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Esteban's LiveJournal:
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| Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 | | 4:28 pm |
A Memo
Why I love ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) thyesc , among other reasons. I sent him the following e-mail: To: thyesc Fr: esti626 Re: Best Friend Position Da: June 24, 2008 Dear Mr. thyesc It has come to my understanding that you have been shirking your duties with regards to the aforementioned position. While my sources indicate you have been focusing on "feel good" activities like "work" and "travelling for work" and "spending time with your life partner," we are all aware that my needs are more important. Please make it a priority to schedule some time in my office within the next week. I believe there is availibility on Saturday afternoon/evening. v/r esti626 Sure, I was pretty amused with myself, but his response was even better: To: esti626 From: thyesc Dated: June 24, 2008 Re: Memorandum Dated June 24, 2008 / Best Friend Position Dear Mr. esti626 : I am in receipt of your missive, sent via electronic correspondence, regarding the potential shirking of duties by Best Friends. Without argument, I hereby and forthwith dedicate the period of Saturday, June 28, 2008, from 13:00 to whenever in dedication of our friendship and your birthday. Moreover, I will expect and am desirous of your company and attention also. I will expect to see you at a time that is appropriate to your schedule. With regard to your missive, I would like to state that it did, perhaps cause an unnatural and perhaps slightly unpleasant occurrence uniting Diet Coke (TM) and my nasal cavity. Forthwith, said nasal cavity did expell the vile liquid at a rapid rate onto company property and I have had to spend a bit of time clearing the resultant mess. V/R thyesc  impressed | | Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 | | 5:10 pm |
My political bent
In case anyone is curious:
 |
What's Your Political Philosophy?
created with QuizFarm.com |
| You scored as Old School Democrat Old school Democrats emphasize economic justice and opportunity. The Democratic ideal is best summarized by the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
Old School Democrat |
| 95% | New Democrat |
| 80% | Green |
| 60% | Foreign Policy Hawk |
| 45% | Libertarian |
| 35% | Pro Business Republican |
| 5% | Socially Conservative Republican |
| 0% |
|
 Current Mood:  cynical | | Monday, January 7th, 2008 | | 12:34 pm |
Oh, hai thar
So I've been seeing the Privilege Meme coming up on an awful lot of other LJs, and I can't help wondering -- why. What's the point? Are they making any correlations? Or are we just broadcasting for no particular reason how well/poorly our parents were doing while they were raising us? I'm happy to post that information -- most of you know enough about my background to get a decent idea on the answers anyway -- but I really would like a better reason than plot exposition. In other news, hi. It's good to be back. I realise I haven't posted since before I went to Brazil. The trip was fantastic. My only regret is that I didn't spend enough time there. I'm a fool for thinking that four days in Rio was enough, but then again that's all the time I had. I've been kicking around the idea of starting a picasa site so that I can share my pictures. It's pretty much laziness on my part that has prevented me. But I will do so. Probably once I return from SE Asia. Oh yes, I'm off on another adventure. I fly to Singapore on Thursday. I fly back from Bangkok two weeks from tomorrow. I am ... so excited. I will also be going to Kuala Lumpur, Chiang Mai, and Angkor Wat. Also in the past few months, I've gone to Syracuse (twice!) and Boston and Miami (for Christmas, which was nice if occassionally annoying). I'm going to have to tone the travel down for 2008 but I'm OK with that. Maybe since I won't be flying as much, I'll actually do a road trip to NYC. Apologies to the NYers in the group. I do plan on heading up there before too long, though obviously not this month. I do see Copenhagen and Frankfurt (maybe with a swing through Poland and Berlin and Munich) in the near-ish future. In other non-travel news, I've been watching movies like .. I don't know, like anything. Owing to health issues over the past few months (health update: I'm feeling great) I've been pretty hermit-esque, but I'm slowly re-emerging. If 2007 was the year of the hermit, 2008 is apparently the year of the baby. I think at last count, eight of my friends are pregnant. I wonder if Children's Place has a frequent shopper card... Current Mood:  excited | | 12:32 pm |
