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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

  • The Good News/Bad News Update

    If you keep up with my "comments," and I'm sure you do... then Jackie is right... I DO have some news to tell which is quite update-worthy. I usually reserve this space for more refined subjects and pictures, etc... but I'll make an exception this time I guess.

    For those of you who may not know... Jacqueline and I got engaged one month ago to the day...May 17th! It was pretty nerveracking and I'm pretty glad I only have to do that once! LOL We both didn't want a long engagement, especially after being together for 5 1/2 years, so we've set August 23rd as the wedding date. Normally, that would sound like an impossibly early date to get a wedding together, but if you know Jackie well, you'll know that she's quite the "planner." Needless to say, that's a good thing for me... and in 1 month's time, the entire wedding is nearly planned. I mean, there's still some small details to be worked out, but she's pretty amazing in what she's accomplished in that short amount of time. Click on the link to her site if you haven't see her ring yet or want to see some possible engagement photos.

    Going from something that makes me VERY happy... unfortunately, I do have some fairly bad news. Some of you already know this... but my best friend from high school, Brian Embley, had been having some extreme back pain that caused him to go to the doctor, which prompted an ER visit and then a transfer to a STL hospital. After running a bunch of tests... they found a "mass." After a biopsy, they found out yesterday that he's been diagnosed with Lymphoma. VERY SAD! Brian just turned 31 and has two very young kids with his wife Holly, so if you would... everyone keep him and his family in your prayers. That was a hard phone call to hear... let me tell ya. You hear bad news day in and day out, but sometimes it hits a little closer to home than at other times. This one hits VERY close to home for me. BUT, he is young and strong... and you HAVE to have hope that they found it early, grade it low... and treat it aggressively and with the help of prayer on his behalf, God will take care of him.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

  • Photo Boothing

    In the spirit of posting once or twice a year, I thought I better get my "1st-half-of-2008" post in today, before the end of June arrives. I mean, I'd hate to procrastinate....

    So, today, I'd like to share with everyone a little thing called "Photo Booth".  There are many reasons to own an Apple laptop... but let's be honest, Photo Booth ranks right up there near the top. Here's just a snippet of the action that ensued over at the Owens' (aka, yaknyams') house on Tuesday night when Jackie and I went to get our hair cut. For the Apple-illiterate of the group... Photo Booth is an application that comes with any Apple computer that has a web-cam. It's a slight "twist" on the old school photo booth theme where you basically sit there and try and look silly with your girlfriend while it takes 3 or 4 pictures. We've all done it at some point or another. Well, Apple basically took this idea to the next level... and if you've never experienced Apple's Photo Booth... you really should sometime. It's simply one of the "funnest" applications you'll ever sit down and play with... period. You'll laugh, maybe cry a little depending on how hard you laugh... and that's just by yourself. If other people are playing along, hilariousness ensues.

    It all starts out fairly normal... basically, it's just you sitting in front of the camera, and taking a simple picture of yourself.... like so:



    Then, in my case... I sat down and Rachel cut my hair... and then I looked like this:



    That "look" cost me a few extra bucks! In case you were wondering, just ask for the "special."

    Now, for those of you who didn't know... "Quinny" has a "Twinny"....



    She also has an "alter ego"...



    I don't exactly know what they feed her... but, it would appear she could rip meat right off a carcass though.

    Inspired by Michael Jackson's look... Eric recently decided to get a small nose-modification done... I think it turned out pretty good don't you think?



    I decided to go to the same doctor... and went for the more mild "Botox" injection... my face felt a little swollen in some areas, but the double-shot injection in my upper lip turned out well. I mean, showing "teeth" is very hot right now....or, at least that's what I've been told.



    Eric showed me some of the mock-up pictures the Doctor gave him of the different looks he could have went with... what do you think, did he make the right choice or not????

       







    All in all... it was very fun night. Eric gave Photo Booth his official seal of approval:



    BTW... if you're not having this kind of fun when you get your hair cut... I'd ask for a refund.


Saturday, August 18, 2007

  • Laundromat

    I never thought I'd be on a business trip so long that I would need to go to a laundromat just so I would have some clean underwear to wear in the office, but that is my reality as I type. I'm currently "borrowing" some poor saps "free" Wi-Fi connection, along with the other 3 guys that are here with me. It's sad that people don't understand the importance of securing down your Wi-Fi connection, but on the other hand... people's stupidity is a blessing in disguise.

    I'm slightly jealous of Jackie right now... one, b/c she's back at home, two b/c she's probably in an Apple store as I type, with someone who's actually buying a new iMac today. So, really I'm jealous of Jackie and Patty. I'm sure whenever I make it back to the good ole state of IL one of these days or weeks, I'll get to go over and see the "Apple of my Eye". But, until then, I'll just have to "borrow" more Wi-Fi bandwidth here and browse Apple's website and think about which model I'm going to order one of these days too.

