I Suck At Pool Parties

following dim sum, a bunch of my friends and i were invited to my friend's (ron) for a pool party. too bad i suck at pool parties.

incidentally, ron lives just a few miles up the street from me. you'd think that with the proximity of our houses, that we'd hang out more often. sadly, we don't. i keep thinking that i should call ron more often every time i do get the chance to hang out with him because it's just fun. unfortunately, we just seem to have different schedules.

anyway, ron recently added an in-ground pool to his backyard. he also added an in-law apartment as well for his parents. in fact, he apparently just completed the finishing touches to the pool yesterday. needless to say, the pool and the backyard... awesome. i don't know where or how ron finds time to do these projects... especially with three kids. he must have great focus when he's not drunk and smeared in garv's wedding cake... i have a hard enough time doing simple projects and i don't have any children yet.

(pictured below are marc, cass and garv putting their feet in the water.)


anyway, the pool party was fantastic. ron and his wife (trinh) know how to throw parties. the food was simply delicious. trinh has a secret recipe for spring rolls involving taro... so good. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) i must have eaten a dozen spring rolls.

all the children that were there loved the pool. they are also so well behaved. it's amazing! i can only hope that when my minion (bruce, the little dragon) is born, he/she will be as well behaved as some of those children that were there.

i even got to try the moonwalk machine! luckily, i did not exceed the weight limit for the moonwalk. (the moonwalk is the inflatable thing that you can jump and bounce around in.) it was fun.

needless to say, i had a great time at ron's. i'm already looking forward to the superbowl party there now.

I Suck At China Pearl

my friend (aimee) had organized a little get together for today. the theme for the get together was apparently... middle school. it has been twenty years since all of my friends and i graduated from middle school. yes... i am old.

apparently, aimee had recently been in contact with someone we had went to middle school with whom she had lost touch with. i assuming from there, aimee then thought it would be nice to reconnect with some of these fellow middle school alums. thus, she organized a little dim sum for today... the restaurant: china pearl.

now, i suck at china pearl. for anyone who knows me, i'm not a big fan of chinese food as it is. i'm also not a big fan of the china pearl in quincy because i think the food tastes worse than the chinese food that i normally don't like. so you can imagine how much i don't particularly like the china pearl. (there will be no "cue rachael ray's 'yum-o' sound" in this post.)

add to that... the fact that there's probably a good reason why my current friends and i lost touch with some of the middle school alums... and well, you can see... i wasn't really looking forward to this outing.

as it turns out, i actually had a decent time at dim sum. don't get me wrong, the quality of the food was still somewhat palatable at best. in fact, my friend's (garv) wife (leeann) apparently became sick after dim sum. coincidence? i think not. but i think one of the things that made dim sum fun today was the fact that none of the middle school alums who none of us keep in touch with that said they were going... came. not one of them... nada... zip... zippo.

there's probably a term for saying you're going to go somewhere you're invited to... and then not showing and not calling to notify the organizer that you are not going to be there. i can't think of the word at the moment, but the word could perhaps sound like "dumbass"... and i should know, because i have done it many times.

so... dim sum today was basically my normal circle of friends: aimee (and her family), garv, leeann, cass, ellen, marc, amy (the czar), and myself. incidentally, we ran into my friend (nhut/andy) as we were going in to dim sum. it was very funny. nhut (aka andy) was with his two young nephews. as nhut said hi to all of us, one of his nephews pointed at him with amazement and exclaimed "you do have a secret life, uncle andy!" it was cute.

(pictured below is cass and marc.)


interesting tidbit that i learned today: the china pearl was actually requested to be the reception area for garv and leeann's wedding. apparently, garv's parents are big fans of the place. who knew? thankfully, garv and leeann went with some other venue for the reception.

anyway, (all things considered) i had a good time at dim sum today. as usual... it was fun to simply hang out with my friends.

I Still Suck At Coop's

after the sisterhood of the traveling pants 2/tropic thunder movie, the plan for everyone was to meet up with my friend (hot amy). hot amy has been excited of late because her new beau was visiting for the week and she wanted everyone to meet him. as it turns out, my friends (pam and ed) were also coming up from bon jovi's home state of new jersey to meet the mystery man. (i probably should clarify that... pam and ed are not coming up from new jersey just to meet hot amy's new beau... they were coming back to visit family and incidentally had the opportunity to meet hot amy's new beau.)

as it turned out... the original plan of dinner with hot amy was not happening. instead, the plan became bowling with hot amy. so, karen, jen, kerry, bill and i ate at the fours in quincy beforehand... to which kerry recognized a former teacher and karen recognized a former neighbor. when we finished, all of us (except bill because he had to feed the dog) headed to the bowling alley known as o'lindy's in quincy. the only problem... hot amy, her new beau, and hot amy's bff (andrea) were not finished with their own dinner and would not be meeting us there for some time.

by the time they were to arrive at the bowling alley, there would not be enough time to actually meet the mystery man as o'lindy's closed fairly early... so bowling was not a viable option. so with dinner out... and bowling out... we went with plan c... coops. it should come as no surprise to anyone that coops was the final destination even though we were there last week, because hot amy is a big fan of the place. in fact, i was figuring that it was either going to be coop's, blue 22 or the former sarsfields which is now widely known as the clash of the ash.

lucky for me, i still suck at coop's. after a quick pitstop at frozen freddie's in quincy for some ice cream (for karen and kerry), all of us finally got to meet hot amy's new beau at coop's bar and grill. pam and ed arrived later, so they were also able to meet hot amy's new beau (andy).

anyway, it was interesting.

(pictured below is andrea's new tattoo from vegas.)


in general, i tend to be low key when meeting my friend's new significant others. after all, i don't want to immediately scare them away. i am guessing my single friends would probably not like it too well if i scared away any potential suitors. thus, i tend to listen and observe the person throughout the course of the night and then formulate my own thoughts afterwards... not that i would share them with anyone anyway because that never does any good whether my opinion is favorable or not.

besides, who would want to listen to my opinion anyway? if anyone wants to know whether a potential significant other is good or not, they should consult pam's dad. i hear he is a good judge of character... and i'm not just saying that because (according to pam's mom) i am his favorite... second to ed of course. to this day, i still have no idea as to why i am one of pam's dad's favorites... i am simply assuming it is because i exude awesomeness...

regardless, i hope things work out with hot amy and andy.

I Suck At Tropic Thunder

today, i went to watch a movie that i had no intention of seeing.

apparently my bff (or former bff as she is currently angry with me... kerry) threw out the idea to my friend (jen) and karen to watch the sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 in the theaters today.

i believe (and i could be mistaken) the three of them had watched the first movie when they were vacationing together in florida a few years ago. i guessed the three of them enjoyed the movie very much. as it turns out, kerry even has the books that the movie (and its sequel) are based on. yay girl power...

i had previously never seen the sisterhood of the traveling pants, nor read any of the books. one day, when karen was flipping the channels on the television, we came upon the movie. karen got really excited to watch the sisterhood of the traveling pants again. and because i will basically watch any movie, i decided to watch it with her to make her happy.

during the movie, i kept thinking to myself... yay girl power! actually, the first thoughts that ran through my mind were: if the people i knew were in the movie... karen would be the lena character because she basically does what her parents tell her to do; jen would be the carmen character because she is basically the glue that holds the friends together; and kerry would be the tibby character because she is the tough character. i couldn't think of who would be the bridget character. i had thought that hot amy could be the bridget character because she scores with the guy, but then i realized that the bridget character is also athletic... and well... if you know hot amy, you'd know that hot amy doesn't like to sweat.

needless to say, i watched the sisterhood of the traveling pants movie with karen. so, i could only imagine her excitement for the sequel. well, today was going to be a busy day because the plan to meet hot amy's new man was also in the works for the day. eventually, karen took charge and ended up planning the movie theater and time.

the movie theater of choice: randolph. the time: 2:30pm. the early showing of the movie would still allow for the later dinner plans to meet hot amy's new guy. so, kerry met everyone at the theater.

meanwhile, my friend (bill) also wanted to watch a movie today. he wanted to watch tropic thunder. now, i suck at tropic thunder. i had absolutely no desire to watch the movie... not that i am a big supporter of retarded people or anything. i didn't even know the movie was offensive to retarded people until i saw the movie. the movie just looked outright... awful.

(below is a video of tropic thunder.)


as i was out and about anyway, i decided to watch tropic thunder with bill while karen, jen, and kerry watched the sisterhood of the traveling pants 2. and i must say... i was pleasantly surprised by the movie. tropic thunder was actually pretty funny in the zoolander sense. the movie even sported a bald and hairy tom cruise.

all in all, i must admit... i did enjoy tropic thunder. (and incidentally, when i was talking to karen, jen, and kerry after their movie, kerry informed all of us that she would prefer to not be the "bitter" tibby.)

