BREW

IT'S WAR

2005-02-03T15:12:00.000-05:00

Everyone in my office has gone to war with each other fighting over who has to take over my job responsibilities since they are not replacing me till May or June. It is highly entertaining.

UPDATE ON THE MOVE

2005-02-02T10:32:00.000-05:00

I jumped the gun because I am not leaving for another week and a half, so I figure I will give the update. I get a call last night from HR of the new job and they had found me an apartment at a crazy good price. The price is so good that it actually scares me. It is less than I pay now and I have an excellent deal now. The only problem is that it is right in Elmira and I was hoping to try to move to Corning. I am going to check it out this Friday on my way back to the AVO. The other problem I am having is coming up with a good nickname for Elmira. HElmira seems too obvious to me. I had picked 'The Glass Cage' for Corning, because Corning invented glass or something like that that. The only thing I have to work on is the Mark Twain retired here and every other thing is named after him and the other half is name after some dude by the name of Samuel Clemens. The only other famous thing might be that there was a Union prison camp there during the Civil War. I have heard tell that it was worst that Andersonville, but the north won so it is the South that is portrayed as the barbarians. So If anyone has any ideas please leave them in the comments.

farewell

2005-01-31T10:32:00.000-05:00

This will be my last post for a while. I am leaving my job and taking a job in Elmira. I just gave my boss my two weeks and he tried to talk me out of it. This of course means that I will be moving. It is about a 50 minute drive from the GBA to my new job. I will be communing for the last 2 weeks of this month and since I am headed home the next to weekends, I plan on moving a lot of small stuff to my friend Joe's house. He has the most room to store it and is closer than my parents. I suspect that at the new job blogging will be very light to non-existant and because of the move and finding an apartment and my lack of a laptop this I suspect will be my last post for a least a month possibly into the end of march. Thank you everyone who leaves comments. I'll be back.

GOOGLE VIDEO

2005-01-25T17:38:00.000-05:00

This google video thing is cool and has given me another toy to play with. I don't think I like these results though.

WEATHER UPDATE AND SUPERBOWL

2005-01-25T11:07:00.000-05:00

I survived the 'BLIZZARD OF 05'. We got over a foot of snow. We got another inch yesterday and we are supposed to get another 2-6" today. I like the snow. It might actually get into the 20's today as well for the first time in two weeks. I have made my Superbowl plans this year. The last few Superbowls have been kind of lame for me. Last year I went to my parents Superbowl party and that was a good time, but they had a lot of people there and the next youngest person there was 20 years older than myself. My parents are doing it again this year, but are trying to have less people. The prior year I went to my friend Mazz's house and that was really lame. The year before that I tried to organize a party at my apartment, but since all my friends could not stand my housemate, Stacey, nobody showed up. That was fine actually because I went to bed at halftime. The year before that I watched it with the girl that was dating me at the time, but then my x-girlfriend called and I made an excuse and about having to leave and went over to my x-girlfriends and finished watching the game. (She was dating me, I was not dating her.) The prior year the Giants were in the Superbowl. The more significant part of that day was the fact that my roommate Rachael and I had been feuding. Her perspective was that she lived with 3 guys and always had their friend over at our apartment and she should get a little leeway on certain things. Brew don't get down like that. I grew up with 2 sisters very close to my age and it was Rachael choice to live with us. None of us make her take a semester off and be stuck in the GBA as a Super Senior at BU. I can't even remember what the disagreement started over. That afternoon everyone left and make us sit down and talk and we called a truce. Six months later she finally graduated, moved back to Queens and I have never heard from her again and that is fine with me. It may be shallow to still dislike a person after so many years and not even remember why, but I did have a good reason at the time and that is all that matters.

GBA IN LOCKDOWN

2005-01-21T16:34:00.000-05:00

Martial Law has been declared in the GBA. OK, not really.

Severe Weather Alert from the National Weather Service

...BRADFORD PA-BROOME NY-CHEMUNG NY-CHENANGO NY-CORTLAND NY-DELAWARE NY- NORTHERN WAYNE PA-OTSEGO NY-SCHUYLER NY-STEUBEN NY-SUSQUEHANNA PA- TIOGA NY-TOMPKINS NY-YATES NY- 304 PM EST FRI JAN 21 2005

... WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FROM 6 AM SATURDAY TO 6 AM EST SUNDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BINGHAMTON NY HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE COMBINATION OF HEAVY SNOW... DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS AND BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.

SNOW WILL SPREAD ACROSS CENTRAL NEW YORK AND NORTHERN PENNSYLVANIA SATURDAY MORNING, AND WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. TOTAL STORM ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 6 TO 10 INCHES IN THE SOUTHERN FINGER LAKES AND CENTRAL SOUTHERN TIER... TO BETWEEN 8 AND 12 INCHES ACROSS THE SUSQUEHANNA REGION OF NEW YORK TO BETWEEN 10 AND 14 INCHES IN THE CATSKILLS. ACROSS BRADFORD AND SUSQUEHANNA COUNTIES IN PENNSYLVANIA EXPECT 8 TO 14 INCHES BY LATE SATURDAY NIGHT.

IN ADDITION TO THE SNOW... NORTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 10 TO 20 MPH SATURDAY NIGHT LEADING TO CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO FALL TO BETWEEN ZERO AND 5 BELOW ZERO CREATING WIND CHILLS AS LOW AS 20 BELOW ZERO AT TIMES.

A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT BECAUSE HEAVY SNOW... AND CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW IS EXPECTED IN THE WARNING AREA. ROADS WILL BE SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY WITH POOR VISIBILITY. TRAVEL IS DISCOURAGED, UNLESS IT IS AN EMERGENCY. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL IN THE WARNING AREA SATURDAY OR SATURDAY NIGHT, USE EXTREME CAUTION

STAR WARS

2005-01-21T13:08:00.000-05:00

I discovered this blog about a guy who is already in line for Episode III. (If you don't know what that is, leave now. When Episode I came out my friend Steve was the first in line in the GBA for tickets. If I remember correctly he waited 3 days. A bunch of my friends had just graduated the Sunday prior from University and we were on had just finished day 8 of a 12 day bender the night before and we went to go get in line at 6am for the first showing at 9am. The most surreal part about the whole thing was not even the geeks who got dressed up at charcters. It was play Star Wars Trivial Pursuit with Randall Terry and his kids who were just ahead of us in line.

MY GRANDPARENTS

2005-01-21T09:10:00.000-05:00

My Grandpa Potter died when I was seven so I don't really have any memories of him. The only memory of him I have is of him sitting in his recliner smoking a cigarette. I believe that he was in his last 70's when he died. Ten years ago this past week my Grandpa Brewster died. I was much closer to him as I had spent a few summers when I was younger working on Uncle's dairy farm and I lived with my Grandmother and him right on the homestead. Grandpa's funeral was on a Friday, after the internment that day my parents drove down to Pennsylvania to see my Grandma Potter who lived about an our away from my Paternal grandparents. She had been ill recently and she died later that night. I was never really close to my Grandma Potter. I had actually been closer to her sister, my Great Aunt Wilma who treated me like the grandson she never had. My Aunt Wilma died a few years prior but she only had 2 Granddaughters. She had two sons, but one died in a farming accident when he was a teenager. My Grandma Potter on the other had 11 kids, my own mother being number 8. I don't even know how many cousins I have on that side of the family and the only time I have ever seen my mother's oldest brother was at my Grandmothers Funeral. My Grandma Brewster now is quite senile and does not remember anyone. It is quite sad.

7 YEARS MIGHT BE TOO LONG

2005-01-20T10:28:00.000-05:00

The beginning of March I would have lived in the GBA for 7 years. It is hard to believe that I have been out of the Army that long. Moving here was kind of a whim. The Captain was living down here attending BU and I really had no idea what I was going to do after I got I out. I had managed to get my Associates' while I was in the Army but I was 23 and a little bit older than your average collage student. The Captain was 27 or 28 when I moved it with him. I actually only lived with him for 2 months and his then girlfriend-now wife made it clear she did not like me and he moved in with her when the Semester was over and I got my own place. The strange thing now is that after those first few years my friends where all mates from school. When I graduated most of my friends moved on. That I know of there are only two that still live in the in area and I only see one every few months. The other is a chick and the last time I saw here was over a year ago we ran into each other at a gas station and made that annoying small talk with people that used to be close friends. The strange thing with her is that we might have dated if I was interested in that sore of thing when I was 23. She was probably my first friend in the GBA when I moved here and now I can't remember her name. This kicker is now; I don't even like the friends I have now. I cannot remember the last time I called one of my friends here to hang out. They either call me or just stop by. I think after 7 years I have had enough of the GBA. I am seriously contemplating a move back to Western New York; this really means that I am thinking about moving to Rochester or as I like to call it the 'GRA'. I would only be about an hour from Avoca and my friends that still live in the 'GAA' and I have plenty of friends that live in the GRA already. I think I am going to it after winter is over.

BLOCKBUSTER ONLINE

2005-01-19T11:12:00.000-05:00

I have been using Blockbuster Online for a month now and I have been very happy with it. I did do a free trial of Netflix but Blockbuster is cheaper and the envelopes to mail the movies back seal much better as the adhesive area is 3x bigger than the Netflix package. I find the Blockbuster site easier to navigate. So everything was going smooth. I got home from work, worked out for a half an hour and was going to watch the first Episode of Season 2. I was the right sleeve, but it was Vol. 2 of Season 2 and not Vol. 1. Season 1 ended with a cliffhanger and I can have resolved to watch all 7 seasons in order. It was quite easy to report on the website, but manyana I am suppose to get Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 in the mail. I just hope that Vol. 2 is Vol. 1. I recommend Blockbuster anyways over Netflix.

OLD MAN'S WAR

2005-01-19T09:44:00.000-05:00

I finished Old Man's War last night. If you like the SF, I would suggest this book. I enjoyed it a lot. It reads really quickly for just over 300 pages. It does move slow at some places especially when the writer tries to explain how certain things work. I come from the George Lucas school of SF. Lucas says in the commentary for Episode IV that we did not want to explain anything to the viewer, that way it was easier to except that something was possible if you did not force them to think about it. That said I highly recommend it. The writer is also a blogger.

IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

2005-01-18T09:59:00.000-05:00

At this moment at 9:47 EST it is -1 in the GBA. Right next door is the Broome County Department of Records and the buildings are connected. Their fire alarm goes off and since it wired right into the police and fire stations, firemen and policeman show up. The fireman have us all leave the building for fifteen minutes so they can clear the us, the DoR, and the business on the other side. Did I mention that it is -1 outside.

POKER AT TURNING STONE

2005-01-17T11:29:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning I drove up to Turning Stone Casino. It is about an hour and 1/2 drive from the GBA. I left the GBA around 8:00 in the morning as I had never been there before and was not sure of the exact time that it would take me to get there and I was relying on Yahoo Maps to get me there. I stopped for breakfast on the way up and got there about a little before 10. I had gone up to play in a poker tournament that started at 11:00. It was my first time in a Casino, but it was exactly what I expected. The only thing I was not used to is to see people smoking indoors. In New York you cannot smoke in any public building including bars and restaurants. This has been the law for almost two years now. It has been a long time since I had seen someone smoke indoors and I had gotten to use to not seeing people smoke that it was a strange thing to see. I wondered around for about 10 minutes and registered for the tournament. It was a $55 buy-in, a $10 registration fee and $2 poker room daily pass. The limit the tournament to 159 players and I think they were pretty close to that. So in the $8,000 dollar pot gets divided among the top 5 finishers with the eventual winner getting the largest share and so down to 5th place. Each table has 11 people at it, which is more than I am used too, but the game moves along rather quickly. I decide to make my first move about 5 hands in. I was dealt the king and jack of hearts. I rose to the ante up to 100 and I got 2 callers. The flop came down and it was all low hearts, so I flopped a flush. I was way ahead in probability to win the hand. The first person checked, I raised 500 and the guy after me went all in. The guy that had checked folded and I immediately called his all in. I knew that the only thing that could beat me is if the other guy had an ace of hearts and another heart. He flipped over the Ace and my heart sank. I had only been playing for 15 minutes and I was about to go out. He flipped his other card and it was off suit. I would win the hand as long as no heart came up on the turn and on the river. There was no such heart and I had double the chips that anyone else at my table had. The very next hand I was dealt a pair of kings. In this type of situation the best thing to do is lead with a big bet and just scare everyone off and take the chips out there for the antes. I did raise, but not enough and I got 3 callers. The flop was all low cards and I raised again and only left one other person in. This started to get me worried because at this point, the other guy could have paired both his cards with the flop. I checked the next hand not wanting to throw any chips away if I lost and the other guy checked as well. We both check the river as well. We flipped our cards and he had nothing. If this had been one of my friends I would have berated him for staying in on such a bad hand. At this point I am way ahead of anyone else at the table, but I could not get to cocky because there were 15 other tables in the room. I decided that I would play 'table boss'. This was a term that my 'clone' came up to describe a way of playing when you are way ahead in chips. The point is to bully people out of pots that you only have a nominal chance of winning. You only lose on the chance that someone out there has gotten a lucky 3 of a kind. I did not lose and by the time we took a 1/2-hour break for lunch at 1:00 there were four people gone from our table. I had successfully bluffed my way to a few pot wins. I did end up having to fold a few hands and lost a little money when the flop came up and a flush and a straight where possible and people bet into them. The afternoon wore down and I was still making more money. We took a 1/2-hour dinner break at 6 and we were down to 5 tables. I was dead tired because I had gotten up at 6:30 that morning to work out and playing poker for 7 hours at the rate we were playing was emotionally draining because of all the highs and lows. I think the longest time I had every played in a game before was 3 hours and it has always been with friends. This was a different environment. I came back from dinner and I my play was a little bad. I was betting totally wrong in certain situations, but I was also playing against better players since there was less that 50 of us left now. Another hour past, and we were now down to four tables. My last hand I was dealt ace, queen off suit. I called to stay in for the flop. Two 2's and a 7 came up on the flop. I am thinking there is nothing out there. The one person that was been at every table I had played at calls me. If I was not taking chips, he was taking chips. The river was nothing. I checked, and he bet low. I called. The river came up and it was another 7. This point I was thinking that no one in their right mind would stay in with a deuce or a 7 in there hand. I though my ace was good as the high card. If anything the other guy had a pocket pair and that would be me. I was bet pretty large into the pot and now had more in the pot than I had in front of me. The other guy went all in. I am thinking I am already pot committed. If I fold, I will be the short stack and it will just be a slow death after that. He has got to be bluffing. I called. He flipped over a queen and a two. Full House, deuces over sevens. I was beat. It was a bad beat to, so I could not get so upset about it. A bad beat is a poker term for when player wins a hand he has no business being in. He should have folded before the flop but he got lucky and milked me for all my chips. I was very happy for the way I played and I had gotten pretty far in the tournament. It is just money anyways and I had a lot of fun. It is definitely something I will do again.

