Week started out fun with a prom (April 21st) (as exausting as it was), then found out one of my army friends was coming back for about 2 weeks...

He's on route for home and found out his dad has Pancreatic cancer, which is cancer of the pancreas.  Most recently found out he has less than 1 month.  Its one of the most painful types of cancer there is, and practically 100% fatality rate even when caught fairly early.

On the brighter side, we went to watch the midnight 1st showing of Spiderman 3 tonight, great special effects, starts out good, great idea for a story, ending seemed way too rushed even for a little over 2 hour movie.  Would of been perfect with a 2 1/2 hour slot, and a few 'smart ass' spidey comments.

The 2nd of my good friends just got married last weekend (April 28th).  Both of them are now parents... well 1 is, other one is due to be one in a few months.

3 weeks ago I paid up front for a 3 week newspaper ad for my DJ business in the bridal and prom section of thenewspaper.  They sent me a bill today... for some reason I really don't want to pay for it AGAIN...

I also just realized I haven't filled my car up with gas since March 17th... I guess walking to work most of the time really adds up... (work is only 3 1/2 blocks away)...  We'll just say I didn't realize how much gas went up until today.  I still have 1/4 tank...  ^^;

Did a prom in Dodge, Ne today.  It was a lot of fun.  Day started at 4am... worked until 1pm at Hy-Vee, went home, finished packing a couple of things, namely my Tuxedo and my Computer, day ended at about 3am when I had unloaded my computer, tuxedo and was finally ready for bed...  did I mention I had to be up at 7 to work the next day?

Had to unload everything by myself, haul it inside myself... hadn't counted on 2 little things....
* no airconditioning in the prom building
* a full flight of stairs to haul everything up...

setup a large fan, and everything was good, kept the dancefloor full from the start to the end of the night.  at least I had quite a bit of help at the end of the night hauling everything outside.  I think the kids were willing to keep it up for another 2-3 hours  ^^;

2 days ago I had a stiff neck, didn't think much of it, figured it would go away in a day or two.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I wake up, I felt just fine, then I made the mistake of moving...  P A I N... I have a very high pain tolerance, but this was pushing it.  Shattered left elbow (mild) Dislocated right shoulder (mild) Dislocated right knee (mild, but medium to severe if I tried to use it for a while) Bruised & partially separated right knee... (mild unless I agitated it at all, then it was very severe pulsating pain).  That stupid pain in the neck topped them all  T.T

It must of taken me 15 minutes to find a way to just get out of bed...  The pain was on the right side of my neck, and my right arm was tired and felt exhausted all day. 

Now for some fun... I'm thirsty, can't move my neck at all and I can't find the package of straws I know are in one of my kitchen drawers...  Patience finally pays off, I managed to find them.  You know, they're right, whatever it is you're looking for, really is in the last place you would ever think to look for it...

Advil you say, didn't phase it.  Tylenal Maximum strength - Artheritis you say? nope, barely phased the pain.  I managed to find some Anacin about bedtime, 3 of those finally did something.  Woke up at 3am when the anacin had worn off, amazingly I had fairly decent motion in my neck again, but every neck muscle was sore...  downed 2 more anacin and went back to sleep.

Called the Chiropractor, got in literally 5 minutes after I called...  Needless to say I'm still sore, but feeling a lot better.  I am glad I had yesterday off work because there was no way I was going to work.

All I got accomplished yesterday was watching TV and checking my email a couple of times.

I'm a little disapointed, I only got booked for 1 prom this year.  When are the schools around here going to learn that they are never happy with the cheapest dj's they can find...

Well, its a little late, but Naka-Kon was fun.

They were expecting around 800-1000 people and ended up a little over 1600 people.  A few delays here and there, but that's to be expected when they 'exploded' as much as they did this year.  They had a computer problem with Cosplay, which put everyone behind schedule.