I Suck At Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight

with the recent marathon viewing of the world's best tv show ever (buffy the vampire slayer) that my friends (marc and kelley), karen and i are taking part of, i decided to investigate the comic book aspect of the show.

the comic book is called buffy the vampire slayer season eight. now, i suck at buffy the vampire slayer season eight because i have never read any of comic books. i don't even know what the premise is... until now.

according to my friend wikipedia,

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the first arc, "The Long Way Home". The first issue was released on March 14, 2007."

(pictured below is the cover of the comic book.)


anyway, i was able to read the first issue of the comic book today... thanks cbr file!

for anyone curious, there are these files called comic book archive files (also known as comic book reader files) which are a type of compressed archive file that sequentially display images... like comic books.

needless to say, all you need is a reader to read the compressed file... and voila! instant comic book! awesome! yes... i'm a dork who get easily excited over things like that. but i must say... the first issue so far of buffy season 8... pretty cool! i can't wait to read more...

I Still Suck At Buffy The Vampire Slayer

today is my usual day that i hang out with my friends (marc and kelley).

marc and kelley have been on vacation all week. they recently came back from a little trip up north, where they even visited montreal canada. surprisingly, marc did not have any poutine while in montreal. marc is a big fan of poutine. i had never heard of poutine until marc mentioned it to me awhile ago. for anyone curious, montreal is apparently known for its poutine. as it turns out, my friend (aimee) and i were discussing the french fries concoction earlier today. (aimee is also a big fan of poutine.)

anyway, marc was also particularly ecstatic today because he scored very well on his gre tests. i suggested that he keep the scores in his wallet so that he can show them to every person he knows, much like how one of my other friends (sam) did in high school (except those were sat scores). yes, sam was that proud of his sat scores.

needless to say, marc and kelley made homemade pizza today for everyone. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) we basically hung out, ate pizza, ate dessert, and... most importantly... watched more of season 1 of buffy the vampire slayer... which we started last week. yep, i still suck at buffy the vampire slayer.

we actually made it through half of the season. season 1 is a short 12 episode season. the last episode we watched was called "the pack", which is about a group of kids who prey on the weak... literally.

looking back at my formative years, i would probably equate the pack to the mean spirited kids who would make fun of and push around the dorky kids... who were known back then as "labbies". lucky for me, i was a labby. i was, however, never picked on... although i probably should have been for my long shoulder length hair... what was i thinking? my friends joke that i was a fat girl growing up. it's a good thing i don't have any pictures of myself from back then.

(the video below shows clips from "the pack".)


anyway, "the pack" is one of my favorite episodes from season 1 of buffy. (last week, i got to watch another one of my favorite episodes in "the witch".) although, truth be told, i love all the episodes. i am particularly enjoying watching season 1 again this time around because i get to watch karen as she watches the show. she has never seen the show. (for that matter, kelley has never seen all the buffy episodes either.) so, it's been great to experience the buffy series together. and as of yet... karen has not had any nightmares like she thought she would. she did jump a little during one of the episodes tonight... but that's about it.

karen does, however, think buffy wears skimpy outfits. i totally disagree...

I Suck At Walking

today is just not my day.

adding to my already forgetful state is... an ailing ankle. in fact, my ankle hurts so much right now that... i suck at walking. i have no idea how or why my ankle hurts. i haven't done any running or anything like that. i simply woke up today and my ankle was in pain.

i have been shuffling around all day like an old person... primarily back and forth to the bathroom (perpetuating the old person image even further) as i have been working from home today. i am definitely getting old. the only comfort i have is knowing that however old i may be... i will always be younger than my friend (hot amy). not only was hot amy a "fringe oddball friend"... hot amy is now borderline cougar old.

speaking of which, i believe hot amy's new beau is arriving in sunny massachusetts today. hot amy seemed very excited about his arrival the other night. as it turns out, karen is also quite excited because she wants to meet him. i guess karen and my friends (jen and pam) had a little interrogation of hot amy when they had their women's weekend in bon jovi's home state of new jersey over the new beau. i don't know what was said during this interrogation, but it must have been something good because i rarely see karen this excited. (maybe it's the pregnancy hormones.)

anyway, i hope it works out.

oh yes... before i forget yet another thing... (and while we are talking about age with my forgetfulness and shuffling... and with hot amy...) happy birthday nana! nana (karen's grandmother) actually turns the ripe old age of 86 today. happy birthday!

I Suck At Installing Molding

come to think of it, i forgot another thing... (i'm going to be in such rough shape when i become a senior citizen. i probably won't even remember who i am.)

anyway, last night i did some work on my bff's (kerry) room. well, i suppose it's kerry's room up until the baby comes... and once the baby is born, kerry may have to resort to the couch unless karen is really adamant about splitting the room in half, in which kerry's room will only be half its current size.

i've been working on installing the trim around the windows in kerry's room. unfortunately, like most home improvement projects... i suck at installing molding.

(pictured below are the new casings around the windows of kerry's room.)


i hate installing molding. both karen and i like the natural wood look (instead of paint). unfortunately, the natural wood look makes the process of installing molding that much longer because you have to sand the wood, pre-stain it, stain it, apply polyurethane to it... twice..., apply wax, and then nail the pieces in. it's definitely a long process, but it's worth it in the long run.

anyway, kerry's room is finished in terms of window molding. the room still has the base molding to go, but we'll see what happens with that as the molding depends partially on whether or not we decide to cut the room in half.

out of sheer laziness, i am leaning toward leaving the room as is. we'll see how that goes...

I Still Suck At Wall Mounting A Television

my mind has been everywhere of late... that i totally forgot about an important post.

part of my spaciness (in addition to my general spaciness/forgetfulness) is due to something that happened over the weekend at my company. my company was subject to a sql injection attack over the weekend that my coworkers and i are still trying to rectify.

for those of you who are curious, a sql injection attack involves the adding of sql code to certain parts of a website where variables are passed to the database. the goal of the attack, would be to have this new sql code corrupt the database behind the website. hence the term... sql injection.

needless to say, the need for backing up data is very important... for instances like these. anyway, it has not been fun of late to review line upon line of programming legacy code and editing them such that this security vulnerability is limited. and believe me, there is a lot of code... even when split among my entire team of developers.

anyway, i totally forgot to mention that the other day, my favorite sister-in-law (janine), my favorite brother-in-law (pj), my niece (kaleigh) and nephew (pj) came over for dinner. it was actually a cheap ploy to enlist the help of pj because i needed help lifting the television to the wall mount that i had installed. yes, i still suck at wall mounting a television. considering the fact that the television is 52", it's not particularly heavy. the television is just awkward to lift, which made it difficult to attach the arm to the wall mount.

(pictured below is the mounted television. so now, the chairs are no longer facing a blank wall.)


it's been 2 days so far... and the television is still hanging. that's a good sign. thanks sanus for creating such a nice wall mount.

as for dinner, i think everyone enjoyed the breakfast for dinner theme. (we basically had breakfast foods for dinner.) truth be told, i think my brother-in-law likes the television more than i do as he kept mentioning how cool the television was.

i can't wait to begin hosting parties and whatnot now. after all, i think it would be fun to have people over to watch football now... or even have movie night with friends. (for the men... scantily clad women on the big screen... very exciting... for the women... scantily clad men with their rock hard abs on the big screen... also probably exciting.) the possibilities are endless... yay tv!

I Suck At Going To Las Vegas

today, my friend (andrea) is going to las vegas to spend some quality bonding time with her sister.

now, i suck at going to las vegas. i have only been to vegas once... five years ago... for this thing they call... a bachelor party. good times... good times. i am curious as to how much things have changed in those five years.

i would definitely love to go back to vegas... i had an absolute blast riding the new york new york roller coaster and the stratosphere big shot. although, truth be told... i may be taking a page from my friend (ron) who at the time said he was a father and couldn't risk doing the big shot.

one of my fondest memories of vegas (aside from the dancing women of course) is the big shot ride atop the stratosphere. it was simply awesome to see the helicopter flying below all of us... as we sat there... strapped in to the seats. the picture was equally priceless when all of us shot up toward the sky. my friend (garv) had the best expression of fear on his face. i still get a kick thinking about it.

vegas was also where i almost cracked the 200 pound barrier... almost. i have never weighed 200 pounds. during that vegas weekend, however, i was pretty close. there was this "guess your weight" game at one of the casinos where this person would have to guess your weight. you'd then have to get on a scale and if the guess was within a certain amount of pounds, you'd lose. well, the person guessed something which i thought was ridiculous because it was over 200 pounds. when i stepped on the scale... i was mortified. i was very close to 200 pounds. i had gained almost ten pounds within the course of a weekend.. proof that all you can eat buffets... very dangerous.

speaking of buffets, i remember ron disappearing after eating at the buffet at the bellagio. he excused himself to go to the bathroom. over an hour later, we finally found him.

ah, the memories of vegas. unfortunately, my friends who accompanied me to vegas probably have more vastly different memories... memories like me rolling around in my underwear... inebriated. luckily, what happens in vegas stays in vegas.

needless to say, i had a great time the one and only time i was in vegas. hopefully andrea will have a great time as well.

