Happy New Years Eve!

My Beautiful and I are about to go out for the evening and I thought I might jot down a few New Year's resolutions before we go. It's unfortunate when I look back on my past that if I were required to come up with a definition for the New Years Resolution, I could possibly define it as "a promise you make to yourself that you are not required to keep." That said, I'm approaching my 2006 New Years Resolutions with the idea that they are goals rather than lies.

Resolution #1. I hearby resolve to better look out for my well being. This includes health, knowledge, and the ability to adhere to the rules and concerns of our society. That last one might raise an eyebrow or two so let me simplify it by saying that I strive to be a better person.

Resolution #2. I hearby resolve to be the best husband I can be. Technically, this should not begin until May 6th, but I find it so much easier to refer to Kristine as my wife. Because of this, I respect the rules of our monogomist loving relationship as I believe us to be Man and Wife at this very moment. I pledge to continue loving her with all my heart and I will do my best to consider the fact that I may very well NOT be right all of the time. Some of you will find that line to be funny, including my beautiful wife Kristine, who laughs because she knows that SHE is the one who is right all the time.

Resolution #3. I will take actions that will allow me to move forward in life rather than become complacent with where I am now. That's not to say I'm not in a good place. Far from it. All things considered, my life is phenominal. Still, I have a few unrealized dreams that I'd like to achieve before I lose the motivation to achieve them. I have a partner now who stands by my side and makes me stronger. I can't think of a better time to do great things.

Resolution #4. I hereby resolve to connect more with my friends and my family. To those of you who I owe emails to, I appologize. To those of you who have told me we need to get together and we haven't, I appologize. If I do nothing else this year, I hope to organize my addresses and phone numbers so that I may keep in touch with those who I've befriended and those who I love.

That said, I wish all of you a Happy New Year and I wish all of you the best. Here's hoping that all of our New Years Resolutions come true and assist us in becoming that which we strive to be. Oh what the hell. Let me throw one more resolution out there. I hereby resolve to maintain and update my blog on a regular basis, and in doing so, I hope my words continue to entertain you.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!
Dave

The Reawakening

I feel like I've just woken from a coma. The holidays are over. Woo-Hoo! Now, I love the holiday season and I'm big on being a people person, but there's definitely an intraverted part of me that needs some alone time to regroup. Of course, that's hard to come by now that I'm living with someeone full time but I think that's something I need to adjust to and hopefully, that will come with time.

Apparently the holidays stress me out and I didn't even know it. This past Thursday, we celebrated Xmas at work. There was a big gathering at the bosses house after work, but the big todo was our lunchtime exchange of gifts. I was generous with my gift giving and was pleasantly surprised at the number of gifts I received. What I find interesting is that after the big gift exchange lunch was over, I was exhausted. I was completely drained. It turns out that unbeknownst to me, I was carrying a large weigh on my shoulders and after that lunch...it was next to impossible to work. If allowed to, I would've fallen asleep in my work chair right then and there. And this was in spite of the fact that I had the whole real xmas thing to do that weekend. The brain is a funny thing and it turns out my brain was very busy but it left me out of the loop.

Then came Christmas weekend which was lovely. Kristine and I went down to Long Island for the holiday and spent 3 days at her sister Karen's place. What I find interesting is that I now feel more like a resident rather than a guest when we stay with Karen and her family. Also, I realized that I'm no longer the visiting boyfriend. I blend now. Well, for the most part. I imagine I'm still thought of as a man way too obsessed with owning the most current technology but that aside, I'm one of the family.

Let's see...You'll have to forgive me for a moment as I'm reorienting myself with this blog entry. I know I had a lot to say yesterday when I started this. I'm just trying to remember what that was and in what order I want it to come out. In case I get burnt out trying to finish all my thoughts in this entry, let me just say that last night, Kristine and I watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and while I know as a 32 yr old man, I should be embarrassed for saying this, the movie was fantastic. In the words of the great Robert Kelly, it worked on many levels. Back to the Xmas coma.

Kristine and I got home Monday evening. I thought I was going to pass out, but I had to have my friend Chris over so I could sell him my iPod Photo so that he could give it to his wife Tanya for her birthday. Of course, there is no such thing as a Chris Kory visit that doesn't involve Madden Football, especially since he'd never played it on my new Xbox 360. That thing KICKS ASS! Although, let me just say, if anyone from EA Sports (It's in the game) happens to ready this, what's up with the changes? I want my kicking back. I want my old buttons back. I want my Michaels/Madden commentary back. Otherwise, excellent job.

So Chris comes over and we play football and suddenly, I'm alive. Where I was once catatonic, now, I can't fall asleep. I did eventually fall asleep though and spent the next to days in a sort of recovery funk. Then around 3:00 yesterday, I rolled out of bed, jumped in the shower and since then I've felt fully recovered. It should be smooth sailing for a while.

