Albany: Day 2

My Tuesday in Albany:
After getting up and eating a hearty hotel breakfast (doughnuts , waffles, and OJ) I got ready to head out and begin the full day I had planned. First on the agenda was to go get fingerprinted for the background check the department requires. I just want to say Albany is big and confusing. So I had to go to Schnecidety to get said prints taken well made a wrong turn and in the process of said turn I some how got a flat tire. So I had to wait an hour for the AAA guy to come then I spent 30 minutes at the Goodyear shop getting a new tire...yeah it was that bad.

So after that I finally made it to the fingerprints place and got that taken care of I went to my office and met the people that I will be working with in less then a month. My work area is a 8' x 10' area...by the WINDOW....which is awesome. So after meeting everyone my quest for the Holy Grai....I mean apartment began . Looked at 3 places, one of which is a 3 bedroom bottom part of a house with a basement that has an actual "bar" down there. After looking at apartments I grabbed dinner at a local eatery and watched the Red Sox/Mets game on the tube then it was back to the hotel for the evening.

oh yeah...also got a city map from one of the ladies at the office ...very helpful...very


-c

Back to Albany

For those of you who thought you had the wrong blog, don't panic I just changed the name (more on this at the end).

With less than a month before I move to Albany I still do not have an apartment. I thought I had one but after being told it was not in the best part of town I decided to pass on the place. So I decided to make a trip up to Albany so I could look at places in person and figure out where I want to live. Being that it is an 8 hours trip I knew I needed to leave early Monday morning so I could get up to Albany and make the most out of the trip. So being an almost spur of the moment trip I had little time to plan. So my plan was to get into Albany early afternoon and look at one or two apartments Monday evening. So that meant leaving Morgantown at 7am would put me in Albany roughly around 3ish. So after packing and making sure I had everything I needed I went to bed at 12:15, but didn't fall asleep until about 2am:
12:15 - crawl in bed and turn out light
12:25 - get up and use the bathroom
12:40 - think I should pack a flannel shirt
12:45 - get up and pack flannel shirt
1:00 - get up use the bathroom again
1:14 - The idiot dowstairs is snoring and I hear it in stereo
1:26 - hmm going to have to get coffee in the morning
1:35 - must...sleep...arghh!
1:40 - bathroom
1:50 - wonder if I can find something to knock myself out
2:00 - zzzz...

For some reason I never sleep well before I go on trips.

So I get on the road at 7 and making great time listening to DaVinci Code Revealed then moved on to Statler and Waldorf's movies.com podcasts. So as I said was making good time until I hit the PA/NJ boarder. I had to sit in traffic for 1.5 hours, no AC, and it was sporadically raining which was not really fun or comfortable. Once in NJ I got into NJ I was back to making good time until 20 miles outside of Albany when it just started pouring the rain and had to switch between defrost and tepid blowing air...not to mention I hit a traffic jam on the NY Thrueway. By the time I finally found the hotel I was miserable and smelling ripe.

Needless to say I did not make my apartment visit so I went out located where my office will be and explored the area before heading back to the hotel to order pizza and plan my day.

The renaming of the blog:
Decided to rename it after it was brought to my attention it was named after a movie with Angelia Jolie...never my intention...honestly.

-c

Under Construction

As you can see I have made some changes to the Blog. First I changed the templete to a lighter color and updated and added links to the blogs that I visit on a regular basis...so check them out if you have a chance. I am considering changing the name of the blog also so if you have any suggestions leave them in the comment section.

Until the next post I am outta here...

-c

Ipod Envy

Thursday evening my Ipod (Generattion 4 20 gb) went on the fritz. I couldn't even get it to charge when plugged into the computer so I could try and resync it. So Friday I took it to Best Buy because I knew that when I bought the thing I got the service plan was good for 2 years I just could not remember which plan I got. So I took it to the store and the guy could not even get the thing to do a hard drive scan on itself. Then he tried to look up the service plan but since I did not have the card I used when I purchased the Ipod they could not look it up in the computer. So 3 hours later, a phone call to my bank, and another trip to Best Buy I finally find out that I got the replacement plan. Since they do not make the 20 gb Ipod anymore I got upgraded to a 30 gb video Ipod...and the kicker...the promotion they were running was a $30 gift card with the purchase of a 30 or 60 gb Ipod...so I also got the $30 gift card...



So all in all I came out ahead...

Time to go check on MY PRECIOUS...

