So, tomorrow is the Fourth of July (otherwise known in this house of Brits as Thanksgiving), and as a result I get a three day weekend. Whether or not I’ll actually get to spend much time relaxing tomorrow is open to debate, considering the fact that our Mexico and Canada locations at work will NOT have the day off, and knowing them they’ll be contacting us with support issues. Ah, well… truth be told, other than a bit of a personnel shakeup at work, it’s been relatively quiet this week. Let’s just hope it stays that way through the rest of the weekend. I could use the rest. :-)

I have to admit, though, that the highlight for me of the past week or so has been trying the Melting Pot, after hearing Jesse rave about it for so long. Mom decided she wanted to go there for her birthday dinner, so Dad and I went ahead and indulged her. So, what was our verdict, you may ask? Well… if we go back, we’ll do the cheese and chocolate fondue thing only. We won’t do the full experience; if I ever go with Jesse and Rob I’ll skip the entree. We loved the cheese fondue part and we loved the chocolate fondue part. However… having to cook our own meat at the table? No. My idea of a good meal is not looking at my cell phone’s clock to see when I should be removing my skewers from the pot and hope the meat is sufficiently cooked. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t regret going. It was a learning experience… and I learned the full experience isn’t my cup of tea. :-)

Ah, well… it’s getting late, and I need to catch up on sleep. I plan on doing a lot of that this weekend, to make up for lost sleep this last week. So, off to bed I go… :-)

Well, right now, I’m sitting down in the kitchen enjoying a margarita. As is typical, today is our weekly drinks and nibbles night; I guess you could say it’s our way of making sure the weekend gets to a good start. Tonight the nibbles of choice are buffalo popcorn shrimp. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m personally looking forward to it.

Earlier today I went ahead and decided to go ahead and shave my goatee off. I grew it right about a year ago, and I figure it’s time for a change. Unfortunately, I upset Misty a little because I hadn’t given her a picture of myself since losing weight while I had the goatee. (She prefers me with it.) Ah, well… I’ll give it a month or two before I regrow it. Hopefully I can show her pics after I’ve done so and lost more weight.

Otherwise, it’s been a fairly uneventful weekend. We went to Willowbrook Mall, where I bought a couple of belts; I had been needing a new belt for a while as my current belt is ratty. From there, we went to Baker St. for drinks and dinner. As usual, the food was good… once they got my order straightened out. It was also fun watching as a massive storm came over the area.

Otherwise, the only thing of note I’ve done this weekend is set up a trivia bot for #mktrivia. It was a little bit of a pain, but thankfully Sinc did me a great favor in converting Crow’s trivia database into a format my bot can use. Now that the bot is operational, I don’t know if the channel regulars have accepted it, but we’ll see how it goes.

In any event, it’s time for dinner. Ah, well… hopefully this will be a quiet week. We’ll see.

I saw this while browsing around LiveJournal. Words cannot describe… you’ll just have to see for yourself.

Well, it’s the end of another weekend. I’d like to say it’s been productive, but that would be something of a lie. :-) On the bright side, I did reach a milestone on Friday. When I weighed myself, I found I had lost four pounds last week, bringing me down to 227 pounds. I wasn’t expecting to be down so much in a week, but I’m certainly not complaining. More to the point, though, I’ve now passed the 30 pound mark. (I started at 258 pounds.) I now have another 30 pounds to go, and I should be at my target weight. I also tried on an old pair of blue jeans that have a 38 inch waist, and they fit comfortably. They’re more stay-at-home jeans (as they are somewhat ratty), but I don’t think I’ll be buying any new jeans until I get to my target weight. Fortunately, I have a pair of 38 inch Dockers that are new, and old but decent looking 38 inch Dockers I can wear for work. Hopefully I’ll be at the 36 inch size within a decent timeframe. :-)

Mom did me a big favor on Friday night, too. I had called her during the day and asked her what she planned to make me and Dad for dinner, and she had no idea. By the time I got home, I figured I would just make myself some cereal. To my surprise, however, Mom had picked up some sushi from the local Kroger’s for me: a California roll, three pieces of salmon, and three pieces of tuna. :-) Needless to say, I was a happy camper. The only problem I had was the fact that I lacked chopsticks… heh. Still, it was actually decent sushi, and I can keep that as an option if I ever lack an idea for something to eat for supper.

Speaking of dinner, yesterday we took Dad to Saltgrass Steakhouse for his Father’s Day dinner. It was actually something of a surprise, as Mom and I had thought he would pick either Outback Steakhouse or Cheesecake Factory for dinner. In retrospect, either of those would have been a better idea. The fried mushrooms weren’t the best we’d ever had, the bread wasn’t as good as the other places, and Dad’s opinion was that the cow that became his steak died of old age. I also should have warned Mom that the chicken fried steak wasn’t the best, but then I don’t generally care for it in general and she does, so my opinion probably wouldn’t have helped. Ah, well… you live and learn. We’re definitely going to be doing something different for Mom’s birthday, though. Jesse would approve of her choice, though: the Melting Pot. We’ll see how that turns out.

