Post BlackFriday and Turkeyday Holiday

Hey gang

Well, its been awhile, so I thought I would just blab on about life in general. Where to start..

Black Friday WASN'T! It was nice to order an item online and pick it up the next day after all the funness of the 4am crowd left. We went to the store at 1pm, and left by 1:30; it was sweet! Also, the crowds at Boscovs was not too bad, but none the less they had the items my mom wanted to get there, so that was nice. Overall, it was a pleasant and successful mission.

Thanksgiving was nice too- My mom came down with George and we went to Nicole Aunts house in south Philly. About 15 people total, but there was plenty of room. The food was great and the company was excellent.

PS3 NEWS: Well, it came, sold out and hit ebay before you knew it. If you are like me and could care less about PS3, lookee HERE

SCHOOL: well, we have a instruction sheet due TODAY and a bibliography thing due next week, so I hope that goes ok. The instruction sheet is on How to Skydive with the Flying Elvi, so we will see what we get.. My part was on the list of items to have and a safety section. I hope the thing turns out ok.. Ethics is closing to a soft ending; we have a thing on Chernoble and a final test next week - that's it!

BF2142: Going ok for now- I am still making slow progress, but that's ok! I play when I can and its a fun game. I am starting to have a change in my gaming thought in that perhaps the best system to use is a console, not a computer. There are good games for the PC, but with the xbox and soon X360, all the guys will eventually be on it. Since I would rather play with my friends, it makes sense for me to save up for a new X360- maybe after Christmas with Bestbuy giftcards I can get it. Besides, look at the games!! Guitar hero 2 is coming for Xbox360 - I play it every time I'm at BestBuy now on the Ps2, so coming to X360 is sweet! Also, since I got games already for Xbox, most will move over, as per THIS LIST
OH, don't forget the new games from BK - THE KING LIVES!!

IPOD: its nice; I loaded some songs from CD but overall the iTunes thing with the coupons has been making me upset- I got them thru school and for whatever reason I cannot get them to work. That sucks.

HOME: I installed the new door handles and it looks nice upstairs now. We got a locking one for the bathroom and regular ones for the bedroom. After I change the ones for the washroom, I will look downstairs and replace the two down there with the same style, so its all the same. Next will be either the doors or insulation, but I'm not sure which one yet- they both take time and money to do, neither of which we got right now. I am also trying to get the junk out of the 2nd bedroom, but always find something else that needs to be fixed, corrected.. so it seems like it never ends.

Oh well -back to it; tonight is the gym and Dr Todd, our back DR. Then HEROES (it rocks) and maybe a movie..

7 years and 70 degrees in Nov = End of the World

Hey gang,

Just the usual blurb... wait whats that feeling.. 7 years with Raytheon!! Holy SHIT- This is the longest I have ever been with one company. Still low man on the pole, but its no big deal. The 2nd most longest job was the US Navy, which was by contract.. Raytheon has been by pain, cold winters, muggy summers, crappy drivers, ancient roads, and 100s of other things in this lovely state - but its great :) Where else can you get a cheesesteak at 3am.. Philly; Wanna go skiiing?? Poconos; Got family?? I got my mom and company in NY and Nicole has her entire family in South Philly. Friends?? check - Old school buddy and excellent gamer friends Dave and his wife Allison, some coworkers also fun to hang with and Nicole's friends all make for some interesting get togethers..

In other news, its the 9th of November and its going to be 70 degrees out = End of the World!! Serious. When I got here 7 years ago, there was snow in Ohio.. SNOW!! I nearly crapped my pants when I had to drive on RTE 70 east towards Ohio that night.. SNOW - Let me look at my Radar - I always have coffee when I look at radar: Nope! Its time to pack the surfboard and head to 'da Shore' to go swimming in 'wudar'.. oh well... today is a Dr appointment and Dentist appointment, so I think that I will take the car to get cleaned, washed, waxed and all spiffied up before old man winter shows up next week..

BLACK FRIDAY: Yep! 14 days and counting. So far the only thing that I see on my list is at Best buy: SIRIUS Radio unit for $50; thats $40 cheaper than everywhere else.. and thats out the door too ;) Here is the MOST WANTED LIST on blackfridayadds.com: the 5mp camera at KMart. Not my exact place for excellent quality, but for $70 the kiddies cannot go wrong. Outside of that, so far I didnt see anything else that was 'must have' on the list. Nothing from Target or Walmart yet, but Im sure that they will have something on web soon enough.

PS3: well, after 2 generations, the PS3 release is coming closer: I found these two tidbits of internet fun-ness 1- Check out this guy: Smashmyps3.com Holy cow! You can see his antics with the xbox360, ipod and a few others on youtube..
2- THE LINE HAS STARTED!! These loosers are waiting for thier PS3. yes, a week before release.. talk about not having a job or girlfriend. My theory is this: get to the store the day of release around 3pm, Get the voucher at 10pm, then sell it to the highest bidder. no fuss with the ebay issues, no paying $600 for a PS3; just selling your spot in line. There is nothing that says you cant, right?? Too bad I got class that night, so I will send my loving wife lol..

BF2142: I Love this game; When I can, I play for an hour here and there, but not as much as some of the guys in the clan do. I am a sergeant, game rank #7 or 8; my buddy made #13 last night and the top guy is ranked #18; out of something like 24. The friking game came out on the 17th!! comeone guys!! Now my wife tells me that I play too much.. i wonder what thier wives tell them, if they havent left them already.. Oh well, anyways WE are going to play a tournament in the clan best squad wins... it should be good.

iPOD: New part in the weekly blog. We got one- nicole has Nano(nano) and I got the mini; way cool toy. We loaded iTunes and went to town on the CDs in the case; So far I got about 4GB worth of songs and still going. Our friend Allisone and Dave gave us Harry Potter (You gotta say it like the stepfather..'Harry pottter!')on disk as an audio book, so we will try it out. )Thanks again guys :D)

HOME: I am making progress now; we got the doorjamb fixed and now I am patching and painting where I can; also the computer is gone and the desk is going to go today, so that will be that. It wont be long till Susan and crew come out.. IT should be a fun winter this holiday season :D

My Chirstmas list: NOTE- you MUST email/call Nicole before you get me anything: This is a safety disclamer.. ok.
Here ya go

DO NOT GET ME:
--Video games for the PC/XBOX unless it is listed here: I have plenty to play now and no time to play em.
--Sweaters: I have over 15 sweaters
--Shoes: I’m good…no really I’m good with boots, sneakers, 2 slippers and dress shoes :D
--Generic Tee shirts: I got about 10 in-n-out shirts, a few Steelers shirts and an assortment of other shirts that I have all over the place.

