So I had to come into work this morning at the ass crack of dawn. I'm talking 6:30 AM I walked into the building. Its really not so bad as the OT will be nice considering the bumper I need to have replaced tomorrow and the moving that I will be doing soon. Any extra cash will be greatly appreciated. Besides, all I'm really doing is watching some numbers scroll up to 100%. What I'm doing, officially, is an offline defragmentation on our e-mail systems private and public information store. In laymans terms, the databases that hold all the information that makes up every users e-mail mailbox is being taken offline, so no one can get into their e-mail, and its being defragmented for a hopeful performance gain. The defrag took about two hours and now I'm just running some post tests to make sure all is good before I mount them back up, test to make sure its all good, and go home!

At least at work I have access to the Internet. Our cable went out again last night, just as I was leaving to pick up dinner and it wasn't back up this morning when I left. I hate no Internet and TV. At least I have enough to keep me occupied at home, between DVD's, music, books and the guitar I should be able to keep myself sufficiently entertained without Internet. I don't mind losing TV so much as the Internet. But I guess it is nice to unplug every once in awhile, you know?

I was watching some of this 311 DVD I have. They did a concert on March 11, (3-11, get it?) last year in New Orleans where they played like 60+ songs for almost 4+ hours. Crazy. I was watching a bit of it, on two DVD's no less, and it looked like Down was a really easy song to play, so I checked for the tab online and it looks really simple. I'll give it a shot when I get home once I practice some of the stuff I learned yesterday in my lesson. Although its another example of a song that just doesn't sound right on an acoustic guitar. I'm really making a ton of excuses to get an electric, huh? Eventually. Its just a matter of time before the draw becomes too much and I head down to Guitar Center and leave probably $1000 or more poorer. After I move though.

No other real plans for the day. Leave work, go home. Thats about it. Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

As what has become the highlight of my week, I went to my guitar lesson today, and upon entering the shop a little kid was finishing up his lesson while his mom looked on. This kid was maybe 8, or 9, and was having some trouble. Sounded like it was his first lesson. About a minute after I showed up they packed it in and my teacher talked to his mom. He said he'd feel bad taking her money every week when the kid just couldn't get it quite yet. His mom said that he was hoping to start to learn to play the saxophone in band this year, which would put the kid in 4th grade, which was when you could join the band when I went to school. The kid would start the sax and come January maybe go back to try his hand at the guitar again. Poor kid, he seemed so down and heartbroken. They left and my teacher said something to the effect that right there was proof he's an honest guy. I just said I'm glad I didn't hear the same after my first lesson. I guess some people can just pick it up quickly and others can't. Granted at 9 maybe it was a little too early, but then again I walk in there and there are 10 year olds who sound 10 times better than me. Hopefully the kid can pick up some musical skills and go back in a few months and learn to play.

Anyway, had a decent lesson and this week I'm learning the blues. Just the basic twelve bar blues in E, along with the pentatonic scale in E, which is the basis for any type of lead playing. Most of what I've done so far is just chord based, which is more for rhythm guitar playing, which is cool too. That should keep me busy for the week, along with messing around with everything else I do on my own. I'm still working on "Daughters" by John Mayer and was actually going to bring it into my lesson this week, but held off when I saw the 12 bar blues thing, as I've heard thats something worth learning. I finally got down pat the Von Bondies "C'mon C'mon", which is the theme song to the excellent show Rescue Me on FX. Its really not hard, it just sounds dumb on an acoustic, but oh well. I also downloaded for $4.50 the music to Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails, which also looks somewhat simple to play. So we shall see. Between all that and everything I've already learned and what I have on my plate this week, it should keep me sufficiently occupied.

My mouth hurts. I went to the dentist this morning to have not one, but two cavities taken care of, or filled, or whatever the hell it is dentists do to make sure cavities don't cause your teeth to fall out. I went a few months ago and after the standard cleaning and x-rays I was greeted with a message on my answering machine a few days later saying that they found two cavities, in the same teeth, same spot, on the exact opposite side of my mouth. I knew instantly it was all the Werther's candy that boss keeps on his desk fault, and mine of course too, for eating it.

Originally they wanted to make two appointments for me, both early, at 7:30 so I could go before work. On two consecutive Fridays. One for one tooth, one for the other. I said forget that, I called them up and said do them both at once. I'd rather have all the pain all at once, than half and half. So now that its taken care of, I'm glad its over. I never had cavities growing up and the first I had was right before I graduated from college. Let me tell you how much fun it was leaving for work with my entire toungue, chin, lower lip and lower jaw numb. It was definitely interesting to attempt to eat breakfast on the way into work, complete with trying to drink lemonade in a can. Fun times, let me tell you.

So in other news, I was so hoping to score tickets to see John Mayer in concert in October, but the second they went on sale they were sold out. Bummer. But, Seth and I decided that in early October we're going to get tickets to see Les Paul perform. He does two sets with a trio every Monday night at a jazz club in the city. The guy is like 90, so we definitely want to check it out before he kicks off. He is a legend. He invented to solid body electric guitar, along with multi-track recording and a lot of other musical innovations. Plus, as I've stated in the past, the Gibson Les Paul model guitar is by far and away the finest rock guitar you can get. It should be cool. We're shooting for Columbus Day, or the Monday after that.

Haven't heard from Elena since her message on Wednesday. I need to call her about the DVD full of TV shows I made for her. It was done the day after she asked for it, but I wasn't going to offer it up so quickly. I'm sure as hell not going to deliver it for her. If she wants it she can come and get it. Plus, I left it at home on my desk, and I changed my name from FedEx to Matt a long time ago. I just hate all this game BS we seem to be playing with each other. I'm tempted to just confront and ask what exactly is going on, but I'm not sure if I should. Any advice is greatly appreciated. It doesn't matter to me which way it goes, either the friendship route, the rekindling the relationship route, or the never talking again route, I just want to know so I can get into the right mindset, you know?

