things i have a soft spot for

this.

Mostly the segment from 3:20 to 3:52 but you have to listen to the whole song to really see why. This song is about his parents, as it were, and it's really quite touching.

Also this one - also about the singers parents. Seen them live in concert twice, they only did this song the second time. It was even better live. His voice really hits the notes perfectly when it's slowed down.



And this: Not about his parents as far as I know.

This version is SO much better than the album version with Norah Jones singing. Yes, it makes more sense to get the female vocal there, but this just sounds right.

For one reason or another, it just hits home. I guess my parents being divorced has colored me more than I usually realize. I've always been confident that I would only get married one time in my life. I still feel that way very strongly. I can only hope that it turns out something like this.

what's going on?

Nothing crazy here. I've decided to grow my hair out. I've said that before and I gave up after a month but I never really gave it the chance it deserved. I'm thinking that I'm going to spend all winter growing out my hair while I also lose some weight. New year = new you, or something.

Trying to think of ways to tighten up my diet, to compliment my exercise. I like everything I'm doing right now - slowly getting back into shape and establishing routines that will become critical next Spring/Summer. The only minor flaw in that plan is that I have 5 months to lose 40 pounds or I'm out some cash. So, I need to be results oriented instead of being patient and pointing the ship in the right direction. We'll see how that goes.

Been playing Fallout: New Vegas all week. This makes me very happy. Running around the desert, just murdering things in a post apocalyptic nuclear society. Always a good time. Also, there is no Mel Gibson around to make things awkward with his racially insensitive and anti-semitic comments. Also a plus. Have I ever mentioned that I spent an afternoon in the town where Mad Max was filmed? Because I did. The name of the place is Coober Pedy, and it's in the middle of the Australian outback. The interesting fact about the town is that it gets so hot there that alot of the buildings are underground! We went to an underground bar and had a good time.

This picture was taken there:

We were pretending to be lost in the desert; hilarious, right?

Also started that Jonathan Franzen book that I mentioned previously, "Freedom". I can already tell by the writing style that it's a bit too clever by half, but that's kind of my style. I hope it delivers, as I'm expecting it to.

Watching the dogs play as I type this, which makes me smile. Yes, dog. Jake-sitting for the weekend and they play funny. Dipping, darting, and biting at each other in the softest manner possible. It's like doggie kung fu movie filming. Looks real, but it isn't.

Can't even move, budge, flinch, shift, or look upward without Jake bolting up off the floor, getting a toy in his mouth and wiggling all over the place. I have to admit, despite the fact that it gets old fast, it's also extremely cute. He's such a sweet boy. Yesterday morning, I was woken up by growling in my bedroom. It was strangely coming from directly underneath the middle of my bed. Well, Jake was still fast asleep under the bed and he was growling in his sleep. Almost too adorable.

Halloween is next weekend... what am I gonna be? Found a costume, but I guess I can save that for after. I'm not 100% sure how it's gonna go over, but everyone I've talked to about it think it's hilarious. I found the perfect t-shirt to wear with it, so I guess we'll see.

I guess that's enough stream of consciousness for now.

Monthly Fitness Update: 1 of 6

Well, one month into my six month weight loss challenge. How's it going? Ok - I suppose.

I've lost 10.2 pounds, pretty much exclusively on the back of running 35.2 miles. I can and will do better, but not bad for a start.

Ahead of pace to complete the challenge. I've been slacking a bit, lately, and I need to do better on getting my butt on the treadmill. Let me say one thing about the treadmill... it's a gift and a curse. It's very convenient and it eliminates excuses to exercise. However, it completely sucks in comparison to running outside. I mean, not even comparable. It's just so much easier to zone out and just go when outdoors. Yet another reason why I need to live in a warmer climate.

When I was finishing my undergrad at Cornell, people were kind of hot/cold about leaving and I was like... Get me the F out of here... I'm moving to North Carolina and I'm only coming back for special occasions. A year later I was back in Ithaca. So I finish my MS and yet again I'm get me outttt of here, I'm moving back to North Carolina. Instead I get recruited and offered a job by Bristol and here I am. Since I bought a house, I put a 5 year window on living here and now I'm thinking I have about 4 1/2 years left in me. The moral of the story - don't make plans in life. Even though I clearly never planned on being in this area I'm coming up on 10 years living in Central NY, which is 6 more years then I ever expected.

But it would really be nice to run outside all year round, which was the springboard for that tangent. Last August I completed a 10 mile run and felt pretty good about it. Finishing 10 miles on the treadmill is going to require not only the physical conditioning but some serious mental conditioning.

I feel good, though, so far. Just need to get a little better in regards to exercising. I've taken care of the diet in good shape. I've not had any fastfood outside of some stuff from Wegmans in the past month. Lunch has been tough, but hopefully I've convinced my co-workers that they need to be bringing in their lunch. I usually bring it but when they say they are going out - I usually can't help myself to join in. Working on improving that, too.

So, 39.8 pounds to go in the next 5 months. Got this.

dreams

I've touched on this subject briefly over the past 18 months or so that I've been writing this blog, but how important are your dreams to you? Do you know what they are? If you had an unlimited amount of money, what would be the first thing you did? Are you making progress towards the things you want in life?

Dreams can come in all shapes and sizes. Owning your own home. Starting a family. Getting that new job or new promotion. You name it, and there's someone out there who is desperately hoping for it right now.

