That’s Spanish for… The Niño

Family, Nature, Weather | Posted by miltos
Aug 26 2011

“Unless you’ve been living under a rock…” is a fairly cliche way of starting a post out about something everybody knows about, but, fine.. Hurricane Irene is just about touching down in North and South Carolina as I type this, and is set to ravage the east coast well through the weekend. Of particular concern to myself is the fact that it will be slamming Atlantic City directly sometime tomorrow night, with the eye of the storm passing by early Sunday morning. You can check the storms progress using the hurricane tracker tool below on weather.com:

http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/tracker

I video chatted a bit with my parents last night, who I’m awfully worried about due to the fact that our house is 1 block from both the bay and the ocean in Atlantic City. There’s been a mandatory evacuation issued for Atlantic City and its surrounding neighborhoods, and in fact, officials are shutting down access to the island at 6:00 PM today. In other words, if you leave the island now, you’re basically not going back until Monday. While I shouldn’t be concerned, since my mom told me last night that they would be leaving for my brother’s house, my parents are particularly stubborn. I have a feeling that they may end up being too inconvenienced to actually leave and will end up staying behind. They do have a point in the fact that our home has been standing for over 100 years, and has probably endured a quite a large number of hurricanes before any of us were on this planet. I’m a beach bum at heart, and don’t think I’d be able to drag myself away from an opportunity to witness a tremendous storm firsthand. Then again, I’m about 25 years younger, fully capable and in shape, and was an ocean lifeguard for 9 years in Atlantic City and did my fair share of rowing lifeguard boats and swimming in the ocean in rough seas.

Expect to see a lot of these this weekend in NYC. Hardy, har.

I can remember over a dozen hurricanes that passed through Atlantic City while I was growing up, and a countless number of smaller tropical storms and Nor’easters, but never can I recall a mandatory evacuation of the city. In addition, all roads into Atlantic City are being closed off, even if you are a resident of the city and as of 6:00 PM tonight, you won’t be able to get back onto the island. My mom and dad, predictably defiant of the warnings, don’t want to leave the house. Quotes include, “This house has been standing here for over 120 years” (this is actually true), “They always issue warning for storms..” etc. My mother went as far to say that our neighbors said if there were any damage to happen to our homes that there “probably wouldn’t be an Absecon island left anyway”. Well, mother and father, I’d rather lose the family house than my two parents, so please go to Constantine and Catherine’s tonight. I’m sure that my parents have not been tracking the severity of the storm. Atlantic City is going to get hit with the most powerful part of a category 2 hurricane, which I don’t think has happened in our lifetime. Casinos are kicking people out and closing down for the weekend.

The most jarring thing I found while checking on Facebook last night though, there have been reports that even Wawa’s has closed. That is serious business. Wawa’s never closes. I’ve been to Wawa’s *while* hurricanes were hitting the island. I even walked there, just to have fun in the storm because it’s awfully fun to get blown around a bit by mother nature. There were usually other people there picking up shorties like everything was a casual. That’s not the case this time around. Wawa’s is shutting it’s doors.

Apparently, it’s not going to be a picnic up in NYC either. MTA is closing down all transportation in and out of the city starting at noon tomorrow, effectively shutting down the city, and evacuating zones near the Hudson and East rivers. In short, just to recap:

  • Over 100 homes have been demolished in the Caribbean already.
  • Absecon island has been issue a mandatory evac and is closed today at 6:00 PM EST.
  • North Carolina is currently being ravaged
  • MTA will be shut down tomorrow at noon, effectively shutting down NYC.
  • Residents of west Hoboken have been told to evacuate and that essentially their homes *will* be underwater on Sunday night.

Shit just got real. I had a conversation with my buddy, Sehrope, about possibly grabbing some drinks tonight before the storm hits. He let me know that he stocked up on survival supplies for the weekend:

A typical text from Sehrope

For those that are curious, here is a close up of the image:

Whiskey, Beef Jerky, and cigarettes. A real man's survival kit.

