Just Catching Up

So I haven’t written much lately. I am really not sure why, funny things happen to me all the time and I just don’t seem that motivated to write them down. Maybe I am just over blogging. Maybe it is because we have so many other quicker options for daily expression – Facebook, MySpace and Twitter come to mind. We really are a society built on convenience and it is so much simpler to just change your status on Facebook than it is to write a post on Blogger.

Overall life has been good – although my brother called me to let me know that my mom thought I sounded depressed on the phone the other day. Depressed? Moi? I am not sure I have ever truly been depressed, but I certainly have not been “blupressed” for a while. Don’t worry mom, my life is peachy. Most of the time I would say it has never been better. And my only real complaints are about work and the economy – like most people today.

Anyway, here are a few of my latest happenings and some thoughts of mine.

The Rose bought a newly used car. I like the new car, mainly because it is a convertible and I miss mine terribly. Unfortunately, we really won’t be able to enjoy the wind in our hair until spring. And yes I have hair, it is just really short. Speaking of her new car…

The Rose and I drove to Poughkeepsie last weekend for a wedding in her new ride. K’s brother got married and as I am an adopted part of their family, I scored an invitation. I would suggest that everyone who has Poughkeepsie on their list of places to see before they die, should really remove it. I think The Rose hit it on the head when she said that the town peaked in the 70’s. And although I applaud their recent efforts to bring it back, it really isn’t worth the trip. The drive up was very nice though as it is fall on the east coast and as a west coaster, I did not grow up with fall. On the west coast we tend to go straight from summer to why won’t is stop raining. It was nice to drive up through the mountains with all the fall colors. Oh, and the wedding was nice.

I also went north earlier this month for Sam’s first birthday. She is already getting big and the party was, well overdone, as I guess they should be. I am always amazed at the effort that parents put into the first birthday party since it is the one birthday the child is sure to never remember. Sam did seem to enjoy eating her birthday cake. Pictured below.


I am also looking forward to voting next week for a few reasons. First this is the first time I have lived in a state where my vote might actually mean something. I have always lived in a state where the winner was predetermined before the voting started. That always made presidential elections a little less exciting for me. I mean I lived in Texas when Bush was elected the first time. He was the Governor and although I knew he was an idiot, it wasn’t like he wasn’t going to carry Texas, so why vote? Now I live in one of the swing states and believe me, I long for the days of living with the predetermined. You have no idea how many ads and radio spots we have to endure in the swing states. It isn’t every day or every hour, it is every minute here. I am so over it. I mean really, are there people out there that are still undecided? What the hell are they waiting for? So the second reason I am happy to be voting next week, is that it will all be over.

I am also excited for my sister as she is starting a new business in January. This has been a long time coming and I truly hope that this works out for her.

There is also some exciting news about The Rose and me, but I will save that for my next post.

Island Life

You know how they say you never know someone until you spend a week with them on Nantucket? Well, I am sure someone says it. I have to tell you, it is so true. Let me tell you a few things that The Rose found out about me last week.

I am good for about two hours on the beach and then I am ready to go. I would be useless in a labyrinth. I won’t be going on a boat anytime soon. I am a good moped rider. I am willing to try any vodka – even habanera. I like ice cream. I am pretty good with an outdoor grill. There are limits to what I am willing to spend for things - $330.00 for sunglasses, get real! I have good friends and a very happy goddaughter. And the one thing I really hoped she learned this week is that I really care for her.

As for what I learned about her, well, she is a good fisherman. She would be very useful in a labyrinth. She also likes ice cream. She can cook anything and make it taste good. She is a trooper and will try to stick it out even if she should just say let’s go home. She can spend hours on the beach at a time. She is a good moped passenger. She thinks the Atlantic Ocean is cold. Believe me, these are all good things to know, since we have two more beach trips this summer planned.

