A Blind Rant!

I have major beef with the blind copy function the we can utilize when sending emails... When abused, which is the case in most instances, its such a bitch and cowardly way to go about doing things. It reflects week character, no confidence and false sense of secrecy. It is the Modus Operandi of weasels. In my opinion, there are few times that the email content you are writing is worthy of being Bcc's versus cc'd.

In a simplistic world, I may have a solution to this downward spiraling situation: Make it more work to add a name to the Bcc list.

Before the time of fax and email, it must have sucked to blind copy someone (relative to today of course). It was more work and took quite a bit more time. Being a society of procrastinators, that effort was not going to be put in when you can stay in your office and rock a hoola hoop. With faxes, it became a little easier, and now, its a click away.

We are only getting worse, "We're building a rat ship here. A vessel for sea-going snitches." - Lt. Col. Frank Slade

New F****** Jersey, The Greatest State in The Union!

I was hanging out with a couple of my friends from B-School a year or so ago and some dude from Texas started making fun of New Jersey. I took it very personally, so I responded with what I now call "The New Jersey 30 Second Pitch". I was quite excited and animated when I gave it the first time, so "pitch" is not exactly the right description for it. I have definitely toned it down since. I will get into that after I clarify an important point that pertains to my argument that dumbasses from all over always make:

You CANNOT compare NJ to NYC, which is the quickest response everyone has of NJ, "The Step Child of NY", "Arm Pit of NY (or America, depending on the version)". As a matter of fact, you can't compare NYC to anywhere in the world and still give it justice. NJ is a STATE, NYC is a city you f'in idiots. With that being clarified, here is my NJ elevator pitch:

• Jersey is equidistant from NYC and Phily, Boston and Washington - Center of the American Northeast i.e. the free world
• True we have Newark and Camden, however, we also have Moorestown and Chatham (Voted #1 and #8 towns to live in the US, NJ was the only state to have 2 in the top 10)
• We have Atlantic City and the Jersey Shore. They aren't Las Vegas or Bora Bora, but its alot more than almost all the other states can speak of.
• Schooling is some of the best: 3 of the top 10 public schools in the US. Higher Education: Princeton, Rutgers, and a gazillion other universities and colleges.
• I am not sure if anyone has been shopping at any kind of mall outside NJ, if not, I don't mean to spoil it for you, THEY SUCK. After you get used to not paying sales tax and walking around malls like GSP and Short Hills, there really is no comparison.
• As a state, probably the most diverse with respect to the number of ethnicities, races, religions, etc... per capita.
• Within an hour driving distance from Central Jersey, we have 13 professional sports teams to watch.

I am sure I am still missing a few, however, for you clowns out there talking shit about Jersey, what the F*** can you tell me about your state, you hick ass pricks!

I'll take higher car insurance prices anyday! My buddy luke has a T-Shirt that fits this occasion perfectly. It goes something like this:

"Welcome to New Jersey, Don't Worry, We Hate You Too!"

Drugs! I don't do drugs, I drink caffeine!

This is how much we love our caffeine:

If you were to take all the Coca-Cola ever made, put it in 8oz bottles, stack the bottles on top of one another, it would go to the moon AND back 1300 times (621,020,400 miles).

A Double Tall (12 oz) Non-Fat Latte at Starbucks costs $3.47, bringing it to about $37 per gallon. The average cost of a gallon of gasoline in the US as of 1/1/2007 : $2.334 per gallon.

The random shit I think about on an idle Thursday night...

We Are Not Alone!

I was out last Saturday visiting friends of mine, Kelly and Steph, at their "Chateau" in Nanuet, NY. Now they call it the "Mansion", but I like "Chateau" better, but that is besides the point right now. They live with a whole bunch of Kelly's old friends from High School - I think 6 in total. Needless to say the "Chateau" is a mad house. Two things in particular stand out from that night that I will share. Before I go into details, I'm going to take a step back and tell you about my friends to put this story in a better perspective for you.

The Boyz that I hang out with, on a more or less consistent basis, all went to the same HS in Teaneck, NJ. Not all the same graduating class though (I think its 94-97). Even though this spread exists, and not only based on age, but ethnicity, culture, religion, race etc...(very eclectic), we have just about everything, the bond between them is quite tight. I was inducted as an honorary Teaneckian a few years ago after a brief stint of living there for a summer. Even though they have been hanging out for many many years, they have all managed to keep very distinct personality traits, but one of the few things that everyone has in common is what I will call the "hoh yes!" syndrome. I will not go into explaining what that is (if you would like further detail about what that is, check out my friend Luke's blog - quite entertaining). Now, most people out there think or say they have a group of friends that are "funnest and nuttiest". Two weeks ago you could have easily heard me respond to that comment with a: "let me tell you something, fukh that!"

So, without further adieu, here are the two things I had mentioned:

1) I'm sitting in their living room and their roommates start coming home, and every time another one came, I felt I was in the twilight zone. I mapped every one of these guys back to the Boyz that I know. The wierd thing about all this, is that not only did the personalities match, but their race and background did also. The craziest part is when the entire crowd got together, and thats where I started bugging out. There dynamic was exactly like what I am used to. I felt in my element with a large crowd faster than I have ever had with anyone, in less than two hours! Their version of "hoh yeses" were flying all night. I wish I had one of those hidden cameras that night to get all this and show it my crew, they would have definitely gotten a big kick out of it.

2) I found out that these guys have an annual roast where they pick one of their friends and roast him. Now this is not a regular night where they all kick back, have a couple of drinks and tear into each other, they take this very seriously. It is a formal event where they all get dressed up, rent out a room at place (restaurant/bar/etc...) for the night, get some video made with pictures and classic moments caught on photo or video of that person - it's the real deal. I couldn't help but think of how great and hilarious it would be if the Boyz were to do something similar.

Every day you learn something new...