Despite the foot of snow on the ground yesterday I still had to work. But, the office did have a delayed opening at 10:30, so that made it a little better. Plus, I weasled my way into taking my mom's Acura MDX, so I cruised in and flew home in record time. Nice SUV I must say, but a boring day of work. What you going to do?

Elena is getting settled into her new flat and they have an actual land line phone now. Hopefully it'll stay that way and she can get up and running on the Internet soon, although she'll probably still never use it. We'll see though. I'm leaving for London in two weeks and I can't wait. Should be a fun weekend. Hopefully there will be no snow to stop me from leaving or coming back. Who knows. That weekend last year there was a blizzard that dumped 18 inches of snow, so you never know.

Other than that, nothing new to report. I have a lot of errands to run on Saturday and then I have to work Sunday morning putting new servers into a rack and moving the rack into the server room. Tons of fun. And its the Super Bowl too, don't know what I'll be doing. Seth invited me to his apartment as he'll be having a bunch of guys over, don't know if I'll head out or now. Just have to wait and see.

Back to work. Peace.

Been watching 24 for pretty much most of the day and damn its a good show. I can't really remember to watch it every week, plus its kind of hard to keep track of what happens week to week, and sometimes more considering a new episode doesn't air every week. DVD is nice, because I can watch the next episode immediately, one after the other, instant gratification my friends.

I need to call Elena later tonight. She just moved into her new flat with her friend and I called this morning, but she was in cleaning mode. I can't wait to see her new flat and see her on Valentine's Day. I have a feeling it'll be really good.

I spent most of yesterday transferring last summer's season of Sex and the City from my video to the computer so I could send it to Elena, so her roommate could catch up. I'm just that good, I know. Just want to make the girl happy as best I can.

Now that she's in a new place, she doesn't have a phone yet, so contact will be even less, since she won't have internet in her new place, yet. So no IM, fewer e-mails and costly short phone calls to her mobile. But it'll all be OK I think. The less we talk I think the more she appreciates me. I still think the not talking everyday thing is working out, but only time will tell.

Back to 24, they just found the nuke for real now, and its about to get good!

Which explains why he feels the need to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. The bastard. But he's cute, so that makes up for it. I walked him, fed him and crawled back into bed and watched some American Idol from the week. Elena got me into the show and now I'm taping it for her so she doesn't miss out on it while she's in London. Now thats love my friends.

What do I have planned for this weekend? Absolutely nothing of particular note or interest. Need to get the oil changed in my car, hit the bank, and then watch a shitload of 24 on DVD. Oh what fun. Adios for now people.

Current music - 311 "Applied Science" (Live) Kick ass drum solo in this one.

Because dammit, I'm tired. I've spent the last two days at work moving stuff around. Wednesday it was mounting heavy as hell UPS's in a new server rack and then I started to mount the rails in the rack as well for all the new servers. We want to get those things in there ASAP and roll that sucker into our server room and plug everything in there, so it operates as peak efficiency.

Yesterday I helped facilitate moving the rack in there by clearing out the space that its going to go into by moving a lot of one-off single purple servers, most of them desktops to a different spot in the server room. Now they're all along a separate wall instead of on this desk that we need to move to make room for the new rack. I also spent my day behind the server racks disconnecting a server thats been off for a few months now.

So all in all, I've had a pretty labor intensive couple of days and I'm pretty sure I'll be doing more of the same today as I mount the keyboard and video stuff into the new rack, continue cleaning up the existing racks, finish mounting the rails for the new servers and maybe even moving that mammoth desk out of our server room. Who knows what today has in store. Only time will tell.

Enjoy your day, I'll be enjoying my weekend by doing absolutely nothing but watching TV and DVD's. I wouldn't want it any other way. Peace out people.

