Title courtesy of Our Lady Peace. Great Canadian rock band. I've seen them live at least twice, and they put on a great show both times out. Don't know what happened to them since their last album though. They've sort of fallen off the face of the Earth. Hopefully they'll be back soon. And with a better disc than their last effort.

Moving on. Life progresses at the moment. Its kind of a status quo type thing. Nothing crazy to report really. I'm just plodding along at a decent pace. Stuff with the house purchase are sort of in a holding pattern at the moment. Everyone has everything that they need, for the most part, we're just waiting on a closing date, which might prove to be the trickiest part of this whole deal. The seller works for a school somewhere, so she'd prefer to close and move over the holiday break at the end of December. That's when we'd prefer to move too, but we'd rather close and have the house before then, so that we can do some work on it while its empty, before we move in. It needs some electrical work done, that Missy's dad is going to help us with, and once that's done, its time to take down way too much wall paper, repaint, re-carpet, or just pull up some carpet and redo the floors that are supposed to be underneath. All things we'd like to do before we move in and our stuff gets in the way. Its not a lot of stuff, but still, its all much easier to do in an empty house then one that we're in the process of moving into. I spoke to our lawyer today and explained the situation. The seller was even thinking of closing in the beginning of January, which is a no-go for us. Our mortgage rate lock expires pretty much at the end of December, so we have to close by then. Plus, our contract states on or around December 1, so its got to be before the end of December. Its all very annoying, but I'm going to leave it in the lawyers hands.

Other than that, there really isn't anything exciting to report. I started hitting the gym again and working with a personal trainer. Its been about three months since I stopped going regularly and working with someone, and after my first appointment this past Monday I am beyond sore. Moving my arms, and in general my entire upper body is tough. I'm so stiff, words can't describe it. I'm going back tonight to work the lower body, so I have a feeling walking is going to be a bit tough this weekend. Yippee! Especially since Missy and I are taking part in a walk/run for charity on Sunday morning through Central Park. We joined up with one of the spin instructors from our last gym who we've become friendly with and it should be fun. We're definitely not running it, so we'll just walk. I think its like 4 miles or so, nothing crazy. I think the March of Dimes walk we do in the spring is longer, so I'm not too worried.

So that's about it. Life is full of a lot of sitting around and waiting. Its funny, when we first started this house buying process it was all about getting things done quickly, now, not so much. It was like, hurry up and wait. I love it.

Oh well. Enough for now. Peace out!

Title courtesy of Michael Jackson, ewww, I know. Well, he did the original, but I've been fascinated for quite some time by Fall Out Boy's version of the song, for a few reasons. One, its a song they've produced that doesn't suck entirely, a rare feat for them I sincerely believe. Don't get me wrong, they have a few decent tunes, like Sugar, We're Going Down and This Ain't A Scene, but the bad far outweighs the good. Second, John Mayer provides the killer guitar solo in the bridge that Eddie Van Halen pulled off in the original version of the tune. So right off the bat I'm intrigued. Regardless, its a good tune, even if it is a cover song.

Anyway... in other news, today is election day, so no matter who wins this election, it is definitely time for good ole Dubya to beat it out of the White House, which satisfies me to no end. But I don't really want to talk politics. I'l just say our last president did a pretty shitty job in my eyes, and I'm glad he'll be gone soon enough.

The house acquisition continues. All of our documents are into the mortgage company and we locked in a decent rate. It was kind of on the high side, but with the outcome of the election possibly causing a fluctuation in rates, I wanted to lock into something OK before they go up. If they happen to go down again, we can float down once at the cost of half an interest point, which isn't all bad. The appraisal is being done on Wednesday, and once we have that back we can send it into the insurance company so we can get our home owner's insurance and we should be all set to close, whenever that happens! Interesting and scary times, that's for sure.

In other news my stomach has been killing me all day and all I want to do is go home, lay on the tiny ass love seat that constitutes the only sofa in out tiny ass apartment and watch the Rangers beat the piss out of the Islanders tonight at the Garden, interspersed with election coverage. Sounds like a plan to me.

Peace out... and beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it...

Title courtesy of the Rolling Stones. I'm not the biggest fan of the Stones, but I can dig their hits, for the most part. I'd go see them live, but I sure as hell wouldn't pay what they charge for a ticket.

