Good Bye Christmas Until Next Year

The holiday has passed once again and now the bank account needs to recover from a shopping spree. The good news is that I didn’t use my credit card for one purchase, the bad news is that I have about fifty dollars until January 14th. That leads me to my primary New Year’s resolution, which is for me to save money. Part one of this goal is to pay off any credit card debt. Part two is to maintain at least a $3000 balance in my checking account at all times and part three is to begin saving money so someday I won’t waste money away on rent. Obviously this won’t be easy, but I am determined to accomplish these goals by the end of 2005. Any donations will be gladly accepted in the pursuit of this goal ;o)

Okay now back to the past week. Jennifer and I did Christmas on the 23rd, we started by walking through the monsoon to Rustic Kitchen. The food was yummy, afterwards we opened up presents. I got a nice new long wool coat, a 1-UP tshirt, new iPod headphones, hot chocolate and a photo for the house in Maine. Dec 23rd Christmas Photos

On Christmas eve I stayed in most of the day and did laundry. Later in the afternoon I left and went to my dad’s house for a small party. I went over to Nissa’s house for her little party and then I drove to Somerville. I basically repeated that for the next two days. Drive to Amesbury… hang out… drive to Somerville. On the 26th Jennifer came back from CT and we drove up to Amesbury for the 39R Christmas. 39R Christmas Photos

It was snowing heavily, but we still ended up driving to Maine. It took four hours, but we finally made it to Bethel. The next morning we woke up and the high was supposed to be 5 at the summit and 17 at the base. We went up to the mountain and signed Jennifer up for her lesson. I met her after the lesson and I was happy to see a big smile on her face. We sat in the lodge a little while to warm up and then skiied a few runs before going home. Later on we went to dinner at Noelle’s house and had an amazing time. It was so nice to be having dinner with such great and interesting people. The next day we woke up to find the temperature was five degrees below zero. This morning we took our time and got up to the mountain at 10:30. The first two hours of the day we stayed down in South Ridge and Jennifer successfully skiied every trail down there before taking a break. After the break we headed for Dreammaker. I was relieved when Jennifer said she liked it. She did very well and didn’t have any problems at all. We stopped up at the Peak Lodge and had lunch before taking one last run down Dreammaker. We made it down safely and went back home. Jennifer said she had a lot of fun and really enjoyed skiing. Woohoo!!!! Jen Skiing

Here is something I found while looking for something my grandmother used to say many years ago:
“GOG.”

(TO THE AUTHOR OF “JONG,” PUNCH, SEPTEMBER 19TH.)

O singer sublime of Beeyah-byyah-bunniga-nelliga-jong,
It isn’t envy, the green and yellow,
That makes me take up my lyre, old fellow,
And burst with a fierce cacophonous bellow
Across the path of your song.
I want to propose another name,
Unknown to you and unknown to fame;
It is like the sound of a hand-sawn log
Or the hostile hark of a husky dog:
Chagogagog-munchogagog-chabun-agungamog!

This cracker of jaws is a lake, I’m told,
A lake in the U.S.A.,
And first the Indians, the red sort, owned it,
But later to Uncle Sam they loaned it,
Who afterwards made no bones, but boned it
In the fine Autolycus way;
And though life wasn’t a matter vital
He kept with the lake its rasping title,
Which recalls the croak of an amorous frog
Or a siren heard in an ocean fog:
Chagogagog-munchogagog-chabun-agungamog!

Christmas Time

Wow the season is now upon us and so far I have had a wonderful holiday. Of course I did spend more money than I should have, but on the bright side I didn’t charge one thing, now thats progress. In the past I have had less than spectacular holidays, however this one is shaping up to be very good. Last night I finished the top secret Christmas project for Jen and then went over to her house while she finished up her wrapping. I had so much fun with her last night wrapping, playing the guitar, working on a little gift project for tonight, drinking hot chocolate and dancing around to Christmas music. It feels great to be excited about the holidays for a change. Not being able to spend Christmas day with Jen will not be a highlight this year, but our Christmas tomorrow night is going to be off the hook. Plus after Christmas we are going skiing for two days.

Merry Christmas!!!
Keegan

I Went Skiing

Believe it or not I actually went skiing this past weekend. I drove up on Friday night did the Suds thing and skied on both Saturday and Sunday. It was very cold on Saturday, I was a bit scared when I called the ski phone and the temperature at the base was two degrees. I ended up skiing with all sorts of different people, one might say a perfect mix of ski companions. What else, hmmm?!? Not much really just a typical weekend in Maine. I did go to the Mattherhorn for the first time since they remodeled it. I liked what I saw. Last night I drove home and finished up Jen’s my top secret project for Jen. Now I just have to put all the pieces together. This week looks like a busy one with wrapping on Monday and Tuesday, Amy’s party on Wednesday and Christmas with Jen on Thursday night. No work on Friday woohoo so I will be sitting home all day until a party at my dad’s on Friday night. Saturday will be another day of sitting around Somerville not doing much of anything and then on Sunday Jen comes back from CT and we go to my mom’s for Christmas brunch (Boxing Day Brunch) and then it is off for two days of skiing at Sunday River.

