BootyJarvis

"It's not about the...

2007-05-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

It's about connections!"

I was looking at my very last post, around 18 months ago. It was one of the last few times I hung out with my best friend, and it was so long ago. After I left Brown, I learned how the abundant human connections that exist in college are more fleeting in the "real world". At college, I could walk into a stranger's open room and talk about the deepest philosophical issues just after I said "hi, I'm Jahi".

After I graduated, my Master's year made me feel like a ghost in the place where my old life was. The environment was the same, the old people were all gone. Then Georgia... six months after I got there I started to meet new people, a year after that I was gone, some people to not see again for a long time.

Now back to New England. The environment is familiar but the old faces are still gone. The best friend who I last blogged about won't be the same short drive away in a matter of months.

And the 5-year reunion is coming up. What will that be? A reconnection or a reminder of lost connections? The thing about college's fleeting, abundant connections is that it can't really be maintained in the real world... a few conversations in with some people can reveal what would become the "sticking points" if you stayed connected for longer: this one's a homophobe, that one's a little crazy, whatever it is, the instant human connectivity in college is where it is, and the post-college world is another story. Well, Brown will bring some of us back, and we'll see what happens.

And today, Happy Hour.

A very observant coworker realized that we needed to connect with each other outside the increasing stress of work. So we're 5 weeks into a recurring Thursday Happy Hour. It's nice, it does make us all feel a little better. 11 pm and I'm just getting back, can't be all that bad.

And a friend who left work before she could say goodbye to everyone got to see the people she couldn't because of Happy Hour. I wouldn't have said friend before the last week or so, but here's the thing: while college may make people feel more personally connected than they really are, a "job" environment does the opposite. Mostly, that sucks. But in this case, it's nice to find someone who you can call a friend you didn't know you had.

And I have a connection that I made for life. It's been a little while since I gave her the ring to tell her what we already knew. And soon, we can tell everyone else what they already know when we get married. But let me say out loud, Medical Internship is a reaaaaaaal bitch. I miss her, even when she's around, because she's so neck-deep in what she's doing. At the same time that I wish she didn't have to go through what she did, I wish I could be that dedicated to my work... or that I could be going through what she is with her.

Sooner or later, she'll have more time. I'll see her more than I do now, and we can spend more time with each other. I hope that when I make connections with people in the future, I'll remember what it feels like to lack connection.

I felt very sober a few minutes ago...

2005-11-06T05:13:00.000-08:00

I began the night with a quiet dinner with my parents in a western style roadhouse/bar/restaurant in Paterson, with food that was heavy but good. The only odd part was the Bulgarian singing that erupted halfway through our meal, as part of the private party that encompassed the whole place before we even got through our appetizers. The younger kids ran, the teens and young adults danced, and the uncles drank from bottles held by champaigne buckets and communed on whatever common events were worth speaking of. Very similar to any ethnic family event, except those uncles were drinking bottles of Johnny Walker Black Whiskey out of those champaigne buckets, instead of champaigne. And they were throwing down.

After that, it was on my way to NYC for a night out.

If any of you have been out drinking (oh! scandal!!), you know that a serious event during a night of drinking can call you out of your stupor and into action... it's commonly termed as a "sobering event."

Well a sobering event has come and gone for me, and interestingly enough, the sober feeling went away just as soon as things calmed down. It wasn't really that big a deal: we were riding the subway home in NYC after a night of drinking and my friend started to demonstrate that he wasn't feeling so good due to the amount of liquor he had... all over his seat and all over just about everything in a 5 foot radius.

Me, sitting four feet away, decided to stand and get a little distance from him to keep my jeans from getting in worse shape. We got off the train to give him a chance to get away from the motion sickness that caused the train-wide disturbance. I was quickly handed his keys and sent to the next train, and asked to wait at the apartment. Now this wouldn't be that big a deal if I lived in NYC, or if I hadn't left my cel phone home in Jersey. But hey, I'm a worrier, so I went to his apartment with the keys in hand, no way to contact him, and with just time to keep me company. A few minutes after I came in safe and sound, he did too, although not feeling good at all. My buddy is fast asleep now, and hopefully his hangover won't be too painful. I wish the same for me too, though I think it's less likely I'll have a headache in the morning than him. That being said, I won't be sober for a few hours, I'm sure.