All the stuff that I would love to have:

GENERIC STUFF:
++ Jeans: I’m a 36/30 or a 34/30- I could use about 2 pair
++ White Tee-shirts: NO V-necks, so anything else is fine.
++ Bed sheets: We have a deep-pocket Queen size bed: only one set fits as of today, the rest are too small for our new bed.

1- ($60-100) Siruis Radio kit:

This is the installation kit used for the Kenwood car stereos for my deck in the car. I just need the kit and will be glad to pay $12 a month to NOT listen to commercials; it doesn’t look hard to install either, so crutchfield is a good site to get it at – Best buy, etc will overcharge you for it, but might include free installation..BlackFriday has it for $50 at Bestbuy!!

2- ($100) Halo Paintball Loader:

This is the paintball loader that feeds paintball into the gun. Order it before thanksgiving. This site lists it as Out of Stock, but its in high demand that they cant keep them in stock, so just order it and hope for the best :P

3- ($40) Smartparts Firebolt:

This is a replacement bolt for the paintball gun.

4- ($30) Steelers Road to XL DVD:
This DVD is a 4 disk that has all the games from the 2005 season playoffs.

5- ($40-50) Medieval 2: Total War (for PC):

6- ($50 each) Master replica Scaled replica Blasters:
Han Solo

Stormtrooper


7- ($??) – I have an iPod mini; it’s a blue one. I do not have any extras with it, so things like an armband, basic speakers, or something else that you would use if you have/had an ipod mini.


Parting pictures HOLIDAY TOP 15 Gifts:

Here at go :D

Happy Holloween!!

Its that scary night once again!!!


Not much in new stuff, so this will be a shorty...

GAMEDAY: Rocked- we played several hands of BANG!, in which I was the Sheriff and prominately got killed. Vegas showdown was fun; I played banker and helped a few new people get into it. Then we broke out BANG! again and I was handed the Renegade, in which I shot Nicole and killed Trever, but not before Wayne killed the sheriff- Amy. In all it was alot of fun! Look for another gameday in the future!

BF2142- Awesome game. the unlocks, the SG gaming group, everything. I am playing when I can and have unlocked the Support dude (heavy machine gun guy) and working on the Assault kit(regular grunt with the medic bag). Someone forked up some cash to get a server and everyone is pitching in to help. We just up'd the server to a 48 player, so now 24 SG can play 24 non-SGers. I made the graphics for the server as shown here (thanks to Gimp2.0)


I took several screen shots, some web banners and other images, cut out what I needed and stuck it all together using gimp, the free Photoshop program. Let me know what you think :D

SCHOOL: COM310 is boring. I hate the class and dont know WhyTF I need to pay $1000 for this class; Lets see- write your resume, write a memo, write another memo, correct these sentences.. comeon!!
PHL315- MUCH BETTER; We discussed the USS Vincennes case, the Pintos, the DC10 and this week is the Challanger case; we take the disasters of engineers and disect what they did wrong ethically. Its a fun class. Registration is a week and its back to Engineering classes, namly labs and something else.

BEDTIME: WE got a new bed; It was time. Our old bed was over 10 years old and it was showing its age. Nicole couldnt get much rest and the bed was starting to lean over the edge. So we went to JCPennies on my moms suggestion on a sale, and came out $900 less with a Spring Air mattress. $900!! yep! the short story goes like this: We have the wrong bedframe to support a split boxspring, which was required because the movers could not get the original boxspring up the staircase, even though I got the older one up the same staircase. $730 (bed)+ $90 differance for split boxspring + $100 for split bedframe = $925. Fuckers. Im gonna write Pennies a letter and see what they can do. Oh, did I mention that the movers did take the mattress the last week, but refused to take the old boxspring!! What asshats.

In the end, the bed is softer and Nicole and I have been getting better rest, so it was worth it, but not the $900 we paid.

STEELERS: Suckin Ass at 2-5; look for ben to get killed this weekend yet again.

IFL: Im tied with Dave Brussin for the middle places @ 4-3, but he has a better shot at making the playoffs, simply because the rest of the league failed to beat Rick or Carlos Y, making me in 3rd place. Figures. I got another year of this division with the 3 of us killing eachother and the rest of the league.. Thats ok, Il take the 1st round pick again :P

Ok - thats it! Dont eat too much junk and Later I will upload some pics

Sunday in Mecca; Mid October chills

Hey all..

Well, my G-14 Top secret was my sister flying out for our moms 60th Bday. Here is a quick retake:

I dumped my airmiles and got her a round trip 1st class to lovely Philly airport; reminded her to not check bags cause they suck more that donkeyballs there with baggage. She arrived on Friday (6th) and stayed the night at the condo. Saturday we drove up the NJTP to our moms place in Rockland county. We then surprised her by dropping her off at the house first, then parking and going in. Once we were inside with mom and George, I locked the truck with the remote and that was the signal. She came to the door and knocked; mom answered:
"Hello??"
"Hi" says Susan " Im lost- I think this is the wrong place.."
"Oh ok..."
!!!!!!!!!
Mom then looks at me, then looks back..
"Susan?!?!"

Least to say she was well surprised. The rest of the weekend we went to the mall, and later, we went to Patty and Johns house and had a cake n stuff. Of course I got the "Hey Joe, my computer doesnt work..." from Patty, so after an hour of looking it over, it was a bad DVD drive. I sent John a link and he ordered it and installed it- no problems.

