why do you hate doing somethings soo much before you do it, but after its done, you feel great that its done? this morning i jogged 3 miles. i got up early at 3:45am and just did it. its a part of my whole “you’re fat al” weight control plan. yes a girl told me i was fat and i should thank her. saturday, i woke up and did a little exercising. a 30 mile bike ride to be exact. then i skipped sunday and this morning i woke up a little early and did a 3 mile run. both times, i was hatin life before i did it but when i was done, i felt great.

saturday night, it was a reception for korey and his new wife victoria. and while i was there, i ran into netria, my ex wife.(but not korey’s mom) i have not seen her in over 7 years. it was uncomfortable at first but it got better. we actually talked a little and it seems as though she has forgiven me for all of my mistakes. she is doing well, has remarried and has a beautiful little girl.

the apartment search is going well. i think i am leaning toward this one in a downtown high rise. the pool is also very cool and its on like the 10th floor. my buddy andy sent me info on like 20 apartments and some of them look pretty good as well. so im nowhere near done looking for apartments!

4 days til mexico. as many times as ive gone to mexico, i still get excited about going. i hope that never changes. theres just something about knowing that in a few days you’ll have your feet in the sand and doing a tequila shot that gets me going. and yes, because i have received so many freaking requests about it, we are making a “VERRY LIMITED EDITION” tshirt that will be available ONLY on line. its the one with the drawing of steve and i looking buff and standing in a bucket holding each other. (i dont believe im doing this!!!) anyway, it’s gonna have a pic of me and steve and the caption under it will say “TWO GAY GUYS IN A BUCKET??? NOT!)
i will say this up front. we are making 100 of these total…90 of them in female baby t’s and 10 in men sizes. mostly because i dont think many guys would wear it. (gay or straight!)
but anyway, it will be available soon at bigalandredneckstevesbeerbucket.com.
and by the way, we’re giving away another trip for 2 to mexico for new years eve on the website as well. details are coming soon on that so keep checking the site for updates.

have a great day everybody.

big al

dates??? not so much!

Well, I looked at a few more apartments yesterday and I think this is going to be interesting. Just looking for an apartment is a beating but at the same time, its fun trying to visualize what my life would be like in a totally different place. How walking the doggies would be different. How coming home would be different. No more pulling into my carport and my door being right there. How having neighbors right down the hall would be as opposed to having my own house, yard, etc…but people do it all the time and even though the lifestyles are totally different.

The ones I looked at yesterday were POST properties. They were a little older but still nice. I think the one I liked best yesterday was a loft apartment. No interior walls. Just hardwood floors, a fireplace, and granite countertops. Even though I don’t think it was “the one”, it gave me something else to consider.

No dates lately and I really don’t miss it. im just taking a break for a minute to regroup. Maybe next week or whenever. But honestly, theres no one that I have really met that I want to go out with. So, if you’re looking for me, I’ll be over here in solo land!

This weekend, lets see. Not a whole lot planned. Having a little party for korey (my son), just some family and close friends. Tonite there isn’t a lot on tap. Ok, theres nothing on tap actually. I will resume the workout regimen tomorrow morning with a 30 mile bike ride.

Next Friday, its off to mexico for a week to check on the bar. Im always excited about mexico no matter how much I go. Jez, our manager is planning a big 4th of july party down there and he is also in the planning stages of a labor day party, thanksgiving party, my birthday party (December 19th, and of course a new years eve year end blow out!
Hope to see you at one of these!

Have a great weekend!

not yeeet,,, im still looking!

So, yesterday im meeting with one of my tenants and as im standing there next to her, out of the blue, she says to me, “al, you’re putting on weight!” woooah! Did she just say that?
YES SHE DID! But you know what? Despite the harsh statement, she was right. I have put on some of my lost weight. But wow that was hard to hear… but, I will say that as soon as I get off work today, I will be hitting the gym!

Also, yesterday, the apartment search did begin. I have decided to either sell or rent out my house in the burbs and change my life up a little bit! Im moving to downtown or uptown. The cool part of town is where im headed. Im going to take at least 30 days and look for the perfect place. Its got to be A place that I will be comfortable in and a place that will surround me with the environment that fits my personality. Its not that I don’t like where I live…I just think I would like a change. I don’t THINK that im looking for anything mentally. I want to just get right in the middle of the happening part of town for a change. And honestly, I wanna do something different. For the last 10 years, I have lived out in a house that was in the burbs. They have been nice places but they have been so far out that friends didnt want to come see me!

