Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Brian's LiveJournal:

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Friday, April 6th, 2007
12:26 pm	Exciting! New Meds! Couple weeks ago I went and met my new doctor. After going through a full physical and blood work I met with him again today. He wants to put me on 2 new meds called Metformin ER and Actos. Each of these will help increase my sensitivity to insulin and eventually not have to take injections anymore. As it makes sense to me now, its like my liver and pancreas don't know what the other is doing and one is making more than the other, in this case i have too much sugar. So I have one med that'll decrease the amount of sugar the liver makes and the other will help the insulin i do make on my own be absorbed better. Hopefully this is the way it stands and all i have to do is pop pills twice a day and not worry about traveling with something that has to stay cold all the time. Can't wait to start on this stuff! Current Mood: excited (Comment on this)
Monday, March 5th, 2007
1:16 pm	So many things wandering around in my head lately its time to get it out there and see if it makes anymore sense. On the positive side of things, my foot issues went away since my last entry and i've been ok at getting back into running. Like anytime i start getting a groove something happens and i don't go out for a few days or more and i feel like i start over again when i do make it out again. I did get sick for a week then it got too cold so the last month i have maybe done a full week's worth of running. Stinks that i can't stay consistant like i want to, especially with a half marathon coming up that corey wants to do in april. At least yesterday i got some wind proof pants i can use that'll help with the running in the cold part. Long as nothing else comes up i should be good to go today. Jennie, Erik and I went to Boston on Saturday. If anything we did a lot of walking that afternoon before our hockey game. We walked from South Station to the Navy docks to see the USS John F Kennedy aircraft carrier. The tour line was too long so i snapped a few shots from a distance and moved on. Wish i could have made it onboard though. Its the only class of ship i have yet to go on. From there we walked to North station and had a small dinner before heading inside. The weather was the warmest its been in quite awhile (50 degrees!) so it was an awesome day for walking around town. The game itself wasn't too bad. I would vote on getting better seats so i can actually see whats going on without having to stand up. We all had fun though so that's what matters. Corey got a newer car a week ago. He traded in the Jeep for an '03 Subaru Forester. Its has some miles but runs great and looks to be in great shape as well. Yesterday I got a lesson in driving it (its a 5 speed) and did excellent except for missing third gear once and just over revving the engine. Given enough practice I could get this down. Now, onto stuff that bothers me. Why is it so hard to push some papers through and make me full time for the company i've been at the last 8 months? I know there are offices closing, some restructuring being done and part of the comapny is splitting off but I have been here 8 months now. I would think any boss would know by now if i'm worth investing in more and keeping me on. All anyone has heard has been positive so there is no reason why they have to shell out more money to pay the company for my services ontop of what i get paid by them. I'm ok with the pay and all but what i want is the benefits. I would like to go school again and get a Bachelor's Degree and maybe a few more certifications. This company would pay a good chunk of that. Espeically as i am right now having help with rent living with Corey and Alicia its more affordable. I don't know how long I'm going to have that help so while I do have it I'd like to get into it. Even just doing the certifications would be fine as they carry more weight anyway but i need money i don't have really to do that. If this company would get its ass in gear that would be great! Something i do have to consider soon is where i can live once Corey and Alicia move on. Unless I get a very respectable raise or another roomate, i'm not going to be able to afford living in this complex. Rent all together right now is 950 a month that i currently pay half of. I was struggling on my own doing 910 a month so the question becomes, where to go? Well, my dream has been to live further north in the mountains where the living costs are cheaper but its harder to find a job. Plus everyone i know is right around Manchester and i already hated being by myself living in a complex where people i know are a 5 minute walk away let alone being 2 hours away. Can I really uproot completely and just start completely over? I'd be going nuts probably. The whole point of moving from Massachusetts was to be closer to my best friends (Corey, Alicia, Jennie, Pam, Phil) so why would I want to move away from the main reason for moving in the first place? Guess I could try finding a roommate but i'm not going to pair up with someone i hardly know and since everyone i know for the most part are coupled up, that kills off that idea. So yeah, i don't know. Its not a pleasent thing to have in the back of my mind for the remainder of the year. Current Mood: Concerned (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 17th, 2007
12:20 pm	Foot woes, other news Guess once you have running shoes for 6 years its time to get rid of them. About 2 weeks ago i started developing cramps in my left calf and the balls of my right foot were really getting to be bothersome. So i went out and got some nice Montrail trail-running shoes that feel oh so nice! Unfortunatly I've only been able to run in them once so far because my right foot still bothers me. Likely I bruised it really good so I'm stuck not being able to run for a little while at least and let it heal up. Probably didn't help that it was hurting and elected to hike on it regardless. Paying the price now. I'll probably wait until the week after next to try again. Seems like one week of rest wasn't enough. I do seem to making progress at the gym though. I'm able to do a one or two more on my final sets each time I go down. Long as I can stick to the every other day schedule I can start adding more weight soon and make me feel like I'm accomplishing something. The hike I referred to above took place on the 6th. Me and Corey decided to do Mt Carrigain so once he got home we ate packed and hit the road. Encountered interesting weather on the way up including rain to mix to snow. Around 11 PM we arrived at the parking lot. We couldn't drive to the trailhead due to the gate being closed off so we'd have 2 miles extra to walk in the next day. I slept much better in the car this time compared to last. Bringing my pillow and having my fleece jacket underneath added more head support so I was laying more straight and not like a hill. Next time i have to try blowing up the sleeping pad and laying that on the seat to smooth out the little hump my seat makes. Then i should sleep as soundly there as i do at home. Anyhow the hike went great. Sun was out most of the day and temps were tolerable. Going up we had ice to contend with that slowed me down (as did my painful foot). At the top it was windy and brutally cold. I could only stand on the firetower at the top for 5 mins before