Wednesday, March 29th 2006

Life sure does change a lot. My first, big opportunity to lead an audit this summer has been unofficially postponed to 2007. I'm just running the I.T. portion of the audit, but it was still something good for me career-wise. Now my whole summer has freed up, and I won't have a strong basis to get promoted later this year. If I don't run an audit, how can I be a manager?

The audit getting moved off the 2006 schedule is completely out of my hands, but it affects me nonetheless. I'm currently trying to develop alternate plans to demonstrate some skills. I do have one medium-sized audit entity now.... the one I mentioned earlier this week (with the kickoff meeting.) That's good for me, and I'll be running that audit 2007 or 2008. I may be in line for another medium-sized entity, if I continue to work hard. I know, because it was mentioned at a staff meeting this morning -- you should have seen my ears perk up. :)

So, bad news and good news. That's life, right?

Am I disappointed? Very much so. My goal this year is to get promoted. I'm only 29, and almost all of manager colleagues are much older than me (almost all), so I don't know if I'm pushing myself towards unrealistic goals. I have about 6 years of audit experience, so I think I should be able to handle it. I was promoted to Senior Auditor two years ago at my last job, but managing an actual team is the next frontier for me. I want it bad.

Oh, some additional good work-related news to share. I have joined the big boy's club now. I now have my very own conference call line for meetings with my audit team (if I had an audit team), or when I'm leading an audit (if I was leading an audit), or.... you get the picture. All the big boys have one, and now I have one. Cool. Also, I'm going to Toronto for some fieldwork in late April right after my birthday for a week. Very cool.

I enjoy tales about stupid people. Like stupid people outrunning cops in North Brunswick NJ in a Lamborghini Gallardo, then running out of gas. Or stupid Indians, the Publishers' Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, and a ridiculous get-rich-quick scheme. [Thanks to "theschwed" for finding this juicy news story.]

You know I love to travel, right? [Please refer to Joel Trivia fact #202.] I think I tentatively have every region and country in the world on my list. Well, except Central & South America. I don't want to risk being kidnapped. Anyway, I'd love to visit Japan sometime, and I someday hope to have that opportunity. Adam Sachs @ Budget Travel Online has neat article on visiting (and eating) in Tokyo.

We have a new kitchen scale. My wife went out and bought a Salter 6 lb. kitchen scale. I'll take a picture tomorrow morning, and add it to the Moblog. I sorted 6 lbs of ground beef easily and efficiently. The highlight of my day? No, but it's up there. :)

Tuesday, March 28th 2006

Happy Work Anniversary to me. I celebrated it with fried chicken from the cafeteria at lunch today. :)

Meeting went well today, except my boss did most of the talking. Eh, whaddaya gonna do sometimes? I talked to the folks before and after, and hopefully gave them a sense of "what Joel Ipe brings to the table". If you didn't know, it's donuts. I bring donuts to the table.

Federal taxes are almost done. We're still trying to figure out deductions related to property taxes paid in 2005. I know using tax preparation software helps one along in the process, but sometimes you're still stuck trying to figure out what numbers to plug in. Yech. I should just hire an accountant.

I'm back in NJ tomorrow, and good riddance to the bus. I barely caught the morning and evening buses today. Being in NJ means I'll be at the gym tomorrow night. You know what's neat about our gym? When I'm running on the treadmill in the evenings, I'm facing the window, and there are often a few deer about 10 feet away munching away on the grass. It's like I'm working out and at the zoo.

If you haven't seen the Indians at a pool party video, go here. I was intrigued, embarassed, and sad.... all at the same time.

Monday, March 27th 2006

Did I say that this week would be uneventful? Not quite. I'm transitioning in as the new Lead Reviewer for one of our audit entities, and I've finally got my kickoff meeting scheduled.... for tomorrow. I'll be in NYC tomorrow for my meeting, in order to meet and greet the people I'll be working with in 2006 and 2007. I also have to come up with an agenda, sound intelligent, speak slowly, and not embarass my manager. If I sound like an idiot, my manager will never trust me.

