Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of my Mother's death. She had stomach cancer for 2 years before it finally metastasized and spread to ... well every where.... Either way, yesterday my 2 sisters and i went to the cemetery and decorated her headstone for Valentine's day and just hung around and talked... it was good. It's kind of weird how close we've gotten since Mom passed... I like it. Not that we hated each other or anything, but we've just gotten closer.
Saturday night was Willy's gig at The Valley View Pub. This was his 3rd or 4th Gig there and was by far his best performance. That being said, there is always room for improvement. One of the things he needs to remember is that he is playing at a local bar filled with his family and friends. Because of that he gets a lot of applause and cheers. What will happen if he were to play for a bar of random people in NYC. Not saying he doesn't play well, just saying .... Anyway, I jumped in and played a couple songs with him. If I remember right, It was 3 songs. Was good for me, it will help with the butterflies for this Saturday.
Which brings me to this Saturday. The gig I have this Saturday, is 4 guys that haven't really played together, playing 3 hours worth of cover songs. So we need to practice together. we've had 2 weeks to get this done but it seems that one of us always has something else to do... Not me... only day I can't practice is Monday nights between 7:45 and 9:00. that's it...so I have been available the whole time. the gig is 3 days away and there are still songs that we have not played together. Seems crazy... but we are going to have to wing it at this point. I suggested that we get together on Saturday before the gig and run through all the songs that we think need practice but the drummer has band practice with another band. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for playing in several bands and stuff, but come on... this is a PAYING gig, and it is paying them well. These guys need to set some priorities. If I look like an ass because of these guys, I'm gonna be pissed. Either way, I'm pretty excited to play... I will have a good time regardless....
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Week in review...
Looks like this blog stuff may end up being a weekly event, at least that seems to be the trend at the moment. I don't mean it to be, just seems to be happening that way...
So stuff has been going on! So lets see... Diet! Diet is there ... I continue to eat just the way I said last time... and I lost another 2 pounds... scale read 241 this morning.... not losing weight as fast as I hoped for or even expected but it IS working... seems that I do really goo during the week and then comes the weekend and I do something stupid... like this past Saturday... I was out jamming with some friends and none of us had eaten yet so we went to the diner.... instead of getting something like a salad with grilled chicken, I got a Cheeseburger. Now under the weight watchers rules, there was nothing (really) wrong with what I did but I felt guilty after..
Still not smoking... 112 days so far... and that's 112 days of absolutely NO smoking! Not even a single drag! I think i have this licked once and for all!!! Yee Haw!!!
Music: So I am friends with the head of the Activities Committee in our community... they are throwing a volunteer appreciation party for the community volunteers on January 31 and wanted to hire a band. He asked my friend Willy to do it, but Willy was like "A whole band would be better" so he got a couple guys together and created a cover band, but was lacking a second guitar. I stepped up and said I would do it for nothing! They don't evev have to pay me, I'll do it for free... (at least this time)... anyway ... been practicing with these guys A LOT! I love to play, so I don't really care about the money... it's not like I am any kind of pro rock star or ever will be! I hope to be able to get some pics, audio or even video of the Gig... The plan is to do 3, 45 minute sets with 15-20 minutes breaks... I'm pretty psyched, I haven't played for a crowd in a LONG time!!! Last time I was on a stage or even played for people was in January of 1993 at Escapades in Jersey City. That was last show I ever played..... I would go see my Bro-In-Law play a lot and secretly hope that he would invite me up to play with him but he never did...
Anyway... Willy has a gig this Saturday and his guitar broke, or at least the electronics in it did and he needs a guitar for the night. By chance, I want a new acoustic so I went and bought one!!!
See:
So for his Gig this Saturday he will borrow mine and get himself a new in the near future
I usually do this blogging stuff from work in between stuff but this week my boss has been gone all week and left me in charge and so it's really keeping me from doing this and Flickr.com stuff and facebook. I'm doing the best I can...
So stuff has been going on! So lets see... Diet! Diet is there ... I continue to eat just the way I said last time... and I lost another 2 pounds... scale read 241 this morning.... not losing weight as fast as I hoped for or even expected but it IS working... seems that I do really goo during the week and then comes the weekend and I do something stupid... like this past Saturday... I was out jamming with some friends and none of us had eaten yet so we went to the diner.... instead of getting something like a salad with grilled chicken, I got a Cheeseburger. Now under the weight watchers rules, there was nothing (really) wrong with what I did but I felt guilty after..
Still not smoking... 112 days so far... and that's 112 days of absolutely NO smoking! Not even a single drag! I think i have this licked once and for all!!! Yee Haw!!!
