I had a very good 2008 and to be honest there is a part of me that is afraid that this year won't stand up to last year. I don't know what motivates women, but for guys the negative is more of a motivator that positive reassurance. I guess it comes down to sports and the "I'll show your ass" mentality that we learn early on in life when the other team runs smack or someone criticizes you. Just look at the NFL playoffs the top 4 top awarded people are out golfing & the two most badgered are playing next weekend. Heck I think of the bowl games only UB didn't cover the spread as an underdog or win outright.

Anyway I have a ton of work to do this year. As I was looking back the only things that would have made a great year into a stellar year would have been me getting married &/or having a kid.

Here is a list of things to do:

1. Get mentally healthy

2. Go to a chiropractor

3. Start being more assertive & take more risks in social situations

4. Go tanning at least once a week to keep my current color going.

5. Work some OT to continue building savings

6. Lose 10 pounds to get back to my "ideal" weight

7. Enter into a healthy relationship some some woman
Simple enough right? Well the OT is not guaranteed, I know you can't bank on something that is out of your control, but from the indication I got today, we may be in for a repeat of last year since I didn't get settled yet back into the job today when the question was popped!

What a really good time last night. Too bad that I had no idea that my friend Steve just would be blown away by the level of how (e:strip) parties. Although I failed in providing him a good description of what we were going to be doing along with the type of friends that he was going to encounter of mine it was great to see his surprise after he felt out the place. Initially when we pulled up to the 24 he thought that he was going to have a boring night at a stuffy, stuck up and listless group of professional people. This impression of his was due to the "size" of the mansion & me bringing a shrimp plate. Boy, was his initial "size up" off the night WAY OFF...

The party was a good time and pretty wild, but I just had no clue that there are still people that get even more crazier than we do

Reading (e:jenks) post about not having the night go so well for her it made me think of how many bad NYE's I've had in the past. The one's that stick out were the one's that I had to work or go in early in the am the next day. Where at that point in time my life was just stagnant and emotionally I felt the same way as in this video.

Yea, these aren't all that great, but I did take them during my weekend in Vegas earlier this month. So here's a couple of song's from Oasis when I saw them @ the Pearl in the Palms.

Wonderwall



Morning Glory

Was stumbled upon by me duirng this "forced vacation" as (e:terry) calls it. Since I'm not working I have a lot of time on my hands to do things I enjoy like watch CNBC and play the financial markets. Well I ended up making a wrong move come Fed time last week & was down $2700 dollars. Well I held my position and when the opportunkity came to get even I bailed, even though iif I had held on I would have been making a few bucks over th last couple of days. So in all I just basically lost some commision and my great 2008 is sitll intact. Now fast forward to me at a happy hour B.Sing with some descent looking attractive Drug Sales Rep at a happy hour in a bar. I go thorugh the motions and don't even have any expectations, but deep down inside if it wasn't for the social lubricant, I would have just kept staring at my phone reading (e:strip) posts without even just being social and making an effort.

It just got me thinking about how my mind works , how screwed up I am and the task that lies ahead for me to correct it and get myself healthy. If speaking to a friend last week I realized that the prospect of losing $2700 did not scare me as much as say "attempting to start a relationship." Deep down inside I may have knows subconsciously that the market would turn and the "Fed Frenzie" would not last as reality of how much the economy sucks will bring everything back down to earth. So yea I can drop that kind of money and it would bother me as much as say going out to bars and trying to pick someone up to get laid. Which is a task that most people perform with no shame as the transaction happends every day everywhere in the world. Yea, I would like to get to the point where I MARRY the women of my dreams, but i have to start somehwere & I'm getting way too freaking old to have this Social Anxiety keep me living in a life of fear.

So yea, (e:Vincent) would rather lose money on Wall St or in a Casino than face the prospect of rejection by a Woman that he iis attracted to.

I should post about this later, but I just had to get this out in it's basic form, since this is somehting that must be addressed and fast.

It only gets better from here on out. A bit more daylight everyday.

This year it is kind of cool that Hanukkah starts on Dec 21st, the longest night of the year for an event that centers around bringing light into darkness.