TARAH MOVES TO INDIANA, PART 2

2005-01-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

The next morning we ate at the truck stop. I do remember that our waitress was cute in a western Pennsylvania collage dropout working very early at a truck stop sort of way. I think she appreciated me hitting on her compared to the average trucker that was in there on a daily basis. We hit the road. We still had a good 8 hours left on the road. It was kind of a boring drive once we got past Cleveland. I glad I was not driving in that traffic. Ohio was kind of boring to drive through. We stopped for petrol and I made my mom get in the truck and I drove my sisters car. This gave me a chance to talk with my sister. There is really not much more than that. All there is in Ohio past Cleveland is a cornfield. I grew up in a small town, but this is ridicule. We eventfully made it to Indiana but it was no different than Ohio. I have been all over the country and into Central America, but I have never been anywhere, where there was nothing but flatness. It was a bit disconcerting for me. We got to my sister's apartment complex on the outskirts of Muncie at around 6. It took my father and I another 2 hours to unload the truck. We then headed into town for dinner. I wanted to go to Steak N Shake, but we ended up going to Cracker Barrel. I like Cracker Barrel, but there is one in the GBA and I can go anytime. How often am I going to get a chance to go to Steak N Shake? After dinner, I set up my sister new computer that her father-in-law had just gotten her because her laptop finally bit the dust. The next day was Sunday. This was only Sunday I can remember that my parents did not go to Church. Even when we were we kids were young, off somewhere on vacation, my parents would find a Church to attend service. We stayed that day. My sister and mom and I went grocery shopping. They went grocery shopping. I drove around Muncie looking for some non-white people. I found four. We left Monday Morning. I drove my parents car most of the way. I eventually stopped in Jamestown, New York. I was beat and we had just driven into a snowstorm. I know it was a boring story, but I was not holding a gun to your head.

TARAH MOVES TO INDIANA

2005-01-13T15:21:00.000-05:00

Certain "blogeperites" have been on a cross-country trip from Texas to Florida. It got me thinking about the only time I helped with a big move and plus I need to post something lest the rest of the blogosphere think me dead. My sister Tarah decide to move from Syracuse, New York to Muncie, Indiana. The move was 2 years ago this month. Her Husband had died a little over a year ago at that point and she wanted to leave the flat that she and him had shared, plus at the time she was still working at St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse and Andy had worked there and died there. (If anyone ever needs to get a pacemaker changed I would suggest not using St. Joe's in Syracuse, you are taking your life in your hands. In fact the whole place is dodgy so go to University Hospital.) Anyways, Tarah rented a big Penske truck with a thing to tow my parent’s car since my father and mother was also helper her move and Tarah would be driving her own car. When I got to my sister's flat in the 'Cuse her in-laws where there but it seemed to me nothing was packed. It was of course, but I was led to think that Tarah brother-in-laws and father-in-law would load the truck. It was not, the truck was still be retrieved when I got there. It took us about an hour to get it loaded and Tarah had bought everyone helping take out from Dinosaur Barbecue. It is the best Barbeque in the world. There is one in Rochester and NYC, but the 'Cuse is the original and just going there is an experience. I am getting off track again, but it is good. We finally left at around 6. My dad drove the truck, me in the passenger and Tarah and our Mum followed in Tarah's car. The first 2 and a half ours on the road where fine. The truck was only a few years old and ran really good. About 45 minutes from PA we stopped for Petrol. It was here that we found out the last person that used the truck had stripped the gas cover and we could not get the cap to come off to fill the truck up. At this time we are in Western New York in January at about 9:00 at night. My father and I are trying to get this cap off and I am wondering, “Do I love my sister this much?” It took about a half an hour to get gas cap off and I only lost 2 fingers to frostbite. That’s a joke. I lost three. My dad gets worked up about these sorts of things, so I felt safer driving. In the Army I drove 5 tons and deuce and half’s, but this was a little bigger. I drove the next few hours and we stopped outside Erie, Pa and spent the night in a motel.

To be continued…

(Ed. I have officially coined the term blogeperties by combining blogger and celebrity. If you wish to use this word you can donate.)

WADE BOGGS

2005-01-07T14:16:00.000-05:00

Boggs to get Red Sox cap on Hall plaque HA HA HA

DRIVING IN SNOW

2005-01-06T16:16:00.000-05:00

I really have not found anything interesting to blog about, so be prepared to be bored our your mind. It snowed today. I know it is exciting. Actually it snowed last night and this morning was freezing rain. That meant that my truck was covered in a layer of ice this morning. I did not think the roads were bad, but people always forget how to drive when it snows, so there were a few cars of the road. I am not perfect the weather has caused me to loose control of cars before in the past. Two weeks after I got my license I was going home from basketball practice on Veteran's Day and the road slopes downhill and since I had just recently gotten my license, I was driving to fast and did I 540 in the middle of the road and slid up backwards on to a guard rail. You can drive by that same guardrail and see the dent to this day. My parents did not seem to be upset. I was distraught and did not get behind a wheel of a car till that spring. The following year, I was driving home from a basketball game. We had won, but I played bloody awful. I did not handle failure very well and I slid off the road again and into a snow bank. It being a small community, I knew the people who lived right next door to where I had planted my car in a snow bank. It took all 5 minutes to have them pull me out of the snow bank. There was no damage to the car. That was it, 12 years without going off the road because of bad weather. I have only gone off the road one other time since then and it was because that was because of my driving. My friend Tuna was working at this father's fishing camp in the North Country for the summer. I went up to spend the weekend up there. This lake that his father owns and runs a fishing retreat out of is 20 miles from civilization. The road down to the lake from the main road is dirt and only wide enough for one car. Tuna and I were headed into town our "business lunch". Tuna's father owns an accounting firm so everything gets written off as a business expense. Anyway, I was driving my truck way to fast up this road, sliding and fishtailing around the corners. I lost control and drove over a 30 foot embankment. The only thing holding my trunk in place was a small tree. We got out and walked back to get Tuna's Dad's old truck to pull mine off the edge of the embankment. It took me a couple of weeks after that till I went back to my normal driving pattern.

PASTA AND GIANTS

2005-01-03T13:34:00.000-05:00

The Football season is over. I have nothing to do on Sunday afternoons till the Giants play again in September. I want either Eagles or Colts to win the Superbowl. Donovan and Payton both deserve and it would be a shame if either never won a Superbowl. No matter what I will be cheering against the Jets and Pittsburgh. I have friends that are fans of both, so I rather not hear any gloating.

Since the Giants did not play until last night, I found my self kind of bored yesterday afternoon. I got these nice Stainless Steel pots and pans for Christmas from Santa, so I had it a point to use every single one except for the big kettle I got. I had the bright idea of boiling pasta and putting it into disposable Tupperware. This I belief would be a great time saver and it should be. I could do 2 boxes of Ziti at a time. When it was all said and done, I have 12 Tupperware containers of cooked pasta in my icebox. I don't know if it goes bad, but even if I ate once a day, I think I have enough cooked to last till the end of the month.

BARNES, A LITTLE BIT OF NOBLE

2004-12-30T10:46:00.000-05:00

I love Barnes & Noble. I work 2 minutes from B & N and I usually go there and buy someone once a week. I decided to place an order on line this week. I placed the order Tuesday morning and got my books this morning and I save around $18 over buying the books in a store. The books are Prime Obsession by John Derbyshire, Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden, and Sunday Morning Quarterback by Phil Simms.

A QUICK POST ABOUT THE PAST WEEKEND

2004-12-28T13:37:00.000-05:00

Christmas weekend was great. My mother is now in a full court press to set up me up again. I won $150 playing poker at various times between Thursday night and Sunday night. I drove back in a snow storm leaving Avoca at midnight and getting to the GBA after 2 in the morning just to go to work and be bored since all colleges and high schools are closed these week and I have nothing to do. My friend Tuna's girlfriend came on to me but if I tell him he will think I am just kidding and trust me she came on to me and she had not been drinking. I have made plans to visit Tuna in DC in February. That will be interesting. My friend Joe's wife kicked him out of the house Christmas Eve because "he spent to much money on her for Christmas". It turns out that he just did not like the $300 chair that he bought her and that she is insane and further proves my point that my friends should consult me before they get married. A bit on irony for you. My mother was saying that my High School is having a problem with kids skipping school to play poker. Sunday afternoon, I took part in a $5 buying 8 person game and it came down to me and the wife of the cousin my friends Smallz and Joe's. She beat me because I went all in and she called and hit on 5th street to take me down. So the women that beat me is the Principal of my old high school. Don't worry readers, she got so over-confident that she came to Joe's house later that night and I won everything so I got my $5 back and another $5 from her along with everyone else's money. I am leavening work early because I need to clean my house after the holidays and I have a X coming into town for a wedding of a mutual friend and she is staying with me in the spare bedroom. Till next time.

FESIVUS

2004-12-23T16:16:00.000-05:00

Please leave all disappointments in the comments

TRAVELING ADVICE FOR BLONDES

2004-12-23T13:07:00.000-05:00

Flying? Don't leave bullets in your pocket

Just go read it. This was on the front page of the local paper. The sub-title of the story kills me.

LIKE I HAVE TIME TO NAME BLOG POST AND SUCH

2004-12-22T18:55:00.000-05:00

I am really burnt out from my job. I have written post for the blog. Read it over and thought 'I don't want to read this crap, why would anyone else'. I am thinking the same thing now. My life has become unbelievably boring the last 2 months, I can barely stand it. I have thought about taking a new approach to this blog. That would probably take place in February and March. It started out as a hobby, but I have time to post anything meaningful other then stupid things about my boring life. I really don't know how people post anything at all and some I know that some of the blogs I read are by people with jobs. I just don't know how they manage to post a few times a day. I usually check my favorite blogs twice a day and they seem to always have to new stuff. My miss my old blog, I used to force my self to write things on the weekend and the post them throughout the week. I was getting like 20 returning visits a day. The problem was that one of my close friends that I really don't like much accidentally stumble across it. I did not feel the freedom to post what I wanted when I would have to answer for it in person. I am going to try and get back to that but it probably won't be till things slow back down halfway through the next quarter.

NO USE FOR A NAME (OF THIS POST)

2004-12-20T15:29:00.000-05:00

They are trying to ruin Christmas for me. I was hoping to leave work at head to my parents at around 3, but since UPS is delivering Air packages on Friday some one has to be here to lock up after the warehouse closes and we hare having UPS do our daily pickup a hour later than normal. I lost the office lottery, so I got picked to be one to stay late. I will be here to at least 7 on Thursday. I loathe driving at night and it basically pointless to go back since I would not even be back till 9 than night. I will head back Friday morning. It turns out we are doing family Christmas Friday afternoon at around 3. Since I now have 3 month old nephew and my sister Aaron and her Husband live an hour and 1/2 from my parents, they don't want to be there late. This is something I am not happy about.

In what I don't know is good news, my friend Joe called me Saturday to tell me that his wife is a month pregnant. He did not like it when I asked who the father was. Long time readers will remember that I can not stand this girl.

A MESSAGE FOR RICKY WILLIAMS

2004-12-20T13:33:00.000-05:00

re·spon·si·bil·i·ty

Something for which one is responsible; a duty, obligation, or burden

Taking care of your kids is not being generous.

You sould like every other pot-smoking, jam band-listening, Petruli-smelling, Gillette Razor-needing,"i need to find myself" quasi-buddist, burnout I have ever had spoken to.

