Brooklyn Bridge

It has been a nice weekend. I am in the office just to goof around on the computer before I go to church today and i can say that I am actually well rested and relaxed! With just a few more days left until I move into my own place, it seems to me that my life is starting to come together in a way that I am pleased with.

Friday night, I met up with some girls for another run through Manhattan. I got my Tasti D Lite and they were able to skate at Rockerfeller canter. They tried to talk me into it but really, there comes a point in a man's life where he just knows that he will not put on ice skates and look like a 300 pound fool slipping on the ice.

Saturday I slept in and then enjoyed a beautiful afternoon in the city. I went to Canal street but couldn't find anything worth buying so I strolled through Little Italy and Chinatown making my way to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a perfect day to just get some air and see the city. It was also good for me to get some alone time. I had been on friend overload and was starting to get cranky.

This week at work will be a bit stressful, there is another auditor coming in and I will be the one showing him around. If I had more time to get out in the field for some of my own audits I wouldn't be stressing it but since that hasn't happened, I am just praying that things will go smooth and that I won't get yelled at too much. Lucky for me I still fall under the new guy category so I might be safe.

The highlight of the weekend would have to be the Orange Mime that we danced with Saturday night. Really, it takes guts to do that and I have to give the man props, I really don't think that I would dress in orange and athen hit the streets of new york performing but that is just me. I could see my cousin Dave doing that though... I will have to talk him into it.

Chillin with Morgan

So I saw Morgan Freeman and had to get a picture with him! Of course this was outside the wax museum and he really is just a statue but still, I saw Morgan Freeman!!!

Wednesday night I had some time on my hands, the group that I was going to be meeting decided to take a bit longer in getting to the city so I got bored of waiting and went for a stroll on up to 81st st where they were inflating the Macy's parade balloons. It was cool to see them but at the same time it was weird becasue on TV these things look huge and cool. Up close they are just painted garbage bags... It was fun becasue there was a ton of people and it is just fun to listen in on the many different conversations, especially the people from Jersey. I met up with the group at the balloons and we did another round of Dora, Big Bird and Snoopy... We grabbed some pizza and then I got some more Tasti D Lite, it was really good, I even got chocolate sprinkles instead of rainbow. Talk about living life in the fast lane.

Yesterday for Thanksgiving, I was invited to the Ellis home and was able to visit and eat with them and and eclectic group of guests. last night, David and I took off to a friend's house and stayed there until around 2 this morning. I wanted to stay as late as possible to avoid traffic coming back into NY. It was fun, we just messed around and did the usual flirting yelling and teasing that we do best. Some of it was caught on film and when we watched it later that night, I had to ask myself why I do such stupid things? At the time it seems funny but when i watch it later.... i really am an idiot! It is a wonder that I have friends at all with the way I behave.

1 more week and I will be living in my own apartment! Just want to remind everyone of that because I am truly excited to be a lone wolf again.

I am at work today but I am hoping that I won't have to do much work at all but just goof around until I can go home and back to sleep. It sucks being the low man on the totem pole but Steve takes care of me so I will do what I got to do to keep him happy.

A home away from home

Well this is the place that I spend most of my time. It hasn't changed much other than the new furniture which gives me some more working space... Horray! Other than a couple failed attempts to get my motorcycle to the bike shop in Jersey and a couple of activities, i have been tied to this desk and it is starting to get to my head.

This past week was fun overall, even if I was in a pissy mood for most of it. The highlight would probably be Saturday night in NJ. There was a multi-stake activity for the YSA and they had some food talents and dancing and of course, the best part was having a lot of cute girls to flirt with. I will admit that there is one that has got my attention but who knows how long that will last... I saw the new Santa Clause movie that afternoon as well. I was hoping to see Stranger than Fiction but I didn't want to wait an hour for it so i got the next show. It was 2 hours of my life that I will never get back and I can't believe I watched the whole thing! I was able to find some very tasty donuts in Manhattan on Saturday morning though. Across from the temple there was a mini farmers market and they had these apple cinnamon sugar type donuts that were way too good.

Went to church yesterday and listened to our ecentric stake president somewhow tie the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland to being a member of the church. I am sure that he is a great guy underneath but it is might painful to hear and watch him at the pulpit. He likes to fling his arms a lot and pull strange metaphors out of thin air. I met up with Lisa last night and we chatted for a little while and thn played a game of scrabble. She was thumbing through the dictionary at one point nad stopped and said "Stand of fish! that isn't a word!" Then when trying to read the definition, she realized the word was standoffish... We had a good laugh over that one. She won the game, I had some creative words but she was bale to get most of the doulble and triple word scores. i would like to say that I let her win but I didn't. She is going to Utah in a couple of weeks and I told her to look Becky up at the Zoo and I hope she does because they would get along great.

Today will be another day at the grindstone but I need to get out of here early for real today so i can get this bike fixed. I was all ready to do it last week but I realized that I had left my key for the motorcycle at the apartment... I was right next to staten island so i had to double back and that took about an hour so by the time I got to Jersey we tried to get to the shop but couldn't do it in time. Today I have to get it done. Among everything else that is going on I want my motorcycle back and in good repair.

Well, i am being swarmed by the guys so I need to get back to work.

Godiva at Grand Central

Another week complete. I know that soon enough I will be able to stop the madness and start smelling roses but for now, i will just keep plugging away. In some ways it was really routine, Morristown on Thursday, Queens dance on Friday, Manhattan on Saturday, but really this place has become my home. I don't know how to explain it other than to say that this is a great place to be. Whether driving on the NJ turnpike or riding the A train through Brooklyn, or eating some great Godiva dark chocolate in Grand Central Station, I feel at home.

