41. Bucs blanks Eagles in first game at Lincoln Financial Field Sept. 8, 2003 The Eagles christened their sparkling $512 million stadium the same way they closed down the Vet: with an emotionally taxing loss to Tampa Bay. The Eagles couldn't even crack the scoreboard in a dismal 17-0 whitewashing to open the '03 season.

40. Terrell Owens horse-collared against Cowboys Dec. 19, 2004 With victories in 12 of their first 13 games, it seemed nothing could go wrong for the high-flying Eagles. Then Dallas cornerback Roy Williams unleashed a since-outlawed horse-collar tackle on Owens, knocking Philadelphia's top receiver out for the regular season and NFC playoffs.

38. "For Who? For What?" Sept. 3, 1995
Ricky Watters sure knew how to make a first impression. The well-compensated free agent fumbled twice in his first game with the Eagles -- a 21-6 loss to the Buccaneers -- and drew throaty boos from the Vet crowd after short-arming a pass over the middle to avoid contact with a Tampa Bay defender. "I'm not going to trip up there and get knocked out," explained Watters. "For who? For what?"

31. The Eric Lindros trade June 30, 1992 Highly controversial to this day, the Flyers traded Ron Hextall, Mike Ricci, Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, a first-round draft pick and future considerations to Quebec in exchange for the rights to Lindros. While he won a Hart Trophy and helped the Flyers to a finals appearance, Lindros earned a reputation for wilting in the spotlight.

25. Oklahoma State debunks the Jameeracle on 54th Street Mar. 27, 2004 The story of the year in college basketball during the '03-04 season centered around a small school from Philadelphia and its diminutive commander at the point. Jameer Nelson led St. Joe's to a No. 1 ranking and a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, but lost 64-62 on a John Lucas III 3-pointer with 6.9 seconds left in a thrilling regional final

24. The Owens meltdown and fallout 2005 Holdout threats. Training camp suspension. Sit-ups on the driveway. Next question! It was completely surreal and, in the end, just not worth the trouble.

20. Iverson's last days in Philadelphia 2006Perhaps the most divisive star athlete in city history, Iverson earned and repelled fans equally, but inspired both camps with his reckless playing style. His last months involved a benching on Fan Appreciation Night, fines, and alleged trade demands. The franchise's second all-time leading scorer never got a proper send-off at home.

17. Eagles drop NFC title game thriller in St. Louis Jan. 27, 2002 The Eagles took a 17-13 lead into halftime, but Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce proved too much to handle in the second half as Philly suffered a heartbreaking 29-24 loss in its first conference title game appearance since 1980.

14. Lakers knock out Sixers in Game 5 of NBA Finals June 15, 2001 The Sixers captured the heart of a blue-collar, championship-starved city with their hard-working and defiant approach. When they finally ran out of comebacks against the Lakers in the fifth game of the '01 Finals, the Philadelphia fans gave the team a 10-minute standing ovation after the final horn sounded.

12. Sixers select Shawn Bradley with No. 2 overall pick June 30, 1993 The gangly 7-foot-6 center out of Brigham Young signed a $44M contract, the most lucrative deal in Philadelphia sports history at the time, and ended up becoming a symbol of the team's mid-1990s ineptitude. Bradley hadn't played competitively for two years while working as a Mormon missionary in Australia and it showed. The Sixers gave up on their pet project after just two-and-a-half seasons and sent Bradley to New Jersey in a trade for Derrick Coleman.

11. Red Wings dispense of Flyers in Stanley Cup Finals June 7, 1997 The Flyers went down like lambs against the Red Wings in four games, a quiet end to the team's first Finals trip in a decade. Philadelphia mustered just six goals in the entire series, with Lindros held scoreless until his meaningless tally with 30 seconds left in Game 4.

10. 1993 World Series, Game 4 Oct. 20, 1993 Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter would deliver the coup de grace three nights later in Toronto, but when Larry Andersen and Mitch Williams couldn't hold down a 14-9 lead in the eighth inning of Game 4, you knew the Phils were cooked. The Phils dropped a 15-14 decision -- the highest-scoring game in Fall Classic history.

9. Sixers trade Barkley to Suns July 17, 1992 In the classic three-quarters-for-a-dollar trade, Sixers owner Harold Katz sent Philly's iconic power forward to the Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang and Tim Perry. Philadelphia slipped from 35 to 26 victories the following season while Barkley won Most Valuable Player honors and led Phoenix to the Finals.

6. Eagles lose NFC title game for third straight season Jan. 18, 2004 The Eagles fell one game short of the Super Bowl for the third straight year with a 14-3 loss to Carolina in the NFC title game. McNabb tore rib cartilage on a late hit by linebacker Greg Favors and ended up going to the bench in the fourth quarter for understudy Koy Detmer.

5. Sixers miss shot to take '01 Finals stranglehold with Game 2 loss June 8, 2001 After stunning the heavily favored Lakers with an overtime victory in Game 1, the Sixers had a golden opportunity to take a 2-0 series lead back to Philadelphia. Trailing by 13 points in the fourth quarter, Larry Brown's charges used a 13-3 run to close within three points with 2:12 left. But late baskets from Derek Fisher and Robert Horry helped bail the Lakers out, splitting the series at a game apiece.

4. Super Bowl XXXIX Feb. 6, 2005 There was no shortage of talking points following a 24-21 loss to the Patriots, from Philly's failure to capitalize on the Patriots' first-quarter errors to the still-unexplained, time-sapping drive in the fourth quarter.

3. Flyers complete epic East finals collapse against archrivals May 26, 2000 After taking a 3-1 series lead against the Devils, the Flyers mustered just three goals in three games against their Turnpike nemeses to complete a painful seven-game meltdown. Game 7 is best remembered for Scott Stevens' punishing but clean first-period check to knock Eric Lindros out of the game. Lindros would never suit up for the Flyers again.

2. 1993 World Series, Game 6 Oct. 23, 1993
Philadelphians still have a hard time understanding why Jim Fregosi inserted Williams into the game for the ninth inning with the Phils clinging to a 6-5 lead just days after Williams took the loss in the Game 4 disaster. Relief pitchers Roger Mason, David West and Larry Andersen had been shutting down the Blue Jays after starter Terry Mulholland departed in the sixth inning. Williams' fastball to Carter famously ended up in the SkyDome's left-field seats. Touch 'em all, Joe.

1. 2002 NFC Championship Game Jan. 19, 2003
The blindside factor makes the NFC title game between the Eagles and the Bucs the choice as the definitive Philly sports tragedy of the drought era. The idea of losing to Tampa Bay in the final game in Veterans Stadium history was unthinkable. Consider these facts:
* In the three most recent meetings between the teams -- including wild-card showdowns in 2000 and 2001 -- the Eagles had outscored the Bucs by a 72-22 margin.
* The Bucs entered the game 1-21 all-time when the temperature was under 40 degrees (with the lone win coming in Week 17 against the hapless Bears). The gametime temperature in South Philadelphia: 22 degrees and windy.
* Tampa Bay had never won a road playoff game in franchise history.When Brian Mitchell returned the opening kickoff 70 yards -- followed by Duce Staley's touchdown in the first minute -- victory seemed a foregone conclusion. Alas, the Eagles lost the game, 27-10. After sucking the energy out of the Vet with two lengthy touchdown drives during the first half, Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber's sealed the outcome with a 92-yard interception with 3:12 left. It sent 66,713 salty fans to the aisles, an appropriate tribute to a building which provided the stage for 33 years of disappointment and heartbreak.