As for Nantucket, I think we both agree that it was a good trip, but we would probably not choose to go back. Not that I have a problem with small, confining, overpriced islands filled with the over privileged. But I think you can have just as much fun getting a house at the beach on the cape itself. This would open up many day trip or excursion opportunities you can not get on the island.

Overall the vacation was great. There were a few bumps in the week, but I think we weathered them pretty well. Special thanks to T&K for being very good vacation buddies. It was also good to spend time with Baby Sam as she is really starting to grow and develop her personality. She couldn’t have been a better baby all week.

Oh and happy birthday to my mom. I hope you had a great day.

How Many Can You Find?

Let’s play a game. How about you tell me all the differences you can find in my living room after this weekend. I have attached the before and after pictures. I will tell you that this is just the start of the changes to this wall. More will come over the next few weeks, but I think this is a good start.

What's Different

And for an update on The Rose front…she asked me this weekend if I wanted to come to her parent’s house to watch the Super Bowl next weekend. I think this is a big step for her to introduce me to her family. Her family is from Massachusetts, so there will be a lot of Patriot fans watching the game. It will be a bit strange for me as I actually find myself rooting for the Giants this year. Not that I am a Giants fan, but I am not sure anyone outside of New England can rightfully root for The Evil Empire right now. The Patriots are starting to fill the roll of the Cowboys from a few decades a go – the team you love to hate.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I sort of preferred it when the people from Boston spent them time wallowing in self pity and talking about curses. Don’t get me wrong, I was very tired of them playing the Glum character in Gulliver’s Travels, but I have come to realize that they are much more tolerable as the loveable losers than they are gracious as the winners. I can’t imagine how bad it will be if the Celtics with the NBA tile this year. How will we live with them then?

So it will be me and a bunch of Patriot fans for the Super Bowl. I am about to find out how K felt back in 1990 when we watched the NFC Championship game between the NY Giants and the San Francisco 49ers at my parent’s house, with many 49er fans and absolutely no Giants fans.

You might remember the game as it is maybe the best NFC Championship game in history. The Giants won 15-13, mainly due to a Roger Craig fumble late in the fourth quarter. Craig was one of the greatest backs in 49er history, but unfortunately he is mainly known for this fumble.

Now K is a lifetime Giants fan and to his credit he was very quiet and polite the entire game. And it wasn’t until after the Giants won and as my mom was walking around the house ranting - “WE WILL NOT BE WATCHING THE SUPER BOWL IN THIS HOUSE!” - that K finally got up from his chair, while no one but me could see, and did his quiet victory dance. It was quite funny. I don’t think the Giants will be pulling off the miracle upset next weekend, but if they do, I will save my victory dance until after we leave.

Blue = Nice

So I thought I would share with you a little bit of the IM conversation that The Rose and I had today.

The Rose: I haven’t really dated anyone like you before.
Blue944: Like me?
Blue944: you mean human?
Blue944: good looking?
Blue944: funny?
The Rose: I feel like I have more of an edge than you do
The Rose: Like you may be too nice for me....

OK, I will wait for those of you that know me to get up off the floor and stop laughing. I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of being too nice. No one has ever even accused me of being nice. Especially not the nephew that refers to me as Mean Uncle Bill or the Seabee who threatened to kick my ass if he ever saw me again. How about the guy at the Christmas party this year who took offense to the way I was playing pool. The Christmas season seems to affect us all differently.

I guess if you polled all of my friends, most of them would say that I was a nice guy, that you can count on me to be there to help, but that I can pick on someone incessantly. Maybe I just haven’t picked on The Rose enough for her to see my not so nice side. I guess we aren’t in that place as described by Becky about her relationship.

“One thing I really like about our status is that we're over that initial dating hump in terms of figuring out what you like/don't like, being on your somewhat best behavior (like trying to not burp), having friends that don't quite realize that you're a real couple to think about inviting you both out. Now, I feel like we're truly ourselves, for the good and the bad, and it's quite...comfortable (in a good way).”