OK, so I had a bit of a crazy afternoon at work. I got back from a long lunch and then had to help my boss get something ready for a partner to take with him on vacation. So we were running around like crazy, complete with me having to take a drive to a local computer store we have an account with to get some needed hardware. I get back to the office and continue to help my boss out when my cell phone rings. It was Elena. AGAIN! I had sent out evites to a party I'm co-hosting with my brother before I move out, and I sent her one. She IM'd in the afternoon saying it was cute and funny. I was out to lunch at the time so she must've gotten my away message, at which point she wrote and said to call her later. So then she calls me on her way to work to again say how funny and cute the evite was and that although she's working that night she'll see if she can get coverage for her shift, but she's not sure because if Brett's there it may get awkward or uncomfortable. I had to explain to her yesterday the real reason that Brett hates her so much. Brett is so paranoid that his own girlfriend will cheat on him that he's convinced that other people cheating will make his girlfriend do the same. Hello? So Brett hates Elena. I can't blame the guy, but technically they're both my friends so some peace needs to be kept, especially if they're going to be at the same party together.

The big question to be posed is this. WTF? What is going on here? I have no idea what Elena's deal is. Really none. Some people say she wants me back, others say she's just trying to take advantage of me by getting all the perks of being in a relationship with me (the favors) without actually having to be in a relationship with me while others say that she's just trying to be my friend. But seriously, I don't know if its a girl thing or what, but I don't try to get in touch with my friends 5 days out of 6. Friday she called me asking for one favor. Saturday she called me and I told her no go on the favor. Sunday she asked me to the movies. Monday there was no call. Tuesday she called me asking me another favor, which was easy to do. And today she tries to get in touch with me twice. She left a message that said to call her, even though she's at work to tell her how late I'll be up tonight so she can call me later. Huh? What am I missing. Help, please! Anyone?

Really. I honestly do. I'm going to yet another concert, right around the same time I'm moving and seeing two other concerts, and have a wedding to go to. Insane I tell you. I just got tickets to see Our Lady Peace in NYC at the Bowery Ballroom on August 31st. Thats the day I'm supposed to be packing to move. I'm moving, I think, on the 1st of September, and that night I'm going to Jersey to Giant's Stadium to see Green Day and Jimmy Eat World. Then I get to unpack and move anything left the move the next two days. On the 4th I have a co-workers wedding to go to. Monday is Labor Day. Then, on Tuesday I'm going to NYC to see Coldplay at Madison Square Garde. A week late I go to Montreal for Pearl Jam. Insane, right?

Another reason I need my head examined, or maybe someone else's, is because of Elena. I really wish I knew just what her deal was. And I know I should ask, but I think I'd be jumping the gun. We spoke for about 10 minutes yesterday and I agreed to do her the favor of putting those TV shows onto a DVD for her. Its simple, and already done. I'll call her in a few days to let her know that. Then she IM'd me while I was out at lunch and said to call her later. What's her deal? Its really starting to get to me and I really wish it wouldn't. Thoughts are greatly appreciated to any and all females reading this right now.

So it turns out that the little bowing that was going on in the neck of my guitar is entirely fixable. I think. I did a little research by reading some of the maintenance sections of Guitars for Dummies and another guitar book I bought when I first got the thing and there is a fix. Most guitars that aren't POS toys have something called a truss rod running all though the neck of the guitar and into the body of it. Most truss rods are adjustable, meaning you turn them in one direction to correct a neck that's bowing towards the strings, and you turn it in the other direction to correct a bow away from the strings. So with this handy dandy knowledge in hand I dropped off my guitar last night and asked my teacher if he could adjust the truss rod to fix the bowing in the neck (look at me sounding all knowledgeable!). He said that he could, but it would cost $30 for what is called a guitar setup. Hell, $30 is a small price to pay to have my guitar playing better. I remember when I first got the thing my friend from school that went with me said to have the setup checked every year and adjusted so it keeps playing right. Well, now I know.

THIS JUST IN: That makes 4 out of the past 5 days that Elena has gotten in touch with me. She just called my cell phone asking for another favor. Seems that the inspiration has just struck her to see the last two episodes of the last season of Alias and the last episode of Smallville. Keep in mind these TV shows aired in May, 2 months ago. She's just know getting the desire to catch up on TV she missed? I mean I have them on my computer, so its not a big deal to give them to her, but what is the deal? Seriously.

So there I was on Sunday, just relaxing at home, trying to get one of my brothers to go to the movies with me, to see either Wedding Crashers with my younger brother or the Island with my older, and neither of them were game. So I was going to pop on a DVD and just relax for the rest of the day. I hop online and saw that Elena was online too. I didn't IM her or anything, but after a minute or two she IM'd me. We started with idle chit chat as she asked how my guitar lesson went the other day. She called me on Saturday just as I was getting ready to leave for it. Then she was joking around about how my guitar was on display in my room for so long not being used.

We were talking for a little bit and she asked if I wanted to see Wedding Crashers. I said yes, and she said, "with me," I said I got that part of the conversation. So, we made plans to go to the movies. She came by and picked me up, we went to the movie (which was so damn hilarious! If you haven't seen it, you must go now and do so, you won't regret it) and she dropped me back off at my house. Only my parents were home and I invited her in but she said she would've felt too weird, and I said my parents had nothing against her, but she still declined. So we said goodbye and she left. So I still don't know what to make of the situation with her. Thats 3 days in a row that she talked to me. Any bets on her calling me today and making it 4? I'm not taking that bet.