I was born in 82, that means one championship in my lifetime. My memories of the Sixers winning the NBA championship when I was not even 1 year old is a little blurry. I don't know who I would want to win if I could pick. It'd be between the Phillies and Eagles. I think deep down, the Phils are my squad, but part of me needs the birds to win a Super Bowl so people can't say that they've never won one any longer (even though they're won championships before, just not since the "Super Bowl" was created in I believe 64 or something).

Anyways, just felt like dropping a little knowledge on the history of my four favorite sports franchise's misery.

Plan B

2008-05-07T18:17:00.003-04:00

As you're more than likely aware, I've safely returned from my trip. As for the trip... Good, bad, I don't really know. I do however know that I'm definitely glad to be back.

Just returned to my house from work and running a few errands and realized I hadn't posted for a little while; Now I've changed that.

Yesterday after work I rode my bike (yes I finally got my motorcycle down here, and I couldn't be happier about it) to King Farm up in Rockville, where I used to live. I had heard that the people I played soccer with last year had started playing again on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Needless to say, I was eager to get out there and do my thing with my ol' footballing pals. After waiting around for a while, only 2 other people showed up, and none of us had a ball. So if the weather cooperates tomorrow, which it doesn't look like it will, I'll try again.

Today I was hoping to get out and play some tennis or basketball or something, but ran into a few hiccups there as well. My tennis competition is working late and I just realized I don't have my basketball. I could drive up to King Farm, where I know they have decent pickup games everyday, but traffic was bad going north on 270 on my way home from work, and don't really feel like messing with it. Bummer. So instead of running around outside playing games and all, I've opted for a different route. I'm sitting on my sofa, eating 5 day old pizza and cheese sticks, watching tv and surfing the web. Oh how the pendulum has swung.

Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some. Maybe I'll get motivated a little later and go for a run or something. We'll see. I guess you need to bum it every now and again right? I just usually try to reserve my bumming for Sundays, except obviously when fun-in-the-Sundays are taking place.

Now that I've posted a worthless blog, I'll try to redeem myself here in the next few days. You know, do something stupid and blog about it, or at least provide something better than this pathetic post.

Until then, you know where to reach me. And if you don't, well, figure it out.

Ooo, almost forgot. Happy BDay tomorrow Pops. I'll be sure to call. Should have wished you it when I was up there on Saturday. My most sincere apologies, sir.

PS. As brought up by Collin, he and I suffered a devastating blow to our egos today in the form of a loss in the first event in the office olympics. The water balloon toss was our event to lose, and we did just that.

Humor Everywhere You Look

2008-04-28T08:25:00.005-04:00

If nothing else, we're an entertaining species. Sometimes people anger me, sometimes it's their accomplishments or shortcomings that lead me to astonishment, other times it's people's idiocies and ignorance that leaves me speechless or with too much to say... One thing is always true though, people are always entertaining.

Take for instance this character in the "News" article below...

Choir director brings prayers for lower gas prices to SF
AP Associated Press: Sun Apr 27, 7:20 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - A choir director who hopes prayer can bring down high gas prices is trying out his approach at some of the costliest pumps in the country.
Rocky Twyman of Washington, D.C., came to San Francisco over the weekend to stage a pray-in at a Chevron station. He is also calling on churchgoers to ask for God's intervention where he says politicians have failed.
Gas costing $4 a gallon or more has become common around the San Francisco Bay area.
The 59-year-old Twyman says people praying for cheaper fuel should also walk more and use car pools.
Twyman also works as a community organizer and public relations consultant. He has led campaigns to nominate Oprah Winfrey for the Nobel Peace Prize and to encourage African Americans to donate bone marrow.

I mean, come on. This is great. "Dear Lord. Would you please watch over my family, my friends and all those who are good on Earth and in Heaven above as we go about our daily lives trying to do what is right and live our lives as we feel you see fit. PS, could you please drop the price of gas down, just a notch? I mean, you're breaking my balls here, Lord. Jesus Christ! Cut us some slack here in America. Amen."

It's characters like this that bring entertainment value to topics that really shouldn't be funny or entertaining.

Hey, at least the guy is doing something. More than I can say. I don't even complain about the price of gas anymore. I just laugh every time I see an article about the price of crude rising to a new "All time high." Then every quarter, I see an article showing Exxon Mobil posting record earnings. It's great. I especially love how much they earn per second, $1,300. I don't even earn that much in a year.

Exxon shatters profit records
Oil giant makes corporate history by booking $11.7 billion in quarterly profit; earns $1,300 a second in 2007.
By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
February 1 2008: 2:26 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in large part by soaring crude prices.
Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said fourth-quarter net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share. The company earned $10.25 billion, or $1.76 per share, in the year-ago period.
The profit topped Exxon's previous quarterly record of $10.7 billion, set in the fourth quarter of 2005, which also was an all-time high for a U.S. corporation.
"Exxon can put out some amazing numbers and this is one of those cases," said Jason Gammel, senior analyst at Macquarie Securities in New York.
Exxon also set an annual profit record by earning $40.61 billion last year - or nearly $1,300 per second in 2007. That exceeded its previous record of $39.5 billion in 2006.
In the fourth quarter, the company said revenue rose 29.5% from a year ago to $116.64 billion.
Analysts were looking for the company to report quarterly profit of $10.36 billion on revenue of $114.9 billion, according to earnings tracker Thomson Financial.
Despite topping Wall Street's estimates, Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) shares slipped in afternoon trading.
The company reported strong results in its worldwide exploration and production, or "upstream," business. Profit rose 32% to $8.2 billion during the quarter, offsetting some weakness earlier in the year.
Income in Exxon's refining, or "downstream," business rose 15.7% during the quarter to $2.27 billion.
Exxon attributed its impressive results to strong performance across its divisions, but a large part of the profit surge was underpinned by climbing oil prices.
Crude prices skyrocketed nearly 60% last year. The surge helped prices break through the $100 a barrel mark for the first time ever early last month. Since crossing that milestone, prices have eased to around $90 a barrel.
Natural gas prices also jumped last year, albeit marginally. But costs have also increased for the oil companies, which is why profits haven't risen as rapidly as crude prices.
Big oil companies that both pump oil and refine crude into gasoline have to spend more for crude but are unable to pass on all the extra cost to consumers, which eats in to gasoline profit margins.
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hit an all-time high of $3.23 in May, according to the motorist organization AAA. The high prices were blamed on strong demand and a series of accidents that shut down refineries in the U.S. But slack demand for gasoline in the latter half of last year kept gas prices from rising as dramatically as crude prices.
Exxon's record results, which coincide with smaller rival Chevron's (CVX, Fortune 500) profit jump, drew some fire from both government officials and consumer rights groups, who have argued previously that the the oil industry is deliberately restricting supply and profiting on the back of U.S. motorists.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. took a swipe at the two firms, calling on fellow lawmakers to break the country's dependence on foreign oil and rollback unnecessary tax incentives for oil companies.
Judy Dugan, research director of The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, urged Congress to initiate some oversight into unregulated energy trading markets, which have been accused of helping to drive up the price of oil.
"Exxon is happy to take advantage of these prices," said Dugan.
But finding oil has also become more costly. The oil boom has led to a surge in exploration and drilling activity, which has pushed up the price for skilled workers and equipment.
Furthermore, new supplies of oil are increasingly difficult to find and generally tend to be located in harder to reach - and hence more expensive - places. The new natural gas field discovered this week by Brazil's Petrobras lies three miles under the ocean.
ExxonMobil representatives also stressed the cyclical nature of the business and noted that growing global demand for energy will require companies to heavily invest in future growth. The company said it estimates that global demand will grow by 30 percent by 2030.
"The challenge for all of us in the industry is how to we meet that increased demand," said Henry Hubble, vice president of investor relations.
Exxon and Chevron aren't the only two oil giants to report impressive earnings recently. Conoco (COP, Fortune 500), the nation's third-largest oil company, trounced profit estimates by nearly 25% when it reported last week. And Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest oil company, reported a 60% increase in profits Thursday.
-CNNMoney.com staff writer Steve Hargreaves contributed to this report

