...I am now on vacation until monday.

I am on vacation until Monday, but rest assured my faithful followers (all 2 of you) that I will be posting during this time. The kids are on spring break, but the boy got sick. Because of this, I have my daughter for the next four days. I have never had this kind of alone time with her before. I am really looking forward to it. There is so much that we are going to do.

I set up an appointment with Ilana to get her hair done, I'm taking her clothes shopping, and then taking her out to dinner in the new clothes. I'll probably try to find a pretty dress for her. She's my little girl. I'm going to make sure she has a fun day. I know that most girls would have killed for one on one time like this with their father. She's been gone from me for too long, and I think I need this time more than she does.

Other than that, we're going to wing it for the weekend. We already started having really great conversation on the way home. We talked about how the cats have new homes now, what is going to be on the menu for the next few days, and vampire monkeys. You read that right. Vampire...monkeys.

When confronted with questions, I had to call my two best authorities on the situation and we ran her through a litany of questions.

1. Is it more a guy that's a vampire with a monkey tail, or more monkey that happens to be a vampire? A: guy with tail
2. why does he live in a tree? How does this work? There is nothing to protect him from the sun. A: He lives in the trunk
3. How the heck did he get a tail? A: Scientists injected him with goo labeled "monkey"

This conversation went on for about 45 minutes. The rest of tonight might have been the best conversation I've had with her in almost 3 years. It was great. 

I'm going to hate going back to work on Monday. 

Today was better because I love my bug even more now than I already did.

...they like me! They really like me!

I got my review at work today. Usually I am not too thrilled about these, and this is a new format now that I have moved buildings. I had no idea what to expect on it. It's not the usual one that I had over at the prior building. We're all under this one big IT umbrella now, so it can be quite a new adventure at times.

It was sent to me last night, and I read through it. My boss is of the thought that an employee shouldn't be blindsided at a review or come in nervous about things. I've known him for a few years now, and prior to the move we were peers. The new organization saw him as having a higher leadership role, and that I would work for him. It's actually worked out. I've taught him a few things about what I do for a living and he's given me some guidance on how to handle the tough situations.

Don't get me wrong, we've had our differences in the past. Most of the time while at the other building and he was not my boss. But, over here, we have a familiarity with each other that helps us get things done. He has his direction on things from his boss and he hands them down to me and I move forward with those directions. I don't salute and go all the time, but I know when NOT to say the wrong thing as well.

Oh, that review. It was pretty good. As always I scored myself lower than he saw my scores. It's just the way it always goes with me. I see the need for improvement, they think I'm doing a great job. Maybe it's because I don't take mediocrity when it comes to my job. I want to be the best. I also want to help everyone be the best too.

I have to say though, it takes a different type of oddball to do this job. But today, it was fun. Besides it being a good work day, I had dinner brought to me (thanks lady!) so I could do some school work before I posted this and head home.

...there was an end to the madness.

I'm on vacation in a couple days. I have a lot of school work to get done, but there is always something about those last few days prior to a vacation. You have to get everything in order, and set for you to go. It is quite hectic actually. So much to prepare for, what if something goes wrong?

At least I know will have done everything I could to prepare and then some.

I also have a very loving lady in my life and friends who are fantastic. Tonight, after class, they told me to get my ass over to the place where they were doing food night and sit and eat with all of them so I didn't have to do my usual "Monday night fasting" that usually happens thanks to the schedule. It was really nice. I didn't think I'd get to see my girl until around this time NEXT week because of everything that is going on at home. But I got to see her tonight. She's also been keeping tabs on how my knee is doing. I tweaked it pretty bad yesterday to the point of having to get out the old Rebel99 brace (see picture on the side for reference on what this brace looks like). She's looking out for me. Her dad went through some pretty rough stuff with his knees, so she knows what I am possibly heading towards. I want to be able to run around and keep dancing with her. If this knee of mine gives me any more problems, I won't be able to. And that will upset me greatly.