Sunday River Slideshow with Andy in a one piece ski suit Email me for the full size picture for your desktop. keegsands@gmail.com

Well hello there Winter

I woke up this morning at 5:30 to find that the temperature outside was 16 degrees. I wasn’t too excited about this, but at least I was prepared and bundled up in a fleece and my heaviest parka. It turns out the walk wasn’t too bad. I had to come in to work early because we were getting a new network drive and so far everything is working just fine.

Last night was my last Spanish class. Only five people showed up, but it was a lot of fun. We played a couple games and other fun activities. I was actually pretty funny and had people laughing out loud, which made me feel pretty good. I went home and had a nice yummy bowl of Spaghetti-O’s with sliced franks. It was such a healthy dinner I know.

Now I am sitting here at work considering a trek outdoors to get a bagel.

Time For Some Reader Responses

After a discussion at work about the origins of referring to Target as Tarjay; I decided to try and search for the result. In my searching I came across a long discussion where users submitted different names they use for common place or words.

Here are some examples:
McDonalds => Mickey D’s
Home Depot => Homers
perfect => perfeck
sandwich => sangwich
Taco Bell => Taco Smell
Salvation Army => Salv Al
Dunkin Donuts => Dunkins => Niknud Stunod
Wal-Mart => Wally World

I was wondering what other sayings people have for places or things. Please add some comments!!!

Interesting Craigslist ad Click here

Career Discovery

I am sitting at my desk waiting for my second and final Career Discovery Workshop. In a few hours I will know what I should be doing here at State Street, which is a very exciting prospect. Chances are it will be a computer job of some sort. I’ll keep you all posted.

Last night I completed most of my Christmas shopping. Only a few more small gifts here and there and it will be in the books. Thankfully this year I didn’t even have to rely on a credit card either. Here’s to fighting credit card debt!!! Once again I did the Ofoto thing again, which makes my life a whole lot easier, plus people really enjoy there gifts. I don’t feel like I am ruining the surprise because this year there are a few new photo tricks up my sleeve. You will all see this though in a short eighteen days or so.

I guess I haven’t updated in a week or so. Basically I have been around doing things here and there. I stayed in Somerville this weekend to work on Christmas presents. Jen and I went to dinner at an Indian restaurant called Diva in Davis Square. It was phenomenal!! On Sunday I was at home most of the day looking at pictures and then decorating Christmas cookies with my roommate. It was a very relaxing and fantastic weekend. Tonight I have my second to last Spanish class followed by BoCaNO tomorrow, work holiday party on Friday, Sunday River on Saturday and then going to see Jen in the Nutcracker on Sunday with Auntie Babe. The calendar sure does fill up fast at this time of year.

Have a great day,
Keegan

Isn't my face proof enough?

Yesterday was the last day of the month, which means I had to go and buy a T pass for December. So we went down to the Washington Street concourse and stood in the sixty person line. Thankfully it moved along rather quickly and after about fifteen minutes I made it up to the window. I asked for a Subway Plass and then corrected myself. Next I gave my credit card and license to the woman behind the glass. The reason I gave both was because my signature has worn off of my credit card, probably due to excessive use. The woman gave the card back and asked me to sign it before she processed the transaction. Now this seems kind of silly because now my signature is definitely going to match the card, not much security gained there. I tried to sign it, but what it can’t be written on and handed it back to the lady. She gave me a receipt to sign, I signed it and gave it back. She then said, “In the future to make it easier for us could you please make your signature on the receipt look more like your license signature.” I nodded and then walked away in awe of this woman. I figured my picture on the license was enough proof that I was me. I mean if my signature didn’t match she could look at my face and see that it was me. Ahhh how aggravating.

So December is here and its raining again. I looked at the radar for New England and Maine seems to be getting soaked again. After the rain up there on Sunday and then again last night and today. Its like one step forward and two steps back. Hopefully by the end of early next year they will have more than six trails open. It has to get cold eventually right. On the bright side they may open two more trails (33% increase in run count) this weekend (Lazy River and American Express) bringing the true grand total up to 8 runs. I think at this point in the season you can’t go on the trail count because it is inflated. For instance Sunday River says they have 11 trails open but in actuality only four runs are truly open. What variety!!!

