Freedom

Last Friday was my last day of work, and the official beginning of my "spring break". It's not a glamorous break, but a necessary one before classes start up again.

Now that coop is over, I can look back and definitely say that it was a great experience. The people I worked with were really nice and friendly, and the company was a good one to work for. In fact, I already talked to my boss Dave about coming back there for my next coop, and it looks like a very very good possibility. In all honesty, I could really see myself working there after I graduate.

Having said that, it is definitely nice to have a week off without having to work or go to class. Saturday I took my brothers to see where I'll be living in the city, and then we met up with my Mom to go eat a cheesesteak at Sonny's. After I took them to Jersey for baseball practice, I went out to Rowan to hang with Mike and Ray. We drove around for a bit and Mike bought some CD's. After rooting for the Flyers and watching them own the Senators, we chilled at Joe's room. We even got the good 'ol N64 up and running, at which point I regulated (granted, my opponents happened to be blazed, but who cares about the details).

Jay and his dad swung by on Sunday, and we both were able to get most or all of our furniture over into our new house. It was a pain in the ass since some of the shit was heavy and awkward, AND we had to go up two flights on a spiral staircase, but we got a lot of work out of the way which was definitely a good thing.

Last night was my Dad's birthday, and we went to Outback for dinner. feel like I'm in enemy territory there from working at Lonestar all that time, but I put myIt's funny because I still differences aside for a steak. I got the Prime Rib and it was banging, and my dad treated himself to a porterhouse, which looked really good. By the way, if someone could let me know what two pieces of meat make up a T-bone, I'd really appreciate it. I know the one part is the NY strip, but what's the other part? It was one of those stupid things I couldn't remember, which REALLY bothered me.

So what's the rest of my break looking like? Well, I'm hoping to get my carpet, computer desk and curtain rod out of the way by tomorrow, and start getting some of my other shit over there. Another NJ trip will probably happen, as long as the Rowan guys have some free time. I'm still trying to contact the elusive Dana, but we'll see if that happens. Basically, I got no plans, but any time off is good time off.

Tuesday is the Worst

I hate this day. Honestly, I'll take a Monday over a Tuesday anytime. I guess it's because my brain understands that a weekend MUST end at some point, so complaining and striving against Monday's are futile. In some way, I look at Monday as the start to a fresh week. If the weekend was boring, if you're in need of money, or if something just didn't go the way you planned, Monday can be (even if you don't want to admit it) welcome.

Tuesday can go suck a fuck. Tuesday is the day I start looking ahead to the weekend, and when you've got a day and a half of work under you're belt and you're not even half way to the promised land of 4 o'clock Friday.... well, I'm sure you understand. Think of it this way too. When a holiday draws near, there's a good chance Monday cancels out for vacation. You never have a Tuesday off, not ever. Time goes slower on Tuesday, and you know it's true.

I have a lot to look forward to, which is making today even harder to get through. Friday is my last day of work here, which I'm honestly not really looking forward to. Of course I want to go back to school, get into the city, and move into my new digs (all reasons why I'm looking ahead gleefully), but I do like this job and the money that comes with it. I found out that, unlike most coops in the past, I won't have to give a thirty minute presentation to the head bosses here on what I've done the last six months. I really was hoping to get out of it, not because I haven't done anything (cuz I've done a lot), but because I hate giving presentations to a group that will probably grill me on absolutely every detail (which 'Woody' would have definitely done).

The best part of it all though is probably the fact that I don't start classes till the 3rd, which means I have 9 days to relax and settle into my new house before the drudgery of classes commences. Granted, I think that Dana might be the only person who shares the same time for "spring break", but whatever, I just want to have some well earned and rare vacation time.

We'll see if anything good happens. I'm not going to lie, a break is going to be nice no matter what, but if I can't find anything to do (I'm talking to you Rowan and Drexel friends), then "nice" is about all I'm going to reach, and who wants to settle for nice? This past weekend, I went to the city w/ Kent and Keyur for the 3rd best burger in America, hung out a few times, and went out to Reading to hang with Jay for a bit. Not too bad, but there's room for improvement.

I guess only time will tell how this break is going to unfold, and considering it's Tuesday, time is something that's not in short supply.

P.S. I assume you are thanking me thoroughly for the hilarious picture, to which I say "You're welcome." When you search for a picture to translate your anguish on a Tuesday and come across that, how can you not share?

Lots of Balls

At the moment, I'm watching 'Nova play Arizona for a spot in the sweet 16. March madness is without a doubt the only basketball I enjoy watching (the NBA just isn't fun to watch anymore), and I'm sure that everyone is following their brackets closely. There have also been some other things happening in the wide world of sports though, with a few topics I wanted to touch on.

