Well, it has been a while, so I thought I would post.

Thanksgiving went well - went to my grandfathers for dinner, and then met Elissa at her Aunt’s for dessert. I like seeing everyone, but I spend the whole day in the car, and without my wife. We did inform everyone that we wanted to do Thanksgiving next year, but they weren’t too receptive. I guess we’ll see what happens then.

I went to Albany last weekend for the day. Very interesting up there. Only three or four hours away, but it seems to be a different life. Slower paced, and people seemed happy to talk to you. Of course, you have to bare the “endless” winters, and the lack of beaches and “culture”, but very interesting nonetheless. I didn’t think it was bad at all, and I look forward to returning to learn more about the area.

Elissa is out with her friends tonight, and I’m home (by choice) doing computer work. A labor of love….

School is done for the semester next week. Thank Goodness! I’m tired, and these classes were alot of work, and alot of group work in particular. It was definitely worth it though, as I met some people I never would have otherwise, and they turned out to be a really great group of guys.

The season is upon us - have you finished your shopping yet? I haven’t….

They’ve been calling lately. And my number is on the do-not-call list, so you we must have done business with them…. They always ask for my wife.

Since I’m home this week, I got pretty excited to hear the phone ring. It was about 3 in the afternoon, so my bets were high that it would be them. Besides, no one ever calls us. I really don’t know why we have a phone.

I answer the phone and say hello. I hear nothing. I wait, and a female connects. I now move into stealth mode.

“Hello?”, I reply in the impersonation of a women’s voice that I can possibly do.
“Is this Elissa?”, she asks.
“Yes”, I reply, this time my voice accidently going a little higher.
The woman on the other end pauses for a moment, probably suggesting it was a gag (my impression is not that good).
“How are you doing today?”, she asks, trying to get me to say something else.
“Fine”, I reply.
She continues on:
“This is your account manager from the credit card company, and we’d like to offer you some new….” (product or service that I didn’t catch)
“No thank you”, I quickly blurt out, still in my high voice, and then hang up the phone.

Hopefully, she’ll just take us off of her list, but if not, my Apu (convenience store clerk from the Simpsons) or Mr. T impersonations should take care of it.

Update: mouse #2 caught, but there is a 3rd. I need to figure out where they are coming in. I also need to feed my cats less, maybe they will become more motivated.

Went to the grand opening of the MoMA on Saturday with a bunch of Elissa’s friends. It was a zoo. A two hour wait outside in the rain (I HATE WAITING) wasn’t worth it, I would have gladly paid $20 to eliminate that. The place is tremendous, though, and some of the new art was pretty neat.

Afterwards we headed to a Mexican restaurant on 49th and 9th. They had a $10 brunch special, which is pretty amazing for Manhattan - you can’t eat at McDonald’s for that much.

Just hanging out today, catching up on the (tons of) work that I need to do. Mom’s coming over for dinner and to nag me a bit.

I got an email from my Dad from his laptop in his truck. How ironic, that I live in a major metropolitian area, work in the tech field and HE has wireless access anywhere in the country. Go figure.

I’m on vacation all this week, so I hope to get plenty done, but I already feel like I’m pressed for time.

Had an interesting weekend. We found a mouse in the house!

Elissa was on the phone with her friend when she saw the cat scratching at the base of kitchen counter. She stood there for a moment, and then saw a mouse run out and back under the counter again. So, it was off to supermarket for me to get some mouse traps.

Got home, and realized that we didn’t have any peanut butter, so we had to use cheese. Well, the cheese didn’t work the first night. The next night, I got some peanut butter, set the trap and had the mouse in a couple of hours.

On Sunday we got dining room set which we found on Craigslist. GREAT condition, and cheap too! We had tacos for our first meal in our dining room, which was empty up until then.

Update: another mouse has been spotted. I had already called the exterminator, and now I’m on the hunt for our newest visitor….

I’m sure you heard the news - Bush was re-elected. I am no politico by any means. I even commented in an earlier post about how I don’t really care too much for either candidate. What really bothers me about the whole thing is that half the country sees nothing wrong. You can quote “who voted for what bill, etc.” to me and I would simply respond with a blank stare, but I can tell you this:

Bush senior in office - bad economy
Clinton in office - Good economy
Bush junior in office - bad economy.

Now, tell me why people voted for Bush?

The whole “we shouldn’t change presidents while in war” and “Kerry won’t continue the fight” is a load of bull. Guess what? The terrorist’s have TV’s too, and they know that the US didn’t want GB 4 years ago, and they don’t want him now. Surprise! They want him in office! It means that they will have their way with us for 4 more years. Good job folks.

As I said earlier, one man can’t change everything. But if no one can recognize that:
1. The US is 7 trillion in debt (and someone is going to need repayment at some point)
2. We’re selling each other out by shipping our work overseas
3. The price of the most precious commodity in the world, oil, (which we are highly dependant) is at astronomical levels.
4. None of the above are getting any better.

Then we are in a sad state of affairs.

Well, after 5 months, the first release has gone out to our customers at Bascom. It is exciting times, as the new functionality and look was much needed and long overdue. It is quite exciting, as we all worked really hard on the project, and it came in on time and we’ll executed. Of course, we’ll see what happens on Monday….

Went to a different branch of my bank today. Very interesting. You first walk up to a TV screen, and just see your self. There is a single form (a bank transaction form) and a single pen in front of you, and a tube with a plastic container to your right. The teller then comes on the screen and instructs you to fill out the form, and put everything in the tube and send it up. These are not scripted instructions, but you are actually talking directly with the person, who is somewhere else in the building. The transaction went smoothly for me, but it makes me wonder if it really would have been so much of a problem to have the conventional setup instead. Too much technology for our own good? Who knows.