I need to do laundry. Badly. I need to sleep. Nearly as much. So what do I do last night? Play Red Alert 2, Yuri's Revenge until 4AM. Doh. What is it about Koreans and RTS games? There are no hard numbers, but it's pretty much agreed on the net that Korean own Starcraft, and Warcraft3 to a lesser extent. Helps explain why new games always include a Korean faction now. . . . . . . . . . . Finding Nemo is officially a go. Tomorrow afternoon. Leaves me plenty of time for laundry, bank, and most importantly, CounterStrike baby! ;) . . . . . . . . . . I must be getting older. The Current Lipton tea commercial, with the office woman who staggers into her office in high heels and then relaxes with her iced tea and fuzzy pink slippers, is looking pretty good to me. The younger Gene would have found her too old. The current Gene is thinking she's looking pretty hot. Of course, this could just be another sign that Gene is also a little too lonely right now.

 
For those regular readers (both of you), you'll note that this is the first time I haven't posted in nearly a week. There was a wedding to attend. There was a backlog at work. There was this cute girl on the subway. (The last one didn't have anything to do with the blog drought, I just like cute girls.) (And no, "blog drought" was not an attempt at a pun.) So I've got an buttload of pics, most of them blurry, from the event. Not to mention a timeline. I now see the wisdom in summary pages for events. Even I don't want to read a minute by minute breakdown of the last seven days. The highlights, in brief: No matter how much I pack the week before, the last night always seems to involve last minute packing that keeps me up until 3AM, followed by a 6:30AM wakeup. All the clothes? Packed. Documents? Packed. Toilettries? Packed. Money? Doh! 4 hours of hunting down every last emergency cash stash just isn't a good thing. The train bus combo to LaGuardia always takes two hours, no matter where you start from. Oh, and it sucks. At least the Q33 from Queens does. I'm still not brave enough to try the M60 from 125th St. at night. Airport "security" still needs some tweaking. Like the fact that you give your bags to a guy who puts them in the xray machine. Or at least he slaps it onto a giant pile of bags that need to go through the xray machine. A giant pile secured by a flimsy velvet rope cordon that nobody guards. You could steal or stick something into a dozen bags before anybody noticed. The flights from LaGuardia tend to have young pretty girls/women on them. Flights to LaGuardia don't. No matter how close you are to the bride and the bridesmaids, and as much fun as it might sound hanging out with a dozen drunk pretty girls, bachlorette parties are not guy friendly zones. The alero coup in red looks and drives pretty well. But it doesn't have the kick in the engine to match the looks. Eastbound I-94 is CLOSED between Michigan Ave and I-96. At least last weekend it was. Not that the official site mentions it. Actually, nobody mentioned it, not even my friend. But trust me, after a freaking hour of stop and go on Michigan Ave until I finally caught I75 at Comerica Park, trust me, it's closed. Target processes digital pics for pretty cheap. $.29 a print. Rehearsals are always more fun the the show. Tooling around with the DJ equipment the night before was a blast, and we were kicking ass. During the wedding dance, not too good and not as much fun. Outdoor weddings are beautiful, especially by the lake. But be sure to set up buoys around the lake so speed boats don't ruin the wedding moment. Either designate someone as being in charge, or give subordinates authority to make decisions, because chaos is always just a heatbeat away. And depending on good fortune alone is not the way to run a wedding, even one you didn't really want. Norah Jones and Sinatra make for a good, if not slightly nostalgically sad, last dance combo. I reckon that'll be the last I ever see of H. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. And she looked pretty damn happy to be married. That's a good thing. And the bus train combo? It also sucks when you're leaving LaGuardia. . . . . . . . . . . Rest of the week has been a mix of getting back from under the pile of crap I left behind at work. Right now I'm missing yet another meetup, this time at a friendlier location on the Upper East Side. Not that I'm eager to leave my air conditioned job for the muggy unconditioned sweatiness of home. I left for Michigan and it was a cold cold spring. I come back, and it's a hot hot summer. Was I really away for just a weekend? . . . . . . . . . . I'm liking parts of the new blogger. The settings and template options make a lot more sense now. I am missing the clean and simple interface tho. Still debating the whole moving to my filespace since it now features secure FTP. But I know that a priority should probably be a about me page or something of the like. But first, Finding Nemo on Saterday!

