Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Michigan Wedding

Tomorrow morning I depart for Michigan, fame and fortune. Well, one of the three at any rate. It's my college roommate's wedding in which I am the Best Man. Thursday night is the bachelor party. Friday is traveling up to the location of the ceremony (approx. 4 hours North of Detroit/Ann Arbor) and the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Saturday is a wedding. Sunday is brunch and a flight back East.

I'm not packed yet. I don't have my speech ready. I do have my tux and it fits. I don't know what's going on with one of the groomsmen. I do know what's going on with one of the groomsmen. I don't have any plans for the bachelor party other than "steak house" and "bars." I do think this is going to be a fun time.

[8:28pm, 9/26/07]

And now it's too early in the morning after too little sleep. I am or shortly will be packing. Leave at 4:15-4:20am to catch a 4:40am ride into the city. Ugh.

[2:11am, 9/27/07]

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Sometimes, I think...

...that I'm actually very good at what I do. I just came up with a "good" claim (i.e., one my boss likes) for an invention within about 10-15 min. Yay me.

[From 1:45pm]

Living Situation Update

As you may (or may not) be aware, I am currently living at home with my mom and the two dogs. (My dad passed away in 2001.) I'm living at home because initially (i.e., right after law school) I did not have a job and, after I found a job, I help mom pay the mortgage.

Recently, as in the past month or two or three-ish, my mom started planning to sell the house in the Springtime and move into a condo. She doesn't want the upkeep and maintenance (and concomitant expenses) the house requires. Plus, it's a bit big for only 1-2 of us.

So she's having the exterior repainted. New shutters are going up. Parts of the interior will be repainted or repapered. Etc. Incidentally, this also entails me cleaning up all my crap in the house. This is far from a small undertaking and scares the bejeebus out of me on some level.

She has also begun looking at condos in Fairfield County. One of the requirements for the condo she moves into is that it have a second bedroom for me. She's promised that I will always have a room, which is rather a nice, kind-hearted gesture that I appreciate. (The parents of a cousin of mine turned his bedroom into an exercise room when he moved out.)

Last night she was telling me about the various condos she saw on Sunday when she went out condo-hunting with a realtor-friend. Somewhere in there, I dropped the apparent bomb that when we move out of the house I'm planning on getting a place of my own (an apartment).

My mom's reaction: "Why?"

I'll take 'Signs That You've Lived At Home For Too Long' for $200, Alex. "WHY?" I believe my answer was: "Because I want a place of my own." Never mind the incredulity of telling people you live at home. Never mind the fact that I don't feel comfortable bringing friends home, let alone dates. Never mind the fact that my life tends to be ruled not by me but by my mom and the dogs. No, I really do want to be on my own. Isn't it about time?!???

So come Springtime, I will be looking for an apartment to move into. My tentative plan/idea is to move to New Haven, seeing as there are places to go and things to do up there. Trumbull is suburbia. It is dead. I'd rather live in a younger, more lively place. If that place happens to be closer to my friends in Hartford, works for me.

Montreal

Very quick recap.

Went to Montreal this weekend with movie.girl just for fun, no real plan per se. Though the trip was billed (by her) as a 5-5.5 hour trip, each way took 6-6.5 hours not including food time. Rather long trip for a weekend jaunt. I learned that I don't think I like movie.girl's driving "style." That is, I needed dramamine to survive the trips.

Got in late on Friday night, around midnight. Got a drink and snack. Though neither of us really slept in on Saturday, it was certainly a lazy day/slow start. Walked around the city. Coffee, etc. Went to a fantastic restaurant for dinner - Europea. I highly recommend the 7 or 9-course meal, whichever the big one is. Got a drink after that.

On Sunday, I got up around 11am-ish. Movie.girl slept in 'til 1:15pm-ish. Needless to say, after some food and shopping, we left around 6pm. Late, in my opinion. So we didn't hit Hartford until 1:20am and I didn't hit Trumbull until 2:05am. Ugh.

Montreal itself is an interesting city. It's quasi-European. French and English are spoken and the city has a distinctly foreign feel to it. I'd love to go back for more than 1 day. It's not a good weekend destination due to the travel time. 14 hours spent in a car and probably only around 15-16 hours spent in the city (though sleeping in doesn't help the matter). Fun trip and totally worth it because of movie.girl and seeing something new.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

ARRRR!!! AVAST, ME MATEYS! HEAVE HO AND PREPARE TO BOARD! ARRRRR!!!!!

/me brandishes cutlass in an almost-threatening manner

Incidentally, I wish I had a macaw sitting on my shoulder right now.

Some pirates prefer to be called Buccaneer-Americans.

In other news, the Rosh Hashanah visit with aunt, uncle, grandparents and cousins went well enough.

In other other news, my (first) cousin is pregnant! Yay for her!!!

In other other other news, movie.girl and I are heading up to Montreal this weekend. Just a quick jaunt to Canada for fun and profit (or at least fun). I haven't been to Canada before.

Tuesday-night Hebrew class with movie.girl goes swimmingly. Thus far, we precede or follow the class with Doctor Who. We also follow it with a beer. The big downside is that Tuesday nights are rotten for hanging out. I got home at 1:20am last night. 6 hours of sleep = getting in to work late, fewer billables and less done for the day. Ugh.

Also working on a trip to England next Fall with movie.girl to see David Tennant in Hamlet in Stratford Upon Avon (among additional traveling, to be sure). I am now a Full Member (Overseas) of the RSC. Tomorrow I buy tickets. The following day, I take over the world. Note to self: Must buy milk.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Rosh Hoshanah

Happy New Year!

