Saturday's (1-27-07) Movie

Saturday was the only day I was able to watch a movie. Sunday was spent doing things that had piled up on me. Laundry, cleaning, dusting and organizing were just a few of the wonderful things that took priority and my time. They definitely needed to be done. As you all know because I told you I was going to, I watched "Talladega Nights" on Saturday. Here is my review. I found the movie to be fairly funny. There was more hype to the movie and I was left feeling like I missed out and paid to much to see this movie. It was a Netflix movie and I still feel taken. Oh well. I am not going to get into the movie or plot line because by now all of you have probably seen it. There were some hilarious parts and I did enjoy most of the movie. On my scale of 1 to 10, I would give this movie a 6.5. I know this review is short and fairly boring. I just don't have the energy or desire to do much more. Sorry.

Movie Preview

I already know one movie I am going to watch this weekend. I am going to watch Talladega Nights. Tiffany assures me that I will love this movie. It is on Blu-Ray which should only add to the experience. The other movie is still up for debate. If any of you have any suggestions on a DVD to watch on Sunday, I am all ears. I don't remember what Netflix is sending me, but it can wait if any of you throw out a movie and can give me a decent reason why I should watch it (a decent reason to me consists of "because I said so"). I might watch the Covenant. Looked alright, but now I am wondering about it. I know one weekend is going to be the M.I. trilogy. I will watch all three that weekend. Another weekend will be the Saw trilogy. All of these movies are now out in BD which is good for me. I am all about HD these days. As you can tell today, work is boring and I don't have much to do. I almost brought my PSP to work today to play Burnout. I decided not to because I still have my FreeCell and Solitaire addiction to fight.

Repaired Knee

I haven't given an update on my mother's condition in a while, so I thought I would today. She went to the doctor yesterday for another check up. She had x-rays done and then spent about an hour and a half with the doctor. Everything is fine and just going according to plan. The doc did upset my mom by telling her that "Yes, 6 weeks is normal for this surgery, but it could take as much as 8 weeks." My mother was not too happy to hear that. The knee cap hasn't healed, but it has only been 3 weeks today. Not too surprised that it isn't healed. Actually the doctor said she would have been extremely surprised if it had already healed. The screws are good. They are holding and haven't slipped. Everything is good. She has rehab and they come to her three times a week. She is still in the motion machine that takes her knee from -2 degrees to 90 degrees. Yesterday they told her that she can start going past 90 degrees but to stop at 120 degrees. My mother is going crazy though. She has only left their house 2 times in three weeks. There are only so many books to read and so much television to watch. They have dish network and they have almost every channel, but that doesn't help. Now she is talking about trying to go to church on Sunday. My dad, Melissa (my oldest sister), and I all all telling her no. Too many rowdy kids and too much of a danger for her to get hurt. I suggested she wait until she can put weight on her leg. We are trying a 3 faced attack on her and I think it has worked. We shall see. Anyway, that is where things sit and I mean sit for most of the day.

My Workout Goals

I am trying to get back up to running 6 miles. My goal is to be back there by the end of March. I am running 3.25 miles right now. By February 1 I am going to push it up to 3.5 miles. After the run, I walk 20 minutes in which I up my speed and elevation every minute. Once I get to 15% grade, I continue to up my speed but start dropping the elevation back. Once my 20 minutes is done, I kick the pace to 8 miles an hour and run another 1/2 mile. By the end of that 1/2 mile, I am up to 9 miles an hour. I feel like I am going to die by the end of that. After that, I hit the bike for 22 minutes. Every 3 minutes I up the resistance. I usually get 5.5 miles done every day. Then I hit the weights. Now, I the only thing I try to increase is my miles I run. I could care less about the rest of it. I do vary my weight workout and try to increase the reps and then the weight. I work on strength and reps instead of bulk. Bulk is something I don't need to add. I added that the most part of my lifting career. Now it is time to maintain and work on endurance. Anyway, this is my routine and workout. I enjoy it and that is all that matters to me.

