I am scared

Scared of the unknown

 

Day 25

Today is Monday and it was an uneventful day. I got up and got ready. Went downstairs to the kitchen and prepared my IDS protein shake. I did have to run to the gas station because we did not have any milk. I swallowed my IDS Mass Tabs and additional supplement pills. I left and as usual caught the bus. I could not listen to my Zune because it had no power. I read up on some news, which I should mention so I can time stamp, some history around the world. Today a helicopter and plane crashed killing everyone and it sunk into the Hudson River in New York. There was also a mudslide, which looks like it buried over 400 people somewhere in the world. When I got to work, I did so knowing the Ricky would not be in because his daughter was not feeling well. I spent most of my days reading Cisco related material and at one point spoke with a person who is attempting to sell connectivity to Oats Reporting, used by some of our traders. For lunch, I had left over Mexican rice and chicken with some smashed beans. I drank my IDS creatine lemonade juice. At about 3:00 I took a walk around the block just to spread out my legs and ended up purchasing a protein shake at the protein bar with 39 grams of protein. I took the shake back and had a few Oreo cookies with it. At 3:30, I picked up the office dumbbells and finished off some sets. After leaving the train station, we drove down to Lowes so I could find the right bit for the hammer drill I borrowed from Franky. I looked around but I could not find the bit that I needed so I called my father. He told me that if I had to purchased the bit that this would be required because he had a drill with the bit that we needed. I then walked over to the hardware isle and looked at the screws that I would need for the concrete. I did not really see much there but I think that the ones I need are 1.90 and I will need lots of these so will see how much it will cost. I need to remember to take pictures throughout the day so I can include them in these journals. After I was done with the store, I went to the chiropractor’s office. I did my routine and I had a new person give me a back massage. She was interesting and at the same time very pregnant. However, her touch was sensitive and soothing. She also massages my arms, which was different and lubed her hands with sensual oils more than once. The only complaint I had was that she was not rough enough for me and I did not want to ask her to go harder because she was seven months pregnant and her breathing was a little heavy. After I was done with the back routines, the chiropractor said he wanted to see me two more times and I scheduled another appointment on Tuesday at 5:30. When I got home, I changed to my gym clothes and drank an IDS BetaNOX pre-workout citrus drink. I drove down to the gym and after throwing my stuff in a locker and began my workout session. My routine was as normal and I worked up a nice sweat. I am feeling more aggressive with my routines and my breathing patterns are controlled. I do feel that my joints are in pain and I do not know if that has anything to do with the IDS Mass Tabs that, I have been taking. I will have to do some reading on this online. It could also be the yard work I am currently working on which has my hands all busted up. At some point, I looked at the clock and saw that it was after 8:30 so I wrapped it up and drove home. When I arrived at home, I took a shower, prayed for Andrew and watched a movie called Skeleton Crew with Jazmin and Yolanda. Jazmin has been lovingly pestering me to watch this movie so I watched it up to a point. I got tired so I turned it off and went to sleep.

Day 24

I got up this morning in good spirits. It is Sunday morning and I want to go to church and get me some spiritual education. Everyone got up and everyone was energized and just as excited as I was. Yolanda asked if I wanted to go downstairs and have a cup of coffee and I told her that I would join her but I would have my shake. I prepared my IDS protein shake and swallowed my IDS Mass Tabs and additional supplement pills. After my family was ready we got into our car and began our drive. When we got to church we arrived a little early and so we waited a few seconds and took our seats. The worship music was good and the message was enlightening. After we were done we were all a little hungry so we drove down to Al’s Beef. The other day I was watching Man Vs Food and the host was in Chicago and he interviewed the owner of Al’s Beef and did a behind the scenes how the beef is prepared. It caused me to become curious so I go on the internet and found that there was a franchise in Oaklawn on 95th street. I drove down there and ordered a 6 inch Italian beef, with sweet peppers, mozzarella cheese, and had it dipped. I also ordered cheddar fries and a small coke. We ate our food and it was good but I did feel that for the amount of money that I was paying for the sandwich that it should have been larger especially since I did order it with extra meat. I don’t really know if I will be going back. I also thought that Al’s beef becoming a franchise has diluted the true meaning of it original intention and the décor is in tune with every other wannabe trendy establishment. After we were done we came home and I was going to work in the backyard but decided against it. I had a nice long conversation with my son Andrew and we were able to go over sensitive issues that we are both working on in our relationship. I think it was promising and I am hoping and praying that it has resolved some conflicts. Instead of working I decided to go for a run since I had not ran the neighborhood track in over a week. After drinking my IDS BetaNox drink for added energy I flew out of the house running. It was scorching hot above 90 degrees and I knew this but it wasn’t going to stop me. I started my run and at first it I started ok and felt like I was in the zone. A few minutes into it I started to sweat and my body began to cool itself off. The air was dead and I felt like I was sucking in heat. About 3/4th of the way into my run I was feely really hot and my head started to hurt and I felt the heat waves penetrating my head and wearing a black hat didn’t help the situation. I walked the rest of the way and when I got home I was drenched in sweat. I took a shower and got relaxed. I noticed my brothers tried to reach me and I called Julio back and told him to come over so I could update him on the dog that he was taking to his home. He also was coming over with the rest of my other brothers to play some softball. When he came over we had a little meeting and I explained Bugsy’s habits and way of life. We decided to give them our dog because my brother has three little kids, Julian, Jacob and Emily that they are in love with him. They have never owned a dog but Bugsy is so playful and Emily is attached. We already have Rocko so it only made sense to give it to a family member. After everyone showed up including my father we went to the baseball park and had a very nice family softball game. Once we were done we came back home and sat around the table having left over Mexican food and playing Uno cards. Pablo had to leave to drop off his sister in law but on his way back he picked up some pastries and Yolanda made some coffee. At about 9:00 everyone who was still at my house gathered their belonging and called it a night. This was a good day.

Day 23

It is Saturday and I woke up this morning early since I wanted to start the backyard project as soon as possible. I got up at about 7:00 and got ready to go to Lowes since I had to purchase a manual post digger to help remove the access dirt that would be 42 inches under the ground. When I went into the bathroom to get ready I noticed it was raining and that really bothered me. I was upset because I was hoping that it wouldn’t be raining since I was going to spend the day in the backyard under the sky with a rented hydraulic auger that had to be back by 4:00 and the weather was reporting scattered showers. Yolanda and I got ready and we drove to Lowes. When we got there I went directly to the gardening supply isle and picked up my post digger for 35 dollars. After we left the store I thought about buying a fold out 10x10 size tent to use as a rain umbrella so that if I had to work in the rain I would at least not get wet. The weather was currently raining somewhat badly so I after I drove away from Lowes we drove down to Home Depot. I asked an attendant if they had any tents and he pointed to a 200 dollar model. I thought at the time it was two expensive so I drove back to Lowes to see what they had. On the way there we stopped at Star Bucks and Yolanda ordered a medium coffee and a bagel. When we got to Lowes they had only one left and it was more than 200 dollars so we left and as I was leaving we stopped through Dunkin Donuts and I purchased a toasted raisin bagel with strawberry crème cheese. At this point Yolanda looked up the Wall-Mart web site and she saw some tents for a cheaper price. We got to Wall-Mart and I purchased a 10x10 size tent for 150 dollars. I loaded it in the car and we drove home. As soon as I got home the rain stopped and it didn’t rain for the rest of the day. I woke up Andrew and asked if he could get ready to help me. I opened up the garage door and pulled out and pulled the hydraulic auger to the back yard. I started immediately drilling the post holes and ran into obstacles while doing so. Some of the holes had old underground wires that need to be snipped and other had rocks while yet others had roots. At some point my Father and my brother Pablo showed up and helped me finish excavating the holes. We were finished at about 1:00 and we hitch the auger to my father’s truck and took it back to the rental place. On the way back we stopped at Menards were I was ready to spend some good money on 14 2x6 by 16 feet long wooden decking planks with the 8 post hole cylinders and brackets but because someone there didn’t do inventory control and restock the one of the brackets I needed we terminated the purchased and went to Home Depot. When we got there I was able to pick out the wood planks with my brother and everything we needed was there. My father pointed out some fasteners that I could purchased that would allow the decking boards to be mounted without nails and it would give it a better finished look. When we checked out and pulled the cart to my father truck we placed all of the planks from the back of his truck window and it rested right next to the front dash board. I was frightened that the planks would be so heavy that the back door of the truck wouldn’t be able to sustain the weight. I drove back home very slowly with the hazard light on and we were able to make it with no incident. I called Yolanda on the way back and asked if she could order a pizza. The pizza arrived after we unloaded and we ate a good meal with Coca Cola. My father left and Pablo stayed to finish finalizing one of the holes. After my brother pablo left I stayed in the backyard cleaning it up and I took to two piles of dirt that we mounted up from the holes we dug and I spread it out evenly across the surface and then used the flattener to flatten it down. Once I was done I showered up laid down and worked on my laptop. I also had my IDS protein shake, Mass Tab pill and additional supplements. I also had a cup of honey nut cheerios. Yes, I didn’t take my shake and pills in the morning but in honesty I completely forgot since I was running around and started working immediately after getting back from the store. There was talk about another family softball game and my father was invited. I also attempted to watch a movie called skeleton crew with Yolanda and Jazmin but I fell asleep on it.

