public life

the end

2006-05-29T13:19:00.000-04:00

After over 260 posts and 15 months, I've done it. I have finished up my undergraduate career. I have graduated, and I fully expect my degree to be in the mail. My things are packed up and I'm moving out of my house. I start work at "The Bank" next week, and I start at "The Firm" in two months.

public life has come to an end.

However, fret not little one, you can find me over here now, at my life hereafter.

lost phone

2006-05-28T21:00:00.000-04:00

What a hassle replacing my phone has become. I have resigned myself to the fact that it is most likely stolen. I had it at 7-11 and never saw it again.

Anyway I had to go to the police station to report the phone missing before the insurance company would even talk to me. I felt like such a loser talking to the police about my lost phone. They officer was cool though, and said this type of thing happens all the time, and he was bored on a Sunday anyway.

After talking to VZW they told me that people steal these all the time and just active the phones with pre-paid minutes... so you can never track them. The fuckers.

I should have one again by Wednesday. Thats almost a week without a phone. This is hard.

things are a changing

2006-05-28T08:48:00.000-04:00

I feel like so many things are happening so quickly, I can't help but be excited. We all know how being busy makes me crazy and happy at the same time.

Graduation was yesterday. That went well, they pronounced my name correctly and everything. Both sets of parents were down, they were all so happy. The school did a good job, I figure they have it down pat after 156 times.

Got some cool grad gifts, I basically can have whatever I want from Mom and Kevin. I was given a gift certificate to anywhere haha, sort of like the things we gave our parents as kids. Dad and Terri got me this awesome rowing desk plaque thing that has model Delaware oars on it, as well as this huge rowing related inspirational poster. We went to Harry's for lunch, and it was amazingly delicious as usual. I highly recommend the Crab and Artichoke dip.

On another note, I lost my cell phone Friday night. I am not pleased about that. Now I am clueless and helpless. I'm positive I left it at a 7-11, as thats the last place I made a phone call, and the phone was gone after that. I have went back there about three times in 24 hours and non one has seen or heard the damn thing. I'm pretty sure I called it over 100 times. Verizon is not being helpful and wants me to file a police report, I have all my numbers saved, so thats not an issue, I just want my phone back. Anyway that is what the rest of today is dedicated to, harassing VZW people until I get something back. Less than two months and I already lost the damn thing. Six years I have a cell phone, and I lose one now... Lame.

The rest of the week will be spent packing, rowing and moving out. Hopefully looking at that place in philly falls into the mix. I would really like to have a place to live lined up before I leave here, but I'm sort of thinking that is not going to happen.

i-95 in delaware : goodbye 2

2006-05-25T16:44:00.000-04:00

You may only be the road that connects New Jersey to Maryland, but you've been so much more than that over the years. Riding on you just about every day to get to practice was always fun (there are never any cops, who can speed when theres traffic.) No matter what direction, coming back your always congested for no real reason. I'll always remember how it took an hour to go five miles (particularly on Sunday afternoons.)

Thank you for connecting me to the rest of the world.

did i say done?

2006-05-25T08:33:00.000-04:00

No. I'm not done.

We will be rowing the 4- at IRA's in Camden, NJ the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June.

Sorry guys, I'm not coming home.

::I have to buy more food... I ran out thinking I could hold out till Saturday...::

korner diner : goodbye 1

2006-05-24T06:28:00.000-04:00

I'm going to miss those late nights sitting in you and eating two eggs scrambled, with cheese, white toast and french fries. Oh how I loved your french fries...

today was good

2006-05-23T23:28:00.000-04:00

-Got a job offer for the summer, at a place we will call 'The Bank'.

-Spent some time with good friends celebrating the end of finals.

-Saw The Da Vinci Code.

-Celebrated with some more friends.

-Ate Hamburger Helper, that always seems to put a smile on my face.

celebration

2006-05-23T14:58:00.000-04:00

Done!

eastern sprints

2006-05-22T22:58:00.000-04:00

Sunday was our last race of the season, eastern sprints, 12 Ivy Caliber schools competing to see who is the fastest in the leauge. This was Delawares third invite to the race and we were hoping to continue to prove that we deserve to be there.

The day did not get off to a good start. The first heat was our 1st Novice Eight. We heard the announcer say that they were leading the pack for the first 500m. Then as time went on, and their rate didn't go down, we knew that they couldn't hold it. Sure enough as they are coming down by the finish area, they are well behind in last place. Next was our heat. We figured we had a really good shot of knocking out Penn (who we lost to by one one-hundreth of a second the week before.) We just had to go after Princeton and Rutgers to make our final. The race starts okay, we were up, but we quickly lost it to everyone buy Penn. We hung with Penn for most of the race, but they just kept taking those inches and walked away by the end of the whole thing. We finished in last place. Not according to plan.

We come off the water and everyone is noticibly diappointed. We came here to prove something, and it just wasn't happening. We regroup and our coach comes over to tell us that we need to make up for it in our petite final. So we go and rest up for a few hours.

The Varsity race came down next, and they too were in last place. Not one of our boats made the grand final. We were all going into our petites in last place.

As the day goes on, the weather keeps changing. At some points its really hot, at others its really cold and there are huge gusts of wind. Sure enough, as we a launching to start our final it starts to rain on us. The rain continues as we go up to the line and get attached to the stake boats. Nothing like sitting there in an uncomfortable position waiting for them to start the race in the rain. The offical makes an announcement that it looks like everyone is ready, but our race still isn't for another few minutes. "If no one has objections, we can start early... Are there any objections?" ::I look around with a look on my face like, "If you delay this I am going to hunt you down...":: No one objects, and we are on our way. Once again, four boats quickly pull out and we are left behind with Columbia. This was another school that only a few weeks prior we lost to by less than half a second. They pulled away in the 2nd thousand and we finished last in our petites. So did our Varsity.

