on ice. almost.

fenway park will be the sight of this year's winter classic - the new year's day hockey game played outdoors. not only will the bruins play, but boston university is set to take the ice on the 2nd of january. i was hoping to be one of the lucky 3,000 that got to skate on the ice on the 3rd or 10th.

earlier this week the city of boston announced they would be giving away 3,000 tickets on saturday morning at 13 locations. the only catch was that you needed to be a resident of boston (and show proof of such). also you need to bring your own skates if you receive a ticket. unfortunately, living in brookline doesn't qualify me as a boston resident even though boston completely surrounds my town. brookline never got on that boston train. but thankfully, my girlfriend's recent move into the city allowed us the privilege to wait in line this morning.

armed with our starbucks coffee and gloves and hats, we made it to the community center in the south end where they were distributing tickets 20 minutes before 9, which is when this process was to begin. my best guestimate was that we were between 60 or 70th in line, but the fact that each resident was allowed up to 4 tickets should have deterred us from waiting. but with a friendly "line family," as one person in front of us put it, we waited. and waited. and waited some more. and we got cold. then colder. then froze.

over an hour into the wait, w/ the worst part being the boston police not allowing the entire line inside due to space restrictions, murmurs of no more tickets started to rise. still 25 people deep, the police announced tickets were gone, but we could sign a waiting list. we had already invested so much time and hope that it would have been foolish leave so we waited a while longer to sign the waiting list. This now seems ironic.

the city of boston, the redsox, the bruins, and sun life financial corporation have put so much into this winter classic. it'll be a treat to watch the games on tv (i didn't even attempt to purchase tickets for the games) and a once in a lifetime opportunity for those who did get tickets today to skate inside historic fenway. hopefully those that made this happen see the interest in the public from today and announce another day or evening skate is available. i'd be happy to wait again for a chance at those tickets.

run rudolph run

i haven't gotten into the christmas spirit yet this year. i think a major reason why is that i'm not working and that excitement in the air that's so contagious is something that i haven't found. but i did buy some christmas presents on thursday and i think that might have helped. also i visited a friend's place on thursday evening (after that awesome pens' win) and saw his perfect live tree decorated w/ care by him and his 2 young kids. it was funny to see some branches sagging w/ the weight of 3 ornaments. when a kid sees a good branch he's gotta give it some love.

so today i finally felt a little of that christmas spirit so i ran w/ it. i found the radio station in boston that was playing christmas music, and although i didn't purchase a tree this year i decided to string some lights around the apartment. so now my back windows are lit up and garland is hung from the window frame in the family room too.

and after putting off working out for the past several days i forced myself to do something. especially as this weekend looks to involve lots of going out and consuming adult beverages. while i could have gone to the gym and ran on a treadmill in shorts and a short sleeve shirt i decided that the drive to the gym would be too much hassle. i instead got dressed in my warm weather gear and proceeded to sit on my couch and start pounding beers. just kidding. i braved the elements, including the concrete sidewalks, and ran 3 miles! the distance isn't the big accomplishment, but rather the fact that i ran outside and in the cold. i haven't run outside for easily over a month, and that's even w/ some 60 degree days. the biggest reasons were some injuries, including a tweaked lower back. but as of now, a few hours after the run, i feel tired but my back feels fine.

steelers who? let's go pens!

thursday evening was the first time this season, and actually in the past 4 years since i moved to boston, that i went to a bar to watch the pittsburgh penguins. on tuesday the pens played their cross-state rivals the philadelphia flyers who they handily beat that evening 6-1. thankfully that game was on nationally on versus. however, thursday evening's game which was again against the flyers, this time in philadelphia, was no where to be found on cable. my plan was to check out the coolidge corner clubhouse - one of 2 bars (previously it was the only one) that i would visit in the immediate vicinity - and hope they had the game on one of the numerous tv's they had.

when i walked in and took a survery of the stations and games that were being shown, i didn't see any hockey let alone the pens. i stood at the bar - as i wasn't ready to invest in a seat in case they couldn't show the game - until i was able to ask if it was possible to show the pens @ flyers game. the new bartender wasn't familiar with what was available so she asked me to wait for a couple of minutes while she inquired w/ the manager.

i was standing 4 seats away from the corner of the bar when the bartender informed me they would infact get the pens game. does this mean i should go to the clubhouse for every pens game going forward? or i could just pay for center ice from my cable provider, right? so when i learned that they would have the pens game my evening got infinitely better, but that's also when i learned my negotiations weren't complete. and by negotiations i mean how i would be watching the games. they said they'd put the game on the corner tv even though i was sitting directly infront of one. by the way, the tv infront of me was showing highschool basketball. also by the way, i believe northland upset findlay. if you're really interested, check it out on espn.com since they were the ones broadcasting the game.

while enjoying ipswitch winter ales, and a free guiness, and some delicious chili on a cold winter evening i watch all 3 periods of the pens game. plus the overtime and shootout! after fluery stopped the second penalty shot and the pens had scored on their first, they had sid "the sniper" crosby take their second shot which he promptly put in the back of the net. pens beat the flyers for the 2nd time in 3 nights. i think it might be time to purchase center ice - seems like another stanley cup year!

keep things short, including the espresso

short. quick. brief. i need to remind myself of this before i start writing a dissertation on retirement savings. now knowing the details of tuesday's post i hope you turn to it in the future if you ever have trouble falling asleep. no promises that this one keeps you up, and if not i suggest trying some espresso.

year's ago i found a starbucks espresso machine on craigslist. after experiencing first-hand that the machine worked properly, although the espresso the seller pulled tasted like crap, i quickly handed over my money for the machine. it's been one of the best investments. the only issue was when i purchased beans that were too finely ground and they clogged the filter. This was easily, but painstakingly, resolved but pushing them out w/ the use of a safety pin.

