Title courtesy of Nirvana. Need I say more.

I'm sorry, I've been a bad blogger. I still haven't gotten around to getting up pictures of the wedding, let alone the honeymoon. I've just been so damn busy since the wedding was over! I thought I was supposed to have more free time afterward, like someone was supposed to magically hand my life back to me and say, "Go on, have some fun again." The week between the wedding and honeymoon was filled with running around, packing and getting ready for the honeymoon. Obviously on the honeymoon I was unable to communicate with the outside world, save for the computers on board that had the most painfully slow satellite Internet access. And now that I'm back from the honeymoon, there was the whole moving the most of my stuff into "our" apartment and setting up house here, plus this week a monkey wrench (great Foo Fighters song, btw) had to be thrown into the works, and I had to work this week.

And damn, was work exhausting. Maybe its just because I didn't really do much of it for the entire month of August. Seriously, I had like almost three full weeks of vacation time, and it was awesome. But going back was really rough. Its like, you haven't done a damn thing for almost a month, and now you're expected to be productive? Hell, I just want to goof off on the Internet all day. Are you seriously telling me that I can't get paid to do that? The really rough part of it has been the past two days. Wednesday I went with a co-worker into the city to help a customer unhook and pack up some storage devices and servers. So, manual labor. It wasn't too bad and we were out of the city by 3 PM, but then I went with my younger brother Mark to a concert in New Jersey Wednesday night, and I got no sleep that night. I had to wake up at 5:30 on Thursday to drive almost three hours to Pennsylvania to help them hook the stuff back up in their new location. Yes, I had to drive through three states, NY, New Jersey, and PA. Fun times!

But, the concert was pretty awesome. We saw Nine Inch Nails. It wasn't my first time seeing them. I saw them back in '95, again in 2001, 2005 and 2006! Mark had never seen them before and he's been dying to for years. Probably ever since I saw them with Seth in 2001 and didn't invite him to come with us. That was a hell of a show. Marilyn Manson joined them onstage at the end of Starf*ckers, Inc, and then they went into Beautiful People, which rocked. Oh, the memories. This show had no special guest stars or anything, just a pretty crappy opening band, but it was still an amazing show. They give you the full on audio assault, but mix it in with some really cool lighting and video affects. Its very impressive. Plus, I was a good brother and treated Mark to the concert. Mostly because he's still unemployed and very lazy about getting a job, but also because in his current jobless state, I basically made him my errand boy for the last few months before the wedding, especially when it came to getting my car fixed, both my old and my new one.

I'm definitely looking forward to this three-day weekend. Tomorrow is jammed packed with the usual things, like spin class at the gym, and a guitar lesson. But I also have a haircut, exciting, I know, but I also have to take Keyser to the vet for his annual checkup and vaccines. Sunday we have a funeral to go to, my sister-in-law, my brother's wife, her grandfather passed away, so we have that. And later Sunday we're going to a BBQ at Brett's house with Seth as well. Its always fun to hang out like that, just the six of us. Three friends since elementary and junior high, and now all their wives. Weird!

Alright, enough out of me for now. Time to get ready for a fun Friday of work!

Title courtesy of Sugar Ray. Remember them? I actually saw them open up for 311 once, and the lead singer whole stage presence revolved around him sticking the microphone down his pants, and asking the girls in the crowd if they were jealous. Weird. The first opener that night though, Incubus before anyone really knew who the hell they were. I thought they were weirder, but awesome.

Anyway. So I'm back at work officially, as of yesterday, and I'm officially moved into to Missy's apartment, which I'm told to now call "our apartment." It's a little small and there wasn't room for me to bring more than my essential clothes, my TV, XBox 360, Wii, one guitar and an amp. But that's really all I need for now. When we get a house I'll bring the rest of my crap from my parents house.

I still feel a little jet lagged. Case in point, Missy and I passed out at around 9:15 last night and were wide awake come 3:00 AM. Oops. Hopefully it'll pass soon, because its killing me.

