I have to admit something ...

The last two installments of 19 Thoughts weren't that great. The Aquaman blog was tepid at best and the Saturday entry was disjointed and rushed. I promise, oh loyal 19 Thinkers, that I will do a better job in the upcoming entries.

I have another installment of the Life of Jim:

For a guy that wasn't up on pop culture or watch much TV, Jim used to pull out some cool tricks out of his bag when he'd get pissed. Tricks that were based on stupid shows. For example, if Jim would get mad at me or our other roommates, he'd start talking to himself in his room (most of the time we were in the common area). Then he'd say, "Fuck it, I gotta talk to someone!" and then run into the bathroom and slam the door.

While in the bathroom, he'd pretend that he was actually in the confessional room that the kids from the Real World go into when they have a gripe with one of their roommates. Instead of talking into a camera, Jim would just talk real loud about what his roommates did that pissed him off. He'd do this for five or ten minutes, or until someone had to take a shit.

Then he'd come out, say he feels better, and pretend nothing ever happened.

Saturday night, Aly and I went to a graduation party for her roommate. Her roommate has already graduated high school, college and law school. She got her LLM in December, so her boyfriend decided to throw her a bash. It wasn't too bad. Chris, Sara's boyfriend, lives in this really, really, really nice house in the South End. The place is so nice that Vincent Price used to live there.

Yes. That Vincent Price. For some reason Chris has a bunch of pictures of him scattered around the apartment. Mostly we hung out with Stacy and Anthony, Sara's two friends from Florida and Niall. I think I may have written about Niall before, but he's one Aly's friends from Ireland. Hell of a nice guy and he has his own web site. If you get a chance, check it out at:

http://www.nialljlennon.com

He's got a lot of cool pics and has some pretty good stories. Well worth reading. Actually, I was tooling around on his site earlier today and it inspired me to rethink what my site is going to look like. I met with Nick tonight and we did a mock up of the site which is going to be called www.room19comics.com. Basically, there is going to be the cartoon taking up most of the page, underneath are going to be three boxes: one has all links to my contact information, writings, resume and older strips. The other has the first two paragraphs of my blog with a link here and the third box has links to other sites that I fancy.

Nick did a tremendous job and I can not wait for this thing to be on line. I think it will be up within a few weeks. Seriously, this thing is going to look really professional and terrific. I know that I've been moving sort of slowly (fuck, who am I kidding, it's been going at glacial speed), but it's all going to be worth it in a few short weeks. Please stay tuned.

Sunday, all Aly and I did was make dinner and lay around. Two nights in a row we were up past 2 am, so we were fucking dead tired. When the hell did this happen? I didn't even drink either night and I was dead meat all day, both days! Man, the younger me would hate the older me. When I was younger I could party it up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and still tip a few back on Sunday during the football games. Now just staying up late gets me toofy.

I'm such a pussy.

Shit. I forgot the most important thing that happened in the last few days, Aly and I finally found an apartment! We're going to be relocating to Brookline Village in March. The place is pretty nice, it's a basement place about a half mile from her present house. There are six rooms and the rent is $1000. It's pretty hard to beat that.

At first, I wanted the place in Somerville, but the more I thought about it, the more this place makes sense. I will have way more freedom (I won't have to pick up and drop Aly off at the T every morning and night) and the neighborhood is much better. Also, and here is the most important thing, it's literally a two-mile walk to Fenway Park.

Ever since I was a little kid, I've wanted to live close to Fenway Park. So essentially in the time it took me to walk to Chris Baird's house, I can be at Fenway Park watching the World Champion Boston Red Sox. The more I think about it, the more pumped I get.

This is the time of the Hot Stove season that I hate, everyone is signed, no one is making trades (except for the Cubs who traded Sammy Sosa, whose first home run Jay and I saw when he was still a Texas Ranger, to the Orioles). I'm not wild about this trade for either side, for one thing I don't think that the Cubs got a good return on the trade. But on the other hand, this isn't the 1998 Sammy Sosa the O's are getting either.

Last year, their problem wasn't hitting, it was shitty pitching. So unless Sammy is going to toe the rubber, then it's just a name to battle those new Washington Nationals. For the Cubs, it may turn out to be a good deal, no matter who they get. Reportedly, Sosa had worn out his welcome at Wrigley Field (which was unthinkable even two years ago) and his departure may be addition by subtraction.

But, the Sox aren't doing shit right now. It's all Patriots, all the time. Did I tell you that the Pats made the Super Bowl? Well, that's where they're going to be on Sunday evening. Jacksonville, Florida. Not sure why that city was chosen, but that's the site of Super Bowl XXXIX.

The reason why I haven't been writing much about it, is because not much news has been coming out of Jacksonville. Aside from Eagle wide receiver Freddie Mitchell saying something stupid about Patriot safety Rodney Harrison, it's been a quiet week. That's ok, they'll do their talking on the field.

Terry and the Pirate

Hey y'all, I'm turning the blog over to Aquaman for this Sunday's entry. Why? I don't know, he's been a real crybaby lately and claims that he needs to write an entry. So, being the nice guy that I am, I'm letting him.

Thanks, assclown. Hey everyone, it's your old buddy AM kicking it new school. I haven't written about her since my first entry back in August, but the other day I got a call from my publicist Terry. She sounded pretty excited, so I was intrigued by what I thought was going to be good news.

"Aquaman, I'm so glad I caught you," she said.

"Hey Terry, baby, tell me you got me that cover on Field & Stream!"

"Uh, I'm still working on that AM. I've got a huge favor to ask you."

This was it, despite the fact that I'm married to that beached whale Mera, I've been wanting to drop anchor in Terry for a long time. The one thing that really blows is that she's been dating Black Vulcan for a while, but I think after I do this favor for her, she'll be bound to see what a great guy I am.

Look at this guy, does he deserve a babe like Terry?



Of course not, he deosn't even wear pants!

"Sure, baby, tell Aquaman all of your problems, I'll be able to help."

"Well, my aquarium needs cleaning, and I thought you might be able to do it."

What the fuck? Me? Aquaman, clean an aquarium? Does she remember the press release that she wrote about me stopping those starfish poachers? How about that time that me and a few zebra fish got that guy who was illegally trapping lobsters? Does she think that I can just do what ever she wants?

"Puuuuhhhhhhhh-lease, AM? That algae is scary."

"Why don't you get Black Vulcan to do it? That's more of a boyfriend job isn't it?"

"You know he can't go near the water, he'll electricute himself."

It's true, BV can't go near the wet stuff, it's literally been years since he took a shower, which gave me an idea.

"Sure, I'll be over in a jiff!"

By the time I got there, Black Vulcan was crashed out on the couch and the aquarium was on a table right behind him. I said hello to Terry and went to work. As I picked up the aquarium I began to think of the best way to dump the contents on Vulcan. Should I pretend to trip? How about I say that a bee was on my leg? Maybe I'll just throw it on him.

Just then I got a communication from an angel fish, she said if I dumped the water on Black Vulcan not only would the world lose a hero, but the fish would die too. For you see, fish need water to live. This was something I was unaware of and since I like fish more than I like people, I decided to let Black Vulcan live ... for now.

After I clean the aquarium, I said good bye to Terry and Black Vulcan. That bastard didn't know how close he came to getting the ultimate shocker.

Lazy Saturdays are okay ... and a new feature

First the new feature. A few days ago on SOSH, there was a thread about about former roommates, specifically the weirdest or the worst ones you ever had. It got me thinking of my old roomie Jim. He wasn't an asshole or anything, but he was a bit strange. I am going to start retelling a few Jim stories, they're pretty funny and the best part is that they're all 100% true.

Here's one of Ryan's favorites: When we were juniors Jim started to follow the lead of my other two roommates and got into the music and culture of Phish. He had the whole look down, beard, shaggy hair, flannel, the works. A bunch of them decided to go up to Maine, get a hotel, eat some mushrooms and go off to the show. Since I didn't go to the concert, I'm retelling the story second hand.

There was about seven dudes up there crammed in a room, they got a pizza, sprinkled the shrooms on top and started eating. Just about everyone had a good trip (from what I hear mushrooms give you an elongated high where you're just happy). Everyone except Jim. Jim locked himself in the bathroom and just stared at himself in the mirror. Every once in a while he'd start bawling and talking to himself.

I think Jim left a bit of himself up in Maine that day, as for the rest of the year he was a shell of his former self. To be honest, I was planning on eating a couple of caps the next weekend, but when I saw what happened to Jim, I stayed away from anything harder than pot.

As you can tell from the time that I'm posting this entry, it's mid afternoon and I'm sort of bored. I got the "Faith Rewarded" DVD on Thursday, so I'm watching that. Obviously, it's good stuff. Some times I forget that the Sox won, because it's so unbelievable that it happened.

Last night Aly and I, along with Skaus, Sara, Nick and Debbie went to the Celts game against the Suns. The game was pretty good, the Celts got smoked, but we got a nice Walter McCarty bobble head doll. Then we went out to play pool at the Boston Beer Works. We stayed out until about 1 am, which is the latest Aly and I have been out in a lonjg damn time. Needless to say we were really tired this morning.

Woke up sort of early adn tried to get Sox tickets, I thought I was going to get a shortcut password from SOSH, but the site was down and I couldn't get shit. This is the biggest problem wiht the Sox, tehy play in a bandbox and they're too damn popular. I have four tickets already ... I want more. The thing is, all of New England does too.

I'm getting hate mail

I love it. One of the best thing about writing is getting letters. Letters telling you that you're doing a good job are fine, I like those very much, but my favorite messages are the ones that say I'm a dope.

Check this one out, it's about my review of "Dodgeball".

WHAT U SAID ABOUT THE DOGEBALL MOVIE REALLY MADE ME MAD. I KNOW EVERYONE IS INTITLED TO THERE OWN OPINIONS AND HERES MINE. I THOUGHT THE MOVIE WAS GREAT AND BEN STILLER IS A GREAT ACTOR ESPECIALLY IN MEET THE FOCKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! U SOUND LIKE THE LOSER

Here's what I like best about this email, the CAPS. I'm being yelled at, over Dodgeball! That's the best thing ever. The person didn't sign his or her name to the letter, but I'd guarantee it's a girl that wrote this. Don't ask me why, I just think that a chick would write this, rather than a dude.

