Pearl Jam, off of Vitalogy. Love that song.

Anyway, who've the Better Man? I'm the Better Man! In that I'm feeling better, mostly. I still have some residual stuffiness, but that usually lingers around for a few days anyway, then it moves down into my throat where I'll be coughing up phlegm for about a week, but hey, thats how my illnesses usually run. At least the worst of it is over. I hope. Either its because its really cold here, or some other unexplained reason, but my legs are so stiff and sore from my knees on down. In both legs. Isn't that odd? Anyway, I'm feeling better and thats all that counts!

Plans for my Saturday? Hanging out with Missy and her brother and his girlfriend. Should be interesting. Don't know where we're going or what we're doing, but I'm sure it'll be fun. I've met her brother and his girlfriend once before and they were cool, so I'm sure my opinion of them won't change anytime soon.

Other than that nothing new to report. Going to get my haircut in a few because its been like 5 weeks since I last got one and I desperately need one! Its a mess, really!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Title courtesy of Matthew Sweet, off his album 100% Fun. Good tune.

So, I'm not sick of myself, or anyone else. I'm just sick. Or, was really sick. Like someone from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "I'm getting better!" I don't know exactly what was wrong with me, but starting Friday night I was really sick, and only started to get better this evening. It was a rough couple of days, thats for sure. The weekend was good, despite the illness. My parents had this huge dinner party Saturday night and Missy accompanied me, got to meet Beth, and all was good.

I'm going to start babbling soon, so I'll stop myself. Also had a little health scare with Keyser. He had these bumps on his belly when I took him for his annual checkup in September, and the vet measured them and said to keep an eye on it to see if it got bigger. Well, I kind of thought they looked better, and found a new one on his chest, so I took him to the vet. He said that most likely they're lipoma's, or fatty tumors, completely benign. Non-cancerous. But I wanted them tested anyway. So a few needle sticks later and Monday night I had the test results. They are in fact just fatty tumors, so nothing to worry about, unless the one on his chest gets infected, in which case it'll have to cut out. So Keyser's all good! Which is good.

Off to NyQuil induced sleep. Adios!

Title is from a Temple of the Dog song (basically Pearl Jam and Soundgarden put together for one awesome album!)

OK, so I haven't really weighed in since December 1. I kind of threw the whole idea of dieting and exercise out the window for the last half of December and had two failed starts in January that never made it to the end of the week and hence, abruptly stopped. So, these results are from a month and a half of really eating like a pig and being an all around lazy bastard when it came to doing anything physical. But, this week was good. I've stuck to the diet and exercise regime and I feel good. So this is kind of a new starting points to the 80 pound goal, because as of now, I'm back to only halfway there, when at my best, I was almost 75% of the way there, but its OK. I got there once, I'll get there again, and then some! So, since December 1, I've gained 19 pounds! Damn, can you believe that? I can, and I don't like it! So, it ends now. I will be good this weekend. So, since July, I've lost 40 pounds, with 40 to go, 50% of the way there. But believe you me, I shall claw my way back to that 75% mark, and finish this thing, once and for all!

On the personal front, things are good. The job is really good. I'm really enjoying it, despite all the physical work I'm doing. The people are really cool for the most part, so that helps. And my new boss seems like a really cool guy. He's Haitian! And his name is Yves. Just thought I'd share.

Things with Missy are great. I think she got a little worried on Wednesday because I forgot to call her at any point during the day to let her know I was still alive. I came home, exercised and then Rob and I, with Seth at some points, jammed for almost three hours! It was great. But, when I was done at 10 PM, there were two voice mails from Missy, and the second sounded very worried, like I was going to break up with her or something. But we're all good now. Actually, this weekend we're attending the annual dinner party my parents throw, in conjunction with one of my dad's partners for his whole department. Its kind of a way of saying thank you way ahead of time for all the hard work they're going to be putting in this coming tax season. Randy and Beth will be there too, so Missy and Beth will get to meet for the first time and I'm sure they'll be spending a good time of the night getting to know each other.

Other than that, nothing to report. Life is good. Lets hope it stays that way, or gets better!

Title courtesy of The Offspring.

Yes, I know, I'm bad. I've gotten into the bad habit of not blogging. Bad Matt! Honestly, between work, Missy and everything else I'm trying to get accomplished in a day, I just haven't had the time. Blogging isn't the only thing I've been bad at. Dieting and exercise have kind of fallen by the way side. After two aborted starts on getting back into the dieting and exercise regime, I'm hoping that the third time is the charm. Monday. It starts Monday and doesn't stop until I hit my goal and get my guitar (which is in the shop at the moment getting setup!)

Other than being really busy, things are going really well. Great to be exact. The new job is good. Slowly but surely, and I emphasize slowly, I think I'm getting away from just building stuff. Salesmen are starting to talk to me to see what my expertise is in, and I think they'll start utilizing me more and more. I had a very good meeting with my boss on Wednesday to basically map out my objectives for the year, and one of them is to start offering customers services that revolve around my specialties, which they don't really offer now, and actually outsource to another company. So, basically, they want to start a new kind of practice around me and my knowledge. Scary! Right? But cool nonetheless. I don't want to go into any boring details, but one of the salesmen said that they brought one of the guys from the outsourcing place to talk to a customer and the guy was useless, and going forward, he'd take me instead! Thats good news.

