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Holiday 2008 is now officially over. After almost 4 weeks of not being at the office (one week in Cambridge, one week in Albuquerque and two weeks of vacation). Tomorrow, I go back to work. I'm not afraid!

The tree came down today, but check out how nicely it was decorated! (Ignore the nerd books in the background. Shout outs to Big Bob)

I received that amazing tree ornament from my aunt during a $5 limit yankee swap. Very nice!

Shout outs to Larry Ransom for the inspiration. Some of these cards are over 2 years old. I even busted out the iTunes gift card today. Oh sudoku, here I come.

There you have it. 2008 was chill. Now for 2009. And the wife is already planning the next vacation. It should involve sun and fun. I'm down.

2008 was an excellent year. It brought a lot of good times to my house and my life. Let me run down a few highlights for you.

The Bar Harbor Vacation
The stairwell getting painted
Jaw Surgery aka finally getting rid of the braces and over bite
Lots of Bane shows
True Colors
My older brother getting married
Madlib & J-Rocc
First time visiting New Mexico and Albuquerque
...
Plenty of good times.

After a long night of saying goodbye to 2008 (obviously, the little guy partied too hard.), it's time to welcome 2009.

2009 has the potential of being the biggest year in my life (so far). I'll turn 30, share a 5th wedding anniversary with my lovely wife, be a home owner for 3 years, ... The list goes on and on. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to 2009. Honestly, it's going to be good.

So stick around, it's only going to get better from here on out.

It's been a long time, hasn't it? Sorry, my bad. I was off in Albuquerque for a while and have been hella busy with work. And then when I'm not working, I basically just needed time to sit back and relax. Now I have a few days off and have been busy watching the worst movies known to man. Truth. Terrible, terrible movies. Movies that make people cringe when you say the title.

Just yesterday, I watched a movie called Death Race. Yes, the 2008 thriller with Jason Statham. Part "Fast And Furious," part "Waterworld," part "Days Of Thunder." Ok, well maybe not that last part. Yeah, so a real winner. Plus this happened to be the unrated version so the scene where 14K buys it was definitely extra gruesome. Overall, a pretty terrible movie. Plus, the week before, I happened to catch National Treasure 2 and something probably equally as terrible.

But today, today I topped all of them with the worst possible movie ever. It is called In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale and also starred Jason Statham. You can probably see a theme here; I catch most movies with this guy, even if they are notoriously terrible (Transporter 1 was probably the least offensive to the soul as far as action movies go. The Lock Stock and brit movies remain untarnished, cinema gold stuff). This movie down right stunk. I wouldn't be surprised if it was direct to DVD.

Strangely enough, the trailer doesn't look too terrible. Then you realize they just cut scenes from the Lord Of The Rings and replaced hobbits with bald brits. I won't even try to explain the plot; it's just not worth it. Plus, the acting. Ooofffff, so frigging bad. I can only assume the script was written during the writers strike. The word putrid comes to mind. Feel free to LOL at these comments left on IMDB.

Ok, now it's time to get back to my terrible movie marathon. What'll it be? Tokyo Drift or something equally as terrible.

Here's a quick one!

So true, so true ...

LOL. Skip to 4:10 for some PWNing.

Now that's funny.

Here's the back story. This was shot (by Voy from the UK) at Fluff Fest somewhere in the Prague. There's probably a million or two kids there. Or maybe some thousands. Lots of people, probably the biggest fest in Europe for hardcore punk. Pretty cool.

But I don't agree. And this picture from over the weekend of me stage diving for Bane probably would prove different.

I'll have to fight Bedard the next time I see him.

I want to trade a few tees. I'm not selling them. I have many angles (including tags) but will just post the front with size.

Bold: Fits like large (signal xl).

Bold: Fits like tiny, tiny tiny medium (no tag, possibly not OG, no idea, but old ass tee)

Cold World: Fits like short large (tag is large but it's not very long)

Bane: Large

Bane: Fits like large (no tag)

To see more angles, check this link, More Angles

Turning Point: Fits like Large (anvil XL) - shirt not as yellowed as it appears. Bad lighting in my dining room.

To see more angles, check this link, More Angles

I'm looking for a few In My Eyes, Bane, Bold, Chain Of Strength, Schism, Wishingwell, Youth Of Today, ... tees. Let me know what you've got. Check my want list for more insight.

Peace

Over the weekend, I had the honor of attending the opening of my brother's building. He's a project manager at the EMPAC building on the Rensselaer campus in Troy, New York. He's been busting his ass for the last few years and double that for the last few months. It was real cool to finally see the fruits of his labor.

We rolled up for a late lunch at El Mariachi's. So good. This time around, my mouth wasn't just recently unwired so I HOUSED some chips and salsa. Toss on the fajitas and an orange jarrito - I'm good to go!

We then had hours to kill before the 11pm event we were attending. It involved walking around Troy. A LOT. We then hit up the EMPAC building in order to see the Open Late With Madlib gig. Here's the only unblurry picture I really captured.

It was a weirdish event. Everyone keeps asking me if it was a rave. It was not. It was a juxtaposition between hip hop and visual art. The room had this giant 360 degree projection screen. For smaller events, it would be resting on the floor. This event was too large so they used the upper projectors and had it lifted 30 feet off the floor.

This is where the art part comes in. The Vidvox dudes were projecting weird ill video. They were live mixing it and doing all sorts of funky stuff. The bubbly MS Paint stuff was cool. When they started showing footage of the building construction, people started to get nauseous. That was a semi downer.

Regardless, the show was ill. J-Rocc and Madlib set it off. They had kids fist pumping during their "warm-up" period. It was probably all the WU they kept spinning. Juiceboxx got the crowd going crazy too. Koushik was in the house, mostly laughing on stage. Sadly, he didn't get to spin.

Overall, it was a great night. And my brother didn't freak out too much. I rode around Troy with Madlib and even got a chance to ask him about the Lord Quas dunks. Apparently he was given a few pairs, but that's all that ever came of them. He done good. Props!

ps. If you want to see some less fuzzy pics of the vidvox work, check this link.

I have a few items up on ebay which may be of interest to some of you. Mostly LPs from the early 2000s, but some older ones too. Check it.

If you see anything you like, let me know. Maybe we can work out some crucial trades!

I received a lot of positive feedback from my "Walk With Me" blog post so here is another installment. Instead of walking, we're eating. And instead of idly standing by and watching, you can participate. Follow these easy steps to the best in brown bag lunching.

Start with your basic ingredients. This is really all you need to have the top of the tops.

The first step is pretty freaking easy. Just slap two slices of bread on your napkin or plate. Go with wheat. Don't skimp here. Don't even fool around with wonderbread.

Then slap some peanut butter on BOTH pieces. I like Teddie brand. Unsalted, crunchy or smooth is fine by me. My recommendation is to spread a lot of peanut butter on one and just a little bit on the other piece. It's important to have peanut butter on both slices in order to seal the next ingredient in place. You don't want these bad boys sliding around.

Now peel that banana.

And cut in half.

Then cut those halves lengthwise. Now you've got quarters.

Then place the banana quarters on one slice of bread. Make sure to squeeze them all on there. Spoon them in nice and tight.

Press those slices together...

... And you've got yourself a freaking sandwich!

Add that Cherry Coke Zero, and go to town. One of my favorite lunches. Get into it.