On My MP3......which is actually crapped out right now.....

Recently my MP3 player, which as of right now is not an iPod, has gone haywire. But, one of the songs that I have been addicted to is on there and I can't listen to it. So, I figured that I would just post it.

Check it out.....

On My MP3

For as much of an ass that Kanye West is he really is a great artist. It is just sad that someone with such great talent, that has come up with songs like Jesus Walks or Stronger, has to taint it by acting out in airports by throwing paparazzi cameras around.

Even though he comes across as an idiot people still love him, me included. Especially with this new song, Love Lock Down, which ever since I heard it it has been stuck in my head!

Oh, How I Hate The King

As someone who is doing the best he can to lose weight and get in great shape in order to run marathons and hopefully participate in triathlons one day I have become a much better eater recently. I have gone ahead and cut out soda, cut out a lot of the snacks I use to inhale all the time (cookies, ice cream, sweets), steered clear of late night snacks and have declined the periodic 2nd slice of pizza or moderate serving of mac & cheese.

One thing that is really tough is having a very busy schedule and still being able to eat well. Even though people make fun of me at work, I make my lunch almost every day and bring it in my little cooler. Some days however there is just not enough time to prepare a lunch or dinner and I have to sacrifice and have some food at work. The good thing about working at a spa is the fact that at our juice bar we have healthy food. Chicken wraps, salads, protein smoothies, and some other good stuff.

The bad thing with running out of time and having to grab something real quick before work is the fact that eating good means you need time to prepare it. There is no such thing as good fast-food! Sure, McDonald's has its salads and Burger King has its grilled chicken sandwiches, but believe me, they really aren't the best things for you.

I had the worst experience with BK this morning, which means the King and I are going to have to take a break for a while. After running some errands this morning, with Dave, for our company, I had barely enough time to get my ass to work, but yet, I still had not eaten any lunch. First place I see is a Burger King. The inviting red and blue colors with the play-place staring at me through the windows as I sat there at a red light made me finally crack and pull into the drive-thru.

As anyone who does not frequent fast food places, especially early in the day, seeing the fact that the breakfast sandwiches are still up on the board is like finding a giant gold nugget in the toilet after having the worst battle with your rear end! With happiness in my voice and my stomach screaming for the tasty goodness, I order a #2 and a black coffee with 2 sugars. Ah, yes, the Croissanwich w/ Sausage, Egg & Cheese!!! This is kick-ass!

After ordering the lady says something and gives me the total, but I don't care. Aliens could be attacking right now, but as long as I get my croissanwich I would die a happy human! I pull up, give the lady (I use the term "Lady" in a lose fashion), she gives me change and I take my coffee and my bag of delicious wonderment!

As I am driving off I reach in to start nibbling on some hash browns. I pull out my hand and I just have a handful of french fries......FRENCH FRIES!!! WTF! She game me french fries with my breakfast sandwich. What's the matter with this "lady"?!?!?

I figure, it's ok. I still have my sandwich. I reach in and pull out this huge sandwich, all wrapped up. I never remember the b-fast sandwiches being this big? Huh? Slowly opening the wrapper, since I am driving, and all I see is lettuce....tomatoe...onion...WTF...bun....huge hamburgers!!! Nooooooooo!!! Where is my croissanwich!

Apparently, since it was right on the cusp of 11:00 AM the sign on the drive-thru had not changed yet and when I ordered a "#2" instead of my croissanwich #2, I got the gigantic, heart attack, double whopper with cheese #2, which comes with a nasty layer of fatty cholesterol between all the onions/pickles and thick layers of cheese!

With 3 bites in my stomach, I nearly yacked from fast food intake. So, as of right now, Mr. King of the fast-food, I am mad at you and your fellow "lady" employee!

Worst part of it all....I still want my DAMN CROISSANWICH!!!!

Can't Wait To Get My Fix!

For many people they go through times that they are addicted to something, whether good for them or not. There are the stereotypical people who, in their college years, become addicted to experimenting with drugs or to alcohol. To others, they can be addicting to something as good as a gym and working out. Some crazy people, will exercise for hours on end....believe me, I see it everyday now with working at a gym.

With me, however, I have an addiction that people would think that I am insane for....even more insane then for being addicted to cocaine. At least for an addiction like that, they have clinics. But, for someone who is addicted to the thrill and exhilaration of skydiving, there is nothing to do to help me.

