Habitat for Humanity (Catch-Up pt. 1)

On Wednesday last week, I got to take the day off from work and volunteer with Arundel Habitat for Humanity as part of a Earth Day corporate citizenship effort (other workers could volunteer at the Baltimore Zoo or an Environmental Festival). The weather was crappy and it rained all day, but luckily we were working inside a house that had a completed roof. We worked on a house in Brooklyn that had been completely gutted and had new joists and floors. Our job was to frame out the rooms.

Even though the day was crappy, I had a lot of fun and our group was able to accomplish a lot. By the end of the day we ran out of screws, and had to pack up a little early, but we were able to visit some of the other houses that were at different stages and see the transformation these groups are able to make.

I took a couple pictures with my phone:

Adventures in Carpooling

Since I have been really busy doing nothing super important or nothing I really want to write about in here ... I figured I would mention that I started my second attempt at carpooling today.

One of my friends/co-workers just bought (settled on) a house a week or so ago three short blocks from me. I figured he and I could carpool to work to save some money. The last time I tried carpooling was with a co-worker that puts in lots of extra time and it just didn't work out ... especially on the days I wanted to leave early (or on-time). This time should work better though; my friend and I have fairly similar schedules and if he does end up staying late to work, I can just go to the gym (something I didn't consider during the first carpooling attempts).

The only problem is he listens to Howard Stern on Sirius Radio and it sucks ... I mean is really terrible and annoying ... that and he smells ... really bad, like pasta. Oh, and his driving is horrible and his car is ugly. Or maybe I just know he'll read this.

On another note, while helping him move in it was determined his box spring couldn't go up the stairs (he has a crappy wrap-around spiral type staircase) so we decided to put it through the second story window. Since I can't post more than a couple times without a picture ... I'll throw one up here.

Workday??

Icy Roads = me not driving

I usually like driving in snowy and icy conditions because it can be fun when you know what you are doing. I don't like driving in these conditions when they happen to take place during rush hour or the street you are staying on hasn't been plowed yet and is basically an uphill sheet of ice. Add in the fact that my car has a turbo that produces a lot of low-end torque that causes it to spin out a lot. I am completely content working from home and having Lost on in the background. This is 9:00 AM today:





Thank god I work for a company that allows me to work from home.

Friday Layoffs

So the cuts came today and all I can say right now is that this sucks. The atmosphere here blows and I am going to miss a bunch of people that are gone. I can't really say anything else right now but am glad I have a holiday party tonight to consume my attention

Fail is the Theme for this Half of the Week

So I completely failed at getting into the office at 4 AM yesterday morning and I blame it on this Internet thing these kids today are using to send messages instantly to one another until 1 AM. I did get in sometime during the 7 AM hour though. Got a lot of what I needed to done but still have some to finish up today and tomorrow before starting on the project I was up all Sunday night working on. Today is a different story all together, I didn't get in until after 10. The only upsetting part about that was our cafeteria closes for breakfast at 9:30 and I love their breakfast foods. Oh, that and the fact my company announced layoffs ... which is awesome and really motivates me to complete all this stuff. Those affected will be told tomorrow (I think).

I also feel obliged to mention the Terps victory over Michigan last night and another year of the ACC winning the ACC - Big Ten challenge. Sorry Corey (btw, do you know a contractor for minor brick work, I haven't been able to get in touch with the guy I used for other stuff). The game wasn't pretty (at least the first half), but the Terps won and I like how aggressively they are going after the ball; the rebound differential was huge. It was also pretty cool because Shawne Merriman was there for a coat drive he sponsors annually (I guess that is a plus side of being out for the season since he would be suiting up for a game against the Raiders tonight otherwise) and Clinton Portis was sitting court side for most of the game. He probably didn't appreciate the mix of cheers and boos from the obviously mixed crowd of Ravens and Redskins fans. I also wonder if there would have been more cheers if the Skins weren't playing the Ravens this weekend, or if he didn't play for the U.

On a completely separate topic, this weekend should be fun ... I'm going to be Santa at a party for the kids in my family's huge group of friends. My godson is part of the group and really the only reason I am doing this ... that and I am the closest to Santa's physique out of the group (even though I don't think the Santa of legend was 6'4''). I'll be sure to get pictures and post them. I am doing a bunch of other fun stuff this weekend and will probably mention that stuff later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Busy, busy work week

This week has been ridiculously crazy at work and it all has to do with the fact I am the quintessential procrastinator. I have a shit-ton of work due this week and had over a week to do it but decided to wait until Sunday night to start (I started previously but didn't make much headway cause I tend to get easily distracted). I'll admit that this stuff would have taken the entire week if I worked on it during regular hours regardless of my procrastination so it is pretty impressive that I'll be able to get it done, and it will be great work ... cause that's how I roll.

