My Happy Friday

Hey! It’s the Fourth of July and this is the Special Fourth of July Issue! Jen F. told me this should have come out yesterday, but that wouldn’t make sense right? For now, it’s just me and my blackberry friends.  

Before we start, I have to say ‘ello to my super buddy Maribel G. and welcome her to the fun. I will reiterate that Rachel continues to love me more than you, but you shouldn’t be jealous.  

So I’m here in Baltimore with Rachel watching to catch a predator. We’re out here getting away for a few days. I think there’s even a chance that I’ll see Jerry. He’s at the other end of the state somewhere. I guess we’ll see.  

Last Friday, I was out and about and I randomly met some Asian guy (yes, it’s material so I wrote it) who started in by asking me if I was familiar with the Tuskegee Airmen. He continued, but talking about his father who was the Japanese equivalent. And then he added that he was in a Japanese internment camp when he was two. Now am I wrong for wondering why a guy I met 30 seconds ago would tell me this?  

I also had the occasion to use a payphone for the first time in probably 10 years after my cell phone died. That was intriguing. 

For those of you folks who don’t have a will our buddy Suze Orman is giving away a will and trust kit. To get one, see the instructions below.§ Go to SuzeOrman.com.§ Click on Will & Trust Kit link on upper left menu.§ Click the orange Gift Code button.§ Type in the code “people first”.The winner of the funniest/stupidest quote of the week is the 61-year-old Verizon CEO. His quote is referring to the 53-year-old CEO of Apple. 

“Steve Jobs eventually will get old…I like our chances.”  

That’s classic.  

If you ever want supercharge your body, try a Turbo Ice from Dunkin Donuts. Turbo Ice is an iced coffee with a shot of espresso. I don’t drink coffee much so that things gave me the shakes! 

Tuesday it was Kurt’s third anniversary at JK Design. Congrats, my good man.  

Now, I like most people like money, but I do have my limits to what I would be willing to do for a few bucks. I will say that I appreciate this guy’s entrepreneurial spirit. He sold the deed to his soul to a restaurant called Hell Pizza. 

Lookie here. My buddy Joe Diamond sent me that and it again helps prove that Agile rules the world. 

It’s funny how many of you folks are superstars. My buddy Jennifer, formally known as J Jo was in the Star Ledger the other day. I think that may make you cooler than me. 

I must give a shout out to this program coming on CNN. I’ve received so many forwards about I feel like I should share. It’s ‘Black in America with Soledad O’Brien’. Check it out if you get a chance.  

Finally, for those of you not fortunate enough to see fireworks, create your own by clicking this link! Thanks for that Cleo.  

A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!). 

Let’s play a little word game. Here we go. Two words: First word. Sounds like rhyme. It’s a person. Yes! “I’m.” Second word. Sounds like cough. Opposite of on. Correct! “Off!” It’s amazing how that happy Friday feel translates to Thursday when you have off Friday.  

I just read an article about the way people read things online. Apparently using bold and keeping your paragraphs short and using bulleted lists like my to do list today are great ways to keep people interested. 

To do:o   Sleepo   Eato   Sleep some moreo   Play video games 

On Sunday I took a trip out to queens on my motorcycle. During my four hour trip I had a few conversations with some other motorcyclists and watched folks running in the park. I met an interesting homeless guy who caught me as I was putting my helmet on. We had a quick chat and I was off. 

I talked to my super friend Alline F. on Monday. She is so super cool and now she’s a mom. Hopefully, she’ll send me some nice photos to share. 

Tuesday JK Design won another award. This time it was for the incredible transformation of our office. Well it wasn’t Tuesday, but that’s when I saw the article. Barb and Jerry in the paper again. J 

Wednesday was my super client Shelly’s birthday. She too is experiencing the proliferation of the social network. Proliferation. That’s a big word, and I actually know how to spell it! 

Oh wait, as I reread this I realize that Tuesday was Jon’s birthday! 

Mitzi’s back in New Brunswick so I guess that means you live down the street from me! I want to visit. Get settled and give me a call! 

After almost a year, Joe Diamond (Jeremy) and I decided to start up our home run derby again. We were tied at 1 game apiece and after a one inning playoff, “[I] finished the game like the champion [I am]!” I love that quote. Yes, I won 7-6. 

For those of you People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals fans/haters, they are at it again. We were pretty amused reading this story. 

