Our house is full to the brim with clutter.  Random collectibles scattered about, cabinets full of DVDs we never watch, video games I most likely will never play again, old baseball cards, comic books, way too many clothes that for some inexplicable reason hold a "sentimental value", duplicate kitchen gadgets, and so on.  It seems difficult to part with this stuff, yet it gets in the way and actually makes me miserable.  The clutter, what to do with it, and what I could do with the space if the clutter wasn't there, are constantly eating away at me.  It's an odd thing to realize that having too much stuff is one of the things that stresses you out and effects you negatively.  

Part of the delay in parting with it is that it is difficult to let go.  "What if I get rid of that DVD and I want to watch it again?"  "That t-shirt was something that I could only get when I saw that band live."  "This comic book is rare, if I part with it I no longer have that rare piece in my collection."  Those are just a few thoughts that have gone through my head a number of times when trying to eliminate clutter from my life.  It's also difficult to part with so many things when there is a bit of money that has already been sunk into the items.  I could make a bit of money selling some of these things on eBay, but that is such a pain in the ass.  So the items continue to sit there, waiting to be sold.  

But I have now taken steps in the right direction and set aside piles of things to be sold.  I've started taking the pictures for eBay and shortly a large group of items will be listed on eBay.  I've also been setting aside DVDs and video games that I can part with, and removing clothes from my closet that can go to Goodwill.  I've taken the first small step in purging items from my life and learning to let go, and I hope it just gets easier from here.

I've also had to let go of my car recently.  I loved my 2008 Mustang Bullitt, it was great looking and fun to drive (thanks to being powerful and fast), but it wasn't the best car for everyday driving.  It did not handle well in the snow at all, even if there was less than an inch of snow on the ground I had little to no control.  The ride was very tight (as you would expect from a sporty type of car) and powerful, and I felt constantly on edge while driving it, so any little thing in traffic would just agitate me.  I have now finally let go of the car, which was difficult, and let in a 2008 Cadillac STS (teaser shot below).  

The car is luxurious and wonderful, and it really feels very laid back to drive.  It has all wheel drive which will help in the wintertime and has plenty of accoutrements that were absent in the Mustang.  At first there was a pang of bittersweet sadness, but the next day solidified my decision, I actually love driving this thing.  It really has done a wonder on my mental wellbeing while on the road, and I thank Cadillac for that.  Plus this car is more than just for me, but for my family.  It will be safer for my child, and move convenient when getting into the back set to get the kid in and out of the car seat (I can't want until we find out the sex of the baby, it feels so odd to refer to it as "the kid" or "it").

I'm also learning to let go of all of the negative aspects of my life.  I've forced myself to make a few cuts which were difficult, but will yield more positive returns in the long run.  It's amazing when you realize what constant negativity and parasitic activity does to your state of mind and wellbeing.  I now feel a lot more positive about things, and don't feel sluggish like something is weighing me down.  I'm creating a new me and a new life, and so far I am loving it.

It really was a surreal feeling to see that ultrasound in progress, and at one point we swore the baby was waving it's little arm at us.  It hasn't totally sunk in yet that I will be a father this year, but it's a pretty cool thought.  It's odd that once I hit 30 something just clicked inside me and I figured that I was ready to give it a try, and I guess it helped that I had spent some time over the last year with Loly's nieces and nephews and it made me realize that I wasn't as bad with kids as I had once thought.  A few people have said that they think I will be a good father, and I am not really sure where that is coming from but I certainly hope that is true.  I'm currently feeling a mix of excitement, anticipation, and nervousness, but I suppose everyone who is getting ready to be a parent for the first time goes through that same feelings.

We should be at 15 weeks come this Thursday, and we still have a long 5-6 weeks until our appointment where we will have our second ultrasound and find out the sex of the baby.  People say that time flies, but time has been dragging on.  Our due date is October 21st and it feels like that is so far away, which is good in a way because we have much to do at home to prepare for our new addition to the family.  Ok enough about babies, anyone who reads this blog will have enough of that to read about over the next few years I am sure.