You know what I think is hilarious and sad? I don't think my parents have a clue on what I do for a living. Auditing information technology processes? In the past, whenever they would talk about me with their peers, they'd just say that I "work in computers." What does that mean? I'm 4 inches tall, I sneak into computers, and I battle computer viruses?

I wish they cared.

Went to the gym this evening after work. I'm just telling you, because it's a victory in itself.

I made Hamburger Helper Lasagna tonight for dinner. Now we're totally out of Hamburger Helper. What are we going to do in emergencies?

If I have time tomorrow or Wednesday, I'm going to pick up a better kitchen scale.

That's enough out of me. I've got to get some sleep, and somehow catch the 6:10am bus to NYC. Wish me luck tomorrow.

Sunday, March 26th 2006

Honest? No. Creative? Yes?

Hola.

I'm not sure why we can't buy decent scales. I've come to the conclusion that our bathroom scale is a little hinky. According to it, my weight fluctuates with every second -- maybe it's the cookies & cream ice cream that I'm eating while standing on it. I've had to readjust my recorded weight from week 5. Also, our recently purchased $20 kitchen scale is wildly off. I loaded up 1.5 pounds of ground beef, and the scale registers only 9 ounces.

Is it that hard to make quality products, China?

We went to my ex-coworker's wedding on Saturday. The wedding was at 11am, and the reception around 1pm. My in-laws were babysitting, but had to leave around 3:30 / 4pm. The food at the reception was great, with lots of courses. The entree choices were a chicken, and "Surf & Turf" -- steak and lobster tail. Can you believe it. Unfortunately, it hit 3:30pm, and still no main course. We called my wife's parents, and they said they could stay until 4:30pm at our place, which meant my wife and I absolutely had to leave the reception by 4pm. What to do?

Actually a decent SNL production

4pm rolled around, no steak or lobster, Sadly, we said our goodbyes to our table, put on sad faces, and drove home. Broke our hearts. We got home, relieved the babysitters, and we had leftovers. Sad, isn't it?

I watched Mean Girls today. It was decent, a little uneven, but had some unexpected laughs. A bunch ex-SNL cast members, yet no Will Ferrell (finally a break from Will Ferrell cameos.) Watching one of the DVD extras, it mentioned that writer Tina Fey got the concept from reading Rosalind Wiseman book Queen Bees and Wannabees. There's even an interview with the author on the DVD, about her research, and her Empower Program organization. If we ever have another child, and it's a girl, I think I'll pick up this book.

I hope the Moblog feature is working out for everyone. My wife told me this weekend that I don't need to take so many pictures of myself. I think that's an oh-so-subtle hint to stop taking pictures of myself. I'll try to take voyeuristic photos of coworkers in compromising positions.

Speaking of work, Tuesday is my 1-year anniversary with the company. I can't believe I lasted a whole year.

Decent week coming up, nothing fancy, nothing exciting.

Wednesday, March 22nd 2006

Hello.

I can't believe I got up at 5:15am this morning, and caught the 6:05am bus to Wall St -- with a little help from my wife.... I think she kicked me. I worked out of my former NYC office, had lunch at the nearby Cosi with my old high school friend Lee, and made it home at a decent hour. Gotta be back in NY tomorrow, but my audit is over on Friday.

Apple may be phasing out their 60 Gb iPod, and replacing it with a widescreen iPod in June? Are the rumors true? Neat.

Did you know Pakistan is on the rebound? Yeah, I didn't either.

If you haven't read about a little Afghan girl named Gulsoma, read it. I can (and can't) believe what she went through, and yet survived. Her story, and her scars, are truly heartbreaking.

It's amazing that two adults can be scared of an infant. I'm talking about my wife & I. I was thinking how, when Joshua goes to sleep, we talk in low tones, and try to keep as quiet as possible, lest we wake him. I equate him to the sleeping ogre I used to invariably encounter in my old PC games. You always have a situation where your character (or avatar) had to sneak by some sleeping ogre. If you screwed up, the ogre awoke, and eat you.

In real life, if the baby wakes up, he cries, and we have to figure out how to get him/her back to sleep. Think of having a baby at that won't sleep, and it's past midnight already. Scary.