So Rachel’s buddy and I dare to say my best “her friend” is going to have a little one. Check out the sonogram of Dara Lis M.’s baby. I love it! 

Thursday started off terribly. First I forgot about a meeting that I reminded someone else about. And while I was yelling at myself for missing it I forgot my lunch that Rachel had so nicely prepared the day before. I guess I can always find solace in a girl who texts 15,000 times per month. 

Here is one last link, just for Jen F. since she loves links. It’s one more reason for you to monitor the games your kids play.

A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!).

Oh!!!!!!!! And the joy continues! Thanks to Ira, Kelly Simone, Cindy O., Christine, Kim G., Joann and Max for your belated birthday wishes, and Amber and Asia who weren’t belated, but I forgot to mention them last week. It turns out I missed Jack’s, Jane’s son, birthday. June 10^th is a beautiful day!

I have to say congrats to Jeremy for getting nominated for Employee of the Month for his ingenious idea to create “Pretzel” Day and bring in a tray of pretzels from the Philly Pretzel Factory. This guy finished up the week strong with a 52-mile ride for autism. Nice job!

My buddy Lynne ran a 10K run that she had a blast at. I’m especially intrigued about the Beer Belly Run that she said is coming up. You run two miles and sample beers along the route. Yes!

I think the most excitement this week came when a few of us watched the tail end of the U.S. Open. That Tiger guys is good.

I’m going to call this week a wash because this post is terrible. Actually, now that I think about it, I think this post could be good for my career. That’s what a friend of mine told me. We’ll see.

Anyway, please tell me you did something worthwhile.

Ok. Got to go. Have a great weekend!

A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!).

So let’s call this the birthday edition! Since most of what I have to say is about that wonderful day this past Tuesday I think that fits.

I started my birthday early by continuing my tradition of getting Rachel a gift for my birthday. She was very excited about it.

For some random reason a bunch of people wished me a happy birthday early. Monday Tom K., Mitzi (“happpy birthday to my favorite Tyco buddy of all time!!) and Anne P. (American Consumer Opinion) started it off. Rachel was of course the first person to do it on my actual birthday. And here is the role call for everyone else: Gina S., Pat B., Andrea W., Shelly L., Sandra B., Pam, Chris P., Jerry N., Jon S., ING Direct (my bank), Gamebattles.com, Brian M., Jason W., Rich M., Jameel M., Siaka S. (twice), Mark M. (fellow Gemini), Mom, Anita J., Grandma, Tasha J., Yannie J., Adrian P., Kia A., everyone at work and the late wishes from Ryan C., Chris M. (was on vacation) and Lynne P. (she remembered last week).

My Mom made a surprise visit to the office and brought cookies for the staff. She had a nice conversation with Jerry and Barb. They have this weird UPS kinship. It was kind of funny that my work mom, Elaine, got to meet my mom, mom. After she met everyone she left and I was back to my work. It was weird because since everyone has facebook, myspace, linkedin, plaxo and all that other crap so many more people knew it was my birthday this year. I got calls, e-mails and texts all day, too funny.

When I got home Rachel cooked my requested dinner and we watched the Lakers beat the Celtics with my mother. You should see the stuff I got for my birthday! Thanks, everyone.

That was pretty much it for the birthday. I did finish up the week on a great note. I went 4 for 5 with 3 singles, a triple, 5 RBIs, 2 runs and an error at the softball game.

That’s it. I am exhausted from an exciting week. See below for some cool stuff to check out.

If you have $1.6 million for a house, you can buy a house in Cali and get one free.

Would you ever do this to your mother?

My catch phrase now has a shirt!

The Red Sox show their true barbarian selves

This 6-year-old saves his friend

See the greatest football helmets of all time

A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!).

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh good afternoon, EVERYBODY! While it’s probably not the afternoon when you’re reading this, it just sounds so good when he says that.

Last week Mariah Carey made what was clearly the worst first pitch ever. I think she’d be best served sticking to singing. At the same time somewhere in Dallas, Texas the President got major cool points with me.  This chest bump with a recent graduate was super cool. How could you hate a guy who would do that?

After I sent out the blog last week, I received a quick e-mail from Darren inviting me out for a flight in his plane. Turns out sometime soon Rachel and I will be flying on Darren Airlines.  

Since it’s been more than a year since I won my surround system in an auction where I narrowly beat out Mitzi I figured she’d might be over it by now, but apparently not since she told me that, “That surround sound is mine! Haha.” 