You are an idoit.

THE EVE (OF CHRISTMAS)

2004-12-16T15:47:00.000-05:00

That was when I was really young. When I got into High School I used to have basketball practice before school for an hour and half on non-game days. This meant that I was getting up at five in the morning at least 3 days a week and going to practice for an hour and half before school. I then would have practice after school. I also had a part time job on the weekends that I had to be at 6 in the morning on Saturday and Sunday. My point is I never slept in. My brother is ten years younger, so he was still way into the Christmas morning thing. My sisters were as well, but mostly because that is just the way chicks are. I like Christmas morning, too. We had a whole Eve and Christmas morning tradition that we had done since my sisters and I were young. It was always the same and I liked that. In 1998 my sister Aaron graduated from college and took a job running a dog kennel outside of Rochester. That was the kind of job where someone needs to be there 24 hours a day. She could not make one her employees work Christmas so she did and she hired my other sister, Tarah, who was home on break to help her out that day. That year we did all of Christmas on the Eve. Christmas day my father, brother, and mother went up to the farm and did chores for my Uncle and Cousins so they could enjoy Christmas without having to milk the cows and clean the barn. I was bored so I came back to the GBA and went to the movies with a few Jewish friends. It really is lonely for a Jews on Christmas. The next year was same thing but I stayed in Avoca Christmas Day. It was a very relaxing day. The next Christmas, Aaron had finally joined the corporate world and could take Christmas off. The problem was that my other sister Tarah and her husband Andy were both RN and they could get the Eve off, but not Christmas day. At this point I was used to. I have accepted doing Christmas on the Eve. Christmas day everyone spends with their in-laws except my brother and myself because we are not married. Tarah is a widow, but her in-laws still treat her like the other daughter they never had and she goes to Syracuse for Christmas day. I have really enjoyed just relaxing on Christmas day until...This year we are still doing Christmas at my parents house on the Eve, but sista' Aaron has decided to host Christmas dinner at her house in Watkins Glen. This means no relaxie for Brewie on Christmonie. Her and her husband Frank have a nice house but it will also be filled with her in-laws, which includes her nephews that will get on my nerves fast. EGGGGGNOGGG.

DINNER W/ DAD AND MOM AND AN ACCIDENT

2004-12-14T17:08:00.000-05:00

Saturday night I drove to Elmira to meet my parents for dinner. They had spent the afternoon shopping at the mall. I was not really entice by the idea of driving an hour to Elmira and an hour back just for a free meal, but I love my parents so I can not say no. My parents suffer from Empty Nest syndrome and I am their favorite of the four kids. It turns out a week and a half ago my mother went off the road on an icy patch and slip into a ditch doing $3500 worth of body damage to the car. It happened on her way to work. She claims that this was her first accident, I don't believe based on the way she drives. She was unhurt, so the story has a funny ending. In September my mother was hired as the church secretary after the old one retired. The pastor of my parents church has been there for 7 or 8 years but my parents have been close friends with him and his wife for over 20 years. Two days before her accident, she had her first performance review. This I thought strange since the Church only has 4 paid employees to include the Pastor, asst. Pastor, the cleaning lady, and my mother. So anyways the Pastor told my mother that she did not have to get to work as early as she did and that if the weather was bad to wait for the plows to come threw. It is all back roads from my parents house to the church. My mother is pretty headstrong and she told the Pastor in no uncertain terms that she had been driving over the hill to church for the last 27 years and she could handle it. Two days later she went off the road. My parents Pastor is not the kind of guy to let my my mother live it down. She is going to be hearing about this for many years.

CHRISTMAS PARTY

2004-12-11T13:16:00.000-05:00

Friday night was our company Christmas party. It was a good time. Last year we had it right here in the office on Christmas Eve day afternoon and that was a real inconvenience for me since I was leaving town to go to my parents which are two hours away and we do our family Christmas on the Eve. This year the party was paid for my a show company that I will not name. They paid for it because we are the biggest distributors for their shoes in the United States. I drank more glasses of wine than I have in a long time in one sitting. I generally feel that I can drink as much beer as I want to and not feel drunk. I have not touched liqueur in years. A few years ago, I tried to turn my self in a wine drink but it did not take. I still would rather have a glass of wine with a nice dinner than a beer but really there is nothing more relaxing than getting home from work and having a Genny. (As in Genny Light.) I also decided that last night was my last secret Santa that I will participate in at work. I think I do well buying gifts for my family and friends, but other people I suck. I won't even tell you what I bought, but I got a $10 gift certificate to EB games which is perfect for me and also a bit strange. It is strange because I keep all knowledge for my love of video games at a minimum at work, so I have no idea who my secret Santa was. It was a very good time.

DREAM

2004-12-09T13:41:00.000-05:00

I had a dream about my Swiss x-girlfriend last night. Nothing bad, but we were still together in the dream, so I guess it was really a nightmare (heh). I hate the Swiss. So what if you speak five languages, no one has even heard of Romansh so that language should not even count. The last thing I want is to dream about someone I can't stand to think about when I am awake. Sorry, just wanted to get that off my chest.

I HAVE NOT QUIT, YET.

2004-12-08T13:50:00.000-05:00

Despite reports, I have not given up bloging. I just have no time. I am spending 10 to 12 hours a day at work and I am extremely busy the entire time. I get home from work and I am so tired I lay down on the couch and just watch the telly. I am leaving work early Friday so I can go to our company Christmas party for which I still need to buy a gift for my secret Santa and I have no idea what to get. I just found out that I have to dress up for the Christmas party and I don't even dress up for work. I have actually had some good things to blog about but I don't have five minutes to gather my thoughts to put something together that won't read like a fourth grader wrote it. That is all for now. Don't give up. It will all get better in February or March or April, I hope.

THE DEERSLAYER

2004-11-29T18:14:00.000-05:00

I did not kill any deer this year on my 2 and 1/32 days of hunting. Thursday, I went to the farm. The farm is the dairy farm where my father grew up and where I have two sets of uncles and aunts that live up there. I sat out for 6 hours in the tree stand and saw nothing. I then had to go meet my parents for lunch so that was it for Thursday. Two days later my cousin got two deer from the same tree stand. I did not hunt Friday because I had to come back to the GAB and work. Saturday I went out and saw a buck and a doe but bother where to far out for me to take a shot with a shot gun. If only I could hunt with my M-16 from the Army. Saturday night my friends had a surprise party for me, so I did not get up early enough to hunt Sunday. I was driving to meet my parents at church Sunday morning. My parents church is in the middle of nowhere. I was about halfway there and it is all dirt roads to the church. The part of the road I was cuts through the middle of a Pine forest. There I was on my way when I saw a Dow walk across the road up ahead of me. It was about a quarter of a mile up ahead. I stopped my truck. I did not have my shotgun with me, since I had not planned on hunting again and I store my shotgun on my parents and don't take it back to the GBA with me. Do not be discouraged, young ones. I was not without a weapon. I had my trusty SIG PRO .40. I got a full clip out of the glove compartment and got the gun out of its case under my seat. (It is legal to hunt with a handgun in NYS.) The deer was still standing by the side of the road, under NYS should be relatively save since you can't fire across a road or at a road or from a road, in reality it was in a lot of danger. I got out of my truck, slid the clip in, took the safety off. I aimed and fired and I hit the tree next to the deer, I got off another shot. The deer was now gone. I hit another tree. I cleared the gun and got back into my truck and went to church.

Speaking of hunting with handguns, the Town Justice for Avoca shot his brother in law in the arm on accident with a .44 Magnum. The guy was not hurt bad at all. I guess he walked out of the woods and called an ambulance and was hunting the next day. So the next time you are on 390 near exit 1 in NYS, make sure you don't speed. We dish out justice the old fashioned way in Avoca.

UPDATE: Here is the story in the Corning Leader.

30!!!!

2004-11-26T08:44:00.000-05:00

Today is my 30th birthday or 23 depending on who you believe.

I DEMAND REPARATIONS

2004-11-24T09:52:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is what I consider one of two real holidays, along with Christmas. Everything else is a day off. I have a very personal connection to the holiday as well. On my Father's side of the family we trace our Ancestors back to Elder William Brewster. The spiritual leader of the Pilgrims. I am the part of the 13th generation of Brewster in this country. I can remember being young and learning about the Pilgrims and knowing that my Ancestors helped create the first remnants of a Modern Democracy with the Mayflower Compact. I have just always taken a lot of pride in my family being part of an important piece of American History. In fact I think I should be getting royalties for the use of Thanksgiving in advertising. I was also born two days before thanksgiving in 1974 and that truly is the reason for the season.

BASKETBALL VIOLENCE

2004-11-23T16:19:00.000-05:00

When I was a Senior in HS I played Basketball. My best friend Jeff and I had both started on Varsity since we were Sophomores. Jeff was and still is one of my closest friends. We had started being friends and Kindergarten and barely a week went by those first 13 years of our friendship that we did not hang out together. You think people grow up right and then they go off and married a southerner and forget everything I learn't them growing up. I am getting off track.
One night in practice Jeff and I were scrimmaging in practice on opposite teams. Another good friend of ours SmallZ who is still also one of my best friends today was on Jeff's side. Smallz rode the pine. he never said anything, but I know it bothered him that his two best friends where the studs of the team and he played about 30 seconds a game. It was not that Smallz was not an athlete, he did things on a Baseball diamond I could not even dream about, but in Avoca Basketball was King and Jeff and I were princes. So in practice to make up for his lake of skill SmallZ played hard and he was guarding me. He was blatantly fouling me but it was practice and the coach let that stuff go to build of toughness. I was guarding Jeff on D. Since I was getting pushed by SmallZ, I started pushing Jeff in frustration. This went back and forth for about fifteen minutes till Jeff tackled me in the middle of the court. Coach threw us out of practice so quick, the next thing I remember was being out in the hall by the Senior lockers joking around with Jeff. It did not hurt our friendship at all, we blamed SmallZ. The funny thing was that the cheerleaders where just getting out of practice and asked us what we were doing in the hall. We explained that we got kicked out of practice for fighting. They did not believe us till they could confirm it with people that saw the whole thing go down. The next day Jeff and I had to do push-ups over a picture of the team and kiss the picture every time we went down. That was easy compared to the practice after we left. Coach was so pissed off that he rode the rest of the team in to the ground the rest of practice. Jeff and I walked over to his house which was only a few blocks from the school and his Mom made us some sandwiches. This was a bad idea, although his Mom suspected nothing. His father was our History teacher and one of the most intimidating people I have ever known. He found out what happened and read us the riot act. That was the one and only time I have ever fought a friend.

BUSY AND WEEK 1560

2004-11-23T13:26:00.000-05:00

I have been to busy to post anything, but a lot of interesting things have been happening. I have been contacted by 2 x-girlfriends in the last week. They both want to 'normalize relations'. I tend not to get along with x-girlfriends except for one exception. Then this past Saturday night another friend of mine informs me that another X that he knows is moving back in January to the GBA for grad school. I don't think he was suppose to tell me, but this girl and I have have a bunch of mutual friends. So it is going to get interesting, me thinks.

So, today is my 1560 week on Earth. It is a nice place. I have enjoyed it. Friday is my 30th birthday. It is really weird and strange to me. I never really thought I would ever be 30. Thank g-d that I look 23.

PURGATORY

2004-11-20T13:52:00.000-05:00

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test

via Llama Butchers

PEPSI SPICE

2004-11-17T11:10:00.000-05:00

If you enjoy eating cinnamon sticks then by all means drink Pepsi Spice. All the rest of you people,STAY AWAY. You have been warned.

UPDATE: This is what it is.

THIS MORNING

2004-11-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

I wonder in these small incidents in my life give my readers a better perspective of who I am? Well, today you get a two for price of one.

I come strolling into the office at 9:10 this morning.

"Everybody stop worrying, I am here"

"Oh, are you late?"

"Funny"

"So, why are you late?"

"I lost track of time"

"Is that why you still holding a full Starbucks Frapachino?"

"Ummm, alright"

This was all done is jest, nobody really cares if your late as long as you come to work.

Later that same morning.

"Matt (one of the IT guys), I can't get my computer to print."

"I will be right over to check it out."

"Ok, thanks"

a few minutes later.

"Maybe you should try putting paper into the printer"

"Oh, um, do I look like have time to put paper into a printer"

"Maybe if you were on time for work, you would have time."

"Touché"

SPELLING

2004-11-16T14:59:00.000-05:00

Any regular readers will notice my spelling is awful. So my boss just comes over to me and says

"Do you spell your name J-A-S-A-N?"

"negative"

"So why did you do it on this paperwork.?"

"UMMM, I'VE BEEN SET UP!!"