Throwing Caution To The Wind

My body is sore and tired, but that doesn't stop me from working out. My shin splints hurt a great deal, but that doesn't stop me. I did take the weekend off from running and biking, but that was all I could stand. Working out is addictive and can be harmful. I am the poster boy for that. I keep plugging along. It is hard to walk today because Monday and Tuesday I went to the gym. Last night I spent 1:45 out there putting my body through the ringer. Oh well, I will just pop a few more Advil and move on. I can honestly admit that I am a junkie for the gym these days. Missing two days drove me insane (more so than I already am). I missed it so much. It was really hard to bear. I know this sounds nuts, but it is true. I talked to Tiffany last night and the funny thing is that she is the same way. She is sick, but still is training for her Triathlon. She is still swimming, running, and biking everyday while sick. I knew better than to try to explain to her to rest her body. Plus, then I would be a hypocrite because I don't listen to my body when it wants rest. I just keep pushing on. Here is the good thing (I think). My desire to workout is not motivated by anything but the sheer entertainment I feel by working out. I love it. It is the best part of my day. I am not like some of these people who have to workout because they are worried about what you and I think about them and their weight. I do it because I want to and enjoy it. I step on the scale about once a week just to see where I am. I don't really care. I don't mind telling anyone that I weigh 225 pounds and I wear a size 36 pant. I am only 5 foot 10 inches tall. I like who I am.

Netflix

I just decided to renew my Netflix account. I am happily surprised at the amount of Blu-Ray format movies they have. That is the main reason I re-upped. I have spent the last hour or so changing my queue and now I have about 50 movies in there that I can't wait to see. Not all of them are BD, but actually over half are. I am only going to get 3 at a time. I figured with the way things go for me, that should be plenty. I might actually have to find time during the week to squeeze another movie in. I don't think that is possible. My Dish Network DVR has about 25 hours of recorded TV shows that I want to get to. I will try to clean that up here in the near future. I did think it was cool that Netflix held onto all my information from about a year ago. They even had my old queue which was definitely in need of an overhaul. Now things are good and I should start seeing movies again in the mail.

Sunday's (1-21-07) Movie

This movie was a little odd and disturbing to me. It was thankfully short. I watched "Corpse Bride" on Blu-Ray. This movie was alright. I did enjoy the movie, but I was left feeling a little shafted. I don't know why that is. I think my expectations were set a little too high. It was a Burton movie and I expect awesome things from him. Anyway the plot is another simple one. A guy is getting married to a girl he has never met. The preacher scares him at the rehearsal and he can't get his vows down. He leaves and is in the woods trying to work on getting his vows right. He doesn't realize that he ends up wandering into the graveyard. He fools around and drops the ring onto a finger which he believes to be a limb. He gets his vows correct and up pops the "Corpse Bride". She takes him to the land of the dead and he tries to figure out how to get back "upstairs". Things top side go nuts and the girl he is suppose to marry ends up marring another guy that plans on killing her for her parents money. He has done this many of times and it is obvious that he did this to the "Corpse Bride". Anyway, the poor sucker stuck in the world of the dead decides to off himself and marry the dead bride. They go top side to make it official and then the confrontation starts. In the end, the dead take care of business and the dead and the living take care of the living. I was disturbed by some of the dead design and the character of the worm and black widow spider. Something just didn't sit right with me about them. Oh well, I did find the movie to be entertaining and I don't know how many times I will watch it again. It is a decent family movie and fairly funny. Very predictable and easy watching. I would give it a 6.5 rating. Enjoy.

Saturday's (1-20-07) Movie

My movie tastes vary from day to day. I go from Disney to Jackass to Vampire movies. Anyway, I watched Crank on Blu-Ray. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I will definitely watch it over and over again. I laughed my butt off. I don't think this movie was originally designed to be funny, but it was hilarious to me. Simple plot: A hit man is being retired by the gangster he works for. When I say retired, I mean killed. They give him a drug that stops the heart and blocks the adrenaline gland from producing normal amounts of adrenaline that keep your body and heart functioning. He is given 1 hour to live. He prolongs this hour by doing things that increase his adrenaline. He has sex with his girlfriend in the middle of "China Town", he drives his car through a mall, evades police all over the city, things like that. To me, it was such a comical movie. I really did laugh almost the entire movie. That is just my screwed up since of humor. I would recommend this movie highly to anyone without kids present. It really isn't a family movie. It has a ton of violence, some nudity, and really foul language. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being highest, I would rate it an 8.