I Suck At Kings

yesterday, for our valiant effort in helping my bff (kerry) move from her old apartment in medford to her new apartment in salem... kerry got all of us lunch. thanks kerry!

apparently, on the corner of her street is a place called kings. now, i suck at kings. kings, not to be confused with the bowling establishment bearing the same name, is supposedly known in salem for its roast beef and seafood. in fact, kings touts itself as being famous for its roast beef and seafood.

naturally, i had to put that claim to a test. after all, it's my nature to question things. i didn't get this "instigator" reputation by simply going with the status quo.

anyway, i had a fresh haddock sandwich. normally, i would say "cue rachael ray's yum-o sound", but in all honesty, i was not that impressed by the famous seafood. don't get me wrong, the sandwich was good... maybe the place meant the other types of seafood... like clams or something.

i think, however, that i will need to try the roast beef sandwich. perhaps kings roast beef sandwiches are more famous than the seafood. i will definitely have to find out the next time i visit kerry.

I Suck At Moving

yesterday, i got up bright and early... as it was moving day for my bff (kerry). too bad, i suck at moving.

kerry has been extremely psyched about her move. she is moving to an apartment in salem that is owned by her aunt and uncle. her aunt and uncle own a two family building where they live on the second floor and rent out the first floor. well, the first floor tenants of 20 years recently moved out... so they asked if kerry would be interested in the place... and she most definitely was.

so, kerry asked a bunch of people (karen, jen, bill and me included) to help her move yesterday. picking up jen and bill, we were the first ones to arrive. the move went actually very well. one of kerry's friends (mark) was very good at packing the rented truck with all of kerry's items.

(pictured below are some of kerry's items. i am guessing she never missed the particular garments as they were on the floor... collecting dust. and for the record, i have no idea how they ended up there in the first place, but i have a vivid imagination.)


probably the worst part of the move... the heat in her old third floor apartment. it was like an oven in her apartment. imagine having to repeatedly walk up three flights of stairs into a furnace, move furniture, and then walk down three flights of stairs. i felt bad for bill. bill was absolutely sore from the previous night as he had played soccer. he looked to be in rough shape.

anyway, we moved kerry in okay. her move was actually one of the easier ones i have done... and believe me, i have done many. my brother-in-law (pj) and i joke that we should open a moving company because we move things... a lot. even without pj, i have helped many other friends move.

it took less than half a day to move kerry from her apartment in medford to her new place in salem. her new place in salem is quite nice. in fact, i actually drive by the place when i commute home from work. i should stop by sometime when she's home... but then again, if i drop by too soon she may put me to work and have me unpack some stuff. just kidding.

anyway, i hope she enjoys the new place.

I Suck At Coop's

following our short excursion registering for baby products on saturday, i was surprised to find out that the evening plans for the night involved dinner with some of my friends (jen, bill, hot amy, and andrea). i'm always the last to know when it comes to plans.

needless to say, my favorite sister-in-law (janine) who was with us when we were registering for baby products, karen and myself joined my friends for dinner. we ended up at coop's bar and grill located in quincy (on 3a). now, i suck at coop's.

if i did not know any better, i would say that coop's is probably up there in terms of hot amy's favorite quincy hot spots (blue-22 and the former sarsfields being some of the other places).

(pictured below are bill and janine at coop's.)


anyway, the food at coop's was good. i had the bbq deluxe burger with sweet potato fries (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound). the drinks were okay too. i had a dr. mcgillicuddys jagerbomb which a lot of people thought tasted like peppermint pepto. (i don't think i've ever had pepto so i can't really confirm that claim.) in addition, i had some fruity drink called a flava full... both drinks were ok.

for anyone who knows me, they would know that i am not a big fan of rectangular tables because the people at the ends always miss out on the conversations at the other end of the table. and as it turned out... i was at the end of the table. (circular tables... definitely the way to go.) it was okay being at the end though, because i may have missed some ribbing for calling hot amy a "fringe oddball friend".

all in all, it was fun to hang out with everyone during dinner.

I Suck At Registering

following the celebration of nana's 86th birthday on saturday, karen and i figured we'd start registering for baby stuff.

in case you are curious, i suck at registering.

who knew there would be so many things required for babies? i am so going to be that awful dad who knows nothing about raising a child. i can't wait to change my first diaper.

anyway, karen has been doing some research on baby products. she bought a consumer reports book about baby products and has been reading it quite religiously of late. i, on the other hand... not so much with the reading. although, in my defense, i have been working on the house and getting the baby's room done (right now, the project involves molding around the windows).

so needless to say, i felt ill prepared when we decided to go registering for baby stuff this past saturday. lucky for me, however, we had a secret weapon... my favorite sister-in-law (janine).

i must say... i love creating a baby registry with janine. not only do i get good advice from a mother of two... i get to indulge and zap crazy things with the baby registry scanner that the store gives you. there was this product (a nursery center) that had a thing for an ipod... which i thought was cool. based on that ipod functionality alone, i wanted to add the item to the registry. of course, karen... being the more practical one... wanted to check everything else first to make sure the product was one of the consumer reports better products. in the end, and with the help of janine... the item made the registry. thanks janine!

anyway, we didn't finish registering for items. there was just too many things to look at. but, at least we started. yay! oh, for anyone curious... we registered at babies 'r us. the registry number is 94809004. we were also planning on registering at target too, to give people options. hopefully janine can accompany us on the target excursion as well...

I Suck At Celebrating Nana's Birthday

i'm afraid i was mistaken in one of my previous posts.

apparently, i had one more birthday to celebrate in the busy month of august: the lucky birthday person... nana. too bad i suck at celebrating nana's birthday.

i have never known my grandparents. the closest thing to grandparents that i know are both sets of karen's grandparents. karen's grandmother (her mother's mother) is commonly referred to as "nana" by her grandchildren... and i actually call her that as well because... well... she is like the grandmother i never had.

a little over a couple of months ago, nana suffered a hemmorage in her brain while going to her weekly hairdresser's appointment. like most things in-law related... the situation became a "rigamarole", which is a common expression used by my in-laws to describe the chaotic nature that sometimes arises from hanging with all of the in-laws.

at the time, most of karen's relatives came up from down south to visit nana because they thought her time was quickly coming. well... nana proved them wrong. in fact, she will be celebrating her 86th birthday this tuesday.

(pictured below is nana... probably thinking how much of a "rigamarole" things are.)


this past saturday, karen's family celebrated nana's birthday at the nursing home that nana has been staying at... complete with nana's requested chocolate cake. i think nana had a good time... despite the obvious rigamarole that ensues whenever the in-laws get together.

for some reason, karen's relatives who have lowell ties... are not all with it when it comes to dealing with certain situations... which possibly tarnishes the marketing slogan that there is a lot to love about lowell. i'm hoping that after seeing nana now, they will be more apt to visit nana and relieve the burden that has fallen mainly on karen's mother.

anyway, it's a tough situation... no doubt about it. we'll see how it goes...

I Suck At Hanging Out With My Favorite Sister-In-Law

on friday, the company i work at had it's quarterly departmental meeting. it was quite the interesting meeting because... well... our department basically played wii bowling for the entire meeting. it was a team bonding exercise... and it was a blast. for anyone curious, i am awful at wii bowling... but i'm pretty sure i'd still beat my friend (hot amy) should she challenge me in the game. after all, i whupped her butt playing real bowling... and i whupped her sister's butt too.

anyway, after work... karen and i were invited to hang out with my favorite sister-in-law (janine). now, i suck at hanging out with my favorite sister-in-law. apparently, there was a plan concocted by my favorite brother-in-law (pj) to have a little table tennis competition with the four of us and my friends (jen and bill). you would think that with my genetics, i would be fairly decent table tennis player. sadly, that is not the case. in fact, hot amy would probably stand a good shot at beating me in table tennis... if only she were not genetically predispositioned to lose at everything.

(pictured below is my favorite sister-in-law and bill.)


well, luckily, i did not have the opportunity to display my table tennis prowess. instead, all of us simply got to hang around and have some fun. well... i would probably say everyone except for janine. she seemed a little stressed and in dire need of some alcohol. i think the fact that pj had been drinking since 2pm did not help matters much for her either. (and you thought i had a good time at work with my wii bowling.)

all in all, it was fun to hang out. bill and pj bonded over... of all things... the wii... and shooting cans with a bb gun (long story). as usual, i had the pleasure of hanging with the women... very fun... i should do that more often.

I Suck At Televisions

today is a very joyous day.

with the nice weather today, my favorite brother-in-law (pj) left work a little early. as he had some free time, he stopped on by to help me pick up a television.

this past weekend, karen and i went to a local appliance and hdtv store called kahians located up the street on route 53 in hanover. as it was a tax free weekend in the state of massachusetts, we figured we'd finally get that television that i have been saving up for and coveting.

although it did take some convincing (or possibly it was the fact that the pregnancy hormones worked in my favor), we did agree on getting the 52" sony bravia lcd television (model kdl52w4100). when it comes to electronics... it has to be sony. (i should be a spokesperson for sony... like jared is for subway, only goofier looking.)

needless to say, we purchased the television. the only problem, however, was that the television was not actually in the store. the television had to be shipped from its warehouse in franklin. since we were waiting this long for the television, we didn't mind waiting a few more days.

anyway, the television came in yesterday. so, pj and i picked it up today. and like any kid on christmas, the both of us tore through the box to play with the new television.

