In happier news

I had a pretty good weekend. It had a few minor bumps in it, but overall it was good.

I guess I'll briefly go over the minor bump first. Early on Friday, I went to go fight a parking ticket I got about 3 weeks ago. It was an unfair ticket saying that I was blocking a pedestrian ramp when I parked at Ariana's one night. That was BS, b/c I didn't block the ramp. When I got to the car in the morning, I saw the ticket and was super pissed, b/c when I went behind the car to double check (even though I had checked the night before, just to be sure I wouldn't get a ticket), I was more than a foot away from the ramp. I even had my roll of measuring tape we had used for the apartment on me, and we took pictures proving that I was a full 18 inches away from the ramp.

So I brought the printed out pictures as well as a notarized letter from Ariana stating that she was a witness to when I parked, and went to fight the ticket. But sadly, the judge was a jerk who kept making stuff up that I couldn't prove (like asking for a pic of the front of the car, when there WAS a pic showing the entire car. He said it wasn't good enough b/c it wasn't of the sidewalk to prove I wasn't blocking another ramp. It's like HELLO, where in all of NYC are there pedestrian ramps less than 5 feet from each other??? Especially in that area!!). But the biggest point of contention was that I had no proof that I didn't move the car and take the pics after.

So I kept pleading with the guy, and stated all the facts but he wouldn't budge and just said "you gave a valiant effort." Jackass...

Really sucked b/c it was a $165 ticket too, and he wouldn't even reduce it. I mean, if I was guilty, I am so damn busy I would have just chalked it up as a loss and paid it. But I was innocent and got a ticket for nothing. So unfair...

But alas, as I stated, that was just a minor bump in the road. The rest of the weekend was good.

I spent the rest of Friday fixing up the new apartment. My grandfather, Ariana, my mom and her husband all came by to help, and we did a lot more paint scraping and we started the compoundng too. We were pretty proud of the work we accomplished that day.

Later that night, me and Ariana swung by Barnes & Noble to pick up "Train tickets" to be able to line up and get our copies of the new Harry Potter book at Midnight. The line was really long just to get the ticket. And it was funny, b/c they gave you another kind of ticket when we were on the line. So basically, we got a ticket, to get a ticket to get the book. It just seemed OVER organized.

And in the end, it was worthless b/c me & Ariana decided we didn't want to deal with the crowd (or be susceptible to spoilers), so we didn't even go. We drove my mom and her husband to the airport at midnight (since they had a VERY early flight to California in the morning and didn't want to leave at 4:30 in the morning, and decided to just spend the night in the airport).

-The next day (Saturday), Ariana and I went early in the morning to Barnes & Noble to finally pick up the new Harry Potter book. Then we met up with Jordan, Maryann and her brother Leo, for all of us to go to IKEA. Me & Ariana were going to order our kitchen cabinets and stuff, while Leo was going so Maryann could get him a tv stand and a computer desk & chair.

We spent a good portion of the day there. About halfway through the day, we were getting hungry, so we decided to stop at the cafeteria in the IKEA before we went through the whole process of buying the kitchen. But sadly, there had been a water main break in the area, so there was no water in the building (or in surrounding buildings) for the kitchens. So basically we were stuck without food. We didn't want to drive somewhere else to have to come back (since there isn't anything right in the area), so we figured "let's just get the kitchen, and we'll run out to eat right after."

Putting the whole kitchen together took awhile though. Between choosing the type of cabinets we wanted, measuring the parts out, and inputing everything into the cool computer program they had to build the kitchen, it took just under two hours.

So we printed out our info, and went to the area clerk for him to input everything for us, to purchase. And at that point, he tells us that the set we've picked is being discontinued. And as he is entering the items, he begins to tell us that certain cabinet doors are unavailable at the warehouse. So we had two options, order the set anyway, and hope they could get the missing part at another warehouse in the country (which puts us at risk, b/c if they wound up not having them, we'd be SCREWED), or pick out a whole new set.

We weren't very happy with either option, and we pretty upset at the situation. We were pissed that we spent so much time working on a kitchen they didn't have in stock. The computer should have let us know the pieces we were selecting were discontinued to prevent all this from happening. And being very hungry from not eating for about 8 hours, was not helping our moods.

Luckily, the guy helping us was very nice, and suggested a different kitchen set that looked very similar to the one we originally wanted. There was even a display of it nearby (there wasn't a display of the original, so at least we got to see how this one would actually look once completed). Another highlight, was that there were glass cabinets available for this new set, so we got glass doors for two of the cabinets. And last but not least, the entire set came out to about $800 cheaper. So even though, we were very upset at the situation at first, I had said a quick prayer, and it all worked out in the end. Not only did it work out, but it worked out for the better. God truly works in mysterious ways.

