5-31-07

Last day of May. Just hanging out at Joanna's today, helping her pack. Nothing too exciting, but it's OK. On the left is the picture I took of the plaque on the campus of Becker College. It's about a block away from Joanna's (old) apartment.

Yesterday was spent down in Newport at the Navy base. Not a bad day. I was surprised to find that the Bridges wanted to try out a seafood place down there, but we couldn't find one that served fried clams. We ended up eating at the Sole Proprietor, which was very nice. I wore a tee shirt. Looked like an idiot. Oh well.

I watched a couple innings of the Worcester Tornadoes game while we were waiting for Joanna at the unit over at Holy Cross. Didn't pay a dime; watched from the top floor of the parking garage next door. Awesome. An older gentleman came by to say hello and admired the view for a minute before he headed down into the stadium. Apparently the previous game was an 18-0 romp by Worcester, and they won 5-1 yesterday. Good stuff. In the 18-0 game (both wins against New Haven), the first baseman Colabello went 4 for 6 with 3 home runs at 10 RBI. That's a hell of a game. With that game alone he is tied for the Can-Am League lead in home runs and is in sole lead of RBI. Wow.

Another round of the Sox-Yankees rivalry starts tomorrow at Fenway. Should be exciting. With today's day off, it allows Schilling to pitch on normal rest, so Tavarez will be spared. Good deal, although Tavarez pitched well last time. I think the Law of Averages enters into this decision. Can't blame Francona. I like it.

We are still not sure when Joanna is shipping out. It could be tomorrow! Even after the hour or so at Holy Cross, and the visit to Newport, no one seems to know. Crazy. She's handling it really well, though.

5-29-07

Back in Worcester today. The dentist appointment went surprisingly well this morning. Apparently I went from "having gingivitis" to being "healthy," despite little to no (or negative) improvement in brushing and/or flossing. In fact, I rarely floss. I think it was because I've graduated. Maybe. It seems fishy. But, I sure did brush well the last couple days.

Joanna is currently in the process of moving. The movers came around 5PM, and are moving along well. I'm over at the House hanging out until they're done.

Funny thing happened about an hour ago. Joanna and I were walking around Becker's small campus, and found a plaque saying "On June 12, 1880, the first perfect game in professional baseball was pitched on this site." There is proof. I took a picture. I'll post it tomorrow.

5-28-07

Memorial Day 2007. I'm at home for the day. Going to get some work done in my room and help my dad out with some mulch out front. Not too bad. Weather looks decent. I'm heading back up north tomorrow after my dentist appointment.

My room is an absolute mess. I'm moving my bookcase out to the hallway, and my shelving unit from the window over to where the bookcase currently is. So, right now all the stuff from those two things are on my floor, along with a ton of other shit.

The party went well yesterday up at Joanna's. A ton of people showed up. I met a guy from Teradyne, another guy from BAE, and another guy whose son is starting an internship at Sikorsky. Surprising. It was a fun time. I think Joanna enjoyed it.

Gym time.

5-26-07

Back in Amherst. Today we're getting ready for Joanna's "Shipping Off" party. Should be fun. Mostly cleaning right now. I'm currently waiting for pictures to copy over to her computer so I can make slide shows. Not a bad job.

Yesterday was the 8th Annual Bridgewater State College Hockey Club Golf Tournament, held in Plymouth, MA at Souther's Marsh. Nice little course. It's an "executive course," meaning it only has par 3 and par 4's. I golfed with Mr. Heim and Jeff. It was best-ball team play; we finished 3 under par. A respectable score. On Hole 3, I birdied it all by myself. 170 yard par 3. Arguably one of my best par 3's ever.

Well, time to get to work.

5-24-07

In Worcester today, hanging around Joanna's apartment waiting for the movers. The first move is just clothes and stuff she'll need in Japan. My job right now is to sit in her room and make sure no one takes anything from it. Got it.

Last night we ate at the Outback down in Auburn. My grandmother gave me money to take Joanna out, and I think she enjoyed it. We both had the Victorian Crown Filet. Delicious. It took a while for her to order hers; it was a 5 minute conversation on the ratio of red vs. pink in the meat. As it turns out, I got her meat and she got mine. It was delicious.

Yankees took 2 out of 3 against the Sox. Oh well. Schilling pitched poorly last night, but we got a win out of Tavarez vs. Mussina. You can't predict this game.

Tomorrow I'll be at a golf tournament with the Heims. It's in Plymouth, for the Bridgewater State Hockey Team. I didn't even golf in my tournament. Of course, that was during the school year.

