Thursday, August 28, 2003
Okay. Now for the first chapter of my Long Island adventures. On wednesday, August 13th, in the early evening I get a call from my supervisor, who works in our Maryland office, that he wants me up in our Long Island office the next day and I'll be able to come back the next day. I immediately went online to make the travel plans. Since last-minute flights out of Pittsburgh are expensive, most people in my office drive down to the Baltimore airport and get really cheap and totally flexible flights on Southwest airlines. It's not too bad a drive for those who live close to the office, but I live alot closer to Pittsburgh and, if I'm driving alone on no sleep, it takes me five hours to make it to the airport. I got a flight on the 10am flight from BWI to Islip.
After work, I decided to go to Best Buy and buy something that I've been wanting to buy: a portable DVD player. I can watch it on the plane, in the hotel room, and, when I'm not traveling, I can use it as a dvd player in my bedroom. I immediately took it home to charge it as I packed for the trip.
Tiff came over to make sure I woke up earliest enough to get ready and leave early enough to make the drive to make the flight.
When I got to the airport, the dvd player had no picture. I figured I left the power button turned on during the drive to the airport and the battery was dead. So I just read a book before and during the flight and figured I would charge the dvd player at the hotel room that night.
That week was a bad week for me. I even remember telling someone at the Long Island office that I pity anyone around me cause I was having a bad week and anyone around me is in danger of getting caught up in the effects of my bad luck.
The funny thing is, I can't remember what specific events happened early in the week to make it a bad week for me.
When I got to the LI office, I had to wait until configuration management built the latest version of the software. I went into the computer lab and found out that they had been having electrical problems. If they had too many machines running at once, they all went down. So I had to wait till a computer became free before I could start up the ones I needed to work on. I finally got them started up the ones I needed to use and had walked out of the lab to get something. When I came back into the lab, the lights dimmed almost entirely and then went back up. I figured it was caused by the electical problems with the lab. A short while later, I was out of the lab and the same thing happened in the office space outside of the lab. Then the power went out entirely. We still thought it had something to do with the electrical problems we had been having. Then one of the guys from Long Island called his parents who owned a business nearby and found out that they had no power either. So we all figured that someone ran a car into a electrical pole. Then, as some of the people started listening to the radio and/or calling friends and relatives on cellphones, we became aware that the power outage was far more reaching.
My cellphone had been on all day so it wasn't fully charged, but I was able to get calls through. I left a message on my parents answering machine and sent a text message to Tiff.
We sat around the lobby of the office for a little bit when my supervisor (who was my ride to the hotel) and one other guy decided to leave. We made it through the red-light-challenged traffic to get to the hotel and checked in. The hotel couldn't program the room door locks so they had to have a hotel employee escort guests to their rooms to open the door with them.
We decided, with nothing better to do, to have a cookout. We stopped by a grocery store and picked up beer, keilbasa, buns, plates, and a cookout kit which contained charcoal, utensils and a small grill. We went back to our office, which was totally empty, and set up the grill in the parking lot. It took us a long time to get the charcoal lit. We were supposed to just light the bag with the charcoal in it, but the charcoal didn't go along with the instructions. We tore up all the paper we could find and finally got it lit. We ran out of beer and, since I was the most sober, I drove to find more. All the gas stations and small stores in the local area were totally dark so I went to the only public place with lights. That would be the Sheraton hotel that I had stayed at in the past but not this time. I walked in and was able to procure six bottles of beer for the reasonable (considering it was a bar and it had electricity) price of $3.00 a bottle. I came back and the keilbasa was finished. It was a great time considering the only light we had was from the rental car we had.
We made it back to the hotel and I got into my (hot-as-hell) room and, with no other distractions, I fell asleep with the moonlight coming through the window as the only light. I woke up at about 5am-ish and noticed the digital clock was blinking. It didn't sink in that that meant the power was on. It wasn't until I got up and noticed the hallway lights coming in under the door that I realized that the power was back on.
When I woke up for good, I decided to turn the dvd player on. I discovered that the dvd player did have a full battery and I couldn't have watched it during the blackout. The reason why there was no picture was that the A/V switch was set to Input instead of Output. Oh well. No big loss.
I'll continue the details of my Long Island adventures soon.
