Thanks to those who’ve purchased the new T-Shirt…I’ll be "begging for sales" later on but for now I just wanted to thank anyone who has placed an order.

I’m cranky today….and for no reason. Could be that I’m just tired and not quite awake yet.

My Diet is still going well…when I stepped on the scale yesterday it said I lost 13 pounds. That’s not bad considering I only started this on the 12th of April. It’s funny cause I now eat the EXACT SAME THING every day and some days I’ll fluctuate and be like 1 pound heavier or lighter. I look down and still see my belly so I have no clue WHERE I lost the weight from…but I suppose the scale doesn’t lie. My pants DO feel looser though.

Now that I’m counting calories, I’m really amazed at what my calorie intake used to be. I average about 1200 Calories a day now(which I’m told is real low) but looking back on my old eating habits…7 or 8 cans of Mt Dew…a bag of chips here and there, other sweets, heavy pastas for lunch with all the garlic bread I could eat…on top of some sort of greasy dinner along with fast food garbage…I’m willing to bet my old daily intake was AT LEAST 5000 Calories a day. THAT on top of sitting on my ass all day was a fattening combo.

Hopefully, once I get to my desired weight…I’ll have trained myself to keep in mind the calorie count of foods and decide then if something is really worth eating.

I know…a few of you have emailed me saying things like…"you don’t need to lose weight, you look thin in your photos"…well…uh…let’s just say I would never post a picture of me looking too heavy but the reality is…I really am overweight-Not too much, but I am. Sure, some of it’s muscle and I’m 6′2 so it just looks like I’m slimmer than what I really am but when I started this diet on the 12th…I was 212lbs!!!

Black Dot: Where I was on the 12th of April. (212lbs)

Red Dot: Where I am Today. (199lbs)

Blue Dot: Where I want to be. (180lbs)

(What I want to know is …Who in the hell is 6′2 and 130 lbs?? That doesn’t seem "healthy" at all unless they live on the Moon or something).

Anyway…It looks like the weight is coming off so I’m happy about that. Yeah, I know I’m obsessive over this at the moment…but I think I need to be. Thankfully, Summer is coming up so I’ll get a chance to be more active.

The New T-Shirt is now For Sale!

I really hope people show some support and make a purchase. I’m trying to keep the price as low as I can to cover costs and various stuff like that. The quicker these sell, the faster I can work on getting the 2nd place contest winner image printed up and maybe even have another contest like this.

Click here to buy!

Here’s how they look on a person but to see a larger view of the image just click here.

Buy one for yourself and a friend and help spread the word.

Oh…I almost forgot…

If anyone places an order over $100, you can enter a coupon code while checking out through the secure Google Checkout that gives you $20.00 Off the order.

Just enter BIGSPENDER in the coupon section of the shopping cart when checking out. It’s easy stuff… So uh yeah…buy a T-Shirt and maybe I’ll celebrate and eat more than just a salad

Lastly, you can also order by Check or Money Order but it’ll take a little longer for your shirts to get there is all

Blog readers will be seeing this 1st and I’ll be sending out a mailer next month so get them while they last. I really dig the T-Shirt and hope you all like it as much as I do. Ok…enough pimping for T-Shirt sales.

I’m excited to have these.

In about 5 minutes, I’m heading out to pick up the 1st place T-Shirts from the contest I held. I’m excited! I picked up a proof T-shirt yesterday and I’m REALLY happy with how they came out!

In the past, I’d been selling shirts via Café Press…but these are MUCH better than the prints they do over there. You can really tell the difference in a shirt that is professionally printed and one that’s just done through Café Press (not to knock Café Press or anything)…it’s just the silk screening on these look and feel REALLY cool.

I should have the shirt ready for purchase online tomorrow…Blog readers will be the 1st to be able to order but I’ll be sending out all the info in next month’s mailer too.

Ok..off to pick up the T-shirts!!

I woke up today with a few messages on my voicemail from my friends and family back in Michigan. They tell me I’m now on Comcast Cable in their On Demand Music section. [I'm listed in A through L under "B"]

I haven’t seen them since we have Time Warner Cable here in LA …but anyone with Comcast Cable can now go to Channel 001 to download and watch 3 of my videos. Check it out! It’s free

They’re supposed to have another video of mine posted real soon but right now they just have the 3.

I have band rehearsal tonight….all this is a nice way to start the week!

