So yeah, still not doing much here

Wow, 55 posts last year and I'm only at 7 (including this non-post) this year.

I guess this just hasn't been something I think about very much anymore or maybe I haven't really felt the urge to share any of the boring things that I've been up to lately.

It could also be because I haven't done a damn thing to my house and that was one of the main reasons I wanted to start this.

Oh well, I guess I'll think about writing something substantial here this week. Maybe talk about the awesome trip to Pittsburgh this weekend to watch the Ravens beat the Steelers or the second job I'm starting this week at a wine bar or the weddings I have this month and next or the upcoming trip to Puerto Rico or maybe ... just maybe, I'll write about how awesome my dog Chloe is. She's pretty f'ing awesome.

Blogging Fail!

So that whole thing about me blogging more often is probably starting to get a little tiresome by now. My last post was in May and a lot of fun stuff has happened since then.

Unfortunately, my knee has been bothersome since May so the whole working out thing has been more of a crawl than a sprint. I am hovering around 253 so I guess 20 lbs. in 2 months without a lot of effort is decent progress. I have over 3 months to go and since I'm no longer playing volleyball 5 nights a week, my knee has been feeling a lot better.

As for what's been keeping me busy, I've been having cookouts or going to cookouts a lot more often this summer than in the past. I really enjoy having an impromptu get together and picking up some kind of meat and just grilling it with a small group of people. Without as much volleyball, my evenings have been free, but somehow I still haven't been able to do much work on the house. I think the 90-100 degree heat might be contributing, or maybe I'm just too content right now, but I'd really like to progress a little faster on that front.

I have a bunch of fun stuff coming up in the next few weeks that I'm excited about. I'm picking up my Ravens season tickets today which makes me happiest of all. I'm going to the Shinedown concert next week that I've been looking forward to for a couple months. 98 Rock is doing the bacon and beer for Ravens training camp next Friday and I'm pretty sure I'm going to that with a bunch of guys from my old job. The Man City - Inter Milan soccer friendly at Ravens stadium is the next day and there will be 12 of us at that. Can't wait to tailgate.

That's all for now, let's see when I post next.

The Walking Dead

As an IT professional that doesn't really do much IT other than work on a computer, I read a lot of blogs throughout the day. One of those being a science fiction/science current event/anything sciencey or nerd related blog called io9. It was here that I was first introduced to The Walking Dead.

AMC, creator of Mad Men and Breaking Bad, was rumored to be considering TWD as a new television series. Normally this information would just be something I would digest and move on, but the thought of a ongoing series about zombies peaked my interest. After some google-based research, I found that it was definitely happening and was based of the graphic novel series from creator and author Robert Kirkman. A little synopsis from the AMC website about the show:

"AMC has greenlit The Walking Dead as a six-episode series based on the comic book written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. The Walking Dead tells the story of life following a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, traveling in search of a safe and secure home. Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Teachers, Strike Back) will portray the lead role of Rick Grimes while actor Jon Bernthal (The Pacific, The Ghost Writer) will portray the character Shane, who worked with Rick in the police department before the zombie disaster. Other cast includes Laurie Holden (The Shield), who plays Andrea, one of two sisters who join the survivors of the zombie plague, Steven Yeun as Glenn, an expert scavenger and Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break), who plays Rick's wife Lori."

Really, until I started writing this post I had no idea how soon the show would be out because once I got a hold of that first volume, I was hooked and stopped caring about the TV version.

I've always been interested in reading the source material of TV shows and movies adapted from comics and graphic novels, but never really got around to actually going to the comic book store and picking them up. When I finally did, I picked up several I had been interested in, including the first Walking Dead volume (the others were Batman: Year One and the first volume of Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-men).

When I first opened the book, I was disappointed to find it was in black and white. I guess I'm glad I didn't figure that out at the store, because I probably would have passed on it. After getting 5 or 10 pages in, I couldn't stop reading. The opening reminded me of the beginning of 28 Days Later and kind of continued along the same route of trying to piece together what happened and finding a safe place (along with your loved ones). I'm not going to go into the story now, I'll save that for when I've read more of the series (currently on Volume 7) and have gone back to re-read the beginning. I will say that I completely forgot about the black and white aspect until I picked up another one of Kirkman's books (Invincible, more on that in a later post) and the colors kinda punched me in the face.



