Thursday, May 22, 2008

Thank God Tomorrow is Friday

Today was a little tough at work. Tomorrow will be tougher, but then the weekend will come. There's a dog in my apartment. My roommate's Dad apparently needed him to dog sit a french poodle for the weekend. I'm going to spend the next 4 days trying to teach this regal beast to grab a beer from the fridge and bring it to me.

So, in other news, meet this guy....


He apparently posted a classified of himself on the NYC Craigslist site with these words, "Mr. Right Iz Here Waitin on U." He then included a bunch of photos, one of which is above. This guy apparently thought the 4 million women in the Naked City would swoon. The site Gawker found it and shared it with the peoples. He then called the Gawker offices to complain that those "photos was mines." Enter Fark.

For those that have never been to Fark.com, it's basically a site that has odd news stories on the left of the page, with a funny caption, and then the comments. The comments are generally some of the funniest you will ever see. Feel free to peruse the site above, but I've linked the comments about this story here. Enjoy.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

This speaks to the Harlem in me

If you're from NYC or know it well, these two guys do a good job breaking down the ubiquitous check cashing empire.

Favorite line: "What were you going to do with those 9 cents anyway?"

Monday, May 19, 2008

Hey there

I'm sure many of you have fallen asleep waiting for an update. Some of you perhaps were concerned I was kidnapped by radical Mormons, while others might have thought I joined Erik Estrada in Arkansas.

The actual sequence of events was:
30th Reunion of college a cappella group
FEMA conference in Emmitsburg, MD
Wedding for good friend in CT.

It was all a good time, though when someone asked what I thought of the FEMA week I remarked that old line about feeling like a mushroom. They kept us in the dark and fed us a lot of shit. But the good parts were had in the interaction between the states. A really nice bunch of people.

In my day or two at home between these activities I found out that my heart rate monitor arrived from Woot. This will allow me to maximize my workouts, or allow me to predict my impending death in a more accurate way. The set up looks like this:
Except for the fact mine has a watch with a readout for your heart rate and this guy is totally a sex offender. (Thanks Rowsport.com for the image.) So I went running and the idea is to stay in the target heart rate. So I hear the thing beeping for the whole 3 mile or so run and it's flashing. I think this means that I'm below my target heart rate so I push on harder.

It's important at this time to point out that I have mistaken the target heart rate for the maximum heart rate, so basically I'm willing my ventricles to explode. I come back and the watch tells me dutifully that I spent 28 minutes of the 30 minute run above my target, and the beeping is apparently an alarm to let you know to dial it down a notch. Good to know. I looked like I was being chased I'm sure. By slow zombies. I have lost close to 20 pounds in the past year though.

Hope everyone else had a nice weekend.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Irony thy name is family

So I come home today and I find an Amazon box. It wasn't my Heart Monitor I had ordered for running as that just shipped, so I knew it was either a mistake or a gift. Well, it was a gift either way. It was a gift. A book. From my Dad and step-mother, Susan. The book is called Walking on Eggshells: Navigating the Delicate Relationship between Adult Children and Parents. That's fine. Parents send their kids books all the time. The book apparently has gotten good reviews.

It was the note that they wrote in the text box that came written on the packing slip. (Clears throat)

Susan met Isay yesterday
(the author) and thought she was so good that we are giving this to some of our friends who have real issues, but thought we could all learn something. Love, J&S

Okay, so it's obvious that this book was sent as a gift to more than just me. I don't know much about this whole family psychology thing, but something tells me that if you're sending a book like this to your adult children you probably don't want to tell them you're doing it because they have "real issues." But that's just me.

It did make for a good laugh. And yes, I'll read the book. Hope everyone's Wednesday is going swimmingly.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Huh

I just want to point out that if you google "Civil Servant" that this site is on the first page. The bottom, but still the first page.

Soon the ads will start and then I'm going to retire filthy rich. Or I'll just keep writing this so my family and 7 friends can find out what is going on in my life.

This game will be the death of me

So what do you do on a rainy weekend in Boston. Well, if you have Grand Theft Auto IV, you play it a lot. I'm from NYC as most know and that's the setting for the game. They spent a lot of time making it really realistic. I just got access to Manhattan in the game, so I've enjoyed exploring the old haunts. They even included Harlem Hospital, god bless their hearts. Here's actual game footage from a helicopter you can "borrow."

And when I wasn't doing that, I was reading The Power Broker, which is only 1344 pages. But a great read if you want to know more about Robert Moses. The guy did a lot, but really comes off as a complete prick.

Finally tonight I went to the grocery store, which means it's time for this weeks grocery oddity. You'll recall that last time it was the Kraft Bagelful, which is the toastable bagel that has cream cheese inside. I'd give that product a B. And today I chose for my dining pleasure...

Jimmy Dean's mini sausages wrapped in small blueberry pancakes. I originally wanted to go for the pancake wrapped sausage on a stick. Sort of a breakfast corn dog, but I thought I would have gotten funny looks from the girl buying steamed frozen veggies next to me. Not like the mini sausages are better for you. I will review those early this week.