Joe and Jamie’s Blog

Today I had a chance to go down to the registrar at the college and finally fill out my graduation paperwork. I don’t really know why I slacked off last semester and didn’t do it then, but here I am now and its filled out.

What does this mean? It means I can officially call myself a college graduate. I worked hard over these past four years going to school and work, more than one job during most of it too. I earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in Computer Information Systems and an Associate of Science degree in Information Management. While I was at it, I earned a certificate in Web Administration too.

I have three other certificates I am working on. All I need is one class waivered per certificate and I will have all three to add to my list. They would be in Computer Networking, Computer Software Support, and Business Programming.  I know my professor will waive these classes for me, I have taken almost every class in his department (not kidding). Also it’s not really my fault that the courses I am missing haven’t run in over five years. I hope I can meet with him soon to go over things and don’t have to wait until August to see him again.

I am off to do a little celebrating, very minor scale. Today was a really good day. Nice and sunny with a feeling of accomplishment in the air.

I was rummaging through old posts and realized that around this time last year Jamie and I both stopped smoking.

Well we both have made it one full year with no slips. We went completely cold turkey and are still smoke free. I must say it feels good to stick to something this beneficial. It also helps looking at today’s cigarette prices, glad I’m not paying near $8 a pack.

Here’s a link to our post from day zero of no smoking. Congratulations to us!

Jamie and I chose our vacation location early this year, due to the fact that we are traveling by plane. I don’t know why I started to look here, but it’s a spot you just can’t go wrong with.

We chose to go to Miami Beach this year. Ah yes, I cannot wait to be there. If only July can come sooner. I booked the hotel and the flight together on Hotels.com last night, got a great deal. Just for booking both we got $250 off the whole order, and two of the nights were free at the hotel. Our second choice was Ocean City, Maryland, but that was more expensive than Miami, even with us driving versus flying.

We are staying at the Fontainebleau Resort. From what I have been hearing it’s a pretty snazzy place. When it comes to hotels I go for location, not really amenities. I could care less if was a shack with a leaky roof, as long as it was right there on the beautiful beach. Who actually spends enough time in the hotel to care anyway right? Hey it’s not Poughkeepsie, its warm and on the beach, the rest is just extra really. When choosing this hotel, I did notice it was rated four and a half stars, so I think we are in for a big treat. There are four actual hotels that make up the place, including a bunch of restaurants, a spa, pools, and of course the beach for the backyard. Here is a blurb on what they offer right from their website:

Following a $1 billion renovation and expansion, Fontainebleau is a spectacular blend of Miami’s glamorous golden era and stylish modern luxury – 1,504 rooms and suites, 22 oceanfront acres, 11 restaurants and nightclubs including three signature name chef restaurants, 40,000-square-foot spa, and a sophisticated poolscape with private cabanas.

I was able to snag some birdseye photos of the hotel, courtesy of Microsoft Virtual Earth. Now one of the hotels isn’t shown yet on the map, it was still under construction the last time the satellite took a picture. It is completed now, you can see it if you watch their video on their website. Check it out.

This past weekend Jamie and I went to one of her co-worker’s annual Christmas tree burning party out in Pawling. Annette and her husband Joe threw the party at their house with a bunch of their friends and neighbors. The party has become an annual ritual around this time since they moved into their home. This was the first time Jamie and I attended such an event, but it turned out to be very fun. I mean how can you go wrong with beer and fire?

I will say that it is absolutely amazing how fast the trees go up. It takes only about 30 seconds for all the branches to burn to ash. The heat gets so intense that you feel like you are getting a sunburn when you are 20 feet away, through your jacket, and over the 30 degree temperature outside. The flames easily reached over 12 feet with each tree, making it quite the spectacle of falling ash and smoke in the sky.

Can’t wait till next year!

It's amazing how high the flames get

Who threw the match in there?

Hot, hot, hot, hot!

It only takes a few seconds to completely go up

Its on FFFFFFFIIIIIRRRREEEE

While doing the bills tonight, I realized I just made the 30th payment on the car, completing the first payment booklet. I can’t believe it’s been two and a half years already. Seems like we just got the car in the summer. Well since this is our first car together I guess this is some sort of milestone, apparently important enough for me to blog about it.

Car payment coupon

2006 Acura RSX

It has been getting really tough lately. Yeah I know, old news, but its starting to get worse faster than before. So I just have to ask, how is everyone? Work has been doing great until now. There has been so many lay offs everywhere else that we just have less people working to mess their computers up. It’s starting to scare me because I would hate to have to get a part time job somewhere. That’s even if I could find a part time job out there now, which just adds to the scariness.

Well Christmas is just around the corner, something to look forward too. Good thing I did 90% of my shopping before Thanksgiving so not much left to worry about there. Online shopping has had great deals lately. I have always hated going to the mall on the slowest day possible, so you can imagine how I avoid the mall now. I just cant deal with that many idiots shoved into one area, drives me to the point of almost having a heart attack from frustration.

Sunday is our four year anniversary. Seems like it has been much longer. I have to pick somewhere fancy-schmancy to eat that we haven’t been to yet. I’ll remember to take some pictures of the restaurant I choose for all of you.