Summer of Excitement: Independence Weekend - [a case of the summer]

As one might expect, the aforementioned excitement that occurred last week centered mostly around the activities of July 4th weekend.  I actually took off July 3rd (Thursday), although not for exciting reasons.  I had a dentist appointment at 10:00 (which I incorrectly thought was at 10:30, so I was a half hour late.  Oops), then dropped by my parents' house to do some laundry, and then finally went to the barber to get a haircut.  That evening I also decided to grab a few more things for the apartment (including a TWO TIER fruit bowl!) at which point it started to absolutely pour out.  Like, blankets of water falling from the sky.  Within minutes streets and parking lots were literally flooding.  I don't think I've ever gotten THAT drenched in such a short amount of time from just being outside for less than a minute at a time.  It was ridiculous.  Unfortunately, I was so massively uncomfortable that I couldn't meet a few friends later, so that ended up being a relatively tame night.  But that's okay, because there would be more fun later.

On Friday, my friend had people over for an intended BBQ.  However, since it was raining, we ended up having everybody inside (using the toaster oven in place of the BBQ), which was just fine.  However, when I walked in, I noticed three of my guy friends all wearing the USA World Cup Jersey with matching shorts, in addition to American Flag bandannas.  They explained that they went to the dollar store down the street and, on a whim, talked the guy down to $24 and got everything.  Not to be left out, I went to the very same dollar store and did the same.  He even remembered my friends, which meant I got the same discount.  And so we spent the whole afternoon wearing our matching outfits, and then went to the bar doing the same.  Somehow, we managed to pull it off and had a great time.

Saturday was our yearly tradition of taking my nephew and nieces to the boardwalk in Point Pleasant.  It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun, but holy hell was it crowded.  And I was exhausted, too.  Plus we didn't even eat until, like, 3:00, and I don't like to be kept from food.  But, of course, it was nice to have a beautiful day.

Sunday was a beautiful day as well, as we went to my aunt's house for a BBQ.  A day in the pool with lots of food (see, told you I like food) and family.  Oh, Margaritas too (those are American, right?)  A very nice time.  It was certainly a long, tiring weekend, though, and I didn't feel especially good on Monday!

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Summer of Excitement: Special Olympics - [a case of the summer]

Well, as you can see, I've been slagging off already.  I actually did have a Summer of Excitement post to report last week, but it was insanely busy and I didn't have an opportunity to do so.  Therefore, this post really refers to the week of June 22nd.  And as this Summer of Excitement feature is in an evolution process, I've decided to not "force things" even further.  If I have nothing to write, I won't.  If I write it late, so be it.  Maybe I should rename this the Summer of Relaxation?  Anyway, this week I'll discuss the excitement that was my volunteering at the Special Olympics games!

My workplace was one of the many sponsors of this year's Special Olympics (along with a little company known as WWE) and as a result, we were encouraged to volunteer if your schedule permitted.  I, along with the rest of the marketing team, devoted our day to the Flag Football competition.  Yes, it was rewarding.  And definitely a once in a lifetime experience, but man....was it grueling!

I joke that I definitely feel mislead about what I was getting in for.  My assignment was "ball retriever," which meant -- as I was told -- if the ball was overthrown I would have to run to get it so that they could begin the next play.  Unfortunately, that is NOT what it was.  Instead, I had to run to go grab the ball EVERY SINGLE PLAY and, once again, EVERY SINGLE PLAY I would have to run a fresh ball over to the line of scrimmage.  And if the line of scrimmage changed, I would have to reset it.  So I was running out into the center of the field every single play of every single game.  It was absolutely exhausting.  Not to mention that it was 100 degrees out (SLIGHT exaggeration) and I wore pants since I didn't know I'd be doing THAT much activity.  There's a girl I was working with who is about 100 times more active with fitness than I am, who didn't run as much as me, who was absolutely exhausted as well.  Imagine how I felt!

Finally, for the last two games, we had to switch with the people who were announcing because we felt so dead.  So there I was -- the guy who knows absolutely nothing about sports -- doing announcing on the loud speaker for a flag football game at the Special Olympics.  And I only got yelled at twice to stick to the script!

It was definitely an interesting experience.

Oh yeah, check back at 7:30-ish for my Money in the Bank LIVE thoughts!

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Summer of Excitement: New Apartment! - [a case of the summer]

Well this post is about a week late, and for that I apologize.  Yet the topic of the post is actually a big reason why I haven't been updating as frequently as I would like.  That's right folks.....I moved into a new apartment!  This whole process was actually very quick and relatively painless -- just a whole lot of work.  And, while the frame of time was relatively small, the commitment it took seemed to eat up all of that time.  But, the place is about 95% of where I want it to be at, so I'm happy.

Basically, I have been telling myself that I want to move for years now.  But there was always a reason to not do it.  For a long time, it was because I didn't see myself staying at my job for the long term, so I didn't want to move someplace only to get a new job, and suddenly the place I had chosen was really inconvenient.  Then when my position changed last year, I knew that I DID want to stay at my job for the long term.  The next excuse was that there was never a good time to do the research or check the place out.  Finally I decided, "let's just do this!" and from there, the ball got rolling.

The timetable is a bit fuzzy, as this all went down about a month ago, but basically I did an Internet search on a Monday, had visited the place by Wednesday, had committed to it by that Friday, signed the lease the next Tuesday, and began moving things in the week after that.  Because of a work trip and the fact that I really didn't have any of my own furniture, I did need to pay for the place for about two weeks without actually living there, but I've now been living here for a week (with practically all new furniture, which I love!) and have now gotten moving on hanging things up on the wall.  I'm really happy with how it's all coming together.

