***BIG CHANGES IN THE WORKS***

***BIG CHANGES IN THE WORKS***

Be sure to stay tuned to this blog over the next couple of weeks. There are some fundamental changes in the works for this blog.

December 22, 2008

Happy Holidays... no... I'm sorry, I say Merry Christmas.

Dear readers...

I once again find my self apologizing for being remarkably silent over the month of December. This is not a consequence of me having relatively nothing to say or leading a boring life but rather quite the opposite.

Given the approaching Christmas holiday I have been very busy buying and wrapping presents and going to all sorts of holiday gatherings. That has occupied a major chunk of my free time, while my job has also been very demanding. A massive push of work has occurred towards the end of the year as I am trying to fulfill several year end goals.

The good news is that I am on day 1 of a whole week of paid vacation! At the present moment in time, I am being generally lazy and watching the cold wind and blowing snow from my living room. Where the hell is that global warming everyone is talking about? Screw the polar bears... I want to be able to get a tan in January.

I am scheduled to travel to Buffalo tomorrow to visit with my family for the holidays. If you will be traveling, I do hope it goes smoothly.

I promise I will be more forthcoming with blog posts in the days to come!

~Glen

December 2, 2008

What is happening to the NFL!? Here comes a lil' dose of inner rage!

Packman Jones... Plaxico Burress... Michael Vick... Marshawn Lynch...

NFL players turned criminal!?

PLAXICO!!??? How the hell do you shoot your self in the leg with your own gun, turn your self in... then plan to plead "not guilty" to possessing said firearm? WTF!? So glad to hear the Giants are shelving this guy. I hope they outright release him by the end of the season... if he's not in jail (which he should be).

No doubt these guys are good players on the field. That's why they are making the millions that they are. But you would figure that with those millions they could afford to get involved in some lawful activities off the field as opposed to something completly off the wall like, oh, I don't know... dog fighting!

Is it my imagination, or is the Fox NFL pregame show sounding more and more like an episode of America's Most Wanted as they have to spend increasing amounts of time running down the list of player fines, suspensions and tangles with the law?

Honestly... what the hell is wrong with you people?

November 30, 2008

A moment of thanks.

So the last time I talked to you I decided that this blog was going on a diet. Since then I have not posted anything! There's no point in redirecting the subject matter of my blog if I don't continue to write.

I'll start off with bringing up that Thanksgiving has come and gone yet I made no mention of what I am thankful of. Given the current difficult economic times facing our nation, people are loosing their jobs, savings and retirement accounts are loosing value and homes are being foreclosed there is much I can be thankful for. I am lucky enough to have a job, health insurance, etc.

I am thankful for these things, however; in these times when you can lose your job and so on, there is something I am even more thankful of. Something that does not have the dollar amount value of a job, house or retirement account. Refer to this older blog post.

I am thankful for my family and friends. I am thankful to be blessed to have all of my grandparents with us and (relatively) healthy.

I know... that sounds incredibly corny. But in trying times when we are losing the things we place a monetary value on, things that are priceless and unable to lose during hard times take on a whole new value.

This is why above all I am thankful for my family and friends. It is their love that helps me appreciate and enjoy life when things are going well. Their support and encouragement also helps get me through the difficult times that life has.

O.K. That's enough sentimental blogging for the time being.

November 12, 2008

This blog is going on a diet!!!

By that I mean for at least one month, I am not going to discuss politics or the government. It has corrupted the pages of this blog for the past several posts as you can see. Let's hope I have the discipline to adhere to this diet.

Before it goes into effect though... you probably want to know my feelings towards the election outcome though. Even though (as you can probably tell) I voted for McCain, I am not "Mr. Bitter Conservative" today. I am actually pretty darn proud of the election. Our nation whom just 40-50 years ago considered segregation acceptable has overcome that and elected our first black (or African American/culturally diverse/*insert desired non-offensive politically correct term* here) president. I think it is wonderful to live in a nation where a man can rise up from a difficult upbringing and become our president regardless of the color of their skin. The key word to that statement is "our". He is our... America's President, regardless of weather you are democrat/republican, liberal/conservative, black/white, etc. He has been fairly elected as my President... as our President.

As such, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. It is up to him to lead me as a citizen of this great nation. It is up to him to do a great job or to completely screw it up. I sincerely hope it ends up being the former of the two.

What does not change in this situation are my beliefs and values. My beliefs and values have developed into some very strong, deep and meaningful things to me. The beauty of the American Constitution is that I have the freedom to disagree with Obama over the next 4 years if he governs in a way that is in opposition to my beliefs and values, but nonetheless, he will still be our President for the next 4 years. It is our duty as Americans to treat him as such.

Check out this blog post to get more of an idea for what I am talking about.

P.S. Congrats to whol ever ends up being the 1000th viewer of my blog! :-p

November 4, 2008

I am sorry readers... but I can't stop.

So I recently herd some feedback from some family members that I need to relax and start focusing my mind on something other than politics and news. HA! I wish it were that simple. If I had it my way, ignorance would be my day to day bliss.

I know I know... politics has become the obsession of this blog over the past couple of months. I am not alone in this either.

Why can't I stop thinking, learning and analyzing. It's just my nature. I like to know and learn everything I can about how things work (which is probably why I am a scientist).

September 11, 2001 changed me in a profound way. That historic event happened while I was a freshmen in college. During the months following, I was naturally drawn towards trying to understand this screwed up world in terms of history (where we have been and where we're heading), politics, religion and philosophy and what is right and just in the world. This experience shaped me in strong ways and influenced me to seek out knowledge through various courses I took during my years at Nazareth. Since then, I have continued to build on this by reading an endless pile of books and articles. I will probably never have all the answers by the time I die but there's no doubt I am going to die trying to find them!

So in closing... Historical election... *insert generic encouragement here* Exercise your right... *yada yada yada* Go vote...

BUT... if you are planning to go vote for McCain because he's not black or has a woman for VP , or planning to vote for Obama because he is black or stands for "hope"... do the country a favor and stay home. Don't even bother voting. If you are that ignorant... you have not yet earned the right to help guide our country by casting a balot.