OK, so here's the horror story of us making it to our cruise ship on our honeymoon. Our flight plan was to go from JFK in NYC to Madrid, Spain, and then transfer in Madrid to Barcelona, and then take a free shuttle bus from the airport in Barcelona to the port. Our flight was originally supposed to get into Barcelona at around 10 or 11, and the bus would've taken us on a little tour of the city until 2 PM, when we allowed to start getting on the boat. Except, our 6 PM flight out of JFK was delayed due to weather, because the plane we were supposed to fly our on got diverted to Maine. So, our 6 PM flight didn't actually get into the air until close to Midnight, and those six hours was basically our window of time to get from Madrid to Barcelona and on the boat. The shuttles from the airport to the boat stopped at 3:30 and we had to be on the boat by 6 PM or they'd leave us behind.

We land in Madrid at about 12:30 or so. We are met at the gate by airline employees with new boarding cards. They put us on a 4:00 PM flight to Barcelona. We freak out. That would leave us like no time to get to the boat, which we were under the impression was 40 minutes away from the airport. We start freaking out and running around the airport trying to find an information desk or something. We're told to go to another building in the airport where the baggage claim was to get our bags pulled off the connecting flight so we can get on a shuttle flight that left an hour earlier at 3. If we didn't make that 3 PM flight, we were screwed, because the next flight wasn't until 6 PM, which means bye bye boat. Oh, and we had to be checked into this flight by 2:30. When we have them pull our bags at 1:15, they say it'll take 45 minutes or so, but by 2 when we don't see anything, we start to give up hope and resign ourselves to the fact that we're missing the boat and we'll just have to catch it at the first port of call, which was Cannes, France. Just then, our bags appear and we start running. I swear, I nearly killed someone pushing that luggage cart with our suitcases on it. We find the shuttle flight desk and check-in to the 3 PM flight by like 2:15, so we made it with plenty of time.

Once we finally get on that flight, of course it doesn't leave until after 3:00 and the hour flight to Barcelona gets on the ground at about 4:15 or so. I'm trying to find a phone to call the cruise line to let them know we're trying our best to make it there on time while we wait for our bags. A really nice guy that was on our original JFK flight as well as our shuttle flight let me use his cell phone, and just then our bags came out. So we collected them and headed straight for the taxis. Turns out, its only a 20 minute or so ride from the airport to the docks, so we made it there by 5 PM, with like an hour to spare.

We head to the check-in desk and the woman makes a comment about cutting close, and we tell her you have no idea and we start relaying our story. She's shocked and starts checking us in, but then says, "I can't find you in the system," waits a second, and then says, "Just kidding!" Not funny lady. So she checks us in, gives us our room-key cards and we head on-board. We can't even relax once we get on the ship, because its time to do the safety drill! Grab your life vest and head to the rallying point. But, once that was done we broke open the bottle of champagne that was waiting for us in the room courtesy of the travel agent and once the ship started leaving port we headed to an open deck and grabbed some margaritas at the bar.

So, we made it to our honeymoon and it was awesome. More details about the trip to follow, I figured that was a good start. Trip from hell getting there. You have no idea! But we made it, and once we did we had the best time.

Until next time folks!

Title courtesy of The Beatles.

We're back from the honeymoon! Details to follow. It was an amazing trip, although it started out as a nightmare! Long story, I'll try to get to it as soon as I can. At the moment though, its 7 PM local time, but my body thinks its like 1 AM in Spain.

Adios for now.

Title courtesy of The Go-Go's.

At this point, a vacation is all I ever wanted. We are pretty much packed (except for toiletries that we're using this morning) and ready to go on our honeymoon! We're heading over to Missy's parents house at about 1:30 this afternoon so that her mom can drive us to the airport. Our flight to Spain leaves at 6:00 PM, and I always like to get there early so I can beg and plead for a seat with more leg room. This time, I'll have the, "We just got married and its our honeymoon," card to play, so hopefully that will help us out, a lot. We're banking on it, and plan on cashing that chip in numerous times if we can.

Other than that, there is nothing to report. I need this vacation in the worst way! Two weeks with no work, parents or friends, just me and Missy. I couldn't ask for anything more!

Alright party people, see you in about two weeks!!!

Title courtesy of U2, it was also our wedding song.

I still haven't culled together enough photos to post online of the wedding, I'm working on it, but its probably going to have to wait until after the honeymoon. I really want to collect the original digital pics from everyone, instead of the small ones you download from Snapfish, Kodak or Flickr. Once I get a good bunch of those, I'll throw them somewhere good.

