We Are Up and Running

The first restaurant review is up on eatcharmcity. No surprise that Geckos is the first featured restaurant. I think all review sites play favorites, and this is mine. Please add this site to your RSS reader, take a look every so often and contact me if you have somewhere you want me to review or have a review you want me to post on the site. I am really excited to get this started. I think it is going to be a really good site. I hope you will join me in eating charm city.

I Waited Eight Years for This!

Saturday night, February 23rd, 2008.

This date is going to hold a special place in my heart for a pretty long time. It was on this date that my Alma Mater, UMBC, won its first ever America East regular season title. It was an amazing game overall and I cannot be prouder. I have been a pretty big fan of Retriever Basketball since I was a freshman in 1999 and Saturday was the high point of watching quite a few games at RAC arena.

Could this really happen? Could the team from a school in Catonsville really make it to the dance? No matter what UMBC will, at worst, compete in this years NIT. I really am having a hard time expressing my excitement and pride. I am very hopeful that UMBC could be the next George Mason, but I will take just being able to put on my dancing shoes.

UMBCUnderground has some great coverage of the game and what this means for the Retrievers

Go Big Dawgs.

Peggle is an Amazing Game, Even More Than Before

Inside a small elementary school gymnasium a group of people are gathered. Sitting in circle of metal chairs a number of people are sipping coffee and politely chatting. Suddenly one stands.

Hi, My Name is Brick
-Hi Brick
And I am a Peggle Addict

I have previously written about my love affair with the PopCap game Peggle. It is a casual game that you can pick up and play for just a couple of minutes. Filled with addictive physics it is the first game in a very long time where I have actively raised my hands in celebration. It is amazing. Well the other day someone else noticed my love of this little game.

That person happened to be part of the Peggle Community Relations Team. It was really cool to be noticed by someone outside of my immediate circle for what I was writing. The Peggle Rep was really nice and offered to put me into an invite only Peggle Bloggers group, which sounded pretty cool. But then there was something else. Something better.

The rep then offered me a free copy of Peggle Extreme, which is available through Steam. I was super excited to try this game, as it is Peggle with the artwork and sounds from the Orange Box (Half Life 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2 and others). I have heard a little bit about this and I will admit, that for a quick little addition to the game it was blast. The inclusion of Portal type...well portals was a very cool game mechanic.

If you haven't tried it play the free demo of Portal. I still cannot wait for the sequel to this, which I think will be called Peggle Nights.

A Little Fall Off of the Horse

I hate that expression. As you all read, last week was a little bit busy for me an unfortunately things did not really turn out the way I had planned. I did not pass my CAPM exam on Friday, which I am disappointed about, but not upset about. Honestly I think this is one of those things that can happen that really help a person, mainly me. Over the past year things have been happening to me pretty easily to me. I think this is going to be a really good kick in the pants, and I probably need it.

Last week I also fell off the horse of my month of no meat. I took Friday night to drown my sorrows about not passing my exam with some friends at Buffalo Wild Wings in White Marsh. My particular form of drowning consisted of a little bit of beer and a a dozen or so wings. I have been thinking of what to do about my month of no meat, and I am going to eye April. This is going to be a tentative month, but I am determined to make this happen.

I still have some work to on Eat Charm City (I know, I have been saying this for a couple of weeks) but I am really hopeful to have that done soon. In some other Blog News, I had my first guest posting on UMBC Underground. I will be writing for a series called Tales from the Past, where I will get to share about my experiences at UMBC. I am super excited about working with this site. They have done an amazing job creating a fantastic site and community and I only hope I can add to it. For anyone coming here from UU, welcome and I hope you enjoy this site.

Well, it is a little late, so I am going to head to bed. Tomorrow is another day and I have a Horse to get back onto.

Another Crazy Week

There will be quite a lot going on in the life of Brick. I am working three nights at the store, plus taking my CAPM exam on Friday. I am excited and nervous for it. I have taken the course and have had quite a bit more than the required training for the exam, but I also have not taken an exam in two and a half years or so. I am not sure I can still take the pressure of sitting down and concentrating on a single thing for three hours. It is a huge deal too. If I pass It is going to really guide the next couple decisions I make professionally.