This is a great story so far with a lot of ups and downs that keep you interested in the characters and what happens to them. Each volume takes somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how much you analyze the panels so two were perfect for my trip up NYC on the Megabus. I've also be giving the to my not quite 60 year old mom after I'm done and even she loves them. Of course, it should be noted that my mom is more awesome than yours and her love of zombie apocalypse graphic novels only proves that.

That's all for now, I have volumes 8-11 sitting at home and need to read them ASAP.

Trying this again and my plan

So it's been a long, long time since I've been on here, but I figured while I have it as an outlet, I may as well use it. I just checked and I haven't posted anything since the Snowpocalypse way back in January, wow.

I guess I should provide a little update:
I still have a job (which I like but need to work harder at)
I still have a dog (she's still awesome, but has been shedding her winter coat lately)
I still have a house (that needs a lot of work)

I think that about catches anyone that's interested up.

Now for where I am right now. I've started trying to work on myself since I realized I want to start looking for a serious commitment (not like right now though) and I'm not happy with myself so I don't see how I would be able to make someone else happy.

The first thing that I'm working on is my health. This is going to be super difficult since I have always been a failure at committing to things. I've never been unhealthy as far as any of the medical tests go other than my weight, but I've also haven't been able to run a mile continuously since grade school and have had so many of my joints injured from football, basketball and volleyball that I'm in some form of pain just about every day. I play volleyball 3 or 4 times a week now, football 2 times depending on the season and just signed up for softball this week. None of these activities seem to help me get in better physical shape so I've also started going to the gym (today was day 3 in a row so I haven't gotten over that hump yet).

As for eating, my plan is to diet for 8 weeks and transition into a sustainable lifestyle change (don't look for the wing night every night and cook more of my own food). I also started this 3 days ago and so far other than being a little tired (probably more to do with lack of sleep), I feel fine. I've been having 2 slimfast type shakes, a cliff bar after I work out and a reasonable dinner each day and haven't found myself feeling hungry yet. That may also have something to do with the gallon or more of water I've been consuming each day.

I'm using FitDay and iFitness (on my iPhone) to track everything. FitDay is great cause it makes pretty graphs and helps me count calories (goal is to stay under 1500 a day for those first 8 weeks than move up to 2000ish). iFitness is great cause it shows me (literally, it has videos of proper form) all the different exercises I can do and helps me plan out each day. I'm mostly doing cardio and various ab workouts, but also throwing some high rep weights in there too.

My weight on Monday, May 17 was 273; my goal is to be 220ish around November 6th since that's my sister's wedding and I'm going to Puerto Rico the week after with a bunch of friends from work.

Since I'm updating so many other things daily, I don't see why I can't fit this in too. I want to have at least 10 posts a month. Sorry, but there will be a bunch of Chloe related posts since she's an awesome dog and I'll try and write about my new time/money waster; graphic novels.

Until next time.

This 1 post a month thing has got to stop

I've been terrible with posting over the past few months but hopefully that will change. I've been doing a lot of planning for my house and been working extra hours so I can take off an extended amount of time and get a lot done in one shot. Some random stuff from the last month.

The holidays were a lot of fun and it was nice to spend time with the whole family.

We had our first big snowfall of the year; getting about 20ish inches. Chloe had a lot of fun but decided to run away when she got wind of a deer. Of course since she couldn't catch the deer, she decided the next best thing would be to find a group of dogs playing while their owners were shoveling. While posting my "lost dog" craigslist ad after searching for about an hour, I got a call from one of the people who's dog she was playing with. Only about 5 minutes away from where I turned back during my search, I was thankful she was found and went back out to get her.