So far I have looked at 3 places. One is called the mosaic. It is a high rise, artsy type place located in the downtown area that has a really cool pool. Polished concrete floors and very open. They have a workout area, a guy that parks your car for you, and a whole lot more. It really gives you the “city” feel.
The second place was the “mercantile.” Its actually a converted bank building that stands about 20 stories high. I looked at one on the 18th floor. On site concierge, security, and its only been available about 3 months. Gorgeous views, white crushed recycled glass countertops, really cool. one down side was the amount of windows. Its an old bank building so that translates into not as many windows as a traditional apartment.
The third one I looked at was called villa rosa. This one was beautiful as well. Everything is brand new inside and again, a beautiful pool area. But this one was not a high rise. Only 6 or 7 floors tall but it had a lot of cool points as well. Again, it was new construction with all new appliances etc. all three of these were very nice (and pretty expensive as well.) but “fun and cool aint free!” meaning if you want to be in the cool spot, its gonna cost me! I’ll keep you posted, im going to see a few more today and tomorrow, and the next day…

can i borrow your truck?

A couple of weeks ago, I said on the air that I wanted to do something that was life changing. Yesterday I figured out what it was. I am going to sell my house which is located out in the conservative, family part of town. And im gonna move to the hip, happening, trendy part of town. I mean why in the heck do I need to live out there? Not that its really all that far but I mean aside from this restaurant called fernandos, which is great, there is really nothing that I do that is close by my house.

This all came from a meeting that I had with a friend yesterday and she asked me just in passing, why I live where I live. I honestly couldn’t tell her. don’t get me wrong. I love my house I have remodeled it and have it the way I want it for the most part. But I have to admit. There’s not a lot happening over there for a single person. So , I think im gonna move. Im not real sure if I wanna buy a condo or maybe even rent a cool loft somewhere.
But I want to move to the happening part of town.

Theres this part of town called uptown that is full of the trendy apartments, cool condos and its just a great part of town to live in. or so it seems. So why this change in addresses? Why not? I feel like every once in a while you need to change things up in your life. And this is one of those change ups. I can rent my house out and even move back down the line if I want to. so, look out uptown, big al is in the house!

any suggestions on cool places to move to? bigalmack19@gmail.com

being single is nearly so bad when you’re somewhat busy. and lately, ive been really busy. last night for example…when i woke up yesterday, i had no plans. but by last night, i was out with our video guy andrew celebrating his birthday. not only that, i fixed him up with a friend of mine who is a really cool chick. we went to the house of blues, had some alcohol treats, some food and danced for a couple of hours. and yes, an hour or so into the evening, we had made friends. 2 other 21 year old girls that were in the middle of a cross country road trip from california to washington dc. they came and joined our party and we all had a great time. and even though this was a radio bit from start to finish, it had a side benefit. it gave andrew a nice bday night and it also allowed him to meet some cool different people. think he actually had a great time. thanks to katy, brandi for coming out with us and thanks to brian at the house of blues for being so cool.

i just wanna say to anyone who ive ever not kept my word with, and there is no shortage of people that fall into that category, im sorry. i dont think i break my word nearly as much as i used to. but it wasnt that long ago that keeping my word wasnt nearly as important to me as it is now. in life, all we really, really have is our word. ok, theres money, material things, but all come and go… but NO ONE can ever take your word away from you. i guess i just say this on the heels of my friend canceling on andrew and me for last night. not to mention the 4 or so girls that didnt show up for dates with me for the last couple weeks. when stuff like that happens, (when people dont keep their word to me), it actually makes me wanna keep my word more. so to “erika super hot”, by not showing up last night, you actually, i a small way, helped to make me better guy!

thanks!

i have pretty much conceded to the fact that i have to be around people. this comes as no surprise to anyone that has known me for longer than a minute or two. i feed off of the energy of other people. people are like my crack. i need people to feel comfortable. im pretty much in my element in front of 3 people or in front of three hundred. it can be close friends or it can be total strangers. that part doesnt really matter. there is no real reason that im bringing this up other than the fact that i just had a moment of clarity over the weekend. dont you love it when you have moments like that? it could be something that you kind of know but for some reason, a light bulb just goes off in your head whatever it is, just seems more clear than ever before! if this makes no sense at all to anyone, maybe im just tired!

