It’s a bad sign, isn’t it? Tonight, I was trying to catch the 6:22 train to New Brunswick, but when I arrived at Newark Penn Station, it was a mess. The platforms were crowded, and almost every train was delayed 30-60 mins. Amtrak was running, but nothing else coming from New York Penn. It took me over an hour to finally get on a train heading southbound, and I finally reached home at 8:20pm. 

I read later on the news that there was a disabled train in the tunnel that blocked the rest of the trains coming out of New York. FML, man. Who needs this crap after a long day at work?

Newark Penn train status

The days of carrying a broken laptop bag are over — my new bag came in, and I’m very surprised. Yes, surprised, and I’ll explain why. I priced it out at eBags.com, Walmart.com, and Amazon, but they all varying delivery dates in the 6-18 day time frame. Amazon.com itself stated I could pre-order the bag, but I thought that was a little weird. I eventually ordered from Adorama Camera, an Amazon.com Marketplace seller with decent pricing and shipping fees. All the sellers offered expedited shipping but it was getting to more than $25 in shipping, so I thought I would slum it with regular shipping. I placed the order on Wed, and it was at the house two days later on Friday. Shipping timelines are so weird, but I’m pretty impressed with how quickly Adorama turned the order around. That was damn fast. One of my friends mentioned that he has also ordered from Adorama and had good experiences with that merchant.

The STM bag is decent enough, but it’s much like my recent replacement wallet. It doesn’t hold a lot, which is not at all that I wanted, but I suppose it’s good enough. This is precisely why I find it difficult to divine the true sense of a bag’s qualities when looking online at some posted photos. User reviews help, but still, it’s a crapshoot. The replacement wallet I bought last year is slim (I call it “my sexy wallet”) doesn’t hold as much as my old wallet, but slimmer is nicer. It’s forced me to carry less. I suppose the same rules will apply with this new laptop bag. I’ll be forced to carry less junk around, and there are certainly pros and cons associated. For now, it’s nice to commute with my hands free again.

My new bag

Today, I installed the 2nd light light fixture in the upstairs hallway. It’s always a pain, but I’ve got it down to about two hours each time. I installed the 1st light fixture in the downstairs hallway last Sunday, but I had to wait until this weekend when we had some daylight, since you have to shut off the power before doing electrical work.

The toughest part of the overall installation is trying to slide the light fixture base onto the two screws (and washers) in the ceiling. You have to guide the two screws blind into two tiny holes in the light fixture base, but you can’t see where it’s going. One screw is in, the other isn’t. Then the revese the next time. The washers don’t come through the holes. The screws slide out of the holes when you tighten it too much.  And you’re doing all this while on a stepladder for two hours.

The best part was completing it about 15 mins before my parents showed up to visit, so I could show off my handiwork without looking too sweaty.

Thank goodness, we’re done for a while. It’s cheaper for me to do the electrical work than hiring an actual electrician, but geez, it’s a royal pain in the butt.

Josh's 5th Birthday Party

This year for Josh’s birthday party, my wife was looking for something different. Each time his classmates have a birthday party, it’s at one of these kid gyms. My wife found an interesting option with the Plainsboro Preserve. A one hour educational nature program plus an additional hour to exchange gifts, eat, and check out the other animals. Neat!

The morning of, my sister and her husband came over to help us get all the supplies and decorations over to the Preserve. The weather was atrocious, as a powerful nor’easter hit the Northeast. What is it with the weather in the past few months this winter? A blizzard or two, heavy rainfalls, high winds — we’ve had some fun times. This nor’easter was the usual heavy rain and winds, and plenty of flooding. I’m glad my sister and her husband were there with helping hands to get stuff in order. It’s always nice to have an extra set of hands

Josh's snake-themed birthday cake

We started a little late, due to parents/kids arriving late due to the rain, but it wasn’t an issue. Kids played in an indoor treehouse and checked out animals until we started. The instructor brought out a snake, salamander, a turtle, some other animals, and other science-related stuff for an hour, then we broke out the Papa John’s pizza, sodas, and juice boxes. My wife made a custom cake in the shape of a snake, which was pretty cool, and people had to take pictures.

After the party was over, we loaded everything back up, opened presents at home, and stayed home nice and dry while the nor’easter continued to rage outside. It’s going to be a crazy, windy, rainy weekend.

Pictures are posted within the March 2010 photo gallery.

My belongings can be categorized into two buckets.

1. It lasts a very long time.
2. It lasts about a year or less before it spontaneously combusts from over use.

The end of my OGIO laptop bag is nigh

My wife (or was she my fiancee at the time?) and I purchased semi-matching OGIO laptop bags in 2003. One for me to take to the office, and one for her personal laptop. My bag lasted about four years or so, until it crumbled into dust. I then switched over and annexed my wife’s laptop bag for the next few years.

