Dec 18, 2013

I worked for the music teacher at Lakeside today, and he was actually there for the morning so I went home and did some editing there since I could. I had to come back to cover ACI and then my one class of the day for music, but then I just hung out until he got back from what he was doing at the mall and I was out an hour and a half early. Not bad for a day's pay. I still managed to have to write up a kid though.

I went home after work to continue working on editing until I had finished all the photos! I did them exclusively in Lightroom this time, so I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet. I usually do a little editing in Photoshop, and I think I might want to go back and tweak some things with that. I burnt the disc and then put it in my laptop to check it, but it wouldn't read and then my computer would not start up. So now I have to deal with that.

I gave up on that problem and went up to Olive Garden in Deptford to meet Gaby for dinner. We did not have the best server, but he eventually redeemed himself at the end of the night. It was just hard getting him to bring us water. We had good foods and then we hung out in the area for a little while attempting to stay out of the cold. It was a fun night. I came home and had no luck with my computer, but I ended up being up late watching Burn Notice before finally getting to bed. At least I have a late start tomorrow.

Oct 19, 2011

Another trail run day at Silver Run. It was raining, but I wanted to run anyway so I put my iPhone in a bag and went out. The rain was refreshing at times, but it made the path slippery in some places. I almost slipped and fell down a hill at one of the steeper sections.

Later I picked up Leah and we went to Olive Garden. We've been talking about it for a long time so we finally went! We had a good time catching up and eating much pasta. I got something different and remembered why I don't get something different almost ever. Stick with what I know is good.

It was the "championship" or something at Applebee's Quizzo and we were apparently already in first place. We didn't even have to play to win it. We played our best and ended up taking second place (for the night, still #1 overall) after a lengthy tie-breaker round at the end. Yeah! We get.. nothing. We don't get anything.

At least we have a chance to go to Vegas! We'd have to pay for travel and lodging though. I think we'll just keep going to Quizzo in Jersey.

Oct 5, 2011

I worked in a resource room at Holly Heights, where I had a few students at a time come down for extra help work. They all did quite well with the assignments that were left for them. It was nice being able to work with a small group and actually be able to help them out. I was feeling super tired for some reason though.

After work I went up to meet Tracy at the Olive Garden for the never ending pasta bowl. I had angel hair with a mushroom roasted red pepper alfredo sauce. It was amazing. Our waitress was the coolest lady too. She was just super friendly and funny.

We got through two bowls each and then our waitress egged us on to get another one, just so we could take it home I'm pretty sure. She even packed up a couple of breadsticks in separate bags for each of us! So cool.

We went over to the mall after eating and I searched a bunch of stores for some new clothes. I'm really bad at shopping and I only ended up getting two shirts after trying on about ten in the same store. I did find a jacket I really liked but it was too pricy. After heading back, I felt like a walk so I could enjoy the amazing weather. It was a great night for one. All nights should be like that.

Jul 12, 2011

We got up, rolled up our sleeping bags and pillows, and got in the car to head back east. We stopped at Santiago's for a breakfast burrito first. Delicious. This is what GPS says about our drive.

There was nothing but fog for the first hour leaving Colorado. It cleared up and became a very nice day soon after.

Nebraska came quickly, but it was a very long state. As soon as we entered we saw a biplane dusting a field of crops. I thought there could be nothing more Nebraska-esque that we could have seen.

I suggested Olive Garden somewhere in the middle of the state and the nearest one wasn't for over a hundred miles. Then when we got to where it was supposed to be according to GPS we were in a field. Luckily, it wasn't too far away in downtown Lincoln so we got there and had our fill of pasta, breadsticks and soup.

The rest of the day and night was just straight driving. Iowa is surprisingly wide. It was a long ride through and I was determined to get to at least Indiana. It was quite a while after midnight when we got to Indiana and I almost felt like just driving straight through because I didn't feel so tired. For some reason, home seemed close. Indiana is close to Ohio, which is right next to PA, which is our neighboring state. Almost home right? That's how my mind made it seem. In any case, we stopped a commuter parking area off the turnpike and slept a few hours in the car.

Apr 1, 2011

I got a call for a half-day job at Lakeside. It was special ed, but it wasn't too bad. The students were all well-behaved and I went through a lesson about tsunamis that they all participated in. It was a happy surprise.

I came home and did some work before going to Olive Garden later with Leah. I got some kind of seafood stuff pasta that was really good. I think I have to go back to the old standard next time though. Olive Garden is so filling.

I went back to Westby and spent a few hours with Alex there working on the last of the photos for the publication. I left after a while and went to watch 30 Rock with Cait. We watched a good amount of episodes, but I could watch it all night.

The rest of my night before bed was spent watching Kevin Smith's "Too Fat for 40" Q & A at the Red Bank Theater. I wish I had gone to it. It was actually shorter than his other ones, but it was great.

Mar 9, 2011

I went to Westby for a while and worked on things and then ended up deciding to go to Olive Garden with Joanna. She got the old favorite, portobello ravioli, which I probably should have gotten as well because they were delicious. My seafood alfredo was good though. I was really craving pasta.

When we got back I met Kat to do a shoot. She had a couple of outfits and some wigs. She came prepared. We did a bunch with the first outfit and had some fun with it.

She changed her clothes and her wig and got more serious.. but not really. I think we got some good shots. I'd like to shoot outside with her sometime soon though.

The Cult of Print II opening was going on at High Street so I joined the crowd there for some snacks and chatting about the prints.

I had seen some of them before and I really liked Lindsey's new piece that she has been working on for a while now. It was a good time. I couldn't stay long for I had to answer trivia questions!