ummm, the bar update is as follows: financially, it just seems to be breaking even. not losing money, not really making a profit, just kind of chugging along.
i love being a bar owner. and going down to playa del carmen once a month seems to be enough. my next trip down is july 4th, then august 16th, then maybe labor day weekend. i will also go thanksgiving night and of course i will have a HUGE party down there for my birthday december 19th. EVERYONE IS INVITED!!!

thats all i got for now…

have a great day everybody!

this is funny. so, the other day, i was just scrolling thru my phone numbers and i ran across a name that sounded familiar but i wasnt exactly sure who it was so i sent a text. apparently she didnt have my number stored in my phone because her reply was “who is this?” i told her “big al. ” she actually seemed excited to hear from me so we arranged to hang out a little at primos for a margarita. so i showed up and she wasnt at the bar as we had agreed. i texted her to let her know i was there and a couple minutes later i saw a girl walk inside from the patio. she had her cell phone in her hand. she looked around and she went back out. keep in mind that there were only about 5 people total sitting in the bar.
a minute later i get a text message saying she didnt see me and she had a table outside.
obviously that was her.
a few minutes passed and i went outside and said hi and sat at the table with her. well, i have good news and bad news…the good news is, it was her! it was the girl from my phone. wow, i actually got it right! the bad news is, she thought i was a different big al! which explains why she didnt recognize me at the bar!!! man, dodnt you hate it n that happens!?!?

have a great weekend.

dating has kinda slowed down this week. im just not real excited about it right now so if there’s no real motivation, why even go thru the motion? one girl last week after one phone call, not even a date, said to me, “thanks, but i dont think we are a match so good luck to you.” after i got past the original feeling of rejection, think about how much time people would actually save if they could eliminate the “bad matches” if they could make that determination after an eight minute phone call. it was like a “speed dating phone call.” i really couldnt tell you what the turning point was with this phone call but there were alot of awkward pauses, and fake laughs. it was horrible, but cool at the same time. i mean that phone call may have saved me anywhere from $25-$50. no lunch, no glass of wine or margarita. just 8 quick minutes of awkwardness and it was over. who would have thought that i would not gel with a woman in the “international tax arena???” (that was her response when i asked her what type of work she was in!) i didnt even know they had arenas for international taxes!
man, what will they think of next?

so last night, i was out trying to do drunk news and after exhausting all of the possible suspects at one place, i decided to go someplace else. it was approximately 11:15 last night when i told a friend that i ran into that i was leaving and thats when a friend of hers, a 40+ yr old lady said she wanted to ride to the next place with me. ooook. no problem but i didnt know her. this may or may not be interesting but it was just kind of odd that a female stranger wanted to hop in the car and ride to another club at almost midnight. i kept thinking to myself, what if this girl has some psycho boyfriend, exboyfriend, ex husband, or whatever thats watching her and sees her get into my car and follows us and kills me for no reason! i have no reason why this came into my head! needless to say, she didnt have a stalker and she rode with me and i dropped her back off at the original starting point at midnight. it was a long night!

about the bar, i hope a few of you are planning to come to the big party on july 4th in playa del carmen. its gonna be big fun. if you cant make that one, labor day weekend is gonna be big also, as well as the thanksgiving thursday-sunday, along with my birthday party dec 19th, and of course new years eve. airfares are going up make your reservation now.
come hang out. bigalandredneckstevesbeerbucket.com

TAKE MY CAR! PLEASE…

I have much respect for car sales people today. especially, those that are in business trying to sell the big SUV’s with gas being $4.00 a gallon. How do those guys sell hundreds of cars nowadays? Im trying to sell one and cant get any takers. Please, does someone need a 2007 GMC denali? I have one that im really trying to sell. Its in perfect condition. Only 35,000 miles, black leather, its in great shape… I just have another car and I don’t need two big cars. So if anyone needs a ride, please buy mine! I’ll even throw in 2 round trip tickets to playa del Carmen to the buyer so you can come to big al and redneck steves beer bucket…or I’ll take $800 off the sales price. Asking price, $36,000. (it was $49,000 new, a year and a half ago) email me at bigalmack19@gmail.com.

Today, im gonna try to help a stranger. I ran into a guy this morning at 7-11 getting coffee. It was 5am. You know how you get a good feeling about people sometime? I got a good feeling about this guy this morning. I think the main reason was that he was 18 years old and he was on his way to start looking for a job at 5am. What 18 year old kid does that? He just graduated last week and he is ready to work. Obviously, he doesn’t have a lot of experience doing a lot of anything… he’s 18. but he was well spoken and he wasn’t bitchin about it being 5am!!! I sure was! Ha. If you know of anything,
Email me. Bigalmack19@gmail.com.