OK, so here it is, to the best of my recollection, a rundown of the past few days. Be aware, its a long one, as the days seemed to both never end (in a good way) and flew by too quickly.

Sunday morning I was up bright and early, I want to say around 4:00 AM or so. I got into the bathroom as early as I could to shower and shave, very carefully, so as not to cut myself! I threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, as I wanted to wait and get dressed at the catering hall. I pulled the Corvette out of the driveway and started to pack it up around 6:00 AM or so. It was a bad idea, because I couldn't stop sweating afterward! I tried my best to cool off, including sticking my head in the open freezer and putting ice cubes on my forehead. I should have just gotten used to it, because it was a common theme that day, me and sweating!

At about 7:00 AM i left my parents in my dad's Vette and headed to the catering hall. I didn't need to be there until about 7:45, because that's when Missy was supposed to show up and get dressed so we could take pictures as early as possible. I was pretty close to the place by 7:30, but it was too early, so I just did a small loop down and then back up one of the major roads leading to the place in order to kill fifteen minutes until 7:45. I got there and was the first one there! I pulled up as the video people filmed me, and spent way too long trying to park the Corvette perfectly to my dad's specifications. I grabbed my tux and my backpack out of the car and walked into the place while the video people kept filming me, and I said, "Good morning!"

I came out to get my guitar and amp and noticed two guys that worked the grounds ogling my dad's car. They asked if I was getting married there today, and I said yes, so they said they wouldn't tow the car. How nice of them! Of course they were joking. So I went back inside into the ballroom to plug in my amp and guitar, to tune it up and test it out. After that I let the video people conduct a quick interview with them about how I was feeling and whatnot. The photographer showed up around that time too and we were all on the lookout for Missy to show up. I was told that I wasn't allowed to see her until she was in her dress, and my reaction could be caught by the photographer and video people. So when i saw her car pull up I ran into the grooms room and started to get dressed. That was a big mistake. It took me no time to throw my tux on, but it took her awhile to get ready, and they wouldn't let me see her. The photographer wouldn't let her out of the room unless she promised to eat a bagel. So I had to wait. Around this time I felt like I was trapped in a little prison that was the groom's room. It wasn't helped by the fact that my brother Mark showed up around this time, very early, and saw Missy in her dress before I did. That pissed me off, and I nearly lost my cool. I had to get out of that room, but they wouldn't let me leave because they were afraid I'd sneak a glimpse at Missy. So I promised everyone up and down that I'd go out the exit by a side hall, and not look back. I got outside and was chatting with the photographer who was trying to find the best place to take pictures with us. I snuck back into the catering hall and went straight for the ballroom and grabbed my guitar to play a little in order to calm myself down. The photographer used the alone time with me to snap a few shots of me with and without my guitar.

A few minutes later they told me they were finally ready. They took my outside and had me stand with my back to one of the doors. They told me that Missy would come out, tap me on the shoulder and I could turn around and see her for the first time. Although, to be honest, it took about five minutes for them to set up this shot and get Missy out there. But once I saw her, all the waiting and impatience went away and I was confronted by my beautiful bride. She was stunning, gorgeous, just so beautiful. She looked nothing like I'd imagined she'd look, she looked a 1000 times better. She was just smiling at me, and shaking a little, and kept asking if she looked OK. Of course I kept saying, you're beautiful! Then we started to take pictures by ourselves, while our parents and some other people showed up, but I had to shoo them away, because I wanted those pictured to just be about us, and no one else. In fact, I instructed the video people and the photographer that when I saw Missy for the first time that I wanted it to be a moment between just Missy and myself, not Missy, myself and her mother. And they obliged, thankfully. Not that I have anything against my now mother-in-law, I just wanted us to be alone.

