As stated the other day I'm updating my gym results. I did 20 minutes in the Ellipticle then worked my biceps, triceps, pecs, shoulders, abs, and legs. All in all I learned that I'm not as strong as I used to be and that I feel like a giant pussy now that I'm starting out with the gym again. I do, however, give myself a month before I feel good about my self again. I mean I've only been to the gym 3 times and I already feel pretty good. I already carry myself better, I walk taller and I like it.

So non-gym related news now. I went to a friend/former co-workers place today for a birthday party for a current co-worker and I had fun. I wasn't sure I was going to because I didn't really know how every one there felt about me. It was good; we had fun and drank and now I get to go to sleep and go to a wedding where there is NO alcohol... booooo... then another party tomorrow night, then easter, THEN the gym again monday night. YAY gym!

This past week.

This past week as been good to me. I played D&D with some friends, went to the Gym with Sara (which is a first for me since high school) and started a new project which I'm rather excited about.

First let me touch on the D&D game with my friends. You can read about it here. We currently meet every other saturday which is good. It allows everyone enough time to not get sick of it. I'm a little disapointed in the fact that with my new job I may have to work every Saturday. This really sucks because we just started this ritual a month ago. =(

The gym was fun, we only stayed for about a half an hour because Sara had to get to a bridal shower. I used the short stay to test myslef out on the equipment and see how worse off I am now compared to when I was in high school; which is the last time I went to a gym. The result you ask? Bad. I used to be able to leg press 500 lbs. (the max on the machine), I couldn't even move 500 lbs today and 250 lbs. gave me some trouble. I also tried the elliptical and was able to burn 75 calories in my little 10 minutes workout. Again, disappointing, just like the upper body workout I did. The result of this failed outting to the gym? I'm going to go 3 days a week and start off slow doing a total a body workout. I know I'm in better shape then a lot of other people I just need to work on the cardio hardcore and then tone up my muscles again.

This may sound a little unoriginal but I'm going to keep a weekly record of my gym progress on here. I'll update it every friday-ish. Why unoriginal? Because my buddy Jeremiah has been doing it for some time now.

Now my new project.
I'm almost apprehensive about posting it because I know how I am and I've tried this one before. Usually when I start something long term like this I don't follow through with it at all. I get a little ways in to it and then either lose interest in it or just give up.
So without any further or do here it is. I'm starting my own RPG game. I've talked about D&D and I've seen GURPS, Vampire, and all the others out there and I think, "Why can't I do that? Why can't I make an RPG the way I want to see it?" I won't give any details about it right now but I will give periodic updates on my progress. I will also ask that you lovely readers, both of you, poke and prod my on occasion to see how my progress is going.

That's all for now. I have a project to work on.

New Job

I had an interview today for Sangertown Mall Security. It went well and I start in two weeks. I've been wanting this job for around 3 months now. Simply for the fact that I really (I mean REALLY) need the money. $1.50 an hour more, more than twice the hours, and awesome benefits.

So that's what I did today, how about you?

Birthdays!

Oh man! Where does the time go? I deffinatly meant to update this A LOT sooner than I am. This past weekend was so busy and SO much fun. Let's break it down:

Friday, Feb 29th.
I'd been waiting for this day for quite awhile (a month actually) I finally got to start my DnD Campaign which is something that I'd been wanting to do for a long time and then leaving with me with a month was just "gamers hell". Granted it was a good thing because I really needed the time to prepare. If you want to see how that went then clicky here.

Saturday, March 1.
Didn't have any time to write up my DnD follow up notes on Saturday. Also didn't have time to start any new material for the next session (which will be two weeks from the 1st). I did, however, have just barely enough time to get things set up for Sara's birthday party. The party, by the way, was ok. Nothing like the other parties that I've grown accustom to having but that's what you get when you move in to a place thats "Quiet". yes I used the capital "Q" on purpose.
The party would have been ok if everyone didn't get scared of bad weather that never came. =(