    That's all for now... clothes are drying and I may have to go feed it more $$$$.

    Signed...

    New Jersey's coolest Illinois Resident.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

  • PA = Bad Luck

    Knee hurts... very bad. Apparently, Pennsylvania is bad luck. I go to Pennsylvania, end up getting a headache of a lifetime, violently ill, and somehow managed to hurt my left knee while running through the airport in Philadelphia. I actually don't even know if I hurt it there, but it's the last bit of "activity" I can remember. Given my age, and lack of "in-shapeness"... most likely that was the cause. I blame it on the 40-something year old who flew by me while I was "fast-walking" my way to the gate. I figured if he could chuck-it through the airport, so could I. I'll not make that mistake again. My theory holds true though... 99.9% of people you see running through airports are people trying to catch a "connecting" flight. Yep, that was me the other day... trying to make a stupid connecting flight. Oh yeah... forgot to mention that ON THAT particular connecting flight back home to STL... I got the high-privilege to sit next to a "Tourrete's" individual. That was an experience of a lifetime... really, it was. I don't sleep too well on planes anyway, but let's just say that even thinking about sleeping on THIS flight was NOT an option. Something about a guy sitting next to me that could NEVER stop moving and slamming himself back in to his seat a couple hundred times, and turning around to yell at the not-very-noisy kid sitting behind him... and, waking up cussing under his breath every now and then. Really, quite an experience. For the record, I do feel bad for him... b/c it was probably just as much torture to him having to go through all of that as it was for me to sit next to him.

    Anybody else have any bad PA stories they'd like to share? I wonder if a PA local would agree with my assessment... Anna???

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

  • March... April... May... June...

    JULY! Yep... it's time for my quarterly post. It's hard work posting 4 times a year PEOPLE! Seriously, give me a break!

    Ok so, let's see... the last time I posted, I nearly puked from the smell that permeated my olfactory senses (more on that later)! Along with buying a cute dog to play with... an unfortunate and rather unwanted bi-product is the smells that he produces from time to time. We've grown quite accustomed to them now. He's a keeper, I suppose. And, he can swim... so, from now on we can blame the bubbles that rise up out of the water on him! He makes for a most excellent scapegoat, trust me! And, he doesn't seem to mind one bit. Although, he did violate 1 of the major rules of any swimming party where there are girls involved! Unless, of course, puking IN THE POOL has officially been made cool or something?!? Yeah... I think he was in some kind of violation of being "cool, in the pool" as they say. Let's just leave it at that.

    WAIT!!!... I just can't "leave it at that." I tried, and I can't (sorry Jackie). This next quarterly item on my "tell this story to the Xanga faithful next quarter" list... well, it's kind of gross. To be honest, it was so gross... well, let's just say it was G-to-the-ROSS and leave it at that. Okay, so maybe I'll spare some details. Okay, I'll spare a LOT of the details... but here are some keywords, and maybe you'll get the gist:

    Keywords:  Headache, McDonalds, Wendy's Vanilla Frosty (Yummy btw), Chills, Sweating, Chills,  "Pre-Vomitous Mouth Watering," Trash-Can, Chunky (Not-so Yummy btw), Possible-Migraine Headache, Dry-Heaving, More Chunky, McDonalds Fry Chunks Through the Nose (day of the incident), McDonald's Fry Chunks Through the Nose (morning after the incident).

    Enough said??? Get the gist? Need more details? Really, just say so... I'll be happy to oblige.

    On a lighter note... I might be "Clairvoyant". And a "Dreaming Clairvoyant" at that. So, I wake up the other morning... nearly panic-stricken b/c of a bad dream I had. It was a dream that directly correlated to the following website and pictures within the website (http://www.fazed.org/content/clock_spider/). Just think about those pictures, and make the spiders behind the clock 5-10x that size... then you'll be right there with me in my bad dream, surrounded. So, I wake-up... not too happy with my brain for doing that to me. Fast forward to today. The clairvoyant part comes in to play b/c my puppy, Newman... became "Newman the Spider-Slayer Puppy" tonight!!! That's right... he had a little tangle with a spider lurking in Jackie's bed (of all places --- that'll make for some interesting nights going to sleep for her now won't it??!?). Anyway... so, he pounced on the spider on the bed, b/c he pounces on nearly EVERYTHING, and ate it like the good little Spider-Slayer that he is. Unfortunately, as he was licking his lips... he left some of the remains up on his nose. Yummy. Save some of that for later. I bet he was saying that to himself. Oh well, he still sounds like a HERO to me, don't you think?!?!

    Welp... that about wraps up this edition of "A Quarter in the Life of n8_c00p3r"! Plus, my "throw-up muscles," as I call them... they hurt when I laugh right now. Too much laughing involved in writing my own posts... you really have NO IDEA.

    Farts, Spiders and Puking, OH MY!