(pictured below is the television in its very temporary location.)


we hooked the cable up to the television just to see what it would look like... and then... nothing but white noise. we couldn't get a cable signal. we tried numerous times to set up the cable... each time it did not work.

well, pj had an appointment to get to so he had to leave. shortly after he left, i went to investigate the cable problem. it turns out... the cable at the other end (not the wall) was not plugged in so the television was not going to receive any signals. d'oh! apparently, i had disconnected that cable a while ago when i was moving the other television into the bedroom.

anyway, all is well again in my little world as the television is now receiving cable signals. now i'm just waiting for the wall mount to arrive, and then i'll truly be ecstatic. actually, once verizon fios tv comes to norwell, i'll be ecstatic because we'll actually have high definition then. but... it's a start.

after all, baby needs a new television!

I Suck At Buffy The Vampire Slayer

in addition to being my friend's (hot amy) birthday, today is the normal day i get to hang out with my friends (marc and kelley).

although he was never a diehard fan of buffy the vampire slayer, marc has lately been watching the buffy the vampire slayer spin-off "angel". i think his favorite episode of angel is "smile time" where angel turns into a puppet (which apparently can be purchased online).

(pictured below is the angel puppet from the episode.)


anyway, knowing that i had the entire buffy the vampire slayer series on dvd, marc came up with the idea to watch the entire series (and possibly the entire angel series on dvd) while we hang out... at least until "heroes" or "lost" comes back on television.

now i suck at buffy the vampire slayer. all right, so maybe that is a lie. buffy the vampire slayer is by far... one of my favorite shows ever. so, i wasn't about to disagree with his plan. karen, however, took some convincing because she gets easily scared. she gets scared watching lost too, but somehow she manages to get through the show.

needless to say, we convinced karen. the four of us almost made it through the first disc of season 1. watching the old episodes brought back such great memories. i don't remember how many times i have seen the episodes. when the show originally aired on the wb network, i remember watching the episodes twice a week simply because the episodes were on twice a week. of course, it didn't hurt that buffy was easy on the eyes too.

anyway, i love the show! if you were to ask marc, he would tell you that i was so giddy with excitement as we were watching the episodes. i was glued to the television... big grin on my face... the entire time.

ah... such a good show. i can't wait to watch the rest of the episodes (again).

I Still Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

today is my friend's (hot amy) birthday. happy birthday hot amy!

hot amy and i do not usually exchange presents for our birthdays. i'm lucky enough to simply add my name to the present that karen picks out. after all, karen and hot amy have been friends a lot longer than i have been friends with hot amy.

this year, however, i got hot amy a little something... i got her a big bag of nothing! i'd like to see my favorite sister-in-law (janine) attempt to wrap that gift. yes, i still suck at celebrating my friend's birthday.

anyway, i have known hot amy for quite some time now. i think i first met hot amy when she was working at friendly's... which is where my "intellectual" friend (garv) first coined the name "hot amy". i had always thought hot amy was one of those fringe oddball friends of karen, so i never really hung out with her much.

don't get me wrong, hot amy is still an oddball. over the past couple of years, i have actually gotten to know her a little better because she worked right around the corner from where i had worked in town. i think our first excursion in town together was to take pictures of cows for my friend (andrea). i remember thinking at the time that our excursion was going to be painful because i hardly knew hot amy... and now i was going to spend my lunch break with her looking for decorated cows around boston.

needless to say, it was actually fun and we eventually hung out more. it has probably been more fun for me these past couple of years because i keep whooping her butt in challenges and getting things like free meals... and a car wash. but for all the grief i give her about her genetic disposition for losing, she has been a good sport about it all.

and since it is her birthday, i figured i'd at least be somewhat nice to her today. so happy birthday hot amy!

I Suck At Ultrasound

today, karen had a doctor's appointment. as i was working from home today, i was able to accompany her on her visit. had i been working for the state, i'm sure someone would consider this a fleecing of the commonwealth. i can, however, assure you that there was no fleecing today as i had actually started work early and worked a little later than normal business hours.

anyway, karen's appointment involved an ultrasound. now, i suck at ultrasound. up until a few months ago in which i actually got to see the entire ultrasound process, i could never make out the pictures in an ultrasound. an ultrasound was like a rorsharch ink blot test to me because i had to guess what the dark shades of gray and black were. it was not until someone pointed out something like a baby's head, that i could actually make out a physical feature. well luckily, going through the whole having a baby thing with karen has made it easier to see stuff in the ultrasound.

anyway, i'm not normally one to post pictures of my baby (or minion as i like to refer to him/her as) because one of my fears is that i'll turn into an overbearing parent who does nothing but talk about their child and mention how great my child is to others. don't get me wrong, i understand that once a baby is born... their life is basically your life... but i'm still a big proponent of keeping one's individuality and self identity... much like in a marriage or other relationship.

so here is one of the ultrasound pictures from the doctor's appointment.

(pictured below is my minion.)


even though karen and i are waiting to be surprised by the sex of the baby, i am synonymously referring to my minion as "bruce" or more affectionately, "the little dragon".

for anyone who does not get the reference... bruce lee, according my friend wikipedia was "widely regarded as the most influential martial artist of the twentieth century and a cultural icon."

growing up, i was a big fan of martial arts and loved watching bruce lee movies. there was a time when i wanted to be a hong kong action star... granted, i knew nothing about martial arts... but i watched a lot of tv to know that the quality of hong kong's actors pailed in comparison to the united states.

anyway, bruce lee's chinese name in cantonese (lee siu lung) translates to "little dragon". he was also born in the hour of the dragon (between 6–8am) and in the year of the dragon according to the chinese zodiac calendar. thus, bruce lee... bruce yee... little dragon. need i say more?

I Suck At Fantasy Football

yesterday, i did something i vowed that i would never do... i took part in a fantasy football draft. too bad i suck at fantasy football.

a long while back, my friends wanted to start a fantasy football league. the idea was a brainchild of my friend (garv), who is the "intellectual" type according to my other friend (hot amy). garv's intentions were good... to get friends from high school to remain in contact with one another via something we all liked... football. naturally, all of my friends were on board. at the time, i thought it was a great idea as well because there were some friends who i don't keep in regular contact with (as some of you are aware of with this blog).

sadly, one of the things garv is not so good at... implementing his ideas. he once had this cockamanie idea of importing only germans to work at a bakery that he was going to create. (at the time, he was dating someone with german ties.) anyway, that's a story for another day. like i said... garv has the right intentions... just not the right means of implementation at times.

of course, making matters worse... garv... very stubborn. if all of us told him how ridiculous his german baker plan was (which we did), he would have vehemently told us it was a great plan (which he did).

anyway, all of us were going to participate in setting up the fantasy football league. needless to say, there were too many cooks in the kitchen. rather than deal with the headache and chaos known as the fantasy football league, i vowed to forget the league altogether and never to participate in it. it wasn't worth it, to me, to partake in something that was supposed to bring friends together only to have everyone bickering about things. it is... after all... fantasy football. the name says it all... fantasy.

well, throughout the years, i had the pleasure of hearing my friends complain and bicker about the fantasy football league. i simply grinned and shrugged my shoulders because i had no vested interest in the league... until this year.

my friend (marc) was asked to run the league for the first time this year. as they were adding a new player to the league, there would be an odd number of teams. thus, marc asked if i would partake in the league as a favor to him. and so, i did.

i joined the league and the league held it's fantasy draft yesterday. as i was meeting some of karen's friends at the derby shoppes in hingham, i really didn't do much for the draft. i drafted a few nfl players complements of panera's free wi-fi and then let the computer draft the rest of my team. i couldn't be bothered.

so, we'll see how this year goes...

