Sunday, February 29th 2004

Ah, leap day. Totally forgot about it. Woke up nice and late today. Did some studying today, as well as catch a few hours of the Quantum Leap marathon on the Sci-Fi channel (Quantum Leap - Leap Day....get it?). Missed most of the Academy Awards, but tuned in every once in a while, while watching a bit of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (just the two good parts), and watched "The Last Mission" on the History Channel. I had no idea that there was a last tenseful U.S. bombing run on Japan just after the A-bomb dropped on Nagasaki, or an almost coup d'etat by factions of the Japanese military that same night. Fascinating.

Okay, it's 2:31am, and I need to go to bed. Oh, before I forget, the weather is getting warm, and you know what that means....it's almost cycling season. I've got a light week ahead of me, but I'm flying to Chicago on Saturday to meet Paul, Sean, and then attend a training class Monday through Wednesday. When I get back, I'm going to pick up my bike from my parents' place, get it tuned up, and be on the road. I need to get back into form.

The warm weather is starting to arrive. Finally!

Thursday, February 26th 2004

Howdy ho, neighborinos. I'm still a bit surprised that today is already Thursday. This week seemed to just fly by, and now the weekend is almost upon us.

Tomorrow night, sister-in-law Anju and her husband Sunny are coming over for dinner and...board games? Is this what my life has been reduced to? A rousing game of Upwords and cognac? Where's my smoking jacket? Where are the Van Trapp kids to sing about going to bed? Why am I drinking cognac?

Also tomorrow, I'm attending a roundtable discussion at Baruch College called, "What was my career path, and how did I get there?" It's a joint Baruch-IIA event. Hope it's good. I don't mind the possibly useful career advice.

I've figured out what I need to do career-wise to get myself to the "next level" in my next job. Three things, based on the available audit positions out there that pay what I want:

• Brush up on my conversational Spanish (or Espanol.)
• Attain my CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) designation.
• Go on more International audits (maybe run a few of them??)

The CIA certification gets me treated at a certain respectable level. The international travel will set me apart in terms of experience (as opposed to pure domestic experience). And lots of job postings that I reviewed seem to value being bilingual, and mention travelling to Latin America. Finally, I have my plan.

Watched another rousing episode of The Apprentice. Damn good show; can't wait until next week.

Worst proposal ever

Interesting Newsweek article about this "jobless recovery", and why offshoring isn't the only culprit. Also in the news, my favorite story of the week: this guy proposed to a woman during halftime at last Saturday's Wizards-Pacers game. In the middle of his wedding proposal, she ran off the court, away from him. How bad is that? You just gotta see the video. Grainy, but still painful.

Who would dump five newborn puppies (or any animal) in the trash? I hear (and watch) animal cruelty like this on Animal Precinct, and I just want to put a bullet in that person's head. Some people are heartless, and don't deserve the right to live. A dog who's owner took out his eye with a hammer, dogs who've been stabbed, malnourished cats, animals abandoned, microwaved, mutilated, sodomized, etc. How about the two boys in Florida (ages 11 and 13) who tied a neighbor's dog to a tree, and cut it to pieces with a weed-wacker?

Rusty

I still think about that dog they found in South Jersey where someone (the owner?) had duct-taped the dog's muzzle. Couldn't open its mouth, couldn't eat, drink, or bark. Almost starved to death, its skin had rotted. All rescuers could do was call him "Rusty", and put him out of his misery. Why would you do this? There are hundreds of cases logged on Pet-Abuse.com. Not to be read by those with a weak stomach.

Dragged out into the street, and bullet in their head. Don't get me worked up about this.

Tuesday, February 24th 2004

It's 7:08am Tuesday morning, and I've been doing laundry since 5:30am. Here's the quick update before I run downstairs to get the clothes out of the dryer.

The RAH-66 Commanche

Saturday's LAN Gaming party was very good. Lots of male bonding, Nazi-Japanese-Italian butchering (circa 1944), and we successfully beat the Britons (circa 1000 A.D.). Also, pizza.

Sunday was yearbook day here at the Ipe household.

Anybody ever sign up for Plaxo? I finally did. Wondering if anyone else uses it.