I don’t necessarily feel as though I have been on my best behavior, but maybe…I will say that I definitely don’t think that we are “truly ourselves” as Becky put it. But then again Becky just passed the one year dating mark and we are on about the sixth week. I am sure that our comfort level will increase as we spend more time together.

At the end of the day, I am not sure that successful relationships come down to being nice or not. All of us are nice and all of us have the capacity to be mean or even mean spirited. I think relationships are still about accepting people for who they are, enjoying the positive attributes and handling their negative ones.

Come to think of it, maybe she has just never dated someone who is so deep, thoughtful, introspective, and you know, humble.

An offer I couldn’t refuse…

I have a couple of interesting pieces of news.

The first and the more important news is that K&T have asked me to be Sam’s Godfather. I accepted, of course, and I am extremely excited. I don’t know much about being a Godfather - like are you supposed to capitalize Godfather? My family is not very religious and this is one ceremony that I have not had to attend for any of my nieces and nephews. I am not really sure what to expect, but I am hoping that there is no animal sacrifice involved and that they won’t require any of my blood.

I know that at one time, being godfather meant that you were responsible for that child should something happen to her parents. I think that is a little more relaxed these days, but I am sure that I will forever feel responsible to make sure that she knows she has someone besides her parents that will always be there for her. Besides, this will be my chance to make sure she doesn’t end up to much like her parents as they are a mess.

For now I am just excited that I will get to make her enemies an offer that they can’t refuse or have her ex boyfriends whacked…I do get to do all those things, right?

Ah, and for the second piece of news, I finally went on a date with someone that I really want to see again. As a matter of fact, I am seeing her today – second time in three days. I am not getting ahead of myself, but it is nice to know that there is someone out there that I am interested in, well, that might also be interested in me. I was seriously beginning to wonder.

That’s it for now. Remember always leave the gun, take the cannoli.

Welcome Baby Sam

First of all let me apologize for the long time between posts. I am mainly apologizing to my mom as she uses this site to track what is going on in my life. I am sure the rest of you could care less.

I should start by telling you all that K&T had their baby on 10/12. Samantha Kelsey joined us in the real world that day. Both Sam and her mother are at home and doing well. I have attached a picture for you all to see.

Baby Sam

I am actually quite proud of myself in that I got K&T to choose a different name for Baby Sam than they originally did. Apparently the eight rules for naming your child were effective. Although they did break the first rule, don’t name your child one of the top 25 most popular names, as Samantha is number ten on the list for baby girl’s names for 2006. For those of you wondering, that means that 3000 of every million baby girls born in 2006 were named Samantha. This is still much better than their original choice of Emily Madison, numbers one (5500) and three (4600) respectively in 2006. They did meet the rest of the rules though. And to be honest, I really like the name Samantha.

I have not seen my new niece yet (I am one of those uncles you had as a kid that wasn’t really related to you), but I will very soon.

There is not a lot more going on right now. Here is a short list of my current life activities:

• I am still fighting through the internet dating world. I have met a few people but no one yet that has made me want to stop looking.
• I have been on the road for the last few weeks, first Seattle and then San Francisco. Seattle was fun as Nick and I got together for some father son bonding over way to much alcohol. Go back to school, kid!
• My condo is looking better, I am expecting my new chair next month sometime.
• I want to get rid of my two cars for one car. I am thinking of a hybrid I can lease for a few years until I decide what I really want.
• I recently found out that two other of my former colleagues have died in the last month – one from a heart attack and one suicide. That makes three in the last few months.
• I am starting to wonder if I am a sub plot in the “When Harry Met Sally” movie. I can explain this some other day.

That is all I have for now other than to say that I hope HipChick is really enjoying herself in France and that the rest of us that are still here need to get together soon.

Defining Life Moment #2

My friend Jeff came up to me one day after school let out and said “I am going to talk to a Navy recruiter, you want to go?” This is my defining life moment number two.