Anyway, so my apologies again for not posting in awhile. Life has been a little crazy now that we're buying a house, and I'm sure that it will get even crazier once we finally move in. But I'll try to be good, I promise! I gave our mortgage company an entire portfolio of documentation for our application last week, and we're just waiting to get back a commitment letter from them to give to our attorney. This has got to be the most complicated thing I've ever gotten involved in. The amount of paperwork we had to generate was beyond ridiculous. I realize that its because of the current state of economic affairs in this great nation of ours, but seriously, it was a lot of stuff. A few trees definitely sacrificed their lives for the copies I had to make of every statement for every account we have that holds any amount of money over the last two months. Add in two recent pay stubs, two years of W-2's and we're talking almost 75 pages of stuff I had to give them. The best part was, because the bank statements showed deposits made before and after our wedding of sizable amounts, I had to include a signed letter explaining the deposits as wedding gifts, along with a copy of our marriage certificate and wedding invitation. The invitation. I'm serious. But all the information is in their hands, and even though we've already been approved, we just have to wait for the commitment letter. We're hoping we'll get it by the end of the week.

In other, non-house related news, the devil I allude to in the title bar has been an addiction in my household since I signed up for it after my bachelor party, at my best friend's recommendation. I'm talking about Facebook. Don't get me wrong, its a great site, that I enjoy using a lot. It is just a massive waster of time, and for as many people as it allows you to reconnect with that you want to reconnect with, there's also those people that you reconnect with, that you really have no interest in talking to ever again, but you just can't help yourself.

Let me explain, in a few examples. There was this kid that lived across the hall from me in college that was, to put it in the most simplest terms, a bit of an asshole. He was only really nice to me when he wanted something, like to play my Nintendo 64 or something. He also happened to be in another really close, current friend of mine's fraternity in college. So through that they found each other on Facebook and then the guy sent me a friend request. Now, I know I should have just denied it and moved on, but I accepted it, mostly so he could see that all was good in my life now. Shallow? A little, I admit, but what can you do? I get a lot more shallower... trust me.

Last example. By some odd coincidence, my sister-in-law's really good friend, is cousin's with the guy that Missy dated right before me. Confused? Me too, a little. Anyway, they found out about this connection last year at my sister-in-law's bachelorette party. Once Missy got on Facebook they friended each other, and whatnot. I friended her too so that she could see pictures I posted from our wedding and honeymoon and whatnot. So fast forward to about two weeks ago when I see the friend comment on her cousin's pictures of a new TV he bought. He was hugging the box in a slightly inappropriate manner, so I told Missy about it. She then sent the guy a friend request so that he could see that she was happily married now as well. So I guess the shallowness, if we're calling it that, runs through Missy and myself. So they chat back and forth a little, and in the middle of all this, completely unrelated, she gets an e-mail from her ex-boyfriend that she dated for like 5 years, about some mail he had that was hers. She replies back and the chat a little, again, she sort of rubs it in that she's married now and happy.

Fast forward about two weeks ago when Missy and I went out for wings and beer with her parents. A few too many pints of Guinness later, and Missy and I come to the conclusion that I should friend Elena on Facebook, just to see what happens. Sure enough, I send her a little message saying what's up, hope all is well with you... blah blah blah. The usual. Deep down inside, I really just want her to see that I'm happily married, I know, shallow... anyway... so eventually she accepts and comments that she's doing good, but not as well as me as she can see that I'm married and all is good. Now here's where I feel like a bit of an asshole. In chatting back and forth with her, I find out she was in a horrible car accident a few months back and has been out of commission for awhile. I'd never wish that on anyone, of course, and it really made me feel bad, for her and for friending her just so she could see I was married. Anyway, long story short, as great as Facebook is, its also evil. Like the devil.

Title courtesy of Led Zeppelin. What the hell ever happened to those rumors of their reunion tour? I'd so be on board for that, regardless of the outrageous price you know they'd charge for something like that. Although my wife might kill me, it'd be worth it, I know it.

