HCD week 4 - day 25

Weighed in at 215 this morning! I had a horrible week as far as eating and this weekend the temptations are going to be all over. Going out tonight with Mary and her co-workers, Saturday night is JJ's b-day party and Sunday is the Superbowl!

man...I hope the force is strong

Hairspray The Broadway Musical

Yup you read right, Hairspray the musical. Mary, Joey and I went to see it last night at the Tennessee theater. Mary's dad has season tickets but since he has moved to Ohio wasn't able to go. Mary's mom had other obligations so that left a sit open. Not REALLY wanting to go I told Mary if she wanted me to I would.

I haven't been to the Tennessee theater since before its restoration. It is quite the place. It looks old and classic but it has a new refreshed, clean feel. Nothing is understated and nothing went untouched. Inside the theater is just nuts. Its got enough designs, patterns and colors to make any theater historian's head explode.

Our seats were close, I was impressed. About 15-20 seconds into the production I would it was going to be good. Not sure what I was expecting but holy cow! They spared no expense. The set designs were intense and I couldn't help think, "I can't believe they travel with all this stuff!" Towards the end there is a scene in which the mother (played by a man) and father have a song together. Slightly before the end of there routine when they are looking one another in the eye they started laughing. It was at a cut in the song and the audience applauded. They picked up again and with the father spinning the mother up against him they busted out again with laughter and the audience followed. They try to start up again but cracked up along with the audience. We gave them one big round of applause once more and they finished off the song. It had us all cracking up!

Not sure what I was thinking expecting not to enjoy this but it was a blast! Glad I got to see it.

Wine Wine Wine

I have been updating the wines I have been trying so here we go!

3 weeks ago

Francis Coppola Pinot Noir - Pretty good stuff. It had been in the fridge for about 3 weeks before I dove in but I was surprised by the taste. It was sweet but not to sweet. I really enjoyed it cold and I usually don't like my reds cool.

After letting it sit out (corked of course) a had another tasting. It was too sweet and a little dry. Didn't like it, and it got worse each day. Probably won't be trying that one again.


2 weeks ago

Bully Hill Love My Goat - It's a mixed red and one of my favorites. It's cheap too! $8 a bottle. It's getting more popular too. It's now available at the package store I frequent. It's a very smooth easy to drink wine. I recommend it to all!





Currently drinking

Box Head Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon mix - It's 72% Shiraz, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, which is why I think it's a little to sweet for me. I like Cab much more than Shiraz but I still thought this might be good. The label is what caught my eye (I have been designing wine labels lately). But the wine fell a bit short. Probably going to skip this one next time.

What Have We Become website

The 3 hour website! Done for the local band What Have We Become.Designed and coded in under 3 hours. Not the prettiest site I have done but very cost efficient, haHA.

www.whathavewebecome.net

HCD week 4 - day 21

Welp, it's the start of week 4 and I feel pretty good. I still think I could be doing better on the the diet. I wasn't feeling super great last week so I skipped out on running in the cold but I still did all the workouts.

I slipped up once again and cheated more than I should of this past week. Mary's dad was in town and we all went out to eat at Carrabbas. I battled some bad acid reflux the last 2 times I ate Salmon so I ate Chicken Parmesan, which is hard to pass up there. :) So going to the scale this morning felt like it was going to be a bust, but...to my surprise I didn't gain like I thought.

I'm getting there.

Honeymoon Booked!

It took us a while to decided where we wanted to go for our honeymoon. First thought was Bora Bora but not only was the price a little outrageous but the food choices were just simply gross. Next we thought a all-inclusive would be the way to go. We looked into St.Lucia but after a little research and talking to several people we decided Sandals in the Bahamas would suit us the best. The have tons of food choices (for us picky ones) and all kinds of attivities. So today my parents being so generous booked it for us! We are super exctied!
Above is a picture of the one we got. It's set back in the resort, suppose to be a little more romantic.

