Desktop Backgrounds

I think we can all agree that desktop backgrounds on work computers are a very important indicator of who you are as a person.  There are few opportunities to express yourself as an individual in a corporate environment so its important to take your desktop background seriously.  Just remember these 5 tips when it comes time to picking your background identity!

1. Is it "HR appropriate?" (this is only for those who have the misfortune of having to connect their comps to projectors)
2. Keep the seasonal pics in season! (Only exception is for those who are experiencing seasonal depression, nothin wrong w/ a January palm tree.)
3. Blue screen backgrounds, aka no backgrounds, are for squares. (seriously, this is the biggest do gooder thing i've ever seen and when I have my own business it will be grounds for dismissal.)
4. If there are people in it, you cant be one of them (Numbers dont lie on this one.  9 out of 10 screens that contain the owner in the background are Jabronis)
5. Brown Nose Material is for the birds.  (Lets be honest, no one has ever been promoted for the article they chose to save as their desktop background.)

Now I realize I wouldnt be much of a blogger if I didnt show you whats gracing the background of my screens, so here ya go toots!

-McQ

Goats

My boss is sitting at the cubicle next to mine. He suggested watching "Goats Yelling Like People" on YouTube. We then spent 10 minutes watching videos about goats.

The best one? This one:

 

K

Master Chef Meesh

I've been low on inspiration and posts this week because work is currently sucking my soul right out of me.

So with that said I'm gonna go ahead and brag about how I was a master chef over the weekend (with some a lot of guidance from the beau) because my brain hurts too much to think of anything more clever to write.

And we didn't make just any lame chicken dinner. No no kids. We made OSTRICH wellington with a pâté appetizer and apple puff pastry treats for dessert. Boom! That just happened.

Looks like it may be time for Meesh to make a career move. Culinary school can't be that hard, right?

- Meesh

Regret

This came from a one dollar bag of "hard cider" that was pawned off to me once everyone else decided it was too disgusting.

Pretty much sums up my day and now all I'm filled with is regret.

I said good day.

- Meesh

Cardi Style

"It doesnt matter if you win or lose, all that matters is how good you look." -David Lee Roth

Fine words really, and thanks to a slow work week I've taken them to heart. 
You see its only Wednesday and I can not wait for the weekend.  I was in a bummer of a mood the last two work days and decided I needed to shake things up.

Cue the cardigan. 

This sucker ranks atop the leisure wear charts.  Carlton Banks would gladly trade his social status for an afternoon in this button up beauty.  Its basically an overdose of preppy swag.  I havent been able to stop listening to my "Gym" playlist.  I'm just too jacked up to be in the presense of such a fine whale bone print.
Whats that you say?  Brother Ali's "Self Taught" isnt work appropriate tunage?  "Fuck you this shit is amazing"

-McQ

Things that happened to me today:

 

• A man with obvious drug problems fell in love with me on the street and made it known to the world.
 
• I have proved that bright pink flats are a great conversation starter while you are in the elevator. I am pretty sure that people think you are much more personable when you are wearing a pair.
 
• I decided to get a weave. I talked to a co-worker and she suggested this one: http://www.esthersonline.com/retailer/articles/ret_articles.asp?storeID=V75NDS05JGPQ8LNAWRS1S2QWV759DGG9&MenuID=1450
 
• I ate an entire container of hummus.

K

 

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

It's recently come to light at Club Belmont that I lean on music when I'm down and out.

Though some were surprised to hear that my "angry with the world" musical choice was my Eminem Pandora station instead of perhaps the Tay Swift jams most might expect from 5'2" Meeshy.

I'm just saying, don't knock it till you try it. Who wants to hear all those love songs on the radio when you just want to express your inner slim shady? "Dr. Dre said...nothing you idiots! Dr. Dre's dead he's locked in my basement!"

That being said, I think people underestimate my appreciation for rap. While I'm not currently leaning on it to express my feelings I do have a recent obsession with Macklemore. If you haven't heard his Thrift Shop song yet then we're not friends...sorry.

Am I a week away from being able to recite the whole rap along with my boy Macklemore? Maybe.

Am I embarassed? Hellz no. I have mad skillz yo. (That's how you know I have street cred)

Soooo you might want to get in on this and if you learn the rap too I may let you be in my next music video.

- Meesh

More Gab from Gma

It is not my intention to make this into a blog about grandmothers. 
HOWEVER, with that being said, I would hate for any one of our 20 readers to miss out on the terribly awkward conversation i had the fortune of walking in on over the weekend...