… and, yes he’s serious. And that’s why I like Sehrope. Armenians and Greeks think alike. Luckily, I’ve got some food in the case that he runs out of whiskey. God only knows how to help him if he runs out of cigarettes.

So, in other words, stay safe out there everybody! I can’t blame my beach brethren for wanting to stay at the shore… I’d probably do the same, but just make sure that you’re stocked up on water and supplies for the weekend. They’re really building this one up to be cataclysmic, and I haven’t heard this much concern about a storm hitting South Jersey / NYC as long as I’ve been around. Hopefully I’ll be able to grab some nice pics with my camera this weekend :)

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Leave-A-Penny… no, really. Just leave it.

Life Commentary, Stupidity | Posted by miltos
Aug 18 2011

You know those Take-A-Penny, Leave-A-Penny trays at checkout counters at stores and newsstands?

Yah, those. The ones where if you have some left over pennies or change that you don’t want jingling around in your pockets, you leave it there for the next person to take so that they can prevent breaking a dollar for an annoying $0.03 cents added to a bill from tax. Very convenient for those that don’t want a completely irrational amount of $0.97 of money in their pocket.

Well, today I went down for an iced coffee break, and ended up getting Twix bars as well. The bill came out to $3.10, and I didn’t have any change in my pocket for the extra $0.10. Noticing that there was a dime in the “Take-A-Penny, Leave-A-Penny” tray, I grab the dime and hand it to the cashier. She promptly takes it out of my hand and puts it back in the tray, and exclaims, “Hey! You can’t take that!”. Confused.. I ask, “What do you mean. Why can’t I use that?” She says, “That money is not for you.” Here is where the confusion sets in.

“Who is that money for?”, I ask.

“For the boss.”

“Well, then why is it in this tray?”

“Because people leave it there if they don’t want the change.”

“Correct… but if it’s not for everybody else to use, why do you even have the tray. Why wouldn’t people just tell you to keep the change, at which point, you would put it back in the cash register. More importantly, why is this called ‘Take-A-Penny’ tray, and also labeled as such, if I can’t use the change in it?”

Long story, short. This conversation went on for a good minute before the lady got so fed up with me she just took the dime, and put it directly back into the tray. I stood, perplexed for a minute, wanting to tell her that if she doesn’t want anybody else to use it that she should remove it from the tray, but I figured I’d let her get in another argument with somebody else before they decided to re-evaluate the system. When I came back to tell my co-workers, one women commented on how I remind her more and more each day of Larry David.

Given the amount that I comment/complain on this post about every day ridiculous things, I couldn’t help but to agree with the assessment. In any case.. newsstand vendors: Do not place “Take-a-Penny, Leave-a-Penny” trays out if you don’t intend on your customers actually using said tray. Certainly do not label it as such either. That’s just silly.

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My Band!

Awesome Things, Confab, Music, Websites | Posted by miltos
May 24 2011

Confab, melting the National Underground to.. er.. the ground.

So my band, Confab, finally got it’s veerrry own Facebook page. You can find it at the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/confabband

I suggest that if you’re into things which happen to be good that you “Like” us so that you’re the *first* to know when we play a show. I’m certain you’re all dying to know that information. Just admit it’s pretty much the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning, the last thing that crosses your mind when you lay down to rest at night, and the subject of your dreams while you sleep peacefully in your bed; that is, of course, until you start thrashing about, rocking out to our imaginary show in your slumber.

In other news, we’re playing a show in Hoboken on Thursday @ 9:00 PM at the Whiskey Bar.

This will mark our 1st show directly west of the Big Apple, and one that should be easy for friends of mine that are reluctant to venture over to the Lower East Side to watch us play a show. So.. hit me up for more details, and I hope to see a lot of you there!

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Comicon!

Awesome Things, Conventions, Life Commentary, NYC | Posted by miltos
May 21 2011

He's Batman!!

So I just got back from Comicon in New York City… I’d have to say that in comparison to the video game conventions I’ve been to in San Francisco, you’re getting pretty much the same thing. Instead of countless large monitors streaming the latest and greatest video games and demos galore, you have comic book artists drawing everywhere and large posters of their art on display. At the end of the day though, it’s just a gathering of like minded nerds; the majority of which are in cosplay worthy costumes. I’m not excluding myself from this group, mind you.