I've been diving head first into vintage game collecting/playing lately.  I totally blame PAX East and partially blame the Retronauts Podcast (episode #90 specifically, go listen to it!) and I also have to lay some blame on my buddy Seth for hooking me up with that Sega CD system.  As luck would have it he also had a spare Sega Saturn and he brought me that last time I saw him so now I am trying to get some games for both of those systems (I'm at a grand total of 2 Sega CD games and 1 Sega Saturn game), but I would like to get my hands on an RCA hookup for the Sega CD because it currently hooks up RF and it doesn't look as good as it could.

So if that wasn't enough I decided to score myself a Turbo Express from eBay.  For those who do not know what that is, it's a portable (think Game Boy) Turbografx-16 system, and it plays the same card based games that the TG-16 plays.  The problem with it is that there is no sound currently, and I know how to fix it (open it up, remove old capacitors, replace with new ones) but I just have not had the time to get into that project yet.  It still plays decent, I forgot how those older game screens looked on portables, not great.  But it is my only Turbografx system so I will enjoy the hell out of it once I have it fixed up.  I also scored my first original Game Boy from a Goodwill for 6 bucks, and it even had a Super Mario Land 2 cart in it still.  Not too shabby.

Also on the gaming note, Gamepads Unplugged is still going well.  I did my first full show edit for episode 9 and I think it turned out ok.  We've been getting some positive feedback which makes me happy, and hopefully we can keep pressing forward and keep gaining an audience.  And to throw it back to PAX East, I am trying desperately to make it out to PAX Prime in Seattle in September.  Anyone out there planning on going let me know, not sure if I can convince everyone (or anyone) to make it out there for that one.

I've got much more, but I will cut myself off there.  Maybe I will do another update shortly sorry for the length!

What appealed to me about PAX East more so than other conventions I have been to was the general culture and the constant flurry of activity that I had never been exposed to before.  There were events at PAX East until 1:30 am each day, and there were plenty of other panels, and freeplay rooms open during that time as well.  There was always something to go do, or see, or play.  But that usually isn't the case for cons like BotCon or Wizard World, you usually have to make your own fun after 5pm.  PAX East really helped pull me into the gaming community deeper, and put me a little more in touch with a culture that I had not really taken too seriously before.

PAX is more than a convention, and it's attendants seem to look at it in such a reverence that can only be compared to as a religious experience.  Because, as Keynote speaker Wil Wheaton had put it, when you are at PAX you are "home".  PAX has a little bit of something for the gamer or geek that is in all of us, and taking it all in at once is truly something to be experienced by anyone who considers themselves either of them.  So let's all do our best to go to PAX Prime in Seattle this year and experience this together!  You can also he

My one negative thing to say about PAX is that there were not many vendors there, so my ability to purchase new shinny things to take home and play with.  To rectify things I have spent the last two weeks purchasing many retro gaming items that I WOULD have had bought at PAX if they had been available.  As soon as we got back to St. Louis, Sneth started me off by hooking me up with an extra Sega CD system that he had laying around.  I have now gone out a picked up a couple new Sega CD games, some boxed Virtual Boy games (as well as a loose Nester's Funky Bowling), several NES carts, Shining Force for the Game Gear, and a top loading NES in the original box with all of the original paperwork.  My latest addition is a Sega Saturn system (also thanks to Sneth) and my next goal is to acquire a Turbo Express system.  But I am repeating myself from our podcast, you can hear all of that shopping stuff on episode 7 of Gamepads Unplugged and the PAX stuff on episode 6 of Gamepads Unplugged.

