Am I blue?

It's Friday and I'm not nearly as happy as I should be about that fact.

As many of you know, I'm usually quite happy-go-lucky, but work and a few other things going on in my life really have me feeling yucky these days.
Work is the biggest culprit because my job is slowly turning into a one that I don't like.

The reason I left my previous job (9 years ago) was because I got to the point where I dreaded going into work every day and began to despise most of my day-to-day responsibilities.
Well, it seems that I'm heading down that path once again. 
I'm not nearly at that point yet, but I really don't see things getting any better.  At my previous job I supervised a team of 7 employees.  I did that job for about 6 months and quickly realized that I really hated managing people - vowing that I would never want to take a job like that again.  That promotion is what finally pushed me over the edge and out the door.
With the way things are going now, it looks like I'm slowly moving in that direction again. 
I'm not going to be managing a large group, but I'll be 'keeping an eye' on a certain number of people.  I'm going to be the one that they come to with questions, I'll have to make sure that they're kept busy, that they're hitting all their deadlines and if they aren't, I'll be the one that upper management turns to for answers.
Even better...all of the work that we're doing is on that application that we've all just learned and know very little about, so we're all pretty much clueless.
I realize that this isn't a lot of fun to read about, but hey - this is real life....it ain't always puppies and rainbows. 

My biggest dilemma is that I'm kind of 'stuck' right now because not only is the job market incredibly crappy, but since we're in the waiting period as far as the adoption is concerned, I'm not too optimistic about the fact that even if I FOUND a job that I could walk in there and be like "And if you hire me, I'll need about 4 weeks or so off at any given moment so I can be a dad."
Oh well.....I'll keep plugging along and hopefully things won't be as bad as I anticipate.

Have a great weekend everyone....it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend up our way.
As I mentioned the other day  - softball starts this weekend, so send positive thoughts my way at 3:45 tomorrow afternoon!!! 

xoxo

  

Some thoughts on a Wednesday afternoon...

I figured that since I had a free moment I’d post a little Wednesday afternoon ‘hello’ to you all out there!


HELLO!!

I got a ton of work done today and I’ve completed the Test Plan that I’ve been working on. On top of that, I had no meetings today, which was awesome.
How nice to be able to just get my work done without having to run off to meeting after meeting.
What a concept.

I’m still trying to catch up on all the blogs I missed while I was away, but I’m getting there.
You people are so darn entertaining, and work just gets in the way of it all.

I don’t think there’s anything too exciting to report. I plan on having a quiet night at home tonight, just doing laundry and going to bed at a decent hour.
Believe it or not, I’m still not quite caught up on my sleep after this weekend’s craziness.
Yikes.

I have softball practice tomorrow night, then Jim and I are seeing opening night of ‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’ on Friday night, followed by OPENING DAY of the 2010 softball season on Saturday afternoon. It’s supposed to be a beautiful day – which is a far cry from our usual opening days. (right RG?!?!?)

I’ll try and write tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled.
(Not literally…..that would be nasty.)

Have a great afternoon/evening……xoxo

Some Pictures

This is me @ Race Point Beach

Jim @ Race Point Beach

Jim getting tattoed.....the artist was SO nice (and cute....just sayin')

The finished product

I got new sunglasses.

Me likey.

Back from P-Town and ready to work....

Well, I’m back at work.


After being out of the office for two days, I came in this morning to find over 200 emails in my in box. That is a far cry from the last time I was out of the office for about 5 or 6 days and came back to a whopping 50 emails…..about 4 of which were work related.
I told you that things were changing around here!!
Speaking of…we have a big meeting today at 2pm with everyone that reports to my V.P. No one knows what it’s about, but I’m guessing that a re-org is on the horizon. If I were a betting man, I’d say that I’m going to come out of it with a new boss. I’ll keep you updated and we’ll see if my prediction comes true.

Jim and I had a great weekend away.