Imagine getting that pissed over someone's review of a movie? They actually used the word "mad", just little kids use that word, right? The coolest thing is when she told me that I am entitled to my opinion and then gives me hers, and I didn't even ask for it. Awesome. Just awesome.

If you are reading this, please write again. I am begging you. If my computer was on the floor, I'd be writing this on my hands and knees.

Another cool thing happened today, I was on the Boston Dirt Dogs website, and there was a headline that read, "Sox to change uniforms, according to reliable SOSH source." Yours truly is that source. Kind of neat, I guess. Basically, I was on a baseball uniform site and there is a Sox intern on there who said that it would probably happen. I posted and it gets picked up.

The Dirt Dog site is an interesting one. It was started by a rabid (no pun) Sox fan as an alternative to the daily papers. It's now a part of Boston.com, so while it was once the alternative, it is now one of the mainstream media. Just goes to show that this Internet thing can be lucrative.

The guy who runs it, Steve Silva, seems like a good guy. I met him at a SOSH outing a few years ago and he was the last guy I saw at Fenway before I got booted out. Remind me to tell you that story some time, it's actually pretty funny.

If you want to check it out, go to

Not much happened since Monday except that we got more snow today. Another eight to ten inches. And I feel like a true hypocrite as for the first time ever I used a chair to hold a spot I dug out. There's a story behind it though:

I got home around 6:15 and saw that there was a spot up the street from my place, except I had to dig it out. Took me a few minutes, but I did it. Put the old car in spot and then went inside. I had to pick Aly up an hour later, so I brought the chair out and put it where the car was while I went to Boston to get her.

It felt sort of weird doing this, I thought that I would never do it, but I needed to ... mainly because I'm lazy. As I was walking down the street with the chair, people were asking me "Where ya goin' wit da chair?" and "Save that spot, buddy!" I never understood the chair phenomena, but I guess now I do. Good for me.

Last thing, yesterday I got 70 visitors to 19 Thoughts, thank you very much. If you like it, tell a friend. If you don't, keep it a secret, but still check it every day. It'll be just between you and me ... I promise.

The GREAT blizzard of 05

In this instance the meaning of the word great is used as large, not better than good.

Let me get this on the table right now, I hate snow. I hate everything about snow: the cold, the wet, the way it impacts daily life, the additional time it takes to do mundane tasks. I hate it all.

Saturday, I awoke and went to get my haircut. As I was sitting in the chair, the barber was telling me about how today we're supposed to get 24 inches, I was like sure whatever. I hadn't seen the weather report, so I thought he was exaggerating much like he was about his partner who had a burst appendix and the amount of time this guy was out of the shop grew from one week to two and a half weeks in about ten minutes. The barber was really pissed that this guy was out that long and said, "If I burst my appendix when I was his age, my father would've told me to do it on a Sunday so I wouldn't miss a day of work."

Sometimes curmudgeons are funny.

After that Aly and I went to check out a place on Highland St. in Somerville. Nice apartment, fairly big, close enough to the T and Davis Square (though Aly wishes it was a bit closer) and the price is awesome. $250 less per month than other places we were looking at. I want to jump on it, but Aly is being a bit more cautious. Hopefully, we'll have a resolution soon.

After that we visited with Father Brian about the results of our compatibility tests that we took back in October. Good news, we passed. We spent an hour and a half talking about the results and what we expect from our relationship and from each other and our friends and family. It was actually really good. Very cathartic to get some things off my chest and listen to what someone else had to say about what I'm feeling.

Fr. Brian is a pretty cool guy, so it's easy to open up to him. We did this all in the St. Mary's rectory, which is like every other rectory I've ever been to, really freaking nice. A lot of people give priestly life a bad rap, but I bet it's not so bad. You get up say Mass, talk to some people, listen to confessions and then go to bed. Everyone is trying to buy their way into heaven, so they bring you food all the time, let you use their vacation homes, no taxes. Of course, there are some shitty parts too: the no sex thing, visiting sick and dying people, being on call 24 hours and funeral masses. I don't know, doesn't sound too bad to me (except for the no sex thing ... that blows [no pun])

After that, we went to the mall. I felt like scaring the crap out of myself so I bought a book about ghosts. If I really wanted to give myself a good scare I should just look at my credit card bill. Also, Brownie called to tell me that he and Cindy were canceling with us tonight. There's no snow as of 4 pm and I think he's being a bit paranoid, but that's ok. It'll be an Aly and Byron night ... we haven't had one of those in a while.

So, we start making our plans for the night and all of a sudden I look outside and it is coming down fast. Damn, this looks pretty bad, I thought to myself. No big deal, we'll just camp out in Brookline and it'll be all nice and romantic like. We plan to walk to a new restaurant called Pomodoro that we've been dying to try. I suggest that we should get a few bottles of wine since we're not going anywhere, Aly agrees. First we go to the Brookline Police Station so I can get my $10 per night parking pass. Sucks that you have to pay $10 a night, but you can't park on the street in Brookline, so this is what you have to do.

I walk in to the station and see a cop, here is the exchange:

Me: You're still selling parking passes tonight, right?
Cop: No.
Me: Huh? Why not?
Cop: Snow emergency.
Me: Ok. Where am I supposed to park?
Cop: Don't know.
Me: I can't park on the street, right?
Cop: Yup.
Me: I can't park in the lot, right?
Cop: Yup.
Me: Then what am I supposed to do?
Cop: Don't ask me.

Ok. Good answer, dick. You're a cop. You're supposed to know what to do. Ugh. So, I tell Aly to pack for a few days, we're going back to Somerville. Something that neither of us wanted to do for two reasons. My apartment is completely falling apart, aside from mice and exploding pipes, we saw that the roof looks as if it is separating from the house. So it's fucking freezing downstairs, but it's like Jamaica upstairs.

Also, Josh and Eddie are having their annual post-Christmas party. Last year was the first year that they had it and it was a disaster. Some guy literally threw his girlfriend across the room when she playfully grazed his neck with a tack. Then some girl drank way too much and laid in the middle of the road and passed out so cold that they had to call an ambulance. And the beer is shit, the buy a keg of Milwaukee's Best, so I'm sitting around my house with a bunch of strangers drinking really crappy brew. No thanks.

Luckily, because of the snow, there was like 10 people there. Not too bad for the time we stayed. Aly and I decided to head out to grab some grub. We've been wanting to try this shady-looking Italian place near Old Magoon's Saloon called Vinnie's. We've heard such awesome things from a cross section of people that we had to check it out. Very good. We ended up getting a bottle of wine and some good food. Despite the walk through the blizzard, it was well worth it. We also had to beg the owner to keep the place open so we could eat.

On the way home, Aly and I got into argument about something really stupid, so we just went straight up to my room to hash it out. It took a bit, but we did. And I think the tension that both of us have been feeling for the last three weeks has dissipated. The thing is, we're both so similar in a lot of ways that we but heads some time. And though I like to pretend I'm all laid back and stuff, I'm not. I'm stubborn, set in my ways and not to mention a hyper passive aggressive who can hold a grudge like no one's business. Which combined with Aly's passion, stubbornness and aggressiveness can lead to some good bouts.

But, like I said, things are good now.

We both woke up in very good spirits on Sunday, despite the promise of two feet of snow. Yes, two feet of snow in Somerville (there was 38 inches in Salem/Marblehead). Two feet in Amesbury sucks, but in Somerville it's choking. The streets are already tiny and littered with cars, so travel is an adventure. At about 1:00 we got the wild idea to spend the day making chili, so we took a walk to the grocery store. We bought a lot of ingredients because in 162 Central all four dudes have girlfriends, which I had no idea about, so there were an extra couple of people in the house. (Andrew and his woman weren't here, they were snowed in in DC).

Aly and I walked to the store, which wasn't too bad and after I brought the groceries inside I decided to dig my car out. Before that, a musing on how people are just dicks, Aly spotted a dude in a Yankees sweat shirt and cap and said, "Go Yanks!" and I just shook my head. He said, "What are you shaking your head for?" Mind you I'm wearing a Sox 2004 World Series cap on my head. I just said something like, "The Yankees."

"Yeah, what about them?"

"They suck," I was getting sort of pissed because the guy was being a dick.

"I have 26 Championship rings, how many do you have?" Actually, you have none.

"You don't have last year's, good work in the playoffs," I retorted (I came up with a million other things to say to this guy after -- which is always the case -- but I was honestly surprised by how much of a cock he was.)

"Yeah, we'll get you next year, don't worry. You were lucky."

"I really doubt that."

Even Aly was like, "Man that guy was an asshole." Typical big mouthed Yankee fan, I said.

So I started shoveling at 3:00 and didn't go inside until 5:00. Two hours it took me, but there were a few reasons. I parked on Browning St., which is a side street off of the road where I live. I had my entire car dug out when a guy who owns a place on that road walked over to me.

Guy: Hey, you're not supposed to park there during snow emergencies.
Me: Really? I didn't know that, thanks for the tip.
Guy: You're lucky you didn't get towed.
Me: Yeah. No kidding.
Guy: I called last night. I called the tow truck on all of your cars on this street (there were at least seven).
Me: Are you serious? Why would you do that?
Guy: Rules are rules.
Me: Are you going to call again tonight?
Guy: Sort of late now, isn't it?
Me: Whatever.

Why would this guy do that? Why would you be a fucking dick during a snow storm? I just stared at that guy for like two minutes with a complete look of disgust and contempt. Dude, it's a snow EMERGENCY, people need to park their cars some place, have a fucking heart. So, to combat towing or a ticket, I went on Central St. and scouted for a spot. Luckily I found one and dug it out. The problem was I had to move my car from it's present spot to the newly dug out place. That's when Aly became invaluable.

