I Suck At The Toad Concert

last night, i went to a concert... and not just any concert... the toad the wet sprocket concert. now, i suck at the toad concert. it's not like i dislike the band or anything. in fact, i own three of their albums. sadly, aside from their big hits, i can't name another song from any of those albums. perhaps i should have re-listened to their albums before the concert. oh well.

anyway, the reason that i came to even be at the concert was due to my friend (carlos). carlos apparently is a big fan of toad the wet sprocket. in particular, he enjoys the "good intentions" and "all i want" song. when he heard they were playing in foxboro, he organized a little outing to the toad concert.

the first one to jump on board and decide to go to the concert was my friend (hot amy). apparently, she is a big fan of toad the wet sprocket as well. her becoming a fan was quite accidental as the previous owner of her previous car had left a toad the wet sprocket album in the car. curious, hot amy listened to the cd and apparently has liked the band ever since.

my friend (bill) was the next to be on board with the concert. apparently, bill is also a big fan of toad the wet sprocket. he has actually gone to two of their other concerts in the past.

aside from those three, none of my other friends who were asked wanted to go... mostly because they did not even know who toad the wet sprocket was. as i knew of the band, i was naturally the obvious choice for the ever popular technique known as peer pressure. anyway, that was how the motley crew came to be for the concert.

as it also turns out, carlos was bringing his friend (shannon) from minnesota. apparently, carlos and shannon were going to meet the rest of us at the cbs scene restaurant and bar at patriot place before the concert. they were heading down early to walk around patriot place... and possibly tailgate.

needless to say, i headed down with bill and hot amy. we actually had to listen to some songs by toad the wet sprocket because... well... i didn't remember any of them outside of their hits. it was an interesting ride down to foxboro. i found out some interesting things... like how hot amy would rather pay someone to do stuff for her than actually do it herself... like sew a button back on. for some reason, that fact did not really seem that shocking to me.

anyway, we met carlos and shannon at the cbs scene restaurant and bar... and i must say... it is very nice looking. there is this huge television above the bar; the music that was played was pretty catchy; and the waitstaff of course was friendly. when bill, hot amy and i arrived, we met shannon. shannon is a dj. he seems like a pretty decent guy... even if i think he may have been flirting with the waitstaff.

as proof that we are old... our waitperson was this young looking woman with glitter makeup on her cheeks. shannon was telling her how we were going to see toad the wet sprocket. her reply: "who?" i got a chuckle out of that.

the food, by the way, was good at cbs scene. i had part of hot amy's appetizer... which was pita and hummus... or something like that. the drinks, i felt, were just okay though. we each had a couple of shots... to numb the pain as i like to tell my friends. i think it may have affected carlos more than anyone because by the end of the concert, he was a little huggy with that glazed over look.

speaking of the concert, the concert was fun. for anyone curious, toad the wet sprocket was playing at showcase live, not at the football stadium itself. showcase live is a little club at patriot place. i don't know if toad the wet sprocket could fill an entire football stadium, although i could be mistaken because the place was surprisingly packed.

anyway, the inside of showcase live is interesting. along the back is the bar. as you move closer to the stage, there is an entrance to a walled off section for dining... and as you get even closer there is a "vip" section which consisted of a roped off area.

needless to say, the five of us were initially along the back by the bar. carlos told me to give him some time so that he could get all of us in the vip section. so carlos and shannon disappeared for a little while. they apparently also ran into an old friend of theirs that they both knew. so bill, hot amy, and i remained in the crowded area by the bar.

the next thing i knew, carlos and shannon were walking in front of us in the vip section. carlos looked back at me and gave me a wave to come along. impressed, i called him on his cell to see how he got up to the vip area. he told me to just walk in.

who knew it was that easy? so naturally, hot amy and i... well... walked in. surprisingly, the attendant in front of the entrance to the dining and vip area did not even bat an eyelash. of course, for all i know, he could have been too enamored with hot amy to care. bill, however, actually stayed behind. he circled around to the side of the stage for a better view.

(the picture below is of toad the wet sprocket.)


anyway, there we were... standing in the vip area of the concert... listening to toad the wet sprocket. it was fun. granted, i did not know a lot of their songs. carlos and hot amy seemed to know more of the songs than i did. hot amy even got to hear one of her favorite words mentioned in a song... "moot". (i am guessing she must like rick springfield's "jessie's girl" as well.) nonetheless, i enjoyed myself at the concert.

it was fun. thanks carlos for organizing a good time!

I Suck At VNC

nothing gets a geek more excited than... geek stuff... and possibly porn. just kidding.

this morning, i was working on a little computer project around the house. in general, i work on these home computer projects whenever karen is not around... because otherwise, i'd probably hear her tell me that the computer project is a waste of my time... to which i'd make fun of her and reply "what is this thing called technology?" for anyone curious, that is one of the things i do according to my nephew (pj). i make fun of auntie.

anyway, today's project involved vnc. now, i suck at vnc. for anyone curious, vnc is virtual network computing. according to my friend wikipedia vnc "is a graphical desktop sharing system that uses the RFB protocol to remotely control another computer. It transmits the keyboard and mouse events from one computer to another, relaying the graphical screen updates back in the other direction, over a network.

VNC is platform-independent – a VNC viewer on one operating system may connect to a VNC server on the same or any other operating system. There are clients and servers for many GUI-based operating systems and for Java. Multiple clients may connect to a VNC server at the same time. Popular uses for this technology include remote technical support and accessing files on one's work computer from one's home computer, or vice versa."

so you may ask... what does all that jargon mean? to simply put it... i have two computers on my network: the one that i primarily use upstairs to do work and stuff; and the one that is downstairs in the living room which i primarily use to store my music and picture files. the computer downstairs is a server.

basically, i want to connect and control the downstairs computer from the computer upstairs... and vice versa (although i will probably never need to control the upstairs computer from the one downstairs). now, you may wonder how difficult could the task possibly be. normally, the task is not difficult at all if the computers were using the same operating system.

sadly, in my case the computer upstairs is using a microsoft operating system and the computer downstairs is using a linux operating system. (i dislike all things microsoft... so i try to avoid all things microsoft if i can. sorry bill gates. go open source!)

metaphorically, my computer project is like an apple trying to control an orange. i need them both to be susceptible to the powers of sugar goodness.

after some research... and a few downloads... i finally got my home computer project working. yay! geeks unite! for anyone curious, i used an open source application known as tightvnc. yes, it's "tight".

i'm quite happy now... especially since my apple can control my orange. and the funny thing is karen will never know... unless of course she reads this blog... which she doesn't.

I Suck At Lost

last night, karen and i hung out with my friends (marc and kelley).

for dinner, we ordered from the schoolhouse pizza located in quincy. karen and i tried the pizza known as the "dean's list". it was very good. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.)

anyway, we watched the latest episode of lost while having dinner. too bad i suck at lost. needless to say, the episode was great. it's funny how the time quickly passes watching the show. before we knew it, the episode ended and we were anxiously awaiting next week's episode. oh well.

following lost, we were able to watch a couple of episodes of the greatest tv show ever: buffy the vampire slayer. the episodes we watched were "choices" about willow being taken hostage; and "the prom" about well... the prom. all that is left of season 3 is the two part finale.

of the two buffy episodes, i enjoyed "the prom" the best. (karen enjoyed that episode the best too because the faith character was not in it.) i remember when i watched the episode when it first aired back in 1999 that i thought the episode was quite touching. since then, the numerous times that i have seen the episode, i still find the episode touching. (of course, i find a lot of the episodes touching and simply fantastic. after all, i call it the greatest tv show ever.)

i think what i find most appealing about "the prom" episode is as one of the characters put it: "every now and then, people surprise you", which i find true at times... in a good way. the context around it happens to be that after years of saving her classmates and saving the world, buffy was finally recognized for her selfless deeds. sure, she got an umbrella for it from her class... but i thought it was touching.

and by no means am i comparing myself to buffy. i just remember thinking something similar at the time when my son (braden) was born... and even when he passed away. there was simply so much support for both karen and i at that time, from family... friends... acquaintances... even people we did not know. it was amazing... because i personally was not expecting all of the support. and as sad as braden's funeral service was, it was simply touching to see the huge turnout. it was a nice comforting feeling, to feel connected to the world and knowing that our actions, although seemingly minute in the grand scheme of things, actually can impact others. it makes me extremely grateful and appreciative of everyone in my life.

that said, we had some interesting topics of conversation last night. the one i found the most interesting was in regards to kelley's coworker. her coworker, in an indiana jones and the temple of doom moment, took out the still beating heart of a lab mouse... while singing the indiana jones theme. it probably should be noted that the mouse was paralyzed and bred particularly for that purpose.

other interesting things that came up included: marc actually holding a baby and playing with a 2 year old. even though i personally think marc and kelley would make great parents, marc has never been comfortable around little kids. so, it was a milestone for him to hold a baby; marc also had a nightmare too some time ago involving a little japanese kid... like in the movie, the grudge; and marc was actually asked to star in a role for a movie that a student is producing... so there is hope yet that my online episode experiment can work.

yes, quite interesting. all in all, i had a great time as usual.

