smooth criminal

good day.

i wrote this on monday but had to wait til now to get the pictures up...so just pretend it's monday & i JUST got back from atlanta.

********

i'm back at Jive after a perfect weekend with my sister in Atlanta.

well, as perfect as you can get when you travel with delta.

i maneuvered on over to Newark Liberty International Airport on thursday evening, which in itself was a pain for me. i'm used to paying my $1.70 to go on a 2-transfer, 40 minute ride to Logan International (in boston). but not in ny! getting to newark, which is probably as easy as (if not easier than) getting to JFK or Laguardia, costs $17 one way, requires 4 transfers, and takes about an hour and a half. annoying!!!!

anyway, once i got to the airport and onto the plane, there was no room for my carry on in the overhead compartments, so this lady stuck a tag on it (this constitutes "checking my bag") and took it off the plane somewhere. that was the last time i saw it until i came BACK to Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta, 3 days later. the bag appeared to be properly labeled and all, so i don't what the big problem was. they legitimately had absolutely no idea where the bag was - it was never put into the system. erica & i had to find it ourSELVES. it was chillin in the backroom at alanta.

so that wouldn't have been so horrible, since they reimburse you for basic expenses when your bags get delayed, but unfortunately my medicine was in the bag, and i had to go most of the weekend without it :( a few hours before we finally got our doctor to prescribe me some emergency medication (on sunday), i was feeling very dizzy and just generally weighted down. curses delta!!!! also my plane back was delayed 54,670 hours

..there were so many bags on this carousel that it jammed and everybody just stood there looking at these bags that weren't theirs...i thought this was hilarious when i took the picture...wasn't so funny an hour later when i realized my bag was probably in south dakota somewhere.

but my actual time in atlanta was really great...i hadn't been down to see er in a year, and it was high time for me to check the situation out again! she lives in a sweet little house in virginia highlands (in the city, east of midtown). the house has a den, living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms & two bathrooms - all nicely furnished - along with front and back porches & lawns. and yet somehow her half of the rent is 25% less than mine. (see: mansion pics)

it was just nice to be with my sis - she always takes such good care of me & i always feel at home with her. some of the stuff we did:

- while erica was at work on friday, i checked her neighborhood out...and got some free rita's!

random house on the corner

some chill flowers

shops on the street

this book i saw at a store that has a bunch of themed lists for you to write down appropriate songs. i love lists so i thought this was cool.

a skyline of sorts

- friday night, we went to get clothes at h&m because delta takes compensation in the form of passenger's attire.

- we ate at one midtown kitchen. a really awesome restaurant...the best way i can describe the food is fresh - the salads tasted like they just dug em out of the ground. we got chioggia beets & boston lettuce salads, & split roasted duck & chocolate pasta. real good stuff...it was right up there with the elephant walk, which is my favorite restaurant in boston. see the menu.

a little gross but you know

- we saw a movie that i've recently decided not to even name in this blog because...just because. :-X

- went to the world of coca-cola. even though i was feeling kind of lousy, it was really interesting to see the history of the company & such. we were in there for just about the right amount of time - any longer and my museum syndrome would have kicked in. museum syndrome develops in children who live within a 100-mile radius of washington, dc. (see: national postal museum). we got to try allll the different coca-cola products from around the world. there were probably somewhere in the vicinity of 30 flavors. i would reccomend going to the museum if you are in atlanta...if nothing else for the taste testing!

the aquarium was right next door

these coke bottles were painted for the summer olympics in atlanta, 1996.

this painting is apparently the most valuable artifact in the entire museum

this was the coca-cola couch used in season 4 of american idol...carrie underwood.

there were soda machines for asia, africa, europe, north america & south america. my favorite flavors were the two "smart" sodas you see here - one is watermelon & the other sour apple.

meet beverly. the nastiest soda of all time. if you ever go to the world of coke, make sure you try it so that you can believe that it's nastier than tonic.

getting my souvenir coke bottle.

anyways...after all that,

- we went to a dance class at this place erica goes to, dance 101. basically, we learned a hip-hop routine to a black eyed peas song over the course of an hour. it was cool...we have both been involved with dance at every point in our lives, & the dude that taught it really knew his stuff.

- i napped and had crazy dreams because delta withholds medication from passengers.

