Thanksgiving is two days away. Woo! I love four day weekends.

• I ordered a new Dell desktop. It's actually an alienware desktop. Dell is going to take 3 weeks to ship it?? The f*ck?
  
• My nephew Oliver is awesome
  
• today is Amy's 31st birthday. Happy Birthday Amy!
  
• this Zomie game is cool. wish it had less ads
  

Cop uses taser on 10-year old girl.

My Fridays are packed with meetings usually. But, hey, it's Friday so it's hard to complain.

Weekend plans include going to see 2012. I'm sure it'll be bad, possibly even hilariously bad, but it's a movie that you have to see in the theatres.

My Abbott training went well, my next big deal is my SM training right before Thanksgiving.

I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shine ain't always gonna be gold
I'll be fine once I get it, I'll be good.

This thing is cool. I'd especially like to see my sleep stats.

Did not sleep well last night, had dreams my annoying co-worker was constantly annoying me. Not very restful & not good for the teeth. I went to work groggy & in a bad mood. Sure enough, before I had been there even half an hour, in came my co-worker. Grrr.

I have a major training to give to our business partners tomorrow. I've done the training before so that won't be the bad part. I just feel under-prepared & short on sleep.

Time for bed.

Installed Windows 7 last night on my laptop. After fighting with my system for about two hours trying to get my iTunes to back up, I said f*ck it and copied everything to my phone that would fit, then reformatted.

Windows 7 is way better than Vista.

Went to a Leadership training yesterday with my boss & 5 other co-workers, including my old sister. I am a leader! So there! Actually, it was interesting. I think I'd like some books on conflict management.

I'd also like another hour of sleep.

I had a dream last night that I staged a bloodless coup of the gov't, then started my own nightly call-in show with the phone # 1-800-da-junta. I woke up laughing.

Well, that ended well.

I had a nice birthday. My sisters, Oliver, Kevin & I watched the Sox lose, then went to see Zombieland which wasn't too bad. Then we got pizza and went back to Saint Albans to hang out.

It still hasn't snowed, but the forcast today said it might. It's cold enough to.

Let's go Red Sox

Hey hey, it's me again.

Lots of photos for everybody

Life's good. I don't want summer to end. Work is busy. Lambda is interesting but in a good way. I am mostly glad it is Friday.

I'm on the tarmac @ Newark, on my way back from San Juan. It was a great trip. I'll have to link to the photos on my flickr account later.

I'm here! Just went on this segway tour of San Juan and had a great time. I'm going to post my photos from San Juan as the week goes by.

Things are looking good. I've got to keep an eye on the NHC this weekend in case something pops up that could interrupt my travel on Monday morning. I'm supposed to leave Newark at 8:45am and land in Puerto Rico at 1pm.

Went to Industry, Maine this weekend for Ethan's wedding. 'Twas awesome.
photos

Hey! Look, I still have an account here. Sometimes I forget.

Trip to Maine was awesome. Met lots of great people.

Last weekend was the annual family camping trip to Montgomery, VT. Took some photos. It was a great time, the new volleyball setup and climbing wall were nice additions.

Next weekend is another trip to Maine, this time for a wedding. I'm going to San Juan, Puerto Rico for work from the 24th to the 28th of this month. I'm working for two days and I've got Thursday this time to actually do some site seeing.

August is a bit busy this year.

I left for Maine at 5pm on Friday and got back to my place at 9pm last night. Can't really talk about what happened during it in detail since officially nothing happened. Here's a vague list though to trigger my memories:

• Someone got arrested
  
• same someone was (surprisingly) returned after being booked
  
• getting puked on while driving a van full of 17 people
  
• losing someone in the woods
  
• Cirque du Soleil night at the Carrabassett Inn & Grill‎
  
• crusing Clearwater Pond
  
• "Give me some Conversation!"
  
• working on my racquetball backhand
  
• glow-in-the-dark croquette & missing beer
  

Another weekend gone by.

• Friday - went home & played Fallout 3 for a while before bed

  
  

• Saturday - I was the designated driver. Got up at 7:30, went down to pick up Ethan, Natasha, Saskia & Ian at Bolton Valley. Drove them to Burlington in Ethan's conv van and picked up Jess. Drove all of them to Isle La Motte & dropped them off at a wedding. Drove to the camp my family is renting on Lake Champlain & hung out for a couple of hours. Picked the guys up at their wedding and drove them home again. It was a long day & driving that van is not fun. Also was a long night - didn't get to bed before midnight

  
  

• Sunday - Got up at 5am to go to Vermonter Day at Fenway Park. Drove to Matt's. Met up with Matt, his son Taylor & my sister Kate. Drove them all to Boston in Kate's husband's Camry. Got into town around 10:30am, drove them through Harvard Sq and down Mass Ave to come into town. Parked on Newbury St, walked to the park, bought some souvenirs and watched John Smoltz suck and the Sox lose, 6-2. Here are the photos from the trip. Got back to Vermont around midnight b/c we stopped in Concord for a birthday dinner for Taylor. It was an awesome trip. Somehow, it was the first Sox game that my sister Kate & I had gone together to, even though she went to Emerson College for four years and I lived there for 18 months or so. She's definitely a fan.