Things with Missy are great. I met her family, all of her family, I'm talking her parents, younger brother and his girlfriend on Tuesday and it went really well. I wasn't really worried, since parents tend to like me, but its still a little nerve wracking to meet someone's parents for the first time. We all went to a college basketball game at Stony Brook, where I graduated, to see them play Binghamton, where Missy and her brother went (so did I for two and a half years before transferring). That was a lot of fun, especially since Stony Brook won! Afterwards we all went out to dinner which was really nice. So far so good on that front.

Plans for tonight? Shari just turned 30, so she's having a kids style birthday party tonight, with alcohol though. I'm talking arts and crafts and cupcake decorating. I called and wished her a happy birthday the other day, but said happy 26th birthday. I think that helped. Other than that, nothing really to report. Just keeping on keeping on, you know?

Have a great weekend people!

Title is courtesy of a Foo Fighters song, of their debut album. It definitely describes my current physical state. But its all good, so I'm not going to complain, too much.

The new job is good. Everybody is really cool, which is a definite bonus. I still haven't started doing the stuff that I was really hired for, but I'm sure its just a matter of time though. In the meantime, I'm just working in the back, putting together servers and imaging PC's and laptops. Its all good. I'm way over qualified to do it, but hey, they know what they pay me, if they want to pay me to do that, its cool with me! Waste my talents! I don't care. Although, it is physically draining. I come home pretty shot, but at least I know I worked hard throughout the day. Thats a good feeling.

On the personal front, things with Missy are going good. She had Sunday dinner with my family last night, so we got the meet my parents phase out of the way. Tomorrow night I'm going to meet her parents, so its going well, I must say. My mom and dad had nothing but nice things to say about her, so its nice that they definitely approve.

Alright, thats enough for now. Going to rest and recuperate for tomorrow.

Title is courtesy of a Stain'd song. Not a big fan of theirs, but it fits!

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. Its been a little crazy with the new job and everything. Speaking of the new job, its good. I think this is my initiation period because I'm not really doing what I was specifically hired for! I'm working in the back in their configuration center, basically putting together servers for customers, installing memory in laptops and PC's and slapping clients OS's on it, and asset tagging monitors. Its a lot more physical labor than I'm used to. A lot of taking things out of boxes and putting them back in eventually when all is done! Its OK though. I get the sense that everyone had to go through this at some point while the higher ups put together some kind of plan to get me going with what I'll be really doing. The only downside is I leave work exhausted. But, its the weekend now, so now work for two days. No heavy lifting for at least 48 hours! On the plus side, all the people are really cool so far, and I think once I start getting into what I'll really be doing, I'm going to really like it.

Weekend plans you ask? Well, I'm at my parents right now, relaxing and doing laundry. I'll go back to my place at some point today, and Missy is coming over tonight. We went out on Wednesday as kind of a first day at a new job celebration for me and had a great time. So tonight its just about relaxing in and being lazy, which I'm so in the mood for. And, tomorrow, we're going to dinner at my parents house. Yes, its meet the parents stage! Fun times! Its ok though, I'm meeting her family at some point this week, so its only fair! But so far things are going really well between us and I couldn't be happier. Its about time too! I was almost single for two years! But, good things come to those who wait, right?

Alright, time to get back to the relaxing! I think I may just hop into my mom's jacuzzi and relax some of those overworked muscles! Have a great weekend!

Thank you to the incomparable Sting for todays title.

So, today is my first day at my new job. Oddly enough I didn't have too much trouble falling or staying asleep last night and I'm not too nervous right now. I know the first few days will be pretty low stress anyway. But I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what is in store for me with this new venture I'm about to undertake. I'm excited. Very excited.

And, even better, I'm going out for a post-first day celebrating with Missy after work!

Alright, time to get up, exercise and shower and get ready. Wish me luck!

"Cause you need to be back in the arms of a good friend
And I need to be back in the arms of a girlfriend"

Title is courtesy of the title track off of Matthew Sweet's 1991 album "Girlfriend." You know the song I'm talking about. It had that cool anime video on MTV, before anime was hip and cool.

Yeah, so I guess its official now. I have a girlfriend. After being single for almost 2 years (1 year and 10 months, give or take), I am no longer single. Its a bit of a weird feeling. I spent New Years Eve with the lucky lady, and in a somewhat drunken, champagne induced haze, I let the g-word slip out, but she was cool with it. So I guess that makes me someone boyfriend too. It feels weird, but very very good. 2007 is starting off on such the right foot. New job, new girl. Can't ask for anything more.

So, a little about her. She is 29, soon to be 30 at the end of April, so she's a little older than me, but thats cool with me. She is crazy tall, like 6 feet tall, which is nice, since I'm like 6'4"-5". She is a second grade teacher and lives about 15-20 minutes from me, which isn't bad at all. And have I mentioned how pretty she is? Thats a definite bonus. And so far we've gotten along really well and clicked in all the right ways. Oh yeah, her name. Her name in Melissa, but she mostly goes by Missy.

And there you have it. Hope everyone's New Years were as good as mine! 2007 will be awesome. I can feel it!

Edit: I thought it would be interesting/fun to put together a list, if I can, of all the girls I've gone on at least one date with between relationships. Here we go, and hopefully I can remember all their names and not leave anyone out! Ava, Karen, Sue, Tara, Athena, Jen, Sari, Michelle, Rachel, Elana, Tara (different Tara), someone whose name I can't remember (Sorry!), Laura, Ilyse, Jeanine, Bojana, Erin, Kirsten, Jacqueline, and lastly Marissa. Wow, 20 different girls. And I'm sure I'm forgetting at least one, or two.