I was telling her all about going out with Brett two nights in a row. And she asked if he still hated her, and I said, "Yup." She said something about how he couldn't see her point of view on the whole issue and I was like, "what point of view?" I think she thinks that Brett hates her because we broke up, when in reality Brett hates her because of all the cheating, not the breakup. I never did get a chance to explain that to her. Maybe next time.

So that was about it. An interesting Sunday, to be sure.

I'm at work at the moment and once I get home I have to drop my guitar off at my teachers to get it fixed. Hopefully he can, and I doubt that my guitar is that cheap that it can't be adjusted to fix all thats off with it.

Alright, back to work. Anyone have any thoughts as to what to make of the Elena situation now? I'm a guy, so I'm clueless! =)

Its been a pretty good weekend so far. I dropped my car off at the body shop on Friday morning, not to get fixed, thats in a week, but just to see if they could lock everything down temporarily so I could at least drive the damn thing. They did a pretty good job. I almost don't need to get it replaced, aside from the fact that the plastic that goes around the wheel well got completely torn out yesterday as I was coming home from my guitar lesson, so I guess that needs to be fixed. I knew I heard something getting torn off, and when I pulled into my driveway all this plastic was just hanging out. I cut it out and it should be OK to drive like that for a week.

Friday night my parents were out at a Johnny Mathis concert (I guess thats what old people do) so it was just Mark and I. We grabbed some takeout from Outback and relaxed at home for awhile. Then Brett came over and we went out for some beers to John Harvards. He was having some relationship problems. Basically, Brett can be really paranoid about everything sometimes and it was spilling into his relationship to the point where he was being very controlling, and I don't think his girlfriend appreciated it too much. So I was trying to help him out, to be less controlling, hold on less tight, that kind of thing. I think my experience with Elena was pertinent in that respect. After a few drinks I came home and played a little guitar in preparation for my lesson yesterday.

Saturday I got a hair cut and took Keyser for a bath and nail trim, which all became useless when he went in the pool later that afternoon with me. Oh well. He smelled good for at least part of the day. I had a decent guitar lesson. This week we're working more on technique than anything else. Mostly rhythm (a word I don't think I'll ever spell right. Thankfully my web browser spell checks as I type. Cool huh? Thank Apple for that one) type stuff, like palm muting the strings, that kind of thing. I was a little bummed to find out that my guitar neck has a slight bow in it. Basically, a guitar is wood, so when the wood gets try it loses its shape, and the tension from the strings doesn't help. So my guitar necks curves ever so slightly away from the strings, setting the action (the distance between the strings and the fretboard) a little high. Which then, in turn, makes fretting the stings and making notes sound clear all the more difficult. I'm dropping the guitar off with my teacher Monday after work and he said he'd do what he can to fix the action and lower it a bit. Not sure what I can do about the bowing though. He said it happens though, especially in acoustics. Especially since I didn't play the thing for years and let it sit in my room, right next to the heater in the winter. Dumb ass. He suggested putting it in a less dry room, so now my guitar proudly sits in my den, which my dad thought would be good as the AC in the house always makes the den freezing cold, so hopefully it'll be more moist.

I'm not going to get too upset about it all. I spent $300 on the thing 4 years ago and its my own fault I didn't play it more. And as much as I'd love to use it as an excuse to get a new one, I can't see myself laying down $1000 on a Strat anytime soon, or more than double that on a Les Paul. But one can dream, can't they. I'm sure it'll all be fine.

I went out to dinner with Brett last night, back to John Harvards for more beer and food this time. We split like two pitchers of beer, which was pretty good stuff. Of course I drank more than him and paid for it this morning, but what can you do? The beer is just so damn good there!

Plans for today are none, which is good. Should be a busy week. I have to drop my guitar off Monday, get it Tuesday. I have an appointment with the mover sometime this week to come by and check out all that I'm taking with me to get a quote, and thats about it. Fun times, right?

I swear, I don't know what's with me, but for the life of me I can't snap myself out of this perpetual funk I've been in for almost a week now. I hope to the higher powers that moving changes all of this, because this seriously sucks. Thankfully July is almost over and August will hopefully fly by. The only things to look forward to in August are Randy's big party, which I shall dub "Accountants Bash 2005", and which will also serve as my moving out party, which shall be hence forth known as "Matt's Movin' Out And Hopefully Never Coming Back Party!" Should be fun.

In the meantime its the little things that get you through the day. For me, its mostly the idea of going home and practicing. I can't believe just how much I love to play that damn thing now that I've finally gotten off my ass and done something about it. Besides my current lesson for the week, which I'm really not enjoying, I downloaded, for like $5 the sheet music, with chords for John Mayer's "Daughters." I have no idea how to read the notes, but I think they're just for the strum pattern, which I could sort of get from listening to the CD. I'm very excited to be adding another song to my repertoire, which will essentially double it. So far I have the first two pages (out of eight) down pat. But towards the end of playing last night everything I did sounded like crap. I'm thinking my strings might need changing, which should be interesting, considering the last time I changed them, the first time I've ever done it myself, it took over an hour. Fun times.

As the boring summer continues with no respite for the boredom, and no girl around my thoughts invariably go to Elena. I really wish I could shut this off, but I really can't, and its annoying. I think that my new hobby of playing the guitar has given me some insight into her life as a performer that I didn't previously have. I enjoy playing, but suck at it. If I was better, like a million times better and still enjoyed it that much I can't see why I wouldn't want to make it my life. If I could play like she could sing, I'd definitely try to make it my life, so I can totally understand how thats the most important thing in her life. What I've been doing is kicking myself somewhat for not starting this sooner. I've had the thing since I graduated from college over 4 years ago, and it was one of the things I said I was going to do when she left for London. If only I'd done it then. Who knows. Things could've been different, or they could've been exactly the same, with just me being a better guitar player now. Who knows. I'm trying not to think about it because when I do it doesn't put me in a better mood. I really don't need to be in a worse mood these days.