The best has to be how of late, ever time the most insignificant thing happens that even remotely involves anything having to do with oil or gasoline, people shit a brick and the price of crude jumps $5 a barrel. I can't wait till OPEC decides to start basing prices off the Euro instead of the Dollar. Think prices are high now? We'll probably be going to war with Afghanistan to prevent that within the next few years though, so instead of high fuel prices, we'll just have to keep shelling out half our salaries to fuel our military and all it's noble endeavors.

Long story short, I just felt like bitching for a little while. As for my plans, instead of doing something about it, I've decided that for the time being I'll just keep going on about my daily routine which involves off-roading in a fuel-guzzling rental 4x4. It's so much easier that way.

How about we all get together and pour out a little oil for our homies.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2008-04-26T08:51:00.022-04:00

Since the last blog was lacking in the photo department, I've chosen to throw on some pictures from yesterday and today. Seeing as though we're pretty worn out, and we've gotten about 85% of the work completed, we opted for a Saturday off. I'll show the pics from today a little later. First, here are some from the survey area.

Can't really see them too well, should have taken a picture on a nicer day. The Bulgarian military, in all their glory, is performing some training. They've been shelling the hillside with some old tanks... pretty wild to watch and hear. As long as them keep the tanks aimed that way, I'm happy.

These little guys are pretty common in the woods and in the fields, but not nearly as common as the damn lizards all over the place.

One of the Shepherd's dogs eyeing me up. Everyday, a number of herds would come through the site. The dogs would flip out when they would see Joe or I and the Shepherd would whack them on the head with his stick and yell some gibberish at them so that they would leave us alone. Always entertaining. They had goats, sheep and cows most of the time. The craziest thing though was when Joe and I saw a herd of free-range chickens come through the site. Instead of dogs, the Shepherd used about 5 or 6 cats to keep them together. Pretty crazy. I noticed Joe's mouth beginning to water when he saw the chickens, so I had to grab a stick and whack him on the head and yell some gibberish at him to prevent him from trying to eat one of them.

Shepherd and his herd.

One of the billions of lizards that run around the site. They startle you every time you come up on one, especially once I had seen a snake. Most are small, but I've seen some up to about a foot long from head to tail.

Dude laying in his car with his fishing poles cast. Had cow bells hooked up so he'd know when he had a bite. Not a bad life.

Now for today's little trip.

We drove into the Natural Park "Sinite Kamuni" (Blue Rocks) to do a little site-seeing and exploring. It lies just north of town. Here's some photos from the journey.

This is a road?

Che in Bulgaria??? I could see Argentina or Cuba, but Bulgaria? It's a small, Marxist world we live in isn't it?

Joe and his buddy... which he just moments later pissed behind.

Sliven. Wish it were a clear day, but alas, we played the hand we were dealt.

Part of the Bulcans.

Commence off-roading.

Jeep. There's only one.

The horse I road in on. She was a beast today. I'm pretty sure we broke the rental car contract.

I had to do it.

Let's go Phillies, Flyers and Sixers!

Oh My Goodness.

2008-04-24T12:47:00.005-04:00

I figured a blog post would be the only way to put a cap on this most glorious of Bulgarian evenings. Tonight, was Steve night. If I don't love myself, than who will.

Upon returning home (the Park Central Hotel), I drew myself a hot bubble bath... yes, bubble bath. Whilst basking in the glory that is a warm bath, I removed the prickers from my legs and arms, scrubbed the grit and grime away, tended to my feet then polished off a chapter of the book I'm currently reading. Once clean, I adorned my finest t-shirt and pair of jeans, threw on my timbos and headed down to all my friends at the hotel bar (Collin & Walshy, the staff easily rivals the crew out in the Sac). Upon receiving and distributing the usual series of "Ciaos", I was much obliged to adhere to my sophisticated palets request for a Beefeater gin and tonic. Dining upon meals fit for kings, my colleague Joseph (Brosef) and I sat around and bickered over such proper dinner conversations as who was more sore and what the worst jobs we'd ever been on were. When the clock struck 6, I limped my sorry ass downstairs, where my masseuse awaited. A $25 (with good tip), hour long, full-body massage ensued... It was as if it were a gift from God. Once complete, I slipped back into my fine garments and floated back up to my room where I sit now, drinking a bottle of Bulgarian wine, and typing to you good people... Why can't life always be this easy?

Now back to reality (That really was my afternoon though)

I wish I had gotten a massage earlier in the trip instead of waiting until the final few days to get one... what on Earth was I thinking? Obviously I wasn't.

What's messed up is that the masseuse said I had the tightest back muscles she's had to massage in a long time... and when she went to massage my feet and I apologized for their state of being, she said that they reminded her of feet "Like a soldiers." Yesssss... I cannot wait to get back to the states, slip my feet into some comfy shoes and march my soldier foot having behind down to a store to pick up some new work boots.

Today while driving to the site with Brosef, we discussed whether or not I was homophobic for worrying about getting a masseur instead of a masseuse. I think we both agreed that it's not about being afraid of getting rubbed down by a dude and the whole gay aspect and all, but simply that we prefer, and feel more comfortable with the touch of a woman, instead of a man. What's your take? The whole thing reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George and Jerry get massages. George ends up getting one from a guy and is all weirded out by the situation... the best quote has to be when he admits that "I think it moved."

George: He was... touching and rubbing.

Jerry: That's a massage.

George: And then I took my pants off.

Jerry: You took your pants off?

George: For my hamstring.

Jerry: Oh.

George: He got about two inches from... there.

Jerry: Really?

George: I think it moved.

Jerry: Moved?

George: It may have moved, I don't know.

Jerry: I'm sure it didn't move.

George: It moved! It was imperceptible but I felt it.

Jerry: Maybe it just wanted to change positions? You know, shift to the other side.

George: No, no. It wasn't a shift, I've shifted, this was a move.

Jerry: Okay, so what if it moved?

George: That's the sign! The test; if a man makes it move.

Jerry: That's not the test. Contact is the test, if it moves as a result of contact.

George: You think it's contact? It has to be touched?

Jerry: That's what a gym teacher once told me.

Great stuff.

So, as expected Brosef ordered chicken for his first meal in Sliven. Here's proof.

He asked that I "Please don't tell Collin" about the incident, and since I'm such a good pal, I said I wouldn't. However, if Collin so happens to come across this while reading the blog, than I surely can't be held accountable. Brosef also bought two Snickers the very next morning. Obviously this information only pertains to those of you in the geophysics group... for those others who aren't, you're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about.

