Happy New Year!

So, apparently I am getting older. Last night instead of going out to some overly loud bar/pub/club and being innundated with crappy too loud music, I went out to dinner with JJ and was back home before 10pm. Actually, I think we were home before 9:30pm.

Not that this is a bad thing. Typically I would be over at some friends house in Seattle during the passing of the year, but since I am no longer in Seattle, the commute would be a bit much. We rang in the New Year sitting on the couch and watching T.V. I was drinking coffee with Bailey's and watching a Pixar film (UP!) I thought it was pretty good.

In addition to late night mild festivities, I went to Crossfit Boston yesterday to get an introduction to Crossfit. Over the past few years I have found myself feeling less motivated and feeling less energetic. I have been reading a lot about Crossfit and the reviews have been great. I went in for an introduction and a mini class (baseline workout). In short, it kicked my butt. While I should not have worked out because I have been sick recently, but I think it is what I am looking for. It was the best workout I have had in such a short time.

I am looking at the options for signing up, but I think I want to start.

Anyway, the last year has been a lot of change. Some good, some bad, mostly good. I am now working in an industry that I have wanted to get into for a long time. I am living in a new city, I am undecided about it as of yet, and best of all I am living with a great woman. I have a troublesome and allergic to everything dog. Overall, things are pretty good.

The Things I am looking forward to this year are: starting my Master's program, getting in better shape and continuing my career.

I hope everyone reading this had a great New Year and finds the next year better than the last.

Summer, summer, summer time....

That was my brief tribute to Will Smith... I hope you enjoyed.

This has been one weird summer. First, it looked like it would never begin. Rainy and cold days all the way into July. It looked like summer would never actually arrive.

Now that it has arrived, I wish it would just go away already. It is freakin' hot out. I know in comparison to some places it isn't that bad, but I am not a fan of humidity. My family is in Phoenix and it is currently 103 degrees with 15% humidity. It is currently 72 degrees with 55% humidity in Seattle where I moved from. I know compared to the 50% humidity that we have right now and the current 82 degrees it isn't that much of a difference, but there is no breeze here. At least in Seattle the wind blows and cools you down. Here it is just an oppressive cloud of moist air. I guess I should be happy I am not in Phoenix...

Enough of the negative....

This past weekend was relatively busy and the extra day off that I had (there was no one in the office and was told that I didn't need to come in as well) really made it feel a lot longer. Friday we went and watched the new Harry Potter movie at the IMAX. It was pretty good, but by far not my favorite of the series. Maybe I don't get a thrill about watching a movie that is so close to the book. Maybe this particular book was a bit slow. Maybe I am just not that into it anymore. I think the fact that I have read all of the books and the movies, while good, are no comparison to my imagination.

I also went to my dog's obediance class on Saturday and as usual, he rules! He is incredibly food motivated, so once he knows you have treats he will do just about anything you want him to do. It looks like all of the dogs in class are actually learning a few things and progressing. After the class, Logan got to play in the gated area off leash with two other dogs from his class.

Later that day we took a long walk an checked out a yarn shop that was having a good sale. Overall, it was a good day.

Sunday was a fairly easy going day. We hungout. We walked the dog. We relaxed and did laundry.... Oh yeah, we went to Korean BBQ with a friend who is going back to Colorado for her second year of vet school. It was a good meal.

That was pretty much it for the weekend. I know what you are thinking... Why do you even write about this crap? My question to you is.... Why do you read this crap?

Training, Training, Training....

So, today was a bit of training on suicide at the University.

Apparently, there was a major study done over a year and a half period that tracked things like binge drinking, suicide, depression and other cheery subjects.

I know all of you reading this are shocked to know that there is a pretty high percentage of people who attend college that drink quite often. I was also shocked.... Ok, maybe I wasn't that shocked, but the numbers were pretty interesting. Something like 48 percent of the people polled drank four or more drinks when they drank and roughly 16 percent drank more than 6 when they drank. Overall the answer to why they drank was to have fun.... duhhhh.

The shocking part of the whole study was about the suicide rates. Roughly 1100 people commit suicide at University every year. That is a pretty big number to me. I just never thought school was that tough, but I am also not very emotional. Also amazing to me is the rate at which people who know they have a problem will not get help. They know the help is there. They know they have a problem, but some thing like 17% of the people who need help actually seek it.

Ok, I have to go now. This is depressing.... Well, I made a vow to write on this thing more.... I didn't say it would be cheerful.

Another week down...

So, it is Friday and it is really nice out. The sun is out, and it looks like it's going to stay that way.... Uhhhh, I mean it'll probably be really crappy all weekend (I almost jinxed it) My only complaint is that it's pretty humid.