 
What are three things you won't find on this blog. [/carnac] STF is an old friend whom I haven't seen in a while. If you're looking for the premier Star Trek based, fan operated, text based role playing enviroment, you've found it. Founded on Prodigy's proprietary BBS system in the early 90's (I want to say around '92) as a general interest star trek club, it evolved several times into it's current incarnation as a web based role playing game club. RSS is what I need to work on to enable more people to read my ranting. However, I'm still waiting for the new blogger to roll out, as supposedly is contains RSS support. I hope so, because I'm not looking forward to paying for hosting fees to run moveable type Jeresy Dresses is a complete mystery to me. But then, we've both mispelled Jersey, haven't we. I was just talking about some big chested girls, from New Jersey, and their prom dresses (and no, the girls were not in high school). This link might be more to your liking. . . . . . . . . . . I've been goofing off too much at work. And now Ive only got 12 hours to get all my shiite done. Doh.

 
The subway is not the place you expect to get wet after a rainstorm. It's indoors after all. But when you take a moment to think about it, it makes sense. All that water in the ground has to go somewhere, and a crack is all it takes for some to leak through. But why does it have to drop down on my head everytime? And why does it always feel a little oily? . . . . . . . . . . A coworker ia a Pace alumna, so they have these things that she invited me to. Which was a little boring, and a little interesting. A history of lower Manhatten, and charitable giving through use of annuities (mostly about charitable remainder trusts, which might not work out so well anymore since revised IRS guidelines mean the calculated interest rate is usually too low to support the income stream and still leave enough of a remainder to the Charity to qualify for the tax deducted/deferred credit). But what was most interesting was how my coworker kept introducing me to Bill Kang of Organization of Chinese Americans Inc.. I wonder if she knows I'm not Chinese. . . . . . . . . . . Yesterday night was a good night. Not because I was at work until 10, but because everybody called me back. Everybody. That usually doesn't happen. Ever. And now there's a good chance I'll get to see everybody. That never happens either.

 
When the fear is gone, I get productive; and yet not as much as I could be, because the desire to nap is too great. . . . . . . . . . . So the cousin came by today. With her friend Jimmy. Seemed like a nice enough young man. But this story's not really about him. Went out to eat with my old boss (the mother of her once best friend). Was very expensive. Was very filling. Was a good thing. But darn it, she (the boss) paid for it!. Grrrrrr. Lost a lot of leverage in getting the cousin and her friend to help me do some work. Which they did anyway. It was actually very fun. (Sorry, no pictures) . . . . . . . . . . Hmmm. Father's Day just passed. Cousin graduated from school. Wedding to attend in 3 days. [wallet magically gets lighter]

 
At first, the Japanese Buffet sounds like a great idea. Japanese food, and as much as you can eat. All the sushi you can eat. The first hurdle is the cost. Nearly twice or thrice a regular buffet. And you forget that others have heard of the buffet, and they too think it's a good idea. So they bring all their friends and family. The fact the sushi is machine made, and sliced thin to boot, begins to spoil the moment. By the 30th piece, they all begin to taste pretty much the same. And you know something is up with the food when I have to down half a gallon of water, and I'm still parched. So all in all, the Japanese Buffet is no different then any other buffet: a bad bad idea. . . . . . . . . . . I don't think it's a big secret that I use Sitemeter to track page traffic. And although I'd rather be using Nedstat, the data I've been getting back has been adequate. So I notice that I've been getting a lot of eyeballs from And Then? But a little confusion reigns about my blog title, and my current handle. Which I should probably change before the lawyers send me nasty notes. Desert of the Mind - a) It sounds pretty cool. b) I was supposed to move to Arizona, so this was going to be a blog from the desert. TwinkietheKid - a) Who doesn't love Twinkies? In high school, I bought a box a week, and ate two each day for lunch. And the cartoon character is so cute. b) I'm not a big fan of the bannana analogy. Twinkie is a much better choice. Follows the same logic as the more common term Oreo. It all makes sense now, right? It doesn't? Well, who names their uber-Catholic site And Then? ?