I Still Suck At Chauffeuring

tonight i picked up the two miss daisies (karen and hot amy) outside of simmons college and drove their sorry butts home. a chauffeur's job is never done. too bad i still suck at chauffeuring.

as proof that the two miss daisies are getting old... karen has already conked out and gone to bed. did i mention that it is still pretty early as i type this? so like most nights, that leaves me time to write my blog. i'd actually work on the house if i didn't think my actual working on the house would be a distraction for my neighbors with loud power tools and whatnot. (it would probably be a distraction for karen too.)

anyway, karen was not feeling well. in fact, once she stepped into the car tonight, she said she was not feeling well. i wonder if she has been hanging around hot amy too much. (for anyone curious, hot amy is always sick...) needless to say, i hope karen gets better. i also hope it is not something worse because i don't recall the last time karen has literally plopped into bed... exhausted... so early.

and like any paranoid husband, i will probably check on her every 15 minutes to make sure she is at least breathing. i occasionally have these bouts of paranoia, especially when i watch karen sound asleep. as much as i like to see karen peacefully sleeping, i get worried that when she sleeps on her stomach her face will be in the pillow... and then she'll suffocate or something. i probably would have this same fear had my son (braden) not passed away.

of course, maybe karen isn't feeling well because my peanut butter and jelly sandwich lost its legendary status. the nice guy that i am, i made both karen and hot amy a little snack again tonight consisting of my main staple: peanut butter and jelly... with a drink... a chocolate peanut butter cookie... and an apple (because they are teachers). karen did not finish the sandwich tonight... coincidence? just kidding.

anyway, it was another safe ride home. i got to retell my giddy fios tv experience earlier in the day. karen was quite impressed that i knew so much about the fios technician (steve). steve, by the way, avoids the social networking phenomena known as facebook... much like karen. apparently, two of his friends have gotten divorced over facebook. steve's wife, on the other hand, is on facebook all the time... or so he told me.

it's probably time now to make sure karen is still breathing...

I Suck At Fios

today is a glorious day. to say i'm a little giddy with excitement is an understatement. i wonder if this is what my friend (hot amy) was feeling when she recently joined the 21st century by getting cable television the other day.

anyway, today karen and i had fios tv installed at our house. now i suck at fios. fios is "fiber optic service" offered by verizon. the gist of fiber optics is that data travels extremely faster over fiber than copper. in addition to speed, fiber is stronger and has greater tolerance for abuse than copper wire... not that any normal person will be abusing copper wire.

naturally, all of those were selling points for me. plus, i have never been a big fan of our cable provider. our cable provider, currently comcast, was the only company around in our area. so growing up in quincy, there was only one choice for cable television. and as any economic authority can tell you... competition is important in a free market. without competition, product quality can be hampered.

and as expected, prices regularly increased with our cable provider. plus, service was routinely lacking in my personal opinion, which unfortunately could not really be rectified because there was no other option available. so when fios was first delivered to the public, i waited with giddy anticipation until i could jump on the fios bandwagon. the problem: the infrastructure had to be created for fiber in our area.

so since moving to norwell, i begrudgingly used comcast for television. a while back, fios internet first became available in our area, so karen and i had that installed. we just waited until the television portion likewise became available. in fact, my friend (pam) had asked if we would be interested in fios television when it came out because her husband works for verizon.

with my past experience with cable... the thought of getting verizon fios television sounded great, but karen and i always put it on the back burner on our list of things to do, in part because fios tv was not available in our area at the time. as well, both of us were hesitant on the logistics of wires and whatnot in regards to having fios tv... or upgrading cable service in general.

with standard cable, we were simply able to connect the coaxial cable to our television to hide any wires. normally, that would be fine. since getting our ginormous television for the second floor, however, we were finding that we (or more like me...) preferred the high definition channels over the regular channels because the picture was much clearer. (apparently, i have expensive taste.) unfortunately, to get high definition there was no way around not having a set top box. so figuring out what to do in that regards also made delaying the installation of fios tv easier.

and then one day, verizon called out of the blue and simply asked if we wanted fios tv in addition to the internet and phone service that we already had. rather than wait any longer, i agreed (sorry pam!). mathematically and financially, it made more sense.

anyway, today the fios technician (steve) came to install fios tv. incidentally, steve is a product of quincy, class of 1991 (from archbishop williams in braintree). it's a small world. he is a funny guy. we bonded over cookies made by karen. plus, he got to show me how to use the fios set top box. we recorded a little of the rachael ray show... yummers.

all in all, it was great. there is still the problem of wiring logistics and where to run the wires so that it's not a complete tangled mess. wires aside, i'm quite happy with verizon's fios tv thus far. hopefully karen will be equally happy because she hasn't seen the wires yet.

I Suck At Celebrating My Favorite Sister In-Law's Birthday

today is my favorite sister in-law's (janine) birthday. happy birthday janine! i hope you have a great day today. unfortunately, i suck at celebrating my favorite sister in-law's birthday.

luckily for me, i actually celebrated janine's birthday yesterday. karen, her parents, and i were invited to janine's for a birthday dinner. my favorite brother in-law (pj) had cooked janine's desired meal for her birthday: meatloaf. he actually made two loaves... one that was barbeque flavored... and the other ketchup flavored. they were both good.

anyway, it goes without saying that janine is my favorite sister in-law even if her other cousins think that she is a "bad seed". growing up, i always wanted a sister... not that i have anything against my older brother. i love my brother. i just always thought it would be fun to have a younger sister to pick on. i look at my nephew (pj) and niece (kaleigh) and i sometimes think about how fun it must have been to grow up with a sister.

i'm actually quite lucky to have janine as my sister in-law. she has done a lot for both karen and i and i probably don't thank her as much as i should. in fact, i think i've only given her a hug once. i'm generally not a huggy person... unless i imbibe a little too much... and even then i'm not so huggy much anymore. but yes, i believe i have only given her a hug once.

i actually remember the hug very well because the hug was in the parking lot of south shore hospital. at the time, there was a lot of chaos. karen and i were asked to make so many life/death decisions in such a short amount of time due to the severity of the premature birth of our son (braden). the experience was scary and numbing at the same time. unfortunately, as much as we hoped for the best... and as much as everyone else supported us with their thoughts and hopes... things did not work out for braden.

amid the chaos of that week, i remember feeling some comfort when janine gave me a hug. with tears in her eyes, she had congratulated me on the birth of braden. it was a touching moment for me and i will probably always remember that. i'm sure somewhere out there, braden is thinking about how lucky he is to have such a great auntie.

anyway, happy birthday janine! enjoy your day!

I Suck At Writing An Episode

(i suck at writing an episode...)

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM

CLOSE UP on KAREN’S blue eyes. Her pupils dilate and she immediately jumps out of bed.

MIKE rushes to her bedside, calming her down.

MIKE
Whoa. Take it easy. The doctor said you have to get some rest. Feeling better?

KAREN
Yes. How is Marc and Kelley?

MIKE
Concerned. You had them worried when you passed out.

Karen embraces Mike with a hug. As they hug, she looks up at the television in corner of the room. A reporter from the local news station recounts a story about the evacuation of a convention center. Video clips of people scrambling for safety and HAZMAT workers are shown.

KAREN
It’s never a dull moment with us.

Mike turns to watch the news report.

MIKE
I’ll say. Just so you know, Marc and Kelley feel awful for asking us to go with them in the first place.

KAREN
They didn’t know I would pass out.

MIKE
Oh I know. I tried telling them. Plus, how many comic book conventions have you heard of getting evacuated for a HAZMAT crew? I’m guessing none.

KAREN
And how many comic book conventions have I been to that I would know?

MIKE
Does your fainting spell in the middle of the convention floor actually count as one?

Karen pushes Mike away and hits him in the shoulder.

MIKE
Okay, none.

The news shows a clip of a Karen, on a gurney, being wheeled into an ambulance.

MIKE
Hey look! You’re famous.

KAREN
Great. I’m so embarrassed.

MIKE
If it helps, you weren’t the only one who passed out. There were lots of other people that Marc, Kelley, and I saw just plop to the ground.

KAREN
So did they say what the problem was?

Mike shrugs.

MIKE
The news is reporting it as bad air quality.

KAREN
But you, Marc and Kelley are okay?

MIKE
As far as I know. The doctors cleared us. We’re fit as a fiddle.

KAREN
That’s a relief.

Disinterested in the news broadcast, Mike grabs the remote to the television.

MIKE
Are you tired of watching this yet? I know I am.

Karen sighs.

KAREN
You never want to watch what I want to watch. Fine go ahead.

Mike flips the channel. Suspenseful music is played on the television. Karen immediately quivers.

KAREN
Scary music! Scary music! Change the station!

MIKE
What? We don’t even know what show it is yet.

Karen quickly covers her eyes in fright.

KAREN
Just change it! Please?!?

