Want to Hear About My Cat?!

I knew it! I have never had a pet (you know, fish don't really count), so this is a pretty wacky thing for my wife and I. Boomer is great, and I am really glad we have him... I am contemplating whether we should shave him or not? Mr. Boomersworth? No, maybe? Seriously, there is yellow cat hair everywhere! We need a new vacuum, the Furminator, and possibly a new cleaning service that actually likes cleaning stuff!!! It's also funny that our cat act like a dog. Rather than being aloof, the cat runs up to you as soon as you walk in the door. He likes to snuggle up to you while you are on the couch or in bed. He likes to play all of the time. He even whines like crazy when you close him out of a room. We try to keep him out of the bedroom, per the whole cat hair thing. He does fart alot and leaves pretty big stinky poops though, just like me! One more bonus... the mice situation (knock on wood) has quieted. Of course, that could have something to do w/ my bashing the last mouse w/ the frying pan, but I'll give Boomer the benefit of the doubt! So I am giving the Boomaster General an initial 2 thumbs up!

Ever Have One of Those Days?

Seriously... one of those days where you are at least slightly irritated by everyone? I started off with a bad dream this morning (not going into details), then got annoyed by the smallest detail of my lady taking too long to hit the snooze button, then my cat wouldn't stop meowing at the door, then I read the story about massive layoffs at the local IBM plant which will f*ck up the Burlington area, then I got annoyed w/ some traders who were not working w/me, then I was annoyed at the technical vs fundamental trade in commercial real estate, then I had to do some paper work (annoying), which made me have to scan my retirement accounts (no milk and honey there I can assure you), then I had another work thing that made me want to pull both of my remaining hairs out... and it's snowing outside so the yayos will be out in force on the roads of VT!!!! AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

Ok, I feel much better now. How about all of those damn fat cats at Citigroup and their private jets! They need taxpayer money so they do not have to go through security like the rest of us? get ready to take your Gucci loafers off and put your fancy cologne in a 6"*6" plastic bag chumps!

Got my Super Bowl Squares today... based on my recent luck I think it is pretty safe to bet your house (now valued at $12), and your kids that the half time score will be 23-10 Steelers, and the final score will be... drumroll please... 45-34 Cardinals (yup, big second half!).

By the way, think Jessica Simpson has Guido out looking for Han Solo? Get it? Yeah, that's right, I jumped on the bandwagon...she looks large and in charge!

Hold on Chief...

Apparently my lady told me I strayed a little off the reservation w/ that last post. Sorry about that, it was just an attempt to highlight the capitalistic hypocrisy in U.S.A.. Guess it sounded more like Jaybird just went one scotch too deep and took it out on the interweb! Anywho... couple tidbits from the weekend. Saturday night was date night for the Birds. We went to see a movie and then were able to stay up and go to a late dinner! We went to see Slumdog Millionaire. We both really liked it. I had ignored the hype and not read a thing about it which I think was a big plus. It was a nice little movie that was pretty well acted, well crafted, well shot, and had an interesting story. 2 thumbs up. We then just did up an old standard L'Amante. They have really hit their stride. We ate at the bar and the service was good, the owners were friendly, the food was great and the drinks were well done. It is expensive but I would say worth it. Oh I forgot, Friday we got Get Smart from Netflix. There is a reason I forgot. Boring. Steve Carrell, it is a little early in your career to be mailing in roles. 1 thumb up my ass, it was a waste of time.

Sunday we did a little cross country skiing over at Shelburne Farms. The snow was not good and it was a little cold and windy but the location is pretty spectacular. We found ourselves in a wide field all by our lonesomes. We skied up over one hill and had an amazing view of Lake Champlain and a few spectacular homes dotting the shoreline. We then went through the well maintained woods, past a syrup line system and back across a field in front of the old Vanderbilt farm (castle). 2 huge thumbs up if you have the inclination to check it out. We finished the night w/ a very nice dinner w/ LB Squared who made a lovely beef stroganof over gnocchi, as well as DG and KB+. Good company and good fun. A little Rock Band and this oddly addictive bridge building puzzle game GOO something were also in the mix. OK, I'm off to feed Boomer, and become a human cat hair magnet.

Jay About Wall Street

So everybody is mad at John Thain (former Merrill Lynch CEO) because in 1 yr he took out a huge salary even though he helped blow up the company and now news is coming out that he spend something like $1.2mm to furnish his office. He also spent 230K for a personal driver. Expensive rugs, a $35K commode, sconces, credenzas... the whole shebang. Here is the thing, I am kind of pissed too. Am I really mad because I think John Thain wronged me in some way though or am I just jealous... a playa hata if you will? Seriously, doesn't everyone have some type of fantasy about being super rich and flying in private jets, driving fancy cars, eating a the posh restaurants? I know some hippies are against that kind of thing but not me... I want to make a bucket of cash (a big bucket). So whatever, if what he was doing was such an offensive crime, wouldn't co-workers, the board of directors, the janitor, say "Hey Thain, what the f*ck?!". But nobody did, they just all tried to get a piece of the action. On a side note, why are super expensive boat and plane interiors so ugly? Is it a joke rich people are in on? "Yeah, the really ostentatious gold looks good. That unbelievably ugly paisley pattern? Put in on everything... yeah, I want the carpet to look like a Skittles diarrhea explosion! Perfect..."

Me? I am going to my not super posh house to hope that my big head cat eats some of the mice invading my keep. I do have a great wife and not too much debt though... and cable. See, money does not buy happiness, just really cool shit that could potentially make you happy!

The Birds Have Caught a Pussy!

