Stuff

I have been on the Nutrisystem diet since July 1st now. I started at 250 pounds (or pretty close) and this morning I am at 213. That is a 37 pound loss so far. I have about 6 or 7 weeks of food left and because of recent financial changes I have decided to cut myself off after it runs out. I need to be hard nosed this last 6 weeks because I am so close to my goal, which is first to crack the 200 pound barrier and then proceed down to about 185 pounds. That is 28 more pounds which is a daunting take to be sure but i have sacrificed so much and stayed so strong and true to the course and now I am closer to my dream and goal than at any time before I simply cannot and will not fail.
I did find out one thing though; losing this weight did not end all my troubles and make me instantly happy. Far from it. I get an odd compliment here and there and a few select people have noticed but mostly nothing has changed. I have noticed that my 'mobility' as a musical performer has changed dramaticly though.
And another bonus is that I can now see my Dick when I pee!
That was a big thrill.

Woodstock

I was watching the documentary titled Woodstock, then and now. Very cool.
It always seemed so huge musicaly that I almost forgot that it was only a 4 day event and that by the 4th day it was mostly over.
My step-brother Rick Burrow was in from California and he wanted to go and wanted to take me with him. I was 15 years old.
Rick had long hair and beatle boots and my dad, his step father, thought he was a communist out to overthrow the American way of life which, for him, was Hank Williams, truck driving, hard liquor, and cheating on his wife(s).
He didn't say no, he said hell no.
Rick left without me but I think he got sidetracked too and never ended up going himself.
So I almost attended the most significant event in modern musical history.
Thanks to my father I missed it.

Arbogasts

I was on CASE.NET today looking up random names and decided to look up my own. Case.net is the home page for Missouri court cases. There are over 40 listing for people named Arbogast! Most of them are orders of protection, spouse abuse, divorce, and traffic tickets. I just got one thing to say; All you freaking Arbogast's out there please get your collective Sh**t together and quit despoiling my last name. I carried this name for 55 years and never did anything to tarnish it.
It's enough to make a fellow want to change his name around here.
Hmmm, I really like Italian food;
From here on out my name is Rudolpho Laspara!

Watching TV

I was just watching one of my favorite Will Smith movies on the tele tonight called I ROBOT. The basic theme turns out that the main computer gets a mind of it's own and trys to take over the world. The computer, called Vikki, gets destroyed by Will Smith in the end. I can speak from experience when I say that any evil controling bitch named Vikki getting destroyed before she can take over the earth is a good thing for all mankind.

Work

Things have stabilized a bit at my job at the MFG plant but its still not good. The Central Scrutinizers (as I have aptly named them) are still there. The plant is very slow and several shifts are laid off so they are not doing much work. Hence there is much less for me to do BUT the Central Scrutinizers are boasting that because of their diligence they are saving the company money (spent on me). I would tell them and anybody who wants to hear that this is bullshit. Things are slow and sales are down so production is down and changes are almost nonexistent in the plant right now. Everyone here is slow (except the Central Scrutinizes who, as always, thrive in times of trouble and dispair). These guys are simular to funeral directors. When things are at their worst their business is booming. While I still like some of the people here there are some that have moved from that list. Some people here (one in paticular) don't seem to realize than you cannot screw someone over and still expect to be friends with them. Unfortunatly, this truth will probably not be seen by them until the day I am removed permanantly from here. After that point it will no longer be nessessary for me to play the nice good old boy game with them. I will not be mean or a jerk because that is just not my nature but I will no longer associate with them. I really hate wasting so much print and time venting about stupid stuff but I have no where else to get rid of it. During the last 8 years when things were tough I always knew I have this place to fall back on. No stress and rewarding work for wonderful people. The Central Scrutinizers took all this away in one fell swoop. For a time at the begining they were even trying to get rid of me by having others come in to bid and also investigating my past proceedures and work history. That failed, as I knew it would but the head Central Scrutinizer kept trying until other stuff finally got in his way. So, now what once was a peacefull wonder place is a lions Den.
My good friend Madeline told me that "it's true that things have changed but always remember that things will change yet again if you wait long enough". That is my trouble; I hate to wait!

Nutrisystem

Well, I was listening to my old Jethro Tull records a couple of months ago and came pon the song titled 'Fat Man'. Ian sings that he dont want to be a 'fat man'. I was getting a little sick of it myself so my wife and I decided to try something to change it. I tried Adtkins a few years ago and lost 40 pounds, even kept most of it off when all the other Adkins people around me gained it all back but that diet is really hard on your system if you suffer from Diverticulosus, as I do.
The Nutrisystem diet food is mostly a calorie count diet; 1500 a day for men and 1200 for women. I started at 245 pounds on June 1st and as of today, August12th, I am 219 pounds for a total so far of 26 pounds. Not bad but not good enough yet. My eventual goal is to break the 200 pound barrier. When I hit about 225 things began to slow considerable and that has been a little disheartening but I am still on track. Its a little tough but so far the benifits are worth it. I guess the most dissapointing part is that not a lot of people seem to notice it much. Its pretty bad that you are so dam fat that you can lose 26 lounds and nobody notices it at all. This will change with the next 20 pounds though. I figure it shoulf take me another 2 1/2 to 3 months tops.
The food is really very good and, though its not a lot, it is filling.
Its not really much more expensive than regular food. Considering that i dont eat out fast food anymore and only buy vegies to suplement the regulat nutrisystem meals it works out to about the same as if i were shopping for everything and hitting Mac D's once a week.