"HA HA HA I don't think so. HA HA HA" (Whole office fills with laughter at my expense)

INDEPNDENT BREW

2004-11-15T13:29:00.000-05:00

They are killing Independent Brew. I just found out that my 39 year old cousin is getting married. Curses. In the past, I could always say 'Hey Jeffery is not married yet?' and that usually kept the "When are you going to settle down?" questions at a low. Now, he is going ahead and getting married and to make it worse his fiancé is good friends with my sister Aaron. They have been conspiring for the last 6 months to set me up. The last girl Aaron tried to set me up with got married this summer. Dodged that bullet. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we have Thanksgiving with all my aunts and uncles and cousins on my Dad's side. I also realized that my another old excuse I used for not getting married was my grandfather. He did not get married till he was 29. I am going to be 30 the day after Thanksgiving, so that excuse is no longer valid for me. It really boils down that there are only two girls out of the girls I have dated that I can look back on and say I would have married them. One is Swiss girlfriend, but I think I may have illusions about her since it now has been a few years since we broke up and I have forgotten the exact reasons why I did not like here, but at least she was smart and I tend to attract girls that are less intelligent then me( not that it is hard to be less intelligent then me). The other one would be this other girl who was never really a girlfriend technically. but that is a story for another day.

CONVERSATION IN MY OFFICE THIS MORNING

2004-11-11T10:14:00.000-05:00

"That whole Bamboo under the fingernails thing last night on Lost was crazy"
-co-worker

"It is not so bad, when I was in Hondo (Honduras-ed.), I had some Sandinistas who did the same thing to me."- me

"Really?!!?"-co-worker

"No, not really"-me, shakes head in disbelief

ed. note-I was stationed in Hondo for a while when I was in the Army.

THIS IS MY SORRY EXCUSE FOR A TITLE

2004-11-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

For all 3 of my regular readers, I know blogging has been light, but work is keeping me busy. It will just get busy, we had our newest employee quit because she said the job was to stressful. To which I replied, this is the least stressful job I have ever had. Nobody is truly upset that she is quitting, which is probably the reason she is quitting. I will have a post manyana on why I joined the army tomorrow.
And via Llama Butchers check this out. Scroll down, you will see what I mean.

PENN STATE / NORTHWESTERN

2004-11-08T10:10:00.000-05:00

I headed down to State College for the Penn State/Northwestern football game this weekend with my Father. It is about a 2 hour and 40 minute trip from my parents house. It is always strange to go down there. The way we go onto campus is all dairy farms then suddenly you crest a hill and there are 100,000 people there. Even though PSU lost it was a good time and we had excellent seats. That was about the most exciting part of the weekend.

WHAT KIND OF LEADER AM I?

2004-11-04T18:41:00.000-05:00

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

SOME THINGS

2004-11-04T15:57:00.000-05:00

Many of my regular readers will remember me talking about my $100 bet on the election. I won of course. The person I made the bet with was at my house last night and made no mention of the bet. I am not the kind of person to bring it up money owed especially with friends. This friend called me and said that he had gotten two tickets to the Penn State/Northwestern game this weekend in State Collage. It looks like I will be heading to Avoca after work manyana, and head to Penn State Saturday with my Father. I feel much better now that the election is over. I take this stuff way to seriously. The vendors I deal with on an almost daily business for my job have said they noticed my disposition has been better these past two days.
In other news...

I pre-order Halo 2 for my XBOX last night and was told that EB will open at midnight Monday to pick it up. I totally paid for the game, but they told me that if I planned on picking it up that night it was a good idea to come in during the day Monday to pick up A numbered flier because even though I was all paid up I could still spend a couple of hours in que to get the game. I will just get it after work Tuesday night. That is a little crazy.

I bought a twelver of Yeugling at Weagmens last night. The cashier checking me out asked for ID. I showed her. "You are not almost thirty". She called the manager over to make sure that I did not have a fake ID. I look young, but that is crazy.

Speaking of crazy, I just read that the Average height for men is 5'9". That's a shame. I am 6'4". My two closest friends are both over 6'. I only have one close friend that is under. I consider any man under 6' to be short.

I hate Halloween, mostly because I hate candy. I am at this moment feeling sick from eating candy corn. stupid holiday.

We got our first frost of the year last night in the GBA. Personally, I don't mind the cold as long as there is snow. If there is not snow and it is cold, it is annoying and pointless.

You probebly had to be here to think this was funny. I just called my warehouse and had them look to see if I was back there wondering around. It took them 10 minutes before they figured out what I had done.

MY VOTE

2004-11-02T09:42:00.000-05:00

#28 to vote in my polling place at 7:15 this morning. I don't know what that means for voter turnout. I did not have to wait in line at all, which is the reason I went to early. I did vote for one democrat. I feel guilty if I vote straight Republican, so I know the guy that is running for Binghamton City Judge. He got my vote just because he is a decent person (for a democrat). If he gets elected and I ever have to go to court in Binghamton than at least the Judge knows me personally.

BIRTHDAYS

2004-10-29T10:07:00.000-04:00

Four weeks from today I turn 30. So I have one month to grow up. I am blessed to look 23,24, but cursed to act 20. I actually decided last week when I was grocery shopping to grow up. I bought napkins. I had never bought napkins. I had always used paper towels, as a napkin. Not any more, now I am civilized. This past week instead of listening to the local Pop station, I have listened to Imus on my way to work. I heard that adults listen to talk radio. It is so weird to thing about that number. 30. I remember most of my birthdays quite well for the last ten years.

20: This was actually pretty boring. It was on a Saturday. My family does a big extended family Thanksgiving on Saturday after Thanksgiving. This one was at my cousin Jeffery's house. I probably went out with my friends that night.

21:I was the first of my friends to turn 21. So I got to buy beer at Midnight. My friends and I stayed up drinking and playing cards all night. My actually birthday day, I spent with my then girlfriend. Nine years and this girl still has a grudge, but that is a different story.

22: This year sucked, I was supposed to go up to Penn Yan and see a Keuka Collage basketball game that one my best friends from high school was in. We got a huge snow storm and I spent it with my family.

23: I actually had 2 girlfriends at that same time for this birthday. It was a good thing. Everyone deserves a piece of me. I learned my lesson. It is to hard to birthdays and holidays when you have two girlfriends to plan around.

24: This was my first birthday in the GBA. My birthday was on Thanksgiving. I was bouncing back in those days and I had worked Wednesday night and had to drive the 2 hours home that say for Thanksgiving.

25: Car Insurance drops. Whooo-hooo. I actually don't remember 25 maybe I skipped it and I am actually a year younger.

26: This is probably my favorite. I had an exgirlfriend whose birthday is in the beginning of November. I had stayed friends with her. Her new boyfriend had ruined her birthday. He tried but did not know no better. She ended up calling me and crying on the phone to me for 3 hours. The strange thing was that I lived 3 blocks down the street. On my birthday, she, her boyfriend and another friend hers took me out to dinner at the most expensive restaurant in the GBA and the three of them paid for it. She did to show her boyfriend what you are suppose to do on someone's birthday.

27: The boyfriend from the previous story was now my roommate and he was still dating my x. I know it's strange. Everyone thinks so. We just went out and got blasted. A week later, my x (his girlfriend) convinced him to move out and move in with her because she had just moved back to the GBA to get her Masters and I was a bad influence. It was kind of depressing to see this normal kid in one years time just get bent to the way his girlfriend wanted him, but then I would remember that she was my x and that could have been me and it makes me happy that it was not.

28: I lost a bet a few days before and shaved my hair into a mohawk. I went home for Thanksgiving and not one person said anything about my hair. I guess after 28 years they were used to me.

29: I again spent 2 hours on the road after work driving back to Avoca. It was kind of boring.

Thinking about my birthdays over the last ten years I definably progress and regress in my maturity. I am smarter than I was at 20, but more cynical which is probley the reason I have repressed in maturity level.

50 TOP CURSES

2004-10-28T16:41:00.000-04:00

My Favorite: Curse of Darnell Hillman's Afro

GOOD VS. EVIL

2004-10-28T09:23:00.000-04:00

10 REASON NOT TO WORRY ABOUT DISENFRANCHISED VOTERS IN FLORIDA

2004-10-26T17:11:00.000-04:00

So I keep on hearing in the news on these new fangled electronic voting machines in Florida that don't have a paper trail. I say good. Can we trust the people of Florida? I say the more disenfranchised the better.

10. First of all if we used paper then Bush will just get richer from the timber company that he owns. The one John Kerry told us about in the 2nd debate.

9. Remember the hanging chad, no paper no hanging chad.

8. With no paper receipt, democrats will not be able to pay people for their vote. They can try, but anyone can say they voted for Kerry and lie about it.

7. Have you ever been to Florida, neither have I. How do I know it exist. Just because it is on a map? I got a map that says U.S.S.R. and people tell me all the time that does not exist anymore.

6. The last time I checked they were in the south. Didn't the south try to leave the Union. Who gave them back the right to vote?

5. 90 miles from Cuba! Need I say more?

4. CSI:Miami sucks.

3. Orange Juice is my favorite juice.

2. I got a friend that lives in Lakeland, trust me this girl has no business voting.

1. What kind of name is Jeb anyways? This isn't 1850 in the Kansas Territory. Your name is John. What are you trying to hide?

ANDY

2004-10-25T16:05:00.000-04:00

I think it was about 13 years ago, I was up to the lake for the summer. Almost every day I went into town and played basketball. In those days that is all I did was play basketball. I became friends that summer with this kid Aaron whose family also had a house on the lake. He introduced me to his brother Andy who was as big a basketball fan as I was back in those days. One day Andy ended up back at the house with me and I introduced him to my sister Tarah. They became fast friends. They did not date mostly because Andy was from Syracuse and Tarah lived 3 hours away. I knew that they stayed friends over the next few years but I was pretty much wrapped up in myself
to notice what was going on in anyone else's life. I saw Andy from time to time. He might come down for thanksgiving but Tarah and him were just friends. Tarah first went to Houghton College when became a freshmen and I do know that she dated at least one guy out there. She Eventfully ended up transferring to Roberts Wesleyan where my other sister was attending. This is where she began her major in Nursing. She did not like it there either. She ended up transferring out to Indiana Wesleyan after a year. She graduated in December of 99 with a B.S. in Nursing. Andy had gone to St.Joseph School of Nursing in Syracuse and was a nurse at St. Joe's. This was
reason the Tarah had decided to become a Nurse. Right after Christmas in 1998 Tarah and Andy started dating for the first time 'officially'. Everyone in both families knew that is was an inevitability. In August of 99 Andy called me, which in itself was a bit unusual and it was from my parents house. He tried to make small talk, but ended up telling me that him and Tarah were getting married. They ended up getting married in June of 2000. Tarah was already working at St. Joe's and living with a mutual friend for the last 4 previous months to getting married. Two years prior to Tarah and Andy getting married he was laying in bed one night and felt in strange.
Being a nurse be was quite in tune with his body. He figured out that his heartbeat was slowing down. He called his brother and ended up going to the emergency room. He eventfully has a pace-maker placed on his heart. IT never stopped him from doing anything and if we played basketball he did a lot better because everyone was afraid to really get in his face. On a Monday, in late October Andy was to have surgery to replace his pacemaker because it had been shorting out. I had no idea because that type of surgery was not a big deal so my mother never thought to even mention it to me. That Tuesday night I got home and there was a message from my mother to call her. I did. She told me about the surgery and that the doctor when removing the wires
from Andy's heart had ripped a dime size hole in his heart. He went into arrest and they had to massage his heart to bring him back. He was now in a drug induced coma till they ran some test. My mother assured me that everything would be fine. That Friday night after I got out of class for the day I headed up to Syracuse which is about an hour drive for me. Andy was at St. Joe's. The same hospital where both him and my sister worked as nurses. Everyone seemed in reasonable mood. I personally don't deal with hospitals very well. Andy was in the intensive care unit. I can't describe what it is like to see someone you care about in the condition that he was in. I stayed for about an hour and headed back to the GBA. Saturday was day that they
would run the final test. My mother called me that Sunday. The doctors had determined that Andy would not survive without life support. That Monday November 2nd my 24 year old sister made the choice to take the only man she had ever loved off life support. Andy had just turned 26 that past September. I have not known a nicer person than Andy. I gained tremendous respect for my sister. The whole time and to this day my sister'S faith in God never wavered. I miss you Andy.

"THEY PLAY FOOTBALL ON TURF?"

2004-10-25T10:37:00.000-04:00

The Giants lost yesterday but Manchester United beat Arsenal so everything in the Universe equaled out. I know football is on during the day on Sunday but I can not stay up till after midnight watching Baseball on a Sunday night and still get and be to work by nine. So, funny story, Saturday night a few friends came over to watch the World Series. It ended up that there was one girl there that I had dated a few years ago but it was never anything serious. She had ended up moving to Florida and since I am the worst about staying in contact with people I never talked to her again after she moved. So she ends up coming over with one of my friends because she is good friends with his girlfriend. It was a little awkward because I basically cut her out of my life when she moved but she was fortunately cool with it. She had moved to the from Miami to the City about a year and a half ago and had been coming to the GBA to visit every few weeks. The was trying to guilt trip me, but I was like Pete got my number you could have called. I getting sidetracked here. So after the game everyone is just hanging out in my living room and Game Day Final is on ESPN. This girl see's the blue turf of Boise State. She was in total awe. "What is that?" Now I think the blue turf is the dumbest thing ever. I said 'The turf is.." "They play football on turf?"

PAUSE. What??

This could be taken two ways.

1. AWWW It's the innocence of a child. Except this girl is, I think like 27 or 28.

2. This girl is dumb. Cute, but dumb and after listening to dumb questions about Baseball for the last 4 hours. This was the choice I was more inclined too.