October 23, 2008

Awesome!!!

I have to give props to my brother who has made his first break into the "blogosphere". He's writing a sports blog titled "Skiman Sports". Check it out.

I guess it's kind of like a sports talk radio show but on a blog. Nothing like a blog with a clear cut mission on subject matter... more than I can say about this mish-mash of random thoughts I put down here!

Perhaps following his discussions on sports will give me something else to think about other than current events, politics and the government.

October 22, 2008

What the hell is up with this blog lately???

As of late, the subject matter of my blog has turned primarily to politics and current events. Many of my deep thoughts and feelings regarding my world outlook have spilled over onto these pages. I certainly hope that the readers are not too judgemental towards my character if they do not agree with what they read.

Over the past year this blog has undergone constant growing pains as I have tried to figure out what to write about here. Sometimes I write about what I am doing in my personal life, what I am reading about, movies, photos, travels... and other times, it's politics and current events.

Right now my mind has been very much preoccupied with the elections and politics. As such, that's what the reader gets from me. It's not that I write to sway any opinions but rather to inform. I take pride in reading and learning as much as I can about how this screwed up complex world works. Because of this, every time I learn something new that is not common knowledge, I can not help but feel the need to get behind a podium and scream "HEY! Look at this! No one tells you about this! This is important!"

I would tell you that I would tone down the writings about current events, politics, the economy, etc., but it would be a lie.

October 10, 2008

Mr. Jones' Neighbor Rediscovers the American Dream.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty sad. As I thought more and more about the economic news of the past few weeks, some things began to become clear to me. Usually clarity brings about a sense of calmness and understanding, but what has become clear to me this time brought on only sadness.

The perilous state of our economy during the past few weeks has left many losing a great deal of their hard-earned wealth. This is manifesting its self in lost jobs, foreclosed homes, lack of available loans and lost value in retirement funds and savings.

I have a theory about what this could mean.

There is discussion now about the American Dream being lost. The dream is one of owning your own home, a nice car and having that well paying job that will propel you into a life of luxury. It is essentially the dream of keeping up with the family next door… keeping up with the Joneses. It is about having the bigger house, the greener lawn, driving the nicer car and going on the more exotic vacation than the Jones family next door. You work long hours of overtime at your high paying high stress job to fund the efforts to keep up with the Joneses. In the process you fail to notice your son growing up. You miss his little league games. He loses out on having an attentive father. Without the attention and motivation he needs from his parents... he drops out of high school, becomes addicted to drugs. Your daughter ends up getting pregnant as a teenager because her parents were never home. And since you are working so much, your wife is lonely and resorts to sleeping with Mr. Jones next door. While all this is happening, you are overtaken with impatience and greed on this quest and you manage to bury your self in tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt living beyond your means.

Now that the economy is sliding downhill, we as a nation stand to lose many of these things that we have so readily associated with the American Dream. Call this what you want... fate, coincidence or devine providence but our nation needs this. It is only then, when we have lost these material things, that we will learn as a nation what is of true value to us. Our families... husbands and wives, sons and daughters. Our friends. Our faith. The conversations and moments we share with the people we care about. Our freedoms as Americans! The things that we are blessed with that have little or no material value but are priceless to us.

It makes me so sad it nearly brings me to tears. How much are we going to have to lose as a nation before it is that we realize what we have?

October 7, 2008

My mind has been tied up with a few logical quandries at the moment.

O.K. I am so frikin fired up lately about the news! I have been struggling to wrap my head around it and learn about it enough to the point where I can understand it. Let's delve into it shall we.

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives voted on a $700 bailout for troubled assets. (How a country in trillions of dollars of debt can consider the idea of spending $700 billion of money that they don't have is beyond me... but that's another issue!) The House of Reps voted this bill down 228 to 205. They said it was a blank check, too much money and lacked oversight.

The House decided to send this bill to the Senate for further debate, revision and vote . They added about $150 billion in spending to the bill and voted for it 74 to 25.

The House of Reps then went ahead and... voted in support of this new bill totaling $850 billion dollars ( 263 yes/171 no).

WTF!? Do not think about the logic behind that for more than 5 minutes or else you will start to experience the symptoms of an anyerism and blood will shoot out of your ears. The human brain is not cabable of such things.

Secondly there is this story that is FINALY getting some attention:
The relationship between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers.

Now that's a bit of a lengthy article. Basically it presents a professional and political connection (not just a coincidental one as presented by the media) between Obama and Bill Ayers. Ayers being a domestic terrorist, founding member of the Weather Underground (Wikipedia that), having bombed the Pentagon, police stations and robed banks. He has never expressed regret for this. Actually... (as mentioned in the story) on the morning of September 11, 2001, New York Times published a profile about this man where he says he only wishes he blew up more buildings and planted more bombs!

If you don't want to read the article, watch this Anderson Cooper video clip. Keep in mind... this is coming from the rather liberal biased CNN and not the typically conservative FOX news network. (Trust me... you will be suprized.)

Now I am not advocating any one political party here... I'm advocating common sense.

Wouldn't common sense dictate that if a political candidate chose to work with someone who is a self admitted domestic terrorist, they are demonstrating a lack of good judgment? A lack of judgment that may not befit them for the position of the highest public office in the land?

I learned early on in life that you can judge a lot about a person by the friends that they keep. I learned that from my parents.

Cathartic... I feel better now. (Slightly.)

September 22, 2008

Suze Orman is an iddiot...

I have been meaning to blow off some steam regarding the recent near catastrophic meltdown of our nation's economy. I am not going to sugar coat it... things are bad. Things are very bad... for our country and banks. Not necessarily for every average American though. Admittedly we are all paying more for food and gas. It could be worse... 35% unemployment rate and actual soup lines (as in the Great Depression). But if you are smart about your money, you understand how to make financial sacrifices and be disciplined during tough times... do you really need that big screen LCD HDTV that you will be putting on your high interest credit card?