The weather of late has been great, minus today.

Little outdoor cafe action right by the hotel.

FYI, I dropped off Mike at the Sofia airport on Sunday and picked up Brosef... exchanging worn goods for new ones. Not sure if I've blogged since then.

While at the airport I almost got a ticket for parking in the wrong drop-off area, fortunately I was let off the hook. Then on the way home I got pulled over for speeding. They made me get out of the car and walk to theirs where they checked my rental papers, passport and MD license... they then proceeded to laugh when they saw I was American and tell me to go on. ??? I then got pulled over the next day and the same thing happened. ??? I think they just assume that I won't pay the tickets anyway or something of that nature and opt not to ticket me. The thing is, I really wasn't speeding all that bad... at least compared to what the maniacs do here. I can't even explain the driving rules, they're nuts. I saw a car pass another car that was passing a car on a two lane road. And there wasn't even a long break in oncoming traffic. There appears to be a mystical third lane that exists. It really is an amazing thing. I wish my words could do it justice.

I'm running out of steam here. This has been a long blog, I don't know how long I can keep this up.

Think I'll be returning to the states on Tuesday. Give ourselves plenty of time to finish up and then another day off to do some exploring. I mean, when else am I going to be in Bulgaria?

Sorry for not putting up many pictures... I'll be sure to take more over the next few days.

Ciao,

Steve

US vs. Argentina

2008-04-24T00:46:00.002-04:00

Planning on picking up some tickets for the US vs. Argentina match on June 8th up in East Rutherford... If anyone is interested in going, let me know. The match is on a Sunday evening... more info can be found below.

http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_5963785.html

It shall be glorious.

Up to Speed

2008-04-19T11:31:00.012-04:00

One week down, ? to go.

Two cats are mauling one another outside my hotel right now. It's a daily occurrence. I especially love it when they go at it at 1 in the morning and all the neighborhood dogs chime in with their opinion on the matter. I wish I had a bucket of water to throw on them.

There's a whole posse of pussies that live in an abandoned lot out back. It's great for local property values.

We were able to head east to the Black Sea today. Saw a few small towns and the city of Burgas. Checked out some of the coastline, got my sand and had an espresso and juice. That was about all she wrote for the trip. Mike and I were both pretty beat and not really up for a full day of exploring, so we headed back to the hotel, got some dinner and now here I am.

The Black Sea from Burgas on a rather hazy day.

A view of the Black Sea and a small town south of Burgas.

About the aforementioned juice... Everyone drinks juice. If a Bulgarian is thirsty, they reach for a juice. Not water, that's absurd and unheard of. They grab a juice. I don't quite get it, but there's plenty of things already on the list of things I don't get. I was asking George (our friendly bartender) about the obsession with juice, and he just said that ordering a water is unthinkable. I asked him what the futbol and basketball players drink when they're playing, seeing as though I doubt they have a huge jug of juice sitting on the sidelines. He agreed that it was probably water. So bam, take that George. Water is tops.

While I'm ranting, I'd also like to touch upon another beef I have with the Bulgers; Their head nods are mixed up. When they are saying yes, they shake their heads no and when saying no, they shake their heads yes... It's freaking confusing. George informed me that they're (the Bularians) are the only people he's aware of that do it that way. Crazy stuff going on over here, it's like some messed up bizarro world. I'll probably end up running into Bizarro Steve... He'll have the same name, DOB, lineage, etc except he'll be smart, attractive, funny and athletic.

As I've stated in my previous blog, I'm sore. My feet have never been this jacked up before... days off have never been this necessary.

DC United continues to lose, I think they need my support.

The Fly-Guys are hopefully about to take the opening series from the hapless Caps... Bwaa Ha Haaa! C-A-P-S Suck Suck Suck!

Now watch, the Flyers will lose in 7, all because of me.

I've come to realize that I have a specific pose that I like to hold when being photographed in semi-exotic locals. Here it is in Adak, Alaska

Here it is in Slupsk, Poland.

And most recently, here it is in Bulgaria.

I think everyone should have a pose.

I don't know how I'm going to entertain myself at night now. I just completed season 4 of The Wire but failed to download season 5 before coming to the Bulg... Shhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiittt as Senator Clay Davis would say. I tried to DL 5 from the hotel, but it's taking way too long. May just have to go on a Wire hiatus for a while. Blast.

Check out this billboard... Isn't it great?

That's the biggest nipple I've ever seen, has to be bigger than my peanut head! There's another one where some chick with her underboobs hanging out has a 2x4 or something appearing as though it's being shoved somewhere where it shouldn't be if you catch my drift. I think it's an add for a hardware store but I dono. If I can recall correctly, she's wearing boots and a hardhat. Now I know why there's so many grave markers on the sides of the roads here.

Lets play a little game. See if you can find me. It's like Where's Waldo, except my name is Steve, and I'm not dressed like Waldo. You can tell I'm out of Wire episodes, I'm bored and as a result, this is turning into a really long and uneventful blog. Anyways, back to the game.

See me?

Any luck?

How about now?

There be me.

Good day from the Bulg.

- Waldo

Battle of the Bulg

2008-04-16T16:04:00.006-04:00

Alright, you have another language with words comprised of only the letter patterns unfamiliar to me, and I stand a chance of figuring it out, or at least pronouncing it... you go and entirely switch up the alphabet on me, I don't stand a chance.

Enter Bulgaria

I feel this country has a ton to offer to the average tourist. I've only been here for a few days, seen only the airport of the largest city and a small portion of the 8th largest city, and it's left me with a desire to get out and see so much more.

Sliven amidst the Bulcan Range.

Weather's been shit... the forecast shows some marvelous days ahead.

The Black Sea isn't out of reach... hopefully we (Mike and I) can get a large portion of the survey area completed over the next two days (Thr & Fri), and be able to take off Saturday, before I have to take Mike to the Sofia Airport. I foresee us traveling to the coastline and checking out some of the scenic towns.

The survey itself is going about as well as can be expected... It's freaking tough work though. The Geonics EM31 is a beast... and not in the good sense. It's so ridiculously cumbersome. After lugging this piece around over 1o acres of survey area at less than 3 meter spacing over the last two days, I'm torn up. I can only remember being more sore than I am now one other time in my life... that's no good.

Some of the survey area

Here's the beast and the other beast... note how we were able to rent an American SUV... shit came in handy today... the car that is. Never will I question a Jeep's ability to get out of a jam. I would post some pics of Mike Jeepin' it, but none do it justice.

Fun-In-The-Sun-Day went on without a hitch in my absence. I hope I'm not too easily replaced. I was afraid of being demoted to the sixth man... now I'm hoping to even gain a spot on the bench.

Mad stuff I'd love to delve into, but I think I'll see if I can't photograph some more and save some for another edition of the ol' blog.

Good day from the Bulg,
Steve

I'm Beat

2008-04-13T13:57:00.009-04:00

Traveling takes it out of you...

I'm straight up exhausted. Hopefully I can formulate and express a cognitive thought or two in this blog.

After a layover in Munich or Munchen as it's meant to be called, Mike and I have arrived in Sliven. Scenery wise, Bulgaria is gorgeous. It reminds me of Northern California with a mix of Montana or South Dakota or something. Here's a few pics of our drive from Sofia, the capital, to Sliven.

Closer to Sliven there were vineyards all over the place. Apparently wine is huge over here.

