Throwback Thursday pics on a Friday Morning

We finally received all of the pictures and videos and such from our wedding so a little bit over time I am going through them and reliving the moments.  This is one of the last pictures from the reception that was taken and I thought with the party favor we were giving out this would be perfect for me and my guys.
My vision was kind of like an old western whore house where you had a line up of girls to pick from but with the cartoon slant of you didn't quite know what you were getting because most of the face was already covered.   Is it going to be a handsome bachelor or is there a horrible scar lurking underneath.

Last night we went to Walmart to get some Graham Crackers because that happened to be the current craving and I was about to ask if she wanted to go anywhere else or if we were just heading back home but I was interrupted by a phone call.  So, because I'm lazy and a great husband I waited until she got off the phone before I left the parking lot - mostly because if I made it back home she would b shit out of luck and I wasn't about to go anywhere else.
While waiting for her to get off the car the most amazing "woman" happened to come to her car which was park basically in front of ours.  
I do realize that Karma suggests that some day in the future I will also be subject to this same justice but I honestly cannot help myself.

 If there was one person whom I was disappointed didn't end up making it out to my wedding it would be my old high school chum Spank.  You see, through modern social media we just became re-acquainted after having lost contact for the last decade or whatever but to this day he remains one of my favorite people.  So, the other day his wife adds me to the book of face and throws this old happy picture onto my wall.  Prom Picture of which there appears to be very few pieces of remaining evidence that I ended up in a dress.  Of every picture I have ever had taken of me this still ranks as one of my favorite lifetime moments.  We were the reason Swag is now a word.

Throwback Thursday - Two weddings

The first picture is I believe from the end of 2008 at my buddy's wedding.  The 2nd photo was from my wedding just recently.

What a difference a few years makes right?

Hopefully I'll be adding to this in another two years with yet another dramatic difference.

The Honeymoon is Over

Man oh Man.

From the week leading up to the wedding to the over week long honeymoon including a trip to Hawaii in there I have really been on cloud 9 the past few weeks.

My wedding was AMAZING and everyone who attended with attest to that.  The amazing pictures that were posted on my Facebook and all the kind comments that flooded in were truly touching.  The dinners and hanging out with friends before and after are moments that I will treasure until the day I perish from this mortal realm (or get reborn back into it depending on which religion has it right).  The week in Hawaii exploring Kauai via Tours and rental cars with my beautiful wife was so amazing that it hurt to actually fly back to Las Vegas (which is a place I never want to move away from).

It always felt like a cliche but I have never been happier.  My wedding day was so amazing and everything went so perfect.  It also appeared to fly by in the blink of an eye because it started and ended and I didn't get a chance to fully take it all in.

We have pictures back from the ceremony and we are awaiting pictures from the reception.  I posted a million pictures on FB from the honeymoon (most of them with cocks depending on who you ask).  I can't wait to watch the video of the ceremony when it finally comes in just to see if the moment lives up to my memory of it.

Now that reality is back and haunting me I'll once again be coming back to this space a few times a month to update you on the life and times of the grrouch and his missus.  You all are probably pretty disappointed by that sentence :)

A few random picks from my last few weeks.

The Last Post

In what will probably be my last post before my nuptials and honeymoon I need to report that I am sick.  Sick in the head. Literally.
Diagnosed with a head cold today.  Run down and beat up and at the worst possible time.  I'm sure the "stress" and "worrying" about all the last minute stuff left an opening in my immune system and BLAMMO.
This is some sort of twisted revenge for missing out on every other illness that has run rampant at work and with the children in the past 8 months or so.
However, I am armed with new drugs designed to kick this shit out of my system so that I can be ready to go come Friday.

Yesterday was the worse and I'm sure yesterday is really what started it all.  The day before a few of us went to the mountains and played around for a few hours and I think I got too much sun.  The sun wore my body down and kicked my ass.  The next day I woke up with the shits, had headaches, sore throats and anything else that could be wrong with a person.  By the time I woke up today it all left except this horrid nagging head cold and that is why I ended up seeing a doctor to get drugs.
Being a fat boy with asthma, I fear not having drugs and letting this thing develop into something such as a chest cold which would put me down for at least a week.  Normally I'd take my chances and see if it develops but I cannot risk feeling that bad when I'm trying to remember my vows and wiping snot onto my rented tux in front of all my family, extended family and about to be family.
That might also kill the honeymoon.