  
  

• Monday - called in sick. Slept in. Picked up Amy & drove her to the camp in Saint Albans to pick up my kayak from the camp. Brought that home, drove her to Goss Dodge to look at a used car (which she will likely buy today). Packed up & drove to Montreal to have dinner & see a movie. Didn't get home until 2am.

  
  

It was a good weekend.

Went out last night with Katie, Alex & Josh to see Bruno. It wasn't bad, but I liked Borat better. With Borat, you laughed at his antics. In Bruno, the laughs come from watching other people's reactions.

Every time I go to Three Tomatoes, I am underwhelmed.

I was on pager all weekend. It's been a while since I had a pager week. I didn't get a single page until Friday night.

Friday night, went downtown and met Ethan & his fiance on the waterfront. We went to Blue Bay Cafe for dinner, then to Splash for drinks. Met some of their friends and cooled our feet in the water, watching the sunset, sitting among the sailboats and drinking.

Saturday. I had reserved a keelboat for 9am. Katie & Alex came with me. We got down to the waterfront to find 20+ mph winds. Tried to get the sails up but it was just too windy. They ended up shutting down the sailboat rentals for safety reasons and pulled everybody in. Got a pedicure with my roommates since my heel was still split from camping in May. Spent the afternoon playing on my PC and answering pages. Watched the lightning show for a bit too.

Sunday. Met my sisters around noon at the beach. Hung out for a bit, then headed home to relax. Got paged at 2am from Asia which sucked.

It was a good, relaxing weekend. And the Sox won 3 of 4 against the Royals while the Yankees got swept.

Work is different since my promotion. Nothing has changed except my title and all I get all day long is people coming in and asking me questions. I don't mind, I'm just baffled why they didn't come in before. Are they coming in b/c my title is different? The raise in pay sure is nice :)

I wore shirtsleeves to work today. I really am not enjoying this weather at all.

I was selected for a chance to buy Sox tix to Vermont Day at Fenway park on July 26th. My boss & I are going to get together tomorrow & see if we can get decent seats.

My father is renting a camp on Georgia Shore from the 18th to the 1st. Maybe the weather will finally be decent then.

Sunday, I kicked back. I did walk downtown at one point. I just puttered around the house for the most part, played a bunch of Civ4. I went to a Lake Monster's game at 5pm, it was pretty good. Bumped into my elusive roommate at some point, then went to bed.

I'm on pager duty this week. Let's see how this goes. The weather isn't supposed to improve until Thursday.

Was just looking through past entries to see what I did last year. Went fishing & went to parties. Duh. :) Although I did skip all of the fireworks.

Thursday night - went to the first night of Lift. I should've gotten there earlier I guess since I had to wait 2 hours in line to get in. I liked the place.

Friday - Tried to go sailing & failed to find anyone that wasn't already busy. Puttered around most of the day before going down to the Rock the Dock fireworks party. I'd never had a hurricane before & it wasn't too bad.

Saturday - went for a bike ride to the river & back, then packed up & headed north for a bbq at my sister's in Saint Albans. I came back and since it was raining, didn't do much besides relaxing

Went out last night to the new club "Lift", where Millenium and Club Toast used to be. Waited in line for 2 hours. I made some friends in line while we waited which made it easier. The club was excellent - it really could use some additional improvements, like ripping up & redoing the floor outside the dance area.

I was hoping to go sailing today but that ain't going to happen. I'm going down to the docks for the Rock the Dock celebration.

Got a promotion today!

I'm definitely getting a raise tomorrow. Am I getting a promotion?

Recently, it's been raining when I get out of work. Why can't it rain when I'm sitting inside?

I watched Waterworld last night. I had forgotten that much of it is sailing. Duh.

My roommate locked himself out of the house last night. He stood outside for about 2 hours shouting at the house, trying to get someone to let him in. After about an hour, he finally used his cell phone. Too bad I had my headphones on.

Wish I was on vacation. Maybe I'll take a Friday half day next week.

On Friday evening, I did nothing & it felt great. I actually drove to Saint Albans, had dinner, then came back & watched a movie.