First is the Eagles. It's been about a week since free agency started, and I have to say that I'm very encouraged by the moves our team has been making. Lot's of people, including myself, were disappointed to see that LeCharles Bentley, the pro-Bowl center from NO, went to Cleveland, but it's hard to blame the Eagles when the city that he grew up and went to school in makes him the highest paid center in NFL history. The Eagles have been very active though, despite the complaints you might hear from some idiot fans. We picked up possibly the best DE on the market, adding needed depth and ability to our front four. We picked up a highly talented TE who was under-utilized in Cincinnati, which opens the possibility for the Eagles to run many more two TE sets with Schobel and LJ Smith (in my opinion, this signing might turn out to have the biggest impact on the team). We got a receiver who isn't top of the line, but will most likely be an improvement to the slot position currently held by Greg Lewis. We can finally move Dhani back to weak side LB (where he fucking belongs) after acquiring Shawn Barber. Plus, we signed Jeff Garcia, an incredible upgrade in the backup QB position.

Lot's of people are mad that we didn't go out and pay high money for a top-of-the-line receiver, but the market was flooded by too many #2 receivers who want to be paid like #1's. If you look around the league, you can see teams overpaying players on the market more than probably any other year. The cap was increased, and so far many teams have been acting like when a kid goes out and blows the extra cash he got for Christmas. The Eagles have never been a team that spends money just because they have it, and that's something that all the good teams do. It's still early though, and some high end receivers and players have yet to hit the market. Considering we still have the NFL draft in our sights, I'd say the Eagles have supplemented themselves very well so far.

While I'm encouraged by the Eagles, another Philadelphia team is starting to worry me. The Flyers started the year incredibly strong, but then entered the Olympic break losing too many games, and since coming back from Italy they've looked pretty bad. In Philly sports tradition, injuries are killing us, but sometimes you can only take that excuse so far. If you had asked me two months ago how I felt about the Flyers chances on getting to the Cup, I woulda said they were REALLY good. Right now, I just don't know. There is plenty of time to get back to winning games and go into the playoffs looking the way we did at the beginning of the season, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was getting worried. I guess all that I can do is cross my fingers and say "we'll see."

I was going to talk about Barry Bonds and the "new" allegations, but fuck it. The guy broke the law. Regardless of what rules were or weren't in place at the time, anyone with half a brain knows that people who took steroids were cheating. At this point, baseball has turned an eye for too long to suddenly ask them to do something about one player, especially when you consider that steroids was an epidemic with many players in the league. The point is that I don't want this guy to get any more praise or break any more records. Hank Aaron and Babe ruth need to stay #1 and #2 on the all-time Home Run list, enough said.

Yes, I can't help it, I have to close out with TO. If you didn't hear already, he signed with the Dallas Cowturds, probably our most hated enemy. I'm pretty pumped about it actually. The best offer he and his agent could muster was 3 years, $25 million. I applaud them, cuz boy, they really showed us. You go from receiving passes from the best QB in the NFC with a long term contract, throw a hissy fit, and now go to a team with an aged and fragile Drew Bledsoe for less money and less years then you had before. The only thing that would make this dream complete, other than us beating Dallas both times in the upcoming regular season, will be when I see my boy Brian Dawkins lay out TO as he tries to go across the middle.

That's a dream that has a great chance of coming true.

P.S. Villanova won

Rapid Fire

Yeah it's been awhile since my last entry so what, you wanna fight about it? What can I say, updating my blog totally slipped my mind this week, even though I told myself multiple times to get on here and do it. I do have some stuff I want to talk about, but first I'm going to speed through what happened since my last entry. Let's see if I can get it all in with one breathe...

Friday went to dinner with my mom, had crab encrusted fillet and was second best steak I ever had, then went to liquor store to buy Sam Adams for Mike's birthday at Rowan, wound up inviting Kristen because she was bored and I knew Dana would be there, showed up and Mike was already drunk, whatever still a good time we left at midnight and grabbed some burgers, woke up Saturday to play pool, we sucked balls since we don't play anymore, went home and discovered all my friends were busy/not around, so I called Kristen again, went into Philly, she got some Greek food and we walked to where I'll be living, real nice neighborhood I was really encouraged about moving in, Sunday nothing happened for awhile, then we had corned beef and i went to meet up w/ Kent and Rach (she's on break and was here till wednesday), had worst waitress ever, only happens when Rach is there aparently, work monday, same waitress that night, hung out for a bit, sick on tuesday i felt like shit and work was slow so i didnt care too much, came back on wednesday feeling a little better but still not great, hung out that night with kent, glad he's back i was bored as hell last week, played some WoW and that brings metotoday.....

