So here I am....

I'm going to bed shortly, as I have not slept a good sleep in about 40 hours. I visited the SEN today, which is the Paraguay Ministry of Emergency Management, essentially. Here is the front of that building.

This is their FEMA HQ. The country also is apparently in a drought or a flood, and so for the drought times the SEN has water trucks.

I'll post more photos tomorrow probably. I had prosciutto pizza tonight, which I know is not authentic, but there's not all that much in walking distance, and apparently being out after dark is not advised. Aiight....I'm off to enjoy the Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Bed.

Greetings from Down Under

So I'm here....

I have some funny stories, but I'm a little pressed for time. More later tonight....

I'm showered, and shaved and after 20 hours on a plane or in an airport, that felt really, really good. I'm off to meet the head of Paraguay's FEMA, in what is sure to be a wondrous hand-shaking festival.

This is actually really cool. Oh, and thank you TAM airlines for not killing me.

More to come....

Bye Bye Miss American Pie

Good Morning sports fans,

I leave today for the South American nation of Paraguay. I begin the journey at 3PM at Logan, and land tomorrow at around 11AM in Asuncion. I got my Paraguay haircut this morning and also picked up some dry cleaning. I've been quite productive.

I'll try and write from down there. I'll be staying here the first few nights. They have internet, so I can try and post some photos and the like. I'll have lots of stories for you guys when I get back.

Let's hope I don't get kidnapped, or eaten by a giant snake. Oh, and Chuck, I promise I'll sit on my helmet so protect the boys. Your thousands of hours of combat time in Hueys have been more valuable to me.

Graham

How dare you make hand party with Pamela!

Last night, saw the Borat movie with the family.

Go see this movie, if you haven't already. I'll admit that I did bury my head in my sleeve for some parts as the awkwardness was too much for me to handle. But man, does he put a big spotlight on our great nation.

The naked fight made me laugh so hard, I think I pulled something. Everyone needs the belly laughs that the movie produces. Oh, and the "Wizard's Sleeve" line was about the goddamn funniest thing I've heard in a looong time.

Enjoy a snippet below...

Thanksgiving Day Roundup

So Thanksgiving was nice....my brother, Mother and step-father all went to a place called the Salem Cross Inn, in West Brookfield, MA. It had exposed wooden beam ceilings and we had turkey with all the trimmings. The only downside to eating out is no leftovers.

That was at 1:30PM, and so when we finally drove home in the pouring rain and sat down at my apartment at around 8, people were hungry again. All I had in the pantry was some stale oyster crackers and Fluff. So we began to look for eats. I gotta tell you, it was tough. Even the chinese place was closed. I tried to explain to my New Yorker parents that "We just took Thanksgiving a little more serious up here, what with the pilgrims and all..."


Finally, I found a place that was open. God Bless Charlie's Kitchen. We had cold beer and double cheeseburgers. It was wonderful. Thanksgiving truly is about family and cramming as much food as you can down your gullet.

Gobble Gobble

Greetings,

So today I took the day off work, which seems impossible as I keep getting e-mails all day long that I keep answering. I know, it's my fault. I actually took the day to work on a project for grad school. Paraguay is T minus 6 days. Went over to my work partner's office at Boston City Hall. He's Tom Tinlan, the Transportation Commissioner for Boston and a swell guy. Currently he's been dealing with a mess concerning parking meters on Newbury St.

As I was walking back to the library from his office, I saw a crackhead yell at the asian lady selling flowers outside the Government Center T Station, "Go fucking suck a cat." This made me start laughing. a lot. I'd never even heard or contemplated doing that. Thank God for crackheads as, much like small children, they provide some real gems.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you eat a lot and find new and inventive ways for turkey leftovers. I've got double duty with both sets of parents coming north over the next 4 days. Always a circus....just how I like it.

If you have a Mac...

So I just found this mildly addictive program named the Delicious Library. It allows you to use your Isight camera, which is built into my Macbook Pro, to scan bar codes of movies, music, games and books. This builds your library, which is really cool. Perfect for someone like me to be able to marvel over their collection from the road.

Now if I could only combine this with that Slingbox thing, that would be really awesome.

Dinner tonight

So Ross and I had dinner at this lovely place, the Union Oyster House. He has received a very generous gift card from our father and step-mother, and we took advantage. We ordered beers and shrimp cocktail, and lobster, two of them. We followed them up with some alcoholic coffees and were stuffed to the gills. Ross presents the gift card and his credit card, as we had gone over the amount on the card by a little bit.

The card was for a different restaurant. When the waitress told him that, I laughed so hard I think everyone turned to look. We had a card for the Union Bar and Grill, which is in the South End and not Faneuil Hall. God that was funny, and expensive. God knows I would have ordered a caesar salad had I known I was paying. God that was funny.

Ross thinks that it's harder to meet people in Boston, and that the girls are less approachable. I didn't think so, but I'll open the floor up to comments or thoughts. Any ladies care to comment?

A few general things

Good Evening America,

A few things....

First, big ups to my employer, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, as they have been accredited under EMAP, the Emergency Management Accreditation Program. We now join a select group of around 8 states and the District of Columbia in this honor. It's actually a pretty big deal. So way to go, state workers!