So we took what seemed like a ton of pictures, and eventually all of the bridal party showed up. At that point all of our parents came out as well, along with some extended family and we proceeded to take pictures with the bridal party and our siblings. Once that was all done we were all set to take all of the family pictures inside, but the people at the catering hall interrupted so that we could run through a rehearsal of the ceremony. The photographer wasn't pleased, as we obviously wanted to get all of the pictures done before the ceremony so that no one had to miss cocktail hour. We got through the rehearsal as quickly as possible, with Brett and Seth going through it with Bloody Mary's in their hands! Then we proceeded to the family photos. We purposely did my family first for two reasons, one, her family is huge and it would've taken forever to get everyone in one room, and two, at my brother's wedding we never got a chance to get all of the family shots of my side that my mom wanted, and she hasn't shut up about it since. So my family went first, and we got all the pictures we needed. Then her family went, and everything was fine until it came time to get the big family photo. That took forever and it was starting to get on Missy's nerves. I tried to calm her down as best I could and assured her that all of these people would be going away once it came time to sign our Ketubah.

With the family shot finally out of the way, it was onto the Ketubah signing. It was at this point that both Missy's mom and I said the catering hall director, who was acting as Matire'D for the night that the only people that should be present for the Ketubah ceremony would be the people in the processional, meaning bridal party, parents, grandparents, a select few aunts and uncles, and the witnesses to sign the Ketubah. My witness was Seth, so he was in the bridal party, so it worked out. We went through the Ketubah signing ceremony, during which I had to take a piece of paper, a napkin from the Rabbi, basically accepting the terms of the Ketubah. I had to lift Missy's veil for a second and verify that she was in fact Missy, the girl I wanted to marry. Our grandparents signed our marriage license and our witnesses signed our Ketubah, along with us and the Rabbi. The Rabbi then led a little dance with the men in the room in which they rushed me out of the room. I also had to buy, for the low, low price of $1 each, the two rings that Missy was going to get married it. She couldn't get married in her wedding band that we bought, because it had diamonds in it, and wasn't a solid band all the way around. She got married in her grandmother's ring and her grandmother's grandmother's ring. So I had to pay $2 for the rings!

At this point all of our guests were invited in the ceremony room and we all lined up to start the procession into the ceremony room. Before we started though, I went into the bathroom to do what needed to be done, and I grabbed a mint for myself and Missy. Hey, if I'm going to be kissing the bride, I want her to have fresh breath! We started the processional, which consisted of the Rabbi first and foremost, then Missy's grandparents escorted by her aunt, then my grandma escorted by my aunt and uncle, then my brother, the best man, then me and my parents, then all of the bridal party, then Missy and her parents. It was really surreal walking down that aisle and seeing all of those people staring at me, the flashes going off. It was kind of crazy, but in the best way possible.

I kept scanning the crowd for people I knew, and shook everyone's hands as they came down and took their place. Finally Missy came out and of course all eyes were on her. With good reason, she was a gorgeous bride. Just so beautiful, really. She got to the end of the aisle and I kind of jumped the gun to go over and take her hand. I forgot to wait for her parents to kiss her. Once they did I went over and gave her mom a kiss, shook her dad's hand, and then he placed my hand on Missy's hand, and we waited for her parents to take they place under the Chuppah, basically a wedding canopy in a Jewish ceremony, that's open on all four sides symbolizing the bride and groom's home and that its always open and welcoming to family and friends.

OK, so at this point the Rabbi started the wedding ceremony, which began with Missy circling me seven times, which is a very traditional thing in a Jewish wedding. It was also a bit of a pain because the train on her dress was huge! But she managed. The ceremony didn't last too long, but was very beautiful. At one point Missy had to point at me with her right index finger, indicating that I was the one she wanted to marry, and at that point I put the rings on that index finger and said the equivalent of Jewish wedding vows, in both Hebrew and in English. After that I had to do the same thing, point at her with my right index finger, and she put my wedding band on my index finger while saying her vows in Hebrew and in English. She's lucky, her's were simpler, they're just "Ani L'Dodi, v'Dodi Li", or, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. It was also written very nicely in Hebrew and in English in a cool little twisty thing at the top of our invitation. After a few more blessings, the Rabbi did the old by the power vested in me by the State of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife, and then I stomped on the glass and everyone shouted Mazel Tov!!!

