Invitations Are Not Like Candy

Weddings are an anomaly it seems.  Everyone appears to want to attend them.
I'm convinced it's just for the free booze and food that is provided by either the poor saps who are entering into this unholy matrimony or their unsuspecting families that actually believe the bride and groom have 250 friends and/or family that they love enough to invite to such an occasion.  The reality is that nobody loves that many people from their family and nobody really cares about that many friends either.
Weddings are a social occasion, a really expensive social occasion, that ends up being way bigger than they should because people just don't have the inherent ability to say "NO."


NO.  The buck stops here.  Not with my wedding.
My wedding is going to be a small occasion and we are maxing out at 40 people (plus a few of their kids).
As time goes on we keep thinking of other people that we maybe should be inviting, at least that was until I started doing some number crunching.

Yes.  I started out struggling to come up with even 10 names of people whom I really wanted to have attend my (ruptured) nuptials.  But over time I have remembered a few more people that I truly believe I cannot live without them attending.  Then I have added some people to the list that I thought would be good if they could attend.  We both did, the list grew.  We keep remembering people.
Lightning warned me that this was one of the trickiest processes of the entire wedding planning.  Bastard was right.

But, back to the numbers.  I'm a cruncher.  I like to budget and then do the budget 5 more times from scratch to make sure I'm coming up with the same numbers, the right numbers.
As our invitation list grew the dollar figure got bigger.  Once I ran the numbers a few times and saw what we would be spending we decided to have a heart to heart and make some budget cuts.
This includes people, some tough cuts and some not so tough cuts.

I'm not hungry but I want a piece of cheesecake.

We originally told ourselves that we wanted 40 people at most at the wedding/reception.
We are currently at 20 for the ceremony and 40 for the reception.
We've made the list a few times and it's now separated into tiers.
People we can live with and those we'd like but aren't worth the money.

OK. I admit that last line was a bit harsh.  I truly believe that all of my friends are worth the money - but more so if someone else is paying :)

I once had an uncle who invited people (including family members) to his daughters wedding with the caveat that the reception cost $xx.xx per person and if you intended on attending you needed to RSVP and include that money with your RSVP.
I'm pretty cheap but even I believe that that's pretty fucked up.
I dunno, maybe that practice is more common than I think but to this day it was the ONLY wedding I was ever "invited" to with such a stipulation.

So, back to my original thought process.
Invitations are not like candy.  Not everyone can get one - it's an annoying fact.
However - to rectify this situation I am currently planning on creating fake wedding invitations for those who I am thinking of but can't actually afford to invite to the wedding.
This way they will know that they were in my thoughts but weren't worth the money to actually invite (so to speak).

Call me MAYbe

Ok, so the other night I was browsing the blogs I'm subscribed to and came across Mysti's blog Unwritten.
She is running a contest of some sort where everyone who enters has to write a short story (very short, under 1000 words) that all start with the same line.

Normally I wouldn't bother to write up a submission because even though I love to write I just don't feel that I'm actually that good at it.  However this night was different because.... well... well because it was going on 1 am and I was bloody tired and the "better judgement" sensors in my brain had already been shut off for the day.  So, I typed something up then went back and made a few minor edits and sent it off for submission.

I didn't actually submit this hoping to win anything and, in fact, after reading through the rules for submitting I never even paid attention to what could be won or how things were even voted upon.  I submitted this because I like to write and I wanted to write and deep down I just kind of hoped someone would enjoy it.

So - I'll just provide a link to my (now printed) submission for anyone who wants to go read my very short story.

Mental Blocks

Also, dig my sexay pic at the end!

Boo Yah

Capital Grille Las Vegas

Have a buddy who is thinking about having his wedding reception dinner at Capital Grille.
Do any of my readers have experience eating here as he is asking me to gather some information for him and let him know if I think it will be worth it or not (he lives out of town).

So - Anybody?

Thanks in advance

Computer issues

The last couple of days I have been unable to get my computer to even turn on.  It had been giving me a few minor issues but nothing major until it decided to puke and perform a memory dump.
After that it started having issues booting up but usually fixable with a start-up repair.
The other day that failed and I've been doing what I can to try and recover my system to no avail. Looks like my last option is going to be a full wipe and reinstall to see if that makes her able to keep on chugging for another year or so as replacing a computer is very low on my list of things to do currently. 

Also, typing blogs on my phone is not very ideal as well.  Times like this I wish I had the bigger Kindle Fire to make it a little easier, whatever. 

Everything other than that is going well. Looking at possibly putting the deposits down on our two venues today to make sure everything will be set for the same day.
Also, it appears as we choose a bad date with April 18th (sorry cokeboy) because it turns out that next year the 18th is Good Friday.
So we are either going to do the week before or after.
Time will tell.

The List Gets Smaller

First - I appear to have lost a follower as I'm now down to 47.
I guess I've had too much of a positive attitude lately and haven't been grrouchie enough.  Heh!

Anyways - what I came to talk about.
Day two of looking around started out with us having pretty much narrowed down our choices to one of two places.  It was going to depend on pricing for the 2nd place and at that we would still have the actual wedding at the 1st place and then just take a jaunt over to place 2 for the reception.