 
Today I was bumming around the old high school Alumni Organization web site looking for information on my 10th Year Reunion, when I noticed the notable Alumni Pages. It turns out that Lucy Liu is a Stuy Alumna. And she's also a University of Michigan Alumna. Just like me! (Well, not just like me, being a man I'm an Alumnus, but what's a little Latin among friends.) She's also starring in the new Charlie's Angels movie. I work for a guy named Charlie. So I suppose this means I'm due to be a TV/Movie star any day now. I wonder how long Lucy worked in her dead-end job before hitting the big time? . . . . . . . . . . Once again, a shoutout to the Captain, putting me on to the best car commercial I've seen in some time now. Well, coolest maybe. I'm still not very motivated to get a Honda.

 

... you may want to consider reallocating your portfolio to match one of those suggested by Strategic Advisors, Inc., a registered investment adviser and a Fidelity Investments Company.1



1 - Strategic Advisors is an independent company and not affiliated with Fidelity Investments

I'm going to start reading my Fidelity prospecti and statements a lot more carefully from now on. . . . . . . . . . . Every summer there are these Italian Feasts for various saints. Feast being Italian for street fair. Since I live in a traditionally Italian neighborhood, this is a good thing. Or was a good thing. Three years in a row, the feast on the avenue right next to mine has been getting smaller and smaller. These Italians are moving out, and the Chinese and Russians moving in aren't really the feast type. Not that they don't enjoy a good feast, but I suspect they aren't too involved in the planning parts. Or, just as likely, the old line Italians aren't too keen on including them in the planning. And the slow economy isn't helping I'm sure. The big big feast 3 avenues over is still pretty good. that one starts about a week after the near me. But it's too far away for me to visit every day. So what do you do at the Feast? Besides the carnivalish games of chance (water squirt gun race, fortune telling, token slots, squirt gun horse racing, etc), and the low tech rides, I saw for the first time a new thing, Horsey rides! There's also a royal bouncer, a few (not nearly so many now) stands selling Italian CD's and Italian-wear (Kiss me, I'm Italian! type kitschy stuff. Lots of green, red, and white), and the food stands. Ahhh, the food stands. Nothing tastes quite so good as poorly cooked and questionably sanitary food cooked outdoors by sweaty nomads. No really! I was too full to eat a bag of zeppoles, but I had to have my requisite hot sausage with peppers and onions on a bun. If I had known the feast was on this week, I'd have already eaten three by now. As it is, I dunno if I can get more then one tomorrow (I eat one every night on the way home, hungry or not). Friday I'll be at the cousins, and Saterday I'll probably get home late. Sunday is a cemetary day, so that's probably out, and then the feast is over. Sniff. As for my review. I wasn't very hungry at all, so I wasn't so impressed. Adding hot sauce (which I normally don't do) didn't do much. Eating it while walking around (which I never do, so much so that the lady was suprised that this year I didn't want my sausage to go) was more fun the normal, but didn't do much for the taste. I think getting it to go, with the hot sausage wrapped in aluminum foil, heating the bread and trapping all the juices so it gets nice and soggy, makes it better. Normally I share it with Dad, so I really get half a sausage, but today having a full sausage to myself may have been too much in one sitting. Like how I love a cup of OJ. But by cup 3 I'm pretty much done (not that it stops me from having cup 4). Hmmm. After checking my records, it seems the feast is early this year. Last year it was around August.