One of the last things I have to do is put our (her) music selections on an iPod for the actual ceremony.  They also told me to select some music that might be about 30 minutes long for the guests as they are arriving and being seated before the ceremony.  This is something I think they failed to tell my love earlier because she looked shocked when I told her they wanted an additional 30 minutes and I just told her to let me take care of it because I have something in mind.

The direction I was given was just some mellow music and when I heard 30 minutes only, ONLY two songs came to my mind.... well 3 if you count the extended full on drum edition of In-a-ga-da-da-vi-da :)

The 1st was, as a joke only, Arlo Guthries Alice's Restaurant. (yes, it only clocks in around 23 minutes or so).

However, the song that I really want to use is a classic from the 70's and I'm going to play it for her tomorrow and see if she approves.   She is very skeptical but I absolutely love this song and don't feel it's out of line.

Saturday and Sunday are busy days and we take off for a lush paradise come Monday.  So, probably, until after I get back to Vegas.....

Take care my friends.

10 days and counting

As I write this, in exactly 10 days I will be enjoying wedded bliss with my new wife.  It feels like just a week ago that I looked at the calender and thought "shit, 100 more days to lose 10-20 pounds" and now the time is upon me.
I'm going to assume that it's nerves that have caused me to gain a few pounds in the past couple of weeks but whatever, Life is good and I am happy.

I'm not going to edit or re-read this to make sure everything makes sense.  With that I will warn you that I am half way through my second Dead Guy while typing as some nights require booze to end the evening and fall asleep properly.

Before I get into the vague info I plan on giving to follow up that sentence I want to point out that this month I have beaten Mega Man Powered up for the Playstation Portable, or the PSP as most people know it.
I am quite happy with the game and plan on putting a few more hours into it but I in no way plan on completing it.  In order to complete it you have to beat it with Megaman on every single difficulty.  You also have to beat it with every other unlockable character on every single difficulty.  This means Cut-man and Guts-man and all the rest.  Liking Mega-Man and keeping him fondly in my heart over the years (but nothing like my brother in gaming Mike Hall) I really enjoyed this version of the game and the two new bosses.  However, I have better things to do with my time than beat the game another 30 times or so.

After that I re-started and beat Batman: Arkham City which I'm going to proclaim is probably one of the 5 best games I have ever played.  I haven't done all the side missions and I'll never get around to doing all the Riddler stuff, but I did have the Catwoman levels installed.  And, when it goes on sale for $5 or less I plan on getting the Harley DLC and playing through that.   The game play was great, all the improvements from Asylum were actual improvements.  The size of the map was pretty much perfect for the game as well.  The thing that makes this game so amazing was the ending.
That hit jumped out at you and hit you like the Klan throwing a sock party.  While it was hinted at I honestly never saw it coming.  This is a game that I will play again, on New Game Plus, because it was so amazing.
And even though I loved the game so much, the thing that tugged at my heart strings the most was the "voice mail" during the ending credits.
Damn.
The whole reason I ended up deciding to play Arkham City as because this year Arkham Knight comes out and it is supposed to end the trilogy (Asylum, City and Knight).  So, I thought that I should beat City and Origins (a prequel from a different developer) before Knight came out so I could play it at release instead of 3 years later as seems to be my current Modis Operandi (SP????).

I've been playing a little bit of Diablo 3 trying to eek my way towards that last achievement as I'd like to have it done before The Ultimate Evil Edition comes out for the PS4 later this year.

For the PS3 I've still got to work on and beat South Park - but most of my gaming has been while kids are around so this game is totally a back burner game.
I think the next one I'm going to start is God of War Ascension and I plan on getting all of the NON multiplayer Trophies.  I might consider the MP ones just so that I can get the Platinum's on all of the games but I personally hate Multi-player in single player type games.
I'd also like to complete Dead Space so that I can move on to Dead Space 2.

