Keg and Pie's Blogalog

Jerky Zen

2010-01-11T14:28:00.003-06:00

Nothing beats reflecting on all the things I need to get done at work while chompin on some jerky. When someone walks up to my desk, I'm sure they can already smell the rich flavors the jerky provides and know that I most likely wont answer whatever request they might have until Im done chomping. What a zen like moment. They know that I wont answer in words, but they will understand what I mean, "Nom, nom, nom!!"

Well, break is over. Took me less time to chew on than I thought. I put up some more pics of the Gavinator and I am now fully caught up to Month 11. Still working on it when I have time.

Peace!

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T22:35:00.002-06:00

Looking forward to 2010! Hope everyone is safe tonight and try not to text while driving. They're gonna get you in IL. Uploaded some pics in Gavins albums, and almost got caught up. Pretty soon I'll start working on the all the video footage. Ingrid and I are going to start on our kick ass P90x program again. Watch out summer! That's it for now. Keep checking back.

Thanksgiving Week

2009-11-29T21:43:00.003-06:00

Crazy times. Ingrid and I had the week off starting Monday. It was awesome but we were killin it to get everything ready for turkey day. There were alot of logistics to worry about and seemed like everyone was sick or getting there.

Monday - Killed all of the shopping, haircut, and kicked ass in Week 1 of the dart playoffs.

Tuesday - Drove 4 hrs to Michigan and spent some time with the parents; stayed overnight

Wednesday - Drove 1.5 hrs to Swartz Creek and picked up Kyle, then drove 5 hrs back to Chicago

Thursday - Woke up early to make some pumpkin pies and later BBQd Turkey. Ingrid did all the sides. Everything turned out great and Gavin ate more than Kyle. He was stuffin the stuffing, mashing the mashed taters, and gobblin the gobbler.

Friday - All of us went to Ringling Brothers Circus and had a blast

Saturday - Drove 5 hrs to MI to drop off Kyle, 1.5 to the parents to drop off left overs, 4 hrs back to ChicagoSunday - NOTHING

Awesome week. Cant wait to hit it at work. Its probably gonna take a few days to get up to speed.

Busy..

2009-11-23T17:36:00.003-06:00

It's been so busy I almost forgot we even had this website. What a year its been so far. Babies, weddings, drama (well, there's always that), birthday parties, baptisms, and on and on.

So I'm gonna try my damndest to get back on this thing and stay current. Upload pics, write colorful commentary on life and random things, I may even be inspired enough to upload a video from time to time.

For now...a quick note on the status of things in the Kanady household. Gavin - Awesome Ingrid - Awesome Shawn - Awesome. Job - Awesome. 1st week of dart playoffs tonight, should be awesome.

Thats it for now. I'll prattle on later.

Been awhile....

2009-06-07T21:31:00.002-05:00

To all those that read my mindless postings on here, I truly apologize for not updating in sooooo long. Its been a whirlwind with Gavin, my job, weddings, dog sitting, Cubs, Fantasy Baseball and Facebook.

Lets start with Gavin. He's 7 mths now, he eats a variety of cereals from Oatmeal, Barley, and Rice. We like to switch it up to avoid the constipation. He eats sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, green beans, peas, applesauce, bananas, and in case of emergency....prunes. We seriously have to do a better job at keeping our photos up to date on the site. He's got 2 teeth coming in on the bottom and he doesn't seem to be too upset about it. He loves to talk and gargle, and razz. He says dadadadadada, babababbububububub, and mamamamamammamuumumummuumum. Not quite crawling but hes close....hes on all fours and rocking and lunging, plenty of faceplants.

My job is awesome....busy busy busy......and a very nice performance review last week. Cool stuff happening and my boss is steering me in the direction of Information Security. Thats cool.

Our friends Dom and Jaime just got married. Very awesome wedding, lots of surprises including a stint at Arlington Track (just the groomsmen). I won $400 and that was pretty sweet. We are watching their boxer Layla and Rocco couldnt be happier.

On that note, we had an incident with a squirrrel getting in the house and the dogs pounced on it to near death. Blood was everywhere and it was a sight to see. They got plenty of treats for keeping the baby safe from the pesky squirrel, and the squirrel was taken to an animal hospital to be euthanized.

Cubs are pissing me off, but I'm hanging with them. Would love to get out to a game this year but I doubt that will happen. Fantasy Baseball is ok....John thinks I made a bad move by trading Hawpe for Wandy, but I think not. I need pitchers, I have plenty of hitters and Hawpe isnt going to do much coming off a groin injury. Wandy will stop telegraphing and get me Ks and Ws.

Facebook is annoying, but I do like seeing old pics and playing Mafia Wars.

I think I covered everything. I'll try and do a better job of updating this more often.

Food Coma

2009-04-15T22:04:00.002-05:00

Look a like contest

2009-03-19T21:01:00.006-05:00

I think Gavin looks like me. You be the judge.

Pic Uploads....

2009-03-08T18:07:00.003-05:00

Uploaded a bunch of pics from various Vacations & Trips we've been on.

Washington DC 2008

Playa Del Carmen - Honeymoon 2007

Gatlinburg, TN 2006

Costa Rica 2005

Mediterranean Cruise 2005

Vegas 2005

Yikes...

2009-03-07T20:28:00.002-06:00

Wow, I havent written here in a long time. The good news is that I've been too busy to write here. I recently got a new job, and I'm a 3-week veteran at this point. I really like it so far and the people I work with are pretty cool. Its been keeping me busy and I'm finally working in one place, rather than running all over Illinois. Good times.

Gavin is getting bigger. He has a doctors appt next week, so I will be able to give an official length/weight then. We are way behind on uploading pics but we will get to it eventually. Gavin has been talking alot lately and he his always smiling. He loves being around the other kids at daycare from what we hear and he is a big flirt. Gavin loves bringing home germs from daycare and getting me sick. Lovely! He did have a little rash on his head and cheek, and it got pretty bad, so we had to take him to the doctor, just in case, and to make sure it wasn't anything contagious. It wasn't, and the doctor thought he might have an allergy to the formula milk, so he had us switch to soy and put a cream on his head. So far so good. Its gone away, but its hard to say if it was the milk, the cream or both.

Ingrid is doing well. She's at drill as I'm writing this. Gavin and I both miss her, but she's doing her thing. She comes home tomorrow and right back into the regular work week. I dont know how she does it.

Darts on Monday. Were in first place right now. Woohoo! That's all I got. More later, as long as I can get myself off of Facebook from time to time.

Discovery

2009-01-02T18:07:00.000-06:00

Updates, updates

2008-12-09T15:39:00.004-06:00

Well, I'm a little late in posting. I wanted to get something out there on the 5th when Gavin turned 1mth but I blew it. Oh well, you learn that things don't always go as planned when you're a new parent. So with that here's our 1 mth pic:

Gavin had his 1 mth visit to the doc's office and everything is looking good. He's 7lbs 9oz and he grew 3/4 of an inch. Gavin is full of smiles, cries, explosive poops, and curiousity. He's starting to develop an interest in everything around him and he coo's at random things. Mama let me feed him some breastmilk from a bottle last night and that was pretty awesome. He just stares at you while he eats and its a real nice feeling. I uploaded some more photos, so please take a look. We finally filled a tape so whenever I get a chance I will do some video editing.

In other news, mama is feeling good albeit a little sleep deprived. I passed a Microsoft exam recently and I'm starting on another one.

More later!

Country Holiday

2008-11-27T21:41:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Yea Baby

2008-11-27T21:32:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Things that make you go hmmmm....

2008-11-15T23:33:00.003-06:00

Gavin is nearing on double digits in days old. 10 days old in 20 min. Wow! I guess that's a milestone, it seems such a small thing, but its a start to so many more. Gavin is sleeping better these days, and by better I mean longer, which is nice for mommy and daddy. His poops seem to be on a more normal schedule. Mommy got nailed in the face with the super soaker so now she is using the peepee teepees. Its amazing how much gastro intestinal noise comes from this small bundle. At times he seems louder than me, and that can't be good.

Anyway, I uploaded some more pics. Have a look!

Life at home..

2008-11-09T16:28:00.005-06:00

Well it was nice to finally break out of the hospital and go home with Gavin. I was a little nervous about Rocco and how he was going to be and Ingrid pretty much worried about everything else, but all in all we were happy to get the hell out of there.

Rocco was definately very curious about what was going on. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the baby at first. He constantly wanted to smell him and lick him. We were OK with the smelling but the licking was a NO-NO. That was interesting to him for awhile, and then the baby moved and Rocco became increasingly curious at this now moving bundle. It was all over once Gavin started crying. Rocco had no idea what to do with himself. I think he's starting to get used to the idea but it's going to take some time.

Everything else is pretty good. Ingrid is feeling better and now its just about getting adjusted to Gavin's needs. We'll get there. We had a doctors appt yesterday and Gavin is doing well and gaining his birth weight back. He was 7.4 when he was born, and 6.10 when we left the hospital. At the appt he was 6.12 so he's getting there.

I've uploaded some more pics, you can find, here!

Gavin Edward Kanady

2008-11-06T09:23:00.005-06:00

Born 11/05/08 at 2:42am. Gavin was 7lb 4oz and 21in long. His favorite food comes from Mommy and his first word was "WAAAAAAAAAAAA". Gavin is a little monkey boy, born with a full head of hair and filled with cuteness. His favorite thing to do is poop just after Daddy finishes cleaning him and just before the new diaper goes on. He also learned that its fun to fart while Daddy is holding his legs up and cleaning his butt.

Ill post more pics later.

Its hip to be square!

2008-09-20T16:25:00.002-05:00

I recently found out that my friend TJ is one of the biggest Huey Lewis and the News fans. I had no idea, and it's probably something he keeps from most people anyway. Tonight he's going to a Huey Lewis concert so I thought I would put up this video in honor of TJ and Huey Lewis.

After I found the Huey Lewis clip, I just had to put this one up as well. It reminds me of some people I know.

Fun times!

2008-09-14T17:41:00.002-05:00

Well I thought I would make some changes on the Blog layout. Nothing like watching NE v NYJ and doing bloggy things. I hate the fact that I cant see my live stats on Yahoo without the Stat Tracker. That's really annoying. Last week must have been the teaser week where they get me used to seeing the scores and then they turn the feature off and ask for money. I guess big corporations learned some things from the street drug industry. Oh well.