Mike rolls his eyes. With the remote in hand, he grins at Karen. Mike looks up at the television, aims the remote, and changes the channel.

MIKE
Happy?

Mike turns back to see a completely empty hospital bed where Karen once was. A startled and confused look forms on Mike’s face.

MIKE
Karen?!? Whoa...

I Suck At Writing

as far as i can remember (and that's really not saying much), one of my passions has been writing. in fact, writing is partially responsible for my skipping of a grade in elementary school. that and some other things like being good in math... a result of my stereotypical genes, you know.

for anyone curious, i wrote a story in elementary school about the school principal being a vampire and attacking children. i'm sure if any child were to write something similar now in grade school, that child would probably be suspended for terrorist activities. either that, or the principal would be suspected of unlawful conduct. nonetheless, the story was a result of my creative imagination... and years and years of exposure to television. plus, the story was amusing enough to my teacher that she had me promoted. yay!

i would later continue my creative writing in high school when i wrote another silly story about a vacation that my friends and i took in high school. the story was very loosely based on our trip to loon mountain in new hampshire. as well, the story was loosely based on the television show 90210... and of course, vampires. it was a great combination, i know.

since that time, i have written a few other things... all of the stories have been equally silly: a teeny-bopper flick about track and field; a campy horror flick set in the corporate world (when i worked at state street bank in quincy); and an unfinished work containing some of my friends. i started writing the latest script months before i went to ireland and have just never got around to revisiting it.

there's probably a bunch of other works that i have forgotten as well. needless to say, i enjoy writing. unfortunately, i suck at writing. but writing has always been just an outlet for me and i really have not written much... blog aside.

that said, ever since i read an article about joss whedon, the creator of the greatest show ever on television: buffy the vampire slayer, wanting to create an online series, i actually started to feel those creative juices going again. i don't know how long my interest will last because like most things these days since my son (braden) passed away, my moods can change on a dime.

i kept thinking in my head... about how great it would be to create an online series with my friends. in my mind, the problem has always been 1) writing a script and 2) convincing friends to partake in the experiment. to be honest, i don't even care if people outside of my friends even want to watch the online series. i just think it would be a fun experiment to do.

anyway, even if i were to convince my friends to partake in the experiment, i would still need a script. i had no ideas about what to write about... until friday. so, last night in the wee hours of night, i cranked out a 3 page script... something quick and easy like in the image of the lost missing pieces videos: short and brief scenes that still leave viewers wanting more. in essence... an episode of an online series.

and without further adieu, i present my experiment. i don't even know if i even like the concept of what i wrote yet. but i guess we'll see if it's even worth continuing. for simplicity's sake, i'm just going to cut and paste the script, so formatting will look off. i hope you enjoy it.

I Suck At Working On The House

tonight, karen went out with my favorite sister-in-law (janine) and their cousin from lowell (karlene)... leaving me all by my lonesome. so naturally, i did what any person would do with a saturday night all to themselves... i worked on the house. unfortunately, i suck at working on the house.

working on our house can definitely be a grind at times. after all, i would much rather be vegging out, playing video games or what have you with my spare time. i can't remember the last time when i did just nothing all by myself. i am so looking forward to that day when i finally do get that chance. come to think of it, the last time i did nothing all day was probably january 19th of last year, when i organized the photo scavenger hunt for a bunch of my friends. oh well.

anyway, with karen out and about tonight, i got to play with wood... snicker snicker. i'm just kidding. basically, i spent the evening cutting pieces of base molding for our unfinished rooms upstairs. it's thrilling i know. for some reason, whenever i play with my trusty compound miter saw, i get sawdust everywhere. i am generally covered from head to toe in sawdust whenever i work with wood. tonight was no different.

needless to say, i'm now tired and covered in sawdust. but at least i was somewhat productive in getting things done around the house. truth be told, today in general has been quite the productive day.

as the light in our dining room went out, i had to go to home depot to find those special energy saving light bulbs to replace them. i hung 3 of the 4 paintings that karen and i received while on our cruise to the bahamas in our house. and i actually installed a few pieces of base molding in the bathroom. not bad for a day's work.

plus in terms of productivity and feeling like something has been accomplished, when karen and i went to visit braden at the cemetery, we met the relative of one of braden's neighbors. braden is buried near three other children who had likewise passed early on... about five months into the pregnancy. anyway, while we were visiting braden, a woman (barbara) approached us to let us know that she occasionally fixes the tree that we left for braden because it falls over a lot in the wind. naturally, we thanked her and introduced ourselves.

barbara, who has lived in the same house in norwell since she was the age of three, is the grandmother of the three children buried near braden. barbara's husband is also buried there at the cemetery too. for some reason, barbara was having a bad day today. she teared when she told us about her three grandchildren.

whether it was fate or blind luck that we happened to be there at the right time, i think barbara started to feel better after talking with us. i think she just wanted someone to talk to and i'm glad that karen and i were there for her. after all, i imagine it must be difficult when you lose so many family members. heck, i have trouble with the loss of just one.

all in all, it was very nice meeting barbara. i hope her day did get better. as an interesting note, barbara also enlightened us by telling us that one of the people involved with the make-a-wish foundation is also buried near braden. as bizarre as this sounds, i'm glad we chose the right cemetery plot for our son. braden is not only surrounded by friends he can play with, he can also make-a-wish at any time. neat.

I Suck At Potluck

last night, my friends (cass and ellen) organized a little get together. in fact, cass and ellen wanted to have a potluck dinner. the theme for the potluck was: international.

unfortunately, i suck at potluck because i'm generally not adept at cooking food. as far as dinners go, however, i actually enjoy potluck dinners because the idea centers around two things that interest me very much: getting together with friends... and obviously food.

i'm happy cass and ellen organized the potluck. i sometimes feel like i don't see them enough... or for that matter, i don't see my friends (garv and leeann) all that often either.

needless to say, the food at the potluck was delicious. cass and ellen went with the chinese and irish theme... or as cass calls it: chirish... making a lettuce wrap dish and a corned beef dish. my friends (marc and kelley) went with the swedish and russian theme by making swedish meatballs and the alcoholic beverage known as the russian rose. karen and i went with the mediterranean theme of couscous and hummus and pita.

much to our surprise, garv and leeann did not bring wings. garv loves wings. of course, growing up he used to love pickles and steak-umms too. garv and leeann actually went with the mexican theme by bringing burritos courtesy of anna's taqueria.

all in all, the food was outstanding. kelley and i obviously imbibed on the russian rose. we finished the bottle of vodka in no time. for anyone curious, marc's balls... delicious... snicker snicker... this is where i usually insert the "that's what she said" line. but yes, all of the food was quite delicious.

hanging out with everyone was great too. we did some reminiscing about the past (including garv's passion for pickles and steak-umms). some of the things that were discussed included our middle school experience at camp wing where marc proved the true power of liquid heat... on genitalia; the thanksgiving dinner at garv's that was supposed to be only a few friends which turned into an entire packed house; and techmo bowl.

marc ranks the thanksgiving dinner at garv's as one of the better thanksgivings. my only memory from that thanksgiving dinner was my late friend (greg) cowering with fear because my other friend's (anna) manboyfriend at the time showed up looking for anna and threatened greg. as far as intimidation goes, the only thing intimidating about anna's manboyfriend was his mustache... and maybe the fact that he seemed like twice our age. good times good times.

so as to not bore everyone with stories from the past, we did also discuss other things... like my new found appreciation for all things new kids and my other tastes in music... and also cass's taste in music. anyway, it was a great time and i had a lot of fun.

cass subsequently wants to continue the potluck theme on a monthly basis. we're not sure yet as to what the theme will be the next time around... so we'll see.

I Suck At Lost

last night, karen and i hung out with my friends (marc and kelley). as karen was off for the day, she decided to make dinner for everyone. that dinner: quiche. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) for anyone curious, the quiche was made using soy milk and fake bacon... and a whole slew of other vegetables... and eggs of course. i'm sure a lot of people already have preconceived notions about soy and fake bacon... but the quiche was very delicious.

anyway, it was the first time that karen made quiche, so she was a little worried. luckily, the quiche turned out great. the whole quiche experience is all part of our cooking our own food and eating out less frequently thing. so far, it seems to be working out nicely.

while the four of us were having dinner, marc wanted karen and i to watch a particular video. the video is of an awareness test. as i was watching the video, i thought it was neat. i did not remember seeing it before. sadly, as i type this now, it just dawned on me that i had watched the video before. (so i guess it goes to show you how awful my memory really is.)

