Today I took it easy in the morning and then headed out to the Queens Center Mall. The nasty weather didn’t really deter me. It wasn’t really raining/snowing that much by the time I left my apartment. I meet up with Jayson for some light shopping. I ended up not getting much but we found our way to the Outback for some lunch and hung out for a bit. Nice light fare for my vacation!
Personal
Saturday Shopping
Today I braved the cold weather and headed into Manhattan for some shopping. My main goal was to get a pair of new glasses. I have a relatively new pair (a year and a half old) but I wasn’t super happy with the way they looked. They were narrow lenses that seem to be the only major stye you can find in eye glasses. The problem with that is that I have Nystagmus, so even if I am not trying to my eyes would sometimes view an area of my view that was not covered by the glasses. Needless to say this is annoying. I got used to it for the most part but it came up now and again.
I wanted to find a pair of decent pair of round frames like I had previously had. When I got my old pair I couldn’t find a pair of round ones that fit right to replace the old pair I had, so I tried the narrow oval style instead. This time around I was able to find a nice light pair of round frames that covered my field of view so even with the Nystagmus I don’t have an issue.
While the glasses were being made at Lenscrafters I took a trip to the new Apple Store on 14th street. That was a mistake. I didn’t realize it was on 9th ave. For some reason I thought 8th, so it was a really long walk in the freezing cold. I did get a pair of Bose in ear headphones for my iPod Classic. I tried Jayson’s pair and knew in a minute that they were a good buy! I finally got fed up with the Apple ones that came with my iPod that I have been suffering with for years.
After getting my glasses I meet up with Danny in Union Square and went to Dukes for some dinner and drinks. It was a freezing experience, but overall a great day!
Vacation to Nowhere
I tried to make today as eventless as possible. It was my last day at work before my vacation. I didn’t need any excitement to delay my rest. Thankfully I had good mojo or something since nothing crazy happened like earlier in the week.
I hit the local bar everyone from work goes to for a quick drink before my vacation began. I am off for 11 days counting weekends and the christmas holiday. I am not really going anywhere, but I needed to take some time off. I haven’t been on a vacation since my Cancun trip in 2005. For this vacation I couldn’t think of where to go and couldn’t find any travel companion’s so I just decided to take time off and relax. The second half of the week I am going to my sisters in New Jersey to see her and the kids and to babysit one night. So that will break up the vacation a bit.
Even though I am not going anywhere I am not going to contact work. That means my Blackberry is off, I have the away message in my email client running, and I told everyone in my group I would only answer the phone for them and only if it was during certain times of the day. I need some time to relax. Lets see how that goes!
Lunchtime
Today I took a nice lunch break to go down to Dukes and meet up with Dan for lunch. It has been too long since I saw him so I wanted to get together. He was still decompressing from leaving his last job (aka the company that I left back in February). It was interesting to get his insight into what is currently going on there. Like me, he was in need of a change.
It was nice to catch up. I am trying to get everyone together that used to play poker for a game at my place after the new year once I get furniture. Dan also offered to host a game or two.
I had to cut our lunch short (well short is a relative term) since I had been gone for almost two hours so I needed to get back to the office. I don’t take lunch almost ever so it wasn’t a big deal but I had allot to do since I am on vacation next week.
Lunch with Danny & Jayson
Today I was able to get away from the office for about an hour to have lunch with Jayson & Danny. We just hit a dinner, but it was good to get out of the office and sit down for a change. Otherwise a relatively (for me) uneventful day.
Crazy Tech Buying & Selling Spree
I don’t know what it is about the past few weeks but I have been on a crazy buying and selling spree. I have finally gotten rid of my old 60gig iPod. I have had my new 160gig silver one for a while but after a few problems with eBay I never actually sold the old one. I finally put it up on Craigslist and sold it. Even with my new Nokia 6120 Classic, I have been going back and forth with that phone and my Treo 680. The 6120 is great but I realized I need a phone with a keyboard. I think a phone is not a smartphone without one!
