oh the weather outside...

well it might not be exactly the same as the song has in mind - but it is looking like it might get cold soon. and today felt a bit more bitter than normal - even if i was still able to get away with a lighter jacket. guess we can blame it on the rain.

so i am officially at T-minus 2 days for the big Law and Psych paper. guess that means i should start it tomorrow. luckily i am totally done my clinical paper (still needs some minor edits and a references page but that's mindless).

will be skipping work tomorrow. it pains me to say it. i just think about the class and i want to be there so badly. but i know i have to buckle down on this paper and if i only get 5-6 hours of sleep and then have work i will be losing steam before i make much progress and tomorrow has to be a majority of the work so i am not fighting time wednesday. for once let me not be writing the paper until the final moments.

the picture i am posting has to do with a snafu of sorts that occured today with the United States Postal Service and a piece of pink vinyl I have been looking forward to. Most of you know what happened already so I am not going to go on an on about it. Let me just say that if you think you can fit it in the PO box and it feels like in doing so - you are bending something that is putting up enough resistance that it probably is not supposed to bend - would you do it anyway? apparently someone who works for them would. hopefully the band gets back to me about it. agh

still spinning

why won't people waltz

i'll explain my title tomorrow, for now - here is a picture curtosy of my friend jordan (its two dragons which we determined the plural should be changed to Dragi.)

overkill, in a good way?

as i mentioned on my twitter earlier i, in what could be a good way, went overkill on my paper i am working on. what only needed to be 3-5 pages describing a few treatment studies on a common disorder and then summarizing them turned into about 20+ hours of work. i researched the studies, i researched the studies they based their studies on, etc - and read them all top-to-bottom. even though i was only presenting the cliffnotes of each (3 pages isnt alot) i still was strangely interested enough to thoroughly read and annotate all of them. and its a holiday break right now. sad? maybe. promising sign that i am in the right field? remains to be seen.

what can be said is that for what might not even be a better grade i have put way more time into this than i intended or needed to purely because i was interested in the information i was reading about. the same will not be true about the law paper i will start tomorrow. (maybe secretly i was so interested in this because it meant i could put off moving onto the law paper longer while under the guise of being productive).

cheers.

covers

covers a, in a way, a bold act. you are taking a song that is seemingly known (in most cases) and recording your own version for people to hear. if covers were taken the same way remakes are taken in the film world - i think they would occur alot less.

anyway - after chris started his christmas cover blog post i wanted to post a few covers i heard today via Last.Fm

the first is originally by R.E.M. Has a different tone to it - much more introspective and somber.

The One I Love: http://www.last.fm/music/Rosie+Thomas/_/The+One+I+Love

the second is originally by Massive Attack. You will recognize the original as the music accompanying the opening credits to Fox's House, M.D. This cover is stripped down for the first 2/3 adding a drum section in later to build the song a bit more, in a way, that the original does.

Teardrop: http://www.last.fm/music/Newton+Faulkner/_/Teardrop

check em out!

happy thanksgiving part 2

thanksgiving was great this year because i got to celebrate it with friends last weekend (ranging from recent friends to ones i've known since before i could form memories) and with family this weekend. it's such an awesome holiday.

its summer again

not commenting on the weather or anything but on the movies and specifically the number being released weekly between now and december that i have some level of interest in. in the summer there was almost one per week and sometimes more and i ended up missing some big ones - namely Star Trek. these weeks feel like that is happening again with a serious man, precious, the road, fantastic mr. fox, etc. and more will keep being released.

breaks are a tease

not to say i am not grateful for it/them. but this sort of break is really just a few days without class so that i can actually get significant work done on the papers i have due. it was more obvious when we were younger - teachers would assign big homework over time off so it essentially was no longer time off.

ah well - thanksgiving is awesome - day dedicated to food and football - cant complain about that.

just have to buckle down on the other days

keating

i know i take a lot of pictures of this building but its is such a great subject for a photo and looks interesting.

and all the apparent astronauts

happy thanksgiving

misinterpreted as singing

hands down - so impressed with my roommate. open mic night at rodrigues was awesome and it's definitely partially credited to how enjoyable Andrew Mai's performance was. Even thought it was not flawless - acknowledging and making light of some 'interpretations' on the songs made the set all the more enjoyable and bringing out the medley to close the set was a crowd pleaser. hearing peoples reactions each time a new bit started was further proof. also - maybe its because its his single and on the radio, maybe its because the album just came out, but im gonna attribute the fact that 'who says' was being mumbled a bit by other people in the cafe and in my own head to andrew mai.

tomorrow is looking to be a great day.

caps lock is offensive

its like getting punched in the teeth.

