baptism weekend. so my duties as godfather were pretty minimal during the ceremony, but everything went well. carson didn't cry or fuss until the end of mass, but by then i think we were all hot and ready to go. besides the baptism itself, i did a lot of eating, sleeping, and visiting with family. all things i should probably do more of on a regular basis.

and in order to test my patience, the flight back was a bit of a challenge. three flights were delayed to ny. having been well rested i was able to simply enjoy the time reading and making a couple phone calls. and 6 hours later i boarded my flight home.

godfather. i'm off to va for the weekend. my nephew is getting baptised and i'm going to be the godfather. i'm looking forward to seeing all the family.

and thanks to josh, i've fixed the formatting problem. cheers, pal.

painting. i finally got around to painting my room this weekend. i'm pretty happy with it. its much better than the entryway evan and i tried to do. which looks horrible. and will probably stay that way.

teacher friends. not to make you nervous or anything. but watch out for students like this one.

total i worked 25.5 hours yesterday. i suppose i'll have to put some down for today. this outdoes my previous record of 22 consecutive hours of work.

i've been at work since 3am this morning. yep, thats 18.5 hrs. and counting.

working weekend. so i worked from home today, and not long at that. this weekend is our launch. i have to be at the data center tomorrow around 1pm and again sunday morning at about 5am. let's hope things go smoothly.

something for the kiddies.

london. i doubt anyone is really surprised that an attack occurred. at least i wasn't. what i can't grasp is the mentality behind it. random acts of violence is not going to further your cause, but it will build more resistance to it. widening the gap will not bring a resolution.

bad ideas. eating cheap chinese takeout on a very empty stomach.

moved.

you can see the carnage. it's been a brutal day. i'll give all the bloody details in a later post, right now i have to get to bed as i have a conf call in 5 and a half hours. but i'm excited to be in my new apartment.

a lovely wedding. it seemed a bit like a mini reunion. i saw half a dozen people that i haven't seen in years. it's funny how many different directions we've gone. v. had been in the czech republic for the better part of 5 years; ew. i hadn't seen in quite some time, and i almost forgot how much fun she is to hang out with. met c., 'the date', who i spent a lot of time with that night since m. and ew. were in the wedding party.

and of course emily looked great.

packed. well, mostly. i have most of my belongings all packed up in bags. it's kinda hard to believe that this is the last night i'll spend here.

tomorrow i leave for work, then i'll be in bethlehem for a wedding. then it's back to pittsburgh to get the rest of my stuff. and finally, e. and i will drive our uhaul back to the city and set up shop in our new place. it's going to be one busy weekend.

too many emails. i just can't keep up with my email. i try to keep my work inbox less than 1000 email, and personal email less than 100. right now my work inbox is over 1500 and personal over 160. if i haven't replied, my apologies.

on another note, i'm close to getting my apartment lease finalized. between that and the downpayment for the galapagos trip next year, i'll write checks for over 4 large. this month will be red.

so, in addition to work, i'm now trying to coordinate a fourth of july weekend wedding and moving from pgh to nyc, with a roommate that is moving from cleveland. this is when it'd be nice to have a car. instead i am relying on the good nature of my friends and family for pickups and whatnot.

Skating in the park

a busy day. work, as usual. then i had an appointment to sign the lease of my new apartment. then a haircut. finally dinner with e. to discuss some of the details of the apartment. and now, back to work for an hour or so.

back from a fantastic trip to the adirondacks. there were 11 of us that canoed and camped in lower and middle saranac lake for four days. d organized a super trip, both for camping locations, and, of course, menu. i'm used to eating like we do for backpacking, but you can haul a lot more gear in canoes.

for the most part, the weather was cooperative. the first full day had about an hour or two of steady rain, but then we only had a few other short showers that passed over. altho it was pretty warm, being on a lake, or in the woods and up in the mountians made for pretty comfortable temps. and when it was too warm, a dip in the lake fixed that pretty quickly.

if i can find my cable to download the pictures, i'll try to post a few.

new feature. in case you haven't noticed, you can now make comments on posts by clicking the 'comments' link at the end of the post. now that ryan has broken the ice, i'm sure the comments will start to flood in.