My political leanings
Not that anyone is surprised. 72% Hillary Clinton
71% Barack Obama
70% John Edwards
70% Chris Dodd
68% Rudy Giuliani
68% Bill Richardson
67% Joe Biden
60% John McCain
58% Mike Gravel
56% Dennis Kucinich
50% Mike Huckabee
47% Mitt Romney
36% Fred Thompson
31% Tom Tancredo
20% Ron Paul
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz Current Mood: we shall see | | Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 | | 12:31 pm |
Going to Brazil
Yesterday I got my visa and my shots. Whee fun. wholenother sends the following note, along with her love: The institute needs any used books, comic books, CDs, DVDs (including sing-a-long ones; we're getting a multi-region player), games (board or video), old pen drives (and someone here is saying a GameBoy -- but if anyone does that, it should come with language-intensive games!), digital camera, etc. that you can talk people into donating to the Institute. You can see what we already have at http://www.librarything.com/profile/instituto2irmaos. I haven't had enough privacy or time online to use LJ since I got here, but if you could post this part of my request to yours (and a note saying I love and miss people), I'd be very appreciative. If by some miracle anyone says that the project is the coolest thing s/he has ever heard of and wants to donate time, money, or whatever, you can send said person to http://www.2bros.org for money donations and to me or instituto2irmaos (at) gmail (dot) com for other questions or offers. Please don't kill yourself doing outreach for us, but by now you must be telling people you're going to Brazil. . . . One thing we DO NOT NEED is crayons, for God's sake! We have, literally, more than 1000, probably closer to 2000! So .. if you have anything you wish to donate, let me know and I will take it down when I go in September. Current Mood: excited | | 12:25 pm |
| | Friday, July 27th, 2007 | | 1:49 pm |
Normally I don't do this
But I couldn't resist the pretty: Your Score: Buff bad boyYou scored 50% masculine, 70% athletic, 27% exotic, and 37% refined!You like your men with a boyish or feminine face but a manly body. You like him to posess bad boy looks while still maintaining some innocence. He looks like the all-American kind of hunk and I bet you love someone like.......Travis Fimmel. But let's face it, the whole point of this was to look at a bunch of hot guys.  ummm | | Monday, July 23rd, 2007 | | 3:30 pm |
Updates
Oh yeah, in case anyone is wondering, I'm still alive. This past weekend was swept up in Potter-mania. Also, Ratatouille was SO cute. Transformers was exactly what I wanted, and Order of the Phoenix may have been the best movie in the series so far. I was in Boston the weekend before and Miami the weekend before. Yikes. I'm looking forward to a quiet August, though Chicago has a certain appeal right now. Gosh, I'm really boring. Nothing to post... Current Mood:  boring | | 3:25 pm |
Concerts
Shawn Colvin is coming to Wolf Trap on August 16th. Dar Williams is coming to the Birchmere on November 10th. Who's in? Current Mood:  anticipatory | | 2:35 pm |
Random Quiz Time
I have developed an obsession with lolcats. This one is not my favourite. Your Score: Ceiling Cat38% Affectionate, 42% Excitable, 37% HungryYou are a master of stealth. They never see you coming. But you always see them coming. HEY-O!
To see all possible results, checka dis. The one below, however, is my favourite:  Current Mood:  amused | | Monday, May 7th, 2007 | | 5:08 pm |
Not dead yet.