I Suck At Billiards

saturday night was my big showdown... my billiards competition against my friend (hot amy). for anyone who knows me, i suck at billiards.

hot amy and i have been having competitions for some time. it all started way back when i opened a can of whoop ass on her in our tennis competition. i had never played organized tennis but i was pretty confident that i could beat hot amy who took lessons and did play organized tennis. needless to say, we have been competing against each other ever since... and each time has ended with the same result... hot amy horribly losing. (someone, after all, has to keep hot amy's ego in check. i don't want her "hot" moniker to go to her head.)

so the latest competition involved billiards. the last time i played billiards was in ireland of last year when all of us were at a bar in killarney. i was horrible then too, which i'm sure hot amy can attest to. (i almost lost to her in darts too in ireland, but that's a different story.)

anyway, knowing my prowess in billiards, hot amy and i decided to have a competition where the winner would get a mac 'n cheese meal. even though i was more than happy to make mac 'n cheese from scratch... despite hot amy's warnings about how difficult it was to do, i was okay with letting hot amy make mac 'n cheese from a box. i wouldn't want her to sweat too much... (hot amy doesn't like to sweat.)

well, things got a little more complicated after that. hot amy soon recruited my friend (carlos) to champion her cause in billiards against me. carlos happily obliged so long as he got a steak dinner, sweet potato fries, and ice cream for winning. (and they say chivalry is dead...) i was still willing to take on the challenge... after all, who can resist a free meal?

so, the convoluted billiards challenge was set. i would compete against carlos in a game of billiards where... if i won, i would get a mac 'n cheese dinner from a box complements of hot amy; and if carlos won, carlos would get a steak dinner complements of hot amy and hot amy would get a homemade mac 'n cheese dinner complements of me. yes, the wager is very confusing. i think i also got the short end of the stick too because my mac 'n cheese from the box reward sure doesn't seem so appealing compared to the steak dinner.

anyway, on saturday... after meeting jen's friend (david) from england... who is very nice by the way... all of us went to f1 racing in braintree and played out the billiards challenge.

(pictured below is carlos playing billiards.)


well... i think hot amy put it best when she asked me... "where did you pull that one out of?" as it turned out, i ended up winning the game... if i could have done the tom cruise staring back at the camera with the smile on the face and sinking the 8-ball without looking like in the color of money movie, i would have. although... in this case, i would have been grinning at hot amy and sinking the 8-ball without looking, reveling in the joy that hot amy lost yet another challenge.

and to show that i'm not totally heartless and cruel when it comes to reveling in hot amy's genetic disposition for failure, i got her a pineapple martini to drown out her sorrows. i would have gotten her another, but she couldn't handle more than one martini... (aka. cheap date). afterwards, all of us hung around... played some darts... and went to j.j. mulligans for dinner. all in all, it was a fun night.

i can taste the mac 'n cheese from the box right now...

I Suck At The Dark Knight

saturday, karen, my friends (marc and kelley) and i went to see a movie. that movie... the dark knight.

now, i suck at the dark knight. marc and kelley actually watched the movie shortly after it came out to the theaters. they had enjoyed it so much, they wanted to see it again... only this time, they were going to watch the movie on imax.

so, saturday morning, the four of us drove to natick. located in natick is the verizon imax 3d theater at jordan's furniture. i have never been to the imax, so it was interesting. the theater had a bourbon street theme to it... complete with beads. when we first walked in, i actually received some beads... and i didn't even have to do anything for them.

the imax theater is very nice. the bathrooms were very clean. karen said that in the women's room, the doors to the stalls were like one-way mirrors. from inside the stall, you could look through the door to the outside... but someone on the outside could not look through the door to see into the stall. i thought that was very neat. sadly, the men's room did not have the interesting doors.

for anyone who has never been to the imax theater in natick (like myself), there is also an area where you can see the staff set up the imax projector and things like that. it was very interesting.

needless to say, the movie... was simply awesome!

(the video below is a trailer for the dark knight.)


the movie itself was well over two hours, but it didn't feel like it at all. watching the dark knight in imax was definitely better than watching it in a regular movie theater because it had very comfortable seats that vibrated or what not during specific scenes of the movie... plus, there were individual speakers for each seat.

after the movie, the four us took a quick tour through the natick collection (as the natick mall has been so renamed) and then had lunch back in quincy at a vietnamese restaurant called pho hua. (cue the rachael ray "yum-o" sound.)

anyway, i thoroughly enjoyed the dark knight. it was a great movie... and i'm not just saying that because i'm a comic book geek. although i suppose... growing up reading comic books didn't hurt. i'm excited for the third movie if they make one. too bad heath ledger won't be in the next one.

I Suck At The Olympics

it has been one week since the 2008 beijing olympics started. and i must say... i suck at the olympics in part because i actually missed the opening ceremonies. i heard the opening ceremonies were simply amazing. i'm hoping someone i know has the ceremony recorded so that i can see what all the hoopla was about.

anyway, every night since the olympics started, i have been glued to the television... watching things i would not normally watch on any given day. some of those things include synchronized diving, beach volleyball, swimming and gymnastics. i was even able to catch water polo during a lunch time excursion.

all right, so maybe i am starting to feel the excitement of the olympics again. the past 2 olympics in sydney and athens did not really interest me as much. i don't really know why because i used to be a big fan of the olympics. after all, the mere concept of a bunch of athletes representing their country... gathering together to be a spectacle for the entire world to see their given talents with sportsmanship... is very alluring. (had i lived in ancient greece when the olympics started, i probably would not have thought the concept was alluring... seeing a bunch of naked men running around or wrestling each other. if i wanted to see that, i could probably just hang out at the local ymca men's locker room.)

regardless, the reason i actually became interested in track and field in the first place and decided to partake in the sport in high school was due to the 1984 olympics in los angeles. watching carl lewis win four gold medals in the track and field competition was simply amazing. granted, i knew i could not be as good as carl lewis... but nonetheless it got me interested in running track. (okay, sure... i ended up doing hurdles in high school... but watching edwin moses in the 1984 olympics was equally a sight to watch.)

anyway, for some reason this year's olympic games (the 29th olympiad) in beijing has sucked me in. whether it's watching the unbelievable quest of michael phelps in swimming to win 8 gold medals, the possible return to glory of american basketball, or simply because the games are being held in world's largest country in china... i'm all into it. i'm even into the subplots like the chinese women's gymnastic team being underaged, the spanish basketball team making squinty-eyed poses (which, i think in all fairness... the chinese team should pose as though they were doing something spanish... like flamenco dancing or having a siesta or something), or the trash talking french swimmer who predicted that france would smash the americans in one of the relays... only to lose the lead himself to the americans in that race. it's all interesting.

the reason i even decided to post about the olympics today (aside from the fact that i have nothing interesting planned for today besides watching the olympics), is that my bff (kerry) brought up the topic this morning about the women's all-around gymnastic competition. the competition was simply awesome to watch...

(pictured below is the latest women's all-around gymnastic champion... and the third american woman to hold that title... my bff... kerry.)


all right, so maybe kerry didn't really score a 15.525 on the floor exercise to put her in first place... nonetheless, go usa!

I Suck At Scene It

today is the normal day i hang out with my friends (marc and kelley).

as it was a nice day out, we decided to go out for dinner. my friend (hot amy) would have been jealous because the place we ended up at for dinner was blue-22. hot amy claims that her penchant for frequenting blue-22 is due to the great tasting martinis. more appropriately... martini... singular. i am not sure hot amy can handle more than one martini. in some circles, hot amy would be known as a cheap date.

anyway, blue-22 was empty tonight. we didn't get to see our friend (garv) who is a partial owner of the restaurant. in fact, we even didn't get to see one of the other partial owners (jeff) who alternates with garv on certain days. jeff's wife was due to deliver a baby over the past weekend. we did, however, get to see one of the guests at garv's wedding (she's the bartender). as well, our usual waitstaffer was there... only not working.

as we were leaving, the trivia team from stump was entering. in case anyone is curious, wednesdays are trivia nights at blue-22. i enjoy stump's trivia nights... although the last and only time i've been to trivia night at blue-22 was not so fun... even though we won a t-shirt for my friend (ellen). the reason it was not so fun was because we were competing against some obnoxious teams that night. i think some people get a little too into trivia night... it's just a game after all.

needless to say, we did not participate in trivia night at blue-22. feeling nostalgic for trivia night, we did the next best thing... we played scene it. too bad i suck at scene it. for anyone curious, scene it is a movie trivia game.

we went to best buy and picked up the scene it game for the xbox 360 game console. from there, we went back to marc and kelley's to play the game. the game for the xbox 360 comes with four specially designed individual controllers. thus, each of us competed against each other in the game. unfortunately, the game wasn't really much of a competition. marc and kelley are trivia gurus. i was lucky enough to finish third... ahead of karen... who never had cable growing up.

anyway, i had a good time tonight... if not playing scene it, then just hanging out with my friends.

I Suck At Celebrating My Brother's Birthday

august is turning out to be quite the birthday month... with my mom, my friends (andrea and cass) and now today...

today is my brother's birthday. too bad i suck at celebrating my brother's birthday. happy birthday big brother!

my brother currently lives... where the stars at night are big and bright... deep in the heart of texas... he moved there awhile ago because he had fallen in love with the city of san antonio. unfortunately, living in san antonio is not exactly the same as visiting san antonio as he apparently felt out of place while living there... probably because 1) he's not white... and 2) he's not exactly teeming with masculinity.

although my brother has yet to explicitly come out, he really isn't fooling anyone by referring to his long-term partner as his "roommate"... who he bought a house with in texas. i think it's unfortunate that my brother doesn't feel like he can come out and tell his family. my brother and i are not close anymore, not because of his brooding manhood... in general i think he just has a lot of other issues to work out. i look at karen and my favorite sister-in-law (janine)... my favorite brother-in-law (pj) and his two brothers... my friend (hot amy) and her sister (terri)... etc. as there is a long list of people and their sibling or siblings that i could name... and i sometimes feel envious because i wish my relationship with my brother were like theirs.

instead, my brother and i are a little distant. in fact, karen is probably closer to my brother than i am. growing up, i used to look up to my brother all the time. i thought my brother was the greatest thing since sliced bread. i was like that kid who always wanted to tag along with his big brother. i don't know what happened to change all of that. i'm sure my being the golden child didn't help much for him.

anyway, my brother has since moved to another part of texas near austin. last i heard, he was much happier there than in san antonio. regardless, happy birthday brother! i hope you enjoy your day! and for what it's worth... i still love you big brother.