Funny side story:  I have basically been buying and saving things to use for my eventual apartment since college.  And now that I have a place that is 100% all mine, I can finally hang it up.  Problem is, a lot of it is very collegey type stuff (like tin signs that say "Beer Pong Champ") and I can't help but wonder where the line is.  I'm 32 now, hanging some of these things up kinda makes me feel like a douche.  The exceptions, for me, are if I actually made the thing I want to hang up (which is the case with a few items) or if I really like how it  works.  But I think the Beer Pong Champ sign might get cut from the line up.

Anyway, this is a really exciting move for me and I'm HOPING that I'll bring my percentage from 95 to 98 after this weekend (I'll have hung up all the stuff I brought, leaving me to decide what to do with the empty wall space).  I'll try to do a blog video to show all of you what the place looks like.

Oh, and once I'm more "moved in," I'll really work on updating the blog more.  I owe you all some season finale thoughts!

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Summer of Excitement: Memorial Day Weekend - [a case of the summer]

As promised, for the third year in a row, I'll be doing my Summer of Excitement installment!  I thought the first year was a huge success and the second year was a bit lame.  So how can I fix that?  Well, I'm basically just going to talk about the most exciting thing that week, instead of actively trying to do something and having it fall short.  Which is ironic, because the intent of the Summer of Excitement WAS to actively try to do things.

And the summer, of course, starts with Memorial Day Weekend!  And, despite each day being absolutely exhausting, I CAN say that I went out each night, with drastically different people, doing drastically different things.  And in fact, it ended up being a reverse journey through my life.  Friday night focused on the current stage of my life, as I spontaneously ended up meeting up with a work friend of mine and her sister.  This was pretty significant as I had woken up at four in the morning to travel home from Texas.  But I still made the trek to meet up and it ended up being a really enjoyable time.

Saturday night I ended up going to Rutgers to meet up with a college friend (the portion of my life prior to my work life) for some dinner and some drinks.  We even ended up going to our old hang out spot, and the manager of the bar remembered us!  Very cool, especially since it's been ten years.  Along with that, the bar has a skeeball now, and we totally got roped into playing the bartender and his friend, and we got absolutely killed.  That cost us four shots.  And, again, this was a pretty significant thing since I had a marathon shopping session that morning (not for fun reasons).  Five hours at the mall is NOT a good time.

Sunday night, I hung out with a high school friend (my life before college) and his girlfriend, along with their friends, and we traveled all around New York.  We originally went to Brooklyn in an attempt to go to a Mister Sunday party, but the line was so long that we opted against it.  Instead, we went to the pier and enjoyed a couple drinks as the sun set.  We then returned to Manhattan, where we went out for some more dinner and drinks (and got in trouble for doing a Saki bomb, not realizing that it wasn't allowed) before meeting up with a few others people he knows.  My friend and I ended up having to go separate buses home, as we were going in different directions.  Well, his bus came pretty much right away.  I, on the other hand, had to go all the way downstairs since our bus was actually going to an entirely different gate.  Then I had to wait nearly an hour for it to arrive.  And during that time, there were several REALLY drunk marines who made complete asses of themselves.  They were arguing, cursing, and physically fighting with each other.  It was REALLY unfortunate to watch.  And they were also EXTREMELY obnoxious when people told them to calm down.  And, of course, they ended up getting off at the stop right before mine.  And one was so drunk that he literally had to be carried off of the bus.  I appreciate their service, I truly do.  But that doesn't excuse disrespectful and obnoxious behavior.

And finally, on Monday I spent the day with my family -- the part of my life before high school, college, or work was even a thing!  We went to my aunt's house for a BBQ/pool party (although nobody went in the pool) and it was a really great time.

And honorable mention goes to my work trip to Austin, Texas!  I can't count it as a Summer of Excitement activity because it happened before summer officially started, but it was awesome!  I went with one of my favorite co-workers, and practically every second of the trip was full of SOMETHING fun and exciting.  An incredible time.....just awfully tiring.  The trip began Tuesday at 4:00 AM and ended on Friday at 4:00 AM.  Terribly, terribly exhausting.

Okay, now just check back in a minute or two for my LIVE Payback thoughts...

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Summer of Excitement: Inter-Office Softball Tournament - [a case of the summer]

Yeah, yeah, I know.  Summer has been officially over for a couple of weeks (and symbolically over for even longer), but I'm FINALLY getting around to editing and posting this final Summer of Excitement video!  The unhappy ending (SPOILER ALERT!) made it a bit more difficult to get motivated.  So, enjoy!



Oh, but the REAL fun happened after the softball tournament.  I went to Rutgers to meet up with some friends who had gone to the blackout game.  We had a great time hanging out at our old stomping bar ground (the group of friends that made it are now spread out across three states, so it's nice to finally get together).  We crashed at a hotel and then the following morning we went to the campus we had spent our first couple of years at.  Our campus had always been the red headed step child of the the Rutgers family, and now it's BEAUTIFUL!  They have a Starbucks!  A movie theater!  A Qdoba!  A beautiful dining hall!  With an ice cream bar!!!  Where the hell was this place when we were in college?!?!?

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Summer of Excitement: Murphy's Law - [a case of the summer]

I don't want to short change the fun weekend I had or the exciting work week I experienced, but I just HAD to devote this edition of Summer of Excitement to Thursday -- the day that everything that could have possibly gone wrong most certainly did go wrong.  Let me give you a brief backstory.

On Tuesday my colleague received an e-mail from a partner saying that he would be giving a presentation on Thursday night and he wanted to know if she could help him set up for it.  She was unavailable, so I told her I could since I would be working in that particular office on Thursday.  On Wednesday all I was told was that we'd need to bring a projector and screen.

