Great Accomplishment

I have to say that I've achieved something great in my life. Maybe the best thing ever. When Alejandra tells me everyday how happy I make her it just makes me feel as if it's the greatest thing in the universe. I hope that never stops.

A Note from the Past

I still feel really bad this blog has gone downhill. I know tons of awesome stuff has happened that I would have loved to write about so I could remember from the unique perspective of 'what I was thinking at the time'. It is unfortunate that I have missed a lot of those opportunities. I guess I have been too busy having the greatest time of my life with my wife, Alejandra. I went to Buenos Aires again at the end of April and then she came back with me. We got married on June 8th. I sometimes can't contemplate how I ever found someone so awesome or why the hell she likes me but I'm slowly getting used to it.

Here is a list of some of the stuff that has gone on this year

• Our first social event as a married couple (the day after our wedding), Anne & Ryan's wedding
• She is a pro couponeer. We've saved a ton of money on food already
• She has helped me with my health and losing weight by identifying things I shouldn't eat as much and by preparing me pre-made homemade lunches to take to work
• She can make Red Lobster cheddar biscuits like a boss
• We helped my dad and family move out of the house on Loving Road
• We went to the NHL Draft together
• We took the boy to his first concert, Phish
• We went to lots of parks and met our friends and went swimming and had picnics
• We set up our home network
• Took a swimming vacation back to my dad's after they were settled in from moving
• She accompanied me to The Legend of Zelda : Symphony of the Goddesses
• We bought a brand new car together (my first ever, 2012 Toyota Prius)
• She is still trying to help me learn Spanish
• We made fondue and drank wine
• We often play the same iPhone games at the same time as well try and beat and trophy PS3 games together
• We took the boy to Idewild for the Credit Union's Family Picnic day. The lifeguard jumped in the wave pool to fish him out. Was that really necessary?
• We went disc golfing with an old Miller co-worker buddy. 
 

I will never finish this post because the things just keep piling up so I'll just stop here. The best part is how she constantly tells me how happy she is. I'll never get used to how awesome that makes me feel. 

Fixed the Desktop PC

I've had my desktop PC for a while now. I bought it new from Dell a while back and it's served me well for a long time but it's been so crappy slow and buggy for so long I almost couldn't stand it anymore. My plan was for Ale to help me redo everything when she came up for #mayvacation but that didn't work out so I needed to think of a new plan. What is the best way for Marc to accomplish something? Set a goal! So that's what I did.

I started on Sunday. I hooked up my external drive and started backing up my music while I made a list of everything else that needed saved off. As long as I got all my files (pics, music, databases, etc) and the programs I use on an every day basis saved off I didn't care what happened to the garbage that filled up the rest.

It took me another 2 days to get everything saved off but on Wednesday I was ready. Now my plan was to reformat the whole drive and use the bios to put Windows back on when it was done. I wanted the whole thing wiped and clean but Ale's idea was to just add a partition and install Windows there. I wasn't so sure about that. Wouldn't the garbage still be on there? I don't know but I put in the disc and picked the Custom install option. This says it will totally disregard any files currently on the drive but the first time I tried to install Windows it died almost at the end and I had to shut the PC off to break it out of that. Restarting set it in a repeating loop so something went wrong. My worst nightmare! What if I couldn't fix it and my PC was junk? :(

I went back in the bios and booted straight from the disc. What was this option.... What drive do I want to install Windows on? Oh reformat? Yes please. BOOM!! Not even an hour later my PC was up and running a brand new copy of Windows 7 and I had an entirely clean hard drive to put everything back on. I had done it. I put it off for so long but all it took was for me to make it a goal, write it down and plan it out. I am super happy. I starting putting everything back together and crossed this task off my list. :D

Where were you yesterday?

NEWS LINK

It took me an hour and 2 minutes to get from the Penn Hills exit to the Turnpike on my way home from work last night. Did I mention how hot it was yesterday? I had to sit in a puddle of my own sweat. It was not fun.

2011 Father's Day

It was the weekend of Father's Day again and because I was keeping Isaac an extra day this weekend (Friday into Saturday so I could make sure he went to karate practice) I thought we'd do the Father's Day thing on Saturday since I already had him. My mom cut me out a page from the PT paper about an event going on down Pittsburgh this weekend called LegoFest and I saw a couple people facebooking about it so I decided 'Hey, Isaac loves Legos!' this is going to be our activity this year!!

We got up that morning, had some cereal and went to karate practice. After we were done we went home and had some lunch as our tickets were for the 3-8pm session that day (I printed them on my new wireless printer that ma babby bought for me). Around 2-2:30pm I decided it was time to go so I grabbed all my fully charged electronic devices (I brought my 3DS for 3D pictures, my iPhone for tweeting and facebooking pictures and my Sony camera to take high quality pictures and videos) and we hopped in the car. We had no problems with any traffic or finding the place. We parked and walked towards the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and went in. There were lots of people but we really didn't have to wait that much.