OK. I'm on watch.

5-21-07

Beautiful day outside. I tried to take advantage of the weather. Looks like tomorrow should be nice too. I'm heading back up north, so I'll see plenty of the outdoors, I hope.

Another semi-productive day, so to speak. My goal is to have my room completely re-done by the start of work: June 11th. Not a huge goal. Just something to aim for. My biggest goal is to spend some quality time with my girl before she ships off. June 2nd...

I've been too lazy to dig out my shorts when I've gone to the gym the last two days, so I've worn nylon athletic pants. Today, I paid for it. The gym was a bit crowded and unusually warm, and I was sweating like a whore in church. Christ. My legs are killing me.

I'm listening to Abbey Road right now. Man, today's music sucks.

Dinner time.

5-20-07

GRADUATED. Finally. Got my diploma and everything. Nice ceremony, too, despite the fact that it was held indoors. Oh well. Can't control the weather, yet.

Long day yesterday, but a good day. I woke up at around 6AM, headed up campus for breakfast, then to the Joint ROTC Commissioning. That was nice. Then we had to run over to line up in the gym at 10AM. What a scene that was. A bit confusing, but everything fell into place. I was in Row 11, Seat 6. Joanna was in Row 10, but was on the left side. She was about 8 or 9 people ahead in the diploma line. Cool thing happened before we walked up for the diplomas: all the commissioned ROTC officers got a standing ovation, and President Berkey even gave special mention of Joanna's commissioning by the President. One of the proudest moments of my life. She is amazing.

The party went well, though we had a ton of leftovers. Food was good, people were great. Professor O'Connor even showed up. Pleasant surprise. Nice guy. Joanna and I were exhausted. This morning I left at around 9AM for a coaches' meeting in Hamden. Nice little meeting. Very productive. Got to meet a bunch of coaches from around the state. One said he used to hang out at WPI when he was in college. Good networking experience. I'm home for tonight and tomorrow, then heading back up Tuesday for the rest of the week. I need to pick up some stuff here.

Nice weather out. Too bad it's a day late. Oh well.

5-16-07

TORNADO WATCH! Uh oh. I just heard thunder. I love the spring/summer season. My grandmother is freaking out. She told me to move my car into the garage because we're going to have a tornado. Right on our house. For the first time in over 150 years. In my town.

Semi-productive day, but definitely not as cool as Joanna's day at the Pentagon. Her commissioning, by the President, is tomorrow. I'm pretty damn proud.

I tried out my mom's Garmin GPS unit this morning. What a neat little device. I used it on the way to Target to pick up some storage boxes. It even TALKS to you. Amazing.

Well, gotta cut this one short. It's getting dicey outside, which means lightning, and bad stuff for computers. I also need to move my car.

5-14-07 (late)

What a day yesterday. Despite a little upset stomach after Fire and Ice, I had an awesome time. We got into Boston at around 1:30PM, and were given until 4:00PM to walk about. Joanna and I walked down to the Prudential Center and around Back Bay. The food was good. People got a little too rowdy for my taste, at least for a restaurant setting. Real classy, SAE. True Gentlemen.

The game was awesome. I haven't been to a game at Fenway when they've won since... well since I was a kid. I've been to (about) 6 or 7 games there in college, and they've never won, until yesterday. In my last week as a college student in Massachusetts, they won. And they won pretty big, 7-1 against a good Tigers team. Matsuzaka pitched a complete game, one earned run. First complete game in the United States, and I was there. Incredible. Joanna had a great time, too. The bus ride home wasn't too bad.

My mother will be here in a few minutes to help me move my stuff out of the room. It'll be bare bones from here on out.

5-13-07

Mother's Day is here. Pretty slow day. My grandparents are here stopping by on their annual trip up from Florida. It's always nice to see them.

I helped my dad take the roof of his Jeep. Only one, strange snag with an electrical connector, which took about an hour to solve. My mother fixed it in about a minute. Now I know why we dedicate a day to her each year. I think she's being ripped off.

Tomorrow is the Sox game. Should be a good one, especially with Matsuzaka pitching. His opponent: the Detroit Tigers, who have Nate Robertson on the mound. Exciting. Fire and Ice should be nice. I'm heading back up to Worcester late tonight. I'm not a huge fan of these back-and-forth trips, but oh well.

Apparently I missed a new episode of "The Office." I'll have to catch it on DVR tonight when I get back to Worcester.