What ever you do, resist the urge to listen to "experts" like Suze Orman. She made an appearance on Lary King and said this (emphasis added):

King: Is this a good time to get into the market?

Orman: No. It's not a good time to get in with brand-new money. I would let these markets kind of wash themselves out. On the other hand, if you're investing in a 401k every month with small amounts of money, that's OK as long as you don't need the money for 10, 15, 20 years. If you just got an inheritance and you have $50,000, should you be putting it in the stock market now? Are you kidding? These are the markets that you just sit on the sidelines and wait on the sidelines and stay away from them until everything works out.
I am no CNN expert, but I do know this... even during the Great Depression the stock market posted an overall gain. And typically in the long term, the stock market delivers a 11% rate of return. So anytime is a good time to get in the stock market... so long as you are going to keep your money there for a while... not until tomorrow, or next month, or even next year. Try 5 to 10 years... or even better a 401k that you are not going to touch for 20 years! And if your 401k has lost a big chunk of its value due to the recent market troubles, and you were hoping to retire in a few years... FIRE your fund manager because they are too stupid to know that your investments should not be in such volatile places when it's so close to your retirement!

As I mentioned I am no CNN economic expert... actually, I am a chemist. But all you need to do (and these CNN experts should do the same) is learn a little history and basic economics.

Watch this video here and get some real advice about what to do about your economic situation. I have been reading this guy's blog for a while. Smart guy... he's no CNN expert though. I( think that's a good thing.)

Breathe in... breathe out... just be smart... everything is going to be alright.

September 14, 2008

I'm likin' a lot of things right now.

I'm likin' the fact that the football season is upon us. I also like the fact that for the first time since 2005 the Bills have opened their season 2-0. NICE!

I'm likin' the beautiful mid-September weather. The weather has been very nice here in Rochester. It has been a very humid, almost tropical day today. Certainly a tough day to run a marathon or half marathon. Chris, my roommate, competed in the half marathon and said the conditions were pretty difficult with a relatively high humidity. Again, I felt rather dissappointed that my body has fallen apart halfway through my training. I have already set my sights on next year. I'm not giving up.

The weather for next weekend is looking good as well. Hopefully it will remain good enough for some golf and wine touring.

I am also likin' that for the second time in 2 weekends I went out on both Friday and Saturday night. Friday night it was to "The Old Toad" for some drinks in celebration of Tim defending his MS thesis. Since Tim was in town (he lives near Boston at the moment) we went out again on Saturday night to "Oxfords". I guess it is nice when you have a job, money and time to actually go out at night on the weekends.

I'm likin' it all right now. :-)

September 8, 2008

So much knowledge to injest!

Any casual reader of this blog has probably noticed the box on the left or right listing my most recent reads. I'm always reading something. What ever I end up reading usually prompts me to ask more questions and seek out a new book recommended by the first book, or a book with an opposing view-point.

It is a vicious cycle that I somehow got involved in and have no means of escaping from until I read every piece of knowledge in the world! O.K. That end does not seam feasible... but that's not going to stop me from trying.

Here's what I have my head buried in at the moment.

The Lore of Running - This book by Tim Noakes is the fourth edition about... you guessed it, the sport of running. It is no light read. It is an exhaustively thorough book on pretty much every aspect of the sport. It is over 900 pages long! I embarked upon this long literary journey in an effort to solve some of the health problems that have plagued my training this summer. I figured that if I can't run, I can certainly learn new things about it and prepare my self mentally for running again. To date I have covered all of Part I and am almost 300 pages into it.

1776 - By David McCullough. "1776" is about George Washington and the American Revolution. I was prompted to read this book by my viewing of the John Adams mini-series and the fact that it belongs to my roomate and was on the book shelf in our living room. I had later learned that the mini-series is based on the autobiography of John Adams also written by McCullough. So now I have another book to read! You now see my problem with these peskey books.

The Federalist Papers - This series of articles (85 all together) was written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. In keeping with the theme of patriotism, the American Rrevolution and the founding fathers, I decided to get into absorbing these as well. The essays advocate the adoption of the constitution and discuss how it should be implemented and interpreted. I have chosen to take this one in as an audio book. It is much easier to do this while on my way to work in the morning rather than finding time to sit down and read them.

The 2008 Democratic and Republican Party Platform - Once again, in keeping with the themes of patriotism and politics I have taken the initiative to read the platforms of both political parties as we lead up to the elections this year. I think it's important to have an understanding of what may happen to our great nation over the next several months. What can I say? I am a junkie for politics and history.

So this is one of the many reasons why I have been silent over the past few weeks.
Peskey books. :-)

August 28, 2008

I've ben scoped!

So I have been blessed with a lovely stomach that hates me lately! If you recall some of my recent posts where I describe how I almost canceled my planned trip to the Outer Banks due to some serious stomach pains. I have already gone through an esophagram, which involved ingestion of copious amounts of chalky white liquid. That gave no indication of any problem.

Today I had a new experience ahead of me. Gastroscopy. This involves sedating the patient and inserting a tube with a camera down my esophagus, into my stomach and the upper part of my small intestine. What ever sedation they gave me seemed to knock me out pretty well. I vaguely remember gaging slightly as they inserted the tube then the next thing I recall was being wheeled out of the room as the nurse told me I was done. All I could think was... "What are you talking about, you didn't do anything!". After sedative wore off, I felt fine. Just a little tipsy, like I had drank one too many beers. Having not eaten breakfast this morning I was starving, so Brad (who drove me to the appointment) and I went to Denny's where I got a big breakfast (eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, hash browns and pancakes) where I proceeded to eat it all without leaving a single crumb on my plates. (!!!)

I have since felt a little tired but have experienced no pain what so ever. And to think, I was worried about how this would go! Let's hope they can figure out what the problem is now.

August 22, 2008

Time to get back to reality... even if I have to be dragged kicking and screaming!

Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be for me to get in the car tomorrow morning? It's not the long drive that will be discouraging me. Rich will be joining me to help out with a portion of it.