short week. i'm off tomorrow for lake saranac for a canoe trip with d and 7 other folks. it's the annual trip that i've been trying to make since its inception. even tho i'm only working 2.5 days this week, i'm still putting in at least 30 hrs. that should make me enjoy the trip all that much more.

last weekend was another travel weekend as you all should know. i got to see my cousin again (it's only been 3 or 4 years) which was cool. also, much of the family came in for the reception as well. it was the first time i got to me carson, and caleb is a lot of fun now that he talks and runs and loves to play ball. not to mention he's already a lady's man. the little 2 year old girl couldn't stay away from him. altho, when she wanted to join in ring-around-the-rosie with him and my sister, it took a little persuading to hold hands. don't worry lad, in 20 years you'll be wanting to hold all the pretty hands you can.

(and ryan, this 2 paragraph entry is just for you. see i'm trying.)

i'm off this weekend to my cousin's wedding reception. it's probably been 3 years since i've seen her. plus i'll get to meet carson for the first time.

pears vs apples.

perhaps its the weather. but whatever it is, something is stirring within my being. i sat and wrote a three page letter to no one, or maybe to myself, this weekend. in it, i wrote:

perhaps it is this dis-ease that will become my poetic tension. a tension not to hold in place, but that will set in motion. set in motion my mind, my pen, and eventually, my heart.

i picked up Kafka's Metamorphasis this same day at east village books. i'm on the verge of securing my own apartment. i feel the vibration change.

yesterday was nearly perfect in terms weather. so, considering my exercise routine has consisted of brisk walking (generally only to and from work) and 12oz curls for the last 6 months, i decided to go buy some inline skates. i went with the roller blades because both j. and the consultant i work with both have them, so i figured i'd have the occasional partner. plus, i used to skate really well back in middle school.

of course, nobody ever said, "don't worry, it's just like inline skating"

after making my new purchase, i got home and got my shiny new skates ready to take to the east river park. there is a path that runs a good length along the river. i decided not skate there (four blocks east) since i was out of practice. good idea.

once there, i laced up and set south. now, i wasn't a complete beginner, but i surely must not have looked very confident. once i got down closer to the seaport, the path becomes much improved. this is when i realized it wasn't my balance that was so off, but the fact that the path between houston and around market was extremely uneven. it seems the asphalt was not really steamrolled nice and flat.

after getting more confidence on the southern end, i had to make my way back up through the treacherous first section. you'll be happy to know i did this with and face plant or broken bones, although at a much slower pace than the cruising i did further down. all in all it was fun. but i think i need to find a better place to skate. j. said he goes in central park, so i'll have to get some directions from him. or i'll check out what this skate guide has to say.

we had dim sum today for lunch. for the most part, i let s, s's friend, order things. i still had veto power for things like 'fried pork tongue'. as for my first dim sum experience, i'd say it was a success.

after lunch the three of us walked down to the financial district and battery park.

s, a friend i met in edinburgh, is visiting from baltimore.

cingular has by far the worst customer support that i have ever exerperienced for any service i've ever purchased.

does anyone else always check the postmark on the letters they receive?

i'm not sure where this week went, but its friday night, and i'm in philly at my friend's place. it's funny how used to the city you get, and how easy it is to forget how the rest of the world lives.

tomorrow i'll help d build a fence and we'll see just how out of shape i am.

i met a messianic jew tonight at church. we didn't have much time to talk, but i hope that we'll get more time as i'd like to hear how he has come to believe what he does.

while i'm talking about things past, i figured i'd post this pic of a mural on the berlin wall.

go.blogger.com. so, i discovered a great free service from blogger. they have created a way to send photos from your camera phone directly to your blog. i just signed up (it's free), and sent the test immage below. the image is from the brooklyn botanical gardens when i went about a month ago.