From the first moment that I leaped from that small single engine plane and felt the freedom of flying and becoming one of the few thousand who have touched a cloud from 10,000+ feet, I have become addicted. It is something that I cannot wait to do again. I know that with taking repetitive risk I increase my chances of falling to my death, but please, you only live once. I have seen enough lives fall short, and the saddest thing is that they were never able to accomplish things they always wanted to do in their life.

I want to be able to look back on my life, when I on my death bed, and be able to say that I am happy with my life. There is not one thing that I to miss in this short time that I have on this planet.

I absolutely cannot wait to jump again. I am actually starting to get a little depressed with the fact that I won't be able to jump again for a little while. Not only because it is getting colder out, but also because of financial reason. It really is not a cheap addiction to have! This is why I am also picking up surfing. For someone who is not the best with his balance, or even the best over all swimmer, it will be a challenge, but that is what I am looking for. I am looking for something to challenge my body, my mind and my over all being.

Weekend of disappointment and fun

Oh sir, you will have to wait one more week!!!

As my last entry stated, I was heading down Friday morning to attempt to surf for the first time. With excitement running through me as the salty/fishy air started to enter my nostrils, Dave and I pulled into the town of Manasquan. We stopped for a Gatorade, talked about hitting up Surf Taco after attacking the ocean, and with his generic description on how to surf, I felt as if nothing could hold me back. Not even God, himself. Then he proved me wrong!

We parked his Element a block from the beach and started walking down to check out the surf. As our eyes peered above the dunes in order to catch the first glimpse, several expletives came out as our jaws dropped. The waves were crazy! One wave crashing on top of the next. It looked as if there was a tornado coming up on shore. The waves were coming high up onto the beach and were certainly not appropriate for me to learn for the first time.

An hour and a half drive down to the shore just turned into a pointless road trip of disappointment! With the feeling of failure in my heart, Dave and I got back into the Element and headed back up North, with the occasional, "Damn it! Oh well, next week". So, our adventure has been postponed to this upcoming Friday, due to God being mad that I thought he could not stop my mad surfing skills!

Yesterday, however, turned into a lot of fun. After spending the morning with Laura, running some errands, grabbing our regular Starbucks fix, we headed to the local Halloween store. With one of my favorite holidays right around the corner we decided to start looking for some kick-ass costumes. Let me just say that costumes are not the same as they use to be!

I remember the days of Pirates and Vampires! Now-a-days some of these costumes have just gone above and beyond what they should ever be! I understand that Halloween has become the holiday for girls to go out and have an excuse for dressing up as a "Slutty Nurse" or a "Slutty Referee" or a "Slutty" anything. But, guys costumes are starting to cross the line a bit in a sexual way. The "Snake Charmer" or the "Hung Like A Horse" costumes are 2 of many. (Pictured below). Funny, yes! But somehow it still offends me somehow. I think I am just going to cut a couple holes in my bed sheet and go as a ghost this year.





Later that evening, after saying fair well to Laura, who was heading off to spend the night with some college friends, I headed out to the mall with Kathleen, Dave and my niece Emily. They had to run some errands and pick up a couple things, and I just came along for the ride.

We started out at FYE, where Dave and I met up with Kat and Emmie. While we were waiting, we were looking at a couple new CD releases, one of which by a band that Dave just introduced me to called, Does It Offend You, Yeah! It then dawned on me that Laura and I have been meaning to get out and purchase the 3rd Season of the show, Weeds, considering we watched the 2nd season in 2 sittings! I quickly skimmed the DVD rack, found what I was looking for, purchased it, and quickly texted Laura to let her know that I just got her a present. With the both of us being horrible with surprises she quickly asks, "What?" and of course I respond with "It starts with a W". Jeesh, Brendan, way to leave anything to the imagination. What else could it be!?

After leaving FYE, Dave, looking for a new chain for a charm that he has, was stopping at every kiosk that he could before Kathleen wanted to strangle him. What we later found out at dinner, Kathleen would tell Dave and I that some weird guy was following us from kiosk to kiosk looking at Emily. This little pervert was really lucky that Dave and I did not realize. For as defensive as I can be for my family, Dave is so much more "off the reservation" and would certainly hand this guy a good old fashioned whoop ass!

We then headed to the Babies R Us, where we found Emmie the cutest Halloween costume. She is going to be a cute purple monster. Sort of looks like one of the monsters from Monsters Inc.

How Cute!!!!!!

