I'm not hungry, so why am I eating my words?

Two reasons why hearing the new Beastie Boys single on the OC was not so bad:

1. It served as the theme music to the boys' Vegas entrance. I too love the Vegas. And I'd be psyched to begin a Vegas trip with the BBoys as my soundtrack.
2. The episode also featured the Franz Ferdinand track "Jacqueline". Franz Ferdinand is an up-and-coming band with a lot of chic-appeal and hype right now. Good company for my Beasties.

My vocabulary, actually

Wow. Just reading the longer entry from tonight. I somehow actually managed to use the word "actually" three times in three consecutive sentences. Time to go back to skool and learn me up good!

Yooowww

Ok. I lied. I do have something to complain about. Alas, not wittily.

Spicy steamed vegetable dumplings.

That's right - spicy.

Steamed vegetable dumplings are not supposed to be spicy! Yet here I am, bald-spot sweating, acid-reflux refluxing, tounge burning, and brain whining.

Had to order from the Chinese place by my old apartment because I passed it yesterday and felt badly that I stopped giving them my business when they were so nice and friendly and all. Some thanks I got!

Reunited and it feels so good

So this blog has now become somewhat of a chore. Sadly. It was supposed to be fun, and now it is one of the many things on my mind that I feel I must attend to. "Gotta update my blog" has now joined the ranks of "gotta clean up", "gotta pay bills", and my new friend "gotta work on my resume". Such a shame. But I will try to remedy this.

Part of the problem is that nothing major has been happening. Nothing funny to report. Nothing annoying to wittily complain about. Just moving along, working during the week, relaxing on the weekends.

This past weekend was pretty good. Girlfriend came to NYC. (Yes, I am now using the name Girlfriend for her, as opposed to always writing "my girlfriend". Seems more familiar, while respectfully maintaining anonymity.) We went over to a friend's place on Friday night to watch the Red Sox embarrass the Yankees. Pitiful game. And sadly the Sox fans at our friend's place outnumbered the Yankees fans, making it all the more sour. Girlfriend made some brie en crut (sp?) with puff pastry dough, and with chopped almonds inside. She did the prep work and cooking at our friend's place, which was fun, and everyone lapped up the cheese. I enjoyed it thoroughly. After the game we were all tired, and just went our separate ways home.

Saturday was beautiful in NYC. We bummed around the apartment for a bit, then got up off our asses and went to Central Park. Plopped ourselves down on a blanket, near the Great Lawn (but not on it) and relaxed. Did some people watching, read a bit, and tried to soak up a little sun. Then we decided to walk around, and we bumped into two separate people from the neighborhood where I grew up.

One of them is the son of one of my mother's closest friends. (Got that? ;-) He and I were actually best friends from 3rd grade until 7th grade. Then he became somewhat popular, and left me out in the cold with no friends. Tragic in 7th grade. How sad for me, I know. I can make light of it now, because I am a grown up with a decent crowd of friends, but believe me it sucked ass back then. Anyway, we forgive and forget. Especially when the person's family is still close to yours. Definitely when there mother is the saint that his mom is, and is like an aunt to you. So it was nice to see him, and to meet his girlfriend finally.

The other guy we ran into used to be my next door neighbor growing up. He is a few years younger than me. Nice guy. I actually used to babysit for him and his brother. His parents moved away from there last year, and are actually living in the city now. He was on his way to see them, actually, making a detour through the park. I like that whole family a lot. Good people.

Small world huh?

Saturday night Girlfriend and I went to see Kill Bill Volume II. It was good, though not as good as Volume I. And one of the speakers near us was out, and static-y as hell all through the movie. But I decided to suck it up, rather than get stressed out about it, and walk out in the middle to complain and get another ticket. Stress sucks. Though one of the reasons I see movies in the theater is for the killer sound. So I was bummed about that. (But not stressed, remember....) Anyway, the movie was enjoyable. I feel as if I was laughing more at the first one, though, or maybe more surprised by the first one. Maybe it's because there had not been a new Tarantino film in years when I saw Vol. I. Or maybe I need to see Vol II. again...