The hotel is definitely nice. There's no construction going on outside our rooms as there was in Poland, and we don't have to jack internet from a neighboring hotel. Seems like a decent place to call home for the next ? days.

Check it out, I have two toilets!!!

Not only that, but our elevator is sweet. Reminds me of Charley and the Chocolate Factory or something.

As I said, the hotel is nice, as for the rest of the town..... wellllll.... That's still up in the air. Here's a view from one of my hotel windows.

Yea, sweet.

There appears to be some nice parts of town, but as seen above, there's some areas that aren't exactly touristy hot spots. I'll be able to see more later in the week.

I'll leave you with this glorious pic

Good day from the Bulg, I'm off to bed. The fun begins nice and early tomorrow morning. Just hope the jet lag isn't too bad.

SAGEEP 08...

2008-04-09T20:24:00.004-04:00

Philadelphia.... wow.

I never expected SAGEEP (Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering & Environmental Problems - but you already knew that) to be that much fun. Myself, a certain Mr. Strine-Zuroski and a certain Mr. Gonzalez all departed for the nation's first capitol this past Sunday afternoon. It's amazing that we were able to pack that much learning and that much drinking into the same day for three days straight.

Not going to go into too much detail, but here's a brief rundown on the trip. The geophysical aspect of the trip went pretty well. Got to put some faces to names on people that I've had dealings with over the phone and via email, I sat in on some interesting lecture series (some of which were way over my head) and I got to check out some new equipment that hopefully I can get my hands on sometime soon. The food and drink aspect of the trip though, was quite easily equally enjoyable. We hit up a few really chill bars including the oldest one in the city http://www.mcgillins.com/. The best had to be a bar in Old City Phila that had $2 drinks and shots from 5-7. They had 40 beers on tap including a bunch of micros from Philly that we were more than happy to indulge in. It's quite amazing that I was able to spend $68 in an hour and a half there on Tuesday afternoon. Yesssss.... Don't even say anything Mom. Sometimes there's certain things in life that you just have to do.

Another highlight was the sushi place we ate at everyday for lunch., RAW Sushi & Sake Lounge. http://www.rawlounge.net/ Not only was the sushi chronic, but the bathroom was crazy as well. You pee against the wall while a stream of water pours down it, and on the wall is some wild picture of some samurai chick holding a huge sword. Sort of weird peeing against a wall on the feet of some lady. Then the sink was one of those flat sinks that has no bowl, the water just hits the marble and flows off... really cool. I want one for my house.

Some other trip highlights have to have been checking out equipment on the lawn down by Independence Hall, having the ex-mayor John Street throw me the "Black Power" fist as he hopped in some ladies car, having Collin and Victor think that John Street was actually the Rev. Al Sharpton, laughing when Collin thought he had finally seen a dead person, meeting the infamous J. Nich., watching Vic fight falling asleep on various surfaces... none of which were his bed, watching a vegetarian eat a Philly cheesesteak and figuring out my children's future names. Soy & Ooo (pronounced more like eww).

Good trip. Now it's time to finish preparations for Bulgaria.

Oh and still no Harley.

Huh? I'm doin' what now?

2008-04-02T11:33:00.006-04:00

Dearest of friends,

I shall be leaving you all once again. I know, it’s upsetting isn't it? Fortunately, Hoosteady.blogspot.com is here to keep you in touch with my happenings as I travel to remote expanses of this most glorious of worlds. No, Steveski’s Blogski is not making its triumphant return for I’ll not be venturing to the land of the Pollocks. This time, I’ll be blogging to you from the land of the Bulgar’s, home of the great Spartacus. You guessed it, Стефан (Steve in Bulgarian) is headed to Bulgaria.
It appears as though I’ll be shipping out (and by shipping I mean flying) Saturday the 12th for a three week stint. Definitely excited about going, would be a fool not to be… But part of me wants to chill out in MD, ride my bike, play some soccer and bball, go to some United games and eat American food. But shit, a free ride to Bulgaria, can’t pass that one up.

I’ll be staying in the town of Sliven, seen below. I’m still not exactly sure where it is that I’ll be working though. Think it’s about 45 minutes to the east. They only tell the peons so much. The air and water there are supposed to be crazy clean, which will be nice. Apparently they have some really cool hot springs. I’m hoping that I’ll have a day or two off to check out some stuff, though highly unlikely. I’ll be 130 kms from both Greece and Turkey (gobble gobble), not to mention the Black Sea is about the same distance.

So stay tuned, I’ll let you know what transpires… I just hope everything goes off w/o a hitch. If you’re trying to hang out before I bounce, you know the number to call.

Good day from MD.

Стефан

P.S.

I'm being forced to admit that I may have spittled a slight amount on myself while down in Blacksburg, VA a week or so back... while in public. There, I said it. Happy?

Happenings

2008-03-30T18:04:00.007-04:00

Another short weekend is coming to an abrupt end. Figured I'd throw a blog on here while I watch the end of the Davidson v Kansas game.

I had planned on taking the Chinatown bus up to Philly Saturday morning so that I could bring back my Harley, but the weather didn't allow for it. One of these weeks...

Instead of a Bag of Crap at the end of the last woot-off, they had some screaming monkeys up there. Needless to say, I wooted. I'm pretty excited to have gotten my first screaming monkey. It's a pink caped one. For those of you who know woot, but not the screaming monkeys, that just means you don't woot as much as you should. Those that don't even know what woot is, need to check out my links and familiarize themselves with it.
.
I fixed my Xbox Live, seriously jeopardizing my social life.

Played basketball today for the first time in months... nearly died the first few games, but by the end seemed to have my legs halfway back. Can't wait to get out of bed tomorrow and see how sore I am.

United lost 2-0 in their opening game to KC... Bad start for the black and red.

I now have something to look forward to, which is always a good thing. The A-Team movie is coming out June 12th, 2009. I know, I know, can't freakin' wait right? I can't wait to see how many bullets John "Hannibal" Smith and his boys can shoot without killing a single bad guy. Awesomeness.
Dono where I'll be this week for work. As far as I'm aware, I'll be in the office. Next job will more than likely be in Iowa or Bulgaria. Hmm... Iowa or Bulgaria? Gee, I think that's an easy decision.

I Got Nothin'

2008-03-19T19:10:00.005-04:00

Well, not too much has transpired over the past few weeks. Here's ten statements, observations and/or concerns that have arisen over that period.

- St. Patrick's Day weekend was a blur... no real surprises there. Dewey Beach, DE seems like a decent place. It's a shame I was there for a whole weekend and didn't even see the shore once... ah well, what ya gonna do?

- Of the dozens, maybe even hundreds of geophysical surveys I've done so far in my young career, I can count the number of surveys that went by w/o any hiccups or problems on my fingers. I've come to plan for the worst when gearing up for a job.

- When picking up replacement equipment today at a FedEx location an hour away from Boone, NC (the closest one), I saw a restaurant with those delicious three letters in the name... PHO 777. Needless to say, I got pretty excited. Unfortunately it was nine in the morning and I had shit to do. I just now searched online to check for the closest Pho joint to Boone, expecting there to be one in town. The closest place was PHO 777... Oh no, no Pho fo me this week.

- I've eaten at the same place the last two nights. It's a shitty chain place right next to my hotel. Convenience wins out all too often. The first night I ordered a 6 oz. filet, expecting something decent; it wasn't. The second night I opted for a cheeseburger. I swear, the hunk of meat they called a filet was the same thing they called a cheeseburger. No good.