I had to bum a ride to work today because my mom wouldn't take my car. I'm going to swing by the body shop tomorrow and give them an hour or so to see if that can stabilize everything on the bumper before they repair it so I can at least drive it without worrying about things flying off of it and getting worse. Its just a huge pain in the ass, thats all. What I'm most annoyed about is that I've called this guy at a moving company that Shari gave me the number for and I haven't heard back jack shit. Thats annoying. If I called you looking to pay you to do something, don't you think calling me back would be a good thing? We shall see. I'll give it a few days and then I'll try again before looking elsewhere for my moving needs.

Is this day or summer over yet? Its getting ridiculous.

Thats how much its going to cost to fix my car, which was about what I expected. Still sucks though, as thats about what I was expecting to pay for movers in a month or so. Speaking of, I left a message with one and get never got back to me. Must call again. The crappy thing is the body shop can't fix it for another two weeks. I tried driving it as is and it was making some weird noises, so I called my mom and switched cars with her today. She drives two miles a day, so its safer that way. I bribed my older brother with an italian ice and he agreed to help me ghetto tape the bumper in place for the next two weeks. I so will feel like the people on Pimp My Ride, minus the busted up car.

I had a little business to attend to this morning, so I figured it was a perfect opportunity to burn a personal day and have a three day weekend. Unfortunately for me, the weather sucks today, rain, and my personal business involved getting my car looked at for a damage estimate. No, I wasn't in an accident. This was done out of my own stupidity and laziness, but lesson learned, you know? My parents are currently in the middle of having our driveway completely redone. So, they've had to tear up the old one and lay down this rock stuff in the interim. So with no pavement, the stone blocks that line the driveway are higher than usual. The front end of my car is extremely low to the ground due to added ground effects or front skirts or whatever the hell they're called that came standard with my car because I got the sportiest model.

My younger brother Mark and I were going to the movies on Saturday night to see Wedding Crashers. We get outside and his truck is in the street and I see that my mom's car is blocking me. I told him he was driving, he said he had no gas. We see that there is plenty of room between my moms car and mine, so that if I pulled forward enough, I could back around hers. So I did so, but in pulling forward got my front bumper stuck on the paving blocks and when I backed out, it kind of ripped the bumper off whatever was holding it down. So, out of sheer laziness and stupidity, I had to get my car looked at this morning. The guy said the main part of the bumper didn't need to be replaced, but there was a second, smaller section attached to the bottom that would be, along with where they both screwed into the car in the wheel well. He said he'd get back to me later with a price, which I'm expecting to be around $500, which sucks, but oh well. Expensive lesson to learn.

So ultimately Mark drove to the movie theatre anyway, and we get there and the movie is sold out. The only other movie that we even had any remote interest in seeing that wasn't sold out was Mr. & Mrs. Smith, so we so that, and damn it was good. Very funny, lots of action and there is no denying the chemistry between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. And let me just say, Ms. Jolie is hot as hell. There are no words to describe her beauty. If she wasn't so messed in the head I'd say she's the perfect woman. But anyway.

The rest of the weekend continued to have a feeling of blah around it, as I explained Friday. Had my guitar lesson and my teacher said my Jimmy Eat World song was good and we progressed into some chord theory and tone scales. Not fun stuff, but again, necessary to learn. I also went to see War of the Worlds on Sunday with Randy, as he had movie passes that were going to expire at the end of the month and could only be used on movies that had been in the theaters for more than 10 days, so again, that was our only option. It was OK, the ending was retarded as all hell though. I just didn't see what the big deal was about it. The special effects were cool, but thats about it.

And I also managed to read the entire sixth Harry Potter book over the weekend, which had a very depressing ending, major character death and betrayal and all that stuff. So it did little to improve on my mood. But it was good nonetheless. Now I just have to wait another two years or so for the final installment. Can't wait!

And damn, I just really need the end of August to get here already, I mean seriously. I'm bored. Someone, please, anyone, just give me something to do!!!

Can't explain it, I'm just feeling kind of out of it this week. No particular reason, or maybe there are just a few. For one it was a quiet and boring week of work. Just trying to find stuff to do to pass the hours can be tenuous, so there's reason numero uno. Wednesday night was Taking Back Sunday and Weezer, the last concert until September 1, when I move. That's a month and a half with nothing to really look forward to. My older brother is throwing a party when my parents go away, it'll be a week before I move, so I have that to look forward to, but thats about it. I have the rest of the summer to try and kill, just like the days at work. Can't blame a guy for feeling blah about that. I guess it could be worse. How, I don't know, but I'm just sure it could be.

At the moment, as I type this I am sitting out on my deck after just practicing some guitar for a little while. I have my song down pat and while it was great to learn how to play a full song in such a short time I've realized this week that I don't want to just learn to play songs, because then thats all I'll learn to play, those songs. I want to learn how to play, anything. I think I'll ask my teacher to show me notes, scales, theory... stuff like that so if I feel the urge to improvise while playing, I can and I won't sound like a retard. I'm sure all that stuff will come in time. Maybe I'm just getting impatient. I don't know. I figure I'll ask to learn it and if I feel I need a break, I'll just bring in a song to learn for a week. I guess I just have to go at my own pace. Don't know... and I realize I'm saying that a lot.

I just feel in transition right now and I just want to the transition to be over. I'm eager to be moving onto the next stage of my life, out of my parents house, and I guess it just can't come soon enough. Who knows? I may miss living with my parents once I'm out, but I know its something I need to do, its time, you know?

Alright, I'm going to stop babbling crap. Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Oooh. I just realized there is something to look forward to. The next Harry Potter book should be in my hands tomorrow. There's something to do all weekend! Yay! I feel better now... but I'm sure it'll pass. Ha!