An all around horrible day. Holy Cross, a school we absolutely destoryed two months ago came back and took it from us. It just shows you the nature of the game. They had it and kept working for it. We had it and lost it.

Not the way I wanted my last season, and last race to go down. I really would have liked to accomplish our goals this semester. We've been trying hard for three years now, and it would be nice to see some of the fruits of our labor. The coaches said we were the fastest crew's Delaware has had, the only problem was they other schools have the fastests crews they have ever had. And they are faster than us, by a lot.

Of course, at the end of the races the coaches did their usual, "heres what we have to do differently next year..." It's a hard point to be at. You don't know what you can change, and you don't know the dynamics of the whole thing until your there... you just know you need guys to come back in shape. Our biggest problem is size. We are by far the smallest team. Not in numbers, but in body size. Our guys are so much smaller than the rest of the schools. Their guys are huge, and they cut massive amounts of weight to make their boats. Our team dosn't have a problem with weight, and thats a problem. We need to attract larger people.

Right after the Varsity race, it started to get really nasty outside again. This time the wind gusts were stronger, and hail started to fall. It was crazy, at that point we just got into our van and started the long drive home.

The Boat:
C) Katie "Fred" Goffredi
8) Pete Atlee
7) Pete Bundy
6) Andrew Madden
5) Matt Hood
4) Ivan "Cira" Mikic
3) Christopher Brito
2) Joel Reiner
B) John Leitz

+ These guys who were in and out all season:
Glen Catlin
Dan Hagelberg
Nick DePompeo

stay tuned

2006-05-22T18:47:00.000-04:00

i'm so tired i can't even put into words the events to the past 72 hours.

stay tuned...

Misery list

2006-05-21T16:30:00.000-04:00

Add Worcester, MA to the list...

pandora

2006-05-18T14:30:00.000-04:00

Very cool free music based on what you like.

Pandora

spying on me

2006-05-18T14:19:00.000-04:00

The government does spy on me.

Whose the crazy one now...

macbook

2006-05-16T13:22:00.000-04:00

Apple. How dare you make something I'm going to have a hard time justifying I need... I mean honestly. Please just stop making such cool shit. I can't afford you right now.

...There goes $1200...

one one-hundredth

2006-05-14T20:50:00.000-04:00

of a second that is.

That is what we lost to Penn by today. Possibly the closest finish I have ever had in a race. They had to break out the photo finish thinger and everything.

As close as that was, its very disappointing, as we are now going into Sprints ranked last. This is going to make it very difficult to beat all the teams we need to in order to make it to the Grand Final.

Coach was talking to us like we had lost it already. Leading off with, "Next year we have to..." That kinda sucked. I'm not gonna be here next year. I can't make up for not being strong enough this year. I don't know. I think he just realized that we row well, we can't get any better technically at this point. If only we were a little stronger, maybe we could beat these teams. It always seems like we are right there. Losing to Columbia by a few tenths, or our own Varsity by a few tenths, or today by one one-hundreth. Were right there, but we can't seem to break out. It's incredibly frustrating.

Next weekend is Sprints. Hopefully this week we train and taper, and everything goes according to plan (for once.)

fingerprinted

2006-05-12T20:33:00.000-04:00

Crap.

CAUTION: Nuerotic self is taking over...

I was fingerprinted today (standard fare when you apply to work at a bank)... Now I have all these crazy thoughts going through my mind that they are going to upload my prints to some national database. And then sometime in the future I am going to be framed for a crime, and my prints will be everywhere and they will think its me that did it becuase when they run the search on the prints my name will come up...

Now when I'm on the run from the law for a crime I did not commit I will have to find some underground, sketchy, unsanitary "clinic" and have my prints removed (read: cut off) and replaced with some other set... and I really just can't go through that right now.

da vinci code quest

2006-05-10T16:55:00.000-04:00

I have failed.

Even after giving my roommate all of the answers and telling him that he had to complete the puzzle RIGHT NOW; I was too slow in submitting my information and did not make the cut. He did. That just makes me mad.... I shouldn't have spent the time verifying all my info and just went with the gut.

Damn.

unappreciated

2006-05-09T21:51:00.000-04:00

that sucks

3, 2, 1, DODGEBALL!

2006-05-07T13:46:00.000-04:00

I had the distinict pleasure of playing dodgeball today. A forority was having a fundraising tournament to support cancer. I'm not sure why they wanted to support it, I think they might have had a better turnout if they had a fundraiser against cancer, but to each his own...

Anyway, we had to come up with a team name and for some reason the only name we came up with was Shamus. The first team we played was way more hardcore than Leitz, Madison, Tuiach, Crayon and I. I mean they had muscles, and they looked like they worked out. Best two out of three, and they knocked us out in two. Next we had to play our consolation game against the other "losers." Now this was a team more our skill level, bad. We beat them pretty quickly and secured our fourth place finish. Out of five.

Well, there we are thinking we are done and can go home shamed and they ask if we want to play the first team again. Sure why not... We played five games against them, and they beat us all five times. I think everyone got a kick out of me being the last person standing there running around dodging balls. Then we got to play the third place team and they beat up on us pretty bad. There was this one kid with his shirt tucked into his shorts. And his shorts were really high up. I got him out once. I'm pretty sure everyone else took this game way more seriously than we did, but it was still fun. I did manage to catch one ball, and I hit high shorts kid in the face.

My leg hurts. Dodgeball is dangerous.

american

2006-05-06T19:42:00.000-04:00

I'm eating, and I'm not hungry.

Wow, just think about that. I'm eating food, something that makes the body go. However, I do not desire food right now. I have mastered the art of eating for the sake of eating, something only an American can do. Eating out of sheer border, why some starving kid someplace is not only bored but hungry too. Kind of makes you think, and feel sad.

Ah well, at least I'm not fat.

I really like the geico commercials. They make me laugh, and feel warm and fuzzy inside. I feel like hes talking directly to me, telling me how hes going to save me money on my car insurance. I mean who dosn't want to save money? Escpecially on car insurance. Thats the ultimate way to "stick it to the man."