Entry Finished


Well it took me a good twenty four hours to get back to updating this, so here we go. It is now the day before Thanksgiving and in just a few hours I will be leaving work picking up Jen, Melissa and Bailey the beagle for the long commute down to Connecticut. Yep that’s right I am spending the holiday weekend with Jen’s family. I can’t wait its going to be fun.

The ski season started two weeks ago and I have skied three times. I started on telemark and last weekend due to a random overnight injury had to alpine. The cold weather really hasn’t been around much up there and they haven’t had a chance to really make much snow. Hopefully a cold spell will come soon and make it worthwhile to drive all the way up there. I am sure Mother Nature will have more than a few surprises up her sleeve over the coming winter. The house Kate and I rented is great. There are several different rooms so you don’t feel squeezed in with everybody in the house, you can really go into another room and just do your own thing.

Work has been hectic the last few days while I have tried to get a special project completed by today so I get Friday off. It seems to be working okay as of noon today, lets just hope nothing crazy happens between now and Friday. I will be on call though, so if something does go wrong I can help patch things up from CT.

Spanish class at the BCAE (Boston Center for Adult Education) is great. I have refreshed my memory on so many topics its tough to keep track. We are halfway through the class and I am already beginning to remember the preterite. Ahhh not that!!!! The class is very laid back and the Argentine teacher is hilarious.

Can you believe how everything Christmas is out already? Macy’s was putting things out in the middle of last month and now have full displays set up. It won’t be long before they just leave stuff up year round.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!!! Gobble, Gobble!!!!

Somebody's Out of Shape

Well I learned one thing for sure yesterday, I am not in shape. I went up to the mountain yesterday morning for my first day of skiing. Instead of taking the easy route, I decided to push myself and brought my tele gear. Let’s just say after two runs I was so sore I couldn’t ski more than fifty yards without stopping. Now I could have gone to the car and put on my alpine skis for a bunch of runs, but I am not one to give up and stuck it out for a few more runs. I know it makes my ski days shorter for the time being, but after a few more weeks of this I will be able to tele for much longer then if I had given in to my alpine skis.

Let’s go back to Friday. Work wasn’t nearly as bad as on Thursday and I was able to get out on time to go see a Boston Chamber Music Society concert with Jen. It was great especially the last performance, which had two people playing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring on one piano. It was an intense song and the pianists were even more intense. On Saturday we drove up to the Portland Museum of Art. It was nice, much smaller than some of the places I went to in Europe, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. We walked around the Old Port for a little while and then drove up to the Outpost for the night. I took a bunch of random pictures.

BoCaNO Funny Faces
First Weekend Up North

Career Discover

I began the Career Discovery program at State Street. Basically they give you a few surveys and help you figure out what you want to be when you grow up. Here are the primary and secondary motivators for me. Do you think they describe me?

Intellectual/Physical Challenge
For those with this Career Driver, the one thing that matters most is being challenged at the highest possible level. Success is defined in terms of winning the war, the game, the contract or the sale, overcoming obstacles, being the best, being first, beating the competition, reaching for their highest, surpassing previous goals, and so on. This Type sees the area of work or the specific job to be performed as secondary to the experience of challenge. The challenge can be intellectual or physical, and occasionally both (planning an ascent of Mt. Everest or putting out oil-well fires in Kuwait). The challenge may be defined by the stakes-a big contract, a major gamble on a new product, or a complete reorganization of the company. These people often seek variety in their careers (and lives in general) and, in the absence of challenge, become highly dissatisfied. They are often initiators of imaginative projects. Easy things are boring for them, as is the long-term, repetitive nature of ongoing project or team management.

Professional Excellence
Those driven by Professional Excellence are most motivated by being very knowledgeable and producing highly effective work in some field of specialization. They are primarily motivated by the content of the work they perform and the form of the results they achieve. These people tend to identify strongly with their field of expertise, and their self-concept is dependent on their ability to succeed and be recognized in their area of specialty. Professional Excellence may lead to a managerial position, as many companies promote people who are good at what they do, rather than because they have managerial or people skills. But, people with Professional Excellence as a Career Driver are only satisfied if they can manage within their discipline and would avoid promotion if it meant leaving their specialty and losing their connection with that field. People with this Driver are seldom satisfied in a generalist position. Every occupation and organization has its professional achievers who are capable of making outstanding contributions when they are allowed to develop and use their expertise. It is usually of great importance to people with this Driver to be recognized for their achievement and contribution by others in their field whom they respect.

Roller Coaster Tuesday

Yesterday was a real roller coaster, I had a good morning until we had a fire drill and had to stand outside in the cold. Afterwards on a whim I went to the Morale Committee meeting for our group. It was interesting and I was able to find out when they might have the Holiday Party. The work part of my day was very boring. Lunch was good I ate Jay-Bo pizza for the first time in a while. At three we had a meeting that lasted an hour and a half. It was comical, but very long.

