Back...and Out of Chikin!!

Ahhh...it's been about half a year since I've written on this blog...And so here I am, back again, but this time writing from a place I never expected to be...To sum it up...

"Everything's bigger in Texas!"

I'm out here in the suburbs of Dallas in Plano where my parents just moved. Now sure I could write about the wide open skies, the ridiculously large roads, the country music, or just them strange Texans brimming with Texas pride. But rather I'm gonna write about something near and dear to my heart...FOOD...well sort of...

So one thing I really miss about Pittsburgh, besides the wonderful people there =), is actually one of my favorite fast food restaurants.



















Chick-fil-a! Man I miss this place. I miss heading down to the waterfront, getting one of their chicken sandwhiches, eating their waffle fries with my gross mix of ketchup and mayo, and of course...free refills of SWEET TEA!

So it's been about a year since I've had Chick-fil-a and I've had a hankering for it. So on the drive down to Texas, as we started heading into the south, man there were so many chick-fil-a's along the road, that my mouth couldn't stop watering. But I never got to go to any of them, but I was sure glad that when I got into Texas, there were plenty of Chick-fil-a's around.

So I've been dying to go to one, and so I was at the mall today, and I was completely hyped because there was a Chick-fil-a in the foodcourt. Determined and excited, I rushed to the food court, with a single focus. When I got there I saw the greatest disappointment.

Chick-fil-a was closed!!! The gate was brought down over the counter and the lights were off. =(

One thing I forgot about Chick-fil-a, which is something that makes it especially awesome, is that Chick-fil-a is a Christian chain. If you go to their restaurants, all they play is contemporary Christian music or worship music. But in the same vein, that also means they're closed on Sundays.

So my disappointment of the day. But before I leave Texas, to Chick-fil-a I must go!

To sum it up....

EAT MORE CHIKIN!!

A New Year...A New Day Full of Possibilities...

Happy New Year folks! This is how I view the New Year...Of course I default to Calvin and Hobbes =)

(BTW...This was the very last Calvin and Hobbes strip.)

Ummm if it's too small the captions are as follows...

Calvin: Wow, it really snowed last night! Isn't it wonderful?
Hobbes: Everything familiar has disappeared! The world looks brand-new!
Calvin: A new year...A fresh, clean start!
Hobbes: It's like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on!
Calvin: A day full of possibilities!
Calvin: It's a magical world Hobbes ol' buddy......let's go exploring!

And that's how I really view the new year...It's a new day...with new paths to tread and to forge...With fresh adventure to find...

When I think about the year that's past, it's been a wild one for the world. And it's been a hell of a roller coaster ride for myself. Lots of change to say the least. Plenty of things I would rather forget or wish hadn't happened. But I wouldn't take one bit of it back. How else would I have learned anything of importance?

Earlier today it had actually snowed. A nice big wet heavy snow. Didn't actually stick, but the snow definitely caught me by surprise. Yet it was refreshing to see it. One thing I love about snow is that it has this amazing way of covering up everything and making it new. All the dirt and dead trees. The icons of the invasion of our industrialized society like cars are completely covered. And for a little bit, everything falls beautifully quiet. It's a beautiful sound when you live in New York City, to hear the cars stop running. The sound of nothing. It's peace. The snow has covered up everything that was ugly, or that you wish you didn't see, or that was dead, and has instead covered it with its own simple pure beauty.

There's nothing like being the first person to place your footsteps into fresh untrodden snow and be the first to make a path.

So the snow has fallen. Literally. And the past year is now gone. Do I have any resolutions? No. Only the drive to do what needs to be done. To follow a heart that beats with a passion to fight for what's worth fighting for, and a heart that beats with the passion to live a life worth living.

The world right now is that big sheet of white paper full of possibilities. I'm going to write my own story now. I'm gonna draw my own future(in accordance with what God has planned for me of course). I'm going to write the screenplay thats full of life. I'm going to use that canvas to let my imagination run wild in and uninhibited. I'm not gonna color inside the lines anymore. Lines are for followers and the unimaginative. I draw the lines this time around.

So here's to a new start. A new beginning. A new day full of possibilities. I'm gonna go exploring. And there ain't a single thing that's gonna stop me this time. Anyone care to join me?

Bah Humbug!

Not a big fan of Christmas...
Never was...
And I found 2 more reasons this past year to not enjoy Christmas...
Oh yes and I hate Jingle Bells...

'nuff Said...

A Little Boy and His Tiger...

I actually called in sick today so you will be spared a nonexistent commute story today. Yes I know you're all cheering over there. Instead I thought I'd share something near and dear to my heart...

And rather than sharing a quote...A picture is worth more...

