matt

I'm leaving work today at 3 to go to Disney to cover the American Idol press event there and that will begin a very early weekend for me. I took tomorrow off from work to spend with my parents and Marissa's parents so it will be a nice change for me. Tonight I'm meeting my parents at Epcot for dinner most likely and tomorrow I think we are going to Orange Lake to hang out. Beyond that, I'm not sure what we'll be doing this weekend really. Likely going out to eat and various activities thrown in for good measure. Should be a good time though having family around, because the last time we did, I was getting married so it was just a little nerve wracking.

Yesterday I got a call from my parents while at work that they are going to drive down to Florida to visit us for the weekend. Needless to say, it was a bit unexpected, but certainly welcome! It will be a "parents weekend" as both my parents and Marissa's folks will be down and I suspect Friday night we will have a large dinner gathering...or something. I'm excited to see them and hang out. They are staying at Orange Lake and I took Friday off from work so we can all hang out there (Marissa's folks don't come down till Friday afternoon/evening). The weather this weekend will be beautiful, with highs in the 80's so we'll likely put in some time at the pool at Orange Lake. Plus, my parents are bringing me 4 new tires for my car which will save me an ungodly amount of money. They aren't even here yet and I'm feeling the love!

Last night Marissa, Glenn and I went mini golfing at Winter Summerland and I somehow managed to win, and shot a 45. Glenn was beating us both in the beginning and then Marissa actually did really well but in the end, I was the victor. I even had two holes-in-one! I could probably count on my fingers how many holes-in-one I've had in my life but I was on fire last night. Clearly, I was not modest about my victory.

Today, I'm going to the gym after work and then the name of the game is cleaning up, as we need to get our apartment in good shape for the parents this weekend.

It's back to work and now it's even longer work. Our workday has changes from 9-5 to 8:30-5:30 and I'm not exactly thrilled. At this point, I'm just dealing with it but it really bothers me that I'm losing an hour of my day. Alas, what can you do?

I had a great long weekend doing some things and also relaxing. We went to IKEA and got a nice entertainment center that really looks nice. It's not complete, as we need another shelf unit to compliment it so we can store our DVDs and other knick-knacks but the corner of the room with the TV really looks nice and I think once we get that shelf unit, we'll be really set and it does make the living room much nicer than a TV stacked on top of a cardboard box (yes, that was really how it was). What's really interesting to me is that I am really becoming my father. With the new TV, I find myself just sitting in front of it and watching anything I can find in HD simply to enjoy it, which is exactly what my dad did when he first got the family HD tv. Not only that, I basically refuse to watch anything not in HD on that TV because it seems like a waste to me. Sad how I mock my dad when he did it, yet I'm doing the exact same thing....it's like we're related or something.

We also saw a few movies over the weekend, thanks to RedBox. First up was Get Smart which was terrible! The reason it was so bad was simply because it was not funny. At all! There were no real laugh out loud moments and I really felt like I wasted my time watching that movie. The next night, we watched Hancock and this one I thought was going to be a dud based on the reviews I read but Marissa and I both really liked Hancock. It was a simple, fun movie that was entertaining. I really liked Hancock a lot more than Get Smart and definitely recommend it. As good as Hancock was, the best movie I saw was Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Marissa picked this one out and I told her beforehand that if it stunk, I'd leave but this was laugh out loud funny and a real treat. I was genuinely disappointed when it was over because it was so entertaining. Of all the movies I mentioned, definitely go see Sarah Marshall because it is really funny (although watch out for all the penis sightings).

Speaking of entertainment, I finally convinced Marissa to sit down with me and watch Dead Like Me. We've watched the first two episodes and I think she really likes it. The show is really well written and very entertaining so I highly recommend picking up the DVD set if you get a chance.

We also signed up for a gym over the weekend. It's expensive ($40/person) but it is a nice gym. We get one month to try things out and I think we'll simply use the gym for a month and then cancel and get our money back. We need a gym that's like around $20/month and has decent equipment. Alas, our search for a good gym will continue soon enough but for now, I'll milk what I can get.

No plans really for this week. We're going to get back into the swing of working (well, I will since Marissa did work a few days over the weekend). I want to go to the gym a few times and probably just end up watching something on our new TV because it really is quite lovely.

