Back to the grind!

What a whirlwind weekend!

Finally made it back about 9pm last night after a 7 hour ride home.

We had so much fun this weekend, Tiff, Brooke and I wished we could have stayed longer!

Tiffany and Brooke spent Sunday in the big city (NYC!) and had a mommy/daughter day. This is the first time in 9 years that Brooke had ever traveled with us on a vacation and we wanted to make it special. Money was tight, but those 2 women can stretch a dollar farther than anyone I have ever seen. I gave Brooke the digital camera to take with her and she did such a fantastic job taking the photos. She got a few of her in front of anything 'Brooklyn', from the Brooklyn Cafe (Ralph notes that this is a famous stop for members of the Howard Stern Show) and the Brooklyn Bridge! Tiffany had her photo taken in front, of course, of Tiffany's. Also Brooke took some stellar photos of her mom at Central Park. She was damn good with that camera! They spent almost 12 hours walking around town! That is simply amazing to me. Here Tiff is almost 7 months pregnant and she's just tooling around like its nothing! The girls were exhausted and I drove home so that they could rest their weary bones.

Speaking of riding home.........I took the wheel about an hour in to the ride after stopping at a Burger King inside of New Jersey off of I-80. Now get this.....I wore my Band of Gamers shirt, a grey one that simply had 'BOG' on the front and our logo on the back with 'Band of Gamers - An XBox Live Community' on it. We walked into the restaurant and it was packed with kids around Brookes age, 13. I'm betting there were around a dozen or so. But as I'm standing in line this kid comes up to me and asks where I got the shirt. I told em I was in BoG and he starts treating me like a rock star! "Wow, you guys are famous on XBox. We've read all about you guys." So I ask em who he knows and he starts running the gammut with me 'TBoa, BachelorPad, Barroom Hero..................and get's to good 'ol Scary Aaron!' LOL, now I do feel like a rock star! He get's done and I introduce myself as Scary and he turns to his buddies proclaiming 'Guy's this is Scary Aaron!' Next thing ya know I've got a group of kids all standing around me asking about our clan and if we are accepting new members and how cool it would be to be in BoG!

C'mon, that is just cool! I mean, I just game for fun, and hang with some real good buddies on there and were getting star treatment. I mean I'm 400 miles from home, and I'm in a Burger King in BFE where the kids knew who I was! That just rocked my world! Of course, Tiff had to laugh it up! I told em to stop by our forums and say hi! Hopefully to add validity to my story!!

So the ride went quick after I teamed up with a trucker cruising a nice 80-85 MPH! I followed him for about 250 miles before we parted ways, waving and beeping to each other as if we knew one another! Gotta love truckers!

Well that's all for that story! Next trip...........The Lou at the end of June! Off to finally meet the BoG boy's face to face! I cannot wait!

The worlds longest palendrome............

Courtesy of Anthony (Capt Crash 31), a buddy of Ralphs:

Go hang a salami Im a lasagna hog!

Just cracked my ass up when I heard this and had to share it!

What a blast!

Well, we've survived Saturday and we're just about thru Sunday here in Staten Island.

Pete/Mary (Keg O' War and girlfriend) and Dave/Heather (Mr. Silverblood/The Heather) have left already, but we had such a great time visiting with everyone!

Lost some money in poker Saturday night to Ralph's (Ram2600) wife and his buddy Anthony, but it was so much fun. I lasted to the final 3 which was a big accomplishment for me. Usually it's Tiffany that'll sit there longer, but I held my own this time! Take that Tiffy baby!! w00t!!!

We'll be heading out in the morning sometime and I just don't want to leave. It's so much fun to get away and spend it with friends like this!

I can't tell ya how great it was to finally meet Petey! What a character! He was everything I imagined and then some! Hey, can ya go wrong? He lives in Philly! I gotta say though, he's got pretty thick skin......His girlfriend was just tortuous on us for being Philly fans (at least for me it's the Eagles)! But she was just brutal. Tearing him up every chance she had! Your a strong man my friend! Other than that she was a very nice girl!!

Ralph and April have just been great hosts to us this weekend!

What a priveledge to come and hang with such great people!

Thanks for the wonderful time Ralph and April!

It's Frrrrrrriiiiiiiiidddddddaaaayyyyyy!!!

Woo hoo!!

Made it to the weekend!

We are just hours away from loading up the car and heading out to Ralph's for the weekend!