I was a senior in high school and Jeff was only a junior. We were part of a gang of five or six guys that didn’t seem to fit into any of the normal clicks in high school. We weren’t jocks or geeks or stoners. None of us were overly popular, but we were all known in school. Maybe that is why I am not your typical guy today as I was never typical growing up. Of the gang, Jeff and I were the closest of friends.

Well, I immediately said no as I was not interested in joining the military. I didn’t know what I was going to do after high school. I hadn’t taken high school very seriously, so my grades sucked. I basically did just enough to get out of high school, so it wasn’t as though college was a real option.

I agreed to go with him and we met with a Navy recruiter. He talked with us about the opportunities in the Navy and training you could get. He talked us both into taking the pre-test they have to see what jobs we might qualify for in the Navy. We didn’t see any harm in it so we made the appointment and took the test.

Both of us scored very high on the test. You see I was intelligent, but not motivated during high school. In fact I scored so high on the test that I qualified to go to any school I wanted in the Navy. They even asked me to a second test as they wanted me to go to Nuclear training schools. Can you imagine, I couldn’t get into a community college, but they would let me be in control of nuclear missiles. Doesn’t that scare you a little? I declined the nuclear program, but I did agree to look through the rest of the schools and see if something interested me.

I settled on Electronics Technician. I didn’t know much about electronics, but the training seemed like something that would translate to the real world and might allow me to make a decent living when I got out of the Navy. At least it would keep me from working for the railroad my whole life like my dad did.

Now I was only 17 years old and in order to sign up, I needed my parent’s approval. Needless to say, my parents were not thrilled. My dad could not understand how I could say I did not want to go to college because I was tired of school, but was willing to go into the Navy and go to a training school for 18 months. I will admit he had a point, but I think the decision was more about the opportunity to go experience something other than the ghetto I had grown up in. My parent agreed and they signed the papers.

I wasn’t even out of high school and I was already committed to going into the Navy. It turned out to be a good decision. My Navy training gave me the career I have today. Not to mention that I matured in the Navy. I learned leadership, if you can learn that. It is more likely I always had it, but they helped me develop it.

When I hear people talk about college, I often wish I had gone for the experience, but I can’t imagine my life today if Jeff hadn’t asked me that question after class one day. As for Jeff, well he didn’t want to wait for another year to finish high school. He took his GED as a junior and joined the Marines. I saw him after boot camp and we laughed about high school and looked to our futures. I never saw him again.

Frank Wolf

I have been putting off writing this post for a few days. I think I was really trying to understand how I felt before trying to write something. You see, I recently found out a person I worked with in the past suddenly passed away a week ago. Frank and I worked together for over a year as peers. We have not seen nor really spoken to each other since I left that job over a year ago. Last I heard he had moved to Florida.

I would not necessarily call him a friend, but more of a work buddy. I don't like when people are disengenous about situations like this so I don't want to overstate our relationship. We worked together. We seldom did anything together that wasn't work related.

Frank always struck me as the too cool for school kind of guy – in a good way. The kind of guy you wanted to get to know. He had a superior aura about him, but I think when you got to know him, you realized he was just complicated. He was easy to meet and very hard to get to know. I know something about that as those words have been used to describe me as well. From the time I spent with Frank, I am pretty sure we could have been good friends.

What can I tell you about Frank? He was generous and very popular. He had a big circle of friends. He had style and loved the game of golf. He was the starting QB on his high school team, a team famous for their football in NCal. He was always there to help out his peers.

He was also responsible for one great night in Las Vegas. My night of living like a rock star in Vegas was only possible because of Frank. He was also the guy who split a $1800 bar bill with me and never said anything to the 25 people we were with. Frank was a good man.

The real tragedy is that he was merely 35 years old. He was having dinner with friends and suddenly collapsed at the table. It turns out that he had a heart problem. The same thing that killed John Ritter. He had been to the doctor a few times in the weeks before his death complaining of tightness in his chest and was sent home with no problem found each time.