Anyway, not much to talk about. Been working tons of hours, Illinois is underwater apparently and Ingrid is 8mths. We are taking baby classes, dart league started and I'm not playing poker this year. Thats about the gist of things. I'll take an 8mth pic of Ingrid sometime tonight and post it up here. Right now I have to get outta here so we can go have dinner at this Greek joint we like in Oak Park, for our anniversary.

Peace!

RIP...Phil 'huntmaster" Moorehead

2008-09-07T15:16:00.004-05:00

I just recently learned that a friend I met through my Dad on our hunting trip was killed in a motorcycle accident. Phil was a really nice guy and we had some good conversations sitting in the blind together waiting on some action. It's unfortunate that I only had that one trip to get to know him. Phil was caring and genuine and he was definately following in his fathers footsteps in his generosity. He gave my Dad one of his kills just so my Dad didnt go home empty handed. That was top notch in my book.

For anyone who has seen my Field Dressing 101 video, that was Phil that was doing the Field Dressing and his dad who was instructing.

My sincere condolences and prayers go out to his family and friends. Phil will be missed.

Long time no blog.

2008-08-17T14:40:00.008-05:00

Been a little crazy around here lately and I haven't had the time to blog. So now that I have 5 minutes I figured I would fill it with some words. July was absolutely insane. Kyle was in, I was job hunting, Ingrid's belly was growing, TJ and KT were planning their wedding along with Heather and Tim. Nuts. I was best man in TJ's so I had to get a job, plan a bach party, write a speech, and 5 days later drive to St Louis for Heather and Tim's wedding. Definately stresssful.

So all in all everything went down pretty sweet. Kyle had a good time in the Chi and I took him to his first Cubs game vs the Marlins. The Cubs won but Kyle was a little disappointed that we didn't get any foul balls. Oh well.

About a week later Ingrid took him to the Cubs v Milwaukee game in Milwaukee with Aunt Carol and Uncle Don. I was a little jealous I couldn't go.

Kyle is definately becoming a diehard Cubs fan. So much so that his new ambition is to become a Cubs baseball player when he grows up. During his stay, we took Rocco up to the dog park and he swam for his very first time. After he did it once, that was all he wanted to do. We would throw out his ball or frisbee pretty far and he got it back every time.

So that's pretty much it for the month of July. TJ and KT's wedding was awesome. Fun times and as I write this they should be coming back from their honeymoon in Playa Del Carmen. Heather and Tim's wedding was pretty good too. It was hard for me to be in Card country especially during the Cubs - Cards series. Anyway, now that all the madness is over for awhile, Ingrid and I can finally focus on us and the baby, and preparing the nursery. Here's Ingrid's 7 month photo.

Thats that for now. Peace, I'm out!!!!

Just a quick update!

2008-07-21T11:26:00.003-05:00

Haven't blogged in awhile so I thought I would throw out an update. Baby is doing well, Ingie is doing well and I'm sure nobody cares what the hell I'm doing. Ha Ha! Last night we were watching Ingrids belly moving. We ate Strawberry Shortcakes and that really got that baby moving. At one point Ingrid screamed because the kick was so hard it took her by surprise. Anyway, that was lots of fun. Other than that, there's not too much going on. Ingrid is in her 2nd trimester and peeing quite often.

We've started doing stuff in the nursery. Hopefully it all comes out the way we expect it too. Kyle has been here since the beginning of the month and it's been alot of fun having him around. He's very happy about the baby being a boy. He didn't want to have to share toys with a girl. I can understand, girls have cooties.

In other news, we took Rocco to the dog park yesterday and he swam for the first time. That was awesome. The first time we took him he was very nervous about the water and he went in only once. The second time we took him he was thrilled about the water but he wouldn't go past where his feet weren't touching. Now he swims and I think its awesome.

Well thats all for now. Peace!

Its a...............BAAAABY!!!!!!

2008-06-30T18:58:00.003-05:00

Saturday, Ingrid and I went to get our second ultrasound. The baby is definately bigger and everything looks normal from what I can tell. We got three more pictures to to add to the collection. Nothing fantastic like the first ones. Apparently the little bugger was not cooperating with the ultrasound-tech but she was able to give us a 100% positive on gender. If you want to know what the baby is, then highlight the space to the right --> ITS A BOY!!!! <-- I'm guessing that the pic wasn't too obvious. It wasn't for me.

Anyway if you want to see the other pics, just go to the photoalbum and check em out.

Happy Birthday!!!

2008-06-20T19:57:00.002-05:00

Shawn you are so awesome. Happy Birthday from yours truly! Yar. Cubs win with a walk off homerun from Ramirez. Thanks for the birthday present. Go Cubs!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!!

2008-05-05T19:24:00.003-05:00

Ingrid, baby and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Cinco De Mayo!!! Be safe, and Have Fun!

More pictures are in the Gallery! Keep checking back for more later!!!

Go Cubs Gooooo!!!

2008-04-21T22:54:00.002-05:00

I'm really loving my Cubs right now. I know its early and anything can happen down the road but these guys are doing awesome right now. Everybody is really stepping up to the plate. Soriano being out, Derosa in the outfield, Theriot hitting everything, Lee kicking all forms of ass and Reed Johnson getting blasted by pitches. I love it!!! I seriously need to make it out to a game soon or I'm going to go crazy.

Tonights win over the Mets was a thrill to watch. Zambrano went 7 and held them to 1 run. We turned a 1 run lead into a 7-1 ball game. They were saying on ESPN that the Mets were the team to beat in the NL East. Cubs had no problems there. They kept talking up Wright, which he obviously deserves but Big Z had no problems keeping him in his place. Someone told me earlier this year that if the Cubs make it to the playoffs the Mets will be their stopper. I can't remember who said that but you know who you are. Mets suck and aren't going to the playoffs. Thats my prediction. Overhyped NYers want you to believe.

And now to the Cardinal fans......you're time is coming soon. Have fun in second, and third, and fourth.

Math

2008-04-15T17:55:00.001-05:00

11w + lime + 120bpm = Fun Times ahead!!

The solution to this problem will be converted to JPEG in 3 weeks!

Twilight Zone Shopping

2008-03-30T13:12:00.005-05:00

I needed to buy a new suit for a wedding that I'm going to next weekend so the first place I checked out was Mens Wearhouse near our place. Generally, I like what they have and I've bought from them before. I finally get fitted with a nice coat that I liked and fit nicely on me and so I proceeded to check out the pants. Oh my god! The pants were normal in the legs and then it was like wearing a helium balloon around my waist. Absolutely horrible. The tailor is there and she just shrugs her shoulders. I aborted!!!

On Saturday, Ingrid and I decide to go to Oakbrook Mall. I hate this mall. They just seem so uppity there. Maybe its me. The first thing we do is go to the Directory to find out where Macy's is. Within seconds, a 16-year old with a security uniform on a segway comes rolling up to us with a "Can I help you find something?" My mind went completely blank as Ingrid is telling him were looking for Macy's or some other place to find a suit. He tells us where the store is and I could not quit staring. It was the strangest thing to have happen to me. Security in the form of a 16-year old on a segway, giving directions because I've never used a Directory before.

As were walking around, I could not help but point out, everytime I saw him zipping around. We would walk out of a store and there he was at some other Directory helping the sheep to their pens. It was so odd. We just about make it to Macy's and some 3-yr old walked by us with his parents, belting out the tune to Star Wars. I thought that was awesome, but it really went well with the theme of my experience so far at this mall.

So finally were at Macy's. We're looking all over for the suits and wouldn't you know it. There's a DJ in Macy's. WTF?!?!?! How long has it been since I've been to a department store??? I can't get over this. My mind was racing, trying to think of when I went shopping last.

Security on segways, DJ's in Macy's, 3-yr olds singing the theme to Star Wars. Ingrid said it made her feel like a tourist and I totally agreed. Maybe I should just crawl back under the rock where I came from. The burbs are a scary place for me it seems.

Babies babies, babies!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-02T20:30:00.002-06:00

Well I feel the need to publicly congratulate John, Liz, Marty and Mo for their baby makin skills. All the babies are healthy and doing well and so are their mothers. What could be better?!?!? I'm an uncle and that makes me pretty damn proud. I can't wait to meet little Zachary in a couple of weeks.

We've got some up and comers as well. Ingrid's Guard buddy and bridesmaid Shelly is pregnant, and Doc Vaughn also from Guard just had a baby. Some people from Ingrid's work are also pregnant. It seems like baby making season. Crazy! Big congrats to those guys as well.

Well I guess I'm done blabbin for the moment. Peace!

There Will Be Blood!

2008-01-30T06:03:00.000-06:00

If you haven't seen this movie already, then you definately should hit up the theater and see it. This movie is an adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel, "Oil!". This movie is almost three hours long and all of it is dirty and gritty.

I have to admit that when I went to go see this movie, I had no idea what the premise was really. I knew that Daniel Day Lewis was in it and that was enough for me. He delivers a masterpiece again in this film. I love how there are some movies that you just have to talk about afterwards. This is definately one of those where you need to have a moment and discuss. There are a lot of dark moments and some serious WTF's going on in this flick. I would like to write more on the subject, but just so I dont ruin it for others, I'll leave it at that.

So, I'm left wanting to pick up an Upton Sinclair book now. I've been reading alot lately, but what I've been reading doesn't exactly qualify as "American Literature". Apparently there is another book by Sinclair called "The Jungle", which is based in Chicago. I might check it out.

"I'm done now!"

2008 - Time for Change

2008-01-27T11:45:00.000-06:00

Well everything starts with the good ole lightbulb in the head. About a month ago, I put together a resume. I thought it would be good for me to get back into the IT world. I was starting to get really unhappy working out of the house. I feel the need for stable income, co-workers to talk to and to be rid of my cabin fever. So, long story short, I had an interview on the 18th.

The whole thing has me nervous because I have not been in an IT role in almost five years. I'm as rusty as ever. The interview was with SkyView Technology. The office seemed small and really laid back. They even had a dog chillin in there, so I thought that was pretty cool. This is a consulting firm, so most of the business happens elsewhere. Anyway, I interviewed with the owner of the company and he also comes from a financial background. He happened to be Series 6 and 63 licensed and he was with Prudential. So he totally understood where I was coming from and he told me to pick up a Windows 2003 Server book with an eval copy of the software in it and to do some labs. Once I felt comfortable, I was to call him the next week. Tuesday rolled around and he called me, unfortunately I missed it. We didn't connect until Thursday and he told me that to begin he would pair me up with another Network Engineer and I would work with him on a part-time basis until my feet got wet enough to jump in on a more full-time basis. This couldn't be more perfect for me. This was all that I needed, just my foot in the door. I'm to call him on Monday so we can figure this all out. Give me 6 months time, my certs will be back up to speed, my insurance business will be sold and I will be doing something I like doing and earning respectable pay.