The geico gecko is great.

grilled

2006-05-04T22:08:00.000-04:00

Theres nothing like preparing for a one-hour presentation in a class where its your only grade, only to spend half an hour answering questions from the professor because he dosn't agree with you.

I mean I was grilled on my topic, and for no reason. Seriously, I'm not standing here saying my way is the best way, but I'm here showing you what the way is. Why can't you just accept that...

Oh well, at least that parts over.

apartment update

2006-05-03T21:19:00.000-04:00

Went to dinner with PwC tonight to celebrate the upcoming start of my career. The food was okay, but it was a lot of fun hanging out with the recruiters and listening to how much like normal people they are. Anyway, at somepoint during dinner one recruiter says to another, "Hey I just got a house, so if you know anyone who is looking for an apartment in Manayunk, give them my name." Leitz and I were just like '!'

Now we have attacked this woman, and asked for her phone number and address and when we can come see the place. Shes all about letting everyone know about it, but were like 'we'll take it, we just have to see it, when can we do that?!?' It's in the perfect location, right above Main St. with the bars and the train across the street.

Man, it would be great to get this outta the way.

a countdown

2006-05-02T18:28:00.000-04:00

I'm 16 practices, 15 classes, 3 homeworks, 3 work days, 3 finals, 2 races, 2 group presentations and 25 days away from graduation. Why does it seem like time is standing still and flying by all at the same time?

no one wants to hire me

2006-05-01T15:28:00.000-04:00

I can't find a summer job, rather I should say, I can't find a decent summer job.

Everyone I apply to either ignores me or turns me down. It pobably has something to do with the fact that I am graduating and can't commit an entire summer to the job. I have options, I mean I could go back to NJ and live on a couch for a month and work at a high school. Or I can stay in Delaware and work 40 hours at Panera (and go to jail for killing a customer.)

This is getting difficult and time is running out. Maybe I can do one of those stay at home, multi level marketing jobs. Those work right?

oppsies

2006-04-30T17:24:00.000-04:00

So our boat (the JV) accidently on purpose beat the Varsity boat during our race this weekend by about four-tenths of a second.

Crap.

Now all the tinkering and seat-racing we did last week is going to shit, and we get to do it all over again this week. Mainly in an effor to make my boat slower and their boat faster. (The way it is sapposed to work.)

So anyway the result of all that was us coming in second in our races against St. Joes by about 1.7 seconds with our varsity not far behind. Perhaps if we had figured this out earlier, one of our boats might have won the race.

Coach has not been too happy about this. One coach calls us both the JV boats, while the other calls us both the Varsity boats. Basically all in an effort to pissoff the Varsity guys into pulling their shit together.

miricle whip

2006-04-27T13:21:00.000-04:00

Wow, Miricle whip you may make a better turkey sandwitch, but you certanly do not make a better egg salad.

Gross.

freaky me out

2006-04-26T12:54:00.000-04:00

Dear Al Gore,

The gigantic lifesized picture of your face that WIRED decided to put on the cover of their magazine this month has started to freak me out. So much so, that I now turn the magazine over when I go to the bathroom. That way I don't think you are staring at me while I try to pee.

Next time, please be more considerate of my bathroom habits and tone it down a little.

Thank you,

32 days

2006-04-25T20:29:00.000-04:00

I've been asked this question a whole lot lately, and I am starting to feel weird about my responses...

"Isn't it weird, your graduating soon?! Your going into the real world, aren't you scared? Aren't you going to miss school? etc..."

No.

I don't know if you noticed, but I still have a ton of work to do. I'm still practicing 8 times a week. I'm not really sleeping. I don't want to do anything I am assigned / asked to do. I'm tired. I've been doing this for four years, and I have been in school for almost 17 years of my life. I think that is long enough. I want to be free of it.

Sure. I know I am saying this now, and that I might feel a little differently in four weeks, but I'm not out to make my life immediatly dull and horrid. Hell, I consider it that I'm fucking starting it in four weeks. I don't understand why people think that this is the end of everything, and that their lives are ruined. It's a beginning, and its what you make of it. If you truly believe it is going to suck and be dull, than that is what is going to happen. Thats how I look at it. So yeah, I want school to be done. I don't want to do what I consider "pointless work" anymore. Sure I'll miss having random "free time" in the middle of the day, and just sitting around with everyone. But I don't have to stop having fun. It will just be a little more structured. Plus I will have my own place, and a source of income. Meaning I can buy all those shiny, silver things I like so much.

So bring it.

the weekend

2006-04-23T21:54:00.000-04:00

races

The races went okay this weekend. Friday night we drove up to NYAC in New York and had some dinner in Lil' Italy. After only a slight delay with the weigh-in's. We spent the night on the SUNY Maritime ship. Basically what you would expect, nothing great, but not that horrible. Not what I would call ideal pre-race sleeping conditions though. We "woke up" around 4:30, packed up our stuff and headed to the course. Naturally it was raining and cold outside. We had some trouble getting lined up at the start, and the official almost started the race while we were drifting away. The race itself was okay, I felt like we were powerful and had a pretty good race body. We only lost to Columbia by .86s. So freakin close.

After that race, we loaded up the trailer and headed back down to Philly only to set up and race again. This time against our own heavyweights, Drexel and LaSalle at the CAA Championships. It was a bit of a change, going from being the underdog school that the other teams don't want to race, to the expected winner that the other teams don't want to race. This race however was delayed by about 45 minutes by the time we finally raced. The delay took so long that it started to rain while we were out there waiting. We were all so tired and un-focused having had to wake up so early for the past three days and from racing only hours before. I think we were a bit more relaxed, and that is why we were able to just do it, rather than worry about it. We won the race by about a length off our heavies and about 6 to 8 off the other schools.

Gold medals are fun, but shirts are better. I'm kind of upset that the schools we can beat don't bet us shirts, while everyone who can beat us does.