Grandmother to my Mother: "You look so great, I'm so happy to hear everything is going well.  We love having you visit.  Also, I want you to know we pre paid for our funerals earlier this week."

QUIZ:
Q.) How did I cope with this awkard situation?
A.) Innapropriate Humor.  "Well then, I'm glad we kept that receipt."

-McQ

Lads and Lassies

I think this blog should now chronicle my misadventures in singlehood:

 

I got asked on a date yesterday... by a nice 60 year old Irish lad that walked me to the T in South Boston. I politely declined.

 

K

While the boys are out...

...The girls will have a nail polish party.

Last night the boys were out gallivanting. I know, it was mighty rude of them. How am I supposed to entertain myself when I'm home and they're not around to antagonize?

Solution? Stick it to the man and have a nail polish party with my fellow female residents who were home (throw in a box of Caramel Delights and a tube of frozen thin mints and you have lady heaven).

Boys: Please consider the aroma you came home to as a smelly high five from us to you. We missed you.

Bequest

Speaking of #firstworldproblems (or FTP [not to be confused with FTW]as I like to call them) I have been reflecting on the plethora of mine. In my current occupation, I am realizing that while living in the "first world" there are still a lot of major difficulties that are not even comparable to my petty trials and tribulations. Unlike kids that I work with, I have parents that have been married for some 27 odd years, a place to live, a bomb.com adventure mobile... Yet, I still have qualms about my life. In an effort to not complain, I will share some of these non-whiney things that make my life just a little salty sometimes followed by something that I am ever so grateful for.

This is where YOU, blogreader (aka Michelle and Steve and occasionally Mike) Please, give me some advice/guidance because we all know that I could darn well use it.

1. Delta Rae is playing in Cambridge in a few weeks. Tickets are sold out. What do I do?!
1.1. McQ just shared some epic music. I love epic music and people that love epic music. And Trampled by Turtles. I really love them

2. I need a shopping cart for a race that I am running that requires us to be a sled dog team. Once I get said cart, I also need to figure out how to get it downtown. Does anyone know the rules/regulations about taking a shopping cart on the T?
2.1. I have friends coming in from all over the place for this race and we are going to celebrate our living in Alaska and drinking beer together.

3. My cardies are CONSTANTLY wrinkled. I used to hang them in the closet and they would get stretched out. Now, I fold them nicely in a drawer. Nothing seems to stop them from creasing. Baby Girl ain't got time to iron every morning.
3.1. I am grateful for my cardies. They have seen me through it all.

That is it for now. I need to work. Deuces. KRo

Go ahead and tap a toe or 2

Recently, I’ve spent a lot of my work days writing extremely boring reports that contain an overabundance of information and not enough opinion, because well, my work doesn’t have time for opinions. 

I started to get worried that I would become a robot writing these reports and that my social skills would plummet just like it had for all of those “Biotechy” folks around me…#First World problems

I decided I needed to combat this growing social anxiety.  So, what I did was I started putting together some nifty playlists on Spotify.   Obviously I’ve started to get pretty good on the air drums and am comfortable in saying my social anxiety has wilted away.   

Just in case some of you were bored at work and were also worried that your corporate citizenship was ruining your social skills I’ve plugged in some nifty beats that are guaranteed to make you tap a toe or 2.

Lil Trampled by Turtles outta tickle your fancy

Oh Iration you make the dankest tunage

Gentlemen Hall has put together a great joggin track with this one

-McQ



Things I wish McQ wouldn't say to me on Gchat

McQ: i say go deep and try to make me cry

 

McQ: hmmm probably could have worded that better

 

M: yucky

  

McQ: yup not proud of where that went

Awkward Tuesday Night Chats

We've reached the point at Club Belmont where we're all comfortable and settled in with each other.

And while this is lovely that we've become a borderline functional, wine drinking family, it sometimes creates interesting conversations that end with us using sarcasm to calm our nervous laughter.