My dreams range from simple and easily achievable to most likely never going to happen. I'm trying to lose weight, that's easily achievable and simple. In fact, I've already done it. That's a simple matter of focus.

I'd like to write a novel. That's iffy. I can write - especially in fiction format. Anything I've ever written and shown to my friends has been very highly received. I have ideas. It's a big commitment, though, and for one reason or another I've never really been able to fully commit. I'm not sure if it's because deep down I don't believe in myself as strongly as I need to, or what. This is an iffy proposition.

If I had an unlimited amount of money - I'd quit my job and travel the world for no less than a year. I'd see anything and everything I could. Now here is where things get a little wild. I don't exhibit this in normal life. I don't do a lot of traveling as is. I have anchors. My dog. My job. My house. But this is my #1 life goal. This is what I want for myself. The six months I lived abroad were the happiest six months of my life. Reality is, it's probably not going to happen. I have fallback scenarios and ways in which I could talk myself into getting rid of everything and doing it (and no I would never get rid of Jack - this is something I'm considering doing around 35 - when Jack will mostly likely be going to a farm upstate. Can I say that if I live upstate? I don't know). I always kind of kept this a secret but I've mentioned it to a few people so I might as well just say it. If I'm not married and dog-less by the time I'm 35, I'm probably gonna quit my job, sell nearly everything I own and take off for a year. That's a lot of ifs, though, right?

It's funny. The things I've "achieved" haven't really been things I was working towards. The story of how I bought my house is kind of a joke. No one would rent to me because of Jack's mildly scary appearance. I just called a real estate agent on a whim one day, they took me to visit 10 houses and the same day I was approved for a mortgage of up to $150,000. Just like that. I made an offer on a house and closed in 6 weeks. Zero dollars down! A few months later, it was nearly impossible to get a mortgage. Lucky, in a sense. But I never dreamed of having my own house one day - I just sort of fell into it.

The point I'm making is that even though I've done things that people would consider big wins, I feel like I've done and have been doing a poor job in working towards the things I want most out of life. It's easy to fall into a routine and do what you're supposed to do. But I'm going to make a more conscious effort to be the person I want to be; to do the things that I want to do. And I hope everyone who reads this will stop and consider it and wind up doing the same.

oh hello wife

i love community and this is one of the main reasons. :)

my hero

I can only truly hope that this kid never stops being the pimp that he is.

life is good?

I feel like I should write more. But I don't have anything to say.

the social network: a review

Part of the reason that The Social Network resonates so strongly with me, besides the fact that it's an excellent movie, is that it brings back a lot of memories for me. As someone who is 28, I remember my own personal context for a lot of things that are referenced or that happen in the movie.

I remember creating my "thefacebook" account in 2004. What I did not know is how quickly this was after the creation of the website. According to the timeline presented in the movie, the site went live February 2004. I graduated in May 2004 and I had a profile before I graduated. I remember sitting in the living room and my friend's girlfriend saying, "hey there is this new website..." At first I thought it was kind stupid, but then you find yourself checking it constantly. I wish I had it all through college. It would have been invaluable when I was living in Australia in 2002 and essentially cut off from the rest of the world. In effect, I wish Mark Zuckerberg had come along a few years earlier.

I would give anything to see my original profile. Outside of "in a relationship with Amy Rauf" I don't think I can think of a single thing it may or may not have said. Them pulling up the old blue website in the film brought back a lot of memories.

I had been familiar with the story that is mostly presented in this movie. Granted, it's not 100% accurate. But I had been reading valleywag.com, mostly interested in the facebook gossip. The site since got integrated into gawker.com, which is one of my favorite websites on the internet. So I was already familiar with the Winklevoss twins and the whole ConnectU scandal. The other part, with the other co-founder and all the Sean Parker stuff... didn't know about that. It was interesting.

As for Napster... that's another trip down memory lane. Freshman year in 2000. First experience with broadband internet, first experience with napster. "So you're telling me I can get whole songs within seconds FOR FREE?" My head was blown at the time.

As for the movie itself, the Oscar buzz is real, I think. It's just very well done. Written by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) and directed by David Fincher (Se7ven, Fight Club)... what did you expect? The real surprise of the movie is Jesse Eisenberg. Jesus christ, is he good in this. Just a riveting, believable, amazing performance. If you had asked me previously if I thought he had it in him, I would never have said yes. I, like most, kind of saw him as a second rate Michael Cera. Never again.

Some of the things he said and does in the film are so delightfully dickish in that oblivious engineer kind of way. But the entire opening scene with the girl who becomes the impetus for Facebook, so to speak is marvelous. He keeps telling her that she "doesn't need to study" and when she finally questions why he keeps saying that he dickishly sneers "because you go to BU." Loved that.

But the best part, the very, very best part was when he was being grilled by the opposing attorney, who asks Mark if he is paying attention to him. Mark says no. The lawyer then asks if he thinks he is worth paying attention to. Mark says something to the effect of "you have the smallest portion of my attention. The rest of my attention is with my team back at Facebook, who are currently doing things that no one in this room is intellectually or creatively capable of. That's what has my attention. Now does that answer your condescending question?"

Just brilliant. The way it was written and the way it was delivered.

And that's the whole movie. Executed from start to finish like a well oiled machine. It's two hours but it doesn't feel like it. The origin story of something that I use every day to connect with people and something that has changed the way I live my life is a movie I'd go to see all day, any day. But the fact that the movie is so god damn good made it all the better.

Highest of high recommendation.