Okay, so my Monday was probably better than yours too…

‘Cept this time you probably wouldn’t have seen me since I had fab box seats! Suck it!

J/K. I actually liked the Saturday show better – more energy down on the floor, better sound – but damn it was nice to sit and listen to the Pixies after a sucky day at work. I could get used to this feeling…

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Pixies – “Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)”

I bet what I did Saturday night beat what you did Saturday night.

Unless of course you were there. In which case you should’ve said hi. I was the one screaming.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Pixies – “Head On”

The past couple of weeks have been odd. I had a good trip back home for Thanksgiving. I found a bunch of old tapes I made when I was a kid. The tapes are falling apart so I’m going to try to convert them to CD over the next few weeks – it’s time consuming. The drive down was fine, but on the way back up I hit a fallen rock and made the car jump in the air about 3 feet. Didn’t seem to do any damage so I kept going. The following day I had a flat tire – but there was a tow truck right there that changed the tire for me cheap – good people in Jersey.

The next night I hung out with my friend L and had a really excellent time.

Monday my computer died at work. It took them three days, but they were able to recover all my data. The problem is they had to re-image my machine, so I need all new software installs – there is no ETA. It’s so frustrating not to be able to do the work I need to do. I can’t even view the websites I’m supposed to be looking at because I don’t have flash installed, and the new company rule is, no one can install any software other than IT personnel – so I’m locked out of my former admin account. Fuckers.

Thursday my friend S had her birthday party and of course the work crew was there and I got tore up. I’m sure I said things I shouldn’t have said – but no one seems the worse for wear.

Friday my friend K called from out of no where to see about getting drinks. I got torn up again. Class the next day was horrible. Learning about database installation is boring enough, but try doing it on no sleep and hungover – blech.

This week there are two, possibly three parties. Computer software is still MIA, so tonight I’m doing it from home, but I can’t charge them my freelance rate or overtime, because I’m staff. I’ll say it again – fuckers.

But adding to the plus column, I picked up a great James Brown boxed-set and the new Nirvana set – both on sale.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: James Brown – “There Was a Time”

I was expecting a couple of packages today, so I went to the Post Office to clean out my box. I totally forgot it was a holiday until I walked into the lobby and all the customer service windows were closed – but I was stoked that they had at least left the lobby doors unlocked. As I was digging through my mail I heard a voice come from behind the wall of PO Boxes in front of me, “If you have any slips bring them around to the window and I’ll get your packages.”

How cool is that? The guy totally hooked me up with my packages on a holiday even though he didn’t have to (and I didn’t ask) Plus he was super friendly about it. He was laughing and telling me that another guy came in this morning and was complaining because he couldn’t get his passport processed. And he continued “And I know where that guy works – he got the holiday off, so he should’ve known. I don’t mind helping people, but c’mon.”

I love my Post Office.

All my single friends are leaving me and becoming half of a couple. They’re getting married, or actually *gasp* having a meaningful relationship.

Screw them.

Bitter, single man in the house. Represent. :::pounds chest:::

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Depeche Mode – “Never Let Me Down Again”

I usally take the bus or the PATH train home in the evenings, but today for no real reason I hopped on a NY Waterways bus when it came down the block. Once we got to the 38th street pier, this was in front of us.

PIX OF THE DAY: A Queen on the Hudson.

I’m bad at spending coins. I’m not sure why. A typical scenario: I purchase a bagel with butter – 75 cents. Now although I probably have 75 cents in my pocket I always end up reaching for the wallet to slap down a single. This has left me with tons of change scattered around the apartment… until today. When I cashed in my back-breaking haul of metal U.S. tender, I walked away with $405.01.

Good lord.

This morning Flava Flav was in our conference room shooting a promo.

On my way out of the building I rode the elevator with Al Franken.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: The Delays – “Nearer Than Heaven”

I didn’t really dawn on me till tonight when I was going home, and I looked up to see the Tribute in Light test shining up from southern Manhattan, that this weekend would be three years. I had already watched one 9/11 documentary this week, and I’m watching another now, but I didn’t really realize the date until I looked up in the sky this evening. I didn’t forget, but maybe it’s just getting easier not to think about it.

I’m not glad that it happened, but I’m glad I was in New York City, otherwise I think it would just seem like some odd movie, some distant event. I remember in college when the Oklahoma City bombing happened, and I just scanned through it on CNN, and then went on with my day. It wasn’t a real event, it had no impact on me whatsoever. But this…

I just signed up for a professional studies course at NYU. It’s one of those intensive course where you go for eight hours straight every Saturday. So… a quick summary:

a) no more sleeping late on Saturday mornings.
b) I have to learn to take classes again.
c) if work doesn’t reimburse for tuition like they’re supposed to, I’m screwed.
d) holy crap.

So for this project at work I kinda need to know what teen girls are all about. What they do, who they talk about, what they’re into, etc. Since I’ve never been a girl, and at this point in my life I’m far from being a teenager, I decided to subscribe to some teen girl magazines. It made more sense getting subs, since for the price of a couple of issues you can get twelve or so. In the past couple of weeks I’ve finally started receiving my mags. The contents haven’t been too suprising for the most part – a lot of fashion tips, personality quizzes, blurbs on Orlando Bloom and Chad Michael Murray, blah, blah, blah. What has been interesting though, are the articles and letters to the editor where “real” girls chime in. Of course there are the evil girl letters. One I read this afternoon (I think from CosmoGirl) featured a girl who ended up going to the movie with someone she didn’t really like. First off… if you don’t like them, just say no, but of course this girl didn’t stand up for herself. Anywho… she’s at the movie, she can’t stand the guy so she excuses herself to the restroom, except she actually just leaves. WTF? Gotta watch out for that one. No more dating sixteen year olds for me. Hopefully when girls grow up to become thirty-something women they don’t have the same techniques for dealing with less-than-fun dates. Not that I have any thirty-somethings going to movies with me. No, I see films alone. Speaking of which, I saw “AVP” and “Collateral” this weekend. The former was okay, nothing special – a dumb, summer, action film. The later however, was great. If you’re in NYC – go see it at Empire 25 and if they still have the option, go see it in the digital theater (13?) – great screen and of course the print is flawless (technically it’s not a print I guess).

