The Day That Bachelorship Un-Officially Died

(It’ll officially die at some date next Fall, most likely October.) SURE I may have been living with my girlfriend the past few months but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t still partially cling onto that lifestyle of being lazy and irresponsible for a little longer… last Wednesday night that changed – (dramatic music here) FOREVER! Yes the question has been popped and a yes was delivered as the answer. Leah and I are now engaged. There will be no more living in sin for us. (At least “that” sin… I’m sure we can come up with another kind fo live in.)

It all began with a duck…

Wait a duck? I don’t understand how did it all begin with a duck?! Well anyone who knows Leah and myself know that we both have a rubber duckies collection so I wanted to be semi-original with the whole thing and asked my friend Erin if she knew of anyone who may be able to help me out with a creative duck (as she recently did one of her posts on Buy Zombie of someone who did custom zombie ducks.) Apparently said person didn’t only make zombie ducks as Michelle of Only Ducks also does any kind of custom ducks. So wanting to run with the collections we started independently of one another that have kind of followed us into our house – why not have a chef duck made? The perfect kind of duck to follow Leah’s passion!

Michelle went above and beyond the look of what I wanted! My only request she couldn’t fill was having a small cupcake mounted to the back of the duck to maybe hold a certain shiny something. Well wanting to make sure I was happy she came up with a cupcake that COULD take care of what I was looking for…

…wait.. did you say a cupcake?…

Yes that’s right I wanted a cupcake to be the holder of said shiny object. Leah not only loves cupcakes but loves to make creative ones. So what kind of a cupcake did Michelle end up providing for me? How about an AWESOME one?

Yes this was the cupcake to rule them all! Wait.. that was a ring. We’ll get to that later. But how could I provide a cupcake such as this in surprise? I needed some way to sneak it into Leah’s hand that would make it the very last thing she would be expecting. But how could I do it? Well what about in a box of actual cupcakes? So I had to make a little order for something…. more

Yes I ordered 12 cupcakes from more and had it delivered to work during my shift. (Yes my fellow employees I didn’t want to tell you what it was for. I had a busy enough time getting it prepped for the night. By that I of course I meant eating 2 cupcakes AND making sure there was room for the ducky AND a certain cupcake.

Within the cupcake was of course a shiny object that she was sure to love. After the whole going down on one knee requirement this was slipped on and she said yes. It only took us “12 years” to figure it out right? So what did the one ring to rule them all end up looking like?

End Of The Week Roundup: 06/11/10

With the progress being made on moving I’ve literally slacked in all other areas. On the flip side Leah and I are closing in on actually being able to enjoy the new house before any more other ‘major’ changes. With the kitchen almost done we’re down to hanging the plasma in the bedroom (wth are all the studs in the wall?!), hanging the back speakers for my surround sound, getting the office figured out. Those are the next 3 main goals that will be semi-time consuming. Honesty the plasma and speakers will both be really quick. (Once we can find studs for the plasma. Stud finder will not be cooperative as it’s found 2 36″ apart. Sigh.)

Aside from that it’s been work, resting, and keeping everything ‘up to date’ without making any real progress with online ventures. Soon though that should change. Things are happening! Hopefully should have 2 neat announcements next week.

Life

• Moved into the new house with Leah which involved sneaking out my current ‘stuff’ from the condo to avoid fees and a block party preventing a moving truck from showing up
• Rex and I (more Rex) helped setup my entertainment center. TV, Blu-Ray, 360, surround sound, Wii, etc
• Kitchen appliances have been installed and I’m sure Leah is now in heaven with a fully functional (if not yet laid out) kitchen.
• The office has a ton of stuff in it still and while I have a rough idea on the layout it’ll be a bit before we figure that out.

Projects

• Holy. Shit. I’m.. falling.. behind..

Media

• Finished watching 24. Great series. The ending absolutely fit how the show ran and I hope the movie they make does the show justice.
• Started watching Warehouse 13
• Watched Cut
• Watched Youth in Revolt
• Caught up on Justified

My Writing

• Posted a Pontypool review on Buy Zombie

End Of The Week Roundup: 05/28/10

It’s the week before moving, and all through the house, not an object was stirring, since they were all in boxes. That may have fallen apart near the end there. Regardless I’ve been pretty much in packing mode at my place and partial moving mode already since I’ve helped Leah move a few of her boxes. With this being in mind I’ve done a whole lot of not much else.

