So web 2.0 it makes babies cry.

 I’ve been writing this blurb for about a month now, well finally after being a loyal customer for 17 years,  I am officially done with my personal banking at TD Bank.   I must admit, it’s bittersweet, well mostly just bitter.  Ever since the changeover to from Commerce Bank to TD Bank, things went downhill, and fast.   Don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to the merger.  I was hoping TD’s investment arm would be a great fit for Commerce’s banking division.  Sadly, I was mistaken..  In every sense of the word, they failed.   They were once “America’s Most Convenient Bank”, now they are deplorable.   Sure someone answers the phone and directs your call, but then you sit on hold for 20 minutes to get a person. That does not count as good customer service, or speedy call response times.   You used to be able to reach someone in under 5 minutes, and generally had your issues resolved in a similarly small amount of time. Now you get bounced around for the simplest of issues. 

  I’ve just recently switched over to a Credit Union, I’m quite happy. My main income is directly deposited into my account, any checks for reimbursements or whatever get put right into an ATM machine.  They are almost always there the next day. For someone like me who is feeling the travel itch, that is a good thing. Who knows where I’ll be when I need to put some $$ into a machine. As far as I am concerned, never need to walk into a bank, or sit in a line at a bank again.   At this point, there was just no reason to sit at TD and get dinged for fees whenever they made a change or pulled something out of their asses.   Credit Union’s almost always seem to have better rates on CD’s, Savings/Checking/Money Market Accounts.  Not to mention the amount you can save on auto loans and home loans.

  I wonder what the point of conventional banks are at this point.  I make my deposits at ATM’s, many times getting a photo reciept of the checks right then and there (if desired), view my accounts online, then import the info with buxfer.com, done and done. While I am very happy at my credit union, I’m also considering opening up an Ally account to see how they are.  Their rates look very attractive and may fit my needs well.  I’ll keep you posted.

In keeping up with my new rules theme,  Here is another for the list.

When available, try to eat lunch in a park. If you can find one with few benches and a lake, then you have hit a home run.  At a minimum, you just need a place to park, or a place to sit.

It may sound funny to make this a rule, but believe me, it has many benefits.

1. You save money by bringing  your lunch and not going to a restaurant, it’s probably healthier too.
2. Sitting in the park gives you time to slow down and relax and recharge without external stimulus.
3. It is nice to just get out of the workplace and to be surrounded by nature.  For instance right now, the leaves are changing/falling, and the wind has a nice chill.
4. I like to use this time to reflect, on what is going on around me, and to help me realize what is important to me.
5. It is a great time to study your Masonic ritual, I think the geese in Medford already know the MM exam.

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Pinups for Pitbulls is hosting a huge all-day event at Cheerleader’s Bikini Bar in S. Philadelphia. Event includes Keynote speakers from the Pit Bull Hoax (Drayton Michaels www.pitbullguru.com), Kathy McGuire, President of NJ Aid for Animals, Buzz Miller of Buzzy’s Bow Wow & Meow , Little Darling of Pinups for Pitbulls and so many more!

We’ll have all kinds of wonderful vendors, Burlesque & Side Show performers, Art Auction & Raffle, and so much more! There will be adoptable dogs attending the daytime event and well-behaved dogs are welcome!
We will also be releasing the 2010 Pinups for Pitbulls Calendar at this event — see below for more info!
You don’t want to miss this amazing event!!! It will be our biggest event to date!
If you can’t make it to our event, you can make a tax-deductible donation here!

Cheerleaders 2740 South Front Street Philadelphia, PA 215) 467-1980 http://philly.cheerleadersweb.com

Day Event: 2-6pm, ALL AGES WELCOME Dress Code for Day Event: Casual & Fun
Evening Event: 6pm-1am, Club Age restriction 21+

Dress Code for Evening Event: *Fashionably Casual

- Ladies, Casual or Dress Up! Pin Up!
- Men, no hoodies/hats/undershirts/workboots, etc.

- No Cover Charge Until 6:00pm
After 6pm $15 General Admission
VIP Admission $30 (Includes 2 Hour Select Open Bar and Dinner Buffet from 6pm-8pm)

PERFORMANCES BY:

Little Darling – Founder of Pinups for Pitbulls, D’arcy D’Lux and Miss Candy Mayhem!

I think Ginger and I will be making a trek over the bridge for at least a portion of the day time event.  She needs to make some new friends.

While drastically different from Bill Maher’s segment “New Rules”, I’ve been doing a lot of interpersonal thinking and examining recently. As a result I have come up with a few new rules, which of course are going to be more like the Pirate Code, a set of guidelines. The first one is:

Take your birthday off from whatever job you work, you will need the day off as you should always see the sunrise on your birthday.    On the beach would be best, but any sunrise will do. This is the time to think about what you want your year to be, not Jan 1st.

The theory on this one is pretty self explanatory, While this year for my birthday I didn’t make sunrise, it was only because I thought of it too late.  I however was sitting on a lifegaurd stand listening to the waves crash against the beach for a couple of hours in the early hours of the morning.   It really got me thinking about how the year was starting a new for me at that point, not the 1st of Jan.  This year, I will be on the beach watching the sunrise on that special day in July.

I made my first calzone tonight, and it wasn’t bad!

