I think this is our first official inclement weather day for central NJ in 2008.  That may not be accurate, as I don’t quite remember the weather we had in early 2008, but a bad memory can often be as comforting as a warm blanket.  Would it be better if I said the first official inclement weather day this winter?  Yeah, that’s better.  Let me start again.

Today is our first official inclement weather day this winter.  I don’t know about any winter storms ripping into the Northeast, but it certainly qualifies as crappy out there.  Wet snow, sleet, and cold.  I’m working from home today, as there was a warning that the daycare my kids attend may close early today.  Sure enough, I got the call that they’re closing at 4pm. 

I’m currently taking my lunch break a little late, and stopped by the nearby Toyota dealership to get the first oil change and tire rotation for the Highlander.  I used to take the old Honda to the nearby Exxon station for oil changes, and for all the other thousands of dollars worth of repairs that I got done.  My wife makes the joke that the Indian Exxon station owner can be seen wearing a fur coat, fedora, gold chains, and smoking a cigar while counting all his money from fixing my car.  I pictured it, and while I thought it was funny, I don’t quite think in hindsight they performed the best diagnosis for my car, especially for the engine troubles.

In addition, with all the computerized sensors and such in the Highlander, I don’t feel comfortable at this early stage taking the car to the local mechanic.  I thought I would try the local Toyota Service Dept instead.  Geez, this place is fancy.  Nice lounge, free wifi, and available computer workstations to surf.  Next time, I’ll bring my laptop so I can still get my work done.  Pricing for the oil change is about average — $31, which is what I’ve been paying at all the mechanics around town.  For $11 more, I’m getting the tires rotated.

Nothing much planned for this weekend.  We still haven’t put the Christmas tree up yet, so I think we better get our butts in gear.  We rented A Charlie Brown Christmas through Netflix, and I think we’re watching it with Joshua tonight.  My sister and brother-in-law may come over on Sunday.  I’ve been sick for the past week, and I think I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  I haven’t taken any cold medication, as I’m making it through sheer force of will.  And swear by the Eye of Thundera, I will do it.

Irish rockers U2 to release new album in March – Music- msnbc.com

Really awesome news. I’m a huge fan, as my wife will agree.  I thought their last album, “How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb”, was one of their best ever.  I’m looking forward to March with great expectation.

The Nets must be desperate for attendance.  Last week, they offered a deal to my fellow employees and me for heavily discounted tickets to their Wed Dec 17th game against the Utah Jazz.  How discounted?  $8, boys and girls. 

Normally, I don’t have the time for this on a weeknight, but my friend/colleague Raj started organizing for a bunch of us to go.  I asked my wife, but she gave me a “No thank you” but she said I could go, and she would watch the little young’ns. 

I ended up going with these guys to the game after work.  The nosebleed seats that we got weren’t all that great (upper level), but for $8, you can’t really complain.  I don’t quite agree that my hot dog, bag o’ chips, and a plastic cup of beer should cost $12, but that’s life.

Nets vs Jazz

Raj — thanks for organizing a night out.

Nums — thanks for making the sacrifice.

Nets — thanks for blowing a 22 point lead and losing against the Jazz 103-92 in a home game.  Pathetic. I’d go back to rooting for the NY Knicks, but meh.

I had a little time on Sunday, so I watched Outsourced over Netflix streaming video on my PC.  It’s a cute little comedy that takes place in India.  One of those fish-out-of-water stories, with a little bit of romance shoved in there, but whatever.  It had some chuckles, and made me reminisce a little about India.  As I always say, India can be loads of fun.  I find every day there is an adventure.  Something interesting, goofy, funny, thoughtful, or memorable will happen.

Outsourced (2007)

On Sunday, our friend Reeba hosted a Christmas party at her apartment for everyone.  We also upheld our Christmas tradition by having a Secret Santa, courtesy of Elfster.com. I can not find our digital camera, so I will have to beg, borrow, and steal photos from other friends.

So my parents celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary this week.  My sister and her husband, my family,  and my parents got together at our house Saturday morning.  The kids got to play with their grandparents and aunt & uncle for the day.  For lunch, we drove over to Macaroni Grill for the celebratory meal.

As another year draws to a close, here is my traditional year-end look back at the past year, and the hopes and dreams for 2009.