BUT! Today was better, tomorrow should be fantastic as well... and that's the bottom line...

...I found out I did quite well in my classes.

I had two midterm things that I thought I didn't so so well at. Anyone who knows me knows that I have this fear of school because of not really remembering much of high school. So, natually I think doing things like writing papers and taking tests is hard. All results show this is not the case. I actually do quite well in them. I just need to have more confidence when I am doing things like this.

I'm slowly getting better at it, learning to manage my time, relax and not worry so much about it. I have also taken the stance that no matter how hard I try,I might not get an A all the time and I am now ok with it.

Back to class. It's about to start and the weekly "teacher can't get the projector going" is quite amusing.

...it was a nice lazy day.

Sorry for the late posting, I rarely get an ACTUAL lazy day. One where I don't have to worry about doing anything at all. Now that the house is in order, I sit here going "now what?"

I've been in quite a whirlwind of doing things here at home that NOT having to do something seems foreign. Yes, there are things to do around here. But I don't have a bevy of dishes, or a whole house cleaning project to do at the moment.

The basement is next. I have vacation this week, so I am probably going to tackle that next. Get a lot of things out of there and to the alley for pickup. A lot of junk is going to go away once again, but it's been down there for so long that I sit there and ask myself "why didn't I throw this away ages ago?"

And now it's time to go to sleep... in bed with my lady.

...my house is going to look better in the next week or so!

There isn't really a whole lot to post about it, but I'm getting carpeting put back in the house after 8 years of there not being any at all.

It's going to look very nice. I'm quite happy with my selections.

...I get to go see a hockey game.

I've been to a couple Admirals games this year already, but it's Friday... I have had a very long week, and I need something to help start the weekend.

So tonight, the lady and I are going to head on out to the BC and watch the Admirals beat up on the Chicago Wolves. Those are always fun games to go watch. If I had my way, the whole season would be nothing but Milwaukee vs. Chicago. There is just something about it that I can not get over. When I first started going over 12 years ago, those were the games that Ryan and Dan always wanted to go to and I didn't really get why at first. There is a rivalry there for minor league teams that is just as good as the pro levels.

Plus, you know, it's hockey. I'm going to watch regardless.

...I learned some new stuff for the band.

Learned some new stuff for the band tonight. We'll be playing it on 4-15 for our show with The Dark Clan and Red This Ever at Club Anything. There is some special stuff happening that I'm not going to go about saying quite yet. But, I will say it's something I've never done on stage before. That's what made today better.

It's been really hard for me to find something today that made it better because I've had such an awesome 48 hours before it. Spent a lot of time with my lady the last two days and it has been quite nice. I want more of those days and nights. Being able to just sit in bed and talk until we fall asleep is nice. I like waking up in the morning like we did the last two days and just having her there too. It makes getting out of bed a pain, but it's ok. I know she'll be there again.

Until tomorrow, it's time to put the computer and keyboard away. My fingers are way sore from practicing about 4 hours tonight and they are yelling at me quite a bit... and by the way, if you dont have the EP yet, I put the link right up there for you to go get it. It's quite the steal up at amazon.

...I introduced the lady to the first of many awesome movies.

So, I made her watch The Usual Suspects tonight. She had not seen it yet. I consider it one of the best suspense movies out there and I have watched it probably in the range of 40-50 times. This...is just the start. It was revealed a few months back that she has not seen many of the great 80's movies of the late John Hughes, pretty sure she has not seen the Goonies yet, and I have to make sure she knows One Crazy Summer and Better Off Dead as well as I do. I did get her to watch Real Genius, she likes that one. So maybe it's time to get some of the other awesome Val Kilmer movies out of the way too (can we say Willow?).

I am sure there are more that she needs to see. I think my kids may have seen more bad 80's movies than she has thanks to me being obsessed with watching them over and over and not changing the channel when I used to have cable and they would jsut happen to be on TBS or TNT. But, The Usual Suspects is a great start.

