"Because you can't, you won't and you don't stop!"

Title courtesy of The Beastie Boys. Not bad for three Jewish white boys from NYC, I must say. Its funny, because Missy and I get into little arguments (if you can even call them that) over what our children can do when they're kids or when they grow up. I'm big into hockey, so I would my kids to play, boys or girls. And her answer is always Jews don't play hockey. And of course I come up with counter arguments, like Mike Richter, goalie of the 1994 Stanley Cup Championship New York Rangers is Jewish. So now I can say my kids can be rappers, because the Beasties did it!

Reason for the title? No reason that I can think of. I just had a decent weekend, and am looking forward to an easy week of being in the city, all week long! The only un-easy part of it is the commute in everyday from east-bumblefuck, NY, otherwise known as the town my parents live in. Its like over an hour and a half to get into the city by train, and probably longer on the way home as the train makes more stops. It'll be ok though. I have plenty of stuff to listen to and watch on my iPhone. Worst case I'll bring a book. I know I have enough of those I've been meaning to read lying around, so I should get on it.

That's about it. Hope everyone had a pleasurable weekend. Peace!

Title courtesy of Motley Crue. You know, the hair band, glam metal group from the 80's. I read an interesting book a few months back called Fargo Rock City, which had a ton of essays on hair metal from the 80's. I highly recommend it. Its by a guy named Chuck Klosterman, and he's written a few books about pop culture, all which are awesome.

It's Friday, once again. Thankfully. I'm definitely looking forward to a relaxing weekend, although I know I have a lot of things to take care of. Tonight will be pretty low-key and easy. Just going to the gym with Missy, a light dinner at home, and then to bed. In the morning, we'll spin, then I have my guitar lesson, a hair cut, which I'm in desperate need of, and then I'm meeting Seth and Brett and we are finally going to a shooting range. Brett's a police officer, and ever since he became one we've been bugging him to take us to the range so we can shoot actual handguns. And Saturday is the day. Missy is scared to death, mostly because she's a naturally worrier, but also because I'm a bit of a spaz. Its true. I mean, I busted up my knee dancing with my mom and my brother's wedding, so that's a pretty good indication of how accident prone I am. But seriously, do you ever hear of accidents at gun ranges? No one gets shot there. I hope!

Later Saturday night Missy and I are meeting my brother and his wife (I still have to get used to typing that) for dinner in the town where my old apartment was. I miss that place a little, mostly because the commute to work was cake, and the town was awesome. Oh well. The memories are nice. Sunday there will be more spinning class, and dinner at my parents house. And thats about it really.

The big day, although its a little over six months away, feels like its rapidly approaching. Since we're about six months out, more vendors, including the catering hall need to get paid, once again. So Missy went through all of contracts and such to see who needs to get paid and when. So far its just the catering hall and the flowers, thankfully. I know six months sounds like a long time, but it'll be here before you know it. August was six months ago, and it feels like time has just flown by in that respect. So I know August 3, 2008 will be here in no time flat! Which gives me six months, actually less since we want to do engagement pictures in May, to get my ass in shape. I'm making progress at the gym, and if my eating habits were better, I'd be seeing better results. I just need to bare down and quit messing around. Last weekend I ate way too much, and was really lazy and skipped the gym on Monday, that didn't help at all. I'm hoping to have a better weekend this weekend and a better week next week.

I'll be in the city all next week for a training class. Last time I did that I had really good results. I woke up crazy early to go to the gym, caught a train to the city, went to class all day, came home and hit the gym again. That should help, huh? That's the plan at least. And a week out of the office learning something new and cool is always a good thing.

Alright, thats enough for now. Peace.

Title courtesy of U2. I figure since it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, why not use the song by U2 about the man as my title? The only crappy thing about this day is that I have to work. Everyone from my department is in today, so seats at desks are at a minimum, which kind of sucks. Other than that, its fine.

My morning started out with a meeting with my boss about my review, raise and objectives for next year. I think it'll be a good year and that I can achieve a lot of that. We'll see though. I hope I can! But it was a good meeting, and I know my boss really likes me and thinks I'm doing a great job, so that is definitely an awesome thing.