Anyway, I apologize for the lack of updates recently. Its one of those cases of life getting in the way of everything else you'd like to do. I have to admit, its been pretty chaotic and hectic around here recently, but all in good ways, for a change. When we left off last time Missy and I were just starting to go house hunting. Well, our hunt is complete. In the past, oh, two weeks, we looked at about 10 houses, found one that we really liked, but in an offer, negotiated back and forth with the owner, agreed on a price, got the house inspected, found a lawyer, signed a contract and had the seller sign her half of the contact. So yeah, we're officially in contract to buy a house! How nuts is that? I'm pretty blown away by the whole experience as well. Its kind of hard to believe that its real and happening. But it is. We're anxiously awaiting getting our copy of the contract back so that we can start shopping around for a mortgage. Our anticipated closing date is on our around December 1, so that basically means we have until the end of the month to close. Hopefully all will go smooth with the mortgage shopping and we won't have any problems. I'm not too worried, both Missy and I have fantastic credit and secure jobs (I hope, she doesn't have to worry, she's tenured!).

I'm really excited though. The house is a great size for us, and we shouldn't really outgrow it, unless we have like 5 kids, but I don't see that happening. We got it for a great price, especially considering the neighborhood we bought in. Houses typically go for $100,000 more, easily, in that area. We got a good deal because basically the house is going to need some updating in the near future. Everything is perfectly livable with the way it is now, but in a few years things like the kitchen, and all two and a half bathrooms will need to be gutted and redone. But like I said, its totally usable now, so in a while when we have the savings, we'll redo everything. Of course even before we move in we'll do some work to the electrical, with Missy's dad's help, paint and redo the floors. Some carpets need to be replaced and supposedly there's wood floors underneath the carpet, so we're going to want to possibly redo those. And for me, the den is a nice sized and has a wall that's perfect for hanging a flat screen TV. I'm thinking a 52 inch LCD. First choice.

So that's the big news! Nothing else that's really major to report. Missy and I went to one of her good friend's wedding last night. Missy was a bridesmaid and she looked amazing in her dress and with her kind of funky, for her hairdo. The wedding was really beautiful and we had a blast, but we're both crazy exhausted today. Damn those people and their Sunday wedding! (I shouldn't talk though, I had a Sunday wedding, and I'm just kidding, it was awesome!)

And that is all for now.

Title courtesy of Jack White and Alicia Keys, of all people. They collaborated to make the theme song for the latest James Bond flick "Quantum of Solace." The song is actually pretty decent, and you should know by now that I'm a huge fan of practically everything Jack White does. They song is pretty decent, although I think the last Bond theme, "You Know My Name" done by Chris Cornell two years ago was better, this one is still good. Check out the video!

Anyway, I know Jack White is a little freaky looking, but the dude's a little eccentric, you have to cut him some slack in that respect. He's like a mad genius in my eyes, and to my ears. He's one of those guys that I would love to just have 1% of his musical talent at my fingertips, literally. His guitar playing is unreal, and, as proof, a few years ago Rolling Stone did a top 100 guitarists of all time list and he came in at 17, which I think is fitting. But I take objection to a lot of other placings on the list. Like Kurt Cobain at number 12? Don't get me wrong, the guy could write a hell of a song, but a great guitar player, he was not. Everyone below him on the list could have wiped the floor with Cobain. Like, say Eddie Van Halen at number 70? That's just wrong. And the worst travesty, to me and I'm sure a bunch of other people, is Pink Floyd's David Gilmour at number 82?! I mean, come on! Have you never listened to the guitar solo in "Comfortably Numb?" What's wrong with you Rolling Stone. And, the one thing I too the most offense with, no Pearl Jam. That was something they corrected a few years later with a cover story about the new guitar gods, which included a cover shot of John Mayer, John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Derek Trucks. Inside the article, they said that they should've included Pearl Jam's Mike McCready and Stone Gossard in the Top 100 list a few years earlier.

OK, so enough ranting about music. Its been a pretty relaxing few days around here in the good old one bedroom apartment. Its so great here that we begin our fateful journey into the land of house hunting today. We're meeting our real estate agent, who sounds awesome so far, at an open house she's doing this afternoon, and then she's going to take us to see a few places. Its all very exciting, but extremely scary at the same time. Mostly its the money aspect of it. I'm not worried that I can't afford it, not at all. What scares me is the idea that someone is willing to lend me (and I know I shouldn't say me, because Missy is on the hook for this too) almost half a million dollars to buy a home, an amount that I'll have to pay for over the next 30 years. 30 years! I'm just turning 30 in November, so the thought of paying for something for as long as I've been walking this Earth, from birth until now, is kind of scary. Hell, its not kind of scary, its full on terrifying. But I have complete and utter faith that our agent won't steer us wrong and will try to get us the best possible. Hell, the woman's daughter works with Missy and was a bridesmaid at the wedding. I think she already told her mom to treat Missy and myself just like she would her and her husband. So that's comforting.

