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.

Pictures from New York

In chronological order:


Dessert (S'mores) at Max Brenner in Union Square Thursday night


Friday afternoon walking along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade


Somewhere after the Promenade on the way to the Brooklyn Bridge


Starting across the Brooklyn Bridge


The East River down toward the Statue of Liberty


I kinda wish I had a nicer camera or an SLR for this one

In NYC

I have been neglecting the hell out of this blog and probably will be posting sparingly over the next few weeks until I actually accomplish something noteworthy to write about.  

I figured being in New York was worth writing about ... especially since I have been having a lot of fun and relaxing.  I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday and would love to do that on a regular basis if I lived up here.  It was right around sunset when we (my friend Vanessa from college and I) were crossing and the skyline behind the Statue of Liberty was gorgeous.  I'll post some pictures tomorrow or Monday when I have the ability to upload them.  

Tonight I am going to a vegan restaurant to celebrate the birthday of one of Vanessa's friends.  Should be an interesting time trying to figure out what I am eating since I don't know what half the stuff on the menu is other than that it doesn't include anything from an animal.  There is ice cream on the desert menu and I am kinda curious to try it since it doesn't include any milk.  We'll see how this goes.

Watchmen Widget

Friday Update

I had my first indoor soccer game Wednesday night and realized that I have absolutely 0 ability to recover after sprinting. After the game I felt like I was going to die ... that was either from the game or from still being somewhat sick. We won the game after several controversial calls and I am looking forward to getting to a point I can play for longer periods of time because I don't think I am that bad.

Yesterday was a fun day because I felt like the bronchitis was coming back when I woke up and ended up not going to work. Throughout the day I started to feel better and figured it must have been from the cold or some kind of bronchitis after-shock ... like an earthquake. I went to the gym early to do some cardio before my personal training session. The session started with me weighing in ... 268.6 lbs. I think something must be wrong with the scale cause that would mean just about 10 pounds and I feel like I haven't been doing much. My "diet" has gone to shit and I am eating things I said I wouldn't, I am not going to the gym when I have planned because I am too tired and I still haven't gone to one of the spinning classes I really want to do. We'll see how this all turns out in the end.

After the gym I signed my team up for BSSC Volleyball. That should be fun and a lot more relaxing than our VBall House leagues.

This weekend is going to be rough. Tonight it Jenny's birthday party ... with a keg (hopefully its calorie-free beer). Tomorrow morning/afternoon is a group workout then the Aquarium and I'm sure lunch out. Tomorrow night is a party of some sort that I can't really define until after tomorrow night, but there will be lots of food and drinks and I am obligated to have a good time. Then comes the football games on Sunday ... I don't know how those will turn out. On the plus side, expect lots of pictures from this weekend.

Something tells me the first two digits of my next weigh-in will be a 2 and a 7.

Finally, Something in My House is Different

I was in a weird mood yesterday and decided that I wanted to accomplish something. I didn't take a before picture so here is a description of my stairs. Originally they were covered in nasty burnt looking carpet (which there are old pictures of) ... when I tore up the carpet a while back the stairs were covered with linoleum and had metal pieces on the edge of each step. There were also a ton of tacks and staples in the stairs from the carpet.

I figured it wouldn't take long to tear up the linoleum and pull out all the staples/tacks and it would look a lot better and give me that sense of accomplishment I was looking for. This worked and now I am re-motivated to work on stuff. The next steps are to pick up my dad's belt sander Wednesday and sand off all the adhesive. I think I may sand the risers too and take off the white paint, but haven't decided on that yet.

WTF BGE

I got my BGE bill yesterday and it's $216. My average bill over the summer was around $65 and my bill last month was $144. My highest bill before December was around $90 (since last March when I bought the place). How the F did my bill get that high. I keep my house below 55 degrees and have the supposedly more efficient radiator heat. The electric portion of my bill actually went down from last month ... the gas usage per day went up 50%. How is this possible, the average daily temp only went down 5 degrees. My house is less than 850 square feet. I turned my heat and my hot water heater down from last month. I rarely even hear the boiler running. Really ... What-The-Fuck!!!

So, I am thinking I am just going to shut the boiler down and hope none of my pipes freeze. I don't mind the cold and have nice blanket to wrap up in.