Well, after failing miserably at the last Flickr 365Days project (a self portrait every day for a year - I made it 178 days), I’ve decided to try another 365Days project over there.  This one shouldn’t be quite as bad since it can be a picture of anything and man, did I ever get tired of looking at myself in that last project.

Anyway, if you care, my new project can be found here.  I’m already 3 days in.  Only 362 more days.  Awesome.

2009.  Cool.  I can’t say that I’m going to miss 2008 very much.  It was actually a pretty shitty year, to be quite frank.  BUT, I made it through and have high hopes for this new year.  Let’s kick it off in style by throwing away some old and welcoming in some new.  Whaddya say?  Cool?  Cool.  Great, let’s start.

Favorite Ultra-Pop Artist
Out - Shakira
In - Lady Gaga

Boy Band That You Publicly Claim To Hate But Secretly Sort Of Like
Out - New Kids On The Block
In- Jonas Brothers

Favorite Actress Even Though She’s Never Offered To Help Pay My Mortgage
Out - Kate Hudson
In - Megan Fox

Favorite Old Time Actor
Out - Cary Grant
In - Cary Grant (What can I say?  Some things are just too classic to change.)

Best James Bond
Out - Sean Connery
In - Daniel Craig

Best Christmas Movie
Out - A Christmas Story
In - Love Actually

Favorite Food Network Cook - Female
Out - Rachael Ray
In - Nigella Lawson

Favorite Food Network Cook - Male
Out - Bobby Flay
In - Jamie Oliver

President
Out - G.W.
In - Barack

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now.  Let me know if you have any Outs and Ins.  In the meantime, I hope that 2009 treats you all like the Kings and Queens that you know deep down inside that you really are.  Happy New Year, everybody.

Peace.

Well, today is our eldest son’s birthday which is really cool because every time he has a birthday it reminds me of how very old I am.  How special.

Seriously, though, Happy Birthday, Chris!  I hope your day is full of smiles, food, laughter and maybe even some loose change found between the cushions in the sofa!  I love you!

As if the ruptured disk in my back and the hives that WILL NOT GO AWAY weren’t enough, I now have to deal with the extreme pain of kidney stones.  Oh my god, WORSE PAIN EVER!!!  I ended up going to the emergency room on Saturday and they were able to confirm with a CAT scan that I do, indeed, have a little 5 mm friend stuck in my inner unmentionables.  Have I mentioned that this is the WORSE PAIN EVER?

So here I sit, working from home, drinking gallons of water and leaning on a heating pad, hoping that the worst is over.

Yes, you may now envy me.  You should be so lucky.

Well, yesterday was my first day at my new position and I have to say that my new teammates just do not know how to welcome a guy into the club.  For example, here is how a “First Day” is supposed to go:

• Stroll in leisurely around 09:00-ish
• Say hello to everyone and listen to all of their lavish praise about how great you are
• Spend a few hours getting your desk ‘just so’
• Be taken out to lunch by the ‘fellas’
• Get back from lunch and start cleaning up “old job” emails
• Be surprised with a cake!  You guys!  You shouldn’t-a.
• Sit around and talk about your old job and what that was like
• Head on home around 4:30, grinning from ear to ear about your exciting new job

Yeah.  That’s how it’s supposed to go.  Here’s more how it went:

• Walked in around 7:30
• Started going through old emails
• OHMYGOD!  WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!
• Started working on problem when all of a sudden
• OHMYGOD!  WE HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM!!
• Started working on both problems simultaneously when all of a sudden
• OHMYGOD!  WE HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM!!
• Started to question my career picking abilities
• Began to sweat when all of a sudden
• OHMYGOD!  WE HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM!!

In all, we had five major issues and about, oh I don’t know, around an infinite +1 number of minor issues.  I got home around 5:30, logged back on and worked on a few things until 07:00 at which point I crawled into a glass of wine and took my first breath of the day.  Now I’m wondering if this is how every day will be.  Hmmmmm.

And you know?  I never did get that cake.  What a bummer.