Day 22

Hey everyone today is Friday again and it seems that I was just riding about last Friday yesterday. It is amazing how fast the days go by. Today was somewhat of an interesting day. I got up at my regular time and the day started well. I took a shower got ready and I walked downstairs into the kitchen. I prepared my IDS Protein shake and swallowed my IDS Mass Tab with additional supplement pills. I didn’t take any lunch with me before leaving the house. I walked over to the bus stop and sat on the bench waiting for the bus. It was only a few minutes of waiting but as usual the bus arrived and I got on it. I listened to my Microsoft Zune and about 15 minutes later I switched over to the train. When I got on the train I turned on my laptop and started typing yesterday’s journal. I wasn’t able to do it the night before because I was simply too tired. I knew that today was going to be a slow day and was looking forward to it because I need to modify my drawings based on additional recommendations my father and I pointed out. Before going home I asked my wife if she could find a place where I could rent and hydraulic auger and just before I was going to leave she called a site called A&H Rental on 105 S. Harlem. They had the auger for 6 dollars cheaper and it was also closer to home. They were going to close at 5:00 so I knew I had to leave earlier to get to the store on time. While at work I worked on the drawing and spend some time perfecting it to the best of my ability. I did have my coffee early in the morning but later about brunch I was invited by Gio to go to Dunkin Donuts and purchased a medium coffee with a raisin bagel and strawberry cream cheese. This is the first time that I have strawberry cream cheese and I got it on a recommendation from Gio. I have to say that this was the best bagel I have had in a very long time and that’s that I am not much of a bagel guy. After 2:00 I gathered my things and left to go home. I called my father and had him come over at 3:15 so we could go to the rental place. I had him come with me because his truck has a hitch and I needed that to pull the auger home. When I got home Yolanda was preparing the kitchen for her guest. Every other Friday she had her friends from Church come over for a ladies bible study and today one of them was also having a birthday so they decorated the table. I waited till about near 4:00 before heading out with my dad and we were able to go to the rental store and pick up the auger. When I got home we pulled the auger into the back yard and adjusted the strings we ran the day before. It was a nasty and ugly day with rain coming down but it didn’t stop us since time is everything on this project. We were able to mark our post holes and then remove the strings. We started drilling and we go so far into the first hole before we were stopped by an object. We skipped that one and went on to the next. We took it as far as possible. It is a dirty job and since it was raining it added weight to the dirt so it was hard pulling up the drill from the hole. After 6:00 we stopped and stared cleaning up. My father was able to eat some dinner my wife had made and I followed after him when I was done picking and cleaning up. I was going to finish the night by resting since I know tomorrow morning is going to be such a busy day but I felt awkward since I had not gone to the gym since Monday. After Yolanda’s friends showed up I dressed in gym clothes and took off to the gym. I will have to say that I didn’t take any IDS pre-workout stuff and my workout was very different. I am in a little of pain and I feel my joint are not acting normal. I couldn’t really push as much weight so I kept it light and added more reps and sets. I did have an awesome workout regardless if it wasn’t aggressive in the sense of massive weights. I left the gym at 9:00 and when I got home I took a shower then poured some coca cola in a glass and had a piece of birthday cake. The read of my night was watching Man VS. Food.

Day 21

I woke up this morning and got ready for work. I went down stairs to the kitchen and prepared my IDS protein shake and my IDS Mass Tab with my additional supplement. I am heavily minded with this deck project and sometimes I feel that I have gone over my head with this one. It seems like there are so many details involved even before one piece of material is even purchased. I am taking the challenge and I will see this all the way to the end. If there is something about me that is that I don’t quit. I tend to do things under my terms but through the struggles of any process I do get to see the other side. I went to work today and worked on the usual projects. I did have a small cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts and a Chocolate frosted cake. For brunch I had left over rice, beans and steak in sauce. After 12:00 I went with Wilson in his car to his son’s workplace. Michael is a police officer and when we got to his station he was able to give me a tour inside the station. I got to see some cells and the gym. Wilson and Michael had lunch at and they went to a sushi restaurant. I ordered the lunch special which included a mini egg roll, soup, and some noodle with some sauce, shredded peanuts and chicken. After we were done with lunch Michael went back to work and Wilson and I drove back in Michael’s car since Wilson swapped his car so Michael could take it to the mechanic shop. When I got back to work I wrapped up the day and left at 3:45. During the day I did call Lowes to make sure someone was going to work on my material list. I spoke with Tim and he did call me later that day and told me that he finished my quote. On the way home I called my father to find out if I need wood to create the framing for the strings that need to run across the job site in order to determine the accurate dimensions for the post markers. My father told me that he did not have any wood and that I needed to buy it. When I got to Lowes I picked up my material quote and purchased 6 2x1 8 foot long wood boards. I came home and changed to get ready to work in the backyard. My father showed up with his tools and we began cutting down the wood board and made several wooden stakes. We laid them out and using a sledge hammer pushed them into the earth and in position. We then used the construction strings and squared everything out. After we finished this we went over the drawing and the design again and we both recognized several errors in the diagram again. Geez, this part of it is frustrating. We realized that the post will need to move over slightly to the right or left so that when they are dug and set that they are between the joists which will be 16 inches from center. We also noticed that the post position at the east edge of the deck need to be set back about 1 ½ inches. After we were done, Yolanda served us 2 tamales with sour cream, green sauce and cheese with a cup of coca cola. At about 8:00 we stopped the project and I wrapped up the night on my laptop, watching TV, having a cup of ice cream cookies and cream mixed with milk. Finally, I fell asleep.

Day 20

Today I woke up on time got ready went to the kitchen and prepared a delicious IDS protein shake with my IDS Mass Tabs and additional supplement pills. I am writing today at 8:00 and I didn’t work out tonight like I said I was going to. I will explain that in a minute. I went to work today and started my day with a medium cup of coffee from ROM. When I came back to work I had it with two thin slices of pound cake. Work was OK and nothing new to report. I called my father and asked him a few questions about the backyard project and also to find out if he had a hitch for his truck. I told him I rented a hydraulic auger for the hole digging. This will make the job much easier. For brunch I had a homemade sandwich and an IDS creatine lemonade drink. At about 12:45 I took a walk over to Sears and purchased some construction line, a line level and some carpenter’s pencils with a sharpener. On the way back I was a little hungry so I decided to stop into McDonalds which is very rare for me to do. I came back to work and finished my day as normal. I ordered a double cheeseburger, small fries and a large coke. The rest of the day went uneventful.

On the way home I was thinking about the gym and my body was sore from the night before so I was more inclined to jog and ride my bike today. I received a text from Yolanda who asked me if I wanted to walk and ride the bike instead. She also was thinking the same thing. I had Yolanda bring my deck folder that contains my drawing and when I got picked up we went directly to Lowes. I was able to speak with Alonzo who helped me put design the backyard deck on his computer with my size specification. Unfortunately, my design is customized and the computer program does not allow alterations. What this means is that the final output with 3D drawings will show what it thinks should be the structural design of the deck. This doesn’t work for me since I have been approved the building permit based on my submitted design. The cost of this package at Lowes is 2,000 which is 300 dollars more than Menards but it also is based on better wood material and my choices of wood design is also better.

After I came home Yolanda had already started cooking. She was making rice, beans, and broiled steak in meat sauce. I went to my room changed to some shorts and a t-shirt than I lay down and napped for about 20 minutes. I got called to come down to eat and was still determined to workout at home but after I finished my meal I became sluggish and my body was exhausted so I instead went upstairs and rested on my bed. I turned on my laptop and watched a few stupid internet videos and got up a few times to go over to Jazmin’s room. Yolanda purchased some primer and paint at Lowes and is currently painting Jazmin’s bedroom set and will then paint her room. They color theme is a blue and brown color. I finished the night watching the vote off from America’s Got Talent.

I wonder as I write this how many people are actually reading my journals.

