Lunch Break Notes

So last week I had to do one of the most difficult things in my life. I had to say goodbye to a friend that has been in my life every single day for the past 15 years. Levi was a good dog with a typical outlook on life. If it moved, bite it, if it smelt good, eat it and if a spot looked warm and cozy, lay and claim it. My wife had rescued Levi from a shelter as a gift to me for losing another Jack Russell previously. Clyde too was a great dog. He would attack your pant leg when you would go to leave the house. Sadly, he chased the wrong car and it got him. Levi was an incredible addition to our family. He was adopted under the notion that he was still somewhat f a pup but quickly came to realize that he was well past his childish phase. When we first got him, he would not bark at all, instead he would just sit and watch. It was not until my wife's cousin thought it would be funny to teach him to bark at specific races of people. After that he was a normal dog, ba...

   This year has been one of the best years for Halloween, speaking for myself here. Sure the day was great when I was a kid. I couldn't wait till I got home from school and got into whatever it was that I was being for the night and meet up with friends to go around to the so called "rich neighborhoods" to gather a bag full of treats that I would never eat. It was all fun and games but never has it felt so great. I find that to be true to the fact that our 2 year old is obsessed. I wrote about this obsession before and am still amazed by it. I live in a town where Trick o' Treating happens a day early and so as I write this, I am able to share that my daughter was more entertained by the pumpkins, ghosts, zombies and bats that covered trees and houses than the actual treats that were being given. It was incredible to see her so happy.  One other thing that helped along the buildup for the big day, last night, is always the TV shows, movies and specials that are ...

   It has been quite a while since I last wrote anything. Life has been crazy and time has been.. well, there's just not enough of it. Since my last note a lot has happened. For starters, I now live in Toms River, a place I never fathomed living. I've been a Monmouth county resident my whole life and anything else seemed... not right. But oh how right it is! Living in Toms River is really something else. We have been greeted by almost every neighbor within 2 weeks of living here. Our next door neighbor gave us a pie on our anniversary, Mealz actually has a nickname for her, RoRo. People approach us to just talk. It is an incredible change of pace from where we were.  Now one thing I never imagined about Toms River is their love and devotion for my favorite holiday. Not Christmas, we lived in that town and it was a bit creepy, yeah I'm looking at you Ocean Grove. This town loves Halloween so much that they actually celebrate the Trick or Treat part of it a day early s...

In light of recent events I am strongly considering a long term vacation from Facebook. This decision came to me ever since my feed has been filled with arguments among friends and family.How did we go from sharing pictures of our kids and waffles to spewing hateful words and tragic stories, a direct bi-product of said hateful words, for all to see? I know the answer and many people will not agree or believe this but... this is what is now being called, the Age of Trump or the Trump Era. Tragically this is a time where it is OK to curse at illegal immigrants and laugh in the face of those less fortunate. White supremacists march not only in the South but our northern cities as well. I myself do not align with what is known as the Left or the Right. Lots of people will call me a "Snowflake", which is a joke itself being that it is a term used by supporters of our current leader. It is because of our leader that this hate is so front row in our lives.  This s...

   Don't get me wrong here, I know that there is a lot of underrated television out there today but man oh man!!! Last man on earth was truly something different. A story about the "supposed" last man on earth is a storyline that could go stale quicker  than a sourdough left out, yet they kept it fresh!  Even though this show was written as a comedy with some bits of drama, actually there is quite a bit of drama in it, making it a drama-dy. It touches on aspects of the end of the world like no other show. Such topics that are brought up are what to do when gasoline goes bad or what happens to the people in space and the nuclear plants. These are topics that no other show touches. The Walking Dead has been on for YEARS but not once did they consider what to do with all the vehicles once fuel runs out or goes bad. It gave the show a very bleak and serious touch when dropping "turds" or "oh fart" lines. The final episode was and is ...