After work, I decided to go to Best Buy and buy something that I've been wanting to buy: a portable DVD player. I can watch it on the plane, in the hotel room, and, when I'm not traveling, I can use it as a dvd player in my bedroom. I immediately took it home to charge it as I packed for the trip.
Tiff came over to make sure I woke up earliest enough to get ready and leave early enough to make the drive to make the flight.
When I got to the airport, the dvd player had no picture. I figured I left the power button turned on during the drive to the airport and the battery was dead. So I just read a book before and during the flight and figured I would charge the dvd player at the hotel room that night.
That week was a bad week for me. I even remember telling someone at the Long Island office that I pity anyone around me cause I was having a bad week and anyone around me is in danger of getting caught up in the effects of my bad luck.
The funny thing is, I can't remember what specific events happened early in the week to make it a bad week for me.
When I got to the LI office, I had to wait until configuration management built the latest version of the software. I went into the computer lab and found out that they had been having electrical problems. If they had too many machines running at once, they all went down. So I had to wait till a computer became free before I could start up the ones I needed to work on. I finally got them started up the ones I needed to use and had walked out of the lab to get something. When I came back into the lab, the lights dimmed almost entirely and then went back up. I figured it was caused by the electical problems with the lab. A short while later, I was out of the lab and the same thing happened in the office space outside of the lab. Then the power went out entirely. We still thought it had something to do with the electrical problems we had been having. Then one of the guys from Long Island called his parents who owned a business nearby and found out that they had no power either. So we all figured that someone ran a car into a electrical pole. Then, as some of the people started listening to the radio and/or calling friends and relatives on cellphones, we became aware that the power outage was far more reaching.
My cellphone had been on all day so it wasn't fully charged, but I was able to get calls through. I left a message on my parents answering machine and sent a text message to Tiff.
We sat around the lobby of the office for a little bit when my supervisor (who was my ride to the hotel) and one other guy decided to leave. We made it through the red-light-challenged traffic to get to the hotel and checked in. The hotel couldn't program the room door locks so they had to have a hotel employee escort guests to their rooms to open the door with them.
We decided, with nothing better to do, to have a cookout. We stopped by a grocery store and picked up beer, keilbasa, buns, plates, and a cookout kit which contained charcoal, utensils and a small grill. We went back to our office, which was totally empty, and set up the grill in the parking lot. It took us a long time to get the charcoal lit. We were supposed to just light the bag with the charcoal in it, but the charcoal didn't go along with the instructions. We tore up all the paper we could find and finally got it lit. We ran out of beer and, since I was the most sober, I drove to find more. All the gas stations and small stores in the local area were totally dark so I went to the only public place with lights. That would be the Sheraton hotel that I had stayed at in the past but not this time. I walked in and was able to procure six bottles of beer for the reasonable (considering it was a bar and it had electricity) price of $3.00 a bottle. I came back and the keilbasa was finished. It was a great time considering the only light we had was from the rental car we had.
We made it back to the hotel and I got into my (hot-as-hell) room and, with no other distractions, I fell asleep with the moonlight coming through the window as the only light. I woke up at about 5am-ish and noticed the digital clock was blinking. It didn't sink in that that meant the power was on. It wasn't until I got up and noticed the hallway lights coming in under the door that I realized that the power was back on.
When I woke up for good, I decided to turn the dvd player on. I discovered that the dvd player did have a full battery and I couldn't have watched it during the blackout. The reason why there was no picture was that the A/V switch was set to Input instead of Output. Oh well. No big loss.
I'll continue the details of my Long Island adventures soon.
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
One pre-trip thing I wanted to write about. On my birthday weekend, I got the first two American Pie movies and the entire Scream trilogy on dvd. I also saw the third American Pie movie that weekend. I've come to realize that there are a number of parallels between the two series:
1. Both movies revived a genre. American Pie revived the R-rated teenage sex comedy. Scream revived the horror genre.
2. Both were followed by a endless line of imitators trying to out-do them.
3. Both helped start the careers of a slew of young actors.
4. Both have stopped at three movies with no even thought of another movie. Wes Craven has even said that he might revisit the scream universe in ten years or more, but he wasn't going to do it anytime soon. The surprising thing is that in both cases the studios aren't trying to push more sequels with all new casts/crews.
