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.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years.....

To all my friends and family!

We welcomed in a new addition to the family and I survived another year!

Looking forward to good things in 2008. Love to all. Peace and Merry Christmas.

Breakfast with Tiffany!

We put the little guy down for a nap and enjoyed a nice little brunch together. Good eats here. Nothing as extravagant as Booster or Asphyxiate, but good none the less.

These little treats are buttered bread with the centers cut out, replaced with an egg (centers broken, as Tiffany preferred them) and then cheese and bacon to top it off. Some bacon and I grilled up the centers as well. Might as well not let them go to waste ya know!

Winters here. Snow predicted thru Wednesday. We'll see.......

All I want for Christmas is........

This little trick device!

We all know how nerdy I am, but this thing just hits the spot for me!

This is the Vave100 Universal Remote Control with Windows Vista SideShow Technology from Ricavision. You can learn about Windows Sideshow technology over on Wiki. I read about this over on Chris Laniers blog and was enamored with it.

The gist of it is being able to hook up to your Windows Media Center and view albums (and art), photos, and much more thru your remote control. Pretty nerdy huh?

For $280, I'm gonna have to be extra special the next few weeks!

Lot's on my mind........Ready? Fire............

You've read the sub-line to my blog, and this is a rare occasion that I feel like typing it all out.

For your sanity, I'll keep them to topic for each section. Bare with me as there my a few to swim thru.

Ladies and gents, what you are viewing here is my new 'addiction'. I am completely consumed with this concept of a 'connected lifestyle', screw 'connected home', I'm way past that.

Since we moved in to our new house I've been looking for a pet project. You see, I don't have many skills. If I can't do it outside of the computer, I'm pretty much screwed. I can barely keep the oil changed in my own car, that's how bad it was. I was the kid standing next to dad on a Saturday morning while he worked on cars, however, I was standing there pouting and kicking the dirt cause I was pissed off and wanted to be inside 'gaming'. Not that I am any good at gaming having spent countless hours playing as a child, it's just something that I've grown to love doing with my spare time.

I had an unacceptable absence in the 90's due to sex, drugs and rock and roll, but that's a story for another time.

So, back to the present. An opportunity presented itself during the summer where I was able to get a head start on my project.

What I wanted to do was start testing out some of these theories of connecting everything around me. Example, from the TV I wanted to be able to look at the pictures on my computer, some how, some way. Easy to start with.

At the point that I'm starting I've already done a little homework, so I know what I'm dealing with, and the roadblocks/stumbling blocks to come.

My dad get's me started with the computer system. Let me rephrase that, I saw this system my dad had started to put together and I  got bug-eyed over it and guilted him in to letting me buy it off of him at a rock bottom price. I'll break down the system for you in another post.

The purpose that I was looking at for the PC was to have it serve as the main hub for the home, naturally.

I have a big screen TV in the living room which serves the whole family. We have family over and throw 'lil shindigs here and there and I wanted to be able to provide entertainment in the room instead of just having the TV set on in the background.

Windows Media Center in Vista Ultimate was my fix for this.

I already had the 360 tied to the TV, and going over the top with my gaming habits in this instance showed an added bonus to my lovely wife.

The wife has to be key to all of your decisions with you going down this dreaded path. There is some 'incurred' expenses and with that comes monthly charges for all of the 'add-on's'. You can see where this road can lead I trust.

In my case, as is pretty much the case all of the time here, my wife gave me some leeway with the 'experiment'. As an added bonus I got a chance to build my man cave. My own little place to escape and play.

I put the system together and topped it off with a nice Dell wide screen, HDTV of course and put another HD DirecTV box in the office. With that added touch and already having Sunday Ticket I was bound to never leave from the cave. I just need a toilet, shower and a fridge in here and I just may never leave. Just wait 'til the basement is ready to move in to.