'what ever you do in life will be insignificant but it is very important that you do it.'

more effort for the better

tonight i decided rather than being lazy like usual when it comes to dinner, i'd make it legit. too often it comes time for dinner and i realize i am hungry but am either too lazy or occupied to go right then. the problem then becomes that the re-realization that i am hungry is what calls me into action but by then i am too hungry to want to do anything that will extend the time between right then and when i can start eating.

tonight, despite that feeling, i convinced myself that while i wanted to eat sooner rather than later, i also would be less than satisfied if i just threw a chicken cutlet on the george forman and called it a meal. instead i fried up some green beans to start, which turned into a fried rice with green beans, onions, bell & banana peppers. the chicken i coated with an asian marinade and then covered in breadcrumbs. the difference between plain forman chicken and breaded, slightly seasoned chicken is absolutely worth the time and prep work. now i just have to work on my timing of my meals - delaying dinner until 10 is not so great.

hurt feelings

it is amazing to me how short the 'lasting-effect' of actions and comments can be for kids, especially young ones. today there was an incident i was involved in trying to keep from getting really ugly - while the teachers were getting lunch passed out and getting the kids hands washed, etc - one of the boys hit another boy over the head. whether it was playful or not the boy ran to tell me and was almost in tears. either out of anger or fear the original attacker actually came after the other boy chasing him trying to swing at him. i was put in a position where i was trying to protect the one boy while trying to stop the other. sure they are four years old but its not easy to restrain a kid who has little concern with what you are doing or trying to tell him, and at the same time you have to be careful with how much force you are exerting - he is, after all, only 4.

anyway, i was shaken a bit after this incident because it really caught me off guard and it was ugly. before i was able to finish setting up their cots for nap time (which takes about 10 minutes) the two boys were eating lunch together and making jokes. amazing.

so many 'shouldas'

there is a place down the street that, every night, has its big door open and it just has racks and racks of breads. around 12 am a truck picks them up to deliver for the next day. it smells incredible.

[ ]

another first

believe it or not, today was the first time i went to a post office to send out a letter. I have been to the post office before with my parents, or to buy stamps, or that one time i needed a passport. But I never really sent things by mail when I lived at home, and until this year we had a Mail Center in the basement of McGinley that I only used once to send mail out (not counting netflix). It is just one of those things you never think about until you need it.

Anyway, the trip was nice and it led me to find out where the nearest post office is. It is actually 2 blocks down on my street - how convenient.

Today, after about a month of pretty consisntenly having work to do, reading to do, papers to do, studying to do, and most recently - video editing to do - I had no need to be doing anything. So I spent my day on the couch in front of the t.v. watching 9 straight episodes of Freaks and Geeks - a show of which I can only say that I can't believe I have not been made aware or been urged to see it before. It's great. And as Andrew Mai put it - it is a show that whose premise could be filling each episode with 'That guy?' moments. They happen at least twice an episode. Id mention some big shockers, but then Id spoil it for you - get the series - its one season, 18 eps.

Thats all.

why does FedEx have to be difficult

maybe it's not them being difficult but they are making things more difficult for me. no pickup on saturdays and no nearby locations even if they did, i am not going to have to shell out the money it will take to send this flashdrive 'next day' to get it to delaware in time.

oye.

also - different file formats =tear my hair out. trying to figure out and plan for what file format will play on the computer in the conference room at the Christiana Hospital and then tweaking the format/compression numbers to boost what ever quality is left is not exactly what i want to be doing. fingers crossed that if this computer does not already have Quicktime, it can be downloaded.

I made a grilled chicken sandwich tonight starting with a frozen chicken breast. used some roasted garlic seasoning and caramelized some onions before adding lettuce to the bread and toasting it. it was yum.

dangerously doodling

you definitely dont shout 'i am paying attention and know what the answer is' to your teacher when he walks by you and the picture below is how your notes look. note to self - doodle smaller.

oh the places you will go...

with you laundry that needs to be hung somewhere so it can dry...

real quick

in addition to my blog post i wanted to post up two links. the first is a movie trailer. the second is a story i came across through someone's twitter.

the trailer is the movie that has been in the works for almost 4 years now by the members of angels and airwaves. you may or may not know or like them but check out the trailer. the general plot is that an astronaut becomes cut off from earth and is alone on a space station floating around (a la Space Oddity). what follows is the astronauts hallcinations or attempts at experiencing life from his claustrophobic setting. it is beautifully shot, and whether it works or not - the visuals are incredible.

LOVE - movie trailer

the second is an entry posted on Reddit. the entry is written by an individual who had known the man who would go on to be known as the DC sniper aka John Muhammad. The writer reflects on knowing the man as John Allen Williams and what his experience was like.

Tonight, my friend is being executed in Virginia

its christmas season, embrace it!

no i don't actually believe that nor do i appreciate being hit with holiday commercials on november 1st. its like seeing back to school commercials in early july - why do you need to rush it?

but if it is going to get jammed down our throats - might as well benefit from it, right? from a consumer perspective - we can get things on sale already which means if you arent holiday shopping but just shopping you still benefit.

but more specific to myself - you can benefit by seeing a modern version of an old classic. today we took the kids to see A Christmas Carol. While there are elements in that story, well reflected in this film, that are frightening - especially for a 4 year old, the general consensus was 'awesome'. This is definitely a movie that would probably fall between the cracks due to its early release and all but I am glad i got to see it on the big screen and in 3D - definitely not the slapstick movie it appears to be with Jim Carrey's accent or the icicle -to-face scene in the trailers - it is very faithful to the book, the accents make sense, and it was just enjoyable to watch - Zemeckis really nailed the motion capture effects in this one.

