Got It!

So I finally got it! PC3980 is mine! But it was like a maze trying to get it! Here's the story in brief:

- Had the title overnighted on Monday (to arrive Tuesday)
- Called at noon on Tuesday to check if it got there
- Called the credit union to get the tracking number - sure enough it had arrived at 10:16am at the Wilmington DMV
- Called the DMV back - they gave me a run-around, telling me that they couldn't discuss the title with me, blah blah blah. It was VERY frustrating.
- I had to get the credit union to fax the DMV a letter stating that both my name and the credit union's name was on the title
- It turns out that the STUPID woman at the DMV wrote my name down wrong - she put Joseph, Jordan. Wow. Way to go.

I met Mr. Redding at the DMV and we did the transaction. However, when I went outside to remove my tag, the left screw wouldn't come off. I was with Greg D. and Brent du P. all day so we were all trying to unscrew it but it wouldn't come off. What happened is that the fixture that holds the screw in was broken - the nut inside of the fixture was spinning with the screw but we couldn't get to it. We went to Tom's house to ask his dad's help. He whipped out a little saw and - voila - it was fixed! My old license plate is all severed and bent up - it's a mess. Here's a picture of the new one:


We also saw this on the way back from KOP - incredible sighting!

It's 12:30pm and I'm about to go upstairs and eat "dinner". I have to leave at 1:30pm to meet Krista at St. Anthony's to rehearse from the 4pm service. I also have the 7pm and the 10:30pm services at Hope. Woohoo. I'll see you all soon! Merry Christmas!

Awesome Picture of the Wanamaker Organ

What a monster. Over 28,000 pipes, 6 keyboards, and a rank of 64' pipes. That's a seven-story pipe. I HIGHLY recommend going to the Macy's in Center City Philadelphia to hear a mini-concert ASAP. It's an absolutely incredible, surreal experience.

OH. MY. GODDD.

So I saw this ad on Craigslist for PC3980. I was reading it and thought to myself "Wow I bet this is expensive." I get to the end - it's $1,000. I email the guy and offer him $800. He counter-offers $900 and throws in the stainless tag so basically I got it for $800 and he saved me the aggravation of waiting a month to get a stainless tag! Pictures to come later...

DONE!

DONE COLLEGE! I'm off to work now - more to come later...

One More...

Well this is it. One more final. Tomorrow at 10:30am I will take the last final of my educational career. When I hand that baby in to the professor I will be officially done college and on vacation! This is really, REALLY exciting!

I've been spending way too much money, but what else is new?

Applebee's is good - haven't really been working much, though.

Mike is good. :]

Next time you hear from me I will be a college graduate!

Two More Days...

Well, two more class days, at least. It's Saturday, December 6 and I only have two more class days until I am done college forever. Wow. I never though this time would come haha! I'm really excited to move on with my life and basically just start the next chapter! I am about to apply for housing at Greenville Place in Greenville, DE (obviously) and I meet with my manager next week to discuss some final things and sign some final paperwork. Scary!

I have three finals this week and two the following week: BUAD100, HIST200, and PHIL204 this week and PHIL303 and CRJU301 the following week. I also get to enjoy Gary's company at the King of Prussia Ruth's Chris a week from tomorrow. That will definitely be a great time. Alsoooo, Wednesday 12/17 is the annual Christmas party at Elsa's house. That will also be a good time! Mike is coming down today to come to the Choral Celebration that I'm singing in. One more day of choirrrr.

Applebee's is good. I feel like I'm finally part of the work community there. In other words, I really enjoy going to work now :-) Last night (Friday 12/5) I went in at 4pm and three of the five computers were down. The Carside computer was up but Carside had to use it so that essentially left us servers with one functioning computer. The technician came in around 5:30 and fixed two more but there was still one broken. Grr! It's all good though - I made $84 with 11 servers on.

More to come later...

Update 11/29

Wow so yeah I haven't written in a long-ass time. A lot has happened since my last post (10/11). First and foremost, Mike and I are a couple now. Hooray for that! It's going very well so far. Two months is coming up in just under two weeks so that's pretty awesome!

School has been crazy busy! I don't think I have ever had a semester quite this intense. It's my last one though so I'm doing everything I can to ensure I get all passing grades, which shouldn't be a problem. I have, however, been going to all my classes every day. As of today I have five class days left and I'm done FOREVER!

So my last post reads that I "secured an interview with MetLife". Well I got the job! It is for a financial adviser position. I am really excited because I will be able to use my great networking and people skills and combine them with finance. I'm really excited! I officially start on January 19, 2009 but I have a lot to do before that in order to get my financial licenses, etc.

Work has been okay. Just trying to not be bored, that's all.

I've been paying a lot of attention to my music library lately. I've added many new songs/albums and deleted others. It's beginning to shape up...

So yeah. Let's talk about Black Friday. I woke up around 9:30am on Thanksgiving morning and hung out all day. We had dinner around 3pm and I hung out for the rest of the night, taking just a 30 minute nap before I was supposed to leave for a night of shopping. Tom and Chris got here at 10pm and we left for Brittany's at 10:10pm. We got there, ate some pie, and left for Rehoboth at 10:30pm. We got to Rehoboth and the outlets were PACKED! The only thing I got there was a nice pair of Ralph Lauren jeans. We also went to Pac Sun, Sunglass Hut, and Le Gourmet Chef (heh). Tom loves to go in there and get samples of pretty much everything that's out haha. He is OOC.

We left Rehoboth around 1:30am and got home around 2:45am. We had to leave at 3:45am to get to KOP before 5:30am. We actually got there around 5am because there was no traffic whatsoever so we got a coffee and a bagel from Dunkin Donuts and headed back to the parking lot. I noticed some people heading into Macys so we did the same. I got Mike an awesome present - he's gunna love it. By that time, the rest of the mall started to slowly open so we window shopped the rest of both malls. Bloomingdales and Burberry were both closed which kinda made me mad. The Ralph Lauren boutique looked AMAZING! Here are a few pictures of it...




I got a really beautiful blue Lacoste scarf at the Lacoste boutique there - it's really comfy! After KOP we headed to Franklin Mills in NE Philly. I got a really nice navy blue Armani tie there. Retail price = $120 - my price = $20.99! Pretty sweet deal, huh? We left Franklin Mills around 9:30 and go home around 11am. I slept til 3pm and went to work at 4pm. Yuck! I got a good night sleep last night though so I'm good to go. I'm actually about to get ready for work now so I'll catch you later ;)

Oh Wow...

