Happy Valentine's Day (Myspace)...

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all. I hope this day finds you in good spirits and with your loved ones in body and/or spirit. I understand the sentiment I have heard that Valentine's Day is a contrived holiday because every day is an opportunity to let your loved ones know how you feel...

Yeah I know it sounds kind of corny, but there is some truth to it. It is nice to have a special day but it doesn't have to be February 14th every year. Unless of course you are like my Aunt Esther and Uncle Wim who got married on February 14th. Happy Anniversary I am glad to hear you are both doing well...

Speaking of getting married on a holiday, my Yiayia and Papou(Greek for grandma and grandpa) got married on November 23rd 1950. That day also happened to be Thanksgiving day(the 4th Thursday in November). For the past 55 years Yiayia has celebrated her anniversary on November 23rd and Papou has celebrated his on Thanksgiving day...

I have added some more links(look to the right>>>) to places on the internet you can find profiles of me. Last year I was on Orkut quite a bit, but I didn't really know a lot of the people in my social network there. Lately you can find me on Myspace, I only have people in my social network there who I actually know...

Some people are what might be classified as "friend whores", one classic example of this is Diddy. This kid has less than a dozen phone numbers in his cell phone because he says there aren't that many people that he need to be able to get ahold of. This same anti-social meathead has over 100 friends on Myspace...

Every person I am connected with on Myspace is someone I actually know(except Tom). I am currently connected to 27 people and will probably be connected to a bunch more really soon. That's because I just figured out how to import my contacts list from my Yahoo and Gmail address books...

I think Eli Sinderson(my oldest friend) did a dissertation about online social networks. So he knows more about them than I do, but in my opinion social networking with people you don't really know is socially limiting. But at the same time an online social network can be a great opportunity to maintain and renew friendships...

I'm not a hard person to find especially on the internet, but don't believe everything you read in cyberspace...

Some pics of last night...

I got lucky and get to post some pictures of the great time I had last night in The City thanks to Dave Jensen...

I also want to send Happy Birthday wishes out to Dmitri "Dimo" Smidovich my good friend and roommate from last year...

The corridors of NYC durring the blizzard...

Me with the Birthday Boy Twins Andrew and Dave Jensen. Damn that is sooooooo F'ing hot...

Brian O'Donnell(aka B-Diddy), Sandy Jensen, and Me coping a feel. Ya y'all see the smile...

Same as above, thank God I got my tounge out of his ear before the camera went off...

Dave Jensen getting F'ed in the ear and "Cali Mike" Castrillo...

B-Diddy, Sandy, and Brett Bechaz(I couldn't resist giving Diddy "rabbit ears")...

The Jensen Boys and their sisters Sandy and Penny(someone couldn't resist giving Dave "rabbit ears")...

Those Jensens are damn good looking...

Nice lookin' pair huh...

Did I have a good time, you tell me...

Into The City in a blizzard...

the first part of this was written earlier in the night
I am getting ready to catch the 9:01PM train into the City from Mineola. I am going in to celebrate one of my friend's birthday. I don't really need an excuse to go into NYC, but it's always more fun with friends...

They are predicting a huge Noreaster rolling in tonight. We are supposed to get at least a foot tonight. I'm guessing that more than a few people will be deterred from going out tonight by the weather...

Maybe I'll think to take a few pictures tonight, or maybe I'll be having too much fun to think of it...

These folks don't know from cold...

(Writing this while watching Evil Dead III : Army of Darkness)
Well I made it back alive despite the blizzard. I gotta tell you though the East Coast thinks it knows a blizzard. You wanna see some real cold go visit Minnesota, up there they know what winter looks like...

I thought the snow might keep people away from the Jensen birthday bash, but all the right people showed up. Even thought there was only 6 inches of snow when I got back to Long Island the drive home from the train station was fairly treacherous and fun...

I had a great time tonight. We went to Porky's and while I was there I had a BBQ pork sandwich. It reminded me a lot of Waldo's up on Hayden & Thomas. The bar itself reminded me more of the Library on Mill, well at least the girls dancing on the bar did...

Sorry no pictures, but I forgot to bring my cell phone. I would have been late for the train if I had come back to get it. I might still get some pictures though because everyone else had digital cameras...

Birthday Wishes...

I want to send birthday wishes out to 2 of my favorite people in the whole world, funny enough they were both born on the same day. I am related to both of them, but I'd like to think I would be friends with them even if we weren't because I love them both...

Jason Syrmopoulos My Brother
and
Hidde van Erven Dorens My Cousin

Oops I did it again...

The second time around isn't nearly as nerve wracking as the first was. Today we went down to the Nassau County Courthouse and did 18B work. 18B is basically the same thing we did in Queens except these were people who are voluntarily showing up to court, as opposed to people who need to go before a judge to get released from custody...

Just like at the Queens Courthouse 90% of the people who work in court were really nice to us. I think it's because they know we are students and they remember being in our shoes not so long ago...

I can't say it enough, but it has been a great learning experience and confidence builder. My partner and I picked up a Spanish speaking client charged with a Class A Misdemeanor. We are building up a case log and a client base, I guess the same way you would in a real practice...

If...

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

---Rudyard Kipling

Put the needle on the record...

Alright ladies and gentlemen, yours truly is now on the record in the state of NY. It was everything I had hoped it would be. Each of us (8) got 1 case today and got to represent a client in court. Confidentiality prevents me from discussing the details of my case, but the DA(District Attorney) offered ACD(Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal). Basically as long as my client doesn't get in trouble in the next 6 months the charges will be dismissed...

Tomorrow I have a meeting with another client, so I better get some sleep tonight. I sure didn't get any last night because I was so excited about today. I laid in bed for about 4 or 5 hours so I could at least rest my body, but at the end of the day my brain was mush. It was a great learning experience and a tremendous confidence builder...

To help reaffirm my street cred, right now I am watching a bootleg copy of Underworld 2. It only came out in theaters about a week ago, but WoW what a great copy...