i know you can't choose you family....
that is why i KNOW how lucky i am that they have not disowned me (yes, yes i know that they still have time. thanks.).
anyways check out my cousins Diana and Chris's blogs if you get sometime (in the all-new "BlogRoll" section of the sidebar! now with 30% more sodium!)
sorry for the lack to posts. you can blame me/my job/the fact that i haven't had time to do anything lately other than work/get ready for the trip.
speaking of which...
most of you may already know that we are on our way to Malaysia for the holidays... so i decided that it would be fun to photoblog the whole trip!
anywho... check the site for dailies!
i know that, in the grand scheme of things ... this really isn't late... but what can i say? i'm getting old. plus i have been in the office from like 7 am to about an hour and a half ago. long day to say the least.
it has been suggested that i clarify the reason for the name of this blog, i figured it was kinda self explanatory so i let it go... maybe i should have been more explicit. so for all my racially and pop-culturally deficient readers (yes, all 2 of you...) "life, the universe and..." is an homage to the late Douglas Adams's literary masterpiece "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy"
as for the Chindian part, well being of Chinese – Indian decent, Chindian is a colloquialism that one becomes aware of at quite a young age.
so there. going to sleep now... have another 18hr day ahead.
stupid unfair having to work so hard for money.... lousy work... (or as Homer so eloquently once put it... “I can’t take his money, I cant print my own money, I have to work for money...., why don’t I just lay down in the corner and die!)
~m
great weekend. period.
though quite a contradiction in terms, we actually got a lot of stuff done over the weekend and still managed to kick back and relax...
the holidays are coming so Bridget and i decided that since we are not going to be here this Christmas that we would do most, if not all, of our holiday decorating this weekend. truth be told, we actually did quite a lot.
we got all the lights up, placed and trimmed the tree and even cleaned a little. oh, and get this: our fireplace got delivered! it is just such a nice touch!
less than 4 weeks to out trip and we are really getting excited about this... i’m not really sure why but this trip seems to feel a little more special.
hope you all are getting as excited as i am about the upcoming holidays!
someone said something really hurtful to me today. and it really bothered me. i’m not going into the details but i believe it can be summed up to me be being an arrogant, stereotypical american. concordantly, the verbiage “so Bush” was used to illustrate my actions.
this really hurt me.
i think it did for several reasons. firstly, this is the second time this person publicly belittled my actions, pointing out my glaring ignorance and other shortcomings for all to see. i didn’t think that was the way you pointed out the mistakes, if you believe them to be, of people you care about. if a child does something stupid, do you yell and scream at him in front of everyone, publicly humiliating him or do you pull him aside and reprimand him privately explaining the error of his ways?
secondly and i think maybe more importantly it hurt me because of who he is. i have always looked up to this person, his strength of character, choice of career and educational aspirations have always inspired me. i have always tried to emulate these things in my own life but have never quite measured up. i spent a lot of my childhood with my grandparents, he was the apple of their eyes, and though he wasn’t the oldest, most of his siblings often went to him for advice. how could i not see him as the definitive role model. so to have this person say this kinda stuff really does bother me.
additionally what if he is right? did i deserve this public chastisement? have i become this stereotypical, arrogant, empty, ignorant, childish jackass? am i really bothered, not by how he said what he said, but by the truth of what he said?
because of who he is, i would be inclined to believe him to be right but i don’t know. i'll need to think about this.
lots o’ other stuff going on. really can't bring myself to write at this point.
i have been living in the united states for about seven years now. that means that i have been driving in the united states for about six years now.
yesterday was the first time since being here that i was actually afraid that i might die whilst driving.
alright, i understand that the first real snow fall of the season is usually quite taxing on most people because it is the first time in a while that you have to remember/renew you winter driving skills. yesterday’s storm was something else completely. firstly, Bridget and i were driving separately so all the way home i was soo worried about her getting home safely.
secondly, it was whiteout conditions for a good third of my way home. for those of you who have not had the distinctive privilege of experiencing “whiteout” conditions... well try driving with white paint on you windshield... there you go...