Missy and I made our way down the aisle and into the bridal suite for some time alone. There's a word for it in the Jewish ceremony, and I think its Yechud. Basically a Jewish wedding is about three things, paper, money and sex. The paper is the Ketubah, the money is the gold band, and the sex is the Yechud. Of course we didn't have sex in there by ourselves, but we had some quality alone time. We ate a little food, drank some champagne, I helped Missy go to the bathroom in her dress, and the best part of all, she showed me her garter. It was a New York Ranger's garter! How awesome is that? She kept it a secret from me for the past year! Her co-worker got married in March of 2007 and her husband is a huge Ranger's fan too, so she told Missy about it and Missy got her own for me. I saw it and started chanting, "Let's Go Rangers!"

So, after our alone time in the Bridal Suite we sneaked into the ballroom, bypassing getting mobbed by everyone at the cocktail hour. We wanted to just talk to the band while they were setting up about my two songs with them, and we wanted to practice our first dance. The practicing went horribly, and we were really nervous about it after that. We entered the cocktail hour with about 7 minutes left on it and barely made it down the bar without being mobbed by everyone and managed to talk to only a few people before they started asking people to take their seats in the main ballroom. The video people interviewed us one more time to ask us about our first dance and what we were feeling at that moment. The Rabbi also came by while Missy was freshening up in the bridal suite to say goodbye and good luck. Let me tell you, our Rabbi was awesome. We got so many compliments on him. One of the doctors in my mom's office is Greek and had never been to a Jewish wedding before and she said it was the most beautiful wedding ceremony she'd ever seen.

Anyway, so while everyone took their seats in the ballroom and started dancing, we lined up outside the main doors for our entrance. We talked to the catering hall director who was the Maitre'D for the night and she assured us we'd be fine. The band leader came out and we talked to him once more just to finalize everything, like our entrance music (Sweet Child O'Mine) and our song, U2, "All I Want Is You." After a quick check by another band member at the proper pronunciation of my name, they started playing and announced us for the first time in public as a married couple. We walked in and it was another one of those surreal feelings. All eyes were on us as we walked in hand in hand, smiling from ear to ear. Flashes from digital cameras were going off left and right, and we finally took our place on the dance floor for our first dance. It was all choreographed out after five or so dance lessons, but we practiced to a CD, the band played the song a little faster than we were used to, so I was counting to Missy to try to keep the new beat and rhythm, and of course took shit from people about it later because they could all see me counting. The dance went off without a problem, we executed it all flawlessly, and then they invited everyone up to join us. After that, we busted right into a crazy Hora. Thankfully this time my knee held up and I didn't fall down and bust it like I did at Randy's wedding. Yes, they even managed to lift Missy and I up onto chairs while we tried to hold both ends of a napkin between us. Somehow her uncle got his head between her legs and almost under her dress, and for his act he got an elbow to the head from me. Not on purpose of course, but it was fitting nonetheless.

After the Hora we sat down at our dais table for the blessing over the wine and the bread. The blessing over the wine was done by her oldest uncle on her dad's side and by her grandfather on her mom's side. My dad's uncle did the bread. After that, it was speech time. My brother went first and he actually gave a pretty awesome speech. I was shocked. I gave a killer one at his wedding, and he didn't do bad at all, once he cut out all the lame jokes he stole from the Internet! Next her brother, her man of honor gave his speech, which was sweet and touching, but full of a lot of inside jokes between them.

Once the speeches were over we were going to try to start making our way around to all the tables to thank everyone and at least say hi for a minute, but the band started to play "Something" by the Beatles, so we had to dance, and every song after that was so good for at least five songs, that we stayed out there. Finally we started going around to all the tables, until dinner was served. After dinner we cut the cake, and I was good, Missy made me swear at least five thousand times that I would not shove or smash cake in her face, and I was good, I didn't The cake was so damn good. She fed me first, then I her, and then I had a second bite. The Maitre'D said grooms always go for the second bite, 99% of the time. Then we had our parent dances. Missy danced with her dad to the Allman Brothers "Melissa," and I danced with my mom to Marc Anthony's, "My Baby You." But then we had a surprise for our parents, the band played our parents wedding songs and had them come up and dance to the them. It was "Here, There and Everywhere" by the Beatles for Missy's parents, and "Color My World" by Chicago for my parents.