Life

• Continued to pack for the move.
• Leah and I ordered our new couch that we had decided on.
• Setup an installation date for ATT U-Verse.
• I’ve discovered that watching movies while packing gets more packed then playing MW2 does.
• Helped Leah move some of her boxes.
• No longer first in queue for off hour support.
• My work schedule was pushed back half an hour – 8:30-5 Mon-Fri.
• More packing!

Projects

• Arranged guest posts for Buy Zombie for next week while I’m busy with moving activities from: Bryan Schuessler, Stewart Sternberg, Suzanne Gregg, Christopher Zenga, and Mike Mitchell

Media

• Watched The Daisy Chain
• Watched The Book of Eli
• Watched The Woods
• Watched The Westbrick Murders
• Watched Dead and Breakfast
• Watched Dolan’s Cadillac
• Watched Red Hook
• Watched Ligeia
• Watched Smash Cut

…by the emergency I’M TOO BUSY TODAY system

Seriously between how busy work is and trying to keep up to date on e-mails today I just don’t have time to come up with something creative for the blog. Possibly later tonight after pre-writing and pre-formatting at TON of posts for Buy Zombie I will be able to have more time to humor myself (that sounded wrong) by writing something for the site and in turn humor you…

…I wouldn’t hold your breath.

…Let’s Put It In Perspective

Now I’ll be the first to admit I have a good life. I have a woman I love. A good and stable job. I have interests and hobbies that I enjoy and may one day lead to me being self-employed. I have good friends and family. Life is good.

Not everyone is as happy as I am on a regular basis and I get it life can suck, I’ve been there. Really though in many cases people aren’t looking at the big picture. Hell most people don’t. It’s easy to get caught up in our own little worlds. Everyone, including myself, is guilty of it. This is a great infographic on stacking up your life against a lot of people who realistically have it worse off than you if you are reading my blog. I mean really can you say that your life is horrible compared to any of these realistic examples? We’re talking about millions of people who have shittier lives that are out there. (Clearly I’m suggesting you take pleasure in the suffering of others here and not that you should be happy that your life is just better in general. That’s the healthy way to take what I’ve just typed!)

So just remember. Don’t worry.. be happy.. Worst case scenario there’s always one thing that can cheer anyone up…

…Yes It Is

If I stop to think about it you would think I should be worried about my use of free time. I’m almost falling behind on projects I work on. I’ve been barely making it to work in time. I haven’t been as productive at work while I’ve been at work. I move in roughly 2 and a half weeks. What am I doing?!

As much as I’d love to say I haven’t been slacking, let’s face it I have been. HOWEVER I haven’t been slacking as much as you may think. For me moving isn’t going to be that painful and while I am not packed it is in the works (I love that line only because of how much it bothers others.) Seriously though I’ve gotten a few boxes from work and will be starting to actually pack this weekend since packing too much earlier while living in a condo in the city will just mean cluttered boxes laying around since I know my parents don’t want them laying around at their place.

Work? Yes I’ve almost been late but I have still been able to keep myself mostly on time AND keep my work not only done but working ahead on just about everything.

Projects… This I suppose is where I’ve been taking a hit. While I am keeping them afloat on what is being done I haven’t been able to make much actual progress on them the last week and a half. Granted, I have been busy and some progress has been made, just not what I’d like to see.

We’ll see what happens tonight when I get out of work. I have a pile of stuff I’d like to see done but only time will tell if I actually am able to accomplish it all or not. Really what I’d like to do is get some rest and hope it helps my chronic cold goes away… Productive or slacking.. it’s highly unlikely that’ll happen

While it may seem as if time is flying with how much I have going on – everything, as usual, is under control. Aside from sleep of course. That I’m sure is going to suffer quite a bit the next week or so, though that is pretty normal for me.

End Of The Week Roundup: 05/14/10

Another week of nothing accomplished! Well that is clearly not true as I launched 2 new sites I really slacked outside of that. I did have a chance to see my new doctor though AND he thinks he may know what’s wrong with this chronic stuffy nose that has been sapping all of my energy as of late. That in mind, with Leah working closes I pretty much just stayed in and played video games and did some writing all week long. It seemed like the way to go.

Life

• Celebrated Mothers day at Meson Sabika
• I met with my new doctor… he may be able to cure the sickness!
• WordPress developers everywhere cheered the new features in WordPress 3.0

Projects

• Fixed the footer advertisements on Horror Episodes so they didn’t stretch out the site how they were
• Figured out the layout and art for Horror Base with Byron.
• Figured out the layout and art for Zombie Base with Byron.