taking shelter in the trees. This was #30 for me and 43 for corey. The way down was fun because the ice had somewhat melted in the sun and any snow was sticky so we basically ran down the steep stuff and walked out on the flat stuff at the bottom. Took about 3.5 hours to go up and we were down in 2 flat. Concidering book time going one way totals our grand total round trip, I'd say we did great. The rest of my Christmas money finally got spent. I bought a new receiver first off for the sound system. Mine wasn't powerful enough to power 4 Bose speakers and since i was already thinking of upgrading the system out-of-the-box i had it was a good time to start with that. So now we have rocking sound in the living room. I also got the entire X-files DVD set (all 9 seasons) for a sweet deal ($150), the Rocky Anthology, and Vol. 4 of the James Bond movies (just need Vol. 3 to complete that now). Don't know when I'm going to have time to watch all of that but I can never say I have nothing to watch now thats for sure! Since the weather has turned colder (woke up to -1 today!) I haven't been walking during my lunch break so I've been catching up on my reading. I have read 6 Patterson books in the past 2 months alone and going to finish another in the next couple of days. That gets me caught up on the Cross series and I can read the new one that came out in November that I got for Christmas (thanks Jennie and Erik). When it starts warming up (why am i thinking about warming up already now that winter has shown up just this weekend?) its going to be hard to go back to walking around. Wish i could walk and read at the same time. Last time i write i was going to be meeting Pam's new bf: Earl. He seems like a cool guy and they get along nicely. We didn't talk too much but seeing them together makes me think this could last. Granted this was after one meeting but so far I approve. Hopefully I can hang out with them more and get better feel for how he is and all. Seeing her more than once a month would be ideal too. I can't think of anything else new so I guess I'll stop for now. Until the next update...... Current Mood: bored (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 4th, 2007
10:16 am	Monthly Newsletter Here I am again doing a monthly update so I hope everyone is in a reading mood, lol. Most of December was same old, same old. Just going to work during the day and doing some form of working out at night (most of the time anyway). With help from Corey, I've found a nice running loop that is off the road but way easier to manage than the trails we used to do. I still twist the ankle sometimes but its still fun to do especially in the dark. When we don't run we are in the gym doing pushups, situps and curls. I did a modified one doing bench press instead of pushups initially then doing the pushups until i can't do anymore. That sure feels good at the end. We also decided to see about doing some road races this year and seeing how those go maybe do a half marathon up Jay Peak. If I can get a training program all setup and eat the right foods and stick to it, I think I can do it. Right now I'm kind of going "yeah right" but with a goal in mind I might be more motivated to get in better shape. The Boston Marathon ought to be simple after doing something like this right? Well we'll see.... Christmas weekend I went to my parent's house. I can tell my workouts are paying off because the loops i used to run are so easy now and i can run longer. Pulled off 8 miles (most ever) on that Saturday. Parents also got a new LCD HD TV (happens to be the next step up from the TV I have) and I hooked everything up properly for them and watched stuff here and there throughout the weekend. High-Def stuff looks awesome on it but damn anything that isn't looks like crap. One program I watched was the latest Everest expedition from last year that looked interesting. After midnight mass on Christmas Eve, we all opened gifts. The big one was a Disney Vacation for us all in May. After that there was a bunch of Disney themed gifts (watch, t-shirts, movies), new DVD player, entire M*A*S*H collection and money. Did pretty well I have to say. After Christmas Dinner in the afternoon I headed out. New Years I spent with Jennie's family. Her uncle was throwing a party at his place and i was invited. Among playing Cribbage, tuck and Bingo they did a Yankee Swap, which I've never done before but its fun to do. Should see if I can the parents to try it out sometime. After that it was all drinking and singing. They have a Karokee machine and I being the new guy had to sing at least a few songs and ended up standing at the mic all night long lol. Some songs I knew, others i tried stumbling through but all and all it was great fun. Next day after cleaning up and packing up we stopped off at the Red Arrow diner for breakfast (me and Erik) and lunch (jennie and tiffany) then passed out at the apartment. Not a bad start to the year eh? Next up is Pam and her new boyfriend stopping in this weekend. She speaks highly of him so i can't wait to meet him, neither can anyone else lol for the official "seal of approval". Something tells me it'll be more drinking and gaming, so whats not to like about it? Current Mood: bored (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006
3:43 pm	changes have been made.... After a talk over dinner a few weeks ago and some arm twisting (j/k) corey, alicia and I have moved into an apartment together. might have been easier to just have them move into mine but with the sketchballs living down my way (and the easier paperwork) we just killed our current leases and started fresh. we are in the same building they were in, just down the hall now and its the same layout as my own. why we did this you ask? save money really. rent is just so high that its better for us all to just split it and have money to spend at the end of the month. that and living alone was slowing killing me. i'm not sure why but i need to be around people all the time. guess i got used to it since i've never lived truely on my own like that before. after thanksgiving weekend i started my packing and got a bulk of it done monday-wednesday nights. corey with the help of mike and seamus moved all their stuff thursday night and i moved some of the smaller things of my stuff. i am getting the room that i called my office in the last place. its a little smaller but since i'm only in there to sleep it doesn't bother me at all. friday i moved one or two things only since it was pouring rain that evening. we also got a storage room in a nearby building for all our extra stuff. i may have a big living room, but it will not hold 2 couches so mine is in storage along with my dinnerware. corey being the gourmet chef of us all i wasn't going to argue whose stuff we should use. looking forward to learning many cooking tips from him that i can later use for myself and once i get the hang of things, cook dinner for us once in a while. anyhow, saturday was the big day for my stuff. again with the help of seamus and corey we got the big stuff loaded into seamus' truck and i made a good 6 trips or so for the rest of it. was about 6 or so when i finally had everything in my room and the bed at least setup. as it is now, i have everything more or less organized and just have the wall decorations to put up. i was able to plug in the router and have internet for the few days we needed it before comcast came over and switched my service to the new place. kind of interesting that we had that but no cable, but we also upgraded the the digital package since we now had a little more money. watched a little bit last night and it looks neat. now i'm getting the tv to its full potential. in other news i had my birthday bash with jennie on saturday night. got a nice surprise when sarah showed up as well since i hadn't seen her for a long time and well she is mega fun to hang out with. jennie cooked up a nice chicken parm with rice and corn topped off with a birthday cake and ice cream. erik and i toyed around a little bit on the snes finishing off the super mario game we were playing the week prior. definatly a great evening and i won't forget it! (Comment on this)