This last weekend, I took a trip to Mecca!! Yep! The big jet plane to Steeltown and saw the victorious Steelers blow out the Chiefs. What a game and a trip:
6am- get up; shower and get ready
8am- Walt arrives; we get into my truck and head to lovely PHL airport.
8:40- arrive PHL terminal D, the place still looks like it is under construction, thou it is not...
8:50 get to terminal D and find out that we need to be in Terminal E to get tickets... figures.
9:10- Get to E, get in line
9:15- find out that we need to goto Terminal D to get to the gate... PHL 2- Joe 0.
9:25- TSA line is 20 minutes long...
9:40 get to the gate; board plane
11:30- arrive at Pittsburgh airport - whole crap PHL could learn a few things from this place..like LCDs and other technology that make it a post WW2 airport..
11:45- get car and on the road
12:15 get to Monroeville mall- home of the only Steeler store in a mall; I ask you, dear reader, how many other sports teams have thier own store in a mall??? I have yet to see one.
12:50- leave the store with one #39 Parker jersey, one coach polo and one girly nighty for the 'I got you something..' gift.
1:20- joe, traffic.. traffic joe
1:45- get to the Squirrel tunnel; why a squirrel, who knows..
2pm- get to a garage downtown, pay $5 for an all-day parking and walk across the bridge; I can hear the bands in the background and smell BBQ...
2:01- BEHOLD- MECCA... The promiseland... yep! Heinz Field..
2:20- get to the stadium and into the gate; we make our way to the Great Hall; W O W!!!

2:45- I finish my lunch, which was on infamous Primanti's Sandwich - for a meger $6, you get your entire lunch on a bun - HELLYEA! A coke and 4 napkins later, Im set to watch the game.



3:15- get to the O2 level... whats the O2 level?? Let me show you; Look for the Red Circle..



Its officially
Section 521, Row LL, Seat 3

All I cared was - I AM HERE!! The O2 is just that, its so friking high that you need Oxygen to breathe correctly..and did I mention it was kinda windy up there??
4:14 - watch the ending of the 1pm games on the jumbotron - Bengays lost to the Bucs and the Ravens (Browns 2.0) lost- did I mention that They have no offense??
4:16 kickoff..crowd goes nuts
4:35- Im not sure when we scored the 2nd TD, but it was Parker and it was sweet; 14-0 by the 1st quarter and I was not 100% sold on the special teams..
5 ish- Halftime; pop warner kids come on.. maybe the Chiefs could learn a few things from these kids... or even recruit a few to make this game worth wild.. NAAWWW

6:40- End of the 3rd quarter, blowout is assured; DAvenport scores a TD making it 38-7 - time to go home.
7:20pm- Get to car after a mile walk. Drive down the street and back to the Pitt tunnel to the airport
8pm- Arrive and walk thru security; wow PHL could really REALLY learn a few things from this place..
10pm- Land in PHL; typical hpl style " We will be landing at gate D2, your baggage is in terminal E..." Phl 1, SWA passangers 0.
11pm- Get home; share goodies with wife and get to bed..

I had a blast and hope to do this soon.

Onto other news:

DAD- Nadda new here. I got the permit thru the NJ State police site and filled it out; all I need to do now is to pay the $20 for the fee and wait. WE will see

HOME- Got the winter clothes out and started to make the transition. Also, it was time for a new bed- we got this Spring Air mattress for us. After a meager $700, we will have it this weekend. I just dont know what to do with the current one- a replacement for the bedroom?? Trash?? not too sure yet.

GAMING: BF2142 comes out tomorrow!! I cant wait.

Paintball- Gonna call it a season if this weather doesnt start to get a tad warmer. Nothing better than getting hit with a nice hard paintball that doesnt break.. usually followed by 20 more at 200FPS.. ouch!

MOVIES: Go see Departed. Excellent film. Jack at his best and the cast was amazing.. even thou when I see Matt Damon I say "Matt Damon.." ala Team America..

Thats a good start for now; Look for some pics here soon..

J

October Starts my favorite month

Here is my favorite month of the year- October. Not only is it my birthday this month, but also the NFL is going, NHL starts up and the MLB is in thier playoffs. With the NFL comes the fantasy league we play in- the Ironman Football League. To date, i have one win under my belt.. meanwhile, doug and my father-in-law are 4-0. Go figure.

Nicole and I are about to hit our 3yr mark as husband and wife on the 10th!! YEA!! I got her this coach bag in the silver/black/white combo for $150 when I was up in Maine; she loves it, which is kudo points for me :P She told me today that mine is in the mail, so we will see :D

Anyways, onto events..

Birthday: Woop! Im older now!! First off, Alot of people came over and called - and so for that THANK YOU!!! I am blessed with the amount of family and friends that we have that went out of thier way to make it a special day. This past sunday, we had a good amount of food and people, so we decided to BBQ- too bad I forgot to fill the propane tank up (lol). I cooked burgers and dogs on the griddle, and watch football and played some cards (quick game). One of these days I gotta get a gameday going. Also, I think that I'm too old as noone was able to find anything that I wanted- granted Dave tried to find GUN but Joebuy was out (I got it later this week Dave ;) thank you :) ) Most everyone gave me cash money, which is fine. So far, I purchaced replacement Detents for the Ion, a new board game - Caylus, a new card game called BANG!, and possibly more system memory for the computer. Im gonna wait for the prices to drop down a tad first. Currently 2-512MB paired sticks go for over $110 right now. Oh well... now its Eric's Bday today and we got him Puerto Rico for his Bday - BIG SURPRISE :P Something that we were talking about was using real coins for the gamecoins- a problem that they had recently was that the money is the same look and type as the victory point counters. Someone on boardgamegeek found a silver looking penny for the silver pieces and a gold nickel for the gold piece.

DAD- Is still selling his house, but now it is to another person. The closing date is soon, but none the less he has packed his stuff and is getting ready to go. He sent me my old eagle scout stuff and my navy awards (Crossing the line..) so eventually we will get something on the walls at the house. Also, he is shipping me the Colt ACE, which will eventually get here.

