Getting through applications

Been very busy writing my statement of purpose for both the Nicholas School at Duke and the Rosenstiel School at the University of Miami.  Click on the pictures to check out the schools if you interested.  Duke has a terrific PhD program that prepares students for careers as college professors while the University of Miami has great programs that use satellites to measure changes in the earth's surface and come one... it's freakin' Miami! Just wrapping them up now so I can head out for the New Years Celebration in Saratoga tonight! :)

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Bat Attack!

I was standing in the doorway of my room talking with Rick and Josh tonight when I kept seeing something in my room out of the corner of my eye.  I thought it must be something in my contact freakin' out so I didn't think much of it until I turned around to go to my computer and got buzzed by a bat!  I jumped out of my room screaming that something was in my room, which Josh, Jess, Kevin Shpunt, and Rick all laughed at until they saw it fly behind my head.  Jess screamed and booked it to Josh's room, I made a mad dash for my camera on the computer and then dove out of my room onto the couch as it buzzed me one last time.  Rick, Kevin, and I grabbed my halogen lamp to shine light and slowly crept into my room.  Eagle-eye Spratt saw it first... hanging upside down from my aiwa surround sound speaker behind my bed.  Josh came in immediately after with his  sweatshirt on, a hoodie pulled down nearly over his eye and gloves, walked up, grabbed it and tossed it out the window.  The brave, fearless Joshua Alexander Scott... too bad I caught him wearing Jess' coat just an hour earlier... Our theory is that it was a homosexual bat who caught a glimpse of Jessica's outfit, mistook her for eiher Richard Simons or Sir Elton John, and flew in through our door looking for some action!

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Pounders

Well, once again it came the time of the year for all of us to make the annual trip to the Silver Star Diner in Chester Town to chow 1lb burgers.  This tradition was started when my buddy Stumpy about 7 years ago took my buddy Hurley up to a crazy diner he had found with a giant rooster in the front of it.  Chris Hurley then introduced my best bro Matt Jones to it and they began stopping there on their route back to college at RIT and Geneseo respectively.  About two years after this began they introduced me to the diner and the challenge of eating a one pound burger!  When I first started going we would just pop on into the place, sit at the counter, have a cold one and chow those greasy abominations of meat.  Gradually the group started to grow to include a bunch of Stumpy's snowmobiling buddies and we in turn invited our friends like Dennis Russell, Matt's brother, Ken Wilhelm, Steve Britton and whoever else we could challenge into eating one of these things.  We even made a trip up on motorcycles as part of Matt's bachelor party.  Any special occasion was soon a cause to go up and there and clog our arteries.  Soon it became apparent that we no longer fit at the counter and had to be moved to the dining room.  It also became apparent that showing up with 15-20 guys demanding pounders was not a cool thing to do to the one and only poor chef!  Home movies have been made about what's now become a ritual and I've even heard stories about people having to pull over on the way home cause their stomach couldn't handle meat stewing in it.  The small pack of cars that used to travel up together to nosh burgers has ballooned to a convoy of vehicles packed with carnivores ranging from the mid teens to the fathers of kids I've grown up with (Mr. Britton).  Now we have to call well in advance to warn the poor chef of the impending parade of animals that would soon be invading his the small diner.  This year we counted 48 people in attendance and we took up the entire back room of the place.  I sat at the head table which unfortunately for me was served last so I had to endure 45 minutes of greasy high fives and gagging all around me as polished off their beef.  Rules have now been applied to the festivities such as 1. You can't put down the burger down once you've picked it up (this rule I find easy because the bread is homemade and has giant holes in it that leak grease, ketchup or anything else you have on the burger through them, but I use them as finger holds to grip the dam thing).  2. You can't touch napkins while eating it (this would be stupid anyway because by the time your halfway through the thing the breads been ripped apart and probably eaten and your just holding a large wad of meat in your hands so you'll need the napkins afterwards).  My burger was barely cooked so I decided to put my 70's gold aviators to tone down the bloody red center of the burger so I could power through it.  Being that it's a holiday tradition I also have my santa hat on... Look for me in the photo from the paper (yes, the local newspaper finally heard obout our shinanigans (I swear I'll pistol whip the next person who says that!) and wrote a story about us.  We always try to get a picture with the chef and waitresses in front of the rooster afterwards (The rooster itself has a rich history as it was once stolen!).  Anyway...good times, good beef, and good buddies!  POUNDERS!!!