Something else significant happened upon my return from PAX East, and it consisted of more Penny Arcade related goodness.  Mike and Jerry from Penny Arcade arrived in St. Louis on March 31st for a book signing and I was able to be in attendance.  I bought their 11.5 year anniversary book on site to have signed, and thoroughly enjoyed their Q&A session.  I now realize I could watch these guys do Q&A's or speak publicly quite often.  While getting my book signed I told them how much I appreciated PAX East and all they do and they thanked me in return, it was a big love fest until we got our picture taken and they had to put on their serious faces.  

It was a great geek event that took place in my hometown and it makes me happy not only to see something like that in St. Louis but also to see so many fans here as well.  What topped it all off was being there with great friends who shared the same geeky passions that I do.  It's just too bad that events like this here are few and far between.

That's right the first ever PAX East convention kicks off on Friday at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, just minutes away from the Famous Fenway Park, and just over the Charles river from MIT.  I'm actually driving up to Chicago with my buddy Seth (not the Seth from Gamepads Unplugged and TFW2005, but a long time friend of mine) and we are flying to Boston from there.  So I am looking at a fantastic 5 hour car trip plus a 3 hour plane ride until we reach our destination, but it saved us money on the plane tickets.

This will be my first PAX, and I have a feeling if this goes really well that I might do something stupid like try going to PAX Prime in Seattle this year as well.  I already have plans to be in attendance at BotCon in Orlando, GenCon in Indianapolis, and there is the potential for me to be at either San Diego Comic Con or TFCon in Toronto (that one all depends on what the fates have decided for me) so the convention schedule is pretty loaded this year and I am scared to think that I may want to add another one to the list.  I am thrilled at the thought of going to my first video game convention, and look forward to getting my geek on and taking in some sage advice from keynote speaker Wil Wheaton.

I am trying to be there not only as a fanboy but also in a more professional(ish) capacity and plan on jotting down lots of notes to be used later for posts on Gamepads Unplugged and possibly Ish Talkers.  Seth and I may do some recordings each night for podcast supplemental material, and I will try to do some filming while there as well.  One of my new obsessions is video.

Speaking of video, I have filmed my first video review and posted it to YouTube.  Many people in the fandom like to film vlogs (video blogs) and video reviews of toys or other miscellany and share it on YouTube, and I thought I would try to put my voice (and possibly face) out there for everyone to ridicule.  I have this fancy HD Camcorder so I figured why not?  Turns out that video editing from this camera isn't all that Mac friendly as Apple would have you believe that process is, but I've got the first one filmed, edited, and up at YouTube.  The first review is for the IDW Transformers Comic Book App for the iPhone so I will try to embed it below, but if you have issues you can view it on YouTube by visiting my page here.

I hope to learn a bit and grow into video editing a bit more.  This was my first take at it, and while I found the process a little bit frustrating and overwhelming at first, it was rewarding to see the finished product.  I am sure after spending more time with it, and making mistakes, that I will learn a lot and hopefully a year from now I can be putting out some stuff that surpasses this first attempt that you see here.  I might try my first vlog tonight while I pack for PAX, my buddy GogDog thinks I should, and my co-host Seth also thinks I should so we will see what happens.  Though with the time to edit I know that won't even be up on YouTube until I return home from PAX.

We are also recording episode 5 tonight of the Gamepads Unplugged Podcast, and you can also hear me making an appearance as a guest panelist on the WTF @ TFW Podcast - Episode 87, which should be up shortly.  You can check out WTF @ TFW on iTunes by clicking here.  That's all for this installment, expect a crap ton more stuff you don't care about (like my PAX East wrap-up and aftermath) when I return!

So there is stress on that point (above), and then how we are going to pay for it.  We bought a house together in 2008, so we have a garage and shed full of boxes that have not been opened in years (some of that came from her previous storage unit).  Right now we are in the process of going through tons of boxes, looking for things to sell at an upcoming community garage sale.  Meanwhile I am going through boxes of my toys and collectibles looking for things to part with on eBay.  We hope that through this mass purging of clutter and personal items that we can come up with money for this "Destination Wedding" that we want to have (and I think it is definitely an achievable objective).

