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.

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!