Other than that, there is absolutely nothing to report. Our appointment to meet the real estate agent isn't until 3:45, so we'll be spending the morning and early afternoon trying to whittle down 800+ wedding photos to the 75 that we'll be putting in our album. That sounds like fun. And, there's a Ranger game on at noon. The season started yesterday with my good old Broadway Blueshirts winning 2-1 over the Lightning in Prague of all places. Pretty cool. Hopefully they can repeat today too!

That is all for now. Carry on.

Title courtesy by the amazing, but sadly dead, Jeff Buckley. Its off his second album that was never really completed before his death. It was supposed to be called, the album, not the song, "My Sweetheart the Drunk," but after he drowned in the undertow caused by a passing tugboat on the Wolf River, which feeds into the Mississippi in Memphis, they released it as a double album, some songs in very rare form as "Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk." There's a little Jeff Buckley knowledge for you. I should know something after reading a biography on him and his father, Tim Buckley. Both famous musicians who were very talented and died very young. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, go out and buy Jeff Buckley's "Grace" right now. You've probably heard his version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" played on five thousand TV shows as an emotional end to an episode. I know The West Wing, The OC, and House have all done it. Oh yeah, and the song made a resurgance last year due to some contestant on the crappy show American Idol singing it.

Anyway...

I know its not December 31st, 2008 or January 1, 2009, but technically, its still the new year, the Jewish New Year! Do I have a prayer for this new year? Not really. How about peace on Earth and good will towards men? Too Christmas-y? Probably, especially for a Jewish High Holiday. I do hope for a good year to come though. I hope to be out of a one bedroom apartment with my new wife and into a decent house that we can afford, especially in these uncertain financial and political times. But that's about it.

I spent the first night of the holiday, because yes, we rock New Years so hard, its gotta be spread over more than one night, at my parents house with family and their friends. A good time was had by all. I was especially psyched since Missy made my all-time favorite dessert, tiramisu. Don't ask me why I like it so much, I just do. It was her first attempt ever at making it, and she was going off a recipe a co-worker of hers gave her, and I have to admit, it was pretty damn awesome. The only complaint I would have was that there was a little too much alcohol in there, but that's really my fault. When she was making it she had me taste the cream filling and she asked if I though it could use more rum. Of course I said yes, but how was I supposed to know? Regardless, most of the tray of it was gone by the time dessert was over with. And its comforting to know my wife is capable of making a kick-ass version of my favorite dessert. So, I'll continue to keep her around awhile longer... kidding, of course! She's awesome and I've never been happier.

Tonight we shift the festivities to her parents house, where my parents will be joining us as well, along with Missy's brother's soon to be in-laws. I know, its complicated. I should really make a chart one of these days. Again, looking forward to it and it should be a good time had by all. Hopefully it'll be an early night though, because I'm exhausted and I know Missy is too, considering she barely slept last night, which in turn kept me somewhat awake too. Those are just my hopes and prayers, for the next few hours at least.

I'm leaving work early for the holiday, but heading directly to Best Buy after work to pick up some new DVD's. Specifically Iron Man and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Two great flicks, both in their own right. I will have plenty of time to watch them in the next two days that I'll be taking off.

So that is all. Happy New Year! (If you celebrate it, that is)

Title by... oh come on! Do I really have to tell you who I credit that one to? Fine, Guns N' Roses. And if you didn't know that you should be ashamed of yourself! Go out and buy a copy of Appetite For Destruction immediately.

Anyway. I'm about to head into the city for an afternoon work meeting, and then I'll head home to relax for the evening and watch TV. New episodes of the Office tonight! I can't wait for that one. I already told Missy that due to it starting to suck big time, Grey's Anatomy has no place on my HDTV's DVR box. It will get relegated to the bedroom DVR box where we can watch on a 13 inch, non-HD screen. That's how bad that show has gotten. Supernatural, on the CW, is way more deserving of a spot on the HDTV, and that's what it will get.

Nothing major to report, other than Missy and I will start house hunting in the very near future. We spoke to our real estate agent, the mother of one of Missy's bridesmaids, so I have no fear that she will not steer us in the wrong direction. I'm just waiting on a call from one of her people about a credit check and pre-approval for a mortgage or something like that. I'm all so very clueless about it, and I hope I get educated, and fast!