This is our flight agenda:

US AIRWAYS - Flight No: 2302 Operated By US AIRWAYS
Depart Knoxville, TN, US (TYS) 06/29/2009 - 05:40 AM		Arrive Charlotte, NC, US (CLT) 06/29/2009 - 06:31 AM
US AIRWAYS - Flight No: 1053 Operated By US AIRWAYS
Depart Charlotte, NC, US (CLT) 06/29/2009 - 09:39 AM		Arrive Nassau, BS (NAS) 06/29/2009 - 11:55 AM
US AIRWAYS - Flight No: 1976 Operated By US AIRWAYS
Depart Nassau, BS (NAS) 07/06/2009 - 04:30 PM		Arrive Charlotte, NC, US (CLT) 07/06/2009 - 06:44 PM
US AIRWAYS - Flight No: 2597 Operated By US AIRWAYS
Depart Charlotte, NC, US (CLT) 07/06/2009 - 08:35 PM		Arrive Knoxville, TN, US (TYS) 07/06/2009 - 09:40 PM

Less than 5 months!

Well after all these years it happened, I got hacked!

I checked my email this morning and was surprised with an email titled, "Thanks for your purchase." I haven't made an online order since the titans shirt. The body of the email included, "Payment fee received: 1 Quantity Payment for Url_Extractor_X_RP, US 45.00" and all my shipping info. Besides having no clue what a Url Extractor is I have no clue how this happened. Fearing the worst I check my bank account online. Nothing taken out of checking. How about the credit card. BAM! Pending transaction: $2,475! HOLY #*%@! The transaction says it was made through Paypal. So I log in and there we go...6 transactions totaling $2,676.45. Semi freaking out I call Bank of America's credit card division (didn't really know who to call first). The guy informs me since the transaction is pending they can't really do anything yet, but Paypal and possibly the actually company could. He gave me the Paypal number and I gave them a ring. Got a hold of a guy that was super easy and helpful, issued a dispute on all charges and insured me I'd get 100% of my money back. He also was able to track the IP address to Simponville, NC right outside Asheville. That's a little close, so I'm thinking they used some sort of IP scrambler.


On top of "hacker wit" he/she seemed pretty smart. Ordered the lower priced items with my debit account and the larger priced item with my credit card. Ironically enough the $2,475 purchase was Adobe Creative Suite which is a grouping of programs used for digital art and programs I use every day at work. Sorta strange eh?

Back to dealing with this little issue. Since the 5 smaller amounts were charged to my checking account Paypal can't do anything without the companies whom payment was sent to interacting. Mr. Paypal said I could possibly catch them with Bank of America. I call the checking account division. I'm informed they see what I see online and since there are no transactions or pending charges I have two options. Freeze the account (only able to reopen at a local branch) or sit it out. Freezing the account for a little over 200$ doesn't seem logical to me so I decided to wait.

I then recalled I have a folder in my entourage (email program) that grabs all my Paypal emails. In this folder we have 6, "your payment has been sent" emails. I find the email (from the German paypal) regarding the credit card charge naming the company as Digital River. Also there was a shipping address to CA. The address was a dummy. Well, I searched for a phone number for this company. After an unfortunately longer than anticipated search I found it and give them a call. I'm connected quickly and speak with a very nice gentlemen who submits the matter to their dispute department and insures me no charge will be assessed to me.

I have since received confirmation that 3 of the 6 disputes are resolved and the transactions has been reversed. This included the large credit card charge.

All of the purchases were software and 5 of 6 seem to be from the actual company that developed them. Their programs are just downloaded straight off their site, so there is no actual hands on product. Meaning the hacker was able to grab them instantly. I can't help but wonder if they are out their software or what happens for them. They were scammed just as bad as me. Fortunately I was sent the product serial number for one of the products, so Mr. hacker is out that program at least.

After some research and changing my password to almost a sentence I have discovered there really is no hiding. Simple password, hard password, change it every week, if a hacker locks in on you, you're going to get hacked. It just makes me smile a little that it probably took the hacker 4 times longer to actually hack me and purchase items then it took me to counteract his work. Four phone calls = mission foiled.