 
... A line was formed. Pretty much anyone that could be snagged was roped into taking pictures. When we ran out of people, aunt moved all the flowers onto the piano and started posing cousin in various settings. Until she finally ran off downstairs to get a bite to eat. Which was OK since the parents and friends were taking pictures of themselves. Downstairs was another sea of madness. A ravenous swarm of locusts actually, as all the food was gone. Just a few dishes picked clean. So, after a few pics and a quick drink, back upstairs to find ... ... more picture taking! I shan't bore you with the hour of picture taking that followed, or the half hour of cleaning up the church. What I will say is that cousin's many friends were nowhere to be found during this particular stage of the event. Humph. But what did follow was simply another enjoyable late night family event. One of a vanishing few remaining. The cousins in the car (I drove). The family dinner. The late night. And of course the really late night car arking futility in Brooklyn. Doh. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun. . . . . . . . . . . So today at work the big mistakes kept rolling on in. And yet I wasn't fired ... yet. But after the tornado that is my job, I'm not too sure that was such a good thing.

 
The cousin's concert was a big success. Well, as far as people showing up and saying nice things part. The music apparently was chock full of mistakes. But who's paying attention to that? But back to the beginning. So we (me and Dad) get to their house early, and I go tutor a kid for a while (gotta earn the bread). Next thing you know, we're all piling into the minivan and heading off to Paramus, NJ of all places. And while there's the usual minivan hijinks, there's also old school dumplings, which I hate despite my starving stomach. The church was a bit more homely then I expected, but then for what was paid for, I suppose I shouldn't have expected much. Setting up was fairly easy, mostly because other people did it. Not that I didn't help set up the downstairs reception area (pics to come soon), but it didn't involve the heavy lifting that the upstairs entailed. And then there was just relaxing and rehearsing. Sound setup went quick (again, mostly because I didn't do it). And then people started arriving early. Half an hour early. So I had to do my best Korean bow and greet. Which of course wasn't very good. But it made due. And it went well with the direction of cars to the rear parking lot. I'm also supposed to be MC'ing part of this event, which I had all planned out, except I forgot to inform the cousin of this. Doh. So of course she came out early, I made a really half assed announcement, and then the fun began. For her. I had to rush back outside and direct parking and greet the latecomers. Which I don't mind. Somebody has to do it. So park, greet, catch some of the show. It was all good, except for my squeaky shoes. There was leaky-flower woman. There was breat-up-wagon friend. There was old-woman-who-can't-decide. And somehow I got most of them seated. Sadly, the room was unairconditioned, and so the doors had to be full open to stay reasonably cool. Intermission was announced (by yours truely) in yet another lame fashion. But after calming some nerves (mine), and rattling others (telling photographer to take plenty of backstage pictures of cousin), openning announcement went much better, and back to outside duties while cousins took up music. Which was good, because I was able to catch the extension chord to the videorecorder when a little kid kicked it out. And then it was over, and I turned into taskmaster. Picture, next friend, picture, next friend, etc. Lots of firm moving of people along. For an hour. ... continued when I have some time.