I Suck At Not Your Average Joes

last night, karen and i got to hang out with my bff (kerry).

kerry's friend (tim) was up visiting this weekend so they had decided to go to martha's vineyard yesterday. tim is a very nice guy. yesterday was only the second time that i have hung out with tim. the first time was last year when he attended my friend's (hot amy) annual fourth of july shindig with kerry. so at this rate, i should be seeing him again in another year or so.

needless to say, kerry and tim had a great time at martha's vineyard. apparently, current celtic, ray allen, was on the vineyard as he had to buy a pair of sunglasses. (yes... martha's vineyard... well known for its sunglasses.) unfortunately, they didn't get to see ray allen. they didn't get to see the regular ted danson there either. i'm sure the scenic beauty of martha's vineyard more than made up for the lack of seeing celebrities.

anyway, karen and i met kerry and tim for dinner as they were coming back from martha's vineyard. we ended up at... where else... but not your average joes in norwell. now, i suck at not your average joes. karen and i are turning into regulars there. if i were to use an analogy... not your average joes is to me what blue 22 is to hot amy... only that i don't think the owner of not your average joes is "intellectual". of course, i have yet to meet the owner of not your average joes... so i guess it is possible that the owner is an "intellectual".

regardless, the four of us had a great time hanging out at the restaurant. in fact, we basically stayed there until the restaurant closed. (not your average joes closes at 10pm on tuesdays.) it was definitely fun. of course, it's always fun to have a spontaneous visit from your bff. anyway, i hope to see tim again next year.

I Still Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

yesterday was my friend's (cass) birthday. happy birthday cass! i was actually going to post this yesterday, but i still suck at celebrating my friend's birthday.

i have known cass since elementary school. we used to do a lot of silly things together. in fact, we still do a lot silly things together. one of my fondest memories (which is tough because i have virtually no memory at all) was biking down beale street in quincy... on one bike... without the use of brakes.

at the time, cass had one of those bikes where a person could stand on these rods jutting through the axis of the rear tire (where the chain stay is). i forget what the actual term for those rods are called. anyway, for some reason or another, we thought it would be a good idea to coast down the sloped part of beale street (the part right next to the mbta subway station)... with cass on the seat... me standing on the rods of the back tires... without the use of brakes. at the time, helmets weren't required by law, so we didn't have helmets either. we were young...

well, it was an awesome ride. cass must have said a prayer or something because we flew down beale street unscathed. it probably isn't so impressive now, but back then we thought it was the bomb.

anyway, cass's birthday not only signifies the celebration of his date of birth... it begins the string of birthdays within my circle of friends. so from this point on, someone within my circle of friends will be having a birthday each month until the end of january... from which there will be a lull until next august.

i don't remember how it started (because i have virtually no memory... hence the taking of pictures and the writing of this blog), but my friends started a tradition where all of us get together to celebrate whoever's birthday it is that month. that birthday boy or girl would usually send out a little wish list beforehand... and then we'd all get together and party like it's 1999... just without prince... or the revolution... or the 1999 part.

it may seem like a silly tradition. the tradition is, however, one of the few traditions that i do enjoy. i'm usually not big on traditions... even though i have been told countless times that there is a lot to love about lowell. (lowell is a reference to the annual lowell tradition for new year's eve that i am not so fond of.) regardless, i do enjoy celebrating the birthdays of my friends. it generally makes me thankful for all the good friends that i have... and eventually culminates into making me a pile of mush come christmas time.

anyway... happy birthday cass! or in this case, happy belated birthday! i hope you had a great birthday.

I Suck At The Cheesecake Factory

following a wedding after party of debauchery where i came home at 5 in the morning, you'd think that i would simply crash and sleep for hours on sunday... well i did... for 4 hours to be exact.

as it turned out on sunday, karen had made plans to meet up with my friends (hot amy and dolores). all three are dietitians... so they chose the ever nutritious cheesecake factory in braintree to meet up and have lunch at. as i was too darn tired to make my own lunch that day, i was able to tag along and crash the dietitians' afternoon out. too bad i suck at the cheesecake factory.

i haven't seen dolores in quite some time. so as to not be the only guy at the dietitian luncheon, i was hoping dolores's boyfriend (tom) would be there. sadly, he was working that day. for anyone curious, i refer to dolores's boyfriend as "loser tom", much like how i refer to my friend as "hot amy". i'm relatively certain dolores doesn't like it much when i refer to her boyfriend as loser tom.

there is actually a reason i refer to him by that name... and it's not because he is a loser. when dolores starting dating tom and i had the opportunity to first meet him, he was all concerned that all of dolores's friends would think he was a "loser". he's actually a very nice guy. he's very good to dolores. the cold-hearted jerk that i am, however, decided to refer to him as "loser tom" from that moment on. he really is good though.

needless to say, tom was working and could not go. nevertheless, lunch at the cheesecake factory was good. i ordered the very nutritious the "tons of fun" burger... which was a double patty burger (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound). normally, i would probably not eat the double patty burger... but i was absolutely exhausted and equally starving yesterday.

i must say... it's very interesting to hang out with a bunch of dietitians. after all, where else can you create the rally cry "go breastfeeding!" and have it make sense? hot amy is toying with the idea of breastfeeding... in that she is thinking about leaving her job to work for wic, another cushy government position... just on the federal level. as for dolores, she recently became a doctor. she had defended her phd and all that. i'm wondering what dolores will do now... now that she doesn't have any schooling left to attend. (dolores really likes to study.)

(pictured below is hot amy and dolores.)


anyway, lunch was a good time. after treating dolores to lunch for her phd accomplishment (and apparently for her birthday in which she didn't get to celebrate), karen and i spent the rest of the day doing what hot amy does best... go shopping.

go breastfeeding!

I Suck At Wedding After Parties

this past saturday, my friends (garv and leeann) got married. they had a very nice wedding celebration in chinatown. following the wedding, garv had asked that i go to the after wedding party being held at the hotel suite they were staying at in the hyatt hotel...

little did he know, i suck at wedding after parties. but, who was i to deny a groom on his wedding day? subsequently, my friend (ron) who was in garv's wedding party, also asked if i could drive him home in his car because we live fairly close to one another.

well... chauffeuring is what i do best... apparently. so i went to the after party. it goes without saying that ron drank a little too much. for some reason, he decided to transport the cake from the reception to the hotel... by carrying it on his head. along the way, he would ask random strangers if they wanted a bite of the cake... taking occasional bites himself. ron was absolutely covered in cake frosting. it was all over his tux, his face... everywhere.

while at the after party, ron eventually got changed thanks to garv's brother (kevin). he would continue the good times well into the night. i spent most of the night with my friend (scott), my friend's brother (adam), and my other friend (kim). we were probably the only sober ones there... with the exception of kim who got a little glassy eyed. i take that back, my friend (sam) and his wife (tara) were there too and they didn't drink either. they did a little canoodling in the corner... on a single chair.

anyway, as usual adam passed out. he is narcoleptic. so, we let him sleep on the couch until it came time for him to meet up with his bartender girlfriend after work (which would be about 3:30am). in the meantime, i got to live it up with the young'uns (because sadly, i was one of the older people there.) and by live it up, i mean talk people down from balconies.

there was one blonde girl at the after party... who i noticed of course because i am attracted to shiny objects. she was absolutely trashed... and quite frankly... looked a little trashy and i don't mean in the inebriation sense of the word with her underwear hanging out and multiple men rubbing her feet. well, for some reason... she had an argument with one of the guys there and leapt over the railing and onto the balcony. given that we were fairly high up... in a suite and all... we attempted to talk her down. she was like... and i paraphrase "all you guys ever do is poop on me because i'm the only white person here." she, of course, was mistaken. she wasn't the only white person there. and in my attempt to be rational with her, i also told her that i like white women... so i most likely would not poop on her. we eventually got her to get down and back on the right side of the railing, but it wasn't due to my rationalizations of course.

anyway, ron continued to party it up. in fact, he partied it up so much that he passed out. so now adam had a partner to be passed out with... albeit for different reasons. well, it wasn't too long before we woke adam up. his girlfriend came to meet him at the hotel. so they left together. from there, we started to wake ron up... that's when the fun started.

