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Corporate Challenge 2009 and MJ    Jul 02, 2009
I ran the Corporate Challenge 2 years ago but last year our company didn't register in time. I saw this years announcement buried in a weekly corporate email about events around the Boston area and passed it along to a few other runners but yet I only really knew 3 other runners on our team.

The race began at 7:15 and since our team picture was at 5:30 it left some time to kill before the start. So Sarah and I walked over to meet some of the people from my former office (and still her current) at The Globe to kill the time. On the way we ran into Kathy, who was not running but was headed to Cottonwood for a drink with a couple of coworkers visiting from the Indy office. Sarah and I rerouted and joined the group there and I got some face time with a group I would eventually like to work for (eventually, and not in Indianapolis).

When we walked into the bar at Cottonwood I soon noticed the ticker at the bottom of the TV. TMZ reports Michael Jackson has died. We were all skeptical of the celebrity 'news' source but when Brian Williams led the 6:30 national news with the report it seemed certain. From God's mouth to Brian Williams' ears, right? So that is where I was at 6:02 when I heard Michael Jackson died. More on MJ later.

I was just planning on a water but ended up having a beer. The bar was actually packed with runners and I figured that since I had run twice in the last 6 weeks it couldn't hurt my time too much. So I had a water and a beer and then some cute woman was handing out free samples of margaritas so I grabbed one of those as well (the smallest they had).

We headed over to the race and were of course caught in foot traffic at the beginning. It was slow going but I kept pace with 2 other folks from my company who, I found out as we were running, were each in separate running clubs. Not my best choice of people to keep pace with. After a light feeling of wanting to vomit around the 3/4 mile mark I hit a groove with them and kept up well, beating one of them. Not accounting for the offset of crossing the line or being held up in traffic I finished the 3.5 mile course in 30:56, which was perfectly acceptable to me.

I then headed over to Flash's for a drink with a couple of newly met colleagues and headed home to wash the sweat off. Oh, I forgot to mention, after weeks of mid-sixty temps and rain it was a sunny afternoon with temps around 80. Not terrible for a race but not ideal, either.

Anyhow, Michael Jackson. I said that evening and still firmly believe his death was not worthy of the coverage it received. He is undoubtedly a cultural icon but...

But his affect on society was not as noteworthy as so many who have passed before him who made the world a better place. He entertained, which is a valuable function, but I don't think he is more important than the educators, scientists, doctors, politicians, etc. who have actively worked to make the world a better place for all.

That being said, I did find myself wrapped up in radio marathons and VH1 Classic repeating a 3 hour block of his videos all weekend. It is likely flavored by good will due to his passing but he's such an amazing artist. There is something captivating about his high voice and positive message in songs like Heal the World and Man in the Mirror while the artistry...I so want to use another word there but my mind is gone right now, the next post will explain...he spent in making not just music videos but mini-movies for Thriller, Bad, and Billie Jean. He's just so talented.

And obviously there are all the crazy things he did and damaging ways he interacted with children which cannot be overlooked. I am in no way absolving him of those transgressions but it has to be acknowledged that he was damaged as a child. Should he have sought healthier ways of coping? Clearly, but there is absolutely a tragic nature to his life from an early age. And I HATE that word, I think it is thrown around way too much and maybe I am guilty of it here. However, I feel relatively certain it is appropriate.

When I returned home after the race my roommate was watching CNN's over-the-top coverage and there was a point when MJ said the most biographical song he wrote was Childhood. It starts "Have you seen my childhood?" and continues on how nobody understands him and requests "before you judge me try hard to love me, look within your heart then ask have you seen my childhood". It's worth a google or youtube check to get a better sense.

Anyhow, to bed for me. I moved today and am wiped. I have no internet access at home, thus I am writing it now and posting it from work in the morning.

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Technogoly    Jun 21, 2009
At some point in my career we had shirts made for a retreat which accidentally said "Media Technogoly". It missed the proofers and instantly became a collectors item.