So I arrive at that office on Thursday and a little before lunch the partner asks me "So, do you have a projector?"  This was the first thing that went wrong.  I was (apparently incorrectly) under the impression that each office in our firm has their own projector.  As it turns out, this is the ONLY office that does not.  I reread the e-mail I sent and determined with a great deal of certainty that no reasonable person could have possibly interpreted from the wording of that e-mail that this office does not have their own projector to provide.  So I get on the phone with my office to see if we can have our projector and screen couriered to us within the next couple of hours.

And then the next hit comes.  My normal office does not have a portable projector screen.  We only have the one that comes down from the ceiling.  So following lunch, I had to run down to the local Staples and actually go out and buy their office a projector screen.  Sheesh.  But the pounding didn't stop there.  We plan to leave at about 5:30, and at 5:00 I'm told that they need 20 copies of this 56 page presentation.  Finally me and the partner decide that he'll stay and wait for the copies, while I head to the building that the presentation will be held at (about 20 or so minutes away) to set up.

So this building is part of a complex, where it and two other buildings share one underground parking garage.  I'm lugging my laptop bag and projector in one hand, and this fairly heavy projector in the other.  So I walk over to the elevator and take it up to the first floor.  I look around and am unable to see any names I recognize.  I then realize, of course, that I'm in the wrong building (thing that could go wrong #4).  I go outside, where it's rather hot and muggy (and I'm practically in a suit) and walk into the right building.  However, I quickly realize I'm in the wrong wing (#5) and must go back outside and walk around to the entrance on the other side of the building.  In the process, I apparently knock the keycard to my building off of my bag, so that's gone now (#6).  I get inside and find the right room, only for the partner (who had just arrived) to tell me "Why don't we just use the whiteboard on the wall?"  So we didn't even end up using the darn screen!  I'm counting that as #7.

The presentation went really well and it was actually quite interesting (and hey, overtime!)  But we could also hear a terrible, terrible storm outside.  So when everything ended at about 8:30 and I went to head home, I discovered that all of the essentially roads for me to get back to my house were closed due to flooding.  What should have been a relatively quick, 15 minute drive ended up being about a half hour.  Yikes!

Thankfully, it wasn't a bad day and I was dealing with extremely pleasant people.  So, I was able to have a sense of humor about it (although it did eat into a large part of my day and it was rather stressful).  But man, I REALLY could have used somebody throwing me a bone in at least ONE of those situations!

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Summer of Excitement: New York Renaissance Faire - [a case of the summer]

This weekend I finally went to the New York Renaissance Faire, which was a nice little combination of Medieval Times and Oktoberfest.  It may sound odd that I said I "finally" went, but that's actually the case.  Actually, the first year we went to Oktoberfest only happened because we intended to go to the Renaissance Faire, only to find out that it stopped in September.  We ended up doing the Oktoberfest celebration each year instead, but I happened upon a bulletin for the Renaissance Faire and said, "Hey, let's give this another shot!"

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect.  It was $22 just to enter (which already put it behind the extremely free Oktoberfest entry) and the crowd that had assembled for this thing pretty much covered the entire gambit of society.  You had young couples with kids.  You had tattoo covered bikers.  You had people in very elaborate costumes.  You had middle aged people.  You had older couples.  It seemed like any and every one came to this thing.

Inside was an equally puzzling experience.  Like I said, there were people in these extremely expensive and elaborate costumes....yet they didn't seem to do a whole lot.  My friends and I settled for much of the day at one of the outdoor bars they have there, and we were pretty surprised to see that these people who dressed up essentially did the same thing.  They'd grab some beers, sit at a table, and just drink and talk.  I don't mean to imply that they're not "regular people," but I'd expect them to be a bit more into the novelty of the gathering.  I'm not sure what I expected them to do, but I guess I thought they'd do more.

The authenticity was also surprisingly inconsistent.  You had cool "hold fashiony" things like steak on a stake, turkey legs, and Mead.  But then right next to that they'd have pizzas, fajitas, and a frozen banana stand.  And to be perfectly honest, there seemed to be a lot of employees who were there in costume, but didn't seem to do or say anything that committed them to any sort of role.

Having said all of that, it was a pretty cool experience.  It's a huge park with rustic looking buildings to at least appear to be from that time period.  And they did have cool things like jousting and shops that offered unique jewelry and, yes, deadly weapons.  Perhaps coolest of all, though, is that they had a rotten tomato throwing booth!  That's right.  They had a guy standing inside of a building, and one wall had three holes in it -- for his head and hands.  And he'd stand there and yell insults at you as you threw tomatoes at him.  When I went up, he immediately called me "Justin Timberlake" (which means what?  That I'm a pretty boy?) and then told me that I was "very angry."  I guess I threw the tomatoes with extra intensity.  I have to say, though, that this dude really must feel it when he takes a shot directly to the face from a full grown adult.

And you think you have a bad job.

But hey, overall it was a really fun and interesting way to spend the day.  And plus, it was beautiful out and who doesn't enjoy having some beers while outside on a nice day?  I also can't get "Huzzah!" out of my head.

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Summer Of Excitement: Irritating Bar Flies - [a case of the summer]

So while Labor Day Weekend is the recognized end of summer, it's not actually the official end of summer.  That isn't until late September.  As a result, I will continue my [a case of the summer] series until the weekend of September 21st.  I'll try to keep things exciting.

This week's Summer of Excitement installment isn't devoted to one particularly thrilling event.  Truth be told, a lot of little things happened that throughout the week -- some professional, some personal.  Professionally, I had to overcome one major obstacle (I hope I did) and I had to undertake some tasks that I had never done before.  It was challenging and took a lot of work and perseverance (and perhaps thick skin) to get through it.  But I did.  And I also began to build some new work relationships, which is exciting as well.  The promotion hasn't been all sunshine and jellybeans, but it's been fulfilling.  And, yes, exciting.