Can you guess why I don't want to jump in that car tomorrow morning?
Could it be the sun... the sand... the salty spray of the sea...
The crashing waves... the new friends I made?

I have a feeling it is a little bit of all of those things.
:-)
Nonetheless, back to reality.

August 21, 2008

Kickin it in the OBX!

I am sitting here in the third floor living room of our incredibly luxurious beach house in the Outer banks of North Carolina. I look to my left out the window and see the waters of the Pamlico Sound separating the North Carolina mainland from Hatteras Island. I look to my right and see the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. (!!!) I promise pictures of this will soon follow. :-)

I am counting my blessings that I am here because my stomach has not been cooperative in the least. With no apparent reason (other than perhaps a fair amount of stress), I woke up Tuesday morning with some nasty stomach pains (again!) just below my sternum. The same thing happened again yesterday and to a lesser extent today. But it's OK because it is only preventing me from getting a full night of sleep, running, eating properly and enjoying any sort of beer with my friends here. But who needs those things to enjoy life!

I may end up having to cut this trip short if these symptoms persist. I hope not though because I kind of like it here. Any doctors out there please feel free to interject with diagnoses and suggestions.

August 18, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday to... this blog! (Note the counter at the bottom of the page! ;-)

I know it sounds lame but it is a big deal for me as I have been particularly lazy with things like this in the past. So let's look at my stats:

66 posts in the past year
Averaging out to 1.27 posts per week...
Which is about one post every 5.5 days.
577 total page views with...
66% unique views
34% repeat views
Averaging 1.6 views a day.

Not too much comments and feedback though. I still encourage my readers to do so as the feedback will keep me engaged. I promise my readers that I will do what I can to improve my stats in the coming year! For now here's a picture of my blog on it's first birthday.

Right now I am at a minimum for time as I am preparing for a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina during the second half of the week. (!!!) I have never been there. Due to some unexpected twists and turns in my life (which I may or may not disclose at a later date), I will be departing for my trip tomorow night instead of waiting until Wednesday morning. If all goes according to plan, I will be on the beach by early afternoon on Wednesday.

I will keep you posted.

August 14, 2008

Godspeed... to Jon-Boar-the-Man-Whore.

The day has finally arived where my friend Jon has left the greater Rochester area to attend law school in Topeka, Kansas. This is a sad sad moment for me as he is one of the people in a foursome of friends whom since college are affectionately referred to as "The Four Drunken Horsemen of the Apocalypse". Emily has also referred to Jon as "my boyfriend" on more than one occasion. I and Jon too reluctantly admit... Jon is my confidant and non-homosexual non-gay lover. (Thanks for being a good sport and not too jealous all these years Emily!)

So this is a continuing and troubling problem for me over the past few years. My friends have this habit of moving away. If only I was not so comfortable here, I might move away as well. The whole technology thing allows us to keep in touch much easier than before (ahem... facebook), but it sucks not having as many familiar people to hang out with on a whim. And the roommate I live with... let's just say that the apartment we share is more like a big closet where he keeps his things rather than a place where he lives as he is rarely here when I am.

So, what is a guy in his mid-twenties to do with him self and his free time? It is times like this when I (almost) miss the constant ongoing demand of graduate school. Always something to be done. If only I was not so comfortable all the time with spending time occupying my self alone. No joke, a book, a couple of netflix DVD's and a little bit of playstation3 and I am all set. Is it possible that I have forgotten how to get out and make new friends?

Life is definitely different when you are out of school and in a working world full of routine!

July 29, 2008

Running... remember? It was that thing I used to do.

Recently it seems my running has dropped off nearly completely. A few weeks ago I had a nasty experience of vomiting, depleted electrolytes and possibly some mild dehydration following a 13 mile run. In the days following that run my legs were fine. No aches, pains or soreness at all. What gave me continued problems was my stomach.

Back when I was a sophomore in college I was diagnosed with acid reflux and GERD (I forget now what stands for). Prescription medications calmed my stomach down over the following year. I went off the medication and for a couple of years I was fine with only sporadic incidents of heartburn.

More recently, in the beginning of June I actually came down with a severe case of stomach flu (should have wrote about that during my unexplained June hiatus) that involved lots of vomiting and a trip to the emergency room to replace the fluids I lost via IV. Ever since then my stomach has not calmed down. I have been waking up in the morning with heartburn having eaten nothing before bed the night before. The pain has sometimes continued through the day. I also end up feeling nauseous about half way through eating breakfast, which limits how much I can eat.

The doctors are sending me in for some tests because I do not have the typical risk factors for such problems they are observing. This all has me fairly discouraged. If I can't eat it is difficult for me to refuel and replenish my body. I don't know how to safely replace electrolytes without aggravating my stomach. Gatoraid may have been responsible for setting off my stomach at the completion of that 13 mile run.

Anyway, it feels like I am just making excuses for my self. I need to get out of this rut and get some discipline back again. I have already counted my self out of the Rochester marathon because I have not been able to log the essential mileage for racing such a distance.

Perhaps discussing such things in an open public forum will force me to get my ass in gear.

July 26, 2008

We're on a road to nowhere.

Greetings!

I am traveling on a road to nowhere for this weekend because for once I am not traveling somewhere. During the past three weekends in July I have traveled to Buffalo for my cousin's wedding (see the picture from the previous post) and traveled to the Thousand Islands for a weekend getaway at a cottage my parents rented. Most recently, my travels have culminated with Emily and I circumnavigating Canandagua Lake, tasting wines along the way and staying at a Bed and Breakfast on the way. Is it any wonder I am content with doing NOTHING this weekend!?

So let's start with the wedding of my cousin Matt and his now wife, Emily.

