The Hottest Little PI Ever

Hello My People.

As I am sure you are all aware, cause I posted it last week, I didn't have cable last week at all (also no internet). I decided to dive into my DVD collection and try to complete some of the seasons of shows that I have.

First up was finishing Arrested Development. I really enjoyed this show, and towards the end of season three you can tell that the writers and actors knew they were being cancelled and just didn't care. It is fantastic. For example, when the family is in the dining room and the lead character tells everyone to be careful cause the room is bugged followed by the boom mic dropping into the shot... Brilliant. I highly recommend the show, and you can get it pretty cheap right now. The whole series for like $60.

Next up on the list was Veronica Mars. I was a little weary of this one. Honestly the title and the fact it was on the WB (I think) just made me feel like this was going to be awful. I was so wrong. The story, hard issues, and really deep characters make the show well worth watching. After finishing season one I am really impressed and would also recommend this one, particularly to people who enjoy some sleuthing.

After I got my 'net back I stumbled upon clarkandmichael.com. It is an online show with Michael Cera. The kid is really funny. There are only 10 episodes. just check it out. The opening theme is even funny.

Next up on the Docket, well I have some choices. Let me know which of these you think I should watch next.

• Firefly
• Weeds
• 24 (seasons 1-3)

Leave some comments. Later.

FYI

It is 1:20 am and I cannot fall asleep. It sucks. I have way to many thoughts running through my head. Oh well, she is my Lobster. I wouldn't want anyone else keeping me up.

Life upadate... ish

So here are some update from the goings on of me.

• My Cable is Out - SUCKS... this also means
• My Internet is Out - SUCKS

For my trouble the good people at Comcast ( I am being serious, I had a great Customer service rep the other day) are giving me six months of HBO, Showtime and Starz. That is really nice of them, although I will only be able to use it for the next three weeks, oh well. I do need to be home in the morning on Friday for the guy. I really need to figure out how to swing this. I am hoping the fact that I worked at home last night and have been in early and out late this week will let me take the time without having to use PTO, we will see.

More Updates...

• I had a really good time this weekend in Ohio, catching up with old friends. It is one of those things that makes me believe that the future is bright and I am going to make someone happy, and they will make me happy
• Did I mention that my cable is out, which means I have not been able to download podcasts.... SUCKS
• Kim has just completed her 101 things in 1001 days. I guess it is my turn. This list is on the way, keep an eye out.
• I found a place to live, which is a load off
• I am two episodes away from finishing Arrested Development. I must say it is funny, though season three seems like there were really reaching or stuff. It has also produced some of the funniest moments.
• I am also one level away from beating Peggle... stupid 750,000 points on a single level.
• I am still in love with Hey There Delilah
• Dad is doing well, after the "Laser"

Leadership Update

I thought I would add to my list of ways Leadership is like Pornography. Here is the running list:

LEADERSHIP IS LIKE PORNOGRAPHY:

• Sometimes it blows up in your face
• Not alot of Asian men
• Constantly reusing household items
• Its better with two women
• There can be alot of give and take
• Everybody watches, but few actually participate
• Sometimes it is a pain in the ass (Geoff)
• You play lots of games with sticks and balls
• It can put you in sticky situations
• Sometimes it's messy and takes lots of clean-up (Geoff)
• Sometimes is Sucks (7/30)
• Sometimes it Blows (7/30)

Keep them coming people!!!

Leadership is like Pornogrphy

So I have not had a ton to write about recently, though I did, last night, check out a new place to live in Catonsville. So that will be the fourth place I have lived in the past yearish... which is a little bit crazy. But since I have not had all that much to talk about I thought I would tell a story of one of the funniest things I have ever heard.

When I was in school I was pretty involved with stuff, which allowed me to go to things like student leadership award ceremonies. The free food was great, but one singular moment made every golf claps for someone who I never heard of, win some meaningless award, worth it.

A certain Vice President at UMBC was giving a quick keynote to a group of the highest quality student leaders on campus. He introduced himself, said how proud he was about the individuals in the room and then started to talk about what a funny thing leadership is. To emphasize his point he said he was reminded of a supreme court opinion where the justice said that "He couldn't define it, but he knew it when he saw it". The VP followed this with the explanation that the Justice was talking about Pornography... "and LEADERSHIP IS LIKE PORNOGRAPHY, I know it when I see it"

WHAT ?!?