Saturday was the last day of my sailing class. It was also the Chew Chew Festival so parking was at a premium on the waterfront. The wind was dead at the beginning, then the thunderstorms starting coming north to south down the NY side of the lake and the fun began. We practiced rescue drills, points of the sail, rigging the boat, and docking without an engine. The Vermont side had sunny skies and great wind, while the NY side got all the storms. Best part of all was that I got my red book - the sailing certification. I spoke with Aidan and she might be into trying the Friday sailing stuff which is cool.

After I finished the class, I drove home & packed, then headed to Montgomery to do some camping. The camping weekend was very good & we got some good photos from the swimming hole. I'll have to upload them once I get copies from my brother.

Sailing class is awesome, it satisfies all kinds of fascinations in my head. One of my classmates was this girl from Montreal named Aidan who is in a band. I have no idea why she would come all the way from Montreal to go to a sailing class. We had a good time and I'm looking forward to next week's class. I hope it's a sunny day with some wind. I've also signed up for the intermediate class on July 11th.

Sunday was Father's Day. I went up to Montgomery b/c I thought there would be vollyball & food. Turned out we were sinking the posts for the vollyball court and the food was hours away. Still, it was a good time.

Not sure what made me think of Mom tonite. I've been re-reading stuff of mine from 7 years ago & I miss her a ton tonite.

5:45am flight tommorrow, I get into Burlington around 6. Amy is coming to pick me up.

I'm sitting at Newark, waiting for my 10:45 flight to Houston. Getting up for a 6am flight without drinking caffeine is proving difficult. I could use a nap.

Helped a friend downtown w/ her new Macbook Pro. Copied a bunch of files from her old PC to the new Mac. Forgot my keys at her apt & didn't realize it until I got home. Walked back to her place to get the keys and came home in time to meet a roommate who was headed downtown. I haven't talked to her in a week or two so we walked downtown (again) together, then I walked home again. I drove back down to the waterfront and kayaked to North Beach to meet a former roommate who was digging her toes in the sand. We talked for almost an hour, then I kayaked back to town. Got some food, then picked up both girls and took them out for creemees. When we got home, it was time to pack & go to bed.

Got up at 3am and my roommate gave me a ride to the airport. Saw Amy's roommate's truck downtown at 4am, which was pretty amusing.

Went for a walk yesterday, then a good bike ride. Did a bit of work, laundry, went to Saint Albans and fixed my sister's internet, then came home and relaxed all evening.

Today, I'm going to a friend's this morning to help her copy stuff to her new laptop, and finishing up packing for my trip to Texas tomorrow.

Ended up having to cover the 8pm shift on Friday. After that I drove around for a while listening to the Sox game, then met an old roommate at the mall. She said she wanted to rent Sex & the City so I invited her back to Lambda. It was an interesting movie. I think the Carrie character looks a bit like Skeletor.

I have to decide what I want to do this morning. The sun will be out for a limited time today. Do I want to go kiyaking? Go for a ride? Walk? All three?

I changed my own brakes yesterday, woohoo. Turns out my co-worker's father owns Roadside Marine so E and I went to get pizza, beer, & brake pads, then headed over to the garage to change our brakes. It was cool and saved quite a bit of cash and my brakes actually work.

Came home afterwards, showered and ended up relaxing and reading until bedtime.

Today is Friday, which is awesome. I have a bunch of meetings and I may have to work until 8pm. Tomorrow is the first night of the international fireworks competition in Montreal, trying to see if anyone is interested in going.

Had a half day yesterday and had to work the late shift, so I had to work from 4pm-8pm.

Went for a drive in the morning down to Hinesburg and saw my old place, then went to the bookstore and Al's before my noon dentist appt. Looks like I need a crown on one of my teeth.

Spent the afternoon walking around Church St, then went home and read until work.

After work, went with some roommates downtown to JP's. It was a pretty good time.

June hasn't been very June-like. It's constantly below 80 and not that sunny.

Took some of my roommates to see the movie The Hangover which was great. Also went camping at Burton Island for 4 nights which was also awesome.

Otherwise it's been kinda quiet. I'm headed to Texas next week for a business trip.

• Friday evening - drove to Bolton Valley with Jess to go to Ethan & Nastasha's unofficial housewarming party
  
• Saturday morning - got up, had breakfast & went for a hike to the top of Bolton Valley, made it home before the hailstorm hit.
  
• Saturday afternoon - met up with Amy & went shopping on Church St. Had a good time.
  
• Sunday - woke up after 12 hours of sleep, helped roommates move, cleaned the house & decorated with $140 worth of xmas lights. Place looks like an amusment park now.
  

