Yesterday brad came home from work and told me that his friend Jason texted him about a projector screen (that sentence probably needs some commas). Apparently there was a seventy inch projector screen out with the trash. It didn't take me long to get in my car and leave. (This is actually borderline impressive for me. What many people don't know is that I can never do anything or ever leave right away. I always have to wait a few minutes or do something first. I used to live about 1.5 miles from my friend DJ, and always managed to get to his house about 25 minutes after I said I'd leave. It doesn't make any sense). 
On the way to Staples(where Jason works), I called DJ using my superflously purchased onstar phone minutes. As we approached the establishment, we talked about Fantasy hockey and my recent championship win. He suggested that I write a blog entry about my experience, but I probably won't. Considering my victory, I don't have many regrets. My only real regret is my failure to trash talk heavily. As I drove around staples to the dumpster, I saw the screen. It wasn't in plain view, or in the dumpster. It was somewhat hidden between the dumpster and building itself. I stopped my car and ran over to load the screen. I felt kind of like a criminal ha. Even as I loaded it, I was kind of bumbling as it was sliding around and shifting. I have the projector screen now, though.

The reason for the screen being discarded is that it appears to have a somewhat ripped screen. It's slightly ripped from the top, but it seems to be a fairly easy to manage it. It also doesn't go up very high, but eh. We normally just use our wall as our projection screen, but I had an idea the other day. I was thinking of having a pens party for one of the games. Here is where the screen comes in...
You may not know this, but I actually have two projectors. I have the original projector from when Ben was my roommate, and the projector we currently use. The lamp/bulb in the first projector blew out, after we put about a million hours on it. At the time, I couldn't find a cheap replacement bulb, and found a deal on a new projector. It was through Best Buy's Ebay outlet, and I got a new projector with a fresh bulb in it for only $350. Now that is still a lot of money, but it's a deal on a projector, and I had been unable to find a lamp for under $300. It's still way less than a quality HD TV of decent size. I recently put the old projector on EBay for sale as "Needs bulb" The interest was tepid, and I pulled it because I found the bulbs for cheap. $180 with shipping. Now I can sell it as a working projector with a fresh bulb, which will get me more money. My pens party can employ the dual projectors for this purpose: NHL '09 tournament before the game ha. There probably won't be enough time, actually, but using the screen we can set up a second XBOX to have multiple NHL games going on ha. It could be fun. Maybe I'll just find some other occasion for it. It could also come in handy for the futureJurassic Park Party, Brad and I plan on having.

Yup I won.

I'm finally on top. I'm first place in my league with two days to go. If I can get one good game out of my capitols players and one good game from a goalie I should be secure in winning the league. I"m excited.

I'm watching the Pens game(well it's post-game coverage now), downstairs, and I'm enjoying being able to "surf the web", while I do it. The Pens won and clinched a playoff Berth tonight, which is sweet. The Pirates got rocked, and probably are getting their first of 90+ wins this season.

I'm watching Breaking Bad. I enjoy it. I like to just pretend he's actually Malcom[in the middle]'s dad.

I can't stop watching Metallica's "Some Kind of Monster" It's so insane. They are so idiotic and out of touch. It's just so entrancing and hillarious. It's so easy to make fun of them. I get addicted.......
I'm also enjoying my computer in it's laptop application of being on top of my lap. It's nice.

Also this is pathetic, but I'm so incredibly stressed and into my fantasy hockey league. I got so sick of fantasy football, but somehow I got absolutely hooked on fantasy hockey. I'd never played it before, and I only researched it for about five minutes before drafting. My draft had some major flaws, and i started out on the bottom for the first month or so, but I've slowly risen through the standings thanks to some blockbuster trades and savy waiver wire watching. Now I'm second place with like 3 games to. You get a certain number of games to start a player at each position and I have more left than Keith, in first place, and it's possible/likely that he'll run out of games and with my last like three games I'll take the lead on the very last day. I know it's kind of dorky but I'm excited....and stressed ha I don't want to screw up and start the wrong guys... ha...ha


gotta go to bed no more metallica

my computer came last friday. I'm enjoying it. I just got Stephen Foster and the Awesomes onto the bill to open for The Ataris next month....but then my drummer said he just got a job doesn't know if he can take off, so now I think we won't play...it would have been fun. I'm going to try and get at least like 4 tracks ready for the public now that I have the computer.

On tuesday, my printer came. On wednesday, my external hard drive came. Today, RAM upgrades, a video adapter, and a radiohead CD came ha. Tomorrow should be the actual computer. I'm excited. I'm so tired of using Brad's even though I'm getting pretty much the same computer. Mine will be black though and have more memory and more processing power. Brad's computer sometimes will get super slow for no apparent reason and it really is annoying.