Sunday nice, but busy. My aunt and my mom came into the city to meet us for lunch. My brother also came along, which was cool. We went to a diner in our neighborhood, and then back to our apartment to talk for a bit. Had to kick everyone out around 4:00 though, because Girlfriend had to hit the road, and I had to go to my college fraternity's initiation ceremony. My chapter actually folded a couple of years ago. The chapter really went to shit a couple of years after I graduated. Wrong type of guys, wrong reasons for joining. Lack of motivation and interest caused it to dissolve. The National office liked having a presence on our campus, though, so they are trying to start it up again. They sent some advisors to school to rush a new group, and they re-founded the chapter. Relations between the alumni of my chapter as we knew it, and the new chapter, have not gotten off to the best start. So the new chapter wisely decided to hold the initiation of their first pledge class in NYC, where lots of alums are concentrated. This would be fun for them, and easy for us, and we could all share the experience together.

Anyway, the initiation was held in my friend's basement apartment. A lot of alums showed up, which was nice. Then we all went out to dinner at a coal oven pizza joint. I actually did the work to arrange the dinner, which was a pain in the ass. Last minute dinner for 40 can suck. But when all was said and done, everyone was happy, and the eight alums that made it to the dinner were all able to kick in enough dough to cover the whole cost. That felt really good, and was a nice gift/gesture to the undergrads.

All in all a good weekend. But see, if you are not me, this can't have been too interesting a read....

Maybe I need to start making up some blog-worthy shit. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Hero defined

The news about Pat Tillman is tragic. Here is someone who had everything going for him, and decided to risk it all for his country. As someone who lives in New York City, and was affected emotionally by the September 11th attacks, I have only the depeest sympathy and gratitude for this hero. I am not a super patriot. I am not a huge NFL fan. But this is something significant to me still. Here is someone who walked away from a lucrative and successful NFL career and left a wife behind to do what he felt was his patriotic duty. Regardless of political leaning, one has to respect his commitment and sacrifice. I'm sure he will be missed sorely.

Hooray for Blogger

blogger.com is offering its users early access to gmail. 1GB. Search built in. This is cool. Thanks blogger.

My Poor Little Beasties

OK. I admit it. I like The OC. It's this decade's 90210. Good shit. But this headline is wrong:

'The O.C.' Debuting New Beastie Boys Single

However much I like this show, the part of me that likes it is not the same part that has been a huge Beastie Boys fan for years and years. I can't explain it. This is like the old Seinfeld worlds colliding theory. OC Saltydog is killing Beastie Boys Saltydog. "This is not good. Worlds are colliding! George Saltydog is getting upset!"


It's like this. I love sushi. I love ice cream. The idea of sushi ice cream skeeves me.

Emperor Saltydog decrees: down with Mondays

Great weekend. Left work on Friday with my boss, and walked over to Penn Station with him. We had a friendly conversation. Just personal bullshitting I guess. Nice change of pace from work-talk. He was headed home to Jersey, and I was headed to Boston for the weekend. 5:40pm Amtrak. Though whether it has ever left Penn Station at 5:40 in its entire history, I wouldn't be so confident. This Friday was no different, and it left around 6:05. No worries though. I had my MP3 player with me, so I was happy. I can rot for hours as long as I have it with me. I'm such a simpleton.

Anyway, had a relaxing train ride up to Boston. Listened to music, read, and thought. Got to Boston around 10:00, where my girlfriend was waiting for me. So nice to have someone waiting for you. Especially when it's her.