Music: So I am friends with the head of the Activities Committee in our community... they are throwing a volunteer appreciation party for the community volunteers on January 31 and wanted to hire a band. He asked my friend Willy to do it, but Willy was like "A whole band would be better" so he got a couple guys together and created a cover band, but was lacking a second guitar. I stepped up and said I would do it for nothing! They don't evev have to pay me, I'll do it for free... (at least this time)... anyway ... been practicing with these guys A LOT! I love to play, so I don't really care about the money... it's not like I am any kind of pro rock star or ever will be! I hope to be able to get some pics, audio or even video of the Gig... The plan is to do 3, 45 minute sets with 15-20 minutes breaks... I'm pretty psyched, I haven't played for a crowd in a LONG time!!! Last time I was on a stage or even played for people was in January of 1993 at Escapades in Jersey City. That was last show I ever played..... I would go see my Bro-In-Law play a lot and secretly hope that he would invite me up to play with him but he never did...
Anyway... Willy has a gig this Saturday and his guitar broke, or at least the electronics in it did and he needs a guitar for the night. By chance, I want a new acoustic so I went and bought one!!!
See:
So for his Gig this Saturday he will borrow mine and get himself a new in the near future
I usually do this blogging stuff from work in between stuff but this week my boss has been gone all week and left me in charge and so it's really keeping me from doing this and Flickr.com stuff and facebook. I'm doing the best I can...
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Progress!!!
I started a diet on January 5th. It's essentially weight watchers, but I am only using the point system to determine how healthy the food is. I'm not going to walk around and count the points for every thing that I decide to eat or drink. I did for the first week as a baseline but this week I'm not counting. That's not to say that I am not watching what I eat. My eating habits have taken a sudden change and I think I'm liking it.
Before:
I would make a big cup of coffee before I left the house with LOTS of sugar and LOTS of half and half and drank it on the way to work. Then when I got to work, I would have another, and at 9:15 break I would get one more. For lunch, I would eat the hot lunch that she made, which is like eating a huge dinner. the kind that when you are done all you want to do is take a nap. If i didn't like what she cooked, I would get a THICK Chicken Salad Sandwich and a large (16 oz.) soup. And wash it all down with a can of Mtn Dew and of course I would buy a second can to have at my desk for the afternoon. Sometimes I would also get some junk food like hostess apple pie or ring dings too. Dinner would be standard dinner. Only difference would be a lot more than normal!
Now:
I wake up and have a bowl of cereal, per the serving size (3/4 cup). Right now it's Total Whole Grain Wheat with 1/2 cup of skim milk. Then before I leave I make a cup cup coffee with equal and Skim Plus milk. Then at 9:15 I have a lowfat yogurt. At lunch eat a Lean Cuisine frozen entree. and a banana and a bottle of water. at 2:15 I eat an apple. After I get home at about 5:00 I have another snack like an apple, banana or yogurt. Then I eat dinner. I'll still eat the same stuff except I'll make sure to take less than I did in the past. Sometimes Between dinner and bed I have another bowl of cereal.
So there it is. This is working for me. When I started this diet the scale yelled at me to get the fuck off! 248!!!! After a week of this the scale read 243. So that's 5 pounds this week. I'll continue doing this and see what happens next week.
Now if I could get my lazy ass up and work out on the BowFlex thing might move along even quicker. We finally got it set up, so really i just need to work it into my schedule. But one thing at a time and the one thing right now is to get used to the change in diet.
Before:
I would make a big cup of coffee before I left the house with LOTS of sugar and LOTS of half and half and drank it on the way to work. Then when I got to work, I would have another, and at 9:15 break I would get one more. For lunch, I would eat the hot lunch that she made, which is like eating a huge dinner. the kind that when you are done all you want to do is take a nap. If i didn't like what she cooked, I would get a THICK Chicken Salad Sandwich and a large (16 oz.) soup. And wash it all down with a can of Mtn Dew and of course I would buy a second can to have at my desk for the afternoon. Sometimes I would also get some junk food like hostess apple pie or ring dings too. Dinner would be standard dinner. Only difference would be a lot more than normal!
Now:
I wake up and have a bowl of cereal, per the serving size (3/4 cup). Right now it's Total Whole Grain Wheat with 1/2 cup of skim milk. Then before I leave I make a cup cup coffee with equal and Skim Plus milk. Then at 9:15 I have a lowfat yogurt. At lunch eat a Lean Cuisine frozen entree. and a banana and a bottle of water. at 2:15 I eat an apple. After I get home at about 5:00 I have another snack like an apple, banana or yogurt. Then I eat dinner. I'll still eat the same stuff except I'll make sure to take less than I did in the past. Sometimes Between dinner and bed I have another bowl of cereal.
So there it is. This is working for me. When I started this diet the scale yelled at me to get the fuck off! 248!!!! After a week of this the scale read 243. So that's 5 pounds this week. I'll continue doing this and see what happens next week.
Now if I could get my lazy ass up and work out on the BowFlex thing might move along even quicker. We finally got it set up, so really i just need to work it into my schedule. But one thing at a time and the one thing right now is to get used to the change in diet.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Mike Farris
Last night we drove through a snow storm to go to BB King's on 42nd St NYC to see Mike Farris. Mike is a great singer. He used to sing in the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies. He quit that band because he was on a road of self destruction with all the drugs he was on and stuff. So he took some time off and came back singing Gospel/Christian kind of stuff. His music is amazing! Very inspiring to me.