(the video below is the awareness test.)


anyway, it was neat video. following the quick video, we watched the latest episode of lost. too bad i suck at lost. the episode was definitely great. without spoiling anything, marc seemed quite excited because the storyline progressed much quicker than he thought it would.

karen and i also told marc and kelley about how we watched the lost missing pieces videos. i had started to watch the videos when my friend (andrea) mentioned them to me the other day. according to my friend wikipedia, the lost missing pieces "is thirteen video clips ranging in length from one to four minutes that aired during the hiatus between the 3rd and 4th seasons of the television show Lost, from which the series is bootlegged. They generally became available to Verizon Wireless users on Mondays from November 2007 to January 2008 and were uploaded onto the ABC's website a week later for free streaming. The "mobisodes", which have also been referred to as "webisodes", were shot in Honolulu, Hawaii, and produced by the same crew with the same cast as the television series; thus, all content is considered to be canonical. Lost: Missing Pieces were included as special features in the fourth season's 2008 DVD releases."

the lost missing pieces were okay. they weren't anything great. on an unrelated note though, the lost missing pieces videos got me thinking more about the whole creation of an online series as originally brought to my attention by joss whedon. i still think it would be extraordinarily fun to create a series with my friends. the problem of course is 1) writing a script and 2) convincing my friends to be in it. at one time, marc, kelley, karen and i had discussed the idea of a musical. i am afraid i can't really divulge more on the concept because of the political correctness of the musical.

before i go way off tangent, the episode of lost was good. following lost, the four of us watched three more episodes of the greatest television ever: buffy the vampire slayer. the episodes watched included: "dopplegangland" about willow and the vampiric willow; "enemies" about the characer, faith; and "earshot" about buffy's temporary ability to read minds.

of the three episodes, "dopplegangland" was my favorite, probably because the episode is about willow, who is also one of my favorite characters. and really, what is there not to like about seeing the willow character in leather?

all in all, as usual i had a great night with marc and kelley. and for anyone curious, karen... is still not a big fan of the faith character. i'm guessing she'll be happier when season three ends.

I Suck At Regis And Kelly

today karen was off from work. in her effort to allow me to focus on my job, she generally hangs out downstairs so as to not be in my way while i'm concentrating on work. as it so happens, karen decided to do an arts and crafts project in the dining room while having the television on in the living room.

the show that she had on today while doing her craft project: regis and kelly. now, i suck at regis and kelly. i don't think i have ever seen a full episode of the regis and kelly show. i've only seen bits and pieces... and it should go without saying that i like kelly ripa exponentially more than kathy lee gifford.

anyway, as i was hard at work upstairs in front of the computer, i heard karen yell up to me that the new kids on the block were apparently going to be on the regis and kelly show. naturally... like any male teeming with testosterone... i bolted down the stairs to watch the new kids on the block perform. sad, i know.

(the video below is from regis and kelly.)


for anyone curious, the new kids on the block performed "2 in the morning". karen shot me a look of bewilderment and awe because i knew the song they were performing within the first couple of notes. i tried telling her that she should watch me workout because i generally run to the new kids on the block album... and perhaps occasionally belt out a few lines. but that's beside the point.

yes... very sad i know. but i must say, the performance on the show was pretty good.

I Still Suck At Chauffeuring

tonight is my night to drive miss daisy (or miss daisies as it may be). karen and my friend (hot amy) teach a course at simmons college on wednesday nights. the swell guy that i am, i chauffeur their sorry bums home when they are done teaching class. unfortunately, i still suck at chauffeuring.

i may have inadvertently set a precedent this year when i made karen and hot amy a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches last week. as it turned out, hot amy requested a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for tonight. apparently, my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are approaching legendary status... much like my awesomeness. just kidding. perhaps that is why karen's cousin's husband (tommy) remembers the sandwich i made in disney. perhaps...

of course, it could be the trappist monk jam which comes straight from the former home town of my friend (pam)... spencer. once you go monk jam... you can't go back. unfortunately for hot amy, i had to use a different flavor of trappist jam tonight because i already used up the other jar of jam. for anyone curious, yes i tend to go through a lot of peanut butter and jelly as it has become one of my staples for lunch. hopefully, the sandwich tonight was still legendary for hot amy. in addition to the sandwich, i packed her a can of soda... cupcakes... and some tootsie rolls.

the only thing that i forgot to pack... was her book "the secret" (also known as "the crap"). i meant to return the rubbish of a book back to her. so yes, the secret was not in the back seat of the car. apparently, the secret is on the dining room table... hubba hubba.

anyway, karen and hot amy told me that they would be done with their class fairly early tonight. and as i generally like to be early for things, i left early enough to account for traffic, especially since the snow started to flurry. as it turned out, it was actually a good thing that i left when i did because karen and hot amy were finished even earlier than they themselves expected. basically, when i arrived they were done. what timing! i didn't get my chauffeur gig for nothing. and for anyone curious, i even checked the nearby walkway around the car to make sure that the path was not muddy... lest i should hear karen whine again about her dirty boots like last week.

needless to say, the ride home was fun and interesting. among the topics of discussion: karen's belief that men are intimated by a woman's intelligence... to which i say... nah-uh! karen also thinks that men need to be somewhat intelligent to carry on a meaningful conversation. and to think... all this time i thought i was just eye candy... a trophy husband... damn! this is what happens when women go to an all women's college... just kidding.

oh... and hot amy is getting cable too. her family is finally getting cable... after 27 years. apparently, house m.d. was the final straw for hot amy. so now that leaves karen's parents as the only family in the world that does not have cable television. very sad... although truth be told, i would avoid getting comcast too. i am not a big fan of comcast... never have been. i'm not alone in that thinking. comcast has placed last or close to last in just about every customer service survey.

according to my trusty geek magazine, wired, an article about comcast featured how comcast's broadband service "appeared to be blocking file-sharing applications by creating fake data packets that interfered with trading sessions." that discrimination and censorship led to obvious backlash against comcast. but that's a whole different topic altogether.

the ride home was actually quite nice. i managed to get everyone home safely amid the flurry of snow. yay me. why... i guess you could say i was like jason statham in the transporter... just without the cool voice... the martial arts... and the hot body.

I Suck At Art

yesterday when karen and i returned home, we happened upon a little door tag left on our porch. the door tag was from fedex. unfortunately, fedex could not leave the package because a signature is required in person. regardless, both karen and i knew where the package was from... park west galleries.

when karen and i went away on our cruise at the beginning of the year, we were fortunate enough to win five pieces of art. (incidentally, we also purchase one piece of art.) now, i suck at art. i don't know anything about art other than simply looking at a picture and thinking the painting looks neat or not. my brief art history lesson from one of the park west representatives while i was on the cruise was actually quite beneficial and interesting.

so needless to say, when karen and i saw the fedex tag yesterday, we were both elated because we knew that the art we had gotten on the cruise was coming. as well, we were excited to be able to finally hang art on our walls. i know it seems a little silly to be excited about the arrival of art. for me, the art almost seems like we are taking another step closer to finishing our perpetually renovated house. it is as though i can see an end to all the work on the house... at least for a few rooms. plus, we get to look sophisticated in the process of adding art. just kidding.

anyway, today i waited for the fedex person to attempt to deliver the art again. as i was working from home, i had to listen for the delivery truck. when i work from home, i use the computer on our second floor. and in case anyone is curious, we don't have a door bell... which actually should be another home improvement project because having a door bell would make answering the door so much easier.

well, every noise i heard while working on the computer that sounded like a door slamming or a truck pulling up made me bolt down the stairs and look out the window. it's a good thing that i am in relatively good shape because i made numerous attempts bounding up and down our stairs.

eventually, the delivery truck came. it so happens that after bolting down the stairs to look out the window, i was temporarily thrown off by the truck because the truck was a "budget" truck... not fedex. but, it was a fedex delivery person inside.

so, i watched with anticipation as the delivery person pulled out each package. the packages look like pizza boxes... only way larger and way more rectangular. sadly, the delivery person only pulled out three packages. so karen and i will still have to wait on the other two packages... one of which is the art that karen really likes and purchased on the cruise.

and like any good kid on christmas morning, i immediately tore into the pizza boxes with joy... after signing for the three packages and waiting for the delivery person to leave of course.

for anyone curious, the art that came today included paintings from tarkay, le kinff, and picot. from what i remember of my brief art history lesson from the park west representative, itzchak tarkay was a holocaust survivor. he was only a child at the time, but the reason why his paintings of women always have their eyes closed is because that is how he remembers seeing women when he was a child. linda le kinff was the official artist of the world cup in 1998. as for for jean-claude picot... i forgot his history. (sorry jean-claude.)

anyway, i'm happy that some of the art has arrived. yay art!