- I need to get back in shape. This is bad, I'm afraid to get out there and play ball or soccer this spring for fear of coughing up a lung or having a heart attack. Time to get my shit together and start working out again. Traveling for work really makes it tough to get a workout routine together.

- I need to get to at least five DC United games this year. They're crazy fun, let me know if you want to go. I'm definitely game if I'm in town. I wonder what lame name the Philly club will come up with for their new team. If it's lame, I'm going to be so pissed off. Don't come up with some childish name like so many football, baseball or basketball teams have in this country. Name it Philly 1776, Philadelphia AC (Athletic Club), Athletico Philadelphia or something basic and classy like that. Take a hint from the Euro clubs.

- I need a girlfriend.

- I don't think blogging is going to get me a girlfriend.

- I don't think I'm going to be home for Easter, and for this, I'm sad.

- If I can't get up to Philadelphia to pick up my bike sometime soon, I'm going to snap. Jealousy is coursing through my veins every time I see a bike on the road. I need my fix.

Proof that there's no justice in the world...

2008-03-07T15:04:00.004-05:00

I am so freaking angry right now... some background for you.

I just got my hairs cut at the same place I've gone the last two times, and to my pleasant surprise, Sunny, my hair cutter lady was on vacation. I should have just turned around and walked out the door but instead, my dumbass proceeded to ask for a hairscut.

The lady (we'll call her crap face) comes up to me and asks me how I want it cut and I proceed to tell her that I want it the same way that it is now, but shorter. For those who haven't seen me in a while, I've been sporting a semi-mohawk. It's not a full blown one, but it's not your average hair cut. Anywho, I tell crap face that I want a two to a three on the sides, faded to a trim on the top. I tell her that I want to keep my semi-mohawk. Easy enough. Any 1 year old still crapping their diaper and suckling on mom's tit would have understood that.

So I get my hair washed, even though it had been washed 30 minutes prior to going, and head back to crap face's little hair cut kiosk thing (why do they always freaking insist upon washing your hair?). Crap face begins by eyeing up my sideburns and asking me if I want them taken up. I say "No, they're fine where they are." Crap face apparently didn't like where they were and ignored my statement, trimming my sideburns up a ridiculous amount. I had just trimmed them up yesterday when I shaved my ugly face, so they were already at max height. Not only did she take them up to a height that hasn't been achieved since I was probably 10 and unable to grow sideburns, but she made them completely uneven.

As soon as that happened, I knew I was in for a treat.

I let it slide, knowing that sideburns are an easy fix and continued sitting in crap face's chair, at her mercy. She then busted out the clippers with a no. 2 attachment and started trimming up the back. Crap face being the incompetent boob that she is, buzzed off the tail-end of my most glorious semi-mohawk in one foul swoop. I wanted to get out of the chair and start hurling obscenities at her, and anyone else within earshot, but I just sat there, pissed as all Hell.

Long story short, I got a shit haircut and did nothing about it.

Instead of getting out of the chair, punching her head off, picking it up and punting it across the mall then running back to her corpse and crapping down her neck like I should have done. I merely got up out of the chair, thanked the louse, and paid my absurdly expensive bill.

If there's any justice in the world, crap face will somehow be in a catastrophic yet non-fatal accident this evening, lose the use of her hair butchering hand, and be unable to deliver another shit hairs cut in her life.

Damnit, I thought bitching to you would make me feel better... but I'm still pissed at that @#$%&!

Bye

And that's a wrap

2008-03-05T19:22:00.003-05:00

As I'm sure the majority of you know, I'm finally back in the States... thus seemingly putting an end to "Steveski's Blogski's".

The jet lag induced haze hanging over my already small and cluttered noggin has finally lifted, allowing me to look back on my trip. Even though we didn't have time off to venture too far away from Slupsk, we were definitely able to sneak in some good times and see some cool stuff. I'll miss a few things from good ol' Polska, but as the little lady in the red shoes says...

There's no place like home.

So now I've been thrown back into the daily grind of the DC burbs. Seems as though not a whole lot has changed... still have bills to pay, and ladies to lay. Unfortunately I can't seem to do either very well.

So stay tuned, just because I left the land of the Poles, doesn't mean the blogs won't still be a comin'.

Until next time, good day from Bethesdaski.

- Esteban

Steveski's Blogski Part 4

2008-02-26T16:44:00.009-05:00

New departure date... March 3rd I believe. Feeling slightly burnt out. In need of tacos, pho, and more English speaking peeps.

How long until I can say I lived in another country?

I think it takes six months maybe? I dono. A month doesn't cut it does it?

You know what's crazy, in all honesty, I can't remember what the address of my house is. I've tried for the past three days to figure out what it is, and for the life of me I can't remember it. This is bad. I know the street, city, state and zip... but not the house number. I guess all that matters is that I have a key, and I know how to get there.

Went out the other night and took some pictures of Slupsk ( the town I'm staying in). Turned out decent I suppose.

The town center in Slupsk.

My hotel, Hotel Piast ( in the middle). Sick restaurant we've eaten at a few times.

This is one of the greatest pics ever. Timbo Slice doing his best rendition of the incredible hulk (or something like that).

And then there were four... Justin aka DJ (Dirty Justin II) had to bounce out of the country for a bachelor party the other day. Two of the originals are left (myself and Mike) and the two late bloomers (Boss man, aka TK, aka Timbo Slice, and Joe) are still here. We're hoping that we get done in time to check a few more touristy type things out. The largest eastern European castle apparently resides three hours to the east of Slupsk. May make an attempt to head over there. We'll see how things pan out.

It's field day 21 and as you know, I lost my mind a week or so ago. I now wear my scarf around everywhere I go, and chant "Here we go Polska, here we go!"... Kidding. Just bought a few things today including the scarf (It was 20 freaking zloties... 8 bucks or so). First things I've purchased for myself since I've been here (with the exception of a few thousand pints of pivo).

Can't wait to be back in the good ol' US of A. I know it's been shitty of late, weather wise. But I'm hoping that when I return, I can pick up my bike from my folks place in PA... Hi Mom, Hi Dad. Hope the garage is treating my baby well. Have you taken it for another spin Pops? Tell Leroy, Lexie and Oliver I said "Hi". Give them a good pet for me.

Anywho, this will more than likely be the last or second to last blog from Polska that Steveski's going to post. Thanks for the comments, can't wait to see everyone. Until then...

Good day from Polska,

- Steveski

Steveski's Blogski Part 3

2008-02-23T12:21:00.010-05:00

Not a whole lot to report back to the homefront. It's field day 17, and for those of you are familiar with the field day calender, you know that means I've already lost my mind. But that's ok.

I'm trying to pick up some souvenirs for as many people as possible, but it's tough to think of ideas for everyone. I'll do my best.

I'm thinking of getting myself a souvenir as well. I haven't looked into it yet, but I think I'll check out what they have in the way of mail order brides. I figure the quality will be a little lesser than what I might get if I was in Russia, but the price will be more up my alley. And even if it is expensive, the money I'll save from not having to go out on dates and the wedding and all that back in the States will make it worth it. Now the big question is what to go with... the blond, brunette, red-head or black haired lady. I'm leaning towards the black haired Polski beauty. Oh dear, life is full of difficult choices.