Friday morning we got up early, dropped Scooter off at day care for the weekend and made our way to P-Town. We arrived there in fairly decent time, went for a walk on the beach, collected some pretty rocks (something we always do when we go to that specific beach) and then headed into P-Town for lunch.
We ate lunch, walked around for a bit, checked into our hotel and then met up with some of the softball folks that had also arrived earlier that day. After meeting with them, we went to get Jim a tattoo!!! For the longest time he has wanted a tattoo of Curious George in his space suit, and he FINALLY got it. The tattoo artist did an AMAZING job, and Jim handled the entire thing like a pro. I have one tattoo, so I knew what he was ‘in for’ and was able to convince him that if I could do it, he could do it. As I mentioned, he did a great job, and it was an excellent experience. For dinner that night, one of my teammates and his husband hosted a team BBQ at their place (they own a place down there) which was very fun. We were there for a bit, and then Jim and one of my teammates went out carousing, while I stayed for a little while longer. I was a bit tired, so I just went out for a few more cocktails and then headed to bed.

Saturday morning, a few of us went to breakfast (Jim slept in for a bit) and then headed to the softball fields. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we won both games we played. It was a GREAT way to kick off the season – even though they were both ‘exhibition games’ we played really well and tried to take both games as seriously as possible, yet sill have a lot of fun. After the games, we went to Bayside Betsy’s (our sponsor) for lunch. We were all in our uniforms, which I think Betsy got a kick out of. She was thrilled to hear that we won both our games and we had a great lunch there.
Jim and I headed back to the room for showers and a nap and then got up and went to dinner downstairs at the Crown and Anchor (where we were staying). Dinner was great, followed by more drinking and dancing (yes, I actually danced) into the wee hours of the morning…..very fun.

Sunday morning, the majority of us met up back at Betsy’s for brunch and then a lot of the guys took off for home. Jim and I (and a handful of others) were staying until Monday, so we made Sunday our shopping day. The weather was fairly overcast (but not raining) so it was a perfect day for that. We bought some really great stuff and it was nice to spend some time alone. We got a few cool things for the baby-to-be, including an amazing ‘baby book’ that is made specifically for adopted kids and their families. We (of course) were both getting all teary reading it in the store, so we decided that it was something we HAD to have. We also bought a great piece of ‘art work’ for the nursery. It’s kind of hard to describe, but once it’s up I’ll take a picture of it. It’s essentially a ‘chain’ of six monkeys (made of colored metal), linked arm in arm that hang from the ceiling. Think of the ‘Barrel of Monkeys’ game, but they’re, flat, metal, and different colors. It’s very fun.
Sunday afternoon/evening was made up of more cocktails, dinner, and fun with friends.

Jim and I woke up early on Monday morning and left town fairly early. We did get stuck in traffic for a bit, but it wasn’t anything too severe. We picked up the dog (who was just as tired as us) and then headed home. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, doing laundry, grocery shopping, and then Jim made an awesome homemade Chicken Pad Thai for dinner. We watched HOUSE, and the finale of Ru Paul’s Drag Race…..the perfect end to a ‘near-perfect’ weekend.

Have a great day.

I’ll post some pictures either later today or tomorrow……really, I will.

Ready for a BRAWL!?!?

Happy Thursday everyone!
Actually, today is my Friday - since I'm off tomorrow and Monday.  In fact, I'm not back to work until Tuesday!!  WHAT?!?!?
I know...craziness.

Jim and I are heading down to P-Town for the weekend to kick-off the softball season.  The team I play on has a new sponsor - Bayside Betsy's in P-Town.  For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Bayside Betsy's is a GREAT restaurant located right on Commercial Street in Provincetown.  Next time you're there you should definitely check them out.
Our sponsor last year sold his business, leaving us 'sponsorless' :-( so during a trip to P-Town last year, one of my teammates (with the assistance of one of our league officers and a whole lot of vodka) approached the owners of Bayside Betsy's about sponsoring a team for the 2010 season.
They liked the idea and agreed to do it, so the Bayside Betsy's Brawlers were born.  (see the title of today's entry).  As a thank you to them, as well as the Crown and Anchor Inn (who also sponsor a softball team in our league) both my team and the Crown and Anchor Cats came up with the idea of hosting a mini softball tournament down there for the weekend.  There will be three teams from the Boston league, plus a bunch of random players (who I assume are going to throw together a team of their own) all getting together to play a bunch of games on Saturday afternoon.  We've pretty much taken all the rooms at the Crown and Anchor for the weekend, and we'll be showing our support (in the form of food and alcohol) at both Bayside Betsy's and the Crown and Anchor.
Needless to say, it should be a very fun weekend.

