9/11 - 8 Years later

Flipping through this photo gallery, I started to tear up.

I remember, 8 years ago today, when it happened. It was senior year of high school, just after 'zero' hour band practice. Luke and I were hanging out in the commons after band, waiting for Paige to get there, since they hadn't let us into the hallways yet. The big screen was on, but we weren't really paying any attention to it, we were hanging out by the pop machines, talking about the football decorations the cheerleaders had made.

Kirk came over to us and asked if we had saw what was going on on the tv, we hadn't, so we went over towards the tv and saw.

I was taking RVC classes my first 2 periods that semester and they didn't meet on certain days of the week, this day being one of them, so I went home for the 2 hour break (all the radio stations were broadcasting newsfeeds - seniors had open campus privileges that year, so we could leave when we had no classes going on) and watched the news with my mom while trying to take a nap. I woke up right before the 2nd tower collapsed.

When I went back to school, all we did in each class was watch the news on the tv's in each classroom.

I remember after school, I got home and my parents had me help them take all the cars over to the nearest gas station to fill up our tanks - right after we started filling up, a ton of other cars showed up, doing the same thing.

I was working for Millward Brown back then and got a call that I had that night off work, obviously. When they did have us go back in, they told us they tried to take out of the system as many of the New York and surrounding area numbers that they could, but if we did happen to get a number or a person who was affected personally, to apologize and not press the call. For all others, we had a new intro, regarding 9-11 that we had to say for the following days/weeks.

Every since that day, my parents started watching Fox News constantly... I recall that was the only thing on the family room tv for months.

I just want to thank all our troops who have been fighting for our country, all the ones that have been over fighting this war on terriorism or will be in the near future.

I personally know a handful of people who have served and enlisted in the different various branches of our military: my cousins in the Army and Navy, my 2nd cousin-in-law in the Army, various friends in the army and Air Force, as well as friend's dad who is also in the Army. I also had many classmates in college who had enlisted in the military, awaiting deployment, or working hard as part of ROTC and later went on to serve our country overseas.

THANK YOU ALL for all you've done for our great nation!

Food for Thought

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook and I thought it was quite interesting.

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

- Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931

My epic birthday weekend and then some

My 25th birthday was like a week ago, it went pretty well.

Come Friday, I hadn't heard anything from anyone confirming they'd be coming out with us and the ones that did earlier had to cancel, so Josh and I just did our own thing. We went to Chili's and got their 2 for $20 deal, which is better than Applebee's because it includes dessert. I had 1 Long Island too and wow was it strong! I was feeling tipsy after just a few sips, before our food even came! After dinner we walked around Target to kill time - Josh bought me a new purse for my birthday, since the one I had was on the verge of falling apart. We went and saw District 9 - it was pretty good!

Saturday we got up and drove to Chicago to meet Brooke and go to the last ever NiN show in Chicago. We waited in line for about 2 hours too and Josh and I were able to get good seats up in the balcony - I figured after the Disturbed show last winter where I nearly got trampled I was going to take this one easy and just enjoy it, especially since it was a sold-out show and the pit/front was more than likely going to be brutal. Mew, a foreign band from Denmark was the opening act... they played for maybe 30 minutes. They were interesting, to say the least, although Josh couldn't seem to comprehend how a guy could hit those high notes and still have his balls, lol... Trent Reznor and his band came out about 30 minutes earlier than scheduled and rocked a 30-song set for about 2 hours. I took a lot of photos and Josh got some video of Survivalism - because this was the final Nine Inch Nails tour, the venues gave permission for fans to bring cameras and stuff in to capture it. They did a lot of songs off of The Downward Spiral, and they did Right Where It Belongs, which I guess was a rare treat, as it's one of the songs Trent never does live. My only disappointment was that we didn't get to hear Closer - they played it for the Friday night show, but not for the Saturday show... I guess they almost canceled the show also - Trent woke up sick that morning and was sleeping it off all day during the set up and rehearsals... you could see him running back for water after nearly every song too. It was a really good show though! I'm glad I got to go!

Sunday we went over to my parents house for a birthday BBQ. My aunt, uncle and cousin came over, as did my in-laws, 2 of my brother-in-laws and my little sister-in-law. It was a fun time - we spent most of the day over there.

Josh's friend Gryn came up a couple weeks ago - we went out dinner and saw Inglourious Basterds. That was a really good movie! I liked it!

Jeny was in the area this past weekend. We drove out to Carol Stream on Friday to meet up with her, her bf Tim, and her friend Kim and drove over to Naperville to eat at Lou Malnati's, where they have really good Chicago deep-dish pizza. We went to a few bars for drinks after dinner, played pool for a bit at one until it got too crowded and you couldn't use the pool cues cuz there were too many people - Josh and Tim were making fun of the Cougars who were there, which was pretty amusing, while we all agreed that we didn't look skanky or trend enough to fit in at a Naperville bar (most of Naperville is full of yuppies). We couldn't find a bar that was more 'us' and so we all went back to Kim's place for a bit and played a few games and watched Family Guy til Josh and I had to leave. It was a fun night though and I'm glad I got to see Jeny again - I haven't seen her since like May.

Here's a few NiN photos:


First: Trent Reznor; Second: Trent Reznor and Peter Murphy (of Bauhaus) performing "Reptile"

We got a New York Yankee in the family!

I stopped by my parents house the other day and my mom informed me that her cousin's son (my 2nd cousin) just got signed to the New York Yankees fresh out of high school.

