Help us vote for Zach! A story of courage......

Hello loyal readers!

This is another post for my friend Leah!

If you could, read the following and then go vote for Zach! Hope he wins this!! Good luck Zach!

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Hey Everyone!!! It's me Leah and I really need your help...

This is personal...it's a chance to help my friend, Zach DeRidder of Lyons NY win a dream. Zach has liver cancer at only 23 years old...and has lost sooo much to the disease including his memory, his health and his livelihood---BUT not his spirit.

His video is A FINALIST in the LANCE ARMSTRONG video contest!!! Zach has outlived all doctor's predictions and this is his shot at something very special, perhaps even meeting his hero.

Zach is up against 9 other finalists, but one of the entry finalists who is way ahead of him right now (even though I feel this guy's story is not nearly as compelling). This is because this man happens to be a high powered exec with a network of contacts. But I believe in the underdog---and I believe that strangers who care can help the underdog win...but you have to keep passing this on. It's simple to vote and I promise you will love watching Zach's amazing video.

Though you may not know Zach trust me... winning this would mean more to Zach than anyone else in this contest.

Please help my cancer triathlete friend win a bike signed by Lance Armstrong! Watch his story and see why...then YOU can vote as much as once a day (every day until September 21st)Mhallstr4 is the registration name of the entry for Zach.

1. Email this message to everyone you know.
2. Vote for Zach's video (mhallstr4) on this website once a day through Sunday, Sept 21: http://www.livestrong.com/contest/youtube-share-your-story/

Cancer vs. Ashlee Simpson

I have to vent here, so bear with me.

First, I want everyone to take a look in the mirror.

You see that person? That's you! And I'm talking to you in this instance.

How many times have you gotten those silly chain emails at work and you send it off to your whole address book, knowing that half of them will hate that you forwarded it to them and the other half will antagonize their address books the same way you have done.

I am really sad at the way society has become lately. We're so focused on celebrities and their lives, and don't get me started on reality TV...Really that's reality??

The point is that we spend so much of our time focusing on frivolous things and we forget, at times, to stop and read something that may change someone's life.

But I digress!

I bring this up because a friend of mine that I consider a great inspiration (and I mean that!) wrote a piece that has had my brain going the past several days.

I emailed her and asked her permission to repost this to my blog. I'm also going to post a link to this on my Facebook. But in case you can't go to the link for it here:  http://www.new.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=41458840589 I'll go ahead and post it in it's entirety.

Leah, this was a great write!

Enjoy:

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Why you sign SeventyK... and leave Ashlee alone

 

I happened to catch a television segment just this morning that caught me off guard. It was a side-note on, of all people Ashlee Simpson....

The television announcer mentioned an online petition that began on the Internet to help remove Ashlee Simpson from the face of the pop music scene altogether. This peaked my curiosity and I found that such a petition not only existed, but has 418,000 signatures...a few hairs shy of half a million people.
SO TELL ME THIS...why are so many people eager to sign a meaningless petition to wipe out the scourge of saccharine punk pop??
If you're going to put your electronic John Hancock to something, slap it on something that truly has meaning.
I write this not in Ashlee's defense...let her fade out on her own. I don't care.
I write this because there is a petition YOU SHOULD BE SIGNING NOW.

Several months ago an amazing petition went up on the Internet called SEVENTY K. This document was constructed to speak up for the estimated 70,000 adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer in this country every year.

Just FYI...if you are diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 15-39 you fall into a statistical crevice.

• You don't benefit from the millions of dollars of research
• You may not receive the supports that other demographics receive
• and you fall into an age group whose survival rate has stagnated for thirty years!
  We are talking about a generation of cancer survivors that has been ignored until very recently. Why is your name not on there...showing solidarity?
  Sure, for the apathetic, cancer may not be your problem...but it's all of our problems if quality care and adequate supports are missing for an under-served group of Americans.
  If you're going to sign your name to something that has any semblance of meaning...this one should be your first stop.

