Bed Bug Mobile

Like an itchy party clown, you can actually hire this guy to show up at your job. He guarantees your whole office a minimum of 2 days off as your building is fumigated.

Seems fair.

It's Raining Razor Blades on Lexington Avenue!

As I crossed Lexington Avenue on my way to work this morning, I heard a metallic sound and turned to see a razor blade, mid-bounce, 20 feet from where I was walking. I looked up and about 20 floors up, was a window washer, blissfully unaware of his missing tool.

That would have stung.

(The Window washer is circled in red)

The Morning Commute

No one likes you when you do this on a crowded rush hour train.

500 Million +1

Hell has frozen over and I have joined the ultimate time suck; Facebook.

I feel ashamed and a little dirty.

Here's the link to my shame.

The Goodness

This post has nothing at all to do with the fine services of M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven, CT or the impressive real estate skills of GRL and Realtors of New Haven.

I'm just taking a moment to ponder the impending replacement of my 7 1/2 year old Mac G4 with the beauty shown above. Mmmmm, shiny.

A-Rod Hits 600 Home Runs

It took a while, but A-Rod finally hit his 600th home run. I would blame this on the nerves that separate A-Rod from true greatness. Talented: Yes. Clutch: Most times, no.

In celebration of this event, I am offering the services of M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven to all of the Connecticut-based Yankees.

I'm looking in your direction, Mark Texiera.

The new Macs are here!

Aaaghhh!!!!

Sorry, I've been waiting 7 1/2 years for that news.

I think I mentioned this but. . .

During one of my crabbier posts, I mentioned that any phone without an external antenna is going to lose bars when your hand covers the spot where the internal antenna is. I sounded like an Apple fan boy (which I occasionally am), but this link makes my rant seem a little saner.

http://www.apple.com/antenna/

Just play the videos and watch Apple reach out to Blackberry, HTC, Samsung and Nokia with a stick full of stink and drag them into the "antennagate" mess. What a delightful bit of douchery.

Thank you Apple for lowering my expectations.

Carpet and my train seat.

To the guy I sat next to on the train this morning,

No amount of arm adjusting, wiggling, newspaper folding or coughing is going to make my butt any thinner. The train is full, so accept your fate and stop struggling.

Sincerely,

The guy to your immediate left

Raw Fish and Floor Covering

Let me start by saying that Google Analytics has confirmed my theory on web ranking. The more links to your site, the better your rank and the more hits you'll get. So my mentioning the services of M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven on this blog is helping in it's own small way.

OK, that had no point. Maybe that was like a little stretch before I actually got to blogging.

I should probably have a plan next time.

In the meantime, if you are ever in Newtown Connecticut, try Toro Japanese and Chinese Cuisine. Nice atmosphere, very attentive service and the sushi is good. They also have pictures of Daryll Hall and the owner in their entryway, so you know the place is for real. If half of Hall and Oates eats somewhere, I'm giving it a try. That makes so much sense, I'm getting that tattooed on my right shoulder.

I'll need to shave.

Lebron James in Greenwich, CT

So I got caught up in the Lebron James hype and watched The Decision. Yawn. Then I realized that they were holding the event in Greenwich, CT and I thought to myself, if @KingJames is in Greenwich, he may have a house there. If he has a house, then he may need carpet. Imagine the size of those rooms!!! It would be like installing carpet in an aircraft hanger. That would be huge!!! So @KingJames, if you need carpet, I know a great place. M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven.

Good Luck in Miami. carpet. (That was subliminal)

Vote for Swish and a nice Stairway Runner

Once again, I offer a lazy post of some excellent carpet installation by M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven in the Connecticut area. This could be a job in Westport, Fairfield or Greenwich. I should probably find these details out before I start blogging.

Oh, almost forgot, definitely buying my Mom, "Sh*t My Father Says" for her birthday. Brilliant and it makes me miss my dad.

Liking a song before it becomes a hit.

Why go Pro when iMac goes faster?