The hotel was not very cooperative, and couldn't wait to get rid of everyone... Was not very impressed with the Hilton's attitude.

They had this guy there who could make just about anything from balloons.  He made countless props for people, he was more informed about anime than many die hard anime fans.  He made a 4 foot tall Mario proper colors also, including the brown mustache.  He even made a cool costume for 1 girl:  http://www.InfinitySoundDJ.com/baloon_costume.jpg

Got to hang out with Greg Ayers and Steve Benett, much fun was had by all.  I walked in on the Hentai panel, and was impressed, they did a very good job (I'm not a hentai fan) then explained why they did this or that, and they even explained the origin of the tentacle monsters, and why tentical 'scenes' were used and were so popular for so long.

We left at just the perfect time to goto Kansas City.  Some friends left early morning, and they encountered bad roads the whole way, I-29 was closed.  I left Lincoln around 12 noon, had clear weather prety much the whole way, just a little blowing snow on the first couple miles of Highway 2, and I-29 was open and clear.  Some friends left Omaha around 4 or 5, and encountered bad weather the whole way, and I-29 was closed again.  Some other people left Lincoln around 2:30-3 and encountered bad weather also...  all and all, I left at the perfect time  ^^;

Not a whole lot has been going on. Needed to use up a week of vacation so I arbitrarially chose the end of Feb. Was planning on visiting a friend of mine, unfortunately they will be 'onsite' that weekend (couple hundred miles away at the worksite...)

Anyhow, Naka-Kon: http://www.naka-kon.com March 2 - 4 in Kansas City, MO is that weekend, and I have a few friends that will be going, so I figured may just as well go seing as I have the time off anyhow. Who knows maybe I'll even have some fun ^^;

 I was messing around on Ebay, and happened across the most awesome costume ever... but there's no way I'm dropping $1500 for a costume (Master cheif from Halo - sweet full armor suit any color I want...). Although I must say, I've given some thought to attempting to make a Fumoffu costume (Full metal panic... lets just say if you didn't see it... you have to)

Snow's finally starting to melt, which means I may actually be able to start walking to work again soon, I only live 4 1/2 blocks from work, and its been too slippery outside to even consider walking to work at 6am.

Wow, I did a 'Holiday Party' for one of the local Columbus Businesses tonight. (well alright Saturday night, it may be aftermidnight but its still Saturday night to me)  I was told upfront that 3/4 of the people leave within 30 minutes of the dance, and the dances haven't lasted over 1 hour for the last several years...

I managed to keep people interested for an hour and a half, and then poof, everyone left...

I had plenty of volunteers unloading, but had to teardown alone, wasn't bad, hour and a half after the end of the dance and I was on my way home.

Couldn't find anything to motivate anyone, people did croud the dancefloor... to stand around and talk...

Got 1 wedding signed, and 2 more VERY interested, sounds like I landed a monthly gig at the YMCA, and possibly a prom.  3 people that worked for the company that weren't certain if they wanted me for their DJ (pricewise, I'm not cheap by any means, my higher end package is 200$ more than any of my competition, and my lower end package is right on par with the 'better' dj's in town.

Started the night "off on the wrong foot...", rushed to answer the phone as I was just about ready to leave the house... and stepped on a beltbuckle... needless to say I got a nice hole in the bottom of my foot... so that made things interesting for a while.  Must of doctored it up good, its not sore at all now

Well, I got bored playing Final Fantasy 11 (the online one) and decided to try something new for a month or so.

I decided to try Blizzard's World of Warcraft (WoW).  I've been playing online video games off and on since 1997.  I don't mind playing one, maybe 2 nights a week, I just don't have tons of spare time to waste like some of the online gamers do.

Messed around on it for 2 hours last night, very nicely put togather, I just hope I can easily figure out how to filter out all the junk spam from people talking the next time I mess around with it.

