Back to Work (in Buffalo)

After being away from my office in Buffalo for over a week, things seem different. Probably because there are only 4 people in a building that holds over 400, compared to Utica that had a least 100. I enjoyed being in the Utica office building because of that. Just seeing other people and the ability to interact with new people was exciting. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy working with people at my office -- but I am just counting down the days until the new building official opens and I get to see different faces. And from the information I received when I was away, I will only have to wait a couple more weeks. Hopefully this will actually happen ... and soon. I have been told 3 other opening dates and I am not sure which is correct.

King-size

Being in a hotel room has it perks. The best perk for me is the cozy king-size bed. At home I have a full-size and my legs hang of the end of the bed. The only way I get comfortable is to curl up into the fetal position or lay diagonally. With a king-size, you can lay any which way and you are always on the bed. The bed is so big that when my alarm went off at 6:50 this morning, I had to roll over twice to turn it off.

While I am on subject of beds, and composing this while lying in bed, I wonder why I can only sleep on the right side of the bed on my left side of my body? I know or have known people who would able to fall soundly asleep in any position, but I am just not able to do that. I need at least two plush pillow to 'hug' and depending on the weather a blanket to be comfortable.

Also, to sleep knowing someone else is in the bed with me would result in a sleepless night. I have no idea what weird things I do while I am sleeping. I have been told that I snore, which I adamantly deny unless someone provides me with some type of recorded evidence (preferably video). I have action-oriented dreams and I think my body moves in conjunction to them and I wouldn't want harm anyone. Maybe it has something to do with trust? While visiting a good friend of mine, we ended up sharing a bed because he had no other furniture and the floor wasn't an option. [All those trips to the IKEA and you only bought a bed? LOL.] I was able to sleep soundly next to him without any problems. Maybe it was the 'Ruffie Colada' he made for me prior to bedtime? ... Just kidding. But seriously, I always found that interesting.

I am just having random bed related thoughts. So I have a lot of questions that I don't have the time to find the answers to them. Besides, tennis is on ESPN2 and my attention is diverted. Maybe all the answers will come to me in a dream tonight?

Congrats, SU! Rats, UB!

Syracuse University won the Big East Championship yesterday defeating West Virgina for the crown.

On the flipside, University at Buffalo lost in the finals of the Mid-American Conference by 1 point. It all came down to the last 15 seconds in overtime when Ohio, on their last ball posession, missed a shot but managed to tip the ball in for the win. UB basketball improved signficantly in the past few years so hopefully they will get a title soon.

My First Business Trip

This past Friday the company I worked for received an e-mail from our corporate office asking someone (in my department) to volunteer to work in Utica, NY. I stepped up, hesitantly, only if they needed me during my 'Spring Break'. They did need me, so I am now sitting in a hotel room a stone's throw away from the office.

The hotel is better than what I thought it would be. Everything appears to be clean and I haven't seen anything that would repulse me, yet. Except for the dateline special I saw on fast food franchises with poor health inspection records. I was watching while eating food from the hotel restaurant. I will be here for a week and I will depend on restaurants and fast food to provide me with sustenance. Only if my room had a kitchen then I wouldn't have to now be very cautious on what I eat. I don't want to end up with a vicious case of food poisoning.

I am able to keep up with my workout plan because they have a fitness center. It is not huge, but it has the essentials. I could always pay $5 and go to there off-site facility but I just have to find out where it is. I plan on playing tennis because there are 2 indoor tennis complexes near the hotel. But I am not too keen on paying $20 per visit so I left my racquets at home. I will play when I get back to Buffalo.

Monday Night ... Tennis?!?!

Yesterday was my first night of my tennis league, and it was pretty fun. There are only 8 people in the league but it gave me a chance to play some tennis with some other people who are on my skill level. I really have to work the kinks out of my game. My forehand was really inconsistant and one of my best shots, the backhand slice, was ineffective at the net. Hopefully at after a month or so I will be back in the swing of things.