While that is going on I have decided to extend my focuses online and take on another project with my friend and fellow TFW2005 staff member, Seth.  We have started our own video game podcast that we are loosely supporting with a blog by the same name.  I say loosely because neither of us are web designers, and we are both doing this as a side hobby so we don't have the time to keep the blog constantly up to date like the Kotaku's of the internet.  Additionally our main drive of the project is so we can get together and talk about games.  We've recorded (and released) 2 episodes of the Gamepads Unplugged Podcast so far, and plan to do a regular weekly release which you can subscribe to through iTunes by clicking here.  You can also visit the main page with links to other versions of the podcast (and the main blog) by clicking here.

And with all that going on I have decided that I will abandon the Deefuzz.com page for good.  There is no sense in me continuing on with two separate blogs and having one be more "geek focused".  I have come to terms with who I am, (a "geek") and there is no reason for me to hide that off on a secondary blog.  So from this point on all of my personal blogging will be done here, and I will let my inner geek shine through.

I'll check back in soon and will hopefully reveal the rest of the information that I have left out here.  Waiting on a few things to line up first before I make an announcement.  Thanks for checking in!

Most people seem to dread turning 30 for some reason, and try to squeeze in doing as many things as they can before they turn 30.  I suppose I understand this sentiment, but I do not agree.  Turning 30 is something that should be celebrated, it is a milestone and unfortunately, not everyone gets to make it that far for one reason or another.  Instead of experiencing the malaise that more commonly comes with turning 30 I decided that I will embrace it.  One way of doing this is that I have decided I will attempt to come up with a list of 30 things to do to celebrate my 30th year.  This way instead of trying to cram as much stuff into the last few months of my 29th year as possible, I can spend the entire year celebrating my 30 years on this wonderful planet.

The only problem with the 30 in 30 list is that it is much more cumbersome than (for example) my goals list from last year which was about 8 items long.  The 30 in 30 list also needs to be a little bit different than a standard resolutions or goals list, I kind of want to put some things on the list that I have never experienced before.  I understand that I wont really be able to put 30 unique things that I have never done before, but I am attempting to structure a completely different list than I am used to.  And make it a little bit challenging and celebratory.  The list is still in progress, and I will post in in it's entirety when completed.  That being said I do have a shorter list of standard resolution type goals for the year that are unrelated to the 30 in 30 list, and some may look familiar from last year.  Here they are:

• Lose 30 lbs - I know this can be done, and I am determined to do it.
• Run a 5k - I did this last year without planning it out in my goals list, but have fallen out of running since then.  My goal is to get back up to 5k shape and run in one again, most likely the Komen run.
• Install all new interior doors in the house - Been wanting to do this for a while, but never had the will to work on it, and I defeat myself before I even begin.
• Study more - Last year I had a goal to get back into coding/scripting, and I never even attempted it.  I have a bunch of books, so I need to use them.  I get too distracted at home so I am debating making use of the library or a coffee shop.  Along with coding/scripting I also need to learn Spanish, and with two native Spanish speaking individuals living with me, I really should be able to improve on this.
• Reduce - It's time to sell off some old collectibles and other stuff taking up space in our house that we no longer use or care as much about.  Looking at some spaces in our house makes me realize that it is time to down size a little bit.

That will do for the standard "goals of the year list".  Unfortunately 2 of the items on the list are not quantifiable, so the measure of achievement isn't obvious.  However I have done nothing in the last 2 items in the last year, so any bit of work in either of those areas I will consider an improvement, as long as it is an honest effort and forward progress is made.

Now I need to get back to working on my 30 for 30 list, as well as my 2010 Gaming Goals list for CheapAssGamer.  I will update here when all that is done.  What are you aiming to achieve in 2010?

