Something I Know Nothing About

Bad Droid, Bad Droid, Good Verizon

2009-11-14T06:04:00.000-08:00

Had my first REALLY negative experience with my droid yesterday... Something that is almost unforgiveable with a PDA but not uncommon with electronic devices.

It just stopped working.

At the office I had put the phone into sleep mode while I was in my cubical but when I tried to power up the phone it just would not startup. My first though was dooooooooh I let the battery run out but that was not it as it would not start even after being plugged into the charger. One thing I should mention here is the charger indicator light did come on when I plugged the droid into the charger but that was all that happened. Soooooo on my way home it was a side trip to the Verizon store with me thinking everything I had done in the last week would need to be done again and I would need to reenter all of my contacts…

Once at the store clerk #2 referred to seeing the problem before and suggested to the clerk #1 the battery be removed and reset back into the phone. Clerk #1 gave this a try but…. Nothing. The two clerks and my Droid then disappeared into the employees only section of the store leaving me to ponder the meaning of life and how much easier it must have been in the olds days with the pony express being the fastest form of communication. A few minutes later the two clerks reappeared and gave me the news… My phone was “DOA”…. It was officially the first “DOA” Droid that store had seen, causing me to first puff out my chest and then wonder what I was going to do now. Well Verizon came thru and replaced the phone. They took the SD card out of DOA phone, placed it into a new out of the box phone, and then enabled the phone for me and I was off.

THIS IS A MAJOR PLUS FOR VERIZON!!! They will gain far more in positive advertisement from me talking about this no hassle customer service experience than the cost of that phone they gave me. Had the racked me over the coals about all the things I might have done to the phone and given me a hard time about replacing the defective item I would have ripped them apart in this blog as well as talking about this experience to all of my friend… Instead they get this nice comment and nice comments when I convey this story to all my friends. Oh and I do like to talk so many people will hear this.

So what did I lose? Mostly just phone setup stuff that was easy and not very time consuming to replace… wireless router settings (although it did still have the names of the routers just not the feature turned on), Email connection settings, home page settings, and browser favorites. It automagically knew that I was missing apps that I had previously downloaded and reminded me to download them again, all my pictures and videos were still on the SD card, and most importantly because it syncs my contacts with iGoogle it was able to resync all of my contacts back to the phone (This was nice as my wife broke a phone in the past and she had to reenter all of her contact information manually).

Droid at the Metallica concert

2009-11-14T05:06:00.001-08:00

Took my Droid with me to the Metallica concert on Tuesday to see how it worked inside the HSBC arena (my signal is not always good there) and to see how it did with videos and pictures in that environment.

Overall I was happy with the experience but I found out the hard way that the position of the camera on the phone is not exactly optimal to me. I have more than 1 pic and video with my finger blocking the top of the picture as I was trying to hold the camera above my head to see over everyone.

Reception: Ok but not much better that my old phone.

Videos: Came out nice (especially when the house lights were on). Overall I was very please with this feature even the sound is decent for 18,000 screaming fans and a heavy metal band. I will always use the videos to remember the first time I got to hear Metallica play *One*, *Enter Sandman*, *Seek & Destroy*, and *Nothing Else Matters* in person. On a slightly down note the videos do seem a bit shaky but I was not in the environment to judge this at all.

Note: The droid seems to have a 10 min max video length. This may be a configurable option but I have not been able to find it yet and feel 10 min is enough time for me so I have not intentions of looking any further at this time. Just note that after 9 or 9.5 min the video timer turns red and starts to count down (rather than up) and the camera appears to stop recording at 10 min.

Pictures:
The non-zoomed pictures were nice (as seen in pic #1 below) but the biggest disappointment for me was the quality of the zoomed pictures (seen in pic #2 below). I took a bunch of pictures with the camera zoomed in (not sure why as I was 5 rows of standing people from the stage) and those pictures are a bit dull and grainy.

One thing I did like was the double tap zoom. Simply double tapping the touch screen will zoom the camera.

Battery Life:
Acceptable. I took about 70-75 pics, 30-40 min of video, and was checking email, text messages & sports scores between bands and the battery lasted through the night. I even made a call outside the arena after the concert. I don't want to pretend the battery life was great but it took the phone from about 80%-90% charge down to 40% or less (that was 30-40 min of video with the display on).

No Zoom:

Zoom:

Motorola Droid Day -2

2009-11-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

Still not used to the keyboard but getting better..

Today I connected the the Droid to 2 E-mail accounts and can now get E-mail from both as well as have a single combined inbox. It took about 5 min to get a Pop 3 and an Exchange Server E-mail account setup so I give this a thumbs up. I want to use the E-mail for a week or so before I comment further but so far it looks usable and rather functional.

I have grown a bit skeptical of the Droid's battery life. I have used the phone regularly for browsing, text messaging, and phone calls and appear to be getting just over a full day out of a battery charge (not a problem for me but may be a problem for someone who uses the phone a bit heavier than I do)... I still think the jury is out on this as I am probably using my new toy a bit more than usual. I will give it a week or two before I judge this.

My Browsing experiences are getting better but I still have not found a way to access an open browser window from my "Home" screen without first opening a new session and then changing to an already open browser window (maybe I need to RTFM).

I was struggling a bit to get the phone connected to my PC but finally broke down and RTFM. In the manual I found the URL for the the droid online support site http://www.motorola.com/support/droid and on that site I found that I had to "Mount" the phone before it would appear as a drive on my PC. The steps to mount the phone are simple but not intuitive. I doubt I would have discovered these on my own :)

Motorola Droid

2009-11-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

I did something a bit unusual for me and purchased an electronic product the day it hit the store (marriage does change people). I bought a Motorola Droid. Seems like everyone I know has been using an iPhone but AT&T was not getting my money as their network around my house and the cabin BWE and I go to leaves a LOT to be desired. So I waited and waited and waited and finally Verizon came out with something that is comparable to the iPhone (Yes I am very stubborn and I would have waited till 3Q of 2010 for Verizon's iPhone if I had to).