So best weekend ever?

First of all, I secured an interview with MetLife in Newark - I'm excited for that. I went to school on Friday and hopped on the R2 to Philly to visit Mike. We had an awesome time! We must have walked 100 blocks between Friday and Saturday - it was good exercise. We went shopping on Walnut Street - Burberry, Armani Exchange, Urban Outfitters, etc. I really liked Urban Outfitters - I will most likely be hitting them up when I get my own place. We headed to Penang in Chinatown for some dinner after we shopped. I got Penang Pad Thai and Mike got Shrimp Lo Mein. We continued to walk around City Hall after dinner. As we were coming up on Broad St., I spotted the very-rare Alpina B7! I was pretty amazed that there are some around here. Mike and I sat down and talked for a while outside of city hall - it was lovely :] We headed up to his apartment after a while to watch American Beauty - it was okay. Just as we were about to fall asleep the FREAKIN fire alarm went off. Grr. We walked a few blocks to pass the time - that was lovely also :] When the fire department allowed us to come in, we fell right asleep.

We woke up and headed to a diner inside the Reading Terminal Market - it was goooood! I had a spinach and mushroom omelet with homefries and homemade apple sauce. After breakfast, we walked to Old City and checked out the Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell, and Independence Hall. Click the picture to see the whole album!


We sat down on a bench outside of Independence Hall to talk and relax. After we got bored, we headed down 4th St. to Fabric Row so Mike could show me some cool fabrics he will be working with. Then we walked down South St. and stopped at two places: this cool vintage clothing store called Retrospect and this AMAZING place called the Magic Garden. Retrospect was totally rad - it was all 80s clothes and accessories for cheap. There was this dark blue Dior sweater that I wanted but I held off - I was proud of myself :D The Magic Garden was just incredible. It was a humongous mosaic project on a random lot on South St. Check out those links above!

We headed back up Broad to Mike's place to chill until dinner. We watched Girl, Interrupted and talked a lot. That boy is crazy! We tried Olive Garden but the wait was too long. We headed to Chinatown and found an INCREDIBLE Japanese restaurant called Mixx Asian Bistro. The food was delicious and the service was fast and friendly - no hiccups. I will definitely be going back there! Well we finally got to the train station and I had to say goodbye to Mike :[ I got really sad but I will see him soon. :] Now I'm chillin - about to get in bed. Night :]

New Stuff 9/20-10/1

It's been about two weeks since I posted an entry so there's a lot to report.

School has been okay. I dropped a Computer Science course and added a Law course - pretty interesting and good for my business studies. I pretty much never go to class but I need to get better at that. I JUST WANT TO GRADUATE!!! *pulls hair out!!*

...

Anyway.

Saturday 9/20 my Aunt Tammy had a party at her house because Chris, Sam, and Jamie all came to visit from Australia. I took Justin and Deborah to King of Prussia and Algar Ferrari before we went to the party - fun times. I bought a really nice polo at KOP. That day was fun. Then I went to Tom's to chill. To be honest, I'm REALLY getting frustrated with my parents. I feel like they live in their own little world. I wish we could all just get along...

The day after that, I hosted JP, Gabe, and Becky at Hope to play both services. They did a really good job of enhancing the liturgy. I wish I could afford to have them more often!

The following week, I sold my tag, I went to KOP with Brittany Louie, had a small get-together with family on Friday , and finalized my Senior Checkout with the Dean's Office! I also watched the first presidential debate on Friday and it made me dislike McCain even more. He has a one-track mind. I understand Obama has less experience than McCain but it's not like either of them would be running the country single-handedly! I much prefer Obama's political mindset to McCain's. And don't even get me started on Palin...

Yesterday I enjoyed a beautiful day with Tom in Southern Delaware. We went through Dover, Seaford, Georgetown, Millsboro, Rehoboth, Lewes, Slaughter Beach, Leipsig, and Smyrna. That was the first time we had been through Slaughter Beach - it was actually really cool! It's a small town with modest homes and lots of low tags, such as PC705 and PC658. My three favorite sightings for the day:



Today I have a phone interview with someone from Barclay's, I have to cut the grass, possibly wash my car, then go to choir at 7:30pm. Tomorrow I have a lunch with Jean and I have to play at the Sallies Ring Mass. I'm going to the Delaware Auto Show on Friday and to Rehoboth again on Saturday. I have a History of Delaware exam and a Philosophy paper due on Monday but then I go to Manhattan to visit Matt! I'm excited for that. Have a good day!

FINALLY.

So I finally have Windows Vista and Mac OS X installed side-by-side on my computer as a dual-boot. I want to take a minute to give credit to the tutorials that enabled me to accomplish this.

Main Guide (Only applies to Vista, not XP because of how the booting works)
Networking Guide (if you have built-in Intel PRO/100 VE and it won't work - see Post #14 - make sure you click his link to get the instructions to load the kext)

Off to work. Wish me luck.

Big Update

School

School started 9/3 and I've only been to class two of the 7 days I was supposed to go. I really need to suck it up and finish out this final semester. I'm taking two philosophy courses which require a boatload of reading, as well as a computer science course, a business administration course, a history of Delaware course, and I am accompanying the UD Concert Choir. This is going to be a super-busy semester for me.

Work

Work is okay. I think Applebee's started putting me on a regular schedule - Friday and Saturday nights and Tuesday lunch. That works for me! The church job is progressing quite nicely also. The choir and I are working very well together. I am in the midst of a post-college job search so that's keeping me fairly busy as well.

Personal Life

I originally intended to go to visit my friend Matt in Manhattan so I took this whole weekend off. However, things just didn't work out so I'm hangin' here all weekend. Tomorrow is the Hagley Car Show so that will be fun. At least I don't have to worry about church tomorrow - Jean is covering for me. I really think a lot of Matt - he's a very good person with good morals and a good head on his shoulders. I'm glad we're friends.

Other Matters

First and foremost, I have officially been named the Gala Director for the 2009 Gala Spectacular at St. Anthony of Padua in Wilmington. The concert will take place on Sunday, June 14, 2009 inside the church and will feature some of the countries greatest talents. More details to come. For a sneak-peek, click here. That is the 2006 concert with me conducting.