According to my website, this is post #500 for me. Woo hoo... another milestone. I think I'll go out and get drunk to celebrate, no wait... I already did that... last night.

My best friend Brett is no longer with the NYPD. He resigned yesterday and gets sworn into his new job as a member of the Long Beach PD today. Shari, Seth's girlfriend currently lives in Long Beach and its a cool town. So its less danger, in theory, for Brett, better hours and more pay. So a better thing all around for him. He called me up yesterday while I was in the bathroom. Randy answered and relayed the message that Brett would be by my house in 5 minutes so we could go out and celebrate at John Harvards with food and beer. We each drank just a bit too much, went back to my house and had birthday cake for Keyser!

After that Brett headed home and I headed for bed. I woke up this morning with a headache, but still managed to drag my ass out of bed and exercise. I got a goal here people, and I'm going to reach it dammit! I'm curious to see the results of my weigh in at my moms office on Saturday. I better see some kind of results, or I'm going to be pissed. I'm sure I'll see something.

Anyway, the next topic is even more concerts for me in 2005. Yes, I'm crazy, but what can I say. Its been a good year for artists that I like going on tour, and I love music, especially a good show, so if they come to town, the price is right, I'll go. I just got two tickets for Seth and myself to see Nine Inch Nails with Queens of the Stone Age opening up for them in the beginning of November at Madison Square Garden. That should be a great show! I also got an e-mail yesterday for the Killers playing Jones Beach at the end of September. It'll be a little chilly, but I really like them and want to see them. Now I just need to find someone to go with. No one I know is that into them. Bastards!

Alright, back to work. And Weezer tonight, right across the street from my office. I can walk there, how convenient is that?

He turns 4 today! Wow, he's getting old. He's definitely not slowing down though, which I think is a good thing. His color is still pretty normal and shiny, although he's getting a little lighter color fur under his snout. I still love him to death though, even though he drives me crazy and I'm definitely going to miss him when I move out. But I know its for the best that he stays with the parents and I know I'll be home plenty to see him.

So, with his birthday today I figure I'll post a photo or two of him. This was him a few days after I first got him. He was so small, cute and wrinkly. And a pain in the ass! I should've known he was going to be a handful when he whined the whole car ride home and for the first 3 nights or so. So here's puppy Keyser!

The next one is of him at his first birthday. My ex went a little nuts that day and bought him not one, but two party hats and a bandana, and some stuffed toys that he shredded in two seconds. I swear, there's something wrong with him, you can't give him new toys because he just insists on tearing them apart, and he won't stop until he's done it. I can't tell you how many rope toys he's gone through. Its so bad that all he's left with is two ratty old ones because he hasn't totally destroyed them! My mom got him a bunch for his birthday, along with a bed. She gave him one rope and its trashed already, thankfully the bed hasn't become a chew toy. I'm amazed. So here's Keyser in his party hat!

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So enjoy the pics, and once again, Happy 4th Birthday Keyser!

I had myself a pretty damn fine weekend. What was so great about it? I really don't know. Nothing in particular. I didn't really do anything, but I did enough to stay busy. I really don't know how to explain it. I went home Friday night feeling all weird after talking to Elena. The odd thing is, talking and hanging out with my younger brother, Mark, actually made me feel better. Usually we're at each other throats and can't be in the same room together long. But we were just BSing around while he played some XBox and I played/practiced my guitar. I showed him all the electrics I'm debating getting and he liked the Gibson SG. But it was nice to just sit and chill with Mark for once. He said I was getting better at my playing, which was nice.

Saturday I got up crazy early, exercised (only missed one morning in the past 2 weeks), and went to work for a little over 2 hours. Went home, went to my lesson, went to the movies, got some dinner and called it a night after watching Anchorman.

I didn't do much Sunday either. I went to my mom's office to fix a busted computer around noon, then came home, relaxed in the sun, but it was too hot, way too hot. I was reading this book called Zen Guitar that Shari's ex-roommates husband recommended. He plays too, and we actually share the same birthday, small world right? Us and Matt Cameron, drummer for Pearl Jam! Its a pretty interesting book, basically applying Zen philosophy to playing the guitar, but its points are valid elsewhere. Like don't procrastinate. If you're going to do something, do it, don't say you'll do it. If you say you're going to practice, do it, or else you may find in a year your guitar is covered in dust and cobwebs. That was me this morning. I got up and didn't want to exercise, but I said to myself if I start skipping out now, its just going to be easier to do it later and more frequently. So I got up, and did it. I'm only halfway through the book, but already its been helpful.

After the sun I sat down and practiced Hear You Me, even though I couldn't play it if my life depended on it Saturday night, as is always the case. So instead Saturday I just messed around trying to get the opening riffs to Rearviewmirror and the Von Bondies "C'mon C'mon" (theme song to the excellent show on FX, Rescue Me), and I actually had it, just very slow. I figure its better to know it perfectly slow and work it up to normal pace, than to suck at it and play it badly at the correct tempo. So I sat down Sunday and worked out the song based on the chords and strumming I had written down in my lesson. I broke it down into the intro, verse, chorus and bridge of the song, and thats basically it. The intro is basically just the verse with one chord played twice as long. So its really simple and now that I know the order of everything (mostly) I may be able to play a full song. Who would've thought in just a month that I could do that? Surely not me. But hey, there I am, so there's hope for me yet.

After that I just kind of loafed around the house, watched some TV, ate some dinner, had an Italian Ice for dessert (no fat and no cholesterol, but probably a crap load of sugar!), watched Six Feet Under and Entourage and went to bed.

I just have a feeling that this is going to be a long week, and I don't like that! At least I have Weezer to look forward to Wednesday night as a midway point.