Sign SeventyK
Tell your friends to sign SeventyK...
Sign SEVENTY K

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I wanted everyone to read this because I myself fall in to the category of people that need to look in the mirror at times.

The only reason that I signed that SeventyK is because it directly affected me and those around me.

But I have to honestly say that in most instances, if I had that email sent to me, I'd have probably put it to the recycle bin.

When you are affected by it your jump at every chance you can to make sure that others don't go thru the same thing you may have gone through. What we all have to realize is that this isn't our grandparents disease any more. It's ours now, we have to beat the odds and improve our quality of life. The only way to do that is to help sponsor ideas such as SeventyK.

I was even more inspired this evening to write this when I checked my email after work. It was an email from American Express announcing the Top 25 for their Members Project. Now, don't get me wrong, all 25 are very worthy of their bid to be in the Top 25, but as I look at that list, I see nothing at all in regards to cancer research or cancer advocacy.

So I guess, in the end, I just want to spread the word any way we can.

Send friends the link to my page, or to Leah's page directly (listed above). But let's stop spending our time focusing on celebrities and things that have no purpose at times, and take 2 minutes (or 5 for slow typer's) to sign SeventK! Heck, send them directly to SeventyK and skip my rant! Either way, share our passion with others! This is about quality of life! That, my friends, is very important, just ask our friends and family.

Stand Up 2 Cancer, tonight 8PM EST!

Tonight will be the telethon for raising money for cancer research, put on by Hollywood. The goal is to raise approximately $100 million dollars in an attempt to provide funding to cancer foundations.

We have a vested interest in this for 'I'm Too Young For This!' as we would like to get in on the funding for our organization.

I encourage all of you, friends and family, to tune in tonight, and if you can, make a small donation to this cause. You all know how much this means to me, and I think we are really going to make a difference with i[2]y!

Also, watch for the 'Stupid Cancer' t-shirst through out the crowd! Matthew Zachary (our founder) will be there with 3 guests and I am sure he'll be floating shirts around to whomever will wear one! I wonder if he'll get someone on stage to wear one? Hmmmmm!

Scan's in....

Well, my scan results came in today around 2pm, local time.....Results are great! No tumor's, no lesions! Couldn't have asked for a better end to a rather stressful few weeks.

I still am having some sort of an issue, which no one can put a finger on right now. My right leg is swollen along with my right foot. I have neuropathy really bad in both of my feet, so I just thought that was a contributing factor. When my oncologist just blew it off to 'Hmm, your legs kinda swollen! Keep an eye on it!' Ya think?

I did just that and followed up with my general physician. I was sent for an ultrasound to take a look for blood clots. Nothing doing there and I was sent home to rest for the day. 5 hour nap later and I'm feeling pretty good.

Dad's got me on green drinks and vitamins. Hey, whatever it takes, ya know?

I think as the time goes I'll get more used to these scans and knowing nothings going on, but it'll take some time. You just get used to bad news, so often, that it's hard to change your mind set. But in the mean time, I can focus on other bodily oddities! Thanks for all of the well wishes and support friends and family! Much love, Scary

What's in a name?

For me, this is an easy answer.....Tradition and family! My mom's side of the family, The Niemczyks ('Nim-checks' for those having a hard time with that one!) held a family get-together the first weekend of August and I had the pleasure of visiting with them.

My Uncle Mike and Aunt Toni hosted the get-together at their home in Fenton, just north of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

We never really got to spend a lot of time with our family growing up, only showing up for the occasional holiday, wedding, or unfortunately funerals. It makes it tough on those of us who didn't grow up with all of them, and being that its a large family you have a hard time keeping up with names at times! Trust me, I had my problems! But the point is, that with all of the time away, you can walk into such a day and feel like time has stood still. We have such a great family and I am so proud to be a part of this heritage and bloodline. It's a pretty damn good looking group of people I might add!