This blog might be a bit pre-mature as I have had the phone less than 24 but I wanted to write something I could point friends and family too as they ask me questions about the phone.

so What do I think?

Overall I like the phone it took me just a few minutes of discovering to get to the point where once again I was texting and making phone calls. A few minutes after that I was browsing the internet and had my first twitter app installed on the phone. So now I can tweet and see other tweets right on my phone (with my old LG ENV I tweeted using SMS and never was able to get it to see other tweets). Ten 10 minutes after that I had the blue tooth head set working, the phone was connecting to my home wireless router and automatically switching between that (when available) and Verizon

Then.... the Honey-Do list took over so I had to put my new toy away for a little while... so at this point I have not hooked it up to any of my E-mail accounts, installed other apps, or really gotten a chance to do much geek stuff with it but I will follow with a blog about that as soon as I get to it.

Like
1. This might sound simple but I *love* the screen locking this phone provides. All the phones I have had in the past seem to screw this feature up one way or another. My basic Philosophy is that if I leave the phone for a set period of time it should lock (automatically without any help or keyword from me). The phone should stay locked through any activity (including a restart) *EXCEPT* for answering an incoming call or making an emergency call. This phone does exactly that. My butt will no longer be dialing my friends on its own.

1a. The phone has pattern locking for a security feature so I can draw a pattern on the touch screen to unlock the phone instead of trying to enter a password (that I would mistype 20 times). The pattern locking is a simple connect the dots app on the touch screen so it is rather simple to use.

2. When the phone locks the touch screen turns off. Again a simple feature (one that other might not like) but I need to press the on\off switch to re-enable the touch screen thus turning the touch pad on\off will happen when I want it to not when my arm brushes up against the screen while I am walking.

3. Network switching between Verizon and pre-setup routers is automatic.

4. Threaded text messaging. If you are a heavy user of text messaging then I think you will love this feature as I do... This feature will make it *A LOT* easier to keep multiple texting conversations going at the same time... For me the real test for this will be tomorrow (Sunday) as I will get 100s of text emails regarding NFL and NHL stats while watching the games and texting 4 or 5 of my friends about how how our fantasy teams are doing and what we think of various plays or referee calls.

5. Speed.... So far the phones is fast... real fast to me... of course as I add more apps that might change

6 Memory... The phone comes standard with 16GB

7. Voice recognition searching... This is a cool feature... Simply talking to the phone to do a search of the phone for a contact or a Google search is cool so far.

Dislike
1. So far I am not real fond of the physical Keyboard (KB). The KB is flat with little distinction where one key stops and the next starts. I like to be able to feel the keys and that is making it difficult for me to get used to the phone. The touch screen keyboard is like any other touch screen keyboard and I make too many mistakes with that as well. Also adding to these bad vibes about the keyboard is how far it slides out from the phone. When the KB slides out the top of the keys for the top row of the KB is right up against the top section of the phone and I keep hitting the top section of the phone with the fingers as I type.

2. It requires a GMail account before you can do anything. In the store I could not even get my contacts transferred until I had a GMail account.. Of course I have one but never type or remember the password so I had to make a new one in the store to get my contacts transferred from my old phone and now I can't figure out how to switch it back to my old account... Editing the user name does not appear to be an option so I added the old one as a 2nd account, however, based on the message provided by the phone I am afraid if I just delete the new account it will delete all of my contacts transferred from the old phone... that would be a major *FAIL* so I am not even going to *test* that feature. I guess the moral of this story is be ready with your GMail account name & password when you go to the store to get this phone.

3. Outside of browsing I am having a bit of trouble figuring out how to have multiple apps running all at same time but i think this is more me than the phone and I need to do a little bit of RTFM on this one.

Well that is all for now... I will write more as I progress with the phone.

If the Penguins win…

2009-06-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Throughout the Stanley cup finals I have had a quiet the dilemma. I have a particular dislike for the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey club (in my mind it is part of being such a big Buffalo Sabres fan) but I stand to win 3 cases of beer if they can defeat the Detroit Red Wings in game 7 tonight and win Lord Stanley’s cup, preventing it from staying in Detroit for another year.

If I had known it would come down to theses two teams once again I would not have made the bet because it would have meant routing for Pittsburgh to win (and that has been difficult for me). Heck, a few months ago I was hoping Pitt would not even make the playoffs let alone the finals. On top of that, the actual bet was that the Detroit Red Wings would not win the cup (so basically I had every NHL team vs the Red Wings) which meant real good odds (back then).

The truth is I can not in good conscience accept winnings from a bet where the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley cup… It just goes against everything I find to be good in the hockey world… So in an attempt to please the Hockey gods I have come up with the following sacrifice should the Pittsburgh Penguins win the cup.

All of my winnings are to be donated to the Feltman’s Hog Roast this summer with the condition that Marc Lyon gets the first beer from each case (for supporting me). This will allow the winnings to be enjoyed by all.

Of course if Detroit wins I have to pay the 3 cases (which might be empty cases by the time I drown my sorrows on the way to the Hog Roast)

First Dance Song

2009-05-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

Lori and I are having trouble deciding on a first dance song. We both would like to select a song that has meaning to both of us as well as a song we would both listen to more than just on our wedding night. The most difficult part of this is we each prefer a different style of music, I am more of a Classic Rock/Hard Rock/Alternative Rock person while Lori is more into Pop and R&B music but does venture into a very wide variety of music including Rock.

The songs listed below are songs that one or the other of us have brought to the table but absolutely nothing has been decided (nor will I post what we decide until after the wedding, sorry). To tell the truth just about any song is on the table (except those in the 2nd list), we have not even narrowed it down to the songs in the first list but we would be interested in any comments or suggestions you may have. One small request if you do comment on a song listed below please take a moment to listen to the version we linked to as I am sure at least one of them will surprise you (I have not included a link to the Bette Midler song as we could not find a good recording of it).

