November 12, 2012

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I caught up on my shows so I can do some more reading and writing. I decided to take a little break and update. First line of news:

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This will probably be the last blog entry I'll type in this box. It's getting a little big so I decided that I'll start designing the blog site and put the button on the bottom of this box. I'll let all of you know when it's up in my Updates page.

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I bumped into an old friend a few nights ago at the train station. It was close to 11 pm so I was pretty exhausted after a long day. I didn't notice her, but she tapped me and said my name. I laughed and gave her a kiss. She told me "Kev, at first I wanted to make sure it was you, but I saw your signature sideburns and was certain then!" She was so adorable.

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We caught up, shared stories, and discussed plans. She's going to do some traveling with her boyfriend. We talked about making plans to catch up and tentatively discussed for after Thanksgiving/December. Most of my friends also want to go out then so the holiday season will be pretty eventful!

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I've definitely grown accustomed dividing my time between Jersey and New York. A month ago my friend, who lives in Bergenfield, and I talked about why we'd prefer living in Jersey over New York. Don't get us wrong, New York is amazing, but sometimes it's nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of the City. I love that balance of suburban and urban living.

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I can't believe how fast the holiday season is progressing. Thanksgiving hasn't even passed yet, but there are all of these Christmas specials on TV. It's cool though because I get to watch the old Home Alones. :)

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I'm craving pasta right now and the one place that comes to my mind is Maggiano's. Their pasta is good. Actually the things that I ordered the last time I went were pretty good- the bruschetta and the pasta alfredo. Plus I was able to take another dish home per their special. So it was a pretty good deal. Yes, yes I love traveling and eating! haha I'll have to drive though since it's Jersey, but I'll go when I visit my best friend in central Jersey (so that I can also stop by the outlet mall!).

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On a final note, I found an almond Hershey's kiss in my bag and that totally brightened my day.

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November 6, 2012

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So things have started to calm down a bit and what do I see on the news? A Nor'easter heading towards the East Coast region. Ugh. My commute home won't be pleasant because I usually leave around 8 or 9 pm to return home.

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I'm watching Ten Dollar Dinners on Food Network right now. I remembered watching Melissa way back on The Next Food Network Star when she made the mnemonic for Ratatouille! She looked so sweet. She's making chicken and biscuits right now. It looks so good and I'm starting to get really hungry. Ahh! I'll probably make that next week after doing some grocery shopping.

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Speaking of chicken, I'm also craving some ribs and potatoes. I think it may be the cold weather that's doing this. But it does remind me of the times when I went to Medieval Times in Lyndhurst for countless birthdays and celebrations. Who doesn't love storming a castle and digging into hearty food? :)

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Tomorrow I'm going to use my winter coat again. I actually bought it November of 2010. Let me tell you it was a lifesaver! For those of you who remember...the winter of 2010 was brutal. My coat helped me get through the cold and winds in New York, Montreal, and Tinton Falls during that holiday season.

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Tomorrow is also the new season premiere of Top Chef. Hopefully I can catch it by then. I finished reading Gail Simmons' new book a few months ago and reread Julia Child's "My Life in France" in September. Food is amazing because it does bring people together and exposes us to new cultures. I think I automatically love food and wine because of my French heritage! haha

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November 5, 2012

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I'm catching up on everything and checking up on family and friends. As many of you know, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast hard. I'm in the NY/NJ area so the impact was quite strong. We lost power for around 5 days, but we were able to spend the week helping our neighbors and friends with clean up. Family sent text messages, voicemails, and emails, but I couldn't respond until Saturday evening when power came back on. I still haven't heard from my friends in Monmouth County so hopefully their power came back on.

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Right now everyone is finding a way to commute to NYC and I'm checking up on the status of the trains. I've been reading the news about the buses and ferries, and I saw pictures of two hour waits. I'm hoping that things do get better for everyone.

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October 7, 2012

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I started watching The Mindy Project and so far, it's pretty interesting. I have friends who are like Mindy Kaling's character and after working at hospitals, universities, and the corporate world, I have met a lot of interesting people along the way. Keeping the environment positive does alleviate a lot of the stress that can pile on throughout the day (not to mention make the work day move faster). It really is fun to just tell jokes and make the best out of things. If any of you remember that show "Rocko's Modern Life" from the early to mid-nineties, they had an episode called "Wacky Delly" where it was a silly and random mash of ideas and animation. In the end everything worked out. That's how I like to approach things -you enjoy, make mistakes, and learn from them.

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The event was a huge success! On behalf of the Project Lead, Steering Committee, and Volunteers, we would like to say thank you to the generous contributions, guest speakers, and donors for wine, food, raffle prizes and music. We couldn't have done this without you! I will revamp the website to include the program, pictures, and special thanks.

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Regarding this blog, this box will serve as the blog for October through December 2012. In the meantime, I will redesign a formal blog and put the link under this box to serve as the official blog space for my site. Otherwise this box will scroll on forever and we wouldn't want that now, right? :)

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October 3, 2012

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Ay! It's going to be an eventful week. I'm so excited that our first fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Project is up and running. The steering committee and the volunteers have to be at the Consulate at around 4 pm to set up. We have so many generous donors as well as assistance for the food, music, and drinks. I'm going to update the website with the pictures and additional information from the program after the event. Here is the invitation to the event for directions and the time: Join the Cause

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I made a study schedule to review for the CSCS exam. It's 4 hours long (1.5 for the scientific foundations portion and 2.5 for the practical/applied portion) so I do want to make sure I'm prepared. I looked at the components, and for the exercise science portion I have to review things such as nutrition, anatomy, exercise physiology, and biomechanics, to name a few).

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For the applied, I have to review exercise testing and prescription, program design and administration, and exercise technique.

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Thankfully, it's just a review. If I had to learn everything from the beginning, I'd freak out! This really was interesting for me when I was an undergrad so revisiting biochem, orgo, and the exercise sciences won't end up being a chore.

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It's also my best friend's birthday on Friday and we have a lot planned for that day. We haven't been able to celebrate it together for the past two years since she had to finish up clinical work for med school, but I'm so proud of her!

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On a sidenote, Call Me Maybe just got stuck in my head because my cousins and friends kept singing it. This is what usually happens when popular songs come out. They don't usually hit me until a couple of months later. My previous coworker fell in love with Katy Perry so she would sing Firework and California Gurls which then got stuck in my head one year after the songs came out.