"You are beautiful. The world is grim."

this morning i was on my way to work, late, because we had a sending off party for the guy from india that has been working here with the team in NY for the past two months, and i can't pass up free drinks. while walking half way because the subway wasn't running to the usual stop, i came across a chicken reading the newspaper. i would have taken a picture if it weren't for the fact i was in such a rush and i was somewhat concerned about how the chicken might react to this invasion of privacy.

isolation years. i got to see them play when i was in berlin. they've got some groovy tunes, check them out.

i saw the enron movie tonight. its amazing what greed can do. it ended up costing thousands of people their retirements, caused one person to commit suicide, and put two companies out of business (enron and arthur andersen).

towards the end i was literally getting pissed off. partly b/c i knew the whole 'energy shortage' in CA had to manufactured. listening to the recorded phone conversations of enron traders would infuriate anyone that lived in CA during the brown-outs. i have a bit more sympathy for gray davis, but he should have been a stronger advocate for the citizens he represented. and now there's arnold.

i ran down to san loco to pick up some dinner. while waiting for my food, a guy walked in to order. as i looked over at him, i felt as if i knew him from somewhere. before i figure it out, he recognized me; i recognized him as he was saying who he was. i havent seen or talked to this guy since high school. we might grab some beers this weekend.

home sweet home. back in nyc. back to work tomorrow. been up for almost 24 hrs now, so should get some sleep. a great trip. more details and a picture or two to come.

going home. after a great week away from the most of what is my life, i return tomorrow to ny, work, the grind, and the typical routine. it is not very exciting, but i am tired and am looking forward to being in a comfortable place again.

j and i went to prague on a whim this weekend. more details about it later, but the city is fantastic. clean, beautiful, cheap, and fun. i really have to make it back there. time to pack.

guten tag. made it to germany, enjoying berlin. going to check out a part of the wall and the east side gallery.

off to germany

Benedict XVI. the new pope starts his tenure as the head of the church. it was nice to see that it interupted class a bit yesterday when the announcement was made.

i'm off to chicago this week for training. i'll get back on friday and leave for germany the next day. it's been a while since i've done so much time zone crossing.

i had been clenching my teeth for several weeks. i had to consciously keep myself from doing it; i realized it when i started giving myself headaches. then, i started getting a twitch in my jaw too, which felt really odd. it seems to be gone for the mostpart. maybe it was the nice time i got to spend in the sunshine in the brooklyn botanical gardens and central park this weekend.

friday night i met a friend for dinner at lexington and 60th. it's amazing the difference is neighborhoods within ny. i spend so much time in the lower east side that i forgot there are so many rich old people in the city. we were probably at least 20 years younger than the average age of the patrons. i can't remember the last time i was stared at so much just because of my age. these little trips remind me why i want to stay in lower manhattan.

it is a dark, stormy, windy day the day after pope john paull II dies. an amazing man and spiritual leader. many people will be waiting to see who the successor will be, including me.

vacation. i booked my flight for my spring vacation. i'm going to visit k in berlin. j has been itching to travel too, so he's coming along as well. we might make a side trip to edinburgh or amsterdam as well.

proud uncle again. carson kolstad meet the world, world carson kolstad. mum and baby are both doing well.

to lve.'s point, yes, more people are motivated by fear than any other force or catalyst. what would the world be like it if were love instead?

Excerpt from The Moon and Sixpence (Maugham)

But one fact was made clear to me: people talk of beauty lightly, and having no feeling for words, they use that one carelessly, so that it loses its force; and the thing it stands for, sharing its name with a hundred trivial objects, is deprived of dignity. They call beautiful a dress, a dog, a sermon; and when they are face to face with Beauty cannot recognize it. The false emphasis with which they try to deck their worthless thoughts blunts their susceptibilities. Like the charlatan who counterfeits a spiritual force he has sometimes felt, they lose the power they have abused. But Stroeve, the unconquerable buffoon, had a love and an understanding of beauty which were as honest and sincere as was his own sincere and honest soul. It meant to him what God means to the believer, and when he saw it he was afraid.

this is the same reason i have always avoided using the word 'love' in any trivial way.

i've decided to take m. up on her offer to spend Easter at her parents' house. i just felt like getting out of the city and spending Easter with a family. happy Easter!

why wait until your dead to get your work in big name museums? i have to admit i admire the gumption it must take to pull something like this off.

well, we're in production. not without our fair share of hickups and hurdles, but big one is done. we dropped another minor patch tonight. but if you're considering a home equity loan, you can submit on online at Chase.