I think I am overextending myself on electronic media. As you may be aware, I run a site where I make random comments on my life and current event type stuff. Lately the life updates have slowed and the political/current event stuff has basically ceased to exist. I'm on facebook and am trying to actually spend more time on it but do so in a focused way. I think it would be safe to say I haven't learned how to do it effectively. I've found my feed isn't picking up activity by some of those I would like to stay up-to-date with but always seems to grab crap I am uninterested in. I am very close to cleaning out my friends list but being too concerned that it would hurt someone's feelings if I delete them, they remain. In addition I am now a twitterer, tweeter, whatever.

The thing is, I try to do all of these things only when I think they would be genuinely interesting to others. I hate this facebook crap of "going to the grocery store". Great, awesome, you are shopping. Why does that interest me? Tell me you were grocery shopping and knocked over an endcap or bumped into James Gandolfini. Anyhow, sorry for that tangent, or two tangents. Long story short, I am trying to make sure there is some value to what I write in any online medium.

So what do I have of value? Some strange right-knee ailment. Basically it is that the area just below my kneecap seems to go a bit numb. It's normaally aggravated by long pants, I believe. However, I am beginning to give more credence to the theory that it may be a result of the way I crack my knee. It's kind of a catch-22, if I don't crack it my knee feels a bit locked up. If I do it goes numb. Good times!

Oh, and I am moving, I think I mentioned that earlier but now all the paperwork is signed. We are moving to a place right around the corner. We picked up the keys yesterday and the landlord provided them with an interesting keychain. On the front it says "[His name] CPA. We cover all your business needs". You flip it over and it reveals....wait for it...wait for it...a condom. The key chain has a condom in it. Can't say I've seen that before.

On the way to work Wednesday morning I was waiting for the green line and 5 college age guys walked onto the platform (it was near Boston College). A few moments later one of them leaned over the retaining wall behind the platform and emptied his stomach of its contents, which was, it would appear...beer. It was foul but made worse when the train came and he got on, complete with a wet spot on his shirt. Yep, vomit. NOT good times.

And on Friday evening we were in Harvard Sq. and saw a bunch of kids (18-25 yr olds, I would guess) camping out along stores on Brattle St. I first presumed they were watching the Brattle Theater (across the street) for some special screening with celebrities in attendance. This was supported by some guy in a cherry red Lamborghini (probably spelled wrong but I don't care) and 2 cops just hanging out. We asked one of the hipper-than-we kids as we exited a shoe store and found they were waiting to buy shoes at the store next door. But not just any shoes. These were the Nike Blue Lobster SB Dunk. OK, I have to be honest, that means nothing to me either. But let me tell you what I have learned in the last 48 hours via a few googles.

The Nike Blue Lobster SB Dunk was available first at Concepts (which is apparently only in Cambridge, MA) which makes me wonder if people actually traveled significant distances to get there for the opening. They were camped around two corners, at least 100 deep, 12 hours before the opening so my guess is there may have been some actual travel. Oh, and there were so many electronic widgets in that group, I felt so old. Apparently they retail for $250. Now, I remember when shoes were expensive as a kid and I wish I had the appreciation then for my understanding now of the real value of a $75-100 shoe. That is kind of a backwards way of saying "holy crap, once you have a sense for $90 really is, I can't believe I ever asked my parents to spend that kind of money on a pair of shoes". So sincerely, thank you mom and dad for the times you allowed it. And just as much, thank you for the times you said no. But back to my point...$250 for a pair of street shoes?!? I mean, honestly, they are good looking shoes. No two ways about it. However, I doubt there is any performance aspect to it, the money wasn't for R and D but marketing (do your own search and look at how the frickin things are packaged!). Anyhow, it was great fun to see these kids sitting around waiting for $250 shoes prior to going to Charlie's Kitchen for some moderately priced hamburgers and beer (Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA).

Updates may be sparse for the next few weeks. Katie is coming to visit, I have the corporate challenge, and then over the weekend more moving. Then I leave July 2 for a long weekend in Chicago. I'll continue to be here but only if I really think I have something interesting to say!