The weekend was really good. I didn't behave quite so well Saturday, but I didn't eat too much, and Missy and I went spinning again on Sunday morning, even though I was exhausted. We didn't get to bed until after 2 AM, and were up at 8 AM to get to a 9 AM class. Needless to say I was shot and just didn't have it in me to pedal like I should have. I gave it about 15 minutes before I gave up and just pedaled at the same resistance for the other 45 minutes. But, at least I went and did something, you know? The rest of Sunday was spent watching football with Missy's parents at their house. The Patriots game was OK. I was kind of bored by it, and even fell asleep during the middle of it. But, how about that Giants game? How awesome was that? I can't believe they made it to the Super Bowl. That's some crazy stuff right there. I'm rooting for them, even though I think they don't have too much of a shot. Although everyone thought that they didn't have a chance against Dallas or Green Bay, but they pulled through. I just hope for a good game at the very least.

That's about it for now. Back to work. See ya!

Title courtesy of Alice In Chains.

That's going to be my mantra for tonight. Missy and I are going out to eat with Seth, Shari, Brett and Eynat for family style Italian food. So you know what that means, there's going to be a lot of food, and a lot of temptation. I have to be good. I've done really well the past week on the diet and exercise track, and I don't want to screw it up. I'm going to do my best here, and I need to keep that up. It'll be tough, but I can do it. I've done it before.

Other than that, very little to report. I received my raise the other day at work, and I'm very happy with the number. Its only been my first year there, so I wasn't expecting a to, but I got a nice percentage, and I'm happy with it. Its been a very busy week of work. I've barely been in the office, which is good too.

I had another great guitar lesson today, and things are progressing nicely there. All in all, good things all around. Lets hope the bottom doesn't fall out any time soon!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend good people, and even though I'm not a huge fan, let's go Big Blue! Let's go Giants! Beat those Packers!

Title courtesy of the one, the only, Pearl Jam. Enough said. The song is about records, or LP's, as they were called back in the day. But for me, now, I think of spin class and how much it kicks my ass every time I go. I know if I just went with consistency and pushed myself it'd get better. That's the plan, Stan. Its just hard to stick to it sometimes. I'm trying though. I'm trying real hard (to be the shepherd). Sorry Pulp Fiction reference, its been on cable a lot lately.

Other than that, there isn't much going on. I had an interesting weekend. Had an awesome guitar lesson on Saturday. I'm still digging the new teacher a lot. This week we started working on Highway to Hell, which I was rocking out to. I just need to learn the guitar solo and thats another song in the repertoire. Saturday night my parents had their annual party for my dad;s department, and that was a lot of fun, surprisingly. Sunday, Missy and I went to her parents house to watch football, which was also a ton of fun. I can't believe the Giants won! I'm not even a fan, but I was still psyched for their win. I doubt they'll beat Green Bay though, but one can hope.

That's about all there is to report. I'm out of the office for most of this week, which is good and bad. Good because it keeps me busy and distracted and out of the office. Bad, because I'm waiting on my annual review and raise, and I'm dying to know what it is. I hope its good, but I'm not holding my breath. I've only been there a year, and its only recently that I've starting being at customers regularly. But, I have faith in my boss fighting for me, so we'll see what happens.

And with that, I'm done. Peace.

Title is courtesy of Jeff Buckley. It has absolutely no meaning, I'm just listening to Jeff Buckley right now on iTunes at work, and thought I'd share. Crazy to think the guys been dead for over 10 years. Sad too.

Its Thursday, and damn its been a very long week. A very slow week. Thankfully I'm in the city tomorrow morning, so that'll be a nice change of pace to the day. And also, I'm out of the office for most of next week too. I can use a change of pace. I've been in the office too much over the last two weeks or so, I must admit. So it'll be nice to get away and bill some customers for my services!

Its been a good week so far. I really need to hit the gym more and watch what I eat though. I know I keep saying it. I know I have a wedding to get in shape for, and more importantly, before that, engagement pictures, which we're going to do in the spring. The only way to do it, is to do it, right? So I'm going to just try my best and whatever happens, is what happens.

I'm really psyched for my second guitar lesson on Saturday. I have a really good feeling. I made a CD that I just need to burn of a bunch of songs I'd love to play. Two of those will be my wedding tunes, and I have to say, they rock. If I can get up at my wedding and play those, I'll be a happy man.

