Title courtesy of any number of bands that had awesome songs called "Down." Some off the top of my head, 311, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots.

As the title suggests, my weight was down this week. Although it was definitely a tough week and I feel like I should toss my new scale out the window, because it can never make up its mind how much I weigh. But I was down a few pounds, and thats a good thing. The keys for Labor Day Weekend are to not go too crazy with food, and try to hit the gym as much as I can. The results, please:

Lost 3.5 pounds, for a total loss of 10 in 3 weeks time. I have 65 more to lose, and I'm 13% of the way to my goal.

Not bad, huh?

I, always believed in futures.

Title courtesy of Jimmy Eat World, who have a new album coming out in October I think. Can't wait for it. New albums means tour, and they were really good when I saw them live, even though they were only an opener. I'm looking forward to seeing them headline, thats for sure.

So, the future is looking good. There were some developments last week at work, that if I'm up to the task, will be very beneficial for me, I hope. One of my co-workers is leaving the company and moving onto to bigger and better things, for a lot more money. The company is looking to me to step up and fill his role. So its basically a promotion, but without a raise. That part sucks. But I'm hoping that if I do well, come January 3, 2008, when I am eligible for my first raise, that its a good one. Only time will tell. I've been training with the guy all week and a lot of it was stuff I already knew, but not well enough. I'm getting better, and only with experience in the field will I be able to master it. I'm confident that I can. But its a huge opportunity for me, one that I'm looking forward to tackling, thats for sure!

That's really it on the big news front. Things are pretty much status quo elsewhere. I am completely out of my apartment and into my parents house. I stopped by the old place yesterday just to make sure it was clean and that the place was totally empty, and it was on both accounts. I turned my keys into the caretakers as well. So as of know, I'm officially done with the place! I just need to get my security deposit back and dispense it out to the roommates as I see fit. It'll be a pretty even split, minus about $25 from everyone for their share of the cleaning lady, and maybe a few bucks here and there for cable. We'll see how that pans out and what kind of deposit I get back in the first place.

The gym is going really well. I'm going twice a day when I can, but at the moment I'm just doing the elliptical during the week, and the spinning class on Saturday with Missy. I want to do strength training with weights, but I went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday for a pain I've been getting in my upper arm/shoulder area, and he said it was tendinitis of the bicep, so I need physical therapy. If after 4 to 6 weeks of that its not any better, then I'll need an MRI to see if anything is torn in there. Lets hope not. So I'm going to lay off the weights at the gym until after physical therapy is over and I get the all clear from the doctor. At this point I really just want to lose the weight I put on. I'll worry about toning up later. Missy and I met with our photographer yesterday to sign our contract, and she really wanted to do fall engagement pictures, but the photographer said that fall was way too early, and that he thinks spring would be better. So I have a lot more time to get in shape and look good. Short term goal is to drop as much as I can before Seth and Shari's wedding in October, and my brother's wedding in November.

That's about all thats going on at the moment. So some big stuff in there. I definitely have to apply myself, and I plan on it.

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

So I weighed in on Saturday morning after Missy and I went spinning and the scale read exactly the same thing it did last week, so I maintained. Then I proceeded to eat like crap for most of the rest of the weekend, so I have a lot of ground to make up this week. But, at least I'm off to a good start. I just got back from the gym where I hit the elliptical for a good 60 minutes.

It was a pretty interesting weekend here. I'd go into detail, but I don't have the time right now as I'm getting ready for work. More later.

Have a great Monday.

Title courtesy of a Jimi Hendrix Experience song, off of Axis: Bold As Love, covered pretty damn well by John Mayer Trio on their one and only album, Try!

So my weekly weigh in will have to wait until tomorrow. I was at Missy's the past two nights and I don't like or trust her scale. I want to use the one I bought, for consistency, you know? So we're going to go spinning tomorrow morning again so we can sweat to death, and then I'll weigh in.

This week has gone really well in most every way, so hopefully the weekend will be good as well. Details to follow when time permits.

"I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel..."

Title courtesy of Nine Inch Nails, and of course who can forget Johnny Cash's amazing cover of the song as well.