I stopped by Star Bucks after a late lunch and picked up a few drinks for the team and a woman stopped me while I was waiting for the rest of my order. She says, “I’m sorry. What is that drink you have? It looks so good. I am so boring I always get the same stuff.” Why that’s a caramel frappuccino. It’s ‘o so good; you should try it. LOL.

If you ever find yourself speeding, you might want to try this cool new software for your phone. It alerts your phone when you’re near speed traps—oh so cool.

Saturday was my buddy Andrea’s birthday. I think she turned 25—nice. If you can’t help yourself, like my friend Lynne P., you may want to click this link to Kimbo Slice popping open James Thompson’s massive cauliflower ear. If you’re impatient go to 18:50 of the clip.

Monday Jerry told me a funny story, I’m pretty sure he wanted me to tell you, about how he wore two different shoes to work. We were both pretty amused.

Later in the day I had the pleasure of seeing my super client Jane W. of JWI and Martinique. On my way back from New York I saw the craziest thing driving back to my apartment. Send me an e-mail or give me a call and I will tell you about it.

I ended up working from home one Tuesday because I only got about 2.5 of sleep after finishing a crazy project for Jane. Jerry forgot that I was in New York working on a project for a client and thought I was calling out after a long session in Atlantic City—haha. That’s terrible.  

My cousin got herself an iPhone! I’m jealous—there I said it.

Have you ever hear of Cure Auto insurance? They’re a big sponsor of Rutgers football. Their commercial is classic. I’m not sure I ever thought someone would ever use the “F” word in a commercial, but they did.

Because I know you’ve missed him, I found this great William Hung video of him signing Queen.

I know a bunch of you are Guitar Hero fans so check this crazy YouTube video out.

In what I think is becoming a tradition, Cleo wished me Happy Birthday nearly a week early on Wednesday. Thank you!

On Thursday it was really someone’s birthday! My favorite copywriter turned, ummmm, 28? Happy birthday, Lynne! Thursday was also great because I was victorious in Kurt’s buddy’s hockey pool. Take that Kurt! You were beat by a guy who allegedly knows nothing about hockey.

I think I’ll leave on that note.

Work week killed.

Good bye.

A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!).

And away we go. It’s Friday morning and look how nice it is outside. Isn’t this so much better than this time four weeks ago?  

Somebody told me about this new “Go Meat” commercial so I had to share. I talked to, OMG, Jane W. on Friday. We’ve both made plans to become rich together in the next several months. I will keep you updated on how that goes. Did I tell you I got Wii Fit? It’s so cool! And since I got Jane a Wii, she can play Wii Fit too!  

Did you ever play beer pong when you were in college? I never got the chance to, but they’re giving me a chance to relive the good ol’ days with this new beer pong game for Wii.  

Unlike most people I talked to, my holiday weekend was nice and long. I had a good ol’ time doing nothing for the majority of the time.  

I did happen upon two Rutgers Alumni who were drawn to me by my Rutgers t-shirt and a third kid who saw my Rutgers credit card and told me he was thinking about going to RU. After the little Rutgers fest, my mother and I made our way down to Maryland to see my sister, her boyfriend and my god son for his first birthday. We had a grand ol’ time. Amber was there and fun was had by all. 

Sunday was my favorite print manager’s, Ryan C.F., birthday.
Tuesday, I learned a great life lesson from my buddy and coach, Tom N. I forget what I told him, but he explained what my priorities should be. They should be: 1: Softball 2: Wedding 3: Work. Not exactly what I was thinking, but it’s a nice start. 

If you’re sick of paying crazy gas prices, try pumping your own oil. That guy still pays the same price for gas, but since they found oil in his yard he’s going to make 10s of thousands of dollars. 

So here you go, Kurt. Here is your own nice little paragraph about a great thing you did this week. Kurt did an amazing trick with a rubber band that I can’t explain with words and that I was too lazy to photograph. You just have to trust me, it was amazing.  

Did you know that you can send money to those you love in minutes with Western Union? Sorry I just saw that stupid commercial.  

A friend of mine just clued me into Best Buy’s horrible return policies. If you ever buy from there you should read them. 

I have to thank Bill for this crazy picture of a fully diamond studded SL600 Mercedes. I’m amazed it’s only 4.8 million dollars. 

Workweek killed, check. Pinot Grigio, check. Netflix, check. Surround sound, check. Fiancée, check. Got to go! 