So, to conclude:

Sobering events don't necessarily sober you up.

Beer before liquor, never been sicker.

And lastly, stand clear of a guy who's feeling a little queasy on the train after a few chocolate margaritas.

My best friend: here's to a night we'll be able to laugh about in a matter of hours.

The new DSL is up

2005-10-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

So that I can blog more often, starting...

any minute now...

hold your breath while I keep surfing NewEgg, Pricewatch, CompUSA and Froogle for my new desktop

P.S., I lost my freakin blog index!! Did you know that if it's blank you can't see the blog at all? WTF??!!?

P.P.S., I thought I lost the index because I tried to publish without word verification, but that doesn't seem to be it...

Tang Fu

2005-09-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

My wrestling years in high school had me in great shape, but I was in the best shape when I was wrestling team captain and training for my Black Belt at the same time. Now, two years without going to a single martial arts class, two years of a desk job, and two years of southern fried living have gotten me in real soggy shape.

Today was my first Tang Soo Do class since I left Providence. I am hurtin' and it's only been about 3 hours. Tomorrow is gonna absolutely suck... and the next day won't be any better.

I was in the pizza shop after class wearing my work shirt and shoes with my martial arts pants. I thought I looked dumb, but my girlfriend said I looked pimp.

Pooty-Tang Soo Do? Somebody make that on photoshop for me, I'm too lazy.

One more on Martial Arts: if you haven't seen "The One," just skip to a few parts: Evil Jet Li beating up cops with motorcycles; Jason "Transporter" Statham explaining the more academic parts of The Multiverse; Delory Lindo's dope acting (black actor = death scene halfway through) and Jet Li vs. Jet Li. That last fight is frickin poetry. Jet Li is the most talented practitioner that I have seen of a Chinese martial art... who is alive today, that is. He moves like a steel noodle.

Bedtime ... 5 days to Puerto Rico, cannot wait!

Weird, Weirder, Weirdest

2005-09-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

From www.fark.com today:

"Grandmothers decide that they will end the fashion of hoodie swearshirts and baseball caps by wearing it themselves, making it uncool by default"

The opposite of cool: Grandmother of six Mari Savage and other senior friends in Margate, England, began a campaign this summer to wear hooded sweatshirts and baseball caps, in order to discourage teenagers from dressing that way, which Savage believes encourages gang behavior. Said Savage, to the Daily Telegraph, ''Once older people like us get hold of [these garments], they lose all their street cred.'' - Compiled by Chuck Shepherd

So whats the weirdest part of this story:

A: She is actually trying to make hoodies & baseball caps uncool by wearing them herself.

B: She believes wearing hooded sweatshirts encourages gang behavior.

C: She uses the phrase "street cred".

I think "A" is the strangest but "B" actually pisses me off a bit. I'm tired of upper genrations confusing effects and causes when it comes to youth. I used to wear Discus hoodies in the mid-90's, and I'm not beyond throwing a hoodie on these days. I once had a mean old uncle, who's no longer in the family, who told me I looked like a common Paterson hoodlum while I was wearing one. Never mind my Honor Roll status since 1st grade, never mind not judging a book by its cover. To this, I replied, "well, a hoodlum is a universal thing, there's really nothing specific about a Paterson one. Why would I look like a Paterson hoodlum?" In context, I was sending two messages:

1: What the hell is wrong with Paterson, just because you moved your family out, the town ain't worth a damn?

2: You're being assinine.

That shut him up. My parents like that one, and so did my grandma. They let us dress however we wanted as long as we didn't show off our boxers, stay out late or mess up in school. I have a level of respect for all older folks, but the ones I respect the most are the ones that see beyond their fear of what's different when it comes to those who grow up after them.

Those grannies should be careful of what fashion trends they fight: hoodies are mad comfortable, and there's nothing like a baseball cap for a bad hair(-piece?) day!

PR Post

2005-09-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Providence...

Is once again graced by my greatness. My corporate whoredom continues for my company, this time in the Rhode Island division. I'm currently living in temp housing provided by said corporate pimps, and loving it very much. It's downtown and the Providence Place Mall is practically in my backyard... until the end of September. The apartment hunt begins.

