Wow, it has been a long time.

Well, just the past weekend, I was up at Kirk's wedding (another one bites the dust), and was given hell about not updating my blog.

So how about this bitches? Suck it! It's updated now.

Some new things: I've bought a house (late last year) and it's been pretty fun. Yardwork can be a pain, but I'm looking forward to making some home improvements and the possibility of investing in the house instead of DA MAN.
I'm 31 now. Not much diff than 30 more gray hair, I seem to drive the speed limit on city streets now; weird.

Some old things: still single, but not too worried. It's been great going to all these wedding and seeing my friends so happy. Sure I'd like to be that happy too, but I'm just trying to be patient and bide my time. I did meet two nice girls in Taiwan, so we'll see. Possible updates about the situation as they come in.
Job is going well. Very busy lately and I enjoy it. It's nice to help people immigrate to this country and have them contribute their knowledge and skills to the great melting pot that is the United States.

Other than that, life is life. Peaks and valleys.

Congrats to Kirk & Annie (wedding). Congrats to Rick & Allena (preggers). Congrats to Tracy & Abbey (baby). Congrats to Josh & Deanna (baby, little Lando). Congrats to Jon & Danielle(sp?) (engagement). Congrats to Jon & Cassie (preggers, again).

Guess I'm at that age. I'm falling behind! :)

30's not the end of the world

Holy crap, it's been 5 months since my last post. Sorry to those who keep looking for updates. I have the standard excuses, lazy, tired, no time, etc. Thanks to those of you who continue to ask me to update. As always, I'll try to be better in the future. We'll just have to see if it holds true.

Well since August, it's been all about the job. I took the LSAT in early October and got my score in late October. Relatively fast turn around really. Unfortunately I didn't do as well as I had hoped. I'm concerned that even if I apply to schools it's not worth it because my score isn't high enough. So I have to keep telling myself that it's worth a shot. I really need to get on my apps though. Here comes that lazy bug again.

At the end of August I did finally get a chance to go to Hawaii and had a GREAT time. I need to make it a regular vacation spot and need to try to make it to the other islands. Most notably, the main island and Maui. Unfortunately it comes down to money and I ain't exactly rolling in it.

The plan is that if law school is on hold for a while, it's time to buy a place. I'm trying to save as much as I can, but I miss buying the gadgets and stuff that I like. In the long run it's better than paying "the Man" though. I got a nice raise at my 6 month mark at the job and I'm hoping I'll get another one at my year mark at the end of April.

The job is still going very well. One of my bosses is on sabbatical and although I'm still not skilled enough to be the point-man on the cases, the temp paralegal they hired is trying to keep me in the loop so that when my boss retires in the next couple years, I'll be geared up to get a promotion. Unless of course if law school intervenes :). It's a tough call though. Law school means lack of money, studying, papers, the bar, and looking for a job after grad and passing the bar. I kinda like where I am in that the people I work with are great and the firm is so accomodating to their staff. The job means money in the bank, sometimes difficult, but definitely fulfilling work, and great benefits.

Speaking of benefits, the firm closes down for the week between Christmas and New Years. I always wondered why more places don't do that. It was really nice to get the batteries recharged for the new year. Anyhow, the holidays were nice. I received some nice gifts from family and just enjoyed the week off. New Years was pretty much uneventful. As per my Modus Operandi, no date. It's a combination of haven't really been looking and lack of prospects.

The firm is out since all the cute girls around my age are already taken, besides I have a rule about dating in the office, not keen on it really. Too many future issues could arise. However, there has been a girl in the office gym that I've asked the number of; and yes I did get it. I guess stay tuned for any updates and hopefully there will be some. I try not to get too excited about it for fear of being crushed if nothing comes from it and of course not seeming too desperate. I do have the goal of bring a date to Dehner's wedding though, if I get started now, it would be a perfect time. As I said, stay tuned, hopefully this story isn't over.