Monday, November 6th, 2006
3:53 pm	some happenings This is starting to become a monthly update page instead of how i used to do it every day sometimes more than once a day. I'm so horrible at this now but at least i get something out occassionally. Since my last hiking trip up Garfield i've done 2 solo trips in row. Weekend after Garfield i went to Franconia Ridge covering Little Haystack, Lincoln and Lafayette. For views it was an awesome trip with hardly any clouds and plenty of sun above the trees. Thus far i have to say this is my favorite spot in the Whites next to the Presidential Range. Something about being above tree-line and seeing views everytime you look around just says something you know? Anyway, this would have been a kick ass day had i brought my jacket that i elected to leave in the car. Instead i nearly forze to death on Lafayette due to the wind mostly. Once i rushed below the trees i started warming up again. Note to self, when in doubt about what to bring, just bring it and be safe! The next weekend I was going to try doing the Tripyramids but due to the heavy rains we had the day before the streams weren't safe to cross so i abandoned that idea and did Mt Passaconaway instead. It had one crossing but i could at least jump that one, almost. Came up short and was wet for awhile and in the wind of 20 degrees, it was a little difficult to contend with but i made it. due to the wind i didn't go to the viewpoint either but i tagged the summit and went right back down. was too cloudy and icy as well up top to really make the detour worth it so i'll save that for a better day. The following weekend it was pouring rain all day saturday so i decided to pay my sister a visit. There was this store in worcester she wanted me to see that had all kinds of video game stuff and comics and movies etc etc so i found a SNES and star fox to buy. Been really craving that game lately so why not right? Last weekend was my sister's 21st and her friends there had arranged a surprise party for her and invited me and my parents down. I went to my parent's place ahead of time to gather my crampons, skis and other stuff in preperation for the winter season. The party went great, she had no idea what was coming lol. We stayed for a few hours and departed. Outside of my weekend excursions, not much has really been happening. Occassionally i'll get to hang out with corey & alicia and Jennie & erik but not as often as i'd like to. i really get lonely at the apartment by myself. Some days i need it but most days i need someone to hang out with. i've done enough surveys so everyone should know how much i hate being alone. alicia has suggessted i get a roomate. Fine by me as long as i know the person but most people i know already have their own place and i'm not one to find total strangers and be like "so want to move in?" Companionship is such a nice thing and i'm missing out most of the time. (Comment on this)
Monday, October 9th, 2006
1:27 pm	hiking and a hockey game What a great day saturday was. After driving up to Phil's place friday night we were up and out the door at 6 AM for a day of hiking on Garfield. Drive wasn't bad for that time of day minus the 2-3 slowpokes i had to speed past. Some people just shouldn't drive. On 118 we saw a nice viewpoint that had the setting moon with cool sunrise colors so naturally we had to stop and snap a few. We arrived at the trailhead around 7:40 and waited for Phil's dad to show which he did around 8 and off we went shortly after. Was cold to start (20's) but with my 4-5 layers i was quite comfortable for the first half hour or so before going down to just my long sleeve shirt. With Phil's dad cruising at my pace we walked together the whole way up to Garfield Ridge seeing some nice colors on the way but not too much with the sun hidden behind the mountain. Kinda felt like dusk most of the way. Around 4,000 feet we found some hard frost on moss and wasn't too long past that we arrived at Garfield ridge. We stopped for a breather and water and was just starting up for the final .2 miles when Phil arrived. We gave him a few mins then off we went. This was the hardest part of the trip for steepness but not too bad. Here we found the first signs of hard ice in a couple of places. Yes, winter is not far away now hehe. Once on top, the views were awesome! Not a cloud to be seen, deep blue skies and some patches of color in the valleys. Most of it was to the north that had a red tint. There was a little south but just in patches; like someone had sprinkled the area. There was no wind and temps had to be in the 50's. Couldn't ask for anything better. We spent about an hour and 20 mins up there before heading down. I got into a "zone" and flew most of the way down. It not being too steep anywhere it was a fast move until we got below the firs and hit the colors and i took my time from there taking pics every 5 mins or less. Couldn't believe how good everything looked. In the end we were down and driving out around 2:30. On the way back on 93 we saw the backup to get off on the north side at Lincoln for the Kank highway, had to be at least a mile or more. Was a little before 4 when i dropped off Phil and took off for Manch. I stopped off on 3A at a pizza place and got one for myself to eat fairly quickly before me Jennie and Erik were due to leave for the hockey game. That night was the season opener for the Monarchs and it was a great game. A few stupid calls were made against them and there were a couple of fights that kept is close to the point in went into over time and then a shootout that the Monarchs won. Final score was 5-4 and sicne they scored 4 or more goals, everyone got free small fries from McD's so that was neat. I'm starting to like this team a lot more to the point i think i'll save up to maybe get season tickets next year or half-season at least. I'm already thinking about getting one of the 3 or 4 game packs this year if i can get jennie and erik interested as well. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 5th, 2006