I can't believe the Army cancelled the RAH-66 Commanche program. You know how many Commanche computer simulation games were developed in the 1990's? Still, by cancelling the project, they lose 121 Commanches, but they can build 800 regular helicopters with the money saved. I guess that's a better deal overall.

Friday, February 20th 2004

It's 4:09am Saturday morning, and I'm all hopped up on caffeine. I've updated my finances in Quicken, and now I might as well install TurboTax (which finally arrived in the mail this week). I won't finish my taxes this morning, obviously, but at least I can get a headstart.

Speaking of this morning, Doug's brother Mike will be arriving at 9am, and then we're carpooling it over to Jersey City and Weehauken. Why? It's this month's LAN party at Adrian's place. Maybe I'll bring the camera to capture the geeky festivities.

BTW, this past Thursday night, Num and I attended the New York Life - United Way Casino Night & Reception at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. We had a very nice time talking to other people, and I won about $1500 at roulette. Unfortunately, it was all "funny money" that they gave out before hand, but doubling your money is pretty good, I think. Of course, if it was *real* money, I might not have been so cavelier with my gambling.....

Anyone want to go to Atlantic City? :)

I've finally gotten some of my travel plans worked out for March: I'm heading to Chicago for a training class early March, then heading out to Kansas City Missouri in late March for an audit. Finally, I'm back out on the road again.

Tuesday, February 17th 2004

Talk about clueless. I forgot, I put pictures up in the Friends gallery of the weekend escapades.

I fell asleep on the couch last night, and now my back is killing me. Been hurting all day. Am I getting old?

Noted physicist David Goodstein has just come out with a book "Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil", and it's pretty scary. MSNBC has an interview with him, and it's worth a read. He's pretty sure that within our lifetimes, oil production is going to significantly decline as global oil reserves dry up. The significance? It'll make the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970's look like good times.

Monday, February 16th 2004

What a busy couple of days. Here's a recap.

Thursday, I had my eye doctor appt with a new doctor. After rushing home, I got lost for a long time, but eventually made it there.

Friday, the morning at work was busy. I blinked, and 11:45am arrived too soon, so I packed up, and headed over to the NYIIA luncheon at the Garden. While I was eating, the luncheon speaker's laptop froze up, and I ran up there to do tech support. And I was getting ready to leave soon too. Glad I stayed. Afterwards, got a quick shoeshine, and then made my way to the train, coordinated more logistics for the evening activities, got home, then went to pick up Paul from the airport. Dropped him off at my place, went to pick up my cute little wife after school, and then we all rushed to get ready.

In the evening, we eventually made it to Syosset for this birthday party at Jewel of India. Being Indian (and a small world), I actually met someone I knew. Around midnight, we went down to the Village.

StarCraft screen images

Saturday was Valentine's Day, and a pretty relaxing day. In the evening, Num and I went out for a nice Italian dinner. It was a really pleasant evening, just to sit and talk with each other.

Sunday, Num and I picked up Paul, and we went for lunch, then rented some movies (Unbreakable & Black Hawk Down.) In the evening, we met up with a few others for dinner at Famous Dave's in Mountainside, then Harvest Moon Brewery / Cafe in New Brunswick. After dropping Paul back at his hotel, I get pulled over for speeding on Route 3, but I only get a warning (how unbelievable), and Julie slept over since it was too late to go home.

After dropping off Paul back at the airport, I stayed home, napping, and playing StarCraft.

Random Thoughts:

• Damn, I'm tired after this week (and weekend.)
• The most interesting band this week is The Black Eyed Peas. Just heard "Hey Mama", and it's pretty good.
• We've got the United Way Casino Nite & Reception this Thursday night at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Should be nice.
• I have to remember to order my contacts tomorrow morning ASAP, and get my vaccinations done.

Wednesday, February 11th 2004

2 more days until Mr. Jacob arrives.

Aishwarya Rai

Guess what? Time Asia has a whole feature on Bollywood -- Aishwarya Rai, 10 Indian Films to Treasure, Bollywood's Brightest Stars, and more about how the Bollywood industry is changing. Pretty cool. Some old articles from last year, some new. It's worth reading.