Our firm had the company holiday party last weekend and it was a lot of fun. Yes, it's a little late, but I think it's a great idea since so many people have plans around the holidays, this ensures that you'll get a good turn out. The food was AWESOME, I took the Filet Mignon and Baked Halibut. There were a couple of co-workers who didnt' show and I got to take an entire meal home. They also had karaoke. We have some really good singers in the office. I was too shy to get up there. I'm more than willing to do karaoke with some of you who read this blog, but I didn't feel comfortable enough with the co-workers. Probably next year and hopefully there will be someone I can impress too ;).

Well that's it for this post, I'm exhausted today from a mentally exhausting day and a tough work out. I try to hit the gym at least 2 times a week, but with all the time I have it's been three.

Oh in reference to my post, I turn 30 next month and it doesn't seem so bad, my only complaint is that I haven't found that special girl yet, but I have no one to blame but myself. I can't deny that I've had chances, I've just been too timid to act upon them. But in the same respect, I'm only going to be 30. I have some time to work with. It's not a lot, but it's not the end of the world.

Hope all my peeps are doing okay out there. Congrats to Chris and Maris and we'll miss you guys here on the EAST SIEEEEEDE. Now I can call Chris "counselor" without being completely inaccurate. Good luck in the DAs office. Not where I expected you Chris, but when you go out on your own, there is always plenty of money to be made defending alleged criminals.

The resemblance is uncanny

I came across this photo a few minutes ago and felt compelled to post it. It came from College Humor, a website devoted to collegeans that post videos, images and games submitted by loyal views of the site. In addition, the owners of the site usually come up with humorous captions for the media they recieve. Yes, I am aware that I am nearly 7 years removed from college, but it sure doesn't feel like it. Still a funny site though. If bored at work or otherwise, it's a fun site to surf for a little while.

Just though you Sawx fans would find humor at the expense of any Yankee to be in good taste. The caption with this picture said "...Also, I think Derek Jeter may resemble one of the rats of NIMH." True enough...

On another note, Tracy and Abbey made their triumphant return to Colorado yesterday and Josh, Deanna, me, Abbey's brother Brian, Abbey's sister Laura, and Abbey's mom were all there to help them out. I woke up this morning the most sore I've been in a long time, even after I started going to the gym again. Guess I'm not working hard enough at the gym :). It's that whole line about how I'm sore in places that I didn't even know I had muscles. If I hadn't been working out for the past month plus, I could have conceivably been useless yesterday. I was happy to help though, I know what a pain it can be to move, especially cross country.

The Keeney's (and their 4 cats) are doing well, and Tracy mentioned that he was glad to be out of that U-haul truck after being it it for 2,300 miles towing a 2 ton car trailer with a 2 ton car on it. I'm as surprised as anyone that one of those car trailers weighs as much as a car, EMPTY. Well I think it was awesome that they had an opportunity to go on a bit of a baseball stadium tour along the way. The only stadium I want to see a game in is Fenway. Anyhow, after helping Tracy and Abbey move in, we went to K's China for dinner and headed over the Betsy and Lee's going away party. A warm welcome back to the Keeneys and a good luck and see you in November to the Hoffmans.

To those of you Bostonian bros, Seattlean bro, and San Franciscan bros (and respective significant others), it's time to come back to Colorado. Oddly enough, if things go well in a month, next year I could be moving out of Colorado for a few years. That is depending of course on who is willing to accept me. I would be more than happy to stay in Colorado though.

Speaking of which, my learnin' classes start again on Tuesday. Fortunately this time it's not mandatory for me to attend every class. However, I will still attend as many as I can just to get a nice refresher and see if I can come up with any additional questions that didn't come up from the first time.

I will be missing a couple classes next, next week because I'm off to Hawaii for a week, for my final wedding of the year. It's my cousin's wedding and he felt that it was best if he found a central location for it since there would be relatives coming from Taiwan. It's my first trip to Hawaii and I'm looking forward to it. I have a few things that I would like to do (Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona as top priority), but wouldn't really mind just relaxing and chillin' on the beach. I will be bringing study materials with me so that I can atleast keep my mind on task. I won't study the whole time, just a little. Of course I'm going stag (making this season 0 for 4), but what can you do? I just haven't been fortunate enough to find that special girl yet; too damn introverted sometimes; check that, most of the time. Keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of this year and especially for next year since there are more weddings, it'd sure be nice to bring a date for once. However, I'm trying to just enjoy life now and hope that luck will turn my way soon.