I will still be keeping my insurance licenses active, and I will be holding on to some of my more personal clients. If anyone has insurance or annuity needs, I will still be available for that. So that is my big change for the moment. I feel like I'm starting all over, but I like this direction, and as Martin told me, its more me.

Ingrid is also planning on some changes. She's currently looking at getting her Masters degree. There is a 22 month program shes looking into that she can do, and still work full-time. Her hospital also sponsors it, so she will be getting some sort of tuition kickback through all of this. In the end, I can quit my job and she can bring home the bacon. She's still working on getting all the details before jumping into this, but it looks like its going to happen.

Thats all for now!!!

Travel IQ Challenge

2008-01-08T13:20:00.001-06:00

Take the Challenge at the bottom of this page. I dare ya! I only made it to Lvl 3 on the first try.

Final Score: 59,264
Final Level: 3
Traveler IQ: 80

I suck!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....

2007-12-05T06:42:00.000-06:00

Well last night marks the first BIG snow of the year. It snowed on Dec 1st but it wasn't anything remarkable. Last night we got about 5-6" and I had to break out the shovel for the first time. I know most people hate shoveling snow but for some odd reason, I find it relaxing. There's nothing like going out and hearing that eerie quiet, just you, the shovel, and the snow.

Anyhow, Rocco loves this time of year. I was wondering how he would to take to the snow this time around but he absolutely loves it. He is hillarious to watch, sliding and scooping it up with his nose. The snow seems to make him absolutely crazy.

Hmmmm.....what else is there to mention. Christmas party, and I'm going to BBQ another Turkey. Yummm. That should be fun. Ingrid and I were just at Martin and Maureen's housewarming party and that was a blast. Martin had me hard at work soon as I walked in the door, manning the ice and beer but I didn't mind, it kept me on the inside track as to where all the liquor is. Watch out Martin, I know where you keep things now!!!! Their home is beautiful and they've definately got room to grow their family. Congrats to them!

This weekend is Ingrid's Drill Christmas Party. Should be fun, it usually is a riot. I cant disclose what happens there or its the firing squad for me. Were taking Rocco over to Dominic's house to stay with them over the weekend. Rocco will love seeing Layla (Dom's boxer). I cant wait to see the look of relief on Dom's face when I come to pick up Rocco. We had Layla for a week at our house and those two just dont stop playing, they're crazy together. Nonstop energy. I should probably mention that Layla is only 2 months younger than Rocco.

Anyway, I know I wrote this and I jumped all over the place but I started writing this at 6 something after shoveling and sending Ingrid off to work so my brain is still thawing and I'm still trying to wake up.

Peace!

Halloween Pics are up

2007-11-05T13:20:00.000-06:00

Go check em out! I made some changes to the website as well. The photo gallery is completely different. Its easier for us to put pictures up and it allows the ability for people to leave comments on the pictures as well. Check it out!!

Halloween 2007

2007-11-01T17:19:00.001-05:00

This year the party to be at was TJ & KT's place. Shawn and I were Hooters Girls representing the Melrose Park branch. I am the blonde. We stopped in at Hooters to bring some wings to the party. Shawn won best costume. I will get the party pics in the photo gallery soon.

For trick or treating, we handed out candy. I tried to get the candy to kid ratio right, but we always seem to run out. This year we bought about $50 in candy and just for S&G, we counted all the people we gave candy to. The door bell started ringing at 4PM. We ran out of candy just a little after 6PM. Our final count was 426! They were coming in droves! What is the deal with parents asking for candy? What is up with that! Almost half of the kids had parents with them who would be sticking out a bag for some candy. I don't think it would bother me as much if the number of trick or treaters was so large! Shawn and I are thinking of some random thing we can give the parents in lieu of candy. A trick perhaps!

Happy Halloween!

Wolfman's Archery School

2007-10-24T18:18:00.000-05:00

This is my Dad after an archery lesson from his neighbor, Wolfman. He has a huge hematoma on his forearm! At first I did not even notice it because in pretty much all of my pictures of him, he is waving hello. I think the Cook County jail hat is a nice touch too. So this is what empty nesters do with their spare time?

Wedding Pics

2007-10-23T14:54:00.000-05:00

The wedding pics are available online now until January '08. All of the details are on the boards. Check em out. We're really happy with them, and we cant wait to get our proof book. I think between Ingrid and I, we've looked at these pics about 5 times now. I'm pretty sure that Ingrid looks at them at least once a day.

Thats all I got for now....Happy Hump Day tomorrow!

Honeymoon PIcs

2007-10-18T20:04:00.000-05:00

We updated our website with pics from our honeymoon. Go check em out. If you have any wedding pics, we would love to see em. Also, click on the Boards tab on the website and join up. Its more interactive and easier to announce things than to write up a blog about it each time.

Sooo...yea! Peace!

Comcastic........NOT!!!!!

2007-10-12T16:25:00.000-05:00

I just thought I would post about how Comcastic I feel today. Dont you love those commercials that show how fast Comcast is. I have to admit that I love my high-speed internet. Love it! I would never trade cable for DSL but I would love to give Comcast the boot. They're fast when you're running but when you need service, they're slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

Today around noon there were some service trucks in the alley working on the lines. Rocco was going crazy which is how I knew about them. Shortly after, both internet and cable TV were down. Obviously this is something they did, so I figured I would give it some time while they're working for things to come back online. Sometimes having patience does not help. About an hour later I call Comcast, and tell them what happened and they tell me that they cant send a guy out until Monday. What the hell is with that? Whatever!

Later I found those service trucks further down the alley and I note that they are ATT guys. I told them that whatever they did, knocked me off. One of the foreman comes with me to my lines and sees the problem but tells me that they cant fix it because they dont have the proper tools, being that they are phone guys. Figures! Apparently all it is, is that they disconnected the cable wire from the connector. I call Comcast back up and tell them what the deal is and they still cant get a guy out until Monday. This is a 30 sec fix for these guys and I have to wait until Monday.

Im definately not feeling Comcastic.

BTW....If you have any pics from the wedding, please share, we would love to see.

Back From The Honeymoon

2007-10-04T13:21:00.000-05:00

Well Shawn and I are back from Mexico! The honeymoon was fabulous and a much needed break. We saw a lot of cool things and met some cool people. Hopefully Shawn can help me get the photos up on our web page soon. He is passed out on the couch today, not feeling well. I hope he gets better soon. The cubs need him!

That's another thing, we leave for 2 weeks and Chicago goes to hell in a handbasket. The Bears are sucking and the Cubs are the NLDCs! They lost last night, but who knows tonight will hopefully be better.

Other good news: my brother John and his wife, Liz announced they are having a baby! The due date is Feb. 23rd and so far it's a boy! John is pretty psyched. We are so happy for them! They have the US photo on their blog, John's place.

Marty and Mo sound like they are doing well. Their due date is March 1st. So close to that elusive leap year date.

Also, thank you everyone who had a hand in helping Shawn and me get hitched. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful wedding! I am so excited to see everyone and hear all the behind the scenes stories from the big day. No wedding photos yet, but I will send an e-mail with the link once we get them.

Later!

Oof!

2007-08-17T15:10:00.001-05:00

Well time is going by quicker and quicker. The weeks seem shorter and the Wedding is getting closer and closer. I guess I'll start with the Shower.

It's definately a strange feeling being in a room with a bunch of gaggling women. I felt like I was getting a glimpse into a world that I should never see. The fact that I'm still alive and writing this is a miracle in itself. The Shower was at Mama Luigis which was nice and when we walked into the banquet room there were presents all over the place. It feels almost awkward to accept gifts from people when you dont have a gift for them. I wasn't exactly sure what to do with myself, while I was there so I spent some time with Uncle Al in the bar. He was sure I was going to stay with him in the bar. He kept telling me that he would lose his place in heaven if he were to ever be present at a Shower. That didnt make me feel any better. I felt guilty for being at the bar so long and I felt guilty for leaving Al sitting there when I was sequestered into the lioness lounge. At some point, someone mentioned $2 Margaritas, and it was all over after that. I had a couple Margaritas and got real comfortable with all the ladies watching Ingrid and I open gifts. Thank you Tequila! All in all I had a good time and I'm not ashamed to admit it, just dont tell Al.

All of the big stuff for the wedding is pretty much taken care of, but its all the little things that are keeping Ingrid and I busy. Seems like there is never ending things to do. I'm pretty sure now that when this is all over I will feel like I'm retired in a sense. We've definately learned that there are a lot of things we can accomplish in a day.

There are a few things that I need to seriously start working on and the biggest thing is my speech. I'm dreading it! I'm a little nervous about alot of different things, Ingrid walking down the aisle, 1st Dance, mother-son dance, and speech but I think after that, its all smooth sailing. It better be!

Till next time....

Getting Close

2007-08-11T11:06:00.000-05:00

5 weeks to go! Pretty excited for the big day over here. I was just getting our travel documents together and I'm totally geeked for that. We need a vacation. When I'm done writing this, I'm totally gonna check out the place were staying at just to refresh my memory. The shower is this Sunday and I know Ingrid is pretty excited for that. Right now she's getting ready to go out with Barney and Nora to do some super secret stuff regarding me. I've been messing with Ingrid trying to get hints but she's been on lockdown since the surprise birthday party.

Hmmm...what else. Bachelor party looks to be in the works. I know the Bachelorette party has been planned for some time. I had to remind TJ that some people require advance notice. I think he's on it now. There's some other stuff that I would love to blog about but I'm not allowed to.

So I guess that's it for now. Peace!

Im a brand traitor

2007-07-26T15:48:00.000-05:00

I have to confess of my sins as a brand traitor. For many many years, too many to count, I wore Vans and only Vans. I held on to my last two pair for about as long as I could. Damn good shoes after all that I put them through. One pair was so torn up in the heel part that my foot was a bloody mess after a short trip to the mall. I didn't care though. Eventually the pain was too much and I forced myself to throw them away. I mourned for an entire 15 minutes.

I knew though that I had another pair. They were lovely but they too were getting old and tattered. I let myself wear them anyway. A few weeks later, Rocco found them and he decided for me that they were too old. He pulled out the inserts and ripped them to shreds. I was mad at first, but he knew what was best. I yelled at him and he just cocked his head sideways at me as if he didn't understand why I wanted to wear those old, nasty, smelly shoes. He was right!