It's odd that my whole family has to see the doctor within the next two months. All of our annual checkups are being scheduled, or have already taken place, recently, including the cat. My wife took Missy to the vet this morning, and that stupid cat had to undergo several tests. The results are not in, but Missy appears to have one unusually small kidney, and a possible tumor. Egads.

The weekend is coming up. Woohoo!

Monday, March 20th 2006

Whenever I leave my cubicle, I find it humorous to always find these guys (not my department) in the hallway chatting on their cellphones. Who are they talking to? I don't know for sure, but always sounds like half of a conversation with a recruiter to me. I remember ducking out into the lobby of my building for "private" phone calls last year too. Well, good luck, boys.

I've shopped with my wife at Whole Foods a few times -- lots of slightly high-priced grocery items, and lots of weird "organic" stuff. You should see the dairy section. Yeesh. Anywho, writer Field Maloney @ Slate writes that not everything at Whole Foods smells like organic tofu milk. Hmm, maybe that's a good thing.

I know the official line is that the U.S. is only in Iraq temporarily. If so, that's fine. However....... if we're only there temporarily, why are we spending so much money on building up our military bases there? Either we're staying there a long time, or we spending a lot of money so the Iraq government can take them over. Either way, my tax dollars don't feel so well-spent.

I went to the gym today. Yea for me.

Funny how the power of suggestion works. I have lunch with my coworker today, and he picked up Chinese food. The rest of the day, I'm thinking about how I haven't had Chinese food in a long while. My wife talks to her sister, and her sister is eating Chinese food for dinner. What happens? We order sweet & sour chicken for dinner.

The power of the mind!

I don't think we're going to have any pictures for the Family gallery this month. Very few, or any, birthday pictures came out well. We haven't really taken many photos. Instead, I'd suggest check out the Moblog. There's a literal plethora of photos added this month, which I'm sure you haven't seen before.

Jefe: We have stuffed many pinatas for your birthday celebration!
El Guapo: How many pinatas?
Jefe: Many pinatas, many!
El Guapo: Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?
Jefe: Yes, El Guapo. You have a plethora.
El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?

I loved the Three Amigos. The quotes are classics.

My 1-year anniversary with my current employer is coming up next week. Has it really been a year now? So far, so good. I think I've adjusted pretty well to the culture, except for all the office politics -- I could live without all that. I've got some roles in lead positions coming up, and I look forward to the challenge.

I'm in NYC tomorrow. I've also arranged to have lunch with one of my old high school friends tomorrow, who's recently taken a new job downtown. Should be nice to see him again. I hope we have something to talk about after all these years.

"So, you look fatter."

"Do your feet still smell like buttered popcorn?"

Sunday, March 19th 2006

I lost two whole pounds this week? Yeah, I don't believe it either. I weighed myself numerous times, a 15 lb. dumb bell, and even Joshy. Apparently I lost 2 lbs. Eh, go figure.

Friday night was nothing, except working on our taxes. As of tonight, our taxes are done. Once my wife checks the numbers (and gives her blessing), we're e-filing!

Saturday, we did some errands, and then made a tour of Westchester -- visiting Philip & Leena (and their new daughter Kristen), visiting Tom & Mary (and kids), and attending the CSI Hudson Valley youth's Praise & Worship program in Valhalla. Very long day, but it was good to see old friends.

Today, eh, nothing special. I woke up with a tightness in my chest twice this morning, and later realized I was having an asthmatic attack. Unfortunately, as I only rarely have them, my inhaler medication has expired, as well as any refills I might have had. Without much recourse, here I am a whole day with shortness of breath, and I'm still around. It's not the most comfortable of situations. It's rather disconcerting, and my wife all sorts of worried about me (which is a nice feeling.) I don't have a doctor in the area yet, but will probably look into one tomorrow.

I think I'm also coming down with a cold, and Num has juiced me up with NyQuil. I'd make a reference to comedian John Pinette's NyQuil joke, but (through the magic of Google), I already made that reference on Saturday, August 14th 2004.

I need new jokes.

It's amazing how much fatherhood has changed my life.