However, if I were to pinpoint anything for this installment, it would be what happened at the bar last night.  I ended up having to work late Friday (see above paragraph) despite the office closing early, so I didn't end up doing anything that night.  On Saturday, I had a delicious home made seafood dinner at a friend's place and then checked out a few bars.  I was supposed to go to the beach on Sunday, but the weather prohibited that.  I ended up watching numerous hours of Arrested Development and Beyond Belief:  Fact or Fiction (day well spent, in my view).  I really wanted to catch the new episode of Breaking Bad, as well.  But once the episode was over, I still wanted to go out, since I didn't have a chance to do anything Friday night.  So a friend and I went to our local pub -- a place where, genuinely, everybody does know our name.

Yet, for some reason, things weren't quite right.  Perhaps it was that it was a Sunday night.  More probable, perhaps it was because it was the "last" night of summer celebration.  But when we walked in, the music (while rather good) was absolutely blasting.  You could barely even converse.  It was far louder than it ever had been in the past.  Second, practically everybody there was obnoxiously drunk.  My friend and I were sitting at a booth, and another group of people were sitting at a tall table in the corner of the bar.  These guys (part of their group) would walk several feet away from their table and would start dancing, somewhat graphically.  That's all fine and good, except for the fact that they were doing it RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR TABLE.  And then a couple of their friends would join, and all of them would be dancing loudly and annoying practically in our laps.

The annoyingness wasn't limited to that group, either.  I went up to the bar to get a refill, and while waiting for the bartenders' attention some guy started walking by.  I moved over slightly, figuring he was trying to pass through the crowd to get to the nearby bathroom.  Instead, he stands right in front of me so that HE could get a beer.  Despite the fact that I was clearly standing there waiting.

And then worst of all, there was a bar fight.  Actually, more accurately, there were THREE.  The same two guys -- a middle aged man and a somewhat elderly looking guy -- got into an actual, legit bar fight on three separate occasions, within the span of ten minutes.  Like, they had to actually be broken up each time.  Yet, for some reason, they were allowed to come back inside each time.

I went out.  I had a couple of beers.  And it was a fine enough time.  But it wasn't worth being around people that I found obnoxious.  So, yeah, I got home around midnight and just watched some more TV.

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Summer Of Excitement: McSorley's Old Ale House - [a case of the summer]

I apologize for missing my Trending Topics and Throwback Thursday posts earlier this week, but it was a REALLY busy week and I ultimately decided not to force it.  But I do have a legitimate Summer of Excitement bit to talk about, so let's call it even.

At the beginning of last summer, a few work friends and I went to McSorley's Old Ale House in New York City.  For those of you unfamiliar with this establishment, it is the oldest Irish tavern in New York City and was one of the last "Men Only" pubs (it was legally forced to allow women in 1970).  Although the actual year that it was established is a little sketchy, most agree that it was sometime in the middle of the 1800's (1860-1865 seems likely).  So, yeah, the place is old.  And it was visited by famous figures such as Abraham Lincoln (!!!), Teddy Roosevelt, and many others.

The place is pretty damn unique, too.  They brew their own beer and only serve two kinds:  light and dark.  And the servers bring them to you, typically, with six mugs in each hand.  And then they just slam them on the table, making a huge mess.

Oh, speaking of the table, seating is pretty limited....so you typically end up sitting with a group of strangers.  If you and your group are at a table, but you're not using all of the seats, they'll just sit another group with you.  Last year we ended up sharing a table with these two women, who had to be 50-60 years old, and we ended up hanging out with them all night.  And time, we ended up sharing the table with a guy from Texas, and then later a married couple from Milan.  This place is a true landmark -- people who come to New York City often make it a point to visit.  And I do suggest it, as it's quite a fun and interesting place.

And now to my specific adventure.  I took the train from Morristown, NJ (where I work) to New York City at 3:40.  It's not a fast train, mind you.  It actually goes pretty much the speed of a car and takes numerous stops, so I got to the city around 5:00.  I was already tired, hungry, and had a bit of a headache, so I stopped at a shop in Penn Station and got a 5 Hour Energy, a bag of M&M's, and some Advil.  I jumped in a cab (I was tired of dealing with trains) and chugged the 5 Hour Energy.  I arrived at the bar where three of my co-workers were waiting (along with the random kid from Texas).  What proceeded was a lot of beer drinking.  And, strangely, a fair amount of cheese and crackers (which they also serve).

In addition to the cheese and crackers, they also provide you with this REALLY spicy mustard.  Two of my co-workers decided that they would try to "one up" each other with their tolerance.  One would put a dab on the cracker.  The next would put a bit more.  Then one would cover an entire side.  By the end, one of them had covered both sides of the cracker with mustard AND squirted Tabasco sauce on top of it.

We ended up hanging out at McSorley's until about 9:00 (I think?), at which point we made our way over to our friend's (surprisingly swanky) hotel room.  We had a couple of beers there before heading to ANOTHER bar -- where there were beers and shots.  Finally, at about 2:00 AM, I decided I would leave as I knew that the bus I needed to take home was only leaving every two hours, with the next one going out sometime after 3:00.  So I took a cab to the bus terminal.

When I arrived at the bus terminal, I noticed that the door was locked.  There was a long line of cabbies outside, and one of them immediately comes up to me and says that the bus terminal doesn't open back up until 5:00 and that I will have to take a cab.  He asks me where I'm going and says he'll look in the book to see how much to charge me.  He checks, and it's about $67 .  He notes that there's a $13 toll, but all together he'll charge me $70.  Something seemed sketchy -- I KNOW I've taken a 3:30 bus back, so I ask him if he's going to be here for a little while because I need to get something to eat.  He tells me, "Well, I don't know how long I will be."  In no mood to deal with him and feeling somewhat confident (liquid confidence!) I simply say, "Fine, then I'll go to one of these other guys" as I point to the long line of cabs.  He quickly changes his tune and says, "Yeah, I'll be here."