Usual items on our To Do list:

• Discussing ways to make residents' significant others feel as uncomfortable and creeped out as possible when they visit.
• Ideas include: 1. Lining up in the living room for the CB vetting process. 2. Making "WELCOME _____!" signs, balloons, and using excessive cheeriness to welcoming them into our home. 3. Sitting in a corner with only candles lit, wrapped in our house coat and slippers while drinking whiskey & smoking a cigar. (What I'm saying here is that we're idea people)
• Plotting group speed dating outings and confessing former ways used to meet men (trick of the trade: MBA info sessions are a gold mine ladies)
• Trying to make a Club Belmont sporting team - volleyball - but we're holding try outs and it's looking like a lot of us might not make the team.
• Why we're sitting in the living room by ourselves watching Criminal Minds and eating a block of cheese.
• DFMs (you know what I'm saying)

Is this how all 20 somethings live? Please say yes.

My Grandma Thought I Was An A Hole

I received some enlightening news last week.  
You see, I grew up approximately 1400 miles from my Grandmother.  Due to the distance she began to develop her own impressions on who I was based off of Christmas Letters.  This all ended 3 years ago when I closed the distance gap and moved to the same state as her...

My Uncle called me last week to update me on some of the fun issues he was dealing with at work and to confirm a date to go see a Maury Povich taping this spring (I'm not kidding).  He also wanted to relay something my grandmother had said..

GMa: "Cousin Steve is pretty funny isnt he?  I mean, he's veerrrrry sarcastic, but once you get used to that he's pretty funny."

Translation: My Grandmother thought I was an asshole for the past 3 years. 

-McQ

President's Day Blues

Stewing in my cube at lunch time on President's Day because I don't get to celebrate George Washington like a true American. Womp womp.

I just don't think it's fair good ole George doesn't get to see me from up in President heaven enjoying his day of birth by going to free skate with my fellow CBers...knew I should've taken a self-imposed snow day!

- Meesh

A Little Practical Advice From the Internet

There is a lot of crappy advice on the internet.

In particular, there is a lot of crappy advice on the internet regarding relationships, love, and sex.

Fortunately, mixed in with all the junk, there is some really great advice.

Now, I wouldn't be doing my job as a top notch blogger if I didn't help direct you to some of that good advice.

So... without further ado:

How to Eat Ice Cream Off a Woman's Ass


Happy Valentine's Day, kids.

-M

Yum.

There were a crap ton of girls carrying flowers on my commute today. Psh. You know what I did? I bought a box of coconutty caramely chocolatey cruchy Caramel Delights (aka Samoa's what the heck GSA) from some girls at the T station and PROUDLY paraded them around like the other girls did with their flowers. 

What now biotches? What now?

"Oh, what a girl can do!"

Yes, that is the actual slogan on the box...

Katie <3

Valentine's Day Counterpoint

Photo Cred: T. A. Tenney, honorary Club Belmonter

This was just spied by a male coworker... so just remember, if your having a crummy Valentine's Day, at least you weren't the person who had to write this note.

-Beast

VDay So Far...

High Point:

Friends awesome wife made us a heart shaped chocolate cake for a lunch time treat...she pinterests too so we're basically kindred spirits.

Low Point:

Too Old To Be Sharing Dating Stories with Me Coworker: "Oh yea, tonight we're making crab legs and I'm getting candles and then after dinner...(tone starts to take a turn for the overshare)"

Meesh: "I'm gonna stop you right there."



All in all not a bad day so far. Count it.

Happy Valentine's Day Ya'll!

-Elise the Beast

Pick the Pontiff

Earlier today I received an intriguing proposition.  I think you’ll find that the contents of this prop are quite topical; you’ll also begin to understand that my friends and I may have a gambling addiction… 

Email from College Roommate Benedict the 2nd

I am in no way shape or form responsible for his typo’s/grammatical errors.  He studied Engineering and writes at a 5^th grade level.

“Gentlemen,

I know you are all very excited about what will happen with the resignation of the Pope.  I am sure many of you have already been looking for Fantasy Pope leagues on ESPN, Yahoo, or the the Vatican website. Like you, I have not been able to find anything.

I have decided to put together a pool similar to the Masters pool we did last year.  Below are a list of the top Pope contenders.  I have tried to split them up into 3 tiers.  Tier one pretty much includes all of our favorites and I am sure you guys will recognize most of the names.  The second tier includes some established clergy, but most have been in some of the smaller less flashing archdiocese around the world.  The third tier consists of a few "Hail Marys."  These are the long shots, but picking one of these could generate a great upset and some serious bragging rights.

I am still trying to work out the details, but I think the best way is to pick one from each category.  I know there might be some duplicates, so please also note the number of days it will take the Conclave of Cardinals to make their decision. To make things easy, there will only be one payout for picking the winner (ties broken with the number of days).

