LAST NIGHT'S PARTY

Met up with Cyrus at our usual watering hole. Man needs a new wardrobe. Haha.

Me: "Cy, what do you want? First round's on me." Cyrus: "Margarita." Me: "Dude, I don't think they make margaritas here." Cyrus: "Smirnoff Ice?" Me: "You're on your own." Cyrus: "Rum and coke?" Me: "Okay."

To distinguish between the "guy" and "girl" bathroom, the bar painted the gender symbols on the bathrooms. The only problem is that people couldn't tell which signified which. So all these kids were arguing over which was the girl's bathroom and which was the guy's.

And then when Kzar dropped in, one of the girls trying to figure out which was the correct bathroom grabbed Kzar and said, "You look like a smart guy! Which one is the girl's bathroom?"

A group photo gone horribly wrong. It's like something out of a horror movie or something. Should I watch my back? Am I getting erased?

Fist of empowerment.

This is safe: exposed wall in the bar. Mmmm...asbestos.

It was a rather low key night.

AROUND THE OFFICE

So some people have amazing view from their 40th floor office in Midtown or whatever, but what I love about my office in SoHo is that I can crawl out through the windows and hang out in the balcony. This is the view:

I was walking through the alley next to my building and saw this PSA:

TOILET FLUSHING CAT

This is an oddly compelling video of a cat that obsessively keeps flushing a toilet over and over and over and over again.   At school, all the other cats call him crazy cat behind his back.

DRIVING IN THE CITY

I finally drove in Manhattan and it wasn't in the relative spaciousness of upper Manhattan.  No, I had to drive through the narrow streets of the lower east side and Soho.  And I wasn't driving some junker, but a very expensive and massive Infiniti SUV.

"E" JACKS MY T-SHIRT

I just saw the most recent episode of Entourage (one of the best episodes eva in my humble opinion) and I can't believe they outfitted douchebag "E" with the same "New York Crimes" t-shirt that I've been wearing for months.  Now when I wear it, people are going to be thinking I'm trying to imitate that shit. This entry definitely ranks up there in the most shallow crap I've ever posted.  Ah well.  Time to retire this t-shirt maybe?  Nah.

LAST NIGHT'S PARTY -- KZAR'S BIRTHDAY!

Pat and I were pissed as we got to the subway platform just as our train left. Blah, I hate it when that happens. Saturday night was Kzar's birthday party--the big 27.

Nothing like a sweet air-conditioned subway car. I totally passed out during the ride. Throwing a frisbee around earlier made me exhausted.

A small group of us met up at Soho Billiards to start the night's festivities. It looks like Kzar is about to drill Cy in this photo. Haha.

The younger brother smiles completely unaware of the traumatic horrors that will soon follow.

Kzar and Pat sit in the losers lounge.

I'm about as opposite from a pool shark as one can get.

Cyrus is SO EXCITED ABOUT PLAYIING POOL!!!1!!!1

We then left to go to Botanica across the street. Munira attempts to bring sexyback. Happy birthday to her as well.

Cyrus attempts to bring sneeringback.  Also, while he and I were standing outside, Matt Dillon with a couple friends walked by.  It took them about five minutes to find an empty cab.  So surreal.  There were maybe 15 people standing outside and except me and Cy, no one else seem to notice.

The birthday boy is stoked about his special day.

Rarely seen, but much loved Padma also dropped by! Yay!

And then Kzar started dancing. Oh, you haven't lived unless you've seen him dance. Note the icky spilled drink stains on his shirt. Classy.

Probably my favorite photo from the night: Kzar reenacting the infamous video from his Brown U days of him dancing. In slow motion.

HAHAHA. Correction: This might be my favorite photo from the night. Patrick thought he was participating in a nice group photo when suddenly, right before the flash, Kzar attempted to uh, mount Pat. Look at Pat's horrified expression. HAHAH. I think I later saw Pat sitting in the corner crying.

Kzar gettin' some anorexic dance floor action.

[Insert heavily censored summary]

On Sunday, we met up for brunch in Union Square.

Cy

Kzar reliving the previous night.

Cy and I later went to the Barnes & Noble in Union Square and this book there caught my attention:

Yikes.

WEEKEND AT PROSPECT PARK

Pat and I went to Prospect Park to throw a frisbee around. It's hot outside.

Patrick working out his situation.

Ladies, you can print this photo out and hang it up in your cubicle at work.

Squish!

Grass...

The portable jukebox keeps us entertained with Journey.

I GET TO GO TO...

Portugal!  Every six months, my company goes on one big trip abroad and next month, we're all off to Portugal.  Even though I just started, they're including me in the trip--They booked my flight today.  Mark me down under "amped."

IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET IT THE FIRST TIME: IT'S HOT

Damn sun be making this city too damn hot.

I FEAR ANOTHER BLACKOUT

I was just sitting here watching TV--while attempting to stay cool in this blistering New York heatwave by having the AC and fan (double whamo) blow at me and an icy cold water bottle resting against my feet--when the lights suddenly dimmed and the TV signal went out.  This brief power surge only lasted a few seconds, but it scared the crap out of me. As fun as the infamous 2003 blackout was (back then I only lived six blocks away from work so the chaotic commute back home wasn't too terrible), a blackout now--which is a real fear and possibility--would be really fucking terrible.