The anonymous Mr. Xchair believe I have a little stress left in me with the New Year's thing, but aside from going somewhere New Year's Day, we are plan free and I don't imagine that will change.

We're out of here in 15 so let me get a few last things out.

Netflix RULES! I'm going to save so much money on all the dvds I don't have to buy anymore.

Speaking of dvds, Kristine and I have been watching season 1 of House. For those of you who have never seen House, it's a great show, but I would suggest skipping the Pilot (aka the first show), as you might get turned off by it. It was shot very dark and it was before they realized that the medicine part of the show plays second fiddle to the quick bitter wittiness of the House character. If you start with the second episode, you should be fine.

Hey, how bout those Sony DRM rootkit cds? Did those guys screw up or what? Ya know, I was looking at a piece of Sony machinery today that wasn't even music related and thought to myself, there's no way in hell I'm buying that.

Bittorrent is a fabulous piece of software. It's like having every movie and television show on demand for free...albeit it's probably illegal and there's a slight chance the RIAA or MPAA might sue you but then again, I haven't been able to find a successful US bittorrent lawsuit. Bittorrent rules.

Cinderalla Man is out on dvd. Finally, you can see the greatness I've been talking about in the privacy of your own home. Rent it and enjoy.

I'm being called to get ready but one more thing. Pump It by the Black Eyed Peas debuted at number 64 this week on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay. About Friggin Time.

Been fun chattin w/u. Check ya l8r.
Dave

Train Sex

God I love titles like that. Train Sex. I mean...I've got you. I would have to tell the crappiest story ever for you to bail on this story. Come to think of it, I would change the name of this blog to Train Sex in a heartbeat if I thought I had the material to live up to such a blog name. I don't think that's going to happen though.

So, right now it's 7:30am est. I woke up at 5:30 this morning so I could come in and get ahead of my workload. I should be working now but if I don't process these thoughts, they'll just be dancing in my head for the rest of the day.

First, let me say that my heart goes out to my NYC readers whose lives just got a little more chaotic as a result of the MTA strike. I would also like to praise the Metro North union for not jumping on the strike as well. You are wonderful people and I hope you keep those trains running.

So like I said, I woke up early. I got myself cleaned up, made sure my iPod was updated and caught the train. Fortunately, someone was nice enough to post the first season of Scrubs on podtropolis.com so that is what I've been watching on the train for the last day or two. Scrubs, by the way is one of those shows that when you finally sit down and watch it, you wonder why you haven't been watching the show all along. It's very good and based on the five episodes I've watched, I highly recomend you Tivo Scrubs right now.

So I'm watching and I'm enjoying and out of the corner of my eye, I see some abandoned brick buildings out the window and I know I'm almost to South Norwalk. I grab my bag and I get up. Now some people will tell you that it's impossible to walk and watch your video at the same time but I've gotten a pretty good handle on it so I let Scrubs (the really great show I mentioned in the last paragraph) continue to play.

As I get up, I see that there is a young couple probably in their early twenties sitting across the aisle from me. Their sitting side by side but they appear to be in a cuddly sort of way. Upon reflection, I would guess that her legs were draped across his lap. Now, I've got stuff going on in my head. Do I have my bag? Is it zipped up? I don't have to rush to get to the train door, do I? No. There's time. Plus, I'm listening to Scrubs and subconciously balancing myself on a moving train as I walk to the train door.

As I approach the train door, I realize that something wasn't quite right. I call upon my memory and pick apart what I just saw. That's when I realize that one of the girl's legs was exposed and that just past her knee going towards the foot were a pair of bright purplish pink underwear. At that point, I was at the train door, so I stopped, turned around and saw the young couple smiling back at me. I still had the headphones on so I'm not sure but I think the young woman said Hi to me. Wow! They'd been having sex? That's Awesome. I mean that's really friggin cool. Before I could give it much thought, the train stopped and the door opened.

Now this is where the story sucks. As I'm getting off the train with so many thoughts to ponder, a black man of slightly larger build gets off the train with me and he won't fucking shut up. He starts off the conversation by letting me know that the couple had been having sex since around maybe New Rochelle. I never got a lock on this guy because quite frankly, I didn't want to, but here's what I think I learned from him.

For starters, he will talk to anyone who is walking next to him no matter how long the duration of the walk. He has two daughters. He may go to church regularly although I'm guessing he goes sporadicaly and just remembers enough information to annoy people. A girl who is having sex on the train is degrading herself. As for the guy having sex on a train...he didn't mention an opinion on that. A girl can be all giggly and degrade herself by having sex on a train but then in a couple of years she will have kids and feel sorry. Women act all powerful but the truth is they are vulnerable and the way for us guys to be real men is to not degrade them preferably by not having sex with them on a train. If I'm not mistaken, he sited the Adam & Eve story as evidence as to why man has to look after woman. I'm sure there was more he said as we walked together for five minutes, but a lot of his ramblings were blocked out by my thoughts of trying to figure out how to tell him to shut up. I wonder if this guy really thought I gave a damn about what he was saying. I mean, I just realized two people were having sex right next to me and he thinks I want to talk to him. Good lord. Well, he's gone now and thank god for that.