5-12-07

It's late, and I'm about to get to bed, but I figured I'd share my day at Foxwoods.

Quite an overwhelming experience. For about 6 hours, I experienced all of what gambling has to offer. Whether it was 5000 different ways to put a coin in a machine and push a button, or throwing dice and yelling stuff, or one of 100 ways to play poker, or just roulette, it was gambling. A particularly funny moment was when Joanna and I were walking through a room and I noticed, but very quietly pointed out, that every player at the poker tables was Asian. Turns out, so were the poker games. I have no idea what was going on there. Something about dominoes.

For $15, it was worth it, definitely. I broke even, basically. Netted $0.25, including the $10 from lunch that they gave us. I won 3 times on the quarter slots, twice for $2.50 and once for $1.25. Nice deal. Joanna is down $4, including a whopping $5 win at Keno, which they let us play for free once.

The place was enormous. Three casinos in one. Unbelievable. It was almost scary. I'm not really tempted to go back, though. It was too much for me. My dad might like the horse racing, but I doubt he'd ever go there. I talked to him tonight when I got back and he said he'd heard about the new racing room, and wasn't thrilled. Not his kind of place, since you'd have to walk through 2.5 casinos to get to it.

Tomorrow (well, today) is Mother's Day. Monday is the Sox game. Might not post 'til Tuesday. Should be fun.

5-11-07

Just got back from Boston with Joanna. We spent the afternoon in the city, eating lunch at Fire and Ice. What a place. We took Jose and Rodrigo Fragachan, and their friend from home named Jose. Great guys.

After lunch we went over to their new apartment in Quincy. Holy shit, what a place! Brand new apartment: two bedrooms, two full baths, big living area, seventh floor. 1100 square feet. They also get two parking spots in the underground garage, along with access to a recreational room for working out, and a nice conference room with a flat screen TV that they can reserve. On top of that, it's right next to a nice mall with good food, and is about a 2 minute walk to the Red Line. 15 minute commute. The place is called Ten Faxon. I'd love to live in a place like that in my 20's.

Right now I'm at Joanna's place waiting for her parents to show up so we can clean the place. Sox had a nice win last night. Looking for more tonight. The weather has really cleared up. When the train arrived in Boston (we took the Commuter Rail in), it was pouring. Then it started to wind down, now it's sunny and nice. You have to hand it to New England. Strange weather.

5-10-07

"Confirmed for Graduation"! Finally! I've been waiting for months just for some one to officially say I'm graduating. Finally happened. One word: relief.

Hanging out in Worcester today. Going to head out to Dunkin's for some coffee in a few minutes, then maybe to the gym this afternoon. It's getting warm out; in the 80's I think. Kinda humid, too.

Another good game by the Sox last night. Matsuzaka really recovered well from his last start. Manny and Ortiz homered, too.

So Schilling is in some hot water again because of his blog. I hope this blog reaches that kind of notoriety one day. Apparently he said something about Barry Bonds that he wanted to take back. Some guy on NECN (not NESN) ripped Schilling for the blog, calling it selfish. No shit, it's a blog. And this is America. I see blogs as a pretty clear freedom under the first amendment there, buddy. It's right near freedom of the press, which, uh, you like to use yourself. I think Christ said not to throw stones when your house is made of glass, or something like that. I don't think Christ lived in times of glass houses, but he said something like that once.

Well, time for coffee.

5-9-07

Busy week. Just got back from a trip to Newport with Joanna. She had to run down for a vaccination and to pick up some other stuff. Nice trip.

The past couple days have been spent in New Hampshire, but I'm in Worcester right now. Hanging out tonight, then meeting Joanna tomorrow to go to a party with some of her IQP buddies at The Boynton. Not a bad deal.

Beckett got his seventh win. Very impressive stuff. I watched some of the game, after we made a trip to BJ's to get some stuff for the party on the 19th. They sell beer at BJ's in New Hampshire. That's just amazing.

Might get dinner in a bit. Check out my shared items on the right.

5-6-07 (late)

It's actually Monday morning, the 7th, but I figured I'd make a post.

Cinco de Mayo was fun. Senor Pancho's wasn't as crazy as last year. Relatively calm, but still busy. There were 10 of us: 4 Canny, 3 Bridge, 2 Heim, and Megan's friend Mark. Pretty fun time overall. I think the Bridges liked it.

Yesterday Joanna and I just hung out, pretty much. We went to the driving range, which was OK, but the wind was pretty bad. We also went on a hike to Grace Richardson Open Space down the street. I like hikes. We also helped my father finish the rock wall down below.