SCHOOL- Started COM 310 and PHL 315; both classes are writing and both seem kinda ok. COM310 is the worse of the two, as the instructor is kinda blunt and not too personnel. Also, his assignments are on colored paper, which I dont like.. PHL 315 will be fun, as he wants discussion groups and class involvment a high priority.

HOME STUFF- fixed the floor boards; I'l get a pic up soon. Also, we almost had a desk out this weekend but Nicoles aunt forgot about it- and now its a big deal to try and get it over there.. whatever. We offered it up to a few people, but if its still around by sunday, its a gonner (unless someone wants us to hold it..)

I do have Exciting news, but cannot reveal my G14 top secret news until this weekend, as someone might catch wind of it :P - Lets just say that there will be alot of Surprises at my moms 60th birthday party this Saturday.

Next update- i will have some more pics of brthday stuff, My moms birthday party and some exciting action pics of boardgame :P

J

NICOLE got her licence, NFL and Paint

Hey all,

NICOLE GOT HER LICENCE!!! WEOOHHOOHOHOHOHO!!! I am so happy for her- she had a hard time with the dumbass stupid NJ Law that says you gotta do parallel parking BEFORE you drive the test. WTF!! Since when does Parallel parking have ANYTHING ON Gods green earth to do with driving. If you dont want to park.. dont! Someone elect me Governator of this backwards ass state this fall, PLEASE!! Anyways, look out Palmyra :D At least the xterra is yellow...

Well, Week 1 of the NFL Season is now in the record book, which means that my Fantasy team once again goes 0-1. I think I have won the 1st game only once, so maybe thats a good thing.. My worst year was 0-3 start and made it back to the playoffs, only to loose to Doug's Gnomewompers which had a red hot team that year. On a more important note: Steelers beat the fish hansomly without Mr burger-no-helmet-wearin QB, so I am quite content with that. The Eagles = WOW! That was a nice scrub game for them to start the season with, especially with Mr. 18, OT. (Stalworth= anti TO..in every way). Look for the birds in the NFC east playoffs. You heard it hear first.

On to life events :)

PAINTBALL: Im starting here, simply because we did a North Vs South game on the 9th. I went with the 13th Legionnares and it rocked. I got to the field about 8am, got my gear, paint and aired up. We walked the field (about 1.5 miles long) and got to the HQ site, when the ref came up and said " 10 minutes.." damm. No general, no medics.. noting. When GAME ON started, the lead ref gave the general a bunch of medic bands, and I took it for our guys. Overall, it was fun. too bad someone didnt know the numbers correctly on the sides. it was like 2-1, so it seemed. WIthin the first 45 minutes the red team surrounded the field hospital and it was a shooting gallery for them when the timer was up. lets see- 30 of the red guys waiting outside the entrance/exit of the blue hospital and we gotta run for cover 100 feet away = CERTAIN DEATH..PAINFULL one too. By 5:30 I was finished. I did medic duties for several hrs, ate a quick lunch, and also jumped into the tank with my friends Matt and Rob. It was fun. I hope to make it again to OTP soon, maybe after my B-day, and use up the rest of this paint.

Painting: On labor day weekend, we went to my moms place to help her sort our the issues that she was having with her living room and dining room = the color. It was a nasty pea/puke green that seemed to take away all the light in the house. She went and got 3 gallons of bone white, which she said would go right over the green. Well, after one wall, Uncle Rich and I decided to go get primer, repaint the entire wall and do a primer/paint coat over everything. We started about 9am and finished at 6 or so. the place looks SO MUCH better now- light reflecting from the outside means you dont need the lights on in the daytime. More so, mom was very happy, and thats all that counts.

Birthday: Since this is my blog, Im gonna put up the crap that usually noone buys me for a birthday. Parents give money, and thats cool- Im talkin about the crap: Stuff you dont every need, just want. Just an FYI: Talk to Nicole if you actually considered getting a gift.. she has this list, so its possible that she might use it.

-- Xbox 360 ($400) NOT the basic one..the loaded version. That would rock.
-- Kila Detents for Smartparts Ion ($20).. these keep the paintballs in your gun from falling out, and the stock ones are wearing out.
--“Gun” – XBOX game ($20): Basically, its Grand theft in the old west.
-- Steelers DVD: Superbowl (4 DVDs, $27 with free shipping on AMAZON.com).. this is what the Superbowl DVD should have been. Its the 4 complete playoff games in thier entirity, with the radio announcers instead of annoying Joe buck, and the rest of the non-steeler nation TV crew.
-- Steeler POLO Shirt – online ($40-50): Hey, I can wear Steelers to work :D
-- “LEGO: Star Wars II — The Original Trilogy” XBOX game ($40).. take a family game, add star wars and make everything into Lego = Fun game.
-- CP Regulator [paintball gear – air regulator for Ion marker] ($50-70).. this is an upgradable part, and just another gadgat on the gun to try and make it shoot faster= nothing special.
-- Halo B Loader with RIP drive [paintball gear - Prefer Black, but can take Smoke color too] ($105): This is what loads the paintballs into the gun-my loader is starting to go, so its only time as to when this will be purchaced.

Like I said- All crap you cant live without, but hey- its a bday gift :P


DAD: This is a start for me, but I am starting to wonder about my dad now. He has no idea what is going on with his house, his money or what he is going to do. He seems to put so much trust in the woman that lives there, and it bothers me. When I ask him anything at all, he doesnt know. That isnt the dad that I knew, who was always "My way or My way..". Since he doesnt know anything about what is going on, I will stop asking about it. I am more concerned about this situation with his house, which he just sold to someone, then claims that he will goto Bigbear with Jody and her husband. Who knows.. maybe its me and sometimes Iver been wrong...

