Monday, October 27, 2008

Haha

Throughout college my roomies and I use to live by the stories on one, Tucker Max. Tucker Max was a law school graduate who decided the courtroom was certainly not his lifes destination, but rather partying was. Tucker Max (as you can tell you have to call him by both his first and last names) is a blogger who goes out at night, gets piss ass drunk and keeps tabs (via recording devices or his memory) on the night and then writes about his adventures the next day.

Some of his stories are completely ridiculous and some are offensive, but all are completely hilarious. He has also gone and published some of stories.

If you are interested, check him out at http://www.tuckermax.com/

Also in a list of things to check out is http://thefoggymonocle.com/

This is another blog of 2 individuals who have people send in their crazy ass IM convo's that either come after a long night of drinking or recap a funny story. Then these guys write a short blog about each one.

Def check them both out!

Sunday, October 26, 2008


to have someone to hold in the cold of the night
is to smell the autumn leaves on the first frost
and to know your heart is still warm
from the kiss of your true love.

Monday, October 20, 2008

World's Worst Dog?

Going back a couple years now, 3 to be exact, a book came out that would help summarize the love and friendship that men have with their canine counterparts. The book, named "Marley & Me", is a true life story that summarizes the relationship that the author had with his first dog, Marley (named after Bob Marley).

Right around the time that John Grogan released his book I had purchased my first dog, Toby. True, I have had other dogs before him; Cassie, a crazy little "hot dog" dachshund that use to eat all my G.I. Joes and store the remains of them under the couch, and Charlie, who was an absolute nutcase Beagle/Springer Spaniel mix that would bite everyone and dig holes throughout our entire property; but Toby was the first dog that I could officially say was mine.

As reading "Marley & Me", Grogan goes on to say that he owned "the world's worst dog", but when you take a look at it, that 97 lb Lab is no worse than a lot other dogs out there. Sure, he chewed apart a couch, a phone and slippers, but what dog hasn't? And, yeah, whenever there was a thunderstorm he would completely tear apart the laundry room, but why put your dog in there, unless you are asking for trouble.

This story certainly is a touching one that goes from the day that John and his wife brought him home all the way till the day he goes to that little puppy heaven in the clouds. But, it really shows you that a pet is not just an animal or something you purchased, a pet is someone who you brought into your family, to be a part of your family. Some people, myself included, get so attached to their pets that they might as well be a brother or sister.

With Toby being 2 and a half, I have already been through a lot of the same things that John Grogan decibels in his book. He has eaten things he was not supposed to (fish, birds, whole pine cones), he has gotten into things he was not supposed to (garbage, baby diapers, whole bags of chocolate), but I have also seen him at his happiest (running next to me in the mornings for our jogs, laying next to me when we are going to sleep, or fetching a stick in the lake).

You should certainly check out the book, but if you don't have the time or if you are just flat out lazy, check out the movie that is coming out on Christmas.

Been Stuck In My Head (MP3 is still broken. Worse weeks ever!)

With this band already having 3 albums under their belt, you can say that they have been around the block and they have a great idea of what they are doing. For a band that a lot of people have not heard of till recently, this group from across the pond, has released a damn good song titled "Sex On Fire". Not only is it a catchy song, that you won't get out of your head, but it is a catchy freakin title of a song. Check it out.....

Kings Of Leon
Sex On Fire

Sunday, October 19, 2008

(sigh) Fall (sigh)

Over the past week, Laura and I have been planning out our Saturday adventure. It sucks with me working on Sundays, so that means we have to enjoy Saturdays to the fullest. We decided towards the beginning of the week that we were going to have a Fall Date and enjoy the season to the fullest.

After sleeping in (that is enjoying the season, right?) we get up and make breakfast for ourselves. Some taylor ham and egg on an english muffin! (She really knows the way to my heart.....my fat heart!) We next head out on our trip out to the country to pick some apples.

With the smell of the fallen leaves and smiles on our faces because we know we will get to act young again and pick apples with smiles on our face, we head up to Newton to the farm. Just as we park and start walking towards our final destination, a man comes over and asks if we were there for the apple picking. We of course, shake our heads and say "yes". Then, our of his mouth comes, "Sorry, but we are done for the season". Apparently in 2 weekends all their apples were picked! We had just missed the last trip out there by 1 hour! Damn it!