Well, with the final touch I pretty much interrupted the 'perfect' set up. I had the Media Center fine tuned and had finally wrapped up some hefty firewall discussions with the boys from Microsoft OneCare on why their products couldn't co-exist in the same eco-system having come from the same damned company. Be assured this is a topic for it's own. I'll deal with you later.

I had set up the wife's favorite programs along with a few of my own to be recorded thru the media center for viewing downstairs, on the tv when ever she wanted, ala DVR. She dug it. But once I added the HD box to the set up I could no longer capture video thru my already unstable tv tuner card.

This is the main reason for leaving that to a different discussion. I am in search of the perfect fit for just getting back to recording SD video again. Until then, I'll hold off on that subject.

So, there I was stuck with nothing left to do until after the holidays. There's this whole 'Christmas' thing that I have to buy tons of gifts for, then I can play again.

Well, I had recently reintroduced my Sony PSP and Nintendo DS to a dusting off of the portables and a good re-powering of their juices so they could be played again.

This is when I picked up on something really cool. I could share my media center content with my PSP as well. Now were talking.

For another $20 for a 2GB memory stick (thank you EBay) for the PSP and $16.95 for my Sony Media Manager software I was able to sync up and have my media content on the go, recorded TV included. Bonus.

I spent a few hours the other night loading up the PSP with some of my content and even downloaded some stuff from the new Sony Store Online, included in the download onslaught was SOCOM Tactical Strike. After it was all said and done I still had about 400mb left. I was impressed. It had compressed down all of the video and fit all perfectly.

Not even realizing, there was another pleasant surprise. I got in the car the next morning and realized that I could plug the jack from my Sirius radio in to the PSP and enjoy some podcasts I needed to catch up on. I'm just glad that after having this for almost 2 years now, I have finally found a great use for it. Oh yeah, and it plays some games too.

I'm definitely behind the times when it comes to this stuff, but it was fun learning about all of it now.

A classic example of 'They go in 3's'

Not really sure why, but the past few weeks have had me reflecting, again, on life and the possibilites of dying.

Now, don't jump to conclusions, but this is something that is permanently embedded in my DNA now and I think jotting it down here makes sense, if only for me.

I haven't been feeling well the past few weeks and I'm not sure if it's that old 'Ohio' sickness that I used to get ever so often or if it's more. I've been to my oncologist and the bloods great, but over the past few weeks I've had terrible headaches (for days on end, and no, aspirin hasn't helped) and just some odd body aches. I laid in bed for 2 hours with a strange sensation in the right side of my body. Almost bone-deep was the pain.

So, as I'm going thru my week, I find out on Thursday that a friend of the family has died for a fight with cancer. Ron was a dear friend of my dad's Aunt Barb. Good 'ol Aunt Barb had the 'hots' for Ron back in high school and had recently reconnected and became good friends again.

A few months ago, Aunt Barb called and wanted me to speak with Ron as he was just diagnosed with cancer. What type, he wasn't sure of. The doctors went back and forth over simple lung cancer to a few weeks later telling him it was a terminal organ cancer. As I spoke with Ron he was just shocked, 'Aaron, I feel just fine. I wouldn't have known that I had cancer unless the doctors told me so.' Then a few weeks later in talking with me he said 'Wow, you go from our conversation a few weeks ago to them now telling me I'm not gonna make it til Christmas'

Ron was a good guy, and I'm sad that I didn't get to talk to him more in his final days. Ron, your with the Lord now and your pain is no more. Your 'reaquaintance' with Aunt Barb had a purpose. Soon, we shall know that purpose. Aunt Barb is now back in Florida with Uncle Bob. I send her my thoughts, prayers and love.

So, as the heading says, 'They go in 3's' and indirectly i saw this unfold. Sean Taylor, of the Washington Redskins, was shot in his house while there relaxing from an injury he incurred just a few weeks prior. Now, here's a guy who had a lot of issues with the law and everything, but since the birth of his child he had been making tremendous strides in becoming a better person and putting that 'lifestyle' behind him. I don't know Sean personally, but reading the stories the past few days has made me reflect. Sad to see such a tragedy like this. Just another child who will have to grow up not knowing their parent because of some pathetic piece of garbage.