So that made us very happy with our purchases for the day.

****

Ariana and I spent almost the entire day on Sunday reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We've both been pretty scared to run across spoilers so we want to finish the book as soon as possible to avoid them at all costs.

So we read for about half the day, and the other half we spent visiting my grandparents (who made us dinner), and then going to Phil & Ketrin's new place for our very first wrestling PPV there. So all in all it was a good day.

****

I'm gonna skip ahead just a bit and also let everyone know that my WWF Winged Eagle Championship belt came in the mail yesterday (that was pretty quick!). This thing is freakin awesome! It's huge, and fairly heavy as well. Sadly, with my mom and her husband on vacation I had no one to take any pictures of me with it, but trust me that will happen the next time Ariana comes over, lol. I will post them as soon as I have them. Just know that it rocks, and I am extremely happy with my purchase.

****

Last but not least, I got a call this morning that all the stuff we ordered at Home Depot for the bathroom (the tiles) came in today, so I will be picking them up either tonight or tomorrow. All more parts of being a real homeowner! It's pretty exciting!

A mild form of comfort

In life, girls tend to buy shoes to cheer themselves up when they are feeling down. I buy WWF Championship belts. :-)Above is a pic of my new purchase. As you can see, I finally decided on which belt to buy and went with the WWF Winged Eagle title (the one from 1988-1998 which was held by Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Diesel, Shawn Michaels, etc), as it represents a happier time in wrestling (as well as when I first started watching). I also purchased a new DX shirt as my old one was showing its years of wear and tear. It's a small consolation for the crappy day I've had so far, but it helps! I can't wait for them to arrive!

Frustrated...

I just got off the phone with an Elder Law lawyer, in reference to my dad's situation and I did not get good news.

James referred me to this lawyer, and she seems to be very knowledgeable. She was also very nice, it's just that the information she gave me doesn't bode well for my dad's situation.

Basically I want to try to protect my dad's assets while putting him on Medicaid to pay for his nursing home stay (his insurance is currently covering it, but that won't last for long).

However, I was pretty much told I can't do anything to save his assets. My dad owns a co-op apartment, and has a bit of money in the bank (which I had already transferred most of it out to my account). The lawyer said, that in order to have him qualify for public assistance he needs to spend down all his assets- including the co-op and money in the bank (so I might even have to put back the money I withdrew from his account). They'll make me sell his co-op, and take all his money in order to pay for the nursing home. Then when he basically has nothing left (which will be shortly b/c nursing homes generally run for about $12,000 per month), that's when he will be put on Medicaid.

I asked her what would happen with him if/when he were to get better? He'd have nowhere to live and no money! What could possibly be done in that case? She told me there are a few programs we could look into, but that she'd go through all our options when we met face to face.

So I have a meeting with her on Monday at 2pm (meaning I'll either have to take a half-day, which I don't have or a "sick" day). I'm praying there is some way we can sort things out without him having to lose everything.

This situation just really sucks... because the way it looks, there is no win here. If my dad gets better: great! But then he has nowhere to live and no savings to live off of. But if the worse happens, and he passes, all his assets are gone so we his children wouldn't even get the slight consolation of inheriting anything. I'm not trying to sound selfish or anything with that latter statement, but that just BLOWS. My dad worked hard for the little he has and now we his children and rightful inheritors don't get anything b/c of the damn government?!?! it just pisses me off. Freakin healthcare system... I can't wait to go see that movie Sicko. It'll probably piss me off even more, but at least I'll have more knowledge about the situation to fuel my fire. And trust me, I'd get organized and write and call local gov't representatives.

But I won't rant much longer at the moment. I'll wait til after I have my meeting with the lawyer and she runs me through all the options we have. Hopefully, things will turn out better than I am currently seeing them.

This is pretty major stuff and I'm clueless when it comes to it all, as Thank God I've never had to go through it before. But as a newbie, it's confusing and intimidating. So please keep me and my family in your prayers. Especially my mental health, cuz this stuff is driving me nuts. Thanks again!

Stress...

I have been pretty stressed out lately. Lots of little things and a few big things have come up that have me running around like a nut.

There are the 3 big things: the wedding, the apartment and my dad. Each would be a pretty stressful and busy situation on their own. The three of them together have been quite impactful on me.

