Travel Day! Two Attempts To Damage My Car

     So Im starting to dislike travel day!  In my travels back to NJ today I had two attempts to damage my car.

     The first happened when I stopped by a WAWA in Fredricksburg VA.  I had pulled up in front of the store and ran in to grab a hoagie for lunch.  When I got back out to my car I got in and sat there while I waited for my Garmin to start up before getting back on the road.  A car pulled up next to me and this guy, who forever in my mind will only be known as "Fat Old Fuck", opened his drivers door and slammed it into my side view mirror.  Thankfully it was okay but when the guy got out of his car he looked me right in the eyes with this "deer in the headlights" look.  Something took better control of me at the moment and I just nodded and he went on into the store and I left.

     The second happened as I was entering the Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore MD.  I was in the right hand lane and was right up on the entrance for the tunnel.  A car in the lane next to me started coming over into my lane and I had no choice but to veer to the right when my car hit the curb sharply and bounced me back towards the other lane of traffic.  I was able to get control of my vehicle before a horrible mess was made at the tunnel entrance.  I drove further down highway 95 terrified that the front of my car was messed up.  I kept trying to catch glimpses of the front of my car in the reflection of other cars and was unable to see anything.  I also tried turning my fog lights off and on and was unable to tell a change in the reflection of the car ahead of me.  When I finally stopped I was relieved to find that my car was physically intact.  However, my front end alignment is now slightly off as my steering wheel is now slightly turned clockwise to go perfectly straight.  So now I already know what I will be doing this weekend, finding a shop up here in NJ where I can get an alignment done.

     Now on top of all that I get to keep myself up all night so I can sleep during the day tomorrow as I start third shift tomorrow night.  I did however get to play with foursquare as I traveled along and mark some fun areas as I traveled.

Personal message from Jake Cruise

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Déjà vu In Overdrive

     So we have all experienced Déjà vu, a sense of familiarity with a experience or the belief that you have experienced that exact moment before.  Lately I have been experiencing it in overdrive. I had two experiences yesterday where my mind instantly went to another point and time.  
     The first was when Paul and I were driving down the road and we came to red light.  I saw a set of apartment homes across the street and my mind went to another time and place when we helped a female friend of his move into an apartment complex that looked very similar back in MD.  My mind was so stuck on that experience that I asked Paul without thinking "who do we know that lives there again?".  Of course the answer was no one but my mind was so stuck on that similar experience.
     Later that evening I had my second experience.  I had gone to Five Guys with a few friends for dinner and had to excuse myself to go to the restroom.  The restroom was in the back of the restaurant and down a short hallway.  My mind immediately went to another place and I started reminding myself that once I get to the back window I would find it covered but would be able to look out through a crack and see a old menu board from the time when servers use to bring the food to the car side.  Of course this wasn't true as the restaurant we were in was part of a new strip mall only a few years old.  I was actually remembering a restaurant in Keyser WV called the Chat and Chew.
     I know this was a kinda silly blog subject but still isn't it funny how the human mind works!?!?

NYC Trip 08/21/2010

     So I went to NYC with my work family for the day and had a absolute blast.  We woke up extra early, on our day off mind you, and all piled into Tina's van and made our way to our first stop, Hoboken NJ!

Carlo's Bakery AKA: Location for TLC series Cake Boss!

  

Some of the many tempting treats!

     Once there we arrived on the corner of Carlo's Bakery which is the famous Bakery from the TLC series "Cake Boss".  We stood in line while others took the van to park it.  It was crazy to see just how many people were in line for a pastry or what not from this bakery.  We noticed a funny sign in a doorway close to the bakery and snapped a quick pic.  Once inside we were treated to the most beautiful scene of pastries, cakes, pies, tarts, and deserts to tempt even the most skilled dieter LOL!  I ended up getting a chocolate dipped canoli and a chocolate peanut butter cupcake, which I saved for the trip home!  When we left they had to erect partitions to shift the customers around as the line was now past the curb and wrapping around the side of the building.