I went into work on Sunday night at around 10 PM and didn't leave till 2:30 the next afternoon. This was a long time to be at work and I started to get into a zombie state of mind toward the end. I did end up writing at least 20 pages worth of workflows and procedures and other analyst crap while still having to support everything that was breaking with the applications my team supports. I proceeded to go home and pass the F out until having to go back into work at 7:30 AM today. I got a significant amount done but still have more and will be heading into the office around 4 AM tomorrow (Wednesday) ... I'll end up putting in well over 40 hours for the week by EOD (end of day) tomorrow. Luckily, everything is due tomorrow afternoon so Thursday and Friday will be normal days, even though I have to work late Friday.

Tomorrow, I won't be able to go home and sleep right after work because instead I am going to the Terps basketball game for the ACC/Big Ten challenge against Michigan. My friend from work (haven't given him a nickname yet), my dad and Betty are going. I don't have high expectations for the Terps this season but really want to get a look at freshmen Sean Mosley and Jin So Kim. Its going to be a long day ... and week. Bed time!

Finally getting to the Weekend

This was supposed to be 50 hours of straight drunkenness that turned out to by one night of crazy drinking, a day of recovery and nerdom, followed by a day of partial drunkenness and an early night to bed.

Friday night started on track when I left work and was able to get to Slainte in Fells Point by 5. This was my first time there and I definately liked it. I always like going to an Irish Pub, but unfortunately none of the girls had an accent (but some of the guys did). Some good conversations and a few half & half's later my friends called me and I had to head home so they could pick me up with all my Rock Band and weekend stuff. We headed over to Newman and Paris' place in Fed Hill and continued drinking while playing our world tour:

After a couple hours we head to Dog Pub on Cross St. for some more drinks and to meet up with some friends. On the way there I ran into an ex that was pretty drunk heading to some other bar in Fed Hill, it's always nice to know how small the world is. Several "pairs" and some shuffleboard games later we decided to head to Ropewalk down the street. This is where things started to get interesting. There were a bunch of people dancing (they dance at Ropewalk) in the back room and certain members of our group were destined to join in. Of course we had to get the obligatory drunk picture at the bar with some drunk ass-hole giving the shocker, a guy appearing to be sleeping standing up, the contemplative drunk and the laid back guy with the mohawk beanie (and of course the hot girl in the background):

So the random group of people dancing slowly started to include people from our group. Coincidently, this happened shortly after a group of us had some Jager bombs. The following is an accurate representation of why I do not dance at bars, this could happen to you:

The usual reaction WoW gets when he tries talking to girls ... even one's he knows (OK, maybe this isn't true, but it fits the picture)

We left Ropewalk at last call and then split ways. The majority of people went home and three of us decided it was a good idea to go to the Hookah lounge on Light Street that was open till 5. They don't serve alcohol (hence being open till 5 in B'more) so we ordered some Red Bulls. I was drunk and hungry and ordered some kind awesome shrimp. I also proceeded to force both York and Paris to eat some of them because I was drunk. We got some kind of Hookah and for about 10 minutes I participated. Shorlty thereafter all I remember is being constantly told to wake up. An hour and a half later (after about an hour of solid sleep) the three of us left and headed back to Paris' place. Getting there around 4:30 was great because the walk home in the freezing cold and not drinking for a couple hours woke us up and we felt the need to do the same to everyone else crashing there that had to be up at 5:30 (which was everyone but me and Newman).

The next day I woke up to the jackhammer in my head trying to get out. I thought it was early but it happened to be around 11:30. Everyone else was gone and apparently made it into work on time, even if they weren't coherent and probably unable to pass a sobriety test (they walked to work btw). Newman and I got up and played some Resistance 2 for about an hour until the uncontrolable urge to swear off drinking came over us and figured passing back out would be the best idea. Most of the guys that had to work got home around 5 and a few of us went out to eat. When we got back everyone was pretty much a zombie and we just spent time waiting (and playing video games) for the other 2 to get home so we could go out again. Eventually, we just gave up on going out since we couldn't get in touch with them and they didn't have a key. We decided to be super-nerd and play some future version of Risk. I have never played this and didn't know the rules, but learned them during the first couple of rounds. The other 2 got home real late after working for about 17 hours (one was York who slept 0 hours after getting home from the Hookah lounge) because IBM sucks at life, and proceeded to pass out. Once 2 AM came around and we weren't done playing yet we just quit and all went to sleep.