 
Just in case you wanted an update on the Ghost in a Jar saga. . . . . . . . . . . Still no word back from E about my upcoming Michigan trip. E sucks. . . . . . . . . . . A coworker's son and daughter had prom. Across the street from work. So I blew a good 2 hour chunk with other coworkers waiting for their limos to come. In the meantime we just watched all the pretty young people climb out of the various stretched cars. An eclectic mix of dresses (c'mon, let's face it, we ain't interested in the boys). A few too formal. A few too tight (especially since there wasn't much up front to fill it out with). A lot that were pastel shades of junior high. And then there was the hoochie mama limo. Lots of bounce. Bounce is good. But that last limo. With the two "self employed models" from Jeresy. Implants larger then my head. They were not from that high school. Was I ever that young? . . . . . . . . . . So tomorrow is the big concert for my cousin. After some discussion, we've narrowed down what I'm supposed to be saying. Pretty much I'm MC'ing the event. Please turn off cell phones, we'll take an intermission, let's have the music teacher up for a picture parts. Again rehearsal at her house was fun, even more so because now, at the last minute, my aunt decides to make some adjustments. So of course my cousin and young organist (Was I ever that young?) are all frazzled out. I'm really going to miss these family moments. When my other cousin (Mr. get married in Korea and then invite me to the reception in Seattle 4 days before the event) and his family headed out West we lost the big family moments. And when I left for Michigan, thise moments I thought were gone forever. But now they've been occuring on a pretty regular basis, and it's been pretty good despite the smaller parties. And now even that's breaking apart. I suppose this means I'll have to get a family of my own soon. . . . . . . . . . . So it turns out Vienna Teng has a concert here in NYC. June 23rd. The night I fly back in from Detroit. DOH! If I rush from the airport to The Bitter End fast enough, I might be able to catch the end of her show.

 
Because this meme doesn't already have legs of its own apparently. Yet another sign that you really can buy anything on Ebay. Turn your meme into profit! aka Cafepress still rocks despite the new fee structure. . . . . . . . . . . Antibiotics cost a lot. Which I know is not a big shocker. But when you're buying them retail, that burning hole in your pants pocket can really hurt. Good thing I'm going out to buy 2 more boxes of Adaptic.

 
Innate Idiocy or Senility, whichever it is, I'm surrounded by it. Whether it be a function of old age (60 seems to be the tipping point), or of poor genetics (there seem to be a lot of divorces), the results are the same. All I know is that I need a vacation from it all, preferably where the sun is shining and there are pretty girls to ignore me (I need an escape from the idiocy, not reality). Or maybe I just need to update my resume on Monster.com (not that it's going to really help). . . . . . . . . . . And I need a place to find boxes and boxes of Adaptic.

 

The night is when most trouble occurs at the hospital. For a variety of factors. The handoff of patient information isn't complete. The staffing levels aren't as high. There's less attention paid patients by overworked underslept staff. And, of course, because there's plenty of time to tidy up the recordkeeping, problems that got missed during the day get found. But for whatever reason, you have to be wary of the night. . . . . . . . . . . You also have to be wary of peer pressure. You end up doing something stupid, like ordering the same meal you normally get, only less of it for $4 more. All while owing a co-worker some cash because you came up short. Doh.

 
The stress of the situation is beginning to get to me. My boss is driving me nuts. My dad's condition isn't really improving. And I'm overcome with worry about how these two will work out. . . . . . . . . . . Losing my Metrocard isn't making my day any easier. It was an old monthly rate card. Still had 10 days left on it. Had to go out and buy a new $70 monthly card. $7 more then the old rate, but still better then buying each ride individually, which runs $4 a day (or $40 for the ten days I lost). And then on the ride home, had to get off the train and help coworker L walk off her migrane headache/upset stomach. Another $2 to the evil MTA gods.

