Thanksgiving weekend ponderings

So it's the end of a long weekend and man what a weekend.

For me it was a fairly typical Thanksgiving holiday. My dad loves having Thanksgiving at his house and I am more than happy to let him do it. Especially since I stayed up until 2 am the night before playing poker. So yeah, that turkey hangover totally took me out.

Friday I had to work but it was worth driving past Target and laughing at all the jackholes standing outside in the cold at 7 am to get their cheap shit. Someday I'll have a commentary on our shitty "Gluttons on the Cheap" trend that society is on, but I'm just not feeling it tonight. However I did go out Friday night and saw my friend Rose and her boyfriend who I haven't seen in a while. Unknown to me, I was to meet one of Rose's single friends out that night too. She was very nice and super hot, but I don't know if she and I would mesh too well. In any case I stayed down there until about 2 am before heading home. Must be a theme I'm sensing. Of course I spent Saturday napping to recover.

That made me good to go today. I went down to Will and Alana's for a little football fun. I haven't seen anyone down there in ages which totally sucks. I need to hang out with them more often I've decided. I know it's been at least 6 months or so since I've seen a lot of them so it was good to catch up. I got to reprise my role as the human jungle gym. I love little kids but I am definitely at the point of wanting them only in small doses and having the freedom to send them home with their parents.

Unlike most everyone else, I'm going to skip the big long dramatic "What I'm Thankful For" deal that everyone I know is writing. I will do this in point form and call it "What I've Learned in the Past 12 Months"

• The economy SUCKS. It sucks so bad that people were willing to vote a young black man as president just because he's not a member of the party that got us here. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about it but if the economy was in good shape, it would be President McCain next year.
• Sarah Palin is stupid. But I'd still bang her just because she's the first VP candidate to make me even consider it. (sorry Geraldine Ferraro, I was too young back then)
• 13 year old girls are brats. 13 year old girls with douche bag enabling mothers are INSUFFERABLE.
• Working in IT is long bouts of frustration punctuated by small, meaningful achievements that only other IT nerds will appreciate.
• I'm getting old and need naps after nights out drinking now.
• Blackberries are pretty fucking cool little gadgets.
• When the chips are down, your real friends will show themselves every time. Stoner Jamie was there when I needed help and after hanging out with Jose and the Mass. crowd, they acted as if I had never stayed holed up in NH for 6 months.
• Words without actions are absolutely useless. Saying you "almost did" something is worse than just not doing it because you had a chance and you chose not to.
• Sometimes sex is just sex. Sometimes it's more in a good way. Sometimes it's more in a bad way. But I would still rather ask for forgiveness instead of asking for permission.

NYC or bust

Yesterday Britt and I headed off to New York City on a day trip that I signed up for through work. It was a short day, but it only cost $40 so who the hell could complain?

On the way down there I had my eyes open as I passed through some places I hadn't seen in a while. They were nice to see and some things got me thinking which doesn't help you sleep much on a noisy bus, but the day was still full of promise.

So we got there a little before noon and did all of the touristy schlep that you're supposed to do. I'll let the pics do the talking:

Lunch at the Hard Rock in Times Square



A stroll past Radio City Music Hall



People skating at Rockefeller Center. I would have liked to, but Brittany can't skate to save her life.



The top of the Empire State Building. Yes I wore a Red Sox hat in New York. If you're a true fan, you'll have the balls to take the abuse.



Went to Ground Zero. Not much more than another construction site now.



My favorite part of the trip. Sunset at Battery Park looking out at the Statue of Liberty.



Back to Times Square for a bite before the bus ride home. We got TOTALLY dissed at the ESPNZone. Sat there 30 minutes with no server before I told off the manager and walked out. I won't be spending any more money in there.



Tomfoolery on the bus ride home. Tired and punchy. Slept most of the way and got home around midnight.

So that's that, off to the rat race tomorrow again. I'm going to try and be better about blogging more but it is a holiday week...who knows?