Rascal Flatts album cover contest

Anyone who knows me well will tell you I'm not even close to a fan of Country music, but I designed an album cover for a country band! Rascal Flatts is Mary's favorite band! She told me about hearing something on the radio about them. Their album is recorded and ready to go, but the don't have a album cover. She goes on to tell me they are having a contest and that I shuold enter. I laughed. Well today I get to work with nothing to do and I remember Mary telling me this. I looked into and today is the last day. They have a pretty cool look and feel so I figured why not? So I knocked something out and entered it. I didn't like there logos so I scratched those and the pictures went aswell. The album is called Unstoppable so I went with a seemingly cheesy use of the stop sign. I don't think my metaphor will work for them but what the hey? The 3 finalists are announced on the 25th. Can't wait to see the junk that wins, haha.

Save the dates for the Wedding.

I have started working on the save the dates. These are a few that Mary and I both like. These came from a batch of about 15 that I did :)

Enzo in the snow

Silly Enzo kept running around sticking his nose in any pile of snow he could find.

HCD Week 3 - Day 16

Just a little update.
Figured I need to start weighing myself a few times during the week as oppose to just once a week. It'll help we figure out the when, where and how of my losing and gaining.

I weighed myself this morning and to my surprise I weighed 217.8! Really nice improvement over Monday.

I ran yesterday (in the snow) for the first time since last week and was able to run 3/4s further than I had the last time.

Tonight is workout B.

HCD Week 3 - Day 14

Well, I didn't do so hot this week. I didn't run on Thursday or Sunday (mix of laziness and coldness). I ate ok, cheated on Thursday by eating pizza. On Saturday I had Fuji's, just steak and rice. Sunday was the killer. Had friends and family over for the Eagles game and ended up eating more "junk" than I should of while drinking more beer than I should of. I thought to weigh myself before indulging and weighed in at 219.

This morning I realized what a few finger foods and beer can do.

Down only a pound from last week.

Time to be a little more disciplined.

Bowling Night!

Mary and I went out with some friends last night and hit the lanes. Mary beat everyone in the first game with a 120! I came in second with a 113. The next game everyone was getting tired but I came away with the victory! :) A 114 made it a Gray Henkel sweep! We are the bowling champs!

It was a fun night we are going to try to do it every Wednesday night.

Go Eagles!

Well since my boys are out of it I'll have to pull for my other team, the good old Eagles. I really hope they take out the Cardinals and get the the SB, if for nothing else to beat the AFC team. Only the Steelers and Ravens are left and hate them both.

GrayHenkelWedding.com

Got our wedding site working finally. Took a while to figure out how to get it hosted through my other domain. It was complication simplified hehe. I will be actually building a site so for now there is just a place holder. Thought it'd be a good idea to have a site for out of town folks too. Going to add directions and hotels in the area. Our story will be included as well. Now I need to get started on the invites.

The site can be seen here: www.grayhenkelwedding.com

HCD Week 2 - Day 7

Week 1 is over. I feel pretty good about the week. I had a cheat day on Saturday and felt like I really over did it. The Titans were on and they forced me to drink a few more than I had planned. I had a grilled chicken cesar wrap for lunch. But finished the day with finger foods and a burger.

The workout is going well. Friday so far is the only day I haven't been active.

Time to weigh in.

















Down 4 pounds from week one.

Titans lose AFC divisional playoff game...

...to themselves...again! Titans + horrible ball protection and discipline in NORMAL FREAKING FOOTBALL situations = loss, to anyone!

YOUR WELCOME RAVENS!

too mad to type more...

+++++UPDATE 01.14.09+++++

I still am in rage and feel like punching the wall just about every time I think about this game. The game started out GREAT! We had a great drive and scored with a CJ touchdown. I was excited, they came to play, we were going to shut the months of all the naysayers!

Well long story shot we killed them! But in process killed ourselves. White fumbled inside the Ravens 20 on what what looked to be a promising drive. Then Crumpler fumbled on the Ravens 1 on a great drive that was destine to be a touchdown drive. Collins topped it of with an int. The Ravens didn't turn these turnovers into any points but they didn't need too.