When the white smoke comes and the Pope is announced, I am sure my wife can get something going in the crock pot and we can get everyone over to watch the first mass.  Good Luck!

Tier 1

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson

Cardinal Marc Ouellet

Cardinal Francis Arinze

Cardinal Angelo Scola

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

Tier 2

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri

Cardinal Claudio Hummes

Cardinal Wilfred Fox Napier

Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi

Archbishop Raymond Burke

Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera

Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi

Cardinal Timothy Dolan

Tier 3

Cardinal Camillo Ruini

Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn

Cardinal Ivan Dias

Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa

Cardinal William Levada

Cardinal George Pell

Monsignor Pietro Parolin

Thee Ray Lewis

let me know if you have any questions. 

Peace be with you!”

with your spirit,

-McQ

Not Top 10 playlist

Thanks to Steve Jobs we can share some of our finest moments from last nights "blizzard of the decade".

And let me tell you, this is a pretty accurate summation of us as a group (with two lovely guests) in all our glory.

Soooo without further adieu, here's some of Club Belmont's finest singing and snow time activities!

-Meesh

Day 2: Nemo Rages On

Club Belmont survived the night of the "epic" blizzard due to pure will power.

I'd also like to attribute our success to Ks chili, a Disney power hour, the game for horrible people - Cards Against Humanity, a late night storm walk, and alcoholic beverages.

This afternoon we were productive citizens. Just as we finished digging out the sidewalk and the Red Dragon a truck full of men, shovels, and a snow blower pulled up to dig us out. Good work team Belmont! At least they thanked us for doing their job I guess...

The driving ban has since been lifted but who needs cars when we can stroll across the street to the godsend that is Papa Johns. They're my personal hero in this storm, being open like the all star business establishment that they are.

Fingers crossed we make it through another night of Nemo and there's enough spiked apple cider to carry us through. In the meantime enjoy this photo montage:

- Meesh

We're still alive

7:20 pm EST
We're all still alive.  Z made it home and it turns out KT has friends, they joined in on our party.  We started playing Cards Against Humanity.  Its totes innaprops.
I only have a couple updates to make at this hour.

1. My playlist is nasty.  Spotify is my sponsor and tell ya what....they tickle my fancy (lots of Sara Bareilles)
2. A bowl of chilli makes the world go round, add cheese and i get gassy.
3. Oh yea, 2 inches of snow on the ground...max. BUT if you stick your foot in a clogged gutter like the guys on TWC you'll see the puddles are 4 inches deep.  #CripplingStorm

Keep following Club Belmont for real updates of Nemo...

-McQ

PS: When the fuck did we start naming blizzards?!

Nemo

For those readers not in the east coast area who have been subject to non stop news coverage about the cripling winter storm named Nemo, let me tell you its real, and its here. We're under a state of emergency.  Businesses are closed, I was sent home from work at noon.  Public transportation has been suspended.  Roads are to be clear by 4pm, those out driving will be subject for arrest...(solid use of resources)  

For real time updates on Nemo continue to tune into Club B...

2:58 pm EST
Meesh, KT, and McQ are all hunkered down in the apt.  We've lost M to the inclement weather and havent heard from Z in days so we assume she's fled the East Coast Area to avoid the white out.  Elise the Beast took the storm head on and traveled up to VT to shred some serious freshies. 
Our morale is high, we have bottles upon bottles of vino along with a stocked bar and about 20 assorted 6 packs.  Chilli is in the crock and there's an opened bag of Jax (cheese puffs) on the coffee table. 
We're tracking the storm on TWC and can see snow accumulating on car windshields.

Best of luck to you and yours,

McQ

Storm Watch 2013: Nemo's Coming for CB

Club Belmont's ready for you Nemo. Despite the fact that it's almost 9 AM and I have yet to see the flakes I was promised.

We have copious amounts of wine, beer, and residual Hurricane Sandy tea lights to carry us through. And that's mostly the extent of our preparedness because we refuse to join the crazies in hour long lines to get enough bread to last us till May.

Stay tuned, if we're lucky maybe we'll even capture an ill advised dance party or rap sesh on video.

Hurricane Sandy Rooftop Party 2012 - How Club Belmont rocks inclement weather.