Oh, I watched Innovaton last night on PBS, and it was all about the race to build the next-tallest-skyscraper ("Building to Extremes"), and how 9/11 changed everything. Pretty fascinating. Currently, there's a race between Shanghai and Taiwan to build the tallest building in the world. At 10pm, I switched over to HBO and caught the 2nd half of Daredevil. I couldn't believe how cheesy it was, and I wasn't impressed at all by the special effects. Not quite believable, if you ask me. I was rather embarassed by the whole movie.

A couple of my coworkers are having lunch tomorrow with our friend (and former coworker) Amy, who you may remember recently left for greener pastures. We're going to Houston's, which is just downstairs on the ground floor. How convenient. It's a decent place, but I always end up getting a burger and fries.

In the afternoon, I'm leaving my team meeting half-way through, because I need to get home and head over to Short Hills NJ for my eye appointment. Seriously, my contacts are over 4 months old. In the evening, another likely-to-be-lame episode of Friends, and some cleaning before Mr. Paul get here. I'm picking him up Fri afternoon from Newark.

Monday, February 9th 2004

Still sick. You know, NyQuil and DayQuil used to work wonders, but they aren't doing squat for me this time around. I was sniffing all friggin' day. Must have pissed off the fellow next door by 4:59pm.

I tell you, sometimes there are just weird news events. I just read that 100 skirt-wearing men (I use the term "men" loosely here) were protesting on Manhattan's East Side. About what, you ask? About wanting to wear skirts.

Shocking. Shocking, I say!

Want to hear another crazy one? This one is just scary and bizarre. So, this 18-year-old top high school student/athlete in Wisconsin has succeeded in everything he's done (so far, right?), and he wonders, "Hey, I'm so great, I bet I could commit murder and get away with it. Let's do it." And he just drove to some random guy's house, and shot and stabbed him to death. Unbelievable. Well, he got caught, so I guess he wasn't so successful, but are there people really this crazy outside of our homes? I watch enough crime documentary shows on Discovery Channel and HBO, so I guess I should know better.

Rasheed Wallace was just traded to the Atlanta Hawks for Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Good riddance, I say. Wallace is a nut. Not a nut like the kid in Wisconsin, but still a nut. Not a cashew either. I like cashews.

Sunday, February 8th 2004

I'm sick. Woe is to me.

I started getting the sniffles around Wed or so, but BAM! come Saturday, I've got a raging battle in my body. And it's not my sexual energies this time. I slept a lot this weekend. Friday night, we watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner with Sidney Poitier. Also, my new speakers finally arrived. They're...okay. After some rearranging of the desk situation, I got them situated properly, with the subwoofer next to my feet. I don't particularly like this, but the included-cables don't really allow much distance between all 5 speakers AND the computer. I guess I'll just use the subwoofer to keep my feet warm.

The WarCraft 3 mission I just beat

Saturday afternoon, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean (Thank you, Olivia!) In the evening, I played more Warcraft 3. [Shouldn't I be studying or something?] Anyway, beat Mission 7 of the Undead Campaign (I'm currently the bad guys.) In this mission, I successfully killed all the good wizards in their stronghold. Hmm, I can't wait until this campaign is over. It's interesting to be the Undead, and evil, but my conscience would like see me back on the side of Good, Justice, and the American Way. It's a game, but I'm still fully aware that normally I'd be the good elf or magician or knight or whoever, and Evil should not be winning. It's an interesting game to say the least. I'm on the last Undead mission now, and afterwards I'll be playing Orc campaign (good again).

You people have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?

Sunday was more sleeping, and some grocery shopping. Dinner tonight? Philly steak sandwiches and steak fries. Yum!

Let's see what's going on this week:

• I'm supposed to get my 2nd Hepatitis vaccination tomorrow, but should I if I'm sick?
• My Dad's birthday is this Tuesday, and we're not doing anything for him (at the moment, but it's a weekday, and my Mom is always unavailable. I'll think about it some more.)
• appointment with the new eye doctor Thursday evening. I need some new contacts -- mine are 4 months old, and 2 months overdue
• My buddy Paul is flying in this weekend from Michigan. It's a 3-day weekend, so we'll all have some fun. Going out Fri night, and we'll see how the weekend goes. I guarantee heavy drinking (sorry Mom!)