I'm just listening to The Twilight Singers first CD tongiht for some reason tonight.

I'm kind of laying low at the moment. Really all I'm doing is just recharging myself and trying to focus on what I want out of life next year.

Economies of Scale have to be utilized...

Christmas and Hanukkah Merger

Continuing the current trend of large-scale mergers and acquisitions, it was announced today at a press conference that Christmas and Hanukkah will merge. An industry source said that the deal had been in the works for about 1300 years.

While details were not available at press time, it is believed that the overhead cost of having twelve days of Christmas and eight days of Hanukkah was becoming prohibitive for both sides. By combining forces, we're told, the world will be able to enjoy consistently high-quality service during the Fifteen Days of Chrismukah, as the new holiday is being called.

Massive layoffs are expected, with lords a-leaping and maids a-milking being the hardest hit. As part of the conditions of the agreement, the letters on the dreydl, currently in Hebrew, will be replaced by Latin, thus becoming unintelligible to a wider audience.

Also, instead of translating to "A great miracle happened there," the message on the dreydl will be the more generic "Miraculous stuff happens." In exchange, it is believed that Jews will be allowed to use Santa Claus and his vast merchandising resources for buying and delivering their gifts.

One of the sticking points holding up the agreement for at least three hundred years was the question of whether Jewish children could leave milk and cookies for Santa even after having eaten meat for dinner. A breakthrough came last year, when Oreos were finally declared to be Kosher. All sides appeared happy about this.

A spokesman for Christmas, Inc., declined to say whether a takeover of Kwanzaa might not be in the works as well. He merely pointed out that, were it not for the independent existence of Kwanzaa, the merger between Christmas and Chanukah might indeed be seen as an unfair cornering of the holiday market. Fortunately for all concerned, he said, Kwanzaa will help to maintain the competitive balance. He then closed the press conference by leading all present in a rousing rendition of "Oy Vey, All Ye Faithful."

I know everyone here is We <3 Buffalo, NY but the latest proposed budget just about takes it to the absurd level.



Seriously a 4% tax on itunes, $.50 more a movie ticket, a couple of bucks to a Sabres ticket, 4% to Satt TV or Cable, Additional 4% tax of clothes, A tax on gym memberships, Increased taxes of beverages. Seriously someone making 30K in Buffalo you will have less to spend on entertainment or keeping yourself in shape than elsewhere.

My question is where does all of this money go?

I was up last night and I caught the end of the movie Boiler Room and after reading the news today about this Guy not much has changed in 8 years.

The funny this is in the movie Giovanni Ribisi character realized that there is no way after working @ J. T. Marlin he would ever get a job at a "reputable" firm like Merrill Lynch, HA if he only knew how "Reputable" they would turn out 8 years later.

It just reinforces the face that the as "the game" has been played over the last 25-30 years in the country. That guy that pulled off the biggest ponzi stock scheme was the FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE NASDAQ!!! Now who can you really trust?

The only part that will be interesting to read/watch will be the fallout of the people at those country clubs in Palm Beach or the Hamptons who now realize that they aren't millionaires after all!!! There should be some good dateline episodes coming out of this for sure. Time to pull the kids out of private school...

I ended up going out to Vegas last weekend. Here is where i stayed, again.









I actually did something that didn't involve gambling, I saw Oasis on Saturday Night.























Liam being a Liam at the end of the show



Everyone trying to get out of the Palms



The Venetian, adding another tower altough the stock price has plummeted from $200 a share to $5.







Me going out to a shady but always entertaining bar by the Hard Rock, The Double Down Saloon.



Why can't we have a special at a bar like this?


Now my Mom actually wanted to go and see "Dirty Vegas" aka the are off of Fremont St.


Here is the regular Fremont St Experience













A Million Dollars @ Binions, which they had back in the day before the casino was sold 3 times in 10,000 Bills. It's good to see that the new owners are putting money back into such a historical casino.



Now the lowest of the Low Casino's on East Freemont St which is really "Dirty Vegas" or the Gold Spike.






























The Berlin Wall in the Men's room @ Main St Station.











Want your Checks Cashed?