BREAK THE CHAIN

In my life, I had two Valentine's (I mean, besides my mother of course) on Valentine's Day. The first was a guy I was dating who left me a Transformers card on my dorm room bed and cooked me spaghetti for dinner. This was great because I was in that "I'm an I.N.D.E.P.E.N.D.E.N.T. do you know what that means?" phase where I pretended that I could care less about a commercialized, over-rated, stupid holiday. Let's be real, I cared. All girls care. We pretend we don't want a cutsie little night with the beau. It's true that now our dream V-day might include more beer and pizza on the couch at home than our 16 year old selves would have envisioned. We still want celebration. So, I acted like I loved my card with cars turning into robots on the front and let my passive aggressive "independence" have its way.

Valentine number two I will refer to as the "Fiasco of 2006." This started like every other day in college. Woke up, got dressed, and opened the door and BAM. A box of chocolate and a note. What?! I have never gotten anything for Valentine's Day before. This is MAGICAL. My collegiate dreams were coming true! I had met the man I would marry and be having children in no time! Amazing. Best. Day. Ever. One flaw, the note had no name. Actually, it had a name "Your secret admirer." Ohhh, even more intriguing. I spent the day talking to friends, scoping out guys, pondering who ever could have left this lovely Russell Stover five piece chocolate heart at my door. It had to be my true love, obvi. I could tell my friends knew who the mystery man was. Their coy smiles couldn’t get past me. I had to get it out of them. I was finally annoying enough that they cracked. Who did they tell me I would marry, have kids with and live happily ever after with while sitting on our porch overlooking the ocean? NO ONE. They scammed be because they felt bad that I didn't have a Valentine. They had some dude write a love note to make me feel good about myself. Didn't work. I was slightly peeved that they made me spend the day thinking that I would be spending Valentine's Day evening with the man of my dreams, dining on fine food and feasting on his beauty. WRONG. Good intentions gone horribly wrong.

So, every subsequent Valentine's Day, I have indulged in wine and cheese and continued to pretend that I do not care that most of my 25 Valentine's Days have been spent alone. In truth, I don't care.

Also, if you are looking a different way to spend your February 14th, check this out:

 

http://www.vday.org/home

Valentines Day Agenda

A temporary employee who used to work in my department once pointed a finger at me and said the following...
"He's the competitive asshole jock!"
The poor woman was fired shortly after her outburst and is most likely spending the rest of her days w/ her two cats, Butterscotch and Sunshine, but thats neither her nor there. 
I guess my point is that I am in fact competitive.  I'm so competitive I'm willing to crown myself this years winner of Valentines Day.
Now, I'm not just declaring myself the winner because I'm a crotchety 25 year old single man who thinks calling himself a winner will make him feel happy on Valentines Day.  No, I'm going to win Valentines Day because I'll be approaching it from a different angle, one that defenses (feelings) can't prepare for.  I'll be making Valentines Day into a man's day.  I will refer to Valentines Day as Thursday.  I will leave the bathroom door open while I relieve my bladder.  I'll pan fry a steak in butter and eat it w/o a side of greens.  Will there be flowers? Absolutely not! (I will however light a pine scented candle and hope to catch Hitch on TBS.)
 

 xoxo

McQ

VDays Coming - Lock your doors!

Valentine's Day. There, I said it.

It's creeping up on us as today marks the one week countdown till the fateful day. I know everyone has their own opinions of this 'holiday' - all of you in the "It's my favorite holiday of the year!! Ahh pink and bows and love and stuffed bears!!" crowd may want to just breeze right past this post.

I know, I know this year I have a man friend to celebrate with so I technically don't have anything to be bitter about but I still just don't see the appeal. Spending excess money on silly gifts, having to make reservations at restaurants with stunted menus chock full of jacked up prices, and boxes upon boxes of chocolates I can't eat (damn you food allergies!!)...sounds like fun.

I'd prefer to just stay in, watch Hulu, and make dinner. This is basically every Thursday night for us soooo I'm naming myself the Valentine's Day Grinch. Bah humbug.

Talking about this with McQ yesterday got me thinking about how my current view of the day drastically differs from how 14-year-old me (full of so many teenage hormones and feelings) thought 20-something-year-old me would be basking in this holidays' charm.

• Diamonds and Rubies Bouquet in Crystal Vase • Pink Cuddly Hearts Bear • Love Words Card •  

• Lindt Chocolate Box • Romantic Dinner • Basket of Puppies •

• Half Yard • Home Made Pizza • Break & Bake • Hulu • Foodler • Blanket Please • Ben & Jerry's • Good Pinot Grigio •

I don't want to say I'm right but you have to admit, present day Meesh's version of VDay looks pretty great.