Me, sporting my pirate patch with Ellie on Friday night.

Mendez and ROb showin' their CC Keggers pride. Only a few weeks 'til softball season!

Lisa and L-Dubb being camera hogs. C'mon! Let Big Mike in the photo!

Ellie and I at Angelina's on Friday after work. Our friend Mike Mendez was celebrating his new job at Hershey. No, he's not pushing the GO button on the Comet, he's doing marketing.















Carrie, Me and Ellie.

Matt...he's kind of a big deal. Me, I'm a pirate.

Arrrghhh! I'm a pirate! Ok...not really. I had my ICL surgery on Thursday, so i had to wear a patch for a few hours, until i was able to see straight! haha. seeing double is NO fun. whoa. talk about trippy. The patch came off at 10pm, and i was good to go! Woohoo! Next week, it's the right eye!

Aside from a few small pieces of trim and fixing a few paint spots, the living room is ready to roll! Whew. Now we've got a kitchen, bedrooom, bathroom and a gorgeous living room! yeeehah. We decided to have our first party a week from Saturday. We're inviting everyone over to check out the new place! (if you know us well enough to know where we live, then you're invited). I figure that having a deadline will FORCE me to finish some little projects that i've been dawdling on. now i have to finish the recessed lights in the kitchen!

Jilly nicknamed this room the "Mojito Lounge" for it's green color and beach theme. Since it's already bright green, we decided to add MORE color with this poster...errr...ARTWORK. (i'm over 30, its artwork now!).

I'm looking for a sharp pointed object to poke my eardrums with, that way i won't have to suffer through the brutal singing on Idol tonight. THESE are the 10 people that are gonna be on the road for the AI tour? Boy...i don't know what happened. Even the good ones weren't very good. Plus...i don't need to hear a Creed song ever again...ever.... please.

They always pick a "theme" for each week. We've had "the 50's, the 21st Century, etc.... I think it's time to freshen the themes a little bit. Here's my ideas:

1). the songs of Henry Rollins
2). All Hanson
3). Songs that mom likes
4). Songs by dead people
5). Television theme songs
6). Swahilli War Chants

Congrats to FIREHOUSE. I'm sure my plea made the difference. as of the last time i checked, Stella is on tap at the Firehouse. Life may resume it's normal course.

Is there some strange rule in Harrisburg that says "you may not keep a GOOD beer on tap for more than 6 weeks in a row?" I went to Firehouse last week...asked for my usual beer (believe me, i'm there all the time...they KNOW my usual by now!). She says..."sorry...that's not available right now". i reply "?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!" Nope. No luck. thank god they still have Bud, Coors, Bud Light, Miller, etc...on tap. (note sarcasm).

So yesterday, we're over at Angelina's and i order a Stella, and of course "that's not available anymore". AHHHH!!!

OK, here's my simple plea. Will somebody please put Sam Adams Cherry Wheat on tap and KEEP IT ON TAP? Please? i'll drive half and hour just to get one. C'mon!

NOTE:

we thought of something tonight. You know how you smell others peoples cookng when you live in an apartment ? tonight, we came up with the term "other people's curry". WHy? Becasue, when i make curry...the place smells really good to us, but i'm sure it stinks for anyone else. Yeah...it's silly. i'm silly. it's ok.

So Jeff...how did u get the house cleaned up so quickly? Well...we jsut dumped everything else in the basement. haha. whoops

Here's another remodeling follow-up. i got a batch of messages about the color of the guest room (Kermit The Room). Here's what it looks like with furniture. V. Nice!

I finished up the majority of the kitchen this weekend. wanted to do a little BEFORE...



























...and now...the AFTER:

Random cat photo. Georgie making her way to the basement















Ellie snapped a pic of me working on the computer in the living room. I can't really work in the office yet...as you'll see in the next picture....
















Haven't got the desk cleaned up yet. Heck, we haven't even got the office painted yet.

















