New Years Resolutions

I wanted to make some reasonable New Years Resolutions for 2008 - so I did.
1 - Wear tighter pants
2 - Go see some live bands in NYC for goodness sakes - it's NEW YORK!

Well, you'll all be pleased to know that I hit a sale at Express for Men last Saturday - and bought 3 pairs of tight dress pants for work. (So, not THAT tight - but tight enough to make progress on the resolution)

And tonight I hit my first local show - at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Sure - it's not NYC - but I wanted to wade slowly into the crazy world of indie-rock at the center of the artistic universe. A couple of friends from BD lived in Hoboken for a while and said this would be a good start.

There couldn't have been more than 25 people there for "Makout Party" ... but these guys were pretty dang good. I'd YouTube a bootleg video for you, but I'm afraid of the search results I'll get if I query their name. Oh well - you'll just have to imagine.

The lyrics are pretty weak - like you'd expect from a just-out-of-highschool band... but they had a pretty developed emo-indie-punk sound that melodic layering that reminded me of Jimmy Eat World, hollering vocals that sounded like every punk band (but reminded me of the Almost), and delay-heavy guitar riffs like Explosions in the Sky (More like Mr. 1986 for you Joe Heider fans out there!). Melancholy and intense. I like it!

So - I'm really doin it! I'm hoping to get at least another half-dozen shows in before my rotation here ends in June. BooooYAHAHAHAaaaaaaaa ...

And this is how hardcore I am = I bought a set of "Hearos" to accompany me on my adventure. Earplugs - good for still being able to hear when you're 50, not for street cred.

Cruise Control

I realized this morning that I race to and from work every day ... that I have this urgent need to pass everyone who is in front of me. And I'm getting really bad gas mileage.

So, on my way to work, I kept it at 60'ish on the freeway and found that I arrived at work about the same time I always do, but not quite as tense.

I knew my life-changing breakthrough was already getting noticed when one of my coworkers at lunch said he passed a Honda with a Nebraska license plate on the way to work. That would have never happened last week :)

An Inconvenient Truth

I've been sculpting my eating habits around the wrong premise this whole time...

Thanks Nissa for the info -
For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you

This made me think of my little sis

My little sis is awesome - and she's dropped Imogen Heap, Frou Frou, and Regina Spektor into my music palette over the last couple years... creating an affinity for frail, melancholy female vocalists.

So, one of the guys in the MDP program is in to techno - and I always give him hard time about it. I'm like, "Hey Gregg - who am I? 'N-suh N-suh N-suh N-suh'" and I flail my arms around with pretend glow sticks.

But then he sent me this track by Sia called "Breathe Me" and it reminded me of my little sis --> enjoy!

(Check out the sweet storm trooper helmet she sports in some of the pics)

Federal Hill

I'm in Baltimore this week for training on Planning and Leading Projects! After the first day, I'm pretty happy with it - they chose one of my projects to be one of the case studies for the rest of the time, so I'll get a chance to walk through the project planning and execution steps right away!

The other cool thing about being here this week is that a handful of other MDP's (other engineers in my program) are located here - so, we went down to the inner harbor, grabbed some food and then stopped by a bar at Federal Hill for $2 pints of Blue Moon!!! Yeah - for a minute I thought I was in Nebraska! ...then I remembered it was a Tuesday night - and I didn't feel cool anymore...

Canaan, CT

The Annual Meeting for the MDP (Mfg. Development Program) of which I am a member, concluded this week - and I was officially placed in a manufacturing engineer role in Canaan, CT for my 3rd and final rotation. I'll move to Canaan in June and have a year to finish the program.

After that, I'll probably apply to a number of BD positions as well as looking into other medical device companies for a permanent engineering position.

I'm excited that I'll be able to do more 6 Sigma work and may have a large role in purchasing, installing, and validating a new production area.

Anyha - wanted to give everyone the update - hope you're all doing well!

Insomnia

Well - it seems to happen periodically - and might I say, more often than I would wish... insomnia strikes again. And usually on the night before I have to get up early for something. I lay awake wishing the next day were here and I feel like I don't need to sleep.

I don't even want to look at the time, cuz it just gets me frustrated - past 3am and I have to be up at 5:50 am to get to church on time to set up for music.

I just wish I were tired - at least then I could convince myself to fall asleep.

Oh well - I'm up - not much else to do but YouTube some Colbert Report and Will Ferrell sketches...

Marching Bands of Manhattan

So the church I go to is really cool - they're having me play "Marching Bands of Manhattan" by Death Cab for Cutie at church on Sunday. We just practiced tonight - and since it's one of my most favoritest songs, the sound we produced paled in comparison to the quality of the original track... but I was still stoked that the first song they're having me take total lead on is such a sweet one.

Well - let's see if I can fall asleep by midnight. That'd be nice. G'night :)

Back to the Dirty Jers(ey)

Thanks everybody for an AWESOME time back home in the braska! I have so much to be thankful for and you all are the biggest piece of that.

Well, I'm wearing my new long-coat to fit in with the other corporates tomorrow, just downloaded the latest "Future of Forestry" album with my iTunes gift money, hacked a pesky lock with my Gerber handy-tool, sipped some quenching water from my Camelbak, kept warm with my new scarves, and checked what day it was with my new Nebraska calendar!

It's been a busy day - and I've got band practice for church in NYC tomorrow after work tomorrow - so I better roll to bed and sleep on my new memory-foam pillow.

Merry New Year to all - and good night :)