Pri & Me...

are long distance no more. When I first got here, it took some adjusting, but things are as close to everyday bliss as can be in the real world. I'll leave the blissful musings for the unfortunate close friends of mine who have to listen to my sappy ass.

Public Relations debacle...

for The Red Cross, Kanye West and the Katrina situation. If you don't know about this, google will inform you... just search any combination of "Kanye West Bush Katrina Red Cross" etc.

... pause while you do the knowledge on your google page...

I have a good deal of sympathy for Kanye's position, but as usual, a bold, raw, public statement has brought a crashing wave of idiotic commentary from all directions.

I can't pretend to put together a balanced, intelligent commentary on the situation, but it brings to mind a few things.

I had the chance to go to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center with Reef before leaving the ATL, and it was a different experience than my previous visits, because he is very keen on depth over breadth. We actually skipped a building so that we could do more justice to the rest of the center, which I appreciated in the end. Something that stuck with me is the last cause proposed by Dr. King before his death, that of helping the poor of all ethnicities. Racial violence can sometimes be opposed by legal means, and there are many occasions where the law helps. When you are trying to convince people to question their prejudices, you can appeal to their better nature, their humanity... but you are dealing with improving the financial situation of people, you have to ask folks to give up some of their financial superiority, which is something they are not often ready to do.

"George Bush does not care about Black people"... yes, there is lots of truth to that, but this is not just affecting Black people. Katrina may have been a real bitch, but she wasn't racist. People who have need to help those who don't -- Bush to Blacks, Rich to Poor... and not just with money.

I talk too much.

PUERTO RICOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

SAN JUAN, BITCHES! WE GOIN!!! This will be my first Caribbean vacation, first trip to the island where my mother was born. I'm open to advice about where to go, what to do. I'll have to tell ya'll some more later, I'm going to Borders to look up some books on the island, so I know what to see.

Emotionally Spent

2005-07-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

It's been almost two years since I left my comfort zone, AKA the Northeast, for the betterment of my career. When I arrived, I was excited about my job, looking forward to my first solo apartment, eager to make a good impression on everybody. I knew from the start it would not be easy-- no friends, a total newbie to this and any full-time biomedical engineering job, and worst of all, huge amounts of distance between me and those I love... and the one I love. Still, I was, and am, full of perseverance and drive.

But now that I'm so close to the end of this stay in Atlanta, I feel like a car that's falling apart as it crosses the finish line. No, nothing specific in my life is falling apart, but I am feeling mentally run down, less capable, not functioning to my full potential. I'm accomplishing little to nothing at work and at home right now. I try to stop my mind from being 100% occupied by my return to Rhode Island. Less than 72 hours left, and less than two days of work.

Maybe you know this from your own life, but distance in relationships is not easy. Also, its effect is not simple. Some may think that it's a big weight that you carry, and if it doesn't break both of you, it will make you stronger. It's more sinister than that: distance will clue you in to the little things that you need to do better. The way it wears on you will change every day. Physical distance can show you when you make emotional distance happen. I've got a very strong person who has been weathering it with me, and I think it has made us both stronger. Now, as that distance goes away, I want the chance to show her how strong I can be for her when I'm there with her.

These last few days have been interesting in terms of my interactions with people. When I left friends in Prov, it was a "c'ya later" for the most part, even to those who I might never see again. Saying goodbye hits me totally different right now. I've just potentially said my final farewells (in person at least) to many people who I've known since I came here; they are people who have helped me hold it together and enjoy my time, and they stopped me from dwelling on the things I could have dwelled on constantly. Some of the interactions were small, some weren't, but I will miss them all.

Going back will not be like taking the same space I had when I left. That space has changed, and so have I. I'm not feeling as confident as I remember, but hopefully that will change soon. I know more than I did. I want to stay in touch with as much of what I've learned and as many of who I've met as I can. I know this is the best thing for me. I can barely wait.

Blog Discipline

2005-07-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

I have none, I know. Long time no post. A lot's goin down right now. Let's see the list:

OL' BIDNESS:

I flew alot. Why?
I need a vacation.
Laptop?