WEDDINGS: Well, we got- Karens/Kevin in November, Dave Brenamans/Rachel in Jan, Tom Schilling/Chris in May/Jun07 and Michelles/Quino in July 07; thats 4 in the next 9 months! Its gonna be $$$$.. Not counting gifts, the KK wedding is up the Turnpike, so that isnt too bad- possible hotel night and gas; Daves might be just me, simple because of the cost to fly out there, but that would be it- I could stay with Susan and take a long weekend (Thursday night to sunday/monday). Toms will the the expensive one- hotel in Vegas, plus flights for both (which might get cheeper with FF miles and points) and food. Michelle's will be just as expensive as Nicole is the Main of Honor, which means dress, party, and shower. Im not panicing yet :P

SCHOOL: Got an A in Chem 3; Now Im just waiting for my Econ grade to go thru; Then its Technical writing and Engineering Philosophy this quarter- great. Two writing classes back to back during football season. Figures that Drexel would F up my falltime.. Dont they know that its football season!! my goodness... that trip to Pittsburgh.. the playoffs.. comeone people!!

PC STUFF: Since BF2 is the pickup game now, BF2142 comes out next month, which means that its time to reformat my drives, reload from scratch and fix up the PC! We are going to go back to one machine and the laptop. We arent gaming as much anymore, and to honest, I dont see it in the future either. There is too much to do and never enough time.

HOUSE STUFF: Bathroom must be finished!! With a trip in the near future, I am getting anxious to finish the bathroom up for once and all- the trim is all that is left and its bugging me alot. Then we gotta get into the 2nd bedroom and clean up that mess- once the 2nd desk is gone, we can do more work in there, but then there is the 'where are guess gonna sleep' issue. Since its small, the notion of anything bigger than a queen is gone, so we are forced to figure out something very soon.

On a closing note: the 5 years since 9/11 society has gone from a unity to a mess once again. Why cant people just get along!! Yesterday we had a guy that was such a rush that he cut us off going to a red light.. A RED LIGHT!! I really did like it when people would slow down a bit more, respece another and just be helpful like we were when the days after 9-11 were passing by.

Next issue- BAck to class and IFL issues!

More pics from CA

Hey gang,
Here are some more pics from CA!

My beautiful wife, Nicole; We are at the zoo in this one relaxing in the shade..


Here is me feeding Evelyn before we went to play paintball at SC Village:


Here is us at the paintball field - SC Village: Left to Right- me, Tom, Kevin, Eric, Kevins brother, Mark, and Scott. This was right before we left for the day; notice the shot on Mark's arm...


Here is the famous" I got you, you got me" shot- Notice that both shots are on the left eye; I'm on the left/ Eric on the right. We (Scott, me and Tom) ambushed Eric and Mark; When Eric came out of a bush, I was on point and fired at the same time that Eric did. He then yells out "Im out.." then I said " Im out.." and when we poped up, we discovered it was us (I didnt know it was Eric till he said something..visa versa). We laughed about it the whole way back - Here is the Result:



Here is Susan, Eric and Evelyn at the chruch. We just finished the baptism in this picture when we snapped a shot. The dress that Evelyn is wearing is the same one that susan wore for her Baptism.



AHH the San Diego Zoo!
Action Joe - Master Photographer in action...


GAMEDAY! This is Puerto Rico at its best; From left to right: me, Eric, Bobby, Tom and Kevin. If I remember correctly, Tom went nuts in this game- Took a factory, went shipping crazy and outbuilt everyone. My theory on Puerto Rico: 3rd person wins almost 100% to date (If you go 3rd, you win..)



EVELYN! She is so cute! She is almost 8 weeks old in this pic.

Back from Vacation

Hey gang!

Well, sorry for the delay- Things have been so crazy over here. Between our vacation to CA, School and a ton of other stuff, I have had no time to breathe, let alone get online and type.. but I will give it a go :D

VACATION: Went Awesome! We left on the 3td and arrived on time at SNA airport, Orange County; got out stuff and found a Jetta as a rental for the week. SWEET! We got to Susans at 11:30 and went to bed. Friday was a quiet day: got some paintball stuff for saturday and we finally met our Niece, Evelyn. Saturday was a blast: Tom found a great deal for us: $20 at SC Village for all day play, air and lunch, which was a jumbo jack, chips, a coke, water and some candy. Then they heald a raffle and Scott came away with some sweet gear. I still want to kill him for turning in the 2nd mask, but easy come- easy go. We had fun playing with pics to follow soon. Sunday was Evelyn's Baptism and it was very nice. We took alot of pics. She was very beautiful in her dress, which was the same one that Susan had when she was baptised that our mom kept forever. THANK YOU MOM!


GRILLMASTER Eric works his meat!! Notice the beafy spicy Sausage's in his tongs..



The rest of the week was easy going- we went to newport beach a few times, we also took a day to Huntington Beach and walked the pier and shops down Main street HB. We also spent some time with my dad and took him out several times to breakfast and to the senior center there in Costa Mesa. He is getting ready to sell his house, but that is another story all together. The following weekend we did a GAMEDAY at Eric's: Advanced Civ was first and after 5-6 hrs of playing, some had to leave, so we called it. We then broke out Puerto Rico and found that the guys really liked it. After teaching it to everyone the first time, we played at least 4 more times thru the week. Very fun game.

Overall, we had a very nice time away from lovely NJ. I do miss my dad alot and hope everything works out for him- he is such a nice guy and has worked his ass off his whole life- I just wish he would treat me as an adult and not as a kid that has no clue what I am doing. Sometimes I wonder about the situation over there and just prey each night for his health and safety. As for Puerto Rico, I will show the Brussins the joy of Puerto Rico and hopefully we can get together and play :D

HOME STUFF: Well, the bathroom is still the sore spot on my list of things: The probelm I have had is finding time to actually get in there and do it. It seems that we are always on the go somewhere and I am starting to get tired of it. I love our home, I just wish to spend some time there.. After the bathroom, I need to considilate the computers into one, dump a desk, and clean out the 2nd room. With the Schecks coming this Christmas, we need to be able to have them stay with us for several days, and so far the only way its gonna work is by having them take our room for the crib- we just need a bigger bed for the 2nd room.. Maybe a Futon.. not sure.

Nicole has finished 3 driving classes and is getting ready for her test- I am basically make her drive everywhere she can. We did some parallel parking practice behind the Acme store by the house, and that was good. I know she will do fine, we just need a smaller car now!