I am an avowed Mac person and I have been for a long time. My first computer was an Apple 2c (thanks mom and dad) and my subsequent computers have all been some form of Mac tower or, in the case of my wife, laptop. I have been a Mac person when being one made you look like the odd man out. I continue to be one as I enter the stores packed with "geniuses" whose primary reason for existence is to sell iPhones, iPads, laptops and iPods; the big 4. For the most part, the "geniuses" are not there for me. Their genius is limited to the big 4; the products that drive Apple sales and Mac adoption.

When I have a question, I will usually go online to avoid the disappointment of experiencing the genius of the "geniuses." Occasionally, I will lapse and go to the Apple Store to be reminded that Apple doesn't pander to its more hardcore supporters.

Once, I had a salesperson ask me what I planned to do with my new Mac. Fair question, I thought. When I answered desktop publishing; InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and a little Dreamweaver, he actually corrected me by saying that Dreamweaver was for the internet not desktop publishing. There was almost the tone of doubt in his voice that I would do ANY of those things with my shiney new Mac. I thanked him from pointing that out, only for him to follow up with, "The Imac is essentially a Tower with a built in monitor." Another salesperson suggested, "You could replace your G4 tower with a Mac mini." At least he didn't suggest that I buy an iPad to replace my aging G4, although that would have made for a funnier blog post.

All of this makes me feel like a computer man without a computer country. With Apple entering the mainstream with plenty of "gotta-have-it" cache, my geekier needs are being put to the back burner for the gateway products in the shiney Apple stores. I miss the days of Apple's underdog status where people looked at you sideways for your loyalty to a product that they didn't fully appreciate or care about.

I will end this post on an up note, since nobody wants to hear a wheel squeaking for too long.

Carpet!!!

There, I feel much better now.

I'm on a boat!

I lost focus for a second and the Mac fanboy in me got loose. I will now get back to the one thing in the world that really matters, RUG. Since I am generally lazy and haven't updated the M&M Carpet Installation site in over a week, I thought I would give the half-hearted run down the first base line and post the latest pictures of their excellent work on my blog. Done.

Oh, maybe I should mention towns like New Haven, Hamden, Woodbridge, Orange and Milford and that M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven services them all; including what appears to be New Haven harbor. That's carpet: Installed in a boat!!

Now I'm winded. I need to sit down.

Three is a crowd. What is four?

As Apple continues to operate their own mint with the iPhone 4, I thought I would take a moment to give a re-shout out (?) , to the real estate professionals at GRL and Realtors. They provide excellent service and Gina, their owner/broker, is the newest member of our "crowd" of followers.

So I dedicate this post to the hard-working members of the GRL team, since they did not manage to invent the iPhone and need to work for a living. Find out how they can work to find your new home in the New Haven area by visiting their site.

You can also visit the GRL and Realtors site through the absolutely amazing M&M Carpet Installation website. They're listed under trusted sites.

More Good Carpet News

After an extremely wet diaper post yesterday, I thought I would first give a shout out to all of the haters talking about the iPhone 4's grip of death. Nearly all phones without an external antenna will experience this problem if the right spot is directly covered by your hand. Period. Ask Nokia, who saw blood in the water only to confirm similar issues with their phones. Hmmm.

You want a sleek and capable smart phone? Buy an iPhone or a Droid or a Blackberry, but stop whining about reception when, in order to sexy these phones up, the manufacturers have hidden the parts that carry the cell signals.

By the way, the iPhone is as much about the apps and the full Apple experience as it is about the hardware.

Anyway, take your iPhone 4, grip it carefully and go to M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven. These guys know carpet and there's no need for any special bumpers or cases or grips for their service to work.

Schedules and Expectations

If I were to tell you that it takes 15 minutes to walk a mile, you could suggest to me that, if I walk quickly, it could take me 13 minutes. I agree and, sure enough, I manage to walk a mile in 13 minutes.

Impressed by my show of fitness, you offer that if I were to run, I could travel the mile in 8 minutes. I might protest that I have to cross busy intersections and I am not in very good shape, but coughing, wheezing and holding my sides, I run the mile in 8 minutes without being hit by a car.