Then, a moment after I walk away, ANOTHER cabby goes to me and says "How much was that guy going to charge you?" And I said "$60" (blatantly untrue).  He asks me where I'm going, and I tell him.  He says, "Okay, tip included, how about $65?"  Meanwhile, the original cabby is right on our tail.  So I tell him the same thing -- that I need to get something to eat.  As I cross the street, YET ANOTHER cabby goes to me and asks me where I'm going.  I tell him, but tell him, "but those guys over there are only charging me $50."  As we're talking, I notice that we're in front of the Greyhound station.  I go inside and see that there ARE buses going back to my home town, right at the time I thought it was.  So it's a good thing I didn't just go with the original cabby's offer of $70.  The bus ended up costing me $5.50.

I finally got home around 5:00 in the morning and suffice it to say, I was exhausted.  I woke up the next morning feeling like absolute death.  I was hungry but really not able to get out of bed yet.  And then I remembered it:  My bag of M&M's.  I hadn't eaten then yet!  So I went into my jacket, grabbed the bag, and laid in bed eating them.  It was a sight, I am sure.

It's not 11:00 PM on Sunday night and I'm still tired.  But it was a great time.

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Summer of Excitement: New York City Work Adventure - [a case of the summer]

So this installment of Summer of Excitement is actually for last week.  Sorry for the lateness -- my Internet was out all of Sunday (which sucks, since I was intending to spend the entire day watching Breaking Bad!), and then I was too busy yesterday to churn one out before doing my LIVE Raw thoughts.  Plus, I had to catch the True Blood finale and catch a few episodes of Breaking Bad.  I'm a busy man!

Anyway, one of the new additions to my recent promotion at work has been my increased travel schedule.  No, I'm not going anywhere ultra exciting (not yet, anyway), I'm mostly just traveling to the firm's other offices.  Well, this past Thursday I had the opportunity to work in our New York City office.

As I've often said, despite living -- literally -- about 15-20 minutes from the city, there is NO convenient way for me to get in if I have to take public transportation.  There's no train (silliness), so I have to take a bus.  And the bus, despite being advertised as "Express," stops at virtually every street corner for several towns.  This is a big reason why I never worked in the city (while it would have been more lucrative).  Quite frankly, I didn't want to spend over an hour traveling a distance that is, in reality, about 20 minutes.  So at the ripe age of 31, this was going to be my first endeavor doing the working man's city commute!

Truth be told, the ride in went wonderfully.  I didn't hit any traffic and the bus arrived moments after I got to the bus station.  And the office is within walking distance of the bus terminal (and I found a Dunkin Donuts along the way, which I was craving!)  I also had a lot of fun during the day, working alongside my marketing colleagues (who I don't get to see often, as we're divided among the various offices) and even grabbed a couple of drinks at a nearby bar afterwards.  Not too shabby.  The real excitement came during the journey back, however.

After grabbing a couple of beers I arrived back at the bus terminal.  Not knowing how long I would be waiting for the bus, and how long the ride back would be, I wisely decided to use the bathroom.  So while at the bus terminal urinal, I suddenly hear some yelling.  Near the stalls, an old homeless guy (white) had said some highly inappropriate things to a young man (black).  Understandably, the young man got angry and the two started yelling at each other.  It quickly turned physical, with the young man LITERALLY doing a Sweet Chin Music crescent kick right to the old man's chest.  The old man's backpack falls to the ground and his flask slides across the bathroom floor.  The young man then picks up one of those plastic yellow "Caution:  Wet Floor" signs and throws it down on the man.  He then walks out before inflicting any more damage.  About 90% of that happened right behind me.  While I was peeing.

I purchased my ticket and made my way to the gate.  Where there was a long line.  After waiting about 15-20 minutes, a bus arrived, but it filled before I could get on it.  Another arrived a minute or two later and I was able to sit!  Which is good, because as we're heading towards the tunnel the driver slams the breaks, nearly knocking over those standing.  We move forward a little bit and then stop again, and I hear some yelling.  I look out the window and see that our bus driver is YELLING at two police officers standing at the street corner.  Evidently they were responsible for slowing down traffic, which is why he needed to stop short.  Yes, this guy was YELLING at police officers.  Who does that?  And then, about a block away from my stop, some dude flies through a stop sign and nearly hits us!  What an ordeal!

It was a fun day.  And it gave me plenty of stories to tell!

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Summer of Excitement: The grease trucks last hurrah - [a case of the summer]

With the grease trucks being transported this Thursday, I decided to venture down to Rutgers last Saturday evening to get my last fat sandwich before they get moved away.  Unfortunately, the camera ran out of space so it sorta ends abruptly.  The only thing you really miss me saying is that the people running the grease trucks don't yet know where they're going, so that second article I posted might have been slightly optimistic.  Anyway, enjoy!

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Summer of Excitement: Long Beach Island - [a case of the summer]

If you recall, last year I was going to use my entire week at LBI with the family as my "Summer of Excitement" post, but then the final night ended up providing a very surprising and unexpected adventure.  I was actually glad that happened, as I felt like using the entire week was a bit of a cheap cop out.  Well, there wasn't a surprising and unexpected adventure on the final night -- so this year I AM going to have to go through with that cop out!

Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome vacation that truly did have something enjoyable happen each day.  It was a different vacation, though.  While we haven't had a vacation in which all of the "kids" in my generation (me, my brother, my sister, and my two cousins) were all available for the entire week in, like, over a decade, pretty much every year the majority of us were there at the same time.  Of course, things are inherently different now.  My brother and sister are both married, and they both have kids, so it's not like they're really going to be going out.  So for the past few years, it's been me and my cousins (as well as any friends or significant others that might be visiting) going out and having fun each night.  This year, however, my 27 year old cousin couldn't make it for the entire week -- leaving just me and my 25 year old cousin.  We wanted to be sure we did something each night, but would we live up to that challenge?  For one, there aren't an abundance of things to (conveniently) do.  And there's also the issue of sitting out in the sun each day, so would we even have the energy?