Then, it was time for my big moment. It was time for me to join the band onstage for my songs. I was invited up as a special guest rhythm guitarist. I grabbed my guitar and said a few words to the crowd. I thanked them all for coming and joining us and celebrating our special day. Then I told the story of the night we got engaged, and how once we were finally alone together, once all the hoopla died down, Missy turned to me and said, "What's the name of that guitar you've always wanted?" And it was the guitar I was playing then. The band leader, who was also the guitarist for the band, rolled up his pant legs and let his pony tail down to do his best Angus Young impression for AC/DC's "Highway To Hell." I know, not the most appropriate song for a newlywed to play, which my dad alerted me to yesterday, after someone told him what the song was actually called. How he couldn't guess it from the lyrics is beyond me. Anyway, after that I dedicated the next song, Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" to my dad, because when I first started playing and taking lessons he kept asking me, when are you going to learn to play some Clapton. So I did, for him. I was only going to play two, but after we rocked the hell out of both of them (and it felt so good to!) the crowd started chanting encore! So the band leader came over and asked if I knew some other AC/DC song, which I didn't, so I asked him if they knew The Clash, "Should I Stay Or Should I Go," which they did, so we closed my set with that, which was awesome.

After that we danced some more, did one final interview with the video people, danced some more, took some more pictures by ourselves and with family and friends, danced some more, I personally sweat up a storm, and before we knew it, it was all over! We had to pack up our stuff, which took forever, and go. My dad was cool enough to let me continue to drive the Vette. So the Bridal Attendant, who rocked more than anything, helped Missy get into it in her wedding dress. We headed to the hotel where Missy had the Bridal Suite, and everyone else was staying. Of course I carried her over the threshold and we went in to change and unpack.

There's more to tell after the fact, but I think I've rambled on long enough for now. Plus, those aren't so much as wedding details as they are post-party details. So until later, enjoy. I'll try to get some pictures up as quickly as I can.

If I don't post again before Friday night, I probably won't for about two weeks, because we'll be on a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean! Adios!

Is better than nothing! Title courtesy of the Beatles. I sang that song and played it on the guitar to Missy when we got engaged.

Bad blogger! I haven't had a chance to breath in the past few days, let alone post something! I will give a detailed breakdown of all the wedding festivities when I get a chance. But, just know this, it was beyond amazing. The best day of my life, hands down. Missy looks beyond gorgeous in her dress, hair and makeup. Everything went so smoothly, no problems or drama whatsoever. Patience was only lost by me and her once, and it wasn't even that bad. So it was all good. Here's a pic of her in her dress before the ceremony:

And here's one of us together from later in the evening:

As soon as we've collected more pictures from more people I plan on throwing them into one central location for everyone's viewing pleasure.

OK, that's enough for now. More later when I get a chance!

Title courtesy of No Doubt.

Well, here it is. The big day is upon us. It is currently 4:40 in the AM and I think I'm getting as much sleep as I'm going to get. I passed out a little after 11:00 PM, and I think I was fully conscious by about 4:00 AM, although I tried to go back to sleep. So, 5 hours of sleep. Not too bad considering I'm getting married today. Much better than the three or so I got yesterday. OK, so let me continue from where I left off yesterday.

As previously mentioned, I got very little sleep yesterday. I sat up and played Rock Band on my XBox for a good two hours straight, hoping it would tire me out, but no such luck. I got up and walked and fed the dog, and then managed to get another hour or so of sleep, but that's about it. At around 7:30 I headed towards the gym for spin class. The instructor, the same one we've been going to every Saturday for the past 8 or 9 months, made a special playlist in honor of Missy and myself. A lot of songs about love and some of our favorites that we requested over the months, along with our wedding song and Something, the song I played when I proposed to her. It was really a cool thing for him to do, and I know I definitely got a kick out of it. Missy, not so much as she felt weird being the center of attention! I said get used to it, its a good trial run! It was an awesome workout too.