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Back From Montreal    Jun 08, 2009
It was a great weekend in Montreal. I'm not going to recap it yet but it was filled with beautiful weather, beer, truly tasteless jokes, and all-around great times. I'll go into more detail tomorrow or Wednesday evening.

Last night we arrived home later than anticipated and I dropped by to see Jen. I called in a personal day today to look at apartments (grueling, but fruitful, more on that to come as well) and drive Nick up to Manchester for his flight back to Colorado. I then returned to look at another apartment and talk through our findings with my roommate, folded laundry which had been sitting clean for 5 days, and refilling the laundry baskets with dirty laundry from the trip. In a few short minutes I will sleep in my own bed for the first time in something like 5 days and I am thoroughly looking forward to it.

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Beach Time    Jun 01, 2009
I've been a bit slow with these as of late, I know. Summer is at hand and as a result I'm getting busier and things are slowing down. However, the crap of it is that life is going well and there is a lot of fun to share.

First off, I am on the move again. My landlords sold my current place so I am searching for a suitable place 7/1. There are a lot of possibilities I am weighing. More on that when I figure it all out.

Second, I have to recommend a movie. King of Kong (warning: the trailer auto-plays). It's a documentary about the quest to break the record on what is (apparently) known to be the most difficult classic video game. Donkey Kong. I was slightly skeptical when I started it but it soon became compelling. The retelling is a bit skewed as there comes to be a hero and villain but the real story is in how serious everyone involved takes the competition, up to the side story of the octogenarian woman hell-bent on breaking the Q-bert record. I highly recommend it and if you are on Netflix you can play it on demand.

Work is going well. My last absolute deadline was successfully met and now the summer is to be spent catching up on the softer deadlines and planning for the copyright 2011 products (products released in 2010). Again this year I have a 12/31 release for a project. Personally I think this is nonsense, as what instructor is going to look at a new release on New Years Eve or even the next day for that matter? Not only is it a holiday but it is also their winter break. It just makes for a hectic schedule in the week between Christmas and New Years when (for good reason) a lot of people are out of the office.

So the fun stuff. This weekend I helped a coworker, Julia, move back to Brookline. It was my first trip to the North Shore (Beverly) in a couple of years. I think Julia had underestimated the manpower necessary to move her couch, a hide-a-bed. The 2 of us struggled but successfully moved the behemoth of a couch to the Uhaul van. However, I was quite concerned about moving said couch up two flights of stairs to her new place. No, I wasn't concerned, I was certain it could not happen. Just moving it out of her apartment left me bloody and bruised (literally, a few nice scrapes and bruised forearms) and I didn't think there was ANY way we could get it up her stairs. I was pouring through my phone looking for people who were local and healthy to aid us but came up empty. However, as a stroke of luck Poirier Appliances was moving a small oven into another apartment and Phil and D were so incredibly kind as to help us move the couch to her apartment. I cannot express enough sincere gratitude to the two men for helping us. It was absolutely, positively, the kindest act I have seen from strangers in a long, long, long time. When the time comes to buy an appliance I will undoubtedly go to Poirier. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Phil and D had it under control, there was nowhere for me to help. But of course there was a catch. There was absolutely no way that couch was going through the turn in the stairwell. After a solid 20 minutes of assistance we all gave up and they returned the couch to the truck. We tried to offer them $$ they adamantly refused and just said "Do a good deed for someone else." Again, a huge thank you to them and if you are ever in need of appliances in the Boston area I highly recommend you visit the good people at Poirier.

So now the couch (sans cushions) is sitting in my nearby basement for at most the next month as Julia finds a new home for it.