This week, for an undetermined reason, the strap on my bag broke Monday morning on the Newark Penn station train platform as I ran to the PATH train. It’s not something that I can fix, so that’s it. I’d normally be happy to replace an old item with something brand-spankin’ new. Instead, I’m pretty pricky about certain things, and that includes laptop bags. It’s one of those personal items that have to be just right, because you live with it every day, whether it’s commuting on a train, going through the airport security checkpoint, or walking around town. It goes everywhere with you. It’s not just a bag. It’s attached to you, and in some way an extension of you.

Under those circumstances, finding the perfect bag isn’t easy. I’m not the fanciest person in the world, so what am I looking for in this unicorn?

• Functionality – I’m carrying a laptop, power adapter, iPod, headphones, papers, network switch, network cables, USB drive, business cards, pens, highlighters, bandages (hey, be prepared), water bottle (ok, Diet Coke bottle), which is all the usual stuff that business users carry.
• Durability – I’m an auditor, so I travel lots of places. Durability is important.
• Form factor – Travelling, so you don’t want the bag to be to bulky to run from place to place. Harken back to all the crazy stories of when I’m jumping onto train or trying to squeeze past the airport terminal jetway door. Try doing that with a big laptop case rolling behind you. Furthermore, maybe you go out for drinks later after work. You have to keep your laptop with you, so do you want this big suitcase next to your legs?

My hands and arms are pretty tired of carrying the bag this week, so I had to find a new laptop bag pronto. With some help from my friends (and lovely wife), I ordered one through Amazon Marketplace. It should be here middle-to-end of next week, so I expect my arms to look like Popeye’s by then.

The Chevrolet Impala

The latest update on my car is that it’s still in the body shop. According to the Toyota body shop, the insurance adjuster missed other car components that require repair or replacement. No comment, but oh well, I’m the one over a barrel here. The body shop estimates that the car will be ready either end of this week or early next week, but since it’s Wednesday, you would think they would know by now. Will it be ready in two days or not? Hmmmmm.

In the meantime, I’m working offsite in Jersey City again, so I needed a vehicle to travel to and from the train station. I’ve rented a car for the next five days, and got a Chevy Impala from Avis. I thought it would be an easy rental, but it took some time for Avis and my insurance company to “talk” to each other, and get the billing all set up. Due to logistics, my wife gave me a ride Monday morning to the train station, so that I could get to Jersey City. Late in the day, I walked over to the Avis rental counter at the Newport Mall to get the rental car.

It’s not a bad car, but a little sluggish. I like the radio, as it displays what channel each preset is set to. It also has satellite radio, but I’m not using it. I do find it odd that there are no courtesy or reading lights for the front seat. It’s not the biggest deal, but you know, am I “spoiled” by my last two cars by a reading light?

Ooooh, a new Iron Man 2 movie trailer debuted Sunday night. Is it May yet.

Busy, busy weekend. Sometimes, I think the weekends can be so busy, you need a day off on Monday just to recuperate from the weekend activities.

On Saturday, we actually didn’t do too much, but we hung out with the kids most of the day. I took Josh to his gym class in the morning, followed by a haircut to tame the large ‘fro on his head. Late lunch for the kids, and we were off to get ready for an adult dinner. But first, dropping off the kids for a few hours with my wife’s family!

Yes, an adult dinner. Every once in a while, we get the opportunity to dress up and eat a nice dinner sans children. It’s a wonderful experience. Saturday night, we had dinner reservations at Sophie’s Bistro, a supposedly very nice French restaurant in Somerset, NJ. The food was so good and so rich, by the time my entree arrived, I could only eat a few bites before I gave up and asked to have it packed up.

The evening was young, so we went to drop off pajamas and other supplies to the kids, and then we were off to watch The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock over at the AMC in Hamilton. Keeping in mind that this was our second attempt to watch this particular movie together (read here), but also my wife’s second viewing of the same exact film, it was still enjoyable.

On Sunday morning, we picked up the kids, and hit the road for some home improvement shopping. Due to the all the recent home improvement work, we still had to pick up better-than-we-have-now light fixtures, curtain rods for our new window treatments, and other things. I’m not big on home improvement shopping, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Otherwise, the alternative is to live in a cardboard box under the Brooklyn Bridge. Mmmmm, DUMBO.

Late Sunday afternoon, while the daylight was still streaming, I (we?) decided to install at least one of the light fixtures, so I chose the downstairs hallway. Now, the last time I did this was April 2008 when replacing the kitchen ceiling light fixture (see around Apr 15th if you’re interested.) The dome of the original fixture had come loose and fallen (and oh boy, shattered) one evening, so we needed a replacement light fixture back then. Instead of calling a qualified electrician, I decided to do it myself. It took me about four hours later at that time, it wasn’t fun, and yet no ceiling fires in the past two years. Time to try it again!!!