PHOTOS OF NOT SO MELLOW MEL GIBSON'S NIGHT

Here are some photos taken of Mel before he drove off into the anti-semitic night. Based on the photos, he might not like jews, but he sure does love the ladies. He might not believe in the Holocaust, but he does believe in the humpty-dance (Thanks Pat).

IT'S HOT IN HERE

New York is very hot as we all know. So here are some pictures from my iPhoto that cool me off and hopefully does the same for you. Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage, Alaska

Snowflakes!

Sundance, Park City, Utah

Sundance, Park City, Utah

Sundance, Park City, Utah

INTERNSHIP AVAILABLE

So I love my new job at the ad agency and we also happen to have a paid full-time internship position available for those looking to get into advertising and marketing. Contact me at Matthew [dot] Rodriguez [at] gmail.com if you're interested in the position.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS MROD?

My nomadic ways continue: I'm in Park Slope for the next couple weeks.

LAST NIGHT'S PARTY - FRIDAY

Chilling in Soho.

Erin makes a visit to NYC. Mmm, hot and muggy New York afternoons.

Mariya shows no love for the camera. Who the fuck does she think she is? Paris Hilton?

Akash is also visiting NYC.

We then got pizza at my favorite joint (on Thompson and Spring). Mariya eats her pizza really really fast.

We then went back to Kzar's apartment to drink and watch the drama that is The Hills. Kzar is captivated by Heidi's emotional breakup with her boyfriend. Thank you MTV for letting me live vicariously through the lives of 18 year olds.

Look your best ever with Miller Lite.

Akash enjoys the photoshop wonders of Maxim girls.

Akash, she isn't going to become real if you offer her Miller Lite. That only happens in beer commercials.

Cy also stops by. Kzar offers a hungry Cyrus some frozen tacos.

Cab ride downtown.

Heading to Kush. Since we have one too many, Erin hides from the cab driver.

Peace in the middle east.

Some hookah action.

Erin, don't drink that! That's a candle!

A belly dancer gives us a show.

Someone gives her the thumbs up.

That would be Cyrus giving the belly dancer a thumbs up.

Akash using the pick up skills he learned from Maxim.

Cy gets in on the hookah action.

Hanging out in a hookah bar is gangsta.

Group jump!

Kaizar insisting that Erin look at his tongue. "ERIN! LOOK AT MY TONGUE!"

On our way to another bar, I noticed a guy getting his photo taken with a sneaker.

Yeaaa.

We met up with Kenny and his friend.

Cy horrified at being molested by this random chica.

The most action Kzar's gotten in a while--a bike.

Then we got some food at St. Marks.

Cyrus reenacting a scene from LL's new music video.

Passing out.

The End.

STAR WARS THEME--BANJO STYLE!

My nerd brain exploded after seeing this guy playing the Star Wars theme on his banjo. [youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQBRSwZiYS4"] This guy should have been on America's Got Talent.  Watching that show and banjo man here makes me wish I was extremely good at some sort of obscure thing, like balancing a shopping cart on my chin, or driving a nail through my nose, or playing a banjo.

I can juggle three objects (as long as it isn't on fire and sharp).  I was once locked out and I successfully picked the lock.  I'm okay at Ultimate Frisbee.  I once watched television for 16 hours straight (other than to get take out food from Johnny Rockets and use the bathroom).

I don't think any of those "skills" will get me on television.

MROD GETS A JOB (AND MY BLOG BECAME POPULAR)

[EDIT] Wow. This is kind of neat. My blog is currently number 12 10 on the most popular Wordpress Blogs of the Day list.  I'm top 10!  Crazy.  Ya'll Bravo Runway fans are nuts and I love it!

Two things.

First, every six months or so, I'll post an entry that for some reasom is highly relevent to some news or cultural event ju jour and thanks to Google and a few message boards, my readership skyrockets in one day from a humble few hundred readers to a thousand, if not thousands. It's happening right now.

I wrote a while ago about some minor potential spoiler to Project Runway--it wouldn't reveal who actually won per se-- and it appears that much of the traffic arriving at my blog is from people that are dang curious about who is going to win this fashion contest.

The other exciting news is that I just got a job offer (and accepted) from a very rad company. This will be the last time I'll probably talk about my job (this blogger ain't gettin' fired). But I'm very excited about this opportunity and starting a new (non-academic) chapter in my life. Go Team MRod!

CONGRATS ROBB!

Congratulations to Robb and his lovely wife on the birth of their new baby! There are now 299,311,410 299,311,411 people living in the US.

NEW CULINARY INVENTION: KIMCHINANA.

At Kzar's earlier today and I made myself a delicious new mixture: Kimchi banana!

Chomp!

Mmm.

GOOD LUCK TO THE FUTURE LAWYERS OF AMERICA

Best of luck to all the people out there taking the bar exam tomorrow. Just go to your happy place and rock that test!