She came outside and stood in the space until I could get my car there. And that was about a half hour. Why, you may ask? Because all of the cocksuckers on Browning Street decided to blow all of the snow from their driveways into the street. This made driving a gigantic chore. My car would move two feet and then get stuck, so I would have to get out, shovel five feet out, get back in, drive and then shovel. Not easy. I did manage to get in my spot and when I got there this morning, the car looked fine.

Another thing happened yesterday, these two chicks spent as much time as I did digging their car out of the snow and were just about done when a town snow plow came buy. It took all of the snow it had on it's front end and dumped it right on their car. Just completely reburried it. The women were justifiably pissed off and started yelling at the guy. Being a dick town employee, the guy said (in the most condescending way), "Sweetie, where do you want me to put the snow? I didn't make it snow." The girls were like, quit being a dick and have a heart. The guy said something about them not being real women because they spoke like that, and one girl said that he wasn't a real human being. He took off after that and they had to redig their car out.

Such a dick move.

I don't have to be at work until noon today and I'm debating whether to go in at all. Driving was treacherous this morning when I had to bring Aly to the T. Normally, a 10-minute drive at worst, it took me about an hour. Cars were sliding all over the place, small hills were tough to go up and trying to find a parking spot is going to just suck.

Well, those are some snapshots of a disastrous weekend where three out of every four people were dicks. New Englanders are just assholes, there's no getting around it and situations like this bring out the worst in people (except for the guy who pushed my car up a hill this morning), but at least the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl. They're playing the Eagles, which sort of sucks because if they played the Falcons, Aly's brother would've gone and covered the event. He also would've written a story about growing up in the shadows of Foxborough, which I would've really liked to read because he was a New York Giants fan and those years where he became a football fan, the Pats sucked and were a distant fourth in the consciousness of New England fans.

Oh yeah, Friday night I saw "Napoleon Dynamite". Not that good of a movie. I was really looking forward to seeing it, I don't want to go far as saying it sucked, but it just wasn't very good. Ok. Now I'm done.

A bunch of stuff ... you figure it out

Things are going pretty well: work is going ok (I hope I didn't jinx myself), I think I might be getting a raise soon. Things with Aly are fine, we've been on edge a bit lately because we're both sick of living in different places, but we may be solving that problem by the end of Sunday.

On Saturday, we're looking at three places (two in Salem, one in Somerville) and we're looking at an apartment in Brookline on Sunday. Right now, if we had to, we could pull the trigger on a place on the Brookline/Brighton border. I think I may have told you about this on Monday. In any event, it's a pretty cool place. Big living room, big bed room, a refurnished thoroughly modernized kitchen.

Aside from where it is, it could be the perfect place. I told the chick who has the place to keep it for us until Sunday. I honestly doubt that we'll see anything better that we'd both like, so that's why I think we should take this place. We'll see how it goes.

So I originally started this entry about how boring and lame my life is because not much is going on, but that's not the worst thing in the world. I reread what I wrote and realized things aren't too bad. Shit is really starting to fall into place and while it may be fucking cold out right now (a low of 5 today. FUCKING FIVE!) it's goign to be summer pretty soon which means baseball.

I am jonesing for baseball so hard, I actually watched Game Three of the 1986 World Series tonight. NESN is actually doing a pretty cool thing this winter, they've been rerunning 1975, 1986 and the entire 2004 post seasons in order. They are up to the Mets series.

It's really strange to watch a game from Fenway in 75 and 86, looks like a completely different park. No rightfield roof box seats, no Monster seats, no ads anywhere and in 75 there wasn't any padding on the outfield walls. And the players look so scrawny. The one good thing is that they're using the actual feeds from the networks that ran the games, that means tonight Vin Scully and Joe Garrigiola are talking.

Much better than Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. You know what Vin and Joe G. do? They actually let you watch the fucking game sometimes and they don't say two words. And, the best thing, they don't moralize about every fucking thing that happens in the park. Example:

Joe B: Well, Tim, there's a guy who's eating a hot dog with ketchup on it.
McCarver: Ketchup? Are you kidding me? I'm sorry, but that's just wrong, Joe. Plain old wrong.
Joe B: I know. Folks, I'm sorry that you have to watch this. A man eating a frankfurter with ketchup smeared on it. Disgusting.
McCarver: Terrible. Terrible. Bad day for baseball. Worst thing I've ever seen.
Joe B: Unbelievable. By the way Johnny Damon hits a grandslam. But back to the hot dog ...

Shut the fuck up. Joe G. and Vin just talk about the game. They don't try to be funny, well maybe Joe G. does a bit, but they know (and this is the most important thing) that they're not the stars of the broadcast, the ballplayers are. Ok, rant over.

I'm also in the midst of watching, "I Love the 90s, Part Deux". I'm not usually a big fan of the sequel, but I have to admit, this is better than the first one. It seems as if they've taken more time with this one. They didn't try to jam in as many things in this one as they did the last one. Also, the guests are a bit better and they're not trying to be THE funny guy/girl. They're just talking and it's better, sounds more off the cuff, less scripted.

The Sportsguy, Bill Simmons, is in this one too. He's a funny dude, the first SoSHer to be on network TV ... though there is a guy on SoSH (I think it's Muggsy Jock) who is a producer on this show. Good egg, that MJ ... I wonder if he's going to the SoSH bash in the summer.

I'm actually at my parents' house tonight, sort of a good thing mainly because there was a rumor that there was a dirty bomb in Boston somewhere. I think this was not a hoax, but maybe just bad information because nothing has happened so far. Also, the pipes under our sink exploded, so we're not using our kitchen sink for a bit.

Well, that's about it for tonight. Talk to you later.

Talkin' about MLK Day

This is going to be sort of a disjointed 19 Thoughts today, the reason being I'm watching 24 as I'm typing. This show is so damn engrossing.

Anyway, the weekend wasn't a bad one. Didn't do a hell of a lot, Aly still isn't feeling well, so it was a slow one. The good thing is, I needed a slow weekend, ever since before the holidays it's been bang-bang-bang busy.

Friday night Danna and Rick came over, even though they live in New York, we've been seeing them a lot lately, which is cool. The reason why they came down this time is because Aly needed Danna to get her bridesmaid dress. That's what they did on Saturday. Rick and I literally did nothing. We watched a couple of movies, saw the beginning of the Steelers/Jets game and had some pizza. Not a bad day.

Saturday night we all went to dinner with Stacy and Anthony in Harvard Square. The restaurant was called the Red House, and it wasn't that great. The food was overpriced and not very good and the service was lousy. Really some of the worst I've ever seen.

Sunday Aly and I went to look at two places, both were in Brookline. For the second time, the landlord of one place blew us off. I was pissed, so I called the dude. He made up some bullshit excuse and said that he'd be there in ten minutes. I told him that's all he had and we left when he didn't show up on time. Two minutes after that, he called saying that he was there. I told him we weren't and he lost a renter.

The other place was way too tight, though Aly really liked it. Looking for places fucking blows. After that I went over Ryan's to watch the Pats game. They won, they beat the vaunted Colts. Every "expert" picked the Pats to get crushed. They didn't. They were the ones who did the crushing. Great game and it's going to be a tough one next weekend.

Sunday night we did nothing. Monday we looked at two more places, another in Brookline which was really nice and one in Somerville. I liked both places, but the one in Somerville I liked better. It is close to Harvard, which I think would be awesome to live near and the place had a lot of space. Aly wasn't too wild about it, but we got other places to look at soon.

The journey continues ...

BTW, you may notice that I have a new counter, it's to keep track of who actually reads this site. Last Tuesday I put it up and set it at 500 prior views (probably a lot less, but ...). Also, I was able to get some marketing software to see who is actually reading the site. It's cool. So, I'm watching you. =)

More 2004 Year in Review Stuff

Last week I got Ryan to do a review of his favorite CDs from 2004, now I'm going to do a review of the movies I've seen in this year. I'm going to break it down into three different categories:

Movies I Saw at a Theater
Movies I Got Off of Pay-Per-View
Movies I Rented and/or Bought

Why those three categories? Because although I didn't see a ton of flicks this year, especially compared to years past, there are still a bunch and one giant list may become unweildly. And I'm not going to write massive reviews, probably one to two sentences, unless I really liked it or really hated it. Since most of the movies released this year has an "ahhh, whatever" quality, this will probably be a bunch of short entries.

I'm going to try and grade each movie on a scale of one to five Jerry Matherses. I couldn't decide whether to go with young, cute Beaver or gawky, dorky old Jerry, so I compromised and went with the gawky, teenage Beave.

MOVIES I SAW AT A THEATER:

Alexander Probably not as bad as everyone says it is, but there are enough shitty parts to make this movie unwatchable. Not unbearable, there's a difference. I'll never watch this movie again, but it wasn't so bad the first time.



Anchorman : The Legend of Ron Burgundy This movie was awesome. Tons, and I mean tons, of laughs. Not to mention a weird ass story and an actual good cameo by Ben Stiller. This dude is quickly becoming my movie Public Enemy Number One ... and not in the cool way that Public Enemy was cool.



Kill Bill VOL. 2 If Quinten Tarrantino had never written, filmed and produced "Pulp Fiction" this would've been his greatest flick. But he did, so it comes in a very respectful number two. I like the plot in this one better than volume one and the action was still kick ass.




The Life Aquatic With Steven Zissou Am I glad I saw this movie? Yes. Would I see it again? I'm not rushing out to buy it when it comes to DVD. Like most Wes Andersen flicks, I enjoyed it but I didn't love it. Funny. But not "ha-ha" funny.




National Treasure You like popcorn? This is what is called a popcorn adventure flick. Why? Because it's light and fluffy. It was like "Indiana Jones" lite. Not the worst thing I've seen, I'd probably see it again.




Ocean's Twelve This is just like "National Treasure" except there was about 15 times the star power. Catherine Zeta-Jones looked hot as usual. Everyone else looked like they were having fun. I like fun flicks. So sue me.




Shrek 2 This movie was ok. I hate Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. I think they're all a bunch over acting hacks. And Shrek 2 was the same as Shrek 1. Except that I paid $10 to see it. That blows.