So I trudged on without my sneaks for a few weeks and I got to a point where I just had to buy a new pair of shoes. I knew that DSW sold Vans but there was none close. I could buy them online, but that would take too long. I headed to a Champs and to my dismay, no Vans. I desperately needed shoes so I picked up some Pumas. The girl working there asked me, "Have you ever wore Pumas?" as if I had Vans guy written all over my forehead. Apparently she just wanted to know my size because they run small. I ended up buying two pair. I'm shamefully happy with the purchase and I confess to being a brand traitor.

It gets worse......

Apparently after the first time, it gets easier. I have been having problems with my Motorola Razr. I've owned one since they came out and cost $400. Unfortunately, you couldn't buy insurance for them at the time. I had mine stolen in Vegas last year. So when I got back I hit the Cingular store and got a new one. A black one this time. Ever since I owned it there were some issues but I got by. It didn't matter to me. Lately the issues got worse, and I knew I had the insurance this time so I figured I would get a replacement for my disfunctional communicator. Got to the store, dude checked my phone and called the HQ or whatever. Dude had me talk to the guy at the HQ and he says that I was lucky, there was 5 days left on my warranty. Perfect! Then he proceeds to tell me I could get a Razr or this other phone...."a SYNC phone." I had store dude show me one and it is relatively the same size and bigger display. Store dude said he likes em, so I tell HQ guy...."Sure hook me up." Once again I'm shamefully satisfied about my new phone.

Please kill me if I start looking at gas grills.

Wedding Alert - Hotel Phone #

2007-07-22T08:41:00.000-05:00

For some reason the phone number for the hotel reservations on the invitation is wrong. They are saying that number is for the Marriot in Burr Ridge. Fortunately, Rennaisance is Marriot, so just ask them to transfer you to Rennaisance in Oak Brook.

Either the wedding coordinater people gave me the wrong number or they are doing some internal changes. I was told to use that number when we originally blocked the rooms, and now they are saying to use 1-800-HOTELS1. I was also told that number will be changing at some point too.

Sorry about the confusion. If all else fails, call us and we will take care of it!

Bla

2007-07-19T16:58:00.000-05:00

So....I had some spare minutes to write some junk. The minutes that I get seem to be far and few between nowadays. I kinda get the feeling that after this wedding stuff is all over, I'm going to feel retired. It makes sense to me that Marty and Mo are so eager to help out, since they are probably feeling that lack of something to plan.....or maybe not.

Anyway, lots of fun stuff. I can't complain but I am getting nervous about the whole thing. Two months......

So many things I want to do once its all over, where do I begin?!?! I certainly want to join a water polo team, learn synchronized swimming, do some rodeo clowning. All these things I'm missing out on because of the wedding. Oh I can't wait!!!!!

Friday the 13th.

2007-07-13T11:30:00.000-05:00

It aint all that bad. Do people really take this particular superstition to heart? I'm curious so I posted a poll. For me it's just another day. I think the only power superstitions have is the power that you give them. I think some people are also drama freaks and live off the drama that the 13th can bring to them. Just a thought. No offense if that person is you.

Well.....thats my thoughts of the day. Back to the biz!

Fitness Nazi's

2007-07-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

I am starting to feel more and more like my health club is like Ben Stiller's gym in Dodge Ball. I go to the Xsport in the brickyard and everytime I go there, there are always people trying to give me passes to give to friends and family. Hello! If I knew some friends looking for a gym, I would have already told them! They try to force their marketing job on me! Yesterday, after swiping in, a large muscular man asked if I had friends or family that wanted to join for $1. Keep in mind there are always strings attached and the membership is not really $1. I told him that I had no friends and no family. Thanks for rubbing it in. He was like "Oh, sorry!" I wondered if he really thought I had no friends. I just hate being harrased at the gym! When I go to the gym, I am not feeling cute. They should really harass the girls that never sweat and talk on their cell phones while walking on the treadmill 2 miles an hour.

67 Days and counting

2007-07-09T15:25:00.000-05:00

Yeppers! Nervous, excited and all that jazz. Been real busy lately doing all the tedious wedding stuff as you can imagine. From the looks of things, were doing OK as far as the timeline goes but there is always a wrench waiting to be thrown into the works. Still working on the limo details but that is just about done. At some point I will clue my groomsman in on what they need to do for the tuxes. Hmmm.....not much else I can talk about without spilling the beans on some things so I will just leave it at that.

Sorry to those I haven't been speaking to much. It's just been real busy.

My New Fave Candy

2007-07-07T10:20:00.000-05:00

So I was at Walgreens the other day and at the front counter there was a new kind of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. This was a totally naughty thing for me to buy, but I figured, I can split it with Shawn and it would be 1/2 the calories, right? So this new thing is Reese's peanut butter and banana creme with the chocolate outer shell. IT IS TO DIE FOR! I am craving one right now. There is also an illustration of Elvis on the front of the package. If you remember, Elvis was a big fan of peanut butter and banana sandwiches. The new reeses is highly recommended if you are looking for a new gas station treat!

Our new website....

2007-07-02T16:34:00.000-05:00

For those of you out there that didn't know. We have a new website at www.KegsandPies.com. We've got pictures, a forum and a link to this blog up there. I hope to be putting up more pictures when I have time and videos as well.

Thats it for now! PEACE!

Quick Reminder Blog

2007-06-21T13:05:00.000-05:00

Just had to get this off my head so I can remember to do it. Nothing interesting to read here.

Wedding Website Fix
Website Update
Limo
Birthday blog
Send out tux info

I feel better now.

Wedding Website

2007-06-06T10:46:00.000-05:00

So the other day we noticed that there was a guestbook entry in our wedding website from Ingrid's Uncle Larry and Aunt Jewel. When we went to the guestbook to view it, we noticed it was all messed up. We also noticed that there were red X boxes where pictures should be. I thought that was odd but being that I used to work in the IT industry, it wasn't a big shocker and I wasn't too stressed about it. I told Ingrid we should give it a day because they're probably doing some maintenance on their servers.

Next day, I checked out the website again and I noticed that pretty much all of the pictures were gone. I sent them an e-mail and here is an excerpt from their reply:

We just wanted to let you know that we experienced an unfortunate outage on your wedding website. This outage resulted in the loss of pictures that you uploaded to your site as well as content on the bonus page of your site. We have restored your ability to manage your site however we were not able to restore any of the pictures or bonus page content that you uploaded. We are extremely sorry for creating this problem and inconvenience for you. You can re-upload your images and content and your site will continue to function the same way it did before this outage.

I'm so pissed about this. It took a long time to upload all of those photos. This is not just from the photo album section, but throughout the entire website. Also the page where we share the stories of our first date and how I proposed, all of that is gone. Ingrid worked real hard on that. I'm pissed!!!

For our troubles they offered us 20% off at an online wedding store. I checked it out today, and it's crap. Just going there and signing up for their newsletter I could get 10% off my order. We're probably not going to order anything from them and this 20% off is garbage. I want our time back.

Now that I'm done bitching.....I'm gonna work on the website.

Minor League Mahem

2007-06-04T16:26:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen this yet....

What in the hell is in the water over there. Seriously!!

Mad Tea Party

2007-06-03T17:28:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures from Heather's tea party this weekend at Unique So Chic in uptown. Lots of lady-like fun!

Greeto

2007-06-03T17:07:00.001-05:00

In honor of Shawn and I booking our honeymoon in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, I would like to revisit Tom's version of the GREETO. "'Greeto' in Spanish means yell, but in mariachi it means a good yell like cheering someone on"

Tom's Greeto

June Blog

2007-06-03T16:36:00.001-05:00

Well I had to kick off the month right with a blurb for the beginning of June. This month is a strange month for me. So many good things are happening and then there is the inevitable 30th. I hate that birthday for some reason. I just think that 30 is a ridiculously boring birthday.

Age 16 - Awesome. In my day this was when you get your license
Age 18 - Definately one of the best birthdays, for some it signifies reaching manhood
Age 21 - Party Time
Age 22-29 - Roaring 20's, nothing matters!

AGE 30 - THERE IS NOTHING SIGNIFICANT ABOUT THIS DAY!!!!!!!! THE ROARING 20's IS OVER. YOU'RE NOW A 30 SOMETHING AND THE SHOW DIDN'T EVEN MAKE IT.

On the other hand.....I'm going to the Cubs game June 14th. Front row, dugout box and I'm going with my best friend. Pretty excited for that.

Wedding planning is getting more and more interesting and by interesting I mean expensive and exhausting. HAHA!!! I'm having fun doing it though. The honeymoon is all booked up and were heading down to Playa del Carmen. It will be hurricane season but we're gonna risk it. Ingrid's name is on the list of Hurricanes this year so it would be funny to get washed up on our honeymoon by Hurricane Ingrid. The rehearsal dinner is all booked up. Limos, tuxes, songs, cake, food, beer, tab, desert, beer, doves, rice, bubbles, arcade games, paintball, popsicles and bunson burners are on my list of things to do this month. Ingrid keeps me busy.

Engagement Pictures

2007-05-29T09:36:00.000-05:00

So last week Ingrid and I went to get our Engagement Photos taken. The Monday prior we went out and bought some clothes for the occasion. We were thinking, pictures in the park or something to that effect. Maybe some skyline photo. Anyway, Ingrid was trying to get out early from work so she could come home and get ready before the pics. She obviously didn't want to rush. Well unfortunately it was a no go. At least that's what she was told on Tuesday....pics were on Thursday. Thursday rolls around and she packs a bag with her, makeup, change of clothes, bla bla bla. Fortunately, she gets out early. So all is well and good but Thursday turns out to be the windiest day of the year. So once we get there, the first thing our photographer says is "Good thing you wanted studio pictures." Ingrid and I just looked at each other and my immediate thought was...WTF! After explaining we did in fact want outside pics, he offered to reschedule, but we wanted to knock this off the list of things to do, so we opted for the studio pics.

A couple days prior, I was talking to my Mom and I was telling her that we were going for our Engagement pictures, and she said "What are those for?" It kind of threw me off, but then I got to thinking....I'm not sure that they did Engagement pics when she got married and I really didn't have an answer. I'm not sure what engagement pics are for, but it comes with the package. So there you go and there you have it!

Wednesday the proofs will be ready! Yar!

