Evil

Today was a big day for me. I've been waiting for this day for years. Literally. Ladies, gentlemen, friends, and Mr. Shoulders... I am happy to announce that today, I received my renewed passport in the mail. (For some history, see the "FIASCO" post earlier this month.)

My passport has been expired since 1998, so a few years ago, when XTIAN, KenTak3, and Mr. Shoulders went to Montreal, I had to bail. I missed out on seeing Mr. Shoulders pay $30 (Canadian!) to punch a hooker in the stomach. But then again, I bet that's not really too different from seeing Mr. Shoulders pay $30 USD to punch a hooker in the stomach.

Anyway, I just wanted to announce that I am officially good to travel, which is handy, because me and The Future Mrs. Evil are scoping out Bali for our honeymoon.

Evil

Is Manolo posting on a competitive blog? I think so. BTW- Where is Sleeve?

Perishable Goods

Yesterday on a lark, I decided it would fun to sit in the 90 degree weather as the As played the Angels.

i called up A&W and Clay and figured we could get psyched up to watch some ball. Clay is only now reading MoneyBall so that would help keep us engaged as we discussed the relative merits of Jeremy Brown and Corey Bradford.

I packed an extra shirt and A&W drove so it was already gearing up for a good time. When we picked up Clay, Clay stopped to admire A&W car. It is a nice car so the admiration is well deserved.

When we arrive at the stadium we park and Clay again stops to glance at the car. This time he notices that it is covered in sap and somewhat scratched. A&W somewhat chastised, admitted that the sap was so frustrating he tried to rub it out the day before and stopped when he realized he was scratching it. Clay suggested a detail shop he knew that could take care of this in a bout an hour.

The game itself was unremarkable, the way most games played in oppresive heat tend to be. The highlight was when we realized that with a AAA membership card we could sit in the 300 level for 4 dollars. (what other team does membership discount deals with AAA? SOmeone save the As!) Btw, the As lost 4-3 and Vlad did not even play so I was pretty frustrated.

Back at Clay's, I sat there reading while Clay took adam to drop off his car for a "1 hour detailing to remove sap" Its around 430. i should be able to make my 6pm dinner party by 7pm nice and easy. Of course, I was not even thinking in these terms. I was severely dehydrated and only thinking about water. What to do What to do.

I don't know how much time passed but i must have fallen asleep because when Clay suggested we watch Sopranos I did not connect it to mean that this meant it was 9pm on the East coast and 6pm on the west coast. After the Sopranos I watched A&W frustratedly try to contact the detail shop and get the update on his car. When he was told it would take another 30 minutes.

By this point, i had gotten a call from my hostess for the dinner party I was meant to attend. Not knowing how to handle this, I went to base instincts (fight or flee) and of course, anyone who knows me knows how that ended. After I pressed the ignore button on my phone I decided to call Darren and half explain why I sucked. Just to practice, so I could see if I could effectively present this argument to Heather and not come off like a scrub. Mission Failed! I could not even bring myself to stick with my phone conversation with Darren, put the phone down and picked up the NYTImes Magazine and played with Clay's cat.

When we finally got to the shop, we had another problem. Suddenly, the interiors guy had run off with with A&W car keys. At this point none of us knew what to do and stood around chatting with the owner of the shop for over an hour. Anxious to get out of there himself, he suggested A&W get his spare and only need to pay on return of his original key. Clay was ready to be done with me as well and suggested that he drop us off at my place and get A&W to and fro to his house to collect the spare and later collect his ride.

By the time it was all said and done, it 10pm and I still did not know how to explain what I had done for the last 4 hours....

Evil

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENTAK3

I met The Future Mrs. KenTak3 (TFMKT3) the other night. It was Ken's birthday party at the Gaslight Lounge and a great crowd turned out, owning mostly to TFMKT3's presence I suppose.

Early on, I spent a good 15 minutes being captivated by a tall dude who was recalling his barnstorming of the SoHo Bloomingdales grand opening. "Are you in the fashion industry?," I asked. "No," he said. "I'm a professor of computer science at NYU." Hmm, interesting. Later that evening, I found myself cozying up to that dude's roommate on the couch, making as if I had known her for years. Luckily, no one got punched in the teeth, or if I did, I don't remember because my face was already numb.

