[update - month: unknown, date: unknown]
we've been working 12+ hour days for the last 21 days straight... including weekends and holidays . and this was a successful go-live! i seriously don't know what day or day of the week it is anymore. at first we were supposed to work this weekend too, but we finally caught a break (for today anyways... we're working tomorrow, though). nice day out... probably going to go hiking in NH w/ co-workers today... i love accenture!

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it's official (sort of) ! after 19 months on my current project, i finally have a roll-off date! i never thought this day would come... thought i was a lifer. can't believe i've been in boston for 1.5+ yrs already, but as it turns out, it looks like i'll be here through the end of this year, if not longer, if this next project sells. kinda dissappointed that i'm still stuck up here... wanted to get out of boston and go work in another city... somewhere warmer ... and that accent is straight killing me!

i'm starving... i have a physical at 11AM today and was told that i'm not allowed to eat anything since last night... gonna have to stuff my face afterwards.

Currently Listening 10,000 Days By Tool see related

another random weekend adventure - lions head, ontario, canada

i found my summer adrenaline addiction.

i've been indoor rockclimbing on and off for the last couple of years but i finally got the chance to do some REAL outdoor climbing... went up to lions head a couple hours north of toronto with my co-worker carole and her climbing friends and all i gotta say is that shit is awesome ! no climbing gym in the world can compare to hanging out on a rock wall, 120 feet off the ground. and the view was incredible... definitely a great way to escape from all the stresses of working life. i hate to admit it but canada's pretty decent .

now all i need is a climbing buddy so i can keep doing this on the regular... anyone else wanna get into climbing? it's cheaper than snowboarding...

april vacation #2 - waikiki beach, hawaii

while everyone else was up at psu for blue&white / awakenings weekend (which i really did want to go to), i spent the last couple of days in sunny hawaii for a little family reunion for my grandparents' (mom's side) 60th wedding anniversary. shit... if i got married today, i'd be 86 on my 60th, but seeing that marriage doesn't seem likely anytime soon, i doubt i'd ever hit it... but then again, i heard on the today show the other day that kids born these days may easily live to 100+ due to modern medicine...

day 1: waaay too many hours on a plane, but well worth it.
after 12 hours of flying with a connection in dallas, we finally make it to hawaii! met up with the relatives, all of whom are from japan and haven't seen in 2+ years, soaked in the view from our room on the 14th floor (which is really the 13th...), and headed out to dinner to officially celebrate my grandparent's anniversary.

i thought it was a bit odd but we presented our grandparents a plaque commemorating their anniversary. food was awesome... i finally got the courage to try escargot (which didn't really taste like anything but the curry sauce), raw oysters (which also didn't taste like anything but the coctail sauce), and turtle (which coulda been chicken for all i knew). the waiter was quick to point out that we were eating farmed turtle meat, not sea turtles since they're protected by law... i also saw my first ocean sunset

day 2: surfing and snorkeling (what people should do when visiting hawaii) / visiting space telescopes and volcanoes (which is cool, too, but not as fun as surfing or snorkeling).
my brother, cousin nori, and i went surfing in the morning and snorkeling in the afternoon while my dad, uncles, aunt, and another cousin yasu went to the big island of hawaii to tour the some of the best space telescopes in the world and a volcano (dormant).

unfortunately, the one pic of my cousin on the beach is the only time he was actually able to stand on the surf board so there weren't any pics of him in the water, while my brother figured out a way to fly off a surfboard in the seated position... we saw a wild turkey on the way to snorkeling as well.

the space telescopes are at the top of the highest peak on hawaii, which is 13,000+ ft above sea-level... way above the clouds. why anyone would want to go someplace cold when they're in hawaii is beyond me ... the volcano is dormant but you can still see some steam coming out of the cracks. my cousin yasu felt at home eating some instant ramen noodles for lunch...

we went out to dinner again and celebrated the engagement / birthday of my cousin yasu... my brother played happy birthday to him on the ukulele my uncle bought... how sweet...

day 3: beach / uss arizona memorial / pali lookout point
the last full day in hawaii, we spent the morning lounging (and burning) on the beach, then went to the uss arizona memorial (which was an odd experience considering we're japanese / japanese-american) in the afternoon, and drove to pali lookout point.