Being Considered
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
Celine Dion – Have you ever been in love
Goo Goo Dolls - Better Days
Metallica (S&M) – Nothing Else Matters
Whitney Houston – If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful
Whitney Houston – I believe in you and me
Grease - You’re the one that I want (God help me, LOL)
Bette Midler – Night and Day

Songs ruled out
FireHouse - Love of a Lifetime
Alison Krauss - When You Say Nothing at All
Bryan Adams – Everything I do
Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing

Marriage counseling Session 7 – Getting a Divorce

2009-05-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

The Actual title is “The Cold facts of the divorce decision” I just wanted to make sure I got your attention.

The session started out with us discussing how we felt about divorce and God’s view of divorce. Lori and I both feel that divorce is not a solution to most problems which in most cases can and should be worked out with a lot of hard work and faith. We covered the few topics that we as well as God believe are acceptable reason for divorce (infidelities, abuse and abandonment). We also discussed that one of the reasons we waited 9 years to get married was so we could really get to know each other and who it is we are making this big commitment to. The rest of the session focused on divorces and the consequences there of. The consequences covered the cost emotionally, financially and spiritually as well as the effects on the health of the individuals involved and the affects a divorce would have on our kids (which are planning on having).

Week one of exercise is completed.

2009-05-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

So I spent 4 nights this week at the gym (3 nights Lori joined me) and walked at lunch on 2 days. By my calculations I walked approx 10 miles this week, rode the bike for a few miles, and the elliptical for a few miles not to mention the extra time I spent with Lori. In total I was moving for approx 5 hours this week and to quote a twitter friend (as best as I can remember) “as long as I am moving, I am moving in the right direction”. Next week my goal is seven hours or 1 hour a day. I figure as long as I am eating healthier and moving more only time stands in my way… Oh and since Dec 23 (the day I stopped drinking Pepsi) I have lost approx 15 pounds.

Skinny here I come!!!

Brian and Joey G bowling league

2009-05-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

This was my 14th year bowling in the Brian and Joey G bowling league and as it comes to an end I have informed my friends that I will not be joining the league next year. I have decided instead of bowling next year I will use the time and money for my wedding. Many of my friends currently bowl or have bowled in this league including the best man in my wedding and 2 of the ushers, I will miss spending this time with them. Sometimes when I think of not bowling next year it makes me sad as I will really miss all of this “guy time” but when it comes right down to it making the decision to concentrate on the wedding is a rather simple one. I would like to wish everyone in the league good luck next year and forewarn them of my pending return for the 2010-2011 season (if not sooner i.e. after x-mas).

My Blogging

2009-04-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

As usual I got behind on my blogging but I got the itch today and have gotten all caught up. Mostly because my mother is using the internet more and more and she has started reading it. Strange how motivating a mother can be .

Patch Adams Poem

2009-04-26T17:57:00.002-07:00

Below is a poem that I first heard recited by Robin Williams in the movie Patch Adams.
It makes me think of Lori and my love her as sometimes she tells me I am not good at being affectionate.

Sonnet 17
by Pablo Neruda
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way
because I don't know any other way of loving
but this, in which there is no I nor you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep
it is your eyes that close.

Tux fitting and Dress selection day.

2009-04-26T17:57:00.001-07:00

Today everything went well. All of the girls found dresses and most of the men have been fitted for tuxedos. There are a couple stragglers who have not been fitted for tuxedos yet but I have spoken to each of them and I am very confident they will get this completed in time.

Marriage counseling Session 5 Avoiding the Money Battles & Session 6 Expectations versus real life

2009-04-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

After reviewing our combined list of “Fight rules” we completed 2 sessions in the meeting today. The sessions were #5 Avoiding the Money Battles and # 6 Expectations versus real life.

For session # 5 we discussed money as a common area that causes marriage conflicts and ways to avoid that happening to us (when we can’t avoid the conflicts we are to see session 4 “Fight Rules” . We talked about the best person equipped to handle the money should be the one selected to handle it but also how the other partner should be kept in the loop on this as well. We discussed setting a budget together as well as giving ourselves individual money to do things with as well.

Session # 6 was about Expectations versus Real Life. During this session we discussed how often times expectations can so often be very different from real life and how it is important to make each other aware of what we expect as well as be aware of what the other expects. Often times in life it is possible for us to think we are meeting the expectation of our spouse when in reality we are so far from that. This led into Lori and I discussing what we expect from the marriage and from each other.

Lori gets her dress

2009-04-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

Lori, her mother, her sister, Dee and Barbara went shopping and found Lori’s wedding Dress. She came home so happy to find a dress she likes and fits here nice. I am so excited for her and can’t wait to see her wear it on our special day. I get 6 months of Christmas anticipation and since Lori will not tell me who’s house she will stash it at I have no way of even snooping, even if I wanted to which I do not since it is said to be bad luck.

The Bill’s schedule is out.

2009-04-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

Today the NFL schedule came out and for the first time in my life I did not go right to the Cowboy’s schedule to see who they played. This time I went right to the Buffalo Bill’s schedule to see where they played on Oct 25. Some are wondering why I (a life long Cowboys fan) would be interested in where the Buffalo Bills play the day after our wedding but the reasoning is simple. Ralph Wilson Stadium (home of the Bills) is about a mile from our reception hall and the attached hotel gets quite busy during home games. It turns out that both God and the NFL are smiling on our wedding as the Bills play a road game in Carolina that weekend so there is not conflict for the hotel rooms.

Marriage counseling Session 4 – Resolving the inevitable conflicts

2009-03-31T17:53:00.000-07:00

After review our individual goals and then being given the task of combining our lists into 1 single list we moved onto the next session, resolving the inevitable conflicts. During this session we discussed some common problem areas in Marriages, ways to avoid some of the problems and most importantly ways to solve conflicts when we have them. After finishing that session we discussed our “Fight Rules” and were given the task of combining them into a single list in preparation for Session # 5.

We discussed the following four principles of conflict resolution
1. Listen!
2. Think “Solution”
3. Speak the truth
4. Use the best powers of your tongue; remember your mate is not the enemy

We were given the task of coming up with a list of “Fight rules” that we would like to follow as homework. We did accomplish this task but for now I am not going to post these items here .

