Man's Best Friend

this is a really interesting article that Google News featured today about the interesting genetic makeup of dogs and their similarities to humans....

yeah dogs rule...

~m

Cold, Cold, Cold….

man i feel like crap this morning. my nose is runny, i'm feeling too warm in the office and i am kinda sleepy...

need coffee now...


the boy seems to feel the same way...

Elme Fudd goes Hunting...

well... that was a fun weekend… sorta. I went out hunting and didn’t get anything. apparently the place that we usually hunt got around 3 times the usually traffic this season… and the deer were wise.

after a couple of hours i finally saw a group of 4 doe, but they were running in the wrong direction and i couldn’t get a clean shot… more for next year i guess…

gonna miss my buddy John. he’s moving to Reno and I probably won’t get to see him till next year. he's kinda bummed too… but you do what you have to you know? my friend Kelly moved out west a while ago too… and she seems to be doing fine now so really, John will be fine. it just kinda sucks that all my friends are pretty far away…

so all in all, whilst i did not get to kill bambi (or his mother for that matter!) i got to hang out with my buddy and his family on his last day in PA for a while… so pretty good weekend …


be wery, wery quiet..., i'm hunting deer.
ha ha ha ha ha.

Things I Need for Christmas... Pt.1

as part of the upcoming holiday season i'm gonna post a virtual wish list of things i really, really want… um , i mean, things that really, really need this Christmas.

the items on this list MUST have been featured in some kind of movie/tv series/cartoon etc, and can be fictional or real....

so if you have any ideas of things that you think should be on my list please email me and i’ll put it up here.

so to kick it off… i really, really need an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, like Marvin the Martian had.

… you know, just to have incase of an emergency…

~m

Of Phones, Pictures and Blogs...

sweet... i just got hello! and can now start posting pictures... this coupled with the fact that i am gonna pick up my new phone today equals some cool upcoming posts...


Damn I'm Pretty...

Arrested Development Cancelled!

dumb asses…

somehow this reminds me of when Fox canceled Family Guy. fans were pissed. Fox did nothing.

only after dvd sales went through the roof and other networks like Comedy Central and cartoon network start drawing revenue from the reruns did those dumb asses decide to give the show another chance.

so i guess ironically, this may actually workout for the Bluth fans; firstly, Fox will lose the 4.3 some million viewers that followed the show religiously thus dropping its ratings significantly thus causing it to act, and secondly when it finally does become apparent that they made a mistake, they will probably give the shows produces and makers more leeway to do edgier stuff.

but till then… dumb asses…

Electric Dreams

can anyone remember the 80's flick "electric dreams'" where a shortcircuit makes a computer come alive and it falls in love with its programmers love interest?

well anyway, in the movie the computer samples different sound bytes and writes the song 'electric dreams' (performed wonderfully by Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey) for the girl.

okay i know that it was a sappy movie, probably targeted at computer geeks like me but apparently it wasn't that far off.

scary isn't it how, the more powerful/complex computers become, the weaker/more predictable we apparently are.

Let’s Get Physical... No, Let's Not.

had get a physical today… if there is a more embarrassing/demeaning experience out there, then I do not know about it.

and on top of the prodding, probing and “turn you head and cough” ing, i had to get 3 shots!  3, god dammit!

yeah, yeah i know that i am a wuss… but just let me clarify… the 80 year old nurse did not inject me with the syringe, she STABBED me with it.

seriously though, you know that little plastic piece that attaches the needle to the syringe? that piece was touching my skin!!!

please let me reiterate because i don’t think that some of you understand:

the WHOLE needle was inside my arm!  i am just lucky that it didn’t hit my bone! she had to pull it out before she could administer the drug!

damn dirty apes!

Going Down

no, it isn’t what you think you perverts…

you guys are such perverts.

i am trying to locate a free video stream (like the on i posted for the song Chariot) for the Fallout Boy song “Sugar, we are going down” for the blog that doesn’t require visitors to register or sign up or some other crap like that…

if any of you perverts know where i can find this please email me

thanks

A Worthy Cause

okay, okay i know…

i have not been keeping up the blog… sorry.

i will make a greater attempt to do this more often…

till then please go here and donate. Child’s Play is an annual charity event created by the guys at Penny Arcade, proving that whilst games may curse, pillage and slaughter in cyberspace, in real life we are pretty good people. this is probably one of the best, most altruistic charities out there, all the proceeds go to the charity, no administrative fees or other crap like that.

thank you Gabe and Tycho.    