I Suck At The Secret

today is president's day. so... happy president's day to all those presidents out there.

it being a holiday for a majority of my friends, my bff (kerry) called asking if karen and i would be interested in watching a movie today. that movie: he's just not that into you. the movie, which features an all-star cast is based on the book by the same name which was written by greg behrendt and liz tuccillo... who also wrote for hbo's sex and the city.

the movie has pure "chick-flick" written all over it. i have never read the book. kerry, however, has read the book. consequently, she thinks that i would enjoy the movie because many of the concepts mentioned in the book are what i would normally say to her or any of my other friends should they have been unfortunate and asked for my dating opinion. thus, kerry thought i would enjoy the movie because it would be a means for me to say "i told you so" to everyone.

for anyone curious, it should probably come as no surprise that my opinion on relationship matters is rarely sought... ever... because my honest opinions are generally not what people want to hear. (and the funny thing is, i am probably one of the more credible sources for an opinion because i'm married.)

luckily for me, i had to work today. so i could not enjoy the movie with my bff. plus, i figured that karen and kerry would much rather have preferred the quality "chicks night out" thing as my friends (jen and hot amy) were also going to attend the movie showing. so while they are enjoying the chicks night out, i did what any normal guy would do when passing on the opportunity to hang out with a bunch of women: i finished reading "the secret".

now, i suck at "the secret". jen actually has been hyping the secret for some time. when i first heard about this secret mumbo-jumbo... i thought the concept itself was garbage. at the time, "the secret" was presented to me that a person can get whatever they want by presenting it to the universe. of course, before i could officially proclaim "the secret" as "the crap", i had to do due diligence and actually read the book. never judge a book by its cover, right?

so needless to say, i started reading the secret on valentine's day because that was when karen lent me the book. karen borrowed the book from hot amy... who received it from jen as a gift. (for awhile, the book was in the back seat of hot amy's car... which led to my joking that "the secret is the back seat of hot amy's car"... snicker snicker.) interestingly enough, i believe karen and i read more of the book than either hot amy and jen. and really, who could blame them for not reading the entire book?

the book basically repeats the same thing... over and over again. i'm surprised the author was able to stretch the idea out to 200 pages. for anyone curious, the secret is... drum roll... the law of attraction.

apparently, people who understand the secret are stalwarts of society... including a plethora of famous people. the concept of "the secret" is simple: present your vision of what you want to the universe; believe you will receive it from the universe; and then feel good when you receive it. (in other words, your thoughts attract things.)

who knew it was that easy? naturally, there is no time frame on when you will receive your requested vision. in addition, if you do not receive whatever you asked for, it is due to the wavering in your belief. if i did not know any better, i would say that "the secret" sounded a lot like organized religion.

even though i had never heard about the book up until jen told me about it, i am amazed that "the secret" is so widely popular. (it goes to show you how much people can be influenced by the likes of oprah and the media.) that is not to say that "the secret" does not have some merit. part of "the secret" is based on the notion of mind over matter. i don't think anyone would disagree that if people put their minds to a given task, that it can be accomplished. i think this truthful notion... along with the quick fix method of achieving things... is what hooks people into believing the secret (aka. "the crap").

in my opinion, it's the journey in accomplishing the task that i disagree with. simply thinking something is going to happen... is not going to make it happen. take for instance the absurd example of a comic book super villain. a comic book super villain can think all day long about conquering the world. he or she can become delusional into believing that the world is conquered. but until he (or she) actually does something... it's not going to happen. sure it's a silly example, but i think to me, it illustrates the point that people need to be a little more proactive than just thinking it will happen.

of course, one of the other things that bothers me about the secret is that the book says everything happens to a person because he or she attracted it. now, i'm guessing that i'm not going out on a limb when i say people cannot possibly attract random acts of violence. who in their right mind, would do that?

as well, my son (braden) was born prematurely and passed away a little over five months ago. it's a little insulting to suggest that i attracted my own son's passing. i love my son. i still continue to love him to this day. yet, if love is one of the ultimate feelings of good... and if you are supposed to feel good when receiving a gift from the universe (in this case, the birth of braden)... then it seems a little odd to suggest that braden passed away because of my thoughts.

needless to say, i think "the secret" is without a doubt... "the crap". that is not to say that i will not partake in any fun activity night of creating vision boards as proposed by jen. i most certainly will. after all, it will be fun night to just hang out with my friends... and that's really all that matters. but as a book, "the secret" really is not worth reading.

I Suck At Memorial Mass

sundays are usually the day of rest. sadly, family get-togethers never really seem to be restful. in fact, i jokingly use the term "rigamarole" quite often when it comes to karen's extended family. after all, i had never heard of the actual word of "rigamarole" up until i started hanging out with karen's extended family. so it only seems fitting that i use "rigamarole" when it comes to karen's family.

anyway, today was the memorial mass for karen's grandfather who had passed away quite some time ago. too bad i suck at memorial mass. i have never been religious (as evident from the fact that i still have what is known as "original sin" in the christian world), but i attend the mass because i know it is important to those who knew karen's grandfather. interestingly enough, i have attended more memorial masses for karen's grandfather than some actual family members who really knew karen's grandfather. i find that a little peculiar, but that's just my opinion. i also find it peculiar that i generally know when to stand up and when to sit down... and what people usually repeat and say... just from my limited exposure to going to church. that's scary.

in the past, karen's grandfather's memorial mass was always held on super bowl sunday. this year, however, things were different. for anyone curious, a memorial mass... from what i can tell (and don't take my word on it because i'm not religious)... is a regular church mass given in the name of a past loved one. the family of that past loved one brings up "gifts" to the altar during the consecration... the part where the host and wine become christ's body and blood respectively.

in addition to not being on super bowl sunday this year, the memorial mass this year included the name of my son (braden michael) who was born and passed away in september of last year. as the mass was also for braden, karen's mother thought it would be good to have us choose the bearers of the gifts this year. after a little... rigamarole... we ended up choosing my favorite brother-in-law (pj) and karen's cousin from lowell (tommy).

anyway, it was a nice mass even if the church misspelled braden's name in the church bulletin. i think karen's family were moved by the mass. truth be told, i did not want to have a memorial mass for braden at the same time as karen's grandfather. (heck, i didn't even want a memorial mass for braden at all. original sin, remember?) to me, the addition of braden takes away from the memorial for karen's grandfather. after all, the memorial mass is about and has always been about karen's grandfather. as cold as this sounds, the month of february holds no significance for braden. so adding braden's name to the mass only takes away from karen's grandfather's mass. that is not to say, however, that i am not grateful or thankful that karen's family thought to include braden's name. i did appreciate it and i understand why they wanted to include braden. karen's family wanted to remember my son as well, and i am touched that i have such a great family.

after the mass, karen's extended family went to karen's grandmother's house to continue honoring karen's grandfather. this is generally where the rigamarole starts because there are a large number of people within a confined area. this year, in particular, things are a little more chaotic because there were conversations about karen's grandmother and the future of her care. (karen's grandmother is currently in a nursing home after experiencing a blood clot in her brain.) and as the general saying goes... there are too many cooks in the kitchen. everyone has their own opinion about what to do.

and for me, i don't really need the rigamarole. since braden passed away, my life has been crazy enough... with my fickle mood swings and all. the rigamarole surrounding karen's grandmother will only add to the craziness. so it's definitely one topic i want nothing to do with. i just hope everything turns out well in the end for my extended family.

I Suck At Slumdog Millionaire

for valentine's, karen and i decided to go out and have a movie date night. the movie: slumdog millionaire. now i suck at slumdog millionaire.

i had only heard buzz about the movie because it has been nominated for numerous awards. unfortunately, i knew nothing about the movie other than it was a bollywood type of movie... which... in all honesty did not exactly make me interested.

karen, on the other hand, knew a little more about the movie. she heard the movie was "the feel good movie of the year" and that it was a love story. so naturally, she wanted to see it.

(below is the trailer for slumdog millionaire.)


so, we decided to go watch the movie at loring hall located in hingham. i have never been to loring hall. loring hall, owned by patriot cinemas, is a one movie theater reminiscent of historic theaters. the hall is quaint with a balcony. the place is actually very well maintained. loring hall is a throwback to how movies used to be shown. so obviously, there are no stadium seats in loring hall.

needless to say, we took our seats in loring hall and watched the movie. truth be told, i was pleasantly surprised... which is actually an understatement. i absolutely loved the movie. with all the dull movies that hollywood has released lately, slumdog millionaire was definitely refreshing. i would definitely recommend this movie to anyone... that is how much i enjoyed it.

interestingly enough, the song "paper planes" by m.i.a. which became famous thanks to the movie pineapple express was also used in slumdog millionaire. the only reason i point that out is because i like that song. so it was just another reason to enjoy the movie.

all in all, slumdog millionaire was a great movie. i hope it continues to win numerous awards. watching the movie was a great way to end valentine's day.

I Suck At Valentine's Day

yesterday was the day that many single people dread... valentine's day. now i suck at valentine's day. lucky for me, karen and i generally do not exchange any presents on valentine's day. in fact, last year with the suggestion of my friend (jen), i made a quick video for karen for valentines. (i don't particularly like how i sound in videos, so the video does not have any talking in it.)

this year, i was not as creative.

