Office Treats

Scott read that Starbucks was giving away free ice cream today and invited me to come with. We were so excited that we showed up an hour early and had to come back. We did return with six co-workers who I had never spoken to, but now we had something in common... free ice cream. We lined up in the store and took our free treats. Some guys took three and four servings, "for someone else in the office." When we got back up to the office with our frozen delights in hand, the room became alive with chatter like I've never heard. Everyone was laughing and smiling, no one was sitting down at the desk. A few cracks were made at our absentee manager.

And that, sadly was the highlight of my day.

Steak...Cheese Steak...Philly Cheese Steak

The boys took a day trip to Philly last Saturday to catch the Sox while they were in town. We had a great time. Beer was good and plentiful and the weather was perfect. The Red Sox won big and outnumbered Phillies phans 2 to 1. After the game we ate the World Famous Geno's Cheese Steak.

We traveled via the Chinatown bus which was an experience in itself. After kicking us off the first bus, we left and hour late on the second. Luckily, we ran into Jersey Shore traffic and missed the beginning of the game. On the way home the bus stopped for gas and a girl got out to pee. But, for $20 round trip I can't really complain, at least any more than I just did. There were two young couples in front of Andrew and I that represented two despicable stages in dating. One couple on a first or second date (all day road trip is a terrible idea) and the other couple was close enough that the girl could boss him around the whole way home along with people in front and behind her. "Close your mouth!" Collin missed all of this while he slumbered away, leaving a huge grease streak on the window. Hysterical.

Yes, A.J. does have a giant piece of meat in his mouth.

Most Expensive Cities

You may think New York is an expensive place to live and even use your bank accounts to refute that arguement, but according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting, New York ranks 13 worldwide among the world's most expensive cities. Topping the list is Tokyo, followed by another Japanese metropolis, Osaka. Los Angeles is the second most expensive city, ranking 44, followed by White Plains, NY and San Francisco at 50th.

If you're into cheap cities, Winston Salem, NC is the place to be in the states. Ottawa, Canada's national capital, is the most economical in North America.

Personally, I'm booking a one-way to South America. Due to the declining Argentinian peso, Buenos Aires ranks among the top 3 cheapest cities. So when New York finally takes all of my money, I'll most likely make my to a street side cafe of South America's Big Apple.

Office Ramblings

Today is my fourth day at my new job. Things are slow for me as many jobs tend to start. Being in sales. My job consists of managing my sales accounts, making sure my customers are happy and creating more clientele. However, I won't get my accounts until next Thursday so I'm just supposed to sit here for another week and look like I'm enjoying myself.

There is only so much I can do on the internet during the course of a day. I read news articles and try to stay current with my afternoon baseball scores. I don't really feel comfortable going farther than that though, seeing as how the guy behind me is mad at the world and would most likely gripe at me if I was...writing in my blog like I am now. He's already gone though, and I'm typing this in notepad with some 'workish programs' open on my desktop to look like I'm busy.

If you've read this far, you must be as bored as I am.

Already after three full days of work, I find my self waking up to my alarm and thinking, 'Didn't I just get up and go to work a couple hours ago? Has another day of nothing already passed? How long until Saturday?"

As exciting as this post is represents my level of excitement to be at work right now.

Its such a beautiful day out side. The offices windows look out past the WTC and over the Hudson into glorious New Jersey. All I can think about is getting home, changing clothes, opening a cold one and watching baseball all night. I also have the Spongebob Squarepants movie in from Netflix. I can't wait for tonight.

Right before lunch, Collin and I decdied to daytrip to Philly on Saturday. The Red Sox are in town and I haven't seen them play since opening day. Hopefully it won't be a good series, meaning the Sox blow out the Phils all weekend. It will be my first time to the City of Brotherly Love/Cheesesteak capital of the world.

I'm done blathering. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Celebrate Brooklyn!