Family & Friends

• We celebrated the birth of our daughter Lily Rebecca Ipe.  She is now almost 9 months old, and full of personality.  Both kids are keeping us pretty busy, and they like each other.  If I didn’t feel like an “adult” before, I certainly do now.
• My wife and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary this past September. 5 years (plus the years we were dating) have gone by awfully fast.  There have been the natural ups and downs of a marriage, and we have learned to play down the hurts, and cherish the good memories.  It’s certainly strange to think of ourselves as parents, running a family, trying to stay ahead of the kids.  Weren’t we the same kids hanging out at bars, dancing at clubs with our friends, stumbling home at 6am? I’m always amazed how one’s perspectives (and priorities) can change over time. Now we’re just happy to get some sleep after a long day.
• Josh graduated to Preschool.  He’s a big kid now, and it stuns me at times when I think back to when he was just a baby.
• It wouldn’t be a year to talk about, if we didn’t take some hard-earned vacation time. This year was certainly a harried year, but we did what we could to find some downtime.  We enjoyed an extended weekend in Ocean City, Maryland.  We visited the Dominican Republic for the first time, celebrating our wedding anniversary at a Punta Cana resort.  We also made a long-awaited roadtrip to Michigan this Thanksgiving to visit friends out West.
• Although we still haven’t gotten a cat yet, we have our very first freshwater aquarium.  We have a rotating assortment of fish
• My niece Sophia celebrated her first birthday in January.
• Family members Milind and Preethi celebrated the birth of their first daughter Rahael.
• Friends Sanjay and Leena celebrated the birth of their son Jacob in June.
• Our family friend Harish died in July.  The news itself was heartbreaking, and we still don’t have all the answers.
• Although we didn’t have the time to travel the world, we devoted quality family time to visiting various festivals and local attractions: Philadelphia Zoo, Festival on the Farm, a Trenton Thunder minor league baseball game, seeing Playhouse Disney Live!, attending a class field trip to see a production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and went on picnics.
• As we’ve gotten better at this whole parenting gig, we have made a better attempt to see our friends more often — either they visited us, and we visited our friends.

My Life

• I turned 32 this year.  I’m officially “thirty something.”  What can I say about getting older?  It happens. Another year wiser, more grey hair, and some more creaky body parts.
• After a sexy 9 years, I bid farewell to my dear Honda Accord.  My first car, that car and I have been through thick and thin, racing to one event or another, catching a flight, meeting up with my girlfriend (now wife), taking my wife to the hospital for Josh’s birth, living on my own, the parking tickets, and auto accidents.  That car and I made it 191,600 miles.
• Often when one door closes, another one opens.  We purchased a new Toyota Highlander for myself.  It’s not quite as fun as my old car, but it sure is comfortable.
• Can you believe I’m still running this website after 6 years?  This summer, I redesigned the website
• My wife bought me a GPS unit to keep me from getting too lost in NJ.
• I got fatter this year.  Enough said.
• I’ve been less involved with the NY Chapter of the IIA, due to the crazy year I’ve had. It’s unfortunate, but it’s probably for the best.  I don’t attend events anymore, I don’t have free time to update the website.  It’s not fair to them, and it’s draining on me.  After 6 years of being involved, another door closes, I suppose.  Where’s the next door opening?
• We continued upgrading the kitchen with some “exciting upgrades.”  A new gas stove/oven, new dishwasher, new range hood, and new light fixture in the kitchen.
• We also made minor improvements by adding new light fixtures in the upstairs guestroom and kids’ rooms.
• We finally put curtains up in the master bedroom.
• We had one of Josh’s teachers design and paint a large mural in the kids’ room.
• I got a new pair of eyeglasses.
• I got in touch and even met up with some of my elementary school friends.
• I bought a lot of phone holsters. 
• Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, starting in Jan 2009.  I know it has nothing to do with me, but I’m just excited and relieved nonetheless.
• Best movies: The Namesake, Rounders, Swingers, The Dark Knight, Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• Worst movies: Lady & the Tramp, Sex and the City: The Movie, The Land Before Time

Career

• I led two audits this year  — spent a lot of time in Canada this year, as well as time shuttling around to NYC and Philadelphia too on business.  I spent about a week in Charleston, SC.  I didn’t travel anywhere else domestically.
• I still have not attained my CISSP certification.  Of course, I have had no time to study. Hey, there’s always 2009…..
• Big shock – I feel exhausted and overworked this year.  I call it the 3-2-1 punch: I monitored 3 audit entities, I led 2 audits, and we had 1 new baby in our life.  I think that explains everything. I think next year will be better.
• Fears of job instability, the economic downturn, have kept me worried.

Looking Ahead to 2009

• Next year, the kids will be older.  As kids get older, they get easier to manage.  Life should settle down for us, and we’ll be less stressed.
• We don’t intend to introduce any more little Ipes to the world next year, so please relax.
• I don’t think we’re flying anywhere, due to the high price of airline tickets.  I would like us to visit more places that we can either drive or take the train to.  My thoughts: Boston, Chicago, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida is the stretch goal.
• I’m hoping to better focused at the office (and job stability is always a plus.)
• More decorating the house.
• I am looking forward to more sleep.

I thought The Incredible Hulk was 10x times better than the 2003 Ang Lee snoozefest. This did appear to be a complete reboot, and I think it is fair to say the producers chose to ignore the existence of the 2003 version, as they used the opening credits to tell the Hulk’s origin story. 

In contrast to the previous movie, this movie had a story that progressed, and an interesting one too.  The acting was decent, the homages to the 70′s TV series were appreciated, and the battles.  Man, when you saw the Hulk fight, it was fun and amazing to watch.  I liked this movie.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

BioWare and LucasArts just released a new, short, video documentary for the upcoming (eventually coming) Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. They’ve include new screenshots and some pre-production gameplay.  Oooooh, aaaaaah.

The official Terminator Salvation movie trailer has been released.  Looks like fun.