I am a huge Star Wars fan so when I heard there was a film coming out about Han Solo I was pumped. Only thing was, I had to go alone due to there being a one year old involved. I can't just leave her in the crib alone while I go see the movie. Luckily though, my wonderful wife agreed to let me have the night so I may indulge myself in my inner child...geek..whatever you may want to call it. That's enough of the how now lets get to the what. The what, of course, being the film. Solo was incredible. It was absolutely everything and nothing at all what you would expect in a Star Wars film. I agree with many when I say that it was nice to not see the Skywalker story play out. It was gritty, not at all magical and that was quite nice for a change. Going into a movie alone is... weird. With that being said, I quickly forgot how weird it was once the movie began. No opening crawl like past films and right into the action, just like past films. I loved the sewer- setting of Ha...

   Me and my wife finally got around to watching the season finale of The Walking Dead the other night. Along with that we watched the season premiere of Fear the Walking Dead. As of lately, past few seasons to be more exact, my interest in the franchise has grown limp. With storylines falling flat or not moving AT ALL!! The premiere of FtWD just changed all that with the intro of what should be a lasting gem of a character. John Dorie, like the fish as he says but an "ie" rather than a "y". From the instant I heard his voice I knew the writers had made a great choice by casting Garrett Dillahunt to play the role of the offbeat sharpshooter with a sweet tooth and a story, yet to be fully revealed except for his love is wandering the wasteland with a matching antique pistol.    Within moments you love the character. Walking Dead has introduced and gotten rid of, a long list of likable characters but none of them had the u...

So I just finished the series finale of star wars rebels and i have to say... that was a great show stopper, literally. I have watched the series since its premier and have enjoyed the story that it gave to star wars fans like myself. And yeah, I know it's a Disney cartoon but they took this project very seriously and you could tell. As a fanboy of the franchise, I loved seeing how this series was not just creating a new band of extended universe characters that would never see the light of day off the TV circuit. The characters were pulled from novels that were written up to 20 years ago even included them in the mainstream saga such as Captain Sendula, my apologies if I mispelt, and the Ghost were a part of the major space battle in Rogue One that was hatched to obtain and deliver the Death Stars plans that launched the first main trilogy story. Sendula would also go on to battle in the fight for Endor, it is noted even though we don't see it. Characters fr...

It has been about a year since I gave up my post in the real estate world. I gave up this career so I would no longer have to deal with fee after fee along with disrespectful agents as well as suffer the dread of losing out on commissions that were usually taken by the fore mentioned disrespectful agents. I remember thinking to myself that those agents just wanted it more but then I remember that I will not act in a way that will steal sleep from me at night. My morals are quite a son of an itch that usually keep me from enjoying myself. I bring up this note because as of very recently I have been receiving quite a bit of contact from both new and past clients looking for my services and know how for either buying a home or just looking to get into another rental property. Since I'm out, I have been forwarding their interest to my old colleague and mentor and I am more than happy to do so. But even doing so, it's not the same.  The rush that I would get when someone would ...

A few days ago I had the pleasure of venturing out Millstone, New Jersey. What a quaint, sticks-y like place. I was there to drop off a construction permit to their municipal complex. When I arrived ... i was shocked really, at the destination that I arrived at. The outside of the building needed a painting and some other work but when I arrived inside, that's where the shock took me. The inside of this municipal complex is best described as the basement of a church that would host meetings for the boy scouts. To the right side of the room was a party table opened up with a man behind it. There was a piano with a tarp over half of it. Behind the table with the gentlemen was a sad looking kitchenette that has definitely seen better days. Since I wasn't there for the coffee and pie I proceeded forward ans asked "Could you tell me where the construction office is?" The man laughed and said "Welcome to the construction office". I should have seen that one co...

As some of you know, I had the pleasure of being laid off on Halloween. This was not foreseen but could have been avoided by the company. This is the second firm that I was let go from in two years.  The first instance was a great startup digital marketing firm. The product was great but the company was still in the pocket of its investors. When the investors weren't getting their return as quickly as they liked, the department was shut down and a skeleton crew remained. The company again was great and I get how this could not be avoided.  The second time this could have been avoided completely. I was brought in during a time where there was rapid growth and the company was expanding, this is what I was told. No investors to impress and feed. Just a great software to push and people actually needed it. Perfect set up... almost. Turns out there was no true plan to the expansion. So it ended up just being me. Just me pushing the service, managing the sales and bringing ...