Greater Satellites

Well, this is a long time coming, but I figure it’s better late than never. First and foremost, I’d like to extend the deepest thanks to my lady, Jackie, for being my designated driver and putting up with my completely-sloshed ass on the way home and well into the following day. Definitely wouldn’t had such a great time without you there!

Whiskey Tango was the place and the time was around 9PM when I did my first shot (a Jolly Rancher) with Jackie and Denise, followed very shortly thereafter by a Vodka Cranberry. I was pretty determined to stick to clear liquors all night, but those false hopes were disbanded when I switched over to Long Island Iced Teas. I guess it’s better to stick to what I remember and that is the following:

• My first shot with D and Jackie
• The ensuing Vodka Cranberry
• Jon’s Long Island Iced Tea For me
• Playing some pool with the fellas
• Catching up with everyone, mingling as best I could
• Jager Bomb #1
• Long Island Iced Tea #2
• Jager Bomb #2
• …..

So yeah, this marks the first time I’ve ever drank so much that I blacked certain parts of my night out. Not exactly responsible behavior, but I had a good time and I’ve pretty sure everyone did as well. It was great getting back out with all the friends in the context of a large group. Due to schedules and generally just “growing up”, I think it happens a little less than I’d like, but if we did it once, we can certainly do it again. Midnight summer BBQs anyone?Thanks to all that came out and even to those who tried but couldn’t come out. Who said 23 is just another year?

[12:00] Jackie:“U.S. taxpayers would get checks of several hundred dollars from the government under a plan to stimulate the economy, sources said today. Sources on Capitol Hill and at the Treasury Department said negotiators agreed to cut checks for $600 per individual and $1,200 per couple.”
[12:00] Me: so… $600 per individual regardless
[12:01] Jackie: yea
[12:01] Jackie: lol
[12:01] Me: when do i get my check?
[12:02] Jackie: lol im about to read about this
[12:02] Jackie: that would stimulate my savings
[12:02] Me: that would stimulate my PS3 game collection
[12:02] Jackie: lol
[12:02] Jackie: ill stimulate you
[12:03] Me: i’ll stimulate you at the same time
[12:03] Me: stimutaneously, if you will

Check out her awesome blog, by the way, at http://her-new-obsession.com

Yesterday was the 14-month anniversary of Jackie and I. Some people think it’s silly to celebrate anything short of 6-month or year anniversaries; I am not one of those people. It’s the little things that make all the difference in the world.

For our special day, I opted to get us tickets to see Rain: The Beatles Experience at the majestic Academy of Music. For those of you who may not have known, The Beatles just so happen to be one of Jackie’s all-time favorite bands (right up there with MIMS and The Shop Boys… kidding). I don’t profess to be a Beatles expert; I think I’ve heard a majority of their catalog, mostly the later, trippy-er stuff. I like everything I’ve heard and concede that they were an extremely talented group. Let’s level for a minute: most cover bands suck. It’s a fact. Rain, however, definitely does not suck.

The first part of their set was the Ed Sullivan show era. I think everyone and their mother (probably their father, too) has seen at least a snippet of video from that famous set. The band came out in the same exact getups The Fab Four donned way back in the day (black suits, white shirts, black ties). They played video of original audience reactions on screens that flanked both sides of the stage and the effect was really engrossing. The played all of the bubblegum pop that they were known for in their early days and the audience (way back in the day and last night) ate it up. This part of the show was really neat and a great homage to the early days of the Beatles.

From there, it seemed to me that they went chronologically thru the rest of their career. I think the first song they played coming back from a very short (~5 min) intermission was A Hard Days Night. They nailed most of the tracks and then played some Sgt. Pepper era music. I think that’s probably my favorite Beatles sound. I guess it’s my inner hippie calling out. Jackie was smiling the whole time and singing along to just about every song they belted out, they even took a request halfway through the show from some guy who yelled it out in between songs.

There were two encores at the end of the show. The first one was a truly excellent version of Imagine followed immediately by Let It Be (probably one of the best songs every written). Then they followed that one up with Hey Jude and the place erupted into song at the “naaaaaa naaaaaa, nanana na” part towards the end. As they came out to take their bows, they were received with a standing ovation. They completely deserved it.