I'm switching to a bigger room at the house, which means I have to move when I get home from work. I am literally moving 10 feet down the hall so it shouldn't take long.

I went to visit my dad in the hospital after work. He's doing pretty well. I found out today that he had his stress test, and had a small episode of afib right afterwards, so they're going to do a cardiac cath and maybe end up putting in a stent.

I saw amy during lunch, she had just finished shopping & was on her way to have an MRI done on her wrist.

tonight is dinner at ethan's in bolton valley. should be a good time.

I am happy it is Friday

Played some poker with my co-workers after work last night. We didn't have that large of a turnout this time, only 6 people and we only played 5 rounds. I came in second in the last game, and third a couple of other times.

I only had to work a half day yesterday! Left at noon-thirty to go shopping for camping equipment. Went home and set up the new kayak rack on my car. No one was home, so I went for a ride down North St, on the bikepath to Oakledge and up Flynn, then back up the bikepath to BHS, through the Ol' North End up to North Prospect and home. About a 10 mile ride with some nice hills. Came home and still no one was around but I had four voicemails - apparently my dad was back in the hospital and amy wanted to go downtown. Took a shower and went out to get a burrito, then walked to the hospital and visited dad, who was doing fine. Came home, met a roommate and went to the video store with her, grabbed some movies & spent the rest of the evening watching movies.

Now it's going to rain for 3 straight days. Glad I got the ride in. It can rain all week if it means nice weather for when I go camping.

Went down to RiRa's yesterday for lunch, spent some time listening to the Sox & laying out in the sun. The wind was pretty bitter though. Got some bbq stuff and we all ate dinner outside and drank some of Magic Hat's new Wacko Summer Brew - made with Beet juice, I guess. It's very red. Not bad, a little weak with a somewhat fruity taste.

Last night the power went out at 4am for some reason, which always sets off the fire alarm.

I worked until 8 on Friday, then went out & saw Terminator which wasn't so great, just ok.

Saturday was my sister's bbq. I decided to go for a bike ride first & froze my hands off. I rode down North St to the bikepath, over to Oakledge, up Flynn to Shelburne Rd and up South Prospect. Headed to the bbq which was ok, then came home & went to bed early.

Got up Sunday & headed to Montreal, got there around 11am so I wandered around until 2 then checked in. Wandered around a bunch more shopping & went out to eat. I'm not sure why, but I like walking in urban environments. I managed to get some of my work done too.

Today, went out for breakfast before heading back. It is so nice & sunny, but why can't the temperature get above 70?

I came in early yesterday so I could take a 3 hour lunch break. On my break I went home, packed some beach stuff and rode my bike to North Beach. Met up with 5 of my roommates and proceeded to dig my toes into the sand & read. Played some frisbee and generally had a good break. The ride home on my bike was a bit difficult, as I was dehydrated and burned and still had to ride 2.5 miles up to the top of Pearl St.

I'm glad it's Friday. Bbq tomorrow and probably going to Montreal for the rest of the weekend to work & play.

Left work and headed up with some co-workers to my sister's place for dinner. I spent the entire time playing with Ollie. Dinner was good too.

On the ride home, I was listening to the game on my phone when Papi hit one out - his first HR of the season. Got to bed early so I could come in early & take a long break.

It's supposed to be in the upper 80s, finally. We have had such cold temperatures so far this spring. For lunch I'm going to go for a ride to the beach and lay off to get some sun.

Photo of our winnings from the other night

Went to trivia night at Ri-Ra's last night with 4 roommates, a co-worker & his fiance and two of their friends for trivia night. We won 2 of the rounds and tied for first on a third. The prize turned out to be a Magic Hat glass full of condoms and key chains. I was hoping for a t-shirt.

at 24:40 on the espn baseball tonight podcast, they read my sarcastic email about the expos. ha.

I grabbed a leftover mattress that was abandoned by one of my roommates and bought some new pillows and I've fallen in love with my bed again. Two straight nights of 10+ hours of sleep feels pretty good.

I wish the temperature would stay above 70. I think we've dropped below 40 a couple of nights in a row. I'd really like to go kayaking at some point. Also, I am going camping June 4th-8th on Burton Island and would like some warm weather for that.

My little sister's graduation was Sunday. Everyone came to my place to assemble at noon, then some walked over while others drove.

The ceremony itself was incredibly boring. They celebrated the professors, then the retiring professors, then let the retiring professors each do speeches. We were 90 minutes in before they said anything about any individual student achievements.

After the 3 hour graduation, we headed to Mimmo's in Saint Albans for dinner.

Photos