The answer is YES (although I won't go through EVERY single day)!  I arrived Saturday, but my cousin wasn't around (she also rented a house with her friends in Belmar, and decided to spend the night there).  My brother in law, on the other hand, was around -- and as luck would have it, his sister (who is my age) was celebrating a friend's birthday on the island.  So we decided to meet up with her at the house they were renting, and this place was pretty sweet.  It was right on the bay, and they even had a basketball court (yes, a basketball court!) on the roof (yes, the roof!)  There are two things that stand out from that night, however:  The White Russian and Mud Slide four packs we found at the liquor store, and the fact that Sharknado was on television.  I....just.....couldn't look away.....

On Monday, my cousin and I went to the Sea Shell, which was the location that shocked up with an awesome time last year.  Unfortunately, there was no bull riding and man on stilts, but there was a band and it proved to be a fun time.

Wednesday we went to Joe Pops to watch the Nerds, a popular Jersey cover band.  This is our yearly tradition and it did not disappoint.  Joe Pops was one of the first places we noticed that seemed to have suffered some damage from the storm.  You could tell that the inside was highly renovated (and improved).

Thursday was the only crappy day of the trip, as it rained (quite heavily) virtually the entire day.  This allowed me to do some shopping, where I bought a great "Jersey Strong" hoodie.  It did clear up by the end of the night, so the family took my niece to Fantasy Island.  Once we got back home, we tried to get a family game of Heads Up going, but it was a long day and people weren't biting.

Friday night, my cousin and I decided to cap off the night at Sea Shell again -- hoping against hope that a man with stilts would show up.  Sadly, it didn't happen.  But, again, it ended up being a really fun time and a great way to conclude the vacation.

Of course, it wasn't an entirely good week.  While I was gone, my office softball team lost their game, which means we're out of the playoffs.  Inter-Office tournament, here we come!

Going out and drinking aside, it was really nice spending time with my family and actually getting some nice weather!  After what feels like a month of crappy weather, we only had one day where it rained.  Not too shabby.

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Summer of Excitement: The beginning of vacation! - [a case of the summer]

As I've stated in the past, the Summer of Excitement is not necessarily about me doing anything particularly epic.  It's just as much about me making an honest effort to go out there and have fun, particularly in situations where it would be easier to just stay in and relax.  And last night I found myself in such a situation.

The family and I are in Long Beach Island for our yearly vacation (we rent a house).  I woke up relatively early (for me, on a Saturday), packed my bags and the remainder of my car, and then made my way to Beach Haven -- a 2+ hour drive.  I arrived around 4:00 (I made a pit stop at the K-Mart here.  They sell this brand of shorts I really like for softball, and neither of the stores near my hometown had my size.  Who knew I had to travel a few hours to finally find them?) and then had to unpack my car and set myself up in the house.  Not long after that, my nephew, niece, and their cousins (on my brother in law's side) dropped by and I spent a couple of hours playing with them.  By the time dinner was over, I was pretty beat.

By complete coincidence, my brother in law's sister (who is the same age as me) was in LBI as well. She had told us that they're taking it a bit easy tonight, but that they were hanging out and playing drinking games at the house the had rented.  My brother in law and I initially turned down the invitation to join them, but after some contemplation we both agreed, "Hey, why not get out of the house?"

They were celebrating a friend's birthday, so we decided to stop at the liquor store and pick up some drinks.  We happened upon these premade Kaluha mixed drinks, so we decided to buy those (they came in cases of four).  We got two Mudslides (a personal favorite of mine from when I was a lifeguard) and one pack of White Russians.  They ended up being a pretty big hit, actually.

Oh, and I'm wrong.  The night was not devoid of epicness, because Sharknado was on TV.

As I've also explained, the Summer of Excitement is also about facing something difficult.  And that doesn't always bring the happiest results.  This past Thursday my aunt and uncle made the decision to put down their dog, Tyler.  While not my dog, I saw the little fella numerous times a week, every single week, for the near 18 years he's been with my family -- so I can't help but feel a little bit of ownership of him as well.  He's a funny guy, because he's behaved like a grouchy old man even when he was a puppy.  He just didn't seem to like many people.  Yet, for whatever reason, he adored my aunt, one of my two cousins that he lived with, my dad, me, and he'd sell out ALL of us for my grandpa.  So I felt an additional connection with him because of that.

While he's had some health issues -- some even severe -- he always fought back and survived.  Yet over the past couple of months he completely deteriorated.  One night, out of no where, he went completely blind.  He had already been pretty much completely deaf by that point as well.  He also had a bad back and bad hips, so he could barely walk.  And he completely lost his voice, so he couldn't even bark.  For the past few weeks, all he really did was sleep and lie around.  It seemed like my aunt, my cousin and I were the only ones who felt like he was still "alive" because he would still eat and respond to people.  Yet, by the time last week rolled around, even I thought it was time to let go.  And because I came to that realization, I do consider this something worthy of a Summer of Excitement "face something difficult" status.

It is sad that Tyler is gone and I miss him already.  But I do know that this was the right decision and that he's better off now.  It is going to be really strange not seeing him at the house, though.  Here's a photo of us the night before he passed:

Next week's Summer of Excitement will be a little cheerier.  I promise.

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Summer of Excitement: 40 years in the making! - [a case of the summer]

This week's Summer of Excitement event is the culmination of several months of planning.  And a celebration of a 40 year marriage.  In August, my parents will be married for 40 years, and to ring in the occasion, my siblings (and their spouses) and I threw them a surprise party this Saturday night.