Here’s an interesting side note to that whole subscribing to teen girl mags thing. A few weeks before I ordered the subscriptions, I ordered some surplus US Army cargo pants and a flashlight from an online Army surplus store. I just love the actual old-school olive drab, ripstop trousers – so comfortable. And the flashlight – well I needed one for my “Go Bag” at work (the ones they provided sucked). Anyhow, since I ordered some surplus materials, I’ve gotten on some weird, vaguely right-wing mailing lists. So the other day when I go to pick up my mail at the Post Office, the guy hands me a stack of teen girls mags, a spy store catalog (featuring hidden cameras on the cover), a gun supplies catalog, and a catalog for ordering cigars. I’m really suprised I haven’t been visited by the FBI or local law enforcement yet…

You ever wake up in the middle of the night with the feeling that you’ve killed someone but just forgotten about it?

So I watched a little bit of the President’s speech tonight at the RNC. It was the first bit of the conference I had seen. Just listening to him speak for a few minutes makes my stomach turn. Most people if you ask them, will cite his political platform as the reason they’re not voting for Bush. For me, it’s mostly that I just don’t like the guy… he seems like an ass. And not really that bright. As far as Kerry goes… well, he doesn’t wow me, but I don’t have the urge to hurl when I hear him speak so that’s his plus. Also, John Edwards is just fun to listen too. The only thing fun about Cheney is the office pool on when his next heart attack will be.

See ya at the polls…

Got my cable modem finally (long, boring story on the delay) – and daaaaaamn. Went from 650kbps down to 5,908kbps down…. quite a big difference. I still run into bottlenecks on some sites, but a lot of stuff that I waited for, is instantaneous now. If I go another week without problems I’m canceling my DSL for good.

I basically told my boss today that I wasn’t happy with my job – that was interesting. She says she wants me to be happy, and whether that’s moving to another department, leaving altogether or changing my current job to fit better, she’s down. So, I have a meeting with an HR director next week with the hopes that she’ll be able to help me figure out what I want to do. Basically I just want to be the guy I was 3 or 4 years ago – excited about my job, always pitching new ideas, and loving my job – just gotta figure out how to get there. It’s an exciting/nervous time.

My iPod wouldn’t load songs I have purchased through iTunes – turns out it was a simple fix. Downloaded an iPod update from Apple.

Saw “Garden State” after work tonight by myself. I absolutely loved that movie, and I’m glad I went solo.

Also rented “The Station Agent” last week. Again, I loved it. Both were Jersey-shot films…

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Simple Kid – “Love’s an Enigma”

I’m at home and should be finishing up some work I brought with me, but I can’t really seem to get into it. I’m having one of those days that’s just – ugh. I’m feeling lost lately – mostly in relation to my job, but my whole life is kind of in question right now. I often have the feeling that I’m not particularly good at my job, and today I kind of realized why – well, I’ve probably known all along, maybe the rain brought it out though – I just don’t care about it. Web promotions and marketing just isn’t floating my boat. I could totally rock my job, but it’s kind of hard to when you’re not really turned on. I’m not sure if I’m burnt out on the web altogether, or just this specific job. I’ve never known what I what I wanted to be when I grew up – so I don’t have a specific career goal. That makes it hard to know what do to next. If knew for example that I wanted to be a VP, then I could work my way through the current position, and angle for a promotion – but I don’t know that. I’m also at the point where I depend on the money I make, so I can’t just quit, and dick around trying to “find myself.” I’ll need to slide into another job or career at approximately my same pay grade. I wish I had that voice inside saying “You were destined to be a _______.”

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Tangerine Dream – “Love On A Real Train”

The weather was so nice today that I took a stroll to the local Starbucks to grab some kind of iced goodness and chill outside. I brought my tiny laptop along because I thought I might edit some play lists while I was relaxing – which I did until the iPod battery died. After that I went over to my pier to read and take in the fresh air. Turns out that the book I grabbed on the way out the door was one I had actually already worked my way through and I didn’t feel like reading it again. So, without book and without tunes I just sat on the bench and people-watched. About five minutes ago, just for shits and giggles I decided to boot up the laptop to see if I could find any available networks. Lo and behold, here I am sitting on a pier about 150 yards out into the Hudson on a free Internet connection. Lovely. So whoever is running the “zeynep” hub in Hoboken – thanks for sharing.

88Kbps today. That’s like a biscuit more than dial-up. This is the second time in two weeks, and the umpteenth time in four years that my connection has gone to crap. I just ordered cable modem service to try out. Free shipping, $24 bucks a month, if I like it, I’m canceling my DSL.

Verizon sucks. Although the tech support guy I talked to tonight was cool. If you speak to “Brandon” tell him I said “he rocks.”

SONG OF THE MOMENT: My Bloody Valentine – “I Only Said”

First we got a request from the big boss to come up with a contingency plan for keeping things flowing at work if something happens the week of the RNC. That makes sense. No problem. Consider it done.

A couple of days later we got another e-mail directing us to either take vacation, or work from home that week.

Good times.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Simple Kid – “Staring at the Sun”