Even thought it was almost two day's ago it still makes me laugh everytime I here 'They play football on turf'.

TWO COWS

2004-10-23T13:46:00.000-04:00

Go read this now. Stop reading this and go. .....now!

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

2004-10-23T11:06:00.000-04:00

Seeing how the thing to do now is to get a celebrity endorsement. I went ahead and got mine. Bill Pullman is from a Hornell, NY. A suburb of the Greater Avoca Area. Bill Pullman played a president who had to deal with alien terrorist in the movie Independence Day. So he was more than happy to say a few words for the President.

Hello. In just over a week, ballets will be cast from around the country. And we will be re-launching the presidency of Bush.

Security -- those words should have new meaning for all of us today.

We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. Even if the left is wrong.

We will be united in our common interests. That is the re-election of George W. Bush and bringing Brew more traffic.

Perhaps its fate that election is in November; and you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not only from tyranny, oppression, or persecution -- but from annihilation.

We're fighting for our right to live, to exist.

And when we win the day, the November 2nd will no longer be known as an American election day, but as the day when the world declared in one voice:

"We will not go quietly into the night.

We will not vanish without a fight.

We're going to live on.

We're going to survive."

Today, we celebrate our Election Day!

To see more go here, here, and here.

^%##^%$#^% XM

2004-10-22T16:02:00.000-04:00

I just had this idea two days ago and they already stole it. Grrrr

TOBY AND FIFA

2004-10-22T09:41:00.000-04:00

I had a dream that I co-wrote a song with Toby Keith about the Florida Hurricanes. Stupid Ford truck commercial every other commercials. It was a really good song and I can't stand country music.

I forgot that two days ago was the 3 year anniversary of my best chance so far at a frivolous law suit, but I am a Republican. I was sitting at a light and got rear-ended by the Fire Marshall for the City of Binghamton in an official car. The left hand lane arrow came up and cars to the left of him started to move, so he took his foot of the gas. It scared the XXXX out of me. He did just over a $1,000 dollars of damage to my truck. We waited around for a cop to come but he told me he had to file a report with the city and just call Corporation Council for the City and they would tell me what to do. I ended up having to go around to two dealers and getting estimates and took the estimates to the city and I had a check in my hands for the difference. I could have easily faked and injury and probably gotten a few thousand for my troubles at the very least, but I was unhurt and I am a Republican.

Wakefield is starting Saturday. Wakefield is my boy.

I finally got a chance to play FIFA 2005 a little while last night. Why does Ryan Giggs start on the inside and Roy Keane on the outside on the default squad settings for MAN U.? It is annoying to switch them before every match.

SOX, BUSH, AND STEAK AND SHAKE

2004-10-21T10:27:00.000-04:00

I am going to cover a lot of things so just sit down and SHUT UP! heh heh

I am dead tired. I was up till quarter after 1 last night and for the first time in a looooong time my alarm woke me up this morning. I miss the days when I could stay out till 1 or 2 in the morning, go to classes all day and work a mostly full time job and it was only 3 years ago. I feel old this morning.
I went to my favorite watering hole last night with some friends. I was one of 4 people cheering for the Sox surrounded by Yankee fans. I got to talking with some of the students who were out last night. I was pleasantly surprised by the political conversations I had last night. So I will go out on a limb and say

BUSH WILL WIN NEW YORK!!

SarahK talks about going to Steak n Shake. I want to go to Steak and Shake. A year and half ago, I along with my parents helped my little sista Tarah move back out to Indiana from Syracuse. We were out there a couple of days helping her get settled in. I borrowed her car and drove out into Muncie. It was not that different from the GBA except there was a lot less cultural diversity than I was used to and everything was flat. The stores seemed that same and then I the Steak and Shake. I never knew that there was a place where you could get a Steak and a Shake. I went back to my sista house and told her and my parents that we needed to go to Steak and Shake for dinna. They were like 'We are coing to Cracker Barrel.' I have nothing against Cracker Barrel. I like the Cracker Barrel, but there is a Cracker Barrel in the GBA. I can go right now if I wanted. OK, maybe not right now. Tarah was like Steak and Shake is not so good. 'I WANNA GO TO STEAK AND SHAKE!! There's nothing like a 28 year old having a temper tantrum. So we went to Cracker Barrel and I made fun of people from Indiana because they were not from New York.

ALCS

2004-10-20T13:19:00.000-04:00

I don't follow baseball much. There are too many games to make it really exciting to watch during the year. If you lose in June it really means nothing. Last nights Yankees-Sox game was the first one game that I watch from beginning to end all year. So here are 10 obsevations from last night.

1. I hate the Yankees, mostly because I am surrounded by fans of them.

2. In the off-season when the Yankees out dealed the Sox for A-Rod, I believed that it was a bad omen for the Yankees. I think it is coming true. I think in 60 years the Curse of the Babe will be long forgotten and people will talk about the Curse of A-Rod. I predict that the Yankees will not win another World Series in my lifetime.

3.I think A-Rod needs to be a man and say he intentionally interferred. He came pretty close to admitting it, but not close enough for me.

4.I think that the two corrected calls by the umpires prove that the curse is over. Had it gone the other way you definetly say that there is a curse.

5.I am sick of hearing how tired relivers are. It is called thier job.

6.I don't get why the cops came out when the Yankees where on the field and not when the Sox were? They are not going to attack thier own players? (Oh, wait I forgot its New York, they will attack thier own players.)

7.The Mets still suck.

8.I have a lot of respect for Curt Schilling. I have alot more for him after his post-game interview.

9.Would someone please tell Arroyo that cornrows don't work on white guys.

10.This is the real World Series. Screw the National League.

QUEST FOR MOUTAIN DEW

2004-10-20T09:57:00.000-04:00

It was a cold late October morning, our hero was laden down at his job with more work than any normal man could possibly handle. His co-workers ignored his plea's for mercy. He knew it was time to stand up, so he stood up and walked out the door. He then walked across the parking lot. He crossed the road as a car raced by nearly missing our hero my 10 feet. That was when he spied his prize. It was the Pepsi vending machine outside of the landscaping company across the street. He reached into his pocket. Yes! He had four quarters. He placed one into the vending machine. It slid down. The next one followed. The third again. The fourth slid in, but did not make the same glorious sound. It landed with a clunk into the change receptacle. 'What is this foul circumstance that has occurred.' thought our hero. He reached in for the coin to retry his luck and again he was caused the same denial. He reached once again for the coin. 'What was this abomination?' he ruminated. 'The bloody Queen was the coin'.

'WHY G-D WHY?' he screamed as he dropped to his knees. There would be Mountain Dew for our hero today.

This mostly true story is dedicated to all those people that live in the border states who have found themselves at times stuck with useless Canadian money. It is also inspired in part my an email the great FrankJ received from a neffie. (Neffie is Avoca speak for Canadian.)

I HAD A DREAM..

2004-10-19T10:33:00.000-04:00

I had a dream that I was going to see Superman 4 at a film festival. I was trying to convince people that 3 was better but no one would listen. I think in the same dream my mom got me a microwave, even though I just bought one two months ago.

It is crazy that a baseball game that starts 2 hours before I even leave work is not over by the time I go to bed.

thats all i got today.

MARY CHENEY

2004-10-15T09:55:00.000-04:00

Many of you out there have been emailing me, asking what I though of Kerry's reference to Mary Cheney being a lesbian. I say to you 'You should see my Gmail spam folder now'. It was a dirty trick. It is pretty transparent to see that Kerry was using it to try and keep Evangelicals from voting. He knows that they won't vote for him, so he is using that to try and keep them from voting for Bush/Cheney. I have known for a long time that Mary Cheney was a lesbian, but in my office yesterday is was split half and half between people that did and did not know. The only consensus was that is was a low blow for Kerry to do it. Will Kerry keep some Evangelicals from voting, probably. Will people who may have planned to vote for Kerry not vote at all because of the bad taste he leaves in their mouth, I think so.

WALKING TALL-MOVIE REVIEW

2004-10-14T11:28:00.000-04:00

I did not watch the debate, but from what I have been reading and what some people in my office have been saying, I think Goldwater won. Instead of watching the debate I rented Walking Tall. I liked it and it was worth the $1.75 I spent to rent it, but let me tell you what I did not like about it.

1.Chris(The Rock) returns home after having been in the Army for eight years. The only thing he has is a duffel bag that is half full. Is he having all the rest of his stuff shipped separately. So what you are lead to belief that in 8 years he acquired no possessions.

2.Chris family has not seen him in eight years. I am seriously supposed to belief that he never came home in 8 years.

3.He nephew plays like he is 13 or 14, Chris has only been gone for 8 years and the kid does not remember him at all.

4. Where is the nephews father. I get it that Chris and his sister are mulatto, but the kid is defiantly darker than his mother. There is not one other black person in the movie. You would think that even if the kid's father is dead, that town would have at least one other black person.

5.The town itself is portrayed as small. If the mill is closed and the only way to get there is by ferry, then where does all the money come from for the Casino.

6.It is the worlds smallest casino.

7.Are they seriously going to hurt Chris when he is friends with their boss?

8.How come in the movies people who are left for dead are always left on a bridge in the rain until a semi comes along?

9.So, Chris is lucky that he did not have charges pressed against him. Did ya see the scars? Did ya?

10. Who does Carpentry work in a white polo shirt? Chris does.

11. Chris has the speediest trial in the history of modern litigation.

12. I almost forgot. His truck sits around for eight years, but starts right up because his dad change the plugs. He did want a truck when he was in the Army. When I was in the Army, I did not know anyone with a car.

13.Not Guilty=Now your the Sheriff.

14.Just because you lost the Sheriff race, does that mean you lose your job at a deputy?

15.In my life, I have never seen a uniformed cop with a goatee.

16. Chris fires all the deputies, Can he do that?

17. When his X-girlfriend visits Christ at his parents, Why does she park on the side of the road when they have plenty of room in the driveway?

18. We know Hamilton is behind the Meth, where could his lab possibly be? If only the was a large building that we know Hamilton owned that was all locked up?

19. Am I seriously supposed to believe that a Casino owner is going to be drug kingpin. There is a lot more money in Casinos. Ask the the Mafia.

20. The drug is meth. Meth is not a drug to make a lot of money with, there is to much overhead and the process is to dangerous. Money making drugs are Ganga, H, and Ya-yo. Nobody ever got rich off Meth.

21.Why does the mill still have all the equipment in it? Don't you usally sell this kind of thing when a place like that goes under?

22.So the ex-Sheriff fires about 1000 rounds into the Sheriffs department with an M-60. I never once saw him change the barrel. So if he fired that many rounds that barrel would have melted over.

23.What's up with the nod that Jonny Knoxville character gives Hamilton during the trail. I thought they were going somewhere with that, but nothing happened.

24.The Casino closes so the mill opens back up. huh?!

25.The movie is only an hour and 14 minutes. That's not a movie, its a long Sopranos episode.

I liked this movie, so you imagine the hell I go through when I watch a movie I don't like.

FUN FACT ABOUT ME

2004-10-13T16:53:00.000-04:00

I once played Star Wars Trivial Pursuit with Randall Terry at 6 in the morning waiting for the first showing of Episode I.

SPORTS AND POLITICS

2004-10-13T13:17:00.000-04:00

I think that following politics has become like following sports. It was really always been that way for me. My father is and was a Republican growing up. I can remember cheering when Reagan was re-elected. Like many kids I like the same team (Republicans) my father did. My father is also a Cowboys fan for some unknown reason and my mother is a Bills fan. I guess nobody parents are perfect. I grew up to be a Giants fan. Just like in sports people hate the other people on the team. People on the left HATE Bush, people on the right HATE Kerry. Compare it to the Yankees and the Red Sox, fans of each team hate the players on the other side. I don't really follow Baseball, I find it boring. The point is that living in New York I see a lot of Red Sox hatred. Both teams contain players that will be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. You could not get a fan on either side to admit that the other team has some decent players. I personally would like the Red Sox to win so I can stop hearing about this curse. This year I think the political discourse had been amped up to a notch that American sports fans are not used to. Nearly every one has heard of Soccer hooligans. Those fans who take their support of a club over top resorting to violence against fans of another team. It is a kind of sub-culture not experienced in the States at levels that it occurs in England. There have been repeated stories of attacks on Republicans and even some stories out there about attacks on democrats. If you are reading this you know the stories and I am not going to waste my time linking to them. In the end life goes on, no one is going to move out of the United States because their Candidate lost. November 3rd will be just like the day after the Superbowl, most of the population will not care. The fans of the winning team will feel elated and the fans of losing team will say 'wait till next year' or in this case 'wait till four years'.

Which Biological Molecule Are You?

2004-10-13T09:18:00.000-04:00

You are a steroid. You're a special kind of
inter-nuclear hormone and have direct,
immediate effects on the near future; you are
pumped up, ready to go, and excite the people
around you into action. You can also cause
cancer.