At some point, we lost track of Ken, so somebody had to go check the bathroom. Naturally, I was like, "Ezra, go find Ken in the bathroom." Haha. Clearly, I am a bad friend. This is all the more reason for XTIAN to move back to The NYC because someone has to keep an eye on that guy at all times.

On a personal note, might I also add that I met The Future Mrs. Evil (TFME) at Ken's birthday party. She was the co-host of the party, also celebrating her 28th. When I scooted over to say hi, she told me that she has read this blog! I immediately attempt to apologize for the misogynistic content on this blog, but I am tripped up by my own words. I fall on my face (figuratively), get up, dust, dust, dust... and place the blame squarely on XTIAN and his influence. I consider mentioning how my posts on the competitive blog are actually quite pro-female, sensitive, and reflective, but instead I concentrate my efforts on not tipping over while speaking to TFME. I think she appreciated that.

In lieu of a coherent ending, I will just mention that I'm heading out to the Knicks/Nets playoff game at MSG. I will wear my Tim Thomas jersey and might get some playing time coming off the bench. Look for me!

Evil

ALL YOU HAVE TO BRING...

Big Head and I have not had many phone conversations, ever. And when we do, they are usually like this:

"Yo. Where are you?"
"In a cab. Almost there."
"Ok, see you in a few."
"Ok, cool. Bye."

So it was a little strange when Big Head called and wanted to talk about advertising and media. It had something to do with the Yahoo job he's trying to get or whatnot. Which got me thinking...

What is the greatest advertising campaign of our generation?

Was it Nike's Just Do It campaign, which ran for 14 consecutive years and arguably brought experiential marketing to the mainstream? Or, on the other end of the spectrum, was it Apple Computer's 1984 super bowl commercial, which ran only once, seen by relatively few people, but has made such an impact that 20 years later, people still understand references to it?

No.

The greatest advertising campaign of our generation was for Mount Airy Lodge. C'mon, you know the jingle!

All you have to bring, is your love of ev'rything.

Virtually everyone we know who grew up in the northeast remembers the Mount Airy Lodge commercials. Aided Brand Recall. Check. You know what, whenever someone mentions that they grew up in the Poconos, the first think I'll say is "OH! That's where Mount Airy Lodge is!" Unaided Brand Recall. Check.

A couple of years ago, I read in the Times that Mount Airy Lodge had fallen into dilapidation and disrepair and was making plans to close down permanently. I told my friend (also a northeasterner) and immediately, disappointment shadowed her face. "Oh nooo... that's the saddest thing I've heard in a long time," she said. Brand Favorability. Check.

A slight pause and then a lightbulb went off... "We HAVE TO GO before it closes!" What? The article says that the place is falling apart and she still wants to go? Won't the heart shaped tubs have cracks all over them? Likely. But's that how great the Mount Airy Lodge advertising campaign really was. Purchase Intent. In advertising, it all comes down to purchase intent. Check.

Missing the boat

We should be doing this stuff over at the business school too!

Welcome to the NYC, BITCH!

There's a wierd energy to NY. It might be kenetic. People just bouncing off of other people and generating all this heat, this heat stink; just plain rawness.

I knew I was back immediately. Even at 2am in LaGuardia, people are talking Yanks/Red Sox. People are acting like its the middle of the day. It was wierd, till I remembered I was in NY. It's always the middle of the day in NY.

I showed up on the first real spring weekend in NYC. NYC came out and said hello in the sluttiest dress she coudl find. The icy chill that brought 20+ plus days of snow this past winter was long gone, and the icky stink of mid summer was still months away. This is NY at its best. People are sitting outside drinking. Women walking around in the latest fashion, white skirts with diagonal stripes which though mini length, frilled outward. These things rock btw, very hot. I highly recommend to any chick with legs worth mentioning...

I don't really have an ending....all i know is that at 4am I was standing on Boulevard East, on the Jersey Side of NY, staring back at the NYC skyline. It felt right all around...

Evil

MISSING THE BOAT?

Hey XTIAN, why isn't this blog in the League of MBA Bloggers?