Ernie Banks Immortalized

2007-05-22T21:51:00.000-05:00

Ernie Banks will have a statue at Wrigley by Opening Day 2008. What an honor. The statue will be created by the same person who has done the Harry Caray statue and the Michael Jordan statue. You can read about this here!

I can't wait to see Mr Cub on the grounds. I haven't been a Cubs fan all of my life, so I can only imagine how the old timers feel about this. They probably think it's pretty cool too. I'll try and remember to do an Old Stlye toast for Ernie in 2008....bleacher style!

Postage

2007-05-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

It seems to me that postage prices go up more frequently now then they used to. Do you feel the same way? Is it tied to the price of gas somehow? Some people might think that $.41 isnt that big of a deal but I have a business where snail mail plays a huge part. Postage becomes a very large chunk of my business expenses.

Not only does it cost more, you have to go and buy new stamps and then you have to buy $.02 stamps so that you can get rid of your old $.39 stamps. It's a ridiculous process and you know what?!? The stamps could be $1.00 and the post office employees at my post office would still be just as slow.

Guess what I get to do??

2007-05-17T20:22:00.000-05:00

Plan a vacation. FINALLY! Not that I havent been looking around already, but I finally get to put these things in place. YAY!!! Everyone seems to be going on trips and we cant go because of everything that is going on. Were jealous, so it's nice to be able to put our honeymoon together. Aaaah....I wish I could just move time forward to the day we leave reality.

Wedding Planning Update

2007-05-15T21:58:00.000-05:00

Over the past couple of weeks, Ingrid and I have really stepped up our game in the wedding planning business. It seemed that there was a lull for a minute but were back on track.

We bought our rings which was nice and I dont think I will go into the details of the where or what just yet. I have to leave some room for suspense. The jewelers were real nice and we knew when we knew and that's pretty much how this whole planning thing has gone.

The registry is about 80% done. We have to make some online tweaks but for the most part, its done. I wont mention the details because as I said, were not quite 100%. The hard part is done. Once we get the 20% figured out, we will update our wedding website and through that we can make sure anyone who signed the guestbook get an update. So that is that.

I'm still working on the Rehearsal Dinner location and this is starting to become a real annoyance for me. On our journey we found alot of places that have a party room but wont accomadate us on a Friday evening. That sucks! We're trying to keep the locale close to either the church or the hotel since we have alot of out of towners. Unfortunately, alot of the restaurants in the Oak Park area, near the church, are too small to host us and the ones in Oak Brook are ridiculously priced for a rehearsal dinner. I definately don't want this thing to turn into another reception.

So that in a nutshell is where we are with all of this. Gotta start working on Honeymoon. Fun Stuff finally!

Recommendation, Frustration, and Constipation

2007-05-11T13:24:00.000-05:00

Well, Ingrid and I have refinanced our house which is a good thing. We were on an ARM and now were on a Fixed and life is good. Bla bla bla! We did this through our friend Dominic Franchi who is a Mortgage Broker. You can check his website at FranchiMortgage.com and his Business number is 847-520-9914. He's really good at what he does and his father is also a Mortgage Broker so it's in his blood. I highly recommend you talk to him if you ever need to consider a refi or purchase. He can make miracles happen and he's very easy to talk to.

Ok enough of that! Now let me vent some frustration. While Dominic did his part as far as making eveything happen nice and easy, the Lenders and Title companies were completely useless. They should have let Dominic handle everything because apparently he was the only one who knew what to do. If the Lender didn't screw something up the Title company did and our rep at the Title company looked like he had a lifetime supply of perma-sheen. His hair was so greasy and curly it made a wet, nappy dog look good. I'm surprised the phone didn't slide off his ear everytime he used it. Anyway, they sucked and thats that!

As far as the constipation goes....well its my Friday wish to you all not to have it. Have an awesome weekend!

Whoa there Hasselhoff....get a grip!

2007-05-09T11:07:00.000-05:00

Blog in a Fog

2007-05-08T20:35:00.000-05:00

So Shawn has been making me feel bad for not blogging. I had drill this past weekend. The one weekend where I am in the military and then I go back to reality for the other 28 days. We had a parade ceremony for some old chiefs. It isn't really a parade, but we stand in formation for an extremely long time while the upper brass pontificate the importance of what we do, blah, blah blah. Don't get me wrong, I have mad respect for those that stick it out for their 20+ years. But standing in a hotter than hell hangar is not how I would celebrate my retirement. I probably feel this way after the many years of being on the medic team during the ceremony. We would scope out the crowd for any one who is passing out. Then we drag them to the cooling room. One year there were 30+ people who either passed out or came close to it!!! Is this really necessary???

Anyway, I have felt like crap for the past week. I have been in a funk and today was a low-iron day to top it off. I am supposed to be in a weight-loss competition at work, but I am getting my ass kicked! I seriously need to get my act together. I need some motivation. What would David Hasselhoff do?

Dreams

2007-05-08T09:23:00.000-05:00

I had a dream last night that I was running out of time to get Ingrid a wedding ring. I was with my buddy Martin and every place we went, they were out of rings. That was one of the strangest anxiety dreams I have had yet. Every store we went to was out of wedding rings like the world was getting married on that day.

I'm wondering if everyone has these strange dreams. I know Ingrid used to get them all the time. She would be at the wedding and something would be missing, like the flowers or her veil or some other strange thing. Do these dreams get worse the closer you get to the wedding? I have to say though, I would much rather have these dreams than a full blown anxiety attack while I'm awake. Maybe they're a good thing.

Cubs Sweep Nationals!!!

2007-05-06T16:49:00.000-05:00

Not only did the Cubs sweep but they may have broken out of that funk where they cant win 1 run ballgames or games that go in extra innings. Awesome game! Yesterday was fun too being in the bleachers for the first time this year. There was a lot of extra curricular drama at the game which always brings me back to the bleachers year after year. Kids if you want to be rowdy like us, spend a day game in the bleachers.

And now I'm off to mow! Go me!

Friday already?

2007-05-04T10:37:00.000-05:00

I cant believe it's Friday already. I feel like nothing was accomplished this whole week. I've been a zombie since the Deal or No Deal casting call. It seems like I come on here to blog about either having stuff I should be doing or that I haven't done anything. Then after I'm done wrting about it I go into super production mode. You should have seen the stuff I accomplished after the TGIF blog.

Hmmm...what do I need to get done this weekend? Mow the grass, finish the second set of baseboards, Cubs game, TJs Open house, clean house, laundry and I'm sure theres more. This blog is starting to turn into a TO DO list.

I guess I could throw out a recommendation. Coca-Cola Zero....I love it. I'm not a big fan of diet pops but this Zero stuff rocks. The cherry is the best! Alright time to work.

Excitement is...

2007-05-03T16:18:00.000-05:00

and,

and,

and of course,

September 15, 2007

Deal or No Deal

2007-05-02T11:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I went to the casting call for Deal or No Deal with Dominic. The nice thing about working from home is that you can take off and do these kinds of things. The casting call was in Indianapolis at Bob Rohrmans, which was roughly a 3 1/2 hour drive. The casting call, according to the website, went from 1-5pm but it went much longer.

So, I told Dominic to be at my place no later than 6am. I really wanted to get a headstart, beat Chicago traffic and get to the casting call early so we could get a nice place in line. I really didnt want to be there all day. Dominic calls me at 6am just waking up and he was checking my seriousness. I was up at 5am and already downed some Starbucks and a breakfast sandwich. I was very serious. By the time he got to my place and we got on the road it was about 7:30. Not so bad I guess.

The trip was long and I drove Dom's car down while he filled out the 11 page application in the car. Fortunately, I had done mine the night before. We went on and on about how we were going to approach these people and we were theorizing what was going to happen at this thing. When we get there we see utter chaos, cars everywhere, parked on exit ramps and sheer madness. Nothing like we expected. While we were looking for a parking spot, Dom is talking to people walking around and asking if they had their interviews yet, and some said they had and that they had been there in line since the previous night. At that point we knew we were in some shit.

Luckily it didnt take that long to find a parking spot but finding the end of the line took about 15 minutes. It was very long and there were many strange characters there. When we finally found the end we kept talking about how stupid we were for not bringing chairs like the other 25,000 people we saw. Imagine the line to a new ride at an amusement park and multiply that by 1000. It was absolutely insane. It was in the 80's and overcast. Nice combination for a sunburn which Dominic can tell you all about.

Some of the characters we saw were Pajama pant Spiderman, Darth Palsy, an angel, a girl in her wedding dress veil and all, and there was a guy behind us in 3 inch heels. There were some other strange people but I think they were Indianapolis natives. So this basically had an American Idol feel to it.

Once we got closer, people that had just had their interviews were coming out and explaining what was happening and they told us that they take 10 people to 1 table with 1 judge and each person has 20 seconds to give their schpeel. We were told that they dont want sad stories or people saying how much they love the show. They want something creative and original. I kind of had an idea in my head but after hearing that I knew I had to come up with something I could say and do in 20 seconds. Dominic was also strategizing. The only problem was that I didnt want to share my idea with him because I was paranoid somebody might take my idea.

After about 6 1/2 grueling hours of being in line our 10 people were finally let in. At this point I'm trying my best to psych myself up while also looking crazy. We finally get asked to come to the table and everyone is giving there story and it gets to me. I went on a rant and said, "My name is Shawn Kanady, and my friends call me Kegman as you can see." My sleeves were rolled up so I showed her my tattoos. Then I proceeded to say "I'll do anything on a dare, these tattoos were a dare, I'm here because of a dare and if I get on the show, I've been dared to put Howies face right here" I pulled up my shirt and pointed to the right side of my chest and said "If the deal is good enough, Ill put the banker right here" and I pointed to the left side of my chest. My adrenaline was rushing so hard I didnt really hear what Dominics pitch was. I kind of knew what he was going to say but I couldn't hear him.

After the last guy was done, the judge points to the first girl and me and ask us to stay. Everyone else could go. My stomach dropped at this point. She asked me to tell her about my prsonality and I told her that I'm pretty spontaneous, crazy, life of the party type of guy and I refreshed her memory of the tattoos and I think I used the word "nutjob". She wrote notes on the back of my application and that was about it. Everyone was told prior to this that our applications are good for a year and that they may or may not give us a call back, so I'm not real sure what is going to happen. Pretty exciting stuff and I took video while we were in line. Dominic took some pics as well.

So that is the story of the Deal or No Deal casting call. It will be interesting to watch future shows and see if people that we saw at this casting call are in it. I think the casting was for the new season which starts Sep 18th. You never know, maybe I'll be lucky enough to get a call back.