Sunday, March 2.
This was actually Sara's birthday, I wished her a happy one btw. So did many other people with their crazy txt's. Now about a month ago her mom called me to tell me about these concert tickets that she had purchased for Sara. Her mom wanted me to somehow get her to take Monday off because she knew that would be out late in Syracuse (we were, for the record). Well she did get that Monday off which was good because we didn't get back untill almost 1 am. The concert we went to see... Martina McBride. Now... I don't like country music and that's me being nice about it but this concert was fun (shhhh don't tell Sara). I'm sure she knows it though, I had a blast making fun of all the hicks. I was lucky enough to be seated just behind to people with HUGE cowboy hats hahahaha I took a picture and sent it to my brother, he laughed as much as I did. Then there was the stereotypical red neck on the other side of the aisle. Let me describe him to you in case you don't already know: Short hair, old non-brand baseball style cap, carhart jacket, old faded jeans with assorted car fluid stains and some worn out boots to match the carhart. Just looking at him made me feel like I was staring in Deliverance.
So that was fun; before the concert we went to the Dinosaur BBQ and had a fantastic meal for under $30. Rachel Ray can eat THAT (shes a big enough pop icon to use her as a reference).

Almost forgot the best part of the concert, well two of them. The first is when she sang "This Ones for the Girl's" and all the guys where singing their asses off. Makes me laugh everytime. The second was this one drunk guy (and drunk is an understatement) he was headbanging to all the country songs and throwing up the horns. hahaha and it just kept getting better as the night went on.

Almost political

I like to stay away from political posts. I know that at least 75% of people out there don't share the same views as I do. With that being said a friend of mine actually managed to pissed me off with a blog post today. Believe me me when I say, that's a difficult task to do. This person is so intelligent and her being a Conservative Republican never really bothered me, in fact, it still doesn't. What does bother me though is this:

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY HAVE TO SHUT DOWN ENTIRE HIGHWAY FOR SOME GUY WHO ISN'T EVEN THE PRESIDENT!!! I Swear, they blocked me from getting on 75 for 10 mins, then once on 75 they had 20 in front and 20 behind police escorts, and they were going like 25 mph, so I WAS LIKE STUCK! Why would you hold a political rally on a weekday on a campus where ppl actually need to GET TO CAMPUS and GO TO CLASS, not be crowded out by some dipshit running for president. It totally interferred with my commute, and I think it's fucking ridiculus my tax dollars go to pay for vehicles to escort a man who isn't even president."

I mean this person is smart. Doesn't she realize that a black Muslim running for president this day and age should have some protection, seriously.

New Apartment

So it's done. Friday was a busy day. I had talked Sara into borrowing her dads pickup for the weekend so we could get all the moving done but the weather was so terrible out Friday when we went to pick up the keys to the new place that I didn't think it would work out well. I was right, the truck kept sliding all over the road. That's when I made the executive decision to rent a U-haul. Which ended up costing us $50 but that's not bad.
We were able to get everything done by Friday evening. Sara and I loaded the truck about 90% of the way then my brother got out of class and helped with the last 10%. We got the truck to the new apartment, unloaded it, got lunch, put most of the stuff in the rooms it belonged in, returned the U-haul, unpacked and set up the entire apartment all before 10 PM.

Saturday we went back to the old place to clean up a little and grab the little odds and ends that we hadn't gotten Friday. Then had a few people over to see the new place and have a few drinks. I'm not gonna lie, I just want to kick back and relax for a few days but I have to get ready for work now. Suck.

Still a few things we have to get: curtains, blinds, coffee table, end tables, lamps. Next month we're getting: new TV, entertainment center, I'm getting a bed (my brother got the one that I was using and I'm using an air mattress until I get my new bed. Then I need to get a better computer desk.

Ugg work, I really wish I didn't have 4 days of work ahead of me.

It's been awhile.

So yesterday my brother and I went to see the new new landlord and sign our lease. I was starting to get nervous because it'd been a month since we put the security deposit down and we still hadn't signed a lease. Granted I'd be much more worried if this was just an apartment in a house and not an apartment complex. It's hard to be shady when you run over 200 apartments.
So we got that done and out of the way, I have half of my stuff packed up now and I have to get the rest packed by tonight. My brother has a lot of packing to do also but we both have today off so we should be able to get all of that done.
Tomorrow will be fun, Sara has it off so she's getting her dads truck for the weekend. It'll save up about $100 on a Uhaul rental. My brother has class untill 3 so that leaves me with signing the keys out for the new place and doing the pre-inspection. Then Sara and I will start moving as much as we can. I'd like to have most of the stuff moved and set up when my brother gets out because, really, we don't have alot.

