So it’s been a little while… Looks like this is going to be one of those recap updates that makes everything okay. I’ll need to see how much I can remember from the last month. Picking up where I left off, we went to see Social D in Atlantic City. Though they’re good no matter what, the lame House of Blues venue, essentially the TGI Friday’s of show venues, combined with a lame Atlantic City crowd made the show okay but not great. We decided to pick up some tickets for the sold out Philly show on eBay a week or so later and it was well worth it. Social D was on fire and played one of the best shows I’ve ever seen them do, and Supersuckers opened up for them and kicked ass as well. It’s hard to go wrong seeing any band play Philly…

We headed up to NH for the Merriams’ baby shower. We drove up and it was quick – leaving Friday afternoon and coming back Sunday. As all baby showers should be, men were not invited so Brent and I had to go surf while Karen opened her gifts. We got some great sunny weather and I got to break in a new wetsuit so it was all good. Tessa and Seth showed up, who are always great to see. It turns out Brent and Karen got a surprise early visit from their new baby a few weeks early and they had her last Thursday. Maielle Karen Merriam is one good-looking newborn, wooohoooo.

The beach was a little nuts. It was stormy right before I got there and the waves were big. There was ocean schrapnel all over the beach, the most unsettling being several baby sharks that had washed up. That’s one of the things I live in denial about when in NH, even though they closed some beaches in ME a month or two ago after seeing some sharks. There was also a collection of crabs, lobsters, un-identifiable creepy fish, and even a stingray which I’ve never seen that far north.

The baby was good news in a month of horrible news. Three different close friends of mine had horrible things happen in their lives, all which involved the deaths of loved ones. All I can say are my thoughts are with everyone. On top of all this, one morning on the way to the gym I had a run-in with a deer. Even though we live right outside of Philly, where we live is like driving through the zoo. I was cruising along, luckily not too fast, and saw a deer running straight at me from the side. We saw each other just in time, and I skidded and turned away from him as much as I could without going off the road down into a river. Since he saw me, he tried to jump over my car but didn’t quite make it. He slid across my hood all Starsky and Hutch-like and took off on the other side. He left me with a dangling mirror and $800 worth of scuffs and scratches on the hood It could have been a lot worse though and the carnage was pretty minimal. When I called my insurance company they asked me if the deer
had an owner.

It seemed as though Quake was starting to lose some of its excitement at work, but along came some updates which included a batch of new levels. There are some serious addiction issues now which are affecting people, and most of my co-workers get really irritable or just plain start to freak out if we don’t play at the usual times (lunch and end of the day.) Bring lunch to work daily is now a given, since there’s now no time to run out and get something. We’ve got about 6 or 7 people playing, which leads to constant carnage and a shitload of smack-talking. There’s even a Stanley-cup like crown (actually a black and white printout of a crown) that gets passed around to the victor. The scene is stupid obsessive, and almost exactly like this scene from The Office. In fact, now that we’re playing teams it will probably be no different than the
last part of this clip.

Since shooting co-workers in a virtual world isn’t enough, this weekend is a big paintball weekend. I’m guessing about 30 or so people are going and
it’s going to be good. There’s been surprisingly little smack-talking leading up to this, probably because people aren’t looking to provoke.

eBay’s been sucking lately which is good because I don’t have time for it anymore. Everybody wants a deal and I don’t like to give deals, so I’m laying somewhat low this winter. We’ll see what happens if I get a little more motivated.

My work schedule was starting to make me fat the way Burton did, so I’m back on the wagon eating well and getting my sorry fat ass into the gym. I’ve been swimming regularly forever, but had pretty much slacked on lifting. Tara and I have been getting on it for the last few weeks and getting in there. This generally involves pounding an extra large coffee right before going, rocking out on Slayer / Hatebreed / Pantera til I’m nuts between that and the caffeine, doing far more than I would have the energy to do naturally, and then feeling like I’ve been hit by a bus for the next two days. Then we start it all over.

I drove with my parents to a wedding outside of Syracuse for a second cousin that I never, ever see or talk to. I really went just to keep my parents company, and it was a complete waste of a weekend. It was a dry wedding to top it off, and we stayed in the hotel that was “recommended” in the invite. Somehow everyone else knew not to stay there, but we didn’t get the memo. It was kinda cool to see, just not to stay. It hadn’t been updated since about 1970 and if we were in VT it would have seemed perfectly okay and not so disturbing. 10 hours of driving, no alcohol, and a shitty hotel. What a weekend. The room did include a coffee pot that connected to the wall.

Went to a Halloween party. Tara and I were Crockett and Tubbs, I was the white Tubbs. We ended up with some pretty good outfits sponsored by Goodwill. I wanted to be Arsenio Hall but I couldn’t figure out how to do the hair.

American Hardcore premieres in Philly tomorrow. Looks like it’s going to be a good flick. Borat comes out too, which I can’t wait to see. Oh, and we went to see The Departed. Best movie I’ve seen in a long time in the theater. Great plot, great cast, lots of violence.