Day 19

Today I got up a little late. It was 6:30 when I finally rolled out of bed. I was tired from the night before since I was up until after 12:00 finishing up my required deck diagram for the City of Burbank. After I got ready I went downstairs and prepared an IDS protein shake and I swallowed my IDS Mass Tab pill with the additional supplement pills that I am taking. While in the kitchen I made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread. I rolled it up in a paper towel and stuffed it into my work bag. This morning wasn’t a good day for my daughter. At one point I was in my bedroom getting ready and she came in crying and point towards her bedroom. I was a little confused and asked her what was wrong but she kept pointing. I thought the worse and ask if the dog was dead since she tends to have our shitzu “Bugsy” sleep with her. She said that wasn’t it and then said to look at the ironing board. I walk up to it and saw that her brand new pair of glasses she just got the day before was completely destroyed. Apparently at some point of the night she let Bugsy sleep with her on the bed and he got a hold of them and chewed them ripping off the legs and scratching the lens beyond repair. I was upset since this would be her second pair because the dog had gotten a hold of her original pair of glasses. I had just paid 150.00 for these. Bugsy had also destroyed her mini ipod a few weeks before. I told her she should go to the eye doctors “Americas Best” and see what they could do about this unfortunate mishap. Later during the day she did go and they were very understanding and ordered a new pair of glasses free of charge. Moving forward I drove into work with Yolanda and got to work at about 8:00. I started my day productively and continued to work on my pending projects. One of these projects dealt with allowing a third party developer to access a few IP addresses via TCP ports. They originally were having issues connecting but it really turned out to be confusion on their side. For lunch I met with Yolanda and I invited Wilson to come with us. We went to our daily favorite restaurant and I ordered a chicken pita with cheese, fries and a coke. We talked about the deck project and family issues I also handed Yolanda the new updated drawings so she could submit them to the City of Burbank. When I got back to work towards the end of the day I had a IDS creatine lemonade drink and did a few reps on my office dumbbells. I am currently on the train riding back home typing out this log and will continue it later tonight when I get back from my chiropractor appointment and the gym. I have to go to the gym since I didn’t make in last night. On my way home I got a call from Yolanda that the City of Burbank approved my drawing and gave me a permit to build my deck. YEA!!!!. I am so happy. The only thing they said I forgot was the rodent mesh I need to install under the deck. I called my father who also that it was great and we will be getting together on Thursday to line up the markings for the 8 holes I need to dig. I will be renting a hydrolic Auger for this job. I got home and spoke to my brother Julio. I told him that we were OK with giving Bugsy to his family if he wanted him. Oh yea, while he was over on Sunday there was talk about the being interested in taking Bugsy and adopting him into their family. Being that his kids are attached to the dog I think it would be a great match. After speaking with him I went to the chiropractor and took my drawing plans for my deck. He looked over the plans and recommended how to lay the decking planks and also suggesting renting a hydraulic auger because it will dig the holes faster and protect my back. After I got my treatment I went back home and got ready to go to the gym. I prepared a IDS BetaNOX drink and took a water bottle. When I got to the gym I was a little disappointed because since I don’t go to the gym on Tuesday I realized that on Tuesday it is very packed with people and I literally had to pay attention to machines to become available. During my exercise I was very quick with my sets so I didn’t rest in between and this was intentional. I wanted to sweat and have my heart rate up for most of my routine. My workout was about hour and a half. When I was done I walked over to Yolanda who was on the treadmill and told her I was ready to go. We got in the car and drove over to the mall to pick up Jazmin, Greis and Leanna who were at the movies watching transformer. When we picked them up Greis had left over food and I was able to eat a Taco Bell Burrito with a cup of milk. After eating I went upstairs and started watching Americas Got Talent and finished typing this journal.

Day 18

I woke up this morning with the sound of an instant message notification coming from Yolanda’s I-Phone. I nudge her and verbally alerted her about it. She reached over and grabbed it and the message came from Greis who was letting her know that she had walked to work. This would be the first time Greis walks to work which is about 20 minutes away. The only concern we have is that it is really early in the morning since she starts at 5:00. During the night I had a dream that I actually remember which is rare. I also remember that within my dream I shared my experiences of what I did in the dream within the dream to someone else in my dream as if I actually was doing what I was doing inside my dream. As to what the dream was about is really not important so I won’t waste time going into it. After getting up and getting ready I casually walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. I prepared an IDS protein shake and swallowed my IDS Mass Tab and the additional supplement pills. I kiss my wife and proceeded to work. When I came in I got the announcement that there was a network issues going on. How much I hate to have network issues on a Monday morning. Here is the deal with what happened. We have a Cogent point to point 1 gig connection from 318 W. Adams and 350 E. Cermak. Over the weekend Cogent had performed maintenance on their network equipment which caused a broadcast storm. This broadcast storm caused the interface on Cogent’s interface to go into error disable and trigger the interface to shutdown. After doing some troubleshooting we noticed that there were several logs generated on our switch located at 350 E. Cermak which referenced spanning-tree. In the past we have experienced these messages and we are aware that they indicate a broadcast storm. We had the Cogent technician look at their interface and they confirmed this to be a fact. After they reset their interface everything came back up. I personally believe that this issue should have been discovered by the provider since they provide us a service and they were the ones that did the maintenance which resulted in our loss of connectivity. Being that this line is a secondary backup line we never received any logs indicating any change state on the interface. The manager of networking department held the position that we should have seen this before Cogent and that we should have called them on it. His view of the matter is that Ricky who comes to work early enough to look over the system and verify that everything is well should have checked the line status. I agree but only if he has been told to do so in the past and if he wasn’t occupied with other morning routines that are not in the norm which would have prevented him to check the interfaces. I also disagree with the manager but only on his harsh delivery approach regarding his concerns. For lunch I had some leftover food from the night before. I packed up and ate 1 cheeseburger, 2 bratwursts, and 1 pork chop. I had mixed up and 1 IDS creatine lemonade drink. I flushed down my food and proceeded to work. I think I am 90 percent complete with drawing the schematics needed for the City of Burbank. After work I will stop by and have my father look over them before I submit them for approval. I will include my design in this log to let anyone who is seeing or reading them gets a chance to view by creation. I think that it came out nice for it being my first time. At the end of the day I did drive over to my father’s house and showed him the drawings. We instantly saw some errors and he recommended for some adjustments to be made. I stood at his house for a little while and enjoyed a cup of coffee with some deep fried pork chunks. I know this is really bad and I don’t know if God is tempting me by putting all of this food in front of me but I do fall short and give in. I am just glad it doesn’t happen every day or that I don’t crave it so bad that I pull money out of my pocket for it. At the end of my visit I decided that since I had to continue drawing on Microsoft Visio my diagrams that I would go home and spend the evening in front of my computer doing just that. For the evening I had an orange juice and cranberry mixed drink and stayed focused until 12:00 in the morning. I then went to bed. I plan to double up my gym time for Tuesday and Wednesday so I can get back on schedule.

Day 17

Good morning and its Monday the time now is 7:15 and I am on the train getting ready to right about how Sunday was lived. On Sunday morning I woke up a little tired since I didn’t get enough sleep because of my late night at my father’s block party. I got up and got ready for church. As I have said in the past, when it comes to Sunday the beginning of the week I feel that it is personally important for me to attend a church service with my family and find it to be spiritually empowering and enlightening. After getting ready I found myself in the kitchen and prepared a banana IDS protein shake and I took down my IDS Mass Tab and supplement pills. We all jumped into the car and drove to church. We visited Morriane Valley Church and I think I am going to continue to do so for the rest of August. It was a very nice service and the message was very good. I really enjoyed when a military personal came on stage and explained what his duties were and that he was going back to Iraq to carry out only mission. We prayed for him and his family and it was a moving moment. The worship music was good and I really focused on my unique personal relationship with our God. After we were finished we walked around the church building in order to get better acquainted with the facility. Since our first visit we go directly to the stadium seating and back to the car when it’s over. After we drove away I went to Menards and cancelled my order. I had just ordered all that material the day before but while going over what I had purchased based on a design from a Menard’s computer it was realized and pointed out by my father that it wouldn’t work. As it turns out the height of the deck proposed by the software was too high for my specifications. While at the store I purchased a hand held shovel and some gloves for my sidewalk project and we made two extra keys for Andrew and Greis. On the way home I mentioned to Yolanda that I was hungry and questioned her about the Bob Evans breakfast patties that we had in the fridge. I love me some Bob Evans. When we got home she started to cook breakfast and I was told to relax so that I could eat before going out to the yard to work. I took the advice and when downstairs to the family room. Lying down on the couch I grabbed the remote control which has a missing battery cover that needs to be found and turned on the TV. When the food was ready I was called up and sat on my favorite side of the table and feasted on one pancake with fresh strawberry and whip cream smothered with syrup, 3 Bob Evans sausage patties, 2 crispy bacons, warm scrambled eggs, homemade potatoes skillet , a cup of coffee and a small glass of orange juice. After eating my delicious and scrumptious breakfast I got dressed with my yard work clothing and as soon as I was almost ready the door bell rang. I answered the door and my father was paying a visit so we could go over our schematic and finalize the design we would need for the deck. I now know what that is and will be working on creating the necessary documentation that will be required for the building permit. After my father was ready to go I walked him to the car and received a call from my brother Julio. Julio informed me that all my brothers and sister wanted to get together and hang out. They wanted to play some softball and possibly have a cookout with some cheeseburgers and hotdogs. This of course would place a pause on my backyard productivity but I am never one to bypass family time since we are never promised another one. My sister Annette was at the grocery store with our mother at the time so she purchased all the goods and we all agreed that everyone would show up at 4:00. When everyone arrived we all gathered are stuff and headed over to the neighborhood baseball park. We divided the team up separating all the players which consisted of all of my brothers and sister-in-law with all of our nephews and nieces. It was a really good time and this event was way overdue since we had not come together in over a year and a half. After the game was done we all went back to my house and I turned on the grill, setup the corn hole game, turned on some music, unfolded the chairs, pulled out the meat and began the family backyard festivities. My wife Yolanda took the first turn cooking as I was setting up and I finished the last batch of meat cooking. For dinner I had 1 cheeseburger with no toppings, 1 bratwurst, 1 pork chop and something to drink. My brothers and family played with the bean or corn bags and were tossing them back and forth while some of nieces and nephews played badminton. A few of the ladies were in the kitchen including our mother talking and everyone was just having a great Sunday afternoon. The only missing was my Brother Pablo’s wife and my Son Andrew who was working until 10:00 that evening. At about 9:30 everyone either was gone or leaving and after they left I took a shower and got ready for bed. Before falling asleep my son came home and I had a discussion with him regarding his premature notification of employment termination at Dunkin Donuts. I advised him what day should be his last day and was very stern with my decision. I hope he comes back to me and tells me that everything is going to work according to what was planned. Good night.