Also, check my dnd blog for another status update on that. You can check it here.

Valetines Day

It was fun! I woke Sara up with her present, I pretty Diamond necklace that I got for her. Now I hate buying jewelry for people. I've hated it ever since my first GF lost the $200 ring I bought her, mind you she lost it a week after she got it. =( Chris not happy. But that isn't Sara's fault so I thought I'd experiment. =D
So we awoke! Then did some V-day stuff, made some CD's to listen to on the trip, went to get gas, then food, and then we started on our way to Albany (thats the state capital if your bad at geography). First stop was Crossgates mall, which is fairly large when your mall sucks ass, we went there first because our primary destination wasn't open untill 3 and it was only 1ish. Now Crossgates mall is a little expensive; not the mall itself but everything in it, all the clothing stores are pretty bad. We killed some time there then went on to our real destination, which I suggest to anyone that goes to Albany, NY.

A.I.R. Rock Gym is a fun place, Climbing walls and tunnels for spelunking (which was the best part) made for a fun 5 hours and the price was right. Now before you can go through the tunnels you have to crawl through a tiny triangular box, that I have gotten a little stuck in.... Hey I'm not small ok. But I did eventually get through it and then I had a great time, except for that one incident. Which I guess I'll have to explain now. There's one part in the caves that I couldn't get through, not stuck, just to long to slink around the bends.

After that we we're starving, so we went to get some dinner, again Sara had a plan, and this one was good too. I'd never been to a TGI Fridays but have always seen the commercials on TV (we dont have one in Utica or the surrounding areas). So there was one not to far from where we were. So TGIF it was, and it was GOOD. I liked it. I also liked the Cold Stone Ice cream for desert and the Starbucks hot chocolate for the ride home.

I was so tired when we got back that I just passed out. Then I was sore the next day and I'm still a little sore today but just a bit, in my shoulders. It made me realize that I really do need to start going to the gym. I've put that on my list of things to do before summer, get to the gym regularly.

Batteries shouldn't die =(

Especially when they're required for work. Let's rewind that. I was doing my comp shop today (comparative shopping at wal-mart). I'm getting much faster by the way. The first time I did it it took me 8 hours to finish. This time, 6 weeks later, it took 4 hours. So I was close to finishing around 11:30 this morning, I start at 7am. I had 79 out of 490 items priced and ready to go and the stupid PDA battery died.
Now we've been having problems with this PDA since I we got it, about a month before I started shopping. So I didn't know if it was going to lose all the data I'd gathered. That would have made me not to happy seeing as how I was exhausted.
So I drove back to Target, put the PDA on the charger and went to tell my boss that it died and there was a possibilty that I'd be going back to Wally-World in about an hour to start my shop again. Luckily... I think (I do need the money) ...when the PDA had charged enough it booted right up and hadn't lost any information. That made me happy. I didn't even care that I didn't finish finding every item and I just uploaded what I had and had lunch with Sara. Then came home.

Hung out with my brother for awhile, talked to the other guy at work and got him to switch a few days with me so I can move next weekend. I worked my campaign for DnD (Progress can be tracked here). Watched one of the worst movies ever, if you can call it a movie, Highlander 5. Now I'm a fan of the highlander series. I liked most of the other movies and I loved the series (not raven though, that one was ass). This movie though *shudders* this one was on par with Dragon Wars. Need I say more?

Damn it feels good to....

CALL IN! I miss doing it. unfortunatly when I used to call in it was to fuck around with my friends. This time it's a combination of hating work and needing to get a lot of shit done around the house: packing, moving, DnD campaign, V-Day prep, etc, etc.

The DnD campaign is going well. I don't have a lot of stuff writen down but I do have a ton of ideas. I just need to lay them out and write them down so I know how they're all going to fall into place. Lots of powerful items being made for people to find, of course they may lose a party member or two trying to get them.

V-day, Sara has a lot planned for me and I only know what one of those things is but I'm looking forward to it. I love surprises! I didn't plan anything myself because she seems to have it all taken care of. Yay Sara! But I did get her something. I'd say what but she reads this... tricky little girl.