After work I went to Spanish class on Comm Ave. Oddly enough I wasn’t too nervous about it and it turned out there was no reason to be anyway. The class has about 15 people in it. I am probably one of the youngest people in there, but most people are in their late 20’s or early 30’s. I couldn’t believe how quickly it all came back to me. We are pretty much required to speak in Spanish for the entire two hours and about 95% of the time I knew what everybody was saying. It was funny to hear somebody make a mistake, like when this guy walked in and the teacher asked his name and he replied, “Good.” Haha. After finding out one guy had two dogs, one large and one medium sized another student asked him which dog was the boss and he definitively said, “Yes, they do run the house.” Haha that was the same guy who was supposed to read the role of Sr. Gonzalez in a dialogue, but he ended up reading Sr. and Sra.’s parts. It was crazy. I am looking forward to the next five weeks.

I went home and played a little Donkey Kong Country. I had never played it before and I am not too impressed with it. I know at the time everybody was raving about it, but the play control is horrible and it seems too easy. I am sticking with Mario games.

I did witness something funny this morning while watching TV. I flipped to a channel and somebody was reading letters about people who had made money or received a promotion after a $58 seed. The read letter after letter of success stories after $58 seeds. Finally the camera pulled back and it was some sort of religious guy trying to sell membership into this club of 3000 people. I can’t believe people actually send money to this organization. How dumb can people be? I then realized those are probably the same people who voted for Bush last week. What is wrong with this country?

Wonderful Weekend

Once again I spent a weekend in the Boston area, but still it was a wonderful weekend. On Friday night, Scottie came in to Porter Square on the commuter rail and we went to eat at the Spirit Bar. Afterwards on the way to my housewe stopped by the liquor store and picked up a bottle of razberi stoli, Sprite and cranberry juice. We played a little Super Mario Brothers and I quickly learned that the more you drink the worse you are at video games.

On Saturday I spent most of the day at home, watching tv, playing video games, strumming the guitar and reading my book. I have now finished two of the books I bought at the book sale a week ago, “All Quiet On The Western Front” and “Brave New World”. Now I am tackling the biggest so far, “Lord Jim”. In the evening Jen and I went out to dinner at Cambridge Commons, which was very good. After dinner we drove to Waltham for a party at Scott’s house. It was great, there were a bunch of people there and he had just bought a new video game thing with 76000 games in it. I played Contra and 1942, very cool. Unfortunately, the extra life code in Contra didn’t work so I had to play with the standard 5 lives. Jen had never heard of the code and thought I was weird, I reassured her that I was in fact normal and that every guy in the room knew the code. So I asked and they all knew, at least the essence of the code. Do you know it?

On Sunday we just stayed in all morning and decided against our planned drive to Provincetown. Instead we walked to the T and went into the city for a little shopping and lunch in the North End. The lunch was fantastic and we followed it with coffee and dessert. Yummy!!!! We walked back to Charles/MGH took the T to Harvard and then walked the rest of the way home because it was such a nice day.

Next week ski season starts. Who’s going up? I will be there on Sunday for a little while to see if my legs are strong enough for another year of abuse. I am thinking about switching my tele bindings to my shorter skis, because this year will mainly be on tele. I won’t do the Bust ‘n’ Burn on them, so I will need to find another shorter pair before April, but Tele is the way to go this year.

Thursday Morning

Its been a while since I last updated, so here is a little update about what I have been up to. Well last weekend was very lazy, which is something I needed. I seem to have been going going going for the last couple months and it was nice to slow down for a little while. Jen and I went to Newburyport on Saturday for a book sale at the public library. It was my first used book sale and at one dollar a bag I couldn’t have picked a better place to start. I ended up with over ten books, most were classics since I need to get a good base before I really start to experiment with new authors. Afterwards we went over to Starbucks and had coffee, I finally got to say “For Here” before the order so I would get it in mugs. Afterwards we went to my mom’s house and then over to Flatbread for an late lunch. I really appreciate that place more now since I have been much more adventurous with my food choices. Sunday was such a beautiful day, we opened all of the windows up and did some cleaning and organizing. In the afternoon I met up with Andy for lunch at Pizzeria Uno, yes I know pizza two days in a row who would have thought.