Oh, Reese's peanut butter pie, you're such a bad idea but so damn delicious. Quizzo was good and filled with treats, clearly. We didn't win.

I went to have some drinks with Kat, Steph, Ally and Zack after the game. We played beer bingo. It's played just how you think it is. We played Kings too, hence the little alien on my beer. I always forget to take him off.

Aliens make me sleepy.

Feb 11, 2011

I worked at Lakeside for a math class, where I had to give a test while the actual teacher came in and out of the classroom, usurping my authority regularly and leaving again so the students didn't want to listen to me. It was fun. After work I had a nice run because it was something close to warm outside.

I picked up Jess and we went to Olive Garden where there was a wait to get in. We sat at the bar and had some beers while we waited for our buzzer to go off.

We sat down and made our entree decisions and then commenced the next waiting game. I got the seafood alfredo, which I think is the first time in over a year that I've gotten anything besides the portobello raviolis when I've gone there. It was really good but I couldn't eat much of it after the breadsticks and soup. And the one really hot pepper from the salad.

We headed to Showboat in Atlantic City where we found a little bar and then we played some penny slots. I spent three bucks and had enough. Gambling doesn't really interest me anymore. Jess played a little longer and I just watched.

We went back to the bar and got some more drinks and people watched at the casino. It's probably the best place possible to do that.

It looks like Jess drank a lot but she really didn't. The first glasses were much smaller, which is why she needs two of her small hands to pick up the big glass.

Tracy and Tina were wandering through the casino so we called them over and they hung out and had a few drinks with us. I got a vanilla vodka and ginger ale, which I really liked. I like most things with ginger ale.

We went up to the House of Blues just a bit before Jimmy Eat World came out to "Bleed American" followed by "My Best Theory." It was a great opening followed by an amazing set of songs I didn't expect and some that I did. The crowd was almost totally still the whole show until they closed with "Sweetness." I guess they should have opened with it?

Even though the crowd was lame, the show was great. They always put on a great show and I was happy with the changes in the set list from the last time I saw them. When are they coming again?

Sep 30, 2010

I hurriedly read the paper I had to read for Hottle's class and wrote my response to it in the morning before getting to his class a little late. It turned out we weren't going to get to it today anyway so I didn't need it. Oh well. After that class I went to get food with Brian and we went to Hollybush so I could take shots of one of the statues that no one photographed. It looked like it would start raining at any moment but we made it back to Westby before that happened.

I started over on my website since my files were all gone. I used a different picture and I added a background to the computer instead of using the blank black screen. It makes more sense if it's supposed to be displaying something like it's on. I think the simple addition of the desktop background and the window displaying all of the content adds what was needed. Maybe it's good that I lost those files..

I went to GSA where we talked about upcoming events and then voted on the homecoming banner designs. I like this one. We talked about some of the terrible things that have happened over the past week involving teen suicides. It's easy to lose track of what's going on in the rest of the world when you're confined to a few places most of the time.

Heather and I went to Olive Garden after the meeting. I got the endless pasta bowl of course. Our waitress was pretty terrible. She took forever to come back to us and kept forgetting to bring things. We heard her apologizing to other tables as well for making them a mojito instead of a margarita. She was not having a good night. She was really nice, just not a good waitress. The food was good though and I had leftovers to bring home.

The rain got really bad on the way back to Rowan. We decided to go out in it once I put my phone inside so it didn't drown.

Heather got a little more into it than me. She really wanted to get soaked so she sat in puddles. It was fun to walk around barefoot around campus.

The rain was hard at times and slacked off now and then. I was hoping for a giant downpour which it didn't do for very long. I got some cool shots of the rain and reflections on the wet sidewalk. It was a lot of fun. Luckily I had dry clothes to change into after that.

Once I dried off and hung out for a while I went home and had work to do while I checked Subfinder for a job all night.

Aug 22, 2010

I got up surprisingly early for going to bed so late and we went to the restaurant next door to Jackie's place for breakfast. They made a tasty egg and cheese sandwich for me. It was actually a really good breakfast.

We walked around the city for a while since we had nothing much to do until I had to catch my bus. I grabbed a Jamba Juice for the road.. well, mostly for the wait in line until I got on the bus and then headed back to Philly.

Since I was going to a show anyway there was no reason to go home so I went to Olive Garden in center city for the endless pasta bowl. I was the guy sitting by himself at a restaurant. It wasn't really awkward at all.

I made it last even longer by ordering some tea after my two bowls of delicious pasta. I kind of enjoyed being by myself.

For the next two hours I went to Borders and sat there reading The Great Typo Hunt. It's about a guy who takes a road trip correcting typos and grammatical errors he finds on signs and in public. My kinda guy. And a good book.

I met up with Jess near the Trocadero and we went in with only a short wait before the Juliana Theory took the stage. They played some really old songs and some later material which was equally as good. It's funny how the songs I wasn't such a big fan of when they came out seem so good now that it's been years since I heard them.

They left the stage briefly and we were left to wait, excitedly for them to return and play the songs we really wanted to hear.

They came back out to the opening sounds of their album Emotion is Dead and played the entire thing straight through. "If I Told You This Was Killing Me.." was the highlight of course but they played everything amazingly right to the last rock-out ending to "You Always Say Goodnight." I missed them.

They left the stage and came out one last time to give us a third set of great songs! They played "DJ" and a few other gems before finally saying goodnight for real. It was a great last show. They really lived up to their reputation and left us with a good memory.

We drove home happy after seeing such a great show. It sucks that they'll never play again but I'm glad we got a great farewell.