The wedding went very well. It was on the fifth of July which meant hot weather. It was fine that it was hot because the reception was held outside.
I can't remember the place where they had the wedding but I do remember that Emily and I thought it was very nice and had great food. Not like we were taking notes on wedding ideas or anything. ;-) It was also nice to see my brother and his girlfriend that weekend, (and my parents and family too).
As it turns out, Emily and I would be seeing my brother and his girlfriend and my parents at the cottage in the Thousand Islands again the following weekend. You would think I would have gotten sick of them, but we managed to avoid getting on each other's nerves (for the most part). It's hard to get on people's nerves when you are in such a relaxing and beautiful area of New York. I would love to share pictures, but unfortunately my camera seems to be undergoing some malfunctions preventing me from removing pictures. (GRRRR!)

The only thing that marred that trip was a little rain on Sunday and the fact that following a 13 mile run I did up there I ended up getting sick with some vomiting and a mild depletion of my electrolytes. To much protest from my family and Emily I have since went back to a doctor to figure out what is wrong with my stomach. I have a history of acid reflux problems for some reason. Right now it is continuing to make it difficult to run. I'll fill you in on that more later.
Last week, Emily and I went on a trip in which we circumnavigated Canandagua Lake. We stopped at wineries along the way for tastings and pictures. Above is the mansion at Sonenberg gardens.
The gardens were nice even though there was not too much in bloom. It was very HOT! Within the gardens were a few statues that oddly looked like they were peeing into fountains. There was also a fair amount of unclothed statues.Ain't she a stinker! ;-)

Here is a beautiful but hazy view from the southern end of Canandagua Lake. Even though I was reluctant to spend a night at a Bed and Breakfast I enjoyed it a great deal. It was very relaxing and an interesting experience to socialize with the other couples (most of whom were older and getting away from their children). I wouldn't mind doing it again actually.

So you now see why I have been silent through the month of July.

July 8, 2008

Hmmmm... maybe I should consider shopping for a ring.

Yeah... that's my girlfriend in the sexy black dress plucking the bouquet out of the air at my cousin's wedding. Ehhh... maybe she is hinting at something. ;-)

Congratulations Matt and Emily, I wish you many happy years to come in married life.

July 4, 2008

There's no better way to celebrate yourr nation's independence than by blowing up a small part of it! (With fireworks of course)

So I am averaging about one post per month. Those stats are not so good! I have had some requests from friends to keep posting the random adventures and experiences we have been having. With the summer months upon us, my continued training for the marathon and my new job it's hard to find time to write.

Recently I had to say goodbye to my friends Erin and Tim who left Rochester to search for jobs in Boston. I wish them the best luck in that. Now I have more reason than ever to post since a few more friends are now out of town.

Today I just want to wish everyone a happy Independence day and encourage you all to reflect upon the great country that our courageous founding fathers have created 232 years ago today. I certainly hope you don't take on the unamerican attitude of this bastard who to my amazement published this article in a Philadelphia newspaper.

Sorry about that... I just had to inject some of my recent inner rage.

June 4, 2008

Speaking of running!

I started training for my first marathon today!

Now that I have finally run my first race of the running season, I have some baseline to establish my training schedule off of. Things started with a simple 5 mile tempo run. :-)

The marathon I am planning on running is the Preferred Care Rochester Marathon.

In other news, my new job is still rather slow. I have not been assigned any projects for me to take off with. I feel like I am still just trying to prove my self and demonstrate that I have all the skills to take on responsibility. I have not screwed up... yet.

Nonetheless... life is good.

May 26, 2008

It's been a long time running

It's been quite a while since I have sat down and wrote anything meaningful here. There is good reason for that.

The month of May has been incredibly busy for me. In that time, Emily has graduated from Nazareth, Jeremy (my brother) has graduated from Cazenovia and I graduated from RIT (just this past Friday). That's three consecutive weekends of graduations and travels for me!

All three experiences were very special to me. It was a great feeling to see Emily and Jeremy walk across that stage to get their diplomas. I am incredibly proud of them both. My graduation was quite an experience as well. I was very thankful to have my grandparents there. In addition to the congratulations extended to me, my commencement was a great opportunity to express my thanks for the hard work from all the professors that I had the opportunity to work with and the friends and family that supported me throughout the whole process.

I also started my job with Johnson and Johnson. The job is enjoyable so far. All I have done in the first few weeks are read training documents (a rather boring process). This week however I am done with my training and will be starting to work in the lab doing more hands-on activities.

So as you can see, the past few months have been busy for me. Now that things are calming down, life should be much less stressful and enjoyable.

I will keep you posted!

May 20, 2008

As promised... New Orleans from my lens.

I promised... here is a recap of my trip to New Orleans in photo form!

Upon landing at Louis Armstrong International Airport, the A.C.S. aranged for this band of musicians playing "When the Saints go Marching In" and other popular New Orleans style jazz songs for all the arriving chemists.
Sidd and I stayed at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel. Located right on the corner of Canal and Bourbon Street.
Apparently hotel rooms in New Orleans come with their own beads! Beads are everywhere in the French Quarter. It's not just a Mardi Gras thing!The French Quarter is in great shape considering how badly damaged the city was from hurricane Katrina. However in the rest of the city there are numerous hotels, strip-malls and plazas under construction or awaiting construction. This is what appears to be a multi-story office building with all the windows blown out awaiting renovation. This is just outside the French quarter... and you can tell that the neighborhood quickly turns a bit more dangerous in those areas!
Here's the River Walk along the banks of the Mississippi River. It was pretty unique to see such a busy port city like New Orleans at work. Huge ships were constantly traveling up and down the river.
On Tuesday I had the opportunity to get together with my former professors from Nazareth at Cafe Beignet. It was here where I had my first experience eating beignets!I took a break to visit the National World War II Museum.

And Sidd and I enjoyed more beignets at Cafe Dumond.

We also presented posters and gave talks at the conference... it was not all eating great food, listening to good music and having fun!

April 16, 2008

Yes... even very busy graduate students follow politics.

I second that... the democrats are destroying themselves. That's the extent of my political commentary for the day.

Thank you.

April 13, 2008

Where's the pause button for this thing called "life"? WHAT? It doesn't even come with an instruction manual!

O.K. I am going to take a short bit of time to write to my readers here... if I even have any at all!!! (?) As a matter of fact, if you are reading this post a comment... just a simple one word remark. Comments always keep me motivated to write more.