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Christmas Seafood Fest

This year for Christmas my aunt Sue Culligan who usually eats with us went Seattle to visit my cousins Ann and Erin so it was just my parents and I for Christmas Dinner.   A few weeks ago my mom asked me what I wanted to do for dinner and I thought of something my Italian friend Kristen Rougeau (now a last name cause she's married to the Lake George technology teacher) told me when we were in high school.  She told me that it was traditional for Italians to have a seafood dinner for holidays... which sounded like a dream come true to me.  So, after all these years of stuffing  myself painful with turkey and ham I suggested a seafood feast for christmas and told my parents I would take care of everything.  This was good news to my mom who didn't want to cook and my father who is a fanatic about lobster as much as I am.  So, yesterday I picked a 1.5lb lobster, 3lb lobster, 2lb of alaskan king crab, 1.5lbs of shrimp, 30 cherrystones, and some smoked raw salmon.  Icooked up a feast and easily cleaned up the pots afterwards.  We didn't even have a side dish with the meal besides some sliced avacado!  Afterwards my father was saying how full he was until I pulled out the best desert for a seafood feast... watermelon, which he happily devoured.  i was sure that all of us would be sick after such an enormous meal but we all felt fine!  I took home just a couple legs, the body of the 3 pounder and some clams and plan to finish it all off completely tomorow night.  It was a great idea except for the fact that both my parents have high colesterol and I may have just served them their death... lets hope not!

When I got back to the apartment tonight Josh and Jess showed up and exchanged presents... I've never before seen two people give each other so much stuff... it took 3 trips down to the dumpster to dispose of just the wrapping paper... I almost threw Scotto in by accident cause he had so much wrapping around his head as usual.  Jess (who had apparently just finished filming Faster and More Furious 3 almost passed out when she opened up the Coach bag Josh gave her!  Jess gave Josh a giant poker table to feed his addiction!  It was a great Christmas for everyone!  Meeerrryyy Christmas!!!

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Merry Drunkin' Christmas!

We had our Christmas party last night. I picked up a quarter keg of Yuengling Black & Tan and Josh picked up several bottles. The people that brought booze for the gift swap left the bottles out for all to enjoy. My mom swung by at the beginning of the party and got to meet Rick and Jess. People started showing up at about 9pm and the party and drunkeness quickly escalated. Byers showed up with an ornament for me (3 m80's wrapped around each other with the wicks twisted together) and Kladis brought over a sick bottle of Big House Red Alcatraz wine from cali. Two gigantic bottles of Grey Goose made an appearance and were quickly tanked throughout the night. Everyone had a great time. Josh threw the m80's at our neighbors car while he was standing there which could have been trouble but nothing came of it. Jess passed out in Josh's room around midnight and Jeff Merigan was quickly behind her passed out under Josh's Bowflex. Casualties of the party include a couple holes in the walls, a broken bike, a wax from candles everywhere, booze over everything, some puke on the lawn below, a few broken glasses, and some broken darts. Apparently, Megan Baxter and I ballroom danced for a long time. Rick and I decided to longboard around the apartment at 4am, and Josh and I as usual beat each other up. Jonny Hughes lined up some "special" shots of booze for us that got us really f'd up.