Spider-man 2 Probably the best movie I saw all year. That's saying something, I guess. Being a former comic book geek, the flick stayed true to its roots. The CGI was pretty awesome. The plot was kick ass, the acting was good, the dialog was passable and the action was awesome. Great flick.




Super Size Me This is the primary reason why I rarely eat at fast food burger joints any more. I think I only went seven times last year. That used to be a bad (or good) month for me. This dude sort of went over board on some things, but as far as documentaries go, it was pretty good.




The Village Like Alexander, it wasn't as bad as people said. Not as good other M. Night Shemalyan (spelling?) movies, but it was good. The one thing is that he should quit trying to give us a twist at the end. They're getting a tad predictable.



MOVIES I GOT OFF PAY-PER-VIEW


Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story Terrible fucking movie. Just beyond bad. Horrible. Ben Stiller sucks. There. I said it. He's over exposed and he just blows. And I used to think his wife, Christine Taylor, was hot. Now I know she's just a crappy actress. And Vince Vaughn was sleep walking through this movie.




Saved! This was kind of a funny movie. A little over the top and a little cliched, but it was funny. That's all I ask is that a movie entertain me. Is that too much? Plus, Mandy Moore looked hot and seeing Mulchaley (spell?) Culkin in a wheelchair was kind of weird.




The Stepford Wives Worse than Dodgeball. I almost asked for my money back. Putrid movie with a bunch of people who just didn't give a fuck. Terrible.

NO BEAVERS.

MOVIES I RENTED AND/OR BOUGHT


The Manchurian Candidate I saw this before I saw the original. The original is better. This was a bit more drawn out, but Denzel did a better job of acting than Sinatra. There were a few scenes that were a bit over the top, but that's drama in the 21st Century, I suppose.





Mean Girls It's not Citizen Kane, but you know I don't think it was supposed to be. Hot chicks, some semblence of a plot, made me laugh once or twice. Well, that pretty much sums up the year in movies for 2004. Tina Fey smugly smirked her way through this entire movie, sort of like she does every weekend during Saturday Night Live. Yeah, that's not getting old. But she wasn't in it that much.



Until next year, amigos.

Normally, I don't usually do this ...

What I'm talking about is posting from work, but since my boss isn't here and it's sort of a slow day, I'm going to try and catch up on some stuff that happened over the weekend.

First, I forgot about the band on Friday night at the office Christmas party. They were called Horizons and we were thinking about them for our wedding. They had a good set going, doing all of the traditional stuff and they sounded pretty good. The make up of the group (and this is important for the story) were four white guys and a white chick.

All of a sudden, the lead singer (and keyboardist) dips into a bag, pulls out a White Sox hat, puts it on backwards and a pair of Raybans. Then you hear nine words that should never have come out of this dude's mouth, even if he was in the shower, "I like big butts and I can not lie."

They started singing or rapping, whatever, Sir Mix A Lot's "Baby Got Back". It was embarrassing, I said to someone, "Sir Mix A Lot is rolling over in his grave," but they didn't think that was funny. Somewhere Henny Youngman is rolling over in his grave. Needless to say, that crossed a band off our list. To paraphrase SML, "They had (no) game so we chose to hit 'em."

Saturday was a day of looking at apartments, we started in lovely Waltham where the place was nice, the landlord sort of goofy but cool, but it would be a big pain for Aly to get into her office. So, we put the kibosh on that. Our next appointment was in the North End, so we hightailed it from Waltham to Boston, through a minor snowstorm. When we found a place to park and located the apartment, we called the woman who owned the place.

"Gee, I was hoping that you'd blow me off. My boyfriend gave the (apartment) keys to the realtor and they're closed for the weekend. I can't show you the place."

Thanks for telling us, bitch. Really, that was fucking real sweet of you. So, we're looking at this place on Thursday again, but unless she pays us to take it, I doubt that we'll move in there. People are fucking dumb.

Saturday night, Aly and I went out with Ryan (the very same Ryan from Ryan's Record Review), Kristen, Keri and Byrnie. We were originally supposed to go to a bar-b-que place in Methuen, but because of the weather (it was really snowing pretty badly up there) it was closed. We ended up going to Bugaboo Creek, which wasn't too bad. I got a nice steak and it was all good. After that we just went back to Rye's place, which is fucking awesome and just hung out for a few hours.

Sunday, Aly had a Christmas lunch with her friends, so I was able to get some stuff done, including my last strip. This means that all I have to do is get my scanner up and running and bring it over to Nick so we can upload this thing. I'm probably going to get the scanner set up on Monday (I have the day off for MLK). After that Andrew took me, Josh and Eddie to the Capital Grille for our Christmas meal.

Jesus, this was awesome. Drew got us a kick-ass bottle of wine, we all got steaks and appetizers and desserts, the whole Magilla. I'm not sure how much it cost, but he insisted that he pay. It was an unbelievably nice thing to do. When he emailed us about it on Tuesday, I was completely shocked. And to add to his gratitude he asked how our honeymoon plans were going and I told him how we needed 6,000 more miles to get a free ticket to Hawaii.

Without a second thought he said, "I'll give you the six K. Don't worry about it."

Nice? Generous? Those words can't even begin to describe Andrew Bannon. Aly and I are planning to take him and his girlfriend out to a Washington Nationals game and dinner in April, but that's not even going to begin to make up for what he's done. The one thing that this Blog has shown me is that my friends are incredible people, I only hope that I can be half as good to them as they are to me.

Monday we looked at another place, this one was just outside of Porter Square. It wasn't too bad, a bit small for my tastes, but not too bad. The one thing that I'm concerned about is how Aly will get to the T. It's a seven-minute walk to the station, but it's through a sketchy neighborhood. Also, Aly didn't like the looks of the outside of the building.

The whole place reminded me of a college dorm room. I think this may be our last resort place. We're supposed to look at a place in Brookline tonight, hopefully that one will be a bit better.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be at my parents' place, so that is where I'm going to give a wrap up of the movies I saw this year. I bet you guys can't wait.

The three R's and other junk

Since it's the beginning of 2005, I'm going to look back on 2004 with reviews on books, movies and TV shows. Today it's music, but I'm not going look at it, my good friend Ryan (if you're reading this from SOSH, you'll know him better as LawTown Fool) is going to take a look at the top six discs from the past year. So, it's time to go to school and learn the three R's. Not reading, (w)riting and 'rithmatic, but Ryan's Record Reveiw.

Some shit I dug from 2004:

Interpol: Antics
Don’t bang the bassist from Interpol -- the chap’s allegedly got herpes. Don’t give up on this album either -- I nearly did. I was persistent, however, and though Antics isn’t as strong as Interpol’s debut, it eventually paid off with rewards like: “C’mere,” “Length of Love,” “Next Exit” and “Evil” (one of my favorite songs of the year).

Aberfeldy: Young Forever
Oh my goodness, the glockenspiel -- Young Forever, my unquestioned favorite album of 2004, is teeming with it. This Scottish quintet’s debut is also chock full of mandolins, fiddles, bells -- even a little bodhran (which warms this Irish trad lover’s heart). The tenderness of “Tie On One” will make you teary, while the cheeky lyrics of “Vegetarian Restaurant” will make you smile.

TV On The Radio: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
It’s difficult to categorize these guys -- they dabble in post-punk, in jazz, in doo-wop. They dabble in fucking goodness too. Tunde Adepimbe’s voice and lyrics suck you in -- right from the opening, dragged-out lines of “The Wrong Way,” the album’s first track: “Woke up in a magic nigger movie.”

The Walkmen: Bows & Arrows
This is my third pick from a NYC-based band -- I’m at peace with myself for doing this because New York’s most beloved baseball team recently engineered the greatest collapse in the history of pro sports (I had to get that in there, assbags). I picked this album up early last year and this fact, along with several of the song titles (the droning “No Christmas While I’m Talking,” the bittersweet “The North Pole” and the bouncy “New Year’s Eve”), has always given this album a wintery feel for me. Also, “Thinking Of A Dream I Had” seems fitting when reflecting -- during these most recent winter days -- upon that World Series run.

A.C. Newman: The Slow Wonder
Carl Newman, lead dude from the New Pornographers, churns out one helluva debut solo album. The fucker’s stacked with pop delights: the aching “The Cloud Prayer,” the upbeat (in music only) “Miracle Drug” and my favorite, “The Town Halo,” filled with plenty of swirling cellos. It’s something catchy to tide us over as we wait for the latest New Pornos’ release.

The Libertines: The Libertines
Okay, you know how a football player has a great season, doesn’t make the Pro Bowl, follows that up with a slightly-less-than-great season and then makes this Pro Bowl on account of him being rewarded for the previous season? That’s why the Libertines self-titled effort is on here. Their debut is far stronger, though this LP certainly does have its moments: “Can’t Stand Me Now” and “What Became Of The Likely Lads,” where Pete Doherty and Carl Barat go toe-to-toe on the vocals; “Campaign Of Hate” with the chilling lyrics, “There’s a campaign of hate/It’s waiting at the school gate”; and the amazing 20-second solo in “The Ha Ha Wall.”

This is going to be a regular thing here at 19 Thoughts, Rye knows his shit about new music and is going to let everyone what he's listening to and why it's good. We're also thinking about linking the song to web sites where you can download the tune, so if it sucks you can let us know. Of course, if it's good, you can let us know that too.

Aside from Aquaman's blog, I haven't really written too much. Luckily, not much has been happening. Aly and I just came back from my work Christmas party. Like most work Christmas party held after the holidays, it sucked.

For one thing, most of the people I work with are fucking dorks. The other thing is that it's hard to make regular chit-chat with work folk without talking about work, and no one wants to talk about work. You have to spend most of the night fishing for things that people may be into. So you end up talking about malls or cars or some other really stupid thing for the entire night.

The worst part of the night is that we came in late and had to sit with a couple of people I barely knew. Turns out that the people I sat with were cool, but it was still kind of sucky. The strange thing about my company is that a lot of people go all out for this party, one lady even wore the dress she got married in to this shin-dig. It wasn't a wedding dress, but it was sort of a white prom dress. I mean really, what the hell?