Lastly, a shout out my friend Aspen, who is moving to San Francisco in a couple days. Congrats on the new job and I wish you the best of luck. Enjoy your time there and remember to always live in the moment.

Slacker...

Wow, can't believe it's been nearly 2 months since my last post. I'll admit that the lack of posting is partly due to just plain laziness, however, the other part is due to not having much to post about. Life has become pretty standard and nothing too exciting has happened.

Go to work, after work go to gym, after gym go home and eat, after eat watch some TV, after TV go to bed. Wake up the next morning and repeat. Sure I party a little on the weekends, but nothing overly eventful atleast not until Lee and Betsy's wedding. Great time, Betsy looked great, the service was very cool, and the reception, though a little damp was awesome on top of the mountain. Kudos to Lee and Betsy for planning a great time. I regret not eating more crab cakes.

Now, however I can throw a little more into the mix with my test coming up in a little under 2 months. This is the same test I postponed after Tracy and Abbey's wedding. I start classes again at the end of August, but need to start looking at the method of how to answer the questions again as I have nearly forgotten everything; well maybe not everything, but before I take the test I want to make sure the methods from the course are inherent so I can focus on getting the right answer rather than the steps. If I can, I'll try to keep the blog relatively updated, right now I'm having enough trouble getting into the study mode again.

I guess the other bit of big news is that I re-upped on my lease at my current apartment. I really wanted to buy my own place (tired of paying "the man"), but since I waited so long to look, there really wasn't any time to find a place I'd be happy with. So instead, I'll be here for another year and will look in the mean time for a townhome or condo. I'm still not sure what area, but probably closer to work. I was, however, able to get a good deal on the rent and after all the wheeling and dealing, was able to fanagle a 12 month lease rate ~$20/month less than what I had been paying for the past year.

Other than that, I've been looking forward to football season and am glad that the hockey lockout has ended. I will admit that I was ticked when I heard that Forsberg signed with Philly and didn't understand why Lacroix couldn't do anything especially after losing Foote. But I do understand the need to build for the future, and with Forsy's age and being somewhat injury prone (he had a concussion and broken wrist playing for Modo last year), this is probably the best move for the future of the Avalanche, hence their signing of Hejduk for 5 years.

The Av's oddest move so far has to be the signing of Brad May from the Canucks. Although he wasn't involved with Bertuzzi attacking Steve Moore directly, he had made a comment a couple weeks (or days) before that fateful game that there was a bounty on Moore's head. Why the Av's felt the need to sign the guy who possibly instigated the whole thing (May is listed as a defendant in the civil suit that Moore filed against Bertuzzi and the Canucks), who knows? I've been listening to Fan 950 a lot lately and there are a lot of ticked off Av's fans, both for losing Forsberg and for signing May.

On a baseball note, as the season draws nearer to the end (though still over 50 days left in the regular season), I've started following the Sawx games a lot more now. I'm very happy to report that they are 4.5 games up on the Spankies in the AL East (after the game tonight) and the Spankies are 4 games out of the wildcard. I'll admit that I'm not the longest running fan of the Sawx (but I did hop on the bandwagon the year before they finally won the series ;)), but they are now my favorite team by far. In fact, I went to a Rockies game for the first time in 2 years a couple weeks ago and during the 7th inning strech couldn't help but sing, "cause it's root, root, root for the Red Sox".... In addition after the game, there were some Spankie fans screaming about how the Sawx suck, I got pretty riled up. I wasn't wearing any Sox gear at the time, so who knows how they would have acted had I worn my hat or jersey. Anyhow, my friend had to tell me to calm down and let it go. Besides I didn't really have anyone to watch my back had a ruckus started. It was just interesting that I felt the way I did being a fan for a short period of time.