--

I am still really up in the air about this summer. I spent some time today applying for summer jobs down here. I'm still looking for something teaching related, but I don't know if that is going to pan out. I know that I do not want to work at panera. I'm really getting sick of that place. I don't know what their issue with scheduling is, but its a pain.

voice?

2006-04-23T14:01:00.000-04:00

its like something has been sucked out of me.

i'm worried about this one thing, and its making everything else worse.

dinner in little italy

2006-04-21T20:16:00.000-04:00

This is how delaware crew rolls when were on the road...

This message was sent using PIX-FLIX Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

summer teaching

2006-04-18T19:13:00.000-04:00

I don't know what has come over me, but for some reason I have it in my head that I want to be a teacher of sorts this summer. I really want to teach some sort of computer/technology camp for kids.

I've spent the day looking online for places in Delaware that do this. Most of the camps are either really far away in PA, or they require you to have a masters degree... this is hard.

Not sure why I want to do the teaching thing. Well, I have always wanted to teach and can totally see myself ending up teaching Science or Math later in life. Not something I had planned to do now, but a summer thing could give me a taste of that. Plus its something different and flexible while I spend my last summer.

fear: the greatest workout

2006-04-16T23:08:00.000-04:00

I have been unusually well-behaved on the road ever since I got a huge speeding ticket this winter. I only stay five or ten miles above the speed limit, and I always come to a complete stop at a stop sign. However, I now have this huge fear of getting pulled over by the police. Borderline irrational. (just like everything else I do)

If I spot a cop on the side of the road, I immediatly drop back to the speed limit and switch to a middle lane. I watch them in the mirror until I am sure they are not going to move.

I tell you that to tell you this,

Today on my drive back to Delaware I am extremely well-behaved until the bridge. The traffic started to build up speed and I had to go along with them. I spot in the distance a police car on the side of the road by the bridge and I switch to cruise control at 50mph (the speed limit.) As I pass the car, it pulls out. (SHIT) My heart starts to beat a little faster. The entire two mile strech of the bridge and toll plaza the cop is behind me as I try to maintain speed. As I get off the bridge I have no idea what the speed limit is, some signs saay 35, but its still the highway so it might be 55, but the toll says EZ-Pass 5mph. My heart is pounding at this point. The cop finally pulls out from behind me and drives away. At that point I check my heart rate, it was at 130bpm. That is way too high for non-exertion activity.

easter eggs & random days

2006-04-15T18:02:00.000-04:00

Haha, we made easter eggs today. How random is that? I'm pretty sure I haven't made easter eggs in at least 10 years. Then I went outside and played on a swingset... I'm regressing...

disconnected-ness

2006-04-15T10:42:00.000-04:00

Is someone drugging me?

Every morning for the past week I have felt like my head is floating about 100 feet above my body. It's a weird feeling, and when you move too quickly, you get really dizzy and almost fall down. Very odd. Hopefully it will go away, and its only part of the head cold I am desperatly trying to avoid getting.

--

I'm home for Easter weekend. For some reason it feels like a vacation, even though we don't get any extra days off. I think its the fact that our coaches gave us this Saturday morning practice off. Thats how integreated crew is into the daily life. They give you a day off and you feel like its a vacation.

Party Mix

2006-04-11T21:02:00.000-04:00

Ugh, I now know why no one every buys the "Party Mix" chips in the vending machine. Their horrible, honestly I think they take whatever falls on the floor at the chip making factory and package it for human consumption. However, before they do that, they wait to make sure that everything is stale, and then they cover it with fake cheese poweder to cover up any dirt.

Never again.

Spring Break

2006-04-03T22:13:00.000-04:00

Spring Break was okay times, filled with seat-racing and 36-one minute pieces. The result of which has placed me in the Varsity boat for this upcoming weekend which is pretty cool. I could have done without the three hour stop in SC to fix a flat tire on the bus.

Happy to be back in DE.

quotable perez

2006-03-22T11:42:00.000-05:00

21st Birthdays are always fun, and the things that people say when they turn 21 are even more fun:

"I have an iMac and a greasy cone." - Aftering picking up a traffic cone and bringing it to our house.
"It's fuckin Mel Gibson!" - After realizing how cool Mad Max was.
"Harrison Ford aint got nothing on me..." - After he jumped over a parking meter.
"Would you think less of me if I puked in this mailbox?" - After finding out that puking in a mailbox is a federal offense.

To top if off, there is nothing like the experiance of being cornered in the kitchen by your drunk roommate holding a bottle of liqour and yelling at you in German. Later translated to: "My name is Fritz the Frog, and go to the other chalk board."

Happy Birthday Perez.

one year old

2006-03-20T20:38:00.000-05:00

Wow, this things a whole year old.... I guess a lot has changed in the past year.

I now know I have a full time job, and while I still don't know where I'm living, I do know who I am living with. It's a start.

My rowing boats is going much better this March around. I finally broke that wretched 7:00 2k barrier by the skin of my teeth (6:59.9). I was nowhere near that time one year ago.

I'm still struggling with school, but most of that is self inflicted this time, and not caused by evil professors.

I've had many opportunities and many failed attempts at relationships over the past year. That one is kid of sad, I am still in the same position I was a year ago, but the mentality has changed, hopefully for the better. Less apathetic and more proactive I would say.

...all in all a good run. We'll see where year #2 takes us...

should/am

2006-03-19T22:32:00.000-05:00

things I should be doing right now:
1)Doing my "Science and Engineering of Microelectronic Fabrication" homework.
2)Cleaning my room
3)Folding laundry
4)Energy HW
5)Propagation HW

things I am doing right now:
1)Eating pudding
2)Killing time by posting here

crewing

2006-03-19T22:28:00.000-05:00

So the past week has been rather hectic. Tests, and projects and what not, oh and working at Panera. Somehow I have managed to cut that down to about 8 hours a week. It's not even really worth it anymore, but it gives me enough money to buy my groceries, and I like to eat. So thats good.