PAINTBALL: Aside from playing at SC Village, I was able to get the S-Rail and ASA valve for the Ion. Basically, the airtank goes back on the marker, but it is balanced better than a basic setup. I need to take a pic and post it.. Next up is the firebolt and possibly a new loader, but it can wait. I wanna see what they go for on ebay and compare prices vs a new one from a store for a HALO B with RIP loader.

GAMING: Nothing new here- actually, I reactivated my XBOX live account and poped in Halo2 and BF2 for xbox. Also, my machine has been giving me issues, so it is time. I ordered a new case and power supply and will considate the two computers into one after finals.

FANTASY FOOTBALL: We are closing round 3 in the email draft and so far its been a painfull experience this year. Between people on vacation, trips and not able to contact another, some picks had to be made by yours truly via the sportingnews top 200 list. Least to say, some older IFL players have been impatient and just seem to want to get it over with...

Thats all for now.. Look for another post shortly with alot more pics and the football draft results!

Mid summer Heat wave

Hey gang..

Well, it has been a great summer! WHEW!! Last night was a fun one- I left class and called Nicole; she told me we lost power and that the lightning was still all over the place. On the way home, I passed several trees that were on the ground, power lines all over the place and police and PSE&G trucks out in force. WE had no power all night last night and only at 5am when I called PSE&G is when the power came back, so least to say it has been a long night in the lovely warm weather of NJ!

ITALY WINS WORLD CUP!! WOOT!! Simply awesome; I so badly wanted them to beat the stupid Frenchies and as an extra bonus, Zidane with his professionalism as shown below, just incase you missed it :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1i_l0OeeMc

It's too bad he got the Golden Ball award thingy, cause I thought that this man deserved it much more- the Heart of the Italian Defense only let in 2 goals for the match, minus the shootout. WOW

On to other stuff...

FAMILY STUFF: We are doing good! Nicole had her 1st driving lesson last night and she loved the instructor. We hope to get in another one next week, and possibly a 3rd lesson after that. The goal is to have her drive everywhere from mid-August to the driving test date. Susan is also doing well with Evy; She is still on the 3-hr cycle and might still be on it when we visit, but that's ok.

SCHOOL: Summer started, which means back to the 2 times a week thing; This quarter I got Chem 163 (not sure why..) and also Economics 201 (Micro). Fun! At least I only have to spend $60 for the Econ website fee instead of a book, so that's nice, and since I already have the Chem book, I'm golden there.. Test #1 Econ was last night, and I think I did ok.. Next week is Chem test 1.. Organic! BOO

HOMESTUFF: Not much since last update- we are enjoying the entertainment center and also the updated bathroom; I still need to get in there (hopefully this weekend) and finish it up with some trimming, touch-up paint, a quick swap of the switches and also the baseboard. Doors are going to be another time, and hopefully we can finish it up soon so we can get into the computer room and re-due it.

GAMING: I now find that Thursday nights are perfect for me- I can get in for a few hrs, play and get out. Everyone wins and no heartaches. I have been playing Dungeon Seige at lunch time; its a nice pick up game. Also, Pirates is a top player now since Pirates of the Caribbean 2 is out. GO SEE IT!!

As for board games, a new one has my interest and also a Joe Classic. The new one is called Puerto Rico, made by Rio Grande games Its similar to Settlers, but you make plantations, grow crops and sell/trade them. The goal of Puerto Rico is similar to many others - collect as many victory points as possible. Where Puerto Rico excels is in the many possibilities that can occur. The premise is simple - the first player chooses one of seven role cards with specific actions to perform (or as few as six for three players) and then the other players get to choose from the remaining roles. It is important to note, though, that when you choose an action, everyone else also gets to perform it. So not only do you need to make sure that the role you choose is necessary for your own advancement in the game, but also that you will benefit from it more than anyone else. The only advantage to being the first to choose a particular role card is that you are then given a specific privilege related to that action. However even with this privilege, players have to be constantly aware of the benefits each action gives to their opponents. Least to say, it sounds like fun :D

SUPREMACY is back in force!
I found all the rules, pieces and even the expansion board, so it will be making a trip across the US for one more showdown between the great nations of purple Africa (Carlos M), Australia (me), USA(Eric) and the rest of the world as seen thru the eyes of the nukes, L-sats, K-sats, gas attacks and everything else :D

PAINTBALL: I'm gonna go this weekend to Ontarget again; My buddy Dave is interested, and I hope he can go, cause noone else so far wants to :( I hate going alone, but I will cause its a lot of fun :D I'm anxious to try out the modified marker now with the new barrel and grips. After this, I will be taking it with me to CA and with the new Compressed air bottle, I can take the entire thing with me :D

VACATION: Is coming very soon, and I am getting ready for some time away from this lovely place of 'work'. We are planning to goto the San Diego Zoo, and maybe 6-flags Magic mtn, the beach a few times and a lot of other stuff too! Should be fun..

Also, This place too :D

FANTASY FOOTBALL: It's that time of year! Football is starting up, with camps cropping up in the next few days. I doubt that I will 3-peat the Title again, but I think that our division will come out ahead of the pack. I got Carlos Y, Rick and myself, with Dave Bren. as the returnee. Should be lots of fun :D

Thats it for now.. stay tuned for next update from sunny CA!

Niece and House pics!

Hey gang,

Here are a ton of pictures of our new niece, the entertainment center and the bathroom - Enjoy!


Here is the newest family member in the Scheck family:
Evelyn J Scheck; 6lbs, 4oz; 19" beautiful baby girl :D
Congrats to my sister Susan and brother Eric!



Here is Susan and her new baby girl at dinnertime :D



The new living room look; Notice the extra drywall piece by the front door :)
We moved the love seat to the other side to make more room on the staircase side of the room- that is where we have the DVDs now.


The monster lives!! Its a big 85" long thing that weighs a ton; in this shot, the shelves are empty, but the sweet 42" LCD fits - like a glove!! (Sounding like ace venture..)



The old original bathroom; just as a referance for those that have not seen it before; you can see why we wanted to update it.



The old shower surround; there is only one of the two valves showing, and it was the leaky cold one.


The new shower surround; it went up easier than I thought, except the tedious part of cutting out the valve side of the plastic - that took a good 40 minutes of me NOT trying to F it up.