A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!).  

So here we go again! It’s the prelude to another long weekend for everyone! I for one really need it. I’ve been running around all week and I’m ready to lie down.

It looks like my little Yankees fan has his own fans now. Everyone thinks he looks great in his Yankees gear. J Speaking of the Yankees, Yankees fans should check this funny Jabba page out.

After the last blog went out last week I had the pleasure of speaking to Lisa C. I have to say that I am very proud of her. She’s up to a 105 bowling average and put up a 160 high game this season. That’s very impressive.

For those of you that are aware of my catch-phrase “boom,” Jeremy, Joe Diamond, found this video for the song the Boom King. It fits me perfectly.

I have to say my new roommate is working out great. While he likes the Mets and the Jets he makes up for it personality. J He even feed my obsession for YouTube videos with this water slide video. While talking to a colleague online at home, I stumbled onto this link for one of the most incredible things I’ve seen in a while. These girls are incredibly talented. If you click that link give it about 30 seconds. It gets really good. If you’re impressed try the male version.

While driving back from visiting a client in Wallington, I saw the funniest thing on the highway. It was pouring and this guy had a broken wiper. I guess he saved it because his window was open and he had it in his hand and was wiping his windshield manually. That was too funny.

The highlight my week was when I was leaving a convenience store on Wednesday. A guy was talking to some other guy about gas prices and it made me laugh. He saw me laugh and proceeded to walk over to my car and start talking. I hit the power window and off he went. He started with a rant about four-dollar gas, then talked about the stupid republicans—George Bush and Ronald Regan—and finished up with the price of dog food, which is apparently up about 40% in the last few months, while pointing to his dog in his car. He let me know that he was 60-years-old and he’d seen a lot. He left me with an “I like you man, you’re a good guy I can tell. It was good talking to you, you’re smart.”

Now, I now most of you have heard or seen the CEO of this company called Life Lock. He gives out his social security number to prove how great the company works. He apparently forgot to mention that 20 people have gotten drivers licenses with his information and one guy even took out a loan in his name. Now they are being sued. Too funny.

If you grew up when I grew up or if you have kids my age then you will understand my pain. Lou Pearlman, the creator of the Backstreet Boys, O’ Town and N’ Sync, has been sentenced to 25 years for fraud. I almost cried a tear yesterday when I read this.

The final highlight of the week was watching my buddies Joe J. and Chuck B. from upstairs. They are now as obsessed with the Go Meat phenomenon as I am. So it’s only right to leave you with a Hillshire Farm, Go Meat!

Use a designated driver, wear your seatbelt and get back home safely.

Hillshire Farm, Go Meat!  

A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!). 

“Go meat, meat, go meat!” Have you ever wanted to annoy your colleagues, friends or family while amusing yourself? Well, I just figured out how to do it. Watch this commercial and randomly recite it during the day. “You hungry, you hungry, your momma said you hungry!” I’ve been singing this song and using it in e-mails all week. I just realized how annoying it must have been. I apologize—hehe. Kurt says I write in a manner that lacks cohesion so I will attempt to use better transitions and segue way better. 

I spent the weekend doing nothing or at least nothing I can remember. I did make a few calls to the mothers I know for Mother’s Day. Happy belated to you mothers out there.  Do you know what I appreciate? I appreciate humor—especially early in the morning, and more specifically on a Monday morning. Someone left a coffee pot on at work over the weekend and Bill B. thought it was important to educate people about fire safety with this quote: “As our resident fire expert, I implore everyone to always act responsibly when operating our appliances. Only YOU can prevent office fires.” I think the quote is funny in its own right, but understanding how he nearly burned down our office makes it classic. 

If you’d ever wondered what $20 million might buy you, ask this guy and he’ll tell you ONE super delegate vote. I guess you have to applaud his message. I like the Dallas Cowboys, but this clip of Tony Romo singing and this clip of Terrell Owens can’t be a good sign of things to come. 

In better news, Rachel and I watched the “Number 23” with Jim Carey. That’s a sick movie you won’t soon forget. It’s kind of weird like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jerry and I had lunch with two of our clients on Tuesday at this place called Park Orchard. I’m told they converted it out of an old garage. Jerry had a pasta dish, JK pasta, that he ordered by showing the waitress his JK business card. J 

I struggled with this decision, but I think the quote of the week goes to Shelly. “You’re the best account manager ever! J Thanks again.” No intro or outro needed, I kind of think it speaks for itself. Here’s a random hello to Martinique, who I had chance to chit-chat with this week.  