I cannot tell you how excited we are to see everyone!

We have about an 8 hour ride ahead of us tonight, but we're gonna make the trip at night as to avoid all the traffic that will be hitting the roads for the holiday weekend!

One last stop before I leave, gotta hit the drive thru and grab Pete his Great Lake's sampler! Mmmmmm beer!!!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend!

See ya's on Tuesday! I'll share some of the photos from the festivities!

Mmmmmm K!

Everyone's got their favorite movies that they can usually quote every word from or give you a complete breakdown on a scene.

Well, I just happened to start a horrible trend here at work that has spread like wildfire!

The movie: Office Space

The result: Hawaiian Shirt Friday!

I am not kidding you. On any given day you can here a quote from this movie, from our President on down to the administrative assistances. Everything from "Mmmmmm k" to "yeaaaaaaaaah!"
To posting 'memos' around the office, and then being asked "Did ya get the memo???"

Its funny how telling one person to watch a movie can lead to everyone in the building seeing it and then this place now becomes Office Space! Oh what have i done???

..............and yes, I am wearing a Hawaiian shirt today!

So you think your job sucks?

These guys had it worse!

Check out the link: http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/worstjobs/roman.html

Thanks to ColdBloodKiller from BoG for posting this over on our forums there!

Out of Exile = Phenominal

So many times it's just damn near impossible these days for a band to put out a sophomore effort that stands the test of time like a mega-platinum album that was your first out of the gate, but that's exactly what Audioslave has done.

I've been a huge fan of Chris Cornell for years, even picking up my first Soundgarden disc 'Flower' before grunge was even a word. The dude just has the most amazing voice I have ever heard. Great lyrisist as well. I loved Rage Against the Machine as well, but when I heard of this unlikely supergroup forming I was somewhat skeptical. I was glad to hear Chris was in a big group again, but disappointed to say the least.

I picked up the first disc and was immediatly blown away about the sheer rawness of it and just the fluid flow of the album. Song's like 'Show Me How To Live' just lifted the spirits and made you yearn for the good 'old days of a great rock song!

So I had my fingers crossed that lightning would strike twice with this group and they would hit another homerun. Well, low and behold, they've done it again! On top of that, I'd put 'Out of Exile' ahead of their first release. This just sounds so much tighter, the band has found its sound, and are really starting to push it musically with each other. Chris again is in raw form and just belting out hit after hit here. The first single off the album 'Be Yourself' was a great radio tune to get em back out there, but there are classics on this disc like 'Doesn't Remind Me' which is just a killer riff filled ripper, '#1 Zero' is another hit you upside the head classic, and 'The Curse' gives ya that killer ending to an album that makes you hit play again.

I've given this album about 5 listens thru already and I just can't stop! I highly recommend this album!

Are you still sitting there? Get up, or go online, and buy it already! Trust me, you wont be disappointed!

Plans are official!

Well, Tiff came in from work tonight and said she has to work Friday night but we're heading right out again driving thru the night to get to Ralphs!!!!

We are both very excited to get to hang for a few days and enjoy some time away! We sooooo need it! Can't wait to hit the road.

Here we go! Gotta load up the 27" for travel purposes, the XBox, and the games! All in my trusty carry all case! Have XBox, will travel! The last time at Daves, we enjoyed hours of fun on Halo2! This time I'm sure more Halo2 and gotta throw some Forza in as well! That's the hot ticket item these days.

Hope everyone else has an enjoyable Memorial Day! Oh yeah, mom and dad, Happy 32 Years!!!

Grillin, chillin, gamin and having some brews!

Yep, that's what's gonna be happening Memorial Day weekend!

I haven't looked forward to something this much since my trip to Boston to visit Dave and Heather (and the rest of the crew, Ralph/April/Matt/Chris/Adam/etc)!

We're heading out to Ralph and Aprils for the weekend. Can ya beat that?

I may get a chance to finally meet a guy I've been wanting to meet for quite some time and it just has never panned out yet, Pete a.k.a. Keg O War! Along with Pete, I believe Dave and Heather will also be making the trip.

I am so ready for a weekend away after the month of May here! It's time to get out, take a deep breath, and prepare for a wonderful summer that's ahead.

I'll make sure to take pictures again and share em with everyone.

So whats on your agenda for the holiday weekend?

Just what is wrong with you Canadians??

LMAO!

