Political ads

Why oh why do I need to live in a battleground state? These political ads are starting to really annoy me. I consider myself socially liberal and fiscally fairly conservative, so I kinda float right between the two parties, although I do identify more with the Democratic party.
That being said, I think the political ads from both sides are horribly manipulative and based on their own little twisted interpretation of fact, and there are so. many. of. these ads.
Every commercial break, there's more, and they're only going to get worse. After all is said and done, do we really want any of these people in office?

Wallflower

I woke up very early this morning and rather than just lay in my bed and stare at the ceiling, although that's great fun, I decided to give the whole wallflower idea another go. HA! This time it actually worked. So, maybe I should start not sleeping, as I may start being able to get things done.
Granted, it looked goofy, and I was annoyed that I didn't have a proper ruler and a better scissor (Man, I'm a perfectionist.) Nevertheless, people got the idea, so that was cool.

Halloween

Tomorrow, a bunch of folks from my department will be dressing up for Halloween, and I was going to be one of them.
Was.
I thought I would go as Napoleon Dynamite, but seeing as how I left buying a costume to the last minute, I was shiite of luck trying to track one down. I went to the mall, I braved the nightmare that was Party City, and I tried a last ditch effort at Target. Blech...no luck.
I had another idea, too, as going as a wall flower. I was going to design a big flower that I'd wear over my head, and if anyone asked what I was, I'd flatten myself against a wall. Heh. Also, to further add to the mix, I thought it'd be clever to write a sign "There are perks." It's an indirect reference to a book that was popular a few years ago, "The Perks to being a Wallflower."
All to no avail. I had the idea but not the ability to implement it. D'oh! Remnants of construction paper everywhere.
Ech. I think I might dress all in black and go as a mime. At least I won't have to explain why I didn't dress up...I could always mime a shrug.
If I get truly desparate, I may just end up buying an Elvis costume tomorrow at lunch I saw at the mall. Dressing up as Elvis and having to do my God-awful impersonation...it'll be my penitence for procrastination.

Saw 3

I just went to see Saw 3 with folks from work. Man, that was messed up. The first two didn't prepare me for that!. I got the DVDs for the first two over the last few weeks, so I watched them recently to at least have some idea as to what to expect.
Still, it was rough. I'm not really a horror movie fan, but these seem to have a nice little psychological thriller aspect tied to them,
On another note: I think I may have to buy a more noticeable car, as I wandering the damn theater parking lot for at least five minutes in the rain trying to track down my car. I couldn't for the life of me remember where I parked...ERG!
We were going to check out a New Hope ghost tour tonight, but the rain kind of put that idea on hold for a week or so. The ghosts, I presume, aren't going anywhere.

Bye Danny Rolling

This is not something I usually post about, and I don't intend to start a rant one way or the other about what I think of the death penalty, but I just saw this in the news:
Fla. killer executed for 5 1990 murders
I can't believe it took 16 years to come to this conclusion. This guy gruesomely (and I mean gruesome) killed 5 students over a weekend in Gainesville at the beginning of the semester, sending everyone to a panic. My sister was a student at UF at the time (we went to UF at different times), and she was totally panicked. Understandably so, when you have a nut job like this guy on the loose. This made international news, so much so that my grandparents in Austria and Switzerland called to see what was going on. This was before the time of Columbine and tragedies like that.
There is a wall at one of the edges of campus (UF is huge) where people are basically allowed to graffiti whatever they want. Someone shortly after all those murders happened wrote all the victims names on there with a note "We remember." It's become a make shift memorial, and it's become an understood that no one ever messes with it, so most treat it with respect. Only once in my time in Gainesville did anyone ever attempt to graffiti on that spot. The reaction was so negative that I could have sworn people would form a posse to track down whoever did it. The next evening, someone came along and fixed it.
I can only imagine what the reaction is in Gainesville right now...
My reaction is good effin' riddance. Should have been done a long time ago.