I returned from New Orleans on Friday evening leaving behind 80° temperatures for the cold 40's that western New York has to offer. It flat out sucks, but I see blue skies out side my window and hear birds chirping. It makes me happy to know that Spring (and eventually the warm Summer sun) is on its way. (P.S. Thanks to Em for the airport pickup!)

I took many pictures of my adventure in New Orleans and I promise I will put a few of my favorites up. Returning from this trip I have felt rather overwhelmed and tired instead of invigorated and recharged. Typically attending an ACS conference makes me feel very motivated but things have been happening one after another lately that the stress is catching up to me.

In six days I can begin to move into my new apartment and in ten days I must provide a final version of my thesis with suggested revisions and edits for final approval of my committee. My efforts towards running and training have taken a bit of a hit since I left for New Orleans too. I need to get things in order for my new job that starts on May 1 as well.

Life seems so serious right now!

Oh well... take it one day at a time I guess!

April 5, 2008

I have survived... and made it to D-Day +4.

I SURVIVED! I am referring of course to my thesis defense. I succeeded in delivering a great talk that my committee enjoyed (though I thought it was lackluster at best). I faired well in the 2 hours of cross examination and critiquing that followed. I received a large mass of recommended thesis revisions and now have until April 21 to get it all in order. The whole ordeal was very exhausting and I am glad it is over.

I may have won that "battle", but the "war" still wages on. in the days that followed my defense I took Wednesday off (completely... leaving all paperwork at my office and going no where near it) and then I hastily prepared to present my research findings at the ACS national conference in New Orleans... which is where I am writing this!
Here's a picture of me on the River Walk in New Orleans by the Mississippi River. It's the first time I have seen it... and she's a mighty river I tell ya!
This is a picture of "The Spanish Plaza" (Sidd admiring the fountain). A few minutes before I took that picture we witnessed a guy go down on one knee and propose to his girlfriend... no joke! (She said yes and received applause from the passers by.)And of course, what would New Orleans be without a trip down Bourbon Street. Pretty damn cool how they let you walk right down the middle of the street (all car traffic is blocked off at night) from bar to bar with open alcoholic beverages! Sidd and I are fitting in very nicely.

This is going to be a fun week! Hopefully I will be able to keep you all posted as to what's going on. Wish me luck for my talk on Thursday!

March 31, 2008

Tomorrow is my D-day.

Recently I have been watching a few parts of "The Band of Brothers" mini-series. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this mini-series tells the stories of "Easy Company" of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. I have been particularly interested in Part 1 which shows the extreme rigorous training these soldiers went through and their anxiousness to participate in the impending Normandy Invasion (A.K.A D-Day). I feel a great inspiration from learning about stories like this.

Tomorrow I defend my Masters Thesis. I feel that I can relate to the anxiousness of the "Easy Company" soldiers given my own experience with the past 2 years of intense preparation for this event.

I know my experience is NO COMPARISON to these brave soldiers, many of whom lost their lives. But I gain solace in the idea that far more discomforting things have happened to many who have come before me and achieved even greater things than I.

The late nights with few hours of sleep, the heart-burn inducing stress, the seclusion from friends and family, hours upon hours of homework and reading articles... it's all a cake walk compared to the sacrifices others have made.

When considering things this way, I think I will do just fine tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

March 24, 2008

Happy Easter... and WTF is a swieconka basket!?

I do hope that everyone who celebrated Easter had a good one. Mine was unseasonably cold!


I took the opportunity to make my own swieconka (pronounced sh-ve-yen-sohn-ka) basket to be blessed on the Saturday before Easter! For all of those who are unfamiliar, that is a Polish Easter tradition that my family has participated in for as far back as I can remember. What is involved? Well, some polish sausage to start (left). Then a butter lamb, some oranges, rye bread, hard boiled eggs and placzek (cinnamon bread coffee cake in this case).

Throw it all in a basket, cover it with a cloth and it's all ready for the priest to bless it. When that is said and done, set aside in the refrigerator. Come Easter morning you wake up, find your chocolate bunnies and Easter baskets and enjoy your swieconka basket for breakfast. Mmmmm... yummy!
I spent the holiday with Emily and her family. She enjoyed the swieconka basket tradition that I shared with her. We pretty much ate our selves sick with ham, potatoes, fruit, carrots and deserts. Look how Emily pretty much tired her self out from all the fun and eating (below). I think it was a good holiday even though we both were kind of miserable for having to do school work all weekend.
She's going to kill me for posting this picture! ;-)

March 21, 2008

The zen of being a graduate student.

So in my day to day wandering of the myriad of knowledge (and trash) the internet has to offer I stumbled upon this page listing rules that will help you live more like a Zen monk. I used to be into Zen meditation and practicing mindfulness in my day to day activities but over the past few years I have gradually gotten away from it. I blame it on the fact that I have been a graduate student because graduate school life is pretty much the antithesis of the life of a Zen monk.

Allow me to elaborate. Here's the list from the site referenced above:

  1. Do one thing at a time.
  2. Do it slowly and deliberately.
  3. Do it completely.
  4. Do less.
  5. Put space between things.
  6. Develop rituals.
  7. Designate time for certain things.
  8. Devote time to sitting.
  9. Smile and serve others.
  10. Make cleaning and cooking become meditation.
  11. Think about what is necessary.
  12. Live simply.