i'm heading to work in about an hour to do our production implementation. hopefully in about 6 hours (6am sunday) we'll be accepting external internet traffic to our site.

happy st patrick's day. have a guinness.

in the last two and a half months, i've made as much as did all last year. that is fairly amazing.

get em while theyre hot.

my thoughts were so loud i couldn't hear my mouth

-modest mouse

spam. i noticed that coffee has been the latest new craze for spammers.

i'm glad to see that st giles will be getting some tlc.

today was the first day in a long time i came home from work at a normal hour. i left the office at about 5:45pm. now, before you think i had a short day, i still had to work from about 7:30-9 once i got home. what was bizzare is that since i've been commuting home generally between 9pm-1am, i forgot what it's like to see so many people in the streets and on the subway in the evening. i started to feel as tho the subway was my personal transportation, not public transportation.

today was 11hrs at work, and the shortest day this week. the good news is that we did our final QA drop tonight. so, as long as no other major issues arise, things should be more reasonable. launch is scheduled for march 20.

i finally got a new phone (phone number and plan) this weekend. i stayed with cingular/at&t because they had the best plan and phones. with my corporate discount and all the other discounts and rebates, i was able to get the motorola v551 pretty much for free. it has all the same features as the razor, but in a different form factor. i have to say, the software and interface is not nearly as intuitive as my nokia, but overall i like it so far. if anyone has a good place to download free or cheap ringtones, let me know.

babies. it seems like everyone i know is expecting a baby. in the forefront is my sister, who is due in a about 3 weeks. and i just heard a couple i'm good friends with back home is expecting their second. there are a few more, but they're still not officially 'public' yet.

congratulations to all. i hope everyone continues to be happy and healthy.

they're filming something in front of arlenes grocery today. they've got a ton of equipment set up, and stanton street blocked off. didn't catch anyone i recognized tho.

went to sushi samba last night night to celebrate l's birthday. the food was excellent, as was the service and the company. after dinner, we headed to some russian/turkish baths. it was a closed private party, with a bunch of people that l knew. it was an interesting experience to say the least. overall another fine night out in new york.

mockery. brilliant mockery. and i think my favorite part was when deloitte came up in the google ads.

the gates. saturday i couldn't bring myself to go to work, since i was there until 9:30pm on friday. so i decided to check out the installation in the park. the jury is still out, but i have to say that it is much more interesting in person, something about the motion and the people.

here are a couple pictures i took: gates 1 gates 2

glimpse. a blog entry is nothing the smallest glimpse into a particular thought or event in a blogger's life. this medium of communication lends itself to all sorts of intrigue and potential connections to be made.

ah, i want to say something here but i'm too tired to form the thoughts in any cohesive manner. i worked 70 hrs this week and it's just too much. all the reasons i left this lifestyle the first time are coming back. there's just no balance.

two days of work, 33 hrs logged. qa drop on friday. swamped.

busted

the big story of this weekend is the snow. it seems to have stopped for the time being, but round two is supposed to start up soon until 2am. check out the city under snow from earthcam.com webcams.

accent. i would aggree; i think edinburgh has the best accent.

saw hotel rwanda last night with my roommate. it's had really great reviews, so we decided to get out of the apartment last night and check it out. it was a great film; but one of those that you don't want to be so bood b/c it's about something so awful. at least it wasn't the US that was made out to be the sole neglecter, but the entire UN that failed to intervene.

tsunami pictures. wow is all i can really say. i don't think i'd ever really be able to grasp the devistation.

i got a card from a friend i hadn't heard from in some time. a friend that encouraged me to pick up the quill and keep writing.

last night k and i went out to arlenes grocery and saw two pretty decent bands: T and Ancient Frontier. today the weather is not conducive to much other than sleeping and reading indoors. but tonight we're planning on checking out another of the music clubs nearby. probably luna and maybe mercury lounge.

visitors. for some reason, it seems everyone wants to visit in january. normally this wouldn't be a problem, but it happens to be a very busy time at work. but right now, k is visiting from germany. she was just in hawaii for several weeks visiting her sister, and is on her way back home.

subway ad of the day: the bahamas

and some pictures from the bbc.

year in review, from dave berry.

lucky day. despite an otherwise bad day at work, the vending machine gave me two cheddar sun chips for the price of one.