Holy Cross kept with their tradition of annoying us again this year by making us race them before they would give us their spot at the Eastern Sprints in May. We shut them down last year, and this year we did it again. Our three boats (Varsity, JV and Freshman) beat their Varsity boat. Our Freshman beat their Varsity boat. Come on guys, do we really have to keep proving that we deserve to be there more than you?

delaware v. lehigh

2006-03-12T10:19:00.000-05:00

First race this past weekend. Raced in the 2V and destoryed Lehigh. I'm pretty sure they gave up about 500m in, as we beat them by about 30 seconds.

--

On another note, there were these crazy ducks on the course, and at one point two of them started fighting with eachother. It was crazy and went on for about half an hour. What was most interesting is that there were a whole bunch of ducks around them egging them on and taking sides. Their like little middle-schoolers.

Video

Results

you'd think i'd learn

2006-03-09T21:48:00.000-05:00

This is the third time this year that I have managed to pretty severly burn my mouth...

...wishing I could taste things...

total nerd & totally depraved

2006-03-07T20:27:00.000-05:00

I might have been an interesting sight today, walking around the green with my little "sensors." Esentially I have these little computer board things that blink red, green and yellow with antennas on the top. I was measuring out distances of communication, but I'm sure no one knew that and just assumed I was some freak.

--

In philosophy we have been talking about the Calvanist version of Christianity, and it contains a tennent of Total Depravity. This means that humanity is totally depraved and incapable of being anything else. Our professor told us a story of his depravity, and I thought I would share one with the rest of the world...

At the intersection of South College & Delaware I like to have a little fun. The people who come to that intersection usually aren't paying that much attention and their talking on their phones etc... Sometimes when there is a gap between a set of cars I like to walk across the intersection against the light. Now, the people who aren't paying attention to the light (or the oncoming cars) see me go, and they follow. Haha, thats where I have my fun. Next thing you know there are horns honking and looks of wtf?!

Can anything help me, I think not...

sorority letter

2006-03-06T21:37:00.000-05:00

Dear Sorority (it dosn't matter which one, you all come into panera everyday),

I just wanted to let you know, I think your all annoying. I think its nice that you all wear the same uniform so that I can tell which tables are yours and subsequently avoid them. Your Paris Hilton hair, fake tans, popped collars, ugz and jeans really give it away. You also all order the same thing. Some sort of vegitarian soup with some sort of salad or veggie sandwitch.

After you order you take all the tables and move them around, so that all 60 of you can sit at the same table. You then take all the napkins and somehow manage to throw them everywhere. God-forbid I interrupt your conversation about how hard econ is to ask if your done. Not to mention the fact that you sit there for hours, you would think none of you ever had class.

I'm glad your $8 lunches each day could pay my hourly wage.

Yours in mutual dislike,
--brito

at&t & sbc & bs & cingular

2006-03-05T19:53:00.000-05:00

Okay, just found out that at&t (which is now the former AT&T and SBC merged) is merging with Bell South (a former baby bell that split off from the original AT&T). This merger will combine pretty much all the baby bells AND bring Cingular under 100% ownership by the new new at&t. Cingular is of course the former Cingular and AT&T Wireless.

I think that means there are only two phone companies left.

shopping hungry

2006-03-05T19:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I just spent way too much money at the supermarket due to my shopping whilst craving everything I saw.

--

happy bithday

2006-03-02T23:02:00.000-05:00

Wow one year old!

spinning

2006-02-28T19:56:00.000-05:00

I have never been more disorganized academically in my life, except for maybe elementary school.

I have things due that I forget about until the last minute.... I have 4000 to do lists, all with different things... And the post-it notes are taking over... I need a personal assistant

lifetime television

2006-02-25T21:39:00.000-05:00

Okay so now my mother is obsessed with lifetime tv for women... when did this happen? And more importantly why?

Today was the start of "revenge week," where they show all these movies with all these "Empowered" women taking revenge on a man of some sort... basically it was women murdering men and feeling okay about it.

Seriously this is one sick station.

--

P.S. I broke two computers today. My collection has dwindled to a mere six.

oh a rant

2006-02-23T13:22:00.000-05:00

We have a semester long project for our International ECON class where we find out key economic data for a selected Asian country and present that information to the class. Our first part of the project is due next week and is on basic economic statistics for Malaysia.

--heres the rant--

Why can't other countries keep their statistics like the United States?

Is it that hard to put all the data on your website? YOU HAVE A MINISTRY OF STATISTICS and the only statistics you keep are for the current year. I just want to download a simple file that gives me data from whenever the hell you started collecting it to now. Based on your website it looks like you only started collecting data last year! Fortunatly the United Nations has taken it upon themselves to keep track of the data for you. Burried on their website was a nice little excel file that gave me the information (or most of the information) I was looking for.

Bad Malaysia, now I can see why Derek Zoolander was going to assasinate your prime minister.

"in select theatres"

2006-02-20T20:20:00.000-05:00

i wish the theatres around me would play the good movies...

my philosophy

2006-02-20T09:31:00.000-05:00

That's the secret to life... replace one worry with another....
Charles M. Schulz, Charlie Brown
US cartoonist (1922 - 2000)

--that about sums it up...

observations

2006-02-16T08:53:00.000-05:00

I love the beginning of the semester. Everyone is so good, their on time to class, they do thir homework, and they participate... mostly because they don't have that much else to do. This pretty much all goes smoothly until about that 3rd week in... Everything hits everyone at once and your life becomes a frantic mess once again.

--

My grandfather has lost his mind. He thinks there is a brown ghost in his computer that tells him where his files are and deletes them when hes not looking.

--

3 hour classes on Thursday nights suck.

hmm...

2006-02-14T22:53:00.000-05:00

today was a good day.

hows that for a change?

first day of classes

2006-02-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

Ah, my final semester. 12 credits and I am out of here. 25 class days, or about actual 90 class sessions to attend. Cake, right? I hope.