Like I said, this was several months in the making.  And since I even work with my dad, it was extremely hard not to slip and say something.  The planning of this goes back to April or so, so that's a long time to keep things hidden and to sneak around for meetings with the siblings.  It was a lot of work, but thankfully everything went pretty much according to plan.

We had initially "stolen" my parents' address book, which was of course out of date, to get names and potential addresses of the people we wanted to invite.  We talked to my aunts and uncles to see who else my parents might want to be there.  And then we did some internet searches to make sure we had the right addresses.  My parents were away on vacation with my aunt the week before the party, which was a huge blessing because it gave us the opportunity to take care of a lot of things without worrying about them finding anything.  They got back the day of the party.

My parents believed they were going to a friend of my brother and sister-in-law's engagement party.  That was the excuse to get them to the restaurant.  I was convinced that they had no idea what was coming, but my uncle and sister-in-law, in particular, voiced their doubts and suspected they might know.  However, when they walked into the room and we all yelled "SURPRISE!" you could tell they had no idea.  They verified that when we asked later on.  They were truly, truly shocked.

It was really exciting, too.  My mom's close friends, who live in Florida, flew in for the occasion (which was a GREAT surprise for them).  And it was great for everybody to get together and catch up.  There were many instances in which people had heard of each other, but never actually met.  It was a rare opportunity for everybody to come together.

The overall atmosphere was great, too.  There were two TV's in the room, so we had a slideshow of new and old photos playing on both (which was a hit).  We also had some really nice flowers and candles at each table, and the napkins were embossed with a "B."  Then we had their wedding photo printed on a foam poster, which everybody signed with some well wishes.

That isn't to say we didn't hit some minor hurdles.  We had some last minute cancellations, we almost didn't get one of the TV's hooked up to our computer so that we could show a slideshow, the salad was served AFTER the main course, and the silver marker I got for people to sign a poster with my parents' wedding photo didn't show just as clearly as I had hoped.  But all things considered, it was a near perfect night!

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Summer of Excitement: Back to the Adirondacks! - [a case of the summer]

I'm rather exhausted right now, so I apologize if this is brief (although it never is with me).  I also apologize for not posting a Throwback Thursday this past week, but it's because I was on my Summer of Excitement adventure!  Similar to how this year and last year's Summer of Excitement series began with a wedding, I'm lifting from last year and once again using my family camping in the Adirondacks as this week's feature (photos will be added when I get around to putting them on my computer.  I'm beat).

While last year was the 10 year anniversary of our first trip, this year was the 10th time we've been there (we missed a year).  And after last year was one of the smallest groups we've ever had attend (four people and one dog), this year was one of the largest (six people and one dog).  After a multi-year sabbatical, my brother-in-law's brother Chris returned to the island, and their neighborhood friend Steven joined us for the first time.  Having these extra people there helped make it an even greater time.  It also meant that Chris and I did daily beer shotguns.  So there's that.

It was a great, long weekend.  We arrived early Thursday afternoon (it's about a six hour drive) and we left Sunday morning (in what ends up being a longer than six hour drive).  The weather was perfect, which is very fortunate.  Apparently there was a hellacious storm the night before, and based on the excitement of the meteorologists on the radio over how great the forecast would be this weekend, you could tell it's been a REALLY rough season.

Of course, the weekend wasn't without drama and excitement.  Like I explained last year, grabbing the island that we always stay at is pure luck.  The beauty of it is that it's large enough that you have an entire island to spread out your things, but it's small enough that only one group could stay there.  It's a gift and a curse.  There are no reservations, of course, so you just have to paddle there and hope you get it (that also means you have to exhaust yourself by paddling all the way over there despite the fact that it might already be occupied).  So we sent one car ahead to get to the launch point early and we sent Chris in a kayak with a tent and chair.  He gets there and it's available.  So he sets up the one chair and leaves the tent.  He returns and I make my way there.  As I'm heading there, I see two canoes stationed there and an entire family on the island.  I hate confrontation, so I'm just waiting on the water for somebody else to arrive to help me "fight" for the island we had already claimed.  Thankfully, they turned out to be really nice and they were just taking a break from their paddle.  But I was very nervous for a while there.

As always, it was a great time and it felt great to relax and get away from everything (including my phone and the temptation of the Internet).  I wish I could talk more about it, but I'm absolutely exhausted and I need to eat.  Anyway, check back later this evening for my Money in the Bank LIVE thoughts.

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Summer of Excitement: Promotion, facing fears, and Sunday Funday - [a case of the summer]

So the purpose of the Summer of Excitement is to make sure I avoid taking the easy road and make sure I go out and find some excitement.  Hey, I'm 31 years old.  A lot of my friends are getting married, ARE married, or even have kids.  It's harder to find people to go out, and frankly after a long week it's awfully easy to just decide to stay in and watch some TV or a movie.  But you know what?  I'm not ready to give up on trying to have fun every weekend.  And that's why we have the Summer of Excitement.

Then again, it's still not entirely easy to follow through on that mission.  This week, for example, I had several friends go away.  And several others who didn't feel like doing anything.  So it wasn't an entirely exciting weekend, not necessarily by my own fault.  But it was a significant week nonetheless.  First and foremost, I got a promotion at work and it was my first official week in my new role (this was the purpose behind my "Countdown to July" graphic a couple of weeks back)!  I've been in the same workplace for the past five years and while my position hasn't been entirely defined, it wasn't exactly where I wanted to be.  Then a couple of months ago, one of the girls from my office (whose job was more in line with my interests) decided to leave and so I interviewed for her job.  It was a TOUGH and LONG process, but the ending was happy.  For the month of June I was essentially doing both jobs, but this week I finally got to (mostly) devote my time to my new position.  And it's going to be an exciting month, professionally speaking.  I'm going to have a lot of new responsibilities and there's definite room for growth.  Good stuff!