And the 3rd on the list was a big inspiration to my 'Metal (rock)' roots, Kevin Dubrow, of Quiet Riot.

Yes, the classic band that brought us the 'correct' version of 'C'mon Feel the Noise' and 'Momma Were All Crazy Now' and the classic 'Metal Health' album.

No known cause of death, but it's just sad. He was 52 years old.

The reason I mention this one in particular is due to the fact that this is a part of my generation now that I'm seeing die. Wether it be from natural causes or what have you. Soon, other legends of my rock and roll lifestyle will pass on and it again makes a person reflect on life and what were all doing.

I am making sure daily that if I do pass that I have left a legacy behind that I am proud of. I want my son to know that everyday I made an effort to interact with him and be a part of his life so that, if I pass early, he remembers how much his daddy loved him.

We are just days away from Brooke giving birth to Ayden as well. So as we say goodbye to some, we are about to welcome another! Good luck sunshine! We'll be there for you.

Stupid Cancer Show

Well, just wanted to post a quick note about an opportunity that I can now confirm.

This coming Monday, November 19th, 2007, I will be co-hosting 'The Stupid Cancer Show' live via the Internet at 9:00pm EST.

Please join me for this great event.

Thanks to Matthew Zachary for the invitation!

This is really becoming a very exciting program to be a part of and I look forward to seeing just how far we can reach out and help the cancer community.

Hope to hear that some of ya tuned in! Drop a line and let us what you thought.

Stupid Cancer! Survivors rule!

  Most of you know that I suffered from a rare form of testicular cancer called non-godnal germ cell seminoma. I am in remission from it right now and everything has been going great so far.

I decided awhile back that I wanted to get involved with something and find a way to give back to a community that did so much for my family and I during this time.

I ran across a website just browsing one day and I felt the urge to sign up with them. As I was browsing the site I ran across a section for getting involved and I filled out an application for their Young Adult Leadership Council. After interviewing over the phone I was just really moved that this was going to be something special.

There are big things planned with this up and coming organization and I am glad to be involved.

You'll be seeing a lot from me on here promoting the site, discussing my disease and pretty much the same 'ol rants that have been here for almost 2 years now.

My first order of business that I want to promote here are 2 cd's put out by i[2]y. The are put together from those around the cancer community and it is a great listen. I have the Volume 1 disc and it's pretty neat to listen to.

With all organizations there are charitable events and promotions, this is i[2]y's to begin with.

Here are the notes about the cd:

The I'm Too Young For This! Cancer Foundation For Young Adults (i[2]y) is a global support community for young adults affected by cancer who get busy living and rock on – and we use music and the arts to make it hip to be a young survivor and talk openly about stupid cancer.
Nearly 70,000 young adults between the ages of 15 and 39 will be diagnosed with cancer this year, a number that increases each year. That said, we're not here to scare people. Seriously, we're not. This compilation CD (and educational toolkit) was a labor of love 3 years in the making and what it represents is not only hope, but a united community of survivors who often feel they're the only ones out there. Well, this album is changing the rules.
100% of all net proceeds benefit the foundation, For more information visit http://ImTooYoungForThis.org.
Stupid cancer, Survivors rule. Rock on!

No pressure friends, but I'd like to encourage you to help out if ya can and pick up one of these discs. Now the music may not be for you, but knowing that purchased it can make ya feel good! Pass the cd on to a friend who may like it.

You have my thanks and appreciation friends! Enjoy!

Keeping it real......

Here we are, another week past and looking forward to another weekend.

I've been keeping myself really busy lately. I've got all of my irons in the fire right now and I can tell it's a bit much, so I plan on approaching it a bit different now.

I am just in love with some of the activities I've got brewing up right now and the excitement I think is what is getting the best of me. There is some real potential for a few of the projects and I just think that it's really going to lead to big things.

