The Struggle with Complacency

Breathe in... breathe out... breath in... breathe out...

Hey there.  You guys still with me?  It's been while, huh.  I apologize.  I've had a few personal struggles that I've been working on.  Mostly on the mental side.  Not saying mental mental... but that there is always a few things that can be done to better yourself mentally.  One of the things that I've caught within myself is complacency and it is something that I want to get rid of.  You need the drive, you need the fire, you need to push yourself to not only better yourself but better things around those that support you.  No one should want to live a stagnant life.  There's no fun in living that way and to be honest, that's what bother's me the most in being complacent.  For someone that loves to be spontaneous, love to have have fun, and loves to joke around with loved ones, why settle for living life on a plateau?  I see that now and I'm done with it.

I Was Missing... But Now I'm Found

Clear the mind, find a happy place, take a moment and calm the storm.
Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Hey there.  I went on a self imposed hiatus for the past 3 weeks or so.  I needed time to clear my mind, body, and soul.  I felt that I was under immense pressure and I needed to just step away from it all for a bit to refocus and regroup myself.  This is the main reason why I have avoided almost all Emails and social media posts.  I haven't logged into Facebook for so long that I'm sure I must have like a 100 notifications by now.  It's tough having to step away from social media when you are considered to be an online presence.  I know that my ratings have suffered because of it, but I feel that I needed to be gone for a bit in order to survive for the long run.  I've avoided posting reviews and giveaways and I'm sure that some of those opportunities are no longer available.  I just felt that I wasn't ready to drive right into my work again.

Giving Thanks for the Year that was 2014

Hey there.  Can you believe that 2014 is nearly over?  Tomorrow is New Year's Eve.  2014 will soon be a memory and new experiences will be made in 2015.  2014 has been an eventful one, both personally and professionally.  Personally, new city, new home, new environment...  Professionally, new schedule, new contacts, new opportunities.  Personal items affect business items.  Moving into a new home really set me back a bit blog wise.  I'm sure you noticed that my posts have not been as routine as they used to be.  But those months spent settling into a new home is now over and a schedule has been set in place to assure posts are done on a more consistent manner.  But I digress...  This post is about giving thanks.  Thanks to those that have made 2014 a successful one for this website.  Also, I want to give a little insight on what is to come in 2015.  So let's get right to it.

Death's Messengers

Hey there.  When I was in high school, I would enjoy going to my AP Physics class.  Not so much because physics are thrilling, but because my teacher would start the class with a zen story.  These stories were meant to have the students think outside the box.  He deemed them, "thinking can't tales" and I looked forward to them.  They fascinated me.  They were indeed thought provoking and more often than not, I thought about the story well after class ended.  Well today, I came across a story that took me back to those days in class.  Let me tell you the story of Death's Messengers.

The Case of the Missing Wedding Picture

Our wedding picture.  Well... not quite but pretty damn close!  lol

Hey there. Every weekend, for the past month or so, the wife and I have been working our butts off to make our house a home.  We've put up furniture, we've put up curtains, we've picked up couches, we've set up our kitchen, we cleared out our garage, we've set up our rooms, we even got ourselves a new TV.  But you know what... it still didn't feel like home.  Like my wife mentioned last weekend, it still feels like we're staying in a hotel.  Hmmm...  It sucks when your house doesn't feel like your home, but we realized why!  We had absolutely NO pictures up on the walls.  NONE.  We've spent so much time and energy setting everything else up that we didn't bother with the pictures.  Well, that's the project we handled last weekend!

Damn You Blogging Gods!!!

It's true.  Says so in the blogging codex.

Hey there.  I've been away for a bit.  I've been extremely busy getting our home move in ready.  Oh, I didn't tell you guys?!  We're moving!  I've been working feverishly to get all kinds of projects done before we move in full time.  But I degress... that's for another blog post.  I spent the last 2 hours working on a blog post.  I filled you in as to what was going on and one of my awesome Super Mario themed ideas that I was going to start working on.  And then... the blogging gods decided that my blog post was too damn good to share with the world and decided to devour it.  NOOOOOOOO!!!!  2 hours of work, gone.  Vanished.  Disappeared.  Even though there is an auto save feature in Blogger, for whatever reason, my post simply disappeared.

My Laptop is Plagued by the Black Screen of Death

Oh no!!!  Black Screen of Death!!!