There were a couple more, but I can't think of them right now.
Updated 9-8-03
5. I had forgotten the thing that most made me think of the similarities of the two trilogies. In both the American Pie and Scream trilogies, the first movie is about high school, the second is about college and the third is about life after college.
1. Both movies revived a genre. American Pie revived the R-rated teenage sex comedy. Scream revived the horror genre.
2. Both were followed by a endless line of imitators trying to out-do them.
3. Both helped start the careers of a slew of young actors.
4. Both have stopped at three movies with no even thought of another movie. Wes Craven has even said that he might revisit the scream universe in ten years or more, but he wasn't going to do it anytime soon. The surprising thing is that in both cases the studios aren't trying to push more sequels with all new casts/crews.
There were a couple more, but I can't think of them right now.
Updated 9-8-03
5. I had forgotten the thing that most made me think of the similarities of the two trilogies. In both the American Pie and Scream trilogies, the first movie is about high school, the second is about college and the third is about life after college.
Okay, two weeks ago almost to the minute, I got a call from my supervisor telling me that he wanted me up in the Long Island office the next day. I was supposed to be come back the next day. Instead, what followed was a adventure that entailed twelve days, eleven nights, three trips to Long Island, eight plane flights, four five-hour drives to/from Baltimore, two 3-hour drives to/from Cleveland, five hotel rooms, two hotels, two rental cars and a massive power outage. I'll give details later, but I can't do it now. Tiff and I are meeting my family for dinner this evening.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Considering it's been 15 years or so since dogs from two different beer commercials ran for President, it was just a matter of time until commercial characters got on the California Governor bandwagon. Apparently, with Reebok's backing, the actor who plays Terry Tate has entered the race. They've already admitted, though, that they're planning his withdrawal from the race.
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Okay, yesterday, as I was working, which involves programming languages, and watching the scream trilogy, which is about serial killers, my friend and co-worker Bill C. (not this Bill) IMs me this link. This is a quiz that is funny but it also was appropriate. I got 5 out of 10. So did Bill. Tiff said she got 8 out of 10. I think I should be worried.
Monday, August 04, 2003
Bydaway, on the way to pick up the Mustang friday morning, we came upon a sign for a Steak and Shake that hadn't been there last time we drove past. The building itself, at first, was blocked by a closed-down Ponderosa steakhouse. We wondered aloud if it was open yet. As we drove further, the building became unblocked. It was definitely not open yet. The building didn't have walls. It was just a wood frame. But it was like an additional birthday present to discover that a Steak and Shake was being put up within minutes of where I live.
Okay, it's been a busy week. Got a lot of things I wanted to write about, but atleast half of them, I've forgotten.
Of course, this past weekend was my birthday. It started off thursday night. Tiff and I went to Steak and Shake and then to see the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It was a good movie. It might even have made it to great level. The main thing it had going for it is that it went on too long. If it had about 20-30 minutes taken out of it here or there, it'd could have been great. But it just seemed to drag, although it didn't drag in any place in particular. Johnny Depp's performance was great. He played the role in a way that was both totally entertaining and totally original. Kiera Knightley managed to just barely keep from being the stereotypical female character that is strong and educated and "not proper" that fits in well in the post-Women's Lib period even though it's about two centuries ago.
I also find it funny how, since this movie came out as a hit, the ads for Bend It Like Beckham now make it seem like she's the main star of the movie. Some may say that it's because the main star is Indian, but NBC did something similar with even more of an extreme stretch and without the ethnic factor when they advertised the broadcast of A Few Good Men by lumping in Noah Wyle as one of the stars of the movie. He only had a tiny partin the movie, but he was a major NBC star from ER.
Friday morning, Tiff took me to the local Hertz rental place and she got me a Ford Mustang for the weekend. It was a pretty car. It was a blast to drive. And I'm not one to have fun driving. On the way back from the rental place, I stopped by Suncoast video and splurged on some movies. Later on, Tiff and I went to see American Wedding, one of the few movies that has hit the theatre that we both wanted to see. It was funny. Basicly, if you like the first two, you'll like this one. If you didn't, you won't like this one. Friday night, we took the Mustang down to my parents to show it to them and my brother's family. It took my two-year-old nephey little time to figure out how to open the car door, climb into the driver seat and beeping the horn. We later went to Bill and Terri's.