I am being a bit coy and teasing you here, but its all for a good reason. Lots of i's to dot and t's to cross before I say anything official.

One thing that I want to mention right off the bat is that it is now 5 years since my beloved XBox Live service launched, and I got that killer 'Welcome to the Beta' email from Microsoft. It was a rush that I'll never forget and am glad to be a part of it. XBox is making it special by posting over on their website about it, see it here.

I want to talk about just how special this is. When I first got online I gamed with a few classy cats on the beta. I was just stunned by how the gaming world was transforming right before my eyes. I quickly thought back to how horrible multiplayer gaming was on PC's. YUCK! And now we had Live, and a voice to go with it. We would run around in Re-volt for hours having a blast and shooting the shit with each other. The forums that Microsoft had at the time were just plain horrible. So there was another group that eventually formed later on called XBox Live Friends. Also a part of this group were the founding members of Gamertag Database, now known as Gamertag.com. Let's just say that I have never met a cooler group of people. I don't have many friends here in Ohio, the friends I have are mostly from this community.

To this day I still hang out with quite a few of them and even visit them, at least once a year. Mr Silverblood, Ram2600, Keg O War, Vitamin B, Headgamer, Team Binky, Chado, and Antek718 are like my brothers. They are just world class individuals. Not just limited to guys either, you close-mnded knuckle heads, no-no, there's also LonestarGal and Lulu, and even my lovely Mrs Scary Aaron. These girls got game too!

So to see the LiveIs5 page and see our names blazed across the site it just makes it that more special. Happy 5th XBox Live!

I'm taking a trip in a few weeks to New York City. I will be making an announcement about this trip in a few days. Why would I be making an announcement about my trip? Tee hee, because it's gonna be something that YOU my friends may be taking part in. Stay tuned for my big surprise!

All this going on around me, you may wonder where the heck is the family and how am I spending any 'quality' time with them when I'm burning the candle at both ends. Well, I do make time for them and they are all doing wonderful.

Brooke is coming along quite well now. She is due the 12th of December. The baby and mommy are both very healthy. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I'm going to be a grandfather, but I'm dealing with it. She's learning the hard lessons of life at a young age and she knows it. She doesnt need the stress of my freaking out and creating an uncomfortable environment. We all know the wrongs of this, we now have to deal with it. We will provide the best environment for her and the baby, count on it.

Tiffs doing wonderful. I am just so happy to be with her and have her by my side. She is my everything. I make stupid, dumb mistakes in my life and sometimes I'm just struck by how she just accepts me for who I am. I'm a jerk at times and this woman tolerates it. For everything that she went thru with me, to helping raise my children in the end she is my hero.

Big Al is doing great! The kid is growing so damn fast. I stop his ADHD (my analysis) ass every day to slow him down for 2 seconds so I can enjoy that day of him being that small. It's going by so fast and I'm trying to keep up. Now if my damned lungs would just get back to healthy so I could do just that, that would be super! We had our first Halloween that meant something this year. He dressed up as Spiderman and we walked him 3 blocks. It was just a fun time.

See that, I take so long to post and then you have a ton to read. Let's do our best to keep this pace up a little more.

Thanks for stopping by! More real soon, I promise!

Happy Halloween!

It was my buddies first Halloween to enjoy and he went out in style! That's right, Spiderman!

We wouldn't wear the mask, so we went with the hat and gloves, as it was pretty cold as well. It started to rain, but by that time 2 blocks and lots of candy were enough for this little monster!

We then sent him to Mamma's and Poppa's where he went out to eat and mommy and daddy had some alone time! Nice!

The week went quite well, and uneventful otherwise.

I saw the doc on Tuesday for my 'every 2-month' check up. The blood in my body is recovering quite nicely. My hemoglobin has doubled and that made the doc pretty happy with me! My weight is spiraling out of control however. I'm back up to 186 and climbing! YIKES!