We ended up going to Gdansk Sunday afternoon, and even though we only spent a few hours there, we got to see a fair amount. Was a pretty neat city, had the touristy European feel that Slupsk is lacking.

While there I found out a few things about Gdank's history, so let me crack a few eggs of wisdom on you... It turns out that Gdansk is home to many famous inventors. Laser hair removal can trace its roots back to the city as can the dust buster. I don't believe the vacuum was invented there, but I know for a fact that the dust buster was. The first piece of glass was made from the sands along the Baltic Sea in the town of Gdansk and the first pair of chopsticks was made there as well. At one point it was the center of the Roman Empire, until of course the Canadian army burnt it to the ground in the late 14th century. Gave me a lot to ponder while sitting in one of the cities cafes, drinking my kava (coffee).

That past Sunday appears to be the only day we're getting off while out here. Time is beginning to become an enemy. I was slated to be jetting out of here on the 26th, but it's looking more and more likely that I'll have to stay for at least a few more days. There needs to be two Steve's. The world would be a better place if that were the case. Instead of Steve II or Steve junior we could have Steve and Steveski.

I've come to like Warka Strong more than any other beer here.

I shaved my 'beard' and left the stache for the morning today... looked pretty funny... couldn't even look myself in the mirror. It's gone now.

Mulling over the idea of heading to Belgrade if we do end up getting another day off. Just picked up a sweet American flag jacket that I'll probably rock while there. Should be fun. Justin says they light up the American embassy at night and it looks amazing.

I went to an absolutely ridiculous dance club called 'Miami Nice' on Wednesday night and proceeded to drink and dance until the wee hours of the morning again. Was the British guys last day here, so they had a little sending off party for him. Thursday morning was rough, but I'm a trooper and worked through the pain. Unlike the bars in Phila and DC, the bars here are open till 4 am... very dangerous.

Think we're going to try to sneak up to the town of Ustka just to the north sometime this weekend or next week for a long lunch. It's a sea town, and is apparently a happening place in the summer. Hopefully we can find a decent restaurant and I can grab some sand from the Baltic for my sand-o-the-world collection I got going on (Yes I am a loser).

Wish I had some more excitement to write about, but all we really do here is work, chill for an hour, go out to eat (which apparently is a huge event here because it's impossible to go out to eat in less that 2.5 hours which is extremely annoying), and then watch a dvd or use the internet and then hit the hay. It's not too bad, but not having weekends to vedge gets to you after a while.

Sorry I'm going to miss your BDay momma dukes, you know I gotsta pay the bills. I promise to give you a call.

I guess that's it for now. Good day from Polska

- Hoosteadyski

Steveski's Blogski Part 2

2008-02-17T05:05:00.007-05:00

WacArnolds, Rotten Ronnies, McD's or whatever you choose to call it, is a glorious hangover food, no matter what country your in.

Don't talk politics with you boss while both are inebriated... especially when you have differing opinions.

Hot dog rolls in Poland are great, potentially better than their American counter parts.

I still cannot speak Polish... the pointing and grunting method is still working well.

I'm attempting to grow a beard to cover up my ugly face.

I was under the impression that Matt's wife was about to give birth to their first child and that's why he had to leave early... as it turns out, Matt is the one who is pregnant. That poor child doesn't stand a chance, I personally witnessed him endulge in many a cigarette and consume many a beer. Poor poor child.

Some of the toilets are seemingly designed to display ones shit on a pedestal for the shitter to see. I suppose the Polish take pride in their shits and prior to flush, like to observe, photograph, and maybe even share and discuss the shit with their colleagues. I don't know.

I met Lee Humphrey the other day at the hotel... really nice guy. He had meals with us a few times. Just moved here from a Greek team. We had planned on going to their game Saturday night but we got the times mixed up and didn't get the chance to go. For those of you who don't know who that is, he was a member of the Florida Gators 06 national title team. Think he was the only Senior... Noah, Brewer, Horford and other dude were underclassmen. He shot lights out in college.

Other than that, Poland is still Polish and I'm still working and living.

We've got today off and are getting ready to head out to Gdansk for the afternoon. Should be some good sights to be seen.

Good day to you, Steveski

Steveski's Blogski

2008-02-11T18:24:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Slupsk, Polska

Yes, I am still alive... Yes, I am in Poland... Yes, I cannot understand a single word of Polski.

Where to begin???

So far, everything has been great. Myself and the three other guys from the the office that came out here with me are finally settled in. The time change of 6 hours wasn't too hard to adjust to and the food hasn't been bad either. I'm learning the language slowly... I already know 2 words.

Piwo is beer and dziękuję is thank you. So far, I've gotten by just fine with only those two.

I'm not going to go into detail about the work aspect because as you all know, work is work... but the nights after work have definatlely been entertaining. My company has about 10 other people here from all over the place. We've got something like 5 Germans, 2 other Americans, 1 Brit and 1 Aussie. Dinners with our group are quite entertaining... might have to do with the number of Polish beers consumed during them.

We've yet to have a day off, and likely won't have one until next Sunday, if at all. But for better or for worse, that hasn't stopped us from familiarizing ourselves with the local bars, clubs and people. Friday night was absolutely ridiculous. Words won't do it justice, so I'll have to tell those interested about it when I get back. It involved 2 bars, a club (the music here is so bad, fortunately they end up listening to a lot of terrible American rap), mass amounts of Żywiec and other tasty beers, 4 Polish girls who became my dance partners, departing the club unexpectedly, meeting the Policja, speaking lots of German even though I don't speak German, a piano, the floor and a bunch of great blurry memories... Good times.

The aforementioned żywiec

View from my hotel room

Throwin' round Zloty cus' we came to party

I'll post again shortly I hope... It's 1:30 in the morning and I have to be up in 5.5 hours... Until next time... Punkt Zdobyty Fuksem

They say "Go"... I say "How far?"

2008-01-31T20:07:00.000-05:00

It appears as though I've been in Maryland for far too long...

The entire month of January has past, and the furthest I've had to travel for work has been Sterling, Virginia (about 45 min from the office).

For those of you who aren't aware (probably none of you since only 2 people read this blog and they both already know more than they could ever want to know about me), I do a lot of traveling for my job. For instance, in 07 I worked all over Maryland, DC and Virginia, traveled to Miami, Kansas twice, Sacramento, Delaware, Philadelphia, Tennessee, Adak Alaska annnnddd... that may or may not be all. Anyways, my next assignment appears to be taking me to the great country of Poland.

Myself and several others from my "Geophysics Team" as it's referred to, are at this point set to depart in 6 days (next Wednesday). The plan as it stands is that we'll fly into Berlin, Germany or Gdansk, Poland. From either location, we'll proceed to the town of Slupsk (pronounced Swoopsk I believe) in Northern Poland. There, I'll be spending anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slupsk

The town seems like it's pretty cool. Not exactly a prime tourist attraction, but that's fine with me. Has a population of 100,000, so there should be plenty of things to do and see if we have any down time (which doesn't sound too likely). I'm hoping that once we're done doing what we have to do over there, that myself and anyone else who will join (Justin), can take the ICE from Berlin to Brussels, Belgium and chill for a few days. I'd love to check out Brussels, Bastogne and Liege in Belgium... and maybe even venture on up to a little city known as Amsterdam if I can. We shall see.

I'll keep you posted on the happenings if the happenings happen.