At this point every eye in the room scoured the faces of the others that heard this statement, looking for an idea of how to react to what was just said. The overall consensus was just sit and be stunned.

Fast forward to the next day and many of us had gotten over our initial shock over the statement of the year and moved onto ways to make fun of the most ridiculous thing most of us had heard in ... well.... forever. Our method was of course to determine all of the ways that leadership was like pornography. Here is a sample of what we had come up with

LEADERSHIP IS LIKE PORNOGRAPHY:

• Sometimes it blows up in your face
• Not alot of Asian men
• Constantly reusing household items
• Its better with two women
• There can be alot of give and take
• Everybody watches, but few actually participate

We had a list of about 30 of these, I wish I could find that list.

Leave comments if you can think of more.

We Can't Wait til the Weekend Come

I had a great, fantastic, amazing weekend. I am really hopeful for the future and the direction of the most important thing to me. When the time is right there may be details.

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World

I finished season one of Heroes last night. I really like this show. There are a couple things that I take issue with, but I can see why this was one of the best new series of last season.

There is something about superheroes and superpowers, that intrigues little boys when they are young. Most of the time they grow out of it, but there is something about this show, the presentation of superheroes in the real world, that is really interesting to that inner child. These characters can be related too. Most of them seem like they could be walking around today, and no I don't think they really are. The way their abilities are woven into the modern day, this is the way I want to see superheroes. There is realism. The story does not take place in Metropolis or Gotham, it takes place in NYC and Vegas, real places that I have been too.

I also really like some of the characters and story lines. I love the Hiro character and I find Mika interesting, though the Nikki/Jessica thing is a little bit odd with the scope of the show. One of the things that I do find interesting is that they kill off tons of characters. At this point we have already lost two of the main characters and numerous side characters.

I am interested to see what happens in "Volume Two" which we got a teaser for at the end of season one. I generally thing that second seasons have the ability to be better than first seasons, because, when done right, we do not need to spend all of the time on back story. I also want to see if they tie back to some of the early story lines, like Claire's friend Zach and Parkman's wife and soon to be child. If this happens I am really excited for season two.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to Del I Go

So yesterday I was trying to meet up with my mother to get some mail and other things that I left at home the last time I was there. The plan was that Mom and Little T, my sister, were going to drive down from the Valley and I was going to drive up from the Mills, we would meet in the middle (yeah, I think that will be the last time I ever try to shorten those names). Things did not work out the way they were planned at all.

I left work and called Mom... she was so sweet... "Oh Ryan, it is to early, we just got onto 95" great. We decide that I was going to call when I got to the super duper expensive toll in MD. I did that. She was at the casino. I thought ok, well if she leaves within 10 minutes then we can meet at the designated rest stop (classy, I know). No Problems.

I called her again when I got to Delaware. No answer... not good.

She called back and I was already past the rest stop, heading to Delaware Park, the casino she was at only to fine out... SHE WENT TO CHESTER DOWNS.... seriously. Little T and Mom were losing money in the ghetto without being held at gunpoint, and they were 45 minutes away from me.

I decided to go to a restaurant that we had gone to while I was working at Chase, Potstickers. The little place is really good, a nice bar with cheap martinis. Mom and T finally showed up we had a really good diner and I got my things.

Chester Downs Seriously

OC Recap; No not that OC

So I have returned from my venture down the shore with our version of the Rat Pack (I am Dean Martin) and I must say, it was a good time and well needed.

Here is the recap. Friday I grabbed Elan at the MARC and started down. We of course stop at one of the best places on the trip, SONIC. We just got Cherry-Limeades, but they were supper good. We chilled out on the patio on the bay with Dam and Bailey the rest of the night and headed to bed for an early morning.

Actually the morning started much earlier than I would have expected, as Dom woke me as he left to get groceries, it was 6:30am. WTF??? But I cannot complain, cause he proceeded to come back and make breakfast for all of us. Pancakes and bacon... not to bad. From there we headed to the beach.