*takes deep breath*

Didn't think I'd make it there for a second.

One thing that retarded my boredom for awhile last week and the week before was this personality type test. Jay sent it to me at work and I checked it out, and I have to say it was really accurate for both of us (scary almost I can say for myself). Basically, follow the link to take the test. It's only yes or no questions and it takes maybe five minutes, but there is a catch: you have to tell the truth. It sounds stupid, but I've already seen one or two people take the test and putting down answers that were totally NOT them. Don't put down what you think the "right" answer is, because there is no correct answer. If you don't care about the path traveled and only care about the goal, then put that, or if you make decisions based on emotion rather than logic, put that too. If you aren't truthful with the test, then your personality won't match the test result.

Once you submit and get your type, go back to the main site and find out what those four capitalized letters mean. I was INTJ in case you were wondering.

I still want to talk about the Eagles and free agency, my thoughts on the Flyers, and Barry Bonds, but I'll just put that all together in a sports-oriented entry.

Under the Cap

I'm waiting for nine samples to run right now, which takes about two hours, so I got a little free time to get on here and give an update:

Everyone keeps asking me about Kent (I'm starting to think my family likes him better than they do me), so I'll let everyone know that the little girl is fine. Ok, that was harsh, he still is in a lot of pain. From what I hear, his lung hasn't collapsed any further, so with some rest and time he should be back to normal. What does suck is that he's decided to stay at home in Lanc till probably Sunday, so this whole week I've been sitting at home doing nothing, bored out of my mind. He says he'll probably be ready to go back to work on Monday, so he'll be home before then. Get better Bedpan Bitzer, I'm looking forward to your return.

With nothing going this week, I'm hoping the weekend will save me. I talked to Cuba yesterday and he said "people are invited" for Friday out at Rowan. I'm going to try to do a little campaigning with people I know to make sure that the gathering is not a bust, and plan on going out that way that night. It will be easy too since I think I'm going out to eat in Jersey after work (don't get too excited, it's just my Mom, she wants to take me out for my birthday last week). I'll plan on leaving work a little early, beating the traffic to Audubon, then picking up some Spaten for Mike on my way to Glassboro. Hopefully the good times will indeed roll.

I was relieved to hear that the NFL owners manned up last night and signed a new agreement with the players before the all-or-nothing 8pm deadline. From what I read on ESPN, revenue sharing between the owners was the big sticking point, as an increased cap would mean that the more profitable teams would have to help out the struggling or small market ones. To my disappointment, Jeffrey Lurie was one of the five big guns who was holding out along with owners like Jerry Jones of Dallas and owners from Washington and New England. The problem was that the low income teams wanted the top five teams to contribute revenue from non-ticket sales, like income from exclusive radio rights and parking that those teams take in.

I don't really think many people understood the severity and seriousness of what could have happened yesterday. Had an agreement not been reached, the most well run, successful and popular sport in America would have had an uncapped 2007 season and a likely lockout by players the following year. The NFL hasn't had a lockout since before my time, and at that time, the league was eventually saved by the installment of a salary cap. ESPN was on top of the story, but most news agencies paid little attention to the issue and it didn't seem like many people fully comprehended what might have been.

With an agreement now inked, we can look forward to the pushed-back free agency period to finally start tomorrow morning. I personally can't wait to see what the Eagles do. The new deal has increased the cap for all teams by 7.5 million, and the Eagles were one of the few teams actually under the cap anyway. Add the roll over cap room from last year, the additional 7.5, and whatever money would have gone to that bum TO that now comes back to the team...... it's looking like things will turn around very quickly for the Birds.

Jolly Roger at Half Mast

For the past week, Kent had been complaining about his neck and chest. I figured his neck was probably from playing Warcraft ever waking hour outside of work, but the random chest pain seemed a little odd. He said it was a sharp pain, right around his heart area, and that it would suddenly hurt like a bitch and then go away. I'm not sure if it's related, but shit hit the fan yesterday.

I hadn't done much this weekend. I took care of some stuff at home on Saturday, helping my Dad with our felled tree in the back yard and picking up furniture from the city for when I move back for school. Both Friday and Saturday night, I just went to Kents and did the usual hanging out. On Sunday, I went to Jersey to eat dinner with my brothers where my Mom works. That's when I got the call.