Monday and Tuesday were tough days at work because of good ol’ expenses. I made it and I am currently working to solve the problem well for at least the next six months. After work on both days I had to drive up to Amesbury and drop my car off for service. It was just an oil change, but I really like my dealership and don’t want to switch down here just yet. I voted on Tuesday in Amesbury, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get my presidential choice selected. What is the deal with the people in the South and Midwest? Last night BoCaNO went to see the latest Warren Miller offering at the Somerville Theater. It was okay, I am just not as in to these movies as everybody else is. It does get me excited for skiing, but only about as much as when I see the first snowflakes of the season. Besides that not much is going on. Everything is very well and I am very happy.

Peace out,
Keeg

Myster Science Theater 3000


Last night was Amy’s annual pumpkin party. Jen and I carried are pumpkins on the T and then walked down Newbury Street. We were both exhausted, which caused me to be extremely hyper and Jen to be overly giggly. Thankfully we kind of settled down by the time we got there. As always everything was set up when we got there including the food, pumpkin carving tools and the table cloths we sit on to carve. Everybody showed up within the next half hour and we began carving pumpkins. I decided to just use a pattern this year because I couldn’t really come up with any good ideas on my own. We carved them while watching Survivor, which was interesting because Mark had never watched a full episode before. I think he is now confident in his decision to not watch it ever before. Once we completed the carvings and lit the pumpkins up it was time for a little Trivial Pursuit: The 90’s and a little drama care of me. Haha, you people didn’t think I would let it rest after just twelve hours did you.

We split up in to two teams one with four people the other with five. At around nine o’clock the game got under way with our team rolling first. It took us a couple of turns but we finally landed on a pie piece question for the Wired category. The question was about a Science Fiction television show that underwent major changes or something in the early 90’s. My first instinct was Myster Science Theater, so I checked with my team and it seemed to be the correct answer.
So I said, “Myster Science Theater.”
The other team then said, “What is the number after it?”
I looked at my team and we discussed for a minute. We had it narrowed down to 2000 or 3000.
In a complete guess I said, “2000.”
The other team apologetically replied, “Oooh I’m sorry its Mystery Science Theater 3000.”
I came back and said, “Come on that is close enough.”
Diligently they retorted, “No its not if it is for a piece of pie.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Somehow we had magically been transported to the Trivial Pursuit World Championships and only the exact answer was going to get you anywhere. Now don’t get me wrong I am all for accuracy, but seriously is it necessary to be so particular about the most insignificant part of the answer. The game of Trivial Pursuit typically takes a long, long time to complete. Now it was already late and I think if there’s anything we can do to make the game move along faster, go for it. Its not like we answered with Horror Sci-fi theater 3000. Nobody would agree with me so we went on playing. At first I passive aggressively gave everybody a hard time about their answers, making sure it matched exactly to the answer on the back of the card. It was truly all in good fun and while I was still a little bitter about the incident I really just wanted to keep playing.

Fast forward a few turns back and forth and my opponents were up for a piece of pie. The category once again was wired and I volunteered to read the question. Basically the question said What destination did Jennifer Ringley create using webcams? They pondered the question for a while and then answered JenniCam. I asked if that was their final answer, they affirmed and I said in a completely serious tone, “No, I am sorry its JenniCam.com.” I didn’t say anything else and was ready for our roll of the die, but not more than two seconds later people are making comments about how I am still bitter. At this point I flipped out. I was just trying to play the game by the rules they had established thats it, I wasn’t trying to be vindictive, but they apparently thought so. I don’t see how my adherence to the standards they set up make me a bitter person. I just said they were wrong using my judgement solely based on a precedent that had been set. Would I have given it to them using my rules? Of course, you got the point, one out of ten times the questions are poorly worded anyway. Did I overreact? Well yes a little bit, but I felt like I was being attacked after just playing by the rules and I was extremely tired. Will I ever play again? Yes only if we have a third party judge who completely understands the rules as determined prior to the game.

Curse Reversed


Keith Foulke fielded the ground ball ran towards first base and nervously threw the baseball to first ending a lot more than just the inning. Once the ball landed in the glove of Doug Mientkiewicz it was the end of the inning, the game, the season, the World Series and the Curse. It had been 86 years since the Red Sox last clinched a World Championship, year after year people have watched this team religiously only to be left disappointed and waiting for next year.

So I am left to question, why now? Why should I be so lucky to get to experience this especially at such a young age? Unlike some of the older fans I have only had to live through two major disappointments the ‘86 World Series and the ‘03 ALCS. The World Series loss was difficult because I was only nine at the time and it was probably one of the worst things to ever happen in my life. Fast forward to last year, I was 17 years older and unfortunately had experienced a few things worse than the Buckner incident of ‘86. It was still a tough night watching them lose to the Yankees, on the Boone homerun, and had a major impact on how I watched this year. Over the last few weeks it has always been in the back of my mind that they could easily lose it all even though they were doing so well. It was difficult, because as much as I wanted to watch the game and see the drama unfold, it was still scary to think of the drama actually unfolding and the impact it would have on my poor stomach. I would make jokes about how they would not lose the ALCS in four games because it would be too easy on us. Later I felt them winning the first three games of the World Series was just a giant teaser to the biggest let down yet. Always lingering in the back of my mind, as was the case with most in Red Sox Nation, was the thought of the impending possibility of failure.

