19 April 2008   Saturday

Yeah, it's just another Saturday. It's a nice beautiful day outside and I think I got a bit bummed out over last week's events. Oh well, that's gonna happen, I guess.

The week was uneventful at work. Nothing too dramatic except at the end when it was implied that I was responsible for the wrong commercial airing. Eff you. It's not my fault you don't know how to search. This'll be interesting to see how it plays out next week at work.

I know I'm over Steve...but I think what's happening now is I miss the companionship. It had become a nice feeling to know someone cared. So going back to the way I was, which before was okay because I didn't know what it was like to have someone care, is a little weird. And depressing. But that's why I'm on both Match and Chemistry and I just have to keep moving forward, be proactive, and maintain that trademark Hobie Positivity (sold at the low low price of $19.95/day - operators standing by).

With the weather being really nice lately, Shelly and I went on a walk this afternoon along the river. Possibly one of the most beautiful views of a city around to have during a walk. Took some pictures and you can see them along with some random Iphone pics I took this week.

I also was moved at work from my sweet and admittedly only-temporary digs to a more permanent, but more cubicle-like, desk. Sort of depressing too. But hey, it's better than panhandling in front of 30 Rock, right?

Hope all is well out in the world for you all!

19 Apr 08 - Riverwalking in NYC (and other random pics)
My roommate Shelly!	There's me, vertically	And horizontally.	A very pretty pic of Shelly, if I do say so myself	At work - this is my "I'm Happy, Really" face	NYC looked particularly beautiful that night on the way home.

15 April 2008   4 Minutes

A damn fine song from Madonna. I've just pre-ordered the new album, Hard Candy (Deluxe Edition), from iTunes and you get to download the single. Love this song.

I think that's also the amount of time I had left to change the front picture before Jenny would literally show up at 30 Rock and pummel me out of her misery. Apparently she's not a fan of some of those old Nellis pics! I LOVE that picture, by the way. So professional.

Anyways, I ended up putting this picture of Melissa and me instead. Her and I had a great conversation this evening on the phone. Also, Susan helped me pick out some good pics to put on my dating profile and this is one of the ones she chose, so there you go. I'm still not sure which site to try this time. I am leaning towards Match.com right now, as at least you can browse. Chemistry.com was interesting, but I think you're limited to what they say you're compatible with....not sure. But since you have to pay in order to get to actually interact with others, I would like to make a good decision. Anyone have any recommendations? I've tried Yahoo Personals (which is okay, but I see the same people on there now) and Plentyoffish.com (where I met Steve - I think I'd like a change of scenery there). So here goes.

You know what would be fun? Having inputs from you, the hb.com audience, choose some pics for me to put up and perhaps some good words for me to put on my profile in the about me section. It'd be interesting to see what you think I should say.

14 April 2008   Me and My Big...

Mouth.

If you can't figure it out from the headline, well, let me spell it out for you. I'm no longer dating Steve. It seems my honesty was a bit much. I actually can see that it's for the best that we go our separate ways, because although he is amazing, the situation and circumstances surrounding us really were never going to be conducive to a long-lasting thing. So while I'm definitely bummed about it, I know that it's not the end of the world.

But damn, can I just say I really am not a big fan of the dating scene? Oh well, I'm definitely getting used to it.

Here's a checklist of things I am looking for though:

- Lives somewhat locally to me
- Funny
- Has a career
- Around my age
- In shape

What? Is that asking too much? I'm sure this isn't hard to find. ;-)

I think I should make the front page pic there my dating profile pic. That's hotness.

8 April 2008   Brenda Dickson - a Parody

So Steve sent me a collection of YouTube links that are effing hysterical. I'll just let his email speak for the funny:

When you have a good 30 minutes to sit and enjoy hilariousness and fowl mouth tomfoolery, you must get caught up with Brenda Dickson. Brenda played Jill on Young and the Restless in the 80's- She made a special, also in the 80's, welcoming her fans to her home to learn about diet and fashion. Please watch in this order: *Note: do not watch if you have sensitive ears or are around sensitive ears.

Part 2:

Part 1:

Part 3: This makes fun of a film reel found on Brenda's own website.

Part 1 Response: SPOILER: DON'T READ THIS UNLESS CONFUSED: There are some excellent quotes in here: worth putting up with the cheesyness. Brenda's lawyers had them take part 1 off youtube (hense why it's on google video-can't fool Steve) because of copyright infringement, however parody isn't actually infringement- this is Deven's Response in person being Susan who wrote an email to Brenda, but Susan is actually Brenda because Brenda wrote the email...

Part 4:
YES!! and once you are all caught up: THERE IS A NEW HOLIDAY INSTALLMENT YES YES YES!!

All of these videos are hysterical. I literally cried because they were so damn funny. 

So it's been a month since I've been going out with Steve. Cool.

And today didn't totally blow at work. Double cool.