At half time CJ had 100 yards combined but was mysteriously hurt. The play was brutal, Lewis and Suggs were on his legs and Reed came up to grabbed his upper body and bent him back at the hip. Amazingly he wasn't seriously hurt and run for a 10 yard pick up on the next play but came out a few plays later for the game. Interesting article about the play With CJ out and the turnovers and letting the Ravens have a final drive at the very end of the 4th we basically shot ourselves in the foot.

Also the Ravens had the refs in their back pocket and/or the refs favored the Ravens. Joe Flacco, after the Crumpler fumble, proceeded to almost, it was so close, to step out of the endzone on a pass attempted. The CBS announcers said nothing about it and the refs didn't review it. It is now know he didn't but I can't believe nothing was said about it.

Now for the BIG DEAL!

Anything seem odd about these picture? Apparently if your a ref you'll see nothing. But us normal folks can plainly see that the play clock is on freaking ZERO!!! and it was for 1.35 seconds which is when the ball was snapped and the Ravens process to get a 20+ yard pass in to ad their drive for a game winning field goal.

Well we did it again we beat them in ever stat but one, tunrovers! Same outcome of the Titans Ravens game in the 2000 playoffs. Titans were the number 1 seed and the ravens were a wildcard again.

Game Stats:
first downs Titans 21 Ravens 9
Rushing yards 116 50
passing yards 275 116
K. Collins 26/42 281 1int
J. Flacco 11/22 161 1td
total yards 391 211
punts 4 - 53.3 avg 8 - 42.8 avg
penalties 12 - 89 8 - 40
turnovers 3 0
time of possession 34:07 25:53

The better team lost.

Groomsmen suits

Does my baby know me or does my baby know me? divisional

Groomsmen suit by Marc Ecko. One of my favorite clothing designers. Mary walked in to check out a local tux shop, asked if they had any black with white pinstriped suits. They confirmed saying they had Marc Ecko suits, Mary said sold!

Titans stuff and facial hair

HaHA! I got it! This thing is hilarious! Mary hates it and doesn't want to be seen with me in it. But I, for some reason, like it. The illustrations are done very well also. Might have to wear it tomorrow under my jersey, which I happen to be wearing my Chris Johnson jersey today.


Welp, that's me as of this morning. Ugly, I know. I look like a pale French bum. This could be the last day of the goatee though. If the Titans win it stays! I'm going to clean up a little before the game (little tradition).

GO TITANS! 4:30pm tomorrow can't come fast enough.

HCD Week 1 - Day 5

Diet is going well!
Workout Monday and Wednesday and ran on Tuesday and Thursday.
Been eating well. Last night I cheating a tad. I ate a small piece of ziti and bread but I had a big bowl of green beans first.

New addiction (FOB)

So the new Fall Out Boy CD has somehow grabbed me and will not let go. I'm addicted to this disc. I have been listening to it 2 times a day minimum.

Little background before calling me a mainstreamer (Not that I really care, good music is good music). Back sometime between 02 and 04 I went to see Less Than Jake in ATL. Fall Out Boy opened for them. Roger (LTJ bassist) came out and said, "These guys are going to be the next big thing!" into the mic. I was like, "Hey right." Well, I have been proven wrong, obviously, but I have been hooked on them since there first disc. Maybe that makes me an orginal fan?

Anyways, I really like this album. Fin.

DMGx website is up.

How cool is it that I (one of three the veteran designers at dmgx) didn't lay a finger on our long overdue website?! Yup 3 of us, been here over 4 years but the new guy gets the site. Ohwell, at least its not all that great, but is that a good thing or bad? I'm not a big fan, and I lied about not laying a finger on the site. See that image at the top? I took that one (about 6 years ago) along with a few others that ramdomly appear throughout, score!

www.dmgx.com

HCD Week 1 - Day 1

I started my diet yesterday! The eating part is easy, with the secret of eating quick. The workout is what kills me in the beginning. I got about 3/4s of the workout complete before I felt like I was going to pass out. I really need to build my stamina bad. It's pretty pathetic right now. I plan on running on the nights I don't workout. Once my stamina gets built up I will to be working out and running every day.

This is the workout I'm starting with. I have been using this site as motivation.