Wedding planning is stressful b/c of the time limit. Don't get me wrong, a lot of it is fun and exciting, and I'm very much looking forward to the wedding. It's just that we have lots of stuff to do, and each part must be done by a certain time. Thank God that things have been falling into place little by little, but it's still something we are constantly busy with. Just this past weekend we spent the full first half of the day Saturday looking over and finally choosing wedding invitations. So that was at least one more item to cross off our lists. Then the rest of the day we spent busy with registry stuff.

Sadly, overall we got a later start to that than we would have liked (but that is due to the other busy things going on). I know there will be a bridal shower and stuff, so we're on a time-crunch to have a bunch of stuff in the registry for that. And we have some stuff, but it's just been hard to get our butts to the stores. I mean it is fun to do, but it's a lot of stuff to look through. And it was especially hard at first since we didn't have the apartment when we began, so we didn't know what colors we'd be having for the bathroom, kitchen and bedrooms. So we couldn't just put any random stuff on the registry.

We've narrowed down stuff, but at the same time, we've been debating changing one of the stores we have a registry at to another place b/c the original place is going through a fairly big overhaul and not having a lot of the stuff we need. So we'll see how that plays out.

And then we gotta pick out a wedding band for myself, research flowers, look into tuxes for myself and possibly for the best men (whether I should buy or rent), and then the limo. So yeah, we still have a decent amount of stuff left to do.

****

Then there is the apartment. it's great to be a homeowner, but being in a co-op has it's plusses and minuses. Co-ops have a lot of rules that I'm sure I will appreciate once we are fully moved in and living there, but as someone trying to fix up and move in- the rules can be a huge pain.

We can only do renovation work on Monday through Friday between the hours of 8am-5pm. Which are the hours most normal people are at work. Same goes for when we eventually move in. We'll have to take off to do that. Which is a pain. Cuz the only stuff that can be done on weekends is minor and quiet work, such as painting.

Also, we have to get permits and permission for everything! And everything takes time, and then we have to get in contact with contractors and stuff, which is something I have NO experience with whatsoever. Thank God Jordan is helping us out so much with that stuff, b/c I would be LOST otherwise. I'm just praying everything works out and that the people that he knows and who helped him with his place will be available to help with fixing my place when we need them.

Right now we're in a little bit of limbo with the apartment. We need to file permits with the city, but we need the contractors first. But we also need to buy the kitchen cabinets, counters, floor tiles, etc. We'll be getting that on Saturday (well ordering them at least). But still, everything is taking longer than we originally hoped/expected.

Granted, we knew we were going to be in a time crunch. We had hoped to have closed on the apartment at the end of May, but due to incompetence of the seller's lawyer we got delayed by pretty much a full month. And that threw our schedule off big time. I knew the work on our place would take MINIMUM 6-8 weeks, and more towards the latter. And now we got a later start, and things are going slower than expected, so my hope of being in by the end of August is slipping away more and more everyday.

And that really sucks and has me stressed b/c it's easy for me to take vacation in the summer b/c schools are closed. But going into September is harder b/c at that point we'll be back in the schools. So my boss won't be thrilled with me taking a full week off at that time.

And speaking of school, I will also be back in class by that point, so that's going to be a lot to handle all at once (fixing/moving into apartment, last minute wedding stuff and reading/studying for class). So I'm becoming stressed just thinking about that.

School as a whole might be giving me issues. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I'm hoping I don't have issues registering for the fall semester. I had to take incompletes for my 2 spring classes due to everything with my dad. So I hope it won't effect me negatively for registration (I could just see me having to meet with deans and getting overrides and having to spend more time dealing with this than I have available. I just pray that is not the case).

Plus, I still need to finish the work I need to turn in to get rid of those incompletes. And while I technically have until December, I don't want to be doing that work at the same time I'm doing the schoolwork for the fall semester. I was planning on using the summer for that, but with everything that's been going on, I haven't even had a chance to touch that work yet...

The final annoying thing about school will be that I still have yet to take the GRE's. Initially, I was told by the dean of the program, that I probably wouldn't have to take them due to my experience and stuff. But then at the end of my first semester she seemed to have changed her mind. They wound up putting a block on my account and I wasn't able to register for the spring semester at first. I had to go and explain the situation and get an override but then I was told I'd need to take the exam and submit the scores before the next registration b/c they would not waive me again.

