= Such Stupid Things =

I've given my website the most minor of facelifts... I replaced the comically outdated blogroll on the right, though it's still not much of a resource. It turns out that I don't read that many blogs - at least blogs written by people I know. Did I forget anyone? Also the "Pictures" link now goes to my Picasa account, instead of to a list of long-dead home-made webpages. And with the Twitter link you've pretty much got your Jeff Nye stalking bases covered.

And finally, I was getting tired of the I (heart) NYE icon, so that's been replaced with something simple. If inspiration strikes I may devise something more clever for that space, but I wouldn't count on it.

Progress!

Posted by Jeff at 07:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My TV is actually closed captioning that Budweiser commercial where the horse doesn't make the team (or whatever). The helpful dog says "RUFF", and the horse responds "NEIGHHHHHH".

Seriously.

Posted by Jeff at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wrote an email to my former Governor at the behest of these guys in support of legislation regarding California's proposed high speed rail project. Granted, I don't technically live in California any longer, but I still think the train is a great idea and I wanted to do my part (without actually leaving the apartment or spending any money, of course).

And he wrote back! Now, I know it's just a form letter, and I know it isn't actually from Arnold Schwarzenegger, but let's suspend disbelief for a few moments and note that Mr. Freeze has my email address:

Posted by Jeff at 06:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How did I miss this four years ago:

Trampoline? Since when is Nickelodeon choosing Olympic events?

Posted by Jeff at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I may have mentioned to some of you that I bought a bicycle (purchased with wedding gift money - thanks, btw!), and I'm happy to say that I'm getting a lot better at riding it. I've been spending a good amount of time, here in my meso-employed state, exploring the various bike paths of Middlesex County. My intention is, of course, to join America's many loved and loathed new cyclists and bike to work.

The trip seems do-able - only 1.5 miles - and it doesn't involve any of the bizarre pseudo-highways that are so prevalent in central New Jersey (50 mph limit, with stoplights and jughandles), so it seems like a good idea. But while I hardly expected my me-tooism to be celebrated, it's disheartening to read articles like these in the popular press. Now that I brazenly intend to use a bicycle on city streets, the MSM seems pretty confident that my fate is assured: I will lose ten pounds, become a self-satisfied prick, and then be killed by a parallel-parking senior citizen who will remind my flattened corpse to "lighten up".

Not so bad, I guess. At least Marie and I won't have to buy a second car.

Posted by Jeff at 04:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I posted some new photos on my Picasa account. One album is from Wendy and Jonathan's wedding last weekend, and the other is a hodge-podge of photos from my last summer in Berkeley, including a few get-togethers, the Albany Bulb, the Pride Parade, Joe's 4th of July BBQ and our long-awaited trip to the Warehouse in Martinez.

Summer 2008
Wendy and Jonathan's Wedding

Enjoy!

Posted by Jeff at 05:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Several days in my new state and things are going well. I've eaten large quantities of locally-grown blueberries, which are no-doubt battling various oxidants at this very moment.

Thus far, much of my time in New Jersey has been spent in the car, so most of my opinions relate to scenery and the radio. The New York version of Morning Edition is, I think, inferior to San Francisco's due to its lack of BBC Headlines and Jim Hightower. But I can pick up the KEXP morning show on Radio NY, so that's a win. Plus, this is pretty great, though the signal fades fast if I drive south.

I've been cooking most of my meals in the apartment, but many of the restaurants in town look pretty nice. Their steep prices give me pause, however. I have yet to find a trustworthy website to aid in food selection... For all its faults, Yelp was actually pretty helpful in this regard in SF, so long as you were careful to ignore the many, many idiots. But here it just doesn't have enough data points for me to trust the statistics. Perhaps that will come with time, but I've got a sinking feeling I'm going to be spending $30-40 on some pretty underwhelming dinners.

That's it for now. Work starts on Monday, and I'm pretty excited for that, and I may venture up to New York with the Dr.s Gomez this Saturday to check out this Summer Streets thing. So until then, reader!

Posted by Jeff at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If things around the blog start looking a little different, it's because I've officially made the move out of California and am here in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on the roaring banks of the Raritan River. I've checked into my temporary corporate housing (so grown-up!), and all is going well aside from the fact that I can't figure out how to turn off my television's closed captioning. I have a week or so to get myself acquainted with the area before work starts, so the next few days will be a blur of address-changing, stocking up on business casual attire, and trips to Wegmans.

Something that's significantly aided the celebratory nature of my move was that the good people at Hertz offered me a free upgrade on my rental car. No Hyundai Accent for me - until Marie's car makes the trip across the country, I'm sporting a blindingly blue Ford Mustang. The exchange went something like this:

Hertz Guy: Would you be interested in a Mustang?
Me: Uhh...
HG: [somewhat mockingly] Oh, you'd rather drive a small car?
Me: Well, I'd rather pay for a small car.
HG: No problem! I'll give it to you for the same price.

So at that point my manhood was pretty much being called into question, so what choice did I have? The car's pretty nice, though I would prefer that it didn't proudly display the word "MUSTANG" on the door in giant letters. And also if it got a little better than 10ish mpg - that'd be nice too. (Along that vein, if you haven't watched Bubb Rubb in a while, he's worth revisiting.)

Anyhow - from now on I'll be cruising the highways and byways of Middlesex County, if anyone would care to join me. My apartments very close to the train station. And it's much nicer than that Wikipedia photograph would suggest.

Posted by Jeff at 05:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)