So here's a fun update...

remember that lakehouse me and 2 of my BD friends were going to get in Connecticut? Yah - gone.

We had a signed lease with the owner of the condo, paid the sec deposity, rent, etc. - and the first roommate was supposed to move in THIS Saturday - and I just hear Monday night that the gated community "board" rejected us at the last minute because they didn't want tenants who were not related occupying a single residence. New news to the owners, the leasing agent, and to us.

snooty punks.

So, I'm running around all crazy-like trying to find a backup plan. I'm starting to look for a place in Great Barrington, MA - cuz i've heard good stuff about it ... so in the end it might look up for us.

Especially since there were so many headaches to deal with in the lakehouse situation = small rooms, long commute, community fees ...

blessing in disguise? maybe.
gotta hand it to 'em though - it's a pretty good disguise.

aallllllrrriiiiiight - cali's comin' to town

that's right, the tan-man is hoppin the redeye from cali to jersey and i'm gonna wake up at the buttcrack o' dawn to pick him up.

oh wait -
just checked the flight status and looks like they're delayed an hour "awaiting inbound aircraft." well that means more sleep for me - that is, if i ever go to bed - dang-o allergies are kickin my tail! GAH! seriously ... never had allergies like this before. and i think it all started once i went back to the braska a couple weekends ago... man. totally worth it by the way - gotta spend alllll weekend with the fam - and it was AWESOME! but i got back to the dirty jers with red red eyes, incessant sneezies, and a nose that had broken from a light jog into a full run. buh. not my favorite.

oh good news on the camera-front though - i actually found a place that fixes digital cameras! i know ... i was surprised too. but the lady took one look at it, heard the noises it made as the lense extended and said "yep - you need a new lense - that's $150." ... sure beats buying a new one for $350! (and my boss being the standup guy he is offered to pay for the repair since he was the one who had an acute case of the dropsies and, well, y'know... dropped it)

so, check this video out - it's kinda cool. these guys are from nyc and i'm bummed i won't be able to make it to their show may 29th cuz i'll be outta town for work - but it's fun seein young bands starting to make it big. i get to live vicariously through them :) ...oh yah, they're called jupiter one

in the description of the video on youtube it says the band directed the entire video themselves ... not too shabby!

Even the Squad must come to an end

today, i have two words to share that can inspire even the most stoic of manly manly men to scream like little nancies and wave their arms in the air like a pair of wind socks: Six Flags.

that's right. that's how we play hookie out here in the dirty jers. right in the middle of the week - me and the roomies are bouncing on outta here and taking the flags by storm.

it's the beginning of the last chapter of the MDP Squad = conor moves out to utah on sunday. boooo. so no more UFC fight nights at hooters, no more "rock of love" with bret michaels or "how i met your mother," no more squad hikes in the "mountains," no more running the tables at general poore's tavern, no more squad lunches at work, no more yelling at the mets for not pulling santana. it's all coming to a close, and i don't know if kittle and i have enough moxy to keep the squad mojo alive just the two of us. so, it's one last hurrah at Six Flags.

let it be told that the Squad rocked it hard and all the way to the end. i'm going out in a barrage of popcorn and motion-sick-upchucky.

i feel like stuff has gotten pretty routine lately - and then today we had brown water. there was a sign posted and everything, right in the hallway as i was coming home. "when you turn on the hot water and it is brown, let it run for a while before using it." nevermind that it's brown - but why does it KEEP coming out brown... it'd be one thing if you flushed it and got the brown-town out of its system. but you leave the sink or shower alone for a while , come back and try it: brown. i was taking a shower and decided that feeling wet was the best i was going to do - cleanliness is a bit of a lofty goal today.

and then i got a facebook note from my good buddy and long-lost drummer joe heider and he told me his next band was going to be named "meatier shower." that, of course, or "sugar-tipped arrows never kill" (S.T.A.N.K. for short).

i miss that guy. now, i need to go take another meatier shower before i go to bed.

Well I'd say it's been long enough

I'm gonna be honest, my break from blogging was somewhat intentional - mostly when I realized that the visibility was a bit higher than I was comfortable with... :) It's weird having people from work commenting on your latest adventures.

But it's okay - we're in the clear. I tracked em all down and locked them in the storage closet of my apartment and I'm keeping them alive with table scraps I squish through the mail slot.

Don't ask me how a mail slot made its way onto the storage closet door. You can never plan far enough ahead.

Had a sweet time in Puerto Rico for the weekend ... just got back today. Now I need some rest from my vacation.

That's how I like it - go hard all the way through! ...but I'm flying out tomorrow morning for Miami so it's back on the road for me! Me and my new friend the sunburn. Splotchy, burny, red, nasty sunburn. He's not so much my friend so much as an acquaintance that follows me wherever I go. I'll chalk it up to the fact that I've never been to the beach in a tropical place before ... so I'm used to little-to-no spf in the Midwest and a little pink that'll turn to tan in a day or two.

Not so here. 45 minutes at 10:30 in the morning with no sunscreen and my back feels like a plastic sheet full of needles.

And the real bitch of it is - I can't get any aloe back there! I mean, me and the roomies are close - but not that close.

I'm gaining weight!!!

WOOOOHOOOOO!

My diabolical plan to gain weight has finally come to fruition! At the end of January I was holding steady around 150 lb ... then, I changed my diet. I started buying lots of red meat, eating breakfast, mid-breakfast, lunch, afternoon lunch, and dinner along with a higher-quality whey protein supplement ... and BOOM - this week I'm holding steady at 159 lb!

It's like I stepped into a time-machine ... or, more like ... a weight machine and came out the other side 9 lb heavier!

But don't get too excited. No spare tire around me belly yet ... I think a bunch of it has been muscle gain - My bench max is by far higher than its ever been and I can actually do excercises like wide-grip pullups that I never could have done 3 months ago. So I'm gonna keep eatin'

All woodland creatures beware - GIT IN MAH BELLEH!

Now I should clarify before my Mom is reduced to tears ... my new diet consists of large quantities of "colorful" fruits and veggies in addition to the flesh of animals ... so it's not really the twinky-spandex diet that I threatened a month ago :)