Oh and another thing. I got my taxes done this weekend. I owe the State of Maryland three grand. You read that right. Three Gs. I am all for taxes as a necessary evil and I get that I have to pay a gazillion people because I have moved around and worked in different states and such, but seriously, three F'n Gs. Of course upon finding out this news I will be contacting my HR person to be sure that my state withholdings are reset for this year.

The Man Comeith and Takeith Away... Damn the Man... Damn

Brick Lives

It has been a pretty rough week overall. Outside of being hold up in bed with what can only be described as "the death" not much else has happened. It turns out that most of my family has been afflicted by this little disease, which is pretty impressive, considering we live a couple hundred miles away from each other. It was disappointing to have to take off four days from work. I really don't like to waste the small amount of time that I do get, plus I have to take off this coming Friday and the following Monday to take my CAPM Exam and President's Day respectively. Darn illness. Oh and I hate being sick in general. I am pretty bad at it and I'm not a huge fan of having to care of a sick brick by myself.

I did make it home for the weekend, which means I will get to hang out with the fam and some friends that I never get to see, which is always awesome.

More post to come. Peace Out

It was a Super Bowl???

I am going to be honest, no matter what happened last night I was going to be a little upset. As you know I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan. This means that I was born with an ever present dislike for the cities of New York and Washington DC and an overwhelming hatred for Dallas and their stupid little cowboys. For the New York and DC things, the dislike is far greater than just cause of their sports teams. It actually harkens to the overall inferiority complex that the whole city Philadelphia has when compared to these two cities, each a mere two and half hours away (though I imagine it would be less if Mrs. Twink is driving).

Remember that Philadelphia was the start of it all. It was the political and financial center of the US during its inception. It was the most powerful city in all the land. And then, someone important decided that the political center of the new country should be closer to the actual geographic center. So instead of the beautiful city of Philly, the capital was moved to a crazy marsh land between Maryland and Virginia.

Then some other people decided that the financial of the US needed to be colder and have far less land if it was going to be a real powerhouse. They moved their financial businesses to a tiny island which they had scammed out of some Natives years before. The details of the trade involved land to the "White Folks" while the Natives received some primitive guns, small pox, alcohol and anything else that they could whittle themselves away with.

What was Philly left with? Well there was still some good art, some good food and a decidedly insane passion about sports teams. Philly fans have always been, and always will be loyal. Yes, we may call sports radio to complain about a teams management, yell and scream about how the star player needs to give a little more effort, even boo cultural icons (yes, we booed Santa Claus) but we do it for one simple reason. WE CARE. We still fly our team’s flags on our homes and cars. We stick with them through the rough times and we are rarely rewarded with any sort of championship. Most of all we cheer. We cheer for our teams and have a great deal of animosity directed for their rivals.

This brings me to last night’s game. A competition between two worthy competitors. The New England Patriots, and their pursuit of perfection (aided by the use of some interesting video equipment), and the New York Football Giants, and their desperate attempt to topple the ever present beast. Both of these teams I tend to somewhat loathe. Going into the game with this sort of mindset I was pleasantly surprised by the game overall. It was an epic battle, regardless of my personal conflict. Former Eagle Assistant Steve Spagnuolo's Defense had a fantastic pressure game for the enigmatic Pats offense. Overall there was great game play and some amazing individual plays (David Tyree, I am looking at you). It may have been the best Super Bowl I have ever seen, but something was lost. I didn't have a horse in the race. I would have been happy with a tie...

I guess I am now looking forward to the 2008 season and who knows what that will bring.

It Has Begun

The Month of No Meat (+2) Has Begun

Welcome to February. I am once again going to try to go the month with no meat. I had done pretty well in November, lasting 26 days, but then I ran up against something that jut broke me. THANKSGIVING. Not even the holiday, it was actually the day after thanksgiving. I realized that what I am thankful for is turkey sandwichs the day after.

Tonight the bloggers and I are headed to Lebanese Taverna, which should be pretty good start to the month. Sunday could be a little difficut with the Super Bowl and all, but I have a reciepe for grilled veggie sandwichs with ricotta that will get me through.

It is going to be a good month (actually I am going to March 3rd so it is 31 days), I can feel it. Wish me Luck.