Aside from this party, it was a pretty boring week. Aly started her job on Monday and aside from some growing pains, it's going well. We took my dad out to dinner on Tuesday for his birthday. The sucky thing for my dad is that my mom is never around for his birthday. She and Ryan's mother always take a Florida vacation to visit Ellie's sister, Sally. She's a teacher and gets the same vacation time off every year. This leaves my dad alone. I don't think he cares too much because being alone doesn't bug him, still sucks for him though.

Ok, I got nothing else ... I think I'm going to bed.

EDIT: I forgot to add a book report, on Monday I finished reading Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch". Not a bad book at all, not the greatest book that I heard that it was, but not bad at all. I liked it because Hornby does a great job of explaining what it's like to be obsessed by a team.

In his case, it's Arsenal of the English Soccer League. This guy has been crazy for them since the late 60s when he was just a boy. As he gets older his craze only grows, even going as far as moving close to their home stadium so he can walk to the games. It's something that every Sox fan can relate to ... in fact, they're turning the book into a movie starring Jimmy Fallon as a Sox-obsessed fan who dates Drew Barrymore.

It's going to suck.

The one thing that I didn't like, and it's not Hornby's fault, is that he wrote it about English soccer, something of which I know nothing about. If I knew the intricacies of the game a bit better, I think I would've gotten more out of it, but I don't, so there were some parts that I was sort of skimming over. However, he did rekindle my interest in soccer, so maybe after a bit of research, I can read this again and get more out of it.

All in all, a good read.

I hate New Year's Eve

I've been writing a lot of schlock about the holidays and how wonderful everyone is and how much joy there is at this time of the year. In the interest of fair time and giving equal time to dissenting opinion, I bring you Aquaman and how he spent New Year's Eve.

Thanks for returning my emails, dickwad. Supposedly Byron's been getting a lot of heat for my last post. I wrote something about Giganta's 18 foot vagina, I guess they didn't like that. I know what they mean, I didn't particularly care for my 5'6" vagina ... of course that was my first wife. Hey yoooooo!

Seriously though, the holidays aren't the best time of the year for your buddy Aquaman. For one thing, all of my SuperFriend buddies go to their home planets, their home towns, their home islands or whatever. Except for Apache Chief, all that dude does is sit around and watch the Trouble Alert for 72 straight hours. Last year I asked him how he does it. He said, and I quote, "Ug. Me have strength of bear, focus of hawk and fifth of Gin."

So, since I have nothing to do, I head underwater to Atlantis. Of course, my second wife Mera is there. Think she's happy to see her husband? Of course not, she's lying wasted on our clam-shell couch, vomit hanging from her lips, cigarette dangling from her fingers. I know what you're thinking, "How can you smoke under water?" It's not easy, Copernicus, but it can be done.

Anyway, after I wake her up with a scalding cup of coffee (thrown in her face) I ask her about dinner. I don't get the answer until she stops screaming and its a frying pan flung at me. Being a superhero, I can sense that she's pissed, so I head on down to the Rusty Barnicle.

All of the guys are there, Aqua Lad, Sub Mariner (yeah, I hang out with Marvel Comic dudes, what's it to you?) Tusky the Walrus, the gang. Look at these assholes, would you hang out with them?





The Tusky picture is small because he's a piece of shit walrus. The thing is I don't talk to any of them any more, not Sub Mariner, that dude never talked to me ... funny thing about the Mariner, he loves baseball. Know what his favorite team is? That's right. The Washington Nationals. "How can I not love a team that is undefeated?"

Anyway, the reason why I don't talk to AquaLad or Tusky any more is because of what happened last New Year's Eve. NYE is a time where we can all get loaded and shoot off our mouth. We were pounding the Budweisers pretty hard and Tusky gets all philosophical and says, "What is your New Year's resolution?"

AquaLad said something about trying to work out harder and stop wearing such short shorts. Tusky explained that he wanted to work down on eating, he mentioned something about an Atkins diet, but I wasn't listening.

So, finally it gets to me (I am sort of the unofficial leader of this little crew) and they're all pretty interested in what I had to say. So, I look at Tusky, then at AquaLad, then at Tusky again and I blurt out, "My New Year's resolution is to nail both of your ugly mothers in the starfish!" Then I started to laugh, you know, to let them know I'm just goofing around.

They're both pussies and gave me a dirty look.

I was like, what's your fucking problem?

And both of them said, "Dude, you know that our mothers are both dead."

I was like, "Who fucking cares? One, I like nailing dead bitches and two, they won't put up a fight."

That fucker Tusky jammed one of his tusks into my forearm and wouldn't let go until I apologized. As this was going on, AquaLad just started slapping me. Yes, slapping me. Literally. Like a woman. Tusky's tusks fucking killed, but I was laughing so hard because of AquaLad's slaps that it was hard to say I was sorry. Tusky released his grip on me.

I told them that I was sorry. Sorry that I wasted my time hanging around with you losers, and I walked back home.

So, here we are a year later and those two pricks still haven't talked to me since. Who would've thought that someone would hold a grudge about potential narcolepsy on a person's mother? Jeez, talk about being a puss. Someone put a quarter in the jukebox and that Auld Lang Syne song that Kenny G. does where they have a dude read headlines over the song came on. It got me thinking that I should really bury the hatchet with the guys.

They're a little nerdy, but they're not too bad. I took a leak, and when I came back I order a couple of brews. I brought them over to them as a peace offering. They were happy to see me and we started talking and drinking, just like old times. And we got as drunk as we did last year.

After getting hammered, Tusky asked again, "What's your New Year's resolution?"

AquaLad, again went first, "I'm going to quit wearing these speedos and I'm going to keep in better contact with my friends."

"I'm going to lose some weight and also keep in contact with all of my old friends," Tusky said and he gave me a wink.

I was genuinely touched. These guys really liked me, despite the mean things I said to them. Finally they asked me what my resolution is. They held their breath, until I said, "First off I'm going to quit masturbating in the bathroom and then dumping the jizz in my friend's drinks and I'm going to dig up both of your mothers and slam them both in the ass!"

I swam home laughing my ass off thinking, I don't hate New Year's Eve, I fucking love it!

The beginning of the year/end of the year ... whatever

So, the calendar says to go buy a new one and we do. The end of the year is always met with bittersweet feelings. On one hand you're glad that the year is over, especially when you think back to some of the shit you slogged through. But on the other hand, there were some real good times too and you wonder if this year is going to be better.

I hope so. Not that I had a bad year: I got engaged, the Sox won the World Series and a bunch of other cool things happened, but I don't want 2004 to be the apex of my life. That would suck. I hope that every year is better than the one before.

For New Year's Eve, Aly and I visited Danna and Rick and it was pretty chill. Friday night we went to Morton's steak house in White Plains and had an awesome, awesome meal. I had the double filet for the main course with a side of hash browns. For an appetizer I had scallops wrapped in bacon as well as Caesar salad.

We also got a bottle of wine and a surprise, after Rick chose the wine, the steward came over to us and said, "This bottle of wine is complements of Mike and Donna." My parents went through the trouble of calling information, finding the number for the White Plains Morton's and then telling them to put the wine on their card. That was awesome, and I was completely touched by that gesture. Sort of made me feel bad about what I wrote on Wednesday.

The rest of the weekend, we have done nothing. Saturday we dicked around Danna and Rick's place until about 3:00 when we went to the mall. We got something to eat, I bought "America: The Book" by the folks at the Daily Show and then Aly and I took off. We would've normally stayed until today, but Aly is starting her job on Monday and wanted to get her bearings before the big day tomorrow, can't say that I blame her. Starting a new job is always tough.

We were originally supposed to hang out with Aly's friend Erin. She's a 4'10" lesbian that's built like a bowling ball and is as tough as nails. Aly's told me so many stories about this chick, that I really wanted to meet her. Unfortunately, she never came up, so we just got some Chinese food and called it a night.

This morning, we decided to go to church. It was the Epiphany Mass where the Wise Men visit Jesus but don't stab him in the back by telling Herrod where he is. (Herrod was going to kill him, like he did with all of the young boys born during that time). As I'm listening to the Gospel, which (truthfully) is the best part of Mass because it's a more "historical" part of the mass, it hit me how much I hate January and February and just how different December 20-23 is from January 2-5.

I've had this feeling since I was a kid and what I mean by this is, during those December days you're really focused on the holidays and family. People's spirits are lighter and while there is a chill in the air, it doesn't seem as cold. If you happen to go to church and hear the readings before hand, you know something good is coming (presents, family, etc.) Then Christmas week comes and goes and then it's after New Year's and then where are you?

You're right back where you started, except you now have to wait about a year before you can see your extended family, it's going to snow for the next two to three months and work (and school) begin with a vengeance tomorrow. I guess if you love your job, that's not the worst thing in the world, but I don't, so it sucks. What

I'm trying to get at is, ten days ago you were pumped about the unknown of Christmas, the presents, the thrills, the laughs, now it's over and you have to get on with your ordinary life.

As far as resolutions go, I'm only going to make a couple of them. Last year I made two and kept one. They were to keep in touch with my friends better (did not do) and write more (which, thanks to this Blog, I've been doing).

This year I'm really going to get serious about getting in shape, Aly and I talked about training for a 5 or 10K. The other thing that I'm going to do, and I'm sure you're sick of hearing about it, is really get my cartoon moving. I'm still working on my last one, and after that, it's just getting the site up and running. If I can do both of these, my 2005 will be better than 04.

BTW, I got a few requests for upcoming 19 Thoughts, so I'm going to try and do those ... both of the ideas were really good.

Last article of the year

I have a bunch of stuff to catch you all up on. They're going to be quick hits, with a bit of explanations, so it won't be the normal well-thought out and well-written tomes that you're used to. I am quite sorry, but that's the way things go.