I only have two complaints, the first it took too long to get he thicker breading to cook all the way, and it was too big! I think I can solve both problems by shrinking down the dough into 3 balls and rolling much thinner. I have half of the dough in the fridge, which I hope to be able to make into a \nice pizza tomorrow. I will of course let you know what happens. I have a TON of food pics to upload at some point.

p.s. Ginger was sniffing the cheese, I think she’s my dog through and through..

p.s.s. I added a few more caps to the Lionshead Puzzle caps page

So those of you who know me in real life, may know my work environment, which can at times be, stressful..   I am the builder of moonbases, the jack of all trades, master’s of none, I’m the guy who gets the shit, no matter what happens.  I’ve been at the same .com for the last 9.5 years. I’ve seen employees, fads, all come and go.   You know what stresses me out, my personal life.

I am the Senior Warden of Mozart Lodge #121,  a small lodge,yet a powerful one.  We may not have the finances of some of the major players, nor do we have the number that they do, but we have forward momentum.  As one that always seems to end up on the side of the underdog, I can see so  much potential with our lodge it is just plain sick.  If elected, I will be installed as “Worshipful Master” of the lodge come December 6th, 2009 for the 2010 Masonic term (if interested in attending the installation, please contact me).

I’m not worried about running a good business meeting, paying the bills, or having good entertainment. I know I’m good at those things.  What worries me the most is that we get enough people for our events, for our lodge to grow.  Less than a month ago we had 55 people come out to a Camden Riversharks game, which despite their  loss, was an amazingly good time.  We even had awesome fireworks show afterwards just to make up for it.   I sit here, wondering if  tomorrow we really will have 50+ people again show up for our “Annual” fishing trip.  We missed last year, which was my fault.  I was  busy doing so many other thing for the lodge, that I just did not have time to put things  together.  This  has once again been a year of moving forward,

Although I sit here after 11 PM drinking a gin (Bombay) gimlet,  I worry that we have enough sandwiches, if everyone will show up, if we will have enough food, cigars, and drinks.   There is a lot of pressure being me,  honestly.   “Some” people look at me and think that “I have little or no stress”, but let us be honest and say that there is a lot.  I’ve taken the saying that the “Junior Warden is the social director of the lodge” and expanded that to the thought that “I was the Junior Warden, and now much relinquish command to the next guy” .   I now realize that  a year later and a few months, that in less that six months,  IWILL be WM of Mozart Lodge # 121.   I will let the example set from myself, stand, and hope that they can stand as  future officers of this fine  Lodge behind me which I hope they can stand up to.

Wow I have been busy, and not just normal busy for me, but really busy. That being no excuse, a “month in review” for you. Following the weekend we left off on, was Memorial Day weekend, which as always was at Buehler’s Idlewild. As always, I can’t say enough good things about the weekend, the people, the hosts, the food. Take note of Nana drinking a PBR, and now stop wondering where I get it from.

Nanna drinking a PBR

The Lake at Buehlers Idlewild

Karley and Matty

Chilling with Bacon and Sauasge

The following Saturday was the Mozart Lodge #121 Beef and Beer, which consumed many days of planning, and running around. Which was all worth it, as we managed to have over 80 people come through the door, and after expenses we managed to raise about $500 for the Masonic Charity Foundation, which is how they fund the Masonic HOME in Burlington, NJ. The next day I went to the Camden Rivershark’s game where they did a nice presentation by the Warrior’s Watch , and Sicily sang the National Anthem w/ her class.

The next weekend was pretty quiet as I remember it, I think I worked on my gimlet recipe.  On the 13th I ran all over the state, there was a christening in the AM, then I shot down to Wildwood for the longest DeMolay banquet in history, Congrats Wes!   Followed by a visit to a southern gin joint till the wee hours of the AM. Seriously, it was like 5,  I was tired for all of Flag Day.  Then on the 19th, was the Mozart Lodge trip to the Camden Riversharks. We managed to get 65 people together with very short notice. On account of the iterest of this trip, and the amount of people we had to turn away the day of the game, next time I’m just going to buy out the whole section and fill that.

That is about enough for the broad strokes of social events for the month, I’m sure there were other things I have forgotten or not cared to write about today.

Then there was cooking…. Well lots of cooking, but the only things I have pictures left of or even bothered to take are my crappy donut balls, my awesome french bread, and one of my staple foods, PBR and Pierogies. The donut balls were done on a whim, and I wanted to try something with baking powder instead of yeast. As a result, I was not impressed at all and next time I will be sure to do those with yeast. Now my French Bread was really nice, the best I’ve done yet. Next time, I’m going to add some I-Tai herbs though, cause I’m crazy like that. The last pic is just for me, mmmm.

My Dounut balls kinda sucked

My best French bread yet.

PBR and Pierogies with peppers and onions.

Most recently, there was Father’s Day thrown in the mix there. We had a bbq over at Dave’s and had a good time. I got to spend a few minutes relaxing in the hammock sipping a DFH Midas Touch, which is still one of my favorite beers.

Just chillin in the Hammock, drinking a Dogfish Head

Currently I’m in the midst of planning our annual fishing trip (LMK if you wanna go!) and getting my “term plan” set for my year as WM, pending my election of course.  While I’m thinking of planning, what really gets me is the way no one likes to make a reservation early.  I must admit, it adds a whole new level of complexity to planning large events… Anyhow, that is more than enough for now.