On Thursday 9/11, Tom and I took a drive all through southern Delaware and ended up in Rehoboth. We spotted a grand total of 20 low-digit tags, but this one was the best by_far:

Perhaps the suckiest thing that has happened this week has been the crash of my computer. Let me preface this story by saying that this is 100% mea culpa. Two days ago, I was determined to install an x86 version of Mac OS X on my computer and then install Apple's Boot Camp software to create a Windows partition so I could have a dual-boot setup. Let me start out by saying that I probably should have backed everything up before I even considered this installation. But I didn't. And I paid the price. But more on that later...

First I tried to install Mac OS on my physical hard drive but on the Recovery partition that HP created. Bad idea. Once I got to the Mac Installer screen I formatted the partition in Disk Utility. It formatted it as HFS+, Apple's file system. Another_bad_idea. Once the installer completed and I restarted, I was warmly greeted with a screen that said "No OS found." Long story short, The computer was having a lot of trouble discerning between the two [completely different] file systems so now *both* were screwed. Since there was little to no hope of recovering Windows, I quickly came to terms that I would lose at least 50% of my data and all of my documents. I had some music and some photos on my iPhone that I could recover. I will provide links to their downloads later since they helped me recover my files!

Because I was going to lose about half of my data already, I went back into the Mac OS installer and formatted the entire hard drive as HFS+ to get a clean install. All went according to plan except that I could not, for the life of me, get the network driver to cooperate. My dad and I spent a good two hours trying to figure it out but it just would not budge. I had no choice but to install Windows and try a virtual machine.

First I tried to install Windows Server 2003 but it wouldn't recognize the hard drive because it is a SATA drive and those drivers weren't around back then I guess. I had no choice but to bite the bullet and reinstall Vista. I did so and basically started from scratch. Here are the tools I used to recover my music and photos from my iPhone:

Music: Tansee iPhone Copy
Photos: I can't remember but I'll post it when I do!

Once I got everything setup on Windows, I tried Mac OS in a virtual machine but still had the problem with the network drivers. So I give up on that. I lost all the documents I had but I recovered most of my music and photos. Yay.

... So I've had my iPhone for 12 days so far and I really like it. Apple released the 2.1 firmware yesterday which

1. fixes 3G chip issues,
   
2. "dramatically" increases battery life,
   
3. decreases the number of dropped calls,
4. reduces the time to sync with iTunes, and
5. stops all the crashes caused by having a lot of 3rd-party apps installed.

I installed the firmware yesterday (unjailbroken) and I'm already seeing improvements. I used to get 1-2 bars of 3G in my room; now i get 4-5. Coming from T-Mobile, where I only got 1-2 bars of GPRS in my room, this is a significant step forward.

Okay, I think that's it. More to come later.

iPhone, New Browser from Google

So I finally got my iPhone today!  Hooray!

I woke up at 7:30am to take my dad to the Philly Airport.  We left at 7:50 and got there around 8:30.  I drove down to Bear to go to the Wilmington Trust in Fox Run so I could cash my paycheck from the church.  After that, I went to the Wachovia in People's Plaza to deposit the money.  I got on 896-N to get on 95-N to get to the Christiana Mall.  I got to the mall around 9:50am - the Apple Store opened around 10am.  When I walked up to the Apple Store I discovered that they opened somewhat early and I was greeted by a guy my age.  He got me all set up with the phone, as well as a plastic case and a screen protector for the phone.  He activated it in the store so I walked out as an AT&T iPhone customer.  Pretty neat.

I headed home and got there at 10:40.  Unfortunately, I had to change for work, as I had to be at work by 10:50!  I worked 11-2:30, went to Wachovia to deposit my tips from today and my check from Applebee's, and went home.  When I got home, I talked to my mom and Justin about college and then I worked out and showered.  Matt came around 5:30 and we finished setting up my iPhone and went to dinner at Houlihan's in Christiana.  We sat outside - the weather was perfect!  I dropped Matt off at the Wilmington Train Station at 8:15 and drove home.  I just hung around the whole night but I was running around all day!

School starts tomorrow - joy.  I'm in class from 9am-2:15pm tomorrow, I have a meeting at 2:30, then I have to write my internship paper tomorrow at church before choir practice.  And eat sometime in there.  Maybe.

Until next time...

Busy Week

So school starts in two days and I'm about to get really busy. My school schedule is pretty straight-forward - Monday and Wednesday I'm in class from 9-4, Thursday I only have one class in the morning, and Friday I'm in class from 9-2:15. Will I go to all my classes? No. Haha. At least I'm honest. In addition to school, I will be working at Applebee's three shifts a week, working at the church, and *hopefully* teaching piano to the Juliano's again. That's an addition $200/month right there. Plus I have my computer repair business. On top of all of that, I have to hardcore look for a career that suits me. You know - get some interviews scheduled, all that stuff. I'm really excited - this is an exciting time of my life!

Today I cleaned the garage out with my parents - we threw away like 20 black contractor bags of stuff, gave like a million things to Goodwill, and reorganized everything. After that, we hung out for a few hours, talked, and cooked dinner. We made filet on the grill - it was PERFECT! I took a shower after dinner and then took a nice nap. I headed to Wawa to pick up a Dove ice cream bar - it was incredible! Now I'm just chillin, preparing my iPod Touch for sale tomorrow, and talking to my friend Brandon on the phone.

Tomorrow, I will take my dad to PHL at 7:45am, stop at the bank on the way home, stop at the mall to get my iPhone, work 11-4, then hang out with my buddy Matt. I can't wait to get my iPhone! I really hope I'm pleased with it! Plus I have to switch service to AT&T so we'll see how that goes. I'm going to bed now - good night!

Applebee's + Joe Biden

Little update here...

Last night (Thursday, 8/28) I had my first shift by myself at Applebee's. It took a few tables before I really got in the swing of things but I got it down now! I ended up selling around $500 worth of food but I only made $70. That's 14%! :-( I guess tonight will be better - my goal is $100. With Labor Day Weekend traffic I think that's pretty feasible.