Even though they didn't have apples for us to pick, there were still apples inside that they had picked already. So, we grabbed some apples, some fresh 100% natural apple cider (banging), and some apple donuts (the fatty I am). We purchase our fall fruit and etc. and head back onto the road. Since that took us no time, what-so-ever, we wanted to hit up a winery, but there was none in the area, so we decided to just head back to my house with some wine and sit outside and enjoy the leaves.

On our way back, Laura and I, took the nice long scenic route. All I could think of was the fact that I hated when my parents did this when I was young, but now I happily enjoy it.

At home, we drink some wine eat some pizza and enjoy some YouTube videos.

We then come up with the great idea to head to Wal-Mart and find an outdoor fireplace. We purchase one, put it together in the dark, and I start a fire as we sit outside, drink some more wine and enjoy the cool weather. Definitely enjoying that every weekend before it start snowing. It was definitely a great call on Laura's part.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Weekend of Wonderment!!!

With it being Sunday I know that the weekend is not over for most, but it certainly is for me. I am back to work, keeping busy (as you can tell from me blogging), and trying to make it through my "Monday". With my weekend over, though, it is time to look back and recap.

Friday morning I woke up in the happiest mood I have been in a long long time. It was the day that Laura was getting back from her vacation to Hawaii. Even though we had contacted each other continuously while she was gone, it was horrible to be away from her for so long. As I was getting ready I decided to check to make sure that her flight was coming in on time. Low and behold it was not only coming in on time, but it was coming in 30 minutes early! I had to bust a move and get my ass down to Newark to make sure that I could meet her when she was getting off the plane.

With determination, dedication and love in my heart I raced down (hoping to avoid any police officers) to the airport. Luckily I got there with some time to spare and make sure I found the appropriate area to wait. As I stood there waiting I started to see people carrying lai's and wearing Hawaiian shirts....my excitement built and my stomach started turning. I was getting a feeling in my stomach that I can only compare to the one you get when you go on a first date. I had butterflies in my stomach for the girlfriend I already had!

It was then that I started to hear her friends voice (a very distinctive voice that you can not miss) and see her tan freckled legs coming down the escalator. She was more beautiful than I had remembered. I grabbed onto her, hugged her, kissed her and never wanted to let go. Unfortunately I had to because we needed to get her bag.

After getting her luggage we headed back to the car and then swooped around to another terminal because I had to pick up one of my uncles and his girlfriend who had flown in 10 minutes after Laura.

Once we dropped them off at one of my other uncles homes we headed back to her house to enjoy ourselves, relax and catch up. She also gave me the presents that she had gotten for me from her trip. Two wonderful T-Shirts, a bottle opener that had a little Tiki god on it, and some candies for my family. We looked at pictures, talked to her rents (her mom loves when I tease her), we actually watched some adorable home movies, haha, ate some dinner and then relaxed for the rest of the night.

On Saturday, we woke up to K-Fin (Laura's mom's name is Kathleen Finley so everyone calls her K-Fin) brewing coffee and laying out bagels. With bagels, coffee and OJ in our stomachs we started getting ready for my grandfather's birthday party.

My grandfather is absolutely one of the most amazing people I know. Being born in 1908 he was raised in NYC. He remembers playing stick ball in a field where the current Yankee stadium now stands. When his father passed away he took off with his brother to perform on Vaudeville as an dance and acrobatic performer. That is where he met my grandmother and love of his life. They married, had 11 children, grew old together and loved each other more and more each day. My Nana passed away several years ago and when we all thought he was going to pass away not far after he surprised us all and kept chugging along. He is now 100 years of age and still in great shape. He is actually going to be on Willard Scott's birthday announcements sponsored by Smuckers.

At the party I saw family members who I haven't seen in years. I introduced Laura to everyone, who I am sure does not remember a lot of the names, because I don't even remember most of the names. At the party the family danced, caught up, chased kids around and of course drank like Irish families should.

After the party my cousin Renee was having a party at her house up in Smoke Rise, so Laura and I headed up that way. After getting lost in the development (beautiful homes but the worst place to drive at night because all the street signs are unreadable!) we retraced our steps and finally made our way there.