I would like to pass on my condolences to his family and friends. I don't think it would be fair for me to say that I will miss Frank. I will say that I will remember him. When I think about that great night in Vegas, I will always think of the man who made it possible.

Rest in Peace Frank

Hello Neighbor

So my move date is this Friday. Lots going on around the move right now. First off, thanks to my friends for coming down last weekend just to help me pack. We pretty much got me about 90% packed on Saturday. I couldn’t have gotten it done with out them.

The painters are finishing up in the new condo this week. I went and looked on Saturday and I think it will look good when it is done. The living room color is the only thing that made me take pause. But considering that there is no furniture in the place yet, we will see how it looks then. I think the artwork, rugs and furniture will pull it all together. My decorating consultant is also coming over tomorrow to talk with me about window treatments. I am not sure when we started calling them “treatments” and not curtains, but who am I to dismiss progress.

Not everything has gone so smooth though. I wanted to be moved today, but unfortunately my current building requires that you schedule your move with them. This is to limit the number of people using the freight elevator and the loading dock. And the only day they had available was Friday. So my great plans of leaving myself 5 days to get my apartment cleaned, the rugs done and the place inspected by my landlord all went into the crapper very fast. Now I have the maids, rug cleaners and my inspection all on Saturday as I have to be out of the condo that day.

Not to mention, then change in move date ended up costing me about $400. You see I get a discount from my work on a certain moving company and they were all set to move me today, but couldn’t do it on Friday. So I had to find a local moving company to do it. Which means instead of paying $75 an hour for movers, I have to pay $130. Yeah that sucks.

I am also thankful for Craig’s List. I put all my crap on the web site listed as “free” and I had people coming over within the hour to get it. Just goes to show you that one person’s crap is another person’s treasure. I only have a few things left to donate to Good Will, clothing mainly.

Still a lot to do by Friday. I will be sure to post some photos once I get moved in and at least slightly unpacked.

House Guests

I have houseguests this week. I am cat sitting for RC. She is out of town until Friday. Normally her dad would watch the cats, but he is also out of town this week. So, she asked and I said OK. It is nice to have animals in the house again. I got so used to having the food chain living with me for so long. I have had no pets for almost three years now. I have considered getting my own cat (s), but with my travel schedule, I figure it would be unfair to them. So instead I will make due with cat sitting.

I took a few pictures of them to share. The first is of Evvy. She is a beautiful cat. Her coloring is amazing. She is also the affectionate one of the two. She is constantly coming up to me and rubbing on me and asking me to pet her. She also jumps on my bed at night and sleeps with me for a while. She is sweet.


Then there is her brother, Hurc. He is the male cat and seems content with avoiding me all together. He comes around once in a while, but for the most part he has spent his time under my bed, in my spare bedroom or on top of the kitchen cabinets. He is also very vocal. He likes to meow very loudly at night and to be honest I am not sure he knows he is a cat. He tends to growl at people as they walk down the hallway outside my door. He makes a great watch cat.


I spent last week in Orlando. It is the second time I have been there this year already. I have to tell you that I can never see myself living in Florida. Too many old people there. Too many old people and kids in Orlando especially. The weather was god and the conference was nice, but it will be nice to spend a week at home. I REALLY need to start getting ready to move. I have been very lazy so far.

I spent my Mother’s Day at the ball game watching the Nats beat the Marlins. My next door neighbor and I went. He is an interesting guy. He works in IT, but owns a gun range in town as well. I run into him on occasion in the Mall at Morton’s. That is where I met him, and where we figured out that we live next door to one another. You would think we would meet in the hallway or elevator, but no, we meet at Morton’s drinking expensive bourbon. My next game is next weekend – Nats vs. O’s.