Calvin and Hobbes. Such innocent truth. Apparently I've been to hell and back(or possibly heaven and back).

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Now if you know me, you know I am absolutely obsessed with Calvin and Hobbes. It's kind of funny when I think about it. I'm a 22 year old man who loves a comic strip(that now ended 10 years ago) about a six year old boy and his stuffed tiger(a tiger that is only alive and real in Calvin's mind alone).
Now why do I love Calvin and Hobbes? I can sum it up in a single word.

Innocence.

There's an amazing innocence that permeates every drawing that Bill Waterson has created for Calvin and Hobbes. The way that Calvin views the world. The way he boldly states his observations. The way he plays. The way he interacts with others. The way he loves. And all that innocence penultimately is manifested in a tiger that is no more than a plush doll to the rest of the world, but a true and living best friend, who's more real than anything else in Calvin's mind.

Calvin is 6. Though Calvin may have the intelligence and knowledge of any one of us, in fact maybe more so than some of us, he lacks the experience that we who've been able to live a few more years past 6 have. It's experience that has jaded us to the things that are innocent and true. Experience that convinces us to accept lies and half truths. Experience that has hurt us. Experience that compels us to lie and decieve each other and hide behind false fronts and masks. Experience that has taught us to keep things to ourselves and to not be bold. Experience that cripples us.

Now Calvin maintains his innocence. He's able to make bold statements, that are completely logical, but his questions and statements are rebuffed by the reality of the world around him. There is a stark gap between what Calvin is able to often observe and what we percieve as reality. With both being true, it makes Calvin confounded and believe that grown ups are strange in their thinking. Honestly, what I wouldn't do to be like that and forget everything I've learned growing up about pain and loss and suffering and the realities of the world we live in. To see solutions in simple black and white again, rather than the gray area that basically colors every aspect of society.

I love how Calvin plays. How every moment of life is meant to have fun. Where rules are made to be broken, and new rules are always being made. How Calvin absolutely has no fear in anything he does. Whether its messing up the house, or taking his sled down as steep a slope as possible. Everything is fair game as long as its innocent fun. Even if it's creating demented snowmen come winter time. =)

Calvin's imagination knows no bounds. Whether he's Spaceman Ziff or terrorizing and stomping over a miniature city he's created, he lets nothing stop him.

ENDEARING FRIENDSHIP

But the thing that gets me the most really is his relationship with Hobbes. Hobbes is Calvin's best friend. A stuffed tiger that is there for him and makes him feel secure when he's afraid the monsters under his bed are gonna get him at night. Someone who will engage with him in all his silly games. Someone who will scheme with him. Someone who balances out all his impetuousness. Someone who will pounce on him as soon as he gets home. It's an innocent love between two friends. A friendship that is free from deciet, from lies, from falsehood. A friendship that is open and true, that is free from condemnation and hurt, but always full of loving support and comraderie. It's a friendship I think most of us would be envious of, but would feel foolish to believe could exist. After all, its all trapped inside the imagination of a six year old, who hasn't experienced what we've experienced. A child who's yet to be jaded.

I certainly wish I could think like Calvin. I wish I could play like him. Love like he does. And certainly have the friendship he shares with Hobbes. But unfortunately I'm a few years beyond 6. And I've got my fair share of jading from my experiences in life.

Now Hobbes is the epitome of all of Calvin's innocence. To Calvin's parents, teachers, and friends, Hobbes is nothing but a stuffed tiger that Calvin drags around everywhere. To Calvin, Hobbes is real enough to be caught with a tuna fish sandwhich, to talk to whenever he needs to and whenever he doesn't need to, and someone to hug when he's hurt by the reality of the world.

WHO IS HOBBES?

I think Hobbes represents everything we lose as we grow up. The things we see and experience that make us accept the half truths of percieved reality. Everyone else around Calvin can't see Hobbes for who Hobbes is. They only see Hobbes for what he is. We all lose Hobbes at some point in our life when we stop believing in him. When we give into what everyone else is telling us.

Well for Calvin...Hobbes is as real as long as Calvin believes Hobbes is real. And as long as Calvin believes that, he doesn't have to believe anything else that anyone says about Hobbes. And as long as Calvin believes Hobbes is real, there will always be someone to pounce on him everyday when he comes home from school.

I guess I lost my Hobbes and I love Calvin and Hobbes because it makes me remember what it was like to be innocent again and be unrestricted and to be full of possibilities. I guess it inspires me to find my own Hobbes again. Or at least hope.

NYC Transit Strike Day 1...The Commute...