Today I went to get books for school with Justin. We went to Lieberman's on Main St. in Newark. I had already pre-ordered my books so they were there waiting for me. It turns out that Justin needed to go to the Wilmington campus to get his because they were different sections. I picked out Alexa's books and took hers and mine up to the register. The girl gave me the subtotal for mine and I (stupidly) started to fill out the check before she rang up Alexa's books. Justin had to pay for her books. After that, we went across the street to Cafe Gelato - mmm. I got a Caprese panini. The service was a little bit below average but the food was fresh. We ended up driving to meet my mom to get a check to reimburse Justin and *another* check to get Justin's books. Justin and I went to Wilmington and got his books. After that, I drove around Greenville and we turned onto Barley Mill Rd, where Joe Biden lives. As we passed, there were like 5 secret service agents in his yard. It was a pretty cool sight! We headed home after that. Now I'm getting ready to leave for work. More to come...

iPod Touch!

So yesterday (Wed 8/28/08) Tom FINALLY bought his new iMac. He actually got an incredible deal on it. It's a 24" with 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - 2GB RAM - 256MB video card - 350GB hard disk. I helped him set it up yesterday and it's REALLY nice. In fact, it made me realize that I need to get a better video card soon. Oh, and all I "helped" him with was plugging it in haha. ANYWAY, he got a free HP printer and a free 8GB iPod Touch with the deal. I made him an offer for the iPod and he accepted! I got it around 11:30am but I wasn't able to play with it until I got to my office at church around 5pm. Unfortunately, I don't know the WEP key for the church wireless network so I had to wait until I got home at 9:30 to *really* play with it. It's actually really neat. I know I knock Apple products a lot (and for good reason) but, for what I do, it's a pretty neat device. My dad recently bought a Mac Book Pro and an iPod Touch and he told me that, compared to Windows, Apple computers are much more streamlined. He added that this mostly applies to more advanced computing but still - it's neat. My contract with T-Mobile is up tomorrow (8/29) so I'll be free from their reign. The Android phone reportedly comes out sometime in September so I will definitely be checking that out. In the meantime, I'm going to play around with my Touch more because I might be interested in an iPhone. Who knows?

This is random but it's worth noting. In Paramore's Riot! CD, check out the transition from the end of Let the Flames Begin to the beginning of Miracle. It's both seamless and musically clever. Comment and let me know what you think!

In work news, tonight is my first shift by myself and I am so ready! I'm ready to make money! It's great because the paychecks from church are for my bills and the money from Applebee's will all be extra that I can apply to savings, credit cards, etc. I'm really excited! Also, last night at choir I discovered a technique that I will implement at every choir rehearsal. In an effort to improve the choir's musical listening skills, I suggested that we all sing a few hymns without piano accompaniment. One of the ladies in the soprano section suggested that we all stand in a circle and sing instead of sitting down in rows. We sang five hymns or so and it really worked! From now on, I will be starting each rehearsal off like that. In addition to improving their listening skills, it also brings us closer together. It's a nice touch :]

As of today, Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 1:04pm, I have 617 pictures of Delaware low-digit license plates. My latest (PC911) was sent to me from a friend.

That's all for now. I'm working out with Alexa at 2pm today - triceps and chest! Work @ 4. See you soon.

8-26-08

Just wanted to provide an update as to what's been goin on in my daily life...

Today was my last day of training at Applebee's. It's such an easy job! The one thing I don't care for is the company's over-obsession with rules and regulations. Rules are good but not when they interfere with your primary responsibility - to take care of your guests. Here's an example - they make you say this whole speech when you greet a table, including a greeting, list of soups, specials, drink specials and appetizer specials. I don't know about you but, as a customer, I wouldn't want to be bombarded like that, especially if I came in and I already knew what I wanted. More critically, it makes the guests feel like they have a robot, not a server. It's all about personal attention! I guess Applebee's is a pretty good example of your typical corporate American food service business. *sigh*

Classes start next Wednesday - scary! I go to pickup my books this Friday - scarier! The coolest class I'm taking (by far) is HIST200 - The History of Delaware. I'm taking it with my friends Justin and Mark so that should be awesome. I hope they talk about low-digit license plates but I *highly* doubt it. This is my last semester of undergrad - very exciting!

I've REALLY been into Paramore lately - the best word I can describe them with is "fresh". I just love their use of the band instruments. It's so original and ... well, fresh.

I'm SO EXCITED about Joe Biden being Obama's VP choice! What a great moment in Delaware's history! I know Joe has a big mouth but I think he's the best and natural choice for the Democratic party. OBAMA-BIDEN '08!


As for recent tag sightings, I've been seeing a lot of 3-digits but the two I like the most in the past two weeks are 302 and PC66. 302 is awesome for the obvious reason that it's Delaware's only area code and PC66 because I had seen it once before but I wasn't able to snap a picture. I finally saw it in Middletown, made a sharp U-turn, and got right up behind it.


I think that just about wraps it up! Stay tuned for more updates!

Do You Have Gmail & an iPhone?

Six Flags!

Hey there!

Today is Justin's birthday and my mom treated him, Rakeen, Deborah and me to Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ. We got there around 10 and the park opened at 10:30. We rode Nitro, Batman and the Great American Scream Machine before we went to Wawa for lunch. When we got back to the park, we rode Kingda Ka and OMG it was incredible. Watch this...



The coaster accelerates from 0-128mph in 3.5 seconds and goes 458 ft. in the air! It was awesome! Definitely one of the coolest things I've done in my life!

Mini Update 7/29/08

Hey y'all -

So a few things are new...

1) Justin and Tiffany are coming to visit me from Los Angeles!! I'm so excited! We just need to pin down a long weekend... Hopefully we can do that soon.

2) I setup my first job interview for a full-time post-college job. It's with Enterprise Rent-a-Car's management training program. I'm very excited to learn more about what the career path is.

3) I've really been focusing on surrounding myself with good people. I'm starting to drop friends that don't really add anything to my life and making new ones. It's hard sometimes to cut ties with people, especially if you've known them for a while, but I have to do what's best for me.

4) Alexa showed me a bunch of weight training exercises yesterday and I'm going to start working out. The bad news is that she said if I want to lose my gut, I pretty much *have* to do cardio, which I hate. But whatever - I just want to get healthy.

Leave me some comments!

Longggg Time No Write.

I know it's been a while but I just want to say a few things.

First - I had a long conversation with a friend and I realized that what I'm missing in my life is other people to complete me. Not necessarily a significant other; just people that I can surround myself with that are good, genuine people. All this time I have been thinking that what I was lacking was a significant other but I finally am realizing that I am the only one that can mend that.