I'm back on the heart medication and we upped my meds for my aching feet and the ringing in my ears. We'll see how that works out. I'm holding off on taking the meds for me feet til the end of the day as the buzz is a bit much for being out and about! ;)

The cold has finally reached us here in Ohio and I'm none too pleased! I've already scored 2 major colds, and that is 2 more than I had in all the time down in Florida. More than enough reason to move back I say!

This week also brought my 34th birthday! Yay! Spent a lovely night out with my wife and kids out to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner and Tiff and the kids scored me Ace Combat 6 for the XBox 360. What a great game! Dylan called me the night before and took me up to see a great, favorite band of mine, Down. We entered the pit and took out a few aggressions! Great time, thanks Dylan for callin a brotha up!

That's a wrap! More later I'm sure!

Maybe next year......

ENOUGH SAID..........

Not going our way!

So I'm enjoying a weekend at home sans the wife and children. Nice and quiet, but sure miss them a lot!

As you can see from the image above, I am multi-tasking tonight, however, the picture on the right is pretty ugly. I've quit switching back and forth at this point.

I hate to say it, but I be having to get the vocal cords ready for a song for my Mass. buddy!

Lets go Tribe, no one wants to see that video!

Cleveland Rocks!

Yankess disposed of!

Watch out Boston, here we come!

Excuses, excuses!

Since I seem to be using it in my life for EVERYTHING, I thought I would blame my lack of postings here lately because I have cancer! :)

OK, in all seriousness, it has been very hectic in my neck of the woods. Here's a quick re-cap:

1. Got all of our stuff moved back here from Florida! I can't tell you how much of a relief it was. I had some great people go out of their way to help out with getting it back here and I couldn't be more appreciative! It's so nice to have my 'fat man' clothes back! I was really struggling to fit in to all of those clothes that I had brought with me. My favorite part about it all was that Tiff is pretty much purging out all of the stuff now. We gave our furniture to my sister who desperately needed new stuff and I had given my tv away, but now have decided to keep it for myself. Yeah, I'm, selfish!

2. I've been spending waaaaaaay too much time building my own computer and my new office. Tiffany decided that we could use the spare bedroom we were going to let Brooke use as her nursery and she'll now do that in her room. She has plenty of space up there. Yeah, you could chalk it up to me being selfish again, but understand this, every man needs a place of solitude. Some use strip clubs and bars, while I like the creature comforts of my own home. I'm a homebody what can I say? The room turned out fantastic and I'll post some pictures soon.

3. Halo 3........................that's all I'll say about that!

Other than that life is peachy king here! Alexander is the apple of my eye. The kid is just so inspirational to me. I look at other losers with their children and I'm just appalled at the way they can treat them and it makes me do better every chance I get. Now, I wouldn't fault anyone for seeing it a bit 'over the top' on how I treat him, but I can see that me being a part of his life is something that he will cherish and remember forever! I'm so glad that in my life I had the opportunity to have my own child. Yes, I am at fault for treating my own child differently than Brooke, but trust that I am ashamed of that as well. Time heals, and I hope that I can make that road a better paved one for her to travel in the future.

I am a real turd of a geek too! I've been consumed with Microsofts Windows Vista and Media Center. These toys are over the top and way cool. I'm gonna post more on my experiences, but I want to throw one question out there for you to consider. How can a Microsoft product not work with other Microsoft products? I'm beside myself with this question. And honestly, I'm so pathetic that I even laid in bed at night consumed with this question!

Hope everyone's doing great! All 2 of ya that stop here to read! More later!

PATHETIC

You have done sports an injustice! You should be ashamed of yourself you pathetic little turd!

E-A-G-L-E-S.......EALGLES!!!!!!!

Fly Eagles fly, on the road to victory.

Fight Eagles fight, score a touchdown 1,2,3.

Hit em' low, hit em' high, and watch our Eagles fly.

Fly Eagles fly, on the road to victory!

E A G L E S - Eagles!

Yes it's that hallowed season for all men who wear pants! Fantasy Football season!