After visiting place number two and looking at the pricing we decided that we definitely want to do the reception there as long as we can afford it.

Then we headed up to another place just for the fun of it even though based on what we saw online we had mentally checked it off our list.

Until we saw it, up close and in person.  This place was gorgeous just driving in and before we left we both pretty much mentally decided that this is where the wedding would take place.  They gave 3 options of where you could do your wedding and all with beautiful views.  They also gave options for a reception but that part was underwhelming and I don't think either of us bothered to consider it.

The wedding will take place at Lakeside Weddings And the reception will be at Maggiano's Little Italy in the Fashion Show Mall.

We've pretty much decided April 18th as the date.

Now it's a matter of figuring out the financial aspect of it and putting the money down on the reservations.

Honeymoon is still up in the air at this point but I guess we couldn't work everything out in one day!

The number of people for the wedding is also smaller than the number of people for the reception so we are going to have to put some time and effort into those as well.

On My Mind

I'm sitting here waiting for my opponent to arrive for my Strat-O-Matic Football game.
My team, the Las Vegas Scumdogs, are currently sitting at 6-6 and desperate for a win to stay in playoff contention.  I beat this opponent once already and a win here would put us at the same record with me owning the tie-breaker.
However, I would still need some help to make the playoffs and do not control my own destiny.
This is the same situation I was in last year and the year before.  My team is close to being a playoff team but lacking some crucial elements.

Offensively I'm good.  I've got Tom Brady leading the way with C.J. Splitter and Antonio Brown also out there.  I've got Jacob Tamme and Pettigrew (DET TE) to give me depth there.  My offensive line is kind of weak and my defense lacks any type of pass rush to help out and that's where the biggest problem comes in.
Oh well, I guess that is what the draft is fore.

(I stopped writing because the game started, but since he had to run to pick up his wife real quick I thought I'd just let y'all know that his 1st play I picked the ball off and my 1st play Brady threw a Touchdown - Lets hope the rest of the game goes as well).

Today I'm trying a new "dish" that tastes like it's going to become part of my regular rotation.
I need more protein and veggies in my diet so I decided that Chicken, mixed veggies and black beans is something that I'm going to eat more of.  Cook it all up and top with some hot sauce and good to go.
No dressing or anything else to weigh the calories down, but damned tasty and quick and easy to make - plus it should pack up real nice to take to work for lunches.

Recently I had TBC comment on a Facebook photo or status update - he at first kept it on topic but then quickly turned it around and asked me to bring my laptop to Jean to see if I could get him hooked up with Ultimate Poker (which I find out is the Station Casino's online card room).
A few days later he tweets something about UP and asking what my username is there and how I connect to the internet.
I tell him that I am not interested in playing online poker and he tells me "So What if you are or are not interested in online poker, what is your connection thru"
When I responded that I go through a wireless router he didn't bother to continue the conversation.

Today I found I still had about $75 on Black Chip Poker so instead of just pissing it away on poker I decided to piss it away on a Sports Bet Instead.
I put it all down for the Penguins to win their current series.  Once they win I'll roll it over to their next series.
So, if they happen to take the whole thing this year then I'll be a few online dollars richer.  If not, well I forgot I had the money anyways.

Generic

We went to the church today only to find out that we'll have to come back another day.

Looks like that day is probably going to be Saturday.

We'll have to pick out the preacher-man that we want to use and then have our little discussion with him.  More on that as it develops (I felt like a newscaster just then).

We also went to visit one of the places on our list of possible reception areas.  With the list we made I have a feeling it will really be down to 2 choices.  The place we saw today and a place we'll be seeing on Wednesday.  

Wednesday will have, by far, the better food but I'm not sure if the price will be competitive enough for it to be a viable option (I'm lord cheap-ass after all).

The place we looked at today had a lot of positives going for it including the final price-tag to go along with it.

However, until we have explored all of our options and discussed everything fully, one never knows.

Other than that I hit the gym again today and my new intent is going to be to hit 5 miles every time I go for the rest of the month.

I felt good after today's session and my plan is to go again tomorrow before noon.

After dinner the boy's put a puzzle together and posed for several pictures.  I thought that was quite cute so I'll be getting them a few more easy, kid friendly super hero puzzles in the near future.

I'll also be introducing them to the concept of gluing the finished thing to a piece of cardboard so that they can put it on the wall as if it were a picture or a trophy.

Good Night Vegas!

Tough Decisions

I've got a big week ahead of me and luckily I'm on vacation for the whole thing.

Tomorrow we head to the church to talk to the priest/preacher/reverend/cultist/whatever about the possibility of doing the wedding in the church.
She's Catholic and i'm Reasonable and in the Catholic Church that shit don't mix.

There are a couple of different ways that this could play out and I'm all for the easiest of them all.
1 - They could tell us that they will only perform the ceremony if we are both Catholic and she agree's to do a non-catholic wedding.
2 - They could tell us that they will only perform the ceremony if we are both Catholic and it would be quick and painless for me to convert just for this occasion.
3 - They could tell us that they will agree to perform the ceremony as long as I agree to a few of their "rules" and life goes on without any hitches.