Going back to the Treo wasn’t going to work for the long term so after a false start I ended up picking up a new Nokia E61i off of Craigslist. It is big, but so far is doing everything i need it to. And it has Wifi to boot. I am still getting used to the Symbian OS, and the different applications I need to get to work. I already don’t like the PIM (Address book, Calendar, & Tasks) functions, but that is a trade off for not crashing and a phone that generally does what it is supposed to do. Stability has become important to me more so in recent days. More discussions on the E61i as I continue to play with it.
I am going to keep the N810 tablet because it is just interesting if anything. I don’t need it for any real reason but I am enjoying tinkering with it.
I am also in the process of cleaning out my closet and finally selling the extra DVD player I have (it is new in the box) and my old Tivo. I probably have a bunch of other stuff lying around so I have will be busy for a while.
I guess this is a good time to be doing all of this anyway with the holidays coming up and all.
Dinner With The Family
I took a trip to the Queens Center mall today to try and do some clothing shopping before the crazy holiday season takes off. Well, I was too late. Apparently the holidays do in fact start before thanksgiving if the level of crowds and decorations at the mall are any indication. I ended up not buying anything. I didn’t find any clothes that I wanted. I was actually disappointed by the selection of stores at that mall. Most of the ones I would shop in that I tend to expect to be standard fare at a mall weren’t there. The ones that were didn’t have anything that caught my eye. So the trip was a bust.
On the plus side the mall trip was part of my master plan to get to see my family for dinner. My sister, niece, and nephew were at my parents so my mom picked me up from the mall and we all went out to eat. I then got a ride home. It was fun seeing everyone. Those kids keep me laughing. Thankfully I will see them again in a few days for Thanksgiving.
This visit with my sister also got me up to date on what I will be getting the kids for the holidays. It is nice to have a web site and a product number so I don’t have to go back to the mall!!! I will be online later this week to place my orders, even though I still maintain that Zack would be happy with an empty box.
Furniture
I have been on a small spending spree since I moved to furnish my apartment. After my most recent round of acquisitions I am almost done. I have a new love seat couch that I find more comfortable to lie on than to sit on but it is nice either way. I have a new computer table that doesn’t wobble when i touch it. That and the most of the cables can be hidden in it. My last purchase was a nice computer chair. I have wanted a nice chair for some time, but I had been going back and forth between wanting one and willing to spend the money on one. The final deciding point was the $50 chair I got from Bed Bath and Beyond was killing my butt and my back, so I took the plunge. I got a new Herman Miller Celle Chair. It isn’t as nice (nor as expensive) as the Aeron Chair I had for almost 6 years at my last job, but it is dam close. For a desk chair it wasn’t cheap but compared to what i had been sitting on for several years it is really nice.
Next up for me is the coffee table I have been talking about for ages. That is another expensive purchase so I have been hesitant to get it, but I am about to pull the trigger on it. Now all I need to do is buy some nice paintings and stuff for my walls and the new apartment will look awesome!
Johnnie Walker Blue
Today I finally cracked open a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue that I brought back with me when I was in France over the summer. It was worth the wait. I wasn’t daring enough to drink it straight but it was really nice over some ice. I am almost upset that I liked it. By liking it, I now have another potentially expensive habit. Now all I need is a library, a few plush leather chairs, fireplace and cigars or pipes and I will be in the stereotypical old man lounge.
12 Minutes
In NYC yesterday it was dreary and wet. Not the nicest way to end the week. Why then did I decide to go wait on line at the Apple Store for the OS 10.5? Stupidity perhaps. The need for the latest gear, maybe. I was semi surprised to report that I ended up on a line that went halfway around the block. When 10.4 came out I had a similar experience at the SoHo store. History did repeat itself though, and even though there was a huge line and it was raining from the time I got on line to the time I walked out of the store was only 12 minutes. Now that is efficiency.
I can report that Leopard installed on my Macbook without any issues. Saying that I need to go back a week for a second. My Macbook is nearing the 1 year old mark. Typically I simply sell my Mac laptops at this point and get whatever the latest is out there. The funny thing was that what is out there new right now is only .16GHZ faster than what I currently have. Every other specification is the same on the current Macbook’s. So I instead of selling the Macbook I purchased the extended warrantee, upgraded the RAM to 3gig, and put a new 250gb hard drive in it. With a new hard drive installed I simply ran a fresh install of Leopard. So far so good.
More news in the next few days. And yes I hope to begin posting again!