.....at least the kitchen is 99 percent done. I'm very proud of the chili pepper curtains. haha.


















After 7 (yes...SEVEN coats of paint...the red wall is done. I have NO idea why, but that paint just wouldn't cover. Talk about a pain. Still haven't gotten the room completely sorted out yet, but we're a step closer. at least we can live in here now. ...which is good, since we gave the keys back on the old apartment.

Kevin is gone from Idol. Suddenly, the show becomes 108% MORE watchable. Now I will use my minor-celebrity status to campaign against Bucky.

Lets face it, having BUCKY win would be the worst thing that could EVER happen to me. As a DJ, i usually end up playing the winner of American Idol (except for Carrie, cause she sings that country and western music...yeehah). So whenever someone win AI, i end up introducing them on the radio. needless to say, i don't want to say "bucky" on the air. so please...think of me when you vote.

Kevin (the 16 year old kid) on American Idol is performing now. He's singing "if i fall in love". Dear lord...if i drink a fifth of vodka, pop valium and then get a wild donkey to kick me in the skull, will i forget this performance? In the immortal words of Invader Zim..."why does it burn?????????"

I think simon cowell lays in bed on Monday nights, excited....knowing that he gets to ridicule this kid the following night. It's like a little kid waiting for christmas. Simon has three notebooks full of insults for this kid. i love it.

Also, is Arsenio Hall collecting royalties on Randy's use of the term "dog?" W.T.F?? Randy doesn't even try anymore....here's the typical Randy Jackson critique:

"all right _____, that wasn't your best performance, but my DOGS are feelin ya! (makes motion towards crowd, they lamely respond for the 17th time that hour). Your pitch was a little off, but you're my DOG, and i love ya....whoop whoop whoop."

Tivo it, and play back all 11 from tonight. THEY'RE THE SAME. this guy hasn't had an original critique in two seasons. At least it's fun to watch Paula searching for a big, three-syllable word to back up what she's saying. But Randy is killin' me. Maybe he died in a bus crash at the beginning of the season, and they're just recycling old segments that he taped last season.

The contestants aren't bad this year, so he could REALLY be talking about the minor stuff they need to work on to win. But instead, he's sipping his coke and seeing how many times he can say DOG. I guarantee he's got a bet with the producer to see if he can say it 100 times in one show.

Did Barry Manilow just say "caress it for a while?". ugh... i need a shower. i feel dirty now.

cheers

I never realized that moving would take the better part of a month. tonight, i think we're finished. really. all the furniture is out of the of the ghetto-apartment. most of the new house is painted... wow. this means i MIGHT be able to go home after work and sit on my couch, and do NOTHING. it's been almost a month since i did that, and i can't wait. Of course, i need to dig out the PS2. i have no idea what box thats in. my wife probably threw it out during the move. haha.

So we're settled into the new house. woohoo! Spent the entire weekend cleaning, painting, scraping, painting....etc.. did i mention the painting? wooo. here's what i've learned about a new house:

1). moving the CATS into the house will be a difficult transition. Georgie woke me up at 4am on saturday, because she was BANGING THE KITCHN CABINET DOORS. i guess she was opening them, to see what was inside. very clever, isn't she? well...we have metal cabinets, so the sound was very loud. i guess we won't be keeping catfood in those cabinets.

2). The size of the doors in your new house and the size of your favorite couch will always be different. My big brown couch is gonna get stuck in the shed, because it won't fit through the doors into the office. whoops. better keep that in mind if i decide to buy a new futon.

3). If you have to take the door off the bathroom, it's important to have a backup plan. we took th door off to paint, then realized that was a problem. we had to make everyone go into the other room while someone wanted to use the bathroom, because there's NO privacy without a door.

4). Don't get the cable TV connected until you're finished with remodeling. as soon as i got the tv hooked up, i felt myself being drawn to the couch to watch the NCAA tournament.

