I’m sad that the blog has been a little stale lately but I’ve got a lot of stuff going on recently. First off - I’m traveling to Israel for 10 days on a birthright trip through Sachlav. The entire trip is paid for by Taglit-Birthright and we have an outrageous itinerary planned that will take us throughout the entire country and on trips such as kayaking in the Jordan River and visiting the Kotel (Western Wall). Also, I decided to rent a cell phone in Israel so I won’t use use my BlackBerry while I’m there. As I mentioned in this post awhile back I want to enjoy my vacation and stay away from e-mail and Twitter.

For those of you that haven’t heard, when I return from Israel I’ll be moving out to San Francisco to pursue internships at both a PR firm and a software startup for the summer. I’ve visited the city by the bay several times over the past few years and fell in love. I can’t wait to get a feel for the lifestyle out there and figure out if it’s somewhere I’d want to be when I graduate next year.

I plan on taking an unbelievable amount of pictures in Israel and I will be sure to post them here when I return.

Four of us have been growing our facial hair out for the past 2 months to participate in the annual Stache Bash ‘08 here at work. The above pic isn’t very good but we’re going to take some finals for the company blog. Just wanted to get this out there now.

The entire office is voting on the ’staches in the following categories: Most Disgusting, Bushiest, Most Interesting Style, Most Sex Appeal and Best Overall. The winner receives a hefty Starr Restaurants gift card and manly honor.

Wish me luck.

Update: Unfortunately I didn’t take the grand prize but I did win honors with “Sexiest ‘Stache”. Booya.

Just shaved my face with a razor for the first time in almost a year. I typically use a beard trimmer because well, when I’m completely shaved I look like I’m 15 years old. So why did I do it? We’re having a mustache growing contest at work which officially begins tomorrow, Feb. 1. Points are awarded on thickness, overall style and creativity. We’re allowed to keep a full beard until the final judging in April so I don’t have to walk around looking like a pedophile.

I think I’m going to shoot for the handlebar. Also, I’m going to snap a picture of my face every day so I can make a time lapse video when this is all over.

Three weeks flew by and I already find myself packing to go back to Philly - work and school. It’s going to be a pretty hectic week as I’m working on getting a NEAT Receipts beta product out to 150 testers and I start classes tomorrow at 1pm.

I enjoyed my time relaxing with old friends and my family. I got to see my niece Lily way too many times (a good thing) and I’m so amazed by how fast she is growing up. As much as I feel hesitant to get back to the city, its just my fear of change and I know I’ll love it once I settle into the daily grind.

Now that I’ll be on a somewhat more regimented daily schedule (ie not drinking all night and sleeping all day) I hope to update this blog more often. I’m going to start carrying my camera with me so I can capture more of my every day life.

Here we go.

• Figure shit out - I need to get motivated, finish school and find a job for my next co-op. My eyes are opening to how soon things are getting real, what with all of my friends graduating this year.
• Save money - The past two years I’ve blown through my income - both from work and my parents. I need to start saving up so that they can finally cut me loose and I can work on saving up to buy a place, renting is such a waste.
• Be more creative - Stress has allowed my mind to be riddled with too many issues to focus on creativity. I want to get serious with my music and write some songs, maybe record some stuff. I feel like wasted talent is a travesty.
• Eat healthy and get in shape - I’m the fattest and slowest I’ve ever been in my entire life. I need to make use of my expensive gym membership. I’ve been eating out way too much and I just want to get down to some healthy, organic grub.
• Make new friends - I don’t know why I get so shy lately, I have very few friends in Philly and I need a support system and people to just generally have fun with.
• Forget the past - What use is dwelling on the bullshit we’ve created for ourselves? I’d rather have friends than enemies and move on.

The best thing is I feel like these are all pretty easy to accomplish if I set my mind to it. To a new year of Ben.

Cheers.