Me with most of the group waiting for the right sub to NYC

     From there we headed to the local subway station and made our way into NYC.  By then we all had a little bit of sugar in our system from the bakery so we were ready to go!  We ended up getting of very close to "Ground Zero" so we decided to go check some things out in the area.  We contemplated going the few blocks away to see the site of the controversial Mosque but never made our way there.  Instead we checked out the 9-11 Memorial wish is free to the public.  It was amazing to see all the information crammed into a space not much bigger then some studio apartments.  They hope to have the new completed memorial by fall of 2011 I believe and I hope I get a chance to go see it!
     A few of the girls were interested in what has been nicknamed "an illegal purse" so we headed to Battery Park.  You see there are these guys, which at first glance you might mistake for a common homeless person, that go around the city with carts and trolleys and what not full of trash bags and tarps.  Inside are very very cheap, yet impressive, knock offs of name brand glasses and hand bags like Prada, Gucci, Coach, etc etc.  We made our way through the subway tunnels to Battery Park.  We walked through and one of the girls found a purse they liked and bought it.

     While in the park I got the chance to see two new experiences.  The first was the memorial for the armed forces and the second was lady liberty.  I have been to NYC a small handful of times and this was the closest Ive been to seeing her with my own eyes!  We also found a water fountain that sprayed in different timed intervals and that was fun to see and take a few pics with.

     From there we decided to go make sure we knew where our theater was and needed to grab a quick lunch.  We made our way to time square and searched for the Lutz-Fontaine Theater.  On our way to the theatre we made our way through China Town and Little Italy.  After locating the theater we found a quick pizza joint and then it was off to get in line for our show.  I don't normally do the whole musical thing, yeah I know I know insert stereotypical joke here where I should love them because I'm gay, but I decided to give this one a try since it was about the Addams Family and I was glad I did.  The main theme of the show is Wednesday has fallen in love with a "normal" boy and the show explores the implication on both sides of the family.  In all it was great and I would love to go see it again.

My ticket from the NBC Experience Tour

     After the musical it was off to NBC studios for a tour.  It was really kinda neat to walk through the experience.  Our two tour guides were a hoot and the one named Michael was ohhhh soooo hot LOL!!  We actually had to go through a type of Airport security where they make sure we didn't have any bad metal objects on us as we were unable to take any kind of pictures or video while in there unfortunately!  We started by seeing a short video recapping the history of NBC and then were escorted to one of the first stages where they film some of their sports programs.  It was interesting to learn the tricks they do to make the sets look bigger on TV and also how they show windows and shots of NYC when the set and said windows are in the center of the studio on the 8th Floor.  We next got to see the set for SNL which was great to See up close and personal.  Its sooo small in comparison to what you see on tv.  Funny thing was that once we left the tour we all wanted to go home and watch SNL.  Interesting thing about SNL, most very successful programs are moved to their west coast location where it is cheaper and easier to film but SNL has remained at their NYC location since day 1!  From there we were taken to a mock new room where my friend and another stranger got a chance to record their own news story and weather broadcast.

The Ferris Wheel!

Superman saves the day!

     After the tour we headed to the Toys R Us store!  Oh my god!  Three levels of toys and a huge ferris wheel in the middle of it all to boot!  Sadly I didn't find the two things there I was sure I would find!  But still WOW!  Corner upon corner of the store dedicated to a specific toy line instead of a 8' section on a counter in a regular store!  There were also some amazing sculpts and props all over the place.  There were even people in superhero costumes so the customers could get their picture taken with them.  the Iron-Man costume was the coolest since his chest light up.  I didn't grab a pic since others were paying for the same luxury!

     We all had to go to the restroom by this point so the hunt was on.  Now this makes me just a little curious and I have to sidetrack from my story for a bit to entertain it.  Working in customer service I hear the first side of this complaint all the time.  If a man were to walk into a woman's restroom it is revered as the most disgusting act a man can do in public.  Literally I heard a story recently where a customer complained about the design of a woman's restroom and how the paper towel dispenser was in plain sight and may encourage a man to get a towel in the women's room and that just nasty. . . . . . . . . . But I digress.  At the restroom in toys R Us there was a line for the women's room and a moderate one for the men's room.  I witnessed three girls come in and literally each shove a man out of the way so they could use a stall!  If a man ever tried that in a women's room he would first be slapped senseless and probably arrested for lude conduct!

Hotel from Home Alone 2

Ok where was I?  Oh yeah my NYC visit!  After Toys R Us we hunted for dinner and found a cool little bar and grill and then headed over to Central Park to make our way to the Apple store.  Sadly it was too dark to get any decent pics of the Park but did manage to get a pic of the hotel next to the park that was used for Home Alone 2: Lost In New York!  Shortly after there we came upon the Apple store which was absolutely amazing!  It is all underground except for the entrance.  the entrance is a hugs glass cube about the size of a small house that has a glowing apple logo in the middle of the cube.  In the middle of the cube is a spiral staircase leading upstairs as well as a elevator in the middle of the staircase that is straight out of the Jetsons.  It is nothing more then a glass tube that the staircase encircles with a platform that raises up and down.  I did manage to pick up a new connector for my iPad while there which will allow me to connect a SD card or USB cable for a camera to my iPad so I can send photos there right away instead of having to wait till I sync it again!