Day 16

It is Sunday night and I am writing my journal for Saturday. It was a very busy day on Saturday so I didn’t get a chance to write my daily log since I got home at 12:30 in the morning. I paused for a few seconds to turn on the ceiling fan. Nice refreshing air. Ok, so I got up early and couldn’t go back to sleep. I turned on the TV and waited around for my chiropractor appointment at 8:00. I got up about 20 minutes before the appointment and after getting ready I went down to the kitchen and prepared my IDS protein and had my IDS Mass Tab and supplement pills. I told my wife I would be back and I go into my fuel efficient Nissan Versa and drove about 4 blocks to the chiropractor’s office. You are probably thinking why I took the car when I could have just walked. I did so because the office opens at 8:00 and I didn’t know if it would be opened when I go there or if the doctor was running late so I thought ahead of time and said to myself that I at least listen to the radio and relax in the car until he showed up. It was only a few minutes into my waiting time when Dr. Martin drove up. I said my greetings and he put me through my treatments. I got into conversation and mentioned that I was building a deck and we spoke about how he built decks when he was younger. He gave me some valuable tips and I was very grateful. I will have to mention that I think Dr. Martin is a good person and I am glad he is performing my back treatments. After I was done with my treatments and the new exercise routines to strengthen my back I went home. When I entered the house Yolanda wanted to know if I wanted breakfast and I declined and said that I wanted to go to Menards Building Center and work on customizing a deck on the computer so I can get a print out of all the materials I would need and some design schematics to go over with my father. I asked her to come with me and after I was done with the design and going over it with the Menard employee the bill for all the material was going to cost me $1800. I did not freak out and knew based on the fact that my deck size would be 24x14 that this would be a reasonable price. I would have wished it was Cedar wood but that was double the money. Instead, I designed it with pressure treated wood and that after it would dry I would paint it with solid decking paint. I called my father while at the store and told him about the cost and that I was going to place the order and have it shipped by this Friday so we could start building it on Saturday. I applied for a Menards credit card and after being approved I placed the order and left the store.

On the way home I got a hungry so we randomly decided to go to a Mexican restaurant next to the IHOP on 79th and Harlem across the street from Kmart. I will have to say that if anyone ever reads this that they do not ever consider going there. The service was crappy and the food was 10 times worse. It is overpriced for the quality they offer which isn’t quality at all. When I got home I got ready to work in the yard. I figured I could at least start moving my 2x2 slabs over to the side of the house and start dropping down the slabs and build out my sidewalk from the front of the house to the backyard. This project is tough and challenging. It is not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Working with rocks and moving them around, using a level and a pry bar to lift the slabs so I can level it to its adjacent slab isn’t easy. It is heavy and tiring. The day wasn’t as nice and it was partially drizzling so that didn’t make it any fun. After a while I noticed the time was getting late and that I needed to take a shower and get ready for my father’s annual block party. We got ready and Yolanda made a Robert Redford pie desert with a broccoli salad. I took my corn hole game and we drove down to my father house. After everyone arrived we had a good time and we played softball, a little soccer and some football catching. I ate skirt steak, pork chop, rice, broccoli salad, a slice of Robert Reford pie and I had 2 Pepsi cans. I did not drink any beer even though the option was there. I pulled out my corn hole game and it was an instant hit. Everyone took turns playing the game. The night coasted along smoothly and at 12:30 I wrapped it up and said good night and went home tired. I crashed instantly.

Day 15

It’s Friday, YEA!!! TGIF. I love me some Fridays. I got up today know that I would be having an interesting day. I think my journal as I write it is going to be small and you’ll see why. After getting up going to the bathroom and doing my daily thing I went downstairs to the kitchen and prepared my IDS protein shake and took my IDS Mass Tabs and supplements pills. I decided against lunch and said my goodbye to my family. I walked over the bus stop and sat down, turned on my headphones and waited. I looked up and the bus just passed me up so fast that it didn’t even see me sitting on the bench. I got startled but then saw another bus right behind it and I calmed down. It just so happens that both the 379 and 384 arrive at my stop almost at the same time which was really stupid for Pace Bus to do since a few months back the 384 arrived at my stop at 6:37 but for some unknown reason they moved it and now it arrive at my stop at 6:50 just like the 379 bus. Anyway, after the bus ride which arrives at Midway Airport Train Station, I catch the orange line to downtown. I sat on my favorite chair which happens to be the corner single seat chair since I can watch my laptop and not have to worry about people seating next to me looking over and starring at what I am doing or watching. I did spend some time looking over the book my father let me read regarding building decks and I must say that I learned a lot by reading and looking at all the wonderful illustrations that book has to offer. When I got to work I finished configuring my Brother in Law’s First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana firewall. As I mentioned a few posts back, I am installing and we have donated tons of Cisco equipment to the church and one of those pieces is a Cisco Pix 515 unlimited user license firewall. After I finished this and caught up with Ricky I decided that I needed to get something to eat since I was going to spend the rest of my day in a waiting room. I crossed the street and entered the Willis Tower. I walked into Corner Bakery and ordered and bacon, egg and cheese Panini. I took it back to work and enjoyed it with some kitchen brewed Star Bucks coffee. After I was done eating I printed out the instruction on how to get to Northwestern Hospital.

My brother in law slash manager of the company I work for had some medical routines he needed to get done and he needed a designated driver after he was done. His wife parked the car in the parking lot and gave Ricky the keys in the morning. I took these keys got in his car and drove down to the hospital. I parked the car in the hospital parking lot and walked over to where he was waiting. We talked about work related issues and then he went to go do is procedure. This was at 10:45. I sat there with my laptop and finished watching a documentary on the legalization of cannabis or hemp then I watched a comedy movie. My battery died just as the movie was over so I stuck my laptop in my bag and asked the nurse about Wilson status. She told me he started late and it would be a while before he came out. I decided to walk to the car and throw my bag in the trunk so I wouldn’t have to lug it around. When I came back into the hospital I saw a cafeteria and I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese on a jalapeño bagel with a small cup of coffee. I sat in the eating area and after I was done I walked back to the waiting area and turned on my Microsoft Zune. During these times I did catch up on my reading and read my AP news application for my blackberry 8900. I also took some work calls and was able to take care of some work related ongoing projects. By about this time which was 3:30 I was bored and actually laid down across several waiting chairs and was in and out. I received an email from Wilson wife wondering what was going on and since I didn’t know I asked the nurse and as she was find out Wilson came out and was done. We got in the car and I drove down to where his wife works. I got out of the car said my goodbye’s and walked a block to the train station.