TGIF...

2007-04-27T08:47:00.000-05:00

Man what a weekend we have. Two brithday parties, yard work to do, ring shopping, tux looking, baseboard sanding, office organizing, Staples shopping, grocery shopping, house cleaning. Gotta love the weekends! It's good to know that I got off to a good start by blogging about it. I'm gonna have to figure in at least one shower in there somewhere.....

TGIF!

M&M Commentary

2007-04-24T14:13:00.000-05:00

Its a ride!

Travel Tip

2007-04-24T09:59:00.000-05:00

For those of you out there that like to travel, here is a new website to add to your arsenal. It's called Airfare Watchdog and I suggest you check it out. I will also be adding the link to the right.

Truly Inspired

2007-04-17T21:23:00.000-05:00

average homeboy

Medieval Times

2007-04-17T18:04:00.000-05:00

Last week, Kyle was in town for his spring break. He was also celebrating his 8th birthday. Shawn and i wanted to take him some place fun and we decided Medieval Times would be a blast! For those of you who don't know, MT is located in Schaumburg in a large castle that can be seen from the Edens Expressway. There is a whole story line that goes with the show. Basically, you are take back to 11th century Spain during the crusades. You are witness to a huge dinner tournament where knights are showing off their skills in front of the king. We are also served dinner which we eat with our hands and just like there is no silverware in the medieval times, THERE IS NO SILVERWARE AT MEDIEVAL TIMES! There is a bar though.

As we walk through the castle gates, crowns are placed on our heads denoting which section we sit in and which color knight we cheer on. We are in the yellow section. Our knight was a Brad Pitt as in Interview with a Vampire wannabe. Watching the knights joust and do their many trcks on horseback was very entertaining. Meanwhile there is a traitor amongst the knights and when he is revealed, the hero knight defends the kingdoms honor.

Shawn and I being such instigators, convinced Kyle that we must cheer for our knight to win as loud as we can. If our knight looses, we will have to go into the dungeon. (Before the tournament, we purused the dungeon and all the torture devices, I was disappointed that there was no Iron Maidon). Luckily, our knight won the competition and beat the evil knight. No dungeon for us! Kyle loved MT and was thrilled to find the knights kingdom lego set we also got him also have a "yellow knight". If you have never been there, I would suggest going. We had a fun time. Here are some photos:

Virginia Tech Slayings

2007-04-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends that have lost someone to this massacre. I also pray for the wounded. How can you be such a failure at life that you would want to take out everyone else like that?? Jealousy, rage, and a little self pity can make people do some seriously nasty things to each other.

I can only imagine what will come of this. Families will complain about the gun laws and they will get stricter and stricter. Some people would say that's a good thing, but that's because they don't own a gun and can't forsee ever owning one, which is fine. Think about the people that do own one or that respect the good people that do own them. Think of your rights to own firearms should you so choose to do so. Think of the other rights given to you. When one is taken away, it makes precedent for the others to be taken away as well.

So thank you very much, Cho Seung-Hui. You've made your mark on the world. Enjoy hell you piece of shit!

CHUDs exist....

2007-04-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

This is by request. I just want everyone to know that CHUDs do indeed exist. Here is a transcript of a text message session that I had with one. If you dont know the references....dont worry about it. As I mentioned this blog is purely by request.

9:48 pm

Chud: Hey bud! What up?

Me: Password please

I didn't recognize the number so I was just trying to mess with the person who sent me the random text message.

9:52 pm

Chud: Huh? This Shawn?

Me: Perhaps. How would you find out for sure?

9:58 pm

Chud: Well u must be with that response! U still drive that grand am?

Me: I ask the questions. Who is your daddy and what does he do?

At this point I still have no idea who this is and I'm thinking that its Lovis. After I sent the text I checked my voicemail because I had saved one from Lovis telling me his new number. Unfortunately, his number and the number from the text messages don't match, so I have absolutely no clue.

10:05 pm

Chud: Dude if ur my bud i talk; if not i dont

Im sensing tension here.

Me: Id be your bud if I could only recognize your number

I didn't get a response for awhile and I was still curious who it was, so I stopped messing around at this point.

Me: Ok im done. This is Shawn now who are you?

I'm sitting there with Ingrid talking about these text messages and I said to her, now this person is gonna start messing with me. If this is a friend they're gonna play this game right along with me and mess with my head.

10:29pm

Chud: Its Laura, dont hate!

I'm thinking....first off why would Laura contact me after 3 or more years. Secondly from what I can remember, I cant imagine her saying "dont hate" and lastly, I'm already expecting someone to mess with me.

Me: I call bullshit, nice try.

10:58pm

Chud: Whats that all about? U wanta be my friend again?

I did not respond. At this point Ingrid is looking in her phone to check the number because I think its either Dominic using Jami's phone or Martin using Maureen's phone. As I'm writing this, I realize that I have Mo's number. Anyway....

11:09pm

Chud: Ok so you really Shawn?

Me: Yes and if this is Laura the answer is no.

I was too tired to care who it was and I wanted to go to bed. When I woke up in the morning I found more messages.

11:25pm

Chud: So u hate me

11:56pm

Chud: Shawn im glad u dont hate me. Ur my boy

6:01am

Chud: Shawn do

So someone must have released the beasts from the domain they were kicked to. Someone needs to have a serious conversation with the keymaster and gatekeeper about keeping the CHUDs in place. This is not good for humanity.

Rocco Rocks!

2007-04-13T21:22:00.000-05:00

Today, I picked up a harness and one of those extending/retracting leashes for Rocco. When Ingrid got home, we thought we would test out the new stuff and go for a walk to the park. We also brought the frisbee along. Let me jut say, Rocco loved the frisbee!!!!! He took to it real well. He was getting major air. I would hold it in my hand and as he jumped for it, I released it for him to catch in the air. I also tried throwing it and he would chase it down and just miss catching it. For his first time, that was pretty awesome. Once he got it, he would run around in circles around us for awhile and it was hard to get him to come to us with the frisbee and let go once he did. Again, for the first outting, he did real well.

Ingrid and I made two major mistakes.

1) Forgot to bring the camera. We will definately get it on film next time.

2) Forgot to check the park out first. It was real muddy and Rocco got me and himself slimey dirty. It was fun though.

Also, we had Rocco off leash the entire time at the park and he didn't run away. I hope that means he loves us. Luckily nobody was there to distract him.

Running Sucks

2007-04-10T20:42:00.000-05:00

I'm really hating running. Ingrid and I ran today and it totally sucks. First of all, I'm a dumbass and went running in my shorts and a short sleeve tee when it was all of 51 degrees outside. So we start running and I get to the point where I cant run any longer, but we still have to get home. I started walk/running but it was soooo frikkin cold. It didn't take long before I was whining. I dont know how Ingrid deals with me. I finally made it home but I was completely purple. Not cool!!!

Quick change of subject. There is a rumor out there that I have a new tattoo. People will say anything for a little bit of attention. I'll blog on that subject next time.

Good News

2007-04-05T20:05:00.000-05:00

The wallet that I lost at Martin and Maureen's wedding has been found and is being sent back to me. Woohoo. The lady who found it remembered me too. She found my wallet at the pool and somehow knew that I was with Ingrid in room 332 or whatever it was. She called Ingrid and told her that she remembered that I was having a VERY good time and I was drinking out of a green hat. She also remembered telling me to go into the pool and not the hot tub because I was intoxicated. (Yea right) She doesn't know intoxicated!!!

So that is all well and good. Nothing else new on this end. I had some Cabernet with dinner and I'm a little tipsy right now. Very strange, but I like it.

Strange Friends....

2007-04-04T10:07:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Martin and Maureen, I now have THE WORST POSTCARD EVER!!!! There are so many things wrong with this, that everytime I think about it I vomit in mouth. I hope that anyone who reads this blog is where I am now. Mullet, beachball, boobies, bikini bottom??, and for some reason that face is disgustingly similar to mine. I'm very sick! Marty and Mo, you will feel my wrath!!!! This is not over! Postcard War is now on!!!

Shamrock Shuffle 2

2007-04-03T12:38:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd throw up some pics from the race. Still working on the video but unfortunately, I can only work on that when I have time and I have very little of that to spare.

Fantasy Baseball

2007-04-01T10:28:00.000-05:00

So Ingrid's brother John got me into this ESPN Keeper League and the draft was on Saturday. I've never messed with Fantasy Baseball before so I thought I would give it a go. Before the draft has even started I can see why John is such a statistician. You have to know or at least keep track of alot of different things on all players and on all teams. It's pretty ridiculous and a little overwhelming.

So I've definately done Fantasy Football before....ONCE....but the draft was an auto draft so I definately had no experience in live drafts. Luckily, ESPN offers a mock draft for you to try out. I did. Totally easy and fun.

The next step was to pre rank players and put them into your draft order so that on draft day, you're not stuck looking around for guys. Keep in mind that you have 120 seconds per pick. When I pre ranked players, I sort of grouped guys together. I basically grouped each position together and my top 2 picks for that spot. My draft order wasnt really a draft order but a reference sheet really.

Draft day. Everything is fine until about 30 minutes before the draft and my cable modem starts to fry out. I lost connection constantly. It was driving me crazy. Everytime I dropped a connection, ESPN did an autopick of whoever and I had absolutely no control of what was going on. I did make a few picks of my own but alot of the picks were random. Heres what I'm left with:

SLOT PLAYER, TEAM POS
C Michael Barrett, ChC C
1B Derrek Lee, ChC 1B
2B Chase Utley, Phi 2B
3B Chipper Jones, Atl 3B DTD
SS Edgar Renteria, Atl SS
OF Kenny Lofton, Tex CF
2B/SS Tadahito Iguchi, CWS 2B
1B/3B Joe Crede, CWS 3B DTD
LF Matt Murton, ChC LF
CF Coco Crisp, Bos CF DTD
RF Wily Mo Pena, Bos CF, RF
UTIL Chad Tracy, Ari 3B
P Randy Johnson*, Ari SP DL15
P Andy Pettitte, NYY SP DTD
P Ian Snell, Pit SP
P Ted Lilly, ChC SP
P Empty
SP Jeremy Bonderman, Det SP PP
SP Chris Young, SD SP
RP J.J. Putz, Sea RP DTD
RP Kyle Farnsworth, NYY RP
Bench Gerald Laird, Tex C DTD
Bench Juan Uribe, CWS SS DTD
Bench Geoff Jenkins, Mil RF
Bench Empty
DL Josh Johnson*, Fla SP DL15
DL Empty
DL Empty

And I've already dropped a guy. I had 3 catchers...not cool. Josh Johnson is out until May so I'm probably gonna drop him too. I dont even know who he is really, he was an autopick as was Randy Johnson, who's also on th 15-day DL. Grrrr! So I'm thinking that because of all this, I'm going to learn Fantasy Baseball quickly.