Hot dogs and pizza

There was a slight chill in the air, but I still had to satiate my need for Indian food tonight. So, I went to the take out place in p-ton and ate it outside, despite the cold. The food was spicy enough to offset it.
MMMMM it was great! I then headed off to the coffee shop for a cup of tea(ok, I'm a contrarian) and to read a few more pages of Love in the Time of Cholera....that book is going to take me forever to finish!
Overall, a perfect evening.
On another note: I like pizza. I also like hot dogs. Somehow, the idea of putting the two together has escaped me! Must be a tasty combo...I'm gonna have to try it. Thanks to Alana for clueing me on to it! (And I'm not kidding. I don't joke about pizza. I can't see any reason why they wouldn't work together. Better than fried peaunut butter and banana sandwiches - who thought of that one?)

So. Cold.

When I first saw what would eventually be my apartment, I thought for sure it would be haunted. It's its very own special form of creepy, with its Victorian details and its age. It's also located right across from a cemetary.
Ripe for haunting, right?
Nope. the only thing that seems to haunt this place is electrical gremlins. Right now, half of the apartment (the roommate's) is without power, due to some sort of weird electrical freak out that's going on. I could fix this if I had to, but the fuse box is located, unhelpfully, in the basement apartment, where lives a dude that doesn't speak English and only a bit of German. He's already asleep.
Earlier this fall, we went almost a week without hot water, as the gas company had to fix the meter outside. They had to turn the gas off to do so, but neglected to turn it on again. WTF.
Now, yet another problem. With the onset of beautiful fall weather and chilly evenings, our heating system doesn't want to work. Apparently, our heating system is somehow tied to the heating system of the business downstairs. Don't ask me why or how...The business downstairs left, cutting off the power with it (and through some electrical voodoo, our heating).
I'm freaking cold up in this piece! I checked the temp gauge, and it's 58 degrees in here. I have a feeling it's going to be very hard getting out of my comfy bed tomorrow morning.
On another note, I just saw the movie Saw. Interesting. The dude that plays the creepy guy in Lost plays a creepy guy in this movie. I guess he's going to be typecast....
Next up is Saw 2 so that I can prepare myself for the release of Saw 3 in a few weeks.

What watch? Ten watch. Such Much?

I had a weird dream last night. I was in Target and I wanted to see how much a certain watch cost. Before I knew it, they had rung it up...they also told me I had to pay for it and that I couldn't return it. Then I looked at the watch, and though I neither really needed nor wanted one, I thought, "I guess I have to keep it. At least it's not too bad of a watch."
I'm gonna see if I can return it in tonight's dream.
I got out of work today, and there was still sun in a clear sky. So, I decided to take a nice drive down to the river and maybe take some pictures.
By the time I got down to the river, the sun was gone for the evening behind a batch of storm clouds.
Bastard weather. That wasn't friendly at all.
I'll be shocked and amazed if anyone can tell me from what movie I took this post's headline. I'll buy you a cookie.

In which people get married...

So, last Saturday, I was invited along to a wedding held at the Jericho Mountain Orchards in between New Hope and Doylestown. The bride and groom are both in the wine business, and naturally, they served some really stellar wine.
Not that I'd really know the difference, but I at least could tell it was better than the stuff I usually buy.
They had a tasting bar set up, and I got to sample some wines I most likely won't ever try again. And sample I did.
Enough so that I actually found myself on the dance floor toward the end of the evening. Not that I danced all that much, but my feet were physically located on the dance floor. That has to count for something.
And after the reception, there was an after party...
It was a long evening, but a great one, no doubt.
Weddings must be nightmares to plan, though. That's why I always said I want to go to Vegas and get married by an Elvis impersonator. The only planning one really needs to do is buy a plane ticket and find a chapel, and I've been known to actually be able to do that amount of planning.
Granted, it does alienate family and friends, doesn't it? Damn...no Elvis or Vegas.
On an unrelated topic:
Lost...get on with it already. The show is getting borderline annoying, frankly.

Fun with YouTube

I have put one of Keith Olbermann's commentaries on the front page of my profile, but if for some reason you'd like to see more, check them out here.
I think these commentaries are classic, and I just dig the fact that someone is actually saying something. YES! (I would have liked it a few years ago, but that's splitting hairs.)
But, for a touch of perspective, I also offer this and this. Enjoy!

Time wounds all heals

I went to see the documentary "The U.S. Vs. John Lennon" tonight. Considering I'm such a huge Lennon fan, it's kinda surprising that I'm seeing it only now, as opposed to the first few days when it came out here in P-ton. It did get fairly middling reviews, and I had an idea of pretty much everything they'd cover.
It was ok. There were periods during it when I was bored and ready to check the time. At the very least, I'm happy they're bringing his message out to a new public, and I'm happy they didn't completely lionize the guy.
Appropriate that I saw it today, because he would have been 66 today. Wild.