Also my left eye is really red and irritated. I took out my contacts, and it's much better, but now I can't see. I need to get to the eyeglass place tomorrow and get an exam and some glasses. EyeGlass world is supposed to have same day service on the glasses, so that'll be good. I'll need to be able to see to go to work on saturday. My contacts are super old and probably won't go back in my eyes ha, and they were my last pair. Hopefully I can get my brother to drive me or something, as I probably shouldn't be driving with my current blurry vision.

So I decided the macbook pro was a little out of my budget, especially considering the peripherals I'd need anyways, so I got a regular Macbook. It's black, so it doesn't look like brad's ha. I ordered it and I'm waiting for it to arrive sometime this week, as well as a new wireless printer(for which I'll get a 100 rebate), some RAM upgrades, and an external harddrive(for my audio, when I record). I also will pick up an Alesis audio interface, as soon as Brad's friend pays me for a 4X12 Cab I'm selling him. At this point I should be all set to record without using my obnoxious Korg unit. I'll likely post in here more, upon getting a new computer, though I've obviously tired of this medium to an extent.

Ok, so I got my refund. It's been directly deposited into my PNC bank account. Now I'm starting to be tempted by all of the other things I could use the money on like guitars....amps.... I think I'll make this a picture entry

I really want a fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster.




I could also get a new amp,


Ok those pictures are probably too big.......


I can't decide whether to get a regular white macbook or the more pricey macbook pro. I'm going to get one through the refurbished section of the apple.com store. If I get the cheaper computer, I can use the $ difference to get some of the additional items that I will require such as a good external hard drive, the recording interface I need, and the RAM upgrade. It makes sense to get the cheaper laptop and get the other stuff with it, but I don't want the white macbook. It's partly because brad has it and I'm tired of it. I could get one of the Aluminum macbooks, but they don't have a firewire port, which I need for my recording interface. They only have two USB 2.0 ports. With the Macbook Pro, I'll have two USB 2.0 and two Firewire ports, at least with the one I was looking at. I'll also have a larger screen, and it won't be the annoying white. I'll order on Friday when my paycheck clears, and I'll also factor in availability to my decision, depending on what laptops are in the refurbished section at the time. I'll spend the week pondering this decision.

Also I'm going to get a new computer in a few weeks. Either a macbook, or macbook pro. Thank you, tax refund. I'll buy something refurbished from apple.com. I'm pretty excited.

So I started running a few weeks ago. Not Forrest Gump-style continuous running, but I regularly go running now. It's not everyday, but not every other day. I go about 4 times a week. I wanted to start getting up early to run before my day starts, but I'm so bad at getting up. I'm routinely 30-45 minutes late to work(which is ok at my job fortunately), because of my lack of skills, in the area of rising from bed.
There is a little stretch of road behind my house that turns into a Fire Station/Church parking lot. I just started running there, because there are rarely cars, so I can go running at 11:00PM, or similar dark times, with no problem. I'vbe gradually upped the distance I run, to a makeshift course starting at my house, running to and around the parking lot, and returning to my driveway. It's a llttle bit over half a mile(I measured it with My Car's Odometer). Right now it's only about 5 actual minutes of running, but I'm hoping to slowly build it up to at least twenty minutes or so of activity to actually get an aerobic workout. Running on the concrete is uncomfortable, so I probably need to pick up some non-walmart shoes, before I destroy my feet/shins. If I can get myself running at least a mile a day, I'll feel pretty good. It seems quite reachable after building up to half a mile, in two and a half weeks.
I usually run around 3-5PM, depending on when I'm done with work and other factors. The best thing that's happened so far, is that I don't get sore for days, after a run. This will help me to not be sore for days at work, after softball games with church ha.

Anyways, I'm hoping to start losing weight again. I'm also trying to eat less. I'm not dieting, just trying to stop my constant eating. I eat so much junk all the time. I've mostly cut out soda again, which is good. I'd like to lose 10-20 pounds by mid april, which might seem lofty, though I once lost 40 pounds in a month and a half(though that was unhealthy ha, and not really purposeful). Maybe this will help push my heart attack back and I can live past thirty.

Oh yeah, also I'm thinking of finding some sort of 5K run to sign up and train for, as motivation and a goal. I'll see if I can find something right now via the internet.

So, I was flipping through the channels the other day, and came across some sort of plastic surgery show. It started with a doctor doing the dotted line stuff on a woman's stomach and talking about what he was going to do. The woman then got ready for surgery and gave her husband an emotional hug. The couple then took a moment and the husband said a prayer. He prayed for the surgery to go well and for her to do well and for him to be encouraging and helpful and to be a good husband to her while she recovered... My thought was, "How about being a good husband and letting her know she doesn't need to get a tummy tuck". How about you make your wife realize she doesn't need plastic surgery. Make her feel good about herself how she is. It was pretty sad, I thought.