After that I came home, showered, ate and got ready for my guitar lesson. I brought my amplifier and a bunch of effects pedals with me so my teacher could help me find the perfect guitar tone for the two songs I'm playing, which we did pretty easily, and all I have to say, is damn. My guitar through that amp sounds amazing. A touch of one effect pedal and it screams. Beyond awesome. I couldn't be happier. Now, hopefully I don't mess up the two songs I'm playing. I think I'm more nervous for those than I am for getting married. In case you're wondering, the two songs I'm playing are as follows, the highly religious tune by AC/DC called "Highway to Hell" (I wanted to use that as our entrance music into the ballroom, you know, they introduce the bride and groom in public for the first time, but Missy said no, but said yes to Guns N Roses "Sweet Child O'Mine") and Cream "Sunshine of Your Love." I chose the first because it rocks, and the second because it rocks, and also for my dad. When I first started playing the guitar years ago, he would ask, when are you going to learn some Clapton? Well, here you go dad.

After the guitar lesson I had a few million errands to run. I had to head to the barber shop to get the back of my neck cleaned up, thankfully the wait wasn't long and I was in and out in no time. After that I headed to the music shop in town to get an extra set of strings in case one breaks on me tomorrow. Then to the drug store to get an extra 9 volt battery in case the one in my effect pedal dies on me. I hit a liquor store for some post-wedding, at the hotel partying liquids. Lastly, I hit a local florist and got a dozen roses for Missy, to give to her last night at our family dinner.

So, onto the dinner. It was really a blast, but honestly, a little overwhelming, especially once everyone started showing up! There was close to 80 people there, more than 1/3rd of our wedding, seriously. It was a little daunting at first, because there were so many people that we wanted to talk to and say hi to, but you just can't. So we made it a point to make our way around the room a few times to say hello to everyone. And obviously we hung out with who we wanted to to hang out with as much as possible. Basically, all of the bridal party was there, parents, immediate family, and friends and family that booked rooms at the hotel nearby. It was a good time. I got there early and setup my laptop and a projector so we could show our engagement story video, which everybody loved, so that was really cool. We had the room booked until 10:30, but Missy and I were exhausted, so we headed our separate ways, her to the hotel and the bridal suite, and me to my parents house.

Afraid of nnot being able to sleep I popped a DVD on and laid down, and thankfully fell asleep pretty easily. Now, I'm up, I need to shave (very carefully! Don't want to cut myself), shower, get dressed into casual clothes, pack up my dad's Corvette with as much of my stuff as I can, and head to the catering hall by 7:45 AM. I'm going to get dressed there and then its time for pictures. Good thing we're Jewish and its actually required that we see each other before the wedding, to make sure you marry the right person. It goes back to the Bible were someone was tricked into marrying the wrong girl. So now we make sure we got the right one! And that's about it. I have a ton of stuff to lug over there though. I have to fit into a Corvette, my tux, my backpack, my guitar case, a guitar case and my amplifier. The car isn't that big! I'm still shocked my dad is letting me take it solo this morning. It's going to be awesome to pull up in the morning in it. I hope!

Alright. I'm debating getting out of bed and getting the shaving and showering out of the way now. So, I guess this is it. My last post as a single man. The next time I write in this little neck of the web I will be a married man. Pretty cool, huh? I think so. I can't wait. I really have found the most amazing girl in the world to marry, and I can't wait to start my life with her, finally!

Peace out everybody and wish me luck!

Title courtesy of the Beastie Boys. Good Jewish boys turned rappers. Awesome.

So, I'm suffering from a little bit of insomnia here. I don't think its nerves, I think its just anxiousness, excitement and anticipation. Really, the only thing I'm nervous about for this whole wedding weekend is getting up and playing the guitar at the party. Everything else I'm cool with. I'm not nervous or scared to be getting married, or any of that other stuff that might induce butterflies. I think I'm just super stoked and psyched for the weekend's festivities and I can't sleep. It's either that or something I ate at dinner tonight, which could be a great number of things, since I ate a lot. It was good Italian food, I couldn't help myself, you have no idea. Tiramisu to die for. Missy needs to learn how to make that, seriously.

I came home from dinner, spoke to Missy for a bit, then tried to fall asleep. I actually did fall asleep twice while watching TV, each time only to be woken up about 15 minutes or so later by the TV. So I turned it off, but then bugs, or something outside my window was making some horrible sounds that were keeping me up and grating my nerves. I don't know how i eventually fell asleep, but it was only for about two hours, give or take. I woke up, watched The Soup and Psych on my DVR, and now that I'm done with them, I don't know what to do, except blog, because I can't fall asleep! This sucks, I got a big day ahead of me on Saturday, and an even bigger one on Sunday! I need my beauty rest. Damn.