Brett called my cellphone, and told me to find out what hospital Kent was in because Rachel was freaking out. "What?" Rachel was on the phone with Kent when he told her he had to hang up and call 911, and since then no one had been able to get in contact with him. As he's telling me this I almost can't believe it. I'm sure Rachel was going nuts, and Brett would do something but he's in Maryland. Being that most people Kent knows are either out of state or 2 hours away, I'm the only one who can actually do anything.

But I'm in Jersey at the time, at a restaurant no less, so I have no idea where to even begin. So of course I call my Dad because, as Kent would say later, papa T is "like a super hero, making sure people are ok and aren't cold and shit." So my Dad called the police station in that area and found out that Kent had called 911, that police had stopped by, and that an ambulance had taken him to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital about two miles from his house.

After that, it was like an episode of speed racer. I dropped my brothers off at home, and broke most driving laws in both the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. My Dad met me in the emergency ward of the hospital, and there was Kent in room four. He was awake and said that his whole chest and neck suddenly hurt so bad that he couldn't "man it out" any more. He looked up his symptoms on WebMD and of course they were very similar to a heart attack, which I'm sure freaked Kent out further.

As it turns out, nothing was wrong with his heart, but X-rays would show something wrong in his lungs. Apparently, 10% of his left lung collapsed for no reason at all, which I didn't know could actually happen to people. Doctors said that it wasn't inhibiting his ability to get oxygen, and that if he wanted to he would be OK to go home for the night. They gave him some pain killers and told him to come back in the morning. The part of the lung that collapsed could re-inflate by itself, but if it deflated any more, they would probably have to go in and do it themselves.

I talked to him today around lunch, and I guess he's gonna be fine. His lung hadn't really changed since yesterday, and he's going back with his Dad to Lancaster to rest until Wednesday, when he's supposed to come back for more tests. He has to take it easy for a few weeks (something that shouldn't be too hard for Kent since physical activity isn't exactly a mainstay in his life lol), but he should be able to go back to work on Thursday.

So that was the last 24 hours for me. Does the word "interesting" comes to mind? It looks like Kent should recover, so that's all you can ask for.

Currently, I'm taking a poll to see what new name we will call Kent to bust his balls. The names "10%", "Lungs" and "Bronchial Bitzer" have been thrown around, and I'm also evaluating using "Bedpan" from time to time. If you have any good suggestions, please let me know.

Woke Up the Same

It's been a few days since I posted on here, but I've been pretty busy and really tired. I find it fairly frustrating that I get so tired in the morning when I was a morning person in HS. Looking back though, I just had a strict schedule where, even on the weekends, I was in bed by 12 the latest, and even then, it did take me awhile to get really energized in school (I think that after 3rd period I was good to go). Lately, I've been close to falling asleep at my desk in the morning and its incredibly annoying to me. I always jolt myself awake, go grab some tea or other caffeinated drink, and tell myself I'm acting like an ass in the workplace. Maybe I'm just getting to old for this late night shit.

Speaking of which, I stealthily turned 21 yesterday. No big deal. No....... really. You know what it was like? Have you ever known someone who was about to be thrust on stage, and everyone is calmly encouraging them and congratulating them before the big moment, but in the back of everyone's mind, they are all waiting anxiously to see what the person does on stage? It was kind of like that. It's no secret that I don't "partake", so I think a good deal of people were quietly waiting to see what would happen when I hit the 'of age' mark.

What can I say, drinking = not me.

It really wasn't that incredible. The fact is that even if I did drink, my birthday was right in the middle of the work week, where I have to wake up at 6am, and on top of that, all my close friends are underage and spread from Reading to Glassboro. Tuesday was dinner at my Dad's, and then yesterday I drove from work straight to Jersey to eat with my Mom. That's really all that happened. Both promised to take me out to get furniture for my room as a present, which is fine with me because (at the moment) I only have a dresser and a few minor pieces for my room. My dad also gave me a 1922 silver dollar that my Grandpi gave to him, so that was really cool. Nana sent me a check, grandma guaranteed hers was on the way, and I got a phonecall from all my Uncles. Not a typical 21st birthday, but a good family one for sure.

And no, I didn't drink for the day, and I still don't plan on it, so BACK THE FUCK OFF!!!!

Just kidding. Like usual, I just don't care. I'm just happy I can go to a casino, bring $1's to a strip club, pick up some beer for friends, or sit at a bar and not have to worry or get caught, so that's always cool.

I'm going to try and do is talk to Ray and get something to happen for Mike's birthday, which is coming up in a week.

Oh yea, and the Flyers are back. Nice.