On the way home I stopped at Home Depot to find out how much it would cost to rent a jack hammer. I also asked about decking wood but the person in charge of helping design the material list wasn’t in. When I got home I decided to go to the back yard and move the remaining 2x2 slabs and then I attempted to move the huge concrete slab. It was hard but I did manage to wrap a steel cable around it and using a steel bar I was able to push it away from the house. I thought I could save the entire slab but it was deformed at the bottom so I took a sledge hammer and pound the crap out of it. After it cracked in so many different parts I used my 2-wheeler and hauled the rocks across the yard to the other side.

After I was done I drank my IDS BetaNox drink and got ready to go to the gym. I got on my motorcycle and was at the gym a little after 7:00. I took the time to record my workout sets for today since it is the last day of July. I think I had an awesome workout and when I got home I had my daughter take some pictures and also got on the scale. I came in at 210. For dinner I had a bowl of honey nut cheerios with a banana and 2% milk. I guess my journal wasn’t going to be short after all.

Here is my last day of July workout log: Here is how this goes. The first number is how many times I did it and the second number is how much weight I pushed, lifted or pulled. The comma is the end of the set and the period is the end of the exercise.

Pactoral Fly: 12-135, 12-150, 10-120, 12-90.

Shoulder Press: 12-100, 10-110, 10-90, 15-60.

Lateral Press: 10-90 , 10-60, 15-60, 12-60, 12-45.

Arm Curls: 12-80, 12-100, 8-100, 10-80.

Seated Dip: 15-210, 13-255, 12-195, 15-150.

Seated Rows: 12-105, 12-105, 12-105, 10-120, 10-120, 10-120, 8-135, 8-135, 8-135

Lat PullDown: 15-105, 10-120, 9-135, 8-150

Back Extension: 20-280, 20-280, 20-280

Triceps Extensions: 20 100, 15 110, 12 120, 10 130

Incline Chest Press: 15-135, 20-150, 12-165

Shoulder Press: 12-110, 11-100

Abdominal: 40-50, 25-70, 25-70

That's it for this night.

Day 14

Today is Thursday and I woke up on time and ready to get to work. I again did my daily routine and how repetitive this sounds by now. Geez, I wish I could come up with something more exciting to say but it is what it is as I am sure it’s the same for many. After I got ready I went down stairs and made my IDS protein shake this time throwing in a frozen strawberry from the smoothie frozen fruit packet that Yolanda had purchased a few days ago. I also took my IDS Mass Tab and additional supplements. I will be honest and say that it is 9:44 if the evening and I am tired. I have been working on creating a design for the deck that I am building on paper. Well, actually on the computer so I can print it and take it to city hall for a permit. I am exhausted and my wrists hurt or are in pain today so typing is difficult. I just finished drawing the design on Microsoft Visio and was going to print it when I realized that I uninstalled the printing software yesterday as I was trying to reinstall it since I couldn’t scan the survey of my land. So, I had to go downstairs and fix this on the server and after doing so I decided to type out my log here on the server. Getting back to this morning, I didn’t take a lunch because I still had my left over food at work in the refrigerator. When I got to work I began working on my projects and didn’t buy coffee at Dunkin Donuts. At some point in the morning I had kitchen brewed coffee which is pretty good considering that it is Star Bucks grounds. I added regular sugar but not to much. For lunch I had my left over cheeseburger, a fruit cup and some wheat thin chips with my IDS creatine lemonade drink. After the day was over which was rather late since I had to work with AT&T to downgrade our MPLS bandwidth from 10 Megs to 3 Megs, I gathered my things and left the building. Getting back to AT&T for a minute I want to share some frustration. We have a MPLS network connection because we have an office in Red Bank, NJ that needs connection back to Chicago. AT&T is the only carrier in the building so we created an MPLS network connection. The problem that I have is that we decided that they didn’t need all the bandwidth that we were offering so it was costing a pretty penny to keep paying for useless bandwidth. Instead of AT&T cancelling some of the circuits we didn’t need and configuring the router they issued us they instead order new circuits and provide a new router. This to me doesn’t really make much sense. At the end we have to submit a cancellation for the unused circuits and ship them back the original router. By the time I was done testing and wrapping things up I missed my chiropractor appointment which was at 5:15. I called them and rescheduled for Saturday at 8:00. I arrived at Midway airport train stop and Yolanda picked me up in the van since I had to go directly to my father’s house to pick up the two wheeler. When I got there I hung out with him in the kitchen and he showed me a book he purchased on building decks. I showed him the design I created on my building deck software program and showed him the 3D view mode. We had coffee and some buttered bread. On the way out he gave us an album and other scented goodies to make the house smell good that he had an abundance of since he works for a distribution warehouse that carries these things. On the way home I was hungry but I waited until I got home to decide what to eat. During my conversation with my father he said I should remove the concrete step slab that was installed by the builder. I was so hoping that I didn’t have to do that. I changed to my backyard work clothes and began digging around the parameter of the concrete slab in preparation of demolishing it or prying it out so I can use it somewhere else. At this point Yolanda had to go pick up Jazmin from marching band practice and she went to Chucks restaurant and ordered a chicken sandwich with fries. I ate have of it and saved the other half for her.

Day 13

Today is Wednesday and the days are ticking away like seconds. It is amazing how fast these days go by. I woke up at 6:00 with the alarm going off on my blackberry but I snoozed twice and woke up at 6:20. I knew today would be the day that I would bring Andrew to work since Wilson my brother in law slash the Chief Technology Officer of the company I work for wanted to take him to lunch and spend some one on one time with him since Andrew is leaving to the Air Force in a couple of months. I rolled out of bed and did the whole bathroom daily ritual thing then went down stairs to the kitchen and prepared my IDS protein shake and swallowed my IDS Mass Tab and supplement pills. Yolanda purchased bananas and other additional frozen fruits like strawberries that are packaged so that they can be inserted into smoothies. This morning I decided to add a half of banana to my shake to sweeten it up and make it taste a little better. After I drank my shake I packaged up some lunch which was a left over burger that was cooked up on the grill the night before and a fruit cup. After Andrew got ready we were driven to the train station. When we got to work we almost immediately walked out to dunkin donuts with Ricky, Gio, Andrew and I. I ordered a small cup of coffee and a chocolate frosted cake donut. When I got back to work I started my projects and I also was able to acquire some software that allows me to design homes and deck designing and then view it in a 3D model.

For lunch I was approached by Gio and asked if I wanted some Mickey’s Chicken which is a takeout restaurant that is famous for the jumbo deep fried chicken strips and fries. I knew I had brought some lunch from home but I am weak and so I decided to fold in and went with Gio, Franky, and Johnny. I orderd three jumbo battered deep fried chicken fingers and fries and a side of ranch dressing. On the way back to work I came across a sign for a Chinese resturant that I thought was funny so I took a picture. "Hot Asian Buns" What?

Wilson took Andrew to lunch and they went to Nuevo Leon which is a very popular Mexican restaurant on 18th street. After coming back to the office I had my food with a cup of water. I just realized as I am writing the journal that I completely forgot to take my IDS creatine lemonade drink. Oh well. During the day I did contact the City Hall of Burbank and received some information about a building permit and they said I needed a land survey which I didn’t know where that would be since I have been in my house for over 10 years. Yolanda called City Hall and she was able to get a few copies from them. I will now need to draw in where I plan to build my deck and then submit it for a building permit. Today, Yolanda took the car in for a repair check since our 2008 Nissan Versa was experiencing a problem turning on. When you insert the key and turn the engine, sometimes it takes a little while in cranking before it turns over. It turns out that there was a recall with a component that can cause this issue. Our car is still under warranty so it was taken care of. Since the car was at the shop some additional maintenance was done and my bill came out to $250.00. After work was over we drove down to the Nissan dealer ship and picked up the Versa.

When I got home which was earlier than normal since I left at 2:45 which I typically leave at 4:00, I was able to get ready for the gym and was working out by 5:00. This is awesome because I usually start at 6:00 or 6:30. Yolanda and Jazmin came to the gym and they were able to work out and do their routine. I hit the gym super hard since I knew I was a bad boy with what I had eaten for lunch. After our workout we came home and it was still light enough outside to commit an hour out in the backyard. While I was back there I went to the alley to retrieve my recycle trash can and said hello to the neighbor across the alley. She is doing fine and her husband Frank is still recovering and collecting compensation from an accident in which I person in a car ran him over as he was throwing away trash for the waste management company. Back to the yard work, I was able to pull up the remaining slabs while Yolanda grilled some cheddar polish sausages. I called my father and verified that my two wheeler is at his house so I will pick it up tomorrow night so I can use to move the concrete slabs in position to where I am building the sidewalk. After I was done I ate two cheddar polish sausages one with guacamole and the other with ketchup and mustard. I drank a cold miller light and the food was yummy.