Well as I said, I will try to keep up with the posting (I know I've said that before, it's like saying "I'm never drinking again"), but this isn't a promise, it's more of an "I'll make a more concerted effort".

Fire drill

So this morning at about 1 am the fire alarm in my apartment went off. Now we are all taught in school to calmly leave the building when the alarm goes off. However, other than waking me up it didn't really respond. I walked around the apartment a bit pondering what to do. I just didn't get the feeling that there was anything going on. I didn't smell smoke and it didn't seem unusually hot. Besides my apartment building has a sprinkler system and it hadn't gone off. I figured things were fine and it was a false alarm. I told myself that if I heard sirens, I'd head outside. Well the fire fighters showed up about 10 minutes later and checked it out. Turns out it was a false alarm and a sensor in the garage has sensed smoke and set it off. I was told that this had happened once before. Regardless, I probably should have left the building and will probably do so in a more timely manner next time. The whole thing has made me consider renter's insurance much more seriously though, I'll probably get some within the next couple weeks.

My rant for this blog entry is: What's up with this sick facination of combining movie star names when they are dating or married? It started out with Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck (Bennifer) and I just saw a headline today with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (Tomkat?!?!?!). Other entries include Bennifer 2 (Jennifer Garner & Affleck), I know that there are others (i.e. Brad Pitt & Angelina), but I can seem to find them; feel free to post any that come up.

Tark!

I went to see Batman Begins tonight with Pilger, Erin and some other band friends. BTW, the movie was really good. If you like the Batman comics, I think you'll enjoy how true it stays to the character in the comics.

Anyhow, Pilger and I swore we saw Trent Tarkenton there with a bunch of his friends. We called his name but he didn't respond. If you happen to have his digits here in CO, please drop me a line and let me know what it is. It'd be cool to get back in touch with him.

Coffee and Red Sox

So the job has continued to go very well. It's keeping me pretty busy. Sure there are lulls here and there, but I spend the free time reading the immigration law regulations and world news in general (especially news from Africa since a lot of our asylum clients come from that continent).

Anyhow, one of the best perks so far has got to be the coffee machine in the office. Instead of having the standard 2-3 pot machine, the firm has device that makes individual cups and they have a selection of about 15 different types of coffee. What makes it so cool is that you put your mug under the spout, pop in a pre-packaged container, hit start and in about a minute you have a steaming cup of coffee and the little package disappears. Pretty nifty.

Now I've never been a huge coffee drinker (every once in a while a mocha or capucchino from Starbucks, Peaberry, etc.), but since encountering this machine I have consistently had 2-3 cups a week. It may not seem like a lot to some of you, but it's a lot for me.

As for the Red Sox, this past weekend was the first time the Sox have played the Cubs since the 1918 World Series (for those that don't know it was the last time the Sox won the WS before last year). One of my co-workers is from Chicago and a big Cubbies fan (and White Sox fan). As such, I recommended that we wager on the Friday game (it would have made more sense to wager on the series, but that didn't occur to me until after I got home on Friday afternoon). Well the Sox got beat down in game 1 of the series so I owe him lunch at Bull & Bush. No worries, I've already talked to Burrus about getting some sort of discount, LOL. It's too bad the Sox haven't been able to stay consistent, but fortunately neither have the Yankees. The Sox really have to get their pitching back and find their bats (wait, I sound like a sports commentator stating the obvious).

I've added a link on the right to my best friends in LA, Rick & Becky and their kids Logan and Callie. For those that may be curious about the people I hung around during my time there, take a look. BTW, Becky is a graphic and web designer and she programmed the entire site. It's very well done.

I leave you with two t-shirts that I saw in Ithaca when I was there for Tracy's wedding.

T-shirt 1: "Ithaca is Gorges"; who knew that the area is known for their gorges, me apparently.

T-shirt 2: "Vaginas are Gorges"; now it wouldn't surprise me to see that on a dude, but a girl was wearing the shirt, which made it that much more interesting. Before you think too much about it, she was a little, um, big.