But Seriously,

so i guess that someone in Oregon won the lottery. how nice for him/her.

okay… so most of you are undoubtedly itching to remind me that i always proclaim that ‘things always happen for a reason’ and that me not winning also occurred for a reason.

i knew that that would come back and bite me in the ass.

well.. you are right… i do believe that things happen (or in this case, “dosen’t” happen) for a reason and that there is a plan and a path for us all. there  i said it.

still sucks that i didn’t win though.

serves me right i  guess… teach me to keep my faustian tendencies in check next time round…

out ya’all

~m

Dear Satan...

you sneaky, lying son-of-a-bitch…

yours ‘soulfully’

mel

Dear God…

alright fine… don’t let me win the lottery… see if i care.

yours ‘lovingly’

mel

p.s. that was sarcasm in case you were wondering…

Money, Money, Money...

okay, one more time…

the jackpot for the poweball is now over $340,000,000.00. just for clarification, this is the biggest jackpot in history. ever. biggest.

even after state and federal taxes, that is still over $150,000,000.00 - all for the winner…

while i have no delusions of actually winning, i must illustrate that it would be nice to win. i'd take all you guys on a vacation to somewhere nice, a cruse maybe…

check that, i do have delusions of winning…

dammit…

Gromits, Steelers and Bisque

now that is what i call a weekend. perfect fall weather, minimal stress (yes i said minimal, stupid freaking steelers! damn you  maddox!), good food. ah… perfect.

the wife and i (“the wife” man that’s weird. not bad weird… just different. it still amazes me that i am now a married man. hmmm… grown up.) were able to catch the movie ‘Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ on saturday.

freaking-awesome-movie. especially if you are a ‘Wallace and Gromit’ fan. If you are not, it is still damn fun.

yesterday night we reflected on the different traditions of our two families while making dinner. as you probably can guess, both of us grew up with really different, though strangely familiar traditions. the task before us now is to amalgamate the two for our future family. cool stuff actually. one of the ones that we decided was seasonal meals. the first being to always have butternut squash soup (bisque actually) in the fall. (again, i must reiterate that taking about having a family and doing family stuff is still a little weird to me… good weird though.)

you need to take weekends like these every now and then. kick back, relax, spend some quality time with loved ones and just do nothing of any real significance. it does the soul good.

today Bridget and i have an exciting chore ( and i do use the term lightly) to talk care of. it will be the culmination of the exciting and extremely highly stressful last few weeks. once the results are processed, i will post them here.

On the Flip Side

okay, i didn’t win the damn poweball. but at least no one else did either… so now the jackpot is at $290,000,000.00. let me restate that for all the numerically challenged: two hundred and ninety million. come on baby! papa needs a new pair of …everything.

in other news… i am in a really weird mood today. ‘oru-maderi’ irritated. (that’s tamil people – get with the program) everybody seems to want something… or they are just completely oblivious of how their actions adversely effect the people around them.

my buddy’s grandmother passed away yesterday.

she just got out of the hospital and it was looking like her condition was improving. from all accounts she left peacefully, surrounded by family.

mortality is a bitch.

no, check that. mortality is an asshole and we are its bitch.

on the flipside, life rocks. every sweet, sour, sticky and salty moment of it. i hope i don’t ever get so caught up in the crap that i forget that.

still… sometimes it is easier to say that practice it.

thank God i have Bridget.

Would It Spoil Some Vast Eternal Plan...

if you recognize the line above… then you are too old.

just kidding. it is from the old Roger Whitaker song “ if i were a rich man ” and i though it suitable, given the way i was feeling this morning...

the Powerball jackpot is currently at $240,000,000.00. that’s right friends: two hundred and forty million dollars.

the whole line from the song is “would it spoil some vast eternal plan, if i were a wealthy man?!”

well, would it?

damn dirty apes…

Moving on…

alright, a lot has happened since the last post so i am gonna have to break up the updates over the next few days… tune in people.

firstly, my buddy John came in over the weekend. he is moving to California soon and this is probably one of the last times i am going to get to see him (at least for the next few years). man that was a great weekend! we set out the fine crystal, broke open a bottle of ’00 Bordeaux (Haut-Medoc of course!), and had a wonderful dinner, finished with some really good single-malt scotch.

and then we stayed up till 2:30 am and watched 8 episodes of Scrubs. dude.

i am really going to miss John.

got to get back to work now… will post again tonight.