There comes a point, especially in my life, where my family has become so much more important to me. Reconnecting with my cousins and beginning new relationships with them is just the highlight to start. I can't wait to continue this and start getting together with them more often. I want to also thank my cousin Marisa for inspiring me to write this! I saw a picture that she 'tagged' me in and it said 'damn it feels good to be a Niemczyk!', I couldn't agree more! It was great seeing her and her sister, along with my other cousins. It was great learning where everyone was at and catching up was a lot of fun!

So, Uncle Mike and Aunt Toni, thank you for keeping 'tradition' something special for us! Thank you for the great food cooked by all of you and the great conversations we held all day long! I love all of you and want you all to know how much you mean to me! You were there for me when I was sick and even with all of the separated time, you were all there for me! The true meaning of what tradition and family are to me.

Hope to see you all again real soon!

Congrats to Diggy and Carla

Well, it's been quite some time since I posted and I was encouraged by my cousin Marisa to post up about the wedding we attended this weekend in my old home of Michigan. So what better reason to get back here and post away.

I have been wanting to get up here to Michigan so bad the past few years and even more so the past year since my chemo was over. I can't explain the emotions and feelings that go thru you when you get to experience cousins, aunts and uncles after so many years of not seeing each other and it's almost like time never passed. I hate/resent not having been able to grow up with my cousins though. It's such a great feeling to see all of them interact and still be in touch with each other, and at times I wish I got to be a part of that more. But hey, I still have time to hang out with everyone still! I'm so glad we got up to see everyone, you are all thought about and missed by me a lot!

Going back here for the wedding was so much fun for all of us. My sexy wife is back on her feet and looking quite stunning I might add!She was just feeling good about herself this weekend! And good for her!

We had a pretty long week leading up to it including an Iron Maiden concert and only 3 hours of sleep before venturing north to Michigan. It was crazy, but worth it.

We stayed with my aunt and uncle on my dad's side. Such great people and I miss not seeing them more often as well. This is finally changing and I hope to see everyone again soon.

We started off Saturday with the wedding at 2pm. It was absolutely beautiful in Wayland and made for a perfect day for a wedding. I hadn't seen any of my Uncle Paul's kids in years and here I was attending Joel's wedding. I got to walk over and say hi to everyone in the wedding party and then made the rounds to all the relatives. Everyone looked fantastic and the wedding itself was laid out perfectly.

After the wedding we had some time to kill so we ventured over to Gram's old place, now looking great under the helm of my Uncle Paul. It was so awesome to go there and see the farm. One of my biggest promises to myself while I was sick was to get better and be able to take Alexander up there and see it. Mission Accomplished! He made himself right at home and walked over to where all the kids were and hung out throwing rocks in to the pond. The same pond I did the same exact thing in with my cousins.

After about an hour or so we drove up to Byron Center and to St. Mary's where the reception was held.

What a great place to have it too. The hall was set up beautifully with balloon's and it just looked great. The food was top notch with some of Gram's old classics including her relish and Polish Kielbasa. I haven't had that since she cooked it for me and it was a rush of memories and feelings for me. Funny how food can do that to ya!

We had a great time and some excellent photo's were taken. Most of them can be viewed at my Flickr site. Check em out!

Here are a few I wanted to share though:

The Cousins! Several Generations of Niemczyk's!

The brothers and sisters all together!

Thank's to everyone for a wonderful weekend and again, congratulations to my cousin Diggy and his new wife, Carla.

Looking forward to seeing all of you very soon.

What a week!

I'm finally back from a great little vacation!

My wife encouraged me to take some time to myself and head out with some friends for a trip with my step-daughters uncles. We ended up in a place called Santee, South Carolina. The weather was OK, 2 days of rain, 3 days of sunshine. I got scorched!

All in all it turned out great. My golf game is gettin back to me, and I shot a 104 for 18 on one of the days. Hey, it's not impressive, but under the circumstances I'll take it.