Back to the sex on the train thing. I mean, wow. Practically, right next to me, there were two people having sex. For all the time I devote thinking about sex, here it is going on right next to me and I was oblivious. And these were some good looking people too. This young lady was very attractive. As for the guy, I don't know what an attractive man looks like but I can tell you he wasn't ugly... and really, who cares.

But after I got rid of jabbermouth, I had a chance to wonder about things and here were the thoughts I came up with. I'm glad I didn't know. If I did know, I would have had to figure out whether or not I wanted to watch. Alright, actually no. Hell yeah, I would have wanted to watch. It just would have been tricky to figure out how to watch them without the train sex couple watching me watching them, let alone other spectators watching me watching the couple. See, this whole thing is new to me and I don't know the proper etiquette for voyeurism when it comes to exhibitionists.

Here's another thought. I realized sex on a train is something that would probably never happen to me and at first I felt a little sad. Then I changed my mind when I realized that I probably don't want to have sex on a train. I'd be too self concious wondering if my partner and I were putting on a good show instead of enjoying the moment.

And here's something else. My train got into SoNo at 7am. Who the hell gets up that early in the freezing cold to have sex on a train heading towards New Haven? I mean, I hope they weren't going to work. The woman I work with takes a train from Harlem to come here everyday and she went on a couple of dates with a guy she met on the commute. When it didn't work out, it was a bit awkward for her seeing him on the train everyday to and from work and that was just from a couple of dates. If this train sex couple doesn't work out, imagine the baggage they will carry with them every time they go to work. My guess is that they were just riding the train to have the sex. I don't care how good their sex was, I've just never seen anyone that happy going to work.

In conclusion, my point is this. If you ever see me seeing someone having sex on a train... don't talk to me. I'm just not in a conversation kind of way. Wait. Strike that. If you are a hot chick who sees me seeing a couple having sex on a train and you'd like to talk about it. Well sure, why the hell not? That's the exception to the rule. (Just to be clear though, we're just talking. I LOVE YOU KRISTINE!!!)

Must work. Talk 2 u soon. Happy Holidays.
Dave

Quick Check In

Ooohhhh...Look At Me. Not quite down for the count. I can't believe the most flack I get for not updating my blog comes from a guy too lazy to create a blogger identity. I know who you are Mr. Anonymous and if your not careful, I'm going to travel out west and put your ass back in that chair. How bout them apples?

But seriously...uhhhh...I'm not really even blogging now. I'm supposed to be working but I realized that if another day went by without me saying hello, there'd be a little more flackage coming my way. So let me just do a few quick sumaries and then I'll try to get a more complete entry up over the weekend.

Life is pretty grande.

Lost is on hiatus and the last episode got on my nerves. Here's a thought. Instead of giving us a bible lesson that really doesn't go anywhere, how bout just saying, "Oh hay! You're not going to believe this but I have a piece of that film too. Wanna see it?"

I still don't have an Xbox 360 but I have connections and I should have one on or after the 20th. Fingers are crossed. Oh yeah and by the way, Fuck You Target. If I shop at your place it's because I'm all out of options. Maybe next time you get some Xbox's in, you don't let 60 people stand in line for 3 1/2 hours before you tell them, "Oh yeah, we've only got 12. So sorry. But by the way, it's not us. Microsoft is trying to create demand." Seriously, there's a reason why that guy is over 30, balding, and a manager at Target. I'm guessing it has to do with lack of intelligence and ambition. Just to be clear though, I'm never shopping at Target again.

Shoot. This is going long. Anything else?

Aside from that last rant, I'm feeling very good about things. I feel for the first time in my life that things are moving forward instead of just dealing with the stagnant day to day rigamorol...Hmmm...I guess that's the first time I put that word on the page. It's probably spelled wrong but you probably get my meaning. I'm very happy with my wife to be and all that we're going through. It's nice to have a partner who is very supportive and I love her to death.

Oh, one last thing. I went with my friend Karen to see Bon Jovi a few weeks back and it was probably my best concert experience ever. Mucho fun. Maybe in a few years, I'll post the photos I took on my cell phone. (yeah right)

That's it. I must work. I will probably do some writing over the weekend however, I wouldn't count on it. Happy Holidays if I don't see you before the new year.

You Guys Are Great!
Dave

Oh Goodness

It seems that I have been missed in my absence from the blogging world. I'm sorry. I've been occupied with other things. Life is good. Work is good. Engagement life is good. I'm looking forward to the holidays and... so uhhh.... I joined a gym. It turns out it was for the best. Maybe I'll talk about it later. Think of this as a baby step for my return to blogging. I expect I will talk 2 u soon.

Dave