Friendship... or something like that.

i know that i have been brash in my last few posts… lots of complaints and the such.

i am sorry. no excuses, just sorry.

events have come to light recently that have once again made me examine what i have, wait, no check that, who i have in my life…

you see there are those people who stroll through our lives… they don’t make much of an impression, in a few years you’ll find that even the really vivid memories of them are a little hazy, the what i call ‘memorable acquaintance’ people.

then there are those people who make more of an impact in our lives… but still manage to drift away… occasionally touching base… random emails… errant Christmas card… you know… the ‘causal friend’ people.

additionally, there are those people who are the real gems. i am talking about those who constantly surprise you with their generosity, and their truly heart-felt kindness. this is the kind of person who, if you called for aid at 3 in the morning, would reply with “what time do you want me there?” instead of “do you know what time it is?!”  these are the ‘true friend’ or ‘family/friend’ people.

there are so many aspects of my life that i am truly thankful for, and yes, if it came down to it, and i actually had to count, it is beyond a doubt that there is more good things than bad for me right now.

above all else, i am truly thankful for all my family and all my true friends.

don't get me wrong, i am thankful for all the people in my life, but above all else i am thankful for the above group.

that being said, two things happened yesterday that made me question the importance of friendship and subsequently where different people i  know fall on the above spectrum, again, i know that there are those who fall in between the three aforementioned categories and some people still who cannot be appropriately pigeon-holed above either. but for the sake of this rant, lets stick to the above three groups.

if you are lucky enough to have a someone in your life who is to you a ‘true-friend’ person... be thankful for them, and please, be that kind of person for them too. they will probably not expect you be there for them all the time. but if their ‘back was to the wall’ and they had very limited options... pleased come thru for them, don’t let them down.

you know if the situations were reversed, they’d be there for you in half a heartbeat.

it is a rare and particular fulfilling joy to have a friend come thru for you. the kind of joy/memory/emotion that really sticks with you. conversely, it is the worst, most sickening feeling, to have someone you believed in/trusted/hoped for let you down when you needed them the most... and like a really deep scar, that too sticks with you.

that is all i have to say about that.  

Apologies...

for Kelly, Mohan and anyone else who posts comments here:

i am sorry. i had to turn on the ‘word verification’ service because of stupid spamming comments! so it is and extra step for you if you want to post a comment.

once again… sorry..

mel

Shameless Schadenfreude...

yes... i know. all the bad pc people are attacking those nice, quiet apple people again....

well i am sorry! when was the last time you spoke to an apple person and didn't get berated because of your (undoubtedly!) flawed and/moronic preference in computing platforms?

so i giggle shamelessly when things like this happens to the great mr. jobs' company...

as for all you apple whiners out there who want to complain about this post….    

bite me.

The Adams Family’s got nothing on mine...

cool… my family members back home have started their own ‘yahoo groups’ board. it is times like these that i really miss being home and being able to share in all the craziness…

things here have been getting exciting lately… one constant pain in the neck problem seems to be working itself out here. i can’t give any details here right now but i will post and email as soon as some things get settled…

so keep checking…

Other People's Messes

have you ever had to be the person who fixed the problems caused by others? well i have. and i hate it…

i can’t get my stuff to work properly because the idiot who came before me didn’t know jack about what her was doing but believed that his knowledge on the topic was infinite…

so now i’ll have to fix all the problems/mistakes/half-assed jobs which that dumbass made before i can proceed to work on my own stuff…

damn dirty apes…

Chariot

well... back to the realities of daily drudgery...

my mom and dad made it home safely and happily, i am glad they had a fun time... isn't it weird? you plan and plan for such a long time for a thing like this and then, before you know it, the very instant actually... it's gone.

how like life...

by the way... check out the video for Gavin DeGraw's Chariot... it was directed by Scubs's Zach Braff, the same guy who wrote, directed and stared in garden state. it is a cool song.

apologies to all ya'all without broadband... it takes forever if you have dial-up.

Emmy for Best Writing!

yeah the Daily Show rocks! woo hoo!

WTF!!!

