… at least, it feels that way outside. If we have another cold spell, I think I may actually hurt somebody. This past week was crazy with the Nor’easter that came through; though my street wasn’t largely affected by it, numerous roads were shut due to overflowing rivers and drains, and I heard that downtown Rahway was full of people in boats. Basically, it was just very wet, very gray, and quite cold and miserable. This probably explains why everyone at The Office seems to be sick. Bloody winter. Go away!

Last week we had a sales and marketing kickoff meeting in Atlantic City, three days with eight hours each of presentations, team-building exercises, and so forth. It was pretty interesting, actually, and caused some heated debates … but of course that’s not the bit that made me happy. No, it was my discovery that I absolutely adore playing blackjack for money. By the end of the third night, Meg (who had come to visit that night because she didn’t have to work the next day) was keeping all of my chips in her pocket for me so that I wouldn’t spend anymore, and when I cashed out I had about $1100. Not bad for a poor sod like me! Plus, given that the hotel and all meals were paid for by my company, I made a fair bit. Nothing wrong with that.

On a random note, Chris bought Guitar Hero II the other day for XBox 360 (did I mention I bought that? Well, I did, and it’s fabulous!) and brought it over last night so that I could finally try it out. Let’s just say, I don’t think I should ever buy it for myself. I wouldn’t play anything else. I already have problems enough with The Godfather.

And finally, thank goodness Sanjaya and his bloody hair are finally gone from American Idol. If LaKisha had gone before him, I may have actually stopped watching (that’s a blatant lie, of course, but I would have been more than a little bit peeved). But what will America be talking about now? Honestly, as much as I disliked the guy, he was the most interesting part of the show this year. Even Paula seems to have lightened up on the drugs; she’s lost her infamous ‘colour’ from previous seasons.

“We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on. We are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly. We are brave enough to bend to cry, and sad enough to know, we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of aids, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid capture by a rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory. Neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the baby Appalachian infant killed in his crib in the middle of the night, in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy. We are Virginia Tech. The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open hearts and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid, we are better than we think, and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears through all this sadness. We are the Hokies. We will prevail. We will prevail. We will prevail!! We are Virginia tech.”

My thoughts and prayers go out today to the friends and family of the victims of this massacre.

R.I.P Maxine Turner, JMHS Class of 2003