What's really neat, is that while Evan's been playing baseball forever and his dream was to one day be a Yankee, having going to games all the time as a kid, he also really wanted to go to college and had a full ride scholarship to play baseball for San Diego this fall. College being the only thing really holding him back from signing with the Yankees, they wrote in his contract that they would bank x-amount of money for him, in case something were to happen and he could no longer play, he could still go back and attend college.


DeLuca living his dream (from MyCentralJersey.com)

Evan DeLuca is the type of kid people root for.

Tom Gambino, Immaculata High School's baseball coach, compares DeLuca to another former Spartan, Jack Cust.

"There's not a nicer kid," Gambino said of DeLuca. "When I had Jack as a senior, everybody rooted for him, no matter who you were in the school. Everybody liked Jack because he's such a nice person. (DeLuca) may be a step nicer than Jack."

DeLuca took a small leap in following the Oakland Athletics outfielder's footsteps by signing with the New York Yankees Monday night, three minutes before the deadline to sign draft picks.

"I've been dreaming about playing in the organization since I was little. . . . It's a bit of a dream come true for me," DeLuca said.

The 44th-round selection signed for $500,000, a number that he; his father, David; agent Bob Barad; and the Yankee organization could all agree upon."I'm on a cloud right now," David DeLuca said Thursday. "It's really hard to believe that Evan's a part of one of the greatest baseball organizations in history."

Evan DeLuca reported to the Yankees' rookie-league team in the Gulf Coast League, based in Tampa Bay, Fla., Thursday morning. It was the first step in fulfilling a childhood dream, and a dream for David DeLuca, who was also a draft prospect out of high school.

Evan DeLuca is not expected to play for the affiliate this season but will remain in Tampa for instructional ball, which begins Sept. 23 and helps athletes with conditioning and allows for additional hitting and pitching sessions.

DeLuca is adjusting to life as a professional baseball player. He already received his jersey and ran into major-leaguer Ian Kennedy, who is rehabbing.

"I'm used to seeing these guys on television and now I'm part of the Yankee family," DeLuca said.

DeLuca had signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the University of San Diego, and had every intention of heading to California for school in the fall. But the "mystique" of the Yankees was too special to overcome.

Letting the Toreros know that he would not be playing for them was the most difficult part of the experience for both the younger and elder DeLucas. David DeLuca called the whole experience "a roller-coaster event."

With the midnight deadline approaching quickly, the DeLucas went into New York to get a physical done, as was recommended by the Yankees. When they got home, they found out the Yankees had depleted most of their budget for signing bonuses.
"After thinking he was 90 percent sure he was going to be a Yankee, he was 90 percent thinking he's not going to be a Yankee," David explained.
At three minutes before midnight, while father and son waited quietly in Evan's bedroom, the phone rang. It was Evan's agent telling them the deal had been struck.
"We were ecstatic, and there were lots of tears," David said. "Luckily, they were tears of joy."
Gambino, who also worked with Evan DeLuca at the Jack Cust Academy in Flemington, was equally thrilled about his former player's contract.
"Everyone is excited for Evan," Gambino said. "My phone was blowing up, people asking, "Is it true?' "
Both David DeLuca and Gambino agree that it was Evan's performance this summer, pitching in Washington state, that nudged the Yankees into signing him.
DeLuca registered 94- and 97-mph pitches in four wins on the West Coast. And that velocity coupled with DeLuca's lefty delivery and mean pick-off move ("It's ferocious," Gambino said) make him a candidate to move up the Yankees' depth chart during his time in Tampa.
"I think the thing he's going to have to do is stay focused," explained Gambino, who has coached no fewer than a dozen Major League Baseball draftees. "With his velocity from the left side, he's going to get noticed."
If DeLuca can stay focused while working with Yankee Hall of Famers such as Goose Gossage and Whitey Ford, Gambino is sure he'll make an impact in the baseball community.
"He's going to be a great ambassador for the sport, ambassador for me at Immaculata, for the Jack Cust Academy, because everybody loves this kid," Gambino said.

-http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090821/SPORTS0101/908210348

A friend sent me this - it was pretty amusing!

A friend emailed this to me earlier today and I thought it was pretty funny considering most of us, including myself, have thought or done some of these at some point in our lives!

1. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
2. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.
3. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
4. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?
5. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
6. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
7. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.
8. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.
9. There is a great need for sarcasm font.
10. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*** was going on when I first saw it.
11. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much; it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.
12. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
13. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
14. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
15. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.
16. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
17. Was learning cursive really necessary?
18. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
19. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
20. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
21. My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.
22. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".
23. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
24. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
25. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it....thanks Mario Kart.
26. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
27. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
28. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
29. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
30. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
31. Bad decisions make good stories
32. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
33. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
34. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.
35. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....
36. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
37. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
38. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
39. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
40. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
41. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'
42. While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA . No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don’t win, they are executed.
43. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
44. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
45. When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
46. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
47. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...
48. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
49. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
50. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
51. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
52. I think that if, years down the road when I’m trying to have a kid, I find out that I’m sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.
53. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
54. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I’d bet my a$$ everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away , in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...
55. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?
56. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
57. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
58. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
59. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.
60. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silve rware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fat b@st@rd before dinner.

Well that's one way to decide who gets cut...

Saw someone posted this on here and I thought it was a bit funny:

"As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by about 10%.

But, since we cannot increase our prices right now due to the dismal state of the economy, we will have to lay off sixty of our employees instead. This has really been bothering me, since I believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who would have to go.

So, this is what I did. I walked through our parking lots and found sixty 'Obama' bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the ones to let go. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. They voted for change; I gave it to them.

I will see the rest of you at the annual company picnic."