The place was ENORMOUS!! (PIC) The first thing we saw were these little boxes with scenes set up in them and that was pretty neat. Then we saw a huge map of the USA made of Legos all laid out on the floor and although its outline was complete and the east coast was built up the majority of it was blank. I wondered what this was so we investigated. Here you could take a base piece and build whatever you wanted on it, a house, a tower or a weird art thing. Pretty much anything you could imagine that fit on the piece and then when you completed it you took it over to the map and someone would take your genius over and put it in the masterpiece. Isaac built a crazy little house and I think it got placed somewhere in the Kansas/Missouri area.

Some of the other thing we saw:

• An area with life size Lego characters such as the Harry Potter gang, characters and droids from Star Wars, and a lot of different kinds of dinosaurs.
• There were several areas where there was only 1 color brick to build with. I guess Target was a sponsor because in the red brick area they were putting those white dog mascots with the target around their eye on everyone's finished piece. There was a pink section were a lot of the girls were, a dark blue section and a green section. Green is where Isaac spent a good amount of time constructing his awesome tower.
• There were a couple of huge spots where they just dumped a bout a billion Legos out on the floor and you could just wade out there and sit in the middle and build whatever you wanted.
• There was a part where grown-up nerds that probably take Legos way too seriously made some cool scenes, some guy had a car show out of cars he made from Legos, there were a bunch of cool trains and futuristic monorails that Isaac definitely took an interest in, and neat dirt bike track.
• There was an area that had lots of wheels and other parts to make a vehicle of some sort and then you took it over to these ramps where you raced your creation against other peoples.
  
• Another section had high-tech futuristic Legos that had sensors and hooked to computers that you could program to do stuff. They also offered Lego camps there but it's too far away from where we live for us to go.
• The other big thing we did which I didn't think Isaac would want to do was climb one of those big rock climbing walls. I was surprised at his enthusiasm and lack of fear for wanting to do it but I was a bit disappointed he gave up about a 3rd of the way up at the first place he kind of got stuck at. Maybe next time he'll make it to the top.
  
• We also signed up to get a free subscription to some Lego magazine so that will be cool when those start coming for him.
  

All in all it was another fun daddy/son day. We were there for a long time and he got a little cranky at the end so I decided it was time to go. It seemed like the place was already clearing out and there were a bunch of workers taking some of the things down. We walked out through this cool fountain waterfall thing they have and then I drove him back to his mom's. I was sad to see him go but happy we spent quality time together doing something memorable.

You can see the rest of the pics on my fb

Isaac's First Taste Of Fail

Last night was pre-test night at karate class and I'm sad to report that Isaac will not be testing for his gold belt this weekend. I'm pretty sure this was one of his first tastes of fail and I hope he learns to not like it.

I did my part to help him as much as I could. For the last 2 weeks I made sure he was practicing all the time especially on days before class. It is helpful for him to have it in his mind before he goes I noticed. The Saturday this started (which probably would have been the 11th) he had the worst class of his life. He got yelled at constantly, repeatedly had to do push-ups and Mrs. Romano even asked him to sit down as he didn't seem like he cared or knew what the heck was going on. I had a talk with him at this point about what he was going to do. I found out that his mother (*shudders) hadn't be taking him to class for the last 2 weeks she had him. I think I detailed this before. Anyway he followed that up with the two best classes I've ever seen him have and I thought he was on track to earn his belt.

I have noticed that when we start practicing he never actually punches, he just raises his arm up and same with kicks. He also just moves his legs forward taking a regular step instead of properly going into a stance (legs wide apart, knee bent). Usually I see this and tell him about it and he does a little better. Apparently this was one of the main things that kept him from testing. I made him go and ask what the problem was. I felt it was a good idea to teach him that. Can't learn from your mistakes if you don't know what they were.

I didn't watch it go down. I sat in the car. I felt I gave him all the tools and assistance he needed at that point and it was up to him now to perform. I didn't want to be a distraction for him as he always seems to look at me to see if he thinks I think he's doing well or not. Well he didn't. He went about it all lackadaisical and it ended up biting him in the butt. All in all Master Romano clipped 9 kids this time and I saw several run over to their mommy's crying about it when they discovered it was them. Isaac was very disappointed in the car. I had sweetened the pot with promises of rewards if he did well and I don't think I like this but it seemed he was more upset about not getting the rewards than not earning the belt.

I keep getting asked 'Why push him to do this if he doesn't like it or want to do it?' and I have to answer like this: He's 7 years old. He doesn't know what he wants. When he's 10 or 12 or 15 THEN he can pick what he wants to do. It's my decision as his parent to do what's best for him. I made the decision to enroll him in karate because I discovered through research that it :

• Builds character, discipline and self-esteem.
• Teaches respect.
  
• Gives him an activity to do so he isn't sitting around the house on the couch playing video games all day everyday or getting into trouble because he's bored with nothing to do.
  
• Related to that, it's good exercise. It helps build his muscles and gives him self-control.
  
• He gets to hang out with and talk to other kids doing the same thing.