• It's so tiring to take care of such a helpless creature.
• It's so gratifying to come home, and have your child crawl to the gate, see you, smile, and wait for you to come pick him up.
• It's so nice to lie on the couch, and have your kid to want to be with you, and rest his head against your chest.
• It's so relieving when he sleeps.
• It's a challenge to stay sane.
• It's so much responsibility.
• It's so annoying to spend so much time diapering, packing baby supplies, feeding, bathing, entertaining.
• It's so rewarding to crawl and play and chase him around, and hear his laughter.

Sometimes I feel like I scare people when people talk about children, and I just come barrelling in with my "No, let me tell you how hard raising a child is." It's not black and white, but full of grays. I've never had so much responsibility , or fun, in my life.

I haven't figured out being a parent, but I'm trying.

Thursday, March 16th 2006

"Hello, I'm Monday."

Greetings, Thursday. Is your friend Friday here too? If Friday is here, that means that cute pair of Saturday & Sunday are hiding somewhere. Unfortunately, Monday will soon rear its ugly head. Think of Monday like Ms. Ballbricker from Porky's.

I have something wonderful to tell you. I was in the NJ office today. That's right. I didn't have to rush and buy a stupid bus ticket. I didn't have to run to a stupid bus. I didn't have to sit uncomfortably on a crowded bus for 2 hours, and listen to the passenger next to me call up his wife and ask who she was talking to on the phone at 4am (true story -- happened last week.)

I'm knee-deep in our federal/state tax preparations now. Hope to finish off everything by Sunday.

Also, did you notice the return of "Picture of the Day"? Trying something (else) new -- a Flickr HTML badge, just one image, and showing only 2006 pictures. Let's see how that goes.

I drove comfortably to my office, sat in my own chair, answered my own phone, stole office supplies from my own department. I even went to the gym today. It was wonderful.

I will tell you a story. So I had to go to the restroom in the afternoon. When I walked over, the cleaning people were in there cleaning, and closed the regular men's room. I knew there was one around the corner, so I popped in there. I'd been in there before, but I didn't remember there being so many bathroom stalls. And no urinals.

Well, no matter. I used a stall for, uh, you know, #1, and walked over to the sinks. And boy was I suprised to see a woman at the sink. And she was suprised to see me. I yelped in shock, shielded my eyes (for no real reason, except for the shock), and repeatedly told her I'm sorry. She was nice about it. She just pointed to the door and said, "Ok, get out."

Needless to say, the next time I had to use the restroom, I stopped and looked very closely at the picture on the door. :)

Wednesday, March 15th 2006

Ah yes, pay day. And I don't mean the stupid candybar.

After the wonderful weather we experienced here in the Northeast last Saturday, I was really looking forward to bringing my bike up, getting it tuned up, and out for riding. I had officially retired my parka for the season. That was before we got our cold spell this week. Brrrr. I "unretired" the parka this morning after freezing my butt off last night on the walk home from the bus stop. There are snow showers forecast for Friday, so I'm not keeping my hopes up.

Officially started our taxes. Now if I can only finish them.

Some links:

• Oh fellow children of the 80's, check out these tv show theme songs of yesteryear.
  
  
• BTW, what's wrong with the current slate of children's shows? I miss the shows I grew up on back in the 70's and 80's. Wait, did that last statement make me officially an old man?
  
  
• Just when life gets interesting, it goes away. I was just beginning to really enjoy all these crazy (and free) video clips ("viral video") online. Now the TV networks and other corporations are getting nervous about reliving the Napster large-scale piracy years.
  

• Chesterwhite & His Orchestra

  I went to junior & high school with this guy named Donny. A few classes here and there. He's got his own band now. They're called Chesterwhite & His Orchestra (they have a MySpace page too). You can even download their music online. Good for him. He found me through this website 1-2 years ago, and I forgot to mention it. Anyway, hey Donny, "Yo."
  
  
• Totally unrelated topic: 10 ways to speed up Windows XP. Use at your own risk.
  
  
• To get me all hot and bothered for the open road, Cyclysm Sundays on OLN (Outdoor Life Network) have begun this month. Cycling every Sunday. Not one of you will click on this link, but I'm posting it here anyway.
  
