This past month for me has been very stressful. Work has been the root of most of this stress as my team is understaffed and have so much to do. I have not even wanted to post to estrip at all lately. I will go to the site and close it knowing all my time needs to be spend elsewhere. Besides running on my lunch break I think I need to get that Allentown Athletix membership very soon. Hopefully they have a punching bag so I can take out some of my aggression. If not then just sweating a little might do the trick. Thanks for listening ;)

This weekend I am going to the 133rd Running of the Preakness. I am so excited as this is a bachelor party. We all have tickets to the infield that is sure to be crazy. I have not been to an outside beer bash since the 10 Ugly Men festival in Rochester. I am sure I will have a lot of drunken pics to post when I get back. Doing a little bit of research tonight I have seen the shenanigans that go on there. Overweight men in speedos, people in horse costumes and afros etc etc. Has anyone ever been to this?

Today I took a day off of work to have someone clean my house...sounds great doesn't it?? We actually got our air ducts cleaned today which I wanted to do last year but didn't have the money to do it.



The crew consisted of two guys. One of them worked in the basement on the main trunk lines and the other cleaned up all the registers. The trunk lines needed to have several holes cut out to get access. Here is a video from their website:



They taped off all of the vents in the house so dirt would not blow out all over the house.




Look at all the junk they got out. The bottom two filters are from the cold air returns. The top one is from the supply lines. The filter that is blue was not used but put down for reference.




After about 4 hours of cleaning they patched up the holds and pulled off all the tape.



It feels good in here already. Not sure if that is all mental but I hope this does good for my wife's allergies also.

I love getting my hair cut by a barber but I feel like it's kind of a waste. I don't have to much hair but a 1.5 on the top and a 1 on the sides usually does the trick. I used to "bic" my head in college which was always a nice feeling. Everyone told me I looked mean though.

We finished up our journey yesterday. I can't remember the last time we just drove to where ever we wanted and had very little planned. I think for us that works out the best.

Thursday we went to Baltimore and spent time in the inner harbor. We were able to slip into the aquarium before they closed and it was very cool.


We stopped at Phillip's express to get a snack and it was alright. I got some fried crab to hold me over until dinner time. I did end up getting shit on by a bird while sitting by the harbor. It happened so fast and I didn't really know what happened at first. The majority of it hit the right lens of my glasses and luckily I was able to close my eye fast enough. Very little got on my pants and sleve. I was still able to wear them the rest of the night. However, I did feel all gross and just wanted to take a shower. My wife said it's good luck...frankly I think it sucked.





We met my uncle Don and his girlfriend (Bev) for dinner at The Rusty Scupper. I had a broiled seafood dish that included blue crab. It was excellent and tasted so fresh.



D.C. was our next stop. We had been there a few times before but it is always fun to walk around and see everything.





This trip we were able to see the new WWII memorial. The layout was very well done. They seemed to touch on so much and I am very happy to see they finally have something honoring this war.




I wish I could get a hold of some of this grass. Sounds like it would do the trick in my backyard.



Our hotel was in Arlington just on the other side of they Key Bridge. It is named after Francis Scott Key who wrote the Star Spangled Banner.



Next we drove up to Pottsville and hit the outlets before heading to my cousins for the night. Apparently they have a nuclear power plant near there. I had never been this close to one before...that I know of.



We had our first home cooked meal of the week with some of my family in Doylestown, PA.

The drive home was uneventful except for some traffic that delayed our arrival by an hour. I tried to get a picture of the bugs on the windshield. I hate bugs on the windshield!

Today is another day in Maryland. We went out exploring today and found our self at Joe's Crab Shack. I can't believe how many locations they have all over the world. The food was pretty good. We started off with the Crab Dip for an appy and I ordered the crab stuffed shrimp.

After that we walked around and ended up going into a Target for something. I noticed right away they had an escalator in the store. This was not just any normal escalator though. This would take you up to the second floor along with your CART!! Yeah that's right I said your cart. In the middle of the up/down sides was an up/down lane for carts as well. It is all open so you can watch your purse or whatever you have in there and you reach the top at the same time. It was the coolest thing I have seen in a while.

Again I will reiterate what I said yesterday.....I need a camera phone. I might even just drive back there before we leave so I can take a picture with my digital camera.

Today my wife (Mary) and I drove down to Maryland for a college fair. She works for Buffalo State as an Admissions Counselor. We decided to make a week of it and go to DC and Philly to see some of our relatives. So far we got down here alright but I have realized two things. One I need a camera phone and the Verizon Curve can not come fast enough. Two I am not a big fan of MD so far. I have been her a few times but not to stay for 2 nights. Just seems to go go go for me. Maybe it's because we drove 7 hours down and I just wanted to get out of car. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better.

Tonight I had a cup of coffee at 8PM which is a big mistake. I usually only have it in the morning but tonight I just felt like a cup so I had one. I ended up going to the Guinness Book of World Records site just to look up something. I used to be a big fan of this book as a kid and usually got it every year for Christmas. There is a little intro and then something caught my eye. That's right folks....Gamers Edition!!!



Most of them seem a little lame but I am sure there are more in the book then on the site. Why would you buy the book if that were not the case. Maybe we can come up with something for (e:jon) to win.

Last week my wife and I had our first ultrasound. It was so amazing to watch this little baby move all over on the screen. I could have sat there all day and watched it. I was almost hypnotized. Things are starting to feel more real and that is not a bad thing. It is great to think the someone will soon be depending on me to help them grow and shape their life.

The ultrasound tech was trying to get some measurements and the baby was being difficult (her genes) but after a short break it was more cooperative (my genes).




The facial features are still forming but you can make out the head and body.

I am out sick today. I usually don't take a lot of sick days but today is the 4th day in a row I have had a sore throat and am starting to cough. I hate feeling like you are a walking zombie. Im also trying to not take anything because I don't like medicine.

That's all...