Packing and moving can get lumped all together. I just called the landlord to see if everything was ready for us to start moving stuff in and it's not. suck. So that means that packing will move down in priorities for awhile and the DnD campaign will move up. Shhhh it only takes me a few hours to pack my stuff, I don't have a lot of it.

Oh! Also, I have a little bit of money coming in from the sale of my grams' house. It's not alot but I should be able to get a nice car and pay off all my debt. Which is a huge boost for me. So all in all things are going great.

Another blogspot

So I started a blogspot to coincide with my DnD gaming, mostly my DMing. When I get a chance to play a character I'll start a new one that will be his journal. Both should be entertaining. Anyway here is the new DMers blog.

Interviews

I like them, mostly. I've never had a problem with an interview. As long as I can remember if I've really wanted a job then I've gotten it. Well I really wanted this job untill I found out that I wouldnt be compensated for travel expenses (it's a travel heavy job) but I still went through with all three interviews. I don't know how it's going to work out there. Especially since there were 2 other people there interviewing for the same position, I don't feel threatened by half of them in case you're wondering.

For the record this is the job that I really wanted, like really really wanted. But I do have a backup plan, because thats what I do. I make sure I don't get fucked and right now I am.

So I got up at 6:30 this morning, drove to Syracuse, had my interviews, then drove back home to have some lunch around 2. Now I have to go to Hamilton College to take my 8 hour NYS Guard course so I can actually be considered for this second job. Here comes the fun.....

It's dark, and hell is hot

In the past few months I've been spending more time with my friends than I had been. It's good but I haven't been hanging out with them all together. So yesterday when I was at iHop with Howard and Krista we decided that we haven't had a good DnD session in a while. Our problem then was figuring out who was going to run it. Since no one ever wants to run a campaign, we all want to be players. Well I gave in, It's not to bad DMing and I have about a month to get things together. So I'll have plenty of time making sure there is a ton of things for the players to do.

Sara is going to attempt to learn to play. I say attempt not because I don't think she can do it, she's smart and should be able to pick up on it, but DnD just isn't for everyone. I just hope that if she doesn't like it she doesn't try to still play because she thinks thats what I want her to do. Howard will be running a mini-campaign before we start ours so Sara can get the hang out how it works. It was my idea, actually more of a stipulation, to me running a campaign. Not to be mean but I don't want a first timer to be in a campaign that's supposed to be long term even though I'm sure one of the "seasoned" players will get the whole party killed by the second session.

Haha. You can always count on Howard or Keith for a party wipe!

It's about time we got a decent snow storm.

It really is. I miss these days. It's to bad it's not really snow, it's sleet. 3 inches of sleet and now its freezing rain (yes there is a difference for all you non-northeastern people) which means we'll have a wonderful time digging out tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I love this weather, especially when it's not to cold out, like it is now. It's a nice 30 degrees out which is warm enough for me. But man, that wind, it sucks. . 30+ MPH winds are not cool.

It's a little sad that we had to wait until February to have a snow emergency issued for the city. I remember a time when we would have had 3 of them before the new year. Those were when blizzards were really fun though, when schools got closed and you and all your friends would go out into the freezing weather anyway just to play. If school wasn't closed it would have been to cold to do anything but when all your friends have the day off too it's a completely different story.

I remember one time, I was about 14, the plow was coming down the street and the snow looked like a wave. I thought it would fun to stand by the side of the street and let the wave hit me. . . . it was fun alright. I was knocked over by this "wave" and buried up to my waist. Good times hahaha.

Then there was that time I built a multi-level snow fort and subsequently had it cave in on me. =( not so fun. But i dug out of it and I'm fine so that makes it not so bad. Another memory addes and a story for the kids later in life.

This was x-posted in my Live Journal.

Taxes

So I went and played poker last night like I usually do on thursdays. Despite only having $40 to my name and it costing $20 to play, I still went. I know it doesn't sound like the best idea when there's still a week untill I get paid but ya know what? I've been doing this every thursday for the last 2+ years and I could have won $240. Anyway. . I woke up this morning and my federal tax return was sitting in my checking account.

YAY IRS! I never thought anyone would say that. ha.

