Title courtesy by the amazing, but sadly dead, Jeff Buckley. Its off his second album that was never really completed before his death. It was supposed to be called, the album, not the song, "My Sweetheart the Drunk," but after he drowned in the undertow caused by a passing tugboat on the Wolf River, which feeds into the Mississippi in Memphis, they released it as a double album, some songs in very rare form as "Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk." There's a little Jeff Buckley knowledge for you. I should know something after reading a biography on him and his father, Tim Buckley. Both famous musicians who were very talented and died very young. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, go out and buy Jeff Buckley's "Grace" right now. You've probably heard his version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" played on five thousand TV shows as an emotional end to an episode. I know The West Wing, The OC, and House have all done it. Oh yeah, and the song made a resurgance last year due to some contestant on the crappy show American Idol singing it.

Anyway...

I know its not December 31st, 2008 or January 1, 2009, but technically, its still the new year, the Jewish New Year! Do I have a prayer for this new year? Not really. How about peace on Earth and good will towards men? Too Christmas-y? Probably, especially for a Jewish High Holiday. I do hope for a good year to come though. I hope to be out of a one bedroom apartment with my new wife and into a decent house that we can afford, especially in these uncertain financial and political times. But that's about it.

I spent the first night of the holiday, because yes, we rock New Years so hard, its gotta be spread over more than one night, at my parents house with family and their friends. A good time was had by all. I was especially psyched since Missy made my all-time favorite dessert, tiramisu. Don't ask me why I like it so much, I just do. It was her first attempt ever at making it, and she was going off a recipe a co-worker of hers gave her, and I have to admit, it was pretty damn awesome. The only complaint I would have was that there was a little too much alcohol in there, but that's really my fault. When she was making it she had me taste the cream filling and she asked if I though it could use more rum. Of course I said yes, but how was I supposed to know? Regardless, most of the tray of it was gone by the time dessert was over with. And its comforting to know my wife is capable of making a kick-ass version of my favorite dessert. So, I'll continue to keep her around awhile longer... kidding, of course! She's awesome and I've never been happier.

Tonight we shift the festivities to her parents house, where my parents will be joining us as well, along with Missy's brother's soon to be in-laws. I know, its complicated. I should really make a chart one of these days. Again, looking forward to it and it should be a good time had by all. Hopefully it'll be an early night though, because I'm exhausted and I know Missy is too, considering she barely slept last night, which in turn kept me somewhat awake too. Those are just my hopes and prayers, for the next few hours at least.

I'm leaving work early for the holiday, but heading directly to Best Buy after work to pick up some new DVD's. Specifically Iron Man and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Two great flicks, both in their own right. I will have plenty of time to watch them in the next two days that I'll be taking off.

So that is all. Happy New Year! (If you celebrate it, that is)

Title by... oh come on! Do I really have to tell you who I credit that one to? Fine, Guns N' Roses. And if you didn't know that you should be ashamed of yourself! Go out and buy a copy of Appetite For Destruction immediately.

Anyway. I'm about to head into the city for an afternoon work meeting, and then I'll head home to relax for the evening and watch TV. New episodes of the Office tonight! I can't wait for that one. I already told Missy that due to it starting to suck big time, Grey's Anatomy has no place on my HDTV's DVR box. It will get relegated to the bedroom DVR box where we can watch on a 13 inch, non-HD screen. That's how bad that show has gotten. Supernatural, on the CW, is way more deserving of a spot on the HDTV, and that's what it will get.

Nothing major to report, other than Missy and I will start house hunting in the very near future. We spoke to our real estate agent, the mother of one of Missy's bridesmaids, so I have no fear that she will not steer us in the wrong direction. I'm just waiting on a call from one of her people about a credit check and pre-approval for a mortgage or something like that. I'm all so very clueless about it, and I hope I get educated, and fast!

Alright, that's all for now. Gotta get some lunch and hop a train. Adios!