My Bro-In-Law was friends with back in the SCW days but they lost touch for a while. I brought his business Card to give to Mike but never got a chance to talk to him so had to give it to the session guitarist... I hope Mike gets it and they get back in touch.
Go check him out here:
http://www.mikefarrismusic.net/
And here:
http://www.myspace.com/mikefarrismusic
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Game On!!!
It's Game On! Sunday I got on the scale, knowing that I've gained a lot of weight between quitting smoking and the Holiday gluttony. But I was totally NOT ready for what I saw!!! Holy shit!!! OK so, some stats on me ... I'm 6'2" tall, 39 years old. I weigh a whopping 248 lbs!!! HOLY FUCK!!! I never thought I would see the day! I know when I went to college I gained some weight but that was mostly from sitting around the dorm eating cheeseburgers and cheese fries and washing it down with a pitchers Killian's or mountain Dew. Plus the only exercise I was getting was lifting the burger and beer so I was bound to gain some weight... I looked online and the website I looked at (I can't remember which one it was) said I am obese!! I thought I just had a bit of a belly and that was it, but OBESE?
Last year, we went to Bonnaroo. If you are into music and live on the East Coast, you MUST go to Bonnaroo! Check it out: www.bonnaroo.com. It is a 4 day music festival in Manchester Tennessee that changed my life. I will return every year if I can afford it. Music starts each day at 12:00 and goes until about 4:00am... spread over 5 big stages, 2 or 3 small stages and a big comedy tent. over the 4 days there were 168 acts to see. Of course you just go and see the ones you want. Anyway, I will be going again this year. Pre-sale tickets are sold out already so I have to wait for them to go on sale again.
Anyway, I've set a goal for my self... there are no numbers as in weights or anything... My goal is to walk around at Bonnaroo shirtless. That doesn't mean I want 6-pack abs or anything. I just mean that it gets fucking hot in Tennessee and I want to be able to take off my shirt with out shame. You wouldn't catch me dead without a shirt now... I figure that Bonnaroo starts on June 11. That gives me like almost 5 months...
So there we go, there's the frustration and the incentive. So what's the plan, you ask? I decided to do Chris's form of Weight Watcher's. What that means is I'm too fucking cheap to pay for Weight Watcher's and I was hanging out over someones house that had a weight watcher's book. So I flipped through it figured out My "Points" and away I go. I am keeping track of how many points I take in and as long as it is under 35, I should lose weight. Wife is helping me stay in check too. I went to Shop-Rite and bought a shit load of frozen meals with the points all figured out for me. I've switched from lots of sugar and lots of cream in my coffee to equal and skim milk. I think because it tastes so bad I drink less of it. The only other liquid I drink is water. I will have to see what happens when I am schedules for beers with the boys though. Now add to that, that I will be working out with the Bowflex starting this week. I have to do some re-arranging of furniture before I can start Bowflex. I figure by Bonnaroo, I won't be embarrassed to take off my shirt if I'm hot.
I think I may even document my progress photographically. We'll see about that...
Anyway... Wish me luck!!!
Last year, we went to Bonnaroo. If you are into music and live on the East Coast, you MUST go to Bonnaroo! Check it out: www.bonnaroo.com. It is a 4 day music festival in Manchester Tennessee that changed my life. I will return every year if I can afford it. Music starts each day at 12:00 and goes until about 4:00am... spread over 5 big stages, 2 or 3 small stages and a big comedy tent. over the 4 days there were 168 acts to see. Of course you just go and see the ones you want. Anyway, I will be going again this year. Pre-sale tickets are sold out already so I have to wait for them to go on sale again.
Anyway, I've set a goal for my self... there are no numbers as in weights or anything... My goal is to walk around at Bonnaroo shirtless. That doesn't mean I want 6-pack abs or anything. I just mean that it gets fucking hot in Tennessee and I want to be able to take off my shirt with out shame. You wouldn't catch me dead without a shirt now... I figure that Bonnaroo starts on June 11. That gives me like almost 5 months...
So there we go, there's the frustration and the incentive. So what's the plan, you ask? I decided to do Chris's form of Weight Watcher's. What that means is I'm too fucking cheap to pay for Weight Watcher's and I was hanging out over someones house that had a weight watcher's book. So I flipped through it figured out My "Points" and away I go. I am keeping track of how many points I take in and as long as it is under 35, I should lose weight. Wife is helping me stay in check too. I went to Shop-Rite and bought a shit load of frozen meals with the points all figured out for me. I've switched from lots of sugar and lots of cream in my coffee to equal and skim milk. I think because it tastes so bad I drink less of it. The only other liquid I drink is water. I will have to see what happens when I am schedules for beers with the boys though. Now add to that, that I will be working out with the Bowflex starting this week. I have to do some re-arranging of furniture before I can start Bowflex. I figure by Bonnaroo, I won't be embarrassed to take off my shirt if I'm hot.
I think I may even document my progress photographically. We'll see about that...
Anyway... Wish me luck!!!
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