I'm back to playing with my computer again, and I'm getting excited to put another one together now.

Tiff and I have finally agreed on the whole Time Warner/DirecTV situation that we have going on right now and I'm going to keep DirecTV set up for myself in my office. I'm a huge sports nut and having it in HD is essential for me. I'm planning on adding the new Hauppauge tuner to the current PC and giving Tiffany all she needs in a DVR in a PC. I read on Chris Lanier's blog that this is finally coming to fruition. I'm telling you people, if you don't go to Chris' web site, your missing some great information. Very cool guy! So for $250 I'll be able to get what I want for the wife, and I buy some time to build what I want. My feat is gonna be a bit more daunting and further down the road as DirecTV has nothing in the near future to help me get to where I want to go. I'm a patient young man though! In the meantime I can be happy with my HD sports on DirecTV! Thanks for bending honey!

I'm looking to go Quad Core this time and really make this special. My dad got a great HTPC case and it's making me itch to have something similar. All of this is so new to me and I just get a bit carried away at times. I'm considering taking some programming lessons so that I can play with MCE and Vista a bit more than I can now. I'm dangerous with the stuff now, but I'd like to find myself dangerous with a purpose if you know what I mean. There are a few other Media Center gurus that I read blogs of and I think it's something I can pick up and understand fairly easy. Stay tuned!

So my TV's on the fritz right now. Blew a lamp while I was away, so I have to wait up to 2 weeks for a replacement. However, the guy I bought it from has said he'd upgrade me to a 73" if I'm impatient. If its just a height change I may jump on it. The 65" is already a massive box in the corner, not much room to grow.

Hope everyone's doing well. Keep checkin in! I'm done with lunch and ready to bang my head (on the way and to my music) here at work!

A few days away!

I'm pretty pumped. I leave Tuesday morning for South Carolina! I'm heading down for a few days of golf with my daughters uncles. Should be a great time.

My golf game is not all that bad after the beating my lungs took from chemo. I hit about 100 balls on Saturday and felt just a little stiff today. I've got a few old scars that I can feel inside but I'm pretty sure if I stay lubricated (or is that inebriated?) down there I'll do just fine. I haven't been able to be too active the past year yet. I have just basically taken it very easy. I think this is a great way to start working back in to shape. Hey, maybe I'll take up a league this year.

Any way you look at it it's a few days away. And according to Tiffany, I need it.

The grandbaby is doing pretty good considering being very colicky and quite possibly teething already. He fusses quite a bit. Poor Brooke...

Alex sure is going to have a rough 'Terrible 2's'. He's in the official 'No!' stage already. It's amazing the patience that you have to use with kids these days. HAHA! I love him to death though. He is my little buddy! Such a treat to have around me. He makes me forget everything.

Other than that, nothing much else to report.

Oh yeah, electronics.....

My XBox died, again. Crazy story there, but lets just say it's going back for the 10th visit. Shameful I tell you. I'm glad I've learned patience. And besides, it'll be gone while I am, so the pain wont be too bad.

In the meantime Tiff's been hogging the DS and playing Advance Wars 2. I'm on the PSP playing my nephews copy of God of War (which is quite fun!) and using it to watch some videos.

I found a software that let me convert to files that would fit on my PSP and Zune. I tried it on some dvd's and a few tv shows that I had recorded on my computer. They were some VH1 specials from the 'Kissology 2' release. They look awesome on there! Speaking of which, Tiff and I decided that we were going to put a new TV in our bedroom. We're looking at getting one of those HP MediaSmart LCD TV's. I love the built in Media Center stuff. I'm digging on that since I'll be able to get my TV shows off my computer as well along with music and videos. All wirelessly. I'm going to wait until summer since the first hook up I've seen for component video that was coming from Hauppauge has just now been put on hold from what I hear. I was bummed. I dumped DirecTV so I could just switch all of my stuff to Time Warner and get a better internet than I have now thru AT&T along with the same HD channels that I was getting from satellite. The speeds are 1000 times better. For the increased price I was going to get from AT&T and still no speed comparison we broke and switched. Plus, yeah, I got a lot more HD channels on sat. but most of them were channels I didn't subscribe to or didn't watch. I swear, it's not worth it at times with the hassle.