As for food my breakfast and lunch will stay the same throughout:
Wheaties and OJ in the morning
PB&J, almonds and a banana with water for lunch

Dinner:
Grilled chicken or Salmon or Steak with Green beans or grilled chicken in spinach leaves
Small glass of red wine

I'm not a big snacker but if I get hungry I'll eat some string cheese, almonds or a banana.

So here I am on day 1.

And the starting number is!

Taken Monday morning 01.05.09

GoTitans.com home page banner part 2

Made it again!

Titans Playoffs!

Welp things didn't work out like I had planned, although the Chargers did prove why Payton didn't deserve MVP. Payton, are you serious? With all your possessions you throw one TD (while the Chargers are subing, shame on them) against an 8-8 team with one of the worse passing Ds in the league! Ohwell, I wouldn't the Chargers to win but I at least wanted a good game.

The Dolphins got straight man handled by the Ravens, (the team I really didn't want to play) so looks like we are taking them on at home this Saturday. Should be a good game but if the Titans come out amped like they did for the Steelers then I ain't worried.

Here is the iphone bg

Jason and Tiffany's wedding.

Jason and Tiffany got married yesterday and the wedding was beautiful. It went off without a hitch. It was at Faith Promise Church which I was a little skeptical about before seeing the church. But if was one the nicest, most technologically advanced church I have been in. Flat screens were every where. They even had an overflow room (where the reception was) that's filled with flat screens, instruments and projectors which is were church goers go if the sanctuary is full.

Back to the wedding. We showed up at 4 for pictures but the photographer didn't show up til 5ish. So we had to entertain ourselves, which was easy.




We got our pictures taken, which I really hope turn out. The photographer only took one shot of each pose. He wasn't using the best camera either so my fingers are crossed.

Everyone showed up and in what seemed like no time the ceremony began. It was an interesting setup, bridesmaids and groomsman were staggered. It was a nice quick personal wedding. The preacher told a nice story about them both. After they were introduced as the Yorks, Goldfinger's I love you more today then yesterday kicked in.

About half way through.

The "iPhone crew!"

Cutting dat cake! Awesome cake topper!!

Actually one of the few times I have seen them kiss!

Some of the crew enjoying time together and celebrating a great day!

The Quiet Entertainer rockin the house. Greg was a super cool guy. He doesn't speak the whole time he is playing (spinning and mixing) but he dances around and gets the crowd involved. I talked to him quite a while. He lives in Nashville and is a huge football/Titans fan. I hope to run into him again!

The Yorks on there way (to my car:)) out. They drove off in the Evo and around the church for a while, while most folks left so they could come back and open gifts before they headed to New Orleans. Yes, they drove to New Orleans.

They arrived in New Orleans at 7am Saturday with the wrong nights booked (not their fault) and all the rooms full after the Sugarbowl. They sat in the lobby til 11am and got a room although it wasn't there suite that it should of been. So far that's all I know...

MC Escher calendar

Last years Xmas gift calendar form mom has been retired. This years is
a graffiti calendar and it's awesome! I should have it up on Monday.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy 2009!
Mary and I planned to go to market square with all my friends while Michael had planned to borrow our condo for a party. Well Mary caught something and we felt it probably wouldn't be a good idea for us to stand out in the cold for hours. So we stayed in. Come to find out Michael's little party was themed. Welcome 2009 as redneck as possible. So everyone showed up all rednecked out, which was quite hilarious.


Michael won, mainly because of the hair!


The reds playing Shots and Ladders.


Nette's hills were awesome. The pic doesn't do them justice.


Bentley was even rockin' some gear.


Almostly time! (I passed the point of no return soon after this pic)


Last pic of 08!


Looking at that timing! haha


Cheersing!

Well, we had a great time! Minus the Fe fiasco. Mary's cousin from Connecticut was here and had a to throw in some drama. She stormed out and was taken home before 12 so that problem was fixed. She also left at 4:30am and drove back home. Very ungrateful, selfish little girl, hope everything works out for her. But, yeah, besides that it was a great time!

Happy New Year!