Thats it for now - more pics very soon!

Summer is Official and Nicole gets her permit!

Hey all,

Well, it is June 21st = Summer solstice. So least to say, its REALLY gonna be a long day.. I mean, really long...

BIG NEWS!! (ticker tape machine sound)............
.....Nicole Got her PERMIT!! YES! She can now drive as a learner and learn from anyone else but me. It sounds mean, but look at it this way: no fighting! The last thing that we want to do is to fight over what I said or didn't say to do, get upset over her hitting a curb and panic, etc.. So we are looking at different driving schools and seeing what we can do for her date with the driving instructor on....Sep 11th! Yep - 9-11 is her driving test date. Lets try and change the luck of the date..

World Cup is underway, and wow the US looked like they took one in the ass with that stupid ref on the Italy game; US should have and could have won that game, had it not been for the ref. Oh well, Last is Ghana, and they look good. It will be tough, but it is possible to win and have Italy beat out Checs.. So far, my picks for the round of 16 are on par..Germans, English... and that starts in a week.

6 Flags Great Adventure FINALLY Opened EL TORO, just after we left there a month ago.. go figure. There is talk now as to when we will go again - I'm thinking either late July or September...Email me if you are interested.

Where to start:
GAMING: well, after finishing finals, it seems that the Sunder guild decided to move servers for WOW, and then change their name to something else. Since I wasn't too into playing a lot anymore, and that there was no way for me to catch upto the rest of the guild, I did not transfer my toon over. Good thing, cause there has been nothing but problems for Sunder since moving last week. I'm not 100% DONE with WoW - it was fun and I was able to game with friends and even Nicole, but in the end, its a game.

I then rejoined Sturmgrenadier and loaded up Planetside, and found that playing once a week is exactly what the Dr ordered. I can get on with friends for a few hours on Thursdays and log out when I need to. No more loot, no more DKP this or that.. just get in, kill shit and log off.
I also left the battlefield CD in and still playing BF2 with the new Armored Fury add-on, and its fun. Get in, play, log off. No fuss, no mess.

HOME FRONT: After finishing the first phase of the bathroom re-modeling, we are hoping to find a weekend with no travel plans and tackle the shower. I gotta rip down the old shower rap-thing, fix/reinstall the drywall, re-plumb the plumbing with the new single faucet style



After the guts are replaced, I get to install the new shower rap and let it dry for 24 hrs before we can caulk it and use it, so we will be stinky people this weekend.. maybe.

I also finished the new Entertainment center, and man what a difference. WE trashed one of the book cases, then put the 2-ton monster together. Since the new one take up the entire wall, we moved the living room around and it actually looks really good now. Nicole put some of her trinkets inside, and we just need to get some picture frames and put some pics into it, and that will be that :D The old one went across the bridge to her parents house and into the basement for the spare TV there. Pics will follow soon and posted here :)

SCHOOL: Got an A in the Programming and a C in the Math; Not sure what happened to my favorite subject, but I'll take a C. Next up is Economics 201 and Chemistry 203 (told ya so stupid ass councilor..), so this summer will be 'fun' :P)

BABIES: Susan is as I type this in labor with Evelyn (Kant speelll it right..), so we will see how things go with that. Baby Jason is almost 6 months old, so our first nephew is getting bigger. Carlos Y had his #2 with Kianna, not Keano (woh), still no pictures, but that's ok.

PAINTBALL: After talking to Eric last week, he is getting the itch again to go play when we travel there. He didn't know that I got a new marker and that it needs compressed air, not CO2.. I don't think he understood, but that's cool. I'm always up for it, so we will see. D-Day is coming around the corner, and still no takers as to anyone else wanting to go with me. It sucks, but I hate to go alone to such a big event, as its not fun when you have noone else to go with. IF you are interested, email me..

Otherwise, all is good! Look for pics of the new entertainment center and the phase 2 bathroom project soon! And Email Nicole and tell her Congrats on the permit - it was a tough test, but I knew she could do it :D ( I love you babe :D)

Memorial Day weekend events and Summer starts!

Hey world..
Last weekend was good: WE went to Six Flags Great Adventure and had a good time. The one ride that I wanted to go on is still broke! DAMMIT!! At least, next time, they will have a new coaster there too, so it will be something for me to look forward to - This is El Toro; a new woodie that has a 76degree drop down a 176 foot hill! Hell yea!!

This weekend was interesting; When the Memorial day weekend kicks off, the ENTIRE east coast does one of two things - goto the NJ Shore or do house projects. About 80% of the entire Philly population went to the shore and the rest stayed home. No traffic on the roads; a buddy of mine saw the Xmen-3 and said there were no more than 30 people in the theater! My 5+ trips to Lowes and Home Depot is where I found some folks that were doing house projects like I was; Everyone else was down at the beach. On Monday, Nicole's parents said the traffic was so bad, that a 90 minute drive took over 3 hours to get home!

BBQ Season started too- we grilled our first burgers this weekend and I tried to make french fries; not too bad! Take veggie oil, and mix in some pepper, garlic powder and back cut potatoes for 40 min @ 425. Make sure you flip em 20 minutes in..or they will burn :P

HOMESTUFF: Our entertainment center was damaged upon arrival to Boscovs- they never called me about it and it was only when I called them on Thursday afternoon and asked about it did someone tell me ' sorry sir... but it will be another 2-3 weeks..' GREAT! Actually, it kinda works out, as this weekend we are upto NY for a visit, then next weekend is Paintball (Maybe..) and that leaves the 17th for the entertainment center assembly :D

The bathroom is done with phase one. Here is a pic of the finished ordeal.


The long story: prepping took all of 3 days- between trips to the store, letting the spackling dry and getting the texture done, the first real coat of paint went on Monday evening. IT still needs touch ups.. The real problem was the sink. I found that I am missing on/off valves underneath there and that meant that I had to drain the entire house of water.. Don't ask. after doing that, I could disconnect the two hot/cold lines, remove the old sink top, install and caulk the new one, install the faucet, reattach the plumbing and test for leaks - it took about 5 hours to do all that. Once the sink was in, then me and my father-in-law installed the medicine cabinet: That was fun.. without being able to see the corner side behind the cabinet, it made it fun! An hour later, we installed the light fixture, and that was a breeze.

