Hang on - there was a hookah at St. Matty's Day? Now THAT is something.

Thanks for posting pictures guys. I'm still embarassed about not making it - but I try to be civil around people I like and respect, and didn't want to barge through the door at 2AM drunk and high yelling "HEEEEEEYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!" I'd rather have us yelling "HEEEEEEYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!" together.

I neglected to mention what car they gave me at the rental agency - a Dodge Grand Caravan. By far the worst car I've ever rented, and we've driven A LOT of cars. I pretty much want to duck and hide every time I have to get behind the wheel. I'd rather pilot your little sister's tricycle before ever renting a Grand Caravan again - thankfully I'm not spending my own money on this! If I was on vacation I'd be totally pissed.

I'm not sure why, but I've been fairly apolitical lately. Maybe I have other things on my mind.

EDIT - I switched my user sound from "Alex Chilton" by The Replacements to "Act of the Apostle" by Belle and Sebastian. I needed something else, something with sleepy sounding vocals and a good melody.

I'm not nearly as bothered by the blonde whore getting off as (e:jason) is, although I find it interesting that if she looked like Roseanne Barr she'd be in the pokey right now. It is bullshit? Of course. But our society prizes beautiful people... so there you go. Maybe thats why Roseanne Barr had her face fixed.

I've been thinking about the lower back tattoo lately; maybe thats because myself and about 15 other guys at the airport were gawking at a girl that was bent over recently. It was so blatant that us fellas were grinning and nodding to each other. Now, I've never shied away from the fact that men are pigs. I like the tattoo. But, for those of you girls who are getting that tattoo "for yourself" - thats like saying you are getting a boob job "for yourself." Don't be so ignorant and naive, and please don't insult anyones intelligence anymore. If you get that tattoo, you are doing so with the expectation in mind that you are going to get gawked at and assumed to give it up without too much effort. Is it fair? No. Lifes not fair. The blonde rapist staying out of jail isn't fair. Lots of things aren't fair. Live with it, or if you don't like guys gawking and daydreaming about using that tattoo as a target, get your erotic tattoo somewhere more private. Its more fun that way anyhow - I'd rather find out that my girl has a wild side privately then have her wild side broadcasted like a billboard on the small of her back.

RED ALERT - I PUT OUT!

Ok. Be good, (e:strip)pers, and look both ways before crossing the street.

Damn (e:jason), you bear a striking resemblance to Paul Wall!

Don't you love it when someone sends you something like this?

---

JUNE

---

You've got the best personality and are an absolute pleasure to be around. You love to make new friends and be outgoing. You are a great flirt and more than likely have an a very attractive partner. a wicked hottie. It is also more than likely that you have a massive record collection. You have a great choice in films, and may one day become a famous actor/actress yourself - heck, you've got the looks for it!!! IN the next 6 days you will meet someone that may possibly become oneof your closest friends, if you repost this in 5 minutes.


Never mind that this paragraph is stunningly accurate - what bothers me is this crap at the end of the paragraph. Things like this clog internet bandwith like plaque in an artery.

Anyway, (e:peeps), I'm reporting to you tonight from the state of Delaware. I don't mind saying that this place isn't one of my favorites. Today's train ride was cool - almost 4 hours of just relaxing... its rare that I get to do that when I'm on the road for work. We got the car and promptly drove from Baltimore to the hotel. Theoretically I'll be home sometime tomorrow, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Rachel Ray, will you marry me?



Today was a good day. We worked in East New York, Brooklyn. Thugalicious for sure, but it was cool - the facility we visited had this crazy $8 million dollar printer/bag maker. Its sad when you can go to Wal-Mart, randomly pick out items and say, "Yeah, I was there and saw this being made."' The company we visited today makes the plastic bags that other companies use to package their stuff - socks, etc. - you get the idea. The manager we worked with even hooked us up with a ride to the subway in his Mercedes-Benz CL500 coupe - VERY nice car. He told us that if he didn't have another appointment he would have driven us all the way to Penn Station... which I would have absolutely loved.

After work we took the 3 line in Brooklyn to Penn Station then took an Amtrak train to Stamford, CT. It was my first time taking a regional train, and I have to say that its more enjoyable than flying. Its almost just like flying, actually; there are many similarities and you almost feel like you're in a plane. Except for the view, of course. As far as the traveling experience, overall if you ask me its far more enjoyable than being in a plane. The seats are larger with more legroom and are more comfortable, each double seat section has a 120v jack if you want to monkey with your laptop and not worry about battery life, theres a snack car, and also another car with cafeteria-style seating. Theres also a business class section, but I didn't bother. Overall, after countless flying hours, I have to say that after my first ride in a train I wish that airplane travel was more like train travel.

For you wrasslin' fans, we drove right by the WWE headquarters! My first impression of Connecticut is that its full of blueblood, snooty, extremely rich people. Which is probably true for all of New England but still, the area is beautiful. After work tomorrow we go back to Stamford and take another train to BWI airport, then drive to Dover, DE for the night. Then the next day, we work in DE, come back to Baltimore for a short revisit then fly back home... all the same day.

I talk a lot of shit about NYC, but theres something about the place that I love. Could I live there? I'm still not sure, but I know that I'm more accepting of the idea now than I was 5 years ago.

Hey peeps -

I got a chance to see my college buddies tonight in Queens - we hung out in Astoria and had a couple pints. It was very nice to be able to see some old but dear friends. Astoria is definitely one of the places I could imagine living in if I ever moved to NYC.