Day 12

It is Tuesday and I woke up sore from last night’s work out. I also had a difficult time going to sleep last night and at 11:30 I got up with my wife making noises. She was cleaning the little mess that our Yorkie “Rocko” made under our bed. He was kicked out of our room and his bed was moved out into the hall. On top of this commotion Rocko wouldn’t want to stay in his bed so I had to force my voice to make him stay. It was the second time of doing this that my daughter stepped out of her bedroom and took Rocko with her. I could not go back to sleep so I pulled out my laptop and watched the remaining part of a movie called “I Love You Man”. I also took some medication for a cough that I am trying to get rid of. I finally fell asleep at 1:30 and I got up tired but hoping for a good day. After a shower and brushing my teeth, my wife ironed my clothes as she always does every morning. I have to say that this is great and she is amazing in more ways than one. I finished getting dressed and went down to the kitchen to prepare my IDS protein shake and I drank it with my one and only straw. I swallowed my IDS mass tab and my supplement pills. I kissed my wife goodbye and off to work I went. Work was productive and I was able to take care of more tasks that manifested in real-time throughout the day. When I got to work I went to dunkin donut and had a small cup of coffee. For lunch I had a delicious ham and cheese with bacon on wheat nut bread and drank an IDS creatine lemonade drink. At the end of the day I performed a small work out session with my office dumbells. On the way home I stopped at Lowes and purchased a 3 foot level so I could use it when I begin building out a sidewalk along the side of my house. Part of my yard work will be to remove the 2x2 concrete slabs that were placed down to make a patio flooring. Since I will be building a wood deck these will be removed so I decided that it would be best to make a sidewalk with them. After I got home I got ready to go to the chiropractor at 6:00 and was back home by 7:00. After I got home Yolanda had a delicious and juicy beef burger with cheese and guacamole and I had it with a cold blue moon. After I was done eating dinner I called my father and he told me he was already putting together a list of materials that we would need. I updated him on what I had already done in the backyard and that I was planning on removing some of the 2x2 slabs.

After starting the removal of the slabs I was able to remove half of the patio and place the slabs up against the house. By the time this was done I was tired and it got late. I put away my shovel that I was using as leverage to lift the slabs and came inside to wash up. I opened the fridge and saw a 2 litter of Coca Cola so I poured some in a glass and added some low fat soft vanilla ice cream as a substitution for ice. It was yummy.

Day 11

It is Monday and I woke up prior to my alarm waking me up at 6:00. I have to really go to the bathroom so I get up wishing that I would have slept up until then but rather I get up about half an hour before. I find myself back in bed and wait it out. I did wake up hungry and need to eat. After getting ready for work I went to the kitchen and fixed up a cup of Honey Nut Cheerios with 2% milk and I also prepared my IDS Protein Shake and consumed my IDS Mass Tab and other supplement pills. I did my regular routine and rode the bus while reading my AP news of the day. It is amazing how much crime happen in the city of Chicago. It is obvious that the political powers that be are preventing the local news from releasing all the murders and shootings that are happening on the southeast side of the city. It is kind of depressing but I am so thankful that I remain safe and pray that something positive happens in the city to slow down or stop it all together. There must be a solution to the insanity. Anyway, when I got to work I am already aware that Ricky is troubleshooting a technical problem that is very serious and must take priority over everything else going on. Below is a write up that I put together regarding this incident but before you read it I must say that at 10:00 I had a bacon, tomato, cheese on wheat nut bread with a small cup of dunkin donuts coffee. For lunch I had a peanut butter granola bar with a cup of water and during the day I also had a cup of IDS creatine lemonade juice. What follows is my explanation to the incident that we experienced at work. After my explanation I will proceed with what I did after work.

This morning Ricky was notified that the office in Garden City could not make any inbound or outbound calls through their local voice router gateway. The PRI is provided by Light Path and they were called and a ticket was generated. We attempted to troubleshoot the problem up to our capability with Light Path but with no success. We escalated our troubleshooting skills by involving our voice consultants and they determined that the problem was not physical but logical in the configuration of the carrier based on error codes and debugging techniques.

Throughout the day Light Path insisted that they did not make any changes and we had them dispatch a technician on site to further investigate this problem. While at Garden City the Light Path technician plugged the PRI into their equipment and verified that they were able to make and receive calls when bypassing our voice router. However, when connecting it back to our voice router the problem would continue to exist. We did reboot the router via a soft and hard reset and even swapped the CSU/DSU to another slot which required a reconfiguration of our router.

Since the issue wasn’t repaired we opened a ticket with Cisco and had an engineer continue to further troubleshoot the problem and they also said that it appeared to be a configuration issue on the carrier’s side of the circuit. During the progress of troubleshooting with Light Path they did make configurations changes and by the end of the day we were getting inbound calls and the phone would ring but after picking up the call the phone call would be silent then it would disconnect. We were still unable to make outbound calls.

By the end of the day the Cisco engineer assigned to the case transferred the case to the second shift Cisco engineer who reconfigured our voice router back to its original state It was at this point that the problem was finally resolved. It is obviously apparent that something was changed at the carriers end since our router is configured to its original configuration prior to this incident.

When I got home I came hungry so I had two cheddar filled hot dogs on two hot dog buns with mustard. I prepared to go to the gym and drank an IDS BetaNOX drink and took a bottle filled with some IDS Waximizer, Gatorade and Water mix. I went to the gym and hit it hard. It was seriously a good session. Yolanda and my daughter Jazmin came with me and my wife showed her some of the routines. After the gym we passed by dunkin donuts to visit my son and I had a small soft ice cream in a cup with chocolate fudge and a splash of whip cream. YUM!!!

Day 10

It is Sunday morning and I am up at 8:30. I remembered that I didn’t submit my log for the day before so pulled up my laptop which I have on my night stand since I leave it plugged in to keep the battery charged. Yolanda was already up and getting ready for church service. She was making coffee and wanted me to join her. I took several minutes finishing my log entry and then I got up and began getting ready for church service. On Sunday, I always take the beginning of the day to surrender some of the time that my creator allows me to have and give it back and congregate with others who are like minded. I don’t claim to be a fanatic or an extremist and actually I am just like anyone else with wonderment of the unknown and I seek to relate with others who also are within the same atmosphere of curiosity. After getting ready I went downstairs to the kitchen and my wife made me a cup of coffee and two waffles. I decided to hold off on the IDS protein shake and instead I poured some orange juice in a cup and used it to swallow my IDS Mass Tab and supplements pills. I finished my coffee and had my waffles with butter and syrup and then proceeded to church. This week we visited EBC which we have been attending for over 5 years and currently we also have been visiting MVC a couple of times because we enjoy listening to and learning from various biblical perspectives. After the church service was over I headed home and when I arrived I got ready to work in the back yard. My back yard has been neglected ever since I had the pool removed last year. I also had a trampoline that was thrown away so both circles of where the pool was and the trampoline caused two major bald spots one with lots of sand and the other with dirt. By now these two areas had all types of natural growth all over the place which made the yard look horrible. After taking my IDS Protein shake for added energy I began getting to work. It was at this moment that my father Jose and my brother Pablo stopped by for a unexpected visit. I was right in the middle of putting together a list of things that I would need to buy at Home Depot or Lowes. I mentioned to my father what I was planning on and I told him that I also wanted to build a deck while I was at it. I asked him if he would help me and of course he said yes. I will be building a 24’ by 14’ deck in the next few days. It is my first time but the cool thing is that I am not afraid to get into things since I enjoy learning. I will be taking pictures as the yard progresses. I am concerned how this will work out with my exercise schedule but I will always get to the gym since that is priority. By the way, the reason why I am redoing my backyard is in preparation for a farewell party I am giving my son as he heads off to the United States Air force in October. After my dad and brother left which was after we had a cup of coffee and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich I began by pulling out old shrubs and plants. I finished this part of the job by mowing the lawn. I took a long time since the details add time to the clock. After I was done and dirty my wife called me in for dinner. I had spaghetti with meatballs, 2 bread rolls and a beer. For those that are against drinking and find it taboo I understand your views but those are yours and I respect them. I finished the evening with a nice shower and laying in bed watching lockup raw and typing this post.