5). Got old wallpaper? Paint over it. don't even bother taking it down. we tried to strip the walls in the small hallway...and it took us three days to get the crap off the walls. you can STILL see a few small spots. However, in the living room, we primed and painted 'em. Yep...right over the wallpaper. looks great, no problems.

The MOMENT OF TRUTH is here. we're ready to move the beds and furniture into the new place over the weekend. I've rounded up the troops to move the couches....here we go! Can't wait to finally start sleeping at the new house and relaxing on the couch. right now, there's nothing in the living room, so after a few hours of painting you have to relax by leaning against a pillow on the wall! haha. not the most comfy. after this weekend, we'll have great couches and chairs to kick back on. of course, this means i'll be getting less work done than before.

Here we go with the eagerly awaited NEW HOUSE REMODLING project! Call HGTV, because we're tearing this place apart!















Here goes the first strip of wallpaper!

















Yes, we found THIS reject from 1971 lining the cabinets.. yummy
















This was the most fun part...ripping down wallpaper! Dad and I are tearing it up!















Here i go...risking life and limb to remodel my cabinets! (FYI, i fell off here minutes later)



















Eating is an essential part of remodeling, right? mmm.....ham


































Trying to look like i'm working. and yes, i'm wearin my old 98PXY shirt!




















Mom hard at work painting the living room.















I couldn't WAIT to paint the guest room in a bright green to go with the PALM TREE theme. Painting..Painting..Painting... two coats (and a primer!) Ugh...i'm gonna be dreaming about "japanese fern" green for the next few weeks!



















Mom and i continuing to paint...















...and it's finally done! KERMIT THE ROOM is complete! Remember, it's not easy being green!

I figured something out. HGTV is porn. It really is. follow me on this:

In porn, the girls are gorgeous and yet getting with them is easy. The humble pizza guy gets lucky, no matter how awkward he is. You think to yourself "ya know....if I was a pizza guy, i could do this too!" Yet in reality, it's not that easy...

now...

In HGTV-world, the HOUSES are gorgeous and REMODLEING is easy. The HOMEOWNER WITH NO STYLE gets lucky, no matter how awkward he is. You think to yourself "ya know....if I was AN AWKWARD HOMEOWNER, i could do this too!" Yet in reality, it's not that easy...

thus...HGTV is porn. i spent 3 hours last night priming and painting a bedroom. when they do it on TV, everyone is laughinh and joking. in reality...no one is laughing and joking when you're doing remodeling. everyone hates remodeling. haha.

I've got a bone to pick with HGTV. for the last few months, i've been watching non-stop, in prepartion for our new house. this weekend, we finally got into the house and started working. i figured we'd breeze thru in a few days (like they do on TV) and have a gorgeous place...um...no

spent all day friday covered in scraps of wallpaper that we were tearing down. saturday i was covered in plaster patching as i worked on filling holes in the wall. on sunday we FINALLY got to paint, and i ended up with white hair (thats what happens when you stand up on a ladder while trying to paint the ceiling!)

regardless, after a LONG 3 days...i have a great kitchen. wooo. it's a beautful shade of "cinnamon cake". yeah, go find THAT crayon in your Crayola box. so, you're asking "what color IS that jeff?" it's an off-white with a touch of brown and pink. damn....i feel my manhood disappearing as i try to describe this. i'm a GUY, we only deal in primary colors....not wierd ones. regardless, it looks nice. c'mon over and take a peek.

This is one of the greatest perks of my job..the occasional free massage in the studio. mmmm...feel the zen.

Now that we've got teh house, it's time to start painting and decorating a little. We're actually choosing our colors based on artwork that we own (when you're in college, they're called POSTERS...when you're 30 they're called ARTWORK). Here's the plans:







Planning to use the YELLOW or ORANGE for the guest bedroom, and the BLUE for my office. I want to use the green somewhere, but i can't find a room for it!










We're using this poster (that's been hanging in our old living room) for the colors in the new one. Our new furniture should match, now we just need to peel the old wallpaper and paint. woowoo