Now, back to my pre-ramble.
Parenting is a bitch as I am finding out.
Step-Parenting is a bigger bitch.
I feel this might be the hardest job in the world.
It's great when everything is going good but there are these times and situations where it's like getting your balls caught in a vice.  There is no possible way to do the right thing.
Having to choose between getting fucked by the big dicked black dude or masturbating with razor wire.
Pretty much lose-lose.
Luckily I haven't had a whole lot of that over the past couple of years but tonight was one of those nights and I feel like absolute shit because of it.
This is why I have just downed my 2nd Dead Guy and am moving on to the third.

See y'all on the flip side.
10 days from now will be the happiest day of my life.

Two Weeks

In two weeks I will awaken at Green Valley Ranch with my beautiful bride next to me for the first time ever.
Kinda surreal the closer it gets.

Hawaii

So, it's officially official that we will be headed to Hawaii for our Honeymoon.
Originally we wanted to head there but it looked like there were going to be too many issues getting all of our ducks in a row to do it but I finally figured everything out.

I'm quite excited about this as is the future Mrs Grrouch!
We will end up being out there for about a week total and I'm really looking forward to just relaxing and enjoying the beaches and scenery.  We haven't made any real plans for tours or anything of the nature as I think we are really going to play it by ear and just do what we want when we want.  Maybe we'll ear mark a few things for a repeat trip so that one can be planned out with things that we wanted to do but didn't get around to.

We are currently at 44 days until the big day and over the last few I have been eating more fruits and vegetables as my snacks and started cutting back on the garbage that I have been putting into my system over the last few months.  I'm also eating a lot more turkey and chicken to get my protein fix.

Pretty much all I came here to say was that we are going to Hawaii, so with that enjoy the rest of your day!

Under 60 days

As our longest month, February, trickles to a close I find myself with less and less free time but I also find myself more and more living with the fiance.
It appears as though we had good intentions with the whole "not living together until after marriage" thing but ultimately we failed so close heh!

I've got the most important stuff moved over, though I still have to get some more clothes over here and I'm working, slowly, on getting my movie and video game collection over as well.

I've decided to go into space saving mode and I will be removing my games and movies (most of them) from their cases and putting them into sleeve binders for storage instead.  For the time being I'm still planning on saving the cases and I'll just have them in boxes in the garage until a time comes when I realize I have no use for them or I decide to sell some stuff off.  I do know I'll never play most of these again but selling them is only going to net me a couple bucks from each of them and it doesn't feel like it's worth the time or hassle.

I recently upgraded my fitbit flex to a fitbit force and so far I am enjoying it.  I like having something with a watch function on my wrist so I don't have to take my phone out to tell the time. I also like that it counts how many flights of stairs you have traveled during a day so that I can push myself to get more in every day.  Mostly this will be at work but if it means I'm running up and down a ladder a few times extra every day just to make sure I hit my goals then it's helping and motivating me in the right direction.

We are officially under 60 days left and yesterday we just went for the tux fitting.  We picked out the style and the colors we wanted and I sent off the information to my buddies so that they could go get their measurements as well.  I really need to order my gifts to the best men folk as I have been slacking on that.

Doing the little things like actually mailing the invitations and getting fitted for the tux make this a bit more real that it was previously.  I knew it was coming but these are big steps towards solidifying it.  I'm still not nervous but I am getting a bit more excited about it.  Mostly I can't wait until it's all over, this way I can resume a normal (semi-normal) life and we can turn our focus towards fixing up the place we are living in, paying out miscellaneous debt and saving for a house of our own.

I foolishly let my caffeine collection disappear over the last week (ie: drank it) and now I am sitting here wishing I had a Mt Dew but having to wait until after 9 am because I can't just leave the kid alone while I run out for my fix.  I have to wake him up somewhere around 8 - 8:30 so that he can get ready for school.  I usually drop him off around 9 am so he can have breakfast before settling into his classes.