still i can’t complain... i do love this time of the year....
in other news:
if last (work) week was likened to cranial blunt-trauma, then this week can be likened to a mild beating by, oh i don’t know.... lets say the local school yard bullies. things have settled down a little and it is stable enough now that i can actually get home at a time that affords me the opportunity to actually see my wife. that’s nice. we may even take in a movie this weekend (The Prestige with Christian Bale and Wolverine).
only about six more skull-drudging weeks of work before Bridget and i embark on our highly-anticipated trip to Malaysia... and brother you better believe that we are counting the days (43 as of this posting)..... i'll have the laptop with me so hopefully i'll get to post more when i’m on vacation...
out for now...
~m
wow what a few weeks this has been. work has been like being in a slave farm or at bootcamp or something (not that i have ever experiences either of the aforementioned allegorical situations… but i believe my experience to be … well at least comparable. at the very least. am i being overly ostentatious? pretentious maybe? perhaps).
Bridget and i will be at a really promising halloween party tonight. we both helped decorate the venue a little, and Dave, the host and his wife Joyce really get into the whole halloween thing so i am excited too. it is kind of an ‘office party’ actually but there will be spouses in attendance and of course there will graciously be made available a healthy dose of everyone’s favorite social lubricant.
sunday will bring with it the other party that we will be attending this halloween. we will be having a very civilized, southern themed dinner at the home of some good friends. and more like than not, some prodigious quantities of alcohol. premium quality, lest there be any confusion.
after sunday’s party comes something else that i have been yearning for, for some time now: a little bit of absolutely nothing. period. it seems like lately both Bridget and i have been so preoccupied with everything extra curricular, it is just gotten to be ludicrous . everyone needs to have some time to spend with someone you love and not do anything.
absolutely nothing.
just being there… or maybe playing a little 1-on-1 tekken on the ps2.
anyway… i really don’t feel like ranting right now (i know, i know: it is too late. you are all firgging hilarious. hah ha ha.), these last few weeks have really take it out of me. but i am making a conscious effort to keep this baby updated. so there.
also, i did take some cool pictures of the setup of dave’s basement all festooned ala ‘night of the living dead’ or ‘tales from the crypt’ or something. i’ll throw up a link after i post them.
out for now
please please please read this:The Dilbert Blog: Good News Day.
sorry for not being here the last couple of days... i should have some time to sit down and write tonight.
this last weekend was edinboro's homecoming ... and in spite of the annual drunken stupor, amidst the hedonism that was abound... bridget and i decided that we'd have a nice, quiet weekend
... and we did, so much so that we were even the recipients of a pleasant surprise... some old friends from ol'centennial hall dropped in to visit their old alma mater and were nice enough to pay us a visit.
but that was sunday... saturday we avoided the town , with dyed-in-the-wool tenacity, as much as humanly possible... bridget actually, got to go up to the outlets have some time with her mom, i was in erie helping prepare for what promises to be one (of two that we will be attending) kick ass halloween party .... but that is another story for another post... back to our guests...
it really was nice to see missy, mervi and cecil again. man ... so much has changed since we were all college students.... that was some fun times and i would be lying if i said that i didn't miss that life. martini's in mark's room, red deaths' and wop-me-downs at the boro, watching a legally blind ken kick frat-boy ass at pool in the keg..., breakfast philosophy with keiser in the caf, making everclear punch and watching 'black-sxploitation' movies with rummer... killer uno and risk tournaments in the lounge.... and of course there was the simpsons... every night man... just like, no, it was religion.
and so much more.
lest we get distracted, let me reiterate: i miss that life, truly i do, but given the chance to relive it i would invariable, but politely decline. i love my life and where i am; being all too aware that i am (to steal a quote from a soon to be released game) On the Rain-Slick Precipice of ... Adulthood.
anyway, in passing miss had made mention of this little post of mine from last fall and too of her enraged reply... truth be told i do remember reading it and had good intent to comment on it. alas this too was swept along the wayside in my usual languor, and while i have been quoted as saying that is not better late than never, i believe that is does deserve, at the very least a redaction or even an addendum ... of sorts:
there are those friends, friendships that get, for lack of a better word, adjourn. those relationships that, due to inescapable circumstances get put to stasis. theses relationships are still special though, because just like a maple in spring that buds all over to the point that you almost forget it was bare just a few months ago, these friendships seem to pick up almost exactly where you left off, almost like there was not divide between then and now. almost...
i neglected to mention these friendships in my aforelinked rant and for that i apologies. whether it changes the message or the core emotion i was trying to get across with my harangues.... well i'll leave that to you.
i have rambled on enough for today.