NEW HOTNESS:

I HAVE A JOB IN RHODE ISLAND!!!

That pretty much says it all. Big life changes on the way, and it's only looking up. One more week in GA, with a lot to do before then, both at work and at home. I'll be back at y'all soon...

Interesting night at the local watering hole

2005-06-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

Some definitions for you:

‘Neck is my favorite abbreviation for the expression “Redneck”.

BOHICA: "Bend over, here it comes again".

Now, what’s interesting is that “local” here really means the next 5 town east, southeast and northeast of here, because apparently this is one of the only good places to get a drink and act a fool after work (check out mapquest again to see just how far Covington is away from Atlanta… I can’t stress this fact enough). Because it’s the local “watering hole” for so many nearby towns, you get a lot of interesting folks there.. including 'Necks.

Me? I didn’t feel like cooking, that’s the reason I was there for dinner. Aside from providing liquor, the place happens to be a fairly solid Italian Café, by Covington standards. I found out the guy sitting next to me worked at the local hospital where I had my birth-witnessing experience. Before that C-section, I told him, I saw another procedure where two docs were doing prostate surgery (performed near a man’s naughty bits and bunghole). I told the guy about an anesthesiologist who walked in, in the middle of the sugery, to ask the docs “how the BOHICA boys were doin’?”… it was him. I just didn’t remember the face. I told him my story of going to Rhode Island, leaving Rhode Island and possibly going back to Rhode Island to be with my lady, part of which goes like this:

I’m a Senior at Brown in Biomedical Engineering in 2001. Midway through the year, my girlfriend asks me WTF I’m gonna do with my life, as in, she needs to know for us to go on. Scary shit. I decide I’m not ready for working life or a PhD, so I get a Masters. Then I graduate from the Masters in Biomed. Engin, part of a strengthened relationship due to my decisiveness, a little wiser than before, but not yet employed.

I go to a charity dinner with a friend and make an unlikely networking contact that lands my resume in the hands of a very powerful, sharp corporate CEO. He hands that resume off to his Rhode Island and Georgia Divisions. The RI division has nothing; the GA division has two possible jobs. I get an offer for one. I turn down a lab tech position at RI Hospital on the advisement of my girlfriend: the one who loves me to death and I have spent almost every day with for five years is the one who supports my leaving for the sake of my career. She stays strong and sheds not one tear as my dad and I pull the U-Haul away. She told me later on those tears would come, as they did for me. I come to Georgia and begin my career.

Now you all know me a little better. Back to the bar:

My bar friend hears the extra brief version of this and also how I may be headed back (you’ll get that one later). This 50-odd year doctor happens to be a huge Alanis Morrisette Fan, and a world traveler. He loves music; he used to keep burned copies of his CDs in the car til he got an Ipod; then he gave all the CDs to the bartener, Seth. I’m talking music and medicine and life and drinks with Seth and the Anesthesiologist for hours, because I’m stuck at the bar. Why am I stuck at the bar? Seth’s generousity:

6:20 pm* Newcastle draft at Happy Hour price
6:30 I order another Newcastle at H. H. price but I ask Seth to bring it along in ten minutes
6:35 Seth brings me his favorite shot, a “Sex with an Alligator”. Tasty.
6:45 Seth lets me try Terrapin draft. I change my mind and get a Terrapin instead of a Newcastle as my second and last beer.
7:00 We are talking drinks, specifically the Mind Eraser, when Seth brings me and the anesthesiologist each one, that we drink.
7:15 I tell him the one he gave is different than the one I know. He makes the one I know and no one is “available” to drink it but me.
7:30 Drunk. Drunk-dialed girlfriend and a friend.
8:00 Drunk as a Skunk. (The mind-eraser takes time to hit me, as it should).