Julie and I went to Brooklyn on Friday night for a concert series called 'Celebrate Brooklyn!'. Three jazz bands were playing a free show and I am a fan of the headliner, The Bad Plus. The music was great, but the jazz atmosphere isn't felt as much when you're outside and the sun is still up. Regardless, The Bad Plus put on a good show. They're a relatively new band and known for their innovative style and interesting covers of songs by bands like Nirvana, Blondie and Bjork. Anyone interested in jazz, especially modern stuff that doesn't suck, defininitely should pick up their two albums Give and These are the Vistas. Then, go support them next time they play at the Vanguard.

Celebrate Brooklyn! lasts all summer long and brings in some pretty good shows. Most are free to cheaply priced. Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds are playing together in August for $35. So go see these guys play and support the music scene and Brooklyn.

Keepin it Real

I can see why not many people read my blog, and when they do, they stay for less than 60 seconds; not enough time to read the entire entry. When I blog, its boring and unrelaxed. I write about the music I'm listening to as if I'm a reviewer for Rolling Stone. My weekend getaways are described like a local travel agent would. Well I've got news for you, things are gonna change.

Right now I'm chillin out in my apartment. The skyline is over my shoulder. I've got all the windows open and all the lights off. Some jazz coming out of the stereo and things are good. I've got nothing to think about, now worries. I'm just writing what I'm thinking and you're reading it. From now on, my blog is cool. Random thoughts, happenings through the day no matter how boring they are. Soon enough, you'll be wasting five minutes of every evening checking my blog to see what happened in the world of Mr. Fabulous.

Fisk Foul Pole

The setting is Boston, October 1975. Game 6 of the World Series; Red Sox vs. Reds. In what may be the greatest baseball game ever played, Carlton Fisk steps up to the plate for the Sox in extra innings, trying to avoid a Series ending loss, with a 1-0 count Fisk hits a line drive right at the left-field foul pole. As the ball careems over the outfield, Fisk makes every effort he can to wave the ball fair. His efforts paid off as the ball hit the pole for a home run, giving the Sox victory and another chance to clinch the series.

Yesterday, the Red Sox and Reds faced off for the first time since the '75 series. In honor of that moment, the Red Sox renamed their left-field foul pole the Fisk Foul Pole after Carlton's game winning homer.

Cape Cod

I just spent a long weekend in Cape Cod. Julie, Collin, his friend Jay and I all drove up on Thursday to relax New England style. The 'barn' we stayed in (as seen above) was incredible and the deal we got was even better (Collin has the connections). We got nine holes of golf in, two games of whiffle ball, some biking and a short walk on the beach. Other than that, we were eating seafood at home with a beer in one hand and playing bean bag with the other.

Four perfect days of weather made it tough to come back to Jersey. My apartment is about fifteen degrees hotter than outside and my bedroom window is too narrow for an A/C unit. In other news, I finish up at Starbucks this Friday and start my new job on Monday. Giddy Up!

Do you Believe in Miracles!?!

Ladies and gentlemen, the unthinkable has happened. After a long and exhaustive search, I was offered a job this week with an economic research firm, IDEA Global. Barring any wacky events, I should start in about two weeks.

It was truly amazing how the job came to be. All of my efforts were in vain and God did all the work. I got an interview from a friend/customer at Starbucks. One day we both discovered we went to the same church, and now he will be training me.

My blog, unfortunately will take a new spin now since I don't have unemployment to complain about anymore. I'm sure some new stressful circumstances will come about shortly. In the meantime I'm going to do some last minute traveling to Cape Cod this weekend and hopefully a foreign destination next week before begining my new lifestyle as a Professional.

Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim

This evening David Sedaris spoke at Barnes and Noble to promote the paperback version of his new book, Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim. Actually, he didn't promote this book at all, probably since it was instantly a best seller. Instead, he read two essays of his that are about to be published in the New Yorker and ranted about some charities he supports.

The two essays he wrote were pretty funny and had the entire crowd of about four hundred chuckling after every sentence. His way with words and describing a situation is very clever and he carries with him a very humorous demeanor. I really enjoyed listening to him speak. He grew up in North Carolina so he has a southern accent topped by a homosexual lisp. Histerical.

In case you have no idea who Sedaris is, he is the funniest author around. His books Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day are laugh-out-loud hilarious reads. Pick them up next time your in the book store wondering what to read.