Have no fear....Scooter is getting a vacation of his own at his usual doggie daycare 'resort'.  They are VERY excited to have him for the weekend, and I'm sure that he will have a GREAT time as well.

On another note - have I mentioned lately how much Jim and I love the show 'Parenthood'?!?!  It's definitely one of my favorite shows that's currently on TV.  It is SOOOO good.

Last night, after my dentist appointment (no cavities!!!) I came home, had dinner, and then Jim and I watched a couple of 'Parenthood' episodes that we'd missed.  After we got caught up, we then watched a few episodes of 'Modern Family' that we'd DVR'd.  That's another show that is right up there as one of our favorites.  Very funny stuff.

OK, my friends.....have yourself a merry little weekend, and I'll be back soon with all sorts of P-Town and softball tales to tell....xoxo

P.S. - The completely random words highlighted in white don't have any significance.  It's just blogger trying to make me lose my mind, yet again. 

Reality slap...

Good morning everyone!!

Work is TOTALLY bringing me down these days, so for now I'm going to avoid discussing it here.
Who needs to listen to me complain?!?! 

RENT went out with a bang and I'm thrilled with the way the entire thing ended.  We had an excellent weekend of shows and the cast party on Sunday night was a rip-roarin' good time.
I'll miss doing the show, but I'm thrilled that I had the opportunity to do a show that I've been a fan of for so long, and if I may say so - it was a pretty darn good production! 

I had yesterday off, which was very nice - although I'm still battling my cold/allergies and feel like I've been hit by a truck.  I must look like it as well, since one of my co-workers commented on my 'baggage' this morning.  Truth be told, I have some 'slight' - ok, GIANT bags under my eyes in spite of getting a full night's sleep last night.
Oh well, I'll go to bed early tonight as well and hopefully that'll do the trick. 

Last night we had B, K, and {b} over for dinner, followed by a trip to the local ice cream shoppe. 
It was a lot of fun, and Scooter was THRILLED to have someone to play with, who never got tired of playing chase. :-)

As always, I must give photo credit to B, for her amazing work. 

Snow. Seriously?

Was it REALLY snowing this morning? Honestly?

Just when you thought it was safe to put away your woollies!!!

Thankfully we didn't get any 'real' snow down our way, but it was definitely sleeting when I was driving into work this morning, and it was C-O-L-D out.

Well, it's Friday and another week has come to an end.

This is my final week of performances. Only three more to go!

I'm sad to see it end, but I'm very excited to get my free time back, enjoy the warmer weather (assuming it actually arrives), and get into the softball season.

Of course, there's the underlying excitement that we could be getting 'the call' at any given moment, so there's that to look forward to.

I'm trying my best not to focus on that, but to keep it in the back of my mind so that I'm ready when it actually happens.
It's crazy-impossible to NOT think about it, but I can't let it take over my mind or I'll be going crazy waiting for it to happen.

Make sense? I think so. :-)

I'm very excited for the last few shows. In spite of my annoying cold, my voice seems to be holding up (fingers crossed!) and I know that the final few audiences will be filled with excited people and hopefully we'll keeping giving them a GREAT show.

Have an excellent weekend!!

xoxo

Work = Craziness

Hello everyone!!

Sorry I've been so lame in the blogging department, but work has REALLY picked up recently. That's kind of a good thing, because it's keeping me busy and making the days fly by, but it's not so great because it's keeping me from doing all the fun stuff I used to do when the days were slower. BOO!!

I can't complain though...they're paying me to work, so that's what I shall do!!!

The other night Jim and I had a GREAT time with B, K, and {b}.
We went to dinner and then went back to their place for a 'Congratulations on completing your home study' ice cream cake. It was a small one, so we decided that it only made sense to cut it into 4 equal parts. :-)
Needless to say, I was THRILLED. I'm a big fan of ice cream cake.