I would also like to wish my mother a happy Mother’s Day as well as to all the other mothers in my family – Sister J, Sister N, Sister T and Sister A…I hope you all had a great day.

What's In A Name

So my friends K&T and I were having some discussions this weekend in Atlantic City on what to name my niece. They don’t know it is a girl yet, but I am assuming it will be. Mainly because I am not sure that K has the Y chromosome to give. Anyway…I asked them what they plan on naming my Godchild (OK a little early to call her that as I have not been asked, but I am hopeful). Their number one choice is Emma. I said no. Their next choice was Madison. I said no. Their next choice was Emily. I asked them if they realize that those are three of the most popular names for girls over the last five years. I begged them not to give their child a name that is that popular. I told them if they did, I would just have to call her by a nickname that I make up.

By the way, I looked it up this week and those are actually numbers 1, 2, and 3 on the list of most popular names according to the Social Security Agency. I wish these web sites would have existed when Nick was born. Or really that any web sites had existed. I wrote in the past how my ex and I picked Nick’s name. It is a great story, but at the time we had no way of knowing that Nick was one of the top 3 most popular names. Nick has about 10 friends today all named Nick.

All of this talk got me to thinking. There should be a guideline available to parents on how to name your child. I am sure there is, but I thought I would pass along the Blue944 guideline.

1. Do not name your child one of the 25 most popular names being given in the last five years. Children have a hard time developing individuality. You are not helping them if you give them a name so popular that when someone says “Hey Emma,” ten girls, and one guy whose parents have a bad sense of humor, turn around.
2. By the same token, don’t be too creative. Giving your child a name that no one has is just as much of a recipe for disaster. Basically don’t name your child Apple unless you have the money and fame necessary to make sure that she will be popular no matter what.
3. Don’t create a new spelling of a name. Don’t make your child spend the rest of their life having to tell people how to spell their name. It’s really not clever, it’s just annoying.
4. Don’t name your child after YOU! Call your child Junior if you want, but give him a different name. If you can’t come up with something better than Billy Joe Jim Bob III, ask the doctor what you should name your child. I am sure that they can come up with something better than your dumb ass name.
5. If you want to name your child after a relative or the guy that saved your life in the fifth grade, use it as the middle name. It accomplishes the desired tribute affect and still allows the child to have their own name. Remember that your grandmother lived back in the day when "Maude" was popular. If they decide to go by their great grandmother’s name, then they can, but don’t make them have an old name before they get old.
6. Make sure that the first, middle and last name sound good when you say them together. They should roll off your tongue. I guarantee that when you get mad at your child you will be saying all three together. You might as well yell poetically.
7. Know the nicknames associated with the name. If you can think of a way to make fun of the name, then you better believe every sixth grader on the planet will think of it. Also remember to consider the initials.
8. If possible, give your daughter a name that has a guy’s nickname – like Samantha (Sam). It may just be me, but I think all girls who have a guy’s name are hot.

Anyone got any additions to this guideline they would like to share?

Just Some Tidbits

I have another one of those weekend to weekend business trips going next week. I am leaving for Florida on Saturday morning, even though I don’t have to be there until Monday. I figured I would take advantage of the sunshine. Of course it is supposed to be beautiful here this weekend as well. I spend the week in Orlando and then come home on Thursday night. I am then driving up to Atlantic City on Saturday morning for the weekend. It is a really late celebration of my buddy’s 40th birthday. I have never been to AC so this should be a treat. It is also the first time I get to see KP and TS since they got pregnant. Well he isn’t pregnant, although he sort of looks like it. KP, it is really too early to have these sympathy pregnancy issues. Yes I will be Uncle Blue in October.

So, it will be a long weekend and week next week. I really need to go someplace and do nothing but sit on the beach and drink Rum Runners and just unwind. Maybe this summer.