~m
wow... what a week this has been... i have probably had one of the most rigorous work weeks i have ever had... ever...
tgif baby, seriously...
anyway i don’t really know how this has gone on without me hearing about it for so long! it is absolutely one of the most wickedest internet radio stations/concepts/ideas i have ever seen... it is called pandora and is from the same guys that did came up with the music genome project... here is that wiki. basically it is billed as a “a music listening and discovery service” and truth be told... i actually did discover some interesting stuff.
anyhoo... i am having an absolute ball with this thing... here is the first station that i created. check it out... if you don’t like it... just create your own...
have a good weekend yall.
~m
i have only just started listening to my chemical romance... not a bad band.
this is from their upcoming album the black parade. quite good really... i may actually pick this one up when it comes out later this month.
~m
this weekend was a blast... Bridget’s parents were up to visit and it was just great! she and i made chicken with 40 cloves for dinner on friday and then we all sat down in the newly finished room and just killed a couple bottles of good wine...
Jim and i actually got a lot done on the house on saturday ... and i have to say that using a roto-tiller is probably one of the most manly or ‘guy’ kinda things that one can do with out breaking the law... that bloody bugger just tore right through everything....
that evening we had a perfectly cooked standing rib roast, done in our RonCo™ (the ‘set it and forget it’ guy) rotisserie... couple that with a couple bottles of some really nice 2003 Bordeaux... ah... the good life
sunday was all about the antiquing in Meadville, lots to see but most of it was really overpriced.
hope you had a similarly good weekend...
~m
why do you people send me things like these?
don't you know how easily distracted i am? that coupled with my compulsive procrastination is a bad concoction for someone who need to get work done in the office....
thanks though... this is a freaking hilarious game...
~m
oh my freaking goodness! quick! check this out before fox sues and they pull the plug! just click on a season then the episode you want to watch....
mmmm simsponie goodness....
~m
UPDATE: here is the one for Fururama!
cheese it!!!!!
hey! that song by that girl is playing on my stream now... you know that girl ... that sang that song...
actually i think that her name is Sophie B. Hawkins and the song is Damn Wish I Was Your Lover...
yes... yes, i know, you don’t have to tell me that i suck because (1) i know that song and (2) i like that song... but you know deep down you like it too... it’s a classic baby.
ha! now who sucks?!
still me eh?... yeah okay...
enjoy the damn weekend....
~out
i am in the midst of rediscovering my love for web design, css in particular and decided to play around with the code for this site in my spare time <literal translation: once a day for about 3 minutes>
anyway, you might notice some changes to the page over the next few weeks. be forewarned that because my code is all experimental... it may, ... no, it will have some bugs... the most prominent of which is that the blog may take a minute or two to load.
thanks for the patience.
~m
someone sent me a rar of a bunch of Philip K Dick books. apparently i really need to read this guys stuff.
whatever.... i’ll check it out and get back to ya...
fall seems to have gotten a foothold here, and i'm loving every moment of it. it is strange... fall is my favorite time of the year... growing up in a tropical country, you kinda don’t really get the chance to fully experience what fall is truly all about... the colors, the smells, the weather... perfect.
been kinda busy so i haven’t had a time to take the camera out to get some shots... maybe this weekend
~out
hmmm..... fleshy
okay, so most of you who know me know that i am a big follower of Raymond Kurzweil and along with that look forwarded to the impending Singularity with great anticipation but still with a grain of salt.
it is nice though, to see that the japanese are not sitting idly by waiting for the event horizon. instead theses courageous entrepreneurs are marching steadily forward, dragging the rest of civilization irrevocably into the future...
