Nice box containing my plaque

In March, I celebrated five years of working at Citi. Hard to believe that it’s been that long. For one, it’s the longest duration of employment I’ve had with any organization, but bear in mind that it’s only my third employer since graduating.

I still remember my first day joining in late March, as it was terrible weather. We experienced heavy rain, wind, and major flooding in the NY-NJ -CT tri-state area, and the trains were delayed. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t even have my contact info on who to call when I got to the lobby security desk. It was the first time working for a famous financial institution with a storied past.

My plaque marking 5 years of employment

The past five years have certainly been huge years for me. First off, in 2005, we had just welcomed Joshua into our lives about two weeks earlier. I started a new job here where I am now. We later bought and moved into our first home in October 2005. I got promoted in 2007. I led 5 audits (two in 2008.) Plenty of travel. Met and worked with many very interesting and experienced colleagues. Most of all, I’ve learned a lot. Overall, it’s been a great and challenging experience, and I have no plans on letting up.

To commemorate my 5-year anniversary, I received a very nice plaque (and lapel pin), and a nice intro at a recent team meeting. One of my old coworkers and friends Jenny Cu just celebrated her 5-year anniversary at Yahoo!, and they give you a gumball machine. I’m happy for her too, but I’d rather have the plaque. I’m not into gumballs.

Here’s to at least another five years. Cheers!

The folks over at IGN have given us an early review of Iron Man 2. Mostly positive, and they said the movie basically stays coherent and avoids sequelitis. Good news. Read the review, but beware some minor spoilers.

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009)

If you had a TV network called the Sci-Fi Channel, you would expect programming in the science-fiction genre. Science-fiction is a rich genre, and there’s a lot you can program for. Imagine my surprise to find horror and other questionable tv fare on the Sci-Fi channel years ago when first introduced. Those corny movies are a story in of themself. Have you seen the commercial for Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus? Absolutely atrocious. It’s even sadder that it stars Deborah Gibson and Lorenzo Lamas.

Last year, the big network TV honchos elected to rename the network SyFy, in order to broaden the umbrella of what the network meant. SyFy? Is that supposed to be a better name? The programming has still left much to be desired. You’ve got Sanctuary, Caprica, and Stargate Universe, but what else? Oh, the occasional Star Trek rerun.

And now, SyFy has struck a deal to add Friday Night Smackdown to their nightly programming. Furthermore, they are relegating all their popular sci-fi shows to Tuesday nights. What else will the network TV geniuses going to think of next?

Blasphemy, I say. Blasphemy.

I met up late Saturday night in Parsippany with my best friend Doug to see Kick-Ass. It came out two weeks ago, and it’s had some pretty good reviews. In honor of my birthday, Doug suggested that we meet up, and it was his treat. How could I ever turn down that offer? For a long time, I didn’t go out on the weekends because I felt too guilty leaving my wife to fend for herself with one or both kids. Now we’ve come up with a system — after the kids have eaten dinner and gone off to bed, what’s there to worry about? She has nothing to worry about, and I don’t have to feel guilty. It’s a win-win situation! Doug and I catch the occasional movie somewhere in north Jersey, which is about the mid-point for both of us.

We caught the 10:40pm movie up at the Rout 10 AMC in East Hanover, which was in the middle for both of us. I was worried about getting terrible seats to a new movie on a Saturday night, but we caught the last showing, and the theater was empty. I suppose all the teenyboppers were already heading home via the Mom & Dad shuttle service, as we were the first in the theater. Great seats, popcorn, and Coke Zero, and most important of all? Peace and quiet.

The movie’s basic premise is that this teenager believes people should take a stand to help others and be a superheroe. He doesn’t have special abilities or anything, but just wants to make a difference. Oh, and impressing the hot girl that has a school locker next to him wouldn’t be bad either. He becomes the “superheroe” named Kick-Ass, but he regularly gets his ass kicked. Meanwhile, real superheroes (played by Nicholas Cage and Chloe Grace Moretz) are the real deal as Big Daddy and Hit Girl, and are going up against the crime boss / drug lord Frank D’Amico. Kick-Ass gets roped into through mistaken identity, and that’s how the movie progresses.

The filmis based on Kick-Ass, a creator-owned comic book series written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita, Jr. I thought the teenager (and Kick-Ass) character were ok. He really got beaten up a lot, so that wasn’t that much fun. However, watching the real superheroes Big Daddy and Hit Girl rocked the house. They were awesome and fun to watch. Hit Girl was absolutely awesome and a total blast.

Kick-Ass (2010)

Eating street food for lunch at this year's Communiversity

What a fun-filled and eventful Saturday. Sometimes the weekends are more hectic than the weekdays. Big breakfasts, gym classes, street festivals, and a night at the movies.

After I cooked a big breakfast, I took Josh to his Saturday morning gym class. As soon as he was done, we drove home to pick up the rest of the family, and proceeded to Princeton to check out this year’s Communiversity street festival, and it was much like last year’s event. Food and organization vendors, music, face-painting, a bouncy house for the kids, etc. The weather was gorgeous, the music was nice, and it wasn’t as overpriced as other street festivals. I don’t quite know why there are never enough vendors selling freshly-squeezed lemonade, but whatever.