Woke up the next day and some people went to work again and Newman and I went to the Ravens - Eagles game with several hours of drinking/tailgating before. I am done writing and now need to go out for Thanksgiving Eve festivities.

Friday Lunch

Today I took a long lunch. I went to Home Depot to buy a broom and mop for cleaning up the left overs from last weekend and also got soap and a bucket. Oh, and I needed a thermostat since my old one was the victim of falling ceiling and I am starting to think about turning on the heat in my house in the next couple weeks.

After the HD trip I met up with my co-workers at Bateman's for lunch. I was naturally the only one at the table that ordered a beer, but since I am used to this it wasn't an issue. Also, this guy that eats an unfathomable amount of food ordererd the 24 ounce bacon cheeseburger. Really, the only reason I am writing this post is so I have an excuse to post this picture:


That's really all I got ... for now, I am going to see Bond (Quantum of Solace) tonight and then gearing up for the Terps - UNC game tomorrow.

About time

Well ... I know it has been a while since I posted that first post saying I was going to post a lot during the first few weeks and then maybe drop off. Hopefully this means the opposite has occurred and I dropped off early and will not start to post on a regular basis. It's just hard for me to sit down at a computer when I get home from work. I thought about posting several times (is this a repeat of my first post or what?) but didn't have the energy or desire to fire up my POS laptop and hope the keyboard worked. So on that note, let's re-cap what has happened so far in July ... with plenty of occasions forgotten I am sure.

• Went to NYC (brooklyn) to visit Vanessa (V)
• Went to a Staten Island wedding with V - I consider her my default wedding date because we always have fun together (this was also the most elaborate wedding I have been to in my life and I have been to quite a few)
• Saw Hancock with V and Wolfe (V's friend) - Still don't know what I think about it ... what kind of movie were they trying to make ... I think they got lost somewhere in the development and made half of two different movies and decided to connect them
• Did absolutely nothing to celebrate the 4th even though I was in the biggest city in the US that had a $40 million fireworks show (fireworks just don't do it for me unless I am setting them off)
• Went to Spamalot on Broadway (much funnier than Monty Python's Holy Grail I saw for the first time less than a week earlier ... British comedy is like fireworks to me, the dry wit is only funny to me when I am doing it)
• Randomly went out for drinks with Lucas and Nancy (from MD but happened to be in NYC at the same time)
• Left V to go to a "White Party" with Lucas and Nancy (for which I had to buy a white outfit that I didn't have)
• Had fun at said "White Party" on a small boat that took us around NYC till 5 AM
• Commuted back to Brooklyn only to pack up and commute back to Penn Station and catch my train back to B'more
• Worked for a few days then got sick and worked from home for the next couple days
• Went to Roy's Hawiian Fusion in Harbor East with MK (I love this place but when dinner is this expensive it can't be a frequent visit)
• Watched Happy Gilmore for the first time in years, "the price is wrong ... bitch" (one of Adam Sandler's funniest)
• Went out with Brian and Jill for one of their friend's 30th bdays this night included a rooftop deck, Saute (which has some of the best calamari I have had), Claddagh's Pub, dancing on the pool table at Claddagh's (not me), more roof deck, passing out on couch, walking home at 5:30 AM
• Had 59th Bday dinner at my mom's for my dad ... always an interesting time when you get my family together ... I swear it could be a successful TV show
• That brings us to yesterday on my dad's actual bday we went golfing, Waverly does not have enough trees to provide shade for my Irish skin (which is now red), went to Ryleigh's in Fed Hill for Shore night and had crabs, oysters, the best corn on the cob ever, calamari (not as good as Saute's), and ended up in Canton to go to Vaccaro's for desert and show my house to Aunt J and Uncle G (sister's godparents)

So that may be a lot to take in right now and maybe I'll post some pictures from the random events on there (when I get home since I don't have them here at work ... shhh! I'll get back to work now, and by that I mean start setting up my fantasy football league)