Heading back to Hoboken

Empire State Building at Night

     Drained and exhausted we made our way back to Hoboken via crowded subway car after Subway car!  When we got back to Hoboken I had the opportunity to snap a few more night times pics of NYC from the river in Hoboken.  My favorite was a pic of the Empire State Building which reminded me of the movie Percy Jackson.
    It was a great day!  If you would like to see more of the pics and are my friend on facebook you can follow this link to see all the pics from the day!  Link to Chris' Facebook Pics of NYC Trip

Cool whip fight

I love my work family! Today after work we all crowded in the same room for a nice dinner as we plan tomorrows day trip to NYC! Desert was over and two of my friends decided to have a cool whip fight! As the fun escalated I jumped out of the way and somehow still managed to get some on my back! Not wanting the chef to be left out Tina was included in the cool whip fun!

Location:Mt olive nj

Tell Target & Best Buy To Support Equality!

Hey followers,
     I don't normally jump on band wagons for this kind of things but this one really bothered me!  I had heard that Target announced that they did make a mistake and that they need to take further steps to look into a cause before they support them.  I did not know that Best Buy had supposedly donated to the same cause.  The following is from a email I received.  I like this approach because its not asking for a boycott of the two companies but rather send a letter asking them to make it right by matching their donation to someone who will stand for equality as well!  Please take a few moments out of your day to help send a very important message to these companies!




The Following is from a email newsletter sent to me via care2


Target and Best Buy have donated $250,000 to a political committee supporting a rabidly anti-equality candidate for Governor of Minnesota - a man with ties to a Christian rock band that advocates violence and death to gays.

Urge Target and Best Buy to support equality »

The news is all the more shocking because both of these companies have long records of providing fair and equitable workplaces for their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees. Stand up for equality »

It's time to make things right. The very least the companies can do is to make equivalent donations to groups that support equality candidates.

Send a letter urging Target and Best Buy to support equality »

Collector's Find! Toys R Us Exclusives

     l went to the local Toys R Us not even looking for something and found three things I never expected to find!  All three are exclusive to that store which greatly increases their value down the road!

Lex Luthor vs. Skeletor

    The first is from the DC Universe vs. Masters Of The Universe line.  There are only two sets that I've heard of thus far for this line.  I happened to find Lex Luthor vs. Skeletor!  Like I said before there are two sets out at this time.  The second is Superman vs. Skeletor.  Ive seen it online and would love to get it!

Cybertron Ratchet

     The next two are from the Transformers Animated line.  For some reason Hasbro canceled the toy line shortly after the TV series came to an end and they had just announced alot of cool upcoming figures.  After an outcry from the fans of the series Hasbro went ahead and planed to release the figures they had planed on but as exclusives to certain retailers.  The two I found at Toys R Us was Arcee and Cybertron Ratchet.  Cybertron Ratchet's mold may be used in the future for a Ironhide figure which is kinda funny because in the original G1 series Ironhide and Ratchet were the same toy mold just different paint schemes.

Arcee

  
     The one I have really been looking forward to is Arcee.  Arcee from the G1 series was always a fan favorite and many were upset that a figure was never made of her.  In more recent years and incarnations of the TV series the character resurfaced and toys were finally made.  However nothing like the original character.  Finally in the new Animated series the character resurfaced looking soo close to her original G1 counterpart.  I wish I had found two of this figure because I would have been sorely tempted to open one just to be able to transform it!

I could be Steve Jobs' love child!

     You know Ive joked and joked about this and I know its not true but I just honestly could be Steve Jobs' love child!  I mean I'm totally owned by Apple products!  Every time a new one I get all so excited over it and cant wait to get my hands on it and make it mine.  Sadly the only Apple product I do not own is a iPhone and that's only because I have a sprint contract and must make due with a crackberry!  I thought Id share my collect of Apple product, how I use them, and then show that final reason and proof of my ownership by Apple and just why I think I could be Steve Jobs' love child!

