After a brief (but still fun) stopover in Connecticut last night I arrived back in Cambridge this afternoon. I had some business to take care of at Rovia, which I did as soon as I brought my stuff inside the apartment. The business ended up working out REAL well for me, even though I can’t really talk about it right now (no, I’m still unemployed).

Tomorrow I need to get all of the stuff for the van taken care of (insurance, registration, plates, ez-pass). That should be a barrel of monkeys, but fortunately Omar recommended a insurance company that just-so-conveniently resides in Central Square, so that should at least make that part of the journey easier. Unfortunately, the DMV in the mall doesn’t do registration, so I have to head down to Boylston/Chinatown for that…

Back to my top-secret project….

I am not that congested anymore, and I still have a very slight cough, but all in all I am feeling better than I have the past few days… Thanksgiving day was still the worst, though.

Still reeling from the news of Erik’s murder… I wouldn’t say I was terribly close to him, but to think that a friend and coworker could be killed in such a relatively quiet community is shocking… It also leads me to think about all the time I spent in retail not even thinking about things like this… You wouldn’t think working in a video game store would be such a dangerous occupation.. Of course, I am sure that this violence could have been prevented if kids weren’t exposed to such violent video games and television programs (sarcasm alert).

I was going to leave in a few minutes, but I decided I am going to pass through CT tonight to pay a visit on my way back to Boston. So I am going to leave here around 6pm instead…

Erik was one of my coworkers back when I worked at The Office Center at Sears… He was definitely one of the cooler people there, and we got along real well… We hung out outside of work, I went to parties at his house (I think went to one as well), and I tried to check in on him when I got back in town… He continued to work in retail, so it was sometimes a struggle to track down what store he was working in at the time

This morning, at the Funcoland in Roxbury/Ledgewood, Erik was opening the store with a coworker. Both were struck down by bullets fired by an unknown other. Erik was recently married and was also a father… I hadn’t seen him in a year or two.

Woke up at zero-dark thirty this morning to put the turkey in the oven… Did the brine overnight, but decided not to flip the bird halfway through…. It was almost entirely submerged, and I wasn’t planning on waking up to flip it. Everyone enjoyed it as well as everything else that was on the table…. All is well and good in the world…

I think I got ’s cold, so I am feeling pretty run down and lousy today… My throat started to hurt yesterday, but I didn’t consider it a “sore throat” until today… Hopefully I can bounce this off tonight and feel better tomorrow, as I am supposed to meet up with , but I might have to postpone him a day or two. Judging how long it took to beat this cold (for all I know she is still fighting it off), I am not expecting to feel well tomorrow…

Got home last night and just chilled, had a sub from 3 and 1 for dinner which was good (even if I forgot to ask for mustard..)… I also managed to break something within an hour of arriving home… I went into the bathroom and noticed that one of the light bulbs was dead… I unscrewed the decorative nut that held the globe up, held it in my left hand, and in my right hand held the globe. I unscrewed the bulb with my left hand but in the process dropped the nut into the globe, shattering it… No injuries, but now I have to go out and find another globe before tomorrow’s festivities…

Today I have to prepare the brine, as well as help my mother pick up her new car which is ‘sposed to be ready this afternoon…

I tarded out and bought a 9am ticket from NYC to Boston, so I had to sit around until 12:15 before I was able to catch a bus home…

I originally decided to take the early bus because I figured given the holiday lots of people would be travelling, and the early bus would be less crowded… Well, I was right, this bus is almost packed… Good thing I don’t have to bother with the bus on the was back….

Jesus built my car. It’s a love affair. Mainly Jesus and my hotrod.

Leave it to to amuse the living hell out of me:

Me: So I was thinking it would be funny if I brought my jumpsuit home for use while I am cooking on Thanksgiving. Dad: Jumpsuit??? Me: Yeah, I have a jumpsuit I use for cooking, I thought that it was less gay than an apron. Dad: LESS gay????

That’s my pappy… =)

Got back from CT a few hours ago, and I realize how much I am looking forward to not having to take the bus anymore… Karen was dealing with a cold before I even left Boston, but she thought it would be managable… Turns out she was feeling like total shit once I got out there and we didn’t end up doing any of the stuff we had planned. But it was still a relaxing time… Once my mom’s new car is delivered I am going to be borrowing the minivan , which will allow me to broaden the area of my job search a bit… It will also have the nice effect of making visiting people who are far away and skiing easier…

Tomorrow I have to take care of some odds and ends before I go home for the holiday on Tuesday…

Heading out to CT to see Karen for a day or two before I head back to NJ for the holiday. The middle of nowhere doesn’t have good cell coverage, so I might be out of touch for a few days…