Alright, enough babbling out of me, enjoy your Monday everyone!

I had a pretty damn good guitar lesson, which was just what I needed after some weirdness I was feeling yesterday. Which to talk about first, the weirdness or the lesson? Well, I'd rather end on a good note, so I'll proceed with the weirdness.

I was finishing up work yesterday, I had to stay a little late as I was working on upgrading our e-mail filter server to the latest version. I had been working with the vendors tech support to get it up and running and just got it finished when my cell phone rang and it was Elena. We talked for awhile. I said she must be glad to not be in London right now and she said she just missed it. I said by what, 10 months? Then she said the same thing happened 9/11, as she was living in lower Manhattan for school and graduated in May before it happened. I said that's not missing it either. My brother's friend Jay, he worked in the World Trade Center (everyone in his company got out OK) and he was late to work and came out of the subway to witness everything. That's just missing it.

Then she proceeded to ask me if I was dating anyone. I said I was taking a break from the whole online dating thing as I didn't want to pay to contact people as I'm trying to save to move out. I then made the mistake of asking her the same question. She said she had been hanging out with someone, and they were having fun, but she didn't want it to be anything more than that. They had the relationship talk and agreed to just leave it at having fun, and she hasn't heard from the guy since. Hearing that made me feel very weird and uneasy. I was really jittery for a good portion of the ride home and whatnot. I'm debating on instituting a no talking about relationships policy with her, but I don't want her to know that it affected me like that. I guess I'll just wait and see as time goes by. She also busted me on the fact that she's always the one calling me and not the other way around. She ended by saying she'd talk to me later, when I call her. Just weird.

So I went home and messed around on my guitar while my little brother played some XBox, and that made me feel better. We had a moment of rare bonding, which was nice. Its amazing just how therapeutic I find playing my guitar. Even though it causes frustration as well, it just feels good to pick it up, play and tune out everything else and just concentrate on one thing and one thing only. We so rarely get to do that, you know? I also felt better because I IM'd some girl I saw on JDate and we had a nice long talk before going to sleep. So much for not talking to people, right? Whatever happens, happens, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, so I had to go into work for awhile this morning to replace a mother board in a server. The extra few hours of OT will be nice. Since I've been waking up early to exercise I've also been able to get to work early again, so my last paycheck had some nice OT in it. Every penny helps as I prepare to move out and live independently of my parents. After work I headed home, relaxed a little and headed out to my guitar lesson.

I played what I could manage of DMB's "Crash Into Me" and it wasn't bad. I had it down, almost, and was a lot better eliminating a simple up-strum on a chord change. But I had the rhythm down nicely and was changing between the chords pretty well. I brought along a chord tab for Jimmy Eat World's "Hear You Me" which I had been playing around with on the side for a week or so. I wanted Reuven to listen to make sure the chords were right and help me out with the strumming and chords in the chorus and interlude. I don't know if it was because I was messing around with it for a week prior to bringing it to my lesson or if I'm just getting better, but it was honestly the quickest I've ever picked up stuff on the fly like that. Well, sort of on the fly. Some of the stuff he heard was different from what I'd been messing around with, but still good.

I left feeling really good about myself. Reuven said I was progressing really well considering I've been at it for only a little more than a month. He said a lot of people just don't get it and probably never will, but that I'm showing promise. That made me feel really good. I let him in on my master plan of purchasing an electric. My plan is thus, and its relatively simple. Stay out of debt. Now that I've paid off all of the major heavy hitting balances on my credit cards, its totally up to me to keep it off. I only use one now for gas and my cell phone. So the real key is to curb the spending of $100 at a time at Best Buy on crap. I know I'll have some expenses when I move, but without having to make huge credit card payments every month I can save that money now for when I move in two months. So, stay out of debt and at the end of the year when I get my holiday bonus buy a nice electric. Hello Gibson Les Paul? I'm calling your name. If I base my bonus on what I got last year, it should cover it. Last year it was enough for a down payment on my car. This year, a Les Paul. Makes me glad I don't have a serious girlfriend, because she'd bitch about spending $2000 on a guitar instead of putting it towards an engagement ring.

After my lesson I went with my older brother to see Fantastic Four. It was entertaining, or at least I thought so. My older brother said it was dumb, or stupid, or both. I thought it was a good summer flick. It had enough action, back story, plenty of Jessica Alba (DAMN!!! That girl is amazingly hot!) and it was funny too. Most of the comedy coming from the guy that plays the Human Torch. I'm definitely getting that Sin City Jessica Alba poster when I move. No doubt about it!

Alright, off to relax for the rest of the night. Tomorrow I have to go to my mom's office to fix a busted PC. Should be fun. Have a great weekend everyone!!!

OK, this may get just a little too gross, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum. No promises, but I'll try. So, I was at work today and felt the need to use the facilities. So, I grabbed my Sin City graphic novel "A Dame To Kill For" (Excellent, by the way) and headed to the bathroom. While I'm sitting there, doing what it is people do while sitting on a toilet, a client must've come in with his little kid, or possibly two. The little kid starts screaming and yelling and making comments about the fragrance in the air, and even yelling at his dad for letting a few rip while he was at the urinal. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to yell at the kid something about his crap not stinking too, but not in that family friend a way. But I thought better of it, because I didn't need his father busting down the door for cursing in front of his kid.

The point to the nasty story? As I get closer and closer to living with three women, that last bastion of manhood, the bathroom (and there's only one), is going to be taken away from me. I just see it now. Shari already asked me how I felt about pre-fabricated art in the bathroom. I was like, huh? And Seth explained something about Target bought Ann Geddes pictures, which are already up in the bathroom of her apartment. I said it was fine, but I should've made a comment that I'm cool with it as long as she's OK with an issue or two of Playboy in there too. Honestly, I value my bathroom time and do my best thinking in there, as I'm sure most men do.