Jackie had a great time and so did I. So much so that I think I’m going to have to expand my Beatles audio collection (which currently consists solely of The White Album). We had a lot of fun afterwards in the parking lot waiting to get out with the droves of other people who attended the show, and hanging out afterwards at my house.

Happy 14, babe. I love you.

Hey Gang! (crips, not bloods…)

Let’s allow the Crypt to be the super mega awesome nickname for my bedroom… Just a few random tid bits of news since I’m in the midst of designing what will hopefully be the new Greater Satellites home page. Now I know what you’re thinking:

“Andrew, isn’t there already a Greater Satellites home page design?”

To which I retort:

“Yes, there is. But in the spirit of paradigm-shifting, I will be creating a design that caters a little more to me and a little less to what I think people would like to see. It’s really that simple.”

There’s a new addition to the Gormley family, an as-of-yet unnamed kitten. I will upload a picture of this cute little fucker so you can all enjoy him as we do.

As some of you may know, yesterday was the six month anniversary of Ms. Jacqueline Sauer and I. I know, I know… it’s probably a bit gushy and over-the-top to make a huge deal out of it, but I’m going to anyway because I love her like whoa.

There will probably be many, many, many parentheticals contained herein:

We kept it low-key, since it was a Tuesday. If it was, say Friday, then we would’ve gone all out balls-to-the-wall happy fun time extravaganza. But, I reiterate, it was a Tuesday, so we tentatively planned to go see Spiderman 3 at Neshaminy and get some ice cream from Coldstone (the ice cream idea came first, for the record). On the drive up to Neshaminy, I was yawning up a storm (not that I wasn’t excited, I was just tired) and moments before we left Jackie had just waken up from a 2 hour nap. Suffice it to say we were a ton of fun to be around… for a Tuesday. We ended up not seeing a movie but instead just going back to my house, talking and laughing with D-bag, and ended up with her coercing me into staying over her house so we could sleep a little later today (on account of my driving her downtown for Jury Duty).

I have some fun things planned and for this weekend and I hope we get to do them all. That’s all for this post.

This will be my first blog post in quite a while, almost 2 months actually. So much for keeping this thing up-to-date with bleeding edge news about me and my life. Where to begin? I suppose I can work backwards from today as far as I can remember…

Yesterday was the four month anniversary of Jackie and I being the most bangin’ couple I know. She’s the Eve to my Adam, the Lucy to my Desi, the Juliet to my Romeo. Dare I say: the Lois to my Clark? I’ve never been happier and I attribute a large portion of that to her. That’s not to say she’s my crutch, it’s just me saying that I love her without trying and enjoy every new moment with her more than the last. Am I gushing? I guess I should stop…

A few days back, I was informed by a certain someone that MySpace (bleck!) is hosting a short film contest and all entries must be in on by March 23rd. I decided to really give this thing a shot and wrote up a script that’s (unfortunately) still a work in progress. I’d like to have it wrapped up by this evening and shoot it over the weekend, use next week for editing and other post production work, and then upload it to MySpace and hope for the best. The working title is, simply, 5 or Five. It has just one main character, the up-and-coming starlet Jaqueline Sauer. I’m sure regardless of what happens in the contest, it will eventually make it’s way onto this site and my YouTube as well.

As a brief aside, delete your MySpace account and sign up at VIRB. It’s the greatest social networking tool since the two-cans-connected-via-a-string.

I purchased a brand spankin 24″ iMac about two weeks ago along with some other neat stuff: an Airport Extreme, a set of M-Audio Studio Monitors (speakers), and a spiffy new desk. My workflow has been greatly improved and although I haven’t had too much of a chance to really get deep into editing or web design recently, both of those tasks are on my plate for the coming weeks.

Last Tuesday marked the end of my three month probation period at work. I was fairly confident that I would be asked to stay on and my premonition was spot on. I received my full health benefits (still in the works, actually), a 15% raise, and brand new equipment. That equipment being a new Core 2 Duo machine and three 19″ monitors. Score!

A great lady, a brand new computer (both at home and work), a fantastic new wage, and an all-around readiness to create something great. Life is on the rise with no signs of slowing.