We got to her parents' house a little while later, said hi to her folks, and got ready for bed. We were headed into the city early in the morning to look at an apartment. Through someone we know we might be able to rent this place for a reasonable price, and it would be ready for us when we are ready to move it, so we went to see it. It was pretty cool, and we're pretty excited about it. Then we spent the day cruising around Boston, enjoying the awesome weather. Checked out the area near Fenway, which was crawling with Red Sox fans. They were in the midst of a 4-game home series against the Yankees. I don't think I've ever seen so many Sox caps, shirts, etc.... It was very strange. Not just near Fenway, but all over the city. Maybe I've never paid attention on other trips, because on those trips I was not in the mindset of someone who is soon to become a Bostonian. But as a future NYC transplant, and a Yankees fan, this was pretty strange.

After walking around a bit, checking out the crowds on Newbury, Boylston, etc... we headed to my Friend's place over in Jamaica Plain. We haven't seen these friends since they got married about two years ago. Since then they moved into a new apartment in JP. So we went over there, checked out their place and caught up for a bit, then headed into JP proper (or "propa" as I should say) and had a really good Indian dinner. This was followed up with some ice cream at JP Lick's, a Boston ice cream chain that was started (you guessed it) in Jamaica Plain. It was good to see them, and to catch up, and it helped to remind me that I do have some good friends in Boston, which will make moving easier on me.

Sunday was a nice, lazy day. We slept in a bit. Had brunch with my girlfriend's parents (well, lunch for them, breakfast for us, so we'll split the difference). Then we took a drive to a shopping area in Braintree to do some very premature bed/bath/housewares browsing. Came away with some good ideas, and a couple of small, unrelated items from Marshalls. :-) Then we had dinner with my girlfriend's parents, and said goodbye to them. It was already time for me to go. Back on the train. The Sunday train, as has been my experience, was right on time. Always nice. 4 hours later, I was back in NYC. Great weekend.

Of course reality hit today. Busy day at work. Sad/stressful conversation with my brother about my parents' newly brewing divorce. And, of course, news from my boss that management doesn't think relocation will be possible for me. Damn.

As my uncle used to say "life is really meant to be lived as we live on the weekend".

Vocab Spam

I just started getting the weirdest spam to my Hotmail account. The From: names look like regular people, but the subject line and body are just lists of words. Like free-association spam. Sometimes there is a link embedded for a discount pharmaceutical company. Sometimes there is a coherent sentence embedded. But they all contain the most random sequences of words. Check it out:

From : Lelia Mccord
Sent : Friday, April 16, 2004 4:25 PM
To : "Afrahms"
Subject : resentful duquesne bolshevik hindrance clutch illegitimacy adulate corbel baklava dexter hollywood firestone marsh hashish denmark doolittle halverson clandestine constituent


Here is the answer to what you've been looking for..

heuristic menhaden flathead haddock goody incapacitate cumulus coroutine antaeus
flop conceptual fantasia firepower fontaine arrack circumcise considerate creak
clamber dapple advisory deface

http://www.wholesalerxdiscounts.biz/v2/index.php?AFF_ID=v20323

grosvenor guarantee oaf battleground inaptitude didactic kibbutzim brennan seaboard hornblower fictitious children fat crescent mulct lawman diamond

That's some weird shit. If I ever have a band, I might name it grosvenor guarantee oaf battleground inaptitude didactic kibbutzim brennan seaboard hornblower fictitious children fat crescent mulct lawman diamond just for kicks.

Bleaargh

Feel like crap. Little sore throat coming on, maybe with a fever for a chaser. Awesome.

Last night was fun. Met with my boss for drinks after work to talk about relocating. He is not thrilled about the idea, but he understands. There's been a lot going on at work lately, and more than one person in our group has been causing problems for him, so I am trying to be as reasonable as possible about things. I want him to understand that I have no issue with him, or the group, or the work, or the job. It's just time for me to hang my hat elsewhere. (Or really, to watch TV elsewhere...) I think he appreciates my friendship and loyalty, and will hopefully go to bat for me. The first step already happened today, when he spoke to his boss about it. His boss (yes, my boss's boss) was not thrilled with the idea, but ultimately agreed to explore options. So on to the next step - his boss. (Yes, my boss's boss's boss!) Can we say management structure??