* Aly got into a car accident last Wednesday. It wasn't anything major, which is why I forgot about it, but it still sucks. Basically she was driving down Harvard Ave. in Brookline when some jackass decided to do a three-point turn in the middle of the road. For those of you who aren't familiar with Harvard Ave., it's probably one of the busiest roads in Boston proper. Always full of cars. Especially at 8:30 am. Why this numbskull decided to do this type of turn is a mystery.

Anyway, Aly saw the car now perpendicular (I love using that word) to her vehicle and started to stop. Notice how I said "started", the car skidded on ice and slammed into the car. The guy gets out and starts yelling at Aly, "Didn't you see my turn signal?" Aly was looking at this guy like he's insane, BTW he's not stupid, he goes to Harvard. So she calls the cops, they cite him for attempting a U-turn under a gigantic sign that says "No U-Turns". And he's responsible for the damages, which include: a new grill, a new hood, a new front bumper and a paint job. Should be about $3,000.

Aly was a bit shaken up, but other than that, she's fine. It's obvious I'm her good luck charm.

* Remember that guy a few weeks back at work who completely flipped out about things going to the Cayman Islands? Last week I asked him where the booth and the other shit was. It's been almost two weeks and I haven't seen anything. Nothing. I asked him what he did with the stuff, "Well, I just filled out the FedEx slip and left it in the room."

"That's all you did?"

"Yeah. That's what I was told to do."

"Seriously?"

How can this man be a vice president of the company I work for? He is a fucking moron. You know why the stuff wasn't returned? Because he left the equipment in the wrong fucking place because he wanted to go and play. He was seduced by seeing his wrinkled ass wife in a bathing suit and drinking shit margaritas. So for the last few days I had to track this shit down. Today, I finally found it and they sent it back to me. Three weeks it took me to get this stuff back, and does he give a shit? Of course not.

I work with fucking morons.

* Which may not be for much longer. Yesterday I had an interview. I think it really went well. The person interviewing me was impressed with my writing skills (a first) and I only said a few idiotic things. Not too bad.

The place is called Band and Brown, which I called Brown and Band. Give me a break, they both begin with B. Don't I get a mulligan on that? As I was interviewing for this job, a funny thing happened: I really began to want this job. When I walked in there, I knew they weren't going to meet my price and I was like, "whatever, let's do this thing because I haven't had an interview in over four years." But as I was talking and selling myself, I really, really wanted this job.

Which means that they're going to undercut me and I'll say no and get pissed off. If they can match what I'm making right now, I'd take this job in a second. For some insane reason, my parents have this idea that this job has "a lot of travel" involved in it and are nervous about me accepting it.

What the fuck are they talking about? There is virtually no travel in this job and even if there was, who cares? This whole leaving the nest syndrome is starting to bug the shit out of me. If Aly or I even talk about moving, they seriously get pissed. What the hell? I mean, I love them and all, but I don't know if I want to live my life 30 miles from where I was born. I'm glad that they like that type of stability, but do I want to look over my life and know that I've only moved 30 miles in 80 (I hope) or so years of living?

Christ, it's like I have these two people that are pulling me back because they're afraid to let go.

* Speaking of moving along, Jay's girlfriend, Vanessa is moving to Tampa. That's going to suck for Jay, I think he really likes her. I like Vanessa too, she's a real good kid. I hope things work out for both of them.

* Ok, I'm probably going to get a rash of shit for this, but I don't care. I've been pretty involved with the entire wedding, I should, it's my day too. There is one thing that I was not getting into though, that is the flowers. I don't care if we have no flowers or a fucking garden growing in the middle of the dance floor. It is something that I just don't care about.

Yesterday was my last day of a very brief vacation and Aly couldn't use her car (the insurance adjuster was coming between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm -- way to be fucking specific, pal) and she had an appointment in South Boston with a florist. Guess who had to give her a ride and hang out? That's right. Me.

I thought it was going to be for an hour. Zip in, look at a few buds, leave. No big deal right? Wrong. I was there for over two hours. How the hell can chicks give a shit about flowers and colors? How? My head was going to explode it hurt so much. Just the most mundane shit in the world. Tope? Eggplant? Violet? Chocolate brown? Cinnamon? Auburn? Who fucking cares, pick a damn color and go with it.

And then, should the centerpieces be 35 inches tall or 25 inches tall? It matters you know. It matters big time. Just not to me. And what do you want to wear on your tux? I don't know, just don't make me look stupid. Well, do you want this color flower or that color. They're the same thing. No they're not, one's ivory and the other is eggshell.

I was so bored I almost fell asleep, which made me feel bad because the lady was really nice, but man, did that suck. And I also had a milkshake from McDonalds, which killed my stomach. The other thing that blew about that McD's is that it was right next to the Children's Museum, so every kid was so wound up and tired, that all they did was cry. I am not joking, from the time they walked into the restaurant until the time they left, all of the shrieked.

* We picked where we're going on our honeymoon: Hawaii. We also booked our flight today, that was fucking awesome. I can't wait.

* I am going to White Plains to celebrate New Year's Eve (Amateur Night) with Danna and Rick. Just a nice, quiet dinner at Morton's. This is quite a 180 from last year's NYE, where we paid $60 for all you can drink at a comedy club in Manhattan. We got to see Chris Rock (unannounced) and I got to drain five keg cups of Dewar's on ice. Needless to say, I puked my guts out. Fun for all!

* I'll see you in the 05, when I'll tell you what happened in New York and drop some resolutions on your asses. Maybe I'll also figure out how to post pics on here, so you can finally see what I look like.

The holidays are just about over ...

And I'm happy to say that not only have I survived them, but I enjoyed them as well. I have been off since about 2:30 on Thursday, and it's been pretty awesome. Just a great feeling not to have to go to work, even if I wake up at the exact same time just about every day (7:30 am).

Friday was Christmas Eve, and this is my favorite day of the year. I love the anticipation of Christmas and getting things ready. This Christmas Eve was especially nice because Aly and I had to stop at an Italian bakery early in the morning to get some pastries. It reminded me of a Christmas Eve day from about 18 years ago when my mother, my brother and I went to Tripoli's bakery in Lawrence and we got pastries then hung around my aunt's store. Actually, I went to Mahoney's drug store and read comic books.

That's one of my favorite childhood memories and Friday I got to relive some of that, minus the comic books. There's not a lot of opportunities to go back in time and feel the feelings you once did, but I got to do that on Friday. That was a Christmas gift in and of itself.

After wrapping 15 presents, Aly and I took off to Franklin where we met her two friends (Danna and Rick) her family and just had an old-fashioned Italian Christmas Eve. Three courses, lots of fried food, lots of seafood, lots of good food. Had baked stuffed lobster for the first time, incredible. Also had a steak and some pasta. Aly's mom knows how to cook, she really does. And her grandmother is an awesome cook too.

Besides a gaggle of new outfits, Aly got me a digital camera. It is so sweet. It's an Olympus and while I haven't had a chance to really look at everything, but a cursory glance says that it's a great camera. I can't wait to bring it to Fenway next year. Every year Aly gets me an awesome gift. She knows how to pick them.

On Saturday, Danna, Rick, Aly and I went to my parents' house and it was a lot of fun too. My parents really took to Danna and Rick, and my grandmother did too. I'm really glad that every one got along and had a good time.

The one awkward part of Christmas was my Aunt Rita and Uncle Joseph. For the last eight years, I think that the Christmas that has just passed will be my aunt's last. She's not doing well, osteoporosis has destroyed her and senility is more than creeping in. Half the time she didn't know where she was and the other half she was throwing up at the dinner table. I don't want to get old.

And her son, Uncle Joseph, is not doing much better. He closed the family store because he's up to his eye balls in gambling debt, he looks like a beaten man. He used to have it all: women, cars (he had three different Jaguars at once), money, vacations. What ever he wanted. Now he lives in the back of a storefront (that he owns) and had to sell the store that was in our family for three generations.

The worst part is that he is trying to get Jay to get in on a store with him. He wants Jay's money and credit because his is so shot. Normally I say "Family First" but he'll destroy my brother and his future. My Uncle Joseph is an awesome guy, I don't want to completely throw him under the bus, but he's got a bad monkey on his back and he needs to get some help. I only hope he does.

Sunday, Aly and I did nothing. Literally nothing. We made dinner and watched TV and also napped. One of the movies we saw was "Matchstick Man" with Nicholas Cage. Good flick, a bit long, but it had a twist ending, which I sort of saw coming from a mile away. Glad that Jay let me borrow it. We also watched "The Others" with Nicole Kidman. Another good movie, not great though. Sort of like "The Six Sense" times three. I hate giving away spoilers, and these last two movies have them in spades, so just rent them. You won't be disappointed.

Not too much happened today, returned some DVDs that I got for Christmas. Ended up getting "The Best of Triumph the Insult Comedy Dog", "Mr. Show" season four and "Spider-Man 2". After getting the movies, Aly and I took in a matinee, "The Life Aquatic". Typical Wes Anderson film, well written, well acted, pretty funny and touching at the same time. The characters were perfect for their roles.

Here's the thing, as much as I liked this movie, "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tannenbaums" I don't think I want to see them again. They're very good, not great. Sometimes there are slow parts in each of these three movies that make them seem a bit longer than they really are. Out of 19 stars, I'd give it 15.

Tomorrow I have an interview with Band and Brown for a public relations job. I had a phone interview last Wednesday and we spoke for about a half hour. Turns out that he probably can't meet the salary I desire, but he still wants me to come in. I'll listen to what he has to say (he actually doesn't make the salary numbers). Hopefully things will work out.

Let the Christmas season begin

Really good weekend this weekend. No rest for the weary, but that's cool, Aly and I had a ball.

It all began on Friday (isn't that where the weekend usually starts off?) at work. We had our annual Christmas swap, and I made out pretty big. I got the Sox World Series DVD, which is what I wanted. The thing is everyone gave pretty good gifts, and I just gave a Cocoa Puffs chicken bobbing head doll. I thought it was pretty cool, but it was definitely the cheapest gift there. Oh well, Diane liked it (she ended up with it).