Number 9... In no particular order of course

2008-01-29T20:54:00.000-05:00

Liebe
- Food...
Very few things can rival a great meal. There's nothing like that glorious food induced comma that sets in shortly after eating the perfect amount of a perfectly cooked dish... I'm talking tacos, a great bowl of pho, the perfect hoagie, a Philadelphia cheese steak, great crab cakes, a bangin' reuben, shit-on-shingles (creamed chipped beef on toast) with a fat side of scrapple... ooooo weeee. I don't care what kind of mood I'm in... if I'm eating one of these things, life can't be all that bad.

Hass

- Bumper Stickers...
I freaking hate bumper stickers... hate them. I don't discriminate either, I don't like any of them, no matter what they say. If you're driving in the car with me and you hear me laugh at something written on one, or say I like one I saw... hit me upside the head, I'll thank you for it later.

There's already too many means for people to voice their stupid opinions nowadays without having to be stuck in traffic behind some trophy wife in a sick Benz with a bumper sticker proclaiming whom her dousche of a husband voted for in an election 4 years ago. Having to listen to the talking heads on the television or the worthless news anchors on the radio rambling on about politics and this and that is already too much, I don't feel like seeing this shit when I'm driving.

It's not only political stickers that aggravate me, it's all of them... Sports teams, seemingly cutesy princess looking ones, stickers that make pathetic attempts at being witty, ones that you think make you seem tough, ones that call for peace on Earth... NO... they all suck.

No matter how innocent and nice and kind you think your sticker may seem, it's going to piss someone off... leave it off your car.

I've been tempted to put a sticker or two on my baby, but common sense has ruled the day. I know that with my luck, as soon as I slap some lame sticker on there, some drunk shit is gonna take offense to it (no matter what it is) and proceed to spit on, key, kick, or pummel my car with an adamant object just because I'm not there, and he can.

I could probably go on and on about why I hate them, specific ones that I hate, assumptions I make about the person based upon the sticker they've chosen, yadda yadda yadda... but I'm gonna let this next pic elaborate on one specific one, and finish my rant for me.

Not only that... but those stupid ribbons aren't even made in this country... Wow.

Skiing

2008-01-28T15:56:00.000-05:00

Finally got out the other weekend for the first time... it's a shame it was in PA. Skiing is skiing though, even if it is riding the guns. A bad day on the slopes is better than a good day off em.

Wednesday night I'm hitting up the massive speed bump that is Whitetail in PA. Going to try telemark skiing for the first time... Wish me luck, I'll let you know how it goes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telemark_skiing

These are nasty... Stevey likey
They're the K2 World Pistes... and they might be mine. oh yes, they might be mine. Except I'm poor.

Number 10... In no particular order of course

2008-01-16T21:10:00.000-05:00

Amor
- Field vices...
When you travel like myself and a few of my fellow colleagues, you begin to develop one, or a series of habits, activities or pastimes that are only partaken in when staying away from home. Most often times than not, these acquired activities would be deemed inappropriate for work being done in a more professional atmosphere such as an office building. Some actions may even be deemed socially/ethically/morally unacceptable by those yet to experience what extended periods of working long hours, dining on strange or unhealthy foods, hotel stays, dealing with assholes and difficult working conditions that field work can often bring with it.

More often than not these habits result in embarrassing oneself, hurting oneself, and/or the loss of ones money, self worth, self respect or pride.

Not quite sure why we develop these odd habits, may be some form of coping with a deviation from the norm or something... but I do know that it's interesting to find out what everyone elses field vice is, including my own.

I choose not to reveal all of them at this point in time, but I do know that a new field vice is needed... I've chosen for the better, to give up my last field vice for good... curious to see what field vice the next work trip will bring.

Odio
- When people say "I could care less"...
Damnit people! This is a typical case of not thinking about what you're saying (which I am way too often guilty of).
Think about the commonly used phrase stated above.
Have you figured out what's wrong with it?

This phrase is used as a way of expressing ones lack of concern for something, is it not? So if one was able to care less about something... which the phrase "I could care less" does, then obviously the person cares about the thing they're claiming not to care about.

The phrase should be said "I could not care less".
From here on out, please try to throw that little "not" in there for me, you'd save me the aggravation of having to correct your choice of grammar (even though mine sucks).
-Gracias

Top Ten List... In no particular order of course

2008-01-16T20:48:00.000-05:00

I often times find myself taking the middle-of-the-road stance on things. You know how they says answers are rarely as simple as yes or no, right or wrong black or white... blah blah blah. Well on this next series of posts I've foregone the middle position and chosen to go with only the extremes. I'm doin' up a little Love/Hate Top Ten List... in no particular order of course.

p.s. Hopefully I make it to 10 without forgetting one of my major peaves or loves... wish me luck.

p.s.s. Hopefully I don't offend you with one of these... If I do, sorry in advance.

Pho Sho

2008-01-12T11:21:00.000-05:00

Prior to my last visit to California, I was completely oblivious to something so special, that since learning of its existence, has forever changed the way I view lunch and dinner. Each time I've driven in Maryland over the past year, I've unknowingly overlooked three simple letters that rest atop tens of Montgomery County restaurants; Three delicious little letters... P. H. O. Tacos now have company at the base of my revamped food pyramid. Pho has arrived, and is here to stay.
It's crazy how few people (including myself up to a few months ago) know about Pho. This Vietnamese soup is poised to become a staple of my already amazingly healthy diet. For a little more info about this great meal, check out this link, or call me up and I'll gladly go grab some Pho with you. If you've had it before and know where to find the best bowl of Pho, let me know, I'll be greatly appreciative. Pho Sho.

http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/bookshelf/articles/pho_SJM.htm

Ch Ch Ch Changes

2008-01-07T09:19:00.000-05:00

With the new year comes a new place to live for Esteban. Due to the departure of a certain Mr. Walsh to Tucson, AZ, I was forced to spread my wings, man-up and and explore the strange world that is craigslist to find a new pad. Today is the last day that I can call this yuppy fake-town (King Farm in Rockville) home.

Moving sucks... don't ever let anyone tell you different.

I know that moving from a bad situation to a good one, or to a better area and what not is good. But the actual moving process... packing, lifting, cleaning, lifting, unpacking, organizing... is a total pain in the ass. Throw in the fact that I had a flu bug hit me Friday morning, and now have a cold (I never get sick), and it makes for the worst move one could ever imagine. Fortunately for me though, I was blessed with parents and a younger brother nice enough to drive down from Philadelphia Sunday morning, help me finish pack, move, clean and unpack all that day, then turn around and drive back to Philly that evening. How crazy is that. Without them, it would have made for a very long Sunday and Monday. Much love. I owe your guys big.

So the new place is a townhome down in Bethesda. My room is pretty ill. It's the master bedroom and has its own loft and bathroom. The owner, and housemate is great... extremely nice person. Last night was the first night there for me. Still need to unpack some boxes and reorganize a few things, but it's definately taking shape.

Now I wonder how long I'll be here till I'm shipped out on my next job (most likely Sacramento). Stay tuned.

What have I done?

2008-01-03T18:08:00.000-05:00

It begins...

As if I wasn't already vocal enough, I've decided, for one reason or another to create a blog.

I'm really curious to see how much blogging actually gets done on here. Should be interesting... stay tuned (if you can bear the anticipation).

On a side note, I'd like to thank Collin for introducing me to this computer geeks version of a diary.