crazy plans

Here's the tentative plan for 2005:

• Leave Cleveland 6/26 for Montreal, Quebec for the UPA conference
• Leave Montreal 7/1 for Seattle, Washington to hang out with the fam and HIKE HIKE HIKE!
• Leave Seattle 7/7 for Hiroshima, Japan (via Osaka) to hang out with Maia and hike Mt. Fuji
• Leave Hiroshime 7/16 for Seattle, Washington... because it's ~$600 cheaper to fly from Seattle
• Leave Seattle 7/17 for home....

Then about a month later take a 2 week trip to Bangalore, India to hang out with Navin.

It's nice not having car payment. ;-)

bleh...

Working from home today because I feel like crap. Luckily I have some work to do today that really doesn't require me to be at the office. With any luck, I'll get all of it done... that is assuming I don't spend all my time on on okcupid.com or looking up mutual funds.

The definite plus is that I can listen to all my music all day long. Sweet.

compromise

So I had my mini-PE today. PE as in Personal Evaluation (or something like that). Yeah, I can ramble a bit about it, but I won't. That would be inappropriate -- especially since nothing is final yet.

Wasn't this a worthless post? Yes it was.

movies....

I just saw House of Flying Daggers tonight. Quality flick. I still think I liked Hotel Rwanda better, but if you're into the this type of Chinese movie, you should definitely check it out. In the same vein as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

And for Monday, I'd probably be up for another $5 movie. Either A Very Long Engagement or Closer would work for me. Or sledding... Why is everyone so lame? Does no one want to play outside anymore???

the kid ain't mine

I recieved a set of photos from AdoramaPix today I was very impressed with the speed and the quality of the packaging. As I was opening the package I was thinking that I'll definitely use them again.

However, as I opened the envelope I noticed that the color for the top edge didn't seem right. Neither was the rest of the picture. It was of this kid, suited up in a fancy Dale Earnhart jacket. Sweetness. Hopefully at some point I can get my photos.

hotel rwanda

First good movie of the year award goes to Hotel Rwanda. Definitely worth the price. Just don't expect it to be uplifting.

See it at Cedar Lee.

reaffirmation

During the past 24 hours, I've gotten 3 reaffirmations that I should go to Seattle, Japan, and India this summer...

1. Wall Street Journal article on Seattle's new public library. I should go check it out.
2. Alan Bauer giving me a calendar from Japan
3. The US forming a partnership with India so that there would be more flights there at lower cost.

In layman's terms: G-d spoke to me and is telling me to travel.

battle royale

I take lots of pictures. Recently I've actually made an effort to print them out to put into photo albums (fancy that). So far I've ordered stuff from ShutterFly, Yahoo!, and AdoramaPix. Oh yeah... and Sam's Club. I have 55 more pics to print. Let's see who gets the business.

I'll tell you this much -- it won't be Sam's Club. Last time I tried their service I never got my prints. Then again, I'm a jackass for ordering a single print for 23 cents and expecting them to send it to my nearest warehouse club.

confusion

http://united.com/prepaidtravel

wow. i write such good bs...

OK. It's not BS, but imagine if I used my powers for evil...

From my annual performance evaluation:

"Held regular meetings with business owners to discuss progress against the project's goals and objectives."

Sounds fine, right? But "discuss" sounds too generic. "Validate" sounds more action oriented and positive. It also implies that I'm always going in the right direction. ;-)

"Held regular meetings with business owners to validate progress against the project's goals and objectives."

Hmm.... "against" is such a negative word. It's as if we're fighting the project. No no no. We're going "towards" the goal. Smooth sailing straight to our vision instead of roughly riding against it.

"Held regular meetings with business owners to validate progress towards the project's goals and objectives."

Speaking of vision, the word "vision" sounds a lot brighter and forward thinking than just a drab everyday "goal". So let's use that word.

"Held regular meetings with business owners to validate progress towards the project's vision and objectives."

Viola!

....and yes, I've been working on this document for too long....

interesting site

Interesting e-commerce site. Apparently this company actually makes and sells stuff. The music is awesome.

i'm a dork

So yes, I just bought three (yes, THREE) books. I'm not even sure when I'll get around to reading them. And yeah, all historical books cuz I'm a dork.

The Western Experience, Chambers (yeah, the Modern European book)
Romance of The Three Kindoms (yeah, inspired by playing Dynasty Warrrios... worse still)
Le Morte D'Arthur

I guess you can say I decided to clear part of my wish list.

gunther speaks

oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong

deep in the night i am looking for some fun
deep in the night i am looking for some love
deep in the night i am looking for some fun
deep in the night i am looking for some love

oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong

deep in the night i am looking for some fun
deep in the night i am looking for some love

oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong

mmm, my ding ding dong
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong

For more info, http://www.gunthernet.com

more pics, more travel

I uploaded some pics from my recent trip to England. And after I finish doing that, I'll update that whole crazy travel thing I have on the righthand side. It's a new year. It's time for a new list of destinations! Exciting!

more travel?

So I'm either crazy or I'm a fool, but I just spent the last hour looking at possible travel itineraries (unsuccessfully). Yeah, I just came back from England, but as you may know, I travel a lot.

So... for 2005, I'd like to go to Seattle with the family since that seems like a place that they would love to visit. I'd also like to go visit Maia in Japan.... I'd also like to go to India with Navin. The funny thing is that all three should probably happen in August, and as I just found out, it's almost impossible to get an open-jaw itinerary that goes from Cleveland to Seattle to Osaka to Bangalore and then back to Cleveland. So much for literally flying around the world in a single trip.

browns

So by winning today's game, the Browns managed to lose the 2nd spot in the draft to get the 3rd spot. It just gets better and better.

And yeah, I'm still alive. I know it's been awhile. Holidays and stuff (yes, that's just a lame excuse).