ron swayed back and forth... trying to stay awake. we had to pat ron down to look for his car keys. as it turned out... he didn't even have his car keys on him. in what is known as hindsight, ron thinks his keys were in his suit that he gave to kevin when he changed out of his cake encrusted tuxedo. kevin, unfortunately, had long since went home. bummer... although it's probably better anyway because as i came to find out during the after party... ron's car... is manual. he didn't tell me that fact so i wouldn't have been able to drive his car anyway... or at least... drive it well.

lucky for us, scott was still there and offered to drive everyone home. when we asked ron if he had his house keys... he said it was with his car keys... d'oh again. in ron's drunken stupor, however, he said we wouldn't need the house key anyway. i assumed that meant we could go through his garage door via his keypad or something.

needless to say, scott and i walked ron down to the lobby of the hotel. while scott got the car, ron passed out again on the bench outside. kim was still with us too... she was the backup plan for driving ron's car because she had a vague knowledge of driving manual. plus, she wanted to make sure adam was able to meet up with his girlfriend.

we got ron in the car and did a quick tour of chinatown to make sure ron's car was still where he had left it... at the china pearl restaurant parking lot. it took awhile to get ron to tell us where the car was... but we found it. the car was still there. too bad the doors to the car were locked.

so, we embarked on our little ride home. after dropping off kim in quincy, scott drove us to pembroke where ron lives. ron was still passed out in the back seat. when we finally got to ron's house, both scott and i looked for a way into ron's house. the doors were locked. there also... was no keypad for the garage doors. this was not good. eventually, ron woke up and called his wife. she did not look too happy... in part because it was already 5 in the morning by this point...

anyway, she unlocked the front door for ron. well, i finally made it home too. after walking through the front door, i went upstairs to my bedroom and crashed. it was a long day... and night... and morning. thankfully, scott was there at the after party. i don't know what we would have done otherwise. thanks scott!

ADDENDUM:
(pictured below is ron with the cake. picture taken by guest photographer... kim.)

I Suck At Weddings

my body is starting to show signs of being old. gone are the days where i can stay up until the wee hours of night and still be fully functional the following day.

this past saturday, my friends (garv and leeann) got married. their wedding celebration was in one of my favorite areas of town... chinatown. too bad i stuck at weddings. the festivities began early afternoon.

given garv's stormy past with the boston globe, i was half expecting there to be picket signs and hardcore union members outside of the church protesting all things garv. luckily, that was not the case. in addition, i was half expecting my friend (hot amy) to come bursting through the church doors when the priest asked if anyone should speak now or forever hold their peace. (hot amy thinks garv is really... intellectual... if only she knew...) luckily, there was no hot amy bursting through the door. although, it would have been quite fitting had hot amy stopped the wedding. it was garv, after all, who originally gave her the moniker "hot" amy. what could have been...

my friend (kelley) thought it would have been funny too if my other friend (bill) had been affixed to the cross that hung from the ceiling... to which would have been lowered behind the altar during the ceremony. garv and bill, also have a past together... albeit it's more of the sexual tension type than the altercation over unions type. either way, yes... we're going to hell.

needless to say, there was no bill on the cross either. instead, there was a nice ceremony... highlighted by the new couple walking under a bridge of roses. (think of the armed forces... but instead of using swords... roses... although it would have been much cooler had they passed out swords to everyone in the pews.)

anyway, after the ceremony, we had some time to kill before the reception. so, we hung out at rock bottom, which is a restaurant located just up the street from the church, for a little while. my friends and i continued our drinking well into the reception... or at least... i did. scorpion bowls (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound)... tsing tao... heineken... whatever, i drank it. inevitably, i became a dancing machine amid the 10 course chinese meal... which was quite interesting to say the least. kelley and i had more fun shoving the food in the take home containers than eating it.

(the video below is garv and leeann's first dance.)


all in all, the wedding was fun. sadly, the fun didn't stop there as you will see...

I Suck At Dating

i suck at dating, which is good considering i'm married.

i do, however, have a bunch of friends who are single and looking for love... or some loving... or both depending... anyway, it is a little peculiar as to the number of single friends that i know. so, to help all of them out, i figured i'd post something about dating that i came upon today thanks to yahoo.

anyway, according to a post by yahoo, here are the four worst dating offenses made by single women:

1. getting lazy about love. "Many people don't make an effort to date and wonder why they're still single... She [Nancy Slotnick, a dating coach] recommends spending at least 15 hours a week looking for love like you would look for a new job. She recommends networking by going to events, online dating, and do whatever it might take to meet someone special."

2. giving off the wrong dating signals. "Many smart and successful women think they intimidate single men. But Slotnick thinks the opposite is true. 'Men actually like successful single women. They just don't always know that these women are interested in them.' Women should give off the right signals and use body language to show interest. For example, if you're at a bar, stand next to the single man you find attractive and smile at him. At the same time, don't overdo it. Make sure you're smiling and not staring!"

3. listening to words before actions. "Men especially speak with actions before their words. Sure, he said he would call you next week, but did he? He talked about how fun it would be to go away together for the weekend, but did he make plans with you? Pay close attention to how your date acts versus what he says. The language of behavior says it all!"

4. sticking with cyber-communication. "Most of us have heard that countless couples have been formed through online dating. At a wedding, I even heard a couple thank an online dating site in their vows! While I credit the Web for producing countless love matches, technology can often put too many screens up between us. We develop superficial relationships over text, instant messenging, and email. After getting comfortable with someone online, get past the initial stage of dating and lay off the gadgets a bit! Make time to hang out in person to really get to know someone -- not just the persona he presents online or on the phone."

should my readership be shockingly more than two people, i hope the information will help... although i'm relatively certain my friend (hot amy) does not need to worry about the dating information above. after all... hot amy didn't get her moniker by having a nice personality.

I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

today is my friend's (andrea) birthday. happy birthday andrea! too bad i suck at celebrating my friend's birthday.

i'm not exactly sure what andrea ended up doing on her birthday (remember, i do suck at celebrating my friend's birthday). i know that she did have to work for part of the day on her birthday. hopefully, she didn't work too long on her birthday.

throughout my professional career as an instigator, i think i have worked on my birthday only once. i absolutely hated that experience. so needless to say, i haven't worked on my birthday since.

anyway, i imagine andrea likewise can't be too pleased with working on her birthday. after all, i believe she normally equates her birthday with christmas... just without the fat guy dressed in red. although, i suppose if she really wants, i could don a red outfit for her today. if the sight of me jiggling in a red suit doesn't brighten her day, i'm not sure what will.

regardless, have a happy birthday andrea!

I Suck At Wall Mounting A Television

last night, you would have thought it was like christmas at my place.

after searching around for wall mounts, i ordered the sanus mf202 in silver from amazon.com. i had figured that i might as well order one to see what the installation process would be like for wall mounting a television... because i suck at wall mounting a television. karen and i had talked awhile ago about wall mounting the television in our bedroom. we also talked about wall mounting a 52 inch television in the spacious office/workout/dance arena/thunderdome area too. (we don't have a 52 inch television. we just have two chairs facing a blank wall right now. it's very sad.)

needless to say, i ordered the wall mount. as is commonplace for when i order things online, it rained during the delivery of the item... proof yet again that mother nature does not like me. i can't remember the last time i ordered something online and not had it rain on the day it was being delivered. i'm pretty used to seeing the shipment stuffed in a plastic bag now.

anyway, when karen and i got home last night... there was the package (in a plastic bag of course). and like any good kid on christmas, i immediately tore the package open. from there, it was only a matter of time before i actually started installing the wall mount for the television. if only i had such enthusiasm for doing other home improvement projects...

the installation actually did not take long at all. all i had to do was secure the wall mount to a stud (not me of course... a stud of the wood variety); attach the bracket to the back of the television; remove the base of the television; and then just slide the bracket into the wall mount and tighten one screw. the hardest part was actually connecting the cable from the wall to the television. and of course, in typical mike fashion, i had to create a new custom cable from the wall to the television because the length of the original cable was just too long.

(pictured below is the television mounted on the wall. in case anyone is curious, hot amy's boytoy... also known as jacoby ellsbury... is circling the bases after his homerun last night.)


so far... the television has not come crashing down yet. i guess that's a good sign. hopefully, it will remain attached to the wall for a long time...

I Suck At J.J. Mulligans

today, has been quite the eventful day.

after visiting karen's grandmother, karen and i went out for dinner. we wanted to grab a bite to eat somewhere in braintree because we wanted to go to babies 'r us (just for some casual window shopping). so, what we decided upon was j.j. mulligans.

now, i suck at j.j. mulligans. including tonight, i have only been to j.j. mulligans for a total of two times. i must say... i have been pleased both times that i have gone there. today, i had the mulligan, which is a haddock sandwich meal served with fries and a pickle. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) in addition, karen and i shared their chicken quesadilla appetizer because i couldn't resist the tuesday appetizer deal. (again cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.)

for anyone curious, j.j. mulligans is a sports pub near the intersection of washington and pearl street in braintree. i first heard of j.j. mulligans complements of karen. apparenly, karen and my friend (jen) and my bff (kerry) had gone there for some reason. karen had enjoyed the food there and had randomly suggested eating there once when the two of us were looking for a different place to dine at one fine day. (after all, there's only so many times a person can visit blue-22 or sarsfields... or is there?) anyway from what i remember, the food at j.j. mulligans was good back then too.

needless to say, i haven't been back to j.j. mulligans until today... and i must say... i still like it. and afterwards, the window shopping at babies 'r us was fun too.