- we ate at vortex bar & grill, which i'm assuming is the most popular burger joint in atlanta. i was telling erica that i couldn't decide if the guac burger i got there was my favorite ever, but it's definitely my favorite burger place. they have some crazy stuff there...i won't even get into it.

- we went to see ryan stout at the laughing skull comedy club with erica's friend, alison. the club is tucked away in the back of vortex. this was probably the highlight of the trip! it was the first comedy club either of us had been to, and it was great. it's really fun just sitting down and being entertained without having to do anything. you laugh so much that you kind of get tired of moving your mouth, which puts even more pressure on the comic to keep it coming...an interesting dynamic, i thought! he is awesome at what he does. there were also four other comics who did brief routines before he came on.

- went to erica's church, buckhead church. a super large, multi-branch, very technologically aware community. i had trouble focusing (delta), but i had been to the place before and i enjoy it. it's very similar in approach to the church we attend in MD.

- made clam & corn chowder courtesy of the deen brothers! (wadup di)

- ate cupcakes from the atlanta cupcake factory. although i had had them before, i was unfortunately unable to determine whether the cupcakes were as good as those from crumbs bakery here in ny. if i were to prepare myself a little cupcake basket, it would probably include select items from both places. FORGET MAGNOLIA'S! (i still haven't been)

erica is going to come up to visit at the end of may, but i will see her in a month when we all go on family vacation.

sweet deal.

alright that's about it for me! this weekend i will be going to nj to spend easter with my friend katie's family...my dad is right...i should probably be spending a little more time in this city than i have been lately!

don't let me stop you

"it's raining men" - northeastern university's spring revue"battle of the sexes"

hey all.

right now i am sitting in my living room with my cousin tiffani, watching the breakfast club. tiffani is in town to audition for a few days to audition for shows. she is finishing up a stint on the the wedding singer national tour, and is staying with us while she looks for her next gig. i've had a busy week and a half as usual, and am going to be heading back out tomorrow - i'm flying from newark to atlanta to see my sister & am so excited. being the ultimate planners that we are, we have already plotted the weekend out with all the stuff we love to do. it will include my first ever comedy show - i'm excited for that! i just got home from a weekend in boston...visiting friends & directing a number for NU's upcoming musical revue. I directed the show the last two semesters & i am trying to do my part this semester.

i am trying to start up a new blog based on pop music. my sister pointed out that since i like writing & i love to stay up to date with all things pop music, it might be something worth trying. here is the link: www.butletsbereal.blogspot.com. we'll see where it goes.

things at work are going well - jared's replacement has started working, so i am doing work for both of them now. i've been getting a little frustrated at the way they just move me around to make room for changes without much concern for me, but i am glad that jared made it a point to keep me with him & to have me teach the new guy some stuff. i've realized that as long as i'm an intern, i'm not really going to get much respect from the staff (other than that people like me and appreciate the work i do.) they just aren't going to go out of their way for anything. this, unfortunately, is the reason jared & his co-workers are often disappointed in the interns they get. when people don't get treated like they are legitimately part of the office & how it functions, AND they aren't getting paid for it, they're not going to have much reason to work hard. i am still working hard and building my relationships with the staff, and i'm not going to slow up or show that i am lazy (because this experience will ultimately be what gets me a job when i graduate), but it is definitely starting to bug me.

i'm working on my music - i've recorded about 12 songs or so this year. i like 4 of them enough to put on a cd - i am looking to record 3 or 4 more that i am happy with. this will be the 2nd "CD i have made," but the 1st with completely original music. you can listen to some of the stuff from my first cd (all cover material) here: reverb nation

so long.

the blessed nu dining hall. free food everytime i go to boston - using up extra meals from last fall!

christian science center in boston - right next to the nu campus. this is a very clear picture.

the roof terrace @ nu

international village @ nu

white hall - where i lived freshman year!

the "diva number" is my thing - this will be the 3rd one i've directed

hidee-hi-dee-hi-dee-hi

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

i have no pictures

i don't know how this happened...i guess the world is just getting dull. anyway i've substituted with this video because i think the kid in the green shirt looks like i did when i was 6 and had the mumps.

this weekend we went to Stamford, CT to hang out at my friend bryan's house. we happened to be there during an insane storm that knocked out half the trees in the town...and the power. it was a good weekend and we got to meet his family & friends. we also saw shutter island yesterday...i thought it was a great movie. not surprisingly, the twist wasn't quite as shocking as they made it out to be, but it was well done. i have definitely identified myself as a scorsese/dicaprio fan at this point

i also realized this weekend that i've stayed in 7 cities over the past two months