Off I go to the wonderful world of testing....hope you're all doing well.

Here some great shots from the other night....thanks to B!!

The final week approaches....

I know this blog has been 'RENT heavy' the past month or so, but since it's been pretty much the ONLY thing that I've been doing lately, did you really expect anything less?
I promise that once the show is over - a week from today - I will not be talking endlessly about RENT. Instead you'll be treated to the details of my day to day, non-RENT-focused, thrilling life.

That being said, we had a great weekend of shows. As I previously mentioned, we were on the radio Saturday afternoon, and it went INCREDIBLY well.
The crew at the radio station couldn't have been nicer and they seemed really thrilled to have us there. They did an amazing job with the sound, mixing, etc...and according to Jim, it was the best sounding live performance that he'd ever heard on the station before.
I've been battling a cold (I really don't think it's allergies) so my voice hasn't been all it should be - especially for the last two performances, but thankfully I've got three days before I have to sing again and I plan to keep my trap shut, keep my talking to a minimum, and not sing at all.
I'm also going to grab some cough medicine because that's what's really making me crazy at this point. I'm not that congested, but the cold is settling in my chest and all the coughing I'm doing can NOT be good for my voice.

My sister, brother-in-law, his parents, and my oldest niece all came to the show yesterday afternoon and loved it. Most people who have come to see me in the show comment on my role as the pastor. It's literally three lines, but they apparently make an impact. :-)
It's crazy that people always bring that part up, in spite of it being such a brief moment. Hey - I'm not complaining, at least it's making an impression!!!

Some annoying news - Jim got into a car accident on Saturday night. BOO!!
Thankfully, he wasn't hurt, but his car isn't drivable (yes, his BRAND NEW car) so until it's fixed, we're a one car family. He was lucky that it wasn't worse than it was, but the damage doesn't look to be too bad. It's mostly damage to the left-front part of the car - but I'm pretty sure it's going cost a lot to fix. Hopefully the insurance will take care of it. It wasn't Jim's fault at all, and I'm sure Jim's insurance company will go after the offender's company with a VENGANCE!!!
From the looks of it, he'll need an entirely new left-front panel, a new tire, new lights on that side, and unfortunately a new hood. Clearly, this is all me guessing, as I know NOTHING about car repair, but based on what's dented/damaged that's what I'm coming up with. :-) I'll keep you posted.
Again - thankfully he's fine and the damage is minimal.

On the adoption front, at this point we've received, reviewed, and approved the final homestudy document. Now that we've approved it, it needs to be approved by our social worker's boss, her boss, and then finally, the regional director.
Once we have all of those approvals, the homestudy can be circulated to the various offices when children become available.
That means that we are only a few signatures away from being 100% done and waiting. For the most part, Jim and I are already 'there' mentally - but in the back of my mind there's a little voice that keeps reminding me that we're still not 100% finished.
Until we get that final 'you're finished' phone call/message, I'm still preparing myself for anything.
I'll be sure and keep you all updated....no worries!

Happy Monday!
xoxo

Gimmie an "F"!!!

F-R-I-D-A-Y!!!!!

I’m happy that this (as we say in the Boston area) wicked long week has finally come to and end.

Last night was our 11h performance of RENT and it was very interesting, to say the least.
The man who plays lead guitar in the band is out all this week, so we had a sub come in and play for him.
Our musical director gave us a heads up that things would be different and he stressed the importance of us being on top of everything because things weren’t going to be exactly as we had been used to. Well, he was right!!! Things were different all over the place and for the most part, it went well. Personally, it didn’t really affect my ‘stuff’ because nothing I do (I’m referring to any solos or noticeable moments) is dependant on the lead guitar bringing me in.
All in all, the show went well and I’m 99.9% sure that the audience had no idea that there were a few ‘mis-steps’ throughout the performance.
Live theatre people – LIVE THEATRE!!!!