The guy pictured above had to be my absolute favorite. He was everything you’d come to hope and expect from a comic convention; a 40-something year old man with his gut slightly protruding over his belt, checking himself in the mirror to make sure that his cape was flowing properly. There really isn’t much greater than that in terms of comic book convention satisfaction.

Another highlight of the event had to be that everybody thought I was a member of the press. I was asking a whole bunch of questions to the artists – because I was genuinely interested in their work, not for show – and snapping pictures of their material. They all perked up and gave me a lot of attention and cards, and asked me to let them know where I’d be posting my reviews, haha. Well, I had to burst their bubbles unfortunately, but I’ve publicly posted the pictures on Facebook so maybe they can get a little fame from my friend list.

In any case, it was an absolutely great way to spend the afternoon. Also, the convention is still around tomorrow so if you’ve got nothing planned for your Lazy Sunday, definitely grab a ticket and head on over there! I snapped a bunch of photos of the event, so check them out at the link below if you’re interested:

Comicon, NYC – 5.21.11

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New Chucks

Life Commentary | Posted by miltos
Apr 12 2011

The little fella on the right has seen better days.

There’s something about buying a new pair of shoes which is typically very satisfying. Whether it be the fact that you’re upgrading to a newer and cooler / better looking shoe, or it is better tailored for whatever exercise that you may be doing… walking around the block in a new pair of kicks is typically a fun experience. Not only do you feel better looking from having on some nicer clothes, the shoes feel nice and fresh, and generally all around better on your feet. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about Chuck Taylors.

Inner sole, torn through.

Chuck Taylors, arguably the best looking shoe in existence, are classics. I wore mine so much, that as you can see above, I tore right through the inner sole of the sneaker. They are generally appropriate in every situation and circumstance. You want to play a game of basketball? Fine. Chucks were used for years by professional athletes on the courts. Want to have a leisurely walk down the street and a fun day out in the town? Fine. Chucks are perfectly comfortable for walking all around, biking, skateboarding, you name it. Want to get into a snotty night club in the Meat Packing district in NYC? Not a problem as I’ve been admitted into every Cielo, Tejune, Kiss and Fly, Greenhouse, etc. that you can think of wearing these things, while I watched others with actual “nice” shoes be turned away because they were too sporty.

The issue is, Chuck’s aren’t necessarily famous for their durability. In fact, if you pay attention to this from now on, you’ll probably notice that most people wearing Chuck’s are doing so with the sneaker falling apart on their feet. This is not due to lack of funds and being unable to purchase a new pair; the shoes are remarkably cheap, costing no more than $40 in most stores. Sometimes you can even find them on sale for $25 a pair. No, the reason these people are wearing Chucks that are so beaten down that they’re one step away from looking like a burlap sack tied around one’s feet is because it takes work to get your Chucks looking like that. You haven’t just walked out of the store with a new set of sneakers because you’re going to a rock show that night and you want to look cool. Oh, no. You’ve put the time in, and worn these shoes around everywhere; in questionable terrain and weather conditions such as snow stores, nor’easters, hiking, etc. You are making a statement that you haven’t just hopped aboard the Chuck train casually one day because all the cool kids were doing it, lest you be labeled as a poser for doing so. Plus, those used Chucks just feel nice and worn in, like a familiar pair of Rainbow Flip-Flops that have molded themselves to your feet so nicely over the course of a few summer seasons at the beach. (Rainbows can be another post all-together by themselves, so don’t get me started talking about those right now).

New and Snazzy.. to beat up and scuff up soon.

