High Impact Noise

Have not been updating this blog at all for a long time. Hope to start getting in the habit again soon. Until then dogs!

I gave my girlfriend Spice Girls tickets for Christmas. Last night I accompanied my girlfriend and 2 of her women friends to a sold out TD Banknorth Arena.

Enough back story, here are the 5 things I learned last night and every straight male should know before attending a spice girls concert.

1. No lines! Seriously you can get a beer faster at this show then you could at a Boston Bruins game.
2. No lines! The bathroom is empty.
3. Excellent unintentional comedy. Watching mothers dance while their teenage daughter is mortified, always a funny site.
4. When the Spice Girls cover “Its Raining Men” go get a snack.
5. If you are older then thirty, don’t go! If you do… you will be profiled as a pedophile.

A colleague of mine never commutes if there is a threat of a snowstorm, instead choosing to work from home. It often brings him a little ** busting, but as of today I am instituting the potential blizzard rule in my life.

It took me almost 5 hours to get home from work today. A drive that usually take 40 minutes. FIVE FREAKIN HOURS. So next potential blizzard it is going to be just me and my laptop.

After a thanksgiving weekend of traveling in which I had connecting flights both to Florida and back to Boston. I wish I had known about a website called flightwait.com earlier. This site is a google maps mashup, that shows you where the flight delays are.

It might have eased my flying mind, though I bet it probably would have made me more anxious.

It is the old philosophical question, is ignorance really bliss? Such speculation leads nicely into me to my next to blog post, would you pay to have your genome decoded?

Before the season started I made my predictions on how the 2007 Red Sox baseball season would go. Man was I off. But I will face up to my errors.

First congratulations to the Sox, even though I had predicted a Dodgers victory, I am happy that the title went to the Sox.

Sox Pitchers:

• Curt Schilling
  • Projected 16-7 4.10
  • Actual 9-8 3.87
  • Probably not enough to get him a contract extension
• Josh Beckett
  • Projected 15-9 4.25
  • Actual 20-7 3.27
  • I was way off on Becket, the guy incredible.
• Daisuke Matsuzaka
  • Projected 18-6 3.65
  • Actual 15-12 4.40
  • A Becket like first year, hopefully he will make the same leap Becket made
• Tim Wakefield
  • Projected 13-12 4.80
  • Actual 17 – 12 4.76
  • As expected
• Julian Tavarez
  • Projected 4-6 5.20
  • Actual 7 – 11 5.15
  • Lasted a little longer into the season the I expected.
• Jonathan Papelbon
  • Projected 48 Saves 0.95 Era
  • Actual 37 Save 1.85
  • Thought he might have a chance at the Cy, didn’t happen this year but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Sox Hitters

1. Julio Lugo
   • Projected .280 AVG 13 HR 24 SB 95 Runs
   • Actual .237 AVG 8 HR 33 SB 71 Runs
   • He looked much better in Tampa
2. Kevin Youkilis
   • Projected .265 AVG 19 HR 85 RBI
   • Actual .288 AVG 16 HR 83 RBI
   • Just a good hitter and lead the league in sweating
   • Improved Power Numbers
3. David Ortiz
   • Projected .290 AVG 48 HR 120 RBI
   • Actual .332 AVG 35 HR 117 RBI
   • A little less power but hopefully knee surgery will get him back
4. Manny Ramirez
   • Projected.305 AVG 32 HR 105 RBI
   • Actual .296 AVG 20 HR 88 RBI
   • Below average season, Manny skills may start deteriorating
5. J.D. Drew
   • Projected .290 AVG 25 HR 100 RBI
   • Actual .270 AVG 11 HR 64 RBI
   • Next year is his breakout year … maybe?
6. Mike Lowell
   • Projected .260 AVG 14 HR 60 RBI –
   • Actual .324 AVG 21 HR 120 RBI
   • I may be the only one in Boston hoping A-Rod comes to town
7. Jason Varitek
   • Projected .245 AVG 12 HR 60 RBI
   • Actual .255 AVG 17 HR 68 RBI
   • Boston better start looking for Tek’s replacement
8. Coco Crisp
   • Projected .300 AVG 15 HR 70 RBI 25 SB
   • Actual .268 AVG 6 HR 60 RBI 28 SB
   • Bye Bye
9. Dustin Pedroia
   • Projected .290 AVG 6 HR 70 RBI
   • Actual .317 AVG 8 HR 50 RBI
   • Rookie of the Year

Actual (Predicted)

NL

• East: Phillies (Mets)
• Central: Cubs (Cubs)
• West: Diamondbacks (Diamondbacks)
• Wild Card: Rockies (Dodgers)
• Champion: Rockies (Dodgers)

AL

• East: Sox (Sox)
• Central: Indians (Tigers)
• West: Angels (A’s)
• Wild Card: Yankees (Blue Jays)
• Champion: Sox (A’s)

• World Series Champs – Sox (Dodgers)

3 for 8 in predicting who would make the playoffs. Well I would be a pretty productive hitter with that average. Already looking forward to next season.

Opinions on the war in Iraq may differ, but everyone should wish for the safe return of all our troops.

My brother Mike is currently situated in Kuwait and will be going into Iraq on Thursday for his first tour. He always says he doesn’t need luck the enemy does, well I want to wish him the best of luck anyway.

Love you.

I am on my n-teenth MBA essay today, and my brain is freakin in an infinite loop. I am learning to like writing, aka this blog, but it still doesn’t come naturally to me. Furthermore writing about yourself is difficult, there is no topic I find harder to think about then myself.

Good news is I think this exercise is healthy. Healthy like a colonoscopy is healthy, but healthy nonetheless.

Back to work, back to writing why I kick ass. Try it, in the end it feels pretty good.

