Isn't the phrase "self masturbation" a redundant term? Isn't masturbation by definition done to one's self?

Since my family now knows, I guess I can write about it here (yes, I am aware that my family reads this thing. I don't put anything up on this blog that I don't want people to know about.)

What in the world am I talking about? Let me start at the beginning. I came home a couple weeks ago from work and found an IM window open on my computer from someone who wasn't on my buddy list, so I said figured what the hey and said "Hi." We got chatting, and it turned out it was a person who got my IM from the Yahoo Personals site (ooooh, it's a lady ;-) Well, we talked back and forth for a few days and eventually decided we should hook up somewhere and go do something. Her name was Kelley and she lived just a couple minutes away, on the other side of the city. My sterling personality and witty banter won her over, I guess *lol* She said I had a nice smile from the Yahoo personals profile I had put up. I know the real deal though.

She stopped by my place first and we talked for a few minutes. I showed her my place and my fish, Buddy. To be honest, Buddy got more attention than me, but he is a stud goldfish, so I was understanding. We ended up going out to Don Pablos for dinner, and then we watched the most romantic movie of all time: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Can you believe the movie was her choice? I can't (or don't want to) take credit for that one *lol*. I picked the restaurant, she picked the movie. It was a little uncomfortable watching that movie on a first date, to be honest. If you haven't seen it, Jessica Biehl (the main heroine/victim/screaming-teenager-in-a-horror-flick) spends the entire movie in a white wife beater t-shirt with the front tied in a strategic knot. Of course, it starts raining at some point in the movie and it becomes painfully obvious that Ms. Biehl's character is . . . cold, if you get my meaning. I was fine with it, but I wasn't quite sure how Kelley would feel about that, this being the first date and all. When she started making fun of how inane the movie was, I felt better. Not many people can say they ate mexican and watched horror movies with half-naked TV stars in them on a first date, but now I can. It was soooo romantic *sigh* Of course, if you ask Kelley, she'll insist it wasn't a date. But you and I know better *wink wink*

Since then, we've seen each other a few more times and are "officially" dating, whatever that means. Since then, she's come to be known as Tilley the Chainsaw Massacre Girl to all my friends. I could tell you how she got that name, but it would be way too convoluted to make any sense here. Great nickname though, isn't it?

So from now on, whenever I refer to Kelley, you all will know who I'm talking about. Note: Kelley with an E is different from Kelly with no E. That's my sister. Kelley with an E - girlfriend. Kelly without an E - sister. Got it? Good.

Guess what I had for breakfast today? I made myself some buckwheat pancakes, and they actually turned out pretty well. Quick tip: get an electric skillet if you're gonna make pancakes. They don't do very well on a 15" skillet. The parts on the inside of the pan cook up quickly, but the portions towards the edge of the skillet stay doughy. This makes for quite an experience trying to flip the flapjacks. I ended up with as many buckwheat pieces as I did actual pancake-like forms. Overall, I give the experience an A.

OOOH! OOOH! Yahoo has a new version of their messenger! It is sooooo cool. I love new toys *lol* It's still in beta, so some of the features aren't fully functional, but man, it is much cooler than the last version (which I thought was pretty good to begin with.) They have audibles on there, or pre-recorded voice messages, like someone saying "Oh, Oh, I have to go! I have to go pee!" Because, y'know, people ALWAYS seem to have pee when they're IMing. Very apropo if I do say so myself.

There's new smileys too. My favorite one is the Loser smiley. It's a smiley making an L on the forehead. How cool! I was telling my dad last night, they need an old man smiley. Are you listening Yahoo?!?

But overall, I give it a thumbs up. Nice work. Now, all you different IM services need to get off your high horses and start inter-communicating. You're not gaining any advantage by keeping your networks isolated. I just choose to not use AIM and MSN since they won't talk with Yahoo, that's all. Now, if they could all talk, that might be different.

If you're interested in the new Yahoo Messenger 6.0 Beta, you can check it out here.

The low-carb ketogenic diet is going surprisingly well! I started out at about a 38 inch waist, and after about a month, I'm down an inch and a half. I'm pretty pleased with those results! The actual body weight hasn't changed much, but I have been working out, so that might account for the difference.

Speaking of working out, I've gotta go tonight!

What a world, what a world.

Well, the old car is showing its age again. I'm not sure how it happened, but I managed to blow out a brake line. Plus the serpentine belt needs replacing. Then, turns out the bearing in the front needs to be replaced too. And on top of it, the tires are getting close to needing to be replaced. Funny how when you finally think you have a chance to get a little money saved these other things come up too, eh? *lol* I guess that's life with an older car! Luckily my dad works at an auto parts shop, so I can get the parts a little cheaper.

Speaking of dads that rock, the old man not only helped me get the car into the garage, he's letting me borrow his car while it's getting fixed, plus he's dealing with the garage for me, since he knows the guys from work. Thanks dad!! You're a life saver! I'll make sure they're nice to you at the nursing home some day *lol* You get the real mashed potatoes, not the instant potatoes.

Man, have I got the munchies tonight!! I started doing a zero carb diet on sunday, and it's getting to me tonight! I've been putting some celery away while watching the game, let me tell you. It's not even the calories so much as the texture. I must need the fiber.

But, I dropped seven pounds since sunday. Mostly water, I imagine. I'd love to get my bodyfat down to the low teens. It's in the high teens right now. We'll see how far I can go with it!


Maybe it's just because the Mets are losing again. Emotional eating will get you every time.

OK, so what's happened since the last time. The place is more or less put together! It looks good, I'm happy with it. I got this wonderful old oil lantern from my sister which looks great sitting on the sofa table. Thanks Kelly!!

The Boys (my nephews) and their parents stopped by the other day and watched Spider Man with me. How fun!! Sounds silly, but I had such a great time watching a movie with my sister's family. It's nice having them over. (Piazza just hit his first homer of the season!! WooHoo!!) I'm especially glad to be closer to my family. I enjoy getting to be part of my sister's family and seeing my parents more often.

I'm having a little trouble getting my LAN working though. I think I bought the wrong kind of equipment. My internet connection is in a different part of the house from where I have my office, so I figured I would put a wireless router in the living room and connect my regular router to the internet using a wireless access point (WAP). However, I can't get the wireless router and the WAP to talk. They both work, as I've connected to both separately. After doing some reading, I think I may need to get a bridge instead of a WAP. Bummer!! I think I'm gonna have to hold off on it for now. Things are working fairly well, so I think I can hold off on the new hardware.

As I write this, I'm sitting on my new big comfy couch, watching the Mets play the Braves on my big screen, surfing the internet with my laptop on my wireless internet connection. I am a blessed man indeed. Healthy, decent job, good friends, nice place, great family. Things are going ok.

And the Mets are even winning! We'll see how long that lasts though.