So I went to Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Prague in the last couple of weeks. The trip was amazing. I was exceedingly lucky in terms of where I stayed. In Vienna I was on the Kartner Ring, about a block from the Karlsplatz U-bahn. In Budapest I stayed at the Kempinski about a block from the Deak Ferenc metro, in the middle of downtown. In Prague I was about a block from Charles Bridge right on the river, with a tram stop across the street from the hotel. Considering how little I paid for this trip, and how much I saw, this ranks as one of the great vacation values! I cannot thank J enough for his hospitality and companionship. Vienna is gorgeous. And expensive. But wow, walking down the street and hearing singing coming out of the Opera House. Seeing Stephansdom catch fire. Mistaking horseradish for sauerkraut. Easting Sacher Torte at the Hotel Sacher with N and K. Two and a half days is not enough. Memories that last a lifetime. Or until dementia sets in. Bratislava is .. cute. It's up and coming, but it's not quite there yet. They get an A for effort, except for not being able to open the National Museum on time (or at all, I'm not sure which as I only waited for a half hour after the posted opening time before I decided to eff it and move on). I was only there for six hours, but honestly, I was done by the time I left. Budapest was fantastic. Completely exceeded expectations. I was proud of myself as I was able to have someone yell at me in Hungarian not more than five minutes off the train. The Parliament building and St. Istvan's Cathedral (both just outside my hotel room window) are indescribable. I kept walking back to them because I kept wanting a different angle, a new perspective. And also because I kept getting lost and you can see them from anywhere in the city... We took the overnight train to Prague which was wild in its own way. I'd never actually slept in a sleeper car before, and I half expected screams to echo through the night. It was quite the efficient use of travel time, though, as when we awoke the next morning, we were there. Prague is amazing and dynamic, but unfortunately overrun with tourists. The line to see St. Vitus' and the Jewish cemetery were enough to make me decide to appreciate them from the outside. Even something as simple as taking the funicular to Petrin Tower had to be seriously considered because the wait could be as long or longer than the walk. Even so, I know why people go. Most people were friendly, despite my utter ignorance of Czech language and culture. Some people were very friendly. I wish that I'd had an extra day there... Now I'm back and doing the normal everyday things. I've been working a lot given that, apparently, nothing got done while I was gone. This involved working until 10 one night, coming in over the weekend, blah blah. I'm finally getting to the point where I don't feel too overwhelmed. I've also been running errands, most of which have to do with my latest purchase. Her name is Greta, and this is not a picture of her, but she's pretty similar.  I'm odd, I know. Oh, and just to keep everyone updated on my crazy impulse acquisitions, I had to give the second cat back. Roomie was allergic to him and the cat wasn't offering to pay rent. Sad, but so it goes. I'm glad to be home but WOW what a phenomenal trip. Current Mood:  drained | | Monday, March 26th, 2007 | | 3:41 pm |
I have lost my mind
So M wanted a cat, and on Saturday we go to PetSmart (they host shelter adoptions on weekends) to find one for her. And there are these three darling and LARGE tabbies all piled upon one another. Turns out their owner had passed away but the three were inseparable and they were hoping to find someone who would want the lot. M meets Vegas (awful name, sweet cat) and decides to think on it for one more day. So we go on Sunday and she proceeds to fill out the paperwork to adopt Vegas (we renamed her Lola) and I see that of the three cats only one is left and he is SAD, clearly missing the company of his brothers. Long story short, Bosie (nee Big Red) is now at home. With hope, he and Oscar will be best of friends. If not, I may have to (sadly) return Bosie to the shelter (and his awful name). So, yeah, two cats. I'm well on the way to being a cat lady. Also, Lola was not at PetSmart on Sunday, so we had to go to Rikki's Refuge to pick her up. Unfortunately, Rikki's Refuge is a single-family home in Annandale with two older/elderly women and at least 20 cats. The smell was ... indescribable. We took showers after leaving. While I may joke about being a cat lady, I think two might have to be my limit. Current Mood:  Crazy Cat Lady | | Monday, March 12th, 2007 | | 12:31 pm |
Got rear-ended this weekend...
... and not in the happy fun way. Some idiot was too busy being road-ragey at the car trying to merge in front of him (cf. darthfox's post last week) to pay attention to the fact that the car in front of him (me) had actually stopped. End result, woman in car went ahead of both of us and he was even more delayed than he would have been if he'd just let her in in the first place. At first I was worried that he'd broken one of the Parktronic sensors, but upon closer examination I realised that he actually put a hole in my bumper and bent it inwards, so I see a new bumper cover in my future. Fortunately I have his insurance info, etc. so it shouldn't cost me anything. In other news, I'm getting increasingly excited about visits from kujiro, tonkat (of 2ks_n_frankfurt fame), and wholenother, and my upcoming trip to Europe. It's going to be a very busy couple of months. And now another random (but comprehensive) survey. The Everything Test There are many different types of tests on the internet today. Personality tests, purity tests, stereotype tests, political tests. But now, there is one test to rule them all. Traditionally, online tests would ask certain questions about your musical tastes or clothing for a stereotype, your experiences for a purity test, or deep questions for a personality test.We're turning that upside down - all the questions affect all the results, and we've got some innovative results too! Enjoy :-) | Personality | You are more logical than emotional, more concerned about others than concerned about self, more atheist than religious, more dependent than loner, more lazy than workaholic, more traditional than rebel, more engineering mind than artistic mind, more cynical than idealist, more leader than follower, and more introverted than extroverted.