Title courtesy of Nine Inch Nails. I filled out an online survey for them this morning, and I was rewarded with a free live clip of this song done at Red Rocks in Colorado, which looks like an awesome venue to see a show at.

There are about a million other things I'd rather do than work at the moment, and blogging is one of them. Really, all I'm trying to do is kill the rest of my day. I have about 52 minutes until quitting time, so once that hits, I'm out of here! Missy and I are going to try a new gym tonight, although I'm not sure just how up for it I am at the moment. I pulled a muscle in my back somehow while I was in Boston. I blame it on my uncomfortable hotel room bed and all the tossing and turning I had to do just to get comfortable in it. So I've been living with this sharp pain that just won't go away. I've been regularly applying the heating pad to it and taking Advil around the clock on the advice of my doctor, but all to no avail. I feel better in the short term, but there has been no permanent solution I can see. Aside from a full-on backiotomy.

Aside from the back pain I had myself a decent weekend. Friday night Missy and I relaxed at home and watched a movie, all whilst laying on a heating pad. Saturday was the usual mix of laundry, guitar lesson and other errands around my parents house, and then home so that Missy and I could get ready for our respective evenings. She had a bachelorette party to go to and it was Seth's 30th birthday party, which was a lot of fun. And I figured I knew enough people there that I didn't need to bring my wife with me just to have someone to talk to. We both had fun at our respective functions though, which was cool. Sunday was spent watching football on TV and resting on the couch with the previously mentioned heating pad firmly attached to my back.

So now its Monday and the start of a lovely week. Tomorrow will see me driving to and from Philadelphia, a possible three hour drive in each direction, for an hours worth of work, but that's the game.

That is all for now. Class dismissed.

Title courtesy of John Mayer. Its funny, I'm a huge fan of the guy's music, and I think he's hilarious to boot, but I can't stand him being in the tabloids so much. Missy has a subscription to US Weekly, and it seems ever since he dated Jessica Simpson his personal life has been splattered across those rags pages. Before that, no one gave a crap. I also think its kind of funny that he started dating that no-talent, only good for a pair of boobs "singer" right when his last album came out. Interesting. And especially since that stuff with Jennifer Aniston, Missy has stated that she can't stand him as a person, but she still loves his music. Hell, every time I call her, my assigned ringtone is Gravity. Anyway, enough about John Mayer.

So, I'm home from the greater Boston metropolitan area. I finished up with my customer on Wednesday afternoon and stayed the night, and drove home Thursday morning. Crazy early too! Missy didn't want me driving home at night, all tired from a days work, but she didn't say anything about early morning! I woke up at 3 AM, left the hotel by like 3:30 AM and was home a little after 7:00 AM. Not bad for some traffic and a pee break slowing me down. I've been working from home on some stuff in the meantime, so its not like I'm not doing anything, you know? Its funny though, because I called Missy at about 7:00 AM to tell her I was just leaving Boston. She said she was just hopping in the shower, but that she'd call me when she was done so she could talk to me while I drove and keep me company for awhile. I tried my best not to laugh, as I wanted to surprise her, and I made the call maybe a mile or two from our apartment.

I pulled up and got the door to our place and was hoping that one of the locks wasn't on the door. There's a lock that you can only lock and unlock from the inside, and we usually lock it only when we're both home. This morning happened to be the one time in probably a million that it wasn't locked. Whew! So I snuck in quietly, and heard her in the shower. I peaked my head in the bathroom, pulled the curtain back a little and she was turned away from me. So I just said, "Hi!" and scared the ever loving piss out of her. She jumped out of her skin and I thought she was nearly going to slip and fall and kill herself, but thankfully she remained steady on her feet. She was so happy to see me, and I her!

I really did miss her while I was gone, and I know its going to suck equally as much when I have to go away on business again. I'm not sure when that will be, hopefully not for a month or so, at least, but I know there will be some trips coming up. I think I have another one to Dallas on tap, as well as possible trips to Atlanta and Green Bay. And, I get to drive to Philly for the day on Tuesday to do an hour or two worth of work, tops. Nothing like spending more time in the car than working!