Day trippin

Saturday I will be making a day trip. Getting on a bus and heading straight for enemy territory. Into the belly of the beast some would say. Gotham, Metropolis, whatever you want to call it, I'm headed there.

New York City.

That's right, the city that never sleeps, the Big Apple, the home of my bro Slade. Viva Nueva York.

I'll be heading down there with Britt mostly because she LOVES New York and it's costing us less than $100 combined to go.

So I'm racking my brain. I have about 6 hours to do whatever I want there. What should I do while I'm there?????

The twists and turns

You ever have those times where you feel utterly in conflict? I'm having one of those times.

I currently find myself completely consumed by something. I mean night and day consumed. First thoughts in the morning, last thoughts at night consumed. I never saw that one coming at all, not for one second. But it's just barely outside of my reach. Which is probably a good thing because I know I have some obsessive thing going on which is kind of scary.

The other day an old topic came up as well. It was something I was convinced was a dead and buried topic. Seems like it's not. But I think it is now. A reality check was needed and commenced and everything is right in my world.

Last weekend I got to see Britt's senior pictures. Fuck I am getting old. Hell I still vividly remember taking my own senior pictures. The time is whisking by faster and faster and it makes me wonder if I'm making the best of it. Then I walk by and see Britt in her room working on homework and being generally happy and I think that for the time being, I'm doing alright.

That's it for my introspection. Remind me tomorrow to come up with a shit joke or something instead.

Last minute plans

My weekend started out with me figuring out which day would be the best day to do my laundry. That's how it started anyway.

Saturday night became a long night out bar hopping. There was some drama that is way too long to get in to here. But let's say that for the short part of the story, it involved a stripper, pancakes and an old drunk guy falling off a bar stool.

Sunday is the really noteworthy day. Due to a last minute cancellation, I found myself in possession of a ticket to the Nine Inch Nails concert and a seat in the stretch limo to go down there in.

The night started off ominously when a pair of the younger members of our group decided that 4pm was a perfectly good hour to start doing shots in large quantities. Then the limo didn't show up on time. An hour late. For real.

We got to the show, got to our seats and the opening band started playing. I don't know who they were, but I like to call them "The Nameless Suck Band". You can probably guess what I thought of them.

So Stoner Jamie, his girlfriend and I decide we are going to head up to the bar and get drinks. I figured I wanted to get my drinking jump started so I did something uncharacteristic:

Yeah, that cost me $20. So much for the plan of getting drunk at the show. Turned out I didn't really need to be. Mostly because Dave, one of the aforementioned shot boys, passed out in his seat before the opener was done and got hauled to the first aid room. That's fine, but when he got there he got belligerent with the EMTs and the police got called. The cops were cool, they decided to release him to us with the promise we wouldn't let him drink anymore. As it turned out, he passed out again and slept through the entire show.

In any event, the show was amazing. The lights and visuals were as good as the music and that's saying something considering they didn't use a single piece of pyrotechnics.

Here are a few videos and pics, cell phone variety but they make the point:



The sign the size of the stage



Lights



The lights darkening is where Trent is standing







"Hurt"



The aftermath, my Monster and my Wendys

And now, I must go to sleep...need rest.

Are we really past it?

Ok ok, so I've been lazy. Obama won. Yes, I'm very happy since I called this shit right after the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I have taunted and teased just about every republican I know.

But I wonder...are we really past the race issue?

So we are like the last country in the industrialized world to elect a minority candidate to it's highest office. That's not odd, this country is controlled by old, white men. They don't typically like outsiders in their club.

The real question is have the rank and file US citizens actually gotten past race? I would think "yes", but tonight while I was playing poker with friends, two things were passed around that made me wonder. First was a cell phone picture of Obama standing in front of the Capital and morphing into a monkey. The second was a joke that was text messaged around the table claiming the White House Rose Garden now has to be replaced with a watermelon patch.

Now I don't live in the deep south. I don't hang out with people who are generally carefree with racism or bigotry. But this shit is real, it's local and it's not gone.

So...are we really past it?