Purely Theraputic Work Rant

2007-03-30T12:05:00.000-05:00

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That feels better. I'm currently having problems getting paid on work I did in January and it's causing me much frustration. The company that isnt paying me is having problems with their commissions department and they don't even understand the problem....so when I ask them to explain it to me...they have nothing. Pisses me off!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This helps for some reason. I think I'll do it again in RED

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok Im done now!

Shamrock Shuffle

2007-03-29T15:47:00.000-05:00

Ingrid ran the Shamrock Shuffle last Sunday, the 25th which was pretty cool. The Shuffle is a 10K race which is 5 miles to the rest of us. Unfortunately, I dont have the pics off of my camera just yet but I'm working on it, along with everything else. I've also got some good video footage which I will be editing sometime soon.

So Saturday, we went to a florist and we were totally impressed by them. I dont know why I was there, I didnt help anything but I learned a whole lot. They saw eye to eye with Ingrid and she is absolutely happy. The kicker was that they were definately affordable. We thought it the price would be through the roof but it totally wasnt. After that we went to a fitness expo where Ingrid got her bib number for the big race. The fitness expo was pretty sweet and I tried to get all the schwag I could get my hands on. Go me!

So that leads us to Sunday. The race was at 9:30am but we had to be there by 9. We took the "L" downtown and we were there about an hour and half early. There were definately some interesting characters there. Some people really got into the spirit and had their leprechaun suits on for the run. Speaking of characters, we ran into Steve Marks who also ran the race. Good for him! Ingrid ran with her co-workers Theresa and Steve, and she also ran with her friend Dave. Later we met up with Richard, who also ran.

I really wish I ran the race too. After it was all said and done, I felt jealous of their accomplishment. Here's the kicker, I'm the one who got Ingrid to start running in the first place. I inspired her to run the Shuffle and I backed out, but she inspired me right back to do one of these things myself. I ran for the first time since quitting smoking today. IT SUCKED! I promise to stick with it though. It's all a part of "Kegman's Plan: The Grooms Guide to Losing Weght and Fitting In Your Tux"

Well that's all I got for now!

Martin and Maureen's Wedding

2007-03-21T15:07:00.000-05:00

The wedding was on St Patricks Day and for those of you who dont know when that was, dont care or dont drink, it was Saturday the 17th.

The wedding was at Garden Chapel of Christ Church of Oak Park. The church was quite nice and from all the pictures, you would think that it was outside. They were lucky enough to have me as an usher. The way my hectic schedule is, I was surprised to have an open slot on that day. Just kidding! It was a privledge to help out and stand in their wedding and I got a cool wallet out of it. The funny....well unfunny thing about that is, I managed to lose my wallet over the weekend. Yay! At least I have a replacement for it. Anyway, the wedding was very nice and the bagpiper was a great touch. When everyone was outside they released two doves. One of the doves decided he would do a flyby over everyone, and that was outright awesome. I seriously hope someone has that on film with everyone ducking.

The reception was at Venuti's, which was awesome. They had a great staircase for pictures in the main lobby. The champagne was flowing, appetizers rolling and the overall atmosphere was awesome. You couldn't ask for a better party. The dancing was great and I had a great partner. Ingrid was my hot lady in red and it killed me to be sitting so far away. The next 2 weddings were at, we'll be together again.

A couple other things of note, the Trolley instead of a limo was an awesome idea. Maureen's dress was awesome. She looked like she was floating on a cloud. Martin surprising Maureen with a pink gorilla, singing telegram, definately funny as hell.

I hope they're enjoying their 2 weeks in Hawaii!!!!

Random blogalogging..

2007-03-08T20:46:00.000-06:00

So, I'm listening to Ingrid talk to her friend Heather about Hair and Makeup and I'm wondering if I should call up the boys and start talking about jockstraps and cups. Basically I'm bored!

Working on the Hotel blocks lately and I've decided that Holiday Inns are on crack. We got a wedding rate from them and it turned out to be $30 more than it would be if you went online and reserved a room. On top of that, you are required to fill 80% of the block and if you dont, they will charge you the difference. That's absolutely crazy to me! When I asked the sales manager in charge of all of this, she gave me a song and dance about how Online Reservations are unreliable and that is why they are cheaper. She then proceeds to ask "Have you ever made an Online Reservation? I have and they're horrible." At this point, I'm thinking, what kind of business are they running here? In this day and age, when most big businesses are online, they depend on that piece of business, especially hotel chains. She even said "I wish we weren't on the internet, it makes it so hard." Obviously...when your selling rooms $30 cheaper. So thats Holiday Inn for you.

Marriott definately has their shit in order. Not only is there a discount on the regular room rate, but they dont charge if you dont fill 80% of the rooms, they just release them at a certain date. I would expect that anyway. They will also hook us up with a nice $500 suite for a huge savings. Me likey!!!! SWEET SUITE!!! SUITE??? SWEET!!! Yes, I'm a dork!

Once we've got the contract signed, sealed and delivered, we can update the website. Once we update the website, we'll make it public, and get out our Save the Dates which are ready to go.

So there it is!!!

Smoke Stats

2007-03-07T14:49:00.000-06:00

A couple people I talked to recently asked me where I was at with the non-smoking thing, so I thought I would post my most recent stats.

My Stats: Your Quit Date is: 1/4/2007 4:00:00 AM
Time Smoke-Free: 62 days, 10 hours, 48 minutes and 17 seconds

Cigarettes NOT smoked: 749
Lifetime Saved: 5 days, 17 hours
Money Saved: $247.01

Pretty cool stuff. I don't really go to QuitNet anymore to check my stats like I used to. I dont really think about cigarettes from day to day, so I dont want to remind myself by going to the site. It helped me get to this point and thats all I needed it for. The stat tracker is pretty cool though. I also checked out the milestones coming up, which they call anniversarys. I just past the 2 month, and the next one is 3 months, and after that it is 100 days. I guess you're known as an Elder once you hit the 100 day mark.

Martin and Maureens wedding is coming up and I was toying with the idea of having a cigar. I don't think it will mess me up, but I'm still a little nervous about it. I haven't made up my mind on that one yet. If I do have a cigar, and I end up smoking again because of it, I will just blame them and they can deal with the guilt. I could of course, just dance the night away. Its a shame that I've never been to a wedding where I didnt dip out for a cigarette or two or three. That's it.....Marty and Mo better be prepared for me. The dance floor is MINE MINE MINE!!!!!

I wish that quit tracker could track the amount of time I've wasted by having to go outside or excuse myself to go smoke a cigarette. What a waste!!! Speaking of waste...I'm wasting more time writing about wasting time smoking. Grrr!

Changes

2007-03-06T20:39:00.000-06:00

Well I've made some changes. Added a wedding countdown ticker, a photo of us and a photo of me in my profile. Perty friggin sweet!!! I should probably refocus my attention to wedding stuff now....

My New Work Dress Code

2007-03-06T20:27:00.000-06:00

Well, they just came out with a new dress code for RN's at my hospital. I don't understand why it is just for nurses and not anyone else at my workplace. I work at a Catholic Hospital now and these rules make me think that the sisters are behind it. Or some kind of dress code nazi. Here are some of the highlights:

1. "Form-fitting T-shirts are not acceptable attire and will not be worn while the employee is on duty".

2. "High-top shoes, multi-colored shoes and open-toed shoes are not acceptable and will not be worn while the employee is on duty. ...Pantyhose or appropriate socks will be worn" (What is an "appropriate sock")

3. "Jewelry will be worn in moderation. Earrings may be small hoop or stud style. One simple necklace may be worn". (They are getting specific here. Do they know how many dego nurses I work with!)

4. "Pants will be ankle length trouser style. Leggings, stirrup pants, jean style, spandex, sweat pants, or other tight-fitting styles are not acceptable" (Stirrup pants are funny!)

5. "...solid white/ nude colored underwear will be worn under white uniform pants" (WTF???)

6. "Holiday scrub tops and scrub jackets may be worn with navy or white pants 3 days prior to and on the actual day of the following holidays:
New Year's Day
Easter Sunday
Memorial Day
4th of July
Labor Day
Halloween
Thanksgiving
Christmas

(That reminds me of those communities that make you take down x-mas lights after so many days)

7. "Hair should be worn in a conservative style and color. In patient care areas, long hair must be arranged neatly so that at no time does it fall in from the midline of the shoulders for employees with direct patient contact, or when safety or infection control is an issue. Hair that is longer than shoulder length will be secured behind the neck. Extreme hairstyles are not acceptable. Beards and moustaches must be trimmed."

That was just a snippit of the new policy. I do understand that most of the policy is indicated for situations where infection control is an issue, but I think that some of the rules are a little on the extreme side. Luckily I just wear the hospital supplied scrubs now so I don't have to think about anything!

Mom was in town!

2007-02-27T15:55:00.000-06:00

My Mom came in town from Cali on Friday, and it has definately been awhile since the last time we saw each other. She's also never met Ingrid nor seen the house, so this was a pretty important trip.

When she got in, she looked pretty tired and she told us that she had to be up at 3:30am that morning. We figured she would be hungry so we took her up to Massa, in Elmwood Park. I couldn't find a link to the place but I found a nice glowing review. So we all got some Panzerottis which were awesome. We went back to the crib, gave the tour and just relaxed for awhile. Of course for dinner we took her to Marias Mexican Restaurant, which is one of our favorite mexican joints. I absolutely love their chimichangas and you cant go there without having a Mexican Zombie.

Saturday we all went and saw The Number 23 which I give 2 thumbs up to. I love twisted movies like this one and I think its interesting that Jim Carrey is playing these roles. He did an excellent job and I recommend that people go out and see this movie.

Saturday night we went to dinner theater at Angelos, which is where we are having our reception. It was nice to see the place and get an idea of how it looks all setup. The Dinner Theater was Sopranos based, called Sopranos Last Supper. Lots of fun and as I mentioned it was nice to see the place all setup.