Do you remember when I told you I got my god son his first Yankee’s gear last week? Check him out in it. He’s a certified Yankee’s fan.  I talked to my buddy Christine and she’s at her new gig at Local Wisdom. It turns out she’s looking to hire a new Interactive Developer. Not exactly sure what that is, but I assume if it applies to you, you will. Here is the info. 

So Tom N. requested I post an injury report so here it is: After I tripped running after a pop fly in the same manner, on the same field and in the same spot as I did last year, my shoulder is healing nicely.  Thursday happened to be my good buddy Kya’s birthday. She thought I forgot about her, but it was really because I was icing my injured shoulder. I called, and you and your son got two mentions in the blog, that’s pretty cool, huh? 

Let me send a random hello to Jessie C. I randomly see you at Tyco almost every time I go, which is pretty cool.  So, I’m done. 

Hillshire Farm, Go Meat!  A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!). 

Ahhhhhhhh Chu! It’s that stupid time again and the allergies are KILLING me! Why exactly are people allergic things we can’t avoid? Terrible.  

If you’re worried about the increasing gas prices, check out last Friday’s Dilbert. I think they figured out a solution to our little gas issue. If you have a thing for bubble wrap like my colleague Lisa, this might be for you.  

Friday night Rachel and I picked up my god son Omar from Kya. I just wanted to have him for the weekend, but I was told by a bunch of folks that it was a test run. Well I’ve driven the car and I’m not ready to buy. Rachel did most of the work—waking up in the middle of the night and changing diapers, but it was still too much work for me. Saturday my buddy Adrian came by to challenge me in another of our epic Wii battles. We spent about five hours going back and forth until he left.  

Sunday morning was my baby day. He woke up and so did I. We spent the morning playing and I even let him try on my favorite Yankees hat. Before we took him back to his mother, we went shopping. I got him a bunch of Yankees gear and we picked him up some multilingual toys. After dropping him off, Rachel and I tried out the surround sound system we finally got back from the manufacturer with Cruel Intentions 2—strictly a c list movie, but we liked it.  

Tuesday my boy Bill C. got me a caramel frappacino. Is that how you spell it? That was a good call, Rachel. You have to love this kid. He wore the same football jersey for like four years. I completely understand the kid, but whose parents would let them do that? 

I got to see Jen’s cool ACL scar on Wednesday. That made my day. My new roommate was complaining about going to the gym so I told him about the guy who lost nine pounds playing Wii for 30 minutes a day for six weeks. And guess what? I found eight bucks in my pocket. How great is that? 

I found a cool new job that I was considering applying for. Did you ever want to lie in bed and get paid for it? NASA is conducting a 3-month study and paying $17,000 dollars to people who are willing to spend three months lying in bed.  

We had our first softball game yesterday and we got “owned.” Owned is video game for embarrassed, dominated or killed by the other team. I did make the play of the game with an over-the-shoulder Willie Mays catch. 

So while I rub my eyes until they turn red and watery, feel to shoot me an e-mail and tell me about your week.  

You just killed the work week. 

A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!).  

Allllllllllrighty then! I hate waking up in the morning, but I love being awake. Don’t you? My buddy, Adrian sent over a picture of the house he is having built. That’s a very impressive living area, sir!

I spent Friday night with a few buddies playing cards on Friday night at Jon’s house. He showed me the playground he built for his son and his new fish pond. Are you in the market for a fully grown child? I don’t take much work. J

I spent Saturday with my Aunt, mother and cousin. My aunt is hilarious. She is just funny for no reason.  On the advice of my buddy Joe Diamond, I took the time to try that new iced tea from Dunkin Donuts. AWESOME! I think I’m hooked.

Here’s a funny story about my mother. She watches the Hills. Are you familiar with this nonsense? LOL. Terrible.  On Thursday I was at a photo shoot for a client. We were wasting sometime between shots and the photographer told us how he used to drink 15-20 cups of coffee a day. I can’t even drink 15 cups of water in a day. How is that even possible? Sick.

Oh wow, I just realized this week was particularly boring. Terrible.

A special hello to Rosa, the inventor of Happy Friday, Happy Monday (only a few more days until Friday) and oh my god, Happy Thursday (tomorrow is Friday!).