(pictured below is my creative attempt for valentine's day.)


i must say, although i was not as creative as last year, this year i did have my face repeatedly licked on valentine's day... and my ear... and my chin... and my hand. as kinky as it sounds, the licking was not from karen. if it were, i'd be constantly sending pictures of me holding a heart all the time. nope, the culprits of my face licking were none other than two sibling daschunds by the name of ben and jerry.

ben and jerry belong to my friend (hot amy) who came over for the day. as karen and hot amy are teaching a course at simmons college together, they routinely get together every week to review homework assignments. valentine's day happened to be one of those get-together days. (nothing says love like homework.) so while they reviewed the homework assignments, i got to play with ben and jerry. (they are so cute. i generally use them as my benchmark for gauging other dogs.)

in addition to playing with ben and jerry, i actually received a special present for valentine's day: homemade pizza complements of hot amy. i did not realize that hot amy had planned to make good on her lost wager on valentine's from the wii bowling competition. so as an added bonus for the day, i got to watch hot amy sweat it out in our kitchen making pizza. although she had a little trouble twirling the dough, the pizza came out pretty well.

interestingly enough, this is the second year in a row that i got to see hot amy on valentine's day. last year when i was working in town, we went out for lunch to celebrate my birthday. sure, the birthday celebration was a little late, but the celebration happened to fall on valentine's day. nevertheless, we had decided to try the green dragon, which at the time neither of us had ever been to. anyway, i received a free meal then. so should this valentine's tradition continues, i should be getting another free meal come next valentine's day complements of hot amy. sweet! now i can't wait for next year.

for anyone curious, now that hot amy has paid her debt (that being homemade pizza) for the wii bowling competition, she is now available to make other wagers now. so stay tuned for the next challenge. among the possible upcoming challenges: drawing on my friend's (andrea) face... in the name of makeup application. (i would be extremely surprised should hot amy lose that competition.) i was figuring that i would simply make andrea look like the joker from batman. that would be cool. anyway, we'll see.

needless to say, i had a fun valentine's day. not only did i get to roll around the floor while having my face constantly licked, i got to have homemade pizza. good times. good times.

I Suck At Friday The 13th

there is a superstition that friday the 13th is an unlucky day. i suck at friday the 13th. and unfortunately today happens to be friday the 13th.

aside from having nothing to do on a friday night other than watch the premier of joss whedon's "dollhouse", i decided to read. the latest book that i'm reading: the 5 lessons a millionaire taught me about life and wealth by richard paul evans. you can see why i did not title my blog post after the title of the book... it's a mouthful.

anyway, i accomplished a rare feat. i began and finished the book in one day... and no, it's not a picture book... nor a children's book. lucky for me, the book is short. there are, after all, only 5 lessons a millionaire taught the author. i actually started the book earlier while waiting for karen at the south shore ymca in quincy. she was getting her yearly evaluation and i was just killing time. (speaking of which... kill kill kill kill... that is my jason voorhees reference... it being friday the 13th and all.)

also proof that today is unlucky... karen and i had dinner with my parents after karen's evaluation at the south shore ymca. as i had feared, they asked me to do some things for them. my prodigal son duties just never end. someday, it would be nice to just have dinner with my parents and not be given a "to-do" list. i can only imagine.

regardless, the book by richard paul evans was actually interesting and pretty much common sense. for anyone curious, here is a summation of the lessons:

lesson 1: decide to be wealthy. it's all or nothing. discard all media-created notions about being rich. and commit to being wealthy.

lesson 2: take responsibility for your money. know how much money you have. know where your money comes from. know where your money is going. know what your money is doing. simply put, organize and keep track of your money.

lesson 3: keep a portion of everything you earn. save at least 15-20% of earnings. if you have huge debt, split the percentage so that some covers the debt and some is saved. create a nest egg. understand compound interest and how it exponentially increases over time.

lesson 4: win in the margins. this is probably one of the more important lessons. basically accumulate extra income and save it via different means. keep in mind the following four millionaire mindsets: carefully consider every expenditure; believe that freedom and power are better than momentary pleasure; do not equate spending with happiness; and protect the nest egg. use the seven golden words of "is that the best you can do?" as it can lead to bigger discounts. curtail overconsumption. determine if the expenditure contributes or takes away from your wealth. avoid impulse purchases. delay gratification (emotional intelligence). be wary of the technique of add-ons to purchases. foster gratitude as a strategy against materialism and unhappiness. entrust people with sufficient skill to handle your money, not necessarily a loved one.

lesson 5: give back. share money in your lifetime.

in addition, here are ways (or ideas) to win in the margins as suggested by the author:

wait tables on the weekends;
turn hobbies into jobs;
make jewelry and sell them... seems like karen and my friends (hot amy and andrea) were onto something there;
teach cooking classes;
referee;
babysit;
house-sit;
clean houses or office buildings;
refurbish furniture and sell it to consignment stores;
pick up a paper route;
repair cars;
put up and take down other people's christmas lights;
do freelance work;
start a lawn care business;
donate plasma;
coach a local sporting team;
become a massage therapist (helloooo);
teach private swim lessons;
sell homemade rolls or treats;
sell gift baskets... like my favorite sister-in-law (janine);
get certified and teach aerobics or water aerobics;
start a small photography business;
breed animals;
teach language lessons;
look into credible multilevel marketing opportunities.

as well, here are other ideas provided by the author (be warned... this list is long):

put a minimum of 10% of your monthly salary and 90-100% of extra income into the nest egg;
put the extra pay increase in your savings;
shop for the lowest mortgage rate;
choose the shortest-term mortgage loan you can afford;
be cautious in taking out home equity loans;
make an extra mortgage payment every year to reduce the time span of the loan;
refinance your mortgage anytime the rate falls a half percentage below your existing rate;
drop pmi if it is not necessary;
rent out a room;
find a roommate;
rent from a private party rather than a corporation;
spend no more than 25% of your monthly gross on rent;
grocery shop with a list to avoid impulse purchasing;
comparison shop;
join a wholesale superstore like costco;
eat out more frugally and avoid beverages;
order vegetarian meals at restaurants;
brown-bag a lunch twice a week;
purchase generic brands;
watch for discounts on nonperishable items;
shop for meat early or late in the day when certain cuts may be discounted;
cook from scratch more often and not from prepackaged goods;
keeps ingredients for at least one quick and easy meal to avoid unplanned eating out when tired or in a hurry;
check receipts for accuracy;
buy fresh-food that expires within a few days as they may be discounted 50-70%;
avoid purchasing non-grocery products like cosmetics or household items in grocery stores;
grow your own garden;
search the internet for freebies or coupons;
have potluck dinners with friends instead of going out (i like that idea);
never shop hungry;
carry a calculator when you shop;
do grocery shopping on monday;
use chlorine bleach to clean toilets, sinks, floors, and walls;
coupons.com;
q-pon.com;
hotcoupons.com;
coolsavings.com;
couponcart.com;
couponorganizer.com;
frugalshopper.com;
valpak.com;
caulk windows and doors that have air leaks;
insulate your water heater;
turn down the heat by five degrees;
replace 100-watt bulbs with 60-watt bulbs;
replace old appliances with energy efficient ones;
install a water-flow regulator in showerheads and toilet bowls;
buy energy-saving light bulbs;
unplug appliances;
fix leaky faucets;
install light dimmers;
use electric timers;
use a programmable thermostat to lower heat at night and when not at home;
use high energy appliances like a dishwasher or washing machine on off-peak hours;
close heat vents to rooms that do not need to be heated;
insulate attics;
double-pane your windows;
be aware of phone usage;
turnoff lights, television, and appliances when leaving a room;
learn to fix minor things around the house to avoid paying a plumber or handyman;
always think long-term when buying a car;
buy regular unleaded gas as the more expensive fuel isn't worth it;
fill up on when when at a warehouse wholesaler;
carpool;
service cars regularly before problems develop;
pay cash at the pumps;
use air-conditioning in your car only when needed;
maintain constant driving speeds over long distances as excess braking wastes fuel;
gas-buddy.com;
fly on sundays;
book flights early;
be flexible when booking flights;
buy tickets during the week;
raise automobile insurance deductibles to reduce collision and comprehensible costs;
buy generic drugs and no-frill vitamins;
install smoke detectors and burglar alarms to cut home insurance premiums;
pay credit card bills in full every month;
shop clearance sales for clothes;
avoid clothes that must be dry-cleaned;
hand-wash and iron your own shirts instead of dry-cleaning;
shop for children's school clothes after school starts to avoid the rush and peak prices;
minimize accessories;
stick with classic style and don't always change your wardrobe to suit current fashion trends;
bluefly.com;
bluefly.com;
jumpondeals.com;
justdeals.com;
gogoshoppers.com;
smartbargains.com;

whew! and that's the book in a nutshell. so hopefully these lessons and ideas will help me become a millionare. if not... who wants to be a millionaire?