I’m taking a break from work stuff. I’m REALLY tired today. I’m supposed to be playing tennis a little later…my body says "no, don’t play" but I’m going to suck it up and get some exercise on the court. Since the 12th…I’ve lost 10 LBS although I’m not sure WHERE i lost it. I don’t feel or think I look any lighter but I suppose the scale doesn’t lie.

I’m OBSESSED with counting calories now…it’s almost funny and probably annoying everyone around me. I’m told the 1st 10 pounds is easy to lose but anything after that, I’ll have to really work for it. We’ll see. I SO miss junk food though!

Oh, I was just looking through the LA Music Awards website and I just noticed they have a gallery posted of the 2006 winners. I’m the 3rd photo in the gallery. COOL! I see Leeza Gibbons is also in that same gallery. So does that make 2 degrees separation of "Dancing with the Stars"??? LOL

I’ve been DVR-ing the show this season. It entertains me…I guess I’m easily entertained The only thing I don’t like about it is…WHY IS THE RESULTS SHOW AN HOUR LONG? I always fast forward to the end…the rest of the time it seems like they’re just looking for "filler stuff" for the rest of the hour. I could see a 30 minute results show…but an hour is a bit much. I’m just glad HEROES is starting back up on Monday! My life is now complete!

I just found out yesterday that I’m now posted on the Yamaha Site as a Yamaha Artist. I got endorsed by them a a few months back and was SUPER HAPPY about it. I LOVE Yamaha stuff! Somehow seeing my mug shot on their site makes it more "official"…

What’s even nicer about all this is…I’m listed along with some MONSTEROUS talented people and well-known artists. I must admit, it’s a little weird to look through the list of Yamaha Artists like Elton John, Nora Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Tony Bennett, James Blunt, Burt Bacharach, and Paul (Oh My God) McCartney to see my name on that same list. It’s a little surreal and bad ass!!!

VERY COOL!

I had a nice surprise last night…They re-aired the Fox show BONES "Aliens in a Spaceship"…the song I wrote "Never Know" opens the show. I had looked on my DVR and it wasn’t scheduled to air but in the wake of Monday’s tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, Fox decided to delay the episode they were originally going to air. I read somewhere that the upcoming Bones show takes place on a college campus and they felt it was a little too close to home. As much as I love that they re-ran the episode with my tune in it, the circumstances in why they replayed it really suck. [My heart goes out to the families who lost people]

BONES has some pretty high ratings and some die-hard fans…About 10 million people tune in each week. Not too shabby…Today, I got a few emails from people asking me where they could get the Never Know song, so I’ll post a link here. [It's on the Snocap Player but you have to scroll down to see it]. If you’d like to download the show… you can get "Bones-Aliens in a Spaceship" on iTunes. COOL.

I have hockey practice tonight and I’m STILL sore for tennis from a few days ago. I have another Tennis match on Saturday. Trying to stay active.

I purchased this little program for my Treo 700P called "Diet & Exercise Assistant V7.0"…it’s pretty neat. You just enter how much weight you want to lose and by what date…your starting weight…age..height..etc…..and you just enter a daily log of everything you eat and each time you exercise and it tell you how many calories you need to take it. Pretty handy and easy to use and kind of fun actually. I want to lose 25 pounds by September and it tells me how many calories I have to stay under each day. Right now, I’m way under the calorie intake. Ok, so I’m a little obsessed with losing weight at the moment. But hey, i love little palm pilot programs

Last night, I played tennis again for the 1st time in what seems like a year! I wake up today feeling like I’ve been run over by a truck! Being sore like this just makes me realize that i haven’t used these leg muscles in forever. I do play hockey and all, but this is a different set of leg muscles–as i can see from waking up with legs that can hardly move.

The matches? Well..let’s just say, i didn’t win 1!!! I sucked so bad…it was as if I was playing with the wrong arm or something. I had some fun volleys but I just couldn’t seem to grab the points. Next time! Playing tennis falls into this whole "trying to lose weight" thing I just started.

Yes..I’m on a fucking diet…and it sucks! I hate it. It’s not like I’m super heavy but I am as heavy as I’ve ever been and if i don’t start to watch what I eat now, it’s going to get out of hand.