Alright, that's all for now. Gotta get some lunch and hop a train. Adios!

Title courtesy of Nine Inch Nails. I filled out an online survey for them this morning, and I was rewarded with a free live clip of this song done at Red Rocks in Colorado, which looks like an awesome venue to see a show at.

There are about a million other things I'd rather do than work at the moment, and blogging is one of them. Really, all I'm trying to do is kill the rest of my day. I have about 52 minutes until quitting time, so once that hits, I'm out of here! Missy and I are going to try a new gym tonight, although I'm not sure just how up for it I am at the moment. I pulled a muscle in my back somehow while I was in Boston. I blame it on my uncomfortable hotel room bed and all the tossing and turning I had to do just to get comfortable in it. So I've been living with this sharp pain that just won't go away. I've been regularly applying the heating pad to it and taking Advil around the clock on the advice of my doctor, but all to no avail. I feel better in the short term, but there has been no permanent solution I can see. Aside from a full-on backiotomy.

Aside from the back pain I had myself a decent weekend. Friday night Missy and I relaxed at home and watched a movie, all whilst laying on a heating pad. Saturday was the usual mix of laundry, guitar lesson and other errands around my parents house, and then home so that Missy and I could get ready for our respective evenings. She had a bachelorette party to go to and it was Seth's 30th birthday party, which was a lot of fun. And I figured I knew enough people there that I didn't need to bring my wife with me just to have someone to talk to. We both had fun at our respective functions though, which was cool. Sunday was spent watching football on TV and resting on the couch with the previously mentioned heating pad firmly attached to my back.

So now its Monday and the start of a lovely week. Tomorrow will see me driving to and from Philadelphia, a possible three hour drive in each direction, for an hours worth of work, but that's the game.

That is all for now. Class dismissed.

Title courtesy of John Mayer. Its funny, I'm a huge fan of the guy's music, and I think he's hilarious to boot, but I can't stand him being in the tabloids so much. Missy has a subscription to US Weekly, and it seems ever since he dated Jessica Simpson his personal life has been splattered across those rags pages. Before that, no one gave a crap. I also think its kind of funny that he started dating that no-talent, only good for a pair of boobs "singer" right when his last album came out. Interesting. And especially since that stuff with Jennifer Aniston, Missy has stated that she can't stand him as a person, but she still loves his music. Hell, every time I call her, my assigned ringtone is Gravity. Anyway, enough about John Mayer.

So, I'm home from the greater Boston metropolitan area. I finished up with my customer on Wednesday afternoon and stayed the night, and drove home Thursday morning. Crazy early too! Missy didn't want me driving home at night, all tired from a days work, but she didn't say anything about early morning! I woke up at 3 AM, left the hotel by like 3:30 AM and was home a little after 7:00 AM. Not bad for some traffic and a pee break slowing me down. I've been working from home on some stuff in the meantime, so its not like I'm not doing anything, you know? Its funny though, because I called Missy at about 7:00 AM to tell her I was just leaving Boston. She said she was just hopping in the shower, but that she'd call me when she was done so she could talk to me while I drove and keep me company for awhile. I tried my best not to laugh, as I wanted to surprise her, and I made the call maybe a mile or two from our apartment.

I pulled up and got the door to our place and was hoping that one of the locks wasn't on the door. There's a lock that you can only lock and unlock from the inside, and we usually lock it only when we're both home. This morning happened to be the one time in probably a million that it wasn't locked. Whew! So I snuck in quietly, and heard her in the shower. I peaked my head in the bathroom, pulled the curtain back a little and she was turned away from me. So I just said, "Hi!" and scared the ever loving piss out of her. She jumped out of her skin and I thought she was nearly going to slip and fall and kill herself, but thankfully she remained steady on her feet. She was so happy to see me, and I her!

I really did miss her while I was gone, and I know its going to suck equally as much when I have to go away on business again. I'm not sure when that will be, hopefully not for a month or so, at least, but I know there will be some trips coming up. I think I have another one to Dallas on tap, as well as possible trips to Atlanta and Green Bay. And, I get to drive to Philly for the day on Tuesday to do an hour or two worth of work, tops. Nothing like spending more time in the car than working!

Alright, enough typing. Back to work, or rest. One of the two.