Dress Selection and Tuxedo Fitting

2009-03-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Lori and I have scheduled the dress selection for the maid of honor and bridesmaids as well as the Tuxedo fitting for myself, the best man, the groomsmen and our fathers for Sunday, April 26th at 2:00.

If you can’t attend these events you can schedule an appointment on your own.
If you are scheduling your own appointment please contact us for they appropriate information.
If you schedule your own Tuxedo fitting we ask that it be completed before May 1st.

ALL THOSE “EVEN THOUGHS”

2009-03-21T13:17:00.001-07:00

I just thought I would share one of our favorite poems.

It is from a book titled "For My Darling" by George E. Young.

When Lori and I first started to date I would travel 1-2 weekends a month for work. On one of my many travels I was looking for a gift to get Lori. At the time our relationship was still fairly young as we had known each other for less than a year. I was not sure what to get her but I did know that I wanted to impress her and that she liked poetry. So I found myself looking through some poetry books with little to no idea of what I was looking for. About the 10th book I picked up open right up to this poem (on page 8). As I read the poem it was clear to me that this was the gift for Lori. Anybody who knows us personally will know that this poem speaks volumes about our relationship.

ALL THOSE “EVEN THOUGHS”

Even though you do it this way
And I would do it like that.
Even though you swear it’s round
When I know durn well it’s flat.

Even though you enjoy some thing
That seem a bore to me
Even though your logic, my dear,
I often fail to see.

Even though some thing you do
I don’t understand at all.
And even though a few things seem
To drive me up the wall.

You are you and I love you.
In fact, I do suppose,
Among the things I love the most
Are all those even thoughs.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER

2009-03-16T19:36:00.001-07:00

Although I have never heard this phrase on any of my four trips to Las Vegas, it is a common story that when someone does well (which would explain why I have never heard it) an employee of the casino will shout out “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner“. Well today I get to use the phrase for something much different and far more important.

Yesterday Lori and I spent the day as volunteers at a basket auction to benefit two children who lost their parents to a tragedy just before Christmas. The auction was put together by my good friends Kelly and Tommy and their small army of volunteers (family, friends, and a Girl Scout troupe or two). Please understand that this blog post is from my point of view and I by no means intend to overshadow the amount of work done by Tommy and Kelly. What they did in putting this auction together was simply AWESOME. The share numbers that you will see below should indicated the amount of work they put into this event. I urge them to comment on this post and would be happy to post another blog written from their point of view is they wish.

Lori and I showed up at the basket auction at approx 10:30 and left around 7:30. While we were there our main focus was to run the 50/50 raffle tickets. What we saw throughout the day was a sheer testament of the human heart.

By the time Lori and I arrived (we would have been earlier but it took us about an hour to drive there) the volunteers had already set up a basket auction of 370 plus donated baskets, a side raffle of almost 30 high end donations, a 20 items silent auction, and a treasure chest valued at almost $1500. When Lori and I arrived we bought our share of tickets and distributed them in the baskets we wanted to win (of which we won exactly zero). We then took our spot and proceeded to sell 50/50 tickets. Throughout the day people would come, some would stay, some would leave but everyone would contribute. The room designed to hold 250 people was packed full from an early opening to a late finish. At one point I am sure we had enough bodies in the room to officially qualify for a world record of people to space ratio.

Lori and I along with two other totally awesome and dedicated volunteers sold over 4 rolls of 50/50 tickets. After each of the first two rolls and again after the final two rolls were sold we picked a winner. The winner would receive 50% of the money while the remaining funds went to the benefit. The winner of the first raffle split over $560, the second winner split $840, the third winner split almost $750. All in total the benefit got over almost $1100 from their share of that money but… It did not end there... the 2nd winner donated $200 of her winnings back to the benefit and the 3rd winner donated $180 of her winnings back to the benefit. All said and done the fund for the children made over $1450 from 50/50 raffle sales alone.

Meanwhile these acts of human kindness where happening throughout the room. My best friend Mark and I had donated Sabres tickets to the silent auctions. The tickets (valued at just over $100) which could have been purchased at the box office or on E-bay for approx $100, sold for almost $150. Tickets for a chance to win ½ of a Pig were selling better than the 50/50 tickets all day, more than 4000 sheets of basket auction tickets were sold, a clown and some magicians (also volunteers) showed up to entertain the children, a polish dancing group performed for the crowd and two high school boys brought their equipment to provided DJ services for the day.

Lori and I got to watch the town of Alden (and all of their friends, family and neighbors) pull together to help provide for two if it’s children.

Around 4:00 they started selecting winners of each basket… 3 hours later they had finished the baskets, the large raffle item winners had been selected, the silent auction was closed and winners notified, the winning treasure chest key had been selected and the chest opened and the final action of selecting door prize winners had begun. It had been a long day, we had not eaten much to this point, and we still had approx an hour drive home so we said our goodbyes to our friends and headed out the door for dinner and a ride home. On our ride home we discussed our day (something we are getting better at as we attend our marriage counseling sessions in preparation for our wedding). We talked about the new friends we made. We talked about how we left with no baskets, no door prizes, and almost empty wallets . Most importantly we discussed how we also felt like two of the biggest winners in the building as you see we both LOVE to help others and find great pride in doing so.

BUT…

Although both Lori and I feel like winners that is not where the title of this blog comes from... the title is much more important than us…. You see on Monday I got a message from Kelly telling me the auction raised over $27,000 for the children and the grand total raised between this event and the snowmobile run that I have previously blogged about is over $32,000. This money is to be placed in a trust fund for these children. The money will be used to provide for the children as they grow and help insure that they get an opportunity to go to college if they desire and they can as close to a normal childhood as possible. Due to the GREAT job by Kelly, Tommy and all the volunteers this event was a total SUCCESS.

So again I say…

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER.

Honeymoon destination selected

2009-03-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

Lori and I have selected a destination (of sorts) for our honeymoon. We will be taking a 10 day cruise to the southern Caribbean. Our stops will include Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St Thomas and the Bahamas. We have booked an Oceanview Double with balcony on the Ruby Princess with Princess Cruises. The balcony was very important to us as we are hoping to get an opportunity to see dolphins or whales but at the very least just see the water go by. Neither of us have been on an extended cruise (1 day at most) and the trip is scheduled for the very end of Hurricane season in the Caribbean so this should be a fun adventure. I have been to one of the destinations (Bahamas) and Lori has not been to any of these destinations so we are sure to be busy at each stop with lots of time for "rest" in-between.