Second, I recently bought this game called Indigo Prophecy for the PS2. It's out for the Xbox and the PC I believe. It's awesome. Usually I play for a bit and stop, but this time I'm hooked. You get to make decisions during the game that later have direct consequences. It's like a game version of Choose Your Own Adventure, but with sex and violence. Run to the nearest store and buy a copy, if you like that kind of stuff.

And that's it for Tuesday. Wait, it's only Tuesday? What the crap....

Pardon me boys...

So I am part of Big Brothers of Massachusetts Bay, and I have a little. He's 9 and he has Asperger's, which is a high functioning form of autism. He is incredibly interested in certain things. Namely cars and trains. So today, I took him to Concord, MA on the MBTA Commuter Rail. The train ride was about a half hour and then we went to a pizza place around there. He ate an entire cheesesteak and I had half of a cheeseburger sub. That boy always eats more then me. Its impressive.

Anyway, I thought the Saturday and Sunday schedules were the same. They're not, in case you wanted to know. So after lunch, we had a two hour wait for the train. In the rain. With a very hyperactive kid. Not happening. So I called Chuck, who explained he was at the airport dropping his lovely wife Sara off. I then called my roommate, Jeff, who came to pick me up.

Thank you Jeff. You are the man. My head was a lot less achy today because of you. Help Jeff out by buying his band's CD on Itunes.

Dinner and thoughts

Tonight, I went out to dinner with Chuck and another friend of ours, Andy. It was a nice time. We started at Eastern Standard, which is a very cool place. I ordered the Mac and Cheese pretty much just so I could have it cold the next day. It's currently chilling in my refrigerator. God Bless America.

But so we were there and then went down to a sports bar and watched the Celts bungle another one (now 1-4). There was a really cute girl who took our names for a table at the restaurant, and looking around, the place was full of cute girls. But how do you talk to them? I'm not sure you even do. It's just one of those odd quandaries in life I suppose. It allows you to utter lines like, "That girl in the red top...she totally wanted me," and perhaps be right. But most likely wrong. Very wrong.

Anyone else have a good Friday night?

Happy Vets Day!

Today is Veteran's Day (Observed) for state workers. The actual day is tomorrow, but I already get that day off, so I obviously need to get an additional one. I haven't done much except laundry and eat Pad Thai, which I'm not sure salutes or honors veterans.

I guess I'm thinking about them, which has to count for something. It's a beautiful day outside and there is Hootie on the stereo in the kitchen. (My roommate's) My weekend is looking busy with some school work and possibly seeing my Little.

Why I hate Florida

So Foley's replacement, Joe Negron has conceded to the Democrat Tim Mahoney. But I want to be clear that he/kid-toucher Foley is only behind 95,000 to 93,000.

The guy likes small boys and almost won re-election.

I hope many of those people get run over by some 92 year old in a Cutlass at a farmer's market.

Ugh....I hate CNN

CNN has assembled "the top bloggers in the blogosphere" in their E-lection coverage.

Ugh....what makes a top blogger?

I heard they're running low on Cheetos and this is causing quite the panic. Additionally, the male bloggers are buying kisses from the only other female under 450 pounds.

Can we stop calling states red or blue?

Election Day

I hope y'all voted. Not that I can be smug about it, because I didn't. And yes, I know good men gave up their lives on beaches and sand bogs to give me that precious right. I didn't vote, because I realized I had never changed my voter registration from my old apartment and by the time I did, it was too late for the absentee ballot. Yes, I'll go to hell. But I live in Massachusetts, where we had a decent race for Governor and only one other exciting issue on the ballot. Wine in supermarkets. Us Puritans sure know how to make a fuss.

So I took a midterm for grad school today. Could have failed or could have aced. A lot of questions were worded oddly. It was my first time writing in a blue book in years. I remember why I hated it so much.

Came back home and there was election mania on TV. So I turned it off. Don't get me wrong, but seeing Wolf Blitzer calling races that have 1% of the precincts, is not my idea of the electoral process. So I'm looking on the Web, which is calmer. And they're not as quick to call at NYT.com.

I see that Lieberman is the projected winner, which makes me happy in some ways. Lamont was a one hit WASP wonder, with his stance on anti-war. And this whole thing was fueled by the bloggers hatred of Lieberman, which I think teaches a lesson. It's up to CT. He's their senator, sorry if you had national ideals. I'm sure this won't make Steve very happy.

Guh....

So my day is busy....and I'm getting hungry. I brought in pizza from home that the roommate and I ordered. 2 slices. Put them in the fridge at around 7:15 AM, when I got in.

They're gone.

I consider pilfering from the work refrigerator to be among the worst crimes. Waay worse than stealing from anywhere else. This is my first time as a victim at this office. What kind of sick, twisted, fat slob do you have to be to steal my pizza. I will not rest until vengance is mine. If you could see my face right now, as I eat my Zone Mint Chocolate Chip energy bar. It's disgusting. I don't want this. I wanted a greasy slice of pizza.

I hope the person who stole my pizza catches herpes.