I don't know what else to put there! This is just too damn funny!

I found this while on a Canadian website that a buddy here at work pointed me to www.cinemaclock.com !!!

This is just plain odd: http://www.messagia.net/BOS/Bloody_Zit/

I dub thee 'Alexander the Great'!

Alexander the Great!

Well,

Tiffany and I are now in day 4 of finding out that I'm not the father of her expected child. But we haven't let that stop us from continuing our love.

The past year being split up has given both of us time to evaluate our lives and see what it is in life that we really want.

I made some great friends in that time, but you know something? Nothing could EVER replace Tiffany and the bond that we have had. Yeah, great, we've had some rough times. But everyone does! We are in the days now where it's so easy to just go and get divorced! That's the simple solution. Well, for those of you who know me, I'm never simple! I love to overcomplicate things! What can I say? I live for drama I guess!

So we spent Monday and Tuesday deciding on what she would name the baby. After a phone call with her sister she realized that "Yeah, I'm still married to Aaron and I can keep his last name!" So the attention turned to me and the responsibility of naming the baby as well! Hey, what can I say? I was honored! For everything that has gone wrong so far, I'm able to turn the conrner and find a bright spot! I must admit, I was touched!

Now, for anyone who's gone thru this hassle, you know what kind of a pain in the ass it is! I mean c'mon do you want the child growing up saying "What the hell were you on when you named me?" Nope, not this guy! I'm too sensitive for something like that!

I had been kickin around Alexander (Alex) for a few days when I woke up Wednesday morning to an overly active womb that was basically a kick boxing session and said "Alexander the Great needs to go to sleep and let mommy sleep!" Tiff wakes up out of a dead sleep and proclaims "I love it! Alexander Christopher Spicer!"

Totally caught me by surprise, but it looks like that's what she wants to go with now!

Wow, 18 years ahead of me! Wish me luck everyone!

Watch out everyone! Alex is about to take us by storm! August 17th is the expecting date! Stay tuned!

Did I mention I hate fanboys??

Good gawd, it's a good thing I'm on medication for anger management!

These fanboys are killing me on our precious forums! Good thing they don't know about my friend Custard!!! It's the only safe haven for us right now! That and the underground world of XBLF! (And no. you cannot ask me about either of the two! Their my secret, mine, mine, mine!)

It's just assanine how much kool-aid these Playstation fans are drinking.

As I've said before, time will seperate the two, but for now, put the flame-retardant suits on and prepare for battle. The Gaystation has begun the battle! Thanks for the damn CGI films that we have to constantly hear about being 'real time' action! Puuuuuhhhhhhlease!!!!!

3 words for you Sony, 1.) Community, 2.) Service, 3.) Software! Yes you provide us with ungodly amounts of software, but you lack in the other 2 catagories. 2 years wouldn't allow you to put anything in place that even closely resembled XBox Live! Keep your single player, modem-based online play, and let me go and yell at some friends as they smash my bumper (or I smash theirs) in Forza, or better yet at the end of the year with PGR3!!

XBox and KISS, which one sucks more life/money from me?

It's an argument I've been having with myself lately!

One of my favorite lines came from Craig Gaas who was a stand-in on the Howard Stern Show when Jackie the Jackass left the show. He used to put on a killer Gene Simmons impression and the one that just killed me was "This is Gene Simmons! How much money do you have in your pocket? Fan: Ummm, $5 Gene: Good, give it to me!"

I have to admit, for years all of my money went to EVERYTHING KISS! I had/have it all! Anytime Gene stuck that damned logo on something I bought it, boxers, condoms, chewing gum, it didn't matter! I bought it!

And now it's going the same for me with the XBox! If it's Live-enabled, I buy the damned thing! A game comes out, to much fanfare and hype, and again, I buy it. I cannot tell you how many games I have in my collection right now that have gone unplayed! It's insane!

Sometimes after I think about it, I may as well become a drug addict or an alcoholic, because between these 2 habits here, drugs/alcohol would be a hell of a lot cheaper!

The gloves are off, and the fists are flying

Yes, E3 has started and the bashing back and forth, by the gamers of course, has begun!

Who has the better system?

Who has the more powerful machine?

Was that real in-game footage, or was that CGI?

It's gettin ugly!