8:30 am	i gotta keep up I used to be so good at keeping this thing up-to-date. Now i'm down to one update a month. maybe now that work is settling down and i have time to kill i can stay ontop of this. So that being said here we go..... Since Jennie and Erik have moved in i've been spending a lot of time over there. There is this game she liked playing on her PC that no longer works so as a housewarming gift i got them both the same game for PS2 and played it all the way thru in no time just in time for the sequel to come out and played that to where we are now with only needing a couple of things to get the major storyline stuff done. Oh, game is Lego Star Wars btw. Pam has also come down a couple of times looking to find a job around here so we've been hanging out more. She was here last weekend in fact and after spending friday night playing games and chillin we were up early and over to the Deerfield Fair on Saturday. Its a neat event with lots of places to do some shopping at neat prices. Ended up getting a Patriots hoodie for $15 for myself. There were of course some rides to go on that only me and Pam did. One that spun you up and down and also went up and down at the same time was exciting and another that went p and down and did twists and turns. Not bad for a combined $15 i believe it was. Then of course the food was terrific, especially the fried dough at the end of the day. We left around 2 or 3 and it was amazing how long the line of cars was to get in to the place. Was backed up all the way to exit 2 on 101 (we are talking a good 10-15 miles here). We made it back to Jennie and Eriks and we all crashed. Must have napped for a good hour or more without realizing it. Later on we played beer pong with a slight variation.....we used hard liquor instead. I know erik and i won the first game and took a break to play a game of tuck and thats when everything else goes to a blur for me. i just know i woke up at about 2 PM with the worst headache/hangover ever and left a trail of clothes from the front door to the bedroom coming in apparently. Sunday was a recovery day suffice to say, but its still a fun time. Would i do it again? In a heartbeat! A few weeks ago, Corey and Alicia and I went to Boston for the Who concert. We got there around noon and spent the day walking around Newbury Street and other areas. I found a good deal on a couple of cds at Newbury comics but other than that no money was spent. The concert itself was awesome except for the opening band. They were basically screaming into the mic and the music was far too loud and not at all music that should open for a Who concert. Yuck! that was a very long 30 hour-45 mins. Once the Who came on though i was blown away. THey played all the songs i knew and the crowd was very into it unlike the McCartney concert where most just sat around. They were even selling a taping of the concert online somewhere along with a copy of just the music.....i bought both. Can't wait to see it when it arrives this month at some point. The decorating of the apartment continues where i said forget about the wood frame and bought some plate hangers for the final collection needing to be hung. I also went out and got some pictures printed of my friends and frames to put them in and scattered those around the living room and some into the kitchen ontop of the new bookcase thats there now. That means i unpacked the last of the books and did a little reorganizing so my shelves wouldn't be dipping in half. That basically completes the initial setup. Now i can add on in places as i get more pictures i want to post around. Now i just need to get rid of the pile of boxes in the office one day. I got the paperwork rolling on getting the car registered maybe a month ago now. Because the car is still owned by the bank, the DMV here needs a copy of the title that the bank has. Once that gets up here i can then register the car. I'm still waiting on that. Can't believe its taking this long. I should have just driven to the bank myself and brought it back. The latest big news was the nearby shooting in our complex. The story as reported my WMUR (our local news station): http://www.wmur.com/news/9998605/detail.html The fact they say no one the other is a load of crap i say. Why break into someone's apartment when you know they are home? Plus its on the 2nd floor. First floor is way more accessible if you want to break in. Anyhow, next up is a hike with Phil Saturday to do Garfield then the Monarch's home opener that night with Jennie and Erik. Fun stuff!!!! Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: nothing at the moment (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 2nd, 2006
10:16 pm	looking good Well, its been a couple of weeks so its time for another update. i did go back to massachusetts for odds and ends. ended up bringing more than i thought i would be. after all the stuff mom bought for me, my decorations and books there wasn't room for the ski stuff and other winter things! One of these days i gotta head back to collect that stuff (and get a home cooked meal). Thats been an issue with me, i can't cook! I tried cooking 2 chicken breasts using a recipe from my new cookbook and all i got for my efforts was burned charcoal and a smoke filled apartment. was fortunate the smoke detector didn't go off! since then i've been relying on tv dinners, easy mac and pasta. there was one night where corey and alicia and i had a cookout with ben and katie and i cooked 3 of the breasts i had. gave me 2 more dinners there so that wasn't bad. i also have precooked chicken paddies/nuggets/tenders to make later. one of these days i may get into cooking again, we'll see...... in the apartment itself things have come together. i have all but one of my plate collections hung up. the frame i have for that one doesn't hang well with picture hangers and i'm timid about drilling holes in the walls so i'm kinda just doing other things right now while i figure that out. right now though there is plenty of stuff on the walls to make it look like someone lives here so i'm happy about that. i also found a nice deal on a lay-z-boy recliner so thats now been added to the furnature collection. its not overally big but wicked comfortable to sit in. could do it all day! i also got a couple of bookcases and a filing cabinet. even still, i need at least one more cabinet because i got shelves overfolowing i got so many books. one tall one is in the living room, another in the office where all my computer books, gaming books and learning books lie. could def use one more small one in the living room to spread out the book load. i don't even have the patterson books unpacked yet. finally i added a bigger tv, i couldn't take squinting at my now tiny 20 inch screen so i saw best buy had a deal on tv's so i grabbed a 30 inch widescreen HD set and its way nicer. makes all my widescreen movies more visible without the black lines above and below the picture. last weekend was a busy one especially. corey and i went hiking. we went up friday night initially planning on doing the twins but the road to the trailhead there was washed out so we camped out at the Gale River trailhead instead. sleeping in the CR-V isn't that bad once you figure out the comfortable spot in your spot. would be better if the seats folded down all the way in the back like Corey's Element did but at least the front seats go all the way down so its partially good. in the end we did Galehead and the Twins and turned in a 15 mile day. then we stopped in woodstock for a nice lunch before driving back. i tell you, nothing beats an after hike meal like a burger and beer (or pizza). the next day i helped jennie and erik move into their new apartment. their building is right next to mine and they are on the 3rd floor. i like the layout they have there, its slightly bigger than mine overall. most of the stuff needed to be moved from a storage area that didn't open until noon so that sucked especially since it started raining around 1:30. but with the help of jennie's cousin and someone i tihnk they know from work, we were done moving things