As a small interlude I would like you all to know that I am a little bit pale and have already had pieces of skin removed from my body, just in case. It was a beautiful day and I had both an iPod and a good book. Off we went to the beach and clearly my SPF 45,000 did not do the job, cause from the neck to the waist I am burned to a crisp. Later that night we grilled out at the house. Again, Dom worked his culinary magic.

Next was Putt Putt, which is one of my favorite tins to do down the shore. When I was a kid I loved Putt Putt, but mom and the rest of the fam kinda hated it, so I was not the Putt Putt King that I knew I could be. Well, we ended up playing two different courses on Saturday night, through some nefarious methods, and amazingly i won both games. Under par and feeling proud. Watch our Tiger, I am on my way. Check us out at the Old Pro Course

We finished up the night with some Ice Cream from the place that Dom used to work and watch "This Film has Not Been Rated". The flick is really, really good and I would recommend it highly.
Sunday was pretty slow, we grabbed an amazing breakfast at the Bayside Grill and then headed back to the area. I once again knocked off quite a few podcast off the old iPod, but it was actually a really nice drive.

It is back to the workweek until the next big weekend. Yay Workweek.

They are 1337

So I was reading Google news this morning and saw that combined Bary Bonds and Ken Griffy Jr. have a combine total of one thousand, three hundred thirty seven home runs combined. Being the geek that I am I had a little chuckle. Being a baseball fan, it is pretty amazing to have seen these two over the course of their careers. Tonight we will get the treat of seeing them on the same field, batting 3 and 4 in the lineup. It should be good. Make sure you watch.

Ocean City part Deux and Turkey

Well, we are trying this again. Lets hope it goes better. Elan, Dom Brian and I will be making the trek "down the shore"

In other news, the other day was July 4th (I am sure none of you noticed). After spending the day in DC, I headed home to Baltimore. Knowing that I had no food in my apartment I began to ponder the culinary possibilities that I could partake in. I did not want to hit one of the numerous fast food experiences that are oh so close to my apartment. I was looking for something a little bit healthier and alot better tasting. I decided to head to Safeway and see what I could find. I was walking in the meat section, where I don't venture all that often, and happened upon some turkey cutlets that were pretty well priced and looked good so I grabbed them and some other odds and ends. I get to the register and the woman who is checking people out has, by far, the strangest makeup I have ever seen. Here I lids have stripes of Blue, Yellow and Green. I assume that the makeup matched the fingernails, and not the other way around. Anyway, turns out the turkey cutlets were placed in the wrong spot and were like five times as much, so i said forget that and just got a whole turkey breast.

Now, I am not sure if you caught this, but I just said I had bought a whole turkey breast. I spiced it up, threw some carrots and celery around it (cause that is what you are supposed to do right?) and put it in the oven. Hours later the little button had popped and I must say that I am quite impressed with myself. so I have had sandwiches for the past couple of days. Turkey, Pear and Brie... delicious.

So I have begun to watch Heros, and I must say, I am impressed so far. There are some times when the effects are a little cheesy, but there is something about the series that has really drawn me in. I like the Hiro character alot, but could do with out the Ali Lauder story arch. I do like that her husband is "Big Brother Iron Man" from Drumline... my own guilty pleasure.

Well, A good weeked to come. Have a good one everybody :)

An Interesting Start to the Week

Hello Folks,

Let me start by saying I have a brand new favorite Pizza. My sister works at Bertucci's and I went there for lunch yesterday. I had the Lestina pizza. Mushrooms, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. It was amazing. Plus my sister was serving me, which is kinda nice after years of personal annoyance she put me through. I did tip her very well.

I also rocked my fantasy baseball league this week. I don't normally toot my own horn, but I scored a league high in points for the year... but we will see what happens in the long run.

Monday has brought some interesting news as well. The things that has hit me the hardest is that one of the members of the Sogeti team is leaving the company. Our Delivery Manager is moving on after about 10 years of service. It was a little bit of a shock to me, and the other person I told about it. This is the second person of our management team to leave since I came on in March. I really like Harold and am hopeful that he has greener grass ahead of him.

Well, I am hoping that work will pick up beginning tomorrow morning, we will see.

UPDATES: Dad is doing really well. She is coming here. Janice and I are talking. My commute is great. I think I am heading to DC for the 4th, and I WANT AN iPhone