Around 4:30pm, we drove from Princeton up to visit one Patrick, one of Num’s friends, who was hosting a party at his place in honor of his birthday. Mental note: Lily does not like small active animals. Around 6:30pm, we went home, made dinner for the kids, and put them to bed. Phew, when the kids go off to bed, now it’s time to relax. I played on the PS3 for a while to chill, and then drove up to East Hanover to meet up up with my friend Doug to see Kick-Ass. After the movie, we stood around in the parking lot to chat and catch up. By the time I got home, it was 2:30am, and I was very tired.

A champion doesn’t always follow societal norms. This is how a champion sleeps.

Lily sleeps how she wants to sleep.

I celebrated my 34th birthday this week. The day itself was nice. Beautiful weather, it was a quiet day in the office, and I even got a free cookie from my local Quizno’s. I had been discussing what to do in the evening. I didn’t want anything big, so I was initially suggesting a family dinner at home or maybe the local diner.

Julie & I

Sometime in the afternoon, I had a change of heart. It was my birthday, and the diner wasn’t feeling very celebratory. On second thought, I changed my mind that a nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse would be a better place. I thought it was my idea, but then I found out my wife had somehow used the Jedi mind trick on me.

While we’re waiting to be seated at Outback, my sister and her husband showed up. Turns out, surprise! My wife had decided on a birthday dinner at Outback days earlier and invited my sister and BIL too. I was very surprised. How did my wife pull the ol’ Jedi mind trick on me?

In regards to dinner, it was nice. Factoid: Thursday marked five years to the day that my wife and I had been to an Outback Steakhouse. The last time she and I had gone was to celebrate my 29th birthday in 2005 a month after Joshua was born [see the April 24 2005 entry.] I remember because our friend Lesh was nice enough to volunteer to watch Joshua for the evening, so that we could go have a nice dinner. Five years later, we celebrate my 34th birthday. Funny, I say. Funny.

This kids are cute, aren’t they? Man, they are growing up fast. Time flies.

Joshua & Lily on a pleasant spring evening

Given the following facts:

1. I’m a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit and LotR mythology.
2. I’m a fan of Leonard Nimoy.
3. I know the 1960′s was a trippy era.

After acknowledging those three facts, I still can not explain The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. I can not process this. Did you notice that the dancers in multicolored shirts are wearing prosthetic Vulcan ears?

New Louis Garneau cycling gloves

Another beautiful spring day to appreciate today. It was so nice, I had to ask myself why I wasn’t making plans to go appreciate it? I had not yet picked up by bicycle from the bike shop Wednesday or Thursday. It seemed a little chilly at 61 degrees, so my resolve began to waffle. Still, the weather was so nice, and a day off, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go riding. If I passed it up, it would be another day that I didn’t go riding. I picked up the bike from the shop, bought some new cycling gloves to replace the ratty ones I purchased back in 2003 or 2004.

You would probably wonder why my resolve to go riding would waiver if I love cycling that much. That happens to me every time whenever I want to go exercising in any form. I start making excuses about why it would be a better idea NOT to exercise. It must have something to do with Newton’s 1st law of motion:

In the absence of a net force, the center of mass of a body either is at rest or moves at a constant velocity.

At these times, I try to remember a small piece of advice that I read in a bicycling magazine (yes, they do exist.) The writer stated that sometimes it difficult to find the motivation to go riding. You have to get the center of mass (your lazy butt) and apply some force to get it to move. You have to prep the bicycle. You need to get dressed. You need to get your supplies together, like water or an extra tube in case you get a flat tire. This doesn’t apply to riding a bike down to the general store. This is committing yourself to a few hours of rigorious physical activity.

May 2004 at the MS Bike Tour, back when I was in my prime.

So what is this sage piece of advice? If you don’t want to go riding, go anyway. Ride for five to ten minutes. If you don’t feel like it at this point, turn around. However, most of the time, you will be happy you decided to go. This advice has always worked for me. One time (and I do remember that day in particular) that I went riding, it was too cold and I turned around. Every other time that I have ridden for at least five minutes, I never looked back.

Acknowledging the fact that I am 30+ pounds heavier than I used to be when I was in my prime, it was still difficult to ride those first few miles. When I say difficult, I mean I was dragging my heavier self down the road. I was winded, I was slow, and I was lethargic. At three miles, I was tired.

After three miles, I felt better. I rode around Monroe, exit 8a on the NJ Turnpike, and back through Cranbury. In total, I rode 17.5 miles in about 2+ hours. Was I surprised? Very much so. I have not ridden in two years, and I am very much put of practice. What is more surprising is that I’m basically no worse for wear. My seat is still a bit sore, but nothing else hurts. I’m ready to again next weekend.

An acquiantance of mine, someone I met at a dinner party a couple of months ago has asked me to join her for this year’s MS Bike Tour, which I last did in May 2004. Back then, I raised $1200, and I’m still proud of it. This year, a childhood classmates/peer was diagnosed with MS. If not for any other reason, I’d like to ride this year in support of my friend.