My lady just signed up for supplemental insurance through Afflak. We had a friend do this recently who was having a child and it's a pretty great deal so we jumped on it as well.  Basically once signing up you cannot take anything out of it for 10 months, but if you go on leave from work (for having a baby or whatnot) they will pay you 30 or 35% percent of your income for 3 months.  They give it to you upfront in a lump sum but that doesn't make a difference.  So, with work giving 65% when you go out on leave for having a child the supplemental insurance will cover the difference and there will be no real loss of pay while on maternity leave.  This means it's not really necessary for me to get a second job during those fun months.

One final note, I have finally moved my computer over to the fiance's house which means that I'll actually have access to it more often which hopefully means more updates on this hear blog.
I miss typing to you all some days.

Post Wedding Hangover

No, not my own.

Last night I got to witness one of my best friends get married to someone who is actually perfect for him.
This whole week I have spent meeting a bunch of his and her family and doing fun things with people.  I actually played poker several times and my last session mostly made up for the first few sessions where I pissed money away like I didn't know what I was doing.

I actually won a little at craps as well.

Tonight is Sushi for 9 and i'm looking forward to it. What I am not looking forward to is working my overnight after dinner. But at least I'll have off Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This is a selfie taken after the wedding while I'm taking a leak.  I'm not sure why but I just felt like this was the appropriate time to do it.

Also, after seeing how I looked in the tux I'm pretty happy with my current weight and look.  I'd still like to be closer to 200 by the time I do my own wedding but in all honesty it's not that big of a deal.
Once I get a few pics of myself I'll post a side by side of how I looked at the last wedding I attended and everyone can make fun of the size difference.

Also, the other night we ended up going to the Minus 5 Bar at Mandalay Bay and while the bar was cool I do have a major bitch to type up about my time there.  I'll probably get around to hammering that out within the next week, I'm just not in the mood to do it today though.
Maybe, depending on my level of boredom, I'll get a chance to do that during my overnight shift later this evening.  For the most part I'm just a warm body at the store because an outside crew is coming in to do several resets and they can't be left alone in the building.

109

Today I downloaded an app for the sole purpose of having a countdown on my phone screen for days until my wedding.

Wednesday the future Mrs Grrouch and I will be going over the invitation and finalizing the wording and getting them ordered, hopefully.  I'm not an expert on these types of things but I'm pretty sure that we should probably be getting the invitations in the mail at this point instead of just getting them ordered, but it didn't work out that way.

The good news is that our wedding is made up of people we can pretty much guarantee are coming to it.  Mostly family with a few friends mixed in.  I only had one person on my list that I was not sure of if they could make it or not and the other day I got the rejection notice (but not because I'm not awesome and because they don't love me but because of family illness reasons)

Speaking of which, I kind of expected to receive the info that he was not going to be able to make it but even with the expectation it didn't help to cushion the blow when I actually read it.

I've kept very few friends over the course of my life and it depresses me a bit to know that one of them is not going to be able to make it.  I'm sure I'll live and get over it and I'll make sure to send him and his wife a nice care package even though they can't be there - but it's still kinda a drag.

So in one oh nine days I'll be getting ready for the biggest event of my life and it's pretty exciting.  The whole family thing really has me happy and looking forward to living another 40 or so years.

Getting back on Track (with puppies)

There are lots of little things that have sort of slipped towards the way side recently and it's time to start getting back on track.
It is the dead of summer and I can't tell you how many times I have lifted my shorts next to a fan to get that breeze blowing up to the boys just to make life feel better for a few moments before returning to reality.  This dog to the left is brilliant laying down next to the AC Duct like that.  Too bad he doesn't have any boys so he'll never know the true unadulterated bliss of a nice cool breeze against his scrote.

 I've been wanting to hit the gym but the weather outside is frightful and is making me lazier than I want. There are several times where I'll try to talk myself into it on the way home only to end up talking myself out of it the moment I step out of my car to go to my house and the heat is blaring down on me. It has just sucked all of the motivation out of me currently.  I know that on days like today I really should just wake up and go before heading to work but I've never had the motivation to do that and I probably won't.  So, I've been thinking, maybe I bring my gym clothes to work with me so that I can just stop at the gym on the way home and change there.  I dunno if this is a solution that will work for me but it's worth a shot I guess.