there's a lot of memorials in hawaii regarding japanese-americans that served for the us during wwii... i'm not sure what i would have done if i lived back in the 40's... i know i would have wanted to serve my country (usa) but fighting my own people (more specifically my relatives) would have been a huge struggle...

day 4: departure...
and quickly april vacation #2 came to an end... awaiting ahead of me a 13+ hour flight w/ a layover in lax and dallas... flying red-eye is one thing, but flying red-eye w/ 2 layovers is a whole new level of shittiness. i need a vacation from all this travelling

Currently Listening King (W/Dvd) By T.I. What You Know see related

april vacation #1 - vail, colorado

man i needed this break bad... been workin 14+ hour days for the last few weeks. but hey, there is light at the end of the tunnel... i found out that i finally roll-off this project at the end of june! i wonder where i'm off to next... somewhere warmer, i hope.

days 1 and 2: sunny, highs in the low 40's.
the back bowls of vail are HUGE! it's a mile from edge to edge (not top to bottom)! and there are 7 bowls... that's 7 miles of back country riding! the last pic should give you an idea how large the bowls are... see those little specs on the snow... those are skiers / snowboarders!

day 3: snowmobiling
the pictures speak for themselves... we rode up to 11,000 feet! and yes... we got stuck a couple of times... simon even managed to flip his over completely! unfortunately we didn't take a pic of that...

days 4 and 5: snow... in april!
riding in fresh powder is like nothing you'd ever experience on the east coast! it litterally feels like you're gliding on the snow... and it's so quiet! you don't hear any of that grinding sound when you ride on that fake snow crap. i imagine this is what surfing feels like...

lost in paradise...

and now back to reality... but not for too long. april vacation #2 is only 2 weeks away!

Currently Listening Live At Stubbs By Matisyahu King Without A Crown see related

type III coronoid fracture - surgery highly recommended...

[ update 02.08 ]
dude... i'm all disproportionate ... my right arm is shrivelling away! and it's only been 2 weeks! i hope it isn't all skin and bones by the time the i can start pt in another couple of weeks... yea i know this post is worthless without pics but i didn't want to be that guy that puts pics of his biceps on his xanga...

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[ update 02.06 ]
phew.... no surgery ! the doctor i saw today confirmed that it isn't necessary. it should heal up on its own over the next few weeks, but i'll still need physical therapy to get the full range of motion back in my arm. no sweat. now the tough part... to supress the dying desire to hit the slopes again (though the weather has really sucked this season)! feel free to slap me upside the head, or better yet, punch me in my fractured arm if i start saying...  trust me, i'll be ok as long as i don't fall!

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what the hell did i do to myself ... my arm was feeling pretty good until my follow-up visit today when the doc broke the news to me. since then my arm's been hurting like hell. it's all mental i tell you.

so i did a lil research regarding the fracture i have... it's not looking too hot:

"Type 3 fractures should be treated with open reduction and internal fixation. If the fracture is severely comminuted, the fragments can be stabilized with sutures. The arm is then placed in a distraction device and early range of motion instituted."
- translation: i need to cut you open, put some screws and plates in, then put your arm in a torture device

"Complications: Heterotropic bone formation is seen in 80% of type 3 injuries"
- translation: fuck

i reaaalllly don't want to have surgery... i've been bummed all day . i've never broken a bone in my life and the first time i do, i need surgery... not a simple cast, but surgery w/ screws and plates. just my luck. gonna head back to jerz this weekend and get a second opinion from this other orthopedic surgeon i've gone to back in high school for sports injuries. hopefully he'll have some better news for me... wanna avoid having to learn to be a lefty and all that rehab at all costs... though i am getting pretty good at brushing my teeth with my left hand . guess this means that i can't go snowboarding next weekend at sunday river, to the poconos at the end of the month, or VAIL!!!

what's really frustrating is that, i now have this dying need to go back to mt. snow to conquer that jump! i can't let it defeat me! i guess it's good that i still have that competitive juice in me, but then again, isn't that what got me into this situation in the first place?...