After the meeting with my boss I went to my book club. We had read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. I had finished it a while ago, but we never got together until last night. It was fun. Only three others showed up. But they are nice, and they had interesting things to say. Sadly I was running late because of the meeting with my boss, and I had dinner plans for after the book club, so I didn't get to talk to them for too much time. But a discussion about this book does not require that much time. :-P

On to the goodbye dinner for one of the 1231 boys. It was funny. Without knowing about this blog, he spontaneously did a "tvelve sirty-vun? you're dat preecise?" at the dinner table. Cracked me up. Anyway, he is headed out of the country for work for the next two years. Just passing through town last night, so a couple of us met up for some Indian food and some beers at a dirty hipster bar. I didn't appreciate the dirty looks from the dirty hipsters, but I did appreciate the cheap beer, so we'll call it a wash. These so-called hipsters are so silly. It's hard to express how hard they try to look like they don't try at all. Then they judge me because I am wearing a tie. Idiots.

And now I feel like shit.

Go Salty, It's Your Birthday

Friday was my birthday. Turned out to be a great birthday. What a pleasant surprise.

I haven't been too into birthdays the past couple of years. Each year more and more people move away from NYC, and fewer and fewer people are willing to stay out late and make a good show of it. The combination has been rather depressing. Five years ago I used to be able to put a nice party together, with lots of people I knew, and lots I didn't, and it was always fun. Last year I felt like I was pulling teeth to get some friends together.

So this year I was planning to keep it low-key. My girlfriend was planning to take me out to dinner, and then I was planning to see some family the next day. Chill. Easy. Perfect.

Friday came around like any other day. It was a busy day at work, made more so by the fact that people wanted to get out early for Good Friday. So the day went by pretty quickly, with a nice sprinkling of phone calls and emails. Definitely feels good to be loved.

I got out of work at around 4:30, and my girlfriend came to meet me. We stopped off for a margarita at Dos Caminos, and just talked and caught up. It was very nice, and very relaxing. Then onto the subway, towards home, to relax for a bit and get ready for dinner.

Dinner was great. She surprised me with the choice of restaurants, and we really loved the meal. The setting was great, and the service was friendly and slow, perfect in keeping with my theme of the relaxed birthday. They even wrote "Happy Birthday" in chocolate sauce around the dessert plate. All because they made the effort to check the details in the online reservation my girlfriend had made. How cool.

After dinner my girlfriend thought it would be nice to meet up with my brother and his fiance (who he just proposed to last weekend!!!) for a drink. My mood was more in line with going home to relax by ourselves, but I didn't want to be a total grinch. So we went.

Into the bar we walked, then up the stairs to where they were haning out. Whoa! Holy shit! What are all my friends doing here? SURPRISE!

My sneaky little girlfriend, with access to my email address book, and some help from my brother and future sister-in-law, put together my very first surprise party. That just blew me away. Not only was it a total shock, but it really made me feel so great. She spent so much time and put forth so much effort to rally the troops for me. I was so touched. Really.

So my low-key birthday plans didn't quite work out. I had a few more drinks than planned. I stayed up later than planned. And I loved every minute of it.

I'll show you mine...

So a friend went to East on my recommendation. I did not go into a lot of detail when I recommended it to her. I simply said the conveyor belt is fun, and they have good deals.

After her lunch trip, some of our mutual friends and I got the following email:

i would just like to blame [saltydog] for my sushi purchase. apparently, 1 order of spicy tuna is 3 pcs. this i did not know. so, i just had the world's smallest lunch ever.

but, it only cost me a buck fifty

Funny. Unfortunate. Definitely no where near enough of a meal to be satisfying.

Anyway, being too lazy to explain how East works, especially after the fact, I simply sent the link to my earlier blog entry to the whole group. (And I guess I wanted to let them in on the existence of this blog....)

One friend wrote back "All that writing to yourself freaked me out".

The friend who started this whole thing wrote back to him (and me) saying that she too had a blog.

He asked for her URL.

She declined.

Now I feel silly.....