Joanna gave me the idea to put funny stories on my blog so I remember them, so here is one from a couple years ago. It's pretty short.

My father and I were driving down Fairfield Woods Road one afternoon. It was pretty nice out, so we saw people taking walks and jogging, but one man in particular caught our attention. He was standing in front of what looked to be a demolished house, with his arms up as if to say:

"What happened to my fucking house?!"

True story.

Apparently Roger Clemens is back with the Yankees. He made a big, dramatic announcement during yesterday's Yankees game, apparently to the surprise of most people. Frankly, I don't really care, but saying how he wanted to be back there is a joke. It's the money. It's always been the money. He fucking retired from the Yankees four years ago, then went back to pitch for Houston. What a sham.

5-4-07

Missed another day. Sorry about that. I was busy with my medical exam over at Sikorsky (60 minute wait for a <5 minute "physical"). Not too bad, though.

Today was the first day of The Maids. My mother has hired a cleaning service that does a biweekly cleaning. Today being the first day require a 6 hour cleaning. I was gone for a few hours (went to see Spider-man 3; not too great) and still sat around for a few hours. The house was pretty messy.

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo. Joanna and her parents are coming down for dinner. I think I have to help my father move some stones around. I also need a haircut. Other than that, no plans.

I was watching "Lou Dobbs Tonight" for a few minutes about an hour ago, and saw a piece on a proposed immigration "points" system. I completely agree with it. Basically, instead of staying on the current system, which gives relatives of green card holders preference, we might move on to a system where things like literacy, skills, and other useful characteristics count towards both green card status and even citizenship. I agree with this for three reasons, as does Dobbs:

1. This will encourage people to gain skills if they want to stay here.
2. This will stop people from being a drain on the economy.
3. Other countries do this and are their economies are beating us.

Sure, other countries, like the U.K. and Australia, have different economies than us, but the simple fact is: illegal immigrants are not a drain on their economies. We are largely capitalistic, so shouldn't we be leaning in this direction ALREADY? If anything, we should use a more extreme version of the English and Australian policies.

Joanna has two friends named Rodrigo and Jose Fragachan, who are from Venezuela. They're very, very bright and great guys. One night after dinner, while sitting waiting in their car for a long train to go by, they started talking about how difficult it was to get a green card. They talked about how frustrating the green card lottery is, and how unfair it is. Random selection simply is not the right way to go. This new system would help these two gain the status they deserve. If anything, I support this for Rodrigo and Jose.

5-2-07

Nothing says celebration like a few margaritas, or several. Let's just say it was a good night, not so good morning. I just ate lunch, which should help. I need to take a nap.

I don't consider myself a big follower of TV shows, but I've found that, I've been lying to myself. I'm not an avid fan of any one show, but I do watch South Park, The Office, and 24 pretty regularly. Weekly shows, only. I watch House and Scrubs from time to time, but not all the time.

I've added a "Shared Items" section on the right margin. It makes it easier for me to share stuff from Google Reader without: a) having to mention it in my blog entry and b) having to update my blog or wait until the next day. Timing matters. Either way, check out this cool optical illusion.

Papelbon blew his first save of the season last night. Too bad. They lost. Bad loss, but oh well. I had fun, anyway.

Joanna had an early morning today. She's a tough one. Had a few immunizations done down in Newport. I'm not jealous.

Nap time.

5-1-07

DONE WITH COLLEGE. Wow. Normally I let the excitement spread out over time, which I still plan on doing now. I am pretty pumped.

The funny part about college vs. high school is that college is relatively disjointed. I'm not going off to work. I'm moving back home. And, I haven't stayed in Worcester for the four years. With long breaks, it's like a new experience every time. I suppose the really good thing is that all the work has finally paid off. That's quite nice.

First thing I did to celebrate was... take a nap. For some reason I just fell right to sleep. My presentation went well this morning. Fortunately (for me), only 2/3 of the class was on time, and I went first. So, I only presented in front of about 10 or 11 people. The paper didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped, but it's not terrible. It's OK.

Right now I am watching the UEFA semifinal: Liverpool vs. Chelsea. The other semifinal (Manchested UTD vs. Milan) is tomorrow, which I also might watch. The first order of business is to figure out dinner, then to make a list of what I need to take home. Unlike freshman, sophomore, and junior years, I have some time to move out, and I'm going to take it. I don't start work until mid June, and we have until the 20th to move out. Not too shabby. I leave for home tomorrow morning.

Time to figure out the eating situation.