So now I gotta take that damn test before the summer ends. And granted the dean told me it doesn't matter what score I get b/c I'm already in the program and it's solely given so we "understand the experience of the high school students when they have to take tests such as the SATs." It's SUCH BS and such a waste of my time AND money (the test costs like $100, which I could use for things so much more important at this time in my life). So I'm tempted to just go into the test cold and just BS answers and be done with it. But there is the prideful side of me that wants to do well. As well as the paranoid side that has me thinking if I do really bad on this exam it would reflect poorly on me, especially since I started the program on a probationary basis- regardless of what the dean told me.

****

Lastly, there is the whole situation with my dad. That has just been a huge emotional rollercoaster. He had been making really good progress and all our hopes were high, but then he got an infection and had to be sent to the hospital around June 23rd. He was there for about 2 weeks, and that time in the hospital really set his progress back. I don't know what it was- the sickness, being drugged up on meds and painkillers, being frustrated at being in the hospital again, losing out on his occupational therapy, or what, but my dad has taken a few steps backwards.

He's been back in the nursing home for about a week and a half now, but he's not yet back to the condition he was before he went into the hospital. Before he got sick, he was moving his right arm, trying to move the left arm as well as his legs. He was able to respond by nodding or shaking his head, and he even TALKED. Now he's barely doing any of those things. He was just lying there in bed.

I went to visit him a few times this past weekend. He looked a little better on Friday, and better still on both Sunday and Monday, so I'm hoping this is a good sign and that he will be back to the condition he was at before going to the hospital, so he can progress PAST that state, but I just don't know.

So yeah, that is really frustrating. Obviously, I still have hope, and continue to pray for him, but it's really hard to see him just lying there so helpless. It breaks my heart everytime I go visit him.

Making things worse is he developed a bedsore. I knew he had one from when he was initially in the hospital, and they continued to treat it at the nursing home. But I didn't really know exactly what a bedsore was. I figured it was some kind of black and blue sore or something. Well, I finally saw it for the first time a few days into my dad's most recent hospital stay. And oh my God, I was not prepared for what I saw. It was one of the most disgusting wounds I've ever seen. It was definitely the worst thing I've ever seen in person.

And while I know the sore is being treated (and is doing better, as I saw it again on Friday), I know it's still there, and that it HAS to be painful for dad (or at the least quite uncomfortable). So my heart just aches for him. It brings tears to my eyes even as I write this.

And that's just ONE part of my dad's situation. The other major part is that his insurance will soon be running out when it comes to covering the nursing home. So I know the step after that will be for him to be put on Medicaid. The issue with that is to be on Medicaid, you can't have ANYTHING to your name. You're allowed $1500 in assets and that is IT.

Thankfully, I was able to get power of attorney during one point when my dad was in a coherent state. So I went to his bank and basically wiped out his account by transferring it to myself. So at least they won't get that money.

But the main issue is his co-op apartment. He owns it, meaning Medicaid will basically take it away. I can't allow them to do that. I was initially just going to try to put my name on the certificate and stuff as well. But I was told that wouldn't be good enough. I have to take his name COMPLETELY off everything and have it transferred to myself. And that takes lawyers and stuff.

So I basically have to find a lawyer, who specializes in Elder Law, and get all this stuff taken care of, and have it done as soon as possible (probably by the end of August at the latest).

So once again, the word of the day is: STRESS!

And then to add to it (yes, there is more… just when you thought it was over, right?) my boss decides NOW of all times he needs to tighten the rules in the office.

Now I'm going to share something with everyone. It's not to make you all jealous or anything, but just so you can see where I am coming from.

We've gotten away with murder at my job. Our job is VERY laid back. Although let me clarify this is in the summertime- not the school year.

We would show up at like 11:00am, take lunch and then leave at like 3:30-4:00pm sometimes (not everyday, sometimes it was one or the other, but sometimes we did all of that in one day). We were able to get away with this for two reasons: a) we're in the basement of Hughes Hall, basically separated from EVERYONE, so we have no one looking over us. Thus, we can take a few liberties. But the main reason b) is that we do NOTHING in the summer. We are school counselors. In the summer, there is no school. So we have almost no work. All we have to do is finish filing the folders for all the students in the program and input that information into the database. That is IT! And honestly, that work could be done during our Friday office days during the school year, but we tend to save it for the summer, just so we have something to pass the time at work. And in the end, it's not that much work. If I worked on it for 7 hours a day, I'd be done with everything in less than 2 weeks. Heck, I could probably bang it out in one week, since I'm pretty fast.