As far as this week goes, we’ll see what happens. I’ve got a couple of projects at work that need to be taken care of, and at least one will require me to work after hours. I’m REALLY looking forward to that, let me tell you. :-p For now, though, I’m going to relax a little, and then do my evening exercise. Fun fun…

I generally avoid watching wrestling as a whole these days. However, I can’t avoid it completely as when RAW and PPV events come on, discussion on #mortalkombat turns to it. In those cases, I mostly turn a blind eye, as it were. However, something happened on RAW yesterday that I heard about where, well… I’ll let you see for yourself. Suffice to say Vince got his first taste of a popular internet meme… :-)

Why didn’t anyone tell me about this sooner?

Two weeks ago, over at the official Nine Inch Nails website, a new NIN album called The Slip was announced. Like Ghosts I-IV, the album is available as a digital download in MP3, FLAC, and Apple Lossless format. Unlike Ghosts I-IV, this album is completely free. As Trent Reznor put it in the post announcing The Slip, “thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years – this one’s on me”.

I’ve already gone ahead and downloaded the album in Apple Lossless format, and have added it to my iTunes library. I’ll spend some time a bit later listening to it. Still, this is one of the reasons I have a hell of a lot of respect for Trent Reznor. He broke from his own label, and is now giving the fans what they want at price points that are extremely reasonable. Add that to the fact that his music is still as good as ever (in my opinion), and you’ve got me as a continued listener and fan. :-) I just wish I hadn’t found out about two weeks after its release… heh.

If you want to download The Slip for yourself, you can do so from the official website.

I was reading a story over on FARK earlier this evening about school lunches being unhealthy, and how kids would much rather eat burgers and pizza rather than healthy food, and how they’d rather drink soda than water. I just chuckled and shook my head, and it suddenly dawned on me that I wasn’t so different a few months ago.

Typically I would eat burgers and pizza whenever possible. I’d drink soda relatively often. Snacking was extremely common for me. Dessert was almost required. Not only that, the only exercise I would get would be when I carried heavy equipment between locations. It really was no wonder that I ballooned up to 258 pounds.

These days, though? I actively avoid snacking, even when offered. I drink sodas maybe twice during the weekend, and even then it’s Caffeine Free Diet Coke. Other than decaffeinated coffee in the morning, I almost always drink water. My typical lunch is either a salad or a small sandwich from Subway or Quizno’s. My dinners are reasonable. I also exercise regularly.

In fact, the only time I even eat burgers or have dessert now is when I have my once-a-week splurge meal. Even then, I oftentimes do something like have a side salad instead of fries. In fact, the last time I had fast food (other than Subway or Quizno’s) was before I changed my diet and exercise habits. The funny thing is, I don’t feel a desire to have any still.

It’s just funny to me these days. I used to be a big burger/pizza person, but these days I’m more likely to have a salad, a small sandwich, Chinese, or sushi. It’s definitely different for me, but I have to admit, I’m feeling better for it. If what others say is anything to go by, I’m definitely looking better for it. I’m just glad I can’t see myself falling off the wagon now. This isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle change, and I think I’m used to that now. :-)

It’s been a decent weekend. Right now I’m sitting down in the kitchen and enjoying a drink while waiting on dinner. I’m also writing this post using my cell phone, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I have to go back and correct some typos…

I did weigh myself on Friday morning. I ended up being down two pounds. So, right now, I’m at 231 pounds. I’ve got the rest of the year to go to lose the other 31 pounds and reach my goal. I’ve already noticed the changes in me, as have others. I’m feeling better for it, too. :-)

As mentioned before, the parents and I went to Matsu for dinner on Friday. We’ve since decided that the place is not what we would consider a “have-again”. Don’t get me wrong; the sushi at Matsu was excellent. Unfortunately, it was also rather high-priced. I had a combo of six California roll pieces and seven pieces of sushi for $19. I could get more for that price from somewhere like Tokyo City. I’ll have to keep that in mind for future reference…

Last night was the fun night. :-) Becky and Brian had another of their movie nights. Seeing as sushi is relatively healthy, I decided last night would be my splurge meal and went to Bennigan’s first for supper. Unfortuntely, they had done away with their “three-for” promotion where you could get an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert for $13. I settled for my usual John Bacon’s burger and a brownie bottom pie. After eating at Bennigan’s, I went over to Barnes & Noble and browsed for a bit. From there, when the time came, I went to movie night.