John Stewart did not win and emmy?!!! damn dirty apes! they gave it to wolverine! a singing wolverine beat John Stewart?!!!

jerkstore.

Rain...

damn it is raining hard today...

Mmmm... Sharp...

a couple of months ago i participated in a survey at the mall for this blade. it was actually a pretty cool looking product... i initially thought that it was just a ploy to collect market data and that that were not actually gonna make it... but i here it is... cool.

Better late than..., not wait. It is NOT better late then never...

it is about damn time Mr. President.

Afterglow...

this is my first posting as a married man... and i have to say that it was the most perfect day of my life! it was an absolutely gorgeous... and everything turned out just perfect, we could not have asked for a more perfect wedding...

pictures will be up soon...

My Parents

mommy and papa arrived in new jersey last night and are in good shape! Bridget called me a few minutes ago... apparently they were able to get an earlier flight and should be arriving in pittsburgh at around 10:30am today!

i still won't be able to see them until around 6:30pm but at least they'll be with family.

oh, and special props going out to Bob for doing us the honor of being in our wedding at the last minute!

more soon...

Weird...

well, here we go…

this time next week i will be waking up to my last day as a single man…, weird, but i guess that i just realized this.

my friend Kelly is homesick. she just moved far away and is having some hard times… i just sent Kelly an email telling here about the time i came here and how homesick i was and that it will get better.

man that really does seem like forever ago…

anyway… here is the thing…. i remember, this clear distinct memory, of waking up cold (i came here in january, and if you know Edinboro Winters, you’ll know why it is a bad time to be homesick…) and deciding to cut my losses, pack up and go home. that day though, i met my friends Peggy and Mark for the first time and got to hang out with them and watch the Simpsons that evening.

i don’t remember when it happened, but i actually forgot about being homesick and wanting to go home.

i guess what i am rambling on about is that if i’d given in and left, who’s to say where or what i'd be doing next week. i've said it before and i'll say it again, it is weird the way things work out. i'can’t even imagine my life without Bridget, so it is weird for me to think about how different things would be if that faithful january day had gone differently, if i hadn’t chosen to go downstairs and watch the Simpsons, i would never have met Mark and Peggy, and would probably be in Malaysia right now…

weird…

Wedding Week

wow... i can't believe that this summer has gone by so fast... this is my last week as a single man... the next time i come to work i'll be married...

Box Hoax, I mean, promotion...

well... it has been some time since i updated this so here goes... it is a little under 3 weeks to the wedding... getting quite excited now.

the house is still being worked on but hopefully it won't be too much longer... not much got done over the weekend, so lets see how the week goes.

we picked up the simpsons season 6 dvd set this weekend. i really don't like the new box design... apparently so did a number of other fans... the set came with a flyer for a promotion to get a free 'old style' box. the '1-800' you can dail gets you to a hilarious phone message read by Dan Castanella (as Homer of course!) and a invite to check out this site. for those of you who live in the us the number is 1-800-223-2369. check it out... very, very funny...

Another day, another virus

you don't have to say it... i know....

after the previous rant about the quality of microsoft products another terrible virus has surfaced.

that'll teach me to keep my big mouth shut...

on a lighter note... we are finally living in out new house... it is still under construction... but at least we are finally all moved in...

i got a lawn mower from Bridget's dad this weekend... going to mow the yard for the first time to day... will let you know how that turns out...

Finally...

okay... i'll be the first to admit that pc's and ms windows are not the most stable computer platforms on the market. but i like them... so there... sue me...

lately though the mac crowd seems to be more antagonizing... well that was until apple announced that intel will be making their processors... yet they were quick to reply that due to how advance their software is that you'd never be able to make mac os's run on pc's... apparently they were wrong again....

i have long said that one of the reasons that microsoft is targeted by hackers is because it is the industry giant... and the only reason apple isn't is that apple was never big enough for any one to care....

so kudos to the good people at apple and their supporters... you are now on the radar...

...and now my favorite tracker to download a copy of osx86...

Soul Smog

alot ha happened in the last few days... very very draining.... not sure that i am ready to talk about it yet so for now there is this. my buddy Dono sent me an email with pictures he took from his office... hope you guys are taking the necessary precautions...

Need... sleep... now

i really don't know what the deal is today... for some reason i just can't seem to shake the sleep out of my eyes...

must... get... coffee...