~m
okay, if you are not using skype already, then you should be. it is quite easy to setup, unbelievably cheap to use, impeccably engineered so it is actually remarkably clear, and finally, by bringing voip to the masses it is giving the big boys a run for their money. (.pdf link)
that being said, i want one of theses….
we do not have a house phone. we really don’t need one seeing as we have the cells and they pretty much are always at hand. but since this can connect to any open wifi access point… taking it with us would allow for more freedom of communication, especially with my parents in asia….
now if only someone was giving it away for free…
this is the name of the file that you need to be worried about if you are having some pop-up problems. it is a trojan.
i discovered it as a browser add-on in internet explorer 7 (beta 3). a quick search online revealed it to be a particularly nasty torjan called Vundo.
if you feel the need to remove this file you can get a removal tool from the Symantec (the Norton people) here.
~m
okay so i grew up in the city for the most part... so i haven't seen large intimidating animals up close and personal... sue me.
today i was graciously taken to the Albion area fair where i had the privilege of meeting the aforementioned live stock...
encouraged by trusted comrades i was move to pat a seemingly calm, yet extremely large cow... (judgment error #1) approaching from the rear i proceeded to place my hand on the animals enormous hind quarter (judgment error #2) at that very instant the cow recoiled its leg, repositioning it as to strike me right in the solar plexus!!!
luckily my lightning quick reflexes kicked in and i narrowly escaped being slaughtered at the hands... um ... i mean at the hooves of that murderous bovine...
at this time my trusted companions are besides themselves with laughter... dismissing my explanations as mere city-boy fear.... well maybe i am a naive city-boy.... at least i am an alive city boy....
many others weren't so lucky
so heed my warnings friends... keep your distance from these bloodthirsty beasts....
if you must venture neat... then be warned....
~out
okay… i needed to get some oral surgery done. apparently 2 wisdom teeth had to be removed in addition to what is called a ‘supernumerary’ tooth (i like to think of this one as my evil tooth). because of the angle and dept of the teeth, my dentist referred me to an oral surgeon. i wrote this based on how i remembered things going down…
day of the surgery:
9:00am
all’s cool. long wait at the oral surgeons’ but that was expected. the receptionists/nurses are being ‘funny’ by giving me grief about not being able to drink coffee. so is some other random person in the waiting area. apparently everybody is a comedian.
9:45am
they let Bridget come into the room that i’m gonna have the procedure while they prep me. it is kinda cold in here. i fucking hate needled. the doc puts the drip needle in to my arm. he is a comedian too apparently.
10:38am
they just chased Bridget out. hooked my finger to a device that monitors my blood oxygen levels. also an oxygen tube in my nose… the doc just injected the local anesthetic into the drip…. my hand is getting clold.
the cold seerams to b climbhing uop ma heand into ma boody hmmmm
... ... ...
about 1:45pm
hmmm, i appear to be in my bed. at home…. my jaw is kinda numb… wwhy is Aragon stabbing Frodo with narnia in my room?.....
about 3:10pm
… apparently the surgery went great.
… apparently i walked, assisted, to the recovery room where i chatted politely to my wife, the nurse and the doctor before i walked, assisted to the car.
… apparently i asked Bridget to pop in ‘LORT –TTT’ in the dvd player in the room because (quote, according to my darling wife) “i am fine and i am actually not that sleepy!”
4:15pm
i move into the other room so the carpet guy can measure our room. man i bleed a lot. the gauze in my mouth needs changed because it is saturated. i am actually not feeling that bad blah blah blah…..
that is the gist of it. it turns out that the actual surgery went great. but the pain in my jaw just did not want to subside …. see part 2. (coming soon)
i had some crazy dreams last night. i was back at my grandfathers funeral (was a rough time for me) but it was at a different church and there was some other crazy shit goin’ down.
the two most vivid/emotionally intense moments i remember were, one, when i tried and tried but couldn’t seem to pull the slide back so i could chamber the first round in my .45 (why the hell did i have my sidearm at the funeral anyway?!) and two, just the way my family was reacting to the events around them; completely emotionless.
i need to think about this one a little and i had heard that if you write something down it helps.
in other news ‘the simpsons’ aired a teaser for their upcoming movie the spoofed the ‘superman returns’ trailer. being an unrepentant, die-hard, hard-core simpson’s fan... I am waiting with baited breath... if you missed the trailer you can catch it at YouTube... the site is down for now... so hang on.