*All times approximate due to the alchohol

I decide to get the phone number for a cab just in case. Two of my favorite quotes about drinking and driving:

1. A cab’s always cheaper than a DUI
2. “But officer, I thought about taking a cab!” (© Drunk ‘Neck guy mentioned below)

From 9-10:30, I hang out and play electronic bar trivia games with an accountant for a rope-making company (!?!?!!?!?!?!) and Seth’s wife. Most bar trivia machines show naked ladies once it gets a little late, FYI. I’m ready to go by 10:30, finally just sober enough to drive the 2 miles to my place. By then there are some ‘Necks who’ve been there since before I got there and are borderline-raucous (as in showing their underwear to the server). Seth makes their last Yager-bombs with slightly smaller Yager shots than the previous ones, another sign of a good bartender in my eyes. I say my goodbyes and make it home in time to blog before bed.

I have a bittersweet feeling about random meetings with cool people. Every good bar in the world has that group of people that know each other by name and will welcome you in as if they knew you forever. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t even need to be a bar. A coffee shop, a library, whatever, it’s the healthy mingling of a gathering place with people who are truly welcoming. You can get that feeling with people you will never see again in your life. What’s more, there are millions of those interactions that you’ll never even touch. Those are the two facts of life that make it so bittersweet to me. So much good in the world that will be untapped. But at the least, it means you can never run out. There’s always new places to find where you can leave your predispositions and worries behind over a drink (or five) a book, a mocha-foam latte thingy or whatever’s your pleasure.

Bless me, Father Internet, for I have sinned…

2005-06-19T23:26:00.000-07:00

It has been weeks since my last blog entry.

[At this point, the small collective of close friends and bored internet junkies who read this, serving as the E-Priest for my confession, would probably slam the window shut on me, call me a N00B and tell me to fcuk off.]

I always want to publish something as soon as I think about it, but I spend so much time crafting the posts. So here’s what I want to hit y’all off with over the next couple days, and I’ll get to it when I get to it:

-How I got to Georgia, career-wise
-How that career situation is hopefully changing very soon
-The near-dozen plane trips I’ve taken recently and the why's behind them, and
-The search for a nice, not-too-expensive vacation with my lady.
-What ever happened to that laptop at the beginning of my blog?

Plus I’d like to put up some links for my interests and music and stuff. Can’t wait to find out my interests? Well you will have to, so fcuk off.

Just kidding, stick around. I need the company. Send me an angry message if you think you’re waiting too long for me to post the five potentially boring tales mentioned above.

BE

2005-05-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

My brother:

"Check out the title track on Common's new album."

Two days go by before I get to peep it. Two days wasted. I am now listening to it for the 5th time or so as I respond back to my brother:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! THIS SHIT IS BANANABONKERS!!!!!"

And this one's for the folks who don't know my brother or Common. I got an interesting Houston Chronicle article when I googled to find some info to share with my blog-reading friends.

But back to this BANANABONKERS track!! Common has always said things that make me stop and rewind. My girlfriend, bless her heart, listened to me go on about the importance of artists like this for a while before I got off my raving. If I really get into it right now, I'll probably have to go to work without any sleep. Suffice to say that Common provides a message without sacrificing skill. Some artists lapse on what they are trying to say in order to exhibit skill or a keep a groove going in their song. Common is on a different level: no, I wouldn't give a perfect 10 to every song from his albums, but I do respect that he doesnt falter on his expression. It's not just a drive to say something positive, it's just his expression. "I just wanna be..." that's what he leaves us with at the end of this track.

But I haven't even talked about the SONG! the song, the song, the SONG!! It's so musical, the bass and the strings, I'm sure that's Kanye's doing. I could listen to this groove ride on instrumental for a long time, but the music is just the gravy. I really almost posted the lyrics here, and I'd love to, but go hear the track before you ruin it by reading them. Hit up yahoo Launch! or CDNow or something, you don't even have to buy it to hear a sample, though you should. I'm loving this moment because it the rest of the album doesn't matter right now: I've never heard an album where every track is the best; there may be a better track on it. All I know is that this is brand new to me now and it's hot; there's a highly unlikely chance that the record is trash, maybe I grow tired of this song, whatever, but none of that matters now, because this moment, when it's new and dope, and it's telling you so many vital things that you can't hope to catch everything it can offer, is one of the defining reasons why we have music.

Wow, that was the short version. I'll tell you how the rest of the album is after I get it.

Country-Ass Roads in the C.O.V.