So the gym continues to be an interesting learning experience. My method of learning? Pain and hurt. I finally recovered from my sore muscles from last week's one on one training session, so I started on working some various muscle groups on Tuesday night. The trainer basically broke it down into three muscles groups to work separately. One is triceps and chest, two is biceps and back, and three is legs and shoulders. Since we did biceps and legs last week, i decided to give them a little more of a break and went with chest and triceps, and I was definitely feeling sore the next day. Thats all well and good, except, like a moron, last night I decided to do biceps and back, instead of legs and shoulders. My rationale? That I was doing another spinning class on Saturday and didn't want my legs feeling like Jello beforehand. The reality is that both sides of my upper arms are killing me and I can barely lift my arms. So, lesson learned, never work out the arms completely in consecutive days.

Other than that, nothing new is really going on. I'm in the city right now sitting in a very boring seminar that my company sent me to. I'm here again tomorrow, but only for a half a day, which is good. Work has been good. I've been taking certification tests and learning a lot of new things outside of that, which is really good. I hope I'm impressing my boss, especially so much that I'll get a nice raise in the new year. I know I'm reaching, but its nice to think of. Plans for this weekend are dinner with Brett and his fiance on Saturday, and my dad's companies picnic on Sunday. Somewhere in there we need to go to my old apartment and clean out the junk thats been left behind. That should be fun. My landlady has been bugging me non-stop recently about the final details we have to handle, especially when the power will be canceled and when the final meter reading will be. I think we've ironed it out to her liking. I hope so, as she's sending me my security deposit back, and I want it!

So that's about it. Nothing really crazy going on. I keep hitting the gym on a consistent basis, although my free two week trial is up on Monday and I'll have to pay for the full year, thats OK though. A year is all I need for now.

Alright, back to class, as I should pay some attention.

Peace.

Title courtesy of two good songs actually, both from soundtracks. The Cure did one off of The Crow and Nine Inch Nails off of Natural Born Killers.

The burn I describe is the burn my muscles felt this weekend, mostly on Saturday morning when Missy and I went to a spinning class at my gym. Now, I knew that spinning involved riding an exercise bike, but I had no idea that it would hurt that much! It was pretty intense. Usually when I hit a stationary bike I don't break that good a sweat. I mean, I sweat, but never as much as when I ride the elliptical. I mean, the sweat is dripping off my face when I ride the elliptical. But this spinning class? Its got them all beat. I was sweating buckets. There were times when we had to stand up off the seat and pedal and just leaning over, I could feel the sweat coming off of me. I couldn't see too well since they turned the lights off inside the gym, but it was pretty intense. It felt good though. Even though my quads were still crazy sore from the trainer two days before, I got a great workout. Missy enjoyed it too and said she'd definitely go back and do it again, which is cool too. Misery loves company.

The rest of the weekend pretty much happened like I said it would. We went to see Superbad on Friday night, which was honestly, the funniest movie I have ever seen. I laughed harder during that movie than anything else, even Knocked Up, which I thought was pretty damn hilarious. So go see it, McLovin! Saturday morning we went spinning, then ran a ton of errands, the bank, car wash, and haircut. Then we met Rob back at my old apartment and managed to get my bed out of there. Rob and I went to my parents to unload the bed while Missy went back to her place. We didn't set the bed up, because we were pressed for time to get out of there as we were going to see Alice In Chains and Velvet Revolver at Jones Beach later that night. I headed to Missy's as she's five minutes from the venue. The concert was good, albeit a little strange, just because the ex-lead singer died a few years back and they're on tour with a new singer. He sounds exactly the same, but it just isn't the same, you know? Velvet Revolver is good, but seeing them again made me realize what a weird combination that band is. Its Slash and Duff from Guns N Roses, with Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots. One of the biggest bands in the 80's that was replaced in the 90's by the other band. It just seemed odd to me, finally. But it was good.

Sunday morning we slept in and headed over to grandma's once we finally got up to setup her new PC, since her old one's hard drive blew up. That took about two hours, but spending time with my grandma away from the rest of the family is always nice, and I know she appreciated the fact that we came by. And she slipped me $50 for setting everything up. After that Missy and I grabbed some breakfast at a local diner, and ran into her brother, so we said a quick hello. Then we went to her parents to open up a few wedding gifts that were delivered, then went to my parents for some BBQ. While there we managed to setup my bed and move the old bed that was in my room out. An exhausting weekend, thats for sure.