"It's pandemonium outside, I feel like I'm in the mosh pit of a Metallica concert."
-New York Commuter-

"I think they all should get fired."
-Angry New Yorker-

[MAKING IT IN]
I woke up today to the very unsurprising news of a transit strike. So instead of my usual 70-90 minute commute via bus and subway, I was subjected to the Long Island Rail Road today as my means to getting to work. I must say it was a very painless experience. As soon as I got to the station(after my dad drove me there) a train pulled right in and then there was a train ready to go to Penn Station from Jamaica as soon as I got there. Apparently I had also avoided the majority of the morning rush and there were no lines at all for me this morning. Can't say the same for some people who were stuck in line for up to 4 hours outside the Jamaica station.
From Penn Station it was fairly easy to catch a cab downtown. It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. Traffic moved smoothly. It was fairly quiet and rather nice with no trucks or buses on the road. I wish the city could be more like that every day honestly. Unforutunately, one cabbie did try to rip me off and tried to charge me 20 bucks to go downtown 20 streets...HECK NO!
Anyways I ended up spending the same commute time, if not slightly less. =)

[TRAVELLING DURING THE DAY]
So I have the distinct pleasure of running some errands for my company during the day that involves me running around the city. Gave me a nice view of how things progressively got worse during the day.
Went up to midtown mid afternoon. Traffic was running quite well. It felt like any other day. Except my cabbie hit a parked car on the way up. I think that scared the two Texan tourists I was riding with.
Later on towards the early evening I had the awful pleasure of running down to police headquarters, which is right by the Brooklyn Bridge. Now that was getting bad. Traffic was bumper to bumper all around the area. In fact traffic was moving so slow, that after I left police headquarters half an hour later, I caught a cab back up to Union Sq. When I got into the cab...it felt very familiar...I ended up in the same cab that dropped me off half an hour earlier! Apparently in half an hour he was able to barely move anywhere. And traffic moving through the downtown area just seemed to get worse!

[THE NIGHTMARE GETTING HOME]
So the real hard part was getting home. Having been in cabs for a significant portion of the day, and all of them tuned into 1010WINS listening to the news, all I was hearing was there was absolute pandemonium outside Penn Station for everyone trying to grab a trip home on the LIRR. I was NOT looking forward to that.
Now I left the office at 6:20...And caught a cab at 14th St. around 6:30...Now cabs are picking up more than one customer at a time today. So the cabbie is gonna take a few people up to the 59th St.bridge so they can cross over to Queens on foot. He tells me he's gonna drop them off first and then swing back down and drop me off. Really not a great idea. But I was too tired to realize that so I just agree. It didn't dawn on me how much it didnt make sense until we started hitting midtown around 34th St. and 1st Ave. Traffic was absolutely INSANE. Nothing was moving as everyone was headed up to the bridge. It took us an hour to move from 34th St. to 59th St.
INSANE!!!
Once we got past the bridge traffic was moving incredibly fast. I finally got to Penn Station in time for an 8:30 train outta the city. And luckily the chaos outside Penn Station had dissipated by 7. And instead of waiting in the cold for who knows how long along 7th Ave., had I gotten there earlier, at least I was in the comfort and warmth of a seat in a cab. Anyways all in all I got back to my stop in Queens at 9:20. Essentially it took me 3 hours to get home. Ridiculous.

[THE DAMAGE]
So all in all today, I spent 4 hours going to and from work, about 2 hours in cabs running errands, and spent a total of 70 bucks getting around the city today.(Thank goodness I get reimbursed!)

[CODA]
Interesting thing I also noticed about opinions on the strike since I got to talk to a whole bunch of people on the trains and cabs.
Most professionals take my opinion and are quite angry at the transit workers and the union and feel this strike is ridiculous and beyond an inconveience for us. They feel this strike is completely unjustified and that the union is asking for too much.
People who don't work in more professional and corporate environments tend to be in support of the transit workers and feel that the government should give into their demands, particularly seeing the effect it had today. They particularly blamed both Bloomberg and Pataki, the city and state's Republican leadership for being completely ineffective and allowing this to happen and being out of touch with the affected New Yorkers and the transit workers.

--Just thought that was a very interesting dichotomy in terms of thinking and social lines.--

NYC Transit Strike...

" No public employee or employee organization shall engage in a strike, and no public employee or employee organization shall cause, instigate, encourage, or condone a strike. "
-The Taylor Law, New York State Law


I remember back in High School there was talk of a transit strike as the transit workers' union contract was about to expire. I remember being incredibly excited at the prospect that I wouldn't have to go into school since school was an hour and a half commute into the city. That enthusiasm no longer exists...


It is half an hour to the strike deadline. Talks have just broken off. And it looks like there will be a strike tomorrow stranding me and 7+ million other New Yorkers. I think the union is asking for ridiculous concessions.