Future Mother-in-Law has Surgery

2009-03-06T19:57:00.000-08:00

As we mentioned On Feb 24th Lori’s mother needed to have surgery to place a coil in an aneurysm which will prevent the blood flow to it while still allowing the blood to flow through her artery to her brain. I am happy to announce that everything went well with the surgery and my future Mother-in-law is resting at home. She had us nervous for a bit as the surgery was done in two parts to avoid medical complications but everything went without a hitch. Having her healthy and with us as we make the decisions about the wedding sure does take a lot of pressure off of Lori and I. The biggest problem now is that Lori, her mother, and my mother usually agree about everything and since they out number me 3-1 many of my wedding ideas are out. Those ideas that have been rejected include but are not limited to shorts and Hawaiian shirts for the bridal party, dancing girls at the reception, and 50/50 tickets at the door.

I have decided to change shape

2009-03-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

This blog post has come a bit late as I forgot to post it. So here it is as I wrote it over a month ago.

This last year has been a year of changes for me. In the fall I lost my feline friend Max to cancer, Nov. 29th my longtime girlfriend Lori agreed to marry me, Dec. 23rd I gave up my dependency on Pepsi (yes 80-120 oz a day is a dependency) and now as the Ides of March approaches it is time to make the biggest and most challenging change… I have decided to change shape.

Although the Ides is thought by some to be the day of the full moon I am not a lycanthrope or some other sort of mythical shape changing creature (although I know some people who tell some really good myths about me). For the last few years when people have talked about being in shape I would always respond… I am in shape, round is a shape!

Now it is time for that to change.

This is an adventure I have started numerous times in the past and always seem to go off course. I have tried over and over again so I am hoping that blogging about it as I go will help me stay honest with myself. This is not something that is going to happen overnight but it is something I want it to happen, I need it to happen, and it is something that must happen. My body can no longer handle carrying a quarter keg around with me every where I go. The extra weight has stressed my body in many ways. I have back problems, I have bad knees, I can't run very far, I run out of breath while hiking in the woods and it is time to make sure I get to see my unborn children grow up and have children of their own.

At this point I am not soliciting solutions but rather making an open attempt to become active in two areas that play a big part in determining my shape. First and foremost I must exercise more, second I need to become more aware of how much I consume.

There is just no way around the first item on my list. When the extent of my exercise on some days is going downstairs to the fridge and then back up the stairs to my desk I would consider that a FAIL on this topic I must do more. Using 12oz curls as an exercise… FAIL!! I have no one to blame for this situation but myself. No one can exercise for me I MUST do this myself.

Number two on my list is portion size. Since I really really enjoy eating food I am not going to make a promise to myself that I can't keep. I am not going to "give up" those certain foods that are the biggest contributor to my shape (pizza, steak, fries, ect) because I like them so much I just can't do it (been there, tried that, FAILED). This time I am only going to promise to better manage the portions of those foods that I do eat (and I am hoping Lori will help me with this). Ordering large portions must stop. I have a mental weakness that seems to prevent me from leaving uneaten portions on the table so the cure for this is to order less. Eating till I am full may be satisfying but must also stop.

Now an update on this blog… I am down almost 10 lbs.

We have selected the Tuxedo’s for the Bridal party

2009-02-28T19:56:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Lori and I decided on Tuxedo Junction as our source for the tuxedo’s to be worn at the wedding. After visiting the store and working with the wonderful Mellissa O’Dell we went with traditional tuxedos with an Apple Vest (to match the Bridesmaid’s dresses. I will be in tails as well as my father and Lori’s brother (who will give Lori away). Sometime in March or April we will organize a date when most of the groomsmen can meet us at the store to get fitted, Those who can not make it or live far enough away where this would be inconvenient can be fitted at a store near them and should be sure to get fitted by May 1st.

The Wedding band Saga - Conclusion.

2009-02-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

Lori and I got the call for the store and picked up my wedding band. We were happy to find that it fits and even looks nice on my finger. It has been placed in the safety deposit box and awaits its next appearance Oct 24th.

Happy and Sad at the same time?

2009-02-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

Over the last few months Lori and I have had wonderful things happen to us as well as terrible things. For the last few weeks we just keep asking ourselves what could be next… Up or Down? The answer… Both

We found out that Josh a real real good friend of ours (and one of the ushers in our wedding) has been offered and accepted a job in Chicago Illinois. Josh starts his new job in a few weeks and his family will be following him to Chicago over the summer. Not to worry there are no plans to replace Josh in the wedding as he still plans on attending.

Lori and I are extremely excited for Josh, Kath, and Kaelyn. Opportunities like this don’t come all the time and are even harder to come by in this economy. We certainly wish them all the best and want them to know we will always be here for them. We also want them to know that we now have a reason to visit Chicago so if we show up on the door step one day don’t hide behind the furniture and pretend you are not home, please answer the door.

On the other side of the coin (and a little bit selfish) it is always sad when good friends move away. So at the same time we are so happy for them we are very sad. It will make board game nights, camping trips, and time we spend together just little bit further apart.

Let the music play

2009-02-26T19:15:00.001-08:00

Well Lori and I have selected Phenomenon Sound in West Seneca to be the DJ and Master of Ceremony for our Wedding Reception. After meeting with Ryan we both left with a great feeling for their services and later that day decided this was the group for us.

What is the Recipe?

2009-02-24T19:29:00.001-08:00

People are always saying “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”… Well we have the lemons, we just don’t know the recipe for this batch of lemonade?

A few weeks ago Lori and I had a day we wish we could forget but never will be able to. To use an old cliché… we will always remember where we were when… No this was not a bad relationship day for us (although we do have them occasionally), this was a bad family health day.