...a new year begins.

A year ago today, after weeks of pressuring, I got her to come out to go see a movie with me. The stipulation, it had to be Avatar... in 3D. This was at the END of the first run for Avatar and there was only one theater still playing it. I had tried to get her to come out on multiple occasions, only to be turned down each time. I didn't give up. I kept at it, asking when would be a good time to meet. Finally, I just told her we're doing this movie thing. Meet me there, I dont care how tired you are. It's just a movie.

Just a movie became talking in the car for what seemed like hours afterwards. Text messages and emails flew afterwards. A second date came and went. Then for the oddest of all dates, I experienced Greek Easter with her family and a huge family gathering they do at Easter and Thanksgiving. The summer was one where we got to know each other better. We grew as people and as a couple, finally making it "official" to everyone even though they pretty much saw this first date as the start of something awesome.

I did something with her I've never done before. I took a vacation. We flew off to Tampa. I met some wonderful people that will always make me feel comfortable whenever I am there. I went to the theater for the first time in years. I got back in to going to ball games, hockey games, concerts, movies, and so much more. I dressed up for Halloween for the first time since I was a kid.... and I found someone I can talk to about anything, at any time of the day, for any reason. I'm not going to say all of our conversations have been good ones. But we have this way of being able to talk to each other that is nothing I have ever experienced before. I dont ever have to pull any punches, and she sure as hell doesn't either. That's what is making this work with the two of us. Just being able to communicate on such a regular basis about anything.

So, yesterday marked the end of "year one".  Now we move on to "year two" of many more.

S'agapo, prinkipissa mou.

...I'm here with all of my people.

I have this mix of music I listen to when I want to be in a better mood. One of my favorit tracks is My People by The Presets. It's just got a vibe that makes me happy when I hear it.

Music does that to me. I get really emotional about it. Sometimes it is happy, other times it is sad, angry, or even frustrated. Seeing as I play guitar, I think I just get in to the music. The latest track we got back from the might Dan Clark for the next am.psych album just had be in total disbelief that we wrote something so mind blowing.

If you have kids, do like I do (or don't, I don't tell people how to parent)... turn off the TV for a bit, turn on the radio or pandora/last.fm and give the kids some culture. Have them sit and listen to it. My son now can pick up and recognize melody on just about any song we listen to. My daughter is always bouncing around.
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I'm probably going to take it to the next step and have them close their eyes and then draw what it makes them see... but then I might get called a tree hugging hippie.

oh, and if you get a chance, check out the band I'm in. We have a few shows coming up in April.... one of which we open for our friends @16volt .

http://www.vampirefreaks.com/ampsych

...I don't feel like I did yesterday.

Aside from all the running around I was doing, I ended up having a huge asthma and allergy attack. Haven't had one of those in a while. But, today is a lot better. Maybe the rain has something to do with that too. Keeps the allergens down. But, hooray, I can breathe and sleep so much better. I'm plugging all sorts of vitamins in me and other things to help as well. Having a face feel like someone filled it with cement is no fun. I am glad I don't feel like that today.

...it was arts and crafts time with the kids.

I totally almost forgot to do this today. The kids and I found these things at Target. They are little action figures (not mugz, but like them) that you get to color any way you want. So, tonight after dinner, that's exactly what we did. It was a nice thing to be able to do while watching Iron Man 2.

The little figures are pretty cool. I had fun with mine. It's been a while since I got to be creative like that in front of the kids. I keep forgetting they like to do things like that.

We spent all day together. A trip to IKEA, a little more shopping at Target. They only complained while we were waiting in line to check out, and I would too. They only had a few checkout lanes open. But it was an opportunity to spend more time with them and talk, so at least I got that out of it.

...I got to share an awesome sunset with the lady.