My very first theatre director came to see the show last night and REALLY liked it. I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about it, given that she’s a 76 year old woman, but I think she really had a great time. She ran a children’s theatre company for YEARS in the city I grew up in and my two best friends and I started taking her classes when we were 8 or 9. In fact, most of my close friends from those years (I did shows with her until I was about 14 or 15) I’m still in touch with to this day. It was great seeing her and she’s still as sassy as ever!!!

For anyone who’s interested, the cast of RENT will be performing tomorrow afternoon at 1pm – LIVE on WERS in Boston (88.9 FM). That’s the Emerson College radio station and every Saturday morning from 10am to 2pm they have a show called ‘Standing Room Only’ which broadcasts “the music of Broadway, and beyond”. I’ve been listening to that program every Saturday for as long as I can remember and I think it’s a great program. I recall SEVERAL times as a kid, sitting next to the radio, tape player in hand, recording the live performances. This was before I owned a radio with a built in tape deck….so I would literally sit there and hold my tape recorder as close to the radio as possible so I could record whatever they were playing that day. Now that’s some high quality recording, folks.
And I still have a bunch of those tapes. Just ask Jim. :-)
If you aren’t in the Boston area you can log onto www.wers.org and you can hear it that way.

Again – 1pm, WERS 88.9 FM or www.wers.orgI’m not sure what songs we’re singing yet, but I know it’s gonna be GREAT!!!

Have a super weekend everyone…..xoxo

Cold or Allergies? I LOVE a good mystery...

Happy Hump Day to one and all!!!

I'm a tad congested and have spent the past couple of days blowing my nose far too much for my enjoyment. Other than the stuffy nose and a few occasional coughs and sneezes, I feel just fine.
Give those facts and my EXTENSIVE medical background (sarcasm) - I'm guessing that I'm just battling allergies and not suffering from a cold.
Plus, Jim said it was allergies, so it must be true. :-)
I took some cold medicine this morning and already I feel much better and a WHOLE lot less congested. I'm very excited about that fact, given that I have 4 shows coming up over the next 4 days, and if I don't feel well, it won't be a very fun weekend.

Tonight I'm heading to softball practice and it's supposed to be SUPER nice out so I'm pretty excited about that.

Last night, Jim and I reviewed our home study.
That's right folks, the first draft of our home study is finished!!
Holy cow.
Our case worker sent it to us yesterday and we went through it last night. All in all, it's really quite good. We only had a few minor changes that we asked her to make, so hopefully it won't be an issue. She still has to add in the comments from my references, but once those are in she will be done!!

I was in hysterics when reading it because my best friend from college and I have a long standing private joke between the two of us about my class rank in high school. I'm always bringing up the fact that I graduated 7th in my class, and how that CLEARLY means that I'm wicked smart (really, that's not the case at all).
Well, I purposely mentioned it at one point in our family profile, and the case worker included it in the home study!! SO funny.

In other news, I got a corporate wide email this morning saying that they’re letting the leases expire on some of the company locations in Eastern MA – one of them being the building I work in. SO……it looks like I’ll be re-locating before the year is out. I’m not exactly sure which building, but I know it won’t be in Boston. I’m guessing it’ll be somewhere in the City of Presidents!!! GO TEAM!!!
Wherever I end up, it won’t be too bad I’m sure……change is good, right?!?!!?
;-)

Well, my peeps....I hope you're all doing well and enjoying some LOVELY Spring weather wherever you are.

Monday - Part 2

Here are the pictures from the weekend that I wanted to post:


Scooter - enjoying the sun



My sister and her family



My niece Victoria and I



THE HAM (16 pounds)



The nieces and nephew (on Jim's side)



Here's the YouTube video I mentioned as well. It's from the performance on Saturday night, and it's of Contact/I'll Cover You (Reprise). If you're looking for me, I'm all the way to the right, in the long coat and black, knit, hat. :-)

Monday - Part 1

Hey everyone!!

Just getting around to the blog after an AMAZING long weekend. :-)

Since I had Friday off, I slept in and then went to pick Jim up at work (he was done at noon). We headed to the South End for lunch and had a DELICIOUS lunch at Steph's On Tremont. It was our first time eating there and we were very happy with the food and the service. I'm not gonna lie - it ain't cheap. However, it was a beautiful day, we rarely go out for lunch, and we never go out to lunch on a week day…this was a rare occurrence people!
Anyway, after our yummy lunch, we headed home to do nothing and relax for a bit.
Jim napped and then took off to meet up with some friends….I headed off to RENT.
We had a great show that night, which is always a good thing.