Day 9

Today I woke up to a nice Saturday morning. The sun is out and the temperature is warm. I fell asleep late on Friday night so my eyes opened at 9:00 in the morning which is late since I usually wake up at 6:00. After rolling out of bed which was a little difficult to do since I felt like my body had just been hit by a truck after last night’s workout I managed to go into the bathroom and begin preparing. Getting dressed and then drinking my IDS protein shake and taking down my IDS Mass Tab and essential supplements I mentally prepared for my Saturday morning jog. After walking for two blocks to 76th street and plugging in my ear plugs I turned on my music which I always do when running since it helps distract time I started my run. After 3 miles my body temperature was hot and I was sweating. I was suppose to jump on my bicycle and ride the same 3 miles but I was too tired so instead I took a shower and got ready for my daughter’s summer band camp family picnic which started at 12:00. My daughter needed to get dropped off earlier so I rode her on my motorcycle then returned with my wife and a few fold out chairs. We watched her and her band perform some marching routines and I was also able to go out on the field and while holding her shoulder she performed a marching routine and I followed. It was a nice time. After that part of the event was over the band parents cooked up some food and I had a hotdog, cheeseburger, pasta salad, a slice of water melon, a piece of strawberry cake and a coke. Seems like a lot of food but I was hungry. Afterwards we came home and I literally slouched around. At one point I noticed one of my dogs face and saw that Rocko’s hair was long and covered his eyes. I grabbed him and trimmed his facial hair so he could see. He loves when I do this and remains perfectly still while I am trimming him. For those wondering what kind of dogs I have, I have a Yorkie, and a Shitzu. After I was done I rested and even took a nap. My wife Yolanda woke me up and told me we had to leave. Today was the day that I would hold up football yardage markers on the field with my brother Julio for the semi-pro Chicago Mustang team at Morton West and Jazmin would sing the National Anthem. We left and arrived there at 4:30. Andrew couldn’t come because he had to go to work at dunkin donuts and Greis our unofficial adopted unofficial God daughter was unable to come because she had to go to work at the hair solon. When we arrived we saw a few people scattered about practicing and getting ready for their first home game of the season. This is a brand new team so it was a huge moment. Fast forwarding in time my brother showed up my daughter sang the National Anthem and it was amazing. I will be including a video of that so you can see it. I was able to perform as a yardage marker holder even though I lack the knowledge of the game. It was very interesting and I was able to be up close with both football teams and hear both perspectives. The night ended with us driving back home and we stopped at White Castle and I had 4 White Castle cheeseburgers with fries and a coke. Yum!

Day 8

So this morning after taking my IDS protein shake and my IDS supplement mass tab capsule I fixed up a delicious peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. I placed it into a sandwich bag and tossed it into my work bag. I turned on my Microsoft Zune and flipped some music while on my bus ride to the train station. The day was beautiful and the temperature was perfect. When I got to work I immediately began to work on projects and cases. When I had a moment I took a walk with Ricky for some coffee. I thought about what type of coffee I wanted from dunkin donuts, caribou coffee, ROM coffee, Starbucks coffee or McDonalds coffee. I stopped into caribou coffee and saw that a medium coffee cost $2.00 dollars which I thought was rather expensive. I decided to go to ROM coffee and paid less than $2.00 dollars for the same size cup and the coffee was good. It went perfect with my P&J sandwich. At 10:30 I went to a meeting dealing with a product that we are considering purchasing and within the meeting there were several product specialist that explained technical diagrams drawn on a whiteboard. If we decide to move forward with the new technical solution we will be spending about $70,000 dollars. It is steep but will be well worth it and will allow our technical services to be moved to another level of professionalism. For lunch I went across the street and entered the “Willis Tower” formerly known as the “Sears Tower”. There is a restaurant called Venice Cafe within the lower level that serves Italian food such as pizza, pasta, salad and sandwiches. I chose to have clam chowder soup and on my way back to work I got an email from someone where I work that had chicken tamales so I picked up 2 of them. I had my IDS creatine lemonade as my drink of choice. Throughout the day Ricky, Johnny and I lifted the dumbbells which allowed us to get some exercise.

When I got picked up at the train station Andrew told me he had purchased a nacho platter which is made with cheese and barbecue beef and that he was only able to eat ½ of it. I warmed it up and ate it knowing that I shouldn’t but it was too good to refuse. I rested for about an hour and prepared an IDS BetaNOX drink and got ready for my workout session. Yolanda and I decided to drive instead or riding the motorcycle since it looked like it was going to rain. We got to the gym and immediately began the intensive workout. I like to take my Friday workouts and hit it really harder then the Monday and Wednesday workout sessions. I was sweating a lot and didn’t take many breaks in between sets. Prior to going to the gym my brother Julio called and said that my other brothers Daniel and Pablo and their family were going to the park to play softball. After the gym session I went to the park and played a game of softball then went to my brother Daniel’s house and sat around the kitchen table drinking coffee with a piece of coffee cake and we had great conversations. At the end of the night we picked up our daughter Jazmin at her friend’s house and I heard her sing the national anthem several times. She will be singing tomorrow for the Chicago Mustangs Football game at Morton West high school football field at 7:00 in the evening.

Day 7

It’s Thursday evening and I am watching a movie called lies and illusions which I thought was going to be a good movie but turned out to be a B rated flick with cheesy acting. I would not recommend anyone watching this movie unless they have about hour and half of absolutely nothing to do. The evening is coming to an end and I think I had a good day. This morning after having my delicious IDS protein shake and my IDS Mass Tabs with my vitamin and B12 capsule, I made a sandwich with ham and cheese on wheat and went to work. After settling in I got up and went to Dunkin Donuts with Ricky for a cup of coffee. I ordered a small cup with a shot of espresso. I returned back to work and enjoyed my hot cup of coffee with my sandwich I made before going to work.

Work was rather interesting and I will attempt to spill out some of it into words so that you can understand a little of what I do during the day. One of my projects will be to develop a in-house marketing material that will display a network diagram showing the layout of a redundant network with dual mirrored storage area network devices consisting of 10 terabytes. This will also include two ESX VMware virtualization servers that will allow multiple virtual servers to run on one single box and it be synchronized with a redundant VMware virtualization server to prevent any single point of failure. For those that are reading this and do not have any understanding of networks then this will make absolutely no sense. Anyway, for lunch I went to Venice Café with Gio and had lunch with Joel and Gio. I ordered lemon chicken and angel pasta with red sauce. The food was really good and the conversation was even better. During the day I had my IDS creatine lemonade drink and started working on a firewall that will be configured for the First Baptist Church of Hammond Indiana. I am currently under charity configuring a full network setup for their new administration office building. In my office I have some dumbbells and I did my usual end of the day reps and ended my work day.

During the train ride home I felt tired and fell asleep which isn’t uncommon. When I arrived at home I laid down for about ½ and hour then got up and finished a water bottle of mixed water and IDS BetaNOX. I then changed and strapped on 10 pound ankle straps and a 20 pound chest vest for a total of 30 extra pounds. After getting ready I took a 3 mile fast pace walk with Yolanda. It felt really good and I have to admit that I was able to finish this walk without feeling really tired as I did before in the past prior to my commitment of continued exercise and the added benefits of IDS Sports supplements. After this walk was completed we got on our bicycles and invited Greis along and we rode the same 3 miles. We stopped on our way back to see my daughter Jazmin practice on the field for marching band. She has been playing the flute since fourth grade. To wrap up the evening we went to a taco restaurant and I ordered one chicken taco with lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream and one steak gordita with everything. I had milk as my chose of drink.

Day 6

Good evening the time is 9:07 and I am now lying in my bed with the laptop propped up on my lap. I am watching America’s got talent on the TV and typing away on the keyboard today’s entry. This morning I got up feeling good as I always do especially after seeing the Chiropractor the night before. I am getting four different treatments and they alternate depending on the situation. I sometimes get a massage first which is really good and I love the pain so I don’t mind the massage therapist working deep in the back muscles. They then have me lay down on my back over a machine that rolls in waves up my spine. After that I am laying on my stomach and they have these probes on my back which release an electric charge and I have them throttle that up as much as possible. Finally, I get my back cracked by the Chiropractor. It is very interesting and I really feel better after the session is over.

So this morning I did fixed up an IDS protein shake which is a combination of one scoop of IDS cappuccino flavored protein offering 24 grams of good stuff with 2% milk and a little chocolate syrup to give it some flavor. I always add some ice and mix this up in a blender. I took out my weekly pill dispenser and swallowed my IDS Mass Tab, one a day men’s vitamin and b12. Later that morning after getting ready I caught my bus and train and walked into work. Today was a productive day to a certain extent. For lunch I warmed up left over Chinese food from the night before with an IDS Muscle Volumizer Pink Lemonade drink. After the day was over I went home and got ready to go to the gym. I mixed up some IDS BetaNOX with some water and poured it down my throat. I had a hardcore workout with my wife again and we were able to go through all the machines that I tend to use regularly. I will have to say that this is day 6 of taking the IDS Mass Tabs and I do feel stronger. I am somewhat of a skeptic so I must say that even if this system didn’t really contribute to reengineering my physic it does make me feel that way and so I force myself to push the limits of the weights and I am lifting, pushing and pulling heavier weights. I finish the exercise routine with 20 minutes of high intensive elliptical motion.

Here is a couple of pictures that I had my daughter take since this is a science experiment then I should include some historical pictures. I will take pictures every six days and show them online.