So, I picked up my girlfriend on the way out to get my kids tonight. Prior to leaving, she gave me my anniversary gift a few days early (Tuesday will be one year since our first date). She got me a very nice pair of sunglasses I have been looking at for a while. They are awesome. So, we hit the road, got some food and drove out to get the littles. Thanks to daylight savings time shifting the clock by an hour last weekend, I got to drive in to the sunset.

It was amazing. A giant orange ball of light that you wanted to reach out and hold just disappearing in to the trees on the horizon leaving a bloody trail of red and dark purple against a pristine clear blue sky. One would think that would be the end of it. The red and purple went away, no clouds in the sky, nothing to make the night really seem all that eventful. Then as we rounded the corner of the highway, the moon rise started. It's not too often you get to see a great sunset and then an almost full moon rise within minutes of each other.

It was a nice ride out tonight.

...this video is just damn silly. It makes me smile.

my lady and her friends are just silly when they get together, recently they decided to do a Q&A session while he was home (much better than a T&A session, that would go on a site other than youtube I think). The video I am linking is to part 2. http://goo.gl/yx3LP Check out her stuff. It's fun to watch and brightens up my day.

If she looks familiar at all, she was one of the top 10 in the Progressive HelpFlo contest last year. That might be where you have seen her.

So, go take a look, subscribe to her if you like and get updated whenever she posts more videos. Not all of them are silly though. Some of them are completely serious (see: Falling Whistles video).

...I understand things a little bit more here at work.

It's been a long ride coming over here from my last assignment. I'm finally starting to get things underway. I'm making some really good  progress as far as the daily things that need to be done, as well as the long term things that are needed to keep my team rolling and being productive. I always say that I'm not going to fail at what I do around here. And I am going to stick to that. I've even brought that in to my home life as well. No failures. But if I do, learn from it, make it a positive and move forward.

(doesn't hurt that it's amazing outside and I get to see my kids and my girlfriend today)

...I gave my employees a surprise today.

We've been using a software package for a while in an old version. It doesn't support Vista or 7, so we've been limping along. Finally, I got management to give the go ahead and it was ordered. The license showed up today and I gave them all the good news. They are, understandably, excited.

...there are selfless people in this world like the Fukushima 50.

There are a lot of people in this world who would have turned tail and run. Not these guys (and women?). Right now on the other side of the world, in the midst of disaster, without adequate electricity or tools.... 50 people are trying to help save a nation from what could end up being the worst reactor meltdown this generation has ever seen. Could you do it? Would you do it? I can't say that I would be up to the task. These people have normal everyday lives, families, children, parents, grandparents, pets, a mortgage... just like you and me, and they are going in headstrong to save Japan.

My heart goes out to Japan, all of their people devastated by the earthquake, then tsunami, and now radioactive fallout. I just hope these 50 get to live long, healthy, lives.

...I got to see a good friend that I need to see more of.

It was a short visit, and it was because I needed help here at the house, but I still got to see him for a bit. He's one of my oldest friends here in this lovely city we reside in. He's seen me through some rough stuff and I've seen him go from single guy, to married guy, to awesome dad in the 13+ years I've known him.

...people seem to be paying attention to this little blog.

I have been given a few compliments on doing this blog. People really seem to like the idea of finding something new each day to give your day a better perspective. I seem to have inspired a couple people to do something quite similar. In the land of internet trolling, hate speech, youtube violence and who knows whatever else happens on this big 'ole "series of tubes". I started this just a couple weeks ago on a whim. I am loving it. I must say, there are trying days. Ones that make me think "I'm not going to be able to find a positive thing for today"... and quite honestly, I have had a few things I just can't post on here because I try to keep it clean and my lady would kill me if I posted it.