That evening Jen came by and we headed over to my new favorite beer bar, Deep Ellum, for dinner. It met my desire for a good beer and Jen's quest for outdoor seating. Famished from the move I devoured the plate of the homemade sausage of the day and a pull from the cask Blue Hill IPA. We had a nice little seat in the corner right behind a raised deck but it was kind of odd to look behind and see the feet of other patrons. Regardless, the atmosphere was awesome as the sun finished it's daily routine and a crisp moon shone down. It may surpass Publick House as my favorite beer bar in Boston, the staff is so friendly and knowledgeable. Kudos.

Late Sunday morning Jen and I headed north to some beach (the name started with a W and it was in Gloucester, that is about all I really can say for sure). It was only my second trip to the beach in my 8 years in Boston, kind of sick really. I got to meet some of Jen's friends on a day that was kind of cool for the beach. The air temp was mid-70's and the water was...quite a bit colder. That didn't stop me, or Jessica for that matter, as we eventually dove in. We were the only two I saw who fully submerged themselves in the ocean. We were certainly cooler (colder even) than the other beach goers and some may say we were a bit less sane.

Just as the storms were rolling in at 4:00 we departed for a little clam shack for a local favorite, fried clams, which were very good but in many ways indiscernible from any other fried food. Regardless, it was a nice cap to a day of meeting some of her friends and leisurely hanging out next to the ocean and watching storms roll by and then into us.

At this point I may as well mention that I am dating Jen. Our first date was just before I visited Iowa for my sister's wedding. We were friends for many years and then it just kind of worked out that dating seemed appropriate.

So yeah, she is kind of taking my time from updates. But don't blame and hate her, should things get more settled I am sure she'll be OK with me writing some updates in her company.

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Health Screening    May 20, 2009
There was a free health screening at work today. While all tests pointed to me being in very good health I'm not sure I am buying it.

They were running 20 minutes late when I arrived so I killed the time by reading the charts which broke down the various levels of health based on different results for BMI, cholesterol, glucose, etc. By the time I got in for my tests I had it pretty well down.

I sat down and the technician pricked my finger for a blood sample. Normally they quickly fill the little pipette but this was more like watching her try to push water into a drain with a squeegee, back and forth, back and forth, all around. It didn't hurt too much but it was certainly uncomfortable and set a bad tone (if the 20 minute wait didn't do that already). So then she measured my height and I was about 1/4 inch shorter than what I was measured at my physical in November. Not ideal news but since I felt the vertical pole bend as I was standing there I didn't give it a lot of merit (though if I am thinking of it correctly, a bend pole would make me taller). Then the scale was 3 lbs more than what I had weighed myself at home (and another coworker reported her weight was also 3 lbs above the AM reading).

Finally the blood work came back and my total cholesterol was fine, HDL - fine. Triglycerides - fine. Glucose - fine. LDL - N/A. The machine couldn't register my LDL. Can any of it go right?

So I took my sheet to the counselor person who went through it piece by piece off a sheet that looked strikingly similar to the sheet I was looking at. Oh wait, it was the same damn thing. She looked up each reading and read "average", "ideal", etc. directly from the sheet. I asked her about the missing LDL thing and she had no answer.

So I went back to my cube and googled "calculate total cholesterol" and within 30 seconds I had calculated what she was unable to tell me.

Long story short it was a complete waste of 35 minutes. I'm sure they are collecting the data for my company (I also read that on the sheet as I waited) so my guess is that is the only purpose the testing really served. Maybe they will ask us to be retested in the future and use more accurate measures which will aid the company in showing signs of improved employee health. Or maybe it will be equally flawed. Either way I will not be partaking.

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My Sister's Wedding    May 10, 2009
OK, this is clearly delayed but that is true to form for most posts which include a good sized set of images. It is a daunting task but unlike other posts where I just forego the images I didn't want to do that. So I wrote a large chunk of this on the flight home and spent the rest of that first week (4/27-5/1) wiped. Something about staying up until nearly 2:00 EST for 5 nights left me quite tired but also made it difficult to go to bed at a reasonable time. Enough excuses, to the post.