The trip was a blast not just because of the film but because of the adventure - picture 4 adults traveling with and guiding twenty-five 4 year olds through the NY subway system. It was both challenging and fun.

Avatar - you may have heard of this film. I had previously be on the 'let's watch this backfire, it looks like halo the movie' boat. seeing it in theatres, and the cut that isnt just scenes but shows the general plot, has me totally on board. this movie looks huge and beautiful. you know how people saw planet earth and said - it has to be cg it just looks to amazing. yeah - thats this movie, except its the reverse - it looks so good it almost feels like it exists.

another celebration

a little while ago i celebrated my 100th blog post, and today I have reached another blogging landmark. today is the 100th post for my breadcrumb project. back in july i decided to start making a post once a day of a picture that in some way related to the days events whether it was something i had done, somewhere i had been, something i had seen, etc. Today marks the 100th 'breadcrumb'.
Recently I realized that I would be coming up on this post and decided to figure out both when it would be, and to see some of my past posts by starting from the beginning and looking through them. I realized that somehow the quarterly posts all, by chance, happened to be noteworthy pictures or events.

Breadcrumb #25 - Picture of the photograph of my grandparents framed in my house

Breadcrumb #50 - Philadelphia Eagles home opener

Breadcrumb #75 - Where The Wild Things Are midnight release photo

Picture 100 then was pressured because after realizing these pictures happened to coincide with those posts I thought about what I could have as my 100th picture while still wanting to not plan it out. Ultimately I decided not to plan it and see what I came across today. I took and am posting this picture because while it may seem mundane it has significance. This captures the final roster for my final semester at Fordham. Having registered this morning, I felt like it made sense to use this as my 100th image. How did we get to be choosing our final 4 or 5 (or less if you are that ahead) classes of our college careers already?

registration has not gotten easier

still wakin up at 7 am to do it. dont have a whole lot of time to sleep so im gonna cut this one short. let's hope tomorrow's registration goes well. if so - could be an interesting semester.

parents weekend

love myself better than you

i have been on a nirvana kick. it is sad to say that until the release of the deluxe edition of Bleach was just released i did not own bleach or have it in any form. part of the reason was that i liked the idea of still having a nirvana full length out there to listen to - the feeling that i hadnt heard it all yet. but upon this release i purchased the album and the Live at Reading DVD in the same trip. Got around to viewing the DVD today and now i cant seem to want to put anything else on. downside? there isn't one. it's nirvana.

it's amazing how much shit you can come across when you clean up your room - not food or gross stuff, more like guitar picks, course syllabi from the first days of class, pens - so many pens, etc. good thing my apt is small - who knows what could go missing until a later day if we/i had more space.

strange connections

do you ever feel like you know someone you've never met? not in that - oh i just bumped into you - have we met before - cheesy rom/com setup. what i'm talking about is that odd personal connection people sometimes get with someone they dont know personally at all. most of the time it is with a celebrity - someone who you have watched on a show, or in a movie, in interviews - maybe a singer who just seems like you could grab a drink and be around as if you've always been friends?

i just find it so interesting how, sometimes, it becomes to easy to feel connected with someone whether it be in the situation above or in some other way.

*interrupted*

just got distracted by our front door which is rattling. i guess the downstairs door was open from people coming in and the change in pressure or perhaps 17 mph wind was causing it to vibrate but from my bedroom it sounded like someone was trying to break it. minor heart attack. not to mention i did a standard horror movie boneheaded move - instead of avoiding, escaping, etc guess what i did. yep - i went to check on it...'hmm what is that weird sound - i think i will check it out, alone'

late again

this is i think the third time i have missed my deadline in order for the count to post for the day. now it will technically show up as november 5th despite it being my november 4th post. give me a break, though - the phils lost and on top of it i had a bunch of homework to do following the world series game. talk about insult to injury.

what an exciting series, though. i mean even 2 of the 4 we lost we almost pulled out. and one of the two we took almost went back to the yanks - you just never could feel safe in this series and that i think is a sign of how matched these teams were. in the end as much as there was chase utley, there was hideki. i still think chase gets it, though. i know hideki was awesome but chase put up a performance that was just mind blowing.

ok bed time.
(apologize for any spelling errors but it is 3:18 am)

scary stories

i read this today and it has me very worried. very.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/03/secret-copyright-tre.html

look around, round, round, round

philly vs ny

we won the wrong one. id like to say that im a bigger football fan than baseball fan and so its ok, or it doesnt matter, but tonight was heartbreaking. lets make sure there is at least a game 6, shall we?