After a couple more stops in the mall, we headed to a new Mexican place (Dave loves Mexican) and inhaled nachos and a couple tacos! We headed home and I spent the rest of the night playing Call of Duty, laying down with Toby and watching some TV. So, what started off as a disappointment from the ocean, turned out to be a good weekend with the family.

Surfing?!?!?

My Friend Tomorrow

The great thing about working at the spa is the fact that I get off on Fridays and Saturdays. The shitty part is the fact that there is normally no one around to enjoy Fridays with! Thankfully Dave, my brother-in-law, has recently lost his job and has nothing better to do on Fridays then to hang out with me!

For weeks now he has been wanting to bring me down to the beach to teach me how to surf, but every week there has either been bad weather or something has come up and we haven't been able to go. Alas, Friday has arrived again, the weather is looking great, the waves are supposed to be good and I have watched my fix of "How to surf" videos on YouTube.

So, tomorrow with wet suit leaving nothing to the imagination, and surf board under my arm, I will run into the cold Northern Atlantic Ocean to tackle the waves in one sport that I have yet to attempt. The easy sports: football, basketball, baseball are all checked off the list. The fun sports: beer pong, flip cup, eating contests, CHECK! Then there are the insane sports that I have recently been intrigued by. Skydiving being the first checked off the list. Next up is surfing and then who knows what.

As long as I survive tomorrow, I will blog about my tale. Hopefully I will be able to get my fat, uncoordinated ass up on the board without letting my sucky balance knock me off all day. Please remember me tomorrow morning when you are all at work and I am surfing (hopefully) the waves and "hanging 10"......does saying that make it easier to surf?

Wow, I have really been MIA!!!

Sorry to my one fan who reads my blog....Mira....for being hardcore MIA the past couple weeks and not writing at all! Well let's see....what have I been up to......a new job....a great girlfriend....football season (YEA!)....birthday's for everyone and their mother....and just all around been keeping busy.

It is a funny story about how my girlfriend, Laura, and I came together. It is one of those stories you definitely tell people and they act as if it is really cute, but they are actually getting sick on the inside because it is really DAMN cute.

Well, Laura and I have known each other for years now. Almost a decade now, but we have never been as close as we are now. In high school I was great friends with her 2 cousins who went to school with us. When Laura had decided to transfer to DePaul from Pompton Lakes, her one cousin, John, had asked me if I would be able to drive her to school (since I already had my license and he still had a couple months until he got his). So, of course, the nice guy I am said "yes".

I started picking her up for school every morning. Being friends with her cousins I quickly became a big brother/cousin figure to her. I would watch out for her, making sure no one was messing with her. And I would also scold her if her skirt was too short for school.....which I was secretly just checking her out.

The year had gone on and I got busy with college plans, Laura's cousin started to drive her to school instead, and we became a little distant. We fell out of touch but she was on my mind from time to time when I was off at college. She had gone on to do her own thing at Marist, in NY and then off to Lake Tahoe for a little while.

Then several months ago Steve's sister was getting married. At the wedding I was sitting down waiting for the ceremony to start and who would walk down the aisle with her mom and sister....Laura! She looked gorgeous in the black dress that she wore. We got talking at the reception and exchanged numbers in order to keep in touch and hang out. Me being still iffy, wondering if Steve would kill me for hanging out with his cousin, had second thoughts about calling her. She would later call this my "Hot and Cold Game". She would say I would flirt with her really bad and then have nothing to do with her.....I dont know what she is talking about.

It was then a couple weeks after that when Steve had called me from Thatcher McGee's, a local Irish Pub, a stone throw away from Laura's house. I wasnt going to do anything that night, but just stay home and relax, but Steve was persistant and told me to come down.....so, I did. Getting there for happy hour was a good idea. Had a couple beers, had some appetizers....all on the Enterprise Rent-A-Car dime, and had a good time hanging out with Steve, Di and some of Steve's co-workers.

After being there for a little while, I am getting a little bored of being the 3rd wheel, as I always was, and I started looking around at the crowd. Then, down at the other end of the bar I see this familiar freckled face with a big smile. Laura Finley! I hit Steve and tell him she is there and I head down to surprise her. One hug turns into stories of high school, which turns into pictures, which turns into Laura telling me about the crush she had on me back in the day, which all turned into the amazing relationship we have now.

Ever since that night we have seen each other almost every day and we are constantly learning more about each other and loving every minute of it. She really is an amazing girl and I can't get enough of her. Who would have thought 10 years ago that we would have ended up here, together.

She really has started a new chapter in the book of my life and I have the feeling its going to be a long happy one.