I'm really starting to feel like with so much in common as far as gaming goes, there are lines being drawn up between the big 2 and Nintendo (sorry, had to do it!). You have Sony who seems content to stay focused on single player, high graphic-quality games, and XBox who is all about the community. I fall to the latter. I want to enjoy my games with my friends.

I cannot remember the last game I bought that was simply a single player game. Oh yeah, Fable, and it still has never made it into my XBox. Sad I know. But I'm all about online gaming.

Clearly this is battle will not be settled in a 3 day period. It's going to take months (even years) for the fog to lift and the winner to step out.

It's nice to see Uncle Bill (Gates) getting involved in the battle as well stating in the new issue of Time that PS3 was gonna release on a day where it will walk face first in to Halo 3. Alright Bill, get down and dirty! That's what I like to see!

And just think 4 years ago there was no one who thought Microsoft would last thru the first iteration! The Evil Empire Strikes Back!

XBox 360 is unleashed!

XBox 360 Logo TM XBox.com

What a great night for XBox!

Microsoft and the XBox team have thrusted their best foot forward and have scored a winner!

They have big hopes for the system, but with the muscle (and money) of Uncle Bill, you know the skies the limit.

The biggest surprise of the night for me was the announcement of Square Enix joining the XBox team of game developers. The short film they showed, of course, was just breath-taking! I'll have my money down on this puppy very soon!

The future of HD is upon us and Microsoft is helping us get there faster! I'm betting, in the next year or so, we are gonna see major improvements to the infrastructure of the internet as far as speed goes. This new FIOP from Verizon and SBC with their Project Lightspeed, are showing us that speeds will reach 15-20Meg download vs. 2-5Meg upload. You read that right 2-5meg!!! Woot!!!

Youre gonna hear all the cry babies about wanting just a gaming machine, but I love the direction. It's a family entertainment device. Everyone from the wife to the kids can enjoy it as much as the husband!!!

Can't wait for the holiday season!

Test results are in..........

So Tiffany and I made the trip to the doctors today.......

Results were what we both already knew they would be, but deep in our hearts we wanted it to be different. She wasn't as pregnant as she thought she was and it has all but eliminated me from being the father. They said the conception date was between the 23-30th of November. Unfortunately, this was a time when we had both split up for awhile.

We both love each other so much though through all of this and it's our responsibility to see if we are strong enough to carry on. Can I live with this? Can I raise another child that is not mine? I love Tiffany too much to not give it a try.

Call me crazy, I call it love!

I've judged and put others down for so much of my life and this almost feels like a kick in the nuts! But you know what, God's never dealt me a fair deck. Call that what you want, but I call a spade a spade! I can't believe all the shit that constantly get's dealt to me and I just have to pick up the pieces and carry on. Somethings gotta give, somethings gotta go my way. When? What? How? Where?? To be continued I guess..........

Not even in town a full day and look who GT.com runs in to!

Seen on the streets of Hollywood! (Pic. courtesy of TeamXBox)

Their not even in town a full day and the fellas of Gt.com have already run into the man, the myth the legend! Yes, HeroProtagonist himself, J Allard stopped and talked for a few minutes with the boys from Gamertag.com and just happened to have a copy of the latest issue of Time magazine with the XBox 360 gleening on the front cover!

And back here in good 'ol Ohio, my phone rang delightfully at about 2:30am with my buddies calling to let me know of their adventures!

I want pics fellas, and I'm not referring to J either!

What other goodies are in store for us this week?

Great to see someones having a better start to their week!

Lifes funny like that!

Thought of the day:

"Just when you think you've done everything in your life the right way, you still find out that its never enough!"

Think about that!

Big week for gamers!

This week is a big week for gamers. Whether that be PC, XBox, Playstation, Nintendo or many hand held devices, 3rd party merchants, and hot booth babes, you'll find it here at E3!!

My good friends over at Gamertag.com are there and will be sending us highlights throughout the week and I'll re-post some of my favorites here.

This is a big year for my favorite, the XBox! We get to see the new premiere gaming machine, the XBox 360! This begins the journey into the HD Era of gaming, as proclaimed by Microsoft.

I have just been blown away with the gaming experience that I have gained on the XBox. The friends, probably most of you who read this, have come from XBox Live. It's just the greatest community to be involved in.

Here's hoping my friends have a good time, and bring us back some cool swag to share!!

And so the HD Era of gaming begins!

WOW!!!

That's about all this kid can come up with after the information overload of XBox 360 stuff that has invaded the web!

