Heading to Albany This Weekend to PARTY

Hmmm...  I am not sure if the words "Albany" and "Party" are usually in the same sentence.

Regardless, tomorrow I'm leaving work a bit early and driving a few hundred miles to Albany to hang out with my buddies Erik (Albany), Ed (Buffalo), Will (VA), and Ken (Lancaster).

It'll be fun. Luckily, we're all able to get a free weekend and see each other. We're going to be doing some pretty hardcore partying tomorrow night in downtown Albany (haven't partied there ever) but I hear the bars are apparently open til 4 AM just like our beloved hometown Buffalo.

It'll be the first time partying with all these fuckers since my bachelor party over a year ago.

I'm bringing my camera. This could get ugly.

This is a picture of the last time we all got together for some beers (minus my visit up to Buffalo in January, we never got to go out with everyone). This was at one of my favorite Buffalo bars, Colter Bay.

Invention Seven back on the web...

My old band Invention Seven from Buffalo (who recently started jamming again) is back on the web. Yep, we stepped back into 1998.

Anyways, now that I have some web space, I added some new songs to our MP3 site. Of course, they aren't "new", they are OLD, but they are new to the site.

Go check it out - there's tons of stuff on there. Alot of it is pretty crappy, old, inexperienced recordings from our early early days. Of course, if you're looking for better, cleaner tunes, check out the professionally recorded stuff on there.

The site is www.thecarders.com/inventionseven

Enjoy!

Sturbridge Village

Elaine, her mom, and myself went to Sturbridge Village yesterday in Sturbridge, about 45 minutes from our house, just 10 or so minutes west of Worcester.

We had a great time. Sturbridge is the largest outdoor history museum in the northeast. It is a walk back in time to 1830-era New England. It is more than 200 acres large. It is compromised of over 40 structures, including both restored buildings purchased and relocated from across New England and some authentic reconstructions. Some of the ones we saw were buildings relocated from New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Maine.

Here are some pictures of our jaunt back in time to Central MA yesterday. We then stopped at Piccadilly Pub for lunch, for some burgers and clam chowder in Sturbridge... it was very delicious.

More pics can be viewed at my Picasa page at http://picasaweb.google.com/brandon.carder

Microsoft Live vs. Google Maps

Um, who is the clear winner? Google may have the edge in simplicity and ease of use, but Microsoft's Local Live's images are quite stunning.

Just take a look at my place of employment:

Google Maps:

And now... Microsoft Live Local:

Um.... it's pretty clear.

I have another guitar to use!

Thanks to my buddy Steve from here in MA... I have another use of a guitar until I get my Epiphone fixed.

Yes... I know. I haven't played a lick of guitar since the last song I played with Invention Seven way back in June of 2005. That's why I need to start playing again.

Luckily Steve is letting me borrow is Martin acoustic until I get funds to fix my fiddle. Hopefully in this time, I can build up my skills again, re-familiarize myself with some old original and cover material, and build some calluses again.

Steve and I also talked about getting together and jamming in a couple months. We'll see what happens.

Here's my sick fiddle. It needs to get fixed... someday...

 

First week at the new job: Amazing

I can't say enough good things about where I work. I am not going to name the company I work for, to protect the innocent... but I can tell you it's in the Boston area.

It's amazing. If you do some research on growing IT companies (most importantly, the fastest growing outsourced IT company in Massachusetts) you'll probably find it without a problem.

There's no secret, though, that I am in a help-desk related role. Some may consider help desk a step back from what I was doing. But not in my case. I make $11,000 more a year working there than I did working in AZ. But alas...

The place I work for is incredible. It is growing leaps and bounds. Everyone is in it for the long haul. Everyone has such a positive attitude. Everyone strives to make themselves better at what they do; and are totally committed to making the company grow faster and faster every day. And the feeling is contagious. I already feel that way and I have been there 5 days.

I work with some of the most amazing people. It's such a big difference than what I was doing. Back in AZ, I was responsible for so much. Here, I worry about 1 thing... Customer service and bettering my technical and business skills. I have other people to depend on for onsite service, sales, quotes, follow up, etc... all which I was apart of in AZ. I like having one thing to worry out, not 15.

I work in an amazing department. Everyone is easy going, everyone's always telling jokes, having a good time. I can wear jeans, a t-shirt, and a hat. I can leave my desk at any point and go outside for awhile. There's always free food, free drinks, free training. I can see myself at this job for a LONG LONG TIME. And of course, being promoted in the process... :)

It's all just getting started. I made the right choice!

Update

Back from Maine & Buffalo. Started work on Monday. Everything is going well.

I really like my new job and my new coworkers. I haven't really delved into anything at work yet. But I think this is a good fit for me.