For everyone else who is new to this page, or just happened to stumble upon it... look back at your day. Was it really that bad? Was there nothing good about it at all? Sometimes the bad does seem to outweigh the good, but I think that if you go with sheer numbers, there is more good than bad. Bad just happens to really catch your attention because it disrupts you from doing whatever it is you wanted to do. There are always a couple ways of looking at things. Maybe you stubbed your toe on the way to the kitchen to get a slice of pie that you were looking forward to... you still made it to the kitchen, you still had that pie, but damnit... your toe hurts. That's the part you remember. Because whatever it was happened to be in the way and disrupted what should have been something simple that would bring you joy... you now have a negative attached to it. We dwell on it. News articles, tv shows, music, most of them deal with negatives. So many things are out there devised to make us think about the bad.

So, stand up. Go look out the window. Is it sunny? No? It will be soon enough. And that is something to look forward to. Is it raining? Well, guess what, it will help us out this spring when all of our flowers and lawns start to grow.

Take the day in. It's actually a good one once you get past the distractions.

...I think I finally understand my classes.

I think I finally get both of my classes. It took me all the way until midterm to figure them out, but I am on the brink of pulling back out of my rut for them. On an even more awesome point, another one of my classmates said he'd lend us a hand/another eye just in case we need someone to go over some stuff. That was very nice of him. I'm glad we have someone else on our side to help bounce things off of. It's going to help down the line I am sure. For the other class,  I just finished my midterm. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Four questions? Easy sauce. Now, thank god it was an open book/take home exam as well or I would have not done so well. But, this is a nice professor and this class is really more like my Microsoft classes that I took a while back. It's all about how you might be able to do things one way, but it could be done another, it's really all how you look at it and is it right for that person/organization.

All in all, good day of school.

...I got put in my place.

Now, while it might seem this is a negative, this is actually a positive. I haven't really kept up on my end of things like I should. I need to take pride in things I own, even if it won't be for much longer. I have to focus, stop making time for stupid shit like Call of Duty, and just get it done. I like to relax. Who doesn't. But I have so much to do that once I really CAN relax, it will be that much more enjoyable.

Thank you to the one who called me out today (you know who you are). I love you for it.

...I am moving forward with getting out of this house.

It's not that I hate living in this... yes, actually I do hate living in this house. There are 8 bad years and only one good year I really like about this house. I spend more time in just a couple rooms than I do the rest of it, and that is a shame.

So, I have my appointment to get an estimate on how much flooring is going to cost me throughout this place, and we'll go from there. Once I have that I can start working on painting and all of that jazz. I am going to be planning on a painting party. I know I can't do all of this myself, so I will be putting out the call for helpers. Food and drink will be provided and such, so keep an eye out for the call to paintbrushes!

...I started practicing for our April shows with TheDarkClan and 16volt

I've been practicing a lot lately for our shows coming up. We have one on April 15th with The Dark Clan and Red This Ever for John's birthday show.

The next one is on the 26th of April where we once again open for 16volt. They have a new album coming out and they are doing a CD release party in Milwaukee. It's going to be a fun time.

...because the UFC bought Strikeforce!!!

Oh holy shit. UFC bought Strikeforce this morning.

They are saying that Strikeforce is going to be its own brand, but they said that with WEC and PRIDE as well. Now they are no longer around. How long until Strikeforce will be disolved?

Dana White/Ariel Helwani interview on Strikeforce purchase

...everyone seems to dig the new haircut.

Props go to my friend, Ilana Gilbert for making me look good again. I must say, I haven't gotten complimented on a haircut in a long time, but people seem to really like this one. I've been stopped in the hallway, have had people dead stop outside my office thinking someone else was in there, and just pure shock when I walk up to them today. I didn't get it dyed this time, so it's close to my natural color and it's pretty tight to the head this time too. Here at work, nobody has seen me with my natural hair color, so I think that is what is shocking them the most.

...I decided that I need to play my guitar...

...like a boss.

I think it's time to update the me-50. For two reasons, it's not mine, and guitar center just sent me a 10% off coupon.

I will play my guitar and it will sound awesome.

...I got tracks recorded for the next am.psych album.

Transistor, reasons, luminescent. Done.

...my group didn't get called on to present in class today.