I Suck At Driving A Prius

it's a good thing i didn't have a wager and competition against my friend (hot amy) on who would be driving a toyota prius first, because i would have easily lost that bet... because i suck at driving a prius.

hot amy recently became the proud owner of a new toyota prius. she had ordered it awhile ago, but with the high demand from consumers for the toyota prius... she had to wait for her new car to arrive. hopefully, she will be a little more discreet in hiding the corpses of her victims/former boyfriends in this car... so as to avoid the blood splatter stains as noticed in her previous vehicle.

anyway, i must say... i am slightly jealous that hot amy has a prius. in fact, i wanted to own a prius before saving gas and the environment was so chic. when toyota first launched the prius (and i was still puttering around in my little purple saturn... which was at that time... a different kind of car...a different kind of company), i remember telling my friend (joanna) about how the prius was my dream car... at least until car companies start mass producing vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells. (i believe california has already started implementing the necessary infrastructure for hydrogen fuel cell cars. thanks to the governator... ah-nold.) needless to say, joanna was a little surprised about my choice. i think joanna was also pleased by the choice too because she's all about the environment... again back before saving the environment was so chic.

what can i say... we were trend setters. and now, i get to sound old and bitter like a grumpy old man who precedes every sentence with "back in the day..." i hope hot amy enjoys my dream car.

as for the prius, i still want to own one. maybe by the time i'm ready for a new car, massachusetts will have the necessary infrastructure for hydrogen fuel cells. that would be cool. and not to be picky, but i'd also prefer to have my car made with carbon fiber as well. for anyone curious, carbon fiber has a high strength-to-weight ratio... which when used for vehicles will provide greater miles per gallon due to the sheer lightness of the vehicle, yet still be strong enough to survive an impact.

well, i can always dream.

interestingly enough, i have just learned that hot amy apparently ran over a curb entering the garage today. perhaps it is hot amy who should actually be saying she sucks at driving a prius... :) no... i'm not bitter. just kidding.

I Suck At Celebrating My Mom's Birthday

yesterday was my mom's birthday. happy birthday mom! too bad i suck at celebrating my mom's birthday.

i invited my parents over yesterday for my mom's birthday. when i spoke to my mom the other day, she wanted to have steak and some vegetables (of any kind) for lunch. so, naturally, i went to the supermarket and got some steak and some vegetables (zucchini, squash, and green beans).

after work on friday, i had marinaded the steaks. so, yesterday morning i simply spent the time cutting up and seasoning the vegetables and preparing the couscous. (my mom recently discovered couscous and loves it. she got all excited when she found out she was going to have pine nut couscous.)

when my parents came over, i fired up the grill and started cooking the steaks and vegetables. apparently, my mom had gone out in the morning for some dim sum with one of her friends. she went to the chau chow city restaurant on morrissey boulevard. (as far as chinese restaurants go, i like chau chow city... at least, the one in chinatown. i've never been to the one on morrissey boulevard.)

anyway, my parents ate the lunch i made and told me they enjoyed it. they could have been just being nice... i realize. when i was cleaning up after lunch, my mom got this big grin on her face. she had wondered how come when i was at home i had never cooked, cleaned, or washed the dishes. (in my defense, i did do all the above at home... just not to the frequency that i do now.) my mom was just teasing me of course, but i got the sense that she was quite proud of me... hence the big grin on her face.

needless to say, after lunch my mom asked if there were a red sox game. as luck would have it, there was. so my mom, my dad, and i spent the rest of the day sitting on the couch watching the baseball game. i must say, it's very interesting to watch a baseball game with my parents. apparently, my mom loves watching the red sox. i don't think she understands the game of baseball, but she gets all excited when a member of the red sox gets a hit or scores a run. it's a little cute to watch my mom cheering for the red sox. and for anyone curious, my mom thinks the red sox should have traded youkilis, or as my mom referred to him as... the bald guy... instead of manny. i don't know why she dislikes youkilis.

anyway, my parents stayed until almost the end of the game. they waited around to see karen (as she was coming back from her little girls weekend trip to new jersey) and then left in the 8th inning to avoid traffic. my mom even later called me to ask what the final score was.

all in all, even though we didn't do much... i think my mom had a good time celebrating her birthday. at least, i hope so. happy birthday again mom!

I Suck At Hanging Out With My Favorite Sister-In-Law

my bff (kerry) spent last night at my place.

when kerry left for the day to go to her nephew's birthday party, i figured i'd start my man weekend. so, i started playing around with my trusty table saw and some pieces of wood. at one point, i actually had saw dust all up my arms and all over my clothes. what can i say... i like wood. (insert the "that's what she said" line... just kidding.)

after cutting the pieces of wood, applying pre-conditioner to them, and then finally staining the multiple pieces of wood, i received a call from my favorite sister-in-law (janine). i suck at hanging out with my favorite sister-in-law. janine and my brother-in-law (pj) invited me over to their place for some margarita fun.

apparently, my friend (bill) who happens to be the brother of my other friend (jen), was stopping by their place to talk about the kid marketing machine known as disney. janine and pj are going to disney this year with their children, so they wanted to ask bill about certain disney related items because bill is a frequenter of the kid marketing machine known as disney.

anyway, bill brought with him the ever popular margarita machine that belongs to his sister. might i add, the margarita machine... is huge... not that size matters of course. i imagine storing the margarita machine would be a little difficult if you didn't have the counter space in your kitchen. luckily, the yummy goodness that flows from its veins is enough to mask the size of the machine. okay, i did partake a little in the yummy goodness. it's tough to resist when the tequila calls out your name. (the fact that i refer to margaritas as "yummy goodness" may also be proof that i do indeed have a drinking problem.)

as an interesting side note... someday, i want to have a tequila shot with the worm... and eat the worm after the shot. my original plan was to go to tijuana, mexico for authentic wormage... knowing my luck and my penchant for all things fermented, i probably would end up face down in a mexican gutter... dead... with a mariachi band playing over me... so it's probably not a good idea.

needless to say, all of us hung out tonight imbibing from the veins of the margarita machine. it was actually quite fun (and no, it's not the booze talking).

I Still Suck At Veronica Mars

my bff (kerry) spent the night last night at my place.

unfortunately for kerry, the bed and breakfast known as my place was missing its usual pancake chef (karen) this morning. karen and my friends (hot amy and jen) are taking a little vacation together to visit one of two states where self-service filling of gasoline is prohibited... new jersey (oregon is the other state according to my friend wikipedia).

so, with the usual pancake chef's absence, i tried my hand at making pancakes... and not just any regular pancakes... blueberry pancakes. (i couldn't sell kerry on the morningstar bacon or sausages.) unfortunately, the pancakes did not turn out that well. i had accidentally dropped a whole bunch of blueberries into the pancake batter. (next time, i'll make sure to just grab a handful of blueberries as opposed to shaking the container of blueberries until they fall out.) the pancakes were a probably 20% pancake batter and 80% blueberry. in reality, i probably should have called this post "i suck at making blueberry pancakes"... because i did today.

needless to say, kerry humored me and ate the blueberry pancake concoction. she claimed that the blueberry pancakes were okay... but she's too nice. she is my bff after all. i'm a perfectionist when it comes to my cooking much like she is a perfectionist when it comes to her baking.

speaking of baking, after breakfast we finished making kerry's nephew's birthday cake. more appropriately, i watched as kerry finished making her nephew's birthday cake. she applied the frosting and covered the cake in m&ms. the cake actually turned out pretty well, considering it was looking a little sad last night with all of its burnt pieces removed. while kerry was putting the final touches on the cake, i was wrapping her present for her nephew. (for anyone curious, she got her nephew a snoopy sno-cone machine... i haven't used one of those in ages.)

shortly thereafter, we did what any bffs would do with free time... we watched more episodes of veronica mars. it is such a good show... and yes, i still suck at veronica mars. i think both kerry and i are becoming a little obsessed with the show. we took a very quick break from watching the show to eat lunch, only to quickly return to the couch to watch more episodes of the show. (lunch, by the way, was also not a good cooking experience for me. i grilled hot dogs. the hot dogs came out okay. the hot dog buns, however, were a little dry... no rachael ray yum-o sound today... sad.)

anyway, kerry eventually had to leave for her nephew's birthday party. i hope she had a good time at the bed and breakfast. i actually had a blast with kerry... but of course, i normally do when she spends the night. i must admit, i am looking forward for her to spend the night again so that we can watch more episodes of veronica mars.

addendum:
(pictured below is the m&m cake. the picture came complements of kerry.)