There's some high speed toys coming out later this year that I'll need better broadband for too. There's a device from XStreamHD (and also one from a company called Vudu) that are going to be able to download HD movies. I love my digital content and it'll of course be another device I buy that will drive Tiff nuts. She freaked when she realized how much money I had tied up in my DirecTV stuff and the computer. Oh yeah, and don't forget the HD-DVD investment that went sour for me. I have a pretty bad string of luck with electronics, I swear! Between my XBox experiences and everything from bad TV's, to home stereos that were DOA, I have a hard time convincing Tiffany that I want to buy some more toys. Ha, I've been thru 3 Sirius radios too. Not including the one I had stolen last summer out of my car. I'll probably just go DVR this time and forget the whole recorded tv on my computer. I just would rather use that for my pictures and music on my XBox in the living room. Hey, I love the little things in life. I put some of my favorite DVD's I have on my computer and I stream them on my XBox. I think that's pretty cool and since Tiff's seen it like that the choice was easy for her on the TV for our room.

Well, one more day of work and then I have to pack to get ready.

I'll definitely be posting pictures when I get back. I'll take some great photos I'm sure. I used to do this same kind of spring trip when I first started working at my first real job. I went 3 times with the guys at my work and had a blast. Should be just as much fun I'm sure.

THIS is why they call me Scary.....

So Tiffany and I attended a concert last month to see one of my favorite musicians, Ace Frehley, at the Cleveland House of Blues.

The show was killer. A sober Ace equals an excellent show. The musicians that he had with him were spot on and rang up some classics like 'I Want You' and 'Love Gun' which I thought was a real treat.

Anyways, we were asked if we wanted our photo taken while we were waiting for some friends to get their drinks so Tiff chimed in 'Yeah' and BAM! You get the 'Scary' photo of me and my lovely wife. I look confused or something in this. I can't figure it out. Hahaha!

 

link to original: http://blog.cleveland.com/photogallery/2008/03/ace_frehley_concert_6.html

You get it?

I want to preface this before you begin reading any further.

I've thought long and hard about posting here. What to post, will others read it, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I don't care about that. I did, but I'd rather think of myself as not that shallow an individual.

What I decided on was that I needed to get some thoughts out.

Contrary to what many of you might think about me, I'm pretty much an introvert outside of 3 constant elements in my life, home (family), work and XBox.

Outside of those there is not much to Aaron. With that said, what I plan to do with this is to pretty much just share some stories, thoughts, experiences and ideas here. More for reflection.........You'll learn more if you stick around.

So I'm having one of those moments where you start to look around yourself and go 'Damn, I'm going be 35 years old this year.' And for some reason I got bummed out.

I shouldn't complain. I've stared death in the face several times, and beat him. I've got a family that I adore. I've traveled to 2 of the most beautiful places in the world, Hong Kong and Switzerland. I've lived 1600 miles away from home. Never thought I'd do that since I'm such a momma's boy.....Yet, I'm going turn 35 years old...

That's 15 years away from 50! Serious, I just feel like I've been in a race my whole life and now the finish line is not far off. Hey, I'm going do everything in my powers to make sure that I'm a healthy vibrant person, count on it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the end of the road is 50, what I'm presenting to you is a moment of reflection.

Did I do everything the right way in my life? Am I happy? Am I a nice person to be around? Have I treated others well? Did I do my best in my jobs? Did I raise my children the right way? Are they functional parts of our society? Thought provoking I know.

See it's not all about death and the end of the road. I do want to make sure that things in my life were fulfilling to both myself and others around me. But at the same time I want to leave a legacy that I am proud of.

