...And then

I used to hate doing laundry when I lived in an apartment where I had to walk to a different floor or hundreds of feet away.  But having a laundry right inside the house has made life much easier.  I find myself often doing laundry on early Sunday mornings.  For example, I've done three loads this morning already and it's not even 9am.  There's something cathartic about doing laundry - perhaps is the feeling that I've gotten ridden of all the dirt and grime of the outside world...the smell of clean clothes.

Posted by Steve in Random Thoughts at 08:50

Best Songs

• So Small - Carrie Underwood
• Umbrella - Rihanna
• Big Girls Don't Cry - Fergie
• Apologize - OneRepublic with Timbaland
• No One - Alicia Keys

Worst Songs

• Anything by Nickelback or Chad Kroeger

Posted by Steve in Random Thoughts at 09:54

Those Charles Schwab commericals may be the creepiest commercials out there. I don't quite understand the need to film live actors and then attempt to overlay them with bad animation. Who the hell thought this was a good idea? And why do they continue to use them?

Posted by Steve in Ranting at 09:38

Dec 3 - 6 - Philadelphia for work
Dec 10 - 14 - Philadelphia for work
Dec 15 - 24 - Domincan Republic for FUN
Dec 26 - 30 - Southern California for FUN and travel reasons
Jan - Feb - Most likely a lot of time in Philadelphia
Jan 25 - 27 - Las Vegas for FUN
Feb 27 - Mar 2 - Puerto Vallarta for a wedding

Too much time spent at the airport?

Posted by Steve in Travel at 12:05

I'm sitting in a plane on the runway as we wait to approach our gate.  Like many others, I reach for my phone to turn it on to see what emails may have come through while I was blissfully out of touch for the last six hours.  Others around me do the same.  But then there is always that one or two who need to call their friend/loved one/mother/father/random neighbor and talk LOUDLY as if no one else is around them.

"Hi, yes, I just landed.  Yeah, I'm in Philadelphia.  I've got a connection and then I'll be in DC at midnight.  Yeah, I heard about June's surgery.  Can you believe that she cheated on her husband?  Can you believe that son is now a transgendered male who was once a female but switched back to being a male..."

Ok, so I exaggerate but the point of my rant is:
1.  You don't need to talk so loud.  Cell phone technology has made leaps and bounds in their ability to pick up the smallest noise.
2.  Do you really need to talk about your private affairs or others when there are a minimum of 10 people within 5 feet of you?

Just shut up!!!!

Posted by Steve in People I Hate at 15:20

I've been on a project based out of the east coast for the last four months and have been travelling out here consistently.  One of the challenges of such travels is that I get a different rental car every time I am out here.   My client's office has a large parking lot which fills up relatively early.  Every evening, as I approach the parking lot, a quick momentary flash of panic hits me as I forget which car is mine.  I mean, I can recall the name and make of the car but nonetheless, in a sea of cars, it's hard to figure out exactly which one is mine for the week.  Fortunately, the wonders of technology in the name of remote key fobs permits me to walk down the aisle which I think I parked the car in the morning and continuously hit the unlock button in hopes that the car will make that slight unlocking noise.  It's really a matter of leading me to the car using the the senses of sight and sound.  However, there have been times where I've found myself standing in front a car, hitting the unlock button and hearing that noise somewhere else.  People must think I'm trying to steal cars...

Posted by Steve in Random Thoughts at 08:15

How cool is this? 

I saw the Transformers movie a couple of weeks ago.  While the movie itself was good, it did leave me a bit wanting more in terms of the old school concept of Transformers.  With CGI, the filmakers can take certain liberties as to how the "transformation" is done.  In the old days, the toy makers had to be truly creative to allow these robots to transform into cars, etc. 

Now, there's talk of a Voltron movie:

http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/08/10/voltron-movie-gets-closer/

Posted by Steve in TV at 09:16

I want to be on Top Chef...not as a contestant but as judge.

Posted by Steve in TV at 00:00

Is it wrong that I chuckle when I see a woman in her mid-thirties carrying a Forever 21 shopping bag?