NYC

I love having NYC so close so that I can head up there at will.
I met my buddy Andreas and we headed up after I got off work Thursday evening. Over the course of the evening we polished off two very fine wines (a Pinot Noir and a Riesling). We ate at an Austrian restaurant close to Tribeca called Blaueganz, where I had venison goulash. I've never had venison before, but it was surprisingly good. I managed to not think I was eating what I usually see as roadkill. That's a thought.
We then headed up to another Austrian restaurant on 11th street called Wallsye, where Andreas knows the manager. We chatted at the bar for a while after the place closed, but it was getting to be a late evening, and I still had to catch a train.
I made it to Penn Station with about 2 minutes to spare, and I listened to the iPod to try to keep myself awake.
Didn't quite work....the conductor dude kinda had to wake me up and tell me that my stop was coming up (that was mighty appreciated.) It's so damn hard staying awake on that train, especially if it's express.
Overall, a great evening, and I managed to get a whopping three hours of sleep for work the next day. Fun.

Tennis

I played tennis for the first time in what I think is years tonight. It would be fairly accurate to say I started off rusty: I completely whiffed the first shot I attempted. Over the course of playing, some of it came back though, so that's nice. However, I feel myself slowly becoming sore. Man, it's gonna be hard waking up tomorrow morning.
It was great being on the court again, and it was a perfect night to be outdoors. I'll have to do that again.
Of course, when I got home, I got myself a chicken parm and fries, basically negaiting any exercise I just did. Curse the pizza place across the street!
I'll be certain to sleep well tonight, that's for certain.

Music, wine, and Chik-fil-A

A few small notes, as I don't have much to say but really felt the urge to write a few sentences.
* Taking my cue from the roommie who can no longer listen to "Blood on the Tracks," I can no longer listen to The Doors or Led Zeppelin. I associate The Doors too much with high school. I guess back then I thought he was some sort of cool rebel poet or something - The Lizard King. However, taking drugs indiscriminately does not a poet make. I just don't think it's aged well.
As for Led Zeppelin, I can't seem to escape them on any rock radio station. While I like it when the roommie's band plays Kashmir and they totally nail it, I feel that there's Led Zeppelin overkill. There's a joke in Wayne's World when Wayne goes to the guitar store and starts playing Stairway to Heaven. The salesman points to a sign that reads "Absolutely no Stairway." Yeah. I thought it was funny then, but I think I finally get it now. Stop with the Stairway.
*I drove aimlessly around town searching for a place to eat. An urge for Chik-fil-A hit me, so I went to the one in the mall. It was almost completely disappointing.
*My first roommate in Jersey lives in Salzburg (I went to his wedding last year) and now sells Austrian wine to new export markets, and he gets to travel to all sorts of cool places. He'll be making the rounds again in the US, with the requisite stops in NYC. So, this week at some point, we'll meet up in the city and revisit old haunts. He'll also head down to Jersey for a bit too, so we'll kick around Princeton all old-school like. I sense some wicked morning-after headaches in my near future. HA! The dude sells wine, what do you expect.
*I haven't written here in almost a week. It's not that I don't have anything to say, mind you, but I find myself censoring what I want to say. That's no fun, but I suppose I have to leave some things for myself.
*In 1996, I graduated with a degree in English from UF. However, I had no idea what I'd do with it. So, I visualized where I wanted to be and figured out what I needed to do to get there. It all boiled to thinking you are now who you will be after you reach your goal, and then working toward that goal with the understanding that everything is just part of the path. It kinda takes the pressure off because it assumes success and, therein, faith in yourself. I breezed through my second degree while working two jobs, and once I graduated, I had a job a month later in the field I set out for two years previous. (Granted, the economy went kaboom a year and half later, but there's something to be said for visualizing where you want to be.)
I think I lost that faith, but I'm getting it back slowly but surely. It's causing me to look closely and reassess my goals. Won't say that much more, but I'm excited about the future, and I'm getting ready to get to work to get there.
For "a few small notes," this has turned out longer that I'd thought.