New Weekly Monday Posts

Okay, I have decided to start a new thing every Monday. Since I don't have much time during the week to do much of anything, my weekend gets jammed packed with things I wanted to do all week. This being said, I still am taking the time out on Saturday and Sunday to watch a movie each night. The main reason I am able to do this because the gym is closed and I usually take off from work around 5. Saturday's and Sunday's for whatever reason are extremely slow for us starting around 4. Yesterday, I was actually the only one at work after church. Honestly, I can handle the business by myself most of the year. There are only a couple of months that I even need help. But anyway, my next couple of posts will be about the movies I watched this past weekend. Realize that I don't actually go to the movie theatre because I am cheap and lazy. I wait for everything to come out on DVD or Blu-Ray now. The closest theatre to me is 30 miles away and I am to stubborn and lazy to drive that far. I know that is nothing to most people, but when you get use to a small town and everything being within 1 to 2 miles (5 minutes tops) from you, you get spoiled. On to the next post.

Grow Up

As all of you know, I need to grow up. I admit it. I still see myself as a kid and even act that way. I don't know why, maybe it is because I work with my father and I see people I have seen for years that I grew up with. Whatever the reason, I feel like a less of an adult and sometimes act like less of one than I probably should. I do know that physically I am not a kid anymore and I have to pace myself and there are more pains every morning than there were the previous day. I know that I am closing in on 30, it doesn't scare me, and I actually see myself more about 20 most days. Granted I have a ton of responsibilities that I couldn't have handled 10 years ago. There are some things that I have matured up to and there are others that I am dragging on. When I think about the fact that my parents already had all three of us by this age and that most of my friends have kids, that is when it slaps me in the face that I am old (or getting there). Also, when I actually decide to do something responsible, like trying to buy a house instead of a Corvette, I realize that part of me has grown up and that it is waiting on the rest of me to catch up. I am not a kid anymore and I need to start acting closer to my age. I will work on it, but I make no guaranties.

Big Decisions

I have been trying to decide what I am going to spend some money on. Now I am talking about a big purchase. I have been trying to decide whether or not to buy a new Corvette or grow up and put a down payment down on a house. There are problems with both. The main thing holding me back on the house is the price. In this valley that I live in, the price of a house is astronomical. It is crazy what you have to pay for things up here. I also know as soon as I do something, the bottom is going to fall out of the market. That is always my luck. As you can guess, I am more leaning towards the house rather than another vehicle. A Vette would be so nice, but it would also be a 3rd vehicle. A small house, 2-3 bedrooms with 1-2 bath, would cost me anywhere from $175,000 up. That is where I sit. I am tired of the renting game and since I want more than one Great Dane, I have to suck it up and decide on a house to buy. I am even looking at buying land and building a house on it. There is just nothing here that is reasonable. The value of a house is no where close to the cost and that bothers me and sends up a red flag to me. Oh well, what can you do? Bite the bullet, deal with it, and move forward. The main thing is to continue to move forward.

Wonderful Winter Days

Most people dislike the winter season. I love and enjoy the winter. I am not so much crazy about the way negative temperatures we get up here (-40 or so), but I do enjoy some of the other things. Actually this winter has been mild for us. This week (January 15 to now) has been the coldest of all of our winter. Believe it or not, it hasn't even hit -2o here yet. That is shocking to all of us. It has gotten close -19 (HA!). Anyway, the best part about winter is that it is our slowest time of year. I get a break. I don't work, actually. I do very little. I play a lot on the computer and goof off. I can admit this and enjoy it because it only lasts a short time. Once it warms up, we get busy. We are all hoping spring comes early. The fact of the matter is that you can only do little for so long before you get bored. I am about to that point. With my mom laid up, 8 to 6 is the best part of my day because I am at work. No matter what I am doing, I stay here and my dad goes to help her out. Once I am off work, my mom has all kinds of chores for me to do. I don't mind and gladly help them out. I went to the grocery store for them the other day. That was interesting. That was the first time I spent $150 at the grocery store in a long, long time. I am one of those people that doesn't mind going every day or every other day for myself. A list scares me. I go and do whatever I feel like. Depending on whether or not I am going to eat dinner, that dictates going or not to the store. Once there, it is whatever strikes me as to what I buy. I only eat dinner once or twice a week so it isn't a big deal. I eat dinner on days I don't go to the gym. If I ate after my workout, it would be closer to 10 and I go to bed at 10:30. There is no point to that.