  
• Man sues himself for vehicle damage. I'm sorry, but are you a f$#%'n idiot? He was driving a city dump truck, accidently backed into his own car, and is suing the city of Lodi, California. No words to describe this type of idiocy, folks. Idiocy or greed, you decide.
  
• CompUSA is having a big March Madness sale tomorrow (Friday) night only. Big savings, if you get all the rebate money being offered. I'm increasingly skeptical about those mail-in rebate offers, but I wouldn't mind picking up a 1Gb USB drive though.

Sunday, March 12th 2006

Rainy day today. Stupid rain. Did some cleaning up in the guestroom, finally hooked my computer speakers (since painting the room), and we went grocery shopping. Pictures in the Moblog, of course. I also downloaded some classic 80's Madonna, but I'm not gay.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that."

In NYC tomorrow, so of course, I have to get up at the crack of dawn to dress up and catch the bus.

Yech.

Saturday, March 11th 2006

I love weekends when we have no big plans. Gives me time to relax and do stuff. First off, I'm trying something new in the photo department. After doing a little reorganizing with the sidebar layout, I'm trying out Flickr for all my moblogging needs. Let's put it through the paces, and see if it all works out. So, I've retired "Picture of the Day", in favor of Flickr. I do like the ability to email the photo (with a description), and have it automatically part of the rotation. That's just neat.

Now that I have room at the top, I've brought back "The Many Faces of Joel". Much to my wife's delight, it's back. I made that flash movie 4 years ago, and apparently I'm the only one who's tired of it. Go figure.

Wedding Crashers starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn

We finished Wedding Crashers Friday night. Funny movie. I'm getting kinda tired of Will Ferrell though. Maybe I've seen him in too many recent cameos.

I've never heard of Claude Allen, nor did I know he was Bush's top domestic policy advisor. However, I do find it hilarious that he was recently arrested for stealing over $5K in merchandise from Hecht and Target stores in Maryland. Ha ha ha.

Num's high school friend Barb is over for dinner tonight. We're having homemade Thai food, and I can smell it already. Yum. See you all later, and enjoy the new Joel's Moblog feature. I'm uploading everything from the Ipe camera phones, so enjoy yourselves.

Thursday, March 9th 2006

My sister came over this evening to visit. We had some family bonding time, and pizza and BBQ wings. Good stuff.

Work was the usual. Update this, review that, bite me here, etc. I think the highlight of the day was the grilled chicken sandwich for lunch. Seriously.

I just want to note that tomorrow is Friday. The weekend is nearly here. Does anyone have good plans for the weekend? If I don't see comments posted, I'm going to conclude that you all are losers. :)

Wednesday, March 8th 2006

How the kid has changed in a year, including actual teeth

With his car seat facing forward

One year ago today, life changed cataclysmically. Happy Birthday, baby boy. Birthday wishes were also received from Regina, Rick, Reena, The Bangalore Bunyans, "Ming Uncle and Pee Hee Aunty" :), and Lina. Thanks to all.

Now that the boy is 1-year old (and officially classified as a toddler), he can sit in the car facing forward. My wife tried it today, and it apparently changed his whole perspective on the world.

I just looked at the birthday party photos, and most are blurry. I hate this camera, and can't wait until we get a new one. At least we filmed video during the party.

So I'm currently on the fieldwork portion of an audit in NYC, so I'm spending time between my office in NJ and NYC. Which means I'm taking the stupid bus to New York at a God-awful early 6:35am, but at least I can expense the daily $20 roundtrip bus ticket.

Links and things I've been meaning to write about. Ranjith, you can skim.

• Entertainment Weekly (I used to get the subscription a long, long time ago) put together their list of the 25 Worst Sequels Ever Made . I have to agree on most of them, but I feel bad that The Matrix Reloaded is on the list. Although it wasn't the greatest sequel, it was tons better than The Matrix Revolutions. (Sorry, Chirag. I still think Revolutions stank. So many ways it could have gone, but it ended up just disappointing this fan.)
  