Well, today was my last official day at my old position.  As of Monday, I’m off to different pastures.  Pastures that will, in time, be greener (I hope).  So I think that a career move is worthy of an Eye Candy Friday™, don’t you?  Cool.  Let’s do it.  Oh, and feel free to put your own ECF™ picture up on your site.  If you do that, let me know, k?  K.  Here we go.

First to face the fire, Scarlett Johansson.  A classic beauty.

Next we have, for my wife, Denzel Washington.

Now I see Katy Perry stepping into the limelight.  I heard that she kissed a girl.  *gasp!*

Let’s see...who’s next.  A-ha!  I see it’s Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Getting close to the end here.  Let’s go with one more of the feminine persuasion.  How about Ashley, no MaryKate, no I definitely think it’s Ashley.  Damn twins!  Always confusing me!

And last, but not least, first in fact, our next President, Barack Obama.  Nice job, sir.  And good luck running the show.  A lot of us are counting on you.

Wow.  Obama.  Just wow, yanno?  So awesome!  And now comes all the finger pointing.  What went wrong?  Who’s to blame?  Do I still get lunch?  Well, kids, I am here to tell you why McCain lost this battle.  I mean, we all know what the pundits are saying, but I’m going to give you some of the reasons that they can’t say on TV.  Ready?  Ok, here we go.

1.  Age. In this election, race trumped age.  I know that’s not cool, but there it is.
2.  Negative advertising. I think that both parties put out equal amounts of negative advertising.  As usual.  The difference this year was that the Republican ads got (and stayed) too personal.  They weren’t advertising about about bad policy, they attacked personal relationships.  Over and over and over.  They just wouldn’t let it go.  They never saw that moment when enough was enough and it turned off a lot of people.  Most, in fact.
3.  Cindy McCain. Sure, I’ll say it.  She just didn’t fit.  She looked too haughty, too rich and, frankly, too young.  She did not make a good visual match with her hubby.  This is not her fault.  It’s just the way it is.
4.  Bush. No Republican was going to win this year.  None.  No way.  Because of Bush.
5.  Anger. The Republican base got so angry they couldn’t see straight.  This is the fault of the candidates who whipped this into a frenzy instead of calming it down.  We may still see fallout from this.  Unbelievable, irresponsible and unforgivably unpatriotic.
6.  Looks. Obama looks better than McCain.  Again, not fair but there you have it. 
7.  African Americans. There are more than you think and they are a powerful voting force.
8.  College students. There are more than you think and they are a powerful voting force.
9.  Barack Obama. No one was going to beat Obama.  Larger than life and selling hope.  If there is anything that Americans were ready to buy after the past eight years it was hope and Obama was selling it by the buckets full.  By the way, this guy had this election won back in 2004 when he spoke at the Democratic convention.  That’s when we sat up and took notice and we haven’t stopped since.

So, Godspeed and God bless our new President.  Not to mention a huge helping of Good Luck.  He’s going to need that, too.

Seriously, this is the stuff of legend!

Man Bowls 300 Then Dies

After watching the Phillies all year, through their highs and their lows, working to make the playoffs, battling their way through the playoffs and then to the World Series itself and then finally winning it all in the rain-suspended Game 5 1/2, I came away with one thought:

Holy Crappity Crap with a side order of Crap!!  On a Stick!

They did it!!  The Phillies won the World Series!  How awesome is that?  After a championship drought of (I think) twenty seven thousand years, Philly is finally getting that parade down Broad Street.  So cool.

I’m so excited I could set a police car on fire!  (Tell me again why people do that.  That part confuses me.)

Way to go PHILS!!  And Bobs and Marys and Harolds, too, but mostly Phils!  Woohooo!!!

The bathrooms here at work are, unfortunately, a constant source of blog fodder.  Today, for example, I walked in to do my (#1) business and while I was ummmm…business-ing something in the urinal caught my eye.  I looked down and there, struggling valiantly to climb up the wet interior surface of said urinal was a tick.

*blink*

A tick??  What the hell?!!  I’ve gotta tell you, the visions that rushed to my head of where that tick came from or whom it fell from were, to say the least, unsettling.  A tick!  Ugh!

You know, although I was initially disgusted and not just a little confused, I have to admit that I admired his fortitude.  His sheer desire to climb, climb, climb.  His totally tick bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.

Yeah, I flushed his tick ass.