In the middle of the party, I was called by a guy from Band and Brown, which is a PR firm in Cambridge. They wanted to phone interview me right there, but I was at the party sitting right next to Monica when he called. I excused myself and told him that I'd call him on Tuesday, but he sounded a bit put off. That's not a good sign for an interview. We'll see about this tomorrow.

Friday night, after Aly and I decided that we were going to move in together in March, we went to Waltham to visit Brownie and Cindy. They met us at the door with a beer and a glass of wine and we didn't stop drinking all night. It was fun, I don't remember the last time we did that.

We went to a Spanish tapas restaurant called Solea. Not too bad, they had a shit-load of tapas and I had the lamb steak. We ordered a lot of food and when the bill came, Cindy ripped it out of our hands and demanded that we let her pay. It was $250. Needless to say, we were quite shocked. That was such an awesome thing to do.

We went to a bar after called the Skelig. The bar was cool, it's just like the Burren in Davis Square, but the band sucked. They were called the Swinging Johnsons and they were a goofy-ass cover band. And they just weren't good. After a few beers we went back to Brownie's where I kicked his ass in Madden.

Saturday we started Christmas partying at 1:30 pm and didn't stop until after midnight. Our first party was the Chili's bash and that was awesome. I haven't seen most of my friends since Stacy's wedding, so it was great seeing them again. Skaus and Sara hosted the party, and their new place is really nice.

As far as the grab, it was more cut throat than work's was, but I still got some cool stuff: the new Onion book and the first season of Arrested Development. We were the last ones to leave because we were looking at S&S's honeymoon pictures. They're going to Hawaii and we have decided that that is where we're going too.

After that we went to Aly's roommate's (Sara Wells) friend's Christmas party in Brookline. I thought it was going to be a real cheesy affair, mainly because it was a house full of lawyers, but it was a good time. I really think that I should give people more of a chance and not prejudge them based on occupation.

They were all really down to earth folks with good attitudes. If we weren't so tired from the night before and Skaus' shindig, we probably would've stayed later. We left around midnight.

On Sunday we went to church and saw Fr. Brian. He told us that he had our compatibility test done and we had to meet with him soon. Aly got real nervous and wondered whether we passed. I think that we did, Fr. Brian was smiling when he saw us. Unless he's really peverse, but I don't think that he is.

After that, we went to Franklin because we still had Christmas shopping to do, so after saying hello to Aly's folks, we went the Wrentham outlets. The first place we went to was Banana Republic. Some bitch with a baby carriage slammed it into the back of Aly's knees. Aly turned around and the woman gave her a half-hearted "sorry". Aly sort of looked at her and then the lady said something again, so I yelled, "Hey! You're the one that slammed into her!" And she gave me a dismissive wave of her hand, so I told her to take her hand and "shove it up her ass."

I was fucking pissed, who the fuck does that bitch think she is. I really hate Christmas shopping. People (including me, I guess) are such dicks. Then we went to the Nike store, which was just as bad. Everyone was literally tripping over each other trying to get their "awesome new kicks". What the hell, they're just shoes, they're going to be there whether you run over someone or you wait.

I think I just may shop on line for the rest of my life.

I sound like a broken record, but ...

I know that I write this a lot, but it's true. Pop culture just sort of rots now. And it's creeping into things that I once really loved.

Take for example Howard Stern. I used to love this show, it was literally the best part of my day. I would flip it on and just cruise to work laughing my ass off or being enthralled with an interview or just generally fascinated by the ball busting that occurs between the cast of regulars. I would try and figure out when he was going to be on one of his umpteen vacations and get sort of depressed.

Not any more.

The past month or so has been god-awful boring radio. I dislike George Bush and his right wing, jack booted thugs as much as the next guy, but if I have to listen to Stern tell me about how they're infringing on his free speech one more time, I'm going to freak out. That's all he talks about is the delay button and how much it sucks. Yeah, we get it, you want to swear. For fuck's sake, quit being such a whiny bitch about everything.

And when he's not crabbing about George W., he's going on and on about how his radio station won't let him talk about Sirius satelite radio. Next year, Stern is going to pay radio where he can swear all night and day. Ever since he signed his contract he's been talking about it. Not surprisingly his current employer is not too happy about this.

They (rightly) feel that by him continuingly talking about Sirius, they're going to lose customers. Stern is shocked and appalled that he isn't allowed to turn his radio show into a five-hour comercial for satelite radio. So he talks about that for 20 or 30 minutes a day.

Then he brings in the same tired shit like strippers and farters. I've been listening to this dude for eight years and it's the same thing. This guy farts "Feliz Navidad" that girl queefs "O Holy Night". It's been done. But the strippers are the worst, he fawns over each and every one like they're not the biggest skanks on the planet. And then when they do get naked, it's like who cares, it's radio, I can't see anything.

He is literally just stealing money from his employers because he doesn't care. It's obvious. He's saving all of his energy and good ideas for next year. And of course, every day we have to hear, "This might be my last day on the radio. Yup, it really could be. I am so outta here." Fine. Just go. I'd rather listen to music or Dennis and Callahan. (I never thought I'd say that.)

I don't hate the guy though, because when he feels like putting in an honest effort, he still is quite entertaining, but that is becoming less than the norm now.

You know why I'm so bitter about these things? I just saw "A Charlie Brown's Christmas" tonight. I love that special, it's such a great show and was so far ahead of the curve. Charlie Brown is a kid who's completely depressed about Christmas, which was unheard of. Man, I wish I could do something like that. This is what I aspire to.

There are many things that suck; shaving, shoveling snow, going to work, but nothing is as bad as wandering the mall thinking of ideas for Christmas presents. During my day off yesterday, Aly and I went to the mall. I never want to see another mall again. The place was packed. I don't understand why there were so many people there. It's a Wednesday in the middle of the day, don't you people have jobs? Seriously.

So, we were supposed to get gifts for like 13 people. I ended up getting Nina's gift, my work Yankee swap and two gifts for the Chili's people. That's it. I still have to get a bunch of shit for more people. Guess when I'm going? Sunday. At the outlets. This is going to be like the Battan Death March. Not good times.

So, I'm at my parents' house tonight. I went to the doctor's about my potential Graves' Disease, looks like I don't have. Dr. K wants me to come back to his office in six months, but otherwise it looks as if I'm in the clear. That's really good news, I'm pumped.

Pedro's gone with the wind ...

Look at what time it is and check your calendar, I'm playing hookey today.

I still haven't done any Christmas shopping, and Aly really hasn't done that either. So guess what we're doing today? That's right, we're going to the Museum of Science. Actually I'm just giving you "the business", we're going Christmas shopping, which totally sucks.

The mall sucks, walking around sucks, crowds suck. It's a hat trick of suckiness.

That's not to say that I'd rather be in work, I wouldn't, but this is pretty close.

Not too much has gone on during the past few days, it's actually been pretty quiet. The one disappointing thing is that the Sox lost Pedro Martinez to the Mets. To say that this turn of events is disappointing is an understatement. I really can't believe that he left Boston. I literally can't believe it.

For the last week every report from Red Sox camp has been, "Pedro is going to sign with us, there's no way that he's going elsewhere." This is especially because the Red Sox guaranteed a third year at the price he wanted. But those fucking Mets swooped in and threw in a fourth year.

Pedro did what most people would do, he took the money. I honestly can't blame him. It sucks, it totally sucks. That's what I feel in my heart. The Sox couldn't give him a fourth year, that just doesn't make good business sense. According to an ESPN.com report by Jayson Stark, 90% of Pedro's labrum is torn. There is no way that he'll make it through that contract without a major injury.

Three years might have been too much, but four years is insane. Mets GM Omar Minaya is a terrible general manager. He was always getting screwed in Montreal when it came to trades (Cliff Floyd, Bartolo Colon, Javy Vazquez) and he would always throw money at the wrong free agents (Carl Everett, Grahme Lloyd). Of course the excuse was, "He doesn't have the money. See what he's like with money."

Well, in New York he has money and he's spending it like a drunken sailor. Completely fucked up the market with his contracts for Kris Benson (an underachieving pitcher with a sub .500 record who wanted to come back to NYC) and Pedro. The guy spent too much money on damaged goods. It's as simple as that.

With all that said, Pedro leaving is like ripping the heart out of the Sox. His first years with the Sox were unbelievable. Just a constant buzz around the park. Is he going to throw a no-hitter? Strike out 21 guys? Throw a perfect game? No one knew, but with Pedro it was always theatre.

Even as he got older, he still brought that buzz to the park. Even on days that he didn't pitch. He was a funny guy who walked the walk and he could talk. Easily the smartest guy on the Sox. He said things that were eloquent and true, even when he was being outrageous. Even when he bitched and moaned you had to listen to him because it was probably true.

The buzz is not there any more. Sure Schilling says stuff, but it's not the same. And Schilling is a great pitcher too, but he's not Pedro. I don't know if we'll ever see another Pedro. He is/was one of the greats.

A little bit of culture

Friday night Aly and I did something that we don't normally do, we went to the theatre. Not the movie theatre, the theatre theatre. It was something very different, and it was pretty cool.

A girl I work with named Ann Marie used to work at the North Shore Music Theatre and she sent out a company-wide email asking if anyone wanted free tickets to see Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". I had never gone to the NSMT and I assumed that it was sort of a step up from community theatre, but surprisingly, it's not.

During the intermission, I read the Playbill and found that most of the actors were on Broadway, had bit parts on television and had been in movies. The cast was really good and the show was awesome. For one thing, it's my favorite Christmas story (the best one will always be the Mr. Magoo version) and for another thing I needed a bit of the old Christmas spirit.

For some reason, I haven't been able to get into Christmas this year. It's already the 12th of December and I haven't done any Christmas shopping, nor do I even know what to get for anyone. And just thinking of all the bills is enough to drop me into a cold sweat.

But after I saw that performance, I started to feel more in the holiday spirit. The other night I told Aly about how I wasn't looking forward to Christmas and that I needed to be visited by three ghosts, and last night I was.

This morning the Sox put their four-game packs on sale for the coming season. I woke up at about 9:00, jumped on the computer and was ready to get moving. Only my modem was busted. This happens every once in a while, so I had to keep my ear to the phone and listened to a busy signal for an hour. Totally sucked.