I awoke at 3:45 Thursday AM to hop a flight to IA to see my sister Carrie exchange vows with her fiancee, Matt. I had spent Wednesday evening at Fenway, waiting through a rain delay to see the Sox take down Francisco Liriano and the Twins to finish a day/night double-header sweep.

The flights were pretty uneventful, though there were a couple of odd notes. On the trip from BOS to Minneapolis one of the two coach class bathrooms was out of order. Slightly annoying but because the flight was about 1/3 full it was no big deal. Then I entered the 1 functional bathroom and was kind of surprised to see the toilet seat cover was lying haphazardly to the right of the toilet. It was no big deal but it felt alarmingly like a bathroom from Keane Hall, my old college dorm. Half the toilets were out of service those which functioned were kind of busted up. Oh, and only after that initial feeling did I realize the toilet was flushing itself at random intervals and the sink had slightly more than no water flowing but slightly less than a trickle. "We are the new Northwest/Delta alliance. We aspire to be your mediocre airline."

I was preparing to board the puddle-jumper from MSP to Fort Dodge and was beckoned by Megan, one of my sisters bridesmaids. We chatted for a while and eventually boarded. When the plane made it's scheduled stop at Mason City to discharge passengers we found that we were the only two continuing on to Fort Dodge. I have decided to call that flight the Becker/Cottrell Wedding Charter Flight. Oh, and I also realized that they actually plug in the plane to give it enough power to start the engines. So not only do all the lights go out but they also plug it into a wall socket, or maybe it more like jumping a car. Good times.

So I arrived in FD and tried on my tux to find that the arms were too short. Out of the 8 tuxes I believe 5 had issues which required fixing. The ring bearer had arms which were 2 inches too long (a big deal when your arms are only 20 inches or so!) and when they fixed it they kind of over-corrected by 2 more inches. And another usher had to have a slit cut in the back of his vest so it fit properly for pictures before they had time to drive one from Waterloo. But the guy that fitted me was super nice. Everyone looked excellent when the time came but I think there was some frustration with the tuxes.

Friday AM I went to the reception site to help decorate. It went by relatively quickly, I spent most of my time moving trees into place. Yep, my sister and dad had gone out and cut down 9-10 small trees, painted them silver, and put them in buckets of rock (covered by prettier stuff, of course!) for decoration in a few corners. I have to say, it really looked awesome. I questioned it myself prior to seeing it in action but I should not have doubted Carrie. That takes me to a larger point. The entire thing looked great. Carrie has the eye of a designer and so it goes without saying she had a particular idea of how her wedding would look. I gave her crap for it at many points (and will continue to do so) but there is no arguing that the finished product was pretty amazing.

Around noon Carrie dismissed the bridesmaids and they took me with them to Taco Tico for some grub, then it was over to the church for decorating (we talked Carrie out of moving a 70 LB baptismal font and a stack of 40 retaining wall blocks), and finally home to clean up for the rehearsal and dinner.

Rehearsal pix (there was light pouring through one window high above the altar so some are pretty dark and many couldn't even be included):

• Dad walking Carrie down the aisle.
• The wedding party.
• Christina (maid of honor) signs the wedding certificate.
• Mike signed with an X, just in case Matt wanted a way out. OK, I made that up.
• Carrie was trying to figure out if she should use her old last name or her new one.
• Matt makes it official.
• With our Uncle Bruce, the celebrant, everyone looks relieved.

So we headed to the rehearsal dinner which was held at a golf course my deceased grandfather once owned. It's kind of cool how life sometimes comes full circle. After a cocktail hour we sat down. I was with my parents and uncle Bruce and two groomsmen I met at the bachelor party. Scott and Tom. Scott is the quietest of the guys and Tom is their whipping boy. I would love nothing more than to repeat a few of the most horrible (aka awesome) jokes but he's a teacher and I think it is best to keep such things private.