6 April 2008   Ah, the Azores

My laptop's Internet Explorer homepage is set to go to the AOL site for some reason, and I've never changed it - laziness, I guess. But I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the pic of Faial and realized the Azores were a travel 'spotlight' on the site!

http://information.travel.aol.com/discovery/azores?ncid=AOLCOMMtravdynlprim0332

And for old times' sake, here's the oh-so-popular God shot of Split Rock from my house. When Angelo and I were talking last weekend about living there, man, I knew even then that I needed to treasure that experience. And boy do I, especially considering my current living situation. Which actually isn't all that bad, I know, but still, HELLO!? Amazing house on a cliff overlooking the ocean and on clear days, you could see TWO other islands? HOLY MOLY!

I just got back from seeing '21', the movie based off the book 'Bringing Down the House', which I absolutely loved (and its follow-up by the same author called Busting Vegas). It was an entertaining movie and it was great to just see all the Vegas locales (I REALLY want to see the 'new' Planet Hollywood casino now - the interior looks fantastic) but I have to say, the excitement of the book was lost in this movie. They definitely made this movie something loosely 'based' on the novel, and I think it wasn't the better for it. It turned into a very plot-driven Act I - Act II - Act III thing and maybe if I hadn't known how the book played out, it would have been more entertaining. But there was a LOT lost in translation. And believe you me, both Bringing Down the House and Busting Vegas were books I read each in one day/sitting. They were that good. So I have to give the movie version a half-hearted recommendation. It was cool, and the actors were great, but it wasn't what I had hoped for.

I also just returned from visiting Steve in his home territory down in the Trenton, NJ area. It was nice to get out of the crazy area that is known as NYC, and it was of course just great spending time with him. But again with me and my willingness to be honest - I think there was a point in the evening that him and I were about to be done. Which would have sucked. But through continued talking, we're still trucking along. But even though there's a whole lot of me that would just wish I wouldn't be truthful, you know what, I'd rather be upfront than hide my true feelings and have resentment grow. So this is good.

This weekend definitely is moving too fast. It's not over yet, but man, I don't know if I can handle another week like last week. I have no doubt it'll still be a tough one, but c'mon, I REALLY can't do another one like this one. Exhausting.

3 April 2008   C U Next Tuesday

Nah, I'll probably see you sooner, at least virtually. But I had never heard this particular way to swear before. Love it.

So like I said, I was only going to have Steve's pic on the front for one day. This website is all about me and it's not really fair or all that cool to post up pics of people who are completely unaware that it's up. And he totally is. Unaware.

Can I just say I'm exhausted? By this week....oy.

I don't really have anything else to write right now. I think I'm sleepy. I just needed to keep my pledge from yesterday. And since recent pics of me have been absolutely horrendous, I figured I would just throw up on the front page a crazy-ass pic of my eye from 2002 in the Azores. I even remember thinking how cool it would be to take a close-up pic of my eye. And well, now you know that it could be quite boring in the Azores!

Speaking of the Azores! I forgot to mention that I had dinner with my roommate from the Azores, Angelo, this past weekend. He and his boyfriend (no, the water in the Azores is not homo-inducing) were in town and we were able to all meet up for dinner. It was nice to see him, especially since we didn't part ways without a bit of awkwardness over 5 years ago. It's amazing how much time, maturity, and experience render so many of the things that used to seem so huge so insignificant. So it really was nice to see Angelo and to see that he's happy. He lives in DC so in addition to Jeff (who got orders to there and will be reporting in July!), my installed friend base out here on the East Coast is starting to build up!

2 April 2008   Introducing...Steve

So there's Steve - the guy I'm currently dating the heck out of. He rocks.

I know that last I filled you in on the happenings of my life, I felt all kinds of stupid about all sorts of things. Well, I'm happy to report that so far, Steve has remained. And it's incredible to have a pretty cool guy like him in my life, especially with how things have been going lately at work.

OY - work. It's become a veritable ridiculous nonsense machine. And if I had written this entry yesterday, well, it would have been a very depressed, completely exhausted post about how much work sucks right now, becuase of the REACT application blah blah blah. But I had my first really good day with it today since we rolled it out to the Englewood Cliffs facility. A major setback was overcome, and not a moment too soon, as last night there were Senior VPs of NBC who were brought in to work on this issue. I am making quite a name for myself, let me tell you..... NOT. But this has dominated my life for the past two weeks, and there is no saying otherwise. It's just nice to see some POSITIVE progress there.

I wish I could report a whole slew of awesome things I've done since I last updated, but really, there's not. LOTS of work, a bit of dating (but very fun dating), and of course hanging out with Shelly at home, where we can both bitch to each other about how busy we are. :-) It's a Living.

So anyways, I just wanted to check in, show you Steve, and probably take down that pic tomorrow as I'm sure somewhere he doesn't appreciate being ogled on my site. <grin> Oh well.

Hoping that everything is going good for all you out there in the rest of the world!