The house directly behind me is being gutted and a sign on the front indicates they'll be building up, adding a third level and a rooftop deck. While cleaning their back yard, they tore down the cement wall between our property. I'm pretty sure this was mostly on my property and now there is nothing preventing people from breaking into the back of my house. I think I am going to research if I can take them to small claims for the cost of the wall, and they also broke some of my concrete yard. I'll post pictures when I take them tonight.

Lastly, I'm having trouble finding a vendor for metal stringers. Right now the company I'm planning on going with is in Canada and freight would be several hundred dollars. I may contact a contractor, but I'm planning on installing them myself and don't know how that would go over just to get the info from them.

I got nominated for something

This blog and it's current pace of 2-3 posts a month were nominated for a Mobbie (Maryland's Outstanding Blogs). The Baltimore Sun sponsors them and the winners are determined by reader votes. I am currently 15th in the 'Personal' category ... out of 15. But right now there is a little arrow pointing up, which I can only assume means I am getting more votes than I was. At the same time, I also assume that 1 is more than 0 :-)

I found out about my nomination from my friend Corey's blog (well, it's Corey and Leigh's blog now) Baltimore Rowhouse; which is also nominated in the 'Neighborhood' category. You should vote for them.

Lastly, this is my 150th post. My 151st post will be about the U2 concert from Tuesday night.

And yes UL, I know I still need to e-mail you about my new job.

Wow, two months

It's been a little over two months since my last post and I am completely OK with that. Work on my house has stalled (for the most part) over the summer and I have been busy with other things. I changed jobs and am now in a comfortable position that I can see myself in for the majority of my career. I went to the beach for the first time in several years for a relaxing week of reading and finally got to play some tennis. I also got this, which I am excited to use for drilling into brick and the 100 year old wood that is as hard as brick:



That's all for now, more to come.

I've been interviewed

After commenting on Baltimore Rowhouse's interview a while back, Danny from Urban Discoveries Living Blog asked if I would be interested in being interviewed. I jumped at the chance and even though it took me several weeks to get my answers to him, I am really happy with the results.

Head on over there and check it out. They also have lots of useful information and constant updates on what's going on in Baltimore.

Today is Catch-up Day

Expect several posts from the past week over the next several hours.

The List that isn't finished

Let's see … what order am I going to do the rest of the work on my house?

Here is my master list (in progress) … some of the stuff may seem out of order and may get re-arranged down the road, but this is how I envision it going right now:

1. Run electric to living room of house (4 outlets and 1 light switch)
2. Seal/fill the gaps and cracks in the chimney
3. Frame out the area around the chimney
4. Finish all the demolition in the open areas (not kitchen)
- a. Expose the remaining brick in the stairwell
- b. Expose the brick on the wall joining the kitchen and living room
- c. Expose the brick under the stairwell
- d. Remove the wall under the stairwell to the basement stairwell
- e. Tear up flooring
5. Have HVAC duct work installed
6. Frame out remainder of the alley wall
7. Level the ceiling in between the living room and dining room
8. Hang the living room ceiling
9. Drywall the living room around the chimney
10. Run electric to the dining room (# outlets TBD, 1 ceiling fan/light)

That’s really all I have right now. I guess I can't really call it a master list since I don't have everything planned and I am pretty much doing what I can until more money starts growing on the trees I planted out back.

My big thing is that I want to have all the demolition listed above finished by mid April so I can have it cleaned up and removed before Vanessa comes to visit at the end of the month. I also want to have the living room in a relatively finished state even if it's not being done in the typical order so I have something to look at and motivate me to do the rest.

This whole experience is a, learn as you go, do what you can, when you can type thing and I really wouldn't have it any other way … it just wouldn't be my style. Of course, if someone wanted to buy me a complete house, I wouldn't turn it down.