But my boss got kind of scared b/c we are one program under an umbrella of two programs. The other program is located at FMH. And they were pulling the same stunts that we were. The problem with that is, FMH is where payroll, human resources and a few other high offices are located. So they were idiots to pull the same kind of crap in that area. And they got noticed and were basically told to cut it out. So now my boss is freaking out that we will be caught and reprimanded (which wouldn't happen, b/c we are basically the forgotten program here at Fordham. They honestly don't care much about us one way or another). But try telling him that.

So he started implementing all these new rules, and is being a lot stricter with our time. We basically now HAVE to hold a 9-5 schedule. He'll allow us to come in at 10, but only if we use that as our lunch hour. And granted, this is NORMAL for any other job out there. But not my job.

We were used to things running a certain way, and now we have to get used to a brand new way of working. And you know what? I don't really have a problem with that. It's the way things should be, EXCEPT this was the ONE summer I was really depending on my job's lax attitude towards hours b/c I used up ALL my personal and vacation days in April with everything that happened with my father. So with the aforementioned wedding planning, apartment work, running errands for dad, school work, etc. I was really counting on having those extra hours to do those things without having to take time off. So this change in policy has thrown a huge wrench into the works.

And like I said, I know I'm not in much of a position to complain about office policies considering what we've gotten away with in the past, but it just figures that it all came at this time of the year. I wouldn't even be as upset if this was implemented last summer. Because even though I'd be in the same position, at least I would have come in expecting it. This came about pretty suddenly. And even though my boss gave a small warning that changes were going to come, we all kind of shrugged it off, b/c he says that almost every year and nothing would ever happen, b/c he was just as bad as we were (if not worse). But this time he's sticking to his guns, so I'm just annoyed that it had to happen NOW of all times.

****

And those are the major issues I'm dealing with right now. But of course there are always the little things that occur on top of everything else (which I won't even mention here), so it's just a lot to deal with.

I don't know how I've been doing it. Well, that's not true. I do know, and the reason why is my faith in God. I've been praying a LOT lately. And I made a promise to myself and God at the beginning of the year to read through the entire Bible, b/c it's been a few years since I've really read it outside of church, and I don't want to base my faith on memories of readings from when I was a child or even a teenager. I want to really know and understand everything that goes along with the real Christian faith.

So that has been very rewarding, and has helped me cope with all the situations I have gone through (and are going through) this year. But while I may be coping with things a lot better than other people in similar situations might be, it's still a lot to handle. It's human nature to worry and stress over certain things. Especially with the issues that I'm having now.

In the end, I don't know what the real purpose of this post was… I guess just to vent a little (although I'm not expecting anything from anyone). I more just wanted to put my thoughts down on "paper." and just ask once again that you all keep me and my family in your prayers, because we can really use it.

Also, thank you to everyone who has supported me in this crazy time. Especially those of you who have really stepped up and are doing things for me that are above and beyond what I would/could have asked for. You guys are awesome!

God Bless!

JE

Kwik-E-Mart pics

And here are the pics I took at the Kwik-E-Mart that I promised. Feel free to comment away. There are a lot more here than what I posted on myspace, so check them out.

Kwik-E-Mart

A jam-packed beginning to July.

Last week was an extremely busy for both me and Ariana. It was packed with both errands as well as social gatherings.

Things started out with a Yankee game on Monday night. It was the Yankees vs Twins, and Clemens was pitching for the Yanks that night. He pitched pretty well and the Yankees won 5-1.

****

On Tuesday, after work I went to New Roc with Ariana, Jordan, Rob, Henry & Viviana to see Transformers on the Giant Screen. The movie was pretty sweet. I think it was as faithful an adaptation as could be hoped for, for a Hollywood movie. So we all enjoyed it.

After the movie, we decided to grab a late dinner at Tequila Sunrise and met up with Goombah and James there. So we hung out there for awhile, but then headed home as we had an early morning the next day.

****

Wednesday was the Fourth of July and my first of about 5 days off. So I started my day by watching the Annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. It was insane as Joey Chestnut absolutely shattered the world record and ate an astonishing (and disgusting) 66 hot dogs and buns! I watched with my mom and we were both just amazed at how these people can eat so much. Seriously, 66 hot dogs, that's a lot! Next time you're in the supermarket, grab 8 packs of hot dogs (which come in 8) and stack them up. Where the hell do you put all that??? That stack would be higher and even wider (if you did four and four) than most of our stomachs and chests combined. And that's not including the buns! Crazy!