from the outside by 5 so we did good. i slept good that night, believe me but wasn't sore or anything which surprised me considering i hiked the day before. so with them right around the corner and corey, alicia, ben and katie up the hill, its gonna be awesome living here! work has been pretty good too. i'm still learning everything but its starting to get easier to pick up the phone when it rings without wondering "oh god will i be able to help this person?" the head of the department there talked to me at lunch this week and said he was very happy with the work i have done and even compared me to someone thats been there for a long time saying i was better than he was when he started so that gave me some encouragement. the hour-long lunch still takes some getting used to but i got some walking routes i do to kill time and if i have money to deposit there is a citizen's right down the road so i walk there occassionally. on crappy days i just go sit in my car and turn on the radio and put the seat back to take a power nap, works pretty good. which brings me to the present. i don't know what i did exactly but my back is out of commission as of thursday. it was feeling fine all day then i went running. i got back and it just started hurting a lot to the point i couldn't bend over or even sleep in my bed. had to sleep in the recliner because for some reason it didn't hurt as bad if i was only partially laying down. didn't hurt as bad the next morning but it still hurt pretty bad so i downed some painkillers, made the hard choice of going to work and just sat in the chair all day. that helped it some i think. even now it still hurts pretty good but i can sleep in a bed at least with moderate pain. sucks that this happened because i had a chance at going on 2 trips this weekend but i'm not gonna be sitting in a car for hours on end with an ailing back. phil wanted to do a hike up to monroe and i was gonna see pam but sitting in a car for a long stretch witha bad back would have driven me crazy. at least at home i have comfy chairs to help kill some of the pain. corey and alicia headed to vermont to do some camping with stu i believe. would've loved to see him again, he is such a funny character to be around. so today i looked thru hiking pictures and hung up a few and watched some star trek episodes and Finding Neverland. i had my doubts about this movie but damn its good. gonna get that one day. not sure what i'm going to do tomrrow yet. probably more of the same i did today, not a whole lot. stinks being injured and no one is around..... Current Mood: bored Current Music: third eye blind - motorcycle drive-by (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 16th, 2006
9:12 pm	moved!! for those that would be looking for me in North Attleboro, you can't because i have officially moved into my new apartment in Manchester. with the help of corey, we loaded the truck up friday night then after adding a few odds and ends into the truck and other cars we were off. i wasn't feeling too comfortable driving the truck but after a while i got used to it. was a brand new truck too so that was an added bonus. after signing the million page lease we started unloading and piling stuff into the place. the apartment is in the same complex as corey and alicia's just down the hill from them and its a 2 bedroom. plenty of space let me tell you. i figure i'll use one of the rooms as an office where i'll keep the computer. anyway, since i'm on the first floor facing the parking lot it made moving stuff in real easy. mom and jen spent most of the time cleaning stuff and puting dishes away, i put the desk and bed together and dad put the endtables together. comcast came and hooked up the cable. internet had to wait since i didn't have a modem yet and the computer was half assembled. later we hit best buy for a tv stand and stop and shop for the initial food stock-up. parents left around 10 and i tried getting some things put away before crashing around midnight. sunday i hooked up the modem and got the internet functioning, assembled the tv stand then put all my clothes away. gotta love how i prioritize eh? by now i have all the dvd's put away, the office is partially in shape and the outdoor closet is organized. eventually i need to get another chair or 2 for the living room. couch gets a little crowded with 3 people on it. also a coffee table would be nice to prop my feet on something. then a bookcase for the million books i have at home still. takes care of the big things, plus i gotta stock up on ingrediants to add to food i make. i'll get to be adventurous somewhat thanks to corey and alicia buying me a cookbook as a house warming gift. step one is to start seeing the bills come in and start a new budget for myself so i can start saving money again. right now its like a big shopping spree and i gotta space it out better rather than buying all this stuff at once. not looking forward to the credit card bill this month :( next up is another trip to MA this weekend to get my posters, plate holders, hiking boots, misc stuff my parents bought that they feel i need, and maybe my books if there is time. after that there will be nothing left there that belongs to me. least i think so. slowly but surely this place is filling up, which is needs because i have SO MUCH SPACE!!!!!! Current Mood: excited Current Music: red sox game (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
1:20 pm	big changes on the rise :) Well i can say a lot has happened of late. Get the bad news out of the way first. My grandmother (mom's mom) passed away back on the 21st; the day before we were all due to fly out to visit everyone over there. she had been in and out of the hospital a lot lately so its good that its all over for her now. didn't do bad living to be 94. so we flew out saturday morning and basically just hung out at her condo getting preperations made and starting to clean stuff out and save what some of us wanted to keep. i know for sure i'm getting a few pictures that were hanging up and i requested one of the recliners and the sofabed. we'll see if that happens or not. would have stayed for the wake/funeral but i couldn't. that leads me to the good news...... the consulting firm in Manchester found me a temp job for a company called GN Netcom working as a help dek technician starting on the following tuesday. so i had to fly back monday, pack stuff up then head to corey and alicia's where i'd be staying for the time being. the job isn't all that bad just right now things are a little hecktic due to them opening a new office in a nearby town so when it comes to asking for help to fix things i don't have a clue on (which is about everything) its much to be desired. pretty much most of the calls i've gotton are Microsoft Office issues and the occassional request to move a computer from point a to point b but a lot of the explaining they are doing is going over my head. whether or not this sinks in i don't know so right now i'm just hoping its a temporary thing and i'm gone. they said it would be anywhere from 2 weeks to perm depending in their budget and how i perform and stuff so we'll see. other bit of news i got is i got accepted into the same apartment complex as corey and alicia's just in a different building. just gotta show the people there 2 pay stubs and the place is officially mine! can't wait to move in, just packing my room up is gonna be interesting with so much disorganized stuff everywhere. even now i'm looking around going "where do i begin?" so with 2 weeks to go (i move in on Aug 12th) and basically this weekend and next weekend to get organized it'll be interesting to say the least. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 5th, 2006