As for specific personality traits, you are adventurous (80%), intellectual (67%), slutty (65%), greedy (59%). | | | Stereotypes | | Young Professional | 100% | | Old Geezer | 100% | | Prep | 77% | | | | Life Experience | | Sex | 65% | | Substances | 5% | | Travel | 53% | | Politics
Your political views would best be described as Liberal, whom you agree with around 50% of the time. | | Socioeconomic
Your attitude toward life best associates you with Upper Middle Class. You make more than 0% of those who have taken this test, and 8% more than the U.S. average.
| If your life was a movie, it would be rated R.
By the way, your hottness rank is 76%, hotter than 98% of other test takers. | TAKE THE TEST brought to you by thatsurveysite Current Mood:  ecstatic | | Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 | | 12:48 pm |
Upcoming Trip
Hey all - Haven't done a real posting in a while. Not a whole lot to report. Some family drama (centering around my sister, surprise). A couple of trips to Miami, a couple of trips to New York. But .. the most exciting trip is.... I'm going to Vienna/Bratislava/Budapest/Prague in the near future. April 19th I take Lufthansa to Vienna. I'm going to bounce around for a while, until I meet up with jayab in Budapest, and then we're both going to Prague. I fly back on May 1. I'm SO excited. Anyone want to come? Current Mood: Bouncing off walls | | Friday, January 12th, 2007 | | 11:48 am |
Eye Colour
Stolen from littlegreenworm, posted because it's true! | Your Eyes Should Be Hazel | 
Your eyes reflect: Intellect and sensuality
What's hidden behind your eyes: Subtle manipulation |
Current Mood: amused | | Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 | | 10:32 pm |
| | Thursday, October 19th, 2006 | | 12:33 pm |
Can You Tell Me How to Get..
Gratuitous Post:
Kermit the Frog
You scored 62% Organization, 51% abstract, and 67% extroverted! |
This test measured 3 variables.
First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.
Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.
Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.
You are mostly organized, both concrete and abstract, and more extroverted.
Here is why are you Kermit the Frog.
You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Kermit is also reasonably tidy. He'll even dress up for interviews.
You both are sometimes concrete and sometimes abstract thinkers. Kermit spends a lot of his time as a reporter collecting facts, but he is also the author of the dreamy song "The Rainbow Connection." You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course.
You are both extroverts. Kermit gets along with everyone. Sure a few folks annoy him, but that's just because they are annoying. Kermit likes to meet new people when he does his job as a street reporter. You definitely enjoy the company of others, and you don't have problems meeting new people... in fact you probably look forward to it. You are willing to take charge when necessary or work as part of a team.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, Kermit starred on Sesame Street years before The Muppet Show.
The other possible characters are
Oscar the Grouch
Big Bird
Snuffleupagus
Ernie
Elmo
Cookie Monster
Grover
The Count
Guy Smiley
Bert
If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also if you want to tell me your favorite Sesame Street character, I can total them up and post them here. Perhaps your choice will win! |
 |
My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
You scored higher than 99% on Organization |
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You scored higher than 99% on concrete-abstra |
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You scored higher than 99% on intro-extrovert |
| Current Mood:  happy | | Monday, September 25th, 2006 | | 4:37 pm |
Virgin??