So that helps. alot. Since I'm not making any money "working". Part time sucks ass, especially when youwere hired for part time and promised full time. 5 more days untill that test, then "hello new job"!

Cleverness

It works for me, being clever, and it works well I might add. But it's really difficult to come up with clever things all the time. Especially when you're sitting in front of your computer at 1:30 in the morning trying to think of something clever to write. I was really hoping to write out some long witty post about. . . something but all I got was this.

BORING!

On another note. Only 5 more days untill I take my 8 hour NY State Security Guard test. Then on to bigger, better things? Well difinately higher paying things and that's all that matters right now isn't it.

A brownie in the morning followed by brushing your teeth will result in a burp akin to a peppermint patty. Mmmm!

If you try to force another though you risk vomiting in your mouth.

=(

That is all for now.

So many

There are so many things that I want to do but I can't. For one, I can't afford it. Two, I don't want to really start anything untill after I move into my new apartment. Which really sucks. When your roommates are so slobish (it's a word because I said so) that you don't want to do anything in your house.

I miss cooking.

Not a random thought, cooking is one of the things that I can't wait to start doing again. In the past four months I think I've cooked maybe 5 times and those have all been at Sara's house. It's all good though, she likes it.

Next on the list of things that I want to do: Go to the gym. Sara and I talked about being gym buddies but with us having seperate work scheduals it's difficult. So, new job = new schedual = gym with Sara.

Gym + Cooking my own food = More energy for me.

Which is something that I need. Especially in the winter, I always feel so drained this time of year.

Things to come.

So in my last post I talked about a website (http://www.gryphsgames.com/) that I made and then subsequently abandoned. Well Starting next weekend, February 1st, I will begin updating that site again. I don't know how well it will be or how frequent the updates will be but I am open to some hints, tips, suggestions and/or help.
I also will be making a conscious effort to update my live journal at least once a week and this blog every other day. Which for me is a big change. Usually when I try to be more active in my online persona it's because my offline life has gone into the shitter. Well, not this time.

In fact this time it's the complete opposite. My life is great! I have an awesome girlfriend, an OK job with a terrific promotional opportunity (that, unfortunately, I don't think I'll get), another job lined up that pays a lot more than my current job (but less than the promotional job) and a new apartment to move into around the end of February.
So I guess you could say I actually have a lot to write about. I'll also be shamelessly plugging my website and LJ because, well, what else do people do?

First Post

So for as long as I can remember I've always wanted to start my own business. Be my own boss, come up with my own ideas for MY business, that sort of thing.

Unfortunatly that hasn't happened. Yet. But I don't know when it will ever happen. I have these great ideas but they all require me to have a lot more money than I do. I've thought about finding an investor or 16 to help with the funds but most of them don't like to put their money on the line when they're being pitched by someone with no college education. Don't get me wrong, I see where they're coming from. If someone told me they couldn't finish college because they couldn't pay THAT bill why would I want to entrust $100,000+ of MY money to that same person.
I've even had some people tell me that my idea was "GREAT!" "FANTASTIC!" "WONDERFUL!" but "no education" equals "no money"

Another problem I have is coming up with small ideas and going forward with them. Here's an example: I started a website that was supposed to report on up and coming fantasy/sci-fi movies, tv shows and games. I came up with the idea one night after I had spent several hours searching for something related to do. So I created the website! Searched endlessly for new games, tv shows and movies that hadn't had much publicity. I found a game that looked good, still in devolopment at the time.. hell still in devolopment now! but looked good, the devolopers had great ideas. I emailed the lead devoloper with a few questions; the last of which was "would it be ok if I replicated your news posts on my site? I really want to help build the hype for this", to which the reply was "Yes! We'll take as much as we can get."
Approximatly 2 weeks later I lost interest in the site. I was in school at the time and it was taking to much time to try to find new content. I asked my friends at school if they would be interested in joining a small start up iCompany (new word right there, you heard it here first) but no one wanted to. So that project died (sad face).

Don't get me wrong. I don't mind working hard, long hours but I don't mind a little help on occasion either. So here's something that I would like to ask anyone reading this. What are some things that I can do, from home, to make some extra money?
And please nothing that I need to "invest" money into first. I look at all of those as scams.