Hebrew Class

This Fall I'm taking (well, auditing really) a Hebrew class at the University of Hartford. It's movie.girl's fault. She wanted to take one since her mother has an apartment in Israel and movie.girl will be visiting her. Me, I just said I'd gladly take the class with her. And so there we are.

We're not the only non-college students in the class. It feels very weird. It's been a long time since I was in college and law school was very different. Still, I like languages and this one I have an excellent background for. Should be fun!

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Weekend Report

Busy weekend (almost).

The Friday night Fairfield County Board Games meetup was a lot of fun! I'll definitely go to one of those again though unfortunately I cannot attend the next one.

Saturday was hanging out with movie.girl and watching copious amounts of Doctor Who. We finished Season 1 (Christopher Eccelston) and saw the first episode of Season 2 (David Tennant), measured from the new series. Good stuff and very enjoyable. Always fun hanging out with her.

Was going to try and get into work this morning. Didn't quite happen and, now that I'm at work and past the useless phase, I'm kind of tired and really don't want to be here right now. May poke at some things then flee.

I was supposed to meet up with The Lawyer tonight for movie (Balls of Fury) & dinner, however she called me on my cell 30-60 min. ago and canceled. She's helping her friend move and it's taking longer than anticipated, due to a leaky toilet bowl from an upstairs neighbor in the new flat, said leaky toilet bowl reducing their move-in time yesterday.

I'm not sure how I feel about her canceling again. On the phone I said it was alright and I understand, but this is something like the second or third time she's canceled something on me.

I really strive to be punctual. If I say I'm going to meet someone somewhere at sometime, I do everything I can to be there on time (or early) or substantially close thereto (no more than 5 min. late). Exclusions include parties and soft invites (e.g., "come over when you're done with x"). If I'm running really late or something, I feel very bad about it. Also, I don't break plans. If I commit to something, I will be there no matter what (barring emergencies but very little else).

This is getting kind of annoying.

Two more thoughts. One, my schedule is such that I have no time to schedule a replacement dinner/movie thing in the next week, and all my September weekends are gone. Two, once again I am going to wait for her to send me an e-mail. If it were me and I had broken a planned rendezvous, I would call or send an e-mail (preferably call) within the next day or two, tops. Took her 3-4 days last time to send me an e-mail. *shrug*

What can I say, occasionally I'm a bit vindictive.

In the meantime, today, I'll either go see Shoot 'Em Up (though I'm currently a little tired and should get something done at work) or just go home and watch the U.S. Open finals (Federer and Djokovic), which promise to not be very exciting. (I predict Federer in straight sets.)

As Vonnegut wrote/said: So it goes.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Congrats to Cara & Dave!

Cara is pregnant!

Congratulations & Woot!

"Hello, I love you, Won't you tell me your name?"

"Hello, I love you, Let me jump in your game."

A lot has happened since previous posts. Here's the Cliff's Notes version:

August 11: Friend of the family's wedding. Attended by myself. Sat with friends of my mom's. Very nice wedding though I didn't have a particularly good time. No one there I knew other than the bride, her parents and her sister.

August 25: Wedding of The Lawless One & co. *Very* nice wedding. I was a groomsman. Except for Saturday being a bit too hot, wonderful event. I had a great time, thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thereafter I pledged to drink a bit less at the next two weddings. Increased alcohol consumption does not equate to more fun at wedding.

I've been hanging out with movie.girl on more-or-less of a weekly basis. We're currently half way through Season 1 (Christopher Eccelson) of the new Doctor Who's. (A repeat viewing for her though she is a David Tennant and, thus, Doctor Who fanatic.)

I finally had a third meet-up with The Lawyer last night (I'm too lazy to link to the old posts on her). We had dinner and saw Hair Spray. I really should be dating this woman. We make each other laugh. We have a great time together. It's only been two dates and one not-date, but, well.. we understand each other (I think). *shrug* Time will tell, as it always does.

Tomorrow night I'm going to a gamer meet-up in Norwalk. Co-worker of mine clued me in. He's been to a couple of these before. Should be fun.

Saturday I'm meeting up with movie.girl. We will finish Season 1 of said Doctor Who. We have 3 seasons in total to watch, all of the new Doctor Who's. Eventually, I am sure we will get to the old Doctor Who's (and I will buy some).

Sunday I'm meeting up with The Lawyer to see Balls of Fury. Time TBD. Probably should send her an e-mail asap.

My car is currently in the shop. Whole host of ailments. The damage will likely be in excess of $3k, particularly if one includes the $20/day rental charge. The rental is a Chrysler 300. Nice enough car but a few intractable problems mean I would never buy one. Kicking around the idea of getting a Mustang come next Spring. We shall see.

Been playing too much Magic: The Gathering Online of late. This is bad since I then concomitantly spend more money on it. Uggh.

Also been working more hours. I'm already behind for the month.

Meeting up with the friend ex-coworker tomorrow for lunch.

Accidentally spammed my entire friend's list. If you got an invite from me for Quechup.com... Well, if you didn't join yet, DON'T. And if you did, mea culpa! ¡Lo siento!

Big PTO patent rule procedural changes came down. Effective Nov. 1. Not good. Rather evil, really. Hoping preliminary injunctive in lawsuit upheld.

One other item for a quick follow up post and that's all for now!