The line to get our bags checked and boarding passes was ridiculous. Nearly 2 hours of waiting, inching forward with out bags. I don’t deal well with being talked to in an idle situation like that – I’d prefer to zone out and get my mind settled. But it never fails, no matter who I travel with someone always has to be that person. Maybe it’s how they deal with nervousness, but the asshole in me always wants to snap. I kept my cool by calling se friends. None of the conversations had much to do with my trip. Chris talked about women (typical), Ben went to voicemail, as did Jake. Theresa… Well her and I have some things to address. It just made me feel good to hear her voice again.

When I finally got to the counter, I was informed that my bag was too heavy to be checked – by 4 lbs. Apparently flights to the DR have a hard weight limit. Why does it matter if the 4 lbs. ends up in my carry-on or someone else’s bag? Weight on the plane is still weight on the plane, right? Luckily 2 pairs of boots weigh 5 lbs. so I took out the first two pairs I grabbed and tossed them on the floor. Then came the fun part of trying to wedge a pair into my already too full bags. Managed, somehow. Luckily Zac had room for a pair too.

We had 20 minutes to get through security and to out gate. Joy.

Rushed through security, (always a blast) and arrived at our gate with 9 minutes until takeoff. Of course that 9 minute wait turned into a half hour plus mess as the staff desperately tried to get some semblance of organization with the mostly Spanish-speaking crowd.

Lucked out and got moved to the exit row – get this: because I speak English. Crazy to see that work in my favor for once. Had to cram my bags in thr overhead and under my seat. Hoping nothing broke, but i just needed to sit after standing mostly still carrying all that weight for 2+ hours.

Seat next to me is empty, but sitting next to the window is James. He’s flying into the DR and traveling to Haiti just like us, working for an organization that provides medical relief. I guess he works for the world’s largest non-profit organ donor agency, and he works primarily in the OR. I was too embarassed to ask if that makes him a surgeon or not, but I gather that he’s more an assistant of some sort. He’s living in Boston and will also be there for a week. It was cool meeting someone as crazy as Zac, Jeff, and I – flying into God knows what, where we’ll probably see some of the most horrifying things we’ve ever seen. Some Spring Break!

It was calming to watch Futurama most of the way down here, but it looks like we lost the Comedy Central DirecTV feed now. Lame. That show always makes me think of Maria now, so that brought a big smile to my face. Now I’m stuck listening to my iPod. Not a bad thing really, I was just hoping to conserve that battery life for the 7-hour ride coming up.

We’ve got another 2 hours or so of travel time before we land, so I guess I’ll be posting this from the ground.

P.S. Thank you, Theresa. If you read this, I love you.

After a quick call home, he waved me off my cell phone to tell us that he would take us all the way to Port Au Prince in 4-5 hours for $300 total. Not much more than the $250 the 7 hour bus ride would’ve been. So I yelled, “Yo, home to Bel Aire!”

Wish it wasn’t still dark out, as I’d love to take some photos of the DR. It’s very beautiful here, and much like Jamaica, traffic laws are more of a guideline. Should be an interesting ride!

Met up with Zac and Jeff.

Jeff seems like a nice kid. I can hear the nervousness in his voice, but that’s to be expected. It’s not every day that you pack up your shit, get on a plane, and fly into a disaster. I’m playing non-chalant right now like Adam would be. Pretending is the only way I keep my head on straight, but inside I know that landing in the Dominican is going to bring on the panic and anxiety in my head. Just hope I can hold it together on the outside.

It’s supposed to be 95 with scattered thunderstorms throught the course of our stay. Not the best conditions, unfortunately, but I hope there will be at least some sun so I can take some decent photos!

I’m going to miss home, but I’m going somewhere with purpose: to not live my life as a completely selfish person for once, and to help others. I hope I can make my friends and family proud of me.

I’ve been on a real Beatles kick lately. Their box set of re-mastered CDs came out alongside Rock Band: The Beatles, so I’ve been playing a lot of their music for the past couple weeks. Started working on two John Lennon cover tunes, “She Said She Said” and “Real Love”. Hopefully I can record some decent versions of those in the future to post on here.