Predictably, because of a situation beyond your control, you need me to travel the full mile in 1 minute flat. I shake my head and you break out 150 slides of Powerpoint to explain the paradigm shift of BAU and the ROI of traveling the mile in a minute. Months long schedules and matrices are broken out to show that indeed my section of the schedule is 1 minute long. You offer that my thinking is dated, that I need to embrace the possible and that I need to encourage the idea of the BIG idea. You also remind me that there is a guy in Mumbai that can travel the same mile in less time for a third of my salary.

Of course, I hop in my car and floor it, happy to have a job. All the 15 minute milers are forced off the road as I tear ass down the street trying to make my deadline. In spite of the reckless speed, I manage to arrive in one piece and one minute.

Momentarily pleased, you thank me, buy me a coffee while still managing to mention my initial reticence. I have achieved the nearly impossible and our world rejoices, except for that one guy in Mumbai.

Then your expression changes, and, with a look lacking all understanding, you simply say,

"Same time tomorrow?"

Rugs and Drugs

As controversial as that post title may sound, I am doing what I always do on this blog, which is promoting services found on the WWW.

Rather than dance around the wonderful carpet installation services of M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven, I will get that out of the way at the beginning of this sentence. Done.

Now I will spend another 3 sentences on mentioning Towne Pharmacy of Branford, CT. They carry specialty gift items by Mudpie, SwitchFlops, Munson's Chocolates and Bridgewater Candle Company. They also stock a large selection of Branford hats and clothing.

I am nearly out of sentences so I will leave by giving a shout out to the U.S. Soccer team. Here's to more German, Brazilian and Argentinian immigration into the U.S. over the next 4 years.
USA! USA!

A Little Trim

Forsythia bushes herald spring each year with a fireworks show of yellow flowers. My particular "fireworks show" has been steadily taking over my yard since the start of spring, which is why I'm going to dedicate this post to my freshly trimmed bush. With a little effort, a 6 foot ladder and a 24 inch hedge trimmer by Black and Decker, I was able to tame this wildly overgrown bush in a few hours.

This, of course, means nothing to the larger scheme of the world, but it did let me share my lovely and newly round bush with the internet.

You're welcome, internet.

Another Trusted Site

I would like to start by saying that to the untrained eye, endorsing multiple products and sites may eventually appear like selling out. To the people having those thoughts, I say,"Train your eyes."

Although I started this blog to help the fine folks at M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven sell carpet to the rug-starved citizens of Connecticut, I have realized that this is an excellent platform for purposes other than feeding people carpet. I will continue by saying that this blog also offers me the chance to scour the web to find and report on other sites and services that deserve your attention. After an exhaustive search that in no way had anything to do with the fact that my brother Scott just relaunched his site, I came across just such a site. Complete coincidence.

I will quote their newly redesigned and quite lovely-to-look-at site:

"Granite Communications is a group of skilled communications professionals working together as a team dedicated to helping you compete and win in today's competitive business environment. We partner with leading technology innovators to implement business telephone systems which improve customer service, enhance productivity and lower costs. We are your best source for enterprise telephone systems, VoIP telephone systems and call management solutions."

I think that says it all, but don't trust me. Check out their amazing looking new site at http://www.granitecomm.com and see first-hand why Granite is "Your Strength in Communications."

Not a Post About Carpeting

I thought I would take a break from promoting the top notch services of M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven, CT to give a quick mention of one of the links listed in our Most Excellent Sites section. GRL and Realtors, LLC at 169 Olive Street in New Haven are celebrating their fifth year as an independent real estate office. The owner, Gena Ruocco-Lockery, has been selling real estate in New Haven and on the shoreline since 1998. She has an extensive business background and education with a focus on client service and satisfaction.

OK, so I basically copied and pasted her bio from the GRL and Realtors site, but don't hold it against me for borrowing someone's words to navigate to the truth of my post. These are friendly professionals in the business of finding people their dream homes in the New Haven area. You can also follow them on their Facebook page, where they have listings, videos, updates and even a mention my favorite carpet website.