Wednesday, February 4th 2004

There I am, waiting on the grill line at the company cafeteria this morning. Waiting 15 minutes for my 2-egg and bacon sandwich, and I had 10 minutes left before my 10am meeting. Finally, I ask what's up with my sandwich, and they don't even have it. Someone must have claimed it first.

I could not tell you how irritated I was.

Spent a good portion of the late afternoon cleaning up my office. I "permanently borrowed" some hanging folders and regular folders, tabs, staples, etc, and sorted and filed all the audit paperwork sitting in mountains on my desk since 2002. Exciting day, right?

Two kids in Congers (my hometown) were arrested on hate-crime charges. Racist and anti-Semitic graffiti, and an attempted cross-burning on an African-American family's yard in their neighborhood. Holy crap. Did I mention that's my hometown?

Tuesday, February 3rd 2004

Quiet day at the office. BTW, what snow? I am glad I brought my umbrella with me, just in case. It ended up a miserably rainy day, and my giganto umbrella came in handy during the evening commute.

My friend (and coworker) lent me her Pirates of the Caribbean dvd. I didn't get to watch it tonight, but will try tomorrow night. I didn't see it in the theaters, but everyone seems to have seen it and surprisingly enjoyed it. Yes, "everyone". Also, I heard "they" and "people" also enjoyed it.

I made an excellent Italian dinner tonight. Spicy Italian sausage sliced into tomato sauce, served with linguine. Also, I added some extra spices (patented Joel secret spices) to give it that extra "Yowza!" taste. Seriously, if it wasn't good, would I even bother mentioning it?

Added some new links to the Links page for my friends Gary and Evans. Please check them out when you're pretending to work.

Okay, it's 11:24pm, and I promised Num I'd be in bed by 11pm. I blame the NYIIA (more updates tonight), "they", "them", "people", and "everyone". Also, my agent, the Hollywood Foreign Press, and the Academy.

Monday, February 2nd 2004

Groundhog, smoundhog. Who cares?

Everyone was talking about the Janet Jackson thing today at the office. I'm slowly losing interest -- since Miss Jackson has a new album coming out, I have a feeling it was all a stupid publicity stunt.

After work, I went to the dry cleaners to pick up my shirts, but I notice one of the blue shirts wasn't mine before I left. Whoops. I have to go back tomorrow evening and see if they found my shirt. What do you do if your dry cleaner loses your shirt? Do they reimburse you?

After dinner and a little tv viewing, I washed the litter box, and poured in 100% clean new litter. Think that damn cat went in there once to admire my handiwork? Hmph.

Is it going to snow? Again? Nooo, please, mercy.

I got some excellent news today. Wanna know what it is? The need to know burning you up inside, like an STD? Sorry. Nope, can't tell you. Maybe in a couple of weeks. Don't worry: it's big. Uh, before you start rumors, no one is pregnant. The last thing I need is for my parents to show up at our front door with flowers and baby gifts.

Sunday, February 1st 2004

Ranjith & Priya's reception

Last night was nice. We were only an hour late to the reception. Pictures are in the Friends Gallery.

Clothes are in the dryer, and another good SVU episode tonight about foot fetishes. In the afternoon, I watched a few hours of DS9 and some Family Guy. Does that make me a geek? Shut up. BTW, the Sex and the City episode where I saw Kristen Davis at Madison Square Park was on tonight. Rest assured, it sucked.

Sing it! "Sorry, Ms. Jackson. I guess they're for re-al."

Wait a minute, Justin Timberlake exposes Janet Jackson's breast at the SuperBowl halftime show, and I missed it? Noooooooooooo! At the Yahoo link, go through the slideshow, and you'll the actual pictures. Hilarious. Then again, hasn't everyone already seen her breasts by now? Like Madonna, they weren't a matter of national security.

Speaking of the SuperBowl, I only watched bits and pieces of it. The last 10 minutes were pretty good, I have to admit. As for food, we ordered Pizza Hut pizza and wings. Num actually called a few places, and they were all sold out of wings. I guess SuperBowl Sunday is a big wings day.

You know what's insulting? When you're petting your cat, and she gets up, moves a couple feet away (out of your reach), and sits down again. She's an animal, and licks her own butt, but she knows the concept of being out of reach so I can't "bother" her. Bee-yotch.