Morristonw on theursady wasn't too bad because the snobby girls didn't show up in full force. it is fun to see how quickly the mean girls will be nice to everyone as soon as they are alone... They have some great strength... Anyways, there is a new nanny in the class, wink, and she seems really nice, wink...

Friday night was the Queens dance and it wasn't fun this time around. For some reason the party never got started and so many people would show up, walk in and then walk right out. The music was a little too heavy on the latin side, even for some of the Latinos. Afterwards though David and I went to a Diner with some of the Jersey girls he brought with him and we were there for a couple of hours eating ice cream and french fries. That was a ton of fun and made the whole night worth it. i worked a few hours on Saturday morning, long enough to get mad at most of the guys working. I really don't understand what is going on in the minds of these men and why they need a babysitter to do their jobs but that is what I do, all day long. The nice thing about it though is that I am really getting past the learning curve now and I am able to do some proper followup with the guys to let them know I am watching.

Saturday night I met up with some friends and we went to a comedy club, the improv on 59th street. It was fun, other than the 2 drink minimum. i don't mind buying overpriced drinks but it would be nice if they were at least tasty. oh well. The comedy was really funny and they made fun of a cowboy from Montana most of the night that sat at the front. After that, we did the usual thing of wondering around Manhattan until we found our way back to Grand Central. I still had a bit of energy so instead of taking the shuttle cross town I walked to my train and it was a nice night so it was a great stroll. Of course by the time I got home I was tired as all get out but I really enjoyed it.

He's busy...

This is just a funny picture. i tried calling Danny the other day and I got his voicemail... well I guess he was too busy to answer his phone but he had some time to take a picture of him in the bathroom! I laughed for a good 10 minutes when I got this one.

We had a regional manager in the office yesterday and he did a follow-up audit to the one that we failed in August. I have been worried about this for some time now just because the termite portion falls onto my shoulders and I didn't want to let anyone down. We passed everything without problems, well other than missing a couple of signatures on some paperwork but that is fixed by driving to the customers house and getting them to sign it. Problem solved and now I am almost stress free.

After seeing Wicked, i decided tht I should read the book. From what people have told me I was prepared to hate the book but I am really into it right now. Sean, my florist in Utah, loves the book and it is one of his favorites to read and I agree with him. It is much darker than the musical and it delves deep into the politics and religion of Oz. Really, it is just a great commentary on our society and very honest with matters of race religion and class. Mostly it feels good just to be reading again. I didn't realize how much i missed sitting back and enjoying a great novel until now. Winter is a great time to read anyways with it getting dark at night.

Tonight I think that I might head out and catch a movie. Not sure yet, maybe the prestige or I just might get some chinese food and stay home. So many tough choices to make. Plans for Friday are going to be fun. There is another Stake dance in Queens. I am hoping that given as much fun as the last one was that there will be a lot more people there this weekend.

On Sunday I forgot it was stake conference and pulled up to a locked church parking lot. I made my way out to the singles ward on long island... They are nice there but kind of nutty too. A perfect combination. I even made it out to Morrstown that night for the CES broadcast and that was really fun. None of the snotty people showed so it was a great group to hang out with for a few hours.

I am hungry so i am thinking chinese food. But some pasta sounds good too.

Naughty Moo

Lacy sent me this picture of Amelia and I love it so I am putting it everywhere i can.

I wish that I had something happy to say right now but I really don't. The last few days at work have been a bear mostly because I haven't been able to get out of the office all that much and do some field work. i know some people might love working in an office but I am going crazy. Yesterday, I went to my truck in the morning and it was raining and I had a flat tire! Changing a flat really isn't that hard to do but it is much nicer when it is warm and dry outisde.

I have become disenchanted with the morristown institute class. To make a long story short, I am sick of meddling girls who have nothing better to do than point out the falws in everyone else around instead of trying to build others up. I know that I am not always nice, but I have reasons. it was nice last night though because I dropped off Frank and David was in the process of making hamburgers and that was some good comfort food. Of course I stayed late because it is always fun talking with David, especially late at night when we are even more goofy than normal. I really don't know how many hours of sleep I am missing but at this point I just figure that it doesn't make that much of difference anymore.

For the weekend, I want to find a good diner in the city. I was there the other night and we ate a place that was worse than the night of Wicked. It was more fun though because now we all have a nasty manhattan food story. At this point I just want to sleep through Saturday but if I do that, work will really suck on Monday so i am going to force myself to find something fun.

One plan that I am looking forward to is on thankgiving eve, I am going to Central Park to watch them inflate the balloons for the big parade. I don't think that I will watch the parade the next day but seeing them the night before will be good enough for me.

Look who's cool?

I took this picture last week after I got a decent haircut by some rapping russians.
So, last night, I met up with Kate and Tanya for dinner and a show. The dinner was crap but the show was incredible. Wicked was everything I was hoping it to be! I even got goosbumps... No tears were shed but I loved the entire thing and I will be going back many times I'm sure. My only complaint is that I couldn't hit the back button and listen to a song again like I can on a CD. Next time around though I will do some more research and find a good place for dinner that not only serves tasty food but a lot of it. i don't mind paying 20 bucks for a plate of spagetti but at that price I would expect it to fill me up at least. It was some funky pasta too that was shaped like aball and had the texture of cheese. oh well, i will chalk that one up in the learning experience catagory.

Work has been busy the last few days and most likely won't be letting up for the next few weeks either. The one good thing to that is that even though there are some 10 or 12 hour days, they go by fast. I need to do something fun in the city this weekend. i am not sure what but if the weather holds nice like this i would be stupid to spend the day at home.