Posted by Steve in Random Thoughts at 10:11

We have been building a deck in our backyard.  Mind you, our backyard is not very large my any standards but it's a decent space that allows us to have some enjoyment in the outdoor arena.  However, the current design of the yard left little room to actually enjoy the random warm summer days we would get.  Hence our quest to design and build a deck all by ourselves...  it's in the works - we've done one weekend of construction of the frame which we did manage to finish.  Now it's just a matter of putting the surface boards on.  I've counted - we need to screw in 1052 screws to complete the project.  Egads.

Posted by Steve in Random Thoughts at 15:35 | Comments (0) | Trackback (1)

Has it really been 2 1/2 months since the last posting?  Where has the time gone by?  It's not because my life has been so busy with social events.  Perhaps it is because I was travelling for work most of January and February, zigzagging around the country.  But that is no excuse since the beauty of the web is that you can it access it almost anywhere.

Well, it's time for me to change jobs again.  I lasted only 10 months at the most recent place of employment but I needed to move for a variety of reasons which I probably should not divulge here.  I can't say the new position is something I forsee as the answer to my eternal quest for professional enlightment.  Let's be honest here - the money was good and at this point, why turn that down?  My career advancement took a sharp detour five years ago and it's taken a while to build that back up.  I am still torn between continuing to strive for greatness at the workplace (but losing the personal life) or settling for mediocrity (but continue to have a personal life).  No matter...why bother to wrestle with that anymore.  Just take it as it comes along.

Posted by Steve in Random Thoughts at 06:41

There has to be other life forms out there in the universe. From what we are told about the size of the universe, the chances that there are life forms out there are very likely. I honestly believe that the life forms who have the advance technology to travel through the stars have chosen to stay away from us because. They have probably observed us and came to the conclusion that we are not capable of handling such a discovery. Perhaps when we reach a point in our evolution where guns and tanks along with the threat of military action are no longer the norm, we will be graced with the presence of other life forms.

Or...perhaps they have come and seen Las Vegas. Like a moth, they were drawn to the light spectacle that is Las Vegas and are afraid of us. Where else in the world can you travel down a couple miles of straight(ish) road and see the oppulence that defines the American people. Or we could instead take the optimistic route and say...where else can I visit Paris, Venice, New York all in a matter of a couple of hours and still manage to sit down to a Bellagio buffet right afterwards?

Only in Vegas...

Posted by Steve in Travel at 08:23

As I attempt to multi-task by typing this entry as well as using IM with a friend, I have a huge smile on my face.  I just booked tickets for the two of us to go to Amsterdam in May for 10 days!  Just the notion of travelling can lift my spirits up even on the darkest and coldest days.  While it's still five months away, I am looking forward to it with anticipation.  We'll be staying with some friends who live out there.  Being Europeans, they've come out to visit us twice in the past three years and we are finally living up to our promise to visit them.  I just need to get through the next five months!!!

Posted by Steve in Travel at 13:47

My favorite songs of 2006 (in no particular order)

• Mr. Brightside - The Killers
• Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado
• Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
• Look on the Floor - Bananarama
• Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
• Making Memories of Us - Keith Urban
• Put Your Records On - Connie Rae Bailey
• Walk Away - Kelly Clarkson

Songs I HATED:

• Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
• London Bridge - Fergie
• Fergalicious - Fergie
• Ring the Alarm - Beyonce
• Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt

Posted by Steve in Random Thoughts at 11:43

Out of the blue, the wife and I have decided to take a short (well, maybe long) trip to Vegas next week. We'll be there for three days and three nights. It's been a while since I've been to Vegas. The last time was in spring of 2002 when I somehow managed to spend 7 (!!!) days there. Granted, I was meeting some friends out there and got there a couple of days ahead to see some other friends who were living there at the time. But 7 days was quite too long considering that I don't gamble. The human memory has a way of fading and I can't quite remember what I did during those 7 days.

Posted by Steve in Travel at 09:00