Alright, enough typing. Back to work, or rest. One of the two.

Title courtesy of the Dave Matthew Band. Their sax player died recently from injuries sustained in an ATV accident. How much does that suck? I will admit I'm not as big a fan as I used to be, but its still sad that the dude died. Rest in peace Leroi Moore.

So, I'm in Boston this week for work. Well, to be honest, I'm in Newton, MA, which is pretty much as close to Boston as I've been than my two previous trips to the area. I still don't think I'm going to make any treks into the city proper though. Each of my previous jaunts to bean town were for training, this one is to work with a customer, so the hours are longer, which is a good thing in the end. If we get the work done before Friday, I can leave early, which sounds pretty sweet to me. Being away from my new bride definitely isn't fun at all. We both miss each other terribly. Its amazing how used you get to sleeping next to someone in such a short amount of time. Either the bed in my hotel room is crazy uncomfortable, or I just miss sleeping next to Missy. At the pace this is going, and based on what's to come, I'm hoping this is done by Wednesday, so I'll go home early Thursday. I'm praying the rest of the days go as smooth as today went.

Other than that, sadly, there is nothing new to report. Our wedding proofs are up, and if you care to look at them, sign up for an account and check them out at Pictage.com! Enjoy!

Alright, signing off from bean town!

Title courtesy of The Beatles.

So, you know how i mentioned in my last post, or whenever it was, about the ups and downs of married life? It seems like its been littered with a whole lot of downs lately. Although maybe that's not the best way to put it. I don't mean to say that I'm not enjoying married life and the changes its brought into my life, because its simply not true. I love being married to Missy, I love coming home to her every night and I love the life we have together so far. I just wish that in the short time we've been married that life hadn't chosen to dump so much shit on us in that small span of time. Case in point, Missy's car.

Missy drives a 2001 Honda Civic 4 door. Nothing fancy, obviously, but a good, stable car that got her from point A to point B without issue for as long as I've known her. Its the first car that she paid for all by herself, even though she had to have her mom cosign the loan with her. Its the only car she's known for seven years. The thing has about 113,000 miles on it, but for the most part, ran just fine. That was, until Saturday. We were driving back to our apartment from my parents house and she said the car started acting very strange, like it felt like it was going to stall when she was just stopped, it was shaking a bit too much for her comfort when she was driving and it was just very sluggish accelerating. No problem I say, we'll make an appointment, drop the car off and get it looked at. We didn't drive it all on Monday for that very reason. Monday she went to work, and called me frantic on her way home, scared that the car was going to die on her because the check engine light came on and it was acting worse.

Tuesday morning rolls around and we drop the car off at Honda to get serviced. The service guy says he'll call Missy between 2 and 3 PM and tell her what they found. She didn't hear anything back from him, so I called him. And was presented with some very bad news. The car had blown the head gasket and antifreeze was leaking into the engine. The price tag to fix it was a little over $1,300, which was a little steep considering that its a 7 year old car with 113,000+ miles on it. And, to boot, that was best case scenario! If the head was warped and couldn't be machined, it would add about $2,700 or so to the cost of repairs. So we're looking at possibly over $4,000 to fix this car. Our response? Hell no!

So we spent our entire evening at a Honda dealership working out a deal to get Missy a new car. And hopefully, if everything goes smoothly, which I'm hoping it does, she'll be in a 2008 Accord by Thursday evening. I spent a good chunk of my day dealing with getting everything squared away so we can get the car tomorrow. That's included calling my insurance company to get Missy added to the policy along with the new car, picking Missy up on her lunch break to go to her parents bank to get the title to the car out of the safety deposit box, and getting the trade-in value on the car so we know how much to get a bank check for the down payment. Fun right? That's the downside to be married to a teacher, they don't sit at a desk in front of computer all day long, so they can't take care of stuff like this. Since I do, it fell on me, which is fine. She needs a car. We can't survive with only one between us, as I never know where I'll be from week to week. Plus, I'm going to Boston for work next week, so we needed to get something in place before that happens.

