N is for Nonsense

I spend an unreasonable amount of time in my life drifting off into long trains of meaningless thought. About what I am doing later today, or where I’m going in life, or things going on around me. I’m sure many other people do the same. You can tell when a person makes some crazy off the wall comment that fits right into the conversation from their point of view. I decided my blog needed a little more nonsense and therefore thought to type out one of these useless strings of tangents that I claim to be a thought process. It reminds me of a scene from The Weatherman where Nick Cage is tasked to pick up some tartar sauce. Ah, what a humorous scene.

 Nick Cage was awesome when he was carrying that bow around the city
 I should get into archery
 I did just find that old bow, but where would I shoot it
 Can you target shoot at a public park?
 Probably not, but what are they going to do? Will the park police approach me with their flashlights while I’m holding a freaking bow and arrow
 Shooting in my back yard would be a bad decision, too much room for error
 I need a bigger back yard
 We should buy a house
 But then we are stuck in central PA for the indefinite future
 We should move, but where?
 I like my job, I shouldn’t leave it
 Is a good job worth staying in an area you don’t want to live?
 I want to live in Colorado, but that wouldn’t go over well with the family
 Whenever I do move, we need to have some space
 Then I would need and lawn mower and a bunch of tools
 I want to get back into forging
 Wherever we move, I need to have a work shop for my forge
 I could make some sweet swords and other items for around the house
 I should ask for an anvil for Christmas
 That would cost like $500
 But that’s all I need, an anvil and a big bag of coal
 I was in great shape last time I was forging steel
 I need to get back in shape, I should go for a run later
 I really dislike working out
 I should get a good cheeseburger instead
 But then I’ll just get fatter
 When we move to Colorado, I’m going to buy a nice roadbike
 I wish I went on the motorcycle trip
 We’ll go next year, but we already have so much planned
 I need to schedule vacation time
 I really should get back to work

M is for Melancholy

I have lost my happiness
And I do not care to go searching
Though I remember how good it was to have
I would rather sit here and sulk

Even if I wanted to go looking
Where would I begin
It is best to retrace my steps
But I doubt that would be effective

Did I lose it when I wasn’t feeling well
Or when you were mad at me
Maybe while visiting a stressed family
Or when my dreams felt crushed

I know it was dropped somewhere in there
But there’s just too many places it could be
For now I’ll ignore it and sit here forlorn
I’m certain it will turn up again someday

L is for Lacking

Keith and I traveled the long journey to King of Prussia on Friday for the premier of Boondock Saints 2. Despite some minor challenges of detours and meeting up with friends, we had a great time. We arrived at the theater nearly an hour early which was convenient because we were able to get into the theater 40 mins early. We got the best seats by my opinion and we watched as the people slowly filled up the theater beyond capacity. Not only were most of the seats filled, people were actually sitting on the floor in the front and 10-15 were standing at the entrance for the entire movie. Crazy right? But I would have done the same.

If you have not seen Boondock Saints, then shame on you. Get thee to a movie store and prepare for an awesome movie. I am not going to speak to the details about the sequel since most of you have not seen it, and there is a slim chance you may someday. Ultimately I would rate it as a 6 on a scale from 1 – 10 with 10 being Boondock Saints. At first I thought I really liked it, aside from 2-3 scenes that should have been done another way. But after some discussion with the others that joined us, I came to dislike the movie more and more. The intensity of the first movie was lost and some of the characters just seem to be trying too hard to be funny. Especially the 2 characters that were made to replace lost characters from the 1st movie. I greatly appreciate the comical aspect of the first movie that existed amongst the intensity, but some of the action scenes of the second movie were made to be too fun and humorous. They were but a step away from throwing up a big “BANG!” after a gun shot like the old Batman tv show. I have already heard talk of a 3rd movie, but am even more concerned than I was with the 2nd. If you are a Boondock Saints fan, then you absolutely need to see the sequel. But don’t get your hopes up too much, nothing will ever match the fantastic glory that is Boondock Saints.

Beside the movie, we had a wonderful trip. I always enjoy a solid piece of time to have deep conversation with Keith. I also got to hang out with Pat Brown and some of their friends from West Chester that I’ve met a few times. We went out after the movie and had a wonderful time catching up. We also met up with one of my old friends from Lock Haven that I haven’t seen in a couple years. Great trip and relatively decent movie. I believe one of the local theaters in my area is going to pick up Boondock Saints 2, but I in no way regret catching the movie on the day it premiered with some good friends.

Thanks for reading.