Sunday, we went to the Body Worlds II exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. Ingrid and I had been to the first one, two years ago. There were some new things we hadn't seen the last time and some that we had. There were some older pieces as well that weren't at the show in 2005, so they were new to us. They had a booth where you could hold the different organs and that was pretty interesting, to be holding some dead persons liver. Definately a good time.

Mom left on Monday and it was a good visit. I think everyone, had fun and I almost forgot to mention that my Mom left a CD of some very old pictures of me. I will post some of those later. Some are disturbing though.

Some Pics

2007-02-17T22:11:00.000-06:00

I'm working on the wedding website and I came across some photos, that I thought I would post up here before they get lost in virtual dust.

Kyle checking out his Puzzle Box from Turkey

Rocco trying to escape Kyle!

Me, Kyle and Rocco - 3 of the coolest Kanady's

Rocco being Rocco....proud as can be!

Happy Valentines Day!

2007-02-14T08:26:00.000-06:00

Go kiss your love!!!!

Happy Tuesday!

2007-02-13T12:11:00.000-06:00

So I'm blogging for no apparent reason other than the fact that I want to I guess. It's 12pm and I should be eating something but Im not. Ingie came home from work today because she's sick and its all my fault. I'm still getting over mine. Being sick sucks. Micro-organisms suck. Bateria sucks unless its cheese or yogurt. Gross! I just found out recently that Yogurt is living bacteria. Its LIVING!!!! Nasty. Either I never read the disclaimers on yogurt before or this is a new thing, that it actually tells you that its living bacteria. Still tastes good and I suppose I've eaten worse....but still.

Anyway, this blogger crap is a little different since the big upgrade. Now I can put in nice cutesy keywords so people might find my blog and read it and respond.....woo. That doesnt even warrant a hoo. What else....

Oh yea...Rocco is loving the high drifting snow out there today. He's up to his chest in snow and he loves every bit of hopping around in it. It is the funniest thing ever. When I'm shoveling the snow I throw what I've got on the shovel at him and he tries to dodge it and bite it. Funny stuff. I need Ingrid out there to tape it but shes nasty sick. I should see if she'll eat some living bacteria. Might make her feel a little better....a little good bacteria on the bad bacteria. Or something. I'm trying to teach Rocco to rollover and thats not going so well. He just wont do it for me. I've gotten some tips on doing it from the internet but it just doesnt work. When I try to help him rollover he digs in and wont budge....then he thinks its wrestle time. GRRRR!!! I've also noticed he's been "marking". Definately time to take the manhood.

Well thats all Ive got for now. Ingrid says she has a Valentine surprise so I cant wait for that. I wont get it until Thursady though because she works late tomorrow. Ah well! I've got some tricks too if she wants to play this game. It's gonna be hard to top proposing though. On hindsight, it might have been a bad day to do it on Valentines. Time will tell.

New Blogger

2007-02-10T18:37:00.000-06:00

Well I converted our blog to the new GooglerBloogler...but I dont thnk anyone just reading will notice. All I did was add more content for Google to spin out. It's kinda nice though. So, what is there to talk about...hmmm...well, Ingie is up to no good at this very moment, working on the wedding website....shhhhhhhhhhh!

As for me, Im still workin on my "Kegman Plan - The Grooms Guide to Dieting and Fitting in Your Tux" book. That is copyrighted, so dont even think of stealing it. Sooo, that is going pretty well but I had a setback. I got real sick and I had Ingrid get me some comfort food in the form of Chipotle. Oops. Well I'm back on it and despite the fast food relapse, I've lost about 8lbs so far. I think that's mainly water though.

Accoding to Science Daily, you are suppsed to take your weight, divide by 2 and thats how much water you should be drinking daily in ounces. Quite surprising and I challenge everyone to log a normal days worth and see how much you actually drink. I bet its not close.

So, back to the wedding website.....I've been looking through some old pictures and I can't believe how much I've changed. Unfortunately I dont think I'm aging gracefully and at this rate I'm gonna be as gray as Taylor Hicks by my 30th birthday in June. This is not good. I dont think Ingrid has any idea what she's getting herself into. Oh well. I guess I got the prize on this one.

1 Month Quit

2007-02-05T08:49:00.000-06:00

WOW!!! 1 month quit. This truly hasn't been too terrible. I was out Saturday night at a bar and with Katie (she smokes), and I had no problems. She was trying to stay away from me and I told her to go ahead and light it up. I wanted to test myself. Well, I passed. In fact, the smoke was nasty smelling and at the end of the night, I could smell all of the nasty cigarette smoke on my clothes. Gross!

How could I have been doing that to myself all these years. Makes no sense at all. Well Sundays test was even better. I went to a Superbowl Party at TJ's parents house and everyone who smokes was in the basement with their cigars and cigarettes. I had no problems. I never came close to wanting one. Surprising. So, after all of that...I dont think I will ever smoke again. This quit will last.

I've had 2 smoking dreams now, which is weird. I read about people getting those but I hadn't had one. Well now I've had two. It's really weird, you're smoking in your dream and you know you shouldn't be, and then you feel guilty in your dream. It's bizarre and so real feeling. I've also gained 10 lbs. Unfortunately I weighed myself this morning and I wasn't happy.

So, now that I'm passed the cravings and wantings of a cigarette.....time to start dieting and excercise. Boooshakalaka. Oh....and I should mention....Today, Katie is quitting smoking. I wish her good luck and I'm there for ya Katie.

Here's my stats:

Your Quit Date is: 1/4/2007 4:00:00 AM
Time Smoke-Free: 32 days, 4 hours, 48 minutes

Cigarettes NOT smoked: 386
Lifetime Saved: 2 days, 22 hours
Money Saved: $127.49

Dont hassle The Hoff!

2007-01-29T08:52:00.000-06:00

So I know everyone really enjoys the Hoffmeister so I thought I would throw up some links to his vids:

Secret Agent Man

Lookin for Freedom

Hooked on a Feeling

Jump in my car

Our First Night Together

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!!!!

Mattress from hell!

2007-01-26T17:18:00.000-06:00

So I feel bad since I haven't blogged in a while. I have allowed myself to become absorbed with wedding stuff. By the way, my wedding dress came in! Shawn won't let me try it on until it is out of the house because he is freaked that something might happen to it. I have to wait to go up to my Aunt Carol's house which will be the holding area for it. Anyway....

Shawn and I have been talking about moving our office downstairs to where our bedroom is and our bedroom upstairs to where the office was. All of the common areas would be on the first floor and the bedroom would be up and away from everything. It seemed like a brilliant idea!

During the day, Shawn cleared out the BR and put all that furniture in the frontroom. When I got home, we started moving the office stuff downstairs. I knew it would be a pain in the butt because it was horrible when we first moved in. Well, we got all the office stuff down and it took some creativity to arrange the furniture to fit since the new office room would be smaller. Once we got it figured out, everything looked great in the new office.

Then we started to bring the BR stuff upstairs. It was getting late and I just wanted to get the bed up there so we could call it a night and finish the rest the next day. Shawn and I started bringing the box springs up through the stairway. All of a sudden, it wouldn't budge anymore. We had never thought to measure the mattress! After a few choice words, we decided to make it fit! It still wouldn't move. Shawn was stuck in the upper part of the stairs, contemplating lighting a cigarette if only he had one, and I was at the bottom not about to take no for an answer. I thought back to my old high school physics class about what would be the best way to approach this, but all I remember from physics is watching movies with the two Coreys like "license To Drive" and "The Lost Boys". No help from Mr. Wright. Thought about bringing the mattress outside and lifting it through the window. That wouldn't work either since the window was too small.

Finally I just looked at Shawn and said F$#& it and started just muscling it up there. We risked breaking the box springs or scratching the plaster but finally it got up there. Today, we will have to see if the dresser will make it.

American Idol

2007-01-25T22:36:00.000-06:00

They better boost their security. Sometimes the warning signs are so clear...

My fellow Chicagoans...

2007-01-23T00:11:00.000-06:00

Congratulations is definately due so enjoy yourselves. The Bears managed to scrape by on many games but I think they proved their worth. Grossman definately proved many people wrong, including me, I'll admit. That is all I'm going to say about that. Go Indy! Just joking. I'll be rooting for the Bears in the Superbowl becuase all of my friends are fanatics.

So...what else. Well I've watched many many videos on YouTube and there are some people on there that think they are Ceebrities. They actually charged a fee to their fans to watch them in some live webcam chat on Stickam. All so they could give the money to one of their friends because her computer broke. Strange people. Definately interesting to watch their mini dramas unfold. I cant help but wonder if these people have lives. Where do they get all the time to make videos on YouTube all day. Dont they have a job? I dont get it but I wish I had the time they seem to have.

Quick update for those who are interested in wedding planning.

Church - Booked
Reception - Booked
Photographer - Booked
Videographer - Booked
DJ - Booked

Still working on the guest list unfortunately, but it's coming along I guess. I'm starting to realize that we really dont have as much time as I thought we did. Overwhelming?? A little. Fun?? Definately. Exciting?? Absolutely!!! Drunk?? Pretty soon!

Kidding!

Oh yea...started working on some old videos that I needed to get up. So keep an eye out. Some new things to the blog coming up as well. Keep watching!

HECK WEEK IS OVER!

2007-01-18T13:42:00.000-06:00

Well I've made it to another milestone. Heck Week is now over. As described by QuitNet:

Heck Week
The week that follows Hell Week, usually less physically intense and characterized by a beginning acceptance of one's ex-smoking status.

My Stats: Your Quit Date is: 1/4/2007 4:00:00 AM
Time Smoke-Free: 14 days, 9 hours, 41 minutes and 20 seconds

Cigarettes NOT smoked: 173
Lifetime Saved: 1 day, 7 hours
Money Saved: $55.78

I think for me Heck Week was pretty easy. I'm starting to get some intense sore throats in the morning but they're usually gone after the mornings coffee. I guess that's alot better than lung cancer or heart problems.

Next milestone is 1 month quit. I think I can...I think I can...I think I can....I can...I can....I can...

What is wrong with Paula Abdul???

2007-01-15T09:36:00.000-06:00

I just saw her on Live with Regis and Kelly and that woman has some serious problems. Is she stupid, drunk, high??? I really can't figure it out....she has some serious problems and I can't put a finger on it. I used to love this chic when I was a kid. I seriously bought her cassette tapes because she was hot and I thought she was cool.

WOW! She is really messed up!

Check this out!

And this!

After seeing the second one, I think she is definately on some coke. See if you can catch her sniffing and all that wiggling around and the way she speaks.....ugh!