My parents are also throwing their annual party for my dad's department on Saturday. Its kind of a way of thanking all of the people in his department for all the hard work they're going to be doing in the next four months for tax season. Fun for them! Missy is coming as early as she can to help my mom and I have some errands to run, so hopefully I can stay out of my mom's way, and not incur her wrath. That would be best, I think.

That's about it for now. Until we meet again!

Title courtesy of AC/DC.

I pick that because I finally learned how to play the chorus of that song this weekend, and not just the main riff, which, lets be honest, has got to be one of the coolest guitar riffs in all of rock and roll.

I'm very psyched about the guitar again. It was one of my New Year's Resolutions to play more and get better at it, and to that effect I've started taking lessons again. My original teacher fell off the face of the earth this time last year and I started taking lessons with a new guy in February of 2007, but I never vibed well with the guy. I don't know why I kept paying him for as long as I did either. I felt like most of our lessons were spent with me watching him go nuts and shred. So yeah, I didn't get much out of our time spent together. I got so crazy busy with work and traveling towards the end of the summer that I just stopped taking lessons from him and never resumed with anyone else. As a result, the guitars sat in their cases, unplayed. I recently hung them all up on the wall of my room as incentive to pick them up and play more, and so far I have, a bit. Plus, they look really cool up there! See for yourself!

Anyway, so I did some searching on Craigslist last week and found a teacher that gave lessons out of this old industrial park that is literally within walking distance of my house! I swear. I could walk there probably quicker than driving. I think once the weather warms up I will. Anyway, so I sit down with the guy and we go through the basics, how long I've been playing, who have I taken lessons from, all that kind of stuff. And then we get down to the meat of the way he teaches. He said that some instructors (like my first one) just sit down and play songs with you and have no direction for where they want to take you. My old teacher was definitely like that a lot of the times, but when we were focused on something in particular, I found that I did get better. So this new guy definitely has a plan for his students, and its not just playing tunes every lesson. He basically broke it down into three things. One, the hands. This is all about technique, the physical aspect of playing, and I must admit, my technique is kind of sloppy, so I can definitely improve on it there. Two, the head. That's obvious, all the knowledge about playing and music, such as chords, scales and so on. He said He could tell that I had a good head for what I needed to do, its just a matter of getting my hands to do it. So hopefully we'll work on that! Lastly, and probably most important, was heart. What drives me to play the guitar? Who are some of my favorite bands? What do I want to play? I rattled off a bunch of my favorite artists and we talked a bit about some of them. I went home and made an iTunes playlist of about 18 or so songs that I really want to learn how to play, all of varying degrees of difficulty. I think we can use that as a nice template for what I want to do and where I want to go with it all. I'm really psyched about taking lessons with this guy. I hope it works out well, because I really want to get up at my wedding and knock the socks off of everyone by playing a rocking tune or two with the band. I was going to play two simple, easy songs, but now I'm thinking I might want to challenge myself a bit.

That was my Saturday for a half hour. Saturday I went car shopping with my dad a bit, very prematurely, as my lease isn't up until June. But I figured it couldn't hurt to look. Saturday night I went to Missy's and we got pizza with her brother and his girlfriend. Sunday we spent most of the day in our pajamas lounging around her apartment, watching movies, TV and football. All in all, a great weekend!

Title courtesy of U2. Even though technically, its not New Years Day anymore.

I'm not the type to wax poetic about the year that was, or go on about my hopes and dreams for the year to come, so I'll skip all that. I'll just say that 2007 was great, and 2008 should be even better. Briefly, I got engaged in 2007 and started a new job. In 2008, I'll get married and hopefully the success at my job will continue. Thats really all I have to hope for. Everything else is just icing on the proverbial cake.

I did have fun New Year's Eve, but paid for it on New Year's Day. Surprise surprise! Missy and I went to my friend's Brett's place and spent New Years with him, his fiance, Seth and Shari, Jeff (a friend of mine from high school that I kind of lost touch with and haven't seen or spoken to since 2005) Brett's brother Ryan and his fiance Sarah, and a few other people were there. Like a dozen in total. I drank way too much and was definitely feeling like crap the next day, and still do a little bit today. That's the price you pay for partying too hard! Lesson learned. I don't plan on drinking that much for a long, long, long time. If ever!

And thats about it. Another short week at work and then its the weekend again! I can't wait.

Adios good people! Hope you all had a Happy New Year!