5:01 pm	another update Job search is progressing. Had a bunch of interviews in the past week and really only had one say flat out that i wouldn't be a great fit. Right now i'm waiting on Curry college for a help desk spot who i went to see today and Robert Half which ought to be looking for me and have something soon in Manchester. Pretty much its gonna come down to whoever calls be first. Curry College has the benefits of having nothing extra to pay for medical/dental and free tuition for any classes i take there and getting a wide range of experience points in everything IT related. Kinda hard to walk away from that. Robert Half would be puting me in the area i want to live so its kind of a toss up. Either way i should here something within a week. Current Mood: optimistic (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 29th, 2006
11:43 am	been awhile since i've posted anything 45 of the most random things you probably never needed to know about someone whats your name spelt backwards?: Nairb What did you do last night?: watched the Red sox The last thing you downloaded onto your computer?: AIM Have you ever licked a 9 volt battery?: nope Last time you swam in a pool?: been so long can't remember What are you wearing?: jean shorts, black shirt How many cars have you owned?: working on the first right now Type of music you dislike most?: RAP or screaming heavy metal Are you registered to vote?: yup Do you have cable?: yup What kind of computer do you use?: the one i built Ever made a prank phone call?: yup You like anyone right now?: Molly :) Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?: not very likely but you never know Furthest place you ever traveled?: France What's your favorite comic strip?: Calvin and Hobbes Do u know all the words to the national anthem?: yeah Shower, morning or night?: usually night Best movie you've seen in the past month?: Crash Favorite pizza toppings?: plain cheese Chips or popcorn?: popcorn What cell phone provider do you have?: Verizon Have you ever smoked peanut shells?: why would i want to, yuck Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?: nope Orange Juice or apple?: orange Who were the last people you sat at lunch with?: Molly favorite chocolate bar?: 3 Musketeers or Hershey's milk chocolate Who is your longest friend and how long?: Ken, Kyle, Jeff, Adam, Scott, James all for 11 years Last time you ate a homegrown tomato?: no idea Have you ever won a trophy?: yup Favorite arcade game?: area 51 Ever ordered from an infomercial?: nope Sprite or 7-UP?: Sprite Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school/work?: all thru high school and each place i've worked at Last thing you bought at Walgreens?: prescription stuff Ever thrown up in public?: yup Would you prefer being a millionaire or finding true love?: finding true love Do you believe in love at first sight?: yup SPONGEBOB OR JIMMY NEUTRON?: jimmy Did you have long hair as a young kid?: nope, always on the short side What message is on your voicemail machine?: typical greeting Where would you like to go right now?: somewhere it doesn't rain Whats the name of your pet?: no pets What kind of back pack do you have, and what's in it?: 2 EMS day packs, i think they are both empty What do you think about most?: living in NH Take this survey | Find more surveys You've been totally Bzoink*d (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 20th, 2006
10:49 pm	with some good news come some bad..... Good news first: Went to Plymouth after work friday for plymouth's graduation. Got there little after 5, met up with molly and hung out until pam showed up a little bit later. then she packed up the rest of her room, went out for supplies, met up with erik and jennie and off to dinner we went. went to the chinese place in town then went back to the room for some Apples to Apples playing with sarah and ernie that went on until midnight or so. then we got everything set-up for sleeping that night. was surprised at how much more room we had, could've gotton one more certainly, maybe 2 if need be on the floor with me molly and erik there. Saturday we were up early at about 6. i slept in until maybe 6:30 since i didn't sleep well, more on that later. luckily the rain was forcasted to hold off so graduation was to be held outside! after everyone got initially ready we went to McDonalds for breakfast where we also met up with Jen and her bf Nick, and Colleen: Pam's sister. Afterwards everyone went back to get finished getting ready then the girls went to their meeting place to march thru town and Nick, Colleen me and Molly walked down to the field to get seats reserved for Jen's family and Pam's. Got great seats right up front 4 rows back on the aisle. Proved to be a good/bad thing because we could get shots of the stage easily but couldn't see them march in. I ended up jumping the rope and running down when they marched in to get some shots. The ceremony was nice, although a bit cool and cloudy but the sun did show itself here and there while diplomas were handed out. After picture taking and getting organized, Pam signed out of her room and me and molly joined pam's family for a graduation dinner at Stinson Mountain Grill. Was a great pick because noone else was there and there was something for everyone to choose from. We said our goodbyes and Molly and I headed out. Got reintroduced to her dad, brothers, future sister-in-law and 2 yr old niece. again we went out to eat at the Manchester Country Club where i had soup and salad which was enough sicne we just ate hehe. Then we headed back and i took off for home. Ah, what a great time had seeing my friends graduate. Next weekend comes the grad party, can't wait for that! The bad news basically was at the end of the day friday when i was about to leave work and got asked to stay for a min. i was the first of perhaps 3-4 others being laid off due to lack of work coming in. didn't really tell anyone up north because i didn't want to spoil a potentially great couple of days for them with my not-so-good news but now anyone that reads this on a regular basis knows. what remains now is to take what i can get even if its just a temp thing. definalty gonna concentrate on NH for the time being. there seems to be a lot of temp jobs at least up there and if i end up jumping around from job to job for a little while fine; at least i'll be living where i want to be and gaining hopefully more experience to one day land the elusive permanent job. Current Mood: blah Current Music: George Harrison - Got my mind set on you (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 25th, 2006