I stand by my decision. If someone else can come up with a alternative solution that provides as much benefit as this then I would definitely listen, if not then stfu. Anyway he's paid up until November of this year so he might as well get used to it. In life we all have to do plenty of things we may not want to do. He needs to acknowledge that and learn to develop a way of dealing with it. I will not see him cower and avoid this things. I want to teach him to conquer and overcome these types of obstacles. It's going to be a tough road ahead due to this setback. Now he's stuck doing the same things for the next 3 months and that's going to be hard to keep his interest. Also with his mother finding it easier herself to give in and not take him. I can't go over there everyday when she has him just to ensure that he gets there. I don't know what he does or doesn't do over there but it seems like the work I'm doing with him gets undone to a degree. I hope that is not the case. I want Isaac to be prepared for life and know what he needs to know to succeed and most importantly be happy and although it's hard work and I get confused and depressed sometimes wondering if I'm doing things right or if I made a good decision I know that at the end of the day I am doing a good job and I will do my best to continue that. Hopefully this setback will actually end up being a good thing and he will learn some valuable life lessons that will help him in the future.

Still Super Happy

My awesome gf linked me to a leaked copy of Weird Al's new album ALPOCALYPSE so I don't need to wait until they actually sent it to me and it's AWESOME!! The unusual thing I find about Weird Al's album which has happened again is that I don't really get it the first time I listen to it. Al is my absolute favorite artist ever and you would think I would instantly be falling in love with everything he does but it's so weird that not only do I not get it the first time I listen to a new album but sometimes I actually don't like some of the songs. I find that very strange. What turns out to be awesome though is that the more and more I listen to it though the more it starts to jive with me. [My current Top 3] I don't know why that happens but I think it's even better than immediately liking everything. It kind of bonds and grows on me and that makes it be awesomer longer somehow. That's the only explanation I can come up with.

The best part is that even though I'll have heard and learned all the words to all the songs before I even get the album I still can't wait to get it because he made VIDEOS for every single song on the album. I don't know if those have leaked yet or not because I haven't looked for them but I can wait. I'm sure those are going to be a hilarious bonus to what he's already created.

That reminded me how bad the last album went for me. I started ordering the albums directly from Al's website. I do that so all the money goes directly to him and he has my name somewhere in his database so he knows who I am and that I definitely have his stuff. Well the last album (or maybe it was 2 albums ago, I forget) was released and every one bought it and listened to it but the shipping from Al's site took so long that I didn't get it until almost 7 full days after everyone else and they already knew all the songs and everything and it sucked.

The other thing that is going good right now is that Isaac has kicked butt the last week or so at karate. He had a really bad class last Saturday where he got yelled at like 3 times, was made to push-ups a bunch and then actually was told to sit out due to his lack of trying. Since that day however he has bounced back strong. I think he was doing bad because his mother decided that she was no longer on board to take him or practice with him or anything. He finds it easy to manipulate her I guess. So because of him being out of the swing of things for so long he had a rough time getting back on track. Luckily with me he has resolved that. We've been practicing a lot everyday because his belt test is coming up soon (June 25th) and he would really like to make sure he knows enough to test so he can earn his gold belt and move up in the ranks. I am very proud of him and I made he a deal to help motivate him. If he is permitted to test and he passes we will immediately go to the hobby shop and buy him a model for us to put together and I will also take him to go see the new Cars movie that will be debuting that weekend. He is really excited about that and I think as long as I continue to work with him he should have no problem accomplishing that goal.

I have also been watching the Smallville TV show lately. Ale had watched all the Star Trek: Voyagers with me so in turn I decided to watch her favorite show with her (Although we're not exactly watching them at the same time so far). The weird thing is that I always thought this was a 'teen' show and that I wouldn't really have an interest but I'm finding it's a very well written show. A little too much drama and dialogue sometimes but like I said there is good writing and the story is constantly progressing, there is lots of action, semi-good (for a TV series) special effects and you can always tell when something happens you don't understand that it's a part of the mega huge underlying plot that is running throughout the series as a whole. I am really enjoying it and that makes me happy.

Of course I can't close this post out without reiterating how awesome Ale is again. She is so awesome that I don't know what to do sometimes. She's always there for me to talk to and to get advice from and just to be there for me when I need someone. I hope that I am doing enough back for her to show her how much she means to me. I think I am but I always want to try harder because she so deserves it. I just am so amazed every day because I have never had a connection like this with anyone in my life and it just makes me so happy I want to puke. We're filling out the immigration stuff now together and it just sucks that paperwork takes so long to process. Before we even do anything she needs to fill stuff out and mail it to me because some of the forms have to be signed by her that go into this packet we submit. That right there is going to take a while. The only thing that could make my life any better at this point is for her to be with me physically. We are going to tear stuff up when we get together.

Although I still get depressed sometimes and feel things suck, thinking about her and trying to pick out the good stuff that is happening in my life so I can write about it always makes it seem better. My life may not be as awesome as someone reading this might make it out to be but if I could just find a way to get over the bad stuff quicker and stop it from bringing me down, it would be damn close.