Alas, sometimes Chucks bite the bullet and become simply unwearable – Or, at the very least, unacceptable in a casual business attire environment. Once the bottom sole starts to detach itself from the canvas top of the sneaker, you know that it’s time for a new pair. As you can see above, that’s exactly what I had to do today. Being that my band is playing a show tomorrow, I hope that nobody watching from the crowd judges me unknowingly. No worries however, as I’m sure this new pair that I’ve recently purchased will be beat up and decrepit looking in no time. So, farewell, old Chucks! You’ve served me well. To my new Chucks, my feet – and everybody within smelling distance – thank you for entering into our lives.

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Confab Rocks Alphabet Lounge

Concerts, Confab, Music | Posted by miltos
Mar 22 2011

Hey everybody, I promise that I’ll use my blog in the future again for cool posts about my travels, quips, life-commentary, etc.. but for now, It’s time again for another announcement from my band’s illustrious front man, Adam Tao:

Hi Confabulators,

Thanks to all who came to the show earlier this month – we had a great time and hope you did as well. For those who didn’t, an amazing opportunity presents itself this week to get your socks rocked off.

Who: Confab
What: We’re gonna shred tunes like lettuce (21+ show, $10 cover)
When: Thursday, March 24, @ 8 pm
Where: Alphabet Lounge
104 Avenue C (@ 7th St)
New York, NY 10009

Why: Because the Thursday after St Patty’s Day should be celebrated with rock & roll
How: Take the F train to 2nd Ave and walk, walk, walk

We’re gonna play some songs we’ve never played live before, and we’ll let you guess, from the panicked looks on our faces, which ones they are.

Tunes:

www.ConfabBand.com

Bring an appetite for tunes – and destruction.

Welcome to the jungle,
Adam

Come out if you can make it! It should be a fun night, and afterward a bunch of us are shooting out to catch Bob Schneider playing a late show at the City Winery, not too far away. Should be a ridiculously fun night, and I hope to see a lot of you there!

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Confab Plays Fontana’s

Confab, Music | Posted by miltos
Mar 03 2011

Hey there everybody.. my band, Confab, is playing a show tomorrow at Fontana’s in the LES. We had a great turn out for our last show at Arlene’s Grocery last month, so I’m looking forward to seeing more of you there tomorrow as well! Rather than retype all the details here, I’ll just go ahead and quote what our illustrious singer, Adam Tao, sent out in an email earlier in the week.

Who: Confab
What: My band, playing original tunes (21+ show, $8 cover)
When: Friday, March 4, @ 8 pm
Where: Fontana’s
105 Eldridge St
New York, NY 10002
http://www.fontanasnyc.com/

Why: Because it’s a Friday and you like to boogie
How: Take the F train to Delancey, or the J train to Bowery, or the B/D train to Grand

New Confab album is available everywhere:

www.ConfabBand.com
Confab on Facebook
www.myspace.com/confabband

Bring your posse, because we’re gonna throw down. Hope to see you all there!

When it’s time to party we will party hard,
Adam

See you all there!

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A Child’s First Trip to Disney

Awesome Things, Life Commentary, Travel, Vacation | Posted by miltos
Feb 25 2011

There’s something about travel that inspires me to post on my blog.. Whether it’s a small flight or a trip overseas, I always find something that evokes some type of response that I immediately feel the need to tell everybody that will listen. Even though I’m writing this post in particular on my iPhone, I tend to get some of my best writing done in airports and train stations. As I’m sitting here at the terminal in Orlando, waiting for my connecting flight, I couldn’t help but comment on my flight down here from Newark. If there’s one thing I could recommend to anybody on this planet to do at least once in their lives, that would be to take a trip with a group of kids who have never been on a plane to Disney World. I’ve never witnessed such unadulterated joy in my entire life. I couldnt help but to think back to when I was a little kid on my way over to Disney with my brother, sister, and cousin Sophia. Forget about Disney World all together.. Just the intense amount of excitement that is generated from driving to the airport and seeing all the big planes take off before you actually get on one is enough to make a child’s head pop clear off their body. I had the pleasure, and exhausting but fun, experience of being on a plane with not one, but 7 kids all on their first trip over to Disney. You can imagine the dialog when the plane taxied away from the terminal.

“WE’RE MOVING!! Look we’re moving!! Daddy are we flying??!? Are we in the air?”