I hadn’t known until I got there what the theme of the night was going to be. Unsurprisingly, the theme was Indiana Jones. Once everyone that was coming arrived, we started watching Raiders of the Lost Ark. After that movie was over, most people left, leaving only me, Becky and Brian, Sean and Jinny, and Paolo. For that reason (and because Brian was suffering from Indiana Jones burnout), we watched Better Off Dead as the second movie. Believe it or not, I had not seen the movie all the way through before then. When the movie was done, we talked to a bit and then all headed home.

As for today, I haven’t done too much except to do some vacuuming. Today will be a busy week at work, so I’m relaxing as much as I can. I’m enjoying a drink, and dinner will be served soon, so I’m happy for now. We’ll just see how the rest of the week treats me.

I have to admit to a tad bit of annoyance. I had been craving sushi all week, but didn’t go to Tokyo City (the sushi place over by our Creekmont facility) because it’s really no fun going to a place like that all by myself. I’d ask Dave, but he doesn’t work at the Party City by it anymore. He recently got transferred to the one out in Katy. What annoys me is that a group of coworkers went to lunch without inviting me today as part of a post-shareholders’ meeting lunch. What miffed me more than anything else wasn’t the fact that I wasn’t invited, but the fact that they went to Azuma, which according to Louie has damn good sushi. I ended up settling on a sub from Subway for lunch.

On the bright side, for my splurge meal tomorrow, I decided I’d give this place near my home called Matsu a try. It’s been there for several years, and according to a check using Google Maps has plenty of good reviews. If it turns out not to be good, no harm no foul. I can always make up for it at Pei Wei the following night. :-)

Overall, it’s been a bit of a tiring week, but everything is more or less in order and working how it should be, save for a bit of an issue caused by upgrading my IMAP server earlier this week. Then again, the only people it really affected were my parents; I didn’t see the issue on my end and all of my other IMAP users get to it through the webmail. :-) The only other big item of note this week was the fact that I had to go to the aforementioned annual shareholders’ meeting this morning at the Omni Westside Hotel. I swear, it was the first time in over nine years that I had to wear a tie to work. I’m hoping it’ll be another nine years before I have to again, but if I end up going to next year’s meeting I’m sure I’ll have to again. Ah, well. I’m sure people got a kick out of seeing my dad’s Mickey Mouse tie…

In any event, I’ll be glad when this week is over with. Maybe this weekend I’ll actually get to relax (like I didn’t get to do last weekend). We’ll see, but for now, I’m really hoping I will.

This was originally posted on Mortal Kombat Online’s Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe forum. I’m reposting it here for those who don’t go to MK Online and might be interested. For the record, “E3” refers to the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, which is one of the video game industry’s most important media events.

Hey everyone…

While E3 is currently more than a month and a half away, as you might imagine we’ve already been looking towards making plans for attending. However, in the interest of being open with you all, I feel you should be made aware in advance of a decision that I ended up needing to make. It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was one I had to make.

Mortal Kombat Online will not be attending E3 this year.

For the record, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe will be at the show and will be playable. Moreover, our lack of attendance has nothing to do with our not having an invitation; I was in fact invited and did in fact register to attend. The problem is purely cost-related.

This isn’t exactly common knowledge outside of the chatroom, but about a month ago I suffered from an atrial fibrillation, that caused me to be taken to the emergency room from my office in an ambulance. After that I had to do a followup with a cardiologist, who had me undergo an ultrasound of my heart, and afterwards an MRI. For the record, I’m fine. The cardiologist thinks it was possibly a one-off brought on by my use of caffeine. (My body is extremely sensitive to caffeine and I thought I had built up an immunity. My mistake.) The only treatments he had me go to were to give up caffeine entirely and to start taking an aspirin a day so that if this should ever happen again (and I hope to God not), it will prevent my blood from clotting and causing a stroke.

The upshot of this is that I’m looking at some pretty hefty medical bills. Even with insurance I’ve already had to pay over a thousand dollars, and I’m not sure the bills have stopped coming yet. Unfortunately, the money I would have used to pay for my trip to E3 are now being used to cover medical costs. As you might imagine, even with the Google ads and Flawless accounts the site doesn’t make a profit, so I can’t exactly depend on that to pay for an E3 trip.

Before anyone asks… I would LOVE for someone like ]{0MBAT or Mobster4Christ (two other E3 mainstays) to go in my place. Unfortunately, as you all might have noticed, things changed a year or so ago where only one staff member gets to go to these events. It’s not by our choice, as we would prefer to have some backup. That’s why you all have been seeing only me at these events. :-) The big problem in this instance is that E3 does not allow invitations to be transferred, so no one else from the site CAN go. So, in essence, we’re pretty much screwed.

So, here we are. I’m as disappointed as you all are that we will not be able to report on the show live. We will of course report from what other sites will be reporting, and we will try to make this up to you all. As for me… I am very, very sorry I could not be able to do this for you guys. I feel like I’m letting you all down (and really, I am), and I hope to do better for you all in the future.