Sorry for the lack of posts or anything interesting this week... been really busy w/ bullshit work stuff. Pretty big deal w/ Obama-mania taking over the White House. He is really quite a dynamic speaker. Hope there is some cattle to go along w/ the big hat! Caught a few minutes of Hannity on FoxNews talking about the economy, new administration, etc... w/ Mitt Romney. Hey, sound like a sore loser much?! Conservatives are the ones who had free reign over the last 8 years and really f*cked up. Don't cry about it now, get your hands dirty and try to fix it. Lost a ton of respect for Romney during the interview... never had any for Hannity to begin with.

The new season of 24... kind of like pizza in VT. You have had better, much better... but hey, it's still pizza and is better than kale soup, aka Survivor, Boring No Clothes or Brains Island.

The big news at the Bird household? We got a cat. Our situation w/ the mice really came to a head when my wife almost touched one... in our DISHWASHER!!!! She then almost grabbed one in the sink, at which point I had to bash its brains out w/ a frying pan. That was not fun. Sure, the crazy phone calls from my special lady were amusing, but it was getting a little ridiculous when the mouse started begging for scraps at the dinner table. So yesterday, we picked up our new defender... BOOMER! Yup, that's his name, pretty cool right? He is 2yrs old and 13 pounds. Big Cat. He is also very cuddly and very friendly (though a bit shy). How much hair is already in our house? Certainly more than I have had on my head in years. So there you go! Yup, the Birds have their own Fat Cat... just like Wall Street!

Don't You Know I'm Boloco?!

I'll give credit where credit is due... not only did I receive my free burritos @ Boloco for being an unsatisfied customer, the burrito I had yesterday was much better. I'd still like to see a little more in the way of fresh veggies but the burrito was larger, tasted better, and they fixed the clumpy rice problem. See I'll admit when I am wrong... except to my wife or my folks. Those mistakes I will carry to the grave!

Jay-maica Me Crazy!!!!

Let me stand aside and welcome my first guest blogger...

"Long time reader, first time contributor Mrs. Bird here, back from a week in Jamaica and Miami with Jay About Town, looking 'tan' and feeling rested. Pretty psyched that it was zero degrees this morning in Vermont and looking forward to the predicted high of -2 on Thursday! As promised some commentary about our Jamaican adventures...

First, major props to J-bird for driving us around in the white Suzuki jeep...driving in Jamaica is definitely among the scariest vehicular experiences ever...think: roads three feet wide, stray goats everywhere, kids playing roadside, super aggressive drivers, no signs, on the right side of the car and left side of the road. Terrifying. Second, Red Stripe Light may indeed be superior to regular Red Stripe. Though it doesn't come in the cool brown bottle, it tastes less, well, muddy.

Jake's: This place is amazing. Seriously, it's pretty much perfect. After a two hours of white knuckled terror driving out of Montego Bay through the jungle, over a mountain, avoiding goats, children and men with machine guns, we arrived at Treasure Beach on the South Coast of the island...the hotel sits perched on a cliff with stone steps leading directly into the ocean where you can swim, snorkel or float on the gentle waves. Four nights of delicious food, grilled Caribbean lobster, conch soup and the most delicious coconut bread pudding...the almond orange cake was also fantastic but if I could eat the bread pudding every day going forward, I would certainly consider it. I love Jakes. Two enthusiastic thumbs up with a footnote about the 40 mosquito bites I got and a plea to add more fresh fruit based cocktails to the bar menu.

Catalina Hotel: One thumb down for poor functionality. Where I am supposed to hang my wet towels? On the white leather (pleather?) chair? Get some hooks! Why can't I charge to my room at the coffee bar? Why don't you have any lids for the the to go cups? Do all of your irons leak water all over my clothes or just the one in my room and the one that housekeeping brought me when I complained? One thumb up for great location and pretty groovy decor. Not as unbelievably fabulous as the Delano across the street, where the lobby and pool look something like hotel heaven on earth..."

Thank you Mrs. Bird, that was fabulous. Driving was fun, I think I hit a kid w/ my rearview mirror and splashed 2 women in their Sunday best in Montego Bay. That was fun, the girls were pissed, the kid not so much? I also enjoyed the Appleton Rum Estate. Nice rum, very good tour, clean, tons of free booze! Lots of greenery in Jamaica. Who could possibly pass up psychedelic mushrooms from a strange looking Rasta on a bike also selling wooden turtles, I mean, they have to be on the up and up right?! The Catalina in in Miami by the way, Jakes is in Jamaica. We also stayed at a Hilton for a night in Montego Bay. It was clean, large, and had a water park. It also featured a large selection of ultra fat people at the pool! Yay for all-inclusives!!!! Jamaica, a little scary but still pretty great!

Back in the Mix!

So I will write up an extended post about my vacation later this week, possibly w/ the help of my special lady (she has a better grasp on many details of the week). For now I thought I might make a few comments on being back in VT. It is f*ing cold here. There is no 2 ways about it, what a crappy way to get back into the work week w/ temps in the teens and below!!! Of course if I wanted to move to Miami where I was this weekend, I would need calf implants, a fake tan, a fake 20 year old girlfriend w/ fake boobs, and a condo worth $500K less than what I paid for it last year. So I think I will pass! Although the 20 yr old... no I will pass. New season of 24 started last night. It's pretty good even when it is pretty bad. They brought a dead guy back. That is a little like a soap opera and spells certain doom for the series. Golden Globes? Man, there were a bunch of boozers. Go Mickey Rourke!! I liked the Spielberg speech. Also liked J-Lo's back fat! Colin Ferrel, or however you spell it...shut the f*ck up you knob! Most of the audience had a really weird orange tint? Kate Winslet looked good though. Had a pizza from La Villa last night... it was quite good! Ok, I need to go.