So we ate and then we were all encouraged to make a toast to the couple. I made my sister cry by mentioning that love is not just a matter of meeting the right person but meeting them at the right time and how amazing it was that despite living 10 blocks from each other (in a small town) for 18 years they didn't meet until Carrie had moved to Vegas and each were older and ready for a long-term relationship. It just goes to show than on rare occasions even I can say something right! Shortly thereafter my dad got up and brought himself, the bride, and groom to tears with an incredibly sweet toast, part of it was saying Matt was the nicest guy who has passed through his doors. Umm, hi dad. Thanks.

Finally Matt got up, tried to make a speech and then asked to collect himself and sat down. After a few moments he stood back up and promptly lost it again. It was sweet but it really got me wishing my sister had married less of a wuss. OK, that was probably a bad joke but I couldn't have made it if there was any truth to it. It really was sweet and made me happy that my sister was marrying a man who cares so much that he is brought to tears.

So Saturday came and we all got ready, blah blah blah. We got to the church around 10:30 to dress (Matt getting help), eat, and drink (this was actually full of Red Bull at the time) before pix and the 1:30 ceremony. I snuck upstairs to the choir loft to greet Carrie as she was hiding from Matt.

It was a quick ceremony as Catholic marriages go as they didn't have a full mass (Matt is not Catholic). Dad walked Carrie down the aisle and the ceremony went without any snafus, which I think is the best thing you can ask for. Oh, I have to say, I was quite teary at the beginning, which I wasn't expecting. I thought maybe I would cry at the exchange of vows but that was fine. It was just the very beginning that got me. Here are Carrie and Matt exiting the church to a shower of bubbles.

After some pictures it was time to break down the decorations at the church and I took charge of trying to put all their plants and purple stuff (which clashed with the wedding colors) back in place. At some point my ride (my parents) left me. Luckily Matt looked back into the church and saw me and talked his parents into waiting for me. Later my mom said they looked all over for me and I commented that if they had opened the doors to the church and looked in they couldn't have missed me. I felt kind of like Macauly Culkin in Home Alone.

The reception hall looked great, as I said, their planning really paid off. It even had their take on the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Matt's brother had built a big backdrop for behind the head table, covering the drapes that were already there. It is hard to do it justice but take my word for it, they did well.

I spent most of the reception talking to relatives I hadn't seen in some time and as such stayed pretty well away from the dance floor, which was fine by me. I had a very nice conversation with my youngest cousin (youngest but still 20) and spent a lot of time with my paternal cousins, whom I hadn't seen in over 20 years. But I still found time during the cocktail hour to play some of the table games they had set up. I sat down for some blackjack to encourage others to do so, not because I thoroughly enjoy it. My aunt Carlene and great-aunt Jesse joined, as did Will and his friend Lea. The dealer was very nice so I didn't want him to be left out of the picture fun.

Then the wedding party came in. As it is a Vegas-themed wedding the guys were Elvis glasses and the girls had feather boas. Tom and Kris. Megan and Scott. Christina and Mike, the matron of honor and best man. (and I missed a picture of Eric and Jami). The happy couple. Then they danced. (PS. They cheated and took dancing lessons.) Then Elvis arrived. This was a surprise to the couple but it worked out very well. He performed for the exact right amount of time. One more song may have gotten old but it worked out awesome. And how can you have a Vegas wedding without Elvis? Elvis with my cousins, Cindy and Angie, whom I had not seen in 20 years. Elvis with the couple and then me. The long-lost cousins. The ring bearer and I became good friends because we are both such bad asses. My aunt Carlene and cousins Cindy and Angie forced me to do a shot (honestly, Carlene gets the credit/blame). Carrie and I with our cousins Will and Katherine (Teresa had retired to put her daughter to bed). The couple, and again with their sign.

Other random pictures:
Sign at the hotel. Becker is in reference to Matt's last name, just to clear up any confusion.
Their cake. It was fake. (but they had real cake too, and it was dang tasty)

As I said, it was a great time. I'm immensely happy for the couple and just couldn't post this without a full recap including pictures. So I am sorry for the delay and lack of posts since going to Iowa but I promise I'll be back in the swing of it soon. Life is going well out here, there is plenty to write about.

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