Started throwing around some ideas with Zac, and we’re going into a little side business of developing sites. My long-term goal is to eventually be busy enough between playerFIVE and all the side work that I can do that full-time. That’s a long ways off though, I’m sure. Still, I’m very excited about what we’re working towards. Zac has been learning the ins and outs of Drupal while I continue to refine my Wordpress skills. I think between those two development platforms we should be able to take care of most of our potential clients.

Work has been busy off and on. Today is an off day, whereas Friday was VERY “on”. Mondays are normally busier than this, but I’m okay with the silence as it gives me a little extra time to clear my head. I’ve been learning Unix command line/scripting stuff for my work with OSX, as well as really dissecting and reading up on Blackberry Enterprise Server. I do most of the Blackberry support for my team, so the more I can learn about it, the better!

Other than that, I’ve just been picking out stuff for the apartment and trying to make sure that things get done right, which alone is a full-time job. Making sure the work gets done on time; picking out colors, floors, cabinets, countertops, furniture, etc… it’s consuming me and I’ll be glad when it’s done!

And that’s about all I’ve been up to the past month. I feel like I’ve started already slacking off on my duties as a blogger to keep this thing updated, so I’m going to do my best to correct that even if it’s stream of conscious garbage like this. So, until next time…

I’m currently working concurrently on re-launching this site as well as my gaming blog over at playerFIVE.com. I currently have the designs solidified on both fronts, but am still fleshing out functionality and content. The goal is to get this site up and running ASAP, and then have playerFIVE back up by November 1st. This will include a brand-new podcast, and a bunch of new content – so I’m pretty excited about that.

I recently recorded 2 songs with my good friend, and fellow musician/Best Buyer, Joel Morse. We’re in the process of engineering the two tracks, but I’ve let a few people hear one of them and the response has been positive! Its been a long time since I’ve even semi-professionally recorded any music, so it was an amazing experience and I’m thrilled to have done that and look forward to doing more! When the tracks are a little more finished I will be posting them here for your listening displeasure.

I’ve had a lot going on lately, but I can detail all the awesomeness some other time. This summer has been both incredible and extremely boring – but its not all bad. I was able to attend back-to-back Dave Matthews Band shows at Fenway Park which was a lot of fun. I also went back to Fenway three months later for Paul McCartney – possibly the most amazing show I’ve EVER seen.

As Fall approaches, it’s starting to look like the end of this year could be something special. The next few months are chock full of big events for me!

In October (hopefully) I will be moving out of my house and into an apartment above my parents garage with my best friend, Chris. I know a lot of people have asked me why the hell I would want to do that, but it’s actually going to be a great thing for me. See, I love the area I live in and am not ready to up and leave quite yet. On top of that, I feel obligated to stick around for a few more years until my little brother is old enough to help take care of our mom (who lost her eyesight when I was 16). He’s only 13, so if I can stick around for a few more years and give him time to get his license and mature a bit I know that would be a huge help to my family. On top of that, I’ve designed the apartment and it’s going to have a pretty sweet layout. I have a soundproof studio/office room being built, and the rent is going to be super cheap… so it seems like a no-brainer for me!

On October 3rd I’m going to my cousin Tim’s wedding. I’m pretty excited about this, as much as I hate weddings. Sadly, I still don’t have a date for this yet – hoping I don’t have to go stag!

On October 23rd I’ll be seeing David Gray in concert. I’m still looking for someone to take to this as well!

As mentioned before, on November 1st I’ll be re-launching my site at playerFIVE.com. I’m really excited about this, and with some help from Chris we’re going to get this thing going! The current short-term plan is to fill it up with content and podcasts in anticipation for PAX 2010 which we will be attending in Boston early next year… as members of the press. Chris and I have also been throwing around ideas for a small game development project that was his brainchild and I’m really excited about that as well. Hopefully I’ll have info out about that early next year.

Then finally, on November 14th I’m planning a little birthday extravaganza. Mike Doughty – one of my favorite artists – is playing VERY locally at The Stone Church in Newmarket, NH. So I’ll be going to that show with some friends, and hopefully going out for drinks in downtown Portsmouth afterwards! I haven’t ever really had a big birthday celebration with all of my friends, so I think its about time!

So while Summer might not have been the most eventful this year, Fall is shaping up to be pretty special. Here’s to hoping…

That’s all for now. Working at the Geek Squad tomorrow morning for my typical one-shift a week so I need my beauty sleep!