What I think I really want from this is for people to get me. I honestly believe that many of you don't, never have, or never will get me. But hey, I won't feel like I didn't try to explain myself.

So maybe this will help you and me. Only time will tell, right?

I'm going to break these up in to sections. More for my own sanity. I'm excited. Let's see where it goes.

An awesome dinner......

I mean, it was no Booster MPS-type of meal but Tiffany and I did it up real good tonight!

Thanks to a very cool friend, Mr. Binky, we have been trying out some new and delicious dinners and meals. He hooked us up with a great cooking magazine called 'Cooking Light' Great stuff in there. On the menu this evening we started with a mixed greens spring salad with a raspberry and pecan vinaigrette and some bread with a EVOO and garlic salt to dip in to. Mmmmm!

My main dish consisted of Italian bread-crumbed Salmon with fresh herbs mixed in. Tiffany cooked this up:

Lemon at the end to give it a nice touch.

I cooked up some delicious shrimp wraps. They consisted of a mixture of heavy cream, garlic, butter, egg, crushed crackers, mayo, Dijon mustard, fresh herbs and some seasoning and a finishing touch of crab meat. You lay out a slice of prochiuto,  spread the mixture on to the meat, then to finish it off you use extra large shrimp and then roll them up and finish it off with toothpicks. In the oven for 20 minutes and you have a killer meal going:

All of this and a nice wine from Tiffany's step-mom and dad.

I'm full...............

SeventyK - A Patients Bill of Rights!

Earlier this week a web site was launched called Seventyk.org .

The mission of the site is to raise awareness for cancer patients and an introduction to our ’Cancer Patients Bill of Rights’. As of today (5 days already) we have reached 1000 signatures. Now it’s off to the races to see if we can hit 10,000 in one month! I’m sure we’ll get there.
I am very excited and proud to be a part of what Matthew Zachary, Dr. Leonard Sender and friends are doing with the Young Adults Leadership Council and ’I’m Too Young For This!’ I am also very proud of being a part of helping to create the first ever Cancer Patients Bill of Rights. What ever small part it was, it was very gratifying.

Please take the time to stop by http://www.Seventyk.org and follow me by signing the petition. This is a passionate subject for me and I hope that you can see the importance of these critical issues.

Feel free to spread the word. The more awareness we can bring to this the faster we can get this bill the attention it deserves!

Importance of the Bill (From the seventyk.org website)

There are approximately 70,000 people aged 15-39 diagnosed with cancer every year. For over two decades there has been little or no improvement in survival for this age group. By signing this bill, you are supporting the Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Bill of Rights to be established as a standard for care to meet the needs of this underserved population.

I've been Zune'd

So I've finally joined the digital age of music and now own my first mp3 player.

I have been holding out forever as I just never thought I'd want to spend the money for a portable device. I've thought the prices were just insane. I have a ton of music and for me it's easier to have it readily available then to sit down and take the time to figure out what it is I'm going to listen to. I, for some reason, can't think that far out. Sad I know.

So, my dad, for Christmas, picked me up a Zune 30gb. He's heard me talking about it and he went ahead and ordered it after running across it on a web site.

30 gigabytes really is a perfect size for me. I was able to go and pick out pretty much all of my favorite artists that I listen to on a regular basis and sync them right up. I can also store photos and videos on the device as well.

Another really neat feature I discovered was that I could turn my Sirius radio on in the house, set it to send an FM signal and then use my Zune's radio functionality to listen to a crystal clear Scott Ferrall ('Shake it uuuuuuuuuuppppppppp!') each night while sitting in bed relaxing before going to sleep. The range is great and I can walk pretty much anywhere on the first and second floor of my house with it.

I had my whole music collection cataloged in Windows Media Player, which in itself was a total pain in the ass and very tedious, so when I had to sync it with my Zune software (how stupid that they just didn't use WMP for the Zune as well is perplexing to me), I was happy that 90% of the song titles and everything else that goes with it did indeed make it over correctly.

