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.