We all tried to counteract this anxiety with crazy superstitious actions. For instance, when the playoffs first started I wore my Red Sox hat on game days, but once they started losing to the Yankees I stopped wearing it and made a point of grabbing a different hat on the way to work. Other superstitions I witnessed over the last few weeks included watching games at the same bar, sitting at the same table, not paying the bill until the last out, anger towards people counting outs to go and the list could go on and on. It was strange to see people in this day and age having their behavior influenced by otherworldly forces. I guess with a history like this you need to think outside the box and try anything no matter how small and insignificant the gesture may seem.

I don’t know if all of our little oddities worked together or maybe, call me crazy, the Red Sox were just a well skilled team of baseball players, but it doesn’t really matter now. We can finally rest easily and not worry about hearing the 1918 chant at Yankee Stadium anymore. I might not have emotionally earned it, but I am going to take it and enjoy every minute of it. I am going to enjoy it for all of those who went through years of pain and never got to experience the thrill of victory. For people like my grandfather who watched more baseball than anybody I know, although he was around for the 1918 World Series (when he was three years old), he still endured all of the other heart aches. It was funny as I was watching the celebration on television last night, Tim Wakefield came on the screen and the first thought I had was of my grandfather cursing at the television because he couldn’t stand how slowly Wakefield delivered his pitches. I was happy to know that he had been with the franchise long enough for this connection.

Now we must look ahead to the winter and reflect back on this monumental victory. I don’t think it has sunk in for many of us yet, it is a much different feeling than the pain of losing. I think in losing you feel the pain immediately and it slowly fades, but in winning the joy comes in waves. There is an immediate joy when the final out is called, but then it subsides only to reappear at the most random of times. Thankfully the joyous times will occur, now and then, for the rest of our lives always with a nearly equal amount of joy. I look forward to being an old man climbing a mountain somewhere and being briefly reminded of the year the curse was broken and how I was so lucky to be a part of such an amazing event. I am sure there will be more Red Sox disappointments between now and then, but I will always remember the 100th World Series when the Red Sox did the impossible and came back from a 3 game deficit in the ALCS against the Yankees only to move on to the World Series and sweep the St. Louis Cardinals. We all “Kept The Faith” and were rewarded with an “Unbelievable” performance by a bunch of “Idiots”.

LJ Entries of major BoSox games of yore
‘03 ALDS LJ Entry
‘03 ALCS LJ Entry

Sunset --> Moonrise


For a little change of pace last night I went back home and stopped by the Salisbury Beach State Reservation for a few pictures. It had been a while since I walked the beach and enjoyed the waves pummeling the shore. It was a long drive up from Somerville, but I got to the beach just in time for the sunset. The sky was very clear and made for a beautiful end to a long day. After taking in the last few rays of light from the sun I turned my attention seaside and took pictures of the moon. It was nearly full and looked wonderful over the extremely rough ocean. After enjoying the ocean I had a little beach pizza before going home to visit my mother. I hadn’t seen her for a while so we caught up for quite a while and then the baseball game was on. I watched some of the game there and then drove home. Jen was driving through my neighborhood, just as I got home, so she stopped in for a little while. After she left I turned the television on and saw the BoSox had won their third game in a row against the Cardinals and now are only one win away from the World Championship. It is just unbelievable. I am glad Pedro had such a strong outing. He really deserved to have a good start for such a special game. Let’s hope D-Lowe can pull through tonight and make magic happen. THE CITY WILL COME ALIVE!!!

BTW The All For One Ski Pass is still available on the website even though October 25th has come and gone. American Skiing Company is such a scamming company. Next year I am skiing at Mt. Cranmore or Gunstock, no more ASC.

Commuting Annoyances

I know it has been over twelve hours since this happened, but I am still annoyed by it a little bit. This morning while riding down the escalator in Porter Square towards the trains I noticed a huge mob of people lining up at the turnstiles. Some were running other were impatiently waiting behind somebody who couldn’t seem to get their T pass to work. Who was this conglomeration of annoying commuters? The commuter rail riders. I have a love hate relationship with Porter Square, I love that it is so close to Boston, I love that it is close to my apartment, but I hate the steep stairs and the annoyance of it being a commuter rail stop. Everyday they appear out of nowhere just messing up my commute and forcing me to wait for yet another train. The worst thing about them though is how impatient and in a hurry they always seem to be. I have never seen so many people running for trains as I have here. Somebody should let them in on a little secret another train will be buy in a matter of three minutes, there is no need to run. Ahhhhhhhhhhh they drive me crazy.