New York, NY

Jamestown, NY

Boston, MA

Tom's River, NJ

Millersville, MD

White Plains, NY

Stamford, CT

i will add atlanta to the list in two weeks...i'm going down to visit my sister for a weekend. it'll be my third trip down there...not enough for me, considering that she's been there for almost two years.

next weekend it is back to boston to help out with the musical revue the group is performing.

one minute goes fast

billie jean - 3 years ago this weekend

hi

i am now an experienced phone answerer...probably about 13 years later than any of you who were born before 1990 were. AOL Instant Messenger debuted in 1997, & promptly bypassed my need to talk on the phone from middle school on. i've always had phone anxiety (ask my family), so when i was told i would be taking the place of EVP/General Manager Tom Carrabba's assistant, I was more than a little nervous. The woman who was going on vacation holds the title of Executive Coordinator, but the only task of hers I had to handle was more than enough. Phones. Tom gets a lot of calls in a day & I had to act as his operator. There are plenty of nice people that call him in a day - people from around the country who have business with the label. There are also some very...busy...people that aren't all that interested in Tom's "middle-man." All in all it was a good experience, and a really good person to get to know. 

my temporary office over the past few days. the typewriter-looking thing next to the phone is an Amtel machine - essentially a 1980's version of AOL Instant Messenger.

view from the EVP corner

in other news, gretchen came to visit again this weekend. it is always great to spend time with her. we took the metro to White Plains (about 20 miles outside of the city) for my NU friend Pam's birthday. great stuff great stuff. we still have not had a free weekend & it looks like we won't have one for the next two months either!

on the metro

in other news, i am continuing to progress through my "identity crisis" & think i need to remember that i am only 19 a bit more! i seem to always have this feeling that i am running out of time, and that it's time for me to be something important. kind of like i'm not moving fast enough. (I think this is the effect "Co-Op" has on most Northeastern sophomores...joining the corporate world at 19 has its side-effects)

let it be

me & elle

hey yall

click on the ads on this page...i've made $16 so far from it & evidently making $26,000 in Atlanta is equivalent to making $60,000 in Manhattan (ahem Erica...)

well, i guess saying i've had another exciting week is getting old at this point, so i will just jump right into my latest escapades. last week went fairly smoothly until friday, when we got (what i truly believe to be our last) snowstorm. we had already decided to ditch work for the first time ever late thursday night, because the flights to baltimore for the whole evening had been canceled, & i knew i was going to have issues the following evening. fortunately, my supervisor jared didn't go into work either, so i wasn't needed. unfortunately, my 7:30pm flight was canceled at 9am on friday morning. i managed to get a refund for that flight & got on a bus at 1:30pm. it ended up saving us money, and i got home early too!

i was heading home to see my family and to celebrate my younger niece Elle's Baby Dedication. it was relaxing & great to spend time with everyone.

i was wondering when our family got so big...puppies and babies everywhere

jason & lily, di & elle with the other familes at the baby dedication

i love my mommy & puppy

flying back was surprisingly easy...granted, in large part due to my dad paying for me to take a taxi from Laguardia (in queens) back to manhattan. my friend jen came down from boston to visit, and was there when i got back to my apartment...she stayed with us through wednesday morning. i was off work on monday, & the fact that she was still there on tuesday made it like a 5-day weekend. i was very very tired by wednesday.

one of the places we went to was STRAND, a famous bookstore near union square that boasts of shelving 18 miles of books, and for cheap. I bought insomnia, a 704-page stephen king novel - for $3.99. i had started the novel on vacation this summer, but didn't finish before it was due back at the library.

we also went to an awesome cheesesteak joint, EXACTLY at the right time in my life. it might be the favorite food i've had so far in nyc.
in other news, i've had another exciting development at sony. the "senior coordinator for the executive vice president/general manager" went on a three-day vacation, and i am currently in the midst of covering for her. i'm basically only responsible for keeping track of where he is and taking care of all the people that call him. today (my first day of it) was very stressful, but i'm making a good impression on him. jared made it really clear to me that my impression on him could go a long way in either direction...i'm glad to have the opportunity & hope i don't mess it up!

my latest cd collection

my new office setup