After being extremely exhausted from last Saturday's drill session, I have decided to get serious about my workout plan. I go to the gym but I don't do a whole lot to challenge myself. I have been eating of lot of garbage (mostly chocolate) so that might explain why I have the added mass to frame. I have given myself 8 weeks to lose 15 lbs to get me back down to my normal weight. This will allow me to regain my quickness when sprinting for ball that are hit short. Serena and Venus Williams better be ready to play when I am in tip-top shape.

This Past Week

Tuesday: Amazing Race 7 premired and I wasn't sure whether or not it would be good, considering I disliked the winners of Amazing Race 6. But I was relieved to find that the show went back to basics and got ride of all of the "model" racers whom I found annoying. My concerns about AR7 was due to the addition of former Survivor All Stars contestants Rob and Amber. They were actually fun to watch, I just hope that Rob doesn't get as competitive as he did on Survivor ... if he does it will be fun to watch.

Wednesday: America's Next Top Model began its 4th Cycle and it is becoming clear that Tyra & Co. are not really looking for girls who can be models, but for a girl with an interesting life story. Examples: teenage pregnancy, reformed bad girls (one who used to be in a gang, another who had a hard life), a girl who grew up rich but who had to work after her dad got hurt, and a part-time wrestler. The girls aren' really that attractive except for 2 or 3. This cycle they decided to do away with the token "plus size" model because they thought it would have been unfair for them to compete against the "normal" size girls. But they came to this rationalization after they brought back a "plus size" model from the last cycle, Mary, only to jerk her around. She was prettier than 10 of the girls there but Tyra (and her hair) made the decision to crush this girl's spirit. Although I love the show, I think without a complete overhaul the show will only have about 2 more seasons left. When the non-winners are booking more work than the winners, there has to be something wrong. Even Janice Dickinson, through the haze of pills and botox, voiced her displeasure with the winners and the girls she wanted are booking loads of work. Hopefully this season another girl will have beer poured in weave. I predict the winner will be Naima. She just seems to have the package a model needs, in my opinion.

Friday: I went to go see "Be Cool" for the sole reason that I saw a trailer with The Rock wearing skintight pants and slapping his backside. Too bad the movie was a total bore, besides the scenes with The Rock because he was surprisingly funny. This would be the second time I saw a movie just because I found one of the guys attractive. The first was Ryan Reynolds from Blade Trinity:




The movie was crap, but I felt my reasoning was justified. :)

Saturday: Itching to play tennis I decided to join a tennis club. I participated in some tennis drill which helped reinforced how out of shape I am. I was dying after the first drill but I had fun. I am now in a tennis league on monday nights and hopefully this will help me improve my game. I received some good notes from the tennis pro teaching the drill session. The member ship was rather inexpensive and it is all indoors so weather will no longer inhibit my ability to play.

Sunday (today): So sore from yesterday that I can barely move. I am taking it easy and stretching my muscles.

Sound of Intelligence

Is it really hard to sound intelligent? Is putting together a relatively coherent sentence worthy of having it considered intelligent?

My second biggest fear is talking in front of people. To me, there seems to be a pressure to sound like you know what you are talking not matter the situation. During an informal conversation with friends, a presentation for a course, meeting with the boss, etc... Each situation has a margin of leeway but I try my hardest to sound like dullard. The reason I bring this up because I have been told that I "sound intelligent" when I speak. Maybe I am just not hearing it due the sound of my heart pounding in my chest thereby compromising my hearing.

I received this same compliment last night while talking with a friendly stranger. He seemed utterly impressed with my ability to converse without being droll. (Ok, I was really trying to be intelligent there. Was it affective?) I always thought my conversational skills were stunted due to my overcomsumption of television. (With America's Next Top Model, Amazing Race 7, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and the Real World on tonight, there will not be any talking...TO ANYONE!) I wonder if it is because I am black and the person/people I am talking with have a relatively low expectation on how I sound? Stringing together a series of proper words without the use of slang, and without seeming that I am putting on airs makes me seem intelligent -- for a black person? I am reading too much into it because I honestly don't feel this way.

So my questions is: should I just take the compliment with thinking too much about it? I used to chastise a friend of mine of over-thinking, but I am afraid that I am guilty of the same offence. I hope they will accept my apology. (You know who you are.)