I'm excited for the classes I am taking, we have a little philosophy, a little econ, and some electrical engineering (just to keep it fresh). I'm going to learn about the US trade deficit, why I'm in love with my mother, how to track a human via facial recognition sensors, and how to make those little chips inside your computer.

Oh yeah, and I'm going to work about 20 hours a week and attend practice 6 days a week. There are about 8 races in the mix too.

The quesetion remains, how ambitious am I, and, how long will the motivation last?

Will I fail in my first month? Succomb to the dreaded senioritus, amplified by the fact that I already have a job? Theres always that little voice, the voice that says, "Hey, you only have to pass everything! No worries. Don't try!"

Only time will tell.

boring entries

2006-02-05T13:00:00.000-05:00

First, I would like to appologize for the lack of "interesting entries" lately. What can I say. Not much has been going on. My day follows the same basic routine and is pretty stagnant. So, I'm sorry.

The semester is starting up again, and I'm sure I will have some great adventures with my classes/races/hunt for a new home.

---

Quick Updates:

-I have old secretary's syndrome, aka carpel tunnel, in my right hand. It's sweet. The hand goes numb and you can't really use it to turn or hold things. Totally awesome. I have this sweet splint I get to wear on my right arm. Totally attracts the ladies.

-I'm going on vacation this summer (finally). First were hitting up Vegas and staying at the Luxor. Next is a drive up to Moab and Colorado for white water rafting and mountain biking. Finally back down to Vegas to stay at the Hard Rock. Should be a nice break / last vacation before I enter the real world.

--

Hopefully this semester is all I want it to be.

taxes

2006-01-31T21:31:00.000-05:00

Wow, multi state tax returns are hard...

From the great state of new jersey:
"Please report income earned in other states, unless that state was Pennsylvania, unless the municipality was Philadelphia."

--which I am currently taking to mean, please report income earned in other states

--then delaware took some of my money, even though I didn't work in delaware... and they define the word domicile on their website as a place you go to when you go someplace else and return.

one question

2006-01-27T12:19:00.000-05:00

What am I doing?

Seriously.

I'm like back at square one over here with DeJaVu (or whatever) all over the place.

ut-oh

2006-01-25T23:15:00.000-05:00

I sure hope next semester isn't a mistake:

ECON-340 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
ELEG-422 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS PROCESSING
ELEG-467 SENSOR NETWORKS
PHIL-100 PHILOSOPHIES OF LIFE

hobo blood

2006-01-25T16:59:00.000-05:00

Today I pose to you a question: If you were in an accident and needed blood, would you mind if that blood had been donated by a homeless person?

mother bread

2006-01-22T11:36:00.001-05:00

Panera has been going well. I friggen hate closing that place though. So much work to make that place look the way it does, and doing that five nights in a row kind of sucked something awful.

Anyway, hopefully I can swing it so that dosn't happen too often. We open for real on Monday, and I'm working the lunch shift, come laugh at me while I mae sandwitches or salads, or clear your table. (and I thought I was above this)

By the way, don't get the pininis.

about last night

2006-01-22T11:36:00.000-05:00

It's like a fine wine. It gets better with age... because you can forget things when your older and thats cool.

idiots

2006-01-20T12:23:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News

BAD DAY FOR: SpongeBob SquarePants, as a group of parents and activists announced they were suing the Nickelodeon television network and cereal maker Kellogg for airing too many commercials marketing junk food to children. Both companies said they advocate healthy lifestyles. (Associated Press)

What the fuck? Control your damn children. Your the one buying the crap. Take some fucking responsibility for yourselves.

mmmm...

2006-01-19T23:34:00.000-05:00

im hungry and have nothing salty to eat... therefore I will go to bed.

i hate hats

2006-01-19T22:06:00.000-05:00

Panera has been going okay. I really don't like closing the place down. It just sucks. Everyones pretty clueless and the place is going to be total havoc once it opens next week and no one knows what their doing. It'll be fun.

The one thing I really can't stand is the uniform. Its basically any polo shirt and khakis you want. But then you have to wear a supplied apron and hat. I hate hats. I have the tiniest head in the world, so of course my hat is all scrunched up to the smallest size and it still dosn't fit my head. (stupid fat heads.) I look like a moron with it on as I don't normally wear hats so I just plop it on there. Trust me, it looks bad.

On the other hand all the free food I have gotten this week has been pretty awesome. I know that's gonna stop soon, but hey, enjoy it while it lasts.

doing nothing...

2006-01-16T12:27:00.000-05:00

...and loving it.

Recently I have had nothing to post. Mainly, because I really haven't been doing anything. This is a major change for me, usually I'm wrapped up in a million and one things, and I love it that way. Doing nothing for about a month now has really been... different. I don't know, I don't hate it, but I do hate not having any money. And I do hate feeling tired all the time for no reason.

So tomorrow that all changes. I start at Panera Bread.

This should be interesting.

post secret

2006-01-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

Just finished reading the post secret book. It's really great (and kind of scary) to identify with some of these things.

jls

2006-01-13T12:28:00.000-05:00

Resentful or bitter in rivalry

lifting

2006-01-08T20:14:00.000-05:00

Our sometimes overly ambitious coach had us start using weights in our training this week. Trying to get those beach muscles, except now I am desperatly in need of a massage. If I wasn't so self-concious I would go to the mall and get one of those $1 a minute ones in front of everyone, but we all know that won't happen.

So, please, if anyone wants to make me a very happy person... you know where to find me.

say it together now

2006-01-05T19:04:00.000-05:00

BULLSHIT

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T

I was finally able to pay my ticket online this evening and I was charged a convenience fee!!! WTF?! If I go to court and plead guilty I pay a court fee. If I mail you the ticket I pay a little fee we like to call postage, and I have to give you a self-addressed stamped return envelope. Why don't you just call it the "rape me in the ass fee."

