matt

I'm 4 days into the new job and so far it's going as well as one can expect. The people here have been super nice and it feels good being back in a stable company where my future isn't just up in the air. Yesterday I got my new PC and I have my office arranged nicely. They have me in what used to be the lounge and thus far it's just me in here and I have a great view of downtown Orlando outside my window but they say at some point others could be in here.

I've been meaning to get in touch with another guy to do some work on the side, but honestly I'm not sure if I can anymroe. I could definitely use the money, but with the new job, I'm getting up earlier and coming home later than before so I don't exactly have the spare time I once did and aside from my own laziness, I also feel obligated to spend time with Marissa. I'm not sure what to do.

The other big news is we got a cat! We went to the human society of Orlando on Sunday and picked out an orange cat that we've named Manny Ramirez Hochberg. He's very cute, although he is sort of annoying in a few ways but I like him. Marissa spent the last 5 days with him so I think she's gotten a little sick of him and being his personal source of entertainment but I think once we all kind of settle in and find our own grooves, it will work out.

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.

One thing I've never understood about living in Florida are people who catch colds in the winter time here. Back up north, it's cold outside and it makes sense that one would catch a cold and be all sniffly and congested...it almost goes hand in hand with the bitter winter weather. But living down here and being all sniffly when it's 70 degrees out just doesn't compute to me. It's like having the flu in the summer time. Frankly, I don't think these viruses are native to here, it's just the tourists that come down from the north and bring the germs with them.

We saw Tropic Thunder last night (thank you free Redbox code on Mondays!) and I was utterly disappointed in the movie. Like Get Smart, this was a movie I had expectations to that it would actually be funny. But it wasn't! It was lame and there were some jokes that were mildly amusing, but overall I felt like the film just was not funny. The premise and everything was good and seeing Tom Cruise in that absurd character was fun but there just weren't any good jokes in it. Do yourself a favor and skip it because there are far better choices out there.

According to the UPS website, my computer parts are on the truck and out for delivery and I'm uber-exicted. I even re-arranged my gym plans for the week and am coming straight home so I can start putting together my new PC. Few things can get me as excited as I get like when I get to put together a PC. I've been doing some reading and research to ensure I'm ready for when it arrives (I even read the manual for the motherboard!). I guess I'm excited because it's a new challenge for me and also because it's a new toy and I love my little toys (look no further than my Blackberry).

Speaking of toys, Marissa and I need to go to Verizon to fix our cell phone situation. Right now we have two seperate phone plans and I'm sure we are overpaying. Plus, Marissa needs a new phone and she is eligible for an upgrade. Our initial plan was to get some sort of family plan but I'm wondering if I should just end my plan and use my work phone as my personal phone. It could save us like $50/month and work has said I can use my work phone for personal calls, provided I don't go over my monthly limit of like 400 minutes. The negative to my work phone is I don't get text messaging. I think I will still get a phone (or port my phone over) but I'll do it on the cheap since I have my work phone to really use. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

It's time for the weekend and this weekend, Marissa and I will be staying at Disney's Boardwalk resort. We're just staying there tonight but it will be nice to "get away" for one night and have some fun. We haven't settled on any firm plans beyond dinner. We're eating at Portobello Yacht Club restaurant because we received gift certificates from some friends before the holidays. I haven't heard great things about it but since we aren't really paying for it, we really have nothing to lose. At any rate, it should be a nice weekend together.

Yesterday we went to the gym and I had a good workout. When I was doing weights, I felt good and afterwards I felt like my upper body was....swelled up, which is a good thing. Then I did the elliptical and I felt great. On Tuesday I was struggling through my workout but I finished with extra energy and felt great. I only wish I didn't have the typical post-workout-hunger binge where I had a few servings of the wonderful banana bread my wife makes. It's funny because I really don't like bananas but I could eat banana bread all day long. Marissa made it for me as a surprise and I was thrilled to have some of it.

So the big news of the day is the plane crash yesterday. What happened is pretty much the sum of all my fears when it comes to flying and it reminds me, yet again, how much I really hate flying. The worst part is it isn't the fault of some faulty sensor or screw that can be repaired in all planes. Rather, it's friggin birds! What are they going to do...kill all birds? Now in addition to worrying about the plane exploding/crashing/falling apart, I have to worry about mammals in the air too!

Earlier this week, I mentioned how this week at work we switched from 9-5 to 8:30-5:30. Well as of today, we're back to 9-5. Evidently I was not the only one annoyed by the change and the change wasn't sitting well with most of us and we also weren't any more productive than before the change so we switched back as of today and I love the change back. The only thing that is different now is instead of a full hour for lunch, we only get 30 minutes but I'm so willing to make that compromise. I'm glad the owner saw the issue and remedied it and quite honestly it's made us all a little happier and happy workers and busy workers. Besides, now I'll have less traffic to deal with and I get to sleep an extra half hour and I get home earlier. If you can't tell, I'm happy about this change.

After work today I'm going with Marissa to the gym for a nice workout. I'm looking forward to it because I do like the gym and I feel motivated to exercise and (hopefully) drop some weight. Plus there's the whole get into shape idea.

This weekend we don't have any firm plans. My friend will be in town for the Disney Marathon so we'll likely be hanging out with him but other than that, no other plans to speak of and that's fine with me. I always enjoy quiet weekends.

One last note, my lovely wife has asked me to build her a blog because she too wants to share her random thoughts with the world. She once had a blog a number of years ago but stopped writing in it because her dad used it to spy on her but I guess she's ready to give it another shot so feel free to stop by and see what's on her mind at her blog and say hello.