All that is left for tonight and tomorrow is to install the accessories, like the TP holder, towel racks, etc. Then get a better shower curtain rod. IN the next few weeks, the shower will be replaced and I am going to install a new faucet in there too.

PAINTBALL: After getting a new marker, I saved up $100 and got the rest of the missing things I wanted to get for it: A new barrel - the 14" Redz pepperbarrel; New grips (Dye sticky grips), the extra parts kit, with lubricant; and a tank cover for the air tank, which will protect it from dings and dents. I am quite happy with it now, and cant wait to go shoot some balls :P A few friends told me this weekend that they are going to goto the NJNAM, which is 26 hours of paintball, with real helicopters and 'tanks', which are old jeeps with paneling on them. Yes, they make an Anti Tank weapon too.. I was wondering about mortars- do you use little pint sized cans of paint and fire them over hills?? :lol:
Anyways, I am trying to find out if I can join them on a day-trip out there. I'd love to go, but only for the day- no camping yet..

D-Day invasion of Normandy is coming soon, and I am planning on going for the weekend; Im not sure if I can or not, but at least go for a Friday night stay up there and play all day Saturday, then come home.

OTHER NEWS: We FINALLY are going to see a baseball game on Fathers day at the Phillys park It should be fun, as I haven't been to a game in years.

School is ok, I hope. I missed last weeks Linear Algebra and missed my results on my exam#2, but I think I did well on it. My current dilemma is ECEC302, vhdl programming, or I should say, the class that I was 2 hours of time in. The 'Instructor' isn't, and it makes it difficult to understand what it is that we are suppose to be doing. I am pretty much gonna have to fudge the labs as best as possible and hope to get a C and call it done. A few engineers told me they don't use it, unless you are a programmer, and since everyone knows how much I just LOVE to program,.. well figure the odds...

Otherwise, the Myspace thing is interesting- I am finding old neighbors and old highschool friends there, so that's cool. Just last night I found susans old friend Leah and am not sure if Susan knows she lives close by her now!

NO- I didn't see Xmen3 yet! I know, Im a looser.. but hey, I got a nice lookin bathroom now, so :P on you :)

Quick note

Hey gang - just updated some links on the side..

a new MYSPACE and also the RCDB :D
Check out TATSU!!

S

New Paintball Gun and Houseupgrading

Hey all; Just wanted to get an update to everyone that actually reads this.. which is essentially me :P

This weekend is Mother's day; one of 2 hallmark holiday that I actually don't mind participating in. By the phrase hallmark, I think that the card and flower companies actually promote the unofficial holidays as a way to generate cash. EX: Now, I'm all for loving my family, but hit me up with a required Christmas in Dec, then follow it up with a valentine's day in Feb, Mothers day in May, Fathers Day in June.. well by June I'm done with cards... :o

On a good note, a few weeks ago, we brought UNO to a gathering of the pezzetti clan, and broke out the Uno game and had a fun time - it is now a weekly event. WE have been playing at different places each weekend and its been fun. One this past Sunday, we went to her aunts house for a surprise party and broke out the Hold-em deck; that was a lot of fun, as it was me, dad, Toni, Jason and Jerry... Jason came back from behind Toni and then lost the last hand; He went all in with a pair of Kings only to get called by Toni with a Pair of Aces!! Ouch!

PAINTBALL: Its DONE! I am a proud owner of the Smartparts ION; Wow- what a nice marker. Its electronic and is very light. It also has a lot of different upgrades that can be done to it, and I did get some minor ones installed: a QEV- which is a Quick Acting Valve (Basically improves the shots, and air consumption); Also I did not like the stock Feedneck, so I got a Q-lock neck: The feedneck is part that feeds the paintballs into the marker and connects the loader/hopper to the gun itself. I will be getting some other upgrades as time goes on, but I cant wait to give this one a go. Too bad we have a lot of work to do between now and then :P Here are a few pics of the Ion:




The stock one comes in all black; I was going to get a body kit that can change the color to either the blue or the yellow.. not too sure, but I'm leaning towards the blue. Tell me what you think. The middle picture has the same loader I do now, the Evo2; its nothing super, but it does the job. Some future upgrades are a new barrel and a new bolt, then the body kit. After that is going to be a new regulator, but If I'm getting that, I need to be playing 2-3 times a month to justify it. That is my goal- to be able to go play for 2 times a month somewhere..

HOME: After last nights $120 investment, we are $400 into our home project #1 for the summer- the Bathroom! We got a new vanity top, a new shower rap and now a new medicine cabinet and light bar. Next is getting all the fixtures. Since I want to change the shower from a 2-valve to a 1-valve, it will also need some plumbing too. That should be fun :P Besides the drywall and caulk, all that is left is the paint and the hard work that needs to be done. Then once everything is installed and painted, we need to replace the door, the handles and doorframe, as its damaged.

If we have $$ left over, the dining room floor is going to be next.

Sometime in the next few weeks, we order a new entertainment center and it should be coming in. We ordered this one from Boscovs a few weeks ago for $600 total. Between the bedset and this, and then the bathroom, there is really nothing else I can foresee us needing or getting for any reason for awhile. We have a very nice home and with all the work we are doing to it, it is only getting better. The bedroom set looks awesome and it as made our lives easier in the daily routine of things. The only thing left is to clean up the other bedroom and get it ready for guests coming this fall and winter (my sister)

SCHOOL: I bombed my 1st Linear exam. NOT GOOD. I need to get a good grade out of this class, but I freaked out taking the test and overdid some of the work. IT seems that we have another exam in two weeks, so I need to buckle down and take it and kick its ass! My other class is a joke- ECEC 302; I haven't learned anything at all. I don't know any code, nor how to fix broken code. So far, I'm ok, but not too happy with the instructor and how its being taught. The pain ends soon.. I hope.

Thats it for now; Look for another post after the holidays with some new bathroom pics :D