Current music - No Doubt "Ex-Girlfriend"

I usually wear contacts and my prescription hasn't been updated in about three and a half years, so I went to the eye doctor last weekend. I got a new prescription for contacts, which I already filled, and I got a prescription for glasses too. I figure I can wear them when I don't wear my contacts. My last pair of glasses were from like 1997 or 1998, so its weird to wear them again, considering I haven't really worn glasses since I got contacts back in the summer of 2000. Its weird and they're giving me a headache, but damn I can see clearly. Vision is in no way overrated.

Other than that, nothing really doing. Almost got electrocuted today at work. Lets just say never stick a pair needle nose pliers into a UPS's battery connector. It causes sparks. Thankfully I was holding the rubber handles, so I was safe, but damn it caused a big loud spark. Dying or ending up in the hospital would have been bad, really bad. But I'm OK. Lesson learned and we move on.

Watching the end of Smallville now, and very clearly I might add. Oddly enough Clark goes blind on this one. I can relate how nice it is to see these days. Peace out.

Took the optional holiday off today. Someone had to, and I figured after the week I had last week and the dumb concert I went to last night, a Monday off would be a good thing, and it has. I've done absolutely nothing today, except watch TV and some movies. Watching the horrible 2 Fast 2 Furious at the moment. Damn is it bad, I wonder my brother sees in this movies. Obviously the cars, but there's crap else besides the flashy rides.

Spoke to Elena briefly today and I think the not talking a lot thing is still working in my favor. I think she genuinely means it when she says she misses me and I miss her too. I can't wait to see her in a few weeks and I think that again, although the time we have together will be short, it'll be a good time. I can't wait to see her new place and get to know her new roommate. I'm sure she'll be a lot more personable and easy to talk to than her last one, the freaky German bitch.

I don't think this last week in her flat will be good for Elena, they're fighting about money and such, and thats never good. I hope it all works out in the end, but there's really nothing I can do from over here except be supportive, which is what I'm doing. The TV shows continue to flow and I think she's really appreciative of that, so I'll keep sending them. Its my pleasure.

Anyway, I'm going back to being lazy. Keyser and I have barely left the bed today and damn it feels good. We're both lazy bastards and I wouldn't have it any other way. Back to the crap movie. Adios for now.

Surprisingly enough I think its working, but not in the manner you'd expect. Its weird, but I've talked to Elena every day so far this week, albeit briefly each time, but we've talked. And, she's the one telling me to call her, not me calling her. So I think its working in my favor. I know it sounds retarded because we've been dating for 9 months, but the hard to get thing is actually working.

I think her knowing that I'm not going to call every day like clock work makes her appreciate me even more, so now she's seeking me out and asking me to call instead of taking my calls for granted. She's had a tough and stressful week it sounds, so I'm more than happy to be there for her when I can and help her out as much as possible. I mean I tell her that I'll talk to her in a few days, but if she needs me, she knows how to reach me, usually through either e-mail or IM, and she does, and says she could really talk to me.

By golly, I think I have something here. Who would've thought that talking less could be a good thing for a relationship, especially a long distance one. Usually you'd think that in the long distance thing you'd want to make sure you talk a lot so you don't lose the connection, but I think we, meaning me, over did it a bit, hence the problems we had to talk about. I think its all good now, so I feel much better about it all. She tells me she misses me and can't wait to see me, and thats what was missing before. So I'm back baby! Lets hope it continues.

I don't want to seem shallow, manipulative, childish or anything like that. I just want my relationship to work, and I think it is. I'm glad my suggestion is working out like I hoped it would because I don't want to screw this up. I'm just happy its doing the trick.

Adios, going to watch a Netflix movie or something, since Will & Grace sucks and is all about the guest star of the week. I honestly don't think they've had an episode this season without one. Messed up. Peace.

Current music - Wilco "Heavy Metal Drummer"

I'm almost there, the light at the end of the tunnel. I've spent the last five month, since I started my job, working on upgrading the companies e-mail system, and now I'm almost done. All I have to do, probably tomorrow night, is move mailboxes and thats it, I'm done. We're running an all Exchange 2000 system. I'm a nerd, I know, but this is what I do all day, worry about e-mail and crap like that. Its all good though.