After watching the contest, I picked up Ariana and then we headed over to Rob's place for a Fourth of July BBQ. As soon as I walked into the place, James came right over to me all like "dude, check out his backyard." So when I went to the back I discovered that it was freakin HUGE. Immediately a grin came to my face and when I turned around I saw my grin mirrored back at me in James face as he nodded. Then we were like "WeddingMania is SO going down!!"

We went outside to scope out the area and there is a perfect spot to put the ring. Rob also has a terrace with stairs and a walkway, which could be used as an entrance ramp. So I took pics of the place to show Chaz so we could all mark out at the possibility that this might really occur.

And I just have to mention that the rest of Rob's place was pretty cool as well. The entire inside of the house is like a time capsule back into the 70's. He still has those old school TV's that were attached to the record player and stuff (which my family also used to own when I was young). I felt like I was in the house from That 70's Show. There was also a basement area that reminded me exactly of Eric's basement from the show. All that was missing was us huddled in the circle, lol.

As for the Fourth of July activities themselves, it was a lot of fun. The girls cooked the food (which was delicious), we then played some touch football (and even though I sucked for the most part I did make one pretty good play). Then half of our group played a very long game of Trivial Pursuit while the rest of us played Guitar Hero and Wii Sports. Rob also had his original NES set up, so some people played a bunch of rounds of Mike Tyson's Punch Out.

Then, as soon as it was dark enough, we went outside for Joe and Jordan to put on a fireworks show for us, with the ton of illegal fireworks Joe brought with him. There was another house near us doing the same, so it was a bit of a battle between us, but we wound up losing cuz they had prettier fireworks than we did, lol. It was a lot of fun though. And at one point I had a great idea after seeing Joe set up a bunch of sparkler fireworks off on the edge of the terrace. So I asked him to do it again, but this time I went on the ground below the terrace to have the sparkler fireworks going off behind me, so I could pose like the wrestler's do at the entrance ramps with their fireworks. So that was pretty amusing.

****

Thursday was mostly a day of errands. I had to do stuff for my dad (bank and co-op stuff) as well as picking up the renovation permits from city hall in Mount Vernon for my own apartment.

Then in the early evening (around 5pm), I met up with Ariana and we went downtown. When we got there, we headed over to the 7-11 over on 42nd Street between 8th & 9th Ave, b/c it had been converted into a Kwik-E-Mart to promote the Simpsons movie. Henry had called to tell me about it on Sunday, so I was looking forward to going all week long. I brought my camera and we took a ton of great pics (which I will post links to in a post in the near future).

Then we met up with Patty, Joe, Pete, Kate, Bryan, Athena, Katarina and 2 of her friends to go see Avenue Q on Broadway. I had seen the play about two years ago, when me & Ariana had gone for our anniversary. It's such a fun show though, that I had been looking forward to going again for awhile. So it was really cool that I found such a good discount deal online so we could all go. I think we all had a great time that night, so it was a success.

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On Friday, Ariana & I picked up Patty and Maryann so they could help us do more registry research and shopping. We did that for a few hours, and then we went to go grab food to bring back to Jordan & Maryann's place. We went to Pizza Pizza, which is the place I mentioned the guy's ordered "man pizzas" from a few months back during our Guy's Movie day. I got two slices of pizza: one was a bacon slice and the other was a BBQ Rib Slice.

When I started to eat the bacon slice, it was so packed with bacon that a lot of it started to fall off. So rather than having it go to waste, I took the excess bacon and put it on my BBQ Spare rib slice in order to make the Ultimate "Man Pizza." It was freakin delicious.

Then we just spent the rest of the night just hanging out. We wound up watching Idiocracy again, b/c Joe & Patty hadn't seen it. It was still hilarious the second time around: "Oww, my balls!"

"It's got electrolytes. It's what plants crave!" (You'll have to see the movie to get each of these quote, but trust me they are hysterical in context).

Before we left for the night we brought Joe & Patty down to our apartment to show it to them. So they'll be able to tell you all how it looked before we fix it.

We then headed home, b/c we knew we had a very long day ahead of us on Saturday.

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We woke up pretty early on Saturday and headed down to Port Authority to meet up with Rachael. Then the three of us took a shuttle out to Giants Stadium for the Live Earth concert.

I was somehow able to score ridiculously good seats to the show. We were in Sec 130 in the first row. (Basically, we were right over the heads of the people on the ground, so it was a great view)!