Plans for tonight are to hit the gym and relax after that. It was a good weekend, but not very relaxing because we were running around all over the place the whole time. But still good.

Alright, peace.

It take my pain away! Title courtesy of Jimmy Eat World off of Futures. Those guys need to release a new album, and soon. Its good stuff.

So I'm in a little bit of pain today from the ass kicking at the hands of the personal trainer yesterday, but its a good kind of pain. I'm sore, but still managed to go to the gym this morning for a 30 or so minute workout on the elliptical. I figured it was best to keep it light, just get the heart pumping and the legs moving to help alleviate the soreness. Walking up and down the stairs is still a bitch, but I'll live. I'm going to hit the gym again tomorrow morning, probably with Missy, so that should be fun. OK, so onto the results for this week. Now remember, my starting point is somewhat vague and I really just picked an arbitrary number out of the air that I felt was somewhat accurate, so this week is going to look like huge progress. Lets just see if I can keep it up next week too. So, without further ado...

Down 6.5 pounds. So a total loss of 6.5, with 69.5 pounds to go, 9% of the way to my goal of 75, which would put me at my goal weight from last summer. I still have about a week trial at the gym, but I'm going to sign up for the full year soon, and maybe get a pack of one on one trainer sessions so I can see him like once a month to check my progress.

Plans for the weekend are as follows, and its a pretty busy weekend. Tonight, a light dinner, probably just a slice of pizza with Missy, then onto the movies to see Superbad. Tomorrow is the big day. I want to hit the gym in the morning, then get my haircut, hit the bank and cash in all my change I've been throwing in my empty pretzel keg bucket for the past 6 or 7 months, get my car washed, and then I have to meet up with Rob to try to move my bed and whatever crap I have left in my apartment. Later that night Rob, Seth, Andrew and I are going to see Alice In Chains and Velvet Revolver at Jones Beach. Sunday morning I need to go to my grandma's and hook up her new PC as her old hard drive basically blew up. Sunday night I think my mom is barbecuing. And thats my weekend in a nutshell.

Back to work. Have a great weekend.

Title from The Offspring off of their first album Ignition.

I feel thats what just happened to me. I had my appointment with the personal trainer and I felt like he kicked my ass, and then kicked me when I was down on the floor, scrambling for breath. I am so sore all over, its not even funny. But you know what's sick? It kind of feels good! I'm a masochist deep down inside, I just know it. We worked out all kinds of muscles that I'm not even sure I had, let alone worked in who knows how long. We did a lot of leg exercises and its pretty obvious that my left leg, the one with my bum knee isn't nearly as strong as my right. I'm going to have to work on that, a lot. But he was good, really good. I was asking what kind of split on activity I should look to get, and he said do a little more than half cardio, the rest weight training. I can do that. I'm hoping that I'm not too sore to get up in the morning and ride the elliptical. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I took some Advil with dinner, which consisted of a small glass of OJ when I got back, to help with the headache I had, and some scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon, because I figured my muscles could use the protein after getting shredded and hour earlier. Like, seriously shredded. Walking down the stair hurt and I felt a little unsteady on my feet. Damn, I got my ass kicked.

Title of a song by Filter off of "Title of Record," the one with Take a Picture on it. I'm listening to Take A Picture right now, so I saw Skinny as the next track, and said, damn, that fits!

So, I've been good all week and hit the gym at least once. I went to Bed Beth & Beyond yesterday to buy a bathroom scale, and so far it works pretty well. I tried to get on a doctor's office scale that the gym had in the locker room the other day, but I hate those things. I couldn't get it to balance. I have a rough idea of what the number read, and I'm using that as my starting point. I think I overestimated just what that number is, so when I post results tomorrow, its really not as monumental as I make it out to be. Basically, I'm looking to lose at least 75 pounds. 55 would get me back to my all time lowest from last year, with the final 20 for where I should be, and where I set my goal from last year. Then I get my guitar! (Who am I kidding! I've had it for a year and I use it! I need a new motivator!) I can do it. I know it. Missy and I are trying to do this together. She says she wants to lose about 10 pounds, and since she already has her wedding dress, she really just needs to maintain and she'll be fine.

