Joel Gross's Blog

I went down to my grandparents house today and picked up my laptop. It is a monster with a screen larger than my desktop and the best available gear running it. I got a pretty good deal on it and the backpack to carry it. I am excited to go home and start to use it with all the cool software I’m currently downloading and installing. It’s going to be great to be able to go and do work at coffee shops and friends houses rather than just sitting at home.

Next on my list of upgrades is my apartment… I think I’m finally starting to close in on a new place.

I hopped off the bus today and this girl ran by me and yelled something, but I couldn’t hear her due to the traffic noise. A bit later, I was walking over to my friends’ house for a dinner party and I saw her again walking towards me. She was staring at me with this funny look and said, “The second time’s got magic” and I was confused and kept walking. Right as she passed me she turned around and grabbed my ass and said, “Mmmm.. nice…” and kept walking and giving me sultry looks over her shoulder. I was so shocked, I just stopped and started laughing my ass off and continued my way over to the dinner party. She looked like a regular college student, not like a bum, which was the strangest part. Oh well, it’s kind of nice to have someone break you out of your comfort zone and make you laugh- so cheers to the craaazy girl!

I just bought a new laptop today so I can work from wherever I wish. It’s pretty sweet:

-17” monitor
-Core 2 Dual 1.6 Gig processor
-2 gigs of RAM
-160 Gig HD
-DVD burner
-nice graphics card with it’s own memory
-carry backpack

Sympathy comes from experience. When you have never had something happen to you, you have a difficult time emotionally relating to those who have had it happen. As all of my two readers probably know, I went through a painful breakup a while back. I really had no idea that it would hurt this much before it happened and now that it has, I have a much deeper appreciation for what some of my friends have gone through in the past. I was clueless as to what it was actually like to lose someone I really cared for (this was the first time I was actually in love). When Faryar had his ex-girlfriend cheat on him, I had no idea how he felt and was pretty brash. I remember making a joke to the effect “the player finally got played”… now I can see that that was really fucked up. But I didn’t know any better at the time, which is probably why he didn’t punch me. What really blows me away is how rough it must have been on Jeremy (and also Rachelle) when he and Rachelle broke up for the first and second times- they were together for a really long time and actually lived together for a period of time. I’m amazed that he managed to pick himself back up and keep trudging on after that one.

I wonder how many other experiences I’ve downplayed thus far, but will go through in the future? The saying, “walk a mile in a man’s shoes” really starts to hit home.

The only thing you can really do when this situation happens is to try to learn as much as you can from what you did wrong (and right) in this relationship and try to make myself a better person for the next lady who comes into your life. I most assuredly have a lot to learn still.

I met my potential biological father on Sunday and spent all day hanging out with him. He was one of the nicest guys I have ever met and I had a great time talking to him and showing him around a little bit. I gave him a tour of the UW campus, went to eat at Cedar’s Indian restaurant, visited Gasworks park, ate dinner at Chipotle’s and finished up meeting his cousin and her friend at the U-district Lounge.

His name is Bruce Eide and he is about 6’2” and seems to have a similar build to mine (though of course he’s 52 and has never really worked out). His hair color was like mine but his is thinning and his eye color also seemed to be the similar weird greenish color I have. I think that we had a lot of similarities, but won’t be sure until we get the DNA test done and know for sure.

I really liked interacting with him, he was very laid back and chill and seemed to enjoy himself. I’m looking forward to perhaps visiting him in Sioux Falls at some point (and seeing his 600 hp Ferrari Stradale!)

Fletcher came up with a goofy nickname for Bruce when I was telling about everything that happened… Newdaddy/Nudaddy/Nudedaddy lol.

If you call me, always be sure to leave a message or I may not know that you called. I had called Melanie (the girl with the gorgeous house I hopefully may move in to) on Sunday and again yesterday to see if I could come out and meet her roommate and see if they were going to be okay living with a guy. I never heard anything back and assumed that they had decided they wanted a girl, but then i got a message last night from her and she said she had tried to call me on Sunday too and both calls had gone directly to voicemail. So if you want me to know you called, please leave a message. Thanks!

I have been watching the real estate market for several years now and I think it’s become a bubble and will pop soon. The subprime loans market has already plunged and if interest rates continue to rise, other sectors will collapse as well. This will lead to massive foreclosures, which will in turn create a supply glut and prices will drop. Which all would make me a happy man, because I will be able to buy my first home soon!

I just read an interesting article in the NYTimes that tells you how to tell if you dog loves your or not by which direction his tail wags. If his tail wags right, he has positive feelings towards you and if it wags left he is uncomfortable/fearful.

One week ago I bought a million shares of stock in ATLJ for $.0022 ($2k) and sold it yesterday for $.0039 a share ($3.7k)… a gain of about 70%. Brilliant!

My company got an article on the front page of the Business section of the Seattle Times today. Check it out