Monday, August 27, 2012

Shutter day

I have to say it is sad Tony Scott felt he had no choice but to take his own life.  However I also have to question if we really need a sequel to Top Gun?  Don't get me wrong, great flick, helped define the late '80s and I still quote certain lines from it.  But is it really worthy of a sequel?

The Jerky Boys have had a min-revival at work.  Our favorite by far is the excellent Frank's Pickle Barrel Ass.  We of course did some leg work and it appears the company called was Eagle Pickles in Maspeth.  Of course we called the number and the same lady answered- so we hung up.

If you have never seen the t.v.  ad for Stamps.com it is really annoying.  They play it on BBRG TV all the time.  The one point that truly irks me is one guy saying there is nothing worse than having to go to the Post Office and stand in line to buy stamps.  Two things:  1) You don't need to stand in line these days as they actually have vending machines you can buy stamps at and 2) I personally can think of many worse things- finding out a loved one has some horrible cancer, having your dog die, the Large Hadron Collider creating a small black hole and destroying the world, Israel striking Iran and precipitating a much larger conflict to name a few.

The niece's wedding was a lot of fun.  The space was amazing and shockingly the flowers were stunning- who'd have thunk that the NY Botanical Gardens would have great flowers?  The food was very good and the best part was the wedding couple had a photo booth there.  I had never seen it before and it was pretty great idea.  You got two copies of the photos, one you had to glue into an album they had and you got to keep the second copy- which is now prominently displayed on our fridge.

Saturday was a shutter day for the husband and I.  A lot of our friends had told us we need to watch "Grimm."  So we spent all Saturday in the house, plopped in front of the t.v. catching up on all of season 1 and watching the two episodes of season 2.  It is not a bad show- not quite "Buffy" but clearly owes a huge debt to it and is not trying to be that show.  I mean that makes sense since David Greenwalt is involved in both shows.

Yesterday was a bit more productive.  We got up and did a 21 mile bike ride then I cut the grass.  I was psyched as I got to ride the lawn tractor.  With the drought still in effect I didn't cut it too short and I did not have to use the bagger.

I was surprised to read this morning that Frau Merkel wants to have a convention to write up a new Eurozone treaty.  What was even more surprising is that it got very little airplay or ink in the business press here.  Supposedly she hopes to have a date set for said convention in December.  I am sorry but that does not bode well for the whole thing.  It is also actually a pretty brilliant ploy.  We'll see how it all plays out.

Another topic I can't seem to fathom.  Last week there was a lot of chatter about the federal government thinking about a release from the SPR.  Then today I hear chatter about several international oil reserves supposedly getting ready to do a release.  It is real simple actually.  The whole war drum beating Israel has been doing over the last three weeks or so tells you that it may be more than just posturing.  Apparently I am one of the few who seems to think that is what all the chatter about strategic oil reserve releases is related to...

At times I wonder if it drives the ex crazy that her dog loves me and goes bonkers happy every time I go over to the her house to pick up or drop off the boys.  Hell even her cat loves me too.

Monday, August 20, 2012

I need an updated guide

Just some highlights as I have been really bad on writing lately.

The wedding we went to several weeks ago was a blast.   The husband and I were very busy setting up the chuppah, serving lunch for out of town friends and actually attending all the wedding weekend festivities. I actually sat next a woman who graduated from the same college I did but definitely a few years later.  The person on the other side was a professor from some Ivy League university who did not take kindly to me peppering him with so many questions about his field of work- he is a political science professor and I was basically hammering him on how do you model for things when humans are innately irrational creatures, lol.

I think I need an updated gay guide because clearly mine was published before the advent of Instagram.  I say this as I have come to realize if you are gay and on Instagram then it must say somewhere in the guide that you have to post as many shirtless selfies (as the Brits call self portraits) as possible....I am much more voyeur than exhibitionist so I do not post many selfies let alone shirtless ones.

My oldest finally got a proper haircut, started styling his hair and actually using product- holy shit he is growing up!!!  When I picked them up this past Friday I noticed and told him it looks really good and he will have chicks all over him once school starts up in a few weeks.  His younger brother- this is what is great about little brothers- blurts out it is already happening at tennis camp, lol.

I will admit I might be wrong about the Eurozone breaking up if someone can give me just one example of a state willingly giving up part or all of its sovereignty to another state.  Until that happens I stand behind my belief the euro is doomed because Germany will want to control things if they are footing the bill.

As a corollary to  my above statement on the doom of the euro, let me make it clear that it does not mean the end of the world.  The Large Hadron Collider creating a small black hole would most assuredly mean the end of the world; the euro disappearing and the markets going down does not.  Will it be painful?  Yes.  Will it cause problems?  Yes.  Will the sun still rise int he east and set in the west?  Yes.  Will the earth continue spinning?  Yes.

I think there will be some good t.v, i.e. major hotties on the show, this fall .  I am thinking mostly of "Arrow" on the CB with one Stephen Amell. 

The husband's niece is getting married this Friday at the Bronx Botanical Gardens.  It should be a fun time even though I will need to suit up at the office.

The boss took two weeks off in a row for vacation.  That meant the j.v. was on the field, i.e. me.  It totally reinforced what I told him over six years ago when he first interviewed me- I do not  want his job.  I am not wired correctly when it comes to dealing with "office politics" or having to answer the same question from the same person 4 different times.

Last weekend was my annual boozefest with the fraternity brothers.  Oh and we also took a small drinking break to do the Warrior Dash.  The course had a lot more incline to it this year and we all agreed the obstacles- whilst there was much more barbed wire- were not as good.