This weekend was fantastic. I went to the Virgin Fest (right, I know, I shouldn't be allowed) and saw the most amazing bands play. And some unamazing bands. I was underwhelmed with Gnarls Barkley. Does that make me crazy? HOWever, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Thievery Corporation, the Killers, and Scissor Sisters rocked. teh. house. Jake Shears = my bitch. He just doesn't know it yet. The DJs were pretty good too, if you're into that kind of thing. I wish there had been only two stages for music instead of three. I feel like I missed a lot because of all the wandering between stages. About a zillion thanks to littlegreenworm for sharing her good fortune with me. Not to mention owing S huge thanks for letting us crash at his place and spending the whole weekend with me. I also had the good luck to run into imaginethisonu. Good time had by all. There seemed to be a lot of smoking of the wacky tobacky at this concert, but no one seemed to be coughing. I wish I could say I got up and was productive on Sunday but that just didn't happen. I was exhausted and feeling lazy. Since I last posted, my news is: Yeah, no news. Busy at work, enjoying my life, nothing earth-shattering. Coming up: I haven't bought tickets for any of the above yet so let me know if you'd like to coordinate. Current Mood:  thankful | | Thursday, August 24th, 2006 | | 6:03 pm |
More Media Whoredom
I can't believe I forgot to pimp myself out in that last post. The gang pictured here includes my baby sister. Overheard in my house: Person A: Esti's bedroom is the Den of Iniquity. Person B: Why, what goes on in there? Person A: Iniquity!!!My (mental) response: I wish! A self-referential comment on the Current Mood: wouldn't the fact that I'm posting to LJ always mean I was feeling exhibitionistic? Current Mood:  exhibitionistic | | Friday, August 18th, 2006 | | 3:43 pm |
California Rest in Peace
So I went to California for a friend's wedding. I have known A since 1995, when we met and decided to go to Italy together. I believe she and her husband have been together since late '96. The wedding was held in Redwood Estates on a vineyard/llama farm. Northern California in August is typically beautiful and this weekend was no exception. The wedding itself was a lot of fun. Her friends and family are awesome folk (if I do say so myself). ( darthfox, Find-your-keys-P was at the wedding as well, and he is exactly the same, ten years later. Scary!) The trip started with chaos at the airports since we were at Code Red. Since my flight was at 6.50 a.m., I should have been at the airport at 4.50, but Metro doesn't open until 5, so .. I got there at 5.30 and still made my flight. Good times. The only way I could accomplish that, though, was by staying up all night the night before. Not something I recommend, not any more. The people at Hertz were awesome, not only upgrading me to a CTS but also calling around to find me a tailor for my slightly torn suit. I don't have much call to rent cars, but I will certainly be using them in the future. In San Jose, after getting my suit repaired and having a fabulous (and cheap!) burrito lunch (at the Burrito Factory -- SO good) I went to the Winchester Mystery House and was freaked out by the player piano and the ooky air .. and probably not having slept enough didn't help. I stayed with my old friend S (a.k.a. F) in Santa Cruz, and it was really good to see him. He's doing really well at his job and seems to have his life on track. And I couldn't be happier for him. So, it was wedding stuff/Santa Cruz/wedding/Santa Cruz, random driving around -- I ended up in Saratoga for no particular reason -- on my way to Sacramento. Which is cute. And small. Did I mention small? But spending time with my friend from elementary school was awesome. My last day there involved driving from Sacramento to Stockton to San Francisco to San Jose. But it was fun, and I love San Francisco. When I drove through the Castro (I think I was there for all of ten minutes) I saw two leather daddies kissing on the corner of Castro and Market and I couldn't help but wonder if they were employed by the city for "ambiance". I also drank a dark chocolate bar at BitterSweet. While I was driving my (fabulous) rental car heading back to San Jose airport (down the 101), I actually got a twinge of sadness upon leaving San Francisco behind me. While it has always seemed terribly cliche to consider moving to San Francisco, and the logistics would be a nightmare, I think it's the only city I've been to where I'm reluctant to leave. I guess people really do leave their hearts there. But, of course, I'm happy to be home. Also this: Clearly I have to go to Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Philadelphia to take the metro because it's shameful that I haven't yet. Also, since A's mom lives in Pittsburgh and she wants me to visit, I have two reasons to go! Current Mood: fabulous |
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