Second - I really like my new look that I have going on and I'd love some feedback! I need to lose weight ASAP - that will definitely complete the look.

Third - My tags are FINALLY back up @ http://picasaweb.google.com/jordan.irazabal.

It's a New Day, Bitches.

This entry is in two parts - the first highlights the past few weeks and the second speaks of some changes I am making in my life.

Part One

The past two weeks have flown by and I have only done a few notable things. Tuesday the Espinas came over for dinner. That was a total blast. We all ate good food, went swimming, and played some games in the basement. Robert and Nilsa had to practically pry Julian and Roberto away from darts. I met my friend Alex for lunch on Friday - that was fun! We went to Ruby Tuesday, shopping for furniture for his new place, and to Greenville for some tag hunting. Good times! After I dropped him off, I headed up to the Espina's house for a 4th of July BBQ. We all just hung out, ate, played Xbox, etc. That was fun also! I went to Tom's family's place in Sea Isle City, NJ from Monday to Wednesday - that was a blast also! We all just relaxed, went to the beach, played ladderball, went out to eat, and explored the shore. Good times! The rest of the week I just hung out basically. Today I picked up my dad from PHL and had to wait 90 freakin minutes because the flight was delayed. BUT I'm home now.

Part Two

My parents are setting an amazing example by the actions they are taking to be debt-free by 2014. When I say "debt-free" I mean everything - their credit card, their cars, their MORTGAGE. Everything. My dad and I had a long talk on the way home from the airport tonight and, frankly, there are a few changes I need to make. I won't go into specifics on here but I am very excited that things are finally starting to come together and that someone is FINALLY hounding me on this. You know, I always say that I need to learn from my own mistakes but this time, I am learning from someone else's.

Good night :]

No Bungers & Long-Ass Day

Today was pretty intense. I got up around 9am and spent about two hours washing my car inside and out - it didn't help that it was 80 and humid out. I used the new hose we just bought but it kept getting tangled. I had to pull it all the way out and twist and turn it to get all the kinks out. So much fun! After I washed my car, I showered and waited for Adeel to call me. While I was waiting for him, I went to Happy Harry's with Alvina to get some shampoo and conditioner - she's still pretty bummed about the whole breakup. I feel so bad for her. I wish I could do something. I met Adeel and Jason at the Middletown bowling alley and from there we picked up Will. Then we headed up through Wilmington and Greenville. Here are the tags I saw - it sucks I don't collect RV tags!




After that, we headed up to F.C. Kerbeck and checked out the cars there. I talked to one of the sales guys there and he let them sit in a lime green Gallardo - sweet stuff. Their inventory was okay. It was better the last time I went. The boys were just speechless - they were drooling over the cars. We headed to the King of Prussia Mall for dinner. I got Chick-Fil-A, Will and Jason got Chinese, and Adeel got Subway. Good stuff. While we were eating, this chick came up to us, trying to sell us magazines. I'm pretty sure it was a scam. Anyway - after we ate, we walked the mall and just chilled. I got some stuff at Harry & David and we left. I dropped everyone off and now I'm chillin at home. See you all tomorrow!

Relaxing Weekend

This weekend was pretty relaxing. Saturday Tom and I went to Millsboro and Rehoboth looking for tags. I learned that tag 5 is in Millsboro but as we drove through Millsboro, I had no idea where to even look. I guess I'll talk to Mr. Ahmed since he's down there all the time. Anyway, after we drove through Millsboro, we went through Rehoboth and saw a lot of good ones. These were the best two:

We headed to Rehoboth CC and saw a few there - nothing too intense - and went to the outlets to shop. About 2pm, we left and headed up to Chris' graduation party. The party was really fun - it was really relaxing too, which was awesome. Mr. Perri was OOC drunk but it was funny haha. Tom and I played volleyball with some neighbors and we ate a LOT of food. They had a pig roast so yeah. Enough said. I left around 11pm.

Sunday was pretty cool too. Church from 9:30-11:30. Costco with the Espinas, Greenville with Roberto and Julian, then chilled at the Espina's house for a while. Here are the tags we saw:



After that, I left and went to Brittany Louie's grad party. It was semi-awkward because I didn't really know anyone. I talked to a few of my former co-workers from Friendly's and a few of Brittany's aunts and uncles. I got some good information about tags so that was good. Adeel and I went for a nice drive around Middletown and talked a lot. That was fun. I just came home and chilled. Greenville today and possible F.C. Kerbeck. Then chillin with the Bungers!

Muggy Day

Today was pretty nasty out, weather-wise. All I did was hang at the house pretty much. I went for a run around noon but it was simply too hot and humid out so I only did one lap. I got in and called Gary up to see if he wanted to hang out. We met at Don Pablo's for lunch around 2pm and drove around for a few hours. It started to POUR when we got to Newark so we just chilled. We were pulling into Borders and, as I pulled into this space, I apparently cut this guy off. He honked at me or whatever and that was that. When Gary and I were walking up to Borders, some other guy rear-ended that guy that honked at me haha. Good old Karma...

After that, I went to the Philadelphia Airport to pick my dad up. We saw Mr. Ahmed's car on I-95 and raced him home. When we got home, I made some salad dressing and ate a nice salad. Then my mom, my dad, Alexa, and I watched Diary of a Mad Black Woman - good stuff! Tomorrow is cleaning, Millsboro, West Chester for Chris' grad party. Night!

Oh, and plates today - 499, D64

It's Been A While...

Hey there. It's been a long-ass time since I've written in here. Here are the updates.

Sunday was a pretty chill day. Just church and Costco. I bought a hose at Costco. Oh crap that reminds me - my parents never paid me back for that. Hmm.

Monday was okay also. I spent most of the day with my mom. First we went to get tires for her car in Wilmington. After that, we went to Movable Feast on 5th St. I love that place. It's one of those "best kept secret" kind of places. Then we went to TJ Maxx and Ross. Eh. Nothing special. I had work from 5-8 -- training. Gay. All I did was follow the hostess around. Yeahh. I forgot my wallet at home so I went home, changed, and went back to eat there. It was okay - nothing special.

Tuesday was pretty intense. I went to Rehoboth with Gary in the morning/afternoon and I went to Rehoboth and Ocean City, MD with Tom in the evening. That means I called out of work on Tuesday and I also came home in between beach trips. Yeah. The only good tags there were PC21 and C64. There were a couple other ones but nothing too intense. Ocean City was pretty cool - we walked the boardwalk and played mini-golf. After mini-golf, we headed home.