K is for Kicking with Excitement

Boondock Saints 2 All Saints Day is premiering this Friday. Though I am very concerned that the sequel will fail miserably in comparison to the 1st one, I am also extremely excited. As far as I can tell, it will not be played in my area, so my friends and I are going to have to drive to Philadelphia either for a midnight showing on Thursday night, or Friday evening sometime.

I know what you are thinking. That is a lot of time in money just for a movie, but I don’t adhere to the famous adage “a penny saved is worth 2 in the bush.” You know what I really need for a trip like this? Some rope. “Charlie Bronson’s always got rope…he’s got rope strapped around em in the movies and they always end up using it…You don’t know what you’re gonna need it for, they just always need it.”

J is for Jack-O’-Lantern

It has been much too long since I have posted. For a while, it was due to my busy schedule, but for the last week I have just been waiting until the right time. That time is of course directly after carving my pumpkin for Halloween this year. Could there be a better use for the letter J? I submit that there can not!

2 years ago, I decided to get into pumpkin carving. My first 2 attempts were very successful as I found patterns online that looked good but weren’t too challenging. This year I was torn between a few ideas and decided to make up my own pattern incorporating a number of designs. I think it turned out very well. Liz also carved a great looking pumpkin, but the pumpkin was unfortunately rotting and cracked a bit at the end. It will not survive the week, but we got a few pictures of it to remember its greatness. I tried to take pictures along the way to show its progression. Here are a few of those pictures for your enjoyment.

I is for…. I

I am tired
I am frustrated
I am beat down
I am angered
I wish I could re-do the last 2 weeks
I am behind
I dislike other opinions
I hate drama
I know I am right
I know they are wrong
I want more time
I am glad I’m a child or God or else
I would cry and feel the false weight of my state


I am writing this entry on a train on my way back from Philadelphia. I arranged a meeting to discuss an insurance matter. It was somewhat exciting to arrange a meeting myself where I had to bring people in from Philly, Harrisburg, Chicago, and Atlanta. I set the agenda and tried to lead the meeting. This meeting included people with titles like partner, treasurer, director, and CFO. Despite the excitement of this meeting, I don’t think it went very well. It went as expected I suppose, but I wish it would have gone better. We are arguing over business forecasts with our insurance company for a claim that could bring in as much as $5.5 million for our company. So far they only want to give us $2.5. 2.5 is a nice chunk of change, don’t get me wrong, but their arguments for giving us less just make me want to slap someone in the face with a glove and challenge them to a duel.
“Here’s something that… if you don’t want your dad to think you are a silly f***, don’t hit another man in the face with a glove. Because if you do, that is exactly what he will think. Unless you are a nobleman, or something out of the 18th century.”

If you have never seen the movie “The Weatherman” I recommend you go see it. Try to ignore the profanity and just enjoy the excellent subtle humor.

Anyway, as you can tell I am a little frustrated and angered about the results of the meeting. But why am I so tired you may ask? Because it is Thursday and I have already worked a total of 46 hours, most of which was some of the most stressful work I have ever had to do. I had people getting very upset looking for number and results right that instant. Running multiple scenarios and what-if analyses across Excel models that span over 50+ tabs is not an easy task. You would think that running numbers through a model would not be a stressful event, after all, they are just numbers. But the pressure would surprise you. Hours of changes and need to be made to the model in a matter of 20 mins. The information is needed that soon because we have a call in 20 mins to the CEO. He wants a group of changes to be made in the following 20 mins so he can have a call with our lenders where the numbers will be used to help them to decide whether or not to liquidate our business. I could go on, but it just gets depressing. I am really tired and just need a good break, but instead I need to go in early tomorrow to prepare for another all day meeting with a different group of people. Yikes. I can not wait until the weekend. Get some rest, hang out with some family, and get some good father and son time in with Wes. To follow all of that up, I am taking my motorcycle license test on Sunday. Then I can hit the open rode and celebrate freedom and realize why I do all of this crazy work.

Thanks for reading.

H is for Hummus

As per reader request… H is for Hummus. I was intrigued by this challenge of suggested writing topics. This was especially true of hummus as I had never actually tried hummus before. I thought this might be a challenge since I would have to go somewhere to buy some or try to make it myself. As it turned out, I was invited to a dinner party where hummus was served as an appetizer. I am very fortunate to have a boss who is Greek and loves to have guests and make ridiculously good food. The hummus was ridiculously garlicy and was served with pita bread. With Ali in mind, I dove right in. To my surprise, the hummus was actually quite tasty. I might even try it again sometime. Probably won’t make it, but if someone else does, I won’t avoid it like I have in the past.

Thank you for your suggestion and challenging me to expand my horizons.