I kind of want a Volt now.

From Shaun L.

There’s a hurricane of delicious coming to CT.
And its name is Guarapina.

Upon reading Alicia’s blog post about my Portland visit, I was reminded of the our trip to the Pambichi brunch place. Alicia, Dwane, Sarah, and I went on Alicia’s birthday to celebrate her life with Cuban delights. She and I both ordered a Guarapina: a beverage that mixes pineapple juice with sugar cane juice.

It was like drinking sugar Octane. I will go to the store this weekend and buy ingredients, I will make this luscious drink, and I will take pictures and document the deliciousness. Get excited. It’s going to be awesome.

The Best Lack of Sleep Ever.

Last night I sat down and hit the books to complete a vibrations exam and a bunch of academic stuff for an MBA Brookstone* strategy assignment. I didn’t get to sleep until 1:30am-ish. Then, I had to get up this morning before 6am for a cholesterol check down at the Hospital.

Tangent: The Hospital.

Meriden, CT is home to the mid-state medical center hospital. Apparently they recently did some housekeeping: the hospital is beautiful. Walking inside felt less like a hospital and more like a trip into a hotel. It didn’t smell like Hospital. It smelled… like a delicious coffee shop. And sure enough, there was a dunkin donuts inside the hospital.

The signage was extremely clear. And the interior design was really classy and warm. I never thought I’d be so impressed with a Hospital. Way to go Mid-state Medical!

Anyway… despite the paltry 4.5 hours of rest – I am feeling great today. It’s remarkable how great I feel. Why is this? we can only wonder. But somethings have definitely helped.

1. Pandora has delivered a fantastic array of rocking tunes to start my day:
Audioslave: light my way
Soundgarden: mailman
Alice in Chains: It a’int that way
Stone Temple Pilots: Down

2. I’ve been amazingly productive at work.

3. Coffee.

I hope I don’t crash in exhaustion. Today’s got such potential.

Fast Action Poetry!

Tree comes up with the most amazing suggestions in times of woe.

Mike D: this stinks Tree. one of my test problems is worth 25 points
Tree: oh i’m sorry buddy – ugh
Mike D: and I’m struggling with how to start it.
Tree: hm
Mike D: like no clue.
Tree: can you start it with a rhyme?
Mike D: ha ha ha
Tree: ha ha ha
Mike D: Vibrations result in Complications.
Expectations and Fluctuations
So please ready your Calculations
Lest our customers submit some allegations
demanding forth explanations
Ending our Occupations

Ha! i’m proud of my poem.

Sweater Thursday

It’s early, and we’ve already had a great response of Sweaters for Sweater Thursday. I’m proud of you guys. What a fantastic group of fashionable sweatery folks we are.

Halloween

I’ve got a Halloween costume idea. I’m going to have to spend some time building it, but you can be certain that pictures will appear within the next few days. Irene is having a Halloween party on Saturday where the costume will make its debut. Get excited. It’ll be sweet.

*how the heck do they make money? we’ll find out!

It’s Sweater Thursday! Are you guys wearing sweaters? If so, e-mail pictures of yourself wearing a sweater over to me at mikedidonato AT gmail D0T com and I will add you to the sweater enthusiast list below.

First off, here’s my sweater.

I decided to go with a brown sweater. Since we’re formal at my company I had, of course, the tie on underneath. Sweet sassy mo’ lassy that is one fine looking sweater.

Next up, we’ve got Kurt’s mom and sister. They have been waiting nearly a year for this picture to appear on Sweater Thursday. Take it away Kurt’s mom and sis!

Why are they eating mayonnaise you ask? Because it runs in the family*

Wow! bdp sent in an awesome sweater combo. Major bonus points for the dog sweater.

Jocelyn join us from Chicago! She comes charging in with a cardigan.

Rumor has it that this isn’t the first sweater Jocelyn wore this week. In fact, she claims that the previous two were home made. WHOA.

Irene is also pulling in the sweater theme today. Notice the hugely awesome collar on this particular sweater.

Jesse has provided us a sweater photo. In his words:

“I have two favorites and couldn’t decide between the two, so I Duct Taped them together and I’m wearing both.”

Wow.

While Patrick isn’t wearing a sweater, he did want to share with us a sweater story. Patrick reports:

“2-3 years ago, I did a Google image search for “argyle”. And this came up. It was so awesome that I decided to keep it. I have no idea what website it was from, who the guy is, when it was taken or anything. I just know that there’s an argyle sweater in it.”

Thanks Patrick! Great find of this ArgyleDude.

Send me your sweater thursday photos, and I will post them. It will be an epic sweatery day. Keep checking back for updates!

*picture from last year’s sweater Thursday

RPI Teammate #1: you guys realize I have no idea how to do any of the stuff that I’m talking about right?