since i've had more time on my hands during the mornings (a benefit of not working), and no espresso blend, i've been making and drinking regular coffee. but wednesday i exhausted my coffee bean supply and knew i needed something for the next morning. so the need for caffine and the promise of a free afternoon coffee enticed me to plan a stop at peet's in coolidge corner. on my way i remembered i no longer had any biscotti which is the perfect compliment to an espresso. even though it required a double-back from where i came i headed to trader joe's and picked up some. a few hundred feet later and i was at peet's w/ a half pound of italian roast and a free medium coffee. they never disappoint, and i'm sure my espresso on thursday morning won't either.

retirement already?

surprisingly, no one sent me a message saying they no longer wish to receive emails of my blog. victory! in fact, i even received some positive feedback. i bet this was the case because no one thought that i would post again till 2010. but here i am.

so during my unemployment stint, i tried to ignore an important financial area - retirement savings. i did this because i was confident that my skills and experiences would land me a job before anything got out of hand. this almost happened - twice. but unfortunately, investing money from my savings and leaving my 401k just sitting around in my former employer's plan weren't the best ideas.

i had been putting off talking w/ my financial adviser for months. events such as my initial lay-off, the end of my severance pay, or a return trip home would have all been good opportunities to have the necessary investment discussions. but i really thought i'd be able sneak by until i was once again gainfully employed. i realized after my latest near miss of employment, last thursday was when i was informed the company was "passing" on me, that i needed to talk to my financial adviser.
 
my call from monday was returned, and we spoke for over an hour and a half on tuesday. while these aren't necessarily the worst calls to have, especially if the market is improving like it has been since 2008, they're also not the most fun. i was able to suspend my investments in the mutual funds i hold for 3 months. i thought this was a good timeframe - enough so i wouldn't be worried about how rent's going to get paid, but also good motivation to get back to receiving a pay check and to go through the big process to get there. however, i always have the safety net of suspending things a few more months. 

and as for my 401k, while i knew there were a couple of options i really wasn't sure what the best was - though i did know that cashing out was the worst. shortly after telling my financial adviser that i hadn't done anything w/ it, he started his pitch to open an IRA at his firm. it actually did make the most sense for the long run, but the 4.5% that gets chopped off immediately to have them manage my money was tough to swallow. and then i started wondering if he had my best interests in mind or was trying to make a quick buck for him and his firm. i think it's a little of both, but i've been w/ them for over 6 years so i feel pretty good about him as an adviser. in the end i was just glad to have done something "proactive" with my money, finally. now if only i could comfortably add more. hopefully soon.

time for my monthly post

i don't think i'm quite made for this blogging thing. not sure exactly why not, as i post to twitter which only a few of my friends/family would read, so you'd think that writing a few more characters than the 140 that twitter allows wouldn't be difficult. i think that some of my writing is verbose, and this blog doesn't really have a theme anymore, so i'm gonna try to change things for the remainder of 2009.

with being out of work for a long time - much longer than i expected - and having the chance on a daily basis to look at what i've done w/ my time off i've been frustrated and disappointed that i haven't taken advantage of it. perhaps i think i should be traveling all around the world with this time off, but of course that costs money, and mine is slowly dwindling. it seems like a lot of the experiences one dreams of cost money or would be better appreciated if they were enjoyed w/ someone else. so maybe i shouldn't be so hard on myself?


as i was heading to my car to go to the gym on monday evening, i realized that i hadn't been out of the house all day. i was disappointed in myself for this. all this free time, and i'm seemingly wasting it. this feeling was in spite of the fact that i recently did something pretty awesome - taking a wonderful trip to new hampshire this weekend with my girlfriend, jen, to relax and snowboard/ski. so i thought to myself: self, wouldn't it be motivation to do something new / that i was proud of / great if i would post about it that day (or the next day in case it takes me the full 24 hours to do this thing). sort of like the reason this blog was initially developed: to help me train for the chicago marathon. it would also be a way regularly post to this blog instead of just writing a post once every month or two.

so here goes... the new thing: on sunday, while in new hampshire, i attempted cross-country skiing for the first time - specifically the "skating" style (as opposed to "classical"). i had always heard that xcountry skiing was a terrific workout, and watching the winter olympics it was easy to see these guys were studs - especially the ones carrying a rifle and shooting five targets throughout their race (technically the biathlon). anyway (gotta work on this verbose thing), i was terrible at the skiing. at the first turn, which was the one to get on the actual trail from the center, i bit it and tweaked an old should injury. that was one of many spills. though i did handle the downhills pretty well. jen tried her hardest to teach me how to skate on my skis, but i wasn't the best of students. it was pretty frustrating, and you quickly realize how much technique is involved in this sport. i would definitely be willing to try it again and hope the next time i do a little better.

and on monday i was proud that i already posted the pictures jen and i took during our weekend on facebook. usually it takes me a few days to take the pics off my camera's memory card, and then a few weeks to upload them for sharing. my normal timeframe is about three months to get them onto facebook (and in the correct order w/ interesting captions). for instance, when the legend and his wife came up in march 2009 for his 30th birthday it took me till my last day of work in june to get them onto facebook. and that was only because my computer was being confiscated! check out the pics of this weekend's adventure here.

i hope i'm able to keep this up and i hope you enjoy it. if you get the emails of the blog, but no longer wish to just let me know. i promise it won't offend me (for more than a day). and it'll free up a space for someone else. and if you feel like making a comment, come to the blog and post it here instead of sending it directly to me via email. of course, if you do just send it to me i'll be sure to post it on here for ya.