Father's Day: In Memoriam

Father’s Day is only a few days away. For the past 8 years (this will be 9) this day is one that I really do not look forward to all that much. The reason being that in October of 1997 my dad was killed and to this day we still do not know all the details or what truly happened that night.

But for this post I don’t want to dwell on the negatives but to try and remember some of the good times that I had during the 19 years that I knew him.

During the summer of 1984, my brother and I were in the backyard playing on the swing set and I was hanging on the bar and I dropped off and landed on my arm. Well that evening after cleaning up dad took me to the hospital to get my arm checked out to see if anything was wrong with it. Dad and I ended up spending most of the night in the hospital. I remember that dad got a chocolate bar and was giving me small bites until the nurse came by and told him that I could not have any…and as soon as the nurse left he gave me the rest of it. It was late at night when we left the hospital after the doctor x-rayed and set my arm in a cast. Before we headed home dad took me to the donut shop and let me get something to eat which was really cool and a treat. This was the same year that I played soccer and the referees would not let me play with the cast on my arm. Dad came up with the idea of wrapping the cast in foam so I would not accidentally clobber some innocent kid on the field during the game.

I also remember that on Saturdays he would work half a day at the office and sometimes I would go in with him. Not only did I get out of doing work around the house but we usually would get breakfast before we went to the office. Once at the office I would just hang out or “help” out doing stuff (which meant I drew pictures and made paper airplanes). I would also jump at the chance to go to Cleveland with him when he had to go to Cleveland for optical seminars. I remember that there were times when we would be traveling late into the night and keep him company while he was driving (which might be why I have trouble sleeping in a car). There was one time we were driving to the beach and for some reason we drove through the night and while mom and my brothers were in the back (we had a suburban) sleeping I was right up front talking to him and trying not to fall asleep myself.

The last time I got to spend time with dad was Labor weekend 1997. He and I went to the island and went boating. It was great because it was just the two of us and I got to spend some quality time with him.

I will always remember the last thing he said to me the last time I talked to him was a week or so before he died. It was the beginning of my sophomore year of college and me and some of my friends thought it would be cool to leave Buckhannon, WV early Saturday morning and drive to Virginia Beach for the day then drive back to school that evening. It was a long drive and we didn’t get back until about 4am in the morning Sunday. Well that evening mom and dad called and I for some reason told them about the weekend excursion and let’s just say that they were not happy, but before the call ended dad told me how proud he was of me and was glad that I was doing well and enjoying school. Had I known that was the last time I was going to talk to him I can’t begin to think the things I would have wanted to tell him about how much I appreciated the time we got to spend together over the years.

If I become a father someday I hope I can be half the dad that he was that I can take the things I learned from watching him and raise my kids the way he raised me and my brothers. Not a day or milestone in my life goes by that I don’t think of him, but I take comfort in the fact that he is looking down from heaven and one day I will get to see him again.

I miss you Dad...

-c

Curse You Al Roker...!

Today was just tough all around and the fact that it rained all day just made it even crappier.

Woke up this morning not feeling great but I decided to go to church anyway. So I go in to take a quick shower and when I mean quick I mean quick in "there is something wrong with the water heater." Well this morning there was no water pressure (given there was little to begin with in the first place but I don't complain since my friend is letting me crash here until I move). So I do a quick sink bath and get dressed and head to church. When I get there I start feeling worse so I come home and rest and go to the 11 service samething happens so instead of coming back to the apt I go to Bob Evans with friends(a weekly thing after the early service).

After Bob Evans I was feeling a bit better so I drove up to Best Buy to use the gift certificate my friends got me for my birthday. I got the first season of Robot Chicken...Funny stuff if you haven't seen it before. So the plan was to come back home and then go rollerblading even though it was cloudy and looking like rain. As soon as I left Barnes and Noble after stopping at Best Buy it started to pour the rain down. So I came home and started reading Team of Rivals (the Emancipation Proclaimation has just been issued) I began to feel cooped up so I decided to go see Over the Hedge. It was a fun movie...predictable but fun on a rainy day.

After the movie it was still raining so I came back home and straightened up my stuff and watched some Robot Chicken and just spent the evening around here doing random things.

And I was so looking forward to going rollerblading this afternoon but I guess you make do. Usually I would just go rollerblading in the rain but not when it is pouring and there is lighting and thunder.

Hopefully will get to go tomorrow.

-c

It's My Birthday...B..b..b..Birthday!

Wahoo!
21 years old...again for the 8th time (I think..Math is Hard)