Yo! Where the hell is Pedro?!?

Sorry I've been so out of touch people. I went away to a conference at the lovely Ritz Hotel in Key Biscayne, Florida. It was great. Until Thursday, February 23, 2006 at 12 noon, on the dot. That's when my boss called and fired my ass, along with half of my research department.

Here we go again. Laid off, Part II. Fuck.

So to celebrate, my friends who were hosting the conference took a bunch of us out to Nobu in So Beach where we ate and ate and ate. I can say with certainty that it was one of the finest dining experiences of my life, and that's saying something, people. Most of you know that I do not fuck around when it comes to my gastronomic choices and appetites. But this time I was outdone. Super mega-props to Beau and team for an amazing night.

To make things even better, I got to sit at the end of the table with excellent wait staff access, ensuring that my martini was never empty. Also, my end of the table ended up being the one with people without children, thank God. So while all of the procreating types talked of playground high jinx and pre-school admission stress, my end slurped cocktails and whooped it up. It was great. I had a ball. Thanks in no small part to Rachel Gold Medal Winner, who dropped some lines that night that were absolutely priceless. I'd relate them to you, but, frankly, they're not the kind of lines that will resonate on the written page. They are, however, priceless like a fucking Master Card moment after a few cocktails. Don't worry, as soon as any of you see me, prepare thyselves for some Gold Medal Winner humor. She's a genius. Too bad she lives in Boston. *Props*

Anyway, I got back to NYC, tanned rested, viciously hung over, and plum out of a jobby job. So I did what any man facing a life crisis would do: I quit drinking. For Lent. That's 40 fucking days, people. And actually, it's more. It turns out there's a technicality of which I was unaware. Apparently, Sundays don't count as "Lent" proper. So theoretically, I could go out and get sauced until I booted in the gutter each and every Sunday. FUN! But, alas, I'm going to abstain until Easter. I figure, if I'm gonna do this, I might as well do it all the way, right? So as of today, I'm officially 12 days in. DUDE. It feels like eternity. Now, I'd like to point out for the record that I did actually start on Sunday, Feb 26, a full three days before Ash Wednesday, so it's kind of like I'm going for extra credit here. But actually, once I got started and began sleeping through the night, I just decided to roll with it. And I've gotta admit, I'm feelin pretty good. I've been hitting the gym, diligently trying to get a new jobby job, and generally looking after myself.

So that's it for now. I just wanted to drop y'all a line. There's lots of other stuff going on which I'll get to when I have a minute. The girlfriend is leaving me behind for a month in the sun down south with her 'rents, so I'll have more time later. Thanks for checking in people. Some topics I'll be chiming in on soon include (but are not limited to) 1) More Hoya madness; 2) The fire across the street - and the girlfriend's photos to prove it! Boo Yah!; 3) I'm too tired to remember right now so fuck off, I'm out.