“No honey, look the ground is right there.”

“WE’RE FLLYYIING!!”

“no..”

Forget about when the plane actually revs up the jets to take off.

“WOOOOOAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WOOOOOAAAahhhh!!!”

Screams, or yelps, or whatever sound it is you make when you’re experiencing nervous bewildering joy. Once the plane actually takes off..

“!!!!!!!!! DADDY LOOOOOOOOK!! CAN YOU SEEE??!!???”

Chairs being kicked, 7 kids screaming in surround sound and cheering as if Mickey Mouse were personally piloting our plane and a recreation of Fantasia was happening inside the cabin at the same time. 2 minutes after taking off:

“IS THIS DISNEY WORLD? IS THIS DISNEY WORLD? IS THIS DISNEY WORLD??”

Repeat for an hour or two. Finally, the plane starts its descent to the airport, and after a few minutes you can see land from the windows. Again.. An eruption of cheers and amazement of which you have never witnessed before.

“OOOOOHH MMYY GOOOSSHH THAT’S DISNEY WORLD!!! LOOOOOOOKKKK LOOOOOKKKK LOOOOOKK!!”

At this point, the tone of these cheers are outright shrills and screams. Seven kids, all at once screaming at the very top of their lungs and jumping on top of each other to look out the windows, kicking chairs and passengers’ heads as they bounce from either side of the plane, depending on which way the plane was turning. There is such a ridiculous expectation you have for when you land, that you will be in this mythical land where all is wonderful and full of delight. But it never did manage to disappoint for me when I was younger.. Even when I went with my family back in ’08, my brother and I had to keep commenting on how everybody goes out of your way to make things a ‘magical’ experience in the park. Those who were not magical mysteriously disappeared throughout the course of the day. You could notice smiles and waives from every worker in the park, but always with a hint of nervousness that were not quite being magical enough.

In any case, my nieces were just a bit too young to enjoy Disney on that first trip, and were crying on just about 75% of all the rides.. We also left late at night so they slept through the flight mostly, so we didnt get to experience the insane fervor of excitement that I described above. Regardless, the following March my brother let me know that Maria made the comment to him:

“Daddy, you know that March is coming, right?”

“Yes, Maria. Why do you say?”

“Well, because that’s when Pappou (grandpa) comes in the middle of his night with his truck to pick us up, and when we wake up, we’re at Disney World.”

You see? Magical. In any case, seems like the gate just opened for my connecting flight to Bahamas. Time to get a move on!

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If I had a Million Dollars… x 330

Life Commentary, Wants, Work | Posted by miltos
Jan 05 2011

So, two people hit the Mega Millions last night for $380 M. You can read the article here:

http://bit.ly/eL9mcq

My friend, John, and I had a conversation about it this morning. When I first wrote him I thought the amount was $330M, but even still, the difference in what I would do with the money is negligible.

me: some guy won the power millions yesterday
they hit it for over 330 million
I want to do that.
John: haha. nice
me: give 120 M back in taxes
or..
wait
probably ~150
THEN
have 180 left over
spend 10 M on a recording studio
put the rest in the bank
John: live off of interest
me: use interest to pay a team of engineers to record.
and live
very comfortably
I’m guessing I’d be getting around 6-7 M in interest a year
it would cost around 1M to run a small studio for the year I guess
if it were making 0 profit.
probably less actually
if you had like, 5 engineers
maybe a phone person
etc.
450 k in salaries
then cost.
et.
etc.
round up a lot
1M
yes.
then a few million a year to buy cars
and pour money out of the sun roof
as I drive by in a Lamborghini
and..
I’d probably be left over with a few million profit in interest
that I’d funnel back into my millions.
or possibly start a side fund.
to be invested on the market
or buy properites
like a boss.
and that’s how I’d handle that.

The point of this is that, I typed this out without thinking much at all. It just kind of flowed out. Yes, some things are sarcastic, and you can replace certain elements such as “pouring money out of a Lamborghini sun roof” with “setting money aside for college education for my future children” and such, but I think it’s pretty interesting that I know exactly what I’d want to do with the money. Apparently this is a sub-conscious, deep rooted dream that exists.