Hey there. Sorry for my lack of posts these past few weeks. My time has been consumed dealing with some personal matters and I've been spending most of my free time focusing on that. Nothing negative, actually, quite positive, but nevertheless, extremely time consuming. And even when I can squeeze out some free time, I can no longer post since my laptop is suffering from the, "Black Screen of Death." Ugh! My machine won't boot up. The windows logo appears, but soon after that, I see a black screen with my mouse curser. That's it. Nothing to click, nothing to escape, keyboard is not responding so I can't get to the task manager or run anything via the command prompt. Nothing but black death!

July Fitness Challenge Over

Hey there.  July is done and done.  I took on the month looking to improve my fitness stats.  Last year, I did a pretty good job at keeping myself somewhat fit.  This year... not so much.  My wife has been on a mission to get herself in the best shape possible and it's only fair that I follow suit and support her.  So July was it.  That was the month I was going to get back on track.  Now, it's over and it's time to reap the benefits of my hard work!

Sorry I Have Been MIA

Need to post!  Gotta podcast!  Need to post!  Gotta podcast!

Hey there.  Sorry I've been MIA recently.  I've been so caught up with work and working out that I haven't been able to carve the time to write something up and I feel completely horrible for not writing.  That's a good sign, right?  lol  No worries though.  I'm back.  I'm done with being missing and I need to get back into the swing of things and decided that a quick, "what's up", post will do it.  So what's going down?  Let's find out!

July Fitness Challenge and 30 Day Exercise Challenge

A little Instagram Fun

Hey there.  I have been gone for the past week or so.  I took some much needed time off from work (both my day job and my online job) and now I feel refreshed and ready to go!  But during that time off, I decided that it's time to get back into shape.  I took on The Hero Rush and The Gladiator Rock'n Run last year and I felt like I wouldn't be able to complete those challenging obstacle courses today.  That's why, I took on the July Fitness Challenge that my wife started doing.  First off, the July Fitness Challenge is more of an Instagram thing (Follow me here).  You take a picture everyday about the topic at hand.  The thing with this one, though, is that most of it is fitness related so it pushes you to work out.  I thought it was an easy enough challenge to get back on track.  But then, the wife and I also decided to do a separate fitness challenge on the side.  You do a set of exercises every day for the month.  Check out the 30 Day challenge below:

Organization has Never Been Easier with a Brother P Touch Labeler

Hey there.  Wow... what a month it's been!  I started off this month with a project in mind:  get that garage all sorted out and organized.  I made mention how the garage is in total shambles!  How can it not be?  With 4 active kids constantly going in and out and placing their stuff all over the place it's a definitely a challenge to keep it all in order.  I used the Brother P Touch Labeler as my guide to get things in order.  Everything from bins to shelves were laveled and organized.  In the end, organization is a lot better and a lot easier.  It's still not 100% where I would like it be, but I think that's because it's just going to take the family some time to getting used to putting things where they belong!  lol  So, here are some of my thoughts of the Brother P Touch Labeler!

A Trip to Aruba Would Be Perfect for Our HoneyMoon

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Aruba Tourism Authority for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love the scenic views that Aruba has to offer!

Hey there.  I owe my wife a honeymoon getaway.  When we got married, we both worked but we didn't make to much money.  I couldn't afford to get her the wedding ring that she deserved, I couldn't get her the lavish wedding ceremony that she deserved, and I couldn't get her the honeymoon getaway that she deserved.  Next year, it will be our 10 year anniversary and I plan on making up for some of those things.  We're better off financialy, now, than we were before and we are we plan to renew our vows and have a wedding ceremony with friends and family.  I also want to plan that honeymoon trip that we didn't get to enjoy the first time around.  We orignally had our heart set on a Hawaiian honeymoon but a trip to Aruba sounds pretty tempting right now!

I Need Tips for Camping Trips

Hey there.  Would you believe that I have never gone camping before?  Like... EVER!  I didn't go on camping trips with school mates, I didn't go to summer camp as a child, I haven't even gone as an adult!  That's about to change, though.  The wife and I have been talking about taking the family on a camping trip. There are plenty of camping grounds in Southern California and I think it's time for me and the family to get reaquianted with the great outdoors.  I love being outside and being able to sleep under the stars in tents sounds like a great time to me.  The problem?  I've never been to any overnight camps so I'm going to need a little bit of help.

A Young Man and Summertime Sports

His first of what I hope is many sporting events for the boy!