VPN's are my BANE!!!!!!

what does one do if one has exhausted all resources available (at the present time and place) in relation to a particular problem yet all in vain?

i recommend alcohol... lots and lots of alcohol....

i HATE moving... Pt. 2

well... most of the stuff has been moved over to the new house. that's right: most of...

it turns out that in the process of preparing the house for new tenants, the land lord found out that one of the rooms need to be completely re done... so he tore down the room and the deck above it.

so the construction crew will be around there for a least 2 weeks. so right now all our stuff is, well, stuffed into the living room and one of the bedrooms because we don't have access to the kitchen, the master bedroom, part of the basement and of course the office(the room that was ripped down).

still... unbeliavble amount of thanks to Bob and Audrey, and Bridget's parents Jim and Sue for helping us move. we couldn't have done with with out you guys.

i HATE moving....

family, friends, neighbors, people i really don't know,:

i have a lot to be thankful for... most recently for the fact that i am now gainfully employed and that we now have a nice place to stay(which by the way is still under construction, but i digress... more on this soon).

all that being said i still have to proclaim that i despise moving... i loathe moving... i absolutely and thoroughly hate it. i would sooner put bamboo skewers under my fingernails that have to pack up all my stuff, move it to the new place, unpack it then repeat the whole process again....

there... now i feel better...

i really am thankful though... just thought i'd re-mention that.

TGIF baby!

well it is the weekend baby....!!!

everyone gets out at 3:00pm here during the summer... sort of a perk.

everyone that is except the poor sap who stays back at the office till 4 to answer the phones and such... guess who is the sap this week.... that's right... its you favorite chindian...

oh well... just one hour extra... and only this week...

iRobot, uRobot?

someone just sent this to me...

how cool it that ?! i want one!!!

Death by Chocolate

Someone in the office is trying to get me.... they keep leaving out chocolate....

mmm chocolate....

no! wait! chocolate bad! damm you chocolate! you are my kryptonite!

The New House

well tomorrow in moving day for us... thank God it is suppose to be a nice weekend over here... no temps in the 90's!

Dan wanted to know if the house is in erie, and no it is not. it is actually just one street down from where we were living before... closer to the lake though...

still don't have a picture to post though... hopefully after the weekend.

Tomorrow's phone, Today! well... sort of...

so here is the phone i want to get when i renew my cell(handphone) contract.

trouble is while sony-ericsson usa will support it, they are not going to sell it here. so if i want to get it i'll have to buy it (unlocked) from a 3rd party vendor and then find a service provider that will support most of the gsm features that make the phone cool.

and it is a cool, triband gsm phone. i'll even be able to use it in malaysia whenever Bridget and i visit.

but we'll see... luxuries like these are, well... a luxury i may not be able to afforde right now. still... would be cool.

No Comment!

my friend Kelly just informed me that only members can leave comments on this site... sorry.

just took care of that. you can now leave comments without becoming a member.

also because of Kelly, i want chocolate.

must... find... chocolate...

~m

Damn Dirty Apes!!!!!

GRRRR!!! MY KINGDOM FOR MORE BANDWIDTH!!!

Shhhh... be wery wery quiet...

Just ordered my hunting license online... should be here soon. Looking to bag another deer this season. More on this soon...

Sugarcult

just got done listening to the sugarcult album 'start static'.... really not bad. i have to say though i still prefer the 'palm trees and powerlines' album, and the song 'champagne'. they remind me a lot of dashboard confessional

intros, updates and everything else

well... i guess they'll give anybody a blog...

okay... first the intro:

if you stumbled on this blog by accident.... i feel sorry for you. not much here except the misadventures of being me.

if you didn't stumble here then you are probably here because i sent you a link. i am trying to use this as a tool to keep in touch with friends/acquaintances/people/do i know you? who have moved on/away/are still at home but not near me.

i am trying to make a habit of posting daily... but if you know me... we'll have to wait and see how long i keep this up. i guess, i am saying if you have time check back... there should be new stuff daily.

now... updates:

i have a job now... the systems administrator at an investment firm in erie, pa. excellent job... hard work but love it so far...

the (soon to be) wife and i have new house now (renting) and will be moving in this weekend. i'll post some pictures of that in a few days.

the stuff for the wedding is coming nicely... we are getting a steady stream of replies so soon we'll have to do the seating arrangements.

that’s about it. more to come. check back

~m