Media

• Watched Homecoming
• Watched Lake Mungo
• Watched Crushed
• Watched I Sell The Dead
• Watched Penny Dreadful
• Watched Kick Ass with Leah
• Watched Possession
• Watched The Dead Outside
• Watched The Final

My Writing

• On Buy Zombie I posted a Review of American Zombie

End Of The Week Roundup: 05/07/10

Today was a week of writing content, working long hours, relaxing due to being woken up early from work, being harassed for missing a film festival, and in general just trying to stay awake. I believe I was woken up early from work every day this last week aside from this morning. One month and a week down, 3 weeks to go!

Life

• Went to see Clash of the Titans with Leah
• Leah and I went out for dinner and drinks with Brad and Ana so Leah and Ana could work out house details
• Found a new Doctor, hopefully this one will cure my disease! (see: permanent stuffy nose)
• Also found Doctor Who Seasons 1-4, probably won’t cure my disease but may help cure boredom
• There is a rumor at work that my shift will soon be changing. I am not sure how I feel about this

Projects

• Fixed how the iScream Productions Projects Page to have the images link properly
• Updated the “History” sections for the two projects currently listed on the iScream Productions Projects Page
• Matt and I have been talking, The Shiny Swine may return
• Byron made a new header logo for Zombie Base which is a side project to show off zombie news from what I consider the major zombie sites. At least the ones that have RSS feeds

Media

• Watched the little known super hero movie – Defendor. Harrelson in one of his best non-Zombie related roles yet
• Watched Class of the Titans with Leah. It was kind of like Clash of the Titans until I made a typo and turned it into an origin movie similar to the upcoming X-Men:First Class
• Watched American Zombie, not as entertaining as I had read it would be
• Watched Tony, for a serial killer flick it had great build up but I felt the end fell flat

End Of The Week Roundup: 04/30/10

Another week and another update of what’s been going on in my life. One thing I would like to add in as it didn’t really fit into any of these categories is a severe lack of sleep. Today I must nap when I get home from work. Somehow I doubt that this will actually happen as I’m sure I’ll get distracted with either working ahead on projects, a movie, or video games.

Life

• Able to spend a few days in a row with Leah
• Dinner with the parents
• A family birthday party for my father and grandfather
• My summer tires are now on the Bimmer. Win.
• New brakes are not yet on the Bimmer and are squeaky as all hell. Fail.

Projects

• Met with Rose‘s boss, Argentina Leyva for some SEO and SMO consultation.
• Updated the iScream Productions Twitter Page.
• Updated the Buy Zombie Twitter Page.
• Updated the Horror Episodes Twitter Page.
• Had Byron update the logo for Horror Episodes so that it blended into the site.
• Had Byron fix the iScream Productions logo at the bottom of Horror Episodes so that it blended into the site.
• Created a Link Page for Horror Episodes.
• Finished the main rough draft of the About Pages for iScream Productions
• Received my business cards for iScream Productions

Media

• Caught up on 24
• Caught up on House

My Writing

• QUOTE: Amazon quoted my Buy Zombie Review for The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead on their Editorial Reviews.

End Of The Week Roundup: 04/23/10

A third week in a row? Could this have become a new trend? Could I have possibly increased more of my time being productive and keeping with some sort of a schedule? Only time will tell! Even if you have to drag it out of him since Father Time is an old bastard who enjoys nothing more than stealing time from us or babbling in a faked senility that he can’t possible suffer from.

Life

• I put up a few pictures of Leah’s new house.
• Speaking of Leah’s house I spent some time there while plumbing was being fixed. As you can tell from the image above there was a lot of work that needed to be done but it’s all better now!
• The above time spent in the new place allowed us to discover that Sarpino’s delivers there until 2am.
• I’ve mentally spent about 5 grand I don’t have on THINGS for the new place.
• There was a BBQ Night at Brad’s full of burgers and beer.. erm.. cider.
• Had a graduation dinner for my friend Rose

Projects

• iScream Productions Business Cards were ordered. Snazzy!
• Horror Episodes has a new logo! It just needs a few pieces of artwork and more series added to it before it’s officially launched.
• More progress on iScream content though still not far enough along to launch.
• I made a couple of changes to my personal domains that was time consuming and why not a lot was done this week.

Media

• TV: Deadwood Season 3. It’s so sad to see the series end but at least Timothy Olyphant is basically playing the same role as a cowboy sheriff set in a modern day setting in Justified.