Hey there.  The weather is getting warmer and it's time to get the kids outside and have them play some sports!  I'm glad to see that the kids are FINALLY beginning to show more interest in sports.  Especially my oldest.  He's an athletic guy and I've been waiting for him to decide that he is ready to start playing.  I don't want to be one of those overbearing parents that dictate their kid's hobbies.  I let him be and when he's ready, he's ready.  He can play baseball, football, and basketball and he seems more suited for baseball or basketball.  Come to think of it... he can even do track too!  He's expressed much interest in running as well!  Almost forgot about that one!  lol  I say that the boy (14 yrs) will do in anything that he puts his mind in.  I'm sure that once he's in high school, he'll make that final decision, but until now, we'll play basketball and we'll go out and throw the baseball around.  We end up throwing the baseball more than anything else, actually, and I think he's beginning to find his sport.

The Appeal of a Classic Car and Retro Gaming

You can't beat an 8 bit classic!

Hey there. You know, I got to thinking today about what the appeal of a classic car is. Considering that today's technology has been implemented into most of today's modern cars, I don't understand why someone would want to own a car with no power steering or one that still has a cassette player.  I simply just did not understand that... that is, until today.  As I was browsing through Facebook and checking out some of the fan pages that I frequent, I noticed that I have a lot of retro gaming fan sites on my list.  Retro gaming... my passion of games from years past is huge.  I love the 8 bit classics from Nintendo.  I grew up with them.  They are embedded in my memory and those experiences have molded me into what I am today.  Is my love for retro gaming similar to that of a car enthusiast's love for classic cars?  I think it's a fair comparison.

Happy Birthday Metallman!

Hey there. Today is my birthday! After doing the math, I discovered that today I turn 31. lol Yeah, I don't really keep track of how old I am. I don't see a need for it. My wife is usually the one that tells me, and others, how old I am. Anyways, I've been away from the blogging scene for about 2 weeks now. I needed to clear my head for a bit. I have many thoughts and ideas that I want to implement in my life and career and need to sort that out before I can focus on my writing. I think I've gotten it straightend out now.

Looking for Cheap Auto Insurance

Hey there.  You've all seen the commercials for auto insurance.  Some of them are funny and others are pretty straight forward and to the point.  I have a friend that used to work in the auto insurance field and she would give it to me straight.  What was the best coverage for the lowest price.  Easy and simple.  She no longer works in that field and I found myself needing to find a new auto insurance policy when I noticed that my monthly premium was slowly increasing.  I don't know if maybe the policies of said company changed or what, but when your payments jump from $50 to $75, there was time for a change.  It would have been great if I would have been able to find cheap auto insurance quotes all in a single spot as opposed to jumping all over the place.

Beware of Afrin Addiction

Afrin is good!  But is it too good?

Hey there.  We are a family of six.  You know what that means?  It means that when one of us gets sick, that sickness is bound to be passed around from family member to family member.  It's tough when one of the kids get sick.  We try to make them as comfortable as possible and hope that the wife and I do not get sick. More often than not, we do get sick.  My wife usually gets the worst of it.  I'll get sick, but will only feel the stuffy nose and what not for a day or so.  My wife, on the other hand, will the effects for days if not weeks.  Anyways, a stuffy nose is the worst!  You simply can't breathe and it can get frustrating.  That's when the wife and I usually reach for our Afrin nose spray.  My wife more so than I.  She would spray the moment her nose felt stuffy.  I would say that she was using too much but it seemed to work for her and she always stopped using Afrin the moment the stuffy nose went away.  Big deal, right?  Well... today, I found out that you can actually get addicted to nose sprays.  In particular, Afrin!

Hiking at the Turnbull Canyon Trail

A map of the trails available at Turnbull Canyon

Hey there. It's been awhile since the wife and I have gone on a hiking trip. We've been meaning to check out some of the awesome hiking spots here in Southern California but we just haven't found the time.  To be honest, I don't think we've gone for a hike since we last went hiking at Escondido Falls!  That has got to change!  :Last weekend, we decided to get up at 6:30 in the morning and take off to a trail.  Our destination?  The Turnbull Canyon Road Hiking Trails in Whittier, CA.

Metallman Update: Events, Games, GenCon, and More

Hey there.  It's been awhile since I last had a post.  I'm sorry, guys.  I haven't really been feeling well and I couldn't muster the energy to sit and write.  No worries though! I'm back and at full strength and wanted to give you guys a heads up on what's to come.  A few game reviews are coming, in written and podcast form, a few events that I'll be covering, and I received a press pass for a gaming convention!  How awesome is that?!  Ok... so let's get into the details.  Something tells me this is going to be a lengthy post!