The gym has been a very pleasurable experience so far. I wake up early and go, then head home to shower and eat a bowl of cereal before heading to work. Or I try to hit it once I get home from work. Today I'll be doing both as I have my free one on one session with a personal trainer. I went this morning and did 45 on the elliptical. I think if I just hit the gym consistently, like at least 5 times a week, and stick to eating like a reasonable person I'll be just fine. I don't expect the weight to fly off like it did last summer, but thats because I was doing Herbalife back then, and it probably wasn't the best for me. I'm so glad that I'm not plunking down $200 a month for that stuff anymore. I'm doing it au natural baby!

OK, so enough babbling about that stuff. There really isn't too much more to report sadly, so I'm going to sign off for now. Peace out people!

The Beatles, once again. I can't help it, they just have so many good tunes, and fantastic titles too!

No need to fear, there are no troubles that need working out in my life. Things are good, so I'm no complaining. I really should restate the title though to something more appropriate, like, "I Can Work Out," but that just doesn't make a catchy song title. I don't hear a hook anywhere in there, or a chorus, let alone the bridge or a guitar solo.

Anyway... so, since my trip to Jersey was canceled for this week, I decided to get a jump on everything I was going to take care of once I got home, and priority number one is, joining a gym. There's always been some form of a gym right around the corner from my parents house in the closest shopping center to their neighborhood. Its honestly less than a mile to get there, and I think once I get in a little better shape I may want to run it. We'll see. So I went in there yesterday and got the grand tour. I came prepared with workout clothes in my car, so they gave me a locker key and let me at the place. I hit the elliptical for a good half hour and headed home. On the way out the girl who showed me around and gave me the whole spiel on the place gave me a free two-week trial membership, and a free one on one training session with one of their personal trainers set for this Thursday. So I'm pretty psyched about that. I think regardless of how the two weeks go I'm going to join up for the year (its cheapest that way) since I'm going to be living home for a year anyway. I even woke up early this morning and went again, doing about 45 minutes on the elliptical. I'm looking forward to getting into going regularly, and adding new things to my exercise regime. Along with losing weight, or more accurately, fat, I want to add a little muscle as well, if only to tone up. I don't need or want to be a big muscle head, its just not my thing. So that was the gym.

I'm also going to eat a whole lot better. Missy wants to take our engagement photo's sometime this Fall, and I'm all for it, just not while I'm looking like this. If we're spending that much of photo's, I'm going to make damn sure I look my best. If that means waiting until the spring to take pictures, so be it. I think we'll survive if we have to wait a little while. In other wedding related news we've finally booked a video guy! So, the final thing left to do is to pick out flowers. Hopefully that won't be too hard. We've already decided that flowers are the one thing that we have no problem going cheap on. We don't want huge, tall, distracting centerpieces, and I think everything else will be pretty simple and low key. I'll just be glad when this last part is done, because its the last of the major stuff to do. Woo hoo!

Other than that, nothing new to report. I'm going to Missy's parents tonight because they're BBQing for dinner, and thats about it. I'm gonna hit the gym again tomorrow after work and again on Thursday for my personal trainer meeting, and then we'll see where we're at.

See ya for now!

Dave Matthews Band. I used to be a huge fan of theirs, but then all their new music started to really suck, and the old just couldn't keep me interested enough to pay to see them live every summer. But the old stuff is still good.

So the title reflects my morning perfectly. I was supposed to be in New Jersey all this week for another HP training class. I stayed at Missy's last night, since its less distance to drive from her place than from mine, got there with about 10 minutes to spare before class started. Walked into the place, and I find out that the class was canceled because I was the only person enrolled in it. And they never notified me. The bastards! So I drove all the way home, changed, and went into the office. I'm pissed. I packed a suitcase for a week and everything. Thankfully I only had to drive, but can you imagine if I had to fly in from out of town or something? Its ridiculous.

Thankfully, I can just take a certification test instead. Those are easy to pass.