Oh well. So what's new with you?

Title courtesy of Dave Matthews Band. I used to be such a huge fan in college, and I kind of just stopped caring about their new music. Mostly because I think it sucked pretty bad. But hey, that's just my opinion. I still think their old stuff is great though.

So, two days to go, actually, technically its one day, 17 hours and about 10 minutes, give or take. And then the wedding commences, and I will not longer be a single man, and I will not longer be living at my parents house. I'm going to miss the convenience of having my laundry done, all my utilities paid for, like full cable and DVR. I'm going to miss Showtime and Weeds at Missy's place, that's for sure. Sad, really. I'm really going to miss my pooch. Poor Keyser. He got me back for a full year after living n my own for two. I know I saw him plenty over that time frame, but I'm still going to miss the little bastard. I know he'll be OK in my parents care, so I'm not worried about that. I'll just miss him, especially since he's getting older. He turned 7 a few weeks ago. He's starting to go gray around the mount and nose and stuff, kind of sad. Missy keeps talking about a dog once we get a house, but I'm not sure I would want another one, not when Keyser is still around. And I know for a fact that my parents won't let me take him with me once I do become a homeowner. Yes, he's my dog, but my parents have become so attached to him, its not worth fighting them over. Besides, I think they'd be crushed if I took him. They'd miss him too much. As much of a pain in the ass that he is, they do love the little bastard.

OK, so enough waxing poetic about that. Thankfully, with less than two days to go the wedding drama is kept to a minimum. Nobody hates anybody else, as far as I can tell. No one is threatening not to come, so no worries there, just little odds and ends, stupid things really that we've had to deal with. Missy and I rented a projector this morning to jack into my laptop so we can play the Engagement Story portion of our wedding video at the big dinner tomorrow night for family members, out of towners and the bridal party. Like 80 people are coming, that's more than a 1/3 of the entire wedding! Anyway, I got the projector home, plugged it into my laptop, jacked in a pair of speakers, and everything worked perfectly, so that's one less thing to worry about. One more thing to cross off the list. I took my dad's Corvette to get washed today as well. He's letting me drive it solo on Sunday morning to the catering hall, and it needed to be cleaned, so he let me go solo to get it washed. I'm earning the Corvette trust, which is a very good thing. I already have a rough route in my head that should maximum driving distance and time from my house to the catering hall. And I have music, a mix of The White Stripes!

While I was running around this morning, I called the band company to get the story on why the guy called me last night. I called first thing at 9 AM, but the person that called me yesterday wasn't even going to be in today, and the woman that I could speak to that could help me out, wasn't in for about twenty minutes. So after we got the projector I called them up and after throwing me off and on of hold for awhile, I got the answer that there was nothing wrong with the song my mom and I are dancing to together, and they couldn't quite figure out why they tried reaching me in the first place yesterday. OK, no harm, no foul. I get a call while I'm at the car wash from the woman, and it turns out they remember why they called. They were just curious if I'd be bringing my own guitar and amp to play at the reception, to which I said of course. Crisis averted.

I went this afternoon to the airport to pick up my cousin Lauren who was flying in from Turkey to be at, and a part of the wedding. I had my younger brother drop me off at my dad's office, and we headed over to the airport. We got there maybe twenty minutes before her plane landed, and once it landed, we had maybe another 40 minutes to wait before she came through customs and immigration. Not bad. Another hour or so to drive back to my parents, and now I'm relaxing before we head out to dinner in about 30 minutes.

The only other drama I'm aware of so far is I had to call the catering hall to add an extra place setting at my mom's aunt table. She broke her hip a week and a half ago, and will be there, but she needs to have an aide accompany her, so we had to set a place for her. No big deal, since we paid for more people that are coming, so its not costing any extra. Also, apparently Missy's grandmother injured her hand at some point, so Missy's mom took her to an orthopedic doctor, who determined that she pulled some tendons in her hand. A shot of cortisone and an ace bandage later, and I'm sure she's OK. Just goes to show you, getting old sucks. It's like the Who said, "Hope I die before I get old." Amen to that.

Alright, that's enough babbling for now. One day, 16 hours and 55 minutes to go!