You will rue the day you ever gave me a drivers license New Jersey.

a letter

2006-01-05T12:22:00.000-05:00

Dear New Jersey County Courts,

If you want me to pay my ticket, please fix your online payment system. If it takes half an hour for the thing to load, I am going to get bored and go away. Eventually I will forget about it, and forget to pay it. You will issue a warrant for my arrest or whatever and then I can't drive through you anymore. Please, lets just end this ordeal.

Sincerely,

Brito

free food

2006-01-03T22:06:00.000-05:00

So I was paid to go to a McDonalds today and order different meals and try them.

If only I loved McDonals and it didn't make me feel like death after I ate it would this be exciting. Well. It's still exciting. I was paid to eat, thats always fun. But still, can't they pay me to eat at a fancy resturant... Well, they do do that, its called a 'food critic,' but they tend to have cushy newspaper jobs before they do all that.

--

Interview at Panera Bread tomorrow morning. Hey its a job, and I can eat their food. Once I run out of things to do around here I am going to get bored, very quickly.

2005: lessons learned

2006-01-01T20:17:00.000-05:00

I've learned nothing. I will make all the same mistakes this year.

:)

speeding ticket

2005-12-30T18:41:00.000-05:00

Brewster was fun, so was AC. I had my gambling under control this time. No blowing all my money on blackjack. The $25 tables were just too rich for my blood so stuck to the nickel slots and won about $50.

I got caught speeding on the way back from NY. Stupid state troopers, giving out tickets to inncoent young people. It's not my fault that the parkway has a lower speed limit on the upper half than it has on the lower half. Seriously 55 is way too slow people.

P.S. I am buying a robe next year, and I am going to wear it every Saturday and Sunday morning.

new greatest fear

2005-12-25T23:35:00.000-05:00

Please, when I'm old and insane, do not let me wander the streets of New York City alone, with a bag, talking to myself.

bowling

2005-12-24T01:34:00.000-05:00

I. Suck. At. Bowling.

The little brother and the steps and I went bowling tonite, and it was just awful. I did okay on my first game, coming out with a 129. The second game was just henious, bowling a 55.

I think I suck at just about every "ball sport" haha.

pos

2005-12-23T11:17:00.000-05:00

The laying around the house needs to stop. It is seroiusly making me tired and causing me to sleep way more than I should.

Starting with this weekend I need to start doing things during the day to be more occcupied. There are things I could do, but I'm just being lazy.

Time to get off my ass.

christmas shopping

2005-12-22T16:50:00.000-05:00

I just don't know why its so hard this year. I'm done with mostly everyone, its just two people that are holding me up. Why can't you like simple stuf that I can buy pre-packaged and give to you. No, its always gotta be complicated with you folks.

The mall officially ran out of parking spaces today. I swear we drove around for 20 minutes before someone left and we swiped their spot at the very back of the lot. We then proceeded to wait in lines at every store. My fault for waiting this long.

I'm still not done, I think I will have to wake up and be at the mall by 8am tomorrow if I want to be finished with all of it sometime before Sunday.

I can't wait until next year when I have some $ and I can buy nice things for people. I hope its still acceptable to give out handmade gifts at 21.

google 2005 zeitgeist

2005-12-20T16:09:00.000-05:00

zeitgeist: A German term meaning "spirit of the time." It refers to the moral and intellectual trends of a given era.

This is quite possibly one of the most interesting things google puts out. I look forward to it at the end of every year and it provides such an insight into our (mostly insane) soceity.

pure nerd

2005-12-19T11:28:00.000-05:00

Pure Nerd
56 % Nerd, 30% Geek, 26% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

back on

2005-12-18T22:52:00.000-05:00

So the move to Hudson is back on, except this time the plans don't include me.

Their like, "were selling the house and putting your stuff in storage. If you really want we can rent a place in the area for the two months in the summer you will be home before you move."

I'm like no thank you, I just won't come home after Christmas... thats okay.

home

2005-12-17T14:24:00.000-05:00

Ah!

Home finally. All I can say is that I am truly happy that finals are over. I now have 7 weeks of no school work to look forward to. I am going to be bored out of my mind. It's only been like 20 hours of freedom and I am already bored. I don't have anything to do. I guess I'm just going to start looking at apartments and houses and such.

economic history

2005-12-16T11:04:00.000-05:00

Econ final in four hours. Really no studying before hand. This is going to be a problem considering it is an essay test and you are graded against your peers. Hopefully my peers are as sick of this semester as I am.

I still have about a million things to do before I leave as well. The house needs to be cleaned, I have to sell back my soul..., I mean books. I have to run to the bank and also get gas. I'm just hoping it dosn't rain tonight!

i learned

2005-12-14T21:08:00.000-05:00

This finals week has taught me one thing. I don't know how to study for any of my classes anymore.

We had projects all semester so all this test stuff is really throwing me off. I'm not putting in the effort that I probably should be. The only class that I'm used to being tested in is econ, so thats going okay, but the other ones are just hard.

It will all be over soon :)

three down

2005-12-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

Finished up three finals so far.

First impressions I think I did well on one of them. But hey, who knows until they post grades up like four weeks from now.

I am once again avoiding studying for anything and randomly playing on the internet. Except I think I have done all I can do to entertain myself and now I'm just repeating things. Still no word on the job front for this winter. No one wants me because I can only work for five weeks. I'm starting to think I should have just lied and then quit when the semester starts. Things would have been easier.

lazy finals week

2005-12-11T23:41:00.000-05:00

So last week I really blew it by no knowing I had a final on Friday. After taking both of those, I think something snapped in my head. Screw it. I'm not really going to put that much effort into finals (I put way too much into the semester and projects.)

I have just been fooling around all day. Went to the movies, saw Narnia (pretty good, some of the kids were odd though.)

Heres to five more days of being here and then two miserable (could go either way (hint hint come up with fun stuff to do)) weeks at home. I need a jobby!

long time

2005-12-07T00:28:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year again.