I'm really excited to see Podcasts incorporated in their latest firmware upgrade. I have spent the past 2 weeks listening to and getting addicted to audio and video podcasts. The amount of them out there was just astonishing to me. It seems the rage these days and you can get one for pretty much any subject. I was already listening to The Stupid Cancer Show and Major Nelson's weekly shows but now I have about 12-15 that I now have subscribed to.

I'm just beginning to play with 'Playlists', but as it is I just go to the artist I'm in the mood for and even down to the song I want to hear. I haven't even given shuffle an opportunity yet. I'll be sure to do so. I have to learn to change things up a bit.

Being the nerd that I am, I have found other trick things that I can do with it, for instance syncing up and playing my recorded tv shows that I have on my media center or hooking the Zune up to my XBox and sharing content there as well. I can even rip a dvd to it for viewing on the go. It just fits my lifestyle. Thanks for the Zune dad!

I have a 40 minute ride, to and from work, every day and I do a lot of listening to music, Howard Stern and Bubba The Love Sponge. My Dodge Caliber has an auxiliary plug right in the front of the radio that I can use to plug my Sirius radio in to. Well, it just so happens that this plug also works well with my Zune! Score! Car kits that I found were in excess of $40. Ugghh! This cord I scored for $7.00 at a local car audio shop. I'm so frugal. The car also has an iPod holder in the center console. It doesn't fit the Zune correctly, but it serves it's purpose for me. As you can see it's a tight fit.

As a gift I can say that I am super excited with it and really enjoy having it now. But, at $200, it'd probably be awhile before I went out and spent the money on one myself. Being the picky guy I am I would have held out and spent the extra $50 for the 80gb!

I was really disappointed to see Steve Jobs this week come out and attack the Zune the way he did. That was pretty cheap. I know other company's do it as well, but the guy has a 90% (I'm just reaching there with that figure) share of the market and he's taking pot shots at someone just breaking in the market.

To me it just seem's that you only attack someone, in Steve's instance, when you are worried of competition. I personally think that's what it is after I've used mine now.

The Marketplace doesn't stand up to iTunes yet, but I do believe that after the Zune team get's its legs under them and integrates it with the XBox Marketplace they are gonna start making tremendous strides.

One stand out advantage that I see so far is the ZunePass where you can get access to over 3 million songs at any given time and sync them up to your Zune. I went thru the library of music and in my case they have everything I'd be looking for and more. It is a good selection of music.

I think, just like the XBox, the Zune will just continue to get better. I would like to see a touch version of a Zune in a future model. I just really dig that kind of technology. And with 'Surface' technology for this type of functionality now in Microsofts bag of tricks, it's only a matter of time I bet.

I have a several friends that have these and I've been playing around with the 'Social' feature. This is very cool as I can see what others are listening to, as they can with me, and we can 'sync' songs over to let them hear what we find interesting. They also have the 'Social' web site that you can go and find interesting listening habits of your friends. This is tagged to your Windows Live ID so it also lets you see what your friends who have an XBox and a zune are also listening to. Integration is a very cool feature to a freak like me.

Everyone has their own tastes, some love their Apple products, others, like me, insist on following evil Microsoft down their path. I'm definitely going against the grain, where iPod seems to be the clear choice, but I guess I love going against the grain.

Our New Addition

I was embarrassed when I found out that I didn't have this up here already. Quite honestly, I'm using a program called Windows Live Writer so I never see the web page that much anymore. It 'supposedly' publishes and I leave it at that.

Well, for shame! It did not post my blog about lil baby Ayden.

He was born on Dec. 19th and was 8lbs 15ozs. Mommy and baby are doing well. As well as you can do for the miserable weather we've had here. Not to mention the terrible colds Alex, Tiffany and I have had throughout the past 2 weeks.

So anyway's, say hello to my new lil buddy. Ayden Mark Sipe. He's such an adorable little baby.