 Wedding planning, scary shit.  Gotta get back on track here as well.  We have both just slacked off recently and yesterday I get a call saying that we need to get our asses in gear because a joke I made about our slacking is giving her some bad voodoo. Said she had this dream that the wedding suddenly was here and we were too lazy to finish plans and everything went to hell.  Women worry too much if you ask me.  Everything will fall in place as it is supposed to, but for now - WE Plan!

 This dog is one bad ass MOFO.  There is not a whole lot to add to that picture in all honesty.
Forget the past and move towards the future.

 Eating healthier.  I'm in no position to complain about anything as I've done a tremendous job and for the last couple of weeks I've maintained well. However, I've snacked too much as a reward for finally breaking 225 and now I've got to cut that back out and focus on getting below 220 and 215 and... you get the picture.  So, I will climb back aboard that train come Saturday.  I know I should say today but work is having a BBQ and I know I'm going to indulge.  So, Saturday it is.
Today I'm meeting my lady for lunch, I'm over indulging at work and then maybe afterwards if I'm feeling up for it....oh... Screw it.  I'm starting Monday.  Tomorrow is a birthday party for a friend and dammit I'm going to drink a lot.
Monday (I see what I did there), I totally promise that I'll do it Monday - you know, unless something else gives me a good reason to put it off until say Thursday or so heh!

I miss my Boston Terrorist 

Now, time to go shower so that I can enjoy a good lunch.

Grrouchie Thoughts with Hump Day Photos

First off, some Deadpool

I love the Game of Thrones design above and especially that the chair has guns from various video games like Gears of War.  Deadpool's Video Game comes out on the 25th and I have my copy pre-ordered.  One of the very few games that I have picked up this year and one of the few upon release.  I held off hoping that there would be some sort of special edition with a DP Statue but no luck, whatever.

Now that I'm back off of Vacation it's back to Wedding planning.  We just recently started looking at invitations and have found a couple that we really like.  Going to see if we can order samples in the colors we want and see how we like them up close and in person.

I do believe that she has changed her mind on the Honeymoon and it looks like we will probably be going to Hawaii now.  I expect this to change 3-5 more times before we book the flight and hotel though so this probably won't be the last you hear me talking about her changing her mind on a destination.

The good news is that no matter where we go we will be getting help from her amazing Aunt who is going to help us with hotel and flight to cut our costs down.  

I still haven't shelled out for the Skyrim Legendary Edition like I wanted to, but with Deadpool coming in the mail I can afford to hold out for a while longer.

Whilst at my local Comic Shop the other day I saw a new comic that caught my eye because of the author, Max Brooks.  Because of his amazing book World War Z and how enjoyable he was at the speaking engagement that I attended a few years back (Even though I missed out on getting my book signed) I forgive him for being his fathers kid :)  So, I picked up Issue #1 of The Extinction Parade and really enjoyed it.
It's put out by a small Comic Press called Avatar and while looking at their website I noticed that they had a special edition of the comic (limited to a 1000 print run) with a leather bound cover.  Due to getting a bonus in my PayPal account recently I decided to order the 1st 3 issues this way.  Issue #2 comes out in July and #3 in August.  After I see the quality of the 1st Issue I'll decide then if I'm going to continue to get the whole series this way (I believe it's only an 11 issue run) or if I'll just stick to a particular cover style I like.
You all will be getting pics of Issue #1 when it comes in.  I'm a bit excited.

My computer lately has decided that it likes to just disconnect me from the net randomly and often.  It's a bit annoying but I know she can hold out for a while longer.  I can get her to last until after the wedding and I'll be happy about that.  I'm thinking about talking my parents into the larger Kindle Fire HD for either Birthday or Xmas this year (maybe they'll Apple that shiz and put out a new version every year?) because right now my only wishlist is $$$$ to help pay for the wedding.

All over the place

Today is just going to be a little bit all over the place, or at least that's the plan.

First I want to point out the new shirt that I will be buying as soon as my little post here is done and over with.