Now the 380 Million Dollar Question of the day is: Aside from winning the Mega Millions lottery, how does one adapt this dream to reside within the confines of a typical salary of a Project Manager in NYC? The answer in my head is essentially simple. There are two options… the first, which I’m guessing many people consider is the only way, is entirely unrealistic.. I’d have to save for many years to get enough in start up capital, and then take a gigantic risk of quitting my career and spending my savings on moving forward on this project. Unfortunate circumstances that may result from this would be losing my theoretical wife due to financial troubles and arguments, and then not having any money for my theoretical children’s educations. The thought of this, of course, would deter even the most steadfast and determined of people since not just your own future is riding on the line when you do something like this.

The other option is to approach it slowly like I am now; building a project studio that I use to record band projects that I’m in, as well as friends’ bands, and then eventually transitioning to making some side money off of it by recording other people. I’m actually very close to having a set up that I’d feel comfortable charging people for using, so.. that’s the first step I guess. The next would be to be making enough side money on it to consider making a full time jump. The full time jump would be followed by lots of hustle and contact building, funneling money back into the business and refining my equipment / skills / team / assets, and then finally raking in the dough as if my daddy were a baker. Which he is. If the project doesn’t work out, you can sell off your gear and cash in off of your initial investment to recoup some of your losses. I’m not saying that this lil’ recording studio is the only goal I have to achieve. It’s just what spilled out of my brain when I thought about it. This could method could apply to just about anything.

So there you have it people. How to achieve a $380 M dream, minus taxes, all laid out. Change the details to apply them for own goals and aspirations, and boom: Success. You can thank me later.

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The Drone

Life Commentary, Stupidity | Posted by miltos
Oct 29 2010

I had a dream last night; a very strange one where I forget many of the details, aside from a handful of things including this one: There was this incessant drone that went off at very specific intervals… Wherever I went, a rumbling vibration that I couldn’t seem to put my finger on, nor find, seemed to shake the earth itself as it periodically was triggered. All around I went, searching for the source of this noise. What made it incredible was that this search was not limited to any particular location. Rather, this was a vast and globe encompassing search that took me from the pacific shores, all the way to the deserts in Africa. This sound – while not particularly loud – could be heard from every corner of the planet.

Finally, a fellow adventurer decided to go on this hunt with me, to see if we could find the source of this rumbling that was plaguing the entire world. People lauded our exploits and sang our praises as we were inadvertently involved in side quests and journeys on our way to find this buzzing. Eventually, our quest landed us in this mythical garden, where the droning was louder than ever… I could begin to tell where the sound was coming from, but still couldn’t distinguish what it was. After journeying through this garden a bit more, we found a large pile of leaves – where *surely* – the sound was coming from. My adventure companion and I braced ourselves and brushed away the layer of leaves, only to reveal a giant common house fly; almost the size of a basketball.

What *really* goes on overseas.

We were bewildered, and as it flapped its wings rapidly, the sound was triggered again, “BZZZZZzz.. BZZzzzz”. We gazed on for a moment before the fly decided to take flight. We ran in horror, but the fly caught up with me and landed on my head. Its spiny fly tongue began to flick the back of my head in a “thump, thump, thump” that nearly knocked me over. I could actually *feel* this thumping.. “BZZZZZZ… BZZZZZZZ.. THUMP THUMP” I flailed wildly to no avail until eventually I rose incredibly startled, only to find myself in my own bed. I rubbed my eyes a bit, and continued to hear the buzzing. For a moment, I was terrified and thought that this fly had followed me into real life. Once I got my bearings, I looked to the left on my dresser. My cell phone, which had been set for 7:15, had been vibrating for hour and a half by my head, and I had literally slapped myself awake thinking it was a horrifying giant fly. Apparently, this epic quest had taken until 8:45 in the morning. The moral of the story is, people.. use a real alarm clock, and don’t forget to set it before you go to sleep.

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