Which Biological Molecule Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

hattip to sarahk

FAKE VET

2004-10-12T14:37:00.000-04:00

Three more weeks and it is all over. I can't wait, I don't think what happened four years ago will happen this time. Although last time did afford me my first television appearance. I used to hang out at this coffee shop that a couple of friends of mine worked at. Every day the Fox 40 anchor and weather guy used to come in there and get coffee before going into work. So one day in early December 2000 they came in with a camera crew and did a bunch of 'person on the street' type interviews. I appeared on the news that night saying Gore was trying to steal the election. It was cool seeing my self on TV. my x-girlfriend taped it for me and I still have it somewhere. If I could just remember what a tape is? I have a $100 bet with one of my friends over who is going to win.
This past weekend he said he would nullify the bet if I voted for Kerry. I am not down with that. Saturday night I was introduced to this kid that is running for Broome County Legislature. I think he was about 27. I live in the district he was running. So after my friend intrudes us and tells me he served in the Army. This guys tells me he served in Iraq and was in Tiqret. So I was mildly interested. He found out that I was a Republican and he acted as if someone had shot him. He could not believe that someone my age (29) could be a republican. He kept on going off about the me being indoctrinated by the Army. He asked if I watched Fox. I told him now. If I got any news from television is was usually from PBS. This is true. He was even more taken aback. He kept on going off about the military industrial complex. I had to hold my self back, because here was a guy claiming to having served in Iraq, and he said he was in the reserves. I did not want to be that guy that beats up the legislative candidate that served in Iraq. So I asked him if he thought that all these companies that are part of the MIC are evil. He said that they are all basically evil just making money on the prospect of war. So I said if you were elected to the Broome County Legislature would your Platform be to get BAE and Lockheed-Martin to leave Broome County. He literally said 'Halliburton--'. I was like shut up. Don't even say anything else. I have asked a friend of mine who works in the NYS National Guard OCS program to check and see if this guy was actually in Iraq. I am going to expose this guy.

TEAM AMERICA-THE REVIEW

2004-10-11T09:51:00.000-04:00

I saw a sneak preview for TEAM AMERICA this past Saturday night. I was not even planning on seeing it, but Sean Penn convinced me that I should see it. It quite rips every left wing Hollywood nut apart. The one's that take the biggest hits are Alex Baldwin, Janeane Garofalo, and for some reason Matt Damon. The Matt Damon thing is hilarious. They seem at times to make fun of the way the war is handled, but in such an over the top way that it is not really making fun of it. The movie is sexually explicit if such a thing is possible, but since it is puppets it makes one of the funniest moments of the movie. The great thing was that I went to a party Saturday night and there were a few people who wanted to know what is was like when they found out that I had seen it. I previously gotten into a heated discussion with this one guy over the war in Iraq. He was suppressed that I had seen thinking that it would bend to his way of thinking. He was thoughly disappointed that the movie just really made fun of Hollywood actors that thought the same things he did. I liked and if you are reading this, you will as well.

AND IN THIS CORNER.....

2004-10-09T11:20:00.000-04:00

This weekend is Alumni Weekend for Binghamton University. We don't have a football program so the only thing for really to do is party. So I have a bunch of friends who came into town to act like they were all in their early 20's again. I had a few friends staying with me. I acutely was not going to watch the debate, but one of my friends who is a big Kerry supporter wanted to watch. The five of us that watched it all agreed that Bush won hands down. I had a few saspies in me by the time they started. I am the kind of person that yells at the television, during sporting events, during debates, and when the killer is around the corner. I don't think my friends appreciated me yelling when Bush made a good point (and he made quite a few). "CAN'T ARGUE WITH THAT CAN YOU" I was often heard to say. The people they had in the audience scared me though. I though St. Louis was a cool city. I have been there a few times, so where did they dig these toothless wonders up from. The best question was that one about 'Why has there not been a terrorist attack in 3 years'. I think she stole in from O'Reilly, because on the Radio Factor on Thursday he said that what the main question he wanted to ask Kerry. I think Kerry talked about taxes in his answer. One of my friends said that Kerry does look like a Skinny Frankenstein. To this I stood on my couch and raised my arms and went ARGUE. (I told you I had some saspies in me.(which by the way is Avoca talk for beer)). My favorite part was when Bush laid the Smackdown on Chuck Gibson. I can't remember what it was about, but I know the President wanted to respond to something Kerry said and was not going to wait for Gibson to give him permission. The only thing I will way is that if I was some left wing nut job, I would think the questions favored Bush, but since I am not. Let me just give a shout out to the person that picked the questions to be asked. That's my take. OUT.
UPDATE: I forgot about the whole timber company thing. This whole thing made Kerry look real bad. You just know someone on his staff got fired for giving him that information.

"NEED SOME WOOD"

THE ADS

2004-10-08T16:43:00.000-04:00

I just noticed that one of the above ads says "another weekend alone", witch links to Match.com. My own blog has become my mother.

KNOW THY ENEMY:LIBERALS-T-SHIRT CONTEST

2004-10-07T18:03:00.000-04:00

You may be reading this because Frank J of IMAO has selected my entry into the top 5 for this contest. There is the off chance my entry was not selected by Frank, but I have every confidence that I will be selected or Frank is a monkey. Anyways, since many may be reading this based on link to herE from IMAO after Frank post the finalist. I want you to remember that when you don't vote for me you make the Baby Jesus cry. That is not a veiled threat, thats just the way it is.

UPDATE: I did not make the cut, I had edit my entry down to the same length of the other descriptions. I guess the finalist did not feel that way and are confortable with monkey-boy edit them if they win. I personally believe in free speech. (That's what I keep telling myself anyways.)

ABU GHARIB VOLLEYBALL

2004-10-07T13:05:00.000-04:00

I work for a sporting goods dealer. I sent some volleyball's to Abu Gharib a few months ago. They had a some A**-hat trying blow them up and the volleyballs I sent them got destroyed so the CO over their emailed me and explained the situation and I sent them so more volleyballs at no cost. He emailed me back some pictures of them playing volleyball on the homemade court they built. I would love to post the pictures up, but with Blogger there is no way for me to host the pictures. If there is someone out there that would like to host the pictures for me or even put them on their own blog that would be awesome. Just comment if what you would like to do.

Thanks

BOOKS

2004-10-06T15:33:00.000-04:00

I just picked up Ann Coulter's 'How to talk to a liberal (if you must)'. I should have a review forth coming. I still have to finish Irvine Welsh's 'P*rno', which I am about half way through. I also picked up NBA 2K5 for the ol' Xbox so it all depends on how much I like that game. I also picked up Bob Schieffer's 'This just in:What I could not tell you on TV.' at B & N as well because it was only $5.

VICE-PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE TRANSCRIPT

2004-10-05T14:59:00.000-04:00

Moderator: Welcome to the Vice-Presidential debate We will begin with
opening statements.

John Edwards: There are two Americas. I belong in the rich one, but there
are still two.

Dick Cheney: I'M DICK CHENEY....BEOTCH.

m: Vice-President Cheney, I remind you there is no drinking and smoking
during the debate. I would ask you respectfully to extinguish your cigar.

DC: SHUT UP, I PUT THE VICE IN VICE-PRESIDENT.

JE: I would like to remind the VP to try and act with a degree of civility.

M: VP stay way from Mr. Edwards.

(Cheney picks up the podium and brings it down on top of John Edwards head.)

DC: HOW'S THAT FOR CIVILITY. I'M DICK CHENEY...BEOTCH.

google adds

2004-10-05T11:02:00.000-04:00

Google ad's....why has thou forsaken me.

POLITICAL COMPASS

2004-10-04T10:00:00.000-04:00

I have been added to The Blogosphere Political Compass Project. So go check it out. I scored 0.3 on the economic and 2.0 on the social. So I am pretty dead center. If I had gotten any more to the left I would have had to give up my membership in the VRWC.

AN OPEN LETTER TO JOHN KERRY

2004-10-01T10:16:00.000-04:00

Dear John,
I will vote for Bush in November, I was always going to vote for Bush. I have never voted for a Democrat. I have voted for Libertarians before, and I might someday vote for some one in the Constitution Party. I will give you some background. I spent four years in the Army and two in the New York Army National Guard. When you disparage the National Guard, you disparage me. I used to consider myself a libertarian. I belief a lot of things they do about society partially about guns and drugs. I really disagree with them on National Security. The democrats always talk about getting the youth vote, but all you does is talk about Vietnam. I don't care about Vietnam. You certainly can't compare Iraq to Vietnam. A 1000 soldiers and marines have died in Iraq. 56,000 died in Vietnam. There is no comparison. You know what Vietnam to me is John Kerry. It's a video game. I was born in November of 1974. I don't even remember disco. You talking about Vietnam has become the same problem when Dole talked about WWII. A sizable chunk of the population was not alive or was to young to remember. These wars are nothing put pictures, movies and video games to the kids of my generation. My brother, who is 10 years younger than me, does not even really remember the first Gulf War. So I say to you John Kerry if you care so much about Vietnam, why don't you go back there and leave us alone.

sincerely,
Brew

P.S. When you came back from the 'Nam, you testified in front of Congress. I know you 'belief' that what you doing was the right thing, but everyone hates a snitch.

OCTOBER SURPRISE

2004-10-01T08:48:00.000-04:00

Karl Rove says they have some suprises for Kerry. I am kind of excited. It is almost like Christmas. I don't think it will be Bin Ladin, that's to easy. It is so exciting.

SOME OTHER THINGS

2004-09-30T14:28:00.000-04:00

I will use this post to touch on a number of things that are not big enough to earn their own post.

I have sold out to Google, so please click on the adds.

I rented Shellshock Nam '67 for my Xbox last. It is a decent game and worth the $6 I spent to rent it. At one point in the game, another guy captures a VC, the VC starts begging for mercy and this guy takes out a pistol and blows the guys brains out. I was like 'whoa'.

If you are not watching Lost, you should be. Best line:

'I found a gun on him and I though we might need it....Oh, look...I shot a bear.'

I like CSI:NY but it needs to tone down on the blue filter when they are outside. It really does not look like that in the city.

I still have not required for lack of sleep this past weekend and I may be going to Utica this weekend with a buddy to play Lacrosse in their Alumni weekend. Then next weekend I have Alumni weekend for Binghamton University and I have already promised three people they can stay with me for the weekend. If someone has some extra sleep could I borrow it.

BINGHAMTON SENATORS

2004-09-28T11:11:00.000-04:00

AHL training camp started yesterday. Dominik Hasek and Jason Spezza were both in attendance. I have seen Spezza play a few times two years ago when he spent the magority of his time with the B-Sens. So now we have a two time NHL MVP playing in the GBA. The best thing about AHL hockey is I can see a game and spend less that $20.

THE KILLERS-HOT FUSS

2004-09-28T10:54:00.000-04:00

I bought The Killers debut CD this weekend, Hot Fuss. This is the best album I have bought in years.

THE WEDDING WEEKEND

2004-09-27T13:15:00.000-04:00

I was in a wedding this past weekend. I severely dislike the bride, but what are you going to do. I left work an hour early since I had an hour and half drive to the rehearsal and I still had to stop in Elmira and pick up my Tux. I thought the inside of the church it was in was ugly. The needed some new carpet and the pews could have used a good sanding and some new stain. The rehearsal dinner was alright. The food was good. Since my friend's mom is to smart to pay for alcohol for all of us. we had to pay for hour own drinks.

Matt: I take three Coor's lights.
Waitress: OK-starts to walk away
Matt: Wait don't you want to know what these guys want.
Waitress: Didn't you just order for them.
Matt: No, those are my three beers.

We made our way back to my friend Smallz's house. The groom, Joe, was not suppose to be drinking so Tony bought him Wine coolers. Wine coolers are the punishment we inflict on our friends when they do something stupid. It was not really exciting. We played Poker till about one in the morning. Everyone else left and Jim and I stayed up and had a few more beers. I fell asleep at about two. At five-thirty in the morning. Smallz'z three and half year old daughter came and jumped on my back and started yelling at me to get up. I tied to ignore her, but I had not understanding of the persistence of a three year old. I ended up getting up and watch Nemo with her.

I ran up my parents around 8 that morning to have some breakfast and take a quick swim in the pool. I got eat breakfast, but my father had just started to winterize the pool, so no swimming till next April. I head down to Joes house at his behest. Tony had bought him Madden 2005 for his PS2 as a wedding gift. (Did I mention that all of can not stand the bride. Of course when you give wedding gifts like this, it does not put you on her good side.) I got down there and we decided to go golfing because that is what you do on your wedding day according to Matt. The course we went to was out of the way. Joe, Smallz, and myself suck at golf. Tony and Matt are good. They shoot in the 80's. The rest of us shoot in the hundreds. The wedding was at 4. We were suppose to at the church at 3. We got off the course around 2:30. We were about a half an hour from Corning where the wedding was at. It turns out the bride was trying to call Joe all afternoon, but we had confiscated his mobile. We decided to get changed at Matt's apartment in Corning. I road with Joe. He had broken the know for the heat on his car. So the heat was stuck on full blast in his car. It was a little after 3 when we got to Matt's and all five of us needed to take another shower. At this time my Mobile and Tony's mobile were blowing up with calls from everyone wondering where we were. Since Tony and I were oppose to the wedding and had spent the day trying to convince Joe to let us take him to the fishing camp that Tony's dad owns in the North Country we decided not to answer our phones either. We told Joe that we had contact everyone to let them know we would be late, when of course we had not. The five of us did not show up till 3:45. The minister would not let anyone be seated till the ushers got there. There were a few upset people, and it did not make it any better when we tried to convince them that Joe had locked himself in a closet to avoid the wedding. So We got everyone seated in record time. The ceremony was quick. The funniest thing of the whole weekend was when they tried to get Matt to sign the marriage license. Matt just graduated from Albany Law. He said that if they ever got a divorce he could not represent Joe if he signed, so he refused. I almost died laughing. The minister and the Bride did not find it amusing as I did for some reason. Tony ended up signing it.