Saturday morning I got up and headed into Boston for our first softball practice of the year. YAHOO!!! It was a beautiful day and a great way to kick of the softball season. I was a lil' rusty, but I'm certain that I'll be back to normal in no time at all. After practice, I met up with Jim at home, we had lunch and then went food shopping. After shopping, I watched a little TV (winding down time) and then once again, flew out the door to RENT. The show was VERY good on Saturday night and after the show we had a super-fun time at Steve's house (he's in the RENT band). Don’t worry, I was a very good boy and didn't stay too long.

On Easter morning, I got up to find that the Easter Bunny had paid us a visit some time in the night!!
Sweet.
In addition to all sorts of yummy treats (piss off Bob and Jillian, it’s a holiday) - I got a new car charger for my iPhone (the one I got for my birthday broke already...cheap piece o' crap), '2012' on blu-ray, and the GLEE Season 1 CD. Jim got some nice stuff, as did our spoiled pooch.....lots of treats for Scooter!!
We went to church (VERY nice service) and then headed to my sister's house for lunch. She had so much delicious food, and it was such a beautiful day, I didn't want to leave. BUT after we ate a lot of food :-) we went to Jim's sister's house for a while. We played an Easter trivia game that Jim's mother made up (it took her forever to make - it was a lot of fun) and visited with Jim's side of the family for a bit. After a while, we decided to go home and take care of our ignored doggie at home. We let him out, fed him, and then spent the rest of the night on the couch watching TV. It was a GREAT day.

Tonight we're meeting up with K & B for a long overdue dinner date. We have to get the scoop on what they're going to say about us to the adoption folks. ;-)
(K & B are listed as one of Jim's references) We heard from all the people we put down as references that they received the 'official' forms last week!!!
Another step closer.

I'll post some pictures from the weekend tonight when I get home.
Also - I've heard rumor that there's a video from our production of RENT on YouTube. If I find it 'worthy', I'll post it on here as well.

Have a great afternoon/evening!!!

April Fool's Day!!!

Let me just say - in general, I am not a fan. It has nothing to do with the fact that in my sophomore year of college two of my best friends got into my dorm room while I was at class and turned EVERYTHING in my room upside down. Boy, was I angry.
In hindsight, it's absolutely hysterical, but at the time I was SO mad.
Funny.
My biggest thing with April Fool's Day is that some people try so hard to be funny and all they are is annoying. I totally appreciate a GREAT April Fool's joke, and I always fall for something, and laugh my face off about it, but there are so many failed attempts that it just gets annoying.
Maybe this year will be different!?!?!

Also - if anyone decides to play a joke during the show tonight, I WILL lose it.
We had a show last year on April 1 and it was a joke-free night, so I'm confident that we'll be fine. Just putting it out there. :-)

Last night's trip with Jim's mom to 'Babies R Us' was SOOOO much fun.
We went through the store section by section and added a bunch of stuff to our registry. I remember way back, when we were registering before our wedding, how much fun it was (I can't believe it's been almost 5 years!!!) and last night was just as fun.
I love scanning all the products and seeing everything that's out there. It's AMAZING to me how much they make for babies. Granted, there's a lot of stuff that you just do not need - but there are some things that are SO fun, you just want to buy them.
At least two times I've had conversations with K & B that went a little something like this:

ME: So, we're at Babies R Us, and we see that they make ___________. Seriously, who the hell needs that??

K & B: Oh my GOD, those are the best things ever, you totally need to register for that.

ME: Oh......really?

And then they proceed to give 100 excellent reasons to back up their comment, none of which I ever thought of.

And THAT'S why you bring experienced friends/family with you the first time you go to start your baby registry.
Thanks again!!! :-)

OK everyone....RENT performance #8 tonight, and then I'm off tomorrow. If I don't get around to blogging, have a GREAT weekend!!!

xoxo