I'll be back more often, I promise

Yeah, so I haven't been posting much again, I think it's cause I have been busy at work and don't have my laptop set-up at home anymore. Random fun facts, in bullet form below:

• Got a lot of work done on the house in preparation for framing out the first wall this coming weekend (pictures will be provided)
• Went to a wedding Saturday, had a lot of fun and danced with an 83 year-old grandma that was probably around 4'10"
• Lost football again Sunday and realized no one believes I can throw the ball as far as I can cause they slow down and I overthrow them ... keep running
• Reached 100 at Mahaffey's and am now a part of the ultra-exclusive hundred beer club
• Only had 1 beer on St. Patrick's day (to reach 100) ... but that's 1 beer more than I had last year when I was in CT working overnight supporting an implementation in Singapore
• Playing indoor soccer tonight and volleyball tomorrow
• Working on my house Friday night through Saturday night ... as long as I can
• Considering going out and practicing with a Rugby team ... need to see if I can get an after-work job first though

That's all I got for now.

It's a Pirate's life for me

Saw this on the way home from work yesterday:



Make sure you look close at the model of the car.

Getting while the getting's good?

So ... by "getting back to work," I definately meant drinking and playing poker then passing out after doing nothing more than pull the light housings out of their box.

On the bright side, I have some extra money to buy the wiring.

Tonight is the first game for my "social" volleyball league. What is the definition of a social league you ask. Well, I am leaving work early today (got in early) so that I can go to Mahaffey's and enjoy wings and several rounds of beer before going to said volleyball match then going to a sponsor bar with all of the other players and teams to drink more and watch the Maryland - Duke game (that I had tickets to but am not going). This would not fly in the Sunday league I play in, but these games are for fun and the competition isn't really on the same level as the Sunday league.

Speaking of the Maryland - Duke game ... go Terps! I went to the UMD - UNC game on Saturday and it was probably one of the top 5 games I've been to (I have been to a lot of amazing Terps games ... and a lot of really bad ones). I love the hustle and I love the gold/yellow uniforms, I think they are undefeated wearing them. Since I can't post without a picture, here you go:

Biggest Loser update thing maybe

So, remember when I said I was doing that biggest loser competition at my gym ... well, there are less than 2 weeks left and I haven't seen the inside of a gym since the day before I went to New York (coming up on a month ago now). I have been maintaining the weight I lost in over the last four weeks, but I don't know how since I have been doing everything people that are not in a weight loss competition do. This includes fun stuff like going to Wednesday wing night at Mahaffey's for the past 4 weeks, going out most nights of the week (gotta celebrate my friend buying a house in Canton ... right?), satisfying my chinese, chipotle, pizza, beer, nacho ... well, let's just say whatever craving I'm having gets satisfied.

The real question is ... do I even still have a chance at winning, or at least coming in the top three to get a prize? I figure I need to get to at least 10% weight lost to be in the running. After weighing in at 278, that means I would need to get to 250 pounds by next Sunday. I'm around 264 right now, so it's possible, but unlikely ... I also have to consider the fact that I don't really deserve to win, everyone else in the competition has been working out and doing all the right things and I have just been sitting around doing what I want.

We'll see how this turns out ... but I think I am going to try and at least do something healthy over the next week ... maybe.

Adventures in Carpooling

Since I have been really busy doing nothing super important or nothing I really want to write about in here ... I figured I would mention that I started my second attempt at carpooling today.

One of my friends/co-workers just bought (settled on) a house a week or so ago three short blocks from me. I figured he and I could carpool to work to save some money. The last time I tried carpooling was with a co-worker that puts in lots of extra time and it just didn't work out ... especially on the days I wanted to leave early (or on-time). This time should work better though; my friend and I have fairly similar schedules and if he does end up staying late to work, I can just go to the gym (something I didn't consider during the first carpooling attempts).

The only problem is he listens to Howard Stern on Sirius Radio and it sucks ... I mean is really terrible and annoying ... that and he smells ... really bad, like pasta. Oh, and his driving is horrible and his car is ugly. Or maybe I just know he'll read this.

On another note, while helping him move in it was determined his box spring couldn't go up the stairs (he has a crappy wrap-around spiral type staircase) so we decided to put it through the second story window. Since I can't post more than a couple times without a picture ... I'll throw one up here.

Feeling Neglected?

I find myself starting another post saying that it has been a while since my last post even though it hasn't really been that long. I don't really have much to say here right now except that id you haven't seen Gran Torino ... you really should go see it. It was really great and I look forward to seeing it again.