I bought myself a guitar pedal for christmas because i didn't get anything exciting. It's partially because I'm growing up. Grown up.... It's also because my parents are broke. I'm one of seven kids. I'm the sixth, actually. Despite the multitude my parents managed to always get each of us at least one huge awesome present, like a Sega Genesis, or later an Xbox. Without my dad working, it's not going to happen. I'm ok with it, I'm just a little sad that I have to move past the little kid excitement of yesteryear. Christmas presents now, are more about the little guys. Michaela, Nathan, Mercedes, and Austin are the centerpieces of our generosity now. My nephews and nieces are also the reason I've developed a great fondness for my family. That may sound weird, but as much a I love everyone, the idea of hanging out with my family never really became that interesting until the little ones came, especially mercedes, since she was actually local. The kids have also brought me a lot closer to my brother Mark (father of Mercedes and Austin), which I appreciate.

I was supposed to babysit Mercedes and Austin tonight, but their mom, Laureen, cancelled on me. I was able to put together some band practice though, for which I'm excited. Brian's going to come over and jam with us, which is sweet. We're probably going to expand to a four-piece with brian covering Synth and guitar duties. "More Synth". Well it'll be keyboard, not specifically synth, in the sense of eighties pop or anything. Primarily, I want him to play piano and some organ sounds, but we'll probably throw in some synth lead stuff too. We'll see how it goes. He might end up playing a lot of guitar as well, because I don't want to inundate our songs with synth. Matt and Brian will probably show up anytime now, so I should probably go set up the basement.

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A50997


OK it's not about me ha but it's about the show we're playing. The Silent Years seem to be really good, so I'm excited about the show. Everyone should come next wednesday(august 27)

I gotta get it together and finish the demo. There are 11 songs. I have the drum tracks for all of them. A few of them need to have the lyrics refined a bit, and I need to learn the guitar solos I forgot or improvised in scratch/old tracks, and I gotta do harmonies/bass parts/keys etc. I don't even really have the guitar tone figured out even though i've told peopel that i do ha. I'm not worried about it anymore, because I'll finde something between the recent Marshall head I picked up and my fenders, plus a couple pedals. I gotta find a good bass tone, which is tricky, and figure out how to record the vocals, without tons of noise and sounding good. I gotta clean up to have room to do stuff. I gotta go

so I'm not on to check friend entries or post right now. it's frustrating. I'm in a library. Northland Library. I hate this place.

I'm leaving on a little vacation to visit my sister katie in the morning. I barely spent any time packing so I'm going to make a checklist here so I don't forget a few things

-Cell Phone Charger
-Camera
-Charged Batteris for CD player
-Coat
-Phone ha
-toiletries?

I thought about taking a guitar apart and putting it in my suitcase haha. I don't think I will though

LifeIrritatesArt (10:46:57 AM): so my brother mark gave me an old AC window unit
LifeIrritatesArt (10:47:07 AM): I was installing it into my window
LifeIrritatesArt (10:47:25 AM): and it literally fell out of the window and was careening towards the street and my mailbox haha
LifeIrritatesArt (10:47:37 AM): I caught it by the power cord and pulled it back up
LifeIrritatesArt (10:47:42 AM): it was like an action movie haha
djkimmons (10:48:16 AM): hahahaha
LifeIrritatesArt (10:48:48 AM): like it oculd have fallen on a car or something and then I'd be so screwed. it was certainly a close call
LifeIrritatesArt (10:48:52 AM): ha
djkimmons (10:49:23 AM): I'm constantly impressed by your abilities

ok I'm tired of getting super fat. I just sit around eating junk and being totally sedentary. I"m back to about the weight I was in high school, which was fat. I lost 50 pounds when I went to college, and gained most back, then I lost 40-50 pounds again when the Erin drama happened. Seriously, I lost 40 pounds in less than two months. It wasn't healthy. I was fairly distraught... Well right now I'm about 6'2 or 6'3 and I weitght 260 pounds. I'm pretty much an NFL Linebacker, except it's not bulk from lifting or anything. So I feel like it's quite fixable, but I just have to convince myself to be motivated and stick to some sort of plan. First of all, I can't consume the ridiculous quanitities of Mt Dew that I have been. Also I need to start some sort of physical activity. I've been planning on starting a running regimen, but Haven't been motivated enough to just do it. I'll try to Get up early and RUn 3 times a week. Either Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday or SUnday, Wednesday, Friday. Monday I have to be up early, and Saturdays as well(for work) so that fits in logistically. Getting ina routine of getting up early in general, and getting up without an hour of hitting snooze, will contributre to all-around productivity as well. Ideally I'd like to be around 200-210 pounds, but if I can get to 220-230, I'd be pretty happy, and my pants would start to fit comfortably again ha. also my brother Jon sent me a link to watch Weezer's new video and it is quite outstanding. incredible.