I did accomplish a few smaller things with home improvements in 2009 so I can check that off of my list, and I also completed more video games in 2009 than in 2008 (I also believe I completed more games than I purchased) so I can check that off of the list.  I also learned a bit more bass and became a bit more social (when I got invites out I did my best to make it, and if I couldn't I made sure to communicate that) so I feel those can be checked off of the list.  Sadly stuff like: lose 40 pounds, get back into coding/scripting, becoming more organized, and getting the balance down to zero were not achieved.  I did get side tracked a bit during the year but allowed me to achieve other goals that I had not mentioned in my first post of last year.

I ran my first 5K in 2009 for the St. Louis Komen Run.  I trained for a couple of months going from couch commando to nearly daily runner by the time the run came.  The run was one of the best things I have ever done (for multiple reasons) and I did find a new love for running during the time up until the run.  Sadly shortly after the run I came down with a cold which kept me from wanting to go out and run, and then shortly after that my Grandmother passed away while we were out to Massachusetts for a visit.  I never got back out on the pavement after that, though I did miss it the drive was gone.  Maybe because I already met my 5K goal?  I'm not sure, but in 2010 I want to get back out there regularly because I loved it, and my stationary bike just isn't the same as going out and running.

I also got engaged in 2009, and that is a whole long story that I had already posted about which you can view by perusing previous posts.  But the proposal, and the trip we took for it, were big barriers to me getting my balance down to zero.  The weight thing I struggled with here and there, but couldn't find the energy to commit to a strict diet.  It's hard to find the energy to work on cooking anything at night, or during the weekend, so I got out and grab something quick often, and that is not healthy.  This is absolutely something to work on in the new year. 

I also found it hard to work on learning new things like my desires to learn how to draw, speak Spanish, or even learn a bit more about coding and scripting.  I would like to say that I will work on more of that in 2010, but I haven't decided yet what would be best.  2010 is going to be a little bit of a different beast, and I will explain more about that in a post by the end of the week (hopefully).  2010 looks to be my busiest, and most ambitious year yet!  I am working on my list for that right now and I hope to get it up soon.

Did you achieve what you set out to in 2009?  

Many see my hobbies as childish an silly, and that doesn't bother me because I don't engage in my hobbies to please anyone else but myself.  But it has gotten to the point where I look around at the growing collection of clutter in my home and ask myself "why?".  I collect toys, comic books, DVDs, and a lot of things that I don't really need and they all take up space.  Last year that drove me to the breaking point and then I just stopped for a while, but it always comes back because I miss it, but I always find myself back here.  It's somewhat like the seasons changing, and I can always be sure that I will find myself unsatisfied at either extreme.  So I must question where I fit in, because I feel like I am not totally in the camp of a collector, yet I can't seem to NOT be one either.

It is beginning to look like this hobby is taking control of me, and more often than not I just kind of ride with it on auto pilot.  When my house gets out of control I realize that I have a problem and stop for a few months and then I am right back into it again.  I just can't picture myself ever being rid of it, but I also can't picture myself being 50 years old and still buying action figures and reading comics.  Problem is that right now this is kind of "my thing" and without that then who the hell am I?  

The most common question is how and where was it done, and for some reason this question mostly comes from females.  I guess guys really don't care about those details until it's their turn to take that step.  Regardless, I said I would type up the story so here it is.

For me, the engagement had to take place in Orlando.  I didn't want to just propose to her at our house, or at her parent's house, or at the top of the arch, or anything like that.  I needed to do this, and it had to be beyond special so I set my aim for magical.  Dolores absolutely loves Disney, and I knew that Disney World is practically her favorite place on the planet, so it had to happen there.

I've known for quite a while that I was going to propose on Disney property, the problem was when and how to do it.  Sometime around February I noticed one of our perks at work was discounted theme park tickets, and I saw that included Disney.  So after checking out prices I saw it was definitely possible, and a lot cheaper than I had anticipated, so I made the suggestion that we take a Disney World trip this year.