Anyhow, thats it!

So I got up at 5AM today for no reason, apparently. I'm sitting in Rochester airport happily leeching the free wireless access and waiting for my flight. Everything got backed up 2 hours, so now I have to sit here and wait until we can get to LGA. The bad news is that the audit I was supposed to execute today is going to be rescheduled... which leads to the good news. Free day in Manhattan for Joshy! We're gonna check in to the hotel, drop our crap off, then head straight for the subway.

Rochester airport is smaller than BUF if you can believe it, but in some ways its nicer. The airport food here is sparse, but they have a Hudson News and a nice business center with free wireless throughout the airport - thats definitely enough to keep me happy!

I forgot my camera but I'll be sure to describe my exploits during the week. Have a good one, y'all back in B-Lo.

My assignments for the next three weeks involve NYC, CT, MD, DE, GA, TN, SC, and VA. Tomorrow I leave for New York City to work for two days, which is great because I have a big group of friends down there that I'm going to be able to catch up with. To be honest I have mixed feelings about the place - I have people I care about there, but on the other hand in some ways I absolutely hate NYC. We plan on dining in Little Italy tomorrow, which I'm definitely looking forward to.

The new job search is definitely on - the trouble is going to be orchestrating interviews with my chaotic traveling schedule. I'm very confident that things are going to end up well for me in this respect but on the other hand its going to be a serious pain in the ass to set up interviews when have very little open time to prepare adequately and even get in to interview. I've thought about quitting my job outright, or letting my current boss know that I'm looking elsewhere, but the advice I've gotten is to keep what I have and don't quit until I have something locked up... which is difficult to achieve when you aren't around to interview. I'm going to have to wait and see, but I'm going to float my resume out for the next three weeks and when my current work schedule is over with I'll reevaluate.

Thats about it - I've enjoyed my hibernation and its time to get back on the road. I'm going to try to get some pics taken and update while I'm gone!

I'm hibernating - somebody wake me up when the elder (e:Ho) is in town.

I ended up putting my response to (e:ajay)'s survey in his comments section before realizing that others updated their journal - I guess it doesn't matter where it goes. The responses did confirm what I already knew anyhow - y'all are crazy! :)

I actually want to make an addendum to my response after reading what (e:robin) and (e:uncut) wrote. This concerns the right to marry. The most intelligent thing that I've ever heard concerning the marriage issue is what (e:uncut) told me once, and he's repeated it for your benefit so I suggest checking it out.

(e:robin) said that nobody should have the "right" to marry; gay, straight, whatever. I kind of like this idea. Marriage shouldn't necessarily be a "right" any more than being able to drive a car should be a "right." Actually, on the other hand... and you KNOW that you have friends like this, there are some people out there that should just not get married.... EVER.

Ahh (e:ajay) is my Bob Beckel. :)

Actually (e:ajay) you are completely wrong. Pew did a study that showed during both 2004 and 2005 that 30% considered themselves to be Republican and 33% considered themselves to be Democrat. You can read the study here ->

Even with CBS's "objective survey" being weighted it came out to 28% Republican 37% Democrat. That = the textbook definition of skewed polling. To suggest that somehow this was a representative sample is amusing to me.

Anyhow, onward and upward.

I occasionally put myself through watching Chris Matthews' trainwreck of a show. (Hint - there is a reason why his ratings are among the worst in the talking head circuit.) This blithering fool Carter devotee (strike 1) actually suggested that it was a pity that the potential for civil war didn't start sooner.

"The problem is it took a little time for this (the potential for civil war) to take shape."

THE PROBLEM, Chrissy? Take a bow sir. You've now exposed yourself to the suggestion that you are willing to allow Iraq go down in flames as long as Democrats can gain politically from it in an election year. Any of you people who think that Democrats are going to somehow be smelling roses in November are kidding yourselves when the most prominent among you are begging, pleading and praying for our action in the Middle East to fail. That suuuure is going to be buying you votes, baby! P.S. I'm already deep in your squishy grey matter between your ears, lefties. Iraq is not a failure and won't be unless we do what you want, which is to give up. Of course, there is no meaningful public support for a pullout so you just might have to find a "sympathetic" judge to rule in your favor somehow suggesting that war is unconstitutional!

I actually pity the Democrats lately, because the DNC and the liberal bankroll has no idea how to handle itself right now. Say what you want, but Republicans are immeasurably better than liberals at political strategy. Admittedly this is the time where Democrats could clearly make a case to the American people that just might make a difference in November. Instead, during the darkest hours for the RNC, its clear that a) the likely Democratic nominee in '08 won't win a general election, b) nobody on DNC side is suggesting a new or innovative idea that voters would agree on with respect to how to handle national security that would be different from the Republicans, c) there is no apparent strategy or platform for the '06 elections other than what Carville and Begala are amusingly suggesting - "Bash Bush!!!"

Lastly, my dear friends, many of whom may be incensed by my right-leaning, well articulated sensibilities at this point in this journal post. You know that this is all in good fun and I love my leftie friends, but you have to admit that its hard to be a credible liberal when you get your news from a fake news show, or in the case of NPR's Nina Totenburg when she was on "Inside Washington" recently, you say that you don't root for Americans to win medals at the Olympics and that the Salt Lake Games were somehow spoiled by American "nationalism." Well gee, apparently rooting for your country during the Olympics is now a crime!