Ok, here’s the latest issue with the bar. For those of you that may be new here, me and my friend redneck steve just bought a bar in playa del Carmen. Its called big al and redneck steves beerbucket. (Bigalandredneckstevesbeerbucket.com)
It has been a dream of mine for years to own a bar on or near the beach and its finally come true. Business has been fairly good. But im looking for ways to make it better. So I came up with the idea, being an American, to have a big july 4th party. Take a day and celebrate this holiday in mexico . decorate the place up with streamers, maybe some balloons, cool 4th of july hats, have a cook come in and bbq some hamburgers and hot dogs and have a good time. Great idea right? Well, I thought so too… apparently, Im not the only one that thought this was a good idea. See, there’s another bar that’s doing the same thing. In fact, ive gotta be honest with you. They’ve got a really cool party planned. The other bar is having live entertainment starting around 1pm. In fact, I think they have multiple local bands performing most of the afternoon and evening.
At our bar, Im hoping that by this date our direct tv is at least hooked up! Also, the other place is located right on the beach. Our bar is 2 blocks away from the beach. And the biggest thing is they are roasting two entire pigs. I was planning on hot dogs with mustard!
How can I compete??? I don’t know how im gonna do it but somehow, I have to figure out a way to make our party even bigger and better than the other guys!
Email me…bigalmack19@gmail.com.

no she didnt!!!

If I remember correctly, Friday was a big snooze fest around here. I mean there was nothing going on and there was no prospect of anything to be going on… boy did that change!?! Anyway, Friday, I was chilling at primos all afternoon and we were having a pretty good time when I ran into haley. (please skip ahead if you heard the weekend rap-up) haley is a 23 year old hottie that was sitting on the patio with her mom. I saw her writing stuff on a pad which is rather unusual so I asked what she was writing. She said she was going to be the maid of honor at a wedding that night and she needed to write a short speech to deliver at the rehearsal dinner. HELLO! I happen to be a professional speech writer! I offered my assistance and away we went. For the next hour or so, I came up with what I considered to be some of the best speech writing that I have put together ever! I mean it was pretty funny stuff. And then I came up with an even better idea. I told her it would be awesome if I could come to the wedding as her date and record her speech delivery and we would possibly play it on the air. She nervously agreed. Not nervous about the radio part, but just the whole getting up in front of people…

So I went home showered and got ready for my date. Im thinking its turned into a pretty great day. I got a radio bit in the works, I helped out a girl in need and im getting to go on a date with a hot girl. Wow, now that’s a great day! I arrive at the restaurant where the rehearsal is taking place and the place is shut down for this private party. It’s a barbeque place and immediately, I realize im the only black guy in the place. I walk to the bar and wait on my date to arrive and after 10 or so minutes, there she is… looking great I may add. She walks up to me and gives me a hug and she introduces me… TO HER DATE!!!!! WOAH!!! Your date??? I thought I was your date? Now, ive been dating quite a while but this was the very first time that ive gone on a date with a girl that already had a date. Clearly, there was a slight misunderstanding of what a date is???!!

Ok, I got past the fact that my date had a date and I got my food tray. Then me, my date and her date sat down to eat! Man, what fun! The three of us sat there and got to know each other better. By this time, im wondering how long I really needed to stay here. But I did have to salvage the only thing salvageable out of my Friday night. The speech. The party was good. The food was great! But due to the circumstances, each minute was like an hour. But realistically, two and a half hours later after the chatting, the dinner, the slideshow, and the musician, it was time for the speeches! First was the dad of the bride, then the father of the groom. Next up was the best man, then it was time for the maid of honor. Finally…at this point I have close to 5 HOURS INVESTED. But the speech I wrote and she is about to give will make this all better! So, haley walks up to the mic. I walk up to the speaker to begin recording. And the first thing she said almost made me fall to the floor.
She said “ I want to thank big al for helping me write my speech, but I’m not going to use it… im gonna just speak from my heart!” WHAT???? Speak from your heart?
NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!

Oh my God! No she didn’t…after I spent over an hour trying to help write, went home, showered, had my date “date napped” from me, sat and talked to people I didn’t know for hours only to have the one part of the evening that was supposed to be the payoff fall through as well??!!! What a night!