Where being a fan of a team kinda fades in to the background and you find yourself HAVING to root for an opposing running back or quarterback! Yes, fantasy football is here for 2007!

I held my first draft of the season here at the house and it turned out well. 7 of the 8 showed up and the other called his picks in. We completed 15 rounds in about 2 1/2 hours. It would have been 2 but there was a bit of an interruption as my mom fainted on us and damn near gave me a heart attack. It was in the mid to high 70's and she was standing out in the garage with my wife and sister talking. She was wearing a sweater as well because it was cool outside to her. But in the garage it was well over 80 degrees. Well she fainted and fell back on my airhockey table that she was leaning against. My sister bolted in to the house freaking out and told me that my mom had passed out and wasnt breathing. I rushed out just as my wife was helping her sit on the floor. She's claiming 'Im fine Aaron, I'm fine!!' But her eyes were seriously dialated. So I helped her up to sit in a chair. She's still proclaiming that shes fine but I could see that she started sweating really bad. And just as she tells me again that she is fine her eyes rolled back in her head and she gasped 2 times for air. I freaked out!!! I screamed to call 911 and started checkin her vitals. Nothing more creepy than this type of an experience, and one I'll never forget. After about 30 seconds she came thru and acted like the past 30 seconds never even happened. By this time 911's on the phone with me and we're checking everything out with them and my mom freaks out that she doesnt want an ambulance there. So after talking with the dispatcher and her convincing her that she was fine no ambulance was dispatched.

I made mom promise to go get looked at and she called her doctor on Saturday. She goes in to see her on Tuesday.

Wild weekend ensues!!

Had an old friend that I hadnt seen in years stop by for a few hours. Great visit, was awesome to catch up with him.

Saturday was another draft with my old XBox gaming buddies. The Band of Gamers disbanded a year or so ago, but we continue to hang out and this is a tradition we still continue.

It's now Sunday and this is the big dawgs league! It starts at 2:00pm and I don't on getting home any sooner than 7 or so. Should be interesting and tiring. Lots of beer consumption is the order of the day as I am a mere 3 houses from home!!

My teams so far have shaped up well! I held the 8th position, key for me I thought, in the Friday league. My first 2 picks I was a homer and went McNabb and Westbrooke. I just think their gonna have a big season. Hey, I know, I played with my heart there! But I rounded it out with 3 solid wide recievers and anther 4 backs in case I falter. I didn't reach too far with the picks as most of the fantasy stuff I had put me in about the right spot to pick em.

Saturdays worked out even better. I went with a different strategy picking Stephen Jackson with my first pick and going with Carson Palmer second. Rounding out the good picks was Marquez Colsten from New Orleans! We'll see how it goes!

Well, I'm off to see how this draft ensues. Report later!

Stupid Cancer!!! Survivors rule!!!!

RIP Miles!

During my battle with cancer I learned a lot about life and people.

You learn that being respectful to others and showing a kinder, gentler side really makes a difference in people.

Our genetic code as human beings is some what altered in the fact that we begin to look past petty stuff and appreciate the finer points of a person, no matter how deep or hidden that may be.

So, when I see a person who is suffering in this hard fought battle, I am compelled to stop and talk to them and help encourage them and keep their spirits up.

Why am I babbling here??

It's simple.......

Yesterday I signed in to CNN to check out the news and I saw this article on a young guy who had finally lost his battle. I spent the rest of the night just thinking about this and how important the internet is in helping those of us with cancer deal with it on a personal level, and also let's us share our thoughts and ideas on the disease with others who may be searching for answers themselves. There's a chance that one bit of a thought I (or anyone for that matter) may have could have a very big impact. Miles Levin looks like he did just that!

My condolences to the Levin family on your loss, but know this, your son's words will eminate across the internet forever now!

Take the time and stop by his blog and read thru it. I have bookmarked it and will add it here to my site as well! Enjoy!

Singing a tune!

Check out Bubba's song of the day!


Alexanders 2nd Birthday