2005-05-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

The town of Covington in Newton County is a place that probably has a very different history from the cities I grew up around. I hear that the apartment complex where I live was farmland just a few decades ago. Back then, they say Atlanta was a much smaller town that was far, far away from Newton County’s residents. Now, Newton County is one of the fastest growing counties in the country. The development and urbanization scares some of the folks around here – there was a local politician who made his campaign slogan “Let’s keep Atlanta in Atlanta!”

Wow. I could tirade for hours about the ultra-conservative, racist undertones to a statement like that, but I leave that to another post, or to my commenters. From my view, Covington still has a character to it that you cannot get in a more developed place, like the sprawling city that lies within I-285, 35 miles west of me.

I’ve never minded long drives with no destination or direction; it usually gets me lost temporarily, then allows me to prevent myself from getting lost in the same area later on. I inherited my grandmother’s car two years ago when she passed on; I was still in Providence at the time; I was lazy about getting my driver’s license because of the public transit in the northeast and the thought that I would never get a car until I could afford one. Most of my aimless driving trips have been in Covington, Atlanta and in between, but my first was in Providence; I drove through providence, Pawtucket, and another town I can’t remember before I ended up in Cumberland. Hungry and lost, I ate lunch at a family Portuguese restaurant, found some directions back to the highway and made it back to Prov. just in time for a staged “chance meeting” to quickly greet my girlfriend’s parents before they headed to the airport. That meeting and the history behind it are also worth a separate post.

Back to aimless driving, no longer in Prov., now in Cov. The roads here wind and meander through middle-of-nowhere areas and into your town square; they can pretty quickly take you into the next town's square and into the next county before you notice. If you’ve lived and driven in a city all your life, it’s very interesting. Signs are less abundant since the roads are for the locals whose best road guide is their memory. You can’t get directions without someone referencing the local church or some other story-worthy landmark. And trees… trees, trees and more trees. The trees give you a comfortable feeling of solitude in your car without making you feel boxed in. The music that goes best with these country road drives is stuff that comes from this type of geography. Without me telling it to, my Ipod seems to spit out “American Pie” by Don MacLean or some Nappy Roots when I’m on these drives, listening to my library on shuffle.

I’m sure that my writing turns something very exciting for me into something boring and random for you to read, but take this away if nothing else: grab some good music, and your phone, or some other form of emergency communication (you will get lost if you do this right), and go on a drive with no particular destination. See what you see, and let me know how it feels.

Serrated Innuendos and Book Riding

2005-05-20T05:23:00.000-07:00

*Until I come up with something good for each person, I’ll come up with whatever nickname for my closest friends and fam until something sticks for each one. Friends, apologies if they come off deeply lame.

The topic of discussion over lunch: “Fashion Nugget” by Cake . Some of you have never heard of them, some of you heard them in Grade School or High School. As usual, I am somewhere in between. My playlist will generally consist of odd cominations like Boot Camp Click and Audioslave; A Tribe Called Quest and Vanessa Carlton; Etc, etc. I grew up listening to mostly Hip Hop and my favorite Hip Hop is from my teen years. Now I’m discovering other music that other people have known about forever. My musical tastes are now a bit eclectic: I’m like a spurned urban 14-year-old boy, or a poetry writing suburban 14 year old girl. I guess I’m a punk 14-year-old either way.

Anyway, Cake – The song is “Italian Leather Sofa” and it’s rife with innuendo. Is this particular part innuendo?

She’s got a serrated edge, that she moves back and forth,
It’s such a simple device; she doesn’t have to use force,
When she gets what she wants, she puts the rest on the shelf,
In a ZipLock Baaaaaaaag… in the freezer.

Weird band, lots of fun.

*Bar-Chemist Coworker Buddy: Well it could be, but I’m afraid to say for what.
Me: Uh… well, its not violent…
Buddy: Yea. Ok…
Me: Ok, we know what it is.

My girlfriend saw the innuendo too, then commented:

*GF/Future Healer: And what about that other song [“Open Book”], “She’s riding, she’s riding, she’s riding a novel…”
Me (amused): That’s “writing” a novel, babe.
GF: Ah hah! I wondered what the hell she was doing with that book.

I love the girl.