Stained Ash Window

Oh how I really do Love this design and oh how this one website has decided to steal more of my money than any other lately.  Sometimes I wish that I never stumbled upon it and then I get that little kid during xmas excitement when I open my mailbox and I have a package from Teefury and I know it was all worth it.

Since I have dropped a good amount of weight some fun shirts were the way I decided to treat myself.  For the past 3 years I've pretty much wore the exact same outfit day after day after day.  Kahaki pants with a button down shirt and generally a wife beater underneath (I know some object to the term wife beater to describe a plane white T, but that is what it has always been to me since I was just a mixture of sperm and eggs.)  However now I'm accustomed to rotating between my collection of awesome new T-shirts under my button down shirt at work and then after work I wear something with personality.  In an odd way I feel more in touch with who I used to be/who I want to be.  Everyone needs to have fun and wearing a shit like this helps me feel a bit better about life.  I've got my professional work apparel on the outside but I've got my personality waiting to spring forth the moment I punch out for the day.

This weekend I went to a friends Wedding and Reception.  The wedding was on Saturday and the reception was Sunday.  It was strange having them on two different days but when the place you want to hold the reception is all booked up then I guess you make small sacrifices like that.
The wedding was held at Caesar's Palace.and was lovely.  Leaving work I thought I was going to run late because by the time I had put on my pants I realized a couple of things.   1 - They no longer would stay up by themselves.  2 - The belt that I wear for every day is not appropriate for a more formal dress outfit.  3 - I was going to have to stop somewhere and buy a new belt.
So, I made a quick stop at Walmart on the way to the wedding to complete my outfit.  I parked at Caesars Palace on the exact opposite side of the place that I needed to be.  For anyone who has casually walked through Caesars Palace you know that this place is about 18 miles long and getting from one end to the other is not something that will happen in a short time frame.  I hurried my fat ass along the way stopping to ask for directions once or thrice and finally I arrived to the chapel area 2 minutes before it was supposed to start.  Thankfully it didn't start for another half an hour and I had time to relax and view the chapel area.
I only knew a total of 4 people - Bride/Groom/Bridesmaid and one other innocent bystander much like myself.  I took a seat in the exact back of the chapel so that once everything was done I would be able to escape unharmed.

Day two was the reception and I seriously debated whether or not I should even attend.  Recognizing that the people at the wedding were going to be the same at the reception and understanding that I basically would only have one person to socialize with it was a constant debate during the whole thing.
However, I sought some sage advice from someone special and exactly like I thought she would she told me to show up and at least make an appearance because, after all, they invited me to it because they wanted me there.
So, after work I run home and change into my duds (I should have taken a pic so you all could see me snazzed up) and head out.  Abused the open bar for the 40 minutes it was available to me and chatted with a former co-worker whom I have not seen for about a year and a half to two years.
Now, one of the main reasons I came to write today was the food.
Oh, the sinfully delicious food that has set me back a week or two.
Maggianos of Las Vegas

Regular eating section

This fine little Italian place in the Fashion Show Mall is an exquisite place to eat.  This was my first trip here and I'm really glad that it was.  Being a wedding reception I had the chance to sample some dishes that normally might have taken several trips to be able to get to and the fact is that if you have eaten here once you damned well are going to want to come back again - the food is that good.

Formal eating area for receptions and other shin-digs

The appetizer course started out with two plates of salad on each table.  One was a blue cheese with bacon and the other one actually was probably the same but had tomato's and no bacon.  Everyone chose the one with bacon.  Then there was some calamari with sauce to dip it into.  The calamari was almost 100% great but I did run into one rubber band area and I was completely willing to overlook that as the rest of it was cooked well.  Last there was stuffed mushrooms which I did not touch but everyone else seemed to love them.