Evil

FIASCO

I travel a lot for work, but my driver's license has been expired since my most recent birthday. This means I can't rent cars (bad) and I always get frisked at airport security (somewhat good) for not having "valid" government issued photo ID. I tried to get a renewed license. Here's the sequence of events:

1. Show up at the Express DMV (I'm a busy man!) for license renewal. Got rejected because my current license is from California and they only do in-state renewals at the Express DMV.

2. Show up at the regular DMV and wait 2 hours, which isn't bad all things considering. Got rejected because my proof of identity is an expired passport. Crap! I have no physical birth certificate because I was born in Vietnam and they don't really keep records at the hospitals there. Also, there was a war of some sort. So I have to renew my passport first.

3. Show up at the post office with passport renewal form filled out + 2 little headshots of myself + the old passport. Go up to the window. Got rejected because I was 17 when my last passport was issued. Apparently, I can only renew an EXPIRED passport in person if I got my last one at age 16 or younger! (Ironically, I could have also renewed in person if my passport weren't already expired.) They give me a form and say I have to do it by mail.

4. Filled out the form and go to the post office to send it certified mail. (I have to include my old passport, so it's important to get it certified.) Show up at the post office and see a GIANT ASS LINE. Realized that it's April 15 and everyone is filing their taxes. CRAP!

WHAT NOW? Crying...

In New York...
A Prologue


Hitting the big City this weekend. Looking forward to the weekend, i got it worked out a couple of different ways.

(1) It could be a good time if I get a chance to hang out with my family and catch up with everyone necessary (Cheo, waiting for your call back! What the hell?)
(2) It will be a great time, if in addition to hanging out with family, all my lame ass friends make out to OpenAir Saturday night to hang out with me and celebrate how great we all look two years later
(3)This trip will be the motherf*cking bomb if i do all that and get a motherf*cking job, yo!

Evil

Since I am posting on a competitive blog now (haha), I will only post crappy stuff here. For example, here's a picture of ME playing golf by the ocean.

This picture was done by someone on something called catchdub. Check it out....if you get a chance

On a related topic:

I don't get these Jerry Seinfeld and Superman commercials. Are they supposed to be an old married couple? Also, is the implication that Superman is cheating on Green Lantern with Jerry Seinfeld? wierd

Watch the Jerry/Superman American Express commercials here.

That got me thinking of the time....
Gosh, I guess it was 911, right after the WTC went down. No one knew what was what. I found myself in a IM chatroom with a bunch of heads I knew. They all knew me but that did not really know each other. One of them had a handle that referenced an x-men comic book character. Anyway, it was a heavy day (as one might expect) but Evil pops on, and suddenly starts goofing on the AIM ID! Talk about inappropriate....saying stuff like "What if I get a handle thats GreenLantern123? Would that be cool?"

I swear, you can't take that kid anywhere, not even virtually....

Funny

George broke into tears yesterday when the guys in the bleachers started chanting "thank you, George".

Didn't anybody ever tell the boss, "there's no crying in baseball!"

Someone needs to put this guy out to pasture.

The Bachelor

Should Jesse really be putting himself out there like this? If I looked like the Jesse and I lived in NY, I would be banging asian models two at a time.

So far my favorite is the soccer player. The show is not over yet so I hope she gets to the end...

Pointless Predictions.

figure since Baseball is starting up I will give a few predictions

(Ordered by Record)
AL EAST - YANKS
WILD CARD - RED SOX
AL WEST - ANGELS
AL CENTRAL - ROYALS

NL CEnTRAL - CUBS
WILD CARD - HOUSTON
NL EAST- PHILLIES
NL WEST - umm....dodgers? This division sucks awful

Additional points

A-Rod will play the last 90 games at SS and Jeter's game is going to come apart at the seems
Contreras won't be with the big club past the all-star break
Barry will hit for .305 this year but walk more than ever as the Giants have no one to protect him in the line up.


For those interested, the mets will win about 84 games.
Also, the mets are going to start 10 different pitchers this year that get 5 starts.
Reyes will play about 140 games and steal about 25 and hit for an ok average
Matsui will bat about .250 and slide down to 8th in the line up
Piazza will play about 30 games at 1st base and then get traded somewhere like Tigers.

Does anyone know if this is real?

My two asian roommates got really burned over this in last month's details magazine.