All of a sudden the modem started to work again and I was able to get a package for me, Ryan, Skaus and Nick. Games against the Blue Jays, Yankees, A's and Reds. Brownie got the same package and another one. Not too bad, but the one shitty thing was during that one-hour blackout I missed getting opening day seats. Man, I would've loved to have those seats. Sucks that I can't go. Maybe I'll get them for Christmas?

The Winter Meetings are being held now and the Sox have made a bit of a splash, they've signed pitchers David Wells and John Hallama. Don't care about the latter, he should be good coming out of the bullpen, but the Wells signing has me 50/50. For one thing, the guy is a die-hard Yankee, he bleeds pinstripes. Another thing is that he's pretty old, 41-years-old to be exact and his back is not exactly ship-shape. The one saving grace is that Theo signed him. In Theo I trust.

There are also reports coming out of Anaheim that the Sox have deals with Varitek, Pedro and Cardinal shortstop Edgar Renteria, which is why the Sox lost Carl Pavano to the Yanks. If it's a swap of Pavano for Renteria, Varitek, Wells and Pedro, than I am completely cool with that. Like I said, in Theo I trust. ITIT.

Aside from getting my haircut, Aly and I did nothing today. She watched a marathon of "America's Next Model" and I read and goofed around on the net. She needed this because she's starting to come down with a cold and unless I put my foot down and tell her to chill out, she's always bouncing around, getting herself sicker.

Good news yesterday, it looks as if she's getting a job offer from Bank of America on Monday. She spoke with that company's HR director and it's just about a done deal. We won't be celebrating until all of the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted. But for now she'll probably be starting January 3.

Since we did nothing, we were a bit stir crazy by about 6:00. We were originally supposed to go out with Brownie and Cindy, but Cindy found out today that her sister has MS. That put a damper on things, so we didn't go with them. Then we called Sara and Skaus, they said no because Sara had to work.

Aly and I were on our own, which actually worked out better. We started off at a really good Mexican place in Somerville called Tu Y Yo. Good food, stuff sticks to your ribs. I chowed like no one's business. I had a steak dish with two helpings of beans and rice. She had the pork dish and we had an appetizer and drinks. Total cost $35, without tip. Pretty cheap.

After that we got some ice cream, it hasn't been very cold out, which is why we went to JP Licks, then we went to the movies. We took in "Oceans Twelve". Good popcorn movie, yes there were a bunch of plot holes, but it was enjoyable, lots of fun. For one thing, I love heist movies ... they're probably my favorite kind of picture because I enjoy the cleverness needed to a. think of the plot and b. pull it off.

And when I say cleverness, I don't necessarily mean the guys who actually pull off the caper, I'm talking about the guy who wrote it. That's the man who has to have the idea. The way I figure it, he probably walks into a museum, scopes the place out and figures out how to get in and steal a work of art, money or whatever.

The only problem is, he's too much of a wuss to do it. Not that I'd do it, I'm just as big of a pussy, but he has the imagination to write something plausible. For the movie, there were a few lulls (out of about 12 scenes, Julia Roberts had about three that weren't annoying, but she was really good in those three scenes.) Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, all those dudes seemed like they had a fun time doing this movie and it show on the screen. And what can you say about Catherine Zeta Jones? She's fucking smoking. Good addition to the cast.

We saw the movie where we saw "Alexander" two weeks ago, at the Assembly Square theatre in Somerville. This may be on the list of ghetto theatres, which already includes the Fenway theatre. For one thing, it was packed. Not a big deal, it's Saturday night, this is a big movie. But the place was packed with idiots.

The two burly guys next to Aly each brought a six-pack, pounded them in about 45 minutes then left the theatre. The guys behind us brought two little kids and each person in that little foursome had Chinese food. How the fuck do you bring in Chinese food and beer?

And they didn't eat quietly, I felt like I was at a slaughter house and it was time for the cows' last meal. To borrow a phrase from Public Enemy, it was louder than a bomb. Then one of the guys pulls out of phone and started to call someone. In the middle of the fucking movie! I turned around and almost asked him if the movie was too loud, but I think he was Asian and was speaking a different language, so I didn't want to waste a good line on someone who couldn't understand it.

I know I asked these questions after we saw "The Village", but what the fuck is up with people? Why do people go to movies and talk on the phone? Can't they see that there is an entire auditorium full of people who paid $10 a ticket to watch a movie? It's obvious that they don't give a fuck.

There was one guy in front of me who constantly was sending emails on his Blackberry. Pandora's wireless box has already been open, there's nothing we can do about it, but please, I beseech you, relax for two hours. Get lost in a movie, leave your shitty fucking life with all of it's mundane melodramas at home. I promise you, it will be there when you get back. Just quit subjecting people to your stupid boring crap.

Thank you.

Wrapping things up

Ok, you're probably sick of me writing about work, and actually pretty sick about writing about that subject too, so just bare with me for two or three paragraphs and I'll write about other stuff, I promise. Yesterday was the end to the Cayman Islands Saga and guess who was right? Me. The booth didn't get down there until 3:00, just like I knew. However, if we were allowed to do the original plan none of that would've happened.

So, I think I'm moving my job search from passive, to agressive. I'm sick of my job performance being determined by the boys at FedEx and not being listened to by my coworkers. Starting tomorrow I'm flooding the markets with my resume. If you happen to know of a job contact me in the comments box at the end of this page, it goes right to my inbox. I would really appreciate it.

Speaking of getting jobs, Aly had another interview today. That's three in four days, not too shabby. This one didn't start off on the right foot, but I think it got a bit better. Around 9:10 I get a frantic call, "I can't find my pants!" I saw Aly bring in her suit from the car yesterday, but she can't find her suit pants. She decides to go look for them in her car. She found them all right, it's in the trash.

Apparently, she dropped them on the way into my house last night and they spent the entire night gettng soaked until someone picked them up and threw in the trash of the half-way house that is next door to my house. Since we don't have a dryer she had to get them dry by using a hair dryer.

About 20 minutes later I get another call, "I'm lost!" The directions we got off Mapquest weren't very good (surprise, surprise), so she's driving around Cambridge not knowing where the hell she is. I looked up a map of the city on line and directed her to Kendall Square. She also lost her resume and contact information for the person she was supposed to interview with.

Aside from those mini tragedies, things went well. The company is small and they will meet her salary requirements and they don't have a lot of girls in the office, which I think bodes will for her. She should hear back within a few days. I really hope she gets the job, she's starting to get a bit stir crazy, and I can't blame her. It must suck to be home, by yourself all day. I'd be begging for shit to do.

I am absolutely exhausted tonight. For the second straight Wednesday I played hoops. I wasn't intending to do so, but Chuck (a buddy of mine at the gym) grabbed me from the eliptical machine and we ran full court, three on three. I have no wind anymore. I played ok, last week I played much better (after being off the court for like four months). Tonight I made a few shots, started to get cocky and then I was missing a lot of bunnies. That's frustrating as hell.

Sometimes I TiVo things for Aly so that she'll have something to watch while I work on my cartoon (finished the second one last night, and it looks really good ... I can't wait to get this web site up and running). She records some of the dumbest shows and I had to listen to them. Last night was a "Nick and Jessica Christmas" and an epsiode of "Growing Up Gotti" double bill.

Nick and Jessica was predictably cheesy, bad puns, terrible jokes and more oversinging than the last three seasons of American Idol. Of course the worst being when Ashlee Simpson came out to "prove" to the world that she can sing. I think what would make the Ashelee Simpson SNL faux-singing a bigger deal is if she has talent. She just doesn't and it's obvious that she's riding her sister's coat tails.

Another thing she doesn't have is her sister's charisma. Ashlee looks as if someone has put a gun to her and is forcing her to be famous. She'll probably OD in about three years after her next album flops.

But the "Nick and Jessica Christmas Special" looked like Seinfeld compared to "Growing Up Gotti". As much as I think that Paris Hilton is a no-talent skank, these Gottis are worse. For one thing their grandfather was a mob boss, he robbed, raped, murdered and sold drugs to pay for their oppulant lifestyle. And for this, they're famous? How can this be?

And the daughter, the so-called matriach of the family, is just as classless as her old man. Besides dressing like she's an 18-year-old prostitute, she has to watch over her three guinea (and I'm Italian, and these kids are fucking guineas) kids who don't give a fuck about the world or anyone in it. In this episode, the mother takes her boys and a bunch of their friends to Miami for a vacation.

As you can expect, madcap hilarity ensues and when the boys get in trouble, their chaperone threatens the security guard. This pisses off the mother, but she doesn't make a huge deal out of it. Then the chaperone starts telling everyone that one of the guinea kids is wasted. For some reason the mother goes off the handle and concocts this scheme where her brother (who's probably a crime boss) is going to call the chaperone and scare the shit out of him.

Of course she does this in front of her kids, setting a good example and making sure that they have a healthy respect for someone that she puts in charge of them. The guy does almost craps his pants. Which gets a chuckle out of everyone because as we know Italians can't solve their problems peacefully, they have to have "a talk witchoo" which means that violence is going to ensue. Yup, that's one thing every dumb Italian understands, the fist.

And I forgot about this, she's a "writer" for the Star tabloid and she's trying to break a story about Mike Piazza and whether he's married or not. All during the show she's talking about how proud she is of her writing and how well she does at her job. Of course as she is commenting about this she is using every cliche known to man and thinks that she sounds very profound.

But her profoundity doesn't end with cliches, here is an actual quote to one of her guinea sons, "My very own father, your grandfather (they never use his name BTW) took me here for my first trip. Isn't that ironic?" No. That's not ironic. Buy a fucking dictionary.

You would figure that a "writer" even someone who writes for that piece of shit rag that is the Star would be able to properly find irony in every day life. Unfortunately, that just isn't the case. I felt that this show actually made me dumber as I watched it. I would love for these kids to die in a horrible, horrible, horrible manner. And if they have any fans, I wish that they'd die too.

This country is going to hell.