Finals!

What is weird is the fact that I am actually excited for some tests. This whole semester has been about projects and getting things done on deadlines and working properly. I haven't really been having normal tests and things I am used to. For some reason I actually consider tests a little less stressful. It could be the fact that they are worth less grade wise than projects, or the fact that they are just two hours of your time (not counting the actual preparing for them) and then your done! Projects are a continuous thing and that just sucks. You can always try to improve a project, a test is done once and thats it.

Looking forward to a little bit of celebrating some things before I escape this place for two weeks. Holiday party on Saturday, looking forward to that.

theres no noise (audible) on the internet

2005-12-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

sometimes you just wish you could scream

remember

2005-11-14T20:53:00.000-05:00

when college was fun?

it was a long time ago... i need to find that again... soon.

update

2005-11-11T22:56:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so sleeping in a wet bed with no real sheets when its 30-something outside. That was fun.

i wet the bed

2005-11-10T23:53:00.000-05:00

And not on purpose!

We had an absolutly soaking wet pratice this morning and I placed all my wet clothes in my backpack. Which I later tossed onto my bed. That was 16 hours ago. Now my bed is soaked through to the mattress, and I am stuck sleeping on it with two hoodies, a hat and some sweat pants, because I have no dry covers.

Sweet.

saturday

2005-11-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

Last night was just one of those nights. One of those really cool, reall weird, really fun nights that only happen in the rarest of occurances. Once again every party felt like this reunion special, but the cool kind, no the aweful kind you see on tv.

It kind of gave me some of my confidence back in certain situations and pushed me to take steps forward in others. Overall major good times. I also learned a lot about people I don't usually talk to.

I'm glad I decided to go out. I will be suffering all day today in the lab, but it was worth it. (And thats usually the question you have to ask yourself.)

friday

2005-11-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

So we need to make some awesome plans for New Years. The previous years haven't been too awesome, in fact I can remember one where I had the flu and I spent it watching the ball drop with my mother and then being sick everywhere. Let's try and make up for that :)

--
Soft boiled eggs make me happy.

thursdays suck too

2005-11-03T23:38:00.000-05:00

Whoa... bad day. I ate something bad last night, and I paid for it all day. Not good.

I'm sick of working on my design project. I work on it every freakin day. I just want one day with no work on it.

I don't even know what to write. I'm kinda sour right now. I just want it to be Thanksgiving and there will be Turkey and Gravy and Stuffing and Goodness! (not like I can say there will be no work... there will be work. The final parts of two of my projects are due.)

Bah, tomorrow is another day.

letters to professors

2005-10-23T22:15:00.000-04:00

Dear CISC370 Professor,

Why?

Why would you take a day you originally gave us off (Halloween) and tell us that we now have a lecture from 7 - 10pm? And why then, as a further stab in the face, would you assign us a homework due that day as well? As if I don't have enough on my place and just want to have my pagen Halloween off to celebrate...

Thank you for being an insensitive clod,
Brito

--

Dear CISC361 Professor,

Why do you still ignore my emails?

Worried and Waiting,
Brito

--

Dear CPEG419 Professor,

You said your class was easy and not much work. You lied.

Bastard,
Brito

--

Dear CPEG422 Professor,

I hate VHDL.

So not cool,
Brito

nother weekend

2005-10-21T18:04:00.000-04:00

Woot! It's Friday. Everyones up in Boston this weekend for the Head of the Charles Regatta. I'm stuck in delaware doing work because I have no life. As usual one of the many sacrafices I make for my major that I will never use.

Meh. It's a great fallback. I just can't wait for that seniorius to fully set in and I completely stop caring. I really just need to make it through my senior design this semester and then I can give up.

On a really cool note I think I am definatly set on moving to philly next summer. I can't wait to work out all the details. :)

exhusted

2005-10-16T23:07:00.000-04:00

This weekend seems like it dragged on forever. Not in a bad way, I actually had a lot of fun this weekend but it was very long.

Saturday's races were okay. They didn't go perfectly to plan, but then again nothing ever does. Still waiting for the results to be posted. I'm pretty sure we didn't finish last (hopefully.) The goal was to beat Georgetown and Lloyola, so we shall see.

Both parents were down today for the Alumni & Friends event and they had good times. Our Senior boat beat the Freshman & Juniors (by the transitive property of winning), but not the Sophomores. Oh well.

This week shouldn't be too horrible, test and project on Tuesday but the rest of the week is left open for finishing my major projects due next week.

My mind is off on a zillion tangents right now, I need sleep and so I am off to bed...

a walk to remember

2005-10-13T23:46:00.000-04:00

I had one of my "more odd" (or odder, whichever bad english you prefer) walks to class today. Outside of trabant someone in a Ryder truck was giving away cases of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream to everyone who stopped by. Had I not had five hours of class ahead of me I would have picked up a case. Rumor has it that the fridge broke and rather than throw everything away they just gave it away. How nice of them.

Just a block up on the green I then spotted a man dressed up as a deceased bell-hop chasing girls and putting papers into their bags. Severly distrubed I had to laugh to myself. I then saw some sort of potato looking man doing similar things to other passers-by.

psudo-day off

2005-10-12T22:41:00.000-04:00

Lightweights had off today in order to make up for racing on Sunday. Of course I coulden't take the free time to relax and let my brain just rest. I had to be a better person and allow someone with a stronger will than I to convinve me to erg. I know its good for me.

It was nice having two days that were lighter than what the rest of this month has been and will continue to be. First wave of tests and projects are done for the week and we are coasting in to the weekend. Next week will absolutly suck, but hey thats what October is for (apparently.)

October (Completed Tasks)
---------
2 (of 5) Homeworks
2 (of 4) Tests
2 (of 5) Projects
1 (of 5) Races
0 (of 1) Make Up Classes
0 (of 2) Scholarship Meetings
12 (of 31) Days