This time, it was still a pain in the rear end, but it only took me two hours to replace the ceiling light in the downstairs hallway. Again, so far, so good on the ceiling fires, i.e. there has been no sign of fire! The only downside is that I think some of the fiberglass that was in the new light went into the air, and embedded themselves into my face, as my face hurts. I’m not even joking. Apart from that, the downstairs hallway is better lit, so I say “Mission accomplished!” I have one more light to install in the upstairs hallway, but will do that next weekend, when I have daylight. Obviously, one needs to turn off the power to that fixture at the circuit box, and installing a ceiling light is probably an even greater pain in the ass while in the absence of light. I don’t know for certain, but I’m just assuming here.

You know, I think I’m turning into a regular handy man.

On a Saturday night without the kids, we went to see a late showing of The Blind Side, a 2009 film starring Sandra Bullock. We attempted to see it back in mid-February on Presidents’ Day, but there were no seats. My wife later went to see it a week later with friends, and enjoyed it. I hadn’t seen it yet, and she wanted to see it again. Of course, this time around on a Saturday night, the theater was nearly deserted. I suppose a lot of people in February wanted to see it when we wanted to see it.

I knew very little about the movie, as opposed to most other films I’m interested in. I’m usually watching the trailers, reading reviews, and sometimes even checking out the plot synopsis (up to a point.) If you were unaware, it’s a film based on a book, about the story of a family in Memphis who take in a down-on-his-luck and impoverished teenager named Michael Oher, get him back on his feet, and he ends up becoming a star football player, and who later gets drafted by the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.

It was a decent movie starring Sandra Bullock, who plays the mother who takes in Michael Oher. I like her in most roles, and I thought she was good in this movie. Oscar-winning good? Yeah, I don’t know about that. However, she was entertaining, and certainly one of the central stars of the movie, along with relative newcomer Quinton Aaron (who played the young Michael Oher.)

The Blind Side (2009)

New interior paint and window shade

Oh man, this house is starting to look nice. About two years, we were interested in getting the interior of the house painted. We didn’t know what color to paint it, but we knew we wanted to get it painted. However, when the prospective painters gave us their quote, we waited until they left before we fainted. Egads, does it really cost this much? We said we would think about it, and two years passed. It was easy, because life just got busier around here, including the arrival of Lily the Muppet. 

Fast-forward to this year, and we still really want to paint the house. Of course, we still didn’t know what color to paint it, but that’s beside the point. We called a host of painters, and you would think that in the current state of the economy, contractors would be chomping at the bit for work. Maybe some, but not all. Of the nine different painters I called, only three gave us quotes. 

The fresh paint really cleaned up the interior

Three. That’s right. Tres painters. Some never called me back. Three came in to check out the place, and emailed us quotes a few days later. The ones who came to estimate, but never sent us quotes, nor responded back when I emailed, informing them I’m still waiting on the quote….. well, those guys just baffled me. Why wouldn’t you even give me a quote? My favorite is probably the same painters who gave us a high quote in 2008, but I called back anyway. With the recession, I wanted to see an updated quote. Instead, they used the same price estimate, and added an additional $400 for extra doors and the upstairs hallway. 

For a while, we considered just buying the paint from Home Depot and simply painting the place on our own with the help of some friends. It didn’t work out though. I had limited free time to get the caulking, sanding, and painting completed on my own, and some of our friends didn’t have all the time either. It was cheaper to do it ourselves, but it wasn’t turning out to be the smartest, based on free time, effort, and cost. I’ve come to realize that some jobs are easy enough to do yourself with a little elbow grease. However, you should pick your battles, and avoid getting overwhelmed for a task you don’t have the skills, equipment, and most importantly, the ability to complete it timely. 

In the end, we selected Stewart’s Painting and Power Washing, a father and son team based here in central NJ. They seemed honest, fully insured, and their references checked out. I’ve been pretty worried about handing over large sums of money to contractors, based on the horror stories I’ve heard, but I called their references, and previous customers were generally very happy. These guys came in way under compared to everyone else, and well, they actually gave us a quote. 

We were scheduled to have the painting completed last week, but the last-minute February snowstorm/blizzard (snowicane? snowapocalpse?) delayed it. Our painter was only able to complete the spackling of cracks and holes on Wednesday, and helping us to remove the old window treatments and blinds (no charge!)  Our painters came back the following Monday and Tuesday and finished the job. Truth be told, they missed some very minor details here and there, but on the whole, a very good job, and the price was excellent. I would certainly recommend them to others. 

In addition to the interior painting, we’re also replacing the living room window treatments and blinds. The old venetian blinds were broken and hard to use, and the old curtains matched nothing. On Thursday, our new custom shade from Budget Blinds was delivered and installed in 30 mins. Now we’re just waiting to find the curtain rods, get it all installed and hung up, some pictures hung up, and we are done. 

Booyah.