 
Normally when I go and tutor children in Fort Lee, NJ, I don't bother calling my cousins. Not that I don't like them, but rather that they are always busy doing other things. But this Saturday I get a phone call telling me to come by for dinner to discuss details on her upcoming concert next week. After a rather tiring tutoring session, an hour of which is filled with a walk to retrieve a forgotten book bag, I stumble to my Aunt's house and find dinner in full swing. And another dinner guest, more agreeable then most of my counsin's friends (although I wonder why they are always male and a year older then her), is present. So we all talk, we eat, my Aunt scolds me for talking too much and eating too slowly, and I make a fool and mess of myself eating their weird homemade wrap your own veggie boiled meat chinese wrap thingy they always seem to eat for special occassions. And then the church organist arrives. She's accompanying my cousin on piano, which is good as a violin by itself is a dangerous weapon at best. She's actually very pretty. And suprisingly young. Almost too young. I'd only seen her late at night, through a minivan window as she and my younger cousin pull off to church in her car. Who would have thought an organist would be so young? I've seen many an organist from many a church, Korean or otherwise, and they are, as a rule, anything but young. But most importantly, it means rehearsal time. And try as I might to chat with my younger cousin, or my uncle, or my aunt (who tries in vain to discuss with me what they want me to do next weekend, apparently make a few announcements and MC the picture taking sessions afterwards), it's simply impossible to be heard over the sheer volume of piano and violin. Plus, I had to go to the bathroom (my tongue was itchy after eating so much Kiwi). As I'm standing in front of the sink, the violin piano combo pounding through the door, and the gentle rain coming in through the window, I realize that what I need is an audio blog. It's not often you get live music as you wash up. And it brings me back to my other classical memories. The time I was walking around at MIT's infinite corridor on Sunday, and tripped across a string quartet rehearsing in an empty classroom. The days in high school when I would fall asleep at my friend's orchestra rehearsals. Those movie moments when life's ordinary moments are suffused with soundtrack. And as I sit and surf the web, reheasing cousin and organist not more then 5 feet behind me, I savor the moment. The Victorian mood. The Ken Burns moment of it all (how in the documentaries the famous dead people are always narrated as having spent idyllic summer evenings listening to their relatives entertain the family with classical music). But this moment too shall pass away, forever. It's nice that she's going off to college and all, but I'll certainly miss these moments. Before you know it, everything is packing up. There's a private preformance for a close family friend who won't be able to make it. Which of course is a little disturbing knowing how late it's getting for me, but off we go. And it's another nice moment. Three families and more all together. The kids talking. The adults talking. Me in my usual spot of being too old and too young to join either group. Like the organist. Who looks even more bored and awkward then I. Only I'm not sure of her English skills, and I don't really want to seem like I'm hitting on her, so I let her be as I play with the camera. And then it starts. And it's beautiful. It's delightful. It's putting me to sleep. Thank goodness for the camera, and the dilemma of the picture. Dilemma in that my cousin is painfully camera-shy. Dilemma in that I can't ruin the moment with the flash, and yet the apartment is poorly lit. Dilemma in that my counsin likes to move when she plays, and I'm using the long exposure setting. 140 shots later, I think there are 5 good pictures, tops. On the way home, inbtween naps on the subway, I ponder. I ponder why it is the rehearsals are so precious, and the preformance so forgettable. Is it because rehearsals are more human? More vulnerable? More intimate? Or is it that I just like the live soundtrack to my life. Mozart's Concerto No. 4 in D Major, K. 218 to accompany my doing the dishes. I ponder why organist insisted on trying to steal my umbrella. Hers was nicer. Hers was clearly Korean (classic tri fold design with wooden handle). Mine was clearly neither (two broken elbow joints, double fold, cheap black plastic handle). Was this a clumsy attempt to create conversation later down the road (Oops, I took your umbrella, let's meet to exchange.)? Is she really that clueless to her personal property? or does she have an affinity for my umbrella. I certainly do. Refuse to upgrade even though much nicer ones keep coming my way. I ponder on how bored and lonely organist looked by herself. Not knowing anyone, and being too young or too old to really fit in. Surrounded by people and yet all alone. Like Catherine Cheng was that one cloudless night in June. I shouldn't have left her (Catherine) so alone that night. . . . . . . . . . . Home, on the other hand, is chaos incarnate, involving poor decisions, a lack of common sense, and a knack for making a bad situation worse. Worse enough to completely ruin the weekend, and with potential to go straight to hell. As in hospitalization hell. But I know for certain where my brother's lack of table glass sense comes from (his childhood insistance on placing fragile glasses at the edge of the table, followed by genuine shock when they inevitably fell and broke).