The Summer of Excitement isn't only about fun, though.  It's also about doing things that scare you.  And I tried to do that as well.  There was a personally troubling situation going on and while I was nervous to do so, I attempted to confront it.  The matter is not resolved -- and honestly, it probably didn't get better either -- but I did face it.  This will likely continue to be a challenge, but it's a challenge I'm set to face.

And don't worry folks.  While I'm being all vague above, I'm not dying or anything.

The week wasn't devoid of fun, though.  The greatest adventure came today, actually.  My niece was at my aunt's pool, so I decided to go there for a swim (and to finally solidify a nice summer tan!)  Since the day was so beautiful, the crowd kept growing and growing.  And by late afternoon, we had a floating table in the pool and we decided to play some beer pong.  My cousin and I dominated the table with 6 straight victories!  It was a really, really fun way to end a rather uneventful holiday weekend.

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Summer of Excitement: Work Wedding - [a case of the summer]

Much like last year, this summer's first installment of Summer of Excitement is kicking off with a wedding!

However, while last year's wedding was a celebration for a long time friend from high school, this year's festivities were for a a work friend that I made only a couple of years ago.  And it was a really great time!  Ironically, it was at the very same place that the last wedding I went to (in October) -- right down to the same cocktail area and ballroom.  Small world, eh?

The wedding, of course, was lovely.  And it was really great to get to hang out and let loose with my work friends.  Because I work so far from my home (about an hour or so), I can never have more than a couple of drinks when we go out after work.  So it was nice to not have to worry about how I was going to get home or anything (I stayed at the hotel).  Unfortunately, I didn't feel like I got drunk, though!

Oh, and for some reason or another, my friends at work are a tad younger than I am (usually in the range of 23-27).  And trust me, they bring that up whenever the opportunity presents itself.  Yet who was the last man standing at the end of a full day and night of drinking and dancing?  That's right, the 31 year old!

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[a case of the summer] 2013!

For the -- I think -- third year in a row, I'll be doing my [summer of excitement] series to keep things active on this blog during the summer months.  Like in past years, I'll keep some of the prior features while incorporating some new ones as well.  Since summer officially started yesterday, next week will be the first full week for each topic.  Here's what you have to look forward to (as well as a loose expectation of when it will be posted:

Trending Topics - As seen last year, this is just an opportunity for me to rant about any topic that's on my mind.  Maybe it'll be a review of a television show that I don't normally recap.  Maybe it'll be to complain about something going on in my life.  The sky's the limit!  To be posted Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday.
CLICK HERE TO READ LAST YEAR'S TRENDING TOPICS

Throwback Thursday - To steal from the popular trend that has taken over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other forms of social media, this feature will have me reposting something from the past while offering my current insight on that topic.  To be posted Thursdays, obviously.

Summer of Excitement - This was one of the more difficult but enjoyable features of my [a case of the summer] series.  Frankly, at this stage of my life sometimes it's a lot of work to go out and find something fun to do.  Or it's simply that much easier to stay home and catch up on some rest.  I don't want that to happen, though.  So every week for the entire summer, I will make sure I do something that I either really enjoy, have never done before, or possibly scares me.  This is dubbed the Summer of Excitement.  To be posted Friday/Saturday/Sunday.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SUMMER OF EXCITEMENT RECAP VIDEO

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Summer of Excitement Review - [a case of the summer]

So the Summer of Excitement may have ended a few weeks ago, but I've put together this video that looks back at each activity of the last 13 weeks (sorry, it took a little longer than expected to complete).  Enjoy, and relive the weddings, bachelor parties, reunions, ghost cars, and skydiving that made up the Summer of Excitement!

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Summer of Excitement - Bachelor Party - [a case of the summer]

I often joke that the Summer of Excitement kicked off with a wedding, and it's now getting capped off with a bachelor party.  Yesterday we celebrated the end of my friend Chris' bachelorhood, and boy was it an all day affair!  I stayed in bed until about 3:00 today (and only got out because I was so hungry) and I'm STILL exhausted.  It was a really great time.

The day started off with us getting on the party bus (more accurately a party limo) and heading to CitiField for a Mets game -- the first Mets game I've ever been to, actually.  Apparently people dressed up as Ninja Turtles were there, so my mission for the day was to get a photo with one of them.  Sadly, I failed.  From there, we went to the 13th Step, basically took over the entire backroom, and played some beer pong (with virtually every team being siblings, which was a nice touch).  Unfortunately, my brother and I went down in our first game -- but not without a strong fight.

We then went to the Frying Pan, a boat that sank and was underwater for three years before being raised, sold, and moved to New York City.  It's now docked on the Hudson and serves as a unique bar that specializes in buckets of beer (hooray!)  We had dinner at Uncle Jack's Steakhouse, where we continued to eat and eat and eat.  And drink, of course.

We made a few more stops before returning to New Jersey and closing the night at our favorite local bar (fittingly).  It truly was a 15 hour day of drinking and partying and being on the move.  This was pretty rough -- I don't even like being awake for 15 hours at a time (and based on last night, I've shown I CAN sleep for 15 hours!)

One thing I did find particularly funny, though, was when we went to Headquarters (a gentlemen's club).  I'm not really a fan of the whole strip club thing (and I'm not sure any of us were, since we weren't there that long), just because it's so expensive and I can't ever relax since the second I sit down, somebody is trying to give me a $20 lapdance.  But I did decide to get one, and while the girl was taking me to a seat, our waitress came up to me and asked if I needed a drink.  The girl asked what the waitress said, and I told her.  The girl then says, "she's so annoying.  I mean, to ask you that just as I'm going to give you a dance."  So it's nice to know that women can't stand each other in the workplace even at strip clubs.

Overall, though, it was a completely awesome time and a totally fitting way to conclude the Summer of Excitement.  I hope this feature has lived up to your expectations!

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