Starting to get a lot of calls & emails asking about my DJ business now.  Even 1 or 2 complaints about prices, I have 2 packages, 1 is about on par with the local dj's around here, but limited timewise to 4 hours dance and another package for 200$ more... what part of BRAND NEW system do people not understand?  the local dj's around here, their systems are between 5 and 10 years old...

oh well

Well the Bridal Fair is over now.  They had 182 wedding registrations, that's 12 more than last year.  There must of been 5-600 people walking through there from noon to 3pm.

There was actually a total of 6 different DJ companies there, 3 from columbus 3 from omaha/lincoln.

Good news:  I tied for the most wedding registrations (of the other DJ's)

Bad news: It was only 4, I was hoping for 10.

I had quite a few people comment on my arcade machines, thought that was an awesome idea, they would have to talk to a few people and would get back to me.  The other DJ companies DJ's were in awe at my light display, and were drooling over my Electronic Rack.  I had a 20 foot long panoramic view of lights, I had some of my lights aimed at the cieling and rotated which lights I had on for the afternoon.

I got tons of comments on my LED curtain backdrop.  It a starlit backdrop 8 feet tall by 10 feet long that twinkles multi-color LEDs (the mini light bulbs that don't generate any heat).  I'll be getting a 2nd one in the next month or so, that way the backdrop is as long as my overhead light display

Had to make a special trip back home with my arcade machines, but total tear down even with the 2nd trip was 1 1/2 hours, not bad, there were quite a few people still tearing down when I left..

Oh my gosh, I just got done setting up for the Bridal Fair in Columbus tomorrow.  I brought out my full premium package (and am tired enough to prove it).  I loaded up 1 of my arcade machines, my arcade DDR pads and my Pachinko machine to setup tomorrow.

I'm was alread getting ooh's and ahhh's and everything isn't totally setup yet.  One of the DJ's there is jealous, (should be 5 total).  My plans were to go for a "Wow factor" and I believe its going to work out perfectly.  I'll be dressed in my Tuxedo tomorrow, so its bound to be awesome.

Oh man, I should of gotten 3 booths if I had only known... it 'will' fit in to 2, but barely.

Pricewise my basic package is cheaper than many of the dj's, BUT I have upgrades and if people want enough upgrades, such as the arcade machines, full lighting package and the like, they mind end up spending 8-900$  but they get their money's worth.  Entertaining the kids alone is enough for many brides to consider spending more.  Kids running around becoming impatient/bored is one of the number one things making people leave early, or emberassing people.

I had no intentions of bringing any of my arcade machines, but after talking to a couple people, and the guy in charge of the Bridal Fair... I changed my mind.  That alone might be enough to get signups.  You stop the kids with the arcade machines, you will stop the parents.  Bridal Fairs are all about anticipating what people want and knowing what they actually 'need'.  While price is important, if you are a good 'salesman' price really isn't important. 

That reminds me, the price of the DJ is about 5% of the total cost of the wedding.  Yet when asked, the dance and "the kiss" is what 90% of the people remember.  They don't remember what people wore, the food, how the place looked.  Many brides when asked before their wedding, they want a cheap DJ.  After the whole wedding is over, the brides 80-90% that wanted cheap before the wedding, regret it afterwards. "You get what you pay for"

I have one of my nieces and one of nephews helping me for the bridal fair, and had one of my nieces help me for setting it up.  Its amazing how much of a time saver just having a helper around really is.

I have a few things to print out to bring with me tomorrow, and a few things to run to Wal-Mart for. 

Goodbye

You are always there by my side

Ready for anything I may confide

Always there through good times and bad

You often make me happy, yet sometimes mad

Many a time, you made me wait

Some call it destiny, others fate

Here today, gone tomorrow

Happiness, replaced by sorrow

Unexpected was His calling

Shocking and appalling

Without you here, there is something I fear

Because of this, I have shed many a tear

There was something I've longed to say

I missed it then, but I will say it today

Upwards I look, far into the sky

Please accept this, as my goodbye