Good News

I don't mean something good happened; I mean that I found a good news article.

Here's an article from the Boston Herald that I found during my lunch break while I was browsing Google News.

America getting dumber by the minute with A-Rod details

Basically, the story is about the image Americans are getting from the absurd amount of attention given to celebrities by the media. From the article, in reference to Cynthia Rodriguez's allegations:

"...I don’t know or care what her allegations say about A-Rod. Instead, I’m more concerned with what the attention to Rodriguez’s marital problems says about us."

I agree with this statement completely. Don't get me wrong -- I love this county... But I start to get concerned when people know more about Madonna's love life than they do about missile tests in Iran.

Back to Jerz

Well, I'm back in NJ. I spent the weekend in Rutland, Massachusetts visiting my friend Tracy from college. I drove up with our friend Fang, and stopped at her house in Westchester NY on the way for a pit stop (and home made Chinese dumplings!) and then shot right up 84 the whole way. All in all, about 5 or so hours of driving. Not too bad.

We spent Friday evening relaxing and hanging out with her family and boyfriend Steve (I lived with him for one semester at Lehigh), and had a fantastic BBQ dinner. Then came Steve's beer tasting.

He's been brewing his own beer for a few years, and I haven't gotten a chance to taste it until now. We had an American Pale Ale (APA), double India Pale Ale (2PA), Belgian Triple, some kind of Stout and a few others. I absolutely loved the pale ales, and the Stout was very good, too! And not just because he's my friend -- they actually were extremely good beers! Anyway, once I get everything settled in at home (yeah, still working on that ... ) I will be likely be trying my hand at brewing my own beer.

Saturday was spent at Tracy's family's lake house nearby. Their family is Finnish, and this particular lake shore was settled in the 30's or so by Finnish immigrants and their lake house has been in the family for quite some time. It's a beautiful area, and they have a boat that her brother took us out on for a ride and some fishing (I caught a small-mouth bass that I named Ted -- I let him go but I'll be looking out for him next year when he's bigger!). They also have an authentic wood-fired sauna (pronounced sOW-nah, unless you want to get funny looks from the Finns!) which was absolutely incredible. Tracy and her sister took it easy on Fang and I since it was our first time sauna-ing with real Finns, only bringing the temperature up to a mild 172 degrees F ....... but you know, it's a dry heat so it's not bad, haha -- whoever came up with that saying has never sauna-ed with Tracy!!

Empty Promises of Updates

Hey all (or anyone still reading this after my two month "hiatus"),

I'm back with another empty promise that I will update more often. I know that doesn't mean anything since I said it last time also, but I'll try at least.

FIRST THINGS FIRST -- Big Things:

I graduated college. That's a pretty big deal I guess; my grades weren't nearly as bad as I thought they'd be. Actually, they were nothing like I thought they'd be: my good grades were bad, and the awful ones were great! Oh well... that's all done now.

I started work. I'm three weeks in as a Geologist for Hatch Mott MacDonald. I like it there -- a good combination of field work and office work/reports. Basically, it's EXACTLY what I went to school for, to the letter.

BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL -- Motorcycle.

Well, I've got good news and I've got bad news. The good news is, I finally have a bike of my own! The bad news is (at least, bad news to those of you that were suggesting I get a Harley) that Dad and I got Hondas. Either way, I couldn't be happier with the bike!

After much deliberation and shopping around and test rides and whatnot, we settled on Honda cruisers. I have a brand new 2007 Pearl White Honda VTX 1300 c. The pictures aren't great; they're from my camera -- but it's the best I've got at the moment:


Well, I have a LOT more to write about -- but don't have the time. I'm off to New England for the weekend to camp and canoe with some friends... though it looks like it's going to storm -- we'll see what happens. I WILL be posting again soon!