I have a meeting set up in Florida to discuss one of the job opportunities I am working on in Europe. I am not expecting the best news, but I need to know where I stand. I have to try and touch base with the other job opportunity as well. I need to make some serious moving decisions. Stay where I am, move further east, or move to Europe. Those are not in order of preference.

On a different note, I am a firm believer that men and women can truly be friends. I have a number of female friends that I have never had a physical relationship with. I am generally very comfortable with this type of arrangement. However, I am the first to admit that sometimes there are other feelings involved. I think I am getting into one of those situations. I like someone and I have no earthly reason to believe that anything will ever come of it other than a great friendship. But she is the one person out here that I truly look forward to seeing all the time. Right now I am just enjoying her company…especially considering I am really hoping to move to Europe by summer.

Oh and definitely not least important is the brunch update. As always, I love meeting with my blogger buddies. It is always a joy to see them, pick on them, and just basically laugh with them. Brunch was incredibly fun and we need to do it a little more than semi annually. Wait…

**Phone Rings**
“Hello, oh, Hipchick it’s you. Wow, what a surprise, you never call me?”

Don’t worry, about 5 people who read that will laugh for the rest of you…you had to be there.

Thanks to Lily last week for running the guess who wrote this post game as well. Mine was posted on Scaramouche Jones site. He is a great read if you don’t ever get over there. I moved mine to My Writings page.

Great Surprises

I needed to write about a couple things today. The first is that I got some good news yesterday. My boss called me in his office to give me my annual review. Well it is not really annual as I have only been here ten months, but they do it on a schedule. Apparently I have been doing a good job. I got a decent raise, not that a raise is every really much money in today’s world. Usually it is about enough for me to have one really good dinner every month. That was not what shocked me. The shocker was my annual bonus. I got about 50% more than I was supposed to get. A bonus on the bonus I guess. Don’t get me wrong, after the tax man takes his share, it is barely enough money to buy a bad car, but don’t worry, I will find a way to spend it.

The next thing I wanted to mention was I once again got to meet a fellow blogger last weekend. NYCBeauty and I met for lunch on Sunday. I have been reading her blog for a long time – pretty much since she started writing it. She is a great writer and I have always enjoyed the heartfelt accounts of her life she writes about. It is always a little strange to meet someone from the anonymous blogger world. It is strange to know some of the most intimate details of someone’s life and not know basic things about them…where they work, went to school, their favorite color, etc…I would still say that every time I have met someone from this world, the experience has been great. This was no exception.

I was pleased to find that she is just as enchanting in person as her words make her seem. I found her to be honest and real – easy to talk with and a beautiful person. She did order a chickpea sandwich for lunch, but I won’t hold that against her. :)

It always felt like we were more than just random blog buddies as we have exchanged emails in the past as well as just comments. Now I feel like I have a new friend. One I want to keep in touch with. One I want to see again. So, dinner next time I am in town?

Home Sweet Home...Well For Now

Well, I made it back from Barcelona a little worse for the wear. I am not sure if it is the three hours of sleep a night I got, the staying out until three AM most nights or the lady next to me on the plane that looked like she was on death’s door, but I am sure that one of those things led to me feeling like crap the last two days. I have done little but sleep and eat soup since returning. Well, I did order a pizza on Friday night when I got home (at four AM Barcelona time). Might have been a bad idea as I was already starting to feel bad, but I had little choice as there was nothing in my house to eat.

I like Barcelona a lot, although I am not sure what it is like when there isn’t the largest wireless GSM show in the world visiting. Yeah, it was crowded. Restaurants were full and people were always on the streets. You would hear accents from all over the world. The people are friendly and there are small bars open very late. My Spanish was better at the end, but I think the only way I will ever really get it is to live in Spain. Hey, there’s an idea.

I don’t want to go into to many details, but I am getting very close to a move abroad. No, not a move on a broad…a move abroad. I think I will be in Europe before summer.

BTW - Let me tell you the one thing you never want to hear as your plane is landing at Dulles.