US Air delivered my bag tonight at about 10:30pm. They offer no way to check on the status other than their website for request, which I sent requests to 3 times:
Try #1 response:

Thank you for contacting US Airways about your baggage. We apologize that you have been without your luggage and we thank you for your patience. We have checked your file record and see that your luggage has arrived and scheduled for delivery.

The service handling your luggage normally delivers within 4 to 6 hours, however due to a larger volume of bags scheduled for delivery today, that window may be extended.

Try #2 response:

nothing

Try #3 response:

Thank you for contacting US Airways about your baggage. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.

At this time, we are unable to respond to your e-mail. Please contact the Passenger Baggage Call Center at 1-800-371-4771 for further assistance.

We appreciate your continued support of US Airways.

And 54 hours after my arrival, my bag was delivered to my door. Note that the 800 number they provide does not allow you to speak to a person, and does not allow you to be put on hold and wait for a person, they simply disconnect you. So really there is no way to check the status of your bag. This has be be the worst customer support i've ever experienced.

I suggest others, and i know there were a lot of others, who experienced this, to write and ask for your money from US Air.

i have an over 50% luggage loss rate when flying usair. of course, i wasn't alone this holiday weekend. they lost my luggage both going to and returning from pittsburgh.

merry Christmas!

you know you've been working to long when you go to the vending machine because you are hungry, reach for your change, look at the coins in your hand, and think: i don't think this vending machine supports pennies.

i finished the davinci code last night. it was a pretty good book. he had to have done a lot of research...enough to make it believable for a novel. the end had a special surprise for me as i had been to the chapel outside of edinburgh it reference. it was cool to have an actual memory of many of the places in the book: paris, the louvre, london, rosslyn.

12°F, bloody cold. scotland gets a bad rap, but it rarely gets this cold.

ironically, the subtalk subway ad of the day is for conair.

does this say anything about the western infuence in china?

tonight j and i went to arlene's grocery
and then i ate an altoid.

someone in my building was baking cookies when i got home. made me realize how close Christmas is. i'm looking forward to being home for a few days and relaxing.

nice digs in nyc for no rent...for a bird.

there are feelings, and then there are the actions taken because of those feelings. everyone has a different amount of time and thought that gets in between the two. some have very little, some have quite a bit. i think i tend to take way more than the average bear.

subway ad of the day: cingular...the entire car.

strongbad has upgraded to a laptop after his 'virus' incident.

went to ini ani for tea and to do some reading. it really does have a nice atmosphere. they have wireless access there, so i may be spending more time there w/ my laptop. some girl saw my pittsburgh glass center t-shirt and asked me if that is where i was from. turns out she's a pittsburgh native too. i finished reading Disgrace - a very well crafted book.

subway advertisement of the day: 5 cents/min long distance to mexico.

last night was my first trip to brooklyn. e, j, and i went to a party at e's girlfriend's place. the party was fun, met several cool people. and it was interesting to see what brooklyn was like. park slope, the neighborhood we were in, seemed pretty nice, and just a touch more laid back than manhattan. it probably wouldn't be a bad place to live as long as you were close enough to the subway.

what are your 43 things?

i just got back from my friend e.'s soccer game. he coaches a team of U-8's. his team is awesome; he's taught them well how to pass and keep the field open. at that age it is quite a feat, and the payoff is in the 8-0 games they win.

it was a great day to be out. clear and crisp, the sun shining, the wind bitter. people looked beautiful bundled in their coats, scarfs wrapped high, sun in their eyes.

this past tuesday, a friend from my edinburgh program who now lives in the city, called me up to check out a 'moth' event. it was a storyteller slam and the speakers were very entertaining.

subway advertisement of the day: don't throw litter on the tracks, they cause fire (courtesy of the mta).

subway ad update: your girlfriends, your network. UPN9. (tv station)

today was a blustery day in ny. it is especially bad right down at the tip of the island where i work. at lunch there was an 'umbrella graveyard' on the corner next to the garbage can. its was humorous how many there were.