Let's re-work this for graduate students:

  1. Do at least 3 or more things at once. As a graduate student, multi-tasking is a way of life. Run at least 2 reactions while writing up results and reading a paper. If ever you are only doing one task... there is always something else you can find to be done. Do this as much as possible.
  2. Do everything as quickly as possible. The set of experiments you are currently working on... well, your adviser needed the results for those yesterday even though he assigned the task to you today. Unless you know how to slow time down (or go back in time all together) speed is the key!
  3. Do switch tasks and pursue tangents in research regularly. You will never manage to fully complete a set of experiments without stumbling across some bizarre finding or new question that will requite you to shift your focus and pursue a whole new set of experiments. If you ever do manage to fully complete a set of experiments… you likely did them wrong.
  4. Do MORE. Pretty self explanatory, even for a lowly graduate student.
  5. Put space between things... to do more things. So your NMR will take about an hour to run… set up a new experiment in the mean time. So you have a few hours until your reaction runs to completion… work through that pile of data on your desk. So your TGA will take all night to run… sleep while it’s running. (O.K. that last one it silly because you should not be sleeping while running an instrument… you should be running a second instrument!)
  6. Develop [bizarre] rituals. If wearing your lucky lab coat, hopping on one foot three times and saying a prayer to the chemistry Gods before starting a reaction will insure a higher yield or better result in your experiment, go for it… just be sure to write those procedures up accurately in your notebook.
  7. Designate time for research tasks only. Eat, sleep, and drink research. You only have time in the day for research… do not set aside time to clean your apartment, make your self dinner, spend time with friends, eating breakfast, leisure reading, etc.
  8. Avoid sitting at all costs. Why sit when you can be standing in front of your hood setting up another experiment, or standing in front of an instrument gathering data? As a matter of fact… remove all chairs from your lab space and even get rid of the one in front of your desk. They are unnecessary.
  9. Maintain a consistent frown and scowl. You are a graduate student, have been for years and you will continue to be for seemingly endless years… you have nothing to be happy about. Even when an experiment works… frown and scowl because you still do not understand what the result means.
  10. Make cleaning glassware meditation. Unless of course you can pawn the job off on the undergraduate working underneath you in the lab. In that case take the newly freed up time to do another experiment.
  11. Think about what is necessary [research]. Do not be caught thinking about what you are going to do over the holiday weekend, or when you will get to go out for a beer with your friends, or when you will be able to go out and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather… because all of those things are unnecessary and will be supplanted by research.
  12. Live simply... because you have no choice. You get paid a yearly stipend… stipend is a Latin word that means you live off of Raman noodles and peanut butter sandwiches in a one room mold infested studio crap-shack apartment, wearing old out of style clothing and drive a rusted out sedan with +150,000 miles on it, a passenger door that does not open and it strangely smells of rotten cheese. You don’t need anything more than that (well… you get your notebook and laboratory space too).

March 19, 2008

"Life is just one damned thing after another.” (according to Elbert Hubbard)

Yeah... I think he was on to something.

So here I am looking pretty exhausted. My "thesis beard" is coming in pretty nicely. What is a "thesis beard" you ask? Well, when all you do for a couple of weeks is sit in front of a computer and write about the work that has consumed your day to day life for the past 2 years you begin to neglect the unnecessary things in life.

For instance, there's no time and energy for shaving these days (hence the unkempt facial hair). When you open your kitchen cupboards all you have left is a few packages of Raman noodles, oatmeal and a bottle of mustard because you don't have time or energy for grocery shopping (and you actually try to consider ways to combine those ingredients into something edible). Laundry... well, that only gets done when you are down to one last pair of boxers, that last pair of socks with the holes in just one of them and the shirt you never wear because it has a distinctly visible stain on the front of it (and even then you are thinking that it would be O.K. to wear that outfit just one more day).

Yep... this is the life I chose as a graduate student. Funny they never included this in the brochure.

***Also... I will have you know that upon the request of a friend I turned off the moderator feature for posting comments on this blog. Now as soon as you post a comment it will be visible on the blog. Let's hope that this does not allow for spam to be posted all over the place now (f&$g SPAMMERS!).

March 10, 2008

Oh great! Something else for the church to make me feel guilty about.

I doubt anyone really heard about this gem of a news story because later in the day everything was overshadowed by allegations of NYS governor Eliot Spitzer being involved in a prostitution ring (!!! yeah... that one really took me by surprise), but did anyone hear about the new modern 7 deadly sins proclaimed by the Catholic church?

Click here and here to read more about it.

The new list of the 7 deadly sins are as follows:
  1. Genetic modification.
  2. Human experimentations.
  3. Polluting the environment.
  4. Social injustice.
  5. Causing poverty.
  6. Financial gluttony.
  7. Taking drugs.
(The bold items I have particular problem with.)

It is things like this that cause me to have problems with the Catholic Church. I want to be clear that it is the Church I have problem with and not the Religion. The Church is run by man who is fallible and subject to political and social influence in order to establish Church doctrine as they see fit.

When I go to church on Sunday am I supposed to feel guilty now because I do not drive a hybrid car? Am I suposed to feel guilty because I am a scientist and believe that human experimentation and genetic modification has lead to advances that have helped improve the quality of life for millions of people? Am I supposed to feel guilty because I am working hard and have a job and am financially well off?

Hmmm... honestly, I don't think I am going to lose a wink of sleep over it.

I'm sorry Pope... I still believe in God and the Religion, but your Church is not going to have this sheep amidst its flock.

March 5, 2008

Wishes for goodwill and happiness from friends and family on my 25th birthday.

An e-birthday card sent to me from Jon with the following message, "The card says it all..."

He he he.

Thanks for the greetings and kind words on my birthday everyone!

March 4, 2008

Ohhhhh... the life of a graduate student as the gears grind on.

I think I found my new favorite website to go to for procrastination. They have this amazingly funny (and sad to say... all too true!) comic strip about graduate school. I can certainly relate to much of the topics. The strip above caught my eye because I did the same thing my self!

I can also relate to these comics because RIT is in its second day of its spring break yet I have barely even noticed. All I have done on these two days is put in long full days of research in the lab just like any other day as the gears continue unrelentingly to grind onwards.

March 1, 2008

VIDEO COMPLEMENTS OF PAT CONDELL: "More demands from Islam"

I have a desire to share this. I am not going to deal with accusations of me being a hate-monger or racist so I am not going to state my opinions on this piece but I encourage you to form your own opinions.

February 26, 2008

Problems with coil springs on 2002 Ford Taurus Cars? I hear ya... please read this!

(For the information about the coil springs... skip the next few paragraphs.)