But the scariest moment for me of the night actually happened in the morning. There I was quietly lying in bed at about 9am and I felt someone laying on top of the covers behind me and the person's arm was over me. I thought, "oh God, what have I done... what mistake did I make last night... who could this be?" Scared, I decided to just pass out asleep again and deal with it in another hour....hopefully the person would leave by then maybe.... So at about 10:30 I decided I needed to find out... I slowly opened my eyes, turned over and was staring Rick Spratt in the face... I began to scream... Rick jumped up and wandered to the couch, still in a drunken delerium. I then found myself in the fetal position in the tub crying like a girl trying to scrub off anything Rick may have tried to do to me over the night.... Now, after I calmed down and took some valium (not really) I decided to think it out and figure out what happened. We all opened presents in Josh's room and I recieved a giant Wok from Rick, and penguin pajama pants and skier boxers from Jess and Josh. Jess and Josh both loved the framed photo of them eating the dinner Jess made for Josh on our lawn. We were all still really drunk. Rick had lost his camera at the party and left to go see family. I wandered down to the bike shop to tell Chris about the party. There I found out that Jon Hughes... the kid I had THOUGHT had slept on the couch and forced drunk Rick into my room, had actually not slept over at all... THIS MEANT THAT THE COUCH WAS EMPTY!!! Why Rick Spratt decided to wander into my room and spoon me all night will be a mystery that may never be solved!

We ended up with about 8 bottles of booze left over, 3/4 of a keg, and a lot of candy. I also ended up with beer stomach all afternoon... It was a great party. We had beer, booze, explosives, great music (after Greg Filiberto was escorted away from my computer where he was camped most of the night playing rage rock), and we even had a pair of lesbians that were nice enough to kiss for the camera of a really drunken asshole (me). It's going to be a while until the keg is fully drank...

Here are the list of people in attendance that I can remember... Josh Scott, Rick Spratt, Jessica Schmidt, Nick and Audra, Megan Baxter, Kerri, John Howland, Brian King and Beau, Kevin McCormick, Jeremy Byers, Ken Wilhelm, Jon Hughes and two friends, Kate Chamberlain, Jeremy Russo, Jeff Merigan, Jamie Foss and boyfriend, Jackie Luin, Adrian Berozowski and kristen, Sarah and Jess, Logan Jones and Jacquie French, Matt Jones and Sara Jones, Chris Hurley, Greg Filiberto, and my mom!

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Narnia

Rick Spratt had free passes to the Wilton Mall cinema's so he and I went to go see "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe" last night while Josh and Jess saw it with her mom in Clifton Park.  Josh hated it, Rick thought it was ok as well as Jess but I thought it was fantastic.  I have a very science-fiction oriented mind and I thought it was well done.  The talking animals in it were terrifically created with CG and it brought back memories of how much I liked the book when I was a child.  Great movie.  I give it two big thumbs up!

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Wayy too stressed leads to Wayy too drunk

After work last night I decided that I would like to go out for a drink.  Josh and Rick decided to head over to Mike Savastano to meet up with Tyler Frank and others for a bit.  I decided to stay home and drink a bottle of wine and a few beers before meeting up with Adrian after the FGM Christmas party at the Prime Hotel about 1000 feet from where I live on Broadway.  Apparently he said cocaine still runs rampant at FGM and that the party was pretty lame and nobody listened to Dave Silipigno's stupid speech.  Anyway... I met up with Adrian downtown and we were both pretty drunk at that point (him from the party and me from the wine).  We stumbled into "13", a new bar downtown, and were greeted by a very drunk guy claiming that it was a private christmas party.  We didn't believe him, easily distracted him and then made it to the bar.  Adrian was pulling out money to pay the bartender for two shots of Southern Comfort but she said it was an open bar.... ohhhh yyyeaaahhhh... 6 shots later he and were stumbling out of the bar delirious and made it to "The Alley", a skeevy bar in the back streets of Toga where we met up with Kristen.  After a pitcher of beer there, the two of them wandered home and I wandered back down to the bars on Caroline Street where Josh and Rick met up with me.  They wanted to enter a club with Jess and her friends but I couldn't get in because I had a t-shirt on and jeans... stupid clubs.  So, apparently from what I've been told I started yelling stuff about FGM and everyone there doing coke (with mostly FGM people around me in the streets from the party) Whoops... I stumbled into a few bars... I think... looking for something to do or someone to talk to, and then wandered home.  Josh and Jess showed up very quickly after me, sick of the club almost instantly and found me passed out on the couch.  Someone must have kicked me because I found my way into bed.  I ended up spending nothing which was great and was incredibly drunk from it all!!! That's me... Work hard and Play Hard... I spent all day today relaxing and recovering... Just what I needed after a hard week of Graduate School resarch and my new job. 