On that day Lori and I found out that her mother needs to have surgery for an aneurysm that is growing in her head, behind her ear. We have known about this aneurysm for a while but its location (between two bones) has kept it under control and thus there has been little need for surgery. Well now the aneurysm is expanding and the doctors feel surgery, to put a stint in place and strengthen the artery, is the best option. Although surgery has come a long way it still makes us very nervous. The surgery is scheduled for March 3rd please keeps Lori’s mother in your prayers.

Now that news on its own was disturbing but….On that same day we found out that Lori’s uncle (her mother’s only living sibling) has inoperable stage IV cancer. The doctors have given him 6-12 months to live if he chooses not to have chemotherapy and 12-18 months with. Now we realize that these time frames are just averages but the realization is that short of a miracle his time with us is short. This is an uncle that Lori’s entire family is very close with and some I have come to know very well over the last 8 plus years. We see him just about every holiday, at all family events, and I even get to spend time with him during hunting season at the cabin.

Now I am a firm believer that God only gives people what they can handle. If you include the items above with the wedding planning and some other rather minor issues we are dealing with (ie water leak in the house) I think our gauge is pointing to full. I can’t begin to describe how Lori feels about what I mentioned above. I just know that learning of all of this while she is supposed to be so happy planning a wedding just breaks our hearts.

So I repeat “We have the lemons, what is the recipe? The truth is we could sure use some guidance from above on this one.

Marriage counseling Session 3 – Setting Goals for your marriage

2009-02-24T17:53:00.000-08:00

Marriage counseling Session 3 – Setting Goals for your marriage

We reviewed Session 3 –Setting Goals for your marriage. During this session we discussed expectations in many areas or marriage, how setting goals for our marriage can often take stress off the marriage, and it will allow us a way to gauge the success of our marriage. Our homework for today was to individually list our goals and come up with a list of “Fight Rules” and we will discuss each of them as a group at our next meeting.

Marriage Counseling Session Three – Postponed.

2009-02-24T17:52:00.001-08:00

This post comes with our deepest sympathies and great sorrow in our hearts.

Today was supposed to be session three of our Marriage counseling with Pastor Roger Farney but Pastor Farney postponed the session to attend his father funeral. Pastor Farney our thoughts are with you and your family as you got through this difficult time.

Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few

2009-02-22T20:54:00.001-08:00

Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few
- “Captain" Spock Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).

Eight days before Christmas 2008 a tragic murder-suicide in Alden NY left 2 wonderful children without parents. Those two children ages 13 and 11 will never see Christmas the same way all of their friends do and they may never look forward to that time of year like almost every other child does. These children have been left to face many challenges as they grow up without their mother or father. I would never wish these life challenges on anyone let alone two children.

The story can be found in the Buffalo News: http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/525362.html

With everything going on today in society (ie stock market down, banks struggling, companies going bankrupt and millions of people losing their jobs) it would have been easy for society to sweep these kids under the rug and just claim there is nothing to give. People could try to justify this claiming “that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” but when Spock spoke those words it was without consideration of the human heart and how deep people will dig to help children in need, regardless of the affect it may have on their situation.

This family mentioned in the article was very close with my good friends Kelly & Tommy Ebeling as well as their two children (Bryanna and Karly). The kids all grew up together, were all in school together (same grades), went to girl scouts together and stayed at each others house. It broke their hearts to see these two children go through such a tragedy and facing an uncertain future. So they decided to step up and do something about it. Kelly & Tommy are in the process of creating a fund that will help provide for these children as they grow up as well as help them with a secondary education. To start this fund they have organized an annual snowmobile run as well as Basket Auction benefit.

The 1st Annual Wilczak Snowmobile Run kicked off today Feb 22nd around 11:00 from Byrncliff Resort & Conference Center in Varysburg, NY and was a resounding success. Each participant was to visit 4 stops on the trail and roll 3 dice at each stop. At the finish there was a dinner, 50/50 raffle, and basket auction. Trophies were awarded to the three participants (male and female) with the highest cumulative dice roll as well as the individuals with the lowest cumulative dice roll. All of the proceeds went to the real winners…The Children. One interesting fact is that most of the snow in western NY had melted but in the past few days, seemingly just in time, the snow started to fall again and there was enough accumulation for the event to go forward.

I volunteered to man one of the stops and write down the dice total for each participant. After all of the participants had visited my stop, I went back to Byrncliff and helped collect the tickets, total the scores, determine the winners, sell basket auction tickets, 50/50 raffle tickets, and tee shirts. My part was small but it sure was uplifting to see person after person come through the door to help these children. Some participated in the Snowmobile run others just came for dinner. Some were employees of Byrncliff working on Sunday, some were friends bringing more items for the auction, and still other were people never meet before with big hearts willing to give. 100-150 people participated in the run at a cost of $25 and\or came to dinner at a cost of $20. Almost to a person each person stepped up and bought 50/50 raffle tickets, then stepped to the basket auction table and bought tickets for the auction, continued on to a second raffle for some large items being raffled (ie snowmobile helmets and snowmobile coats that had been donated), proceeded to the tee-shirt table to buy a tee shirt for the event and then got in line for the buffet dinner.

With things going they way they are in the world today I find it uplifting to watch people of all ages dig a little deeper, potentially give up one of life’s pleasures just to give to those in need. Thanks to these people and many more like them, the fund for the Wilczak Children is off to a great start.

Kelly and Tommy have also organized a much larger Basket Auction benefit to be held March 15th. From the sounds of it this Basket Auction has grown to quiet the event. They have had a local farm donate a pig to the cause and a local butcher has donated the processing of the pig. The pig will be raffled off in two halves fully processed and ready for your freezer. Among other things the auction will also include Autographed Sabres Stick, Autographed Bills Jersey, Autographed CDs including one from Martina McBride, a Pheasant hunt valued at $150, Passes to the Miss Buffalo pageant, Free rounds of Golf, a 6 hour boat charter on Lake Ontario for 6 people and over 200 baskets. Arrangements have been made for a band, polish dancers, and magicians to provide entertainment.

However first and foremost what you will find at this benefit will be the same thing I found today at the snowmobile run… People all with hearts the size of Niagara Falls and all willing to give up a little of what they have, to help someone in need.