Series Set To Begin

The St. Louis Cardinals were crowned the NLCS champions yesterday after 5-2 vicotry over Roger Clemens and the Astros. In honor of there victory here is a link to My St. Louis Trip Slideshow. I went a few months ago for a Dave Matthews concert and thought it was a good time to put back the pictures of the Gateway Arch.

Go BoSox!!!

Question of the Day
“What flies when on and floats when off?”

Unbelievable

They did it!!! The BoSox are going to the World Series for the first time since 1986. I don’t even know what to think anymore. Last night we watched the game at Johnny D’s in Somerville. I was still recovering from my wisdom tooth extraction, which probably wasn’t great since I think the high blood pressure from the game has prevented my mouth from clotting. Anyway they won and became the first team ever to come back after being down 0-3. During the game I was so nervous especially once they had scored a bunch of runs because there is one thing the BoSox do best, losing big leads. I refrained from cheering too much during the game until the very end when it almost seemed certain. Okay I am going to stop writing since these sentences are very incoherent. I think I might go home because I am really not feeling well.

Go BoSox!!!

BoSox ALCS Game 7 Again?!?!

Its true the BoSox are going to game 7 of the ALCS again and will once again be playing the Yankees. After Saturday night’s blowout, like many other citizens of Red Sox Nation I vowed to not watch game four. Unfortunately I missed a good game. Fast forward ahead two games and 21 innings later and I have witnessed some of the most stressful, but successful baseball to date. I just can’t believe they have come back from a three game deficit to tie the series at three. Unbelievable!!!! I actually never intended to watch Game 5, but Jen had it on so I decided to watch the rest of it. Little did I know it was going to go until the 14th inning. Finally, all of the stress I felt last year was back in place, including the cold sweats and nervous Francona’esque rocking. When Ortiz hit the double I almost had a heart attack. Tonight I was on the fence about watching the game, on the one hand I knew it would be difficult, but I also needed to feel the anxiety. It has almost become like a drug, the constant need for an adrenaline rush. Being a BoSox fan is like participating in an extreme sport, the only difference is that while the risks are high in both only in being a fan do you guarantee you will get hurt. I prepared myself as best I could and went over to Melissa and Ben’s to watch the game on a fat projection HDTV. Oddly enough we went ahead, but of course the Yankees slowly clawed there way back. Curt Schilling pitched a spectacular game, the perfect set up for the let down we have all come to expect. I will cut to the chase and go right to the ninth inning with Foulke on the mound. After a couple horrendous calls by the umpire there were men on first and second with the game winning run at the plate. The wind up and the pitch, strike three the Red Sox win and force a game 7. You heard it right, here we go again the roller coaster ride we have all been excitedly dreading.

Go out there boys and show Tim McCarver how his statistics are irrelevant. After tomorrow night I want him to have to say only one team has come back from being down 0-3 to win the ALCS and that was the Red Sox in 2004.

More Apple Picking


A bunch of us (Mark, Kate, Amy, Jen and I) went apple picking up in NH. We made some pies and then had a nice dinner at the Winnen’s. Afterwards we watched the sad sad showing of the Red Sox. In the morning we went out to breakfast and then Jen and I went to Vermont to see her cabin. It was very busy and I am too lazy to update a complete story right now, but there are pictures and they are worth one thousand words. Enjoy!!!
Vermont Cabin Pictures

Thursday

Yes I know the BoSox lost again last night. I don’t think Pedro did too bad, the problem seems to be the hitting. What happened to the offensive machine that was the BoSox? Thats all I have to say about that for now.

Now I want to talk about the newest telvision show I am hooked on called Lost. It is about a commercial airliner that crash lands on a remote island. The survivors have to do the best they can to make it on their own. Okay I know what you are thinking, “What a boring show?”, they are probably going to be saved in a number of hours. It turns out for some reason they had their transponder turned off and the rescuers are looking in the wrong place. I have really fallen in love with this show, for many reasons, but the number one reason is the need to know more information about the characters and the island they are on. I would say there are about twenty survivors and every week we learn a little more about them and better understand the motives behind some of their actions. Just when you think you have somebody figured out, you learn something new about them to completely blow you away. The island itself is also a character you learn about in this way. So far we know there are some very odd and large creatures, a polar bear, an outgoing distress signal that has been broadcasting for 16 years and some sort of magical man that appears and then disappears just as quickly. Yes it is a bit strange, but through the entire hour I am constantly looking at the timer on my VCR wishing there were more than just ten minutes left. The only problem I have with the show is it feels a lot like a movie and I can’t take the stress of seven days in between scenes in this movie. I am also nervous about this show because it seems like one of those amazing critically acclaimed shows that will be cancelled due to lack of viewers, like My So Called Life, Once and Again or Freaks and Geeks. I just don’t want to invest in a great show that won’t end properly. Bottom line is its a great show and you should try to watch it on Wednesday nights at eight.