I Suck At Dollhouse

tonight, i did what any normal person would do on a friday night... i stayed home to watch the tv premier of "dollhouse". now, i suck at dollhouse. dollhouse is the new television series created by joss whedon, creator of the greatest television show ever: buffy the vampire slayer.

the show was touted to be joss whedon's triumphant return to television. his last show was the science fiction show "firefly", which apparently only lasted one season. needless to say, that show was in 2002. so, it has been a while since he has done anything.

and thanks to my friends (marc and kelley), it seems like "dollhouse" will be joss whedon's last and final television show. marc and kelley lent me an article from rolling stone magazine about joss whedon and dollhouse. apparently, the show has been plagued from the start with differing visions between whedon and network executives.

truth be told, the network executive interference actually explains a lot in regards to the premiere of dollhouse. in my opinion, i would say the show was rather "blah". the first episode was neither great, nor awful. the show definitely lacked the usual humor seen in previous series created by whedon.

sadly, i don't know how long dollhouse will last. if the first episode is any indication, then i am guessing the series will not last too long... especially since it airs on a friday night. only people with no life (like me) will tune in to watch it. heck, karen, who was with me on friday night, has even refused to watch the show with me... so it's not looking good.

regardless, it's too bad about the "dollhouse" show. on a brighter note, joss whedon is actually looking at making a series online, like his "dr. horrible" experiment. for anyone curious, "dr. horrible's sing-along blog" is a musical series about a wanna-be supervillain played by neil patrick harris. the online experiment is his new business model and honestly... the idea actually sounds great: create a series and put it online for people to watch.

i would love to create an online series using my friends and family as actors and actresses. sadly, i would have a tough time convincing any of my friends or family to partake in that endeavor. perhaps i can entice them with alcohol. alcohol makes people agree to do silly things.

i can only dream...

I Suck At OSHA Training

tonight, karen and i had an impromptu training class at the south shore ymca in quincy where both of us still work part-time. as thursdays are my normal day to hang out with my friends (marc and kelley), i was quite displeased to find out that the training class was tonight. unfortunately, like many things at the south shore ymca, the training schedule for employees is poorly planned and managed.

anyway, the training class that both karen and i had to take was osha training. now i suck at osha training. truth be told, the south shore ymca actually sucks at osha training. although the instructor of the class did not come out and say it, i have a sneaking suspicion that the south shore ymca got into a little trouble with the occupational safety and health administration (osha). apparently, osha came by for a surprise visit and had made some recommendations to the ymca... hence, the impromptu need for karen and i to take the training class tonight.

needless to say, the osha training was... well... uninformative to say the least. the instructor of the class, who happens to be the vice president or something of human resources at the south shore ymca, generally seemed disinterested in teaching the subject and pretty much glossed over much of the subject matter. of course, i was not complaining because the quicker the class ended, the quicker i could go hang out with marc and kelley.

interestingly enough, while i sat in the conference room of where the training was being held, i noticed the big "maximum occupancy: 38" sign by the door. naturally, my curiosity led me to start counting the number of chairs in the room. let's just say that the number of chairs... were definitely more than 38. i attribute this oversight to typical south shore ymca management (or lack thereof).

it should come as no surprise that the more and more i visit and/or work at the south shore ymca, the more and more i become displeased with the organization. i can't even tell you how many times (and how much money) have been spent and wasted on something as simple as the method for employees to punch in... from having a device scan membership identification cards, to hand recognition devices, to whatever the new contraption is. i don't even bother to scan in anymore. it's just simpler to tell my boss how many hours i worked rather than learn the new punch in method for the month.

since the south shore ymca has become more like a "business", things have definitely gone downhill. i'm surprised people still go to the south shore ymca because the organization definitely seems to have gone away from upholding its own four core values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility... and more toward nickel and diming individuals (staff included). i won't even get into how much of a pain it was for me prior to attending to the training class to get my identification card renewed to show that i even worked at the ymca. it's those little things about the south shore ymca that annoy me.

needless to say, i was happy to be done with the osha training class... even if i learned nothing about safety itself. the only good that came out of class, however, was that i now have the opportunity to receive a free hepatitis b vaccine series of shots complements of the ymca. thanks osha!

from there, all was good again in my world because i got to hang out with marc and kelley. i look forward to hanging out with marc and kelley because, aside from them being great friends, the get-together breaks up the week.

as marc made dinner (pasta with meatballs... which as usual was delicious), the four of us watched the latest episode of "lost". due to time constraints, we were only able to watch one episode of the greatest tv show ever: buffy the vampire slayer following "lost". nonetheless, the shows were quite enjoyable.

for anyone curious, while i think the faith character on the show is a great character, karen... not so much. i am guessing this will influence her decision to watch "dollhouse" with me tomorrow because the show stars the actress who plays the faith character... massachusetts's own... eliza dushku. "dollhouse" is from joss whedon, creator of buffy.

anyway, one of the things that also came up tonight (in addition to my venting about the south shore ymca's headless chicken management) is the state of students these days. i think this may be a sign that i am indeed... old... because i refer to the good 'o days now.

basically, we were discussing how students these days have it so well. for instance, back in the day (see... i'm old) we had to use microfiche or find textbooks to write papers. today, people can just go online. with everything so easily accessible, students now seem to have a sense of entitlement. they don't have to manually take notes anymore as things are already printed out for them. they don't have to... well... do anything anymore. heck, they don't even have to learn.

karen was mentioning how a particular student basically asked her for the answer to a case study question rather than use independent thought to ascertain the answer to the question. similarly, marc who is mentoring mentioned how students do not even care to show up for class or fail to respond when contacted.

needless to say, i thought it was an interesting topic... the state of students these days. i almost have a sense that students these days don't have to work for anything and that's a shame because i think effort correlates to some degree with knowledge. (thus, if you put in little effort, then you learn nothing... if you put in a lot of effort, then you probably will know a lot or more about that topic.) it's almost like all these advances in technology have made students lazy.

either that, or they are just plain dumb... which i would not be surprised about because i generally think on a whole that the population is dumb... d-u-m... dumb. not that i am being an elitist or anything. but heaven help the future generation if this trend continues. sheesh, i am getting old.

I Suck At Chauffeuring

last night, i began my semester of driving miss daisy... or in this case... driving miss daisies. karen and my friend (hot amy) are teaching a course together at simmons college. the course, which is scheduled for once a week on wednesdays, is already three weeks into the semester. the first week was canceled due to snow; the second week hot amy actually drove herself (and consequently drove karen); and now this week. consequently, my chauffeuring services were needed. too bad i suck at chauffeuring.

as i was working from home yesterday, i figured that i would be nice (which is an extreme rarity, i know) and make a little something for them for dinner because the class is scheduled during normal dinner hours and i figured that they would be a little famished after teaching. of course, with my limited repertoire of culinary skills, i could not make anything big and fancy. plus, i really could not make anything hot or warm as it would inevitably get cold by the time i hiked into town to pick them up. so, i settled for the old standby: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.)

for anyone curious, i make a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich. just kidding. interestingly enough, karen's cousin's husband (tommy) who lives in lowell remembers having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that i made in florida... and he loved it. i should probably clarify that. i did not bring the sandwich back from florida so that he could have it. at the time, a bunch of us (including tommy) went to disney together. fun times... fun times. things were definitely simpler back then.

anyway, i left to pick up karen and hot amy at the time they originally thought they would be finished. as i was on the highway, karen called me telling me that they would be later than expected. naturally, i began devising ways to kill time while i waited. my first idea included going to the south bay mall for some shopping. as tempting as the idea was, i decided against it because i really was not in the mood to shop... not that i ever get into a mood to shop... even though there is a home depot located there. speaking of home depot, i would be curious to see what time the "women of the night" start prowling in front of home depot. i've only heard rumors... i've never seen them. they are like santa... or the easter bunny that way... just probably with more diseases.

what i actually decided upon to kill time was simply waiting where i would normally pick them up... and read. fun, i know. reading by streetlight... very tough. too bad i don't live in new york (not that i would ever want to). new york is supposedly getting new led streetlights... at least according to my friend, wired.

regardless, i had a book about the construction of what the author calls an "eco-shed". so far, the book is rather blah. the book is called "almost green" by james glave. i was originally curious about the book because the tagline ("how i saved 1/6th of a billionth of the planet") sounded like it would provide ideas on how to make a "greener" home. sadly, no ideas yet. damn those taglines. that's how they get you.

needless to say, karen and hot amy came scurrying out of simmons college... made tracks through the snow and mud... and got into the car while i was reading. (in my defense, i did try to park where there was less snow and mud. the only other parking option would have been to park on the actual sidewalk... which probably would not have been a good idea). and then off we went.

i think karen and hot amy enjoyed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich surprise. hot amy seemed intrigued by the jelly. i don't know if that meant she liked the jelly or not. for anyone curious, the jelly was created by monks... trappist monks... from spencer... once the home town of my friend (pam). just so you know, the only good thing about spencer... monk jam. regardless, i hope karen and hot amy liked the sandwiches. after all, the peanut butter is laced with salmonella. just kidding.

anyway, it was a successful chauffeuring night... no accidents. when my chauffeuring was done for the night, karen whined that her boots had mud on them. i think she was looking for me to clean them for her. so... i simply handed her a wet paper towel. after all, my driving miss daisy duties were done for the night.