Today, my son found out he will be taking on the job of an Air Force Integrated Avionics Systems Engineer and will be going to boot camp on October 1st. I am so proud of him and I know he will do awesome in all he does. We are beginning the planning stages in setting up a party for his farewell.

Day 5

This morning, after taking my IDS supplement pills I packed up my bag and proceeded to the bus stop and waited patiently. Catching the bus is something that I do most days since it takes me straight to the train station stop. I got on the train and found my little corner and played some music in my ears while I read the AP News from my plug in application in my black berry. I am currently typing out this blog this morning on the train since I was too tired to write it out last night. The work day went smooth and I was able to work on a few projects. During the day I did mix together some IDS Pink Lemonade Creatine mix with water and I was also able to drink another full cup of water. For lunch I had a Ceaser Salad with a mixture of chicken pasta with a piece of bread. After getting picked up by my wife at the train station I decided to buy some Chinese food since I had gained an appetite. I ordered beef fried rice and some curry chicken which by the way was very delicious. I had a chiropractor appointment at 6 which is session 5 of 8 so it is almost over. In case you’re wondering why I have to go to a chiropractor I will explain. A few weeks ago for no unknown reason I was bending over to pick something up and it appears that I pinched a nerve which felt like my muscles went into spasm experience and I was in pain for a while. This happened again a few weeks later so I said I needed to check this out. I am going for treatments and should be good to go in a few weeks. I did not work out today which is rare. I instead went to a friend’s house who just purchased his home not so long ago. I strapped on my motorcycle helmet and jacket and rode through the forest preserves to get to his home. It was an enjoyable time. I am feeling like positive changes are happening everywhere. I also found out that my son is going to the Air Force on October 1st which is exciting and terrifying for both him and I.

Day 4

I got up this morning to get ready for work and I of course had my IDS protein shake and IDS Mass Tab supplement capsule. I have to find a way to say that without it sounding repetitive. Some would say to simply just not make any mention of it unless I forget to take them. This would work but this is a journal that is also acting as a log so I must make mention that I did take the IDS products. Work was interesting and I performed my function and held up to my responsibilities. For lunch I walked with my nephew who works in the same company to the DMV since he wanted to exchange his Florida driver’s license to an Illinois driver’s license. On the way back to work we stopped at Wendy's and I had a double cheeseburger meal with fries and a coke. I know what you thinking... I should have not had that but I was so hungry and I needed to eat meat. The day went on and when I got home I had an IDS NOX drink and I also had a b12 pill for added energy. Finally, I added Gatorade into a half water bottle and the other half I mixed with water and an IDS Waximizer powder packet. After this task was complete I loaded up my wife on the back of my motorcycle and went to the gym. I had a great workout and for the first time my wife walked through my workout and she was able to go through my routine using her ideal weights. I completed the workout with a 15 minute high intensive elliptical machine. For dinner I had a chicken sandwich, breaded mushrooms and a cup of coke. I wished I would have had a cup of cereal with 2% milk but I gave into the chicken for the added protein.

Day 3

Today is Sunday and I got up this morning and had my morning protein shake and my supplement pills. I did notice a little pimple on my upper back and they say that these mass tab pills can cause pimples and I hope this is a normal pimple from working out rather than a side effect. I will be watching myself closely. After leaving church service I went over to my mother's house since I haven't seen her in a while and took her to Huck Finns restaurant for breakfast. I had a Mexican omelet with egg white and a cup of coffee. After coming home I went for a 3 mile jog and then I cut my front grass and trimmed the bushes. Afterwards, I went to my nephew's baseball game and invited them over for coffee. Later that evening we decided against the coffee and instead we warmed up left over pizza and buffalo chicken pieces. I consumed some of this food and really felt guilty doing so. Oh well. We only live once even though we should try to make it last. I don't feel too guilty since I will use this eating experience to work out harder tomorrow. I always feel that I should work out harder when I eat unhealthy. I am wrapping up the night and will be getting ready to go to sleep. My stomach feels bloated.

Day 2

It is Saturday morning and the time now is 8:21 a.m. I just finished drinking my IDS protein shake. This 5bl bucket comes with a scoop and one scoop mixed with 2% milk gives you 24 plus grams of protein. I take this with to Vitamin Shoppe b12 capsules, 1 one a day men’s vitamin and 1 IDS mass tab capsule.I am going to introduce you to the supplements that I have and started taking. I think this will be important for everyone to know. Oh, if you ever are interested in purchasing some IDS products let me know. Ok, here we go.

Complete Multivitamin Plus More† for Men to Support:*
Heart Health with Vitamins B6, B12, C, E and Folic Acid
Healthy Blood Pressure†† with Calcium, Magnesium and Vitamin C
Healthy Eyes with Vitamins A, C, E and Zinc





A dynamic blend of herbs, super foods, and botanicals with vitamin B-12 for those desiring a natural energy boost without caffeine.






Mass TabsTM is made up of an updated molecular structure designed to remain in the body longer and further resist breakdown by the body over anything previously seen. The result is a more effective, longer lasting strength and mass building compound with the same low side effect rate.




Multi Pro Whey Isolate™ is a great tasting, quick-digesting pure protein source fortified with vitamins and minerals ideal for gaining or losing weight.





Muscle Volumizer combines both Titrated Creatine and Di Creatine Malate using the blood vessel dilating power of AKG as a pump inducing rapid delivery system. This powerful combination yields both fast acting strength results and lean body weight increases with dramatically improved recovery.



BetaNOX pre workout intensity drink quickly buffers lactic acid, preventing the normal pain associated with intense training. At the same time BetaNOX spikes Nitric Oxide levels in the blood helping to increase blood flow to working muscles creating Flash Pumps! Engorging muscles and swelling every blood vessel along the way in just seconds!


The evening is here and I think I had a good day. My brother called and asked if I wanted to go for a bicycle ride. We drove down to Willow Springs and pulled the bikes off the car. We cruised for a long distance about 1 hour and 45 minutes of high intensive cycling. I was able to have conversations with him about home life, work life and life in general. There is nothing like an awesome relationship. Anyway, I was able to go to the Toys R Us store and we purchased some leap frog educational toys for our God daughter's 1 year old birthday party. I wrapped up the day by having a cheese burger, broccoli salad and some potato chips.

Day 1

For starters, I am Jose M. Laboy and I am currently 38 years old. I have been working out since my early 20's on and off over time. Most recently as of this February I decided to take it up a notch and get serious with my workout. I am tired of feeling that I was a little to round around the mid section and so I decided to reverse that and find a place outside of me that I could feel comfortable with my outer appearance for the rest of my life. I have a membership at Bally's Total Fitness and I workout at least 5 to 6 days a week. I go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and sometimes once on the weekend. On Tuesday and Thursday and sometimes on the weekend I will jog 3 miles and then ride my bike the same distance. This is a life style that I have decided to hold on to for long as I physically am able. I do not want to get very spiritual in words but I do have to quickly and honorably say that my driving force behind my existence is the creator who allows me to live.

A little bit about my background must be mentioned in order for you understand who I am and where I come from. I was born in Chicago in 1971 in the month of April on the day of the third. I was raised in the concrete jungle of the streets within little village. Growing up was rough but I survived it. I wasn't much of an athlete but did ride my bike up and down the streets throughout my younger life. In high school I played trumpet up until my junior year and then proceeded to getting my GED which followed college in the studies of computerized business and accounting. Ever since my professional career has been based on technology and I am currently a Cisco Network Engineer which consist mostly of sitting down and watching computer screens.

Clearly my lifestyle doesn't consist of much physical activities so I must implement exercise routines to balance out my physical requirements. I have suffered from weight fluctuation and throughout my life I have been physically semi fit or over weight with that extra unwanted tube around the waist. Either way I have never been truly physically fit and at the age of 38 I have decided to spend the rest of my life attempting to achieve a physical level that I have in my mind.And so, I recently met up with my nephew in Florida who works for the IDS Sports distribution warehouse and he was able to send me some samples of their products. I tried them and liked them so much that I purchased some of their products. The purpose of my blog is to report my progress as I pursue to develop a physic that will make me feel healthier and stronger. I am going to be writing specifically about my intake of MASS TAB and report back on how I feel, and if there are any changes that I can see or sense outside as well as inside myself.

This morning I took my first MASS TAB from IDS Sports. This is a 30 day program in which I am to take one pill a day. I am taking it with an IDS Protein shake, 2 b12 and 1 one a day men multi vitamin. I am suppose to drink plenty of water and will be taking one pack of IDS Bio-Engineered Waximaize which is a complex carb dietary supplement that you mix with water. It contains creatine, testosterone boosters and amino acids. I will include photos of myself as soon as I can.