Saturday afternoon, we drove down to an old co-worker's place for a reunion of ex-Lycos workers. I caught up with some people who I haven't seen in a few years. Saturday night, with Bill playing designated driver, the four of us went to Dave and Busters. On the way, we got caught in traffic caused by fireworks night at the Pittsburgh Pirates game. When there is a fireworks display in downtown Pittsburgh, drivers seem to think it's okay to simply stop in the middle of the road and get out and watch the display. At D&B, we played Robotech and some pool. I did some drinking but didn't get too drunk. Even though I wasn't blitz, there are parts about Saturday night that I don't remember. For instance, why I ended up sleeping on couch during various periods of the night. Sunday night, I picked up Tiff and we went to have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I had never eaten at the Pittsburgh Hard Rock despite it being so close. Then, we had to drive to Wal-Mart to pick up a fan for Tiff since her very life is dependent on her fan.
Monday morning, I returned the Mustang and returned to driving my Taurus. I then proceeded to get a speeding ticket on the way to work. My first ticket in nine years and it wasn't in the Mustang. Of course, my only other speeding ticket was achieved in a '84 Pontiac station wagon with artificial woodgrain panelling.
There are other notable entertaining details of the weekend, but I can't think of most of them right now.
Of course, this past weekend was my birthday. It started off thursday night. Tiff and I went to Steak and Shake and then to see the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It was a good movie. It might even have made it to great level. The main thing it had going for it is that it went on too long. If it had about 20-30 minutes taken out of it here or there, it'd could have been great. But it just seemed to drag, although it didn't drag in any place in particular. Johnny Depp's performance was great. He played the role in a way that was both totally entertaining and totally original. Kiera Knightley managed to just barely keep from being the stereotypical female character that is strong and educated and "not proper" that fits in well in the post-Women's Lib period even though it's about two centuries ago.
I also find it funny how, since this movie came out as a hit, the ads for Bend It Like Beckham now make it seem like she's the main star of the movie. Some may say that it's because the main star is Indian, but NBC did something similar with even more of an extreme stretch and without the ethnic factor when they advertised the broadcast of A Few Good Men by lumping in Noah Wyle as one of the stars of the movie. He only had a tiny partin the movie, but he was a major NBC star from ER.
Friday morning, Tiff took me to the local Hertz rental place and she got me a Ford Mustang for the weekend. It was a pretty car. It was a blast to drive. And I'm not one to have fun driving. On the way back from the rental place, I stopped by Suncoast video and splurged on some movies. Later on, Tiff and I went to see American Wedding, one of the few movies that has hit the theatre that we both wanted to see. It was funny. Basicly, if you like the first two, you'll like this one. If you didn't, you won't like this one. Friday night, we took the Mustang down to my parents to show it to them and my brother's family. It took my two-year-old nephey little time to figure out how to open the car door, climb into the driver seat and beeping the horn. We later went to Bill and Terri's.
Saturday afternoon, we drove down to an old co-worker's place for a reunion of ex-Lycos workers. I caught up with some people who I haven't seen in a few years. Saturday night, with Bill playing designated driver, the four of us went to Dave and Busters. On the way, we got caught in traffic caused by fireworks night at the Pittsburgh Pirates game. When there is a fireworks display in downtown Pittsburgh, drivers seem to think it's okay to simply stop in the middle of the road and get out and watch the display. At D&B, we played Robotech and some pool. I did some drinking but didn't get too drunk. Even though I wasn't blitz, there are parts about Saturday night that I don't remember. For instance, why I ended up sleeping on couch during various periods of the night. Sunday night, I picked up Tiff and we went to have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I had never eaten at the Pittsburgh Hard Rock despite it being so close. Then, we had to drive to Wal-Mart to pick up a fan for Tiff since her very life is dependent on her fan.
Monday morning, I returned the Mustang and returned to driving my Taurus. I then proceeded to get a speeding ticket on the way to work. My first ticket in nine years and it wasn't in the Mustang. Of course, my only other speeding ticket was achieved in a '84 Pontiac station wagon with artificial woodgrain panelling.
There are other notable entertaining details of the weekend, but I can't think of most of them right now.