Passing By

I have been told by numerous people that life is just passing me by and that I am not living this life to the fullest. Their reasoning, is because I am not married and because I have no kids. Yeah, I am closing in on 30 but who cares. At times these comments annoy me and get me down, but for the most part I blow them off. I have a good life and I do what I want when I want. I am as independent of a person as you will find these days. I don't like being confined and having people telling me that I can't do this or that I have to do that. With all that being said, I don't believe marriage to be a prison or anything like that. It can be heaven if you marry the right person, or hell if you don't. Also, I don't like or want kids. My oldest sister and I are similar along this line. Neither one of us want kids and my other sister wants 5. That is fine for her and her husband but not for me. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy other people's kids as long as when I have had my limit, I can give them back. The only kids I will ever have are dogs. I treat Thor like my kid and he is spoiled. He is also disciplined and knows what to do and what not to do. He knows if he steps out of line what the consequences will be. I like my life and sure there are things I wish I could change, but I don't know anyone who doesn't want to change something or other in their life. All in all, I disagree that life is passing me by. I am not just killing time. I am doing what I want, when I want to do it. If that isn't living, I don't know what is. I am a simple person, I know it, and I enjoy it. Some people love me and other people hate me. I am just another person in the crowd and that is how I like it.

Blu-Ray and HD DVD

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about the difference I was going to see from a Blu-Ray (BD) disc movie to a regular DVD movie playback. Well, after watching the same movie (X-Men III) on both formats, I was blown away with the quality of the Blu-Ray. I am definitely going to switch from buying regular DVD's to buying Blu-Ray discs. I mean to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised not only in the resolution and the true HD output, but also how well the HDMI cable transmits audio. I am sold. Right now there aren't that many movies in BD format but there are more and more being released on a daily basis. Even Netflix has a selection of about 200. Now all this also makes me wonder about HD DVD's. I have been following and trying to speculate which version is going to better the other. I still don't have an opinion on the matter, but I did notice that there are a ton of overlapping movies on each format. It seams like quite a few of the companies have decided to go all three ways (regular DVD, BD, and HD DVD). I checked on a HD DVD player and they will run about $500. I might spring for one sometime, but before I do I will have to upgrade my TV. There is nothing wrong with my current TV, except the fact that it doesn't have enough HMDI inputs. That is kind of a bummer.

The Truth

Here goes. I hate ( I know "hate" is a strong word and that is why I am using it) the show "American Idol". This show really pisses me off and annoys the crap out of me. I know everyone else loves this show and thinks it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. The only part of this show that I like is Simon berating the contestants. The rest of the show annoys me so much that I cannot watch it. To give the devil his due, I watched an hour of it last night. I still hate the show and I won't subject myself to another viewing of it. Tiffany loves "Idol" and she tells me all about it. Another reason I hate "Idol" is because they make such a huge deal about it and give it airtime where shows I actually enjoy watching usually are. These shows (like House) get put on the back burner and pushed back a few weeks. House is one of my favorite shows (only "Rome" on HBO covets more of my time) and now I have to wait to see it until we get into the regulation Idol. From what I saw last night, Idol is in for a rough season. I almost got scared thinking that some of these people actually think they can sing and should be allowed in front of public. WOW!! Anyway, I hope all of you out there enjoy your beloved show and make it a success again. Not really, I am lying. I really hope it flops and goes away. I don't want them to be mad, I just want them to go away.

Papa's got a new Pair of Shoes

Well, I decided I needed a new pair of shoes. Actually, I bought two new pair. I bought an everyday pair and a new pair for running. The shoes I wear everyday during the winter are about 3 years old and are worn out. I only wear shoes during winter. The rest of the year I wear sandals. Birkenstocks, to be specific. I don't really like wearing Birkenstocks in the snow, so I switch to Nike tennis shoes. In the picture below, you can see my new shoes. The Nike Junga's are my everyday shoes and that is the pair on the left. On the right, are my new Nike Air Max 360's. I had to order them online because I couldn't get them here in Gunnison. We don't have a big enough market for them. I am wearing the Junga's to workout in until they get here sometime later this week. The Junga's are comfortable. I am pleasantly surprised. The worst part about running shoes is that they cost me about $175. I am picky, I know. I could get cheaper ones but I don't settle anymore since I have he money. I do wish they would last just a little longer also. My old running shoes turned a year old last week. They are really screwed up. The shocks are gone and the sole is ripped almost in two. Anyway, I got new shoes and am happy.