So let’s just look at things i used to eat just about everyday:

1. I’d average about 6 to 7 cans of Mt Dew a day! At 170 calories a can…I’m afraid to do the math.

A: Rather than stop drinking it or switching over to diet…i just drink 2 a day now. The rest of the time, I’m drinking water

2. Around the 1st of the year, i stopped eating meat. So looking at menus and things without meat, I’d order the pasta…Or French Fries…also during my day…I’d make trips to 7-11 to pick up junk food…chips(boy i love chips)…candy…you know, the good stuff.

A: Every meal i eat now is a fucking salad. I have 2 salads a day…they’re usually pretty large though cuz the salads don’t really fill me up. I’m trying to get more creative with my salad making but there’s only so much I can do.

3. I’d sit at the computer for way too many hours….sit at the piano bench…sit and play video games…all this sitting.

A: I’m trying to walk a little more and play tennis(if i can remember how) and keep up with hockey. I’m thinking about going back to the gym…but i really hate gyms. I’m on the fence about this still.

So far the end result from just doing these things?? I’ve lost almost 6 pounds in the last 5 days.

This is the 1st time I’ve EVER been on a diet…I never realized how hard it would be. Driving back from tennis last night, i was STARVED. Making my way down Sunset Blvd…Fast Food places are EVERYWHERE…7-11’s are everywhere…..Gas Stations with junk food on every corner…I was drooling. I never realized how many fast food places there are within a mile from my home until last night.

Eventually when i get to my desired weight, I’ll treat myself to something other than a salad but for now…it’s rabbit food.

I’d been able to carry the weight since I’m 6′2 …but it got to the point where just wearing a black t-shirt didn’t help hide the belly. Let’s see how long i can keep this up. It is not easy though…i have a whole new respect for dieters.

It’s been a busy week. I had a very nice band rehearsal the other night…it went really well and was very productive. One of the guys I normally play with …well, his schedule was impossible to work around and we were ending up hardly getting together at all. He’s a fantastic player and in demand by quite a few other groups…so his availability seemed to be holding things up. Trying to get things ready for studio recording and having 1 person not able to be around left us no choice but to try and find a replacement. The thought of it gave me shivers for a few reasons:

1. I really like the guy’s playing and him as a person…not to mention I was not looking forward to saying to him that we were going to start looking for someone else.

2. The actual task of trying to find a replacement [you would think that finding good players in LA would be easy, but it's really tough].

The good news is…it all worked itself out.

When I talked to him he was very understanding. But, It wasn’t a fun conversation to have. There didn’t seem to be any animosity or bitterness there and it seemed to end of a positive note. I really did dread making that call though but in order to get this next CD done before the next century, it needed to be done…I’ll miss working with him.

Right after that, I remembered talking to a guy on my hockey team who said he was a musician and gave him a call to see if he’d be willing to fill in and help out with this next record. He said "sure" so i sent him some very rough demos and booked the rehearsal space. Probably not a smart move to just have someone show up without ever hearing the guy’s playing.

It could have been a disaster if he wasn’t a good player but I totally lucked out! The guy is REALLY fantastic at his instrument…not only that, he’s a great singer. He showed up knowing the songs better than the rest of the group and was singing and nailing the vocal harmonies. I was extremely impressed.

So what I thought might be a step backwards turned out to be a giant step forward…and now i think things will move even faster. I’m excited at the thought of regular rehearsals and getting in the studio again!

Congratulations to Baldemar V. for winning 1st place in the T-shirt contest!

Your votes have placed $500.00 in his pocket…but there’s more.

You’re votes have also placed $500.00 in the pocket of James P. who takes 2nd Place.

The final public vote count between the two T-shirts were:

• Baldemar: 300 Votes
• James: 282 Votes

582 Votes for both of these T-shirts [out of 822 Total Votes!]

Thanks so much for taking the time to help me pick a winner!

I planned on having just 1 winner but this was SO close and both T-shirts were pretty much tied throughout the week with Baldemar having a slight edge over James. I also received tons of email from people saying that they liked one over the other and why….etc..

And so…BOTH will be made into T-shirts in the next few weeks and you’ll be able to buy your favorite (or both). I suppose the true test will be which one sells more but the "official" word is Image 1 takes 1st place. I’ll be sending out a mailer soon to let you know when the T-shirts will be available to purchase. I hope you all show some support and buy the shirts so I’ll be able to have more contests like this down the road.

Let me also say that even though these two designs took a big lead, Sarah’s design still raked in 140 votes (which is pretty nice!).

Thanks again to everyone who submitted and congrats to 1st and 2nd place!