Wednesday was okay. Just work at 5. My back started hurting so I left at 6 and went to Friendly's to eat dindin. I hate founder and steak tips. Good meal. I went home, chilled, and crashed.

Thursday was a pretty boring day as well. I went to Wilmington to chill with my buddy Adam. We drove around Wilmington and ate at Boston Market on PA Ave. Good stuff. I got home and napped. I woke up around 6-7 and ate dinner. My mom taught me how to make her salad dressing. UGH that stuff is amazing. We had hot dogs on the grill for dinner - Justin made them. After dinner, I just chilled in my room and eventually fell asleep.

Today I'm going to go for a run, shower, go look for another job since Ruby Tuesday is lame, call out of work lol, and pick my dad up from PHL at 6:30pm. Hope you have a great day!

Thursday - Saturday

Hey there. So yeah sorry I haven't written for a bit but I've been pretty sick since Wednesday night. Nothing too spectacular has been happening since then so it all works out.

Thursday was a pretty long day. Brittany, Tom, and I went to Rehoboth for the day. That was pretty sweet. Among the tags we saw, this was, by far, the best -

We went to lunch at Grotto's - good stuff. We had to leave relatively early because Tom and I had reservations at Ruth's Chris at 9:30. After we all got home, Tom and Brittany left and I stayed for a few minutes to change. I met Tom and Chris in West Chester and we went to the Philadelphia Premium Outlets. I got a shitload of chocolate from Lindt and Harry & David. We left there and headed to Ruth's Chris. We all just chilled and ate - the food was incredible. The check was way more than what I expected to pay because Tom got two glasses of wine and a lobster tail. I went home after dinner and went right to sleep because I was feeling really sick. I couldn't even sleep because my stomach was hurting so bad.

Friday was a pretty lazy day. I had orientation at Ruby Tuesday from 2-4pm - that was easy. After orientation, I washed my Aunt Nadine's BMW Z3. She let me take it to the mall/dinner/movies with Tom and Chris. I liked that car much more than my Z4 - it was much more classic. I felt like I was inside a true European roadster. I talked to Spiffy on the way home - he graduated from high school! I went to bed as soon as I got home because I was still feeling pretty sick. And Spiffy said he was going to call me back but he never did *shakes fist*

Today (Saturday) was pretty laid back. I slept most of the morning because I was STILL feeling sick. I went up to St. Anthony's to play a wedding. It was a pretty standard wedding but I wasn't feeling well so it kinda drug along. I went through Greenville and stopped at Jansson's to get some vitamin water. I love being up in Greenville - everything is so nice up there. I came home, slept, ate dinner, and now I'm chillin. Church tomorrow. Later on. :]

TV - SOLD!

I am on a ROLL, bitches! I sold the TV to some random guy yesterday for $250 ($50 of which goes to me). My mom wasn't too happy about the 20% commission but meh. Whatever.

Tuesday was a pretty sweet day. I went into work (Ruby Tuesday) for two hours, basically shadowing a bunch of people, seeing how they do their jobs. That was fun. My orientation is tomorrow at 2pm. After work, Alvina came over and we looked at some pictures. She had to leave to go study so I picked up Greg and Taylor and we went to the mall. We picked up Greg's friend London and we went up and drove through Greenville. That was fun. We came back to Greg's place and had dinner, which was really good. I came home and met Tom at Ruby Tuesday for some apps and a beer. After that, we watched two episodes of Will & Grace and we went to bed.

Wednesday was a pretty chill day too. Tom and I woke up and Tom made me breakfast - eggs in a basket. It was really good. Tom left for work and I just chilled for a bit. My friend Eric came over and we went to Greenville for tags and food. We also had to drop some dry cleaning off and get an estimate at a jewelers for two of my mom's watches. They basically want to rob us blind so we probably won't be going there haha. We got home and Alvina was there, which was nice. I had a guy come and check the TV out and, after I finally found the remote, he agreed to buy it! Justin and I loaded it on his pickup truck and he left. After that, Danielle (Alexa's friend), Alexa, and I sat in the sunroom for a bit. I texted Alvina to see what she was doing and she told me that she and Josh broke up :[[ Danielle, Alexa, and I went over right away and cheered her up. I spent most of the evening there, playing with Cooper and talkin to the Ahmeds. Alvina and I watched Medea's Family Reunion, which was hilarious. I came home and went to bed because my stomach was killin me. Oh, and I talked to Spiffy too :D

Tags from the past two days: 732, C819, 972, PC11, PC631, 150, 939, C965, 763, PC235, D57.

Saab - SOLD!

Yay no more Saab. But before we get there, I'll start at the beginning of my day.

I woke up around 5:15am to take my dad to the Philly Airport. Ugh I hate waking up that early. I ended up going back to sleep until about 11am. I FINALLY got an email from the buyer and she wanted to meet me tomorrow. I told her that I couldn't do it tomorrow and asked her if she could meet me today - she agreed. While I waited for her to reply, I went to Wilmington Trust to cash my paycheck from the church and then to Wachovia to deposit the money into my account. When I got home, she told me that she could meet me today and we arranged to meet at the Commerce Bank in Bear. It turns out that the Delaware Memorial Bridge was completely closed going southbound because of some crazy guy that threatened to jump off the bridge. I met her at this rest stop on 295 and we went over the Commodore Barry Bridge, through PA, and into DE. We got to the bank about an hour later and, of course the lobby was closed, so we had to go through the drive-thru. I made sure the teller checked every single bill for counterfeits.

After that was done, I signed the title over to her and Mrs. Ahmed came and got me. I went home with her and we all ate dinner. Then I went to the mall with Rakeen and Alexa but I didn't buy anything. I got home and now I'm doin this! Talk to you tomorrow!

Feliz Dia de Padres!