Elena is psyched because she found a new flat with her best friend in school. The place is like a 3 minutes walk from her school, as opposed to an hour or so train/tube ride. I'm happy for her, as she didn't enjoy living with her other roommate, a 45 year old German woman stuck in the punk era, complete with short red hair, tattoos and piercings. Now she'll be living with a good friend and it'll be much better for her. I'm happy because her life will be somewhat easier in London than it had been, so thats good. I can't wait to see the new place in February.

So thats about all thats new. Watching "The Office" which I rented from Netflix. I liked Coupling, so maybe other British humor will appeal to me. So far its OK. Adios for now.

I know thats a pretty blanket statement, but I don't understand them, nor do I think I ever really will. My girlfriend for example, this I don't get. She is a very emotional person, she even keeps a list of movies that she's cried at, but sometimes she can't show emotion about us and our relationship. Maybe its just her way of surviving the distance between us, I don't know. But I'm not going to get pissed about it, thats what got me into trouble the last time. I know I need to stop pining so much and just live my life and not obsess so much over the things I can't change.

We talked today and agreed to not talk so much as I think that the more we talk, the less we have to say and the less meaningful each conversation is. So to keep it fresh, I'll call less, and save some money and aggravation about trying to talk to her and having her fall asleep on the other end. So in the end, I think its all good and it will help.

Don't get me wrong, I know she loves me a lot, and I love her, I just want this thing to work out between us, and I think this will help. We'll see though, only time will tell. Thats it for now, watching the Ninth Gate. Got it from Netflix and need to keep my queue moving. Peace.

Whoa-oh, alright, I gotta learn how to take it!

Sorry, couldn't help being cheesy. So Elena left last night. Her father and I, reprising our roles from when we picked her up, dropped her off at the airport. Surprisingly it went quite smoothly, very little to no tears shed. I think because we know we're going to see in each other in a month for Valentine's Day and stuff. Last time she left she was leaving into this great unknown and who knows what would've happened, but I think our relationship is in a stronger place now than its ever been, so it's all good. I miss her, thats for sure, but I'm used to the long distance thing, so I think I'll be OK. I know I need to learn to stop obsessing over it, and I think I will.

I also know that I have to find ways to stay busy and somehow I don't think that's going to a problem. Work will keep me plenty busy in the coming months as I finish up my big e-mail system upgrade and my company looks heavily into moving office locations. That'll be fun, let me tell you. The overtime will be nice, thats for sure. Other than work I'll find some way to keep myself busy at night and on the weekend. Maybe I'll finally learn how to play the guitar. I can dream, can't I?

So thats about it. Gonna watch a movie or something, maybe the Ranger game, they're playing the Islanders. Let's go Rangers!!!

Current music - Switchfoot "Meant to Live"

Elena's visit stateside that is. I'll be sad to see her go, but I know she has to go back and finish what she started. Hopefully the time will fly by and she'll be back again real soon, for good. All in all I have to say it was an amazing time, and its still not over, I have 48 more hours or so of her on American soil.

It was a little bumpy the first week she was back, mainly because of the feelings I had that needed to get out and also because she was here for a whole week and I barely saw her. But ever since my party on the 20th of December we basically saw each other non-stop.

She got sick and I helped take care of her as best I could, Christmas was great to spend with her and her family. New Years was calm, just a quiet evening at home, but thats OK. All the time off from work in between was nice, especially all the time Elena spent at my house. She basically moved in for a week and a half, leaving only to go home and go to work, and then coming back as soon as she could.

It sucked to have to go back to work on Monday because I knew that at the end of the work week she'd be leaving to go back to England, but I think we'll be OK. I think we have a great shot to make it through this and still be together if thats what we really want, and I think we both do, and thats a comforting feeling.

She's hanging out with some coworkers of hers tonight and tomorrow night we're hanging out with her cousin who lives right around the corner from me, so we'll see each other tomorrow and Friday before she leaves. Nothing more I can do. Its all good though. I had a blast.