The Jeep and Winch

As much as I want to add the winch to my Jeep, I don't know if I am actually going to be able to do so. It would cost me about $2000 to have the winch I want and have it installed. Usually that wouldn't be too much of an issue with me, but this year is different. I can't in good conscience spend that much money accessorizing a toy when I don't know what exactly is going on with my parents financially. I know I have to worry about myself and let them take care of themselves. I just can't. I have already offered and tried to give my dad some money to help out in the expense of my mom's ordeal. They have insurance, but insurance doesn't cover everything. Yes, I know the financial status of the business and I can tell you it from memory. That doesn't help the personal accounts and I don't know them. I am not setup to be involved there. My own personal financial data and the business is all I know and am responsible for. If I do get the winch I want to put on the Jeep, it won't be till sometime late May or June. I could settle for a different winch, but I don't do that. I learned a long time ago that I don't do well settling for things. It is always better off for me and my state of mind if I get what I originally decide on, no matter if it is more expensive. That being said, sometimes I have to wait to get things the way I want them and that is way better than regretting getting a substitute product. I know this is odd, but we all have our own quirks we have to deal with. Quirks are what makes each of us different and interesting.

Another Mom Update

She saw the doctor on Tuesday ( I know I am slacking on my posting and I should have done it sooner). Everything is going according to schedule and the doctor was happy where everything was and how things are going. We now only have 5 more weeks of non-weight bearing on her right leg. Her physical therapy is another issue. She hates it and we are thinking about skipping it for a while. The reason she hates it is not because it is hard or hurts. It is because they do nothing and charge a huge fee. I think they are going once a week to therapy to get the exercises and then my dad is going to help her do them. He is going to act as her therapist. This isn't as bad as it may seem. My dad actually has a pretty good back ground here. Before he owned the business I now run, he was a teacher and coach. He was a high school head football and track coach. He has an intensive and full knowledge of kineseology and all that kind of stuff. He actually diagnosed this problem exactly. He has always done this. He is right on and exactly correct and his summary is always the same as the doctor's. We don't understand it, but we are lucky and grateful for it. Physical Therapy is going to cost on the upwards of 10K and it is something we can do, so it is looking like my parents are going to forget the hospital and their 3 times a week visits. The other issue is getting my mom up and down 17 stairs each time. We don't want to re-injure the knee and that is just asking for problems. She still uses a motion machine to work on the range her knee can move. She does this 4 hours a day. So, it isn't like she is just lying there and not moving her leg. This is where we sit. Now I get to fight with the insurance company.

My Life

To most people my life is boring and plain. In all honesty it is. I don't do much besides work. I really don't have much of a social life and I really don't have time for it. All I do now runs me around and I have a real lack of free time. Especially now that my mom is injured and can't walk for another 5 weeks. I have more responsibilities helping to take care of her and make sure we all get through the rehabilitation process for her leg. Generally, my day starts at 7:30. I get up and get ready to go to work. I am at work til usually 6. Yeah, I get to spend 10 hours everyday at work. I don't get weekends off. Work isn't so bad, but since I am usually the only person here, it can get very chaotic. My dad spends at least half of his time at home taking care of my mom, or worrying about her. I understand the worry (except I don't worry about things) and so I send him home because he is annoying the crap out of me and it is better for all of us just to see him leave. After I leave work, I go to the gym. You might say that this is free time for me and the 2 hours I spend out there is me doing what I want to. The sad thing is that really isn't true. It is part of the routine and if I miss a day it really annoys and ticks me off. It is to me just another part of my day. This means I usually get home about 9. Then I have so many things to take care of there. Things pile up. I usually watch TV for about 30 minutes to an hour before I go to bed. My tivo is jammed packed with shows I want to watch, but have missed. I am glad that I can record 25 hours of HD or 150 hours of SD or some combination there of. I usually end up watch the HD first, just because they take up so much more room. Anyway, here is a view of my life right now. In there somewhere, I make room to play with Thor and talk to Tiffany. I actually schedule those two times before I let myself indulge with something mindless. You have to keep on your toes playing with Thor. He is over 150 pounds these days and quick as lightning. He is such a great dog and the time I get to spend playing with him is a much needed release.