It also reminded me of a scene in one of the funniest shows I've ever seen, Coupling, a British sitcom that they tried to bring to NBC a few years ago, Americanized of course, as a hopeful replacement to Friends. It didn't work in the US, but the UK version is hilarious. In an episode, Steve, is pissed at his live in girlfriend Susan for taking the lock off the bathroom door, and made that known at a dinner party. The scene is as follows:

Susan: Men and toilets, the love that dare not speak its name. What's that about?
Steve: [slams hand down] We are men! Throughout history, we have always needed, in times of difficulty, to retreat to our caves. It so happens that in this modern age, our caves are fully plumbed. The toilet is, for us, the last bastion, the final refuge, the last few square feet of man-space left to us! Somewhere to sit, something to read, something to do, and who gives a damn about the smell? Because that, for us, is happiness. Because we are *men.* We are different. We have only one word for soap. We do not own candles. We have never seen anything of any value in a craft shop. We do not own magazines full of pictures of celebrities with all their clothes *on*. When we have conversations, we actually take it in turns to talk! But we have not yet reached that level of earth-shattering boredom and inhuman despair that we would have a haircut *recreationally*. We don't know how to get excited about... really, *really* boring things, like ornaments, bath oil, the countryside, vases, small churches. I mean, we do not even know what, *what* in the name of God's *ass* is the purpose of pot-pourri! Looks like breakfast, smells like your auntie! Why do we need that? So please, in this strange and frightening world, allow us one last place to call our own. This toilet, this blessed pot, this... fortress of solitude. You girls, you may go to the bathroom in groups of two or more. Yet we do not pass comment. We do not make judgment. That is your choice. But we men will always walk the toilet mile... alone.
[audience applauds]
Susan: Would you like me to put the lock back on the toilet door, dear?
Steve: Would you mind?
Susan: You should have asked.

The main hardware and software vendor that we use in our office is a friend and neighbor of my boss, so we usually get preferential treatment, which is nice. As in the case of the free monthly calendar that has been hanging in my cube since January. I always forget to flip the month on those things though. I remember today and the little phrase and picture were actually quite moving.

Its a picture of a tropical beach, with a tree with nice red flowers on it in the foreground, and some rocks/cliff covered in green in the background. Nice, like I said. This months deep thought is "Don't be afraid to go out on a limb, that's where the fruit is." Hmmmm... I just may take that advice to heart. Thanks calendar!

I have a strong feeling that the rest of the summer is going to be pretty boring, until I get around to moving that is. That, honestly, can't come soon enough. I need the shakeup, seriously.

Other than the boredom, I'm exhausted. This waking up early, like before 5 AM early (thanks to Keyser for that one) and exercising every morning is killing me. I know in the end its all for the best, but I feel like I hit a point in the day, like say, now at 2:43 PM where I just want to shut down and crash. It sucks. I had to go get a cup of coffee to help stay awake, even though I know it won't help. Damn caffeine has no effect on me.

I just want to go home, try to play a little Dave Matthews Band, and go to bed. Hopefully wake up bright and early tomorrow morning refreshed and ready to exercise and work. Fun, right?

Hope everyone had a realyl grat 4th of July weekend. Mine wasn't too bad and I'm definitely not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. At least I managed to stick to my diet, mostly, and exercise every morning so far since last Monday, except one, because I overslept and set my alarm wrong. So here's the recap for you.

Friday I went home early from work, went home and relaxed. I spent an hour or so trying to figure out how to change the strings on my guitar. I was almost ready to give up at one point, but I soldiered through and figured it out. Hopefully next time will go smoother. I didn't much Friday night except pass out early. I called Brett, thinking he might want to get together, but he was preparing for his girlfriend to get into town, so he was indisposed. He took my calling for a sign that I was depressed and proceeded to make sure I was OK when I saw him Sunday night.

Saturday I watched Live 8 for most of the day and had my usual 1:30 guitar lesson, which was good. Fell asleep watching Troy on HBO, and that was about it for Saturday.

Sunday I relaxed during the early part of the day, then left in the afternoon to take my grandma and my aunt to the airport. They were leaving for a trip to London and Edinburgh Scotland for a week, then they're taking a cruise on the Queen Mary II back to NY. Lucky them! Although I found out that my aunt is getting rid of her kitchen table and chairs, so I'm taking them for the new house! Then I headed to Long Beach to hang out with Seth and Shari and await Brett and his new girlfriend Nicole. They'd been dating for almost the whole year, but she lives in D.C., so this was the first chance we got to meet her. Seth also just bought a 12 inch PowerBook (Go Apple!) so I was helopng him with that. We all went to dinner for Japanese food, got some Cold Stone Creamery, walked on the beach, then went home.

Today I headed back out to Long Beach for a BBQ at Shari's, which was a lot of fun. I got too much sun and drank a few too many beers, because now my head is killing me. Oh well. I had a good time. Came home and chilled, talked to my parents friends who were here, practices some guitar and now here I am typing this.

Poll question for you though. And here's a little back story. I took my mom's car to pick up my aunt and grandma yesterday, mostly because its an SUV and had room for all their luggage, but the real reason was I didn't want to put all the miles on mine, it is a lease after all. My older brother was pissed at this, because he's in the same boat as me, except he's way over his lease mileage and wanted to take my moms truck that night. So as payback he took my car somewhere. Not far, but I was still ticked. So, I know he went golfing early this morning and gave me my car keys back, so to make sure he wouldn't take my car today, I took all my keys with me. I know, I'm childish, but its my car, he has no right driving it! So I'm chilling in Long Beach, out on the upstairs deck, in the sunshine, looking at the ocean, drinking a beer when my cell phone rings. I thought it was my brother to yell at me for taking all my keys, turns out it was Elena, calling to wish me a happy 4th of July. Huh? Is this a service she provides for all her ex boyfriends and friends alike. I thought it was really odd, do you? What do you think it all means.