     Mac Book:  This is my go everywhere mac.  It goes with me to all my work projects as well as my travels for vacation and what not.  Its perfect for working on my blogs and what not.  Plenty of storage and speed that it could almost replace the need for a desktop.  I actually am considering replacing it next year with a Mac Book Air and giving it to Paul to keep at home.

     iMac:  The central hub for my home entertainment.  A few years old now and still quite as strong as day one!  Never an issue of any kind.  This is where my master library resides.  Connected to this is five external libraries which allow me to expand the video on my itunes library substantially!  But more about that later.

     Airport Extreme:  Apples equivalent to a wireless router.  This unit, dubbed Vector Sigma (After my love for Transformers) is what allows most all of my Apple products to sync their internal libraries and communicate with each other as well as the Internet.

     Apple TV (two of them):  Remember how I spoke of my expanded itunes library?  Well thanks to the external hard drives allowing more storage space for my iTunes library (the main organization software in Apple computers for media) and the Airport Extreme I am able to wirelessly play anything on my iTunes library on either my bedroom TV or my  living room TV.  My ultimate goal is to convert my DVDs into digital media on my hard drives so I can pack up the DVDs and have a cleaning looking living room.

     iPod Classic:  This is my on the road entertainment device.  I only have video on this 160 GB baby and it keeps me entertained while I am on the road.  I use a audio video connector and iPod dock by apple to hook the iPod up to any TV so I can watch my favorite shows and movies during down time while I am on the road!  For example, as I write this blog I'm catching up on the episodes of True Blood Season 2 that I missed out on!.

     iPod Touch:  This little baby is my PDA of sorts and serves as a few things for me.  I don't keep much music on it and only my three favorite movies (John Watters films of course) and use it as a organizing device for me.  The Apps for it are great.  I use it as my alarm clock, weight tracker, workout tracker and sometimes a quick browser.  There is a app that allows me to use one as a remote for the AppleTV!

     iPod generation 5:  I recently took over this iPod from my partner and may just replace it in the near future with a iPod Nano.  This one is used solely for the music, audio books, and podcast I wish to listen to during my daily travels.  I sometimes use this one also for my cardio music while I'm at the gym.

     iPad:  I was at Apple's front door the morning this device came out.  This is a little bit of everything in one.  But the best part is all is the digital books.  I have comics, novels, and magazines all at my finger tips just ready to breeze through.  The e-mail and web surfing is great on it as well!  


and finally the icing on the cake for both my ownership by Apple and the reason I think I could be Steve Jobs' love child:

     The iMark:  Thats right my birth mark.  If you look at it just right you can see a resemblance to the Apple logo.  How else couldnt I be Steve Jobs' love child?  I was born with his companies logo embeded on my arm and have so many of his products!


     

Outside The Comfort Zone!

     I love my work family!  When your out on the road like I am the the other six that are with me are all you have!  You cant help but get close to them and view them as family.  I love spending time with them and anytime they want to go or do something I am there.  Tonight however I found myself outside of my comfort zone.

     I don't really consider myself a bar person in fact I'm more comfortable staying home for drinks if I so choose to indulge myself.  Tonight after work two of my friends wanted to go to a bar with another worker for food and a few drinks and I went along with it.  Well I didn't really have a choice since I rode with one of them to work.

     We went to a local bar and I just found myself outside of my comfort zone.  Crazy people of all sizes and ages laughing over each other and trying aimlessly to attract someone.  And there was some oddball playing his guitar and singing some odd songs as people applauded him on.  The two I remember most clearly was "Puff the magic dragon" and "On the road again".

     It was a very odd feeling I just really felt out of my comfort zone and even though I was with my friends I couldn't wait to get out of there.  Is this what its like when a straight person is dragged into a gay bar??  Again its a little odd because I don't even consider myself a bar person at all I just know I would have felt more at ease with people around me that came from the same walk of life instead of having to watch some old fart make stupid jokes in the hopes that some younger girl would think he was cute!

    

    

Back in the drivers seat! From www.dailyom.com

I saw this tonight on the daily om and thought I would share it. I thought it kinda hit ohm for me as I plan to reboot my weight loss goals and worry about how my work day usually prevents me from doing anything but eating healthy. Hope you enjoy. The link for the daily om if you'd like to check them out is Daily Om


August 9, 2010
Back in the Driver’s Seat
The Passenger

Too much on your daily plate lands you in the passenger seat when you should be in the driver’s seat.


