It's been awhile since my last post...so this one may be a doozy.

A lot has happened in the past few weeks. Most of it good. Nothing bad really, just interesting. I'll give a short run down about what's been on my mind lately.

1) Oliver Stone and Nicolas Cage can eat it. That's right, these two douche bags can come into town and shut down Woodland Avenue for over a week, just so they can shoot a movie in an old pseudo-farmhouse, for the nice rural feel for whatever p.o.s. they feel like putting out for the next blockbuster season. Ok, I'll admit, it's sort of cool that they are shooting a movie in town. What's not cool is that the main way to get to town has now been shut down and is guarded by the police (don't get me started on that one). It would have been nice if they had let townsfolk know earlier last week, so we could have least adjusted accordingly.

2) Power-outages in Florida caused by hurricane/tropical storm Wilma. How the hell does a hurricane knock out power for an estimated time of two weeks? This would definitely not fly anywhere else in the country, especially the northeast....well maybe new orleans but we're not going to touch that bag of worms right now. Actually, we are. Is it just me? Or would you think that the government would have the whole emergency crisis management situation worked out by now, or at least a game plan for when things go down badly. Well, it is the government and it does run slow as shit. The only reason I care is due to the fact that my great-aunt and uncle have now settled up north in jersey until the power returns. My cohort for this past weekend was in the 19-24 year old range. Upon my arrival, it has jumped up to two separate age groups: a) 6-12 and b) 80-85. I guess if I take the average of these two groups, I might get 22 with some creative accounting. This little tidbit leads me to my next thought:

3) This past weekend. Amazing. I had so much fun being down in DC again. I know I have stated this before in previous posts, but I really miss the people down there. From playing ultimate on both friday and saturday, after a 2-month hiatus, I was hooked again. This game, is for better or worse, addictive. Almost like crack, but with a nice mellow tightness the morning afterwords in the muscles, instead of a pounding rageful mind. There needs to be some competitive (meaning with cleats, people who understand the stack, willing to play defense, and both throws) ultimate up around here.

Halloween weekend was kick-ass. My wings almost made it through the weekend unscathed, but alas, it was not to be. I was molting like a mother. Maybe they'll make it for next weekend at AJ's Halloween Too Late Party. Speaking of parties, me and Adam were out at Slebo's VA house and I run into this kid who I haven't seen since summer before junior year from FERC. Really weird, as I was sort of drunk, and was wondering who the hell that guy was and how I knew him. Ultimate? Nope. GWU? Nope. FERC? Apparently so. Eric was his name, and he's still there now, doing financial stuff. Good for him, I couldn't stand the place, but maybe that's his bag. Good job O street for running out of beer just as I got there. It's a good thing the Gentleman decided to come along and keep the night going.

Another thought about DC that is relevant: The city won't let me go. The past two times I've been down there, there has been some sort of force that won't let me get out of the city at the time I plan to leave at. Last time: missed the bus, couldn't catch another one till Monday morning. This time: BOOM! Blown-out tire out by Dulles, can't ride home on a dummy, need to get a crap-tacular used one off of New York Ave for $30 bucks on Monday morning. Coincidence? I think not. But, I'm not complaining, I like Sunday nights in DC.

4) On my way to get a new tire, I get a phone call at 9:13 this morning. It's Chenedu from Hopstop.com. He's calling to let me know....I got the job. Not just any job. THE job. Director of Data Management. This is going to be big. The Mapquest of Public Transportation. We set up a meeting for this upcoming Friday to discuss wages, benefits, responsibilities, etc etc. I'm pretty psyched. From what I understand so far, I'm going to be in charge of 5 cities public transportation data and figuring out how to get that on the web. That's just to start with, and is probably going to need to be done by the end of this year. It seems like a daunting task, but I'm sort of excited for the challenge. Plus, it means I get to go to these cities. Oh yeah, another good thing....It can be both telework as well as in situ. That means the work can be done basically from anywhere. Now, this brings up a dilemma. When I move out in late december, early january, where do I go? DC? NYC-Brooklyn? Decisions, decisions. It also means I'm going to need a new computer to handle all the computations and map information. Apple or PC? laptop or desktop?