So there you have it; a non-rug related post that managed to plug something other than M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven, who have been serving up quality carpet installation to the Greater New Haven Area for over 25 years.

I guess that counts as a plug. I need help.

Wall to Wall Carpet is Nice in a Bedroom

I am a big fan of hard wood, but nothing beats wall to wall carpeting for a bedroom. It makes the room quiet and cozy. For those non-believers who claim dust and allergies, I can promise you that I suffer from many allergies and somehow manage to be happy and healthy with my wall to wall bedroom carpet.

There are two reasons for this: 1. I own a modern vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter that does more than just throw dust around the room. 2. I actually use it.

Once you conquer your wall to wall carpet fears, give M&M Carpet Installation a visit on the World Wide Web. Al Gore may have "invented" it, but M&M Carpet Installation is making it more homey.

M&M Carpet Installation

After the slightly wet diaper of my last post, I thought I would follow up with a strictly commercial post about M&M Carpet Installation. Quality work. Competitive prices.

Visit their site to check out their excellent work.

The Nature of Fame

If 2 people follow your blog, they're probably being polite or they're related to you. If 20 people follow that same blog, you probably have a big family and a few friends. If 100 people all become followers of your blog you have a family, several friends and something interesting enough to say that people you've never met want to read about it. Now multiply those 100 followers by 100 and you probably still have not achieved the readership of your hometown newspaper.

In a world where anyone can post their thoughts, regardless of their merit onto free sites that don't require fees or your revenue to exist, what has been achieved when you finally attract a following outside of your immediate friends and family? Is it fame? Or is it the kind of fame that is on such a small scale that it ranks below the 10 sports writers published daily in the New York Times, any 3 of whom you could not list from memory?

My thought, without seeming too cynical, is that until you are good enough to go pro and get paid for your writing, you are simply taking part in a public hobby, like roller dancing in Central Park. You will certainly attract a crowd, but your check is missing the Disney on Ice logo at the bottom.

Maybe that's not such a bad thing:)

I almost forgot, the fine people of M&M Carpet Installation have been installing rugs professionally since 1983. That would sort of make them Mickey Mouse on skates, but with a much better skill for installing carpet.

The Rank of Things

Although we rarely verbalize it, things in our lives have definite ranks. Things like your job, health and family are right at the top while things like your job and your pair of Girbauds from 1988 rank somewhere near the bottom.

Did I mention the job at the top and the bottom? It's a complicated list.

This complexity can change the importance of things in a split second, making a lost $5 earring seem more important than your most expensive jewelry. Or a simple measuring tape more precious than your whole tool bench when your trying to buy a piece of furniture.

The unpredictable nature of rank is trumped by a few constants. One of those constants is your home.

As always, this leads me to M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven. They do quality, conscientious work for a reasonable price in most of Connecticut.

Oh, and for the husbands out there, shoes and closet space rank frighteningly high on your wife's list. Trust me.

Thinking of a Stairway Runner

While I'm not renting a truck to empty our our storage space, I'm thinking about how I'm going to finish the look of my future hard wood staircase. Then I remember that I set up this blog to promote my brother's carpet business and uploaded a photo of his recent work. Although this is a sadly transparent promotion of my brother Mark's work and his company, M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven, this doesn't diminish the quality of the work that he does. Check out the photo and then click the link above to see more of his carpet installation work.

Since I'm his brother, you may also want to see what other people that aren't actual family members have to say about M&M Carpet Installation's skills. Click here to go to the testimonials section of his site.

Promotional Blog Post - No Thanks to Lili

I am creating this blog because my work pal Lili has principles and refused to sell out for a cup of coffee. Because of this, I had to create this blog. In the process, I saved myself the $1.75 in bribe money, which I will use on my next trip to Chipotle for a scoop of guacamole.

Here's a link to the site I just updated for my brother's most excellent carpet installation business. M&M Carpet Installation of North Haven, CT. He does excellent carpet installation work in most of Connecticut.