I swear it seems like ever since I said I was moving out of my parents house she's taken a somewhat bigger interest in my life. I have no expectations out of the whole friendship with her, I just think its weird that she called me. My mom said it was bizarre, my dad thought that maybe she's having second thoughts. What do you think? Thoughts are highly welcome.

Alright, time for Six Feet Under, then bed. Adios everyone!

Today, in my guitar lesson, I new it was only a matter of time, but the current song to work on, is Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me." I knew it was only a matter of time before I got around to learning that one. I told my teacher about moving into a house with 3 women, and he was like, nice, time to learn some ballads to impress the ladies! It doesn't seem like a complicated song, but I suck, so its going to take some work. I'm also going to work on some stuff on my own, outside the lesson, just in case I need a break from the the other stuff I'm learning. Its a Jimmy Eat World song, "Hear You Me," and its simple enough that I don't think I need to learn it during my lesson. 30 minutes flies by, so I want to get the most out of it and learn the slightly more complicated stuff, like Dave Matthews Band.

So I'm just chilling for the rest of the day. No plans for this evening, and had none last night, and I was bored to tears. At the moment I'm watching the Live 8 concert on VH1, and so far its pretty cool. I wish MTV wasn't the ones broadcasting it because they're doing a shitty job. There's too much cutting to people in the crowd and not enough music. And why cut off a performer in the middle of a song to talk to a dumbass MTV VJ? They better not pull that shit when Pink Floyd takes the stage, because thats the one thing that I'm looking forward to. A reunited Pink Floyd? Better be good if I'm watching 8 hours of some crappy artists cut together by the idiots at MTV. Enough said.

Tomorrow evening I'm heading to Long Beach to hang out with Seth, Shari, Brett and his new girlfriend, who I've never met and who knows who else. Then Monday I'm going back to Long Beach for a BBQ at Shari's. I may just stay the night instead of driving back and forth, or I may not. I'm not sure. We'll see how I feel, or how drunk I get (That's the more accurate statement, really).

So I've stuck to the diet pretty well this week. I weighed myself this morning to use as a new starting point. It was a couple pounds more than the last time I weighed myself, but I'm not going to get upset about it, because there was like 2 or 3 weeks of eating crap and not taking it seriously, which is probably where the gain comes from. I have 2 months until I move, so I know thats plenty of time to do it, just have to stay on track. So far so good!

Alright, back to the music. I was going to practice a little DMB, but I can't seem to play at the moment. Happens all the time after a lesson. I don't know why. Then I pick it up Sunday, and suck, but eventually get it. Fun, right?

Have a great 4th of July everyone!

I really can't believe that the year is half over already. It really did fly by, hasn't it? I don't know about you, but it definitely has for me. So here's my recap and reflections, in brief, on the past six months.

I kind of had a feeling going in that 2005 was going to be a big year year with a lot of things happening, and things changing, for the better. I just had no idea what exactly would happen, but hey, thats life. Its unpredictable, so you just have to go with the flow.

January: The new year started OK, although I do remember Elena and I having somewhat of a fight New Years Eve/Day, mostly because she was depressed and I didn't know how to handle it. January was definitely rough at times, because I had a girlfriend who didn't want to do anything but mope around, and refused my help, so it was frustrating. Then she turned it all around and the tension started to mount as she was devoting less and less time to me. Then I tried to hold onto her too tight. Bad combination.

February: Things looked like they might get better in February, we had a good couple of weeks, but then towards the end of the month the same old fights reared their ugly heads and we were back at each other's throats. And to think I went into the year thinking I was going to get engaged sometime in 2005. Ha!

March: The inevitable break-up. I spent most of the month hating Elena and telling anyone and everyone that would listen what a bitch she was for all that she had done to me and put me through. This was done with massive amounts of alcohol and a lot of angry, loud music. Fun month, let me tell you. I also got pretty sick with a nasty sinus infection and started hitting up the dating sites to try to find someone new. Rebound anyone?

April: I spent much of the month of April rebounding and trying to meet as many people as possible. I went out with 4 different women and it only really kind of sort of worked out with one of them, so I started the next month thinking I would give her my undivided attention and maybe we could start some kind of relationship.

May: Yeah, so much for that thought. Three days before I was supposed to go with the girl to U2, she gives me the whole, I just can't get there speech. Where is there? I have no idea. But hey, thats cool, no hard feelings. At least U2 rocked, along with Velvet Revolver, who I saw a month earlier. I spent a good chunk of the end of the month seriously contemplating what went wrong with Elena and not just blaming her for everything. Although I really tortured myself with it all, I think it was good for me and made me realize a lot about myself. So, in the end, self torture is good.

June: This one was the big one. I still can't believe all the stuff that happened in this month. And its definitely going to make the rest of the year very interesting. It started off with running into Elena on a train home from NYC. We had a nice long talk where I expressed everything I wanted to say and threw out the idea of getting back together, but in the end it wasn't meant to be and we're just friends. We finally got around to seeing that movie we meant to, and it was nice. She said she had a lot of fun. (My female friend at work, who I talk to all the time, thinks come around September that we'll be back together. Who knows, but she has taken an interest since I said I was moving out). Speaking of, I'm moving out, in case you haven't heard. We signed the lease last night, then went out for some food and beer and had a good time. I have a good feeling about it all and I know we're going to have a lot fun. We move in September 1st, and I can't wait. Also, this month I've finally gotten around to learning how to play the guitar, and I love it.

So changes abound! Who knows what the rest of the year holds for me? I don't. But if its anything like the first half, I'm in for one interesting ride.