Ok, I feel like I am running out of steam, so I'm going to end this long-winded diatribe of typological diarrhea. Hopefully this post will be updated more frequently and with shorter messages. No one likes to read these days.

Final thought: Lauren Balog Needs to Get a Weblog. Just say Balog's Blog. Say it. 50 times fast.

Kids are tyrants, or why I love the Tisdale Afterschool Program.

So, this past weekend in DC was remarkable. It was amazing to see everyone and just be in the city again. Hopefully I'll make it back there sometime soon, maybe semi-permanently, but who knows. There are other places to explore right now, and adventure is calling.

Speaking of Adventure, today was my first day at the After School Program at Tisdale. One thought: Wow.

So I get there early, around 2:15 so I can get a parking spot before all the soccer mom's come to pick up the rugrats. Get a nice spot, right outside the main door. I'm psyched. I walk right in and get assaulted by a teacher, saying Who are You? And I go, I'm Matt Shiel bitches. But without the bitches. I then get big smiles, and ohhhhh Matt Shiel! ohhhhhh....That leads me to being brought into the office (under good terms, weird) and seeing Mrs. Scarfi who tells me a little bit about Ali Scarfi (good job Ali, getting into Educational Psychology, gotta keep the weirdo's out of education). The other lady, don't remember her name, I should though, tells stories about my appendicitis experience in third grade in Mrs. Dunn's class and now how she has to take stomach pain seriously as she thought I was a big faker. Me, Fake, Never.

BBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!

School's out bitches, and the kids come running in. I'm still setting up dunkaroos, juice and granola bars, which they devour.

The cast and crew of Tisdale:
William aka $ Bill.
Frank, the tank.
Jess, Nick and Dylan's little sister (AWESOME!!!!)
Pooper Cooper (He walked around with dunkaroo chocolate on his face for most of the day)
Shy Jack
Christopher [insert Japanese last name here], kick-ass kindergartner.
Melanie - who was faking stomach pains...I don't know why I know a faker, I just do. She wasn't pregnant either, she's only 9!
Mrs. Nena, head chief who smiles and does the yelling. I don't yell.
Mike, a 9th grader who helps out.
Misc. people I don't know their names of.

First thing that happens when $ Bill walks in...he' sees me and goes WE GOT A NEW GUY!!! This is when I should be worried, but I'm not. I sit down at a table and a whole crew of boys rush around and start pelting me with questions. What's my favorite baseball team, what does the Espana t-shirt I'm wearing mean, Favorite football (american/european), have I ever beat someone up, do I have a girlfriend, have I ever made out, Have I ever kissed a dog, what grade I'm in, wait, did someone ask have I ever kissed a dog? I look at Frank, who asked the question, and turn it right back at him. He says why? I say do ya think I have kissed a dog, with a bit of menace in my voice. He squawks no, and I say, thought so. It's fun abusing authority. JKLJ.

Anyway, I get accepted into the social group and we start playing with interconnected blocks for an hour or so. Interconnected blocks? Who the hell comes up with these lame ass names. They are basically little pieces of colored cubes, sort of like legos, but not as big. Not that much fun, but you can make them flex and bend which is sort of cool. Little Chris made a kick ass american flag with lightning bolts in them. He rocks for a little dude.

Then, across the way, who should catch my eye? It's Jessica! Nick's little sister! Awesome. I talk to her for a little bit about what she's drawing, she tells me that Nick busted up his jaw in England, and that she likes his dog Sadie. I tell her, the dog kicks butt and tell her I say hi to her mom. However, her mom picks her up! Awesome, it's Kim. Shoot the breeze for a little bit, and then Kim asks me where else I have applied. I tell her the American Museum of Natural History. She says' she knows a guy who has worked there for ever, and would love to forward my resume on to him. I'm like KICK ASS! A new contact at the AMNH??? SWEET.

The day ends with no spilt milk or cookies, but I get a dunkaroos for the road. Pretty awesome first day of hanging out with kids.

Off to go relax with scotch and hopefully the Chief, Sean, his gal Katie, and maybe the rest of the crew later. Oh yeah, my name is Mister Matt. It's got a nice ring to it, don't it?