herrow prease!

i know for a fact that very few people read this, and i guess that shouldn't keep me from wanting to write. so, here i am. been a few months. hi. if you read this, leave a comment so i know you exist.

i'm still at LM doing IT support and it's pretty cool. I always have my eyes open, so we'll see if any new or exciting opportunities arise along the way. for now, it's a good gig, and lots of potential to move up if i decide to stay here awhile.

our little pup, abigail is now about 6 and a half months old and just as adorable as when we first met her. even people that generally don't like dogs think she's awesome. we really weren't sure about getting another dog so soon after jake, but every day we ask each other how we got so lucky to have such a great little pooch. if you haven't met her yet, you'll fall in love. guaran-damn-teed.

because of how poorly socialized MY last dog (RIP Jonah!) was, I made sure that we exposed Abbi to tons of people and situations. She's already been on countless car rides, including 4 that were 3+ hours long, a [mother fuckin!] boat, met about 100 new people (at least) and a bunch of other dogs that she has ZERO fear of. haha. we love her and she always puts us in a good mood, even when she's misbehaving.

finally got the front bedroom painted as the first step of turning it into a computer room/guest room setup. wish i had the money to buy the desk we want to fit at least 2 desktop computers and at least one laptop... and a 32" tv to put in our bedroom. maybe if we stop getting tattoos we could afford it. hm.

speaking of tattoos, i started my maryland sleeve a week ago. so far it includes a couple blue crabs, the USS Constellation with the sun coming over the horizon and the natty boh brew tower. the other half is still being worked through but will probably include the MD flag, black-eyed susans, a bigger natty boh logo, some sort of oriole reference, the 695 sign, and a can of old bay. i'm stoked and i love how it looks so far, and it's only the outline of the bottom half! mandi added a significant amount of material to her back piece to help cover up the one she got for her dad back in the day. very old school, very awesome. CW Ensor is the man.

My musical taste spreads across many genres but i of course have some favorites... some bands have come and gone, others are still around for unknown reasons. taking back sunday was a favorite of mine about 4 or 5 years ago, and since then they have released 3 or 4 albums, none of which i particularly enjoyed. 'tell all your friends' was one of their earlier records, and by far my favorite. for some reason, even though they haven't produced anything that i particularly care for in a number of years, i still just can't give up on them. i got all excited when i learned of their new album, only to be disappointed yet again. maybe next time, guys.

311, however, has long been a favorite band of mine since the mid 90s (i'll admit, i got into them because of 'down', like many others, but once i played that album about three million times i decided to see what they did before that record. to this day, 'grassroots' is my favorite album. (that's the one that was released in 1994, before the self-titled, for all you non-311 lovers who just know 'down' and 'amber'.. die.) so yeah, i learned about THEIR new album and wasn't as excited as i was about TBS, but i ALWAYS love 311's stuff.... weird, huh? this album is no exception and i can listen to it from beginning to end without even thinking about it.

i've recently taken a particular liking to old stuff... er, old-ish stuff. mostly older cars and motorcycles. am i getting old? fuck.

being a car guy and always having tons of respect for the classics, i never really paid all that much attention to them until one day i was hanging out with J, my brother-in law Paul's little brother, and we were just talking cars and looking through the 20+ vehicles in and around the yard. i realized i want an older, stock, original car. something off-beat like an AMC rambler that i can just cruise around in. i also realized recently that i want an 81-87 chevy full size pickup, so i can slam it on dog dish wheels, paint it flat black and cut off the mufflers. i think the fact that i've always had 4 cylinder vehicles (except my beloved CL-S) has made me crave the lopey growl of an american straight 6 or v8. i don't really have the room or money for 'fun' or 'project' cars right now, but at least i can get my ducks in a row for when i'm ready. of course, i'll probably get a real austin mini first. those things are so badass... and i'm still on the fence about if i want to put a honda 4cylinder in it or leave it stock. either way, a classic mini is totally a 'little brad' car.

wedding planning: exciting, expensive, exhausting....expensive... and mandi is doing most of the work!

my job at best buy used to be just for the discount, and it has become more for the money. hm. i finally hooked my mom up with a nice setup for her house. made me feel really good. paul and i installed everything and it looks/sounds great. anything would have been better than her little 19", but still. it feels great to give someone something really nice and know they appreciate it.

i guess that's enough updating for now. i re-joined facebook a few months ago and twitter/fb have consumed much of the short time i spend on a computer at home, but luckily this site isn't blocked here at work. w00t.

till next time.