Song title courtesy of Army of Anyone. They're a super-group composed of the guitarist and bassist brothers from Stone Temple Pilots and the lead singer of Filter. They're good.

So the title basically describes what my day was like yesterday. I was at a customer on Wednesday doing some upgrades to their e-mail system, which went by just fine. So I left for the day, told them to create a backup and I'd come back the next day and upgrade the server's operating system. Well, once I did that, the whole thing basically blew up. Nothing would function after that. I called Microsoft who were of absolutely no help in getting the existing server back up and running. They were able to help me get the data over to a new server and install the e-mail server software in such a way that the customer was back up and running. It only took about 3 hours once we stopped messing around with the original server. That part lasted about 5. Lesson learned. Never upgrade server OS's on really old machines that have been running untouched for a long time. All in all, it sucked, but it was a good learning experience.

And now we're at the weekend. I know its only Friday, but I took a sick day today, because after yesterday I was just shot. I didn't get out of the customer until 10:15, and didn't get to Missy's until 11:30. After working 13+ hours, I needed a rest. I actually have to go take a certification test in a few hours, but after that, I'm done for awhile. I'm going camping for a night tomorrow night for Seth's bachelor party, then I'm off to a hotel in New Jersey somewhere for another week of HP training. Fun times. These past few weeks have been crazy busy with travel, training and whatnot. I'm amazed I'm still sane and alive.

In wedding news, we've practically booked our videographer. All we have to do is sign the contract they mailed up and send them 1/3 of the total cost as a deposit. Thats one less thing on the list. The only other major thing to do is flowers. We also need to book or block out some hotel rooms in a nearby place, but thats about it for the major stuff. Everything else we can handle in time. So far we have a date at a place, a band, a rabbi, a photographer, a video guy... and Missy has her dress and the bridesmaids dresses too. Pretty good for less than two months, huh?

Alright, back to studying!

Title courtesy of Queens of the Stone Age.

I doubt I'll need a lullaby tonight. I'm beyond exhausted. I was honestly fighting to stay awake at my desk a little while ago. Thankfully there is less than an hour of work left, so I can go home soon. The one crappy thing about living back at home with my parents now, the commute. I had like a 7 mile commute from my apartment. Now its a little bit more, like 25. Ouch. That sucks. Damn you MapQuest for fast directions and distances! So I guess I'll be spending a little more on gas in the coming months. I'm sure it all pales in comparison to what I'd pay in rent and utilities though. Better be! I have a post-wedding life to save for!

50 minutes to go at work. Then home sweet home, with my dog, and my little brother who I want to kill.

Oh yeah, thats an interesting story I think I forgot to tell. So the Saturday night before I left for Chicago it was my grandmother's birthday. So my entire family went out for dinner. My parents, my little brother, Missy and myself, my aunt, uncle, grandmother (of course) and a friend of hers. So we're eating dinner, making conversation and my little brother started complaining that my dad wanted to trade in his truck, a GMC Envoy thats a few years old, and get something new for my dad, and he'd give my dad's old truck/car, and Infiniti FX35 to my little brother. So I started ragging on him a little bit, that it wasn't such a bad deal. Then the topic came up of taking my mom's truck, an Acura MDX, and my little brother said he didn't fit in it. I said how is that possible? I fit in it and I'm taller than he is. He said he just feels squished in it. At which point I responded back that maybe he should hit the gym. Harsh, I know. But true. He's a little shorter than me, but probably has 100 pounds on me. So, I said that and everyone just did a double take and said, whoa. Then I backed it up by saying that I was going to join a neighborhood gym when I got home and he was more than welcome to join me. But there was no undoing it, because he was pissed off.