It’s easy to go through this fast-paced world feeling as if you are being dragged through your weeks on the back of a wild horse. Many of us go from one thing to another until we end up back at home in the evening with just enough time to wind down and go to sleep, waking up the next morning to begin the wild ride once more. While this can be exhilarating for certain periods of time, a life lived entirely in this fashion can be exhausting, and more important, it places us in the passenger’s seat when really we are the ones who should be driving.

When we get caught up in our packed schedule and our many obligations, weeks can go by without us doing one spontaneous thing or taking time to look at the bigger picture of our lives. Without these breaks, we run the risk of going through our precious days on a runaway train. Taking time to view the bigger picture, asking ourselves if we are happy with the course we are on and making adjustments, puts us back in the driver’s seat where we belong. When we take responsibility for charting our own course in life, we may well go in an entirely different direction from the one laid out for us by society and familial expectations. This can be uncomfortable in the short term, but in the long term it is much worse to imagine living this precious life without ever taking the wheel and navigating our own course.

Of course, time spent examining the big picture could lead us to see that we are happy with the road we are on, but we would like more time with family or more free time to do whatever we want at the moment. Even if we want more extreme changes, the way to begin is to get off the road for long enough to catch our breath and remember who we are and what we truly want. Once we do that, we can take the wheel with confidence, driving the speed we want to go in the direction that is right for us.

Travel Day! New music and Batman sighting!

     So today was travel day for me which means I travel either from my assignment to home or vice versa.  The travel should have taken a total of nine hours however today it took me almost 12 hours due to traffic problems. I left my house at 9:00AM and should have arrived at my hotel shortly arround 6:00PM.  Sadly after three unexplainable traffic jams and only two fifteen minute breaks off the road to refill gas, grab lunch, and pick up a package I ended up back at my hotel at almost 9:00PM!  I'm exhausted!  But like I said I wanna give this blog thing another swing so here we go!

    I got the chance to sample two new albums on my iPod. 

Sarah McLachlan Laws of Illusion

     Sarah Mclauchlan's new album "Laws of Illusion" like every other album showcased her vocals in a magnificent way!  Just about every song soothed my road rage as I was stuck in traffic.  As much as I love her though every time I hear her sing I am taken back to when I worked at Starbucks and her music was playing on our music system daily.  Finally one f my associates came in the back room one morning to change the music when she was playing and looked at me and said "You know I really love Sarah but I just don't feel like killing myself this morning!"

Lady Gaga The Remix

     Lady Gaga's new album "The Remix" is a compilation of remixes of select songs from both "The Fame" & "The Fame Monster".  I liked the aspect of this album as it had different songs instead of five to nine remixes of the same song.  My favorite by far was "Poker Face [LLG vs GLG Radio Mix]".  I actually ended up playing that one over and over and ended up transferring it to my Blackberry so I could make a ringer out of it!  Yeah yeah I have a Gaga ringer, get over it!

     

     During the numerous traffic jams I got stuck in I ended up spotting a trailer that I just had to get a pic of so slowly but surely I positioned myself behind the trailer so that the next time traffic came to a halt I could quickly snap a pic!  So traffic slowed down and voila BATMAN SIGHTING!  I quickly forwarded the pic to a few friends I knew I would get a kick out of.  

"When you need a screw fast"

     I wasn't going to include this but since I'm talking about funny vehicles spotted in traffic I might as well.  This van was spotted on my travel day heading home.  Its for a company that sells different fasteners (screws bolts and what not).  The funniest part was the caption on the truck which read "When you need a screw fast!" but the word screw was replaced with a pic of an actual screw.

     So now here I am back in home sweet hotel after a long day of travel.  Tomorrow hopes to be a reboot in my workout and diet regimen but more on that tomorrow!

We need to do a community event! I know, let's go deer herding!

     So back on the 28th my co-workers and I took the morning away from our project to go take part in a community event!  This was definitely something different as the event that my friend and co-worker found for us was deer herding!!  In short the object of deer herding is to help encourage the dear to go from one location to another.

Breakfast time!

     We all got up and met in the hotel lobby for breakfast which was nice because normally on a work day we don't hit the lobby for breakfast.  Its either a iced VIA or a slim-fast shake for me.

Grammy Tina

      Jokes started flying about Tina's velcro closed visor which earned her the name Grammy for the day and also jokes about how we were gonna just put Tammy out in the woods ahead of us and she would naturally scare the deer as we call her cougar we finished breakfast and headed to the cars.