5:35 am	Eisenhower, Chester Woods Me and Phil went to hike Eisenhower on Saturday. Got to the trailhead around 9 with only one car ahead of us. Edmand's Path started out pretty flat then got to be a moderate climb for the rest of the way up. Saw a lot of evidence of moose with tracks and what not and finally we caught up to it just under 3000 feet. Took long enough but i finally saw my first moose! This one was smaller than i expected and was all gray which i found out later means its on its last legs :( Now i gotta work on not staring at it and get the camera out. The trail was in pretty good shape with some mudd here and there then we hit the snowline around 3000 feet or maybe a bit higher where we bare-booted for a while then the crampons went on making things easier. The snow was soft for the most part with some ice mixed in until we reached the north slope where it flattens out and the snow got to be around 5 feet deep and with it being soft there was some postholing going on. We walked past the Apline Zone warning sign that was almost buried and i remember having a picture taken back in August where the sign was taller than me! Just beyond that point about 50 yeards from the junction with Crawford Path the snow dissappeared and we were left with bare rock so the crampons came off and we threw on the winter gear for the walk up the summit. Turning the corner we were met with a really high wind blowing in the 30's with gusts to 40 perhaps 50 be guessed. Once we reached the summit we had it to ourselves fortunatly so we could use the summit carn as cover from the wind while we snapped pictures/videos. We were up there for probably 20 mins before we started down. We stopped for lunch at the trail junction with Crawford Path being a sheltered spot from the wind, then we walked over to the snowline and threw the crampons on again for the trip down. We met up with the only other hikers we saw the whole day here that had parked where we did, walked to the Cog railway to walk up Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail to Monroe and down to where they met us and down Edmand's Path. The trip down for us was uneventful and easy going. We made it to the parking lot around 3 so the total time was 6 hours which is pretty good concidering the stops we had to take. On the way out Phil's nickname Grouseking lived up with a grouse jumping out in front of my car and flew away at the last second. Every trip he sees at least one and well there it was. Since we had a little time we stopped in Lincoln where i poked my head into Lahout's ski shop and Patagonia shop. Ended up getting some wind/rain pants, shorts and a couple of shirts all on sale. By the time we hit Manchester we were starving so we stopped at Fretello's. Its a nice Italian place, def reccomend it to anyone. Sunday we slept in some and pretty much watched basketball most of the afternoon as well as the red sox game. Taking a litle break from that we walked the woods of Chester right next to Phil's place. Nice, easy-going trails that go by ponds and in and out of deep woods. I could have loads of fun trail running that given the chance. I played with my camera a little taking close-up shots of plants and what not. Half of them came out alright while the others focused on what was beyond what i wanted a picture of. Guess more practice is needed. By the time we were done it started lightly raining so back in we went for more basketball. Eventually we ended up going to Friday's in Manch for dinner. Monday i stuck around up there since i had the stinky schedule for work (more on that in a min) so i checked out a place in Derry that was hiring for a computer tech, only problem was it was part-time so that was a waste. So i came home, unpacked and just relaxed. Now as for work. Since we seem to have too many techs, they decided to put us all on a 4 day 10 hour shift schedule which sucks ass. Now i work from 7 to 5:30 and there is no end in sight as to when this will end if ever. Least i have a good day to schedule an interview for a job if i ever get an offer. But also i can't keep up with my excercises other than what i can do on the weekend. All i can say is i'm going crazy, literally. We'll see how longer i put up with this crap before i tell the place to screw. Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: Give a little bit by the Goo Goo Dolls (Comment on this)
Monday, April 17th, 2006
8:01 pm	vent session can't wait to move out, can't wait for a new job. quick review of work at the moment first. things have been improving of late since we got our latest manager to run things (my 3rd in the past year). he had run one of the other service centers in Detroit for 9 or 10 years so we finally have someone that knows the system and get stuff done. he is pleasent all the time and has settled things down the past month or so. problem is now we are getting too good because there is nothing to work on. since the drivers only work mon-thurs there isn't much left by friday or monday. so except for a few people the rest of us have monday's off. may sound like a good thing but the catch is we still need to work 40 hours so now i am faced with working 4 straight 10 hour days.....7 to 5:30. this is gonna be an interesting week to say the least. anything this company can do to cut corners, ugh. won't be long before they'll start asking for voluntary resignations if this keeps up. then the cycle begins again: work will pile up we'll get more people, get caught up and be back to our current situation. this didn't seem to be a stable place to be in the first place now its more volitile. dilema i face: i am continuing to apply places but i don't want to risk losing the vacation week i have all set up in july where half the time i'll be in chicago and the other half i'll probably camp out and do some hiking. getting a new job now would probably take that away. should i keep trying, i dunno. on another note if i don't kill my mom it'll be a miracle. her latest craze has been planning a trip to Disney for her and dad as a wedding anniversary thing. they are all booked and will be going in october at some point i think. between now and then i get to hear on a daily basis how much fun she's gonna have, what rides she'll do, what places they'll eat/stay etc. all this is fine and dandy except she says it in such a tone when i'm in ear shot. anytime she finds something she'll read it then say "oh brian you'll like this, oh wait you're not going, lol". ok so you're going to a place i'd love to visit again if i could and you're excited about it, fine but STOP RUBBING IT IN!! Today durring dinner her nose in the book on all the places to go and keeps finding somehow all these places they'll never go to but i'd give my savings to see and saying "oh this is great, you'd like this, too bad you're not going" smiling the whole time. WTF!!!! something i did to deserve this? give me a frickin break!! well fuck her. i hope she gets food poisoning down there and has a jolly good time with THAT! all that being said, what should i really do? stay here and pray i can be civil and put up with the BS at work to have my first real vacation in a long time locked in or do i say screw it move out on a wim and pray a better job awaits me where i want to go? Current Mood: pissed off Current Music: Far Away by Nickleback (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 9th, 2006