We had gone to Disneyland for the first time last year and it just opened my eyes to this wonderful world that I had never really understood.  Sure we all grow up with Disney cartoons, and I like the Pixar movies and all, but that was pretty much the extent of it.  I never realized there was an entire Disney culture out there with people who are as rabbid of a fan for it all as I am for something like Transformers.  The trip to Disneyland definitely helped me realize that Disney was a lot more than just a few cartoons and movies, and I started to fall in love with it all.

So a few months after our high from the Disneyland trip began to settle, I made the suggestion for Disney World.  We put together a game plan and found that our best bet was to visit Orlando at the end of September.  This would allow us to take advantage of the Military Veteran pricing at the Shade of Green resort, allow us to attend the Epcot Food and Wine festival, and allow us to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  Also it would allow me time to save up for a ring, and plan out what to do.

I wanted to wait until the last possible minute to buy a ring because I honestly did not trust myself with it.  I knew if I purchased the ring months before our trip, that I would jump the gun and propose to soon, so I had to wait.  All the time up until the trip I had to deflect anything engagement or wedding related, and also act completely aloof about Disney World.  It was rough but I was able to pull it off.  The really difficult part was that I had this amazing secret that I wanted to share with the woman I loved, but I couldn't because that secret was more than any normal secret.

I spent the months up to our trip researching rings and proposal ideas at Disney, and ended up stressing myself out.  To me the important thing is where and how it was done, and it may sound a little vain, but I wanted her to have a good story to tell.  Most importantly, I wanted it to not only take her completely by surprise, but I wanted it to exceed any expectation she may have had.  The complicated thing about proposing to your loved one at a theme park is the fact that you are proposing to your loved one at a theme park.  There are people EVERYWHERE, and we are not the type of people to make big publicspectacles out of ourselves.  The whole "proposing at a restaurant during dinner thing so everyone can clap" isn't us, and I knew that.  So what I had to do had to be done at the most crowded theme park in America, yet be somewhat private and romantic.  Perfect.

I had picked a few possibilities for a proposal idea, but I wasn't crazy about them.  I figured that while we were there I would figure something out, I didn't want to just recreate someone else's story, but I wanted to make my own.  I had the ring picked out for sometime and had it in hand by the second week of September, leaving it burning a hole in my pocket for only a couple of weeks.

In preparation for our trip, Dolores and I had drafted out an entire in-depth itinerary to maximize what we can see and do while in Orlando.  We planned to visit all 4 parks that make up Disney World, as well as spend a day at Universal Studios.  This meant we were going to be at certain places at very specific times and days.  Some parks are open later on certain days, some parks only have a specific show on a specific day (like Fantasmic at Disney's Hollywood Studios), and then there are specific times for fireworks shows and parades. 

The original thought was to pop the question at Cinderella's Wishing Well at the Magic Kingdom.

Cinderella's Wishing Well at Magic KingdomIt seemed somewhat secluded, and seemed clever and romantic, and had a great view of the castle.  Two problems with this were: 1) It was not my idea 2) We would not be at the Magic Kingdom until halfway through our trip.  We were arriving on a Wednesday and we were not scheduled to be at the Magic Kingdom until Sunday, and I was not going to wait that long.  This trip would also be for us to celebrate our engagement so I wanted to pop the question on the first day of our trip.

The first day of our trip was scheduled to include a photo shoot at the Polynesian Resort, followed by a Luau Dinner Show at the resort, and then finish the night at Epcot.  I figured I could find somewhere in there to do this.  So with the ring hidden safely in my travel backpack we set off for Orlando on the morning of September 23rd.

Once we got into Orlando we head out to Downtown Disney to have lunch at Wolfgang Puck's so I could try some of the Pumpkin Ravioli that was on the menu (for those that don't know, I see anything pumpkin as a blessing from the heavens).  After lunch we checked into our hotel, and went out for a round of mini-golf at one of Disney's water parks.  We had a specific time to show up for our photo shoot so we left ourselves enough time to get back to our room to change before the shoot, so this is when I planned to switch the ring from carry-on to pocket. 