The acts that performed (in order) were:
Kenna
KT Tunstall
Taking Back Sunday
Keith Urban
Ludacris
AFI
Fall Out Boy
Akon
John Mayer
Melissa Etheridge
Alicia Keys
Dave Matthews Band
Kelly Clarkson
Kanye West
Bon Jovi
Smashing Pumpkins
Roger Waters
The Police

It was an awesome event. I thought it was really well organized. There was something happening every moment. They had a revolving stage so as one band was playing the road crew was setting up the next band. So a band would play, the stage would turn, a video would play on the big screens of a song from one of the other shows around the world (mostly London) and sometimes someone would come out to talk about the environment, then a celebrity would come out to intro the next band and then the band would play- wash, rinse, repeat. So that was pretty cool.

Some of the celebrities in attendance were Kevin Bacon (I'm now just one degree!!), Petra Nemcova, Zach Braff, Rosario Dawson and Cameron Diaz. I was very psyched to see Braff (as you all know I'm a huge Scrubs fan), and seeing Rosario Dawson was cool as well b/c she's hot, and I enjoy the movies I've seen her in.

The band performances were awesome as well. Sadly b/c there were just so many bands and only about 8 hours to squeeze them into, each band only got about either 4 songs or 20 minutes (give or take).

Most bands got 4 songs in. A handful got maybe 5, b/c their songs are shorter and then we had a few who had less like DMB and Roger Waters that only got 3 songs in (b/c most of their songs are like 7 minutes each), and Melissa Etheridge who took the time in her set more to make a political statement than perform. So the song she played seemed to last about 25 minutes, lol. It was actually pretty interesting though.

The highlights for me were: AFI, who put on a hell of a set. I've seen them before and I know they are good live, but they really impressed me with how good they sounded that day.
-Fall Out Boy: I had never seen them before, so I was looking forward to their set and they did not disappoint.
-DMB: they're just always really good live
-Bon Jovi: Jovi in Jersey, 'nuff said.
And finally: The Smashing Pumpkins. As most of you know, I started going to concerts right after I began college. And every attempt I made at seeing the Pumpkins in concert was foiled in one way or another (I won't go into all that heartbreak right now). Then they broke up in 2000, so I was never able to see them. They were basically the one and only huge band that I loved that I never got a chance to see in concert. So when I heard about them reuniting I was very psyched! I initially wanted to drive out to the Virgin Festival at Pimlico Raceway to see them in August, but that seemed like it was going to be pricy and no one was really interested in joining me. So when I heard the Pumpkins were gonna be at Live Earth, they were the band that convinced me to buy a ticket (b/c the tix were actually quite expensive and if not for the Pumpkins I would not have bothered going to the show).

As for their performance itself, it was good. I won't say great b/c they opened the set with a brand new song that no one knew that was freakin 10 minutes long. They also played the new single. So literally half of their set was stuff people really didn't know and even though it was good, it's not the same as playing the classics. Luckily the other half of the set was Bullet with Butterfly Wings (which was awesome), and Today. So that made up for it a bit.

But in the end, seeing the Pumpkins only perform four songs was a huge tease. Now I can't wait to see them in a full concert. Hopefully, this new incarnation will stay together long enough for me to see them in a full set sometime in the near future. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

So yeah, in the end, it was a great show, and even though the ticket was pricy, I thought it wound up being worth it for all the great acts we got to see- although I must admit, that as great of a lineup as we got, I was pretty jealous of the lineup that London got- especially Spinal Tap's set when they played "Big Bottom" and got the bassist from every band on the show to join them (as well as a few full bands such as Metallica). Quite awesome. But like I said, our event was fun, so I can't complain.

****

We took Sunday as our day of rest. We chilled in, but we did do some productive stuff by beginning to research wedding invitations. And that was pretty much the end of my busy week.

It's been a busy month

It’s been about a month since I’ve blogged about my actual day to day activities. So I’m going to try to catch up as best as I can from where I left off (which I believe was on Thurs. June 14th).

Fri. June 15th:
Did a bunch of stuff for my dad, including going to his bank to show I now had Power of Attorney, so I could get access to his account to pay his rent and bills. Then that night me and Ariana labeled and stamped our Save the Date cards to send them out.

Sat. June 16th:
Woke up early- mailed out the Save the Date cards (did you all get them?), and then headed down to the city to begin our Wedding Registry (for details on where, you’ll have to ask Maryann, it’s tacky for the bride and groom to reveal where unless we are asked). So we spent a few good hours doing that, and then afterwards we went to James’ 28th birthday party over at Brother Jimmy’s BBQ. It was an awesome place! Great food and atmosphere (they had rocking music all night long- they played Reel Big Fish! How cool is that?). Then we went to Bourbon Street to do more drinking and dancing. A very fun night overall.