What else was there? Oh yeah the new google desktop. Hopefully by now you have all downloaded the Google deskbar and the Google toolbar and if you haven’t then you should. The latest advancement out of the Google labs is called Google Desktop. Basically what it does is runs on your computer and scans your files and stores the information. You can then do a google search of everything on your computer. It will search emails, text files, Office files, IM chats (optional), or just plain old files. It is super fast and its amazing how much stuff it comes up with. Try out the Google Desktop

Autumn Weekend


What is more Autumn than apple picking and eating cider doughnuts at Cider Hill Farm? Well thats just one of the things I did this past weekend. The weekend kicked off with the BoSox game at John Harvard. I am sure most of you watched and know it was a crazy game. The highlight of the night was definitely Mark yelling at Terry Francona for putting Foulke in so early with the score tied. I thought it was hilarious, well everybody else there was a bit frightened. Haha, oh yeah Ortiz’s home run was also pretty cool.

On Saturday Jen and I went to Peabody for the Real Sale at The Limited. So we went clothing shopping for a couple hours and also ate a nice lunch at Bertucci’s. Afterwards we drove out to Halibut Point State Park to see the quarry and sit at the seashore. It was a bit cloudy, but the it was warm enough that it was quite enjoyable. I got a bunch of pictures and even a couple decent sunset pictures. The new tripod my dad gave me is fantastic and makes my life a lot easier. After the beach we drove back to Somerville and rented two movies, “Safety in Objects” and “The BFG: Big Friendly Giant”. We watched Objects, because the giant movie is actually for Jen’s third grade class. SiO was really weird and a little bit depressing, but it was the best thing left at 7:30 on Saturday night at Blockbuster Video.

At eleven we picked up Ben and Amanda for an afternoon of Autumn activities. The first stop was Cider Hill Farm in the ‘Bury. We climbed up the hill and began picking apples. Jen was quick to climb into the trees and grab apples from the top branches while we stayed down on the ground catching her pickings. We ended up with ten pounds of apples, I don’t know what we are going to do with them, hopefully some sort of apple dish will be in my future. After picking it was time for some apple cider doughnuts, which of course didn’t disappoint. After a brief pit stop at Burger King we went to the Topsfield Fair. I forgot how expensive that stupid thing costs. The ticket to get in was $12 per person and the parking was $7. Once inside it was the same as it has been for the last fifteen years. It was great to be back for the first time in years, but I don’t think I will be back next year. After walking around for ten minutes it became apparent that we did not fit into the demographic range of the fair. We were too young, too thin, don’t eat half of the food they offer and don’t have awful Boston accents. My favorite quote, “Where is that lahhgest pumpkin?” We made quick work of the place and then went home. Mark I took several pictures just for you so you can see what you missed.

The week is now beginning, and with it brings the stress and emotional difficulties of another ALCS series with the Yankees. Everybody find a wishing stone and toss it in to Boston Harbor and wish for an end to the BoSox drought.

Keegan

Mario!!!

I now have a Super NES up and running in my apartment thanks to my cousin OJ. I drove up to Amesbury last night and tested out my system and it didn’t work, so I borrowed OJ’s until I get my second console from the ebay seller. I got home last night and popped in Super Mario Kart for a little Mushroom Cup Grand Prix action. It didn’t take long before I was jump sliding the turns and leading Koopa Troopa to the Gold. It was strange how quickly it all comes back, similar to hearing a song on the radio you haven’t heard in years and you remember all of the words. Next up was F-Zero, which once again I got the hang of after only one lap. When I woke up this morning the first thing I did was begin playing Super Mario World and had finished the first world before leaving for work. My goal is to start at Super Mario Brothers and go through each level of each game without using a warp. I don’t know how long it will take me and I am hoping it will take weeks.

While sleeping last night the heater was loud once again, but I am beginning to get used to it. It just makes some really weird noises. I have noticed a problem lately now that the sun rises later it is hard to tell when I wake up whether the night is over or if it is still the middle of the night. I have a really bright street light outside my window that is actually brighter than the dawn light.

I missed BoCaNO last night because I was really tired and didn’t feel well. I also never ate dinner, which is an ugly pattern I keep falling into right now. Hopefully I can turn that around because while it is great to only weigh 158 pounds I’d rather be closer to 170 pounds. I need to eat more pizza.