My day job

I work for an electrical contractor during the day and for the past 6 or 7 years I have been working steady at a manufacturing plant as the resident voice and data tech. We had a great thing going there and I did my best to provide the best service I could going above and beyond much of the time. About 2 months ago they hired a new finance guy who came from, of all places, one of the big three auto makers. I cannot understand why anyone would hire a finance guy from a company that has been begging billions from the US Government and is still about to go under. I have (or had) a sparkling reputation there. Received many comendations and letters of thanks from the management over the years. I worked hard to consoladate as many of the jobs as I could to give them extra bang for the buck and save money time and time again.
This new guy requested to speak with me and had "questions" so I was forthright with all my answers and basicly a good doobie. He took the things i said and imedeiatly sent out an email requestion to get my pay reduced, suggested I was unqualified to do parts of the work (programming the phone system) and suggested that we were charging them no matter if I was there working or not!! Of course when I confronted him with this he denied it and said I was out of line and that he was very complementary of me. It has been a long long time since i have met such a lying SOB as this guy. Now they have brought in his pals to try and take over my job. All the people that I had worked for there are begining to run for cover to save their ass's. It is a sad end to a great place. I made many friends there that i shall cherish and miss; Walter, Madeline, Ann, Sue, Cindy, Barb, Jeannie, Pat, Bill, Gerry, Linda, Brad, Chuck, Jennie, Clem, and even some of the plant people like Greg, John, and Chuck. You all made me feel so welcome and like I really belonged somewhere for the first time in my life. I shall cherish the feeling as long as I live and be greatful to you all forever. My wish for you all is that you can survive this man who seems to hold everyone's fate in his cold lying hands. He has a couple of helpers in all this too. For the time being they will reign supreme but things always change and they will fall from grace. When they do it will be a friendless cold fall. I will celebrate silently when I hear the news.
To my good friends; Love and luck.
Mark

Jobber Musicians

I hate to use this forum to vent and I know I will probably take a beating for this one. I live in St Louis Missouri. Over the last few years I have had to search for replacentments for my band now and then when a player decides to move on. Reguardless of the position each time I place an ad I would get answers from what I call 'jobbers'. These are musicians that are like hired guns. They will play with anyone anytime anywhere. Some of them are players in weekend bands and try to get fill in gigs whereever they can during ther band's off days. So why, you might be asking, do I have a problem with this/
I will tell you. These are musicians that could not make it as a professional but didnt want to join society and get a regular job. Many of them work part time in a music store or giving lessons but play for a living. My problem is that guys like me go to work, earn money to buy the PA equipment nessessary to do the gigs and do all the legwork to book the jobs and whatever else is required to put a band together and keep it busy. The 'jobber' player shows up just to make his/her money and thats it. They share no risk or responsibility. What'a more, they have a personal schedule that they are constantly trying to fill so while you are working to put money into everyone's pockets by booking work they are actually working against your interests by booking their own personal schedule that will in all likelyhood conflict with yours. And when it does conflict with yours guess who will get the short end of things? Well, It wont be them, I can assure you. The the majority are drummers and to a man they are really great guys. It's a livestyle for them. I feel a little sorry for them because sooner or later father time will catch up with them and they will have to join the working world. They will be old with no skills, no pensions living in an apartment or trailer somewhere eking out a living hand to mouth.
None of the bands I know around town job out with 60 plus year old guys unless its the symphony.

Drummer Joe Donahue

It is with sadness that I report that our drummer, Joe Donahue, will be leaving the band. I have been with Joe a little over 2 years now. When I was looking for a drummer I auditioned many guys and had not found anyone that was what I was looking for. Just when I had reached total dispair over the situation Joe emailed me. He had been in a very popular wedding band in Boston and had relocated to St Peters. I had figured "wedding band drummer. . yeah right. . .this guy is probably pretty average".
I could not have been more wrong. Joe was far and away the best guy of them all. Joe saved me and the band and helped establish us as a real force in the St Charles area. Joe has a quiet leadership and wisdom that I could always turn to when I needed it. He helped me work through some trying times. That wisdom along with his solid drumming will be greatly missed. I am so very grateful that he took a chance on my band even though the time was way too short. Just in case I never said it before I want to say it now. Thanks Joe, thanks so much for everything. I will miss you terribly my friend!!

New Singer

We have a new lead singer named Ron Smith. Ron is a great guy and a fine singer and I am real happy to be working with him. He brings a much higher vocal range to the band and allows us to play material by artists that we have not been able to do before like Forigner, Led Zepplin, and Queen.