I'm all for option #3.
I guess I'll know more after tomorrow.


I've got some tough decisions ahead of me.  Lightning made a good comment on my post about the Invitation  List and it being a difficult thing to actually make.
Truth of the matter is I thought it was going to be bloody simple and it's anything but.
My list of people has fluctuated greatly, changing every day.  New people added and deleted almost every time I think about it.  I'd have put money on this being one of the easier things to do and I'd be broke because I was wrong (I'd still be broke though because weddings are F'n expensive).
The good news is that we've got time to figure out the who's and how-many's.  Our first priority is to figure out there where and when.
Once we figure out the church situation everything will clear up a little bit and we can move on to step number two.

The other tough decision is who should be my best man?
There are two guys whom I've been friends with for a long time who I could not live without and yet I have to flip a coin and decide which of these two gets an elevated status in my own wedding.
It's truly a strange decision to have to make and I'm 100% conflicted and don't think that I'll actually be able to make a choice anytime in the near future.

Oh well - it's bed time.
Old man is tired.

May Exercise

I created and updated a "Page" for my May Exercise Goals (MEG for short).

As you recall from this post I wanted to get in at least 10 trips to the gym and go 60 miles on the elliptical.
I also wanted to get down to 230 pounds.

Sure I took off 1/3rd of the month already - but there is still time and I've still got determination.
So, with that in mind I went to the gym with a goal of doing 4 miles and going for about 40 minutes.

I ended up hitting Mile #4 at 33:55 and then used another 6 minutes for cool down.
From there I went to Walmart and bought a gallon sized container of water to take to work which I will attempt to drink every day that I work.

5/11/13

It's a long hard road to 60 miles for the fat man!

My Road to 200

Other than my buddy's wedding in January I now have more personal reasons to actually re-focus my energy on weight loss and drop some pounds.
200 also seems like a pretty reasonable goal for me to make.  If, when I get there, I still feel that I could comfortably drop some more then so be it - but for right now the sole focus is going to be on 200 and getting there.

With this in mind I took to Facebook and said I was searching for a pro-Bono Pseudo Personal Trainer to help me lose the last 35 pounds to get there (since I have been stuck at the same weight for 2 months) and I had some good advice and conversations based on it.
One friend called me a pussy.
One friend told me to eat more moon-pies
One friend told me that she should love me even if I don't lose the weight but that I should come to Jean and try to sign him up for UP with my laptop since his wasn't working.

Weird.

I know I need to make changes. I've made so many getting to this point so now I've got to continue with some more to get where I ultimately want to be.
Diet and exercise, diet and exercise.
Eat healthier.
I cut out a lot of the bad but some of it still lurks.  I've also got fat person mentality when it comes to eating and I like to eat a lot.  Training myself to eat even less is going to take some time.

So, my snacks are being cut back again.  Cut WAY Back.
The thing I have been holding out on for so long is also going to happen, needs to happen.
I'm cutting back on my Diet Dew intake (I WILL NOT END IT, I will cut back).

My morning routine consists of me waking up and grabbing a dew.
Today that routine was a banana and a bottle of water instead.
In 10 minutes I hit the gym with another bottle or two of water.

For phase 1 my goal is going to be no Dew before noon.
If I die, know that I loved most of you, despised a few of you and wanted to sex all of you.

This was the only pic I could find with 200 or bust on it - it will have to do

The Guest List

On Facebook I pondered whether or not Gamestop has a Gift Registry and a lot of my friends seem to think that this would be a bloody good idea.
Others suggested Target or Toys R Us or even Amazon, which are all Viable options for more than just Video Games but my comment was meant as sarcasm as the last thing I really want to get is more video games to take on my Honeymoon!
However, I'll definitely talk to my local Comic Shop about a gift registry because I'll need some reading material while the wife sleeps!

Now, to the guest list.
The guest list is a pretty weird part of the whole wedding planning.
The guest list essentially boils down to "Which of my friends do I really like and which can I do without?"
Once you pick the size of your party you have to sort through your mental list of friends and relatives and figure out who is in and who is out.
Then sometimes you get to complicated scenarios.
For us it involves family.
We have to invite her immediate family obviously.  This includes her sister.
However, also on our list of people who should be coming are two people who have both been in a relationship with her and both moved on to marry their next lady and start popping out kids.
I thought we should invite more and have a table for "People who have been in your sister" but it appears as though this is not actually a good idea.  My Bad.

Turns out that there are a good deal more than just 6 people that I'm willing to invite and at this point in our list making we have decided that 50 people is the max we want to have.  We have thus far come up with a list of 40 people and have ten open spots for assorted relatives of hers.

We also made a list of venue's to check out for the reception.
One friend posted on my Facebook "You my friend appear to be in the honeymoon phase of engagement. Wait till you have to start making wedding plans and life will blow again."
I'm proud to say that this woman will be marrying one of my best friends.

I've had three friends that have lasted over the years - two are married and one will be come January.  All three better be at my wedding or there will be a hell to pay.