I Suck At Chinese New Year

last night, my parents hosted a chinese new year dinner. my parents absolutely love to host friends and family. i'm guessing their passion for hosting is probably what made them both enjoy their time being part of the waitstaff for chinese restaurants for most of their lives. no doubt, working as a waitperson is hard work... and i admire my parents for all that they have done for me and my brother.

since getting married, chinese new year has been like the super bowl for my parents. after all, they no longer host family and friends on the major holidays because i'm usually with karen and her family... or hosting the holiday itself. i actually think they miss hosting a lot.

so it comes as no surprise to me that my parents get all excited for hosting chinese new year. in fact, my parents apparently began preparing the menu at 5 in the morning (which was one of the reasons why they could not attend the evergreen memorial ceremony for my son, braden.) yes, my parents always cook way too much food. growing up, i didn't get my svelte body eating just bread and water you know.

this year, however, my parents wanted to try something a little different. in the past, they have made food that was generally visually appealing to non-asian people. after all, there are a lot of people who tend to dismiss food without even trying it based on appearances. this year, my parents wanted to throw a little twist in the menu and incorporate some more chinese dishes.

i don't know if i could even list all of the items that my parents made. there was just that many dishes ranging from duck to scallops to sushi. and all of the dishes were actually good. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.)

i think everyone who attended enjoyed the food as well. karen's parents came. my favorite sister-in-law (janine) and her family (pj, pj, and kaleigh) came. my friends (bill and jen) came. my cousin (betty) and her son (marvin) came. my parents's friends (jane, heidi and richard) came. there seemed like so many people in my parents's house yesterday. to any unsuspecting person, they might think the stereotype that asian houses are crammed full of people is true.

my parents, however, were sad to hear that my friend (carlos) would not actually be attending. i made the mistake of telling my parents that carlos really enjoyed the chinese soup that she made one day. (it was the soup that a bunch of us had tried at janine's one night.) i think since that time, my parents really liked carlos. so they were disappointed to hear that he was not coming. yes, my parents get really excited when people enjoy their cooking. perhaps that is why i get all paranoid over people enjoying my cooking...

(pictured below are [clockwise from the top left] karen, karen's mother, my mother, marvin, pj, kaleigh, betty, and jane.)


anyway, i think everyone had a good time. i was actually quite impressed with my nephew, pj. he tried all of the dishes. he also tried a lotus... which jen also tried. karen's mom even tried the soup (it was a different soup than the one carlos enjoyed... this soup has mushrooms, tofu, and seaweed in it).

all in all, it was a great time. i think my parents definitely had a great time too. my mom laughed a lot (which is perhaps where i get my giggling from) and was complemented numerous times on the food... which also made her day. my father got to tell his usual stories... so he was good. when i think about my parents, it makes me happy to know that they are happy as well. i probably don't tell them enough, but i love my parents.

I Suck At The Evergreen Memorial Ceremony

yesterday was a special day for karen and i. yesterday was the unveiling of the evergreen leaves at south shore hospital. for anyone curious, the evergreen memorial ceremony honors the memory of a loved one by adding the loved ones name to its tree of life which is located in the main entrance of the hospital. too bad i suck at the evergreen memorial ceremony.

before i forget, i want to thank all of our family and friends who have supported us since our son (braden) passed away in september. and actually, the evergreen memorial ceremony would not even have been possible for karen and i were it not for the generous contributions of everyone that we know. the stipulations to even be on the tree of life is a donation of at $1000 to the hospital, to which the name will remain on the tree for five years. so thank you everyone. it has been greatly appreciated.

(pictured below is braden's leaf.)


for anyone curious, i actually think braden's leaf is located in a nice spot. his leaf is near the exit door. not that i plan on hanging out at the hospital a lot, but if i did... it's nice to know that i can look up and see his name there.

anyway, the evergreen memorial ceremony was nice. when karen and i first arrived for the ceremony, we saw karen's parents and my favorite sister-in-law's (janine) family waiting for us. (unfortunately, my parents could not attend because they were preparing to have all of us over for dinner to celebrate the chinese new year.) apparently, my niece (kaleigh) had a present for us. well... it was more like a present for karen. kaleigh came over and immediately gave karen a bouquet of flowers. it was nice.

from there, we went to look for braden's leaf. interestingly enough, as we were looking for braden's leaf, we were approached by one of the trustees in charge of the evergreen memorial ceremony. she (barbara) immediately knew who we were and wanted to thank us for coming. granted, i suppose it probably is not too hard to pick out who braden's parents are at the ceremony because of my last name... and the lack of other asian sounding last names attending the ceremony. nonetheless, it was a little surprising to be "known". it is almost like karen and i are rockstars in the south shore hospital world.

anyway, after finding braden's leaf, all of us headed for the ceremony itself. the ceremony included some spiritual readings followed by the announcing of names to be remembered. it was very nicely done. whenever a name was announced, the evergreen society asked for the family members to stand up... to which they gave them a little present. the present is a little pewter trinket of a tree with some inspirational message. as well, they gave forget-me-not seeds to plant in the loved one's memory. all in all, it was a touching surprise.

following the reading of names, the evergreen society asked if anyone wanted to share stories or anything about their loved ones. in general, that's usually one of the tougher parts because watching others grieve can be heartbreaking. heck, i had to hold back the tears even before the ceremony started because i kept thinking about little braden. luckily, i was composed enough to make it through the ceremony.

needless to say, i did not share any stories about braden. if i thought i could remain composed enough for everyone, i probably would have said something along the lines of the following:

september of last year was the best... and worst month that i have ever had. my son, braden michael, came into this world in september. he weighed in at a whopping 1.7 pounds. as quick as he entered this world, he quickly left this world after a week. although i will never be able to raise him and experience the things that fathers and sons can experience together, i can only hope that in that time he was here that he knew his mommy and daddy were there for him... that they loved him... that they will always love him... and that they still miss him very dearly.

since yesterday, i have had feelings of regret for not saying anything in braden's name. perhaps that is why i am writing it now. it was also cute because my nephew (pj) wanted to say something too in braden's name, but he didn't as well.

anyway, near the end of the ceremony, karen and i were approached by another trustee (jennifer) of the evergreen society. apparently, they wanted to take our picture for the hospital. again, it was a weird feeling to know that they wanted to take our picture. we actually joked the picture was for diversity reasons. nonetheless, we obliged. so perhaps some day, people all over the south shore will see all of us on the cover of some south shore hospital publication... which actually would be nice so long as braden's name is on the publication. it would be like showing him off to the world... my son... little b... braden.

I Suck At Wii Music

saturday night, karen and i went to my favorite sister-in-law's (janine) for dinner. on thursday, i had made dinner for my friends (marc and kelley). the dinner for my friends was macaroni and cheese... alton brown style. as the recipe called for half a box of macaroni (or 1/2 lb), i still had the other half of the box sitting on our kitchen counter. plus, i still had the other half of the finely diced yellow onion sitting in the fridge. so, karen and i thought we could just make the recipe again for janine and her family (pj, pj, and kaleigh).

sadly, my culinary skills have grown now so that i can only make two things: mac 'n cheese... and apple crisp. needless to say, i hope janine and everyone enjoyed the mac 'n cheese meal. i need the meal to be extremely delicious so that i can challenge my friend (hot amy) to a bake off of macaroni and cheese... a challenge that she will inevitably lose due to her genetic disposition. just kidding.

speaking of which, hot amy was interested in getting together on saturday. as karen and i were already at janine's, janine invited everyone over to hang out. so shortly after dinner, my friends (jen, andrea, and hot amy) came over to janine's to hang out... and have fun.

(pictured below is jen... concentrating hard about something.)


anyway, it was an interesting night. for anyone curious, one of the topics of conversation: body hair. to everyone's surprise, the smooth away pad apparently does work. (and no, i did not try the smooth away pad.) i have been told that the pads work very well... although not as well as waxing. i cannot confirm or deny that claim as i was only able to feel the smoothness of a freshly waxed leg and not the smoothness of a freshly smooth awayed leg. although based on visuals, the smooth away pad does appear to work.

i also found out an interesting tidbit of information... whether true or not. apparently, when you are growing up (and if you are a female)... you are not supposed to shave from the waist down due to hair coarseness. i also learned that hair on your legs need to be at least a quarter of an inch long before waxing. yes, my life is now complete to know all this new information about body hair. (and for anyone curious, yes i do have hair on my legs.)

after being enlightened by all the information about body hair, the seven of us did what anyone would do on a saturday night: play wii music. too bad i suck at wii music. wii music is a game where you basically play the role of a conductor and... conduct a band. needless to say, it was an interesting time.

it turns out... janine and karen... even though they are sisters... are both equally terrible at conducting an orchestra at the same time. jen and pj were pretty good. unfortunately, jen and pj were not the best. the competitive andrea and hot amy were apparently the most compatible. (i guess there is some truth to them being bff's.)

i did not partake in the wii music fun... (hence, i suck at wii music, remember?) i actually enjoy watching others play more. (it also makes good video footage.) plus, i still have the elitist gamer mentality that the wii is not a gaming console... so it pains me to actually play the wii. okay, so maybe that could be a load of crap.

nonetheless, it was a fun night at janine and pj's. it was good to be silly for a night.