What a great time to be a gamer.

Yeah, I'm 31 years old and I still game, hardcore! It's like I tell my wife, 'At least I'm not out in the titty bars, regular bars, or doing drugs!!" This is my drug of choice. Yeah, it can be just as expensive and devastating to a relationship (just like the other 3), but I feel safer going this route!

What Microsoft is sharing so far with the little information just shows that gaming is no longer aimed at the hardcore people, but rather as an entertainment hub for everyone!

LOL, my favorite so far is the "Get game invites while watching a DVD!" Um, yeah, that one will go over well while enjoying a movie with the family! "Oh, sorry guys, gotta turn the movie off, its time for a Halo tourney!!"

The future looks bright and I'm glad to be a part of it!

Well, I've been relocated yet again, and more responsibilities to take care of! Scary's got his first office of his own!

I'm now in the stock room............LOL

You ever seen the movie Office Space? Well, just think Milton and that's how I'm feelin these days.

All I want is my red Swingline Stapler!!!!

But ya know the old saying 'Out of sight, out of mind'!

I'm now helping out our Quality/Inspection departments get organized and step in to the 21st century! On top of my regular responsibilities of programming our CNC mills, designing/modifying designs, scanning documents, and helping to bail water out of the leaking hull of our ship!

We're doing things now that they never thought possible! It's nice to have a boss that let's ya be a bit innovative and have some fun with your job!

Working in the medical industry, it helps to be right up to par with the latest in technology! Gotta have the new toys to stay ahead of the Joneses.

3 more days..........

I haven't been this excited about an event since opening night in Detroit Rock City for the KISS reunion tour........Yes, you read that correctly!!

XBox 360 make's it's public debut (unless your tooling around the internet gathering every bit of leaked data that's sweeping the 'net) on MTV at 9:30EST!

Most of you know where to find the info, but I'm totally excited about the HD-era of gaming! I am a total electronics geek and to see the marriage of that and gaming to me is just beyond comprehension!

Trust that I will be glued watching and soaking in every moment! Then there's E3, just next week!

Talk about information overload! I'll be giving my thoughts on what I'll be looking forward to after seeing the goodies next week. Stay tuned!

Forza, Forza, Forza..........

As most of you may or may not know, I'm a big gamer!

I love my XBox and XBox Live. Actually, most of my friends that I socialize are from the XBox Live community!

Our latest craze is a new game from Microsoft Gaming Studios called Forza Motorsport. This is supposed to be the Gran Tourismo killer for the XBox. I can't comment on that since I've never spent a dime on anything PS2 related. That's another story for another time though.

I've been seeing demos and teasers for this game for over a year now and had it on pre-order since the first of the year, just salivating over the total car customization that you have. It finally hit last week and in preparation, I also picked up my very first peripherial for the XBox, a wheel from Fanatec called the Speedster 3 Forceshock (www.forceshock.com exclusive to Gamestop, www.gamestop.com ).

I picked up the game and rushed right home to try it out, but stupid me, I went and had no sleep the night prior, thus I fell asleep just watching the breathtaking videos on the start up. So the weekend approaches and I know the likes of Vitamin B, Ram2600 and Slickmoney would be all over this and I'd be sucking dust before I knew it. I spent a few hours of learning the nuances of the wheel and getting used to it. Well, Saturday finally hit, I had a day off and spent it learning, learning, learning! After about the first 4-6 hours of play I really got the hang of it and was cruising right along to my Level 10 l33tn3ss!!....................Just to find Vitamin and a few others were already pushing on Level 20. So much for keeping up with the Joneses!!

The cars are just phenominal, with so many to choose from. If you are a car enthusiast this is a must to have!

Now go out and buy this sucker so I can dust you!

OK, OK, I swear............I'll keep this updated, starting today!

I keep reading all of these cool blogs out there and I really want to dedicate more time to this.

I'm having fun reading a lot of my buddies blogs and just catching shit from their daily activities. It may be mindless at times and sometimes pointless, but it's still fun to read!

I mean c'mon, Catspit and Major Neslon, not to mention Fuggo..............Just great reads. You can check em out on my links to the side! Tell em' Scary sent ya!

As for me...........Lot's to tell and I'm really giving thought to sharing some old stories of the past to give ya some insights to my quirkiness! Hope you enjoy!

Out like a fat kid in dodge ball................Look for those updates more often!