“Your luggage can be claimed at carousel 4. However, your luggage will be a delayed due to the weather.”

Delayed in Dulles? That isn’t good as Dulles is quite possibly the slowest airport in the country, maybe the world, at getting you your luggage. On a good day, the wait is 45 minutes. I had to wait almost two hours. And making people wait two hours for luggage after twelve hours of travel is just cruel. Even if they are traveling in Business Class.

I am home this week and then gone again for nine days or so. I am going to NYC, then Seattle and rounding out my trip to Arizona. NYC for the weekend…I am a buddy’s wingman for the weekend. Work in Seattle and then the weekend visiting another buddy in Arizona. Man, my life is pretty good.

For those of you that know the address, I posted some pictures of Barcelona on MySpace. I also put some new pictures of Nick on there. Father’s prerogative.

Temptation By Moonlight

Sometimes when I close my eyes, I still see her silhouette in the moonlight. I see the curve of her hip as she lay with her back to me in that outfit that was definitely designed with temptation in mind. It is a great memory, but one that evokes many questions in my mind.

We were friends, but I am not sure any man could resist those form fitting panties and that small top. Why would she wear this outfit to my bed? Couldn’t she throw on an oversize t-shirt so that I couldn’t see the perfect curve of her body. So that I couldn't see how the moonlight made her skin glow. So that I wouldn't feel like reaching out and grabbing her. Was this some kind of cosmic test? Or simply her way to test our friendship? Or does she truly not realize the affect she can have on a man? Well, nothing happened. But to be honest, I am not sure if I passed or failed the test.

I think about that night when the moon shines just right into my room. I wonder if I had acted, what would have happened. Would our relationship be different today? Would we still be friends? Would we be more than friends? Maybe this is all part of my own personal cosmic test. I wonder how I am doing.

Your Spouses Ex

One of my married friends got me thinking this weekend. You see, she is still friends with quite a few of her ex boyfriends. That doesn’t seem strange to me as I am still friends with my exes, but the strange part is that her husband is also friends with one of her ex boyfriends. As a matter of fact, I would say he is closer with her ex boyfriend than she is. Now this strikes me as a bit odd. I have to admit, I have met the guy and I like him too. However, as a joke, I have told her husband that he should wait until the day he catches this guy looking at his wife and lean over and whisper:

“You are picturing her naked right now aren’t you?”

I think it would be hysterical and I am quite sure the response would be priceless. I would do it myself, but I don’t know the guy that well.

I am not sure I could be really close friends with someone who has seen my wife naked. What do you think? Could you become close friends with an ex of your spouse?

I love NYC

I spent Sunday walking around Tribeca and Soho with my friends. Stopping occasionally for a drink or two. Drinking sangria in Little Italy, eating a great steak with a great bottle of cabernet. Drinking 150 year old Grand Marnier after the meal and winding up the night by crashing a wedding reception at my friends favorite champaign bar. Yep, it was a lot of drinking and a lot of fun. What can I say, I love NYC.

Monday was more about sitting on the couch, drinking home made sangria and BBQing. Sometimes a quiet day can be just as much fun.

I am in Seattle today and tomorrow returning home on Friday. Lots of work to do and friends to see while I am here. Should keep me busy.

Speaking of friends...I want to personally send out condolences to one of the N.B.C. as she lost her grandmother this week. I lost the last of my grandparents when I was a teen so I can fully understand what she is going through. IG...we are all thinking about you and your family. I am very sorry for your loss.

The N.B.C.

You know what's great? Walking by a woman in the hall when she has the exact right amount of perfume on. The aroma invaids your senses and wakes up your mind. Perfume is great (in moderation, please).

You know what else rocks? Having your IT department fix the wireless card in your laptop so you can steal Internet access from your neighbor at home instead of crawling along using dial up.

This weekend was great and I am pleased to announce the creation of the New Brunch Club. We should have monthly meetings. See you guys soon.