~m
i am not sure how this came into my hands so if you know how it belongs to and they would like recognition or want me to remove it, just drop me a note.
if it is real then it is probably the most amazing piece of side walk art i have ever seen.
if it is photoshopped…. well, it is still pretty amazing. 
Holy Amazing Sidewalk Art Batman!
okay, i have to say that i was completely in awe of last nights south park episode. Parker and Stone were, in my opinion, able to very articulately and in perfect synchronicity with their south park style, blast scientology and Isacc Hayes whilst still giving ‘chef’ a proper and deserving send off.
all that said, i am still going to join the legions of south park fans and boycott Mission Impossible 3
you can do so too, if you want by clicking the link above.
or this link.
or this one.
“South Park Responds: Chef’s Goose Is Cooked” is an article by the Washington Post on last night’s episode and the boycott.
so apparently comedy central pulled the south park episode “Trapped in the Closet” because tom – imfuckingnuts - cruise put pressure (by threatening to not promote the release of MI:3) on paramount(owned by Viacom who also owns comedy central).
scientologists are crazy.
here is the episode if you haven’t already seen it
here are the wiki’s on scientology and the, now infamous, south park episode
finally, here is the response from the creators of south park, featured on mtv.com news.
so i just found out that the canadian rock group ‘our lady peace’ collaborated with Ray Kurzweil on their album ‘spiritual machines’ (which as you may know is the name of Kurzweil’s book that i am currently reading)
anyway… this is what i saw when i looked at the USB symbol on my phone adapeter this morning and i tried to use CS2 to recapture it so ya’ll can see it too…
Our Lady of USB
is this what spiritual machines see?
anyway go here to see it in full size.
mel out~
okay so this past few days i have been noticing more and more info on microsoft’s Origami, the so called “ultra-mobile pc” designed to aide you anywhere and everywhere…
all the time… always…
cool.
so in the course of reading more about what the plans are for this device i stumbled on a left-handed reference to “The Singularity”… an term i had stumbled upon some years ago whilst still blissfully in my interment in academia that predicts an upcoming ‘event horizon” or major paradigm shift in the course of human evolution so drastic that no currently available model of the future will be able to predict what happens next…
intrigued, i sought out more info.
this in turn led me to one of the greatest minds of our time, Raymond Kurzweil. this man’s list of accolades and achievements are too long to list here but suffice to say he is more than a just a genius(he has eleven doctorates for god’s sake! eleven! now granted some of them are honorary, but still! eleven!!). his ideas and theories in regards to the exponential growth of technology as it relates to human evolution is unfathomably interesting/exciting whilst being simultaneously (and equally) scary…. i have not been more excited ever, to read anything as i am to read this man’s books.
anyways i just got up to chapter 3 in his 3rd book “The Age of Spiritual Machines” literally can put it down… he is a gifted author, not only capable of expressing his ideas and thoughts in a meaningful and easily understandable manner but also does so by truly engaging the reader with playful, albeit sometimes left-handed, use of humor and dry wit.
i am urging everyone who has any interest in computers or technology on any level to go out and grab it. definitely a more than a worth-while endeavor. i got the book from Borders for about sixteen bucks. hey if you can’t spare that, i am sure your local library will carry a copy of works form such a prolific and influential author.
i'll comment more on his writings as I finish more chapters so please go read it…
mel out-
no... it is not what you are thinking... perverts.
a french journal is reporting that they have discovered a new species of crustacean that resembles a ‘furry lobster’.
isn't mutation and evolution cool?!
damn i love evolution...
sweet! it seems that this is going to be the kick-off for the summer movie season.. psyched am i...X-MEN: THE LAST STAND - Trailer - Large
alright i'll just come out and confess… this past Christmas we visited Bridget’s sister at their place. it was loads of fun, hanging with family, good booze, great food; the works.