Blesses are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting
- Elizabeth Bebesco

Anyone interested in purchasing some raffle tickets for 1/2 a pig can contact me. The tickets are $2\each or 3 for $5. The 2 winning tickets will be drawn live at the Basket Auction on March 15th (you do not need to be present to win).

The Basket Auction benefit it will be held March 15th at:
Millgrove Volunteer Fire Hall
11621 Genesse St.
Alden, NY 14004

Anyone interested in donating to the cause can send donations to:
Friends of the Wilczak Family
c/o Kelly Foss Ebeling
6489 Broadway
Lancaster, NY 14086

An account in the name of “Friends of the Wilczak Family” has been setup at the Alden State Bank in Alden NY.

Aslan’s Identity crisis

2009-02-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

Lori and I have a kitten (6-7 months old) that Lori named Aslan (yes after the lion from The Chronicles of Narnia). Well following Bob Barker’s advice we decided to have Aslan Neutered. Since he was at the vet we also decide to have him declawed (for the sake of the furniture and all of my sweatshirts), and all of his shots brought up to date. Well Aslan came home today after a night at the Vet. The poor guy has stitches (in place we can not mention on this blog), and surgical glue on both of his front paws. He has been shaved bald in numerous places and to top it all of has a cone around his head to prevent him from grooming any of the afore mentioned spots while he heels.

When he first got home we were a bit worried he would hate us for everything but I think he was just happy to be home. For 2-3 days he just followed Lori around the house not letting her get more than a few feet from him. After that he started to want his own space again. The good news is that it appears he is still the same loveable Aslan as the one we took to the vet. In a couple of weeks Aslan will be back to fighting with me through the banister, chasing balled up paper or yarn, and wrestling with his special mousey on a string.

The wedding band saga continues

2009-02-11T19:26:00.000-08:00

The jeweler called today and informed us that they were sorry but my wedding band would not be in until March. I told them no worries as long as it is in by then. Truth is we have till Oct but they don’t need to know that. :)

Marriage Counseling Session Two

2009-02-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

My Wedding band still has not arrived. The jeweler has agreed to check in on it and give us an update tomorrow. Thanks heaven we did this on Lori’s time line and not mine as we still have lots of time for it to arrive. If we had waited for my normal schedule the wedding would be just a few days away and we would be stressing about being one Wedding band short of a wedding.

Today we had our second meeting with Pastor Farney. We started today discussing Lori’s and mine history of Christianity and our definition of being born again. We both are Christians but at the moment neither of us are born again in the biblical sense.

We also reviewed session #2 – The Unique Aspects of Marriage Partnership. We discussed those things that make up a good partnership concentrating on the “One Anothers” list (seen below). A list of verses that will build a strong relationship when followed by both partners.

1. Love one another (John 15:12)
2. Don't pass judgement on one another (Rom. 5:8)
3. Be members of one another (Rom. 12:5)
4. Be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10)
5. Honor one another (Rom. 12:10)
6. Live in harmony with one another (Rom. 12:16)
7. Build up one another (Rom. 14:19)
8. Be like minded toward on another (Rom. 15:5)
9. Accept one another (Rom. 15:7)
10 Care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25)
11 Serve one another in love (Gal. 5:13)
12 Don't spitefully hurt one another (Gal. 5:15)
13 Don't provoke envy in one another (Gal. 5:26)
14 Bear one another's burdens (Gal. 6:2)
15 Be kind to one another (Eph. 4:32)
16 Forgive one another (Eph. 4:32)
17 Submit to one another (Eph. 5:21)
18 Don't lie to one another (Col. 3:9)
19 Bear With One Another (Col. 3:13)
20 Abound in love toward one another (1 Thes. 3:12)
21 Comfort one another (1 Thes. 4:18)
22 Don't hate one another (Tit. 3:3)
23 Encourage One Another (Heb. 3:13)
24 Stir up one another to live and good deeds (Heb. 10:24)
25 Don't slander one another (Jms. 4:11)
26 Don't bear grudges against one another (Jms. 5:9)
27 Confess your sins to one another (James 5:16)
28 Pray for one another (James 5:16)
29 Greet one another (1 Pet. 5:14)
30 Have fellowship with one another (1 jn. 1:7)

Our Bridal Party is set

2009-02-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

Well it is now official, everyone we asked to be in our wedding party has agreed. I can’t tell you how excited Lori and I are to have everyone on board. This is going to be one fun wedding. To go along with our Best man and Maid of Honor we have 7 Groomsmen, 7 Bridesmaids and 2 Junior Brides maids.

Best Man: Mark
Maid of Honor: Cathy (Lori’s Sister)

Groomsmen:
Joe
Josh
Lyle (my brother)
Doug (my brother in law)
Jimmy (Lori’s brother)
Brian
Billy

Bridesmaids:
Barbara,
Julie
Susie
LeAnne (my Sister)
Leigha (Lori’s Great niece)
Dee, Lisa (Lori’s niece)

Jr Bridesmaids:
Jenny (my neice)
Bryanna

Marriage Counseling Session One

2009-01-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

Lori’s Wedding band has arrived and we picked it up this evening. My band is not due until Feb 2nd so we will pick it up then

Today was our first meeting with Pastor Roger Farney who has agreed to preside over the wedding ceremony providing Lori and I attend a series of counseling session (13-15) with him. Our first session started with a bit of get to know you and tell me who is in the wedding party and what do you have planned.

After reviewing the wedding party and the plans we have so far Pastor Roger introduced us to a series of sessions titled “AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION: SAFEGUARDING YOUR MARRIAGE” by Gary Richmond.

We reviewed Session 1 - Biblical Model for Relating to Your Mate. During this session we reviewed a few of the ways that animals in nature relate to their mates. Lori and I both fell our relationship is modeled after wolves, bonded for life with both partners caring about family. We also discussed how the God would like couples to build their marriage using the model God has built between him and the church.