The pictures took forever as they always do. It was off the rehearsal. I think we finally got sat down around 7. None of us guys had eaten anything all day and we were all starving. After we sat down, they had Matt give his best-man speech. He did a good job, but some us wonder where he was going with it when he repeated Joe's most famous words.

Matt: "We sat there on porch after a long night of drinking and Joe said his most profound statement 'I love women, not one women, all women'."

a audible gasp over the crowd

Matt: "I guess he found one women." rolls eyes.

The reception it self was pretty good. I personally accomplished a goal. That was to get the Clone's girlfriends mobile #. He has successfully kept it from us for two years. The reason we needed it was to that we could make late night calls to her to let her know Clone was up to no good. The whole night came to a crashing end when at 12:30 in the morning Tony kicked over a stand-up ashtray sending butts and sand flying everywhere. The bride came out to yell at Tony after the hotel counter person said something to here. Tony promptly started to do a jig in the sand. Tony can be the nicest guy in the world, but once he gets drinking, he becomes another person. We decided to leave since we were not staying at the hotel. Tony, Matt, Matt's girlfriend and I headed off to his apartment. He stopped to get an 18 pack. We stayed up to about 4 drinking and playing Madden. Tony made a call to the bride mobile and told her the she was a ******* ***** and that Joe's friends all hated her. This is not the kind of message you want the morning after your wedding night. Joe called at 7 the next morning because I had his keys. He make his cousin get up and drive over and get them. I got a ride to my truck with his cousin. I headed home to my parents. I had not planned on returning to the GBA till this morning but the Tux's had to be back by 6 Sunday. So since I was the only one who was headed in the direction. I got to carry the tux's back and thus returned home to the GBA early Sunday afternoon. One thing that was kind of distressing about the weekend is my parents total believe that I will never get married. My friend Ben and his girlfriend sat behind my parents during the wedding ceremony and my mother made the comment to him that she was glad I was in the wedding because this was the closest I would come to getting married. Honestly, I would like to get married someday. I am not even close to being ready. I am free to get married. Nine years ago Smallz, Joe, Jeff, and myself put $50 each into a pot to see who would be the last hold out from getting married. Smallz and Joe's mom put into a bank account. I got the account information from her Sunday. I have yet to go the bank and collect though. I wonder how much is there.

MANHUNT IN THE GBA

2004-09-21T11:00:00.000-04:00

The guy the Secret Service is hunting for is from the GBA or it is really just outside of what I consider the GBA. That is strange. This huge news here.

CSI:MIAMI-THE REWRITE PART 1

2004-09-21T10:19:00.000-04:00

I have decided to rewrite last night's CSI:Miami episode so that it actually makes sense. so here you go.

Open to people stuck on a bridge in Miami. A huge boat crashes into bridge. Lots of screaming and yelling as the bridge which's built to survive hurricanes collapse when a boat hits it.

Horatio Kane stands there looking out into the inter-coastal waterway trying to be the coolest red-headed male character on TV since that Danny kid and in no way pulling it off.

Speed and Delko walk up.

Kane: Thanks for cutting short your vacation. Who let you guys on vacation on the same time anyways?

Delko:You made us come off vacation for a boat accident?

Kane: Witness's said the boat was pointing at the bridge.

Delko: And they could tell this from inside of their cars??

Speed: So you seriously made me come off vacation for a boat accident and we don't even know if someone is dead?

Kane: Did you not see the way I took off my sunglasses and look into the waterway? Don't question me.

Cut to Kane on the boat coming down the ladder. Woods is standing over a body.

Kane: Did you find anything?

Woods: Only this dead body that you must have already stepped over.

Speed to Kane: I going to guess that you already fingerprinted that ladder you just climbed down from.

Kane:Ummm, Don't question me unless you want to back to processing bodily fluids in the lab full time.

Duquesne: I found a shell. It's purty.

Kane: What can you me.

Duquesne: It was a .22. (smells the shell) It was shot form a SIG. It was made in the Minsk factory not the Hamburg one. You can tell this because of where the firing pin leaves a mark. It was inspected by a man named Hans, who had just left his wife when he found out she was cheating on him and he has blonde hair. Other than that I got nothing.

Kane: Do we know who this guy is yet?

Woods: Let me get his wallet. Keith Garcia. Bell Harbor.

Open to Kane and his brother Widow at the home of the dead guy. Door is opened by a pretty blonde.

Blonde: Did you find my son?

Lady cop: What are you taking about?

Kane: Listen, I don't know nothing about your son, but you husband is dead and I know you did it. That of course gives you nothing to worry about because the person I always think that did it is always innocent. So anyways who did you hire to kill you husband?

to be continued....

THE GREAT GBA FLOOD OF '04

2004-09-20T16:58:00.000-04:00

We had quite extensive flooding this weekend in the GBA. This is a picture of the 10th green at the En-Joi Golf Club. I saw an overhead view of the course on the news saturday night and it looked like a lake. If you notice in the picture. They never turned off the fountian.

IT WAS A GOOD DAY.

2004-09-20T10:43:00.000-04:00

Last night I fell asleep with the lyrics to Ice Cube's "It was a good day" going though my head. It was a good day. I was sick all day Saturday. I did wake up Sunday morning cold, the last few nights it has gotten down in the fifties. I got up ate breakfast, played some NHL 2k5. I noticed on my way to church that my watched had stopped. It did not even bother me. It had worked since I bought it 3 years ago. The message in church was good. I got introduced to two wonderful girls. I just want to note something here. I go to a church of around 1200 people. With this many people, almost every Sunday I get introduced to a new girl. This week it was two and they were both beautiful. I think that there are maybe 5 or 6 guys in my church in their 20's and single. There are countless girls. It is a lot different then when I used to go out to bars and hit on chicks. 90% of the time you had to go up to them. In church it seems they get in line to meet you. I go home and the Giants win. The defense plays so well, that it is more entertaining to watch them than to watch the offense. It was such a nice day out that I went to the park and played basketball. The only white guy and I played awesome. I got home watched a movie, finished the book I was reading. When I was brushing my teeth, I realized my stalker did not even stop by uninvited. This was the first Sunday since I can remember that they did not come over. It was a good day.

THE GIRL WITH THE SHIRT

2004-09-14T16:34:00.000-04:00

When I first moved to the GBA when I got out of the Army, I got a job bouncing at a bar. In case you were wondering, I am 6'4" 220 so I did not get hired for my brains. I had been working there for about a month. I had become friends with a few people that worked at the bar. One night I noticed this girl talking to some friends of mine. She claims to this day that I never saw her before, but I did see her that night. The bar at the time was the most popular student hangout. The bar was in basement so you had to go down stairs to get inside. The next night I was going down the stairs, this girl was in front of me. I heard her say to her friend. "I hope no one notices that I wore this same shirt out last night". (I later found out that she did wash it, this person is still my friend so if she ever reads this I have to make that point clear). She know who I was in passing at the time, as most of the females at BU knew who I was because I was the bouncer who would let them in with no ID. I think about 20 minutes had passed and I saw this girl talking to my friend Brian. I walked up to Brian and said Hi and I said hi to her. I asked her if she was in her the night before. I smile came over her face and she said yes. So right now she is thinking this cute guy noticed me and then she hers me say " I thought so, you were wearing the exact same shirt." Too this day I have never seen anyone turn white and then turn red so fast in my life. She did not know what to say and I made it easier for her by walking away. The look on Brian face was priceless because this kid was ruthless when it came to girls. He still brings up that story to this day.

Now lest you think that this is where the story ends, it does not. It turns out this girl worked at the Coffee Shop that was also owned by the guy that owned the bar. I don't ever drink Coffee. I did become friends with a few people that worked there. It was right next door and since I worked at the bar I always got hooked up with free food and sometimes on late nights I would go on coffee runs for everyone else. It turned out this girl worked there and that was how she knew Brian. I would go in there a few times a week. I had forgotten all about what I had done to this girl. As I started to frequent the coffee shop I noticed that there was this one girl who would never speak to me and would always look away. Eventfully I asked her roommate who worked there as well what the deal was. She was a bit taken aback that I did not remember how I had scarred her friend. I started to laugh. I could not believe that this was the same girl. I apologized in that half-hearted way that people do when they don't really mean it. The next time she was in the bar I hooked her up with a bunch of free drinks and all was forgiven. Two months later we actually we had become so close that we started to date after my previous girlfriend and I broke up. We only dated for a few months. I have mentioned her before she was the one that had never seen the Amish. We are still friends to this day, that is unusually for me to be friends with an x. Maybe I should start the relationship out on the wrong foot in the future and then we will get along after we break up.

This post is true, but the idea to post it was inspired by SarahK's adventerin' shirt.

THE INTERNS

2004-09-09T11:16:00.000-04:00

In case you were wondering the interns started today at work and they are lovely.

AN X-GIRLFRIEND

2004-09-08T10:38:00.000-04:00

I spent the Labor Day weekend at my parents. They were gone for most of the weekend because the had to take by brother back to Indiana Wesleyan University for his Sophomore year. I hung out with them a bit on Monday. I am such a great son, I mowed my parents yard. This is no small task. It takes about an hour and half on a riding lawn mower. I left Avoca Tuesday morning. It was also the first day of school in New York. My parents live out in the country and as I drove down the road, I could see all the kids standing outside for their first day of school. I also saw her for the first time and I was annoyed.

Nine and half years ago I dated this girl for a few months. I though she was a great person and though it hard to remember actual feelings. I know I told her that I loved her and I think I did. Our relationship came to an end, mostly because she had started seeing someone else on the side. I was hurt and I went to one of her friends for comfort and ruined that friendship forever and even though I had ended my relationship with this other girl amicably, I soon became a jerk about it.

A few months later I was in Mississippi do some training in the Army. I called the friend of the ex-girlfriend who I had started to see. She said that the X had been said that very day that I called that she was pregnant and that I was the father. I confirmed this with a few friends that had also heard it. It took me two days before I was able to get a hold of the X. When I did get a hold of her, she confirmed that she in fact was pregnant but that I was not the father. I let her know that if I was that I would do the right thing. She said she knew that I would and I was always a straight up guy. Then I returned home my relationship with her friend ended into a mess that still causes me problems even today, but that is a story for another time.

My X ended up having to quit her job, because no one would speak to her because of the lie she told and they all liked me. Every time one of my friends would see this girl they would just rip right into her and then call me and tell me about it. Like two years after all this went down, the girl I was dating just happened to know her and mentions my name and that was soon over. I began to hate this her. I had not seen her in years and yet every time I dated a new girl, the first things my friends would say upon meeting her would be to tell her I had a kid. It still goes on today even though a lot of things have changed.

i AIN'T LAMON, BUT IT WOULD BE COOL IF I WAS

2004-09-01T18:17:00.000-04:00

MY FIRST TWO BOOKS

2004-09-01T16:48:00.000-04:00

have decided to write my first two books.

The first is goind to be called: There is no P in Binghamton. This will be a collection of funny and interesting stories about the GBA. The title is based on people who are not from the area pronouncing Binghamton-Bing-Hamp-Ton. This will take me a while to compile.

The other I am working on is a funny take on the whole Pilgrim thing. My own family on my fathers side goes back to William Brewster, who was the religious leader of the of the Pilgrems. This will be mostly the oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation. I am still working on a title so if anyone has a suggestion, I will be sure to take credit for it.

The almost true story of the Pilgrams: or how the Brewster family saved western civilization.

I FOUGHT THE LAW AND THE LAW AND THE LAW...LOST

2004-08-31T12:25:00.000-04:00

The man is trying to hold me down, but I fought back and won. New York State has a mobile phone law that makes it illegal to talk on a mobile phone while driving. I only know one other person who has received a ticket for one and she paid $50 total for fine and court surcharges. I have received two and beaten them both. The crazy thing is that in theory I believe in the law, but they need to make it apply to all things done while driving. This would mean banning drive-thru at fast food places because anything can be a distraction. The New York State law is written badly and it makes it easier to get out of.

I got my other one in April of 2003. I beat both of them the same way. I made the initial court appearance. I pled not-guilty and requested a written deposition from the officer that wrote the ticket. The court them mails out this deposition to you. In both that I have had done, last year and a month ago, the officer wrote out that he observed me holding my mobile phone on such and such street. This plays right into my hands. I will put the link to the law here, but here are the important parts.

2. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall operate a motor vehicle upon a public highway while using a mobile telephone to engage in a call while such vehicle is in motion. (b) An operator of a motor vehicle who holds a mobile telephone to, or in the immediate proximity of his or her ear while such vehicle is in motion is presumed to be engaging in a call within the meaning of this section. The presumption established by this subdivision is rebut table by evidence tending to show that the operator was not engaged in a call. (c) The provisions of this section shall not be construed as authorizing the seizure or forfeiture of a mobile telephone, unless otherwise provided by law

(c) "Using" shall mean holding a mobile telephone to, or in the immediate proximity of, the user's ear.

(f) "Engage in a call" shall mean talking into or listening on a hand-held mobile telephone, but shall not include holding a mobile telephone to activate, deactivate or initiate a function of such telephone.

The DA had no choice but to have the charges dismissed. The officers own deposition had not mention where I was holding the phone or if I was "Engage in a call". The DA did not even mind dismissing it today until I told him it was the second one I had gotten out of.

I should also note that I was guilty both times. I love America.

GLORY, GLORY MAN UNITED

2004-08-30T16:44:00.000-04:00

No time for a real post today, so here is a picture of my MAN U's Alan Smithin action against Everton this past weekend.

A GEOGRAPHY LESSON

2004-08-28T12:00:00.000-04:00

It is that time of year again. It's when the GBA gets invaded by the unwashed masses of downstate. The part of the GBA where I lives is filled with thousands of Binghamton University students who live off campus. As I get older I like this time of year even less. I discovered this morning that someone had keyed by truck. I am not really upset about it because it is on the passenger side that already has damage from when I drove it off the cliff last summer. I made my last payment on it in April. I had already decided to buy a new truck after this next winter and I don't think a key mark will really hurt the value more the abuse I have already done to it. BU is a strange campus. It is the only college campus in upstate that has more downstate kids in it. If you are not familiar with these terms I will explain them. If I say downstate this includes Long Island, The City, and Westchester County. Everything else is Upstate. Upstate can then be divided into 4 other sub-divisions. I grew up in Western New York. This is Generally considered to be anything west of the eastern most Finger Lake. The GBA is in Central New York. This is the east of the Finger Lakes to just outside Albany. The Capital Region which is the all the counties down to Westchester up to where the North Country begins. To figure out where the North Country begins you have to imagine a line at the bottom of Lake Ontario that cuts across to Vermont. Everything above that line is the North Country. That is your geography lesson for today. I have to get back to work.

2004-08-27T09:52:00.000-04:00

f you look at my desk right now, you might not even see me the work is piled on so high. I have decided to come in on Saturday when no one else is her and just get caught up on everything. I can not remember the last time I worked on a Saturday. I will problem just sit here and only do when absolutely needs to be done today because I am already resigned myself to coming into tomorrow.

I usually get up at 7 every day, no matter what day it is. I was about halfway through a game of ESPN 2K5 on the ol' XBOX this morning when I realized that today was not Saturday. That was kind of depressing. ( At least no one called looking Brandon and Ashlee early this morning.) Speaking of witch my Mother called me yesterday at 7:30 yesterday morning. She has known me my entire life, she knows that even though I get up early I am not a talkative person in the morning. So you would think that she would know better than to call me in the morning to have a conversation. My father brought this up at lunch yesterday and I asked him when has he ever known me to be a talkative person in the morning. He agree with me.

The leaves are starting to turn colors, in case you were wondering. I love autumn. It is my favorite season. I can't imagine living somewhere where it was not in the 80's in the summer, has foliage in the fall, and two feet of mud in the spring and five feet of snow in the winter. I have lived other places besides upstate NY when I was in the Army, but I would never want to permently live anywhere else.

If you follow this blog, you know I camplain about traffic alot. I have to take a whole new way to work. I found a picture of what the new traffic circle is going to look like.
UPDATE:THIS PICTURES' WERE SCREWING EVERYTHING UP SO THEY IS NOW GONE.

50 things to know me better

2004-08-26T12:48:00.000-04:00

1. Your name spelled backwards. WERB

2. Where were your parents born? Father - Hornell, NY); Mother - Coudersport, PA

3. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? AVP wallpaper

4. What’s your favorite restaurant? Number 5

5. Last time you swam in a pool? July, at my parents.

6. Have you ever been in a school play? No, but my friends and I once put on a skit for a high school gong show. (We did not get gonged.)

7. How many kids do you want? three or four

8. Type of music you dislike most? jam band (DEAD, MOE, PHISH, buy I can handle DMB)

9. Are you registered to vote? Yes

10. Do you have cable? Nope. Just got ride of it this week. I hate televison.

11. Have you ever ridden on a moped? Yes, I used to own one.

12. Ever prank call anybody? It has been about two weeks since I pranked one of my friends.

13. Ever get a parking ticket? I have gotten something around 25 in 6 years that I have lived in the GBA. None before that.

14. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving? I was Airbourne.

15. Farthest place you ever traveled. Hondouras

16. Do you have a garden? no, My parents have a large one and I can remember spending my summers weeding it. UGH!

17. What’s your favorite comic strip? get fuzzy

18. Do you really know all the words to your national anthem? Well, the first verse anyway.

19. Bath or Shower, morning or night? Morning shower.

20. Best movie you’ve seen in the past month? The Butterfly Effect.

21. Favorite pizza topping? Pepperoni

22. Chips or popcorn? cornchips w/ SAL-sa

23. What color lipstick do you usually wear? huh?

24. Have you ever smoked peanut shells? I have never heard of this, but when I worked on my uncle's farm I used to smoke corn silk.

25. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant? negative

26. Orange Juice or apple? Orange Juice unless your talking about Cider

27. Who was the last person you went out to dinner with and where did you dine? Dad who called this morning to tell me he would be in the GBA on business today, at the time of writting this I have not gone yet.

28. Favorite type chocolate bar? SCOR

29. When was the last time you voted at the polls? 2000.

30. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato? I hate tomatos.

31. Have you ever won a trophy? A few from high school sports.

32. Are you a good cook? good enough to satisfy myself.

33. Do you know how to pump your own gas? This seems like a weird question in this day and age. Unless you life in Jersey.

34. Ever order an article from an infomercial? No

35. Sprite or 7-up? Diet Coke

36. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to work? Every day I was in the Army.

37. Last thing you bought at a pharmacy? batteries

38. Ever throw up in public? Yes, The very first time when I was 19 my friends kept track and said it threw up 14 times in a few hours.

39. Would you prefer being a millionaire or find true love? Millionaire, because if you believe that money can't buy you love you have not meet Bill and Melinda Gates.

40. Do you believe in love at first sight? No, within a few hours maybe.

41. Ever call a 1-900 number? negative

42. Can ex’s be friends? If they were friends before. I am only friends with one x-girlfriend and I became such good friends with her new boyfriend that he became my roomate for 6 months after she graduated from Binghamton University.

43. Who was the last person you visited in a hospital? My brother in law before he died.

44. Did you have a lot of hair when you were a baby? My mom says the nurses called me Kojak.

45. What message is on your answering machine? It is my name and nothing else.

46. What’s your all time favorite Saturday Night Live Character? Franz, Hanz always got by on his coattails.

47. What was the name of your first pet? Tiger and Brighteyes, two cats my parents got right after I was born.

48. What is in your purse? none of your business

49. Favorite thing to do before bedtime? read

50. What is one thing you are grateful for today? That I'm done with this list.

HAWKEYE

2004-08-26T10:32:00.000-04:00

I am an uncle. I just realized when I typed 'uncle' that is an ugly looking word. Anyways, my friend Smalls two girls, Alexis and Neveh, call me Uncle Brew and I am their favorite. (Mostly because I give them money to tell their Uncle Joe that.) Now I am a blood uncle for the first time. Tuesday, Ross Abram Pentz was brought into this world. I hate the name as well. My other sister has this idea in her head that she is going to call it Rossie. I got felt ill when I saw that on her e-mail. He is going to have a complex before he is three. I think I will call me Hawkeye. If I ever have kids, I always wanted to name one Hawkeye, like in the Leatherstocking Tales. Yes, I stole the idea from MASH, but they are some of my favorite books. I don't think any women I marry would let me get away with that, so I shall make it Ross nickname. It is not all good news, they ended up having to do an emergency C-section on my sister because Hawkeye had an irregular heartbeat. He was already a week late, so I think he was just trying to tell everyone he was ready to leave. My mother assures me that the doctors have said it is not a big deal. It still worries me considering what happened to my other sister's husband. My sister and her husband are seeing a specialist today to make sure. Please keep Hawkeye in your prayers.

I WILL STOP THIS WEDDING, PART UNO

2004-08-24T09:35:00.000-04:00

A little over a year ago my friend Joe meet this girl. He had just broken up with is girlfriend of three years a few months before, so I encouraged this new relationship because I could not stand his x-girlfriend. Colleen and I hit it off pretty quick in the beginning, but it always like that when you meet someone new, they only show you their good side. A few months went by and in the beginning of November last year I got a call at 2 o'clock in the morning by Colleen. Joe was out of town and she had gone out and gotten drunk and decided to call and tell me they had decided to get married. The strange thing was that he had told her not to tell anyone. I thought it
strange that they planning the engagement together to surprise his family. I always thought you were suppose to surprise your fiancee and you tell your family. I knew at that point that having only known each other a few months, they were not really interested in getting married to each other, they were just wanted to be married. I don't think this is an uncommon thing in America today, but you rarely see it in guys and I certainly did not expect it of one of my friends. Christmas came around and I did not tell Joe that I knew his plan, but I told our other friends because I knew it was a mistake. I know what your thinking, that I am getting involved with my friends lives to much and I shoul just let them live. I have bee really close to Joe
for eight years. His brother and I have been best friends since we were in the first grade. I have known the kid almost his entire life. I would want one of my friends to speak up if they thought I was making a mistake. I had already begun to sour on Colleen by Christmas, even though I did agree to be in their wedding at that time. It was also at that time that 'The Clone' who had been her favorite of Joes friends decided he could not give his blessing on the wedding. He straight up told them that he did not want to be in the wedding, but he would attend. It was not long after Christmas that 'Smalls' (Joes brother)came right out and voiced his opposition to the
wedding. There were other problems associated with this as well, because his wife had stayed friends with Joes x-girlfriend. Colleen believed that everyone should have cut off contact with her, this is kind of hard in a town of 6K people. It was nice that I had 'Smalls" on my side. The real weakness is was Joe And 'Smalls' other and sister. They just loved Colleen and compared to his ex-girlfriend it was easy to like her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARAH

2004-08-23T17:05:00.000-04:00

Today is my youngest sisters 27th birthday. So this is a post about her. She is the strongest I know. She is a residential director for the female freshman dorm at Indiana Wesleyan University. She graduated from there in December of 1999 with a bachelors in nursing. (IF a chick gets a degree, how come they don't call it a bachlorette?) She moved to Syracuse and got a job as an RN at St. Josephs where her fiancee was also a nurse. In June of 2000 she got married. In late October of 2001 her husband went in for surgery to replace a bad pacemaker he had. He was 26 at the time. The doctor screwed it up and my brother in law never came back. He lived in a coma for a week before by 24 (at the time) year old sister had to make the decision to take her husband of year and half and best friend of over 6 years off life support. It is not a choice I could have made. During the whole ordeal, my sister faith in God never wavered and was a great witness to me. Happy Birthday, Tarah.

LIGHTNING STRIKES

2004-08-18T16:59:00.000-04:00

The other day it rained, which could be any day in the GBA. Binghamton is the second rainiest city in the US next to Seattle. Here it is not a matter of if it is going to rain today, but when is it going to rain today. Monday it was pouring out and I went out to roll up my windows, which ended up not being down. I grabbed the umbrella and walked outside to check my windows. When I came back inside almost everyone gave me a hard time because there was lighting out. "You could have been struck by lighting" was the gist of what I heard for a good ten minutes. Yesterday, I got this article from the local paper thrown on my desk.

The Susquehanna County woman escaped serious injury Monday when lightning hit an umbrella she was holding.

What my co-works though would scare me only tightened my resolve. I pointed out that the women not only did not die but was not injured. Getting struck by lighting and living is an awesome story to be able to tell the rest of your life. I could have even taken the rest of the day off. My office is now totally convince that I am in fact insane.

HIS NAME'S JASON AND HE'S CRAZY

2004-08-18T15:22:00.000-04:00

I force my self to watch NEVER DIE ALONE the other night. It is a sad state of affairs when David Arquette gives the mose believable performance in a drama. The movie had absolutly no believable characters. The most likably character was played by DMX and twice in the movie he gave battery acid to women when they thought is was heroin to kill them. I am not above turning off a movie if is really bad, but this movie was so bad I could not stop watching it.

The other movie I watched was THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. I actully thought I was going to get punked by this movie. If you have not seen the movie you stop reading now. I liked this movie a lot. I have always wanted the ability to go back into my past with the knowledge I have now and be able it effect the future the way I want. I would probly use it for evil. I have always said for the last few years that if I knew in high school what I know now about women, I would have been the biggest pimp ever. That knowledge is wasted on women my own age because most them are just bitter about the guys they knew in the past that were like me. I am getting a little of track. I liked the movie, so go rent it. oh, I almost forgot. This movie has a quote in it, that goes in my top 25 movie quotes of all time. "His name's Jason and he's crazy"