     We got to the location for the community event first and the cars started showing up little by little.  We met people that worked at another one of the local walmarts as well as  other people from all kinds of walks of life including a cute seasoned couple who actually trudged through the woods better then people younger and fitter then myself.  We then learned a little more about what exactly we were going to be doing and why.

Some of the other helpers.

     Now I know I'm going to get some of the details mixed up but supposedly someone purchased a plot of land and had started converting it into sixteen lots for a planned development.  Supposedly something went wrong when this person tore out trees and river and put in roads and concrete causing irrigation problems for a body of water that was one of the main drinking water sources for NJ and the person got in trouble for it and lost the land.  A reservation purchased the land, which is now protected, and began the process of converting the development back into the river and wooded land it was before the damage was caused.  They had already removed the concrete and road and plan on replanting trees and recreating a river in September.  There was a particular spot of wooded area that they wanted to get vegetation to regrow.  Unfortunately the local deer were eating the vegetation they wanted to grow so they had to remove the deer safely.  They started by fencing in three quarters of the land they needed to regrow which scared away a good bit of the deer do to the needed machinery.

Trying to escape!

     Our task for the day was to walk back to the back of the fenced in area together walk through the woods and encourage any remaining deer to run out of the fenced in area.  Tina was asked to stay behind and be the counter and keep track of just how many deer came out of the fenced area.  Forty seven of us walked to the back of the fence and spaced ourselves out about 25 feet apart and waited till we were all along the back part of the fence.

Crackberry break!

     Once the OK was given we all started walking straight ahead through the woods in the hopes that we would encourage any remaining deer to move onto another location.  After some time we reached a first clearing and had to wait while the rest of the line caught up with us.  It was funny to be stuck in the woods but still see my co-workers, including myself, take a crackberry(blackberry) break.  Once the line was caught back up we proceeded to the next wooded area and continued our march through the woods to the open part of the fence.

     As we made our way to the clearing we found Tina siting on a rock waiting for us.  Supposedly only three deer had been encouraged out of the area.  The reservation had already assumed that most of the deer had been scared away by the machinery brought in to tear up the concrete and put in the first three quarters of the fence.  Once everyone had cleared the fencing area a crew was ready to put up the last run of fencing keeping any future deer out of the area so the vegetation could continue to regrow.

The gang all together!

     After three hours of trudging through the woods we headed back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for lunch.  We were given t-shirts from the reservation for helping them for the day and we decided before we headed up to the showers in our room that we should take a group photo since this was one of the very few times the entire team was together.  We needed someone to take the pic though which wasn't too hard of a task.  Since we had bee staying in the hotel since February the staff there has come to love us so the girl working the front desk at the moment was all too willing to take each of our cameras and snap a few shots on each one.

wern't there for the first half of the day!

     All in all it was a great experience and should we be able to help when the reservation is prepared to plant trees and other plants in September I would love to lend a hand again!

Yet Another Beginning, And Catching Up

     I don't know how far this will go and in what direction it will go but here I am trying the blogging bit again.  Its been over half a year since I did anything blog related and that includes my YouTube videos as well.  I've had friends both new and old ask me when and if I was going to post anything so I finally decided to give a crack back at this.  Maybe this will just be like a journal maybe I'll add pics or maybe I'll start actually using my video skills and make some new videos!

     I've been at my work assignment in Hackettstown NJ Since late winter and will be there till mid fall.  Were shooting for a RGO (Re-Grand Opening) the first week of October but there are already rumors that we could be there a month longer.  I don't know if after this assignment I will go help finish another or if I will just return home to Raleigh to help with a local store.

     Weight loss has continued to be an opportunity for me.  Its like I continually slide back and forward between the same ten pounds.  Its like a joke I head a comedian on TV once say; "I've been on a diet for two months now and so far I've lost two months".  I think at max I have lost twenty four pounds since I went to my project.
     My whole team was all for loosing weight together and for a while we were doing workouts together daily and what not but as the project got further and further underway the workdays became longer I found myself just physically drained and unable to put the physical or mental energy into physical activity.  My hotel room has many exercise tools just laying around from when I got on this kick when we got together this year.  I just need to find the right motivator to get me to get back on track like I was when I lost my initial 140 pounds over the two previous years!  My eating habits for the most part have still been good minus quite a few splurge moments.  Of course as I'm typing this Paul is getting ready so we can go get dinner maybe at Outback!