Friday night Berkeley, the lovable, yet slightly insane black lab puppy has joined Beacon in my household.

Again thank you Eileen Ketcham from Grand View Labradors for raising such a beautiful little puppy.

Beacon is Berkeley’s half brother, “a brother from another mother”, and have been getting along great.

Berkeley’s biggest drawback right now is she likes to “do her business in her crate”, but our dog walkers who started taking over today did a fantastic job and went above and beyond the call of duty. Doggie Daytrippers have done a fantastic job helping potty train young Berkeley. She messed her crate today and they cleaned it up and set some fresh bedding. They are a fantastic service and I highly recommend them.

I am happy to announce that Beacon the 8 week old lovable Yellow Lab Puppy has successfully adapted to my household.

Now what successful means is another story, but he, my girlfriend and I are having fun, even if it involves a little less sleep.

I want to thank the breeder for Eileen Ketcham of Grandview Labs for raising such a cute and healthy dog.

Info: If you live in the Boston area come check out the South End dog bakery Polka Dog, their raw hide alternative is saving my furniture some unfortunate chewing

I recently had the pleasure of moving from one apartment to the next. Everyone was late, the movers, the cable guy, and when I called to check on what was going on, no one could give me an accurate time estimate.

Why is this so hard?

Removing the uncertainty of when someone is going to show up really help ease the mental burden. That is why progress bars are so comforting, even if their accuracy is not 100 percent. So why can’t there progress bars in other industries. My mind would have been put at ease if I could have seen where the cable guy was in his daily routine and his estimated time of getting to my place. Same goes for the movers, instead of having me call up 30 times wondering where in the world they were just give me a little GPS action on the truck. Maybe there are some technical challenges but man customer satisfaction would leap off the page.

I live in Boston and one of the most aggravating things is waiting for the T, not knowing how long until the next one is going to arrive. When I was in London guess what they have accurate time estimates when the next subway train will arrive.

Mental anxiety eased. Uncertainty removed.

My brother is preparing to go to Iraq in July. If you ever wanted an insiders look into what our men in the armed forces are thinking check out his blog. I wish him the best of luck, and know he will excel at his job.

Update

Ok, it is mainly song lyrics and ramblings. But he is still my brother

Update

A link to my mom’s Letter to the New York Time’s editor

Spring is finally here as the Boston Redsox begin their 2007 season today. Ahhh don’t you get warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.

Without further ado, here are my 2007 predictions.

Sox Pitchers:

• Curt Schilling: 16-7 4.10 Enough to get him a 2008 contract
• Josh Beckett: 15-9 4.25 Improvement but I ain’t buying the hype
• Daisuke Matsuzaka: 18-6 3.65 I am buying Dice-K
• Tim Wakefield: 13-12 4.80 Typical
• Julian Tavarez 4-6 5.20 Replaced by Lester by the All Start Break
• Jonathan Papelbon 48 Saves 0.95 Era – Cy Young Winner

Sox Hitters

1. Julio Lugo .280 AVG 13 HR 24 SB 95 Runs – Solid Leadoff Guy
2. Kevin Youkilis .265 AVG 19 HR 85 RBI – Improved Power Numbers
3. David Ortiz .290 AVG 48 HR 120 RBI – 5 Walk Off’s, The usual
4. Manny Ramirez .305 AVG 32 HR 105 RBI 4 Manny Moments – Disappointing Season
5. J.D. Drew .290 AVG 25 HR 100 RBI – Flourishes in Boston
6. Mike Lowell .260 AVG 14 HR 60 RBI – Continues second half slump from last year. Traded near the deadline
7. Jason Varitek .245 AVG 12 HR 60 RBI – Boston starts looking for Tek’s replacement
8. Coco Crisp .300 AVG 15 HR 70 RBI 25 SB – Nice bounce back year
9. Dustin Pedroia .290 AVG 6 HR 70 RBI – Solid Rookie Year, 4th in Rookie of the year voting

NL

• East: Mets
• Central: Cubs – Off season money well spent for this year at least
• West: Diamondbacks
• Wild Card: Dodgers
• Champion: Dodgers

AL

• East: Sox
• Central:Tigers
• West: A’s
• Wild Card: Blue Jays – Sorry Yankees Fans
• Champion: A’s – They finally breakthrough in the post season

World Series Champs – Dodgers – As long as Grady doesn’t have any managing brainfarts (Reference 2003 ALCS).

I just finished my 2006 taxes and I just wanted to take this time to thank TurboTax. It was a breeze. I am not going to lie (I hate that phrase), I don’t have a lot going on in my taxes but I can’t imagine doing my taxes with a pen, paper and calculator.

Maybe I will ask my folks what it was like later, I bet if my dad had his way he would be doing the taxes the old fashion way.

I found that the TurboTax software was much improved from last year. Almost completely hiding the ugly calculation details, intelligently importing last years return. They have seemed to embraced Web 2.0 or just like javascript. I am a little pissed at Bank Of America because they were not on the list of banks that could automatically import my 1099’s.

One of the user interface things I love is when forms fields automatically format phone numbers, social security numbers, putting in the pesky ”-” or “(” around area code “)”. Something that simple really enhances the whole user experience.

Note: I used TurboTax basic online edition.

I am currently looking for an apartment in Boston and would love to do some research myself instead of going through a broker. What I have found is a lack of good online tools to facilitate renting an apartment. There is always housing maps but that relies solely on craigslist which does not have enough volume in Boston, maybe 10-15 apartments at anytime.

I want something like housing maps that captured a greater percentage of the apartments for rent. I want something like zillow for renting. Does this exist? Am I asking to much? I might be a data slut.

Suggestions?