For the rest of the night we partied more, bullshitted with family members, I was attacked by my 8 year old cousin, Laura and I played pool and drank and she became bff's with some of my cousins.















gotta love the fam!

All I could think of while I was watching her with my family was our future together and that she is certainly the one that I want with me the rest of my life. She is definitely the one I want to become a part of my family. She fit perfectly with them as if she was meant to be from the beginning.

With many more drinks in us and a lot of laughs we navigated out of this gated community from hell and headed home to relax since I had work in the morning.

Overall it was definitely a fantastic weekend. Laura came back from her vaca, my Poppop is 100 years old, I saw most of my family, and they have completely accepted Laura as one of us.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

It's Now Official


Not many know, but my brother-in-law and I have been brain storming like crazy with the idea of starting our own T-Shirt business. He is a competitive Tri-Athlete who also enjoys challenging himself with surfing, down hill biking as well as some other crazy athletic and non-athletic past times.


Because of his love and knowledge of the Tri-Athlete world we have decided to do our best at turning some sort of profit by designing and selling our own T-Shirts at races. We have come up with several dozen designs for shirts, that all are phenomenal.


One thing that we were having the hardest time on was coming up with a name for our company. We first thought that Tri-Star was going to be our name. Although catchy, it seemed to be missing something. We then thought of doing a play with our initials, but that was just lame and that didn't last long. Then my sister and bro-in-law were pondering new names one night when they both came up with a catchy name that summarizes our company and what we are looking to do.


Our name comes from one of the most famous cheers for marathon cyclists and tri-athlons....Venga! Venga is Spanish and basically means "Go" or "Come on".


Today we got the full 100% legal approval to use our name, which is now Venga! Venga!


Definitely look forward to seeing links for our website soon along with the first set of designs.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

The Rise or Fall of Our Nation

With the presidential elections sneaking up very quickly from around the corner, there are 2 faces that I absolutely do not want to meet me when I get there....McCain and Palin.

I have never been much of a follower or politics, so I don't know if it's the fact that I am getting older and am in that age that I realize the next president really affects me, or maybe it's the fact that I have never seen such a pathetic and unprepared team running for the house.

I understand McCain wanting to become president. He has spent 26 years in the Senate and has always been in the lime light of D.C. He is a war hero who was captured and tortured. And he is a clone of Bush, so of course all the Republicans would love him.

Palin on the other hand, I think, should either be tested for downs or just taken into the Alaskan back mountain, shot in the knee caps and left there staring at her Russian neighbors. I am sure, McCain thought that choosing a somewhat attractive woman, that he could shape and mold into a VP of his liking, but I don't think he realized what he was getting himself into.

She has not only embarrassed herself and McCain, but also all Republicans, and worst of all, she has embarrassed most of us to call ourselves Americans. She has no public speaking ability, she has knowledge of what she is talking about and she is just all around pathetic. She has mentioned that she is from Alaska, not a foreign country. But yet, she acts as if she is. She has no idea what is going on in D.C., she has no idea what her running mate has even done in the past 26 years. She is a complete lost cause.

What would we ever do if God-forbid the two of them were elected and even worse, something happens to McCain and this dits becomes president. Not only do I think I would leave the country and live in Canada, wake up every morning and piss on the Alaskan border, but I think that Hilary Clinton would blow her brains out all over the steps of the White House.

If these two are given the strongest positions in the world, then our power as the most superior country in the world will become a laughing stock.



The only thing that will save us from this horrible world are the strong words of Obama.

Even though I was not even a glimpse in my parents eye at the time, JFK was the everything to this country. He was a prestigious Kennedy, with such an amazing run for the White House. He became, what some would call, one of the greatest presidents. He promised that we would reach the moon. He inspired, not only Democrats, but every single American. Everyone believe in this man. This is how I view Obama.

Obama is going to be the cure for a lot of ailments that this country has. He has stated that under his watch that this country will be free of foreign oil dependency within 10 years. This man will get us out of this horrible economy we have found ourselves in under Bush. This man will rally our country together. Make us a force to be reckoned with again.

Obama is the man for the job. And I really hope that this country will realize it before it is too damn late. Otherwise I am going to be freezing my ass off pissing in the Yukon Territory!