Today was a pretty lazy day - not gunna lie. I woke up around 8 and got ready for church. We're on our summer schedule now so there is no choir rehearsal during the week and there is only one service on Sunday instead of two. Church went fine - nothing special. I talked a lot to Evan, Adrienne, Paige, and Jud after the service - great people! After we all dispersed, I headed up for a not-so-quick LDT hunt. First I went through Costco - nothing. Then I went up 141 into Greenville. In my usual shopping centers, I saw 235 and C257. C257 was cool because Tom saw C258 just the other day. I headed up to Bidderman and saw quite a few - PC715, 434, and 314 (PI!). I saw 961 in Greenville coming back on 52. I took 141S back to my place but stopped into Sedgely to see if I could see tag 8. Apparently he (or one of his family members/friends) owns tag 22 also because that was in their driveway. I headed back on Kirkwood Highway and got behind dealer tag 8. I had already seen it but this tag was with the small D that I like:

The only other tag I saw today was PC574 in the Chesdel parking lot. That place always has good tags!

We all just chilled for Father's Day - ate steak and watched a movie. I spent the rest of the day at Alvina's and watched TV with them. Tomorrow I gotta take my dad to PHL at like 5:15am. Grosssss. Later ;)

Clean Clean Clean.

So I basically cleaned all day. My parents would be arriving home around 7:30pm so I spent my time wisely throughout the day. In all, I vacuumed the house, cleaned all the bathrooms, cut the grass, dusted, and cleaned the kitchen. I also went to Giant to get some stuff for dinner - hoagie rolls, red & green bell peppers, and sweet Italian sausage. I grilled sausage and peppers for dinner to surprise my parents when they got home. Unfortunately, they didn't come home until 8pm so the bread got kinda hard (because I grilled it too) but whatever. When they got home, we ate and they gave us some gifts - blah blah blah. Then my dad, my mom, Justin, and I watched the pictures from the trip. Now I'm chillin, about to get in bed. Church, Father's Day, and Kate Cassidy's graduation party in Rehoboth tomorrow! PEACE!

OH - and check out my new and improved Myspace -- www.myspace.com/jordaniraz

Thursday-Friday ... Again.

So this post covers Thursday 6/12 and Friday 6/13.

THURSDAY

I woke up around 7am and and chilled until my Worship Planning meeting at 9:30am at church. It was pretty productive - we planned music until Sunday, August 3. Starting next week, I'm going to start spending about 3-4 hours in my office each week to plan the entire choir year out for 2008-2009. I left church and went through Greenville to check for tags. I originally intended on going to Bidderman to see if I could spot tag 4 but I had an instinct to go through the usual shopping centers first. I pull into the Jansson's shopping center and what do I see right at the entrance to Jansson's?

UGH! I got out and Peggy Dean, the owner of that tag, was out there. I talked to her for a minute - she's so quiet! Anyway, I left, feeling incredible. I met Tom at Grotto's for lunch and we searched Greenville for more tags. These are some of the ones we saw...



What a profitable day! After lunch and tag hunting, we went our separate ways - Tom went home and I went to (the last day of) my internship. I got to OperaDelaware and Lee (my mentor) was in a meeting so I just plopped down in a chair, whipped my laptop out, and surfed random websites. After an hour of doing nothing, I told Brianna, the office manager, to tell Lee to call me and that I was leaving. I headed to Tom's place and we went to the King of Prussia Mall. Before we even got in the mall, we saw an Aston Martin DB7, a Bentley GTC, a Ferrari 360 Modena, and a Bentley Continental GT. The Ferrari was in the Neiman Marcus valet parking. Sweeeeeet. There was nothing special at the mall so we left fairly quickly. Then we ate dinner at Lone Star - what a terrible experience. The food took forever to come out, the waiter was slow, the food wasn't very good, etc. We left and went back to Tom's place, where we met Chris. He graduated from high school that night so we went to Brusters to celebrate. I went home after that and just went to bed. I was talking on the phone with Spiffy for a while but I accidentally fell asleep while talking to him. SORRY SPIFFY!

FRIDAY

Today was a pretty lazy day. I woke up and chilled around the house for a few. Around 9am I went outside to wash, vacuum, and detail my car and my dad's car to prep it for the impending sale this week. I didn't get done until 12:30pm but it was good. Justin, Rakeen, and I ordered a pizza for lunch from Domino's. After that, I showered and headed over to my interview at Ruby Tuesday. After a 10-minute interview, I GOT THE JOB! I have a "restaurant tour" on Tuesday from 12-1:30 and then we will set up my training schedule. The GM, Scott, also mentioned that he may train me as a bartender, which would be totally awesome. I'm excited to start there. Again.

I spent the rest of the night with Alvina and the Ahmed family. Alvina and I went up to BMW to get Mr. Ahmed a gift for Father's Day. She bought him a front license plate cover and a nice stainless steel mug. We got home and it turned out that he had both the plate cover AND the mug. That sucked. We just watched TV and made/ate dinner for the rest of the night. After TV, Alvina, Rakeen, Justin, and I went to Happy Harry's to get Father's Day cards for our respective fathers. Now I'm just chatting and getting ready for bed. Hasta mañana!

We Have A/C Now!

So if you're looking at the time/date of this post, you see it's Thursday morning instead of Wednesday night. I was too tired to post a blog last night so I'm writing now for yesterday.

I woke up around 8:30am and went to get gas for the lawn mower and my car. I had to cut my neighbor's lawn that morning but, as I was driving through the neighborhood, I saw that the neighbor for whom I was going to cut the grass already had it cut - I guess I missed my opportunity!

I got home and Tom called me, asking me to meet him for lunch in Wilmington. Of course, I accepted, on the condition that we hunt for LDTs and tag 4 after lunch. On the way to Wilmington, I saw this on a hearse:

We met at Grotto's on Pennsylvania Ave. and ate on the patio. I ended up applying for a job there - I really need a second job for some money to put away and pay off my credit cards. Anyway, we headed up to Greenville and went through my usual spots but didn't see anything too intense. We then started to head up to Bidderman to see if we could spot the famed tag 4. We made a right on Kirk Rd. off of 52 and then a left onto Montchanin Rd. from Kirk Rd. As soon as we turned onto Montchanin Rd., I looked in my rear view mirror, I saw a black tag with one character on it. I'm not implying it was tag 4 or even a single-digit tag, but I thought it was certainly worth going back and seeing. Unfortunately, by the time we turned around, we lost them. I was so upset! We went to Bidderman and there was nothing there. It was so upsetting :[[

We headed back to Grotto's, where Tom and I went our separate ways. I got home around 3:30pm and waited for the dude to come to fix the air conditioning, since our whole house has been a giant steam room for the past week. After assessing the situation, it ended up costing $967 to fix the A/C unit. It needed freon and also a new contactor (apparently a contactor is what send the 120V of power to the unit). Finally the house is cool! Alvina, Rakeen, Tom, Chris McLaughlin, and Rakeen came over and we all just hung out, talked, and swam. After Alvina had to leave, Tom, Chris, and I went to Ruby Tuesday in Middletown and ate. I applied for a job there, too. Luckily for me, the manager that I talked to was one I used to work with. UNluckily for me, I called her the totally wrong name hahaha UGH that was so embarrassing haha. Anyway, I have to call her later today to setup an interview time for tomorrow. When we returned home, Tom and Chris left and I just chilled in my room and eventually fell asleep. Look for a post tonight for what happens today! Have a great day!