  
• As you probably know by now, the new movie trailer for X3 is out. I still haven't hooked up my speakers yet, and the Quicktime plugin won't install properly on my work laptop. Argh, I need sound.
  
  
• I'm really starting to despise reality shows. Too manufactured. Case in point: An East Carolina student was recently on American Idol, made it to Hollywood, but was recently rejected. She gives a behind-the-scenes perspective on the show, and explains how fake the show really is. Of course you and I knew it was fake, but I thought it was illuminating anyway.
  
  
• CNN/Money writer Jeanne Sahadi writes about the Secrets Your Company Doesn't Want You to Know. Big surprise, "work-life balance" is about as real as, you know, uh fake fake stuff. [Really should have thought that analogy out more.]
  
  
• Do you like chicken nuggets? Too bad, they're bad for you. Also, what exactly are they made of? Ewww.
  
  
• I certainly think recent events qualify Lonoke, AK, as the most corrupt town in America. Love the Police Chief's wife... skank.
  
  
• I have to download more music from the Kinks. Too bad their stuff isn't available on iTunes.
  
  
• There is a huge wave of debit card fraud hitting U.S. consumers, affecting a wide-range of banking customers at Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual, Citibank, National City Bank, and PNC Bank. Stolen account numbers with the corresponding PIN. F$%@ me.
  
  

• Windows Vista

  "Failure to Look Interesting"

  If you haven't seen the latest screenshots of Microsoft Vista, check out PC Magazine. I love how Vista looks, but the high system requirements make it out to be a resource hog. More screenshots on a MS page.

Enough links. I can hear my friend Ranjith shaking his head in disgust all the way from Munich.

Have you seen these commercials for this movie Failure to Launch, starring Matthew "Bongos are best played naked" McConaughey and Sarah Jessica "They let Sarah Jessica Parker's face on TV and she looks like a foot" Parker? [Hope you enjoyed the FG reference.] One of those idiotic romantic comedies that teens and new couples love to watch. I just saw a commercial filled with the typical one-word superlatives, but through the magic of Tivo, was able to slow it down and see who the sources were. Siskel & Ebert they ain't.

• "Hilarious" - Bill Borgoli, Westwood One
• "Sexy" - Clark Thomas, Movie Reviews & Previews
• "Funny" - Jim Ferguson, KGUN-TV (ABC), Tucson
• "Perfect" - Tony Tuscano, Talking Pictures
• "Sweet" - Aaron Pardry, TeenPeople.com
• "It's definitely worth leaving home for!" - Pete Hammond, Maxim Magazine

Reminded me of that scandal that Sony Pictures was involved in a few years back, where they made up fake critics and newspapers spouting how great some newly-released Sony movie was. What a list of no-names. I mean, come on, Jim Ferguson from KGUN-TV in Tucson? Teen People? I gotta say that I find it odd that anyone from Maxim Magazine is giving a romantic comedy (with no nudity) a good review. :)

Back when I was super fit... I'll be there again this summer. I have foreseen it.

Speaking of movies, we should be getting Wedding Crashers tomorrow or Thursday via our Blockbuster subscription. We're also getting Blazing Saddles, which I don't understand, because we got that back in July 2005. Anyway, with no plans this weekend, I hope to enjoy the free time. And do my taxes. And clean up.

BTW, I went to the gym on Tuesday, and my pectoral muscles (or what pathetically pass for pecs) hurt like anything. Hmmm, I had a point to make, but I can't remember. Dang.

Oh yeah, anyway, it's good that I'm getting back into shape, because cycling season is around the corner. On Sunday afternoon, I found an 8-stage cycling race in France going on. I turned on the volume loud, and called my wife over to hear her "favorite" cycling announcers. She was immediately shocked and saddened. I heard her muttering, "Oh no. It can't be. The Tour? The Giro? No no no no......."

My bicycle is coming. The shorts are coming back. And all new roads to explore in Central NJ.

Sunday, March 5th 2006

Everyone loves Ammama

Ah, Sunday. The weekend is nearly over. My wife is watching the 78th Academy Awards, the baby is sleeping, and the cat is quietly plotting our demise. All is right with the world.

