Food

Sort of Free Lunch

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Twice this week I went to lunch with Cisco or a Cisco VAR. Free food is nice, but nothing is really ever free! We need to get allot done with these people so they think it is nice to do it at lunch. They are right, and we did make allot of progress. We are trying to shop around a new integrator for our Voice systems. The first meeting was to talk with my Cisco rep about the current issues we have and what we want to do. The second meeting was to meet with an integrator and talk a bit about what we want and what they can offer. I think both meetings went well. The first impression of this new integrator was a good one. I still have to meet another integrator next week that we are looking at but I think this group had a good start.

I want to get all the leg work of this phone system design done now before we actually have a lease signed and the powers that be at my company are asking for us to move as soon as possible.

Saturday Tinkering

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I went over to John’s today so he can tinker a bit with my xbox. It took a bit longer than expected but I had nothing going on. The only down side was he accidentally erased all my saved games on Halo 2.

We where going to goto dinner and maybe meet up with Jayson & Gretchen but he was tired after a work overnight so I ended up meeting up with Jayson & Gretchen on my own. We went to this nice bar / restaurant near their apartment. It was good. We sat around for hours drinking and talking. It was nice.

I took the bus back to 59th street and hopped a cab home. It was easier than waiting for the 7 train. Besides the cold, it was a quick trip.

Dinner With The Family

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Meet up with Carrie, Morgan, and my dad for dinner at Sante Fe by my sisters house tonight. I didn’t really eat much. I started feeling out of it towards the end of the day. I was not hungry but nibbled on some chicken fingers while everyone ate. I went to see the family more than the food. Morgan still rocks. she is too cute for her own good.

At luch I had to get my watch fixed since I went to a store that couldn’t help me yesterday. Cost me $28 bucks but I could get that money back when I bring in the receipt from the purchase of the watch. I also had a link let out since the watch was a bit tight since I got it. now it is too loose. Go figure?

I had to cut out of the office a little early to meet up with the family. I am spoiled by the 20 minute commute now that I get frustrated with the 45-60 minute trip to Forrest Hills. The funny thing is I know it isn’t a bad trip, but compared to what I am used to it sucks. Of course to see my niece I would do double the trip. She is worth it, but only in small doses. She is allot of energy.

Even with the not feeling good it was a nice visit. My mom heard about the trip and jokingly got upset that I meet up with the family when she was out of town. She is in Florida relaxing with her friends for the week. It seems like retirement is nice!

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Far Away Friends

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Tonight I got to meet up with my friends Joe & Karen. They live far away (aka a time zone & 1,000+ miles). They were up for the holidays so Jayson, Gretchen, John, Zee, and I met up with them for dinner at a place in little italy that we like to goto. A lot of food and like 4 bottles of the house wine later we had a great dinner. It was nice seeing everyone. The last time I saw Joe & Karen was like July so it was good to catch up.

Joe is trying to get me out to Vegas again this June for another convention. I am all for it. Now I have to convince my boss that he is all for it also!

It was cold tonight, but besides that I had a good time. Now off to bed since I have work again tomorrow!

Road Trip

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I took a work road trip today. Had to meet some people in our other office and several other people had other missions up there so we rented a van and drove up. Got allot done, and we tried to avoid the traffic from some storm that was coming up the coast. We didn’t really avoid the traffic. Got stuck in it from the GWB all the way to my house. I assume that everyone was stuck in it past that too.

After work I hopped out of the van by my house but instead of going home I hoped on the subway and went to heartland brewery to meet Jayson and John for dinner and drinks. I had fun. We talked and hung out. We need to schedule another poker night.

Fantastic Lunch

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Today we went to Gramercy Tavern for lunch today. Jayson had the idea earlier in the week. Neither of have ever been and it is supposed to be rated the best restaurant in Zagats. My review is that it was awesome. We ate in the tavern. We thought the main dinning room was a bit too fancy for us, and we weren’t dressed for it. Of course the price difference for lunch was also a factor.

I of course had the fillet. it was really good. I also tried Jack’s Fresh Bacon. I am not kidding when I tell you the bacon melted in my mouth. it was fantastic. As good as the bacon appetizer I had at Peter Lugar’s a few weeks ago.

I like going out to a nice sit down lunch every once in a while. In a previous job we tried to goto Angelo And Maxie’s every month, but that was years ago. I liked doing it. It wasn’t cheap but it was always nice. I am thinking of bringing back the tradition. Just going to the diner every once in a while just wont cut it.

Back to my original reason for the post. I am putting Gramercy Tavern on my favorites list in my Zagat’s! Good call Jayson!

On another note the other day it looked like there was a fire at Angelo And Maxie’s. There where fire trucks blocking 2 blocks of Park Ave South the other day. Since I like the place I feared the worst. Turns out they looked like they were open the next day. Others said they were open that night. Not sure exactly what happened, but it doesn’t look to be as bad as the dozen or so fire trucks first led me to think!

Harry Potter Movie

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After doing our rewiring work we meet up with Gretchen and her friend for dinner at this new place by the office. It was good. After that Jayson, Gretchen and I went to the new Harry Potter movie. I didn’t think the last one was any good so I was skeptical about this one. Turns out I liked it allot. Now I wait patiently for the 7th book. Ok enough waiting, where is it?

The only other eventful thing that happened today was that I actually got up early on a Saturday and went for a haircut.

Busy Week, Not Much Writting

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I haven’t been in the mood to write this week. I have been busy. I have had plenty to write about but just not motivated to write. So what is the recap of the week…

Meetings galore on Monday. The usual stuff, but they always seem really long. I am do not handle long meetings well. I get bored quick I guess. I survive though.

Ended up meeting Kristen for a few drinks at a decent Jazz club Monday night. Then I went home to cut our IM server over to a new hardware and a new version of software. All in all that cut went well. A bunch of client issues on Tuesday but nothing major.

Wednesday was my travel day I mentioned in my last post. Thursday felt like friday. I spent most of my day working on ensuring everyone in my group was on top of their assignments. Friday was allot like thursday and then there was the misc troubleshooting, and recapping my boss on everything he needed to know about the Wednesday trip.

Jayson and I left a bit before 6 today and hit the Outback. We had appetizers like we did years ago. Got full and went home early. I wanted to get a haircut but by the time I got home it was too late. I will get up early tomorrow before I have to goto the office and get one. I wrapped up the day by cleaning up my apartment a bit, and putting away my laundry that came back from the Laundromat.

In general a normal week. I will try to write more this weekend on specific topics, but I like recapping what I did, if not for anyone but myself!

Chop Sticks

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I went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant last night (thanks Zagats for 2 nice options, we chose the less crowded of the 2). I Kristen attempted to show me how to use chop sticks. I had it working for a little bit, but I still suck at it. If my dad has been unsuccessful for 2 decades to show me, does that make me a lost cause?

After dinner we hit a nearby bar. Ended up meeting a bunch of Kristen’s friends from school. They seemed cool. We drank. Fun had by all. It was a nice end to the work week. If only I would stop coughing. I don’t know what my problem is, but for the past week I have had sinus issues, then this weird cough. I don’t feel sick, yet I cough.

Dinner

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Stayed at work late and then went out with Jayson and his in-laws to a nice restaurant in Little Italy. It was a nice night. We even hit the good desert place after dinner. Cari was going to come with us, but she got a bad head ache and took off from work.

Other than that I had an interesting day at work, but the contents of the day can’t be posted here. I have updated my Work blog (password only) with details.