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To Be a Red Sox Fan

My roomate Josh has decided to look into baseball cards recently  purchasing cards on ebay.  He knows athletes so well that he just flips through thousands and finds one that are worth money. He has the potential to make quadruple what he's spent on the cards if he can find an outlet for them.  So... Iand has begun decided to get my old cards and let him look through them... To my horror this is what he found... This man cost us a World Series Ring and was pretty much run out of Boston for it... Just like Grady Little was when he kept Pedro on the mound in 2003.   We Red Sox fans don't take kindly to people that completely fuck up over over half a decade of hope.... as you can see...

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The Poker King

Never thought it would happen... but I beat Josh Scott tonight at Poker... As I was learning I did several stupid things like folding with pocket aces right off the bat so everyone thought I was a moron, but then I bluffed the hell out of Jess and won a huge hand.  Then we all got tired and through in all our chips for the hell of it to end the game... and when the cards were flopped I ended up having the best hand... barely... so it wasn't an epic win, but technically I still beat the king of gambling and fantasy sports Joshua Alexander Scott at Poker... mark the calendar cause I doubt it will ever happen again!

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First Day at EMS

Had my interview with the store assistant manager George Yesterday at Panera Bread next to EMS and easily got the job.  I was hired on as extra help for the holidays which is good because I still need a lot of time for my graduat school applications I'm pounding through.  My job title is officially Store Guide.  I simply walk around and answer questions based on my expertise in the outdoors and use my experience to suggest solutions that will fit customers' needs.  Pretty easy, just on my feet all day.  We are allowed to wear and try on anything in the store throughout the day and I'm excited to meet new contacts there to do the outdoor activities with that I love like hiking, climbing and skiing.  Pay sucks, but atleast it's something :)  Plus... I get DISCOUNTS!!!! Oh yeah.....

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Killington Snow storm

Snowstorm = Me driving 90mph to Killington.  Unbelievable day.  No crowd, no lines, and skiing until 4pm when my legs were burning like fire and they wouldn't let me back on the lift again.  Is there any sport out there better than skiing... I don't think so. 

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Holiday Dinner at Adrians

I have been working non-stop on Graduate School applications.  I have it narrowed down to about 18 from 50 that I was looking at 2 weeks ago.  I've been working about 10 hours a day on the process so I guess it's really convenient that I still don't have a job.  I do have an interview with Eastern Mountain Sports on Monday though that I think is promising.  It's been really stressful trying to email all the professors I need to, search for jobs, and spend time with family.  No room for much fun.   Recently when I was visiting Chris downstairs at Elevate Cycles he told me about new protective body armor made by SIXSIXONE that he could order at about 45% of the retail value.  This past Tuesday I brought down a check for a grand and gave it to him to order a ton of gear that I plan on throwing on ebay.  Even if I sell it at 70% of the retail I stand to make a ton of cash.  I'm sure I'll be able to sell the gear at what I bought it at so I don't see how this scheme won't work... Check out the picture to see what it looks like.  If this flies I'll be able to use it as my sould source of income while I apply to schools and it won't take up that much time... keepin' my fingers crossed on this one.  Anyway, back to the title of this entry... Adrian and his girflriend Kristin invited me over for dinner tonight at their place.  She had cooked delicious caseroles and a full turkey with all the fixings for an early christmas dinner.  It was delicious and just the break I needed from a hard day of emails and researching!  Thanks guys.  A week ago Josh, Jess and I decided that we should throw a Christmas party here and I made up some invitations and sent them out to our close friends.  The party is set for the 23rd and I hope a lot of people will be able to make it.  Should be a good time.

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Begonia

Woke up this morning to a dog staring at me... Begonia!!! Nick Kladis brought over his girlfriend Audra's dog for Josh and to watch.  She's not a very bright dog but follows you around and always wants attention.  She spent the entire afternoon laying in the sun on my bed, resulting in my bed becoming a sheet of shimmering gold hairs. haha...

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