Originally uploaded by omaciel. I just had to post this one… Apparently Jim Caple, ESPN.com senior writer, took the time to explain why so many people hate the Yankees (I’m actually a Yankees fan). Read an except from his latest book "The Devil Wears Pinstripes."

My personal quest of gathering as much information as possible on the requirements to enroll into a PhD program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill continued last Friday. I was up and early for my appointments at the Department of Computer Science considering I went to sleep really late the previous night. It was my sister’s birthday so I took her out to the movies and a late dinner.

The day I fly to North Carolina has finally arrived. I’m extremelly excited about this trip for it could be the kick in ass I need to get back on track with my goals. I’ll be staying at my younger sister’s apartment which I believe is near the UNC's Chapel Hill campus. She's already scheduled 4 interviews with the chairs of 4 different departments and I have just emailed her to try to get me 2 more.

My daughter’s daycare was closed today due to the weather. Eventhough there’s less than 2 inches of snow on the ground they decided that it was safer not to open today. I think they just used a very lame excuse to have a day off and since they get paid no matter what, it doesn’t hurt them in the pocket. So today I brought my daughter to work with me for the first time.

Matt Frondorf has just completed his journey from NYC to San Francisco, taking a picture of the surroundings at every single mile along the way!!! What a great way of sampling the vast differences of our great nation! The web site is pretty cool as well.

Every Wednesday night has been “Enemy Territory Night” for Vinny and I for quite some time now. I’m a confessed E.T. addict and have been known for taking just any free second I can squeeze out of my tight daily agenda just so I can play a little bit. Tonight is the only time during the week when I can forego my house chores so I can solely concentrate on the game.

Today was my first day back to work since last Wednesday when I flew to Boston to attend Linux World Expo. It started out just like any other day: woke up early, drove daughter to daycare, crawled through traffic on the FDR Drive, parked across the street and coughed up the $11 daily rate, signed in at 8:25am, walked into my cubicle, said hello to my co-worker… Only there was no reply… there was nobody sitting there… in fact, the space previously taken by my Russian friend was empty!