8:32 pm	fun times weekend Went up to Plymouth for the weekend to visit Pam and Molly. Haven't seen Molly in a really long time and it was nice to see her again. Friday night we had dinner consisting of garlic bread and taco pie, which was really good. We then got some drinks made and watched the red sox and a movie called "In Her Shoes" which pam didn't stay awake for lol and Molly fell asleep towards the end. Only I know how it ends hehe. Saturday after sleeping in and having a breakfast consisting of french toast and bacon we drove to Laconia. Pam had a project to do where she had to take pictures of the places she has volunteered at for her practicum i believe. So she drove nad i played photographer. Sometimes i wonder if i should do that for a living or at least as a part-time living, its fun. Once we finished we stopped at a park called Opechee (catchy name huh) and played on the swings, slide etc like little kids. Then we went to the outlets in Tilton and stopped in a few places. Molly was looking for a dress to an upcoming wedding and found one she liked but didn't fit right. Came close at least. I found a Patterson book: "Mary, Mary" in hardcover for 9 bucks so i made the trip worthwhile. From there we headed back to Laconia and had dinner at Friendly's then found out way to Funspot. I hadn't been here in close to 4 years now and it was of course a fun time. Did some candlepin bowling and some games here in there. Combined we had enough tickets to fill a small cup with peppermints and other candies. Then we drove back to Plymouth where we spent a long time throwing a ball around and finding this site that predicted how you'd die. Kinda interesting seeing what it came up with. Word to the wise avoid hardware stores, lol. Today we slept in again and was treated to Oatmeal and english muffins for breakfast/brunch/whatever then hung out watching the red sox for a bit then i left. I'm thinking my car hates the cold because on average during the winter i got 23 MPG and now with it warming up some its around 26 MPG. Just found that interesting since i drive the same in either season. Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
Monday, April 3rd, 2006
12:48 pm	Spring is about here :) After seeing 70 degrees for a couple of days i think its time to call it for skiing this year. I made it to 9 days which isn't bad concidering before this year i had been out a total of 3 times. Might have been more this year if we had more snow falling at least right before the weekend so that there wouldn't be an ice rink on the slopes. Comes with the area i guess. As for what i did this weekend: not a whoile lot went on. Saturday i had blood drawn for testing early then since it was raining i watched Cellular and dusted off the PS2 and played that for a bit mainly to narrow down what games i still play and see what i had to trade-in. Then i watched the red sox play until the sun returned and i went outsdie to read. Ended up finishing 1st to Die and got started on 2nd Chance. Then i treated myself to a deep dish pizza (i did a survey for unos's and i get that free, not bad eh?) and watched Hostage. Kyle called and we went and shot pool with Jeff and his gf Sarah who i met for the first time. She seems really nice and they look great together. I can say one thing she is terrific at pool. She and jeff beat us in 6 straight games. Its likely if the three of us played her she's still beat us, lol. Was still fun to hang out with them all again. Sunday I went over to the mall to trade in my games for another metal gear upgrade game that has the first two ever made on it that i never played so that'll be fun to do later on. Again i watched the sox then read outside for a little bit again. If not for the wind it would have been more comfortable but it got chilly after a bit. Went in and played more playstation. i got hooked on one game in particular Metal of Honoe: rising Sun and ended up playing that the rest of the evening. Had it not been for both my knees acting up off and on the past week i would have gone running but i thought rest would work better so i can keep my workout schedule on track for this week. Hopefully the weather continues to warm so the snow melts up in the Whites and hiking can be done more often. right now its likely to be a tad too muddy to do much of anything but i may venture up there soon enough. I miss it a lot after being there a week ago! Current Mood: bored Current Music: Daytime soap on the tv's around me (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 26th, 2006
6:39 pm	getting hiking season underway with a revisit to Liberty Phil and I have crampons that we hadn't used yet so with plenty of ice everywhere this was the time to get them broken in. Friday night we played around with them to make sure we could keep them tied on our feet since there wasn't any helpful directions to do so. Once we got them tied down properly and walked a bit in them we were ready for the hike Saturday. Headed out around 6:30 to Liberty. I ended up missing the exit and ended up at Lafayette lot before i realized it lol so once we got to the right spot we geared up and headed out around 8:30. Base looked like it got a little snow overnight but not much. Lots of melting going on with ice patches. Temps were in the 40's at the base. We didn't need the crampons until we hit the steeper parts of the Liberty Springs Trail. I love these things! Nothing to using them, just gotta walk like normal and you'll stay in place even on thick ice they were great. The higher we went the more snow we saw and the prettier the scene got. Finaly we reached Franconia Ridge and headed over to Libery .3 miles away. Here it was mainly snow but we left the crampons on for easier traction. The summit itself was ice covered heading up but the top part was bare rock. Except for Lafayette and the Twins you could see everything, even into Vermont and the Green Mountains. We had lunch and thanks to the jet boil had some hot chocolate and chilled for about 45 mins before heading down. Since we were warm and there was no wind to speak of there was no reason to rush out of there so why not take in the view? On the way down we ran into a lot of people heading up, some with crampons others without. How they made it as far as they did without i'll never know concidering the trail was full ice on the way down. Again thanks to the crampons we made it down no problem in 2 hours. Now that i am more sure in my footing in crampons i'll start doing more winter hiking i feel. The base lost all the snow we saw that morning and left mudd in its place. Signs of things to come over the next month or 2 as the snow all goes away. We stopped in Lincoln briefy so Phil could show me this bookstore he is fond of that has any mountaineering/hiking book you can think of. Then we headed back, showered, had dinner then watched the 40 yr old Virgin before going to bed. Its an alright movie i guess just the storyline struck a little too close to home so i didn't enjoy it as much. Liberty was a nice mountain to get the season underway. Now that i got my hiking legs back its time to start pecking away at the 28 mountains i have left of the 48 in the NH 4k list. Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)
Monday, March 20th, 2006
9:24 pm	whats is theo thinking? I haven't really disagreed with Epstein's moves before but with today's move i can't see the logic behind it. We traded Arroyo for some so-so hitter just so we can have a right-handed hitting right fielder to play in place of Nixon. I understand that at the moment we have a surplus of starting pitchers but he is fully capable of playing in the bullpen for long relief at least and can enter the rotation in case of injury. Also thinking long-term, Wells will be gone next year, Schilling won't be too far behind. We need someone of Arroyo's calaber to keep our pitching intact. But no, for some reason i can't fathom we trade him away for this other guy. Makes no sense to me. This is a sad day for Red sox nation..... Current Mood: disappointed (Comment on this)