The dinner portion of the meal ruined me.  I cannot remember the last time I had eaten so much in my entire life.  Everything was great and I felt like I had to try every single tray that was brought to our table because I'd be doing an injustice to myself and the restaurant if I didn't at least sample the dish.
There was a pasta with meatballs where the pasta was good (not great) but the meatballs were Divine.  I at about 6 of the meatballs by the time they finally took the plates away from us.
Then there was the Lamb cooked slightly less than medium with an Orzo sauce.  Wow, this lamb was amazing.  Then there was the cubes of steak, cooked perfectly, warm and tender and juicy and causing me to salivate just thinking about it all again. Finally there was some sort of seafood concoction.  Shrimp and crabmeat wrapped up in something with what seemed like a delicate Alfredo sauce.  Not a big fan of things that exist in water I decided to try this anyway because everyone at the table said it was great and they did not lie.  I nearly at the entire piece that i put on my plate and if it wasn't for those last two meatballs I think i could have done it.
By the time I stuffed the last meatball in my mouth I was literally so stuffed that I had trouble swallowing.  My belly was fully, there was an out of service sign hanging in the back of my throat informing me that continuing to stuff food in there was probably a bad idea.
It's a good thing there was another round of open bar between dinner and desert because I needed time to let my body digest a bit.
Desert - oh sweet desert.  There were two of them, a Tiramisu and a Cheesecake.  The tiramisu didn't sit well with me as the coffee flavor was too dominant and I'm not a big fan to begin with.  The Cheesecake however was divine.  That's not a figure of speech, that's a literal use of the word. Divine.  When I put the fork into my mouth the heavens opened up and angels sang to me while I was eating.  These angels sang a song that helped create extra space in my stomach so that the entire piece of cheesecake could fit.
Afterwards, on the table sat two plates with extra cheesecake on it - everyone was too stuffed to continue eating it and until they were taken away I really felt that it was a sin to let them go to waste.  I wanted more but could not physically eat more.  It was painful to let it go to waste but it was the right choice.

I will be going back to Maggianos again on a date night or something as I want more people to experience the amazing food at this place.

And finally - because of the fact that I stuffed myself fuller than a Thanksgiving turkey about to be devoured by 30 hungry family members I experienced about a 2 week setback in my weight loss!  This is no joke. I gained nearly 4 pounds from everything I ingested and now I'm going to have to get back into my normal, healthier routine again starting tomorrow and start working those pounds off.
Was it worth it?  Hell Yeah!

I'll wind this down quickly because I'm approaching a Rob number of words here.
The rest of my week is going to be fun as well.
Tonight is a trip to Bonnie Screams for my final Haunted House trip of the season.
Tomorrow is Trick or Treating for the first time in over a decade.
Friday is open for interpretation still. I'm really looking forward to these next two nights and debating on making a quick costume of my own for tomorrow.
This is the part that really annoys me because last year as I was packing all my shit up to move I ran across my Halloween costume from 2007 (the last time I enjoyed an event) and threw it away because I didn't think I'd ever wear it again.  Now, here I sit really wishing I still had it because I'd love to break it back out for the evening.  So - here is a picture from that event and it was a bloody amount of fun.
I did not ask permission from the other two to post this but I don't think my brothers will have an issue with it.

We were the Champions!  On the left is Crazy J and on the right is Andy W, in the middle is the grrouch you all know and love.
I essentially dressed up as Mosh from the old WWF days, complete with skirt and all, but the skirt doesn't show well.  I wanted to dress up like Mic Foley (I had the long hair 2 hours before this pic to do it) but we couldn't find anything to make the outfit right - so I went with Mosh instead.
It wasn't until right before putting on make-up that someone decided to remind me "You know, Mosh never actually had hair. If you want to do this right you should probably shave your head."
Up until this point in my life I had never shaved my head before. In fact, during the past 15+ years I had always had long hair and during this Vacation my hair was starting to grow out again as it was about shoulder length again.  I should also note that the day before this picture I also had a very disgusting lumberjack of a beard.  So, from how I arrived in Philly PA to how I looked for this picture was an extreme make over.
Luckily the house where the party was someone had a pair of sheers and the hottest roadkill bunny I have ever seen shaved my head and thus you get grrouch mosh!

(Picture a time lapse here as I'm searching for 2 more photo's - one of the bunny and one of me arriving in Philly). I'll have to come back and edit them in later I guess.... bummer


To all my friends on the East Coast - Stay safe but not dry.  Life is better wet!