Tiredddd.

Oh man what a day. I was supposed to wake up around 6am to go cut my neighbor's grass but, since I ended up going to bed around 2am, I figured I would just do it another time. I woke up at 8:30am and good a quick shower. After my shower, I headed over to pick up Greg. On my way home, I called Brittany Louie and convinced her to come with us so yay. When we got back to my place, we met Gary here and headed down to the beach.

First, we went to Dover and drove around - saw some decent tags. I'll actually talk about tags at the end. We just drove through Dover and left haha - nothing terribly exciting.

We headed down to Lewes and drove through Lewes and then through Rehoboth. We parked in Rehoboth and had a delicious lunch at Grotto's <3 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Haha. After about 45 minutes of shopping and driving, we headed back to pick up Brittany and Gary and headed home. Gary graciously offered to drive so I could sit in the back and rest for a while. We dropped Greg off and then Brittany and then Gary and I chilled back at my place for a bit. Brittany came back with her friend Danielle and Alvina came over shortly after that, while Rakeen and Justin were already home. We pretty much just chilled, swam, barbequed, and played pool all night long. I love doin that kind of stuff. It's great :]]

Tomorrow I HAVE to cut my neighbor's lawn and then the people are coming between 12-4 to fix the A/C in my house. Thank God!

Tags I saw today: D19, PC404, PC77, 944, PC107, PC364, PC191, PC274, 632, C177, C997, 363, PC344, 757, C324, 692. Good stuff. Especially C997 haha - that's getting SO CLOSE to the limit.

Night!

Ugh This Humidity Sucks.

Today was a pretty sweet day, other than the humidity. I got up and returned the Mercedes to the dealer. On the way to West Chester, I saw dealer tag 78:


Right after that, I met Tom at Nino's in the Giant shopping center and we dined there for lunch. He's losing his voice, so that sucks. I headed down through Greenville and I shall now tell you an incredible story of what happened in Greenville.

I was pulling out of the last shopping center I go through on my usual route and I see a white Porsche Cayenne with PC4 on the back. Let me refresh your memory.


He pulled into the gas station right next to the shopping center I was in and, of course, I followed him in. As he got back into the car, I asked him if that was his tag. He told me that it wasn't his but it was the family's tag for whom he worked. He continued to tell me that the family owned PC4 and 4 - they got them as a set many years ago. I asked him if he worked for Peggy Dean (who I know owns tag 4) and he said yes. We continued to talk and I told him that I'd love to see plate 4 and he told me that she goes to Bitterman Golf Club up on Montchanin Road in Greenville every day. He also told me that she was at Elizabeth's Pizza right now if I wanted to see the tag now. Of course, I rushed over there but I guess she had already left. I headed up to Bitterman to see if she was there but, alas, she wasn't. Sad. :[ I headed back to Middletown and chilled for the rest of the day. I went to the Outback with Gary for dinner and I got him to come with Greg and me tomorrow to the beach. Yay that will be awesome. Oh and I also saw this in Greenville - 72 on a blue tag <3

Night!

98 FRIGGIN DEGREES AND HUMID! ARGHH.

Let me start out by saying that today was RIDICULOUSLY hot and humid. I took two showers today it was so nasty. I hope this humidity calms down because it is OUT OF CONTROL right now. Today I woke up, showered, and went to church. It was the annual summer picnic so there was a nice selection of food after the service. I chilled with some homies there (Greg, Paige, Evan) and then went to Greenville for plates - nothing. From Greenville, I went to St. Anthony's because I played keyboard parts in the annual Gala Concert that kicks off the Italian Festival. I saw a lot of old friends there - it was great. David Christopher, an OperaDelaware conductor, led the orchestra and chorus this year - it was really good. I met, sat next to, and talked to Tony Fusco, the guy that owns tags 6, 9, 17, 18, 27, 51, 61, 477, 677, and 690. He's an interesting older man haha. After the concert, I walked around with the Stellas and talked. I left shortly after and hung out at home for a bit. I cooked pizza for dinner and then went out with Alexa to Wal-Mart in Elkton. That place is intense, to say the least. I got tow Funfetti cake mixes so yay I can make cakes. I saw my only LDT on the way home from Wal-Mart:


That's all for tonight. I'm beat. Night :]

It Was 95 Degrees Today!

Today was an awesome day. I woke up, weed-wacked our property, and showered. Right after my shower, I headed over to Red Robin with a copy of my resume and a list of dates/times I am not available this summer. The manager that I talked to didn't know that Troy, the assistant GM, told me I was hired earlier in the week. She told me that she would look over my resume and get back to me later in the week. I left there with a somewhat-sour taste in my mouth - I walked in under the impression that I was hired and I left not knowing if I had a job or not. That kinda sucked. But that's when my day started to get better.

I was on my way to West Chester but, of course, I had to drive through Greenville first. The first tag I saw was 13:


About 2 minutes later, I drove behind the number that comes before 14:


What an incredible experience! I drove up to West Chester and headed to the Mercedes-Benz dealer up there to check out an SL500.

The dealer showed me around and I took it for a spin. This car is DEFINITELY my dream car right now. After MB, I headed down 202 and went to Marshalls to check out some clothes. There was nothing good AT ALL. It sucked. On my way back to West Chester (I was headed up to meet Tom), I called the dealer and asked if I could take the car for the weekend - he agreed. Now I'm driving that around for the weekend. More pictures to come! I spent the rest of the night with Tom, Mr. Perri, Mrs. Perri, and Chris. They're good people. Tom and I went to King of Prussia - nothin good there. UGH it was so hot today. Sorry for my scatter-brained thoughts. I just need to sleep. Night :]