First off, the birthday party was a great success. We had it yesterday at lunch, and while we barely slept (shopping, cleaning, cooking, construction work), everything worked out great in the end. We couldn't invite our entire family and all our friends, but we had a good mix, and it went well. I just posted the final sixteen family photos for February, so the party pics will have to wait until later this week.

How many Indians does it take to install a baby gate? Three.

Now we can rest, which is what we did today. Case in point: we all took a nap from noon to 3pm today. I didn't think I needed one, but I feel asleep too. I feel much better now. :) We had a lot of "construction work" done around here too. Everything from hanging pictures up Saturday morning (finally!), to installing the upstairs baby gate (Thanks to Pradeep & Plexy!), and even changing a lightbulb. I'm pooped.

I wanted to hang up another picture in my home office nook, but the glass in the frame is badly cracked. I'm really sad about it. I got it framed back in 2000, and have been waiting to hang it up in our new home. Sigh. Do I have to have it reframed? It was a lot of money the first time. It's an Ansel Adams picture of El Capitan in Yosemite. Something like this.

Let me get this AT&T-BellSouth deal straight.

1. AT&T breaks up in 1984 to form the various Baby Bells like BellSouth, NYNEX, mini AT&T, etc.
2. BellSouth starts a joint venture with mini AT&T to form Cingular.
3. AT&T sells their AT&T Wireless to Cingular.
4. SBC buys AT&T, and changes their name to AT&T.
5. Recently, Cingular buys AT&T Wireless, and changes the name of all the AT&T Wireless stores to Cingular.
6. AT&T offers to buy BellSouth. If the deal goes through, they own 100% of Cingular, and will change Cingular's name to AT&T Wireless.

WTF? Can you imagine how much all of these companies have spent on ordering new stationery?

Another busy week for me. I have to be in NYC bright and early tomorrow morning, and I don't think I can get there on time, if I have to catch the 7:45am shuttle from my office. I'll take the bus to Port Authority, and just take the #1 train downtown. The big question? Am I going to get reimbursed for this?

Hope you all are enjoying the Picture of the Day feature on top, which I started this year. I like it, and am trying to rotate a new one every two days or so. I took a great picture of one of my coworkers sleeping last week, but I don't dare post it here. I don't want to get anyone in trouble.

Seriously though, they were sleeping for 10 minutes. :)

Friday, March 3rd 2006

I'm working from home today. We have Joshy's 1st Birthday party tomorrow, so I'm staying home. This way, my wife can run errands, and all I have to do is make sure he doesn't end up on the roof. It's officially quiting time, so I'm now off to cleaning responsibilities.

We were originally going to order Indian food, and we even went so far as to order a "taste test" from the nearby Bombay Delite restaurant. Good food, but the bill for chicken, shrimp, two vegetarian dishes, and rice, would have amounted to over $300. Yikes. My wife decided it would be more cost-effective (read: cheaper) to cook it ourselves. And by "ourselves", I mean "her." So she's cooking up a storm now, and so far, tasty! We have a close friend making the shrimp, so everything appears to be coming together. We just have to find a cake, clean, and decorate.

On another note, to paraphase Emperor Palpatine, now my hatred of the cafeteria is complete. In my eyes, the only redeeming quality it had was that a bottle of soda was $0.99 ($1.06 with tax.) Starting yesterday, they raised prices to $1.25 ($1.33 with tax.) Now I'm done with them.

Speaking of work, I got out of the office early yesterday, on account of the nasty, icy weather outside. With the roads closed, I still didn't get home until 6:30pm or so, but it probably would have been much later if I went home normal time. I had my gym clothes with me yesterday, but the gym closed at 3pm due to the weather. One trip to the gym this whole week. Argh.

Wednesday, March 1st 2006

A Turkish Sunday dinner

March? Friggin' March already? That's madness!

Okay, I added captions for the recent family photos, and added five more.

I worked out at the gym yesterday, and will be going tomorrow. Gotta keep the streak alive. BTW, what's up with Quiznos? I know the sandwiches are good, but I tried the new Prime Rib sandwich. I admit it was good, but with chips and soda, the bill came out to $10 & change. That's just too much.