So pissed off in fact, that when I got to my parents house to finish packing for Chicago I found a string or two hanging out the side of one of my guitar cases. So I open it up and find two strings cut off the guitar, with a post-it note attached to the pick guard, saying, "Consider it a warning!" Of course I immediately went downstairs and told my mom that my brother cut the strings off one of my guitars. She hit back with, well how can you be sure it was him? And I said, because he left a note! And slammed the post it on the counter. Of course he was nowhere to be found at all when I was around. So I left for Chicago and when he finally did get home my dad proceeded to tear him a new asshole. He deserved it if you ask me. Seriously. He's 22, I'm 28. We're not twelve and six anymore. There's no reason to settle disputes by trashing each other's stuff. I'm not going to break his XBox in retaliation, because its juvenile. So why trash my stuff? Missy was pissed off too. Luckily it wasn't the guitar she just bought me, because she would've gone medieval on his ass. And of course he's still pissed. He refused to help us move anything at all the entire weekend. At dinner last night, he made sure to take my seat. The only spare two seats were at opposite ends of the table so Missy and I had to sit apart for the meal. Just little annoying shit that is so immature I can't believe it. The kid needs to do graduate college already, get a job and grow up. Should be an interesting year living at home like that!

40 minutes to go.

As a Long Islander, one instantly loves and adores any and all music by Billy Joel.

Anyway, so I'm back from the suburbs of Chicago. The trip was extremely knowledgeable, and extremely boring at the same time. I couldn't wait to get back! Unfortunately, I knew once I got back it would only be for a week, this week, and then I'm in New Jersey for a week for another bout of HP training. Woo hoo. I wasn't too happy because of the huge amount of personal stuff I have to attend to this month, like moving out of my apartment and back into my parents house. Its only for a year though!

But, I am happy to report that this past weekend, with Missy's help, I'm all moved! For the most part. The only things of mine left at my old place are my bed, my CD's, some books and a few jackets hanging in the hall closet. I know what you're saying, how I can be moved without a bed? Well, I moved into my older brothers old room. He recently moved out of the house and into an apartment with his fiance. So when he moved out, he left his bed behind. So there is a bed in that room. Its a full, not a queen like mine, but its something to sleep on until I can get my bed moved over, which I'm hoping to do sometime this week. Hopefully. Everything else that is left behind is little odds and ends, so I'm not too worried about anything.

Between Missy and myself, with a little help along the way from my brother, Rob and my dad, we were able to get all the major, huge stuff out of my apartment and into my parents house. I'm talking dressers, desk, TV, entertainment center, clothes. All that. Not only did we move it all, but sometime yesterday, we managed to unpack it all as well. It was a lot of work, and we both woke up this morning exhausted and sore, but it was so worth it. It feels good to be settled back into my parents and to not have the thought of moving hanging over my head anymore. Just gotta get the bed and I'll be happy. Missy was amazing throughout the whole thing. Lifting furniture up and down stairs, packing and unpacking my clothes. She even alphabetized my DVD's when we unpacked them. Thats dedication. I knew there was a reason I was marrying her!

Its good to be done with it. One less thing to worry about. Even though I stayed at Missy's last night, I'll probably stay at my parents tonight. Fun times. Its only for a year! The amount of money I'll save is definitely enticing.

Back to work!

Keeping with the Chicago theme here, as I'm still here, unfortunately.

I leave Friday night and get back to Long Island late Friday night. Missy's picking me up. I can't wait to get there!

One thing I dislike? The slight time difference. The only thing I've switched over to Central Time is my watch. My cell phone and computer are all still on Eastern time. Its annoying, but at least it helps me know what time it is back home so that when I call I know its not too late. I know I could just add an hour, but that seems like way too much work, you know?

Anyway, the class is OK. I am learning some stuff about the competitions products, which is good. And honestly, its an easy week. A boring week, but an easy week. I wouldn't exactly call what we're doing in class work. Its learning, and its pretty easy stuff. In the meantime I get a sort of mini-vacation. In the suburbs. Fun times.

I have been good this week with eating and I've hit the gym twice a day every day since I've been here. Once in the morning before showering and class, and again in the afternoon when I'm through with class. There is a gym around the corner from my parents house. I'm sure that once I get settled in after moving out of my place that I'm going to join up and try to go at least more than half the week. It feels good sweating up a storm again. Also, even though I'm away, I'm trying to behave eating wise. Its not easy, especially when I'm on the road, but I'm managing. I want to drop some pounds before it gets too late in the fall so that Missy and I can take our engagement pictures this fall. We'll see how that shakes out.

Alright, time to watch Harry Potter movies until I pass out. Its fun being away on business, huh?