I ran part of the way home yesterday. I started running from the Tufts campus to Harvard Square after work in an attempt to consolidate my workout into my commute. It has been working so far. Anyway... yesterday was pretty humid and the run felt like I was breathing through a straw. I also wore a hole through the back of both my heels and created a huge blister on my right arch on Monday when I decide to run in my brand new shoes without socks. I know, pretty smart. The good news is that the damaged caused on Monday was due to the no sock issue. Yesterday was not that bad. Just a little bit of bleeding near the end when the blister pads moved and irritated the area. I talk about the greatest things, right?

I think I'm going to knock out of here a little early today because it's just me and one professor and nothing really to do. going to meet the GF an go to a little lobster place near Harvard and grab an early dinner. After that, who knows.

Oh summer.... Where you be?

While I can not complain about the weather over the last weekend, I can complain about the crazy bad weather we have had so far and will probably have in the next few days. It is 1/4 the way through July and I have more fingers and toes than we have had good days. Maybe a little reverse weather psychology is in order.... I would really like it if it rained all summer! I would really love it if I never saw through the clouds again.... Ok, that should be good.

I have started running again. I was getting some respectable mileage in before moving and then I came to Boston in the dead of winter. That on top of being unmotivated because I was unemployed (I think I went over this phenomena) I dropped from 18-22 miles a week to roughly 0-1. Now I am up to 6-7 and I am planning on bumping that up a few more miles this week. I bought a new pair of running shoes this weekend and will have to justify the purchase by using them more often. After living with myself for thirty some odd years I have figured out that my number one motivation when it comes to exercise is that I don't like to waste money. So, in order to motivate myself I buy equipment and it guilts me into using it.

Well, I just got an email and it has given me something to do. I will stop wasting your time with my rambling and get to it.

I almost forgot I had this thing...

So, I am sitting here on the couch watching my Friday recording of Mad Money and I was reminded that I haven't blogged in a very long time (thank you JJ)

So what have I been up to? What has taken up my valuable time? Why have I been ignoring the vehicle for my random thoughts? In short, I have moved and become unemployed. I am now living in beautiful Boston.



As some of you might understand, there is a inverse correlation between employment and free time productivity. At least that is how I am. I seem to do more in my off time when I am gainfully employed and have limited free time. I think the most productive I have ever been is when I was taking 21 credits my Junior year of College and working full time.

So, the inverse has been happening. I have not been working and therefore have been doing very little in my abundant free time. I worked at another bank in the commercial loan area. It was a one month temp assignment and to my surprise, the loan industry is still as boring as it was 6-7 years ago.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel of employment death.... Spherion has been kind enough to place me at a local university. I hesitate to name the specific university because at this moment I technically work for the agency and don't want to jinx my chances. The position is temp to hire and hopefully it will all work out. The only bad part is that the commute is pretty long (over an hour) But when you are given limes you make limeade. I am going to get a Kindle to make the commute a little more productive.

In addition to my high volume of lazing, video game playing and online poker I have gotten a dog. A few months ago JJ called from work and said that a GSP (German Short Hair Pointer for those of us in the know) had been abandoned because of an umbilical abscess. So, as you can see it would have been very difficult to say no to this face. He came home on Saint Patrick's Day and has been growing like a weed ever since. He was about two pounds when he came home at about 18 days old. After several weeks of bottle feeding, waking up in the middle of the night to feed him, trying to get him to switch over to solid foods and attempting to train him we now have a super crazy 20 something pound GSP that will probably have grown a few more pounds while I have been writing this. He has been a lot of work, but totally worth it (although I might not admit that late at night when he has to go out for the second time in 30 minutes) I would have to say that right now life is pretty good.

In addition to all that, we have been working on the house. We put new tile in the bathroom and completely remodeled the kitchen. We are actually in the process of working on the kitchen and hopefully in the next few weeks it will be done. When there are some photos of it I will post them.

Well, I think that is enough for now. Now that I have somethings to report, hopefully I will be able to write a bit more frequently (but I wouldn't hold my breath) Until next time, remember there is always a bull market somewhere and Cramer promises to find it for you.

Ahhhhh Thursday!

So the weather is starting to get colder and it is almost jacket weather. The problem is that I don't have a jacket... I never knew how difficult it was to find a decent jacket today. I have outdoor gear that is stained and ragged looking, but who am I trying to impress? The trees... I have decided to get a jacket at H&M when I visit the girlfriend next weekend in Boston.

You may ask why I am waiting till I go to Boston. I will tell you why. Seattle has a tax rate of 9 percent and has one of the (if not the highest) cost of living compared to average income in the United States. This means that we not only get paid less, we pay more to live here. Which is probably why I am going to move soon. Anyway, Boston has no sales tax on clothing articles under $175. This means that the $139 jacket I want is going to cost $139 not $151.51.

By the way and completely off subject, I know that in the current political environment it is hard to get good election information... Here is a place that I found and have been using. Five Thirty Eight

Have a great day