Oh, and I have to say I love Dorito's marketing firm ... last year's mouse trap commercial was great and this year they had the crystal ball that was pretty good.

Anyone watching Chuck in 3-D tonight? I don't know how I feel about it because wearing those glasses makes watching something in HD look pretty bad.

Once it warms up a bit I will get back to work on the house ... anyone know where I can sell all the metal from my radiators? Tearing that system out will be one of the first things I do so I can frame out the walls on the first floor.

Icy Roads = me not driving

I usually like driving in snowy and icy conditions because it can be fun when you know what you are doing. I don't like driving in these conditions when they happen to take place during rush hour or the street you are staying on hasn't been plowed yet and is basically an uphill sheet of ice. Add in the fact that my car has a turbo that produces a lot of low-end torque that causes it to spin out a lot. I am completely content working from home and having Lost on in the background. This is 9:00 AM today:





Thank god I work for a company that allows me to work from home.

In NYC

I have been neglecting the hell out of this blog and probably will be posting sparingly over the next few weeks until I actually accomplish something noteworthy to write about.  

I figured being in New York was worth writing about ... especially since I have been having a lot of fun and relaxing.  I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday and would love to do that on a regular basis if I lived up here.  It was right around sunset when we (my friend Vanessa from college and I) were crossing and the skyline behind the Statue of Liberty was gorgeous.  I'll post some pictures tomorrow or Monday when I have the ability to upload them.  

Tonight I am going to a vegan restaurant to celebrate the birthday of one of Vanessa's friends.  Should be an interesting time trying to figure out what I am eating since I don't know what half the stuff on the menu is other than that it doesn't include anything from an animal.  There is ice cream on the desert menu and I am kinda curious to try it since it doesn't include any milk.  We'll see how this goes.

Friday Update

I had my first indoor soccer game Wednesday night and realized that I have absolutely 0 ability to recover after sprinting. After the game I felt like I was going to die ... that was either from the game or from still being somewhat sick. We won the game after several controversial calls and I am looking forward to getting to a point I can play for longer periods of time because I don't think I am that bad.

Yesterday was a fun day because I felt like the bronchitis was coming back when I woke up and ended up not going to work. Throughout the day I started to feel better and figured it must have been from the cold or some kind of bronchitis after-shock ... like an earthquake. I went to the gym early to do some cardio before my personal training session. The session started with me weighing in ... 268.6 lbs. I think something must be wrong with the scale cause that would mean just about 10 pounds and I feel like I haven't been doing much. My "diet" has gone to shit and I am eating things I said I wouldn't, I am not going to the gym when I have planned because I am too tired and I still haven't gone to one of the spinning classes I really want to do. We'll see how this all turns out in the end.

After the gym I signed my team up for BSSC Volleyball. That should be fun and a lot more relaxing than our VBall House leagues.

This weekend is going to be rough. Tonight it Jenny's birthday party ... with a keg (hopefully its calorie-free beer). Tomorrow morning/afternoon is a group workout then the Aquarium and I'm sure lunch out. Tomorrow night is a party of some sort that I can't really define until after tomorrow night, but there will be lots of food and drinks and I am obligated to have a good time. Then comes the football games on Sunday ... I don't know how those will turn out. On the plus side, expect lots of pictures from this weekend.

Something tells me the first two digits of my next weigh-in will be a 2 and a 7.

WTF BGE

I got my BGE bill yesterday and it's $216. My average bill over the summer was around $65 and my bill last month was $144. My highest bill before December was around $90 (since last March when I bought the place). How the F did my bill get that high. I keep my house below 55 degrees and have the supposedly more efficient radiator heat. The electric portion of my bill actually went down from last month ... the gas usage per day went up 50%. How is this possible, the average daily temp only went down 5 degrees. My house is less than 850 square feet. I turned my heat and my hot water heater down from last month. I rarely even hear the boiler running. Really ... What-The-Fuck!!!

So, I am thinking I am just going to shut the boiler down and hope none of my pipes freeze. I don't mind the cold and have nice blanket to wrap up in.