WWW (What a Work Week) for BootyJarvis

2005-05-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

An experienced blogging friend of mine told me to update my site at least once a week, even if it’s just unpremeditated brain farts and ramblings. Maybe a few things happened this week that are worth mentioning:

Monday, Two idiotic exchanges in about 30 seconds:

Coworker, from across the hall: “Hey!”
Me: “Good Morning!”
Coworker: “How’s it going?”
Me: “Good!”
Coworker: “Good!”
Me: “Good!”

?!!??!?!!?

My manager, walking down the hall: “Good morning”
Me: “How’s it going?”
Manager: “Getting ready to head out of here [for the airport]”
Me: “Well let me know if you need to … let me know anything before you go”
Manager: “Thanks.”

Remind me not to speak to anyone before I’ve had coffee, please.

I get a call at the end of Monday telling me to show up at 6:45 am Tuesday if I want to see some procedures in our local hospital Operating Room.

Many people wouldn’t jump at an opportunity to get up 90 minutes early to see a human butcher shop, so let me explain why this is very exciting. Guys in medical device Research & Development tend to spend less time going to conferences, seeing customers, etc. I’ve been lucky lately: conference in southern Florida, conference in Vegas… even the trips to our plant in desert-like Nogales, Mexico have been cool. BUT, I was looking to see some of our nurse and doctor customers since last year. It lets us see how our devices help folks and such, and gives us new ideas to work on.

It takes a strong stomach to see that stuff, but I was fine… even though two weeks ago I was getting queezy watching online footage of surgeries (later, I’ll give y’all a flashback on this that I find pretty funny). I saw two procedures that were cool, but not really mind-blowing. Urology procedures… it was a lot more male anatomy than anyone really wants to see.

Then, 30 minutes before my O.R. day is done, half of which was spent waiting, a nurse says “If you want to see a stat C-section, put your masks on, go in room four and stay out of the way!”

Ho-lee shit! A young woman comes in with a breech baby. The mother’s already numbed up from an epidural and the baby doesn’t seem to be in a rush anymore, so the pace slows just a little bit, no big danger for mom or baby.

They get the room set up and it begins… Lots of blood, but seemed to be under control. I think a natural birth would have been tougher for me to watch. “The Miracle of Childbirth”…I am almost speechless about it to this day. All I can say is that it really is a miracle. She goes in with a big belly and seemingly out of nowhere, there’s another person there! Simply amazing. One might think this would kill someone’s sex drive, or make the rest of life seem a little scary; folks, don’t be scared. From my vantage point, watching wide-eyed from the corner of a room full of medical magicians facilitating a miracle for that couple, there’s a lot in life to look forward to.

Did I say what a week? That was just Tuesday. More to come, but I’m spent after writing that experience down, and my coffee’s also kicking in pretty hardcore, killing my focus a bit. Ever had enough caffeine that your screen shakes a little? You’ll get Wed-Fri. after mine slows down. Be back soon!

Awesome reason for first post

2005-04-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

I've been kicking around things to start blogging about, always with the pressure of starting this thing off with something good--My trip to Vegas, my trip back to Brown University after being a working man in Atlanta for almost two years, my parents first trip to Georgia where they simultaneously Spic'n'Span'd my apartment and audited my life...

But all that will have to wait. Because I've been forced by fate and the desire to make a little cash to start my blog life with this...

You see, The "For Sale" section of Atlanta Craig's List requires a separate web hosting location to post pictures. I'm trying to sell a brand new laptop. Pictures make the pitch.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get Blogger to host em either. I hosted them on my crappy Bellsouth website. But I put in all this effort before i tried to get the pics up, and I like Blogger. So here we are.

Oh yeah, I'm a 24 yr old Biomedical Engineer working in the sticks east of Atlanta, GA; I have some friends and family up North, and a relationship of almost six years with an amazing young woman whom I love very much.

Of everyone in my closest circle, I'm the Atlanta pioneer. I feel far, but less so because of technology...

including Blogs, hopefully. Hopefully, I will share with you a few pictures, some good stories, my favorite links, and my overall awe with some things in life, especially the simple ones.

For example, that FBI-quality link above on Covington, GA that I found from a quick Google... holy shit!

Damn, I'm corny. Get used to it.