Hopefully everything will go smoothly with the dealership tomorrow and we'll be able to drive the new car off the lot. I hope so. These little obstacles are starting to annoy me. I thought that once the wedding is over I'd have time to relax and live my life again? I guess life involves buying a car at a moment's notice. But, I must say, I'm very proud of my negotiating skills. Maybe because it was a 2008 and the 2009's are already on the lot, but they gave us the price I was asking for, which was only $209 over invoice. That isn't bad.

On a happy note, we picked up our proofs from our wedding photographer on Monday and spent the evening drinking and looking at them! They came out awesome. We're just waiting for them to be uploaded to the web before we can release them to the public. If you're interested in getting notified when they go up, let me know!

Until next time!

Crazy title, right? Its from the Smashing Pumpkins. I think the song, and one titled "The End is the Beginning is the End" were both on the Batman & Robin soundtrack. Horrible movie. But, the song is being used over the trailer for "Watchmen" which comes out in March of 2009, on 03/06/09 to be exact. How cool is that?

I actually tried reading "Watchmen" a year or so ago, probably when I was still living in my apartment, at my old job, before Missy's time. I didn't get too far into it before I gave up on it. I always meant to go back to it, but just never had the chance. Seeing the kick ass trailer for the movie renewed my interest, so I brought it along as one of the many books I read on the cruise ship during down time. I just finished it last night and I must say, as good as it was, I was a little freaked out by the ending. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome, it just ended on a very weird note, like, as in not happily ever after. Very dark ending. Fitting that the trailer was attached to The Dark Knight. But it was good. If you haven't read it and like comics, give it a shot, and definitely check out the trailer and the movie.

So its Sunday. I spent yesterday morning working for about two hours. After that, with permission from my wife, I ran out and spent a $50 gift card I earned from a vendor we deal with at work on Mario Kart for the Wii, which is awesome. It is so much fun, I can't describe it. Popping that remote into a tiny wheel and using the wheel to play is insane, and insanely fun. I love that Wii. I'm so glad I bit the bullet, and braved quite an argument a week before the wedding to get it. I think in the end, Missy will love it as well. She already kicked my ass two weeks ago at bowling, tennis and we fought to a draw in boxing.

Back to it being Sunday. I'm sitting at home watching the beginning of the Brett Favre era for the New York Jets. Yes, I'm a Jets fan. Usually I just give up on football after a week or two into the season because the Jets either stink or suffer some kind of crazy injury that basically ruins the season. But I have high hopes for the season. I even turned to Missy and quoted "There's Something About Mary" this morning and said Brett Favre, "is in town to play the Dolphins, you dumb ass!" She got a kick out of it, I think... I hope.

So, back to the game. Enjoy your Sunday!

Title courtesy of Alice in Chains.

It definitely feels like I'm back at the daily grind, that's for sure. But hey, I guess the honeymoon couldn't last forever. But I must say, I'm enjoying life as a newlywed immensely. So far it's been like one long sleepover at Missy's place that never ends. Although I should say "our" place, but it doesn't feel like it to me. It still feels like her place. I feel comfortable and at home their, but she was there long before me, and aside from my TV and a guitar, there isn't much there that is really my own. I'm sure once we find a house and move in it'll feel like our home, and I'll be more comfortable, and I'll move all my stuff out of my parents house, something which will make them beyond excited. Like I said, so far so good, the ups and downs.

Work has been crazy busy for me since I've been back. I've been all over the place and barely in the office, which is a very good thing. The less I'm in the office means I'm out at customers billing more, which looks very good for me in the long run. My two year anniversary is coming up in January, and I'm hoping for something good. Hopefully the company will deliver, because besides the month that I was practically gone for in August, I've busted my ass this year, big time. And me wants to get paid! My wife needs a house, dammit!

OK, enough clowning around. Time to watch some TV on the couch with the Mrs. and then its off to bed. Big Friday tomorrow!

Peace.