Tiffany Update

I just thought you might want to know this info. Tiffany and I talk quite often these days. It truly is wonderful. After almost a year of not having the pleasure of hearing her voice and thoughts, I have been enjoying her again. She told me back in December that she wasn't looking for someone to call and talk to everyday or anything like that. Since then I think we have had some form of communication (text or voice) every day. I have to admit that I enjoy talking to her. Our conversations are like they use to be. We talk for 30 minutes to an hour and it seems like it has only been a couple minutes. We talk about everything and anything. It has been great and I believe it will continue to be great. I think I will even get the pleasure of seeing her this summer. Her family always do a couple week trip to Colorado and she always comes. We are talking about her mom, dad, and Tiffany. That is how I met her. I think this year they are going to bring their Jeep and if that is the case I might go Jeeping with them a few days. I still have to put that winch on my truck and now I have to put in a new windshield. Mine is cracked and looks like a smile with a tongue sticking out. Anyway, I plan on calling her tonight and see what is going on. She moved to Birmingham Alabama and is enjoying her new place. We never know what might happen. Things might get interesting again this summer. I really doubt it. If she wants the nature of this relationship to change this time, she is going to have to move to Colorado. I have too many responsibilities and duties here that I can't bail on. I will keep you informed.

Update on my Mother

As all of you know, my mom's knee is messed up. Last Wednesday she had surgery and had 3 screws put in. She had a broken knee cap, both sides of the meniscus were messed up, and had part of another leg bone broken. All in all the surgery took 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The surgeon said that she thought it went well and was very pleased with how everything went. Thursday we took my mom home and that was interesting. My dad and I had to help her up 15 stairs. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she has to go back to the doctor for a check up. She can't put any weight on her leg for 6 weeks and then has 4 to 6 months of physical therapy. Things are interesting but going well. I want to express my appreciation to any and all of you that care. I will be keeping everyone updated on this situation as soon as something changes.

Used

That is the way I feel these days, Used. I don't feel this way towards most people or from most people. There is just this one girl in my life that I feel this way toward and from. She only contacts me when she needs something. We are (were, I haven't quite decided what to do) friends or so I thought. I don't have any other friends that use me like this girl does. It doesn't help me that I am actually attracted to this girl. The worst part is that the attraction is only physical. Anyway, like I said, she only calls or texts me when she wants to borrow one of my vehicles, wants me to give her a ride, wants me to pick up something for her, or if she needs to borrow money. Yes, I am an easy target and I know it. I have asked her out, and I get some really lame excuses or we set something up and she bails on me at the last second. It is like she wants everything I have, except she doesn't want anything to do with me and definitely doesn't want to be seen in public with me. I can understand that, I look at myself in the mirror everyday. It was funny to me because on Saturday night she called me and only wanted to know if she could borrow my truck to get from her work to her house (she works as a nanny close to where I live, I mean within 2 blocks). I told her no (Blair would be happy and proud [he has been helping me see the error of my ways and showing me how much of an idiot I am]) and then about 3:30 she text messages me begging me to let her use a vehicle or give her a ride home when I went to work. I ignored the text message and then about 9:30 on Sunday she sent me another one asking if I would leave work and take her home. I told her again that I couldn't help her. The worst part is that I feel terrible and like a bad friend because I didn't help out. I know that I need to be strong and actually do something about this because I am tired of this game she plays me with. I guess I am just too nice. I am thinking about telling her my thoughts and giving up on our friendship (can you consider it a friendship if it is 1 sided?). I would appreciate any thoughts any of you would like to hit me with.

Gunnison Weather

For all you wondering, it was a nice 9 below zero this morning when I got up. Our weather has been nice and unseasonably warm. I am not complaining. Yes, -9 is warm for us. Usually it is -30 or below this time of year. There are days where -9 is our high. That might sound strange to all of you, but it is life in the Mountains. We love it and are use to it. It is sunny and nice. At 11 this morning, it was 10 above. I know it is 22 degrees below freezing, but you don't really notice it. I have actually been colder in Abilene on some of those upper 30's to low 40's days with rain and wind than I have ever been here. Dry cold is awesome, especially in the sun. Thor even loves it. He is spunky and energetic until it gets to about -25. Then he wants to be inside. -20 and warmer, he loves being outside doing who knows what. We play for about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how much time I can afford. Tennis balls and then we switch to his Wiggly Giggly ball. He loves that thing and can entertain himself for the majority of the day. It is a 7 inch hard ball that makes noise every time it is moved. He has a 4 1/2 inch one also, but he loves the bigger one. He carries it all around the yard and even through the doggy door. Yeah, he has a huge mouth, just like me!!

Side Note:
Before I forget, January is the month that my dear friend Blair was born. Back in 1977 on the 6th (I think I am right here) Blair was brought into this harsh world and has brought light and laughter into it every day since. Blair, you are a great friend and I love and care about you and your family more than you will ever know. You are closer to me and mean more to me than family.