First they're asking for a 8 percent annual pay raise for the next 3 years. Who gets an 8 percent pay raise every year?! Seriously? WHO!?!

The other big sticking point is that the MTA wants to cut costs in anticipation of future deficits by raising the pension age for future employees from 55 to 62. The union won't have that in an attempt to protect future workers. Future workers who dont exist and that the union only hypothetically protect. If workers will have a problem with the pension plan...then don't apply for an MTA job! Take it or leave it!

Right now the transit workers make an average of $55,000 a year. That really ain't that bad in my opinion. I'm sure most people will agree. That's definitely not the salary of a person who's starving or barely scratching out thier living. What's sad is that this strike will be preventing many people who only make $20,000 to $30,000 a year who really are scratching out their living from going to work and making the little that they already make in a city that is already expensive to live in.

The strike is gonna cost the city about $400 million a day in lost tax revenue(revenue that in the future could be funneled into a bigger MTA budget I might add) and overtime expenditures for police. The impact on businesses in the city is gonna be pretty darn big too. The union members will also get fined 2 days worth of wages for every day they're on strike. Certain individuals could get fined up $25,000 a day and that amount doubling with each passing day.

GRIDLOCK. It's going to be horrible tomorrow. Cars are gonna be gridlocked all day long. Commuter rails are going to be packed with people. Not only is it an inconvenience. It's also dangerous. Emergency vehicles will not be able to get anywhere they need to go. Ambulances will not be able to get to hospitals. Police vehicles will not be able to get around. And I'm sure with the increased number of cars on the road tomorrow pouring into the city, and frayed tensions and wracked nerves and an exponential increase of New York road rage, there will be a buttload more accidents as well.

So in short, the union wants more pay, while keeping the MTA from enacting a cost cutting policy that is necessary to contain future deficits. The transit union also want improvements in security, less disciplinary actions, and more training as well.

So they essentially want more money and worse service at the expense of that money going into service improvements and disciplinary actions meant to keep transit workers accountable for thier actions and work, while giving up nothing at all. More money. That's it. More money that doesn't exist. If they can show where all that money can come from without cutting costs...then I'd like them to show it. Seriously, there are so many people out there who don't have jobs and would gladly take the jobs and wages the transit workers have. I essentially think the union is just being stubborn and stupid and not just inconveniencing the city, but really harming it.

That's my two cents and now I'm about to find out if I'm going to have to spend 10x more money to get to work tomorrow and have a huge headache along with it.

But Turning 360 Takes Us Back to Where We Started!

"We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees."
-A Famous Professional Athlete

When I asked a friend of mine where he thought that quote came from, he made guesses such as Homer Simpson and Chris Griffin from Family Guy. Well it comes straight from the mouth of one of today's professional athletes. Kudos for anyone who can tell me who it is. But apparently this athlete didn't know that 360 degrees is a full circle and takes you back to where you started. Or maybe he knew it and meant it. Who knows?

Anyways today I was given my first glimpse at this...


Toweing ain't it?

I went to Roosevelt Field and apparently all the Electronic Boutiques in there had a promo set up of the Xbox 360 running. It had two playable games, Call of Duty 2, and Peter Jackson's King Kong. Well let me be the first to say....EH....

Suffice it to say I wasn't incredibly impressed. I mean yes the games did look great, but with all the hype surrounding the next gen systems, I was expecting more I guess. Don't get me wrong, the games ran incredibly smooth and looked fantastic, but somehow like I said, I expected more. The new 360 just feels like the old Xbox on steroids...but with a new shiny exterior...And i do have to admit...I DO LIKE shiny things...but still not too impressed...

Now I do have to wonder about Microsoft's choice of naming it the 360. I woulda thought they would've come up with something more interesting. I mean look at Nintendo's new console. The Revolution. That word just inspires a whole plethora of connotations about new things and going against the grain. Sure Sony's new consoles may not have exciting names if you think about it. Giving each new iteration of the Playstation the next positive integer in line may not be exciting, but the reputation of the brand Sony has built up around the Playstation in the past decade gives it all the connotations it needs in the mind of a gamer.

Now 360...Sure it sounds neat at first but if you think about it...Is the new Xbox just going back to where it started? I mean come on can't we name it the 180 to show we're gonna go in a totally different direction? Or how about the Xbox 359 or Xbox 1 just to show we're going in a SLIGHTLY different direction at least? Or is Microsoft sure that where they were headed before is definitely leading them to a bigger share in the console video game market? Or maybe they just didn't realize they've turned around and have turned nowhere at all.

Either way it's time for me to wait for the PS3 to see how it matches up with the new SHINY Xbox 360...