Wow... it has been SO long since I have last written something here. You must accept my deepest apologies as I have been quite busy these days. The clock is ticking as I have the deadline of my thesis defense a little over a month away. My thesis is a little less than a half written and I still have a few lingering experiments to do! Every ounce of my energy right now is going into completing this goal. Not to mention, I have been trying to fit in a job search while all of this is going on!

Since my last post, I have celebrated Valentines day with Emily by exchanging gifts and making a home made pizza dinner. We also went out to dinner the day after to The Crystal Barn. This restaurant has been on our list for quite some time. VERY fancy place that we both enjoyed. Then I took a trip back to Buffalo to my parents house. That's where the story of my life gets a bit interesting...

Once again I am put into a position where I can use this blog as a "virtual soap box" to shout out to the world regarding a problem that must be fixed. That problem is the factory installed front coil springs on 2002 Ford Taurus automobiles.

While backing my 2002 Taurus out of a parking spot in my driveway I noticed that the car was making some odd sounds and not backing up normally. I thought I was stuck in the snow in the driveway so I looked at my tires. I discovered that the front driver side tire was completely flat and pretty badly damaged. Later I found out that the front driver side coil spring broke and punctured the tire. You can see a nice chunk of the spring in the picture below. You can also see a rather large gash in the tire from where the spring punctured it and did damage when I backed up. Thank goodness that this did not occur while I was driving at highway speed as I was planning to do while traveling later that afternoon!



Well... after replacing both front coil springs, both front tires and the front sway bar on the drivers side the repair bill totaled over $500 (including labor). That's quite a chunk of change!

It gets worse. To add insult to injury it turns out that this problem is not uncommon with my type of car. (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C) A recall has been issued for Taurus model years 1999 to 2001. The dealer told me they could do nothing to help.

Well, I have saved all my receipts and filed a complaint with the NHTSA. I urge everyone out there who has googled "2002 ford Taurus" and "coil spring" and ended up here to take the actions I have taken. If enough people complain about this problem, Ford will likely extend the recall to the 2002 model year. Let's just hope it does not take a family on a highway getting killed in an accident from this malfunction.

Needless to say, I have lost much of my faith in Ford automobiles as this is the third problem that I have been told by mechanics is common for Ford Taurus automobiles. I will NOT be buying a Ford again until they can demonstrate to me that they are making a higher quality product.

February 7, 2008

The inner rage is welling up over this one!

I am a little pissed and I need to write about this while I am fired up!

Apparently there is some recent controversy over the online encyclopedia website wikipedia.org for showing pictorial representations of Muhammad in their entry for the Islamic faith. Check out this short New York Times Article. The article cites over 80,000 people (over 100,000 at the time I wrote this) have signed a petition for removal of images... most remaining anonymous. Pictorial representations of the Prophet Muhammad are forbidden in the religion of Islam

Wikipedia has politely refused to give in to political correctness in this case because they are a neutral unbiased organization that does not give into specific requests from specific groups.

My response...

GOOD!

The last time I checked... Muslims do not run the world (thank goodness) nor do they control the imagery that all other people are allowed to look at. This may be against your [Islam's] religious beliefs but not necessarily those of the rest of the world. Political correctness is going to destroy us if we let it get out of hand. WIKIPEDIA... DO NOT GIVE IN! STICK TO YOUR GUNS ON THIS DECISION!

February 4, 2008

BART: ...this is exactly what Dad said would happen. LISA: Yeah, Dad was right... HOMER: I know, kids. I'm scared too!

O.K. When I make crazy off the wall predictions like this... THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO COME TRUE! I am a little scared.

But I have to wish Eli mad props for the complete upset victory. Way to be an inspiration to underdogs everywhere. How in the hell did Eli Manning escape the Patriots linebackers closing in the pocket to unleash that throw to David Tyree... and even more so, how did Tyree even catch that!?! My jaw literally dropped when I witnessed that play.

While this was all going down, Tim was sure to stuff all of our faces with our own body weight worth of deep fried chicken wing goodness. With the big group of friends from RIT's chemistry department that was there, I barely even paid any attention to the stupid commercials because we were all socializing so much.

And the half time show... as I previously mentioned, we replaced that with an intense "Dr. Mario" tournament. So unfortunately *sarcasm* we all did not hear a single note uttered from Tom Petty's mouth. No one seemed disappointed. The Dr. Mario tournament bracket was set up, started at half time and we finished it off after the game came to an end. I managed to come out of the first round with a solid victory. I proceeded to defeat Matt in the second round to move on to the final round. There I found my self down 2 matches to 0 in a best of 5. So I hung in there and kept at it... won 2 more matches to bring it down to one final winer takes all match. I was just about to pull an Eli Manning like come from behind upset... when Max finished me off!

Truly I have been bested by a Dr. Mario great.

All of that together shaped up to make, in my mind, the best Super Bowl ever!

January 29, 2008

My "Zero Hour" has been set in stone.

At last week's group meeting for the Smith research group at RIT, my adviser (Tom Smith) started the meeting by listing off the string of dates that the department seminars will be held on. He then looked directly at Sidd and my self and said that those department seminars will include the thesis defense talks of this year's round of MS candidates (that's us).

*Deer in the headlights look on my face*

Tom now addressing me: "Glen I am looking for you to defend sometime in the beginning of April. What do you think? That would be either April 1 or April 15."

*Deer frozen in headlights with trembling legs*

Me: "Uhhhhh... ummmmm... I suppose that could work. Yes."

Tom: "So what date would you prefer."

*Semi-truck bearing down on frozen deer!*

Me: "Uhhhh... I'll have to think about it!"

Tom: "O.K. You let me know soon."

*RUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!*
*Narrowly escaping passing semi*

So the weekend came, and motivated by the feeling of being scared to death over how soon this is coming, I began to write my thesis on Saturday! And after sleeping on it a few nights, I decided to set my defense date at *drum roll please* April 1.

So there it is. My "Zero Hour" has been set.

WOW! I have SO MUCH to do to prepare!