Change in Workout

I have decided to mix up and change my workout a little bit. Variety is the spice of life and one of the trainers out at the gym highly recommends switching things up. Well, I decided to mix both my time spent at the gym up and my daily normal routine up. I added ankle weights to the mix. I wear weights on each leg and am going to increase the weight every two weeks or so. This is every hour I am awake. I have them on right now, actually. I figured it couldn't hurt and can only make me stronger. I will add weight, but significantly less during my workouts. I am going to start with 2lbs during my 3 mile run. Gotta start off slow and not push myself too hard.

Here is the kicker. My mom is at the Hospital and has surgery sometime on the 3rd. My schedule is being modified and changed, so I don't know how everything is going to play out. We shall see and we will get it done. That is all I can say. I am blessed and thankful. Things could be a ton worse for me. I am doing better than I deserve.

PlayStation 3

I have the PS2, the PSP, and now I can finally say that I am a proud owner of a PS3!! The main reason I have wanted the PS3 and bought one is because I wanted the Blu-Ray disc player. Now this doesn't mean that I will or won't be buying and playing games, but it does mean that I will be buying Blu-Ray discs now instead of regular DVD's. I thought it is funny that Sony's Blu-Ray disc player was priced at $999 and the PS3 was $599. A $400 difference really sold me on buying the PS3. Now I have to give credit to my wonderful sister Melissa. Out of the wonderful, giving, and caring heart she has, she checked around Abilene for weeks to find me a PS3. She did this all on her own and without me asking. When she found one, she called me to see if I still wanted and if I had bought one yet. What a wonderful sister I have. In more ways than this tiny one, my sister truly is great and I love her dearly. She is an awesome person and I am thankful to be related to her. Today I got my Monster cables to connect everything up and get things really started in HD. Everything in my home theatre is SONY. My receiver cost $2000 and is fully HDMI setup. All my cables are the expensive Monster cables. I notice a difference in the output and quality and that is all that matters. Oh I can't wait to play with these things. I have to redo and re-configure my system and I am looking forward to it. Now the only thing I have left to do is some upgrading of my speakers. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Speakers are something that I am not too up on or familiar with. Right now I have some decent BOSE speakers. All in all, I have 2 Sony receivers and 11 speakers hooked up to 3 amps. I have a 400 and a 301 disc DVD players and then my dish network satellite receiver. Now I have the PS2 and PS3 hooked up and it is time to play. That is where my home theatre system sits right now.

2006 Year in Review

Here it is 2007 and I thought it only fitting to do a year in review. Well, as all of you know this will be short.

January rolled around and I broke up with Tiffany. Not my finest hour. I spent the next few months lost and wondering what the heck I was doing and why I was doing what I was doing. The only really positive thing I started to do was hitting the gym again after years of absence.

March came in nicely and I stole the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon I love to drive. I think I drive it more than my truck.

May saw me take the top and doors off of the Jeep and start to have fun again.

June, July, and August flew by and I don't remember much about them except that there was more rain than I can ever remember us getting.

September and October saw my crying over the New York Yankees loss in the first round of the playoffs. Man, I love baseball and the Yankees!!!! These months along with November are my busiest and horrific months of work.

December rolls in and things get interesting. I make mad rush trips to get family in and out for the Holidays, my mother blows out her knee trying to save a cat, and then Tiffany calls me and we start down the friends path once again.

All in all, I am glad to be rid of 2006. My past is in the past and I hope things are better this year. I did a lot of things in 2006 that I regret, am not proud of, and that hurt a lot of people I care about. I am still working on resolving some of these things and getting friendships back in order. To all of those that I hurt, I am truly and deeply sorry. To all my friends that have stood by me, THANK YOU. I know 2007 will be so much better. I know this because I know I am not the same person I was a year ago. I am happy and enjoying life these days. GOD has blessed me in more ways than I can count and I am grateful. Whatever happens this year, I am ready to take the challenges and trials head on. My outlook for 2007 is bright. I remember this time in 2006 and all I can say is that last year was the darkest year of my life. Even my parents noticed and commented on the change in me last year. I can say the harshness and hard times last year have helped me appreciate and put things in perspective. Life is great and I am looking forward to an incredible year. I will do my part to keep all of you informed. This blog is the only outlet of information I use. To all who read this blog and actually care about me and my life, Thanks. I appreciate it. My only request would be that you leave a comment ever so often so I know you happened by. Let's make 2007 great!!