Problems started when we got back to her parents house after the holidays and i weighed myself.
200.5lbs.
crap.
so we decided that we would both make new year’s resolutions to take off the extra… um… “poundage”. we joined the Y, started eating better and getting some good, much needed exercise.
truth be told, as slow-going as it has been, we are both doing great and are progressing to our goals nicely. and since any good ‘get-healthy’ program involves keeping records of milestones, achievements and the such… i will be utilizing this blog as a vehicle the such
after nearly 8-10 years of not exercising and indulging in every possible self-destructive, pleasure-inducing activity know to man, i am unbelievably happy to state that this morning at the gym i reached a milestone :
3 miles on the x-trainer in 30 minutes. (insert theme from ‘rocky’ here)
it may not sound like much to you olympians but it is a helluver big one to me. and yes, i know the road ahead is just gonna get harder, but i have come too far to fail now…
so get out there and get healthy people. if my fat ass can get going, anyone can!
out ya’all
~m
well here we are again. the beginning of the solemn period of introspection, sacrifice and self-denial that that catholics call Lent. traditionally, it is a time that the individual makes a personal sacrifice by giving up some indulgence that is favored in order to mirror that 40 day period that Jesus spent in the desert with out food. for most however it is a time to eat fish on fridays….
i am sure Jesus is proud…
i haven’t decided what i am giving up this year… maybe i’ll go the distance this year and instead of doing some token act i’ll take this time for what it really should mean…
or maybe i’ll get the fish sticks at lunch this friday….
ok... i am a spider-man nerd.
sue me.
this is really getting me excited though... is Venom gonna be in this movie or is this just some really kick-ass fore-shadowing?
either way i am psyched...
this is the link for the official website
mmm Black Costume....
bridget and i had to drive down to visit the INS over in buffalo New York. it was a good 2 days… we actually got a chance to get all the business end of the trip taken care of in a few hours and had the rest of the day to just hang… not a bad way to spend your wednesday and thursday… we even got a chance to get up and see the falls. this was the first time bridget has ever gotten to see the falls so it was quite an experience for her… aside from that, having lunch in the Hard Rock café is always nice and she has never don that either so that was kinda cool too. the trouble is that the falls in the winter is a completely different experience from what it is like in the summer… so we have decided that this summer we are gonna take a day trip up here, maybe pack a lunch or something and just hang.
~m
Woo Whoo! Woo Whoo! Woo Whoo! Woo Whoo!
TWO WORDS : BLACK COSTUME!!!!!
so latey, since i do have the cool cameraphone, i decided to play around with cs2 and here are some of the results....
4:00… i want to go home now! it has been a really, really long day today....
on the plus side, i just got my grubby hands on the natasha bedingfield album ‘unwritten’. surprising actually ... i kinda like most of the songs especially ‘these words’. if i can find the vid i'll post it...
out...
man... after all the pain this jerkstore has caused, i hope director Kirby Dick sues the pants off them.
anybody see spider-man 2 when doc ock makes one of these?
cool....
crap… i think that i caught a cold…. i hate feeling like this. my nose is runny, my sinuses hurt… i am a little nauseas
… and it is only MONDAY!!!!!...
oh well…
i hate chapped lips. stupid freaking chapped lips...
what kinda weird winter are we having this year anyway?! Rain/Snow/Rain/Sunshine/Blizzard/Rain!!!!!
stupid chapped lips...
seeing as how this is probably being wiretapped anyway... i better be cordial...
please read Elizabeth Holtzman's blog about The Impeachment of George W. Bush. it is quite interesting...
man i am bad about keeping this updates ah?
well sue me.... anyway we made it into another new year... lots of big plans this year so hopefully it will be a good one...
oh... and happy new year to you all too...
~m