Song of the Day: Daughtry - Crashed

I'm back from a nice long weekend in Georgia. We went up there for Christmas and as always, had a great time there. I really enjoy my time there because I can really relax there. Unlike when I'm visiting my parents, I don't feel like I'm "on duty"...when I'm at my folks place, I have to ensure Marissa is included in everything and also be social with my parents, sisters, friends, etc. In Atlanta, I'm just along for the ride.

Christmas itself was nice. We slept in and opened presents after breakfast and I got a few nice gifts and Marissa also got some nice gifts. I only wish we had more money to spend on gifts because I really prefer to give out kick ass gifts instead of boring gift cards. For Christmas dinner, they had roasted ham while I enjoyed some very good baked ziti.

On my birthday, we spent time together relaxing and went out to my favorite restaurant, El Ranchero, for dinner. Sometimes you crave something for a long time and it never lives up to expectations but honestly it lived up to the expectations that I had in mind. It's just so good and makes me cringe when I think about the Mexican options we have down here. What was also nice was Marissa's parents gave me a few more gifts for my birthday (on top of the Xmas stuff) and it really means a lot to get something.

Saturday we had the Christmas party at Marissa's parents house and it was a nice affair. I will say that their family is very nice and inviting and I never feel out of place or anything. Once again I had baked ziti along with some roast beef and some other food....almost as good as a cruise buffet! Much later that night, Marissa and I went to El Ranchero again for one last visit; we had dinner during the party at like 3pm so by 8pm we were hungry again and one never really needs an excuse to go to El Ranchero.

The theme of the weekend was trying to find us a TV to buy. We searched a number of stores in Georgia for a tv but came up empty. Finally this afternoon I found a Walmart that had the TV we needed for the price we could afford and after jamming it in the backseat of my car, I am proud to say the Hochbergs have HD TV! Well, I still need to set it up and ensure it works (and didn't melt in the trunk of my car) but assuming all goes well, we should be set. Now we just need to buy an entertainment center from IKEA and we will have epicly good entertainment!

The only real problem with the trip was our ride back home. It should have taken about 6 hours but it took about 8.5 hours thanks to ridiculous traffic on I-75. There was one stretch of congestion that was about 25 miles long! It was quite annoying and by the end I was ready to snap but luckily once we got to the Florida Turnpike, I was able to drive at a respectable speed again and I got a lot of my frustration out in the form of speeding.

My 3 day weekend is over, but my 5 day weekend is beginning tonight! It's such a weird feeling because I feel like I should be depressed since today is my first day back at work after the weekend, but then again tomorrow I'm off for the rest of the week for Christmas so I'm quite conflicted.

After work today, Marissa and I are driving up to Georgia to spend the weekend with her family. They will have a Christmas party at some point (I think Saturday). As I'm sure you're all well aware, my birthday is on Friday so I'm sure we'll go out to dinner. My pick will have to be El Ranchero since it's my favorite Mexican restaurant. Aside from that, I think we'll exchange Christmas presents on Christmas morning and possibly go to Christmas mass tomorrow night. Should be a nice weekend relaxing up there.

Yesterday my folks and sisters came into town for the day. They had a stopover in Port Canaveral on their cruise so we "celebrated" Hanukkah by doing a few things. First we drove to Orlando and I had a quick falafel lunch and then we went to Disney. My mom and sisters got manicures and pedicures while me and my dad went to Epcot for a few hours. My dad was so hellbent on going to Epcot and getting some German food that he bought a one day ticket for about $80 and only spent like 3 hours in the park. He was happy, so that's what mattered. Afterwards we went to Citricos at the Grand Floridian for dinner. I picked Citricos since my family is a fan of up-scale dining and I hit a home run with that pick since they were raving about it the rest of the night. Afterwards I drove them back to Cape Canaveral and dropped them off.

For Marissa and I's Hanukkah gift, my folks are chipping into buy us a 42" LCD tv. The issue is we couldn't buy it yesterday since we had no room in the car so we decided to buy it online. The problem with that is the stupid web site refuses to let me pick the TV up despite the fact there's like 20 TVs at the store. I can't just go to the store to buy it because I don't have my folks' credit card. I'm contemplating just going there and giving them the sob story and hope they'll take it but I doubt it. The reason I want to buy it today is I'm worried this particular deal won't be available when we return from Georgia. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Why is there a light in the fridge but no light in the freezer? Why wouldn't I need a light to see things in the freezer? I'm fairly certain it's dark in there too.

Song of the Day: The LeeVees - How Do You Spell Channukkahh?