Sun. June 17th:
Was Father’s Day so I treated my grandfather (and by proxy the rest of my family) to dinner. Then I visited my dad in the nursing home for awhile. After that we went to Phil’s for the TNA Slammiversary PPV, which was pretty decent.

Mon. June 18th:
After work, Maryann joined Ariana and myself to do more registry stuff.

Tues. June 19th
Went to my dad’s co-op to finally pay his rent.
After work, I met up with Henry and finally got a chance to officially ask him to be “Co-Best man” at my wedding (the other Co-Best man is my friend Chaz). I had been meaning to ask Henry for a few weeks, and was planning on asking him during Jubilee weekend, but due to circumstances beyond our control it didn’t work out that way. But at least I was finally able to, and was pretty psyched about it, so that was cool.

Not too much happened the rest of the week, other than I ordered tix to see Zebrahead & Unwritten Law in concert, and me & Ariana went to go see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer at New Roc.

Sat. June 23rd:
Went to Bryan’s place in NJ for a BBQ for his birthday. We had a great time. The food was really good, and he’s got a lot of space for outdoor stuff in his area. So we played football in a field nearby, and also hung around in the playground area for awhile. Then we went over to the pool area. Five of the girls in our group were actually brave (crazy?) enough to go into the pool, while the rest of us chilled. Then after that, we chilled inside Bryan’s place just hanging out and chatting. So it was a good day, except for the bad news when my dad’s nursing home called me to tell me they had to send dad back to Montefiore b/c it seems he had gotten an infection. But there was nothing I could do at the moment about that, so I didn’t let it get me down.

Sun. June 24th
Went to visit my dad in the hospital. He didn’t look too great, so that was kind of depressing but I have faith.

We then picked up Jordan & Maryann and went to Buon Amici on Central Avenue for Athena & Ashley’s joint b-day dinner. The food there was really good and we all had a good time just chatting the night away.

We were actually there longer than expected, b/c we wound up missing about the first hour and a half of the WWE Vengeance; Night of Champions PPV. Seeing the PPV was a big deal for us, b/c it was the end of an era, as it would be the last PPV we’d see at Phil’s place, as he was preparing to move out by the end of the month. So we got to his place at 9:30, watched the PPV til the end, and then stuck around for the replay to catch the beginning.

Mon. June 25th:
I’ve already posted about this day… this was the sucky day. So check out the earlier blog about this date.

This week was busy mostly with a bunch of little things. So nothing to really report other than I was busy just running around doing errands.

The big news came on-
Fri, June 29th:
Ariana and I went to Mount Vernon to FINALLY close on the co-op apartment. So we are now officially in debt! Woo!

No, but actually, I am quite thrilled. It’s a good kind of debt. We own our own home property. So I’m very thankful to God for being so blessed.

After the closing, we met up with Maryann at the apartment complex and ran a few quick errands, including getting a parking pass for the church across the street (since parking can be hard to come by in the area), as well as picking up our mailbox keys.

Then that night I went to the Blender Theater at Gramercy to see Zebrahead and Unwritten Law in concert. It was the first time I had ever been to that venue, but it was actually pretty cool. It’s small (which is good), and it was obviously a converted old theater, so towards the back they still have the seats (sort of how Nokia Theater has it). So between bands I got to go up to the seats to rest, and then just went back down into the crowd when bands I wanted to see came on. It was very cool.

The only thing not cool, was the fact that the lead singer to every band that night seemed to be having wardrobe malfunctions. Every singer wore these like low cut pants, then decided to take their shirts off and dance and jump around showing off their “plumbers crack.”

I shrugged it off when the first band did it, b/c the lead singer was one of those anorexic looking male frontmen, so I figured it was just his look. Then Zebrahead came on, and their lead singer pulled his pants low, so I found it funny at first b/c I thought he was making fun of the other band. But then he kept it for the entire set. And finally Unwritten Law did the same thing, so that was kind of gross and annoying. But other than that, the music itself rocked and I had a good time.

Sat. June 30th:
Slept in to recuperate from the busy week. Then that afternoon, me & Ariana went with my mom and her husband to Home Depot to look around at paint samples as well as tiles for the bathroom. Then me & Ariana went to the apartment to take measurements of everything and Jordan & Maryann joined us to help. When we were done we went up to their place to hang out for awhile and play some Guitar Hero and Wii.

And I’m gonna cut this post off here b/c I had an extremely busy week last week, so I figure I should separate that from this blog otherwise it’ll just be too massive. So check back very soon.