We are a little bit behind as far as some things go with our class. It's been a real pain this semester to say the least. But, at least we didn't have to present today and it will help us be ready for Monday.

...I had dinner with my lady at #AJBombers.

I had dinner at this place tonight. Decent food. They have vegan stuff too which is awesome for me and the lady. The Black Bean burger was great, so were the sweet potato chips. Amazing stuff. I always like places that encourage writing on the walls... as long as you're not drawing boy parts.

...I have my own office.

Like I said in a previous post, I have never had my own office. This thing is huge!!! cubicles are such a small confinement compared to this. There is a door, and a table with chairs. I've even put up my toys already and made this place my own. I have a few more things to put in here, some art from home and pictures of Ro, Bug, and Cat.

Only took me 12 years. But I have an office.

...I took care of a huge debt.

I had to pay off a huge debt to the "taxman" today. It's been out there for a while, I wasn't able to catch up for almost three years. Today, I caught up. Big time. It's done. I don't have to worry about this anymore. I can't even begin to explain what this feels like. I sat at home quite often thinking that I would get a knock on the door from either my bank or the county telling me to get out.

No more. All done.

Now it's time to get the house up to speed, on the market, and sold.

(And maybe listen to Taxman by the Beatles a few times...)

...I realized @NightSchoolMKE is this weekend.

That's right, It's Night School this weekend people. I just remembered today.


Skinny Puppy is the music of choice this time around along with all the other goth/industrial classics that Mr. and Mrs. Smith like to spin.

...I did better on my paper than I thought I would.

I don't think I write well when it comes to school work. But, I got a B+. I'm not going to complain about that one bit. Hell, a B+ is a lot better than I did in high school.

...my office is being built today.

For the first time in my career, I will have an actual office. It's been loud as they build it up, but it will be worth it. Goodbye cubicles. Hello door. No more worrying that someone is going to walk up behind me as I'm working on an employee related document.

...I decided to take control of my phone.

I've had my EVO for a while now, I really like it. But there are some things I don't like about it at all. Mostly, shitty battery life. I'm taking control. It's my phone. I get to do what I want to do with it. So, tonight, I'm working on rooting my phone. I haven't done anything geeky like this in a while, and I can do it while working on my homework too.

...I watched a silly movie with my kids.

We watched Knucklehead tonight. It's a basic Disney style movie. I am not sure I would have given it a PG-13 rating, but I'm not Hollywood either. It was silly. The kids and I used to watch wrestling all the time. They always liked Big Show. We had just got done watching the biography on him and how he really likes giving back and they kind of promo'd this movie. Sure enough, it's on Netflix. It was a pretty decent way to end the night with them cuddled up on the couch.

...because I have my kids today

My kids are awesome. They might say some odd things from time to time, or get on my nerves, but they are mine. I love them.

... I made a printer do what I wanted it to do.

Enough said.

...I didn't have to go to sleep by myself.

Normally, I let her know when I get home so she knows I haven't died on the freeway. I forgot to do that today, and my phone was still set to silent from earlier in the day. Well, at about 10:30 she decided that I must be dead on the freeway and drove down to make sure I wasn't getting my face eaten off by my cats or something. So, today is better because I don't have to sleep alone.

... I got a surprise phone call from my girlfriend.

I really like those. They brighten up my day. Sometimes, I have a lot going on, and she just calls and calms me down. It's a nice thing to have someone who can do that for you.

I get stressed out quite a bit lately. She knows what to say and how to say it to get me calm.

...I remixed a Caustic track last night.

Last night I spent about 5 hours with John (am.psych) remixing a song for Matt Fanale (Caustic) off of his new album "The Golden Vagina of Fame and Profit".

I haven't been all that motivated about music lately, and it really got me going. I showed John a few tricks I knew with Reason, he showed me some of the ancient "secrets" of am.psych programming, I swore at Matt without him knowing multiple times for his vocals being off beat in multiple spots...

Today is better because I remixed a Caustic track last night.