So I finally bought a new pair of shoes. I don't really like them, but that's what drew me to them. They're kind of ugly in the "everybody has shoes like these" sense of the term. But of course, I am just like everyone else, so I bought them.
We have practice tonight and I am very excited. I am excited because we are writing a lot of new music. Hopefully Jay's vocals as well as mine will be good enough. If not, we will search for another singer. But to be honest I'd rather just have Jay and myself sing. It would be better that way. The four of us get along perfectly and probably would never have any disagreements. Besides, it's about the experience. At least for me it is.

GOODBYE & GOOD LUCK

As of 10:30 a.m., sunday morning, Shannon Hennessey made the decision to quit our band, Romans Ran Faster. I truly wish nothing but the best for her. As for us, we will continue to play in hopes of creating vocals half as good as Shannon's. I'm sure we'll do fine. Jay's got a kick ass punk sound and hopefully I don't scare too many people off with my out-of-tune wind pipes, but I'm going to give it my best. It will be a few months before we have anymore shows because we're reworking all our songs. We're gonna sound pretty different from how we sounded before. But I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Later

Currently listening to: Smoking Popes, album: Destination Failure.

I love that album title. It says so much in so little amount of words. That's up there on my list of good titles with "Good Mourning" and "From Here to Infirmiry". Both Alkaline Trio Albums.

I just got back from lunch with Angie, Steve's fiancé, and I am stuffed. My first time trying a "Monte Cristo" from Bennigans. I must say it was delicous.

I guess I really don't have much to say today. I'm just trying to kill time at work. I'm pretty bored today. I don't mind days like this though becasue I have put my fare share of late hours that I consider this down time as due to me. Oh well, back to surfing the web.
Later

I need to design my own website. I'm thinking about purchasing DreamWeaver which I'm told is a very good web design software, but I'm not sure if I want to spend the money right now. Oh well.
My trip to Galena was awesome. It was cool seeing all of my friends attempt to snowboard for the first time. Some of them picked it up, others quit and decided to never try it again. Hey, if I get at least one person to want to take yearly snowboard trips, I'll be happy. It's hard to find people interested in this sport. Especially because it's such an expensive sport. Right off the bat you'll spend about $500 for the board, bindings and boots. Then there's the clothing. That can run you up to $200. And that's if you bargain shop.
Anyway, I think Joe, Jim and Arcudi will be going with me next year. That is a definate plus.
And since Arcudi's mom's cottage is 20 minutes from Chestnut Mountain, we can get a lot of people to go just to get away for the weekend inexpensively.
I can't wait for next winter!

Well tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Luckily I won't have to deal with being alone during this pointless holiday. I will be snowboarding with my friends at Chestnut Mounain in Galena. No better way to spend Valentine's than riding down the slopes checking out the snow bunnies. Hopefully we'll meet some people out there to hang out with and drink. If not, road trips are fun in itself anyway so it should be a good weekend no matter what.
Later

I can’t figure it out.
What makes me think I”m so special all while thinking I’m worthless at the same time. I contradict my personality every minute of the day. One minute I think I’m a worthless piece of shit, and the next minute I feel I’m too good to be talking to someone in my office. I often think I need a psychological examination. But I’m too afraid to find out what they might tell me. What if they say I’m crazy. Or maybe I’m so normal I’ll hate the fact that I’m no different than anyone else. And yet, I know I’m not different. But I want to be. So much that I close myself to the world. Causing me to not be truthfull to the people around me. Just like everyone around me does. And then they only see me as I want to be seen by them, all the while seeing them only how they want to be seen.
I guess I’ll never figure this out. I don’t even know if there is anything here to figure out. Let’s face it, this is pretty pointless...isn’t it.

I got an iPod. 15 gig. That's when the headaches began.
Opened box. Could not connect to PC. No firewire. Shit!
Bought firewire card. Also found 25% off iPod accessories at the same store.
So I got an iTrip (FM transmitter) and a car charger.
Firewire card was installed successfully. Thank God.
Connected iTrip. Shit!
Must install software.
Software installed. Shit!
It sounds like shit. Too much static.
Maybe it will sound better in my car. Shit!
Just as shitty.
Gave up on iTrip. Hopefully I can return it.
Moved on to project #2. Buying a new car receiver that has an auxilary input on the faceplate.
I'm in luck. Best Buy has an Aiwa car stereo with auxilary input starting at $109.
I think I may get it. I don't need it. But I have a problem with getting things I don't really need.
Why do I waste my money?

I'm back!
Colorado was SWEEEET!
However, coming and going sucked donkey balls. First, I recently purchased a snowboard rack for my car. Unfortunately I did not try to attach it until the day before I left for my trip. That's when I discovered I was missing these four tiny pieces of metal that attach the rack to the car. I spent the day running around looking for a place that sold the parts I needed without having to special order them. Finally I found them at a Mitsubishi dealership in Aurora which is an hour away from my house. So I ran up there and spent $60 for four crappy pieces of metal. That sucked because that was my spending money for Colorado.
Oh, the misery doesn't stop there. Sunday morning as we were about two hours into the trip I got clocked by a cop doing 81 mph in a 65 mph zone. So that was another $75 out of my spending money.
And it doesn't stop there my friends. As I continued on my trip, half way through Iowa we hit a huge blizzard and had to drive 30 mph all the way to Colorado. This caused a trip that would have only taken 16 hours to bump up to 23 hours.
Fortunately we made it to Denver by 3 a.m. and found a cheap hotel. We decided to finish the rest of the trip in the morning and made it to Breckenridge in time to check in and still have 4 hours to snowboard. From that point on it was great. I did some of the best snowboarding of my life on this trip. I can't wait for next year.
As for the drive home. It was going fine until we hit the great state of Nebraska. This time, instead of snow, we got slushy rain. It wasn't cold enough to turn it into snow, but it was definately cold enough to freeze it on contact as it hit my windshield. I couldn't see shit for the entire drive through Nebraska. Plus, there was about an inch of ice on the road so I had to drive with serious caution so I wouldn't lose control. I swear, God really had a problem with me going on this trip. He definately gave me a hard time coming and going. But I made it and I had the time of my life.
Nice try God, better luck next time.