Helen agrees to cook rehearsal dinner

2009-01-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

Lori’s Sister-in-law Helen is from the Philippines. In the Philippines it is customary for the family to cook the wedding dinner and Helen offered to head up this task for our wedding. However Lori and I would rather Helen joined the party to celebrate our nuptials and we struggled with the task of declining Helen’s offer without offending her. As Lori and I discussed this we came up with the idea of Helen cooking our rehearsal dinner. Lori spoke to Helen tonight she agreed to cook our rehearsal dinner on the 23rd and party with us on the 24th.

This has me really psyched as I absolutely LOVE Helen’s cooking (what fat guy doesn't love bacon wrapped shrimp) and can’t imagine any of our friends not enjoying it as well. So now we begin our hunt for a location big enough for 40-50 people and will allow us to use their kitchen. No worries where there is a will there is a way and I am strong willed about this.

Another good side affect to this is it should save us some money on the rehearsal dinner that we might be able to apply to another part of the wedding.

Wedding Bands Purchased

2009-01-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

Today we went shopping for our wedding bands. We had Santa dollars for Kay Jewelers that came in real handy and we were able to get Lori the band that matched her engagement ring. I tend to be a rather plan person and so my wedding band is plain. It will be interesting to see if I can get used to wearing a wedding band as I hate wearing jewelry and had to go a couple sizes bigger than I would normally need because I broke the knuckle on my ring finger playing football in high school. Good news for me is that Lori has agreed that if I can not stand to wear it on my finger I can wear it on a chain around my neck.

After we got our bands we picked up the gifts for the bridesmaids and they looked better than we imagined. We can’t wait for the day we can give them to our family and friends.

Gifts for Bridesmaids purchased

2009-01-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

Today Lori found the gifts she was looking to buy for her Bridesmaids. I can't let the cat out of the bag as to what we bought just that we did buy them and they are awesome. It is amazing to me that Lori not only figured out what she wanted but we found them on sale as well. What was real nice is not only were the items on sale but we (I) negotiated another 20% off. I think one trait Lori likes in me (although she may never admit it) is I am not afraid to negotiate.

We pick the gifts up in a week to 10 days.

I have started looking for gift ideas for the groomsman but in the end I will probably be out shopping Oct 22nd for them (not if Lori has anything to say about it though).

We selected a date

2009-01-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

Today we selected a date and put a deposit down on a reception hall for our wedding.

We selected Oct 24th for the wedding date.

The reception will be at: McKinley's Banquet and Conference Center .
http://www.mckinleysinn.com/

We love the facility, are excited to be working with the wedding coordinator Gabrielle and her staff and are left to pray that the Buffalo Bills do not have a home game that weekend as the Banquet hall is about a mile or so from the stadium and the room rates go up if there is a home game.

She said Yes

2008-11-29T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today I proposed to my long time Girl friend Lori and she said YES!

We were having dinner at my mother’s house. My mother and father, Lori's mother, and both my brother's and sister's family were in attendance. While everyone was sitting at the table I claimed to not be able to locate my cell phone. This gave me an opportunity to retrieve the ring from my coat pocket and propose to her in front of everyone. Lori was in complete shock and after 5 minutes of being surprised and not giving me an answer my Sister-in-law finally said "well?" and Lori said yes.

Where does the time go???

2007-11-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

Well as I expected in my first Blog entry I just can't figure out where my time goes and it seems entries here are the last thing on my list of things to do.

The weekend of 11/17 and 11/18 was special as I got to spend time with Lori, her sister and brother-in-law, my sister and Brother-in-law, my mom and dad and some other friends going on a wine tour in the Seneca lake region of NY. The truth be told I am a beer man. As my friends know I like my Labatts Blue (especially in a bottle) but Lori and some of the others love wine. In general I had fun and even tasted some wine I liked. More importantly to me Lori had a great time. I probably would have had a better time but I have Patellar Tendonitis in my left knee and all of the climbing into and out of the car caused it to flare up. I ended up staying in the car the second day for about 1/2 of the wineries and reading an HTML book. I can say that if it were not for Lori I would not have had the pleasure of this new experience of a wine tour and she would probably be the only person that could convince me to go again .

Something rather special happened to me over the past weekend. I am a deer hunter (or have been trying to be) for the past 5-6 years. I hunt with people that I consider family (although it isn't official yet) and really just enjoy my time hanging out with them and my time alone in the woods. Well for the first time in my life I got a deer. It was a fairly large doe and I have been overly excited about this since it happened on Friday 11/23. It really was a special moment for me and I was giddy about it for 2 days. Now I know there are people out there that are against this type of thing but to them all I can say is to us this is not just a sport as we also eat the fruits of our labors. Nothing goes to waste.

Work has been difficult for me the past few weeks. Sometimes I get something in my head that I am convinced is right and can be rather adamant and closed mind about it (this trait often comes out when I get frustrated with something, tired, or simply need a break. Well as one might imagine letting this get involved in work it is bad thing. Of course this time it bit me. The bottom line is I need to learn to listen to others better and then work with them to solve problems. On top of all of that I am working with something I am the most familiar with in our office so in this case I need to be less aggressive, more open to new ideas and give myself a chance to lean new things from the new person’s point of view. If I have offended anyone from my office that ends up reading this please accept my apology I don’t mean to do this and will do my best to get better.

So it begins

2007-11-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

It seems like these days everybody but me has a blog... Well now I am part of the “haves”. I am not real sure how this will work out, where I will find the time to keep, or where my material will come from but hey my friends all say I like to talk so I figured I would give it a try.

While I was writing this someone asked me where the title came from. Well... my high school English teacher is probably rolling over in his grave the truth is it came from a poem that my Great Grandfather used to recite. It’s my own personal way of saying I will never forget someone who has been very influential in my life even though he has been gone for a while.

His version (or at least as I remember it):

Ladies and gentlemen, hoboes and tramps,
Cross-eyed mosquitoes and bow-legged ants,

I stand before you not behind you
To address you not to undress you
And to tell you something I know nothing about.

George washing machine crossed that muddy sloppy river
With the declaration of indigestion in one hand
And a half peeled star speckled banana in the other

Admission is free, so pay at the door,
Pull up a seat and sit on the floor.