After golf, changing clothes, and freshening up we made our walk from our hotel to the Polynesian.  I had a big bulge in my left pocket the size of a ring box that I was doing my best to cover up and hide from Dolores.  I kept her on my right hand side as much as possible during our walk, but I was still a bit nervous.  We got to the Polynesian and checked in with the photographer and started to make our way around the resort having our pictures taken.  Our travels around the Polynesian with our photographer brought us to an interesting point right off of the beach that had a great view of Disney's Contemporary Resort, The Grand Floridian Resort, and Cinderella's Castle.  At that moment I thought I found the place.

Sunset Point at Disney's Polynesian Resort

We finished our shoot and went back to pick out which we wanted as prints and pick up our CD of all the pictures.  After we were done I told Dolores that I wanted to go back out and take some pictures with our camera of the scenery.  As we got closer to the spot (which I later found out was called Sunset Point) I started to fumble with the box in my pocket and attempted to snap shots with the camera in my other hand.  We got to the end of the path which ended in a nice circular areasurrounded by palm trees and looking out on the water and I began speaking.  I believe I mentioned something about bringing her to the happiest place on Earth to ask her if she would make me the happiest man on Earth, but for all I know I just made a bunch ofunintelligible sounds and then got down on one knee.  I then pulled the box from my pocket, opened it up, and asked her if she would marry me.  She said "Oh my god! YES!" and then we hugged for a long time and kissed and there were some tears shared from both of us.

Another look at Sunset Point closer to the end of the path, with Ciderella's Castle in viewHardly able to comprehend that I was able to pull this off exactly how we wanted, we walked back a ways towards the beach to call our families and loved ones to tell them the news as the sun set.  She said she had no idea, she was blown away, and she told me it was better than she could have ever imagined.  We then went into the resort to prepare for our dinner show we were to attend and when doing so the person behind the counter asked my fiance if she was ok because she was still a bit speechless and confounded.  Dolores told her that I just asked her to marry me, and the person behind the counter offered a congratulations and gave us some buttons to wear during our stay.

We wore these around the park during our stayDuring our entire trip she still kept telling me that she couldn't believe it.  She was stunned about how long I was planning this and how I took her by surprise, and she loved the ring and kept looking at it several times every day.  We wore the buttons we were given that first night throughout the trip, and the cast members at Disney always offered a "congratulations" and some that we had more time to talk to asked if it was on property and how it was done.  I got high fives from some cast members after seeing the ring, and even somecongratulatory hand shakes and hugs from Mickey Mouse, Stitch, Donald, and other characters.

Easily the greatest vacation ever, and we were both thrilled how everything turned out.  We are very happy to have gotten engaged at Disney World, and we plan on returning there at the beginning of 2011 to get married.  I'm just very glad that all the choices I made in planning it were the right ones, it turns out I really do know my fiance after all!  And for those wondering, here's the ring:

Loly's new ringThat's all for now.  Sorry it took so long to get this up there!

My diet fell to shit when I made my unscheduled trip out to Massachusettes at the end of June/beginning of July.  And it still is hard to get back on track.  Food wise, well lets face it, I love food.  It's hard for me to eat a "Smart Ones" meal or a salad when I can have something else that is much more awesome and 4 times the calories.  I'm working on it, but it is such a damned struggle.  And I will be at Disney World at the end of the month, and there is no way any kind of diet will swing there for me.

I started riding a stationary bike recently to get my body back in line to get back out and start running again.  I do about an hour a day on the preprogrammed setting to "burn calories" and at times it really does burn, so hopefully that is the right stepping stone.  I really hope to get back out running soon, which is odd because I used to loathe running.  But more on that another time.

As you might be able to tell from stalking me on any of the sites I write on, I am having difficulties once again balancing everything.  I really wish I could post more everywhere, but it is hard for me to find a lot of things to write about and sometimes I just get lazy.  I'm doing my best to keep up with it all though, stay tuned here, on Deefuzz DOT Com, and on Ish Talkers for more.